One said, because he liked apples; another replied, because he had been asked by others; but four of them confessed that they did it simply because they liked the excitement and danger of the exploit.
“I believe that you have all told me the truth,” answered the Doctor. “One I shall flog, to teach him that he must not allow his appetite to tempt him to commit a crime; the next, that he must not consent to do what is wrong because another asks him; and the other four, because they evidently require to have it impressed on their minds that taking that which does not belong to them is a crime both in the sight of God and man. After breakfast, you six come into my room. And now I wish the seventh culprit to come forward. I have given him time to consider what he will do.”
No one moved.
“Julian Langley, why do you not come forward?” said the Doctor, in a stern voice.
“Sir, I know nothing about it,” answered Julian, in a sharp, quick voice.
“Whose shoe is this?” asked the Doctor. “Come here, sir, and tell me.”
Julian was now compelled to come forward. He walked with an unabashed air up to the Doctor’s desk, casting a look either of triumph or scorn at the boys who had confessed their crime.
“If that is my shoe, somebody may have dropped it, wherever it was found,” he observed, coolly.
“Did anybody carry away this knife, with your name engraved on it?” asked the Doctor; “and how was it that you had only one shoe by your bedside this morning, the fellow of this one, covered with mud of the same colour?”
“Really, sir, those are difficult questions to answer just at present,” replied Julian; “all I can say is, that I cannot account for the circumstances you speak of.”