"Bedelle, Mr. Hopkins reports that you were dismissed from first recital this morning, for being in a condition which unfitted you for association with your fellow beings. Is that true?" "Please, sir, it was the citronella." "Mr. Tapping reports that the stench arising from your room has made the house untenantable. Is that true?" "Please, sir, that was asafoetida and--" "And butyl mercaptan; I'm quite aware of that," said the Doctor quickly, to continue the tradition of omniscience. "Yes, sir." "Well, Bedelle, what is your explanation? Were you trying to poison any one?" "Oh, no, sir!" "You were not contemplating self-destruction, were you?" said the Doctor, whose curiosity led him to adopt a light coaxing manner. "Please, sir, I was experimenting." "Experimenting! What for?" "I'm sorry, sir, I can't tell you," said Skippy defiantly. He had foreseen the test, but he was resolved to be drawn and quartered before yielding up the secret of his future millions. "You--can't--tell--ME?" said the Doctor in his pulpit sternness. "No, sir. I've taken an oath." "Do you realize, Bedelle, that you owe me an explanation, that if there is no explanation for this extraordinary attack on the discipline and morale of the school that I should be quite justified in requesting your immediate departure?" "I know, sir. Yes, sir." "And you refuse still?" "It's an invention, sir. That's all I can tell you, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Please, Doctor, I'd like to stay in the school." The Doctor considered. He was a just man and his sense of humor allowed him to distinguish between the vicious and the playful imagination. After long, agonizing moments for Skippy waiting at the window, he took a sudden decision. "Bedelle?" "Yes, sir." "If I let you remain at Lawrenceville, will you give me a promise--that so long as you remain here, you won't attempt to invent anything else?" "So long as I'm in the school?" said Skippy, broken-hearted. "Absolutely. It's that or expulsion. I have four hundred tender lives to protect. Well?" "I swear," said Skippy, with tears in his eyes. The Doctor bit hard and said: "Then I shall overlook this. Your record is in your favor. I shall overlook this. I have your word of honor, Bedelle. Good night." Skippy drew a long breath and went hurriedly back to the Kennedy. But there he halted. The smell was awful and the comments which reached him through the open windows were not at all reassuring. "I think--I think perhaps it's warm enough outside," he said, heavy-hearted. * * * * *