"Sir--sir," broke in Ralph, indignantly appealing to Dr. Beverly, "I know that you have always been kind to me, and I ask you to protect me from Lord Elgert's insults, lest I may forget myself and say words which I ought not to say. I want no friendship nor influence of his. I am not guilty, and I will not accept anything which will make it appear that I am. As to saving his son, Warren did as much as I did, and we could do no less for any one who was in danger, but I can honestly say that I wish that it had been any one else than Horace Elgert." A very ugly look swept over the face of Lord Elgert, and he stepped back, remarking to Dr. Beverly-- "In that case, there is no need for me to interrupt you any longer--at any rate, so far as this boy is concerned." "Now, attention!" said the Head; and the school straightened up again. "We have heard what Ralph Rexworth has to say, and some of you are evidently quite certain that he is guilty--that he is a thief, and, worse, a liar also--and that in face of what we have just heard. A boy who risks his life to save that of another is surely not so poor spirited as this. To believe that he is, is to believe that utter contradictions can be reconcilable." "Please, sir," said one lad, rising in his place, "there is one thing which I should like to say." "You may speak, sir," was the reply which he received; and the boy went on-- "Rexworth says that he thought he took his pocket-book away with him on Saturday. Please, sir, so he did, for I saw him take it from his other coat. He laid it on his bed for a minute, and then looked at a likeness in it, and afterwards put it into his pocket. So that if it was found here this morning, some one must have picked it up and brought it back." "That is most important, if it is true," said the Head, while Ralph felt a rush of relief, and turned grateful eyes upon the speaker. "Are you sure that he did put it into his pocket, and not either replace it in the coat from which he took it, or leave it lying on the bed?" "Quite sure, sir," answered the lad confidently. "I saw him slip it into his pocket, and I wondered whose likeness it was that he carried about with him." "It is my mother's, sir," said Ralph in a low voice. And the Head nodded. "Then, if this be true, a most wicked and evil plot has indeed been attempted--one so bad that, when I discover those who invented it, they shall surely be expelled. I am glad to have this testimony, although it was almost needless, for I am already quite certain that Ralph Rexworth is innocent--or, I had better say, that the evidence against him is valueless. "In the first place, this pocket-book"--and he held it up--"has certainly been dropped, for its side is still stained with mud, and there is the mark of a boot, where some one has stepped upon it. In the next place--and this in itself is sufficient--a little mistake has been made. Is this note yours, Rexworth?"