“No, I can’t,” responded the Head decisively. “And for some reasons I am sorry; but it was such a manly and unselfish course for the boy to take, that I freely forgave him and promised him immunity. So far as he is concerned, I have no doubt that is the best course. But there are others—the ringleaders, I suspect. I want the investigation made, of course, if you can do it without acting on mere suspicion. If you can get me evidence in a straightforward way, I shall act on it. Just now, I wish you would find Deering and ask him to come in here to see me.” “Yes, sir.” Maclaren took his leave then, and the Head Master turned to his morning mail. Within fifteen minutes Tony stood before him. He had not slept well and the strain through which he had been passing had told on his appearance—his freshness was dulled, there were circles under his eyes, his usually eager manner was unwontedly quiet and subdued. The Head put the matter very briefly and frankly. “The evidence seemed very strong against you, my boy,” he concluded; “though I will say in justice to you that even when things looked darkest I never ceased to believe in you. I felt the difficulty, but I saw no way out but to push things on.” “I understand, sir,” Tony replied. The weight was off his heart now, but he was still a little constrained and self-conscious. He was thinking how much he would like to say many things to Reggie and wondering if he could say them when the opportunity came. “I must say, taking it all in all,” resumed the Doctor, “that heredity seems to demonstrate itself afresh in your case with unusual force. You remind me uncommonly of your grandfather. There was an affair at Kingsbridge in his sophomore year—a piece of brutal hazing. It was rather bad, you know, in our day. But Basil had had absolutely nothing to do with it. He was captured by the proctors under suspicious though in reality perfectly innocent circumstances, and to save a guilty friend, he maintained a stubborn silence to the verge of expulsion. The friend’s confession at last saved him also.” Tony smiled. “That’s like my grandfather, certainly.” “I admire the trait, you know,” continued Doctor Forester, “but I think there are limits to its indulgence. There is a point, as a boy seldom can realize, at which the authorities must probe very much as the law probes, with a fine disregard for personal feelings. Things that deeply concern the moral welfare of the boys here I must sometimes be inquisitorial about in a way that I little like. I think it well to suffer for a friend, but not to the extent of permitting untruth to establish itself in the minds of those who after all are responsible for your welfare.” “I am afraid, sir, I don’t know where to draw the line.” “No, my boy, I am afraid you do not.” “I think it was pretty fine of Carroll to come to you, sir,” ventured Tony upon this.