"Before?" said Prout.

"No, after you had dealt with them; but I was careful not to inquire.
I never interfere with--"

"I myself," said Hartopp, "would cheerfully give him five shillings if
he could work out one simple sum in compound interest without three
gross errors."

"Why--why--why!" Mason, the mathematical master, stuttered, a fierce
joy on his face, "you've been had--precisely the same as me!"

"And so you held an inquiry?" Little Hartopp's voice drowned Mason's
ere Prout caught the import of the sentence.

"The boy himself hinted at the existence of a deal of it in the
house," said Prout.

"He is past master in that line," said the chaplain. "But, as regards
the honor of the house--"

"They lowered it in a week. I have striven to build it up for years.
My own house-prefects--and boys do not willingly complain of each
other--besought me to get rid of them. You say you have their
confidence, Gillett: they may tell you another tale. As far as I am
concerned, they may go to the devil in their own way. I'm sick and
tired of them," said Prout bitterly.

But it was the Reverend John, with a smiling countenance, who went to