It took all their good manners to curb their attentions to the joint; and their chatty host spun out the repast with such stories of his own school days, that the ten minutes grew to fully half an hour before they could get away.
Before they did so Dick, who for a quarter of an hour previously had been exhibiting signs of agitation and inward debate, contrived to astonish both the "Firm," and his host.
"We saw you at Tom White's trial the other day, sir," said he, abruptly, at the close of one of the Squire's stories.
"Bless my soul! were you there?
Why, of course--all three of you; I saw you.

They didn't let the youngsters do that sort of thing in my day." "We were rather interested about White, you know," said Dick, nervously.
"A good-for-nothing vagabond he is!" said the very unprofessional magistrate.
"We rather hope," said Dick, turning very red, "he'll get let off." "Eh?
what?
Do you know, you young scamp, I can-- So you want him let off, do you?
How's that ?" "Because he didn't take the boat away," said Dick, avoiding the horror- struck eyes of his "Firm." "We--that is I--let it go." "What do you say ?" said the Squire, putting down his knife and fork and sitting back in his chair.
Whereupon Dick, as much to stave off the expected storm as to justify himself, proceeded to give a true, though agitated, story of his and Georgie's adventures on the day of the Grandcourt match, appealing to Georgie at every stage in the narration to corroborate him.

Which Georgie did, almost noisily.
The magistrate heard it all out in silence, with a face gradually becoming serious.
"Do you know what you can get for doing it ?" he asked.
Dick's face grew graver and graver.
"Shall we be transported ?" he asked, with a quaver in his voice.
The magistrate took a hurried gulp from the tumbler before him.
"You've put me in a fix, my man.

You'd no business to get round me to prevent me doing my duty." "I really didn't mean to do that," put in Dick.
"No--we wouldn't do such a thing," said Georgie.
"Well, never mind that.

Whatever Tom White did to you, you'd no right to do what you did.