Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/292

260 “Phil, the first duty you have now is to be guided by your father and mother. They know so much better than you what is right for you. I can see how hard it is for you to give in, in this case. But while a sneak and a tell-tale is the meanest of boys, you would not be either, under these circumstances.”

“Yes, I should,” answered Phil. “It’s a mean thing to do, and the fellows would all be down on me.”

“Suppose they were?” replied Bess. “Is it your parents or ‘the fellows’ that you want to please? I will tell you what one trouble is, Phil; you have read too many stories where  the hero nobly bears the punishment for another  boy, and is only cleared on the last half-page. Isn’t it true?”

Phil laughed, in spite of himself.

“That would be all very well if you had no duty to any one but yourself; but, back of that, you owe obedience to your father and mother, and if they think that you ought to go back into school, that is what you should do. You are too young, my boy, to decide these things for yourself. And it is because we have so