A deep silence fell upon the school at these words. The pupils all
seemed to feel that they stood in the presence of a great strife. One
naturally holds his breath under such circumstances.

Then "Dodd" stood up in his place, and the latent manhood, that had
long lain dormant within him, asserted itself. In a clear though
somewhat subdued voice, he said:

"I want to apologize for what I did this morning, and I pledge you my
word of honor that hereafter, so long as I am a member of this school,
I will behave myself."

His voice trembled somewhat towards the close, but he went bravely
through to the end, and then sat down.

Then Mr. Bright bowed his head, and said:

"Our Father in heaven, whose weak and erring children we all are, bless
the boy whose confession we have just heard, and help him to keep his
word of honor like a man. And help us all, in all our strifes with
evil and with wrong, that we may come out of them better, and stronger,
and purer, even as our Master was made perfect through suffering,
Amen." That was all!

Perhaps there were dry eyes in the room just then. If so, they did not
appear,

After a pause of an instant, Mr. Bright said:

"You may go on with your work," and the pupils turned to their books