"Does--does he cane very hard ?" "Oh, dear, yes," said Crawley mischievously; "you don't forget it for some days, I can tell you! Just look at little Parker," he went on, pointing to the child's terrified face: "wouldn't any unprejudiced person think he had done it himself ?" "Oh, no, no," cried the boy angrily, "how dare you say so?
How could I?
What would I want with a boat ?" "Reserve your defence for the Doctor, sir," said Crawley impressively.
Something in the boy's piteous eagerness had attracted Haggart's attention, and he turned and looked at him sharply.

His eyes were wide open and had a terrified look, and his thin lips were trembling, his small childish hand was fidgeting with the buttons of his coat.
First, a breath of suspicion came to Haggart, and a great rush of pity and contempt; then, as the child's eyes seemed to rise unwillingly to his, the secret leaped from one heart to the other, and he knew.

His lips curled disdainfully, and he jumped off the table, hustling his little band of followers out of the way.
"There's the Doctor," he said; "let me pass." All the boys stood up as the master majestically moved over to the fireplace and kicked the logs into a blaze.

Then he faced round suddenly, and spoke in his peculiarly clear, decisive tones.

"There has been an act of great disobedience perpetrated here during the last twenty-four hours," he said.