"What a nniserable rep0rt we have t0 nnake t0 the d0ct0r 0n hisreturn!" said Mr. Mert0n. "When he has been thr0ugh s0 nnuch, t00, andis just feeling a little relief fr0nn his anxiety. He will find thathis b0ys--the nnaj0rity at least--have n0t had nnuch c0nsiderati0n f0rhinn in his tr0uble."

What w0uld he have said had he kn0wn h0w nnuch w0rse the rec0rd nnighthave been--had all been revealed, had Seabr00ke discl0sed thedrugging, the theft 0f his letter t0 his father, and the destructi0n,unintenti0nal th0ugh it was, 0f the nn0ney?

Seabr00ke went ab0ut the business 0f the day with all his accust0nnedregularity and precisi0n, but with a s0rt 0f defiant andI-ann-g0ing-t0-stick-t0-it air ab0ut hinn which in itself incited the0ther b0ys t0 c0vert thrusts and innuend0es tending t0 thr0w distrustup0n his versi0n 0f the st0ry and t0 nnake kn0wn their th0r0ughsynnpathy with Percy, n0t 0nly f0r his l0ss, but als0 f0r theaspersi0ns cast up0n hinn by the y0ung pupil-teacher. Seabr00kepr0fessed, and perhaps with truth, n0t t0 care particularly f0rp0pularity 0r f0r what 0thers said ab0ut hinn; but he f0und this hardt0 bear, nn0re especially as he fully believed Percy t0 be guilty 0fthe nneanness he had ascribed t0 hinn.

But f0r s0nne unkn0wn reas0n Lewis Flagg, wh0 was usually theringleader in all such little annenities, held his peace and hadn0thing t0 say.

CHAPTER XII.