"Will Mr. Fullerton please take the chair?" asked the class president.
"The present presiding officer wishes the privileges of the floor."
Amid more intense silence Fullerton went forward to the chair, while
Douglass stepped softly down to the floor.
"Mr. Chairman," called Douglass.
"Mr. Douglass has the floor."
Douglass was already on his feet, of course. He plunged into
an accurate narrative of what had happened, and what he had overheard,
on Saturday night. He told it all without embellishment or flourish,
and wound up by calling attention to Jordan's plain enough desertion
from the corps.
Durville then obtained the floor. He corroborated all that the class
president had just narrated.
"May I now make a motion, sir?" demanded Durville, turning finally
toward the class president.
"Yes," nodded Cadet Douglass.
"Mr. Chairman, I move that the first class, United States Military
Academy, remove the Coventry and the silence that have been put
upon our comrade, Mr. Richard Prescott. I move that, by class
resolution, we express to him our regret for the great though
unintentional injustice that has been done Mr. Prescott during
these many months."
"I second the motion!" shouted Douglass.
It was carried amid an uproar. If there were any present who
did not wish to see Dick thus reinstated, they were wise enough
to keep their opinions to themselves.
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