“I hope so!” said Sam with sincerity.
“They were the star witnesses, but all testified to the same effect—that you acquitted yourself creditably. Now, I don’t say that you displayed the wisdom of age—I’ve told you that I do not look for the head of sixty on the shoulders of sixteen—but you do seem to have combined a degree of prudence with resolution and resourcefulness in emergencies. All the boys say you were practically in command of the party. If that is true, even if you didn’t keep your friends from trouble, you brought them out of it. And that brings me from past to future. Once I told you I hesitated to let you go to St. Mark’s because I feared you couldn’t take care of yourself. Now what shall I say when I find you caring for others as well as yourself?”
Sam drew in his breath sharply. “Oh! St. Mark’s! Why—why, sir, I—I haven’t thought of it lately.”
“Well,” said his father quietly, “you are at liberty to think of it now.”
Sam tried to utter his thanks—and failed. There was a lump in his throat which forbade speech.
“It happens,” said Mr. Parker, “that I have had some talk recently with Mr. Jones and Mr. Green. Both seem to be willing to have their boys go to the school if you go, too; though Mr. Jones favors the change next September rather than at the close of this term.”
Then Sam found tongue. “Hurrah! Step and Poke going, too! And September’ll suit me just as well. I’ll be glad to finish out the year here. And—and it doesn’t have to be kept a secret, does it?”
“Not unless you so desire.”
“Whoop!” shouted the delighted Sam, and rushed out of the library. Thirty seconds later he was out of the house, and running toward the club.
All the other members were present when he burst in upon them; but before he could recover breath to spread his news, the Shark interposed.