Here his voice faltered, and Sid hid his face in his hands.
A few more questions and they left him, shamed to the marrow by what he had done, but relieved at getting the thing off his conscience.
Outside the room, Professor Raymond turned to Fred.
“Rushton,” he said, “this confession will be laid before Doctor Rally at once, and you can trust us to deal with Shanks. In the meantime, I want to shake hands with you, and tell you how delighted I am to have this thing cleared up. It must have been a fearful strain on you, but you have borne yourself nobly. And your brave act of to-day only confirms me in what I have felt all along, that you were a credit to Rally Hall.”
Fred stammered some words of thanks and was off to break the glorious news to his brother.
Teddy went wild with delight.
“Glory, hallelujah!” he shouted, catching Fred in his arms and dancing around the room.
“Hey, what’s the matter with you fellows?” called out Lester Lee, as they gyrated about. “You act as though you’d just got money from home.”
“Better than that, eh, Ted?” beamed Fred, his face radiant with happiness.
“You bet it is,” chuckled Teddy.