Page:Stanwood Pier--Harding of St Timothys.djvu/98

76 kids, waiting for a licking! Once I thought I was going to laugh and spoil it all."

"But were n't you—did n't you mean what you said to them?"

"Oh, I felt quite badly about their actions," Rupert replied. And then he became more serious. "Why, yes, if I'd just seen them coming out of the Pie House and the doctor hadn't given me any tip, I'd have had to talk to them, of course—sort of sad and sorry because they did n't have more sense. That's the way I'd have felt—and talked. But when the doctor told me to light into them—well, it was easy enough. Maybe it was better for them. Anyway, it was more fun for me. I guess they won't break training again in a hurry. Poor old Frank Windsor and Harry Harding! Did you notice them? They looked as woebegone as if they'd just been fired from the school."

"Some of 'em looked pretty mad," Stoddard said. "Herrick was mad."

Rupert laughed. "Well, I don't wonder," he acknowledged. "I guess maybe I was pretty