One or two who could never hear a good story too often would not have objected if somebody else had demanded further information.

But for their own part, their discretion outdid their curiosity, and they retained their seats amidst a dead silence.
"Very well.

Now I will put a question to you as a body.

It is a very serious question, and one which no honest boy here, if he is able to answer it, can afford to evade.

A great deal more depends on your answer than the mere expulsion of one or more wrong-doers.