"Well ?" I wished I was on the other side of the door; but I wasn't, and must say something, however desperate.
"Please, sir, Browne--" "Browne leaves here to-day," said Mr Draven coldly; "what do you want ?" "Please, sir, I hope you will--" I forgot where I was and what I was saying.

My mind wandered aimlessly, and I ended my sentence I don't know how.
Draven saw I was confused, and wasn't unkind.
"You have been a friend of Browne, I know," he said, "and you are sorry.
So am I, terribly sorry," and his voice quite quavered as he spoke.
There was a pause, and I made a frantic effort to recall my scattered thoughts.
"Won't you let him off this time, sir ?" I gasped.
"That, Smither, is out of the question," said the head master, so steadily and incisively that I gave it up, and left the room without another word.

The fellows were trooping down the passage to breakfast, little guessing the secret of my miserable looks, or the reason why Browne was not in his usual place.
But the secret came out, and the school staggered under the shock.

Mr Draven announced our comrade's departure kindly enough in the afternoon, adding that he had confessed the offence for which he was expelled, and was penitent.

Two hours later we saw his cab drive off, and as we watched it disappear it all seemed to us like a hideous dream.
We said little about it to one another.