But if you give me reason, I shall most certainly do it!" Mr Parrett spoke severely, and looked as good as his word.

He had carefully weighed his words beforehand, and he knew tolerably well the boys with whom he had to deal.

They were noisy boys, and troublesome boys, and cheeky boys, and idle boys, but they were honest on the whole, and the master calculated pretty shrewdly on the effect which this last decision would have on their conduct.
As long as it was a mere question of getting his own particular self into a row, not one of these boys fixed any precise limit to his disorderly instincts; but when it came to getting a whole lot of other boys into the row too, a new and very embarrassing difficulty arose which was fairly insurmountable.
Mr Parrett dismissed the boys sternly, and then, trusting he had done right, and trusting still more to be able to turn the better qualities of his noisy young pupils to some good purpose, he went straight to the doctor and told him what he had done.
Dr Patrick fully approved of the decision of his colleague, and while on the subject opened his mind to him on the question of the discipline of Willoughby generally.
"Have you been able to judge at all of the order of the school lately, Parrett ?" he said.
"Well, sir," said Mr Parrett, "I'm not sure that it is as good as it should be.

Of course, it was an experiment making Riddell captain, particularly as he is not generally popular." "His unpopularity arises from no cause in himself," said the doctor; "if it did I would not have put him in the post.

But he will live it down-- in fact, he is doing so now, I fancy." "I think he is," said Mr Parrett.