"I had thought," he said, "that there were in this school some boys
who had a notion of gentlemanly behaviour, manly conduct, and common
decency. I see that I was mistaken. The behaviour of certain of you
to-day--I will not mention them because of their exceeding shame, but
you will all know whom I mean. . . ." At this moment all the boys turned
round and looked hard at Gordon, Smith, and Hart minor, who blushed
scarlet, and whose eyes filled with tears. . . . "The less said about
the matter the better," continued the headmaster, "but I confess that it
is difficult for me to understand how any one, however young, can be so
hardened and so wanton as to behave in the callous and indecent way in
which certain of you--I need not mention who--have behaved to-day. You
have disgraced the school in the eyes of strangers; you have violated
the laws of hospitality and courtesy; you have shown that in St. James's
there is not a gleam of patriotism, not a spark of interest in the
school, not a touch of that ordinary common English manliness, that
sense for the interests of the school and the community which makes
Englishmen what they are. The boys who have been most guilty in this
matter have already been punished, and I do not propose to punish them
further; but I had intended to take the whole school for an expedition
to the New Forest next week.
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