For a while there was silence: then a loud outcry, which made the poor mother start.
In another minute Mr.Ward came out bleeding, from a great wound on his head, and behind him Harry, with flaring eyes, and brandishing a little couteau-de-chasse of his grandfather, which hung, with others of the Colonel's weapons, on the library wall.
"I don't care.

I did it," says Harry.

"I couldn't see this fellow strike my brother; and, as he lifted his hand, I flung the great ruler at him.
I couldn't help it.

I won't bear it; and, if one lifts a hand to me or my brother, I'll have his life," shouts Harry, brandishing the hanger.
The widow gave a great gasp and a sigh as she looked at the young champion and his victim.

She must have suffered terribly during the few minutes of the boys' absence; and the stripes which she imagined had been inflicted on the elder had smitten her own heart.