I was somehow pleased that he had not added the customary “Sir.” He stood with his head up and gazed straight at Limpet and the old woman, with a kind of contemptuous wrath, his gray eyes dark and very bright, a frown on his face. The old woman was so obviously uncertain and uncomfortable that the whole thing appeared to me ridiculous, and I impulsively gave voice to this impression. “She doesn’t know anything about it,” I called out. “Anybody could see she’s only trying it on.” Limpet on the spot gave me two hundred of Sir Walter Scott’s bad verses to write out. My remark had the effect, nevertheless, of drawing a wavering expression of uncertainty from the old woman herself, which, in his now undisguised irritability, Limpet pounced on, as a cat pounces on a mouse. “Why did you point to him, if you don’t know?” he whipped out, frightening her nearly out of her wits. “Don’t you understand that it’s a serious thing to bring an accusation of theft against a boy? Sit down, Gill. I want to see you after school.” He was so angry that he forgot all about the half-dozen remaining boys, and conducted his companion unceremoniously from the room. Gill sat staring straight in front of him. Certainly he did not look guilty. He had a dark, narrow face, with a bright complexion. His thick, rough, black hair grew low on an oval, narrow forehead, and between his clear gray eyes there started a high-bridged, somewhat aggressive-looking nose, the most striking feature of his rather striking face. He had the reputation of being a peculiar kind of chap, and he was sometimes made fun of――mildly, for he was extremely quick-tempered and very strong――but anybody could see that he was a fine fellow, and that an accusation such as had just been brought against him would require a great deal of proof. When the bell rang he remained on in his seat while the rest of us went out, I hung about the porch watching two little fellows playing chestnuts, and when they stopped playing I still hung about with nothing to watch, and with, indeed, no very definite purpose in view. Presently Gill emerged, but whether he saw me or not, he took no notice, as he walked on swiftly down toward the gate.