Part 7 (1/2)

”I told him he was a great deacon,” the boy said hotly; ”and I'm glad I did it, too. He ought to know what we think of him. He goes to church every Sunday, with a long face on him; and, all the rest of the week, he bullies the fellows.”

”At least, you think he does,” Theodora amended.

”He does,” Allyn returned fiercely. ”He is a coward, too, and never goes for our crowd; but takes boys like Jamie Lyman, stupid, shabby little milksops that don't dare stand up to him. It isn't their fault that they are dunces, and he ought to know it. I told him so.”

Theodora looked perplexed.

”Sit down, Allyn,” she said. ”I want to talk this over quietly. Does papa know?”

”No; it's only just now, and I came straight to you. I thought perhaps you would help me tell him. I'm sorry, Ted, honestly sorry; but there wasn't anything else to do.”

Up to this moment, Theodora had been trying to hold on to the threads of her interrupted chapter. Now she dropped them entirely, as she rested her arm on Allyn's shoulder.

”I am glad to have you tell me things,” she said. ”Now make a clean breast of it, Allyn.”

And Allyn did make a clean breast of it, sparing nothing of the detail of weeks of petty tyranny. It was a story which fortunately is rare in these latter days, a story of a nervous, toadying teacher who vented his bad temper in those directions where there was least chance of its rousing a just resentment.

”I couldn't help it, Ted,” he said at length. ”I've no sort of use for Jamie Lyman; he lisps and he has warts, and he hasn't the pluck of a white rat. He looks like one, anyhow, with his tow head and his little pinky eyes. I told Mr. Mitch.e.l.l it was a shame. He talked a good deal, and I suppose I did. We both were pretty mad, and then he told me I must take it back, or else get out. I couldn't take it back, so I walked off.”

In the boy's excitement, the words came tumbling over each other and his brown eyes lighted. Then they grew dull again, as his sister spoke.

”I am sorry about it, Allyn,” she said slowly; ”sorry for you, because you must go back and apologize.”

”I won't.”

”I think you'll have to. There isn't any other way.”

”But it was all true.”

”Perhaps so. I am not sure. I know you meant to stand up for the right side; still, you must apologize to Mr. Mitch.e.l.l, all the same.”

The boy stared at her reproachfully.

”But I thought you would understand, Ted.”

”I do, dear. If I didn't understand quite so well, I shouldn't be so sure what you ought to do. When I was your age, I was always getting into just such sc.r.a.pes as this, simply because I used to burn up all my powder without taking aim. All the good it did, was to show up the weak spots of my position. Go slow, Allyn, and don't be so ready to fight. It never does any good.”

”But I wasn't going to sit still and let him bully that little baby,”

Allyn argued.

”No; but you needn't have tried to bully him in your turn,” his sister answered promptly, though in her heart of hearts she was in perfect sympathy with her young brother. She gloried in his fearlessness, even while she told herself that he must submit to discipline. ”It wasn't your place to tell Mr. Mitch.e.l.l what he ought to do. He is an older man, and he may have reasons that you don't know. He is not accountable to you, Allyn, and his judgment may be better than yours. Moreover, you owe him obedience, and the McAlisters always pay their debts.”

”Have I got to eat humble pie and go back, Teddy?”

”You've got to eat humble pie,” she said, as a laughing note crept into her voice when she thought of Jamie Lyman, insignificant and warty cause of such a storm. ”About your going back, that is for papa to say, dear. I think you ought to do it.”

”I hate that school!” he muttered restively.

”Why?”

”Don't like the fellows.”