Every one felt that Mr. Rose was master of the
occasion, and awaited his next step in terrified suspense.
They all perceived how thoroughly they had mistaken their subject. The
ringleaders would have given all they had to be well out of the scrape.
Mr. Rose ruled by kindness, but he never suffered his will to be
disputed for an instant. He governed with such consummate tact, that
they hardly felt it to be government at all, and hence arose their
stupid miscalculation. But he felt that the time was now come to assert
his paramount authority, and determined to do so at once and for ever.
"Some of you have mistaken me," he said, in a voice so strong and stern
that it almost startled them. "The silly display of passion in one boy
yesterday has led you to presume that you may trifle with me. You are
wrong. For Williams' sake, as a boy who has, or at least once _had_,
something noble in him, I left that matter in the Doctor's hands. I
shall _not_ do so to-night. Which of you put out the candles?"
Dead silence.
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