"You _must_!" insisted the principal, rising swiftly from his
chair.

"I regret to have to say, sir," responded Prescott, quietly, "that
I shall not do it. If you make it necessary, I shall have to
take refuge behind the rulings of the Board of Education on that
point."

Mr. Cantwell glared at Dick, but the latter still met the gaze
unflinchingly.

Then the principal began to feel his wrath rising to such a point
that he found himself threatened with an angry outburst. As his
temper had often betrayed him before in life, Mr. Cantwell, pointing
angrily to Dick's place, said:

"Back to your seat, Mr. Prescott, until I have given this matter
a little more thought!"

Immediately afterward the principal quitted the room. Dick, after
sitting in silence for a few moments, drew his history again from
his desk, turned over the pages, found the place he wanted and
began to read.

It was ten minutes later when the principal returned to the room.
He had been to one of the class rooms, where he had paced up
and down until he felt that he could control himself enough to
utter a few words. Now, he came back.