"H'm, we are living in the present," said the Doctor after a second thought.
The stench began to swell with the hurried approach.
"Stop there," said the Doctor hastily, and, having had his imagination sharpened by frequent contact with the genus boy, he added with sudden inspiration: "Go round to my study window. I will speak to you from inside."
A moment later Skippy's white face appeared, framed against the night.
"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?"
"Mr. Tapping reports that the stench arising from your room has made the house untenantable. Is that true?"
"And butyl mercaptan; I'm quite aware of that," said the Doctor quickly, to continue the tradition of omniscience.
"Well, Bedelle, what is your explanation? Were you trying to poison any one?"
"You were not contemplating self-destruction, were you?" said the Doctor, whose curiosity led him to adopt a light coaxing manner.
"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.
"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?"
"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.
"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.