" And I," observed Mr Janty, with a bow, " happened
to have my back towards him — ^inadvertently, however,
believe me — and therefore was not in a position to see
him."

I knew that both these two gentlemen were telling
lies, and it devolved upon me — ^to whom the colonel
turned somewhat impatiently — ^to contradict their evi-
dence. Walpole had been crying all school-time, as
most boys of eight years with the small bone of their
right arm broken, would probably do ; and I said so.
" This is, as you remarked. Doctor Dumplin," said
the colonel, when I had finished, "a mere matter of
evidence. There has been a falsehood told, most cer-
tainly, either by yourself and your ushers on the one
hand, or by my boy and his companion on the other.
You are a clergyman, and those persons are under your
control, so I say no more. For you, young gentleman,"
he added, turning to the monitor, " if I did not feel
that you were in some sort a slave to a vicious system
yourself, be assured that, before I took my son away
from this school — which I shall do now and at once —
I would thresh you, as long as I could stand over you,
with this cane ;" which indeed I should have liked to
have seen him do exceedingly.
