“Answer me, Mr. Wendell,” said Dr. Drayton after a pause. “Were you one of that party of students who created the disorder last night?” “I was with them, sir,” said Ray, making the same answer as I had. “And you were masked like the others?” “No, sir.” Dr. Drayton looked at him quickly. “Mr. Wendell,” he said, in a still sharper tone of voice, “we are speaking upon information furnished us by Mr. Elder.” Ray turned with a quick movement and looked at me. I shall never forget that look――a look of mingled surprise, disappointment, and reproach. It cut me like a knife, for I saw only too clearly what it meant. Coupling the display of the match box, which he remembered giving me the night before, with Dr. Drayton’s last words, Ray had concluded, as was only natural in the face of such evidence, that I had betrayed him. The thought that he should suspect me of such baseness, for one instant, was more than I could stand, so I hastened to correct the impression at once. “Dr. Drayton,” I said quickly, “my words misled you. When I said that I wore no mask I did not intend to imply that _all_ the rest wore masks.” “That was certainly the impression you gave me, sir,” answered Dr. Drayton, “and I think the other gentlemen of the faculty placed a similar construction upon your language.” “I am very sorry, sir,” I stammered. “There were several others besides myself who wore no masks, and Mr. Wendell was one of them.” I glanced quickly at Ray as I said this, in order to mark the effect of my words. He would not look at me, and it was only too evident from his manner that his doubts had not been cleared by my attempted explanation. Dr. Drayton’s positive tone, and my hesitancy and embarrassment, Ray had undoubtedly interpreted to my disadvantage. It must have seemed to him that Dr. Drayton was right, and that I had weakly shifted my position. I was distressed to see that I had not improved matters appreciably. “I must wait till we are alone; then I can explain it,” I thought. Meanwhile I was in a far from enviable position――in disgrace with the faculty, and at the same time suspected of falseness by my best friend. The inquiries were again directed toward Ray. “Then you _did not_ wear a mask?” said Dr. Drayton. “No, sir.” “Was the match box in your possession when the cannons were discharged?” “No, sir,” answered Ray. “I lent it to some one a short time before.” Dr. Drayton leaned forward and continued with greater earnestness. “Mr. Wendell, this match box was found this morning just beside one of the cannons. It was open, and the matches were scattered about, as if it had been dropped in haste immediately after the guns were discharged. We are confident that the man who lighted the cannons, held this match box in his hand.” Ray was silent. “Mr. Wendell, when was it that you lent the box?” asked Professor Fuller, speaking for the first time. “About fifteen minutes before, while we were coming up the hill from the lake,” answered Ray.