“Better than money, eh?” grunted Lester. “It must be pretty good then. But bear in mind that this is a respectable joint, and if you don’t stop acting rough house, I’ll call a cop and have you pinched.”
But it was a long time before they could sober down. The reaction was so great that they laughed and chattered and whooped like a pair of lunatics.
Fred felt as though he were walking on air. The black cloud was lifted. His good name was given back to him. He stood untarnished before the world.
“What are you going to do to Andy?” asked Teddy.
“Do?” replied Fred. “I’m going to lick him to a frazzle.”
But Doctor Rally got at Andy first.
That very night, he sent for him and confronted him with the confession. Andy, true to his nature, tried to lie out of it, but, under the searching questions of the head of the school, he broke down and confessed. Then Doctor Rally, in words that stung and blistered even Andy’s thick hide, told him that he was a disgrace to the school, and commanded him to leave Rally Hall, bag and baggage, within twenty-four hours.
Andy begged and blubbered, but to no purpose. His offence was too dastardly and contemptible. The doctor, doubly enraged because he had so nearly condemned an innocent lad, justified the reputation for sternness that Uncle Aaron had given him.
Andy slunk away white and shaken, and the next morning the whole school was surprised to learn that he had gone for good.
“Humph!” exclaimed Fred, when he heard the news, “I wish he’d waited just one day more. Now, I suppose we’ve seen the last of him.”