initial commit of ebook 12083HEADmain

14 files changed, 63852 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/12083-0.txt b/12083-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac55581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/12083-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10773 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12083 ***
+
+ERIC
+
+OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL
+
+By
+
+FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.
+
+Author of “The Life of Christ,” “Julian Home,” “St. Winifreds,” etc
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+GEORGE A. TRAVER
+
+
+1902
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I
+
+CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD
+CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME
+CHAPTER III--BULLYING
+CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING
+CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM
+CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS
+CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER
+CHAPTER VIII--“TAKING UP”
+CHAPTER IX--“DEAD FLIES,” OR “YE SHALL BE AS GODS”
+CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE
+CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY
+CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL
+CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN
+
+
+PART II
+
+CHAPTER I--ABDIEL
+CHAPTER II--WILDNEY
+CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING
+CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+CHAPTER V--RIPPLES
+CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU
+CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS
+CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND
+CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION
+CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL
+CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST
+CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+BULLYING
+ERIC _Vignette on title-page_
+SMOKING
+ON THE ROCK
+OUT OF THE WINDOW
+ERIC AND VERNON
+HIDING
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+PART 1
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+     “Ah dear delights, that o’er my soul
+     On memory’s wing like shadows fly!
+     Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,
+     While Innocence stood laughing by.”--COLERIDGE.
+
+“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” cried a young boy, as he capered vigorously
+about, and clapped his hands. “Papa and mamma will be home in a week
+now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and _then_, and _then_,
+I shall go to school.”
+
+The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he stopped
+his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin Fanny was
+patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so much affected
+by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so he again exclaimed,
+“And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to school.”
+
+“Well, Eric,” said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face from her
+endless work, “I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it with quite as
+much joy a year hence.”
+
+“O ay, Fanny, that’s just like you to say so; you’re always talking and
+prophesying; but never mind, I’m going to school, so hurrah! hurrah!
+hurrah!” and he again began his capering,--jumping over the chairs,
+trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing with an exuberance of
+delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his little spaniel Flo, he
+sprang through the open window into the garden, and disappeared behind
+the trees of the shrubbery; but Fanny still heard his clear, ringing,
+silvery laughter, as he continued his games in the summer air.
+
+She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In spite of
+the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of heaviness and
+foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling and beautiful, and
+there was an almost irresistible contagion in the mirth of her young
+cousin, but still she could not help feeling sad. It was not merely that
+she would have to part with Eric, “but that bright boy,” thought Fanny,
+“what will become of him? I have heard strange things of schools; oh, if
+he should be spoilt and ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby
+lips, that pure young heart, a year may work sad change in their words
+and thoughts!” She sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised
+them upwards, and breathed a silent prayer.
+
+She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest years.
+In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful, ingenuous, quick,
+he would acquire almost without effort any subject that interested him,
+and a word was often enough to bring the impetuous blood to his cheeks,
+in a flush, of pride or indignation. He required the gentlest teaching,
+and had received it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of
+stainless honor that he avoided most of the faults to which children are
+prone. But he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well
+knew that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his own
+superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it always met
+with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it difficult to
+subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing her rule. Beyond a
+certain age no boy of spirit can be safely guided by a woman’s
+hand alone.
+
+Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a civilian in
+India, and was returning on furlough to England after a long absence.
+Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to England by his parents
+at an early age, in charge of a lady friend of his mother. The parting,
+which had been agony to his father and mother, he was too young to feel;
+indeed the moment itself passed by without his being conscious of it.
+They took him on board the ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer
+and some nails to play with. These had always been to him a supreme
+delight, and while he hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying
+themselves, for the child’s sake, even one more tearful embrace, went
+ashore in the boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he
+was told he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child,
+his tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had become
+the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from Captain
+Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon struck up an
+acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed a tear, as he
+lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro’s knee, and asked God
+“to bless his dear dear father and mother, and make him a good boy.”
+
+When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a widowed
+aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his early teaching.
+At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely to form no accession
+to the quiet household, but he soon became its brightest ornament and
+pride. Everything was in his favor at the pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor.
+He was treated with motherly kindness and tenderness, yet firmly checked
+when he went wrong. From the first he had a well-spring of strength,
+against temptation, in the long letters which every mail brought from
+his parents; and all his childish affections were entwined round the
+fancied image of a brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room
+there hung a cherub’s head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this
+picture was inextricably identified in his imagination with his “little
+brother Vernon.” He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray,
+nothing weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he
+came home.
+
+And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with him in
+his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was situated in
+the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran through the valley
+at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor’s orchard. Eric loved this stream, and was
+always happy as he roamed by its side, or over the low green hills and
+scattered dingles, which lent unusual loveliness to every winding of its
+waters. He was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it did
+him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the
+want of amusement. The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for
+endless games and romps, sometimes with no other companion than his
+cousin and his dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age
+whom he knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When asked
+if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in dreams and at
+some other times, he saw a little child, with long curly hair, running
+about in a little garden, near a great river, in a place where the air
+was very bright. But whether the little boy was himself or his brother
+Vernon, whom he had never seen, he couldn’t quite tell.
+
+But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was religious and
+enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter, religion was not a
+system but a habit--not a theory, but a continued act of life. All was
+simple, sweet, and unaffected about their charity and their devotions.
+They loved God, and they did all the good they could to those around
+them. The floating gossip and ill-nature of the little village never
+affected them; it melted away insensibly in the presence of their
+cultivated minds; and so friendship with them was a bond of union among
+all, and from the vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected
+them, asked their counsel, and sought their sympathy.
+
+They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have told to
+what “party” they belonged. They troubled themselves with no theories of
+education, but mingled gentle nurture with “wholesome neglect.” There
+was nothing exotic or constrained in the growth of Eric’s character. He
+was not one of your angelically good children at all, and knew none of
+the phrases of which infant prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had
+not been taught any distinction between “Sunday books” and “week-day”
+books, but no book had been put in his way that was not healthy and
+genuine in tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah’s ark
+on Sunday, because it was “a Sunday plaything,” while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought little;
+they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced idleness or
+constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love Sunday quite as well
+as any other day in the week, though, unlike your angelic children, he
+never professed to like it better. But to be truthful, to be honest, to
+be kind, to be brave, these had been taught him, and he never _quite_
+forgot the lesson; nor amid the sorrows of after life did he ever quite
+lose the sense--learnt at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God,
+of a tender and long-suffering Father.
+
+As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had been sent
+indeed to Mr. Lawley’s grammar-school for the last half-year, and had
+learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar. But as Mr. Lawley
+allowed his upper class to hear the little boys their lessons, Eric had
+managed to get on pretty much as he liked. Only _once_ in the entire
+half-year had he said a lesson to the dreadful master himself, and of
+course it was a ruinous failure, involving some tremendous pulls of
+Eric’s hair, and making him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined
+to make Mr. Lawley dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite
+little, he remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the “Latin
+school” as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that Eric
+never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this kept him in
+a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go out, and see what
+time it was by the church clock. Only hearing that he was to do
+something, too frightened to ask what it was, and feeling sure that even
+if he did, he should not understand what the master said, Eric ran out,
+went straight to Mr. Lawley’s house, and after having managed by
+strenuous jumps to touch the knocker, informed the servant “that Mr.
+Lawley wanted his man.”
+
+“What man?” said the maid-servant, “the young man? or the butler? or is
+it the clerk?”
+
+Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit of
+sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries; but he
+was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said “the young man” at
+hazard, and went back to the Latin school.
+
+“Why have you been so long?” roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly entered.
+Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said, so he answered
+at random, “He’s coming, sir.” The master, seeing by his scared look
+that something was wrong, waited to see what would turn up.
+
+Soon after, in walked “the young man,” and coming to the astonished Mr.
+Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, “Master Williams said you sent for
+me, sir.”
+
+“A mistake,” growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look which
+nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head, or at best a
+great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally a kind heart,
+soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child’s white face, he
+contented himself with the effects of his look.
+
+The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in the
+head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an imprudent
+marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little country
+grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to his refined
+mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had gradually
+unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys “that it was an
+easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than to teach them;”
+and at last his eccentricities became too obvious to be any longer
+overlooked.
+
+The dénouement of his history was a tragic one, and had come a few days
+before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a common practice
+among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all boys, to amuse
+themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a door left partially
+ajar, and to cry out “Crown him” as the first luckless youngster who
+happened to come in received the book thundering on his head. One day,
+just as the trap had been adroitly laid, Mr. Lawley walked in
+unexpectedly. The moment he entered the school-room, down came an
+Ainsworth’s Dictionary on the top of his hat, and the boy, concealed
+behind the door, unconscious of who the victim was, enunciated with mock
+gravity, “Crown him! three cheers.”
+
+It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the battered hat,
+and recover from his confusion; the next instant he was springing after
+the boy who had caused the mishap, and who, knowing the effects of the
+master’s fury, fled with precipitation. In one minute the offender was
+caught, and Mr. Lawley’s heavy hand fell recklessly on his ears and
+back, until he screamed with terror. At last by a tremendous writhe,
+wrenching himself free, he darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too
+exhausted to pursue, snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and
+hurled it at the boy’s retreating figure. The watch flew through the
+air;--crash! it had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the
+lintel, fell smashed into a thousand shivers.
+
+The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken watch,
+which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the master to
+his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there pale and
+breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could bear it no
+longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face with his hands,
+and burst into hysterical tears. It was the outbreak of feelings long
+pent up. In that instant all his life passed before him--its hopes, its
+failures, its miseries, its madness. “Yes!” he thought, “I am mad.”
+
+Raising his head, he cried wildly, “Boys, go, I am mad!” and sank again
+into his former position, rocking himself to and fro. One by one the
+boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is soon told. Forced to
+leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his daily bread; and the weight
+of this new anxiety hastening the crisis, the handsome proud scholar
+became an inmate of the Brerely Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards,
+Eric heard that he was dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest
+in peace.
+
+Such was Eric’s first school and schoolmaster. But although he learnt
+little there, and gained no experience of the character of others or of
+his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin School, which he
+never regretted. It was the mixture there of all classes. On those
+benches gentlemen’s sons sat side by side with plebeians, and no harm,
+but only good, seemed to come from the intercourse. The neighboring
+gentry, most of whom had begun their education there, were drawn into
+closer and kindlier union with their neighbors and dependents, from the
+fact of having been their associates in the days of their boyhood. Many
+a time afterwards, when Eric, as he passed down the streets,
+interchanged friendly greetings with some young glazier or tradesman
+whom he remembered at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt
+practically to despise the accidental and nominal differences which
+separate man from man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A NEW HOME
+
+     “Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;
+     The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,
+     The very breeze hath, mirth in’t.”--OLD PLAY.
+
+At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter informed
+the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at Southampton on
+July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the evening after. They
+particularly requested that no one should come to meet them on their
+landing. “We shall reach Southampton,” wrote Mrs. Trevor, “tired, pale,
+and travel-stained, and had much rather see you first at dear Fairholm,
+where we shall be spared the painful constraint of a meeting in public.
+So please expect our arrival at about seven in the evening.”
+
+Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since the news
+came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and expectation
+made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing all day, every
+hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.
+
+At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening filled the
+sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the sound of wheels; a
+carriage dashed up to the door, and the next moment Eric sprang into his
+mother’s arms.
+
+“O mother, mother!”
+
+“My own darling, darling boy!”
+
+And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father’s heart, and locked in
+the arms of “little brother Vernon.” Who shall describe the emotions of
+those few moments? they did not seem like earthly moments; they seemed
+to belong not to time, but to eternity.
+
+The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy. The little
+party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast asleep with his
+arm round his newfound brother’s neck.
+
+Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father and
+mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could have shown
+no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met their eyes. The
+pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed distinctly the forms
+and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft regular breathing was the
+only sound that broke the stillness of the July night. The small shining
+flower-like faces, with their fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded
+round each brother’s neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an
+exquisite picture, and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without
+a word, the parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of
+joyfulness, poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young
+and beloved boys.
+
+Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed opened to
+Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded itself before
+him. His parents--above all, his mother--were everything that he had
+longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled to his loving heart the ideal
+of his childish fancy. He was never tired of playing with and
+patronising his little brother, and their rambles by stream and hill
+made those days appear the happiest he had ever spent. Every evening
+(for he had not yet laid aside the habits of childhood) he said his
+prayers by his mother’s knee, and at the end of one long summer’s day,
+when prayers were finished, and full of life and happiness he lay down
+to sleep, “O mother,” he said, “I am so happy--I like to say my prayers
+when you are here.”
+
+“Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them.”
+
+“Aren’t there some who never say prayers, mother?”
+
+“Very many, love, I fear.”
+
+“How unhappy they must be! I shall _always_ love to say my prayers.”
+
+“Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!”
+
+And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often came
+back to Eric’s mind in later and less happy days--days when that gentle
+hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when those mild blue
+eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed in heart and life,
+often flung himself down with an unreproaching conscience to
+prayerless sleep.
+
+It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to school in
+the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house in the town of
+Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of furlough, at the end
+of which period Vernon was to be left at Fairholm, and Eric in the house
+of the head-master of the school. Eric enjoyed the prospect of all
+things, and he hardly fancied that Paradise itself could be happier than
+a life at the seaside with his father and mother and Vernon, combined
+with the commencement of schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage
+came, his first glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it
+with only a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him
+silent with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue
+sky melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan. On
+the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills, so that
+when they reached the town and took possession of their cottage, he was
+dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous impressions.
+
+Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as not to
+disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind, and gently
+opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him, one destined to
+be long mingled with all his most vivid reminiscences. Not twenty yards
+below the garden, in front of the house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment
+rippling with golden laughter in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either
+side of the bay was a bold headland, the one stretching out in a series
+of broken crags, the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called
+from its shape the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old
+castle, and the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the
+left, high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School. Eric
+learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a most happy
+boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should be never tired of
+looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes off the great buoy that
+rolled about in the centre of the bay, and flashed in the sunlight at
+every move. He turned round full of hope and spirits, and, after
+watching for a few moments the beautiful face of his sleeping brother,
+he awoke him with a boisterous kiss.
+
+That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands. The
+school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his college cap
+passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He looked very happy
+and engaging, and was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started
+up and gazed after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment
+the unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the
+whole world, and he couldn’t realize the fact that, before the day was
+over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort
+of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again,
+and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy’s destiny
+is twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will know
+very soon.
+
+At nine o’clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his son.
+The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past the ruin, at
+the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any other time Eric
+would have been overflowing with life and wonder at the murmur of the
+ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the rock-bound bay, and the
+numberless little shells, with their bright colors and sculptured
+shapes, which lay about the beach. But now his mind was too full of a
+single sensation, and when, after crossing a green playground, they
+stood by the head-master’s door, his heart fluttered, and it required
+all his energy to keep down the nervous trembling which shook him.
+
+Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr. Rowlands’
+study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he turned to
+address Eric, after a few minutes’ conversation with his father, the boy
+felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity and frank courtesy of
+his manner. A short examination showed that Eric’s attainments were very
+slight as yet, and he was to be put in the lowest form of all, under the
+superintendence of the Rev. Henry Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short
+note in pencil, and giving it to Eric, directed the servant to show him
+to Mr. Gordon’s school-room.
+
+The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so
+that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at
+their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them.
+As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the
+broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to
+feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, “I say, what sort of
+a fellow is Mr. Gordon?”
+
+“Terrible strict, Sir, I hear,” said the man, touching his cap with a
+comic expression, which didn’t at all tend to enliven the future pupil.
+“That’s the door,” he continued, “and you’ll have to give him the
+doctor’s note;” and, pointing to a door at the end of the passage, he
+walked off.
+
+Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was by
+himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his own
+footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He heard a
+low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no answer. He knocked
+again a little louder; still no notice; then, overdoing it in his
+fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.
+
+“Come in,” said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of “New fellow,” and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.
+
+He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows opening
+towards the sea. At one end was the master’s throne, and facing it, all
+down the room, were desks and benches, along which the boys were sitting
+at work. Every one knows how very confusing it is to enter a strange
+room full of strange people, and especially when you enter it from a
+darker passage. Eric felt dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to
+the master’s desk, went towards it between two of the benches. As these
+were at no great distance from each other, he stumbled against several
+legs on his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose
+to trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating _sotto voce_,
+“awkward little fool.”
+
+In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and presented his
+missive. The master’s eye was on him, but all Eric had time to observe
+was, that he looked rather stern, and had in his hand a book which he
+seemed to be studying with the deepest interest. He glanced first at the
+note, and then looked full at the boy, as though determined to read his
+character at a glance.
+
+“Williams, I suppose?”
+
+“Yes, Sir,” said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that all the
+boys were looking at him, as well as the master.
+
+“Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the fourth. I
+hope you will work well. At present they are learning their Cesar. Go
+and sit next to that boy,” pointing towards the lower end of the room;
+“he will show you the lesson, and let you look over his book. Barker,
+let Williams look over you!”
+
+Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy indicated. He
+was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of black hair, and a very
+dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he wasn’t a very nice-looking
+specimen of Roslyn school. However, he sate by him, and glanced at the
+Cesar which the boy shoved about a quarter of an inch in his direction.
+But Barker didn’t seem inclined to make any further advances, and
+presently Eric asked in a whisper,
+
+“What’s the lesson?”
+
+The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.
+
+Eric repeated, “I say, what’s the lesson?”
+
+Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,
+
+“What’s your name?”
+
+“Eric--I mean Williams.”
+
+“Then why don’t you say what you mean?”
+
+Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception; but as he
+seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer towards him.
+
+“Drop that; ’t isn’t yours.”
+
+Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. “Silence!” he said,
+and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric, resigning
+himself to his fate, looked about him.
+
+He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk, writing,
+but couldn’t make our the physiognomy. There had been something reserved
+and imperious in the master’s manner, yet he thought he should not
+dislike him on the whole. With the countenances of his future
+schoolfellows he was not altogether pleased, but there were one or two
+which thoroughly attracted him. One boy, whose side face was turned
+towards him as he sat on the bench in front, took his fancy
+particularly, so, tired of doing nothing, he plucked up courage, and
+leaning forward whispered, “Do lend me your Cesar for a few minutes.”
+The boy at once handed it to him with a pleasant smile, and as the
+lesson was marked, Eric had time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr.
+Gordon’s sonorous voice exclaimed,
+
+“Fourth form, come up!”
+
+Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle round
+the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson commenced.
+
+“Russell, begin,” said the master; and immediately the boy who had
+handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and construed
+them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had a frank open
+face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very taking voice and
+manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he should like him.
+
+Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a grating
+irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities, for each of
+which the next boy took him up. Then he began to construe;--a frightful
+confusion of nominatives without verbs, accusatives translated as
+ablatives, and perfects turned into prepositions ensued, and after a
+hopeless flounder, during which Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself,
+Barker came to a full stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric
+could not help joining in the general titter Barker scowled.
+
+“As usual, Barker,” said the master, with a curl of the lip. “Hold out
+your hand!”
+
+Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which the
+form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his hands
+tight together, went back to his seat.
+
+“Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just failed!”
+
+Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had now quite
+recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and without
+nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering questions,
+and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way up the form. The
+boys’ numbers were then taken down in the weekly register, and they went
+back to their seats.
+
+On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was clumsily
+scrawled, “I’ll teach you to grin when I’m turned, you young brute.”
+
+The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly, and
+augured ominously of Barker’s intentions, since that worthy obviously
+alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to interpret it as an
+intentional provocation. He felt that he was in for it, and that Barker
+meant to pick a quarrel with him. This puzzled and annoyed him, and he
+felt very sad to have found an enemy already.
+
+While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck twelve;
+and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the folding-doors of
+the school-room.
+
+“You may go,” said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared by a
+door at the further end of the room.
+
+Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in a
+confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among the
+last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized it, and
+flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it was trampled
+on by a number of the boys as they ran out.
+
+Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his opponent,
+and said coolly, “Is that what you always do to new fellows?”
+
+“Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;” and a tolerably
+smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a cheek already
+aflame with, anger and indignation,--“should you like a little more?”
+
+He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry. “What’s that
+for?” he said, with flashing eyes.
+
+“For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned.”
+
+Eric stamped. “I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as well as I
+do.”
+
+“What! I’m a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out of you,
+you young cub--take that;” and a heavier blow followed.
+
+“You brutal cowardly bully,” shouted Eric; and in another moment he
+would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did not, for
+Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful. Such an attack
+would hare been most unfortunate for him in every way. But at this
+instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and Russell among them.
+
+“Hallo, Barker,” said one, “what’s up?”
+
+“Why, I’m teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that’s all.”
+
+“Shame!” said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric’s cheek; “what a
+fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn’t you leave him alone for his first
+day, at any rate?”
+
+“What’s that to you? I’ll kick you too, if you say much.”
+
+“Cavè, cavè!” whispered half a dozen voices, and instantly the knot of
+boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr. Gordon was seen approaching.
+He had caught a glimpse of the scene without understanding it, and
+seeing the new boy’s red and angry face, he only said, as he passed by,
+“What, Williams! fighting already? Take care.”
+
+This was the cruellest cut of all. “So,” thought Eric, “a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;” and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.
+
+The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different games, and
+as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to answer the usual
+questions, “What’s your name? Are you a boarder or a day scholar? What
+form are you in?” Eric expected all this, and it therefore did not annoy
+him. Under any other circumstances, he would have answered cheerfully
+and frankly enough; but now he felt miserable at his morning’s
+rencontre, and his answers were short and sheepish, his only desire
+being to get away as soon as possible. It was an additional vexation to
+feel sure that his manner did not make a favorable impression.
+
+Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him. “I’m
+afraid you won’t like this, or think much of us, Williams,” he said.
+“But never mind. It’ll only last a day or two, and the fellows are not
+so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I’m sorry you’ve come across
+him, but it can’t be helped.”
+
+It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and after his
+troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to cry, and for a
+few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell’s soothing words. But
+the boy’s friendliness went far to comfort him, and at last, shaking
+hands with him, he said--
+
+“Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy, Russell.”
+
+“O yes,” said Russell, laughing, “as much as ever you like. And as
+Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we are in
+the same box. Good bye.”
+
+So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the Iliad,
+“Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea.” Already the purple mantle
+had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got home later than they
+expected, and found his parents waiting for him. It was rather
+disappointing to them to see his face so melancholy, when they expected
+him to be full of animation and pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own
+conclusions from the red mark on his cheek, as well as the traces of
+tears welling to his eyes; but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing,
+and left the boy to tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting
+all the painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BULLYING
+
+“Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness.” Wordsworth.
+
+Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I have often
+fancied that there must be in boyhood a pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a
+sort of “wild trick of the ancestral savage,” which, no amount of
+civilization can entirely repress. Certain it is, that to most boys the
+first term is a trying ordeal. They are being tested and weighed. Their
+place in the general estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest
+circumstances are seized upon to settle the category under which the boy
+is to be classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few
+weeks at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are _not_ accidents; they are
+the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the general
+tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the apparent
+cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly intentional. At
+first, of course, as they can have no friends worth speaking of, there
+are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds that take a pleasure in
+their torment, particularly if they at once recognise any innate
+superiority to themselves. Of this class was Barker. He hated Eric at
+first sight, simply because his feeble mind could only realise one idea
+about him, and that was the new boy’s striking contrast with his own
+imperfections. Hence he left no means untried to vent on Eric his low
+and mean jealousy. He showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form,
+and signs of disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he never
+looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him to kick and
+annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the school-room. In fact, he
+did his very best to make the boy’s life miserable, and the occupation
+of hating him seemed in some measure to fill up the vacuity of an
+ill-conditioned and degraded mind.
+
+Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the unhappy person
+who is the object of it, and more especially if he have incurred it by
+no one assignable reason. To Eric it was peculiarly painful; he was
+utterly unprepared for it. In his bright joyous life at Fairholm, in the
+little he saw of the boys at the Latin school, he had met with nothing
+but kindness and caresses, and the generous nobleness of his character
+had seemed to claim them as a natural element. “And now, why,” he asked
+impatiently, “should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim
+to annoy, vex, and hurt me?” Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but such,
+was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.
+
+But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own bursts of
+passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and
+spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on
+his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight
+conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy.
+Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent look, much less a
+civil word. Eric loathed him, and the only good and happy part of the
+matter to his own mind was, that conscientiously his only desire was to
+get rid of him and be left alone, while he never cherished a particle
+of revenge.
+
+While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning himself
+a very good position with the other boys, who liked his frankness, his
+mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud with Barker like a
+dark background to all his enjoyment. He even had to manoeuvre daily how
+to escape him, and violent scenes were of constant occurrence between
+them. Eric could not, and would not, brook his bullying with silence.
+His resentment was loud and stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was,
+even _his_ phlegmatic temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce
+and uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.
+
+Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the form, and
+such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first, his position as a
+home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides Russell, there were
+three whom he liked best, and respected most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen.
+They were very different boys, but all of them had qualities which well
+deserved his esteem. Duncan was the most boyish of boys, intensely full
+of fun, good-nature, and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on
+well, because he could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in
+some fit of sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to
+be put to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever _he_
+took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of amusement was
+ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one of the number.
+
+Montagu’s chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little gentleman;
+“such a jolly little fellow” every one said of him. Without being clever
+or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both at work and at the games,
+and while he was too exclusive to make many _intimate_ friends,
+everybody liked walking about or talking with him. Even Barker,
+blackguard as he was, seemed to be a little uneasy when confronted with
+Montagu’s naturally noble and chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects
+his influence was thoroughly good, and few boys were more
+generally popular.
+
+Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him. When
+he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for Barker’s
+craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been tremendously bullied. But
+gradually his mental superiority asserted itself. He took everything
+without tears and without passion, and this diminished the pleasure of
+annoying him. One day when Barker had given him an unprovoked kick, he
+quietly said,
+
+“Barker, next time you do that, I’ll tell Mr. Gordon.”
+
+“Sneak! do it if you dare.” And he kicked him again; but the moment
+after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in Owen’s eyes, as
+he turned instantly into the door of the master’s room, and laid a
+formal complaint against Barker for bullying.
+
+Mr. Gordon didn’t like “telling,” and he said so to Owen, without
+reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of explanations
+and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said nothing. “He stood
+there for justice,” and he had counted the cost. Strong-minded and
+clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the momentary dislike of his
+schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that he never could be popular,
+would be less unbearable than Barker’s villanous insults. The
+consequence was that Barker was caned soundly, although, with some
+injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt to conceal that he did it
+unwillingly.
+
+Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for sneaking, as
+they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen mortification of
+seeing “Owen is a sneak,” written up all about the walls. But he was
+too proud or too cold to make any defence till called upon, and bore it
+in silence. Barker vowed eternal vengeance, and the very day after, had
+seized Owen with the avowed intention of “half murdering him.” But
+before he could once strike him, Owen said in the most chill tone,
+“Barker, if you touch me, I shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands.” The
+bully well knew that Owen never broke his word, but he could not govern
+his rage, and first giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash
+him without limit or remorse.
+
+Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr. Rowlands’
+door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed at his
+temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a regular _Deus
+ex machinâ._ That afternoon, again Barker was publicly caned, with the
+threat that the next offence would be followed by instant and public
+expulsion. This punishment he particularly dreaded, because he was
+intended for the army, and he well knew that it might ruin his
+prospects. The consequence was, that Owen never suffered from him again,
+although he daily received a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed
+over with silent contempt.
+
+My dear boy-reader, don’t suppose that I want you to imitate Owen in
+this matter. I despise a boy who “tells” as much as you do, and it is a
+far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of
+spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But Owen was a peculiar
+boy, and remember he had _no_ redress. He bore for a time, until he felt
+that he _must_ have the justice and defence, without which it would
+have been impossible for him to continue at Roslyn school.
+
+But why, you ask, didn’t he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at Roslyn
+the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a school of
+250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had no prerogative
+of authority. They hadn’t the least right to interfere, because no such
+power had been delegated to them, and therefore they felt themselves
+merely on a par with the rest, except for such eminence as their
+intellectual superiority gave them. The consequence was, that any
+interference from them would have been of a simply individual nature,
+and was exerted very rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to
+tell a sixth-form boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a
+favorite, he was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.
+
+All this had happened before Eric’s time, and he heard it from his best
+friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became friends at once
+by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of each at the other’s
+face prepared the friendship, and every day of acquaintance more firmly
+cemented it. Eric could not have had a better friend; not so clever as
+himself, not so diligent as Owen, not so athletic as Duncan, or so
+fascinating as Montagu, Russell combined the best qualities of them all.
+And, above all, he acted invariably from the highest principle; he
+presented that noblest of all noble spectacles--one so rare that many
+think it impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy
+boy, who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.
+
+“Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?” said Eric, one
+day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.
+
+“Yes,” said Russell; “I slept in his dormitory when I first came, and he
+has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself on my knees at
+night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a little quiet time to
+cry like a child.”
+
+“And when was it he left off at last?”
+
+“Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond of me; he
+heard of it, though I didn’t say anything about it, and told Barker that
+if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him within an inch of his
+life; and that frightened him for one thing. Besides, Duncan, Montagu,
+and other friends of mine began to cut him in consequence, so he thought
+it best to leave off.”
+
+“How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do it?”
+
+“You see, Williams,” said Russell, “Barker is an enormously strong
+fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look up to him
+as a great hero. And there isn’t one in our part of the school who can
+thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you know--at least not
+often. I remember once seeing a street-row in London, at which twenty
+people stood by, and let a drunken beast of a husband strike his wife
+without ever stirring to defend her.”
+
+“Well,” sighed Eric, “I hope my day of deliverance will come soon, for
+I can’t stand it much longer, and ‘tell’ I won’t, whatever Owen may do.”
+
+Eric’s deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys were
+playing at different games in the green playground, and he was waiting
+for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up, and calmly
+snatching off Eric’s cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands’ garden wall.
+“There, go and fetch that.”
+
+“You blackguard!” said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few minutes;
+and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall. It was not very
+high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get over it under any
+circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not without trepidation. However,
+he dropped down on one of Mrs. Rowlands’ flower-beds, and got his cap in
+a hurry, and clambered back undiscovered.
+
+He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day; but
+Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric, and
+calling out, “Who’ll have a game at football?” again snatched the cap,
+and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every time he came up
+Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it into a puddle.
+
+Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened scorn
+and indignation. “You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,”--here Barker
+seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the head, but
+blind with passion Eric went on--“you despicable bully, I won’t touch
+that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan, Russell, here! do
+help me against this intolerable brute.”
+
+Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who besides
+was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric unmercifully.
+
+“Leave him alone,” shouted Duncan, “or by heaven I’ll get you a sound
+thrashing from some fellow.”
+
+“I won’t; mind your own business,” growled Barker, shaking himself free
+from Duncan’s hand.
+
+“Barker, I’ll never speak to you again from this day,” said Montagu,
+turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.
+
+“What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too,” was the reply, and
+some more kicks at Eric followed.
+
+“Barker, I won’t stand this any longer,” said Russell; and seizing him
+by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the face.
+
+The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the turf
+nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell’s turn came,
+and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had tripped him up,
+when he found himself collared in an iron grasp.
+
+There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in the person
+of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that now griped
+Barker’s shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys, who all knew
+his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently stood a quiet and
+pleased observer of their games. The boys in the playground came
+crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to escape. Mr. Williams
+held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, “I have just seen you treat
+one of your schoolfellows with the grossest violence. It makes me blush
+for you, Roslyn Boys,” he continued, turning to the group that
+surrounded him, “that you can stand by unmoved, and see such things
+done. You know that you despise any one who tells a master, yet you
+allow this bullying to go on, and that, too, without any provocation.
+Now, mark; it makes no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I
+would have punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall
+punish him now.” With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most satisfactory
+castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared that Dr. Rowlands’
+“swishings” were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw that the offender was a
+tough subject, and determined that he should not soon forget the
+punishment he then received. He had never heard from Eric how this boy
+had been treating him, but he had heard it from Russell, and now he had
+seen one of the worst specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore
+belabored him till his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy,
+and promises never so to offend again.
+
+At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a “phew” of disgust, and
+said, “I give nothing for your word; but if ever you do bully in this
+way again, and I see or hear of it, your present punishment shall be a
+trifle to what I shall then administer. At present, thank me for not
+informing your master.” So saying, he made Barker pick up the cap, and,
+turning away, walked home with Eric leaning on his arm.
+
+Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace he could; but it
+certainly didn’t mend matters when he heard numbers of fellows, even
+little boys, say openly, “I’m so glad; serves you right.”
+
+From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence from Barker
+or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the mind of the baffled
+tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there are subtler means of
+making an enemy wretched than striking or kicking him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRIBBING
+
+     “Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus.”--Juv. i. 15.
+
+It must not be thought that Eric’s year as a home boarder was made up of
+dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a dark side, and
+Eric enjoyed it “to the finger-tips.” School-life, like all other life,
+is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its joys may be more childish,
+its sorrows more trifling than those of after years;--but they are more
+keenly felt.
+
+And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all idealise and
+idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant purple in the
+distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its blue far-off hills,
+we forget how steep we sometimes found them.
+
+After Barker’s discomfiture, which took place some three weeks after his
+arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got liked by it more
+and more. This might have been easily foreseen, for he was the type of a
+thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial and honorable characteristics,
+and his round of acquaintances daily increased. Among others, a few of
+the sixth, who were also day-scholars, began to notice and walk home
+with him. He looked on them as great heroes, and their condescension
+much increased his dignity both in his own estimation and that of
+his equals.
+
+Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate acquaintances to
+spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This was a pleasure much
+coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams without loving her, and they
+felt themselves humanised by the friendly interest of a lady who
+reminded every boy of his own mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and
+active child of nine, was a great pet among them, so that every one
+liked Eric who “knew him at home.” A boy generally shows his best side
+at home; the softening shadows of a mother’s tender influence play over
+him, and tone down the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu,
+and Owen were special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams
+felt truly glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the
+whole, so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he won so
+much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not surprised when Eric
+confided to her one day that he loved Russell almost as well as be
+loved Vernon.
+
+As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively interest in the
+half-year’s prizes, and Eric was particularly eager about them. He had
+improved wonderfully, and as both his father and mother prevented him
+from being idle, even had he been so inclined, he had soon shown that
+he was one of the best in the form. Two prizes were given, half-yearly
+to each remove; one for “marks” indicating the boy who had generally
+been highest throughout the half year, and the other for the test proofs
+of proficiency in a special examination. It was commonly thought in the
+form that Owen would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other;
+and towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition was of
+course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the delight
+which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and still more to his
+own family.
+
+During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which, while it
+increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he thought) his
+chance of success. The fourth form were learning a Homer lesson, and
+Barker, totally unable to do it by his own resources, was trying to
+borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual disgust, still sat next to him
+in school, and would have helped him if he had chosen to ask; but he
+never did choose, nor did Eric care to volunteer. The consequence was,
+that unless he could borrow a crib, he was invariably turned, and he was
+now particularly anxious to get one, because the time was nearly up.
+
+There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who had
+“cribs” to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious _bonhommie,_
+lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom were only too glad to
+avail themselves of the help, except the few at the top of the form, who
+found it a slovenly way of learning the lesson, which was sure to get
+them into worse difficulties than an honest attempt to master the
+meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat at the farther end of the form in
+front, so Barker scribbled in the fly-leaf of his book, “Please send us
+your Homer crib,” and got the book passed on to Llewellyn, who
+immediately shoved his crib in Barker’s direction. The only danger of
+the transaction being noticed, was when the book was being handed from
+one bench to another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got
+into trouble more than once.
+
+On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in front,
+handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and Eric, very
+naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped the book under
+his own Homer.
+
+“Williams, what are you doing?”
+
+“Nothing, Sir,” said Eric, looking up innocently.
+
+“Bring me that book under your Homer.”
+
+Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took up the
+book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on the ground,
+and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust, took it up with
+the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was a titter round
+the room.
+
+“Silence,” thundered the master; “this is no matter for laughing. So,
+sir, _this_ is the way you get up to the top of the form?”
+
+“I wasn’t using it, sir,” said Eric.
+
+“Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your Homer.”
+
+“It isn’t mine, sir.”
+
+“Then whose is it?” Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of course no
+name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write one’s name in a
+translation.
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+“Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you,” said Mr. Gordon.
+“Of course I am _bound_ to believe you, but the circumstances are very
+suspicious. You had no business with such a book at all. Hold out
+your hand.”
+
+As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for him in
+this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but (very rightly)
+he thought it unmanly to clamor about being punished, and he felt
+nettled at Mr. Gordon’s merely official belief of his word. He knew that
+he had his faults, but certainly want of honor was not among them.
+Indeed, there were only three boys out of the twenty in the form, who
+did not resort to modes of unfairness far worse than the use of cribs,
+and those three were Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even
+Montagu, inured to it by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson
+off a concealed book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They
+would have been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to its
+meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the master
+treated them with implicit confidence, and being scrupulously honorable
+himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was therefore extremely
+indignant at this apparent discovery of an attempt to overreach him in
+a boy so promising and so much of a favorite as Eric Williams.
+
+“Hold out your hand,” he repeated.
+
+Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He could bear
+the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the disgrace; he, a boy
+at the head of his form, to be caned in this way by a man who didn’t
+understand him, and unjustly too! He mustered up an indifferent air,
+closed his lips tight, and determined to give no further signs. The
+defiance of his look made Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in
+succession five hard cuts on either hand, each one of which, was more
+excruciating than the last.
+
+“Now, go to your seat.”
+
+Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked
+in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve
+at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero
+with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling,
+and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe
+a punishment. The punishment _was_ most severe, and for some weeks after
+there were dark weals visible across Eric’s palm, which rendered the use
+of his hands painful.
+
+“Poor Williams,” said Duncan, as they went out of school, “how very
+plucky of you not to cry.”
+
+     “Vengeance deep brooding o’er the _cane_,
+       Had locked the source of softer woe;
+     And burning pride, and high disdain,
+       Forbade the gentler tear to flow,”
+
+said Eric, with a smile.
+
+But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling
+his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears,
+mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his
+injustice.
+
+“Never mind, Eric,” said his father; “only take care that you never get
+a punishment _justly_, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am
+now. And don’t cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you
+harm. Try to forgive and forget.”
+
+“But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a favorite
+of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me. It is a great
+shame that he shouldn’t believe my word. I don’t mind the pain; but I
+shan’t like him any more, and I’m sure, now, I shan’t get the
+examination prize.”
+
+“You don’t mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality in the
+matter?”
+
+“No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won’t _intend_ to be. But
+it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a master, and I know I shan’t
+work so well.”
+
+On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a misfortune.
+Although he had nothing particular for which to blame himself, yet the
+affair had increased his pride, while it lowered his self-respect; and
+he had an indistinct consciousness that the popularity in his form would
+do him as much harm as the change of feeling in his master. He grew
+careless and dispirited, nor was it till in the very heat of the final
+competition, that he felt his energies fully revived.
+
+Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other half
+were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was much
+hindered by Barker’s unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in which
+many of the boys “cribbed” from books, and from each other, or used torn
+leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on their wristbands,
+and on their nails. He saw how easily much of this might have been
+prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his work, and had not yet learnt
+the practical lesson, that to trust young boys to any great extent, is
+really to increase their temptations. He _did_ learn the lesson
+afterwards, and then almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by
+increased vigilance, and partly by forbidding _any_ book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much evil
+had been done by the habitual abuse of his former confidence.
+
+I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day before
+the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the great
+school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the result. But
+Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when this was usually
+done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the news.
+
+He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of steps he
+took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and devising every
+sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard hasty steps, and
+Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with haste, and bright
+with excitement.
+
+“Hurrah! old fellow,” he cried, seizing both Eric’s hands; “I never
+felt so glad in my life;” and he shook his friend’s arms up and down,
+laughing joyously.
+
+“Well! tell me,” said Eric.
+
+“First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales,” “you’ve got head remove you see, in
+spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and I
+congratulate you with all my heart.”
+
+“No?” said Eric, “have I really?--you’re not joking? Oh! hurrah!--I must
+rush in and tell them;” and he bounded off.
+
+In a second he was back at Russell’s side. “What a selfish animal I am!
+Where are you placed, Russell?”
+
+“Oh! magnificent; I’m third;--far higher than I expected.”
+
+“I’m so glad,” said Eric. “Come in with me and tell them. I’m head
+remove, mother,” he shouted, springing into the parlor where his father
+and mother sat.
+
+In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood by for
+the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to tell them
+that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in his eye.
+
+“Poor boy! I’m afraid you’re disappointed,” said Mrs. Williams kindly,
+drawing him to her side.
+
+“Oh no, no! it’s not _that_,” said Russell, hastily, as he lifted his
+swimming eyes towards her face.
+
+“Are you hurt, Russell?” asked Eric, surprised.
+
+“Oh! no; don’t ask me; I am only foolish to-day;” and with a burst of
+sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams’ neck. She folded him to
+her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs would let him
+speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, “It is but a year since I
+became an orphan.”
+
+“Dearest child,” she said, “look on me as a mother; I love you very
+dearly for your own sake as well as Eric’s.”
+
+Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend the
+rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all his usual
+sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a stroll down the
+bay, and talked over the term and the examination.
+
+They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched the
+tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory of
+evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet happiness,
+not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the next day.
+
+At last Eric broke the silence. “Russell, let me always call you Edwin,
+and call me Eric.”
+
+“Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy.” And the two
+boys squeezed each other’s hands, and looked into each other’s faces,
+and silently promised that they would be loving friends for ever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SECOND TERM
+
+     “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our vines; for our
+     vines have tender grapes.”--CANT. ii. 15.
+
+The second term at school is generally the great test of the strength of
+a boy’s principles and resolutions. During the first term the novelty,
+the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments, the respect for
+authorities, the desire to measure himself with his companions--all tend
+to keep him right and diligent. But many of these incentives are removed
+after the first brush of novelty, and many a lad who has given good
+promise at first, turns out, after a short probation, idle, or vicious,
+or indifferent.
+
+But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On the
+contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the prestige of
+having been head boy; and as he still continued under Mr. Gordon, he
+really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct towards him, and
+recover, if possible, his lost esteem.
+
+His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud of it,
+and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully sharing his
+feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of school life than
+his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart lest “he should follow a
+multitude to do evil.”
+
+The “cribbing,” which had astonished and pained Eric at first, was more
+flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a chronic form. In
+all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to write out in a large
+hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and dexterously pin it to the
+front of Mr. Gordon’s desk. There any boy who chose could read it off
+with little danger of detection, and, as before, the only boys who
+refused to avail themselves of this trickery were Eric, Russell,
+and Owen.
+
+Eric did _not_ yield to it; never once did he suffer his eyes to glance
+at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But although this was
+the case, he never spoke against the practice to the other boys, even
+when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would laugh when any one told
+him how he had escaped “skewing” (_i.e._ being turned) by reading it
+off; and he even went so far as to allow them to suppose that he
+wouldn’t himself object to take advantage of the master’s unsuspicious
+confidence.
+
+“I say, Williams,” said Duncan, one morning as they strolled into the
+school-yard, “do you know your Rep.?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, “not very well; I haven’t given more than ten minutes
+to it.”
+
+“Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets? Russel
+and Montagu have taken the court.”
+
+“But I shall skew.”
+
+“Oh no, you needn’t, you know. I’ll take care to pin it up on the desk
+near you.”
+
+“Well, I don’t much care. At any rate I’ll chance it.” And off the boys
+ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the last quarter of
+an hour before school-time in learning his lesson. Russell and he stood
+the other two, and they were very well matched. They had finished two
+splendid games, and each side had been victorious in turn, when Duncan,
+in the highest spirits, shouted, “Now, Russell, for the conqueror.”
+
+“Get some one else in my place,” said Russell; “I don’t know my Rep.,
+and must cut and learn it.”
+
+“O bother the Rep.,” said Montagu; “somebody’s sure to write it out in
+school, and old Gordon’ll never see.”
+
+“You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that.”
+
+“O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you’re quite right; I only wish I was
+as good.”
+
+“What a capital fellow he is,” continued Montagu, leaning on his racquet
+and looking after him, as Russell left the court; “but I say, Williams,
+you’re not going too, are you?”
+
+“I think I must, I don’t know half my lesson.”
+
+“O no! don’t go; there’s Llewellyn; he’ll take Russell’s place, and we
+_must_ have the conquering game.”
+
+Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into school, hot,
+vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as Russell strolled
+in, whispering, “I’ve had lots of time to get up the Horace, and know
+it pat.”
+
+Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should have
+plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But another
+temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham whispered,
+“Williams, it’s your turn to write out the Horace; I did last time,
+you know.”
+
+Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general cheating.
+Everybody seemed to assume now that _he_ at any rate didn’t think much
+of it, and he had never claimed his real right up to that time of
+asserting his innocence. But this was a step further than he had ever
+gone before. He drew back--
+
+“My _turn_, what do you mean?”
+
+“Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by turns.”
+
+“Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?”
+
+“Of course not; you wouldn’t expect the saints to be guilty of such a
+thing, would you?”
+
+“I’d rather not, Graham,” he said, getting very red.
+
+“Well, that _is_ cowardly,” answered Graham, angrily; “then I suppose I
+must do it myself.”
+
+“Here, I’ll do it,” said Eric suddenly; “shy us the paper.”
+
+His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.
+
+“There,” he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; “I’ve written it,
+and I’ll have nothing more to do with it.”
+
+Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the paper,
+succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk. Eric had
+never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and firmly
+believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it badly on
+purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so Eric be got
+once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of apprehension, and when
+put on, was totally unable to say a word of his Rep. But low as he had
+fallen, he would not cheat like the rest; he kept his eyes resolutely
+turned away from the guilty paper, and even refused to repeat the words
+which were prompted in his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon,
+after waiting a moment, said--
+
+“Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can’t have looked at it. Go to
+the bottom and write it out five times.”
+
+“_Write it out_” thought Eric; “this is retribution, I suppose;” and
+covered with shame and vexation, he took his place below the malicious
+Barker at the bottom of the form.
+
+It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and Mr.
+Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was this
+done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the room began
+to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet pinned in front of
+the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little pattering crepitation. In
+alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out the pin, and immediately the
+paper floated gracefully over Russell’s head, as he sat at the top of
+the form, and, after one or two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre
+of the room.
+
+“Bring me that piece of paper,” said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.
+
+Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously around.
+
+“Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper.”
+
+A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full minute in
+his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust, and rising anger
+struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly turned full on Eric,
+whose writing he recognized, and broke out,
+
+“So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not have
+thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have lost my
+confidence forever. I _despise_ you.”
+
+“Indeed, Sir,” said the penitent Eric, “I never meant--”
+
+“Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall report you
+to Dr. Rowlands.”
+
+The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next, and the
+next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan, Barker, all
+hopeless failures; only two boys had said it right--Russell and Owen.
+
+Mr. Gordon’s face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised pain
+which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. “False-hearted, dishonorable boys,” he exclaimed,
+“henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole form,
+except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every half-holiday;
+not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took you for gentlemen.
+I was mistaken. Go.” And so saying, he waved them to their seats with
+imperious disdain.
+
+They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed, kept
+twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his eyes, and
+even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted treachery; the rest
+were silent and miserable.
+
+At twelve o’clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr. Gordon;
+they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were full of very
+different feelings.
+
+Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.
+
+“You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to me.
+Go--I have nothing to say to you!”
+
+“But, sir, I want to tell you that--”
+
+“Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of this. Go,
+I tell you.”
+
+Eric’s passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground, and
+burst out, “I _will_ speak, sir; you have been unjust to me for a long
+time, but I will _not_ be--”
+
+Mr. Gordon’s cane fell sharply across the boy’s back; he stopped, glared
+for a moment; and then saying:
+
+“Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike before you
+hear me,” he angrily left the room, and slammed the door violently
+behind him.
+
+Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment, Russell
+stood by him.
+
+“Well, my boy,” said the master, softening in a moment, and laying his
+hand gently on Russell’s head, “what have you to say? You cannot tell
+how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has caused me, to find
+that _you_ at least are uncontaminated. But I _knew_, Edwin, that I
+could trust you.”
+
+“O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams.” Mr. Gordon’s brow
+darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted vehemently,
+“Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the _second_ time that he has
+wilfully deceived me; and this time he has involved others too in his
+base deceit.”
+
+“Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can’t think how he came to write the
+paper, but I _know_ that he did not and would not use it. Didn’t you see
+yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another way when he
+broke down.”
+
+“It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him,” said Mr. Gordon coldly,
+“but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave me; I feel very
+sad, and must have time to think over this disgraceful affair.”
+
+Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up and down,
+the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the library.
+
+“O Eric,” he said, “how came you to write that paper?”
+
+“Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have explained
+it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such a shame; I
+don’t feel now as if I cared one bit.”
+
+“I am sorry you don’t get on with him; but remember you have given him
+in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric, I know, but I
+can’t help being sorry that you wrote the paper.”
+
+“But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly because I
+refused at first.”
+
+“Ah, Eric,” said Russell, “they will ask you to do worse things if you
+yield so easily. I wouldn’t say anything to Dr. Rowlands about it, if I
+were you.”
+
+Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He gave his
+father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence, and that
+afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and explanation to Mr.
+Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon said, in his most
+freezing tones, “Williams, at present I shall take no further notice of
+your offence beyond including you in the extra lesson every
+half-holiday.”
+
+From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and suspected, and
+the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He grew more careless
+in work, and more trifling and indifferent in manner. Several boys now
+beat him whom he had easily surpassed before, and his energies were for
+a time entirely directed to keeping that supremacy in the games which he
+had won by his activity and strength.
+
+It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term, and the
+boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or lying on the
+banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little knot of his chief
+friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on the grass. At last the
+bell of the school chapel began to ring, and they went in to the
+afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan and Llewellyn,
+immediately behind the benches allotted to chance visitors. The bench in
+front of them happened on this afternoon to be occupied by some rather
+odd people, viz., an old man with long white hair, and two ladies
+remarkably stout, who were dressed with much juvenility, although past
+middle age. Their appearance immediately attracted notice, and no sooner
+had they taken their seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter.
+The ladies’ bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves
+and flowers, just peered over the top of the boys’ pew, and excited much
+amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the solemnity of the
+place, and the sacred act in which they were engaged. He tried to look
+away, and attend to the service, and for a time he partially succeeded,
+although, seated as he was between the two triflers, who were
+perpetually telegraphing to each other their jokes, he found it a
+difficult task, and secretly he began to be much tickled.
+
+At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned a
+grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first hop took
+it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the shoulder of the
+stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered louder, and even Eric could
+not resist a smile. But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her
+shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap
+into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none
+of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which
+they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming
+their handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her
+uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause
+of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At last all three
+began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their
+direction, and Dr. Rowlands’ stern eye caught sight of their levity. He
+stopped short in his sermon, and for one instant transfixed them with
+his indignant glance. Quiet was instantly restored, and alarm reduced
+them to the most perfect order, although the grasshopper still sat
+imperturbable among the artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had
+discovered that for some unknown reason she had been causing
+considerable amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule,
+looked round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.
+
+Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to rise, and
+after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be seated. Eric’s
+heart sank within him.
+
+“Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!” said the Doctor. The boys,
+with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before him.
+
+“I was sorry to notice,” said he, “your shameful conduct in chapel
+yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were making
+yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal defects of
+others. The lessons you receive here must be futile indeed, if they do
+not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and courtesy to man. It
+gives me special pain, Williams, to have observed that you, too, a boy
+high in your remove, were guilty of this most culpable levity. You will
+all come to me at twelve o’clock in the library.”
+
+At twelve o’clock they each received a flogging. The pain inflicted was
+not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into similar trouble
+before, cared very little for it, and went out laughing to tell the
+number of swishes they had received, to a little crowd of boys who were
+lingering outside the library door. But not so Eric. It was his _first_
+flogging, and he felt it deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was
+intolerable. At that moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon,
+he hated his schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the
+thought haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the knot
+of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground, angry and
+impenitent.
+
+At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune; he was
+ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious of him, and
+jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him by without
+notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to him and took
+his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his late disgrace
+would have made Eric flame out into passion; but Russell was too kind to
+allude to it then. He talked as if nothing had happened, and tried to
+turn his friend’s thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated
+his kindness, but he was still sullen and fretful, and it was not until
+they parted that his better feelings won the day. But when Russell said
+to him “Good bye, Eric,” it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin’s
+hand, he wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.
+
+“Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends were
+like you, I should never get into these troubles.”
+
+“Nay, Eric,” said Russell, “you may be far better than I. You have far
+batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice.”
+
+They parted by Mr. Williams’ door, and Russell walked home sad and
+thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother’s greeting, rushed up
+to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed like a child at
+the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not refreshing tears; he felt
+something hard at his heart, and, as he prayed neither for help nor
+forgiveness, it was pride and rebellion, not penitence, that made him
+miserable.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOME AFFECTIONS
+
+     “Keep the spell of home affection.
+       Still alive in every heart;
+     May its power, with mild direction,
+       Draw our love from self apart,
+         Till thy children
+     Feel that thou their Father art.”
+
+     SCHOOL HYMN.
+
+“I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric,” said little
+Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning school; “I
+wish you would come and look at them.”
+
+“O, I can’t come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with some
+fellows directly.”
+
+“But it won’t take you a minute; do come.”
+
+“What a little bore you are. Where are the things?”
+
+“O, never mind, Eric, if you don’t want to look at them,” said Vernon,
+hurt at his brother’s rough manner.
+
+“First you ask me to look, and then say ‘never mind,’” said Eric
+impatiently; “here, show me them.”
+
+The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.
+
+“Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket.”
+
+Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.
+
+“You aren’t so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be.”
+
+“What nonsense! and all because I don’t admire those nasty red-jelly
+things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any day. What a
+little goose you are, Vernon!”
+
+Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with a sigh,
+when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.
+
+“Well, Verny,” he said, “have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you’ve got one
+of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky little
+chap you are!”
+
+Vernon was delighted.
+
+“Mind you take care of them,” said Russell. “Where did you find them?”
+
+“I have been down the shore getting them.”
+
+“And have you had a pleasant morning?”
+
+“Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by myself,
+and Eric never comes with me now.”
+
+“Naughty Eric,” said Russell, playfully. “Never mind, Verny; you and I
+will cut him, and go by ourselves.”
+
+Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of Russel’s
+unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy, struck him. He
+threw his arms round his brother’s neck, and said, “We will both go with
+you, Verny, next half holiday.”
+
+“O, thank you, Eric,” said his brother; and the two schoolboys ran out.
+But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with the promise
+of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his promise, and left
+Russell to amuse his little brother, while he went off, as usual, to the
+playground.
+
+There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them up
+deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the gradual
+but steady falling off in Eric’s character, and the first thing she
+noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When they first came to
+Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his father and mother in their
+walks; but now he went seldom or never; and even if he did go, he seemed
+ashamed, while with them, to meet any of his schoolfellows. The spirit
+of false independence was awake and growing in her darling son. The
+bright afternoons they had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking
+for sea-flowers among the lonely rocks of the neighboring
+headlands,--the walks at evening and sunset among the hills, and the
+sweet counsel they had together, when the boy’s character opened like a
+flower in the light and warmth of his mother’s love,--the long twilights
+when he would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees,
+and her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were becoming
+to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.
+
+It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so because
+they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps for ever. The
+time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June, and Mr. Williams’
+term of furlough ended in two months. The holidays at Roslyn were the
+months of July and August, and towards their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams
+intended to leave Vernon at Fairholm, and start for India--sending back
+Eric by himself as a boarder in Dr. Rowlands’ house.
+
+After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run straight down
+to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it was. They stripped
+off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined the beach, and then
+running along the sands, would swim out far into the bay till their
+heads looked like small dots glancing in the sunshine. This year Eric
+had learned to swim, and he enjoyed the bathing more than any
+other pleasure.
+
+One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse themselves
+on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on the sands by the
+ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two boys found great fun in
+hunting audacious little crabs, or catching the shrimps that shuffled
+about in the shallow water. At last Eric picked up a piece of wood which
+he found lying on the beach, and said, “What do you say to coming
+crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of stick will do capitally to thrust
+between the rocks in the holes where they lie?”
+
+Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to seek a
+likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but in the
+excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of time.
+
+The Williams’, for the boys’ convenience, usually dined at one, but on
+this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however, he didn’t
+appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was accidentally
+detained, and expecting him to come in every minute. But two o’clock
+came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric; three, but still no Eric.
+Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed, and even her husband
+grew uneasy.
+
+Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing Duncan
+pass by, ran down to ask him, “If he knew where Eric was?”
+
+“No,” said Duncan; “last time I saw him was on the shore. We bathed
+together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when I dressed.
+But I hav’n’t seen him since. If you like we’ll go and look for him. I
+daresay he’s on the beach somewhere.”
+
+But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned with this
+intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required all her
+husband’s firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits. There was
+enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to ask the boys
+who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the answer always
+was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.
+
+Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs, suddenly
+noticed by the sun that it was getting late.
+
+“Good gracious, Edwin,” said Eric, pulling out his watch, “it’s
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened they’ll
+be at home;” and running back as fast as they could, they reached the
+house at five o’clock, and rushed into the room.
+
+“Eric, Eric,” said Mrs. Williams faintly, “where have you been? has
+anything happened to you, my child?”
+
+“No, mother, nothing. I’ve only been crabfishing with Russell, and we
+forgot the time.”
+
+“Thoughtless boy,” said his father, “your mother has been in an agony
+about you.”
+
+Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in her arms,
+and mother and son wept in a long embrace. “Only two months,” whispered
+Mrs. Williams, “and we shall leave you, dear boy, perhaps forever. O do
+not forget your love for us in the midst of new companions.”
+
+The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only instead of
+first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to sit among the
+crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his parents were
+disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously mortified. But he had
+full confidence in his own powers, and made the strongest resolutions to
+work hard the next half-year, when he had got out of “that
+Gordon’s” clutches.
+
+The Williams’ spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed, in the
+prospect of losing them, Eric’s feelings to his parents came out in all
+their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the father and
+mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all their deep
+affection, were employed in leaving on the boy’s heart lasting
+impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that their love
+would encircle him for ever with its heavenly tenderness, and their pure
+prayers rise for him night and day to the throne of God.
+
+The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it was. In the
+wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon seemed to hear the
+sound of everlasting farewells. It is God’s mercy that ordains how
+seldom young hearts have to endure such misery.
+
+At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away; and
+during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their dear
+boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so Eric. He
+sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking the stillness
+every now and then with his convulsive sobs.
+
+“O Aunty,” he cried, “do you think I shall ever see them again? I have
+been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love. O, I wish I
+had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them.”
+
+“Yes, dearest,” said Mrs. Trevor, “I have no doubt we shall all meet
+again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you know, and that
+will not seem very long. And then they will be writing continually to
+us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how gladdened their hearts will be to
+hear that you and Vernon are good boys, and getting on well.”
+
+“O, I _will_ be a better boy, I _will_ indeed,” said Eric; “I mean to do
+great things, and they shall have nothing but good reports of me.”
+
+“God helping you, dear,” said his aunt, pushing back his hair from his
+forehead, and kissing it softly; “without his help, Eric, we are all
+weak indeed.”
+
+She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she known
+the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from human eyes!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ERIC A BOARDER
+
+     “We were, fair queen,
+     Two lads that thought there was no more behind,
+     But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
+     And to be boy eternal.”--WINTER’S TALE, i. 2.
+
+The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm, and Eric
+was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands’ house.
+
+As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the well-known
+faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.
+
+“Hallo, Williams! here you are at last,” said Duncan, seizing his hand.
+“How have you enjoyed the holidays? It’s so jolly to see you again.”
+
+“So you’re coming as a boarder,” said Montagu, “and to our noble house,
+too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and let’s watch
+whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we shall be starting in
+a few minutes.”
+
+“Ha! there’s Russell,” said Eric, springing to the gangway, and warmly
+shaking his friend’s hand as he came on board.
+
+“Have your father and mother gone, Eric?” said Russell, after a few
+minutes’ talk.
+
+“Yes,” said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing his eyes.
+“They are on their way back to India.”
+
+“I’m so sorry,” said Russell; “I don’t think anyone has ever been so
+kind to me as they were.”
+
+“And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last thing,
+that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave me
+something for you.” Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a little
+box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It contained a
+pretty silver watch, and inside the case was engraved--“Edwin Russell,
+from the mother of his friend Eric.”
+
+The boy’s eyes glistened with joyful surprise. “How good they are,” he
+said; “I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we get to Roslyn.”
+
+They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as a new
+comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands’ drawing-room, where the
+head master was sitting with his wife and children. His greeting was
+dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying “good night,” he gave Eric a
+few plain words of affectionate advice.
+
+At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life and
+spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the flush and
+flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in another minute
+entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands’ boarders assembled, and
+where most of them lived, except the few privileged sixth form, and
+other boys who had “studies.” A cheer greeted his entrance into the
+room. By this time most of the Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to
+have him among their number. They knew that he was clever enough to get
+them credit in the school, and, what was better still, that he would be
+a capital accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except
+Barker, there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.
+
+The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one end was
+a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys round the
+great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy could seldom
+get. The large windows opened on the green playground; and iron bars
+prevented any exit through them. This large room, called “the boarders’
+room,” was the joint habitation of Eric and some thirty other boys; and
+at one side ran a range of shelves and drawers, where they kept their
+books and private property. There the younger Rowlandites breakfasted,
+dined, had tea, and, for the most part, lived. Here, too, they had to
+get through all such work as was not performed under direct supervision.
+How many and what varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb
+walls any feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy’s name, as it was rudely cut on the oak
+panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen him, the
+good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there suffered--what
+_noble_ histories would the records unfold of honor and success, of
+baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs; what _awful_ histories of
+hopes blighted and habits learned, of wasted talents and ruined lives!
+
+The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven the
+boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by breakfast.
+At nine they went into school, where they continued, with little
+interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and, except on
+half-holidays, went into school again from two till five. The lock-up
+bell rang at dusk; at six o’clock they had tea--which was a repetition
+of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever else they liked--and
+immediately after sat down to “preparation,” which lasted from seven
+till nine. During this time one of the masters was always in the room,
+who allowed them to read amusing books, or employ themselves in any
+other quiet way they liked, as soon as ever they had learnt their
+lessons for the following day. At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read
+prayers, after which the boys were dismissed to bed.
+
+The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a suite of
+rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other; six on each
+side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between them, so that, when
+all the doors were open, you could see from one end of the whole range
+to the other. The only advantage of this arrangement was, that one
+master walking up and down could keep all the boys in order while they
+were getting into bed. About a quarter of an hour was allowed for this
+process, and then the master went along the rooms putting out the
+lights. A few of the “study-boys” were allowed to sit up till ten, and
+their bedrooms were elsewhere. The consequence was, that in these
+dormitories the boys felt perfectly secure from any interruption. There
+were only two ways by which a master could get at them; one up the great
+staircase, and through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme
+end of the range, which led into Dr. Rowlands’ house, but was generally
+kept locked.
+
+In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their order in
+the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there were nearly
+sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric’s arrival, collected
+in the boarders’ room, the rest being in their studies, or in the
+classrooms which some were allowed to use in order to prevent too great
+a crowd in the room below.
+
+At nine o’clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the boarders took
+their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible before him; and when
+the school servants had also come in, Dr. Rowlands read a chapter, and
+offered up an extempore prayer. While reading, he generally interspersed
+a few pointed remarks or graphic explanations, and Eric learnt much in
+this simple way. The prayer, though short, was always well suited to the
+occasion, and calculated to carry with it the attention of the
+worshippers.
+
+Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and Eric
+found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the lavatory,
+occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys named Bull and
+Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were all tired with their
+voyage, and the excitement of coming back to school, so that they did
+not talk much that night, and before long Eric was fast asleep,
+dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should have a very happy life at
+Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no end of distinctions, and make
+no end of new friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+“TAKING UP”
+
+
+     “We are not worst at once; the course of evil
+     Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
+     An infant’s hand might stop the breach with clay;
+     But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--
+     Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain
+     To stem the headlong current!”--ANON.
+
+With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when the new
+school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the “Shell,” as
+the form was called which intervened between the fourth and the fifth.
+Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes with him, but his
+other friends were left for the present in the form below.
+
+Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast with
+Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor so vigorous
+in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not catch fire from him
+so much as from the fourth-form master. But he was a far truer and
+deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous a sense of honor, and
+detestation of every form of moral obliquity, he never yielded to those
+storms of passionate indignation which Mr. Gordon found it impossible to
+control. Disappointed in early life, subjected to the deepest and most
+painful trials, Mr. Rose’s fine character had come out like gold from
+the flame. He now lived in and for the boys alone, and his whole life
+was one long self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt
+this, and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he neither
+expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for his
+self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and self-sacrificing
+love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were instrumental in saving
+one of his charge from evil, or turning one wanderer from the error
+of his ways.
+
+He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself, but
+lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in Dr.
+Rowlands’ house.
+
+Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy was
+sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears, and given
+him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon happily
+undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much kindness, and he
+felt that, however bad he had been before, he would now have an
+opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin again a career of hope.
+He worked admirably at first, and even beat, for the first week or two,
+his old competitors, Owen and Russell.
+
+From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few could look
+at the boy’s bright blue eyes and noble face without doing so, and the
+more when they knew that his father and mother were thousands of miles
+away, leaving him alone in the midst of so many dangers. Often the
+master asked him, and Russell, and Owen, and Montagu, to supper with him
+in the library, which gave them the privilege of sitting up later than
+usual, and enjoying a more quiet and pleasant evening than was possible
+in the noisy rooms. Boys and master were soon quite at home with each
+other, and in this way Mr. Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a
+useful warning without the formality of regular discipline or
+stereotyped instruction.
+
+Eric found the life of the “boarders’ room” far rougher than he had
+expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the hours of
+preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often dull enough.
+Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular indoor boys’ game
+like “baste the bear,” or “high-cockolorum;” or they would have amusing
+“ghost-hunts,” as they called them, after some dressed-up boy among the
+dark corridors and staircases. This was good enough fun, but at other
+times they got tired of games, and could not get them up, and then
+numbers of boys felt the idle time hang heavy on their hands. When this
+was the case, some of the worse sort, as might have been expected, would
+fill up their leisure with bullying or mischief.
+
+For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and annoyed
+Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal tables were placed
+two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks, and this was the only
+light the boys had. Of course, these candles often, wanted snuffing, and
+as snuffers were sure to be thrown about and broken as soon as they
+were brought into the room, the only resource was to snuff them with the
+fingers, at which all the boys became great adepts from necessity. One
+evening Barker, having snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the
+smouldering wick unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive
+fellow named Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright’s perceiving it, and at last
+Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--
+
+“I see a chimney,” and laughed.
+
+Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room had
+noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who unconsciously wrote
+on at the letter he was sending home.
+
+Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker again,
+said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell said
+quietly, “There’s something on your head, Wright,” and the little boy
+putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid wick.
+
+“What a shame!” he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a smudge.
+
+“Who told you to interfere?” said Barker, turning fiercely to Russell.
+Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him, and Barker,
+after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on another boy. This
+time Russell thought that every one might be on the look out for
+himself, and so went on with his work. But when Barker again chanted
+maliciously--
+
+“I see a chimney,” every boy who happened to be reading or writing,
+uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the victim or no; and
+so things continued for half an hour.
+
+Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when constantly
+repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any quiet work
+without constant danger of having some one creep up behind him and put
+the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his head; and neither Barker
+nor any of his little gang of imitators seemed disposed to give up their
+low mischief.
+
+One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure, from
+seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one had been
+treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his head, and sure
+enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was furious, and springing up,
+he shouted--
+
+“By Jove! I _won’t_ stand this any longer.”
+
+“You’ll have to sit it then,” said Barker.
+
+“O, it was _you_ who did it, was it? Then take that;” and, seizing one
+of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker’s head. Barker dodged,
+but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it whizzed by, and the blood
+flowed fast.
+
+“I’ll kill you for that,” said Barker, leaping at Eric, and seizing him
+by the hair.
+
+“You’ll get killed yourself then, you brute,” said Upton, Russell’s
+cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the room--and he boxed
+his ears as a premonitory admonition. “But, I say, young un,” continued
+he to Eric, “this kind of thing won’t do, you snow. You’ll get into
+rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows’ heads at that rate.”
+
+“He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by his
+filthy tricks,” said Eric hotly; “some one must stop him, and I will
+somehow, if no one else does.”
+
+“It wasn’t I who put the thing on your head, you passionate young fool,”
+growled Barker.
+
+“Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it.”
+
+“You shut up, Barker,” said Upton; “I’ve heard of your ways before, and
+when I catch you at your tricks, I’ll teach you a lesson. Come up to my
+study, Williams, if you like.”
+
+Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in the
+school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and often
+interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised him, and did
+anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do no harm, but he did
+great harm. He was full of misdirected impulses, and had a great notion
+of being manly, which he thought consisted in a fearless disregard of
+all school rules, and the performance of the wildest tricks. For this
+reason he was never very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked
+very much, but who was too scrupulous and independent to please him.
+Eric, on the other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to
+admire him in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready
+pupil in all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his example
+went to undermine all Eric’s lingering good resolutions, and ruin for
+ever the boy of whom he was so fond.
+
+From this time Eric was much in Upton’s study, and constantly by his
+side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and position
+in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their friendship was
+broken every now and then by little quarrels, which united them all the
+more closely after they had not spoken to each other perhaps for a week.
+
+“Your cousin Upton has ‘taken up’ Williams,” said Montagu to Russell one
+afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the beach, with
+Eric’s arm in Upton’s.
+
+“Yes, I am sorry for it.”
+
+“So am I. We shan’t see so much of him now.”
+
+“O, that’s not my only reason,” answered Russell, who had a rare habit
+of always going straight to the point.
+
+“You mean you don’t like the ‘taking-up’ system.”
+
+“No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used to
+fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in the
+school, and that the two would stand to each other in the relation of
+knight to squire. You know what the young knights were taught, Monty--to
+keep their bodies under, and bring them into subjection; to love God,
+and speak the truth always. That sounds very grand and noble to me. But
+when a big fellow takes up a little one _you_ know pretty well that
+_those_ are not the kind of lessons he teaches.”
+
+“No, Russell; you’re quite right. It’s bad for a fellow in every way.
+First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence; then ten
+to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character from really
+coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally gets paid out in
+kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of the rest; and if his
+protector happens to leave, or anything of that kind, woe betide him!”
+
+“No fear for Eric in that line, though,” said Russell; “he can hold his
+own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a most jolly
+fellow. I don’t think even Upton will spoil him; it’s chiefly the soft
+self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no iron, who get spoilt by
+being ‘taken up.’”
+
+Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from Upton,
+and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he was too manly
+a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to sink into the
+effeminate condition which usually grows on the young delectables who
+have the misfortune to be “taken up.”
+
+Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A coolness
+grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a little mutual
+contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did nothing but grind all
+day long, and had no geniality in him; while Owen pitied the love of
+popularity which so often led Eric into delinquencies, which he himself
+despised. Owen had, indeed, but few friends in the school; the only boy
+who knew him well enough to respect and like him thoroughly was Russell,
+who found in him the only one who took the same high, ground with
+himself. But Russell loved the good in every one, and was loved by all
+in return, and Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over
+his increasing failures.
+
+One day as the two were walking together in the green playground, Mr.
+Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their caps, he nodded and
+smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly noticed, and did not return
+Eric’s salute. He had begun to dislike the latter more and more, and had
+given him up altogether as one of the reprobates.
+
+“What a surly devil that is,” said Eric, when he had passed; “did you
+see how he purposely cut me?”
+
+“A surly ...? Oh Eric, that’s the first time I ever heard you swear.”
+
+Eric blushed. He hadn’t meant the word to slip out in Russell’s hearing,
+though similar expressions were common enough in his talk with other
+boys. But he didn’t like to be reproved, even by Russell, and in the
+ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--
+
+“Pooh, Edwin, you don’t call that swearing, do you? You’re so strict, so
+religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there are none like
+you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here.”
+
+Russell was silent.
+
+“Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was thinking
+the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the only two
+fellows here who don’t swear.”
+
+Russell still said nothing.
+
+“And, after all, I didn’t swear; I only called that fellow a surly
+devil.”
+
+“O, hush! Eric, hush!” said Russell sadly. “You wouldn’t have said so
+half-a-year ago.”
+
+Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose before
+him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home, thinking of him,
+praying for him, centring all their hopes in him. In him!--and he knew
+how many things he was daily doing and saying, which would cut them to
+the heart. He knew that all his moral consciousness was fast vanishing,
+and leaving him a bad and reckless boy.
+
+In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how shocked
+he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became too familiar
+to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the habit himself.
+Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite a graceful sound in
+his ears; a sound of entire freedom and independence of moral restraint;
+an open casting off, as it were, of all authority, so that he had begun
+to admire it, particularly in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero,
+Upton; and he recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out
+suddenly in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how
+Upton smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and gradually
+grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded him that he was
+doing wrong.
+
+He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with him for
+a moment, but at length he answered, “O Edwin, I fear I am getting
+utterly bad; I wish I were more like you,” he added, in a low sad tone.
+
+“Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am myself;
+but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to all the bad
+things round us. Remember, I know more of school than you.”
+
+The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his bedside,
+and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+“DEAD FLIES,” OR “YE SHALL BE AS GODS”
+
+“In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” PROV.
+vii. 9.
+
+At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was half-past nine.
+It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing with turbulent life,
+should lie down quietly, and get to sleep. They never dreamt of doing
+so. Very soon after the masters were gone, the sconces were often
+relighted, sometimes in separate dormitories, sometimes in all of them,
+and the boys amused themselves by reading novels or making a row. They
+would play various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over
+the beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers off
+their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well wielded,
+especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very efficient
+instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn’t hurt very much,
+even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these matches were excellent
+trials of strength and temper, and were generally accompanied with
+shouts of laughter, never ending until one side was driven back to its
+own room. Many a long and tough struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his
+prowess was so universally acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was
+a match for any other, and far stronger in this warfare than most of the
+rest. At bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was the
+only _fainéant_ among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off
+the smaller fry.
+
+Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been placed
+in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn school. Backward
+in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed good looks, of mean
+disposition and feeble intellect, he was the very worst specimen of a
+boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even Barker so deeply excited Eric’s
+repulsion and contempt. And yet, since the affair of Upton, Barker and
+Eric were declared enemies, and, much to the satisfaction of the latter,
+never spoke to each other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed
+him--he was professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even of
+this worthless boy.
+
+Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably profess to
+like him “well enough,” but if they were honest, they would generally
+end by allowing their contempt.
+
+“We’ve got a nice set in No. 7, haven’t we?” said Duncan to Eric one
+day.
+
+“Capital. Old Llewellyn’s a stunner, and I like Attlay and Graham.”
+
+“Don’t you like Bull then?”
+
+“O yes; pretty well.”
+
+The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the confidential
+augurs, burst out laughing.
+
+“You know you detest him,” said Duncan.
+
+“No, I don’t. He never did me any harm that I know of.”
+
+“Him!--well, _I_ detest him.”
+
+“Well!” answered Eric, “on coming to think of it, so do I. And yet he is
+popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is.”
+
+“He’s not _really_ popular. I’ve often noticed that fellows pretty
+generally despise him, yet somehow don’t like to say so.”
+
+“Why do you dislike him, Duncan?”
+
+“I don’t know. Why do you?”
+
+“I don’t know either.”
+
+Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet if they
+had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found out in their
+secret souls the reasons of their dislike.
+
+Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often bragged as
+the acmé of desirability and wickedness. He was always telling boys what
+they did at “his old school,” and he quite inflamed the minds of such as
+fell under his influence by marvellous tales of the wild and wilful
+things which he and his former school-fellows had done. Many and many a
+scheme of sin and mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and
+carried out on the model of Bull’s reminiscences of his previous life.
+
+He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil than any
+other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the general odium
+was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience so often as a
+ground of superiority, that at last the claim was silently allowed. He
+spoke from the platform of more advanced iniquity, and the others
+listened first curiously, then eagerly to his words.
+
+“Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Such was the temptation
+which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and Eric among the
+number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually, he dropped into their
+too willing ears the poison of his polluting acquirements.
+
+In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting mind.
+
+I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry over
+it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a true picture
+of what school life _sometimes_ is, I must not pass it by altogether.
+
+The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No. 7, he was
+shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he felt himself
+blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then growing pale again,
+while a hot dew was left upon his forehead. Bull was the speaker; but
+this time there was a silence, and the subject instantly dropped. The
+others felt that “a new boy” was in the room; they did not know how he
+would take it; they were unconsciously abashed.
+
+Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation before,
+they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of yielding
+to it.
+
+Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption
+and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your
+destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these
+fellows that unseemly words wound your conscience; tell them that they
+are ruinous, sinful, damnable; speak out and save yourself and the rest.
+Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful
+presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel
+which the whole world, if it were “one entire and perfect chrysolite,”
+cannot replace.
+
+Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this his hour
+of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses and the fiery
+chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the dark array of
+spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a pitying finger to the
+yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair that even now perhaps is being
+cleft under his feet. Show him the garlands of the present and the past,
+withering at the touch of the Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity
+show him the canker which he is introducing into the sap of the tree of
+life, which shall cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its
+blossom to go up as dust.
+
+But the sense of sin was on Eric’s mind. How _could_ he speak? was not
+his own language sometimes profane? How--how could he profess to reprove
+another boy on the ground of morality, when he himself said did things
+less ruinous perhaps, but equally forbidden?
+
+For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay silent.
+Since Bull’s last words nobody had spoken. They were going to sleep. It
+was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment passed by for ever;
+Eric had listened without objection to foul words, and the irreparable
+harm was done.
+
+How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God had
+provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far harder to
+resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.
+
+Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the destinies
+of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day, the hour a common
+hour. We never thought twice about the change of intention, which by one
+of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life determined for good or for evil,
+for happiness or misery, the color of our remaining years. The stroke of
+the pen was done in a moment which led unconsciously to our ruin; the
+word was uttered quite heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision
+of our weal or woe.
+
+Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of an
+angel’s wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an angel’s
+voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments which passed,
+until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell asleep.
+
+Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once remembered what
+had passed. Bull’s words haunted him; he could not forget them; they
+burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever. He was moody and
+petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his aversion to Bull. Ah
+Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you, but prayerfulness would;
+one word, Eric, at the throne of grace--one prayer before you go down
+among the boys, that God in his mercy would wash away, in the blood of
+his dear Son, your crimson stains, and keep your conscience and
+memory clean.
+
+The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a few
+formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have given way
+to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard Bull’s footstep,
+and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast; so Eric did not pray.
+
+Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory No. 7. On
+the contrary, they generally flashed along in the liveliest way, till
+some one said “Good night;” and then the boys turned off to sleep. Eric
+knew this, and instantly conjectured that it was only a sort of respect
+for him, and ignorance of the manner in which he would consider it, that
+prevented Duncan and the rest from taking any further notice of Bull’s
+remark. It was therefore no good disburdening his mind to any of them;
+but he determined to speak about the matter to Russell in their
+next walk.
+
+They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had discontinued
+the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys taking their
+exercise under a master’s inspection. Boys are not generally fond of
+constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays they almost entirely
+confined their open-air exercise to the regular games, and many of them
+hardly left the play-ground boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they
+often went walks, each with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric
+first came as a boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and
+many a pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even this
+intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more often gone
+with his new friend Upton.
+
+“Come a walk, boy,” said Upton, as they left the dining-room.
+
+“O excuse me to-day, Upton,” said Eric, “I’m going with your cousin.”
+
+“Oh _very_ well,” said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping to make Eric
+jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had “taken up” before he
+knew Williams.
+
+Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said, “Come a
+stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?”
+
+“O yes,” said Russell cheerfully; “why, we haven’t seen each other for
+some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant to drop
+me, Eric.”
+
+He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his head,
+for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all the school,
+and especially at his friendship with so leading a fellow as Upton, Eric
+had _not_ seen much of his friend since their last conversation about
+swearing. Indeed, conscious of failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in
+Russell’s company.
+
+He faltered, and answered humbly, “I hope you will never drop _me_,
+Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to speak to
+you to-day.”
+
+In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric’s, as they turned
+towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just going to begin,
+when they heard Montagu’s voice calling after them--
+
+“I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with you?”
+
+“O yes, Monty, do,” said Russell, “It will be quite like old times; now
+that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to sing ‘When shall
+we three meet again?’”
+
+Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words jarred in
+Eric’s heart. He was silent, and answered in monosyllables, so the walk
+was provokingly dull. At last they reached Fort Island, and sat down by
+the ruined chapel looking on the sea.
+
+“Why what’s the row with you, old boy,” said Montagu, playfully shaking
+Eric by the shoulder, “you’re as silent as Zimmerman on Solitude, and as
+doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you’ve been going through a
+select course of Blair’s Grave, Young’s Night Thoughts, and Drelincourt
+on Death.”
+
+To his surprise Eric’s head was still bent, and, at last, he heard a
+deep suppressed sigh.
+
+“My dear child, what is the matter with you?” said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, “surely you’re not offended at my
+nonsense?”
+
+Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he gulped down
+his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull’s vile words the night
+before. They listened in silence.
+
+“I knew it must come, Eric,” said Russell at last, “and I am so sorry
+you didn’t speak at the time.”
+
+“Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your dormitories?”
+asked Eric.
+
+“No,” said Russell.
+
+“Very little,” said Montagu.
+
+A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and looked
+away.
+
+“Let me tell you,” said Russell solemnly; “my father (he is dead now you
+know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this kind of thing.
+I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such coarse knowledge as is
+forced upon one here, and with my reminiscences of home, I could not
+bear even that much of it which was impossible to avoid. But the very
+first time such talk was begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said
+I don’t know, but I felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous
+adder, and, at any rate, I showed such pain and distress that the
+fellows dropped it at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to
+stay in the room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I
+do think the fellows are very glad of it themselves.”
+
+“Well,” said Montagu, “I don’t profess to look on it from the religious
+ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in bad taste, and
+said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick me for a conceited
+little fool, but he didn’t; and they hardly ever venture on that
+ground now.”
+
+“It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly,” answered Russell; “my
+father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become rife in
+a public school.”
+
+“Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these matters?”
+asked Eric thoughtfully.
+
+“In sermons they do. Don’t you remember Rowlands’ sermon not two weeks
+ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite right not to
+speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we invite confidence.
+Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in this way. After all, it
+is only a very few of the worst who ever do.”
+
+They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off performing
+the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private request to Bull to
+abstain from his offensive communications, and an endeavor to enlist
+Duncan into his wishes.
+
+One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7. Bull’s turn
+came, and in his story the vile element again appeared. For a while Eric
+said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he made a faint
+remonstrance.
+
+“Shut up there, Williams,” said Attlay, “and don’t spoil the story.”
+
+“Very well. It’s your own fault, and I shall shut my ears.”
+
+He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended to be
+asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly new to him;
+his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned indifference, and the
+poison flowed deep into his veins. Before that evening was over, Eric
+Williams was “a god, knowing good from evil.”
+
+O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and beware. The
+knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it hell. That little
+matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like the snowflake detached
+by the breath of air from the mountain-top, which, as it rushes down,
+gains size, and strength, and impetus, till it has swollen to the mighty
+and irresistible avalanche that overwhelms garden, and field, and
+village, in a chaos of undistinguishable death.
+
+Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished there!
+Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother’s
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very pale
+their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young brothers who have
+sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod, from foreign graves and
+English churchyards, they start up and throng around us in the paleness
+of their fall. May every schoolboy who reads this page be warned by the
+waving of their wasted hands, from that burning marle of passion, where
+they found nothing but shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an
+early grave.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DORMITORY LIFE
+
+     [Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux herebennae.]
+     HOM.
+
+For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last chapter, Upton
+and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at Eric’s declining the
+honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at Upton’s unreasonableness.
+In the “taking up” system, such quarrels were of frequent occurrence,
+and as the existence of a misunderstanding was generally indicated in
+this very public way, the variations of good will between such friends
+generally excited no little notice and amusement among the other boys.
+But both Upton and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so
+far as others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the
+other’s company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than ever.
+
+As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his study
+door, and which ran as follows:--
+
+“Dear Horace--Don’t let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow, why
+should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a walk with
+Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as you? I shall
+expect you to make it up directly after prayers.--Yours, if you are not
+silly, E.W.”
+
+The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton seized
+Eric’s hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they had a good
+laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs chattering
+merrily.
+
+“There’s to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight,” said Eric;
+“the doctor’s gone to a dinner-party, and we’re going to have no end
+of fun.”
+
+“Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell me, I’ll
+come and look on.”
+
+“Very well; depend upon it, I’ll come.” And they parted at the foot of
+the study stairs.
+
+It was Mr. Rose’s night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range
+of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he
+put out all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed
+the utmost quiet and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had
+passed away through the lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a
+scout, had seen the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the
+corner at the foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door
+close behind him.
+
+After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that
+they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the
+first to stir.
+
+“Now for some fun,” said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
+pitching his pillow at Eric’s head.
+
+“I’ll pay you out for that when I’m ready,” said Eric, laughing; “but
+give us a match, first.”
+
+Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
+candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and
+one after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed
+to them in a sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that a length all the
+twelve dormitories had their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts
+of amusement, some in their night-shirts and others with their trousers
+slipped on. Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last
+Graham suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.
+
+“But we’re making a regular knock-me-down shindy,” said Llewellyn;
+“somebody must keep cavè.”
+
+“O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no fear of
+disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami,” answered Graham.
+
+But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the top of the
+stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that direction, and little
+Wright consented to go first. He had only to leave the lavatory door
+open; and stand at the top of the staircase, and he then commanded for a
+great distance the only avenue in which danger was expected. If any
+master’s candle appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes’
+warning, and a single loudly-whispered “cave” would cause some one in
+each dormitory instantly to “douse the glim,” and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary’s arrival, they would all be (of course)
+fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming manner. Whatever
+noise the master might have heard, it would be impossible to fix it on
+any of the sleepers.
+
+So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and shivering
+in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and not
+unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest were
+getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso, arranging a
+stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and dressing up the
+actors in the most fantastic apparel.
+
+The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at the end
+Wright ran in through the lavatory.
+
+“I say,” said the little fellow, “it’s jolly cold standing at the top of
+the stairs. Won’t some one relieve guard?”
+
+“O, I will,” answered Eric, good-naturedly; “it’s a shame that one
+fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;” and he ran to
+take Wright’s post.
+
+After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no danger,
+and therefore ran up to Upton’s study for a change.
+
+“Well, what’s up?” said the study-boy, approvingly, as he glanced at
+Eric’s laughing eyes.
+
+“O, we’ve been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But I’m
+keeping ‘cavè’ now; only it’s so cold that I thought I’d run up to
+your study.”
+
+“Little traitor; we’ll shoot you for a deserting sentinel.”
+
+“O no;” said Eric, “it’s all serene; Rowley’s out, and dear old Rose’d
+never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of Morpheus.
+Besides the fellows are making less row now.”
+
+“Well! look here! let’s go and look on, and I’ll tell you a dodge; put
+one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of the lavatory, and
+then if any one comes he’ll make clang enough to wake dead; and while
+he’s amusing himself with this, there’ll be lots of time to ‘extinguish
+the superfluous abundance of the nocturnal illuminators.’ Eh?”
+
+“Capital!” said Eric, “come along.”
+
+They went down and arranged the signal very artistically, leaving the
+iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the large tin basin on
+its edge, so as to lean against it. Having extremely enjoyed this part
+of the proceeding, they went to look at the theatricals again, the boys
+being highly delighted at Upton’s appearance among them.
+
+They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant reminiscences of
+Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and mustachios to make him
+resemble Banquo, his costume being completed by a girdle round his
+nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson silk handkerchief, richly
+broidered with gold, which had been brought to him from India, and which
+at first, in the innocence of his heart, he used to wear on Sundays,
+until he acquired the sobriquet of “the Dragon.” Duncan made a
+superb Macbeth.
+
+They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in a most
+novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the room, on one
+side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife, the handle end of
+which he was pushing through a hole in the middle of the sheet at the
+shadow of Duncan on the other side.
+
+Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama, was
+spouting--
+
+     “Is this a dagger which I see before me?
+     The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;”
+
+And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded knife; but
+as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was immediately withdrawn, and
+the blade end substituted, which made the comic Macbeth instantly draw
+back again, and recommence his apostrophe. This scene had tickled the
+audience immensely, and Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just
+drawing the somewhat unwarrantable conclusion that it was
+
+     “A dagger of the mind, a false creation,”
+
+when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced a dead
+silence.
+
+“Cavè,” shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his bed. Instantly
+there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet was torn down, the
+candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and the dormitories at once
+plunged in profound silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of
+sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or any of the under
+masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!
+
+He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory doors were
+wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain lay torn on the
+floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms were in the
+strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still smouldered in
+several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the extraordinary way
+in which the bed clothes were huddled about told an unmistakeable tale.
+
+He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No. 8, he
+heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton’s figure vanishing
+into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the study stairs.
+
+He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories, again
+stopping at No. 7 on his return.
+
+He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly fixed on
+him as a chief culprit.
+
+“Duncan!”
+
+No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan’s bed.
+
+“Duncan!” he said, still louder and more sternly, “you sleep soundly,
+sir, too soundly; get up directly,” and he laid his hand on the
+boy’s arm.
+
+“Get away, you old donkey,” said Duncan sleepily; “’t, aint time to get
+up yet. First bell hasn’t rung.”
+
+“Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;” but the
+imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great yawn, and
+then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing Dr. Rowlands,
+that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from over his bed-clothes,
+burst into an irresistible explosion of laughter.
+
+Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--“What! Williams! get out of bed,
+sir, this instant.”
+
+Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he stood on
+the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and corked cheeks,
+with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense astonishment, that the scene
+became overpoweringly ludicrous to Duncan, who now in his turn was
+convulsed with a storm of laughter, faintly echoed in stifled titterings
+from other beds.
+
+“_Very_ good,” said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry, “you will hear
+of this to-morrow;” and he walked away with a heavy step, stopping at
+the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its proper place, and then
+mounting to the studies.
+
+Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he knocked at
+one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their occupants at once
+to the library.
+
+Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they heard the
+doctor’s retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark to No. 7, not
+daring to relight their candles.
+
+“Good gracious!” said Attlay, “only to think of Rowley appearing! How
+could he have twigged?”
+
+“He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home,” said Eric.
+
+“I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a rage the
+Doctor will be in to-morrow?”
+
+“Won’t you just catch it!” said Barker to Duncan, but intending the
+remark for Eric.
+
+“Just like your mean chaff,” retorted Duncan. “But I say, Williams,” he
+continued, laughing, “you _did_ look so funny in the whiskers.”
+
+At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down stairs to
+the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their different rooms.
+
+“What do you think he’ll do to us?” asked Eric.
+
+“I don’t know,” said Duncan uneasily; “flog us, for one thing, that’s
+certain. I’m so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it’s no good fretting.
+We’ve had our cake, and now we must pay for it, that’s all.”
+
+Eric’s cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened, and
+somebody stole noiselessly in.
+
+“Who’s there?”
+
+“Upton. I’ve come to have a chat. The Doctor’s like a turkey-cock in
+sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a rage.”
+
+“Why, what’s he been saying?” asked Eric, as Upton came and took a seat
+on his bed.
+
+“Oh! he’s been rowing us like six o’clock,” said Upton, “about ‘moral
+responsibility,’ ‘abetting the follies of children,’ ‘forgetting our
+position in the school,’ and I don’t know what all; and he ended by
+asking who’d been in the dormitories. Of course I confessed the soft
+impeachment, whereon he snorted ‘Ha! I suspected so. Very well, Sir, you
+don’t know how to use a study; you shall be deprived of it till the end
+of term.’”
+
+“Did he really, Horace?” said Eric. “And it’s all my doing that you’ve
+got into the scrape. Do forgive me.”
+
+“Bosh! My dear fellow,” said Upton, “it’s twice as much my fault as
+yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It’s rather a bore
+losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all the more
+of each other. Good night; I must be off.”
+
+Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said to the
+boys, “Stop! I have a word to say to you.”
+
+“I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories yesterday
+evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden hours, and the
+noise made was so great that it was heard through the whole building. I
+am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for a few hours, without your
+taking such advantage of my absence; and that the upper boys, so far
+from using their influence to prevent these infractions of discipline,
+seem inclined rather to join in them themselves. On this occasion I have
+punished Upton, by depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and
+as I myself detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the
+library at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by the
+dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron door. The
+consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and _might_ have been
+seriously injured in entering the lavatory. I must know the name of the
+delinquent.”
+
+Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked surprised, and
+there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr. Rose’s face.
+
+“Very well,” said the Doctor, “I shall speak to you both privately.”
+
+Twelve o’clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe caning.
+Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for some
+dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He burned, not
+with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent indignation, and
+listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr. Rowlands’ warnings. When the
+flogging was over, he almost rushed out of the room, to choke in
+solitude his sense of humiliation, nor would he suffer any one for an
+instant to allude to his disgrace. Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton
+was doing him no good; but he passionately resented the suggestion, and
+determined, with obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the
+boy whom he had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.
+
+Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the friendships of
+boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been warned against his
+new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the fact that Mr. So-and-so
+doesn’t like seeing them together, and after that they fancy themselves
+bound in honor to show that they are not afraid of continuing their
+connection. It was not strange, therefore, that Eric and Upton were
+thrown more than ever into each other’s society, and consequently, that
+Eric, while he improved daily in strength, activity, and prowess,
+neglected more and more his school duties and honorable ambitions.
+
+Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character and
+abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness and
+unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One night he
+sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During the evening he
+drew out Eric’s exercise, and compared it with, those of Russell and
+Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him in marks. Eric’s was
+careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two were neat, spirited, and
+painstaking, and had, therefore, been marked much higher.
+
+“Your exercises _used_ to be far better--I may say incomparably better,”
+said Mr. Rose; “what is the cause of this falling off?”
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. “I fear, my boy, you have not
+been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and are letting
+boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in ability. That is a
+very bad _sign_, Eric; in itself it is a discouraging fact, but I fear
+it indicates worse evils. You are wasting the golden hours, my boy, that
+can never return. I only hope and trust that no other change for the
+worse is going on in your character.”
+
+And so he talked on till the boy’s sorrow was undisguised. “Come,” he
+said gently, “let us kneel down together before we part.”
+
+Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full heart,
+the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child beside him.
+Eric’s heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and he loved him as
+a brother. He rose from his knees full of the strongest resolutions, and
+earnestly promised amendment for the future.
+
+But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time, indeed,
+there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on with its usual
+allurements, and when the hours of temptation came, his good intentions
+melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the prayer, and the vows that
+followed it, had been obliterated from his memory without leaving any
+traces in his life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ERIC IN COVENTRY
+
+                     “And either greet him not
+     Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more
+     Than if not looked on.”--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.
+
+Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller
+class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were
+too high in the school for “the boarders’ room,” and who were waiting to
+succeed to the studies as they fell vacant. There were three or four
+others with him in this class-room, and although it was less pleasant
+than his old quarters, it was yet far more comfortable than the
+Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form boys.
+
+As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the class-rooms
+except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however, was very generally
+overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an opportunity to escape from
+the company of Barker and his associates, became a constant frequenter
+of his friend’s new abode. Here they used to make themselves very
+comfortable. Joining the rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and
+amuse themselves over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a
+green or yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest:
+and Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.
+
+Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him unmolested; but
+if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice him, he invariably
+turned him out, and after the first offence or two, had several times
+set him an imposition. This treatment gave fresh intensity to his now
+deeply-seated disgust at his late master, and his expressions of
+indignation at “Gordon’s spite” were loud and frequent.
+
+One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one there but
+Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the window, with
+Upton’s arm resting kindly on Eric’s shoulder as they watched with
+admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that flashed over the sea.
+Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid phrase [Greek: anêrithmon
+gelasma pontiôn], which he had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that
+morning, and they were trying which would hit on the best rendering of
+it. Eric stuck up for the literal sublimity of “the innumerable laughter
+of the sea,” while Upton was trying to win him over to “the
+many-twinkling smile of ocean.” They were enjoying the discussion, and
+each stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.
+
+On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial dislike
+of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that the younger had
+grown more than usually conceited and neglectful, since he had been
+under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in Eric’s presence there, a
+new case of wilful disobedience.
+
+“Williams, here _again!_” he exclaimed sharply. “Why, sir, you seem to
+suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How often have I told you
+that no one is allowed to sit here, except the regular occupants?”
+
+His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant discussion.
+
+“No other master takes any notice of it, sir,” said Upton.
+
+“I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will bring me
+the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for your repeated
+disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish you also, for
+tempting him to come here.”
+
+This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon’s part, of which Upton took immediate
+advantage.
+
+“I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides,” he
+continued, with annoying blandness of tone, “it would be inhospitable;
+and I am too glad of his company.”
+
+Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. “Williams, leave the room
+instantly.”
+
+The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. “Mr. Rose never interferes with me,
+when he sees me here,” he said as he retreated.
+
+“Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit and
+impertinence are getting intolerable.”
+
+Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton joined him
+on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a little
+ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground together. He went
+away full of strong contempt, and from that moment began to look on the
+friends as two of the worst boys in the school.
+
+This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a half-holiday, and
+instead of being able to join in any of the games, Eric had to spend
+that weary afternoon in writing away at the fourth Georgic; Upton
+staying in a part of the time to help him a little, by dictating the
+lines to him--an occupation not unfrequently interrupted by storms of
+furious denunciation against Mr. Gordon’s injustice and tyranny; Eric
+vowing “that he would pay him out somehow yet.”
+
+The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again consumed some
+of the next day’s leisure, part of it being written between schools in
+the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite finished on Friday
+afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric stayed a few minutes
+behind the rest to scribble off the last ten lines; which done, he
+banged down the lid of his desk, not locking it, and ran out.
+
+The next morning an incident happened which involved considerable
+consequences to some of the actors in my story.
+
+Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves, like
+Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one end of this
+hall was a board used for the various school notices, to which there
+were always affixed two or three pieces of paper containing
+announcements about examinations and other matters of general interest.
+
+On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the boys, as
+they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a new notice on
+the board, and, thronging round to see what it was, read these words,
+written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by wafers to the board--
+
+“GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL.”
+
+As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took them all
+very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so audacious as to
+play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by the entrance of the
+masters, and they all took their seats, without any one tearing down the
+dangerous paper.
+
+After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready, fell on the
+paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment transfixed with
+astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.
+
+Pointing to the inscription, he said: “I think we had better leave that
+there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has seen it. Would you
+mind asking him to step in here?”
+
+Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr. Gordon
+while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his seat, Montagu,
+who was next him, whispered--
+
+“I say, have you seen the notice-board?”
+
+“No. Why?”
+
+“Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not very
+favorable.”
+
+“And serve him right, too, brute!” said Eric, smarting with the memory
+of his imposition.
+
+“Well, there’ll be no end of a row; you’ll see.”
+
+During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He read
+the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr. Rose--“Would
+you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As it would be painful
+to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better explain to him how
+matters stand.”
+
+“Halloa! here’s a rumpus!” whispered Montagu; “he never has the lower
+school down for nothing.”
+
+A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower school. When
+they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there was a dead silence
+and hush of expectation.
+
+“I have summoned you all together,” said the Doctor, “on a most serious
+occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the masters
+found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose of writing
+up an insult to one of our number, which is at once coarse and wicked.
+As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my deeply painful duty to
+inform you of its purport; the words are these--‘Gordon is a surly
+devil.’”--A _very_ slight titter followed this statement, which was
+instantly succeeded by a sort of thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he
+heard the words, started perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu’s
+eye fixed on him.
+
+Dr. Rowlands continued--“I suppose this dastardly impertinence has been
+perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am perfectly
+amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the attempt, and it
+may be very difficult to discover the author of it. But, depend upon it,
+discover him _we will_, at whatever cost. Whoever the offender may be,
+and he must be listening to me at this moment, let him be assured that
+he shall _not_ be unpunished. His guilty secret shall be torn from him.
+His punishment can only be mitigated by his instantly yielding
+himself up.”
+
+No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric was so
+uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that several eyes
+were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy were awakened.
+
+“Very well,” said the head master, “the guilty boy is not inclined to
+confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up to me by to-day
+week, every indulgence to the school will be forfeited, the next whole
+holiday stopped, and the coming cricket-match prohibited.”
+
+“The handwriting may be some clue,” suggested Mr. Ready. “Would you have
+any objection to my examining the note-books of the Shell?”
+
+“None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr. Ready
+immediately.”
+
+The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to the
+desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and suddenly
+stopped at one. Eric’s heart beat loud, as his saw Mr. Rose point
+towards him.
+
+“We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles that on the
+board. I give the offender one more chance of substituting confession
+for detection.”
+
+No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.
+
+“Eric Williams, stand out in the room.”
+
+Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed
+
+“The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know anything
+of this shameful proceeding?”
+
+“Nothing, sir,” he murmured in a low tone.
+
+“Nothing whatever?”
+
+“Nothing whatever, sir.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands’ look searched him through and through, and seemed to burn
+into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The Doctor felt
+certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained him to the spot
+with his glance for a minute or two, and then said slowly, and with a
+deep sigh--
+
+“Very well; I _hope_ you have spoken the truth; but whether you have or
+no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially the upper boys,
+will remember what I have said. I shall now tear down the insulting
+notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as head of the school, that
+you may make further inquiries.” He left the room, and the boys resumed
+their usual avocation till twelve o’clock. But poor Eric could hardly
+get through his ordinary pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until
+everybody noticed his strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.
+
+No sooner had twelve o’clock struck, than the whole school broke up into
+knots of buzzing and eager talkers.
+
+“I wonder who did it,” said a dozen voices at once.
+
+“The writing was undoubtedly Williams’,” suggested some.
+
+“And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor spoke to
+him, and how he hung his head?”
+
+“Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon.”
+
+“Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and he has
+been swearing at him ever since.”
+
+“I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night,” said
+Barker.
+
+“Did he? By Jove, that looks bad.”
+
+“Has any one charged him with it?” asked Duncan.
+
+“Yes,” answered one of the group: “but he’s as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought to
+know him better than to think him capable of such a thing.”
+
+“And quite right, too,” said Duncan. “If he did it, he’s done something
+totally unlike what one would have believed possible of him.”
+
+The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly they
+seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was of a
+violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to patronise;
+and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had been attached
+to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same size with some which
+Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts had been discovered,
+nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very generally whispered
+throughout the school.
+
+In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys proclaimed that
+he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at once, and save the
+school from the threatened punishment. But he listened to such
+suggestions with the most passionate indignation.
+
+“What!” he said, angrily, “tell a wilful lie to blacken my own innocent
+character? Never!”
+
+The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put into
+Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and maintained
+his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the boys whom he
+had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous in his defence.
+They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and little Wright.
+
+On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and said in a
+very serious tone, “This is a bad business, Williams. I cannot forget
+how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I won’t believe you
+guilty, yet you ought to explain.”
+
+“What? even _you_, then suspect me?” said Eric, bursting into proud
+tears. “Very well. I shan’t condescend to _deny_ it. I won’t speak to
+you again till you have repented of mistrusting me;” and he resolutely
+rejected all further overtures on Upton’s part.
+
+He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted to
+destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that the
+whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing which
+from his soul he abhorred. “No,” he thought, “bad I may be, but I
+_could_ not have done such a base and cowardly trick.”
+
+Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to the
+rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the rising tide.
+The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and console the tumult of
+his heart. He drank in strength and defiance from the roar of the
+waters, and climbed to their very edge along the rocks, where every
+fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in white swirls of angry loam.
+The look of the green, rough, hungry sea, harmonised with his feelings,
+and he sat down and stared into it, to find relief from the torment of
+his thoughts.
+
+At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet the crowd
+of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone over his sorrow
+in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps, when he caught sight
+of Russell in the distance. His first impulse was to run away and
+escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and when he came up, said,
+“Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose to tell you that _I_ don’t
+suspect you, and have never done so for a moment. I know you too well,
+my boy, and be sure that _I_ will always stick to you, even if the whole
+school cut you.”
+
+“Oh, Edwin, I am _so_ wretched. I needn’t tell you that I am quite
+innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected? Why, even your
+cousin Upton won’t believe me.”
+
+“But he does, Eric,” said Russell; “he told me so just now, and several
+others said the same thing.”
+
+A transient gleam passed over Eric’s face.
+
+“O, I do so long for home again,” he said. “Except you, I have no
+friend.”
+
+“Don’t say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon it, as
+the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the fellows
+will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions. And you _have_
+one friend, Eric,” he continued, pointing reverently upwards.
+
+Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face till the
+tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat silent and pitying
+beside him, and let Eric’s head rest upon his shoulder.
+
+When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One was from
+Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--
+
+“I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act. Believe me,
+I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and confess, and I
+promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and save you.”
+
+This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up furiously
+into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the room.
+
+Another was from Mr. Rose;
+
+“Dear Eric--I _cannot, will_ not, believe you guilty, although
+appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I feel sure that
+I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too noble-minded for a revenge so
+petty and so mean. Come to me, dear boy, if I can help you in any way. I
+_trust you_, Eric, and will use every endeavor to right you in the
+general estimation. You are innocent; pray to God for help under this
+cruel trial, and be sure that your character will yet be
+cleared.--Affectionately yours, WALTER ROSE.”
+
+“_P.S._--I can easily understand that just now you will like quiet; come
+and sit with me in the library as much as you like.”
+
+He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and at that
+moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was from Owen, as
+follows:--
+
+“Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately; naturally,
+perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some consolation to you to be
+told, even by a rival, that I, for one, feel certain of your innocence.
+If you want company, I shall be delighted now to walk with you.--Yours
+truly, D. OWEN.”
+
+This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy’s lonely and
+passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at once to
+accept Mr. Rose’s kind offer of allowing him to sit for the present in
+the library.
+
+There were several boys in the room while he was reading his notes, but
+none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to notice them, or
+interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out he met Duncan and
+Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing of the rest.
+
+“Ha! Williams,” said Duncan, “we have been looking everywhere for you,
+dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for one, and Monty
+for another, will maintain your innocence before the whole school.”
+
+Montagu _said_ nothing, but Eric understood full well the trustful
+kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was too full to
+speak, and he went on towards the library.
+
+“I wonder at your speaking to that fellow,” said Bull, as the two new
+comers joined the group at the fire-place.
+
+“You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him before long,”
+said Montagu warmly; “ay, the whole lot of you; and you are very unkind
+to condemn him before you are certain.”
+
+“I wish you joy of your _friend_, Duncan,” sneered Barker.
+
+“Friend?” said Duncan, firing up; “yes! he is my friend, and I’m not
+ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if _all_ the fellows
+were as honorable as Williams.”
+
+Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush, thought
+it better to say no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+“A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all.” TENNYSON, _The Princess_.
+
+On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands that the
+perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but that one boy was
+very generally suspected, and on grounds that seemed plausible. “I
+admit,” he added, “that from the little I know of him he seems to me a
+very unlikely sort of boy to do it.”
+
+“I think,” suggested the Doctor, “that the best way would be for you to
+have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence. Do you think
+that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation publicly, with
+good order and fairness?”
+
+“I think so, sir,” said Avonley.
+
+“Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by themselves
+in the boarders’ room tomorrow afternoon at three, and see what you can
+do among you.”
+
+Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys assembled,
+they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and were rather
+disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they determined to have
+a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly; and by general consent
+he was himself voted into the desk as president. He then got up
+and said--
+
+“There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all the boys
+take their seats quietly down the room.”
+
+They did so, and Avonley asked, “Is Williams here?”
+
+Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly went to the
+library to fetch him, and told him what was going on. He took Eric’s arm
+kindly as they entered, to show the whole school that he was not ashamed
+of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy of his goodwill.
+
+“Are you willing to be tried, Williams,” asked Avonley, “on the charge
+of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of course we
+know very little how these kind of things ought to be conducted, but we
+will see that everything done is open and above ground, and try to
+manage it properly.”
+
+“There is nothing I should like better,” said Eric.
+
+He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet conversation
+with his dearly loved friend and master had assured him in the
+confidence of innocence, and though the color on his cheek had through
+excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he looked wonderfully noble
+and winning as he stood before the boys in the centre of the room. His
+appearance caused a little reaction in his favor, and a murmur of
+applause followed his answer.
+
+“Good,” said Avonley; “who will prosecute on the part of the school?”
+
+There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.
+
+“Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge drops.”
+
+“I will do it,” said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys at the
+top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric liked the little
+he had seen of him.
+
+“Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of the
+sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, glancing round with confidence.
+
+“Well, now, who will defend the accused?”
+
+Another pause, and Upton got up.
+
+“No,” said Eric, at once. “You were inclined to distrust me, Upton, and
+I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my innocence.”
+
+Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got up. “I
+am only a Shell-boy,” he said, “but if Eric doesn’t mind trusting his
+cause to me, I will defend him, since no other fifth-form fellow stirs.”
+
+“Thank you, Russell, _I wanted_ you to offer, I could wish no better
+defender.”
+
+“Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?” asked Russell.
+
+“Very willingly,” they all three said, and went to take their seats by
+him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then declared
+themselves ready.
+
+“All I have got to do,” said Gibson, rising, “is to bring before the
+school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the evidence which
+makes it probable that he is the offender. Now, first of all, the thing
+must have been done between Friday evening and Saturday morning; and
+since the school-room door is generally locked soon after school, it was
+probably done in the short interval between six and a quarter past. I
+shall now examine some witnesses.”
+
+The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on Friday
+evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few minutes, the
+only boy remaining in it was Williams.
+
+Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that he had
+met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he went at a
+quarter past six to lock the door.
+
+Examined by Gibson.--“Was any boy in the room when you did lock the
+door?”
+
+“No one.”
+
+“Did you meet any one else in the passage?”
+
+“No.”
+
+Cross-examined by Russell.--“Do boys ever get into the room after the
+door is locked?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“By what means?”
+
+“Through the side windows.”
+
+“That will do.”
+
+Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the room,
+and on returning, after a few minutes’ absence, gave Russell a
+significant nod.
+
+Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.
+
+“Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular kind of
+ink?”
+
+“Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell.”
+
+“Could you recognise anything written with it?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much trouble.
+
+“Is that the kind of ink?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Do you know the handwriting on that paper?”
+
+“Yes; it is Williams’ hand.”
+
+“How can you tell?”
+
+“He makes his r’s in a curious way.”
+
+“Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers before?”
+
+“Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk.”
+
+“Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like those?”
+
+“No.”
+
+Cross-examined by Duncan.--“_How_ do you know that Williams has wafers
+like those?”
+
+“I have seen him use them.”
+
+“For what purpose?”
+
+“To fasten letters.”
+
+“I can’t help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with what he
+does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him oftenest,
+never heard of these wafers. May I ask,” he said, “if any one else in
+the school will witness to having seen Williams use these wafers?”
+
+No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been changed into
+uneasiness, sat down.
+
+Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--“You have seen a good deal of
+Williams?”
+
+“Yes,” said Upton smiling.
+
+“Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?”
+
+“Often.”
+
+“Of what kind?”
+
+“Dislike and contempt,” said Upton, amidst general laughter.
+
+“Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to injure
+him?”
+
+“The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition, and I
+heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out.”
+
+This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great sensation.
+
+“When did he say this?”
+
+“On Friday afternoon.”
+
+Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although, being
+simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed nothing
+that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose to
+cross-examine him.
+
+“Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?”
+
+“Never.”
+
+“Do you consider him a boy _likely_ to have been guilty on this
+occasion?”
+
+“Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence.”
+
+The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt greatly
+relieved by it.
+
+One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the great
+agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in the
+school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible, self-contained fellow,
+said, “I have now done my part. I have shown that the accused had a
+grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the occurrence, and had
+threatened to be revenged on him; that he was the last boy in the room
+during the time when the offence must have been committed; that the
+handwriting is known to resemble his, and that the ink and wafers
+employed were such as he, and he only, was known to possess. In addition
+to all this, his behavior, when the matter was first publicly noticed,
+was exactly such as coincides with the supposition of his guilt. I think
+you will all agree in considering these grounds of suspicion very
+strong; and leaving them to carry their full weight with you, I close
+the case for the prosecution.”
+
+The school listened to Gibson’s quiet formality with a kind of grim and
+gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were probably few
+but Eric’s own immediate friends who were not fully convinced of his
+guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so unfavorable an opinion of
+a companion whom they all admired.
+
+After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked, “Has
+Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of its
+contents put in as evidence?”
+
+“Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my place in
+school.”
+
+The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked, and
+Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He then
+began--“In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show that
+Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr. Gordon,
+and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is quite true
+that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that the ink and
+wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that the handwriting is
+not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy intending to post up an
+insult such as this, would do so in a manner, and at a time so likely to
+involve him in immediate detection, and certain punishment? At any rate,
+he would surely disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to
+look at this paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the
+contrary, that these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would
+be the case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?” Russell here handed
+the paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.
+
+“Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because Carter
+himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the window; a fact to
+which we shall have to allude again.
+
+“We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is rather
+strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since neither I, nor
+any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat by him when writing
+letters, have ever observed that he possessed any like them.”
+
+Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill at ease
+on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear unconcerned.
+
+“There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must mention.
+It will explain Williams’ agitation when Dr. Rowlands read out the words
+on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am indifferent to its
+appearing to tell against him. I myself once heard Williams use the very
+words written on that paper, and not only heard them, but expostulated
+with him strongly for the use of them. I need hardly say how very
+unlikely it is, that remembering this, he should thus publicly draw my
+suspicions on him, if he meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But,
+besides myself, there was another boy who accidentally overheard that
+expression. That boy was Barker.
+
+“I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least ought to
+go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of note-paper, I see that
+the printer’s name on the stamp in the corner is ‘Graves, York.’ Now, I
+have just found that there is no paper at all like this in Williams’
+desk; all the note-paper it contains is marked ‘Blakes, Ayrton.’
+
+“I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams’ general
+character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going to do this.
+We think we know the real offender. We have had one trial, and now
+demand another. It is our painful duty to prove Williams’ innocence by
+proving another’s guilt. That other is a known enemy of mine, and of
+Montagu’s, and of Owen’s. We therefore leave the charge of stating the
+case against him to Duncan, with whom he has never quarrelled.”
+
+Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his task with a
+wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled every one with
+admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.
+
+The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan, after a
+minute’s pause, starting up, said--“Williams has allowed his desk to be
+brought in and examined. Will Barker do the same?”
+
+The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell, Duncan,
+and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk to be
+brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened, it was
+immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was identical with
+that on which the words had been written. At this he affected to be
+perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against what he called the
+meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.
+
+“And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two,” asked
+Gibson, quietly, “but endeavoring to fix the charge on another?”
+
+“We have stronger evidence against you,” said Duncan, confronting him
+with an undaunted look, before which his insolence quailed. “Russell,
+will you call Graham?”
+
+Graham was called, and put on his honor.
+
+“You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side window?”
+
+“I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing nothing in the
+sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to the school-room by
+the window, which he left open. I was looking on simply from curiosity,
+and saw him search Williams’ desk, from which he took out something, I
+could not make out what. He then went to his own place, and wrote for
+about ten minutes, after which I observed him go up and stand by the
+notice board. When he had done this he got out by the window again,
+and ran off.”
+
+“Didn’t this strike you as extraordinary?”
+
+“No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in the
+sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had seen,
+and it wasn’t till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I thought it
+worth while to make it generally known.”
+
+Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and silent), and
+then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket, put them together,
+and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the fragments of paper, he
+asked, “Have you ever seen these before?”
+
+“Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed behind to
+think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced that Williams
+was _not_ guilty, spite of appearances. I was standing by the empty
+fire-place, when these bits of paper caught my eye. I picked them up,
+and, after a great deal of trouble, fitted them together. They are
+covered apparently with failures in an attempt at forgery, viz., first,
+‘Gordon is a sur--’ and then a stop, as though the writer were
+dissatisfied, and several of the words written over again for practice,
+and then a number of r’s made in the way that Williams makes them.”
+
+“There you may stop,” said Barker, stamping fiercely; “I did it all.”
+
+A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this announcement.
+
+“What! _you_ did it, and caused all this misery, you ineffable
+blackguard!” shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand, while he struck
+him with the other.
+
+“Stop!” said Avonley; “just see that he doesn’t escape, while we decide
+on his punishment.”
+
+It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run the
+gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their handkerchiefs,
+and knotted them tight. They then made a double line down each side of
+the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood stock-still at one end,
+while the fellows nearest him thrashed him unmercifully with the heavy
+knots. At last the pain was getting severe, and he moved on, finally
+beginning to run. Five times he was forced up and down the line, and
+five times did every boy in the line give him a blow, which, if it did
+not hurt much, at least spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was
+dogged and unmoved to the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the
+presence of Dr. Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and
+the next morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled.
+Thenceforth he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.
+
+I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any part in
+this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders’ room till it
+was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent event. Most
+warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness. “Thank you,” he said,
+“with all my heart, for proving my innocence; but thank you, even more a
+great deal, for first believing it.”
+
+Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered for a
+moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had hardly shaken
+hands when the rest came flocking in. “We have all been unjust,” said
+Avonley; “let’s make up for it as well as we can. Three cheers for Eric
+Williams!”
+
+They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and meanwhile,
+every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry they were for
+the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show their regret for
+his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart readily forgave them, and
+his eyes were long wet with tears of joy. The delicious sensation of
+returning esteem made him almost think it worth while to have under gone
+his trial.
+
+Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and it was no
+small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to find themselves
+finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied, and whose name no one
+mentioned without disgust. He had done more than any other boy to
+introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice, and the very atmosphere of
+the rooms seemed healthier in his absence. One boy only forgave him, one
+boy only prayed for him, one boy only endeavored to see him for one last
+kind word. That boy was Edwin Russell.
+
+After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands’ to dinner,
+apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did and said all
+that could be done by an honorable man to repair the injury of an unjust
+doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and from thenceforth, though
+they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon ceased to be enemies.
+
+That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous evening
+they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when the master
+bade them “good night,” he kindly detained Eric, and said to him, “Keep
+an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never fear trouble. Only think
+if you had been guilty, and were now in Barker’s place!”
+
+“O, I _couldn’t_ be guilty, sir,” said Eric, gaily.
+
+“Not of such a fault, perhaps. But,” he added solemnly, “there are many
+kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to fall into.
+You will find it no light battle to resist them.”
+
+“Believe me, sir, I will try,” he answered with humility.
+
+“Jehovah-Nissi!” said Mr. Rose. “Let the Lord be your banner, Eric, and
+you will win the victory. God bless you.”
+
+And as the boy’s graceful figure disappeared through the door, Mr. Rose
+drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated long. He was
+imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of splendid usefulness, of
+reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+
+     “Ten cables from where green meadows
+     And quiet homes could be seen,
+         No greater space
+         From peril to peace,
+     But the savage sea between!”--EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most of the
+boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at school. Many of
+the usual rules were suspended during this time, and the boys were
+supplied every day with pocket-money; consequently the Easter holidays
+passed very pleasantly, and there was plenty of fun.
+
+It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and the boys
+would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or about the
+coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in great request
+among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular than ever, and felt
+as if nothing were wanting to his happiness. But this brilliant
+prosperity was not good for him, and he felt continually that he cared
+far less for the reproaches of conscience than he had done in the hours
+of his trial; sought far less for help from God than he had done when he
+was lonely and neglected.
+
+He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of Russell.
+For Edwin’s sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin’s disapproval,
+he abstained from many things into which he would otherwise have
+insensibly glided in conformation to the general looseness of the school
+morality. But Russell’s influence worked on him powerfully, and tended
+to counteract a multitude of temptations.
+
+Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke; and he
+was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays in lurking
+about with pipes in their mouths at places where they were unlikely to
+be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty and healthy game. When
+he began to “learn” smoking, he found it anything but pleasant; but a
+little practice had made him an adept, and he found a certain amount of
+enjoyable excitement in finding out cozy places by the river, where he
+and Upton might go and lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.
+
+In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed a fine
+thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from vacuity.
+Besides, they had a confused notion that there was something “manly” in
+it, and it derived an additional zest from the stringency of the rules
+adopted to put it down. So a number of the boys smoked, and some few of
+them to such excess as to get them into great mischief, and form a habit
+which they could never afterwards abandon.
+
+One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell started
+for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they passed through
+Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs and other provisions,
+as they did not mean to be back for dinner. In about ten minutes he
+caught up the other two, just as they were getting out of the town.
+
+“What an age you’ve been buying a few Easter eggs,” said Russell,
+laughing; “have you been waiting till the hens laid?”
+
+“No; they are not the _only_ things I’ve got.”
+
+“Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same shop.”
+
+“Ay; but I’ve procured a more refined article. Guess what it is?”
+
+The two boys didn’t guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them, “Will you
+have a whiff, Monty?”
+
+“A whiff! Oh! I see you’ve been wasting your tin on cigars--_alias_,
+rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!”
+
+“Well, will you have one?”
+
+“If you like,” said Montagu, wavering; “but I don’t much care to smoke.”
+
+“Well, _I_ shall, at any rate,” said Eric, keeping off the wind with his
+cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.
+
+They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn’t promote conversation,
+and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look so ridiculous, and
+entirely unlike himself, as he did while strutting along with the weed
+in his mouth. The fact was, Eric didn’t guess how much he was hurting
+Edwin’s feelings, and he was smoking more to “make things look like the
+holidays,” by a little bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he
+caught the expression of Russell’s face, and instantly said--
+
+“O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don’t like smoking;” and he instantly
+flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad to get rid of
+it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the affected manner he
+displayed just before, and the spirits of all three rose at once.
+
+“It isn’t that I don’t _like_ smoking only, Eric, but I think it
+wrong--for _us_ I mean.”
+
+“O, my dear fellow! surely there can’t be any harm in it. Why everybody
+smokes.”
+
+“It may be all very well for men, although I’m not so sure of that. But,
+at any rate, it’s wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know yourself what
+harm it does in every way.”
+
+“O, it’s a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong? Why, I even
+know clergymen who smoke.”
+
+Montagu laughed. “Well, clergymen ain’t immaculate,” said he; “but I
+never met a man yet who didn’t tell you that he was _sorry_ he’d
+acquired the habit.”
+
+“I’m sure you won’t thank that rascally cousin of mine for having taught
+you,” said Russell; “but seriously, isn’t it a very moping way of
+spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind some hay-stack, or in
+some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers do, instead of playing
+racquets or football?”
+
+“O, it’s pleasant enough sometimes,” said Eric, speaking rather against
+his own convictions.
+
+“As for me, I’ve nearly left it off,” said Montagu, “and I think Rose
+convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I ever did
+smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know how he despises
+it in boys. Were you in school the other day when he caught Pietrie and
+Brooking?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected, Rose smelt
+that he had been smoking, and charged him with it. Brooking stoutly
+denied it, but after he had told the most robust lies, Rose made him
+empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were a pipe and a cigar-case
+half full! You _should_ have heard how Rose thundered and lightened at
+him for his lying, and then sent him to the Doctor. I never saw him so
+terrific before.”
+
+“You don’t mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because Brooking
+was caught, and told lies--do you? _Non sequitur_.”
+
+“Stop--not so fast.” Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who at once
+confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library when Rose sent
+for him, and Pietrie said mildly that “he didn’t see the harm of it.”
+Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, “Don’t see the _harm_ of it! Do
+you see any good in it?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Well, isn’t it forbidden?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And doesn’t it waste your money?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen yourself?”
+
+“Yes, sir,” said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.
+
+“And don’t your parents disapprove it? And doesn’t it throw you among
+some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles? Silly child,”
+he said, pulling Pietrie’s ear (as he sometimes does, you know), “don’t
+talk nonsense; and remember next time you’re caught I shall have you
+punished.” So off went Pietrie, [Greek: achreian idon] as our friend
+Homer says. And your humble servant was convinced.”
+
+“Well, well,” said Eric laughing, “I suppose you’re right. At any rate,
+I give in. Two to one ain’t fair; [Greek: ards duo o Aerachlaes], since
+you’re in a quoting humor.”
+
+Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found plenty to
+amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four hundred feet
+out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of rock scenery on
+all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit, and flung innocuous
+stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far below them over the water,
+and every now and then pounced at some stray fish that came to the
+surface; or they watched the stately barks as they sailed by on the
+horizon, wondering at their cargo and destination; or chaffed the
+fishermen, whose boats heaved on the waves at the foot of the
+promontory. When they were rested, they visited a copper-mine by the
+side of the head, and filled their pockets with bits of bright quartz or
+red shining spar, which they found in plenty among the rocks.
+
+In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop a
+little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It was a
+very favorite resort of Eric’s, as the coast all about it was bold and
+romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday evening to
+watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them over the water
+from the setting sun--a sight which they often agreed to consider one
+of the most peaceful and mysteriously beautiful in nature.
+
+They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The sun was
+just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red and gold.
+
+“We shan’t see the line on the waters this evening,” said Eric; “there’s
+too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious sunset!”
+
+“Yes; it’ll be stormy tomorrow,” answered Russell, “but come along,
+let’s get to the top; the wind’s rising, and the waves will be
+rather grand.”
+
+“Ay, we’ll sit and watch them; and let’s finish our grub; I’ve got
+several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my pocket.”
+
+They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the waves,
+which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet, and then fell
+back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they remembered that it was
+getting late, and that they ought to get home for tea at seven.
+
+“Hallo!” said Russell, looking at his watch, “it’s half-past six. We
+must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the tide hasn’t been
+coming in all this time.”
+
+“Good God!” said Montagu, with a violent start, “I’m afraid it has,
+though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets. Let’s set
+off as hard as we can pelt.”
+
+Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down the
+Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it to the
+mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the tide had come
+in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided them from the shore.
+
+“There’s only one way for it,” said Eric; “if we’re plucky we can jump
+that; but we musn’t wait till it gets worse. A good jump will take us
+_nearly_ to the other side--far enough, at any rate, to let us flounder
+across somehow.”
+
+As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where the
+momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be narrowest; and
+where the rocks on the other side were lower than those on which they
+stood. Their situation was by no means pleasant. The wind had been
+rising more and more, and the waves dashed into this little channel with
+such violence, that to swim it would have been a most hazardous
+experiment, particularly as they could not dive in from the ledge on
+which they stood, from their ignorance of the depth of water.
+
+Eric’s courage supported the other two. “There’s no good _thinking_
+about it,” said he, “jump we _must_; the sooner the better. We can but
+be a little hurt at the worst. Here, I’ll set the example.”
+
+He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force. He was a
+practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he alighted near
+the water’s edge, on the other side, where, after slipping once or twice
+on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he effected a safe landing, with
+no worse harm than a wetting up to the knees.
+
+“Now then, you too,” he shouted; “no time to lose.”
+
+“Will you jump first, Monty?” said Russell; “both of you are better
+jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I’m rather afraid.”
+
+“Then I won’t leave you,” said Montagu; “we’ll both stay here.”
+
+“And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty, _you_ can
+clear it, I’ve no doubt.”
+
+“Couldn’t we try to swim it together, Edwin?”
+
+“Madness! look there.” And as he spoke, a huge furious wave swept down
+the whole length of the gulf by which they stood, roaring and surging
+along till the whole water seethed, and tearing the seaweeds from their
+roots in the rock.
+
+“Now’s your time,” shouted Eric again. “What _are_ you waiting for? For
+God’s sake, jump before another wave comes.”
+
+“Monty, you _must_ jump now,” said Russell, “if only to help me when I
+try.”
+
+Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few steps, and
+leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly up to his neck,
+and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on the sharp slippery
+schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and in half a minute, Eric
+leaning out as far as he could, caught his hand, and just pulled him to
+the other side in time to escape another rush of tumultuous and
+angry foam.
+
+“Now, Edwin,” they both shouted, “it’ll be too late in another minute.
+Jump for your life.”
+
+Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he prepared
+to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant. In truth, the
+leap was now most formidable; to clear it was hopeless; and the fury of
+the rock-tormented waves rendered the prospect of a swim on the other
+side terrible to contemplate. Once in the grasp of one of those billows,
+even a strong man must have been carried out of the narrow channel, and
+hurled against the towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.
+
+“Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--_do_ jump,” cried Eric with passionate
+excitement. “We will rush in for you.”
+
+Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he stepped
+back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp cry of pain,
+fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant, Eric and Montagu
+stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw Russell’s head emerge,
+and then another wave foaming madly by, made them run backwards for
+their lives, and hid him from their view. When it had passed, they saw
+him clinging with both hands, in the desperate instinct of
+self-preservation, to a projecting bit of rock, by the aid of which he
+gradually drew himself out of the water, and grasping at crevices or
+bits of seaweed, slowly and painfully reached the ledge on which they
+had stood before they took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle;
+his face, pale as death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his
+breast; his clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap
+was gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push aside,
+hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and in pain;
+and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.
+
+While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke, lest their
+voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now, they both cried
+out, “Are you hurt, Edwin?”
+
+He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand, while he put
+the other to his head, from which the blood was flowing fast.
+
+“O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more,” said Montagu; “you will
+die if you spend the night on that rock.”
+
+They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and waves
+were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently, that they
+caught the faint words, “I can’t, my leg is hurt.” Besides, they both
+saw that a jump was no longer possible; the channel was more than double
+the width which it had been when Eric leaped, and from the rapid ascent
+of rocks on both sides, it was now far out of depth.
+
+“O God, what can we do,” said Montagu, bursting into tears. “We can
+never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is covered at
+high tide.”
+
+Eric had not lost his presence of mind. “Cheer up, Edwin,” he shouted;
+“I _will_ get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl up to the
+top again.”
+
+Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back on the
+rock.
+
+“Monty,” said Eric, “just watch for a minute or two. When I have got
+across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them that we are
+cut off by the tide on the Stack. They’ll bring round the life-boat.
+It’s our only chance.”
+
+“What are you going to do?” asked Montagu, terrified. “Why, Eric, it’s
+death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!” And he drew Eric back hastily,
+as another vast swell of water came rolling along, shaking its white
+curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on destruction.
+
+“Monty, it’s no use,” said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket and
+waistcoat; “I’m not going to let Russell die on that ledge of rock. I
+shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I want to keep
+these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across, fling them over
+to me if you can, and then do as I told you.”
+
+He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing that his
+only chance was to swim over before another came, he plunged in, and
+struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert swimmer, and as yet
+the channel was not more than a dozen yards across. He dashed over with
+the speed and strength of despair, and had just time to clutch the rocks
+on the other side before the next mighty swirl of the tide swept up in
+its white and tormented course. In another minute he was on the ledge by
+Russell’s side.
+
+He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the dry
+clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief round a
+fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and then flung it
+over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and once more shouted
+to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time the boy lingered,
+reluctant to leave them, and then started off at the run. Looking back
+after a few minutes, he caught, through the gathering dusk, his last
+glimpse of the friends in their perilous situation. Eric was seated
+supporting Russell across his knees; when he saw Montagu turn he waved
+his cap over his head as a signal of encouragement, and then began to
+carry Edwin higher up the rock for safety. It soon grew too dark to
+distinguish them, and Montagu at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a
+mile off. When he got to the harbor he told some sailors of the danger
+in which his friends were, and then ran on to the school. It was now
+eight o’clock, and quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past,
+when he stood excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr.
+Rowlands’ door.
+
+“Good gracious! Master Montagu,” said the servant; “what’s the matter;
+have you been robbed?”
+
+He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands’ study. “O
+sir!” he exclaimed, bursting in, “Williams and Russell are on the Stack,
+cut off by the tide.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. “What! on this stormy night? Have you
+raised the alarm?”
+
+“I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on.”
+
+“I will set off myself at once,” said the Doctor, seizing his hat. “But,
+my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet through too. You
+had better change your clothes at once, or go to bed.”
+
+“O no, sir,” said Montagu, pleadingly; “do take me with you.”
+
+“Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in consequence.
+Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea shall be ready
+for you down here, and we will start.”
+
+Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to tell
+Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their companions.
+The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had already excited
+general surmise, and Montagu’s appearance, jacketless and wet, at the
+door of the boarders’ room, at once attracted a group round him. He
+rapidly told them how things stood, and, hastening off, left them nearly
+as much agitated as himself. In a very short time he presented himself
+again before Dr. Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the
+cup of tea, they sallied out.
+
+It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at intervals
+struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind howled in fitful
+gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side, Montagu shuddered to hear
+how rough and turbulent the sea was, even on the sands. He stumbled once
+or twice, and then the Doctor kindly drew his trembling arm through his
+own, and made him describe the whole occurrence, while the servant went
+on in front with the lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved
+the danger of reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands’
+admiration was unbounded. “Noble boy,” he exclaimed, with enthusiasm; “I
+shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after this.”
+
+They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.
+
+“Have you put out the life-boat?” said Dr. Rowlands anxiously.
+
+“Ill luck, sir,” said one of the sailors, touching his cap; “the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn’t been
+brought round again yet.”
+
+“Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try and save
+those poor boys.”
+
+“We’ve been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start; but in a
+sea like that it’s very dangerous, and it’s so dark and gusty that I
+doubt it’s no use, so I expect they’ll put back.”
+
+The Doctor sighed deeply. “Don’t alarm any other people,” he said; “it
+will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George,” he continued to
+the servant, “give me the lantern; I will go with this boy to the Stack;
+you follow us with ropes, and order a carriage from the King’s Head.
+Take care to bring anything with you that seems likely to be useful.”
+
+Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made their
+way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here they raised
+the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming with such
+violence that they were not sure that they heard any answering shout.
+Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just make out the huge
+black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast of boiling waves, and
+enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of spray. On the top of it
+Montagu half thought that he saw something, but he was not sure.
+
+“Thank God, there is yet hope,” said the Doctor, with difficulty making
+his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the elements; “if
+they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may perhaps rescue them
+before morning.”
+
+Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and Montagu joined
+his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they fancied that in one
+of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint cheer returned, was sound
+more welcome, and as they paced up and down they shouted at intervals,
+and held up the lantern, to show the boys that friends and help
+were near.
+
+Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to the
+highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and soothing
+words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him in every
+piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his arms, heedless
+of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell thanked him, and
+pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain continually, and at last
+fainted away.
+
+Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the rocks, and
+the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think of nothing but
+storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the sea beat up,
+drenching them to the skin continually with, its clammy spray; and the
+storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and flung about the wet hair on
+Eric’s bare head, and forced him to plant himself firmly, lest the rage
+of the gusts should hurl them from their narrow resting-place. The
+darkness made everything more fearful, for his eyes could distinguish
+nothing but the gulfs of black water glistening here and there with
+hissing foam, and he shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises
+that came to him in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent
+wave. It was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he was in
+ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the violence of the
+breakers. “At least,” thought he, as he looked down and saw that the
+ledge on which they had been standing had long been covered with deep
+and agitated waves, “at least I have saved Edwin’s life.” And he bravely
+made up his mind to keep up heart and hope, and weather the comfortless
+night with Russell in his arms.
+
+And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still unconscious; and
+stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white forehead of his friend. He
+felt _then_, how deeply he loved him, how much he owed him; and no
+mother could have nursed a child more tenderly than he did the fainting
+boy. Russell’s head rested on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled
+with welling blood, stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die,
+his fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had received
+some dangerous hurt.
+
+At last Russell stirred and groaned. “Where am I?” he said, and half
+opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back heavily. He saw
+only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and salt mist; heard only
+the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had no time to wake, and he
+screamed and fainted once more.
+
+Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of his
+power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he bent over
+him, and said, “Don’t you remember, Edwin? We’re quite safe. I’m with
+you, and Monty’s gone for help.”
+
+“Oh! I daren’t jump,” sobbed Russell; “oh mother, I shall be drowned.
+Save me! save me! I’m so glad they’re safe, mother; but my leg hurts
+so.” And he moaned again. He was delirious.
+
+“How cold it is, and wet too! where’s Eric? are we bathing? run along,
+we shall be late. But stop, you’re smoking. Dear Eric, don’t smoke.
+Poor fellow, I’m afraid he’s getting spoilt, and learning bad ways. Oh
+save him.” And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer for Eric, which
+evidently had been often on his lips.
+
+Eric was touched to the heart’s core, and in one rapid lightning-like
+glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful past, in all its
+sorrowfulness. And _he_, too, prayed wildly for help both for soul and
+body. Alone on the crag, with the sea tumbling and plashing round them,
+growing and gaining so much on their place of refuge, that his terror
+began to summon up the image of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and
+exhausted, with the wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on
+his courage, he prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow
+calmer by his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done
+in the green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.
+
+A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down, now
+disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came the sound
+of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in a boat to
+save them.
+
+But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing towards the
+harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in the surf at the
+foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given it up in despair.
+His heart sank again, all the more for the glimpse of hope, and his
+strength began to give way. Russell’s delirium continued, and he grew
+too frightened even to pray.
+
+A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be sure of
+it; it was Dr. Rowlands’ voice and Montagu’s. He got convinced of this,
+and summoned all his strength to shout in return. The light kept moving
+up and down on the shore, not a hundred yards off. His fear vanished;
+they were no longer alone. The first moment that the tide suffered any
+one to reach them they would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and
+he determined to hold up for Russell’s sake until help should come; and
+every now and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts
+which came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the storm.
+
+But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master soothed
+the boy’s fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently, that Montagu
+began to wonder if this really could be the awful head-master, whose
+warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was comforting him as a father
+might. What a depth of genuine human kindness that stern exterior
+concealed! And every now and then, when the storm blew loudest, the
+Doctor would stand still for a moment, and offer up a short intense
+prayer, or ejaculation, that help and safety might come to his beloved
+charge in their exposure and peril.
+
+Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink, and the
+sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The carriage drove up
+with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful servant brought with him
+the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and anxiously did they watch the
+ebbing tide, and when it had gone out sufficiently to allow of two
+stout planks being laid across the channel, an active sailor ventured
+over with a light, and in a few moments stood by Eric’s side. Eric saw
+him coming, but was too weak and numb to move; and when the sailor
+lifted up the unconscious Russell from his knees, Eric was too much
+exhausted even to speak. The man returned for him, and lifting him on
+his back crossed the plank once more in safety, and carried them both to
+the carriage, where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything
+likely to revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the
+school, and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the
+boys were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the signal
+for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows, with many an
+anxious inquiry, “Are they safe?”
+
+“Yes, thank God!” called Dr. Rowlands; “so now, boys, shut the windows,
+and get to sleep.”
+
+Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor’s own
+house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu had beds
+provided them in another room by themselves, away from the dormitory:
+the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire, and looked like
+home and when the two boys had drank some warm wine, and cried for
+weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after their dangers and fatigues,
+and slept the deep, calm, dreamless sleep of tired children.
+
+So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the Easter
+holidays.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+
+     “Calm on the bosom of thy God,
+       Fair spirit, rest thee now!
+     E’en while with us thy footsteps trod,
+       His seal was on thy brow.”--MRS. HEMANS.
+
+They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at first
+could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little room, the
+bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair before it. But
+turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who was still asleep, and
+he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed, refreshed and perfectly
+well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric; but Eric was still languid
+and weak, and did not get up that day, nor was he able to go to work
+again for some days; but he was young and strong, and his vigorous
+constitution soon threw off the effects of his fast and exposure.
+
+Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head sadly. “He
+is very dangerously ill.”
+
+“Is he?” said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a deep
+silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress, knelt down to
+say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt also over his
+pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest prayers were mingling
+for the one who seemed to have been taken while they were left.
+
+The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was thought
+that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the exposure to wet,
+cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened his constitution; and
+when his youth seemed to be triumphing over these dangers, another
+became more threatening. His leg never mended; he had both sprained the
+knee badly, and given the tibia an awkward twist, so that the least
+motion was agony to him.
+
+In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to see him,
+though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the earnest
+inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully apparent than
+ever, that, although Edwin was among them without being _of_ them, no
+boy in the school was more deeply honored and fondly loved than he. Even
+the elastic spirits of boyhood could not quite throw off the shadow of
+gloom which his illness cast over the school.
+
+Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do was done
+for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin had no
+father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs. Upton,
+would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he was often
+left alone in his delirium and agony.
+
+Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his thoughts,
+always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not deserting the hurt
+lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy himself, and who, when he was
+a boy, did his Father’s business, and was subject unto his parents in
+the obscure home of the despised village. Alone! nay, to them whose
+eyes were opened, the room of sickness and pain was thronged and
+beautiful with angelic presences.
+
+Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved friend.
+Eric’s life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in passionate,
+unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued more than ever the
+sweet remembered hours spent with him; their games, and communnings, and
+walks, and Russell’s gentle influence, and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he
+must not even see him, must not whisper one word of soothing to him in
+his anguish; he could only pray for him, and that he did with a depth
+of hope.
+
+At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to visit him.
+His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could not yet even
+recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room were so sad and
+useless, that Upton forbore. “And yet you should hear him talk in his
+delirium,” he said to Eric; “not one evil word, or bad thought, or
+wicked thing, ever escapes him. I’m afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so
+with you or me.”
+
+“No” said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience brought
+the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his cheeks.
+
+“And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks sometimes of
+all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in his thoughts, and
+every now and then he prays for you quite unconsciously.”
+
+Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. “When do you think I shall be
+allowed too see him?”
+
+“Not just yet, I fear.”
+
+After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell’s mind ceased to
+wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for alarm. Fresh
+advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg must be amputated.
+
+When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints. “Only
+think, Monty, isn’t it hard, isn’t it cruel? When we see our brave,
+bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple.” Eric hardly understood that
+he was railing at the providence of a merciful God.
+
+The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell seemed to
+amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him relief. They were
+all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no murmur, no cry escaped
+him; no words but the sweetest thanks for every little office of
+kindness done to him. A few days after, he asked Dr. Underhay “if he
+might see Eric?”
+
+“Yes, my boy,” said the doctor kindly, “you may see him, and one or two
+other of your particular friends if you like, provided you don’t excite
+yourself too much. I trust you will get better now.”
+
+So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they might go
+and see their friend. “Be sure,” he added, “that you don’t startle or
+excite him.”
+
+They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of early
+summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held their breath,
+and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known voice which gave the
+answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe, they softly opened the
+door, which admitted them into the presence of the dear companion whom
+they had not seen for so long. Since then it seemed as though gulfs far
+deeper than the sea had been flowing between him and them.
+
+Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on tiptoe--the
+darkened room where Russell was What a hush and oppression there seemed
+to them at first in the dim, silent chamber; what an awfulness in all
+the appliances which showed how long and deeply their schoolfellow had
+suffered. But all this vanished directly they caught sight of his face.
+There he lay, so calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest
+eyes turned towards them, as though to see whether any of their
+affection for him had ceased or been forgotten!
+
+In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with bowed
+foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their heads, and
+pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and looked at them
+tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces with their hands,
+and broke into deep suppressed sobs of compassion.
+
+“Oh hush, hush!” he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his hands
+while they kissed him. “Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you cry so for
+me? I am very happy.”
+
+But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed, and had
+now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for life; and as
+the throng of memories came on them--memories of his skill and fame at
+cricket, and racquets, and football--of their sunny bathes together in
+sea and river, and all their happy holiday wanderings--they could not
+restrain their emotion, and wept uncontrollably. Neither of them could
+speak a word, or break the holy silence; and as he patted their heads
+and cheeks, his own tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he
+felt the comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in
+his loneliness, and it did him good.
+
+The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would agitate Edwin
+too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys left, only
+whispering, “We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!”
+
+They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite cheerfully
+with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation more than any
+game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the sick-room more
+than repaid them for the glad life without, when they heard Russell’s
+simple and heartfelt thanks. “Ah! how good of you, dear fellows,” he
+would say, “to give up the merry playground for a wretched cripple,” and
+he would smile cheerfully to show that his trial had not made him weary
+of life. Indeed, he often told them that he believed they felt for him
+more than he did himself.
+
+One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and violets. He
+seemed much better, and Eric’s spirits were high with the thoughts and
+hopes of the coming holidays. “There, Edwin,” he said, as the boy
+gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, “don’t they make you glad? They
+are one of our _three_ signs, you know, of the approaching holidays. One
+sign was the first sight of the summer steamer going across the bay;
+another was May eve, when these island-fellows light big gorse fires all
+over the mountains, and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep
+off the fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin to
+twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly talk we
+had that evening about the holidays; but my father and mother were here
+then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm. But the third
+sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the happiest. You can’t
+think how I _grabbed_ at the first primrose this year; I found it by a
+cave on the Ness. And though these are rather the last than the first,
+yet I knew you’d like them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And
+how much better you’re looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I
+positively declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You’ll soon
+be out among us again, that’s clear----”
+
+He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry way that
+Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he caught the
+touch of sadness on Russell’s face, and saw his long, abstracted, eager
+look at the flowers.
+
+“Dear fellow, you’re not worse, are you?” he said quickly. “What a fool
+I am to chatter so; it makes you ill.”
+
+“No, no, Eric, talk on; you can’t think how I love to hear you. Oh, how
+very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you, for bringing
+them.” And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy look which had
+startled Eric--as though he were learning their color and shape
+by heart.
+
+“I wish I hadn’t brought them, though,” said Eric, “they are filling
+your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you’ll be well by the holidays--a
+month hence, you know--or else I shouldn’t have talked so gladly
+about them.”
+
+“No, Eric,” said Russell sadly, “these dear flowers are the last spring
+blossoms that I shall see--_here_ at least. Yes, I will keep them, for
+your sake, Eric, till I die.”
+
+“Oh don’t talk so,” said Eric, shocked and flustered, “why everybody
+knows and says that you’re getting better.”
+
+Russell smiled and shook his head. “No, Eric, I shall die. There stop,
+dear fellow, don’t cry,” said he, raising his hands quietly to Eric’s
+face; “isn’t it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at first to leave
+this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel sea,” he continued
+smiling; “and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and Monty, and, above all, to
+leave _you_, Eric, whom I love best in all the world. Yes, remember I’ve
+no home, Eric, and no prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in
+this, so long as God gave me health and strength; but health went for
+ever into those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear,
+gallant Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn’t look so happy to
+_halt_ through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am dying--dying,
+Eric,” he said solemnly, “my brother; let me call you brother; I have no
+near relations, you know, to fill up the love in my yearning heart, but
+I _do_ love _you_. Kiss me, Eric, as though I were a child, and you a
+child. There, that comforts me; I feel as if I _were_ a child again, and
+had a dear brother;--and I _shall_ be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father’s house.”
+
+Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+_recently_ of Russell’s death, but had begun to reckon on his recovery,
+and now life seemed darker to him than ever.
+
+But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. “The grass
+withereth,” he murmured, “the flower fadeth, and the glory of its beauty
+perisheth; but--_but_ the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” And here
+he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed his hand, with more
+than a brother’s fondness, to his heart.
+
+“Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full,” he said, “too full to speak to you.
+Let me read to you;” and with Russell’s arm round his neck he sat down,
+beside his pillow, and read to him about “the pure river of water of
+life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
+Lamb.” At first sobs choked his voice, but it gathered firmness as
+he went on.
+
+“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
+there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded
+her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
+of the nations.
+
+“And there shall be no more curse”--and here the reader’s musical voice
+rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--“but the throne of God and of
+the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they
+shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”
+
+“And they shall see his face,” murmured Russell, “_and they shall see
+his face_” Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of rapture seemed to be
+lighted in his eyes, as though they saw heavenly things, and his
+countenance was like an angel’s to look upon. Eric closed the book
+reverently, and gazed.
+
+“And now pray for me, Eric, will you?” Eric knelt down, but no prayer
+would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but emotion
+prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his hand on his
+head and prayed.
+
+“O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two erring,
+weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the love thou
+bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord, take me to the
+green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and one remains--O Lord!
+bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead and guide him, and keep him
+for ever in thy fear and love, that he may continue thine for ever, and
+hereafter we may meet together among the redeemed, in the immortal glory
+of the resurrection. Hear us, O Father, for thy dear Son’s sake.
+Amen! Amen!”
+
+The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One long
+brotherly kiss he printed on Russell’s forehead, and, full of sorrowful
+forebodings, bade him good night.
+
+He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. “Yes,” he said,
+“he may die at any time; he _must_ die soon. It is even best that he
+should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the head would
+certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he lived.”
+
+Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.
+
+The holidays drew on; for Russell’s sake, and at his earnest wish, Eric
+had worked harder than he ever did before. All his brilliant abilities,
+all his boyish ambition, were called into exercise; and, to the delight
+of every one, he gained ground rapidly, and seemed likely once more to
+dispute the palm with Owen. No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose,
+and he often gladdened Russell’s heart by telling him about it; for
+every day he had a long visit to the sick boy’s room, which refreshed
+and comforted them both.
+
+In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new leaf. He
+and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and every bad
+habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the dying boy, whom
+they both loved so well. And although Eric’s popularity, after the
+romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous daring, was at its very
+zenith,--although he had received a medal and flattering letter from the
+Humane Society, who had been informed of the transaction by Dr.
+Rowlands,--although his success both physical and intellectual was
+higher than ever,--yet the dread of the great loss he was doomed to
+suffer, and the friendship which was to be snapped, overpowered every
+other feeling, and his heart was ennobled and purified by contact with
+his suffering friend.
+
+It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had drawn up
+the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze, pure from the
+sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing refreshfully into the sick
+boy’s room. Russell was very, very happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed
+him; all was peace and trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did
+he talk to Eric, and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him
+gently to that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the sufferer
+stopped to pray aloud.
+
+“Good night, Eric,” he said, “I am tired, _so_ tired. I hope we shall
+meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my books, Eric, except a
+few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And my watch, that dear watch
+your mother, _my_ mother, gave me, I shall leave to Rose as a
+remembrance of us both. Good night, brother.”
+
+A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with Upton and
+Montagu to Russell’s bedside. He was sinking fast; and as he had but a
+short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them, though he could
+see no others.
+
+They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy looked. They
+received his last farewells--he would die that night. Sweetly he blessed
+them, and made them promise to avoid all evil, and read the Bible, and
+pray to God. But he had only strength to speak at intervals. Mr. Rose,
+too, was there; it seemed as though he held the boy by the hand, as
+fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he entered the waters of the dark river.
+
+“Oh, I should _so_ like to stay with you, Monty, Horace, dear, dear
+Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my father and
+mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple there--nor be in
+pain.” His words grew slow and difficult. “God bless you, dear fellows;
+God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to God.”
+
+He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat, and he
+was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as they kissed
+again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly, Mr. Rose checked
+them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes while he prayed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOME AGAIN
+
+     “O far beyond the waters
+       The fickle feet may roam,
+     But they find no light so pure and bright
+       As the one fair star of home;
+     The star of tender hearts, lady,
+       That glows in an English home,”
+
+     F.W.F.
+
+That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and weighed down
+with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other boys were silent
+from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn both knew and loved
+Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to hear of his death; they
+asked some of the particulars, but Eric was not calm enough to tell them
+that evening. The one sense of infinite loss agitated him, and he
+indulged his paroxysms of emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if
+ever the life has been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever
+you have been made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and
+then only, will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.
+
+But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric, as he
+rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly sought for
+the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize before, how
+odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and partaken in since he
+became an inmate of that little room. How his soul revolted with
+infinite disgust from the language which he had heard, and the open
+glorying in sin of which he had so often been a witness. The stain and
+the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on his heart; it rode on his
+breast like a nightmare; it haunted his fancy with visions of guilty
+memory, and shapes of horrible regret. The ghosts of buried misdoings,
+which he had thought long lost in the mists of recollection, started up
+menacingly from their forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense
+of their awful reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which
+the locust had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and
+been reckoned to him as they past.
+
+And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he fondly
+imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven, crowned, and in
+white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he had walked and talked
+with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin’s death, quenched his human
+affections, and altered his human heart? If not, might not he be there
+even now, leaning over his friend with the beauty of his invisible
+presence? The thought startled him, and seemed to give an awful lustre
+to the moonbeam which fell into the room. No; he could not endure such a
+presence now, with his weak conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid
+his head under the clothes, and shut his eyes.
+
+Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his soul. Should
+he ever meet Russell again? What if _he_ had died instead of Edwin,
+where would he have been? “Oh, no! no!” he murmured aloud, as the
+terrible thought came over him of his own utter unfitness for death, and
+the possibility that he might never, never again hear the beloved
+accents, or gaze on the cherished countenance of his school friend.
+
+In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that night the
+dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of sleep. He was
+frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his conscience obtruded
+on him his sinfulness, and his affection called up the haunting
+lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering down a path, at the
+end of which Russell stood with open arms inviting him earnestly to join
+him there; he saw his bright ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his
+joyous words, and he hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure
+disappeared, and in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming
+garments, and drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a
+great wood alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his
+name, and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him back
+again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark forest, amid the
+sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking, sinking, sinking into a
+gulf, deep and darker even than the inner darkness of a sin-desolated
+heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly, everlastingly; while far away,
+like a star, stood the loved figure in light infinitely above him, and
+with pleading hands implored his deliverance, but could not prevail; and
+Eric was still sinking, sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him
+with a violent start and stifled scream.
+
+He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the pale,
+dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he was praying
+beside his corpse, praying to be more like _him_, who lay there so white
+and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing that he had so often rejected
+his kind warnings, and pained his affectionate heart. So Eric began
+again to make good resolutions about all his future life. Ah! how often
+he had done so before, and how often they had failed. He had not yet
+learned the lesson which David learned by sad experience; “Then I said,
+it is mine own infirmity, _but I will remember the years of the right
+hand of the Most High_.”
+
+That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of late far
+more thoughtful than before; under Edwin’s influence he had been laying
+aside, one by one, the careless sins of school life, and his tone was
+nobler and manlier than it had ever been. Montagu had never known or
+heard much about godliness; his father, a gentleman, a scholar, and a
+man of the world, had trained him in the principles of refinement and
+good taste, and given him a high standard of conventional honor; but he
+passed through life lightly, and had taught his son to do the same.
+Possessed of an ample fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled
+himself with none of the deep mysteries of life, and
+
+     “Pampered the coward heart
+     With feelings all too delicate for use;
+     Nursing in some delicious solitude
+     His dainty love and slothful sympathies.”
+
+But Montagu in Edwin’s sick-room and by his death bed; in the terrible
+storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands’ earnestness, and
+Mr. Rose’s deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety; by witnessing Eric’s
+failures and recoveries; and by beginning to take in his course the same
+heartfelt interest which Edwin taught him--Montagu, in consequence of
+these things, had begun to see another side of life, which awoke all his
+dormant affections and profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for
+the first time, he began to catch some of
+
+     “The still gad music of humanity,”
+
+and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be well
+dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to him a
+realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and worthier aims;
+and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest in his work exceeded
+that of any other boy, had pointed out to him that solemn question of
+Euripides--
+
+     “[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate
+     Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips
+     Pepheugenai to theion];”
+
+he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting impression upon
+his character.
+
+The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as possible from
+his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working for the examination,
+and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now spent most of his time with
+the best of his friends, particularly Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for
+Upton, like himself, had been much sobered by sorrow at their loss. This
+time he came out _second_ in his form, and gained more than one prize.
+This was his first glimpse of real delight since Russell’s death; and
+when the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take his
+prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the governor who
+took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly entered into the
+pleasure which his success caused, as well as into the honors won by his
+friends. One outward sign only remained of his late bereavement--his
+mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore rosebuds or lilies of the valley
+in their button-holes on the occasion, but on this day Eric would not
+wear them. Little Wright, who was a great friend of theirs, had brought
+some as a present both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on
+the prize-day morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes
+met, they understood each other’s thoughts.
+
+“No,” said Eric to Wright, “we won’t wear these to-day, although we have
+both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with them.”
+
+They all three walked together to the little green, quiet churchyard,
+where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many a silent visit
+had the friends paid to that grave, on which the turf was now green
+again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A stone had just been placed
+to mark the spot, and they read--
+
+       SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+                OF
+
+             AN ORPHAN,
+
+  WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,
+
+        AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ “_Is it well with the child? It is well_.”
+
+           2 KINGS iv. 26.
+
+The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a time.
+
+“He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty,” said Eric; “let
+us leave the signs of it upon his grave.”
+
+And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the choice
+rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they turned away
+without another word.
+
+The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded the
+passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the deserted
+building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer. What joyous
+triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted and bounded with,
+the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal was the gladness and
+good humor of every one. Never were voyages so merry as those of the
+steamer that day, and even the “good-byes” that had to be said at
+Southpool were lightly borne. From thence the boys quickly scattered to
+the different railways, and the numbers of those who were travelling
+together got thinner and thinner as the distance increased. Wright and
+one or two others went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got
+down at the little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail
+to Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at Fairholm.
+
+It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their intensity.
+He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer holidays were
+nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter were short, so that
+it had not been worth while to travel so far as Fairholm, and Eric had
+spent his Christmas with friends in another part of the island. But now
+he was once more to see dear Fairholm, and his aunt, his cousin Fanny,
+and above all, his little brother. His heart was beating fast with joy,
+and his eyes sparkling with pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his
+head out of the window, each well-remembered landmark gave him the
+delicious sensation of meeting again an old friend. “Ah! there’s the
+white bridge, and there’s the canal, and the stile; and _there_ runs the
+river, and there’s Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are.” And springing out
+of the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into the
+carriage in a moment.
+
+Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so often
+plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its sleeping
+churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten yards he met old
+acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and whom he greeted with
+glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the Latin school, from which
+came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a man he felt himself now by
+comparison!);--by the old Roman camp, where he had imagined such heroic
+things when he was a child; through all the scenes so rich with the
+memories and associations of his happy childhood, they flew along; and
+now they had entered the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.
+
+Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon, on
+the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones ran to meet
+him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty kiss, and put his
+arm round Vernon’s neck, and then held him in front to have a look
+at him.
+
+“How tall you’ve grown, Verny, and how well you look,” he said, gazing
+proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be justly proud of.
+And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw the healthy glow of
+Eric’s features, and the strong graceful development of his limbs.
+
+And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew with a
+mother’s love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of delightful
+trifles, that “blossoming vein” of household talk, which gives such an
+incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they all three turned
+into the house, where Eric, hungry with his travels, did ample justice
+to the “jolly spread” prepared for him, luxurious beyond anything he had
+seen for his last year at school. When he and Vernon went up to their
+room at night--the same little room in which they slept on the night
+when they first had met--they marked their heights on the door again,
+which showed Eric that in the last year he had grown two inches, a fact
+which he pointed out to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they
+went to bed, and to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation
+of a great unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once
+or twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.
+
+He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned out with
+his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it. The garden
+looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an early enjoyment of
+those currants which hung in ruby clusters over the walls. Everything
+was bathed in the dewy balm of summer morning, and he felt very happy
+as, with his little spaniel frisking round him, he visited the great
+Newfoundland in his kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He
+had barely finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once
+more met the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year.
+And yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but _he_ was changed. Mrs. Trevor, and
+Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over _him_, had come an
+alteration of feeling and circumstance; an unknown or half-known
+_something_ which cast a shadow between them and him, and sometimes made
+him half shrink and start as he met their loving looks. Can no
+schoolboy, who reads history, understand and explain the feeling which
+I mean?
+
+By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of Russell’s
+death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter was so blurred.
+“But,” he wrote, “I have some friends still; especially Mr. Rose among
+the masters, and Monty and Upton among the boys. Monty you know; he is
+more like Edwin than any other boy, and I like him very much. You didn’t
+know Upton, but I am a great deal with him, though he is much older than
+I am. He is a fine handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the
+school. I hope you will know him some day.”
+
+The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once recognised
+to be in Upton’s handwriting He eagerly tore off the envelope,
+and read--
+
+“My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I feel it
+to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will feel it to be
+bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave Roslyn, and probably we
+shall never meet there again. The reason is, I have had a cadetship
+given me, and I am to sail for India in September. I have already
+written to the school to tell them to pack up and send me all my books
+and clothes.
+
+“I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I wanted to
+stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly tell you,
+Eric, one reason: I’m very much afraid that I’ve done you, and Graham,
+and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I possibly could, to undo
+the harm I had done. Poor Edwin’s death opened my eyes to a good many
+things, and now I’d give all I have never to have taught or encouraged
+you in wrong things. Unluckily it’s too late;--only, I hope that you
+already see, as I do, that the things I mean lead to evil far greater
+than we ever used to dream of.
+
+“Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me, and
+believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON.”
+
+“P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you this
+time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my poor cousin,
+when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice little chap he
+looked. I hope you’ll look after him as a brother should, and keep him
+out of mischief.”
+
+Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he didn’t
+often show them his school letters, because, like this one, they often
+contained allusions to things which he did not like his aunt to know.
+The thought of Upton’s leaving him made him quite unhappy, and he wrote
+him a long letter by that post, indignantly denying the supposition that
+his friendship had ever done him anything but good.
+
+The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often been in
+his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he thought of that
+bright little brother of his being initiated in the mysteries of evil
+which he himself had learnt, and sinking like himself into slow
+degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and perplexed him, and at last
+he determined to open his heart, partially at least, in a letter to Mr.
+Rose. The master fully understood his doubts, and wrote him the
+following reply:--
+
+“My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your brother
+Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly give you my
+own opinion.
+
+“You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear that
+Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his modesty, and
+much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear that he will meet
+with many bad examples, and learn to look on God and godliness in a way
+far different from that to which he has been accustomed at home. You
+fear, in short, that he must pass through the same painful temptations
+to which you have yourself been subjected; to which, perhaps, you have
+even succumbed.
+
+“Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all means
+let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor
+thing; it _cannot_, under any circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at
+all valuable as a foundation of character. The true preparation for
+life, the true basis of a manly character, is not to have been ignorant
+of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not to hare been sheltered
+from temptation, but to have passed through it and overcome it by God’s
+help. Many have drawn exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public
+school morality; the best answer is to point to the good and splendid
+men that have been trained in public schools, and who lose no
+opportunity of recurring to them with affection. It is quite possible to
+be _in_ the little world of school-life, and yet not _of_ it. The ruin
+of human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend; the
+peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances under which
+he was placed. He often told me before his last hour, that he rejoiced
+to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced there much real
+happiness, and derived in every way lasting good.
+
+“I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will come
+back with the ‘spell of home affection’ alive in your heart. I shall
+rejoice to make Vernon’s acquaintance, and will do for him all I can.
+Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you arrive.--Ever,
+dear Eric,
+
+“Affectionately yours,
+
+“WALTER ROSA.”
+
+END OF PART I
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+“Sed revocare gradum.”--VIRGIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ABDIEL
+
+     [Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth’ omiliai kakai].--MENANDEB.
+
+A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter, and had
+brought with it many changes.
+
+To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell were
+getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had vanished; the
+bad habits laid aside after his death had been resumed. All this took
+place very gradually; there were many inward struggles, much occasional
+remorse, but the struggles by degrees grew weaker, and remorse lost its
+sting, and Eric Williams soon learned again to follow the multitude
+to do evil.
+
+He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and, besides
+this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had fallen off and
+no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise of genius which he
+had given when he first came. But in all school sports he had improved,
+and was the acknowledged leader and champion in matters requiring
+boldness and courage. His popularity made him giddy; favor of man led
+him to forgetfulness of God; and even a glance at his countenance showed
+a self-sufficiency and arrogance which ill became the refinement of his
+features, and ill replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.
+
+And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had happened to
+him, which Eric in his better moments could have feared. He had fallen
+into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who should have been his natural
+guardian and guide, began to treat him with indifference, and scarcely
+ever had any affectionate intercourse with him. It is by no means
+unfrequent that brothers at school see but little of each other, and
+follow their several pursuits, and choose their various companions, with
+small regard to the relationship between them.
+
+Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that Vernon’s chief
+friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he could have chosen. It
+was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had been expelled from one of the
+most ill-managed schools in Ireland, although, of course, the fact had
+been most treacherously concealed from the authorities at Roslyn; and
+now he was let loose, without warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys.
+Better for them if their gates had been open to the pestilence! the
+pestilence could but have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front
+fighter in the devil’s battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He
+systematically, from the very first, called evil good and good evil,
+put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the
+admission of any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn
+boys, to their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable
+flood of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as Montagu
+and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight of a feather
+to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have done much, Duncan
+might have done much, to aid the better cause, had they tried; but they
+resisted at first but faintly, and then not at all, until they too were
+swept away in the broadening tide of degeneracy and sin.
+
+Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if he stated
+his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in the school,
+naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all the lower
+forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if they accepted
+his guidance. A little army of small boys attended him, and were ever
+ready for the schemes of mischief to which he deliberately trained them,
+until they grew almost as turbulent, as disobedient, and as wicked, as
+himself. He taught, both, by precept and example, that towards masters
+neither honor was to be recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To
+cheat them, to lie to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to
+misrepresent their motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their
+actions--was the conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the
+time that he continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a
+Pandemonium of evil passions and despicable habits.
+
+Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty this
+would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often with his
+brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his side. He
+flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious that Vernon
+should grow spirited and independent; but, had he examined himself, he
+would have found selfishness at the bottom of it. Once or twice his
+manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the little boy both observed and
+resented it. Montagu and others noticed him for Eric’s sake; but, being
+in the same form with Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and
+feeling, as he did, deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the
+ascendancy of his physical strength and reckless daring. Before three
+months were over, he became, to Eric’s intolerable disgust, a ringleader
+in the band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were
+the despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.
+
+Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he had
+no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He simply
+kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own tastes and
+pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial spirits in the school,
+so as in no way to come in contact with the spreading corruption.
+
+Montagu, now Owen’s chief friend, was also in the sixth, and fearlessly
+expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his dread of the evil he
+was effecting. Had the monitorial system existed, that contagion could
+have been checked at once; but, as it was, brute force the unlimited
+authority. Ill indeed are those informed who raise a cry, and join in
+the ignorant abuse of that noble safeguard of English schools. Any who
+have had personal and intimate experience of how schools work _with_ it
+and _without_ it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and morality;
+how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the bulwark of
+discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful, often at the
+most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all their sympathies
+and interests on the side of the honorable and the just.
+
+Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did not
+come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan he was
+scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to keep
+apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be ignorant
+of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the indignant and
+measureless invectives of Montagu and others, professed to see in
+Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild, perhaps, but still a very
+good fellow.
+
+Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the unvarying
+glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across him openly, since
+Montagu was so high in the school; and besides, though much the bigger
+of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of him. But he chose sly
+methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named him “Rosebud;” he talked
+_at_ him whenever he had an opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the
+gang of youngsters against him; he spread malicious reports about him;
+he diminished his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every
+secret and underhand means which, lay in his power.
+
+One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy, Montagu did
+not come to bed till an hour later than _the_ lower part of the school,
+and Brigson taught some of the little fellows to play all kinds of
+tricks to his bed and room, so that, when he came down, it was with the
+certainty of finding everything in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be
+turned right on end, and he would have to put it to the ground and
+remake it before he could lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the
+room would be thrown about in different corners, with no trace of the
+offender. Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain that
+this was done by Brigson’s instigation, or by his own hand, without
+having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor Monty grew very
+sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly annoyance weighed the more
+heavily on his spirits, from its being of a kind which peculiarly grated
+on his refined taste, and his natural sense of what was gentlemanly
+and fair.
+
+One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a light
+under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier than
+usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they were at it!
+The instant he entered, there was a rush through the opposite door, and
+he felt convinced that one of the retreating figures was Brigson’s. In a
+second he had sprung across, so as to prevent the rest from running, and
+with heaving breast and flaming eyes, glared at the intruders as they
+stood there, sheepish and afraid.
+
+“What!” he said angrily, “so _you_ are the fellows who have had the
+cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks; you miserable,
+degraded young animals!” And he looked at the four or five who had not
+made their escape. “What! and _you_ among them,” he said with a start,
+as he caught the eye of Vernon Williams--“Oh, this is too bad.” His tone
+showed the deepest sorrow and vexation, and for a moment he said no
+more. Instantly Vernon was by him.
+
+“_Do_ forgive me, _do_ forgive me, Montagu,” he said; “I really didn’t
+know it teased you so much.”
+
+But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself. “Wretched
+boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh, as usual,” he
+said, glancing at the complete disorder which they had been effecting.
+“Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has introduced another vile secret
+among you. Well, he shall rue it!” and he pointed to some small, almost
+invisible flakes of a whitish substance scattered here and there over
+his pillow. It was a kind of powder, which if once it touched the skin,
+caused the most violent and painful irritation.
+
+“By heavens, this is _too_ bad!” he exclaimed, stamping his foot with
+anger. “What have I ever done to you young blackguards, that you should
+treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I ever harmed one of you?
+And _you_, too, Vernon Williams!”
+
+The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble glance of
+sorrow and scorn.
+
+“Well, I _know_ who has put you up to this; but you shall not escape so.
+I shall thrash you every one.”
+
+Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none. They took
+it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it; and when it was
+over, Vernon said, “Forgive me, Montagu. I am very sorry, and will never
+do so again.” Montagu, without deigning a reply, motioned them to go,
+and then sat down, full of grief, on his bed. But the outrage was not
+over for that night, and no sooner had he put out the light than he
+became painfully aware that several boys were stealing into the room,
+and the next moment he felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of
+bed in an instant, and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had
+scattered the crowd of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A
+number of fellows had set on him in the dark--on _him_, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should be
+possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson’s baseness had spread
+far indeed.
+
+He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had reason to
+repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an antagonist. But
+this did not content him; his blood was up, and he determined to attack
+the evil at its source. He strode through his discomfited enemies
+straight into Brigson’s room, struck a match, and said, “Brigson, get
+out of bed this instant.”
+
+“Hullo!” grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.
+
+“None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?”
+
+“No!” roared Brigson, “I should think not.”
+
+“Well, then, take _that_!” he shouted, striking him in the face.
+
+The fight that followed was very short. In a single round Montagu had
+utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced to beg for
+mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to tower above him
+with a magnificent superiority, and there was a self-controlled passion
+about him which gave tremendous energy to every blow. Brigson was
+utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and took without a word the
+parting kick of ineffable contempt which Montagu bestowed on him.
+
+“There,” he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all the
+dormitories at the first hint of a fight, “I, a sixth-form fellow, have
+condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom all you miserable
+lower boys have been making an idol and hero of, and from whom you have
+been so readily learning every sort of blackguardly and debasing trick.
+But let me tell you and your hero, that if any of you dare to annoy or
+lift a finger at me again, you shall do it at your peril. I despise you
+all; there is hardly one gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you
+since that fellow Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you
+know that you deserve it.” And every one of them _did_ shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.
+
+The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr. Rose
+appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his night-shirt, the
+boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose, which was bleeding
+profusely, at his basin.
+
+Montagu instantly stepped up to him. “You can trust me, sir; may I ask
+you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some one that
+deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson.”
+
+Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. “I can trust you,” he
+said, “Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this irregularity.
+And now get instantly to your beds.”
+
+But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the studies,
+and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them what had
+occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves for the future
+to check, if they could, by all fair means, Brigson’s pernicious
+influence and abominable example.
+
+But it was too late now; the mischief was done.
+
+“O Eric,” said Montagu, “why did you not make a stand against all this
+before? Your own brother was one of them.”
+
+“Little wretch. I’ll kick him well for it,” said Eric.
+
+“No, no!” said Montagu, “that’ll do no good. Try rather to look after
+him a little more.”
+
+“I hope _you_ will forgive him, and try and rescue him.”
+
+“I will do what I can,” said Montagu, coldly.
+
+Eric sighed, and they parted.
+
+Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off all open
+connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do so. But that
+personage kept carefully out of his way until the first burst of
+indignation against him had subsided, and after a time began to address
+Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he had completely regained
+his ascendancy over the lower part of the school, which was not
+difficult, because they were wincing under Montagu’s contempt, and
+mingled no little dislike with it; a dislike which all are too apt to
+feel towards those whose very presence and moral superiority are a tacit
+rebuke of their own failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at
+the zenith of popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously
+encouraged. He was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a
+large score at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All
+this he was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the
+reasons why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to stand
+in much the same relation to him as before.
+
+The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much, and the
+sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main parties--the
+one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by Duncan, who devoted
+themselves to the games and diversions of the school, and troubled
+themselves comparatively little about anything else; the other, headed
+by Montagu, who took the lead in intellectual pursuits, and endeavored,
+by every means in their power, to counteract the pernicious effects of
+the spreading immorality.
+
+And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved boy,
+and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was disunion,
+misery, and deterioration. The community which had once been peaceful,
+happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy and heart-burnings;
+every boy’s hand seemed to be against his neighbor; lying, bad language,
+dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and the few who, like Owen and Montagu,
+remained uncontaminated by the general mischief, walked alone and
+despondent amid their uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WILDNEY
+
+     “That punishment’s the best to bear
+        That follows soonest on the sin,
+      And guilt’s a game where losers fare
+        Better than those who seem to win.”
+
+     COV. PATMORE.
+
+At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded to one of
+the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which adjoined it.
+
+Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of disobedience, had
+frequented the studies a good deal, but it was generally understood that
+no study-boy might ask any one to be a regular visitor to his room
+without the leave of its other occupant.
+
+So one evening Duncan said to Eric, “Do you know little Wildney?”
+
+“You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the great
+black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I don’t
+know him.”
+
+“Well, he’s a very nice little fellow; a regular devil”
+
+“Humph!” said Eric, laughing; “I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very nice
+little fellow.”
+
+“Pooh!” said Duncan; “you know well enough what I mean; I mean he’s not
+one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has lots of fun
+in him.”
+
+“Well, what of him?”
+
+“Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study when he
+likes?”
+
+“Not the least in the world.”
+
+“Very well, I’ll go and fetch him now. But wouldn’t you like to ask your
+brother Vernon to come in too whenever he’s inclined?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, “I don’t care. He does come every now and then.”
+
+Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was thinking
+_why_ he didn’t give Vernon the free run of his study. He would not
+admit to himself the true reason, which was, that he had too much ground
+to fear that his example would do his brother no good.
+
+Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright, engaging,
+spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him which took
+Eric’s fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of the lower
+fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in school, and was
+in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was “taken up” by Eric,
+he had been a regular little hero among his compeers, because he was
+game for any kind of mischief, and, in the new tone of popular morality,
+his fearless disregard of rules made him the object of general
+admiration. From this time, however, he was much in the studies, and
+unhappily carried with him to those upper regions the temptation to a
+deeper and more injurious class of transgressions than had yet
+penetrated there.
+
+It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised little
+son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first asked the
+child to frequent their study.
+
+It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed, but
+there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric’s knee by the study fire,
+while Duncan was doing some Arnold’s verses for him to be shown up
+next day.
+
+“Bother these verses,” said Duncan, “I shall have a whiff. Do you mind,
+Eric?”
+
+“No; not at all.”
+
+“Give me a weed, too,” said Wildney.
+
+“What! young un--you don’t mean to say you smoke?” asked Eric in
+surprise.
+
+“Don’t I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went and
+smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday.”
+
+“Phew!” said Eric, “then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you in
+countenance;” and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had touched
+one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him gloomy and
+silent. “Tempora mutantur,” thought he, “nos et mutamur in illis.”
+
+“Why, how glum you are,” said Wildney, patting him on the head.
+
+“O no!” said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. “Look,” he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, “what a
+glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars.”
+
+“Yes,” said Duncan, yawning; “this smoking makes one very thirsty. I
+wish I’d some beer.”
+
+“Well, why shouldn’t we get some?” said Wildney “it would he very
+jolly.”
+
+“Get some! What! at this time of night?”
+
+“Yes; I’ll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before ten.”
+
+“Nonsense,” said Eric; “it aint worth while.”
+
+“I believe you think I’m afraid,” said Wildney, laughing, and looking at
+Eric with his dark eyes; “and what’s more, I believe _you’re_ afraid.”
+
+“Little whippersnapper!” said Eric, coloring, “as if I was afraid to do
+anything _you_ dare do. I’ll go with you at once, if you like.”
+
+“What are you thinking of?” asked Duncan. “I don’t care twopence about
+the beer, and I hope you won’t go.”
+
+“But I will, though,” said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney, of all
+people, should think him wanting in pluck.
+
+“But how will you get out?”
+
+“Oh, _I’ll_ show you a dodge there,” said Wildney. “Come along. Have you
+a dark lantern?”
+
+“No, but I’ll get Llewellyn’s.”
+
+“Come along then.”
+
+So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying the dark
+lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a secret which had
+long been known to the lower part of the school.
+
+“Ibant obscuri dubiâ sub luce.” He led them quietly down stairs, stole
+with them noiselessly past the library door, and took them to a window
+in the passage, where a pane was broken.
+
+“Could you get through that?” he whispered to Eric, “if we broke away
+the rest of the glass?”
+
+“I don’t know. But, then, there’s the bar outside.”
+
+“Oh, I’ll manage that. But will you go and peep through the key-hole of
+the library, and see who’s there, Duncan?”
+
+“No,” said Duncan, bluntly, “no key-holes for me.”
+
+“Hush! then _I_ will,” and he glided away, while Eric, as quietly as he
+could, broke away the glass until it was all removed.
+
+“There’s only old Stupid,” whispered he, irreverently designating an
+under-master named Harley, “and he’s asleep before the fire. Now, then,
+just lift me up, Eric, will you?”
+
+Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end of the
+bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long driven into
+the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened, and only wanted a
+little pull to bring them out. In one minute Wildney had unfastened and
+pushed down one end of the bar. He then got through the broken pane, and
+dropped down outside. Eric followed with some little difficulty, for the
+aperture would only just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to
+the study, anxiously awaited their return.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant and
+cool. But Eric’s first thought, as he dropped on to the ground, was one
+of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere child, so easily
+to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had hardly thought till then
+of what their errand was to be, but now his couldn’t help so strongly
+disapproving of it, that he was half-inclined to turn back. He did not,
+however, dare to suggest this, lest Wildney should charge him with
+cowardice, and betray it to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own
+excitement, the stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.
+
+“I hope we shan’t be seen crossing the play-ground,” said Wildney. “My
+eye, shouldn’t we catch it!”
+
+He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air of
+nonchalance, and played the part of protector.
+
+“Here, take my arm,” he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight, instead
+of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one so much his
+junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by community of danger and
+interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly struck him that he didn’t know
+where they were going to buy the beer. He asked Wildney.
+
+“Oh, I see you’re not half up to snuff,” said Wildney, whose courage had
+risen; “I’ll show you.”
+
+He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were booming,
+and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in they saw some
+sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in tobacco-smoke.
+
+The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held up a
+light to see who they were.
+
+“Hollo, Billy,” said Wildney, confidentially, “all serene; give us two
+bottles of beer--on tick, you know.”
+
+“Yessir--d’reckly,” said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the eyes.
+“So you’re out for a spree,” he continued, winking in a knowing way.
+“Won’t you walk into the back-parlor while I get them?” And he showed
+them into a dingy horrid room behind the house, stale with smoke, and
+begrimed with dust.
+
+Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home. The
+man soon returned with the beer. “Wouldn’t you like a glass of summat
+now, young gen’lmen?” he asked, in an insinuating way.
+
+“No, Billy! don’t jabber--we must be off. Here open the door.”
+
+“Stop, I’ll pay,” said Eric. “What’s the damage?”
+
+“Three shilling, sir,” said the man. “Glad to see a new customer, sir.”
+He pocketed the money, and showed them, out, standing to look after them
+with a malicious leer as they disappeared, and jerking his left thumb
+over his shoulder.
+
+“Faugh!” said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again into the
+moonlight, “what a poisonous place! Good gracious, Charlie, who
+introduced you there?”
+
+“Oh, I don’t think much of going _there_” said Wildney, carelessly; “we
+go every-week almost.”
+
+“We! who?”
+
+“Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call the
+‘Anti-muffs,’ and that’s our smoking-room.”
+
+“And is that horrid beast the landlord?”
+
+“Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there’s no harm in him that I
+know of.”
+
+But Eric only “phewed” again two or three times, and thought of Montagu.
+
+Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into the deep
+shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, “Look!”
+
+Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He had heard
+voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at their sudden
+cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking round.
+
+“We must run for it,” whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose approached
+the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and scampered away as
+hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by taking his hand, and
+neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr. Rose following them at
+first, but soon distanced him, and reached a place where two roads met,
+either of which would lead to the school.
+
+“We won’t go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What fun!”
+said Wildney, laughing.
+
+“What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of dodges,”
+said Eric.
+
+They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got to the
+school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected their
+entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his study, and
+Wildney to his dormitory.
+
+“Here’s a go!” said the latter, as they ran up stairs; “I’ve smashed one
+of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and my trousers are
+deluged with the stuff.”
+
+They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose’s step was heard on the stairs.
+He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight of two boys
+and the sound of their voices startled him in the street, and their
+sudden disappearance made him sure that they were Roslyn boys,
+particularly when they began to run. He strongly suspected that he
+recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore made straight for his
+dormitory, which he entered, just as that worthy had thrust the
+beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr. Rose, walked up quietly to his
+bedside, and observed that he was not asleep, and that he still had half
+has clothes on. He was going away when he saw a little bit of the
+trousers protruding under the mattress, and giving a pull, out they
+came, wringing wet with the streams of beer. He could not tell at first
+what this imported, but a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket
+with, a crash on the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of
+Wildney’s pretended sleep, he said, quietly, “Come to me before
+breakfast tomorrow, Wildney,” and went down stairs.
+
+Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly attempting
+to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring auditors the
+night’s adventure; being evidently rather prouder of the “Eric and I,”
+which he introduced every now and then into his story.
+
+“Has he twigged you?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“And me?”
+
+“I don’t know; we shall see to-morrow.”
+
+“I hope not,” said Eric; “I’m sorry for you, Charlie.”
+
+“Can’t be cured, must be endured,” said Wildney.
+
+“Well, good night! and don’t lose heart.”
+
+Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the other
+bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment, because they
+were full of surmises as to the extent of the discovery, and the nature
+of the punishment.
+
+Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.
+
+He listened very coldly, and said, “Well, Eric, it would serve you right
+to be caught. What business have you to be going out at night, at the
+invitation of contemptible small fry, like this little Wildney?”
+
+“I beg you won’t speak of any friend of mine in those terms,” said Eric,
+drawing up haughtily.
+
+“I hope you don’t call a bad little boy like Wildney, who’d be no
+credit to any one, _your_ friend, Eric?”
+
+“Yes I do, though. He’s one of the pluckiest, finest, most promising
+fellows in the lower school.”
+
+“How I begin to hate that word plucky,” said Montagu; “it’s made the
+excuse here for everything that’s wrong, base, and unmanly. It seems to
+me it’s infinitely more ‘plucky’ just now to do your duty and not be
+ashamed of it.”
+
+“You’ve certainly required _that_ kind of pluck to bear you up lately,
+Monty,” said Owen, looking up from his books.
+
+“Pluck!” said Montagu, scornfully; “you seem to me to think it consists
+in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious Brigson, and
+joining hand and glove with the dregs of the school.”
+
+“Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you’re cool, to speak of any of my
+associates in that way,” said Eric, now thoroughly angry.
+
+“Associates!” retorted Montagu, hotly; “pretty associates! How do you
+expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the school like you
+have such dealings with the refined honorable Brigson, and the exemplary
+intellectual Wildney?”
+
+“You’re a couple of confounded muffs,” shouted Eric, banging the door,
+and flinging into his own study again without farther reply.
+
+“Hav’n’t you been a little hard on him, considering the row he’s in?”
+asked Owen.
+
+Montagu’s head was resting on his hand as he bent over the table.
+“Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the present
+state of things? Yes, you’re right,” he said, after a pause; “_this_
+wasn’t the time to speak. I’ll go and talk to him again. But how utterly
+changed he is!”
+
+He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an affectation of
+noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--
+
+“Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt to
+express myself strongly.” He could not trust himself to say more, but
+held out his hand.
+
+Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+“Come, Eric, it isn’t _wholly_ my fault, is it, that we are not so warm
+to each other as we were when ...”
+
+“Oh, Monty, Monty!” said Eric, softened by the allusion; and warmly
+grasped his friend’s proffered hand.
+
+“Oh, Eric!”
+
+The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they felt
+that while things continued thus their friendship could not last. It was
+a sad thought for both.
+
+Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained great
+reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to drop the
+least hint as to their means of getting out, or their purpose in
+visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained undiscovered, and when
+any boy wanted to get out at night--(unhappily the trick now became
+common enough)--he had only to break a pane of glass in that particular
+window, which, as it was in the passage, often remained unmended and
+undiscovered for weeks.
+
+After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, “I want to speak to
+you.”
+
+The boy’s heart misgave him as they entered the familiar library.
+
+“I think I suspect who was Wildney’s companion.”
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+“I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague suspicion; but
+the boy whom I _do_ suspect is one whose course lately has given me the
+deepest pain; one who has violated all the early promise he gave; one
+who seems to be going farther and farther astray, and sacrificing all
+moral principle to the ghost of a fleeting and most despicable
+popularity--to the approval of those whom he cannot himself approve.”
+
+Eric still silent.
+
+“Whatever you do _yourself_, Williams”--(it was the first time for two
+years that Mr. Rose had called him “Williams,” and he winced a
+little)--“whatever you do _yourself_, Williams, rests with _you_; but
+remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and more accursed crime to set
+stumbling-blocks in the way of others, and abuse your influence to cause
+any of Christ’s little ones to perish.”
+
+“I wasn’t the tempter, however,” thought Eric, still silent.
+
+“Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me, Williams, I
+grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you is no less warm,
+though my affection for you cannot be the same. You may go.”
+
+“Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not asked me
+to see him once this term,” thought Eric, sadly; but a shout of pleasure
+greeted him directly he joined the football in the play-ground, and,
+half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard it, and understood that was
+meant for the boy whom he had just been rebuking. “Well, after all,” he
+thought, “I have _some_ friends still.”
+
+Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy whom he
+really respected ever walked with him now. Even little Wright, one of
+the very few lower boys who had risen superior to Brigson’s temptations,
+seemed to keep clear of him as much as he could; and, in absolute
+vacuity, he was obliged to associate with fellows like Attlay, and
+Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.
+
+Even with Bull! All Eric’s repugnance for this boy seemed to have
+evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance, were sworn
+friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation as was pursued
+unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay, worse, it had lost
+its horror, and he was neither afraid nor ashamed to join in it himself.
+This plague-spot had fretted more deeply than any other into the heart
+of the school morality, and the least boys seemed the greatest
+proficients in unbaring without a blush, its hideous ugliness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+“THE JOLLY HERRING”
+
+“Velut unda supervenit undam.”--VIRGIL.
+
+The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams’ company to a spread they
+are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four, in their
+smoking-room--
+
+A note to this effect was put into Eric’s hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew whether
+to be pleased or disgusted at it.
+
+He tossed it to Duncan, and said, “What shall I do?”
+
+Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the fire.
+
+“I’d give them that answer, and no other.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because, Eric,” said Duncan, with more seriousness than was usual with
+him, “I can’t help thinking things have gone too far lately.”
+
+“How do you mean?”
+
+“Well, I’m no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that the
+fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse. Your
+friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid down a law
+that _no work_ is to be done down stairs ever under any pretence, and
+it’s only by getting into one of the studies that good little chaps
+like Wright can get on at all. Even in the class-rooms there’s so much
+row and confusion that the mere thought of work is ridiculous.”
+
+“Well, there’s no great harm in a little noise, if that’s all.”
+
+“But it isn’t all. The talk of nearly the whole school is getting most
+blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney was chatting with
+Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not have been here) while
+I was reading; they didn’t seem to mind me, and I’m sure you’d have been
+vexed to the heart if you’d heard how they talked to each other. At last
+I couldn’t stand it any longer, and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears
+smartly, and kicked them down stairs.”
+
+As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, “And I wish it ended in talk,
+but----”
+
+“But I believe you’re turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we’re only
+schoolboys; it’ll be lots of time to turn saint some other day.”
+
+Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition. “You don’t
+want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the rosebuds,
+do you?”
+
+There was something of assumed bravado in Eric’s whole manner which
+jarred on Duncan exceedingly. “Do as you like,” he said, curtly, and
+went into another study.
+
+Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney, as he
+often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping his trousers
+over his nightshirt, and running up to the studies.
+
+“Well, you’ll come to the Anti-muffs, won’t you?” he said.
+
+“To that pestilential place again?--not I.”
+
+Wildney looked offended. “Not after we’ve all asked you? The fellows
+won’t half like your refusing.”
+
+He had touched Eric’s weak point.
+
+“Do come,” he said, looking up in Eric’s face.
+
+“Confound it all,” answered Eric, hastily. “Yes, I’ve no friends, I’ll
+come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy.”
+
+“That’s a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows. They’ll be
+no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you.” And he scampered
+off, leaving Eric ill at ease.
+
+Duncan didn’t re-enter the study that evening.
+
+The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the way to
+Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and said--
+
+“Are you going to the Anti-muffs?”
+
+“Yes; why? are you going too?”
+
+“Yes; do you mind our going together?”
+
+“Not at all.”
+
+In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep him in
+countenance, for he felt considerably more than half ashamed
+of himself.
+
+They went to “The Jolly Herring,” as the pot-house was called, and
+passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor, to which
+Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen boys were
+assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as the two
+new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room, which was
+regularly spread for dinner.
+
+“Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose,” called Brigson. “I vote,
+boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair.”
+
+“Hear! hear!” said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his will,
+found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson and Bull
+on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom they called
+Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the table, and some
+fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample justice to the [Greek:
+daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them. There was immense uproar during
+the dinner, every one eating as fast, and talking as loud, as he could.
+
+The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.
+
+“Now for the dessert, Billy,” called several voices; and that worthy
+proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and four black
+bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these dainties, and one
+boy shouted, “I say, I’ve had no wine.”
+
+“Well, it’s all gone. We must get some brandy--it’s cheaper,” said
+Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys
+diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.
+
+“Here! before you’re all done swilling,” said Brigson, “I’ve got a
+health; ‘Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti’s.’”
+
+“And their chairman,’ suggested Wildney.
+
+“And their chairman, the best fellow in the school,” added Brigson.
+
+The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
+
+“I’m not going to spout,” he said; “but boys must be boys, and there’s
+no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged
+to you for asking me; and now I call for a song.”
+
+“Wildney! Wildney’s song,” called several.
+
+Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness--
+
+     “Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
+       Until it does run overt
+     Come, landlord, fill,” &c
+
+“Now,” he said, “join in the chorus!” The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--
+
+     “For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+       To-morrow we’ll be sober!”
+
+While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round the
+room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could not
+recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame passed
+over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and Brigson
+heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not help observing
+what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of Russell came back to him.
+Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was in such company at such a
+place! And by the door stood Billy, watching them all like an evil
+spirit, with a leer of saturnine malice on his evil face.
+
+But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric’s bitter thoughts,
+sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him, shining out like
+a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like blood-guiltiness on his
+soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning the young boy’s presence in
+that degraded assemblage.
+
+Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of “cavé, cavé.” In an instant the room was
+in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon the floor, the table was
+overturned with a mighty crash, and plates, glasses, and bottles rushed
+on to the ground in shivers. Nearly every one bolted for the door, which
+led through the passage into the street; and in their headlong flight
+and selfishness, they stumbled over each other, and prevented all
+egress, several being knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made
+for the tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there
+stood Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was the
+work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters quickly took
+down the names of full half the boys who, in the suddenness of the
+surprise, had been unable to make their exit.
+
+And Eric?
+
+The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney seize
+his hand, and whisper, “This way all serene;” following, he groped his
+way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney, shoving aside a
+green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door, which at once let them
+into a little garden. There they both crouched down, under a lilac tree
+beside the house, and listened intently.
+
+There was no need for this precaution; their door remained unsuspected,
+and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into the house again,
+they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that the masters had gone,
+and all was safe.
+
+“Glad ye’re not twigged, gen’lmen,” he said; “but there’ll be a pretty
+sight of damage for all this glass and plates.”
+
+“Shut up with your glass and plates,” said Wildney. “Here, Eric, we must
+cut for it again.”
+
+It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the close
+room into the open air, and they had to consider which way they would
+choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the wrong, but
+escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney’s old short cut. As they
+ran they passed several boys (who having been caught, were walking home
+leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered, when they both
+answered their names quite innocently at the roll-call, immediately
+after lock up.
+
+“What lucky dogs you are to get off,” said many boys to them.
+
+“Yes, it’s precious lucky for me,” said Wildney. “If I’d been caught at
+this kind of thing a second time, I should have got something worse than
+a swishing.”
+
+“Well, it’s all through you I escaped,” said Eric, “you knowing little
+scamp.”
+
+“I’m glad of it, Eric,” said Wildney in his fascinating way, “since it
+is all through me you went. It’s rather too hazardous though; we must
+manage better another time.”
+
+During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that none of the
+sixth form or other study boys would particularly sympathise with his
+late associates. Since the previous evening he had been cool with
+Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised him as a boy who’d do
+anything to be popular; so he sat there silent, looking as disdainful as
+he could, and not touching the tea, for which he felt disinclined after
+the recent potations. But the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving
+heart, and he felt how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How
+gladly would he have changed places with them! how much he would have
+given to recover some of their forfeited esteem!
+
+The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room for a
+few minutes while the tables were cleared for “preparation,” and the
+boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the study and
+class-room boys were expected to go away during this interval; but Eric,
+not noticing Mr. Rose’s entrance, sat gossipping with Wildney about the
+dinner and its possible consequences to the school.
+
+He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the other, and
+bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that he looked like a
+regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the Jolly Herring, and
+Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended by the simile.
+
+“Hush! no more talking,” said Mr. Rose, who did everything very gently
+and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger, and had
+always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he didn’t think
+he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment he did not, so
+Wildney began to chatter again.
+
+“All study boys to leave the room,” said Mr. Rose.
+
+Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone away,
+but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney’s eye, and besides wanted
+to show off a little indifference to his old master, with whom he had
+had no intercourse since their last-mentioned conversation.
+
+“Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after I have
+dismissed you?” said Mr. Rose sternly.
+
+Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this speech
+created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was going out of
+the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all his proud and
+dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten something, he walked
+conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to him, “I shan’t go if he
+chooses to speak like that.”
+
+A red flush passed over Mr. Rose’s cheek; he took two strides to Eric,
+and laid the cane sharply once across his back.
+
+Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had done.
+His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events of the
+evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane, which he had
+not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He bounded up, sprang
+towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what he was about, had
+wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it violently in the middle
+until it broke, and flung one of the pieces furiously into the fire.
+
+For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr. Rose--stood
+facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy panting and
+passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on fire; the master
+pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but perfectly self-collected.
+
+“After that exhibition,” said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet dignity,
+“you had better leave the room.”
+
+“Yes, I had,” answered Eric bitterly; “there’s your cane.” And, flinging
+the other fragment at Mr. Rose’s head, he strode blindly out of the
+room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning several boys in his
+way. He then banged the door with all his force, and rushed up into
+his study.
+
+Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor, asked, after
+a moment’s awkward silence, “Is anything the matter, Williams?”
+
+“Williams!” echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; “yes, that’s always the
+way with a fellow when he’s in trouble. I always know what’s coming when
+you begin to leave off calling me by my Christian name.”
+
+“Very well, then,” said Duncan, good-humoredly, “what’s the matter,
+Eric?”
+
+“Matter?” answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with an
+angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything which
+came in his way. “Matter? hang you all, you are all turning against me,
+because you are a set of muffs, and----”
+
+“Take care!” said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric’s look, and
+stopped.
+
+“And I’ve been breaking Rose’s cane over his head, because he had the
+impudence to touch, me with it, and----”
+
+“Eric, you’re not yourself to-night,” said Duncan, interrupting, but
+speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric’s hand, he looked him
+steadily in the face.
+
+Their eyes met; the boy’s false self once more slipped off. By a strong
+effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of drink had
+caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to speak again, or
+even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell rang.
+
+Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done with him,
+Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after prayers into
+Montagu’s, and talked with him over the recent events, of which the
+boys’ minds were all full.
+
+But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing nothing,
+and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to resent
+his presence.
+
+“So!” he said, looking up at the ceiling, “another saint come to cast a
+stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned,” he continued, dropping
+his cheek on his hand again; “only don’t let the sermon be long.”
+
+But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated himself
+by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.
+
+“Come, Eric,” said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling him; “I
+won’t be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won’t you even look? Oh
+Eric, one wouldn’t have fancied this in past days, when we were so much
+together with one who is dead. It’s a long long time since we’ve eyen
+alluded to him, but _I_ shall never forget those happy days.”
+
+Eric heaved a deep sigh.
+
+“I’m not come to reproach you. You don’t give me a friend’s right to
+reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow, I can’t help
+being sorry for all this. I did hope you’d have broken with Brigson
+after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which he treated me. I
+don’t think you _can_ know the mischief he is doing.”
+
+The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric’s eye, “Ah!” he said,
+“it’s all of no use; you’re all giving me the cold shoulder, and I’m
+going to the bad, that’s the long and short of it.”
+
+“Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents’ sake, for the school’s
+sake, for all your real friends’ sake, don’t talk in that bitter
+hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool or the
+patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you. I _do_ hope
+you’ll join us even yet in resisting them.”
+
+Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his emotion. “I
+can’t talk, Monty,” he said, in an altered tone; “but leave me now; and
+if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow.”
+
+“Most willingly, Eric.” And again, warmly pressing his hand, Montagu
+returned to his own study.
+
+Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric’s door. He expected Wildney
+as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him, and hoping
+he would come, but he didn’t want to see him now, so he answered rather
+peevishly, “Come in; but I don’t want to be bothered to-night.”
+
+Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. “May I come in? not if it
+bothers you, Eric,” he said, gently.
+
+“Oh, Verny, I didn’t know it was you; I thought it would be Wildney. You
+_never_ come now.”
+
+The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say, “Whose
+fault is that?”
+
+“Come here, Verny;” and Eric drew him towards him, and put him on his
+knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the child’s eyes.
+
+It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had been
+alone together, the first time for many a long day that any acts of
+kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember this, and, at
+the same time, to remember home, and their absent parents, and their
+mother’s prayers, and all the quiet half-forgotten vista of innocent
+pleasures, and sacred relationships, and holy affections. And why did
+they see each other so little at school? Their consciences told them
+both, that either wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and
+forgetfulness of God.
+
+They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since they were
+children, each brother put his arm round the other’s neck, and
+remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his cruel heartless
+selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far astray; left him as a
+prey to such boys as were his companions in the lower school.
+
+“Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?”
+
+“You!” said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. “Good heavens! I didn’t
+notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I’d known you were
+there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such, a bad example.”
+
+“Yes, I was there, and I was caught.”
+
+“Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can’t get much
+done to you.”
+
+“It isn’t _that_ I care for; I’ve been flogged before, you know.
+But--may I say something?”
+
+“Yes, Vernon, anything you like.”
+
+“Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to Mr. Rose
+to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course; but I could
+have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn’t have minded if it had been
+anybody but Rose.”
+
+“But why?”
+
+“Because, Eric, he’s been so good, so kind to both of us. You’ve often
+told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he’s done such, lots of
+kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was caught, he
+sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so gently, about
+the wickedness of going to such low places, and about so young a boy as
+I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it and--and”--His voice was
+choked by sobs for a time,--“and then he knelt down and prayed for me,
+so as I have never heard any one pray but mother;--and do you know,
+Eric, it was strange, but I thought I _did_ hear our mother’s voice
+praying for me too, while he prayed, and”--He tried in vain to go on;
+but Eric’s conscience continued for him; “and just as he had ceased
+doing this for one brother, the other brother, for whom he has often
+done the same, treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence.”
+
+“Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think that while
+I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at home. And, oh,
+Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you were talking the
+other day.”
+
+Vernon hid his face on Eric’s shoulder; and as his brother stooped over
+him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in silence, until wearied
+with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and then Eric carried him tenderly
+down stairs, and laid him, still half-sleeping, upon his bed.
+
+He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other boys had
+not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat down on his
+brother’s bed to think, shading off the light of the candle with his
+hand. It was rarely now that Eric’s thoughts were so rich with the
+memories of childhood, and sombre with the consciousness of sin, as they
+were that night, while he gazed on his brother Vernon’s face. He did not
+know what made him look so long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an
+unconjectured foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a
+summer cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but there was
+an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and the long
+eyelashes were still wet with tears.
+
+“Poor child,” thought Eric; “dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow.”
+
+He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that _he_ too
+would come in for certain punishment the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+
+     “Raro antecedentem scelestum
+     Deseruit pede Poena claudo.”--HOR.
+
+After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his boarders on the
+previous day’s discovery, and in a few forcible vivid words set before
+them, the enormity of the offence. He ended by announcing that the boys
+who were caught would be birched,--“except the elder ones, Bull and
+Brigson, who will bring me one hundred lines every hour of the
+half-holidays till further notice. There are some,” he said, “I am well
+aware, who, though present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for
+it, for _their_ sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden.” On leaving
+the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric obeyed, and stood
+before the head-master with downcast eyes.
+
+“Williams,” he said, “I have had a great regard for you, and felt a deep
+interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew your excellent
+parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of your future course,
+and your abilities seemed likely to blossom into noble fruit. But you
+fell off greatly, and grew idle and careless. At last an event happened,
+in which for a time you acted worthily of yourself, and which seemed to
+arouse you from your negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you
+revived; but as I continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps,
+than you supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure that
+you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two years ago.
+I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply fear, Williams,
+I deeply fear, that in _other_ respects also you are going the down-hill
+road. And what am I to think now, when on the _same_ morning, you and
+your little brother _both_ come before me for such serious and heavy
+faults? I cannot free you from blame even for _his_ misdoings, for you
+are his natural guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved
+with him in that charge.”
+
+“Let _me_ bear the punishment, sir, instead of him,” said Eric, by a
+sudden impulse; “for I misled him, and was there myself.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. “You, Williams! on the verge
+of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the state of things
+among you is even worse than I had supposed.”
+
+Eric again hung his head.
+
+“No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at present I
+shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware. But I must turn
+to the other matter. What excuse have you for your intolerable conduct
+to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from the first the most
+unusual and disinterested kindness?”
+
+“I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not control my
+passion.”
+
+“Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I shall make
+you read aloud before the whole school at twelve to-day.”
+
+Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr. Rowlands glanced at
+it. “Come to me again at twelve,” he said.
+
+At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and miserable,
+followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The masters stood at one
+end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who, however, appeared an
+indifferent and uninterested spectator of the transaction. Every eye was
+fixed on Eric, and every one pitied him.
+
+“We are assembled,” said Dr. Rowlands, “for an act of justice. One of
+your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed of his
+conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will read. I had
+intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr. Rose has earnestly
+begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to his wishes. Williams,
+read your apology.”
+
+There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to utter a
+word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his voice, and read,
+but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even those nearest him heard
+what he was saying.
+
+Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. “Owing,” he said, “to a very
+natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in such a way
+that you could not have understood it. I will therefore read it myself.
+It is to this effect--
+
+“‘I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.’
+
+“You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his own
+expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and compunction for
+the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted to elevate him into a
+hero, for a folly which he himself so much regrets. This affair,--as I
+should wish all bad deeds to be after they have once been
+punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope forgotten.”
+
+They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all shunned and
+looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu came, and taking
+his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with him. It was a
+constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad when it was over,
+although Montagu did all he could to show that he loved Eric no less
+than before. Still it was weeks since they had been much together, and
+they had far fewer things in common now than they used to have.
+
+“I’m so wretched, Monty,” said Eric at last; “do you think Rose despises
+me?”
+
+“I am _sure_ of the contrary. Won’t you go to him, Eric, and say all you
+feel?”
+
+“Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the last two
+years!”
+
+“You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same words
+comfort you that have often brought hope to me--‘I will restore the
+years which the locust hath eaten.’”
+
+They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the library. Mr.
+Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as usual, and Eric went up
+to the fire-place where he was standing. They had often stood by that
+library fire on far different terms.
+
+“Forgive me, sir,” was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed to his
+eyes.
+
+“Freely, my boy,” said Mr. Rose, sadly. “I wish you could feel how fully
+I forgive you; but,” he added, laying his hand for the last time on
+Eric’s head, “you have far more, Eric, to forgive yourself. I will not
+talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I fear; but you little know
+how much I pity and tremble for you.”
+
+While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group was
+collected round the fire-place in the boarders’ room, and many tongues
+were loudly discussing the recent events.
+
+Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom Mr. Rose
+had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them far more than
+they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for them in private,
+when his weak frame was harassed by suffering; many a sleepless night
+had he wrestled for them in prayer, when, for their sakes, his own many
+troubles were laid aside. Work on, Walter Rose, and He who seeth in
+secret will reward you openly! but expect no gratitude from those for
+whose salvation you, like the great tenderhearted apostle, would almost
+be ready to wish yourself accursed.
+
+Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It had long
+been Brigson’s cue to do so; he derided him on every opportunity, and
+delighted to represent him as hypocritical and insincere. Even his weak
+health was the subject of Brigson’s coarse ridicule, and the bad boy
+paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute which vice must ever accord to
+excellence.
+
+“You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him,” said Brigson;
+“why, even that old beast Gordon isn’t as bad.”
+
+“Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton’s
+serpent,” drawled Bull;
+
+     “Hope elevates and joy brightens his crest.”
+
+“He-e-ar! He-e-ar!” said Pietrie; “_vide_ the last fifth form Rep.”
+
+“I expect Eric won’t see everything so much _couleur de Rose_ now, as
+the French frog hath it,” remarked Graham.
+
+“It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly,” observed Wildney.
+
+“I say, you fellows,” remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was sitting
+reading a book at one of the desks, “all that isn’t fair. I’m sure you
+all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he said, you know,
+that it was merely for the sake of school discipline that he put the
+matter in Rowlands’ hands.”
+
+“Discipline be hanged,” shouted Brigson; “we’ll have our revenge on him
+yet, discipline or no.”
+
+“I hope you won’t, though,” said Vernon; “I know Eric will be sorry if
+you do.”
+
+“The more muff he. We shall do as we like.”
+
+“Well, I shall tell him; and I’m sure he’ll ask you not. You know how he
+tries to stick up for Rose.”
+
+“If you say a word more,” said Brigson, unaccustomed to being opposed
+among his knot of courtiers, “I’ll kick you out of the room; you and
+that wretched little fool there with you.”
+
+“You may do as you like,” answered Wright, quietly, “but you won’t go
+on like this long, I can tell you.”
+
+Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with flinging
+a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which narrowly missed
+his head.
+
+“I have it!” said Brigson; “that little donkey’s given me an idea. We’ll
+_crust_ Rose to-night.”
+
+“To crust,” gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person with
+crusts.
+
+“Capital!” said some of the worst boys present; “we will.”
+
+“Well, who’ll take part?”
+
+No one offered. “What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards? Here,
+Wildney, won’t you? you were abusing Rose just now.”
+
+“Yes, I will,” said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. “You’ll not
+have done till you’ve got us all expelled, I believe.”
+
+“Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can’t expel half the
+school.”
+
+First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining courage
+by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and Graham were to
+put out the lights at each end of one table immediately after tea, and
+Wildney and Brooking at the other, when the study fellows had gone out.
+There would then be only Mr. Rose’s candle burning, and the two middle
+candles, which, in so large a room, would just give enough light for
+their purpose. Then all the conspirators were to throng around the door,
+and from it aim their crusts at Mr. Rose’s head, Not nearly so many
+would have volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too
+gentle to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by
+his quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.
+
+Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that numbers of
+boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting off the crusts,
+and breaking them into good-sized bits.
+
+Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly reading in
+his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental) dropping of a plate
+by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.
+
+Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in the fall.
+
+Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried movement
+towards the door, and a murmur of voices.
+
+“Now then,” said Brigson, in a loud whisper, “what a funky set you are!
+Here goes?”
+
+The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had just looked
+up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson’s crust caught him
+a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.
+
+In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew by or
+hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the door.
+Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the passage, and if
+he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm might have followed.
+But he did not. Going to the door, he said, “Preparation will be in five
+minutes; every boy not then in his place will be punished.”
+
+During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea, full of
+wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no notice of any
+one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their places, with their
+books open before them, and in the thrilling silence you might have
+heard a pin drop. 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. A pause.
+
+“Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at me?”
+
+Still silence.
+
+“I warn you that I _will_ know, and it will be far worse for the guilty
+if I do not know at once.” There was unmistakeable decision in the tone.
+
+“Very well. I know many boys who were _not_ guilty because I saw them
+in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I shall now _ask_
+all the rest, one by one, if they took any part in this. And beware of
+telling me a lie.”
+
+There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys began to
+whisper aloud, “Brigson! Brigson!” The whisper grew louder, and Mr. Rose
+heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion, and said--
+
+“They call your name; stand out!”
+
+The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance, shambled
+out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose swept him with
+one flashing glance. “_That_ is the boy,” thought he to himself, “who
+has been like an ulcer to this school. These boys shall have a good look
+at their hero.” It was but recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm
+which Brigson had been doing, though he had discovered, almost from the
+first, what _sort_ of character he had.
+
+So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him, many a boy
+cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as a lifetime’s
+struggle could not unteach. And it was _that_ fellow, that stupid,
+clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice, that had ruled like a king
+among them. Faugh!
+
+“They call your name! Do you know anything of this?”
+
+“No!” said Brigson; “I’ll swear I’d nothing to do with it.”
+
+“Oh-h-h-h!” the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust and
+contempt ran round the room.
+
+“You have told me a lie!” said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with ineffable
+contempt. “No words can express my loathing for your false and
+dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you shall find
+immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare to deny it
+again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in this?”
+
+He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed to scorch
+and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. “As I thought,”
+said Mr. Rose.
+
+“Not _one_ boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call you up one by
+one to answer me. Wildney, come here.”
+
+The boy walked in front of the desk.
+
+“Were you one of those who threw?”
+
+Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no coward,
+and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new scrape might
+be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening eyes to Mr. Rose,
+he said penitently--
+
+“I didn’t throw, sir, but I _did_ put out one of the candles that it
+might be done.”
+
+The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a little
+less darkly on Mr. Rose’s forehead, and there was a very faint murmur
+of applause.
+
+“Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up.”
+
+Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters except
+Brooking. Mr. Rose’s lip curled with scorn as he heard the exclamation
+which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit down.
+
+When Wright’s turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--“No! I shall not
+even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too good to be
+involved in such an attempt.”
+
+The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned was
+Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his answer.
+
+“No,” he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.
+
+“Go on,” said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.
+
+“Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won’t think Eric knew of
+this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I do.”
+
+“Good,” said Mr. Rose; “I am sure of it. And now,” turning to the
+offenders, “I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty of such
+presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you according to
+my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me a cane from
+that desk.”
+
+He brought it.
+
+“Hold out your hand.”
+
+The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr. Rose
+looked at it, for it was new that morning.
+
+“Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it.”
+
+The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete success of
+the trick.
+
+“Who did this? I must be told at once.”
+
+“I did, sir,” said Wildney, stepping forward.
+
+“Ha! very well,” said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a smile
+hovered at the corner of his lips. “Go and borrow me a cane from
+Mr. Harley.”
+
+While he went there was unbroken silence.
+
+“Now, sir,” said he to Brigson, “I shall flog you.”
+
+Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had
+never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled;
+at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like
+a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes
+fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose’s arm, and implored and besought for mercy.
+
+“_Miserable_ coward,” said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word such ringing
+scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He indignantly shook the
+boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the floor, losing every
+particle of self-control, and calling out, “The devil--the devil--the
+devil!” (“invoking his patron saint,” as Wildney maliciously observed).
+
+“There! cease to blaspheme, and get up,” said the master, blowing out a
+cloud of fiery indignation. “There, sir. Retribution comes at last,
+leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of sins is visited on
+you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body, but on your conscience
+too, if you have one left. Let those red marks betoken that your reign
+is ended. Liar and tempter, you have led boys into the sins which you
+then meanly deny! And now, you boys, _there_ in that coward, who cannot
+even endure his richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have
+suffered to be your _leader_ for well-nigh six months!”
+
+“Now, sir”--again he turned upon Brigson--“that flogging shall be
+repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will take
+each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they should see
+where _you_ lead them to.”
+
+Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he was bid.
+No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was all which Mr.
+Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time, for he was tired,
+and displeased to be an executioner.
+
+“And now,” he said, “since that disgusting but necessary scene is over,
+_never_ let me have to repeat it again.”
+
+But his authority was established like a rock from that night forward.
+No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that evening. Mr.
+Rose’s noble moral influence gained tenfold strength from the respect
+and wholesome fear that he then inspired.
+
+But, as he had said, Brigson’s reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat alone and
+shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now to loathe and
+nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping. He had not done
+blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No sooner had Mr. Rose
+left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes sparkling with rage, leaped on
+the table, and shouted--
+
+“Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward,” a sign of
+execration which he was the first to lead off, and which the boys echoed
+like a storm.
+
+Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. “Oh, we’re
+not hissing you, sir,” said Wildney excitedly; “we’re all hissing at
+lying and cowardice.”
+
+Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he was
+striding out again, without a word, when--
+
+“Three times three for Mr. Rose,” sang out Wildney.
+
+Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips and
+lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like wildfire to the
+studies, and the other boys came flocking in during the uproar, to join
+in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like a sound of silver
+clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the midst of the excited
+throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side, hurrahing more lustily than
+all the rest.
+
+But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips and
+lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he had
+dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening’s painful experiences
+had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no gratitude, and hope
+for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and unmurmuringly, to work
+on in God’s vineyard so long as life and health should last.
+
+Brigson’s brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which would have
+crushed another. But still he felt that his position at Roslyn could
+never be what it had been before, and he therefore determined to leave
+at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he got his father to remove
+him, and announced, to every one’s great delight, that he was going in a
+fortnight. On his last day, by way of bravado, he smashed and damaged as
+much of the school property as he could, a proceeding which failed to
+gain him any admiration, and merely put his father to ruinous expense.
+
+The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the least
+pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed throughout
+the school.
+
+In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear, “You cut
+me, curse you; but, _never fear, I’ll be revenged on you yet_.”
+
+“Do your worst,” answered Eric, contemptuously, “and never speak to me
+again.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+RIPPLES
+
+     “Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
+     And live for ever and for ever.”--TENNYSON.
+
+Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over the
+affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and Vernon
+Williams in front of them.
+
+“I am so glad to see those two together,” said Montagu; “I really think
+Wright is one of the best little fellows in the school, and he’ll be the
+saving of Vernon. He’s already persuaded him to leave off smoking and
+other bad things, and has got him to work a little harder, and turn over
+a new leaf altogether.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Owen; “I’ve seen a marvellous improvement in little
+Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson the other
+night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been leading him by
+the hand; but the best thing is that, through Wright, he sees less of
+Eric’s _friend_, that young scapegrace Wildney.”
+
+“Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a pity that
+Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be spoilt by him. I’m
+glad Vernon’s escaped his influence now; he’s too fine a boy to be made
+as bad as the general run of them. What a brilliant little fellow he is;
+just like his brother.”
+
+“Just like what his brother _was_,” said Owen; “his face, like his
+mind, has suffered lately.”
+
+“Too true,” answered Montagu, with a sigh; “and yet, cool as we now are
+in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him, and yearn
+for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had lived, and then
+I believe that Williams wouldn’t have gone so for wrong.”
+
+“Well, I think there’s another chance for him now that--that--what name
+is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is gone.”
+
+“I hope so. But”--he added after a pause--“his works do follow him. Look
+there!” He took a large stone and threw it into the Silverburn stream;
+there was a great splash, and then ever-widening circles of blue ripple
+broke the surface of the water, dying away one by one in the sedges on
+the bank. “There,” he said, “see how long those ripples last, and how
+numerous they are.”
+
+Owen understood him. “Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope there was
+in him after Russell’s death!”
+
+“Yes, for a time,” said Montagu; “heigh ho! I fear we shall never be
+warm friends again. We can’t be while he goes on as he is doing. And yet
+I love him.”
+
+A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called Riverbend.
+
+“If you want a practical comment on what we’ve been talking about,
+you’ll see it there,” said Montagu.
+
+He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a pleasant
+grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric, stretched at
+ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which curled the puffed
+fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney’s. That worthy was beside him
+similarly employed.
+
+The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did not
+wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances. But they
+saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of laughter which
+followed his remarks, they had little doubt that they were the subject
+of the young gentleman’s wit. This is never a pleasant sensation; but
+they observed that Eric made a point of not looking their way, and went
+on in silence.
+
+“How very sad!” said Montagu.
+
+“How very contemptible!” said Owen.
+
+“Did you observe what they were doing?”
+
+“Smoking?”
+
+“Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which, if Eric
+doesn’t take care, will one day be his ruin.”
+
+“What?”
+
+“I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy.”
+
+“Good heavens!”
+
+“It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the ripples,
+you see, of Brigson’s influence.”
+
+Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and walked in
+together.
+
+“We’ve been talking,” said Wright, “about a bad matter. Vernon here says
+that there’s no good working for a prize in his form, because the
+cribbing’s so atrocious. Indeed, it’s very nearly as bad in my form. It
+always is under Gordon; he _can’t_ understand fellows doing
+dishonorable things.”
+
+“It’s a great bore in the weekly examinations,” said Vernon; “every now
+and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few minutes, and then out
+come dozens of books.”
+
+“Well, Wright,” said Montagu, “if that happens again next examination,
+I’d speak out about it.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Why, I’d get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his name,
+and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have pledged
+yourselves not to do it.”
+
+“Humph! I don’t know how that would answer. They’d half kill me for one
+thing.”
+
+“Never mind; do your duty. I wish I’d such an opportunity, if only to
+show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness.”
+
+And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to their study.
+
+It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn school.
+Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an hour after,
+Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some brandy, and then
+arrange to have a “jollification,” that evening.
+
+They got the brandy through “Billy.” One of Brigson’s most cursed
+legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a nefarious
+intercourse with the boys. His character was so well known that it had
+long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty, for any boy ever to
+speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed to take a pleasure in
+doing so, and just now particularly it was thought a fine thing, a sign
+of “pluck” and “anti-muffishness,” to be on familiar and intimate terms
+with that degraded and villainous scoundrel.
+
+Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him in his
+escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He had not been
+altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of rough honesty and
+good sense about him, which preserved him from the worst and most
+dangerous failings, and his character had been gradually improving as he
+mounted higher in the school. He was getting steadier, more diligent,
+more thoughtful, more manly; he was passing through that change so
+frequent in boys as they grow older, to which Eric was so sad an
+exception. Accordingly Duncan, though sincerely fond of Eric, had
+latterly disapproved vehemently of his proceedings, and had therefore
+taken to snubbing his old friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to
+have an infatuation, and who was the means of involving him in every
+kind of impropriety and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what
+was intended, sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney,
+Graham, and Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were
+lower boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney’s almost nightly custom.
+
+A little pebble struck the study window.
+
+“Hurrah!” said Wildney, clapping his hands, “here’s the grub.”
+
+They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they let
+down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a basket, and,
+after bidding them “Good night, and a merry drink,” retired. No sooner
+had they shut the window, than he grimaced as usual towards them, and
+shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal exultation, muttering, “Oh, I’ll
+have you all under my thumb yet, you fine young fools!”
+
+Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread its
+contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of sausages, a
+tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.
+
+They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches of songs,
+peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so loud that the
+other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters should come up and
+catch the revellers. All of them heard every word that was spoken by
+Eric and his party as the walls between the rooms were very thin; and
+very objectionable much of the conversation was.
+
+“This _won’t_ do,” said Duncan emphatically, after a louder burst of
+merriment than usual; “those fellows are getting drunk; I can tell it to
+a certainty from the confused and random way in which some of them
+are talking.”
+
+“We’d better go in and speak to them,” said Montagu; “at any rate,
+they’ve no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?”
+
+“I’ll join you,” said Owen; “though I’m afraid my presence won’t do you
+much good.”
+
+The three boys went to the door of Eric’s study, and their knock could
+not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they found a
+scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about, plates and
+glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all sides, and there
+was an intolerable smell of brandy.
+
+“If you fellows don’t care,” said Duncan, sharply, “Rose or somebody’ll
+be coming up and catching you. It’s ten now.”
+
+“What’s that to you?” answered Graham, with an insolent look.
+
+“It’s something to me that you nice young men have been making such a
+row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and that,
+between you, you’ve made this study in such a mess that I can’t
+endure it.”
+
+“Pooh!” said Pietrie; “we’re all getting such saints, that one can’t
+have the least bit of spree now-a-days.”
+
+“Spree!” burst in Montagu indignantly; “fine spree, to make sots of
+yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----”
+
+“Amen!” said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair; and he
+turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic air.
+
+“There, Williams,” continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; “see that spectacle, and be ashamed of
+yourself, if you can. That’s what you lead boys to! Are you anxious to
+become the teacher of drunkenness?”
+
+In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe, for the
+scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.
+
+They hardly understood the look on Eric’s countenance; he had been
+taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled fiercely, and
+though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be resenting the intrusion
+in furious silence.
+
+“How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?” asked Bull, with
+his usual insufferable drawl; “for I want to finish my brandy.”
+
+Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a box on the
+ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn’t worth the trouble, when
+Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst into a fit
+of laughter.
+
+“Let’s turn out these impudent lower-school fellows,” said Montagu,
+speaking to Duncan. “Here! you go first,” he said, seizing Wildney by
+the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no means steady on
+his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.
+
+“By Jove, I won’t stand this any longer,” shouted Eric, springing up
+ferociously. “What on earth do you mean by daring to come in like this?
+Do you hear?”
+
+Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for he was
+looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not, proceeded to
+drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.
+
+“Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won’t go for you,” cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. “Eric, why do you let him bully me?”
+
+“You let him go this minute,” repeated Eric, hoarsely.
+
+“I shall do no such thing. You don’t know what you’re about.”
+
+“Don’t I? Well, then, take _that_, to show whether I do or no!” and
+suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent back-handed blow
+on the mouth.
+
+Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded them
+into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public, and that
+by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had loved--by a boy who
+had been his schoolfellow for three years now, and whose whole life
+seemed bound to him by so many associations; it was strange, and
+sad indeed.
+
+Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one stride
+towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes, while the blood
+started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But he stopped suddenly
+and his hand fell to his side; by a strong effort of self-control he
+contrived to master himself, and sitting down quite quietly on a chair,
+he put his white handkerchief to his wounded mouth, and took it away
+stained with blood.
+
+No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into his study
+without a word.
+
+“Very well,” said Duncan; “you may all do as you like; only I heartily
+hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen.”
+
+“Oh, Williams,” said Owen, “you are changed indeed, to treat your best
+friend so.”
+
+But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil passion at
+that moment. “Serve him right,” he said; “what business has he to
+interfere with what I choose to do?”
+
+There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk off
+ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on the
+table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He had neither
+strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into bed just as was.
+When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan (for Montagu was
+silent and melancholy) went into his study, put out the candle, and had
+only just cleared away, to the best of their power, the traces of the
+carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up stairs on his usual nightly rounds.
+They had been lighting brown paper to take away the fumes of the brandy,
+and the Doctor asked them casually the cause of the smell of burning.
+Neither of them answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed
+implicit trust, the Doctor thought no more about it.
+
+Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and sickness. When
+he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing he thought to
+himself, “Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory of last night!” Of
+course, after what had occurred, Eric and Montagu were no longer on
+speaking terms, and miserable as poor Eric felt when he saw how his blow
+had bruised and disfigured his friend’s face, he made no advances. He
+longed, indeed, from his inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but
+feeling that he had done grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his
+pride would not suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no
+regret, and, supported by his late boon-companions, represented the
+matter as occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu
+was bullying.
+
+Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although ready to
+forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take the first step
+to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that it was not for
+Eric’s good that he should do so.
+
+“You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now,” said Mr.
+Rose. “I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy who has
+any influence over him.”
+
+“I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much more.”
+
+“Wildney?” asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. “Wildney more
+influence than _you_?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!”
+
+So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their friendship
+for Eric until happier days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ERIC AND MONTAGU
+
+     “And constancy lives in realms above;
+       And life is thorny; and youth is vain;
+     And to be wroth with one we love,
+       Doth work like madness in the brain.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Each spoke words of high disdain
+       And insult to his heart’s best brother.”
+
+     COLERIDGE’S _Christabel_.
+
+Wright had not forgotten Montagu’s advice, and had endeavored to get the
+names of boys who wern’t afraid to scout publicly the disgrace of
+cheating in form. But he could only get one name promised him--the name
+of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little could be gained by using it,
+he determined to spare Vernon the trial, and speak, if he spoke at all,
+on his own responsibility.
+
+As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was well-nigh
+universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch something he had
+forgotten, merely saying, “I trust to your honor not to abuse my
+absence,” books and papers were immediately pulled out with the coolest
+and most unblushing indifference.
+
+This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had counted
+the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his duty, he had
+decided that speak he would. He well knew that his interference would
+be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking, and every kind of wrong
+motive, since he was himself one of the greatest sufferers from the
+prevalent dishonesty; but still he had come to the conclusion that he
+_ought_ not to draw back, and therefore he bravely determined that he
+would make his protest, whatever happened.
+
+So, very nervously, he rose and said, “I want to tell you all that I
+think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don’t mind losing by
+it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in the lower fourth,
+and any one gets it by copying, I’ve made up my mind to tell Gordon.”
+
+His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and acquired
+firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and curiosity had held the
+boys silent with amazement, but by the end of this sentence they had
+recovered themselves, and a perfect burst of derision and
+indignation followed.
+
+“Let’s see if _that’ll_ cut short his oration,” said Wildney, throwing a
+book at his head, which was instantly followed by others from
+all quarters.
+
+“My word! we’ve had nothing but lectures lately,” said Brooking. “Horrid
+little Owenite saint.”
+
+“Saint!--sneak, you mean. I’ll teach him,” growled Pietrie, and jumping
+up, he belabored Wright’s head with the Latin grammar out of which he
+had just been cribbing.
+
+The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright sat
+stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.
+
+Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor little
+penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright had alluded so
+prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be misconstrued, but he
+had his brother’s spirit, and would not shrink. Amid the tumult he got
+up in his seat, and they heard his pleasant, childish voice saying
+boldly, “I hope Wright won’t tell; but he’s the best fellow in the room,
+and cribbing _is_ a shame, as he says.”
+
+What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful, for at the
+critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered cavè caused
+instantaneous quiet.
+
+Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many an angry
+kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the spirit and
+heroism with which he endured them. The news of his impudence spread
+like wildfire, and not five boys in the school approved of what he had
+done, while most of them were furious at his ill-judged threat of
+informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general agreement to thrash him after
+roll-call that afternoon.
+
+Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had been
+fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a disagreeable
+and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of them in
+condemning his announced determination to “sneak.” Had he known that
+Wright had acted under Montagu’s well-meant, though rather mistaken
+advice, he might have abstained from having anything more to do with the
+matter, but now he promised to kick Wright himself after the four
+o’clock bell.
+
+Four o’clock came; the names were called; the master left the room.
+Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there pale but
+fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance to Eric, who
+walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears, though without hurting
+him, said contemptuously, “Conceited little sneak.”
+
+Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had determined even
+single-handed to prevent it. He did _not_, however, expect that Eric
+would have taken part in it, and was therefore unprepared. The color
+rushed into his cheeks; he went up, took Wright quietly by the hand, and
+said with firm determination, “No one in the school shall touch
+Wright again.”
+
+“What? no one! just hark to that,” said Graham; “I suppose he thinks
+himself cock of the school.”
+
+Eric quite misunderstood Montagu’s proceedings; he took it for a public
+challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield would have
+looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius Wildney was by, and
+said, “How very nice! another dictation lesson!”
+
+A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed lips, and
+flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit which made them
+waver, and he quietly repeated, “No one shall touch you, Wright.”
+
+“They _will_, though,” said Eric instantly; “_I_ will, for one, and I
+should like to see you prevent me.” And so saying he gave Wright another
+slight blow.
+
+Montagu dropped Wright’s hand and said slowly, “Eric Williams, I have
+taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear the marks of
+it yet. It is time to show that it was _not_ through cowardice that I
+did not return it. Will you fight?”
+
+The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the school
+knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the
+sake of “auld lang syne,” he would probably have declined to fight with
+Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.
+
+“I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once,” he answered,
+falteringly, “and we have been friends--”
+
+But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two should
+fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that Montagu’s
+authority, which stood in their way, might be flung aside. So Brooking
+whispered in an audible voice--
+
+“Faith! he’s showing the white feather.”
+
+“You’re a liar!” flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he said--“There!
+I’ll fight you this moment.”
+
+Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for action. A
+ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of sixteen, like
+Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles have usually been
+decided in their earlier school-days; and it was also but seldom that
+two boys so strong, active, and prominent, took this method of settling
+their differences.
+
+The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on the side
+of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But he fought with
+a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as Eric, on the other
+hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was soon pretty fairly divided
+between them.
+
+After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had been a
+silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys of such
+high standing, said with much, feeling--
+
+“This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu.”
+
+“It is necessary,” was Montagu’s laconic reply.
+
+Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had taken
+place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain of seeing
+his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But curiosity soon took him
+back, and he came in just as the second round began. At first he only
+saw a crowd of boys in the middle of the room, but jumping on a desk he
+had a full view of what was going on.
+
+There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now thoroughly roused
+by the remarks he overheard, and especially by Wildney’s whisper that
+“he was letting himself be licked,” was exerting himself with more vigor
+and effect. It was anything but a noble sight; the faces of the
+combatants were streaked with blood and sweat, and as the miserable gang
+of lower school-boys backed them on with eager shouts of--“Now Eric, now
+Eric,” “Now Montagu, go it, sixth, form,” etc., both of them fought
+under a sense of deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which
+they shared in common.
+
+All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and vexation,
+his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard amid all the
+uproar, “Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!” There was reproach and
+sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one boy there, for Vernon,
+spite of the recent change in him, could not but continue a favorite.
+
+“Shut up there, you little donkey,” shouted one or two, looking back at
+him for a moment.
+
+But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother’s voice. The
+thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position was, and how
+different it might have been. He felt that he was utterly in the wrong,
+and Montagu altogether in the right; and from that moment his blows once
+more grew feeble and ill-directed. When they again stopped to take rest,
+the general shout for Montagu showed that he was considered to have the
+best of it.
+
+“I’m getting so tired of this,” muttered Eric, during the pause.
+
+“Why, you’re fighting like a regular muff,” said Graham; “you’ll have to
+acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute.”
+
+“That I’ll _never_ do,” he said, once more firing up.
+
+Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for Owen, who
+had left the room, told him what was going on. He had always been a
+leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had several times been
+exerted in the right direction, and he was very much looked up to by all
+the boys alike, good or bad. He determined, for the credit of the sixth,
+that the fight should not go on, and bursting into the ring, with his
+strong shoulders he hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way,
+and struck down the lifted arms of the fighters.
+
+“You _shan’t_ fight,” he said, doggedly, thrusting himself between them;
+“so there’s an end of it. If you do, you’ll both have to fight
+me first.”
+
+“Shame!” said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by Bull and
+others.
+
+“Shame, is it?” said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn. “There’s
+only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or any other boy,
+repeat that word, I’ll thrash him. Here, Monty, come away from this
+disgraceful scene.”
+
+“I’m sick enough of it,” said Montagu, “and am ready to stop if Williams
+is,--provided no one touches Wright.”
+
+“I’m sick of it too,” said Eric sullenly.
+
+“Then you two shall shake hands,” said Duncan.
+
+For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of his
+life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply wronged,
+deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the momentary feeling:
+but Eric had observed the gesture, and his passionate pride took the
+alarm. “It’s come to this, then,” he thought; “Montagu doesn’t think me
+good enough to be shaken hands with.”
+
+“Pish!” he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; “it may be an awful honor
+to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but I’m not
+proud on the subject;” and he turned away.
+
+Montagu’s hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle of anger
+or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was too late; that
+moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric’s turn coldly
+to withdraw.
+
+“You don’t think me worthy of your friendship, and what’s the good of
+grasping hands if we don’t do it with cordial hearts?”
+
+Montagu’s lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting on his
+coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of his arm, and
+left the room with Duncan.
+
+“Come along, Wright,” he said.
+
+“Nay, leave him,” said Eric with a touch of remorse. “Much as you think
+me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one hurts him.”
+
+The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained with
+Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their observations.
+
+“You didn’t fight half like yourself,” said Wildney.
+
+“Can’t you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for.” And getting up
+abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study, and bathe his
+swollen and aching face.
+
+In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him Eric
+burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the study, after
+the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his really warm
+affection for his little brother; and as he could no longer conceal the
+line he took in the school, they had been often together since then; and
+Eric’s moral obliquity was not so great as to prevent him from feeling
+deep joy at the change for the better in Vernon’s character.
+
+“Verny, Verny,” he said, as the boy came up and affectionately took his
+hand, “it was you who lost me that fight.”
+
+“Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu.”
+
+“Don’t you remember the days, Eric,” he continued, “when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and how
+mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend, except
+poor Russell?”
+
+“I do, indeed. I didn’t think then that it would come to this.”
+
+“I’ve always been _so_ sorry,” said Vernon, “that I joined the fellows
+in playing him tricks. I can’t think how I came to do it, except that
+I’ve done such lots of bad things here. But he’s forgiven and forgotten
+that long ago, and is very kind to me now.”
+
+It was true; but Eric didn’t know that half the kindness which Montagu
+showed to his brother was shown solely for _his_ sake.
+
+“Do you know, I’ve thought of a plan for making you two friends again?
+I’ve written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us next
+holidays.”
+
+“Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; _there_ we might be friends. Perhaps
+there,” he added, half to himself, “I might be more like what I was in
+better days.”
+
+“But it’s a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn’t come yet,” said
+Vernon.
+
+So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it otherwise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PIGEONS
+
+     “Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram.”
+
+     Juv. X. 21.
+
+“How awfully dull it is, Charlie,” said Eric, a few weeks before Easter,
+as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday afternoon.
+
+“Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket.” And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.
+
+“I suppose this is what they call ennui,” said Eric again, after a
+pause. “What is to be done, Sunbeam?”
+
+“You _shan’t_ call me that, so there’s an end of it,” said Wildney,
+hitting him on the arm.
+
+“By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow’s my birth-day, and I’ve got
+a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home. Let’s go and see
+if it’s come.”
+
+“Capital! We will.”
+
+So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they found
+the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the school, and
+carried up to Eric’s study.
+
+On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a pair of
+fowls and a large plum-cake.
+
+“Hurrah!” said Wildney, “you were talking of nothing to do; I vote we
+have a carouse to-morrow.”
+
+“Very well; only let’s have it _before_ prayers, because we were so
+nearly caught last time.”
+
+“Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here, lest
+we have another incursion of the ‘Rosebuds.’ I shall have to cut
+preparation, but that don’t matter, It’s Harley’s night, and old Stupid
+will never twig.”
+
+“Well, whom shall we ask?” said Eric.
+
+“Old Llewellyn for one,” said Wildney. “We havn’t seen him for an age,
+and he’s getting too lazy even for a bit of fun.”
+
+“Good; and Graham,” suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded their
+possessions so much as common property, that he hadn’t the least
+delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.
+
+“Yes; Graham’s a jolly bird; and Bull?”
+
+“I’ve no objection; and Pietrie?”
+
+“Well; and your brother Vernon?”
+
+“No!” said Eric, emphatically. “At any rate I won’t lead _him_ into
+mischief any more.”
+
+“Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?”
+
+“No, again,” said Eric; “he’s a blackguard.”
+
+“I wonder you haven’t mentioned Duncan,” said Wildney.
+
+“Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even old
+Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he’s a great deal too correct to
+come now.”
+
+“Well; we’ve got six already, that’s quite enough.”
+
+“Yes; but two fowls isn’t enough for six hungry boys.”
+
+“No, it isn’t,” said Wildney. He thought a little, and then, clapping
+his hands, danced about and said, “Are you game for a _regular_
+lark, Eric?”
+
+“Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I’ve very nearly been
+taking to work again to fill up the time.”
+
+Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an excuse
+for the low places in form to which he was gradually sinking. Everybody
+knew that had he properly exerted his abilities he was capable of
+beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his conscience, he professed to
+ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece of muffishness, and was never
+slow to sneer at the “grinders,” as he contemptuously called all those
+who laid themselves out to win school distinctions.
+
+“Ha, ha!” said Wildney, “that’s rather good! No, Eric, it’s too late for
+you to turn ‘grinder’ now. I might as well think of doing it myself, and
+I’ve never been higher than five from lag in my form yet.”
+
+“Haven’t you? But what’s the regular lark you hinted at?”
+
+“Why, we’ll go and seize the Gordonites’ _pigeons_, and make another
+dish of them.”
+
+“Seize the Gordonites’ pigeons! Why, when do you mean?”
+
+“To-night.”
+
+Eric gave a long whistle. “But wouldn’t it be st--t--?”
+
+“Stealing?” said Wildney, with a loud laugh. “Pooh! ‘_convey_ the wise
+call it.’”
+
+But Eric still looked serious. “Why, my dear old boy,” continued
+Wildney, “the Gordonites’ll be the first to laugh at the trick when we
+tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There, now, don’t
+look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with. Graham, and tell you
+the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at bed-time.”
+
+After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study according to
+promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan. He didn’t tell it
+plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan caught enough to guess
+what was intended, and said, when Wildney had gone--
+
+“Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric.”
+
+Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly from any
+fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had recently
+received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly all the
+study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to assert his
+independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.
+
+“Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it’s asked for,” he
+answered, roughly. “You’ve done nothing but _advise_ lately, and I’m
+rather sick of it.”
+
+“Comme vous voulez,” replied Duncan, with a shrug. “Gang your own gait;
+I’ll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you, since you _will_
+ruin yourself.”
+
+Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric went down
+he didn’t even bid Duncan goodnight.
+
+“Charlie,” he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney’s dormitory.
+
+“Hush!” whispered Wildney, “the other fellows are asleep. Come and sit
+by my bedside, and I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.”
+
+Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed “First of all,
+_you’re_ to keep awake till twelve to-night,” he whispered; “old
+Rowley’ll have gone round by that time, and it’ll be all safe. Then come
+and awake me again, and I’ll watch till one, Pietrie till two, and
+Graham till three. Then Graham’ll awake us all, and we’ll dress.”
+
+“Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?”
+
+“Oh, I’ll manage that,” said Wildney, chuckling. “But come again and
+awake me at twelve, will you?”
+
+Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn’t take off his clothes,
+for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as usual at
+eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes, till the
+head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake thinking for an
+hour, but his thoughts weren’t very pleasant.
+
+At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.
+
+“I don’t feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour, Charlie?”
+
+“Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim there; we
+shan’t want it, and it might give the alarm.”
+
+“All right.”
+
+So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they talked in
+low voices until they heard the great school clock strike one. They then
+woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.
+
+At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the others in
+the lavatory.
+
+“Now, I’m going to get the key,” said Wildney, “and mean to have a
+stomach-ache for the purpose.”
+
+Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley’s bed-room, which
+opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.
+
+No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder still.
+
+“Bother the fellow,” said Wildney; “he sleeps like a grampus. Won’t one
+of you try to wake him?”
+
+“No,” said Graham; “’taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches.”
+
+“Well, I must try again.” But it seemed no use knocking, and Wildney at
+last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo on the
+bed-room door.
+
+“Who’s there?” said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.
+
+“Only me, sir!” answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent way.
+
+“What do you want?”
+
+“Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I’m indisposed,” said
+Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the others
+shook with laughing.
+
+Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about suspiciously.
+
+“Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don’t happen to have the
+key to-night.” And so saying, he shut the door.
+
+“Phew! Here’s a go!” said Wildney, recovering immediately. “It’ll never
+do to awake old Rose. He’d smell a rat in no time.”
+
+“I have it,” said Pietrie. “I’ve got an old nail, with which I believe I
+can open the lock quite simply. Let’s try.”
+
+“Quietly and quick, then,” said Eric.
+
+In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old nail, and
+the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in their hands,
+ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same window at which Eric
+and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had taken care beforehand to
+break the pane and move away the glass, so they had only to loosen the
+bar and slip through one by one.
+
+It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they stood out
+in the playground, all four would rather have been safe and harmlessly
+in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the enterprise bore them
+up, and they started off quickly for the house at which Mr. Gordon and
+his pupils lived, which was about half a mile from the school. They went
+arm in arm to assure each other a little, for at first in their fright
+they were inclined to take every post and tree for a man in ambush, and
+to hear a recalling voice in every sound of wind and wave.
+
+Not far from Mr. Gordon’s was a carpenter’s shop, and outside of this
+there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to carry this
+ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the low garden wall
+with it, and then place it against the house, immediately under the
+dovecot which hung by the first story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest
+of the four, was to take the birds, while the others held the ladder.
+
+Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the window as
+possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the cot. He
+succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing so threw the
+other birds into a state of such alarm that they fluttered about in the
+wildest manner, and the moment his hands were withdrawn, flew out with a
+great flapping of hurried wings.
+
+The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down the
+ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the others, who
+instantly wrung their necks.
+
+“I’m nearly sure I heard somebody stir,” said Wildney; “we haven’t been
+half quiet enough. Here! let’s crouch down in this corner.”
+
+All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held their
+breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they heard the
+window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon’s voice asked
+sternly--“Who’s there?”
+
+He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made an
+endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at full
+length, he could not do so.
+
+“We must cut for it,” said Eric; “it’s quite too dark for him to see us,
+or even to notice that we are boys.”
+
+They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after the other,
+as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got to the top of
+the wall he heard the back door open, and some one run out into
+the yard.
+
+“Run for your lives,” said Eric hurriedly; “it’s Gordon, and he’s
+raising the alarm.”
+
+They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+“thieves! thieves!”
+
+“We must separate and run different ways, or we’ve no chance of escape.
+We’d better turn towards the town to put them off the right scent,” said
+Eric again.
+
+“Don’t leave me,” pleaded Wildney; “you know I can’t run very fast.”
+
+“No, Charlie, I won’t;” and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him over the
+style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham took the opposite
+direction.
+
+Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be Mr.
+Gordon’s servant-man) was running after them, and they could distinctly
+hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field distant. He carried
+a light, and they heard him panting. They were themselves tired, and in
+the utmost trepidation; the usually courageous Wildney was trembling all
+over, and his fear communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a
+trial for burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations, as
+the sound of the footsteps came nearer.
+
+“I can’t run any further, Eric,” said Wildney. “What shall we do? don’t
+leave me, for heaven’s sake.”
+
+“Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t’other side of this
+hedge.”
+
+They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part of a
+plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some bushes, and
+keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover over their
+white collars.
+
+The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in front
+of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on both sides
+and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering boys, and at last
+giving up the search in despair, went slowly home. They heard him
+plodding back over the field, and it was not until the sound of his
+footsteps had died away, that Eric cautiously broke cover, and looked
+over the hedge. He saw the man’s light gradually getting more distant,
+and said, “All right now, Charlie. We must make the best of our
+way home.”
+
+“Are you sure he’s gone?” said Wildney, who had not yet recovered from
+his fright.
+
+“Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain’t caught.”
+
+They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric’s room to wait for the other two. To
+their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.
+
+“Were you twigged?” asked Wildney eagerly.
+
+“No,” said Graham; “precious near it though. Old Gordon and some men
+were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and escaped them.
+It’s all serene, and we shan’t be caught.”
+
+“Well, we’d best to bed now,” said Eric; “and, to my thinking, we should
+be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this affair.”
+
+“Yes, we had better tell _no one_.” They agreed, and went off to bed
+again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as if nothing had
+happened, and made no allusion to the preceding night, although, they
+could not help chuckling inwardly a little when the Gordonites came to
+morning school, brimful of a story about their house having been
+attacked in the night by thieves, who, after bagging some pigeons, had
+been chevied by Gordon and the servants. Wildney professed immense
+interest in the incident, and asked many questions, which showed that
+there was not a shadow of suspicion in any one’s mind as to the
+real culprits.
+
+Carter, the school servant, didn’t seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to his
+disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy reads
+this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to hear that the
+burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie, Graham,
+and Wildney.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+     “Praepediuntur
+     Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,
+     Nant oculi.”
+
+     LUCR. iii. 417.
+
+Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got everything
+ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney, relying on the chance
+of names not being called over (which, was only done in case any one’s
+absence was observed), had absented himself altogether from the
+boarders’ room, and helped busily to spread the table for the banquet.
+The cook had roasted for them the fowls and pigeons, and Billy had
+brought an ample supply of beer and some brandy for the occasion. A
+little before eight o’clock everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and
+Llewellyn were summoned to join the rest.
+
+The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys were in the
+highest spirits. Eric’s reckless gaiety was kindled by Wildney’s
+frolicsome vivacity, and Graham’s sparkling wit; they were all six in a
+roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of fun elicited by the
+more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn, and the dainties of
+Wildney’s parcel were accompanied by draughts of brandy and water, which
+were sometimes exchanged for potations of the raw liquor. It was not the
+first time, be it remembered, that the members of that young party had
+been present at similar scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was
+astonished, and alarmed occasionally at the quantities of spirits and
+other inebriating drinks that of late had found their way to the
+studies. The disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that he
+was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual tastes were
+getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he perceived in
+himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence, he saw them still
+more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which seemed to be
+spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance, the mind, and the
+manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the vision of a Nemesis
+breaking in fire out of his darkened future, terrified his guilty
+conscience in the watches of the night; and the conviction of some
+fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out of the night of his
+undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with agony and fear. But he
+fancied it too late to repent. He strangled the half-formed resolutions
+as they rose, and trusted to the time when, by leaving school, he should
+escape, as he idly supposed, the temptations to which he had yielded.
+Meanwhile, the friends who would have rescued him had been alienated by
+his follies, and the principles which might have preserved him had been
+eradicated by his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer,
+and the helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
+word of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet of
+every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.
+
+As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more foolish and
+random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But still most of them
+mingled some sense of caution with their enjoyment, and warned Eric and
+Wildney more than once that they must look out, and not take too much
+that night for fear of being caught. But it was Wildney’s birth-day, and
+Eric’s boyish mirth, suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out
+unrestrained. In the riot of their feasting, the caution had been
+utterly neglected, and the boys were far from being sober when the sound
+of the prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.
+
+“Good heavens!” shouted Graham, springing up; “there’s the prayer-bell;
+I’d no notion it was so late. Here, let’s shove these brandy bottles and
+things into the cupboards and drawers, and then we must run down.”
+
+There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had cleared
+the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the more
+difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and conduct them
+steadily into the prayer-room.
+
+Wildney’s seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty in
+getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn took him by
+the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him safely to his seat,
+where he assumed a look of preternatural gravity. But Eric sat near the
+head of the first table, not far from Dr. Rowlands’ desk, and none of
+the others had to go to that part of the room. Graham grasped his arm
+tight, led him carefully down stairs, and, as they were reaching the
+door, said to him, in a most earnest and imploring tone--“Do try and
+walk sensibly to your place, Eric, or we shall all be caught.”
+
+It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly seated, and
+most of the Bibles were already open, although the Doctor had not yet
+come in. Consequently, the room was still, and the entrance of Graham
+and Eric after the rest attracted general notice. Eric had just sense
+enough to try and assume his ordinary manner; but he was too giddy with
+the fumes of drink to walk straight, or act naturally.
+
+Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother with great
+eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.
+
+“Wright,” whispered he, in a timid voice; “just see how Eric walks. What
+can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be ill!” he said,
+starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger to one side, and
+nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.
+
+Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.
+
+“Hush!” he whispered; “take no notice; he’s been drinking, Verny, and I
+fear he’ll be caught.”
+
+Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought, and he
+had hoped, that since the day at the “Jolly Herring,” his brother had
+abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most careful to conceal
+from him the worst of his failings. And now he trembled violently with
+fear for his discovery, and horror at his disgraceful condition.
+
+The sound of Eric’s unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly raise
+his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for the boy
+on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist him. It was not
+Eric’s proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long look of astonishment,
+looked down at his book again, and said nothing.
+
+It made other hearts besides Vernon’s ache to see the unhappy boy roll
+to his place in that helpless way.
+
+Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were finished,
+the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly answering his
+“adsum,” as he should have done, stood up, with a foolish look, and
+said, “Yes, Sir.” The head master looked at him for a minute; the boy’s
+glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid appearance, told an unmistakable tale;
+but Dr. Rowlands only remarked, “Williams, you don’t look well. You had
+better go at once to bed.”
+
+It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help, so
+Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much difficulty
+(for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his bed-room.
+
+Wildney’s condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while walking up
+and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind that both Eric
+and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no remarks to them, and
+merely went to the Doctor to talk over the steps which were to be taken.
+
+“I shall summon the school,” said Dr. Rowlands, “on Monday, and by that
+time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear, is the only
+course open to us.”
+
+“Is not that a _very_ severe line to take?”
+
+“Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must consider the
+matter.”
+
+“Poor Williams!” sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.
+
+The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by Eric and
+his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness. It seemed
+clear that two of them at least were detected, and they were
+inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who had to
+stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached violently, and he
+was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He longed for the morrow,
+that at least he might have the poor consolation of knowing his fate. No
+one came near him all day. Eric wished to do so, but as he could not
+have visited the room without express leave, the rest dissuaded him from
+asking, lest he should excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect
+made poor Wildney even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as
+it was possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed
+hard to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close
+a friend.
+
+At school the next morning the various masters read out to their forms a
+notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to meet at ten in
+the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was pretty clearly
+understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had reference to the
+drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been _said_ on the subject
+as yet; and every guilty heart among those 250 boys beat fast lest _his_
+sin too should have been discovered, and he should be called out for
+some public and heavy punishment.
+
+The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room, took
+their places according to their respective forms. The masters in their
+caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular bench at the
+upper end of the room, and in the centre of them, before a small table,
+sate Dr. Rowlands.
+
+The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush. The
+blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a breath
+could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.
+
+Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said, “I
+shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth, and
+upper-fourth forms.”
+
+This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were present on
+whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once told Eric and
+Wildney that _they_ were the boys to be punished, and that the others
+had escaped.
+
+The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have told,
+from the sound of the boys’ voices as they answered, which of them were
+afflicted with a troubled conscience.
+
+Another slight pause, and breathless hush.
+
+“Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward.”
+
+The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was sitting with
+his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced; and Wildney, from
+the other end of the room, where the younger boys sat, getting up, came
+and stood by his side.
+
+Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never once
+raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces, you could
+scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited friends, whose laugh
+and shout had often rung so merrily through the play-ground, and woke
+the echoes of the rocks along the shore. Every eye was on them, and
+they were conscious of it, though they could not see it--painfully
+conscious of it, so that they wished the very ground to yawn beneath
+their feet for the moment, and swallow up their shame. Companionship in
+disgrace increased the suffering; had either of them been alone, he
+would have been less acutely sensible to the trying nature of his
+position; but that they, so different in their ages and position in the
+school, should thus have their friendship and the results of it
+blazoned, or rather branded, before their friends and enemies added
+keenly to the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric
+and Charlie awaited their sentence.
+
+“Williams and Wildney,” said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of which
+every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer, “you have been
+detected in a sin most disgraceful and most dangerous. On Saturday night
+you were both drinking, and you were guilty of such gross excess, that
+you were neither of you in a fit state to appear among your
+companions--least of all to appear among them at the hour of prayer. I
+shall not waste many words on an occasion like this; only I trust that
+those of your schoolfellows who saw you staggering and rolling into the
+room on Saturday evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and
+degrading, will learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the
+Spartans taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most ruinous
+vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment will be public
+expulsion, for which you will prepare this very evening. I am unwilling
+that for a single day either of you--especially the elder of
+you--should linger, so as possibly to contaminate others with the danger
+of so pernicious an example.”
+
+Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters equally
+by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy sensation, which
+was evident to all present, though no one spoke a word; but Dr. Rowlands
+took no notice of it, and only said to the culprits--
+
+“You may return to your seats.”
+
+The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly knew how.
+They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their sentence, and the
+painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned over the desk with his
+head resting on a book, too stunned even to think; and Wildney looked
+straight before him with his eyes fixed in a stupid and
+unobserved stare.
+
+Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was liberated Eric
+sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to him, and rushed
+wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a moment, however, he
+re-opened it, for he heard Wildney’s step, and, after admitting him,
+locked it once more.
+
+Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms round
+Eric’s neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a flood of
+tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to their sorrow.
+
+“O my father! my father!” sobbed Wildney at length. “What will he say?
+He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me when he thinks
+I bring disgrace on him.”
+
+Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents, and of the
+pang which _his_ disgrace would cause their loving hearts; but he could
+say nothing, and only stroked Wildney’s dark hair again and again with
+a soothing hand.
+
+They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric could not
+help thinking how very, very different their relative positions might
+have been; how, while he might have been aiding and ennobling the young
+boy beside him, he had alternately led and followed him into wickedness
+and disgrace. His heart was full of misery and bitterness, and he felt
+almost indifferent to all the future, and weary of his life.
+
+A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the school
+servant.
+
+“You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen.”
+
+“O no! no! no!” exclaimed Wildney; “_cannot_ be sent away like this. It
+would break my father’s heart. Eric, _do_ come and entreat Dr. Rowlands
+to forgive us only this once.”
+
+“Yes,” said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; “he _shall_ forgive
+us--_you_ at any rate. I will not leave him till he does. Cheer up,
+Charlie, cheer up, and come along.”
+
+Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and sprang
+down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following him. They went
+straight for the Doctor’s study, and without waiting for the answer to
+their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr. Rowlands, who sate
+thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst out passionately, “O
+sir, forgive us this once.”
+
+The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy’s manner. He remained silent a
+moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--
+
+“Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could be no
+more perilous example for the school, than the one you have been
+setting, Williams. Leave the room,” he added, with an authoritative
+gesture, “my mind is made up.”
+
+But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master’s manner; an
+imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations, and,
+heedless of the command, he broke out again--
+
+“O sir, try me but once, _only_ try me. I promise you most faithfully
+that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do trust me, and I
+will be responsible for Wildney too.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric’s present mood he must and would be
+heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to pace silently up
+and down the room in perplexed and anxious thought; at last he stopped
+and turned over the pages of a thick school register, and found
+Eric’s name.
+
+“It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind. That
+most seriously aggravates your fault.”
+
+“O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I _could_ do
+such great things, if you will be but merciful, and give me time to
+change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only this once, and I will
+never ask again. Let us bear _any_ other punishment but this. O sir,” he
+said, approaching the doctor in an imploring attitude, “spare us this
+one time for the sake of our friends.”
+
+The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the room in
+silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain his emotion.
+
+“It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must not
+weakly yield to entreaty. You must go.”
+
+Eric wrung his hands in agony. “O, sir, then, if you must do so, expel
+me only, and not Charlie, _I_ can bear it, but do not let me ruin him
+also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do, do forgive him. It
+is I who have misled him;” and he flung himself on his knees, and lifted
+his hands entreatingly towards the Doctor.
+
+Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears, his
+agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a look
+of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his wild word
+of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that seemed to come
+from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his resolve, wavered for a
+moment, and then once more looked at the register.
+
+“Yes,” he said, after a long pause, “here is an entry which shall save
+you this time. I find written here against your name, ‘April 3. Risked
+his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at the Stack.’ That one
+good and noble deed shall be the proof that you are capable of better
+things. It may be weak perhaps--I know that it will be called weak--and
+I do not feel certain that I am doing right; but if I err it shall be on
+the side of mercy. I shall change expulsion into some other punishment.
+You may go.”
+
+Wildney’s face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray of
+sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.
+
+“O thank you, thank you, sir,” he exclaimed, drying his eyes, and
+pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no light
+pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and while the
+two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a timid hand knocked
+at the door, and Vernon entered.
+
+“I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric,” he said in a low voice, and
+trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he modestly approached
+towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the presence of the others in
+the complete absorption of his feelings. He stood in a sorrowful
+attitude, not venturing to look up, and his hand played nervously with
+the ribbon of his straw hat.
+
+“I have just forgiven him, my little boy,” said the Doctor kindly,
+patting his stooping head; “there he is, and he has been speaking
+for himself.”
+
+“O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don’t know what to say for joy. O Eric,
+thank God that you are not to be expelled;” and Vernon went to his
+brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.
+
+Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally a man
+of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by this act the
+charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in him to be willing
+to do so, but it would have required an iron heart to resist such
+earnest supplications, and he was more than repaid when he saw how much
+anguish he had removed by yielding to their entreaties.
+
+Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys retired.
+
+They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in their
+favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to alter the
+Doctor’s intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had been strongly
+endeavoring to change the Doctor’s mind, and had dwelt forcibly on all
+the good points in Eric’s character, and the promise of his earlier
+career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and Duncan to beg that the
+expulsion might be commuted into some other punishment. They had failed
+to convince him; but, perhaps, had they not thus exerted themselves, Dr.
+Rowlands might have been unshaken, though he could not be unmoved by
+Vernon’s gentle intercession and Eric’s passionate prayers.
+
+Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of feeling,
+only shook Eric’s hand with all his might, and then darted out into the
+playground to announce the happy news. The boys all flocked round him,
+and received the intelligence with unmitigated pleasure. Among them all
+there was not one who did not rejoice that Eric and Wildney were yet to
+continue of their number.
+
+But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful in his
+penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric sat down on a
+chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side. The sun was
+setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green fields and silver
+sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air was full of peace and
+coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket field blended joyously
+with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric was fond of beauty in every
+shape, and his father had early taught him a keen appreciation of the
+glories of nature. He had often gazed before on that splendid scene, as
+he was now gazing on it thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He
+looked long and wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds,
+and passed his arm more fondly round Vernon’s shoulder.
+
+“What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying still,”
+said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had overflowed on his
+brother’s cheek, “aren’t you glad that the Doctor has forgiven you?”
+
+“Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I hope your
+school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would give up all I
+have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have learnt. God grant
+that I may yet have time and space to do better.”
+
+“Let us pray together, Eric,” whispered his brother reverently, and they
+knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant parents and
+friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for each other, and for
+Wildney, and they thanked God for all his goodness to them; and then
+Eric poured out his heart in a fervent prayer that a holier and happier
+future might atone for his desecrated past, and that his sins might be
+forgiven for his Saviour’s sake.
+
+The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more light-hearted, and
+gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss, before they went down again
+to the play-ground. But they avoided the rest of the boys, and took a
+stroll together along the sands, talking quietly, and happily, and
+hoping bright hopes for future days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+
+     “Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?
+     A tress of maiden’s hair,
+     Of drowned maiden’s hair,
+     Above the nets at sea?”--KINGSLEY.
+
+Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead
+of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and
+penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to repair the
+injury which their characters had received. Eric, especially, seemed to
+be devoting himself with every energy to regain, if possible, his long
+lost position, and by the altered complexion of his remaining
+school-life, to atone in some poor measure for its earlier sins. And he
+carried Wildney with him, influencing others also of his late companions
+in a greater or less degree. It was not Eric’s nature to do things by
+halves, and it became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and
+abandon his old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no
+longer hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of idleness
+cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded sufficiently, by dint of
+desperately hard work, to acquit himself with considerable credit, and
+in the Easter examination came out sufficiently high, to secure his
+remove into the sixth form after the holidays.
+
+He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he had
+ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect, and the
+change for the better in his character tended to restore unanimity and
+good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the party which made a
+point of ridiculing and preventing industry; and, sharing as he did the
+sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was able quietly and unobtrusively
+to calm down the jealousies and allay the heartburnings which had for so
+long a time brought discord and disunion into the school society.
+Cheerfulness and unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and
+Eric had the intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within
+his power.
+
+So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first days
+glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled again to
+Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of companions more
+truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow circle of his late
+associates.
+
+“What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?” asked Duncan, as they
+chatted together one evening.
+
+“I won’t go without leave,” said Eric; “I should only get caught, and
+get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged now to strict
+obedience.”
+
+“Ay, you’re quite right. We’ll get leave easily enough though, provided
+we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we make up a party.”
+
+“By the bye, I forgot; I’m engaged to Wildney to-morrow.”
+
+“Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you like.”
+
+“Most gladly,” said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this that Duncan
+observed the improvement in his old friends, and was falling in with the
+endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to each other, and destroy
+all traces of the late factions.
+
+“Do you mind my bringing Montagu?”
+
+“Not at all. Why should I?” answered Eric, with a slight blush. Montagu
+and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as yet, spoken
+to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the excursion to give
+them an opportunity of becoming friends once more, by being thrown
+together. He knew well that they both earnestly wished it, although,
+with the natural shyness of boys, they hardly knew how to set about
+effecting it. Montagu hung back lest he should seem to be patronising a
+fallen enemy, and Eric lest he should have sinned too deeply to
+be forgiven.
+
+The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they should
+meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the boat, at ten
+o’clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a ready consent to the
+row, on condition of their being accompanied by the experienced sailor
+whom the boys called Jim. The precaution was by no means unnecessary,
+for the various currents which ran round the island were violent at
+certain stages of the tide, and extremely dangerous for any who were not
+aware of their general course.
+
+Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any feeling of
+restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a strong effort,
+determined to “make up with him” before starting, and went into his
+study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly he came in, Montagu
+jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when, without any allusion to
+the past, the two shook hands with all warmth, and looked the old proud
+look into each other’s faces, they felt once more that their former
+affection was unimpaired, and that in heart they were real and loving
+friends. Most keenly did they both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and
+they found endless subjects to talk about on their way to Starhaven,
+where the others were already assembled when they came.
+
+With Jim’s assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and sprang into
+it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing off they saw Wright
+and Vernon running down to the shore towards them, and they waited to
+see what they wanted. “Couldn’t you take us with you?” asked Vernon,
+breathless with his run.
+
+“I’m afraid not, Verny,” said Montagu; “the boat won’t hold more than
+six, will it, Jim?”
+
+“No, sir, not safely.”
+
+“Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny,” said Eric, as he saw his
+brother’s disappointed look.
+
+“Then Wright shall take mine,” said Wildney.
+
+“O dear no,” said Wright, “we wouldn’t turn you out for the world.
+Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast instead, and will
+meet you here as we come back.”
+
+“Well, good bye, then; off we go;” and with light hearts the boaters and
+the pedestrians parted.
+
+Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the oars, while
+Wildney steered. Graham’s “crabs,” and Wildney’s rather crooked
+steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they were full of
+fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the waves. Then they made
+Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as they rowed, and joined
+vigorously in the choruses. They had arranged to make straight for St.
+Catherine’s Head, and land somewhere near it to choose a place for their
+pic-nic. It took them nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed
+leisurely, and enjoyed the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the
+sunniest days of early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the
+calm sea breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in
+the warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the green
+and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through which
+occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart like an
+arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they kept not far
+from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with its rocks and
+hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a glowing picture, to
+which the golden green of the spring herbage, bathed in its morning
+sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who could have been otherwise
+than happy in such a scene and at such a time? but these were boys with
+the long bright holiday before them, and happiness is almost too quiet a
+word to express the bounding exultation of heart, the royal and tingling
+sense of vigorous life, which made them shout and sing, as their boat
+rustled through the ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible
+enjoyment.
+
+They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it made a very
+tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny pebbled cave, by
+St. Catherine’s Head; although, instead of anything more objectionable,
+they had thought it best to content themselves with a very moderate
+quantity of beer. When they had done eating, they amused themselves on
+the shore; and had magnificent games among the rocks, and in every
+fantastic nook of the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a
+bathe to wind up with, as it was the first day when it had been quite
+warm enough to make bathing pleasant.
+
+“But we’ve got no towels.”
+
+“Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we’re dry.” So they
+bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they all agreed
+that it was the very jolliest day they’d ever had at Roslyn, and voted
+to renew the experiment before the holidays were over, and take Wright
+and Vernon with them in a larger boat.
+
+It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when they
+began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the land for
+variety’s sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily as ever.
+
+“I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest bit of
+the whole coast,” said Eric, as they neared a glen through whose narrow
+gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled down with noisy
+turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that glen; its steep and
+rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss, and wild-flowers, and the
+sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely windings, which were colored
+with topaz and emerald by the pencillings of nature and the rich
+stains of time.
+
+“Yes,” answered Montagu, “_I_ always stick up for Avon Glen as the
+finest scene we’ve got about here. But, I say, who’s that gesticulating
+on the rock there to the right of it? I verily believe it’s Wright,
+apostrophising the ocean for Vernon’s benefit. I only see one of
+them though.”
+
+“I bet you he’s spouting
+
+     ‘Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!
+     Ten thousand fleets, etc.’”
+
+said Graham laughing.
+
+“What do you say to putting in to shore there?” said Duncan; “it’s only
+two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make shift to take them
+in for that distance. If Jim says anything we’ll chuck him overboard.”
+
+They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who stood
+there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made out that it
+_was_ Wright), still continued to wave his arms and beckon them in a
+manner which they at first thought ridiculous, but which soon make them
+feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and they soon got within two
+hundred yards of the beach. Wright had ceased to make signals, but
+appeared to be shouting to them, and pointing towards one corner of the
+glen; but though they caught the sound of his voice they could not hear
+what he said.
+
+“I wonder why Vernon isn’t with him,” said Eric anxiously; “I hope--why,
+what _are_ you looking at, Charlie?”
+
+“What’s that in the water there?” said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.
+
+Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. “Good God!”
+he exclaimed, turning pale; “what can be the matter?”
+
+“O _do_ let me look,” said Eric.
+
+“No! stop, stop, Eric, you’d better not, I think; pray don’t, it may be
+all a mistake. You’d better not--but it looked--nay, you really
+_mustn’t,_ Eric,” he said, and, as if accidentally, he let the telescope
+fall into the water, and they saw it sink down among the seaweeds at
+the bottom.
+
+Eric looked at him reproachfully. “What’s the fun of that, Monty? you
+let it drop on purpose.”
+
+“O never mind; I’ll get Wildney another. I really daren’t let you look,
+for fear you should _fancy_ the same as I did, for it must be fancy. O
+_don’t_ let us put in there--at least not all of us.”
+
+What _was_ that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon left the
+others, they walked along the coast, following the direction of the
+boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting eggs. They were very
+successful, and, to their great delight, managed to secure some rather
+rare specimens. When they had tired themselves with this pursuit, they
+lay on the summit of one of the cliffs which formed the sides of Avon
+Glen, and Wright, who was very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of
+Marmion with great enthusiasm.
+
+So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over, Vernon
+took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the cliff’s edge. It
+thundered over the side, bounding down till it reached the strand, and a
+large black cormorant, startled by the reverberating echoes, rose up
+suddenly, and flapped its way with protruded neck to a rock on the
+further side of the little bay.
+
+“I bet you that animal’s got a nest somewhere near here,” said Vernon
+eagerly. “Come, let’s have a look for it; a cormorant’s egg would be a
+jolly addition to our collection.”
+
+They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some eight
+feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a tree, on
+which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the existence of a
+rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it contained eggs or no.
+
+“I must bag that nest; it’s pretty sure to have eggs in it,” said
+Vernon, “and I can get at it easy enough.” He immediately began to
+descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he found it
+harder than he expected.
+
+“Hallo,” he said, “this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn’t a better dodge for getting at it.” He reached
+the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the ledge which
+promised more hope of success.
+
+“You’d better give it up, Verny,” said Wright. “I’m sure it’s harder
+than we fancied, _I_ couldn’t manage it, I know.”
+
+“O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards the right
+the way’s plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest in no time.”
+Again his descended in a different direction, but again he failed. The
+nest could only be seen from the top, and he had lost the right route.
+
+“You must keep more to the right.”
+
+“I know,” answered Vernon; “but, bother take it, I can’t manage it, now
+I’m so far down. I must climb up _again_.”
+
+“_Do_ give it up, Verny, there’s a good fellow. You _can’t_ reach it,
+and really it’s dangerous.”
+
+“O no, not a bit of it. My head’s very steady, and I feel as cool as
+possible. We mustn’t give up; I’ve only to get at the tree, and then I
+shall be able to reach the nest from it quite easily.”
+
+“Well, do take care, that’s a dear fellow.”
+
+“Never fear,” said Vernon, who was already commencing his third attempt.
+This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a part of the root,
+while with his hands he clung on to a clump of heather. “Hurrah!” he
+cried, “it’s got two eggs in it, Wright;” and he stretched downwards to
+take them. Just as he was doing so, he heard the root on which his foot
+rested give a great crack, and with a violent start he made a spring for
+one of the lower branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest
+for an instant on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather
+gave way, and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of
+the cliff.
+
+With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.
+
+“Vernon! Vernon!” shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close up to the
+edge of the precipice. “O Vernon! for heaven’s sake speak!”
+
+There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some minutes he
+was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild attempts to descend
+the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the attempt in despair.
+There was a tradition in the school that the feat had once been
+accomplished by an adventurous and active boy, but Wright at any rate
+found it hopeless for himself. The only other way to reach the glen was
+by a circuitous route which led to the entrance of the narrow gorge,
+along the sides of which it was possible to make way with difficulty
+down the bank of the river to the place where it met the sea. But this
+would have taken him an hour and a half, and was far from easy when the
+river was swollen with high tide. Nor was there any house within some
+distance at which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult
+of conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the chance
+of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine’s Head. It was
+already three o’clock, and he knew that they could not now be longer
+than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching the headland,
+round which he knew they would first come in sight. He watched with wild
+eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire to catch sight of them;
+but the leaden-footed moments crawled on like hours, and he could not
+help shivering with agony and fear. At last he caught a glimpse of them,
+and springing up, began to shout at the top of his voice, and wave his
+handkerchief and his arms in the hope of attracting their attention.
+Little thought those blithe merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy
+laughter which they sent ringing over the waters, little they thought
+how terrible a tragedy awaited them.
+
+At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting inland,
+and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but feeling sure that
+they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as fast as he could to
+Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at a farm-house what had
+happened, and asked them to get a cart ready to convey the wounded boy
+to Roslyn school.
+
+Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy evening,
+radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight and transparent
+wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place where Vernon lay; and
+the little ripples fell over him wonderingly, with the low murmur of
+their musical laughter, and blurred and dimmed the vivid splashes and
+crimson streaks upon the white stone on which his head had fallen, and
+washed away some of the purple bells and green sprigs of heather round
+which his fingers were closed in the grasp of death, and played softly
+with his fair hair as it rose, and fell, and floated on their
+undulations like a leaf of golden-colored weed, until they themselves
+were faintly discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new
+plaything, they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just
+strong enough to move rudely the boy’s light weight, and in a few
+moments more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu’s
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had been
+gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat, while Eric
+at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to verify his
+horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it _was_ a boy lying
+in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was motionless;--he must have fallen
+there from the cliff.
+
+Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the boat
+grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to the spot
+where his brother’s body lay. With a burst of passionate affection, he
+flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the cold hand in his
+own--the little rigid hand in which the green blades of grass, and fern,
+and heath, so tightly clutched, were unconscious of the tale they told.
+
+“Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!” he cried in anguish, as
+he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little blood had flowed.
+But the child’s head fell back heavily, and his arms hung motionless
+beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly caught the look of dead
+fixity in his blue open eyes.
+
+The others had come up. “O God, save my brother, save him, save him from
+death,” cried Eric, “I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh God! Look!
+look!” he continued, “he has fallen from the cliff with his head on this
+cursed stone,” pointing to the block of quartz, still red with
+blood-stained hair; “but we must get a doctor. He is not dead! no, no,
+no, he _cannot_ be dead. Take him quickly, and let us row home. Oh God!
+why did I ever leave him?”
+
+The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon’s corpse
+into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the body, and
+moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold pale brow and
+white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and was not dead, the
+others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling of terrified anxiety
+lay like frost upon their hearts.
+
+They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless boy, and
+heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few boys were about
+the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn, and Dr. Underhay, who
+had been summoned, was instantly in attendance. He looked at Vernon for
+a moment, and then shook his head in a way that could not be mistaken.
+Eric saw it, and flung himself with uncontrollable agony on his
+brother’s corpse. “O Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then
+he is dead.” And, unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.
+
+I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the very sun
+in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric’s wounded and crushed spirit. He
+hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried Vernon in the little
+green churchyard by Russell’s side, and the patter of the earth upon the
+coffin--that most terrible of all sounds--struck his ear, the iron
+entered into his soul, and he had but one wish as he turned away from
+the open grave, and that was, soon to lie beside his beloved little
+brother and to be at rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAST TEMPTATION
+
+     [Greek: ’Ae d’ Atae sthenazae te chai ’aztipos sunecha pasas
+     Pollou ’upechpzotheei, phthaneei d’ de te pasan ep’ aiach
+     Blaptous’ anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.
+
+Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged the
+violence of Eric’s grief, which seemed likely to settle down into a
+sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to Fairholm were
+almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of sorrow; but they
+grew calmer in time,--and while none of his school-fellows ever ventured
+in his presence to allude to Vernon, because of the emotion which the
+slightest mention of him excited, yet he rarely wrote any letters to his
+relations in which he did not refer to his brother’s death, in language
+which grew at length both manly and resigned.
+
+A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his study in
+the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to play
+regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He spoke
+freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than he had
+ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence, but even
+strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. “I can hardly even yet
+realize,” he added, “that I am alone here, and that I am writing to my
+aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my noble, only brother,
+Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards him. I _must_ be a better
+boy, I _will_ be better than I have been, in the hopes of meeting him
+again. Indeed, indeed, dear aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am
+laying aside, with all my might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing
+my very best to redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my
+time at Roslyn will be more worthily spent than any of it has been
+as yet.”
+
+He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing quietly
+on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and repose stole
+over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was ajar, the leering
+eyes and villainously cunning countenance of Billy.
+
+“What do you want?” he said angrily, casting at the intruder a look of
+intense disgust.
+
+“Beg pardon, sir,” said the man, pulling his hair. “Anything in my line,
+sir, to-day?”
+
+“No!” answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. “What business
+have you here? Get away instantly.”
+
+“Not had much custom from you lately, sir,” said the man.
+
+“What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to me? If you
+don’t make yourself scarce at once, I’ll--”
+
+“O well,” said the man; “if it comes to that, I’ve business enough.
+Perhaps you’ll just pay me this debt,” he continued, changing his
+fawning manner into a bullying swagger. “I’ve waited long enough.”
+
+Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It purported to
+be a bill for various items of drink, all of which Eric _knew_ to have
+been paid for, and among other things, a charge of £6 for the dinner at
+the “Jolly Herring.”
+
+“Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds for the
+dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for it before it
+took place.”
+
+“That’s now’t to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the young
+gen’lman in the cheer, I comes to you.”
+
+_Now_ Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant by his
+threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put up to act
+in this way by some one, and had little doubt that Brigson was the
+instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the man said, that he had
+never received the money. Brigson was quite wicked enough to have
+embezzled it for his own purposes.
+
+“Go,” he said to the man; “you shall have the money in a week.”
+
+“And mind it bean’t more nor a week. I don’t chuse to wait for my money
+no more,” said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an undisguised
+chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down stairs.
+
+What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu, who were
+best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the memory of
+unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to obliterate from the
+memory of all. He had not the moral courage to face the natural
+consequences of his past misconduct, and was now ashamed to speak of
+what he had not then been ashamed to do. He told Graham and Wildney, who
+were the best of his old associates, and they at once agreed that _they_
+ought to be responsible for at least a share of the debt. Still, between
+them they could only muster three pounds out of the six which were
+required, and the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect
+of extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.
+
+A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source of his
+trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest friend. To him
+he could speak without scruple and without reserve, and from him he knew
+that he would receive nothing but the noblest advice and the
+warmest sympathy.
+
+He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.
+
+“Ah, Eric, Eric!” said Mr. Rose; “you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins.”
+
+“O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems cruel
+that I should receive at once so sad a check.”
+
+“There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for the
+money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to me.”
+
+It was a hard course for Eric’s proud and loving heart to write and tell
+his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it faithfully,
+extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved him, to send the
+money by return of post.
+
+It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection. Mrs.
+Trevor knew her nephew’s character, and did not add by reproaches to the
+bitterness which she perceived he had endured; she simply sent him the
+money, and told him, that in spite of his many failures, “she still had
+perfect confidence in the true heart of her dear boy.”
+
+Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it became
+more and more the passionate craving of Eric’s soul to be worthy of that
+love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost path than to keep in
+the right one all along; and by one more terrible fall, the poor erring
+boy was to be taught for the last time the fearful strength of
+temptation, and the only source in earth and heaven from which
+deliverance can come. Theoretically he knew it, but as yet not
+practically. Great as his trials had been, and deeply as he had
+suffered, it was God’s will that he should pass through a yet fiercer
+flame ere he could be purified from pride and passion and
+self-confidence, and led to the cross of a suffering Saviour, there to
+fling himself down in heart-rending humility, and cast his great load of
+cares and sins upon Him who cared for him through all his wanderings,
+and was leading him back through thorny places to the green pastures and
+still waters, where at last he might have rest.
+
+The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring, he dashed
+it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade him write a
+receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an air of cunning and
+triumph that Eric was both astonished and dismayed. Could the miscreant
+have any further plot against him? At first he fancied that Billy might
+attempt to extort money by a threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this
+supposition he banished as unlikely since it might expose Billy himself
+to very unpleasant consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said
+contemptuously, “Never come near me again; next time you come up to the
+studies I’ll tell Carter to turn you out.”
+
+“Ho, ho, ho!” sneered Billy. “How mighty we young gents are all of a
+sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me again;
+never fear, young gen’lman.” He shouted out the latter words, for Eric
+had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already in the street.
+Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from this quarter. At first
+the thought of it was disquieting, but three weeks glided away, and
+Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school work, began to remember it
+as a mere vague and idle threat. But one afternoon, to his horror, he
+again heard Billy’s step on the stairs, and again saw the hateful
+iniquitous face at the door.
+
+“Not much custom from you lately, sir,” said Billy, mockingly. “Anything
+in my line to-day.”
+
+“Didn’t I tell you never to come near me again, you foul villain? Go
+this instant, or I’ll call Carter;” and, opening the window, he prepared
+to put his threat into execution.
+
+“Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I’ve got first.” It was a printed
+notice to the following effect--
+
+“FIVE POUNDS REWARD.
+
+“WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the evening of
+April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon’s premises; the above reward will be
+given for any such information as may lead to the apprehension of the
+offenders.”
+
+Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor that Gordon
+had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had been forgotten,
+and the boys had long fancied their secret secure, though at first they
+had been terribly alarmed.
+
+“What do you show me that for?” he asked, reddening and then growing
+pale again.
+
+Billy’s only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the words “Five
+pounds reward!”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“I thinks I knows who took them pigeons.”
+
+“What’s that to me?”
+
+“Ho, ho, ho! that’s a good un,” was Billy’s reply; and he continued to
+cackle as though enjoying a great joke.
+
+“Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get ’em. I
+know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I’ll give ye another week
+to decide.”
+
+Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his chair.
+Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get them? To write
+home again was out of the question. The Trevors, though liberal, were
+not rich, and after just sending him so large a sum, it was impossible,
+he thought, that they should send him five pounds more at his mere
+request. Besides, how could he be sure that Billy would not play upon
+his fears to extort further sums? And to explain the matter to them
+fully was more than he could endure. He remembered now how easily his
+want of caution might have put Billy in possession of the secret, and
+he knew enough of the fellow’s character to feel quite sure of the use
+he would be inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!
+
+Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure. He
+thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was clear--he
+_had_, not the money, and could not get it. Miserable boy! It was too
+late then! for him repentance was to be made impossible; every time he
+attempted it he was to be thwarted by some fresh discovery. And, leaning
+his head on his open palms, poor Eric sobbed like a child.
+
+Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the want of
+five pounds! Expulsion was _certain_, was _inevitable_ now, and perhaps
+for Wildney too as well as for himself. After all his fine promises in
+his letters home,--yes, that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not
+closed for a month over one brother, and the other would be _expelled_.
+Oh misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother’s heart. Oh how
+cruel everything was to him!
+
+Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or any other
+boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the boys would have
+spent the money they brought with them from home. There was no chance of
+any one having five pounds, and to a master he _dare_ not apply, not
+even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too serious to be overlooked, and if
+noticed at all, he fancied that, after his other delinquencies, it
+_must_, as a matter of notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could
+not face that bitter thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon
+his father’s and his brother’s name; this was the fear which kept
+recurring to him with dreadful iteration.
+
+By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of the
+school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by being
+treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon’s death he lost
+all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his office, to
+which Montagu had been elected by the general suffrage.
+
+He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was in
+Montagu’s study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was merely
+a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.
+
+All this passed through Eric’s mind as he sat in his study after Billy
+had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors were open, and
+all their occupants were absent in the cricket-field, or bathing. He
+stole into Montagu’s study, hastily got the key, and took down the box.
+
+“O put it down, put it down, Eric,” said Conscience; “what business have
+you with it?”
+
+“Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn’t trust myself!”
+
+“Put it down,” repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no longer
+to argue or entreat.
+
+Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not instantly leave
+the room. He began to look at Montagu’s books, and then out of the
+window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he noticed, for the
+cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well, what of that? he was
+doing no harm.
+
+“Nonsense! I _will_ just look and see if there’s five pounds in the
+cricket-box.” Slowly at first he put out his hand, and then, hastily
+turning the key, opened the box. It contained three pounds in gold, and
+a quantity of silver. He began to count the silver, putting it on the
+table, and found that it made up three pounds ten more. “So that,
+altogether, there’s six pounds ten; that’s thirty shillings more than
+... and it won’t be wanted till next summer term, because all the bats
+and balls are bought now. I daresay Montagu won’t even open the box
+again. I know he keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks
+at it, and I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next
+term, and it will save me from expulsion.”
+
+Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his pocket,
+and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and sixpences which he
+had counted, and dropped them also into his trousers; they fell into the
+pocket with a great jingle....
+
+“Eric, you are a thief!” He thought he heard his brother Vernon’s voice
+utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was conscience who had
+borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he began to shake the money
+out of his pockets again into the box. He was only just in time; he had
+barely locked the box, and put it in its place, when he heard the sound
+of voices and footsteps on the stairs. He had no time to take out the
+key and put it back where he found it, and had hardly time to slip into
+his own study again, when the boys had reached the landing.
+
+They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.
+
+“Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual,” said Duncan, good-humoredly; but he
+only got a sickly smile in reply.
+
+“What! are you the only fellow in the studies?” asked Montagu. “I was
+nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up stairs.”
+
+“I don’t think there’s any one here but me,” said Eric, “and I’m going a
+walk now.”
+
+He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away through the
+play-ground towards the shore But he could not so escape his thoughts.
+“Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a thief!” rang in his ear. “Yes,”
+he thought; “I am even a thief. Oh, good God, yes, _even_ a _thief_, for
+I _had_ actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only fellow
+up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!”
+
+It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid in the
+coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow. And as he
+lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good heavens! there was
+something still there. He pulled it out; it was a sovereign! Then he WAS
+a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was against him; and, starting to
+his feet, he flung the accursed gold over the rocks far into the sea.
+
+When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable to work,
+he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before he fell asleep;
+but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than the haunted
+wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and horrid dreams.
+Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic proportions, and their
+faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness, seemed to be standing over him,
+and demanding five pounds on pain of death. Flights of pigeons darkening
+the air, settled on him, and flapped about him. He fled from them madly
+through the dark midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose,
+and running up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in
+his dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, “O Charlie,
+save me;” but Charlie ran away, saying, “Williams, you are a thief!” and
+then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry, voices of expostulation,
+voices of contempt, voices of indignation, voices of menace; they took
+up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed it; but, most unendurable of all,
+there were voices of wailing and voices of gentleness among them, and
+his soul died within him as he caught, amid the confusion of condemning
+sounds, the voices of Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to
+him, in tender pity and agonized astonishment, “Eric, Eric, you are
+a thief!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+     “For alas! alas! with me
+      The light of life is o’er;
+     No more--no more--no more
+     (Such language holds the solemn sea
+      To the sands upon the shore)
+     Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
+      Or the stricken eagle soar!”
+
+     EDGAR A. POE.
+
+The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits to
+Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the doors
+for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to make use of
+this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well acquainted with
+the building (in which for a short time he had been a servant), he laid
+his plans without the least dread of discovery.
+
+There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel, and it
+could be reached by a path through the fields without any chance of
+being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched his opportunity.
+By this path Billy came, two days after his last visit, and walked
+straight up the great staircase, armed with the excuse of business with
+Eric in case any one met or questioned him. But no one was about, since
+between twelve and one the boys were pretty sure to be amusing
+themselves out of doors; and after glancing into each of the studies,
+Billy finally settled on searching Montagu’s (which was the neatest and
+best furnished), to see what he could get.
+
+The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where Eric
+had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled him. In a
+moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking booty, and
+opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of gratification, the
+unexpected store of silver and gold. This he instantly transferred to
+his own pocket, and then replacing the box where he had found it,
+decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the study in all other respects
+exactly as he had found it.
+
+Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with apprehension and
+suspense. Unable to endure his misery in loneliness, he had made several
+boys to a greater or less degree participators in the knowledge of his
+difficult position, and in the sympathy which his danger excited, the
+general nature of his dilemma with Billy (though not its special
+circumstances) was soon known through the school.
+
+At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was sitting with
+Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and the sorrow which lay
+at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious expression of his face,
+and the deep dejection of his attitude and manner.
+
+The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every possible
+topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing to be said,
+and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet though their
+arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness of their
+affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his heavy mood.
+
+“Well, well; at least _do_ hope the best, Eric,” said Graham.
+
+“Yes!” urged Wildney; “only think, dear old fellow, what lots of worse
+scrapes we’ve been in before, and how we’ve always managed to get out of
+them somehow.”
+
+“No, my boy; not worse scrapes,” answered Eric. “Depend upon it this is
+the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting into another at
+_Roslyn_, anyhow.”
+
+“Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?” said Wildney, putting his arm
+round Eric’s neck. “Besides it’s all my fault, hang it, that you got
+into this cursed row.”
+
+     “‘The curse is come upon, me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott,’
+
+“those words keep ringing in my ears,” murmured Eric.
+
+“Well, Eric, if _you_ are sent away, I know I shall get my father to
+take me too, and then we’ll join each other somewhere. Come, cheer up,
+old boy--being sent isn’t such a very frightful thing after all.”
+
+“No” said Graham; “and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was only a
+lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn’t like stealing, you know;
+_that_’d be quite a different thing.”
+
+Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not notice
+it. “Ah,” thought he, “there’s _one_ passage of my life which I never
+shall be able to reveal to any human soul.”
+
+“Come now, Eric,” said Wildney, “I’ve got something to propose. You
+shall play cricket to-day; you haven’t played for an age, and it’s high
+time you should. If you don’t you’ll go mooning about the shore all day,
+and that’ll never do, for you’ll come back glummer than ever.”
+
+“No!” said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon instantly
+passed through his mind; “no more cricket for me.”
+
+“Nay, but you _must_ play to-day. Come, you shan’t say no. You won’t say
+no to me, will you, dear old fellow?” And Wildney looked up to him with
+that pleasant smile, and the merry light in his dark eyes, which had
+always been so charming to Eric’s fancy.
+
+“There’s no refusing you,” said Eric with the ghost of a laugh, as he
+boxed Wildney’s ears. “O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I wish I
+were you.”
+
+“Pooh! pooh! now you shan’t get sentimental again. As if you wern’t
+fifty times better than me every way. I’m sure I don’t know how I shall
+ever love you enough, Eric,” he added more seriously, “for all your
+kindness to me.”
+
+“I’m so glad you’re going to play, though,” said Graham; “and so will
+everybody be; and I’m certain it’ll be good for you. The game will
+divert your thoughts.”
+
+So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny’s death, played
+with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The school cheered
+him vigorously as he appeared again on the field, and the sound lighted
+up his countenance with some gleam of its old joyousness. When one
+looked at him that day with his straw hat on and its neat light-blue
+ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink jersey and leather belt, with a
+silver clasp in front), showing off his well-built and graceful figure,
+one little thought what an agony was gnawing like a serpent at his
+heart. But that day, poor boy, in the excitement of the game he half
+forgot it himself, and more and more as the game went on.
+
+The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric caught out
+two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who stayed in long,
+and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying with a magnificent
+ball, the shouts of “well bowled! well bowled _indeed_,” were universal.
+
+“Just listen to that, Eric,” said Montagu; “why, you’re out-doing every
+body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by storm.”
+
+“Wait till you see me come out for a duck,” said Eric laughing.
+
+“Not you. You’re too much in luck to come out with a duck,” answered
+Montagu. “You see I’ve already become the Homer of your triumphs, and
+vaticinate in rhyme.”
+
+And now it was Eric’s turn to go in. It was long since he had stood
+before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a beautiful
+picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his fair hair shine
+like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows were flung to the
+winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest and joy.
+
+He contented himself with blocking Duncan’s balls until his eye was in;
+but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right and left. His
+score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of getting him out, so
+that there was every probability of his carrying out his bat.
+
+“Oh, _well_ hit! _well_ hit! A three’r for Eric,” cried Wildney to the
+scorer; and he began to clap his hands and dance about with excitement
+at his friend’s success.
+
+“Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!” shouted all the lookers on, as Eric
+caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over the hedge,
+getting a sixer by the hit.
+
+At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run, for the
+handle of his bat broke right off.
+
+“How unlucky!” he said, flinging down the handle with vexation. “I
+believe this was our best bat.”
+
+“Oh, never mind,” said Montagu; “we can soon get another; we’ve got lots
+of money in the box.”
+
+What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of poison in
+the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected than he was by
+Montagu’s simple remark. Montagu could not help noticing it, but at the
+time merely attributed it to some unknown gust of feeling, and made no
+comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing another bat, took his place again
+quite tamely; he was trembling, and at the very next ball, he spooned a
+miserable catch into Graham’s hand, and the shout of triumph from the
+other side proclaimed that his innings was over.
+
+He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys, who
+were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after his
+brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the light had
+died away from his face and figure, and he never raised his eyes from
+the ground.
+
+“Modest Eric!” said Wildney chaffingly, “you don’t acknowledge your
+honors.”
+
+Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm, and
+walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and whispered again
+in a low voice--
+
+     “‘The curse has come upon me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott.’”
+
+“Hush, Eric, nonsense,” whispered Wildney; “you’re not going away,” he
+continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. “Why, there are only
+two more to go in!”
+
+“Yes, thank you, I must go.”
+
+“Oh, then, I’ll come too.”
+
+Wildney at once joined his friend. “There’s nothing more the matter, is
+there?” he asked anxiously, when they were out of hearing of the rest.
+
+“God only knows.”
+
+“Well, let’s change the subject. You’ve being playing brilliantly, old
+fellow.”
+
+“Have I?”
+
+“I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid way.”
+
+“Ah well! it matters very little.”
+
+Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note from
+Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking him to tea
+that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been several times
+lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she always showed him
+caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she had known his mother.
+
+“Upon my word, honors _are_ being showered on you!” said Wildney. “First
+to get _the_ score of the season at cricket, and bowl out about half the
+other side, and then go to tea with the head-master. Upon my word! Why
+any of us poor wretches would give our two ears for such distinctions.
+Talk of curse indeed! Fiddlestick end!”
+
+But Eric’s sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering with a
+sigh, he went to dress for tea.
+
+Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together. “How
+splendidly Eric played,” said Duncan.
+
+“Yes, indeed. I’m so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting a new
+bat. I don’t know exactly how much money we’ve got, but I know there’s
+plenty. Let’s come and see.”
+
+They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the key.
+“Hallo,” he said, “I’m nearly sure I left it in the corner of this
+drawer, under some other things; but it isn’t there now. What can have
+become of it?”
+
+“Where’s the box?” said Duncan; “let’s see if any of my keys will fit
+it. Hallo! why _you’re_ a nice treasurer, Monty! here’s the key _in_
+the box!”
+
+“No, is it though?” asked Montagu, looking serious. “Here, give it me; I
+hope nobody’s been meddling with it.”
+
+He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to see it
+empty.
+
+“Phew-w-w-w!” Montagu gave a long whistle.
+
+“By Jove!” was Duncan’s only comment.
+
+The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what was in
+his thoughts.
+
+“A bad, bad business! what’s to be done, Monty?”
+
+“I’ll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it. Would you
+mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes? Tell him there’s
+a row.”
+
+He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the boys were
+talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally praising
+Eric’s play.
+
+“I’ve got something unpleasant to say,” he announced, raising his voice.
+
+“Hush! hush! hush! what’s the row?” asked half a dozen at once.
+
+“The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has vanished
+from the box in my study!”
+
+For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.
+
+“Does any fellow know anything about this?”
+
+All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.
+
+“Where is Williams?” asked one of the sixth form casually.
+
+“He’s taking tea with the Doctor,” said Wildney.
+
+Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be said,
+except in confidential whispers.
+
+Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. “What’s to be
+done?” was the general question.
+
+“I think we’ve all had a lesson once before not to suspect too hastily.
+Still, in a matter like this,” said Montagu, “one _must_ take notice of
+apparent cues.”
+
+“I know what you’re thinking of, Monty,” said Duncan.
+
+“Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?”
+
+“I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought.”
+
+“I heard more--though at the time it didn’t strike me particularly. I
+distinctly heard the jingle of money.”
+
+“Well, it’s no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we must _ask_
+him about it, and act accordingly.’
+
+“Will he come up to the studies again to-night?”
+
+“I think not,” said Owen; “I notice he generally goes straight to bed
+after he has been out to tea; that’s to say, directly after prayers.”
+
+The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful. Their
+books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident that
+Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the evening he
+drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and looked at it
+long and earnestly. “Is it possible?” he thought. “Oh Eric! can that
+face be the face of a thief?”
+
+The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the Rowlands,
+and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant, quiet evening,
+and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more cheerful and
+hopeful than he had done before, although he was still ignorant how to
+escape the difficulty which threatened him.
+
+He couldn’t help observing that as he entered he was the object of
+general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing that day,
+or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy’s treachery, of
+which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when prayers were over,
+and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked and spoke in the
+coldest manner, his most terrible fears revived.
+
+He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat half
+abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan entered, and he
+started to see them, for they were evidently the bearers of some serious
+intelligence.
+
+“Eric,” said Duncan, “do you know that some one has stolen all the
+cricket money?”
+
+“Stolen--what--_all_?” he cried, leaping up as if he had been shot. “Oh,
+what new retribution is this?” and he hid his face, which had turned
+ashy pale, in his hands.
+
+“To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?”
+
+“If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it,” he said, not lifting his
+head.
+
+“Do you know anything about it?”
+
+“No!” he sobbed convulsively. “No, no, no! Yet stop; don’t let me add a
+lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!” he said, looking up, “I do _not_ know
+who stole it.”
+
+They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu’s averted
+face.
+
+“O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful,” said Eric. “Don’t _yet_
+condemn me. _I_ am guilty, not of _this_, but of something as bad. I
+admit I was tempted; but if the money really is all gone, it is _not_ I
+who am the thief.”
+
+“You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very strong, and
+rests on some definite facts.”
+
+“Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don’t yet condemn me.
+I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty, believe me
+in this.”
+
+But the boys still stood silent.
+
+“Well, then,” he said, “I will tell you all. But I can only tell it to
+you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn’t be angry; you are my friend, but
+not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him only.”
+
+Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the bed, and
+put his arm round him to support him, for he shook violently. There,
+with deep and wild emotion, and many interruptions of passionate
+silence, Eric told to Montagu his miserable tale. “I am the most
+wretched fellow living,” he said; “there must be some fiend that hates
+me, and drives me to ruin. But let it all come; I care nothing, nothing,
+what happens to me now. Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love
+me still.”
+
+“O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you were
+sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won’t you pray
+to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my heart, and do you
+think God can be less kind than man? And _I_, too, will pray for you,
+Eric. Good night, and God bless you” He gently disengaged himself--for
+Eric clung to him, and seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a
+moment after he was gone.
+
+Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but somehow
+it didn’t seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and his thoughts
+began instantly to wander far away. Still he knelt--knelt even until his
+candle had gone out, and he had nearly fallen asleep, thought-wearied,
+on his knees. And then he got into bed still dressed. He had been making
+up his mind that he could bear it no longer, and would run away to sea
+that night.
+
+He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The Doctor
+had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they amounted in
+his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he stopped to look at
+the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly terms so short a time
+before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep, but opened his eyes, and
+looked at the head-master. Very sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head,
+and went away. Eric never saw him again.
+
+The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study, collect
+the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of Russell, Wildney,
+and his other friends--above all, Vernon’s likeness--and then make his
+escape from the building, using for the last time the broken pane and
+loosened bar in the corridor, with which past temptations had made him
+so familiar.
+
+He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not yield. Half
+contemplating the possibility of such an intention on Eric’s part, Dr.
+Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went out.
+
+“Ha!” thought the boy, “then he, too, knows and suspects. Never mind. I
+must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny’s picture; perhaps it is
+best I should, for I’m only disgracing his noble memory. But they shan’t
+prevent me from running away.”
+
+Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He _could_, not endure another public expulsion, or even
+another birching; he _could_ not endure the cold faces of even his best
+friends. No, no! he _could_ not face the horrible phantom of detection,
+and exposure, and shame. Escape he must.
+
+After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he succeeded in
+loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took his two sheets,
+tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end tightly round the
+remaining bar, and let the other fall down the side of the building. He
+took one more glance round his little room, and then let himself down by
+the sheet, hand under hand, until he could drop to the ground. Once
+safe, he ran towards Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he
+were flying for his life. But when he got to the end of the playground
+he could not help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at
+the scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind him
+like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he spent in
+that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by without their
+own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had first walked across
+that playground, hand in hand with his father, a little boy of twelve.
+He remembered his first troubles with Barker, and how his father had at
+last delivered him from the annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered
+how often he and Russell had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant
+talk, especially the evening when he had got his first prize and head
+remove in the lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell’s death, he
+had gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and Wildney
+afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then the stroll to
+Port Island, and Barker’s plot against him, and the evening at the Stack
+passed through his mind; and the dinner at the Jolly Herring, and, above
+all, Vernon’s death. Oh! how awful it seemed to him now, as he looked
+through the darkness at the very road along which they had brought
+Verny’s dead body. Then his thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons,
+his own drunkenness, and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and
+this dreadful end of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed _so_
+bright on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the conclusion of
+his school days?
+
+Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there they lay,
+all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan, and all whom he
+cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose’s light still burning in the
+library window; and he was leaving the school and those who had been
+with him there so long, in the dark night, by stealth, penniless and
+broken-hearted, with the shameful character of a thief.
+
+Suddenly Mr. Rose’s light moved, and, fearing discovery or interception,
+he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to Starhaven through
+the darkness. There was still a light in the little sailors’ tavern;
+and, entering, he asked the woman who kept it, “if she knew of any ship
+which was going to sail next morning?”
+
+“Why, your’n is, bean’t it, Maister Davey!” she asked, turning to a
+rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.
+
+“Ees,” grunted the man.
+
+“Will you take me on board?” said Eric.
+
+“You be a runaway, I’m thinking?”
+
+“Never mind. I’ll come as cabin-boy--anything.”
+
+The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress. “Hardly in
+the cabun-buoy line I should say.”
+
+“Will you take me?” said Eric. “You’ll find me strong and willing
+enough.”
+
+“Well--if the skipper don’t say no. Come along.”
+
+They went down to a boat, and “Maister Davey” rowed to a schooner in the
+harbor, and took Eric on board.
+
+“There,” he said, “you may sleep there for to-night,” and he pointed to
+a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.
+
+Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and sound till
+the morning, on board the “Stormy Petrel.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE STORMY PETREL
+
+     “They hadna sailed a league, a league,
+      A league, but barely three,
+     When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,
+      And gurly grew the sea.”
+
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.
+
+“Hilloa!” exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next morning, as he
+saw Eric’s recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff, “Who be this
+young varmint!”
+
+“Oh, I brought him aboord last night,” said Davey; “he wanted to be
+cabun-buoy.”
+
+“Precious like un _he_ looks. Never mind, we’ve got him and we’ll use
+him.”
+
+The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his scattered
+thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first, as the Stormy
+Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea, he felt one
+absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But before he had
+been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to the trying nature of
+his circumstances, which were, indeed, _so_ trying that _anything_ in
+the world seemed preferable to enduring them. He had not been three
+hours on board when he would have given everything in his power to be
+back again; but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now
+fairly on her way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo
+of cattle.
+
+There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was only a
+little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest and meanest
+grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the captain, who was a
+drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.
+
+This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly because he
+was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The first words he
+addressed to him were--
+
+“I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing.”
+
+“I’ve got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me.”
+
+“Well, then, you shall give us your gran’ clothes. Them things isn’t fit
+for a cabin-boy.”
+
+Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged his good
+cloth suit for a rough sailor’s shirt and trowsers, not over clean,
+which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at once appropriated by
+that functionary, who carried them into his cabin. But it was lucky for
+Eric that, seeing how matters were likely to go, he had succeeded in
+secreting his watch.
+
+The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind rose to
+a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make his case worse,
+could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight of such coarse food
+as was contemptuously flung to him.
+
+“Where am I to sleep?” he asked, “I feel very sick.”
+
+“Babby,” said one of the sailors, “what’s your name?”
+
+“Williams.”
+
+“Well, Bill, you’ll have to get over your sickness pretty soon, _I_ can
+tell ye. Here,” he added, relenting a little, “Davey’s slung ye a
+hammock in the forecastle.”
+
+He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the lurches of
+the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the companion-ladder, much
+less get into his hammock. The man saw his condition, and, sulkily
+enough, hove him into his place.
+
+And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible, and out
+of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and pitched through
+the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty men sleeping round
+him at night, until the atmosphere of the forecastle became like poison,
+hopelessly and helplessly sick, and half-starved, the boy lay for two
+days. The crew neglected him shamefully. It was nobody’s business to
+wait on him, and he could procure neither sufficient food, nor any
+water; they only brought him some grog to drink, which in his weakness
+and sickness was nauseous to him as medicine.
+
+“I say, you young cub down there,” shouted the skipper to him from the
+hatchway, “come up and swab this deck.”
+
+He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled about to
+find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But he staggered
+from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to grasp for some
+fresh support at every step.
+
+“None of that ’ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d---- you, what
+d’ye think you’re here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in five minutes,
+or I’ll teach you, and be d----d.”
+
+Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his task
+without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no means of
+washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap, or clean linen;
+and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the waking brought no change
+in his condition. And then the whole life of the ship was odious to him.
+His sense of refinement was exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill,
+and kicked and cuffed about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their
+rough, coarse, drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more
+intolerable familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.
+
+His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing his
+fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse of open
+kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to pity him
+in heart.
+
+Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure at first,
+when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him least; he longed
+for death, and often contemplated flinging himself into those cold deep
+waves which he gazed on daily over the vessel’s side. Hope was the only
+thing which supported him. He had heard from one of the crew that the
+vessel would be back in not more than six weeks, and he made a deeply
+seated resolve to escape the very first day that they again anchored in
+an English harbor.
+
+The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on board
+greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and disgusting work
+which fell to his snare, as well as made the atmosphere of the close
+little schooner twice as poisonous as before. And to add to his
+miseries, his relations with the crew got more and more unfavorable, and
+began to reach their climax.
+
+One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard him
+winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as secretly and
+silently as he could, and never looked at it, except when no one could
+observe him; while, during the day, he kept both watch and chain
+concealed in his trousers.
+
+Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch, and tried
+by every species of threat and promise to extort it from him. But the
+watch had been his mother’s gift, and he was resolute never to part with
+it into such hands.
+
+“Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he’ll soon
+get it out of you as your footing, depend on it.”
+
+The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the watch
+as pay for Eric’s feed, for he maintained that he’d done no work, and
+was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still refused, and the man
+struck him brutally on the face, and at the same time aimed a kick at
+him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It caught him on the knee-cap, and
+put it out, causing him the most excruciating agony.
+
+He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was only
+with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move caused him
+violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all day on the
+vessel’s side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any sight of land, or
+gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea and sky.
+
+Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted, and the
+skipper ordered him to furl a sail.
+
+“I can’t,” said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring, and not
+lifting his eyes to the man’s unfeeling face.
+
+“Can’t, d---- you. Can’t. We’ll soon see whether you can or no! You do
+it, or _I_ shall have to mend your leg for you;” and he showered down a
+storm of oaths.
+
+Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined at
+least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty. But the
+effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he dropped once
+more on deck.
+
+“Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we’re going to bother ourselves
+with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for nothing. It’s all
+sham. Here, Jim, tie him up.”
+
+A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands together, and
+then drew them up above his head, and strung them to the rigging.
+
+“Why didn’t ye strip him first, d---- you?” roared the skipper.
+
+“He’s only got that blue shirt on, and that’s soon mended,” said the
+man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and tearing
+it open with a great rip.
+
+Eric’s white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging, and his
+injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. “And now for some rope-pie
+for the stubborn young lubber,” said the skipper, lifting a bit of rope
+as he spoke.
+
+Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the next
+instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump, rasping away a
+red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time the awful reality of
+intense pain; he had determined to utter no sound, to give no sign; but
+when the horrible rope fell on him, griding across his back, and making
+his body literally creak under the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf
+in every limb, and could not suppress the harrowing murmur, “Oh God,
+help me, help me.”
+
+Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the boy’s
+naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to the violent
+laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang from his lips, so
+shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in the memory of all who
+heard it. But the brute who administered the torture was untouched. Once
+more, and again, the rope rose and fell, and under its marks the blood
+first dribbled, and then streamed from the white and tender skin.
+
+But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of nature;
+his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs still seemed to
+creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted away.
+
+“Stop, master, stop, if you don’t want to kill the boy outright,” said
+Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while the hot flush of
+indignation burned through his tanned and weather-beaten cheek. The
+sailors called him “Softy Bob,” from that half-gentleness of disposition
+which had made him, alone of all the men, speak one kind or consoling
+word for the proud and lonely cabin-boy.
+
+“Undo him then, and be--,” growled the skipper and rolled off to drink
+himself drunk.
+
+“I doubt he’s well-nigh done for him already,” said Roberts, quickly
+untying Eric’s hands, round which the cords had been pulled so tight as
+to leave two blue rings round his wrists. “Poor fellow, poor fellow!
+it’s all over now,” he murmured soothingly, as the boy’s body fell
+motionless into his arms, which he hastily stretched to prevent him from
+tumbling on the deck.
+
+But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity, carried
+him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a clean
+blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.
+
+It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words had
+been prophetic.
+
+“How is the young varmint?” shouted the skipper, looking into the
+forecastle.
+
+“You’ve killed him, I think.”
+
+The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was sufficiently
+frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his patient.
+
+At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the raw
+state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone, reminded
+him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all that could be
+done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid place, in the
+languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the unbidden tears
+flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the sickness of his
+heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he thought that he
+should die.
+
+But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and agony, and
+death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his comfortless hammock.
+The news that land was in sight first roused him, and with the help of
+Roberts, he was carried on deck, thankful, with childlike gratitude,
+that God suffered him to breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and
+sit under the canopy of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the
+sunlight refreshed him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes
+upraised, he poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable
+thankfulness to a Father in Heaven.
+
+Yes! at last he had remembered his Father’s home. There, in the dark
+berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean atmosphere
+brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead burned, and his
+heart melted within him, and he had felt almost inclined to curse his
+life, or even to end it by crawling up and committing himself to the
+deep cold water which, he heard rippling on the vessel’s side; then,
+even then, in that valley of the shadow of death, a Voice had come to
+him--a still small Voice--at whose holy and healing utterance Eric had
+bowed his head, and listened to the messages of God, and learnt his
+will; and now, in humble resignation, in touching penitence with solemn
+self-devotion, he had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to
+be helped, and guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the
+darkness of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till
+they were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus’ sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no evil,
+for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting arms.
+
+And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by harsh
+word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of the sea
+wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something half-like
+an apology.
+
+The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder again,
+but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or horror, put out
+his hand to the man to shake. There was something touching and noble in
+the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of himself for once, the fellow
+shook the proffered hand, and slunk away.
+
+They entered the broad river at Southpool.
+
+“I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts,” said Eric.
+
+“I doubt whether you’ll let you,” answered Roberts, jerking his finger
+towards the skipper’s cabin.
+
+“Why?”
+
+“He’ll be afeard you might take the law on him.”
+
+“He needn’t fear.”
+
+Roberts only shook his head.
+
+“Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?”
+
+“Yes, that I will.”
+
+That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown to all
+but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the water in the
+evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard or two distant; but
+the effort almost exhausted his strength, for his knee was still
+painful, and he was very weak.
+
+Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the sleepless
+night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a pawnbroker’s,
+and raised £2:10s. on his watch, with which money he walked straight to
+the railway station.
+
+It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As Eric
+dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney on the
+other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to meet him,
+as he would have done in old times. His whole heart yearned towards him.
+It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one loving face, and during all
+that time he had hardly heard one kindly word. And now he saw before him
+the boy whom he loved so fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy
+hours of school-boy friendship, with whom he had gone through so many
+schoolboy adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.
+
+Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the street.
+Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some four years
+older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising immensely. They
+were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the word Roslyn. Like a
+lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the memory of his ruin came
+upon him; he looked down at his dress--it was a coarse blue shirt, which
+Roberts had given him in place of his old one, and the back of it was
+stained and saturated with blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers
+were dirty, tarred, and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely
+covered his feet. He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able
+to wash, and that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at
+a shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the eyes
+sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and lustreless. No! he
+could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged sailor-boy; perhaps even he
+might not be recognised if he did. He drew back, and hid himself till
+the merry-hearted pair had passed, and it was almost with a pang of
+jealousy that he saw how happy Wildney could be, while _he_ was thus;
+but he cast aside the unworthy thought at once. “After all, how is poor
+Charlie to know what has happened to me?”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HOME AT LAST
+
+     “I will arise and go to my father.”
+
+     “Ach! ein Schicksal droht,
+     Und es droht nicht lange!
+     Auf der holden Wange
+     Brennt ein böses Roth!”--TIEDGE.
+
+Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and found
+that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat during the
+day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary train to
+Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the branch line
+to Ayrton.
+
+He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding himself from
+notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it carried poor people for
+the most part, so, of course it could matter but little how tedious or
+slow it was!)--the weary train, stopping at every station, and often
+waiting on the rail until it had been passed by trains that started four
+or five hours after it,--dragged its slow course through the fair
+counties of England. Many people got in and out of the carriage, which
+was generally full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and his
+heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with civil
+answers to the questions put to him, dropping the conversation as soon
+as he could.
+
+At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he got down.
+
+“Ticket,” said the station-man.
+
+Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well from
+having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked hard at him,
+and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,
+
+“Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be you?”
+
+“Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don’t say a word, that’s
+a good fellow; I’m going on to Ayrton this evening.”
+
+“Well, sir, I _am_, hurt like to see you looking so ragged and poorly.
+Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by first train
+to-morrow.”
+
+“O no, thank you, John. I’ve got no money, and--”
+
+“Tut, tut, sir; I thought you’d know me better nor that. Proud I’d be
+any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor’s nephew, let alone a young
+gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my little cart
+this evening.”
+
+“No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but,” he
+said, and the tears were in his eyes, “I want to walk in alone
+to-night.”
+
+“Well, God keep and bless you, sir,” said the man, “for you look to need
+it;” and touching his cap, he watched the boy’s painful walk across some
+fields to the main road.
+
+“Who’d ha’ thought it, Jenny?” he said to his wife. “There’s that young
+Master Williams, whom we’ve always thought so noble like, just been
+here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color o’ my white
+signal flag.”
+
+“Lawks!” said the woman; “well, well! poor young gentleman, I’m afeard
+he’s been doing something bad.”
+
+Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without toil, made
+his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten miles off. The road
+wound through the valley, across the low hills that encircled it,
+sometimes spanning or running parallel to the bright stream that had
+been the delight of Eric’s innocent childhood. There was something
+enjoyable at first to the poor boy’s eyes, so long accustomed to the
+barren sea, in resting once more on the soft undulating green of the
+summer fields, which were intertissued with white and yellow flowers,
+like a broidery of pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the
+exquisite light, and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious
+evening, which filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation
+of rose and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in Eric’s
+heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with recollections
+of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how differently; and
+of the last time when he had come home with Vernon by his side. “Oh
+Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God that I were with you now.
+But you are resting, Verny, in the green grave by Russell’s side, and
+I--oh God, be merciful to me now!”
+
+It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds, and Eric
+walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought on the pain in
+his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the road-side to rest.
+He reached Ayrton at ten o’clock, but even then he could not summon up
+courage to pass through the town where he was so well known, lest any
+straggler should recognise him,--and he took a detour in order to get to
+Fairholm. He did not arrive there till eleven o’clock; and then he could
+not venture into the grounds, for he saw through the trees of the
+shrubbery that there was no light in any of the windows, and it was
+clear that they were all gone to bed.
+
+What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night. He
+remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from him
+since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of so sudden
+an emotion as his appearance at that hour might excite.
+
+So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank beside the
+gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was long before he
+slept, but at last weary nature demanded her privilege with importunity,
+and gentle sleep floated over him like a dark dewy cloud, and the sun
+was high in heaven before he woke.
+
+It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor, with Fanny,
+was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an occupation full of
+holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which she had found more than
+usual consolation during the heavy trials which she had recently
+suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon as a mother does her own
+children, and now Vernon, the little cherished jewel of her heart, was
+dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric, she feared, not dead but worse than
+dead, guilty, stained, dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in
+deep anguish of heart, “Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen
+and ruined!”
+
+“Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass,” said Fanny, pointing to
+a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the gate. “He has had
+a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night there, as I fear.”
+
+Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. “What is Flo’ doing?” she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy’s reclining
+figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into a quick short
+bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him, and leapt upon him,
+joyously wagging his tail.
+
+The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he saw the
+dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its little
+silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught sight of
+the Trevors.
+
+“It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric,” cried Mrs. Trevor, as she flew
+towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent, speechless,
+with long arrears of pent-up emotion.
+
+“O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are forgiven,
+more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that my prayers
+would be answered; this is as though we received you from the dead.” And
+the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric, his heart shaken with
+accumulated feelings, clung to her and wept.
+
+Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their lost
+child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm bath, and
+tended him with every gentle office of female ministering hands. And in
+the evening, when he told them his story in a broken voice of penitence
+and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet balsam, and he rested
+by them, “seated, and clothed, and in his right mind.”
+
+The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the greenhouse,
+was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste, and its glass
+doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long, long since Eric had
+ever seen anything like it, and he had never hoped to see it again. “Oh
+dearest aunty,” he murmured, as he rested his weary head upon her lap,
+while he sat on a low stool at her feet, “Oh aunty, you will never know
+how different this is from the foul, horrible hold of the ‘Stormy
+Petrel,’ and its detestable inmates.”
+
+When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more fed on
+nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once more about the
+garden by Fanny’s side, he began to recover his old appearance, and the
+soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and the light to his blue eye.
+But still his health gave most serious cause for apprehension; weeks of
+semi-starvation, bad air, sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights
+of exposure and wet, had at last undermined the remarkable strength of
+his constitution, and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact
+that he was sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.
+
+Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which he
+could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace at
+Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He avoided
+the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him, especially as he
+had taken away the bitterest part of their trial in remembering it, by
+explaining to them that he was far from being so wicked in the matter of
+the theft as they had at first been (how slowly and reluctantly!) almost
+forced to believe.
+
+“Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever heard,
+aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?” he asked, one
+evening, with evident effort.
+
+“No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I heard no
+more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from Dr. Rowlands,
+and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of what had happened
+about you.”
+
+“O, have they sent home my things?” he asked, eagerly. “There are very
+few among them that I care about, but there is just one----”
+
+“I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you, should
+have given it you before;” and she drew out of a drawer the little
+likeness of Vernon’s sweet childish face.
+
+Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his eyes.
+
+“Do not weep, my boy,” said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead. “Dear
+little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes away all
+tears from off all eyes.”
+
+“Is there anything else you would like?” asked Fanny, to divert his
+painful thoughts. “I will get you anything in a moment.”
+
+“Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell’s life,
+and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you never
+knew him!”
+
+He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed to give
+him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name, and speak of
+them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.
+
+“I have a plan to please you, Eric,” said Mrs. Tremor. “Shall I ask
+Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them.”
+
+“O, thank you,” he said, with the utmost eagerness. “Thank you, dearest
+aunt.” Then suddenly his countenance fell. “Stop--shall we?--yes, yes, I
+am going to die soon, I know; let me see them before I die.”
+
+The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious tenure of
+his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did not contradict
+him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose directions Eric
+knew), telling them what had happened, and begging them, simply for his
+sake, to come and stay with her for a time. She hinted clearly that it
+might be the last opportunity they would ever have of seeing him.
+
+Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived together
+at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both greeted Eric
+with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired of pressing their
+hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now and then a memory of
+sadness would pass over his face, like a dark ripple on the clear
+surface of a lake.
+
+“Tell me, Monty,” he said one evening, “all about what happened after I
+left Roslyn.”
+
+“Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--”
+
+“My name cleared!” said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. “Did you say
+that?”
+
+“Yes, Eric. Didn’t you know, then, that the thief had been discovered?”
+
+“No,” he murmured faintly, leaning back; “O thank God, thank God! Do
+tell me all about it, Monty.”
+
+“Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may guess how
+utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard that you had
+run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it, for he went early
+to your bed-room----”
+
+“Dear little Sunbeam,” interrupted Eric, resting his hand against
+Wildney’s cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he heard the
+forbidden name.
+
+“He found the door locked,” continued Montagu, “and called to you, but
+there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and we were
+certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent sheet. The
+masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make inquiries, but
+they did not succeed in discovering anything definite about you. Then,
+of course, everybody assumed as a certainty that you were guilty, and I
+fear that my bare assertion on the other side had little weight.”
+
+Eric’s eyes glistened as he drank in his friend’s story.
+
+“But, about a fortnight after, _more_ money and several other articles
+disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as to the perpetrator
+was baffled; only now the boys began to admit that, after all, they had
+been premature in condemning you. It was a miserable time; for every one
+was full of distrust, and the more nervous boys were always afraid lest
+any one should on some slight grounds suspect _them. Still_, things kept
+disappearing.
+
+“We found out at length that the time when the robberies were effected
+must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed that some one
+should be concealed in the studies for a day or two during those hours.
+Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced in one of the big
+cupboards in a study which had not yet been touched. On the third day he
+heard some one stealthily mount the stairs. The fellows were more
+careful now, and used to keep their doors shut, but the person was
+provided with keys, and opened the study in which Carter was. He moved
+about for a little time--Carter watching him through the key-hole, and
+prepared to spring on him before he could make his escape. Not getting
+much, the man at last opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just
+time to conceal himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the
+plunderer’s fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter
+before him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though
+a ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was he
+who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was sentenced
+to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name was cleared.”
+
+“As I always knew it would be, dear old boy,” said Wildney.
+
+Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm, and
+were never tired of Eric’s society, and of his stories about all that
+befell him on board the “Stormy Petrel.” They perceived a marvellous
+change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance had passed
+away; every stain of passion had been removed; every particle of
+hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All was gentleness,
+love, and dependence, in the once bright, impetuous, self-willed boy; it
+seemed as though the lightning of God’s anger had shattered and swept
+away all that was evil in his heart and life, and left all his true
+excellence, all the royal prerogatives of his character, pure and
+unscathed Eric, even in his worst days, was, as I well remember, a
+lovable and noble boy; but at this period there must have been something
+about him for which to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and
+irresistibly attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk
+with them, Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing
+excursions by themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit
+out reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric’s health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not deceive
+herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his head when they
+called him convalescent.
+
+Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week after their
+arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the open air, under a
+lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to set, and the rain of
+golden sunlight fell over them through the green ambrosial foliage of
+the tree whose pale blossoms were still murmurous with bees. Eric was
+leaning back in an easy chair, with Wildney sitting on the grass,
+cross-legged at his feet, while Montagu, resting on one of the mossy
+roots, read to them the “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the ladies were
+busy with their work.
+
+“There--stop now,” said Eric, “and let’s sit out and talk until we see
+some of ‘the fiery a’es and o’es of light’ which he talks of.”
+
+“I’d no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading,” remarked
+Wildney naïvely. “I shall take to reading him through when I get home.”
+
+“Do you remember, Eric,” said Montagu, “how Rose used to chaff us in old
+days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant we used to be
+when he asked if we’d ever heard of an obscure person called William
+Shakspeare?”
+
+“Yes, very well,” answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this strain
+they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed listening to
+their school-boy mirth.
+
+“What a perfectly delicious evening. It’s almost enough to make me wish
+to live,” said Eric.
+
+He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half sang,
+half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother’s sweet voice had
+made him familiar in their cottage-home at Ellan:--
+
+     “There is a calm for those who weep,
+       A rest for weary pilgrims found;
+     They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,
+       Low in the ground.
+
+     “The storm that wrecks the winter sky,
+       No more disturbs their deep repose,
+     Than summer evening’s latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose.”
+
+The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he murmured to
+himself again, in low tones--
+
+     “Than summer evening’s latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose.”
+
+“Oh hush, hush, Eric!” said Wildney, laying his hand upon his friend’s
+lips; “don’t let’s spoil to-night by forebodings.”
+
+It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful thing to
+be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the sun broadened
+and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft meadow and silver
+stream. One might have fancied that the last rays of sunshine loved to
+linger over Eric’s face, now flushed with a hectic tinge of pleasure,
+and to light up sudden glories in his bright hair, which the wind just
+fanned off his forehead as he leaned back and inhaled the luxury of
+evening perfume, which the flowers of the garden poured on the gentle
+breeze. Ah, how sad that such scenes should be so rare and so
+short-lived!
+
+“Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!” said Wildney; “there goes the postman’s
+horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the gate?”
+
+“Yes, do,” they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun, greeting
+the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that the man shook
+with laughing at him.
+
+“Here it is at last,” said Wildney. “Now, then, for the key. Here’s a
+letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss Trevor--_what_ people you
+young ladies are for writing to each other! None for you, Monty--Oh,
+yes! I’m wrong, here’s one; but none for Eric.”
+
+“I expected none,” said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed earnestly
+on one of Mrs. Trevor’s letters. He saw that it was from India, and
+directed in his father’s hand.
+
+Mrs. Trevor caught his look. “Shall I read it aloud to you, dear I Do
+you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to ours,
+telling them of--”
+
+“Oh, yes, yes,” he said, eagerly, “do let me hear it.”
+
+With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric pressed
+them to stay. “It will help me to bear what mother says, if I see you by
+me,” he pleaded.
+
+God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written from the
+depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise with, who for
+thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human misery. By the
+former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny’s melancholy death; by the
+next she had been told that her only other child, Eric, was not dead
+indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked with the brand of terrible
+suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it was God who sent it, and he only
+enabled her to endure it. With bent head, and streaming eyes, and a
+breast that heaved involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as
+though to his mother’s voice, and only now and then he murmured low to
+himself, “O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God
+and man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once more.”
+
+Mrs. Trevor’s eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all, and Fanny
+finished it. “Here is a little note from your father, Eric, which
+dropped out when we opened dear aunt’s letter. Shall I read it, too?”
+
+“Perhaps not now, love,” said Mrs. Trevor. “Poor Eric is too tired and
+excited already.”
+
+“Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty,” he said. He opened it,
+read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back swooning, while
+it dropped out of his hands.
+
+Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in a few
+heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs. Williams had
+been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired of, and that,
+before the letter reached England, she would, in all human probability,
+be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul resigned indeed, and
+humble, but crushed down to the very earth with the load of mysterious
+bereavement, and irretrievable sorrow.
+
+“Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!” said Eric, in a hollow
+voice, when he came to himself. “O God, forgive me, forgive me!”
+
+They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed for
+him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength appeared to have
+been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At last a momentary energy
+returned; his eyes were lifted to the gloaming heaven where a few stars
+had already begun to shine, and a bright look illuminated his
+countenance. They listened deeply--“Yes, mother,” he murmured, in broken
+tones, “forgiven now, for Christ’s dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes,
+there they are, and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at
+last--too happy!”
+
+The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient moment
+more the smile and the brightness played over his fair features like a
+lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with those he dearliest
+loved, in the land where there is no more curse.
+
+“Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now,” sobbed Mrs. Trevor; and her
+tears fell fast upon the dead boy’s face, as she pressed upon it a long,
+last kiss.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+     “And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?
+     Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?
+     And borne unscathed through danger’s stormy field
+     Honor’s white wreath and virtue’s stainless shield?”
+
+     HARROW. A Prize Poem.
+
+The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to his
+father’s estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles around. He
+intends to stand for the county at the next general election, and I
+haven’t the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed. If he does,
+Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu has the very soul
+of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of his vigorous judgment,
+and the treasures of his cultivated taste, with an eloquence that rises
+to extraordinary grandeur when he is fulminating his scorn at any
+species of tyranny or meanness.
+
+It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days in his
+charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over his grounds,
+and then across one of the richest plains in England) one long summer
+evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and figures of the past,
+until we almost felt ourselves boys again.
+
+“I have just been staying at Trinity,” said I, “and Owen, as I suppose
+you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first class, and
+they have already elected him fellow and assistant tutor.”
+
+“Is he liked?”
+
+“Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of those
+fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful as men, than
+they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the _greatest_ things
+of him; but have you heard anything of Duncan lately?”
+
+“Yes, he’s just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from him the
+other day. He’s met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and Upton, the
+latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there are not two
+finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and Wildney, as you may
+easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room. You know, I suppose,
+that Graham is making a great start at the bar.”
+
+“Is he? I’m delighted to hear it.”
+
+“Yes. He had a ‘mauvais sujet’ to defend the other day, in the person of
+our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned by his
+relations, is at present a policeman in London.”
+
+“On the principle, I suppose, of ‘Set a thief to catch a thief,’” said
+Montagu, with a smile.
+
+“Yes; but he exemplifies the truth ‘chassez le naturel, il revient au
+galop’ for he was charged with abetting a street fight between two boys,
+which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was penitent, and Graham
+got him off with wonderful cleverness.”
+
+“Ah!” said Montagu, sighing, “there was _one_ who would have been the
+pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!”
+
+We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning words,
+his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his melancholy fate,
+and a deep sadness fell over us.
+
+“Poor boy, he is at peace now,” said Montagu; and he told me once more
+the sorrowful particulars of his death. “Shall I read you some verses?”
+he asked, “which he must have composed, poor fellow, on board the
+‘Stormy Petrel,’ though he probably wrote them at Fairholm afterwards.”
+
+“Yes, do.”
+
+And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much feeling,
+these lines, written in Eric’s boyish hand, and signed with his name.
+
+ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.
+
+     Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,
+       In all the world alone I stand,
+     With none to wed their hearts to mine,
+       Or link in mine a loving hand.
+
+     Ah! I tell me not that I have those
+       Who owe the ties of blood and name,
+     Or pitying friends who love me well,
+       And dear returns of friendship claim.
+
+     I have, I have! but none can heal,
+       And none shall see my inward woe,
+     And the deep thoughts within me veiled
+       No other heart but mine shall know.
+
+     And yet amid my sins and shames
+       The shield of God is o’er me thrown
+     And, ’neath its awful shade I feel
+       Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!
+
+     Not all alone! and though my life
+       Be dragged along the stained earth,
+     O God! I feel thee near me still,
+       And thank thee for my birth!
+
+     E.W.
+
+Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest memorial of my
+erring but noble schoolboy friend.
+
+Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I gave him
+a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his pleasant vicarage
+of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or two ago by Dr. Rowlands,
+now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also appointed him examining chaplain. I
+sat and watched Mr. Rose while he read them. A mournful interest was
+depicted on his face, his hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he
+bent his grey hair over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at
+school that Eric was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and
+Vernon were with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away
+without even having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr.
+Rose displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we returned
+to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the intelligence
+of Eric’s return to Fairholm, and of his death. The news plunged many of
+us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in chapel, Mr. Rose alluded
+to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes among those who listened to
+him. I shall never forget that Sunday afternoon. A deep hush brooded
+over us, and before the sermon was over, many a face was hidden to
+conceal the emotion which could not be suppressed.
+
+“I speak,” said Mr. Rose, “to a congregation of mourners, for one who
+but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of yourselves. But,
+for myself, I do _not_ mourn over his death. Many a time have I mourned
+for him in past days, when I marked how widely he went astray,--but I do
+not mourn now; for after his fiery trials he died penitent and happy,
+and at last his sorrows are over for ever, and the dreams of ambition
+have vanished, and the fires of passion have been quenched, and for all
+eternity the young soul is in the presence of its God. Let none of you
+think that his life has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to
+spare him, he might have found great works to do among his fellow-men,
+and he would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far rather
+must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that we are all
+partakers of God’s unspeakable blessing, the common mystery of
+immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of very many here to
+recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and converse with our dear
+departed brother in a holier and happier world.”
+
+I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can give no
+conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or the intense
+pathos of his tones.
+
+The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he lingered
+over Eric’s verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of thought.
+
+At last he looked up and sighed. “Poor Eric!--But no, I will not call
+him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him well,” he
+continued; “why do you not try and preserve some records of his life?”
+
+The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and at once
+began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were numerous and
+vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends gladly supplied
+me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of Roslyn, Mr. Rose,
+Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric’s ruin has been told, and
+told as he would have wished it done, with simple truth. Noble Eric! I
+do not fear that I have wronged your memory, and you I know would
+rejoice to think how sorrowful hours have lost something of their
+sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so many of which we were engaged
+together in our school-boy days.
+
+I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along the sands,
+picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling the joyous
+tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys were playing by
+the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to them; and as I marked
+how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with its murmur and its foam,
+each sweeping farther than the other, each effacing the traces of the
+last, I saw an emblem of the passing generations, and was content to
+find that my place knew me no more.
+
+     Ah me the golden time!--
+       But its hours have passed away,
+     With the pure and bracing clime,
+       And the bright and merry day.
+
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,
+       And the shore still shines in the lustre of the wave;
+     But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o’er,
+       And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--
+         And he who comes again
+         Wears a brow of toil and pain,
+     And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12083 ***
diff --git a/12083-h/12083-h.htm b/12083-h/12083-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45acde2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/12083-h/12083-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9522 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      Eric | Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style> 
+    P {  margin-top: .75em;
+         margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em; }
+    blockquote {text-align: justify;
+         margin-left: 15%;
+         margin-right: 15%;}
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 {     text-align: center; }
+    HR { width: 33%; }
+	.c {text-align:center;}
+
+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12083 ***</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>ERIC</h1>
+<h2>OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE</h2>
+<h3>A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL</h3>
+<h4>By</h4>
+<h3>FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.</h3>
+<h5>Author of "The Life of Christ," "Julian Home," "St. Winifreds,"
+etc</h5>
+<h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h4>
+<h3>GEORGE A. TRAVER</h3>
+<br>
+<h5>1902</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+<p><a href="#PART_I.">PART I.</a></p>
+<p><a href="#1CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III--BULLYING.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII--"TAKING UP".</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX--"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS
+GODS".</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE
+STACK.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD
+BROKEN.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN.</a></p>
+<br>
+<p><a href="#PART_II">PART II.</a></p>
+<p><a href="#2CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I--ABDIEL.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II--WILDNEY.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V--RIPPLES.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE
+YOUNG.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION.</a></p>
+<br>
+<p>ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
+<p>BULLYING.<br>
+ERIC <i>Vignette on title-page</i>.<br>
+SMOKING.<br>
+ON THE ROCK.<br>
+OUT OF THE WINDOW.<br>
+ERIC AND VERNON.<br>
+HIDING.<br>
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP <i>Frontispiece</i>.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE</h2>
+<h2><a name="PART_I."></a>PART I.</h2>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3>
+<blockquote>"Ah dear delights, that o'er my soul<br>
+On memory's wing like shadows fly!<br>
+Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,<br>
+While Innocence stood laughing by."--COLERIDGE.</blockquote>
+<p>"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" cried a young boy, as he capered
+vigorously about, and clapped his hands. "Papa and mamma will be
+home in a week now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and
+<i>then</i>, and <i>then</i>, I shall go to school."</p>
+<p>The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he
+stopped his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin
+Fanny was patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so
+much affected by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so
+he again exclaimed, "And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to
+school."</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric," said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face
+from her endless work, "I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it
+with quite as much joy a year hence."</p>
+<p>"O ay, Fanny, that's just like you to say so; you're always
+talking and prophesying; but never mind, I'm going to school, so
+hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" and he again began his capering,--jumping
+over the chairs, trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing
+with an exuberance of delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his
+little spaniel Flo, he sprang through the open window into the
+garden, and disappeared behind the trees of the shrubbery; but
+Fanny still heard his clear, ringing, silvery laughter, as he
+continued his games in the summer air.</p>
+<p>She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In
+spite of the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of
+heaviness and foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling
+and beautiful, and there was an almost irresistible contagion in
+the mirth of her young cousin, but still she could not help feeling
+sad. It was not merely that she would have to part with Eric, "but
+that bright boy," thought Fanny, "what will become of him? I have
+heard strange things of schools; oh, if he should be spoilt and
+ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby lips, that pure young
+heart, a year may work sad change in their words and thoughts!" She
+sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised them upwards,
+and breathed a silent prayer.</p>
+<p>She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest
+years. In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful,
+ingenuous, quick, he would acquire almost without effort any
+subject that interested him, and a word was often enough to bring
+the impetuous blood to his cheeks, in a flush, of pride or
+indignation. He required the gentlest teaching, and had received
+it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of stainless honor
+that he avoided most of the faults to which children are prone. But
+he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well knew
+that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his
+own superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it
+always met with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it
+difficult to subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing
+her rule. Beyond a certain age no boy of spirit can be safely
+guided by a woman's hand alone.</p>
+<p>Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a
+civilian in India, and was returning on furlough to England after a
+long absence. Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to
+England by his parents at an early age, in charge of a lady friend
+of his mother. The parting, which had been agony to his father and
+mother, he was too young to feel; indeed the moment itself passed
+by without his being conscious of it. They took him on board the
+ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer and some nails to play
+with. These had always been to him a supreme delight, and while he
+hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying themselves, for the
+child's sake, even one more tearful embrace, went ashore in the
+boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he was told
+he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child, his
+tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had
+become the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from
+Captain Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon
+struck up an acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed
+a tear, as he lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro's
+knee, and asked God "to bless his dear dear father and mother, and
+make him a good boy."</p>
+<p>When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a
+widowed aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his
+early teaching. At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely
+to form no accession to the quiet household, but he soon became its
+brightest ornament and pride. Everything was in his favor at the
+pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor. He was treated with motherly kindness
+and tenderness, yet firmly checked when he went wrong. From the
+first he had a well-spring of strength, against temptation, in the
+long letters which every mail brought from his parents; and all his
+childish affections were entwined round the fancied image of a
+brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room there hung a
+cherub's head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this picture was
+inextricably identified in his imagination with his "little brother
+Vernon." He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray, nothing
+weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he came
+home.</p>
+<p>And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with
+him in his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was
+situated in the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran
+through the valley at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor's orchard. Eric
+loved this stream, and was always happy as he roamed by its side,
+or over the low green hills and scattered dingles, which lent
+unusual loveliness to every winding of its waters. He was allowed
+to go about a good deal by himself, and it did him good. He grew up
+fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the want of amusement.
+The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for endless games and
+romps, sometimes with no other companion than his cousin and his
+dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age whom he
+knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When
+asked if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in
+dreams and at some other times, he saw a little child, with long
+curly hair, running about in a little garden, near a great river,
+in a place where the air was very bright. But whether the little
+boy was himself or his brother Vernon, whom he had never seen, he
+couldn't quite tell.</p>
+<p>But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was
+religious and enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter,
+religion was not a system but a habit--not a theory, but a
+continued act of life. All was simple, sweet, and unaffected about
+their charity and their devotions. They loved God, and they did all
+the good they could to those around them. The floating gossip and
+ill-nature of the little village never affected them; it melted
+away insensibly in the presence of their cultivated minds; and so
+friendship with them was a bond of union among all, and from the
+vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected them, asked
+their counsel, and sought their sympathy.</p>
+<p>They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have
+told to what "party" they belonged. They troubled themselves with
+no theories of education, but mingled gentle nurture with
+"wholesome neglect." There was nothing exotic or constrained in the
+growth of Eric's character. He was not one of your angelically good
+children at all, and knew none of the phrases of which infant
+prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had not been taught any
+distinction between "Sunday books" and "week-day" books, but no
+book had been put in his way that was not healthy and genuine in
+tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah's ark on
+Sunday, because it was "a Sunday plaything," while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought
+little; they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced
+idleness or constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love
+Sunday quite as well as any other day in the week, though, unlike
+your angelic children, he never professed to like it better. But to
+be truthful, to be honest, to be kind, to be brave, these had been
+taught him, and he never <i>quite</i> forgot the lesson; nor amid
+the sorrows of after life did he ever quite lose the sense--learnt
+at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God, of a tender and
+long-suffering Father.</p>
+<p>As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had
+been sent indeed to Mr. Lawley's grammar-school for the last
+half-year, and had learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar.
+But as Mr. Lawley allowed his upper class to hear the little boys
+their lessons, Eric had managed to get on pretty much as he liked.
+Only <i>once</i> in the entire half-year had he said a lesson to
+the dreadful master himself, and of course it was a ruinous
+failure, involving some tremendous pulls of Eric's hair, and making
+him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined to make Mr. Lawley
+dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite little, he
+remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the "Latin
+school" as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that
+Eric never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this
+kept him in a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go
+out, and see what time it was by the church clock. Only hearing
+that he was to do something, too frightened to ask what it was, and
+feeling sure that even if he did, he should not understand what the
+master said, Eric ran out, went straight to Mr. Lawley's house, and
+after having managed by strenuous jumps to touch the knocker,
+informed the servant "that Mr. Lawley wanted his man."</p>
+<p>"What man?" said the maid-servant, "the young man? or the
+butler? or is it the clerk?"</p>
+<p>Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit
+of sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries;
+but he was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said "the young
+man" at hazard, and went back to the Latin school.</p>
+<p>"Why have you been so long?" roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly
+entered. Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said,
+so he answered at random, "He's coming, sir." The master, seeing by
+his scared look that something was wrong, waited to see what would
+turn up.</p>
+<p>Soon after, in walked "the young man," and coming to the
+astonished Mr. Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, "Master Williams
+said you sent for me, sir."</p>
+<p>"A mistake," growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look
+which nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head,
+or at best a great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally
+a kind heart, soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child's
+white face, he contented himself with the effects of his look.</p>
+<p>The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in
+the head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an
+imprudent marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little
+country grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to
+his refined mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had
+gradually unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys "that
+it was an easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than
+to teach them;" and at last his eccentricities became too obvious
+to be any longer overlooked.</p>
+<p>The d&eacute;nouement of his history was a tragic one, and had
+come a few days before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a
+common practice among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all
+boys, to amuse themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a
+door left partially ajar, and to cry out "Crown him" as the first
+luckless youngster who happened to come in received the book
+thundering on his head. One day, just as the trap had been adroitly
+laid, Mr. Lawley walked in unexpectedly. The moment he entered the
+school-room, down came an Ainsworth's Dictionary on the top of his
+hat, and the boy, concealed behind the door, unconscious of who the
+victim was, enunciated with mock gravity, "Crown him! three
+cheers."</p>
+<p>It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the
+battered hat, and recover from his confusion; the next instant he
+was springing after the boy who had caused the mishap, and who,
+knowing the effects of the master's fury, fled with precipitation.
+In one minute the offender was caught, and Mr. Lawley's heavy hand
+fell recklessly on his ears and back, until he screamed with
+terror. At last by a tremendous writhe, wrenching himself free, he
+darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too exhausted to pursue,
+snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and hurled it at the
+boy's retreating figure. The watch flew through the air;--crash! it
+had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the lintel, fell
+smashed into a thousand shivers.</p>
+<p>The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken
+watch, which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the
+master to his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there
+pale and breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could
+bear it no longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face
+with his hands, and burst into hysterical tears. It was the
+outbreak of feelings long pent up. In that instant all his life
+passed before him--its hopes, its failures, its miseries, its
+madness. "Yes!" he thought, "I am mad."</p>
+<p>Raising his head, he cried wildly, "Boys, go, I am mad!" and
+sank again into his former position, rocking himself to and fro.
+One by one the boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is
+soon told. Forced to leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his
+daily bread; and the weight of this new anxiety hastening the
+crisis, the handsome proud scholar became an inmate of the Brerely
+Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards, Eric heard that he was
+dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest in peace.</p>
+<p>Such was Eric's first school and schoolmaster. But although he
+learnt little there, and gained no experience of the character of
+others or of his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin
+School, which he never regretted. It was the mixture there of all
+classes. On those benches gentlemen's sons sat side by side with
+plebeians, and no harm, but only good, seemed to come from the
+intercourse. The neighboring gentry, most of whom had begun their
+education there, were drawn into closer and kindlier union with
+their neighbors and dependents, from the fact of having been their
+associates in the days of their boyhood. Many a time afterwards,
+when Eric, as he passed down the streets, interchanged friendly
+greetings with some young glazier or tradesman whom he remembered
+at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt practically
+to despise the accidental and nominal differences which separate
+man from man.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>A NEW HOME</h3>
+<blockquote>"Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;<br>
+The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,<br>
+The very breeze hath, mirth in't."--OLD PLAY.</blockquote>
+<p>At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter
+informed the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at
+Southampton on July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the
+evening after. They particularly requested that no one should come
+to meet them on their landing. "We shall reach Southampton," wrote
+Mrs. Trevor, "tired, pale, and travel-stained, and had much rather
+see you first at dear Fairholm, where we shall be spared the
+painful constraint of a meeting in public. So please expect our
+arrival at about seven in the evening."</p>
+<p>Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since
+the news came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and
+expectation made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing
+all day, every hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.</p>
+<p>At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening
+filled the sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the
+sound of wheels; a carriage dashed up to the door, and the next
+moment Eric sprang into his mother's arms.</p>
+<p>"O mother, mother!"</p>
+<p>"My own darling, darling boy!"</p>
+<p>And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father's heart, and
+locked in the arms of "little brother Vernon." Who shall describe
+the emotions of those few moments? they did not seem like earthly
+moments; they seemed to belong not to time, but to eternity.</p>
+<p>The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy.
+The little party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast
+asleep with his arm round his newfound brother's neck.</p>
+<p>Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father
+and mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could
+have shown no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met
+their eyes. The pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed
+distinctly the forms and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft
+regular breathing was the only sound that broke the stillness of
+the July night. The small shining flower-like faces, with their
+fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded round each brother's
+neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an exquisite picture,
+and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without a word, the
+parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of joyfulness,
+poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young and
+beloved boys.</p>
+<p>Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed
+opened to Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded
+itself before him. His parents--above all, his mother--were
+everything that he had longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled
+to his loving heart the ideal of his childish fancy. He was never
+tired of playing with and patronising his little brother, and their
+rambles by stream and hill made those days appear the happiest he
+had ever spent. Every evening (for he had not yet laid aside the
+habits of childhood) he said his prayers by his mother's knee, and
+at the end of one long summer's day, when prayers were finished,
+and full of life and happiness he lay down to sleep, "O mother," he
+said, "I am so happy--I like to say my prayers when you are
+here."</p>
+<p>"Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them."</p>
+<p>"Aren't there some who never say prayers, mother?"</p>
+<p>"Very many, love, I fear."</p>
+<p>"How unhappy they must be! I shall <i>always</i> love to say my
+prayers."</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!"</p>
+<p>And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often
+came back to Eric's mind in later and less happy days--days when
+that gentle hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when
+those mild blue eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed
+in heart and life, often flung himself down with an unreproaching
+conscience to prayerless sleep.</p>
+<p>It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to
+school in the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house
+in the town of Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of
+furlough, at the end of which period Vernon was to be left at
+Fairholm, and Eric in the house of the head-master of the school.
+Eric enjoyed the prospect of all things, and he hardly fancied that
+Paradise itself could be happier than a life at the seaside with
+his father and mother and Vernon, combined with the commencement of
+schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage came, his first
+glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it with only
+a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him silent
+with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue sky
+melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan.
+On the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills,
+so that when they reached the town and took possession of their
+cottage, he was dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous
+impressions.</p>
+<p>Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as
+not to disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind,
+and gently opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him,
+one destined to be long mingled with all his most vivid
+reminiscences. Not twenty yards below the garden, in front of the
+house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment rippling with golden laughter
+in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either side of the bay was a
+bold headland, the one stretching out in a series of broken crags,
+the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called from its shape
+the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old castle, and
+the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the left,
+high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School.
+Eric learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a
+most happy boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should
+be never tired of looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes
+off the great buoy that rolled about in the centre of the bay, and
+flashed in the sunlight at every move. He turned round full of hope
+and spirits, and, after watching for a few moments the beautiful
+face of his sleeping brother, he awoke him with a boisterous
+kiss.</p>
+<p>That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands.
+The school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his
+college cap passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He
+looked very happy and engaging, and was humming a tune as he
+strolled along. Eric started up and gazed after him with the most
+intense curiosity. At that moment the unconscious schoolboy was to
+him the most interesting person in the whole world, and he couldn't
+realize the fact that, before the day was over, he would be a
+Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort of a fellow the
+boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again, and make
+his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy's destiny is
+twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will
+know very soon.</p>
+<p>At nine o'clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his
+son. The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past
+the ruin, at the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any
+other time Eric would have been overflowing with life and wonder at
+the murmur of the ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the
+rock-bound bay, and the numberless little shells, with their bright
+colors and sculptured shapes, which lay about the beach. But now
+his mind was too full of a single sensation, and when, after
+crossing a green playground, they stood by the head-master's door,
+his heart fluttered, and it required all his energy to keep down
+the nervous trembling which shook him.</p>
+<p>Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr.
+Rowlands' study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he
+turned to address Eric, after a few minutes' conversation with his
+father, the boy felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity
+and frank courtesy of his manner. A short examination showed that
+Eric's attainments were very slight as yet, and he was to be put in
+the lowest form of all, under the superintendence of the Rev. Henry
+Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short note in pencil, and giving it to
+Eric, directed the servant to show him to Mr. Gordon's
+school-room.</p>
+<p>The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the
+school, so that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time
+assembled at their work, and that he should have to go alone into
+the middle of them. As he walked after the servant through the long
+corridors and up the broad stairs, he longed to make friends with
+him, so as, if possible, to feel less lonely. But he had only time
+to get out, "I say, what sort of a fellow is Mr. Gordon?"</p>
+<p>"Terrible strict, Sir, I hear," said the man, touching his cap
+with a comic expression, which didn't at all tend to enliven the
+future pupil. "That's the door," he continued, "and you'll have to
+give him the doctor's note;" and, pointing to a door at the end of
+the passage, he walked off.</p>
+<p>Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was
+by himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his
+own footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He
+heard a low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no
+answer. He knocked again a little louder; still no notice; then,
+overdoing it in his fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.</p>
+<p>"Come in," said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of "New fellow," and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.</p>
+<p>He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows
+opening towards the sea. At one end was the master's throne, and
+facing it, all down the room, were desks and benches, along which
+the boys were sitting at work. Every one knows how very confusing
+it is to enter a strange room full of strange people, and
+especially when you enter it from a darker passage. Eric felt
+dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to the master's desk,
+went towards it between two of the benches. As these were at no
+great distance from each other, he stumbled against several legs on
+his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose to
+trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating <i>sotto
+voce</i>, "awkward little fool."</p>
+<p>In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and
+presented his missive. The master's eye was on him, but all Eric
+had time to observe was, that he looked rather stern, and had in
+his hand a book which he seemed to be studying with the deepest
+interest. He glanced first at the note, and then looked full at the
+boy, as though determined to read his character at a glance.</p>
+<p>"Williams, I suppose?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Sir," said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that
+all the boys were looking at him, as well as the master.</p>
+<p>"Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the
+fourth. I hope you will work well. At present they are learning
+their Cesar. Go and sit next to that boy," pointing towards the
+lower end of the room; "he will show you the lesson, and let you
+look over his book. Barker, let Williams look over you!"</p>
+<p>Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy
+indicated. He was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of
+black hair, and a very dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he
+wasn't a very nice-looking specimen of Roslyn school. However, he
+sate by him, and glanced at the Cesar which the boy shoved about a
+quarter of an inch in his direction. But Barker didn't seem
+inclined to make any further advances, and presently Eric asked in
+a whisper,</p>
+<p>"What's the lesson?"</p>
+<p>The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.</p>
+<p>Eric repeated, "I say, what's the lesson?"</p>
+<p>Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,</p>
+<p>"What's your name?"</p>
+<p>"Eric--I mean Williams."</p>
+<p>"Then why don't you say what you mean?"</p>
+<p>Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception;
+but as he seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer
+towards him.</p>
+<p>"Drop that; 't isn't yours."</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. "Silence!" he
+said, and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric,
+resigning himself to his fate, looked about him.</p>
+<p>He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk,
+writing, but couldn't make our the physiognomy. There had been
+something reserved and imperious in the master's manner, yet he
+thought he should not dislike him on the whole. With the
+countenances of his future schoolfellows he was not altogether
+pleased, but there were one or two which thoroughly attracted him.
+One boy, whose side face was turned towards him as he sat on the
+bench in front, took his fancy particularly, so, tired of doing
+nothing, he plucked up courage, and leaning forward whispered, "Do
+lend me your Cesar for a few minutes." The boy at once handed it to
+him with a pleasant smile, and as the lesson was marked, Eric had
+time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr. Gordon's sonorous
+voice exclaimed,</p>
+<p>"Fourth form, come up!"</p>
+<p>Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle
+round the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson
+commenced.</p>
+<p>"Russell, begin," said the master; and immediately the boy who
+had handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and
+construed them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had
+a frank open face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very
+taking voice and manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he
+should like him.</p>
+<p>Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a
+grating irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities,
+for each of which the next boy took him up. Then he began to
+construe;--a frightful confusion of nominatives without verbs,
+accusatives translated as ablatives, and perfects turned into
+prepositions ensued, and after a hopeless flounder, during which
+Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself, Barker came to a full
+stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric could not help
+joining in the general titter Barker scowled.</p>
+<p>"As usual, Barker," said the master, with a curl of the lip.
+"Hold out your hand!"</p>
+<p>Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which
+the form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his
+hands tight together, went back to his seat.</p>
+<p>"Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just
+failed!"</p>
+<p>Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had
+now quite recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and
+without nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering
+questions, and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way
+up the form. The boys' numbers were then taken down in the weekly
+register, and they went back to their seats.</p>
+<p>On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was
+clumsily scrawled, "I'll teach you to grin when I'm turned, you
+young brute."</p>
+<p>The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly,
+and augured ominously of Barker's intentions, since that worthy
+obviously alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to
+interpret it as an intentional provocation. He felt that he was in
+for it, and that Barker meant to pick a quarrel with him. This
+puzzled and annoyed him, and he felt very sad to have found an
+enemy already.</p>
+<p>While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck
+twelve; and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the
+folding-doors of the school-room.</p>
+<p>"You may go," said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared
+by a door at the further end of the room.</p>
+<p>Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in
+a confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among
+the last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized
+it, and flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it
+was trampled on by a number of the boys as they ran out.</p>
+<p>Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his
+opponent, and said coolly, "Is that what you always do to new
+fellows?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;" and a
+tolerably smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a
+cheek already aflame with, anger and indignation,--"should you like
+a little more?"</p>
+<p>He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry.
+"What's that for?" he said, with flashing eyes.</p>
+<p>"For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned."</p>
+<p>Eric stamped. "I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as
+well as I do."</p>
+<p>"What! I'm a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out
+of you, you young cub--take that;" and a heavier blow followed.</p>
+<p>"You brutal cowardly bully," shouted Eric; and in another moment
+he would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did
+not, for Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful.
+Such an attack would hare been most unfortunate for him in every
+way. But at this instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and
+Russell among them.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Barker," said one, "what's up?"</p>
+<p>"Why, I'm teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that's
+all."</p>
+<p>"Shame!" said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric's cheek; "what
+a fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn't you leave him alone for his
+first day, at any rate?"</p>
+<p>"What's that to you? I'll kick you too, if you say much."</p>
+<p>"Cav&egrave;, cav&egrave;!" whispered half a dozen voices, and
+instantly the knot of boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr.
+Gordon was seen approaching. He had caught a glimpse of the scene
+without understanding it, and seeing the new boy's red and angry
+face, he only said, as he passed by, "What, Williams! fighting
+already? Take care."</p>
+<p>This was the cruellest cut of all. "So," thought Eric, "a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;" and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.</p>
+<p>The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different
+games, and as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to
+answer the usual questions, "What's your name? Are you a boarder or
+a day scholar? What form are you in?" Eric expected all this, and
+it therefore did not annoy him. Under any other circumstances, he
+would have answered cheerfully and frankly enough; but now he felt
+miserable at his morning's rencontre, and his answers were short
+and sheepish, his only desire being to get away as soon as
+possible. It was an additional vexation to feel sure that his
+manner did not make a favorable impression.</p>
+<p>Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him.
+"I'm afraid you won't like this, or think much of us, Williams," he
+said. "But never mind. It'll only last a day or two, and the
+fellows are not so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I'm sorry
+you've come across him, but it can't be helped."</p>
+<p>It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and
+after his troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to
+cry, and for a few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell's
+soothing words. But the boy's friendliness went far to comfort him,
+and at last, shaking hands with him, he said--</p>
+<p>"Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy,
+Russell."</p>
+<p>"O yes," said Russell, laughing, "as much as ever you like. And
+as Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we
+are in the same box. Good bye."</p>
+<p>So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the
+Iliad, "Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea." Already the
+purple mantle had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got
+home later than they expected, and found his parents waiting for
+him. It was rather disappointing to them to see his face so
+melancholy, when they expected him to be full of animation and
+pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own conclusions from the red mark
+on his cheek, as well as the traces of tears welling to his eyes;
+but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing, and left the boy to
+tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting all the
+painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>BULLYING</h3>
+<blockquote>"Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness."
+Wordsworth.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I
+have often fancied that there must be in boyhood a
+pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a sort of "wild trick of the ancestral
+savage," which, no amount of civilization can entirely repress.
+Certain it is, that to most boys the first term is a trying ordeal.
+They are being tested and weighed. Their place in the general
+estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest circumstances are
+seized upon to settle the category under which the boy is to be
+classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few weeks
+at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are <i>not</i> accidents;
+they are the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the
+general tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the
+apparent cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly
+intentional. At first, of course, as they can have no friends worth
+speaking of, there are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds
+that take a pleasure in their torment, particularly if they at once
+recognise any innate superiority to themselves. Of this class was
+Barker. He hated Eric at first sight, simply because his feeble
+mind could only realise one idea about him, and that was the new
+boy's striking contrast with his own imperfections. Hence he left
+no means untried to vent on Eric his low and mean jealousy. He
+showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form, and signs of
+disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he
+never looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him
+to kick and annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the
+school-room. In fact, he did his very best to make the boy's life
+miserable, and the occupation of hating him seemed in some measure
+to fill up the vacuity of an ill-conditioned and degraded mind.</p>
+<p>Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the
+unhappy person who is the object of it, and more especially if he
+have incurred it by no one assignable reason. To Eric it was
+peculiarly painful; he was utterly unprepared for it. In his bright
+joyous life at Fairholm, in the little he saw of the boys at the
+Latin school, he had met with nothing but kindness and caresses,
+and the generous nobleness of his character had seemed to claim
+them as a natural element. "And now, why," he asked impatiently,
+"should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim to
+annoy, vex, and hurt me?" Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but
+such, was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.</p>
+<p>But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own
+bursts of passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek;
+but, brave and spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless
+would be any attempt on his part to repel force by force. He would
+have tried some slight conciliation, but it was really impossible
+with such a boy as his enemy. Barker never gave him even so much as
+an indifferent look, much less a civil word. Eric loathed him, and
+the only good and happy part of the matter to his own mind was,
+that conscientiously his only desire was to get rid of him and be
+left alone, while he never cherished a particle of revenge.</p>
+<p>While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning
+himself a very good position with the other boys, who liked his
+frankness, his mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud
+with Barker like a dark background to all his enjoyment. He even
+had to manoeuvre daily how to escape him, and violent scenes were
+of constant occurrence between them. Eric could not, and would not,
+brook his bullying with silence. His resentment was loud and
+stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was, even <i>his</i> phlegmatic
+temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce and
+uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the
+form, and such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first,
+his position as a home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides
+Russell, there were three whom he liked best, and respected
+most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen. They were very different boys, but
+all of them had qualities which well deserved his esteem. Duncan
+was the most boyish of boys, intensely full of fun, good-nature,
+and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on well, because he
+could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in some fit of
+sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to be put
+to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever
+<i>he</i> took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of
+amusement was ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one
+of the number.</p>
+<p>Montagu's chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little
+gentleman; "such a jolly little fellow" every one said of him.
+Without being clever or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both
+at work and at the games, and while he was too exclusive to make
+many <i>intimate</i> friends, everybody liked walking about or
+talking with him. Even Barker, blackguard as he was, seemed to be a
+little uneasy when confronted with Montagu's naturally noble and
+chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects his influence was
+thoroughly good, and few boys were more generally popular.</p>
+<p>Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him.
+When he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for
+Barker's craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been
+tremendously bullied. But gradually his mental superiority asserted
+itself. He took everything without tears and without passion, and
+this diminished the pleasure of annoying him. One day when Barker
+had given him an unprovoked kick, he quietly said,</p>
+<p>"Barker, next time you do that, I'll tell Mr. Gordon."</p>
+<p>"Sneak! do it if you dare." And he kicked him again; but the
+moment after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in
+Owen's eyes, as he turned instantly into the door of the master's
+room, and laid a formal complaint against Barker for bullying.</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon didn't like "telling," and he said so to Owen,
+without reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of
+explanations and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said
+nothing. "He stood there for justice," and he had counted the cost.
+Strong-minded and clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the
+momentary dislike of his schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that
+he never could be popular, would be less unbearable than Barker's
+villanous insults. The consequence was that Barker was caned
+soundly, although, with some injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt
+to conceal that he did it unwillingly.</p>
+<p>Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for
+sneaking, as they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen
+mortification of seeing "Owen is a sneak," written up all about the
+walls. But he was too proud or too cold to make any defence till
+called upon, and bore it in silence. Barker vowed eternal
+vengeance, and the very day after, had seized Owen with the avowed
+intention of "half murdering him." But before he could once strike
+him, Owen said in the most chill tone, "Barker, if you touch me, I
+shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands." The bully well knew that Owen
+never broke his word, but he could not govern his rage, and first
+giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash him without
+limit or remorse.</p>
+<p>Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr.
+Rowlands' door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed
+at his temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a
+regular <i>Deus ex machin&acirc;.</i> That afternoon, again Barker
+was publicly caned, with the threat that the next offence would be
+followed by instant and public expulsion. This punishment he
+particularly dreaded, because he was intended for the army, and he
+well knew that it might ruin his prospects. The consequence was,
+that Owen never suffered from him again, although he daily received
+a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed over with silent
+contempt.</p>
+<p>My dear boy-reader, don't suppose that I want you to imitate
+Owen in this matter. I despise a boy who "tells" as much as you do,
+and it is a far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such
+a mixture of spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But
+Owen was a peculiar boy, and remember he had <i>no</i> redress. He
+bore for a time, until he felt that he <i>must</i> have the justice
+and defence, without which it would have been impossible for him to
+continue at Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>But why, you ask, didn't he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at
+Roslyn the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a
+school of 250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had
+no prerogative of authority. They hadn't the least right to
+interfere, because no such power had been delegated to them, and
+therefore they felt themselves merely on a par with the rest,
+except for such eminence as their intellectual superiority gave
+them. The consequence was, that any interference from them would
+have been of a simply individual nature, and was exerted very
+rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to tell a sixth-form
+boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a favorite, he
+was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.</p>
+<p>All this had happened before Eric's time, and he heard it from
+his best friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became
+friends at once by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of
+each at the other's face prepared the friendship, and every day of
+acquaintance more firmly cemented it. Eric could not have had a
+better friend; not so clever as himself, not so diligent as Owen,
+not so athletic as Duncan, or so fascinating as Montagu, Russell
+combined the best qualities of them all. And, above all, he acted
+invariably from the highest principle; he presented that noblest of
+all noble spectacles--one so rare that many think it
+impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy boy,
+who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.</p>
+<p>"Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?" said
+Eric, one day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Russell; "I slept in his dormitory when I first
+came, and he has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself
+on my knees at night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a
+little quiet time to cry like a child."</p>
+<p>"And when was it he left off at last?"</p>
+<p>"Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond
+of me; he heard of it, though I didn't say anything about it, and
+told Barker that if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him
+within an inch of his life; and that frightened him for one thing.
+Besides, Duncan, Montagu, and other friends of mine began to cut
+him in consequence, so he thought it best to leave off."</p>
+<p>"How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do
+it?"</p>
+<p>"You see, Williams," said Russell, "Barker is an enormously
+strong fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look
+up to him as a great hero. And there isn't one in our part of the
+school who can thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you
+know--at least not often. I remember once seeing a street-row in
+London, at which twenty people stood by, and let a drunken beast of
+a husband strike his wife without ever stirring to defend her."</p>
+<p>"Well," sighed Eric, "I hope my day of deliverance will come
+soon, for I can't stand it much longer, and 'tell' I won't,
+whatever Owen may do."</p>
+<p>Eric's deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys
+were playing at different games in the green playground, and he was
+waiting for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up,
+and calmly snatching off Eric's cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands'
+garden wall. "There, go and fetch that."</p>
+<p>"You blackguard!" said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few
+minutes; and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall.
+It was not very high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get
+over it under any circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not
+without trepidation. However, he dropped down on one of Mrs.
+Rowlands' flower-beds, and got his cap in a hurry, and clambered
+back undiscovered.</p>
+<p>He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day;
+but Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric,
+and calling out, "Who'll have a game at football?" again snatched
+the cap, and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every
+time he came up Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it
+into a puddle.</p>
+<p>Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened
+scorn and indignation. "You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,"--here
+Barker seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the
+head, but blind with passion Eric went on--"you despicable bully, I
+won't touch that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan,
+Russell, here! do help me against this intolerable brute."</p>
+<p>Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who
+besides was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric
+unmercifully.</p>
+<p>"Leave him alone," shouted Duncan, "or by heaven I'll get you a
+sound thrashing from some fellow."</p>
+<p>"I won't; mind your own business," growled Barker, shaking
+himself free from Duncan's hand.</p>
+<p>"Barker, I'll never speak to you again from this day," said
+Montagu, turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.</p>
+<p>"What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too," was the
+reply, and some more kicks at Eric followed.</p>
+<p>"Barker, I won't stand this any longer," said Russell; and
+seizing him by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the
+face.</p>
+<p>The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the
+turf nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell's
+turn came, and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had
+tripped him up, when he found himself collared in an iron
+grasp.</p>
+<p>There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in
+the person of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that
+now griped Barker's shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys,
+who all knew his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently
+stood a quiet and pleased observer of their games. The boys in the
+playground came crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to
+escape. Mr. Williams held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, "I
+have just seen you treat one of your schoolfellows with the
+grossest violence. It makes me blush for you, Roslyn Boys," he
+continued, turning to the group that surrounded him, "that you can
+stand by unmoved, and see such things done. You know that you
+despise any one who tells a master, yet you allow this bullying to
+go on, and that, too, without any provocation. Now, mark; it makes
+no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I would have
+punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall punish
+him now." With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most
+satisfactory castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared
+that Dr. Rowlands' "swishings" were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw
+that the offender was a tough subject, and determined that he
+should not soon forget the punishment he then received. He had
+never heard from Eric how this boy had been treating him, but he
+had heard it from Russell, and now he had seen one of the worst
+specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore belabored him till
+his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy, and promises
+never so to offend again.</p>
+<p>At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a "phew" of
+disgust, and said, "I give nothing for your word; but if ever you
+do bully in this way again, and I see or hear of it, your present
+punishment shall be a trifle to what I shall then administer. At
+present, thank me for not informing your master." So saying, he
+made Barker pick up the cap, and, turning away, walked home with
+Eric leaning on his arm.</p>
+<p>Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace he could;
+but it certainly didn't mend matters when he heard numbers of
+fellows, even little boys, say openly, "I'm so glad; serves you
+right."</p>
+<p>From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence
+from Barker or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the
+mind of the baffled tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there
+are subtler means of making an enemy wretched than striking or
+kicking him.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CRIBBING</h3>
+<blockquote>"Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus."--Juv. i.
+15.</blockquote>
+<p>It must not be thought that Eric's year as a home boarder was
+made up of dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a
+dark side, and Eric enjoyed it "to the finger-tips." School-life,
+like all other life, is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its
+joys may be more childish, its sorrows more trifling than those of
+after years;--but they are more keenly felt.</p>
+<p>And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all
+idealise and idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant
+purple in the distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its
+blue far-off hills, we forget how steep we sometimes found
+them.</p>
+<p>After Barker's discomfiture, which took place some three weeks
+after his arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got
+liked by it more and more. This might have been easily foreseen,
+for he was the type of a thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial
+and honorable characteristics, and his round of acquaintances daily
+increased. Among others, a few of the sixth, who were also
+day-scholars, began to notice and walk home with him. He looked on
+them as great heroes, and their condescension much increased his
+dignity both in his own estimation and that of his equals.</p>
+<p>Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate
+acquaintances to spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This
+was a pleasure much coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams
+without loving her, and they felt themselves humanised by the
+friendly interest of a lady who reminded every boy of his own
+mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and active child of nine, was a
+great pet among them, so that every one liked Eric who "knew him at
+home." A boy generally shows his best side at home; the softening
+shadows of a mother's tender influence play over him, and tone down
+the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu, and Owen were
+special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams felt truly
+glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the whole,
+so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he
+won so much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not
+surprised when Eric confided to her one day that he loved Russell
+almost as well as be loved Vernon.</p>
+<p>As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively
+interest in the half-year's prizes, and Eric was particularly eager
+about them. He had improved wonderfully, and as both his father and
+mother prevented him from being idle, even had he been so inclined,
+he had soon shown that he was one of the best in the form. Two
+prizes were given, half-yearly to each remove; one for "marks"
+indicating the boy who had generally been highest throughout the
+half year, and the other for the test proofs of proficiency in a
+special examination. It was commonly thought in the form that Owen
+would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other; and
+towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition
+was of course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the
+delight which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and
+still more to his own family.</p>
+<p>During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which,
+while it increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he
+thought) his chance of success. The fourth form were learning a
+Homer lesson, and Barker, totally unable to do it by his own
+resources, was trying to borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual
+disgust, still sat next to him in school, and would have helped him
+if he had chosen to ask; but he never did choose, nor did Eric care
+to volunteer. The consequence was, that unless he could borrow a
+crib, he was invariably turned, and he was now particularly anxious
+to get one, because the time was nearly up.</p>
+<p>There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who
+had "cribs" to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious
+<i>bonhommie,</i> lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom
+were only too glad to avail themselves of the help, except the few
+at the top of the form, who found it a slovenly way of learning the
+lesson, which was sure to get them into worse difficulties than an
+honest attempt to master the meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat
+at the farther end of the form in front, so Barker scribbled in the
+fly-leaf of his book, "Please send us your Homer crib," and got the
+book passed on to Llewellyn, who immediately shoved his crib in
+Barker's direction. The only danger of the transaction being
+noticed, was when the book was being handed from one bench to
+another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got into
+trouble more than once.</p>
+<p>On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in
+front, handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and
+Eric, very naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped
+the book under his own Homer.</p>
+<p>"Williams, what are you doing?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing, Sir," said Eric, looking up innocently.</p>
+<p>"Bring me that book under your Homer."</p>
+<p>Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took
+up the book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on
+the ground, and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust,
+took it up with the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was
+a titter round the room.</p>
+<p>"Silence," thundered the master; "this is no matter for
+laughing. So, sir, <i>this</i> is the way you get up to the top of
+the form?"</p>
+<p>"I wasn't using it, sir," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your
+Homer."</p>
+<p>"It isn't mine, sir."</p>
+<p>"Then whose is it?" Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of
+course no name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write
+one's name in a translation.</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>"Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you," said Mr.
+Gordon. "Of course I am <i>bound</i> to believe you, but the
+circumstances are very suspicious. You had no business with such a
+book at all. Hold out your hand."</p>
+<p>As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for
+him in this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but
+(very rightly) he thought it unmanly to clamor about being
+punished, and he felt nettled at Mr. Gordon's merely official
+belief of his word. He knew that he had his faults, but certainly
+want of honor was not among them. Indeed, there were only three
+boys out of the twenty in the form, who did not resort to modes of
+unfairness far worse than the use of cribs, and those three were
+Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even Montagu, inured to it
+by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson off a concealed
+book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They would have
+been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to
+its meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the
+master treated them with implicit confidence, and being
+scrupulously honorable himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was
+therefore extremely indignant at this apparent discovery of an
+attempt to overreach him in a boy so promising and so much of a
+favorite as Eric Williams.</p>
+<p>"Hold out your hand," he repeated.</p>
+<p>Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He
+could bear the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the
+disgrace; he, a boy at the head of his form, to be caned in this
+way by a man who didn't understand him, and unjustly too! He
+mustered up an indifferent air, closed his lips tight, and
+determined to give no further signs. The defiance of his look made
+Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in succession five hard cuts on
+either hand, each one of which, was more excruciating than the
+last.</p>
+<p>"Now, go to your seat."</p>
+<p>Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and
+he walked in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master
+really grieve at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he
+instantly became a hero with the form, who unanimously called him a
+great brick for not telling, and admired him immensely for bearing
+up without crying under so severe a punishment. The punishment
+<i>was</i> most severe, and for some weeks after there were dark
+weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use of his
+hands painful.</p>
+<p>"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how
+very plucky of you not to cry."</p>
+<blockquote>"Vengeance deep brooding o'er the <i>cane</i>,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Had locked the source of softer woe;<br>
+And burning pride, and high disdain,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"</blockquote>
+<p>said Eric, with a smile.</p>
+<p>But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was
+telling his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of
+passionate tears, mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr.
+Gordon for his injustice.</p>
+<p>"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you
+never get a punishment <i>justly</i>, and I shall always be as
+proud of you as I am now. And don't cherish this resentment, my
+boy; it will only do you harm. Try to forgive and forget."</p>
+<p>"But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a
+favorite of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me.
+It is a great shame that he shouldn't believe my word. I don't mind
+the pain; but I shan't like him any more, and I'm sure, now, I
+shan't get the examination prize."</p>
+<p>"You don't mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality
+in the matter?"</p>
+<p>"No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won't
+<i>intend</i> to be. But it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a
+master, and I know I shan't work so well."</p>
+<p>On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a
+misfortune. Although he had nothing particular for which to blame
+himself, yet the affair had increased his pride, while it lowered
+his self-respect; and he had an indistinct consciousness that the
+popularity in his form would do him as much harm as the change of
+feeling in his master. He grew careless and dispirited, nor was it
+till in the very heat of the final competition, that he felt his
+energies fully revived.</p>
+<p>Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other
+half were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was
+much hindered by Barker's unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in
+which many of the boys "cribbed" from books, and from each other,
+or used torn leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on
+their wristbands, and on their nails. He saw how easily much of
+this might have been prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his
+work, and had not yet learnt the practical lesson, that to trust
+young boys to any great extent, is really to increase their
+temptations. He <i>did</i> learn the lesson afterwards, and then
+almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by increased
+vigilance, and partly by forbidding <i>any</i> book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much
+evil had been done by the habitual abuse of his former
+confidence.</p>
+<p>I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day
+before the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the
+great school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the
+result. But Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when
+this was usually done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the
+news.</p>
+<p>He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of
+steps he took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and
+devising every sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard
+hasty steps, and Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with
+haste, and bright with excitement.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah! old fellow," he cried, seizing both Eric's hands; "I
+never felt so glad in my life;" and he shook his friend's arms up
+and down, laughing joyously.</p>
+<p>"Well! tell me," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales," "you've got head remove you
+see, in spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and
+I congratulate you with all my heart."</p>
+<p>"No?" said Eric, "have I really?--you're not joking? Oh!
+hurrah!--I must rush in and tell them;" and he bounded off.</p>
+<p>In a second he was back at Russell's side. "What a selfish
+animal I am! Where are you placed, Russell?"</p>
+<p>"Oh! magnificent; I'm third;--far higher than I expected."</p>
+<p>"I'm so glad," said Eric. "Come in with me and tell them. I'm
+head remove, mother," he shouted, springing into the parlor where
+his father and mother sat.</p>
+<p>In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood
+by for the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to
+tell them that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in
+his eye.</p>
+<p>"Poor boy! I'm afraid you're disappointed," said Mrs. Williams
+kindly, drawing him to her side.</p>
+<p>"Oh no, no! it's not <i>that</i>," said Russell, hastily, as he
+lifted his swimming eyes towards her face.</p>
+<p>"Are you hurt, Russell?" asked Eric, surprised.</p>
+<p>"Oh! no; don't ask me; I am only foolish to-day;" and with a
+burst of sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams' neck. She
+folded him to her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs
+would let him speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, "It is but
+a year since I became an orphan."</p>
+<p>"Dearest child," she said, "look on me as a mother; I love you
+very dearly for your own sake as well as Eric's."</p>
+<p>Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend
+the rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all
+his usual sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a
+stroll down the bay, and talked over the term and the
+examination.</p>
+<p>They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched
+the tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory
+of evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet
+happiness, not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the
+next day.</p>
+<p>At last Eric broke the silence. "Russell, let me always call you
+Edwin, and call me Eric."</p>
+<p>"Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy." And
+the two boys squeezed each other's hands, and looked into each
+other's faces, and silently promised that they would be loving
+friends for ever.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE SECOND TERM</h3>
+<blockquote>"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our
+vines; for our<br>
+vines have tender grapes."--CANT. ii. 15.</blockquote>
+<p>The second term at school is generally the great test of the
+strength of a boy's principles and resolutions. During the first
+term the novelty, the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments,
+the respect for authorities, the desire to measure himself with his
+companions--all tend to keep him right and diligent. But many of
+these incentives are removed after the first brush of novelty, and
+many a lad who has given good promise at first, turns out, after a
+short probation, idle, or vicious, or indifferent.</p>
+<p>But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On
+the contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the
+prestige of having been head boy; and as he still continued under
+Mr. Gordon, he really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct
+towards him, and recover, if possible, his lost esteem.</p>
+<p>His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud
+of it, and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully
+sharing his feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of
+school life than his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart
+lest "he should follow a multitude to do evil."</p>
+<p>The "cribbing," which had astonished and pained Eric at first,
+was more flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a
+chronic form. In all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to
+write out in a large hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and
+dexterously pin it to the front of Mr. Gordon's desk. There any boy
+who chose could read it off with little danger of detection, and,
+as before, the only boys who refused to avail themselves of this
+trickery were Eric, Russell, and Owen.</p>
+<p>Eric did <i>not</i> yield to it; never once did he suffer his
+eyes to glance at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But
+although this was the case, he never spoke against the practice to
+the other boys, even when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would
+laugh when any one told him how he had escaped "skewing"
+(<i>i.e.</i> being turned) by reading it off; and he even went so
+far as to allow them to suppose that he wouldn't himself object to
+take advantage of the master's unsuspicious confidence.</p>
+<p>"I say, Williams," said Duncan, one morning as they strolled
+into the school-yard, "do you know your Rep.?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, "not very well; I haven't given more than ten
+minutes to it."</p>
+<p>"Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets?
+Russel and Montagu have taken the court."</p>
+<p>"But I shall skew."</p>
+<p>"Oh no, you needn't, you know. I'll take care to pin it up on
+the desk near you."</p>
+<p>"Well, I don't much care. At any rate I'll chance it." And off
+the boys ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the
+last quarter of an hour before school-time in learning his lesson.
+Russell and he stood the other two, and they were very well
+matched. They had finished two splendid games, and each side had
+been victorious in turn, when Duncan, in the highest spirits,
+shouted, "Now, Russell, for the conqueror."</p>
+<p>"Get some one else in my place," said Russell; "I don't know my
+Rep., and must cut and learn it."</p>
+<p>"O bother the Rep.," said Montagu; "somebody's sure to write it
+out in school, and old Gordon'll never see."</p>
+<p>"You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that."</p>
+<p>"O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you're quite right; I only
+wish I was as good."</p>
+<p>"What a capital fellow he is," continued Montagu, leaning on his
+racquet and looking after him, as Russell left the court; "but I
+say, Williams, you're not going too, are you?"</p>
+<p>"I think I must, I don't know half my lesson."</p>
+<p>"O no! don't go; there's Llewellyn; he'll take Russell's place,
+and we <i>must</i> have the conquering game."</p>
+<p>Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into
+school, hot, vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as
+Russell strolled in, whispering, "I've had lots of time to get up
+the Horace, and know it pat."</p>
+<p>Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should
+have plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But
+another temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham
+whispered, "Williams, it's your turn to write out the Horace; I did
+last time, you know."</p>
+<p>Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general
+cheating. Everybody seemed to assume now that <i>he</i> at any rate
+didn't think much of it, and he had never claimed his real right up
+to that time of asserting his innocence. But this was a step
+further than he had ever gone before. He drew back--</p>
+<p>"My <i>turn</i>, what do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by
+turns."</p>
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?"</p>
+<p>"Of course not; you wouldn't expect the saints to be guilty of
+such a thing, would you?"</p>
+<p>"I'd rather not, Graham," he said, getting very red.</p>
+<p>"Well, that <i>is</i> cowardly," answered Graham, angrily; "then
+I suppose I must do it myself."</p>
+<p>"Here, I'll do it," said Eric suddenly; "shy us the paper."</p>
+<p>His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.</p>
+<p>"There," he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; "I've
+written it, and I'll have nothing more to do with it."</p>
+<p>Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the
+paper, succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk.
+Eric had never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and
+firmly believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it
+badly on purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so
+Eric be got once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of
+apprehension, and when put on, was totally unable to say a word of
+his Rep. But low as he had fallen, he would not cheat like the
+rest; he kept his eyes resolutely turned away from the guilty
+paper, and even refused to repeat the words which were prompted in
+his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon, after waiting a
+moment, said--</p>
+<p>"Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can't have looked at
+it. Go to the bottom and write it out five times."</p>
+<p>"<i>Write it out</i>" thought Eric; "this is retribution, I
+suppose;" and covered with shame and vexation, he took his place
+below the malicious Barker at the bottom of the form.</p>
+<p>It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and
+Mr. Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was
+this done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the
+room began to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet
+pinned in front of the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little
+pattering crepitation. In alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out
+the pin, and immediately the paper floated gracefully over
+Russell's head, as he sat at the top of the form, and, after one or
+two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre of the room.</p>
+<p>"Bring me that piece of paper," said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.</p>
+<p>Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously
+around.</p>
+<p>"Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper."</p>
+<p>A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full
+minute in his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust,
+and rising anger struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly
+turned full on Eric, whose writing he recognized, and broke
+out,</p>
+<p>"So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not
+have thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have
+lost my confidence forever. I <i>despise</i> you."</p>
+<p>"Indeed, Sir," said the penitent Eric, "I never meant--"</p>
+<p>"Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall
+report you to Dr. Rowlands."</p>
+<p>The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next,
+and the next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan,
+Barker, all hopeless failures; only two boys had said it
+right--Russell and Owen.</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon's face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised
+pain which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. "False-hearted, dishonorable boys," he exclaimed,
+"henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole
+form, except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every
+half-holiday; not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took
+you for gentlemen. I was mistaken. Go." And so saying, he waved
+them to their seats with imperious disdain.</p>
+<p>They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed,
+kept twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his
+eyes, and even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted
+treachery; the rest were silent and miserable.</p>
+<p>At twelve o'clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr.
+Gordon; they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were
+full of very different feelings.</p>
+<p>Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.</p>
+<p>"You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to
+me. Go--I have nothing to say to you!"</p>
+<p>"But, sir, I want to tell you that--"</p>
+<p>"Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of
+this. Go, I tell you."</p>
+<p>Eric's passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground,
+and burst out, "I <i>will</i> speak, sir; you have been unjust to
+me for a long time, but I will <i>not</i> be--"</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon's cane fell sharply across the boy's back; he
+stopped, glared for a moment; and then saying:</p>
+<p>"Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike
+before you hear me," he angrily left the room, and slammed the door
+violently behind him.</p>
+<p>Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment,
+Russell stood by him.</p>
+<p>"Well, my boy," said the master, softening in a moment, and
+laying his hand gently on Russell's head, "what have you to say?
+You cannot tell how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has
+caused me, to find that <i>you</i> at least are uncontaminated. But
+I <i>knew</i>, Edwin, that I could trust you."</p>
+<p>"O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams." Mr. Gordon's
+brow darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted
+vehemently, "Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the
+<i>second</i> time that he has wilfully deceived me; and this time
+he has involved others too in his base deceit."</p>
+<p>"Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can't think how he came to write
+the paper, but I <i>know</i> that he did not and would not use it.
+Didn't you see yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another
+way when he broke down."</p>
+<p>"It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him," said Mr. Gordon
+coldly, "but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave
+me; I feel very sad, and must have time to think over this
+disgraceful affair."</p>
+<p>Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up
+and down, the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the
+library.</p>
+<p>"O Eric," he said, "how came you to write that paper?"</p>
+<p>"Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have
+explained it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such
+a shame; I don't feel now as if I cared one bit."</p>
+<p>"I am sorry you don't get on with him; but remember you have
+given him in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric,
+I know, but I can't help being sorry that you wrote the paper."</p>
+<p>"But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly
+because I refused at first."</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric," said Russell, "they will ask you to do worse things
+if you yield so easily. I wouldn't say anything to Dr. Rowlands
+about it, if I were you."</p>
+<p>Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He
+gave his father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence,
+and that afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and
+explanation to Mr. Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon
+said, in his most freezing tones, "Williams, at present I shall
+take no further notice of your offence beyond including you in the
+extra lesson every half-holiday."</p>
+<p>From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and
+suspected, and the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He
+grew more careless in work, and more trifling and indifferent in
+manner. Several boys now beat him whom he had easily surpassed
+before, and his energies were for a time entirely directed to
+keeping that supremacy in the games which he had won by his
+activity and strength.</p>
+<p>It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term,
+and the boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or
+lying on the banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little
+knot of his chief friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on
+the grass. At last the bell of the school chapel began to ring, and
+they went in to the afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan
+and Llewellyn, immediately behind the benches allotted to chance
+visitors. The bench in front of them happened on this afternoon to
+be occupied by some rather odd people, viz., an old man with long
+white hair, and two ladies remarkably stout, who were dressed with
+much juvenility, although past middle age. Their appearance
+immediately attracted notice, and no sooner had they taken their
+seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter. The ladies'
+bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves and
+flowers, just peered over the top of the boys' pew, and excited
+much amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the
+solemnity of the place, and the sacred act in which they were
+engaged. He tried to look away, and attend to the service, and for
+a time he partially succeeded, although, seated as he was between
+the two triflers, who were perpetually telegraphing to each other
+their jokes, he found it a difficult task, and secretly he began to
+be much tickled.</p>
+<p>At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned
+a grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first
+hop took it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the
+shoulder of the stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered
+louder, and even Eric could not resist a smile. But when the lady,
+feeling some irritation on her shoulder, raised her hand, and the
+grasshopper took a frightened leap into the centre of the green
+foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none of the three could stand
+it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which they tried in vain
+to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming their
+handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by
+her uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover
+the cause of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At
+last all three began to laugh so violently that several heads were
+turned in their direction, and Dr. Rowlands' stern eye caught sight
+of their levity. He stopped short in his sermon, and for one
+instant transfixed them with his indignant glance. Quiet was
+instantly restored, and alarm reduced them to the most perfect
+order, although the grasshopper still sat imperturbable among the
+artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had discovered that
+for some unknown reason she had been causing considerable
+amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule, looked
+round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.</p>
+<p>Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to
+rise, and after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be
+seated. Eric's heart sank within him.</p>
+<p>"Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!" said the Doctor.
+The boys, with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before
+him.</p>
+<p>"I was sorry to notice," said he, "your shameful conduct in
+chapel yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were
+making yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal
+defects of others. The lessons you receive here must be futile
+indeed, if they do not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and
+courtesy to man. It gives me special pain, Williams, to have
+observed that you, too, a boy high in your remove, were guilty of
+this most culpable levity. You will all come to me at twelve
+o'clock in the library."</p>
+<p>At twelve o'clock they each received a flogging. The pain
+inflicted was not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into
+similar trouble before, cared very little for it, and went out
+laughing to tell the number of swishes they had received, to a
+little crowd of boys who were lingering outside the library door.
+But not so Eric. It was his <i>first</i> flogging, and he felt it
+deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was intolerable. At that
+moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon, he hated his
+schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the thought
+haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the
+knot of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground,
+angry and impenitent.</p>
+<p>At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune;
+he was ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious
+of him, and jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him
+by without notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to
+him and took his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his
+late disgrace would have made Eric flame out into passion; but
+Russell was too kind to allude to it then. He talked as if nothing
+had happened, and tried to turn his friend's thoughts to more
+pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated his kindness, but he was still
+sullen and fretful, and it was not until they parted that his
+better feelings won the day. But when Russell said to him "Good
+bye, Eric," it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin's hand, he
+wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.</p>
+<p>"Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends
+were like you, I should never get into these troubles."</p>
+<p>"Nay, Eric," said Russell, "you may be far better than I. You
+have far batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice."</p>
+<p>They parted by Mr. Williams' door, and Russell walked home sad
+and thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother's greeting,
+rushed up to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed
+like a child at the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not
+refreshing tears; he felt something hard at his heart, and, as he
+prayed neither for help nor forgiveness, it was pride and
+rebellion, not penitence, that made him miserable.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AFFECTIONS</h3>
+<blockquote>"Keep the spell of home affection.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Still alive in every heart;<br>
+May its power, with mild direction,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Draw our love from self apart,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till thy children<br>
+Feel that thou their Father art."<br>
+<br>
+SCHOOL HYMN.</blockquote>
+<p>"I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric," said
+little Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning
+school; "I wish you would come and look at them."</p>
+<p>"O, I can't come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with
+some fellows directly."</p>
+<p>"But it won't take you a minute; do come."</p>
+<p>"What a little bore you are. Where are the things?"</p>
+<p>"O, never mind, Eric, if you don't want to look at them," said
+Vernon, hurt at his brother's rough manner.</p>
+<p>"First you ask me to look, and then say 'never mind,'" said Eric
+impatiently; "here, show me them."</p>
+<p>The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.</p>
+<p>"Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket."</p>
+<p>Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.</p>
+<p>"You aren't so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be."</p>
+<p>"What nonsense! and all because I don't admire those nasty
+red-jelly things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any
+day. What a little goose you are, Vernon!"</p>
+<p>Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with
+a sigh, when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.</p>
+<p>"Well, Verny," he said, "have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you've got
+one of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky
+little chap you are!"</p>
+<p>Vernon was delighted.</p>
+<p>"Mind you take care of them," said Russell. "Where did you find
+them?"</p>
+<p>"I have been down the shore getting them."</p>
+<p>"And have you had a pleasant morning?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by
+myself, and Eric never comes with me now."</p>
+<p>"Naughty Eric," said Russell, playfully. "Never mind, Verny; you
+and I will cut him, and go by ourselves."</p>
+<p>Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of
+Russel's unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy,
+struck him. He threw his arms round his brother's neck, and said,
+"We will both go with you, Verny, next half holiday."</p>
+<p>"O, thank you, Eric," said his brother; and the two schoolboys
+ran out. But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with
+the promise of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his
+promise, and left Russell to amuse his little brother, while he
+went off, as usual, to the playground.</p>
+<p>There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them
+up deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the
+gradual but steady falling off in Eric's character, and the first
+thing she noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When
+they first came to Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his
+father and mother in their walks; but now he went seldom or never;
+and even if he did go, he seemed ashamed, while with them, to meet
+any of his schoolfellows. The spirit of false independence was
+awake and growing in her darling son. The bright afternoons they
+had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking for sea-flowers
+among the lonely rocks of the neighboring headlands,--the walks at
+evening and sunset among the hills, and the sweet counsel they had
+together, when the boy's character opened like a flower in the
+light and warmth of his mother's love,--the long twilights when he
+would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees, and
+her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were
+becoming to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.</p>
+<p>It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so
+because they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps
+for ever. The time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June,
+and Mr. Williams' term of furlough ended in two months. The
+holidays at Roslyn were the months of July and August, and towards
+their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams intended to leave Vernon at
+Fairholm, and start for India--sending back Eric by himself as a
+boarder in Dr. Rowlands' house.</p>
+<p>After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run
+straight down to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it
+was. They stripped off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined
+the beach, and then running along the sands, would swim out far
+into the bay till their heads looked like small dots glancing in
+the sunshine. This year Eric had learned to swim, and he enjoyed
+the bathing more than any other pleasure.</p>
+<p>One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse
+themselves on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on
+the sands by the ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two
+boys found great fun in hunting audacious little crabs, or catching
+the shrimps that shuffled about in the shallow water. At last Eric
+picked up a piece of wood which he found lying on the beach, and
+said, "What do you say to coming crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of
+stick will do capitally to thrust between the rocks in the holes
+where they lie?"</p>
+<p>Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to
+seek a likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but
+in the excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of
+time.</p>
+<p>The Williams', for the boys' convenience, usually dined at one,
+but on this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however,
+he didn't appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was
+accidentally detained, and expecting him to come in every minute.
+But two o'clock came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric;
+three, but still no Eric. Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed,
+and even her husband grew uneasy.</p>
+<p>Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing
+Duncan pass by, ran down to ask him, "If he knew where Eric
+was?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Duncan; "last time I saw him was on the shore. We
+bathed together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when
+I dressed. But I hav'n't seen him since. If you like we'll go and
+look for him. I daresay he's on the beach somewhere."</p>
+<p>But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned
+with this intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required
+all her husband's firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits.
+There was enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to
+ask the boys who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the
+answer always was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs,
+suddenly noticed by the sun that it was getting late.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious, Edwin," said Eric, pulling out his watch, "it's
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened
+they'll be at home;" and running back as fast as they could, they
+reached the house at five o'clock, and rushed into the room.</p>
+<p>"Eric, Eric," said Mrs. Williams faintly, "where have you been?
+has anything happened to you, my child?"</p>
+<p>"No, mother, nothing. I've only been crabfishing with Russell,
+and we forgot the time."</p>
+<p>"Thoughtless boy," said his father, "your mother has been in an
+agony about you."</p>
+<p>Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in
+her arms, and mother and son wept in a long embrace. "Only two
+months," whispered Mrs. Williams, "and we shall leave you, dear
+boy, perhaps forever. O do not forget your love for us in the midst
+of new companions."</p>
+<p>The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only
+instead of first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to
+sit among the crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his
+parents were disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously
+mortified. But he had full confidence in his own powers, and made
+the strongest resolutions to work hard the next half-year, when he
+had got out of "that Gordon's" clutches.</p>
+<p>The Williams' spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed,
+in the prospect of losing them, Eric's feelings to his parents came
+out in all their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the
+father and mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all
+their deep affection, were employed in leaving on the boy's heart
+lasting impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that
+their love would encircle him for ever with its heavenly
+tenderness, and their pure prayers rise for him night and day to
+the throne of God.</p>
+<p>The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it
+was. In the wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon
+seemed to hear the sound of everlasting farewells. It is God's
+mercy that ordains how seldom young hearts have to endure such
+misery.</p>
+<p>At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away;
+and during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their
+dear boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so
+Eric. He sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking
+the stillness every now and then with his convulsive sobs.</p>
+<p>"O Aunty," he cried, "do you think I shall ever see them again?
+I have been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love.
+O, I wish I had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them."</p>
+<p>"Yes, dearest," said Mrs. Trevor, "I have no doubt we shall all
+meet again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you
+know, and that will not seem very long. And then they will be
+writing continually to us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how
+gladdened their hearts will be to hear that you and Vernon are good
+boys, and getting on well."</p>
+<p>"O, I <i>will</i> be a better boy, I <i>will</i> indeed," said
+Eric; "I mean to do great things, and they shall have nothing but
+good reports of me."</p>
+<p>"God helping you, dear," said his aunt, pushing back his hair
+from his forehead, and kissing it softly; "without his help, Eric,
+we are all weak indeed."</p>
+<p>She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she
+known the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from
+human eyes!</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC A BOARDER</h3>
+<blockquote>"We were, fair queen,<br>
+Two lads that thought there was no more behind,<br>
+But such a day to-morrow as to-day,<br>
+And to be boy eternal."--WINTER'S TALE, i. 2.</blockquote>
+<p>The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm,
+and Eric was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands'
+house.</p>
+<p>As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the
+well-known faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Williams! here you are at last," said Duncan, seizing
+his hand. "How have you enjoyed the holidays? It's so jolly to see
+you again."</p>
+<p>"So you're coming as a boarder," said Montagu, "and to our noble
+house, too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and
+let's watch whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we
+shall be starting in a few minutes."</p>
+<p>"Ha! there's Russell," said Eric, springing to the gangway, and
+warmly shaking his friend's hand as he came on board.</p>
+<p>"Have your father and mother gone, Eric?" said Russell, after a
+few minutes' talk.</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing
+his eyes. "They are on their way back to India."</p>
+<p>"I'm so sorry," said Russell; "I don't think anyone has ever
+been so kind to me as they were."</p>
+<p>"And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last
+thing, that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave
+me something for you." Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a
+little box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It
+contained a pretty silver watch, and inside the case was
+engraved--"Edwin Russell, from the mother of his friend Eric."</p>
+<p>The boy's eyes glistened with joyful surprise. "How good they
+are," he said; "I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we
+get to Roslyn."</p>
+<p>They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as
+a new comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands' drawing-room,
+where the head master was sitting with his wife and children. His
+greeting was dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying "good
+night," he gave Eric a few plain words of affectionate advice.</p>
+<p>At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life
+and spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the
+flush and flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in
+another minute entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands'
+boarders assembled, and where most of them lived, except the few
+privileged sixth form, and other boys who had "studies." A cheer
+greeted his entrance into the room. By this time most of the
+Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to have him among their
+number. They knew that he was clever enough to get them credit in
+the school, and, what was better still, that he would be a capital
+accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except Barker,
+there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.</p>
+<p>The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one
+end was a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys
+round the great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy
+could seldom get. The large windows opened on the green playground;
+and iron bars prevented any exit through them. This large room,
+called "the boarders' room," was the joint habitation of Eric and
+some thirty other boys; and at one side ran a range of shelves and
+drawers, where they kept their books and private property. There
+the younger Rowlandites breakfasted, dined, had tea, and, for the
+most part, lived. Here, too, they had to get through all such work
+as was not performed under direct supervision. How many and what
+varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb walls any
+feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy's name, as it was rudely cut on the
+oak panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen
+him, the good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there
+suffered--what <i>noble</i> histories would the records unfold of
+honor and success, of baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs;
+what <i>awful</i> histories of hopes blighted and habits learned,
+of wasted talents and ruined lives!</p>
+<p>The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven
+the boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by
+breakfast. At nine they went into school, where they continued,
+with little interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and,
+except on half-holidays, went into school again from two till five.
+The lock-up bell rang at dusk; at six o'clock they had tea--which
+was a repetition of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever
+else they liked--and immediately after sat down to "preparation,"
+which lasted from seven till nine. During this time one of the
+masters was always in the room, who allowed them to read amusing
+books, or employ themselves in any other quiet way they liked, as
+soon as ever they had learnt their lessons for the following day.
+At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read prayers, after which the boys
+were dismissed to bed.</p>
+<p>The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a
+suite of rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other;
+six on each side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between
+them, so that, when all the doors were open, you could see from one
+end of the whole range to the other. The only advantage of this
+arrangement was, that one master walking up and down could keep all
+the boys in order while they were getting into bed. About a quarter
+of an hour was allowed for this process, and then the master went
+along the rooms putting out the lights. A few of the "study-boys"
+were allowed to sit up till ten, and their bedrooms were elsewhere.
+The consequence was, that in these dormitories the boys felt
+perfectly secure from any interruption. There were only two ways by
+which a master could get at them; one up the great staircase, and
+through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme end of the
+range, which led into Dr. Rowlands' house, but was generally kept
+locked.</p>
+<p>In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their
+order in the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there
+were nearly sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric's
+arrival, collected in the boarders' room, the rest being in their
+studies, or in the classrooms which some were allowed to use in
+order to prevent too great a crowd in the room below.</p>
+<p>At nine o'clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the
+boarders took their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible
+before him; and when the school servants had also come in, Dr.
+Rowlands read a chapter, and offered up an extempore prayer. While
+reading, he generally interspersed a few pointed remarks or graphic
+explanations, and Eric learnt much in this simple way. The prayer,
+though short, was always well suited to the occasion, and
+calculated to carry with it the attention of the worshippers.</p>
+<p>Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and
+Eric found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the
+lavatory, occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys
+named Bull and Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were
+all tired with their voyage, and the excitement of coming back to
+school, so that they did not talk much that night, and before long
+Eric was fast asleep, dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should
+have a very happy life at Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no
+end of distinctions, and make no end of new friends.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"TAKING UP"</h3>
+<blockquote>"We are not worst at once; the course of evil<br>
+Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,<br>
+An infant's hand might stop the breach with clay;<br>
+But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--<br>
+Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain<br>
+To stem the headlong current!"--ANON.</blockquote>
+<p>With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when
+the new school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the
+"Shell," as the form was called which intervened between the fourth
+and the fifth. Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes
+with him, but his other friends were left for the present in the
+form below.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast
+with Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor
+so vigorous in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not
+catch fire from him so much as from the fourth-form master. But he
+was a far truer and deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous
+a sense of honor, and detestation of every form of moral obliquity,
+he never yielded to those storms of passionate indignation which
+Mr. Gordon found it impossible to control. Disappointed in early
+life, subjected to the deepest and most painful trials, Mr. Rose's
+fine character had come out like gold from the flame. He now lived
+in and for the boys alone, and his whole life was one long
+self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt this,
+and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he
+neither expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for
+his self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and
+self-sacrificing love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were
+instrumental in saving one of his charge from evil, or turning one
+wanderer from the error of his ways.</p>
+<p>He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself,
+but lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in
+Dr. Rowlands' house.</p>
+<p>Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy
+was sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears,
+and given him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon
+happily undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much
+kindness, and he felt that, however bad he had been before, he
+would now have an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin
+again a career of hope. He worked admirably at first, and even
+beat, for the first week or two, his old competitors, Owen and
+Russell.</p>
+<p>From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few
+could look at the boy's bright blue eyes and noble face without
+doing so, and the more when they knew that his father and mother
+were thousands of miles away, leaving him alone in the midst of so
+many dangers. Often the master asked him, and Russell, and Owen,
+and Montagu, to supper with him in the library, which gave them the
+privilege of sitting up later than usual, and enjoying a more quiet
+and pleasant evening than was possible in the noisy rooms. Boys and
+master were soon quite at home with each other, and in this way Mr.
+Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a useful warning without
+the formality of regular discipline or stereotyped instruction.</p>
+<p>Eric found the life of the "boarders' room" far rougher than he
+had expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the
+hours of preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often
+dull enough. Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular
+indoor boys' game like "baste the bear," or "high-cockolorum;" or
+they would have amusing "ghost-hunts," as they called them, after
+some dressed-up boy among the dark corridors and staircases. This
+was good enough fun, but at other times they got tired of games,
+and could not get them up, and then numbers of boys felt the idle
+time hang heavy on their hands. When this was the case, some of the
+worse sort, as might have been expected, would fill up their
+leisure with bullying or mischief.</p>
+<p>For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and
+annoyed Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal
+tables were placed two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks,
+and this was the only light the boys had. Of course, these candles
+often, wanted snuffing, and as snuffers were sure to be thrown
+about and broken as soon as they were brought into the room, the
+only resource was to snuff them with the fingers, at which all the
+boys became great adepts from necessity. One evening Barker, having
+snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the smouldering wick
+unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive fellow named
+Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright's perceiving it, and at
+last Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--</p>
+<p>"I see a chimney," and laughed.</p>
+<p>Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room
+had noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who
+unconsciously wrote on at the letter he was sending home.</p>
+<p>Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker
+again, said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell
+said quietly, "There's something on your head, Wright," and the
+little boy putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid
+wick.</p>
+<p>"What a shame!" he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a
+smudge.</p>
+<p>"Who told you to interfere?" said Barker, turning fiercely to
+Russell. Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him,
+and Barker, after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on
+another boy. This time Russell thought that every one might be on
+the look out for himself, and so went on with his work. But when
+Barker again chanted maliciously--</p>
+<p>"I see a chimney," every boy who happened to be reading or
+writing, uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the
+victim or no; and so things continued for half an hour.</p>
+<p>Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when
+constantly repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any
+quiet work without constant danger of having some one creep up
+behind him and put the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his
+head; and neither Barker nor any of his little gang of imitators
+seemed disposed to give up their low mischief.</p>
+<p>One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure,
+from seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one
+had been treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his
+head, and sure enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was
+furious, and springing up, he shouted--</p>
+<p>"By Jove! I <i>won't</i> stand this any longer."</p>
+<p>"You'll have to sit it then," said Barker.</p>
+<p>"O, it was <i>you</i> who did it, was it? Then take that;" and,
+seizing one of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker's
+head. Barker dodged, but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it
+whizzed by, and the blood flowed fast.</p>
+<p>"I'll kill you for that," said Barker, leaping at Eric, and
+seizing him by the hair.</p>
+<p>"You'll get killed yourself then, you brute," said Upton,
+Russell's cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the
+room--and he boxed his ears as a premonitory admonition. "But, I
+say, young un," continued he to Eric, "this kind of thing won't do,
+you snow. You'll get into rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows'
+heads at that rate."</p>
+<p>"He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by
+his filthy tricks," said Eric hotly; "some one must stop him, and I
+will somehow, if no one else does."</p>
+<p>"It wasn't I who put the thing on your head, you passionate
+young fool," growled Barker.</p>
+<p>"Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it."</p>
+<p>"You shut up, Barker," said Upton; "I've heard of your ways
+before, and when I catch you at your tricks, I'll teach you a
+lesson. Come up to my study, Williams, if you like."</p>
+<p>Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in
+the school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and
+often interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised
+him, and did anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do
+no harm, but he did great harm. He was full of misdirected
+impulses, and had a great notion of being manly, which he thought
+consisted in a fearless disregard of all school rules, and the
+performance of the wildest tricks. For this reason he was never
+very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked very much, but
+who was too scrupulous and independent to please him. Eric, on the
+other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to admire him
+in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready pupil in
+all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his
+example went to undermine all Eric's lingering good resolutions,
+and ruin for ever the boy of whom he was so fond.</p>
+<p>From this time Eric was much in Upton's study, and constantly by
+his side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and
+position in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their
+friendship was broken every now and then by little quarrels, which
+united them all the more closely after they had not spoken to each
+other perhaps for a week.</p>
+<p>"Your cousin Upton has 'taken up' Williams," said Montagu to
+Russell one afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the
+beach, with Eric's arm in Upton's.</p>
+<p>"Yes, I am sorry for it."</p>
+<p>"So am I. We shan't see so much of him now."</p>
+<p>"O, that's not my only reason," answered Russell, who had a rare
+habit of always going straight to the point.</p>
+<p>"You mean you don't like the 'taking-up' system."</p>
+<p>"No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used
+to fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in
+the school, and that the two would stand to each other in the
+relation of knight to squire. You know what the young knights were
+taught, Monty--to keep their bodies under, and bring them into
+subjection; to love God, and speak the truth always. That sounds
+very grand and noble to me. But when a big fellow takes up a little
+one <i>you</i> know pretty well that <i>those</i> are not the kind
+of lessons he teaches."</p>
+<p>"No, Russell; you're quite right. It's bad for a fellow in every
+way. First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence;
+then ten to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character
+from really coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally
+gets paid out in kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of
+the rest; and if his protector happens to leave, or anything of
+that kind, woe betide him!"</p>
+<p>"No fear for Eric in that line, though," said Russell; "he can
+hold his own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a
+most jolly fellow. I don't think even Upton will spoil him; it's
+chiefly the soft self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no
+iron, who get spoilt by being 'taken up.'"</p>
+<p>Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from
+Upton, and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he
+was too manly a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to
+sink into the effeminate condition which usually grows on the young
+delectables who have the misfortune to be "taken up."</p>
+<p>Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A
+coolness grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a
+little mutual contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did
+nothing but grind all day long, and had no geniality in him; while
+Owen pitied the love of popularity which so often led Eric into
+delinquencies, which he himself despised. Owen had, indeed, but few
+friends in the school; the only boy who knew him well enough to
+respect and like him thoroughly was Russell, who found in him the
+only one who took the same high, ground with himself. But Russell
+loved the good in every one, and was loved by all in return, and
+Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over his
+increasing failures.</p>
+<p>One day as the two were walking together in the green
+playground, Mr. Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their
+caps, he nodded and smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly
+noticed, and did not return Eric's salute. He had begun to dislike
+the latter more and more, and had given him up altogether as one of
+the reprobates.</p>
+<p>"What a surly devil that is," said Eric, when he had passed;
+"did you see how he purposely cut me?"</p>
+<p>"A surly ...? Oh Eric, that's the first time I ever heard you
+swear."</p>
+<p>Eric blushed. He hadn't meant the word to slip out in Russell's
+hearing, though similar expressions were common enough in his talk
+with other boys. But he didn't like to be reproved, even by
+Russell, and in the ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--</p>
+<p>"Pooh, Edwin, you don't call that swearing, do you? You're so
+strict, so religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there
+are none like you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here."</p>
+<p>Russell was silent.</p>
+<p>"Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was
+thinking the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the
+only two fellows here who don't swear."</p>
+<p>Russell still said nothing.</p>
+<p>"And, after all, I didn't swear; I only called that fellow a
+surly devil."</p>
+<p>"O, hush! Eric, hush!" said Russell sadly. "You wouldn't have
+said so half-a-year ago."</p>
+<p>Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose
+before him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home,
+thinking of him, praying for him, centring all their hopes in him.
+In him!--and he knew how many things he was daily doing and saying,
+which would cut them to the heart. He knew that all his moral
+consciousness was fast vanishing, and leaving him a bad and
+reckless boy.</p>
+<p>In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how
+shocked he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became
+too familiar to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the
+habit himself. Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite
+a graceful sound in his ears; a sound of entire freedom and
+independence of moral restraint; an open casting off, as it were,
+of all authority, so that he had begun to admire it, particularly
+in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero, Upton; and he
+recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out suddenly
+in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how Upton
+smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and
+gradually grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded
+him that he was doing wrong.</p>
+<p>He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with
+him for a moment, but at length he answered, "O Edwin, I fear I am
+getting utterly bad; I wish I were more like you," he added, in a
+low sad tone.</p>
+<p>"Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am
+myself; but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to
+all the bad things round us. Remember, I know more of school than
+you."</p>
+<p>The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his
+bedside, and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"</h3>
+<blockquote>"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark
+night." PROV. vii. 9.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was
+half-past nine. It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing
+with turbulent life, should lie down quietly, and get to sleep.
+They never dreamt of doing so. Very soon after the masters were
+gone, the sconces were often relighted, sometimes in separate
+dormitories, sometimes in all of them, and the boys amused
+themselves by reading novels or making a row. They would play
+various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over the
+beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers
+off their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well
+wielded, especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very
+efficient instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn't
+hurt very much, even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these
+matches were excellent trials of strength and temper, and were
+generally accompanied with shouts of laughter, never ending until
+one side was driven back to its own room. Many a long and tough
+struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his prowess was so universally
+acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was a match for any other,
+and far stronger in this warfare than most of the rest. At
+bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was
+the only <i>fain&eacute;ant</i> among them, though he did
+occasionally help to keep off the smaller fry.</p>
+<p>Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been
+placed in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn
+school. Backward in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed
+good looks, of mean disposition and feeble intellect, he was the
+very worst specimen of a boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even
+Barker so deeply excited Eric's repulsion and contempt. And yet,
+since the affair of Upton, Barker and Eric were declared enemies,
+and, much to the satisfaction of the latter, never spoke to each
+other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed him--he was
+professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even
+of this worthless boy.</p>
+<p>Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably
+profess to like him "well enough," but if they were honest, they
+would generally end by allowing their contempt.</p>
+<p>"We've got a nice set in No. 7, haven't we?" said Duncan to Eric
+one day.</p>
+<p>"Capital. Old Llewellyn's a stunner, and I like Attlay and
+Graham."</p>
+<p>"Don't you like Bull then?"</p>
+<p>"O yes; pretty well."</p>
+<p>The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the
+confidential augurs, burst out laughing.</p>
+<p>"You know you detest him," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"No, I don't. He never did me any harm that I know of."</p>
+<p>"Him!--well, <i>I</i> detest him."</p>
+<p>"Well!" answered Eric, "on coming to think of it, so do I. And
+yet he is popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is."</p>
+<p>"He's not <i>really</i> popular. I've often noticed that fellows
+pretty generally despise him, yet somehow don't like to say
+so."</p>
+<p>"Why do you dislike him, Duncan?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know. Why do you?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know either."</p>
+<p>Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet
+if they had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found
+out in their secret souls the reasons of their dislike.</p>
+<p>Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often
+bragged as the acm&eacute; of desirability and wickedness. He was
+always telling boys what they did at "his old school," and he quite
+inflamed the minds of such as fell under his influence by
+marvellous tales of the wild and wilful things which he and his
+former school-fellows had done. Many and many a scheme of sin and
+mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and carried out on the
+model of Bull's reminiscences of his previous life.</p>
+<p>He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil
+than any other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the
+general odium was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience
+so often as a ground of superiority, that at last the claim was
+silently allowed. He spoke from the platform of more advanced
+iniquity, and the others listened first curiously, then eagerly to
+his words.</p>
+<p>"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Such was the
+temptation which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and
+Eric among the number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually,
+he dropped into their too willing ears the poison of his polluting
+acquirements.</p>
+<p>In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting
+mind.</p>
+<p>I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry
+over it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a
+true picture of what school life <i>sometimes</i> is, I must not
+pass it by altogether.</p>
+<p>The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No.
+7, he was shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he
+felt himself blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then
+growing pale again, while a hot dew was left upon his forehead.
+Bull was the speaker; but this time there was a silence, and the
+subject instantly dropped. The others felt that "a new boy" was in
+the room; they did not know how he would take it; they were
+unconsciously abashed.</p>
+<p>Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation
+before, they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of
+yielding to it.</p>
+<p>Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation,
+corruption and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the
+scale of your destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak
+out, boy! Tell these fellows that unseemly words wound your
+conscience; tell them that they are ruinous, sinful, damnable;
+speak out and save yourself and the rest. Virtue is strong and
+beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful presence. Lose
+your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel which the
+whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect chrysolite," cannot
+replace.</p>
+<p>Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this
+his hour of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses
+and the fiery chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the
+dark array of spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a
+pitying finger to the yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair
+that even now perhaps is being cleft under his feet. Show him the
+garlands of the present and the past, withering at the touch of the
+Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity show him the canker which
+he is introducing into the sap of the tree of life, which shall
+cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its blossom to go
+up as dust.</p>
+<p>But the sense of sin was on Eric's mind. How <i>could</i> he
+speak? was not his own language sometimes profane? How--how could
+he profess to reprove another boy on the ground of morality, when
+he himself said did things less ruinous perhaps, but equally
+forbidden?</p>
+<p>For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay
+silent. Since Bull's last words nobody had spoken. They were going
+to sleep. It was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment
+passed by for ever; Eric had listened without objection to foul
+words, and the irreparable harm was done.</p>
+<p>How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God
+had provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far
+harder to resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.</p>
+<p>Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the
+destinies of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day,
+the hour a common hour. We never thought twice about the change of
+intention, which by one of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life
+determined for good or for evil, for happiness or misery, the color
+of our remaining years. The stroke of the pen was done in a moment
+which led unconsciously to our ruin; the word was uttered quite
+heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision of our weal or
+woe.</p>
+<p>Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of
+an angel's wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an
+angel's voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments
+which passed, until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell
+asleep.</p>
+<p>Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once
+remembered what had passed. Bull's words haunted him; he could not
+forget them; they burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever.
+He was moody and petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his
+aversion to Bull. Ah Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you,
+but prayerfulness would; one word, Eric, at the throne of
+grace--one prayer before you go down among the boys, that God in
+his mercy would wash away, in the blood of his dear Son, your
+crimson stains, and keep your conscience and memory clean.</p>
+<p>The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a
+few formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have
+given way to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard
+Bull's footstep, and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast;
+so Eric did not pray.</p>
+<p>Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory
+No. 7. On the contrary, they generally flashed along in the
+liveliest way, till some one said "Good night;" and then the boys
+turned off to sleep. Eric knew this, and instantly conjectured that
+it was only a sort of respect for him, and ignorance of the manner
+in which he would consider it, that prevented Duncan and the rest
+from taking any further notice of Bull's remark. It was therefore
+no good disburdening his mind to any of them; but he determined to
+speak about the matter to Russell in their next walk.</p>
+<p>They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had
+discontinued the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys
+taking their exercise under a master's inspection. Boys are not
+generally fond of constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays
+they almost entirely confined their open-air exercise to the
+regular games, and many of them hardly left the play-ground
+boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they often went walks, each
+with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric first came as a
+boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and many a
+pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even
+this intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more
+often gone with his new friend Upton.</p>
+<p>"Come a walk, boy," said Upton, as they left the
+dining-room.</p>
+<p>"O excuse me to-day, Upton," said Eric, "I'm going with your
+cousin."</p>
+<p>"Oh <i>very</i> well," said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping
+to make Eric jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had
+"taken up" before he knew Williams.</p>
+<p>Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said,
+"Come a stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?"</p>
+<p>"O yes," said Russell cheerfully; "why, we haven't seen each
+other for some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant
+to drop me, Eric."</p>
+<p>He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his
+head, for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all
+the school, and especially at his friendship with so leading a
+fellow as Upton, Eric had <i>not</i> seen much of his friend since
+their last conversation about swearing. Indeed, conscious of
+failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in Russell's company.</p>
+<p>He faltered, and answered humbly, "I hope you will never drop
+<i>me</i>, Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to
+speak to you to-day."</p>
+<p>In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric's, as they
+turned towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just
+going to begin, when they heard Montagu's voice calling after
+them--</p>
+<p>"I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with
+you?"</p>
+<p>"O yes, Monty, do," said Russell, "It will be quite like old
+times; now that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to
+sing 'When shall we three meet again?'"</p>
+<p>Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words
+jarred in Eric's heart. He was silent, and answered in
+monosyllables, so the walk was provokingly dull. At last they
+reached Fort Island, and sat down by the ruined chapel looking on
+the sea.</p>
+<p>"Why what's the row with you, old boy," said Montagu, playfully
+shaking Eric by the shoulder, "you're as silent as Zimmerman on
+Solitude, and as doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you've
+been going through a select course of Blair's Grave, Young's Night
+Thoughts, and Drelincourt on Death."</p>
+<p>To his surprise Eric's head was still bent, and, at last, he
+heard a deep suppressed sigh.</p>
+<p>"My dear child, what is the matter with you?" said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, "surely you're not offended at my
+nonsense?"</p>
+<p>Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he
+gulped down his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull's
+vile words the night before. They listened in silence.</p>
+<p>"I knew it must come, Eric," said Russell at last, "and I am so
+sorry you didn't speak at the time."</p>
+<p>"Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your
+dormitories?" asked Eric.</p>
+<p>"No," said Russell.</p>
+<p>"Very little," said Montagu.</p>
+<p>A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and
+looked away.</p>
+<p>"Let me tell you," said Russell solemnly; "my father (he is dead
+now you know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this
+kind of thing. I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such
+coarse knowledge as is forced upon one here, and with my
+reminiscences of home, I could not bear even that much of it which
+was impossible to avoid. But the very first time such talk was
+begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said I don't know, but I
+felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous adder, and, at any
+rate, I showed such pain and distress that the fellows dropped it
+at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to stay in the
+room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I do think
+the fellows are very glad of it themselves."</p>
+<p>"Well," said Montagu, "I don't profess to look on it from the
+religious ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in
+bad taste, and said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick
+me for a conceited little fool, but he didn't; and they hardly ever
+venture on that ground now."</p>
+<p>"It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly," answered Russell;
+"my father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become
+rife in a public school."</p>
+<p>"Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these
+matters?" asked Eric thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>"In sermons they do. Don't you remember Rowlands' sermon not two
+weeks ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite
+right not to speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we
+invite confidence. Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in
+this way. After all, it is only a very few of the worst who ever
+do."</p>
+<p>They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off
+performing the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private
+request to Bull to abstain from his offensive communications, and
+an endeavor to enlist Duncan into his wishes.</p>
+<p>One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7.
+Bull's turn came, and in his story the vile element again appeared.
+For a while Eric said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he
+made a faint remonstrance.</p>
+<p>"Shut up there, Williams," said Attlay, "and don't spoil the
+story."</p>
+<p>"Very well. It's your own fault, and I shall shut my ears."</p>
+<p>He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended
+to be asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly
+new to him; his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned
+indifference, and the poison flowed deep into his veins. Before
+that evening was over, Eric Williams was "a god, knowing good from
+evil."</p>
+<p>O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and
+beware. The knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it
+hell. That little matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like
+the snowflake detached by the breath of air from the mountain-top,
+which, as it rushes down, gains size, and strength, and impetus,
+till it has swollen to the mighty and irresistible avalanche that
+overwhelms garden, and field, and village, in a chaos of
+undistinguishable death.</p>
+<p>Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished
+there! Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother's
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very
+pale their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young
+brothers who have sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod,
+from foreign graves and English churchyards, they start up and
+throng around us in the paleness of their fall. May every schoolboy
+who reads this page be warned by the waving of their wasted hands,
+from that burning marle of passion, where they found nothing but
+shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an early grave.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>DORMITORY LIFE</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux
+herebennae.]<br>
+HOM.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last
+chapter, Upton and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at
+Eric's declining the honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at
+Upton's unreasonableness. In the "taking up" system, such quarrels
+were of frequent occurrence, and as the existence of a
+misunderstanding was generally indicated in this very public way,
+the variations of good will between such friends generally excited
+no little notice and amusement among the other boys. But both Upton
+and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so far as
+others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the other's
+company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than
+ever.</p>
+<p>As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his
+study door, and which ran as follows:--</p>
+<p>"Dear Horace--Don't let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow,
+why should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a
+walk with Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as
+you? I shall expect you to make it up directly after
+prayers.--Yours, if you are not silly, E.W."</p>
+<p>The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton
+seized Eric's hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they
+had a good laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs
+chattering merrily.</p>
+<p>"There's to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight," said
+Eric; "the doctor's gone to a dinner-party, and we're going to have
+no end of fun."</p>
+<p>"Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell
+me, I'll come and look on."</p>
+<p>"Very well; depend upon it, I'll come." And they parted at the
+foot of the study stairs.</p>
+<p>It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down
+the range of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into
+bed, and then he put out all the candles. So long as he was
+present, the boys observed the utmost quiet and decorum. All
+continued quite orderly until he had passed away through the
+lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a scout, had seen
+the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the corner at the
+foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door close
+behind him.</p>
+<p>After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys
+knew that they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No.
+7 were the first to stir.</p>
+<p>"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of
+initiative pitching his pillow at Eric's head.</p>
+<p>"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing;
+"but give us a match, first."</p>
+<p>Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted
+their candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be
+thrown open, and one after another all requested a light, which
+Duncan and Eric conveyed to them in a sort of emulous
+lampadephoria, so that a length all the twelve dormitories had
+their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts of amusement, some
+in their night-shirts and others with their trousers slipped on.
+Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last Graham
+suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.</p>
+<p>"But we're making a regular knock-me-down shindy," said
+Llewellyn; "somebody must keep cav&egrave;."</p>
+<p>"O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no
+fear of disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami," answered
+Graham.</p>
+<p>But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the
+top of the stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that
+direction, and little Wright consented to go first. He had only to
+leave the lavatory door open; and stand at the top of the
+staircase, and he then commanded for a great distance the only
+avenue in which danger was expected. If any master's candle
+appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes' warning, and
+a single loudly-whispered "cave" would cause some one in each
+dormitory instantly to "douse the glim," and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary's arrival, they would all be (of
+course) fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming
+manner. Whatever noise the master might have heard, it would be
+impossible to fix it on any of the sleepers.</p>
+<p>So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and
+shivering in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and
+not unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest
+were getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso,
+arranging a stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and
+dressing up the actors in the most fantastic apparel.</p>
+<p>The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at
+the end Wright ran in through the lavatory.</p>
+<p>"I say," said the little fellow, "it's jolly cold standing at
+the top of the stairs. Won't some one relieve guard?"</p>
+<p>"O, I will," answered Eric, good-naturedly; "it's a shame that
+one fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;" and he
+ran to take Wright's post.</p>
+<p>After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no
+danger, and therefore ran up to Upton's study for a change.</p>
+<p>"Well, what's up?" said the study-boy, approvingly, as he
+glanced at Eric's laughing eyes.</p>
+<p>"O, we've been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But
+I'm keeping 'cav&egrave;' now; only it's so cold that I thought I'd
+run up to your study."</p>
+<p>"Little traitor; we'll shoot you for a deserting sentinel."</p>
+<p>"O no;" said Eric, "it's all serene; Rowley's out, and dear old
+Rose'd never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of
+Morpheus. Besides the fellows are making less row now."</p>
+<p>"Well! look here! let's go and look on, and I'll tell you a
+dodge; put one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of
+the lavatory, and then if any one comes he'll make clang enough to
+wake dead; and while he's amusing himself with this, there'll be
+lots of time to 'extinguish the superfluous abundance of the
+nocturnal illuminators.' Eh?"</p>
+<p>"Capital!" said Eric, "come along."</p>
+<p>They went down and arranged the signal very artistically,
+leaving the iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the
+large tin basin on its edge, so as to lean against it. Having
+extremely enjoyed this part of the proceeding, they went to look at
+the theatricals again, the boys being highly delighted at Upton's
+appearance among them.</p>
+<p>They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant
+reminiscences of Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and
+mustachios to make him resemble Banquo, his costume being completed
+by a girdle round his nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson
+silk handkerchief, richly broidered with gold, which had been
+brought to him from India, and which at first, in the innocence of
+his heart, he used to wear on Sundays, until he acquired the
+sobriquet of "the Dragon." Duncan made a superb Macbeth.</p>
+<p>They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in
+a most novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the
+room, on one side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife,
+the handle end of which he was pushing through a hole in the middle
+of the sheet at the shadow of Duncan on the other side.</p>
+<p>Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama,
+was spouting--</p>
+<blockquote>"Is this a dagger which I see before me?<br>
+The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;"</blockquote>
+<p>And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded
+knife; but as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was
+immediately withdrawn, and the blade end substituted, which made
+the comic Macbeth instantly draw back again, and recommence his
+apostrophe. This scene had tickled the audience immensely, and
+Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just drawing the somewhat
+unwarrantable conclusion that it was</p>
+<blockquote>"A dagger of the mind, a false creation,"</blockquote>
+<p>when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced
+a dead silence.</p>
+<p>"Cav&egrave;," shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his
+bed. Instantly there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet
+was torn down, the candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and
+the dormitories at once plunged in profound silence, only broken by
+the heavy breathing of sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or
+any of the under masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!</p>
+<p>He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory
+doors were wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain
+lay torn on the floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms
+were in the strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still
+smouldered in several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the
+extraordinary way in which the bed clothes were huddled about told
+an unmistakeable tale.</p>
+<p>He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No.
+8, he heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton's
+figure vanishing into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the
+study stairs.</p>
+<p>He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories,
+again stopping at No. 7 on his return.</p>
+<p>He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly
+fixed on him as a chief culprit.</p>
+<p>"Duncan!"</p>
+<p>No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan's bed.</p>
+<p>"Duncan!" he said, still louder and more sternly, "you sleep
+soundly, sir, too soundly; get up directly," and he laid his hand
+on the boy's arm.</p>
+<p>"Get away, you old donkey," said Duncan sleepily; "'t, aint time
+to get up yet. First bell hasn't rung."</p>
+<p>"Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;"
+but the imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great
+yawn, and then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing
+Dr. Rowlands, that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from
+over his bed-clothes, burst into an irresistible explosion of
+laughter.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--"What! Williams! get out
+of bed, sir, this instant."</p>
+<p>Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he
+stood on the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and
+corked cheeks, with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense
+astonishment, that the scene became overpoweringly ludicrous to
+Duncan, who now in his turn was convulsed with a storm of laughter,
+faintly echoed in stifled titterings from other beds.</p>
+<p>"<i>Very</i> good," said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry,
+"you will hear of this to-morrow;" and he walked away with a heavy
+step, stopping at the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its
+proper place, and then mounting to the studies.</p>
+<p>Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he
+knocked at one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their
+occupants at once to the library.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they
+heard the doctor's retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark
+to No. 7, not daring to relight their candles.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious!" said Attlay, "only to think of Rowley
+appearing! How could he have twigged?"</p>
+<p>"He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home,"
+said Eric.</p>
+<p>"I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a
+rage the Doctor will be in to-morrow?"</p>
+<p>"Won't you just catch it!" said Barker to Duncan, but intending
+the remark for Eric.</p>
+<p>"Just like your mean chaff," retorted Duncan. "But I say,
+Williams," he continued, laughing, "you <i>did</i> look so funny in
+the whiskers."</p>
+<p>At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down
+stairs to the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their
+different rooms.</p>
+<p>"What do you think he'll do to us?" asked Eric.</p>
+<p>"I don't know," said Duncan uneasily; "flog us, for one thing,
+that's certain. I'm so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it's no
+good fretting. We've had our cake, and now we must pay for it,
+that's all."</p>
+<p>Eric's cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened,
+and somebody stole noiselessly in.</p>
+<p>"Who's there?"</p>
+<p>"Upton. I've come to have a chat. The Doctor's like a
+turkey-cock in sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a
+rage."</p>
+<p>"Why, what's he been saying?" asked Eric, as Upton came and took
+a seat on his bed.</p>
+<p>"Oh! he's been rowing us like six o'clock," said Upton, "about
+'moral responsibility,' 'abetting the follies of children,'
+'forgetting our position in the school,' and I don't know what all;
+and he ended by asking who'd been in the dormitories. Of course I
+confessed the soft impeachment, whereon he snorted 'Ha! I suspected
+so. Very well, Sir, you don't know how to use a study; you shall be
+deprived of it till the end of term.'"</p>
+<p>"Did he really, Horace?" said Eric. "And it's all my doing that
+you've got into the scrape. Do forgive me."</p>
+<p>"Bosh! My dear fellow," said Upton, "it's twice as much my fault
+as yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It's rather a
+bore losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all
+the more of each other. Good night; I must be off."</p>
+<p>Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said
+to the boys, "Stop! I have a word to say to you."</p>
+<p>"I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories
+yesterday evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden
+hours, and the noise made was so great that it was heard through
+the whole building. I am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for
+a few hours, without your taking such advantage of my absence; and
+that the upper boys, so far from using their influence to prevent
+these infractions of discipline, seem inclined rather to join in
+them themselves. On this occasion I have punished Upton, by
+depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and as I myself
+detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the library
+at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by
+the dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron
+door. The consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and
+<i>might</i> have been seriously injured in entering the lavatory.
+I must know the name of the delinquent."</p>
+<p>Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked
+surprised, and there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr.
+Rose's face.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said the Doctor, "I shall speak to you both
+privately."</p>
+<p>Twelve o'clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe
+caning. Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for
+some dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He
+burned, not with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent
+indignation, and listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr.
+Rowlands' warnings. When the flogging was over, he almost rushed
+out of the room, to choke in solitude his sense of humiliation, nor
+would he suffer any one for an instant to allude to his disgrace.
+Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton was doing him no good; but he
+passionately resented the suggestion, and determined, with
+obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the boy whom he
+had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.</p>
+<p>Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the
+friendships of boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been
+warned against his new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the
+fact that Mr. So-and-so doesn't like seeing them together, and
+after that they fancy themselves bound in honor to show that they
+are not afraid of continuing their connection. It was not strange,
+therefore, that Eric and Upton were thrown more than ever into each
+other's society, and consequently, that Eric, while he improved
+daily in strength, activity, and prowess, neglected more and more
+his school duties and honorable ambitions.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character
+and abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness
+and unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One
+night he sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During
+the evening he drew out Eric's exercise, and compared it with,
+those of Russell and Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him
+in marks. Eric's was careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two
+were neat, spirited, and painstaking, and had, therefore, been
+marked much higher.</p>
+<p>"Your exercises <i>used</i> to be far better--I may say
+incomparably better," said Mr. Rose; "what is the cause of this
+falling off?"</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. "I fear, my boy, you
+have not been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and
+are letting boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in
+ability. That is a very bad <i>sign</i>, Eric; in itself it is a
+discouraging fact, but I fear it indicates worse evils. You are
+wasting the golden hours, my boy, that can never return. I only
+hope and trust that no other change for the worse is going on in
+your character."</p>
+<p>And so he talked on till the boy's sorrow was undisguised.
+"Come," he said gently, "let us kneel down together before we
+part."</p>
+<p>Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full
+heart, the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child
+beside him. Eric's heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and
+he loved him as a brother. He rose from his knees full of the
+strongest resolutions, and earnestly promised amendment for the
+future.</p>
+<p>But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time,
+indeed, there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on
+with its usual allurements, and when the hours of temptation came,
+his good intentions melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the
+prayer, and the vows that followed it, had been obliterated from
+his memory without leaving any traces in his life.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC IN COVENTRY</h3>
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And
+either greet him not<br>
+Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more<br>
+Than if not looked on."--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the
+smaller class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those
+boys who were too high in the school for "the boarders' room," and
+who were waiting to succeed to the studies as they fell vacant.
+There were three or four others with him in this class-room, and
+although it was less pleasant than his old quarters, it was yet far
+more comfortable than the Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form
+boys.</p>
+<p>As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the
+class-rooms except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however,
+was very generally overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an
+opportunity to escape from the company of Barker and his
+associates, became a constant frequenter of his friend's new abode.
+Here they used to make themselves very comfortable. Joining the
+rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and amuse themselves
+over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a green or
+yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest: and
+Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him
+unmolested; but if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice
+him, he invariably turned him out, and after the first offence or
+two, had several times set him an imposition. This treatment gave
+fresh intensity to his now deeply-seated disgust at his late
+master, and his expressions of indignation at "Gordon's spite" were
+loud and frequent.</p>
+<p>One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one
+there but Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the
+window, with Upton's arm resting kindly on Eric's shoulder as they
+watched with admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that
+flashed over the sea. Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid
+phrase [Greek: an&ecirc;rithmon gelasma ponti&ocirc;n], which he
+had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that morning, and they
+were trying which would hit on the best rendering of it. Eric stuck
+up for the literal sublimity of "the innumerable laughter of the
+sea," while Upton was trying to win him over to "the many-twinkling
+smile of ocean." They were enjoying the discussion, and each
+stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.</p>
+<p>On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial
+dislike of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that
+the younger had grown more than usually conceited and neglectful,
+since he had been under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in
+Eric's presence there, a new case of wilful disobedience.</p>
+<p>"Williams, here <i>again!</i>" he exclaimed sharply. "Why, sir,
+you seem to suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How
+often have I told you that no one is allowed to sit here, except
+the regular occupants?"</p>
+<p>His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant
+discussion.</p>
+<p>"No other master takes any notice of it, sir," said Upton.</p>
+<p>"I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will
+bring me the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for
+your repeated disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish
+you also, for tempting him to come here."</p>
+<p>This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon's part, of which Upton took
+immediate advantage.</p>
+<p>"I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides,"
+he continued, with annoying blandness of tone, "it would be
+inhospitable; and I am too glad of his company."</p>
+<p>Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. "Williams, leave the room
+instantly."</p>
+<p>The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. "Mr. Rose never interferes
+with me, when he sees me here," he said as he retreated.</p>
+<p>"Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit
+and impertinence are getting intolerable."</p>
+<p>Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton
+joined him on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a
+little ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground
+together. He went away full of strong contempt, and from that
+moment began to look on the friends as two of the worst boys in the
+school.</p>
+<p>This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a
+half-holiday, and instead of being able to join in any of the
+games, Eric had to spend that weary afternoon in writing away at
+the fourth Georgic; Upton staying in a part of the time to help him
+a little, by dictating the lines to him--an occupation not
+unfrequently interrupted by storms of furious denunciation against
+Mr. Gordon's injustice and tyranny; Eric vowing "that he would pay
+him out somehow yet."</p>
+<p>The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again
+consumed some of the next day's leisure, part of it being written
+between schools in the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite
+finished on Friday afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric
+stayed a few minutes behind the rest to scribble off the last ten
+lines; which done, he banged down the lid of his desk, not locking
+it, and ran out.</p>
+<p>The next morning an incident happened which involved
+considerable consequences to some of the actors in my story.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves,
+like Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one
+end of this hall was a board used for the various school notices,
+to which there were always affixed two or three pieces of paper
+containing announcements about examinations and other matters of
+general interest.</p>
+<p>On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the
+boys, as they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a
+new notice on the board, and, thronging round to see what it was,
+read these words, written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by
+wafers to the board--</p>
+<p>"GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL."</p>
+<p>As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took
+them all very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so
+audacious as to play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by
+the entrance of the masters, and they all took their seats, without
+any one tearing down the dangerous paper.</p>
+<p>After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready,
+fell on the paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment
+transfixed with astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>Pointing to the inscription, he said: "I think we had better
+leave that there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has
+seen it. Would you mind asking him to step in here?"</p>
+<p>Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr.
+Gordon while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his
+seat, Montagu, who was next him, whispered--</p>
+<p>"I say, have you seen the notice-board?"</p>
+<p>"No. Why?"</p>
+<p>"Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not
+very favorable."</p>
+<p>"And serve him right, too, brute!" said Eric, smarting with the
+memory of his imposition.</p>
+<p>"Well, there'll be no end of a row; you'll see."</p>
+<p>During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He
+read the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr.
+Rose--"Would you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As
+it would be painful to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better
+explain to him how matters stand."</p>
+<p>"Halloa! here's a rumpus!" whispered Montagu; "he never has the
+lower school down for nothing."</p>
+<p>A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower
+school. When they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there
+was a dead silence and hush of expectation.</p>
+<p>"I have summoned you all together," said the Doctor, "on a most
+serious occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the
+masters found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose
+of writing up an insult to one of our number, which is at once
+coarse and wicked. As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my
+deeply painful duty to inform you of its purport; the words are
+these--'Gordon is a surly devil.'"--A <i>very</i> slight titter
+followed this statement, which was instantly succeeded by a sort of
+thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he heard the words, started
+perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu's eye fixed on
+him.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands continued--"I suppose this dastardly impertinence
+has been perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am
+perfectly amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the
+attempt, and it may be very difficult to discover the author of it.
+But, depend upon it, discover him <i>we will</i>, at whatever cost.
+Whoever the offender may be, and he must be listening to me at this
+moment, let him be assured that he shall <i>not</i> be unpunished.
+His guilty secret shall be torn from him. His punishment can only
+be mitigated by his instantly yielding himself up."</p>
+<p>No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric
+was so uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that
+several eyes were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy
+were awakened.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said the head master, "the guilty boy is not
+inclined to confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up
+to me by to-day week, every indulgence to the school will be
+forfeited, the next whole holiday stopped, and the coming
+cricket-match prohibited."</p>
+<p>"The handwriting may be some clue," suggested Mr. Ready. "Would
+you have any objection to my examining the note-books of the
+Shell?"</p>
+<p>"None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr.
+Ready immediately."</p>
+<p>The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to
+the desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and
+suddenly stopped at one. Eric's heart beat loud, as his saw Mr.
+Rose point towards him.</p>
+<p>"We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles
+that on the board. I give the offender one more chance of
+substituting confession for detection."</p>
+<p>No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.</p>
+<p>"Eric Williams, stand out in the room."</p>
+<p>Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed</p>
+<p>"The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know
+anything of this shameful proceeding?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing, sir," he murmured in a low tone.</p>
+<p>"Nothing whatever?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing whatever, sir."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands' look searched him through and through, and seemed
+to burn into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The
+Doctor felt certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained
+him to the spot with his glance for a minute or two, and then said
+slowly, and with a deep sigh--</p>
+<p>"Very well; I <i>hope</i> you have spoken the truth; but whether
+you have or no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially
+the upper boys, will remember what I have said. I shall now tear
+down the insulting notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as
+head of the school, that you may make further inquiries." He left
+the room, and the boys resumed their usual avocation till twelve
+o'clock. But poor Eric could hardly get through his ordinary
+pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until everybody noticed his
+strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.</p>
+<p>No sooner had twelve o'clock struck, than the whole school broke
+up into knots of buzzing and eager talkers.</p>
+<p>"I wonder who did it," said a dozen voices at once.</p>
+<p>"The writing was undoubtedly Williams'," suggested some.</p>
+<p>"And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor
+spoke to him, and how he hung his head?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon."</p>
+<p>"Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and
+he has been swearing at him ever since."</p>
+<p>"I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night,"
+said Barker.</p>
+<p>"Did he? By Jove, that looks bad."</p>
+<p>"Has any one charged him with it?" asked Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered one of the group: "but he's as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought
+to know him better than to think him capable of such a thing."</p>
+<p>"And quite right, too," said Duncan. "If he did it, he's done
+something totally unlike what one would have believed possible of
+him."</p>
+<p>The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly
+they seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was
+of a violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to
+patronise; and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had
+been attached to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same
+size with some which Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts
+had been discovered, nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very
+generally whispered throughout the school.</p>
+<p>In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys
+proclaimed that he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at
+once, and save the school from the threatened punishment. But he
+listened to such suggestions with the most passionate
+indignation.</p>
+<p>"What!" he said, angrily, "tell a wilful lie to blacken my own
+innocent character? Never!"</p>
+<p>The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put
+into Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and
+maintained his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the
+boys whom he had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous
+in his defence. They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and
+little Wright.</p>
+<p>On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and
+said in a very serious tone, "This is a bad business, Williams. I
+cannot forget how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I
+won't believe you guilty, yet you ought to explain."</p>
+<p>"What? even <i>you</i>, then suspect me?" said Eric, bursting
+into proud tears. "Very well. I shan't condescend to <i>deny</i>
+it. I won't speak to you again till you have repented of
+mistrusting me;" and he resolutely rejected all further overtures
+on Upton's part.</p>
+<p>He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted
+to destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that
+the whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing
+which from his soul he abhorred. "No," he thought, "bad I may be,
+but I <i>could</i> not have done such a base and cowardly
+trick."</p>
+<p>Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to
+the rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the
+rising tide. The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and
+console the tumult of his heart. He drank in strength and defiance
+from the roar of the waters, and climbed to their very edge along
+the rocks, where every fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in
+white swirls of angry loam. The look of the green, rough, hungry
+sea, harmonised with his feelings, and he sat down and stared into
+it, to find relief from the torment of his thoughts.</p>
+<p>At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet
+the crowd of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone
+over his sorrow in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps,
+when he caught sight of Russell in the distance. His first impulse
+was to run away and escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and
+when he came up, said, "Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose
+to tell you that <i>I</i> don't suspect you, and have never done so
+for a moment. I know you too well, my boy, and be sure that
+<i>I</i> will always stick to you, even if the whole school cut
+you."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Edwin, I am <i>so</i> wretched. I needn't tell you that I
+am quite innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected?
+Why, even your cousin Upton won't believe me."</p>
+<p>"But he does, Eric," said Russell; "he told me so just now, and
+several others said the same thing."</p>
+<p>A transient gleam passed over Eric's face.</p>
+<p>"O, I do so long for home again," he said. "Except you, I have
+no friend."</p>
+<p>"Don't say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon
+it, as the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the
+fellows will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions.
+And you <i>have</i> one friend, Eric," he continued, pointing
+reverently upwards.</p>
+<p>Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face
+till the tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat
+silent and pitying beside him, and let Eric's head rest upon his
+shoulder.</p>
+<p>When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One
+was from Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--</p>
+<p>"I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act.
+Believe me, I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and
+confess, and I promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and
+save you."</p>
+<p>This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up
+furiously into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the
+room.</p>
+<p>Another was from Mr. Rose;</p>
+<p>"Dear Eric--I <i>cannot, will</i> not, believe you guilty,
+although appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I
+feel sure that I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too
+noble-minded for a revenge so petty and so mean. Come to me, dear
+boy, if I can help you in any way. I <i>trust you</i>, Eric, and
+will use every endeavor to right you in the general estimation. You
+are innocent; pray to God for help under this cruel trial, and be
+sure that your character will yet be cleared.--Affectionately
+yours, WALTER ROSE."</p>
+<p>"<i>P.S.</i>--I can easily understand that just now you will
+like quiet; come and sit with me in the library as much as you
+like."</p>
+<p>He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and
+at that moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was
+from Owen, as follows:--</p>
+<p>"Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately;
+naturally, perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some
+consolation to you to be told, even by a rival, that I, for one,
+feel certain of your innocence. If you want company, I shall be
+delighted now to walk with you.--Yours truly, D. OWEN."</p>
+<p>This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy's lonely
+and passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at
+once to accept Mr. Rose's kind offer of allowing him to sit for the
+present in the library.</p>
+<p>There were several boys in the room while he was reading his
+notes, but none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to
+notice them, or interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out
+he met Duncan and Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing
+of the rest.</p>
+<p>"Ha! Williams," said Duncan, "we have been looking everywhere
+for you, dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for
+one, and Monty for another, will maintain your innocence before the
+whole school."</p>
+<p>Montagu <i>said</i> nothing, but Eric understood full well the
+trustful kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was
+too full to speak, and he went on towards the library.</p>
+<p>"I wonder at your speaking to that fellow," said Bull, as the
+two new comers joined the group at the fire-place.</p>
+<p>"You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him
+before long," said Montagu warmly; "ay, the whole lot of you; and
+you are very unkind to condemn him before you are certain."</p>
+<p>"I wish you joy of your <i>friend</i>, Duncan," sneered
+Barker.</p>
+<p>"Friend?" said Duncan, firing up; "yes! he is my friend, and I'm
+not ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if <i>all</i>
+the fellows were as honorable as Williams."</p>
+<p>Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush,
+thought it better to say no more.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE TRIAL</h3>
+<blockquote>"A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all." TENNYSON, <i>The
+Princess</i>.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands
+that the perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but
+that one boy was very generally suspected, and on grounds that
+seemed plausible. "I admit," he added, "that from the little I know
+of him he seems to me a very unlikely sort of boy to do it."</p>
+<p>"I think," suggested the Doctor, "that the best way would be for
+you to have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence.
+Do you think that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation
+publicly, with good order and fairness?"</p>
+<p>"I think so, sir," said Avonley.</p>
+<p>"Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by
+themselves in the boarders' room tomorrow afternoon at three, and
+see what you can do among you."</p>
+<p>Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys
+assembled, they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and
+were rather disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they
+determined to have a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly;
+and by general consent he was himself voted into the desk as
+president. He then got up and said--</p>
+<p>"There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all
+the boys take their seats quietly down the room."</p>
+<p>They did so, and Avonley asked, "Is Williams here?"</p>
+<p>Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly
+went to the library to fetch him, and told him what was going on.
+He took Eric's arm kindly as they entered, to show the whole school
+that he was not ashamed of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy
+of his goodwill.</p>
+<p>"Are you willing to be tried, Williams," asked Avonley, "on the
+charge of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of
+course we know very little how these kind of things ought to be
+conducted, but we will see that everything done is open and above
+ground, and try to manage it properly."</p>
+<p>"There is nothing I should like better," said Eric.</p>
+<p>He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet
+conversation with his dearly loved friend and master had assured
+him in the confidence of innocence, and though the color on his
+cheek had through excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he
+looked wonderfully noble and winning as he stood before the boys in
+the centre of the room. His appearance caused a little reaction in
+his favor, and a murmur of applause followed his answer.</p>
+<p>"Good," said Avonley; "who will prosecute on the part of the
+school?"</p>
+<p>There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.</p>
+<p>"Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge
+drops."</p>
+<p>"I will do it," said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys
+at the top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric
+liked the little he had seen of him.</p>
+<p>"Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of
+the sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, glancing round with confidence.</p>
+<p>"Well, now, who will defend the accused?"</p>
+<p>Another pause, and Upton got up.</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, at once. "You were inclined to distrust me,
+Upton, and I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my
+innocence."</p>
+<p>Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got
+up. "I am only a Shell-boy," he said, "but if Eric doesn't mind
+trusting his cause to me, I will defend him, since no other
+fifth-form fellow stirs."</p>
+<p>"Thank you, Russell, <i>I wanted</i> you to offer, I could wish
+no better defender."</p>
+<p>"Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?" asked
+Russell.</p>
+<p>"Very willingly," they all three said, and went to take their
+seats by him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then
+declared themselves ready.</p>
+<p>"All I have got to do," said Gibson, rising, "is to bring before
+the school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the
+evidence which makes it probable that he is the offender. Now,
+first of all, the thing must have been done between Friday evening
+and Saturday morning; and since the school-room door is generally
+locked soon after school, it was probably done in the short
+interval between six and a quarter past. I shall now examine some
+witnesses."</p>
+<p>The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on
+Friday evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few
+minutes, the only boy remaining in it was Williams.</p>
+<p>Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that
+he had met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he
+went at a quarter past six to lock the door.</p>
+<p>Examined by Gibson.--"Was any boy in the room when you did lock
+the door?"</p>
+<p>"No one."</p>
+<p>"Did you meet any one else in the passage?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>Cross-examined by Russell.--"Do boys ever get into the room
+after the door is locked?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"By what means?"</p>
+<p>"Through the side windows."</p>
+<p>"That will do."</p>
+<p>Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the
+room, and on returning, after a few minutes' absence, gave Russell
+a significant nod.</p>
+<p>Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.</p>
+<p>"Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular
+kind of ink?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell."</p>
+<p>"Could you recognise anything written with it?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much
+trouble.</p>
+<p>"Is that the kind of ink?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"Do you know the handwriting on that paper?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it is Williams' hand."</p>
+<p>"How can you tell?"</p>
+<p>"He makes his r's in a curious way."</p>
+<p>"Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers
+before?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk."</p>
+<p>"Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like
+those?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>Cross-examined by Duncan.--"<i>How</i> do you know that Williams
+has wafers like those?"</p>
+<p>"I have seen him use them."</p>
+<p>"For what purpose?"</p>
+<p>"To fasten letters."</p>
+<p>"I can't help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with
+what he does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him
+oftenest, never heard of these wafers. May I ask," he said, "if any
+one else in the school will witness to having seen Williams use
+these wafers?"</p>
+<p>No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been
+changed into uneasiness, sat down.</p>
+<p>Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--"You have seen a good
+deal of Williams?"</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Upton smiling.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?"</p>
+<p>"Often."</p>
+<p>"Of what kind?"</p>
+<p>"Dislike and contempt," said Upton, amidst general laughter.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to
+injure him?"</p>
+<p>"The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition,
+and I heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out."</p>
+<p>This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great
+sensation.</p>
+<p>"When did he say this?"</p>
+<p>"On Friday afternoon."</p>
+<p>Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although,
+being simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed
+nothing that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose
+to cross-examine him.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?"</p>
+<p>"Never."</p>
+<p>"Do you consider him a boy <i>likely</i> to have been guilty on
+this occasion?"</p>
+<p>"Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence."</p>
+<p>The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt
+greatly relieved by it.</p>
+<p>One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the
+great agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in
+the school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible,
+self-contained fellow, said, "I have now done my part. I have shown
+that the accused had a grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the
+occurrence, and had threatened to be revenged on him; that he was
+the last boy in the room during the time when the offence must have
+been committed; that the handwriting is known to resemble his, and
+that the ink and wafers employed were such as he, and he only, was
+known to possess. In addition to all this, his behavior, when the
+matter was first publicly noticed, was exactly such as coincides
+with the supposition of his guilt. I think you will all agree in
+considering these grounds of suspicion very strong; and leaving
+them to carry their full weight with you, I close the case for the
+prosecution."</p>
+<p>The school listened to Gibson's quiet formality with a kind of
+grim and gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were
+probably few but Eric's own immediate friends who were not fully
+convinced of his guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so
+unfavorable an opinion of a companion whom they all admired.</p>
+<p>After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked,
+"Has Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of
+its contents put in as evidence?"</p>
+<p>"Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my
+place in school."</p>
+<p>The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked,
+and Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He
+then began--"In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show
+that Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr.
+Gordon, and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is
+quite true that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that
+the ink and wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that
+the handwriting is not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy
+intending to post up an insult such as this, would do so in a
+manner, and at a time so likely to involve him in immediate
+detection, and certain punishment? At any rate, he would surely
+disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to look at this
+paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the contrary, that
+these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would be the
+case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?" Russell here handed the
+paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.</p>
+<p>"Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because
+Carter himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the
+window; a fact to which we shall have to allude again.</p>
+<p>"We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is
+rather strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since
+neither I, nor any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat
+by him when writing letters, have ever observed that he possessed
+any like them."</p>
+<p>Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill
+at ease on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear
+unconcerned.</p>
+<p>"There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must
+mention. It will explain Williams' agitation when Dr. Rowlands read
+out the words on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am
+indifferent to its appearing to tell against him. I myself once
+heard Williams use the very words written on that paper, and not
+only heard them, but expostulated with him strongly for the use of
+them. I need hardly say how very unlikely it is, that remembering
+this, he should thus publicly draw my suspicions on him, if he
+meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But, besides myself,
+there was another boy who accidentally overheard that expression.
+That boy was Barker.</p>
+<p>"I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least
+ought to go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of
+note-paper, I see that the printer's name on the stamp in the
+corner is 'Graves, York.' Now, I have just found that there is no
+paper at all like this in Williams' desk; all the note-paper it
+contains is marked 'Blakes, Ayrton.'</p>
+<p>"I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams'
+general character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going
+to do this. We think we know the real offender. We have had one
+trial, and now demand another. It is our painful duty to prove
+Williams' innocence by proving another's guilt. That other is a
+known enemy of mine, and of Montagu's, and of Owen's. We therefore
+leave the charge of stating the case against him to Duncan, with
+whom he has never quarrelled."</p>
+<p>Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his
+task with a wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled
+every one with admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.</p>
+<p>The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan,
+after a minute's pause, starting up, said--"Williams has allowed
+his desk to be brought in and examined. Will Barker do the
+same?"</p>
+<p>The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell,
+Duncan, and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk
+to be brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened,
+it was immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was
+identical with that on which the words had been written. At this he
+affected to be perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against
+what he called the meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.</p>
+<p>"And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two,"
+asked Gibson, quietly, "but endeavoring to fix the charge on
+another?"</p>
+<p>"We have stronger evidence against you," said Duncan,
+confronting him with an undaunted look, before which his insolence
+quailed. "Russell, will you call Graham?"</p>
+<p>Graham was called, and put on his honor.</p>
+<p>"You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side
+window?"</p>
+<p>"I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing
+nothing in the sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to
+the school-room by the window, which he left open. I was looking on
+simply from curiosity, and saw him search Williams' desk, from
+which he took out something, I could not make out what. He then
+went to his own place, and wrote for about ten minutes, after which
+I observed him go up and stand by the notice board. When he had
+done this he got out by the window again, and ran off."</p>
+<p>"Didn't this strike you as extraordinary?"</p>
+<p>"No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in
+the sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had
+seen, and it wasn't till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I
+thought it worth while to make it generally known."</p>
+<p>Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and
+silent), and then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket,
+put them together, and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the
+fragments of paper, he asked, "Have you ever seen these
+before?"</p>
+<p>"Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed
+behind to think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced
+that Williams was <i>not</i> guilty, spite of appearances. I was
+standing by the empty fire-place, when these bits of paper caught
+my eye. I picked them up, and, after a great deal of trouble,
+fitted them together. They are covered apparently with failures in
+an attempt at forgery, viz., first, 'Gordon is a sur--' and then a
+stop, as though the writer were dissatisfied, and several of the
+words written over again for practice, and then a number of r's
+made in the way that Williams makes them."</p>
+<p>"There you may stop," said Barker, stamping fiercely; "I did it
+all."</p>
+<p>A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this
+announcement.</p>
+<p>"What! <i>you</i> did it, and caused all this misery, you
+ineffable blackguard!" shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand,
+while he struck him with the other.</p>
+<p>"Stop!" said Avonley; "just see that he doesn't escape, while we
+decide on his punishment."</p>
+<p>It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run
+the gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their
+handkerchiefs, and knotted them tight. They then made a double line
+down each side of the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood
+stock-still at one end, while the fellows nearest him thrashed him
+unmercifully with the heavy knots. At last the pain was getting
+severe, and he moved on, finally beginning to run. Five times he
+was forced up and down the line, and five times did every boy in
+the line give him a blow, which, if it did not hurt much, at least
+spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was dogged and unmoved to
+the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the presence of Dr.
+Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and the next
+morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled. Thenceforth
+he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any
+part in this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders'
+room till it was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent
+event. Most warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness.
+"Thank you," he said, "with all my heart, for proving my innocence;
+but thank you, even more a great deal, for first believing it."</p>
+<p>Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered
+for a moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had
+hardly shaken hands when the rest came flocking in. "We have all
+been unjust," said Avonley; "let's make up for it as well as we
+can. Three cheers for Eric Williams!"</p>
+<p>They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and
+meanwhile, every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry
+they were for the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show
+their regret for his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart
+readily forgave them, and his eyes were long wet with tears of joy.
+The delicious sensation of returning esteem made him almost think
+it worth while to have under gone his trial.</p>
+<p>Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and
+it was no small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to
+find themselves finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied,
+and whose name no one mentioned without disgust. He had done more
+than any other boy to introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice,
+and the very atmosphere of the rooms seemed healthier in his
+absence. One boy only forgave him, one boy only prayed for him, one
+boy only endeavored to see him for one last kind word. That boy was
+Edwin Russell.</p>
+<p>After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands' to
+dinner, apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did
+and said all that could be done by an honorable man to repair the
+injury of an unjust doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and
+from thenceforth, though they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon
+ceased to be enemies.</p>
+<p>That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous
+evening they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when
+the master bade them "good night," he kindly detained Eric, and
+said to him, "Keep an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never
+fear trouble. Only think if you had been guilty, and were now in
+Barker's place!"</p>
+<p>"O, I <i>couldn't</i> be guilty, sir," said Eric, gaily.</p>
+<p>"Not of such a fault, perhaps. But," he added solemnly, "there
+are many kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to
+fall into. You will find it no light battle to resist them."</p>
+<p>"Believe me, sir, I will try," he answered with humility.</p>
+<p>"Jehovah-Nissi!" said Mr. Rose. "Let the Lord be your banner,
+Eric, and you will win the victory. God bless you."</p>
+<p>And as the boy's graceful figure disappeared through the door,
+Mr. Rose drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated
+long. He was imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of
+splendid usefulness, of reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK</h3>
+<blockquote>"Ten cables from where green meadows<br>
+And quiet homes could be seen,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No greater space<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From peril to peace,<br>
+But the savage sea between!"--EDWIN ARNOLD.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most
+of the boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at
+school. Many of the usual rules were suspended during this time,
+and the boys were supplied every day with pocket-money;
+consequently the Easter holidays passed very pleasantly, and there
+was plenty of fun.</p>
+<p>It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and
+the boys would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or
+about the coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in
+great request among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular
+than ever, and felt as if nothing were wanting to his happiness.
+But this brilliant prosperity was not good for him, and he felt
+continually that he cared far less for the reproaches of conscience
+than he had done in the hours of his trial; sought far less for
+help from God than he had done when he was lonely and
+neglected.</p>
+<p>He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of
+Russell. For Edwin's sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin's
+disapproval, he abstained from many things into which he would
+otherwise have insensibly glided in conformation to the general
+looseness of the school morality. But Russell's influence worked on
+him powerfully, and tended to counteract a multitude of
+temptations.</p>
+<p>Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke;
+and he was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays
+in lurking about with pipes in their mouths at places where they
+were unlikely to be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty
+and healthy game. When he began to "learn" smoking, he found it
+anything but pleasant; but a little practice had made him an adept,
+and he found a certain amount of enjoyable excitement in finding
+out cozy places by the river, where he and Upton might go and
+lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.</p>
+<p>In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed
+a fine thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from
+vacuity. Besides, they had a confused notion that there was
+something "manly" in it, and it derived an additional zest from the
+stringency of the rules adopted to put it down. So a number of the
+boys smoked, and some few of them to such excess as to get them
+into great mischief, and form a habit which they could never
+afterwards abandon.</p>
+<p>One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell
+started for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they
+passed through Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs
+and other provisions, as they did not mean to be back for dinner.
+In about ten minutes he caught up the other two, just as they were
+getting out of the town.</p>
+<p>"What an age you've been buying a few Easter eggs," said
+Russell, laughing; "have you been waiting till the hens laid?"</p>
+<p>"No; they are not the <i>only</i> things I've got."</p>
+<p>"Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same
+shop."</p>
+<p>"Ay; but I've procured a more refined article. Guess what it
+is?"</p>
+<p>The two boys didn't guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them,
+"Will you have a whiff, Monty?"</p>
+<p>"A whiff! Oh! I see you've been wasting your tin on
+cigars--<i>alias</i>, rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!"</p>
+<p>"Well, will you have one?"</p>
+<p>"If you like," said Montagu, wavering; "but I don't much care to
+smoke."</p>
+<p>"Well, <i>I</i> shall, at any rate," said Eric, keeping off the
+wind with his cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.</p>
+<p>They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn't promote
+conversation, and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look
+so ridiculous, and entirely unlike himself, as he did while
+strutting along with the weed in his mouth. The fact was, Eric
+didn't guess how much he was hurting Edwin's feelings, and he was
+smoking more to "make things look like the holidays," by a little
+bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he caught the expression
+of Russell's face, and instantly said--</p>
+<p>"O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don't like smoking;" and he
+instantly flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad
+to get rid of it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the
+affected manner he displayed just before, and the spirits of all
+three rose at once.</p>
+<p>"It isn't that I don't <i>like</i> smoking only, Eric, but I
+think it wrong--for <i>us</i> I mean."</p>
+<p>"O, my dear fellow! surely there can't be any harm in it. Why
+everybody smokes."</p>
+<p>"It may be all very well for men, although I'm not so sure of
+that. But, at any rate, it's wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know
+yourself what harm it does in every way."</p>
+<p>"O, it's a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong?
+Why, I even know clergymen who smoke."</p>
+<p>Montagu laughed. "Well, clergymen ain't immaculate," said he;
+"but I never met a man yet who didn't tell you that he was
+<i>sorry</i> he'd acquired the habit."</p>
+<p>"I'm sure you won't thank that rascally cousin of mine for
+having taught you," said Russell; "but seriously, isn't it a very
+moping way of spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind
+some hay-stack, or in some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers
+do, instead of playing racquets or football?"</p>
+<p>"O, it's pleasant enough sometimes," said Eric, speaking rather
+against his own convictions.</p>
+<p>"As for me, I've nearly left it off," said Montagu, "and I think
+Rose convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I
+ever did smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know
+how he despises it in boys. Were you in school the other day when
+he caught Pietrie and Brooking?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>"Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected,
+Rose smelt that he had been smoking, and charged him with it.
+Brooking stoutly denied it, but after he had told the most robust
+lies, Rose made him empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were
+a pipe and a cigar-case half full! You <i>should</i> have heard how
+Rose thundered and lightened at him for his lying, and then sent
+him to the Doctor. I never saw him so terrific before."</p>
+<p>"You don't mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because
+Brooking was caught, and told lies--do you? <i>Non
+sequitur</i>."</p>
+<p>"Stop--not so fast." Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who
+at once confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library
+when Rose sent for him, and Pietrie said mildly that "he didn't see
+the harm of it." Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, "Don't see
+the <i>harm</i> of it! Do you see any good in it?"</p>
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+<p>"Well, isn't it forbidden?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"And doesn't it waste your money?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen
+yourself?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.</p>
+<p>"And don't your parents disapprove it? And doesn't it throw you
+among some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles?
+Silly child," he said, pulling Pietrie's ear (as he sometimes does,
+you know), "don't talk nonsense; and remember next time you're
+caught I shall have you punished." So off went Pietrie, [Greek:
+achreian idon] as our friend Homer says. And your humble servant
+was convinced."</p>
+<p>"Well, well," said Eric laughing, "I suppose you're right. At
+any rate, I give in. Two to one ain't fair; [Greek: ards duo o
+Aerachlaes], since you're in a quoting humor."</p>
+<p>Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found
+plenty to amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four
+hundred feet out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of
+rock scenery on all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit,
+and flung innocuous stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far
+below them over the water, and every now and then pounced at some
+stray fish that came to the surface; or they watched the stately
+barks as they sailed by on the horizon, wondering at their cargo
+and destination; or chaffed the fishermen, whose boats heaved on
+the waves at the foot of the promontory. When they were rested,
+they visited a copper-mine by the side of the head, and filled
+their pockets with bits of bright quartz or red shining spar, which
+they found in plenty among the rocks.</p>
+<p>In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop
+a little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It
+was a very favorite resort of Eric's, as the coast all about it was
+bold and romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday
+evening to watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them
+over the water from the setting sun--a sight which they often
+agreed to consider one of the most peaceful and mysteriously
+beautiful in nature.</p>
+<p>They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The
+sun was just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red
+and gold.</p>
+<p>"We shan't see the line on the waters this evening," said Eric;
+"there's too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious
+sunset!"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it'll be stormy tomorrow," answered Russell, "but come
+along, let's get to the top; the wind's rising, and the waves will
+be rather grand."</p>
+<p>"Ay, we'll sit and watch them; and let's finish our grub; I've
+got several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my
+pocket."</p>
+<p>They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the
+waves, which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet,
+and then fell back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they
+remembered that it was getting late, and that they ought to get
+home for tea at seven.</p>
+<p>"Hallo!" said Russell, looking at his watch, "it's half-past
+six. We must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the
+tide hasn't been coming in all this time."</p>
+<p>"Good God!" said Montagu, with a violent start, "I'm afraid it
+has, though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets.
+Let's set off as hard as we can pelt."</p>
+<p>Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down
+the Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it
+to the mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the
+tide had come in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided
+them from the shore.</p>
+<p>"There's only one way for it," said Eric; "if we're plucky we
+can jump that; but we musn't wait till it gets worse. A good jump
+will take us <i>nearly</i> to the other side--far enough, at any
+rate, to let us flounder across somehow."</p>
+<p>As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where
+the momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be
+narrowest; and where the rocks on the other side were lower than
+those on which they stood. Their situation was by no means
+pleasant. The wind had been rising more and more, and the waves
+dashed into this little channel with such violence, that to swim it
+would have been a most hazardous experiment, particularly as they
+could not dive in from the ledge on which they stood, from their
+ignorance of the depth of water.</p>
+<p>Eric's courage supported the other two. "There's no good
+<i>thinking</i> about it," said he, "jump we <i>must</i>; the
+sooner the better. We can but be a little hurt at the worst. Here,
+I'll set the example."</p>
+<p>He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force.
+He was a practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he
+alighted near the water's edge, on the other side, where, after
+slipping once or twice on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he
+effected a safe landing, with no worse harm than a wetting up to
+the knees.</p>
+<p>"Now then, you too," he shouted; "no time to lose."</p>
+<p>"Will you jump first, Monty?" said Russell; "both of you are
+better jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I'm rather
+afraid."</p>
+<p>"Then I won't leave you," said Montagu; "we'll both stay
+here."</p>
+<p>"And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty,
+<i>you</i> can clear it, I've no doubt."</p>
+<p>"Couldn't we try to swim it together, Edwin?"</p>
+<p>"Madness! look there." And as he spoke, a huge furious wave
+swept down the whole length of the gulf by which they stood,
+roaring and surging along till the whole water seethed, and tearing
+the seaweeds from their roots in the rock.</p>
+<p>"Now's your time," shouted Eric again. "What <i>are</i> you
+waiting for? For God's sake, jump before another wave comes."</p>
+<p>"Monty, you <i>must</i> jump now," said Russell, "if only to
+help me when I try."</p>
+<p>Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few
+steps, and leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly
+up to his neck, and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on
+the sharp slippery schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and
+in half a minute, Eric leaning out as far as he could, caught his
+hand, and just pulled him to the other side in time to escape
+another rush of tumultuous and angry foam.</p>
+<p>"Now, Edwin," they both shouted, "it'll be too late in another
+minute. Jump for your life."</p>
+<p>Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he
+prepared to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant.
+In truth, the leap was now most formidable; to clear it was
+hopeless; and the fury of the rock-tormented waves rendered the
+prospect of a swim on the other side terrible to contemplate. Once
+in the grasp of one of those billows, even a strong man must have
+been carried out of the narrow channel, and hurled against the
+towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.</p>
+<p>"Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--<i>do</i> jump," cried Eric with
+passionate excitement. "We will rush in for you."</p>
+<p>Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he
+stepped back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp
+cry of pain, fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant,
+Eric and Montagu stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw
+Russell's head emerge, and then another wave foaming madly by, made
+them run backwards for their lives, and hid him from their view.
+When it had passed, they saw him clinging with both hands, in the
+desperate instinct of self-preservation, to a projecting bit of
+rock, by the aid of which he gradually drew himself out of the
+water, and grasping at crevices or bits of seaweed, slowly and
+painfully reached the ledge on which they had stood before they
+took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle; his face, pale as
+death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his breast; his
+clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap was
+gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push
+aside, hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and
+in pain; and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.</p>
+<p>While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke,
+lest their voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now,
+they both cried out, "Are you hurt, Edwin?"</p>
+<p>He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand,
+while he put the other to his head, from which the blood was
+flowing fast.</p>
+<p>"O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more," said Montagu;
+"you will die if you spend the night on that rock."</p>
+<p>They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and
+waves were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently,
+that they caught the faint words, "I can't, my leg is hurt."
+Besides, they both saw that a jump was no longer possible; the
+channel was more than double the width which it had been when Eric
+leaped, and from the rapid ascent of rocks on both sides, it was
+now far out of depth.</p>
+<p>"O God, what can we do," said Montagu, bursting into tears. "We
+can never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is
+covered at high tide."</p>
+<p>Eric had not lost his presence of mind. "Cheer up, Edwin," he
+shouted; "I <i>will</i> get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl
+up to the top again."</p>
+<p>Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back
+on the rock.</p>
+<p>"Monty," said Eric, "just watch for a minute or two. When I have
+got across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them
+that we are cut off by the tide on the Stack. They'll bring round
+the life-boat. It's our only chance."</p>
+<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Montagu, terrified. "Why,
+Eric, it's death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!" And he drew
+Eric back hastily, as another vast swell of water came rolling
+along, shaking its white curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on
+destruction.</p>
+<p>"Monty, it's no use," said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket
+and waistcoat; "I'm not going to let Russell die on that ledge of
+rock. I shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I
+want to keep these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across,
+fling them over to me if you can, and then do as I told you."</p>
+<p>He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing
+that his only chance was to swim over before another came, he
+plunged in, and struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert
+swimmer, and as yet the channel was not more than a dozen yards
+across. He dashed over with the speed and strength of despair, and
+had just time to clutch the rocks on the other side before the next
+mighty swirl of the tide swept up in its white and tormented
+course. In another minute he was on the ledge by Russell's
+side.</p>
+<p>He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the
+dry clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief
+round a fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and
+then flung it over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and
+once more shouted to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time
+the boy lingered, reluctant to leave them, and then started off at
+the run. Looking back after a few minutes, he caught, through the
+gathering dusk, his last glimpse of the friends in their perilous
+situation. Eric was seated supporting Russell across his knees;
+when he saw Montagu turn he waved his cap over his head as a signal
+of encouragement, and then began to carry Edwin higher up the rock
+for safety. It soon grew too dark to distinguish them, and Montagu
+at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a mile off. When he got to
+the harbor he told some sailors of the danger in which his friends
+were, and then ran on to the school. It was now eight o'clock, and
+quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past, when he stood
+excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr. Rowlands'
+door.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious! Master Montagu," said the servant; "what's the
+matter; have you been robbed?"</p>
+<p>He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands'
+study. "O sir!" he exclaimed, bursting in, "Williams and Russell
+are on the Stack, cut off by the tide."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. "What! on this stormy night?
+Have you raised the alarm?"</p>
+<p>"I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on."</p>
+<p>"I will set off myself at once," said the Doctor, seizing his
+hat. "But, my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet
+through too. You had better change your clothes at once, or go to
+bed."</p>
+<p>"O no, sir," said Montagu, pleadingly; "do take me with
+you."</p>
+<p>"Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in
+consequence. Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea
+shall be ready for you down here, and we will start."</p>
+<p>Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to
+tell Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their
+companions. The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had
+already excited general surmise, and Montagu's appearance,
+jacketless and wet, at the door of the boarders' room, at once
+attracted a group round him. He rapidly told them how things stood,
+and, hastening off, left them nearly as much agitated as himself.
+In a very short time he presented himself again before Dr.
+Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the cup of tea,
+they sallied out.</p>
+<p>It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at
+intervals struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind
+howled in fitful gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side,
+Montagu shuddered to hear how rough and turbulent the sea was, even
+on the sands. He stumbled once or twice, and then the Doctor kindly
+drew his trembling arm through his own, and made him describe the
+whole occurrence, while the servant went on in front with the
+lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved the danger of
+reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands'
+admiration was unbounded. "Noble boy," he exclaimed, with
+enthusiasm; "I shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after
+this."</p>
+<p>They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.</p>
+<p>"Have you put out the life-boat?" said Dr. Rowlands
+anxiously.</p>
+<p>"Ill luck, sir," said one of the sailors, touching his cap; "the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn't
+been brought round again yet."</p>
+<p>"Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try
+and save those poor boys."</p>
+<p>"We've been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start;
+but in a sea like that it's very dangerous, and it's so dark and
+gusty that I doubt it's no use, so I expect they'll put back."</p>
+<p>The Doctor sighed deeply. "Don't alarm any other people," he
+said; "it will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George,"
+he continued to the servant, "give me the lantern; I will go with
+this boy to the Stack; you follow us with ropes, and order a
+carriage from the King's Head. Take care to bring anything with you
+that seems likely to be useful."</p>
+<p>Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made
+their way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here
+they raised the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming
+with such violence that they were not sure that they heard any
+answering shout. Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just
+make out the huge black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast
+of boiling waves, and enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of
+spray. On the top of it Montagu half thought that he saw something,
+but he was not sure.</p>
+<p>"Thank God, there is yet hope," said the Doctor, with difficulty
+making his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the
+elements; "if they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may
+perhaps rescue them before morning."</p>
+<p>Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and
+Montagu joined his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they
+fancied that in one of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint
+cheer returned, was sound more welcome, and as they paced up and
+down they shouted at intervals, and held up the lantern, to show
+the boys that friends and help were near.</p>
+<p>Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to
+the highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and
+soothing words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him
+in every piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his
+arms, heedless of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell
+thanked him, and pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain
+continually, and at last fainted away.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the
+rocks, and the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think
+of nothing but storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the
+sea beat up, drenching them to the skin continually with, its
+clammy spray; and the storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and
+flung about the wet hair on Eric's bare head, and forced him to
+plant himself firmly, lest the rage of the gusts should hurl them
+from their narrow resting-place. The darkness made everything more
+fearful, for his eyes could distinguish nothing but the gulfs of
+black water glistening here and there with hissing foam, and he
+shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises that came to him
+in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent wave. It
+was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he
+was in ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the
+violence of the breakers. "At least," thought he, as he looked down
+and saw that the ledge on which they had been standing had long
+been covered with deep and agitated waves, "at least I have saved
+Edwin's life." And he bravely made up his mind to keep up heart and
+hope, and weather the comfortless night with Russell in his
+arms.</p>
+<p>And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still
+unconscious; and stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white
+forehead of his friend. He felt <i>then</i>, how deeply he loved
+him, how much he owed him; and no mother could have nursed a child
+more tenderly than he did the fainting boy. Russell's head rested
+on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled with welling blood,
+stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die, his
+fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had
+received some dangerous hurt.</p>
+<p>At last Russell stirred and groaned. "Where am I?" he said, and
+half opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back
+heavily. He saw only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and
+salt mist; heard only the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had
+no time to wake, and he screamed and fainted once more.</p>
+<p>Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of
+his power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he
+bent over him, and said, "Don't you remember, Edwin? We're quite
+safe. I'm with you, and Monty's gone for help."</p>
+<p>"Oh! I daren't jump," sobbed Russell; "oh mother, I shall be
+drowned. Save me! save me! I'm so glad they're safe, mother; but my
+leg hurts so." And he moaned again. He was delirious.</p>
+<p>"How cold it is, and wet too! where's Eric? are we bathing? run
+along, we shall be late. But stop, you're smoking. Dear Eric, don't
+smoke. Poor fellow, I'm afraid he's getting spoilt, and learning
+bad ways. Oh save him." And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer
+for Eric, which evidently had been often on his lips.</p>
+<p>Eric was touched to the heart's core, and in one rapid
+lightning-like glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful
+past, in all its sorrowfulness. And <i>he</i>, too, prayed wildly
+for help both for soul and body. Alone on the crag, with the sea
+tumbling and plashing round them, growing and gaining so much on
+their place of refuge, that his terror began to summon up the image
+of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and exhausted, with the
+wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on his courage, he
+prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow calmer by
+his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done in the
+green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down,
+now disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came
+the sound of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in
+a boat to save them.</p>
+<p>But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing
+towards the harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in
+the surf at the foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given
+it up in despair. His heart sank again, all the more for the
+glimpse of hope, and his strength began to give way. Russell's
+delirium continued, and he grew too frightened even to pray.</p>
+<p>A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be
+sure of it; it was Dr. Rowlands' voice and Montagu's. He got
+convinced of this, and summoned all his strength to shout in
+return. The light kept moving up and down on the shore, not a
+hundred yards off. His fear vanished; they were no longer alone.
+The first moment that the tide suffered any one to reach them they
+would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and he determined to
+hold up for Russell's sake until help should come; and every now
+and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts which
+came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the
+storm.</p>
+<p>But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master
+soothed the boy's fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently,
+that Montagu began to wonder if this really could be the awful
+head-master, whose warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was
+comforting him as a father might. What a depth of genuine human
+kindness that stern exterior concealed! And every now and then,
+when the storm blew loudest, the Doctor would stand still for a
+moment, and offer up a short intense prayer, or ejaculation, that
+help and safety might come to his beloved charge in their exposure
+and peril.</p>
+<p>Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink,
+and the sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The
+carriage drove up with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful
+servant brought with him the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and
+anxiously did they watch the ebbing tide, and when it had gone out
+sufficiently to allow of two stout planks being laid across the
+channel, an active sailor ventured over with a light, and in a few
+moments stood by Eric's side. Eric saw him coming, but was too weak
+and numb to move; and when the sailor lifted up the unconscious
+Russell from his knees, Eric was too much exhausted even to speak.
+The man returned for him, and lifting him on his back crossed the
+plank once more in safety, and carried them both to the carriage,
+where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything likely to
+revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the school,
+and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the boys
+were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the
+signal for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows,
+with many an anxious inquiry, "Are they safe?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, thank God!" called Dr. Rowlands; "so now, boys, shut the
+windows, and get to sleep."</p>
+<p>Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor's
+own house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu
+had beds provided them in another room by themselves, away from the
+dormitory: the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire,
+and looked like home and when the two boys had drank some warm
+wine, and cried for weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after
+their dangers and fatigues, and slept the deep, calm, dreamless
+sleep of tired children.</p>
+<p>So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the
+Easter holidays.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE SILVER CORD BROKEN</h3>
+<blockquote>"Calm on the bosom of thy God,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Fair spirit, rest thee now!<br>
+E'en while with us thy footsteps trod,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His seal was on thy brow."--MRS. HEMANS.</blockquote>
+<p>They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at
+first could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little
+room, the bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair
+before it. But turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who
+was still asleep, and he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed,
+refreshed and perfectly well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric;
+but Eric was still languid and weak, and did not get up that day,
+nor was he able to go to work again for some days; but he was young
+and strong, and his vigorous constitution soon threw off the
+effects of his fast and exposure.</p>
+<p>Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head
+sadly. "He is very dangerously ill."</p>
+<p>"Is he?" said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a
+deep silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress,
+knelt down to say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt
+also over his pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest
+prayers were mingling for the one who seemed to have been taken
+while they were left.</p>
+<p>The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was
+thought that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the
+exposure to wet, cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened
+his constitution; and when his youth seemed to be triumphing over
+these dangers, another became more threatening. His leg never
+mended; he had both sprained the knee badly, and given the tibia an
+awkward twist, so that the least motion was agony to him.</p>
+<p>In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to
+see him, though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the
+earnest inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully
+apparent than ever, that, although Edwin was among them without
+being <i>of</i> them, no boy in the school was more deeply honored
+and fondly loved than he. Even the elastic spirits of boyhood could
+not quite throw off the shadow of gloom which his illness cast over
+the school.</p>
+<p>Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do
+was done for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin
+had no father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs.
+Upton, would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he
+was often left alone in his delirium and agony.</p>
+<p>Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his
+thoughts, always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not
+deserting the hurt lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy
+himself, and who, when he was a boy, did his Father's business, and
+was subject unto his parents in the obscure home of the despised
+village. Alone! nay, to them whose eyes were opened, the room of
+sickness and pain was thronged and beautiful with angelic
+presences.</p>
+<p>Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved
+friend. Eric's life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in
+passionate, unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued
+more than ever the sweet remembered hours spent with him; their
+games, and communnings, and walks, and Russell's gentle influence,
+and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he must not even see him, must not
+whisper one word of soothing to him in his anguish; he could only
+pray for him, and that he did with a depth of hope.</p>
+<p>At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to
+visit him. His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could
+not yet even recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room
+were so sad and useless, that Upton forbore. "And yet you should
+hear him talk in his delirium," he said to Eric; "not one evil
+word, or bad thought, or wicked thing, ever escapes him. I'm
+afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so with you or me."</p>
+<p>"No" said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience
+brought the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his
+cheeks.</p>
+<p>"And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks
+sometimes of all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in
+his thoughts, and every now and then he prays for you quite
+unconsciously."</p>
+<p>Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. "When do you think I
+shall be allowed too see him?"</p>
+<p>"Not just yet, I fear."</p>
+<p>After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell's mind
+ceased to wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for
+alarm. Fresh advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg
+must be amputated.</p>
+<p>When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints.
+"Only think, Monty, isn't it hard, isn't it cruel? When we see our
+brave, bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple." Eric hardly
+understood that he was railing at the providence of a merciful
+God.</p>
+<p>The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell
+seemed to amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him
+relief. They were all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no
+murmur, no cry escaped him; no words but the sweetest thanks for
+every little office of kindness done to him. A few days after, he
+asked Dr. Underhay "if he might see Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, my boy," said the doctor kindly, "you may see him, and one
+or two other of your particular friends if you like, provided you
+don't excite yourself too much. I trust you will get better
+now."</p>
+<p>So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they
+might go and see their friend. "Be sure," he added, "that you don't
+startle or excite him."</p>
+<p>They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of
+early summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held
+their breath, and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known
+voice which gave the answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe,
+they softly opened the door, which admitted them into the presence
+of the dear companion whom they had not seen for so long. Since
+then it seemed as though gulfs far deeper than the sea had been
+flowing between him and them.</p>
+<p>Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on
+tiptoe--the darkened room where Russell was What a hush and
+oppression there seemed to them at first in the dim, silent
+chamber; what an awfulness in all the appliances which showed how
+long and deeply their schoolfellow had suffered. But all this
+vanished directly they caught sight of his face. There he lay, so
+calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest eyes turned
+towards them, as though to see whether any of their affection for
+him had ceased or been forgotten!</p>
+<p>In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with
+bowed foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their
+heads, and pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and
+looked at them tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces
+with their hands, and broke into deep suppressed sobs of
+compassion.</p>
+<p>"Oh hush, hush!" he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his
+hands while they kissed him. "Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you
+cry so for me? I am very happy."</p>
+<p>But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed,
+and had now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for
+life; and as the throng of memories came on them--memories of his
+skill and fame at cricket, and racquets, and football--of their
+sunny bathes together in sea and river, and all their happy holiday
+wanderings--they could not restrain their emotion, and wept
+uncontrollably. Neither of them could speak a word, or break the
+holy silence; and as he patted their heads and cheeks, his own
+tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he felt the
+comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in his
+loneliness, and it did him good.</p>
+<p>The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would
+agitate Edwin too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys
+left, only whispering, "We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!"</p>
+<p>They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite
+cheerfully with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation
+more than any game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the
+sick-room more than repaid them for the glad life without, when
+they heard Russell's simple and heartfelt thanks. "Ah! how good of
+you, dear fellows," he would say, "to give up the merry playground
+for a wretched cripple," and he would smile cheerfully to show that
+his trial had not made him weary of life. Indeed, he often told
+them that he believed they felt for him more than he did
+himself.</p>
+<p>One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and
+violets. He seemed much better, and Eric's spirits were high with
+the thoughts and hopes of the coming holidays. "There, Edwin," he
+said, as the boy gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, "don't
+they make you glad? They are one of our <i>three</i> signs, you
+know, of the approaching holidays. One sign was the first sight of
+the summer steamer going across the bay; another was May eve, when
+these island-fellows light big gorse fires all over the mountains,
+and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep off the
+fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin
+to twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly
+talk we had that evening about the holidays; but my father and
+mother were here then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm.
+But the third sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the
+happiest. You can't think how I <i>grabbed</i> at the first
+primrose this year; I found it by a cave on the Ness. And though
+these are rather the last than the first, yet I knew you'd like
+them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And how much better
+you're looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I positively
+declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You'll soon be out
+among us again, that's clear----"</p>
+<p>He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry
+way that Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he
+caught the touch of sadness on Russell's face, and saw his long,
+abstracted, eager look at the flowers.</p>
+<p>"Dear fellow, you're not worse, are you?" he said quickly. "What
+a fool I am to chatter so; it makes you ill."</p>
+<p>"No, no, Eric, talk on; you can't think how I love to hear you.
+Oh, how very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you,
+for bringing them." And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy
+look which had startled Eric--as though he were learning their
+color and shape by heart.</p>
+<p>"I wish I hadn't brought them, though," said Eric, "they are
+filling your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you'll be well by the
+holidays--a month hence, you know--or else I shouldn't have talked
+so gladly about them."</p>
+<p>"No, Eric," said Russell sadly, "these dear flowers are the last
+spring blossoms that I shall see--<i>here</i> at least. Yes, I will
+keep them, for your sake, Eric, till I die."</p>
+<p>"Oh don't talk so," said Eric, shocked and flustered, "why
+everybody knows and says that you're getting better."</p>
+<p>Russell smiled and shook his head. "No, Eric, I shall die. There
+stop, dear fellow, don't cry," said he, raising his hands quietly
+to Eric's face; "isn't it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at
+first to leave this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel
+sea," he continued smiling; "and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and
+Monty, and, above all, to leave <i>you</i>, Eric, whom I love best
+in all the world. Yes, remember I've no home, Eric, and no
+prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in this, so long as
+God gave me health and strength; but health went for ever into
+those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear, gallant
+Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn't look so happy to
+<i>halt</i> through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am
+dying--dying, Eric," he said solemnly, "my brother; let me call you
+brother; I have no near relations, you know, to fill up the love in
+my yearning heart, but I <i>do</i> love <i>you</i>. Kiss me, Eric,
+as though I were a child, and you a child. There, that comforts me;
+I feel as if I <i>were</i> a child again, and had a dear
+brother;--and I <i>shall</i> be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father's house."</p>
+<p>Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+<i>recently</i> of Russell's death, but had begun to reckon on his
+recovery, and now life seemed darker to him than ever.</p>
+<p>But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. "The grass
+withereth," he murmured, "the flower fadeth, and the glory of its
+beauty perisheth; but--<i>but</i> the word of the Lord endureth for
+ever." And here he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed
+his hand, with more than a brother's fondness, to his heart.</p>
+<p>"Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full," he said, "too full to speak
+to you. Let me read to you;" and with Russell's arm round his neck
+he sat down, beside his pillow, and read to him about "the pure
+river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
+throne of God and of the Lamb." At first sobs choked his voice, but
+it gathered firmness as he went on.</p>
+<p>"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
+river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
+fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the
+tree were for the healing of the nations.</p>
+<p>"And there shall be no more curse"--and here the reader's
+musical voice rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--"but the
+throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants
+shall serve him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be
+in their foreheads."</p>
+<p>"And they shall see his face," murmured Russell, "<i>and they
+shall see his face</i>" Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of
+rapture seemed to be lighted in his eyes, as though they saw
+heavenly things, and his countenance was like an angel's to look
+upon. Eric closed the book reverently, and gazed.</p>
+<p>"And now pray for me, Eric, will you?" Eric knelt down, but no
+prayer would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but
+emotion prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his
+hand on his head and prayed.</p>
+<p>"O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two
+erring, weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the
+love thou bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord,
+take me to the green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and
+one remains--O Lord! bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead
+and guide him, and keep him for ever in thy fear and love, that he
+may continue thine for ever, and hereafter we may meet together
+among the redeemed, in the immortal glory of the resurrection. Hear
+us, O Father, for thy dear Son's sake. Amen! Amen!"</p>
+<p>The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One
+long brotherly kiss he printed on Russell's forehead, and, full of
+sorrowful forebodings, bade him good night.</p>
+<p>He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. "Yes," he
+said, "he may die at any time; he <i>must</i> die soon. It is even
+best that he should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the
+head would certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he
+lived."</p>
+<p>Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.</p>
+<p>The holidays drew on; for Russell's sake, and at his earnest
+wish, Eric had worked harder than he ever did before. All his
+brilliant abilities, all his boyish ambition, were called into
+exercise; and, to the delight of every one, he gained ground
+rapidly, and seemed likely once more to dispute the palm with Owen.
+No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose, and he often gladdened
+Russell's heart by telling him about it; for every day he had a
+long visit to the sick boy's room, which refreshed and comforted
+them both.</p>
+<p>In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new
+leaf. He and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and
+every bad habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the
+dying boy, whom they both loved so well. And although Eric's
+popularity, after the romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous
+daring, was at its very zenith,--although he had received a medal
+and flattering letter from the Humane Society, who had been
+informed of the transaction by Dr. Rowlands,--although his success
+both physical and intellectual was higher than ever,--yet the dread
+of the great loss he was doomed to suffer, and the friendship which
+was to be snapped, overpowered every other feeling, and his heart
+was ennobled and purified by contact with his suffering friend.</p>
+<p>It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had
+drawn up the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze,
+pure from the sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing
+refreshfully into the sick boy's room. Russell was very, very
+happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed him; all was peace and
+trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did he talk to Eric,
+and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him gently to
+that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the
+sufferer stopped to pray aloud.</p>
+<p>"Good night, Eric," he said, "I am tired, <i>so</i> tired. I
+hope we shall meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my
+books, Eric, except a few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And
+my watch, that dear watch your mother, <i>my</i> mother, gave me, I
+shall leave to Rose as a remembrance of us both. Good night,
+brother."</p>
+<p>A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with
+Upton and Montagu to Russell's bedside. He was sinking fast; and as
+he had but a short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them,
+though he could see no others.</p>
+<p>They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy
+looked. They received his last farewells--he would die that night.
+Sweetly he blessed them, and made them promise to avoid all evil,
+and read the Bible, and pray to God. But he had only strength to
+speak at intervals. Mr. Rose, too, was there; it seemed as though
+he held the boy by the hand, as fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he
+entered the waters of the dark river.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I should <i>so</i> like to stay with you, Monty, Horace,
+dear, dear Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my
+father and mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple
+there--nor be in pain." His words grew slow and difficult. "God
+bless you, dear fellows; God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to
+God."</p>
+<p>He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat,
+and he was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as
+they kissed again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly,
+Mr. Rose checked them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes
+while he prayed.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AGAIN</h3>
+<blockquote>"O far beyond the waters<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The fickle feet may roam,<br>
+But they find no light so pure and bright<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;As the one fair star of home;<br>
+The star of tender hearts, lady,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That glows in an English home,"<br>
+<br>
+F.W.F.</blockquote>
+<p>That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and
+weighed down with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other
+boys were silent from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn
+both knew and loved Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to
+hear of his death; they asked some of the particulars, but Eric was
+not calm enough to tell them that evening. The one sense of
+infinite loss agitated him, and he indulged his paroxysms of
+emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if ever the life has
+been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever you have been
+made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and then only,
+will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.</p>
+<p>But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric,
+as he rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly
+sought for the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize
+before, how odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and
+partaken in since he became an inmate of that little room. How his
+soul revolted with infinite disgust from the language which he had
+heard, and the open glorying in sin of which he had so often been a
+witness. The stain and the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on
+his heart; it rode on his breast like a nightmare; it haunted his
+fancy with visions of guilty memory, and shapes of horrible regret.
+The ghosts of buried misdoings, which he had thought long lost in
+the mists of recollection, started up menacingly from their
+forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense of their awful
+reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which the locust
+had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and been
+reckoned to him as they past.</p>
+<p>And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he
+fondly imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven,
+crowned, and in white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he
+had walked and talked with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin's death,
+quenched his human affections, and altered his human heart? If not,
+might not he be there even now, leaning over his friend with the
+beauty of his invisible presence? The thought startled him, and
+seemed to give an awful lustre to the moonbeam which fell into the
+room. No; he could not endure such a presence now, with his weak
+conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid his head under the
+clothes, and shut his eyes.</p>
+<p>Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his
+soul. Should he ever meet Russell again? What if <i>he</i> had died
+instead of Edwin, where would he have been? "Oh, no! no!" he
+murmured aloud, as the terrible thought came over him of his own
+utter unfitness for death, and the possibility that he might never,
+never again hear the beloved accents, or gaze on the cherished
+countenance of his school friend.</p>
+<p>In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that
+night the dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of
+sleep. He was frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his
+conscience obtruded on him his sinfulness, and his affection called
+up the haunting lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering
+down a path, at the end of which Russell stood with open arms
+inviting him earnestly to join him there; he saw his bright
+ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his joyous words, and he
+hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure disappeared, and
+in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming garments, and
+drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a great wood
+alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his name,
+and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him
+back again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark
+forest, amid the sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking,
+sinking, sinking into a gulf, deep and darker even than the inner
+darkness of a sin-desolated heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly,
+everlastingly; while far away, like a star, stood the loved figure
+in light infinitely above him, and with pleading hands implored his
+deliverance, but could not prevail; and Eric was still sinking,
+sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him with a violent start
+and stifled scream.</p>
+<p>He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the
+pale, dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he
+was praying beside his corpse, praying to be more like <i>him</i>,
+who lay there so white and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing
+that he had so often rejected his kind warnings, and pained his
+affectionate heart. So Eric began again to make good resolutions
+about all his future life. Ah! how often he had done so before, and
+how often they had failed. He had not yet learned the lesson which
+David learned by sad experience; "Then I said, it is mine own
+infirmity, <i>but I will remember the years of the right hand of
+the Most High</i>."</p>
+<p>That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of
+late far more thoughtful than before; under Edwin's influence he
+had been laying aside, one by one, the careless sins of school
+life, and his tone was nobler and manlier than it had ever been.
+Montagu had never known or heard much about godliness; his father,
+a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of the world, had trained him in
+the principles of refinement and good taste, and given him a high
+standard of conventional honor; but he passed through life lightly,
+and had taught his son to do the same. Possessed of an ample
+fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled himself with
+none of the deep mysteries of life, and</p>
+<blockquote>"Pampered the coward heart<br>
+With feelings all too delicate for use;<br>
+Nursing in some delicious solitude<br>
+His dainty love and slothful sympathies."</blockquote>
+<p>But Montagu in Edwin's sick-room and by his death bed; in the
+terrible storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands'
+earnestness, and Mr. Rose's deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety;
+by witnessing Eric's failures and recoveries; and by beginning to
+take in his course the same heartfelt interest which Edwin taught
+him--Montagu, in consequence of these things, had begun to see
+another side of life, which awoke all his dormant affections and
+profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for the first time, he
+began to catch some of</p>
+<blockquote>"The still gad music of humanity,"</blockquote>
+<p>and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be
+well dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to
+him a realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and
+worthier aims; and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest
+in his work exceeded that of any other boy, had pointed out to him
+that solemn question of Euripides--</p>
+<blockquote>"[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate<br>
+Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips<br>
+Pepheugenai to theion];"</blockquote>
+<p>he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting
+impression upon his character.</p>
+<p>The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as
+possible from his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working
+for the examination, and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now
+spent most of his time with the best of his friends, particularly
+Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for Upton, like himself, had been much
+sobered by sorrow at their loss. This time he came out
+<i>second</i> in his form, and gained more than one prize. This was
+his first glimpse of real delight since Russell's death; and when
+the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take
+his prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the
+governor who took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly
+entered into the pleasure which his success caused, as well as into
+the honors won by his friends. One outward sign only remained of
+his late bereavement--his mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore
+rosebuds or lilies of the valley in their button-holes on the
+occasion, but on this day Eric would not wear them. Little Wright,
+who was a great friend of theirs, had brought some as a present
+both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on the prize-day
+morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes met, they
+understood each other's thoughts.</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric to Wright, "we won't wear these to-day, although
+we have both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with
+them."</p>
+<p>They all three walked together to the little green, quiet
+churchyard, where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many
+a silent visit had the friends paid to that grave, on which the
+turf was now green again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A
+stone had just been placed to mark the spot, and they read--</p>
+
+<p class="c"> SACRED TO THE MEMORY<br>
+OF<br>
+AN ORPHAN,<br>
+WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,<br>
+AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.<br>
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br>
+"<i>Is it well with the child? It is well</i>."<br>
+2 KINGS iv. 26.</p>
+
+<p>The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a
+time.</p>
+<p>"He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty," said
+Eric; "let us leave the signs of it upon his grave."</p>
+<p>And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the
+choice rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they
+turned away without another word.</p>
+<p>The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded
+the passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the
+deserted building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer.
+What joyous triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted
+and bounded with, the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal
+was the gladness and good humor of every one. Never were voyages so
+merry as those of the steamer that day, and even the "good-byes"
+that had to be said at Southpool were lightly borne. From thence
+the boys quickly scattered to the different railways, and the
+numbers of those who were travelling together got thinner and
+thinner as the distance increased. Wright and one or two others
+went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got down at the
+little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail to
+Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at
+Fairholm.</p>
+<p>It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their
+intensity. He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer
+holidays were nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter
+were short, so that it had not been worth while to travel so far as
+Fairholm, and Eric had spent his Christmas with friends in another
+part of the island. But now he was once more to see dear Fairholm,
+and his aunt, his cousin Fanny, and above all, his little brother.
+His heart was beating fast with joy, and his eyes sparkling with
+pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his head out of the window,
+each well-remembered landmark gave him the delicious sensation of
+meeting again an old friend. "Ah! there's the white bridge, and
+there's the canal, and the stile; and <i>there</i> runs the river,
+and there's Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are." And springing out of
+the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into
+the carriage in a moment.</p>
+<p>Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so
+often plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its
+sleeping churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten
+yards he met old acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and
+whom he greeted with glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the
+Latin school, from which came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a
+man he felt himself now by comparison!);--by the old Roman camp,
+where he had imagined such heroic things when he was a child;
+through all the scenes so rich with the memories and associations
+of his happy childhood, they flew along; and now they had entered
+the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.</p>
+<p>Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and
+Vernon, on the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones
+ran to meet him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty
+kiss, and put his arm round Vernon's neck, and then held him in
+front to have a look at him.</p>
+<p>"How tall you've grown, Verny, and how well you look," he said,
+gazing proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be
+justly proud of. And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw
+the healthy glow of Eric's features, and the strong graceful
+development of his limbs.</p>
+<p>And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew
+with a mother's love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of
+delightful trifles, that "blossoming vein" of household talk, which
+gives such an incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they
+all three turned into the house, where Eric, hungry with his
+travels, did ample justice to the "jolly spread" prepared for him,
+luxurious beyond anything he had seen for his last year at school.
+When he and Vernon went up to their room at night--the same little
+room in which they slept on the night when they first had met--they
+marked their heights on the door again, which showed Eric that in
+the last year he had grown two inches, a fact which he pointed out
+to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they went to bed, and
+to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation of a great
+unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once or
+twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.</p>
+<p>He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned
+out with his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it.
+The garden looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an
+early enjoyment of those currants which hung in ruby clusters over
+the walls. Everything was bathed in the dewy balm of summer
+morning, and he felt very happy as, with his little spaniel
+frisking round him, he visited the great Newfoundland in his
+kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He had barely
+finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once more met
+the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year. And
+yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but <i>he</i> was changed. Mrs.
+Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over
+<i>him</i>, had come an alteration of feeling and circumstance; an
+unknown or half-known <i>something</i> which cast a shadow between
+them and him, and sometimes made him half shrink and start as he
+met their loving looks. Can no schoolboy, who reads history,
+understand and explain the feeling which I mean?</p>
+<p>By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of
+Russell's death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter
+was so blurred. "But," he wrote, "I have some friends still;
+especially Mr. Rose among the masters, and Monty and Upton among
+the boys. Monty you know; he is more like Edwin than any other boy,
+and I like him very much. You didn't know Upton, but I am a great
+deal with him, though he is much older than I am. He is a fine
+handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the school. I hope
+you will know him some day."</p>
+<p>The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once
+recognised to be in Upton's handwriting He eagerly tore off the
+envelope, and read--</p>
+<p>"My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I
+feel it to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will
+feel it to be bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave
+Roslyn, and probably we shall never meet there again. The reason
+is, I have had a cadetship given me, and I am to sail for India in
+September. I have already written to the school to tell them to
+pack up and send me all my books and clothes.</p>
+<p>"I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I
+wanted to stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly
+tell you, Eric, one reason: I'm very much afraid that I've done
+you, and Graham, and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I
+possibly could, to undo the harm I had done. Poor Edwin's death
+opened my eyes to a good many things, and now I'd give all I have
+never to have taught or encouraged you in wrong things. Unluckily
+it's too late;--only, I hope that you already see, as I do, that
+the things I mean lead to evil far greater than we ever used to
+dream of.</p>
+<p>"Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me,
+and believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON."</p>
+<p>"P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you
+this time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my
+poor cousin, when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice
+little chap he looked. I hope you'll look after him as a brother
+should, and keep him out of mischief."</p>
+<p>Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he
+didn't often show them his school letters, because, like this one,
+they often contained allusions to things which he did not like his
+aunt to know. The thought of Upton's leaving him made him quite
+unhappy, and he wrote him a long letter by that post, indignantly
+denying the supposition that his friendship had ever done him
+anything but good.</p>
+<p>The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often
+been in his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he
+thought of that bright little brother of his being initiated in the
+mysteries of evil which he himself had learnt, and sinking like
+himself into slow degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and
+perplexed him, and at last he determined to open his heart,
+partially at least, in a letter to Mr. Rose. The master fully
+understood his doubts, and wrote him the following reply:--</p>
+<p>"My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your
+brother Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly
+give you my own opinion.</p>
+<p>"You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear
+that Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his
+modesty, and much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear
+that he will meet with many bad examples, and learn to look on God
+and godliness in a way far different from that to which he has been
+accustomed at home. You fear, in short, that he must pass through
+the same painful temptations to which you have yourself been
+subjected; to which, perhaps, you have even succumbed.</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all
+means let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is
+a poor thing; it <i>cannot</i>, under any circumstances, be
+permanent, nor is it at all valuable as a foundation of character.
+The true preparation for life, the true basis of a manly character,
+is not to have been ignorant of evil, but to have known it and
+avoided it; not to hare been sheltered from temptation, but to have
+passed through it and overcome it by God's help. Many have drawn
+exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public school morality; the
+best answer is to point to the good and splendid men that have been
+trained in public schools, and who lose no opportunity of recurring
+to them with affection. It is quite possible to be <i>in</i> the
+little world of school-life, and yet not <i>of</i> it. The ruin of
+human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend;
+the peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances
+under which he was placed. He often told me before his last hour,
+that he rejoiced to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced
+there much real happiness, and derived in every way lasting
+good.</p>
+<p>"I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will
+come back with the 'spell of home affection' alive in your heart. I
+shall rejoice to make Vernon's acquaintance, and will do for him
+all I can. Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you
+arrive.--Ever, dear Eric,</p>
+<p>"Affectionately yours,</p>
+<p>"WALTER ROSA."</p>
+<br>
+<p>END OF PART I</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2>
+<blockquote>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Sed revocare
+gradum."--VIRGIL.</blockquote>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ABDIEL</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth' omiliai
+kakai].--MENANDEB.</blockquote>
+<p>A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter,
+and had brought with it many changes.</p>
+<p>To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell
+were getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had
+vanished; the bad habits laid aside after his death had been
+resumed. All this took place very gradually; there were many inward
+struggles, much occasional remorse, but the struggles by degrees
+grew weaker, and remorse lost its sting, and Eric Williams soon
+learned again to follow the multitude to do evil.</p>
+<p>He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and,
+besides this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had
+fallen off and no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise
+of genius which he had given when he first came. But in all school
+sports he had improved, and was the acknowledged leader and
+champion in matters requiring boldness and courage. His popularity
+made him giddy; favor of man led him to forgetfulness of God; and
+even a glance at his countenance showed a self-sufficiency and
+arrogance which ill became the refinement of his features, and ill
+replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.</p>
+<p>And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had
+happened to him, which Eric in his better moments could have
+feared. He had fallen into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who
+should have been his natural guardian and guide, began to treat him
+with indifference, and scarcely ever had any affectionate
+intercourse with him. It is by no means unfrequent that brothers at
+school see but little of each other, and follow their several
+pursuits, and choose their various companions, with small regard to
+the relationship between them.</p>
+<p>Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that
+Vernon's chief friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he
+could have chosen. It was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had
+been expelled from one of the most ill-managed schools in Ireland,
+although, of course, the fact had been most treacherously concealed
+from the authorities at Roslyn; and now he was let loose, without
+warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys. Better for them if their
+gates had been open to the pestilence! the pestilence could but
+have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front fighter in the
+devil's battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He systematically,
+from the very first, called evil good and good evil, put bitter for
+sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the admission of
+any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn boys, to
+their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable flood
+of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as
+Montagu and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight
+of a feather to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have
+done much, Duncan might have done much, to aid the better cause,
+had they tried; but they resisted at first but faintly, and then
+not at all, until they too were swept away in the broadening tide
+of degeneracy and sin.</p>
+<p>Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if
+he stated his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in
+the school, naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all
+the lower forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if
+they accepted his guidance. A little army of small boys attended
+him, and were ever ready for the schemes of mischief to which he
+deliberately trained them, until they grew almost as turbulent, as
+disobedient, and as wicked, as himself. He taught, both, by precept
+and example, that towards masters neither honor was to be
+recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To cheat them, to lie
+to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to misrepresent their
+motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their actions--was the
+conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the time that he
+continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a Pandemonium of
+evil passions and despicable habits.</p>
+<p>Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty
+this would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often
+with his brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his
+side. He flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious
+that Vernon should grow spirited and independent; but, had he
+examined himself, he would have found selfishness at the bottom of
+it. Once or twice his manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the
+little boy both observed and resented it. Montagu and others
+noticed him for Eric's sake; but, being in the same form with
+Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and feeling, as he did,
+deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the ascendancy of his
+physical strength and reckless daring. Before three months were
+over, he became, to Eric's intolerable disgust, a ringleader in the
+band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were the
+despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.</p>
+<p>Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he
+had no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He
+simply kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own
+tastes and pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial
+spirits in the school, so as in no way to come in contact with the
+spreading corruption.</p>
+<p>Montagu, now Owen's chief friend, was also in the sixth, and
+fearlessly expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his
+dread of the evil he was effecting. Had the monitorial system
+existed, that contagion could have been checked at once; but, as it
+was, brute force the unlimited authority. Ill indeed are those
+informed who raise a cry, and join in the ignorant abuse of that
+noble safeguard of English schools. Any who have had personal and
+intimate experience of how schools work <i>with</i> it and
+<i>without</i> it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and
+morality; how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the
+bulwark of discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful,
+often at the most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all
+their sympathies and interests on the side of the honorable and the
+just.</p>
+<p>Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did
+not come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan
+he was scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to
+keep apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be
+ignorant of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the
+indignant and measureless invectives of Montagu and others,
+professed to see in Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild,
+perhaps, but still a very good fellow.</p>
+<p>Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the
+unvarying glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across
+him openly, since Montagu was so high in the school; and besides,
+though much the bigger of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of
+him. But he chose sly methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named
+him "Rosebud;" he talked <i>at</i> him whenever he had an
+opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the gang of youngsters
+against him; he spread malicious reports about him; he diminished
+his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every secret and
+underhand means which, lay in his power.</p>
+<p>One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy,
+Montagu did not come to bed till an hour later than <i>the</i>
+lower part of the school, and Brigson taught some of the little
+fellows to play all kinds of tricks to his bed and room, so that,
+when he came down, it was with the certainty of finding everything
+in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be turned right on end, and
+he would have to put it to the ground and remake it before he could
+lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the room would be thrown
+about in different corners, with no trace of the offender.
+Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain
+that this was done by Brigson's instigation, or by his own hand,
+without having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor
+Monty grew very sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly
+annoyance weighed the more heavily on his spirits, from its being
+of a kind which peculiarly grated on his refined taste, and his
+natural sense of what was gentlemanly and fair.</p>
+<p>One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a
+light under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier
+than usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they
+were at it! The instant he entered, there was a rush through the
+opposite door, and he felt convinced that one of the retreating
+figures was Brigson's. In a second he had sprung across, so as to
+prevent the rest from running, and with heaving breast and flaming
+eyes, glared at the intruders as they stood there, sheepish and
+afraid.</p>
+<p>"What!" he said angrily, "so <i>you</i> are the fellows who have
+had the cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks;
+you miserable, degraded young animals!" And he looked at the four
+or five who had not made their escape. "What! and <i>you</i> among
+them," he said with a start, as he caught the eye of Vernon
+Williams--"Oh, this is too bad." His tone showed the deepest sorrow
+and vexation, and for a moment he said no more. Instantly Vernon
+was by him.</p>
+<p>"<i>Do</i> forgive me, <i>do</i> forgive me, Montagu," he said;
+"I really didn't know it teased you so much."</p>
+<p>But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself.
+"Wretched boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh,
+as usual," he said, glancing at the complete disorder which they
+had been effecting. "Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has
+introduced another vile secret among you. Well, he shall rue it!"
+and he pointed to some small, almost invisible flakes of a whitish
+substance scattered here and there over his pillow. It was a kind
+of powder, which if once it touched the skin, caused the most
+violent and painful irritation.</p>
+<p>"By heavens, this is <i>too</i> bad!" he exclaimed, stamping his
+foot with anger. "What have I ever done to you young blackguards,
+that you should treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I
+ever harmed one of you? And <i>you</i>, too, Vernon Williams!"</p>
+<p>The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble
+glance of sorrow and scorn.</p>
+<p>"Well, I <i>know</i> who has put you up to this; but you shall
+not escape so. I shall thrash you every one."</p>
+<p>Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none.
+They took it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it;
+and when it was over, Vernon said, "Forgive me, Montagu. I am very
+sorry, and will never do so again." Montagu, without deigning a
+reply, motioned them to go, and then sat down, full of grief, on
+his bed. But the outrage was not over for that night, and no sooner
+had he put out the light than he became painfully aware that
+several boys were stealing into the room, and the next moment he
+felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of bed in an instant,
+and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had scattered the crowd
+of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A number of
+fellows had set on him in the dark--on <i>him</i>, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should
+be possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson's baseness had
+spread far indeed.</p>
+<p>He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had
+reason to repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an
+antagonist. But this did not content him; his blood was up, and he
+determined to attack the evil at its source. He strode through his
+discomfited enemies straight into Brigson's room, struck a match,
+and said, "Brigson, get out of bed this instant."</p>
+<p>"Hullo!" grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.</p>
+<p>"None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?"</p>
+<p>"No!" roared Brigson, "I should think not."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, take <i>that</i>!" he shouted, striking him in the
+face.</p>
+<p>The fight that followed was very short. In a single round
+Montagu had utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced
+to beg for mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to
+tower above him with a magnificent superiority, and there was a
+self-controlled passion about him which gave tremendous energy to
+every blow. Brigson was utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and
+took without a word the parting kick of ineffable contempt which
+Montagu bestowed on him.</p>
+<p>"There," he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all
+the dormitories at the first hint of a fight, "I, a sixth-form
+fellow, have condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom
+all you miserable lower boys have been making an idol and hero of,
+and from whom you have been so readily learning every sort of
+blackguardly and debasing trick. But let me tell you and your hero,
+that if any of you dare to annoy or lift a finger at me again, you
+shall do it at your peril. I despise you all; there is hardly one
+gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you since that fellow
+Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you know that you
+deserve it." And every one of them <i>did</i> shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.</p>
+<p>The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr.
+Rose appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his
+night-shirt, the boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose,
+which was bleeding profusely, at his basin.</p>
+<p>Montagu instantly stepped up to him. "You can trust me, sir; may
+I ask you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some
+one that deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson."</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. "I can trust
+you," he said, "Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this
+irregularity. And now get instantly to your beds."</p>
+<p>But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the
+studies, and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them
+what had occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves
+for the future to check, if they could, by all fair means,
+Brigson's pernicious influence and abominable example.</p>
+<p>But it was too late now; the mischief was done.</p>
+<p>"O Eric," said Montagu, "why did you not make a stand against
+all this before? Your own brother was one of them."</p>
+<p>"Little wretch. I'll kick him well for it," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"No, no!" said Montagu, "that'll do no good. Try rather to look
+after him a little more."</p>
+<p>"I hope <i>you</i> will forgive him, and try and rescue
+him."</p>
+<p>"I will do what I can," said Montagu, coldly.</p>
+<p>Eric sighed, and they parted.</p>
+<p>Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off
+all open connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do
+so. But that personage kept carefully out of his way until the
+first burst of indignation against him had subsided, and after a
+time began to address Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he
+had completely regained his ascendancy over the lower part of the
+school, which was not difficult, because they were wincing under
+Montagu's contempt, and mingled no little dislike with it; a
+dislike which all are too apt to feel towards those whose very
+presence and moral superiority are a tacit rebuke of their own
+failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at the zenith of
+popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously encouraged. He
+was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a large score
+at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All this he
+was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the reasons
+why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to
+stand in much the same relation to him as before.</p>
+<p>The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much,
+and the sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main
+parties--the one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by
+Duncan, who devoted themselves to the games and diversions of the
+school, and troubled themselves comparatively little about anything
+else; the other, headed by Montagu, who took the lead in
+intellectual pursuits, and endeavored, by every means in their
+power, to counteract the pernicious effects of the spreading
+immorality.</p>
+<p>And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved
+boy, and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was
+disunion, misery, and deterioration. The community which had once
+been peaceful, happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy
+and heart-burnings; every boy's hand seemed to be against his
+neighbor; lying, bad language, dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and
+the few who, like Owen and Montagu, remained uncontaminated by the
+general mischief, walked alone and despondent amid their
+uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>WILDNEY</h3>
+<blockquote>"That punishment's the best to bear<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; That follows soonest on the sin,<br>
+And guilt's a game where losers fare<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Better than those who seem to win."<br>
+<br>
+COV. PATMORE.</blockquote>
+<p>At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded
+to one of the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which
+adjoined it.</p>
+<p>Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of
+disobedience, had frequented the studies a good deal, but it was
+generally understood that no study-boy might ask any one to be a
+regular visitor to his room without the leave of its other
+occupant.</p>
+<p>So one evening Duncan said to Eric, "Do you know little
+Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the
+great black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I
+don't know him."</p>
+<p>"Well, he's a very nice little fellow; a regular devil"</p>
+<p>"Humph!" said Eric, laughing; "I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very
+nice little fellow."</p>
+<p>"Pooh!" said Duncan; "you know well enough what I mean; I mean
+he's not one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has
+lots of fun in him."</p>
+<p>"Well, what of him?"</p>
+<p>"Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study
+when he likes?"</p>
+<p>"Not the least in the world."</p>
+<p>"Very well, I'll go and fetch him now. But wouldn't you like to
+ask your brother Vernon to come in too whenever he's inclined?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, "I don't care. He does come every now and
+then."</p>
+<p>Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was
+thinking <i>why</i> he didn't give Vernon the free run of his
+study. He would not admit to himself the true reason, which was,
+that he had too much ground to fear that his example would do his
+brother no good.</p>
+<p>Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright,
+engaging, spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him
+which took Eric's fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of
+the lower fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in
+school, and was in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was
+"taken up" by Eric, he had been a regular little hero among his
+compeers, because he was game for any kind of mischief, and, in the
+new tone of popular morality, his fearless disregard of rules made
+him the object of general admiration. From this time, however, he
+was much in the studies, and unhappily carried with him to those
+upper regions the temptation to a deeper and more injurious class
+of transgressions than had yet penetrated there.</p>
+<p>It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised
+little son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first
+asked the child to frequent their study.</p>
+<p>It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed,
+but there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric's knee by the study
+fire, while Duncan was doing some Arnold's verses for him to be
+shown up next day.</p>
+<p>"Bother these verses," said Duncan, "I shall have a whiff. Do
+you mind, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"No; not at all."</p>
+<p>"Give me a weed, too," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"What! young un--you don't mean to say you smoke?" asked Eric in
+surprise.</p>
+<p>"Don't I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went
+and smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday."</p>
+<p>"Phew!" said Eric, "then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you
+in countenance;" and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had
+touched one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him
+gloomy and silent. "Tempora mutantur," thought he, "nos et mutamur
+in illis."</p>
+<p>"Why, how glum you are," said Wildney, patting him on the
+head.</p>
+<p>"O no!" said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. "Look," he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, "what
+a glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars."</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Duncan, yawning; "this smoking makes one very
+thirsty. I wish I'd some beer."</p>
+<p>"Well, why shouldn't we get some?" said Wildney "it would he
+very jolly."</p>
+<p>"Get some! What! at this time of night?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; I'll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before
+ten."</p>
+<p>"Nonsense," said Eric; "it aint worth while."</p>
+<p>"I believe you think I'm afraid," said Wildney, laughing, and
+looking at Eric with his dark eyes; "and what's more, I believe
+<i>you're</i> afraid."</p>
+<p>"Little whippersnapper!" said Eric, coloring, "as if I was
+afraid to do anything <i>you</i> dare do. I'll go with you at once,
+if you like."</p>
+<p>"What are you thinking of?" asked Duncan. "I don't care twopence
+about the beer, and I hope you won't go."</p>
+<p>"But I will, though," said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney,
+of all people, should think him wanting in pluck.</p>
+<p>"But how will you get out?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, <i>I'll</i> show you a dodge there," said Wildney. "Come
+along. Have you a dark lantern?"</p>
+<p>"No, but I'll get Llewellyn's."</p>
+<p>"Come along then."</p>
+<p>So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying
+the dark lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a
+secret which had long been known to the lower part of the
+school.</p>
+<p>"Ibant obscuri dubi&acirc; sub luce." He led them quietly down
+stairs, stole with them noiselessly past the library door, and took
+them to a window in the passage, where a pane was broken.</p>
+<p>"Could you get through that?" he whispered to Eric, "if we broke
+away the rest of the glass?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know. But, then, there's the bar outside."</p>
+<p>"Oh, I'll manage that. But will you go and peep through the
+key-hole of the library, and see who's there, Duncan?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Duncan, bluntly, "no key-holes for me."</p>
+<p>"Hush! then <i>I</i> will," and he glided away, while Eric, as
+quietly as he could, broke away the glass until it was all
+removed.</p>
+<p>"There's only old Stupid," whispered he, irreverently
+designating an under-master named Harley, "and he's asleep before
+the fire. Now, then, just lift me up, Eric, will you?"</p>
+<p>Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end
+of the bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long
+driven into the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened,
+and only wanted a little pull to bring them out. In one minute
+Wildney had unfastened and pushed down one end of the bar. He then
+got through the broken pane, and dropped down outside. Eric
+followed with some little difficulty, for the aperture would only
+just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to the study,
+anxiously awaited their return.</p>
+<p>It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant
+and cool. But Eric's first thought, as he dropped on to the ground,
+was one of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere
+child, so easily to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had
+hardly thought till then of what their errand was to be, but now
+his couldn't help so strongly disapproving of it, that he was
+half-inclined to turn back. He did not, however, dare to suggest
+this, lest Wildney should charge him with cowardice, and betray it
+to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own excitement, the
+stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.</p>
+<p>"I hope we shan't be seen crossing the play-ground," said
+Wildney. "My eye, shouldn't we catch it!"</p>
+<p>He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air
+of nonchalance, and played the part of protector.</p>
+<p>"Here, take my arm," he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight,
+instead of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one
+so much his junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by
+community of danger and interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly
+struck him that he didn't know where they were going to buy the
+beer. He asked Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I see you're not half up to snuff," said Wildney, whose
+courage had risen; "I'll show you."</p>
+<p>He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were
+booming, and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in
+they saw some sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in
+tobacco-smoke.</p>
+<p>The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held
+up a light to see who they were.</p>
+<p>"Hollo, Billy," said Wildney, confidentially, "all serene; give
+us two bottles of beer--on tick, you know."</p>
+<p>"Yessir--d'reckly," said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the
+eyes. "So you're out for a spree," he continued, winking in a
+knowing way. "Won't you walk into the back-parlor while I get
+them?" And he showed them into a dingy horrid room behind the
+house, stale with smoke, and begrimed with dust.</p>
+<p>Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home.
+The man soon returned with the beer. "Wouldn't you like a glass of
+summat now, young gen'lmen?" he asked, in an insinuating way.</p>
+<p>"No, Billy! don't jabber--we must be off. Here open the
+door."</p>
+<p>"Stop, I'll pay," said Eric. "What's the damage?"</p>
+<p>"Three shilling, sir," said the man. "Glad to see a new
+customer, sir." He pocketed the money, and showed them, out,
+standing to look after them with a malicious leer as they
+disappeared, and jerking his left thumb over his shoulder.</p>
+<p>"Faugh!" said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again
+into the moonlight, "what a poisonous place! Good gracious,
+Charlie, who introduced you there?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I don't think much of going <i>there</i>" said Wildney,
+carelessly; "we go every-week almost."</p>
+<p>"We! who?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call
+the 'Anti-muffs,' and that's our smoking-room."</p>
+<p>"And is that horrid beast the landlord?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there's no harm in him
+that I know of."</p>
+<p>But Eric only "phewed" again two or three times, and thought of
+Montagu.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into
+the deep shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, "Look!"</p>
+<p>Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He
+had heard voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at
+their sudden cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking
+round.</p>
+<p>"We must run for it," whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose
+approached the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and
+scampered away as hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by
+taking his hand, and neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr.
+Rose following them at first, but soon distanced him, and reached a
+place where two roads met, either of which would lead to the
+school.</p>
+<p>"We won't go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What
+fun!" said Wildney, laughing.</p>
+<p>"What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of
+dodges," said Eric.</p>
+<p>They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got
+to the school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected
+their entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his
+study, and Wildney to his dormitory.</p>
+<p>"Here's a go!" said the latter, as they ran up stairs; "I've
+smashed one of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and
+my trousers are deluged with the stuff."</p>
+<p>They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose's step was heard on the
+stairs. He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight
+of two boys and the sound of their voices startled him in the
+street, and their sudden disappearance made him sure that they were
+Roslyn boys, particularly when they began to run. He strongly
+suspected that he recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore
+made straight for his dormitory, which he entered, just as that
+worthy had thrust the beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr.
+Rose, walked up quietly to his bedside, and observed that he was
+not asleep, and that he still had half has clothes on. He was going
+away when he saw a little bit of the trousers protruding under the
+mattress, and giving a pull, out they came, wringing wet with the
+streams of beer. He could not tell at first what this imported, but
+a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket with, a crash on
+the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of Wildney's
+pretended sleep, he said, quietly, "Come to me before breakfast
+tomorrow, Wildney," and went down stairs.</p>
+<p>Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly
+attempting to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring
+auditors the night's adventure; being evidently rather prouder of
+the "Eric and I," which he introduced every now and then into his
+story.</p>
+<p>"Has he twigged you?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"And me?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know; we shall see to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"I hope not," said Eric; "I'm sorry for you, Charlie."</p>
+<p>"Can't be cured, must be endured," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Well, good night! and don't lose heart."</p>
+<p>Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the
+other bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment,
+because they were full of surmises as to the extent of the
+discovery, and the nature of the punishment.</p>
+<p>Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.</p>
+<p>He listened very coldly, and said, "Well, Eric, it would serve
+you right to be caught. What business have you to be going out at
+night, at the invitation of contemptible small fry, like this
+little Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"I beg you won't speak of any friend of mine in those terms,"
+said Eric, drawing up haughtily.</p>
+<p>"I hope you don't call a bad little boy like Wildney, who'd be
+no credit to any one, <i>your</i> friend, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes I do, though. He's one of the pluckiest, finest, most
+promising fellows in the lower school."</p>
+<p>"How I begin to hate that word plucky," said Montagu; "it's made
+the excuse here for everything that's wrong, base, and unmanly. It
+seems to me it's infinitely more 'plucky' just now to do your duty
+and not be ashamed of it."</p>
+<p>"You've certainly required <i>that</i> kind of pluck to bear you
+up lately, Monty," said Owen, looking up from his books.</p>
+<p>"Pluck!" said Montagu, scornfully; "you seem to me to think it
+consists in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious
+Brigson, and joining hand and glove with the dregs of the
+school."</p>
+<p>"Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you're cool, to speak of any
+of my associates in that way," said Eric, now thoroughly angry.</p>
+<p>"Associates!" retorted Montagu, hotly; "pretty associates! How
+do you expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the
+school like you have such dealings with the refined honorable
+Brigson, and the exemplary intellectual Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"You're a couple of confounded muffs," shouted Eric, banging the
+door, and flinging into his own study again without farther
+reply.</p>
+<p>"Hav'n't you been a little hard on him, considering the row he's
+in?" asked Owen.</p>
+<p>Montagu's head was resting on his hand as he bent over the
+table. "Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the
+present state of things? Yes, you're right," he said, after a
+pause; "<i>this</i> wasn't the time to speak. I'll go and talk to
+him again. But how utterly changed he is!"</p>
+<p>He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an
+affectation of noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--</p>
+<p>"Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt
+to express myself strongly." He could not trust himself to say
+more, but held out his hand.</p>
+<p>Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.</p>
+<p>"Come, Eric, it isn't <i>wholly</i> my fault, is it, that we are
+not so warm to each other as we were when ..."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Monty, Monty!" said Eric, softened by the allusion; and
+warmly grasped his friend's proffered hand.</p>
+<p>"Oh, Eric!"</p>
+<p>The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they
+felt that while things continued thus their friendship could not
+last. It was a sad thought for both.</p>
+<p>Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained
+great reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to
+drop the least hint as to their means of getting out, or their
+purpose in visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained
+undiscovered, and when any boy wanted to get out at
+night--(unhappily the trick now became common enough)--he had only
+to break a pane of glass in that particular window, which, as it
+was in the passage, often remained unmended and undiscovered for
+weeks.</p>
+<p>After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, "I want to
+speak to you."</p>
+<p>The boy's heart misgave him as they entered the familiar
+library.</p>
+<p>"I think I suspect who was Wildney's companion."</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>"I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague
+suspicion; but the boy whom I <i>do</i> suspect is one whose course
+lately has given me the deepest pain; one who has violated all the
+early promise he gave; one who seems to be going farther and
+farther astray, and sacrificing all moral principle to the ghost of
+a fleeting and most despicable popularity--to the approval of those
+whom he cannot himself approve."</p>
+<p>Eric still silent.</p>
+<p>"Whatever you do <i>yourself</i>, Williams"--(it was the first
+time for two years that Mr. Rose had called him "Williams," and he
+winced a little)--"whatever you do <i>yourself</i>, Williams, rests
+with <i>you</i>; but remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and
+more accursed crime to set stumbling-blocks in the way of others,
+and abuse your influence to cause any of Christ's little ones to
+perish."</p>
+<p>"I wasn't the tempter, however," thought Eric, still silent.</p>
+<p>"Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me,
+Williams, I grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you
+is no less warm, though my affection for you cannot be the same.
+You may go."</p>
+<p>"Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not
+asked me to see him once this term," thought Eric, sadly; but a
+shout of pleasure greeted him directly he joined the football in
+the play-ground, and, half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard
+it, and understood that was meant for the boy whom he had just been
+rebuking. "Well, after all," he thought, "I have <i>some</i>
+friends still."</p>
+<p>Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy
+whom he really respected ever walked with him now. Even little
+Wright, one of the very few lower boys who had risen superior to
+Brigson's temptations, seemed to keep clear of him as much as he
+could; and, in absolute vacuity, he was obliged to associate with
+fellows like Attlay, and Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.</p>
+<p>Even with Bull! All Eric's repugnance for this boy seemed to
+have evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance,
+were sworn friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation
+as was pursued unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay,
+worse, it had lost its horror, and he was neither afraid nor
+ashamed to join in it himself. This plague-spot had fretted more
+deeply than any other into the heart of the school morality, and
+the least boys seemed the greatest proficients in unbaring without
+a blush, its hideous ugliness.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"THE JOLLY HERRING"</h3>
+<blockquote>"Velut unda supervenit undam."--VIRGIL.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams' company to a
+spread they are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four,
+in their smoking-room--</p>
+<p>A note to this effect was put into Eric's hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew
+whether to be pleased or disgusted at it.</p>
+<p>He tossed it to Duncan, and said, "What shall I do?"</p>
+<p>Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the
+fire.</p>
+<p>"I'd give them that answer, and no other."</p>
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+<p>"Because, Eric," said Duncan, with more seriousness than was
+usual with him, "I can't help thinking things have gone too far
+lately."</p>
+<p>"How do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"Well, I'm no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that
+the fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse.
+Your friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid
+down a law that <i>no work</i> is to be done down stairs ever under
+any pretence, and it's only by getting into one of the studies that
+good little chaps like Wright can get on at all. Even in the
+class-rooms there's so much row and confusion that the mere thought
+of work is ridiculous."</p>
+<p>"Well, there's no great harm in a little noise, if that's
+all."</p>
+<p>"But it isn't all. The talk of nearly the whole school is
+getting most blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney
+was chatting with Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not
+have been here) while I was reading; they didn't seem to mind me,
+and I'm sure you'd have been vexed to the heart if you'd heard how
+they talked to each other. At last I couldn't stand it any longer,
+and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears smartly, and kicked them
+down stairs."</p>
+<p>As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, "And I wish it ended in
+talk, but----"</p>
+<p>"But I believe you're turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we're only
+schoolboys; it'll be lots of time to turn saint some other
+day."</p>
+<p>Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition.
+"You don't want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the
+rosebuds, do you?"</p>
+<p>There was something of assumed bravado in Eric's whole manner
+which jarred on Duncan exceedingly. "Do as you like," he said,
+curtly, and went into another study.</p>
+<p>Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney,
+as he often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping
+his trousers over his nightshirt, and running up to the
+studies.</p>
+<p>"Well, you'll come to the Anti-muffs, won't you?" he said.</p>
+<p>"To that pestilential place again?--not I."</p>
+<p>Wildney looked offended. "Not after we've all asked you? The
+fellows won't half like your refusing."</p>
+<p>He had touched Eric's weak point.</p>
+<p>"Do come," he said, looking up in Eric's face.</p>
+<p>"Confound it all," answered Eric, hastily. "Yes, I've no
+friends, I'll come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy."</p>
+<p>"That's a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows.
+They'll be no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you."
+And he scampered off, leaving Eric ill at ease.</p>
+<p>Duncan didn't re-enter the study that evening.</p>
+<p>The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the
+way to Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and
+said--</p>
+<p>"Are you going to the Anti-muffs?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; why? are you going too?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; do you mind our going together?"</p>
+<p>"Not at all."</p>
+<p>In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep
+him in countenance, for he felt considerably more than half
+ashamed of himself.</p>
+<p>They went to "The Jolly Herring," as the pot-house was called,
+and passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor,
+to which Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen
+boys were assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as
+the two new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room,
+which was regularly spread for dinner.</p>
+<p>"Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose," called Brigson. "I
+vote, boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair."</p>
+<p>"Hear! hear!" said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his
+will, found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson
+and Bull on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom
+they called Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the
+table, and some fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample
+justice to the [Greek: daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them.
+There was immense uproar during the dinner, every one eating as
+fast, and talking as loud, as he could.</p>
+<p>The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.</p>
+<p>"Now for the dessert, Billy," called several voices; and that
+worthy proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and
+four black bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these
+dainties, and one boy shouted, "I say, I've had no wine."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy--it's cheaper,"
+said Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the
+boys diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.</p>
+<p>"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got
+a health; 'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the
+anti's.'"</p>
+<p>"And their chairman,' suggested Wildney.</p>
+<p>"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added
+Brigson.</p>
+<p>The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank
+them.</p>
+<p>"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and
+there's no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am
+much obliged to you for asking me; and now I call for a song."</p>
+<p>"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.</p>
+<p>Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least
+bashfulness--</p>
+<blockquote>"Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Until it does run overt<br>
+Come, landlord, fill," &amp;c</blockquote>
+<p>"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--</p>
+<blockquote>"For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To-morrow we'll be sober!"</blockquote>
+<p>While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round
+the room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could
+not recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame
+passed over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and
+Brigson heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not
+help observing what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of
+Russell came back to him. Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was
+in such company at such a place! And by the door stood Billy,
+watching them all like an evil spirit, with a leer of saturnine
+malice on his evil face.</p>
+<p>But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric's bitter
+thoughts, sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him,
+shining out like a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like
+blood-guiltiness on his soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning
+the young boy's presence in that degraded assemblage.</p>
+<p>Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of "cav&eacute;, cav&eacute;." In an
+instant the room was in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon
+the floor, the table was overturned with a mighty crash, and
+plates, glasses, and bottles rushed on to the ground in shivers.
+Nearly every one bolted for the door, which led through the passage
+into the street; and in their headlong flight and selfishness, they
+stumbled over each other, and prevented all egress, several being
+knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made for the
+tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there stood
+Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was
+the work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters
+quickly took down the names of full half the boys who, in the
+suddenness of the surprise, had been unable to make their exit.</p>
+<p>And Eric?</p>
+<p>The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney
+seize his hand, and whisper, "This way all serene;" following, he
+groped his way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney,
+shoving aside a green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door,
+which at once let them into a little garden. There they both
+crouched down, under a lilac tree beside the house, and listened
+intently.</p>
+<p>There was no need for this precaution; their door remained
+unsuspected, and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into
+the house again, they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that
+the masters had gone, and all was safe.</p>
+<p>"Glad ye're not twigged, gen'lmen," he said; "but there'll be a
+pretty sight of damage for all this glass and plates."</p>
+<p>"Shut up with your glass and plates," said Wildney. "Here, Eric,
+we must cut for it again."</p>
+<p>It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the
+close room into the open air, and they had to consider which way
+they would choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the
+wrong, but escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney's old short
+cut. As they ran they passed several boys (who having been caught,
+were walking home leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered,
+when they both answered their names quite innocently at the
+roll-call, immediately after lock up.</p>
+<p>"What lucky dogs you are to get off," said many boys to
+them.</p>
+<p>"Yes, it's precious lucky for me," said Wildney. "If I'd been
+caught at this kind of thing a second time, I should have got
+something worse than a swishing."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's all through you I escaped," said Eric, "you knowing
+little scamp."</p>
+<p>"I'm glad of it, Eric," said Wildney in his fascinating way,
+"since it is all through me you went. It's rather too hazardous
+though; we must manage better another time."</p>
+<p>During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that
+none of the sixth form or other study boys would particularly
+sympathise with his late associates. Since the previous evening he
+had been cool with Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised
+him as a boy who'd do anything to be popular; so he sat there
+silent, looking as disdainful as he could, and not touching the
+tea, for which he felt disinclined after the recent potations. But
+the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving heart, and he felt
+how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How gladly would
+he have changed places with them! how much he would have given to
+recover some of their forfeited esteem!</p>
+<p>The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room
+for a few minutes while the tables were cleared for "preparation,"
+and the boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the
+study and class-room boys were expected to go away during this
+interval; but Eric, not noticing Mr. Rose's entrance, sat
+gossipping with Wildney about the dinner and its possible
+consequences to the school.</p>
+<p>He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the
+other, and bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that
+he looked like a regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the
+Jolly Herring, and Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended
+by the simile.</p>
+<p>"Hush! no more talking," said Mr. Rose, who did everything very
+gently and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger,
+and had always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he
+didn't think he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment
+he did not, so Wildney began to chatter again.</p>
+<p>"All study boys to leave the room," said Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone
+away, but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney's eye, and
+besides wanted to show off a little indifference to his old master,
+with whom he had had no intercourse since their last-mentioned
+conversation.</p>
+<p>"Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after
+I have dismissed you?" said Mr. Rose sternly.</p>
+<p>Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this
+speech created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was
+going out of the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all
+his proud and dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten
+something, he walked conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to
+him, "I shan't go if he chooses to speak like that."</p>
+<p>A red flush passed over Mr. Rose's cheek; he took two strides to
+Eric, and laid the cane sharply once across his back.</p>
+<p>Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had
+done. His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events
+of the evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane,
+which he had not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He
+bounded up, sprang towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what
+he was about, had wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it
+violently in the middle until it broke, and flung one of the pieces
+furiously into the fire.</p>
+<p>For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr.
+Rose--stood facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy
+panting and passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on
+fire; the master pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but
+perfectly self-collected.</p>
+<p>"After that exhibition," said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet
+dignity, "you had better leave the room."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I had," answered Eric bitterly; "there's your cane." And,
+flinging the other fragment at Mr. Rose's head, he strode blindly
+out of the room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning
+several boys in his way. He then banged the door with all his
+force, and rushed up into his study.</p>
+<p>Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor,
+asked, after a moment's awkward silence, "Is anything the matter,
+Williams?"</p>
+<p>"Williams!" echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; "yes, that's
+always the way with a fellow when he's in trouble. I always know
+what's coming when you begin to leave off calling me by my
+Christian name."</p>
+<p>"Very well, then," said Duncan, good-humoredly, "what's the
+matter, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Matter?" answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with
+an angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything
+which came in his way. "Matter? hang you all, you are all turning
+against me, because you are a set of muffs, and----"</p>
+<p>"Take care!" said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric's look,
+and stopped.</p>
+<p>"And I've been breaking Rose's cane over his head, because he
+had the impudence to touch, me with it, and----"</p>
+<p>"Eric, you're not yourself to-night," said Duncan, interrupting,
+but speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric's hand, he looked
+him steadily in the face.</p>
+<p>Their eyes met; the boy's false self once more slipped off. By a
+strong effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of
+drink had caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to
+speak again, or even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell
+rang.</p>
+<p>Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done
+with him, Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after
+prayers into Montagu's, and talked with him over the recent events,
+of which the boys' minds were all full.</p>
+<p>But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing
+nothing, and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to
+resent his presence.</p>
+<p>"So!" he said, looking up at the ceiling, "another saint come to
+cast a stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned," he
+continued, dropping his cheek on his hand again; "only don't let
+the sermon be long."</p>
+<p>But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated
+himself by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.</p>
+<p>"Come, Eric," said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling
+him; "I won't be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won't you
+even look? Oh Eric, one wouldn't have fancied this in past days,
+when we were so much together with one who is dead. It's a long
+long time since we've eyen alluded to him, but <i>I</i> shall never
+forget those happy days."</p>
+<p>Eric heaved a deep sigh.</p>
+<p>"I'm not come to reproach you. You don't give me a friend's
+right to reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow,
+I can't help being sorry for all this. I did hope you'd have broken
+with Brigson after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which
+he treated me. I don't think you <i>can</i> know the mischief he is
+doing."</p>
+<p>The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric's eye, "Ah!" he
+said, "it's all of no use; you're all giving me the cold shoulder,
+and I'm going to the bad, that's the long and short of it."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents' sake, for the
+school's sake, for all your real friends' sake, don't talk in that
+bitter hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool
+or the patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you.
+I <i>do</i> hope you'll join us even yet in resisting them."</p>
+<p>Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his
+emotion. "I can't talk, Monty," he said, in an altered tone; "but
+leave me now; and if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Most willingly, Eric." And again, warmly pressing his hand,
+Montagu returned to his own study.</p>
+<p>Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric's door. He expected
+Wildney as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him,
+and hoping he would come, but he didn't want to see him now, so he
+answered rather peevishly, "Come in; but I don't want to be
+bothered to-night."</p>
+<p>Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. "May I come in?
+not if it bothers you, Eric," he said, gently.</p>
+<p>"Oh, Verny, I didn't know it was you; I thought it would be
+Wildney. You <i>never</i> come now."</p>
+<p>The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say,
+"Whose fault is that?"</p>
+<p>"Come here, Verny;" and Eric drew him towards him, and put him
+on his knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the
+child's eyes.</p>
+<p>It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had
+been alone together, the first time for many a long day that any
+acts of kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember
+this, and, at the same time, to remember home, and their absent
+parents, and their mother's prayers, and all the quiet
+half-forgotten vista of innocent pleasures, and sacred
+relationships, and holy affections. And why did they see each other
+so little at school? Their consciences told them both, that either
+wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and forgetfulness
+of God.</p>
+<p>They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since
+they were children, each brother put his arm round the other's
+neck, and remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his
+cruel heartless selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far
+astray; left him as a prey to such boys as were his companions in
+the lower school.</p>
+<p>"Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?"</p>
+<p>"You!" said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. "Good heavens!
+I didn't notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I'd
+known you were there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such,
+a bad example."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I was there, and I was caught."</p>
+<p>"Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can't
+get much done to you."</p>
+<p>"It isn't <i>that</i> I care for; I've been flogged before, you
+know. But--may I say something?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Vernon, anything you like."</p>
+<p>"Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to
+Mr. Rose to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course;
+but I could have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn't have minded
+if it had been anybody but Rose."</p>
+<p>"But why?"</p>
+<p>"Because, Eric, he's been so good, so kind to both of us. You've
+often told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he's done such,
+lots of kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was
+caught, he sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so
+gently, about the wickedness of going to such low places, and about
+so young a boy as I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it
+and--and"--His voice was choked by sobs for a time,--"and then he
+knelt down and prayed for me, so as I have never heard any one pray
+but mother;--and do you know, Eric, it was strange, but I thought I
+<i>did</i> hear our mother's voice praying for me too, while he
+prayed, and"--He tried in vain to go on; but Eric's conscience
+continued for him; "and just as he had ceased doing this for one
+brother, the other brother, for whom he has often done the same,
+treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence."</p>
+<p>"Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think
+that while I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at
+home. And, oh, Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you
+were talking the other day."</p>
+<p>Vernon hid his face on Eric's shoulder; and as his brother
+stooped over him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in
+silence, until wearied with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and
+then Eric carried him tenderly down stairs, and laid him, still
+half-sleeping, upon his bed.</p>
+<p>He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other
+boys had not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat
+down on his brother's bed to think, shading off the light of the
+candle with his hand. It was rarely now that Eric's thoughts were
+so rich with the memories of childhood, and sombre with the
+consciousness of sin, as they were that night, while he gazed on
+his brother Vernon's face. He did not know what made him look so
+long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an unconjectured
+foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a summer
+cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but
+there was an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and
+the long eyelashes were still wet with tears.</p>
+<p>"Poor child," thought Eric; "dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow."</p>
+<p>He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that
+<i>he</i> too would come in for certain punishment the next
+day.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON</h3>
+<blockquote>"Raro antecedentem scelestum<br>
+Deseruit pede Poena claudo."--HOR.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his
+boarders on the previous day's discovery, and in a few forcible
+vivid words set before them, the enormity of the offence. He ended
+by announcing that the boys who were caught would be
+birched,--"except the elder ones, Bull and Brigson, who will bring
+me one hundred lines every hour of the half-holidays till further
+notice. There are some," he said, "I am well aware, who, though
+present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for it, for
+<i>their</i> sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden." On
+leaving the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric
+obeyed, and stood before the head-master with downcast eyes.</p>
+<p>"Williams," he said, "I have had a great regard for you, and
+felt a deep interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew
+your excellent parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of
+your future course, and your abilities seemed likely to blossom
+into noble fruit. But you fell off greatly, and grew idle and
+careless. At last an event happened, in which for a time you acted
+worthily of yourself, and which seemed to arouse you from your
+negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you revived; but as I
+continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps, than you
+supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure
+that you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two
+years ago. I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply
+fear, Williams, I deeply fear, that in <i>other</i> respects also
+you are going the down-hill road. And what am I to think now, when
+on the <i>same</i> morning, you and your little brother <i>both</i>
+come before me for such serious and heavy faults? I cannot free you
+from blame even for <i>his</i> misdoings, for you are his natural
+guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved with him
+in that charge."</p>
+<p>"Let <i>me</i> bear the punishment, sir, instead of him," said
+Eric, by a sudden impulse; "for I misled him, and was there
+myself."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. "You, Williams! on
+the verge of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the
+state of things among you is even worse than I had supposed."</p>
+<p>Eric again hung his head.</p>
+<p>"No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at
+present I shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware.
+But I must turn to the other matter. What excuse have you for your
+intolerable conduct to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from
+the first the most unusual and disinterested kindness?"</p>
+<p>"I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not
+control my passion."</p>
+<p>"Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I
+shall make you read aloud before the whole school at twelve
+to-day."</p>
+<p>Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr Rowlands
+glanced at it. "Come to me again at twelve," he said.</p>
+<p>At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and
+miserable, followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The
+masters stood at one end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who,
+however, appeared an indifferent and uninterested spectator of the
+transaction. Every eye was fixed on Eric, and every one pitied
+him.</p>
+<p>"We are assembled," said Dr. Rowlands, "for an act of justice.
+One of your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed
+of his conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will
+read. I had intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr.
+Rose has earnestly begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to
+his wishes. Williams, read your apology."</p>
+<p>There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to
+utter a word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his
+voice, and read, but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even
+those nearest him heard what he was saying.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. "Owing," he said, "to a
+very natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in
+such a way that you could not have understood it. I will therefore
+read it myself. It is to this effect--</p>
+<p>"'I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.'</p>
+<p>"You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his
+own expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and
+compunction for the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted
+to elevate him into a hero, for a folly which he himself so much
+regrets. This affair,--as I should wish all bad deeds to be after
+they have once been punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope
+forgotten."</p>
+<p>They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all
+shunned and looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu
+came, and taking his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with
+him. It was a constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad
+when it was over, although Montagu did all he could to show that he
+loved Eric no less than before. Still it was weeks since they had
+been much together, and they had far fewer things in common now
+than they used to have.</p>
+<p>"I'm so wretched, Monty," said Eric at last; "do you think Rose
+despises me?"</p>
+<p>"I am <i>sure</i> of the contrary. Won't you go to him, Eric,
+and say all you feel?"</p>
+<p>"Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the
+last two years!"</p>
+<p>"You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same
+words comfort you that have often brought hope to me--'I will
+restore the years which the locust hath eaten.'"</p>
+<p>They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the
+library. Mr. Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as
+usual, and Eric went up to the fire-place where he was standing.
+They had often stood by that library fire on far different
+terms.</p>
+<p>"Forgive me, sir," was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed
+to his eyes.</p>
+<p>"Freely, my boy," said Mr. Rose, sadly. "I wish you could feel
+how fully I forgive you; but," he added, laying his hand for the
+last time on Eric's head, "you have far more, Eric, to forgive
+yourself. I will not talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I
+fear; but you little know how much I pity and tremble for you."</p>
+<p>While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group
+was collected round the fire-place in the boarders' room, and many
+tongues were loudly discussing the recent events.</p>
+<p>Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom
+Mr. Rose had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them
+far more than they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for
+them in private, when his weak frame was harassed by suffering;
+many a sleepless night had he wrestled for them in prayer, when,
+for their sakes, his own many troubles were laid aside. Work on,
+Walter Rose, and He who seeth in secret will reward you openly! but
+expect no gratitude from those for whose salvation you, like the
+great tenderhearted apostle, would almost be ready to wish yourself
+accursed.</p>
+<p>Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It
+had long been Brigson's cue to do so; he derided him on every
+opportunity, and delighted to represent him as hypocritical and
+insincere. Even his weak health was the subject of Brigson's coarse
+ridicule, and the bad boy paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute
+which vice must ever accord to excellence.</p>
+<p>"You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him," said
+Brigson; "why, even that old beast Gordon isn't as bad."</p>
+<p>"Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton's
+serpent," drawled Bull;</p>
+<blockquote>"Hope elevates and joy brightens his
+crest."</blockquote>
+<p>"He-e-ar! He-e-ar!" said Pietrie; "<i>vide</i> the last fifth
+form Rep."</p>
+<p>"I expect Eric won't see everything so much <i>couleur de
+Rose</i> now, as the French frog hath it," remarked Graham.</p>
+<p>"It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly," observed
+Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I say, you fellows," remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was
+sitting reading a book at one of the desks, "all that isn't fair.
+I'm sure you all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he
+said, you know, that it was merely for the sake of school
+discipline that he put the matter in Rowlands' hands."</p>
+<p>"Discipline be hanged," shouted Brigson; "we'll have our revenge
+on him yet, discipline or no."</p>
+<p>"I hope you won't, though," said Vernon; "I know Eric will be
+sorry if you do."</p>
+<p>"The more muff he. We shall do as we like."</p>
+<p>"Well, I shall tell him; and I'm sure he'll ask you not. You
+know how he tries to stick up for Rose."</p>
+<p>"If you say a word more," said Brigson, unaccustomed to being
+opposed among his knot of courtiers, "I'll kick you out of the
+room; you and that wretched little fool there with you."</p>
+<p>"You may do as you like," answered Wright, quietly, "but you
+won't go on like this long, I can tell you."</p>
+<p>Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with
+flinging a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which
+narrowly missed his head.</p>
+<p>"I have it!" said Brigson; "that little donkey's given me an
+idea. We'll <i>crust</i> Rose to-night."</p>
+<p>"To crust," gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person
+with crusts.</p>
+<p>"Capital!" said some of the worst boys present; "we will."</p>
+<p>"Well, who'll take part?"</p>
+<p>No one offered. "What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards?
+Here, Wildney, won't you? you were abusing Rose just now."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I will," said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. "You'll
+not have done till you've got us all expelled, I believe."</p>
+<p>"Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can't expel
+half the school."</p>
+<p>First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining
+courage by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and
+Graham were to put out the lights at each end of one table
+immediately after tea, and Wildney and Brooking at the other, when
+the study fellows had gone out. There would then be only Mr. Rose's
+candle burning, and the two middle candles, which, in so large a
+room, would just give enough light for their purpose. Then all the
+conspirators were to throng around the door, and from it aim their
+crusts at Mr. Rose's head, Not nearly so many would have
+volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too gentle
+to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by his
+quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.</p>
+<p>Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that
+numbers of boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting
+off the crusts, and breaking them into good-sized bits.</p>
+<p>Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly
+reading in his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental)
+dropping of a plate by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.</p>
+<p>Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in
+the fall.</p>
+<p>Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried
+movement towards the door, and a murmur of voices.</p>
+<p>"Now then," said Brigson, in a loud whisper, "what a funky set
+you are! Here goes?"</p>
+<p>The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had
+just looked up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson's
+crust caught him a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.</p>
+<p>In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew
+by or hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the
+door. Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the
+passage, and if he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm
+might have followed. But he did not. Going to the door, he said,
+"Preparation will be in five minutes; every boy not then in his
+place will be punished."</p>
+<p>During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea,
+full of wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no
+notice of any one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their
+places, with their books open before them, and in the thrilling
+silence you might have heard a pin drop. Every one felt that Mr.
+Rose was master of the occasion, and awaited his next step in
+terrified suspense.</p>
+<p>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.</p>
+<p>"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 <i>had</i>, something noble in him, I left
+that matter in the Doctor's hands. I shall <i>not</i> do so
+to-night. Which of you put out the candles?"</p>
+<p>Dead silence. A pause.</p>
+<p>"Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at
+me?"</p>
+<p>Still silence.</p>
+<p>"I warn you that I <i>will</i> know, and it will be far worse
+for the guilty if I do not know at once." There was unmistakeable
+decision in the tone.</p>
+<p>"Very well. I know many boys who were <i>not</i> guilty because
+I saw them in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I
+shall now <i>ask</i> all the rest, one by one, if they took any
+part in this. And beware of telling me a lie."</p>
+<p>There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys
+began to whisper aloud, "Brigson! Brigson!" The whisper grew
+louder, and Mr. Rose heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion,
+and said--</p>
+<p>"They call your name; stand out!"</p>
+<p>The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance,
+shambled out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose
+swept him with one flashing glance. "<i>That</i> is the boy,"
+thought he to himself, "who has been like an ulcer to this school.
+These boys shall have a good look at their hero." It was but
+recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm which Brigson had been
+doing, though he had discovered, almost from the first, what
+<i>sort</i> of character he had.</p>
+<p>So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him,
+many a boy cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as
+a lifetime's struggle could not unteach. And it was <i>that</i>
+fellow, that stupid, clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice,
+that had ruled like a king among them. Faugh!</p>
+<p>"They call your name! Do you know anything of this?"</p>
+<p>"No!" said Brigson; "I'll swear I'd nothing to do with it."</p>
+<p>"Oh-h-h-h!" the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust
+and contempt ran round the room.</p>
+<p>"You have told me a lie!" said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with
+ineffable contempt. "No words can express my loathing for your
+false and dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you
+shall find immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare
+to deny it again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in
+this?"</p>
+<p>He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed
+to scorch and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. "As I
+thought," said Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>"Not <i>one</i> boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call
+you up one by one to answer me. Wildney, come here."</p>
+<p>The boy walked in front of the desk.</p>
+<p>"Were you one of those who threw?"</p>
+<p>Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no
+coward, and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new
+scrape might be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening
+eyes to Mr. Rose, he said penitently--</p>
+<p>"I didn't throw, sir, but I <i>did</i> put out one of the
+candles that it might be done."</p>
+<p>The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a
+little less darkly on Mr. Rose's forehead, and there was a very
+faint murmur of applause.</p>
+<p>"Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up."</p>
+<p>Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters
+except Brooking. Mr. Rose's lip curled with scorn as he heard the
+exclamation which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit
+down.</p>
+<p>When Wright's turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--"No! I shall
+not even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too
+good to be involved in such an attempt."</p>
+<p>The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned
+was Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his
+answer.</p>
+<p>"No," he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.</p>
+<p>"Go on," said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.</p>
+<p>"Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won't think Eric
+knew of this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I
+do."</p>
+<p>"Good," said Mr. Rose; "I am sure of it. And now," turning to
+the offenders, "I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty
+of such presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you
+according to my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me
+a cane from that desk."</p>
+<p>He brought it.</p>
+<p>"Hold out your hand."</p>
+<p>The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr.
+Rose looked at it, for it was new that morning.</p>
+<p>"Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it."</p>
+<p>The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete
+success of the trick.</p>
+<p>"Who did this? I must be told at once."</p>
+<p>"I did, sir," said Wildney, stepping forward.</p>
+<p>"Ha! very well," said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a
+smile hovered at the corner of his lips. "Go and borrow me a cane
+from Mr. Harley."</p>
+<p>While he went there was unbroken silence.</p>
+<p>"Now, sir," said he to Brigson, "I shall flog you."</p>
+<p>Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and
+Brigson had never undergone it before. At the first stroke he
+writhed and yelled; at the second he retreated, twisting like a
+serpent, and blubbering like a baby; at the third he flung himself
+on his knees, and, as the strokes fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's
+arm, and implored and besought for mercy.</p>
+<p>"<i>Miserable</i> coward," said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word
+such ringing scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He
+indignantly shook the boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the
+floor, losing every particle of self-control, and calling out, "The
+devil--the devil--the devil!" ("invoking his patron saint," as
+Wildney maliciously observed).</p>
+<p>"There! cease to blaspheme, and get up," said the master,
+blowing out a cloud of fiery indignation. "There, sir. Retribution
+comes at last, leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of
+sins is visited on you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body,
+but on your conscience too, if you have one left. Let those red
+marks betoken that your reign is ended. Liar and tempter, you have
+led boys into the sins which you then meanly deny! And now, you
+boys, <i>there</i> in that coward, who cannot even endure his
+richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have suffered to be
+your <i>leader</i> for well-nigh six months!"</p>
+<p>"Now, sir"--again he turned upon Brigson--"that flogging shall
+be repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will
+take each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they
+should see where <i>you</i> lead them to."</p>
+<p>Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he
+was bid. No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was
+all which Mr. Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time,
+for he was tired, and displeased to be an executioner.</p>
+<p>"And now," he said, "since that disgusting but necessary scene
+is over, <i>never</i> let me have to repeat it again."</p>
+<p>But his authority was established like a rock from that night
+forward. No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that
+evening. Mr. Rose's noble moral influence gained tenfold strength
+from the respect and wholesome fear that he then inspired.</p>
+<p>But, as he had said, Brigson's reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat
+alone and shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now
+to loathe and nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping.
+He had not done blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No
+sooner had Mr. Rose left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes
+sparkling with rage, leaped on the table, and shouted--</p>
+<p>"Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward," a
+sign of execration which he was the first to lead off, and which
+the boys echoed like a storm.</p>
+<p>Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. "Oh,
+we're not hissing you, sir," said Wildney excitedly; "we're all
+hissing at lying and cowardice."</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he
+was striding out again, without a word, when--</p>
+<p>"Three times three for Mr. Rose," sang out Wildney.</p>
+<p>Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips
+and lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like
+wildfire to the studies, and the other boys came flocking in during
+the uproar, to join in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like
+a sound of silver clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the
+midst of the excited throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side,
+hurrahing more lustily than all the rest.</p>
+<p>But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips
+and lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he
+had dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening's painful
+experiences had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no
+gratitude, and hope for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and
+unmurmuringly, to work on in God's vineyard so long as life and
+health should last.</p>
+<p>Brigson's brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which
+would have crushed another. But still he felt that his position at
+Roslyn could never be what it had been before, and he therefore
+determined to leave at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he
+got his father to remove him, and announced, to every one's great
+delight, that he was going in a fortnight. On his last day, by way
+of bravado, he smashed and damaged as much of the school property
+as he could, a proceeding which failed to gain him any admiration,
+and merely put his father to ruinous expense.</p>
+<p>The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the
+least pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed
+throughout the school.</p>
+<p>In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear,
+"You cut me, curse you; but, <i>never fear, I'll be revenged on you
+yet</i>."</p>
+<p>"Do your worst," answered Eric, contemptuously, "and never speak
+to me again."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>RIPPLES</h3>
+<blockquote>"Our echoes roll from soul to soul,<br>
+And live for ever and for ever."--TENNYSON.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over
+the affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and
+Vernon Williams in front of them.</p>
+<p>"I am so glad to see those two together," said Montagu; "I
+really think Wright is one of the best little fellows in the
+school, and he'll be the saving of Vernon. He's already persuaded
+him to leave off smoking and other bad things, and has got him to
+work a little harder, and turn over a new leaf altogether."</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered Owen; "I've seen a marvellous improvement in
+little Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson
+the other night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been
+leading him by the hand; but the best thing is that, through
+Wright, he sees less of Eric's <i>friend</i>, that young scapegrace
+Wildney."</p>
+<p>"Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a
+pity that Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be
+spoilt by him. I'm glad Vernon's escaped his influence now; he's
+too fine a boy to be made as bad as the general run of them. What a
+brilliant little fellow he is; just like his brother."</p>
+<p>"Just like what his brother <i>was</i>," said Owen; "his face,
+like his mind, has suffered lately."</p>
+<p>"Too true," answered Montagu, with a sigh; "and yet, cool as we
+now are in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him,
+and yearn for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had
+lived, and then I believe that Williams wouldn't have gone so for
+wrong."</p>
+<p>"Well, I think there's another chance for him now
+that--that--what name is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is
+gone."</p>
+<p>"I hope so. But"--he added after a pause--"his works do follow
+him. Look there!" He took a large stone and threw it into the
+Silverburn stream; there was a great splash, and then ever-widening
+circles of blue ripple broke the surface of the water, dying away
+one by one in the sedges on the bank. "There," he said, "see how
+long those ripples last, and how numerous they are."</p>
+<p>Owen understood him. "Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope
+there was in him after Russell's death!"</p>
+<p>"Yes, for a time," said Montagu; "heigh ho! I fear we shall
+never be warm friends again. We can't be while he goes on as he is
+doing. And yet I love him."</p>
+<p>A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called
+Riverbend.</p>
+<p>"If you want a practical comment on what we've been talking
+about, you'll see it there," said Montagu.</p>
+<p>He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a
+pleasant grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric,
+stretched at ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which
+curled the puffed fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney's.
+That worthy was beside him similarly employed.</p>
+<p>The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did
+not wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances.
+But they saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of
+laughter which followed his remarks, they had little doubt that
+they were the subject of the young gentleman's wit. This is never a
+pleasant sensation; but they observed that Eric made a point of not
+looking their way, and went on in silence.</p>
+<p>"How very sad!" said Montagu.</p>
+<p>"How very contemptible!" said Owen.</p>
+<p>"Did you observe what they were doing?"</p>
+<p>"Smoking?"</p>
+<p>"Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which,
+if Eric doesn't take care, will one day be his ruin."</p>
+<p>"What?"</p>
+<p>"I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy."</p>
+<p>"Good heavens!"</p>
+<p>"It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the
+ripples, you see, of Brigson's influence."</p>
+<p>Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and
+walked in together.</p>
+<p>"We've been talking," said Wright, "about a bad matter. Vernon
+here says that there's no good working for a prize in his form,
+because the cribbing's so atrocious. Indeed, it's very nearly as
+bad in my form. It always is under Gordon; he <i>can't</i>
+understand fellows doing dishonorable things."</p>
+<p>"It's a great bore in the weekly examinations," said Vernon;
+"every now and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few
+minutes, and then out come dozens of books."</p>
+<p>"Well, Wright," said Montagu, "if that happens again next
+examination, I'd speak out about it."</p>
+<p>"How?"</p>
+<p>"Why, I'd get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his
+name, and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have
+pledged yourselves not to do it."</p>
+<p>"Humph! I don't know how that would answer. They'd half kill me
+for one thing."</p>
+<p>"Never mind; do your duty. I wish I'd such an opportunity, if
+only to show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness."</p>
+<p>And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to
+their study.</p>
+<p>It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn
+school. Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an
+hour after, Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some
+brandy, and then arrange to have a "jollification," that
+evening.</p>
+<p>They got the brandy through "Billy." One of Brigson's most
+cursed legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a
+nefarious intercourse with the boys. His character was so well
+known that it had long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty,
+for any boy ever to speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed
+to take a pleasure in doing so, and just now particularly it was
+thought a fine thing, a sign of "pluck" and "anti-muffishness," to
+be on familiar and intimate terms with that degraded and villainous
+scoundrel.</p>
+<p>Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him
+in his escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He
+had not been altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of
+rough honesty and good sense about him, which preserved him from
+the worst and most dangerous failings, and his character had been
+gradually improving as he mounted higher in the school. He was
+getting steadier, more diligent, more thoughtful, more manly; he
+was passing through that change so frequent in boys as they grow
+older, to which Eric was so sad an exception. Accordingly Duncan,
+though sincerely fond of Eric, had latterly disapproved vehemently
+of his proceedings, and had therefore taken to snubbing his old
+friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to have an infatuation,
+and who was the means of involving him in every kind of impropriety
+and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what was intended,
+sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney, Graham, and
+Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were lower
+boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney's almost nightly custom.</p>
+<p>A little pebble struck the study window.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah!" said Wildney, clapping his hands, "here's the
+grub."</p>
+<p>They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they
+let down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a
+basket, and, after bidding them "Good night, and a merry drink,"
+retired. No sooner had they shut the window, than he grimaced as
+usual towards them, and shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal
+exultation, muttering, "Oh, I'll have you all under my thumb yet,
+you fine young fools!"</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread
+its contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of
+sausages, a tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.</p>
+<p>They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches
+of songs, peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so
+loud that the other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters
+should come up and catch the revellers. All of them heard every
+word that was spoken by Eric and his party as the walls between the
+rooms were very thin; and very objectionable much of the
+conversation was.</p>
+<p>"This <i>won't</i> do," said Duncan emphatically, after a louder
+burst of merriment than usual; "those fellows are getting drunk; I
+can tell it to a certainty from the confused and random way in
+which some of them are talking."</p>
+<p>"We'd better go in and speak to them," said Montagu; "at any
+rate, they've no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?"</p>
+<p>"I'll join you," said Owen; "though I'm afraid my presence won't
+do you much good."</p>
+<p>The three boys went to the door of Eric's study, and their knock
+could not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they
+found a scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about,
+plates and glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all
+sides, and there was an intolerable smell of brandy.</p>
+<p>"If you fellows don't care," said Duncan, sharply, "Rose or
+somebody'll be coming up and catching you. It's ten now."</p>
+<p>"What's that to you?" answered Graham, with an insolent
+look.</p>
+<p>"It's something to me that you nice young men have been making
+such a row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and
+that, between you, you've made this study in such a mess that I
+can't endure it."</p>
+<p>"Pooh!" said Pietrie; "we're all getting such saints, that one
+can't have the least bit of spree now-a-days."</p>
+<p>"Spree!" burst in Montagu indignantly; "fine spree, to make sots
+of yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----"</p>
+<p>"Amen!" said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair;
+and he turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic
+air.</p>
+<p>"There, Williams," continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; "see that spectacle, and be ashamed
+of yourself, if you can. That's what you lead boys to! Are you
+anxious to become the teacher of drunkenness?"</p>
+<p>In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe,
+for the scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.</p>
+<p>They hardly understood the look on Eric's countenance; he had
+been taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled
+fiercely, and though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be
+resenting the intrusion in furious silence.</p>
+<p>"How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?" asked
+Bull, with his usual insufferable drawl; "for I want to finish my
+brandy."</p>
+<p>Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a
+box on the ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn't worth the
+trouble, when Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst
+into a fit of laughter.</p>
+<p>"Let's turn out these impudent lower-school fellows," said
+Montagu, speaking to Duncan. "Here! you go first," he said, seizing
+Wildney by the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no
+means steady on his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.</p>
+<p>"By Jove, I won't stand this any longer," shouted Eric,
+springing up ferociously. "What on earth do you mean by daring to
+come in like this? Do you hear?"</p>
+<p>Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for
+he was looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not,
+proceeded to drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.</p>
+<p>"Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won't go for you," cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. "Eric, why do you let him bully
+me?"</p>
+<p>"You let him go this minute," repeated Eric, hoarsely.</p>
+<p>"I shall do no such thing. You don't know what you're
+about."</p>
+<p>"Don't I? Well, then, take <i>that</i>, to show whether I do or
+no!" and suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent
+back-handed blow on the mouth.</p>
+<p>Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded
+them into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public,
+and that by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had
+loved--by a boy who had been his schoolfellow for three years now,
+and whose whole life seemed bound to him by so many associations;
+it was strange, and sad indeed.</p>
+<p>Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one
+stride towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes,
+while the blood started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But
+he stopped suddenly and his hand fell to his side; by a strong
+effort of self-control he contrived to master himself, and sitting
+down quite quietly on a chair, he put his white handkerchief to his
+wounded mouth, and took it away stained with blood.</p>
+<p>No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into
+his study without a word.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said Duncan; "you may all do as you like; only I
+heartily hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Williams," said Owen, "you are changed indeed, to treat
+your best friend so."</p>
+<p>But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil
+passion at that moment. "Serve him right," he said; "what business
+has he to interfere with what I choose to do?"</p>
+<p>There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk
+off ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on
+the table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He
+had neither strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into
+bed just as was. When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan
+(for Montagu was silent and melancholy) went into his study, put
+out the candle, and had only just cleared away, to the best of
+their power, the traces of the carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up
+stairs on his usual nightly rounds. They had been lighting brown
+paper to take away the fumes of the brandy, and the Doctor asked
+them casually the cause of the smell of burning. Neither of them
+answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed implicit trust,
+the Doctor thought no more about it.</p>
+<p>Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and
+sickness. When he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing
+he thought to himself, "Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory
+of last night!" Of course, after what had occurred, Eric and
+Montagu were no longer on speaking terms, and miserable as poor
+Eric felt when he saw how his blow had bruised and disfigured his
+friend's face, he made no advances. He longed, indeed, from his
+inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but feeling that he had done
+grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his pride would not
+suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no regret, and,
+supported by his late boon-companions, represented the matter as
+occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu was bullying.</p>
+<p>Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although
+ready to forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take
+the first step to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that
+it was not for Eric's good that he should do so.</p>
+<p>"You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now," said
+Mr. Rose. "I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy
+who has any influence over him."</p>
+<p>"I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much
+more."</p>
+<p>"Wildney?" asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. "Wildney more
+influence than <i>you</i>?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!"</p>
+<p>So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their
+friendship for Eric until happier days.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC AND MONTAGU</h3>
+<blockquote>"And constancy lives in realms above;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And life is thorny; and youth is vain;<br>
+And to be wroth with one we love,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Doth work like madness in the brain.<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+Each spoke words of high disdain<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And insult to his heart's best brother."<br>
+<br>
+COLERIDGE'S <i>Christabel</i>.</blockquote>
+<p>Wright had not forgotten Montagu's advice, and had endeavored to
+get the names of boys who wern't afraid to scout publicly the
+disgrace of cheating in form. But he could only get one name
+promised him--the name of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little
+could be gained by using it, he determined to spare Vernon the
+trial, and speak, if he spoke at all, on his own
+responsibility.</p>
+<p>As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was
+well-nigh universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch
+something he had forgotten, merely saying, "I trust to your honor
+not to abuse my absence," books and papers were immediately pulled
+out with the coolest and most unblushing indifference.</p>
+<p>This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had
+counted the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his
+duty, he had decided that speak he would. He well knew that his
+interference would be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking,
+and every kind of wrong motive, since he was himself one of the
+greatest sufferers from the prevalent dishonesty; but still he had
+come to the conclusion that he <i>ought</i> not to draw back, and
+therefore he bravely determined that he would make his protest,
+whatever happened.</p>
+<p>So, very nervously, he rose and said, "I want to tell you all
+that I think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don't
+mind losing by it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in
+the lower fourth, and any one gets it by copying, I've made up my
+mind to tell Gordon."</p>
+<p>His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and
+acquired firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and
+curiosity had held the boys silent with amazement, but by the end
+of this sentence they had recovered themselves, and a perfect burst
+of derision and indignation followed.</p>
+<p>"Let's see if <i>that'll</i> cut short his oration," said
+Wildney, throwing a book at his head, which was instantly followed
+by others from all quarters.</p>
+<p>"My word! we've had nothing but lectures lately," said Brooking.
+"Horrid little Owenite saint."</p>
+<p>"Saint!--sneak, you mean. I'll teach him," growled Pietrie, and
+jumping up, he belabored Wright's head with the Latin grammar out
+of which he had just been cribbing.</p>
+<p>The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright
+sat stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.</p>
+<p>Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor
+little penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright
+had alluded so prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be
+misconstrued, but he had his brother's spirit, and would not
+shrink. Amid the tumult he got up in his seat, and they heard his
+pleasant, childish voice saying boldly, "I hope Wright won't tell;
+but he's the best fellow in the room, and cribbing <i>is</i> a
+shame, as he says."</p>
+<p>What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful,
+for at the critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered
+cav&egrave; caused instantaneous quiet.</p>
+<p>Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many
+an angry kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the
+spirit and heroism with which he endured them. The news of his
+impudence spread like wildfire, and not five boys in the school
+approved of what he had done, while most of them were furious at
+his ill-judged threat of informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general
+agreement to thrash him after roll-call that afternoon.</p>
+<p>Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had
+been fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a
+disagreeable and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of
+them in condemning his announced determination to "sneak." Had he
+known that Wright had acted under Montagu's well-meant, though
+rather mistaken advice, he might have abstained from having
+anything more to do with the matter, but now he promised to kick
+Wright himself after the four o'clock bell.</p>
+<p>Four o'clock came; the names were called; the master left the
+room. Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there
+pale but fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance
+to Eric, who walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears,
+though without hurting him, said contemptuously, "Conceited little
+sneak."</p>
+<p>Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had
+determined even single-handed to prevent it. He did <i>not</i>,
+however, expect that Eric would have taken part in it, and was
+therefore unprepared. The color rushed into his cheeks; he went up,
+took Wright quietly by the hand, and said with firm determination,
+"No one in the school shall touch Wright again."</p>
+<p>"What? no one! just hark to that," said Graham; "I suppose he
+thinks himself cock of the school."</p>
+<p>Eric quite misunderstood Montagu's proceedings; he took it for a
+public challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield
+would have looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius
+Wildney was by, and said, "How very nice! another dictation
+lesson!"</p>
+<p>A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed
+lips, and flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit
+which made them waver, and he quietly repeated, "No one shall touch
+you, Wright."</p>
+<p>"They <i>will</i>, though," said Eric instantly; "<i>I</i> will,
+for one, and I should like to see you prevent me." And so saying he
+gave Wright another slight blow.</p>
+<p>Montagu dropped Wright's hand and said slowly, "Eric Williams, I
+have taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear
+the marks of it yet. It is time to show that it was <i>not</i>
+through cowardice that I did not return it. Will you fight?"</p>
+<p>The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the
+school knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that,
+for the sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined
+to fight with Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.</p>
+<p>"I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once," he
+answered, falteringly, "and we have been friends--"</p>
+<p>But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two
+should fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that
+Montagu's authority, which stood in their way, might be flung
+aside. So Brooking whispered in an audible voice--</p>
+<p>"Faith! he's showing the white feather."</p>
+<p>"You're a liar!" flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he
+said--"There! I'll fight you this moment."</p>
+<p>Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for
+action. A ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of
+sixteen, like Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles
+have usually been decided in their earlier school-days; and it was
+also but seldom that two boys so strong, active, and prominent,
+took this method of settling their differences.</p>
+<p>The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on
+the side of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But
+he fought with a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as
+Eric, on the other hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was
+soon pretty fairly divided between them.</p>
+<p>After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had
+been a silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys
+of such high standing, said with much, feeling--</p>
+<p>"This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu."</p>
+<p>"It is necessary," was Montagu's laconic reply.</p>
+<p>Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had
+taken place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain
+of seeing his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But
+curiosity soon took him back, and he came in just as the second
+round began. At first he only saw a crowd of boys in the middle of
+the room, but jumping on a desk he had a full view of what was
+going on.</p>
+<p>There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now
+thoroughly roused by the remarks he overheard, and especially by
+Wildney's whisper that "he was letting himself be licked," was
+exerting himself with more vigor and effect. It was anything but a
+noble sight; the faces of the combatants were streaked with blood
+and sweat, and as the miserable gang of lower school-boys backed
+them on with eager shouts of--"Now Eric, now Eric," "Now Montagu,
+go it, sixth, form," etc., both of them fought under a sense of
+deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which they shared in
+common.</p>
+<p>All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and
+vexation, his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard
+amid all the uproar, "Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!" There
+was reproach and sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one
+boy there, for Vernon, spite of the recent change in him, could not
+but continue a favorite.</p>
+<p>"Shut up there, you little donkey," shouted one or two, looking
+back at him for a moment.</p>
+<p>But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother's
+voice. The thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position
+was, and how different it might have been. He felt that he was
+utterly in the wrong, and Montagu altogether in the right; and from
+that moment his blows once more grew feeble and ill-directed. When
+they again stopped to take rest, the general shout for Montagu
+showed that he was considered to have the best of it.</p>
+<p>"I'm getting so tired of this," muttered Eric, during the
+pause.</p>
+<p>"Why, you're fighting like a regular muff," said Graham; "you'll
+have to acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute."</p>
+<p>"That I'll <i>never</i> do," he said, once more firing up.</p>
+<p>Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for
+Owen, who had left the room, told him what was going on. He had
+always been a leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had
+several times been exerted in the right direction, and he was very
+much looked up to by all the boys alike, good or bad. He
+determined, for the credit of the sixth, that the fight should not
+go on, and bursting into the ring, with his strong shoulders he
+hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way, and struck down
+the lifted arms of the fighters.</p>
+<p>"You <i>shan't</i> fight," he said, doggedly, thrusting himself
+between them; "so there's an end of it. If you do, you'll both have
+to fight me first."</p>
+<p>"Shame!" said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by
+Bull and others.</p>
+<p>"Shame, is it?" said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn.
+"There's only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or
+any other boy, repeat that word, I'll thrash him. Here, Monty, come
+away from this disgraceful scene."</p>
+<p>"I'm sick enough of it," said Montagu, "and am ready to stop if
+Williams is,--provided no one touches Wright."</p>
+<p>"I'm sick of it too," said Eric sullenly.</p>
+<p>"Then you two shall shake hands," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of
+his life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply
+wronged, deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the
+momentary feeling: but Eric had observed the gesture, and his
+passionate pride took the alarm. "It's come to this, then," he
+thought; "Montagu doesn't think me good enough to be shaken hands
+with."</p>
+<p>"Pish!" he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; "it may be an awful
+honor to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but
+I'm not proud on the subject;" and he turned away.</p>
+<p>Montagu's hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle
+of anger or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was
+too late; that moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric's
+turn coldly to withdraw.</p>
+<p>"You don't think me worthy of your friendship, and what's the
+good of grasping hands if we don't do it with cordial hearts?"</p>
+<p>Montagu's lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting
+on his coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of
+his arm, and left the room with Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Come along, Wright," he said.</p>
+<p>"Nay, leave him," said Eric with a touch of remorse. "Much as
+you think me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one
+hurts him."</p>
+<p>The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained
+with Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their
+observations.</p>
+<p>"You didn't fight half like yourself," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Can't you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for." And
+getting up abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study,
+and bathe his swollen and aching face.</p>
+<p>In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him
+Eric burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the
+study, after the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his
+really warm affection for his little brother; and as he could no
+longer conceal the line he took in the school, they had been often
+together since then; and Eric's moral obliquity was not so great as
+to prevent him from feeling deep joy at the change for the better
+in Vernon's character.</p>
+<p>"Verny, Verny," he said, as the boy came up and affectionately
+took his hand, "it was you who lost me that fight."</p>
+<p>"Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu."</p>
+<p>"Don't you remember the days, Eric," he continued, "when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and
+how mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend,
+except poor Russell?"</p>
+<p>"I do, indeed. I didn't think then that it would come to
+this."</p>
+<p>"I've always been <i>so</i> sorry," said Vernon, "that I joined
+the fellows in playing him tricks. I can't think how I came to do
+it, except that I've done such lots of bad things here. But he's
+forgiven and forgotten that long ago, and is very kind to me
+now."</p>
+<p>It was true; but Eric didn't know that half the kindness which
+Montagu showed to his brother was shown solely for <i>his</i>
+sake.</p>
+<p>"Do you know, I've thought of a plan for making you two friends
+again? I've written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us
+next holidays."</p>
+<p>"Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; <i>there</i> we might be
+friends. Perhaps there," he added, half to himself, "I might be
+more like what I was in better days."</p>
+<p>"But it's a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn't come
+yet," said Vernon.</p>
+<p>So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it
+otherwise.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE PIGEONS</h3>
+<blockquote>"Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram."<br>
+<br>
+Juv. X. 21.</blockquote>
+<p>"How awfully dull it is, Charlie," said Eric, a few weeks before
+Easter, as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday
+afternoon.</p>
+<p>"Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket." And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.</p>
+<p>"I suppose this is what they call ennui," said Eric again, after
+a pause. "What is to be done, Sunbeam?"</p>
+<p>"You <i>shan't</i> call me that, so there's an end of it," said
+Wildney, hitting him on the arm.</p>
+<p>"By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow's my birth-day, and
+I've got a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home.
+Let's go and see if it's come."</p>
+<p>"Capital! We will."</p>
+<p>So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they
+found the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the
+school, and carried up to Eric's study.</p>
+<p>On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a
+pair of fowls and a large plum-cake.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah!" said Wildney, "you were talking of nothing to do; I
+vote we have a carouse to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Very well; only let's have it <i>before</i> prayers, because we
+were so nearly caught last time."</p>
+<p>"Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here,
+lest we have another incursion of the 'Rosebuds.' I shall have to
+cut preparation, but that don't matter, It's Harley's night, and
+old Stupid will never twig."</p>
+<p>"Well, whom shall we ask?" said Eric.</p>
+<p>"Old Llewellyn for one," said Wildney. "We havn't seen him for
+an age, and he's getting too lazy even for a bit of fun."</p>
+<p>"Good; and Graham," suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded
+their possessions so much as common property, that he hadn't the
+least delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.</p>
+<p>"Yes; Graham's a jolly bird; and Bull?"</p>
+<p>"I've no objection; and Pietrie?"</p>
+<p>"Well; and your brother Vernon?"</p>
+<p>"No!" said Eric, emphatically. "At any rate I won't lead
+<i>him</i> into mischief any more."</p>
+<p>"Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?"</p>
+<p>"No, again," said Eric; "he's a blackguard."</p>
+<p>"I wonder you haven't mentioned Duncan," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even
+old Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he's a great deal too
+correct to come now."</p>
+<p>"Well; we've got six already, that's quite enough."</p>
+<p>"Yes; but two fowls isn't enough for six hungry boys."</p>
+<p>"No, it isn't," said Wildney. He thought a little, and then,
+clapping his hands, danced about and said, "Are you game for a
+<i>regular</i> lark, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I've very nearly
+been taking to work again to fill up the time."</p>
+<p>Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an
+excuse for the low places in form to which he was gradually
+sinking. Everybody knew that had he properly exerted his abilities
+he was capable of beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his
+conscience, he professed to ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece
+of muffishness, and was never slow to sneer at the "grinders," as
+he contemptuously called all those who laid themselves out to win
+school distinctions.</p>
+<p>"Ha, ha!" said Wildney, "that's rather good! No, Eric, it's too
+late for you to turn 'grinder' now. I might as well think of doing
+it myself, and I've never been higher than five from lag in my form
+yet."</p>
+<p>"Haven't you? But what's the regular lark you hinted at?"</p>
+<p>"Why, we'll go and seize the Gordonites' <i>pigeons</i>, and
+make another dish of them."</p>
+<p>"Seize the Gordonites' pigeons! Why, when do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"To-night."</p>
+<p>Eric gave a long whistle. "But wouldn't it be st--t--?"</p>
+<p>"Stealing?" said Wildney, with a loud laugh. "Pooh!
+'<i>convey</i> the wise call it.'"</p>
+<p>But Eric still looked serious. "Why, my dear old boy," continued
+Wildney, "the Gordonites'll be the first to laugh at the trick when
+we tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There,
+now, don't look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with.
+Graham, and tell you the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at
+bed-time."</p>
+<p>After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study
+according to promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan.
+He didn't tell it plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan
+caught enough to guess what was intended, and said, when Wildney
+had gone--</p>
+<p>"Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric."</p>
+<p>Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly
+from any fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had
+recently received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly
+all the study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to
+assert his independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.</p>
+<p>"Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it's asked for," he
+answered, roughly. "You've done nothing but <i>advise</i> lately,
+and I'm rather sick of it."</p>
+<p>"Comme vous voulez," replied Duncan, with a shrug. "Gang your
+own gait; I'll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you,
+since you <i>will</i> ruin yourself."</p>
+<p>Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric
+went down he didn't even bid Duncan goodnight.</p>
+<p>"Charlie," he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney's
+dormitory.</p>
+<p>"Hush!" whispered Wildney, "the other fellows are asleep. Come
+and sit by my bedside, and I'll tell you what we're going to
+do."</p>
+<p>Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed "First of
+all, <i>you're</i> to keep awake till twelve to-night," he
+whispered; "old Rowley'll have gone round by that time, and it'll
+be all safe. Then come and awake me again, and I'll watch till one,
+Pietrie till two, and Graham till three. Then Graham'll awake us
+all, and we'll dress."</p>
+<p>"Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I'll manage that," said Wildney, chuckling. "But come again
+and awake me at twelve, will you?"</p>
+<p>Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn't take off his
+clothes, for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as
+usual at eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes,
+till the head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake
+thinking for an hour, but his thoughts weren't very pleasant.</p>
+<p>At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I don't feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour,
+Charlie?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim
+there; we shan't want it, and it might give the alarm."</p>
+<p>"All right."</p>
+<p>So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they
+talked in low voices until they heard the great school clock strike
+one. They then woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.</p>
+<p>At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the
+others in the lavatory.</p>
+<p>"Now, I'm going to get the key," said Wildney, "and mean to have
+a stomach-ache for the purpose."</p>
+<p>Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley's
+bed-room, which opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.</p>
+<p>No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder
+still.</p>
+<p>"Bother the fellow," said Wildney; "he sleeps like a grampus.
+Won't one of you try to wake him?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Graham; "'taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches."</p>
+<p>"Well, I must try again." But it seemed no use knocking, and
+Wildney at last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo
+on the bed-room door.</p>
+<p>"Who's there?" said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.</p>
+<p>"Only me, sir!" answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent
+way.</p>
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+<p>"Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I'm indisposed,"
+said Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the
+others shook with laughing.</p>
+<p>Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about
+suspiciously.</p>
+<p>"Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don't happen to
+have the key to-night." And so saying, he shut the door.</p>
+<p>"Phew! Here's a go!" said Wildney, recovering immediately.
+"It'll never do to awake old Rose. He'd smell a rat in no
+time."</p>
+<p>"I have it," said Pietrie. "I've got an old nail, with which I
+believe I can open the lock quite simply. Let's try."</p>
+<p>"Quietly and quick, then," said Eric.</p>
+<p>In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old
+nail, and the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in
+their hands, ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same
+window at which Eric and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had
+taken care beforehand to break the pane and move away the glass, so
+they had only to loosen the bar and slip through one by one.</p>
+<p>It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they
+stood out in the playground, all four would rather have been safe
+and harmlessly in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the
+enterprise bore them up, and they started off quickly for the house
+at which Mr. Gordon and his pupils lived, which was about half a
+mile from the school. They went arm in arm to assure each other a
+little, for at first in their fright they were inclined to take
+every post and tree for a man in ambush, and to hear a recalling
+voice in every sound of wind and wave.</p>
+<p>Not far from Mr. Gordon's was a carpenter's shop, and outside of
+this there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to
+carry this ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the
+low garden wall with it, and then place it against the house,
+immediately under the dovecot which hung by the first
+story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest of the four, was to take
+the birds, while the others held the ladder.</p>
+<p>Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the
+window as possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the
+cot. He succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing
+so threw the other birds into a state of such alarm that they
+fluttered about in the wildest manner, and the moment his hands
+were withdrawn, flew out with a great flapping of hurried
+wings.</p>
+<p>The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down
+the ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the
+others, who instantly wrung their necks.</p>
+<p>"I'm nearly sure I heard somebody stir," said Wildney; "we
+haven't been half quiet enough. Here! let's crouch down in this
+corner."</p>
+<p>All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held
+their breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they
+heard the window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon's
+voice asked sternly--"Who's there?"</p>
+<p>He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made
+an endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at
+full length, he could not do so.</p>
+<p>"We must cut for it," said Eric; "it's quite too dark for him to
+see us, or even to notice that we are boys."</p>
+<p>They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after
+the other, as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got
+to the top of the wall he heard the back door open, and some one
+run out into the yard.</p>
+<p>"Run for your lives," said Eric hurriedly; "it's Gordon, and
+he's raising the alarm."</p>
+<p>They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+"thieves! thieves!"</p>
+<p>"We must separate and run different ways, or we've no chance of
+escape. We'd better turn towards the town to put them off the right
+scent," said Eric again.</p>
+<p>"Don't leave me," pleaded Wildney; "you know I can't run very
+fast."</p>
+<p>"No, Charlie, I won't;" and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him
+over the style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham
+took the opposite direction.</p>
+<p>Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be
+Mr. Gordon's servant-man) was running after them, and they could
+distinctly hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field
+distant. He carried a light, and they heard him panting. They were
+themselves tired, and in the utmost trepidation; the usually
+courageous Wildney was trembling all over, and his fear
+communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a trial for
+burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations,
+as the sound of the footsteps came nearer.</p>
+<p>"I can't run any further, Eric," said Wildney. "What shall we
+do? don't leave me, for heaven's sake."</p>
+<p>"Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t'other side of
+this hedge."</p>
+<p>They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part
+of a plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some
+bushes, and keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover
+over their white collars.</p>
+<p>The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in
+front of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on
+both sides and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering
+boys, and at last giving up the search in despair, went slowly
+home. They heard him plodding back over the field, and it was not
+until the sound of his footsteps had died away, that Eric
+cautiously broke cover, and looked over the hedge. He saw the man's
+light gradually getting more distant, and said, "All right now,
+Charlie. We must make the best of our way home."</p>
+<p>"Are you sure he's gone?" said Wildney, who had not yet
+recovered from his fright.</p>
+<p>"Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain't
+caught."</p>
+<p>They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric's room to wait for the other two.
+To their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.</p>
+<p>"Were you twigged?" asked Wildney eagerly.</p>
+<p>"No," said Graham; "precious near it though. Old Gordon and some
+men were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and
+escaped them. It's all serene, and we shan't be caught."</p>
+<p>"Well, we'd best to bed now," said Eric; "and, to my thinking,
+we should be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this
+affair."</p>
+<p>"Yes, we had better tell <i>no one</i>." They agreed, and went
+off to bed again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as
+if nothing had happened, and made no allusion to the preceding
+night, although, they could not help chuckling inwardly a little
+when the Gordonites came to morning school, brimful of a story
+about their house having been attacked in the night by thieves,
+who, after bagging some pigeons, had been chevied by Gordon and the
+servants. Wildney professed immense interest in the incident, and
+asked many questions, which showed that there was not a shadow of
+suspicion in any one's mind as to the real culprits.</p>
+<p>Carter, the school servant, didn't seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to
+his disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy
+reads this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to
+hear that the burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie,
+Graham, and Wildney.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>SOWING THE WIND</h3>
+<blockquote>"Praepediuntur<br>
+Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,<br>
+Nant oculi."<br>
+<br>
+LUCR. iii. 417.</blockquote>
+<p>Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got
+everything ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney,
+relying on the chance of names not being called over (which, was
+only done in case any one's absence was observed), had absented
+himself altogether from the boarders' room, and helped busily to
+spread the table for the banquet. The cook had roasted for them the
+fowls and pigeons, and Billy had brought an ample supply of beer
+and some brandy for the occasion. A little before eight o'clock
+everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and Llewellyn were summoned
+to join the rest.</p>
+<p>The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys
+were in the highest spirits. Eric's reckless gaiety was kindled by
+Wildney's frolicsome vivacity, and Graham's sparkling wit; they
+were all six in a roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of
+fun elicited by the more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn,
+and the dainties of Wildney's parcel were accompanied by draughts
+of brandy and water, which were sometimes exchanged for potations
+of the raw liquor. It was not the first time, be it remembered,
+that the members of that young party had been present at similar
+scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was astonished, and alarmed
+occasionally at the quantities of spirits and other inebriating
+drinks that of late had found their way to the studies. The
+disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that
+he was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual
+tastes were getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he
+perceived in himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence,
+he saw them still more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which
+seemed to be spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance,
+the mind, and the manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the
+vision of a Nemesis breaking in fire out of his darkened future,
+terrified his guilty conscience in the watches of the night; and
+the conviction of some fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out
+of the night of his undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with
+agony and fear. But he fancied it too late to repent. He strangled
+the half-formed resolutions as they rose, and trusted to the time
+when, by leaving school, he should escape, as he idly supposed, the
+temptations to which he had yielded. Meanwhile, the friends who
+would have rescued him had been alienated by his follies, and the
+principles which might have preserved him had been eradicated by
+his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer, and the
+helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
+of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet
+of every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.</p>
+<p>As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more
+foolish and random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But
+still most of them mingled some sense of caution with their
+enjoyment, and warned Eric and Wildney more than once that they
+must look out, and not take too much that night for fear of being
+caught. But it was Wildney's birth-day, and Eric's boyish mirth,
+suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out unrestrained. In
+the riot of their feasting, the caution had been utterly neglected,
+and the boys were far from being sober when the sound of the
+prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.</p>
+<p>"Good heavens!" shouted Graham, springing up; "there's the
+prayer-bell; I'd no notion it was so late. Here, let's shove these
+brandy bottles and things into the cupboards and drawers, and then
+we must run down."</p>
+<p>There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had
+cleared the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the
+more difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and
+conduct them steadily into the prayer-room.</p>
+<p>Wildney's seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty
+in getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn
+took him by the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him
+safely to his seat, where he assumed a look of preternatural
+gravity. But Eric sat near the head of the first table, not far
+from Dr. Rowlands' desk, and none of the others had to go to that
+part of the room. Graham grasped his arm tight, led him carefully
+down stairs, and, as they were reaching the door, said to him, in a
+most earnest and imploring tone--"Do try and walk sensibly to your
+place, Eric, or we shall all be caught."</p>
+<p>It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly
+seated, and most of the Bibles were already open, although the
+Doctor had not yet come in. Consequently, the room was still, and
+the entrance of Graham and Eric after the rest attracted general
+notice. Eric had just sense enough to try and assume his ordinary
+manner; but he was too giddy with the fumes of drink to walk
+straight, or act naturally.</p>
+<p>Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother
+with great eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.</p>
+<p>"Wright," whispered he, in a timid voice; "just see how Eric
+walks. What can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be
+ill!" he said, starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger
+to one side, and nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.</p>
+<p>Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.</p>
+<p>"Hush!" he whispered; "take no notice; he's been drinking,
+Verny, and I fear he'll be caught."</p>
+<p>Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought,
+and he had hoped, that since the day at the "Jolly Herring," his
+brother had abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most
+careful to conceal from him the worst of his failings. And now he
+trembled violently with fear for his discovery, and horror at his
+disgraceful condition.</p>
+<p>The sound of Eric's unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly
+raise his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for
+the boy on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist
+him. It was not Eric's proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long
+look of astonishment, looked down at his book again, and said
+nothing.</p>
+<p>It made other hearts besides Vernon's ache to see the unhappy
+boy roll to his place in that helpless way.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were
+finished, the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly
+answering his "adsum," as he should have done, stood up, with a
+foolish look, and said, "Yes, Sir." The head master looked at him
+for a minute; the boy's glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid
+appearance, told an unmistakable tale; but Dr. Rowlands only
+remarked, "Williams, you don't look well. You had better go at once
+to bed."</p>
+<p>It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help,
+so Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much
+difficulty (for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his
+bed-room.</p>
+<p>Wildney's condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while
+walking up and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind
+that both Eric and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no
+remarks to them, and merely went to the Doctor to talk over the
+steps which were to be taken.</p>
+<p>"I shall summon the school," said Dr. Rowlands, "on Monday, and
+by that time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear,
+is the only course open to us."</p>
+<p>"Is not that a <i>very</i> severe line to take?"</p>
+<p>"Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must
+consider the matter."</p>
+<p>"Poor Williams!" sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.</p>
+<p>The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by
+Eric and his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness.
+It seemed clear that two of them at least were detected, and they
+were inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who
+had to stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached
+violently, and he was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He
+longed for the morrow, that at least he might have the poor
+consolation of knowing his fate. No one came near him all day. Eric
+wished to do so, but as he could not have visited the room without
+express leave, the rest dissuaded him from asking, lest he should
+excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect made poor Wildney
+even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as it was
+possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed hard
+to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close a
+friend.</p>
+<p>At school the next morning the various masters read out to their
+forms a notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to
+meet at ten in the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was
+pretty clearly understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had
+reference to the drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been
+<i>said</i> on the subject as yet; and every guilty heart among
+those 250 boys beat fast lest <i>his</i> sin too should have been
+discovered, and he should be called out for some public and heavy
+punishment.</p>
+<p>The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room,
+took their places according to their respective forms. The masters
+in their caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular
+bench at the upper end of the room, and in the centre of them,
+before a small table, sate Dr. Rowlands.</p>
+<p>The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush.
+The blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a
+breath could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said,
+"I shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth,
+and upper-fourth forms."</p>
+<p>This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were
+present on whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once
+told Eric and Wildney that <i>they</i> were the boys to be
+punished, and that the others had escaped.</p>
+<p>The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have
+told, from the sound of the boys' voices as they answered, which of
+them were afflicted with a troubled conscience.</p>
+<p>Another slight pause, and breathless hush.</p>
+<p>"Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward."</p>
+<p>The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was
+sitting with his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced;
+and Wildney, from the other end of the room, where the younger boys
+sat, getting up, came and stood by his side.</p>
+<p>Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never
+once raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces,
+you could scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited
+friends, whose laugh and shout had often rung so merrily through
+the play-ground, and woke the echoes of the rocks along the shore.
+Every eye was on them, and they were conscious of it, though they
+could not see it--painfully conscious of it, so that they wished
+the very ground to yawn beneath their feet for the moment, and
+swallow up their shame. Companionship in disgrace increased the
+suffering; had either of them been alone, he would have been less
+acutely sensible to the trying nature of his position; but that
+they, so different in their ages and position in the school, should
+thus have their friendship and the results of it blazoned, or
+rather branded, before their friends and enemies added keenly to
+the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric and
+Charlie awaited their sentence.</p>
+<p>"Williams and Wildney," said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of
+which every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer,
+"you have been detected in a sin most disgraceful and most
+dangerous. On Saturday night you were both drinking, and you were
+guilty of such gross excess, that you were neither of you in a fit
+state to appear among your companions--least of all to appear among
+them at the hour of prayer. I shall not waste many words on an
+occasion like this; only I trust that those of your schoolfellows
+who saw you staggering and rolling into the room on Saturday
+evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and degrading, will
+learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the Spartans
+taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most
+ruinous vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment
+will be public expulsion, for which you will prepare this very
+evening. I am unwilling that for a single day either of
+you--especially the elder of you--should linger, so as possibly to
+contaminate others with the danger of so pernicious an
+example."</p>
+<p>Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters
+equally by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy
+sensation, which was evident to all present, though no one spoke a
+word; but Dr. Rowlands took no notice of it, and only said to the
+culprits--</p>
+<p>"You may return to your seats."</p>
+<p>The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly
+knew how. They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their
+sentence, and the painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned
+over the desk with his head resting on a book, too stunned even to
+think; and Wildney looked straight before him with his eyes fixed
+in a stupid and unobserved stare.</p>
+<p>Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was
+liberated Eric sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to
+him, and rushed wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a
+moment, however, he re-opened it, for he heard Wildney's step, and,
+after admitting him, locked it once more.</p>
+<p>Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms
+round Eric's neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a
+flood of tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to
+their sorrow.</p>
+<p>"O my father! my father!" sobbed Wildney at length. "What will
+he say? He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me
+when he thinks I bring disgrace on him."</p>
+<p>Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents,
+and of the pang which <i>his</i> disgrace would cause their loving
+hearts; but he could say nothing, and only stroked Wildney's dark
+hair again and again with a soothing hand.</p>
+<p>They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric
+could not help thinking how very, very different their relative
+positions might have been; how, while he might have been aiding and
+ennobling the young boy beside him, he had alternately led and
+followed him into wickedness and disgrace. His heart was full of
+misery and bitterness, and he felt almost indifferent to all the
+future, and weary of his life.</p>
+<p>A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the
+school servant.</p>
+<p>"You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen."</p>
+<p>"O no! no! no!" exclaimed Wildney; "<i>cannot</i> be sent away
+like this. It would break my father's heart. Eric, <i>do</i> come
+and entreat Dr. Rowlands to forgive us only this once."</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; "he
+<i>shall</i> forgive us--<i>you</i> at any rate. I will not leave
+him till he does. Cheer up, Charlie, cheer up, and come along."</p>
+<p>Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and
+sprang down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following
+him. They went straight for the Doctor's study, and without waiting
+for the answer to their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr.
+Rowlands, who sate thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst
+out passionately, "O sir, forgive us this once."</p>
+<p>The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy's manner. He remained silent
+a moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--</p>
+<p>"Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could
+be no more perilous example for the school, than the one you have
+been setting, Williams. Leave the room," he added, with an
+authoritative gesture, "my mind is made up."</p>
+<p>But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master's manner;
+an imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations,
+and, heedless of the command, he broke out again--</p>
+<p>"O sir, try me but once, <i>only</i> try me. I promise you most
+faithfully that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do
+trust me, and I will be responsible for Wildney too."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric's present mood he must and
+would be heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to
+pace silently up and down the room in perplexed and anxious
+thought; at last he stopped and turned over the pages of a thick
+school register, and found Eric's name.</p>
+<p>"It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind.
+That most seriously aggravates your fault."</p>
+<p>"O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I
+<i>could</i> do such great things, if you will be but merciful, and
+give me time to change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only
+this once, and I will never ask again. Let us bear <i>any</i> other
+punishment but this. O sir," he said, approaching the doctor in an
+imploring attitude, "spare us this one time for the sake of our
+friends."</p>
+<p>The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the
+room in silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain
+his emotion.</p>
+<p>"It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must
+not weakly yield to entreaty. You must go."</p>
+<p>Eric wrung his hands in agony. "O, sir, then, if you must do so,
+expel me only, and not Charlie, <i>I</i> can bear it, but do not
+let me ruin him also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do,
+do forgive him. It is I who have misled him;" and he flung himself
+on his knees, and lifted his hands entreatingly towards the
+Doctor.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears,
+his agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a
+look of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his
+wild word of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that
+seemed to come from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his
+resolve, wavered for a moment, and then once more looked at the
+register.</p>
+<p>"Yes," he said, after a long pause, "here is an entry which
+shall save you this time. I find written here against your name,
+'April 3. Risked his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at
+the Stack.' That one good and noble deed shall be the proof that
+you are capable of better things. It may be weak perhaps--I know
+that it will be called weak--and I do not feel certain that I am
+doing right; but if I err it shall be on the side of mercy. I shall
+change expulsion into some other punishment. You may go."</p>
+<p>Wildney's face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray
+of sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.</p>
+<p>"O thank you, thank you, sir," he exclaimed, drying his eyes,
+and pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no
+light pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and
+while the two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a
+timid hand knocked at the door, and Vernon entered.</p>
+<p>"I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric," he said in a low
+voice, and trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he
+modestly approached towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the
+presence of the others in the complete absorption of his feelings.
+He stood in a sorrowful attitude, not venturing to look up, and his
+hand played nervously with the ribbon of his straw hat.</p>
+<p>"I have just forgiven him, my little boy," said the Doctor
+kindly, patting his stooping head; "there he is, and he has been
+speaking for himself."</p>
+<p>"O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don't know what to say for joy. O
+Eric, thank God that you are not to be expelled;" and Vernon went
+to his brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally
+a man of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by
+this act the charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in
+him to be willing to do so, but it would have required an iron
+heart to resist such earnest supplications, and he was more than
+repaid when he saw how much anguish he had removed by yielding to
+their entreaties.</p>
+<p>Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys
+retired.</p>
+<p>They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in
+their favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to
+alter the Doctor's intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had
+been strongly endeavoring to change the Doctor's mind, and had
+dwelt forcibly on all the good points in Eric's character, and the
+promise of his earlier career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and
+Duncan to beg that the expulsion might be commuted into some other
+punishment. They had failed to convince him; but, perhaps, had they
+not thus exerted themselves, Dr. Rowlands might have been unshaken,
+though he could not be unmoved by Vernon's gentle intercession and
+Eric's passionate prayers.</p>
+<p>Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of
+feeling, only shook Eric's hand with all his might, and then darted
+out into the playground to announce the happy news. The boys all
+flocked round him, and received the intelligence with unmitigated
+pleasure. Among them all there was not one who did not rejoice that
+Eric and Wildney were yet to continue of their number.</p>
+<p>But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful
+in his penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric
+sat down on a chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side.
+The sun was setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green
+fields and silver sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air
+was full of peace and coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket
+field blended joyously with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric
+was fond of beauty in every shape, and his father had early taught
+him a keen appreciation of the glories of nature. He had often
+gazed before on that splendid scene, as he was now gazing on it
+thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He looked long and
+wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds, and passed his
+arm more fondly round Vernon's shoulder.</p>
+<p>"What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying
+still," said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had
+overflowed on his brother's cheek, "aren't you glad that the Doctor
+has forgiven you?"</p>
+<p>"Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I
+hope your school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would
+give up all I have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have
+learnt. God grant that I may yet have time and space to do
+better."</p>
+<p>"Let us pray together, Eric," whispered his brother reverently,
+and they knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant
+parents and friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for
+each other, and for Wildney, and they thanked God for all his
+goodness to them; and then Eric poured out his heart in a fervent
+prayer that a holier and happier future might atone for his
+desecrated past, and that his sins might be forgiven for his
+Saviour's sake.</p>
+<p>The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more
+light-hearted, and gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss,
+before they went down again to the play-ground. But they avoided
+the rest of the boys, and took a stroll together along the sands,
+talking quietly, and happily, and hoping bright hopes for future
+days.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG</h3>
+<blockquote>"Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?<br>
+A tress of maiden's hair,<br>
+Of drowned maiden's hair,<br>
+Above the nets at sea?"--KINGSLEY.</blockquote>
+<p>Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time
+instead of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a
+manly and penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to
+repair the injury which their characters had received. Eric,
+especially, seemed to be devoting himself with every energy to
+regain, if possible, his long lost position, and by the altered
+complexion of his remaining school-life, to atone in some poor
+measure for its earlier sins. And he carried Wildney with him,
+influencing others also of his late companions in a greater or less
+degree. It was not Eric's nature to do things by halves, and it
+became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and abandon his
+old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no longer
+hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of
+idleness cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded
+sufficiently, by dint of desperately hard work, to acquit himself
+with considerable credit, and in the Easter examination came out
+sufficiently high, to secure his remove into the sixth form after
+the holidays.</p>
+<p>He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he
+had ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect,
+and the change for the better in his character tended to restore
+unanimity and good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the
+party which made a point of ridiculing and preventing industry;
+and, sharing as he did the sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was
+able quietly and unobtrusively to calm down the jealousies and
+allay the heartburnings which had for so long a time brought
+discord and disunion into the school society. Cheerfulness and
+unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and Eric had the
+intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within his
+power.</p>
+<p>So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first
+days glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled
+again to Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of
+companions more truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow
+circle of his late associates.</p>
+<p>"What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?" asked Duncan,
+as they chatted together one evening.</p>
+<p>"I won't go without leave," said Eric; "I should only get
+caught, and get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged
+now to strict obedience."</p>
+<p>"Ay, you're quite right. We'll get leave easily enough though,
+provided we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we
+make up a party."</p>
+<p>"By the bye, I forgot; I'm engaged to Wildney to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you
+like."</p>
+<p>"Most gladly," said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this
+that Duncan observed the improvement in his old friends, and was
+falling in with the endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to
+each other, and destroy all traces of the late factions.</p>
+<p>"Do you mind my bringing Montagu?"</p>
+<p>"Not at all. Why should I?" answered Eric, with a slight blush.
+Montagu and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as
+yet, spoken to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the
+excursion to give them an opportunity of becoming friends once
+more, by being thrown together. He knew well that they both
+earnestly wished it, although, with the natural shyness of boys,
+they hardly knew how to set about effecting it. Montagu hung back
+lest he should seem to be patronising a fallen enemy, and Eric lest
+he should have sinned too deeply to be forgiven.</p>
+<p>The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they
+should meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the
+boat, at ten o'clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a
+ready consent to the row, on condition of their being accompanied
+by the experienced sailor whom the boys called Jim. The precaution
+was by no means unnecessary, for the various currents which ran
+round the island were violent at certain stages of the tide, and
+extremely dangerous for any who were not aware of their general
+course.</p>
+<p>Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any
+feeling of restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a
+strong effort, determined to "make up with him" before starting,
+and went into his study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly
+he came in, Montagu jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when,
+without any allusion to the past, the two shook hands with all
+warmth, and looked the old proud look into each other's faces, they
+felt once more that their former affection was unimpaired, and that
+in heart they were real and loving friends. Most keenly did they
+both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and they found endless subjects
+to talk about on their way to Starhaven, where the others were
+already assembled when they came.</p>
+<p>With Jim's assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and
+sprang into it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing
+off they saw Wright and Vernon running down to the shore towards
+them, and they waited to see what they wanted. "Couldn't you take
+us with you?" asked Vernon, breathless with his run.</p>
+<p>"I'm afraid not, Verny," said Montagu; "the boat won't hold more
+than six, will it, Jim?"</p>
+<p>"No, sir, not safely."</p>
+<p>"Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny," said Eric, as he
+saw his brother's disappointed look.</p>
+<p>"Then Wright shall take mine," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"O dear no," said Wright, "we wouldn't turn you out for the
+world. Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast
+instead, and will meet you here as we come back."</p>
+<p>"Well, good bye, then; off we go;" and with light hearts the
+boaters and the pedestrians parted.</p>
+<p>Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the
+oars, while Wildney steered. Graham's "crabs," and Wildney's rather
+crooked steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they
+were full of fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the
+waves. Then they made Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as
+they rowed, and joined vigorously in the choruses. They had
+arranged to make straight for St. Catherine's Head, and land
+somewhere near it to choose a place for their pic-nic. It took them
+nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed leisurely, and enjoyed
+the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the sunniest days of
+early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the calm sea
+breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in the
+warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the
+green and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through
+which occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart
+like an arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they
+kept not far from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with
+its rocks and hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a
+glowing picture, to which the golden green of the spring herbage,
+bathed in its morning sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who
+could have been otherwise than happy in such a scene and at such a
+time? but these were boys with the long bright holiday before them,
+and happiness is almost too quiet a word to express the bounding
+exultation of heart, the royal and tingling sense of vigorous life,
+which made them shout and sing, as their boat rustled through the
+ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible enjoyment.</p>
+<p>They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it
+made a very tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny
+pebbled cave, by St. Catherine's Head; although, instead of
+anything more objectionable, they had thought it best to content
+themselves with a very moderate quantity of beer. When they had
+done eating, they amused themselves on the shore; and had
+magnificent games among the rocks, and in every fantastic nook of
+the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a bathe to wind up
+with, as it was the first day when it had been quite warm enough to
+make bathing pleasant.</p>
+<p>"But we've got no towels."</p>
+<p>"Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we're dry." So
+they bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they
+all agreed that it was the very jolliest day they'd ever had at
+Roslyn, and voted to renew the experiment before the holidays were
+over, and take Wright and Vernon with them in a larger boat.</p>
+<p>It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when
+they began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the
+land for variety's sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily
+as ever.</p>
+<p>"I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest
+bit of the whole coast," said Eric, as they neared a glen through
+whose narrow gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled
+down with noisy turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that
+glen; its steep and rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss,
+and wild-flowers, and the sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely
+windings, which were colored with topaz and emerald by the
+pencillings of nature and the rich stains of time.</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered Montagu, "<i>I</i> always stick up for Avon Glen
+as the finest scene we've got about here. But, I say, who's that
+gesticulating on the rock there to the right of it? I verily
+believe it's Wright, apostrophising the ocean for Vernon's benefit.
+I only see one of them though."</p>
+<p>"I bet you he's spouting</p>
+<blockquote>'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!<br>
+Ten thousand fleets, etc.'"</blockquote>
+<p>said Graham laughing.</p>
+<p>"What do you say to putting in to shore there?" said Duncan;
+"it's only two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make
+shift to take them in for that distance. If Jim says anything we'll
+chuck him overboard."</p>
+<p>They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who
+stood there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made
+out that it <i>was</i> Wright), still continued to wave his arms
+and beckon them in a manner which they at first thought ridiculous,
+but which soon make them feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and
+they soon got within two hundred yards of the beach. Wright had
+ceased to make signals, but appeared to be shouting to them, and
+pointing towards one corner of the glen; but though they caught the
+sound of his voice they could not hear what he said.</p>
+<p>"I wonder why Vernon isn't with him," said Eric anxiously; "I
+hope--why, what <i>are</i> you looking at, Charlie?"</p>
+<p>"What's that in the water there?" said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.</p>
+<p>Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. "Good
+God!" he exclaimed, turning pale; "what can be the matter?"</p>
+<p>"O <i>do</i> let me look," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"No! stop, stop, Eric, you'd better not, I think; pray don't, it
+may be all a mistake. You'd better not--but it looked--nay, you
+really <i>mustn't,</i> Eric," he said, and, as if accidentally, he
+let the telescope fall into the water, and they saw it sink down
+among the seaweeds at the bottom.</p>
+<p>Eric looked at him reproachfully. "What's the fun of that,
+Monty? you let it drop on purpose."</p>
+<p>"O never mind; I'll get Wildney another. I really daren't let
+you look, for fear you should <i>fancy</i> the same as I did, for
+it must be fancy. O <i>don't</i> let us put in there--at least not
+all of us."</p>
+<p>What <i>was</i> that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon
+left the others, they walked along the coast, following the
+direction of the boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting
+eggs. They were very successful, and, to their great delight,
+managed to secure some rather rare specimens. When they had tired
+themselves with this pursuit, they lay on the summit of one of the
+cliffs which formed the sides of Avon Glen, and Wright, who was
+very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of Marmion with great
+enthusiasm.</p>
+<p>So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over,
+Vernon took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the
+cliff's edge. It thundered over the side, bounding down till it
+reached the strand, and a large black cormorant, startled by the
+reverberating echoes, rose up suddenly, and flapped its way with
+protruded neck to a rock on the further side of the little bay.</p>
+<p>"I bet you that animal's got a nest somewhere near here," said
+Vernon eagerly. "Come, let's have a look for it; a cormorant's egg
+would be a jolly addition to our collection."</p>
+<p>They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some
+eight feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a
+tree, on which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the
+existence of a rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it
+contained eggs or no.</p>
+<p>"I must bag that nest; it's pretty sure to have eggs in it,"
+said Vernon, "and I can get at it easy enough." He immediately
+began to descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he
+found it harder than he expected.</p>
+<p>"Hallo," he said, "this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn't a better dodge for getting at it." He
+reached the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the
+ledge which promised more hope of success.</p>
+<p>"You'd better give it up, Verny," said Wright. "I'm sure it's
+harder than we fancied, <i>I</i> couldn't manage it, I know."</p>
+<p>"O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards
+the right the way's plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest
+in no time." Again his descended in a different direction, but
+again he failed. The nest could only be seen from the top, and he
+had lost the right route.</p>
+<p>"You must keep more to the right."</p>
+<p>"I know," answered Vernon; "but, bother take it, I can't manage
+it, now I'm so far down. I must climb up <i>again</i>."</p>
+<p>"<i>Do</i> give it up, Verny, there's a good fellow. You
+<i>can't</i> reach it, and really it's dangerous."</p>
+<p>"O no, not a bit of it. My head's very steady, and I feel as
+cool as possible. We mustn't give up; I've only to get at the tree,
+and then I shall be able to reach the nest from it quite
+easily."</p>
+<p>"Well, do take care, that's a dear fellow."</p>
+<p>"Never fear," said Vernon, who was already commencing his third
+attempt. This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a
+part of the root, while with his hands he clung on to a clump of
+heather. "Hurrah!" he cried, "it's got two eggs in it, Wright;" and
+he stretched downwards to take them. Just as he was doing so, he
+heard the root on which his foot rested give a great crack, and
+with a violent start he made a spring for one of the lower
+branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest for an instant
+on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather gave way,
+and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of the
+cliff.</p>
+<p>With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.</p>
+<p>"Vernon! Vernon!" shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close
+up to the edge of the precipice. "O Vernon! for heaven's sake
+speak!"</p>
+<p>There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some
+minutes he was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild
+attempts to descend the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the
+attempt in despair. There was a tradition in the school that the
+feat had once been accomplished by an adventurous and active boy,
+but Wright at any rate found it hopeless for himself. The only
+other way to reach the glen was by a circuitous route which led to
+the entrance of the narrow gorge, along the sides of which it was
+possible to make way with difficulty down the bank of the river to
+the place where it met the sea. But this would have taken him an
+hour and a half, and was far from easy when the river was swollen
+with high tide. Nor was there any house within some distance at
+which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult of
+conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the
+chance of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine's Head.
+It was already three o'clock, and he knew that they could not now
+be longer than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching
+the headland, round which he knew they would first come in sight.
+He watched with wild eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire
+to catch sight of them; but the leaden-footed moments crawled on
+like hours, and he could not help shivering with agony and fear. At
+last he caught a glimpse of them, and springing up, began to shout
+at the top of his voice, and wave his handkerchief and his arms in
+the hope of attracting their attention. Little thought those blithe
+merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy laughter which they
+sent ringing over the waters, little they thought how terrible a
+tragedy awaited them.</p>
+<p>At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting
+inland, and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but
+feeling sure that they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as
+fast as he could to Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at
+a farm-house what had happened, and asked them to get a cart ready
+to convey the wounded boy to Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy
+evening, radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight
+and transparent wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place
+where Vernon lay; and the little ripples fell over him wonderingly,
+with the low murmur of their musical laughter, and blurred and
+dimmed the vivid splashes and crimson streaks upon the white stone
+on which his head had fallen, and washed away some of the purple
+bells and green sprigs of heather round which his fingers were
+closed in the grasp of death, and played softly with his fair hair
+as it rose, and fell, and floated on their undulations like a leaf
+of golden-colored weed, until they themselves were faintly
+discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new plaything,
+they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just strong
+enough to move rudely the boy's light weight, and in a few moments
+more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu's
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had
+been gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat,
+while Eric at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to
+verify his horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it
+<i>was</i> a boy lying in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was
+motionless;--he must have fallen there from the cliff.</p>
+<p>Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the
+boat grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to
+the spot where his brother's body lay. With a burst of passionate
+affection, he flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the
+cold hand in his own--the little rigid hand in which the green
+blades of grass, and fern, and heath, so tightly clutched, were
+unconscious of the tale they told.</p>
+<p>"Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!" he cried in
+anguish, as he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little
+blood had flowed. But the child's head fell back heavily, and his
+arms hung motionless beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly
+caught the look of dead fixity in his blue open eyes.</p>
+<p>The others had come up. "O God, save my brother, save him, save
+him from death," cried Eric, "I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh
+God! Look! look!" he continued, "he has fallen from the cliff with
+his head on this cursed stone," pointing to the block of quartz,
+still red with blood-stained hair; "but we must get a doctor. He is
+not dead! no, no, no, he <i>cannot</i> be dead. Take him quickly,
+and let us row home. Oh God! why did I ever leave him?"</p>
+<p>The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon's
+corpse into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the
+body, and moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold
+pale brow and white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and
+was not dead, the others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling
+of terrified anxiety lay like frost upon their hearts.</p>
+<p>They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless
+boy, and heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few
+boys were about the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn,
+and Dr. Underhay, who had been summoned, was instantly in
+attendance. He looked at Vernon for a moment, and then shook his
+head in a way that could not be mistaken. Eric saw it, and flung
+himself with uncontrollable agony on his brother's corpse. "O
+Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then he is dead." And,
+unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.</p>
+<p>I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the
+very sun in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric's wounded and crushed
+spirit. He hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried
+Vernon in the little green churchyard by Russell's side, and the
+patter of the earth upon the coffin--that most terrible of all
+sounds--struck his ear, the iron entered into his soul, and he had
+but one wish as he turned away from the open grave, and that was,
+soon to lie beside his beloved little brother and to be at
+rest.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE LAST TEMPTATION</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: 'Ae d' Atae sthenazae te chai 'aztipos sunecha
+pasas<br>
+Pollou 'upechpzotheei, phthaneei d' de te pasan ep' aiach<br>
+Blaptous' anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.</blockquote>
+<p>Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged
+the violence of Eric's grief, which seemed likely to settle down
+into a sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to
+Fairholm were almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of
+sorrow; but they grew calmer in time,--and while none of his
+school-fellows ever ventured in his presence to allude to Vernon,
+because of the emotion which the slightest mention of him excited,
+yet he rarely wrote any letters to his relations in which he did
+not refer to his brother's death, in language which grew at length
+both manly and resigned.</p>
+<p>A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his
+study in the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to
+play regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He
+spoke freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than
+he had ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence,
+but even strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. "I can
+hardly even yet realize," he added, "that I am alone here, and that
+I am writing to my aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my
+noble, only brother, Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards
+him. I <i>must</i> be a better boy, I <i>will</i> be better than I
+have been, in the hopes of meeting him again. Indeed, indeed, dear
+aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am laying aside, with all my
+might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing my very best to
+redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my time at Roslyn
+will be more worthily spent than any of it has been as yet."</p>
+<p>He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing
+quietly on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and
+repose stole over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was
+ajar, the leering eyes and villainously cunning countenance of
+Billy.</p>
+<p>"What do you want?" he said angrily, casting at the intruder a
+look of intense disgust.</p>
+<p>"Beg pardon, sir," said the man, pulling his hair. "Anything in
+my line, sir, to-day?"</p>
+<p>"No!" answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. "What
+business have you here? Get away instantly."</p>
+<p>"Not had much custom from you lately, sir," said the man.</p>
+<p>"What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to
+me? If you don't make yourself scarce at once, I'll--"</p>
+<p>"O well," said the man; "if it comes to that, I've business
+enough. Perhaps you'll just pay me this debt," he continued,
+changing his fawning manner into a bullying swagger. "I've waited
+long enough."</p>
+<p>Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It
+purported to be a bill for various items of drink, all of which
+Eric <i>knew</i> to have been paid for, and among other things, a
+charge of &pound;6 for the dinner at the "Jolly Herring."</p>
+<p>"Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds
+for the dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for
+it before it took place."</p>
+<p>"That's now't to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the
+young gen'lman in the cheer, I comes to you."</p>
+<p><i>Now</i> Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant
+by his threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put
+up to act in this way by some one, and had little doubt that
+Brigson was the instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the
+man said, that he had never received the money. Brigson was quite
+wicked enough to have embezzled it for his own purposes.</p>
+<p>"Go," he said to the man; "you shall have the money in a
+week."</p>
+<p>"And mind it bean't more nor a week. I don't chuse to wait for
+my money no more," said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an
+undisguised chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down
+stairs.</p>
+<p>What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu,
+who were best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the
+memory of unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to
+obliterate from the memory of all. He had not the moral courage to
+face the natural consequences of his past misconduct, and was now
+ashamed to speak of what he had not then been ashamed to do. He
+told Graham and Wildney, who were the best of his old associates,
+and they at once agreed that <i>they</i> ought to be responsible
+for at least a share of the debt. Still, between them they could
+only muster three pounds out of the six which were required, and
+the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect of
+extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.</p>
+<p>A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source
+of his trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest
+friend. To him he could speak without scruple and without reserve,
+and from him he knew that he would receive nothing but the noblest
+advice and the warmest sympathy.</p>
+<p>He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric, Eric!" said Mr. Rose; "you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins."</p>
+<p>"O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems
+cruel that I should receive at once so sad a check."</p>
+<p>"There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for
+the money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to
+me."</p>
+<p>It was a hard course for Eric's proud and loving heart to write
+and tell his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it
+faithfully, extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved
+him, to send the money by return of post.</p>
+<p>It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection.
+Mrs. Trevor knew her nephew's character, and did not add by
+reproaches to the bitterness which she perceived he had endured;
+she simply sent him the money, and told him, that in spite of his
+many failures, "she still had perfect confidence in the true heart
+of her dear boy."</p>
+<p>Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it
+became more and more the passionate craving of Eric's soul to be
+worthy of that love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost
+path than to keep in the right one all along; and by one more
+terrible fall, the poor erring boy was to be taught for the last
+time the fearful strength of temptation, and the only source in
+earth and heaven from which deliverance can come. Theoretically he
+knew it, but as yet not practically. Great as his trials had been,
+and deeply as he had suffered, it was God's will that he should
+pass through a yet fiercer flame ere he could be purified from
+pride and passion and self-confidence, and led to the cross of a
+suffering Saviour, there to fling himself down in heart-rending
+humility, and cast his great load of cares and sins upon Him who
+cared for him through all his wanderings, and was leading him back
+through thorny places to the green pastures and still waters, where
+at last he might have rest.</p>
+<p>The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring,
+he dashed it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade
+him write a receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an
+air of cunning and triumph that Eric was both astonished and
+dismayed. Could the miscreant have any further plot against him? At
+first he fancied that Billy might attempt to extort money by a
+threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this supposition he banished as
+unlikely since it might expose Billy himself to very unpleasant
+consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said contemptuously,
+"Never come near me again; next time you come up to the studies
+I'll tell Carter to turn you out."</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho!" sneered Billy. "How mighty we young gents are all
+of a sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me
+again; never fear, young gen'lman." He shouted out the latter
+words, for Eric had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already
+in the street. Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from
+this quarter. At first the thought of it was disquieting, but three
+weeks glided away, and Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school
+work, began to remember it as a mere vague and idle threat. But one
+afternoon, to his horror, he again heard Billy's step on the
+stairs, and again saw the hateful iniquitous face at the door.</p>
+<p>"Not much custom from you lately, sir," said Billy, mockingly.
+"Anything in my line to-day."</p>
+<p>"Didn't I tell you never to come near me again, you foul
+villain? Go this instant, or I'll call Carter;" and, opening the
+window, he prepared to put his threat into execution.</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I've got first." It was a
+printed notice to the following effect--</p>
+<p>"FIVE POUNDS REWARD.</p>
+<p>"WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the
+evening of April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon's premises; the above
+reward will be given for any such information as may lead to the
+apprehension of the offenders."</p>
+<p>Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor
+that Gordon had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had
+been forgotten, and the boys had long fancied their secret secure,
+though at first they had been terribly alarmed.</p>
+<p>"What do you show me that for?" he asked, reddening and then
+growing pale again.</p>
+<p>Billy's only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the
+words "Five pounds reward!"</p>
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+<p>"I thinks I knows who took them pigeons."</p>
+<p>"What's that to me?"</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho! that's a good un," was Billy's reply; and he
+continued to cackle as though enjoying a great joke.</p>
+<p>"Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get
+'em. I know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I'll give ye
+another week to decide."</p>
+<p>Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his
+chair. Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get
+them? To write home again was out of the question. The Trevors,
+though liberal, were not rich, and after just sending him so large
+a sum, it was impossible, he thought, that they should send him
+five pounds more at his mere request. Besides, how could he be sure
+that Billy would not play upon his fears to extort further sums?
+And to explain the matter to them fully was more than he could
+endure. He remembered now how easily his want of caution might have
+put Billy in possession of the secret, and he knew enough of the
+fellow's character to feel quite sure of the use he would be
+inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!</p>
+<p>Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure.
+He thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was
+clear--he <i>had</i>, not the money, and could not get it.
+Miserable boy! It was too late then! for him repentance was to be
+made impossible; every time he attempted it he was to be thwarted
+by some fresh discovery. And, leaning his head on his open palms,
+poor Eric sobbed like a child.</p>
+<p>Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the
+want of five pounds! Expulsion was <i>certain</i>, was
+<i>inevitable</i> now, and perhaps for Wildney too as well as for
+himself. After all his fine promises in his letters home,--yes,
+that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not closed for a month
+over one brother, and the other would be <i>expelled</i>. Oh
+misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother's heart. Oh
+how cruel everything was to him!</p>
+<p>Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or
+any other boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the
+boys would have spent the money they brought with them from home.
+There was no chance of any one having five pounds, and to a master
+he <i>dare</i> not apply, not even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too
+serious to be overlooked, and if noticed at all, he fancied that,
+after his other delinquencies, it <i>must</i>, as a matter of
+notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could not face that bitter
+thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon his father's
+and his brother's name; this was the fear which kept recurring to
+him with dreadful iteration.</p>
+<p>By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of
+the school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by
+being treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon's death
+he lost all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his
+office, to which Montagu had been elected by the general
+suffrage.</p>
+<p>He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was
+in Montagu's study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was
+merely a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.</p>
+<p>All this passed through Eric's mind as he sat in his study after
+Billy had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors
+were open, and all their occupants were absent in the
+cricket-field, or bathing. He stole into Montagu's study, hastily
+got the key, and took down the box.</p>
+<p>"O put it down, put it down, Eric," said Conscience; "what
+business have you with it?"</p>
+<p>"Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn't trust
+myself!"</p>
+<p>"Put it down," repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no
+longer to argue or entreat.</p>
+<p>Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not
+instantly leave the room. He began to look at Montagu's books, and
+then out of the window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he
+noticed, for the cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well,
+what of that? he was doing no harm.</p>
+<p>"Nonsense! I <i>will</i> just look and see if there's five
+pounds in the cricket-box." Slowly at first he put out his hand,
+and then, hastily turning the key, opened the box. It contained
+three pounds in gold, and a quantity of silver. He began to count
+the silver, putting it on the table, and found that it made up
+three pounds ten more. "So that, altogether, there's six pounds
+ten; that's thirty shillings more than ...and it won't be wanted
+till next summer term, because all the bats and balls are bought
+now. I daresay Montagu won't even open the box again. I know he
+keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks at it, and
+I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next term, and
+it will save me from expulsion."</p>
+<p>Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his
+pocket, and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and
+sixpences which he had counted, and dropped them also into his
+trousers; they fell into the pocket with a great jingle....</p>
+<p>"Eric, you are a thief!" He thought he heard his brother
+Vernon's voice utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was
+conscience who had borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he
+began to shake the money out of his pockets again into the box. He
+was only just in time; he had barely locked the box, and put it in
+its place, when he heard the sound of voices and footsteps on the
+stairs. He had no time to take out the key and put it back where he
+found it, and had hardly time to slip into his own study again,
+when the boys had reached the landing.</p>
+<p>They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual," said Duncan, good-humoredly;
+but he only got a sickly smile in reply.</p>
+<p>"What! are you the only fellow in the studies?" asked Montagu.
+"I was nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up
+stairs."</p>
+<p>"I don't think there's any one here but me," said Eric, "and I'm
+going a walk now."</p>
+<p>He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away
+through the play-ground towards the shore But he could not so
+escape his thoughts. "Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a
+thief!" rang in his ear. "Yes," he thought; "I am even a thief. Oh,
+good God, yes, <i>even</i> a <i>thief</i>, for I <i>had</i>
+actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only
+fellow up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!"</p>
+<p>It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid
+in the coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow.
+And as he lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good
+heavens! there was something still there. He pulled it out; it was
+a sovereign! Then he WAS a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was
+against him; and, starting to his feet, he flung the accursed gold
+over the rocks far into the sea.</p>
+<p>When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable
+to work, he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before
+he fell asleep; but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than
+the haunted wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and
+horrid dreams. Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic
+proportions, and their faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness,
+seemed to be standing over him, and demanding five pounds on pain
+of death. Flights of pigeons darkening the air, settled on him, and
+flapped about him. He fled from them madly through the dark
+midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose, and running
+up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in his
+dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, "O
+Charlie, save me;" but Charlie ran away, saying, "Williams, you are
+a thief!" and then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry,
+voices of expostulation, voices of contempt, voices of indignation,
+voices of menace; they took up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed
+it; but, most unendurable of all, there were voices of wailing and
+voices of gentleness among them, and his soul died within him as he
+caught, amid the confusion of condemning sounds, the voices of
+Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to him, in tender
+pity and agonized astonishment, "Eric, Eric, you are a thief!"</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>REAPING THE WHIRLWIND</h3>
+<blockquote>"For alas! alas! with me<br>
+The light of life is o'er;<br>
+No more--no more--no more<br>
+(Such language holds the solemn sea<br>
+To the sands upon the shore)<br>
+Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,<br>
+Or the stricken eagle soar!"<br>
+<br>
+EDGAR A. POE.</blockquote>
+<p>The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits
+to Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the
+doors for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to
+make use of this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well
+acquainted with the building (in which for a short time he had been
+a servant), he laid his plans without the least dread of
+discovery.</p>
+<p>There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel,
+and it could be reached by a path through the fields without any
+chance of being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched
+his opportunity. By this path Billy came, two days after his last
+visit, and walked straight up the great staircase, armed with the
+excuse of business with Eric in case any one met or questioned him.
+But no one was about, since between twelve and one the boys were
+pretty sure to be amusing themselves out of doors; and after
+glancing into each of the studies, Billy finally settled on
+searching Montagu's (which was the neatest and best furnished), to
+see what he could get.</p>
+<p>The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where
+Eric had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled
+him. In a moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking
+booty, and opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of
+gratification, the unexpected store of silver and gold. This he
+instantly transferred to his own pocket, and then replacing the box
+where he had found it, decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the
+study in all other respects exactly as he had found it.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with
+apprehension and suspense. Unable to endure his misery in
+loneliness, he had made several boys to a greater or less degree
+participators in the knowledge of his difficult position, and in
+the sympathy which his danger excited, the general nature of his
+dilemma with Billy (though not its special circumstances) was soon
+known through the school.</p>
+<p>At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was
+sitting with Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and
+the sorrow which lay at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious
+expression of his face, and the deep dejection of his attitude and
+manner.</p>
+<p>The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every
+possible topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing
+to be said, and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet
+though their arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness
+of their affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his
+heavy mood.</p>
+<p>"Well, well; at least <i>do</i> hope the best, Eric," said
+Graham.</p>
+<p>"Yes!" urged Wildney; "only think, dear old fellow, what lots of
+worse scrapes we've been in before, and how we've always managed to
+get out of them somehow."</p>
+<p>"No, my boy; not worse scrapes," answered Eric. "Depend upon it
+this is the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting
+into another at <i>Roslyn</i>, anyhow."</p>
+<p>"Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?" said Wildney, putting
+his arm round Eric's neck. "Besides it's all my fault, hang it,
+that you got into this cursed row."</p>
+<blockquote>"'The curse is come upon, me, cried<br>
+The Lady of Shallott,'</blockquote>
+<p>"those words keep ringing in my ears," murmured Eric.</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, if <i>you</i> are sent away, I know I shall get my
+father to take me too, and then we'll join each other somewhere.
+Come, cheer up, old boy--being sent isn't such a very frightful
+thing after all."</p>
+<p>"No" said Graham; "and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was
+only a lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn't like
+stealing, you know; <i>that</i>'d be quite a different thing."</p>
+<p>Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not
+notice it. "Ah," thought he, "there's <i>one</i> passage of my life
+which I never shall be able to reveal to any human soul."</p>
+<p>"Come now, Eric," said Wildney, "I've got something to propose.
+You shall play cricket to-day; you haven't played for an age, and
+it's high time you should. If you don't you'll go mooning about the
+shore all day, and that'll never do, for you'll come back glummer
+than ever."</p>
+<p>"No!" said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon
+instantly passed through his mind; "no more cricket for me."</p>
+<p>"Nay, but you <i>must</i> play to-day. Come, you shan't say no.
+You won't say no to me, will you, dear old fellow?" And Wildney
+looked up to him with that pleasant smile, and the merry light in
+his dark eyes, which had always been so charming to Eric's
+fancy.</p>
+<p>"There's no refusing you," said Eric with the ghost of a laugh,
+as he boxed Wildney's ears. "O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I
+wish I were you."</p>
+<p>"Pooh! pooh! now you shan't get sentimental again. As if you
+wern't fifty times better than me every way. I'm sure I don't know
+how I shall ever love you enough, Eric," he added more seriously,
+"for all your kindness to me."</p>
+<p>"I'm so glad you're going to play, though," said Graham; "and so
+will everybody be; and I'm certain it'll be good for you. The game
+will divert your thoughts."</p>
+<p>So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny's death,
+played with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The
+school cheered him vigorously as he appeared again on the field,
+and the sound lighted up his countenance with some gleam of its old
+joyousness. When one looked at him that day with his straw hat on
+and its neat light-blue ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink
+jersey and leather belt, with a silver clasp in front), showing off
+his well-built and graceful figure, one little thought what an
+agony was gnawing like a serpent at his heart. But that day, poor
+boy, in the excitement of the game he half forgot it himself, and
+more and more as the game went on.</p>
+<p>The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric
+caught out two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who
+stayed in long, and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying
+with a magnificent ball, the shouts of "well bowled! well bowled
+<i>indeed</i>," were universal.</p>
+<p>"Just listen to that, Eric," said Montagu; "why, you're
+out-doing every body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by
+storm."</p>
+<p>"Wait till you see me come out for a duck," said Eric
+laughing.</p>
+<p>"Not you. You're too much in luck to come out with a duck,"
+answered Montagu. "You see I've already become the Homer of your
+triumphs, and vaticinate in rhyme."</p>
+<p>And now it was Eric's turn to go in. It was long since he had
+stood before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a
+beautiful picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his
+fair hair shine like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows
+were flung to the winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest
+and joy.</p>
+<p>He contented himself with blocking Duncan's balls until his eye
+was in; but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right
+and left. His score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of
+getting him out, so that there was every probability of his
+carrying out his bat.</p>
+<p>"Oh, <i>well</i> hit! <i>well</i> hit! A three'r for Eric,"
+cried Wildney to the scorer; and he began to clap his hands and
+dance about with excitement at his friend's success.</p>
+<p>"Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!" shouted all the lookers on,
+as Eric caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over
+the hedge, getting a sixer by the hit.</p>
+<p>At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run,
+for the handle of his bat broke right off.</p>
+<p>"How unlucky!" he said, flinging down the handle with vexation.
+"I believe this was our best bat."</p>
+<p>"Oh, never mind," said Montagu; "we can soon get another; we've
+got lots of money in the box."</p>
+<p>What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of
+poison in the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected
+than he was by Montagu's simple remark. Montagu could not help
+noticing it, but at the time merely attributed it to some unknown
+gust of feeling, and made no comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing
+another bat, took his place again quite tamely; he was trembling,
+and at the very next ball, he spooned a miserable catch into
+Graham's hand, and the shout of triumph from the other side
+proclaimed that his innings was over.</p>
+<p>He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys,
+who were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after
+his brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the
+light had died away from his face and figure, and he never raised
+his eyes from the ground.</p>
+<p>"Modest Eric!" said Wildney chaffingly, "you don't acknowledge
+your honors."</p>
+<p>Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm,
+and walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and
+whispered again in a low voice--</p>
+<blockquote>"'The curse has come upon me, cried<br>
+The Lady of Shallott.'"</blockquote>
+<p>"Hush, Eric, nonsense," whispered Wildney; "you're not going
+away," he continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. "Why,
+there are only two more to go in!"</p>
+<p>"Yes, thank you, I must go."</p>
+<p>"Oh, then, I'll come too."</p>
+<p>Wildney at once joined his friend. "There's nothing more the
+matter, is there?" he asked anxiously, when they were out of
+hearing of the rest.</p>
+<p>"God only knows."</p>
+<p>"Well, let's change the subject. You've being playing
+brilliantly, old fellow."</p>
+<p>"Have I?"</p>
+<p>"I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid
+way."</p>
+<p>"Ah well! it matters very little."</p>
+<p>Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note
+from Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking
+him to tea that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been
+several times lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she
+always showed him caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she
+had known his mother.</p>
+<p>"Upon my word, honors <i>are</i> being showered on you!" said
+Wildney. "First to get <i>the</i> score of the season at cricket,
+and bowl out about half the other side, and then go to tea with the
+head-master. Upon my word! Why any of us poor wretches would give
+our two ears for such distinctions. Talk of curse indeed!
+Fiddlestick end!"</p>
+<p>But Eric's sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering
+with a sigh, he went to dress for tea.</p>
+<p>Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together.
+"How splendidly Eric played," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Yes, indeed. I'm so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting
+a new bat. I don't know exactly how much money we've got, but I
+know there's plenty. Let's come and see."</p>
+<p>They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the
+key. "Hallo," he said, "I'm nearly sure I left it in the corner of
+this drawer, under some other things; but it isn't there now. What
+can have become of it?"</p>
+<p>"Where's the box?" said Duncan; "let's see if any of my keys
+will fit it. Hallo! why <i>you're</i> a nice treasurer, Monty!
+here's the key <i>in</i> the box!"</p>
+<p>"No, is it though?" asked Montagu, looking serious. "Here, give
+it me; I hope nobody's been meddling with it."</p>
+<p>He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to
+see it empty.</p>
+<p>"Phew-w-w-w!" Montagu gave a long whistle.</p>
+<p>"By Jove!" was Duncan's only comment.</p>
+<p>The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what
+was in his thoughts.</p>
+<p>"A bad, bad business! what's to be done, Monty?"</p>
+<p>"I'll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it.
+Would you mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes?
+Tell him there's a row."</p>
+<p>He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the
+boys were talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally
+praising Eric's play.</p>
+<p>"I've got something unpleasant to say," he announced, raising
+his voice.</p>
+<p>"Hush! hush! hush! what's the row?" asked half a dozen at
+once.</p>
+<p>"The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has
+vanished from the box in my study!"</p>
+<p>For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.</p>
+<p>"Does any fellow know anything about this?"</p>
+<p>All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.</p>
+<p>"Where is Williams?" asked one of the sixth form casually.</p>
+<p>"He's taking tea with the Doctor," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be
+said, except in confidential whispers.</p>
+<p>Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. "What's to
+be done?" was the general question.</p>
+<p>"I think we've all had a lesson once before not to suspect too
+hastily. Still, in a matter like this," said Montagu, "one
+<i>must</i> take notice of apparent cues."</p>
+<p>"I know what you're thinking of, Monty," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?"</p>
+<p>"I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought."</p>
+<p>"I heard more--though at the time it didn't strike me
+particularly. I distinctly heard the jingle of money."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we
+must <i>ask</i> him about it, and act accordingly.'</p>
+<p>"Will he come up to the studies again to-night?"</p>
+<p>"I think not," said Owen; "I notice he generally goes straight
+to bed after he has been out to tea; that's to say, directly after
+prayers."</p>
+<p>The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful.
+Their books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident
+that Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the
+evening he drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and
+looked at it long and earnestly. "Is it possible?" he thought. "Oh
+Eric! can that face be the face of a thief?"</p>
+<p>The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the
+Rowlands, and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant,
+quiet evening, and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more
+cheerful and hopeful than he had done before, although he was still
+ignorant how to escape the difficulty which threatened him.</p>
+<p>He couldn't help observing that as he entered he was the object
+of general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing
+that day, or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy's
+treachery, of which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when
+prayers were over, and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked
+and spoke in the coldest manner, his most terrible fears
+revived.</p>
+<p>He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat
+half abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan
+entered, and he started to see them, for they were evidently the
+bearers of some serious intelligence.</p>
+<p>"Eric," said Duncan, "do you know that some one has stolen all
+the cricket money?"</p>
+<p>"Stolen--what--<i>all</i>?" he cried, leaping up as if he had
+been shot. "Oh, what new retribution is this?" and he hid his face,
+which had turned ashy pale, in his hands.</p>
+<p>"To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?"</p>
+<p>"If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it," he said, not
+lifting his head.</p>
+<p>"Do you know anything about it?"</p>
+<p>"No!" he sobbed convulsively. "No, no, no! Yet stop; don't let
+me add a lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!" he said, looking up, "I
+do <i>not</i> know who stole it."</p>
+<p>They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu's
+averted face.</p>
+<p>"O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful," said Eric. "Don't
+<i>yet</i> condemn me. <i>I</i> am guilty, not of <i>this</i>, but
+of something as bad. I admit I was tempted; but if the money really
+is all gone, it is <i>not</i> I who am the thief."</p>
+<p>"You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very
+strong, and rests on some definite facts."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don't yet
+condemn me. I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty,
+believe me in this."</p>
+<p>But the boys still stood silent.</p>
+<p>"Well, then," he said, "I will tell you all. But I can only tell
+it to you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn't be angry; you are my
+friend, but not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him
+only."</p>
+<p>Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the
+bed, and put his arm round him to support him, for he shook
+violently. There, with deep and wild emotion, and many
+interruptions of passionate silence, Eric told to Montagu his
+miserable tale. "I am the most wretched fellow living," he said;
+"there must be some fiend that hates me, and drives me to ruin. But
+let it all come; I care nothing, nothing, what happens to me now.
+Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love me still."</p>
+<p>"O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you
+were sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won't
+you pray to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my
+heart, and do you think God can be less kind than man? And
+<i>I</i>, too, will pray for you, Eric. Good night, and God bless
+you" He gently disengaged himself--for Eric clung to him, and
+seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a moment after he was
+gone.</p>
+<p>Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but
+somehow it didn't seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and
+his thoughts began instantly to wander far away. Still he
+knelt--knelt even until his candle had gone out, and he had nearly
+fallen asleep, thought-wearied, on his knees. And then he got into
+bed still dressed. He had been making up his mind that he could
+bear it no longer, and would run away to sea that night.</p>
+<p>He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The
+Doctor had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they
+amounted in his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he
+stopped to look at the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly
+terms so short a time before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep,
+but opened his eyes, and looked at the head-master. Very
+sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head, and went away. Eric never
+saw him again.</p>
+<p>The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study,
+collect the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of
+Russell, Wildney, and his other friends--above all, Vernon's
+likeness--and then make his escape from the building, using for the
+last time the broken pane and loosened bar in the corridor, with
+which past temptations had made him so familiar.</p>
+<p>He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not
+yield. Half contemplating the possibility of such an intention on
+Eric's part, Dr. Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went
+out.</p>
+<p>"Ha!" thought the boy, "then he, too, knows and suspects. Never
+mind. I must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny's picture;
+perhaps it is best I should, for I'm only disgracing his noble
+memory. But they shan't prevent me from running away."</p>
+<p>Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He <i>could</i>, not endure another public expulsion, or
+even another birching; he <i>could</i> not endure the cold faces of
+even his best friends. No, no! he <i>could</i> not face the
+horrible phantom of detection, and exposure, and shame. Escape he
+must.</p>
+<p>After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he
+succeeded in loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took
+his two sheets, tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end
+tightly round the remaining bar, and let the other fall down the
+side of the building. He took one more glance round his little
+room, and then let himself down by the sheet, hand under hand,
+until he could drop to the ground. Once safe, he ran towards
+Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he were flying for
+his life. But when he got to the end of the playground he could not
+help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at the
+scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind
+him like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he
+spent in that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by
+without their own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had
+first walked across that playground, hand in hand with his father,
+a little boy of twelve. He remembered his first troubles with
+Barker, and how his father had at last delivered him from the
+annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered how often he and Russell
+had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant talk, especially the
+evening when he had got his first prize and head remove in the
+lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell's death, he had
+gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and
+Wildney afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then
+the stroll to Port Island, and Barker's plot against him, and the
+evening at the Stack passed through his mind; and the dinner at the
+Jolly Herring, and, above all, Vernon's death. Oh! how awful it
+seemed to him now, as he looked through the darkness at the very
+road along which they had brought Verny's dead body. Then his
+thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons, his own drunkenness,
+and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and this dreadful end
+of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed <i>so</i> bright
+on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the
+conclusion of his school days?</p>
+<p>Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there
+they lay, all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan,
+and all whom he cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose's light
+still burning in the library window; and he was leaving the school
+and those who had been with him there so long, in the dark night,
+by stealth, penniless and broken-hearted, with the shameful
+character of a thief.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Mr. Rose's light moved, and, fearing discovery or
+interception, he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to
+Starhaven through the darkness. There was still a light in the
+little sailors' tavern; and, entering, he asked the woman who kept
+it, "if she knew of any ship which was going to sail next
+morning?"</p>
+<p>"Why, your'n is, bean't it, Maister Davey!" she asked, turning
+to a rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.</p>
+<p>"Ees," grunted the man.</p>
+<p>"Will you take me on board?" said Eric.</p>
+<p>"You be a runaway, I'm thinking?"</p>
+<p>"Never mind. I'll come as cabin-boy--anything."</p>
+<p>The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress.
+"Hardly in the cabun-buoy line I should say."</p>
+<p>"Will you take me?" said Eric. "You'll find me strong and
+willing enough."</p>
+<p>"Well--if the skipper don't say no. Come along."</p>
+<p>They went down to a boat, and "Maister Davey" rowed to a
+schooner in the harbor, and took Eric on board.</p>
+<p>"There," he said, "you may sleep there for to-night," and he
+pointed to a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.</p>
+<p>Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and
+sound till the morning, on board the "Stormy Petrel."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE STORMY PETREL</h3>
+<blockquote>"They hadna sailed a league, a league,<br>
+A league, but barely three,<br>
+When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,<br>
+And gurly grew the sea."<br>
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>"Hilloa!" exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next
+morning, as he saw Eric's recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff,
+"Who be this young varmint!"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I brought him aboord last night," said Davey; "he wanted to
+be cabun-buoy."</p>
+<p>"Precious like un <i>he</i> looks. Never mind, we've got him and
+we'll use him."</p>
+<p>The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his
+scattered thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first,
+as the Stormy Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea,
+he felt one absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But
+before he had been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to
+the trying nature of his circumstances, which were, indeed,
+<i>so</i> trying that <i>anything</i> in the world seemed
+preferable to enduring them. He had not been three hours on board
+when he would have given everything in his power to be back again;
+but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now fairly on her
+way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo of cattle.</p>
+<p>There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was
+only a little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest
+and meanest grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the
+captain, who was a drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.</p>
+<p>This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly
+because he was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The
+first words he addressed to him were--</p>
+<p>"I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing."</p>
+<p>"I've got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, you shall give us your gran' clothes. Them things
+isn't fit for a cabin-boy."</p>
+<p>Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged
+his good cloth suit for a rough sailor's shirt and trowsers, not
+over clean, which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at
+once appropriated by that functionary, who carried them into his
+cabin. But it was lucky for Eric that, seeing how matters were
+likely to go, he had succeeded in secreting his watch.</p>
+<p>The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind
+rose to a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make
+his case worse, could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight
+of such coarse food as was contemptuously flung to him.</p>
+<p>"Where am I to sleep?" he asked, "I feel very sick."</p>
+<p>"Babby," said one of the sailors, "what's your name?"</p>
+<p>"Williams."</p>
+<p>"Well, Bill, you'll have to get over your sickness pretty soon,
+<i>I</i> can tell ye. Here," he added, relenting a little, "Davey's
+slung ye a hammock in the forecastle."</p>
+<p>He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the
+lurches of the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the
+companion-ladder, much less get into his hammock. The man saw his
+condition, and, sulkily enough, hove him into his place.</p>
+<p>And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible,
+and out of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and
+pitched through the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty
+men sleeping round him at night, until the atmosphere of the
+forecastle became like poison, hopelessly and helplessly sick, and
+half-starved, the boy lay for two days. The crew neglected him
+shamefully. It was nobody's business to wait on him, and he could
+procure neither sufficient food, nor any water; they only brought
+him some grog to drink, which in his weakness and sickness was
+nauseous to him as medicine.</p>
+<p>"I say, you young cub down there," shouted the skipper to him
+from the hatchway, "come up and swab this deck."</p>
+<p>He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled
+about to find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But
+he staggered from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to
+grasp for some fresh support at every step.</p>
+<p>"None of that 'ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d----
+you, what d'ye think you're here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in
+five minutes, or I'll teach you, and be d---- d."</p>
+<p>Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his
+task without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no
+means of washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap,
+or clean linen; and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the
+waking brought no change in his condition. And then the whole life
+of the ship was odious to him. His sense of refinement was
+exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill, and kicked and cuffed
+about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their rough, coarse,
+drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more intolerable
+familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.</p>
+<p>His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing
+his fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse
+of open kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to
+pity him in heart.</p>
+<p>Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure
+at first, when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him
+least; he longed for death, and often contemplated flinging himself
+into those cold deep waves which he gazed on daily over the
+vessel's side. Hope was the only thing which supported him. He had
+heard from one of the crew that the vessel would be back in not
+more than six weeks, and he made a deeply seated resolve to escape
+the very first day that they again anchored in an English
+harbor.</p>
+<p>The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on
+board greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and
+disgusting work which fell to his snare, as well as made the
+atmosphere of the close little schooner twice as poisonous as
+before. And to add to his miseries, his relations with the crew got
+more and more unfavorable, and began to reach their climax.</p>
+<p>One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard
+him winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as
+secretly and silently as he could, and never looked at it, except
+when no one could observe him; while, during the day, he kept both
+watch and chain concealed in his trousers.</p>
+<p>Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch,
+and tried by every species of threat and promise to extort it from
+him. But the watch had been his mother's gift, and he was resolute
+never to part with it into such hands.</p>
+<p>"Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he'll
+soon get it out of you as your footing, depend on it."</p>
+<p>The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the
+watch as pay for Eric's feed, for he maintained that he'd done no
+work, and was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still
+refused, and the man struck him brutally on the face, and at the
+same time aimed a kick at him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It
+caught him on the knee-cap, and put it out, causing him the most
+excruciating agony.</p>
+<p>He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was
+only with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move
+caused him violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all
+day on the vessel's side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any
+sight of land, or gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea
+and sky.</p>
+<p>Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted,
+and the skipper ordered him to furl a sail.</p>
+<p>"I can't," said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring,
+and not lifting his eyes to the man's unfeeling face.</p>
+<p>"Can't, d---- you. Can't. We'll soon see whether you can or no!
+You do it, or <i>I</i> shall have to mend your leg for you;" and he
+showered down a storm of oaths.</p>
+<p>Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined
+at least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty.
+But the effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he
+dropped once more on deck.</p>
+<p>"Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we're going to bother
+ourselves with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for
+nothing. It's all sham. Here, Jim, tie him up."</p>
+<p>A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands
+together, and then drew them up above his head, and strung them to
+the rigging.</p>
+<p>"Why didn't ye strip him first, d---- you?" roared the
+skipper.</p>
+<p>"He's only got that blue shirt on, and that's soon mended," said
+the man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and
+tearing it open with a great rip.</p>
+<p>Eric's white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging,
+and his injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. "And now for
+some rope-pie for the stubborn young lubber," said the skipper,
+lifting a bit of rope as he spoke.</p>
+<p>Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the
+next instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump,
+rasping away a red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time
+the awful reality of intense pain; he had determined to utter no
+sound, to give no sign; but when the horrible rope fell on him,
+griding across his back, and making his body literally creak under
+the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf in every limb, and could
+not suppress the harrowing murmur, "Oh God, help me, help me."</p>
+<p>Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the
+boy's naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to
+the violent laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang
+from his lips, so shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in
+the memory of all who heard it. But the brute who administered the
+torture was untouched. Once more, and again, the rope rose and
+fell, and under its marks the blood first dribbled, and then
+streamed from the white and tender skin.</p>
+<p>But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of
+nature; his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs
+still seemed to creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted
+away.</p>
+<p>"Stop, master, stop, if you don't want to kill the boy
+outright," said Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while
+the hot flush of indignation burned through his tanned and
+weather-beaten cheek. The sailors called him "Softy Bob," from that
+half-gentleness of disposition which had made him, alone of all the
+men, speak one kind or consoling word for the proud and lonely
+cabin-boy.</p>
+<p>"Undo him then, and be--," growled the skipper and rolled off to
+drink himself drunk.</p>
+<p>"I doubt he's well-nigh done for him already," said Roberts,
+quickly untying Eric's hands, round which the cords had been pulled
+so tight as to leave two blue rings round his wrists. "Poor fellow,
+poor fellow! it's all over now," he murmured soothingly, as the
+boy's body fell motionless into his arms, which he hastily
+stretched to prevent him from tumbling on the deck.</p>
+<p>But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity,
+carried him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a
+clean blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.</p>
+<p>It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words
+had been prophetic.</p>
+<p>"How is the young varmint?" shouted the skipper, looking into
+the forecastle.</p>
+<p>"You've killed him, I think."</p>
+<p>The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was
+sufficiently frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his
+patient.</p>
+<p>At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the
+raw state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone,
+reminded him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all
+that could be done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid
+place, in the languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the
+unbidden tears flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the
+sickness of his heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he
+thought that he should die.</p>
+<p>But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and
+agony, and death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his
+comfortless hammock. The news that land was in sight first roused
+him, and with the help of Roberts, he was carried on deck,
+thankful, with childlike gratitude, that God suffered him to
+breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and sit under the canopy
+of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the sunlight refreshed
+him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes upraised, he
+poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable thankfulness to
+a Father in Heaven.</p>
+<p>Yes! at last he had remembered his Father's home. There, in the
+dark berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean
+atmosphere brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead
+burned, and his heart melted within him, and he had felt almost
+inclined to curse his life, or even to end it by crawling up and
+committing himself to the deep cold water which, he heard rippling
+on the vessel's side; then, even then, in that valley of the shadow
+of death, a Voice had come to him--a still small Voice--at whose
+holy and healing utterance Eric had bowed his head, and listened to
+the messages of God, and learnt his will; and now, in humble
+resignation, in touching penitence with solemn self-devotion, he
+had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to be helped, and
+guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the darkness
+of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till they
+were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus' sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no
+evil, for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting
+arms.</p>
+<p>And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by
+harsh word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of
+the sea wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something
+half-like an apology.</p>
+<p>The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder
+again, but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or
+horror, put out his hand to the man to shake. There was something
+touching and noble in the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of
+himself for once, the fellow shook the proffered hand, and slunk
+away.</p>
+<p>They entered the broad river at Southpool.</p>
+<p>"I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts," said
+Eric.</p>
+<p>"I doubt whether you'll let you," answered Roberts, jerking his
+finger towards the skipper's cabin.</p>
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+<p>"He'll be afeard you might take the law on him."</p>
+<p>"He needn't fear."</p>
+<p>Roberts only shook his head.</p>
+<p>"Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, that I will."</p>
+<p>That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown
+to all but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the
+water in the evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard
+or two distant; but the effort almost exhausted his strength, for
+his knee was still painful, and he was very weak.</p>
+<p>Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the
+sleepless night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a
+pawnbroker's, and raised &pound;2:10s. on his watch, with which
+money he walked straight to the railway station.</p>
+<p>It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As
+Eric dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney
+on the other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to
+meet him, as he would have done in old times. His whole heart
+yearned towards him. It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one
+loving face, and during all that time he had hardly heard one
+kindly word. And now he saw before him the boy whom he loved so
+fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy hours of school-boy
+friendship, with whom he had gone through so many schoolboy
+adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.</p>
+<p>Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the
+street. Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some
+four years older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising
+immensely. They were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the
+word Roslyn. Like a lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the
+memory of his ruin came upon him; he looked down at his dress--it
+was a coarse blue shirt, which Roberts had given him in place of
+his old one, and the back of it was stained and saturated with
+blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers were dirty, tarred,
+and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely covered his feet.
+He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able to wash, and
+that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at a
+shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the
+eyes sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and
+lustreless. No! he could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged
+sailor-boy; perhaps even he might not be recognised if he did. He
+drew back, and hid himself till the merry-hearted pair had passed,
+and it was almost with a pang of jealousy that he saw how happy
+Wildney could be, while <i>he</i> was thus; but he cast aside the
+unworthy thought at once. "After all, how is poor Charlie to know
+what has happened to me?"</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AT LAST</h3>
+<blockquote>"I will arise and go to my father."<br>
+<br>
+"Ach! ein Schicksal droht,<br>
+Und es droht nicht lange!<br>
+Auf der holden Wange<br>
+Brennt ein b&ouml;ses Roth!"--TIEDGE.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and
+found that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat
+during the day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary
+train to Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the
+branch line to Ayrton.</p>
+<p>He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding
+himself from notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it
+carried poor people for the most part, so, of course it could
+matter but little how tedious or slow it was!)--the weary train,
+stopping at every station, and often waiting on the rail until it
+had been passed by trains that started four or five hours after
+it,--dragged its slow course through the fair counties of England.
+Many people got in and out of the carriage, which was generally
+full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and
+his heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with
+civil answers to the questions put to him, dropping the
+conversation as soon as he could.</p>
+<p>At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he
+got down.</p>
+<p>"Ticket," said the station-man.</p>
+<p>Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well
+from having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked
+hard at him, and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,</p>
+<p>"Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be
+you?"</p>
+<p>"Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don't say a
+word, that's a good fellow; I'm going on to Ayrton this
+evening."</p>
+<p>"Well, sir, I <i>am</i>, hurt like to see you looking so ragged
+and poorly. Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by
+first train to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"O no, thank you, John. I've got no money, and--"</p>
+<p>"Tut, tut, sir; I thought you'd know me better nor that. Proud
+I'd be any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor's nephew, let alone a
+young gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my
+little cart this evening."</p>
+<p>"No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but,"
+he said, and the tears were in his eyes, "I want to walk in alone
+to-night."</p>
+<p>"Well, God keep and bless you, sir," said the man, "for you look
+to need it;" and touching his cap, he watched the boy's painful
+walk across some fields to the main road.</p>
+<p>"Who'd ha' thought it, Jenny?" he said to his wife. "There's
+that young Master Williams, whom we've always thought so noble
+like, just been here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color
+o' my white signal flag."</p>
+<p>"Lawks!" said the woman; "well, well! poor young gentleman, I'm
+afeard he's been doing something bad."</p>
+<p>Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without
+toil, made his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten
+miles off. The road wound through the valley, across the low hills
+that encircled it, sometimes spanning or running parallel to the
+bright stream that had been the delight of Eric's innocent
+childhood. There was something enjoyable at first to the poor boy's
+eyes, so long accustomed to the barren sea, in resting once more on
+the soft undulating green of the summer fields, which were
+intertissued with white and yellow flowers, like a broidery of
+pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the exquisite light,
+and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious evening, which
+filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation of rose
+and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in
+Eric's heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with
+recollections of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how
+differently; and of the last time when he had come home with Vernon
+by his side. "Oh Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God
+that I were with you now. But you are resting, Verny, in the green
+grave by Russell's side, and I--oh God, be merciful to me now!"</p>
+<p>It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds,
+and Eric walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought
+on the pain in his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the
+road-side to rest. He reached Ayrton at ten o'clock, but even then
+he could not summon up courage to pass through the town where he
+was so well known, lest any straggler should recognise him,--and he
+took a detour in order to get to Fairholm. He did not arrive there
+till eleven o'clock; and then he could not venture into the
+grounds, for he saw through the trees of the shrubbery that there
+was no light in any of the windows, and it was clear that they were
+all gone to bed.</p>
+<p>What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night.
+He remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from
+him since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of
+so sudden an emotion as his appearance at that hour might
+excite.</p>
+<p>So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank
+beside the gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was
+long before he slept, but at last weary nature demanded her
+privilege with importunity, and gentle sleep floated over him like
+a dark dewy cloud, and the sun was high in heaven before he
+woke.</p>
+<p>It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor,
+with Fanny, was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an
+occupation full of holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which
+she had found more than usual consolation during the heavy trials
+which she had recently suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon
+as a mother does her own children, and now Vernon, the little
+cherished jewel of her heart, was dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric,
+she feared, not dead but worse than dead, guilty, stained,
+dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in deep anguish of
+heart, "Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen and
+ruined!"</p>
+<p>"Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass," said Fanny,
+pointing to a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the
+gate. "He has had a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night
+there, as I fear."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. "What is Flo' doing?" she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy's
+reclining figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into
+a quick short bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him,
+and leapt upon him, joyously wagging his tail.</p>
+<p>The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he
+saw the dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its
+little silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught
+sight of the Trevors.</p>
+<p>"It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric," cried Mrs. Trevor, as she
+flew towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent,
+speechless, with long arrears of pent-up emotion.</p>
+<p>"O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are
+forgiven, more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that
+my prayers would be answered; this is as though we received you
+from the dead." And the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric,
+his heart shaken with accumulated feelings, clung to her and
+wept.</p>
+<p>Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their
+lost child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm
+bath, and tended him with every gentle office of female ministering
+hands. And in the evening, when he told them his story in a broken
+voice of penitence and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet
+balsam, and he rested by them, "seated, and clothed, and in his
+right mind."</p>
+<p>The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the
+greenhouse, was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste,
+and its glass doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long,
+long since Eric had ever seen anything like it, and he had never
+hoped to see it again. "Oh dearest aunty," he murmured, as he
+rested his weary head upon her lap, while he sat on a low stool at
+her feet, "Oh aunty, you will never know how different this is from
+the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy Petrel,' and its detestable
+inmates."</p>
+<p>When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more
+fed on nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once
+more about the garden by Fanny's side, he began to recover his old
+appearance, and the soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and
+the light to his blue eye. But still his health gave most serious
+cause for apprehension; weeks of semi-starvation, bad air,
+sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights of exposure and wet,
+had at last undermined the remarkable strength of his constitution,
+and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact that he was
+sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.</p>
+<p>Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which
+he could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace
+at Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He
+avoided the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him,
+especially as he had taken away the bitterest part of their trial
+in remembering it, by explaining to them that he was far from being
+so wicked in the matter of the theft as they had at first been (how
+slowly and reluctantly!) almost forced to believe.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever
+heard, aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?" he
+asked, one evening, with evident effort.</p>
+<p>"No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I
+heard no more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from
+Dr. Rowlands, and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of
+what had happened about you."</p>
+<p>"O, have they sent home my things?" he asked, eagerly. "There
+are very few among them that I care about, but there is just
+one----"</p>
+<p>"I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you,
+should have given it you before;" and she drew out of a drawer the
+little likeness of Vernon's sweet childish face.</p>
+<p>Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>"Do not weep, my boy," said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead.
+"Dear little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes
+away all tears from off all eyes."</p>
+<p>"Is there anything else you would like?" asked Fanny, to divert
+his painful thoughts. "I will get you anything in a moment."</p>
+<p>"Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell's
+life, and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you
+never knew him!"</p>
+<p>He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed
+to give him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name,
+and speak of them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I have a plan to please you, Eric," said Mrs. Tremor. "Shall I
+ask Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them."</p>
+<p>"O, thank you," he said, with the utmost eagerness. "Thank you,
+dearest aunt." Then suddenly his countenance fell. "Stop--shall
+we?--yes, yes, I am going to die soon, I know; let me see them
+before I die."</p>
+<p>The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious
+tenure of his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did
+not contradict him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose
+directions Eric knew), telling them what had happened, and begging
+them, simply for his sake, to come and stay with her for a time.
+She hinted clearly that it might be the last opportunity they would
+ever have of seeing him.</p>
+<p>Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived
+together at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both
+greeted Eric with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired
+of pressing their hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now
+and then a memory of sadness would pass over his face, like a dark
+ripple on the clear surface of a lake.</p>
+<p>"Tell me, Monty," he said one evening, "all about what happened
+after I left Roslyn."</p>
+<p>"Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--"</p>
+<p>"My name cleared!" said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you
+say that?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Eric. Didn't you know, then, that the thief had been
+discovered?"</p>
+<p>"No," he murmured faintly, leaning back; "O thank God, thank
+God! Do tell me all about it, Monty."</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may
+guess how utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard
+that you had run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it,
+for he went early to your bed-room----"</p>
+<p>"Dear little Sunbeam," interrupted Eric, resting his hand
+against Wildney's cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he
+heard the forbidden name.</p>
+<p>"He found the door locked," continued Montagu, "and called to
+you, but there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and
+we were certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent
+sheet. The masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make
+inquiries, but they did not succeed in discovering anything
+definite about you. Then, of course, everybody assumed as a
+certainty that you were guilty, and I fear that my bare assertion
+on the other side had little weight."</p>
+<p>Eric's eyes glistened as he drank in his friend's story.</p>
+<p>"But, about a fortnight after, <i>more</i> money and several
+other articles disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as
+to the perpetrator was baffled; only now the boys began to admit
+that, after all, they had been premature in condemning you. It was
+a miserable time; for every one was full of distrust, and the more
+nervous boys were always afraid lest any one should on some slight
+grounds suspect <i>them. Still</i>, things kept disappearing.</p>
+<p>"We found out at length that the time when the robberies were
+effected must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed
+that some one should be concealed in the studies for a day or two
+during those hours. Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced
+in one of the big cupboards in a study which had not yet been
+touched. On the third day he heard some one stealthily mount the
+stairs. The fellows were more careful now, and used to keep their
+doors shut, but the person was provided with keys, and opened the
+study in which Carter was. He moved about for a little time--Carter
+watching him through the key-hole, and prepared to spring on him
+before he could make his escape. Not getting much, the man at last
+opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just time to conceal
+himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the plunderer's
+fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter before
+him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though a
+ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was
+he who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was
+sentenced to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name
+was cleared."</p>
+<p>"As I always knew it would be, dear old boy," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm,
+and were never tired of Eric's society, and of his stories about
+all that befell him on board the "Stormy Petrel." They perceived a
+marvellous change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance
+had passed away; every stain of passion had been removed; every
+particle of hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All
+was gentleness, love, and dependence, in the once bright,
+impetuous, self-willed boy; it seemed as though the lightning of
+God's anger had shattered and swept away all that was evil in his
+heart and life, and left all his true excellence, all the royal
+prerogatives of his character, pure and unscathed Eric, even in his
+worst days, was, as I well remember, a lovable and noble boy; but
+at this period there must have been something about him for which
+to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and irresistibly
+attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk with them,
+Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing excursions by
+themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit out
+reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric's health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not
+deceive herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his
+head when they called him convalescent.</p>
+<p>Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week
+after their arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the
+open air, under a lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to
+set, and the rain of golden sunlight fell over them through the
+green ambrosial foliage of the tree whose pale blossoms were still
+murmurous with bees. Eric was leaning back in an easy chair, with
+Wildney sitting on the grass, cross-legged at his feet, while
+Montagu, resting on one of the mossy roots, read to them the
+"Midsummer Night's Dream," and the ladies were busy with their
+work.</p>
+<p>"There--stop now," said Eric, "and let's sit out and talk until
+we see some of 'the fiery a'es and o'es of light' which he talks
+of."</p>
+<p>"I'd no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading,"
+remarked Wildney na&iuml;vely. "I shall take to reading him through
+when I get home."</p>
+<p>"Do you remember, Eric," said Montagu, "how Rose used to chaff
+us in old days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant
+we used to be when he asked if we'd ever heard of an obscure person
+called William Shakspeare?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, very well," answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this
+strain they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed
+listening to their school-boy mirth.</p>
+<p>"What a perfectly delicious evening. It's almost enough to make
+me wish to live," said Eric.</p>
+<p>He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half
+sang, half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother's
+sweet voice had made him familiar in their cottage-home at
+Ellan:--</p>
+<blockquote>"There is a calm for those who weep,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A rest for weary pilgrims found;<br>
+They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Low in the ground.<br>
+<br>
+"The storm that wrecks the winter sky,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No more disturbs their deep repose,<br>
+Than summer evening's latest sigh<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That shuts the rose."</blockquote>
+<p>The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he
+murmured to himself again, in low tones--</p>
+<blockquote>"Than summer evening's latest sigh<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That shuts the rose."</blockquote>
+<p>"Oh hush, hush, Eric!" said Wildney, laying his hand upon his
+friend's lips; "don't let's spoil to-night by forebodings."</p>
+<p>It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful
+thing to be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the
+sun broadened and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft
+meadow and silver stream. One might have fancied that the last rays
+of sunshine loved to linger over Eric's face, now flushed with a
+hectic tinge of pleasure, and to light up sudden glories in his
+bright hair, which the wind just fanned off his forehead as he
+leaned back and inhaled the luxury of evening perfume, which the
+flowers of the garden poured on the gentle breeze. Ah, how sad that
+such scenes should be so rare and so short-lived!</p>
+<p>"Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!" said Wildney; "there goes the
+postman's horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the
+gate?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, do," they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun,
+greeting the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that
+the man shook with laughing at him.</p>
+<p>"Here it is at last," said Wildney. "Now, then, for the key.
+Here's a letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss
+Trevor--<i>what</i> people you young ladies are for writing to each
+other! None for you, Monty--Oh, yes! I'm wrong, here's one; but
+none for Eric."</p>
+<p>"I expected none," said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed
+earnestly on one of Mrs. Trevor's letters. He saw that it was from
+India, and directed in his father's hand.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor caught his look. "Shall I read it aloud to you, dear
+I Do you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to
+ours, telling them of--"</p>
+<p>"Oh, yes, yes," he said, eagerly, "do let me hear it."</p>
+<p>With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric
+pressed them to stay. "It will help me to bear what mother says, if
+I see you by me," he pleaded.</p>
+<p>God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written
+from the depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise
+with, who for thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human
+misery. By the former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny's
+melancholy death; by the next she had been told that her only other
+child, Eric, was not dead indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked
+with the brand of terrible suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it
+was God who sent it, and he only enabled her to endure it. With
+bent head, and streaming eyes, and a breast that heaved
+involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as though to his
+mother's voice, and only now and then he murmured low to himself,
+"O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God and
+man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once
+more."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor's eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all,
+and Fanny finished it. "Here is a little note from your father,
+Eric, which dropped out when we opened dear aunt's letter. Shall I
+read it, too?"</p>
+<p>"Perhaps not now, love," said Mrs. Trevor. "Poor Eric is too
+tired and excited already."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty," he said. He opened
+it, read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back
+swooning, while it dropped out of his hands.</p>
+<p>Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in
+a few heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs.
+Williams had been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired
+of, and that, before the letter reached England, she would, in all
+human probability, be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul
+resigned indeed, and humble, but crushed down to the very earth
+with the load of mysterious bereavement, and irretrievable
+sorrow.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!" said Eric, in
+a hollow voice, when he came to himself. "O God, forgive me,
+forgive me!"</p>
+<p>They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed
+for him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength
+appeared to have been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At
+last a momentary energy returned; his eyes were lifted to the
+gloaming heaven where a few stars had already begun to shine, and a
+bright look illuminated his countenance. They listened
+deeply--"Yes, mother," he murmured, in broken tones, "forgiven now,
+for Christ's dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes, there they are,
+and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at last--too
+happy!"</p>
+<p>The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient
+moment more the smile and the brightness played over his fair
+features like a lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with
+those he dearliest loved, in the land where there is no more
+curse.</p>
+<p>"Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now," sobbed Mrs. Trevor;
+and her tears fell fast upon the dead boy's face, as she pressed
+upon it a long, last kiss.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CONCLUSION</h3>
+<blockquote>"And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?<br>
+Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?<br>
+And borne unscathed through danger's stormy field<br>
+Honor's white wreath and virtue's stainless shield?"<br>
+<br>
+HARROW. A Prize Poem.</blockquote>
+<p>The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to
+his father's estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles
+around. He intends to stand for the county at the next general
+election, and I haven't the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed.
+If he does, Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu
+has the very soul of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of
+his vigorous judgment, and the treasures of his cultivated taste,
+with an eloquence that rises to extraordinary grandeur when he is
+fulminating his scorn at any species of tyranny or meanness.</p>
+<p>It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days
+in his charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over
+his grounds, and then across one of the richest plains in England)
+one long summer evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and
+figures of the past, until we almost felt ourselves boys again.</p>
+<p>"I have just been staying at Trinity," said I, "and Owen, as I
+suppose you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first
+class, and they have already elected him fellow and assistant
+tutor."</p>
+<p>"Is he liked?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of
+those fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful
+as men, than they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the
+<i>greatest</i> things of him; but have you heard anything of
+Duncan lately?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, he's just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from
+him the other day. He's met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and
+Upton, the latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there
+are not two finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and
+Wildney, as you may easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room.
+You know, I suppose, that Graham is making a great start at the
+bar."</p>
+<p>"Is he? I'm delighted to hear it."</p>
+<p>"Yes. He had a 'mauvais sujet' to defend the other day, in the
+person of our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned
+by his relations, is at present a policeman in London."</p>
+<p>"On the principle, I suppose, of 'Set a thief to catch a
+thief,'" said Montagu, with a smile.</p>
+<p>"Yes; but he exemplifies the truth 'chassez le naturel, il
+revient au galop' for he was charged with abetting a street fight
+between two boys, which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was
+penitent, and Graham got him off with wonderful cleverness."</p>
+<p>"Ah!" said Montagu, sighing, "there was <i>one</i> who would
+have been the pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!"</p>
+<p>We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning
+words, his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his
+melancholy fate, and a deep sadness fell over us.</p>
+<p>"Poor boy, he is at peace now," said Montagu; and he told me
+once more the sorrowful particulars of his death. "Shall I read you
+some verses?" he asked, "which he must have composed, poor fellow,
+on board the 'Stormy Petrel,' though he probably wrote them at
+Fairholm afterwards."</p>
+<p>"Yes, do."</p>
+<p>And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much
+feeling, these lines, written in Eric's boyish hand, and signed
+with his name.</p>
+<p>ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.</p>
+<blockquote>Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;In all the world alone I stand,<br>
+With none to wed their hearts to mine,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Or link in mine a loving hand.<br>
+<br>
+Ah! I tell me not that I have those<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Who owe the ties of blood and name,<br>
+Or pitying friends who love me well,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And dear returns of friendship claim.<br>
+<br>
+I have, I have! but none can heal,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And none shall see my inward woe,<br>
+And the deep thoughts within me veiled<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No other heart but mine shall know.<br>
+<br>
+And yet amid my sins and shames<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The shield of God is o'er me thrown<br>
+And, 'neath its awful shade I feel<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!<br>
+<br>
+Not all alone! and though my life<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Be dragged along the stained earth,<br>
+O God! I feel thee near me still,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And thank thee for my birth!<br>
+<br>
+E.W.</blockquote>
+<p>Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest
+memorial of my erring but noble schoolboy friend.</p>
+<p>Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I
+gave him a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his
+pleasant vicarage of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or
+two ago by Dr. Rowlands, now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also
+appointed him examining chaplain. I sat and watched Mr. Rose while
+he read them. A mournful interest was depicted on his face, his
+hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he bent his grey hair
+over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at school that Eric
+was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and Vernon were
+with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away without even
+having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr. Rose
+displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we
+returned to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the
+intelligence of Eric's return to Fairholm, and of his death. The
+news plunged many of us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in
+chapel, Mr. Rose alluded to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes
+among those who listened to him. I shall never forget that Sunday
+afternoon. A deep hush brooded over us, and before the sermon was
+over, many a face was hidden to conceal the emotion which could not
+be suppressed.</p>
+<p>"I speak," said Mr. Rose, "to a congregation of mourners, for
+one who but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of
+yourselves. But, for myself, I do <i>not</i> mourn over his death.
+Many a time have I mourned for him in past days, when I marked how
+widely he went astray,--but I do not mourn now; for after his fiery
+trials he died penitent and happy, and at last his sorrows are over
+for ever, and the dreams of ambition have vanished, and the fires
+of passion have been quenched, and for all eternity the young soul
+is in the presence of its God. Let none of you think that his life
+has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to spare him, he
+might have found great works to do among his fellow-men, and he
+would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far
+rather must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that
+we are all partakers of God's unspeakable blessing, the common
+mystery of immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of
+very many here to recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and
+converse with our dear departed brother in a holier and happier
+world."</p>
+<p>I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can
+give no conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or
+the intense pathos of his tones.</p>
+<p>The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he
+lingered over Eric's verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of
+thought.</p>
+<p>At last he looked up and sighed. "Poor Eric!--But no, I will not
+call him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him
+well," he continued; "why do you not try and preserve some records
+of his life?"</p>
+<p>The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and
+at once began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were
+numerous and vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends
+gladly supplied me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of
+Roslyn, Mr. Rose, Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric's ruin
+has been told, and told as he would have wished it done, with
+simple truth. Noble Eric! I do not fear that I have wronged your
+memory, and you I know would rejoice to think how sorrowful hours
+have lost something of their sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so
+many of which we were engaged together in our school-boy days.</p>
+<p>I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along
+the sands, picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling
+the joyous tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys
+were playing by the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to
+them; and as I marked how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with
+its murmur and its foam, each sweeping farther than the other, each
+effacing the traces of the last, I saw an emblem of the passing
+generations, and was content to find that my place knew me no
+more.</p>
+<blockquote>Ah me the golden time!--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But its hours have passed away,<br>
+With the pure and bracing clime,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And the bright and merry day.<br>
+<br>
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And the shore still shines in the lustre of the
+wave;<br>
+But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o'er,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And he who comes again<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wears a brow of toil and pain,<br>
+And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.</blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12083 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/12083-h/images/cover.jpg b/12083-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b633997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/12083-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b5c142
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12083 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12083)
diff --git a/old/12083-0.txt b/old/12083-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38ee027
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12083-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11151 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Eric
+
+Author: Frederic William Farrar
+
+Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12083]
+Last Updated: October 1, 2023
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+
+
+
+ERIC
+
+OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL
+
+By
+
+FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.
+
+Author of “The Life of Christ,” “Julian Home,” “St. Winifreds,” etc
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+GEORGE A. TRAVER
+
+
+1902
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I
+
+CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD
+CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME
+CHAPTER III--BULLYING
+CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING
+CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM
+CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS
+CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER
+CHAPTER VIII--“TAKING UP”
+CHAPTER IX--“DEAD FLIES,” OR “YE SHALL BE AS GODS”
+CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE
+CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY
+CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL
+CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN
+
+
+PART II
+
+CHAPTER I--ABDIEL
+CHAPTER II--WILDNEY
+CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING
+CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+CHAPTER V--RIPPLES
+CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU
+CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS
+CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND
+CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION
+CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL
+CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST
+CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+BULLYING
+ERIC _Vignette on title-page_
+SMOKING
+ON THE ROCK
+OUT OF THE WINDOW
+ERIC AND VERNON
+HIDING
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+PART 1
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+     “Ah dear delights, that o’er my soul
+     On memory’s wing like shadows fly!
+     Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,
+     While Innocence stood laughing by.”--COLERIDGE.
+
+“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” cried a young boy, as he capered vigorously
+about, and clapped his hands. “Papa and mamma will be home in a week
+now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and _then_, and _then_,
+I shall go to school.”
+
+The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he stopped
+his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin Fanny was
+patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so much affected
+by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so he again exclaimed,
+“And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to school.”
+
+“Well, Eric,” said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face from her
+endless work, “I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it with quite as
+much joy a year hence.”
+
+“O ay, Fanny, that’s just like you to say so; you’re always talking and
+prophesying; but never mind, I’m going to school, so hurrah! hurrah!
+hurrah!” and he again began his capering,--jumping over the chairs,
+trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing with an exuberance of
+delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his little spaniel Flo, he
+sprang through the open window into the garden, and disappeared behind
+the trees of the shrubbery; but Fanny still heard his clear, ringing,
+silvery laughter, as he continued his games in the summer air.
+
+She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In spite of
+the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of heaviness and
+foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling and beautiful, and
+there was an almost irresistible contagion in the mirth of her young
+cousin, but still she could not help feeling sad. It was not merely that
+she would have to part with Eric, “but that bright boy,” thought Fanny,
+“what will become of him? I have heard strange things of schools; oh, if
+he should be spoilt and ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby
+lips, that pure young heart, a year may work sad change in their words
+and thoughts!” She sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised
+them upwards, and breathed a silent prayer.
+
+She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest years.
+In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful, ingenuous, quick,
+he would acquire almost without effort any subject that interested him,
+and a word was often enough to bring the impetuous blood to his cheeks,
+in a flush, of pride or indignation. He required the gentlest teaching,
+and had received it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of
+stainless honor that he avoided most of the faults to which children are
+prone. But he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well
+knew that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his own
+superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it always met
+with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it difficult to
+subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing her rule. Beyond a
+certain age no boy of spirit can be safely guided by a woman’s
+hand alone.
+
+Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a civilian in
+India, and was returning on furlough to England after a long absence.
+Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to England by his parents
+at an early age, in charge of a lady friend of his mother. The parting,
+which had been agony to his father and mother, he was too young to feel;
+indeed the moment itself passed by without his being conscious of it.
+They took him on board the ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer
+and some nails to play with. These had always been to him a supreme
+delight, and while he hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying
+themselves, for the child’s sake, even one more tearful embrace, went
+ashore in the boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he
+was told he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child,
+his tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had become
+the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from Captain
+Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon struck up an
+acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed a tear, as he
+lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro’s knee, and asked God
+“to bless his dear dear father and mother, and make him a good boy.”
+
+When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a widowed
+aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his early teaching.
+At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely to form no accession
+to the quiet household, but he soon became its brightest ornament and
+pride. Everything was in his favor at the pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor.
+He was treated with motherly kindness and tenderness, yet firmly checked
+when he went wrong. From the first he had a well-spring of strength,
+against temptation, in the long letters which every mail brought from
+his parents; and all his childish affections were entwined round the
+fancied image of a brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room
+there hung a cherub’s head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this
+picture was inextricably identified in his imagination with his “little
+brother Vernon.” He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray,
+nothing weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he
+came home.
+
+And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with him in
+his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was situated in
+the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran through the valley
+at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor’s orchard. Eric loved this stream, and was
+always happy as he roamed by its side, or over the low green hills and
+scattered dingles, which lent unusual loveliness to every winding of its
+waters. He was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it did
+him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the
+want of amusement. The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for
+endless games and romps, sometimes with no other companion than his
+cousin and his dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age
+whom he knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When asked
+if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in dreams and at
+some other times, he saw a little child, with long curly hair, running
+about in a little garden, near a great river, in a place where the air
+was very bright. But whether the little boy was himself or his brother
+Vernon, whom he had never seen, he couldn’t quite tell.
+
+But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was religious and
+enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter, religion was not a
+system but a habit--not a theory, but a continued act of life. All was
+simple, sweet, and unaffected about their charity and their devotions.
+They loved God, and they did all the good they could to those around
+them. The floating gossip and ill-nature of the little village never
+affected them; it melted away insensibly in the presence of their
+cultivated minds; and so friendship with them was a bond of union among
+all, and from the vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected
+them, asked their counsel, and sought their sympathy.
+
+They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have told to
+what “party” they belonged. They troubled themselves with no theories of
+education, but mingled gentle nurture with “wholesome neglect.” There
+was nothing exotic or constrained in the growth of Eric’s character. He
+was not one of your angelically good children at all, and knew none of
+the phrases of which infant prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had
+not been taught any distinction between “Sunday books” and “week-day”
+books, but no book had been put in his way that was not healthy and
+genuine in tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah’s ark
+on Sunday, because it was “a Sunday plaything,” while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought little;
+they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced idleness or
+constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love Sunday quite as well
+as any other day in the week, though, unlike your angelic children, he
+never professed to like it better. But to be truthful, to be honest, to
+be kind, to be brave, these had been taught him, and he never _quite_
+forgot the lesson; nor amid the sorrows of after life did he ever quite
+lose the sense--learnt at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God,
+of a tender and long-suffering Father.
+
+As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had been sent
+indeed to Mr. Lawley’s grammar-school for the last half-year, and had
+learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar. But as Mr. Lawley
+allowed his upper class to hear the little boys their lessons, Eric had
+managed to get on pretty much as he liked. Only _once_ in the entire
+half-year had he said a lesson to the dreadful master himself, and of
+course it was a ruinous failure, involving some tremendous pulls of
+Eric’s hair, and making him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined
+to make Mr. Lawley dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite
+little, he remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the “Latin
+school” as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that Eric
+never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this kept him in
+a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go out, and see what
+time it was by the church clock. Only hearing that he was to do
+something, too frightened to ask what it was, and feeling sure that even
+if he did, he should not understand what the master said, Eric ran out,
+went straight to Mr. Lawley’s house, and after having managed by
+strenuous jumps to touch the knocker, informed the servant “that Mr.
+Lawley wanted his man.”
+
+“What man?” said the maid-servant, “the young man? or the butler? or is
+it the clerk?”
+
+Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit of
+sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries; but he
+was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said “the young man” at
+hazard, and went back to the Latin school.
+
+“Why have you been so long?” roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly entered.
+Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said, so he answered
+at random, “He’s coming, sir.” The master, seeing by his scared look
+that something was wrong, waited to see what would turn up.
+
+Soon after, in walked “the young man,” and coming to the astonished Mr.
+Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, “Master Williams said you sent for
+me, sir.”
+
+“A mistake,” growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look which
+nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head, or at best a
+great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally a kind heart,
+soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child’s white face, he
+contented himself with the effects of his look.
+
+The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in the
+head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an imprudent
+marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little country
+grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to his refined
+mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had gradually
+unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys “that it was an
+easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than to teach them;”
+and at last his eccentricities became too obvious to be any longer
+overlooked.
+
+The dénouement of his history was a tragic one, and had come a few days
+before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a common practice
+among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all boys, to amuse
+themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a door left partially
+ajar, and to cry out “Crown him” as the first luckless youngster who
+happened to come in received the book thundering on his head. One day,
+just as the trap had been adroitly laid, Mr. Lawley walked in
+unexpectedly. The moment he entered the school-room, down came an
+Ainsworth’s Dictionary on the top of his hat, and the boy, concealed
+behind the door, unconscious of who the victim was, enunciated with mock
+gravity, “Crown him! three cheers.”
+
+It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the battered hat,
+and recover from his confusion; the next instant he was springing after
+the boy who had caused the mishap, and who, knowing the effects of the
+master’s fury, fled with precipitation. In one minute the offender was
+caught, and Mr. Lawley’s heavy hand fell recklessly on his ears and
+back, until he screamed with terror. At last by a tremendous writhe,
+wrenching himself free, he darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too
+exhausted to pursue, snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and
+hurled it at the boy’s retreating figure. The watch flew through the
+air;--crash! it had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the
+lintel, fell smashed into a thousand shivers.
+
+The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken watch,
+which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the master to
+his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there pale and
+breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could bear it no
+longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face with his hands,
+and burst into hysterical tears. It was the outbreak of feelings long
+pent up. In that instant all his life passed before him--its hopes, its
+failures, its miseries, its madness. “Yes!” he thought, “I am mad.”
+
+Raising his head, he cried wildly, “Boys, go, I am mad!” and sank again
+into his former position, rocking himself to and fro. One by one the
+boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is soon told. Forced to
+leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his daily bread; and the weight
+of this new anxiety hastening the crisis, the handsome proud scholar
+became an inmate of the Brerely Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards,
+Eric heard that he was dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest
+in peace.
+
+Such was Eric’s first school and schoolmaster. But although he learnt
+little there, and gained no experience of the character of others or of
+his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin School, which he
+never regretted. It was the mixture there of all classes. On those
+benches gentlemen’s sons sat side by side with plebeians, and no harm,
+but only good, seemed to come from the intercourse. The neighboring
+gentry, most of whom had begun their education there, were drawn into
+closer and kindlier union with their neighbors and dependents, from the
+fact of having been their associates in the days of their boyhood. Many
+a time afterwards, when Eric, as he passed down the streets,
+interchanged friendly greetings with some young glazier or tradesman
+whom he remembered at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt
+practically to despise the accidental and nominal differences which
+separate man from man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A NEW HOME
+
+     “Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;
+     The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,
+     The very breeze hath, mirth in’t.”--OLD PLAY.
+
+At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter informed
+the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at Southampton on
+July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the evening after. They
+particularly requested that no one should come to meet them on their
+landing. “We shall reach Southampton,” wrote Mrs. Trevor, “tired, pale,
+and travel-stained, and had much rather see you first at dear Fairholm,
+where we shall be spared the painful constraint of a meeting in public.
+So please expect our arrival at about seven in the evening.”
+
+Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since the news
+came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and expectation
+made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing all day, every
+hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.
+
+At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening filled the
+sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the sound of wheels; a
+carriage dashed up to the door, and the next moment Eric sprang into his
+mother’s arms.
+
+“O mother, mother!”
+
+“My own darling, darling boy!”
+
+And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father’s heart, and locked in
+the arms of “little brother Vernon.” Who shall describe the emotions of
+those few moments? they did not seem like earthly moments; they seemed
+to belong not to time, but to eternity.
+
+The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy. The little
+party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast asleep with his
+arm round his newfound brother’s neck.
+
+Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father and
+mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could have shown
+no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met their eyes. The
+pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed distinctly the forms
+and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft regular breathing was the
+only sound that broke the stillness of the July night. The small shining
+flower-like faces, with their fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded
+round each brother’s neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an
+exquisite picture, and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without
+a word, the parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of
+joyfulness, poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young
+and beloved boys.
+
+Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed opened to
+Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded itself before
+him. His parents--above all, his mother--were everything that he had
+longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled to his loving heart the ideal
+of his childish fancy. He was never tired of playing with and
+patronising his little brother, and their rambles by stream and hill
+made those days appear the happiest he had ever spent. Every evening
+(for he had not yet laid aside the habits of childhood) he said his
+prayers by his mother’s knee, and at the end of one long summer’s day,
+when prayers were finished, and full of life and happiness he lay down
+to sleep, “O mother,” he said, “I am so happy--I like to say my prayers
+when you are here.”
+
+“Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them.”
+
+“Aren’t there some who never say prayers, mother?”
+
+“Very many, love, I fear.”
+
+“How unhappy they must be! I shall _always_ love to say my prayers.”
+
+“Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!”
+
+And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often came
+back to Eric’s mind in later and less happy days--days when that gentle
+hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when those mild blue
+eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed in heart and life,
+often flung himself down with an unreproaching conscience to
+prayerless sleep.
+
+It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to school in
+the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house in the town of
+Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of furlough, at the end
+of which period Vernon was to be left at Fairholm, and Eric in the house
+of the head-master of the school. Eric enjoyed the prospect of all
+things, and he hardly fancied that Paradise itself could be happier than
+a life at the seaside with his father and mother and Vernon, combined
+with the commencement of schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage
+came, his first glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it
+with only a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him
+silent with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue
+sky melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan. On
+the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills, so that
+when they reached the town and took possession of their cottage, he was
+dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous impressions.
+
+Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as not to
+disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind, and gently
+opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him, one destined to
+be long mingled with all his most vivid reminiscences. Not twenty yards
+below the garden, in front of the house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment
+rippling with golden laughter in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either
+side of the bay was a bold headland, the one stretching out in a series
+of broken crags, the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called
+from its shape the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old
+castle, and the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the
+left, high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School. Eric
+learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a most happy
+boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should be never tired of
+looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes off the great buoy that
+rolled about in the centre of the bay, and flashed in the sunlight at
+every move. He turned round full of hope and spirits, and, after
+watching for a few moments the beautiful face of his sleeping brother,
+he awoke him with a boisterous kiss.
+
+That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands. The
+school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his college cap
+passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He looked very happy
+and engaging, and was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started
+up and gazed after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment
+the unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the
+whole world, and he couldn’t realize the fact that, before the day was
+over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort
+of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again,
+and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy’s destiny
+is twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will know
+very soon.
+
+At nine o’clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his son.
+The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past the ruin, at
+the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any other time Eric
+would have been overflowing with life and wonder at the murmur of the
+ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the rock-bound bay, and the
+numberless little shells, with their bright colors and sculptured
+shapes, which lay about the beach. But now his mind was too full of a
+single sensation, and when, after crossing a green playground, they
+stood by the head-master’s door, his heart fluttered, and it required
+all his energy to keep down the nervous trembling which shook him.
+
+Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr. Rowlands’
+study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he turned to
+address Eric, after a few minutes’ conversation with his father, the boy
+felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity and frank courtesy of
+his manner. A short examination showed that Eric’s attainments were very
+slight as yet, and he was to be put in the lowest form of all, under the
+superintendence of the Rev. Henry Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short
+note in pencil, and giving it to Eric, directed the servant to show him
+to Mr. Gordon’s school-room.
+
+The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so
+that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at
+their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them.
+As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the
+broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to
+feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, “I say, what sort of
+a fellow is Mr. Gordon?”
+
+“Terrible strict, Sir, I hear,” said the man, touching his cap with a
+comic expression, which didn’t at all tend to enliven the future pupil.
+“That’s the door,” he continued, “and you’ll have to give him the
+doctor’s note;” and, pointing to a door at the end of the passage, he
+walked off.
+
+Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was by
+himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his own
+footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He heard a
+low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no answer. He knocked
+again a little louder; still no notice; then, overdoing it in his
+fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.
+
+“Come in,” said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of “New fellow,” and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.
+
+He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows opening
+towards the sea. At one end was the master’s throne, and facing it, all
+down the room, were desks and benches, along which the boys were sitting
+at work. Every one knows how very confusing it is to enter a strange
+room full of strange people, and especially when you enter it from a
+darker passage. Eric felt dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to
+the master’s desk, went towards it between two of the benches. As these
+were at no great distance from each other, he stumbled against several
+legs on his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose
+to trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating _sotto voce_,
+“awkward little fool.”
+
+In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and presented his
+missive. The master’s eye was on him, but all Eric had time to observe
+was, that he looked rather stern, and had in his hand a book which he
+seemed to be studying with the deepest interest. He glanced first at the
+note, and then looked full at the boy, as though determined to read his
+character at a glance.
+
+“Williams, I suppose?”
+
+“Yes, Sir,” said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that all the
+boys were looking at him, as well as the master.
+
+“Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the fourth. I
+hope you will work well. At present they are learning their Cesar. Go
+and sit next to that boy,” pointing towards the lower end of the room;
+“he will show you the lesson, and let you look over his book. Barker,
+let Williams look over you!”
+
+Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy indicated. He
+was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of black hair, and a very
+dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he wasn’t a very nice-looking
+specimen of Roslyn school. However, he sate by him, and glanced at the
+Cesar which the boy shoved about a quarter of an inch in his direction.
+But Barker didn’t seem inclined to make any further advances, and
+presently Eric asked in a whisper,
+
+“What’s the lesson?”
+
+The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.
+
+Eric repeated, “I say, what’s the lesson?”
+
+Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,
+
+“What’s your name?”
+
+“Eric--I mean Williams.”
+
+“Then why don’t you say what you mean?”
+
+Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception; but as he
+seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer towards him.
+
+“Drop that; ’t isn’t yours.”
+
+Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. “Silence!” he said,
+and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric, resigning
+himself to his fate, looked about him.
+
+He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk, writing,
+but couldn’t make our the physiognomy. There had been something reserved
+and imperious in the master’s manner, yet he thought he should not
+dislike him on the whole. With the countenances of his future
+schoolfellows he was not altogether pleased, but there were one or two
+which thoroughly attracted him. One boy, whose side face was turned
+towards him as he sat on the bench in front, took his fancy
+particularly, so, tired of doing nothing, he plucked up courage, and
+leaning forward whispered, “Do lend me your Cesar for a few minutes.”
+The boy at once handed it to him with a pleasant smile, and as the
+lesson was marked, Eric had time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr.
+Gordon’s sonorous voice exclaimed,
+
+“Fourth form, come up!”
+
+Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle round
+the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson commenced.
+
+“Russell, begin,” said the master; and immediately the boy who had
+handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and construed
+them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had a frank open
+face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very taking voice and
+manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he should like him.
+
+Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a grating
+irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities, for each of
+which the next boy took him up. Then he began to construe;--a frightful
+confusion of nominatives without verbs, accusatives translated as
+ablatives, and perfects turned into prepositions ensued, and after a
+hopeless flounder, during which Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself,
+Barker came to a full stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric
+could not help joining in the general titter Barker scowled.
+
+“As usual, Barker,” said the master, with a curl of the lip. “Hold out
+your hand!”
+
+Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which the
+form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his hands
+tight together, went back to his seat.
+
+“Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just failed!”
+
+Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had now quite
+recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and without
+nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering questions,
+and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way up the form. The
+boys’ numbers were then taken down in the weekly register, and they went
+back to their seats.
+
+On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was clumsily
+scrawled, “I’ll teach you to grin when I’m turned, you young brute.”
+
+The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly, and
+augured ominously of Barker’s intentions, since that worthy obviously
+alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to interpret it as an
+intentional provocation. He felt that he was in for it, and that Barker
+meant to pick a quarrel with him. This puzzled and annoyed him, and he
+felt very sad to have found an enemy already.
+
+While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck twelve;
+and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the folding-doors of
+the school-room.
+
+“You may go,” said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared by a
+door at the further end of the room.
+
+Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in a
+confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among the
+last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized it, and
+flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it was trampled
+on by a number of the boys as they ran out.
+
+Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his opponent,
+and said coolly, “Is that what you always do to new fellows?”
+
+“Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;” and a tolerably
+smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a cheek already
+aflame with, anger and indignation,--“should you like a little more?”
+
+He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry. “What’s that
+for?” he said, with flashing eyes.
+
+“For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned.”
+
+Eric stamped. “I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as well as I
+do.”
+
+“What! I’m a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out of you,
+you young cub--take that;” and a heavier blow followed.
+
+“You brutal cowardly bully,” shouted Eric; and in another moment he
+would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did not, for
+Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful. Such an attack
+would hare been most unfortunate for him in every way. But at this
+instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and Russell among them.
+
+“Hallo, Barker,” said one, “what’s up?”
+
+“Why, I’m teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that’s all.”
+
+“Shame!” said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric’s cheek; “what a
+fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn’t you leave him alone for his first
+day, at any rate?”
+
+“What’s that to you? I’ll kick you too, if you say much.”
+
+“Cavè, cavè!” whispered half a dozen voices, and instantly the knot of
+boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr. Gordon was seen approaching.
+He had caught a glimpse of the scene without understanding it, and
+seeing the new boy’s red and angry face, he only said, as he passed by,
+“What, Williams! fighting already? Take care.”
+
+This was the cruellest cut of all. “So,” thought Eric, “a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;” and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.
+
+The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different games, and
+as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to answer the usual
+questions, “What’s your name? Are you a boarder or a day scholar? What
+form are you in?” Eric expected all this, and it therefore did not annoy
+him. Under any other circumstances, he would have answered cheerfully
+and frankly enough; but now he felt miserable at his morning’s
+rencontre, and his answers were short and sheepish, his only desire
+being to get away as soon as possible. It was an additional vexation to
+feel sure that his manner did not make a favorable impression.
+
+Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him. “I’m
+afraid you won’t like this, or think much of us, Williams,” he said.
+“But never mind. It’ll only last a day or two, and the fellows are not
+so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I’m sorry you’ve come across
+him, but it can’t be helped.”
+
+It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and after his
+troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to cry, and for a
+few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell’s soothing words. But
+the boy’s friendliness went far to comfort him, and at last, shaking
+hands with him, he said--
+
+“Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy, Russell.”
+
+“O yes,” said Russell, laughing, “as much as ever you like. And as
+Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we are in
+the same box. Good bye.”
+
+So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the Iliad,
+“Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea.” Already the purple mantle
+had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got home later than they
+expected, and found his parents waiting for him. It was rather
+disappointing to them to see his face so melancholy, when they expected
+him to be full of animation and pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own
+conclusions from the red mark on his cheek, as well as the traces of
+tears welling to his eyes; but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing,
+and left the boy to tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting
+all the painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BULLYING
+
+“Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness.” Wordsworth.
+
+Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I have often
+fancied that there must be in boyhood a pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a
+sort of “wild trick of the ancestral savage,” which, no amount of
+civilization can entirely repress. Certain it is, that to most boys the
+first term is a trying ordeal. They are being tested and weighed. Their
+place in the general estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest
+circumstances are seized upon to settle the category under which the boy
+is to be classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few
+weeks at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are _not_ accidents; they are
+the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the general
+tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the apparent
+cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly intentional. At
+first, of course, as they can have no friends worth speaking of, there
+are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds that take a pleasure in
+their torment, particularly if they at once recognise any innate
+superiority to themselves. Of this class was Barker. He hated Eric at
+first sight, simply because his feeble mind could only realise one idea
+about him, and that was the new boy’s striking contrast with his own
+imperfections. Hence he left no means untried to vent on Eric his low
+and mean jealousy. He showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form,
+and signs of disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he never
+looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him to kick and
+annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the school-room. In fact, he
+did his very best to make the boy’s life miserable, and the occupation
+of hating him seemed in some measure to fill up the vacuity of an
+ill-conditioned and degraded mind.
+
+Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the unhappy person
+who is the object of it, and more especially if he have incurred it by
+no one assignable reason. To Eric it was peculiarly painful; he was
+utterly unprepared for it. In his bright joyous life at Fairholm, in the
+little he saw of the boys at the Latin school, he had met with nothing
+but kindness and caresses, and the generous nobleness of his character
+had seemed to claim them as a natural element. “And now, why,” he asked
+impatiently, “should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim
+to annoy, vex, and hurt me?” Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but such,
+was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.
+
+But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own bursts of
+passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and
+spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on
+his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight
+conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy.
+Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent look, much less a
+civil word. Eric loathed him, and the only good and happy part of the
+matter to his own mind was, that conscientiously his only desire was to
+get rid of him and be left alone, while he never cherished a particle
+of revenge.
+
+While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning himself
+a very good position with the other boys, who liked his frankness, his
+mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud with Barker like a
+dark background to all his enjoyment. He even had to manoeuvre daily how
+to escape him, and violent scenes were of constant occurrence between
+them. Eric could not, and would not, brook his bullying with silence.
+His resentment was loud and stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was,
+even _his_ phlegmatic temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce
+and uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.
+
+Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the form, and
+such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first, his position as a
+home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides Russell, there were
+three whom he liked best, and respected most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen.
+They were very different boys, but all of them had qualities which well
+deserved his esteem. Duncan was the most boyish of boys, intensely full
+of fun, good-nature, and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on
+well, because he could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in
+some fit of sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to
+be put to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever _he_
+took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of amusement was
+ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one of the number.
+
+Montagu’s chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little gentleman;
+“such a jolly little fellow” every one said of him. Without being clever
+or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both at work and at the games,
+and while he was too exclusive to make many _intimate_ friends,
+everybody liked walking about or talking with him. Even Barker,
+blackguard as he was, seemed to be a little uneasy when confronted with
+Montagu’s naturally noble and chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects
+his influence was thoroughly good, and few boys were more
+generally popular.
+
+Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him. When
+he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for Barker’s
+craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been tremendously bullied. But
+gradually his mental superiority asserted itself. He took everything
+without tears and without passion, and this diminished the pleasure of
+annoying him. One day when Barker had given him an unprovoked kick, he
+quietly said,
+
+“Barker, next time you do that, I’ll tell Mr. Gordon.”
+
+“Sneak! do it if you dare.” And he kicked him again; but the moment
+after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in Owen’s eyes, as
+he turned instantly into the door of the master’s room, and laid a
+formal complaint against Barker for bullying.
+
+Mr. Gordon didn’t like “telling,” and he said so to Owen, without
+reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of explanations
+and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said nothing. “He stood
+there for justice,” and he had counted the cost. Strong-minded and
+clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the momentary dislike of his
+schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that he never could be popular,
+would be less unbearable than Barker’s villanous insults. The
+consequence was that Barker was caned soundly, although, with some
+injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt to conceal that he did it
+unwillingly.
+
+Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for sneaking, as
+they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen mortification of
+seeing “Owen is a sneak,” written up all about the walls. But he was
+too proud or too cold to make any defence till called upon, and bore it
+in silence. Barker vowed eternal vengeance, and the very day after, had
+seized Owen with the avowed intention of “half murdering him.” But
+before he could once strike him, Owen said in the most chill tone,
+“Barker, if you touch me, I shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands.” The
+bully well knew that Owen never broke his word, but he could not govern
+his rage, and first giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash
+him without limit or remorse.
+
+Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr. Rowlands’
+door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed at his
+temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a regular _Deus
+ex machinâ._ That afternoon, again Barker was publicly caned, with the
+threat that the next offence would be followed by instant and public
+expulsion. This punishment he particularly dreaded, because he was
+intended for the army, and he well knew that it might ruin his
+prospects. The consequence was, that Owen never suffered from him again,
+although he daily received a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed
+over with silent contempt.
+
+My dear boy-reader, don’t suppose that I want you to imitate Owen in
+this matter. I despise a boy who “tells” as much as you do, and it is a
+far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of
+spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But Owen was a peculiar
+boy, and remember he had _no_ redress. He bore for a time, until he felt
+that he _must_ have the justice and defence, without which it would
+have been impossible for him to continue at Roslyn school.
+
+But why, you ask, didn’t he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at Roslyn
+the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a school of
+250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had no prerogative
+of authority. They hadn’t the least right to interfere, because no such
+power had been delegated to them, and therefore they felt themselves
+merely on a par with the rest, except for such eminence as their
+intellectual superiority gave them. The consequence was, that any
+interference from them would have been of a simply individual nature,
+and was exerted very rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to
+tell a sixth-form boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a
+favorite, he was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.
+
+All this had happened before Eric’s time, and he heard it from his best
+friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became friends at once
+by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of each at the other’s
+face prepared the friendship, and every day of acquaintance more firmly
+cemented it. Eric could not have had a better friend; not so clever as
+himself, not so diligent as Owen, not so athletic as Duncan, or so
+fascinating as Montagu, Russell combined the best qualities of them all.
+And, above all, he acted invariably from the highest principle; he
+presented that noblest of all noble spectacles--one so rare that many
+think it impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy
+boy, who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.
+
+“Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?” said Eric, one
+day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.
+
+“Yes,” said Russell; “I slept in his dormitory when I first came, and he
+has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself on my knees at
+night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a little quiet time to
+cry like a child.”
+
+“And when was it he left off at last?”
+
+“Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond of me; he
+heard of it, though I didn’t say anything about it, and told Barker that
+if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him within an inch of his
+life; and that frightened him for one thing. Besides, Duncan, Montagu,
+and other friends of mine began to cut him in consequence, so he thought
+it best to leave off.”
+
+“How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do it?”
+
+“You see, Williams,” said Russell, “Barker is an enormously strong
+fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look up to him
+as a great hero. And there isn’t one in our part of the school who can
+thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you know--at least not
+often. I remember once seeing a street-row in London, at which twenty
+people stood by, and let a drunken beast of a husband strike his wife
+without ever stirring to defend her.”
+
+“Well,” sighed Eric, “I hope my day of deliverance will come soon, for
+I can’t stand it much longer, and ‘tell’ I won’t, whatever Owen may do.”
+
+Eric’s deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys were
+playing at different games in the green playground, and he was waiting
+for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up, and calmly
+snatching off Eric’s cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands’ garden wall.
+“There, go and fetch that.”
+
+“You blackguard!” said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few minutes;
+and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall. It was not very
+high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get over it under any
+circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not without trepidation. However,
+he dropped down on one of Mrs. Rowlands’ flower-beds, and got his cap in
+a hurry, and clambered back undiscovered.
+
+He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day; but
+Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric, and
+calling out, “Who’ll have a game at football?” again snatched the cap,
+and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every time he came up
+Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it into a puddle.
+
+Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened scorn
+and indignation. “You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,”--here Barker
+seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the head, but
+blind with passion Eric went on--“you despicable bully, I won’t touch
+that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan, Russell, here! do
+help me against this intolerable brute.”
+
+Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who besides
+was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric unmercifully.
+
+“Leave him alone,” shouted Duncan, “or by heaven I’ll get you a sound
+thrashing from some fellow.”
+
+“I won’t; mind your own business,” growled Barker, shaking himself free
+from Duncan’s hand.
+
+“Barker, I’ll never speak to you again from this day,” said Montagu,
+turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.
+
+“What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too,” was the reply, and
+some more kicks at Eric followed.
+
+“Barker, I won’t stand this any longer,” said Russell; and seizing him
+by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the face.
+
+The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the turf
+nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell’s turn came,
+and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had tripped him up,
+when he found himself collared in an iron grasp.
+
+There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in the person
+of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that now griped
+Barker’s shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys, who all knew
+his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently stood a quiet and
+pleased observer of their games. The boys in the playground came
+crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to escape. Mr. Williams
+held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, “I have just seen you treat
+one of your schoolfellows with the grossest violence. It makes me blush
+for you, Roslyn Boys,” he continued, turning to the group that
+surrounded him, “that you can stand by unmoved, and see such things
+done. You know that you despise any one who tells a master, yet you
+allow this bullying to go on, and that, too, without any provocation.
+Now, mark; it makes no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I
+would have punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall
+punish him now.” With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most satisfactory
+castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared that Dr. Rowlands’
+“swishings” were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw that the offender was a
+tough subject, and determined that he should not soon forget the
+punishment he then received. He had never heard from Eric how this boy
+had been treating him, but he had heard it from Russell, and now he had
+seen one of the worst specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore
+belabored him till his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy,
+and promises never so to offend again.
+
+At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a “phew” of disgust, and
+said, “I give nothing for your word; but if ever you do bully in this
+way again, and I see or hear of it, your present punishment shall be a
+trifle to what I shall then administer. At present, thank me for not
+informing your master.” So saying, he made Barker pick up the cap, and,
+turning away, walked home with Eric leaning on his arm.
+
+Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace he could; but it
+certainly didn’t mend matters when he heard numbers of fellows, even
+little boys, say openly, “I’m so glad; serves you right.”
+
+From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence from Barker
+or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the mind of the baffled
+tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there are subtler means of
+making an enemy wretched than striking or kicking him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRIBBING
+
+     “Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus.”--Juv. i. 15.
+
+It must not be thought that Eric’s year as a home boarder was made up of
+dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a dark side, and
+Eric enjoyed it “to the finger-tips.” School-life, like all other life,
+is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its joys may be more childish,
+its sorrows more trifling than those of after years;--but they are more
+keenly felt.
+
+And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all idealise and
+idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant purple in the
+distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its blue far-off hills,
+we forget how steep we sometimes found them.
+
+After Barker’s discomfiture, which took place some three weeks after his
+arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got liked by it more
+and more. This might have been easily foreseen, for he was the type of a
+thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial and honorable characteristics,
+and his round of acquaintances daily increased. Among others, a few of
+the sixth, who were also day-scholars, began to notice and walk home
+with him. He looked on them as great heroes, and their condescension
+much increased his dignity both in his own estimation and that of
+his equals.
+
+Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate acquaintances to
+spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This was a pleasure much
+coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams without loving her, and they
+felt themselves humanised by the friendly interest of a lady who
+reminded every boy of his own mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and
+active child of nine, was a great pet among them, so that every one
+liked Eric who “knew him at home.” A boy generally shows his best side
+at home; the softening shadows of a mother’s tender influence play over
+him, and tone down the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu,
+and Owen were special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams
+felt truly glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the
+whole, so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he won so
+much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not surprised when Eric
+confided to her one day that he loved Russell almost as well as be
+loved Vernon.
+
+As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively interest in the
+half-year’s prizes, and Eric was particularly eager about them. He had
+improved wonderfully, and as both his father and mother prevented him
+from being idle, even had he been so inclined, he had soon shown that
+he was one of the best in the form. Two prizes were given, half-yearly
+to each remove; one for “marks” indicating the boy who had generally
+been highest throughout the half year, and the other for the test proofs
+of proficiency in a special examination. It was commonly thought in the
+form that Owen would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other;
+and towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition was of
+course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the delight
+which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and still more to his
+own family.
+
+During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which, while it
+increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he thought) his
+chance of success. The fourth form were learning a Homer lesson, and
+Barker, totally unable to do it by his own resources, was trying to
+borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual disgust, still sat next to him
+in school, and would have helped him if he had chosen to ask; but he
+never did choose, nor did Eric care to volunteer. The consequence was,
+that unless he could borrow a crib, he was invariably turned, and he was
+now particularly anxious to get one, because the time was nearly up.
+
+There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who had
+“cribs” to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious _bonhommie,_
+lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom were only too glad to
+avail themselves of the help, except the few at the top of the form, who
+found it a slovenly way of learning the lesson, which was sure to get
+them into worse difficulties than an honest attempt to master the
+meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat at the farther end of the form in
+front, so Barker scribbled in the fly-leaf of his book, “Please send us
+your Homer crib,” and got the book passed on to Llewellyn, who
+immediately shoved his crib in Barker’s direction. The only danger of
+the transaction being noticed, was when the book was being handed from
+one bench to another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got
+into trouble more than once.
+
+On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in front,
+handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and Eric, very
+naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped the book under
+his own Homer.
+
+“Williams, what are you doing?”
+
+“Nothing, Sir,” said Eric, looking up innocently.
+
+“Bring me that book under your Homer.”
+
+Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took up the
+book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on the ground,
+and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust, took it up with
+the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was a titter round
+the room.
+
+“Silence,” thundered the master; “this is no matter for laughing. So,
+sir, _this_ is the way you get up to the top of the form?”
+
+“I wasn’t using it, sir,” said Eric.
+
+“Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your Homer.”
+
+“It isn’t mine, sir.”
+
+“Then whose is it?” Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of course no
+name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write one’s name in a
+translation.
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+“Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you,” said Mr. Gordon.
+“Of course I am _bound_ to believe you, but the circumstances are very
+suspicious. You had no business with such a book at all. Hold out
+your hand.”
+
+As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for him in
+this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but (very rightly)
+he thought it unmanly to clamor about being punished, and he felt
+nettled at Mr. Gordon’s merely official belief of his word. He knew that
+he had his faults, but certainly want of honor was not among them.
+Indeed, there were only three boys out of the twenty in the form, who
+did not resort to modes of unfairness far worse than the use of cribs,
+and those three were Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even
+Montagu, inured to it by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson
+off a concealed book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They
+would have been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to its
+meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the master
+treated them with implicit confidence, and being scrupulously honorable
+himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was therefore extremely
+indignant at this apparent discovery of an attempt to overreach him in
+a boy so promising and so much of a favorite as Eric Williams.
+
+“Hold out your hand,” he repeated.
+
+Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He could bear
+the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the disgrace; he, a boy
+at the head of his form, to be caned in this way by a man who didn’t
+understand him, and unjustly too! He mustered up an indifferent air,
+closed his lips tight, and determined to give no further signs. The
+defiance of his look made Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in
+succession five hard cuts on either hand, each one of which, was more
+excruciating than the last.
+
+“Now, go to your seat.”
+
+Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked
+in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve
+at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero
+with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling,
+and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe
+a punishment. The punishment _was_ most severe, and for some weeks after
+there were dark weals visible across Eric’s palm, which rendered the use
+of his hands painful.
+
+“Poor Williams,” said Duncan, as they went out of school, “how very
+plucky of you not to cry.”
+
+     “Vengeance deep brooding o’er the _cane_,
+       Had locked the source of softer woe;
+     And burning pride, and high disdain,
+       Forbade the gentler tear to flow,”
+
+said Eric, with a smile.
+
+But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling
+his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears,
+mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his
+injustice.
+
+“Never mind, Eric,” said his father; “only take care that you never get
+a punishment _justly_, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am
+now. And don’t cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you
+harm. Try to forgive and forget.”
+
+“But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a favorite
+of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me. It is a great
+shame that he shouldn’t believe my word. I don’t mind the pain; but I
+shan’t like him any more, and I’m sure, now, I shan’t get the
+examination prize.”
+
+“You don’t mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality in the
+matter?”
+
+“No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won’t _intend_ to be. But
+it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a master, and I know I shan’t
+work so well.”
+
+On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a misfortune.
+Although he had nothing particular for which to blame himself, yet the
+affair had increased his pride, while it lowered his self-respect; and
+he had an indistinct consciousness that the popularity in his form would
+do him as much harm as the change of feeling in his master. He grew
+careless and dispirited, nor was it till in the very heat of the final
+competition, that he felt his energies fully revived.
+
+Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other half
+were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was much
+hindered by Barker’s unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in which
+many of the boys “cribbed” from books, and from each other, or used torn
+leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on their wristbands,
+and on their nails. He saw how easily much of this might have been
+prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his work, and had not yet learnt
+the practical lesson, that to trust young boys to any great extent, is
+really to increase their temptations. He _did_ learn the lesson
+afterwards, and then almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by
+increased vigilance, and partly by forbidding _any_ book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much evil
+had been done by the habitual abuse of his former confidence.
+
+I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day before
+the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the great
+school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the result. But
+Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when this was usually
+done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the news.
+
+He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of steps he
+took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and devising every
+sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard hasty steps, and
+Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with haste, and bright
+with excitement.
+
+“Hurrah! old fellow,” he cried, seizing both Eric’s hands; “I never
+felt so glad in my life;” and he shook his friend’s arms up and down,
+laughing joyously.
+
+“Well! tell me,” said Eric.
+
+“First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales,” “you’ve got head remove you see, in
+spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and I
+congratulate you with all my heart.”
+
+“No?” said Eric, “have I really?--you’re not joking? Oh! hurrah!--I must
+rush in and tell them;” and he bounded off.
+
+In a second he was back at Russell’s side. “What a selfish animal I am!
+Where are you placed, Russell?”
+
+“Oh! magnificent; I’m third;--far higher than I expected.”
+
+“I’m so glad,” said Eric. “Come in with me and tell them. I’m head
+remove, mother,” he shouted, springing into the parlor where his father
+and mother sat.
+
+In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood by for
+the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to tell them
+that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in his eye.
+
+“Poor boy! I’m afraid you’re disappointed,” said Mrs. Williams kindly,
+drawing him to her side.
+
+“Oh no, no! it’s not _that_,” said Russell, hastily, as he lifted his
+swimming eyes towards her face.
+
+“Are you hurt, Russell?” asked Eric, surprised.
+
+“Oh! no; don’t ask me; I am only foolish to-day;” and with a burst of
+sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams’ neck. She folded him to
+her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs would let him
+speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, “It is but a year since I
+became an orphan.”
+
+“Dearest child,” she said, “look on me as a mother; I love you very
+dearly for your own sake as well as Eric’s.”
+
+Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend the
+rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all his usual
+sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a stroll down the
+bay, and talked over the term and the examination.
+
+They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched the
+tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory of
+evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet happiness,
+not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the next day.
+
+At last Eric broke the silence. “Russell, let me always call you Edwin,
+and call me Eric.”
+
+“Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy.” And the two
+boys squeezed each other’s hands, and looked into each other’s faces,
+and silently promised that they would be loving friends for ever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SECOND TERM
+
+     “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our vines; for our
+     vines have tender grapes.”--CANT. ii. 15.
+
+The second term at school is generally the great test of the strength of
+a boy’s principles and resolutions. During the first term the novelty,
+the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments, the respect for
+authorities, the desire to measure himself with his companions--all tend
+to keep him right and diligent. But many of these incentives are removed
+after the first brush of novelty, and many a lad who has given good
+promise at first, turns out, after a short probation, idle, or vicious,
+or indifferent.
+
+But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On the
+contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the prestige of
+having been head boy; and as he still continued under Mr. Gordon, he
+really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct towards him, and
+recover, if possible, his lost esteem.
+
+His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud of it,
+and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully sharing his
+feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of school life than
+his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart lest “he should follow a
+multitude to do evil.”
+
+The “cribbing,” which had astonished and pained Eric at first, was more
+flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a chronic form. In
+all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to write out in a large
+hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and dexterously pin it to the
+front of Mr. Gordon’s desk. There any boy who chose could read it off
+with little danger of detection, and, as before, the only boys who
+refused to avail themselves of this trickery were Eric, Russell,
+and Owen.
+
+Eric did _not_ yield to it; never once did he suffer his eyes to glance
+at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But although this was
+the case, he never spoke against the practice to the other boys, even
+when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would laugh when any one told
+him how he had escaped “skewing” (_i.e._ being turned) by reading it
+off; and he even went so far as to allow them to suppose that he
+wouldn’t himself object to take advantage of the master’s unsuspicious
+confidence.
+
+“I say, Williams,” said Duncan, one morning as they strolled into the
+school-yard, “do you know your Rep.?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, “not very well; I haven’t given more than ten minutes
+to it.”
+
+“Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets? Russel
+and Montagu have taken the court.”
+
+“But I shall skew.”
+
+“Oh no, you needn’t, you know. I’ll take care to pin it up on the desk
+near you.”
+
+“Well, I don’t much care. At any rate I’ll chance it.” And off the boys
+ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the last quarter of
+an hour before school-time in learning his lesson. Russell and he stood
+the other two, and they were very well matched. They had finished two
+splendid games, and each side had been victorious in turn, when Duncan,
+in the highest spirits, shouted, “Now, Russell, for the conqueror.”
+
+“Get some one else in my place,” said Russell; “I don’t know my Rep.,
+and must cut and learn it.”
+
+“O bother the Rep.,” said Montagu; “somebody’s sure to write it out in
+school, and old Gordon’ll never see.”
+
+“You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that.”
+
+“O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you’re quite right; I only wish I was
+as good.”
+
+“What a capital fellow he is,” continued Montagu, leaning on his racquet
+and looking after him, as Russell left the court; “but I say, Williams,
+you’re not going too, are you?”
+
+“I think I must, I don’t know half my lesson.”
+
+“O no! don’t go; there’s Llewellyn; he’ll take Russell’s place, and we
+_must_ have the conquering game.”
+
+Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into school, hot,
+vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as Russell strolled
+in, whispering, “I’ve had lots of time to get up the Horace, and know
+it pat.”
+
+Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should have
+plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But another
+temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham whispered,
+“Williams, it’s your turn to write out the Horace; I did last time,
+you know.”
+
+Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general cheating.
+Everybody seemed to assume now that _he_ at any rate didn’t think much
+of it, and he had never claimed his real right up to that time of
+asserting his innocence. But this was a step further than he had ever
+gone before. He drew back--
+
+“My _turn_, what do you mean?”
+
+“Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by turns.”
+
+“Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?”
+
+“Of course not; you wouldn’t expect the saints to be guilty of such a
+thing, would you?”
+
+“I’d rather not, Graham,” he said, getting very red.
+
+“Well, that _is_ cowardly,” answered Graham, angrily; “then I suppose I
+must do it myself.”
+
+“Here, I’ll do it,” said Eric suddenly; “shy us the paper.”
+
+His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.
+
+“There,” he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; “I’ve written it,
+and I’ll have nothing more to do with it.”
+
+Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the paper,
+succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk. Eric had
+never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and firmly
+believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it badly on
+purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so Eric be got
+once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of apprehension, and when
+put on, was totally unable to say a word of his Rep. But low as he had
+fallen, he would not cheat like the rest; he kept his eyes resolutely
+turned away from the guilty paper, and even refused to repeat the words
+which were prompted in his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon,
+after waiting a moment, said--
+
+“Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can’t have looked at it. Go to
+the bottom and write it out five times.”
+
+“_Write it out_” thought Eric; “this is retribution, I suppose;” and
+covered with shame and vexation, he took his place below the malicious
+Barker at the bottom of the form.
+
+It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and Mr.
+Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was this
+done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the room began
+to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet pinned in front of
+the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little pattering crepitation. In
+alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out the pin, and immediately the
+paper floated gracefully over Russell’s head, as he sat at the top of
+the form, and, after one or two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre
+of the room.
+
+“Bring me that piece of paper,” said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.
+
+Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously around.
+
+“Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper.”
+
+A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full minute in
+his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust, and rising anger
+struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly turned full on Eric,
+whose writing he recognized, and broke out,
+
+“So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not have
+thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have lost my
+confidence forever. I _despise_ you.”
+
+“Indeed, Sir,” said the penitent Eric, “I never meant--”
+
+“Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall report you
+to Dr. Rowlands.”
+
+The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next, and the
+next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan, Barker, all
+hopeless failures; only two boys had said it right--Russell and Owen.
+
+Mr. Gordon’s face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised pain
+which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. “False-hearted, dishonorable boys,” he exclaimed,
+“henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole form,
+except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every half-holiday;
+not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took you for gentlemen.
+I was mistaken. Go.” And so saying, he waved them to their seats with
+imperious disdain.
+
+They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed, kept
+twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his eyes, and
+even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted treachery; the rest
+were silent and miserable.
+
+At twelve o’clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr. Gordon;
+they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were full of very
+different feelings.
+
+Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.
+
+“You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to me.
+Go--I have nothing to say to you!”
+
+“But, sir, I want to tell you that--”
+
+“Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of this. Go,
+I tell you.”
+
+Eric’s passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground, and
+burst out, “I _will_ speak, sir; you have been unjust to me for a long
+time, but I will _not_ be--”
+
+Mr. Gordon’s cane fell sharply across the boy’s back; he stopped, glared
+for a moment; and then saying:
+
+“Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike before you
+hear me,” he angrily left the room, and slammed the door violently
+behind him.
+
+Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment, Russell
+stood by him.
+
+“Well, my boy,” said the master, softening in a moment, and laying his
+hand gently on Russell’s head, “what have you to say? You cannot tell
+how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has caused me, to find
+that _you_ at least are uncontaminated. But I _knew_, Edwin, that I
+could trust you.”
+
+“O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams.” Mr. Gordon’s brow
+darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted vehemently,
+“Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the _second_ time that he has
+wilfully deceived me; and this time he has involved others too in his
+base deceit.”
+
+“Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can’t think how he came to write the
+paper, but I _know_ that he did not and would not use it. Didn’t you see
+yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another way when he
+broke down.”
+
+“It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him,” said Mr. Gordon coldly,
+“but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave me; I feel very
+sad, and must have time to think over this disgraceful affair.”
+
+Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up and down,
+the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the library.
+
+“O Eric,” he said, “how came you to write that paper?”
+
+“Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have explained
+it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such a shame; I
+don’t feel now as if I cared one bit.”
+
+“I am sorry you don’t get on with him; but remember you have given him
+in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric, I know, but I
+can’t help being sorry that you wrote the paper.”
+
+“But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly because I
+refused at first.”
+
+“Ah, Eric,” said Russell, “they will ask you to do worse things if you
+yield so easily. I wouldn’t say anything to Dr. Rowlands about it, if I
+were you.”
+
+Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He gave his
+father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence, and that
+afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and explanation to Mr.
+Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon said, in his most
+freezing tones, “Williams, at present I shall take no further notice of
+your offence beyond including you in the extra lesson every
+half-holiday.”
+
+From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and suspected, and
+the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He grew more careless
+in work, and more trifling and indifferent in manner. Several boys now
+beat him whom he had easily surpassed before, and his energies were for
+a time entirely directed to keeping that supremacy in the games which he
+had won by his activity and strength.
+
+It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term, and the
+boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or lying on the
+banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little knot of his chief
+friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on the grass. At last the
+bell of the school chapel began to ring, and they went in to the
+afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan and Llewellyn,
+immediately behind the benches allotted to chance visitors. The bench in
+front of them happened on this afternoon to be occupied by some rather
+odd people, viz., an old man with long white hair, and two ladies
+remarkably stout, who were dressed with much juvenility, although past
+middle age. Their appearance immediately attracted notice, and no sooner
+had they taken their seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter.
+The ladies’ bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves
+and flowers, just peered over the top of the boys’ pew, and excited much
+amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the solemnity of the
+place, and the sacred act in which they were engaged. He tried to look
+away, and attend to the service, and for a time he partially succeeded,
+although, seated as he was between the two triflers, who were
+perpetually telegraphing to each other their jokes, he found it a
+difficult task, and secretly he began to be much tickled.
+
+At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned a
+grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first hop took
+it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the shoulder of the
+stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered louder, and even Eric could
+not resist a smile. But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her
+shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap
+into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none
+of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which
+they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming
+their handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her
+uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause
+of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At last all three
+began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their
+direction, and Dr. Rowlands’ stern eye caught sight of their levity. He
+stopped short in his sermon, and for one instant transfixed them with
+his indignant glance. Quiet was instantly restored, and alarm reduced
+them to the most perfect order, although the grasshopper still sat
+imperturbable among the artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had
+discovered that for some unknown reason she had been causing
+considerable amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule,
+looked round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.
+
+Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to rise, and
+after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be seated. Eric’s
+heart sank within him.
+
+“Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!” said the Doctor. The boys,
+with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before him.
+
+“I was sorry to notice,” said he, “your shameful conduct in chapel
+yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were making
+yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal defects of
+others. The lessons you receive here must be futile indeed, if they do
+not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and courtesy to man. It
+gives me special pain, Williams, to have observed that you, too, a boy
+high in your remove, were guilty of this most culpable levity. You will
+all come to me at twelve o’clock in the library.”
+
+At twelve o’clock they each received a flogging. The pain inflicted was
+not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into similar trouble
+before, cared very little for it, and went out laughing to tell the
+number of swishes they had received, to a little crowd of boys who were
+lingering outside the library door. But not so Eric. It was his _first_
+flogging, and he felt it deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was
+intolerable. At that moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon,
+he hated his schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the
+thought haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the knot
+of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground, angry and
+impenitent.
+
+At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune; he was
+ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious of him, and
+jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him by without
+notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to him and took
+his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his late disgrace
+would have made Eric flame out into passion; but Russell was too kind to
+allude to it then. He talked as if nothing had happened, and tried to
+turn his friend’s thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated
+his kindness, but he was still sullen and fretful, and it was not until
+they parted that his better feelings won the day. But when Russell said
+to him “Good bye, Eric,” it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin’s
+hand, he wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.
+
+“Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends were
+like you, I should never get into these troubles.”
+
+“Nay, Eric,” said Russell, “you may be far better than I. You have far
+batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice.”
+
+They parted by Mr. Williams’ door, and Russell walked home sad and
+thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother’s greeting, rushed up
+to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed like a child at
+the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not refreshing tears; he felt
+something hard at his heart, and, as he prayed neither for help nor
+forgiveness, it was pride and rebellion, not penitence, that made him
+miserable.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOME AFFECTIONS
+
+     “Keep the spell of home affection.
+       Still alive in every heart;
+     May its power, with mild direction,
+       Draw our love from self apart,
+         Till thy children
+     Feel that thou their Father art.”
+
+     SCHOOL HYMN.
+
+“I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric,” said little
+Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning school; “I
+wish you would come and look at them.”
+
+“O, I can’t come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with some
+fellows directly.”
+
+“But it won’t take you a minute; do come.”
+
+“What a little bore you are. Where are the things?”
+
+“O, never mind, Eric, if you don’t want to look at them,” said Vernon,
+hurt at his brother’s rough manner.
+
+“First you ask me to look, and then say ‘never mind,’” said Eric
+impatiently; “here, show me them.”
+
+The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.
+
+“Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket.”
+
+Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.
+
+“You aren’t so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be.”
+
+“What nonsense! and all because I don’t admire those nasty red-jelly
+things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any day. What a
+little goose you are, Vernon!”
+
+Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with a sigh,
+when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.
+
+“Well, Verny,” he said, “have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you’ve got one
+of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky little
+chap you are!”
+
+Vernon was delighted.
+
+“Mind you take care of them,” said Russell. “Where did you find them?”
+
+“I have been down the shore getting them.”
+
+“And have you had a pleasant morning?”
+
+“Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by myself,
+and Eric never comes with me now.”
+
+“Naughty Eric,” said Russell, playfully. “Never mind, Verny; you and I
+will cut him, and go by ourselves.”
+
+Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of Russel’s
+unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy, struck him. He
+threw his arms round his brother’s neck, and said, “We will both go with
+you, Verny, next half holiday.”
+
+“O, thank you, Eric,” said his brother; and the two schoolboys ran out.
+But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with the promise
+of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his promise, and left
+Russell to amuse his little brother, while he went off, as usual, to the
+playground.
+
+There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them up
+deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the gradual
+but steady falling off in Eric’s character, and the first thing she
+noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When they first came to
+Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his father and mother in their
+walks; but now he went seldom or never; and even if he did go, he seemed
+ashamed, while with them, to meet any of his schoolfellows. The spirit
+of false independence was awake and growing in her darling son. The
+bright afternoons they had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking
+for sea-flowers among the lonely rocks of the neighboring
+headlands,--the walks at evening and sunset among the hills, and the
+sweet counsel they had together, when the boy’s character opened like a
+flower in the light and warmth of his mother’s love,--the long twilights
+when he would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees,
+and her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were becoming
+to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.
+
+It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so because
+they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps for ever. The
+time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June, and Mr. Williams’
+term of furlough ended in two months. The holidays at Roslyn were the
+months of July and August, and towards their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams
+intended to leave Vernon at Fairholm, and start for India--sending back
+Eric by himself as a boarder in Dr. Rowlands’ house.
+
+After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run straight down
+to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it was. They stripped
+off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined the beach, and then
+running along the sands, would swim out far into the bay till their
+heads looked like small dots glancing in the sunshine. This year Eric
+had learned to swim, and he enjoyed the bathing more than any
+other pleasure.
+
+One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse themselves
+on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on the sands by the
+ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two boys found great fun in
+hunting audacious little crabs, or catching the shrimps that shuffled
+about in the shallow water. At last Eric picked up a piece of wood which
+he found lying on the beach, and said, “What do you say to coming
+crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of stick will do capitally to thrust
+between the rocks in the holes where they lie?”
+
+Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to seek a
+likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but in the
+excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of time.
+
+The Williams’, for the boys’ convenience, usually dined at one, but on
+this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however, he didn’t
+appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was accidentally
+detained, and expecting him to come in every minute. But two o’clock
+came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric; three, but still no Eric.
+Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed, and even her husband
+grew uneasy.
+
+Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing Duncan
+pass by, ran down to ask him, “If he knew where Eric was?”
+
+“No,” said Duncan; “last time I saw him was on the shore. We bathed
+together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when I dressed.
+But I hav’n’t seen him since. If you like we’ll go and look for him. I
+daresay he’s on the beach somewhere.”
+
+But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned with this
+intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required all her
+husband’s firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits. There was
+enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to ask the boys
+who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the answer always
+was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.
+
+Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs, suddenly
+noticed by the sun that it was getting late.
+
+“Good gracious, Edwin,” said Eric, pulling out his watch, “it’s
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened they’ll
+be at home;” and running back as fast as they could, they reached the
+house at five o’clock, and rushed into the room.
+
+“Eric, Eric,” said Mrs. Williams faintly, “where have you been? has
+anything happened to you, my child?”
+
+“No, mother, nothing. I’ve only been crabfishing with Russell, and we
+forgot the time.”
+
+“Thoughtless boy,” said his father, “your mother has been in an agony
+about you.”
+
+Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in her arms,
+and mother and son wept in a long embrace. “Only two months,” whispered
+Mrs. Williams, “and we shall leave you, dear boy, perhaps forever. O do
+not forget your love for us in the midst of new companions.”
+
+The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only instead of
+first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to sit among the
+crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his parents were
+disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously mortified. But he had
+full confidence in his own powers, and made the strongest resolutions to
+work hard the next half-year, when he had got out of “that
+Gordon’s” clutches.
+
+The Williams’ spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed, in the
+prospect of losing them, Eric’s feelings to his parents came out in all
+their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the father and
+mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all their deep
+affection, were employed in leaving on the boy’s heart lasting
+impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that their love
+would encircle him for ever with its heavenly tenderness, and their pure
+prayers rise for him night and day to the throne of God.
+
+The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it was. In the
+wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon seemed to hear the
+sound of everlasting farewells. It is God’s mercy that ordains how
+seldom young hearts have to endure such misery.
+
+At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away; and
+during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their dear
+boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so Eric. He
+sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking the stillness
+every now and then with his convulsive sobs.
+
+“O Aunty,” he cried, “do you think I shall ever see them again? I have
+been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love. O, I wish I
+had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them.”
+
+“Yes, dearest,” said Mrs. Trevor, “I have no doubt we shall all meet
+again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you know, and that
+will not seem very long. And then they will be writing continually to
+us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how gladdened their hearts will be to
+hear that you and Vernon are good boys, and getting on well.”
+
+“O, I _will_ be a better boy, I _will_ indeed,” said Eric; “I mean to do
+great things, and they shall have nothing but good reports of me.”
+
+“God helping you, dear,” said his aunt, pushing back his hair from his
+forehead, and kissing it softly; “without his help, Eric, we are all
+weak indeed.”
+
+She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she known
+the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from human eyes!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ERIC A BOARDER
+
+     “We were, fair queen,
+     Two lads that thought there was no more behind,
+     But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
+     And to be boy eternal.”--WINTER’S TALE, i. 2.
+
+The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm, and Eric
+was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands’ house.
+
+As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the well-known
+faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.
+
+“Hallo, Williams! here you are at last,” said Duncan, seizing his hand.
+“How have you enjoyed the holidays? It’s so jolly to see you again.”
+
+“So you’re coming as a boarder,” said Montagu, “and to our noble house,
+too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and let’s watch
+whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we shall be starting in
+a few minutes.”
+
+“Ha! there’s Russell,” said Eric, springing to the gangway, and warmly
+shaking his friend’s hand as he came on board.
+
+“Have your father and mother gone, Eric?” said Russell, after a few
+minutes’ talk.
+
+“Yes,” said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing his eyes.
+“They are on their way back to India.”
+
+“I’m so sorry,” said Russell; “I don’t think anyone has ever been so
+kind to me as they were.”
+
+“And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last thing,
+that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave me
+something for you.” Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a little
+box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It contained a
+pretty silver watch, and inside the case was engraved--“Edwin Russell,
+from the mother of his friend Eric.”
+
+The boy’s eyes glistened with joyful surprise. “How good they are,” he
+said; “I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we get to Roslyn.”
+
+They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as a new
+comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands’ drawing-room, where the
+head master was sitting with his wife and children. His greeting was
+dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying “good night,” he gave Eric a
+few plain words of affectionate advice.
+
+At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life and
+spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the flush and
+flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in another minute
+entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands’ boarders assembled, and
+where most of them lived, except the few privileged sixth form, and
+other boys who had “studies.” A cheer greeted his entrance into the
+room. By this time most of the Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to
+have him among their number. They knew that he was clever enough to get
+them credit in the school, and, what was better still, that he would be
+a capital accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except
+Barker, there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.
+
+The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one end was
+a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys round the
+great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy could seldom
+get. The large windows opened on the green playground; and iron bars
+prevented any exit through them. This large room, called “the boarders’
+room,” was the joint habitation of Eric and some thirty other boys; and
+at one side ran a range of shelves and drawers, where they kept their
+books and private property. There the younger Rowlandites breakfasted,
+dined, had tea, and, for the most part, lived. Here, too, they had to
+get through all such work as was not performed under direct supervision.
+How many and what varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb
+walls any feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy’s name, as it was rudely cut on the oak
+panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen him, the
+good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there suffered--what
+_noble_ histories would the records unfold of honor and success, of
+baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs; what _awful_ histories of
+hopes blighted and habits learned, of wasted talents and ruined lives!
+
+The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven the
+boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by breakfast.
+At nine they went into school, where they continued, with little
+interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and, except on
+half-holidays, went into school again from two till five. The lock-up
+bell rang at dusk; at six o’clock they had tea--which was a repetition
+of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever else they liked--and
+immediately after sat down to “preparation,” which lasted from seven
+till nine. During this time one of the masters was always in the room,
+who allowed them to read amusing books, or employ themselves in any
+other quiet way they liked, as soon as ever they had learnt their
+lessons for the following day. At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read
+prayers, after which the boys were dismissed to bed.
+
+The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a suite of
+rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other; six on each
+side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between them, so that, when
+all the doors were open, you could see from one end of the whole range
+to the other. The only advantage of this arrangement was, that one
+master walking up and down could keep all the boys in order while they
+were getting into bed. About a quarter of an hour was allowed for this
+process, and then the master went along the rooms putting out the
+lights. A few of the “study-boys” were allowed to sit up till ten, and
+their bedrooms were elsewhere. The consequence was, that in these
+dormitories the boys felt perfectly secure from any interruption. There
+were only two ways by which a master could get at them; one up the great
+staircase, and through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme
+end of the range, which led into Dr. Rowlands’ house, but was generally
+kept locked.
+
+In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their order in
+the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there were nearly
+sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric’s arrival, collected
+in the boarders’ room, the rest being in their studies, or in the
+classrooms which some were allowed to use in order to prevent too great
+a crowd in the room below.
+
+At nine o’clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the boarders took
+their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible before him; and when
+the school servants had also come in, Dr. Rowlands read a chapter, and
+offered up an extempore prayer. While reading, he generally interspersed
+a few pointed remarks or graphic explanations, and Eric learnt much in
+this simple way. The prayer, though short, was always well suited to the
+occasion, and calculated to carry with it the attention of the
+worshippers.
+
+Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and Eric
+found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the lavatory,
+occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys named Bull and
+Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were all tired with their
+voyage, and the excitement of coming back to school, so that they did
+not talk much that night, and before long Eric was fast asleep,
+dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should have a very happy life at
+Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no end of distinctions, and make
+no end of new friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+“TAKING UP”
+
+
+     “We are not worst at once; the course of evil
+     Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
+     An infant’s hand might stop the breach with clay;
+     But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--
+     Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain
+     To stem the headlong current!”--ANON.
+
+With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when the new
+school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the “Shell,” as
+the form was called which intervened between the fourth and the fifth.
+Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes with him, but his
+other friends were left for the present in the form below.
+
+Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast with
+Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor so vigorous
+in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not catch fire from him
+so much as from the fourth-form master. But he was a far truer and
+deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous a sense of honor, and
+detestation of every form of moral obliquity, he never yielded to those
+storms of passionate indignation which Mr. Gordon found it impossible to
+control. Disappointed in early life, subjected to the deepest and most
+painful trials, Mr. Rose’s fine character had come out like gold from
+the flame. He now lived in and for the boys alone, and his whole life
+was one long self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt
+this, and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he neither
+expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for his
+self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and self-sacrificing
+love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were instrumental in saving
+one of his charge from evil, or turning one wanderer from the error
+of his ways.
+
+He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself, but
+lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in Dr.
+Rowlands’ house.
+
+Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy was
+sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears, and given
+him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon happily
+undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much kindness, and he
+felt that, however bad he had been before, he would now have an
+opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin again a career of hope.
+He worked admirably at first, and even beat, for the first week or two,
+his old competitors, Owen and Russell.
+
+From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few could look
+at the boy’s bright blue eyes and noble face without doing so, and the
+more when they knew that his father and mother were thousands of miles
+away, leaving him alone in the midst of so many dangers. Often the
+master asked him, and Russell, and Owen, and Montagu, to supper with him
+in the library, which gave them the privilege of sitting up later than
+usual, and enjoying a more quiet and pleasant evening than was possible
+in the noisy rooms. Boys and master were soon quite at home with each
+other, and in this way Mr. Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a
+useful warning without the formality of regular discipline or
+stereotyped instruction.
+
+Eric found the life of the “boarders’ room” far rougher than he had
+expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the hours of
+preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often dull enough.
+Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular indoor boys’ game
+like “baste the bear,” or “high-cockolorum;” or they would have amusing
+“ghost-hunts,” as they called them, after some dressed-up boy among the
+dark corridors and staircases. This was good enough fun, but at other
+times they got tired of games, and could not get them up, and then
+numbers of boys felt the idle time hang heavy on their hands. When this
+was the case, some of the worse sort, as might have been expected, would
+fill up their leisure with bullying or mischief.
+
+For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and annoyed
+Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal tables were placed
+two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks, and this was the only
+light the boys had. Of course, these candles often, wanted snuffing, and
+as snuffers were sure to be thrown about and broken as soon as they
+were brought into the room, the only resource was to snuff them with the
+fingers, at which all the boys became great adepts from necessity. One
+evening Barker, having snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the
+smouldering wick unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive
+fellow named Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright’s perceiving it, and at last
+Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--
+
+“I see a chimney,” and laughed.
+
+Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room had
+noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who unconsciously wrote
+on at the letter he was sending home.
+
+Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker again,
+said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell said
+quietly, “There’s something on your head, Wright,” and the little boy
+putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid wick.
+
+“What a shame!” he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a smudge.
+
+“Who told you to interfere?” said Barker, turning fiercely to Russell.
+Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him, and Barker,
+after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on another boy. This
+time Russell thought that every one might be on the look out for
+himself, and so went on with his work. But when Barker again chanted
+maliciously--
+
+“I see a chimney,” every boy who happened to be reading or writing,
+uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the victim or no; and
+so things continued for half an hour.
+
+Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when constantly
+repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any quiet work
+without constant danger of having some one creep up behind him and put
+the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his head; and neither Barker
+nor any of his little gang of imitators seemed disposed to give up their
+low mischief.
+
+One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure, from
+seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one had been
+treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his head, and sure
+enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was furious, and springing up,
+he shouted--
+
+“By Jove! I _won’t_ stand this any longer.”
+
+“You’ll have to sit it then,” said Barker.
+
+“O, it was _you_ who did it, was it? Then take that;” and, seizing one
+of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker’s head. Barker dodged,
+but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it whizzed by, and the blood
+flowed fast.
+
+“I’ll kill you for that,” said Barker, leaping at Eric, and seizing him
+by the hair.
+
+“You’ll get killed yourself then, you brute,” said Upton, Russell’s
+cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the room--and he boxed
+his ears as a premonitory admonition. “But, I say, young un,” continued
+he to Eric, “this kind of thing won’t do, you snow. You’ll get into
+rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows’ heads at that rate.”
+
+“He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by his
+filthy tricks,” said Eric hotly; “some one must stop him, and I will
+somehow, if no one else does.”
+
+“It wasn’t I who put the thing on your head, you passionate young fool,”
+growled Barker.
+
+“Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it.”
+
+“You shut up, Barker,” said Upton; “I’ve heard of your ways before, and
+when I catch you at your tricks, I’ll teach you a lesson. Come up to my
+study, Williams, if you like.”
+
+Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in the
+school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and often
+interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised him, and did
+anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do no harm, but he did
+great harm. He was full of misdirected impulses, and had a great notion
+of being manly, which he thought consisted in a fearless disregard of
+all school rules, and the performance of the wildest tricks. For this
+reason he was never very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked
+very much, but who was too scrupulous and independent to please him.
+Eric, on the other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to
+admire him in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready
+pupil in all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his example
+went to undermine all Eric’s lingering good resolutions, and ruin for
+ever the boy of whom he was so fond.
+
+From this time Eric was much in Upton’s study, and constantly by his
+side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and position
+in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their friendship was
+broken every now and then by little quarrels, which united them all the
+more closely after they had not spoken to each other perhaps for a week.
+
+“Your cousin Upton has ‘taken up’ Williams,” said Montagu to Russell one
+afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the beach, with
+Eric’s arm in Upton’s.
+
+“Yes, I am sorry for it.”
+
+“So am I. We shan’t see so much of him now.”
+
+“O, that’s not my only reason,” answered Russell, who had a rare habit
+of always going straight to the point.
+
+“You mean you don’t like the ‘taking-up’ system.”
+
+“No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used to
+fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in the
+school, and that the two would stand to each other in the relation of
+knight to squire. You know what the young knights were taught, Monty--to
+keep their bodies under, and bring them into subjection; to love God,
+and speak the truth always. That sounds very grand and noble to me. But
+when a big fellow takes up a little one _you_ know pretty well that
+_those_ are not the kind of lessons he teaches.”
+
+“No, Russell; you’re quite right. It’s bad for a fellow in every way.
+First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence; then ten
+to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character from really
+coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally gets paid out in
+kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of the rest; and if his
+protector happens to leave, or anything of that kind, woe betide him!”
+
+“No fear for Eric in that line, though,” said Russell; “he can hold his
+own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a most jolly
+fellow. I don’t think even Upton will spoil him; it’s chiefly the soft
+self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no iron, who get spoilt by
+being ‘taken up.’”
+
+Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from Upton,
+and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he was too manly
+a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to sink into the
+effeminate condition which usually grows on the young delectables who
+have the misfortune to be “taken up.”
+
+Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A coolness
+grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a little mutual
+contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did nothing but grind all
+day long, and had no geniality in him; while Owen pitied the love of
+popularity which so often led Eric into delinquencies, which he himself
+despised. Owen had, indeed, but few friends in the school; the only boy
+who knew him well enough to respect and like him thoroughly was Russell,
+who found in him the only one who took the same high, ground with
+himself. But Russell loved the good in every one, and was loved by all
+in return, and Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over
+his increasing failures.
+
+One day as the two were walking together in the green playground, Mr.
+Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their caps, he nodded and
+smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly noticed, and did not return
+Eric’s salute. He had begun to dislike the latter more and more, and had
+given him up altogether as one of the reprobates.
+
+“What a surly devil that is,” said Eric, when he had passed; “did you
+see how he purposely cut me?”
+
+“A surly ...? Oh Eric, that’s the first time I ever heard you swear.”
+
+Eric blushed. He hadn’t meant the word to slip out in Russell’s hearing,
+though similar expressions were common enough in his talk with other
+boys. But he didn’t like to be reproved, even by Russell, and in the
+ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--
+
+“Pooh, Edwin, you don’t call that swearing, do you? You’re so strict, so
+religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there are none like
+you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here.”
+
+Russell was silent.
+
+“Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was thinking
+the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the only two
+fellows here who don’t swear.”
+
+Russell still said nothing.
+
+“And, after all, I didn’t swear; I only called that fellow a surly
+devil.”
+
+“O, hush! Eric, hush!” said Russell sadly. “You wouldn’t have said so
+half-a-year ago.”
+
+Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose before
+him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home, thinking of him,
+praying for him, centring all their hopes in him. In him!--and he knew
+how many things he was daily doing and saying, which would cut them to
+the heart. He knew that all his moral consciousness was fast vanishing,
+and leaving him a bad and reckless boy.
+
+In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how shocked
+he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became too familiar
+to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the habit himself.
+Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite a graceful sound in
+his ears; a sound of entire freedom and independence of moral restraint;
+an open casting off, as it were, of all authority, so that he had begun
+to admire it, particularly in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero,
+Upton; and he recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out
+suddenly in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how
+Upton smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and gradually
+grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded him that he was
+doing wrong.
+
+He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with him for
+a moment, but at length he answered, “O Edwin, I fear I am getting
+utterly bad; I wish I were more like you,” he added, in a low sad tone.
+
+“Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am myself;
+but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to all the bad
+things round us. Remember, I know more of school than you.”
+
+The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his bedside,
+and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+“DEAD FLIES,” OR “YE SHALL BE AS GODS”
+
+“In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” PROV.
+vii. 9.
+
+At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was half-past nine.
+It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing with turbulent life,
+should lie down quietly, and get to sleep. They never dreamt of doing
+so. Very soon after the masters were gone, the sconces were often
+relighted, sometimes in separate dormitories, sometimes in all of them,
+and the boys amused themselves by reading novels or making a row. They
+would play various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over
+the beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers off
+their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well wielded,
+especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very efficient
+instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn’t hurt very much,
+even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these matches were excellent
+trials of strength and temper, and were generally accompanied with
+shouts of laughter, never ending until one side was driven back to its
+own room. Many a long and tough struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his
+prowess was so universally acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was
+a match for any other, and far stronger in this warfare than most of the
+rest. At bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was the
+only _fainéant_ among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off
+the smaller fry.
+
+Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been placed
+in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn school. Backward
+in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed good looks, of mean
+disposition and feeble intellect, he was the very worst specimen of a
+boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even Barker so deeply excited Eric’s
+repulsion and contempt. And yet, since the affair of Upton, Barker and
+Eric were declared enemies, and, much to the satisfaction of the latter,
+never spoke to each other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed
+him--he was professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even of
+this worthless boy.
+
+Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably profess to
+like him “well enough,” but if they were honest, they would generally
+end by allowing their contempt.
+
+“We’ve got a nice set in No. 7, haven’t we?” said Duncan to Eric one
+day.
+
+“Capital. Old Llewellyn’s a stunner, and I like Attlay and Graham.”
+
+“Don’t you like Bull then?”
+
+“O yes; pretty well.”
+
+The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the confidential
+augurs, burst out laughing.
+
+“You know you detest him,” said Duncan.
+
+“No, I don’t. He never did me any harm that I know of.”
+
+“Him!--well, _I_ detest him.”
+
+“Well!” answered Eric, “on coming to think of it, so do I. And yet he is
+popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is.”
+
+“He’s not _really_ popular. I’ve often noticed that fellows pretty
+generally despise him, yet somehow don’t like to say so.”
+
+“Why do you dislike him, Duncan?”
+
+“I don’t know. Why do you?”
+
+“I don’t know either.”
+
+Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet if they
+had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found out in their
+secret souls the reasons of their dislike.
+
+Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often bragged as
+the acmé of desirability and wickedness. He was always telling boys what
+they did at “his old school,” and he quite inflamed the minds of such as
+fell under his influence by marvellous tales of the wild and wilful
+things which he and his former school-fellows had done. Many and many a
+scheme of sin and mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and
+carried out on the model of Bull’s reminiscences of his previous life.
+
+He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil than any
+other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the general odium
+was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience so often as a
+ground of superiority, that at last the claim was silently allowed. He
+spoke from the platform of more advanced iniquity, and the others
+listened first curiously, then eagerly to his words.
+
+“Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Such was the temptation
+which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and Eric among the
+number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually, he dropped into their
+too willing ears the poison of his polluting acquirements.
+
+In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting mind.
+
+I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry over
+it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a true picture
+of what school life _sometimes_ is, I must not pass it by altogether.
+
+The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No. 7, he was
+shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he felt himself
+blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then growing pale again,
+while a hot dew was left upon his forehead. Bull was the speaker; but
+this time there was a silence, and the subject instantly dropped. The
+others felt that “a new boy” was in the room; they did not know how he
+would take it; they were unconsciously abashed.
+
+Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation before,
+they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of yielding
+to it.
+
+Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption
+and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your
+destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these
+fellows that unseemly words wound your conscience; tell them that they
+are ruinous, sinful, damnable; speak out and save yourself and the rest.
+Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful
+presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel
+which the whole world, if it were “one entire and perfect chrysolite,”
+cannot replace.
+
+Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this his hour
+of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses and the fiery
+chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the dark array of
+spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a pitying finger to the
+yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair that even now perhaps is being
+cleft under his feet. Show him the garlands of the present and the past,
+withering at the touch of the Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity
+show him the canker which he is introducing into the sap of the tree of
+life, which shall cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its
+blossom to go up as dust.
+
+But the sense of sin was on Eric’s mind. How _could_ he speak? was not
+his own language sometimes profane? How--how could he profess to reprove
+another boy on the ground of morality, when he himself said did things
+less ruinous perhaps, but equally forbidden?
+
+For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay silent.
+Since Bull’s last words nobody had spoken. They were going to sleep. It
+was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment passed by for ever;
+Eric had listened without objection to foul words, and the irreparable
+harm was done.
+
+How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God had
+provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far harder to
+resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.
+
+Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the destinies
+of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day, the hour a common
+hour. We never thought twice about the change of intention, which by one
+of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life determined for good or for evil,
+for happiness or misery, the color of our remaining years. The stroke of
+the pen was done in a moment which led unconsciously to our ruin; the
+word was uttered quite heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision
+of our weal or woe.
+
+Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of an
+angel’s wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an angel’s
+voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments which passed,
+until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell asleep.
+
+Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once remembered what
+had passed. Bull’s words haunted him; he could not forget them; they
+burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever. He was moody and
+petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his aversion to Bull. Ah
+Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you, but prayerfulness would;
+one word, Eric, at the throne of grace--one prayer before you go down
+among the boys, that God in his mercy would wash away, in the blood of
+his dear Son, your crimson stains, and keep your conscience and
+memory clean.
+
+The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a few
+formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have given way
+to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard Bull’s footstep,
+and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast; so Eric did not pray.
+
+Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory No. 7. On
+the contrary, they generally flashed along in the liveliest way, till
+some one said “Good night;” and then the boys turned off to sleep. Eric
+knew this, and instantly conjectured that it was only a sort of respect
+for him, and ignorance of the manner in which he would consider it, that
+prevented Duncan and the rest from taking any further notice of Bull’s
+remark. It was therefore no good disburdening his mind to any of them;
+but he determined to speak about the matter to Russell in their
+next walk.
+
+They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had discontinued
+the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys taking their
+exercise under a master’s inspection. Boys are not generally fond of
+constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays they almost entirely
+confined their open-air exercise to the regular games, and many of them
+hardly left the play-ground boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they
+often went walks, each with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric
+first came as a boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and
+many a pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even this
+intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more often gone
+with his new friend Upton.
+
+“Come a walk, boy,” said Upton, as they left the dining-room.
+
+“O excuse me to-day, Upton,” said Eric, “I’m going with your cousin.”
+
+“Oh _very_ well,” said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping to make Eric
+jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had “taken up” before he
+knew Williams.
+
+Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said, “Come a
+stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?”
+
+“O yes,” said Russell cheerfully; “why, we haven’t seen each other for
+some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant to drop
+me, Eric.”
+
+He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his head,
+for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all the school,
+and especially at his friendship with so leading a fellow as Upton, Eric
+had _not_ seen much of his friend since their last conversation about
+swearing. Indeed, conscious of failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in
+Russell’s company.
+
+He faltered, and answered humbly, “I hope you will never drop _me_,
+Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to speak to
+you to-day.”
+
+In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric’s, as they turned
+towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just going to begin,
+when they heard Montagu’s voice calling after them--
+
+“I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with you?”
+
+“O yes, Monty, do,” said Russell, “It will be quite like old times; now
+that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to sing ‘When shall
+we three meet again?’”
+
+Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words jarred in
+Eric’s heart. He was silent, and answered in monosyllables, so the walk
+was provokingly dull. At last they reached Fort Island, and sat down by
+the ruined chapel looking on the sea.
+
+“Why what’s the row with you, old boy,” said Montagu, playfully shaking
+Eric by the shoulder, “you’re as silent as Zimmerman on Solitude, and as
+doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you’ve been going through a
+select course of Blair’s Grave, Young’s Night Thoughts, and Drelincourt
+on Death.”
+
+To his surprise Eric’s head was still bent, and, at last, he heard a
+deep suppressed sigh.
+
+“My dear child, what is the matter with you?” said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, “surely you’re not offended at my
+nonsense?”
+
+Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he gulped down
+his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull’s vile words the night
+before. They listened in silence.
+
+“I knew it must come, Eric,” said Russell at last, “and I am so sorry
+you didn’t speak at the time.”
+
+“Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your dormitories?”
+asked Eric.
+
+“No,” said Russell.
+
+“Very little,” said Montagu.
+
+A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and looked
+away.
+
+“Let me tell you,” said Russell solemnly; “my father (he is dead now you
+know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this kind of thing.
+I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such coarse knowledge as is
+forced upon one here, and with my reminiscences of home, I could not
+bear even that much of it which was impossible to avoid. But the very
+first time such talk was begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said
+I don’t know, but I felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous
+adder, and, at any rate, I showed such pain and distress that the
+fellows dropped it at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to
+stay in the room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I
+do think the fellows are very glad of it themselves.”
+
+“Well,” said Montagu, “I don’t profess to look on it from the religious
+ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in bad taste, and
+said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick me for a conceited
+little fool, but he didn’t; and they hardly ever venture on that
+ground now.”
+
+“It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly,” answered Russell; “my
+father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become rife in
+a public school.”
+
+“Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these matters?”
+asked Eric thoughtfully.
+
+“In sermons they do. Don’t you remember Rowlands’ sermon not two weeks
+ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite right not to
+speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we invite confidence.
+Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in this way. After all, it
+is only a very few of the worst who ever do.”
+
+They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off performing
+the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private request to Bull to
+abstain from his offensive communications, and an endeavor to enlist
+Duncan into his wishes.
+
+One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7. Bull’s turn
+came, and in his story the vile element again appeared. For a while Eric
+said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he made a faint
+remonstrance.
+
+“Shut up there, Williams,” said Attlay, “and don’t spoil the story.”
+
+“Very well. It’s your own fault, and I shall shut my ears.”
+
+He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended to be
+asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly new to him;
+his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned indifference, and the
+poison flowed deep into his veins. Before that evening was over, Eric
+Williams was “a god, knowing good from evil.”
+
+O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and beware. The
+knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it hell. That little
+matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like the snowflake detached
+by the breath of air from the mountain-top, which, as it rushes down,
+gains size, and strength, and impetus, till it has swollen to the mighty
+and irresistible avalanche that overwhelms garden, and field, and
+village, in a chaos of undistinguishable death.
+
+Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished there!
+Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother’s
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very pale
+their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young brothers who have
+sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod, from foreign graves and
+English churchyards, they start up and throng around us in the paleness
+of their fall. May every schoolboy who reads this page be warned by the
+waving of their wasted hands, from that burning marle of passion, where
+they found nothing but shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an
+early grave.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DORMITORY LIFE
+
+     [Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux herebennae.]
+     HOM.
+
+For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last chapter, Upton
+and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at Eric’s declining the
+honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at Upton’s unreasonableness.
+In the “taking up” system, such quarrels were of frequent occurrence,
+and as the existence of a misunderstanding was generally indicated in
+this very public way, the variations of good will between such friends
+generally excited no little notice and amusement among the other boys.
+But both Upton and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so
+far as others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the
+other’s company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than ever.
+
+As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his study
+door, and which ran as follows:--
+
+“Dear Horace--Don’t let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow, why
+should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a walk with
+Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as you? I shall
+expect you to make it up directly after prayers.--Yours, if you are not
+silly, E.W.”
+
+The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton seized
+Eric’s hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they had a good
+laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs chattering
+merrily.
+
+“There’s to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight,” said Eric;
+“the doctor’s gone to a dinner-party, and we’re going to have no end
+of fun.”
+
+“Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell me, I’ll
+come and look on.”
+
+“Very well; depend upon it, I’ll come.” And they parted at the foot of
+the study stairs.
+
+It was Mr. Rose’s night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range
+of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he
+put out all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed
+the utmost quiet and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had
+passed away through the lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a
+scout, had seen the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the
+corner at the foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door
+close behind him.
+
+After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that
+they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the
+first to stir.
+
+“Now for some fun,” said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
+pitching his pillow at Eric’s head.
+
+“I’ll pay you out for that when I’m ready,” said Eric, laughing; “but
+give us a match, first.”
+
+Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
+candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and
+one after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed
+to them in a sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that a length all the
+twelve dormitories had their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts
+of amusement, some in their night-shirts and others with their trousers
+slipped on. Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last
+Graham suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.
+
+“But we’re making a regular knock-me-down shindy,” said Llewellyn;
+“somebody must keep cavè.”
+
+“O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no fear of
+disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami,” answered Graham.
+
+But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the top of the
+stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that direction, and little
+Wright consented to go first. He had only to leave the lavatory door
+open; and stand at the top of the staircase, and he then commanded for a
+great distance the only avenue in which danger was expected. If any
+master’s candle appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes’
+warning, and a single loudly-whispered “cave” would cause some one in
+each dormitory instantly to “douse the glim,” and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary’s arrival, they would all be (of course)
+fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming manner. Whatever
+noise the master might have heard, it would be impossible to fix it on
+any of the sleepers.
+
+So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and shivering
+in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and not
+unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest were
+getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso, arranging a
+stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and dressing up the
+actors in the most fantastic apparel.
+
+The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at the end
+Wright ran in through the lavatory.
+
+“I say,” said the little fellow, “it’s jolly cold standing at the top of
+the stairs. Won’t some one relieve guard?”
+
+“O, I will,” answered Eric, good-naturedly; “it’s a shame that one
+fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;” and he ran to
+take Wright’s post.
+
+After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no danger,
+and therefore ran up to Upton’s study for a change.
+
+“Well, what’s up?” said the study-boy, approvingly, as he glanced at
+Eric’s laughing eyes.
+
+“O, we’ve been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But I’m
+keeping ‘cavè’ now; only it’s so cold that I thought I’d run up to
+your study.”
+
+“Little traitor; we’ll shoot you for a deserting sentinel.”
+
+“O no;” said Eric, “it’s all serene; Rowley’s out, and dear old Rose’d
+never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of Morpheus.
+Besides the fellows are making less row now.”
+
+“Well! look here! let’s go and look on, and I’ll tell you a dodge; put
+one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of the lavatory, and
+then if any one comes he’ll make clang enough to wake dead; and while
+he’s amusing himself with this, there’ll be lots of time to ‘extinguish
+the superfluous abundance of the nocturnal illuminators.’ Eh?”
+
+“Capital!” said Eric, “come along.”
+
+They went down and arranged the signal very artistically, leaving the
+iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the large tin basin on
+its edge, so as to lean against it. Having extremely enjoyed this part
+of the proceeding, they went to look at the theatricals again, the boys
+being highly delighted at Upton’s appearance among them.
+
+They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant reminiscences of
+Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and mustachios to make him
+resemble Banquo, his costume being completed by a girdle round his
+nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson silk handkerchief, richly
+broidered with gold, which had been brought to him from India, and which
+at first, in the innocence of his heart, he used to wear on Sundays,
+until he acquired the sobriquet of “the Dragon.” Duncan made a
+superb Macbeth.
+
+They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in a most
+novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the room, on one
+side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife, the handle end of
+which he was pushing through a hole in the middle of the sheet at the
+shadow of Duncan on the other side.
+
+Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama, was
+spouting--
+
+     “Is this a dagger which I see before me?
+     The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;”
+
+And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded knife; but
+as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was immediately withdrawn, and
+the blade end substituted, which made the comic Macbeth instantly draw
+back again, and recommence his apostrophe. This scene had tickled the
+audience immensely, and Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just
+drawing the somewhat unwarrantable conclusion that it was
+
+     “A dagger of the mind, a false creation,”
+
+when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced a dead
+silence.
+
+“Cavè,” shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his bed. Instantly
+there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet was torn down, the
+candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and the dormitories at once
+plunged in profound silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of
+sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or any of the under
+masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!
+
+He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory doors were
+wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain lay torn on the
+floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms were in the
+strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still smouldered in
+several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the extraordinary way
+in which the bed clothes were huddled about told an unmistakeable tale.
+
+He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No. 8, he
+heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton’s figure vanishing
+into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the study stairs.
+
+He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories, again
+stopping at No. 7 on his return.
+
+He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly fixed on
+him as a chief culprit.
+
+“Duncan!”
+
+No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan’s bed.
+
+“Duncan!” he said, still louder and more sternly, “you sleep soundly,
+sir, too soundly; get up directly,” and he laid his hand on the
+boy’s arm.
+
+“Get away, you old donkey,” said Duncan sleepily; “’t, aint time to get
+up yet. First bell hasn’t rung.”
+
+“Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;” but the
+imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great yawn, and
+then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing Dr. Rowlands,
+that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from over his bed-clothes,
+burst into an irresistible explosion of laughter.
+
+Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--“What! Williams! get out of bed,
+sir, this instant.”
+
+Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he stood on
+the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and corked cheeks,
+with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense astonishment, that the scene
+became overpoweringly ludicrous to Duncan, who now in his turn was
+convulsed with a storm of laughter, faintly echoed in stifled titterings
+from other beds.
+
+“_Very_ good,” said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry, “you will hear
+of this to-morrow;” and he walked away with a heavy step, stopping at
+the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its proper place, and then
+mounting to the studies.
+
+Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he knocked at
+one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their occupants at once
+to the library.
+
+Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they heard the
+doctor’s retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark to No. 7, not
+daring to relight their candles.
+
+“Good gracious!” said Attlay, “only to think of Rowley appearing! How
+could he have twigged?”
+
+“He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home,” said Eric.
+
+“I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a rage the
+Doctor will be in to-morrow?”
+
+“Won’t you just catch it!” said Barker to Duncan, but intending the
+remark for Eric.
+
+“Just like your mean chaff,” retorted Duncan. “But I say, Williams,” he
+continued, laughing, “you _did_ look so funny in the whiskers.”
+
+At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down stairs to
+the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their different rooms.
+
+“What do you think he’ll do to us?” asked Eric.
+
+“I don’t know,” said Duncan uneasily; “flog us, for one thing, that’s
+certain. I’m so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it’s no good fretting.
+We’ve had our cake, and now we must pay for it, that’s all.”
+
+Eric’s cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened, and
+somebody stole noiselessly in.
+
+“Who’s there?”
+
+“Upton. I’ve come to have a chat. The Doctor’s like a turkey-cock in
+sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a rage.”
+
+“Why, what’s he been saying?” asked Eric, as Upton came and took a seat
+on his bed.
+
+“Oh! he’s been rowing us like six o’clock,” said Upton, “about ‘moral
+responsibility,’ ‘abetting the follies of children,’ ‘forgetting our
+position in the school,’ and I don’t know what all; and he ended by
+asking who’d been in the dormitories. Of course I confessed the soft
+impeachment, whereon he snorted ‘Ha! I suspected so. Very well, Sir, you
+don’t know how to use a study; you shall be deprived of it till the end
+of term.’”
+
+“Did he really, Horace?” said Eric. “And it’s all my doing that you’ve
+got into the scrape. Do forgive me.”
+
+“Bosh! My dear fellow,” said Upton, “it’s twice as much my fault as
+yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It’s rather a bore
+losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all the more
+of each other. Good night; I must be off.”
+
+Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said to the
+boys, “Stop! I have a word to say to you.”
+
+“I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories yesterday
+evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden hours, and the
+noise made was so great that it was heard through the whole building. I
+am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for a few hours, without your
+taking such advantage of my absence; and that the upper boys, so far
+from using their influence to prevent these infractions of discipline,
+seem inclined rather to join in them themselves. On this occasion I have
+punished Upton, by depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and
+as I myself detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the
+library at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by the
+dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron door. The
+consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and _might_ have been
+seriously injured in entering the lavatory. I must know the name of the
+delinquent.”
+
+Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked surprised, and
+there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr. Rose’s face.
+
+“Very well,” said the Doctor, “I shall speak to you both privately.”
+
+Twelve o’clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe caning.
+Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for some
+dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He burned, not
+with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent indignation, and
+listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr. Rowlands’ warnings. When the
+flogging was over, he almost rushed out of the room, to choke in
+solitude his sense of humiliation, nor would he suffer any one for an
+instant to allude to his disgrace. Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton
+was doing him no good; but he passionately resented the suggestion, and
+determined, with obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the
+boy whom he had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.
+
+Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the friendships of
+boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been warned against his
+new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the fact that Mr. So-and-so
+doesn’t like seeing them together, and after that they fancy themselves
+bound in honor to show that they are not afraid of continuing their
+connection. It was not strange, therefore, that Eric and Upton were
+thrown more than ever into each other’s society, and consequently, that
+Eric, while he improved daily in strength, activity, and prowess,
+neglected more and more his school duties and honorable ambitions.
+
+Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character and
+abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness and
+unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One night he
+sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During the evening he
+drew out Eric’s exercise, and compared it with, those of Russell and
+Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him in marks. Eric’s was
+careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two were neat, spirited, and
+painstaking, and had, therefore, been marked much higher.
+
+“Your exercises _used_ to be far better--I may say incomparably better,”
+said Mr. Rose; “what is the cause of this falling off?”
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. “I fear, my boy, you have not
+been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and are letting
+boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in ability. That is a
+very bad _sign_, Eric; in itself it is a discouraging fact, but I fear
+it indicates worse evils. You are wasting the golden hours, my boy, that
+can never return. I only hope and trust that no other change for the
+worse is going on in your character.”
+
+And so he talked on till the boy’s sorrow was undisguised. “Come,” he
+said gently, “let us kneel down together before we part.”
+
+Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full heart,
+the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child beside him.
+Eric’s heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and he loved him as
+a brother. He rose from his knees full of the strongest resolutions, and
+earnestly promised amendment for the future.
+
+But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time, indeed,
+there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on with its usual
+allurements, and when the hours of temptation came, his good intentions
+melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the prayer, and the vows that
+followed it, had been obliterated from his memory without leaving any
+traces in his life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ERIC IN COVENTRY
+
+                     “And either greet him not
+     Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more
+     Than if not looked on.”--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.
+
+Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller
+class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were
+too high in the school for “the boarders’ room,” and who were waiting to
+succeed to the studies as they fell vacant. There were three or four
+others with him in this class-room, and although it was less pleasant
+than his old quarters, it was yet far more comfortable than the
+Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form boys.
+
+As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the class-rooms
+except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however, was very generally
+overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an opportunity to escape from
+the company of Barker and his associates, became a constant frequenter
+of his friend’s new abode. Here they used to make themselves very
+comfortable. Joining the rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and
+amuse themselves over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a
+green or yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest:
+and Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.
+
+Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him unmolested; but
+if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice him, he invariably
+turned him out, and after the first offence or two, had several times
+set him an imposition. This treatment gave fresh intensity to his now
+deeply-seated disgust at his late master, and his expressions of
+indignation at “Gordon’s spite” were loud and frequent.
+
+One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one there but
+Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the window, with
+Upton’s arm resting kindly on Eric’s shoulder as they watched with
+admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that flashed over the sea.
+Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid phrase [Greek: anêrithmon
+gelasma pontiôn], which he had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that
+morning, and they were trying which would hit on the best rendering of
+it. Eric stuck up for the literal sublimity of “the innumerable laughter
+of the sea,” while Upton was trying to win him over to “the
+many-twinkling smile of ocean.” They were enjoying the discussion, and
+each stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.
+
+On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial dislike
+of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that the younger had
+grown more than usually conceited and neglectful, since he had been
+under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in Eric’s presence there, a
+new case of wilful disobedience.
+
+“Williams, here _again!_” he exclaimed sharply. “Why, sir, you seem to
+suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How often have I told you
+that no one is allowed to sit here, except the regular occupants?”
+
+His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant discussion.
+
+“No other master takes any notice of it, sir,” said Upton.
+
+“I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will bring me
+the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for your repeated
+disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish you also, for
+tempting him to come here.”
+
+This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon’s part, of which Upton took immediate
+advantage.
+
+“I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides,” he
+continued, with annoying blandness of tone, “it would be inhospitable;
+and I am too glad of his company.”
+
+Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. “Williams, leave the room
+instantly.”
+
+The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. “Mr. Rose never interferes with me,
+when he sees me here,” he said as he retreated.
+
+“Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit and
+impertinence are getting intolerable.”
+
+Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton joined him
+on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a little
+ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground together. He went
+away full of strong contempt, and from that moment began to look on the
+friends as two of the worst boys in the school.
+
+This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a half-holiday, and
+instead of being able to join in any of the games, Eric had to spend
+that weary afternoon in writing away at the fourth Georgic; Upton
+staying in a part of the time to help him a little, by dictating the
+lines to him--an occupation not unfrequently interrupted by storms of
+furious denunciation against Mr. Gordon’s injustice and tyranny; Eric
+vowing “that he would pay him out somehow yet.”
+
+The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again consumed some
+of the next day’s leisure, part of it being written between schools in
+the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite finished on Friday
+afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric stayed a few minutes
+behind the rest to scribble off the last ten lines; which done, he
+banged down the lid of his desk, not locking it, and ran out.
+
+The next morning an incident happened which involved considerable
+consequences to some of the actors in my story.
+
+Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves, like
+Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one end of this
+hall was a board used for the various school notices, to which there
+were always affixed two or three pieces of paper containing
+announcements about examinations and other matters of general interest.
+
+On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the boys, as
+they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a new notice on
+the board, and, thronging round to see what it was, read these words,
+written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by wafers to the board--
+
+“GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL.”
+
+As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took them all
+very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so audacious as to
+play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by the entrance of the
+masters, and they all took their seats, without any one tearing down the
+dangerous paper.
+
+After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready, fell on the
+paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment transfixed with
+astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.
+
+Pointing to the inscription, he said: “I think we had better leave that
+there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has seen it. Would you
+mind asking him to step in here?”
+
+Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr. Gordon
+while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his seat, Montagu,
+who was next him, whispered--
+
+“I say, have you seen the notice-board?”
+
+“No. Why?”
+
+“Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not very
+favorable.”
+
+“And serve him right, too, brute!” said Eric, smarting with the memory
+of his imposition.
+
+“Well, there’ll be no end of a row; you’ll see.”
+
+During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He read
+the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr. Rose--“Would
+you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As it would be painful
+to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better explain to him how
+matters stand.”
+
+“Halloa! here’s a rumpus!” whispered Montagu; “he never has the lower
+school down for nothing.”
+
+A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower school. When
+they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there was a dead silence
+and hush of expectation.
+
+“I have summoned you all together,” said the Doctor, “on a most serious
+occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the masters
+found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose of writing
+up an insult to one of our number, which is at once coarse and wicked.
+As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my deeply painful duty to
+inform you of its purport; the words are these--‘Gordon is a surly
+devil.’”--A _very_ slight titter followed this statement, which was
+instantly succeeded by a sort of thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he
+heard the words, started perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu’s
+eye fixed on him.
+
+Dr. Rowlands continued--“I suppose this dastardly impertinence has been
+perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am perfectly
+amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the attempt, and it
+may be very difficult to discover the author of it. But, depend upon it,
+discover him _we will_, at whatever cost. Whoever the offender may be,
+and he must be listening to me at this moment, let him be assured that
+he shall _not_ be unpunished. His guilty secret shall be torn from him.
+His punishment can only be mitigated by his instantly yielding
+himself up.”
+
+No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric was so
+uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that several eyes
+were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy were awakened.
+
+“Very well,” said the head master, “the guilty boy is not inclined to
+confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up to me by to-day
+week, every indulgence to the school will be forfeited, the next whole
+holiday stopped, and the coming cricket-match prohibited.”
+
+“The handwriting may be some clue,” suggested Mr. Ready. “Would you have
+any objection to my examining the note-books of the Shell?”
+
+“None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr. Ready
+immediately.”
+
+The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to the
+desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and suddenly
+stopped at one. Eric’s heart beat loud, as his saw Mr. Rose point
+towards him.
+
+“We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles that on the
+board. I give the offender one more chance of substituting confession
+for detection.”
+
+No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.
+
+“Eric Williams, stand out in the room.”
+
+Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed
+
+“The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know anything
+of this shameful proceeding?”
+
+“Nothing, sir,” he murmured in a low tone.
+
+“Nothing whatever?”
+
+“Nothing whatever, sir.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands’ look searched him through and through, and seemed to burn
+into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The Doctor felt
+certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained him to the spot
+with his glance for a minute or two, and then said slowly, and with a
+deep sigh--
+
+“Very well; I _hope_ you have spoken the truth; but whether you have or
+no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially the upper boys,
+will remember what I have said. I shall now tear down the insulting
+notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as head of the school, that
+you may make further inquiries.” He left the room, and the boys resumed
+their usual avocation till twelve o’clock. But poor Eric could hardly
+get through his ordinary pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until
+everybody noticed his strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.
+
+No sooner had twelve o’clock struck, than the whole school broke up into
+knots of buzzing and eager talkers.
+
+“I wonder who did it,” said a dozen voices at once.
+
+“The writing was undoubtedly Williams’,” suggested some.
+
+“And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor spoke to
+him, and how he hung his head?”
+
+“Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon.”
+
+“Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and he has
+been swearing at him ever since.”
+
+“I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night,” said
+Barker.
+
+“Did he? By Jove, that looks bad.”
+
+“Has any one charged him with it?” asked Duncan.
+
+“Yes,” answered one of the group: “but he’s as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought to
+know him better than to think him capable of such a thing.”
+
+“And quite right, too,” said Duncan. “If he did it, he’s done something
+totally unlike what one would have believed possible of him.”
+
+The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly they
+seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was of a
+violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to patronise;
+and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had been attached
+to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same size with some which
+Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts had been discovered,
+nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very generally whispered
+throughout the school.
+
+In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys proclaimed that
+he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at once, and save the
+school from the threatened punishment. But he listened to such
+suggestions with the most passionate indignation.
+
+“What!” he said, angrily, “tell a wilful lie to blacken my own innocent
+character? Never!”
+
+The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put into
+Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and maintained
+his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the boys whom he
+had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous in his defence.
+They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and little Wright.
+
+On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and said in a
+very serious tone, “This is a bad business, Williams. I cannot forget
+how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I won’t believe you
+guilty, yet you ought to explain.”
+
+“What? even _you_, then suspect me?” said Eric, bursting into proud
+tears. “Very well. I shan’t condescend to _deny_ it. I won’t speak to
+you again till you have repented of mistrusting me;” and he resolutely
+rejected all further overtures on Upton’s part.
+
+He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted to
+destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that the
+whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing which
+from his soul he abhorred. “No,” he thought, “bad I may be, but I
+_could_ not have done such a base and cowardly trick.”
+
+Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to the
+rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the rising tide.
+The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and console the tumult of
+his heart. He drank in strength and defiance from the roar of the
+waters, and climbed to their very edge along the rocks, where every
+fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in white swirls of angry loam.
+The look of the green, rough, hungry sea, harmonised with his feelings,
+and he sat down and stared into it, to find relief from the torment of
+his thoughts.
+
+At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet the crowd
+of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone over his sorrow
+in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps, when he caught sight
+of Russell in the distance. His first impulse was to run away and
+escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and when he came up, said,
+“Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose to tell you that _I_ don’t
+suspect you, and have never done so for a moment. I know you too well,
+my boy, and be sure that _I_ will always stick to you, even if the whole
+school cut you.”
+
+“Oh, Edwin, I am _so_ wretched. I needn’t tell you that I am quite
+innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected? Why, even your
+cousin Upton won’t believe me.”
+
+“But he does, Eric,” said Russell; “he told me so just now, and several
+others said the same thing.”
+
+A transient gleam passed over Eric’s face.
+
+“O, I do so long for home again,” he said. “Except you, I have no
+friend.”
+
+“Don’t say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon it, as
+the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the fellows
+will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions. And you _have_
+one friend, Eric,” he continued, pointing reverently upwards.
+
+Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face till the
+tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat silent and pitying
+beside him, and let Eric’s head rest upon his shoulder.
+
+When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One was from
+Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--
+
+“I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act. Believe me,
+I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and confess, and I
+promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and save you.”
+
+This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up furiously
+into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the room.
+
+Another was from Mr. Rose;
+
+“Dear Eric--I _cannot, will_ not, believe you guilty, although
+appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I feel sure that
+I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too noble-minded for a revenge so
+petty and so mean. Come to me, dear boy, if I can help you in any way. I
+_trust you_, Eric, and will use every endeavor to right you in the
+general estimation. You are innocent; pray to God for help under this
+cruel trial, and be sure that your character will yet be
+cleared.--Affectionately yours, WALTER ROSE.”
+
+“_P.S._--I can easily understand that just now you will like quiet; come
+and sit with me in the library as much as you like.”
+
+He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and at that
+moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was from Owen, as
+follows:--
+
+“Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately; naturally,
+perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some consolation to you to be
+told, even by a rival, that I, for one, feel certain of your innocence.
+If you want company, I shall be delighted now to walk with you.--Yours
+truly, D. OWEN.”
+
+This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy’s lonely and
+passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at once to
+accept Mr. Rose’s kind offer of allowing him to sit for the present in
+the library.
+
+There were several boys in the room while he was reading his notes, but
+none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to notice them, or
+interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out he met Duncan and
+Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing of the rest.
+
+“Ha! Williams,” said Duncan, “we have been looking everywhere for you,
+dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for one, and Monty
+for another, will maintain your innocence before the whole school.”
+
+Montagu _said_ nothing, but Eric understood full well the trustful
+kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was too full to
+speak, and he went on towards the library.
+
+“I wonder at your speaking to that fellow,” said Bull, as the two new
+comers joined the group at the fire-place.
+
+“You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him before long,”
+said Montagu warmly; “ay, the whole lot of you; and you are very unkind
+to condemn him before you are certain.”
+
+“I wish you joy of your _friend_, Duncan,” sneered Barker.
+
+“Friend?” said Duncan, firing up; “yes! he is my friend, and I’m not
+ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if _all_ the fellows
+were as honorable as Williams.”
+
+Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush, thought
+it better to say no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+“A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all.” TENNYSON, _The Princess_.
+
+On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands that the
+perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but that one boy was
+very generally suspected, and on grounds that seemed plausible. “I
+admit,” he added, “that from the little I know of him he seems to me a
+very unlikely sort of boy to do it.”
+
+“I think,” suggested the Doctor, “that the best way would be for you to
+have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence. Do you think
+that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation publicly, with
+good order and fairness?”
+
+“I think so, sir,” said Avonley.
+
+“Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by themselves
+in the boarders’ room tomorrow afternoon at three, and see what you can
+do among you.”
+
+Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys assembled,
+they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and were rather
+disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they determined to have
+a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly; and by general consent
+he was himself voted into the desk as president. He then got up
+and said--
+
+“There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all the boys
+take their seats quietly down the room.”
+
+They did so, and Avonley asked, “Is Williams here?”
+
+Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly went to the
+library to fetch him, and told him what was going on. He took Eric’s arm
+kindly as they entered, to show the whole school that he was not ashamed
+of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy of his goodwill.
+
+“Are you willing to be tried, Williams,” asked Avonley, “on the charge
+of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of course we
+know very little how these kind of things ought to be conducted, but we
+will see that everything done is open and above ground, and try to
+manage it properly.”
+
+“There is nothing I should like better,” said Eric.
+
+He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet conversation
+with his dearly loved friend and master had assured him in the
+confidence of innocence, and though the color on his cheek had through
+excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he looked wonderfully noble
+and winning as he stood before the boys in the centre of the room. His
+appearance caused a little reaction in his favor, and a murmur of
+applause followed his answer.
+
+“Good,” said Avonley; “who will prosecute on the part of the school?”
+
+There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.
+
+“Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge drops.”
+
+“I will do it,” said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys at the
+top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric liked the little
+he had seen of him.
+
+“Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of the
+sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, glancing round with confidence.
+
+“Well, now, who will defend the accused?”
+
+Another pause, and Upton got up.
+
+“No,” said Eric, at once. “You were inclined to distrust me, Upton, and
+I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my innocence.”
+
+Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got up. “I
+am only a Shell-boy,” he said, “but if Eric doesn’t mind trusting his
+cause to me, I will defend him, since no other fifth-form fellow stirs.”
+
+“Thank you, Russell, _I wanted_ you to offer, I could wish no better
+defender.”
+
+“Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?” asked Russell.
+
+“Very willingly,” they all three said, and went to take their seats by
+him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then declared
+themselves ready.
+
+“All I have got to do,” said Gibson, rising, “is to bring before the
+school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the evidence which
+makes it probable that he is the offender. Now, first of all, the thing
+must have been done between Friday evening and Saturday morning; and
+since the school-room door is generally locked soon after school, it was
+probably done in the short interval between six and a quarter past. I
+shall now examine some witnesses.”
+
+The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on Friday
+evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few minutes, the
+only boy remaining in it was Williams.
+
+Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that he had
+met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he went at a
+quarter past six to lock the door.
+
+Examined by Gibson.--“Was any boy in the room when you did lock the
+door?”
+
+“No one.”
+
+“Did you meet any one else in the passage?”
+
+“No.”
+
+Cross-examined by Russell.--“Do boys ever get into the room after the
+door is locked?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“By what means?”
+
+“Through the side windows.”
+
+“That will do.”
+
+Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the room,
+and on returning, after a few minutes’ absence, gave Russell a
+significant nod.
+
+Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.
+
+“Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular kind of
+ink?”
+
+“Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell.”
+
+“Could you recognise anything written with it?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much trouble.
+
+“Is that the kind of ink?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Do you know the handwriting on that paper?”
+
+“Yes; it is Williams’ hand.”
+
+“How can you tell?”
+
+“He makes his r’s in a curious way.”
+
+“Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers before?”
+
+“Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk.”
+
+“Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like those?”
+
+“No.”
+
+Cross-examined by Duncan.--“_How_ do you know that Williams has wafers
+like those?”
+
+“I have seen him use them.”
+
+“For what purpose?”
+
+“To fasten letters.”
+
+“I can’t help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with what he
+does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him oftenest,
+never heard of these wafers. May I ask,” he said, “if any one else in
+the school will witness to having seen Williams use these wafers?”
+
+No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been changed into
+uneasiness, sat down.
+
+Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--“You have seen a good deal of
+Williams?”
+
+“Yes,” said Upton smiling.
+
+“Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?”
+
+“Often.”
+
+“Of what kind?”
+
+“Dislike and contempt,” said Upton, amidst general laughter.
+
+“Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to injure
+him?”
+
+“The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition, and I
+heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out.”
+
+This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great sensation.
+
+“When did he say this?”
+
+“On Friday afternoon.”
+
+Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although, being
+simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed nothing
+that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose to
+cross-examine him.
+
+“Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?”
+
+“Never.”
+
+“Do you consider him a boy _likely_ to have been guilty on this
+occasion?”
+
+“Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence.”
+
+The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt greatly
+relieved by it.
+
+One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the great
+agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in the
+school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible, self-contained fellow,
+said, “I have now done my part. I have shown that the accused had a
+grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the occurrence, and had
+threatened to be revenged on him; that he was the last boy in the room
+during the time when the offence must have been committed; that the
+handwriting is known to resemble his, and that the ink and wafers
+employed were such as he, and he only, was known to possess. In addition
+to all this, his behavior, when the matter was first publicly noticed,
+was exactly such as coincides with the supposition of his guilt. I think
+you will all agree in considering these grounds of suspicion very
+strong; and leaving them to carry their full weight with you, I close
+the case for the prosecution.”
+
+The school listened to Gibson’s quiet formality with a kind of grim and
+gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were probably few
+but Eric’s own immediate friends who were not fully convinced of his
+guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so unfavorable an opinion of
+a companion whom they all admired.
+
+After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked, “Has
+Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of its
+contents put in as evidence?”
+
+“Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my place in
+school.”
+
+The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked, and
+Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He then
+began--“In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show that
+Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr. Gordon,
+and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is quite true
+that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that the ink and
+wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that the handwriting is
+not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy intending to post up an
+insult such as this, would do so in a manner, and at a time so likely to
+involve him in immediate detection, and certain punishment? At any rate,
+he would surely disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to
+look at this paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the
+contrary, that these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would
+be the case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?” Russell here handed
+the paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.
+
+“Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because Carter
+himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the window; a fact to
+which we shall have to allude again.
+
+“We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is rather
+strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since neither I, nor
+any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat by him when writing
+letters, have ever observed that he possessed any like them.”
+
+Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill at ease
+on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear unconcerned.
+
+“There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must mention.
+It will explain Williams’ agitation when Dr. Rowlands read out the words
+on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am indifferent to its
+appearing to tell against him. I myself once heard Williams use the very
+words written on that paper, and not only heard them, but expostulated
+with him strongly for the use of them. I need hardly say how very
+unlikely it is, that remembering this, he should thus publicly draw my
+suspicions on him, if he meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But,
+besides myself, there was another boy who accidentally overheard that
+expression. That boy was Barker.
+
+“I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least ought to
+go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of note-paper, I see that
+the printer’s name on the stamp in the corner is ‘Graves, York.’ Now, I
+have just found that there is no paper at all like this in Williams’
+desk; all the note-paper it contains is marked ‘Blakes, Ayrton.’
+
+“I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams’ general
+character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going to do this.
+We think we know the real offender. We have had one trial, and now
+demand another. It is our painful duty to prove Williams’ innocence by
+proving another’s guilt. That other is a known enemy of mine, and of
+Montagu’s, and of Owen’s. We therefore leave the charge of stating the
+case against him to Duncan, with whom he has never quarrelled.”
+
+Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his task with a
+wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled every one with
+admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.
+
+The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan, after a
+minute’s pause, starting up, said--“Williams has allowed his desk to be
+brought in and examined. Will Barker do the same?”
+
+The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell, Duncan,
+and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk to be
+brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened, it was
+immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was identical with
+that on which the words had been written. At this he affected to be
+perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against what he called the
+meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.
+
+“And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two,” asked
+Gibson, quietly, “but endeavoring to fix the charge on another?”
+
+“We have stronger evidence against you,” said Duncan, confronting him
+with an undaunted look, before which his insolence quailed. “Russell,
+will you call Graham?”
+
+Graham was called, and put on his honor.
+
+“You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side window?”
+
+“I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing nothing in the
+sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to the school-room by
+the window, which he left open. I was looking on simply from curiosity,
+and saw him search Williams’ desk, from which he took out something, I
+could not make out what. He then went to his own place, and wrote for
+about ten minutes, after which I observed him go up and stand by the
+notice board. When he had done this he got out by the window again,
+and ran off.”
+
+“Didn’t this strike you as extraordinary?”
+
+“No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in the
+sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had seen,
+and it wasn’t till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I thought it
+worth while to make it generally known.”
+
+Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and silent), and
+then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket, put them together,
+and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the fragments of paper, he
+asked, “Have you ever seen these before?”
+
+“Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed behind to
+think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced that Williams
+was _not_ guilty, spite of appearances. I was standing by the empty
+fire-place, when these bits of paper caught my eye. I picked them up,
+and, after a great deal of trouble, fitted them together. They are
+covered apparently with failures in an attempt at forgery, viz., first,
+‘Gordon is a sur--’ and then a stop, as though the writer were
+dissatisfied, and several of the words written over again for practice,
+and then a number of r’s made in the way that Williams makes them.”
+
+“There you may stop,” said Barker, stamping fiercely; “I did it all.”
+
+A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this announcement.
+
+“What! _you_ did it, and caused all this misery, you ineffable
+blackguard!” shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand, while he struck
+him with the other.
+
+“Stop!” said Avonley; “just see that he doesn’t escape, while we decide
+on his punishment.”
+
+It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run the
+gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their handkerchiefs,
+and knotted them tight. They then made a double line down each side of
+the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood stock-still at one end,
+while the fellows nearest him thrashed him unmercifully with the heavy
+knots. At last the pain was getting severe, and he moved on, finally
+beginning to run. Five times he was forced up and down the line, and
+five times did every boy in the line give him a blow, which, if it did
+not hurt much, at least spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was
+dogged and unmoved to the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the
+presence of Dr. Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and
+the next morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled.
+Thenceforth he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.
+
+I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any part in
+this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders’ room till it
+was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent event. Most
+warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness. “Thank you,” he said,
+“with all my heart, for proving my innocence; but thank you, even more a
+great deal, for first believing it.”
+
+Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered for a
+moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had hardly shaken
+hands when the rest came flocking in. “We have all been unjust,” said
+Avonley; “let’s make up for it as well as we can. Three cheers for Eric
+Williams!”
+
+They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and meanwhile,
+every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry they were for
+the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show their regret for
+his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart readily forgave them, and
+his eyes were long wet with tears of joy. The delicious sensation of
+returning esteem made him almost think it worth while to have under gone
+his trial.
+
+Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and it was no
+small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to find themselves
+finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied, and whose name no one
+mentioned without disgust. He had done more than any other boy to
+introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice, and the very atmosphere of
+the rooms seemed healthier in his absence. One boy only forgave him, one
+boy only prayed for him, one boy only endeavored to see him for one last
+kind word. That boy was Edwin Russell.
+
+After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands’ to dinner,
+apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did and said all
+that could be done by an honorable man to repair the injury of an unjust
+doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and from thenceforth, though
+they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon ceased to be enemies.
+
+That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous evening
+they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when the master
+bade them “good night,” he kindly detained Eric, and said to him, “Keep
+an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never fear trouble. Only think
+if you had been guilty, and were now in Barker’s place!”
+
+“O, I _couldn’t_ be guilty, sir,” said Eric, gaily.
+
+“Not of such a fault, perhaps. But,” he added solemnly, “there are many
+kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to fall into.
+You will find it no light battle to resist them.”
+
+“Believe me, sir, I will try,” he answered with humility.
+
+“Jehovah-Nissi!” said Mr. Rose. “Let the Lord be your banner, Eric, and
+you will win the victory. God bless you.”
+
+And as the boy’s graceful figure disappeared through the door, Mr. Rose
+drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated long. He was
+imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of splendid usefulness, of
+reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+
+     “Ten cables from where green meadows
+     And quiet homes could be seen,
+         No greater space
+         From peril to peace,
+     But the savage sea between!”--EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most of the
+boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at school. Many of
+the usual rules were suspended during this time, and the boys were
+supplied every day with pocket-money; consequently the Easter holidays
+passed very pleasantly, and there was plenty of fun.
+
+It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and the boys
+would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or about the
+coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in great request
+among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular than ever, and felt
+as if nothing were wanting to his happiness. But this brilliant
+prosperity was not good for him, and he felt continually that he cared
+far less for the reproaches of conscience than he had done in the hours
+of his trial; sought far less for help from God than he had done when he
+was lonely and neglected.
+
+He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of Russell.
+For Edwin’s sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin’s disapproval,
+he abstained from many things into which he would otherwise have
+insensibly glided in conformation to the general looseness of the school
+morality. But Russell’s influence worked on him powerfully, and tended
+to counteract a multitude of temptations.
+
+Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke; and he
+was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays in lurking
+about with pipes in their mouths at places where they were unlikely to
+be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty and healthy game. When
+he began to “learn” smoking, he found it anything but pleasant; but a
+little practice had made him an adept, and he found a certain amount of
+enjoyable excitement in finding out cozy places by the river, where he
+and Upton might go and lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.
+
+In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed a fine
+thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from vacuity.
+Besides, they had a confused notion that there was something “manly” in
+it, and it derived an additional zest from the stringency of the rules
+adopted to put it down. So a number of the boys smoked, and some few of
+them to such excess as to get them into great mischief, and form a habit
+which they could never afterwards abandon.
+
+One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell started
+for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they passed through
+Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs and other provisions,
+as they did not mean to be back for dinner. In about ten minutes he
+caught up the other two, just as they were getting out of the town.
+
+“What an age you’ve been buying a few Easter eggs,” said Russell,
+laughing; “have you been waiting till the hens laid?”
+
+“No; they are not the _only_ things I’ve got.”
+
+“Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same shop.”
+
+“Ay; but I’ve procured a more refined article. Guess what it is?”
+
+The two boys didn’t guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them, “Will you
+have a whiff, Monty?”
+
+“A whiff! Oh! I see you’ve been wasting your tin on cigars--_alias_,
+rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!”
+
+“Well, will you have one?”
+
+“If you like,” said Montagu, wavering; “but I don’t much care to smoke.”
+
+“Well, _I_ shall, at any rate,” said Eric, keeping off the wind with his
+cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.
+
+They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn’t promote conversation,
+and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look so ridiculous, and
+entirely unlike himself, as he did while strutting along with the weed
+in his mouth. The fact was, Eric didn’t guess how much he was hurting
+Edwin’s feelings, and he was smoking more to “make things look like the
+holidays,” by a little bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he
+caught the expression of Russell’s face, and instantly said--
+
+“O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don’t like smoking;” and he instantly
+flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad to get rid of
+it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the affected manner he
+displayed just before, and the spirits of all three rose at once.
+
+“It isn’t that I don’t _like_ smoking only, Eric, but I think it
+wrong--for _us_ I mean.”
+
+“O, my dear fellow! surely there can’t be any harm in it. Why everybody
+smokes.”
+
+“It may be all very well for men, although I’m not so sure of that. But,
+at any rate, it’s wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know yourself what
+harm it does in every way.”
+
+“O, it’s a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong? Why, I even
+know clergymen who smoke.”
+
+Montagu laughed. “Well, clergymen ain’t immaculate,” said he; “but I
+never met a man yet who didn’t tell you that he was _sorry_ he’d
+acquired the habit.”
+
+“I’m sure you won’t thank that rascally cousin of mine for having taught
+you,” said Russell; “but seriously, isn’t it a very moping way of
+spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind some hay-stack, or in
+some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers do, instead of playing
+racquets or football?”
+
+“O, it’s pleasant enough sometimes,” said Eric, speaking rather against
+his own convictions.
+
+“As for me, I’ve nearly left it off,” said Montagu, “and I think Rose
+convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I ever did
+smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know how he despises
+it in boys. Were you in school the other day when he caught Pietrie and
+Brooking?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected, Rose smelt
+that he had been smoking, and charged him with it. Brooking stoutly
+denied it, but after he had told the most robust lies, Rose made him
+empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were a pipe and a cigar-case
+half full! You _should_ have heard how Rose thundered and lightened at
+him for his lying, and then sent him to the Doctor. I never saw him so
+terrific before.”
+
+“You don’t mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because Brooking
+was caught, and told lies--do you? _Non sequitur_.”
+
+“Stop--not so fast.” Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who at once
+confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library when Rose sent
+for him, and Pietrie said mildly that “he didn’t see the harm of it.”
+Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, “Don’t see the _harm_ of it! Do
+you see any good in it?”
+
+“No, sir.”
+
+“Well, isn’t it forbidden?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And doesn’t it waste your money?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen yourself?”
+
+“Yes, sir,” said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.
+
+“And don’t your parents disapprove it? And doesn’t it throw you among
+some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles? Silly child,”
+he said, pulling Pietrie’s ear (as he sometimes does, you know), “don’t
+talk nonsense; and remember next time you’re caught I shall have you
+punished.” So off went Pietrie, [Greek: achreian idon] as our friend
+Homer says. And your humble servant was convinced.”
+
+“Well, well,” said Eric laughing, “I suppose you’re right. At any rate,
+I give in. Two to one ain’t fair; [Greek: ards duo o Aerachlaes], since
+you’re in a quoting humor.”
+
+Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found plenty to
+amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four hundred feet
+out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of rock scenery on
+all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit, and flung innocuous
+stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far below them over the water,
+and every now and then pounced at some stray fish that came to the
+surface; or they watched the stately barks as they sailed by on the
+horizon, wondering at their cargo and destination; or chaffed the
+fishermen, whose boats heaved on the waves at the foot of the
+promontory. When they were rested, they visited a copper-mine by the
+side of the head, and filled their pockets with bits of bright quartz or
+red shining spar, which they found in plenty among the rocks.
+
+In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop a
+little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It was a
+very favorite resort of Eric’s, as the coast all about it was bold and
+romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday evening to
+watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them over the water
+from the setting sun--a sight which they often agreed to consider one
+of the most peaceful and mysteriously beautiful in nature.
+
+They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The sun was
+just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red and gold.
+
+“We shan’t see the line on the waters this evening,” said Eric; “there’s
+too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious sunset!”
+
+“Yes; it’ll be stormy tomorrow,” answered Russell, “but come along,
+let’s get to the top; the wind’s rising, and the waves will be
+rather grand.”
+
+“Ay, we’ll sit and watch them; and let’s finish our grub; I’ve got
+several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my pocket.”
+
+They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the waves,
+which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet, and then fell
+back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they remembered that it was
+getting late, and that they ought to get home for tea at seven.
+
+“Hallo!” said Russell, looking at his watch, “it’s half-past six. We
+must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the tide hasn’t been
+coming in all this time.”
+
+“Good God!” said Montagu, with a violent start, “I’m afraid it has,
+though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets. Let’s set
+off as hard as we can pelt.”
+
+Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down the
+Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it to the
+mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the tide had come
+in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided them from the shore.
+
+“There’s only one way for it,” said Eric; “if we’re plucky we can jump
+that; but we musn’t wait till it gets worse. A good jump will take us
+_nearly_ to the other side--far enough, at any rate, to let us flounder
+across somehow.”
+
+As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where the
+momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be narrowest; and
+where the rocks on the other side were lower than those on which they
+stood. Their situation was by no means pleasant. The wind had been
+rising more and more, and the waves dashed into this little channel with
+such violence, that to swim it would have been a most hazardous
+experiment, particularly as they could not dive in from the ledge on
+which they stood, from their ignorance of the depth of water.
+
+Eric’s courage supported the other two. “There’s no good _thinking_
+about it,” said he, “jump we _must_; the sooner the better. We can but
+be a little hurt at the worst. Here, I’ll set the example.”
+
+He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force. He was a
+practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he alighted near
+the water’s edge, on the other side, where, after slipping once or twice
+on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he effected a safe landing, with
+no worse harm than a wetting up to the knees.
+
+“Now then, you too,” he shouted; “no time to lose.”
+
+“Will you jump first, Monty?” said Russell; “both of you are better
+jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I’m rather afraid.”
+
+“Then I won’t leave you,” said Montagu; “we’ll both stay here.”
+
+“And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty, _you_ can
+clear it, I’ve no doubt.”
+
+“Couldn’t we try to swim it together, Edwin?”
+
+“Madness! look there.” And as he spoke, a huge furious wave swept down
+the whole length of the gulf by which they stood, roaring and surging
+along till the whole water seethed, and tearing the seaweeds from their
+roots in the rock.
+
+“Now’s your time,” shouted Eric again. “What _are_ you waiting for? For
+God’s sake, jump before another wave comes.”
+
+“Monty, you _must_ jump now,” said Russell, “if only to help me when I
+try.”
+
+Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few steps, and
+leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly up to his neck,
+and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on the sharp slippery
+schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and in half a minute, Eric
+leaning out as far as he could, caught his hand, and just pulled him to
+the other side in time to escape another rush of tumultuous and
+angry foam.
+
+“Now, Edwin,” they both shouted, “it’ll be too late in another minute.
+Jump for your life.”
+
+Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he prepared
+to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant. In truth, the
+leap was now most formidable; to clear it was hopeless; and the fury of
+the rock-tormented waves rendered the prospect of a swim on the other
+side terrible to contemplate. Once in the grasp of one of those billows,
+even a strong man must have been carried out of the narrow channel, and
+hurled against the towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.
+
+“Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--_do_ jump,” cried Eric with passionate
+excitement. “We will rush in for you.”
+
+Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he stepped
+back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp cry of pain,
+fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant, Eric and Montagu
+stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw Russell’s head emerge,
+and then another wave foaming madly by, made them run backwards for
+their lives, and hid him from their view. When it had passed, they saw
+him clinging with both hands, in the desperate instinct of
+self-preservation, to a projecting bit of rock, by the aid of which he
+gradually drew himself out of the water, and grasping at crevices or
+bits of seaweed, slowly and painfully reached the ledge on which they
+had stood before they took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle;
+his face, pale as death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his
+breast; his clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap
+was gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push aside,
+hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and in pain;
+and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.
+
+While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke, lest their
+voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now, they both cried
+out, “Are you hurt, Edwin?”
+
+He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand, while he put
+the other to his head, from which the blood was flowing fast.
+
+“O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more,” said Montagu; “you will
+die if you spend the night on that rock.”
+
+They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and waves
+were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently, that they
+caught the faint words, “I can’t, my leg is hurt.” Besides, they both
+saw that a jump was no longer possible; the channel was more than double
+the width which it had been when Eric leaped, and from the rapid ascent
+of rocks on both sides, it was now far out of depth.
+
+“O God, what can we do,” said Montagu, bursting into tears. “We can
+never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is covered at
+high tide.”
+
+Eric had not lost his presence of mind. “Cheer up, Edwin,” he shouted;
+“I _will_ get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl up to the
+top again.”
+
+Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back on the
+rock.
+
+“Monty,” said Eric, “just watch for a minute or two. When I have got
+across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them that we are
+cut off by the tide on the Stack. They’ll bring round the life-boat.
+It’s our only chance.”
+
+“What are you going to do?” asked Montagu, terrified. “Why, Eric, it’s
+death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!” And he drew Eric back hastily,
+as another vast swell of water came rolling along, shaking its white
+curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on destruction.
+
+“Monty, it’s no use,” said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket and
+waistcoat; “I’m not going to let Russell die on that ledge of rock. I
+shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I want to keep
+these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across, fling them over
+to me if you can, and then do as I told you.”
+
+He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing that his
+only chance was to swim over before another came, he plunged in, and
+struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert swimmer, and as yet
+the channel was not more than a dozen yards across. He dashed over with
+the speed and strength of despair, and had just time to clutch the rocks
+on the other side before the next mighty swirl of the tide swept up in
+its white and tormented course. In another minute he was on the ledge by
+Russell’s side.
+
+He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the dry
+clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief round a
+fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and then flung it
+over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and once more shouted
+to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time the boy lingered,
+reluctant to leave them, and then started off at the run. Looking back
+after a few minutes, he caught, through the gathering dusk, his last
+glimpse of the friends in their perilous situation. Eric was seated
+supporting Russell across his knees; when he saw Montagu turn he waved
+his cap over his head as a signal of encouragement, and then began to
+carry Edwin higher up the rock for safety. It soon grew too dark to
+distinguish them, and Montagu at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a
+mile off. When he got to the harbor he told some sailors of the danger
+in which his friends were, and then ran on to the school. It was now
+eight o’clock, and quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past,
+when he stood excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr.
+Rowlands’ door.
+
+“Good gracious! Master Montagu,” said the servant; “what’s the matter;
+have you been robbed?”
+
+He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands’ study. “O
+sir!” he exclaimed, bursting in, “Williams and Russell are on the Stack,
+cut off by the tide.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. “What! on this stormy night? Have you
+raised the alarm?”
+
+“I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on.”
+
+“I will set off myself at once,” said the Doctor, seizing his hat. “But,
+my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet through too. You
+had better change your clothes at once, or go to bed.”
+
+“O no, sir,” said Montagu, pleadingly; “do take me with you.”
+
+“Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in consequence.
+Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea shall be ready
+for you down here, and we will start.”
+
+Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to tell
+Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their companions.
+The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had already excited
+general surmise, and Montagu’s appearance, jacketless and wet, at the
+door of the boarders’ room, at once attracted a group round him. He
+rapidly told them how things stood, and, hastening off, left them nearly
+as much agitated as himself. In a very short time he presented himself
+again before Dr. Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the
+cup of tea, they sallied out.
+
+It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at intervals
+struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind howled in fitful
+gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side, Montagu shuddered to hear
+how rough and turbulent the sea was, even on the sands. He stumbled once
+or twice, and then the Doctor kindly drew his trembling arm through his
+own, and made him describe the whole occurrence, while the servant went
+on in front with the lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved
+the danger of reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands’
+admiration was unbounded. “Noble boy,” he exclaimed, with enthusiasm; “I
+shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after this.”
+
+They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.
+
+“Have you put out the life-boat?” said Dr. Rowlands anxiously.
+
+“Ill luck, sir,” said one of the sailors, touching his cap; “the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn’t been
+brought round again yet.”
+
+“Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try and save
+those poor boys.”
+
+“We’ve been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start; but in a
+sea like that it’s very dangerous, and it’s so dark and gusty that I
+doubt it’s no use, so I expect they’ll put back.”
+
+The Doctor sighed deeply. “Don’t alarm any other people,” he said; “it
+will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George,” he continued to
+the servant, “give me the lantern; I will go with this boy to the Stack;
+you follow us with ropes, and order a carriage from the King’s Head.
+Take care to bring anything with you that seems likely to be useful.”
+
+Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made their
+way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here they raised
+the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming with such
+violence that they were not sure that they heard any answering shout.
+Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just make out the huge
+black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast of boiling waves, and
+enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of spray. On the top of it
+Montagu half thought that he saw something, but he was not sure.
+
+“Thank God, there is yet hope,” said the Doctor, with difficulty making
+his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the elements; “if
+they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may perhaps rescue them
+before morning.”
+
+Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and Montagu joined
+his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they fancied that in one
+of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint cheer returned, was sound
+more welcome, and as they paced up and down they shouted at intervals,
+and held up the lantern, to show the boys that friends and help
+were near.
+
+Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to the
+highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and soothing
+words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him in every
+piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his arms, heedless
+of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell thanked him, and
+pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain continually, and at last
+fainted away.
+
+Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the rocks, and
+the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think of nothing but
+storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the sea beat up,
+drenching them to the skin continually with, its clammy spray; and the
+storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and flung about the wet hair on
+Eric’s bare head, and forced him to plant himself firmly, lest the rage
+of the gusts should hurl them from their narrow resting-place. The
+darkness made everything more fearful, for his eyes could distinguish
+nothing but the gulfs of black water glistening here and there with
+hissing foam, and he shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises
+that came to him in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent
+wave. It was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he was in
+ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the violence of the
+breakers. “At least,” thought he, as he looked down and saw that the
+ledge on which they had been standing had long been covered with deep
+and agitated waves, “at least I have saved Edwin’s life.” And he bravely
+made up his mind to keep up heart and hope, and weather the comfortless
+night with Russell in his arms.
+
+And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still unconscious; and
+stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white forehead of his friend. He
+felt _then_, how deeply he loved him, how much he owed him; and no
+mother could have nursed a child more tenderly than he did the fainting
+boy. Russell’s head rested on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled
+with welling blood, stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die,
+his fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had received
+some dangerous hurt.
+
+At last Russell stirred and groaned. “Where am I?” he said, and half
+opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back heavily. He saw
+only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and salt mist; heard only
+the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had no time to wake, and he
+screamed and fainted once more.
+
+Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of his
+power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he bent over
+him, and said, “Don’t you remember, Edwin? We’re quite safe. I’m with
+you, and Monty’s gone for help.”
+
+“Oh! I daren’t jump,” sobbed Russell; “oh mother, I shall be drowned.
+Save me! save me! I’m so glad they’re safe, mother; but my leg hurts
+so.” And he moaned again. He was delirious.
+
+“How cold it is, and wet too! where’s Eric? are we bathing? run along,
+we shall be late. But stop, you’re smoking. Dear Eric, don’t smoke.
+Poor fellow, I’m afraid he’s getting spoilt, and learning bad ways. Oh
+save him.” And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer for Eric, which
+evidently had been often on his lips.
+
+Eric was touched to the heart’s core, and in one rapid lightning-like
+glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful past, in all its
+sorrowfulness. And _he_, too, prayed wildly for help both for soul and
+body. Alone on the crag, with the sea tumbling and plashing round them,
+growing and gaining so much on their place of refuge, that his terror
+began to summon up the image of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and
+exhausted, with the wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on
+his courage, he prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow
+calmer by his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done
+in the green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.
+
+A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down, now
+disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came the sound
+of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in a boat to
+save them.
+
+But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing towards the
+harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in the surf at the
+foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given it up in despair.
+His heart sank again, all the more for the glimpse of hope, and his
+strength began to give way. Russell’s delirium continued, and he grew
+too frightened even to pray.
+
+A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be sure of
+it; it was Dr. Rowlands’ voice and Montagu’s. He got convinced of this,
+and summoned all his strength to shout in return. The light kept moving
+up and down on the shore, not a hundred yards off. His fear vanished;
+they were no longer alone. The first moment that the tide suffered any
+one to reach them they would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and
+he determined to hold up for Russell’s sake until help should come; and
+every now and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts
+which came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the storm.
+
+But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master soothed
+the boy’s fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently, that Montagu
+began to wonder if this really could be the awful head-master, whose
+warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was comforting him as a father
+might. What a depth of genuine human kindness that stern exterior
+concealed! And every now and then, when the storm blew loudest, the
+Doctor would stand still for a moment, and offer up a short intense
+prayer, or ejaculation, that help and safety might come to his beloved
+charge in their exposure and peril.
+
+Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink, and the
+sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The carriage drove up
+with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful servant brought with him
+the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and anxiously did they watch the
+ebbing tide, and when it had gone out sufficiently to allow of two
+stout planks being laid across the channel, an active sailor ventured
+over with a light, and in a few moments stood by Eric’s side. Eric saw
+him coming, but was too weak and numb to move; and when the sailor
+lifted up the unconscious Russell from his knees, Eric was too much
+exhausted even to speak. The man returned for him, and lifting him on
+his back crossed the plank once more in safety, and carried them both to
+the carriage, where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything
+likely to revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the
+school, and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the
+boys were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the signal
+for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows, with many an
+anxious inquiry, “Are they safe?”
+
+“Yes, thank God!” called Dr. Rowlands; “so now, boys, shut the windows,
+and get to sleep.”
+
+Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor’s own
+house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu had beds
+provided them in another room by themselves, away from the dormitory:
+the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire, and looked like
+home and when the two boys had drank some warm wine, and cried for
+weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after their dangers and fatigues,
+and slept the deep, calm, dreamless sleep of tired children.
+
+So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the Easter
+holidays.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+
+     “Calm on the bosom of thy God,
+       Fair spirit, rest thee now!
+     E’en while with us thy footsteps trod,
+       His seal was on thy brow.”--MRS. HEMANS.
+
+They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at first
+could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little room, the
+bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair before it. But
+turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who was still asleep, and
+he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed, refreshed and perfectly
+well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric; but Eric was still languid
+and weak, and did not get up that day, nor was he able to go to work
+again for some days; but he was young and strong, and his vigorous
+constitution soon threw off the effects of his fast and exposure.
+
+Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head sadly. “He
+is very dangerously ill.”
+
+“Is he?” said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a deep
+silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress, knelt down to
+say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt also over his
+pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest prayers were mingling
+for the one who seemed to have been taken while they were left.
+
+The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was thought
+that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the exposure to wet,
+cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened his constitution; and
+when his youth seemed to be triumphing over these dangers, another
+became more threatening. His leg never mended; he had both sprained the
+knee badly, and given the tibia an awkward twist, so that the least
+motion was agony to him.
+
+In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to see him,
+though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the earnest
+inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully apparent than
+ever, that, although Edwin was among them without being _of_ them, no
+boy in the school was more deeply honored and fondly loved than he. Even
+the elastic spirits of boyhood could not quite throw off the shadow of
+gloom which his illness cast over the school.
+
+Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do was done
+for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin had no
+father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs. Upton,
+would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he was often
+left alone in his delirium and agony.
+
+Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his thoughts,
+always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not deserting the hurt
+lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy himself, and who, when he was
+a boy, did his Father’s business, and was subject unto his parents in
+the obscure home of the despised village. Alone! nay, to them whose
+eyes were opened, the room of sickness and pain was thronged and
+beautiful with angelic presences.
+
+Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved friend.
+Eric’s life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in passionate,
+unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued more than ever the
+sweet remembered hours spent with him; their games, and communnings, and
+walks, and Russell’s gentle influence, and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he
+must not even see him, must not whisper one word of soothing to him in
+his anguish; he could only pray for him, and that he did with a depth
+of hope.
+
+At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to visit him.
+His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could not yet even
+recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room were so sad and
+useless, that Upton forbore. “And yet you should hear him talk in his
+delirium,” he said to Eric; “not one evil word, or bad thought, or
+wicked thing, ever escapes him. I’m afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so
+with you or me.”
+
+“No” said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience brought
+the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his cheeks.
+
+“And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks sometimes of
+all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in his thoughts, and
+every now and then he prays for you quite unconsciously.”
+
+Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. “When do you think I shall be
+allowed too see him?”
+
+“Not just yet, I fear.”
+
+After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell’s mind ceased to
+wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for alarm. Fresh
+advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg must be amputated.
+
+When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints. “Only
+think, Monty, isn’t it hard, isn’t it cruel? When we see our brave,
+bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple.” Eric hardly understood that
+he was railing at the providence of a merciful God.
+
+The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell seemed to
+amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him relief. They were
+all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no murmur, no cry escaped
+him; no words but the sweetest thanks for every little office of
+kindness done to him. A few days after, he asked Dr. Underhay “if he
+might see Eric?”
+
+“Yes, my boy,” said the doctor kindly, “you may see him, and one or two
+other of your particular friends if you like, provided you don’t excite
+yourself too much. I trust you will get better now.”
+
+So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they might go
+and see their friend. “Be sure,” he added, “that you don’t startle or
+excite him.”
+
+They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of early
+summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held their breath,
+and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known voice which gave the
+answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe, they softly opened the
+door, which admitted them into the presence of the dear companion whom
+they had not seen for so long. Since then it seemed as though gulfs far
+deeper than the sea had been flowing between him and them.
+
+Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on tiptoe--the
+darkened room where Russell was What a hush and oppression there seemed
+to them at first in the dim, silent chamber; what an awfulness in all
+the appliances which showed how long and deeply their schoolfellow had
+suffered. But all this vanished directly they caught sight of his face.
+There he lay, so calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest
+eyes turned towards them, as though to see whether any of their
+affection for him had ceased or been forgotten!
+
+In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with bowed
+foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their heads, and
+pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and looked at them
+tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces with their hands,
+and broke into deep suppressed sobs of compassion.
+
+“Oh hush, hush!” he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his hands
+while they kissed him. “Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you cry so for
+me? I am very happy.”
+
+But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed, and had
+now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for life; and as
+the throng of memories came on them--memories of his skill and fame at
+cricket, and racquets, and football--of their sunny bathes together in
+sea and river, and all their happy holiday wanderings--they could not
+restrain their emotion, and wept uncontrollably. Neither of them could
+speak a word, or break the holy silence; and as he patted their heads
+and cheeks, his own tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he
+felt the comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in
+his loneliness, and it did him good.
+
+The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would agitate Edwin
+too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys left, only
+whispering, “We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!”
+
+They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite cheerfully
+with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation more than any
+game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the sick-room more
+than repaid them for the glad life without, when they heard Russell’s
+simple and heartfelt thanks. “Ah! how good of you, dear fellows,” he
+would say, “to give up the merry playground for a wretched cripple,” and
+he would smile cheerfully to show that his trial had not made him weary
+of life. Indeed, he often told them that he believed they felt for him
+more than he did himself.
+
+One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and violets. He
+seemed much better, and Eric’s spirits were high with the thoughts and
+hopes of the coming holidays. “There, Edwin,” he said, as the boy
+gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, “don’t they make you glad? They
+are one of our _three_ signs, you know, of the approaching holidays. One
+sign was the first sight of the summer steamer going across the bay;
+another was May eve, when these island-fellows light big gorse fires all
+over the mountains, and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep
+off the fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin to
+twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly talk we
+had that evening about the holidays; but my father and mother were here
+then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm. But the third
+sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the happiest. You can’t
+think how I _grabbed_ at the first primrose this year; I found it by a
+cave on the Ness. And though these are rather the last than the first,
+yet I knew you’d like them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And
+how much better you’re looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I
+positively declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You’ll soon
+be out among us again, that’s clear----”
+
+He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry way that
+Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he caught the
+touch of sadness on Russell’s face, and saw his long, abstracted, eager
+look at the flowers.
+
+“Dear fellow, you’re not worse, are you?” he said quickly. “What a fool
+I am to chatter so; it makes you ill.”
+
+“No, no, Eric, talk on; you can’t think how I love to hear you. Oh, how
+very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you, for bringing
+them.” And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy look which had
+startled Eric--as though he were learning their color and shape
+by heart.
+
+“I wish I hadn’t brought them, though,” said Eric, “they are filling
+your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you’ll be well by the holidays--a
+month hence, you know--or else I shouldn’t have talked so gladly
+about them.”
+
+“No, Eric,” said Russell sadly, “these dear flowers are the last spring
+blossoms that I shall see--_here_ at least. Yes, I will keep them, for
+your sake, Eric, till I die.”
+
+“Oh don’t talk so,” said Eric, shocked and flustered, “why everybody
+knows and says that you’re getting better.”
+
+Russell smiled and shook his head. “No, Eric, I shall die. There stop,
+dear fellow, don’t cry,” said he, raising his hands quietly to Eric’s
+face; “isn’t it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at first to leave
+this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel sea,” he continued
+smiling; “and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and Monty, and, above all, to
+leave _you_, Eric, whom I love best in all the world. Yes, remember I’ve
+no home, Eric, and no prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in
+this, so long as God gave me health and strength; but health went for
+ever into those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear,
+gallant Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn’t look so happy to
+_halt_ through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am dying--dying,
+Eric,” he said solemnly, “my brother; let me call you brother; I have no
+near relations, you know, to fill up the love in my yearning heart, but
+I _do_ love _you_. Kiss me, Eric, as though I were a child, and you a
+child. There, that comforts me; I feel as if I _were_ a child again, and
+had a dear brother;--and I _shall_ be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father’s house.”
+
+Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+_recently_ of Russell’s death, but had begun to reckon on his recovery,
+and now life seemed darker to him than ever.
+
+But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. “The grass
+withereth,” he murmured, “the flower fadeth, and the glory of its beauty
+perisheth; but--_but_ the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” And here
+he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed his hand, with more
+than a brother’s fondness, to his heart.
+
+“Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full,” he said, “too full to speak to you.
+Let me read to you;” and with Russell’s arm round his neck he sat down,
+beside his pillow, and read to him about “the pure river of water of
+life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
+Lamb.” At first sobs choked his voice, but it gathered firmness as
+he went on.
+
+“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
+there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded
+her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
+of the nations.
+
+“And there shall be no more curse”--and here the reader’s musical voice
+rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--“but the throne of God and of
+the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they
+shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”
+
+“And they shall see his face,” murmured Russell, “_and they shall see
+his face_” Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of rapture seemed to be
+lighted in his eyes, as though they saw heavenly things, and his
+countenance was like an angel’s to look upon. Eric closed the book
+reverently, and gazed.
+
+“And now pray for me, Eric, will you?” Eric knelt down, but no prayer
+would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but emotion
+prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his hand on his
+head and prayed.
+
+“O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two erring,
+weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the love thou
+bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord, take me to the
+green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and one remains--O Lord!
+bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead and guide him, and keep him
+for ever in thy fear and love, that he may continue thine for ever, and
+hereafter we may meet together among the redeemed, in the immortal glory
+of the resurrection. Hear us, O Father, for thy dear Son’s sake.
+Amen! Amen!”
+
+The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One long
+brotherly kiss he printed on Russell’s forehead, and, full of sorrowful
+forebodings, bade him good night.
+
+He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. “Yes,” he said,
+“he may die at any time; he _must_ die soon. It is even best that he
+should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the head would
+certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he lived.”
+
+Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.
+
+The holidays drew on; for Russell’s sake, and at his earnest wish, Eric
+had worked harder than he ever did before. All his brilliant abilities,
+all his boyish ambition, were called into exercise; and, to the delight
+of every one, he gained ground rapidly, and seemed likely once more to
+dispute the palm with Owen. No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose,
+and he often gladdened Russell’s heart by telling him about it; for
+every day he had a long visit to the sick boy’s room, which refreshed
+and comforted them both.
+
+In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new leaf. He
+and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and every bad
+habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the dying boy, whom
+they both loved so well. And although Eric’s popularity, after the
+romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous daring, was at its very
+zenith,--although he had received a medal and flattering letter from the
+Humane Society, who had been informed of the transaction by Dr.
+Rowlands,--although his success both physical and intellectual was
+higher than ever,--yet the dread of the great loss he was doomed to
+suffer, and the friendship which was to be snapped, overpowered every
+other feeling, and his heart was ennobled and purified by contact with
+his suffering friend.
+
+It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had drawn up
+the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze, pure from the
+sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing refreshfully into the sick
+boy’s room. Russell was very, very happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed
+him; all was peace and trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did
+he talk to Eric, and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him
+gently to that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the sufferer
+stopped to pray aloud.
+
+“Good night, Eric,” he said, “I am tired, _so_ tired. I hope we shall
+meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my books, Eric, except a
+few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And my watch, that dear watch
+your mother, _my_ mother, gave me, I shall leave to Rose as a
+remembrance of us both. Good night, brother.”
+
+A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with Upton and
+Montagu to Russell’s bedside. He was sinking fast; and as he had but a
+short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them, though he could
+see no others.
+
+They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy looked. They
+received his last farewells--he would die that night. Sweetly he blessed
+them, and made them promise to avoid all evil, and read the Bible, and
+pray to God. But he had only strength to speak at intervals. Mr. Rose,
+too, was there; it seemed as though he held the boy by the hand, as
+fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he entered the waters of the dark river.
+
+“Oh, I should _so_ like to stay with you, Monty, Horace, dear, dear
+Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my father and
+mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple there--nor be in
+pain.” His words grew slow and difficult. “God bless you, dear fellows;
+God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to God.”
+
+He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat, and he
+was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as they kissed
+again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly, Mr. Rose checked
+them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes while he prayed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOME AGAIN
+
+     “O far beyond the waters
+       The fickle feet may roam,
+     But they find no light so pure and bright
+       As the one fair star of home;
+     The star of tender hearts, lady,
+       That glows in an English home,”
+
+     F.W.F.
+
+That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and weighed down
+with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other boys were silent
+from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn both knew and loved
+Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to hear of his death; they
+asked some of the particulars, but Eric was not calm enough to tell them
+that evening. The one sense of infinite loss agitated him, and he
+indulged his paroxysms of emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if
+ever the life has been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever
+you have been made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and
+then only, will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.
+
+But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric, as he
+rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly sought for
+the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize before, how
+odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and partaken in since he
+became an inmate of that little room. How his soul revolted with
+infinite disgust from the language which he had heard, and the open
+glorying in sin of which he had so often been a witness. The stain and
+the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on his heart; it rode on his
+breast like a nightmare; it haunted his fancy with visions of guilty
+memory, and shapes of horrible regret. The ghosts of buried misdoings,
+which he had thought long lost in the mists of recollection, started up
+menacingly from their forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense
+of their awful reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which
+the locust had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and
+been reckoned to him as they past.
+
+And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he fondly
+imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven, crowned, and in
+white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he had walked and talked
+with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin’s death, quenched his human
+affections, and altered his human heart? If not, might not he be there
+even now, leaning over his friend with the beauty of his invisible
+presence? The thought startled him, and seemed to give an awful lustre
+to the moonbeam which fell into the room. No; he could not endure such a
+presence now, with his weak conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid
+his head under the clothes, and shut his eyes.
+
+Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his soul. Should
+he ever meet Russell again? What if _he_ had died instead of Edwin,
+where would he have been? “Oh, no! no!” he murmured aloud, as the
+terrible thought came over him of his own utter unfitness for death, and
+the possibility that he might never, never again hear the beloved
+accents, or gaze on the cherished countenance of his school friend.
+
+In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that night the
+dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of sleep. He was
+frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his conscience obtruded
+on him his sinfulness, and his affection called up the haunting
+lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering down a path, at the
+end of which Russell stood with open arms inviting him earnestly to join
+him there; he saw his bright ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his
+joyous words, and he hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure
+disappeared, and in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming
+garments, and drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a
+great wood alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his
+name, and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him back
+again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark forest, amid the
+sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking, sinking, sinking into a
+gulf, deep and darker even than the inner darkness of a sin-desolated
+heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly, everlastingly; while far away,
+like a star, stood the loved figure in light infinitely above him, and
+with pleading hands implored his deliverance, but could not prevail; and
+Eric was still sinking, sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him
+with a violent start and stifled scream.
+
+He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the pale,
+dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he was praying
+beside his corpse, praying to be more like _him_, who lay there so white
+and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing that he had so often rejected
+his kind warnings, and pained his affectionate heart. So Eric began
+again to make good resolutions about all his future life. Ah! how often
+he had done so before, and how often they had failed. He had not yet
+learned the lesson which David learned by sad experience; “Then I said,
+it is mine own infirmity, _but I will remember the years of the right
+hand of the Most High_.”
+
+That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of late far
+more thoughtful than before; under Edwin’s influence he had been laying
+aside, one by one, the careless sins of school life, and his tone was
+nobler and manlier than it had ever been. Montagu had never known or
+heard much about godliness; his father, a gentleman, a scholar, and a
+man of the world, had trained him in the principles of refinement and
+good taste, and given him a high standard of conventional honor; but he
+passed through life lightly, and had taught his son to do the same.
+Possessed of an ample fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled
+himself with none of the deep mysteries of life, and
+
+     “Pampered the coward heart
+     With feelings all too delicate for use;
+     Nursing in some delicious solitude
+     His dainty love and slothful sympathies.”
+
+But Montagu in Edwin’s sick-room and by his death bed; in the terrible
+storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands’ earnestness, and
+Mr. Rose’s deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety; by witnessing Eric’s
+failures and recoveries; and by beginning to take in his course the same
+heartfelt interest which Edwin taught him--Montagu, in consequence of
+these things, had begun to see another side of life, which awoke all his
+dormant affections and profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for
+the first time, he began to catch some of
+
+     “The still gad music of humanity,”
+
+and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be well
+dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to him a
+realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and worthier aims;
+and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest in his work exceeded
+that of any other boy, had pointed out to him that solemn question of
+Euripides--
+
+     “[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate
+     Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips
+     Pepheugenai to theion];”
+
+he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting impression upon
+his character.
+
+The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as possible from
+his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working for the examination,
+and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now spent most of his time with
+the best of his friends, particularly Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for
+Upton, like himself, had been much sobered by sorrow at their loss. This
+time he came out _second_ in his form, and gained more than one prize.
+This was his first glimpse of real delight since Russell’s death; and
+when the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take his
+prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the governor who
+took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly entered into the
+pleasure which his success caused, as well as into the honors won by his
+friends. One outward sign only remained of his late bereavement--his
+mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore rosebuds or lilies of the valley
+in their button-holes on the occasion, but on this day Eric would not
+wear them. Little Wright, who was a great friend of theirs, had brought
+some as a present both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on
+the prize-day morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes
+met, they understood each other’s thoughts.
+
+“No,” said Eric to Wright, “we won’t wear these to-day, although we have
+both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with them.”
+
+They all three walked together to the little green, quiet churchyard,
+where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many a silent visit
+had the friends paid to that grave, on which the turf was now green
+again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A stone had just been placed
+to mark the spot, and they read--
+
+       SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+                OF
+
+             AN ORPHAN,
+
+  WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,
+
+        AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ “_Is it well with the child? It is well_.”
+
+           2 KINGS iv. 26.
+
+The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a time.
+
+“He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty,” said Eric; “let
+us leave the signs of it upon his grave.”
+
+And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the choice
+rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they turned away
+without another word.
+
+The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded the
+passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the deserted
+building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer. What joyous
+triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted and bounded with,
+the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal was the gladness and
+good humor of every one. Never were voyages so merry as those of the
+steamer that day, and even the “good-byes” that had to be said at
+Southpool were lightly borne. From thence the boys quickly scattered to
+the different railways, and the numbers of those who were travelling
+together got thinner and thinner as the distance increased. Wright and
+one or two others went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got
+down at the little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail
+to Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at Fairholm.
+
+It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their intensity.
+He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer holidays were
+nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter were short, so that
+it had not been worth while to travel so far as Fairholm, and Eric had
+spent his Christmas with friends in another part of the island. But now
+he was once more to see dear Fairholm, and his aunt, his cousin Fanny,
+and above all, his little brother. His heart was beating fast with joy,
+and his eyes sparkling with pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his
+head out of the window, each well-remembered landmark gave him the
+delicious sensation of meeting again an old friend. “Ah! there’s the
+white bridge, and there’s the canal, and the stile; and _there_ runs the
+river, and there’s Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are.” And springing out
+of the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into the
+carriage in a moment.
+
+Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so often
+plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its sleeping
+churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten yards he met old
+acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and whom he greeted with
+glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the Latin school, from which
+came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a man he felt himself now by
+comparison!);--by the old Roman camp, where he had imagined such heroic
+things when he was a child; through all the scenes so rich with the
+memories and associations of his happy childhood, they flew along; and
+now they had entered the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.
+
+Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon, on
+the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones ran to meet
+him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty kiss, and put his
+arm round Vernon’s neck, and then held him in front to have a look
+at him.
+
+“How tall you’ve grown, Verny, and how well you look,” he said, gazing
+proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be justly proud of.
+And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw the healthy glow of
+Eric’s features, and the strong graceful development of his limbs.
+
+And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew with a
+mother’s love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of delightful
+trifles, that “blossoming vein” of household talk, which gives such an
+incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they all three turned
+into the house, where Eric, hungry with his travels, did ample justice
+to the “jolly spread” prepared for him, luxurious beyond anything he had
+seen for his last year at school. When he and Vernon went up to their
+room at night--the same little room in which they slept on the night
+when they first had met--they marked their heights on the door again,
+which showed Eric that in the last year he had grown two inches, a fact
+which he pointed out to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they
+went to bed, and to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation
+of a great unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once
+or twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.
+
+He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned out with
+his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it. The garden
+looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an early enjoyment of
+those currants which hung in ruby clusters over the walls. Everything
+was bathed in the dewy balm of summer morning, and he felt very happy
+as, with his little spaniel frisking round him, he visited the great
+Newfoundland in his kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He
+had barely finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once
+more met the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year.
+And yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but _he_ was changed. Mrs. Trevor, and
+Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over _him_, had come an
+alteration of feeling and circumstance; an unknown or half-known
+_something_ which cast a shadow between them and him, and sometimes made
+him half shrink and start as he met their loving looks. Can no
+schoolboy, who reads history, understand and explain the feeling which
+I mean?
+
+By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of Russell’s
+death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter was so blurred.
+“But,” he wrote, “I have some friends still; especially Mr. Rose among
+the masters, and Monty and Upton among the boys. Monty you know; he is
+more like Edwin than any other boy, and I like him very much. You didn’t
+know Upton, but I am a great deal with him, though he is much older than
+I am. He is a fine handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the
+school. I hope you will know him some day.”
+
+The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once recognised
+to be in Upton’s handwriting He eagerly tore off the envelope,
+and read--
+
+“My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I feel it
+to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will feel it to be
+bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave Roslyn, and probably we
+shall never meet there again. The reason is, I have had a cadetship
+given me, and I am to sail for India in September. I have already
+written to the school to tell them to pack up and send me all my books
+and clothes.
+
+“I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I wanted to
+stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly tell you,
+Eric, one reason: I’m very much afraid that I’ve done you, and Graham,
+and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I possibly could, to undo
+the harm I had done. Poor Edwin’s death opened my eyes to a good many
+things, and now I’d give all I have never to have taught or encouraged
+you in wrong things. Unluckily it’s too late;--only, I hope that you
+already see, as I do, that the things I mean lead to evil far greater
+than we ever used to dream of.
+
+“Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me, and
+believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON.”
+
+“P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you this
+time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my poor cousin,
+when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice little chap he
+looked. I hope you’ll look after him as a brother should, and keep him
+out of mischief.”
+
+Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he didn’t
+often show them his school letters, because, like this one, they often
+contained allusions to things which he did not like his aunt to know.
+The thought of Upton’s leaving him made him quite unhappy, and he wrote
+him a long letter by that post, indignantly denying the supposition that
+his friendship had ever done him anything but good.
+
+The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often been in
+his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he thought of that
+bright little brother of his being initiated in the mysteries of evil
+which he himself had learnt, and sinking like himself into slow
+degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and perplexed him, and at last
+he determined to open his heart, partially at least, in a letter to Mr.
+Rose. The master fully understood his doubts, and wrote him the
+following reply:--
+
+“My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your brother
+Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly give you my
+own opinion.
+
+“You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear that
+Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his modesty, and
+much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear that he will meet
+with many bad examples, and learn to look on God and godliness in a way
+far different from that to which he has been accustomed at home. You
+fear, in short, that he must pass through the same painful temptations
+to which you have yourself been subjected; to which, perhaps, you have
+even succumbed.
+
+“Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all means
+let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor
+thing; it _cannot_, under any circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at
+all valuable as a foundation of character. The true preparation for
+life, the true basis of a manly character, is not to have been ignorant
+of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not to hare been sheltered
+from temptation, but to have passed through it and overcome it by God’s
+help. Many have drawn exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public
+school morality; the best answer is to point to the good and splendid
+men that have been trained in public schools, and who lose no
+opportunity of recurring to them with affection. It is quite possible to
+be _in_ the little world of school-life, and yet not _of_ it. The ruin
+of human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend; the
+peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances under which
+he was placed. He often told me before his last hour, that he rejoiced
+to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced there much real
+happiness, and derived in every way lasting good.
+
+“I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will come
+back with the ‘spell of home affection’ alive in your heart. I shall
+rejoice to make Vernon’s acquaintance, and will do for him all I can.
+Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you arrive.--Ever,
+dear Eric,
+
+“Affectionately yours,
+
+“WALTER ROSA.”
+
+END OF PART I
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+“Sed revocare gradum.”--VIRGIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ABDIEL
+
+     [Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth’ omiliai kakai].--MENANDEB.
+
+A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter, and had
+brought with it many changes.
+
+To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell were
+getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had vanished; the
+bad habits laid aside after his death had been resumed. All this took
+place very gradually; there were many inward struggles, much occasional
+remorse, but the struggles by degrees grew weaker, and remorse lost its
+sting, and Eric Williams soon learned again to follow the multitude
+to do evil.
+
+He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and, besides
+this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had fallen off and
+no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise of genius which he
+had given when he first came. But in all school sports he had improved,
+and was the acknowledged leader and champion in matters requiring
+boldness and courage. His popularity made him giddy; favor of man led
+him to forgetfulness of God; and even a glance at his countenance showed
+a self-sufficiency and arrogance which ill became the refinement of his
+features, and ill replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.
+
+And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had happened to
+him, which Eric in his better moments could have feared. He had fallen
+into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who should have been his natural
+guardian and guide, began to treat him with indifference, and scarcely
+ever had any affectionate intercourse with him. It is by no means
+unfrequent that brothers at school see but little of each other, and
+follow their several pursuits, and choose their various companions, with
+small regard to the relationship between them.
+
+Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that Vernon’s chief
+friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he could have chosen. It
+was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had been expelled from one of the
+most ill-managed schools in Ireland, although, of course, the fact had
+been most treacherously concealed from the authorities at Roslyn; and
+now he was let loose, without warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys.
+Better for them if their gates had been open to the pestilence! the
+pestilence could but have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front
+fighter in the devil’s battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He
+systematically, from the very first, called evil good and good evil,
+put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the
+admission of any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn
+boys, to their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable
+flood of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as Montagu
+and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight of a feather
+to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have done much, Duncan
+might have done much, to aid the better cause, had they tried; but they
+resisted at first but faintly, and then not at all, until they too were
+swept away in the broadening tide of degeneracy and sin.
+
+Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if he stated
+his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in the school,
+naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all the lower
+forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if they accepted
+his guidance. A little army of small boys attended him, and were ever
+ready for the schemes of mischief to which he deliberately trained them,
+until they grew almost as turbulent, as disobedient, and as wicked, as
+himself. He taught, both, by precept and example, that towards masters
+neither honor was to be recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To
+cheat them, to lie to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to
+misrepresent their motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their
+actions--was the conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the
+time that he continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a
+Pandemonium of evil passions and despicable habits.
+
+Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty this
+would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often with his
+brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his side. He
+flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious that Vernon
+should grow spirited and independent; but, had he examined himself, he
+would have found selfishness at the bottom of it. Once or twice his
+manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the little boy both observed and
+resented it. Montagu and others noticed him for Eric’s sake; but, being
+in the same form with Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and
+feeling, as he did, deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the
+ascendancy of his physical strength and reckless daring. Before three
+months were over, he became, to Eric’s intolerable disgust, a ringleader
+in the band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were
+the despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.
+
+Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he had
+no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He simply
+kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own tastes and
+pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial spirits in the school,
+so as in no way to come in contact with the spreading corruption.
+
+Montagu, now Owen’s chief friend, was also in the sixth, and fearlessly
+expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his dread of the evil he
+was effecting. Had the monitorial system existed, that contagion could
+have been checked at once; but, as it was, brute force the unlimited
+authority. Ill indeed are those informed who raise a cry, and join in
+the ignorant abuse of that noble safeguard of English schools. Any who
+have had personal and intimate experience of how schools work _with_ it
+and _without_ it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and morality;
+how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the bulwark of
+discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful, often at the
+most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all their sympathies
+and interests on the side of the honorable and the just.
+
+Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did not
+come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan he was
+scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to keep
+apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be ignorant
+of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the indignant and
+measureless invectives of Montagu and others, professed to see in
+Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild, perhaps, but still a very
+good fellow.
+
+Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the unvarying
+glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across him openly, since
+Montagu was so high in the school; and besides, though much the bigger
+of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of him. But he chose sly
+methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named him “Rosebud;” he talked
+_at_ him whenever he had an opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the
+gang of youngsters against him; he spread malicious reports about him;
+he diminished his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every
+secret and underhand means which, lay in his power.
+
+One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy, Montagu did
+not come to bed till an hour later than _the_ lower part of the school,
+and Brigson taught some of the little fellows to play all kinds of
+tricks to his bed and room, so that, when he came down, it was with the
+certainty of finding everything in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be
+turned right on end, and he would have to put it to the ground and
+remake it before he could lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the
+room would be thrown about in different corners, with no trace of the
+offender. Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain that
+this was done by Brigson’s instigation, or by his own hand, without
+having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor Monty grew very
+sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly annoyance weighed the more
+heavily on his spirits, from its being of a kind which peculiarly grated
+on his refined taste, and his natural sense of what was gentlemanly
+and fair.
+
+One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a light
+under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier than
+usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they were at it!
+The instant he entered, there was a rush through the opposite door, and
+he felt convinced that one of the retreating figures was Brigson’s. In a
+second he had sprung across, so as to prevent the rest from running, and
+with heaving breast and flaming eyes, glared at the intruders as they
+stood there, sheepish and afraid.
+
+“What!” he said angrily, “so _you_ are the fellows who have had the
+cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks; you miserable,
+degraded young animals!” And he looked at the four or five who had not
+made their escape. “What! and _you_ among them,” he said with a start,
+as he caught the eye of Vernon Williams--“Oh, this is too bad.” His tone
+showed the deepest sorrow and vexation, and for a moment he said no
+more. Instantly Vernon was by him.
+
+“_Do_ forgive me, _do_ forgive me, Montagu,” he said; “I really didn’t
+know it teased you so much.”
+
+But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself. “Wretched
+boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh, as usual,” he
+said, glancing at the complete disorder which they had been effecting.
+“Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has introduced another vile secret
+among you. Well, he shall rue it!” and he pointed to some small, almost
+invisible flakes of a whitish substance scattered here and there over
+his pillow. It was a kind of powder, which if once it touched the skin,
+caused the most violent and painful irritation.
+
+“By heavens, this is _too_ bad!” he exclaimed, stamping his foot with
+anger. “What have I ever done to you young blackguards, that you should
+treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I ever harmed one of you?
+And _you_, too, Vernon Williams!”
+
+The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble glance of
+sorrow and scorn.
+
+“Well, I _know_ who has put you up to this; but you shall not escape so.
+I shall thrash you every one.”
+
+Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none. They took
+it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it; and when it was
+over, Vernon said, “Forgive me, Montagu. I am very sorry, and will never
+do so again.” Montagu, without deigning a reply, motioned them to go,
+and then sat down, full of grief, on his bed. But the outrage was not
+over for that night, and no sooner had he put out the light than he
+became painfully aware that several boys were stealing into the room,
+and the next moment he felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of
+bed in an instant, and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had
+scattered the crowd of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A
+number of fellows had set on him in the dark--on _him_, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should be
+possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson’s baseness had spread
+far indeed.
+
+He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had reason to
+repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an antagonist. But
+this did not content him; his blood was up, and he determined to attack
+the evil at its source. He strode through his discomfited enemies
+straight into Brigson’s room, struck a match, and said, “Brigson, get
+out of bed this instant.”
+
+“Hullo!” grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.
+
+“None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?”
+
+“No!” roared Brigson, “I should think not.”
+
+“Well, then, take _that_!” he shouted, striking him in the face.
+
+The fight that followed was very short. In a single round Montagu had
+utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced to beg for
+mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to tower above him
+with a magnificent superiority, and there was a self-controlled passion
+about him which gave tremendous energy to every blow. Brigson was
+utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and took without a word the
+parting kick of ineffable contempt which Montagu bestowed on him.
+
+“There,” he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all the
+dormitories at the first hint of a fight, “I, a sixth-form fellow, have
+condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom all you miserable
+lower boys have been making an idol and hero of, and from whom you have
+been so readily learning every sort of blackguardly and debasing trick.
+But let me tell you and your hero, that if any of you dare to annoy or
+lift a finger at me again, you shall do it at your peril. I despise you
+all; there is hardly one gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you
+since that fellow Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you
+know that you deserve it.” And every one of them _did_ shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.
+
+The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr. Rose
+appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his night-shirt, the
+boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose, which was bleeding
+profusely, at his basin.
+
+Montagu instantly stepped up to him. “You can trust me, sir; may I ask
+you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some one that
+deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson.”
+
+Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. “I can trust you,” he
+said, “Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this irregularity.
+And now get instantly to your beds.”
+
+But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the studies,
+and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them what had
+occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves for the future
+to check, if they could, by all fair means, Brigson’s pernicious
+influence and abominable example.
+
+But it was too late now; the mischief was done.
+
+“O Eric,” said Montagu, “why did you not make a stand against all this
+before? Your own brother was one of them.”
+
+“Little wretch. I’ll kick him well for it,” said Eric.
+
+“No, no!” said Montagu, “that’ll do no good. Try rather to look after
+him a little more.”
+
+“I hope _you_ will forgive him, and try and rescue him.”
+
+“I will do what I can,” said Montagu, coldly.
+
+Eric sighed, and they parted.
+
+Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off all open
+connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do so. But that
+personage kept carefully out of his way until the first burst of
+indignation against him had subsided, and after a time began to address
+Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he had completely regained
+his ascendancy over the lower part of the school, which was not
+difficult, because they were wincing under Montagu’s contempt, and
+mingled no little dislike with it; a dislike which all are too apt to
+feel towards those whose very presence and moral superiority are a tacit
+rebuke of their own failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at
+the zenith of popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously
+encouraged. He was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a
+large score at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All
+this he was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the
+reasons why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to stand
+in much the same relation to him as before.
+
+The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much, and the
+sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main parties--the
+one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by Duncan, who devoted
+themselves to the games and diversions of the school, and troubled
+themselves comparatively little about anything else; the other, headed
+by Montagu, who took the lead in intellectual pursuits, and endeavored,
+by every means in their power, to counteract the pernicious effects of
+the spreading immorality.
+
+And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved boy,
+and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was disunion,
+misery, and deterioration. The community which had once been peaceful,
+happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy and heart-burnings;
+every boy’s hand seemed to be against his neighbor; lying, bad language,
+dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and the few who, like Owen and Montagu,
+remained uncontaminated by the general mischief, walked alone and
+despondent amid their uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WILDNEY
+
+     “That punishment’s the best to bear
+        That follows soonest on the sin,
+      And guilt’s a game where losers fare
+        Better than those who seem to win.”
+
+     COV. PATMORE.
+
+At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded to one of
+the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which adjoined it.
+
+Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of disobedience, had
+frequented the studies a good deal, but it was generally understood that
+no study-boy might ask any one to be a regular visitor to his room
+without the leave of its other occupant.
+
+So one evening Duncan said to Eric, “Do you know little Wildney?”
+
+“You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the great
+black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I don’t
+know him.”
+
+“Well, he’s a very nice little fellow; a regular devil”
+
+“Humph!” said Eric, laughing; “I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very nice
+little fellow.”
+
+“Pooh!” said Duncan; “you know well enough what I mean; I mean he’s not
+one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has lots of fun
+in him.”
+
+“Well, what of him?”
+
+“Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study when he
+likes?”
+
+“Not the least in the world.”
+
+“Very well, I’ll go and fetch him now. But wouldn’t you like to ask your
+brother Vernon to come in too whenever he’s inclined?”
+
+“No,” said Eric, “I don’t care. He does come every now and then.”
+
+Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was thinking
+_why_ he didn’t give Vernon the free run of his study. He would not
+admit to himself the true reason, which was, that he had too much ground
+to fear that his example would do his brother no good.
+
+Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright, engaging,
+spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him which took
+Eric’s fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of the lower
+fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in school, and was
+in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was “taken up” by Eric,
+he had been a regular little hero among his compeers, because he was
+game for any kind of mischief, and, in the new tone of popular morality,
+his fearless disregard of rules made him the object of general
+admiration. From this time, however, he was much in the studies, and
+unhappily carried with him to those upper regions the temptation to a
+deeper and more injurious class of transgressions than had yet
+penetrated there.
+
+It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised little
+son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first asked the
+child to frequent their study.
+
+It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed, but
+there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric’s knee by the study fire,
+while Duncan was doing some Arnold’s verses for him to be shown up
+next day.
+
+“Bother these verses,” said Duncan, “I shall have a whiff. Do you mind,
+Eric?”
+
+“No; not at all.”
+
+“Give me a weed, too,” said Wildney.
+
+“What! young un--you don’t mean to say you smoke?” asked Eric in
+surprise.
+
+“Don’t I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went and
+smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday.”
+
+“Phew!” said Eric, “then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you in
+countenance;” and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had touched
+one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him gloomy and
+silent. “Tempora mutantur,” thought he, “nos et mutamur in illis.”
+
+“Why, how glum you are,” said Wildney, patting him on the head.
+
+“O no!” said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. “Look,” he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, “what a
+glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars.”
+
+“Yes,” said Duncan, yawning; “this smoking makes one very thirsty. I
+wish I’d some beer.”
+
+“Well, why shouldn’t we get some?” said Wildney “it would he very
+jolly.”
+
+“Get some! What! at this time of night?”
+
+“Yes; I’ll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before ten.”
+
+“Nonsense,” said Eric; “it aint worth while.”
+
+“I believe you think I’m afraid,” said Wildney, laughing, and looking at
+Eric with his dark eyes; “and what’s more, I believe _you’re_ afraid.”
+
+“Little whippersnapper!” said Eric, coloring, “as if I was afraid to do
+anything _you_ dare do. I’ll go with you at once, if you like.”
+
+“What are you thinking of?” asked Duncan. “I don’t care twopence about
+the beer, and I hope you won’t go.”
+
+“But I will, though,” said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney, of all
+people, should think him wanting in pluck.
+
+“But how will you get out?”
+
+“Oh, _I’ll_ show you a dodge there,” said Wildney. “Come along. Have you
+a dark lantern?”
+
+“No, but I’ll get Llewellyn’s.”
+
+“Come along then.”
+
+So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying the dark
+lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a secret which had
+long been known to the lower part of the school.
+
+“Ibant obscuri dubiâ sub luce.” He led them quietly down stairs, stole
+with them noiselessly past the library door, and took them to a window
+in the passage, where a pane was broken.
+
+“Could you get through that?” he whispered to Eric, “if we broke away
+the rest of the glass?”
+
+“I don’t know. But, then, there’s the bar outside.”
+
+“Oh, I’ll manage that. But will you go and peep through the key-hole of
+the library, and see who’s there, Duncan?”
+
+“No,” said Duncan, bluntly, “no key-holes for me.”
+
+“Hush! then _I_ will,” and he glided away, while Eric, as quietly as he
+could, broke away the glass until it was all removed.
+
+“There’s only old Stupid,” whispered he, irreverently designating an
+under-master named Harley, “and he’s asleep before the fire. Now, then,
+just lift me up, Eric, will you?”
+
+Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end of the
+bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long driven into
+the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened, and only wanted a
+little pull to bring them out. In one minute Wildney had unfastened and
+pushed down one end of the bar. He then got through the broken pane, and
+dropped down outside. Eric followed with some little difficulty, for the
+aperture would only just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to
+the study, anxiously awaited their return.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant and
+cool. But Eric’s first thought, as he dropped on to the ground, was one
+of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere child, so easily
+to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had hardly thought till then
+of what their errand was to be, but now his couldn’t help so strongly
+disapproving of it, that he was half-inclined to turn back. He did not,
+however, dare to suggest this, lest Wildney should charge him with
+cowardice, and betray it to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own
+excitement, the stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.
+
+“I hope we shan’t be seen crossing the play-ground,” said Wildney. “My
+eye, shouldn’t we catch it!”
+
+He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air of
+nonchalance, and played the part of protector.
+
+“Here, take my arm,” he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight, instead
+of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one so much his
+junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by community of danger and
+interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly struck him that he didn’t know
+where they were going to buy the beer. He asked Wildney.
+
+“Oh, I see you’re not half up to snuff,” said Wildney, whose courage had
+risen; “I’ll show you.”
+
+He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were booming,
+and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in they saw some
+sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in tobacco-smoke.
+
+The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held up a
+light to see who they were.
+
+“Hollo, Billy,” said Wildney, confidentially, “all serene; give us two
+bottles of beer--on tick, you know.”
+
+“Yessir--d’reckly,” said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the eyes.
+“So you’re out for a spree,” he continued, winking in a knowing way.
+“Won’t you walk into the back-parlor while I get them?” And he showed
+them into a dingy horrid room behind the house, stale with smoke, and
+begrimed with dust.
+
+Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home. The
+man soon returned with the beer. “Wouldn’t you like a glass of summat
+now, young gen’lmen?” he asked, in an insinuating way.
+
+“No, Billy! don’t jabber--we must be off. Here open the door.”
+
+“Stop, I’ll pay,” said Eric. “What’s the damage?”
+
+“Three shilling, sir,” said the man. “Glad to see a new customer, sir.”
+He pocketed the money, and showed them, out, standing to look after them
+with a malicious leer as they disappeared, and jerking his left thumb
+over his shoulder.
+
+“Faugh!” said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again into the
+moonlight, “what a poisonous place! Good gracious, Charlie, who
+introduced you there?”
+
+“Oh, I don’t think much of going _there_” said Wildney, carelessly; “we
+go every-week almost.”
+
+“We! who?”
+
+“Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call the
+‘Anti-muffs,’ and that’s our smoking-room.”
+
+“And is that horrid beast the landlord?”
+
+“Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there’s no harm in him that I
+know of.”
+
+But Eric only “phewed” again two or three times, and thought of Montagu.
+
+Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into the deep
+shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, “Look!”
+
+Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He had heard
+voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at their sudden
+cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking round.
+
+“We must run for it,” whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose approached
+the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and scampered away as
+hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by taking his hand, and
+neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr. Rose following them at
+first, but soon distanced him, and reached a place where two roads met,
+either of which would lead to the school.
+
+“We won’t go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What fun!”
+said Wildney, laughing.
+
+“What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of dodges,”
+said Eric.
+
+They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got to the
+school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected their
+entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his study, and
+Wildney to his dormitory.
+
+“Here’s a go!” said the latter, as they ran up stairs; “I’ve smashed one
+of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and my trousers are
+deluged with the stuff.”
+
+They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose’s step was heard on the stairs.
+He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight of two boys
+and the sound of their voices startled him in the street, and their
+sudden disappearance made him sure that they were Roslyn boys,
+particularly when they began to run. He strongly suspected that he
+recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore made straight for his
+dormitory, which he entered, just as that worthy had thrust the
+beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr. Rose, walked up quietly to his
+bedside, and observed that he was not asleep, and that he still had half
+has clothes on. He was going away when he saw a little bit of the
+trousers protruding under the mattress, and giving a pull, out they
+came, wringing wet with the streams of beer. He could not tell at first
+what this imported, but a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket
+with, a crash on the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of
+Wildney’s pretended sleep, he said, quietly, “Come to me before
+breakfast tomorrow, Wildney,” and went down stairs.
+
+Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly attempting
+to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring auditors the
+night’s adventure; being evidently rather prouder of the “Eric and I,”
+which he introduced every now and then into his story.
+
+“Has he twigged you?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“And me?”
+
+“I don’t know; we shall see to-morrow.”
+
+“I hope not,” said Eric; “I’m sorry for you, Charlie.”
+
+“Can’t be cured, must be endured,” said Wildney.
+
+“Well, good night! and don’t lose heart.”
+
+Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the other
+bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment, because they
+were full of surmises as to the extent of the discovery, and the nature
+of the punishment.
+
+Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.
+
+He listened very coldly, and said, “Well, Eric, it would serve you right
+to be caught. What business have you to be going out at night, at the
+invitation of contemptible small fry, like this little Wildney?”
+
+“I beg you won’t speak of any friend of mine in those terms,” said Eric,
+drawing up haughtily.
+
+“I hope you don’t call a bad little boy like Wildney, who’d be no
+credit to any one, _your_ friend, Eric?”
+
+“Yes I do, though. He’s one of the pluckiest, finest, most promising
+fellows in the lower school.”
+
+“How I begin to hate that word plucky,” said Montagu; “it’s made the
+excuse here for everything that’s wrong, base, and unmanly. It seems to
+me it’s infinitely more ‘plucky’ just now to do your duty and not be
+ashamed of it.”
+
+“You’ve certainly required _that_ kind of pluck to bear you up lately,
+Monty,” said Owen, looking up from his books.
+
+“Pluck!” said Montagu, scornfully; “you seem to me to think it consists
+in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious Brigson, and
+joining hand and glove with the dregs of the school.”
+
+“Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you’re cool, to speak of any of my
+associates in that way,” said Eric, now thoroughly angry.
+
+“Associates!” retorted Montagu, hotly; “pretty associates! How do you
+expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the school like you
+have such dealings with the refined honorable Brigson, and the exemplary
+intellectual Wildney?”
+
+“You’re a couple of confounded muffs,” shouted Eric, banging the door,
+and flinging into his own study again without farther reply.
+
+“Hav’n’t you been a little hard on him, considering the row he’s in?”
+asked Owen.
+
+Montagu’s head was resting on his hand as he bent over the table.
+“Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the present
+state of things? Yes, you’re right,” he said, after a pause; “_this_
+wasn’t the time to speak. I’ll go and talk to him again. But how utterly
+changed he is!”
+
+He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an affectation of
+noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--
+
+“Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt to
+express myself strongly.” He could not trust himself to say more, but
+held out his hand.
+
+Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+“Come, Eric, it isn’t _wholly_ my fault, is it, that we are not so warm
+to each other as we were when ...”
+
+“Oh, Monty, Monty!” said Eric, softened by the allusion; and warmly
+grasped his friend’s proffered hand.
+
+“Oh, Eric!”
+
+The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they felt
+that while things continued thus their friendship could not last. It was
+a sad thought for both.
+
+Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained great
+reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to drop the
+least hint as to their means of getting out, or their purpose in
+visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained undiscovered, and when
+any boy wanted to get out at night--(unhappily the trick now became
+common enough)--he had only to break a pane of glass in that particular
+window, which, as it was in the passage, often remained unmended and
+undiscovered for weeks.
+
+After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, “I want to speak to
+you.”
+
+The boy’s heart misgave him as they entered the familiar library.
+
+“I think I suspect who was Wildney’s companion.”
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+“I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague suspicion; but
+the boy whom I _do_ suspect is one whose course lately has given me the
+deepest pain; one who has violated all the early promise he gave; one
+who seems to be going farther and farther astray, and sacrificing all
+moral principle to the ghost of a fleeting and most despicable
+popularity--to the approval of those whom he cannot himself approve.”
+
+Eric still silent.
+
+“Whatever you do _yourself_, Williams”--(it was the first time for two
+years that Mr. Rose had called him “Williams,” and he winced a
+little)--“whatever you do _yourself_, Williams, rests with _you_; but
+remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and more accursed crime to set
+stumbling-blocks in the way of others, and abuse your influence to cause
+any of Christ’s little ones to perish.”
+
+“I wasn’t the tempter, however,” thought Eric, still silent.
+
+“Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me, Williams, I
+grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you is no less warm,
+though my affection for you cannot be the same. You may go.”
+
+“Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not asked me
+to see him once this term,” thought Eric, sadly; but a shout of pleasure
+greeted him directly he joined the football in the play-ground, and,
+half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard it, and understood that was
+meant for the boy whom he had just been rebuking. “Well, after all,” he
+thought, “I have _some_ friends still.”
+
+Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy whom he
+really respected ever walked with him now. Even little Wright, one of
+the very few lower boys who had risen superior to Brigson’s temptations,
+seemed to keep clear of him as much as he could; and, in absolute
+vacuity, he was obliged to associate with fellows like Attlay, and
+Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.
+
+Even with Bull! All Eric’s repugnance for this boy seemed to have
+evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance, were sworn
+friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation as was pursued
+unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay, worse, it had lost
+its horror, and he was neither afraid nor ashamed to join in it himself.
+This plague-spot had fretted more deeply than any other into the heart
+of the school morality, and the least boys seemed the greatest
+proficients in unbaring without a blush, its hideous ugliness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+“THE JOLLY HERRING”
+
+“Velut unda supervenit undam.”--VIRGIL.
+
+The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams’ company to a spread they
+are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four, in their
+smoking-room--
+
+A note to this effect was put into Eric’s hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew whether
+to be pleased or disgusted at it.
+
+He tossed it to Duncan, and said, “What shall I do?”
+
+Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the fire.
+
+“I’d give them that answer, and no other.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because, Eric,” said Duncan, with more seriousness than was usual with
+him, “I can’t help thinking things have gone too far lately.”
+
+“How do you mean?”
+
+“Well, I’m no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that the
+fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse. Your
+friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid down a law
+that _no work_ is to be done down stairs ever under any pretence, and
+it’s only by getting into one of the studies that good little chaps
+like Wright can get on at all. Even in the class-rooms there’s so much
+row and confusion that the mere thought of work is ridiculous.”
+
+“Well, there’s no great harm in a little noise, if that’s all.”
+
+“But it isn’t all. The talk of nearly the whole school is getting most
+blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney was chatting with
+Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not have been here) while
+I was reading; they didn’t seem to mind me, and I’m sure you’d have been
+vexed to the heart if you’d heard how they talked to each other. At last
+I couldn’t stand it any longer, and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears
+smartly, and kicked them down stairs.”
+
+As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, “And I wish it ended in talk,
+but----”
+
+“But I believe you’re turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we’re only
+schoolboys; it’ll be lots of time to turn saint some other day.”
+
+Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition. “You don’t
+want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the rosebuds,
+do you?”
+
+There was something of assumed bravado in Eric’s whole manner which
+jarred on Duncan exceedingly. “Do as you like,” he said, curtly, and
+went into another study.
+
+Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney, as he
+often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping his trousers
+over his nightshirt, and running up to the studies.
+
+“Well, you’ll come to the Anti-muffs, won’t you?” he said.
+
+“To that pestilential place again?--not I.”
+
+Wildney looked offended. “Not after we’ve all asked you? The fellows
+won’t half like your refusing.”
+
+He had touched Eric’s weak point.
+
+“Do come,” he said, looking up in Eric’s face.
+
+“Confound it all,” answered Eric, hastily. “Yes, I’ve no friends, I’ll
+come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy.”
+
+“That’s a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows. They’ll be
+no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you.” And he scampered
+off, leaving Eric ill at ease.
+
+Duncan didn’t re-enter the study that evening.
+
+The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the way to
+Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and said--
+
+“Are you going to the Anti-muffs?”
+
+“Yes; why? are you going too?”
+
+“Yes; do you mind our going together?”
+
+“Not at all.”
+
+In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep him in
+countenance, for he felt considerably more than half ashamed
+of himself.
+
+They went to “The Jolly Herring,” as the pot-house was called, and
+passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor, to which
+Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen boys were
+assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as the two
+new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room, which was
+regularly spread for dinner.
+
+“Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose,” called Brigson. “I vote,
+boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair.”
+
+“Hear! hear!” said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his will,
+found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson and Bull
+on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom they called
+Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the table, and some
+fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample justice to the [Greek:
+daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them. There was immense uproar during
+the dinner, every one eating as fast, and talking as loud, as he could.
+
+The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.
+
+“Now for the dessert, Billy,” called several voices; and that worthy
+proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and four black
+bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these dainties, and one
+boy shouted, “I say, I’ve had no wine.”
+
+“Well, it’s all gone. We must get some brandy--it’s cheaper,” said
+Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys
+diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.
+
+“Here! before you’re all done swilling,” said Brigson, “I’ve got a
+health; ‘Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti’s.’”
+
+“And their chairman,’ suggested Wildney.
+
+“And their chairman, the best fellow in the school,” added Brigson.
+
+The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
+
+“I’m not going to spout,” he said; “but boys must be boys, and there’s
+no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged
+to you for asking me; and now I call for a song.”
+
+“Wildney! Wildney’s song,” called several.
+
+Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness--
+
+     “Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
+       Until it does run overt
+     Come, landlord, fill,” &c
+
+“Now,” he said, “join in the chorus!” The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--
+
+     “For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we’ll merry merry be!
+       To-morrow we’ll be sober!”
+
+While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round the
+room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could not
+recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame passed
+over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and Brigson
+heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not help observing
+what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of Russell came back to him.
+Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was in such company at such a
+place! And by the door stood Billy, watching them all like an evil
+spirit, with a leer of saturnine malice on his evil face.
+
+But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric’s bitter thoughts,
+sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him, shining out like
+a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like blood-guiltiness on his
+soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning the young boy’s presence in
+that degraded assemblage.
+
+Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of “cavé, cavé.” In an instant the room was
+in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon the floor, the table was
+overturned with a mighty crash, and plates, glasses, and bottles rushed
+on to the ground in shivers. Nearly every one bolted for the door, which
+led through the passage into the street; and in their headlong flight
+and selfishness, they stumbled over each other, and prevented all
+egress, several being knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made
+for the tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there
+stood Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was the
+work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters quickly took
+down the names of full half the boys who, in the suddenness of the
+surprise, had been unable to make their exit.
+
+And Eric?
+
+The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney seize
+his hand, and whisper, “This way all serene;” following, he groped his
+way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney, shoving aside a
+green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door, which at once let them
+into a little garden. There they both crouched down, under a lilac tree
+beside the house, and listened intently.
+
+There was no need for this precaution; their door remained unsuspected,
+and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into the house again,
+they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that the masters had gone,
+and all was safe.
+
+“Glad ye’re not twigged, gen’lmen,” he said; “but there’ll be a pretty
+sight of damage for all this glass and plates.”
+
+“Shut up with your glass and plates,” said Wildney. “Here, Eric, we must
+cut for it again.”
+
+It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the close
+room into the open air, and they had to consider which way they would
+choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the wrong, but
+escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney’s old short cut. As they
+ran they passed several boys (who having been caught, were walking home
+leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered, when they both
+answered their names quite innocently at the roll-call, immediately
+after lock up.
+
+“What lucky dogs you are to get off,” said many boys to them.
+
+“Yes, it’s precious lucky for me,” said Wildney. “If I’d been caught at
+this kind of thing a second time, I should have got something worse than
+a swishing.”
+
+“Well, it’s all through you I escaped,” said Eric, “you knowing little
+scamp.”
+
+“I’m glad of it, Eric,” said Wildney in his fascinating way, “since it
+is all through me you went. It’s rather too hazardous though; we must
+manage better another time.”
+
+During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that none of the
+sixth form or other study boys would particularly sympathise with his
+late associates. Since the previous evening he had been cool with
+Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised him as a boy who’d do
+anything to be popular; so he sat there silent, looking as disdainful as
+he could, and not touching the tea, for which he felt disinclined after
+the recent potations. But the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving
+heart, and he felt how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How
+gladly would he have changed places with them! how much he would have
+given to recover some of their forfeited esteem!
+
+The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room for a
+few minutes while the tables were cleared for “preparation,” and the
+boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the study and
+class-room boys were expected to go away during this interval; but Eric,
+not noticing Mr. Rose’s entrance, sat gossipping with Wildney about the
+dinner and its possible consequences to the school.
+
+He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the other, and
+bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that he looked like a
+regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the Jolly Herring, and
+Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended by the simile.
+
+“Hush! no more talking,” said Mr. Rose, who did everything very gently
+and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger, and had
+always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he didn’t think
+he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment he did not, so
+Wildney began to chatter again.
+
+“All study boys to leave the room,” said Mr. Rose.
+
+Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone away,
+but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney’s eye, and besides wanted
+to show off a little indifference to his old master, with whom he had
+had no intercourse since their last-mentioned conversation.
+
+“Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after I have
+dismissed you?” said Mr. Rose sternly.
+
+Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this speech
+created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was going out of
+the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all his proud and
+dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten something, he walked
+conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to him, “I shan’t go if he
+chooses to speak like that.”
+
+A red flush passed over Mr. Rose’s cheek; he took two strides to Eric,
+and laid the cane sharply once across his back.
+
+Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had done.
+His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events of the
+evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane, which he had
+not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He bounded up, sprang
+towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what he was about, had
+wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it violently in the middle
+until it broke, and flung one of the pieces furiously into the fire.
+
+For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr. Rose--stood
+facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy panting and
+passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on fire; the master
+pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but perfectly self-collected.
+
+“After that exhibition,” said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet dignity,
+“you had better leave the room.”
+
+“Yes, I had,” answered Eric bitterly; “there’s your cane.” And, flinging
+the other fragment at Mr. Rose’s head, he strode blindly out of the
+room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning several boys in his
+way. He then banged the door with all his force, and rushed up into
+his study.
+
+Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor, asked, after
+a moment’s awkward silence, “Is anything the matter, Williams?”
+
+“Williams!” echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; “yes, that’s always the
+way with a fellow when he’s in trouble. I always know what’s coming when
+you begin to leave off calling me by my Christian name.”
+
+“Very well, then,” said Duncan, good-humoredly, “what’s the matter,
+Eric?”
+
+“Matter?” answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with an
+angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything which
+came in his way. “Matter? hang you all, you are all turning against me,
+because you are a set of muffs, and----”
+
+“Take care!” said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric’s look, and
+stopped.
+
+“And I’ve been breaking Rose’s cane over his head, because he had the
+impudence to touch, me with it, and----”
+
+“Eric, you’re not yourself to-night,” said Duncan, interrupting, but
+speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric’s hand, he looked him
+steadily in the face.
+
+Their eyes met; the boy’s false self once more slipped off. By a strong
+effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of drink had
+caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to speak again, or
+even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell rang.
+
+Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done with him,
+Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after prayers into
+Montagu’s, and talked with him over the recent events, of which the
+boys’ minds were all full.
+
+But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing nothing,
+and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to resent
+his presence.
+
+“So!” he said, looking up at the ceiling, “another saint come to cast a
+stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned,” he continued, dropping
+his cheek on his hand again; “only don’t let the sermon be long.”
+
+But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated himself
+by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.
+
+“Come, Eric,” said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling him; “I
+won’t be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won’t you even look? Oh
+Eric, one wouldn’t have fancied this in past days, when we were so much
+together with one who is dead. It’s a long long time since we’ve eyen
+alluded to him, but _I_ shall never forget those happy days.”
+
+Eric heaved a deep sigh.
+
+“I’m not come to reproach you. You don’t give me a friend’s right to
+reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow, I can’t help
+being sorry for all this. I did hope you’d have broken with Brigson
+after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which he treated me. I
+don’t think you _can_ know the mischief he is doing.”
+
+The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric’s eye, “Ah!” he said,
+“it’s all of no use; you’re all giving me the cold shoulder, and I’m
+going to the bad, that’s the long and short of it.”
+
+“Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents’ sake, for the school’s
+sake, for all your real friends’ sake, don’t talk in that bitter
+hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool or the
+patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you. I _do_ hope
+you’ll join us even yet in resisting them.”
+
+Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his emotion. “I
+can’t talk, Monty,” he said, in an altered tone; “but leave me now; and
+if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow.”
+
+“Most willingly, Eric.” And again, warmly pressing his hand, Montagu
+returned to his own study.
+
+Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric’s door. He expected Wildney
+as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him, and hoping
+he would come, but he didn’t want to see him now, so he answered rather
+peevishly, “Come in; but I don’t want to be bothered to-night.”
+
+Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. “May I come in? not if it
+bothers you, Eric,” he said, gently.
+
+“Oh, Verny, I didn’t know it was you; I thought it would be Wildney. You
+_never_ come now.”
+
+The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say, “Whose
+fault is that?”
+
+“Come here, Verny;” and Eric drew him towards him, and put him on his
+knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the child’s eyes.
+
+It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had been
+alone together, the first time for many a long day that any acts of
+kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember this, and, at
+the same time, to remember home, and their absent parents, and their
+mother’s prayers, and all the quiet half-forgotten vista of innocent
+pleasures, and sacred relationships, and holy affections. And why did
+they see each other so little at school? Their consciences told them
+both, that either wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and
+forgetfulness of God.
+
+They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since they were
+children, each brother put his arm round the other’s neck, and
+remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his cruel heartless
+selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far astray; left him as a
+prey to such boys as were his companions in the lower school.
+
+“Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?”
+
+“You!” said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. “Good heavens! I didn’t
+notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I’d known you were
+there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such, a bad example.”
+
+“Yes, I was there, and I was caught.”
+
+“Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can’t get much
+done to you.”
+
+“It isn’t _that_ I care for; I’ve been flogged before, you know.
+But--may I say something?”
+
+“Yes, Vernon, anything you like.”
+
+“Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to Mr. Rose
+to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course; but I could
+have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn’t have minded if it had been
+anybody but Rose.”
+
+“But why?”
+
+“Because, Eric, he’s been so good, so kind to both of us. You’ve often
+told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he’s done such, lots of
+kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was caught, he
+sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so gently, about
+the wickedness of going to such low places, and about so young a boy as
+I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it and--and”--His voice was
+choked by sobs for a time,--“and then he knelt down and prayed for me,
+so as I have never heard any one pray but mother;--and do you know,
+Eric, it was strange, but I thought I _did_ hear our mother’s voice
+praying for me too, while he prayed, and”--He tried in vain to go on;
+but Eric’s conscience continued for him; “and just as he had ceased
+doing this for one brother, the other brother, for whom he has often
+done the same, treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence.”
+
+“Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think that while
+I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at home. And, oh,
+Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you were talking the
+other day.”
+
+Vernon hid his face on Eric’s shoulder; and as his brother stooped over
+him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in silence, until wearied
+with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and then Eric carried him tenderly
+down stairs, and laid him, still half-sleeping, upon his bed.
+
+He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other boys had
+not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat down on his
+brother’s bed to think, shading off the light of the candle with his
+hand. It was rarely now that Eric’s thoughts were so rich with the
+memories of childhood, and sombre with the consciousness of sin, as they
+were that night, while he gazed on his brother Vernon’s face. He did not
+know what made him look so long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an
+unconjectured foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a
+summer cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but there was
+an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and the long
+eyelashes were still wet with tears.
+
+“Poor child,” thought Eric; “dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow.”
+
+He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that _he_ too
+would come in for certain punishment the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+
+     “Raro antecedentem scelestum
+     Deseruit pede Poena claudo.”--HOR.
+
+After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his boarders on the
+previous day’s discovery, and in a few forcible vivid words set before
+them, the enormity of the offence. He ended by announcing that the boys
+who were caught would be birched,--“except the elder ones, Bull and
+Brigson, who will bring me one hundred lines every hour of the
+half-holidays till further notice. There are some,” he said, “I am well
+aware, who, though present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for
+it, for _their_ sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden.” On leaving
+the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric obeyed, and stood
+before the head-master with downcast eyes.
+
+“Williams,” he said, “I have had a great regard for you, and felt a deep
+interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew your excellent
+parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of your future course,
+and your abilities seemed likely to blossom into noble fruit. But you
+fell off greatly, and grew idle and careless. At last an event happened,
+in which for a time you acted worthily of yourself, and which seemed to
+arouse you from your negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you
+revived; but as I continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps,
+than you supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure that
+you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two years ago.
+I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply fear, Williams,
+I deeply fear, that in _other_ respects also you are going the down-hill
+road. And what am I to think now, when on the _same_ morning, you and
+your little brother _both_ come before me for such serious and heavy
+faults? I cannot free you from blame even for _his_ misdoings, for you
+are his natural guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved
+with him in that charge.”
+
+“Let _me_ bear the punishment, sir, instead of him,” said Eric, by a
+sudden impulse; “for I misled him, and was there myself.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. “You, Williams! on the verge
+of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the state of things
+among you is even worse than I had supposed.”
+
+Eric again hung his head.
+
+“No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at present I
+shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware. But I must turn
+to the other matter. What excuse have you for your intolerable conduct
+to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from the first the most
+unusual and disinterested kindness?”
+
+“I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not control my
+passion.”
+
+“Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I shall make
+you read aloud before the whole school at twelve to-day.”
+
+Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr. Rowlands glanced at
+it. “Come to me again at twelve,” he said.
+
+At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and miserable,
+followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The masters stood at one
+end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who, however, appeared an
+indifferent and uninterested spectator of the transaction. Every eye was
+fixed on Eric, and every one pitied him.
+
+“We are assembled,” said Dr. Rowlands, “for an act of justice. One of
+your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed of his
+conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will read. I had
+intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr. Rose has earnestly
+begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to his wishes. Williams,
+read your apology.”
+
+There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to utter a
+word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his voice, and read,
+but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even those nearest him heard
+what he was saying.
+
+Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. “Owing,” he said, “to a very
+natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in such a way
+that you could not have understood it. I will therefore read it myself.
+It is to this effect--
+
+“‘I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.’
+
+“You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his own
+expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and compunction for
+the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted to elevate him into a
+hero, for a folly which he himself so much regrets. This affair,--as I
+should wish all bad deeds to be after they have once been
+punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope forgotten.”
+
+They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all shunned and
+looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu came, and taking
+his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with him. It was a
+constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad when it was over,
+although Montagu did all he could to show that he loved Eric no less
+than before. Still it was weeks since they had been much together, and
+they had far fewer things in common now than they used to have.
+
+“I’m so wretched, Monty,” said Eric at last; “do you think Rose despises
+me?”
+
+“I am _sure_ of the contrary. Won’t you go to him, Eric, and say all you
+feel?”
+
+“Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the last two
+years!”
+
+“You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same words
+comfort you that have often brought hope to me--‘I will restore the
+years which the locust hath eaten.’”
+
+They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the library. Mr.
+Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as usual, and Eric went up
+to the fire-place where he was standing. They had often stood by that
+library fire on far different terms.
+
+“Forgive me, sir,” was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed to his
+eyes.
+
+“Freely, my boy,” said Mr. Rose, sadly. “I wish you could feel how fully
+I forgive you; but,” he added, laying his hand for the last time on
+Eric’s head, “you have far more, Eric, to forgive yourself. I will not
+talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I fear; but you little know
+how much I pity and tremble for you.”
+
+While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group was
+collected round the fire-place in the boarders’ room, and many tongues
+were loudly discussing the recent events.
+
+Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom Mr. Rose
+had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them far more than
+they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for them in private,
+when his weak frame was harassed by suffering; many a sleepless night
+had he wrestled for them in prayer, when, for their sakes, his own many
+troubles were laid aside. Work on, Walter Rose, and He who seeth in
+secret will reward you openly! but expect no gratitude from those for
+whose salvation you, like the great tenderhearted apostle, would almost
+be ready to wish yourself accursed.
+
+Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It had long
+been Brigson’s cue to do so; he derided him on every opportunity, and
+delighted to represent him as hypocritical and insincere. Even his weak
+health was the subject of Brigson’s coarse ridicule, and the bad boy
+paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute which vice must ever accord to
+excellence.
+
+“You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him,” said Brigson;
+“why, even that old beast Gordon isn’t as bad.”
+
+“Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton’s
+serpent,” drawled Bull;
+
+     “Hope elevates and joy brightens his crest.”
+
+“He-e-ar! He-e-ar!” said Pietrie; “_vide_ the last fifth form Rep.”
+
+“I expect Eric won’t see everything so much _couleur de Rose_ now, as
+the French frog hath it,” remarked Graham.
+
+“It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly,” observed Wildney.
+
+“I say, you fellows,” remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was sitting
+reading a book at one of the desks, “all that isn’t fair. I’m sure you
+all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he said, you know,
+that it was merely for the sake of school discipline that he put the
+matter in Rowlands’ hands.”
+
+“Discipline be hanged,” shouted Brigson; “we’ll have our revenge on him
+yet, discipline or no.”
+
+“I hope you won’t, though,” said Vernon; “I know Eric will be sorry if
+you do.”
+
+“The more muff he. We shall do as we like.”
+
+“Well, I shall tell him; and I’m sure he’ll ask you not. You know how he
+tries to stick up for Rose.”
+
+“If you say a word more,” said Brigson, unaccustomed to being opposed
+among his knot of courtiers, “I’ll kick you out of the room; you and
+that wretched little fool there with you.”
+
+“You may do as you like,” answered Wright, quietly, “but you won’t go
+on like this long, I can tell you.”
+
+Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with flinging
+a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which narrowly missed
+his head.
+
+“I have it!” said Brigson; “that little donkey’s given me an idea. We’ll
+_crust_ Rose to-night.”
+
+“To crust,” gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person with
+crusts.
+
+“Capital!” said some of the worst boys present; “we will.”
+
+“Well, who’ll take part?”
+
+No one offered. “What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards? Here,
+Wildney, won’t you? you were abusing Rose just now.”
+
+“Yes, I will,” said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. “You’ll not
+have done till you’ve got us all expelled, I believe.”
+
+“Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can’t expel half the
+school.”
+
+First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining courage
+by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and Graham were to
+put out the lights at each end of one table immediately after tea, and
+Wildney and Brooking at the other, when the study fellows had gone out.
+There would then be only Mr. Rose’s candle burning, and the two middle
+candles, which, in so large a room, would just give enough light for
+their purpose. Then all the conspirators were to throng around the door,
+and from it aim their crusts at Mr. Rose’s head, Not nearly so many
+would have volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too
+gentle to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by
+his quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.
+
+Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that numbers of
+boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting off the crusts,
+and breaking them into good-sized bits.
+
+Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly reading in
+his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental) dropping of a plate
+by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.
+
+Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in the fall.
+
+Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried movement
+towards the door, and a murmur of voices.
+
+“Now then,” said Brigson, in a loud whisper, “what a funky set you are!
+Here goes?”
+
+The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had just looked
+up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson’s crust caught him
+a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.
+
+In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew by or
+hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the door.
+Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the passage, and if
+he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm might have followed.
+But he did not. Going to the door, he said, “Preparation will be in five
+minutes; every boy not then in his place will be punished.”
+
+During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea, full of
+wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no notice of any
+one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their places, with their
+books open before them, and in the thrilling silence you might have
+heard a pin drop. 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. A pause.
+
+“Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at me?”
+
+Still silence.
+
+“I warn you that I _will_ know, and it will be far worse for the guilty
+if I do not know at once.” There was unmistakeable decision in the tone.
+
+“Very well. I know many boys who were _not_ guilty because I saw them
+in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I shall now _ask_
+all the rest, one by one, if they took any part in this. And beware of
+telling me a lie.”
+
+There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys began to
+whisper aloud, “Brigson! Brigson!” The whisper grew louder, and Mr. Rose
+heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion, and said--
+
+“They call your name; stand out!”
+
+The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance, shambled
+out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose swept him with
+one flashing glance. “_That_ is the boy,” thought he to himself, “who
+has been like an ulcer to this school. These boys shall have a good look
+at their hero.” It was but recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm
+which Brigson had been doing, though he had discovered, almost from the
+first, what _sort_ of character he had.
+
+So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him, many a boy
+cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as a lifetime’s
+struggle could not unteach. And it was _that_ fellow, that stupid,
+clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice, that had ruled like a king
+among them. Faugh!
+
+“They call your name! Do you know anything of this?”
+
+“No!” said Brigson; “I’ll swear I’d nothing to do with it.”
+
+“Oh-h-h-h!” the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust and
+contempt ran round the room.
+
+“You have told me a lie!” said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with ineffable
+contempt. “No words can express my loathing for your false and
+dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you shall find
+immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare to deny it
+again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in this?”
+
+He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed to scorch
+and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. “As I thought,”
+said Mr. Rose.
+
+“Not _one_ boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call you up one by
+one to answer me. Wildney, come here.”
+
+The boy walked in front of the desk.
+
+“Were you one of those who threw?”
+
+Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no coward,
+and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new scrape might
+be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening eyes to Mr. Rose,
+he said penitently--
+
+“I didn’t throw, sir, but I _did_ put out one of the candles that it
+might be done.”
+
+The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a little
+less darkly on Mr. Rose’s forehead, and there was a very faint murmur
+of applause.
+
+“Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up.”
+
+Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters except
+Brooking. Mr. Rose’s lip curled with scorn as he heard the exclamation
+which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit down.
+
+When Wright’s turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--“No! I shall not
+even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too good to be
+involved in such an attempt.”
+
+The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned was
+Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his answer.
+
+“No,” he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.
+
+“Go on,” said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.
+
+“Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won’t think Eric knew of
+this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I do.”
+
+“Good,” said Mr. Rose; “I am sure of it. And now,” turning to the
+offenders, “I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty of such
+presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you according to
+my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me a cane from
+that desk.”
+
+He brought it.
+
+“Hold out your hand.”
+
+The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr. Rose
+looked at it, for it was new that morning.
+
+“Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it.”
+
+The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete success of
+the trick.
+
+“Who did this? I must be told at once.”
+
+“I did, sir,” said Wildney, stepping forward.
+
+“Ha! very well,” said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a smile
+hovered at the corner of his lips. “Go and borrow me a cane from
+Mr. Harley.”
+
+While he went there was unbroken silence.
+
+“Now, sir,” said he to Brigson, “I shall flog you.”
+
+Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had
+never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled;
+at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like
+a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes
+fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose’s arm, and implored and besought for mercy.
+
+“_Miserable_ coward,” said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word such ringing
+scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He indignantly shook the
+boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the floor, losing every
+particle of self-control, and calling out, “The devil--the devil--the
+devil!” (“invoking his patron saint,” as Wildney maliciously observed).
+
+“There! cease to blaspheme, and get up,” said the master, blowing out a
+cloud of fiery indignation. “There, sir. Retribution comes at last,
+leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of sins is visited on
+you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body, but on your conscience
+too, if you have one left. Let those red marks betoken that your reign
+is ended. Liar and tempter, you have led boys into the sins which you
+then meanly deny! And now, you boys, _there_ in that coward, who cannot
+even endure his richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have
+suffered to be your _leader_ for well-nigh six months!”
+
+“Now, sir”--again he turned upon Brigson--“that flogging shall be
+repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will take
+each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they should see
+where _you_ lead them to.”
+
+Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he was bid.
+No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was all which Mr.
+Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time, for he was tired,
+and displeased to be an executioner.
+
+“And now,” he said, “since that disgusting but necessary scene is over,
+_never_ let me have to repeat it again.”
+
+But his authority was established like a rock from that night forward.
+No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that evening. Mr.
+Rose’s noble moral influence gained tenfold strength from the respect
+and wholesome fear that he then inspired.
+
+But, as he had said, Brigson’s reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat alone and
+shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now to loathe and
+nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping. He had not done
+blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No sooner had Mr. Rose
+left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes sparkling with rage, leaped on
+the table, and shouted--
+
+“Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward,” a sign of
+execration which he was the first to lead off, and which the boys echoed
+like a storm.
+
+Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. “Oh, we’re
+not hissing you, sir,” said Wildney excitedly; “we’re all hissing at
+lying and cowardice.”
+
+Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he was
+striding out again, without a word, when--
+
+“Three times three for Mr. Rose,” sang out Wildney.
+
+Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips and
+lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like wildfire to the
+studies, and the other boys came flocking in during the uproar, to join
+in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like a sound of silver
+clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the midst of the excited
+throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side, hurrahing more lustily than
+all the rest.
+
+But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips and
+lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he had
+dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening’s painful experiences
+had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no gratitude, and hope
+for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and unmurmuringly, to work
+on in God’s vineyard so long as life and health should last.
+
+Brigson’s brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which would have
+crushed another. But still he felt that his position at Roslyn could
+never be what it had been before, and he therefore determined to leave
+at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he got his father to remove
+him, and announced, to every one’s great delight, that he was going in a
+fortnight. On his last day, by way of bravado, he smashed and damaged as
+much of the school property as he could, a proceeding which failed to
+gain him any admiration, and merely put his father to ruinous expense.
+
+The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the least
+pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed throughout
+the school.
+
+In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear, “You cut
+me, curse you; but, _never fear, I’ll be revenged on you yet_.”
+
+“Do your worst,” answered Eric, contemptuously, “and never speak to me
+again.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+RIPPLES
+
+     “Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
+     And live for ever and for ever.”--TENNYSON.
+
+Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over the
+affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and Vernon
+Williams in front of them.
+
+“I am so glad to see those two together,” said Montagu; “I really think
+Wright is one of the best little fellows in the school, and he’ll be the
+saving of Vernon. He’s already persuaded him to leave off smoking and
+other bad things, and has got him to work a little harder, and turn over
+a new leaf altogether.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Owen; “I’ve seen a marvellous improvement in little
+Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson the other
+night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been leading him by
+the hand; but the best thing is that, through Wright, he sees less of
+Eric’s _friend_, that young scapegrace Wildney.”
+
+“Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a pity that
+Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be spoilt by him. I’m
+glad Vernon’s escaped his influence now; he’s too fine a boy to be made
+as bad as the general run of them. What a brilliant little fellow he is;
+just like his brother.”
+
+“Just like what his brother _was_,” said Owen; “his face, like his
+mind, has suffered lately.”
+
+“Too true,” answered Montagu, with a sigh; “and yet, cool as we now are
+in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him, and yearn
+for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had lived, and then
+I believe that Williams wouldn’t have gone so for wrong.”
+
+“Well, I think there’s another chance for him now that--that--what name
+is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is gone.”
+
+“I hope so. But”--he added after a pause--“his works do follow him. Look
+there!” He took a large stone and threw it into the Silverburn stream;
+there was a great splash, and then ever-widening circles of blue ripple
+broke the surface of the water, dying away one by one in the sedges on
+the bank. “There,” he said, “see how long those ripples last, and how
+numerous they are.”
+
+Owen understood him. “Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope there was
+in him after Russell’s death!”
+
+“Yes, for a time,” said Montagu; “heigh ho! I fear we shall never be
+warm friends again. We can’t be while he goes on as he is doing. And yet
+I love him.”
+
+A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called Riverbend.
+
+“If you want a practical comment on what we’ve been talking about,
+you’ll see it there,” said Montagu.
+
+He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a pleasant
+grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric, stretched at
+ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which curled the puffed
+fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney’s. That worthy was beside him
+similarly employed.
+
+The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did not
+wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances. But they
+saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of laughter which
+followed his remarks, they had little doubt that they were the subject
+of the young gentleman’s wit. This is never a pleasant sensation; but
+they observed that Eric made a point of not looking their way, and went
+on in silence.
+
+“How very sad!” said Montagu.
+
+“How very contemptible!” said Owen.
+
+“Did you observe what they were doing?”
+
+“Smoking?”
+
+“Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which, if Eric
+doesn’t take care, will one day be his ruin.”
+
+“What?”
+
+“I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy.”
+
+“Good heavens!”
+
+“It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the ripples,
+you see, of Brigson’s influence.”
+
+Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and walked in
+together.
+
+“We’ve been talking,” said Wright, “about a bad matter. Vernon here says
+that there’s no good working for a prize in his form, because the
+cribbing’s so atrocious. Indeed, it’s very nearly as bad in my form. It
+always is under Gordon; he _can’t_ understand fellows doing
+dishonorable things.”
+
+“It’s a great bore in the weekly examinations,” said Vernon; “every now
+and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few minutes, and then out
+come dozens of books.”
+
+“Well, Wright,” said Montagu, “if that happens again next examination,
+I’d speak out about it.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Why, I’d get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his name,
+and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have pledged
+yourselves not to do it.”
+
+“Humph! I don’t know how that would answer. They’d half kill me for one
+thing.”
+
+“Never mind; do your duty. I wish I’d such an opportunity, if only to
+show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness.”
+
+And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to their study.
+
+It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn school.
+Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an hour after,
+Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some brandy, and then
+arrange to have a “jollification,” that evening.
+
+They got the brandy through “Billy.” One of Brigson’s most cursed
+legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a nefarious
+intercourse with the boys. His character was so well known that it had
+long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty, for any boy ever to
+speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed to take a pleasure in
+doing so, and just now particularly it was thought a fine thing, a sign
+of “pluck” and “anti-muffishness,” to be on familiar and intimate terms
+with that degraded and villainous scoundrel.
+
+Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him in his
+escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He had not been
+altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of rough honesty and
+good sense about him, which preserved him from the worst and most
+dangerous failings, and his character had been gradually improving as he
+mounted higher in the school. He was getting steadier, more diligent,
+more thoughtful, more manly; he was passing through that change so
+frequent in boys as they grow older, to which Eric was so sad an
+exception. Accordingly Duncan, though sincerely fond of Eric, had
+latterly disapproved vehemently of his proceedings, and had therefore
+taken to snubbing his old friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to
+have an infatuation, and who was the means of involving him in every
+kind of impropriety and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what
+was intended, sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney,
+Graham, and Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were
+lower boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney’s almost nightly custom.
+
+A little pebble struck the study window.
+
+“Hurrah!” said Wildney, clapping his hands, “here’s the grub.”
+
+They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they let
+down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a basket, and,
+after bidding them “Good night, and a merry drink,” retired. No sooner
+had they shut the window, than he grimaced as usual towards them, and
+shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal exultation, muttering, “Oh, I’ll
+have you all under my thumb yet, you fine young fools!”
+
+Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread its
+contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of sausages, a
+tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.
+
+They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches of songs,
+peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so loud that the
+other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters should come up and
+catch the revellers. All of them heard every word that was spoken by
+Eric and his party as the walls between the rooms were very thin; and
+very objectionable much of the conversation was.
+
+“This _won’t_ do,” said Duncan emphatically, after a louder burst of
+merriment than usual; “those fellows are getting drunk; I can tell it to
+a certainty from the confused and random way in which some of them
+are talking.”
+
+“We’d better go in and speak to them,” said Montagu; “at any rate,
+they’ve no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?”
+
+“I’ll join you,” said Owen; “though I’m afraid my presence won’t do you
+much good.”
+
+The three boys went to the door of Eric’s study, and their knock could
+not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they found a
+scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about, plates and
+glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all sides, and there
+was an intolerable smell of brandy.
+
+“If you fellows don’t care,” said Duncan, sharply, “Rose or somebody’ll
+be coming up and catching you. It’s ten now.”
+
+“What’s that to you?” answered Graham, with an insolent look.
+
+“It’s something to me that you nice young men have been making such a
+row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and that,
+between you, you’ve made this study in such a mess that I can’t
+endure it.”
+
+“Pooh!” said Pietrie; “we’re all getting such saints, that one can’t
+have the least bit of spree now-a-days.”
+
+“Spree!” burst in Montagu indignantly; “fine spree, to make sots of
+yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----”
+
+“Amen!” said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair; and he
+turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic air.
+
+“There, Williams,” continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; “see that spectacle, and be ashamed of
+yourself, if you can. That’s what you lead boys to! Are you anxious to
+become the teacher of drunkenness?”
+
+In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe, for the
+scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.
+
+They hardly understood the look on Eric’s countenance; he had been
+taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled fiercely, and
+though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be resenting the intrusion
+in furious silence.
+
+“How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?” asked Bull, with
+his usual insufferable drawl; “for I want to finish my brandy.”
+
+Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a box on the
+ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn’t worth the trouble, when
+Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst into a fit
+of laughter.
+
+“Let’s turn out these impudent lower-school fellows,” said Montagu,
+speaking to Duncan. “Here! you go first,” he said, seizing Wildney by
+the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no means steady on
+his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.
+
+“By Jove, I won’t stand this any longer,” shouted Eric, springing up
+ferociously. “What on earth do you mean by daring to come in like this?
+Do you hear?”
+
+Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for he was
+looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not, proceeded to
+drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.
+
+“Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won’t go for you,” cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. “Eric, why do you let him bully me?”
+
+“You let him go this minute,” repeated Eric, hoarsely.
+
+“I shall do no such thing. You don’t know what you’re about.”
+
+“Don’t I? Well, then, take _that_, to show whether I do or no!” and
+suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent back-handed blow
+on the mouth.
+
+Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded them
+into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public, and that
+by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had loved--by a boy who
+had been his schoolfellow for three years now, and whose whole life
+seemed bound to him by so many associations; it was strange, and
+sad indeed.
+
+Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one stride
+towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes, while the blood
+started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But he stopped suddenly
+and his hand fell to his side; by a strong effort of self-control he
+contrived to master himself, and sitting down quite quietly on a chair,
+he put his white handkerchief to his wounded mouth, and took it away
+stained with blood.
+
+No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into his study
+without a word.
+
+“Very well,” said Duncan; “you may all do as you like; only I heartily
+hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen.”
+
+“Oh, Williams,” said Owen, “you are changed indeed, to treat your best
+friend so.”
+
+But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil passion at
+that moment. “Serve him right,” he said; “what business has he to
+interfere with what I choose to do?”
+
+There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk off
+ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on the
+table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He had neither
+strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into bed just as was.
+When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan (for Montagu was
+silent and melancholy) went into his study, put out the candle, and had
+only just cleared away, to the best of their power, the traces of the
+carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up stairs on his usual nightly rounds.
+They had been lighting brown paper to take away the fumes of the brandy,
+and the Doctor asked them casually the cause of the smell of burning.
+Neither of them answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed
+implicit trust, the Doctor thought no more about it.
+
+Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and sickness. When
+he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing he thought to
+himself, “Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory of last night!” Of
+course, after what had occurred, Eric and Montagu were no longer on
+speaking terms, and miserable as poor Eric felt when he saw how his blow
+had bruised and disfigured his friend’s face, he made no advances. He
+longed, indeed, from his inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but
+feeling that he had done grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his
+pride would not suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no
+regret, and, supported by his late boon-companions, represented the
+matter as occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu
+was bullying.
+
+Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although ready to
+forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take the first step
+to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that it was not for
+Eric’s good that he should do so.
+
+“You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now,” said Mr.
+Rose. “I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy who has
+any influence over him.”
+
+“I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much more.”
+
+“Wildney?” asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. “Wildney more
+influence than _you_?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!”
+
+So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their friendship
+for Eric until happier days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ERIC AND MONTAGU
+
+     “And constancy lives in realms above;
+       And life is thorny; and youth is vain;
+     And to be wroth with one we love,
+       Doth work like madness in the brain.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Each spoke words of high disdain
+       And insult to his heart’s best brother.”
+
+     COLERIDGE’S _Christabel_.
+
+Wright had not forgotten Montagu’s advice, and had endeavored to get the
+names of boys who wern’t afraid to scout publicly the disgrace of
+cheating in form. But he could only get one name promised him--the name
+of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little could be gained by using it,
+he determined to spare Vernon the trial, and speak, if he spoke at all,
+on his own responsibility.
+
+As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was well-nigh
+universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch something he had
+forgotten, merely saying, “I trust to your honor not to abuse my
+absence,” books and papers were immediately pulled out with the coolest
+and most unblushing indifference.
+
+This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had counted
+the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his duty, he had
+decided that speak he would. He well knew that his interference would
+be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking, and every kind of wrong
+motive, since he was himself one of the greatest sufferers from the
+prevalent dishonesty; but still he had come to the conclusion that he
+_ought_ not to draw back, and therefore he bravely determined that he
+would make his protest, whatever happened.
+
+So, very nervously, he rose and said, “I want to tell you all that I
+think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don’t mind losing by
+it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in the lower fourth,
+and any one gets it by copying, I’ve made up my mind to tell Gordon.”
+
+His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and acquired
+firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and curiosity had held the
+boys silent with amazement, but by the end of this sentence they had
+recovered themselves, and a perfect burst of derision and
+indignation followed.
+
+“Let’s see if _that’ll_ cut short his oration,” said Wildney, throwing a
+book at his head, which was instantly followed by others from
+all quarters.
+
+“My word! we’ve had nothing but lectures lately,” said Brooking. “Horrid
+little Owenite saint.”
+
+“Saint!--sneak, you mean. I’ll teach him,” growled Pietrie, and jumping
+up, he belabored Wright’s head with the Latin grammar out of which he
+had just been cribbing.
+
+The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright sat
+stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.
+
+Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor little
+penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright had alluded so
+prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be misconstrued, but he
+had his brother’s spirit, and would not shrink. Amid the tumult he got
+up in his seat, and they heard his pleasant, childish voice saying
+boldly, “I hope Wright won’t tell; but he’s the best fellow in the room,
+and cribbing _is_ a shame, as he says.”
+
+What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful, for at the
+critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered cavè caused
+instantaneous quiet.
+
+Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many an angry
+kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the spirit and
+heroism with which he endured them. The news of his impudence spread
+like wildfire, and not five boys in the school approved of what he had
+done, while most of them were furious at his ill-judged threat of
+informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general agreement to thrash him after
+roll-call that afternoon.
+
+Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had been
+fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a disagreeable
+and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of them in
+condemning his announced determination to “sneak.” Had he known that
+Wright had acted under Montagu’s well-meant, though rather mistaken
+advice, he might have abstained from having anything more to do with the
+matter, but now he promised to kick Wright himself after the four
+o’clock bell.
+
+Four o’clock came; the names were called; the master left the room.
+Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there pale but
+fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance to Eric, who
+walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears, though without hurting
+him, said contemptuously, “Conceited little sneak.”
+
+Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had determined even
+single-handed to prevent it. He did _not_, however, expect that Eric
+would have taken part in it, and was therefore unprepared. The color
+rushed into his cheeks; he went up, took Wright quietly by the hand, and
+said with firm determination, “No one in the school shall touch
+Wright again.”
+
+“What? no one! just hark to that,” said Graham; “I suppose he thinks
+himself cock of the school.”
+
+Eric quite misunderstood Montagu’s proceedings; he took it for a public
+challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield would have
+looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius Wildney was by, and
+said, “How very nice! another dictation lesson!”
+
+A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed lips, and
+flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit which made them
+waver, and he quietly repeated, “No one shall touch you, Wright.”
+
+“They _will_, though,” said Eric instantly; “_I_ will, for one, and I
+should like to see you prevent me.” And so saying he gave Wright another
+slight blow.
+
+Montagu dropped Wright’s hand and said slowly, “Eric Williams, I have
+taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear the marks of
+it yet. It is time to show that it was _not_ through cowardice that I
+did not return it. Will you fight?”
+
+The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the school
+knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the
+sake of “auld lang syne,” he would probably have declined to fight with
+Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.
+
+“I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once,” he answered,
+falteringly, “and we have been friends--”
+
+But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two should
+fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that Montagu’s
+authority, which stood in their way, might be flung aside. So Brooking
+whispered in an audible voice--
+
+“Faith! he’s showing the white feather.”
+
+“You’re a liar!” flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he said--“There!
+I’ll fight you this moment.”
+
+Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for action. A
+ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of sixteen, like
+Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles have usually been
+decided in their earlier school-days; and it was also but seldom that
+two boys so strong, active, and prominent, took this method of settling
+their differences.
+
+The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on the side
+of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But he fought with
+a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as Eric, on the other
+hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was soon pretty fairly divided
+between them.
+
+After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had been a
+silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys of such
+high standing, said with much, feeling--
+
+“This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu.”
+
+“It is necessary,” was Montagu’s laconic reply.
+
+Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had taken
+place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain of seeing
+his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But curiosity soon took him
+back, and he came in just as the second round began. At first he only
+saw a crowd of boys in the middle of the room, but jumping on a desk he
+had a full view of what was going on.
+
+There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now thoroughly roused
+by the remarks he overheard, and especially by Wildney’s whisper that
+“he was letting himself be licked,” was exerting himself with more vigor
+and effect. It was anything but a noble sight; the faces of the
+combatants were streaked with blood and sweat, and as the miserable gang
+of lower school-boys backed them on with eager shouts of--“Now Eric, now
+Eric,” “Now Montagu, go it, sixth, form,” etc., both of them fought
+under a sense of deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which
+they shared in common.
+
+All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and vexation,
+his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard amid all the
+uproar, “Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!” There was reproach and
+sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one boy there, for Vernon,
+spite of the recent change in him, could not but continue a favorite.
+
+“Shut up there, you little donkey,” shouted one or two, looking back at
+him for a moment.
+
+But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother’s voice. The
+thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position was, and how
+different it might have been. He felt that he was utterly in the wrong,
+and Montagu altogether in the right; and from that moment his blows once
+more grew feeble and ill-directed. When they again stopped to take rest,
+the general shout for Montagu showed that he was considered to have the
+best of it.
+
+“I’m getting so tired of this,” muttered Eric, during the pause.
+
+“Why, you’re fighting like a regular muff,” said Graham; “you’ll have to
+acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute.”
+
+“That I’ll _never_ do,” he said, once more firing up.
+
+Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for Owen, who
+had left the room, told him what was going on. He had always been a
+leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had several times been
+exerted in the right direction, and he was very much looked up to by all
+the boys alike, good or bad. He determined, for the credit of the sixth,
+that the fight should not go on, and bursting into the ring, with his
+strong shoulders he hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way,
+and struck down the lifted arms of the fighters.
+
+“You _shan’t_ fight,” he said, doggedly, thrusting himself between them;
+“so there’s an end of it. If you do, you’ll both have to fight
+me first.”
+
+“Shame!” said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by Bull and
+others.
+
+“Shame, is it?” said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn. “There’s
+only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or any other boy,
+repeat that word, I’ll thrash him. Here, Monty, come away from this
+disgraceful scene.”
+
+“I’m sick enough of it,” said Montagu, “and am ready to stop if Williams
+is,--provided no one touches Wright.”
+
+“I’m sick of it too,” said Eric sullenly.
+
+“Then you two shall shake hands,” said Duncan.
+
+For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of his
+life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply wronged,
+deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the momentary feeling:
+but Eric had observed the gesture, and his passionate pride took the
+alarm. “It’s come to this, then,” he thought; “Montagu doesn’t think me
+good enough to be shaken hands with.”
+
+“Pish!” he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; “it may be an awful honor
+to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but I’m not
+proud on the subject;” and he turned away.
+
+Montagu’s hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle of anger
+or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was too late; that
+moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric’s turn coldly
+to withdraw.
+
+“You don’t think me worthy of your friendship, and what’s the good of
+grasping hands if we don’t do it with cordial hearts?”
+
+Montagu’s lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting on his
+coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of his arm, and
+left the room with Duncan.
+
+“Come along, Wright,” he said.
+
+“Nay, leave him,” said Eric with a touch of remorse. “Much as you think
+me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one hurts him.”
+
+The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained with
+Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their observations.
+
+“You didn’t fight half like yourself,” said Wildney.
+
+“Can’t you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for.” And getting up
+abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study, and bathe his
+swollen and aching face.
+
+In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him Eric
+burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the study, after
+the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his really warm
+affection for his little brother; and as he could no longer conceal the
+line he took in the school, they had been often together since then; and
+Eric’s moral obliquity was not so great as to prevent him from feeling
+deep joy at the change for the better in Vernon’s character.
+
+“Verny, Verny,” he said, as the boy came up and affectionately took his
+hand, “it was you who lost me that fight.”
+
+“Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu.”
+
+“Don’t you remember the days, Eric,” he continued, “when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and how
+mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend, except
+poor Russell?”
+
+“I do, indeed. I didn’t think then that it would come to this.”
+
+“I’ve always been _so_ sorry,” said Vernon, “that I joined the fellows
+in playing him tricks. I can’t think how I came to do it, except that
+I’ve done such lots of bad things here. But he’s forgiven and forgotten
+that long ago, and is very kind to me now.”
+
+It was true; but Eric didn’t know that half the kindness which Montagu
+showed to his brother was shown solely for _his_ sake.
+
+“Do you know, I’ve thought of a plan for making you two friends again?
+I’ve written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us next
+holidays.”
+
+“Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; _there_ we might be friends. Perhaps
+there,” he added, half to himself, “I might be more like what I was in
+better days.”
+
+“But it’s a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn’t come yet,” said
+Vernon.
+
+So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it otherwise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PIGEONS
+
+     “Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram.”
+
+     Juv. X. 21.
+
+“How awfully dull it is, Charlie,” said Eric, a few weeks before Easter,
+as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday afternoon.
+
+“Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket.” And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.
+
+“I suppose this is what they call ennui,” said Eric again, after a
+pause. “What is to be done, Sunbeam?”
+
+“You _shan’t_ call me that, so there’s an end of it,” said Wildney,
+hitting him on the arm.
+
+“By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow’s my birth-day, and I’ve got
+a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home. Let’s go and see
+if it’s come.”
+
+“Capital! We will.”
+
+So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they found
+the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the school, and
+carried up to Eric’s study.
+
+On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a pair of
+fowls and a large plum-cake.
+
+“Hurrah!” said Wildney, “you were talking of nothing to do; I vote we
+have a carouse to-morrow.”
+
+“Very well; only let’s have it _before_ prayers, because we were so
+nearly caught last time.”
+
+“Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here, lest
+we have another incursion of the ‘Rosebuds.’ I shall have to cut
+preparation, but that don’t matter, It’s Harley’s night, and old Stupid
+will never twig.”
+
+“Well, whom shall we ask?” said Eric.
+
+“Old Llewellyn for one,” said Wildney. “We havn’t seen him for an age,
+and he’s getting too lazy even for a bit of fun.”
+
+“Good; and Graham,” suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded their
+possessions so much as common property, that he hadn’t the least
+delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.
+
+“Yes; Graham’s a jolly bird; and Bull?”
+
+“I’ve no objection; and Pietrie?”
+
+“Well; and your brother Vernon?”
+
+“No!” said Eric, emphatically. “At any rate I won’t lead _him_ into
+mischief any more.”
+
+“Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?”
+
+“No, again,” said Eric; “he’s a blackguard.”
+
+“I wonder you haven’t mentioned Duncan,” said Wildney.
+
+“Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even old
+Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he’s a great deal too correct to
+come now.”
+
+“Well; we’ve got six already, that’s quite enough.”
+
+“Yes; but two fowls isn’t enough for six hungry boys.”
+
+“No, it isn’t,” said Wildney. He thought a little, and then, clapping
+his hands, danced about and said, “Are you game for a _regular_
+lark, Eric?”
+
+“Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I’ve very nearly been
+taking to work again to fill up the time.”
+
+Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an excuse
+for the low places in form to which he was gradually sinking. Everybody
+knew that had he properly exerted his abilities he was capable of
+beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his conscience, he professed to
+ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece of muffishness, and was never
+slow to sneer at the “grinders,” as he contemptuously called all those
+who laid themselves out to win school distinctions.
+
+“Ha, ha!” said Wildney, “that’s rather good! No, Eric, it’s too late for
+you to turn ‘grinder’ now. I might as well think of doing it myself, and
+I’ve never been higher than five from lag in my form yet.”
+
+“Haven’t you? But what’s the regular lark you hinted at?”
+
+“Why, we’ll go and seize the Gordonites’ _pigeons_, and make another
+dish of them.”
+
+“Seize the Gordonites’ pigeons! Why, when do you mean?”
+
+“To-night.”
+
+Eric gave a long whistle. “But wouldn’t it be st--t--?”
+
+“Stealing?” said Wildney, with a loud laugh. “Pooh! ‘_convey_ the wise
+call it.’”
+
+But Eric still looked serious. “Why, my dear old boy,” continued
+Wildney, “the Gordonites’ll be the first to laugh at the trick when we
+tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There, now, don’t
+look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with. Graham, and tell you
+the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at bed-time.”
+
+After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study according to
+promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan. He didn’t tell it
+plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan caught enough to guess
+what was intended, and said, when Wildney had gone--
+
+“Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric.”
+
+Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly from any
+fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had recently
+received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly all the
+study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to assert his
+independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.
+
+“Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it’s asked for,” he
+answered, roughly. “You’ve done nothing but _advise_ lately, and I’m
+rather sick of it.”
+
+“Comme vous voulez,” replied Duncan, with a shrug. “Gang your own gait;
+I’ll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you, since you _will_
+ruin yourself.”
+
+Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric went down
+he didn’t even bid Duncan goodnight.
+
+“Charlie,” he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney’s dormitory.
+
+“Hush!” whispered Wildney, “the other fellows are asleep. Come and sit
+by my bedside, and I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.”
+
+Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed “First of all,
+_you’re_ to keep awake till twelve to-night,” he whispered; “old
+Rowley’ll have gone round by that time, and it’ll be all safe. Then come
+and awake me again, and I’ll watch till one, Pietrie till two, and
+Graham till three. Then Graham’ll awake us all, and we’ll dress.”
+
+“Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?”
+
+“Oh, I’ll manage that,” said Wildney, chuckling. “But come again and
+awake me at twelve, will you?”
+
+Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn’t take off his clothes,
+for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as usual at
+eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes, till the
+head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake thinking for an
+hour, but his thoughts weren’t very pleasant.
+
+At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.
+
+“I don’t feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour, Charlie?”
+
+“Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim there; we
+shan’t want it, and it might give the alarm.”
+
+“All right.”
+
+So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they talked in
+low voices until they heard the great school clock strike one. They then
+woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.
+
+At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the others in
+the lavatory.
+
+“Now, I’m going to get the key,” said Wildney, “and mean to have a
+stomach-ache for the purpose.”
+
+Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley’s bed-room, which
+opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.
+
+No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder still.
+
+“Bother the fellow,” said Wildney; “he sleeps like a grampus. Won’t one
+of you try to wake him?”
+
+“No,” said Graham; “’taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches.”
+
+“Well, I must try again.” But it seemed no use knocking, and Wildney at
+last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo on the
+bed-room door.
+
+“Who’s there?” said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.
+
+“Only me, sir!” answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent way.
+
+“What do you want?”
+
+“Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I’m indisposed,” said
+Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the others
+shook with laughing.
+
+Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about suspiciously.
+
+“Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don’t happen to have the
+key to-night.” And so saying, he shut the door.
+
+“Phew! Here’s a go!” said Wildney, recovering immediately. “It’ll never
+do to awake old Rose. He’d smell a rat in no time.”
+
+“I have it,” said Pietrie. “I’ve got an old nail, with which I believe I
+can open the lock quite simply. Let’s try.”
+
+“Quietly and quick, then,” said Eric.
+
+In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old nail, and
+the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in their hands,
+ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same window at which Eric
+and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had taken care beforehand to
+break the pane and move away the glass, so they had only to loosen the
+bar and slip through one by one.
+
+It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they stood out
+in the playground, all four would rather have been safe and harmlessly
+in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the enterprise bore them
+up, and they started off quickly for the house at which Mr. Gordon and
+his pupils lived, which was about half a mile from the school. They went
+arm in arm to assure each other a little, for at first in their fright
+they were inclined to take every post and tree for a man in ambush, and
+to hear a recalling voice in every sound of wind and wave.
+
+Not far from Mr. Gordon’s was a carpenter’s shop, and outside of this
+there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to carry this
+ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the low garden wall
+with it, and then place it against the house, immediately under the
+dovecot which hung by the first story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest
+of the four, was to take the birds, while the others held the ladder.
+
+Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the window as
+possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the cot. He
+succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing so threw the
+other birds into a state of such alarm that they fluttered about in the
+wildest manner, and the moment his hands were withdrawn, flew out with a
+great flapping of hurried wings.
+
+The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down the
+ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the others, who
+instantly wrung their necks.
+
+“I’m nearly sure I heard somebody stir,” said Wildney; “we haven’t been
+half quiet enough. Here! let’s crouch down in this corner.”
+
+All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held their
+breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they heard the
+window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon’s voice asked
+sternly--“Who’s there?”
+
+He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made an
+endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at full
+length, he could not do so.
+
+“We must cut for it,” said Eric; “it’s quite too dark for him to see us,
+or even to notice that we are boys.”
+
+They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after the other,
+as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got to the top of
+the wall he heard the back door open, and some one run out into
+the yard.
+
+“Run for your lives,” said Eric hurriedly; “it’s Gordon, and he’s
+raising the alarm.”
+
+They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+“thieves! thieves!”
+
+“We must separate and run different ways, or we’ve no chance of escape.
+We’d better turn towards the town to put them off the right scent,” said
+Eric again.
+
+“Don’t leave me,” pleaded Wildney; “you know I can’t run very fast.”
+
+“No, Charlie, I won’t;” and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him over the
+style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham took the opposite
+direction.
+
+Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be Mr.
+Gordon’s servant-man) was running after them, and they could distinctly
+hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field distant. He carried
+a light, and they heard him panting. They were themselves tired, and in
+the utmost trepidation; the usually courageous Wildney was trembling all
+over, and his fear communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a
+trial for burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations, as
+the sound of the footsteps came nearer.
+
+“I can’t run any further, Eric,” said Wildney. “What shall we do? don’t
+leave me, for heaven’s sake.”
+
+“Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t’other side of this
+hedge.”
+
+They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part of a
+plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some bushes, and
+keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover over their
+white collars.
+
+The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in front
+of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on both sides
+and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering boys, and at last
+giving up the search in despair, went slowly home. They heard him
+plodding back over the field, and it was not until the sound of his
+footsteps had died away, that Eric cautiously broke cover, and looked
+over the hedge. He saw the man’s light gradually getting more distant,
+and said, “All right now, Charlie. We must make the best of our
+way home.”
+
+“Are you sure he’s gone?” said Wildney, who had not yet recovered from
+his fright.
+
+“Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain’t caught.”
+
+They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric’s room to wait for the other two. To
+their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.
+
+“Were you twigged?” asked Wildney eagerly.
+
+“No,” said Graham; “precious near it though. Old Gordon and some men
+were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and escaped them.
+It’s all serene, and we shan’t be caught.”
+
+“Well, we’d best to bed now,” said Eric; “and, to my thinking, we should
+be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this affair.”
+
+“Yes, we had better tell _no one_.” They agreed, and went off to bed
+again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as if nothing had
+happened, and made no allusion to the preceding night, although, they
+could not help chuckling inwardly a little when the Gordonites came to
+morning school, brimful of a story about their house having been
+attacked in the night by thieves, who, after bagging some pigeons, had
+been chevied by Gordon and the servants. Wildney professed immense
+interest in the incident, and asked many questions, which showed that
+there was not a shadow of suspicion in any one’s mind as to the
+real culprits.
+
+Carter, the school servant, didn’t seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to his
+disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy reads
+this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to hear that the
+burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie, Graham,
+and Wildney.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+     “Praepediuntur
+     Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,
+     Nant oculi.”
+
+     LUCR. iii. 417.
+
+Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got everything
+ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney, relying on the chance
+of names not being called over (which, was only done in case any one’s
+absence was observed), had absented himself altogether from the
+boarders’ room, and helped busily to spread the table for the banquet.
+The cook had roasted for them the fowls and pigeons, and Billy had
+brought an ample supply of beer and some brandy for the occasion. A
+little before eight o’clock everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and
+Llewellyn were summoned to join the rest.
+
+The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys were in the
+highest spirits. Eric’s reckless gaiety was kindled by Wildney’s
+frolicsome vivacity, and Graham’s sparkling wit; they were all six in a
+roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of fun elicited by the
+more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn, and the dainties of
+Wildney’s parcel were accompanied by draughts of brandy and water, which
+were sometimes exchanged for potations of the raw liquor. It was not the
+first time, be it remembered, that the members of that young party had
+been present at similar scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was
+astonished, and alarmed occasionally at the quantities of spirits and
+other inebriating drinks that of late had found their way to the
+studies. The disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that he
+was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual tastes were
+getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he perceived in
+himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence, he saw them still
+more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which seemed to be
+spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance, the mind, and the
+manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the vision of a Nemesis
+breaking in fire out of his darkened future, terrified his guilty
+conscience in the watches of the night; and the conviction of some
+fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out of the night of his
+undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with agony and fear. But he
+fancied it too late to repent. He strangled the half-formed resolutions
+as they rose, and trusted to the time when, by leaving school, he should
+escape, as he idly supposed, the temptations to which he had yielded.
+Meanwhile, the friends who would have rescued him had been alienated by
+his follies, and the principles which might have preserved him had been
+eradicated by his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer,
+and the helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
+word of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet of
+every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.
+
+As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more foolish and
+random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But still most of them
+mingled some sense of caution with their enjoyment, and warned Eric and
+Wildney more than once that they must look out, and not take too much
+that night for fear of being caught. But it was Wildney’s birth-day, and
+Eric’s boyish mirth, suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out
+unrestrained. In the riot of their feasting, the caution had been
+utterly neglected, and the boys were far from being sober when the sound
+of the prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.
+
+“Good heavens!” shouted Graham, springing up; “there’s the prayer-bell;
+I’d no notion it was so late. Here, let’s shove these brandy bottles and
+things into the cupboards and drawers, and then we must run down.”
+
+There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had cleared
+the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the more
+difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and conduct them
+steadily into the prayer-room.
+
+Wildney’s seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty in
+getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn took him by
+the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him safely to his seat,
+where he assumed a look of preternatural gravity. But Eric sat near the
+head of the first table, not far from Dr. Rowlands’ desk, and none of
+the others had to go to that part of the room. Graham grasped his arm
+tight, led him carefully down stairs, and, as they were reaching the
+door, said to him, in a most earnest and imploring tone--“Do try and
+walk sensibly to your place, Eric, or we shall all be caught.”
+
+It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly seated, and
+most of the Bibles were already open, although the Doctor had not yet
+come in. Consequently, the room was still, and the entrance of Graham
+and Eric after the rest attracted general notice. Eric had just sense
+enough to try and assume his ordinary manner; but he was too giddy with
+the fumes of drink to walk straight, or act naturally.
+
+Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother with great
+eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.
+
+“Wright,” whispered he, in a timid voice; “just see how Eric walks. What
+can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be ill!” he said,
+starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger to one side, and
+nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.
+
+Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.
+
+“Hush!” he whispered; “take no notice; he’s been drinking, Verny, and I
+fear he’ll be caught.”
+
+Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought, and he
+had hoped, that since the day at the “Jolly Herring,” his brother had
+abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most careful to conceal
+from him the worst of his failings. And now he trembled violently with
+fear for his discovery, and horror at his disgraceful condition.
+
+The sound of Eric’s unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly raise
+his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for the boy
+on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist him. It was not
+Eric’s proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long look of astonishment,
+looked down at his book again, and said nothing.
+
+It made other hearts besides Vernon’s ache to see the unhappy boy roll
+to his place in that helpless way.
+
+Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were finished,
+the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly answering his
+“adsum,” as he should have done, stood up, with a foolish look, and
+said, “Yes, Sir.” The head master looked at him for a minute; the boy’s
+glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid appearance, told an unmistakable tale;
+but Dr. Rowlands only remarked, “Williams, you don’t look well. You had
+better go at once to bed.”
+
+It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help, so
+Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much difficulty
+(for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his bed-room.
+
+Wildney’s condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while walking up
+and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind that both Eric
+and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no remarks to them, and
+merely went to the Doctor to talk over the steps which were to be taken.
+
+“I shall summon the school,” said Dr. Rowlands, “on Monday, and by that
+time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear, is the only
+course open to us.”
+
+“Is not that a _very_ severe line to take?”
+
+“Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must consider the
+matter.”
+
+“Poor Williams!” sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.
+
+The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by Eric and
+his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness. It seemed
+clear that two of them at least were detected, and they were
+inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who had to
+stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached violently, and he
+was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He longed for the morrow,
+that at least he might have the poor consolation of knowing his fate. No
+one came near him all day. Eric wished to do so, but as he could not
+have visited the room without express leave, the rest dissuaded him from
+asking, lest he should excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect
+made poor Wildney even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as
+it was possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed
+hard to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close
+a friend.
+
+At school the next morning the various masters read out to their forms a
+notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to meet at ten in
+the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was pretty clearly
+understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had reference to the
+drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been _said_ on the subject
+as yet; and every guilty heart among those 250 boys beat fast lest _his_
+sin too should have been discovered, and he should be called out for
+some public and heavy punishment.
+
+The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room, took
+their places according to their respective forms. The masters in their
+caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular bench at the
+upper end of the room, and in the centre of them, before a small table,
+sate Dr. Rowlands.
+
+The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush. The
+blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a breath
+could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.
+
+Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said, “I
+shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth, and
+upper-fourth forms.”
+
+This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were present on
+whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once told Eric and
+Wildney that _they_ were the boys to be punished, and that the others
+had escaped.
+
+The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have told,
+from the sound of the boys’ voices as they answered, which of them were
+afflicted with a troubled conscience.
+
+Another slight pause, and breathless hush.
+
+“Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward.”
+
+The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was sitting with
+his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced; and Wildney, from
+the other end of the room, where the younger boys sat, getting up, came
+and stood by his side.
+
+Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never once
+raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces, you could
+scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited friends, whose laugh
+and shout had often rung so merrily through the play-ground, and woke
+the echoes of the rocks along the shore. Every eye was on them, and
+they were conscious of it, though they could not see it--painfully
+conscious of it, so that they wished the very ground to yawn beneath
+their feet for the moment, and swallow up their shame. Companionship in
+disgrace increased the suffering; had either of them been alone, he
+would have been less acutely sensible to the trying nature of his
+position; but that they, so different in their ages and position in the
+school, should thus have their friendship and the results of it
+blazoned, or rather branded, before their friends and enemies added
+keenly to the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric
+and Charlie awaited their sentence.
+
+“Williams and Wildney,” said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of which
+every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer, “you have been
+detected in a sin most disgraceful and most dangerous. On Saturday night
+you were both drinking, and you were guilty of such gross excess, that
+you were neither of you in a fit state to appear among your
+companions--least of all to appear among them at the hour of prayer. I
+shall not waste many words on an occasion like this; only I trust that
+those of your schoolfellows who saw you staggering and rolling into the
+room on Saturday evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and
+degrading, will learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the
+Spartans taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most ruinous
+vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment will be public
+expulsion, for which you will prepare this very evening. I am unwilling
+that for a single day either of you--especially the elder of
+you--should linger, so as possibly to contaminate others with the danger
+of so pernicious an example.”
+
+Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters equally
+by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy sensation, which
+was evident to all present, though no one spoke a word; but Dr. Rowlands
+took no notice of it, and only said to the culprits--
+
+“You may return to your seats.”
+
+The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly knew how.
+They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their sentence, and the
+painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned over the desk with his
+head resting on a book, too stunned even to think; and Wildney looked
+straight before him with his eyes fixed in a stupid and
+unobserved stare.
+
+Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was liberated Eric
+sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to him, and rushed
+wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a moment, however, he
+re-opened it, for he heard Wildney’s step, and, after admitting him,
+locked it once more.
+
+Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms round
+Eric’s neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a flood of
+tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to their sorrow.
+
+“O my father! my father!” sobbed Wildney at length. “What will he say?
+He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me when he thinks
+I bring disgrace on him.”
+
+Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents, and of the
+pang which _his_ disgrace would cause their loving hearts; but he could
+say nothing, and only stroked Wildney’s dark hair again and again with
+a soothing hand.
+
+They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric could not
+help thinking how very, very different their relative positions might
+have been; how, while he might have been aiding and ennobling the young
+boy beside him, he had alternately led and followed him into wickedness
+and disgrace. His heart was full of misery and bitterness, and he felt
+almost indifferent to all the future, and weary of his life.
+
+A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the school
+servant.
+
+“You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen.”
+
+“O no! no! no!” exclaimed Wildney; “_cannot_ be sent away like this. It
+would break my father’s heart. Eric, _do_ come and entreat Dr. Rowlands
+to forgive us only this once.”
+
+“Yes,” said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; “he _shall_ forgive
+us--_you_ at any rate. I will not leave him till he does. Cheer up,
+Charlie, cheer up, and come along.”
+
+Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and sprang
+down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following him. They went
+straight for the Doctor’s study, and without waiting for the answer to
+their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr. Rowlands, who sate
+thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst out passionately, “O
+sir, forgive us this once.”
+
+The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy’s manner. He remained silent a
+moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--
+
+“Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could be no
+more perilous example for the school, than the one you have been
+setting, Williams. Leave the room,” he added, with an authoritative
+gesture, “my mind is made up.”
+
+But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master’s manner; an
+imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations, and,
+heedless of the command, he broke out again--
+
+“O sir, try me but once, _only_ try me. I promise you most faithfully
+that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do trust me, and I
+will be responsible for Wildney too.”
+
+Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric’s present mood he must and would be
+heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to pace silently up
+and down the room in perplexed and anxious thought; at last he stopped
+and turned over the pages of a thick school register, and found
+Eric’s name.
+
+“It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind. That
+most seriously aggravates your fault.”
+
+“O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I _could_ do
+such great things, if you will be but merciful, and give me time to
+change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only this once, and I will
+never ask again. Let us bear _any_ other punishment but this. O sir,” he
+said, approaching the doctor in an imploring attitude, “spare us this
+one time for the sake of our friends.”
+
+The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the room in
+silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain his emotion.
+
+“It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must not
+weakly yield to entreaty. You must go.”
+
+Eric wrung his hands in agony. “O, sir, then, if you must do so, expel
+me only, and not Charlie, _I_ can bear it, but do not let me ruin him
+also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do, do forgive him. It
+is I who have misled him;” and he flung himself on his knees, and lifted
+his hands entreatingly towards the Doctor.
+
+Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears, his
+agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a look
+of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his wild word
+of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that seemed to come
+from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his resolve, wavered for a
+moment, and then once more looked at the register.
+
+“Yes,” he said, after a long pause, “here is an entry which shall save
+you this time. I find written here against your name, ‘April 3. Risked
+his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at the Stack.’ That one
+good and noble deed shall be the proof that you are capable of better
+things. It may be weak perhaps--I know that it will be called weak--and
+I do not feel certain that I am doing right; but if I err it shall be on
+the side of mercy. I shall change expulsion into some other punishment.
+You may go.”
+
+Wildney’s face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray of
+sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.
+
+“O thank you, thank you, sir,” he exclaimed, drying his eyes, and
+pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no light
+pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and while the
+two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a timid hand knocked
+at the door, and Vernon entered.
+
+“I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric,” he said in a low voice, and
+trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he modestly approached
+towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the presence of the others in
+the complete absorption of his feelings. He stood in a sorrowful
+attitude, not venturing to look up, and his hand played nervously with
+the ribbon of his straw hat.
+
+“I have just forgiven him, my little boy,” said the Doctor kindly,
+patting his stooping head; “there he is, and he has been speaking
+for himself.”
+
+“O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don’t know what to say for joy. O Eric,
+thank God that you are not to be expelled;” and Vernon went to his
+brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.
+
+Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally a man
+of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by this act the
+charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in him to be willing
+to do so, but it would have required an iron heart to resist such
+earnest supplications, and he was more than repaid when he saw how much
+anguish he had removed by yielding to their entreaties.
+
+Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys retired.
+
+They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in their
+favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to alter the
+Doctor’s intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had been strongly
+endeavoring to change the Doctor’s mind, and had dwelt forcibly on all
+the good points in Eric’s character, and the promise of his earlier
+career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and Duncan to beg that the
+expulsion might be commuted into some other punishment. They had failed
+to convince him; but, perhaps, had they not thus exerted themselves, Dr.
+Rowlands might have been unshaken, though he could not be unmoved by
+Vernon’s gentle intercession and Eric’s passionate prayers.
+
+Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of feeling,
+only shook Eric’s hand with all his might, and then darted out into the
+playground to announce the happy news. The boys all flocked round him,
+and received the intelligence with unmitigated pleasure. Among them all
+there was not one who did not rejoice that Eric and Wildney were yet to
+continue of their number.
+
+But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful in his
+penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric sat down on a
+chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side. The sun was
+setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green fields and silver
+sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air was full of peace and
+coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket field blended joyously
+with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric was fond of beauty in every
+shape, and his father had early taught him a keen appreciation of the
+glories of nature. He had often gazed before on that splendid scene, as
+he was now gazing on it thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He
+looked long and wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds,
+and passed his arm more fondly round Vernon’s shoulder.
+
+“What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying still,”
+said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had overflowed on his
+brother’s cheek, “aren’t you glad that the Doctor has forgiven you?”
+
+“Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I hope your
+school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would give up all I
+have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have learnt. God grant
+that I may yet have time and space to do better.”
+
+“Let us pray together, Eric,” whispered his brother reverently, and they
+knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant parents and
+friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for each other, and for
+Wildney, and they thanked God for all his goodness to them; and then
+Eric poured out his heart in a fervent prayer that a holier and happier
+future might atone for his desecrated past, and that his sins might be
+forgiven for his Saviour’s sake.
+
+The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more light-hearted, and
+gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss, before they went down again
+to the play-ground. But they avoided the rest of the boys, and took a
+stroll together along the sands, talking quietly, and happily, and
+hoping bright hopes for future days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+
+     “Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?
+     A tress of maiden’s hair,
+     Of drowned maiden’s hair,
+     Above the nets at sea?”--KINGSLEY.
+
+Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead
+of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and
+penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to repair the
+injury which their characters had received. Eric, especially, seemed to
+be devoting himself with every energy to regain, if possible, his long
+lost position, and by the altered complexion of his remaining
+school-life, to atone in some poor measure for its earlier sins. And he
+carried Wildney with him, influencing others also of his late companions
+in a greater or less degree. It was not Eric’s nature to do things by
+halves, and it became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and
+abandon his old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no
+longer hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of idleness
+cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded sufficiently, by dint of
+desperately hard work, to acquit himself with considerable credit, and
+in the Easter examination came out sufficiently high, to secure his
+remove into the sixth form after the holidays.
+
+He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he had
+ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect, and the
+change for the better in his character tended to restore unanimity and
+good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the party which made a
+point of ridiculing and preventing industry; and, sharing as he did the
+sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was able quietly and unobtrusively
+to calm down the jealousies and allay the heartburnings which had for so
+long a time brought discord and disunion into the school society.
+Cheerfulness and unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and
+Eric had the intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within
+his power.
+
+So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first days
+glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled again to
+Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of companions more
+truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow circle of his late
+associates.
+
+“What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?” asked Duncan, as they
+chatted together one evening.
+
+“I won’t go without leave,” said Eric; “I should only get caught, and
+get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged now to strict
+obedience.”
+
+“Ay, you’re quite right. We’ll get leave easily enough though, provided
+we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we make up a party.”
+
+“By the bye, I forgot; I’m engaged to Wildney to-morrow.”
+
+“Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you like.”
+
+“Most gladly,” said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this that Duncan
+observed the improvement in his old friends, and was falling in with the
+endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to each other, and destroy
+all traces of the late factions.
+
+“Do you mind my bringing Montagu?”
+
+“Not at all. Why should I?” answered Eric, with a slight blush. Montagu
+and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as yet, spoken
+to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the excursion to give
+them an opportunity of becoming friends once more, by being thrown
+together. He knew well that they both earnestly wished it, although,
+with the natural shyness of boys, they hardly knew how to set about
+effecting it. Montagu hung back lest he should seem to be patronising a
+fallen enemy, and Eric lest he should have sinned too deeply to
+be forgiven.
+
+The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they should
+meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the boat, at ten
+o’clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a ready consent to the
+row, on condition of their being accompanied by the experienced sailor
+whom the boys called Jim. The precaution was by no means unnecessary,
+for the various currents which ran round the island were violent at
+certain stages of the tide, and extremely dangerous for any who were not
+aware of their general course.
+
+Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any feeling of
+restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a strong effort,
+determined to “make up with him” before starting, and went into his
+study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly he came in, Montagu
+jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when, without any allusion to
+the past, the two shook hands with all warmth, and looked the old proud
+look into each other’s faces, they felt once more that their former
+affection was unimpaired, and that in heart they were real and loving
+friends. Most keenly did they both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and
+they found endless subjects to talk about on their way to Starhaven,
+where the others were already assembled when they came.
+
+With Jim’s assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and sprang into
+it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing off they saw Wright
+and Vernon running down to the shore towards them, and they waited to
+see what they wanted. “Couldn’t you take us with you?” asked Vernon,
+breathless with his run.
+
+“I’m afraid not, Verny,” said Montagu; “the boat won’t hold more than
+six, will it, Jim?”
+
+“No, sir, not safely.”
+
+“Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny,” said Eric, as he saw his
+brother’s disappointed look.
+
+“Then Wright shall take mine,” said Wildney.
+
+“O dear no,” said Wright, “we wouldn’t turn you out for the world.
+Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast instead, and will
+meet you here as we come back.”
+
+“Well, good bye, then; off we go;” and with light hearts the boaters and
+the pedestrians parted.
+
+Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the oars, while
+Wildney steered. Graham’s “crabs,” and Wildney’s rather crooked
+steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they were full of
+fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the waves. Then they made
+Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as they rowed, and joined
+vigorously in the choruses. They had arranged to make straight for St.
+Catherine’s Head, and land somewhere near it to choose a place for their
+pic-nic. It took them nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed
+leisurely, and enjoyed the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the
+sunniest days of early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the
+calm sea breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in
+the warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the green
+and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through which
+occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart like an
+arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they kept not far
+from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with its rocks and
+hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a glowing picture, to
+which the golden green of the spring herbage, bathed in its morning
+sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who could have been otherwise
+than happy in such a scene and at such a time? but these were boys with
+the long bright holiday before them, and happiness is almost too quiet a
+word to express the bounding exultation of heart, the royal and tingling
+sense of vigorous life, which made them shout and sing, as their boat
+rustled through the ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible
+enjoyment.
+
+They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it made a very
+tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny pebbled cave, by
+St. Catherine’s Head; although, instead of anything more objectionable,
+they had thought it best to content themselves with a very moderate
+quantity of beer. When they had done eating, they amused themselves on
+the shore; and had magnificent games among the rocks, and in every
+fantastic nook of the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a
+bathe to wind up with, as it was the first day when it had been quite
+warm enough to make bathing pleasant.
+
+“But we’ve got no towels.”
+
+“Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we’re dry.” So they
+bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they all agreed
+that it was the very jolliest day they’d ever had at Roslyn, and voted
+to renew the experiment before the holidays were over, and take Wright
+and Vernon with them in a larger boat.
+
+It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when they
+began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the land for
+variety’s sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily as ever.
+
+“I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest bit of
+the whole coast,” said Eric, as they neared a glen through whose narrow
+gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled down with noisy
+turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that glen; its steep and
+rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss, and wild-flowers, and the
+sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely windings, which were colored
+with topaz and emerald by the pencillings of nature and the rich
+stains of time.
+
+“Yes,” answered Montagu, “_I_ always stick up for Avon Glen as the
+finest scene we’ve got about here. But, I say, who’s that gesticulating
+on the rock there to the right of it? I verily believe it’s Wright,
+apostrophising the ocean for Vernon’s benefit. I only see one of
+them though.”
+
+“I bet you he’s spouting
+
+     ‘Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!
+     Ten thousand fleets, etc.’”
+
+said Graham laughing.
+
+“What do you say to putting in to shore there?” said Duncan; “it’s only
+two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make shift to take them
+in for that distance. If Jim says anything we’ll chuck him overboard.”
+
+They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who stood
+there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made out that it
+_was_ Wright), still continued to wave his arms and beckon them in a
+manner which they at first thought ridiculous, but which soon make them
+feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and they soon got within two
+hundred yards of the beach. Wright had ceased to make signals, but
+appeared to be shouting to them, and pointing towards one corner of the
+glen; but though they caught the sound of his voice they could not hear
+what he said.
+
+“I wonder why Vernon isn’t with him,” said Eric anxiously; “I hope--why,
+what _are_ you looking at, Charlie?”
+
+“What’s that in the water there?” said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.
+
+Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. “Good God!”
+he exclaimed, turning pale; “what can be the matter?”
+
+“O _do_ let me look,” said Eric.
+
+“No! stop, stop, Eric, you’d better not, I think; pray don’t, it may be
+all a mistake. You’d better not--but it looked--nay, you really
+_mustn’t,_ Eric,” he said, and, as if accidentally, he let the telescope
+fall into the water, and they saw it sink down among the seaweeds at
+the bottom.
+
+Eric looked at him reproachfully. “What’s the fun of that, Monty? you
+let it drop on purpose.”
+
+“O never mind; I’ll get Wildney another. I really daren’t let you look,
+for fear you should _fancy_ the same as I did, for it must be fancy. O
+_don’t_ let us put in there--at least not all of us.”
+
+What _was_ that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon left the
+others, they walked along the coast, following the direction of the
+boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting eggs. They were very
+successful, and, to their great delight, managed to secure some rather
+rare specimens. When they had tired themselves with this pursuit, they
+lay on the summit of one of the cliffs which formed the sides of Avon
+Glen, and Wright, who was very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of
+Marmion with great enthusiasm.
+
+So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over, Vernon
+took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the cliff’s edge. It
+thundered over the side, bounding down till it reached the strand, and a
+large black cormorant, startled by the reverberating echoes, rose up
+suddenly, and flapped its way with protruded neck to a rock on the
+further side of the little bay.
+
+“I bet you that animal’s got a nest somewhere near here,” said Vernon
+eagerly. “Come, let’s have a look for it; a cormorant’s egg would be a
+jolly addition to our collection.”
+
+They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some eight
+feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a tree, on
+which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the existence of a
+rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it contained eggs or no.
+
+“I must bag that nest; it’s pretty sure to have eggs in it,” said
+Vernon, “and I can get at it easy enough.” He immediately began to
+descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he found it
+harder than he expected.
+
+“Hallo,” he said, “this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn’t a better dodge for getting at it.” He reached
+the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the ledge which
+promised more hope of success.
+
+“You’d better give it up, Verny,” said Wright. “I’m sure it’s harder
+than we fancied, _I_ couldn’t manage it, I know.”
+
+“O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards the right
+the way’s plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest in no time.”
+Again his descended in a different direction, but again he failed. The
+nest could only be seen from the top, and he had lost the right route.
+
+“You must keep more to the right.”
+
+“I know,” answered Vernon; “but, bother take it, I can’t manage it, now
+I’m so far down. I must climb up _again_.”
+
+“_Do_ give it up, Verny, there’s a good fellow. You _can’t_ reach it,
+and really it’s dangerous.”
+
+“O no, not a bit of it. My head’s very steady, and I feel as cool as
+possible. We mustn’t give up; I’ve only to get at the tree, and then I
+shall be able to reach the nest from it quite easily.”
+
+“Well, do take care, that’s a dear fellow.”
+
+“Never fear,” said Vernon, who was already commencing his third attempt.
+This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a part of the root,
+while with his hands he clung on to a clump of heather. “Hurrah!” he
+cried, “it’s got two eggs in it, Wright;” and he stretched downwards to
+take them. Just as he was doing so, he heard the root on which his foot
+rested give a great crack, and with a violent start he made a spring for
+one of the lower branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest
+for an instant on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather
+gave way, and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of
+the cliff.
+
+With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.
+
+“Vernon! Vernon!” shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close up to the
+edge of the precipice. “O Vernon! for heaven’s sake speak!”
+
+There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some minutes he
+was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild attempts to descend
+the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the attempt in despair.
+There was a tradition in the school that the feat had once been
+accomplished by an adventurous and active boy, but Wright at any rate
+found it hopeless for himself. The only other way to reach the glen was
+by a circuitous route which led to the entrance of the narrow gorge,
+along the sides of which it was possible to make way with difficulty
+down the bank of the river to the place where it met the sea. But this
+would have taken him an hour and a half, and was far from easy when the
+river was swollen with high tide. Nor was there any house within some
+distance at which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult
+of conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the chance
+of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine’s Head. It was
+already three o’clock, and he knew that they could not now be longer
+than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching the headland,
+round which he knew they would first come in sight. He watched with wild
+eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire to catch sight of them;
+but the leaden-footed moments crawled on like hours, and he could not
+help shivering with agony and fear. At last he caught a glimpse of them,
+and springing up, began to shout at the top of his voice, and wave his
+handkerchief and his arms in the hope of attracting their attention.
+Little thought those blithe merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy
+laughter which they sent ringing over the waters, little they thought
+how terrible a tragedy awaited them.
+
+At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting inland,
+and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but feeling sure that
+they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as fast as he could to
+Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at a farm-house what had
+happened, and asked them to get a cart ready to convey the wounded boy
+to Roslyn school.
+
+Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy evening,
+radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight and transparent
+wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place where Vernon lay; and
+the little ripples fell over him wonderingly, with the low murmur of
+their musical laughter, and blurred and dimmed the vivid splashes and
+crimson streaks upon the white stone on which his head had fallen, and
+washed away some of the purple bells and green sprigs of heather round
+which his fingers were closed in the grasp of death, and played softly
+with his fair hair as it rose, and fell, and floated on their
+undulations like a leaf of golden-colored weed, until they themselves
+were faintly discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new
+plaything, they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just
+strong enough to move rudely the boy’s light weight, and in a few
+moments more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu’s
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had been
+gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat, while Eric
+at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to verify his
+horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it _was_ a boy lying
+in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was motionless;--he must have fallen
+there from the cliff.
+
+Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the boat
+grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to the spot
+where his brother’s body lay. With a burst of passionate affection, he
+flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the cold hand in his
+own--the little rigid hand in which the green blades of grass, and fern,
+and heath, so tightly clutched, were unconscious of the tale they told.
+
+“Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!” he cried in anguish, as
+he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little blood had flowed.
+But the child’s head fell back heavily, and his arms hung motionless
+beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly caught the look of dead
+fixity in his blue open eyes.
+
+The others had come up. “O God, save my brother, save him, save him from
+death,” cried Eric, “I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh God! Look!
+look!” he continued, “he has fallen from the cliff with his head on this
+cursed stone,” pointing to the block of quartz, still red with
+blood-stained hair; “but we must get a doctor. He is not dead! no, no,
+no, he _cannot_ be dead. Take him quickly, and let us row home. Oh God!
+why did I ever leave him?”
+
+The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon’s corpse
+into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the body, and
+moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold pale brow and
+white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and was not dead, the
+others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling of terrified anxiety
+lay like frost upon their hearts.
+
+They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless boy, and
+heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few boys were about
+the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn, and Dr. Underhay, who
+had been summoned, was instantly in attendance. He looked at Vernon for
+a moment, and then shook his head in a way that could not be mistaken.
+Eric saw it, and flung himself with uncontrollable agony on his
+brother’s corpse. “O Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then
+he is dead.” And, unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.
+
+I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the very sun
+in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric’s wounded and crushed spirit. He
+hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried Vernon in the little
+green churchyard by Russell’s side, and the patter of the earth upon the
+coffin--that most terrible of all sounds--struck his ear, the iron
+entered into his soul, and he had but one wish as he turned away from
+the open grave, and that was, soon to lie beside his beloved little
+brother and to be at rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAST TEMPTATION
+
+     [Greek: ’Ae d’ Atae sthenazae te chai ’aztipos sunecha pasas
+     Pollou ’upechpzotheei, phthaneei d’ de te pasan ep’ aiach
+     Blaptous’ anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.
+
+Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged the
+violence of Eric’s grief, which seemed likely to settle down into a
+sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to Fairholm were
+almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of sorrow; but they
+grew calmer in time,--and while none of his school-fellows ever ventured
+in his presence to allude to Vernon, because of the emotion which the
+slightest mention of him excited, yet he rarely wrote any letters to his
+relations in which he did not refer to his brother’s death, in language
+which grew at length both manly and resigned.
+
+A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his study in
+the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to play
+regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He spoke
+freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than he had
+ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence, but even
+strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. “I can hardly even yet
+realize,” he added, “that I am alone here, and that I am writing to my
+aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my noble, only brother,
+Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards him. I _must_ be a better
+boy, I _will_ be better than I have been, in the hopes of meeting him
+again. Indeed, indeed, dear aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am
+laying aside, with all my might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing
+my very best to redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my
+time at Roslyn will be more worthily spent than any of it has been
+as yet.”
+
+He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing quietly
+on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and repose stole
+over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was ajar, the leering
+eyes and villainously cunning countenance of Billy.
+
+“What do you want?” he said angrily, casting at the intruder a look of
+intense disgust.
+
+“Beg pardon, sir,” said the man, pulling his hair. “Anything in my line,
+sir, to-day?”
+
+“No!” answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. “What business
+have you here? Get away instantly.”
+
+“Not had much custom from you lately, sir,” said the man.
+
+“What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to me? If you
+don’t make yourself scarce at once, I’ll--”
+
+“O well,” said the man; “if it comes to that, I’ve business enough.
+Perhaps you’ll just pay me this debt,” he continued, changing his
+fawning manner into a bullying swagger. “I’ve waited long enough.”
+
+Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It purported to
+be a bill for various items of drink, all of which Eric _knew_ to have
+been paid for, and among other things, a charge of £6 for the dinner at
+the “Jolly Herring.”
+
+“Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds for the
+dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for it before it
+took place.”
+
+“That’s now’t to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the young
+gen’lman in the cheer, I comes to you.”
+
+_Now_ Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant by his
+threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put up to act
+in this way by some one, and had little doubt that Brigson was the
+instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the man said, that he had
+never received the money. Brigson was quite wicked enough to have
+embezzled it for his own purposes.
+
+“Go,” he said to the man; “you shall have the money in a week.”
+
+“And mind it bean’t more nor a week. I don’t chuse to wait for my money
+no more,” said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an undisguised
+chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down stairs.
+
+What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu, who were
+best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the memory of
+unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to obliterate from the
+memory of all. He had not the moral courage to face the natural
+consequences of his past misconduct, and was now ashamed to speak of
+what he had not then been ashamed to do. He told Graham and Wildney, who
+were the best of his old associates, and they at once agreed that _they_
+ought to be responsible for at least a share of the debt. Still, between
+them they could only muster three pounds out of the six which were
+required, and the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect
+of extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.
+
+A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source of his
+trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest friend. To him
+he could speak without scruple and without reserve, and from him he knew
+that he would receive nothing but the noblest advice and the
+warmest sympathy.
+
+He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.
+
+“Ah, Eric, Eric!” said Mr. Rose; “you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins.”
+
+“O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems cruel
+that I should receive at once so sad a check.”
+
+“There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for the
+money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to me.”
+
+It was a hard course for Eric’s proud and loving heart to write and tell
+his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it faithfully,
+extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved him, to send the
+money by return of post.
+
+It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection. Mrs.
+Trevor knew her nephew’s character, and did not add by reproaches to the
+bitterness which she perceived he had endured; she simply sent him the
+money, and told him, that in spite of his many failures, “she still had
+perfect confidence in the true heart of her dear boy.”
+
+Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it became
+more and more the passionate craving of Eric’s soul to be worthy of that
+love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost path than to keep in
+the right one all along; and by one more terrible fall, the poor erring
+boy was to be taught for the last time the fearful strength of
+temptation, and the only source in earth and heaven from which
+deliverance can come. Theoretically he knew it, but as yet not
+practically. Great as his trials had been, and deeply as he had
+suffered, it was God’s will that he should pass through a yet fiercer
+flame ere he could be purified from pride and passion and
+self-confidence, and led to the cross of a suffering Saviour, there to
+fling himself down in heart-rending humility, and cast his great load of
+cares and sins upon Him who cared for him through all his wanderings,
+and was leading him back through thorny places to the green pastures and
+still waters, where at last he might have rest.
+
+The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring, he dashed
+it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade him write a
+receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an air of cunning and
+triumph that Eric was both astonished and dismayed. Could the miscreant
+have any further plot against him? At first he fancied that Billy might
+attempt to extort money by a threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this
+supposition he banished as unlikely since it might expose Billy himself
+to very unpleasant consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said
+contemptuously, “Never come near me again; next time you come up to the
+studies I’ll tell Carter to turn you out.”
+
+“Ho, ho, ho!” sneered Billy. “How mighty we young gents are all of a
+sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me again;
+never fear, young gen’lman.” He shouted out the latter words, for Eric
+had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already in the street.
+Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from this quarter. At first
+the thought of it was disquieting, but three weeks glided away, and
+Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school work, began to remember it
+as a mere vague and idle threat. But one afternoon, to his horror, he
+again heard Billy’s step on the stairs, and again saw the hateful
+iniquitous face at the door.
+
+“Not much custom from you lately, sir,” said Billy, mockingly. “Anything
+in my line to-day.”
+
+“Didn’t I tell you never to come near me again, you foul villain? Go
+this instant, or I’ll call Carter;” and, opening the window, he prepared
+to put his threat into execution.
+
+“Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I’ve got first.” It was a printed
+notice to the following effect--
+
+“FIVE POUNDS REWARD.
+
+“WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the evening of
+April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon’s premises; the above reward will be
+given for any such information as may lead to the apprehension of the
+offenders.”
+
+Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor that Gordon
+had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had been forgotten,
+and the boys had long fancied their secret secure, though at first they
+had been terribly alarmed.
+
+“What do you show me that for?” he asked, reddening and then growing
+pale again.
+
+Billy’s only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the words “Five
+pounds reward!”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“I thinks I knows who took them pigeons.”
+
+“What’s that to me?”
+
+“Ho, ho, ho! that’s a good un,” was Billy’s reply; and he continued to
+cackle as though enjoying a great joke.
+
+“Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get ’em. I
+know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I’ll give ye another week
+to decide.”
+
+Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his chair.
+Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get them? To write
+home again was out of the question. The Trevors, though liberal, were
+not rich, and after just sending him so large a sum, it was impossible,
+he thought, that they should send him five pounds more at his mere
+request. Besides, how could he be sure that Billy would not play upon
+his fears to extort further sums? And to explain the matter to them
+fully was more than he could endure. He remembered now how easily his
+want of caution might have put Billy in possession of the secret, and
+he knew enough of the fellow’s character to feel quite sure of the use
+he would be inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!
+
+Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure. He
+thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was clear--he
+_had_, not the money, and could not get it. Miserable boy! It was too
+late then! for him repentance was to be made impossible; every time he
+attempted it he was to be thwarted by some fresh discovery. And, leaning
+his head on his open palms, poor Eric sobbed like a child.
+
+Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the want of
+five pounds! Expulsion was _certain_, was _inevitable_ now, and perhaps
+for Wildney too as well as for himself. After all his fine promises in
+his letters home,--yes, that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not
+closed for a month over one brother, and the other would be _expelled_.
+Oh misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother’s heart. Oh how
+cruel everything was to him!
+
+Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or any other
+boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the boys would have
+spent the money they brought with them from home. There was no chance of
+any one having five pounds, and to a master he _dare_ not apply, not
+even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too serious to be overlooked, and if
+noticed at all, he fancied that, after his other delinquencies, it
+_must_, as a matter of notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could
+not face that bitter thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon
+his father’s and his brother’s name; this was the fear which kept
+recurring to him with dreadful iteration.
+
+By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of the
+school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by being
+treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon’s death he lost
+all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his office, to
+which Montagu had been elected by the general suffrage.
+
+He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was in
+Montagu’s study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was merely
+a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.
+
+All this passed through Eric’s mind as he sat in his study after Billy
+had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors were open, and
+all their occupants were absent in the cricket-field, or bathing. He
+stole into Montagu’s study, hastily got the key, and took down the box.
+
+“O put it down, put it down, Eric,” said Conscience; “what business have
+you with it?”
+
+“Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn’t trust myself!”
+
+“Put it down,” repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no longer
+to argue or entreat.
+
+Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not instantly leave
+the room. He began to look at Montagu’s books, and then out of the
+window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he noticed, for the
+cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well, what of that? he was
+doing no harm.
+
+“Nonsense! I _will_ just look and see if there’s five pounds in the
+cricket-box.” Slowly at first he put out his hand, and then, hastily
+turning the key, opened the box. It contained three pounds in gold, and
+a quantity of silver. He began to count the silver, putting it on the
+table, and found that it made up three pounds ten more. “So that,
+altogether, there’s six pounds ten; that’s thirty shillings more than
+... and it won’t be wanted till next summer term, because all the bats
+and balls are bought now. I daresay Montagu won’t even open the box
+again. I know he keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks
+at it, and I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next
+term, and it will save me from expulsion.”
+
+Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his pocket,
+and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and sixpences which he
+had counted, and dropped them also into his trousers; they fell into the
+pocket with a great jingle....
+
+“Eric, you are a thief!” He thought he heard his brother Vernon’s voice
+utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was conscience who had
+borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he began to shake the money
+out of his pockets again into the box. He was only just in time; he had
+barely locked the box, and put it in its place, when he heard the sound
+of voices and footsteps on the stairs. He had no time to take out the
+key and put it back where he found it, and had hardly time to slip into
+his own study again, when the boys had reached the landing.
+
+They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.
+
+“Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual,” said Duncan, good-humoredly; but he
+only got a sickly smile in reply.
+
+“What! are you the only fellow in the studies?” asked Montagu. “I was
+nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up stairs.”
+
+“I don’t think there’s any one here but me,” said Eric, “and I’m going a
+walk now.”
+
+He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away through the
+play-ground towards the shore But he could not so escape his thoughts.
+“Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a thief!” rang in his ear. “Yes,”
+he thought; “I am even a thief. Oh, good God, yes, _even_ a _thief_, for
+I _had_ actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only fellow
+up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!”
+
+It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid in the
+coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow. And as he
+lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good heavens! there was
+something still there. He pulled it out; it was a sovereign! Then he WAS
+a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was against him; and, starting to
+his feet, he flung the accursed gold over the rocks far into the sea.
+
+When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable to work,
+he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before he fell asleep;
+but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than the haunted
+wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and horrid dreams.
+Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic proportions, and their
+faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness, seemed to be standing over him,
+and demanding five pounds on pain of death. Flights of pigeons darkening
+the air, settled on him, and flapped about him. He fled from them madly
+through the dark midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose,
+and running up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in
+his dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, “O Charlie,
+save me;” but Charlie ran away, saying, “Williams, you are a thief!” and
+then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry, voices of expostulation,
+voices of contempt, voices of indignation, voices of menace; they took
+up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed it; but, most unendurable of all,
+there were voices of wailing and voices of gentleness among them, and
+his soul died within him as he caught, amid the confusion of condemning
+sounds, the voices of Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to
+him, in tender pity and agonized astonishment, “Eric, Eric, you are
+a thief!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+     “For alas! alas! with me
+      The light of life is o’er;
+     No more--no more--no more
+     (Such language holds the solemn sea
+      To the sands upon the shore)
+     Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
+      Or the stricken eagle soar!”
+
+     EDGAR A. POE.
+
+The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits to
+Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the doors
+for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to make use of
+this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well acquainted with
+the building (in which for a short time he had been a servant), he laid
+his plans without the least dread of discovery.
+
+There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel, and it
+could be reached by a path through the fields without any chance of
+being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched his opportunity.
+By this path Billy came, two days after his last visit, and walked
+straight up the great staircase, armed with the excuse of business with
+Eric in case any one met or questioned him. But no one was about, since
+between twelve and one the boys were pretty sure to be amusing
+themselves out of doors; and after glancing into each of the studies,
+Billy finally settled on searching Montagu’s (which was the neatest and
+best furnished), to see what he could get.
+
+The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where Eric
+had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled him. In a
+moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking booty, and
+opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of gratification, the
+unexpected store of silver and gold. This he instantly transferred to
+his own pocket, and then replacing the box where he had found it,
+decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the study in all other respects
+exactly as he had found it.
+
+Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with apprehension and
+suspense. Unable to endure his misery in loneliness, he had made several
+boys to a greater or less degree participators in the knowledge of his
+difficult position, and in the sympathy which his danger excited, the
+general nature of his dilemma with Billy (though not its special
+circumstances) was soon known through the school.
+
+At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was sitting with
+Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and the sorrow which lay
+at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious expression of his face,
+and the deep dejection of his attitude and manner.
+
+The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every possible
+topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing to be said,
+and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet though their
+arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness of their
+affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his heavy mood.
+
+“Well, well; at least _do_ hope the best, Eric,” said Graham.
+
+“Yes!” urged Wildney; “only think, dear old fellow, what lots of worse
+scrapes we’ve been in before, and how we’ve always managed to get out of
+them somehow.”
+
+“No, my boy; not worse scrapes,” answered Eric. “Depend upon it this is
+the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting into another at
+_Roslyn_, anyhow.”
+
+“Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?” said Wildney, putting his arm
+round Eric’s neck. “Besides it’s all my fault, hang it, that you got
+into this cursed row.”
+
+     “‘The curse is come upon, me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott,’
+
+“those words keep ringing in my ears,” murmured Eric.
+
+“Well, Eric, if _you_ are sent away, I know I shall get my father to
+take me too, and then we’ll join each other somewhere. Come, cheer up,
+old boy--being sent isn’t such a very frightful thing after all.”
+
+“No” said Graham; “and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was only a
+lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn’t like stealing, you know;
+_that_’d be quite a different thing.”
+
+Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not notice
+it. “Ah,” thought he, “there’s _one_ passage of my life which I never
+shall be able to reveal to any human soul.”
+
+“Come now, Eric,” said Wildney, “I’ve got something to propose. You
+shall play cricket to-day; you haven’t played for an age, and it’s high
+time you should. If you don’t you’ll go mooning about the shore all day,
+and that’ll never do, for you’ll come back glummer than ever.”
+
+“No!” said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon instantly
+passed through his mind; “no more cricket for me.”
+
+“Nay, but you _must_ play to-day. Come, you shan’t say no. You won’t say
+no to me, will you, dear old fellow?” And Wildney looked up to him with
+that pleasant smile, and the merry light in his dark eyes, which had
+always been so charming to Eric’s fancy.
+
+“There’s no refusing you,” said Eric with the ghost of a laugh, as he
+boxed Wildney’s ears. “O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I wish I
+were you.”
+
+“Pooh! pooh! now you shan’t get sentimental again. As if you wern’t
+fifty times better than me every way. I’m sure I don’t know how I shall
+ever love you enough, Eric,” he added more seriously, “for all your
+kindness to me.”
+
+“I’m so glad you’re going to play, though,” said Graham; “and so will
+everybody be; and I’m certain it’ll be good for you. The game will
+divert your thoughts.”
+
+So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny’s death, played
+with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The school cheered
+him vigorously as he appeared again on the field, and the sound lighted
+up his countenance with some gleam of its old joyousness. When one
+looked at him that day with his straw hat on and its neat light-blue
+ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink jersey and leather belt, with a
+silver clasp in front), showing off his well-built and graceful figure,
+one little thought what an agony was gnawing like a serpent at his
+heart. But that day, poor boy, in the excitement of the game he half
+forgot it himself, and more and more as the game went on.
+
+The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric caught out
+two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who stayed in long,
+and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying with a magnificent
+ball, the shouts of “well bowled! well bowled _indeed_,” were universal.
+
+“Just listen to that, Eric,” said Montagu; “why, you’re out-doing every
+body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by storm.”
+
+“Wait till you see me come out for a duck,” said Eric laughing.
+
+“Not you. You’re too much in luck to come out with a duck,” answered
+Montagu. “You see I’ve already become the Homer of your triumphs, and
+vaticinate in rhyme.”
+
+And now it was Eric’s turn to go in. It was long since he had stood
+before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a beautiful
+picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his fair hair shine
+like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows were flung to the
+winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest and joy.
+
+He contented himself with blocking Duncan’s balls until his eye was in;
+but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right and left. His
+score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of getting him out, so
+that there was every probability of his carrying out his bat.
+
+“Oh, _well_ hit! _well_ hit! A three’r for Eric,” cried Wildney to the
+scorer; and he began to clap his hands and dance about with excitement
+at his friend’s success.
+
+“Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!” shouted all the lookers on, as Eric
+caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over the hedge,
+getting a sixer by the hit.
+
+At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run, for the
+handle of his bat broke right off.
+
+“How unlucky!” he said, flinging down the handle with vexation. “I
+believe this was our best bat.”
+
+“Oh, never mind,” said Montagu; “we can soon get another; we’ve got lots
+of money in the box.”
+
+What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of poison in
+the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected than he was by
+Montagu’s simple remark. Montagu could not help noticing it, but at the
+time merely attributed it to some unknown gust of feeling, and made no
+comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing another bat, took his place again
+quite tamely; he was trembling, and at the very next ball, he spooned a
+miserable catch into Graham’s hand, and the shout of triumph from the
+other side proclaimed that his innings was over.
+
+He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys, who
+were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after his
+brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the light had
+died away from his face and figure, and he never raised his eyes from
+the ground.
+
+“Modest Eric!” said Wildney chaffingly, “you don’t acknowledge your
+honors.”
+
+Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm, and
+walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and whispered again
+in a low voice--
+
+     “‘The curse has come upon me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott.’”
+
+“Hush, Eric, nonsense,” whispered Wildney; “you’re not going away,” he
+continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. “Why, there are only
+two more to go in!”
+
+“Yes, thank you, I must go.”
+
+“Oh, then, I’ll come too.”
+
+Wildney at once joined his friend. “There’s nothing more the matter, is
+there?” he asked anxiously, when they were out of hearing of the rest.
+
+“God only knows.”
+
+“Well, let’s change the subject. You’ve being playing brilliantly, old
+fellow.”
+
+“Have I?”
+
+“I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid way.”
+
+“Ah well! it matters very little.”
+
+Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note from
+Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking him to tea
+that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been several times
+lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she always showed him
+caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she had known his mother.
+
+“Upon my word, honors _are_ being showered on you!” said Wildney. “First
+to get _the_ score of the season at cricket, and bowl out about half the
+other side, and then go to tea with the head-master. Upon my word! Why
+any of us poor wretches would give our two ears for such distinctions.
+Talk of curse indeed! Fiddlestick end!”
+
+But Eric’s sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering with a
+sigh, he went to dress for tea.
+
+Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together. “How
+splendidly Eric played,” said Duncan.
+
+“Yes, indeed. I’m so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting a new
+bat. I don’t know exactly how much money we’ve got, but I know there’s
+plenty. Let’s come and see.”
+
+They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the key.
+“Hallo,” he said, “I’m nearly sure I left it in the corner of this
+drawer, under some other things; but it isn’t there now. What can have
+become of it?”
+
+“Where’s the box?” said Duncan; “let’s see if any of my keys will fit
+it. Hallo! why _you’re_ a nice treasurer, Monty! here’s the key _in_
+the box!”
+
+“No, is it though?” asked Montagu, looking serious. “Here, give it me; I
+hope nobody’s been meddling with it.”
+
+He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to see it
+empty.
+
+“Phew-w-w-w!” Montagu gave a long whistle.
+
+“By Jove!” was Duncan’s only comment.
+
+The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what was in
+his thoughts.
+
+“A bad, bad business! what’s to be done, Monty?”
+
+“I’ll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it. Would you
+mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes? Tell him there’s
+a row.”
+
+He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the boys were
+talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally praising
+Eric’s play.
+
+“I’ve got something unpleasant to say,” he announced, raising his voice.
+
+“Hush! hush! hush! what’s the row?” asked half a dozen at once.
+
+“The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has vanished
+from the box in my study!”
+
+For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.
+
+“Does any fellow know anything about this?”
+
+All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.
+
+“Where is Williams?” asked one of the sixth form casually.
+
+“He’s taking tea with the Doctor,” said Wildney.
+
+Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be said,
+except in confidential whispers.
+
+Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. “What’s to be
+done?” was the general question.
+
+“I think we’ve all had a lesson once before not to suspect too hastily.
+Still, in a matter like this,” said Montagu, “one _must_ take notice of
+apparent cues.”
+
+“I know what you’re thinking of, Monty,” said Duncan.
+
+“Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?”
+
+“I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought.”
+
+“I heard more--though at the time it didn’t strike me particularly. I
+distinctly heard the jingle of money.”
+
+“Well, it’s no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we must _ask_
+him about it, and act accordingly.’
+
+“Will he come up to the studies again to-night?”
+
+“I think not,” said Owen; “I notice he generally goes straight to bed
+after he has been out to tea; that’s to say, directly after prayers.”
+
+The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful. Their
+books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident that
+Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the evening he
+drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and looked at it
+long and earnestly. “Is it possible?” he thought. “Oh Eric! can that
+face be the face of a thief?”
+
+The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the Rowlands,
+and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant, quiet evening,
+and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more cheerful and
+hopeful than he had done before, although he was still ignorant how to
+escape the difficulty which threatened him.
+
+He couldn’t help observing that as he entered he was the object of
+general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing that day,
+or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy’s treachery, of
+which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when prayers were over,
+and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked and spoke in the
+coldest manner, his most terrible fears revived.
+
+He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat half
+abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan entered, and he
+started to see them, for they were evidently the bearers of some serious
+intelligence.
+
+“Eric,” said Duncan, “do you know that some one has stolen all the
+cricket money?”
+
+“Stolen--what--_all_?” he cried, leaping up as if he had been shot. “Oh,
+what new retribution is this?” and he hid his face, which had turned
+ashy pale, in his hands.
+
+“To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?”
+
+“If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it,” he said, not lifting his
+head.
+
+“Do you know anything about it?”
+
+“No!” he sobbed convulsively. “No, no, no! Yet stop; don’t let me add a
+lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!” he said, looking up, “I do _not_ know
+who stole it.”
+
+They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu’s averted
+face.
+
+“O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful,” said Eric. “Don’t _yet_
+condemn me. _I_ am guilty, not of _this_, but of something as bad. I
+admit I was tempted; but if the money really is all gone, it is _not_ I
+who am the thief.”
+
+“You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very strong, and
+rests on some definite facts.”
+
+“Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don’t yet condemn me.
+I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty, believe me
+in this.”
+
+But the boys still stood silent.
+
+“Well, then,” he said, “I will tell you all. But I can only tell it to
+you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn’t be angry; you are my friend, but
+not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him only.”
+
+Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the bed, and
+put his arm round him to support him, for he shook violently. There,
+with deep and wild emotion, and many interruptions of passionate
+silence, Eric told to Montagu his miserable tale. “I am the most
+wretched fellow living,” he said; “there must be some fiend that hates
+me, and drives me to ruin. But let it all come; I care nothing, nothing,
+what happens to me now. Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love
+me still.”
+
+“O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you were
+sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won’t you pray
+to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my heart, and do you
+think God can be less kind than man? And _I_, too, will pray for you,
+Eric. Good night, and God bless you” He gently disengaged himself--for
+Eric clung to him, and seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a
+moment after he was gone.
+
+Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but somehow
+it didn’t seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and his thoughts
+began instantly to wander far away. Still he knelt--knelt even until his
+candle had gone out, and he had nearly fallen asleep, thought-wearied,
+on his knees. And then he got into bed still dressed. He had been making
+up his mind that he could bear it no longer, and would run away to sea
+that night.
+
+He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The Doctor
+had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they amounted in
+his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he stopped to look at
+the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly terms so short a time
+before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep, but opened his eyes, and
+looked at the head-master. Very sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head,
+and went away. Eric never saw him again.
+
+The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study, collect
+the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of Russell, Wildney,
+and his other friends--above all, Vernon’s likeness--and then make his
+escape from the building, using for the last time the broken pane and
+loosened bar in the corridor, with which past temptations had made him
+so familiar.
+
+He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not yield. Half
+contemplating the possibility of such an intention on Eric’s part, Dr.
+Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went out.
+
+“Ha!” thought the boy, “then he, too, knows and suspects. Never mind. I
+must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny’s picture; perhaps it is
+best I should, for I’m only disgracing his noble memory. But they shan’t
+prevent me from running away.”
+
+Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He _could_, not endure another public expulsion, or even
+another birching; he _could_ not endure the cold faces of even his best
+friends. No, no! he _could_ not face the horrible phantom of detection,
+and exposure, and shame. Escape he must.
+
+After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he succeeded in
+loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took his two sheets,
+tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end tightly round the
+remaining bar, and let the other fall down the side of the building. He
+took one more glance round his little room, and then let himself down by
+the sheet, hand under hand, until he could drop to the ground. Once
+safe, he ran towards Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he
+were flying for his life. But when he got to the end of the playground
+he could not help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at
+the scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind him
+like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he spent in
+that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by without their
+own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had first walked across
+that playground, hand in hand with his father, a little boy of twelve.
+He remembered his first troubles with Barker, and how his father had at
+last delivered him from the annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered
+how often he and Russell had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant
+talk, especially the evening when he had got his first prize and head
+remove in the lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell’s death, he
+had gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and Wildney
+afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then the stroll to
+Port Island, and Barker’s plot against him, and the evening at the Stack
+passed through his mind; and the dinner at the Jolly Herring, and, above
+all, Vernon’s death. Oh! how awful it seemed to him now, as he looked
+through the darkness at the very road along which they had brought
+Verny’s dead body. Then his thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons,
+his own drunkenness, and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and
+this dreadful end of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed _so_
+bright on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the conclusion of
+his school days?
+
+Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there they lay,
+all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan, and all whom he
+cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose’s light still burning in the
+library window; and he was leaving the school and those who had been
+with him there so long, in the dark night, by stealth, penniless and
+broken-hearted, with the shameful character of a thief.
+
+Suddenly Mr. Rose’s light moved, and, fearing discovery or interception,
+he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to Starhaven through
+the darkness. There was still a light in the little sailors’ tavern;
+and, entering, he asked the woman who kept it, “if she knew of any ship
+which was going to sail next morning?”
+
+“Why, your’n is, bean’t it, Maister Davey!” she asked, turning to a
+rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.
+
+“Ees,” grunted the man.
+
+“Will you take me on board?” said Eric.
+
+“You be a runaway, I’m thinking?”
+
+“Never mind. I’ll come as cabin-boy--anything.”
+
+The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress. “Hardly in
+the cabun-buoy line I should say.”
+
+“Will you take me?” said Eric. “You’ll find me strong and willing
+enough.”
+
+“Well--if the skipper don’t say no. Come along.”
+
+They went down to a boat, and “Maister Davey” rowed to a schooner in the
+harbor, and took Eric on board.
+
+“There,” he said, “you may sleep there for to-night,” and he pointed to
+a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.
+
+Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and sound till
+the morning, on board the “Stormy Petrel.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE STORMY PETREL
+
+     “They hadna sailed a league, a league,
+      A league, but barely three,
+     When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,
+      And gurly grew the sea.”
+
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.
+
+“Hilloa!” exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next morning, as he
+saw Eric’s recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff, “Who be this
+young varmint!”
+
+“Oh, I brought him aboord last night,” said Davey; “he wanted to be
+cabun-buoy.”
+
+“Precious like un _he_ looks. Never mind, we’ve got him and we’ll use
+him.”
+
+The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his scattered
+thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first, as the Stormy
+Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea, he felt one
+absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But before he had
+been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to the trying nature of
+his circumstances, which were, indeed, _so_ trying that _anything_ in
+the world seemed preferable to enduring them. He had not been three
+hours on board when he would have given everything in his power to be
+back again; but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now
+fairly on her way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo
+of cattle.
+
+There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was only a
+little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest and meanest
+grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the captain, who was a
+drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.
+
+This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly because he
+was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The first words he
+addressed to him were--
+
+“I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing.”
+
+“I’ve got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me.”
+
+“Well, then, you shall give us your gran’ clothes. Them things isn’t fit
+for a cabin-boy.”
+
+Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged his good
+cloth suit for a rough sailor’s shirt and trowsers, not over clean,
+which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at once appropriated by
+that functionary, who carried them into his cabin. But it was lucky for
+Eric that, seeing how matters were likely to go, he had succeeded in
+secreting his watch.
+
+The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind rose to
+a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make his case worse,
+could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight of such coarse food
+as was contemptuously flung to him.
+
+“Where am I to sleep?” he asked, “I feel very sick.”
+
+“Babby,” said one of the sailors, “what’s your name?”
+
+“Williams.”
+
+“Well, Bill, you’ll have to get over your sickness pretty soon, _I_ can
+tell ye. Here,” he added, relenting a little, “Davey’s slung ye a
+hammock in the forecastle.”
+
+He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the lurches of
+the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the companion-ladder, much
+less get into his hammock. The man saw his condition, and, sulkily
+enough, hove him into his place.
+
+And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible, and out
+of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and pitched through
+the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty men sleeping round
+him at night, until the atmosphere of the forecastle became like poison,
+hopelessly and helplessly sick, and half-starved, the boy lay for two
+days. The crew neglected him shamefully. It was nobody’s business to
+wait on him, and he could procure neither sufficient food, nor any
+water; they only brought him some grog to drink, which in his weakness
+and sickness was nauseous to him as medicine.
+
+“I say, you young cub down there,” shouted the skipper to him from the
+hatchway, “come up and swab this deck.”
+
+He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled about to
+find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But he staggered
+from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to grasp for some
+fresh support at every step.
+
+“None of that ’ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d---- you, what
+d’ye think you’re here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in five minutes,
+or I’ll teach you, and be d----d.”
+
+Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his task
+without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no means of
+washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap, or clean linen;
+and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the waking brought no change
+in his condition. And then the whole life of the ship was odious to him.
+His sense of refinement was exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill,
+and kicked and cuffed about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their
+rough, coarse, drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more
+intolerable familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.
+
+His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing his
+fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse of open
+kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to pity him
+in heart.
+
+Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure at first,
+when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him least; he longed
+for death, and often contemplated flinging himself into those cold deep
+waves which he gazed on daily over the vessel’s side. Hope was the only
+thing which supported him. He had heard from one of the crew that the
+vessel would be back in not more than six weeks, and he made a deeply
+seated resolve to escape the very first day that they again anchored in
+an English harbor.
+
+The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on board
+greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and disgusting work
+which fell to his snare, as well as made the atmosphere of the close
+little schooner twice as poisonous as before. And to add to his
+miseries, his relations with the crew got more and more unfavorable, and
+began to reach their climax.
+
+One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard him
+winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as secretly and
+silently as he could, and never looked at it, except when no one could
+observe him; while, during the day, he kept both watch and chain
+concealed in his trousers.
+
+Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch, and tried
+by every species of threat and promise to extort it from him. But the
+watch had been his mother’s gift, and he was resolute never to part with
+it into such hands.
+
+“Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he’ll soon
+get it out of you as your footing, depend on it.”
+
+The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the watch
+as pay for Eric’s feed, for he maintained that he’d done no work, and
+was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still refused, and the man
+struck him brutally on the face, and at the same time aimed a kick at
+him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It caught him on the knee-cap, and
+put it out, causing him the most excruciating agony.
+
+He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was only
+with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move caused him
+violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all day on the
+vessel’s side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any sight of land, or
+gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea and sky.
+
+Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted, and the
+skipper ordered him to furl a sail.
+
+“I can’t,” said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring, and not
+lifting his eyes to the man’s unfeeling face.
+
+“Can’t, d---- you. Can’t. We’ll soon see whether you can or no! You do
+it, or _I_ shall have to mend your leg for you;” and he showered down a
+storm of oaths.
+
+Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined at
+least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty. But the
+effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he dropped once
+more on deck.
+
+“Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we’re going to bother ourselves
+with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for nothing. It’s all
+sham. Here, Jim, tie him up.”
+
+A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands together, and
+then drew them up above his head, and strung them to the rigging.
+
+“Why didn’t ye strip him first, d---- you?” roared the skipper.
+
+“He’s only got that blue shirt on, and that’s soon mended,” said the
+man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and tearing
+it open with a great rip.
+
+Eric’s white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging, and his
+injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. “And now for some rope-pie
+for the stubborn young lubber,” said the skipper, lifting a bit of rope
+as he spoke.
+
+Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the next
+instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump, rasping away a
+red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time the awful reality of
+intense pain; he had determined to utter no sound, to give no sign; but
+when the horrible rope fell on him, griding across his back, and making
+his body literally creak under the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf
+in every limb, and could not suppress the harrowing murmur, “Oh God,
+help me, help me.”
+
+Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the boy’s
+naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to the violent
+laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang from his lips, so
+shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in the memory of all who
+heard it. But the brute who administered the torture was untouched. Once
+more, and again, the rope rose and fell, and under its marks the blood
+first dribbled, and then streamed from the white and tender skin.
+
+But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of nature;
+his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs still seemed to
+creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted away.
+
+“Stop, master, stop, if you don’t want to kill the boy outright,” said
+Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while the hot flush of
+indignation burned through his tanned and weather-beaten cheek. The
+sailors called him “Softy Bob,” from that half-gentleness of disposition
+which had made him, alone of all the men, speak one kind or consoling
+word for the proud and lonely cabin-boy.
+
+“Undo him then, and be--,” growled the skipper and rolled off to drink
+himself drunk.
+
+“I doubt he’s well-nigh done for him already,” said Roberts, quickly
+untying Eric’s hands, round which the cords had been pulled so tight as
+to leave two blue rings round his wrists. “Poor fellow, poor fellow!
+it’s all over now,” he murmured soothingly, as the boy’s body fell
+motionless into his arms, which he hastily stretched to prevent him from
+tumbling on the deck.
+
+But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity, carried
+him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a clean
+blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.
+
+It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words had
+been prophetic.
+
+“How is the young varmint?” shouted the skipper, looking into the
+forecastle.
+
+“You’ve killed him, I think.”
+
+The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was sufficiently
+frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his patient.
+
+At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the raw
+state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone, reminded
+him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all that could be
+done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid place, in the
+languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the unbidden tears
+flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the sickness of his
+heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he thought that he
+should die.
+
+But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and agony, and
+death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his comfortless hammock.
+The news that land was in sight first roused him, and with the help of
+Roberts, he was carried on deck, thankful, with childlike gratitude,
+that God suffered him to breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and
+sit under the canopy of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the
+sunlight refreshed him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes
+upraised, he poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable
+thankfulness to a Father in Heaven.
+
+Yes! at last he had remembered his Father’s home. There, in the dark
+berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean atmosphere
+brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead burned, and his
+heart melted within him, and he had felt almost inclined to curse his
+life, or even to end it by crawling up and committing himself to the
+deep cold water which, he heard rippling on the vessel’s side; then,
+even then, in that valley of the shadow of death, a Voice had come to
+him--a still small Voice--at whose holy and healing utterance Eric had
+bowed his head, and listened to the messages of God, and learnt his
+will; and now, in humble resignation, in touching penitence with solemn
+self-devotion, he had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to
+be helped, and guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the
+darkness of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till
+they were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus’ sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no evil,
+for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting arms.
+
+And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by harsh
+word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of the sea
+wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something half-like
+an apology.
+
+The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder again,
+but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or horror, put out
+his hand to the man to shake. There was something touching and noble in
+the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of himself for once, the fellow
+shook the proffered hand, and slunk away.
+
+They entered the broad river at Southpool.
+
+“I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts,” said Eric.
+
+“I doubt whether you’ll let you,” answered Roberts, jerking his finger
+towards the skipper’s cabin.
+
+“Why?”
+
+“He’ll be afeard you might take the law on him.”
+
+“He needn’t fear.”
+
+Roberts only shook his head.
+
+“Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?”
+
+“Yes, that I will.”
+
+That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown to all
+but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the water in the
+evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard or two distant; but
+the effort almost exhausted his strength, for his knee was still
+painful, and he was very weak.
+
+Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the sleepless
+night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a pawnbroker’s,
+and raised £2:10s. on his watch, with which money he walked straight to
+the railway station.
+
+It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As Eric
+dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney on the
+other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to meet him,
+as he would have done in old times. His whole heart yearned towards him.
+It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one loving face, and during all
+that time he had hardly heard one kindly word. And now he saw before him
+the boy whom he loved so fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy
+hours of school-boy friendship, with whom he had gone through so many
+schoolboy adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.
+
+Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the street.
+Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some four years
+older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising immensely. They
+were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the word Roslyn. Like a
+lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the memory of his ruin came
+upon him; he looked down at his dress--it was a coarse blue shirt, which
+Roberts had given him in place of his old one, and the back of it was
+stained and saturated with blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers
+were dirty, tarred, and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely
+covered his feet. He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able
+to wash, and that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at
+a shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the eyes
+sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and lustreless. No! he
+could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged sailor-boy; perhaps even he
+might not be recognised if he did. He drew back, and hid himself till
+the merry-hearted pair had passed, and it was almost with a pang of
+jealousy that he saw how happy Wildney could be, while _he_ was thus;
+but he cast aside the unworthy thought at once. “After all, how is poor
+Charlie to know what has happened to me?”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HOME AT LAST
+
+     “I will arise and go to my father.”
+
+     “Ach! ein Schicksal droht,
+     Und es droht nicht lange!
+     Auf der holden Wange
+     Brennt ein böses Roth!”--TIEDGE.
+
+Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and found
+that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat during the
+day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary train to
+Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the branch line
+to Ayrton.
+
+He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding himself from
+notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it carried poor people for
+the most part, so, of course it could matter but little how tedious or
+slow it was!)--the weary train, stopping at every station, and often
+waiting on the rail until it had been passed by trains that started four
+or five hours after it,--dragged its slow course through the fair
+counties of England. Many people got in and out of the carriage, which
+was generally full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and his
+heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with civil
+answers to the questions put to him, dropping the conversation as soon
+as he could.
+
+At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he got down.
+
+“Ticket,” said the station-man.
+
+Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well from
+having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked hard at him,
+and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,
+
+“Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be you?”
+
+“Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don’t say a word, that’s
+a good fellow; I’m going on to Ayrton this evening.”
+
+“Well, sir, I _am_, hurt like to see you looking so ragged and poorly.
+Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by first train
+to-morrow.”
+
+“O no, thank you, John. I’ve got no money, and--”
+
+“Tut, tut, sir; I thought you’d know me better nor that. Proud I’d be
+any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor’s nephew, let alone a young
+gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my little cart
+this evening.”
+
+“No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but,” he
+said, and the tears were in his eyes, “I want to walk in alone
+to-night.”
+
+“Well, God keep and bless you, sir,” said the man, “for you look to need
+it;” and touching his cap, he watched the boy’s painful walk across some
+fields to the main road.
+
+“Who’d ha’ thought it, Jenny?” he said to his wife. “There’s that young
+Master Williams, whom we’ve always thought so noble like, just been
+here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color o’ my white
+signal flag.”
+
+“Lawks!” said the woman; “well, well! poor young gentleman, I’m afeard
+he’s been doing something bad.”
+
+Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without toil, made
+his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten miles off. The road
+wound through the valley, across the low hills that encircled it,
+sometimes spanning or running parallel to the bright stream that had
+been the delight of Eric’s innocent childhood. There was something
+enjoyable at first to the poor boy’s eyes, so long accustomed to the
+barren sea, in resting once more on the soft undulating green of the
+summer fields, which were intertissued with white and yellow flowers,
+like a broidery of pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the
+exquisite light, and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious
+evening, which filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation
+of rose and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in Eric’s
+heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with recollections
+of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how differently; and
+of the last time when he had come home with Vernon by his side. “Oh
+Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God that I were with you now.
+But you are resting, Verny, in the green grave by Russell’s side, and
+I--oh God, be merciful to me now!”
+
+It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds, and Eric
+walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought on the pain in
+his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the road-side to rest.
+He reached Ayrton at ten o’clock, but even then he could not summon up
+courage to pass through the town where he was so well known, lest any
+straggler should recognise him,--and he took a detour in order to get to
+Fairholm. He did not arrive there till eleven o’clock; and then he could
+not venture into the grounds, for he saw through the trees of the
+shrubbery that there was no light in any of the windows, and it was
+clear that they were all gone to bed.
+
+What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night. He
+remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from him
+since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of so sudden
+an emotion as his appearance at that hour might excite.
+
+So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank beside the
+gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was long before he
+slept, but at last weary nature demanded her privilege with importunity,
+and gentle sleep floated over him like a dark dewy cloud, and the sun
+was high in heaven before he woke.
+
+It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor, with Fanny,
+was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an occupation full of
+holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which she had found more than
+usual consolation during the heavy trials which she had recently
+suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon as a mother does her own
+children, and now Vernon, the little cherished jewel of her heart, was
+dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric, she feared, not dead but worse than
+dead, guilty, stained, dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in
+deep anguish of heart, “Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen
+and ruined!”
+
+“Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass,” said Fanny, pointing to
+a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the gate. “He has had
+a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night there, as I fear.”
+
+Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. “What is Flo’ doing?” she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy’s reclining
+figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into a quick short
+bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him, and leapt upon him,
+joyously wagging his tail.
+
+The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he saw the
+dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its little
+silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught sight of
+the Trevors.
+
+“It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric,” cried Mrs. Trevor, as she flew
+towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent, speechless,
+with long arrears of pent-up emotion.
+
+“O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are forgiven,
+more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that my prayers
+would be answered; this is as though we received you from the dead.” And
+the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric, his heart shaken with
+accumulated feelings, clung to her and wept.
+
+Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their lost
+child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm bath, and
+tended him with every gentle office of female ministering hands. And in
+the evening, when he told them his story in a broken voice of penitence
+and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet balsam, and he rested
+by them, “seated, and clothed, and in his right mind.”
+
+The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the greenhouse,
+was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste, and its glass
+doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long, long since Eric had
+ever seen anything like it, and he had never hoped to see it again. “Oh
+dearest aunty,” he murmured, as he rested his weary head upon her lap,
+while he sat on a low stool at her feet, “Oh aunty, you will never know
+how different this is from the foul, horrible hold of the ‘Stormy
+Petrel,’ and its detestable inmates.”
+
+When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more fed on
+nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once more about the
+garden by Fanny’s side, he began to recover his old appearance, and the
+soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and the light to his blue eye.
+But still his health gave most serious cause for apprehension; weeks of
+semi-starvation, bad air, sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights
+of exposure and wet, had at last undermined the remarkable strength of
+his constitution, and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact
+that he was sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.
+
+Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which he
+could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace at
+Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He avoided
+the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him, especially as he
+had taken away the bitterest part of their trial in remembering it, by
+explaining to them that he was far from being so wicked in the matter of
+the theft as they had at first been (how slowly and reluctantly!) almost
+forced to believe.
+
+“Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever heard,
+aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?” he asked, one
+evening, with evident effort.
+
+“No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I heard no
+more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from Dr. Rowlands,
+and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of what had happened
+about you.”
+
+“O, have they sent home my things?” he asked, eagerly. “There are very
+few among them that I care about, but there is just one----”
+
+“I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you, should
+have given it you before;” and she drew out of a drawer the little
+likeness of Vernon’s sweet childish face.
+
+Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his eyes.
+
+“Do not weep, my boy,” said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead. “Dear
+little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes away all
+tears from off all eyes.”
+
+“Is there anything else you would like?” asked Fanny, to divert his
+painful thoughts. “I will get you anything in a moment.”
+
+“Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell’s life,
+and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you never
+knew him!”
+
+He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed to give
+him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name, and speak of
+them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.
+
+“I have a plan to please you, Eric,” said Mrs. Tremor. “Shall I ask
+Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them.”
+
+“O, thank you,” he said, with the utmost eagerness. “Thank you, dearest
+aunt.” Then suddenly his countenance fell. “Stop--shall we?--yes, yes, I
+am going to die soon, I know; let me see them before I die.”
+
+The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious tenure of
+his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did not contradict
+him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose directions Eric
+knew), telling them what had happened, and begging them, simply for his
+sake, to come and stay with her for a time. She hinted clearly that it
+might be the last opportunity they would ever have of seeing him.
+
+Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived together
+at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both greeted Eric
+with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired of pressing their
+hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now and then a memory of
+sadness would pass over his face, like a dark ripple on the clear
+surface of a lake.
+
+“Tell me, Monty,” he said one evening, “all about what happened after I
+left Roslyn.”
+
+“Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--”
+
+“My name cleared!” said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. “Did you say
+that?”
+
+“Yes, Eric. Didn’t you know, then, that the thief had been discovered?”
+
+“No,” he murmured faintly, leaning back; “O thank God, thank God! Do
+tell me all about it, Monty.”
+
+“Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may guess how
+utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard that you had
+run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it, for he went early
+to your bed-room----”
+
+“Dear little Sunbeam,” interrupted Eric, resting his hand against
+Wildney’s cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he heard the
+forbidden name.
+
+“He found the door locked,” continued Montagu, “and called to you, but
+there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and we were
+certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent sheet. The
+masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make inquiries, but
+they did not succeed in discovering anything definite about you. Then,
+of course, everybody assumed as a certainty that you were guilty, and I
+fear that my bare assertion on the other side had little weight.”
+
+Eric’s eyes glistened as he drank in his friend’s story.
+
+“But, about a fortnight after, _more_ money and several other articles
+disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as to the perpetrator
+was baffled; only now the boys began to admit that, after all, they had
+been premature in condemning you. It was a miserable time; for every one
+was full of distrust, and the more nervous boys were always afraid lest
+any one should on some slight grounds suspect _them. Still_, things kept
+disappearing.
+
+“We found out at length that the time when the robberies were effected
+must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed that some one
+should be concealed in the studies for a day or two during those hours.
+Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced in one of the big
+cupboards in a study which had not yet been touched. On the third day he
+heard some one stealthily mount the stairs. The fellows were more
+careful now, and used to keep their doors shut, but the person was
+provided with keys, and opened the study in which Carter was. He moved
+about for a little time--Carter watching him through the key-hole, and
+prepared to spring on him before he could make his escape. Not getting
+much, the man at last opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just
+time to conceal himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the
+plunderer’s fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter
+before him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though
+a ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was he
+who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was sentenced
+to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name was cleared.”
+
+“As I always knew it would be, dear old boy,” said Wildney.
+
+Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm, and
+were never tired of Eric’s society, and of his stories about all that
+befell him on board the “Stormy Petrel.” They perceived a marvellous
+change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance had passed
+away; every stain of passion had been removed; every particle of
+hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All was gentleness,
+love, and dependence, in the once bright, impetuous, self-willed boy; it
+seemed as though the lightning of God’s anger had shattered and swept
+away all that was evil in his heart and life, and left all his true
+excellence, all the royal prerogatives of his character, pure and
+unscathed Eric, even in his worst days, was, as I well remember, a
+lovable and noble boy; but at this period there must have been something
+about him for which to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and
+irresistibly attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk
+with them, Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing
+excursions by themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit
+out reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric’s health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not deceive
+herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his head when they
+called him convalescent.
+
+Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week after their
+arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the open air, under a
+lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to set, and the rain of
+golden sunlight fell over them through the green ambrosial foliage of
+the tree whose pale blossoms were still murmurous with bees. Eric was
+leaning back in an easy chair, with Wildney sitting on the grass,
+cross-legged at his feet, while Montagu, resting on one of the mossy
+roots, read to them the “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the ladies were
+busy with their work.
+
+“There--stop now,” said Eric, “and let’s sit out and talk until we see
+some of ‘the fiery a’es and o’es of light’ which he talks of.”
+
+“I’d no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading,” remarked
+Wildney naïvely. “I shall take to reading him through when I get home.”
+
+“Do you remember, Eric,” said Montagu, “how Rose used to chaff us in old
+days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant we used to be
+when he asked if we’d ever heard of an obscure person called William
+Shakspeare?”
+
+“Yes, very well,” answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this strain
+they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed listening to
+their school-boy mirth.
+
+“What a perfectly delicious evening. It’s almost enough to make me wish
+to live,” said Eric.
+
+He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half sang,
+half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother’s sweet voice had
+made him familiar in their cottage-home at Ellan:--
+
+     “There is a calm for those who weep,
+       A rest for weary pilgrims found;
+     They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,
+       Low in the ground.
+
+     “The storm that wrecks the winter sky,
+       No more disturbs their deep repose,
+     Than summer evening’s latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose.”
+
+The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he murmured to
+himself again, in low tones--
+
+     “Than summer evening’s latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose.”
+
+“Oh hush, hush, Eric!” said Wildney, laying his hand upon his friend’s
+lips; “don’t let’s spoil to-night by forebodings.”
+
+It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful thing to
+be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the sun broadened
+and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft meadow and silver
+stream. One might have fancied that the last rays of sunshine loved to
+linger over Eric’s face, now flushed with a hectic tinge of pleasure,
+and to light up sudden glories in his bright hair, which the wind just
+fanned off his forehead as he leaned back and inhaled the luxury of
+evening perfume, which the flowers of the garden poured on the gentle
+breeze. Ah, how sad that such scenes should be so rare and so
+short-lived!
+
+“Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!” said Wildney; “there goes the postman’s
+horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the gate?”
+
+“Yes, do,” they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun, greeting
+the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that the man shook
+with laughing at him.
+
+“Here it is at last,” said Wildney. “Now, then, for the key. Here’s a
+letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss Trevor--_what_ people you
+young ladies are for writing to each other! None for you, Monty--Oh,
+yes! I’m wrong, here’s one; but none for Eric.”
+
+“I expected none,” said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed earnestly
+on one of Mrs. Trevor’s letters. He saw that it was from India, and
+directed in his father’s hand.
+
+Mrs. Trevor caught his look. “Shall I read it aloud to you, dear I Do
+you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to ours,
+telling them of--”
+
+“Oh, yes, yes,” he said, eagerly, “do let me hear it.”
+
+With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric pressed
+them to stay. “It will help me to bear what mother says, if I see you by
+me,” he pleaded.
+
+God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written from the
+depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise with, who for
+thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human misery. By the
+former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny’s melancholy death; by the
+next she had been told that her only other child, Eric, was not dead
+indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked with the brand of terrible
+suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it was God who sent it, and he only
+enabled her to endure it. With bent head, and streaming eyes, and a
+breast that heaved involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as
+though to his mother’s voice, and only now and then he murmured low to
+himself, “O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God
+and man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once more.”
+
+Mrs. Trevor’s eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all, and Fanny
+finished it. “Here is a little note from your father, Eric, which
+dropped out when we opened dear aunt’s letter. Shall I read it, too?”
+
+“Perhaps not now, love,” said Mrs. Trevor. “Poor Eric is too tired and
+excited already.”
+
+“Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty,” he said. He opened it,
+read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back swooning, while
+it dropped out of his hands.
+
+Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in a few
+heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs. Williams had
+been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired of, and that,
+before the letter reached England, she would, in all human probability,
+be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul resigned indeed, and
+humble, but crushed down to the very earth with the load of mysterious
+bereavement, and irretrievable sorrow.
+
+“Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!” said Eric, in a hollow
+voice, when he came to himself. “O God, forgive me, forgive me!”
+
+They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed for
+him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength appeared to have
+been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At last a momentary energy
+returned; his eyes were lifted to the gloaming heaven where a few stars
+had already begun to shine, and a bright look illuminated his
+countenance. They listened deeply--“Yes, mother,” he murmured, in broken
+tones, “forgiven now, for Christ’s dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes,
+there they are, and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at
+last--too happy!”
+
+The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient moment
+more the smile and the brightness played over his fair features like a
+lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with those he dearliest
+loved, in the land where there is no more curse.
+
+“Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now,” sobbed Mrs. Trevor; and her
+tears fell fast upon the dead boy’s face, as she pressed upon it a long,
+last kiss.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+     “And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?
+     Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?
+     And borne unscathed through danger’s stormy field
+     Honor’s white wreath and virtue’s stainless shield?”
+
+     HARROW. A Prize Poem.
+
+The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to his
+father’s estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles around. He
+intends to stand for the county at the next general election, and I
+haven’t the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed. If he does,
+Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu has the very soul
+of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of his vigorous judgment,
+and the treasures of his cultivated taste, with an eloquence that rises
+to extraordinary grandeur when he is fulminating his scorn at any
+species of tyranny or meanness.
+
+It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days in his
+charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over his grounds,
+and then across one of the richest plains in England) one long summer
+evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and figures of the past,
+until we almost felt ourselves boys again.
+
+“I have just been staying at Trinity,” said I, “and Owen, as I suppose
+you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first class, and
+they have already elected him fellow and assistant tutor.”
+
+“Is he liked?”
+
+“Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of those
+fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful as men, than
+they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the _greatest_ things
+of him; but have you heard anything of Duncan lately?”
+
+“Yes, he’s just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from him the
+other day. He’s met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and Upton, the
+latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there are not two
+finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and Wildney, as you may
+easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room. You know, I suppose,
+that Graham is making a great start at the bar.”
+
+“Is he? I’m delighted to hear it.”
+
+“Yes. He had a ‘mauvais sujet’ to defend the other day, in the person of
+our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned by his
+relations, is at present a policeman in London.”
+
+“On the principle, I suppose, of ‘Set a thief to catch a thief,’” said
+Montagu, with a smile.
+
+“Yes; but he exemplifies the truth ‘chassez le naturel, il revient au
+galop’ for he was charged with abetting a street fight between two boys,
+which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was penitent, and Graham
+got him off with wonderful cleverness.”
+
+“Ah!” said Montagu, sighing, “there was _one_ who would have been the
+pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!”
+
+We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning words,
+his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his melancholy fate,
+and a deep sadness fell over us.
+
+“Poor boy, he is at peace now,” said Montagu; and he told me once more
+the sorrowful particulars of his death. “Shall I read you some verses?”
+he asked, “which he must have composed, poor fellow, on board the
+‘Stormy Petrel,’ though he probably wrote them at Fairholm afterwards.”
+
+“Yes, do.”
+
+And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much feeling,
+these lines, written in Eric’s boyish hand, and signed with his name.
+
+ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.
+
+     Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,
+       In all the world alone I stand,
+     With none to wed their hearts to mine,
+       Or link in mine a loving hand.
+
+     Ah! I tell me not that I have those
+       Who owe the ties of blood and name,
+     Or pitying friends who love me well,
+       And dear returns of friendship claim.
+
+     I have, I have! but none can heal,
+       And none shall see my inward woe,
+     And the deep thoughts within me veiled
+       No other heart but mine shall know.
+
+     And yet amid my sins and shames
+       The shield of God is o’er me thrown
+     And, ’neath its awful shade I feel
+       Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!
+
+     Not all alone! and though my life
+       Be dragged along the stained earth,
+     O God! I feel thee near me still,
+       And thank thee for my birth!
+
+     E.W.
+
+Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest memorial of my
+erring but noble schoolboy friend.
+
+Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I gave him
+a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his pleasant vicarage
+of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or two ago by Dr. Rowlands,
+now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also appointed him examining chaplain. I
+sat and watched Mr. Rose while he read them. A mournful interest was
+depicted on his face, his hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he
+bent his grey hair over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at
+school that Eric was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and
+Vernon were with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away
+without even having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr.
+Rose displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we returned
+to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the intelligence
+of Eric’s return to Fairholm, and of his death. The news plunged many of
+us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in chapel, Mr. Rose alluded
+to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes among those who listened to
+him. I shall never forget that Sunday afternoon. A deep hush brooded
+over us, and before the sermon was over, many a face was hidden to
+conceal the emotion which could not be suppressed.
+
+“I speak,” said Mr. Rose, “to a congregation of mourners, for one who
+but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of yourselves. But,
+for myself, I do _not_ mourn over his death. Many a time have I mourned
+for him in past days, when I marked how widely he went astray,--but I do
+not mourn now; for after his fiery trials he died penitent and happy,
+and at last his sorrows are over for ever, and the dreams of ambition
+have vanished, and the fires of passion have been quenched, and for all
+eternity the young soul is in the presence of its God. Let none of you
+think that his life has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to
+spare him, he might have found great works to do among his fellow-men,
+and he would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far rather
+must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that we are all
+partakers of God’s unspeakable blessing, the common mystery of
+immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of very many here to
+recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and converse with our dear
+departed brother in a holier and happier world.”
+
+I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can give no
+conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or the intense
+pathos of his tones.
+
+The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he lingered
+over Eric’s verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of thought.
+
+At last he looked up and sighed. “Poor Eric!--But no, I will not call
+him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him well,” he
+continued; “why do you not try and preserve some records of his life?”
+
+The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and at once
+began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were numerous and
+vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends gladly supplied
+me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of Roslyn, Mr. Rose,
+Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric’s ruin has been told, and
+told as he would have wished it done, with simple truth. Noble Eric! I
+do not fear that I have wronged your memory, and you I know would
+rejoice to think how sorrowful hours have lost something of their
+sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so many of which we were engaged
+together in our school-boy days.
+
+I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along the sands,
+picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling the joyous
+tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys were playing by
+the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to them; and as I marked
+how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with its murmur and its foam,
+each sweeping farther than the other, each effacing the traces of the
+last, I saw an emblem of the passing generations, and was content to
+find that my place knew me no more.
+
+     Ah me the golden time!--
+       But its hours have passed away,
+     With the pure and bracing clime,
+       And the bright and merry day.
+
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,
+       And the shore still shines in the lustre of the wave;
+     But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o’er,
+       And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--
+         And he who comes again
+         Wears a brow of toil and pain,
+     And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the
+United States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
+Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
+on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
+  you are located before using this eBook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg™ License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
+other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
+Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
+provided that:
+
+• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
+  works.
+
+• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
+
+Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org.
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
+
+The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact.
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
+widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic
+works
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org.
+
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
diff --git a/old/12083-0.zip b/old/12083-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a86d3f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12083-0.zip
diff --git a/old/12083-h/12083-h.htm b/old/12083-h/12083-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..656d76c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12083-h/12083-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9982 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      Eric | Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style> 
+    P {  margin-top: .75em;
+         margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em; }
+    blockquote {text-align: justify;
+         margin-left: 15%;
+         margin-right: 15%;}
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 {     text-align: center; }
+    HR { width: 33%; }
+	.c {text-align:center;}
+
+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Eric</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frederic William Farrar</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12083]<br>
+[Most recently updated: October 1, 2023]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>ERIC</h1>
+<h2>OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE</h2>
+<h3>A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL</h3>
+<h4>By</h4>
+<h3>FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.</h3>
+<h5>Author of "The Life of Christ," "Julian Home," "St. Winifreds,"
+etc</h5>
+<h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h4>
+<h3>GEORGE A. TRAVER</h3>
+<br>
+<h5>1902</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+<p><a href="#PART_I.">PART I.</a></p>
+<p><a href="#1CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III--BULLYING.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII--"TAKING UP".</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX--"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS
+GODS".</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE
+STACK.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD
+BROKEN.</a><br>
+<a href="#1CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN.</a></p>
+<br>
+<p><a href="#PART_II">PART II.</a></p>
+<p><a href="#2CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I--ABDIEL.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II--WILDNEY.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V--RIPPLES.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE
+YOUNG.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST.</a><br>
+<a href="#2CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION.</a></p>
+<br>
+<p>ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
+<p>BULLYING.<br>
+ERIC <i>Vignette on title-page</i>.<br>
+SMOKING.<br>
+ON THE ROCK.<br>
+OUT OF THE WINDOW.<br>
+ERIC AND VERNON.<br>
+HIDING.<br>
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP <i>Frontispiece</i>.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE</h2>
+<h2><a name="PART_I."></a>PART I.</h2>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3>
+<blockquote>"Ah dear delights, that o'er my soul<br>
+On memory's wing like shadows fly!<br>
+Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,<br>
+While Innocence stood laughing by."--COLERIDGE.</blockquote>
+<p>"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" cried a young boy, as he capered
+vigorously about, and clapped his hands. "Papa and mamma will be
+home in a week now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and
+<i>then</i>, and <i>then</i>, I shall go to school."</p>
+<p>The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he
+stopped his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin
+Fanny was patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so
+much affected by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so
+he again exclaimed, "And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to
+school."</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric," said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face
+from her endless work, "I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it
+with quite as much joy a year hence."</p>
+<p>"O ay, Fanny, that's just like you to say so; you're always
+talking and prophesying; but never mind, I'm going to school, so
+hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" and he again began his capering,--jumping
+over the chairs, trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing
+with an exuberance of delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his
+little spaniel Flo, he sprang through the open window into the
+garden, and disappeared behind the trees of the shrubbery; but
+Fanny still heard his clear, ringing, silvery laughter, as he
+continued his games in the summer air.</p>
+<p>She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In
+spite of the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of
+heaviness and foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling
+and beautiful, and there was an almost irresistible contagion in
+the mirth of her young cousin, but still she could not help feeling
+sad. It was not merely that she would have to part with Eric, "but
+that bright boy," thought Fanny, "what will become of him? I have
+heard strange things of schools; oh, if he should be spoilt and
+ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby lips, that pure young
+heart, a year may work sad change in their words and thoughts!" She
+sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised them upwards,
+and breathed a silent prayer.</p>
+<p>She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest
+years. In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful,
+ingenuous, quick, he would acquire almost without effort any
+subject that interested him, and a word was often enough to bring
+the impetuous blood to his cheeks, in a flush, of pride or
+indignation. He required the gentlest teaching, and had received
+it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of stainless honor
+that he avoided most of the faults to which children are prone. But
+he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well knew
+that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his
+own superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it
+always met with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it
+difficult to subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing
+her rule. Beyond a certain age no boy of spirit can be safely
+guided by a woman's hand alone.</p>
+<p>Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a
+civilian in India, and was returning on furlough to England after a
+long absence. Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to
+England by his parents at an early age, in charge of a lady friend
+of his mother. The parting, which had been agony to his father and
+mother, he was too young to feel; indeed the moment itself passed
+by without his being conscious of it. They took him on board the
+ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer and some nails to play
+with. These had always been to him a supreme delight, and while he
+hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying themselves, for the
+child's sake, even one more tearful embrace, went ashore in the
+boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he was told
+he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child, his
+tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had
+become the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from
+Captain Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon
+struck up an acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed
+a tear, as he lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro's
+knee, and asked God "to bless his dear dear father and mother, and
+make him a good boy."</p>
+<p>When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a
+widowed aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his
+early teaching. At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely
+to form no accession to the quiet household, but he soon became its
+brightest ornament and pride. Everything was in his favor at the
+pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor. He was treated with motherly kindness
+and tenderness, yet firmly checked when he went wrong. From the
+first he had a well-spring of strength, against temptation, in the
+long letters which every mail brought from his parents; and all his
+childish affections were entwined round the fancied image of a
+brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room there hung a
+cherub's head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this picture was
+inextricably identified in his imagination with his "little brother
+Vernon." He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray, nothing
+weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he came
+home.</p>
+<p>And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with
+him in his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was
+situated in the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran
+through the valley at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor's orchard. Eric
+loved this stream, and was always happy as he roamed by its side,
+or over the low green hills and scattered dingles, which lent
+unusual loveliness to every winding of its waters. He was allowed
+to go about a good deal by himself, and it did him good. He grew up
+fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the want of amusement.
+The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for endless games and
+romps, sometimes with no other companion than his cousin and his
+dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age whom he
+knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When
+asked if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in
+dreams and at some other times, he saw a little child, with long
+curly hair, running about in a little garden, near a great river,
+in a place where the air was very bright. But whether the little
+boy was himself or his brother Vernon, whom he had never seen, he
+couldn't quite tell.</p>
+<p>But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was
+religious and enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter,
+religion was not a system but a habit--not a theory, but a
+continued act of life. All was simple, sweet, and unaffected about
+their charity and their devotions. They loved God, and they did all
+the good they could to those around them. The floating gossip and
+ill-nature of the little village never affected them; it melted
+away insensibly in the presence of their cultivated minds; and so
+friendship with them was a bond of union among all, and from the
+vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected them, asked
+their counsel, and sought their sympathy.</p>
+<p>They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have
+told to what "party" they belonged. They troubled themselves with
+no theories of education, but mingled gentle nurture with
+"wholesome neglect." There was nothing exotic or constrained in the
+growth of Eric's character. He was not one of your angelically good
+children at all, and knew none of the phrases of which infant
+prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had not been taught any
+distinction between "Sunday books" and "week-day" books, but no
+book had been put in his way that was not healthy and genuine in
+tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah's ark on
+Sunday, because it was "a Sunday plaything," while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought
+little; they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced
+idleness or constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love
+Sunday quite as well as any other day in the week, though, unlike
+your angelic children, he never professed to like it better. But to
+be truthful, to be honest, to be kind, to be brave, these had been
+taught him, and he never <i>quite</i> forgot the lesson; nor amid
+the sorrows of after life did he ever quite lose the sense--learnt
+at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God, of a tender and
+long-suffering Father.</p>
+<p>As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had
+been sent indeed to Mr. Lawley's grammar-school for the last
+half-year, and had learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar.
+But as Mr. Lawley allowed his upper class to hear the little boys
+their lessons, Eric had managed to get on pretty much as he liked.
+Only <i>once</i> in the entire half-year had he said a lesson to
+the dreadful master himself, and of course it was a ruinous
+failure, involving some tremendous pulls of Eric's hair, and making
+him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined to make Mr. Lawley
+dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite little, he
+remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the "Latin
+school" as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that
+Eric never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this
+kept him in a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go
+out, and see what time it was by the church clock. Only hearing
+that he was to do something, too frightened to ask what it was, and
+feeling sure that even if he did, he should not understand what the
+master said, Eric ran out, went straight to Mr. Lawley's house, and
+after having managed by strenuous jumps to touch the knocker,
+informed the servant "that Mr. Lawley wanted his man."</p>
+<p>"What man?" said the maid-servant, "the young man? or the
+butler? or is it the clerk?"</p>
+<p>Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit
+of sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries;
+but he was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said "the young
+man" at hazard, and went back to the Latin school.</p>
+<p>"Why have you been so long?" roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly
+entered. Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said,
+so he answered at random, "He's coming, sir." The master, seeing by
+his scared look that something was wrong, waited to see what would
+turn up.</p>
+<p>Soon after, in walked "the young man," and coming to the
+astonished Mr. Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, "Master Williams
+said you sent for me, sir."</p>
+<p>"A mistake," growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look
+which nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head,
+or at best a great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally
+a kind heart, soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child's
+white face, he contented himself with the effects of his look.</p>
+<p>The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in
+the head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an
+imprudent marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little
+country grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to
+his refined mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had
+gradually unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys "that
+it was an easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than
+to teach them;" and at last his eccentricities became too obvious
+to be any longer overlooked.</p>
+<p>The d&eacute;nouement of his history was a tragic one, and had
+come a few days before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a
+common practice among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all
+boys, to amuse themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a
+door left partially ajar, and to cry out "Crown him" as the first
+luckless youngster who happened to come in received the book
+thundering on his head. One day, just as the trap had been adroitly
+laid, Mr. Lawley walked in unexpectedly. The moment he entered the
+school-room, down came an Ainsworth's Dictionary on the top of his
+hat, and the boy, concealed behind the door, unconscious of who the
+victim was, enunciated with mock gravity, "Crown him! three
+cheers."</p>
+<p>It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the
+battered hat, and recover from his confusion; the next instant he
+was springing after the boy who had caused the mishap, and who,
+knowing the effects of the master's fury, fled with precipitation.
+In one minute the offender was caught, and Mr. Lawley's heavy hand
+fell recklessly on his ears and back, until he screamed with
+terror. At last by a tremendous writhe, wrenching himself free, he
+darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too exhausted to pursue,
+snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and hurled it at the
+boy's retreating figure. The watch flew through the air;--crash! it
+had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the lintel, fell
+smashed into a thousand shivers.</p>
+<p>The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken
+watch, which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the
+master to his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there
+pale and breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could
+bear it no longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face
+with his hands, and burst into hysterical tears. It was the
+outbreak of feelings long pent up. In that instant all his life
+passed before him--its hopes, its failures, its miseries, its
+madness. "Yes!" he thought, "I am mad."</p>
+<p>Raising his head, he cried wildly, "Boys, go, I am mad!" and
+sank again into his former position, rocking himself to and fro.
+One by one the boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is
+soon told. Forced to leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his
+daily bread; and the weight of this new anxiety hastening the
+crisis, the handsome proud scholar became an inmate of the Brerely
+Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards, Eric heard that he was
+dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest in peace.</p>
+<p>Such was Eric's first school and schoolmaster. But although he
+learnt little there, and gained no experience of the character of
+others or of his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin
+School, which he never regretted. It was the mixture there of all
+classes. On those benches gentlemen's sons sat side by side with
+plebeians, and no harm, but only good, seemed to come from the
+intercourse. The neighboring gentry, most of whom had begun their
+education there, were drawn into closer and kindlier union with
+their neighbors and dependents, from the fact of having been their
+associates in the days of their boyhood. Many a time afterwards,
+when Eric, as he passed down the streets, interchanged friendly
+greetings with some young glazier or tradesman whom he remembered
+at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt practically
+to despise the accidental and nominal differences which separate
+man from man.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>A NEW HOME</h3>
+<blockquote>"Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;<br>
+The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,<br>
+The very breeze hath, mirth in't."--OLD PLAY.</blockquote>
+<p>At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter
+informed the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at
+Southampton on July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the
+evening after. They particularly requested that no one should come
+to meet them on their landing. "We shall reach Southampton," wrote
+Mrs. Trevor, "tired, pale, and travel-stained, and had much rather
+see you first at dear Fairholm, where we shall be spared the
+painful constraint of a meeting in public. So please expect our
+arrival at about seven in the evening."</p>
+<p>Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since
+the news came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and
+expectation made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing
+all day, every hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.</p>
+<p>At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening
+filled the sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the
+sound of wheels; a carriage dashed up to the door, and the next
+moment Eric sprang into his mother's arms.</p>
+<p>"O mother, mother!"</p>
+<p>"My own darling, darling boy!"</p>
+<p>And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father's heart, and
+locked in the arms of "little brother Vernon." Who shall describe
+the emotions of those few moments? they did not seem like earthly
+moments; they seemed to belong not to time, but to eternity.</p>
+<p>The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy.
+The little party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast
+asleep with his arm round his newfound brother's neck.</p>
+<p>Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father
+and mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could
+have shown no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met
+their eyes. The pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed
+distinctly the forms and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft
+regular breathing was the only sound that broke the stillness of
+the July night. The small shining flower-like faces, with their
+fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded round each brother's
+neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an exquisite picture,
+and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without a word, the
+parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of joyfulness,
+poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young and
+beloved boys.</p>
+<p>Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed
+opened to Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded
+itself before him. His parents--above all, his mother--were
+everything that he had longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled
+to his loving heart the ideal of his childish fancy. He was never
+tired of playing with and patronising his little brother, and their
+rambles by stream and hill made those days appear the happiest he
+had ever spent. Every evening (for he had not yet laid aside the
+habits of childhood) he said his prayers by his mother's knee, and
+at the end of one long summer's day, when prayers were finished,
+and full of life and happiness he lay down to sleep, "O mother," he
+said, "I am so happy--I like to say my prayers when you are
+here."</p>
+<p>"Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them."</p>
+<p>"Aren't there some who never say prayers, mother?"</p>
+<p>"Very many, love, I fear."</p>
+<p>"How unhappy they must be! I shall <i>always</i> love to say my
+prayers."</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!"</p>
+<p>And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often
+came back to Eric's mind in later and less happy days--days when
+that gentle hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when
+those mild blue eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed
+in heart and life, often flung himself down with an unreproaching
+conscience to prayerless sleep.</p>
+<p>It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to
+school in the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house
+in the town of Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of
+furlough, at the end of which period Vernon was to be left at
+Fairholm, and Eric in the house of the head-master of the school.
+Eric enjoyed the prospect of all things, and he hardly fancied that
+Paradise itself could be happier than a life at the seaside with
+his father and mother and Vernon, combined with the commencement of
+schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage came, his first
+glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it with only
+a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him silent
+with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue sky
+melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan.
+On the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills,
+so that when they reached the town and took possession of their
+cottage, he was dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous
+impressions.</p>
+<p>Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as
+not to disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind,
+and gently opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him,
+one destined to be long mingled with all his most vivid
+reminiscences. Not twenty yards below the garden, in front of the
+house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment rippling with golden laughter
+in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either side of the bay was a
+bold headland, the one stretching out in a series of broken crags,
+the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called from its shape
+the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old castle, and
+the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the left,
+high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School.
+Eric learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a
+most happy boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should
+be never tired of looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes
+off the great buoy that rolled about in the centre of the bay, and
+flashed in the sunlight at every move. He turned round full of hope
+and spirits, and, after watching for a few moments the beautiful
+face of his sleeping brother, he awoke him with a boisterous
+kiss.</p>
+<p>That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands.
+The school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his
+college cap passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He
+looked very happy and engaging, and was humming a tune as he
+strolled along. Eric started up and gazed after him with the most
+intense curiosity. At that moment the unconscious schoolboy was to
+him the most interesting person in the whole world, and he couldn't
+realize the fact that, before the day was over, he would be a
+Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort of a fellow the
+boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again, and make
+his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy's destiny is
+twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will
+know very soon.</p>
+<p>At nine o'clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his
+son. The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past
+the ruin, at the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any
+other time Eric would have been overflowing with life and wonder at
+the murmur of the ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the
+rock-bound bay, and the numberless little shells, with their bright
+colors and sculptured shapes, which lay about the beach. But now
+his mind was too full of a single sensation, and when, after
+crossing a green playground, they stood by the head-master's door,
+his heart fluttered, and it required all his energy to keep down
+the nervous trembling which shook him.</p>
+<p>Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr.
+Rowlands' study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he
+turned to address Eric, after a few minutes' conversation with his
+father, the boy felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity
+and frank courtesy of his manner. A short examination showed that
+Eric's attainments were very slight as yet, and he was to be put in
+the lowest form of all, under the superintendence of the Rev. Henry
+Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short note in pencil, and giving it to
+Eric, directed the servant to show him to Mr. Gordon's
+school-room.</p>
+<p>The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the
+school, so that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time
+assembled at their work, and that he should have to go alone into
+the middle of them. As he walked after the servant through the long
+corridors and up the broad stairs, he longed to make friends with
+him, so as, if possible, to feel less lonely. But he had only time
+to get out, "I say, what sort of a fellow is Mr. Gordon?"</p>
+<p>"Terrible strict, Sir, I hear," said the man, touching his cap
+with a comic expression, which didn't at all tend to enliven the
+future pupil. "That's the door," he continued, "and you'll have to
+give him the doctor's note;" and, pointing to a door at the end of
+the passage, he walked off.</p>
+<p>Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was
+by himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his
+own footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He
+heard a low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no
+answer. He knocked again a little louder; still no notice; then,
+overdoing it in his fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.</p>
+<p>"Come in," said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of "New fellow," and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.</p>
+<p>He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows
+opening towards the sea. At one end was the master's throne, and
+facing it, all down the room, were desks and benches, along which
+the boys were sitting at work. Every one knows how very confusing
+it is to enter a strange room full of strange people, and
+especially when you enter it from a darker passage. Eric felt
+dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to the master's desk,
+went towards it between two of the benches. As these were at no
+great distance from each other, he stumbled against several legs on
+his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose to
+trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating <i>sotto
+voce</i>, "awkward little fool."</p>
+<p>In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and
+presented his missive. The master's eye was on him, but all Eric
+had time to observe was, that he looked rather stern, and had in
+his hand a book which he seemed to be studying with the deepest
+interest. He glanced first at the note, and then looked full at the
+boy, as though determined to read his character at a glance.</p>
+<p>"Williams, I suppose?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Sir," said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that
+all the boys were looking at him, as well as the master.</p>
+<p>"Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the
+fourth. I hope you will work well. At present they are learning
+their Cesar. Go and sit next to that boy," pointing towards the
+lower end of the room; "he will show you the lesson, and let you
+look over his book. Barker, let Williams look over you!"</p>
+<p>Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy
+indicated. He was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of
+black hair, and a very dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he
+wasn't a very nice-looking specimen of Roslyn school. However, he
+sate by him, and glanced at the Cesar which the boy shoved about a
+quarter of an inch in his direction. But Barker didn't seem
+inclined to make any further advances, and presently Eric asked in
+a whisper,</p>
+<p>"What's the lesson?"</p>
+<p>The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.</p>
+<p>Eric repeated, "I say, what's the lesson?"</p>
+<p>Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,</p>
+<p>"What's your name?"</p>
+<p>"Eric--I mean Williams."</p>
+<p>"Then why don't you say what you mean?"</p>
+<p>Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception;
+but as he seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer
+towards him.</p>
+<p>"Drop that; 't isn't yours."</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. "Silence!" he
+said, and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric,
+resigning himself to his fate, looked about him.</p>
+<p>He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk,
+writing, but couldn't make our the physiognomy. There had been
+something reserved and imperious in the master's manner, yet he
+thought he should not dislike him on the whole. With the
+countenances of his future schoolfellows he was not altogether
+pleased, but there were one or two which thoroughly attracted him.
+One boy, whose side face was turned towards him as he sat on the
+bench in front, took his fancy particularly, so, tired of doing
+nothing, he plucked up courage, and leaning forward whispered, "Do
+lend me your Cesar for a few minutes." The boy at once handed it to
+him with a pleasant smile, and as the lesson was marked, Eric had
+time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr. Gordon's sonorous
+voice exclaimed,</p>
+<p>"Fourth form, come up!"</p>
+<p>Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle
+round the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson
+commenced.</p>
+<p>"Russell, begin," said the master; and immediately the boy who
+had handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and
+construed them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had
+a frank open face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very
+taking voice and manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he
+should like him.</p>
+<p>Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a
+grating irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities,
+for each of which the next boy took him up. Then he began to
+construe;--a frightful confusion of nominatives without verbs,
+accusatives translated as ablatives, and perfects turned into
+prepositions ensued, and after a hopeless flounder, during which
+Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself, Barker came to a full
+stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric could not help
+joining in the general titter Barker scowled.</p>
+<p>"As usual, Barker," said the master, with a curl of the lip.
+"Hold out your hand!"</p>
+<p>Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which
+the form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his
+hands tight together, went back to his seat.</p>
+<p>"Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just
+failed!"</p>
+<p>Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had
+now quite recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and
+without nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering
+questions, and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way
+up the form. The boys' numbers were then taken down in the weekly
+register, and they went back to their seats.</p>
+<p>On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was
+clumsily scrawled, "I'll teach you to grin when I'm turned, you
+young brute."</p>
+<p>The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly,
+and augured ominously of Barker's intentions, since that worthy
+obviously alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to
+interpret it as an intentional provocation. He felt that he was in
+for it, and that Barker meant to pick a quarrel with him. This
+puzzled and annoyed him, and he felt very sad to have found an
+enemy already.</p>
+<p>While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck
+twelve; and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the
+folding-doors of the school-room.</p>
+<p>"You may go," said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared
+by a door at the further end of the room.</p>
+<p>Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in
+a confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among
+the last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized
+it, and flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it
+was trampled on by a number of the boys as they ran out.</p>
+<p>Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his
+opponent, and said coolly, "Is that what you always do to new
+fellows?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;" and a
+tolerably smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a
+cheek already aflame with, anger and indignation,--"should you like
+a little more?"</p>
+<p>He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry.
+"What's that for?" he said, with flashing eyes.</p>
+<p>"For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned."</p>
+<p>Eric stamped. "I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as
+well as I do."</p>
+<p>"What! I'm a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out
+of you, you young cub--take that;" and a heavier blow followed.</p>
+<p>"You brutal cowardly bully," shouted Eric; and in another moment
+he would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did
+not, for Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful.
+Such an attack would hare been most unfortunate for him in every
+way. But at this instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and
+Russell among them.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Barker," said one, "what's up?"</p>
+<p>"Why, I'm teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that's
+all."</p>
+<p>"Shame!" said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric's cheek; "what
+a fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn't you leave him alone for his
+first day, at any rate?"</p>
+<p>"What's that to you? I'll kick you too, if you say much."</p>
+<p>"Cav&egrave;, cav&egrave;!" whispered half a dozen voices, and
+instantly the knot of boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr.
+Gordon was seen approaching. He had caught a glimpse of the scene
+without understanding it, and seeing the new boy's red and angry
+face, he only said, as he passed by, "What, Williams! fighting
+already? Take care."</p>
+<p>This was the cruellest cut of all. "So," thought Eric, "a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;" and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.</p>
+<p>The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different
+games, and as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to
+answer the usual questions, "What's your name? Are you a boarder or
+a day scholar? What form are you in?" Eric expected all this, and
+it therefore did not annoy him. Under any other circumstances, he
+would have answered cheerfully and frankly enough; but now he felt
+miserable at his morning's rencontre, and his answers were short
+and sheepish, his only desire being to get away as soon as
+possible. It was an additional vexation to feel sure that his
+manner did not make a favorable impression.</p>
+<p>Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him.
+"I'm afraid you won't like this, or think much of us, Williams," he
+said. "But never mind. It'll only last a day or two, and the
+fellows are not so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I'm sorry
+you've come across him, but it can't be helped."</p>
+<p>It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and
+after his troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to
+cry, and for a few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell's
+soothing words. But the boy's friendliness went far to comfort him,
+and at last, shaking hands with him, he said--</p>
+<p>"Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy,
+Russell."</p>
+<p>"O yes," said Russell, laughing, "as much as ever you like. And
+as Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we
+are in the same box. Good bye."</p>
+<p>So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the
+Iliad, "Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea." Already the
+purple mantle had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got
+home later than they expected, and found his parents waiting for
+him. It was rather disappointing to them to see his face so
+melancholy, when they expected him to be full of animation and
+pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own conclusions from the red mark
+on his cheek, as well as the traces of tears welling to his eyes;
+but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing, and left the boy to
+tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting all the
+painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>BULLYING</h3>
+<blockquote>"Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness."
+Wordsworth.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I
+have often fancied that there must be in boyhood a
+pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a sort of "wild trick of the ancestral
+savage," which, no amount of civilization can entirely repress.
+Certain it is, that to most boys the first term is a trying ordeal.
+They are being tested and weighed. Their place in the general
+estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest circumstances are
+seized upon to settle the category under which the boy is to be
+classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few weeks
+at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are <i>not</i> accidents;
+they are the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the
+general tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the
+apparent cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly
+intentional. At first, of course, as they can have no friends worth
+speaking of, there are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds
+that take a pleasure in their torment, particularly if they at once
+recognise any innate superiority to themselves. Of this class was
+Barker. He hated Eric at first sight, simply because his feeble
+mind could only realise one idea about him, and that was the new
+boy's striking contrast with his own imperfections. Hence he left
+no means untried to vent on Eric his low and mean jealousy. He
+showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form, and signs of
+disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he
+never looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him
+to kick and annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the
+school-room. In fact, he did his very best to make the boy's life
+miserable, and the occupation of hating him seemed in some measure
+to fill up the vacuity of an ill-conditioned and degraded mind.</p>
+<p>Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the
+unhappy person who is the object of it, and more especially if he
+have incurred it by no one assignable reason. To Eric it was
+peculiarly painful; he was utterly unprepared for it. In his bright
+joyous life at Fairholm, in the little he saw of the boys at the
+Latin school, he had met with nothing but kindness and caresses,
+and the generous nobleness of his character had seemed to claim
+them as a natural element. "And now, why," he asked impatiently,
+"should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim to
+annoy, vex, and hurt me?" Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but
+such, was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.</p>
+<p>But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own
+bursts of passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek;
+but, brave and spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless
+would be any attempt on his part to repel force by force. He would
+have tried some slight conciliation, but it was really impossible
+with such a boy as his enemy. Barker never gave him even so much as
+an indifferent look, much less a civil word. Eric loathed him, and
+the only good and happy part of the matter to his own mind was,
+that conscientiously his only desire was to get rid of him and be
+left alone, while he never cherished a particle of revenge.</p>
+<p>While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning
+himself a very good position with the other boys, who liked his
+frankness, his mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud
+with Barker like a dark background to all his enjoyment. He even
+had to manoeuvre daily how to escape him, and violent scenes were
+of constant occurrence between them. Eric could not, and would not,
+brook his bullying with silence. His resentment was loud and
+stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was, even <i>his</i> phlegmatic
+temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce and
+uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the
+form, and such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first,
+his position as a home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides
+Russell, there were three whom he liked best, and respected
+most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen. They were very different boys, but
+all of them had qualities which well deserved his esteem. Duncan
+was the most boyish of boys, intensely full of fun, good-nature,
+and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on well, because he
+could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in some fit of
+sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to be put
+to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever
+<i>he</i> took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of
+amusement was ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one
+of the number.</p>
+<p>Montagu's chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little
+gentleman; "such a jolly little fellow" every one said of him.
+Without being clever or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both
+at work and at the games, and while he was too exclusive to make
+many <i>intimate</i> friends, everybody liked walking about or
+talking with him. Even Barker, blackguard as he was, seemed to be a
+little uneasy when confronted with Montagu's naturally noble and
+chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects his influence was
+thoroughly good, and few boys were more generally popular.</p>
+<p>Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him.
+When he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for
+Barker's craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been
+tremendously bullied. But gradually his mental superiority asserted
+itself. He took everything without tears and without passion, and
+this diminished the pleasure of annoying him. One day when Barker
+had given him an unprovoked kick, he quietly said,</p>
+<p>"Barker, next time you do that, I'll tell Mr. Gordon."</p>
+<p>"Sneak! do it if you dare." And he kicked him again; but the
+moment after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in
+Owen's eyes, as he turned instantly into the door of the master's
+room, and laid a formal complaint against Barker for bullying.</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon didn't like "telling," and he said so to Owen,
+without reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of
+explanations and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said
+nothing. "He stood there for justice," and he had counted the cost.
+Strong-minded and clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the
+momentary dislike of his schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that
+he never could be popular, would be less unbearable than Barker's
+villanous insults. The consequence was that Barker was caned
+soundly, although, with some injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt
+to conceal that he did it unwillingly.</p>
+<p>Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for
+sneaking, as they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen
+mortification of seeing "Owen is a sneak," written up all about the
+walls. But he was too proud or too cold to make any defence till
+called upon, and bore it in silence. Barker vowed eternal
+vengeance, and the very day after, had seized Owen with the avowed
+intention of "half murdering him." But before he could once strike
+him, Owen said in the most chill tone, "Barker, if you touch me, I
+shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands." The bully well knew that Owen
+never broke his word, but he could not govern his rage, and first
+giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash him without
+limit or remorse.</p>
+<p>Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr.
+Rowlands' door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed
+at his temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a
+regular <i>Deus ex machin&acirc;.</i> That afternoon, again Barker
+was publicly caned, with the threat that the next offence would be
+followed by instant and public expulsion. This punishment he
+particularly dreaded, because he was intended for the army, and he
+well knew that it might ruin his prospects. The consequence was,
+that Owen never suffered from him again, although he daily received
+a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed over with silent
+contempt.</p>
+<p>My dear boy-reader, don't suppose that I want you to imitate
+Owen in this matter. I despise a boy who "tells" as much as you do,
+and it is a far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such
+a mixture of spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But
+Owen was a peculiar boy, and remember he had <i>no</i> redress. He
+bore for a time, until he felt that he <i>must</i> have the justice
+and defence, without which it would have been impossible for him to
+continue at Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>But why, you ask, didn't he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at
+Roslyn the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a
+school of 250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had
+no prerogative of authority. They hadn't the least right to
+interfere, because no such power had been delegated to them, and
+therefore they felt themselves merely on a par with the rest,
+except for such eminence as their intellectual superiority gave
+them. The consequence was, that any interference from them would
+have been of a simply individual nature, and was exerted very
+rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to tell a sixth-form
+boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a favorite, he
+was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.</p>
+<p>All this had happened before Eric's time, and he heard it from
+his best friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became
+friends at once by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of
+each at the other's face prepared the friendship, and every day of
+acquaintance more firmly cemented it. Eric could not have had a
+better friend; not so clever as himself, not so diligent as Owen,
+not so athletic as Duncan, or so fascinating as Montagu, Russell
+combined the best qualities of them all. And, above all, he acted
+invariably from the highest principle; he presented that noblest of
+all noble spectacles--one so rare that many think it
+impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy boy,
+who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.</p>
+<p>"Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?" said
+Eric, one day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Russell; "I slept in his dormitory when I first
+came, and he has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself
+on my knees at night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a
+little quiet time to cry like a child."</p>
+<p>"And when was it he left off at last?"</p>
+<p>"Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond
+of me; he heard of it, though I didn't say anything about it, and
+told Barker that if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him
+within an inch of his life; and that frightened him for one thing.
+Besides, Duncan, Montagu, and other friends of mine began to cut
+him in consequence, so he thought it best to leave off."</p>
+<p>"How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do
+it?"</p>
+<p>"You see, Williams," said Russell, "Barker is an enormously
+strong fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look
+up to him as a great hero. And there isn't one in our part of the
+school who can thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you
+know--at least not often. I remember once seeing a street-row in
+London, at which twenty people stood by, and let a drunken beast of
+a husband strike his wife without ever stirring to defend her."</p>
+<p>"Well," sighed Eric, "I hope my day of deliverance will come
+soon, for I can't stand it much longer, and 'tell' I won't,
+whatever Owen may do."</p>
+<p>Eric's deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys
+were playing at different games in the green playground, and he was
+waiting for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up,
+and calmly snatching off Eric's cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands'
+garden wall. "There, go and fetch that."</p>
+<p>"You blackguard!" said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few
+minutes; and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall.
+It was not very high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get
+over it under any circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not
+without trepidation. However, he dropped down on one of Mrs.
+Rowlands' flower-beds, and got his cap in a hurry, and clambered
+back undiscovered.</p>
+<p>He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day;
+but Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric,
+and calling out, "Who'll have a game at football?" again snatched
+the cap, and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every
+time he came up Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it
+into a puddle.</p>
+<p>Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened
+scorn and indignation. "You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,"--here
+Barker seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the
+head, but blind with passion Eric went on--"you despicable bully, I
+won't touch that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan,
+Russell, here! do help me against this intolerable brute."</p>
+<p>Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who
+besides was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric
+unmercifully.</p>
+<p>"Leave him alone," shouted Duncan, "or by heaven I'll get you a
+sound thrashing from some fellow."</p>
+<p>"I won't; mind your own business," growled Barker, shaking
+himself free from Duncan's hand.</p>
+<p>"Barker, I'll never speak to you again from this day," said
+Montagu, turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.</p>
+<p>"What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too," was the
+reply, and some more kicks at Eric followed.</p>
+<p>"Barker, I won't stand this any longer," said Russell; and
+seizing him by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the
+face.</p>
+<p>The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the
+turf nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell's
+turn came, and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had
+tripped him up, when he found himself collared in an iron
+grasp.</p>
+<p>There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in
+the person of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that
+now griped Barker's shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys,
+who all knew his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently
+stood a quiet and pleased observer of their games. The boys in the
+playground came crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to
+escape. Mr. Williams held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, "I
+have just seen you treat one of your schoolfellows with the
+grossest violence. It makes me blush for you, Roslyn Boys," he
+continued, turning to the group that surrounded him, "that you can
+stand by unmoved, and see such things done. You know that you
+despise any one who tells a master, yet you allow this bullying to
+go on, and that, too, without any provocation. Now, mark; it makes
+no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I would have
+punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall punish
+him now." With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most
+satisfactory castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared
+that Dr. Rowlands' "swishings" were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw
+that the offender was a tough subject, and determined that he
+should not soon forget the punishment he then received. He had
+never heard from Eric how this boy had been treating him, but he
+had heard it from Russell, and now he had seen one of the worst
+specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore belabored him till
+his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy, and promises
+never so to offend again.</p>
+<p>At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a "phew" of
+disgust, and said, "I give nothing for your word; but if ever you
+do bully in this way again, and I see or hear of it, your present
+punishment shall be a trifle to what I shall then administer. At
+present, thank me for not informing your master." So saying, he
+made Barker pick up the cap, and, turning away, walked home with
+Eric leaning on his arm.</p>
+<p>Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace he could;
+but it certainly didn't mend matters when he heard numbers of
+fellows, even little boys, say openly, "I'm so glad; serves you
+right."</p>
+<p>From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence
+from Barker or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the
+mind of the baffled tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there
+are subtler means of making an enemy wretched than striking or
+kicking him.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CRIBBING</h3>
+<blockquote>"Et nos ergo manum ferulæ subduximus."--Juv. i.
+15.</blockquote>
+<p>It must not be thought that Eric's year as a home boarder was
+made up of dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a
+dark side, and Eric enjoyed it "to the finger-tips." School-life,
+like all other life, is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its
+joys may be more childish, its sorrows more trifling than those of
+after years;--but they are more keenly felt.</p>
+<p>And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all
+idealise and idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant
+purple in the distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its
+blue far-off hills, we forget how steep we sometimes found
+them.</p>
+<p>After Barker's discomfiture, which took place some three weeks
+after his arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got
+liked by it more and more. This might have been easily foreseen,
+for he was the type of a thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial
+and honorable characteristics, and his round of acquaintances daily
+increased. Among others, a few of the sixth, who were also
+day-scholars, began to notice and walk home with him. He looked on
+them as great heroes, and their condescension much increased his
+dignity both in his own estimation and that of his equals.</p>
+<p>Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate
+acquaintances to spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This
+was a pleasure much coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams
+without loving her, and they felt themselves humanised by the
+friendly interest of a lady who reminded every boy of his own
+mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and active child of nine, was a
+great pet among them, so that every one liked Eric who "knew him at
+home." A boy generally shows his best side at home; the softening
+shadows of a mother's tender influence play over him, and tone down
+the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu, and Owen were
+special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams felt truly
+glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the whole,
+so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he
+won so much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not
+surprised when Eric confided to her one day that he loved Russell
+almost as well as be loved Vernon.</p>
+<p>As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively
+interest in the half-year's prizes, and Eric was particularly eager
+about them. He had improved wonderfully, and as both his father and
+mother prevented him from being idle, even had he been so inclined,
+he had soon shown that he was one of the best in the form. Two
+prizes were given, half-yearly to each remove; one for "marks"
+indicating the boy who had generally been highest throughout the
+half year, and the other for the test proofs of proficiency in a
+special examination. It was commonly thought in the form that Owen
+would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other; and
+towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition
+was of course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the
+delight which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and
+still more to his own family.</p>
+<p>During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which,
+while it increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he
+thought) his chance of success. The fourth form were learning a
+Homer lesson, and Barker, totally unable to do it by his own
+resources, was trying to borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual
+disgust, still sat next to him in school, and would have helped him
+if he had chosen to ask; but he never did choose, nor did Eric care
+to volunteer. The consequence was, that unless he could borrow a
+crib, he was invariably turned, and he was now particularly anxious
+to get one, because the time was nearly up.</p>
+<p>There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who
+had "cribs" to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious
+<i>bonhommie,</i> lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom
+were only too glad to avail themselves of the help, except the few
+at the top of the form, who found it a slovenly way of learning the
+lesson, which was sure to get them into worse difficulties than an
+honest attempt to master the meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat
+at the farther end of the form in front, so Barker scribbled in the
+fly-leaf of his book, "Please send us your Homer crib," and got the
+book passed on to Llewellyn, who immediately shoved his crib in
+Barker's direction. The only danger of the transaction being
+noticed, was when the book was being handed from one bench to
+another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got into
+trouble more than once.</p>
+<p>On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in
+front, handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and
+Eric, very naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped
+the book under his own Homer.</p>
+<p>"Williams, what are you doing?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing, Sir," said Eric, looking up innocently.</p>
+<p>"Bring me that book under your Homer."</p>
+<p>Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took
+up the book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on
+the ground, and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust,
+took it up with the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was
+a titter round the room.</p>
+<p>"Silence," thundered the master; "this is no matter for
+laughing. So, sir, <i>this</i> is the way you get up to the top of
+the form?"</p>
+<p>"I wasn't using it, sir," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your
+Homer."</p>
+<p>"It isn't mine, sir."</p>
+<p>"Then whose is it?" Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of
+course no name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write
+one's name in a translation.</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>"Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you," said Mr.
+Gordon. "Of course I am <i>bound</i> to believe you, but the
+circumstances are very suspicious. You had no business with such a
+book at all. Hold out your hand."</p>
+<p>As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for
+him in this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but
+(very rightly) he thought it unmanly to clamor about being
+punished, and he felt nettled at Mr. Gordon's merely official
+belief of his word. He knew that he had his faults, but certainly
+want of honor was not among them. Indeed, there were only three
+boys out of the twenty in the form, who did not resort to modes of
+unfairness far worse than the use of cribs, and those three were
+Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even Montagu, inured to it
+by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson off a concealed
+book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They would have
+been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to
+its meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the
+master treated them with implicit confidence, and being
+scrupulously honorable himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was
+therefore extremely indignant at this apparent discovery of an
+attempt to overreach him in a boy so promising and so much of a
+favorite as Eric Williams.</p>
+<p>"Hold out your hand," he repeated.</p>
+<p>Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He
+could bear the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the
+disgrace; he, a boy at the head of his form, to be caned in this
+way by a man who didn't understand him, and unjustly too! He
+mustered up an indifferent air, closed his lips tight, and
+determined to give no further signs. The defiance of his look made
+Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in succession five hard cuts on
+either hand, each one of which, was more excruciating than the
+last.</p>
+<p>"Now, go to your seat."</p>
+<p>Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and
+he walked in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master
+really grieve at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he
+instantly became a hero with the form, who unanimously called him a
+great brick for not telling, and admired him immensely for bearing
+up without crying under so severe a punishment. The punishment
+<i>was</i> most severe, and for some weeks after there were dark
+weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use of his
+hands painful.</p>
+<p>"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how
+very plucky of you not to cry."</p>
+<blockquote>"Vengeance deep brooding o'er the <i>cane</i>,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Had locked the source of softer woe;<br>
+And burning pride, and high disdain,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"</blockquote>
+<p>said Eric, with a smile.</p>
+<p>But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was
+telling his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of
+passionate tears, mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr.
+Gordon for his injustice.</p>
+<p>"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you
+never get a punishment <i>justly</i>, and I shall always be as
+proud of you as I am now. And don't cherish this resentment, my
+boy; it will only do you harm. Try to forgive and forget."</p>
+<p>"But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a
+favorite of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me.
+It is a great shame that he shouldn't believe my word. I don't mind
+the pain; but I shan't like him any more, and I'm sure, now, I
+shan't get the examination prize."</p>
+<p>"You don't mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality
+in the matter?"</p>
+<p>"No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won't
+<i>intend</i> to be. But it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a
+master, and I know I shan't work so well."</p>
+<p>On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a
+misfortune. Although he had nothing particular for which to blame
+himself, yet the affair had increased his pride, while it lowered
+his self-respect; and he had an indistinct consciousness that the
+popularity in his form would do him as much harm as the change of
+feeling in his master. He grew careless and dispirited, nor was it
+till in the very heat of the final competition, that he felt his
+energies fully revived.</p>
+<p>Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other
+half were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was
+much hindered by Barker's unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in
+which many of the boys "cribbed" from books, and from each other,
+or used torn leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on
+their wristbands, and on their nails. He saw how easily much of
+this might have been prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his
+work, and had not yet learnt the practical lesson, that to trust
+young boys to any great extent, is really to increase their
+temptations. He <i>did</i> learn the lesson afterwards, and then
+almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by increased
+vigilance, and partly by forbidding <i>any</i> book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much
+evil had been done by the habitual abuse of his former
+confidence.</p>
+<p>I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day
+before the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the
+great school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the
+result. But Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when
+this was usually done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the
+news.</p>
+<p>He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of
+steps he took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and
+devising every sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard
+hasty steps, and Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with
+haste, and bright with excitement.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah! old fellow," he cried, seizing both Eric's hands; "I
+never felt so glad in my life;" and he shook his friend's arms up
+and down, laughing joyously.</p>
+<p>"Well! tell me," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales," "you've got head remove you
+see, in spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and
+I congratulate you with all my heart."</p>
+<p>"No?" said Eric, "have I really?--you're not joking? Oh!
+hurrah!--I must rush in and tell them;" and he bounded off.</p>
+<p>In a second he was back at Russell's side. "What a selfish
+animal I am! Where are you placed, Russell?"</p>
+<p>"Oh! magnificent; I'm third;--far higher than I expected."</p>
+<p>"I'm so glad," said Eric. "Come in with me and tell them. I'm
+head remove, mother," he shouted, springing into the parlor where
+his father and mother sat.</p>
+<p>In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood
+by for the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to
+tell them that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in
+his eye.</p>
+<p>"Poor boy! I'm afraid you're disappointed," said Mrs. Williams
+kindly, drawing him to her side.</p>
+<p>"Oh no, no! it's not <i>that</i>," said Russell, hastily, as he
+lifted his swimming eyes towards her face.</p>
+<p>"Are you hurt, Russell?" asked Eric, surprised.</p>
+<p>"Oh! no; don't ask me; I am only foolish to-day;" and with a
+burst of sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams' neck. She
+folded him to her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs
+would let him speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, "It is but
+a year since I became an orphan."</p>
+<p>"Dearest child," she said, "look on me as a mother; I love you
+very dearly for your own sake as well as Eric's."</p>
+<p>Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend
+the rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all
+his usual sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a
+stroll down the bay, and talked over the term and the
+examination.</p>
+<p>They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched
+the tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory
+of evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet
+happiness, not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the
+next day.</p>
+<p>At last Eric broke the silence. "Russell, let me always call you
+Edwin, and call me Eric."</p>
+<p>"Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy." And
+the two boys squeezed each other's hands, and looked into each
+other's faces, and silently promised that they would be loving
+friends for ever.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE SECOND TERM</h3>
+<blockquote>"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our
+vines; for our<br>
+vines have tender grapes."--CANT. ii. 15.</blockquote>
+<p>The second term at school is generally the great test of the
+strength of a boy's principles and resolutions. During the first
+term the novelty, the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments,
+the respect for authorities, the desire to measure himself with his
+companions--all tend to keep him right and diligent. But many of
+these incentives are removed after the first brush of novelty, and
+many a lad who has given good promise at first, turns out, after a
+short probation, idle, or vicious, or indifferent.</p>
+<p>But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On
+the contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the
+prestige of having been head boy; and as he still continued under
+Mr. Gordon, he really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct
+towards him, and recover, if possible, his lost esteem.</p>
+<p>His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud
+of it, and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully
+sharing his feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of
+school life than his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart
+lest "he should follow a multitude to do evil."</p>
+<p>The "cribbing," which had astonished and pained Eric at first,
+was more flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a
+chronic form. In all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to
+write out in a large hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and
+dexterously pin it to the front of Mr. Gordon's desk. There any boy
+who chose could read it off with little danger of detection, and,
+as before, the only boys who refused to avail themselves of this
+trickery were Eric, Russell, and Owen.</p>
+<p>Eric did <i>not</i> yield to it; never once did he suffer his
+eyes to glance at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But
+although this was the case, he never spoke against the practice to
+the other boys, even when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would
+laugh when any one told him how he had escaped "skewing"
+(<i>i.e.</i> being turned) by reading it off; and he even went so
+far as to allow them to suppose that he wouldn't himself object to
+take advantage of the master's unsuspicious confidence.</p>
+<p>"I say, Williams," said Duncan, one morning as they strolled
+into the school-yard, "do you know your Rep.?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, "not very well; I haven't given more than ten
+minutes to it."</p>
+<p>"Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets?
+Russel and Montagu have taken the court."</p>
+<p>"But I shall skew."</p>
+<p>"Oh no, you needn't, you know. I'll take care to pin it up on
+the desk near you."</p>
+<p>"Well, I don't much care. At any rate I'll chance it." And off
+the boys ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the
+last quarter of an hour before school-time in learning his lesson.
+Russell and he stood the other two, and they were very well
+matched. They had finished two splendid games, and each side had
+been victorious in turn, when Duncan, in the highest spirits,
+shouted, "Now, Russell, for the conqueror."</p>
+<p>"Get some one else in my place," said Russell; "I don't know my
+Rep., and must cut and learn it."</p>
+<p>"O bother the Rep.," said Montagu; "somebody's sure to write it
+out in school, and old Gordon'll never see."</p>
+<p>"You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that."</p>
+<p>"O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you're quite right; I only
+wish I was as good."</p>
+<p>"What a capital fellow he is," continued Montagu, leaning on his
+racquet and looking after him, as Russell left the court; "but I
+say, Williams, you're not going too, are you?"</p>
+<p>"I think I must, I don't know half my lesson."</p>
+<p>"O no! don't go; there's Llewellyn; he'll take Russell's place,
+and we <i>must</i> have the conquering game."</p>
+<p>Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into
+school, hot, vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as
+Russell strolled in, whispering, "I've had lots of time to get up
+the Horace, and know it pat."</p>
+<p>Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should
+have plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But
+another temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham
+whispered, "Williams, it's your turn to write out the Horace; I did
+last time, you know."</p>
+<p>Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general
+cheating. Everybody seemed to assume now that <i>he</i> at any rate
+didn't think much of it, and he had never claimed his real right up
+to that time of asserting his innocence. But this was a step
+further than he had ever gone before. He drew back--</p>
+<p>"My <i>turn</i>, what do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by
+turns."</p>
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?"</p>
+<p>"Of course not; you wouldn't expect the saints to be guilty of
+such a thing, would you?"</p>
+<p>"I'd rather not, Graham," he said, getting very red.</p>
+<p>"Well, that <i>is</i> cowardly," answered Graham, angrily; "then
+I suppose I must do it myself."</p>
+<p>"Here, I'll do it," said Eric suddenly; "shy us the paper."</p>
+<p>His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.</p>
+<p>"There," he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; "I've
+written it, and I'll have nothing more to do with it."</p>
+<p>Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the
+paper, succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk.
+Eric had never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and
+firmly believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it
+badly on purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so
+Eric be got once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of
+apprehension, and when put on, was totally unable to say a word of
+his Rep. But low as he had fallen, he would not cheat like the
+rest; he kept his eyes resolutely turned away from the guilty
+paper, and even refused to repeat the words which were prompted in
+his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon, after waiting a
+moment, said--</p>
+<p>"Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can't have looked at
+it. Go to the bottom and write it out five times."</p>
+<p>"<i>Write it out</i>" thought Eric; "this is retribution, I
+suppose;" and covered with shame and vexation, he took his place
+below the malicious Barker at the bottom of the form.</p>
+<p>It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and
+Mr. Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was
+this done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the
+room began to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet
+pinned in front of the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little
+pattering crepitation. In alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out
+the pin, and immediately the paper floated gracefully over
+Russell's head, as he sat at the top of the form, and, after one or
+two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre of the room.</p>
+<p>"Bring me that piece of paper," said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.</p>
+<p>Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously
+around.</p>
+<p>"Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper."</p>
+<p>A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full
+minute in his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust,
+and rising anger struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly
+turned full on Eric, whose writing he recognized, and broke
+out,</p>
+<p>"So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not
+have thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have
+lost my confidence forever. I <i>despise</i> you."</p>
+<p>"Indeed, Sir," said the penitent Eric, "I never meant--"</p>
+<p>"Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall
+report you to Dr. Rowlands."</p>
+<p>The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next,
+and the next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan,
+Barker, all hopeless failures; only two boys had said it
+right--Russell and Owen.</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon's face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised
+pain which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. "False-hearted, dishonorable boys," he exclaimed,
+"henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole
+form, except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every
+half-holiday; not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took
+you for gentlemen. I was mistaken. Go." And so saying, he waved
+them to their seats with imperious disdain.</p>
+<p>They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed,
+kept twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his
+eyes, and even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted
+treachery; the rest were silent and miserable.</p>
+<p>At twelve o'clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr.
+Gordon; they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were
+full of very different feelings.</p>
+<p>Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.</p>
+<p>"You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to
+me. Go--I have nothing to say to you!"</p>
+<p>"But, sir, I want to tell you that--"</p>
+<p>"Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of
+this. Go, I tell you."</p>
+<p>Eric's passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground,
+and burst out, "I <i>will</i> speak, sir; you have been unjust to
+me for a long time, but I will <i>not</i> be--"</p>
+<p>Mr. Gordon's cane fell sharply across the boy's back; he
+stopped, glared for a moment; and then saying:</p>
+<p>"Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike
+before you hear me," he angrily left the room, and slammed the door
+violently behind him.</p>
+<p>Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment,
+Russell stood by him.</p>
+<p>"Well, my boy," said the master, softening in a moment, and
+laying his hand gently on Russell's head, "what have you to say?
+You cannot tell how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has
+caused me, to find that <i>you</i> at least are uncontaminated. But
+I <i>knew</i>, Edwin, that I could trust you."</p>
+<p>"O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams." Mr. Gordon's
+brow darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted
+vehemently, "Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the
+<i>second</i> time that he has wilfully deceived me; and this time
+he has involved others too in his base deceit."</p>
+<p>"Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can't think how he came to write
+the paper, but I <i>know</i> that he did not and would not use it.
+Didn't you see yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another
+way when he broke down."</p>
+<p>"It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him," said Mr. Gordon
+coldly, "but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave
+me; I feel very sad, and must have time to think over this
+disgraceful affair."</p>
+<p>Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up
+and down, the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the
+library.</p>
+<p>"O Eric," he said, "how came you to write that paper?"</p>
+<p>"Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have
+explained it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such
+a shame; I don't feel now as if I cared one bit."</p>
+<p>"I am sorry you don't get on with him; but remember you have
+given him in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric,
+I know, but I can't help being sorry that you wrote the paper."</p>
+<p>"But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly
+because I refused at first."</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric," said Russell, "they will ask you to do worse things
+if you yield so easily. I wouldn't say anything to Dr. Rowlands
+about it, if I were you."</p>
+<p>Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He
+gave his father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence,
+and that afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and
+explanation to Mr. Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon
+said, in his most freezing tones, "Williams, at present I shall
+take no further notice of your offence beyond including you in the
+extra lesson every half-holiday."</p>
+<p>From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and
+suspected, and the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He
+grew more careless in work, and more trifling and indifferent in
+manner. Several boys now beat him whom he had easily surpassed
+before, and his energies were for a time entirely directed to
+keeping that supremacy in the games which he had won by his
+activity and strength.</p>
+<p>It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term,
+and the boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or
+lying on the banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little
+knot of his chief friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on
+the grass. At last the bell of the school chapel began to ring, and
+they went in to the afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan
+and Llewellyn, immediately behind the benches allotted to chance
+visitors. The bench in front of them happened on this afternoon to
+be occupied by some rather odd people, viz., an old man with long
+white hair, and two ladies remarkably stout, who were dressed with
+much juvenility, although past middle age. Their appearance
+immediately attracted notice, and no sooner had they taken their
+seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter. The ladies'
+bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves and
+flowers, just peered over the top of the boys' pew, and excited
+much amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the
+solemnity of the place, and the sacred act in which they were
+engaged. He tried to look away, and attend to the service, and for
+a time he partially succeeded, although, seated as he was between
+the two triflers, who were perpetually telegraphing to each other
+their jokes, he found it a difficult task, and secretly he began to
+be much tickled.</p>
+<p>At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned
+a grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first
+hop took it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the
+shoulder of the stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered
+louder, and even Eric could not resist a smile. But when the lady,
+feeling some irritation on her shoulder, raised her hand, and the
+grasshopper took a frightened leap into the centre of the green
+foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none of the three could stand
+it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which they tried in vain
+to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming their
+handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by
+her uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover
+the cause of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At
+last all three began to laugh so violently that several heads were
+turned in their direction, and Dr. Rowlands' stern eye caught sight
+of their levity. He stopped short in his sermon, and for one
+instant transfixed them with his indignant glance. Quiet was
+instantly restored, and alarm reduced them to the most perfect
+order, although the grasshopper still sat imperturbable among the
+artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had discovered that
+for some unknown reason she had been causing considerable
+amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule, looked
+round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.</p>
+<p>Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to
+rise, and after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be
+seated. Eric's heart sank within him.</p>
+<p>"Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!" said the Doctor.
+The boys, with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before
+him.</p>
+<p>"I was sorry to notice," said he, "your shameful conduct in
+chapel yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were
+making yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal
+defects of others. The lessons you receive here must be futile
+indeed, if they do not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and
+courtesy to man. It gives me special pain, Williams, to have
+observed that you, too, a boy high in your remove, were guilty of
+this most culpable levity. You will all come to me at twelve
+o'clock in the library."</p>
+<p>At twelve o'clock they each received a flogging. The pain
+inflicted was not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into
+similar trouble before, cared very little for it, and went out
+laughing to tell the number of swishes they had received, to a
+little crowd of boys who were lingering outside the library door.
+But not so Eric. It was his <i>first</i> flogging, and he felt it
+deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was intolerable. At that
+moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon, he hated his
+schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the thought
+haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the
+knot of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground,
+angry and impenitent.</p>
+<p>At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune;
+he was ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious
+of him, and jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him
+by without notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to
+him and took his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his
+late disgrace would have made Eric flame out into passion; but
+Russell was too kind to allude to it then. He talked as if nothing
+had happened, and tried to turn his friend's thoughts to more
+pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated his kindness, but he was still
+sullen and fretful, and it was not until they parted that his
+better feelings won the day. But when Russell said to him "Good
+bye, Eric," it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin's hand, he
+wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.</p>
+<p>"Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends
+were like you, I should never get into these troubles."</p>
+<p>"Nay, Eric," said Russell, "you may be far better than I. You
+have far batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice."</p>
+<p>They parted by Mr. Williams' door, and Russell walked home sad
+and thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother's greeting,
+rushed up to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed
+like a child at the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not
+refreshing tears; he felt something hard at his heart, and, as he
+prayed neither for help nor forgiveness, it was pride and
+rebellion, not penitence, that made him miserable.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AFFECTIONS</h3>
+<blockquote>"Keep the spell of home affection.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Still alive in every heart;<br>
+May its power, with mild direction,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Draw our love from self apart,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till thy children<br>
+Feel that thou their Father art."<br>
+<br>
+SCHOOL HYMN.</blockquote>
+<p>"I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric," said
+little Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning
+school; "I wish you would come and look at them."</p>
+<p>"O, I can't come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with
+some fellows directly."</p>
+<p>"But it won't take you a minute; do come."</p>
+<p>"What a little bore you are. Where are the things?"</p>
+<p>"O, never mind, Eric, if you don't want to look at them," said
+Vernon, hurt at his brother's rough manner.</p>
+<p>"First you ask me to look, and then say 'never mind,'" said Eric
+impatiently; "here, show me them."</p>
+<p>The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.</p>
+<p>"Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket."</p>
+<p>Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.</p>
+<p>"You aren't so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be."</p>
+<p>"What nonsense! and all because I don't admire those nasty
+red-jelly things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any
+day. What a little goose you are, Vernon!"</p>
+<p>Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with
+a sigh, when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.</p>
+<p>"Well, Verny," he said, "have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you've got
+one of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky
+little chap you are!"</p>
+<p>Vernon was delighted.</p>
+<p>"Mind you take care of them," said Russell. "Where did you find
+them?"</p>
+<p>"I have been down the shore getting them."</p>
+<p>"And have you had a pleasant morning?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by
+myself, and Eric never comes with me now."</p>
+<p>"Naughty Eric," said Russell, playfully. "Never mind, Verny; you
+and I will cut him, and go by ourselves."</p>
+<p>Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of
+Russel's unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy,
+struck him. He threw his arms round his brother's neck, and said,
+"We will both go with you, Verny, next half holiday."</p>
+<p>"O, thank you, Eric," said his brother; and the two schoolboys
+ran out. But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with
+the promise of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his
+promise, and left Russell to amuse his little brother, while he
+went off, as usual, to the playground.</p>
+<p>There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them
+up deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the
+gradual but steady falling off in Eric's character, and the first
+thing she noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When
+they first came to Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his
+father and mother in their walks; but now he went seldom or never;
+and even if he did go, he seemed ashamed, while with them, to meet
+any of his schoolfellows. The spirit of false independence was
+awake and growing in her darling son. The bright afternoons they
+had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking for sea-flowers
+among the lonely rocks of the neighboring headlands,--the walks at
+evening and sunset among the hills, and the sweet counsel they had
+together, when the boy's character opened like a flower in the
+light and warmth of his mother's love,--the long twilights when he
+would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees, and
+her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were
+becoming to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.</p>
+<p>It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so
+because they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps
+for ever. The time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June,
+and Mr. Williams' term of furlough ended in two months. The
+holidays at Roslyn were the months of July and August, and towards
+their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams intended to leave Vernon at
+Fairholm, and start for India--sending back Eric by himself as a
+boarder in Dr. Rowlands' house.</p>
+<p>After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run
+straight down to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it
+was. They stripped off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined
+the beach, and then running along the sands, would swim out far
+into the bay till their heads looked like small dots glancing in
+the sunshine. This year Eric had learned to swim, and he enjoyed
+the bathing more than any other pleasure.</p>
+<p>One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse
+themselves on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on
+the sands by the ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two
+boys found great fun in hunting audacious little crabs, or catching
+the shrimps that shuffled about in the shallow water. At last Eric
+picked up a piece of wood which he found lying on the beach, and
+said, "What do you say to coming crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of
+stick will do capitally to thrust between the rocks in the holes
+where they lie?"</p>
+<p>Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to
+seek a likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but
+in the excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of
+time.</p>
+<p>The Williams', for the boys' convenience, usually dined at one,
+but on this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however,
+he didn't appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was
+accidentally detained, and expecting him to come in every minute.
+But two o'clock came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric;
+three, but still no Eric. Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed,
+and even her husband grew uneasy.</p>
+<p>Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing
+Duncan pass by, ran down to ask him, "If he knew where Eric
+was?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Duncan; "last time I saw him was on the shore. We
+bathed together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when
+I dressed. But I hav'n't seen him since. If you like we'll go and
+look for him. I daresay he's on the beach somewhere."</p>
+<p>But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned
+with this intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required
+all her husband's firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits.
+There was enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to
+ask the boys who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the
+answer always was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs,
+suddenly noticed by the sun that it was getting late.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious, Edwin," said Eric, pulling out his watch, "it's
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened
+they'll be at home;" and running back as fast as they could, they
+reached the house at five o'clock, and rushed into the room.</p>
+<p>"Eric, Eric," said Mrs. Williams faintly, "where have you been?
+has anything happened to you, my child?"</p>
+<p>"No, mother, nothing. I've only been crabfishing with Russell,
+and we forgot the time."</p>
+<p>"Thoughtless boy," said his father, "your mother has been in an
+agony about you."</p>
+<p>Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in
+her arms, and mother and son wept in a long embrace. "Only two
+months," whispered Mrs. Williams, "and we shall leave you, dear
+boy, perhaps forever. O do not forget your love for us in the midst
+of new companions."</p>
+<p>The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only
+instead of first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to
+sit among the crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his
+parents were disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously
+mortified. But he had full confidence in his own powers, and made
+the strongest resolutions to work hard the next half-year, when he
+had got out of "that Gordon's" clutches.</p>
+<p>The Williams' spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed,
+in the prospect of losing them, Eric's feelings to his parents came
+out in all their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the
+father and mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all
+their deep affection, were employed in leaving on the boy's heart
+lasting impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that
+their love would encircle him for ever with its heavenly
+tenderness, and their pure prayers rise for him night and day to
+the throne of God.</p>
+<p>The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it
+was. In the wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon
+seemed to hear the sound of everlasting farewells. It is God's
+mercy that ordains how seldom young hearts have to endure such
+misery.</p>
+<p>At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away;
+and during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their
+dear boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so
+Eric. He sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking
+the stillness every now and then with his convulsive sobs.</p>
+<p>"O Aunty," he cried, "do you think I shall ever see them again?
+I have been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love.
+O, I wish I had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them."</p>
+<p>"Yes, dearest," said Mrs. Trevor, "I have no doubt we shall all
+meet again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you
+know, and that will not seem very long. And then they will be
+writing continually to us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how
+gladdened their hearts will be to hear that you and Vernon are good
+boys, and getting on well."</p>
+<p>"O, I <i>will</i> be a better boy, I <i>will</i> indeed," said
+Eric; "I mean to do great things, and they shall have nothing but
+good reports of me."</p>
+<p>"God helping you, dear," said his aunt, pushing back his hair
+from his forehead, and kissing it softly; "without his help, Eric,
+we are all weak indeed."</p>
+<p>She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she
+known the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from
+human eyes!</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC A BOARDER</h3>
+<blockquote>"We were, fair queen,<br>
+Two lads that thought there was no more behind,<br>
+But such a day to-morrow as to-day,<br>
+And to be boy eternal."--WINTER'S TALE, i. 2.</blockquote>
+<p>The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm,
+and Eric was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands'
+house.</p>
+<p>As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the
+well-known faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Williams! here you are at last," said Duncan, seizing
+his hand. "How have you enjoyed the holidays? It's so jolly to see
+you again."</p>
+<p>"So you're coming as a boarder," said Montagu, "and to our noble
+house, too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and
+let's watch whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we
+shall be starting in a few minutes."</p>
+<p>"Ha! there's Russell," said Eric, springing to the gangway, and
+warmly shaking his friend's hand as he came on board.</p>
+<p>"Have your father and mother gone, Eric?" said Russell, after a
+few minutes' talk.</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing
+his eyes. "They are on their way back to India."</p>
+<p>"I'm so sorry," said Russell; "I don't think anyone has ever
+been so kind to me as they were."</p>
+<p>"And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last
+thing, that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave
+me something for you." Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a
+little box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It
+contained a pretty silver watch, and inside the case was
+engraved--"Edwin Russell, from the mother of his friend Eric."</p>
+<p>The boy's eyes glistened with joyful surprise. "How good they
+are," he said; "I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we
+get to Roslyn."</p>
+<p>They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as
+a new comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands' drawing-room,
+where the head master was sitting with his wife and children. His
+greeting was dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying "good
+night," he gave Eric a few plain words of affectionate advice.</p>
+<p>At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life
+and spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the
+flush and flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in
+another minute entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands'
+boarders assembled, and where most of them lived, except the few
+privileged sixth form, and other boys who had "studies." A cheer
+greeted his entrance into the room. By this time most of the
+Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to have him among their
+number. They knew that he was clever enough to get them credit in
+the school, and, what was better still, that he would be a capital
+accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except Barker,
+there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.</p>
+<p>The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one
+end was a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys
+round the great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy
+could seldom get. The large windows opened on the green playground;
+and iron bars prevented any exit through them. This large room,
+called "the boarders' room," was the joint habitation of Eric and
+some thirty other boys; and at one side ran a range of shelves and
+drawers, where they kept their books and private property. There
+the younger Rowlandites breakfasted, dined, had tea, and, for the
+most part, lived. Here, too, they had to get through all such work
+as was not performed under direct supervision. How many and what
+varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb walls any
+feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy's name, as it was rudely cut on the
+oak panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen
+him, the good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there
+suffered--what <i>noble</i> histories would the records unfold of
+honor and success, of baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs;
+what <i>awful</i> histories of hopes blighted and habits learned,
+of wasted talents and ruined lives!</p>
+<p>The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven
+the boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by
+breakfast. At nine they went into school, where they continued,
+with little interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and,
+except on half-holidays, went into school again from two till five.
+The lock-up bell rang at dusk; at six o'clock they had tea--which
+was a repetition of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever
+else they liked--and immediately after sat down to "preparation,"
+which lasted from seven till nine. During this time one of the
+masters was always in the room, who allowed them to read amusing
+books, or employ themselves in any other quiet way they liked, as
+soon as ever they had learnt their lessons for the following day.
+At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read prayers, after which the boys
+were dismissed to bed.</p>
+<p>The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a
+suite of rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other;
+six on each side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between
+them, so that, when all the doors were open, you could see from one
+end of the whole range to the other. The only advantage of this
+arrangement was, that one master walking up and down could keep all
+the boys in order while they were getting into bed. About a quarter
+of an hour was allowed for this process, and then the master went
+along the rooms putting out the lights. A few of the "study-boys"
+were allowed to sit up till ten, and their bedrooms were elsewhere.
+The consequence was, that in these dormitories the boys felt
+perfectly secure from any interruption. There were only two ways by
+which a master could get at them; one up the great staircase, and
+through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme end of the
+range, which led into Dr. Rowlands' house, but was generally kept
+locked.</p>
+<p>In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their
+order in the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there
+were nearly sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric's
+arrival, collected in the boarders' room, the rest being in their
+studies, or in the classrooms which some were allowed to use in
+order to prevent too great a crowd in the room below.</p>
+<p>At nine o'clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the
+boarders took their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible
+before him; and when the school servants had also come in, Dr.
+Rowlands read a chapter, and offered up an extempore prayer. While
+reading, he generally interspersed a few pointed remarks or graphic
+explanations, and Eric learnt much in this simple way. The prayer,
+though short, was always well suited to the occasion, and
+calculated to carry with it the attention of the worshippers.</p>
+<p>Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and
+Eric found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the
+lavatory, occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys
+named Bull and Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were
+all tired with their voyage, and the excitement of coming back to
+school, so that they did not talk much that night, and before long
+Eric was fast asleep, dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should
+have a very happy life at Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no
+end of distinctions, and make no end of new friends.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"TAKING UP"</h3>
+<blockquote>"We are not worst at once; the course of evil<br>
+Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,<br>
+An infant's hand might stop the breach with clay;<br>
+But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--<br>
+Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain<br>
+To stem the headlong current!"--ANON.</blockquote>
+<p>With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when
+the new school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the
+"Shell," as the form was called which intervened between the fourth
+and the fifth. Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes
+with him, but his other friends were left for the present in the
+form below.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast
+with Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor
+so vigorous in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not
+catch fire from him so much as from the fourth-form master. But he
+was a far truer and deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous
+a sense of honor, and detestation of every form of moral obliquity,
+he never yielded to those storms of passionate indignation which
+Mr. Gordon found it impossible to control. Disappointed in early
+life, subjected to the deepest and most painful trials, Mr. Rose's
+fine character had come out like gold from the flame. He now lived
+in and for the boys alone, and his whole life was one long
+self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt this,
+and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he
+neither expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for
+his self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and
+self-sacrificing love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were
+instrumental in saving one of his charge from evil, or turning one
+wanderer from the error of his ways.</p>
+<p>He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself,
+but lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in
+Dr. Rowlands' house.</p>
+<p>Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy
+was sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears,
+and given him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon
+happily undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much
+kindness, and he felt that, however bad he had been before, he
+would now have an opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin
+again a career of hope. He worked admirably at first, and even
+beat, for the first week or two, his old competitors, Owen and
+Russell.</p>
+<p>From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few
+could look at the boy's bright blue eyes and noble face without
+doing so, and the more when they knew that his father and mother
+were thousands of miles away, leaving him alone in the midst of so
+many dangers. Often the master asked him, and Russell, and Owen,
+and Montagu, to supper with him in the library, which gave them the
+privilege of sitting up later than usual, and enjoying a more quiet
+and pleasant evening than was possible in the noisy rooms. Boys and
+master were soon quite at home with each other, and in this way Mr.
+Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a useful warning without
+the formality of regular discipline or stereotyped instruction.</p>
+<p>Eric found the life of the "boarders' room" far rougher than he
+had expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the
+hours of preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often
+dull enough. Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular
+indoor boys' game like "baste the bear," or "high-cockolorum;" or
+they would have amusing "ghost-hunts," as they called them, after
+some dressed-up boy among the dark corridors and staircases. This
+was good enough fun, but at other times they got tired of games,
+and could not get them up, and then numbers of boys felt the idle
+time hang heavy on their hands. When this was the case, some of the
+worse sort, as might have been expected, would fill up their
+leisure with bullying or mischief.</p>
+<p>For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and
+annoyed Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal
+tables were placed two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks,
+and this was the only light the boys had. Of course, these candles
+often, wanted snuffing, and as snuffers were sure to be thrown
+about and broken as soon as they were brought into the room, the
+only resource was to snuff them with the fingers, at which all the
+boys became great adepts from necessity. One evening Barker, having
+snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the smouldering wick
+unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive fellow named
+Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright's perceiving it, and at
+last Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--</p>
+<p>"I see a chimney," and laughed.</p>
+<p>Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room
+had noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who
+unconsciously wrote on at the letter he was sending home.</p>
+<p>Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker
+again, said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell
+said quietly, "There's something on your head, Wright," and the
+little boy putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid
+wick.</p>
+<p>"What a shame!" he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a
+smudge.</p>
+<p>"Who told you to interfere?" said Barker, turning fiercely to
+Russell. Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him,
+and Barker, after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on
+another boy. This time Russell thought that every one might be on
+the look out for himself, and so went on with his work. But when
+Barker again chanted maliciously--</p>
+<p>"I see a chimney," every boy who happened to be reading or
+writing, uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the
+victim or no; and so things continued for half an hour.</p>
+<p>Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when
+constantly repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any
+quiet work without constant danger of having some one creep up
+behind him and put the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his
+head; and neither Barker nor any of his little gang of imitators
+seemed disposed to give up their low mischief.</p>
+<p>One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure,
+from seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one
+had been treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his
+head, and sure enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was
+furious, and springing up, he shouted--</p>
+<p>"By Jove! I <i>won't</i> stand this any longer."</p>
+<p>"You'll have to sit it then," said Barker.</p>
+<p>"O, it was <i>you</i> who did it, was it? Then take that;" and,
+seizing one of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker's
+head. Barker dodged, but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it
+whizzed by, and the blood flowed fast.</p>
+<p>"I'll kill you for that," said Barker, leaping at Eric, and
+seizing him by the hair.</p>
+<p>"You'll get killed yourself then, you brute," said Upton,
+Russell's cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the
+room--and he boxed his ears as a premonitory admonition. "But, I
+say, young un," continued he to Eric, "this kind of thing won't do,
+you snow. You'll get into rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows'
+heads at that rate."</p>
+<p>"He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by
+his filthy tricks," said Eric hotly; "some one must stop him, and I
+will somehow, if no one else does."</p>
+<p>"It wasn't I who put the thing on your head, you passionate
+young fool," growled Barker.</p>
+<p>"Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it."</p>
+<p>"You shut up, Barker," said Upton; "I've heard of your ways
+before, and when I catch you at your tricks, I'll teach you a
+lesson. Come up to my study, Williams, if you like."</p>
+<p>Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in
+the school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and
+often interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised
+him, and did anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do
+no harm, but he did great harm. He was full of misdirected
+impulses, and had a great notion of being manly, which he thought
+consisted in a fearless disregard of all school rules, and the
+performance of the wildest tricks. For this reason he was never
+very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked very much, but
+who was too scrupulous and independent to please him. Eric, on the
+other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to admire him
+in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready pupil in
+all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his
+example went to undermine all Eric's lingering good resolutions,
+and ruin for ever the boy of whom he was so fond.</p>
+<p>From this time Eric was much in Upton's study, and constantly by
+his side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and
+position in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their
+friendship was broken every now and then by little quarrels, which
+united them all the more closely after they had not spoken to each
+other perhaps for a week.</p>
+<p>"Your cousin Upton has 'taken up' Williams," said Montagu to
+Russell one afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the
+beach, with Eric's arm in Upton's.</p>
+<p>"Yes, I am sorry for it."</p>
+<p>"So am I. We shan't see so much of him now."</p>
+<p>"O, that's not my only reason," answered Russell, who had a rare
+habit of always going straight to the point.</p>
+<p>"You mean you don't like the 'taking-up' system."</p>
+<p>"No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used
+to fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in
+the school, and that the two would stand to each other in the
+relation of knight to squire. You know what the young knights were
+taught, Monty--to keep their bodies under, and bring them into
+subjection; to love God, and speak the truth always. That sounds
+very grand and noble to me. But when a big fellow takes up a little
+one <i>you</i> know pretty well that <i>those</i> are not the kind
+of lessons he teaches."</p>
+<p>"No, Russell; you're quite right. It's bad for a fellow in every
+way. First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence;
+then ten to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character
+from really coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally
+gets paid out in kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of
+the rest; and if his protector happens to leave, or anything of
+that kind, woe betide him!"</p>
+<p>"No fear for Eric in that line, though," said Russell; "he can
+hold his own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a
+most jolly fellow. I don't think even Upton will spoil him; it's
+chiefly the soft self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no
+iron, who get spoilt by being 'taken up.'"</p>
+<p>Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from
+Upton, and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he
+was too manly a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to
+sink into the effeminate condition which usually grows on the young
+delectables who have the misfortune to be "taken up."</p>
+<p>Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A
+coolness grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a
+little mutual contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did
+nothing but grind all day long, and had no geniality in him; while
+Owen pitied the love of popularity which so often led Eric into
+delinquencies, which he himself despised. Owen had, indeed, but few
+friends in the school; the only boy who knew him well enough to
+respect and like him thoroughly was Russell, who found in him the
+only one who took the same high, ground with himself. But Russell
+loved the good in every one, and was loved by all in return, and
+Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over his
+increasing failures.</p>
+<p>One day as the two were walking together in the green
+playground, Mr. Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their
+caps, he nodded and smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly
+noticed, and did not return Eric's salute. He had begun to dislike
+the latter more and more, and had given him up altogether as one of
+the reprobates.</p>
+<p>"What a surly devil that is," said Eric, when he had passed;
+"did you see how he purposely cut me?"</p>
+<p>"A surly ...? Oh Eric, that's the first time I ever heard you
+swear."</p>
+<p>Eric blushed. He hadn't meant the word to slip out in Russell's
+hearing, though similar expressions were common enough in his talk
+with other boys. But he didn't like to be reproved, even by
+Russell, and in the ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--</p>
+<p>"Pooh, Edwin, you don't call that swearing, do you? You're so
+strict, so religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there
+are none like you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here."</p>
+<p>Russell was silent.</p>
+<p>"Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was
+thinking the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the
+only two fellows here who don't swear."</p>
+<p>Russell still said nothing.</p>
+<p>"And, after all, I didn't swear; I only called that fellow a
+surly devil."</p>
+<p>"O, hush! Eric, hush!" said Russell sadly. "You wouldn't have
+said so half-a-year ago."</p>
+<p>Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose
+before him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home,
+thinking of him, praying for him, centring all their hopes in him.
+In him!--and he knew how many things he was daily doing and saying,
+which would cut them to the heart. He knew that all his moral
+consciousness was fast vanishing, and leaving him a bad and
+reckless boy.</p>
+<p>In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how
+shocked he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became
+too familiar to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the
+habit himself. Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite
+a graceful sound in his ears; a sound of entire freedom and
+independence of moral restraint; an open casting off, as it were,
+of all authority, so that he had begun to admire it, particularly
+in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero, Upton; and he
+recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out suddenly
+in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how Upton
+smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and
+gradually grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded
+him that he was doing wrong.</p>
+<p>He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with
+him for a moment, but at length he answered, "O Edwin, I fear I am
+getting utterly bad; I wish I were more like you," he added, in a
+low sad tone.</p>
+<p>"Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am
+myself; but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to
+all the bad things round us. Remember, I know more of school than
+you."</p>
+<p>The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his
+bedside, and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"</h3>
+<blockquote>"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark
+night." PROV. vii. 9.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was
+half-past nine. It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing
+with turbulent life, should lie down quietly, and get to sleep.
+They never dreamt of doing so. Very soon after the masters were
+gone, the sconces were often relighted, sometimes in separate
+dormitories, sometimes in all of them, and the boys amused
+themselves by reading novels or making a row. They would play
+various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over the
+beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers
+off their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well
+wielded, especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very
+efficient instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn't
+hurt very much, even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these
+matches were excellent trials of strength and temper, and were
+generally accompanied with shouts of laughter, never ending until
+one side was driven back to its own room. Many a long and tough
+struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his prowess was so universally
+acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was a match for any other,
+and far stronger in this warfare than most of the rest. At
+bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was
+the only <i>fain&eacute;ant</i> among them, though he did
+occasionally help to keep off the smaller fry.</p>
+<p>Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been
+placed in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn
+school. Backward in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed
+good looks, of mean disposition and feeble intellect, he was the
+very worst specimen of a boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even
+Barker so deeply excited Eric's repulsion and contempt. And yet,
+since the affair of Upton, Barker and Eric were declared enemies,
+and, much to the satisfaction of the latter, never spoke to each
+other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed him--he was
+professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even
+of this worthless boy.</p>
+<p>Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably
+profess to like him "well enough," but if they were honest, they
+would generally end by allowing their contempt.</p>
+<p>"We've got a nice set in No. 7, haven't we?" said Duncan to Eric
+one day.</p>
+<p>"Capital. Old Llewellyn's a stunner, and I like Attlay and
+Graham."</p>
+<p>"Don't you like Bull then?"</p>
+<p>"O yes; pretty well."</p>
+<p>The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the
+confidential augurs, burst out laughing.</p>
+<p>"You know you detest him," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"No, I don't. He never did me any harm that I know of."</p>
+<p>"Him!--well, <i>I</i> detest him."</p>
+<p>"Well!" answered Eric, "on coming to think of it, so do I. And
+yet he is popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is."</p>
+<p>"He's not <i>really</i> popular. I've often noticed that fellows
+pretty generally despise him, yet somehow don't like to say
+so."</p>
+<p>"Why do you dislike him, Duncan?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know. Why do you?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know either."</p>
+<p>Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet
+if they had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found
+out in their secret souls the reasons of their dislike.</p>
+<p>Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often
+bragged as the acm&eacute; of desirability and wickedness. He was
+always telling boys what they did at "his old school," and he quite
+inflamed the minds of such as fell under his influence by
+marvellous tales of the wild and wilful things which he and his
+former school-fellows had done. Many and many a scheme of sin and
+mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and carried out on the
+model of Bull's reminiscences of his previous life.</p>
+<p>He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil
+than any other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the
+general odium was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience
+so often as a ground of superiority, that at last the claim was
+silently allowed. He spoke from the platform of more advanced
+iniquity, and the others listened first curiously, then eagerly to
+his words.</p>
+<p>"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Such was the
+temptation which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and
+Eric among the number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually,
+he dropped into their too willing ears the poison of his polluting
+acquirements.</p>
+<p>In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting
+mind.</p>
+<p>I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry
+over it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a
+true picture of what school life <i>sometimes</i> is, I must not
+pass it by altogether.</p>
+<p>The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No.
+7, he was shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he
+felt himself blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then
+growing pale again, while a hot dew was left upon his forehead.
+Bull was the speaker; but this time there was a silence, and the
+subject instantly dropped. The others felt that "a new boy" was in
+the room; they did not know how he would take it; they were
+unconsciously abashed.</p>
+<p>Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation
+before, they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of
+yielding to it.</p>
+<p>Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation,
+corruption and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the
+scale of your destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak
+out, boy! Tell these fellows that unseemly words wound your
+conscience; tell them that they are ruinous, sinful, damnable;
+speak out and save yourself and the rest. Virtue is strong and
+beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful presence. Lose
+your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel which the
+whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect chrysolite," cannot
+replace.</p>
+<p>Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this
+his hour of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses
+and the fiery chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the
+dark array of spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a
+pitying finger to the yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair
+that even now perhaps is being cleft under his feet. Show him the
+garlands of the present and the past, withering at the touch of the
+Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity show him the canker which
+he is introducing into the sap of the tree of life, which shall
+cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its blossom to go
+up as dust.</p>
+<p>But the sense of sin was on Eric's mind. How <i>could</i> he
+speak? was not his own language sometimes profane? How--how could
+he profess to reprove another boy on the ground of morality, when
+he himself said did things less ruinous perhaps, but equally
+forbidden?</p>
+<p>For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay
+silent. Since Bull's last words nobody had spoken. They were going
+to sleep. It was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment
+passed by for ever; Eric had listened without objection to foul
+words, and the irreparable harm was done.</p>
+<p>How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God
+had provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far
+harder to resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.</p>
+<p>Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the
+destinies of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day,
+the hour a common hour. We never thought twice about the change of
+intention, which by one of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life
+determined for good or for evil, for happiness or misery, the color
+of our remaining years. The stroke of the pen was done in a moment
+which led unconsciously to our ruin; the word was uttered quite
+heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision of our weal or
+woe.</p>
+<p>Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of
+an angel's wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an
+angel's voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments
+which passed, until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell
+asleep.</p>
+<p>Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once
+remembered what had passed. Bull's words haunted him; he could not
+forget them; they burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever.
+He was moody and petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his
+aversion to Bull. Ah Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you,
+but prayerfulness would; one word, Eric, at the throne of
+grace--one prayer before you go down among the boys, that God in
+his mercy would wash away, in the blood of his dear Son, your
+crimson stains, and keep your conscience and memory clean.</p>
+<p>The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a
+few formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have
+given way to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard
+Bull's footstep, and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast;
+so Eric did not pray.</p>
+<p>Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory
+No. 7. On the contrary, they generally flashed along in the
+liveliest way, till some one said "Good night;" and then the boys
+turned off to sleep. Eric knew this, and instantly conjectured that
+it was only a sort of respect for him, and ignorance of the manner
+in which he would consider it, that prevented Duncan and the rest
+from taking any further notice of Bull's remark. It was therefore
+no good disburdening his mind to any of them; but he determined to
+speak about the matter to Russell in their next walk.</p>
+<p>They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had
+discontinued the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys
+taking their exercise under a master's inspection. Boys are not
+generally fond of constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays
+they almost entirely confined their open-air exercise to the
+regular games, and many of them hardly left the play-ground
+boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they often went walks, each
+with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric first came as a
+boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and many a
+pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even
+this intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more
+often gone with his new friend Upton.</p>
+<p>"Come a walk, boy," said Upton, as they left the
+dining-room.</p>
+<p>"O excuse me to-day, Upton," said Eric, "I'm going with your
+cousin."</p>
+<p>"Oh <i>very</i> well," said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping
+to make Eric jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had
+"taken up" before he knew Williams.</p>
+<p>Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said,
+"Come a stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?"</p>
+<p>"O yes," said Russell cheerfully; "why, we haven't seen each
+other for some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant
+to drop me, Eric."</p>
+<p>He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his
+head, for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all
+the school, and especially at his friendship with so leading a
+fellow as Upton, Eric had <i>not</i> seen much of his friend since
+their last conversation about swearing. Indeed, conscious of
+failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in Russell's company.</p>
+<p>He faltered, and answered humbly, "I hope you will never drop
+<i>me</i>, Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to
+speak to you to-day."</p>
+<p>In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric's, as they
+turned towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just
+going to begin, when they heard Montagu's voice calling after
+them--</p>
+<p>"I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with
+you?"</p>
+<p>"O yes, Monty, do," said Russell, "It will be quite like old
+times; now that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to
+sing 'When shall we three meet again?'"</p>
+<p>Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words
+jarred in Eric's heart. He was silent, and answered in
+monosyllables, so the walk was provokingly dull. At last they
+reached Fort Island, and sat down by the ruined chapel looking on
+the sea.</p>
+<p>"Why what's the row with you, old boy," said Montagu, playfully
+shaking Eric by the shoulder, "you're as silent as Zimmerman on
+Solitude, and as doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you've
+been going through a select course of Blair's Grave, Young's Night
+Thoughts, and Drelincourt on Death."</p>
+<p>To his surprise Eric's head was still bent, and, at last, he
+heard a deep suppressed sigh.</p>
+<p>"My dear child, what is the matter with you?" said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, "surely you're not offended at my
+nonsense?"</p>
+<p>Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he
+gulped down his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull's
+vile words the night before. They listened in silence.</p>
+<p>"I knew it must come, Eric," said Russell at last, "and I am so
+sorry you didn't speak at the time."</p>
+<p>"Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your
+dormitories?" asked Eric.</p>
+<p>"No," said Russell.</p>
+<p>"Very little," said Montagu.</p>
+<p>A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and
+looked away.</p>
+<p>"Let me tell you," said Russell solemnly; "my father (he is dead
+now you know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this
+kind of thing. I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such
+coarse knowledge as is forced upon one here, and with my
+reminiscences of home, I could not bear even that much of it which
+was impossible to avoid. But the very first time such talk was
+begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said I don't know, but I
+felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous adder, and, at any
+rate, I showed such pain and distress that the fellows dropped it
+at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to stay in the
+room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I do think
+the fellows are very glad of it themselves."</p>
+<p>"Well," said Montagu, "I don't profess to look on it from the
+religious ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in
+bad taste, and said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick
+me for a conceited little fool, but he didn't; and they hardly ever
+venture on that ground now."</p>
+<p>"It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly," answered Russell;
+"my father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become
+rife in a public school."</p>
+<p>"Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these
+matters?" asked Eric thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>"In sermons they do. Don't you remember Rowlands' sermon not two
+weeks ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite
+right not to speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we
+invite confidence. Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in
+this way. After all, it is only a very few of the worst who ever
+do."</p>
+<p>They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off
+performing the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private
+request to Bull to abstain from his offensive communications, and
+an endeavor to enlist Duncan into his wishes.</p>
+<p>One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7.
+Bull's turn came, and in his story the vile element again appeared.
+For a while Eric said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he
+made a faint remonstrance.</p>
+<p>"Shut up there, Williams," said Attlay, "and don't spoil the
+story."</p>
+<p>"Very well. It's your own fault, and I shall shut my ears."</p>
+<p>He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended
+to be asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly
+new to him; his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned
+indifference, and the poison flowed deep into his veins. Before
+that evening was over, Eric Williams was "a god, knowing good from
+evil."</p>
+<p>O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and
+beware. The knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it
+hell. That little matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like
+the snowflake detached by the breath of air from the mountain-top,
+which, as it rushes down, gains size, and strength, and impetus,
+till it has swollen to the mighty and irresistible avalanche that
+overwhelms garden, and field, and village, in a chaos of
+undistinguishable death.</p>
+<p>Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished
+there! Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother's
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very
+pale their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young
+brothers who have sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod,
+from foreign graves and English churchyards, they start up and
+throng around us in the paleness of their fall. May every schoolboy
+who reads this page be warned by the waving of their wasted hands,
+from that burning marle of passion, where they found nothing but
+shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an early grave.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>DORMITORY LIFE</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux
+herebennae.]<br>
+HOM.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last
+chapter, Upton and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at
+Eric's declining the honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at
+Upton's unreasonableness. In the "taking up" system, such quarrels
+were of frequent occurrence, and as the existence of a
+misunderstanding was generally indicated in this very public way,
+the variations of good will between such friends generally excited
+no little notice and amusement among the other boys. But both Upton
+and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so far as
+others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the other's
+company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than
+ever.</p>
+<p>As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his
+study door, and which ran as follows:--</p>
+<p>"Dear Horace--Don't let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow,
+why should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a
+walk with Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as
+you? I shall expect you to make it up directly after
+prayers.--Yours, if you are not silly, E.W."</p>
+<p>The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton
+seized Eric's hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they
+had a good laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs
+chattering merrily.</p>
+<p>"There's to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight," said
+Eric; "the doctor's gone to a dinner-party, and we're going to have
+no end of fun."</p>
+<p>"Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell
+me, I'll come and look on."</p>
+<p>"Very well; depend upon it, I'll come." And they parted at the
+foot of the study stairs.</p>
+<p>It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down
+the range of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into
+bed, and then he put out all the candles. So long as he was
+present, the boys observed the utmost quiet and decorum. All
+continued quite orderly until he had passed away through the
+lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a scout, had seen
+the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the corner at the
+foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door close
+behind him.</p>
+<p>After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys
+knew that they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No.
+7 were the first to stir.</p>
+<p>"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of
+initiative pitching his pillow at Eric's head.</p>
+<p>"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing;
+"but give us a match, first."</p>
+<p>Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted
+their candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be
+thrown open, and one after another all requested a light, which
+Duncan and Eric conveyed to them in a sort of emulous
+lampadephoria, so that a length all the twelve dormitories had
+their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts of amusement, some
+in their night-shirts and others with their trousers slipped on.
+Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last Graham
+suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.</p>
+<p>"But we're making a regular knock-me-down shindy," said
+Llewellyn; "somebody must keep cav&egrave;."</p>
+<p>"O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no
+fear of disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami," answered
+Graham.</p>
+<p>But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the
+top of the stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that
+direction, and little Wright consented to go first. He had only to
+leave the lavatory door open; and stand at the top of the
+staircase, and he then commanded for a great distance the only
+avenue in which danger was expected. If any master's candle
+appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes' warning, and
+a single loudly-whispered "cave" would cause some one in each
+dormitory instantly to "douse the glim," and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary's arrival, they would all be (of
+course) fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming
+manner. Whatever noise the master might have heard, it would be
+impossible to fix it on any of the sleepers.</p>
+<p>So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and
+shivering in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and
+not unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest
+were getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso,
+arranging a stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and
+dressing up the actors in the most fantastic apparel.</p>
+<p>The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at
+the end Wright ran in through the lavatory.</p>
+<p>"I say," said the little fellow, "it's jolly cold standing at
+the top of the stairs. Won't some one relieve guard?"</p>
+<p>"O, I will," answered Eric, good-naturedly; "it's a shame that
+one fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;" and he
+ran to take Wright's post.</p>
+<p>After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no
+danger, and therefore ran up to Upton's study for a change.</p>
+<p>"Well, what's up?" said the study-boy, approvingly, as he
+glanced at Eric's laughing eyes.</p>
+<p>"O, we've been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But
+I'm keeping 'cav&egrave;' now; only it's so cold that I thought I'd
+run up to your study."</p>
+<p>"Little traitor; we'll shoot you for a deserting sentinel."</p>
+<p>"O no;" said Eric, "it's all serene; Rowley's out, and dear old
+Rose'd never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of
+Morpheus. Besides the fellows are making less row now."</p>
+<p>"Well! look here! let's go and look on, and I'll tell you a
+dodge; put one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of
+the lavatory, and then if any one comes he'll make clang enough to
+wake dead; and while he's amusing himself with this, there'll be
+lots of time to 'extinguish the superfluous abundance of the
+nocturnal illuminators.' Eh?"</p>
+<p>"Capital!" said Eric, "come along."</p>
+<p>They went down and arranged the signal very artistically,
+leaving the iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the
+large tin basin on its edge, so as to lean against it. Having
+extremely enjoyed this part of the proceeding, they went to look at
+the theatricals again, the boys being highly delighted at Upton's
+appearance among them.</p>
+<p>They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant
+reminiscences of Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and
+mustachios to make him resemble Banquo, his costume being completed
+by a girdle round his nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson
+silk handkerchief, richly broidered with gold, which had been
+brought to him from India, and which at first, in the innocence of
+his heart, he used to wear on Sundays, until he acquired the
+sobriquet of "the Dragon." Duncan made a superb Macbeth.</p>
+<p>They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in
+a most novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the
+room, on one side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife,
+the handle end of which he was pushing through a hole in the middle
+of the sheet at the shadow of Duncan on the other side.</p>
+<p>Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama,
+was spouting--</p>
+<blockquote>"Is this a dagger which I see before me?<br>
+The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;"</blockquote>
+<p>And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded
+knife; but as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was
+immediately withdrawn, and the blade end substituted, which made
+the comic Macbeth instantly draw back again, and recommence his
+apostrophe. This scene had tickled the audience immensely, and
+Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just drawing the somewhat
+unwarrantable conclusion that it was</p>
+<blockquote>"A dagger of the mind, a false creation,"</blockquote>
+<p>when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced
+a dead silence.</p>
+<p>"Cav&egrave;," shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his
+bed. Instantly there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet
+was torn down, the candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and
+the dormitories at once plunged in profound silence, only broken by
+the heavy breathing of sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or
+any of the under masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!</p>
+<p>He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory
+doors were wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain
+lay torn on the floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms
+were in the strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still
+smouldered in several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the
+extraordinary way in which the bed clothes were huddled about told
+an unmistakeable tale.</p>
+<p>He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No.
+8, he heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton's
+figure vanishing into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the
+study stairs.</p>
+<p>He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories,
+again stopping at No. 7 on his return.</p>
+<p>He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly
+fixed on him as a chief culprit.</p>
+<p>"Duncan!"</p>
+<p>No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan's bed.</p>
+<p>"Duncan!" he said, still louder and more sternly, "you sleep
+soundly, sir, too soundly; get up directly," and he laid his hand
+on the boy's arm.</p>
+<p>"Get away, you old donkey," said Duncan sleepily; "'t, aint time
+to get up yet. First bell hasn't rung."</p>
+<p>"Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;"
+but the imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great
+yawn, and then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing
+Dr. Rowlands, that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from
+over his bed-clothes, burst into an irresistible explosion of
+laughter.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--"What! Williams! get out
+of bed, sir, this instant."</p>
+<p>Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he
+stood on the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and
+corked cheeks, with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense
+astonishment, that the scene became overpoweringly ludicrous to
+Duncan, who now in his turn was convulsed with a storm of laughter,
+faintly echoed in stifled titterings from other beds.</p>
+<p>"<i>Very</i> good," said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry,
+"you will hear of this to-morrow;" and he walked away with a heavy
+step, stopping at the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its
+proper place, and then mounting to the studies.</p>
+<p>Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he
+knocked at one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their
+occupants at once to the library.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they
+heard the doctor's retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark
+to No. 7, not daring to relight their candles.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious!" said Attlay, "only to think of Rowley
+appearing! How could he have twigged?"</p>
+<p>"He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home,"
+said Eric.</p>
+<p>"I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a
+rage the Doctor will be in to-morrow?"</p>
+<p>"Won't you just catch it!" said Barker to Duncan, but intending
+the remark for Eric.</p>
+<p>"Just like your mean chaff," retorted Duncan. "But I say,
+Williams," he continued, laughing, "you <i>did</i> look so funny in
+the whiskers."</p>
+<p>At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down
+stairs to the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their
+different rooms.</p>
+<p>"What do you think he'll do to us?" asked Eric.</p>
+<p>"I don't know," said Duncan uneasily; "flog us, for one thing,
+that's certain. I'm so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it's no
+good fretting. We've had our cake, and now we must pay for it,
+that's all."</p>
+<p>Eric's cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened,
+and somebody stole noiselessly in.</p>
+<p>"Who's there?"</p>
+<p>"Upton. I've come to have a chat. The Doctor's like a
+turkey-cock in sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a
+rage."</p>
+<p>"Why, what's he been saying?" asked Eric, as Upton came and took
+a seat on his bed.</p>
+<p>"Oh! he's been rowing us like six o'clock," said Upton, "about
+'moral responsibility,' 'abetting the follies of children,'
+'forgetting our position in the school,' and I don't know what all;
+and he ended by asking who'd been in the dormitories. Of course I
+confessed the soft impeachment, whereon he snorted 'Ha! I suspected
+so. Very well, Sir, you don't know how to use a study; you shall be
+deprived of it till the end of term.'"</p>
+<p>"Did he really, Horace?" said Eric. "And it's all my doing that
+you've got into the scrape. Do forgive me."</p>
+<p>"Bosh! My dear fellow," said Upton, "it's twice as much my fault
+as yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It's rather a
+bore losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all
+the more of each other. Good night; I must be off."</p>
+<p>Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said
+to the boys, "Stop! I have a word to say to you."</p>
+<p>"I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories
+yesterday evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden
+hours, and the noise made was so great that it was heard through
+the whole building. I am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for
+a few hours, without your taking such advantage of my absence; and
+that the upper boys, so far from using their influence to prevent
+these infractions of discipline, seem inclined rather to join in
+them themselves. On this occasion I have punished Upton, by
+depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and as I myself
+detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the library
+at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by
+the dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron
+door. The consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and
+<i>might</i> have been seriously injured in entering the lavatory.
+I must know the name of the delinquent."</p>
+<p>Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked
+surprised, and there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr.
+Rose's face.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said the Doctor, "I shall speak to you both
+privately."</p>
+<p>Twelve o'clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe
+caning. Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for
+some dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He
+burned, not with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent
+indignation, and listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr.
+Rowlands' warnings. When the flogging was over, he almost rushed
+out of the room, to choke in solitude his sense of humiliation, nor
+would he suffer any one for an instant to allude to his disgrace.
+Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton was doing him no good; but he
+passionately resented the suggestion, and determined, with
+obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the boy whom he
+had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.</p>
+<p>Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the
+friendships of boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been
+warned against his new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the
+fact that Mr. So-and-so doesn't like seeing them together, and
+after that they fancy themselves bound in honor to show that they
+are not afraid of continuing their connection. It was not strange,
+therefore, that Eric and Upton were thrown more than ever into each
+other's society, and consequently, that Eric, while he improved
+daily in strength, activity, and prowess, neglected more and more
+his school duties and honorable ambitions.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character
+and abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness
+and unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One
+night he sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During
+the evening he drew out Eric's exercise, and compared it with,
+those of Russell and Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him
+in marks. Eric's was careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two
+were neat, spirited, and painstaking, and had, therefore, been
+marked much higher.</p>
+<p>"Your exercises <i>used</i> to be far better--I may say
+incomparably better," said Mr. Rose; "what is the cause of this
+falling off?"</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. "I fear, my boy, you
+have not been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and
+are letting boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in
+ability. That is a very bad <i>sign</i>, Eric; in itself it is a
+discouraging fact, but I fear it indicates worse evils. You are
+wasting the golden hours, my boy, that can never return. I only
+hope and trust that no other change for the worse is going on in
+your character."</p>
+<p>And so he talked on till the boy's sorrow was undisguised.
+"Come," he said gently, "let us kneel down together before we
+part."</p>
+<p>Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full
+heart, the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child
+beside him. Eric's heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and
+he loved him as a brother. He rose from his knees full of the
+strongest resolutions, and earnestly promised amendment for the
+future.</p>
+<p>But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time,
+indeed, there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on
+with its usual allurements, and when the hours of temptation came,
+his good intentions melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the
+prayer, and the vows that followed it, had been obliterated from
+his memory without leaving any traces in his life.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC IN COVENTRY</h3>
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And
+either greet him not<br>
+Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more<br>
+Than if not looked on."--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the
+smaller class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those
+boys who were too high in the school for "the boarders' room," and
+who were waiting to succeed to the studies as they fell vacant.
+There were three or four others with him in this class-room, and
+although it was less pleasant than his old quarters, it was yet far
+more comfortable than the Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form
+boys.</p>
+<p>As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the
+class-rooms except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however,
+was very generally overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an
+opportunity to escape from the company of Barker and his
+associates, became a constant frequenter of his friend's new abode.
+Here they used to make themselves very comfortable. Joining the
+rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and amuse themselves
+over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a green or
+yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest: and
+Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him
+unmolested; but if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice
+him, he invariably turned him out, and after the first offence or
+two, had several times set him an imposition. This treatment gave
+fresh intensity to his now deeply-seated disgust at his late
+master, and his expressions of indignation at "Gordon's spite" were
+loud and frequent.</p>
+<p>One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one
+there but Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the
+window, with Upton's arm resting kindly on Eric's shoulder as they
+watched with admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that
+flashed over the sea. Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid
+phrase [Greek: an&ecirc;rithmon gelasma ponti&ocirc;n], which he
+had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that morning, and they
+were trying which would hit on the best rendering of it. Eric stuck
+up for the literal sublimity of "the innumerable laughter of the
+sea," while Upton was trying to win him over to "the many-twinkling
+smile of ocean." They were enjoying the discussion, and each
+stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.</p>
+<p>On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial
+dislike of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that
+the younger had grown more than usually conceited and neglectful,
+since he had been under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in
+Eric's presence there, a new case of wilful disobedience.</p>
+<p>"Williams, here <i>again!</i>" he exclaimed sharply. "Why, sir,
+you seem to suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How
+often have I told you that no one is allowed to sit here, except
+the regular occupants?"</p>
+<p>His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant
+discussion.</p>
+<p>"No other master takes any notice of it, sir," said Upton.</p>
+<p>"I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will
+bring me the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for
+your repeated disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish
+you also, for tempting him to come here."</p>
+<p>This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon's part, of which Upton took
+immediate advantage.</p>
+<p>"I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides,"
+he continued, with annoying blandness of tone, "it would be
+inhospitable; and I am too glad of his company."</p>
+<p>Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. "Williams, leave the room
+instantly."</p>
+<p>The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. "Mr. Rose never interferes
+with me, when he sees me here," he said as he retreated.</p>
+<p>"Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit
+and impertinence are getting intolerable."</p>
+<p>Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton
+joined him on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a
+little ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground
+together. He went away full of strong contempt, and from that
+moment began to look on the friends as two of the worst boys in the
+school.</p>
+<p>This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a
+half-holiday, and instead of being able to join in any of the
+games, Eric had to spend that weary afternoon in writing away at
+the fourth Georgic; Upton staying in a part of the time to help him
+a little, by dictating the lines to him--an occupation not
+unfrequently interrupted by storms of furious denunciation against
+Mr. Gordon's injustice and tyranny; Eric vowing "that he would pay
+him out somehow yet."</p>
+<p>The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again
+consumed some of the next day's leisure, part of it being written
+between schools in the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite
+finished on Friday afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric
+stayed a few minutes behind the rest to scribble off the last ten
+lines; which done, he banged down the lid of his desk, not locking
+it, and ran out.</p>
+<p>The next morning an incident happened which involved
+considerable consequences to some of the actors in my story.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves,
+like Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one
+end of this hall was a board used for the various school notices,
+to which there were always affixed two or three pieces of paper
+containing announcements about examinations and other matters of
+general interest.</p>
+<p>On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the
+boys, as they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a
+new notice on the board, and, thronging round to see what it was,
+read these words, written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by
+wafers to the board--</p>
+<p>"GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL."</p>
+<p>As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took
+them all very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so
+audacious as to play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by
+the entrance of the masters, and they all took their seats, without
+any one tearing down the dangerous paper.</p>
+<p>After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready,
+fell on the paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment
+transfixed with astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>Pointing to the inscription, he said: "I think we had better
+leave that there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has
+seen it. Would you mind asking him to step in here?"</p>
+<p>Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr.
+Gordon while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his
+seat, Montagu, who was next him, whispered--</p>
+<p>"I say, have you seen the notice-board?"</p>
+<p>"No. Why?"</p>
+<p>"Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not
+very favorable."</p>
+<p>"And serve him right, too, brute!" said Eric, smarting with the
+memory of his imposition.</p>
+<p>"Well, there'll be no end of a row; you'll see."</p>
+<p>During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He
+read the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr.
+Rose--"Would you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As
+it would be painful to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better
+explain to him how matters stand."</p>
+<p>"Halloa! here's a rumpus!" whispered Montagu; "he never has the
+lower school down for nothing."</p>
+<p>A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower
+school. When they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there
+was a dead silence and hush of expectation.</p>
+<p>"I have summoned you all together," said the Doctor, "on a most
+serious occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the
+masters found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose
+of writing up an insult to one of our number, which is at once
+coarse and wicked. As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my
+deeply painful duty to inform you of its purport; the words are
+these--'Gordon is a surly devil.'"--A <i>very</i> slight titter
+followed this statement, which was instantly succeeded by a sort of
+thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he heard the words, started
+perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu's eye fixed on
+him.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands continued--"I suppose this dastardly impertinence
+has been perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am
+perfectly amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the
+attempt, and it may be very difficult to discover the author of it.
+But, depend upon it, discover him <i>we will</i>, at whatever cost.
+Whoever the offender may be, and he must be listening to me at this
+moment, let him be assured that he shall <i>not</i> be unpunished.
+His guilty secret shall be torn from him. His punishment can only
+be mitigated by his instantly yielding himself up."</p>
+<p>No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric
+was so uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that
+several eyes were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy
+were awakened.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said the head master, "the guilty boy is not
+inclined to confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up
+to me by to-day week, every indulgence to the school will be
+forfeited, the next whole holiday stopped, and the coming
+cricket-match prohibited."</p>
+<p>"The handwriting may be some clue," suggested Mr. Ready. "Would
+you have any objection to my examining the note-books of the
+Shell?"</p>
+<p>"None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr.
+Ready immediately."</p>
+<p>The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to
+the desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and
+suddenly stopped at one. Eric's heart beat loud, as his saw Mr.
+Rose point towards him.</p>
+<p>"We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles
+that on the board. I give the offender one more chance of
+substituting confession for detection."</p>
+<p>No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.</p>
+<p>"Eric Williams, stand out in the room."</p>
+<p>Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed</p>
+<p>"The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know
+anything of this shameful proceeding?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing, sir," he murmured in a low tone.</p>
+<p>"Nothing whatever?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing whatever, sir."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands' look searched him through and through, and seemed
+to burn into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The
+Doctor felt certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained
+him to the spot with his glance for a minute or two, and then said
+slowly, and with a deep sigh--</p>
+<p>"Very well; I <i>hope</i> you have spoken the truth; but whether
+you have or no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially
+the upper boys, will remember what I have said. I shall now tear
+down the insulting notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as
+head of the school, that you may make further inquiries." He left
+the room, and the boys resumed their usual avocation till twelve
+o'clock. But poor Eric could hardly get through his ordinary
+pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until everybody noticed his
+strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.</p>
+<p>No sooner had twelve o'clock struck, than the whole school broke
+up into knots of buzzing and eager talkers.</p>
+<p>"I wonder who did it," said a dozen voices at once.</p>
+<p>"The writing was undoubtedly Williams'," suggested some.</p>
+<p>"And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor
+spoke to him, and how he hung his head?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon."</p>
+<p>"Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and
+he has been swearing at him ever since."</p>
+<p>"I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night,"
+said Barker.</p>
+<p>"Did he? By Jove, that looks bad."</p>
+<p>"Has any one charged him with it?" asked Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered one of the group: "but he's as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought
+to know him better than to think him capable of such a thing."</p>
+<p>"And quite right, too," said Duncan. "If he did it, he's done
+something totally unlike what one would have believed possible of
+him."</p>
+<p>The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly
+they seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was
+of a violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to
+patronise; and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had
+been attached to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same
+size with some which Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts
+had been discovered, nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very
+generally whispered throughout the school.</p>
+<p>In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys
+proclaimed that he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at
+once, and save the school from the threatened punishment. But he
+listened to such suggestions with the most passionate
+indignation.</p>
+<p>"What!" he said, angrily, "tell a wilful lie to blacken my own
+innocent character? Never!"</p>
+<p>The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put
+into Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and
+maintained his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the
+boys whom he had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous
+in his defence. They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and
+little Wright.</p>
+<p>On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and
+said in a very serious tone, "This is a bad business, Williams. I
+cannot forget how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I
+won't believe you guilty, yet you ought to explain."</p>
+<p>"What? even <i>you</i>, then suspect me?" said Eric, bursting
+into proud tears. "Very well. I shan't condescend to <i>deny</i>
+it. I won't speak to you again till you have repented of
+mistrusting me;" and he resolutely rejected all further overtures
+on Upton's part.</p>
+<p>He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted
+to destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that
+the whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing
+which from his soul he abhorred. "No," he thought, "bad I may be,
+but I <i>could</i> not have done such a base and cowardly
+trick."</p>
+<p>Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to
+the rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the
+rising tide. The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and
+console the tumult of his heart. He drank in strength and defiance
+from the roar of the waters, and climbed to their very edge along
+the rocks, where every fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in
+white swirls of angry loam. The look of the green, rough, hungry
+sea, harmonised with his feelings, and he sat down and stared into
+it, to find relief from the torment of his thoughts.</p>
+<p>At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet
+the crowd of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone
+over his sorrow in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps,
+when he caught sight of Russell in the distance. His first impulse
+was to run away and escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and
+when he came up, said, "Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose
+to tell you that <i>I</i> don't suspect you, and have never done so
+for a moment. I know you too well, my boy, and be sure that
+<i>I</i> will always stick to you, even if the whole school cut
+you."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Edwin, I am <i>so</i> wretched. I needn't tell you that I
+am quite innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected?
+Why, even your cousin Upton won't believe me."</p>
+<p>"But he does, Eric," said Russell; "he told me so just now, and
+several others said the same thing."</p>
+<p>A transient gleam passed over Eric's face.</p>
+<p>"O, I do so long for home again," he said. "Except you, I have
+no friend."</p>
+<p>"Don't say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon
+it, as the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the
+fellows will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions.
+And you <i>have</i> one friend, Eric," he continued, pointing
+reverently upwards.</p>
+<p>Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face
+till the tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat
+silent and pitying beside him, and let Eric's head rest upon his
+shoulder.</p>
+<p>When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One
+was from Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--</p>
+<p>"I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act.
+Believe me, I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and
+confess, and I promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and
+save you."</p>
+<p>This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up
+furiously into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the
+room.</p>
+<p>Another was from Mr. Rose;</p>
+<p>"Dear Eric--I <i>cannot, will</i> not, believe you guilty,
+although appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I
+feel sure that I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too
+noble-minded for a revenge so petty and so mean. Come to me, dear
+boy, if I can help you in any way. I <i>trust you</i>, Eric, and
+will use every endeavor to right you in the general estimation. You
+are innocent; pray to God for help under this cruel trial, and be
+sure that your character will yet be cleared.--Affectionately
+yours, WALTER ROSE."</p>
+<p>"<i>P.S.</i>--I can easily understand that just now you will
+like quiet; come and sit with me in the library as much as you
+like."</p>
+<p>He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and
+at that moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was
+from Owen, as follows:--</p>
+<p>"Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately;
+naturally, perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some
+consolation to you to be told, even by a rival, that I, for one,
+feel certain of your innocence. If you want company, I shall be
+delighted now to walk with you.--Yours truly, D. OWEN."</p>
+<p>This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy's lonely
+and passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at
+once to accept Mr. Rose's kind offer of allowing him to sit for the
+present in the library.</p>
+<p>There were several boys in the room while he was reading his
+notes, but none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to
+notice them, or interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out
+he met Duncan and Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing
+of the rest.</p>
+<p>"Ha! Williams," said Duncan, "we have been looking everywhere
+for you, dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for
+one, and Monty for another, will maintain your innocence before the
+whole school."</p>
+<p>Montagu <i>said</i> nothing, but Eric understood full well the
+trustful kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was
+too full to speak, and he went on towards the library.</p>
+<p>"I wonder at your speaking to that fellow," said Bull, as the
+two new comers joined the group at the fire-place.</p>
+<p>"You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him
+before long," said Montagu warmly; "ay, the whole lot of you; and
+you are very unkind to condemn him before you are certain."</p>
+<p>"I wish you joy of your <i>friend</i>, Duncan," sneered
+Barker.</p>
+<p>"Friend?" said Duncan, firing up; "yes! he is my friend, and I'm
+not ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if <i>all</i>
+the fellows were as honorable as Williams."</p>
+<p>Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush,
+thought it better to say no more.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE TRIAL</h3>
+<blockquote>"A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all." TENNYSON, <i>The
+Princess</i>.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands
+that the perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but
+that one boy was very generally suspected, and on grounds that
+seemed plausible. "I admit," he added, "that from the little I know
+of him he seems to me a very unlikely sort of boy to do it."</p>
+<p>"I think," suggested the Doctor, "that the best way would be for
+you to have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence.
+Do you think that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation
+publicly, with good order and fairness?"</p>
+<p>"I think so, sir," said Avonley.</p>
+<p>"Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by
+themselves in the boarders' room tomorrow afternoon at three, and
+see what you can do among you."</p>
+<p>Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys
+assembled, they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and
+were rather disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they
+determined to have a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly;
+and by general consent he was himself voted into the desk as
+president. He then got up and said--</p>
+<p>"There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all
+the boys take their seats quietly down the room."</p>
+<p>They did so, and Avonley asked, "Is Williams here?"</p>
+<p>Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly
+went to the library to fetch him, and told him what was going on.
+He took Eric's arm kindly as they entered, to show the whole school
+that he was not ashamed of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy
+of his goodwill.</p>
+<p>"Are you willing to be tried, Williams," asked Avonley, "on the
+charge of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of
+course we know very little how these kind of things ought to be
+conducted, but we will see that everything done is open and above
+ground, and try to manage it properly."</p>
+<p>"There is nothing I should like better," said Eric.</p>
+<p>He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet
+conversation with his dearly loved friend and master had assured
+him in the confidence of innocence, and though the color on his
+cheek had through excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he
+looked wonderfully noble and winning as he stood before the boys in
+the centre of the room. His appearance caused a little reaction in
+his favor, and a murmur of applause followed his answer.</p>
+<p>"Good," said Avonley; "who will prosecute on the part of the
+school?"</p>
+<p>There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.</p>
+<p>"Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge
+drops."</p>
+<p>"I will do it," said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys
+at the top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric
+liked the little he had seen of him.</p>
+<p>"Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of
+the sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, glancing round with confidence.</p>
+<p>"Well, now, who will defend the accused?"</p>
+<p>Another pause, and Upton got up.</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, at once. "You were inclined to distrust me,
+Upton, and I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my
+innocence."</p>
+<p>Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got
+up. "I am only a Shell-boy," he said, "but if Eric doesn't mind
+trusting his cause to me, I will defend him, since no other
+fifth-form fellow stirs."</p>
+<p>"Thank you, Russell, <i>I wanted</i> you to offer, I could wish
+no better defender."</p>
+<p>"Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?" asked
+Russell.</p>
+<p>"Very willingly," they all three said, and went to take their
+seats by him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then
+declared themselves ready.</p>
+<p>"All I have got to do," said Gibson, rising, "is to bring before
+the school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the
+evidence which makes it probable that he is the offender. Now,
+first of all, the thing must have been done between Friday evening
+and Saturday morning; and since the school-room door is generally
+locked soon after school, it was probably done in the short
+interval between six and a quarter past. I shall now examine some
+witnesses."</p>
+<p>The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on
+Friday evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few
+minutes, the only boy remaining in it was Williams.</p>
+<p>Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that
+he had met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he
+went at a quarter past six to lock the door.</p>
+<p>Examined by Gibson.--"Was any boy in the room when you did lock
+the door?"</p>
+<p>"No one."</p>
+<p>"Did you meet any one else in the passage?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>Cross-examined by Russell.--"Do boys ever get into the room
+after the door is locked?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"By what means?"</p>
+<p>"Through the side windows."</p>
+<p>"That will do."</p>
+<p>Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the
+room, and on returning, after a few minutes' absence, gave Russell
+a significant nod.</p>
+<p>Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.</p>
+<p>"Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular
+kind of ink?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell."</p>
+<p>"Could you recognise anything written with it?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much
+trouble.</p>
+<p>"Is that the kind of ink?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"Do you know the handwriting on that paper?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it is Williams' hand."</p>
+<p>"How can you tell?"</p>
+<p>"He makes his r's in a curious way."</p>
+<p>"Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers
+before?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk."</p>
+<p>"Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like
+those?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>Cross-examined by Duncan.--"<i>How</i> do you know that Williams
+has wafers like those?"</p>
+<p>"I have seen him use them."</p>
+<p>"For what purpose?"</p>
+<p>"To fasten letters."</p>
+<p>"I can't help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with
+what he does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him
+oftenest, never heard of these wafers. May I ask," he said, "if any
+one else in the school will witness to having seen Williams use
+these wafers?"</p>
+<p>No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been
+changed into uneasiness, sat down.</p>
+<p>Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--"You have seen a good
+deal of Williams?"</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Upton smiling.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?"</p>
+<p>"Often."</p>
+<p>"Of what kind?"</p>
+<p>"Dislike and contempt," said Upton, amidst general laughter.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to
+injure him?"</p>
+<p>"The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition,
+and I heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out."</p>
+<p>This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great
+sensation.</p>
+<p>"When did he say this?"</p>
+<p>"On Friday afternoon."</p>
+<p>Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although,
+being simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed
+nothing that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose
+to cross-examine him.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?"</p>
+<p>"Never."</p>
+<p>"Do you consider him a boy <i>likely</i> to have been guilty on
+this occasion?"</p>
+<p>"Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence."</p>
+<p>The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt
+greatly relieved by it.</p>
+<p>One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the
+great agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in
+the school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible,
+self-contained fellow, said, "I have now done my part. I have shown
+that the accused had a grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the
+occurrence, and had threatened to be revenged on him; that he was
+the last boy in the room during the time when the offence must have
+been committed; that the handwriting is known to resemble his, and
+that the ink and wafers employed were such as he, and he only, was
+known to possess. In addition to all this, his behavior, when the
+matter was first publicly noticed, was exactly such as coincides
+with the supposition of his guilt. I think you will all agree in
+considering these grounds of suspicion very strong; and leaving
+them to carry their full weight with you, I close the case for the
+prosecution."</p>
+<p>The school listened to Gibson's quiet formality with a kind of
+grim and gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were
+probably few but Eric's own immediate friends who were not fully
+convinced of his guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so
+unfavorable an opinion of a companion whom they all admired.</p>
+<p>After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked,
+"Has Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of
+its contents put in as evidence?"</p>
+<p>"Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my
+place in school."</p>
+<p>The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked,
+and Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He
+then began--"In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show
+that Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr.
+Gordon, and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is
+quite true that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that
+the ink and wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that
+the handwriting is not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy
+intending to post up an insult such as this, would do so in a
+manner, and at a time so likely to involve him in immediate
+detection, and certain punishment? At any rate, he would surely
+disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to look at this
+paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the contrary, that
+these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would be the
+case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?" Russell here handed the
+paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.</p>
+<p>"Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because
+Carter himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the
+window; a fact to which we shall have to allude again.</p>
+<p>"We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is
+rather strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since
+neither I, nor any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat
+by him when writing letters, have ever observed that he possessed
+any like them."</p>
+<p>Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill
+at ease on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear
+unconcerned.</p>
+<p>"There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must
+mention. It will explain Williams' agitation when Dr. Rowlands read
+out the words on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am
+indifferent to its appearing to tell against him. I myself once
+heard Williams use the very words written on that paper, and not
+only heard them, but expostulated with him strongly for the use of
+them. I need hardly say how very unlikely it is, that remembering
+this, he should thus publicly draw my suspicions on him, if he
+meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But, besides myself,
+there was another boy who accidentally overheard that expression.
+That boy was Barker.</p>
+<p>"I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least
+ought to go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of
+note-paper, I see that the printer's name on the stamp in the
+corner is 'Graves, York.' Now, I have just found that there is no
+paper at all like this in Williams' desk; all the note-paper it
+contains is marked 'Blakes, Ayrton.'</p>
+<p>"I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams'
+general character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going
+to do this. We think we know the real offender. We have had one
+trial, and now demand another. It is our painful duty to prove
+Williams' innocence by proving another's guilt. That other is a
+known enemy of mine, and of Montagu's, and of Owen's. We therefore
+leave the charge of stating the case against him to Duncan, with
+whom he has never quarrelled."</p>
+<p>Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his
+task with a wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled
+every one with admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.</p>
+<p>The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan,
+after a minute's pause, starting up, said--"Williams has allowed
+his desk to be brought in and examined. Will Barker do the
+same?"</p>
+<p>The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell,
+Duncan, and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk
+to be brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened,
+it was immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was
+identical with that on which the words had been written. At this he
+affected to be perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against
+what he called the meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.</p>
+<p>"And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two,"
+asked Gibson, quietly, "but endeavoring to fix the charge on
+another?"</p>
+<p>"We have stronger evidence against you," said Duncan,
+confronting him with an undaunted look, before which his insolence
+quailed. "Russell, will you call Graham?"</p>
+<p>Graham was called, and put on his honor.</p>
+<p>"You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side
+window?"</p>
+<p>"I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing
+nothing in the sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to
+the school-room by the window, which he left open. I was looking on
+simply from curiosity, and saw him search Williams' desk, from
+which he took out something, I could not make out what. He then
+went to his own place, and wrote for about ten minutes, after which
+I observed him go up and stand by the notice board. When he had
+done this he got out by the window again, and ran off."</p>
+<p>"Didn't this strike you as extraordinary?"</p>
+<p>"No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in
+the sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had
+seen, and it wasn't till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I
+thought it worth while to make it generally known."</p>
+<p>Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and
+silent), and then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket,
+put them together, and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the
+fragments of paper, he asked, "Have you ever seen these
+before?"</p>
+<p>"Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed
+behind to think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced
+that Williams was <i>not</i> guilty, spite of appearances. I was
+standing by the empty fire-place, when these bits of paper caught
+my eye. I picked them up, and, after a great deal of trouble,
+fitted them together. They are covered apparently with failures in
+an attempt at forgery, viz., first, 'Gordon is a sur--' and then a
+stop, as though the writer were dissatisfied, and several of the
+words written over again for practice, and then a number of r's
+made in the way that Williams makes them."</p>
+<p>"There you may stop," said Barker, stamping fiercely; "I did it
+all."</p>
+<p>A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this
+announcement.</p>
+<p>"What! <i>you</i> did it, and caused all this misery, you
+ineffable blackguard!" shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand,
+while he struck him with the other.</p>
+<p>"Stop!" said Avonley; "just see that he doesn't escape, while we
+decide on his punishment."</p>
+<p>It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run
+the gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their
+handkerchiefs, and knotted them tight. They then made a double line
+down each side of the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood
+stock-still at one end, while the fellows nearest him thrashed him
+unmercifully with the heavy knots. At last the pain was getting
+severe, and he moved on, finally beginning to run. Five times he
+was forced up and down the line, and five times did every boy in
+the line give him a blow, which, if it did not hurt much, at least
+spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was dogged and unmoved to
+the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the presence of Dr.
+Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and the next
+morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled. Thenceforth
+he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any
+part in this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders'
+room till it was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent
+event. Most warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness.
+"Thank you," he said, "with all my heart, for proving my innocence;
+but thank you, even more a great deal, for first believing it."</p>
+<p>Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered
+for a moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had
+hardly shaken hands when the rest came flocking in. "We have all
+been unjust," said Avonley; "let's make up for it as well as we
+can. Three cheers for Eric Williams!"</p>
+<p>They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and
+meanwhile, every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry
+they were for the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show
+their regret for his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart
+readily forgave them, and his eyes were long wet with tears of joy.
+The delicious sensation of returning esteem made him almost think
+it worth while to have under gone his trial.</p>
+<p>Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and
+it was no small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to
+find themselves finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied,
+and whose name no one mentioned without disgust. He had done more
+than any other boy to introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice,
+and the very atmosphere of the rooms seemed healthier in his
+absence. One boy only forgave him, one boy only prayed for him, one
+boy only endeavored to see him for one last kind word. That boy was
+Edwin Russell.</p>
+<p>After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands' to
+dinner, apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did
+and said all that could be done by an honorable man to repair the
+injury of an unjust doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and
+from thenceforth, though they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon
+ceased to be enemies.</p>
+<p>That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous
+evening they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when
+the master bade them "good night," he kindly detained Eric, and
+said to him, "Keep an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never
+fear trouble. Only think if you had been guilty, and were now in
+Barker's place!"</p>
+<p>"O, I <i>couldn't</i> be guilty, sir," said Eric, gaily.</p>
+<p>"Not of such a fault, perhaps. But," he added solemnly, "there
+are many kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to
+fall into. You will find it no light battle to resist them."</p>
+<p>"Believe me, sir, I will try," he answered with humility.</p>
+<p>"Jehovah-Nissi!" said Mr. Rose. "Let the Lord be your banner,
+Eric, and you will win the victory. God bless you."</p>
+<p>And as the boy's graceful figure disappeared through the door,
+Mr. Rose drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated
+long. He was imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of
+splendid usefulness, of reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK</h3>
+<blockquote>"Ten cables from where green meadows<br>
+And quiet homes could be seen,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No greater space<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From peril to peace,<br>
+But the savage sea between!"--EDWIN ARNOLD.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most
+of the boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at
+school. Many of the usual rules were suspended during this time,
+and the boys were supplied every day with pocket-money;
+consequently the Easter holidays passed very pleasantly, and there
+was plenty of fun.</p>
+<p>It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and
+the boys would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or
+about the coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in
+great request among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular
+than ever, and felt as if nothing were wanting to his happiness.
+But this brilliant prosperity was not good for him, and he felt
+continually that he cared far less for the reproaches of conscience
+than he had done in the hours of his trial; sought far less for
+help from God than he had done when he was lonely and
+neglected.</p>
+<p>He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of
+Russell. For Edwin's sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin's
+disapproval, he abstained from many things into which he would
+otherwise have insensibly glided in conformation to the general
+looseness of the school morality. But Russell's influence worked on
+him powerfully, and tended to counteract a multitude of
+temptations.</p>
+<p>Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke;
+and he was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays
+in lurking about with pipes in their mouths at places where they
+were unlikely to be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty
+and healthy game. When he began to "learn" smoking, he found it
+anything but pleasant; but a little practice had made him an adept,
+and he found a certain amount of enjoyable excitement in finding
+out cozy places by the river, where he and Upton might go and
+lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.</p>
+<p>In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed
+a fine thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from
+vacuity. Besides, they had a confused notion that there was
+something "manly" in it, and it derived an additional zest from the
+stringency of the rules adopted to put it down. So a number of the
+boys smoked, and some few of them to such excess as to get them
+into great mischief, and form a habit which they could never
+afterwards abandon.</p>
+<p>One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell
+started for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they
+passed through Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs
+and other provisions, as they did not mean to be back for dinner.
+In about ten minutes he caught up the other two, just as they were
+getting out of the town.</p>
+<p>"What an age you've been buying a few Easter eggs," said
+Russell, laughing; "have you been waiting till the hens laid?"</p>
+<p>"No; they are not the <i>only</i> things I've got."</p>
+<p>"Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same
+shop."</p>
+<p>"Ay; but I've procured a more refined article. Guess what it
+is?"</p>
+<p>The two boys didn't guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them,
+"Will you have a whiff, Monty?"</p>
+<p>"A whiff! Oh! I see you've been wasting your tin on
+cigars--<i>alias</i>, rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!"</p>
+<p>"Well, will you have one?"</p>
+<p>"If you like," said Montagu, wavering; "but I don't much care to
+smoke."</p>
+<p>"Well, <i>I</i> shall, at any rate," said Eric, keeping off the
+wind with his cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.</p>
+<p>They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn't promote
+conversation, and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look
+so ridiculous, and entirely unlike himself, as he did while
+strutting along with the weed in his mouth. The fact was, Eric
+didn't guess how much he was hurting Edwin's feelings, and he was
+smoking more to "make things look like the holidays," by a little
+bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he caught the expression
+of Russell's face, and instantly said--</p>
+<p>"O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don't like smoking;" and he
+instantly flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad
+to get rid of it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the
+affected manner he displayed just before, and the spirits of all
+three rose at once.</p>
+<p>"It isn't that I don't <i>like</i> smoking only, Eric, but I
+think it wrong--for <i>us</i> I mean."</p>
+<p>"O, my dear fellow! surely there can't be any harm in it. Why
+everybody smokes."</p>
+<p>"It may be all very well for men, although I'm not so sure of
+that. But, at any rate, it's wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know
+yourself what harm it does in every way."</p>
+<p>"O, it's a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong?
+Why, I even know clergymen who smoke."</p>
+<p>Montagu laughed. "Well, clergymen ain't immaculate," said he;
+"but I never met a man yet who didn't tell you that he was
+<i>sorry</i> he'd acquired the habit."</p>
+<p>"I'm sure you won't thank that rascally cousin of mine for
+having taught you," said Russell; "but seriously, isn't it a very
+moping way of spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind
+some hay-stack, or in some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers
+do, instead of playing racquets or football?"</p>
+<p>"O, it's pleasant enough sometimes," said Eric, speaking rather
+against his own convictions.</p>
+<p>"As for me, I've nearly left it off," said Montagu, "and I think
+Rose convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I
+ever did smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know
+how he despises it in boys. Were you in school the other day when
+he caught Pietrie and Brooking?"</p>
+<p>"No."</p>
+<p>"Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected,
+Rose smelt that he had been smoking, and charged him with it.
+Brooking stoutly denied it, but after he had told the most robust
+lies, Rose made him empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were
+a pipe and a cigar-case half full! You <i>should</i> have heard how
+Rose thundered and lightened at him for his lying, and then sent
+him to the Doctor. I never saw him so terrific before."</p>
+<p>"You don't mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because
+Brooking was caught, and told lies--do you? <i>Non
+sequitur</i>."</p>
+<p>"Stop--not so fast." Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who
+at once confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library
+when Rose sent for him, and Pietrie said mildly that "he didn't see
+the harm of it." Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, "Don't see
+the <i>harm</i> of it! Do you see any good in it?"</p>
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+<p>"Well, isn't it forbidden?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"And doesn't it waste your money?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen
+yourself?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.</p>
+<p>"And don't your parents disapprove it? And doesn't it throw you
+among some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles?
+Silly child," he said, pulling Pietrie's ear (as he sometimes does,
+you know), "don't talk nonsense; and remember next time you're
+caught I shall have you punished." So off went Pietrie, [Greek:
+achreian idon] as our friend Homer says. And your humble servant
+was convinced."</p>
+<p>"Well, well," said Eric laughing, "I suppose you're right. At
+any rate, I give in. Two to one ain't fair; [Greek: ards duo o
+Aerachlaes], since you're in a quoting humor."</p>
+<p>Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found
+plenty to amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four
+hundred feet out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of
+rock scenery on all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit,
+and flung innocuous stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far
+below them over the water, and every now and then pounced at some
+stray fish that came to the surface; or they watched the stately
+barks as they sailed by on the horizon, wondering at their cargo
+and destination; or chaffed the fishermen, whose boats heaved on
+the waves at the foot of the promontory. When they were rested,
+they visited a copper-mine by the side of the head, and filled
+their pockets with bits of bright quartz or red shining spar, which
+they found in plenty among the rocks.</p>
+<p>In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop
+a little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It
+was a very favorite resort of Eric's, as the coast all about it was
+bold and romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday
+evening to watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them
+over the water from the setting sun--a sight which they often
+agreed to consider one of the most peaceful and mysteriously
+beautiful in nature.</p>
+<p>They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The
+sun was just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red
+and gold.</p>
+<p>"We shan't see the line on the waters this evening," said Eric;
+"there's too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious
+sunset!"</p>
+<p>"Yes; it'll be stormy tomorrow," answered Russell, "but come
+along, let's get to the top; the wind's rising, and the waves will
+be rather grand."</p>
+<p>"Ay, we'll sit and watch them; and let's finish our grub; I've
+got several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my
+pocket."</p>
+<p>They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the
+waves, which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet,
+and then fell back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they
+remembered that it was getting late, and that they ought to get
+home for tea at seven.</p>
+<p>"Hallo!" said Russell, looking at his watch, "it's half-past
+six. We must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the
+tide hasn't been coming in all this time."</p>
+<p>"Good God!" said Montagu, with a violent start, "I'm afraid it
+has, though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets.
+Let's set off as hard as we can pelt."</p>
+<p>Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down
+the Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it
+to the mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the
+tide had come in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided
+them from the shore.</p>
+<p>"There's only one way for it," said Eric; "if we're plucky we
+can jump that; but we musn't wait till it gets worse. A good jump
+will take us <i>nearly</i> to the other side--far enough, at any
+rate, to let us flounder across somehow."</p>
+<p>As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where
+the momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be
+narrowest; and where the rocks on the other side were lower than
+those on which they stood. Their situation was by no means
+pleasant. The wind had been rising more and more, and the waves
+dashed into this little channel with such violence, that to swim it
+would have been a most hazardous experiment, particularly as they
+could not dive in from the ledge on which they stood, from their
+ignorance of the depth of water.</p>
+<p>Eric's courage supported the other two. "There's no good
+<i>thinking</i> about it," said he, "jump we <i>must</i>; the
+sooner the better. We can but be a little hurt at the worst. Here,
+I'll set the example."</p>
+<p>He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force.
+He was a practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he
+alighted near the water's edge, on the other side, where, after
+slipping once or twice on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he
+effected a safe landing, with no worse harm than a wetting up to
+the knees.</p>
+<p>"Now then, you too," he shouted; "no time to lose."</p>
+<p>"Will you jump first, Monty?" said Russell; "both of you are
+better jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I'm rather
+afraid."</p>
+<p>"Then I won't leave you," said Montagu; "we'll both stay
+here."</p>
+<p>"And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty,
+<i>you</i> can clear it, I've no doubt."</p>
+<p>"Couldn't we try to swim it together, Edwin?"</p>
+<p>"Madness! look there." And as he spoke, a huge furious wave
+swept down the whole length of the gulf by which they stood,
+roaring and surging along till the whole water seethed, and tearing
+the seaweeds from their roots in the rock.</p>
+<p>"Now's your time," shouted Eric again. "What <i>are</i> you
+waiting for? For God's sake, jump before another wave comes."</p>
+<p>"Monty, you <i>must</i> jump now," said Russell, "if only to
+help me when I try."</p>
+<p>Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few
+steps, and leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly
+up to his neck, and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on
+the sharp slippery schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and
+in half a minute, Eric leaning out as far as he could, caught his
+hand, and just pulled him to the other side in time to escape
+another rush of tumultuous and angry foam.</p>
+<p>"Now, Edwin," they both shouted, "it'll be too late in another
+minute. Jump for your life."</p>
+<p>Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he
+prepared to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant.
+In truth, the leap was now most formidable; to clear it was
+hopeless; and the fury of the rock-tormented waves rendered the
+prospect of a swim on the other side terrible to contemplate. Once
+in the grasp of one of those billows, even a strong man must have
+been carried out of the narrow channel, and hurled against the
+towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.</p>
+<p>"Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--<i>do</i> jump," cried Eric with
+passionate excitement. "We will rush in for you."</p>
+<p>Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he
+stepped back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp
+cry of pain, fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant,
+Eric and Montagu stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw
+Russell's head emerge, and then another wave foaming madly by, made
+them run backwards for their lives, and hid him from their view.
+When it had passed, they saw him clinging with both hands, in the
+desperate instinct of self-preservation, to a projecting bit of
+rock, by the aid of which he gradually drew himself out of the
+water, and grasping at crevices or bits of seaweed, slowly and
+painfully reached the ledge on which they had stood before they
+took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle; his face, pale as
+death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his breast; his
+clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap was
+gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push
+aside, hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and
+in pain; and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.</p>
+<p>While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke,
+lest their voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now,
+they both cried out, "Are you hurt, Edwin?"</p>
+<p>He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand,
+while he put the other to his head, from which the blood was
+flowing fast.</p>
+<p>"O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more," said Montagu;
+"you will die if you spend the night on that rock."</p>
+<p>They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and
+waves were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently,
+that they caught the faint words, "I can't, my leg is hurt."
+Besides, they both saw that a jump was no longer possible; the
+channel was more than double the width which it had been when Eric
+leaped, and from the rapid ascent of rocks on both sides, it was
+now far out of depth.</p>
+<p>"O God, what can we do," said Montagu, bursting into tears. "We
+can never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is
+covered at high tide."</p>
+<p>Eric had not lost his presence of mind. "Cheer up, Edwin," he
+shouted; "I <i>will</i> get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl
+up to the top again."</p>
+<p>Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back
+on the rock.</p>
+<p>"Monty," said Eric, "just watch for a minute or two. When I have
+got across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them
+that we are cut off by the tide on the Stack. They'll bring round
+the life-boat. It's our only chance."</p>
+<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Montagu, terrified. "Why,
+Eric, it's death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!" And he drew
+Eric back hastily, as another vast swell of water came rolling
+along, shaking its white curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on
+destruction.</p>
+<p>"Monty, it's no use," said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket
+and waistcoat; "I'm not going to let Russell die on that ledge of
+rock. I shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I
+want to keep these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across,
+fling them over to me if you can, and then do as I told you."</p>
+<p>He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing
+that his only chance was to swim over before another came, he
+plunged in, and struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert
+swimmer, and as yet the channel was not more than a dozen yards
+across. He dashed over with the speed and strength of despair, and
+had just time to clutch the rocks on the other side before the next
+mighty swirl of the tide swept up in its white and tormented
+course. In another minute he was on the ledge by Russell's
+side.</p>
+<p>He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the
+dry clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief
+round a fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and
+then flung it over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and
+once more shouted to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time
+the boy lingered, reluctant to leave them, and then started off at
+the run. Looking back after a few minutes, he caught, through the
+gathering dusk, his last glimpse of the friends in their perilous
+situation. Eric was seated supporting Russell across his knees;
+when he saw Montagu turn he waved his cap over his head as a signal
+of encouragement, and then began to carry Edwin higher up the rock
+for safety. It soon grew too dark to distinguish them, and Montagu
+at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a mile off. When he got to
+the harbor he told some sailors of the danger in which his friends
+were, and then ran on to the school. It was now eight o'clock, and
+quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past, when he stood
+excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr. Rowlands'
+door.</p>
+<p>"Good gracious! Master Montagu," said the servant; "what's the
+matter; have you been robbed?"</p>
+<p>He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands'
+study. "O sir!" he exclaimed, bursting in, "Williams and Russell
+are on the Stack, cut off by the tide."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. "What! on this stormy night?
+Have you raised the alarm?"</p>
+<p>"I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on."</p>
+<p>"I will set off myself at once," said the Doctor, seizing his
+hat. "But, my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet
+through too. You had better change your clothes at once, or go to
+bed."</p>
+<p>"O no, sir," said Montagu, pleadingly; "do take me with
+you."</p>
+<p>"Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in
+consequence. Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea
+shall be ready for you down here, and we will start."</p>
+<p>Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to
+tell Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their
+companions. The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had
+already excited general surmise, and Montagu's appearance,
+jacketless and wet, at the door of the boarders' room, at once
+attracted a group round him. He rapidly told them how things stood,
+and, hastening off, left them nearly as much agitated as himself.
+In a very short time he presented himself again before Dr.
+Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the cup of tea,
+they sallied out.</p>
+<p>It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at
+intervals struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind
+howled in fitful gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side,
+Montagu shuddered to hear how rough and turbulent the sea was, even
+on the sands. He stumbled once or twice, and then the Doctor kindly
+drew his trembling arm through his own, and made him describe the
+whole occurrence, while the servant went on in front with the
+lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved the danger of
+reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands'
+admiration was unbounded. "Noble boy," he exclaimed, with
+enthusiasm; "I shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after
+this."</p>
+<p>They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.</p>
+<p>"Have you put out the life-boat?" said Dr. Rowlands
+anxiously.</p>
+<p>"Ill luck, sir," said one of the sailors, touching his cap; "the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn't
+been brought round again yet."</p>
+<p>"Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try
+and save those poor boys."</p>
+<p>"We've been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start;
+but in a sea like that it's very dangerous, and it's so dark and
+gusty that I doubt it's no use, so I expect they'll put back."</p>
+<p>The Doctor sighed deeply. "Don't alarm any other people," he
+said; "it will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George,"
+he continued to the servant, "give me the lantern; I will go with
+this boy to the Stack; you follow us with ropes, and order a
+carriage from the King's Head. Take care to bring anything with you
+that seems likely to be useful."</p>
+<p>Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made
+their way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here
+they raised the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming
+with such violence that they were not sure that they heard any
+answering shout. Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just
+make out the huge black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast
+of boiling waves, and enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of
+spray. On the top of it Montagu half thought that he saw something,
+but he was not sure.</p>
+<p>"Thank God, there is yet hope," said the Doctor, with difficulty
+making his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the
+elements; "if they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may
+perhaps rescue them before morning."</p>
+<p>Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and
+Montagu joined his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they
+fancied that in one of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint
+cheer returned, was sound more welcome, and as they paced up and
+down they shouted at intervals, and held up the lantern, to show
+the boys that friends and help were near.</p>
+<p>Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to
+the highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and
+soothing words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him
+in every piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his
+arms, heedless of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell
+thanked him, and pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain
+continually, and at last fainted away.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the
+rocks, and the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think
+of nothing but storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the
+sea beat up, drenching them to the skin continually with, its
+clammy spray; and the storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and
+flung about the wet hair on Eric's bare head, and forced him to
+plant himself firmly, lest the rage of the gusts should hurl them
+from their narrow resting-place. The darkness made everything more
+fearful, for his eyes could distinguish nothing but the gulfs of
+black water glistening here and there with hissing foam, and he
+shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises that came to him
+in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent wave. It
+was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he
+was in ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the
+violence of the breakers. "At least," thought he, as he looked down
+and saw that the ledge on which they had been standing had long
+been covered with deep and agitated waves, "at least I have saved
+Edwin's life." And he bravely made up his mind to keep up heart and
+hope, and weather the comfortless night with Russell in his
+arms.</p>
+<p>And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still
+unconscious; and stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white
+forehead of his friend. He felt <i>then</i>, how deeply he loved
+him, how much he owed him; and no mother could have nursed a child
+more tenderly than he did the fainting boy. Russell's head rested
+on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled with welling blood,
+stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die, his
+fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had
+received some dangerous hurt.</p>
+<p>At last Russell stirred and groaned. "Where am I?" he said, and
+half opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back
+heavily. He saw only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and
+salt mist; heard only the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had
+no time to wake, and he screamed and fainted once more.</p>
+<p>Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of
+his power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he
+bent over him, and said, "Don't you remember, Edwin? We're quite
+safe. I'm with you, and Monty's gone for help."</p>
+<p>"Oh! I daren't jump," sobbed Russell; "oh mother, I shall be
+drowned. Save me! save me! I'm so glad they're safe, mother; but my
+leg hurts so." And he moaned again. He was delirious.</p>
+<p>"How cold it is, and wet too! where's Eric? are we bathing? run
+along, we shall be late. But stop, you're smoking. Dear Eric, don't
+smoke. Poor fellow, I'm afraid he's getting spoilt, and learning
+bad ways. Oh save him." And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer
+for Eric, which evidently had been often on his lips.</p>
+<p>Eric was touched to the heart's core, and in one rapid
+lightning-like glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful
+past, in all its sorrowfulness. And <i>he</i>, too, prayed wildly
+for help both for soul and body. Alone on the crag, with the sea
+tumbling and plashing round them, growing and gaining so much on
+their place of refuge, that his terror began to summon up the image
+of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and exhausted, with the
+wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on his courage, he
+prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow calmer by
+his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done in the
+green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down,
+now disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came
+the sound of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in
+a boat to save them.</p>
+<p>But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing
+towards the harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in
+the surf at the foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given
+it up in despair. His heart sank again, all the more for the
+glimpse of hope, and his strength began to give way. Russell's
+delirium continued, and he grew too frightened even to pray.</p>
+<p>A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be
+sure of it; it was Dr. Rowlands' voice and Montagu's. He got
+convinced of this, and summoned all his strength to shout in
+return. The light kept moving up and down on the shore, not a
+hundred yards off. His fear vanished; they were no longer alone.
+The first moment that the tide suffered any one to reach them they
+would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and he determined to
+hold up for Russell's sake until help should come; and every now
+and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts which
+came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the
+storm.</p>
+<p>But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master
+soothed the boy's fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently,
+that Montagu began to wonder if this really could be the awful
+head-master, whose warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was
+comforting him as a father might. What a depth of genuine human
+kindness that stern exterior concealed! And every now and then,
+when the storm blew loudest, the Doctor would stand still for a
+moment, and offer up a short intense prayer, or ejaculation, that
+help and safety might come to his beloved charge in their exposure
+and peril.</p>
+<p>Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink,
+and the sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The
+carriage drove up with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful
+servant brought with him the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and
+anxiously did they watch the ebbing tide, and when it had gone out
+sufficiently to allow of two stout planks being laid across the
+channel, an active sailor ventured over with a light, and in a few
+moments stood by Eric's side. Eric saw him coming, but was too weak
+and numb to move; and when the sailor lifted up the unconscious
+Russell from his knees, Eric was too much exhausted even to speak.
+The man returned for him, and lifting him on his back crossed the
+plank once more in safety, and carried them both to the carriage,
+where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything likely to
+revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the school,
+and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the boys
+were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the
+signal for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows,
+with many an anxious inquiry, "Are they safe?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, thank God!" called Dr. Rowlands; "so now, boys, shut the
+windows, and get to sleep."</p>
+<p>Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor's
+own house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu
+had beds provided them in another room by themselves, away from the
+dormitory: the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire,
+and looked like home and when the two boys had drank some warm
+wine, and cried for weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after
+their dangers and fatigues, and slept the deep, calm, dreamless
+sleep of tired children.</p>
+<p>So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the
+Easter holidays.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE SILVER CORD BROKEN</h3>
+<blockquote>"Calm on the bosom of thy God,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Fair spirit, rest thee now!<br>
+E'en while with us thy footsteps trod,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His seal was on thy brow."--MRS. HEMANS.</blockquote>
+<p>They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at
+first could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little
+room, the bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair
+before it. But turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who
+was still asleep, and he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed,
+refreshed and perfectly well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric;
+but Eric was still languid and weak, and did not get up that day,
+nor was he able to go to work again for some days; but he was young
+and strong, and his vigorous constitution soon threw off the
+effects of his fast and exposure.</p>
+<p>Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head
+sadly. "He is very dangerously ill."</p>
+<p>"Is he?" said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a
+deep silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress,
+knelt down to say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt
+also over his pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest
+prayers were mingling for the one who seemed to have been taken
+while they were left.</p>
+<p>The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was
+thought that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the
+exposure to wet, cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened
+his constitution; and when his youth seemed to be triumphing over
+these dangers, another became more threatening. His leg never
+mended; he had both sprained the knee badly, and given the tibia an
+awkward twist, so that the least motion was agony to him.</p>
+<p>In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to
+see him, though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the
+earnest inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully
+apparent than ever, that, although Edwin was among them without
+being <i>of</i> them, no boy in the school was more deeply honored
+and fondly loved than he. Even the elastic spirits of boyhood could
+not quite throw off the shadow of gloom which his illness cast over
+the school.</p>
+<p>Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do
+was done for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin
+had no father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs.
+Upton, would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he
+was often left alone in his delirium and agony.</p>
+<p>Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his
+thoughts, always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not
+deserting the hurt lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy
+himself, and who, when he was a boy, did his Father's business, and
+was subject unto his parents in the obscure home of the despised
+village. Alone! nay, to them whose eyes were opened, the room of
+sickness and pain was thronged and beautiful with angelic
+presences.</p>
+<p>Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved
+friend. Eric's life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in
+passionate, unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued
+more than ever the sweet remembered hours spent with him; their
+games, and communnings, and walks, and Russell's gentle influence,
+and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he must not even see him, must not
+whisper one word of soothing to him in his anguish; he could only
+pray for him, and that he did with a depth of hope.</p>
+<p>At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to
+visit him. His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could
+not yet even recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room
+were so sad and useless, that Upton forbore. "And yet you should
+hear him talk in his delirium," he said to Eric; "not one evil
+word, or bad thought, or wicked thing, ever escapes him. I'm
+afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so with you or me."</p>
+<p>"No" said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience
+brought the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his
+cheeks.</p>
+<p>"And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks
+sometimes of all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in
+his thoughts, and every now and then he prays for you quite
+unconsciously."</p>
+<p>Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. "When do you think I
+shall be allowed too see him?"</p>
+<p>"Not just yet, I fear."</p>
+<p>After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell's mind
+ceased to wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for
+alarm. Fresh advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg
+must be amputated.</p>
+<p>When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints.
+"Only think, Monty, isn't it hard, isn't it cruel? When we see our
+brave, bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple." Eric hardly
+understood that he was railing at the providence of a merciful
+God.</p>
+<p>The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell
+seemed to amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him
+relief. They were all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no
+murmur, no cry escaped him; no words but the sweetest thanks for
+every little office of kindness done to him. A few days after, he
+asked Dr. Underhay "if he might see Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, my boy," said the doctor kindly, "you may see him, and one
+or two other of your particular friends if you like, provided you
+don't excite yourself too much. I trust you will get better
+now."</p>
+<p>So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they
+might go and see their friend. "Be sure," he added, "that you don't
+startle or excite him."</p>
+<p>They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of
+early summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held
+their breath, and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known
+voice which gave the answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe,
+they softly opened the door, which admitted them into the presence
+of the dear companion whom they had not seen for so long. Since
+then it seemed as though gulfs far deeper than the sea had been
+flowing between him and them.</p>
+<p>Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on
+tiptoe--the darkened room where Russell was What a hush and
+oppression there seemed to them at first in the dim, silent
+chamber; what an awfulness in all the appliances which showed how
+long and deeply their schoolfellow had suffered. But all this
+vanished directly they caught sight of his face. There he lay, so
+calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest eyes turned
+towards them, as though to see whether any of their affection for
+him had ceased or been forgotten!</p>
+<p>In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with
+bowed foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their
+heads, and pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and
+looked at them tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces
+with their hands, and broke into deep suppressed sobs of
+compassion.</p>
+<p>"Oh hush, hush!" he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his
+hands while they kissed him. "Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you
+cry so for me? I am very happy."</p>
+<p>But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed,
+and had now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for
+life; and as the throng of memories came on them--memories of his
+skill and fame at cricket, and racquets, and football--of their
+sunny bathes together in sea and river, and all their happy holiday
+wanderings--they could not restrain their emotion, and wept
+uncontrollably. Neither of them could speak a word, or break the
+holy silence; and as he patted their heads and cheeks, his own
+tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he felt the
+comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in his
+loneliness, and it did him good.</p>
+<p>The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would
+agitate Edwin too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys
+left, only whispering, "We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!"</p>
+<p>They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite
+cheerfully with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation
+more than any game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the
+sick-room more than repaid them for the glad life without, when
+they heard Russell's simple and heartfelt thanks. "Ah! how good of
+you, dear fellows," he would say, "to give up the merry playground
+for a wretched cripple," and he would smile cheerfully to show that
+his trial had not made him weary of life. Indeed, he often told
+them that he believed they felt for him more than he did
+himself.</p>
+<p>One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and
+violets. He seemed much better, and Eric's spirits were high with
+the thoughts and hopes of the coming holidays. "There, Edwin," he
+said, as the boy gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, "don't
+they make you glad? They are one of our <i>three</i> signs, you
+know, of the approaching holidays. One sign was the first sight of
+the summer steamer going across the bay; another was May eve, when
+these island-fellows light big gorse fires all over the mountains,
+and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep off the
+fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin
+to twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly
+talk we had that evening about the holidays; but my father and
+mother were here then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm.
+But the third sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the
+happiest. You can't think how I <i>grabbed</i> at the first
+primrose this year; I found it by a cave on the Ness. And though
+these are rather the last than the first, yet I knew you'd like
+them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And how much better
+you're looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I positively
+declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You'll soon be out
+among us again, that's clear----"</p>
+<p>He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry
+way that Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he
+caught the touch of sadness on Russell's face, and saw his long,
+abstracted, eager look at the flowers.</p>
+<p>"Dear fellow, you're not worse, are you?" he said quickly. "What
+a fool I am to chatter so; it makes you ill."</p>
+<p>"No, no, Eric, talk on; you can't think how I love to hear you.
+Oh, how very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you,
+for bringing them." And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy
+look which had startled Eric--as though he were learning their
+color and shape by heart.</p>
+<p>"I wish I hadn't brought them, though," said Eric, "they are
+filling your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you'll be well by the
+holidays--a month hence, you know--or else I shouldn't have talked
+so gladly about them."</p>
+<p>"No, Eric," said Russell sadly, "these dear flowers are the last
+spring blossoms that I shall see--<i>here</i> at least. Yes, I will
+keep them, for your sake, Eric, till I die."</p>
+<p>"Oh don't talk so," said Eric, shocked and flustered, "why
+everybody knows and says that you're getting better."</p>
+<p>Russell smiled and shook his head. "No, Eric, I shall die. There
+stop, dear fellow, don't cry," said he, raising his hands quietly
+to Eric's face; "isn't it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at
+first to leave this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel
+sea," he continued smiling; "and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and
+Monty, and, above all, to leave <i>you</i>, Eric, whom I love best
+in all the world. Yes, remember I've no home, Eric, and no
+prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in this, so long as
+God gave me health and strength; but health went for ever into
+those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear, gallant
+Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn't look so happy to
+<i>halt</i> through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am
+dying--dying, Eric," he said solemnly, "my brother; let me call you
+brother; I have no near relations, you know, to fill up the love in
+my yearning heart, but I <i>do</i> love <i>you</i>. Kiss me, Eric,
+as though I were a child, and you a child. There, that comforts me;
+I feel as if I <i>were</i> a child again, and had a dear
+brother;--and I <i>shall</i> be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father's house."</p>
+<p>Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+<i>recently</i> of Russell's death, but had begun to reckon on his
+recovery, and now life seemed darker to him than ever.</p>
+<p>But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. "The grass
+withereth," he murmured, "the flower fadeth, and the glory of its
+beauty perisheth; but--<i>but</i> the word of the Lord endureth for
+ever." And here he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed
+his hand, with more than a brother's fondness, to his heart.</p>
+<p>"Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full," he said, "too full to speak
+to you. Let me read to you;" and with Russell's arm round his neck
+he sat down, beside his pillow, and read to him about "the pure
+river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
+throne of God and of the Lamb." At first sobs choked his voice, but
+it gathered firmness as he went on.</p>
+<p>"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
+river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
+fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the
+tree were for the healing of the nations.</p>
+<p>"And there shall be no more curse"--and here the reader's
+musical voice rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--"but the
+throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants
+shall serve him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be
+in their foreheads."</p>
+<p>"And they shall see his face," murmured Russell, "<i>and they
+shall see his face</i>" Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of
+rapture seemed to be lighted in his eyes, as though they saw
+heavenly things, and his countenance was like an angel's to look
+upon. Eric closed the book reverently, and gazed.</p>
+<p>"And now pray for me, Eric, will you?" Eric knelt down, but no
+prayer would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but
+emotion prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his
+hand on his head and prayed.</p>
+<p>"O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two
+erring, weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the
+love thou bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord,
+take me to the green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and
+one remains--O Lord! bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead
+and guide him, and keep him for ever in thy fear and love, that he
+may continue thine for ever, and hereafter we may meet together
+among the redeemed, in the immortal glory of the resurrection. Hear
+us, O Father, for thy dear Son's sake. Amen! Amen!"</p>
+<p>The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One
+long brotherly kiss he printed on Russell's forehead, and, full of
+sorrowful forebodings, bade him good night.</p>
+<p>He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. "Yes," he
+said, "he may die at any time; he <i>must</i> die soon. It is even
+best that he should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the
+head would certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he
+lived."</p>
+<p>Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.</p>
+<p>The holidays drew on; for Russell's sake, and at his earnest
+wish, Eric had worked harder than he ever did before. All his
+brilliant abilities, all his boyish ambition, were called into
+exercise; and, to the delight of every one, he gained ground
+rapidly, and seemed likely once more to dispute the palm with Owen.
+No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose, and he often gladdened
+Russell's heart by telling him about it; for every day he had a
+long visit to the sick boy's room, which refreshed and comforted
+them both.</p>
+<p>In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new
+leaf. He and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and
+every bad habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the
+dying boy, whom they both loved so well. And although Eric's
+popularity, after the romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous
+daring, was at its very zenith,--although he had received a medal
+and flattering letter from the Humane Society, who had been
+informed of the transaction by Dr. Rowlands,--although his success
+both physical and intellectual was higher than ever,--yet the dread
+of the great loss he was doomed to suffer, and the friendship which
+was to be snapped, overpowered every other feeling, and his heart
+was ennobled and purified by contact with his suffering friend.</p>
+<p>It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had
+drawn up the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze,
+pure from the sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing
+refreshfully into the sick boy's room. Russell was very, very
+happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed him; all was peace and
+trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did he talk to Eric,
+and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him gently to
+that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the
+sufferer stopped to pray aloud.</p>
+<p>"Good night, Eric," he said, "I am tired, <i>so</i> tired. I
+hope we shall meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my
+books, Eric, except a few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And
+my watch, that dear watch your mother, <i>my</i> mother, gave me, I
+shall leave to Rose as a remembrance of us both. Good night,
+brother."</p>
+<p>A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with
+Upton and Montagu to Russell's bedside. He was sinking fast; and as
+he had but a short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them,
+though he could see no others.</p>
+<p>They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy
+looked. They received his last farewells--he would die that night.
+Sweetly he blessed them, and made them promise to avoid all evil,
+and read the Bible, and pray to God. But he had only strength to
+speak at intervals. Mr. Rose, too, was there; it seemed as though
+he held the boy by the hand, as fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he
+entered the waters of the dark river.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I should <i>so</i> like to stay with you, Monty, Horace,
+dear, dear Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my
+father and mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple
+there--nor be in pain." His words grew slow and difficult. "God
+bless you, dear fellows; God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to
+God."</p>
+<p>He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat,
+and he was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as
+they kissed again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly,
+Mr. Rose checked them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes
+while he prayed.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="1CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AGAIN</h3>
+<blockquote>"O far beyond the waters<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The fickle feet may roam,<br>
+But they find no light so pure and bright<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;As the one fair star of home;<br>
+The star of tender hearts, lady,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That glows in an English home,"<br>
+<br>
+F.W.F.</blockquote>
+<p>That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and
+weighed down with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other
+boys were silent from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn
+both knew and loved Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to
+hear of his death; they asked some of the particulars, but Eric was
+not calm enough to tell them that evening. The one sense of
+infinite loss agitated him, and he indulged his paroxysms of
+emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if ever the life has
+been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever you have been
+made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and then only,
+will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.</p>
+<p>But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric,
+as he rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly
+sought for the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize
+before, how odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and
+partaken in since he became an inmate of that little room. How his
+soul revolted with infinite disgust from the language which he had
+heard, and the open glorying in sin of which he had so often been a
+witness. The stain and the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on
+his heart; it rode on his breast like a nightmare; it haunted his
+fancy with visions of guilty memory, and shapes of horrible regret.
+The ghosts of buried misdoings, which he had thought long lost in
+the mists of recollection, started up menacingly from their
+forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense of their awful
+reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which the locust
+had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and been
+reckoned to him as they past.</p>
+<p>And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he
+fondly imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven,
+crowned, and in white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he
+had walked and talked with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin's death,
+quenched his human affections, and altered his human heart? If not,
+might not he be there even now, leaning over his friend with the
+beauty of his invisible presence? The thought startled him, and
+seemed to give an awful lustre to the moonbeam which fell into the
+room. No; he could not endure such a presence now, with his weak
+conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid his head under the
+clothes, and shut his eyes.</p>
+<p>Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his
+soul. Should he ever meet Russell again? What if <i>he</i> had died
+instead of Edwin, where would he have been? "Oh, no! no!" he
+murmured aloud, as the terrible thought came over him of his own
+utter unfitness for death, and the possibility that he might never,
+never again hear the beloved accents, or gaze on the cherished
+countenance of his school friend.</p>
+<p>In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that
+night the dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of
+sleep. He was frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his
+conscience obtruded on him his sinfulness, and his affection called
+up the haunting lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering
+down a path, at the end of which Russell stood with open arms
+inviting him earnestly to join him there; he saw his bright
+ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his joyous words, and he
+hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure disappeared, and
+in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming garments, and
+drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a great wood
+alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his name,
+and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him
+back again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark
+forest, amid the sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking,
+sinking, sinking into a gulf, deep and darker even than the inner
+darkness of a sin-desolated heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly,
+everlastingly; while far away, like a star, stood the loved figure
+in light infinitely above him, and with pleading hands implored his
+deliverance, but could not prevail; and Eric was still sinking,
+sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him with a violent start
+and stifled scream.</p>
+<p>He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the
+pale, dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he
+was praying beside his corpse, praying to be more like <i>him</i>,
+who lay there so white and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing
+that he had so often rejected his kind warnings, and pained his
+affectionate heart. So Eric began again to make good resolutions
+about all his future life. Ah! how often he had done so before, and
+how often they had failed. He had not yet learned the lesson which
+David learned by sad experience; "Then I said, it is mine own
+infirmity, <i>but I will remember the years of the right hand of
+the Most High</i>."</p>
+<p>That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of
+late far more thoughtful than before; under Edwin's influence he
+had been laying aside, one by one, the careless sins of school
+life, and his tone was nobler and manlier than it had ever been.
+Montagu had never known or heard much about godliness; his father,
+a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of the world, had trained him in
+the principles of refinement and good taste, and given him a high
+standard of conventional honor; but he passed through life lightly,
+and had taught his son to do the same. Possessed of an ample
+fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled himself with
+none of the deep mysteries of life, and</p>
+<blockquote>"Pampered the coward heart<br>
+With feelings all too delicate for use;<br>
+Nursing in some delicious solitude<br>
+His dainty love and slothful sympathies."</blockquote>
+<p>But Montagu in Edwin's sick-room and by his death bed; in the
+terrible storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands'
+earnestness, and Mr. Rose's deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety;
+by witnessing Eric's failures and recoveries; and by beginning to
+take in his course the same heartfelt interest which Edwin taught
+him--Montagu, in consequence of these things, had begun to see
+another side of life, which awoke all his dormant affections and
+profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for the first time, he
+began to catch some of</p>
+<blockquote>"The still gad music of humanity,"</blockquote>
+<p>and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be
+well dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to
+him a realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and
+worthier aims; and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest
+in his work exceeded that of any other boy, had pointed out to him
+that solemn question of Euripides--</p>
+<blockquote>"[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate<br>
+Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips<br>
+Pepheugenai to theion];"</blockquote>
+<p>he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting
+impression upon his character.</p>
+<p>The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as
+possible from his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working
+for the examination, and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now
+spent most of his time with the best of his friends, particularly
+Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for Upton, like himself, had been much
+sobered by sorrow at their loss. This time he came out
+<i>second</i> in his form, and gained more than one prize. This was
+his first glimpse of real delight since Russell's death; and when
+the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take
+his prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the
+governor who took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly
+entered into the pleasure which his success caused, as well as into
+the honors won by his friends. One outward sign only remained of
+his late bereavement--his mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore
+rosebuds or lilies of the valley in their button-holes on the
+occasion, but on this day Eric would not wear them. Little Wright,
+who was a great friend of theirs, had brought some as a present
+both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on the prize-day
+morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes met, they
+understood each other's thoughts.</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric to Wright, "we won't wear these to-day, although
+we have both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with
+them."</p>
+<p>They all three walked together to the little green, quiet
+churchyard, where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many
+a silent visit had the friends paid to that grave, on which the
+turf was now green again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A
+stone had just been placed to mark the spot, and they read--</p>
+
+<p class="c"> SACRED TO THE MEMORY<br>
+OF<br>
+AN ORPHAN,<br>
+WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,<br>
+AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.<br>
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br>
+"<i>Is it well with the child? It is well</i>."<br>
+2 KINGS iv. 26.</p>
+
+<p>The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a
+time.</p>
+<p>"He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty," said
+Eric; "let us leave the signs of it upon his grave."</p>
+<p>And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the
+choice rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they
+turned away without another word.</p>
+<p>The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded
+the passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the
+deserted building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer.
+What joyous triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted
+and bounded with, the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal
+was the gladness and good humor of every one. Never were voyages so
+merry as those of the steamer that day, and even the "good-byes"
+that had to be said at Southpool were lightly borne. From thence
+the boys quickly scattered to the different railways, and the
+numbers of those who were travelling together got thinner and
+thinner as the distance increased. Wright and one or two others
+went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got down at the
+little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail to
+Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at
+Fairholm.</p>
+<p>It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their
+intensity. He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer
+holidays were nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter
+were short, so that it had not been worth while to travel so far as
+Fairholm, and Eric had spent his Christmas with friends in another
+part of the island. But now he was once more to see dear Fairholm,
+and his aunt, his cousin Fanny, and above all, his little brother.
+His heart was beating fast with joy, and his eyes sparkling with
+pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his head out of the window,
+each well-remembered landmark gave him the delicious sensation of
+meeting again an old friend. "Ah! there's the white bridge, and
+there's the canal, and the stile; and <i>there</i> runs the river,
+and there's Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are." And springing out of
+the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into
+the carriage in a moment.</p>
+<p>Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so
+often plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its
+sleeping churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten
+yards he met old acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and
+whom he greeted with glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the
+Latin school, from which came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a
+man he felt himself now by comparison!);--by the old Roman camp,
+where he had imagined such heroic things when he was a child;
+through all the scenes so rich with the memories and associations
+of his happy childhood, they flew along; and now they had entered
+the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.</p>
+<p>Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and
+Vernon, on the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones
+ran to meet him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty
+kiss, and put his arm round Vernon's neck, and then held him in
+front to have a look at him.</p>
+<p>"How tall you've grown, Verny, and how well you look," he said,
+gazing proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be
+justly proud of. And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw
+the healthy glow of Eric's features, and the strong graceful
+development of his limbs.</p>
+<p>And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew
+with a mother's love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of
+delightful trifles, that "blossoming vein" of household talk, which
+gives such an incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they
+all three turned into the house, where Eric, hungry with his
+travels, did ample justice to the "jolly spread" prepared for him,
+luxurious beyond anything he had seen for his last year at school.
+When he and Vernon went up to their room at night--the same little
+room in which they slept on the night when they first had met--they
+marked their heights on the door again, which showed Eric that in
+the last year he had grown two inches, a fact which he pointed out
+to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they went to bed, and
+to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation of a great
+unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once or
+twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.</p>
+<p>He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned
+out with his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it.
+The garden looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an
+early enjoyment of those currants which hung in ruby clusters over
+the walls. Everything was bathed in the dewy balm of summer
+morning, and he felt very happy as, with his little spaniel
+frisking round him, he visited the great Newfoundland in his
+kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He had barely
+finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once more met
+the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year. And
+yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but <i>he</i> was changed. Mrs.
+Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over
+<i>him</i>, had come an alteration of feeling and circumstance; an
+unknown or half-known <i>something</i> which cast a shadow between
+them and him, and sometimes made him half shrink and start as he
+met their loving looks. Can no schoolboy, who reads history,
+understand and explain the feeling which I mean?</p>
+<p>By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of
+Russell's death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter
+was so blurred. "But," he wrote, "I have some friends still;
+especially Mr. Rose among the masters, and Monty and Upton among
+the boys. Monty you know; he is more like Edwin than any other boy,
+and I like him very much. You didn't know Upton, but I am a great
+deal with him, though he is much older than I am. He is a fine
+handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the school. I hope
+you will know him some day."</p>
+<p>The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once
+recognised to be in Upton's handwriting He eagerly tore off the
+envelope, and read--</p>
+<p>"My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I
+feel it to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will
+feel it to be bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave
+Roslyn, and probably we shall never meet there again. The reason
+is, I have had a cadetship given me, and I am to sail for India in
+September. I have already written to the school to tell them to
+pack up and send me all my books and clothes.</p>
+<p>"I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I
+wanted to stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly
+tell you, Eric, one reason: I'm very much afraid that I've done
+you, and Graham, and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I
+possibly could, to undo the harm I had done. Poor Edwin's death
+opened my eyes to a good many things, and now I'd give all I have
+never to have taught or encouraged you in wrong things. Unluckily
+it's too late;--only, I hope that you already see, as I do, that
+the things I mean lead to evil far greater than we ever used to
+dream of.</p>
+<p>"Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me,
+and believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON."</p>
+<p>"P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you
+this time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my
+poor cousin, when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice
+little chap he looked. I hope you'll look after him as a brother
+should, and keep him out of mischief."</p>
+<p>Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he
+didn't often show them his school letters, because, like this one,
+they often contained allusions to things which he did not like his
+aunt to know. The thought of Upton's leaving him made him quite
+unhappy, and he wrote him a long letter by that post, indignantly
+denying the supposition that his friendship had ever done him
+anything but good.</p>
+<p>The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often
+been in his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he
+thought of that bright little brother of his being initiated in the
+mysteries of evil which he himself had learnt, and sinking like
+himself into slow degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and
+perplexed him, and at last he determined to open his heart,
+partially at least, in a letter to Mr. Rose. The master fully
+understood his doubts, and wrote him the following reply:--</p>
+<p>"My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your
+brother Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly
+give you my own opinion.</p>
+<p>"You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear
+that Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his
+modesty, and much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear
+that he will meet with many bad examples, and learn to look on God
+and godliness in a way far different from that to which he has been
+accustomed at home. You fear, in short, that he must pass through
+the same painful temptations to which you have yourself been
+subjected; to which, perhaps, you have even succumbed.</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all
+means let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is
+a poor thing; it <i>cannot</i>, under any circumstances, be
+permanent, nor is it at all valuable as a foundation of character.
+The true preparation for life, the true basis of a manly character,
+is not to have been ignorant of evil, but to have known it and
+avoided it; not to hare been sheltered from temptation, but to have
+passed through it and overcome it by God's help. Many have drawn
+exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public school morality; the
+best answer is to point to the good and splendid men that have been
+trained in public schools, and who lose no opportunity of recurring
+to them with affection. It is quite possible to be <i>in</i> the
+little world of school-life, and yet not <i>of</i> it. The ruin of
+human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend;
+the peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances
+under which he was placed. He often told me before his last hour,
+that he rejoiced to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced
+there much real happiness, and derived in every way lasting
+good.</p>
+<p>"I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will
+come back with the 'spell of home affection' alive in your heart. I
+shall rejoice to make Vernon's acquaintance, and will do for him
+all I can. Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you
+arrive.--Ever, dear Eric,</p>
+<p>"Affectionately yours,</p>
+<p>"WALTER ROSA."</p>
+<br>
+<p>END OF PART I</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2>
+<blockquote>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Sed revocare
+gradum."--VIRGIL.</blockquote>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ABDIEL</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth' omiliai
+kakai].--MENANDEB.</blockquote>
+<p>A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter,
+and had brought with it many changes.</p>
+<p>To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell
+were getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had
+vanished; the bad habits laid aside after his death had been
+resumed. All this took place very gradually; there were many inward
+struggles, much occasional remorse, but the struggles by degrees
+grew weaker, and remorse lost its sting, and Eric Williams soon
+learned again to follow the multitude to do evil.</p>
+<p>He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and,
+besides this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had
+fallen off and no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise
+of genius which he had given when he first came. But in all school
+sports he had improved, and was the acknowledged leader and
+champion in matters requiring boldness and courage. His popularity
+made him giddy; favor of man led him to forgetfulness of God; and
+even a glance at his countenance showed a self-sufficiency and
+arrogance which ill became the refinement of his features, and ill
+replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.</p>
+<p>And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had
+happened to him, which Eric in his better moments could have
+feared. He had fallen into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who
+should have been his natural guardian and guide, began to treat him
+with indifference, and scarcely ever had any affectionate
+intercourse with him. It is by no means unfrequent that brothers at
+school see but little of each other, and follow their several
+pursuits, and choose their various companions, with small regard to
+the relationship between them.</p>
+<p>Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that
+Vernon's chief friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he
+could have chosen. It was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had
+been expelled from one of the most ill-managed schools in Ireland,
+although, of course, the fact had been most treacherously concealed
+from the authorities at Roslyn; and now he was let loose, without
+warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys. Better for them if their
+gates had been open to the pestilence! the pestilence could but
+have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front fighter in the
+devil's battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He systematically,
+from the very first, called evil good and good evil, put bitter for
+sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the admission of
+any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn boys, to
+their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable flood
+of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as
+Montagu and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight
+of a feather to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have
+done much, Duncan might have done much, to aid the better cause,
+had they tried; but they resisted at first but faintly, and then
+not at all, until they too were swept away in the broadening tide
+of degeneracy and sin.</p>
+<p>Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if
+he stated his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in
+the school, naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all
+the lower forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if
+they accepted his guidance. A little army of small boys attended
+him, and were ever ready for the schemes of mischief to which he
+deliberately trained them, until they grew almost as turbulent, as
+disobedient, and as wicked, as himself. He taught, both, by precept
+and example, that towards masters neither honor was to be
+recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To cheat them, to lie
+to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to misrepresent their
+motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their actions--was the
+conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the time that he
+continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a Pandemonium of
+evil passions and despicable habits.</p>
+<p>Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty
+this would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often
+with his brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his
+side. He flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious
+that Vernon should grow spirited and independent; but, had he
+examined himself, he would have found selfishness at the bottom of
+it. Once or twice his manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the
+little boy both observed and resented it. Montagu and others
+noticed him for Eric's sake; but, being in the same form with
+Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and feeling, as he did,
+deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the ascendancy of his
+physical strength and reckless daring. Before three months were
+over, he became, to Eric's intolerable disgust, a ringleader in the
+band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were the
+despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.</p>
+<p>Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he
+had no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He
+simply kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own
+tastes and pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial
+spirits in the school, so as in no way to come in contact with the
+spreading corruption.</p>
+<p>Montagu, now Owen's chief friend, was also in the sixth, and
+fearlessly expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his
+dread of the evil he was effecting. Had the monitorial system
+existed, that contagion could have been checked at once; but, as it
+was, brute force the unlimited authority. Ill indeed are those
+informed who raise a cry, and join in the ignorant abuse of that
+noble safeguard of English schools. Any who have had personal and
+intimate experience of how schools work <i>with</i> it and
+<i>without</i> it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and
+morality; how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the
+bulwark of discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful,
+often at the most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all
+their sympathies and interests on the side of the honorable and the
+just.</p>
+<p>Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did
+not come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan
+he was scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to
+keep apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be
+ignorant of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the
+indignant and measureless invectives of Montagu and others,
+professed to see in Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild,
+perhaps, but still a very good fellow.</p>
+<p>Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the
+unvarying glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across
+him openly, since Montagu was so high in the school; and besides,
+though much the bigger of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of
+him. But he chose sly methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named
+him "Rosebud;" he talked <i>at</i> him whenever he had an
+opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the gang of youngsters
+against him; he spread malicious reports about him; he diminished
+his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every secret and
+underhand means which, lay in his power.</p>
+<p>One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy,
+Montagu did not come to bed till an hour later than <i>the</i>
+lower part of the school, and Brigson taught some of the little
+fellows to play all kinds of tricks to his bed and room, so that,
+when he came down, it was with the certainty of finding everything
+in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be turned right on end, and
+he would have to put it to the ground and remake it before he could
+lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the room would be thrown
+about in different corners, with no trace of the offender.
+Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain
+that this was done by Brigson's instigation, or by his own hand,
+without having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor
+Monty grew very sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly
+annoyance weighed the more heavily on his spirits, from its being
+of a kind which peculiarly grated on his refined taste, and his
+natural sense of what was gentlemanly and fair.</p>
+<p>One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a
+light under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier
+than usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they
+were at it! The instant he entered, there was a rush through the
+opposite door, and he felt convinced that one of the retreating
+figures was Brigson's. In a second he had sprung across, so as to
+prevent the rest from running, and with heaving breast and flaming
+eyes, glared at the intruders as they stood there, sheepish and
+afraid.</p>
+<p>"What!" he said angrily, "so <i>you</i> are the fellows who have
+had the cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks;
+you miserable, degraded young animals!" And he looked at the four
+or five who had not made their escape. "What! and <i>you</i> among
+them," he said with a start, as he caught the eye of Vernon
+Williams--"Oh, this is too bad." His tone showed the deepest sorrow
+and vexation, and for a moment he said no more. Instantly Vernon
+was by him.</p>
+<p>"<i>Do</i> forgive me, <i>do</i> forgive me, Montagu," he said;
+"I really didn't know it teased you so much."</p>
+<p>But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself.
+"Wretched boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh,
+as usual," he said, glancing at the complete disorder which they
+had been effecting. "Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has
+introduced another vile secret among you. Well, he shall rue it!"
+and he pointed to some small, almost invisible flakes of a whitish
+substance scattered here and there over his pillow. It was a kind
+of powder, which if once it touched the skin, caused the most
+violent and painful irritation.</p>
+<p>"By heavens, this is <i>too</i> bad!" he exclaimed, stamping his
+foot with anger. "What have I ever done to you young blackguards,
+that you should treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I
+ever harmed one of you? And <i>you</i>, too, Vernon Williams!"</p>
+<p>The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble
+glance of sorrow and scorn.</p>
+<p>"Well, I <i>know</i> who has put you up to this; but you shall
+not escape so. I shall thrash you every one."</p>
+<p>Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none.
+They took it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it;
+and when it was over, Vernon said, "Forgive me, Montagu. I am very
+sorry, and will never do so again." Montagu, without deigning a
+reply, motioned them to go, and then sat down, full of grief, on
+his bed. But the outrage was not over for that night, and no sooner
+had he put out the light than he became painfully aware that
+several boys were stealing into the room, and the next moment he
+felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of bed in an instant,
+and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had scattered the crowd
+of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A number of
+fellows had set on him in the dark--on <i>him</i>, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should
+be possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson's baseness had
+spread far indeed.</p>
+<p>He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had
+reason to repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an
+antagonist. But this did not content him; his blood was up, and he
+determined to attack the evil at its source. He strode through his
+discomfited enemies straight into Brigson's room, struck a match,
+and said, "Brigson, get out of bed this instant."</p>
+<p>"Hullo!" grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.</p>
+<p>"None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?"</p>
+<p>"No!" roared Brigson, "I should think not."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, take <i>that</i>!" he shouted, striking him in the
+face.</p>
+<p>The fight that followed was very short. In a single round
+Montagu had utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced
+to beg for mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to
+tower above him with a magnificent superiority, and there was a
+self-controlled passion about him which gave tremendous energy to
+every blow. Brigson was utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and
+took without a word the parting kick of ineffable contempt which
+Montagu bestowed on him.</p>
+<p>"There," he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all
+the dormitories at the first hint of a fight, "I, a sixth-form
+fellow, have condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom
+all you miserable lower boys have been making an idol and hero of,
+and from whom you have been so readily learning every sort of
+blackguardly and debasing trick. But let me tell you and your hero,
+that if any of you dare to annoy or lift a finger at me again, you
+shall do it at your peril. I despise you all; there is hardly one
+gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you since that fellow
+Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you know that you
+deserve it." And every one of them <i>did</i> shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.</p>
+<p>The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr.
+Rose appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his
+night-shirt, the boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose,
+which was bleeding profusely, at his basin.</p>
+<p>Montagu instantly stepped up to him. "You can trust me, sir; may
+I ask you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some
+one that deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson."</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. "I can trust
+you," he said, "Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this
+irregularity. And now get instantly to your beds."</p>
+<p>But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the
+studies, and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them
+what had occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves
+for the future to check, if they could, by all fair means,
+Brigson's pernicious influence and abominable example.</p>
+<p>But it was too late now; the mischief was done.</p>
+<p>"O Eric," said Montagu, "why did you not make a stand against
+all this before? Your own brother was one of them."</p>
+<p>"Little wretch. I'll kick him well for it," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"No, no!" said Montagu, "that'll do no good. Try rather to look
+after him a little more."</p>
+<p>"I hope <i>you</i> will forgive him, and try and rescue
+him."</p>
+<p>"I will do what I can," said Montagu, coldly.</p>
+<p>Eric sighed, and they parted.</p>
+<p>Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off
+all open connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do
+so. But that personage kept carefully out of his way until the
+first burst of indignation against him had subsided, and after a
+time began to address Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he
+had completely regained his ascendancy over the lower part of the
+school, which was not difficult, because they were wincing under
+Montagu's contempt, and mingled no little dislike with it; a
+dislike which all are too apt to feel towards those whose very
+presence and moral superiority are a tacit rebuke of their own
+failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at the zenith of
+popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously encouraged. He
+was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a large score
+at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All this he
+was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the reasons
+why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to
+stand in much the same relation to him as before.</p>
+<p>The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much,
+and the sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main
+parties--the one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by
+Duncan, who devoted themselves to the games and diversions of the
+school, and troubled themselves comparatively little about anything
+else; the other, headed by Montagu, who took the lead in
+intellectual pursuits, and endeavored, by every means in their
+power, to counteract the pernicious effects of the spreading
+immorality.</p>
+<p>And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved
+boy, and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was
+disunion, misery, and deterioration. The community which had once
+been peaceful, happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy
+and heart-burnings; every boy's hand seemed to be against his
+neighbor; lying, bad language, dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and
+the few who, like Owen and Montagu, remained uncontaminated by the
+general mischief, walked alone and despondent amid their
+uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>WILDNEY</h3>
+<blockquote>"That punishment's the best to bear<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; That follows soonest on the sin,<br>
+And guilt's a game where losers fare<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Better than those who seem to win."<br>
+<br>
+COV. PATMORE.</blockquote>
+<p>At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded
+to one of the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which
+adjoined it.</p>
+<p>Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of
+disobedience, had frequented the studies a good deal, but it was
+generally understood that no study-boy might ask any one to be a
+regular visitor to his room without the leave of its other
+occupant.</p>
+<p>So one evening Duncan said to Eric, "Do you know little
+Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the
+great black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I
+don't know him."</p>
+<p>"Well, he's a very nice little fellow; a regular devil"</p>
+<p>"Humph!" said Eric, laughing; "I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very
+nice little fellow."</p>
+<p>"Pooh!" said Duncan; "you know well enough what I mean; I mean
+he's not one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has
+lots of fun in him."</p>
+<p>"Well, what of him?"</p>
+<p>"Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study
+when he likes?"</p>
+<p>"Not the least in the world."</p>
+<p>"Very well, I'll go and fetch him now. But wouldn't you like to
+ask your brother Vernon to come in too whenever he's inclined?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Eric, "I don't care. He does come every now and
+then."</p>
+<p>Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was
+thinking <i>why</i> he didn't give Vernon the free run of his
+study. He would not admit to himself the true reason, which was,
+that he had too much ground to fear that his example would do his
+brother no good.</p>
+<p>Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright,
+engaging, spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him
+which took Eric's fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of
+the lower fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in
+school, and was in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was
+"taken up" by Eric, he had been a regular little hero among his
+compeers, because he was game for any kind of mischief, and, in the
+new tone of popular morality, his fearless disregard of rules made
+him the object of general admiration. From this time, however, he
+was much in the studies, and unhappily carried with him to those
+upper regions the temptation to a deeper and more injurious class
+of transgressions than had yet penetrated there.</p>
+<p>It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised
+little son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first
+asked the child to frequent their study.</p>
+<p>It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed,
+but there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric's knee by the study
+fire, while Duncan was doing some Arnold's verses for him to be
+shown up next day.</p>
+<p>"Bother these verses," said Duncan, "I shall have a whiff. Do
+you mind, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"No; not at all."</p>
+<p>"Give me a weed, too," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"What! young un--you don't mean to say you smoke?" asked Eric in
+surprise.</p>
+<p>"Don't I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went
+and smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday."</p>
+<p>"Phew!" said Eric, "then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you
+in countenance;" and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had
+touched one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him
+gloomy and silent. "Tempora mutantur," thought he, "nos et mutamur
+in illis."</p>
+<p>"Why, how glum you are," said Wildney, patting him on the
+head.</p>
+<p>"O no!" said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. "Look," he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, "what
+a glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars."</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Duncan, yawning; "this smoking makes one very
+thirsty. I wish I'd some beer."</p>
+<p>"Well, why shouldn't we get some?" said Wildney "it would he
+very jolly."</p>
+<p>"Get some! What! at this time of night?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; I'll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before
+ten."</p>
+<p>"Nonsense," said Eric; "it aint worth while."</p>
+<p>"I believe you think I'm afraid," said Wildney, laughing, and
+looking at Eric with his dark eyes; "and what's more, I believe
+<i>you're</i> afraid."</p>
+<p>"Little whippersnapper!" said Eric, coloring, "as if I was
+afraid to do anything <i>you</i> dare do. I'll go with you at once,
+if you like."</p>
+<p>"What are you thinking of?" asked Duncan. "I don't care twopence
+about the beer, and I hope you won't go."</p>
+<p>"But I will, though," said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney,
+of all people, should think him wanting in pluck.</p>
+<p>"But how will you get out?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, <i>I'll</i> show you a dodge there," said Wildney. "Come
+along. Have you a dark lantern?"</p>
+<p>"No, but I'll get Llewellyn's."</p>
+<p>"Come along then."</p>
+<p>So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying
+the dark lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a
+secret which had long been known to the lower part of the
+school.</p>
+<p>"Ibant obscuri dubi&acirc; sub luce." He led them quietly down
+stairs, stole with them noiselessly past the library door, and took
+them to a window in the passage, where a pane was broken.</p>
+<p>"Could you get through that?" he whispered to Eric, "if we broke
+away the rest of the glass?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know. But, then, there's the bar outside."</p>
+<p>"Oh, I'll manage that. But will you go and peep through the
+key-hole of the library, and see who's there, Duncan?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Duncan, bluntly, "no key-holes for me."</p>
+<p>"Hush! then <i>I</i> will," and he glided away, while Eric, as
+quietly as he could, broke away the glass until it was all
+removed.</p>
+<p>"There's only old Stupid," whispered he, irreverently
+designating an under-master named Harley, "and he's asleep before
+the fire. Now, then, just lift me up, Eric, will you?"</p>
+<p>Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end
+of the bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long
+driven into the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened,
+and only wanted a little pull to bring them out. In one minute
+Wildney had unfastened and pushed down one end of the bar. He then
+got through the broken pane, and dropped down outside. Eric
+followed with some little difficulty, for the aperture would only
+just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to the study,
+anxiously awaited their return.</p>
+<p>It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant
+and cool. But Eric's first thought, as he dropped on to the ground,
+was one of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere
+child, so easily to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had
+hardly thought till then of what their errand was to be, but now
+his couldn't help so strongly disapproving of it, that he was
+half-inclined to turn back. He did not, however, dare to suggest
+this, lest Wildney should charge him with cowardice, and betray it
+to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own excitement, the
+stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.</p>
+<p>"I hope we shan't be seen crossing the play-ground," said
+Wildney. "My eye, shouldn't we catch it!"</p>
+<p>He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air
+of nonchalance, and played the part of protector.</p>
+<p>"Here, take my arm," he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight,
+instead of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one
+so much his junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by
+community of danger and interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly
+struck him that he didn't know where they were going to buy the
+beer. He asked Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I see you're not half up to snuff," said Wildney, whose
+courage had risen; "I'll show you."</p>
+<p>He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were
+booming, and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in
+they saw some sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in
+tobacco-smoke.</p>
+<p>The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held
+up a light to see who they were.</p>
+<p>"Hollo, Billy," said Wildney, confidentially, "all serene; give
+us two bottles of beer--on tick, you know."</p>
+<p>"Yessir--d'reckly," said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the
+eyes. "So you're out for a spree," he continued, winking in a
+knowing way. "Won't you walk into the back-parlor while I get
+them?" And he showed them into a dingy horrid room behind the
+house, stale with smoke, and begrimed with dust.</p>
+<p>Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home.
+The man soon returned with the beer. "Wouldn't you like a glass of
+summat now, young gen'lmen?" he asked, in an insinuating way.</p>
+<p>"No, Billy! don't jabber--we must be off. Here open the
+door."</p>
+<p>"Stop, I'll pay," said Eric. "What's the damage?"</p>
+<p>"Three shilling, sir," said the man. "Glad to see a new
+customer, sir." He pocketed the money, and showed them, out,
+standing to look after them with a malicious leer as they
+disappeared, and jerking his left thumb over his shoulder.</p>
+<p>"Faugh!" said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again
+into the moonlight, "what a poisonous place! Good gracious,
+Charlie, who introduced you there?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I don't think much of going <i>there</i>" said Wildney,
+carelessly; "we go every-week almost."</p>
+<p>"We! who?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call
+the 'Anti-muffs,' and that's our smoking-room."</p>
+<p>"And is that horrid beast the landlord?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there's no harm in him
+that I know of."</p>
+<p>But Eric only "phewed" again two or three times, and thought of
+Montagu.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into
+the deep shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, "Look!"</p>
+<p>Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He
+had heard voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at
+their sudden cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking
+round.</p>
+<p>"We must run for it," whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose
+approached the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and
+scampered away as hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by
+taking his hand, and neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr.
+Rose following them at first, but soon distanced him, and reached a
+place where two roads met, either of which would lead to the
+school.</p>
+<p>"We won't go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What
+fun!" said Wildney, laughing.</p>
+<p>"What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of
+dodges," said Eric.</p>
+<p>They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got
+to the school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected
+their entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his
+study, and Wildney to his dormitory.</p>
+<p>"Here's a go!" said the latter, as they ran up stairs; "I've
+smashed one of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and
+my trousers are deluged with the stuff."</p>
+<p>They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose's step was heard on the
+stairs. He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight
+of two boys and the sound of their voices startled him in the
+street, and their sudden disappearance made him sure that they were
+Roslyn boys, particularly when they began to run. He strongly
+suspected that he recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore
+made straight for his dormitory, which he entered, just as that
+worthy had thrust the beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr.
+Rose, walked up quietly to his bedside, and observed that he was
+not asleep, and that he still had half has clothes on. He was going
+away when he saw a little bit of the trousers protruding under the
+mattress, and giving a pull, out they came, wringing wet with the
+streams of beer. He could not tell at first what this imported, but
+a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket with, a crash on
+the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of Wildney's
+pretended sleep, he said, quietly, "Come to me before breakfast
+tomorrow, Wildney," and went down stairs.</p>
+<p>Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly
+attempting to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring
+auditors the night's adventure; being evidently rather prouder of
+the "Eric and I," which he introduced every now and then into his
+story.</p>
+<p>"Has he twigged you?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"And me?"</p>
+<p>"I don't know; we shall see to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"I hope not," said Eric; "I'm sorry for you, Charlie."</p>
+<p>"Can't be cured, must be endured," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Well, good night! and don't lose heart."</p>
+<p>Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the
+other bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment,
+because they were full of surmises as to the extent of the
+discovery, and the nature of the punishment.</p>
+<p>Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.</p>
+<p>He listened very coldly, and said, "Well, Eric, it would serve
+you right to be caught. What business have you to be going out at
+night, at the invitation of contemptible small fry, like this
+little Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"I beg you won't speak of any friend of mine in those terms,"
+said Eric, drawing up haughtily.</p>
+<p>"I hope you don't call a bad little boy like Wildney, who'd be
+no credit to any one, <i>your</i> friend, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes I do, though. He's one of the pluckiest, finest, most
+promising fellows in the lower school."</p>
+<p>"How I begin to hate that word plucky," said Montagu; "it's made
+the excuse here for everything that's wrong, base, and unmanly. It
+seems to me it's infinitely more 'plucky' just now to do your duty
+and not be ashamed of it."</p>
+<p>"You've certainly required <i>that</i> kind of pluck to bear you
+up lately, Monty," said Owen, looking up from his books.</p>
+<p>"Pluck!" said Montagu, scornfully; "you seem to me to think it
+consists in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious
+Brigson, and joining hand and glove with the dregs of the
+school."</p>
+<p>"Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you're cool, to speak of any
+of my associates in that way," said Eric, now thoroughly angry.</p>
+<p>"Associates!" retorted Montagu, hotly; "pretty associates! How
+do you expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the
+school like you have such dealings with the refined honorable
+Brigson, and the exemplary intellectual Wildney?"</p>
+<p>"You're a couple of confounded muffs," shouted Eric, banging the
+door, and flinging into his own study again without farther
+reply.</p>
+<p>"Hav'n't you been a little hard on him, considering the row he's
+in?" asked Owen.</p>
+<p>Montagu's head was resting on his hand as he bent over the
+table. "Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the
+present state of things? Yes, you're right," he said, after a
+pause; "<i>this</i> wasn't the time to speak. I'll go and talk to
+him again. But how utterly changed he is!"</p>
+<p>He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an
+affectation of noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--</p>
+<p>"Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt
+to express myself strongly." He could not trust himself to say
+more, but held out his hand.</p>
+<p>Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.</p>
+<p>"Come, Eric, it isn't <i>wholly</i> my fault, is it, that we are
+not so warm to each other as we were when ..."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Monty, Monty!" said Eric, softened by the allusion; and
+warmly grasped his friend's proffered hand.</p>
+<p>"Oh, Eric!"</p>
+<p>The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they
+felt that while things continued thus their friendship could not
+last. It was a sad thought for both.</p>
+<p>Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained
+great reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to
+drop the least hint as to their means of getting out, or their
+purpose in visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained
+undiscovered, and when any boy wanted to get out at
+night--(unhappily the trick now became common enough)--he had only
+to break a pane of glass in that particular window, which, as it
+was in the passage, often remained unmended and undiscovered for
+weeks.</p>
+<p>After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, "I want to
+speak to you."</p>
+<p>The boy's heart misgave him as they entered the familiar
+library.</p>
+<p>"I think I suspect who was Wildney's companion."</p>
+<p>Eric was silent.</p>
+<p>"I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague
+suspicion; but the boy whom I <i>do</i> suspect is one whose course
+lately has given me the deepest pain; one who has violated all the
+early promise he gave; one who seems to be going farther and
+farther astray, and sacrificing all moral principle to the ghost of
+a fleeting and most despicable popularity--to the approval of those
+whom he cannot himself approve."</p>
+<p>Eric still silent.</p>
+<p>"Whatever you do <i>yourself</i>, Williams"--(it was the first
+time for two years that Mr. Rose had called him "Williams," and he
+winced a little)--"whatever you do <i>yourself</i>, Williams, rests
+with <i>you</i>; but remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and
+more accursed crime to set stumbling-blocks in the way of others,
+and abuse your influence to cause any of Christ's little ones to
+perish."</p>
+<p>"I wasn't the tempter, however," thought Eric, still silent.</p>
+<p>"Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me,
+Williams, I grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you
+is no less warm, though my affection for you cannot be the same.
+You may go."</p>
+<p>"Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not
+asked me to see him once this term," thought Eric, sadly; but a
+shout of pleasure greeted him directly he joined the football in
+the play-ground, and, half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard
+it, and understood that was meant for the boy whom he had just been
+rebuking. "Well, after all," he thought, "I have <i>some</i>
+friends still."</p>
+<p>Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy
+whom he really respected ever walked with him now. Even little
+Wright, one of the very few lower boys who had risen superior to
+Brigson's temptations, seemed to keep clear of him as much as he
+could; and, in absolute vacuity, he was obliged to associate with
+fellows like Attlay, and Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.</p>
+<p>Even with Bull! All Eric's repugnance for this boy seemed to
+have evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance,
+were sworn friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation
+as was pursued unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay,
+worse, it had lost its horror, and he was neither afraid nor
+ashamed to join in it himself. This plague-spot had fretted more
+deeply than any other into the heart of the school morality, and
+the least boys seemed the greatest proficients in unbaring without
+a blush, its hideous ugliness.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>"THE JOLLY HERRING"</h3>
+<blockquote>"Velut unda supervenit undam."--VIRGIL.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams' company to a
+spread they are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four,
+in their smoking-room--</p>
+<p>A note to this effect was put into Eric's hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew
+whether to be pleased or disgusted at it.</p>
+<p>He tossed it to Duncan, and said, "What shall I do?"</p>
+<p>Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the
+fire.</p>
+<p>"I'd give them that answer, and no other."</p>
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+<p>"Because, Eric," said Duncan, with more seriousness than was
+usual with him, "I can't help thinking things have gone too far
+lately."</p>
+<p>"How do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"Well, I'm no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that
+the fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse.
+Your friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid
+down a law that <i>no work</i> is to be done down stairs ever under
+any pretence, and it's only by getting into one of the studies that
+good little chaps like Wright can get on at all. Even in the
+class-rooms there's so much row and confusion that the mere thought
+of work is ridiculous."</p>
+<p>"Well, there's no great harm in a little noise, if that's
+all."</p>
+<p>"But it isn't all. The talk of nearly the whole school is
+getting most blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney
+was chatting with Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not
+have been here) while I was reading; they didn't seem to mind me,
+and I'm sure you'd have been vexed to the heart if you'd heard how
+they talked to each other. At last I couldn't stand it any longer,
+and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears smartly, and kicked them
+down stairs."</p>
+<p>As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, "And I wish it ended in
+talk, but----"</p>
+<p>"But I believe you're turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we're only
+schoolboys; it'll be lots of time to turn saint some other
+day."</p>
+<p>Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition.
+"You don't want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the
+rosebuds, do you?"</p>
+<p>There was something of assumed bravado in Eric's whole manner
+which jarred on Duncan exceedingly. "Do as you like," he said,
+curtly, and went into another study.</p>
+<p>Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney,
+as he often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping
+his trousers over his nightshirt, and running up to the
+studies.</p>
+<p>"Well, you'll come to the Anti-muffs, won't you?" he said.</p>
+<p>"To that pestilential place again?--not I."</p>
+<p>Wildney looked offended. "Not after we've all asked you? The
+fellows won't half like your refusing."</p>
+<p>He had touched Eric's weak point.</p>
+<p>"Do come," he said, looking up in Eric's face.</p>
+<p>"Confound it all," answered Eric, hastily. "Yes, I've no
+friends, I'll come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy."</p>
+<p>"That's a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows.
+They'll be no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you."
+And he scampered off, leaving Eric ill at ease.</p>
+<p>Duncan didn't re-enter the study that evening.</p>
+<p>The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the
+way to Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and
+said--</p>
+<p>"Are you going to the Anti-muffs?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; why? are you going too?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; do you mind our going together?"</p>
+<p>"Not at all."</p>
+<p>In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep
+him in countenance, for he felt considerably more than half
+ashamed of himself.</p>
+<p>They went to "The Jolly Herring," as the pot-house was called,
+and passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor,
+to which Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen
+boys were assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as
+the two new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room,
+which was regularly spread for dinner.</p>
+<p>"Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose," called Brigson. "I
+vote, boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair."</p>
+<p>"Hear! hear!" said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his
+will, found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson
+and Bull on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom
+they called Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the
+table, and some fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample
+justice to the [Greek: daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them.
+There was immense uproar during the dinner, every one eating as
+fast, and talking as loud, as he could.</p>
+<p>The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.</p>
+<p>"Now for the dessert, Billy," called several voices; and that
+worthy proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and
+four black bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these
+dainties, and one boy shouted, "I say, I've had no wine."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy--it's cheaper,"
+said Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the
+boys diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.</p>
+<p>"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got
+a health; 'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the
+anti's.'"</p>
+<p>"And their chairman,' suggested Wildney.</p>
+<p>"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added
+Brigson.</p>
+<p>The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank
+them.</p>
+<p>"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and
+there's no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am
+much obliged to you for asking me; and now I call for a song."</p>
+<p>"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.</p>
+<p>Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least
+bashfulness--</p>
+<blockquote>"Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Until it does run overt<br>
+Come, landlord, fill," &amp;c</blockquote>
+<p>"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--</p>
+<blockquote>"For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+For to-night we'll merry merry be!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To-morrow we'll be sober!"</blockquote>
+<p>While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round
+the room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could
+not recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame
+passed over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and
+Brigson heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not
+help observing what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of
+Russell came back to him. Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was
+in such company at such a place! And by the door stood Billy,
+watching them all like an evil spirit, with a leer of saturnine
+malice on his evil face.</p>
+<p>But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric's bitter
+thoughts, sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him,
+shining out like a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like
+blood-guiltiness on his soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning
+the young boy's presence in that degraded assemblage.</p>
+<p>Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of "cav&eacute;, cav&eacute;." In an
+instant the room was in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon
+the floor, the table was overturned with a mighty crash, and
+plates, glasses, and bottles rushed on to the ground in shivers.
+Nearly every one bolted for the door, which led through the passage
+into the street; and in their headlong flight and selfishness, they
+stumbled over each other, and prevented all egress, several being
+knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made for the
+tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there stood
+Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was
+the work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters
+quickly took down the names of full half the boys who, in the
+suddenness of the surprise, had been unable to make their exit.</p>
+<p>And Eric?</p>
+<p>The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney
+seize his hand, and whisper, "This way all serene;" following, he
+groped his way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney,
+shoving aside a green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door,
+which at once let them into a little garden. There they both
+crouched down, under a lilac tree beside the house, and listened
+intently.</p>
+<p>There was no need for this precaution; their door remained
+unsuspected, and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into
+the house again, they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that
+the masters had gone, and all was safe.</p>
+<p>"Glad ye're not twigged, gen'lmen," he said; "but there'll be a
+pretty sight of damage for all this glass and plates."</p>
+<p>"Shut up with your glass and plates," said Wildney. "Here, Eric,
+we must cut for it again."</p>
+<p>It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the
+close room into the open air, and they had to consider which way
+they would choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the
+wrong, but escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney's old short
+cut. As they ran they passed several boys (who having been caught,
+were walking home leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered,
+when they both answered their names quite innocently at the
+roll-call, immediately after lock up.</p>
+<p>"What lucky dogs you are to get off," said many boys to
+them.</p>
+<p>"Yes, it's precious lucky for me," said Wildney. "If I'd been
+caught at this kind of thing a second time, I should have got
+something worse than a swishing."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's all through you I escaped," said Eric, "you knowing
+little scamp."</p>
+<p>"I'm glad of it, Eric," said Wildney in his fascinating way,
+"since it is all through me you went. It's rather too hazardous
+though; we must manage better another time."</p>
+<p>During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that
+none of the sixth form or other study boys would particularly
+sympathise with his late associates. Since the previous evening he
+had been cool with Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised
+him as a boy who'd do anything to be popular; so he sat there
+silent, looking as disdainful as he could, and not touching the
+tea, for which he felt disinclined after the recent potations. But
+the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving heart, and he felt
+how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How gladly would
+he have changed places with them! how much he would have given to
+recover some of their forfeited esteem!</p>
+<p>The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room
+for a few minutes while the tables were cleared for "preparation,"
+and the boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the
+study and class-room boys were expected to go away during this
+interval; but Eric, not noticing Mr. Rose's entrance, sat
+gossipping with Wildney about the dinner and its possible
+consequences to the school.</p>
+<p>He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the
+other, and bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that
+he looked like a regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the
+Jolly Herring, and Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended
+by the simile.</p>
+<p>"Hush! no more talking," said Mr. Rose, who did everything very
+gently and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger,
+and had always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he
+didn't think he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment
+he did not, so Wildney began to chatter again.</p>
+<p>"All study boys to leave the room," said Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone
+away, but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney's eye, and
+besides wanted to show off a little indifference to his old master,
+with whom he had had no intercourse since their last-mentioned
+conversation.</p>
+<p>"Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after
+I have dismissed you?" said Mr. Rose sternly.</p>
+<p>Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this
+speech created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was
+going out of the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all
+his proud and dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten
+something, he walked conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to
+him, "I shan't go if he chooses to speak like that."</p>
+<p>A red flush passed over Mr. Rose's cheek; he took two strides to
+Eric, and laid the cane sharply once across his back.</p>
+<p>Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had
+done. His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events
+of the evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane,
+which he had not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He
+bounded up, sprang towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what
+he was about, had wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it
+violently in the middle until it broke, and flung one of the pieces
+furiously into the fire.</p>
+<p>For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr.
+Rose--stood facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy
+panting and passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on
+fire; the master pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but
+perfectly self-collected.</p>
+<p>"After that exhibition," said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet
+dignity, "you had better leave the room."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I had," answered Eric bitterly; "there's your cane." And,
+flinging the other fragment at Mr. Rose's head, he strode blindly
+out of the room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning
+several boys in his way. He then banged the door with all his
+force, and rushed up into his study.</p>
+<p>Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor,
+asked, after a moment's awkward silence, "Is anything the matter,
+Williams?"</p>
+<p>"Williams!" echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; "yes, that's
+always the way with a fellow when he's in trouble. I always know
+what's coming when you begin to leave off calling me by my
+Christian name."</p>
+<p>"Very well, then," said Duncan, good-humoredly, "what's the
+matter, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Matter?" answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with
+an angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything
+which came in his way. "Matter? hang you all, you are all turning
+against me, because you are a set of muffs, and----"</p>
+<p>"Take care!" said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric's look,
+and stopped.</p>
+<p>"And I've been breaking Rose's cane over his head, because he
+had the impudence to touch, me with it, and----"</p>
+<p>"Eric, you're not yourself to-night," said Duncan, interrupting,
+but speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric's hand, he looked
+him steadily in the face.</p>
+<p>Their eyes met; the boy's false self once more slipped off. By a
+strong effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of
+drink had caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to
+speak again, or even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell
+rang.</p>
+<p>Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done
+with him, Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after
+prayers into Montagu's, and talked with him over the recent events,
+of which the boys' minds were all full.</p>
+<p>But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing
+nothing, and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to
+resent his presence.</p>
+<p>"So!" he said, looking up at the ceiling, "another saint come to
+cast a stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned," he
+continued, dropping his cheek on his hand again; "only don't let
+the sermon be long."</p>
+<p>But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated
+himself by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.</p>
+<p>"Come, Eric," said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling
+him; "I won't be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won't you
+even look? Oh Eric, one wouldn't have fancied this in past days,
+when we were so much together with one who is dead. It's a long
+long time since we've eyen alluded to him, but <i>I</i> shall never
+forget those happy days."</p>
+<p>Eric heaved a deep sigh.</p>
+<p>"I'm not come to reproach you. You don't give me a friend's
+right to reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow,
+I can't help being sorry for all this. I did hope you'd have broken
+with Brigson after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which
+he treated me. I don't think you <i>can</i> know the mischief he is
+doing."</p>
+<p>The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric's eye, "Ah!" he
+said, "it's all of no use; you're all giving me the cold shoulder,
+and I'm going to the bad, that's the long and short of it."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents' sake, for the
+school's sake, for all your real friends' sake, don't talk in that
+bitter hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool
+or the patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you.
+I <i>do</i> hope you'll join us even yet in resisting them."</p>
+<p>Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his
+emotion. "I can't talk, Monty," he said, in an altered tone; "but
+leave me now; and if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Most willingly, Eric." And again, warmly pressing his hand,
+Montagu returned to his own study.</p>
+<p>Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric's door. He expected
+Wildney as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him,
+and hoping he would come, but he didn't want to see him now, so he
+answered rather peevishly, "Come in; but I don't want to be
+bothered to-night."</p>
+<p>Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. "May I come in?
+not if it bothers you, Eric," he said, gently.</p>
+<p>"Oh, Verny, I didn't know it was you; I thought it would be
+Wildney. You <i>never</i> come now."</p>
+<p>The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say,
+"Whose fault is that?"</p>
+<p>"Come here, Verny;" and Eric drew him towards him, and put him
+on his knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the
+child's eyes.</p>
+<p>It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had
+been alone together, the first time for many a long day that any
+acts of kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember
+this, and, at the same time, to remember home, and their absent
+parents, and their mother's prayers, and all the quiet
+half-forgotten vista of innocent pleasures, and sacred
+relationships, and holy affections. And why did they see each other
+so little at school? Their consciences told them both, that either
+wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and forgetfulness
+of God.</p>
+<p>They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since
+they were children, each brother put his arm round the other's
+neck, and remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his
+cruel heartless selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far
+astray; left him as a prey to such boys as were his companions in
+the lower school.</p>
+<p>"Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?"</p>
+<p>"You!" said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. "Good heavens!
+I didn't notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I'd
+known you were there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such,
+a bad example."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I was there, and I was caught."</p>
+<p>"Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can't
+get much done to you."</p>
+<p>"It isn't <i>that</i> I care for; I've been flogged before, you
+know. But--may I say something?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Vernon, anything you like."</p>
+<p>"Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to
+Mr. Rose to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course;
+but I could have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn't have minded
+if it had been anybody but Rose."</p>
+<p>"But why?"</p>
+<p>"Because, Eric, he's been so good, so kind to both of us. You've
+often told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he's done such,
+lots of kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was
+caught, he sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so
+gently, about the wickedness of going to such low places, and about
+so young a boy as I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it
+and--and"--His voice was choked by sobs for a time,--"and then he
+knelt down and prayed for me, so as I have never heard any one pray
+but mother;--and do you know, Eric, it was strange, but I thought I
+<i>did</i> hear our mother's voice praying for me too, while he
+prayed, and"--He tried in vain to go on; but Eric's conscience
+continued for him; "and just as he had ceased doing this for one
+brother, the other brother, for whom he has often done the same,
+treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence."</p>
+<p>"Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think
+that while I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at
+home. And, oh, Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you
+were talking the other day."</p>
+<p>Vernon hid his face on Eric's shoulder; and as his brother
+stooped over him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in
+silence, until wearied with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and
+then Eric carried him tenderly down stairs, and laid him, still
+half-sleeping, upon his bed.</p>
+<p>He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other
+boys had not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat
+down on his brother's bed to think, shading off the light of the
+candle with his hand. It was rarely now that Eric's thoughts were
+so rich with the memories of childhood, and sombre with the
+consciousness of sin, as they were that night, while he gazed on
+his brother Vernon's face. He did not know what made him look so
+long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an unconjectured
+foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a summer
+cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but
+there was an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and
+the long eyelashes were still wet with tears.</p>
+<p>"Poor child," thought Eric; "dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow."</p>
+<p>He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that
+<i>he</i> too would come in for certain punishment the next
+day.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON</h3>
+<blockquote>"Raro antecedentem scelestum<br>
+Deseruit pede Poena claudo."--HOR.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his
+boarders on the previous day's discovery, and in a few forcible
+vivid words set before them, the enormity of the offence. He ended
+by announcing that the boys who were caught would be
+birched,--"except the elder ones, Bull and Brigson, who will bring
+me one hundred lines every hour of the half-holidays till further
+notice. There are some," he said, "I am well aware, who, though
+present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for it, for
+<i>their</i> sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden." On
+leaving the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric
+obeyed, and stood before the head-master with downcast eyes.</p>
+<p>"Williams," he said, "I have had a great regard for you, and
+felt a deep interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew
+your excellent parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of
+your future course, and your abilities seemed likely to blossom
+into noble fruit. But you fell off greatly, and grew idle and
+careless. At last an event happened, in which for a time you acted
+worthily of yourself, and which seemed to arouse you from your
+negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you revived; but as I
+continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps, than you
+supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure
+that you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two
+years ago. I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply
+fear, Williams, I deeply fear, that in <i>other</i> respects also
+you are going the down-hill road. And what am I to think now, when
+on the <i>same</i> morning, you and your little brother <i>both</i>
+come before me for such serious and heavy faults? I cannot free you
+from blame even for <i>his</i> misdoings, for you are his natural
+guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved with him
+in that charge."</p>
+<p>"Let <i>me</i> bear the punishment, sir, instead of him," said
+Eric, by a sudden impulse; "for I misled him, and was there
+myself."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. "You, Williams! on
+the verge of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the
+state of things among you is even worse than I had supposed."</p>
+<p>Eric again hung his head.</p>
+<p>"No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at
+present I shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware.
+But I must turn to the other matter. What excuse have you for your
+intolerable conduct to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from
+the first the most unusual and disinterested kindness?"</p>
+<p>"I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not
+control my passion."</p>
+<p>"Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I
+shall make you read aloud before the whole school at twelve
+to-day."</p>
+<p>Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr Rowlands
+glanced at it. "Come to me again at twelve," he said.</p>
+<p>At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and
+miserable, followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The
+masters stood at one end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who,
+however, appeared an indifferent and uninterested spectator of the
+transaction. Every eye was fixed on Eric, and every one pitied
+him.</p>
+<p>"We are assembled," said Dr. Rowlands, "for an act of justice.
+One of your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed
+of his conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will
+read. I had intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr.
+Rose has earnestly begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to
+his wishes. Williams, read your apology."</p>
+<p>There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to
+utter a word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his
+voice, and read, but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even
+those nearest him heard what he was saying.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. "Owing," he said, "to a
+very natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in
+such a way that you could not have understood it. I will therefore
+read it myself. It is to this effect--</p>
+<p>"'I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.'</p>
+<p>"You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his
+own expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and
+compunction for the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted
+to elevate him into a hero, for a folly which he himself so much
+regrets. This affair,--as I should wish all bad deeds to be after
+they have once been punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope
+forgotten."</p>
+<p>They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all
+shunned and looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu
+came, and taking his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with
+him. It was a constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad
+when it was over, although Montagu did all he could to show that he
+loved Eric no less than before. Still it was weeks since they had
+been much together, and they had far fewer things in common now
+than they used to have.</p>
+<p>"I'm so wretched, Monty," said Eric at last; "do you think Rose
+despises me?"</p>
+<p>"I am <i>sure</i> of the contrary. Won't you go to him, Eric,
+and say all you feel?"</p>
+<p>"Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the
+last two years!"</p>
+<p>"You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same
+words comfort you that have often brought hope to me--'I will
+restore the years which the locust hath eaten.'"</p>
+<p>They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the
+library. Mr. Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as
+usual, and Eric went up to the fire-place where he was standing.
+They had often stood by that library fire on far different
+terms.</p>
+<p>"Forgive me, sir," was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed
+to his eyes.</p>
+<p>"Freely, my boy," said Mr. Rose, sadly. "I wish you could feel
+how fully I forgive you; but," he added, laying his hand for the
+last time on Eric's head, "you have far more, Eric, to forgive
+yourself. I will not talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I
+fear; but you little know how much I pity and tremble for you."</p>
+<p>While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group
+was collected round the fire-place in the boarders' room, and many
+tongues were loudly discussing the recent events.</p>
+<p>Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom
+Mr. Rose had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them
+far more than they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for
+them in private, when his weak frame was harassed by suffering;
+many a sleepless night had he wrestled for them in prayer, when,
+for their sakes, his own many troubles were laid aside. Work on,
+Walter Rose, and He who seeth in secret will reward you openly! but
+expect no gratitude from those for whose salvation you, like the
+great tenderhearted apostle, would almost be ready to wish yourself
+accursed.</p>
+<p>Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It
+had long been Brigson's cue to do so; he derided him on every
+opportunity, and delighted to represent him as hypocritical and
+insincere. Even his weak health was the subject of Brigson's coarse
+ridicule, and the bad boy paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute
+which vice must ever accord to excellence.</p>
+<p>"You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him," said
+Brigson; "why, even that old beast Gordon isn't as bad."</p>
+<p>"Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton's
+serpent," drawled Bull;</p>
+<blockquote>"Hope elevates and joy brightens his
+crest."</blockquote>
+<p>"He-e-ar! He-e-ar!" said Pietrie; "<i>vide</i> the last fifth
+form Rep."</p>
+<p>"I expect Eric won't see everything so much <i>couleur de
+Rose</i> now, as the French frog hath it," remarked Graham.</p>
+<p>"It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly," observed
+Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I say, you fellows," remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was
+sitting reading a book at one of the desks, "all that isn't fair.
+I'm sure you all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he
+said, you know, that it was merely for the sake of school
+discipline that he put the matter in Rowlands' hands."</p>
+<p>"Discipline be hanged," shouted Brigson; "we'll have our revenge
+on him yet, discipline or no."</p>
+<p>"I hope you won't, though," said Vernon; "I know Eric will be
+sorry if you do."</p>
+<p>"The more muff he. We shall do as we like."</p>
+<p>"Well, I shall tell him; and I'm sure he'll ask you not. You
+know how he tries to stick up for Rose."</p>
+<p>"If you say a word more," said Brigson, unaccustomed to being
+opposed among his knot of courtiers, "I'll kick you out of the
+room; you and that wretched little fool there with you."</p>
+<p>"You may do as you like," answered Wright, quietly, "but you
+won't go on like this long, I can tell you."</p>
+<p>Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with
+flinging a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which
+narrowly missed his head.</p>
+<p>"I have it!" said Brigson; "that little donkey's given me an
+idea. We'll <i>crust</i> Rose to-night."</p>
+<p>"To crust," gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person
+with crusts.</p>
+<p>"Capital!" said some of the worst boys present; "we will."</p>
+<p>"Well, who'll take part?"</p>
+<p>No one offered. "What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards?
+Here, Wildney, won't you? you were abusing Rose just now."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I will," said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. "You'll
+not have done till you've got us all expelled, I believe."</p>
+<p>"Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can't expel
+half the school."</p>
+<p>First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining
+courage by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and
+Graham were to put out the lights at each end of one table
+immediately after tea, and Wildney and Brooking at the other, when
+the study fellows had gone out. There would then be only Mr. Rose's
+candle burning, and the two middle candles, which, in so large a
+room, would just give enough light for their purpose. Then all the
+conspirators were to throng around the door, and from it aim their
+crusts at Mr. Rose's head, Not nearly so many would have
+volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too gentle
+to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by his
+quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.</p>
+<p>Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that
+numbers of boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting
+off the crusts, and breaking them into good-sized bits.</p>
+<p>Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly
+reading in his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental)
+dropping of a plate by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.</p>
+<p>Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in
+the fall.</p>
+<p>Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried
+movement towards the door, and a murmur of voices.</p>
+<p>"Now then," said Brigson, in a loud whisper, "what a funky set
+you are! Here goes?"</p>
+<p>The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had
+just looked up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson's
+crust caught him a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.</p>
+<p>In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew
+by or hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the
+door. Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the
+passage, and if he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm
+might have followed. But he did not. Going to the door, he said,
+"Preparation will be in five minutes; every boy not then in his
+place will be punished."</p>
+<p>During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea,
+full of wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no
+notice of any one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their
+places, with their books open before them, and in the thrilling
+silence you might have heard a pin drop. Every one felt that Mr.
+Rose was master of the occasion, and awaited his next step in
+terrified suspense.</p>
+<p>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.</p>
+<p>"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 <i>had</i>, something noble in him, I left
+that matter in the Doctor's hands. I shall <i>not</i> do so
+to-night. Which of you put out the candles?"</p>
+<p>Dead silence. A pause.</p>
+<p>"Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at
+me?"</p>
+<p>Still silence.</p>
+<p>"I warn you that I <i>will</i> know, and it will be far worse
+for the guilty if I do not know at once." There was unmistakeable
+decision in the tone.</p>
+<p>"Very well. I know many boys who were <i>not</i> guilty because
+I saw them in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I
+shall now <i>ask</i> all the rest, one by one, if they took any
+part in this. And beware of telling me a lie."</p>
+<p>There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys
+began to whisper aloud, "Brigson! Brigson!" The whisper grew
+louder, and Mr. Rose heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion,
+and said--</p>
+<p>"They call your name; stand out!"</p>
+<p>The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance,
+shambled out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose
+swept him with one flashing glance. "<i>That</i> is the boy,"
+thought he to himself, "who has been like an ulcer to this school.
+These boys shall have a good look at their hero." It was but
+recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm which Brigson had been
+doing, though he had discovered, almost from the first, what
+<i>sort</i> of character he had.</p>
+<p>So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him,
+many a boy cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as
+a lifetime's struggle could not unteach. And it was <i>that</i>
+fellow, that stupid, clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice,
+that had ruled like a king among them. Faugh!</p>
+<p>"They call your name! Do you know anything of this?"</p>
+<p>"No!" said Brigson; "I'll swear I'd nothing to do with it."</p>
+<p>"Oh-h-h-h!" the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust
+and contempt ran round the room.</p>
+<p>"You have told me a lie!" said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with
+ineffable contempt. "No words can express my loathing for your
+false and dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you
+shall find immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare
+to deny it again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in
+this?"</p>
+<p>He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed
+to scorch and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. "As I
+thought," said Mr. Rose.</p>
+<p>"Not <i>one</i> boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call
+you up one by one to answer me. Wildney, come here."</p>
+<p>The boy walked in front of the desk.</p>
+<p>"Were you one of those who threw?"</p>
+<p>Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no
+coward, and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new
+scrape might be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening
+eyes to Mr. Rose, he said penitently--</p>
+<p>"I didn't throw, sir, but I <i>did</i> put out one of the
+candles that it might be done."</p>
+<p>The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a
+little less darkly on Mr. Rose's forehead, and there was a very
+faint murmur of applause.</p>
+<p>"Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up."</p>
+<p>Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters
+except Brooking. Mr. Rose's lip curled with scorn as he heard the
+exclamation which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit
+down.</p>
+<p>When Wright's turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--"No! I shall
+not even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too
+good to be involved in such an attempt."</p>
+<p>The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned
+was Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his
+answer.</p>
+<p>"No," he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.</p>
+<p>"Go on," said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.</p>
+<p>"Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won't think Eric
+knew of this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I
+do."</p>
+<p>"Good," said Mr. Rose; "I am sure of it. And now," turning to
+the offenders, "I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty
+of such presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you
+according to my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me
+a cane from that desk."</p>
+<p>He brought it.</p>
+<p>"Hold out your hand."</p>
+<p>The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr.
+Rose looked at it, for it was new that morning.</p>
+<p>"Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it."</p>
+<p>The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete
+success of the trick.</p>
+<p>"Who did this? I must be told at once."</p>
+<p>"I did, sir," said Wildney, stepping forward.</p>
+<p>"Ha! very well," said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a
+smile hovered at the corner of his lips. "Go and borrow me a cane
+from Mr. Harley."</p>
+<p>While he went there was unbroken silence.</p>
+<p>"Now, sir," said he to Brigson, "I shall flog you."</p>
+<p>Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and
+Brigson had never undergone it before. At the first stroke he
+writhed and yelled; at the second he retreated, twisting like a
+serpent, and blubbering like a baby; at the third he flung himself
+on his knees, and, as the strokes fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's
+arm, and implored and besought for mercy.</p>
+<p>"<i>Miserable</i> coward," said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word
+such ringing scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He
+indignantly shook the boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the
+floor, losing every particle of self-control, and calling out, "The
+devil--the devil--the devil!" ("invoking his patron saint," as
+Wildney maliciously observed).</p>
+<p>"There! cease to blaspheme, and get up," said the master,
+blowing out a cloud of fiery indignation. "There, sir. Retribution
+comes at last, leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of
+sins is visited on you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body,
+but on your conscience too, if you have one left. Let those red
+marks betoken that your reign is ended. Liar and tempter, you have
+led boys into the sins which you then meanly deny! And now, you
+boys, <i>there</i> in that coward, who cannot even endure his
+richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have suffered to be
+your <i>leader</i> for well-nigh six months!"</p>
+<p>"Now, sir"--again he turned upon Brigson--"that flogging shall
+be repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will
+take each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they
+should see where <i>you</i> lead them to."</p>
+<p>Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he
+was bid. No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was
+all which Mr. Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time,
+for he was tired, and displeased to be an executioner.</p>
+<p>"And now," he said, "since that disgusting but necessary scene
+is over, <i>never</i> let me have to repeat it again."</p>
+<p>But his authority was established like a rock from that night
+forward. No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that
+evening. Mr. Rose's noble moral influence gained tenfold strength
+from the respect and wholesome fear that he then inspired.</p>
+<p>But, as he had said, Brigson's reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat
+alone and shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now
+to loathe and nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping.
+He had not done blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No
+sooner had Mr. Rose left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes
+sparkling with rage, leaped on the table, and shouted--</p>
+<p>"Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward," a
+sign of execration which he was the first to lead off, and which
+the boys echoed like a storm.</p>
+<p>Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. "Oh,
+we're not hissing you, sir," said Wildney excitedly; "we're all
+hissing at lying and cowardice."</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he
+was striding out again, without a word, when--</p>
+<p>"Three times three for Mr. Rose," sang out Wildney.</p>
+<p>Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips
+and lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like
+wildfire to the studies, and the other boys came flocking in during
+the uproar, to join in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like
+a sound of silver clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the
+midst of the excited throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side,
+hurrahing more lustily than all the rest.</p>
+<p>But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips
+and lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he
+had dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening's painful
+experiences had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no
+gratitude, and hope for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and
+unmurmuringly, to work on in God's vineyard so long as life and
+health should last.</p>
+<p>Brigson's brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which
+would have crushed another. But still he felt that his position at
+Roslyn could never be what it had been before, and he therefore
+determined to leave at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he
+got his father to remove him, and announced, to every one's great
+delight, that he was going in a fortnight. On his last day, by way
+of bravado, he smashed and damaged as much of the school property
+as he could, a proceeding which failed to gain him any admiration,
+and merely put his father to ruinous expense.</p>
+<p>The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the
+least pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed
+throughout the school.</p>
+<p>In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear,
+"You cut me, curse you; but, <i>never fear, I'll be revenged on you
+yet</i>."</p>
+<p>"Do your worst," answered Eric, contemptuously, "and never speak
+to me again."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>RIPPLES</h3>
+<blockquote>"Our echoes roll from soul to soul,<br>
+And live for ever and for ever."--TENNYSON.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over
+the affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and
+Vernon Williams in front of them.</p>
+<p>"I am so glad to see those two together," said Montagu; "I
+really think Wright is one of the best little fellows in the
+school, and he'll be the saving of Vernon. He's already persuaded
+him to leave off smoking and other bad things, and has got him to
+work a little harder, and turn over a new leaf altogether."</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered Owen; "I've seen a marvellous improvement in
+little Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson
+the other night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been
+leading him by the hand; but the best thing is that, through
+Wright, he sees less of Eric's <i>friend</i>, that young scapegrace
+Wildney."</p>
+<p>"Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a
+pity that Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be
+spoilt by him. I'm glad Vernon's escaped his influence now; he's
+too fine a boy to be made as bad as the general run of them. What a
+brilliant little fellow he is; just like his brother."</p>
+<p>"Just like what his brother <i>was</i>," said Owen; "his face,
+like his mind, has suffered lately."</p>
+<p>"Too true," answered Montagu, with a sigh; "and yet, cool as we
+now are in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him,
+and yearn for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had
+lived, and then I believe that Williams wouldn't have gone so for
+wrong."</p>
+<p>"Well, I think there's another chance for him now
+that--that--what name is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is
+gone."</p>
+<p>"I hope so. But"--he added after a pause--"his works do follow
+him. Look there!" He took a large stone and threw it into the
+Silverburn stream; there was a great splash, and then ever-widening
+circles of blue ripple broke the surface of the water, dying away
+one by one in the sedges on the bank. "There," he said, "see how
+long those ripples last, and how numerous they are."</p>
+<p>Owen understood him. "Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope
+there was in him after Russell's death!"</p>
+<p>"Yes, for a time," said Montagu; "heigh ho! I fear we shall
+never be warm friends again. We can't be while he goes on as he is
+doing. And yet I love him."</p>
+<p>A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called
+Riverbend.</p>
+<p>"If you want a practical comment on what we've been talking
+about, you'll see it there," said Montagu.</p>
+<p>He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a
+pleasant grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric,
+stretched at ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which
+curled the puffed fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney's.
+That worthy was beside him similarly employed.</p>
+<p>The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did
+not wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances.
+But they saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of
+laughter which followed his remarks, they had little doubt that
+they were the subject of the young gentleman's wit. This is never a
+pleasant sensation; but they observed that Eric made a point of not
+looking their way, and went on in silence.</p>
+<p>"How very sad!" said Montagu.</p>
+<p>"How very contemptible!" said Owen.</p>
+<p>"Did you observe what they were doing?"</p>
+<p>"Smoking?"</p>
+<p>"Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which,
+if Eric doesn't take care, will one day be his ruin."</p>
+<p>"What?"</p>
+<p>"I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy."</p>
+<p>"Good heavens!"</p>
+<p>"It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the
+ripples, you see, of Brigson's influence."</p>
+<p>Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and
+walked in together.</p>
+<p>"We've been talking," said Wright, "about a bad matter. Vernon
+here says that there's no good working for a prize in his form,
+because the cribbing's so atrocious. Indeed, it's very nearly as
+bad in my form. It always is under Gordon; he <i>can't</i>
+understand fellows doing dishonorable things."</p>
+<p>"It's a great bore in the weekly examinations," said Vernon;
+"every now and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few
+minutes, and then out come dozens of books."</p>
+<p>"Well, Wright," said Montagu, "if that happens again next
+examination, I'd speak out about it."</p>
+<p>"How?"</p>
+<p>"Why, I'd get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his
+name, and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have
+pledged yourselves not to do it."</p>
+<p>"Humph! I don't know how that would answer. They'd half kill me
+for one thing."</p>
+<p>"Never mind; do your duty. I wish I'd such an opportunity, if
+only to show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness."</p>
+<p>And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to
+their study.</p>
+<p>It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn
+school. Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an
+hour after, Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some
+brandy, and then arrange to have a "jollification," that
+evening.</p>
+<p>They got the brandy through "Billy." One of Brigson's most
+cursed legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a
+nefarious intercourse with the boys. His character was so well
+known that it had long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty,
+for any boy ever to speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed
+to take a pleasure in doing so, and just now particularly it was
+thought a fine thing, a sign of "pluck" and "anti-muffishness," to
+be on familiar and intimate terms with that degraded and villainous
+scoundrel.</p>
+<p>Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him
+in his escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He
+had not been altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of
+rough honesty and good sense about him, which preserved him from
+the worst and most dangerous failings, and his character had been
+gradually improving as he mounted higher in the school. He was
+getting steadier, more diligent, more thoughtful, more manly; he
+was passing through that change so frequent in boys as they grow
+older, to which Eric was so sad an exception. Accordingly Duncan,
+though sincerely fond of Eric, had latterly disapproved vehemently
+of his proceedings, and had therefore taken to snubbing his old
+friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to have an infatuation,
+and who was the means of involving him in every kind of impropriety
+and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what was intended,
+sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney, Graham, and
+Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were lower
+boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney's almost nightly custom.</p>
+<p>A little pebble struck the study window.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah!" said Wildney, clapping his hands, "here's the
+grub."</p>
+<p>They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they
+let down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a
+basket, and, after bidding them "Good night, and a merry drink,"
+retired. No sooner had they shut the window, than he grimaced as
+usual towards them, and shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal
+exultation, muttering, "Oh, I'll have you all under my thumb yet,
+you fine young fools!"</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread
+its contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of
+sausages, a tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.</p>
+<p>They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches
+of songs, peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so
+loud that the other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters
+should come up and catch the revellers. All of them heard every
+word that was spoken by Eric and his party as the walls between the
+rooms were very thin; and very objectionable much of the
+conversation was.</p>
+<p>"This <i>won't</i> do," said Duncan emphatically, after a louder
+burst of merriment than usual; "those fellows are getting drunk; I
+can tell it to a certainty from the confused and random way in
+which some of them are talking."</p>
+<p>"We'd better go in and speak to them," said Montagu; "at any
+rate, they've no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?"</p>
+<p>"I'll join you," said Owen; "though I'm afraid my presence won't
+do you much good."</p>
+<p>The three boys went to the door of Eric's study, and their knock
+could not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they
+found a scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about,
+plates and glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all
+sides, and there was an intolerable smell of brandy.</p>
+<p>"If you fellows don't care," said Duncan, sharply, "Rose or
+somebody'll be coming up and catching you. It's ten now."</p>
+<p>"What's that to you?" answered Graham, with an insolent
+look.</p>
+<p>"It's something to me that you nice young men have been making
+such a row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and
+that, between you, you've made this study in such a mess that I
+can't endure it."</p>
+<p>"Pooh!" said Pietrie; "we're all getting such saints, that one
+can't have the least bit of spree now-a-days."</p>
+<p>"Spree!" burst in Montagu indignantly; "fine spree, to make sots
+of yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----"</p>
+<p>"Amen!" said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair;
+and he turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic
+air.</p>
+<p>"There, Williams," continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; "see that spectacle, and be ashamed
+of yourself, if you can. That's what you lead boys to! Are you
+anxious to become the teacher of drunkenness?"</p>
+<p>In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe,
+for the scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.</p>
+<p>They hardly understood the look on Eric's countenance; he had
+been taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled
+fiercely, and though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be
+resenting the intrusion in furious silence.</p>
+<p>"How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?" asked
+Bull, with his usual insufferable drawl; "for I want to finish my
+brandy."</p>
+<p>Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a
+box on the ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn't worth the
+trouble, when Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst
+into a fit of laughter.</p>
+<p>"Let's turn out these impudent lower-school fellows," said
+Montagu, speaking to Duncan. "Here! you go first," he said, seizing
+Wildney by the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no
+means steady on his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.</p>
+<p>"By Jove, I won't stand this any longer," shouted Eric,
+springing up ferociously. "What on earth do you mean by daring to
+come in like this? Do you hear?"</p>
+<p>Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for
+he was looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not,
+proceeded to drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.</p>
+<p>"Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won't go for you," cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. "Eric, why do you let him bully
+me?"</p>
+<p>"You let him go this minute," repeated Eric, hoarsely.</p>
+<p>"I shall do no such thing. You don't know what you're
+about."</p>
+<p>"Don't I? Well, then, take <i>that</i>, to show whether I do or
+no!" and suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent
+back-handed blow on the mouth.</p>
+<p>Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded
+them into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public,
+and that by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had
+loved--by a boy who had been his schoolfellow for three years now,
+and whose whole life seemed bound to him by so many associations;
+it was strange, and sad indeed.</p>
+<p>Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one
+stride towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes,
+while the blood started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But
+he stopped suddenly and his hand fell to his side; by a strong
+effort of self-control he contrived to master himself, and sitting
+down quite quietly on a chair, he put his white handkerchief to his
+wounded mouth, and took it away stained with blood.</p>
+<p>No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into
+his study without a word.</p>
+<p>"Very well," said Duncan; "you may all do as you like; only I
+heartily hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen."</p>
+<p>"Oh, Williams," said Owen, "you are changed indeed, to treat
+your best friend so."</p>
+<p>But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil
+passion at that moment. "Serve him right," he said; "what business
+has he to interfere with what I choose to do?"</p>
+<p>There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk
+off ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on
+the table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He
+had neither strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into
+bed just as was. When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan
+(for Montagu was silent and melancholy) went into his study, put
+out the candle, and had only just cleared away, to the best of
+their power, the traces of the carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up
+stairs on his usual nightly rounds. They had been lighting brown
+paper to take away the fumes of the brandy, and the Doctor asked
+them casually the cause of the smell of burning. Neither of them
+answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed implicit trust,
+the Doctor thought no more about it.</p>
+<p>Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and
+sickness. When he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing
+he thought to himself, "Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory
+of last night!" Of course, after what had occurred, Eric and
+Montagu were no longer on speaking terms, and miserable as poor
+Eric felt when he saw how his blow had bruised and disfigured his
+friend's face, he made no advances. He longed, indeed, from his
+inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but feeling that he had done
+grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his pride would not
+suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no regret, and,
+supported by his late boon-companions, represented the matter as
+occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu was bullying.</p>
+<p>Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although
+ready to forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take
+the first step to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that
+it was not for Eric's good that he should do so.</p>
+<p>"You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now," said
+Mr. Rose. "I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy
+who has any influence over him."</p>
+<p>"I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much
+more."</p>
+<p>"Wildney?" asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. "Wildney more
+influence than <i>you</i>?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p>"Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!"</p>
+<p>So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their
+friendship for Eric until happier days.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>ERIC AND MONTAGU</h3>
+<blockquote>"And constancy lives in realms above;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And life is thorny; and youth is vain;<br>
+And to be wroth with one we love,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Doth work like madness in the brain.<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+Each spoke words of high disdain<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And insult to his heart's best brother."<br>
+<br>
+COLERIDGE'S <i>Christabel</i>.</blockquote>
+<p>Wright had not forgotten Montagu's advice, and had endeavored to
+get the names of boys who wern't afraid to scout publicly the
+disgrace of cheating in form. But he could only get one name
+promised him--the name of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little
+could be gained by using it, he determined to spare Vernon the
+trial, and speak, if he spoke at all, on his own
+responsibility.</p>
+<p>As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was
+well-nigh universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch
+something he had forgotten, merely saying, "I trust to your honor
+not to abuse my absence," books and papers were immediately pulled
+out with the coolest and most unblushing indifference.</p>
+<p>This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had
+counted the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his
+duty, he had decided that speak he would. He well knew that his
+interference would be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking,
+and every kind of wrong motive, since he was himself one of the
+greatest sufferers from the prevalent dishonesty; but still he had
+come to the conclusion that he <i>ought</i> not to draw back, and
+therefore he bravely determined that he would make his protest,
+whatever happened.</p>
+<p>So, very nervously, he rose and said, "I want to tell you all
+that I think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don't
+mind losing by it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in
+the lower fourth, and any one gets it by copying, I've made up my
+mind to tell Gordon."</p>
+<p>His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and
+acquired firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and
+curiosity had held the boys silent with amazement, but by the end
+of this sentence they had recovered themselves, and a perfect burst
+of derision and indignation followed.</p>
+<p>"Let's see if <i>that'll</i> cut short his oration," said
+Wildney, throwing a book at his head, which was instantly followed
+by others from all quarters.</p>
+<p>"My word! we've had nothing but lectures lately," said Brooking.
+"Horrid little Owenite saint."</p>
+<p>"Saint!--sneak, you mean. I'll teach him," growled Pietrie, and
+jumping up, he belabored Wright's head with the Latin grammar out
+of which he had just been cribbing.</p>
+<p>The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright
+sat stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.</p>
+<p>Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor
+little penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright
+had alluded so prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be
+misconstrued, but he had his brother's spirit, and would not
+shrink. Amid the tumult he got up in his seat, and they heard his
+pleasant, childish voice saying boldly, "I hope Wright won't tell;
+but he's the best fellow in the room, and cribbing <i>is</i> a
+shame, as he says."</p>
+<p>What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful,
+for at the critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered
+cav&egrave; caused instantaneous quiet.</p>
+<p>Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many
+an angry kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the
+spirit and heroism with which he endured them. The news of his
+impudence spread like wildfire, and not five boys in the school
+approved of what he had done, while most of them were furious at
+his ill-judged threat of informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general
+agreement to thrash him after roll-call that afternoon.</p>
+<p>Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had
+been fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a
+disagreeable and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of
+them in condemning his announced determination to "sneak." Had he
+known that Wright had acted under Montagu's well-meant, though
+rather mistaken advice, he might have abstained from having
+anything more to do with the matter, but now he promised to kick
+Wright himself after the four o'clock bell.</p>
+<p>Four o'clock came; the names were called; the master left the
+room. Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there
+pale but fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance
+to Eric, who walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears,
+though without hurting him, said contemptuously, "Conceited little
+sneak."</p>
+<p>Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had
+determined even single-handed to prevent it. He did <i>not</i>,
+however, expect that Eric would have taken part in it, and was
+therefore unprepared. The color rushed into his cheeks; he went up,
+took Wright quietly by the hand, and said with firm determination,
+"No one in the school shall touch Wright again."</p>
+<p>"What? no one! just hark to that," said Graham; "I suppose he
+thinks himself cock of the school."</p>
+<p>Eric quite misunderstood Montagu's proceedings; he took it for a
+public challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield
+would have looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius
+Wildney was by, and said, "How very nice! another dictation
+lesson!"</p>
+<p>A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed
+lips, and flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit
+which made them waver, and he quietly repeated, "No one shall touch
+you, Wright."</p>
+<p>"They <i>will</i>, though," said Eric instantly; "<i>I</i> will,
+for one, and I should like to see you prevent me." And so saying he
+gave Wright another slight blow.</p>
+<p>Montagu dropped Wright's hand and said slowly, "Eric Williams, I
+have taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear
+the marks of it yet. It is time to show that it was <i>not</i>
+through cowardice that I did not return it. Will you fight?"</p>
+<p>The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the
+school knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that,
+for the sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined
+to fight with Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.</p>
+<p>"I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once," he
+answered, falteringly, "and we have been friends--"</p>
+<p>But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two
+should fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that
+Montagu's authority, which stood in their way, might be flung
+aside. So Brooking whispered in an audible voice--</p>
+<p>"Faith! he's showing the white feather."</p>
+<p>"You're a liar!" flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he
+said--"There! I'll fight you this moment."</p>
+<p>Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for
+action. A ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of
+sixteen, like Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles
+have usually been decided in their earlier school-days; and it was
+also but seldom that two boys so strong, active, and prominent,
+took this method of settling their differences.</p>
+<p>The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on
+the side of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But
+he fought with a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as
+Eric, on the other hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was
+soon pretty fairly divided between them.</p>
+<p>After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had
+been a silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys
+of such high standing, said with much, feeling--</p>
+<p>"This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu."</p>
+<p>"It is necessary," was Montagu's laconic reply.</p>
+<p>Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had
+taken place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain
+of seeing his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But
+curiosity soon took him back, and he came in just as the second
+round began. At first he only saw a crowd of boys in the middle of
+the room, but jumping on a desk he had a full view of what was
+going on.</p>
+<p>There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now
+thoroughly roused by the remarks he overheard, and especially by
+Wildney's whisper that "he was letting himself be licked," was
+exerting himself with more vigor and effect. It was anything but a
+noble sight; the faces of the combatants were streaked with blood
+and sweat, and as the miserable gang of lower school-boys backed
+them on with eager shouts of--"Now Eric, now Eric," "Now Montagu,
+go it, sixth, form," etc., both of them fought under a sense of
+deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which they shared in
+common.</p>
+<p>All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and
+vexation, his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard
+amid all the uproar, "Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!" There
+was reproach and sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one
+boy there, for Vernon, spite of the recent change in him, could not
+but continue a favorite.</p>
+<p>"Shut up there, you little donkey," shouted one or two, looking
+back at him for a moment.</p>
+<p>But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother's
+voice. The thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position
+was, and how different it might have been. He felt that he was
+utterly in the wrong, and Montagu altogether in the right; and from
+that moment his blows once more grew feeble and ill-directed. When
+they again stopped to take rest, the general shout for Montagu
+showed that he was considered to have the best of it.</p>
+<p>"I'm getting so tired of this," muttered Eric, during the
+pause.</p>
+<p>"Why, you're fighting like a regular muff," said Graham; "you'll
+have to acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute."</p>
+<p>"That I'll <i>never</i> do," he said, once more firing up.</p>
+<p>Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for
+Owen, who had left the room, told him what was going on. He had
+always been a leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had
+several times been exerted in the right direction, and he was very
+much looked up to by all the boys alike, good or bad. He
+determined, for the credit of the sixth, that the fight should not
+go on, and bursting into the ring, with his strong shoulders he
+hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way, and struck down
+the lifted arms of the fighters.</p>
+<p>"You <i>shan't</i> fight," he said, doggedly, thrusting himself
+between them; "so there's an end of it. If you do, you'll both have
+to fight me first."</p>
+<p>"Shame!" said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by
+Bull and others.</p>
+<p>"Shame, is it?" said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn.
+"There's only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or
+any other boy, repeat that word, I'll thrash him. Here, Monty, come
+away from this disgraceful scene."</p>
+<p>"I'm sick enough of it," said Montagu, "and am ready to stop if
+Williams is,--provided no one touches Wright."</p>
+<p>"I'm sick of it too," said Eric sullenly.</p>
+<p>"Then you two shall shake hands," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of
+his life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply
+wronged, deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the
+momentary feeling: but Eric had observed the gesture, and his
+passionate pride took the alarm. "It's come to this, then," he
+thought; "Montagu doesn't think me good enough to be shaken hands
+with."</p>
+<p>"Pish!" he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; "it may be an awful
+honor to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but
+I'm not proud on the subject;" and he turned away.</p>
+<p>Montagu's hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle
+of anger or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was
+too late; that moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric's
+turn coldly to withdraw.</p>
+<p>"You don't think me worthy of your friendship, and what's the
+good of grasping hands if we don't do it with cordial hearts?"</p>
+<p>Montagu's lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting
+on his coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of
+his arm, and left the room with Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Come along, Wright," he said.</p>
+<p>"Nay, leave him," said Eric with a touch of remorse. "Much as
+you think me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one
+hurts him."</p>
+<p>The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained
+with Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their
+observations.</p>
+<p>"You didn't fight half like yourself," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Can't you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for." And
+getting up abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study,
+and bathe his swollen and aching face.</p>
+<p>In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him
+Eric burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the
+study, after the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his
+really warm affection for his little brother; and as he could no
+longer conceal the line he took in the school, they had been often
+together since then; and Eric's moral obliquity was not so great as
+to prevent him from feeling deep joy at the change for the better
+in Vernon's character.</p>
+<p>"Verny, Verny," he said, as the boy came up and affectionately
+took his hand, "it was you who lost me that fight."</p>
+<p>"Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu."</p>
+<p>"Don't you remember the days, Eric," he continued, "when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and
+how mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend,
+except poor Russell?"</p>
+<p>"I do, indeed. I didn't think then that it would come to
+this."</p>
+<p>"I've always been <i>so</i> sorry," said Vernon, "that I joined
+the fellows in playing him tricks. I can't think how I came to do
+it, except that I've done such lots of bad things here. But he's
+forgiven and forgotten that long ago, and is very kind to me
+now."</p>
+<p>It was true; but Eric didn't know that half the kindness which
+Montagu showed to his brother was shown solely for <i>his</i>
+sake.</p>
+<p>"Do you know, I've thought of a plan for making you two friends
+again? I've written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us
+next holidays."</p>
+<p>"Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; <i>there</i> we might be
+friends. Perhaps there," he added, half to himself, "I might be
+more like what I was in better days."</p>
+<p>"But it's a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn't come
+yet," said Vernon.</p>
+<p>So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it
+otherwise.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE PIGEONS</h3>
+<blockquote>"Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram."<br>
+<br>
+Juv. X. 21.</blockquote>
+<p>"How awfully dull it is, Charlie," said Eric, a few weeks before
+Easter, as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday
+afternoon.</p>
+<p>"Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket." And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.</p>
+<p>"I suppose this is what they call ennui," said Eric again, after
+a pause. "What is to be done, Sunbeam?"</p>
+<p>"You <i>shan't</i> call me that, so there's an end of it," said
+Wildney, hitting him on the arm.</p>
+<p>"By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow's my birth-day, and
+I've got a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home.
+Let's go and see if it's come."</p>
+<p>"Capital! We will."</p>
+<p>So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they
+found the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the
+school, and carried up to Eric's study.</p>
+<p>On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a
+pair of fowls and a large plum-cake.</p>
+<p>"Hurrah!" said Wildney, "you were talking of nothing to do; I
+vote we have a carouse to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Very well; only let's have it <i>before</i> prayers, because we
+were so nearly caught last time."</p>
+<p>"Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here,
+lest we have another incursion of the 'Rosebuds.' I shall have to
+cut preparation, but that don't matter, It's Harley's night, and
+old Stupid will never twig."</p>
+<p>"Well, whom shall we ask?" said Eric.</p>
+<p>"Old Llewellyn for one," said Wildney. "We havn't seen him for
+an age, and he's getting too lazy even for a bit of fun."</p>
+<p>"Good; and Graham," suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded
+their possessions so much as common property, that he hadn't the
+least delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.</p>
+<p>"Yes; Graham's a jolly bird; and Bull?"</p>
+<p>"I've no objection; and Pietrie?"</p>
+<p>"Well; and your brother Vernon?"</p>
+<p>"No!" said Eric, emphatically. "At any rate I won't lead
+<i>him</i> into mischief any more."</p>
+<p>"Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?"</p>
+<p>"No, again," said Eric; "he's a blackguard."</p>
+<p>"I wonder you haven't mentioned Duncan," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even
+old Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he's a great deal too
+correct to come now."</p>
+<p>"Well; we've got six already, that's quite enough."</p>
+<p>"Yes; but two fowls isn't enough for six hungry boys."</p>
+<p>"No, it isn't," said Wildney. He thought a little, and then,
+clapping his hands, danced about and said, "Are you game for a
+<i>regular</i> lark, Eric?"</p>
+<p>"Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I've very nearly
+been taking to work again to fill up the time."</p>
+<p>Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an
+excuse for the low places in form to which he was gradually
+sinking. Everybody knew that had he properly exerted his abilities
+he was capable of beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his
+conscience, he professed to ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece
+of muffishness, and was never slow to sneer at the "grinders," as
+he contemptuously called all those who laid themselves out to win
+school distinctions.</p>
+<p>"Ha, ha!" said Wildney, "that's rather good! No, Eric, it's too
+late for you to turn 'grinder' now. I might as well think of doing
+it myself, and I've never been higher than five from lag in my form
+yet."</p>
+<p>"Haven't you? But what's the regular lark you hinted at?"</p>
+<p>"Why, we'll go and seize the Gordonites' <i>pigeons</i>, and
+make another dish of them."</p>
+<p>"Seize the Gordonites' pigeons! Why, when do you mean?"</p>
+<p>"To-night."</p>
+<p>Eric gave a long whistle. "But wouldn't it be st--t--?"</p>
+<p>"Stealing?" said Wildney, with a loud laugh. "Pooh!
+'<i>convey</i> the wise call it.'"</p>
+<p>But Eric still looked serious. "Why, my dear old boy," continued
+Wildney, "the Gordonites'll be the first to laugh at the trick when
+we tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There,
+now, don't look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with.
+Graham, and tell you the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at
+bed-time."</p>
+<p>After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study
+according to promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan.
+He didn't tell it plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan
+caught enough to guess what was intended, and said, when Wildney
+had gone--</p>
+<p>"Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric."</p>
+<p>Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly
+from any fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had
+recently received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly
+all the study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to
+assert his independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.</p>
+<p>"Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it's asked for," he
+answered, roughly. "You've done nothing but <i>advise</i> lately,
+and I'm rather sick of it."</p>
+<p>"Comme vous voulez," replied Duncan, with a shrug. "Gang your
+own gait; I'll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you,
+since you <i>will</i> ruin yourself."</p>
+<p>Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric
+went down he didn't even bid Duncan goodnight.</p>
+<p>"Charlie," he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney's
+dormitory.</p>
+<p>"Hush!" whispered Wildney, "the other fellows are asleep. Come
+and sit by my bedside, and I'll tell you what we're going to
+do."</p>
+<p>Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed "First of
+all, <i>you're</i> to keep awake till twelve to-night," he
+whispered; "old Rowley'll have gone round by that time, and it'll
+be all safe. Then come and awake me again, and I'll watch till one,
+Pietrie till two, and Graham till three. Then Graham'll awake us
+all, and we'll dress."</p>
+<p>"Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I'll manage that," said Wildney, chuckling. "But come again
+and awake me at twelve, will you?"</p>
+<p>Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn't take off his
+clothes, for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as
+usual at eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes,
+till the head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake
+thinking for an hour, but his thoughts weren't very pleasant.</p>
+<p>At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I don't feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour,
+Charlie?"</p>
+<p>"Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim
+there; we shan't want it, and it might give the alarm."</p>
+<p>"All right."</p>
+<p>So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they
+talked in low voices until they heard the great school clock strike
+one. They then woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.</p>
+<p>At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the
+others in the lavatory.</p>
+<p>"Now, I'm going to get the key," said Wildney, "and mean to have
+a stomach-ache for the purpose."</p>
+<p>Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley's
+bed-room, which opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.</p>
+<p>No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder
+still.</p>
+<p>"Bother the fellow," said Wildney; "he sleeps like a grampus.
+Won't one of you try to wake him?"</p>
+<p>"No," said Graham; "'taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches."</p>
+<p>"Well, I must try again." But it seemed no use knocking, and
+Wildney at last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo
+on the bed-room door.</p>
+<p>"Who's there?" said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.</p>
+<p>"Only me, sir!" answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent
+way.</p>
+<p>"What do you want?"</p>
+<p>"Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I'm indisposed,"
+said Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the
+others shook with laughing.</p>
+<p>Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about
+suspiciously.</p>
+<p>"Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don't happen to
+have the key to-night." And so saying, he shut the door.</p>
+<p>"Phew! Here's a go!" said Wildney, recovering immediately.
+"It'll never do to awake old Rose. He'd smell a rat in no
+time."</p>
+<p>"I have it," said Pietrie. "I've got an old nail, with which I
+believe I can open the lock quite simply. Let's try."</p>
+<p>"Quietly and quick, then," said Eric.</p>
+<p>In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old
+nail, and the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in
+their hands, ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same
+window at which Eric and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had
+taken care beforehand to break the pane and move away the glass, so
+they had only to loosen the bar and slip through one by one.</p>
+<p>It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they
+stood out in the playground, all four would rather have been safe
+and harmlessly in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the
+enterprise bore them up, and they started off quickly for the house
+at which Mr. Gordon and his pupils lived, which was about half a
+mile from the school. They went arm in arm to assure each other a
+little, for at first in their fright they were inclined to take
+every post and tree for a man in ambush, and to hear a recalling
+voice in every sound of wind and wave.</p>
+<p>Not far from Mr. Gordon's was a carpenter's shop, and outside of
+this there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to
+carry this ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the
+low garden wall with it, and then place it against the house,
+immediately under the dovecot which hung by the first
+story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest of the four, was to take
+the birds, while the others held the ladder.</p>
+<p>Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the
+window as possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the
+cot. He succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing
+so threw the other birds into a state of such alarm that they
+fluttered about in the wildest manner, and the moment his hands
+were withdrawn, flew out with a great flapping of hurried
+wings.</p>
+<p>The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down
+the ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the
+others, who instantly wrung their necks.</p>
+<p>"I'm nearly sure I heard somebody stir," said Wildney; "we
+haven't been half quiet enough. Here! let's crouch down in this
+corner."</p>
+<p>All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held
+their breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they
+heard the window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon's
+voice asked sternly--"Who's there?"</p>
+<p>He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made
+an endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at
+full length, he could not do so.</p>
+<p>"We must cut for it," said Eric; "it's quite too dark for him to
+see us, or even to notice that we are boys."</p>
+<p>They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after
+the other, as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got
+to the top of the wall he heard the back door open, and some one
+run out into the yard.</p>
+<p>"Run for your lives," said Eric hurriedly; "it's Gordon, and
+he's raising the alarm."</p>
+<p>They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+"thieves! thieves!"</p>
+<p>"We must separate and run different ways, or we've no chance of
+escape. We'd better turn towards the town to put them off the right
+scent," said Eric again.</p>
+<p>"Don't leave me," pleaded Wildney; "you know I can't run very
+fast."</p>
+<p>"No, Charlie, I won't;" and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him
+over the style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham
+took the opposite direction.</p>
+<p>Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be
+Mr. Gordon's servant-man) was running after them, and they could
+distinctly hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field
+distant. He carried a light, and they heard him panting. They were
+themselves tired, and in the utmost trepidation; the usually
+courageous Wildney was trembling all over, and his fear
+communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a trial for
+burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations,
+as the sound of the footsteps came nearer.</p>
+<p>"I can't run any further, Eric," said Wildney. "What shall we
+do? don't leave me, for heaven's sake."</p>
+<p>"Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t'other side of
+this hedge."</p>
+<p>They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part
+of a plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some
+bushes, and keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover
+over their white collars.</p>
+<p>The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in
+front of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on
+both sides and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering
+boys, and at last giving up the search in despair, went slowly
+home. They heard him plodding back over the field, and it was not
+until the sound of his footsteps had died away, that Eric
+cautiously broke cover, and looked over the hedge. He saw the man's
+light gradually getting more distant, and said, "All right now,
+Charlie. We must make the best of our way home."</p>
+<p>"Are you sure he's gone?" said Wildney, who had not yet
+recovered from his fright.</p>
+<p>"Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain't
+caught."</p>
+<p>They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric's room to wait for the other two.
+To their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.</p>
+<p>"Were you twigged?" asked Wildney eagerly.</p>
+<p>"No," said Graham; "precious near it though. Old Gordon and some
+men were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and
+escaped them. It's all serene, and we shan't be caught."</p>
+<p>"Well, we'd best to bed now," said Eric; "and, to my thinking,
+we should be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this
+affair."</p>
+<p>"Yes, we had better tell <i>no one</i>." They agreed, and went
+off to bed again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as
+if nothing had happened, and made no allusion to the preceding
+night, although, they could not help chuckling inwardly a little
+when the Gordonites came to morning school, brimful of a story
+about their house having been attacked in the night by thieves,
+who, after bagging some pigeons, had been chevied by Gordon and the
+servants. Wildney professed immense interest in the incident, and
+asked many questions, which showed that there was not a shadow of
+suspicion in any one's mind as to the real culprits.</p>
+<p>Carter, the school servant, didn't seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to
+his disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy
+reads this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to
+hear that the burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie,
+Graham, and Wildney.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>SOWING THE WIND</h3>
+<blockquote>"Praepediuntur<br>
+Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,<br>
+Nant oculi."<br>
+<br>
+LUCR. iii. 417.</blockquote>
+<p>Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got
+everything ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney,
+relying on the chance of names not being called over (which, was
+only done in case any one's absence was observed), had absented
+himself altogether from the boarders' room, and helped busily to
+spread the table for the banquet. The cook had roasted for them the
+fowls and pigeons, and Billy had brought an ample supply of beer
+and some brandy for the occasion. A little before eight o'clock
+everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and Llewellyn were summoned
+to join the rest.</p>
+<p>The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys
+were in the highest spirits. Eric's reckless gaiety was kindled by
+Wildney's frolicsome vivacity, and Graham's sparkling wit; they
+were all six in a roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of
+fun elicited by the more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn,
+and the dainties of Wildney's parcel were accompanied by draughts
+of brandy and water, which were sometimes exchanged for potations
+of the raw liquor. It was not the first time, be it remembered,
+that the members of that young party had been present at similar
+scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was astonished, and alarmed
+occasionally at the quantities of spirits and other inebriating
+drinks that of late had found their way to the studies. The
+disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that
+he was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual
+tastes were getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he
+perceived in himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence,
+he saw them still more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which
+seemed to be spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance,
+the mind, and the manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the
+vision of a Nemesis breaking in fire out of his darkened future,
+terrified his guilty conscience in the watches of the night; and
+the conviction of some fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out
+of the night of his undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with
+agony and fear. But he fancied it too late to repent. He strangled
+the half-formed resolutions as they rose, and trusted to the time
+when, by leaving school, he should escape, as he idly supposed, the
+temptations to which he had yielded. Meanwhile, the friends who
+would have rescued him had been alienated by his follies, and the
+principles which might have preserved him had been eradicated by
+his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer, and the
+helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
+of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet
+of every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.</p>
+<p>As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more
+foolish and random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But
+still most of them mingled some sense of caution with their
+enjoyment, and warned Eric and Wildney more than once that they
+must look out, and not take too much that night for fear of being
+caught. But it was Wildney's birth-day, and Eric's boyish mirth,
+suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out unrestrained. In
+the riot of their feasting, the caution had been utterly neglected,
+and the boys were far from being sober when the sound of the
+prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.</p>
+<p>"Good heavens!" shouted Graham, springing up; "there's the
+prayer-bell; I'd no notion it was so late. Here, let's shove these
+brandy bottles and things into the cupboards and drawers, and then
+we must run down."</p>
+<p>There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had
+cleared the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the
+more difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and
+conduct them steadily into the prayer-room.</p>
+<p>Wildney's seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty
+in getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn
+took him by the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him
+safely to his seat, where he assumed a look of preternatural
+gravity. But Eric sat near the head of the first table, not far
+from Dr. Rowlands' desk, and none of the others had to go to that
+part of the room. Graham grasped his arm tight, led him carefully
+down stairs, and, as they were reaching the door, said to him, in a
+most earnest and imploring tone--"Do try and walk sensibly to your
+place, Eric, or we shall all be caught."</p>
+<p>It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly
+seated, and most of the Bibles were already open, although the
+Doctor had not yet come in. Consequently, the room was still, and
+the entrance of Graham and Eric after the rest attracted general
+notice. Eric had just sense enough to try and assume his ordinary
+manner; but he was too giddy with the fumes of drink to walk
+straight, or act naturally.</p>
+<p>Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother
+with great eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.</p>
+<p>"Wright," whispered he, in a timid voice; "just see how Eric
+walks. What can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be
+ill!" he said, starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger
+to one side, and nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.</p>
+<p>Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.</p>
+<p>"Hush!" he whispered; "take no notice; he's been drinking,
+Verny, and I fear he'll be caught."</p>
+<p>Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought,
+and he had hoped, that since the day at the "Jolly Herring," his
+brother had abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most
+careful to conceal from him the worst of his failings. And now he
+trembled violently with fear for his discovery, and horror at his
+disgraceful condition.</p>
+<p>The sound of Eric's unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly
+raise his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for
+the boy on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist
+him. It was not Eric's proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long
+look of astonishment, looked down at his book again, and said
+nothing.</p>
+<p>It made other hearts besides Vernon's ache to see the unhappy
+boy roll to his place in that helpless way.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were
+finished, the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly
+answering his "adsum," as he should have done, stood up, with a
+foolish look, and said, "Yes, Sir." The head master looked at him
+for a minute; the boy's glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid
+appearance, told an unmistakable tale; but Dr. Rowlands only
+remarked, "Williams, you don't look well. You had better go at once
+to bed."</p>
+<p>It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help,
+so Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much
+difficulty (for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his
+bed-room.</p>
+<p>Wildney's condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while
+walking up and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind
+that both Eric and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no
+remarks to them, and merely went to the Doctor to talk over the
+steps which were to be taken.</p>
+<p>"I shall summon the school," said Dr. Rowlands, "on Monday, and
+by that time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear,
+is the only course open to us."</p>
+<p>"Is not that a <i>very</i> severe line to take?"</p>
+<p>"Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must
+consider the matter."</p>
+<p>"Poor Williams!" sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.</p>
+<p>The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by
+Eric and his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness.
+It seemed clear that two of them at least were detected, and they
+were inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who
+had to stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached
+violently, and he was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He
+longed for the morrow, that at least he might have the poor
+consolation of knowing his fate. No one came near him all day. Eric
+wished to do so, but as he could not have visited the room without
+express leave, the rest dissuaded him from asking, lest he should
+excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect made poor Wildney
+even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as it was
+possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed hard
+to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close a
+friend.</p>
+<p>At school the next morning the various masters read out to their
+forms a notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to
+meet at ten in the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was
+pretty clearly understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had
+reference to the drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been
+<i>said</i> on the subject as yet; and every guilty heart among
+those 250 boys beat fast lest <i>his</i> sin too should have been
+discovered, and he should be called out for some public and heavy
+punishment.</p>
+<p>The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room,
+took their places according to their respective forms. The masters
+in their caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular
+bench at the upper end of the room, and in the centre of them,
+before a small table, sate Dr. Rowlands.</p>
+<p>The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush.
+The blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a
+breath could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said,
+"I shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth,
+and upper-fourth forms."</p>
+<p>This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were
+present on whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once
+told Eric and Wildney that <i>they</i> were the boys to be
+punished, and that the others had escaped.</p>
+<p>The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have
+told, from the sound of the boys' voices as they answered, which of
+them were afflicted with a troubled conscience.</p>
+<p>Another slight pause, and breathless hush.</p>
+<p>"Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward."</p>
+<p>The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was
+sitting with his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced;
+and Wildney, from the other end of the room, where the younger boys
+sat, getting up, came and stood by his side.</p>
+<p>Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never
+once raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces,
+you could scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited
+friends, whose laugh and shout had often rung so merrily through
+the play-ground, and woke the echoes of the rocks along the shore.
+Every eye was on them, and they were conscious of it, though they
+could not see it--painfully conscious of it, so that they wished
+the very ground to yawn beneath their feet for the moment, and
+swallow up their shame. Companionship in disgrace increased the
+suffering; had either of them been alone, he would have been less
+acutely sensible to the trying nature of his position; but that
+they, so different in their ages and position in the school, should
+thus have their friendship and the results of it blazoned, or
+rather branded, before their friends and enemies added keenly to
+the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric and
+Charlie awaited their sentence.</p>
+<p>"Williams and Wildney," said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of
+which every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer,
+"you have been detected in a sin most disgraceful and most
+dangerous. On Saturday night you were both drinking, and you were
+guilty of such gross excess, that you were neither of you in a fit
+state to appear among your companions--least of all to appear among
+them at the hour of prayer. I shall not waste many words on an
+occasion like this; only I trust that those of your schoolfellows
+who saw you staggering and rolling into the room on Saturday
+evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and degrading, will
+learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the Spartans
+taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most
+ruinous vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment
+will be public expulsion, for which you will prepare this very
+evening. I am unwilling that for a single day either of
+you--especially the elder of you--should linger, so as possibly to
+contaminate others with the danger of so pernicious an
+example."</p>
+<p>Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters
+equally by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy
+sensation, which was evident to all present, though no one spoke a
+word; but Dr. Rowlands took no notice of it, and only said to the
+culprits--</p>
+<p>"You may return to your seats."</p>
+<p>The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly
+knew how. They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their
+sentence, and the painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned
+over the desk with his head resting on a book, too stunned even to
+think; and Wildney looked straight before him with his eyes fixed
+in a stupid and unobserved stare.</p>
+<p>Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was
+liberated Eric sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to
+him, and rushed wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a
+moment, however, he re-opened it, for he heard Wildney's step, and,
+after admitting him, locked it once more.</p>
+<p>Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms
+round Eric's neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a
+flood of tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to
+their sorrow.</p>
+<p>"O my father! my father!" sobbed Wildney at length. "What will
+he say? He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me
+when he thinks I bring disgrace on him."</p>
+<p>Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents,
+and of the pang which <i>his</i> disgrace would cause their loving
+hearts; but he could say nothing, and only stroked Wildney's dark
+hair again and again with a soothing hand.</p>
+<p>They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric
+could not help thinking how very, very different their relative
+positions might have been; how, while he might have been aiding and
+ennobling the young boy beside him, he had alternately led and
+followed him into wickedness and disgrace. His heart was full of
+misery and bitterness, and he felt almost indifferent to all the
+future, and weary of his life.</p>
+<p>A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the
+school servant.</p>
+<p>"You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen."</p>
+<p>"O no! no! no!" exclaimed Wildney; "<i>cannot</i> be sent away
+like this. It would break my father's heart. Eric, <i>do</i> come
+and entreat Dr. Rowlands to forgive us only this once."</p>
+<p>"Yes," said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; "he
+<i>shall</i> forgive us--<i>you</i> at any rate. I will not leave
+him till he does. Cheer up, Charlie, cheer up, and come along."</p>
+<p>Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and
+sprang down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following
+him. They went straight for the Doctor's study, and without waiting
+for the answer to their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr.
+Rowlands, who sate thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst
+out passionately, "O sir, forgive us this once."</p>
+<p>The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy's manner. He remained silent
+a moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--</p>
+<p>"Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could
+be no more perilous example for the school, than the one you have
+been setting, Williams. Leave the room," he added, with an
+authoritative gesture, "my mind is made up."</p>
+<p>But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master's manner;
+an imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations,
+and, heedless of the command, he broke out again--</p>
+<p>"O sir, try me but once, <i>only</i> try me. I promise you most
+faithfully that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do
+trust me, and I will be responsible for Wildney too."</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric's present mood he must and
+would be heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to
+pace silently up and down the room in perplexed and anxious
+thought; at last he stopped and turned over the pages of a thick
+school register, and found Eric's name.</p>
+<p>"It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind.
+That most seriously aggravates your fault."</p>
+<p>"O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I
+<i>could</i> do such great things, if you will be but merciful, and
+give me time to change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only
+this once, and I will never ask again. Let us bear <i>any</i> other
+punishment but this. O sir," he said, approaching the doctor in an
+imploring attitude, "spare us this one time for the sake of our
+friends."</p>
+<p>The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the
+room in silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain
+his emotion.</p>
+<p>"It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must
+not weakly yield to entreaty. You must go."</p>
+<p>Eric wrung his hands in agony. "O, sir, then, if you must do so,
+expel me only, and not Charlie, <i>I</i> can bear it, but do not
+let me ruin him also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do,
+do forgive him. It is I who have misled him;" and he flung himself
+on his knees, and lifted his hands entreatingly towards the
+Doctor.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears,
+his agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a
+look of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his
+wild word of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that
+seemed to come from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his
+resolve, wavered for a moment, and then once more looked at the
+register.</p>
+<p>"Yes," he said, after a long pause, "here is an entry which
+shall save you this time. I find written here against your name,
+'April 3. Risked his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at
+the Stack.' That one good and noble deed shall be the proof that
+you are capable of better things. It may be weak perhaps--I know
+that it will be called weak--and I do not feel certain that I am
+doing right; but if I err it shall be on the side of mercy. I shall
+change expulsion into some other punishment. You may go."</p>
+<p>Wildney's face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray
+of sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.</p>
+<p>"O thank you, thank you, sir," he exclaimed, drying his eyes,
+and pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no
+light pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and
+while the two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a
+timid hand knocked at the door, and Vernon entered.</p>
+<p>"I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric," he said in a low
+voice, and trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he
+modestly approached towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the
+presence of the others in the complete absorption of his feelings.
+He stood in a sorrowful attitude, not venturing to look up, and his
+hand played nervously with the ribbon of his straw hat.</p>
+<p>"I have just forgiven him, my little boy," said the Doctor
+kindly, patting his stooping head; "there he is, and he has been
+speaking for himself."</p>
+<p>"O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don't know what to say for joy. O
+Eric, thank God that you are not to be expelled;" and Vernon went
+to his brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.</p>
+<p>Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally
+a man of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by
+this act the charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in
+him to be willing to do so, but it would have required an iron
+heart to resist such earnest supplications, and he was more than
+repaid when he saw how much anguish he had removed by yielding to
+their entreaties.</p>
+<p>Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys
+retired.</p>
+<p>They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in
+their favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to
+alter the Doctor's intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had
+been strongly endeavoring to change the Doctor's mind, and had
+dwelt forcibly on all the good points in Eric's character, and the
+promise of his earlier career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and
+Duncan to beg that the expulsion might be commuted into some other
+punishment. They had failed to convince him; but, perhaps, had they
+not thus exerted themselves, Dr. Rowlands might have been unshaken,
+though he could not be unmoved by Vernon's gentle intercession and
+Eric's passionate prayers.</p>
+<p>Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of
+feeling, only shook Eric's hand with all his might, and then darted
+out into the playground to announce the happy news. The boys all
+flocked round him, and received the intelligence with unmitigated
+pleasure. Among them all there was not one who did not rejoice that
+Eric and Wildney were yet to continue of their number.</p>
+<p>But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful
+in his penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric
+sat down on a chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side.
+The sun was setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green
+fields and silver sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air
+was full of peace and coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket
+field blended joyously with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric
+was fond of beauty in every shape, and his father had early taught
+him a keen appreciation of the glories of nature. He had often
+gazed before on that splendid scene, as he was now gazing on it
+thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He looked long and
+wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds, and passed his
+arm more fondly round Vernon's shoulder.</p>
+<p>"What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying
+still," said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had
+overflowed on his brother's cheek, "aren't you glad that the Doctor
+has forgiven you?"</p>
+<p>"Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I
+hope your school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would
+give up all I have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have
+learnt. God grant that I may yet have time and space to do
+better."</p>
+<p>"Let us pray together, Eric," whispered his brother reverently,
+and they knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant
+parents and friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for
+each other, and for Wildney, and they thanked God for all his
+goodness to them; and then Eric poured out his heart in a fervent
+prayer that a holier and happier future might atone for his
+desecrated past, and that his sins might be forgiven for his
+Saviour's sake.</p>
+<p>The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more
+light-hearted, and gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss,
+before they went down again to the play-ground. But they avoided
+the rest of the boys, and took a stroll together along the sands,
+talking quietly, and happily, and hoping bright hopes for future
+days.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG</h3>
+<blockquote>"Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?<br>
+A tress of maiden's hair,<br>
+Of drowned maiden's hair,<br>
+Above the nets at sea?"--KINGSLEY.</blockquote>
+<p>Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time
+instead of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a
+manly and penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to
+repair the injury which their characters had received. Eric,
+especially, seemed to be devoting himself with every energy to
+regain, if possible, his long lost position, and by the altered
+complexion of his remaining school-life, to atone in some poor
+measure for its earlier sins. And he carried Wildney with him,
+influencing others also of his late companions in a greater or less
+degree. It was not Eric's nature to do things by halves, and it
+became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and abandon his
+old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no longer
+hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of
+idleness cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded
+sufficiently, by dint of desperately hard work, to acquit himself
+with considerable credit, and in the Easter examination came out
+sufficiently high, to secure his remove into the sixth form after
+the holidays.</p>
+<p>He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he
+had ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect,
+and the change for the better in his character tended to restore
+unanimity and good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the
+party which made a point of ridiculing and preventing industry;
+and, sharing as he did the sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was
+able quietly and unobtrusively to calm down the jealousies and
+allay the heartburnings which had for so long a time brought
+discord and disunion into the school society. Cheerfulness and
+unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and Eric had the
+intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within his
+power.</p>
+<p>So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first
+days glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled
+again to Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of
+companions more truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow
+circle of his late associates.</p>
+<p>"What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?" asked Duncan,
+as they chatted together one evening.</p>
+<p>"I won't go without leave," said Eric; "I should only get
+caught, and get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged
+now to strict obedience."</p>
+<p>"Ay, you're quite right. We'll get leave easily enough though,
+provided we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we
+make up a party."</p>
+<p>"By the bye, I forgot; I'm engaged to Wildney to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you
+like."</p>
+<p>"Most gladly," said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this
+that Duncan observed the improvement in his old friends, and was
+falling in with the endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to
+each other, and destroy all traces of the late factions.</p>
+<p>"Do you mind my bringing Montagu?"</p>
+<p>"Not at all. Why should I?" answered Eric, with a slight blush.
+Montagu and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as
+yet, spoken to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the
+excursion to give them an opportunity of becoming friends once
+more, by being thrown together. He knew well that they both
+earnestly wished it, although, with the natural shyness of boys,
+they hardly knew how to set about effecting it. Montagu hung back
+lest he should seem to be patronising a fallen enemy, and Eric lest
+he should have sinned too deeply to be forgiven.</p>
+<p>The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they
+should meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the
+boat, at ten o'clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a
+ready consent to the row, on condition of their being accompanied
+by the experienced sailor whom the boys called Jim. The precaution
+was by no means unnecessary, for the various currents which ran
+round the island were violent at certain stages of the tide, and
+extremely dangerous for any who were not aware of their general
+course.</p>
+<p>Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any
+feeling of restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a
+strong effort, determined to "make up with him" before starting,
+and went into his study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly
+he came in, Montagu jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when,
+without any allusion to the past, the two shook hands with all
+warmth, and looked the old proud look into each other's faces, they
+felt once more that their former affection was unimpaired, and that
+in heart they were real and loving friends. Most keenly did they
+both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and they found endless subjects
+to talk about on their way to Starhaven, where the others were
+already assembled when they came.</p>
+<p>With Jim's assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and
+sprang into it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing
+off they saw Wright and Vernon running down to the shore towards
+them, and they waited to see what they wanted. "Couldn't you take
+us with you?" asked Vernon, breathless with his run.</p>
+<p>"I'm afraid not, Verny," said Montagu; "the boat won't hold more
+than six, will it, Jim?"</p>
+<p>"No, sir, not safely."</p>
+<p>"Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny," said Eric, as he
+saw his brother's disappointed look.</p>
+<p>"Then Wright shall take mine," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>"O dear no," said Wright, "we wouldn't turn you out for the
+world. Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast
+instead, and will meet you here as we come back."</p>
+<p>"Well, good bye, then; off we go;" and with light hearts the
+boaters and the pedestrians parted.</p>
+<p>Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the
+oars, while Wildney steered. Graham's "crabs," and Wildney's rather
+crooked steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they
+were full of fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the
+waves. Then they made Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as
+they rowed, and joined vigorously in the choruses. They had
+arranged to make straight for St. Catherine's Head, and land
+somewhere near it to choose a place for their pic-nic. It took them
+nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed leisurely, and enjoyed
+the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the sunniest days of
+early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the calm sea
+breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in the
+warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the
+green and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through
+which occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart
+like an arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they
+kept not far from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with
+its rocks and hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a
+glowing picture, to which the golden green of the spring herbage,
+bathed in its morning sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who
+could have been otherwise than happy in such a scene and at such a
+time? but these were boys with the long bright holiday before them,
+and happiness is almost too quiet a word to express the bounding
+exultation of heart, the royal and tingling sense of vigorous life,
+which made them shout and sing, as their boat rustled through the
+ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible enjoyment.</p>
+<p>They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it
+made a very tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny
+pebbled cave, by St. Catherine's Head; although, instead of
+anything more objectionable, they had thought it best to content
+themselves with a very moderate quantity of beer. When they had
+done eating, they amused themselves on the shore; and had
+magnificent games among the rocks, and in every fantastic nook of
+the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a bathe to wind up
+with, as it was the first day when it had been quite warm enough to
+make bathing pleasant.</p>
+<p>"But we've got no towels."</p>
+<p>"Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we're dry." So
+they bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they
+all agreed that it was the very jolliest day they'd ever had at
+Roslyn, and voted to renew the experiment before the holidays were
+over, and take Wright and Vernon with them in a larger boat.</p>
+<p>It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when
+they began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the
+land for variety's sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily
+as ever.</p>
+<p>"I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest
+bit of the whole coast," said Eric, as they neared a glen through
+whose narrow gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled
+down with noisy turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that
+glen; its steep and rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss,
+and wild-flowers, and the sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely
+windings, which were colored with topaz and emerald by the
+pencillings of nature and the rich stains of time.</p>
+<p>"Yes," answered Montagu, "<i>I</i> always stick up for Avon Glen
+as the finest scene we've got about here. But, I say, who's that
+gesticulating on the rock there to the right of it? I verily
+believe it's Wright, apostrophising the ocean for Vernon's benefit.
+I only see one of them though."</p>
+<p>"I bet you he's spouting</p>
+<blockquote>'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!<br>
+Ten thousand fleets, etc.'"</blockquote>
+<p>said Graham laughing.</p>
+<p>"What do you say to putting in to shore there?" said Duncan;
+"it's only two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make
+shift to take them in for that distance. If Jim says anything we'll
+chuck him overboard."</p>
+<p>They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who
+stood there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made
+out that it <i>was</i> Wright), still continued to wave his arms
+and beckon them in a manner which they at first thought ridiculous,
+but which soon make them feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and
+they soon got within two hundred yards of the beach. Wright had
+ceased to make signals, but appeared to be shouting to them, and
+pointing towards one corner of the glen; but though they caught the
+sound of his voice they could not hear what he said.</p>
+<p>"I wonder why Vernon isn't with him," said Eric anxiously; "I
+hope--why, what <i>are</i> you looking at, Charlie?"</p>
+<p>"What's that in the water there?" said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.</p>
+<p>Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. "Good
+God!" he exclaimed, turning pale; "what can be the matter?"</p>
+<p>"O <i>do</i> let me look," said Eric.</p>
+<p>"No! stop, stop, Eric, you'd better not, I think; pray don't, it
+may be all a mistake. You'd better not--but it looked--nay, you
+really <i>mustn't,</i> Eric," he said, and, as if accidentally, he
+let the telescope fall into the water, and they saw it sink down
+among the seaweeds at the bottom.</p>
+<p>Eric looked at him reproachfully. "What's the fun of that,
+Monty? you let it drop on purpose."</p>
+<p>"O never mind; I'll get Wildney another. I really daren't let
+you look, for fear you should <i>fancy</i> the same as I did, for
+it must be fancy. O <i>don't</i> let us put in there--at least not
+all of us."</p>
+<p>What <i>was</i> that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon
+left the others, they walked along the coast, following the
+direction of the boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting
+eggs. They were very successful, and, to their great delight,
+managed to secure some rather rare specimens. When they had tired
+themselves with this pursuit, they lay on the summit of one of the
+cliffs which formed the sides of Avon Glen, and Wright, who was
+very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of Marmion with great
+enthusiasm.</p>
+<p>So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over,
+Vernon took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the
+cliff's edge. It thundered over the side, bounding down till it
+reached the strand, and a large black cormorant, startled by the
+reverberating echoes, rose up suddenly, and flapped its way with
+protruded neck to a rock on the further side of the little bay.</p>
+<p>"I bet you that animal's got a nest somewhere near here," said
+Vernon eagerly. "Come, let's have a look for it; a cormorant's egg
+would be a jolly addition to our collection."</p>
+<p>They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some
+eight feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a
+tree, on which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the
+existence of a rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it
+contained eggs or no.</p>
+<p>"I must bag that nest; it's pretty sure to have eggs in it,"
+said Vernon, "and I can get at it easy enough." He immediately
+began to descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he
+found it harder than he expected.</p>
+<p>"Hallo," he said, "this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn't a better dodge for getting at it." He
+reached the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the
+ledge which promised more hope of success.</p>
+<p>"You'd better give it up, Verny," said Wright. "I'm sure it's
+harder than we fancied, <i>I</i> couldn't manage it, I know."</p>
+<p>"O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards
+the right the way's plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest
+in no time." Again his descended in a different direction, but
+again he failed. The nest could only be seen from the top, and he
+had lost the right route.</p>
+<p>"You must keep more to the right."</p>
+<p>"I know," answered Vernon; "but, bother take it, I can't manage
+it, now I'm so far down. I must climb up <i>again</i>."</p>
+<p>"<i>Do</i> give it up, Verny, there's a good fellow. You
+<i>can't</i> reach it, and really it's dangerous."</p>
+<p>"O no, not a bit of it. My head's very steady, and I feel as
+cool as possible. We mustn't give up; I've only to get at the tree,
+and then I shall be able to reach the nest from it quite
+easily."</p>
+<p>"Well, do take care, that's a dear fellow."</p>
+<p>"Never fear," said Vernon, who was already commencing his third
+attempt. This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a
+part of the root, while with his hands he clung on to a clump of
+heather. "Hurrah!" he cried, "it's got two eggs in it, Wright;" and
+he stretched downwards to take them. Just as he was doing so, he
+heard the root on which his foot rested give a great crack, and
+with a violent start he made a spring for one of the lower
+branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest for an instant
+on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather gave way,
+and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of the
+cliff.</p>
+<p>With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.</p>
+<p>"Vernon! Vernon!" shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close
+up to the edge of the precipice. "O Vernon! for heaven's sake
+speak!"</p>
+<p>There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some
+minutes he was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild
+attempts to descend the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the
+attempt in despair. There was a tradition in the school that the
+feat had once been accomplished by an adventurous and active boy,
+but Wright at any rate found it hopeless for himself. The only
+other way to reach the glen was by a circuitous route which led to
+the entrance of the narrow gorge, along the sides of which it was
+possible to make way with difficulty down the bank of the river to
+the place where it met the sea. But this would have taken him an
+hour and a half, and was far from easy when the river was swollen
+with high tide. Nor was there any house within some distance at
+which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult of
+conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the
+chance of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine's Head.
+It was already three o'clock, and he knew that they could not now
+be longer than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching
+the headland, round which he knew they would first come in sight.
+He watched with wild eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire
+to catch sight of them; but the leaden-footed moments crawled on
+like hours, and he could not help shivering with agony and fear. At
+last he caught a glimpse of them, and springing up, began to shout
+at the top of his voice, and wave his handkerchief and his arms in
+the hope of attracting their attention. Little thought those blithe
+merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy laughter which they
+sent ringing over the waters, little they thought how terrible a
+tragedy awaited them.</p>
+<p>At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting
+inland, and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but
+feeling sure that they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as
+fast as he could to Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at
+a farm-house what had happened, and asked them to get a cart ready
+to convey the wounded boy to Roslyn school.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy
+evening, radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight
+and transparent wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place
+where Vernon lay; and the little ripples fell over him wonderingly,
+with the low murmur of their musical laughter, and blurred and
+dimmed the vivid splashes and crimson streaks upon the white stone
+on which his head had fallen, and washed away some of the purple
+bells and green sprigs of heather round which his fingers were
+closed in the grasp of death, and played softly with his fair hair
+as it rose, and fell, and floated on their undulations like a leaf
+of golden-colored weed, until they themselves were faintly
+discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new plaything,
+they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just strong
+enough to move rudely the boy's light weight, and in a few moments
+more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu's
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had
+been gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat,
+while Eric at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to
+verify his horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it
+<i>was</i> a boy lying in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was
+motionless;--he must have fallen there from the cliff.</p>
+<p>Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the
+boat grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to
+the spot where his brother's body lay. With a burst of passionate
+affection, he flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the
+cold hand in his own--the little rigid hand in which the green
+blades of grass, and fern, and heath, so tightly clutched, were
+unconscious of the tale they told.</p>
+<p>"Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!" he cried in
+anguish, as he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little
+blood had flowed. But the child's head fell back heavily, and his
+arms hung motionless beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly
+caught the look of dead fixity in his blue open eyes.</p>
+<p>The others had come up. "O God, save my brother, save him, save
+him from death," cried Eric, "I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh
+God! Look! look!" he continued, "he has fallen from the cliff with
+his head on this cursed stone," pointing to the block of quartz,
+still red with blood-stained hair; "but we must get a doctor. He is
+not dead! no, no, no, he <i>cannot</i> be dead. Take him quickly,
+and let us row home. Oh God! why did I ever leave him?"</p>
+<p>The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon's
+corpse into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the
+body, and moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold
+pale brow and white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and
+was not dead, the others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling
+of terrified anxiety lay like frost upon their hearts.</p>
+<p>They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless
+boy, and heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few
+boys were about the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn,
+and Dr. Underhay, who had been summoned, was instantly in
+attendance. He looked at Vernon for a moment, and then shook his
+head in a way that could not be mistaken. Eric saw it, and flung
+himself with uncontrollable agony on his brother's corpse. "O
+Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then he is dead." And,
+unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.</p>
+<p>I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the
+very sun in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric's wounded and crushed
+spirit. He hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried
+Vernon in the little green churchyard by Russell's side, and the
+patter of the earth upon the coffin--that most terrible of all
+sounds--struck his ear, the iron entered into his soul, and he had
+but one wish as he turned away from the open grave, and that was,
+soon to lie beside his beloved little brother and to be at
+rest.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE LAST TEMPTATION</h3>
+<blockquote>[Greek: 'Ae d' Atae sthenazae te chai 'aztipos sunecha
+pasas<br>
+Pollou 'upechpzotheei, phthaneei d' de te pasan ep' aiach<br>
+Blaptous' anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.</blockquote>
+<p>Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged
+the violence of Eric's grief, which seemed likely to settle down
+into a sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to
+Fairholm were almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of
+sorrow; but they grew calmer in time,--and while none of his
+school-fellows ever ventured in his presence to allude to Vernon,
+because of the emotion which the slightest mention of him excited,
+yet he rarely wrote any letters to his relations in which he did
+not refer to his brother's death, in language which grew at length
+both manly and resigned.</p>
+<p>A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his
+study in the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to
+play regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He
+spoke freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than
+he had ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence,
+but even strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. "I can
+hardly even yet realize," he added, "that I am alone here, and that
+I am writing to my aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my
+noble, only brother, Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards
+him. I <i>must</i> be a better boy, I <i>will</i> be better than I
+have been, in the hopes of meeting him again. Indeed, indeed, dear
+aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am laying aside, with all my
+might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing my very best to
+redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my time at Roslyn
+will be more worthily spent than any of it has been as yet."</p>
+<p>He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing
+quietly on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and
+repose stole over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was
+ajar, the leering eyes and villainously cunning countenance of
+Billy.</p>
+<p>"What do you want?" he said angrily, casting at the intruder a
+look of intense disgust.</p>
+<p>"Beg pardon, sir," said the man, pulling his hair. "Anything in
+my line, sir, to-day?"</p>
+<p>"No!" answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. "What
+business have you here? Get away instantly."</p>
+<p>"Not had much custom from you lately, sir," said the man.</p>
+<p>"What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to
+me? If you don't make yourself scarce at once, I'll--"</p>
+<p>"O well," said the man; "if it comes to that, I've business
+enough. Perhaps you'll just pay me this debt," he continued,
+changing his fawning manner into a bullying swagger. "I've waited
+long enough."</p>
+<p>Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It
+purported to be a bill for various items of drink, all of which
+Eric <i>knew</i> to have been paid for, and among other things, a
+charge of &pound;6 for the dinner at the "Jolly Herring."</p>
+<p>"Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds
+for the dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for
+it before it took place."</p>
+<p>"That's now't to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the
+young gen'lman in the cheer, I comes to you."</p>
+<p><i>Now</i> Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant
+by his threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put
+up to act in this way by some one, and had little doubt that
+Brigson was the instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the
+man said, that he had never received the money. Brigson was quite
+wicked enough to have embezzled it for his own purposes.</p>
+<p>"Go," he said to the man; "you shall have the money in a
+week."</p>
+<p>"And mind it bean't more nor a week. I don't chuse to wait for
+my money no more," said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an
+undisguised chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down
+stairs.</p>
+<p>What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu,
+who were best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the
+memory of unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to
+obliterate from the memory of all. He had not the moral courage to
+face the natural consequences of his past misconduct, and was now
+ashamed to speak of what he had not then been ashamed to do. He
+told Graham and Wildney, who were the best of his old associates,
+and they at once agreed that <i>they</i> ought to be responsible
+for at least a share of the debt. Still, between them they could
+only muster three pounds out of the six which were required, and
+the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect of
+extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.</p>
+<p>A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source
+of his trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest
+friend. To him he could speak without scruple and without reserve,
+and from him he knew that he would receive nothing but the noblest
+advice and the warmest sympathy.</p>
+<p>He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.</p>
+<p>"Ah, Eric, Eric!" said Mr. Rose; "you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins."</p>
+<p>"O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems
+cruel that I should receive at once so sad a check."</p>
+<p>"There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for
+the money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to
+me."</p>
+<p>It was a hard course for Eric's proud and loving heart to write
+and tell his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it
+faithfully, extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved
+him, to send the money by return of post.</p>
+<p>It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection.
+Mrs. Trevor knew her nephew's character, and did not add by
+reproaches to the bitterness which she perceived he had endured;
+she simply sent him the money, and told him, that in spite of his
+many failures, "she still had perfect confidence in the true heart
+of her dear boy."</p>
+<p>Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it
+became more and more the passionate craving of Eric's soul to be
+worthy of that love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost
+path than to keep in the right one all along; and by one more
+terrible fall, the poor erring boy was to be taught for the last
+time the fearful strength of temptation, and the only source in
+earth and heaven from which deliverance can come. Theoretically he
+knew it, but as yet not practically. Great as his trials had been,
+and deeply as he had suffered, it was God's will that he should
+pass through a yet fiercer flame ere he could be purified from
+pride and passion and self-confidence, and led to the cross of a
+suffering Saviour, there to fling himself down in heart-rending
+humility, and cast his great load of cares and sins upon Him who
+cared for him through all his wanderings, and was leading him back
+through thorny places to the green pastures and still waters, where
+at last he might have rest.</p>
+<p>The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring,
+he dashed it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade
+him write a receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an
+air of cunning and triumph that Eric was both astonished and
+dismayed. Could the miscreant have any further plot against him? At
+first he fancied that Billy might attempt to extort money by a
+threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this supposition he banished as
+unlikely since it might expose Billy himself to very unpleasant
+consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said contemptuously,
+"Never come near me again; next time you come up to the studies
+I'll tell Carter to turn you out."</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho!" sneered Billy. "How mighty we young gents are all
+of a sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me
+again; never fear, young gen'lman." He shouted out the latter
+words, for Eric had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already
+in the street. Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from
+this quarter. At first the thought of it was disquieting, but three
+weeks glided away, and Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school
+work, began to remember it as a mere vague and idle threat. But one
+afternoon, to his horror, he again heard Billy's step on the
+stairs, and again saw the hateful iniquitous face at the door.</p>
+<p>"Not much custom from you lately, sir," said Billy, mockingly.
+"Anything in my line to-day."</p>
+<p>"Didn't I tell you never to come near me again, you foul
+villain? Go this instant, or I'll call Carter;" and, opening the
+window, he prepared to put his threat into execution.</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I've got first." It was a
+printed notice to the following effect--</p>
+<p>"FIVE POUNDS REWARD.</p>
+<p>"WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the
+evening of April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon's premises; the above
+reward will be given for any such information as may lead to the
+apprehension of the offenders."</p>
+<p>Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor
+that Gordon had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had
+been forgotten, and the boys had long fancied their secret secure,
+though at first they had been terribly alarmed.</p>
+<p>"What do you show me that for?" he asked, reddening and then
+growing pale again.</p>
+<p>Billy's only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the
+words "Five pounds reward!"</p>
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+<p>"I thinks I knows who took them pigeons."</p>
+<p>"What's that to me?"</p>
+<p>"Ho, ho, ho! that's a good un," was Billy's reply; and he
+continued to cackle as though enjoying a great joke.</p>
+<p>"Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get
+'em. I know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I'll give ye
+another week to decide."</p>
+<p>Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his
+chair. Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get
+them? To write home again was out of the question. The Trevors,
+though liberal, were not rich, and after just sending him so large
+a sum, it was impossible, he thought, that they should send him
+five pounds more at his mere request. Besides, how could he be sure
+that Billy would not play upon his fears to extort further sums?
+And to explain the matter to them fully was more than he could
+endure. He remembered now how easily his want of caution might have
+put Billy in possession of the secret, and he knew enough of the
+fellow's character to feel quite sure of the use he would be
+inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!</p>
+<p>Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure.
+He thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was
+clear--he <i>had</i>, not the money, and could not get it.
+Miserable boy! It was too late then! for him repentance was to be
+made impossible; every time he attempted it he was to be thwarted
+by some fresh discovery. And, leaning his head on his open palms,
+poor Eric sobbed like a child.</p>
+<p>Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the
+want of five pounds! Expulsion was <i>certain</i>, was
+<i>inevitable</i> now, and perhaps for Wildney too as well as for
+himself. After all his fine promises in his letters home,--yes,
+that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not closed for a month
+over one brother, and the other would be <i>expelled</i>. Oh
+misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother's heart. Oh
+how cruel everything was to him!</p>
+<p>Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or
+any other boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the
+boys would have spent the money they brought with them from home.
+There was no chance of any one having five pounds, and to a master
+he <i>dare</i> not apply, not even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too
+serious to be overlooked, and if noticed at all, he fancied that,
+after his other delinquencies, it <i>must</i>, as a matter of
+notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could not face that bitter
+thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon his father's
+and his brother's name; this was the fear which kept recurring to
+him with dreadful iteration.</p>
+<p>By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of
+the school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by
+being treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon's death
+he lost all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his
+office, to which Montagu had been elected by the general
+suffrage.</p>
+<p>He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was
+in Montagu's study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was
+merely a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.</p>
+<p>All this passed through Eric's mind as he sat in his study after
+Billy had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors
+were open, and all their occupants were absent in the
+cricket-field, or bathing. He stole into Montagu's study, hastily
+got the key, and took down the box.</p>
+<p>"O put it down, put it down, Eric," said Conscience; "what
+business have you with it?"</p>
+<p>"Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn't trust
+myself!"</p>
+<p>"Put it down," repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no
+longer to argue or entreat.</p>
+<p>Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not
+instantly leave the room. He began to look at Montagu's books, and
+then out of the window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he
+noticed, for the cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well,
+what of that? he was doing no harm.</p>
+<p>"Nonsense! I <i>will</i> just look and see if there's five
+pounds in the cricket-box." Slowly at first he put out his hand,
+and then, hastily turning the key, opened the box. It contained
+three pounds in gold, and a quantity of silver. He began to count
+the silver, putting it on the table, and found that it made up
+three pounds ten more. "So that, altogether, there's six pounds
+ten; that's thirty shillings more than ...and it won't be wanted
+till next summer term, because all the bats and balls are bought
+now. I daresay Montagu won't even open the box again. I know he
+keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks at it, and
+I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next term, and
+it will save me from expulsion."</p>
+<p>Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his
+pocket, and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and
+sixpences which he had counted, and dropped them also into his
+trousers; they fell into the pocket with a great jingle....</p>
+<p>"Eric, you are a thief!" He thought he heard his brother
+Vernon's voice utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was
+conscience who had borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he
+began to shake the money out of his pockets again into the box. He
+was only just in time; he had barely locked the box, and put it in
+its place, when he heard the sound of voices and footsteps on the
+stairs. He had no time to take out the key and put it back where he
+found it, and had hardly time to slip into his own study again,
+when the boys had reached the landing.</p>
+<p>They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.</p>
+<p>"Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual," said Duncan, good-humoredly;
+but he only got a sickly smile in reply.</p>
+<p>"What! are you the only fellow in the studies?" asked Montagu.
+"I was nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up
+stairs."</p>
+<p>"I don't think there's any one here but me," said Eric, "and I'm
+going a walk now."</p>
+<p>He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away
+through the play-ground towards the shore But he could not so
+escape his thoughts. "Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a
+thief!" rang in his ear. "Yes," he thought; "I am even a thief. Oh,
+good God, yes, <i>even</i> a <i>thief</i>, for I <i>had</i>
+actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only
+fellow up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!"</p>
+<p>It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid
+in the coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow.
+And as he lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good
+heavens! there was something still there. He pulled it out; it was
+a sovereign! Then he WAS a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was
+against him; and, starting to his feet, he flung the accursed gold
+over the rocks far into the sea.</p>
+<p>When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable
+to work, he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before
+he fell asleep; but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than
+the haunted wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and
+horrid dreams. Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic
+proportions, and their faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness,
+seemed to be standing over him, and demanding five pounds on pain
+of death. Flights of pigeons darkening the air, settled on him, and
+flapped about him. He fled from them madly through the dark
+midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose, and running
+up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in his
+dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, "O
+Charlie, save me;" but Charlie ran away, saying, "Williams, you are
+a thief!" and then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry,
+voices of expostulation, voices of contempt, voices of indignation,
+voices of menace; they took up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed
+it; but, most unendurable of all, there were voices of wailing and
+voices of gentleness among them, and his soul died within him as he
+caught, amid the confusion of condemning sounds, the voices of
+Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to him, in tender
+pity and agonized astonishment, "Eric, Eric, you are a thief!"</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>REAPING THE WHIRLWIND</h3>
+<blockquote>"For alas! alas! with me<br>
+The light of life is o'er;<br>
+No more--no more--no more<br>
+(Such language holds the solemn sea<br>
+To the sands upon the shore)<br>
+Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,<br>
+Or the stricken eagle soar!"<br>
+<br>
+EDGAR A. POE.</blockquote>
+<p>The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits
+to Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the
+doors for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to
+make use of this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well
+acquainted with the building (in which for a short time he had been
+a servant), he laid his plans without the least dread of
+discovery.</p>
+<p>There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel,
+and it could be reached by a path through the fields without any
+chance of being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched
+his opportunity. By this path Billy came, two days after his last
+visit, and walked straight up the great staircase, armed with the
+excuse of business with Eric in case any one met or questioned him.
+But no one was about, since between twelve and one the boys were
+pretty sure to be amusing themselves out of doors; and after
+glancing into each of the studies, Billy finally settled on
+searching Montagu's (which was the neatest and best furnished), to
+see what he could get.</p>
+<p>The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where
+Eric had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled
+him. In a moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking
+booty, and opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of
+gratification, the unexpected store of silver and gold. This he
+instantly transferred to his own pocket, and then replacing the box
+where he had found it, decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the
+study in all other respects exactly as he had found it.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with
+apprehension and suspense. Unable to endure his misery in
+loneliness, he had made several boys to a greater or less degree
+participators in the knowledge of his difficult position, and in
+the sympathy which his danger excited, the general nature of his
+dilemma with Billy (though not its special circumstances) was soon
+known through the school.</p>
+<p>At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was
+sitting with Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and
+the sorrow which lay at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious
+expression of his face, and the deep dejection of his attitude and
+manner.</p>
+<p>The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every
+possible topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing
+to be said, and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet
+though their arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness
+of their affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his
+heavy mood.</p>
+<p>"Well, well; at least <i>do</i> hope the best, Eric," said
+Graham.</p>
+<p>"Yes!" urged Wildney; "only think, dear old fellow, what lots of
+worse scrapes we've been in before, and how we've always managed to
+get out of them somehow."</p>
+<p>"No, my boy; not worse scrapes," answered Eric. "Depend upon it
+this is the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting
+into another at <i>Roslyn</i>, anyhow."</p>
+<p>"Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?" said Wildney, putting
+his arm round Eric's neck. "Besides it's all my fault, hang it,
+that you got into this cursed row."</p>
+<blockquote>"'The curse is come upon, me, cried<br>
+The Lady of Shallott,'</blockquote>
+<p>"those words keep ringing in my ears," murmured Eric.</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, if <i>you</i> are sent away, I know I shall get my
+father to take me too, and then we'll join each other somewhere.
+Come, cheer up, old boy--being sent isn't such a very frightful
+thing after all."</p>
+<p>"No" said Graham; "and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was
+only a lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn't like
+stealing, you know; <i>that</i>'d be quite a different thing."</p>
+<p>Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not
+notice it. "Ah," thought he, "there's <i>one</i> passage of my life
+which I never shall be able to reveal to any human soul."</p>
+<p>"Come now, Eric," said Wildney, "I've got something to propose.
+You shall play cricket to-day; you haven't played for an age, and
+it's high time you should. If you don't you'll go mooning about the
+shore all day, and that'll never do, for you'll come back glummer
+than ever."</p>
+<p>"No!" said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon
+instantly passed through his mind; "no more cricket for me."</p>
+<p>"Nay, but you <i>must</i> play to-day. Come, you shan't say no.
+You won't say no to me, will you, dear old fellow?" And Wildney
+looked up to him with that pleasant smile, and the merry light in
+his dark eyes, which had always been so charming to Eric's
+fancy.</p>
+<p>"There's no refusing you," said Eric with the ghost of a laugh,
+as he boxed Wildney's ears. "O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I
+wish I were you."</p>
+<p>"Pooh! pooh! now you shan't get sentimental again. As if you
+wern't fifty times better than me every way. I'm sure I don't know
+how I shall ever love you enough, Eric," he added more seriously,
+"for all your kindness to me."</p>
+<p>"I'm so glad you're going to play, though," said Graham; "and so
+will everybody be; and I'm certain it'll be good for you. The game
+will divert your thoughts."</p>
+<p>So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny's death,
+played with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The
+school cheered him vigorously as he appeared again on the field,
+and the sound lighted up his countenance with some gleam of its old
+joyousness. When one looked at him that day with his straw hat on
+and its neat light-blue ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink
+jersey and leather belt, with a silver clasp in front), showing off
+his well-built and graceful figure, one little thought what an
+agony was gnawing like a serpent at his heart. But that day, poor
+boy, in the excitement of the game he half forgot it himself, and
+more and more as the game went on.</p>
+<p>The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric
+caught out two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who
+stayed in long, and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying
+with a magnificent ball, the shouts of "well bowled! well bowled
+<i>indeed</i>," were universal.</p>
+<p>"Just listen to that, Eric," said Montagu; "why, you're
+out-doing every body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by
+storm."</p>
+<p>"Wait till you see me come out for a duck," said Eric
+laughing.</p>
+<p>"Not you. You're too much in luck to come out with a duck,"
+answered Montagu. "You see I've already become the Homer of your
+triumphs, and vaticinate in rhyme."</p>
+<p>And now it was Eric's turn to go in. It was long since he had
+stood before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a
+beautiful picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his
+fair hair shine like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows
+were flung to the winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest
+and joy.</p>
+<p>He contented himself with blocking Duncan's balls until his eye
+was in; but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right
+and left. His score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of
+getting him out, so that there was every probability of his
+carrying out his bat.</p>
+<p>"Oh, <i>well</i> hit! <i>well</i> hit! A three'r for Eric,"
+cried Wildney to the scorer; and he began to clap his hands and
+dance about with excitement at his friend's success.</p>
+<p>"Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!" shouted all the lookers on,
+as Eric caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over
+the hedge, getting a sixer by the hit.</p>
+<p>At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run,
+for the handle of his bat broke right off.</p>
+<p>"How unlucky!" he said, flinging down the handle with vexation.
+"I believe this was our best bat."</p>
+<p>"Oh, never mind," said Montagu; "we can soon get another; we've
+got lots of money in the box."</p>
+<p>What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of
+poison in the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected
+than he was by Montagu's simple remark. Montagu could not help
+noticing it, but at the time merely attributed it to some unknown
+gust of feeling, and made no comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing
+another bat, took his place again quite tamely; he was trembling,
+and at the very next ball, he spooned a miserable catch into
+Graham's hand, and the shout of triumph from the other side
+proclaimed that his innings was over.</p>
+<p>He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys,
+who were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after
+his brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the
+light had died away from his face and figure, and he never raised
+his eyes from the ground.</p>
+<p>"Modest Eric!" said Wildney chaffingly, "you don't acknowledge
+your honors."</p>
+<p>Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm,
+and walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and
+whispered again in a low voice--</p>
+<blockquote>"'The curse has come upon me, cried<br>
+The Lady of Shallott.'"</blockquote>
+<p>"Hush, Eric, nonsense," whispered Wildney; "you're not going
+away," he continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. "Why,
+there are only two more to go in!"</p>
+<p>"Yes, thank you, I must go."</p>
+<p>"Oh, then, I'll come too."</p>
+<p>Wildney at once joined his friend. "There's nothing more the
+matter, is there?" he asked anxiously, when they were out of
+hearing of the rest.</p>
+<p>"God only knows."</p>
+<p>"Well, let's change the subject. You've being playing
+brilliantly, old fellow."</p>
+<p>"Have I?"</p>
+<p>"I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid
+way."</p>
+<p>"Ah well! it matters very little."</p>
+<p>Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note
+from Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking
+him to tea that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been
+several times lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she
+always showed him caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she
+had known his mother.</p>
+<p>"Upon my word, honors <i>are</i> being showered on you!" said
+Wildney. "First to get <i>the</i> score of the season at cricket,
+and bowl out about half the other side, and then go to tea with the
+head-master. Upon my word! Why any of us poor wretches would give
+our two ears for such distinctions. Talk of curse indeed!
+Fiddlestick end!"</p>
+<p>But Eric's sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering
+with a sigh, he went to dress for tea.</p>
+<p>Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together.
+"How splendidly Eric played," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Yes, indeed. I'm so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting
+a new bat. I don't know exactly how much money we've got, but I
+know there's plenty. Let's come and see."</p>
+<p>They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the
+key. "Hallo," he said, "I'm nearly sure I left it in the corner of
+this drawer, under some other things; but it isn't there now. What
+can have become of it?"</p>
+<p>"Where's the box?" said Duncan; "let's see if any of my keys
+will fit it. Hallo! why <i>you're</i> a nice treasurer, Monty!
+here's the key <i>in</i> the box!"</p>
+<p>"No, is it though?" asked Montagu, looking serious. "Here, give
+it me; I hope nobody's been meddling with it."</p>
+<p>He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to
+see it empty.</p>
+<p>"Phew-w-w-w!" Montagu gave a long whistle.</p>
+<p>"By Jove!" was Duncan's only comment.</p>
+<p>The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what
+was in his thoughts.</p>
+<p>"A bad, bad business! what's to be done, Monty?"</p>
+<p>"I'll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it.
+Would you mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes?
+Tell him there's a row."</p>
+<p>He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the
+boys were talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally
+praising Eric's play.</p>
+<p>"I've got something unpleasant to say," he announced, raising
+his voice.</p>
+<p>"Hush! hush! hush! what's the row?" asked half a dozen at
+once.</p>
+<p>"The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has
+vanished from the box in my study!"</p>
+<p>For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.</p>
+<p>"Does any fellow know anything about this?"</p>
+<p>All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.</p>
+<p>"Where is Williams?" asked one of the sixth form casually.</p>
+<p>"He's taking tea with the Doctor," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be
+said, except in confidential whispers.</p>
+<p>Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. "What's to
+be done?" was the general question.</p>
+<p>"I think we've all had a lesson once before not to suspect too
+hastily. Still, in a matter like this," said Montagu, "one
+<i>must</i> take notice of apparent cues."</p>
+<p>"I know what you're thinking of, Monty," said Duncan.</p>
+<p>"Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?"</p>
+<p>"I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought."</p>
+<p>"I heard more--though at the time it didn't strike me
+particularly. I distinctly heard the jingle of money."</p>
+<p>"Well, it's no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we
+must <i>ask</i> him about it, and act accordingly.'</p>
+<p>"Will he come up to the studies again to-night?"</p>
+<p>"I think not," said Owen; "I notice he generally goes straight
+to bed after he has been out to tea; that's to say, directly after
+prayers."</p>
+<p>The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful.
+Their books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident
+that Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the
+evening he drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and
+looked at it long and earnestly. "Is it possible?" he thought. "Oh
+Eric! can that face be the face of a thief?"</p>
+<p>The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the
+Rowlands, and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant,
+quiet evening, and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more
+cheerful and hopeful than he had done before, although he was still
+ignorant how to escape the difficulty which threatened him.</p>
+<p>He couldn't help observing that as he entered he was the object
+of general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing
+that day, or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy's
+treachery, of which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when
+prayers were over, and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked
+and spoke in the coldest manner, his most terrible fears
+revived.</p>
+<p>He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat
+half abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan
+entered, and he started to see them, for they were evidently the
+bearers of some serious intelligence.</p>
+<p>"Eric," said Duncan, "do you know that some one has stolen all
+the cricket money?"</p>
+<p>"Stolen--what--<i>all</i>?" he cried, leaping up as if he had
+been shot. "Oh, what new retribution is this?" and he hid his face,
+which had turned ashy pale, in his hands.</p>
+<p>"To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?"</p>
+<p>"If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it," he said, not
+lifting his head.</p>
+<p>"Do you know anything about it?"</p>
+<p>"No!" he sobbed convulsively. "No, no, no! Yet stop; don't let
+me add a lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!" he said, looking up, "I
+do <i>not</i> know who stole it."</p>
+<p>They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu's
+averted face.</p>
+<p>"O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful," said Eric. "Don't
+<i>yet</i> condemn me. <i>I</i> am guilty, not of <i>this</i>, but
+of something as bad. I admit I was tempted; but if the money really
+is all gone, it is <i>not</i> I who am the thief."</p>
+<p>"You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very
+strong, and rests on some definite facts."</p>
+<p>"Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don't yet
+condemn me. I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty,
+believe me in this."</p>
+<p>But the boys still stood silent.</p>
+<p>"Well, then," he said, "I will tell you all. But I can only tell
+it to you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn't be angry; you are my
+friend, but not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him
+only."</p>
+<p>Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the
+bed, and put his arm round him to support him, for he shook
+violently. There, with deep and wild emotion, and many
+interruptions of passionate silence, Eric told to Montagu his
+miserable tale. "I am the most wretched fellow living," he said;
+"there must be some fiend that hates me, and drives me to ruin. But
+let it all come; I care nothing, nothing, what happens to me now.
+Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love me still."</p>
+<p>"O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you
+were sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won't
+you pray to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my
+heart, and do you think God can be less kind than man? And
+<i>I</i>, too, will pray for you, Eric. Good night, and God bless
+you" He gently disengaged himself--for Eric clung to him, and
+seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a moment after he was
+gone.</p>
+<p>Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but
+somehow it didn't seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and
+his thoughts began instantly to wander far away. Still he
+knelt--knelt even until his candle had gone out, and he had nearly
+fallen asleep, thought-wearied, on his knees. And then he got into
+bed still dressed. He had been making up his mind that he could
+bear it no longer, and would run away to sea that night.</p>
+<p>He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The
+Doctor had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they
+amounted in his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he
+stopped to look at the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly
+terms so short a time before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep,
+but opened his eyes, and looked at the head-master. Very
+sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head, and went away. Eric never
+saw him again.</p>
+<p>The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study,
+collect the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of
+Russell, Wildney, and his other friends--above all, Vernon's
+likeness--and then make his escape from the building, using for the
+last time the broken pane and loosened bar in the corridor, with
+which past temptations had made him so familiar.</p>
+<p>He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not
+yield. Half contemplating the possibility of such an intention on
+Eric's part, Dr. Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went
+out.</p>
+<p>"Ha!" thought the boy, "then he, too, knows and suspects. Never
+mind. I must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny's picture;
+perhaps it is best I should, for I'm only disgracing his noble
+memory. But they shan't prevent me from running away."</p>
+<p>Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He <i>could</i>, not endure another public expulsion, or
+even another birching; he <i>could</i> not endure the cold faces of
+even his best friends. No, no! he <i>could</i> not face the
+horrible phantom of detection, and exposure, and shame. Escape he
+must.</p>
+<p>After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he
+succeeded in loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took
+his two sheets, tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end
+tightly round the remaining bar, and let the other fall down the
+side of the building. He took one more glance round his little
+room, and then let himself down by the sheet, hand under hand,
+until he could drop to the ground. Once safe, he ran towards
+Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he were flying for
+his life. But when he got to the end of the playground he could not
+help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at the
+scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind
+him like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he
+spent in that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by
+without their own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had
+first walked across that playground, hand in hand with his father,
+a little boy of twelve. He remembered his first troubles with
+Barker, and how his father had at last delivered him from the
+annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered how often he and Russell
+had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant talk, especially the
+evening when he had got his first prize and head remove in the
+lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell's death, he had
+gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and
+Wildney afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then
+the stroll to Port Island, and Barker's plot against him, and the
+evening at the Stack passed through his mind; and the dinner at the
+Jolly Herring, and, above all, Vernon's death. Oh! how awful it
+seemed to him now, as he looked through the darkness at the very
+road along which they had brought Verny's dead body. Then his
+thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons, his own drunkenness,
+and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and this dreadful end
+of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed <i>so</i> bright
+on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the
+conclusion of his school days?</p>
+<p>Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there
+they lay, all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan,
+and all whom he cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose's light
+still burning in the library window; and he was leaving the school
+and those who had been with him there so long, in the dark night,
+by stealth, penniless and broken-hearted, with the shameful
+character of a thief.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Mr. Rose's light moved, and, fearing discovery or
+interception, he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to
+Starhaven through the darkness. There was still a light in the
+little sailors' tavern; and, entering, he asked the woman who kept
+it, "if she knew of any ship which was going to sail next
+morning?"</p>
+<p>"Why, your'n is, bean't it, Maister Davey!" she asked, turning
+to a rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.</p>
+<p>"Ees," grunted the man.</p>
+<p>"Will you take me on board?" said Eric.</p>
+<p>"You be a runaway, I'm thinking?"</p>
+<p>"Never mind. I'll come as cabin-boy--anything."</p>
+<p>The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress.
+"Hardly in the cabun-buoy line I should say."</p>
+<p>"Will you take me?" said Eric. "You'll find me strong and
+willing enough."</p>
+<p>"Well--if the skipper don't say no. Come along."</p>
+<p>They went down to a boat, and "Maister Davey" rowed to a
+schooner in the harbor, and took Eric on board.</p>
+<p>"There," he said, "you may sleep there for to-night," and he
+pointed to a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.</p>
+<p>Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and
+sound till the morning, on board the "Stormy Petrel."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>THE STORMY PETREL</h3>
+<blockquote>"They hadna sailed a league, a league,<br>
+A league, but barely three,<br>
+When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,<br>
+And gurly grew the sea."<br>
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>"Hilloa!" exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next
+morning, as he saw Eric's recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff,
+"Who be this young varmint!"</p>
+<p>"Oh, I brought him aboord last night," said Davey; "he wanted to
+be cabun-buoy."</p>
+<p>"Precious like un <i>he</i> looks. Never mind, we've got him and
+we'll use him."</p>
+<p>The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his
+scattered thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first,
+as the Stormy Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea,
+he felt one absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But
+before he had been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to
+the trying nature of his circumstances, which were, indeed,
+<i>so</i> trying that <i>anything</i> in the world seemed
+preferable to enduring them. He had not been three hours on board
+when he would have given everything in his power to be back again;
+but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now fairly on her
+way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo of cattle.</p>
+<p>There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was
+only a little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest
+and meanest grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the
+captain, who was a drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.</p>
+<p>This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly
+because he was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The
+first words he addressed to him were--</p>
+<p>"I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing."</p>
+<p>"I've got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, you shall give us your gran' clothes. Them things
+isn't fit for a cabin-boy."</p>
+<p>Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged
+his good cloth suit for a rough sailor's shirt and trowsers, not
+over clean, which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at
+once appropriated by that functionary, who carried them into his
+cabin. But it was lucky for Eric that, seeing how matters were
+likely to go, he had succeeded in secreting his watch.</p>
+<p>The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind
+rose to a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make
+his case worse, could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight
+of such coarse food as was contemptuously flung to him.</p>
+<p>"Where am I to sleep?" he asked, "I feel very sick."</p>
+<p>"Babby," said one of the sailors, "what's your name?"</p>
+<p>"Williams."</p>
+<p>"Well, Bill, you'll have to get over your sickness pretty soon,
+<i>I</i> can tell ye. Here," he added, relenting a little, "Davey's
+slung ye a hammock in the forecastle."</p>
+<p>He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the
+lurches of the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the
+companion-ladder, much less get into his hammock. The man saw his
+condition, and, sulkily enough, hove him into his place.</p>
+<p>And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible,
+and out of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and
+pitched through the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty
+men sleeping round him at night, until the atmosphere of the
+forecastle became like poison, hopelessly and helplessly sick, and
+half-starved, the boy lay for two days. The crew neglected him
+shamefully. It was nobody's business to wait on him, and he could
+procure neither sufficient food, nor any water; they only brought
+him some grog to drink, which in his weakness and sickness was
+nauseous to him as medicine.</p>
+<p>"I say, you young cub down there," shouted the skipper to him
+from the hatchway, "come up and swab this deck."</p>
+<p>He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled
+about to find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But
+he staggered from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to
+grasp for some fresh support at every step.</p>
+<p>"None of that 'ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d----
+you, what d'ye think you're here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in
+five minutes, or I'll teach you, and be d---- d."</p>
+<p>Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his
+task without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no
+means of washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap,
+or clean linen; and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the
+waking brought no change in his condition. And then the whole life
+of the ship was odious to him. His sense of refinement was
+exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill, and kicked and cuffed
+about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their rough, coarse,
+drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more intolerable
+familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.</p>
+<p>His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing
+his fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse
+of open kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to
+pity him in heart.</p>
+<p>Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure
+at first, when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him
+least; he longed for death, and often contemplated flinging himself
+into those cold deep waves which he gazed on daily over the
+vessel's side. Hope was the only thing which supported him. He had
+heard from one of the crew that the vessel would be back in not
+more than six weeks, and he made a deeply seated resolve to escape
+the very first day that they again anchored in an English
+harbor.</p>
+<p>The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on
+board greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and
+disgusting work which fell to his snare, as well as made the
+atmosphere of the close little schooner twice as poisonous as
+before. And to add to his miseries, his relations with the crew got
+more and more unfavorable, and began to reach their climax.</p>
+<p>One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard
+him winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as
+secretly and silently as he could, and never looked at it, except
+when no one could observe him; while, during the day, he kept both
+watch and chain concealed in his trousers.</p>
+<p>Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch,
+and tried by every species of threat and promise to extort it from
+him. But the watch had been his mother's gift, and he was resolute
+never to part with it into such hands.</p>
+<p>"Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he'll
+soon get it out of you as your footing, depend on it."</p>
+<p>The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the
+watch as pay for Eric's feed, for he maintained that he'd done no
+work, and was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still
+refused, and the man struck him brutally on the face, and at the
+same time aimed a kick at him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It
+caught him on the knee-cap, and put it out, causing him the most
+excruciating agony.</p>
+<p>He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was
+only with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move
+caused him violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all
+day on the vessel's side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any
+sight of land, or gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea
+and sky.</p>
+<p>Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted,
+and the skipper ordered him to furl a sail.</p>
+<p>"I can't," said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring,
+and not lifting his eyes to the man's unfeeling face.</p>
+<p>"Can't, d---- you. Can't. We'll soon see whether you can or no!
+You do it, or <i>I</i> shall have to mend your leg for you;" and he
+showered down a storm of oaths.</p>
+<p>Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined
+at least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty.
+But the effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he
+dropped once more on deck.</p>
+<p>"Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we're going to bother
+ourselves with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for
+nothing. It's all sham. Here, Jim, tie him up."</p>
+<p>A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands
+together, and then drew them up above his head, and strung them to
+the rigging.</p>
+<p>"Why didn't ye strip him first, d---- you?" roared the
+skipper.</p>
+<p>"He's only got that blue shirt on, and that's soon mended," said
+the man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and
+tearing it open with a great rip.</p>
+<p>Eric's white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging,
+and his injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. "And now for
+some rope-pie for the stubborn young lubber," said the skipper,
+lifting a bit of rope as he spoke.</p>
+<p>Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the
+next instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump,
+rasping away a red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time
+the awful reality of intense pain; he had determined to utter no
+sound, to give no sign; but when the horrible rope fell on him,
+griding across his back, and making his body literally creak under
+the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf in every limb, and could
+not suppress the harrowing murmur, "Oh God, help me, help me."</p>
+<p>Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the
+boy's naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to
+the violent laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang
+from his lips, so shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in
+the memory of all who heard it. But the brute who administered the
+torture was untouched. Once more, and again, the rope rose and
+fell, and under its marks the blood first dribbled, and then
+streamed from the white and tender skin.</p>
+<p>But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of
+nature; his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs
+still seemed to creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted
+away.</p>
+<p>"Stop, master, stop, if you don't want to kill the boy
+outright," said Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while
+the hot flush of indignation burned through his tanned and
+weather-beaten cheek. The sailors called him "Softy Bob," from that
+half-gentleness of disposition which had made him, alone of all the
+men, speak one kind or consoling word for the proud and lonely
+cabin-boy.</p>
+<p>"Undo him then, and be--," growled the skipper and rolled off to
+drink himself drunk.</p>
+<p>"I doubt he's well-nigh done for him already," said Roberts,
+quickly untying Eric's hands, round which the cords had been pulled
+so tight as to leave two blue rings round his wrists. "Poor fellow,
+poor fellow! it's all over now," he murmured soothingly, as the
+boy's body fell motionless into his arms, which he hastily
+stretched to prevent him from tumbling on the deck.</p>
+<p>But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity,
+carried him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a
+clean blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.</p>
+<p>It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words
+had been prophetic.</p>
+<p>"How is the young varmint?" shouted the skipper, looking into
+the forecastle.</p>
+<p>"You've killed him, I think."</p>
+<p>The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was
+sufficiently frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his
+patient.</p>
+<p>At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the
+raw state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone,
+reminded him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all
+that could be done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid
+place, in the languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the
+unbidden tears flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the
+sickness of his heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he
+thought that he should die.</p>
+<p>But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and
+agony, and death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his
+comfortless hammock. The news that land was in sight first roused
+him, and with the help of Roberts, he was carried on deck,
+thankful, with childlike gratitude, that God suffered him to
+breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and sit under the canopy
+of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the sunlight refreshed
+him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes upraised, he
+poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable thankfulness to
+a Father in Heaven.</p>
+<p>Yes! at last he had remembered his Father's home. There, in the
+dark berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean
+atmosphere brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead
+burned, and his heart melted within him, and he had felt almost
+inclined to curse his life, or even to end it by crawling up and
+committing himself to the deep cold water which, he heard rippling
+on the vessel's side; then, even then, in that valley of the shadow
+of death, a Voice had come to him--a still small Voice--at whose
+holy and healing utterance Eric had bowed his head, and listened to
+the messages of God, and learnt his will; and now, in humble
+resignation, in touching penitence with solemn self-devotion, he
+had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to be helped, and
+guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the darkness
+of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till they
+were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus' sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no
+evil, for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting
+arms.</p>
+<p>And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by
+harsh word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of
+the sea wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something
+half-like an apology.</p>
+<p>The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder
+again, but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or
+horror, put out his hand to the man to shake. There was something
+touching and noble in the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of
+himself for once, the fellow shook the proffered hand, and slunk
+away.</p>
+<p>They entered the broad river at Southpool.</p>
+<p>"I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts," said
+Eric.</p>
+<p>"I doubt whether you'll let you," answered Roberts, jerking his
+finger towards the skipper's cabin.</p>
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+<p>"He'll be afeard you might take the law on him."</p>
+<p>"He needn't fear."</p>
+<p>Roberts only shook his head.</p>
+<p>"Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, that I will."</p>
+<p>That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown
+to all but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the
+water in the evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard
+or two distant; but the effort almost exhausted his strength, for
+his knee was still painful, and he was very weak.</p>
+<p>Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the
+sleepless night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a
+pawnbroker's, and raised &pound;2:10s. on his watch, with which
+money he walked straight to the railway station.</p>
+<p>It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As
+Eric dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney
+on the other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to
+meet him, as he would have done in old times. His whole heart
+yearned towards him. It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one
+loving face, and during all that time he had hardly heard one
+kindly word. And now he saw before him the boy whom he loved so
+fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy hours of school-boy
+friendship, with whom he had gone through so many schoolboy
+adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.</p>
+<p>Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the
+street. Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some
+four years older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising
+immensely. They were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the
+word Roslyn. Like a lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the
+memory of his ruin came upon him; he looked down at his dress--it
+was a coarse blue shirt, which Roberts had given him in place of
+his old one, and the back of it was stained and saturated with
+blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers were dirty, tarred,
+and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely covered his feet.
+He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able to wash, and
+that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at a
+shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the
+eyes sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and
+lustreless. No! he could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged
+sailor-boy; perhaps even he might not be recognised if he did. He
+drew back, and hid himself till the merry-hearted pair had passed,
+and it was almost with a pang of jealousy that he saw how happy
+Wildney could be, while <i>he</i> was thus; but he cast aside the
+unworthy thought at once. "After all, how is poor Charlie to know
+what has happened to me?"</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>HOME AT LAST</h3>
+<blockquote>"I will arise and go to my father."<br>
+<br>
+"Ach! ein Schicksal droht,<br>
+Und es droht nicht lange!<br>
+Auf der holden Wange<br>
+Brennt ein b&ouml;ses Roth!"--TIEDGE.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and
+found that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat
+during the day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary
+train to Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the
+branch line to Ayrton.</p>
+<p>He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding
+himself from notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it
+carried poor people for the most part, so, of course it could
+matter but little how tedious or slow it was!)--the weary train,
+stopping at every station, and often waiting on the rail until it
+had been passed by trains that started four or five hours after
+it,--dragged its slow course through the fair counties of England.
+Many people got in and out of the carriage, which was generally
+full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and
+his heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with
+civil answers to the questions put to him, dropping the
+conversation as soon as he could.</p>
+<p>At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he
+got down.</p>
+<p>"Ticket," said the station-man.</p>
+<p>Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well
+from having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked
+hard at him, and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,</p>
+<p>"Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be
+you?"</p>
+<p>"Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don't say a
+word, that's a good fellow; I'm going on to Ayrton this
+evening."</p>
+<p>"Well, sir, I <i>am</i>, hurt like to see you looking so ragged
+and poorly. Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by
+first train to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"O no, thank you, John. I've got no money, and--"</p>
+<p>"Tut, tut, sir; I thought you'd know me better nor that. Proud
+I'd be any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor's nephew, let alone a
+young gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my
+little cart this evening."</p>
+<p>"No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but,"
+he said, and the tears were in his eyes, "I want to walk in alone
+to-night."</p>
+<p>"Well, God keep and bless you, sir," said the man, "for you look
+to need it;" and touching his cap, he watched the boy's painful
+walk across some fields to the main road.</p>
+<p>"Who'd ha' thought it, Jenny?" he said to his wife. "There's
+that young Master Williams, whom we've always thought so noble
+like, just been here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color
+o' my white signal flag."</p>
+<p>"Lawks!" said the woman; "well, well! poor young gentleman, I'm
+afeard he's been doing something bad."</p>
+<p>Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without
+toil, made his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten
+miles off. The road wound through the valley, across the low hills
+that encircled it, sometimes spanning or running parallel to the
+bright stream that had been the delight of Eric's innocent
+childhood. There was something enjoyable at first to the poor boy's
+eyes, so long accustomed to the barren sea, in resting once more on
+the soft undulating green of the summer fields, which were
+intertissued with white and yellow flowers, like a broidery of
+pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the exquisite light,
+and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious evening, which
+filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation of rose
+and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in
+Eric's heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with
+recollections of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how
+differently; and of the last time when he had come home with Vernon
+by his side. "Oh Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God
+that I were with you now. But you are resting, Verny, in the green
+grave by Russell's side, and I--oh God, be merciful to me now!"</p>
+<p>It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds,
+and Eric walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought
+on the pain in his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the
+road-side to rest. He reached Ayrton at ten o'clock, but even then
+he could not summon up courage to pass through the town where he
+was so well known, lest any straggler should recognise him,--and he
+took a detour in order to get to Fairholm. He did not arrive there
+till eleven o'clock; and then he could not venture into the
+grounds, for he saw through the trees of the shrubbery that there
+was no light in any of the windows, and it was clear that they were
+all gone to bed.</p>
+<p>What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night.
+He remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from
+him since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of
+so sudden an emotion as his appearance at that hour might
+excite.</p>
+<p>So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank
+beside the gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was
+long before he slept, but at last weary nature demanded her
+privilege with importunity, and gentle sleep floated over him like
+a dark dewy cloud, and the sun was high in heaven before he
+woke.</p>
+<p>It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor,
+with Fanny, was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an
+occupation full of holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which
+she had found more than usual consolation during the heavy trials
+which she had recently suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon
+as a mother does her own children, and now Vernon, the little
+cherished jewel of her heart, was dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric,
+she feared, not dead but worse than dead, guilty, stained,
+dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in deep anguish of
+heart, "Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen and
+ruined!"</p>
+<p>"Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass," said Fanny,
+pointing to a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the
+gate. "He has had a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night
+there, as I fear."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. "What is Flo' doing?" she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy's
+reclining figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into
+a quick short bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him,
+and leapt upon him, joyously wagging his tail.</p>
+<p>The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he
+saw the dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its
+little silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught
+sight of the Trevors.</p>
+<p>"It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric," cried Mrs. Trevor, as she
+flew towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent,
+speechless, with long arrears of pent-up emotion.</p>
+<p>"O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are
+forgiven, more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that
+my prayers would be answered; this is as though we received you
+from the dead." And the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric,
+his heart shaken with accumulated feelings, clung to her and
+wept.</p>
+<p>Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their
+lost child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm
+bath, and tended him with every gentle office of female ministering
+hands. And in the evening, when he told them his story in a broken
+voice of penitence and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet
+balsam, and he rested by them, "seated, and clothed, and in his
+right mind."</p>
+<p>The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the
+greenhouse, was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste,
+and its glass doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long,
+long since Eric had ever seen anything like it, and he had never
+hoped to see it again. "Oh dearest aunty," he murmured, as he
+rested his weary head upon her lap, while he sat on a low stool at
+her feet, "Oh aunty, you will never know how different this is from
+the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy Petrel,' and its detestable
+inmates."</p>
+<p>When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more
+fed on nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once
+more about the garden by Fanny's side, he began to recover his old
+appearance, and the soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and
+the light to his blue eye. But still his health gave most serious
+cause for apprehension; weeks of semi-starvation, bad air,
+sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights of exposure and wet,
+had at last undermined the remarkable strength of his constitution,
+and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact that he was
+sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.</p>
+<p>Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which
+he could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace
+at Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He
+avoided the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him,
+especially as he had taken away the bitterest part of their trial
+in remembering it, by explaining to them that he was far from being
+so wicked in the matter of the theft as they had at first been (how
+slowly and reluctantly!) almost forced to believe.</p>
+<p>"Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever
+heard, aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?" he
+asked, one evening, with evident effort.</p>
+<p>"No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I
+heard no more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from
+Dr. Rowlands, and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of
+what had happened about you."</p>
+<p>"O, have they sent home my things?" he asked, eagerly. "There
+are very few among them that I care about, but there is just
+one----"</p>
+<p>"I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you,
+should have given it you before;" and she drew out of a drawer the
+little likeness of Vernon's sweet childish face.</p>
+<p>Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>"Do not weep, my boy," said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead.
+"Dear little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes
+away all tears from off all eyes."</p>
+<p>"Is there anything else you would like?" asked Fanny, to divert
+his painful thoughts. "I will get you anything in a moment."</p>
+<p>"Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell's
+life, and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you
+never knew him!"</p>
+<p>He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed
+to give him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name,
+and speak of them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.</p>
+<p>"I have a plan to please you, Eric," said Mrs. Tremor. "Shall I
+ask Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them."</p>
+<p>"O, thank you," he said, with the utmost eagerness. "Thank you,
+dearest aunt." Then suddenly his countenance fell. "Stop--shall
+we?--yes, yes, I am going to die soon, I know; let me see them
+before I die."</p>
+<p>The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious
+tenure of his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did
+not contradict him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose
+directions Eric knew), telling them what had happened, and begging
+them, simply for his sake, to come and stay with her for a time.
+She hinted clearly that it might be the last opportunity they would
+ever have of seeing him.</p>
+<p>Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived
+together at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both
+greeted Eric with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired
+of pressing their hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now
+and then a memory of sadness would pass over his face, like a dark
+ripple on the clear surface of a lake.</p>
+<p>"Tell me, Monty," he said one evening, "all about what happened
+after I left Roslyn."</p>
+<p>"Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--"</p>
+<p>"My name cleared!" said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you
+say that?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, Eric. Didn't you know, then, that the thief had been
+discovered?"</p>
+<p>"No," he murmured faintly, leaning back; "O thank God, thank
+God! Do tell me all about it, Monty."</p>
+<p>"Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may
+guess how utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard
+that you had run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it,
+for he went early to your bed-room----"</p>
+<p>"Dear little Sunbeam," interrupted Eric, resting his hand
+against Wildney's cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he
+heard the forbidden name.</p>
+<p>"He found the door locked," continued Montagu, "and called to
+you, but there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and
+we were certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent
+sheet. The masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make
+inquiries, but they did not succeed in discovering anything
+definite about you. Then, of course, everybody assumed as a
+certainty that you were guilty, and I fear that my bare assertion
+on the other side had little weight."</p>
+<p>Eric's eyes glistened as he drank in his friend's story.</p>
+<p>"But, about a fortnight after, <i>more</i> money and several
+other articles disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as
+to the perpetrator was baffled; only now the boys began to admit
+that, after all, they had been premature in condemning you. It was
+a miserable time; for every one was full of distrust, and the more
+nervous boys were always afraid lest any one should on some slight
+grounds suspect <i>them. Still</i>, things kept disappearing.</p>
+<p>"We found out at length that the time when the robberies were
+effected must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed
+that some one should be concealed in the studies for a day or two
+during those hours. Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced
+in one of the big cupboards in a study which had not yet been
+touched. On the third day he heard some one stealthily mount the
+stairs. The fellows were more careful now, and used to keep their
+doors shut, but the person was provided with keys, and opened the
+study in which Carter was. He moved about for a little time--Carter
+watching him through the key-hole, and prepared to spring on him
+before he could make his escape. Not getting much, the man at last
+opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just time to conceal
+himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the plunderer's
+fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter before
+him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though a
+ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was
+he who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was
+sentenced to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name
+was cleared."</p>
+<p>"As I always knew it would be, dear old boy," said Wildney.</p>
+<p>Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm,
+and were never tired of Eric's society, and of his stories about
+all that befell him on board the "Stormy Petrel." They perceived a
+marvellous change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance
+had passed away; every stain of passion had been removed; every
+particle of hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All
+was gentleness, love, and dependence, in the once bright,
+impetuous, self-willed boy; it seemed as though the lightning of
+God's anger had shattered and swept away all that was evil in his
+heart and life, and left all his true excellence, all the royal
+prerogatives of his character, pure and unscathed Eric, even in his
+worst days, was, as I well remember, a lovable and noble boy; but
+at this period there must have been something about him for which
+to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and irresistibly
+attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk with them,
+Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing excursions by
+themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit out
+reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric's health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not
+deceive herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his
+head when they called him convalescent.</p>
+<p>Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week
+after their arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the
+open air, under a lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to
+set, and the rain of golden sunlight fell over them through the
+green ambrosial foliage of the tree whose pale blossoms were still
+murmurous with bees. Eric was leaning back in an easy chair, with
+Wildney sitting on the grass, cross-legged at his feet, while
+Montagu, resting on one of the mossy roots, read to them the
+"Midsummer Night's Dream," and the ladies were busy with their
+work.</p>
+<p>"There--stop now," said Eric, "and let's sit out and talk until
+we see some of 'the fiery a'es and o'es of light' which he talks
+of."</p>
+<p>"I'd no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading,"
+remarked Wildney na&iuml;vely. "I shall take to reading him through
+when I get home."</p>
+<p>"Do you remember, Eric," said Montagu, "how Rose used to chaff
+us in old days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant
+we used to be when he asked if we'd ever heard of an obscure person
+called William Shakspeare?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, very well," answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this
+strain they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed
+listening to their school-boy mirth.</p>
+<p>"What a perfectly delicious evening. It's almost enough to make
+me wish to live," said Eric.</p>
+<p>He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half
+sang, half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother's
+sweet voice had made him familiar in their cottage-home at
+Ellan:--</p>
+<blockquote>"There is a calm for those who weep,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A rest for weary pilgrims found;<br>
+They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Low in the ground.<br>
+<br>
+"The storm that wrecks the winter sky,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No more disturbs their deep repose,<br>
+Than summer evening's latest sigh<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That shuts the rose."</blockquote>
+<p>The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he
+murmured to himself again, in low tones--</p>
+<blockquote>"Than summer evening's latest sigh<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That shuts the rose."</blockquote>
+<p>"Oh hush, hush, Eric!" said Wildney, laying his hand upon his
+friend's lips; "don't let's spoil to-night by forebodings."</p>
+<p>It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful
+thing to be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the
+sun broadened and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft
+meadow and silver stream. One might have fancied that the last rays
+of sunshine loved to linger over Eric's face, now flushed with a
+hectic tinge of pleasure, and to light up sudden glories in his
+bright hair, which the wind just fanned off his forehead as he
+leaned back and inhaled the luxury of evening perfume, which the
+flowers of the garden poured on the gentle breeze. Ah, how sad that
+such scenes should be so rare and so short-lived!</p>
+<p>"Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!" said Wildney; "there goes the
+postman's horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the
+gate?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, do," they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun,
+greeting the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that
+the man shook with laughing at him.</p>
+<p>"Here it is at last," said Wildney. "Now, then, for the key.
+Here's a letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss
+Trevor--<i>what</i> people you young ladies are for writing to each
+other! None for you, Monty--Oh, yes! I'm wrong, here's one; but
+none for Eric."</p>
+<p>"I expected none," said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed
+earnestly on one of Mrs. Trevor's letters. He saw that it was from
+India, and directed in his father's hand.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor caught his look. "Shall I read it aloud to you, dear
+I Do you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to
+ours, telling them of--"</p>
+<p>"Oh, yes, yes," he said, eagerly, "do let me hear it."</p>
+<p>With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric
+pressed them to stay. "It will help me to bear what mother says, if
+I see you by me," he pleaded.</p>
+<p>God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written
+from the depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise
+with, who for thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human
+misery. By the former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny's
+melancholy death; by the next she had been told that her only other
+child, Eric, was not dead indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked
+with the brand of terrible suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it
+was God who sent it, and he only enabled her to endure it. With
+bent head, and streaming eyes, and a breast that heaved
+involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as though to his
+mother's voice, and only now and then he murmured low to himself,
+"O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God and
+man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once
+more."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Trevor's eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all,
+and Fanny finished it. "Here is a little note from your father,
+Eric, which dropped out when we opened dear aunt's letter. Shall I
+read it, too?"</p>
+<p>"Perhaps not now, love," said Mrs. Trevor. "Poor Eric is too
+tired and excited already."</p>
+<p>"Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty," he said. He opened
+it, read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back
+swooning, while it dropped out of his hands.</p>
+<p>Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in
+a few heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs.
+Williams had been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired
+of, and that, before the letter reached England, she would, in all
+human probability, be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul
+resigned indeed, and humble, but crushed down to the very earth
+with the load of mysterious bereavement, and irretrievable
+sorrow.</p>
+<p>"Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!" said Eric, in
+a hollow voice, when he came to himself. "O God, forgive me,
+forgive me!"</p>
+<p>They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed
+for him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength
+appeared to have been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At
+last a momentary energy returned; his eyes were lifted to the
+gloaming heaven where a few stars had already begun to shine, and a
+bright look illuminated his countenance. They listened
+deeply--"Yes, mother," he murmured, in broken tones, "forgiven now,
+for Christ's dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes, there they are,
+and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at last--too
+happy!"</p>
+<p>The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient
+moment more the smile and the brightness played over his fair
+features like a lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with
+those he dearliest loved, in the land where there is no more
+curse.</p>
+<p>"Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now," sobbed Mrs. Trevor;
+and her tears fell fast upon the dead boy's face, as she pressed
+upon it a long, last kiss.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="2CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<br>
+<h3>CONCLUSION</h3>
+<blockquote>"And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?<br>
+Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?<br>
+And borne unscathed through danger's stormy field<br>
+Honor's white wreath and virtue's stainless shield?"<br>
+<br>
+HARROW. A Prize Poem.</blockquote>
+<p>The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to
+his father's estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles
+around. He intends to stand for the county at the next general
+election, and I haven't the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed.
+If he does, Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu
+has the very soul of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of
+his vigorous judgment, and the treasures of his cultivated taste,
+with an eloquence that rises to extraordinary grandeur when he is
+fulminating his scorn at any species of tyranny or meanness.</p>
+<p>It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days
+in his charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over
+his grounds, and then across one of the richest plains in England)
+one long summer evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and
+figures of the past, until we almost felt ourselves boys again.</p>
+<p>"I have just been staying at Trinity," said I, "and Owen, as I
+suppose you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first
+class, and they have already elected him fellow and assistant
+tutor."</p>
+<p>"Is he liked?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of
+those fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful
+as men, than they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the
+<i>greatest</i> things of him; but have you heard anything of
+Duncan lately?"</p>
+<p>"Yes, he's just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from
+him the other day. He's met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and
+Upton, the latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there
+are not two finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and
+Wildney, as you may easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room.
+You know, I suppose, that Graham is making a great start at the
+bar."</p>
+<p>"Is he? I'm delighted to hear it."</p>
+<p>"Yes. He had a 'mauvais sujet' to defend the other day, in the
+person of our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned
+by his relations, is at present a policeman in London."</p>
+<p>"On the principle, I suppose, of 'Set a thief to catch a
+thief,'" said Montagu, with a smile.</p>
+<p>"Yes; but he exemplifies the truth 'chassez le naturel, il
+revient au galop' for he was charged with abetting a street fight
+between two boys, which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was
+penitent, and Graham got him off with wonderful cleverness."</p>
+<p>"Ah!" said Montagu, sighing, "there was <i>one</i> who would
+have been the pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!"</p>
+<p>We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning
+words, his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his
+melancholy fate, and a deep sadness fell over us.</p>
+<p>"Poor boy, he is at peace now," said Montagu; and he told me
+once more the sorrowful particulars of his death. "Shall I read you
+some verses?" he asked, "which he must have composed, poor fellow,
+on board the 'Stormy Petrel,' though he probably wrote them at
+Fairholm afterwards."</p>
+<p>"Yes, do."</p>
+<p>And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much
+feeling, these lines, written in Eric's boyish hand, and signed
+with his name.</p>
+<p>ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.</p>
+<blockquote>Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;In all the world alone I stand,<br>
+With none to wed their hearts to mine,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Or link in mine a loving hand.<br>
+<br>
+Ah! I tell me not that I have those<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Who owe the ties of blood and name,<br>
+Or pitying friends who love me well,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And dear returns of friendship claim.<br>
+<br>
+I have, I have! but none can heal,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And none shall see my inward woe,<br>
+And the deep thoughts within me veiled<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No other heart but mine shall know.<br>
+<br>
+And yet amid my sins and shames<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The shield of God is o'er me thrown<br>
+And, 'neath its awful shade I feel<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!<br>
+<br>
+Not all alone! and though my life<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Be dragged along the stained earth,<br>
+O God! I feel thee near me still,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And thank thee for my birth!<br>
+<br>
+E.W.</blockquote>
+<p>Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest
+memorial of my erring but noble schoolboy friend.</p>
+<p>Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I
+gave him a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his
+pleasant vicarage of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or
+two ago by Dr. Rowlands, now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also
+appointed him examining chaplain. I sat and watched Mr. Rose while
+he read them. A mournful interest was depicted on his face, his
+hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he bent his grey hair
+over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at school that Eric
+was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and Vernon were
+with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away without even
+having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr. Rose
+displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we
+returned to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the
+intelligence of Eric's return to Fairholm, and of his death. The
+news plunged many of us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in
+chapel, Mr. Rose alluded to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes
+among those who listened to him. I shall never forget that Sunday
+afternoon. A deep hush brooded over us, and before the sermon was
+over, many a face was hidden to conceal the emotion which could not
+be suppressed.</p>
+<p>"I speak," said Mr. Rose, "to a congregation of mourners, for
+one who but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of
+yourselves. But, for myself, I do <i>not</i> mourn over his death.
+Many a time have I mourned for him in past days, when I marked how
+widely he went astray,--but I do not mourn now; for after his fiery
+trials he died penitent and happy, and at last his sorrows are over
+for ever, and the dreams of ambition have vanished, and the fires
+of passion have been quenched, and for all eternity the young soul
+is in the presence of its God. Let none of you think that his life
+has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to spare him, he
+might have found great works to do among his fellow-men, and he
+would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far
+rather must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that
+we are all partakers of God's unspeakable blessing, the common
+mystery of immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of
+very many here to recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and
+converse with our dear departed brother in a holier and happier
+world."</p>
+<p>I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can
+give no conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or
+the intense pathos of his tones.</p>
+<p>The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he
+lingered over Eric's verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of
+thought.</p>
+<p>At last he looked up and sighed. "Poor Eric!--But no, I will not
+call him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him
+well," he continued; "why do you not try and preserve some records
+of his life?"</p>
+<p>The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and
+at once began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were
+numerous and vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends
+gladly supplied me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of
+Roslyn, Mr. Rose, Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric's ruin
+has been told, and told as he would have wished it done, with
+simple truth. Noble Eric! I do not fear that I have wronged your
+memory, and you I know would rejoice to think how sorrowful hours
+have lost something of their sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so
+many of which we were engaged together in our school-boy days.</p>
+<p>I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along
+the sands, picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling
+the joyous tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys
+were playing by the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to
+them; and as I marked how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with
+its murmur and its foam, each sweeping farther than the other, each
+effacing the traces of the last, I saw an emblem of the passing
+generations, and was content to find that my place knew me no
+more.</p>
+<blockquote>Ah me the golden time!--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But its hours have passed away,<br>
+With the pure and bracing clime,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And the bright and merry day.<br>
+<br>
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And the shore still shines in the lustre of the
+wave;<br>
+But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o'er,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And he who comes again<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wears a brow of toil and pain,<br>
+And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.</blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***</div>
+<div style='text-align:left'>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will
+be renamed.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away&#8212;you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div>
+<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div>
+<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
+or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the
+Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work
+on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the
+phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+    at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
+    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
+  </div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; License.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format
+other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain
+Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+provided that:
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method
+        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has
+        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        works.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+        receipt of the work.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.
+    </div>
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;’s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
+public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
+visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/12083-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/12083-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b633997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12083-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/old/old/12083-8.txt b/old/old/12083-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..110c9da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old/12083-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11204 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Eric
+
+Author: Frederic William Farrar
+
+Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12083]
+[Last updated: May 4, 2011]
+
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+ERIC
+
+OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL
+
+By
+
+FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.
+
+Author of "The Life of Christ," "Julian Home," "St. Winifreds," etc
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+GEORGE A. TRAVER
+
+
+1902
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I
+
+CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD
+CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME
+CHAPTER III--BULLYING
+CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING
+CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM
+CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS
+CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER
+CHAPTER VIII--"TAKING UP"
+CHAPTER IX--"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"
+CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE
+CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY
+CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL
+CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN
+
+
+PART II
+
+CHAPTER I--ABDIEL
+CHAPTER II--WILDNEY
+CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING
+CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+CHAPTER V--RIPPLES
+CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU
+CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS
+CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND
+CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION
+CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL
+CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST
+CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+BULLYING
+ERIC _Vignette on title-page_
+SMOKING
+ON THE ROCK
+OUT OF THE WINDOW
+ERIC AND VERNON
+HIDING
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+PART 1
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+     "Ah dear delights, that o'er my soul
+     On memory's wing like shadows fly!
+     Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,
+     While Innocence stood laughing by."--COLERIDGE.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" cried a young boy, as he capered vigorously
+about, and clapped his hands. "Papa and mamma will be home in a week
+now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and _then_, and _then_,
+I shall go to school."
+
+The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he stopped
+his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin Fanny was
+patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so much affected
+by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so he again exclaimed,
+"And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to school."
+
+"Well, Eric," said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face from her
+endless work, "I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it with quite as
+much joy a year hence."
+
+"O ay, Fanny, that's just like you to say so; you're always talking and
+prophesying; but never mind, I'm going to school, so hurrah! hurrah!
+hurrah!" and he again began his capering,--jumping over the chairs,
+trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing with an exuberance of
+delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his little spaniel Flo, he
+sprang through the open window into the garden, and disappeared behind
+the trees of the shrubbery; but Fanny still heard his clear, ringing,
+silvery laughter, as he continued his games in the summer air.
+
+She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In spite of
+the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of heaviness and
+foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling and beautiful, and
+there was an almost irresistible contagion in the mirth of her young
+cousin, but still she could not help feeling sad. It was not merely that
+she would have to part with Eric, "but that bright boy," thought Fanny,
+"what will become of him? I have heard strange things of schools; oh, if
+he should be spoilt and ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby
+lips, that pure young heart, a year may work sad change in their words
+and thoughts!" She sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised
+them upwards, and breathed a silent prayer.
+
+She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest years.
+In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful, ingenuous, quick,
+he would acquire almost without effort any subject that interested him,
+and a word was often enough to bring the impetuous blood to his cheeks,
+in a flush, of pride or indignation. He required the gentlest teaching,
+and had received it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of
+stainless honor that he avoided most of the faults to which children are
+prone. But he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well
+knew that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his own
+superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it always met
+with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it difficult to
+subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing her rule. Beyond a
+certain age no boy of spirit can be safely guided by a woman's
+hand alone.
+
+Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a civilian in
+India, and was returning on furlough to England after a long absence.
+Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to England by his parents
+at an early age, in charge of a lady friend of his mother. The parting,
+which had been agony to his father and mother, he was too young to feel;
+indeed the moment itself passed by without his being conscious of it.
+They took him on board the ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer
+and some nails to play with. These had always been to him a supreme
+delight, and while he hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying
+themselves, for the child's sake, even one more tearful embrace, went
+ashore in the boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he
+was told he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child,
+his tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had become
+the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from Captain
+Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon struck up an
+acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed a tear, as he
+lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro's knee, and asked God
+"to bless his dear dear father and mother, and make him a good boy."
+
+When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a widowed
+aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his early teaching.
+At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely to form no accession
+to the quiet household, but he soon became its brightest ornament and
+pride. Everything was in his favor at the pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor.
+He was treated with motherly kindness and tenderness, yet firmly checked
+when he went wrong. From the first he had a well-spring of strength,
+against temptation, in the long letters which every mail brought from
+his parents; and all his childish affections were entwined round the
+fancied image of a brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room
+there hung a cherub's head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this
+picture was inextricably identified in his imagination with his "little
+brother Vernon." He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray,
+nothing weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he
+came home.
+
+And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with him in
+his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was situated in
+the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran through the valley
+at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor's orchard. Eric loved this stream, and was
+always happy as he roamed by its side, or over the low green hills and
+scattered dingles, which lent unusual loveliness to every winding of its
+waters. He was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it did
+him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the
+want of amusement. The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for
+endless games and romps, sometimes with no other companion than his
+cousin and his dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age
+whom he knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When asked
+if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in dreams and at
+some other times, he saw a little child, with long curly hair, running
+about in a little garden, near a great river, in a place where the air
+was very bright. But whether the little boy was himself or his brother
+Vernon, whom he had never seen, he couldn't quite tell.
+
+But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was religious and
+enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter, religion was not a
+system but a habit--not a theory, but a continued act of life. All was
+simple, sweet, and unaffected about their charity and their devotions.
+They loved God, and they did all the good they could to those around
+them. The floating gossip and ill-nature of the little village never
+affected them; it melted away insensibly in the presence of their
+cultivated minds; and so friendship with them was a bond of union among
+all, and from the vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected
+them, asked their counsel, and sought their sympathy.
+
+They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have told to
+what "party" they belonged. They troubled themselves with no theories of
+education, but mingled gentle nurture with "wholesome neglect." There
+was nothing exotic or constrained in the growth of Eric's character. He
+was not one of your angelically good children at all, and knew none of
+the phrases of which infant prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had
+not been taught any distinction between "Sunday books" and "week-day"
+books, but no book had been put in his way that was not healthy and
+genuine in tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah's ark
+on Sunday, because it was "a Sunday plaything," while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought little;
+they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced idleness or
+constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love Sunday quite as well
+as any other day in the week, though, unlike your angelic children, he
+never professed to like it better. But to be truthful, to be honest, to
+be kind, to be brave, these had been taught him, and he never _quite_
+forgot the lesson; nor amid the sorrows of after life did he ever quite
+lose the sense--learnt at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God,
+of a tender and long-suffering Father.
+
+As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had been sent
+indeed to Mr. Lawley's grammar-school for the last half-year, and had
+learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar. But as Mr. Lawley
+allowed his upper class to hear the little boys their lessons, Eric had
+managed to get on pretty much as he liked. Only _once_ in the entire
+half-year had he said a lesson to the dreadful master himself, and of
+course it was a ruinous failure, involving some tremendous pulls of
+Eric's hair, and making him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined
+to make Mr. Lawley dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite
+little, he remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the "Latin
+school" as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that Eric
+never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this kept him in
+a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go out, and see what
+time it was by the church clock. Only hearing that he was to do
+something, too frightened to ask what it was, and feeling sure that even
+if he did, he should not understand what the master said, Eric ran out,
+went straight to Mr. Lawley's house, and after having managed by
+strenuous jumps to touch the knocker, informed the servant "that Mr.
+Lawley wanted his man."
+
+"What man?" said the maid-servant, "the young man? or the butler? or is
+it the clerk?"
+
+Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit of
+sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries; but he
+was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said "the young man" at
+hazard, and went back to the Latin school.
+
+"Why have you been so long?" roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly entered.
+Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said, so he answered
+at random, "He's coming, sir." The master, seeing by his scared look
+that something was wrong, waited to see what would turn up.
+
+Soon after, in walked "the young man," and coming to the astonished Mr.
+Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, "Master Williams said you sent for
+me, sir."
+
+"A mistake," growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look which
+nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head, or at best a
+great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally a kind heart,
+soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child's white face, he
+contented himself with the effects of his look.
+
+The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in the
+head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an imprudent
+marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little country
+grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to his refined
+mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had gradually
+unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys "that it was an
+easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than to teach them;"
+and at last his eccentricities became too obvious to be any longer
+overlooked.
+
+The d�nouement of his history was a tragic one, and had come a few days
+before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a common practice
+among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all boys, to amuse
+themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a door left partially
+ajar, and to cry out "Crown him" as the first luckless youngster who
+happened to come in received the book thundering on his head. One day,
+just as the trap had been adroitly laid, Mr. Lawley walked in
+unexpectedly. The moment he entered the school-room, down came an
+Ainsworth's Dictionary on the top of his hat, and the boy, concealed
+behind the door, unconscious of who the victim was, enunciated with mock
+gravity, "Crown him! three cheers."
+
+It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the battered hat,
+and recover from his confusion; the next instant he was springing after
+the boy who had caused the mishap, and who, knowing the effects of the
+master's fury, fled with precipitation. In one minute the offender was
+caught, and Mr. Lawley's heavy hand fell recklessly on his ears and
+back, until he screamed with terror. At last by a tremendous writhe,
+wrenching himself free, he darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too
+exhausted to pursue, snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and
+hurled it at the boy's retreating figure. The watch flew through the
+air;--crash! it had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the
+lintel, fell smashed into a thousand shivers.
+
+The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken watch,
+which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the master to
+his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there pale and
+breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could bear it no
+longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face with his hands,
+and burst into hysterical tears. It was the outbreak of feelings long
+pent up. In that instant all his life passed before him--its hopes, its
+failures, its miseries, its madness. "Yes!" he thought, "I am mad."
+
+Raising his head, he cried wildly, "Boys, go, I am mad!" and sank again
+into his former position, rocking himself to and fro. One by one the
+boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is soon told. Forced to
+leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his daily bread; and the weight
+of this new anxiety hastening the crisis, the handsome proud scholar
+became an inmate of the Brerely Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards,
+Eric heard that he was dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest
+in peace.
+
+Such was Eric's first school and schoolmaster. But although he learnt
+little there, and gained no experience of the character of others or of
+his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin School, which he
+never regretted. It was the mixture there of all classes. On those
+benches gentlemen's sons sat side by side with plebeians, and no harm,
+but only good, seemed to come from the intercourse. The neighboring
+gentry, most of whom had begun their education there, were drawn into
+closer and kindlier union with their neighbors and dependents, from the
+fact of having been their associates in the days of their boyhood. Many
+a time afterwards, when Eric, as he passed down the streets,
+interchanged friendly greetings with some young glazier or tradesman
+whom he remembered at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt
+practically to despise the accidental and nominal differences which
+separate man from man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A NEW HOME
+
+     "Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;
+     The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,
+     The very breeze hath, mirth in't."--OLD PLAY.
+
+At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter informed
+the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at Southampton on
+July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the evening after. They
+particularly requested that no one should come to meet them on their
+landing. "We shall reach Southampton," wrote Mrs. Trevor, "tired, pale,
+and travel-stained, and had much rather see you first at dear Fairholm,
+where we shall be spared the painful constraint of a meeting in public.
+So please expect our arrival at about seven in the evening."
+
+Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since the news
+came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and expectation
+made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing all day, every
+hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.
+
+At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening filled the
+sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the sound of wheels; a
+carriage dashed up to the door, and the next moment Eric sprang into his
+mother's arms.
+
+"O mother, mother!"
+
+"My own darling, darling boy!"
+
+And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father's heart, and locked in
+the arms of "little brother Vernon." Who shall describe the emotions of
+those few moments? they did not seem like earthly moments; they seemed
+to belong not to time, but to eternity.
+
+The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy. The little
+party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast asleep with his
+arm round his newfound brother's neck.
+
+Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father and
+mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could have shown
+no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met their eyes. The
+pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed distinctly the forms
+and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft regular breathing was the
+only sound that broke the stillness of the July night. The small shining
+flower-like faces, with their fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded
+round each brother's neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an
+exquisite picture, and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without
+a word, the parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of
+joyfulness, poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young
+and beloved boys.
+
+Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed opened to
+Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded itself before
+him. His parents--above all, his mother--were everything that he had
+longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled to his loving heart the ideal
+of his childish fancy. He was never tired of playing with and
+patronising his little brother, and their rambles by stream and hill
+made those days appear the happiest he had ever spent. Every evening
+(for he had not yet laid aside the habits of childhood) he said his
+prayers by his mother's knee, and at the end of one long summer's day,
+when prayers were finished, and full of life and happiness he lay down
+to sleep, "O mother," he said, "I am so happy--I like to say my prayers
+when you are here."
+
+"Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them."
+
+"Aren't there some who never say prayers, mother?"
+
+"Very many, love, I fear."
+
+"How unhappy they must be! I shall _always_ love to say my prayers."
+
+"Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!"
+
+And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often came
+back to Eric's mind in later and less happy days--days when that gentle
+hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when those mild blue
+eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed in heart and life,
+often flung himself down with an unreproaching conscience to
+prayerless sleep.
+
+It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to school in
+the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house in the town of
+Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of furlough, at the end
+of which period Vernon was to be left at Fairholm, and Eric in the house
+of the head-master of the school. Eric enjoyed the prospect of all
+things, and he hardly fancied that Paradise itself could be happier than
+a life at the seaside with his father and mother and Vernon, combined
+with the commencement of schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage
+came, his first glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it
+with only a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him
+silent with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue
+sky melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan. On
+the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills, so that
+when they reached the town and took possession of their cottage, he was
+dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous impressions.
+
+Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as not to
+disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind, and gently
+opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him, one destined to
+be long mingled with all his most vivid reminiscences. Not twenty yards
+below the garden, in front of the house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment
+rippling with golden laughter in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either
+side of the bay was a bold headland, the one stretching out in a series
+of broken crags, the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called
+from its shape the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old
+castle, and the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the
+left, high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School. Eric
+learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a most happy
+boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should be never tired of
+looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes off the great buoy that
+rolled about in the centre of the bay, and flashed in the sunlight at
+every move. He turned round full of hope and spirits, and, after
+watching for a few moments the beautiful face of his sleeping brother,
+he awoke him with a boisterous kiss.
+
+That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands. The
+school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his college cap
+passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He looked very happy
+and engaging, and was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started
+up and gazed after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment
+the unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the
+whole world, and he couldn't realize the fact that, before the day was
+over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort
+of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again,
+and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy's destiny
+is twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will know
+very soon.
+
+At nine o'clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his son.
+The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past the ruin, at
+the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any other time Eric
+would have been overflowing with life and wonder at the murmur of the
+ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the rock-bound bay, and the
+numberless little shells, with their bright colors and sculptured
+shapes, which lay about the beach. But now his mind was too full of a
+single sensation, and when, after crossing a green playground, they
+stood by the head-master's door, his heart fluttered, and it required
+all his energy to keep down the nervous trembling which shook him.
+
+Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr. Rowlands'
+study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he turned to
+address Eric, after a few minutes' conversation with his father, the boy
+felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity and frank courtesy of
+his manner. A short examination showed that Eric's attainments were very
+slight as yet, and he was to be put in the lowest form of all, under the
+superintendence of the Rev. Henry Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short
+note in pencil, and giving it to Eric, directed the servant to show him
+to Mr. Gordon's school-room.
+
+The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so
+that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at
+their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them.
+As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the
+broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to
+feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, "I say, what sort of
+a fellow is Mr. Gordon?"
+
+"Terrible strict, Sir, I hear," said the man, touching his cap with a
+comic expression, which didn't at all tend to enliven the future pupil.
+"That's the door," he continued, "and you'll have to give him the
+doctor's note;" and, pointing to a door at the end of the passage, he
+walked off.
+
+Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was by
+himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his own
+footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He heard a
+low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no answer. He knocked
+again a little louder; still no notice; then, overdoing it in his
+fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.
+
+"Come in," said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of "New fellow," and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.
+
+He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows opening
+towards the sea. At one end was the master's throne, and facing it, all
+down the room, were desks and benches, along which the boys were sitting
+at work. Every one knows how very confusing it is to enter a strange
+room full of strange people, and especially when you enter it from a
+darker passage. Eric felt dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to
+the master's desk, went towards it between two of the benches. As these
+were at no great distance from each other, he stumbled against several
+legs on his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose
+to trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating _sotto voce_,
+"awkward little fool."
+
+In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and presented his
+missive. The master's eye was on him, but all Eric had time to observe
+was, that he looked rather stern, and had in his hand a book which he
+seemed to be studying with the deepest interest. He glanced first at the
+note, and then looked full at the boy, as though determined to read his
+character at a glance.
+
+"Williams, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, Sir," said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that all the
+boys were looking at him, as well as the master.
+
+"Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the fourth. I
+hope you will work well. At present they are learning their Cesar. Go
+and sit next to that boy," pointing towards the lower end of the room;
+"he will show you the lesson, and let you look over his book. Barker,
+let Williams look over you!"
+
+Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy indicated. He
+was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of black hair, and a very
+dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he wasn't a very nice-looking
+specimen of Roslyn school. However, he sate by him, and glanced at the
+Cesar which the boy shoved about a quarter of an inch in his direction.
+But Barker didn't seem inclined to make any further advances, and
+presently Eric asked in a whisper,
+
+"What's the lesson?"
+
+The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.
+
+Eric repeated, "I say, what's the lesson?"
+
+Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Eric--I mean Williams."
+
+"Then why don't you say what you mean?"
+
+Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception; but as he
+seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer towards him.
+
+"Drop that; 't isn't yours."
+
+Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. "Silence!" he said,
+and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric, resigning
+himself to his fate, looked about him.
+
+He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk, writing,
+but couldn't make our the physiognomy. There had been something reserved
+and imperious in the master's manner, yet he thought he should not
+dislike him on the whole. With the countenances of his future
+schoolfellows he was not altogether pleased, but there were one or two
+which thoroughly attracted him. One boy, whose side face was turned
+towards him as he sat on the bench in front, took his fancy
+particularly, so, tired of doing nothing, he plucked up courage, and
+leaning forward whispered, "Do lend me your Cesar for a few minutes."
+The boy at once handed it to him with a pleasant smile, and as the
+lesson was marked, Eric had time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr.
+Gordon's sonorous voice exclaimed,
+
+"Fourth form, come up!"
+
+Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle round
+the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson commenced.
+
+"Russell, begin," said the master; and immediately the boy who had
+handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and construed
+them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had a frank open
+face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very taking voice and
+manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he should like him.
+
+Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a grating
+irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities, for each of
+which the next boy took him up. Then he began to construe;--a frightful
+confusion of nominatives without verbs, accusatives translated as
+ablatives, and perfects turned into prepositions ensued, and after a
+hopeless flounder, during which Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself,
+Barker came to a full stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric
+could not help joining in the general titter Barker scowled.
+
+"As usual, Barker," said the master, with a curl of the lip. "Hold out
+your hand!"
+
+Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which the
+form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his hands
+tight together, went back to his seat.
+
+"Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just failed!"
+
+Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had now quite
+recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and without
+nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering questions,
+and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way up the form. The
+boys' numbers were then taken down in the weekly register, and they went
+back to their seats.
+
+On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was clumsily
+scrawled, "I'll teach you to grin when I'm turned, you young brute."
+
+The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly, and
+augured ominously of Barker's intentions, since that worthy obviously
+alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to interpret it as an
+intentional provocation. He felt that he was in for it, and that Barker
+meant to pick a quarrel with him. This puzzled and annoyed him, and he
+felt very sad to have found an enemy already.
+
+While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck twelve;
+and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the folding-doors of
+the school-room.
+
+"You may go," said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared by a
+door at the further end of the room.
+
+Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in a
+confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among the
+last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized it, and
+flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it was trampled
+on by a number of the boys as they ran out.
+
+Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his opponent,
+and said coolly, "Is that what you always do to new fellows?"
+
+"Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;" and a tolerably
+smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a cheek already
+aflame with, anger and indignation,--"should you like a little more?"
+
+He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry. "What's that
+for?" he said, with flashing eyes.
+
+"For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned."
+
+Eric stamped. "I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as well as I
+do."
+
+"What! I'm a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out of you,
+you young cub--take that;" and a heavier blow followed.
+
+"You brutal cowardly bully," shouted Eric; and in another moment he
+would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did not, for
+Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful. Such an attack
+would hare been most unfortunate for him in every way. But at this
+instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and Russell among them.
+
+"Hallo, Barker," said one, "what's up?"
+
+"Why, I'm teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that's all."
+
+"Shame!" said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric's cheek; "what a
+fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn't you leave him alone for his first
+day, at any rate?"
+
+"What's that to you? I'll kick you too, if you say much."
+
+"Cav�, cav�!" whispered half a dozen voices, and instantly the knot of
+boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr. Gordon was seen approaching.
+He had caught a glimpse of the scene without understanding it, and
+seeing the new boy's red and angry face, he only said, as he passed by,
+"What, Williams! fighting already? Take care."
+
+This was the cruellest cut of all. "So," thought Eric, "a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;" and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.
+
+The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different games, and
+as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to answer the usual
+questions, "What's your name? Are you a boarder or a day scholar? What
+form are you in?" Eric expected all this, and it therefore did not annoy
+him. Under any other circumstances, he would have answered cheerfully
+and frankly enough; but now he felt miserable at his morning's
+rencontre, and his answers were short and sheepish, his only desire
+being to get away as soon as possible. It was an additional vexation to
+feel sure that his manner did not make a favorable impression.
+
+Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him. "I'm
+afraid you won't like this, or think much of us, Williams," he said.
+"But never mind. It'll only last a day or two, and the fellows are not
+so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I'm sorry you've come across
+him, but it can't be helped."
+
+It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and after his
+troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to cry, and for a
+few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell's soothing words. But
+the boy's friendliness went far to comfort him, and at last, shaking
+hands with him, he said--
+
+"Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy, Russell."
+
+"O yes," said Russell, laughing, "as much as ever you like. And as
+Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we are in
+the same box. Good bye."
+
+So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the Iliad,
+"Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea." Already the purple mantle
+had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got home later than they
+expected, and found his parents waiting for him. It was rather
+disappointing to them to see his face so melancholy, when they expected
+him to be full of animation and pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own
+conclusions from the red mark on his cheek, as well as the traces of
+tears welling to his eyes; but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing,
+and left the boy to tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting
+all the painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BULLYING
+
+"Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness." Wordsworth.
+
+Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I have often
+fancied that there must be in boyhood a pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a
+sort of "wild trick of the ancestral savage," which, no amount of
+civilization can entirely repress. Certain it is, that to most boys the
+first term is a trying ordeal. They are being tested and weighed. Their
+place in the general estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest
+circumstances are seized upon to settle the category under which the boy
+is to be classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few
+weeks at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are _not_ accidents; they are
+the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the general
+tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the apparent
+cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly intentional. At
+first, of course, as they can have no friends worth speaking of, there
+are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds that take a pleasure in
+their torment, particularly if they at once recognise any innate
+superiority to themselves. Of this class was Barker. He hated Eric at
+first sight, simply because his feeble mind could only realise one idea
+about him, and that was the new boy's striking contrast with his own
+imperfections. Hence he left no means untried to vent on Eric his low
+and mean jealousy. He showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form,
+and signs of disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he never
+looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him to kick and
+annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the school-room. In fact, he
+did his very best to make the boy's life miserable, and the occupation
+of hating him seemed in some measure to fill up the vacuity of an
+ill-conditioned and degraded mind.
+
+Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the unhappy person
+who is the object of it, and more especially if he have incurred it by
+no one assignable reason. To Eric it was peculiarly painful; he was
+utterly unprepared for it. In his bright joyous life at Fairholm, in the
+little he saw of the boys at the Latin school, he had met with nothing
+but kindness and caresses, and the generous nobleness of his character
+had seemed to claim them as a natural element. "And now, why," he asked
+impatiently, "should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim
+to annoy, vex, and hurt me?" Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but such,
+was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.
+
+But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own bursts of
+passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and
+spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on
+his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight
+conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy.
+Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent look, much less a
+civil word. Eric loathed him, and the only good and happy part of the
+matter to his own mind was, that conscientiously his only desire was to
+get rid of him and be left alone, while he never cherished a particle
+of revenge.
+
+While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning himself
+a very good position with the other boys, who liked his frankness, his
+mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud with Barker like a
+dark background to all his enjoyment. He even had to manoeuvre daily how
+to escape him, and violent scenes were of constant occurrence between
+them. Eric could not, and would not, brook his bullying with silence.
+His resentment was loud and stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was,
+even _his_ phlegmatic temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce
+and uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.
+
+Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the form, and
+such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first, his position as a
+home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides Russell, there were
+three whom he liked best, and respected most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen.
+They were very different boys, but all of them had qualities which well
+deserved his esteem. Duncan was the most boyish of boys, intensely full
+of fun, good-nature, and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on
+well, because he could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in
+some fit of sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to
+be put to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever _he_
+took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of amusement was
+ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one of the number.
+
+Montagu's chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little gentleman;
+"such a jolly little fellow" every one said of him. Without being clever
+or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both at work and at the games,
+and while he was too exclusive to make many _intimate_ friends,
+everybody liked walking about or talking with him. Even Barker,
+blackguard as he was, seemed to be a little uneasy when confronted with
+Montagu's naturally noble and chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects
+his influence was thoroughly good, and few boys were more
+generally popular.
+
+Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him. When
+he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for Barker's
+craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been tremendously bullied. But
+gradually his mental superiority asserted itself. He took everything
+without tears and without passion, and this diminished the pleasure of
+annoying him. One day when Barker had given him an unprovoked kick, he
+quietly said,
+
+"Barker, next time you do that, I'll tell Mr. Gordon."
+
+"Sneak! do it if you dare." And he kicked him again; but the moment
+after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in Owen's eyes, as
+he turned instantly into the door of the master's room, and laid a
+formal complaint against Barker for bullying.
+
+Mr. Gordon didn't like "telling," and he said so to Owen, without
+reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of explanations
+and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said nothing. "He stood
+there for justice," and he had counted the cost. Strong-minded and
+clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the momentary dislike of his
+schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that he never could be popular,
+would be less unbearable than Barker's villanous insults. The
+consequence was that Barker was caned soundly, although, with some
+injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt to conceal that he did it
+unwillingly.
+
+Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for sneaking, as
+they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen mortification of
+seeing "Owen is a sneak," written up all about the walls. But he was
+too proud or too cold to make any defence till called upon, and bore it
+in silence. Barker vowed eternal vengeance, and the very day after, had
+seized Owen with the avowed intention of "half murdering him." But
+before he could once strike him, Owen said in the most chill tone,
+"Barker, if you touch me, I shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands." The
+bully well knew that Owen never broke his word, but he could not govern
+his rage, and first giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash
+him without limit or remorse.
+
+Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr. Rowlands'
+door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed at his
+temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a regular _Deus
+ex machin�._ That afternoon, again Barker was publicly caned, with the
+threat that the next offence would be followed by instant and public
+expulsion. This punishment he particularly dreaded, because he was
+intended for the army, and he well knew that it might ruin his
+prospects. The consequence was, that Owen never suffered from him again,
+although he daily received a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed
+over with silent contempt.
+
+My dear boy-reader, don't suppose that I want you to imitate Owen in
+this matter. I despise a boy who "tells" as much as you do, and it is a
+far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of
+spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But Owen was a peculiar
+boy, and remember he had _no_ redress. He bore for a time, until he felt
+that he _must_ have the justice and defence, without which it would
+have been impossible for him to continue at Roslyn school.
+
+But why, you ask, didn't he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at Roslyn
+the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a school of
+250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had no prerogative
+of authority. They hadn't the least right to interfere, because no such
+power had been delegated to them, and therefore they felt themselves
+merely on a par with the rest, except for such eminence as their
+intellectual superiority gave them. The consequence was, that any
+interference from them would have been of a simply individual nature,
+and was exerted very rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to
+tell a sixth-form boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a
+favorite, he was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.
+
+All this had happened before Eric's time, and he heard it from his best
+friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became friends at once
+by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of each at the other's
+face prepared the friendship, and every day of acquaintance more firmly
+cemented it. Eric could not have had a better friend; not so clever as
+himself, not so diligent as Owen, not so athletic as Duncan, or so
+fascinating as Montagu, Russell combined the best qualities of them all.
+And, above all, he acted invariably from the highest principle; he
+presented that noblest of all noble spectacles--one so rare that many
+think it impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy
+boy, who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.
+
+"Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?" said Eric, one
+day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.
+
+"Yes," said Russell; "I slept in his dormitory when I first came, and he
+has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself on my knees at
+night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a little quiet time to
+cry like a child."
+
+"And when was it he left off at last?"
+
+"Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond of me; he
+heard of it, though I didn't say anything about it, and told Barker that
+if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him within an inch of his
+life; and that frightened him for one thing. Besides, Duncan, Montagu,
+and other friends of mine began to cut him in consequence, so he thought
+it best to leave off."
+
+"How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do it?"
+
+"You see, Williams," said Russell, "Barker is an enormously strong
+fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look up to him
+as a great hero. And there isn't one in our part of the school who can
+thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you know--at least not
+often. I remember once seeing a street-row in London, at which twenty
+people stood by, and let a drunken beast of a husband strike his wife
+without ever stirring to defend her."
+
+"Well," sighed Eric, "I hope my day of deliverance will come soon, for
+I can't stand it much longer, and 'tell' I won't, whatever Owen may do."
+
+Eric's deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys were
+playing at different games in the green playground, and he was waiting
+for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up, and calmly
+snatching off Eric's cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands' garden wall.
+"There, go and fetch that."
+
+"You blackguard!" said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few minutes;
+and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall. It was not very
+high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get over it under any
+circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not without trepidation. However,
+he dropped down on one of Mrs. Rowlands' flower-beds, and got his cap in
+a hurry, and clambered back undiscovered.
+
+He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day; but
+Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric, and
+calling out, "Who'll have a game at football?" again snatched the cap,
+and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every time he came up
+Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it into a puddle.
+
+Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened scorn
+and indignation. "You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,"--here Barker
+seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the head, but
+blind with passion Eric went on--"you despicable bully, I won't touch
+that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan, Russell, here! do
+help me against this intolerable brute."
+
+Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who besides
+was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric unmercifully.
+
+"Leave him alone," shouted Duncan, "or by heaven I'll get you a sound
+thrashing from some fellow."
+
+"I won't; mind your own business," growled Barker, shaking himself free
+from Duncan's hand.
+
+"Barker, I'll never speak to you again from this day," said Montagu,
+turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.
+
+"What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too," was the reply, and
+some more kicks at Eric followed.
+
+"Barker, I won't stand this any longer," said Russell; and seizing him
+by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the face.
+
+The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the turf
+nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell's turn came,
+and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had tripped him up,
+when he found himself collared in an iron grasp.
+
+There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in the person
+of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that now griped
+Barker's shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys, who all knew
+his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently stood a quiet and
+pleased observer of their games. The boys in the playground came
+crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to escape. Mr. Williams
+held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, "I have just seen you treat
+one of your schoolfellows with the grossest violence. It makes me blush
+for you, Roslyn Boys," he continued, turning to the group that
+surrounded him, "that you can stand by unmoved, and see such things
+done. You know that you despise any one who tells a master, yet you
+allow this bullying to go on, and that, too, without any provocation.
+Now, mark; it makes no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I
+would have punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall
+punish him now." With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most satisfactory
+castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared that Dr. Rowlands'
+"swishings" were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw that the offender was a
+tough subject, and determined that he should not soon forget the
+punishment he then received. He had never heard from Eric how this boy
+had been treating him, but he had heard it from Russell, and now he had
+seen one of the worst specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore
+belabored him till his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy,
+and promises never so to offend again.
+
+At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a "phew" of disgust, and
+said, "I give nothing for your word; but if ever you do bully in this
+way again, and I see or hear of it, your present punishment shall be a
+trifle to what I shall then administer. At present, thank me for not
+informing your master." So saying, he made Barker pick up the cap, and,
+turning away, walked home with Eric leaning on his arm.
+
+Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace be could; but it
+certainly didn't mend matters when he heard numbers of fellows, even
+little boys, say openly, "I'm so glad; serves you right."
+
+From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence from Barker
+or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the mind of the baffled
+tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there are subtler means of
+making an enemy wretched than striking or kicking him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRIBBING
+
+     "Et nos ergo manum forulae subduximus."--Juv. i. 15.
+
+It must not be thought that Eric's year as a home boarder was made up of
+dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a dark side, and
+Eric enjoyed it "to the finger-tips." School-life, like all other life,
+is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its joys may be more childish,
+its sorrows more trifling than those of after years;--but they are more
+keenly felt.
+
+And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all idealise and
+idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant purple in the
+distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its blue far-off hills,
+we forget how steep we sometimes found them.
+
+After Barker's discomfiture, which took place some three weeks after his
+arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got liked by it more
+and more. This might have been easily foreseen, for he was the type of a
+thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial and honorable characteristics,
+and his round of acquaintances daily increased. Among others, a few of
+the sixth, who were also day-scholars, began to notice and walk home
+with him. He looked on them as great heroes, and their condescension
+much increased his dignity both in his own estimation and that of
+his equals.
+
+Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate acquaintances to
+spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This was a pleasure much
+coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams without loving her, and they
+felt themselves humanised by the friendly interest of a lady who
+reminded every boy of his own mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and
+active child of nine, was a great pet among them, so that every one
+liked Eric who "knew him at home." A boy generally shows his best side
+at home; the softening shadows of a mother's tender influence play over
+him, and tone down the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu,
+and Owen were special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams
+felt truly glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the
+whole, so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he won so
+much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not surprised when Eric
+confided to her one day that he loved Russell almost as well as be
+loved Vernon.
+
+As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively interest in the
+half-year's prizes, and Eric was particularly eager about them. He had
+improved wonderfully, and as both his father and mother prevented him
+from being idle, even had he been so inclined, he had soon shown that
+he was one of the best in the form. Two prizes were given, half-yearly
+to each remove; one for "marks" indicating the boy who had generally
+been highest throughout the half year, and the other for the test proofs
+of proficiency in a special examination. It was commonly thought in the
+form that Owen would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other;
+and towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition was of
+course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the delight
+which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and still more to his
+own family.
+
+During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which, while it
+increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he thought) his
+chance of success. The fourth form were learning a Homer lesson, and
+Barker, totally unable to do it by his own resources, was trying to
+borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual disgust, still sat next to him
+in school, and would have helped him if he had chosen to ask; but he
+never did choose, nor did Eric care to volunteer. The consequence was,
+that unless he could borrow a crib, he was invariably turned, and he was
+now particularly anxious to get one, because the time was nearly up.
+
+There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who had
+"cribs" to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious _bonhommie,_
+lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom were only too glad to
+avail themselves of the help, except the few at the top of the form, who
+found it a slovenly way of learning the lesson, which was sure to get
+them into worse difficulties than an honest attempt to master the
+meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat at the farther end of the form in
+front, so Barker scribbled in the fly-leaf of his book, "Please send us
+your Homer crib," and got the book passed on to Llewellyn, who
+immediately shoved his crib in Barker's direction. The only danger of
+the transaction being noticed, was when the book was being handed from
+one bench to another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got
+into trouble more than once.
+
+On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in front,
+handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and Eric, very
+naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped the book under
+his own Homer.
+
+"Williams, what are you doing?"
+
+"Nothing, Sir," said Eric, looking up innocently.
+
+"Bring me that book under your Homer."
+
+Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took up the
+book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on the ground,
+and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust, took it up with
+the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was a titter round
+the room.
+
+"Silence," thundered the master; "this is no matter for laughing. So,
+sir, _this_ is the way you get up to the top of the form?"
+
+"I wasn't using it, sir," said Eric.
+
+"Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your Homer."
+
+"It isn't mine, sir."
+
+"Then whose is it?" Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of course no
+name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write one's name in a
+translation.
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+"Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you," said Mr. Gordon.
+"Of course I am _bound_ to believe you, but the circumstances are very
+suspicious. You had no business with such a book at all. Hold out
+your hand."
+
+As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for him in
+this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but (very rightly)
+he thought it unmanly to clamor about being punished, and he felt
+nettled at Mr. Gordon's merely official belief of his word. He knew that
+he had his faults, but certainly want of honor was not among them.
+Indeed, there were only three boys out of the twenty in the form, who
+did not resort to modes of unfairness far worse than the use of cribs,
+and those three were Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even
+Montagu, inured to it by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson
+off a concealed book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They
+would have been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to its
+meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the master
+treated them with implicit confidence, and being scrupulously honorable
+himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was therefore extremely
+indignant at this apparent discovery of an attempt to overreach him in
+a boy so promising and so much of a favorite as Eric Williams.
+
+"Hold out your hand," he repeated.
+
+Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He could bear
+the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the disgrace; he, a boy
+at the head of his form, to be caned in this way by a man who didn't
+understand him, and unjustly too! He mustered up an indifferent air,
+closed his lips tight, and determined to give no further signs. The
+defiance of his look made Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in
+succession five hard cuts on either hand, each one of which, was more
+excruciating than the last.
+
+"Now, go to your seat."
+
+Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked
+in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve
+at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero
+with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling,
+and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe
+a punishment. The punishment _was_ most severe, and for some weeks after
+there were dark weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use
+of his hands painful.
+
+"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how very
+plucky of you not to cry."
+
+     "Vengeance deep brooding o'er the _cane_,
+       Had locked the source of softer woe;
+     And burning pride, and high disdain,
+       Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"
+
+said Eric, with a smile.
+
+But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling
+his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears,
+mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his
+injustice.
+
+"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you never get
+a punishment _justly_, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am
+now. And don't cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you
+harm. Try to forgive and forget."
+
+"But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a favorite
+of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me. It is a great
+shame that he shouldn't believe my word. I don't mind the pain; but I
+shan't like him any more, and I'm sure, now, I shan't get the
+examination prize."
+
+"You don't mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality in the
+matter?"
+
+"No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won't _intend_ to be. But
+it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a master, and I know I shan't
+work so well."
+
+On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a misfortune.
+Although he had nothing particular for which to blame himself, yet the
+affair had increased his pride, while it lowered his self-respect; and
+he had an indistinct consciousness that the popularity in his form would
+do him as much harm as the change of feeling in his master. He grew
+careless and dispirited, nor was it till in the very heat of the final
+competition, that he felt his energies fully revived.
+
+Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other half
+were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was much
+hindered by Barker's unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in which
+many of the boys "cribbed" from books, and from each other, or used torn
+leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on their wristbands,
+and on their nails. He saw how easily much of this might have been
+prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his work, and had not yet learnt
+the practical lesson, that to trust young boys to any great extent, is
+really to increase their temptations. He _did_ learn the lesson
+afterwards, and then almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by
+increased vigilance, and partly by forbidding _any_ book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much evil
+had been done by the habitual abuse of his former confidence.
+
+I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day before
+the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the great
+school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the result. But
+Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when this was usually
+done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the news.
+
+He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of steps he
+took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and devising every
+sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard hasty steps, and
+Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with haste, and bright
+with excitement.
+
+"Hurrah! old fellow," he cried, seizing both Eric's hands; "I never
+felt so glad in my life;" and he shook his friend's arms up and down,
+laughing joyously.
+
+"Well! tell me," said Eric.
+
+"First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales," "you've got head remove you see, in
+spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and I
+congratulate you with all my heart."
+
+"No?" said Eric, "have I really?--you're not joking? Oh! hurrah!--I must
+rush in and tell them;" and he bounded off.
+
+In a second he was back at Russell's side. "What a selfish animal I am!
+Where are you placed, Russell?"
+
+"Oh! magnificent; I'm third;--far higher than I expected."
+
+"I'm so glad," said Eric. "Come in with me and tell them. I'm head
+remove, mother," he shouted, springing into the parlor where his father
+and mother sat.
+
+In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood by for
+the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to tell them
+that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in his eye.
+
+"Poor boy! I'm afraid you're disappointed," said Mrs. Williams kindly,
+drawing him to her side.
+
+"Oh no, no! it's not _that_," said Russell, hastily, as he lifted his
+swimming eyes towards her face.
+
+"Are you hurt, Russell?" asked Eric, surprised.
+
+"Oh! no; don't ask me; I am only foolish to-day;" and with a burst of
+sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams' neck. She folded him to
+her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs would let him
+speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, "It is but a year since I
+became an orphan."
+
+"Dearest child," she said, "look on me as a mother; I love you very
+dearly for your own sake as well as Eric's."
+
+Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend the
+rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all his usual
+sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a stroll down the
+bay, and talked over the term and the examination.
+
+They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched the
+tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory of
+evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet happiness,
+not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the next day.
+
+At last Eric broke the silence. "Russell, let me always call you Edwin,
+and call me Eric."
+
+"Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy." And the two
+boys squeezed each other's hands, and looked into each other's faces,
+and silently promised that they would be loving friends for ever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SECOND TERM
+
+     "Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our vines; for our
+     vines have tender grapes."--CANT. ii. 15.
+
+The second term at school is generally the great test of the strength of
+a boy's principles and resolutions. During the first term the novelty,
+the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments, the respect for
+authorities, the desire to measure himself with his companions--all tend
+to keep him right and diligent. But many of these incentives are removed
+after the first brush of novelty, and many a lad who has given good
+promise at first, turns out, after a short probation, idle, or vicious,
+or indifferent.
+
+But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On the
+contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the prestige of
+having been head boy; and as he still continued under Mr. Gordon, he
+really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct towards him, and
+recover, if possible, his lost esteem.
+
+His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud of it,
+and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully sharing his
+feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of school life than
+his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart lest "he should follow a
+multitude to do evil."
+
+The "cribbing," which had astonished and pained Eric at first, was more
+flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a chronic form. In
+all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to write out in a large
+hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and dexterously pin it to the
+front of Mr. Gordon's desk. There any boy who chose could read it off
+with little danger of detection, and, as before, the only boys who
+refused to avail themselves of this trickery were Eric, Russell,
+and Owen.
+
+Eric did _not_ yield to it; never once did he suffer his eyes to glance
+at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But although this was
+the case, he never spoke against the practice to the other boys, even
+when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would laugh when any one told
+him how he had escaped "skewing" (_i.e._ being turned) by reading it
+off; and he even went so far as to allow them to suppose that he
+wouldn't himself object to take advantage of the master's unsuspicious
+confidence.
+
+"I say, Williams," said Duncan, one morning as they strolled into the
+school-yard, "do you know your Rep.?"
+
+"No," said Eric, "not very well; I haven't given more than ten minutes
+to it."
+
+"Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets? Russel
+and Montagu have taken the court."
+
+"But I shall skew."
+
+"Oh no, you needn't, you know. I'll take care to pin it up on the desk
+near you."
+
+"Well, I don't much care. At any rate I'll chance it." And off the boys
+ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the last quarter of
+an hour before school-time in learning his lesson. Russell and he stood
+the other two, and they were very well matched. They had finished two
+splendid games, and each side had been victorious in turn, when Duncan,
+in the highest spirits, shouted, "Now, Russell, for the conqueror."
+
+"Get some one else in my place," said Russell; "I don't know my Rep.,
+and must cut and learn it."
+
+"O bother the Rep.," said Montagu; "somebody's sure to write it out in
+school, and old Gordon'll never see."
+
+"You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that."
+
+"O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you're quite right; I only wish I was
+as good."
+
+"What a capital fellow he is," continued Montagu, leaning on his racquet
+and looking after him, as Russell left the court; "but I say, Williams,
+you're not going too, are you?"
+
+"I think I must, I don't know half my lesson."
+
+"O no! don't go; there's Llewellyn; he'll take Russell's place, and we
+_must_ have the conquering game."
+
+Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into school, hot,
+vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as Russell strolled
+in, whispering, "I've had lots of time to get up the Horace, and know
+it pat."
+
+Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should have
+plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But another
+temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham whispered,
+"Williams, it's your turn to write out the Horace; I did last time,
+you know."
+
+Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general cheating.
+Everybody seemed to assume now that _he_ at any rate didn't think much
+of it, and he had never claimed his real right up to that time of
+asserting his innocence. But this was a step further than he had ever
+gone before. He drew back--
+
+"My _turn_, what do you mean?"
+
+"Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by turns."
+
+"Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?"
+
+"Of course not; you wouldn't expect the saints to be guilty of such a
+thing, would you?"
+
+"I'd rather not, Graham," he said, getting very red.
+
+"Well, that _is_ cowardly," answered Graham, angrily; "then I suppose I
+must do it myself."
+
+"Here, I'll do it," said Eric suddenly; "shy us the paper."
+
+His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.
+
+"There," he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; "I've written it,
+and I'll have nothing more to do with it."
+
+Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the paper,
+succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk. Eric had
+never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and firmly
+believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it badly on
+purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so Eric be got
+once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of apprehension, and when
+put on, was totally unable to say a word of his Rep. But low as he had
+fallen, he would not cheat like the rest; he kept his eyes resolutely
+turned away from the guilty paper, and even refused to repeat the words
+which were prompted in his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon,
+after waiting a moment, said--
+
+"Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can't have looked at it. Go to
+the bottom and write it out five times."
+
+"_Write it out_" thought Eric; "this is retribution, I suppose;" and
+covered with shame and vexation, he took his place below the malicious
+Barker at the bottom of the form.
+
+It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and Mr.
+Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was this
+done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the room began
+to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet pinned in front of
+the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little pattering crepitation. In
+alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out the pin, and immediately the
+paper floated gracefully over Russell's head, as he sat at the top of
+the form, and, after one or two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre
+of the room.
+
+"Bring me that piece of paper," said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.
+
+Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously around.
+
+"Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper."
+
+A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full minute in
+his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust, and rising anger
+struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly turned full on Eric,
+whose writing he recognized, and broke out,
+
+"So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not have
+thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have lost my
+confidence forever. I _despise_ you."
+
+"Indeed, Sir," said the penitent Eric, "I never meant--"
+
+"Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall report you
+to Dr. Rowlands."
+
+The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next, and the
+next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan, Barker, all
+hopeless failures; only two boys had said it right--Russell and Owen.
+
+Mr. Gordon's face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised pain
+which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. "False-hearted, dishonorable boys," he exclaimed,
+"henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole form,
+except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every half-holiday;
+not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took you for gentlemen.
+I was mistaken. Go." And so saying, he waved them to their seats with
+imperious disdain.
+
+They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed, kept
+twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his eyes, and
+even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted treachery; the rest
+were silent and miserable.
+
+At twelve o'clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr. Gordon;
+they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were full of very
+different feelings.
+
+Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.
+
+"You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to me.
+Go--I have nothing to say to you!"
+
+"But, sir, I want to tell you that--"
+
+"Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of this. Go,
+I tell you."
+
+Eric's passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground, and
+burst out, "I _will_ speak, sir; you have been unjust to me for a long
+time, but I will _not_ be--"
+
+Mr. Gordon's cane fell sharply across the boy's back; he stopped, glared
+for a moment; and then saying:
+
+"Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike before you
+hear me," he angrily left the room, and slammed the door violently
+behind him.
+
+Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment, Russell
+stood by him.
+
+"Well, my boy," said the master, softening in a moment, and laying his
+hand gently on Russell's head, "what have you to say? You cannot tell
+how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has caused me, to find
+that _you_ at least are uncontaminated. But I _knew_, Edwin, that I
+could trust you."
+
+"O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams." Mr. Gordon's brow
+darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted vehemently,
+"Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the _second_ time that he has
+wilfully deceived me; and this time he has involved others too in his
+base deceit."
+
+"Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can't think how he came to write the
+paper, but I _know_ that he did not and would not use it. Didn't you see
+yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another way when he
+broke down."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him," said Mr. Gordon coldly,
+"but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave me; I feel very
+sad, and must have time to think over this disgraceful affair."
+
+Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up and down,
+the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the library.
+
+"O Eric," he said, "how came you to write that paper?"
+
+"Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have explained
+it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such a shame; I
+don't feel now as if I cared one bit."
+
+"I am sorry you don't get on with him; but remember you have given him
+in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric, I know, but I
+can't help being sorry that you wrote the paper."
+
+"But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly because I
+refused at first."
+
+"Ah, Eric," said Russell, "they will ask you to do worse things if you
+yield so easily. I wouldn't say anything to Dr. Rowlands about it, if I
+were you."
+
+Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He gave his
+father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence, and that
+afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and explanation to Mr.
+Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon said, in his most
+freezing tones, "Williams, at present I shall take no further notice of
+your offence beyond including you in the extra lesson every
+half-holiday."
+
+From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and suspected, and
+the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He grew more careless
+in work, and more trifling and indifferent in manner. Several boys now
+beat him whom he had easily surpassed before, and his energies were for
+a time entirely directed to keeping that supremacy in the games which he
+had won by his activity and strength.
+
+It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term, and the
+boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or lying on the
+banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little knot of his chief
+friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on the grass. At last the
+bell of the school chapel began to ring, and they went in to the
+afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan and Llewellyn,
+immediately behind the benches allotted to chance visitors. The bench in
+front of them happened on this afternoon to be occupied by some rather
+odd people, viz., an old man with long white hair, and two ladies
+remarkably stout, who were dressed with much juvenility, although past
+middle age. Their appearance immediately attracted notice, and no sooner
+had they taken their seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter.
+The ladies' bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves
+and flowers, just peered over the top of the boys' pew, and excited much
+amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the solemnity of the
+place, and the sacred act in which they were engaged. He tried to look
+away, and attend to the service, and for a time he partially succeeded,
+although, seated as he was between the two triflers, who were
+perpetually telegraphing to each other their jokes, he found it a
+difficult task, and secretly he began to be much tickled.
+
+At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned a
+grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first hop took
+it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the shoulder of the
+stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered louder, and even Eric could
+not resist a smile. But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her
+shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap
+into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none
+of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which
+they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming
+their handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her
+uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause
+of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At last all three
+began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their
+direction, and Dr. Rowlands' stern eye caught sight of their levity. He
+stopped short in his sermon, and for one instant transfixed them with
+his indignant glance. Quiet was instantly restored, and alarm reduced
+them to the most perfect order, although the grasshopper still sat
+imperturbable among the artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had
+discovered that for some unknown reason she had been causing
+considerable amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule,
+looked round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.
+
+Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to rise, and
+after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be seated. Eric's
+heart sank within him.
+
+"Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!" said the Doctor. The boys,
+with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before him.
+
+"I was sorry to notice," said he, "your shameful conduct in chapel
+yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were making
+yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal defects of
+others. The lessons you receive here must be futile indeed, if they do
+not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and courtesy to man. It
+gives me special pain, Williams, to have observed that you, too, a boy
+high in your remove, were guilty of this most culpable levity. You will
+all come to me at twelve o'clock in the library."
+
+At twelve o'clock they each received a flogging. The pain inflicted was
+not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into similar trouble
+before, cared very little for it, and went out laughing to tell the
+number of swishes they had received, to a little crowd of boys who were
+lingering outside the library door. But not so Eric. It was his _first_
+flogging, and he felt it deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was
+intolerable. At that moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon,
+he hated his schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the
+thought haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the knot
+of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground, angry and
+impenitent.
+
+At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune; he was
+ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious of him, and
+jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him by without
+notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to him and took
+his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his late disgrace
+would have made Eric flame out into passion; but Russell was too kind to
+allude to it then. He talked as if nothing had happened, and tried to
+turn his friend's thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated
+his kindness, but he was still sullen and fretful, and it was not until
+they parted that his better feelings won the day. But when Russell said
+to him "Good bye, Eric," it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin's
+hand, he wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.
+
+"Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends were
+like you, I should never get into these troubles."
+
+"Nay, Eric," said Russell, "you may be far better than I. You have far
+batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice."
+
+They parted by Mr. Williams' door, and Russell walked home sad and
+thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother's greeting, rushed up
+to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed like a child at
+the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not refreshing tears; he felt
+something hard at his heart, and, as he prayed neither for help nor
+forgiveness, it was pride and rebellion, not penitence, that made him
+miserable.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOME AFFECTIONS
+
+     "Keep the spell of home affection.
+       Still alive in every heart;
+     May its power, with mild direction,
+       Draw our love from self apart,
+         Till thy children
+     Feel that thou their Father art."
+
+     SCHOOL HYMN.
+
+"I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric," said little
+Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning school; "I
+wish you would come and look at them."
+
+"O, I can't come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with some
+fellows directly."
+
+"But it won't take you a minute; do come."
+
+"What a little bore you are. Where are the things?"
+
+"O, never mind, Eric, if you don't want to look at them," said Vernon,
+hurt at his brother's rough manner.
+
+"First you ask me to look, and then say 'never mind,'" said Eric
+impatiently; "here, show me them."
+
+The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.
+
+"Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket."
+
+Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.
+
+"You aren't so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be."
+
+"What nonsense! and all because I don't admire those nasty red-jelly
+things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any day. What a
+little goose you are, Vernon!"
+
+Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with a sigh,
+when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.
+
+"Well, Verny," he said, "have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you've got one
+of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky little
+chap you are!"
+
+Vernon was delighted.
+
+"Mind you take care of them," said Russell. "Where did you find them?"
+
+"I have been down the shore getting them."
+
+"And have you had a pleasant morning?"
+
+"Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by myself,
+and Eric never comes with me now."
+
+"Naughty Eric," said Russell, playfully. "Never mind, Verny; you and I
+will cut him, and go by ourselves."
+
+Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of Russel's
+unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy, struck him. He
+threw his arms round his brother's neck, and said, "We will both go with
+you, Verny, next half holiday."
+
+"O, thank you, Eric," said his brother; and the two schoolboys ran out.
+But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with the promise
+of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his promise, and left
+Russell to amuse his little brother, while he went off, as usual, to the
+playground.
+
+There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them up
+deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the gradual
+but steady falling off in Eric's character, and the first thing she
+noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When they first came to
+Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his father and mother in their
+walks; but now he went seldom or never; and even if he did go, he seemed
+ashamed, while with them, to meet any of his schoolfellows. The spirit
+of false independence was awake and growing in her darling son. The
+bright afternoons they had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking
+for sea-flowers among the lonely rocks of the neighboring
+headlands,--the walks at evening and sunset among the hills, and the
+sweet counsel they had together, when the boy's character opened like a
+flower in the light and warmth of his mother's love,--the long twilights
+when he would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees,
+and her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were becoming
+to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.
+
+It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so because
+they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps for ever. The
+time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June, and Mr. Williams'
+term of furlough ended in two months. The holidays at Roslyn were the
+months of July and August, and towards their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams
+intended to leave Vernon at Fairholm, and start for India--sending back
+Eric by himself as a boarder in Dr. Rowlands' house.
+
+After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run straight down
+to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it was. They stripped
+off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined the beach, and then
+running along the sands, would swim out far into the bay till their
+heads looked like small dots glancing in the sunshine. This year Eric
+had learned to swim, and he enjoyed the bathing more than any
+other pleasure.
+
+One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse themselves
+on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on the sands by the
+ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two boys found great fun in
+hunting audacious little crabs, or catching the shrimps that shuffled
+about in the shallow water. At last Eric picked up a piece of wood which
+he found lying on the beach, and said, "What do you say to coming
+crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of stick will do capitally to thrust
+between the rocks in the holes where they lie?"
+
+Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to seek a
+likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but in the
+excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of time.
+
+The Williams', for the boys' convenience, usually dined at one, but on
+this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however, he didn't
+appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was accidentally
+detained, and expecting him to come in every minute. But two o'clock
+came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric; three, but still no Eric.
+Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed, and even her husband
+grew uneasy.
+
+Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing Duncan
+pass by, ran down to ask him, "If he knew where Eric was?"
+
+"No," said Duncan; "last time I saw him was on the shore. We bathed
+together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when I dressed.
+But I hav'n't seen him since. If you like we'll go and look for him. I
+daresay he's on the beach somewhere."
+
+But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned with this
+intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required all her
+husband's firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits. There was
+enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to ask the boys
+who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the answer always
+was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.
+
+Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs, suddenly
+noticed by the sun that it was getting late.
+
+"Good gracious, Edwin," said Eric, pulling out his watch, "it's
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened they'll
+be at home;" and running back as fast as they could, they reached the
+house at five o'clock, and rushed into the room.
+
+"Eric, Eric," said Mrs. Williams faintly, "where have you been? has
+anything happened to you, my child?"
+
+"No, mother, nothing. I've only been crabfishing with Russell, and we
+forgot the time."
+
+"Thoughtless boy," said his father, "your mother has been in an agony
+about you."
+
+Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in her arms,
+and mother and son wept in a long embrace. "Only two months," whispered
+Mrs. Williams, "and we shall leave you, dear boy, perhaps forever. O do
+not forget your love for us in the midst of new companions."
+
+The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only instead of
+first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to sit among the
+crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his parents were
+disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously mortified. But he had
+full confidence in his own powers, and made the strongest resolutions to
+work hard the next half-year, when he had got out of "that
+Gordon's" clutches.
+
+The Williams' spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed, in the
+prospect of losing them, Eric's feelings to his parents came out in all
+their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the father and
+mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all their deep
+affection, were employed in leaving on the boy's heart lasting
+impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that their love
+would encircle him for ever with its heavenly tenderness, and their pure
+prayers rise for him night and day to the throne of God.
+
+The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it was. In the
+wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon seemed to hear the
+sound of everlasting farewells. It is God's mercy that ordains how
+seldom young hearts have to endure such misery.
+
+At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away; and
+during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their dear
+boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so Eric. He
+sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking the stillness
+every now and then with his convulsive sobs.
+
+"O Aunty," he cried, "do you think I shall ever see them again? I have
+been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love. O, I wish I
+had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them."
+
+"Yes, dearest," said Mrs. Trevor, "I have no doubt we shall all meet
+again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you know, and that
+will not seem very long. And then they will be writing continually to
+us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how gladdened their hearts will be to
+hear that you and Vernon are good boys, and getting on well."
+
+"O, I _will_ be a better boy, I _will_ indeed," said Eric; "I mean to do
+great things, and they shall have nothing but good reports of me."
+
+"God helping you, dear," said his aunt, pushing back his hair from his
+forehead, and kissing it softly; "without his help, Eric, we are all
+weak indeed."
+
+She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she known
+the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from human eyes!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ERIC A BOARDER
+
+     "We were, fair queen,
+     Two lads that thought there was no more behind,
+     But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
+     And to be boy eternal."--WINTER'S TALE, i. 2.
+
+The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm, and Eric
+was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands' house.
+
+As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the well-known
+faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.
+
+"Hallo, Williams! here you are at last," said Duncan, seizing his hand.
+"How have you enjoyed the holidays? It's so jolly to see you again."
+
+"So you're coming as a boarder," said Montagu, "and to our noble house,
+too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and let's watch
+whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we shall be starting in
+a few minutes."
+
+"Ha! there's Russell," said Eric, springing to the gangway, and warmly
+shaking his friend's hand as he came on board.
+
+"Have your father and mother gone, Eric?" said Russell, after a few
+minutes' talk.
+
+"Yes," said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing his eyes.
+"They are on their way back to India."
+
+"I'm so sorry," said Russell; "I don't think anyone has ever been so
+kind to me as they were."
+
+"And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last thing,
+that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave me
+something for you." Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a little
+box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It contained a
+pretty silver watch, and inside the case was engraved--"Edwin Russell,
+from the mother of his friend Eric."
+
+The boy's eyes glistened with joyful surprise. "How good they are," he
+said; "I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we get to Roslyn."
+
+They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as a new
+comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands' drawing-room, where the
+head master was sitting with his wife and children. His greeting was
+dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying "good night," he gave Eric a
+few plain words of affectionate advice.
+
+At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life and
+spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the flush and
+flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in another minute
+entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands' boarders assembled, and
+where most of them lived, except the few privileged sixth form, and
+other boys who had "studies." A cheer greeted his entrance into the
+room. By this time most of the Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to
+have him among their number. They knew that he was clever enough to get
+them credit in the school, and, what was better still, that he would be
+a capital accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except
+Barker, there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.
+
+The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one end was
+a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys round the
+great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy could seldom
+get. The large windows opened on the green playground; and iron bars
+prevented any exit through them. This large room, called "the boarders'
+room," was the joint habitation of Eric and some thirty other boys; and
+at one side ran a range of shelves and drawers, where they kept their
+books and private property. There the younger Rowlandites breakfasted,
+dined, had tea, and, for the most part, lived. Here, too, they had to
+get through all such work as was not performed under direct supervision.
+How many and what varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb
+walls any feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy's name, as it was rudely cut on the oak
+panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen him, the
+good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there suffered--what
+_noble_ histories would the records unfold of honor and success, of
+baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs; what _awful_ histories of
+hopes blighted and habits learned, of wasted talents and ruined lives!
+
+The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven the
+boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by breakfast.
+At nine they went into school, where they continued, with little
+interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and, except on
+half-holidays, went into school again from two till five. The lock-up
+bell rang at dusk; at six o'clock they had tea--which was a repetition
+of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever else they liked--and
+immediately after sat down to "preparation," which lasted from seven
+till nine. During this time one of the masters was always in the room,
+who allowed them to read amusing books, or employ themselves in any
+other quiet way they liked, as soon as ever they had learnt their
+lessons for the following day. At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read
+prayers, after which the boys were dismissed to bed.
+
+The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a suite of
+rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other; six on each
+side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between them, so that, when
+all the doors were open, you could see from one end of the whole range
+to the other. The only advantage of this arrangement was, that one
+master walking up and down could keep all the boys in order while they
+were getting into bed. About a quarter of an hour was allowed for this
+process, and then the master went along the rooms putting out the
+lights. A few of the "study-boys" were allowed to sit up till ten, and
+their bedrooms were elsewhere. The consequence was, that in these
+dormitories the boys felt perfectly secure from any interruption. There
+were only two ways by which a master could get at them; one up the great
+staircase, and through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme
+end of the range, which led into Dr. Rowlands' house, but was generally
+kept locked.
+
+In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their order in
+the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there were nearly
+sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric's arrival, collected
+in the boarders' room, the rest being in their studies, or in the
+classrooms which some were allowed to use in order to prevent too great
+a crowd in the room below.
+
+At nine o'clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the boarders took
+their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible before him; and when
+the school servants had also come in, Dr. Rowlands read a chapter, and
+offered up an extempore prayer. While reading, he generally interspersed
+a few pointed remarks or graphic explanations, and Eric learnt much in
+this simple way. The prayer, though short, was always well suited to the
+occasion, and calculated to carry with it the attention of the
+worshippers.
+
+Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and Eric
+found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the lavatory,
+occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys named Bull and
+Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were all tired with their
+voyage, and the excitement of coming back to school, so that they did
+not talk much that night, and before long Eric was fast asleep,
+dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should have a very happy life at
+Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no end of distinctions, and make
+no end of new friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"TAKING UP"
+
+
+     "We are not worst at once; the course of evil
+     Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
+     An infant's hand might stop the breach with clay;
+     But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--
+     Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain
+     To stem the headlong current!"--ANON.
+
+With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when the new
+school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the "Shell," as
+the form was called which intervened between the fourth and the fifth.
+Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes with him, but his
+other friends were left for the present in the form below.
+
+Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast with
+Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor so vigorous
+in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not catch fire from him
+so much as from the fourth-form master. But he was a far truer and
+deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous a sense of honor, and
+detestation of every form of moral obliquity, he never yielded to those
+storms of passionate indignation which Mr. Gordon found it impossible to
+control. Disappointed in early life, subjected to the deepest and most
+painful trials, Mr. Rose's fine character had come out like gold from
+the flame. He now lived in and for the boys alone, and his whole life
+was one long self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt
+this, and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he neither
+expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for his
+self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and self-sacrificing
+love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were instrumental in saving
+one of his charge from evil, or turning one wanderer from the error
+of his ways.
+
+He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself, but
+lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in Dr.
+Rowlands' house.
+
+Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy was
+sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears, and given
+him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon happily
+undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much kindness, and he
+felt that, however bad he had been before, he would now have an
+opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin again a career of hope.
+He worked admirably at first, and even beat, for the first week or two,
+his old competitors, Owen and Russell.
+
+From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few could look
+at the boy's bright blue eyes and noble face without doing so, and the
+more when they knew that his father and mother were thousands of miles
+away, leaving him alone in the midst of so many dangers. Often the
+master asked him, and Russell, and Owen, and Montagu, to supper with him
+in the library, which gave them the privilege of sitting up later than
+usual, and enjoying a more quiet and pleasant evening than was possible
+in the noisy rooms. Boys and master were soon quite at home with each
+other, and in this way Mr. Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a
+useful warning without the formality of regular discipline or
+stereotyped instruction.
+
+Eric found the life of the "boarders' room" far rougher than he had
+expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the hours of
+preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often dull enough.
+Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular indoor boys' game
+like "baste the bear," or "high-cockolorum;" or they would have amusing
+"ghost-hunts," as they called them, after some dressed-up boy among the
+dark corridors and staircases. This was good enough fun, but at other
+times they got tired of games, and could not get them up, and then
+numbers of boys felt the idle time hang heavy on their hands. When this
+was the case, some of the worse sort, as might have been expected, would
+fill up their leisure with bullying or mischief.
+
+For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and annoyed
+Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal tables were placed
+two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks, and this was the only
+light the boys had. Of course, these candles often, wanted snuffing, and
+as snuffers were sure to be thrown about and broken as soon as they
+were brought into the room, the only resource was to snuff them with the
+fingers, at which all the boys became great adepts from necessity. One
+evening Barker, having snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the
+smouldering wick unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive
+fellow named Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright's perceiving it, and at last
+Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--
+
+"I see a chimney," and laughed.
+
+Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room had
+noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who unconsciously wrote
+on at the letter he was sending home.
+
+Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker again,
+said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell said
+quietly, "There's something on your head, Wright," and the little boy
+putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid wick.
+
+"What a shame!" he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a smudge.
+
+"Who told you to interfere?" said Barker, turning fiercely to Russell.
+Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him, and Barker,
+after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on another boy. This
+time Russell thought that every one might be on the look out for
+himself, and so went on with his work. But when Barker again chanted
+maliciously--
+
+"I see a chimney," every boy who happened to be reading or writing,
+uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the victim or no; and
+so things continued for half an hour.
+
+Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when constantly
+repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any quiet work
+without constant danger of having some one creep up behind him and put
+the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his head; and neither Barker
+nor any of his little gang of imitators seemed disposed to give up their
+low mischief.
+
+One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure, from
+seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one had been
+treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his head, and sure
+enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was furious, and springing up,
+he shouted--
+
+"By Jove! I _won't_ stand this any longer."
+
+"You'll have to sit it then," said Barker.
+
+"O, it was _you_ who did it, was it? Then take that;" and, seizing one
+of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker's head. Barker dodged,
+but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it whizzed by, and the blood
+flowed fast.
+
+"I'll kill you for that," said Barker, leaping at Eric, and seizing him
+by the hair.
+
+"You'll get killed yourself then, you brute," said Upton, Russell's
+cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the room--and he boxed
+his ears as a premonitory admonition. "But, I say, young un," continued
+he to Eric, "this kind of thing won't do, you snow. You'll get into
+rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows' heads at that rate."
+
+"He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by his
+filthy tricks," said Eric hotly; "some one must stop him, and I will
+somehow, if no one else does."
+
+"It wasn't I who put the thing on your head, you passionate young fool,"
+growled Barker.
+
+"Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it."
+
+"You shut up, Barker," said Upton; "I've heard of your ways before, and
+when I catch you at your tricks, I'll teach you a lesson. Come up to my
+study, Williams, if you like."
+
+Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in the
+school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and often
+interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised him, and did
+anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do no harm, but he did
+great harm. He was full of misdirected impulses, and had a great notion
+of being manly, which he thought consisted in a fearless disregard of
+all school rules, and the performance of the wildest tricks. For this
+reason he was never very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked
+very much, but who was too scrupulous and independent to please him.
+Eric, on the other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to
+admire him in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready
+pupil in all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his example
+went to undermine all Eric's lingering good resolutions, and ruin for
+ever the boy of whom he was so fond.
+
+From this time Eric was much in Upton's study, and constantly by his
+side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and position
+in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their friendship was
+broken every now and then by little quarrels, which united them all the
+more closely after they had not spoken to each other perhaps for a week.
+
+"Your cousin Upton has 'taken up' Williams," said Montagu to Russell one
+afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the beach, with
+Eric's arm in Upton's.
+
+"Yes, I am sorry for it."
+
+"So am I. We shan't see so much of him now."
+
+"O, that's not my only reason," answered Russell, who had a rare habit
+of always going straight to the point.
+
+"You mean you don't like the 'taking-up' system."
+
+"No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used to
+fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in the
+school, and that the two would stand to each other in the relation of
+knight to squire. You know what the young knights were taught, Monty--to
+keep their bodies under, and bring them into subjection; to love God,
+and speak the truth always. That sounds very grand and noble to me. But
+when a big fellow takes up a little one _you_ know pretty well that
+_those_ are not the kind of lessons he teaches."
+
+"No, Russell; you're quite right. It's bad for a fellow in every way.
+First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence; then ten
+to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character from really
+coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally gets paid out in
+kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of the rest; and if his
+protector happens to leave, or anything of that kind, woe betide him!"
+
+"No fear for Eric in that line, though," said Russell; "he can hold his
+own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a most jolly
+fellow. I don't think even Upton will spoil him; it's chiefly the soft
+self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no iron, who get spoilt by
+being 'taken up.'"
+
+Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from Upton,
+and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he was too manly
+a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to sink into the
+effeminate condition which usually grows on the young delectables who
+have the misfortune to be "taken up."
+
+Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A coolness
+grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a little mutual
+contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did nothing but grind all
+day long, and had no geniality in him; while Owen pitied the love of
+popularity which so often led Eric into delinquencies, which he himself
+despised. Owen had, indeed, but few friends in the school; the only boy
+who knew him well enough to respect and like him thoroughly was Russell,
+who found in him the only one who took the same high, ground with
+himself. But Russell loved the good in every one, and was loved by all
+in return, and Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over
+his increasing failures.
+
+One day as the two were walking together in the green playground, Mr.
+Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their caps, he nodded and
+smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly noticed, and did not return
+Eric's salute. He had begun to dislike the latter more and more, and had
+given him up altogether as one of the reprobates.
+
+"What a surly devil that is," said Eric, when he had passed; "did you
+see how he purposely cut me?"
+
+"A surly ...? Oh Eric, that's the first time I ever heard you swear."
+
+Eric blushed. He hadn't meant the word to slip out in Russell's hearing,
+though similar expressions were common enough in his talk with other
+boys. But he didn't like to be reproved, even by Russell, and in the
+ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--
+
+"Pooh, Edwin, you don't call that swearing, do you? You're so strict, so
+religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there are none like
+you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here."
+
+Russell was silent.
+
+"Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was thinking
+the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the only two
+fellows here who don't swear."
+
+Russell still said nothing.
+
+"And, after all, I didn't swear; I only called that fellow a surly
+devil."
+
+"O, hush! Eric, hush!" said Russell sadly. "You wouldn't have said so
+half-a-year ago."
+
+Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose before
+him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home, thinking of him,
+praying for him, centring all their hopes in him. In him!--and he knew
+how many things he was daily doing and saying, which would cut them to
+the heart. He knew that all his moral consciousness was fast vanishing,
+and leaving him a bad and reckless boy.
+
+In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how shocked
+he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became too familiar
+to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the habit himself.
+Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite a graceful sound in
+his ears; a sound of entire freedom and independence of moral restraint;
+an open casting off, as it were, of all authority, so that he had begun
+to admire it, particularly in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero,
+Upton; and he recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out
+suddenly in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how
+Upton smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and gradually
+grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded him that he was
+doing wrong.
+
+He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with him for
+a moment, but at length he answered, "O Edwin, I fear I am getting
+utterly bad; I wish I were more like you," he added, in a low sad tone.
+
+"Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am myself;
+but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to all the bad
+things round us. Remember, I know more of school than you."
+
+The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his bedside,
+and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"
+
+"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night." PROV.
+vii. 9.
+
+At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was half-past nine.
+It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing with turbulent life,
+should lie down quietly, and get to sleep. They never dreamt of doing
+so. Very soon after the masters were gone, the sconces were often
+relighted, sometimes in separate dormitories, sometimes in all of them,
+and the boys amused themselves by reading novels or making a row. They
+would play various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over
+the beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers off
+their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well wielded,
+especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very efficient
+instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn't hurt very much,
+even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these matches were excellent
+trials of strength and temper, and were generally accompanied with
+shouts of laughter, never ending until one side was driven back to its
+own room. Many a long and tough struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his
+prowess was so universally acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was
+a match for any other, and far stronger in this warfare than most of the
+rest. At bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was the
+only _fain�ant_ among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off
+the smaller fry.
+
+Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been placed
+in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn school. Backward
+in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed good looks, of mean
+disposition and feeble intellect, he was the very worst specimen of a
+boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even Barker so deeply excited Eric's
+repulsion and contempt. And yet, since the affair of Upton, Barker and
+Eric were declared enemies, and, much to the satisfaction of the latter,
+never spoke to each other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed
+him--he was professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even of
+this worthless boy.
+
+Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably profess to
+like him "well enough," but if they were honest, they would generally
+end by allowing their contempt.
+
+"We've got a nice set in No. 7, haven't we?" said Duncan to Eric one
+day.
+
+"Capital. Old Llewellyn's a stunner, and I like Attlay and Graham."
+
+"Don't you like Bull then?"
+
+"O yes; pretty well."
+
+The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the confidential
+augurs, burst out laughing.
+
+"You know you detest him," said Duncan.
+
+"No, I don't. He never did me any harm that I know of."
+
+"Him!--well, _I_ detest him."
+
+"Well!" answered Eric, "on coming to think of it, so do I. And yet he is
+popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is."
+
+"He's not _really_ popular. I've often noticed that fellows pretty
+generally despise him, yet somehow don't like to say so."
+
+"Why do you dislike him, Duncan?"
+
+"I don't know. Why do you?"
+
+"I don't know either."
+
+Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet if they
+had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found out in their
+secret souls the reasons of their dislike.
+
+Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often bragged as
+the acm� of desirability and wickedness. He was always telling boys what
+they did at "his old school," and he quite inflamed the minds of such as
+fell under his influence by marvellous tales of the wild and wilful
+things which he and his former school-fellows had done. Many and many a
+scheme of sin and mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and
+carried out on the model of Bull's reminiscences of his previous life.
+
+He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil than any
+other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the general odium
+was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience so often as a
+ground of superiority, that at last the claim was silently allowed. He
+spoke from the platform of more advanced iniquity, and the others
+listened first curiously, then eagerly to his words.
+
+"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Such was the temptation
+which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and Eric among the
+number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually, he dropped into their
+too willing ears the poison of his polluting acquirements.
+
+In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting mind.
+
+I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry over
+it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a true picture
+of what school life _sometimes_ is, I must not pass it by altogether.
+
+The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No. 7, he was
+shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he felt himself
+blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then growing pale again,
+while a hot dew was left upon his forehead. Bull was the speaker; but
+this time there was a silence, and the subject instantly dropped. The
+others felt that "a new boy" was in the room; they did not know how he
+would take it; they were unconsciously abashed.
+
+Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation before,
+they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of yielding
+to it.
+
+Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption
+and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your
+destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these
+fellows that unseemly words wound your conscience; tell them that they
+are ruinous, sinful, damnable; speak out and save yourself and the rest.
+Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful
+presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel
+which the whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect chrysolite,"
+cannot replace.
+
+Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this his hour
+of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses and the fiery
+chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the dark array of
+spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a pitying finger to the
+yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair that even now perhaps is being
+cleft under his feet. Show him the garlands of the present and the past,
+withering at the touch of the Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity
+show him the canker which he is introducing into the sap of the tree of
+life, which shall cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its
+blossom to go up as dust.
+
+But the sense of sin was on Eric's mind. How _could_ he speak? was not
+his own language sometimes profane? How--how could he profess to reprove
+another boy on the ground of morality, when he himself said did things
+less ruinous perhaps, but equally forbidden?
+
+For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay silent.
+Since Bull's last words nobody had spoken. They were going to sleep. It
+was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment passed by for ever;
+Eric had listened without objection to foul words, and the irreparable
+harm was done.
+
+How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God had
+provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far harder to
+resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.
+
+Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the destinies
+of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day, the hour a common
+hour. We never thought twice about the change of intention, which by one
+of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life determined for good or for evil,
+for happiness or misery, the color of our remaining years. The stroke of
+the pen was done in a moment which led unconsciously to our ruin; the
+word was uttered quite heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision
+of our weal or woe.
+
+Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of an
+angel's wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an angel's
+voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments which passed,
+until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell asleep.
+
+Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once remembered what
+had passed. Bull's words haunted him; he could not forget them; they
+burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever. He was moody and
+petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his aversion to Bull. Ah
+Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you, but prayerfulness would;
+one word, Eric, at the throne of grace--one prayer before you go down
+among the boys, that God in his mercy would wash away, in the blood of
+his dear Son, your crimson stains, and keep your conscience and
+memory clean.
+
+The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a few
+formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have given way
+to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard Bull's footstep,
+and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast; so Eric did not pray.
+
+Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory No. 7. On
+the contrary, they generally flashed along in the liveliest way, till
+some one said "Good night;" and then the boys turned off to sleep. Eric
+knew this, and instantly conjectured that it was only a sort of respect
+for him, and ignorance of the manner in which he would consider it, that
+prevented Duncan and the rest from taking any further notice of Bull's
+remark. It was therefore no good disburdening his mind to any of them;
+but he determined to speak about the matter to Russell in their
+next walk.
+
+They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had discontinued
+the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys taking their
+exercise under a master's inspection. Boys are not generally fond of
+constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays they almost entirely
+confined their open-air exercise to the regular games, and many of them
+hardly left the play-ground boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they
+often went walks, each with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric
+first came as a boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and
+many a pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even this
+intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more often gone
+with his new friend Upton.
+
+"Come a walk, boy," said Upton, as they left the dining-room.
+
+"O excuse me to-day, Upton," said Eric, "I'm going with your cousin."
+
+"Oh _very_ well," said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping to make Eric
+jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had "taken up" before he
+knew Williams.
+
+Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said, "Come a
+stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?"
+
+"O yes," said Russell cheerfully; "why, we haven't seen each other for
+some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant to drop
+me, Eric."
+
+He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his head,
+for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all the school,
+and especially at his friendship with so leading a fellow as Upton, Eric
+had _not_ seen much of his friend since their last conversation about
+swearing. Indeed, conscious of failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in
+Russell's company.
+
+He faltered, and answered humbly, "I hope you will never drop _me_,
+Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to speak to
+you to-day."
+
+In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric's, as they turned
+towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just going to begin,
+when they heard Montagu's voice calling after them--
+
+"I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with you?"
+
+"O yes, Monty, do," said Russell, "It will be quite like old times; now
+that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to sing 'When shall
+we three meet again?'"
+
+Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words jarred in
+Eric's heart. He was silent, and answered in monosyllables, so the walk
+was provokingly dull. At last they reached Fort Island, and sat down by
+the ruined chapel looking on the sea.
+
+"Why what's the row with you, old boy," said Montagu, playfully shaking
+Eric by the shoulder, "you're as silent as Zimmerman on Solitude, and as
+doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you've been going through a
+select course of Blair's Grave, Young's Night Thoughts, and Drelincourt
+on Death."
+
+To his surprise Eric's head was still bent, and, at last, he heard a
+deep suppressed sigh.
+
+"My dear child, what is the matter with you?" said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, "surely you're not offended at my
+nonsense?"
+
+Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he gulped down
+his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull's vile words the night
+before. They listened in silence.
+
+"I knew it must come, Eric," said Russell at last, "and I am so sorry
+you didn't speak at the time."
+
+"Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your dormitories?"
+asked Eric.
+
+"No," said Russell.
+
+"Very little," said Montagu.
+
+A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and looked
+away.
+
+"Let me tell you," said Russell solemnly; "my father (he is dead now you
+know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this kind of thing.
+I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such coarse knowledge as is
+forced upon one here, and with my reminiscences of home, I could not
+bear even that much of it which was impossible to avoid. But the very
+first time such talk was begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said
+I don't know, but I felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous
+adder, and, at any rate, I showed such pain and distress that the
+fellows dropped it at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to
+stay in the room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I
+do think the fellows are very glad of it themselves."
+
+"Well," said Montagu, "I don't profess to look on it from the religious
+ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in bad taste, and
+said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick me for a conceited
+little fool, but he didn't; and they hardly ever venture on that
+ground now."
+
+"It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly," answered Russell; "my
+father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become rife in
+a public school."
+
+"Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these matters?"
+asked Eric thoughtfully.
+
+"In sermons they do. Don't you remember Rowlands' sermon not two weeks
+ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite right not to
+speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we invite confidence.
+Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in this way. After all, it
+is only a very few of the worst who ever do."
+
+They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off performing
+the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private request to Bull to
+abstain from his offensive communications, and an endeavor to enlist
+Duncan into his wishes.
+
+One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7. Bull's turn
+came, and in his story the vile element again appeared. For a while Eric
+said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he made a faint
+remonstrance.
+
+"Shut up there, Williams," said Attlay, "and don't spoil the story."
+
+"Very well. It's your own fault, and I shall shut my ears."
+
+He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended to be
+asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly new to him;
+his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned indifference, and the
+poison flowed deep into his veins. Before that evening was over, Eric
+Williams was "a god, knowing good from evil."
+
+O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and beware. The
+knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it hell. That little
+matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like the snowflake detached
+by the breath of air from the mountain-top, which, as it rushes down,
+gains size, and strength, and impetus, till it has swollen to the mighty
+and irresistible avalanche that overwhelms garden, and field, and
+village, in a chaos of undistinguishable death.
+
+Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished there!
+Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother's
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very pale
+their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young brothers who have
+sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod, from foreign graves and
+English churchyards, they start up and throng around us in the paleness
+of their fall. May every schoolboy who reads this page be warned by the
+waving of their wasted hands, from that burning marle of passion, where
+they found nothing but shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an
+early grave.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DORMITORY LIFE
+
+     [Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux herebennae.]
+     HOM.
+
+For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last chapter, Upton
+and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at Eric's declining the
+honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at Upton's unreasonableness.
+In the "taking up" system, such quarrels were of frequent occurrence,
+and as the existence of a misunderstanding was generally indicated in
+this very public way, the variations of good will between such friends
+generally excited no little notice and amusement among the other boys.
+But both Upton and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so
+far as others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the
+other's company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than ever.
+
+As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his study
+door, and which ran as follows:--
+
+"Dear Horace--Don't let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow, why
+should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a walk with
+Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as you? I shall
+expect you to make it up directly after prayers.--Yours, if you are not
+silly, E.W."
+
+The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton seized
+Eric's hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they had a good
+laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs chattering
+merrily.
+
+"There's to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight," said Eric;
+"the doctor's gone to a dinner-party, and we're going to have no end
+of fun."
+
+"Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell me, I'll
+come and look on."
+
+"Very well; depend upon it, I'll come." And they parted at the foot of
+the study stairs.
+
+It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range
+of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he
+put out all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed
+the utmost quiet and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had
+passed away through the lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a
+scout, had seen the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the
+corner at the foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door
+close behind him.
+
+After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that
+they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the
+first to stir.
+
+"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
+pitching his pillow at Eric's head.
+
+"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing; "but
+give us a match, first."
+
+Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
+candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and
+one after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed
+to them in a sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that a length all the
+twelve dormitories had their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts
+of amusement, some in their night-shirts and others with their trousers
+slipped on. Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last
+Graham suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.
+
+"But we're making a regular knock-me-down shindy," said Llewellyn;
+"somebody must keep cav�."
+
+"O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no fear of
+disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami," answered Graham.
+
+But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the top of the
+stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that direction, and little
+Wright consented to go first. He had only to leave the lavatory door
+open; and stand at the top of the staircase, and he then commanded for a
+great distance the only avenue in which danger was expected. If any
+master's candle appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes'
+warning, and a single loudly-whispered "cave" would cause some one in
+each dormitory instantly to "douse the glim," and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary's arrival, they would all be (of course)
+fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming manner. Whatever
+noise the master might have heard, it would be impossible to fix it on
+any of the sleepers.
+
+So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and shivering
+in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and not
+unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest were
+getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso, arranging a
+stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and dressing up the
+actors in the most fantastic apparel.
+
+The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at the end
+Wright ran in through the lavatory.
+
+"I say," said the little fellow, "it's jolly cold standing at the top of
+the stairs. Won't some one relieve guard?"
+
+"O, I will," answered Eric, good-naturedly; "it's a shame that one
+fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;" and he ran to
+take Wright's post.
+
+After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no danger,
+and therefore ran up to Upton's study for a change.
+
+"Well, what's up?" said the study-boy, approvingly, as he glanced at
+Eric's laughing eyes.
+
+"O, we've been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But I'm
+keeping 'cav�' now; only it's so cold that I thought I'd run up to
+your study."
+
+"Little traitor; we'll shoot you for a deserting sentinel."
+
+"O no;" said Eric, "it's all serene; Rowley's out, and dear old Rose'd
+never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of Morpheus.
+Besides the fellows are making less row now."
+
+"Well! look here! let's go and look on, and I'll tell you a dodge; put
+one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of the lavatory, and
+then if any one comes he'll make clang enough to wake dead; and while
+he's amusing himself with this, there'll be lots of time to 'extinguish
+the superfluous abundance of the nocturnal illuminators.' Eh?"
+
+"Capital!" said Eric, "come along."
+
+They went down and arranged the signal very artistically, leaving the
+iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the large tin basin on
+its edge, so as to lean against it. Having extremely enjoyed this part
+of the proceeding, they went to look at the theatricals again, the boys
+being highly delighted at Upton's appearance among them.
+
+They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant reminiscences of
+Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and mustachios to make him
+resemble Banquo, his costume being completed by a girdle round his
+nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson silk handkerchief, richly
+broidered with gold, which had been brought to him from India, and which
+at first, in the innocence of his heart, he used to wear on Sundays,
+until he acquired the sobriquet of "the Dragon." Duncan made a
+superb Macbeth.
+
+They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in a most
+novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the room, on one
+side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife, the handle end of
+which he was pushing through a hole in the middle of the sheet at the
+shadow of Duncan on the other side.
+
+Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama, was
+spouting--
+
+     "Is this a dagger which I see before me?
+     The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;"
+
+And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded knife; but
+as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was immediately withdrawn, and
+the blade end substituted, which made the comic Macbeth instantly draw
+back again, and recommence his apostrophe. This scene had tickled the
+audience immensely, and Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just
+drawing the somewhat unwarrantable conclusion that it was
+
+     "A dagger of the mind, a false creation,"
+
+when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced a dead
+silence.
+
+"Cav�," shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his bed. Instantly
+there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet was torn down, the
+candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and the dormitories at once
+plunged in profound silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of
+sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or any of the under
+masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!
+
+He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory doors were
+wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain lay torn on the
+floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms were in the
+strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still smouldered in
+several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the extraordinary way
+in which the bed clothes were huddled about told an unmistakeable tale.
+
+He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No. 8, he
+heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton's figure vanishing
+into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the study stairs.
+
+He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories, again
+stopping at No. 7 on his return.
+
+He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly fixed on
+him as a chief culprit.
+
+"Duncan!"
+
+No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan's bed.
+
+"Duncan!" he said, still louder and more sternly, "you sleep soundly,
+sir, too soundly; get up directly," and he laid his hand on the
+boy's arm.
+
+"Get away, you old donkey," said Duncan sleepily; "'t, aint time to get
+up yet. First bell hasn't rung."
+
+"Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;" but the
+imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great yawn, and
+then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing Dr. Rowlands,
+that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from over his bed-clothes,
+burst into an irresistible explosion of laughter.
+
+Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--"What! Williams! get out of bed,
+sir, this instant."
+
+Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he stood on
+the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and corked cheeks,
+with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense astonishment, that the scene
+became overpoweringly ludicrous to Duncan, who now in his turn was
+convulsed with a storm of laughter, faintly echoed in stifled titterings
+from other beds.
+
+"_Very_ good," said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry, "you will hear
+of this to-morrow;" and he walked away with a heavy step, stopping at
+the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its proper place, and then
+mounting to the studies.
+
+Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he knocked at
+one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their occupants at once
+to the library.
+
+Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they heard the
+doctor's retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark to No. 7, not
+daring to relight their candles.
+
+"Good gracious!" said Attlay, "only to think of Rowley appearing! How
+could he have twigged?"
+
+"He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home," said Eric.
+
+"I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a rage the
+Doctor will be in to-morrow?"
+
+"Won't you just catch it!" said Barker to Duncan, but intending the
+remark for Eric.
+
+"Just like your mean chaff," retorted Duncan. "But I say, Williams," he
+continued, laughing, "you _did_ look so funny in the whiskers."
+
+At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down stairs to
+the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their different rooms.
+
+"What do you think he'll do to us?" asked Eric.
+
+"I don't know," said Duncan uneasily; "flog us, for one thing, that's
+certain. I'm so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it's no good fretting.
+We've had our cake, and now we must pay for it, that's all."
+
+Eric's cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened, and
+somebody stole noiselessly in.
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Upton. I've come to have a chat. The Doctor's like a turkey-cock in
+sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a rage."
+
+"Why, what's he been saying?" asked Eric, as Upton came and took a seat
+on his bed.
+
+"Oh! he's been rowing us like six o'clock," said Upton, "about 'moral
+responsibility,' 'abetting the follies of children,' 'forgetting our
+position in the school,' and I don't know what all; and he ended by
+asking who'd been in the dormitories. Of course I confessed the soft
+impeachment, whereon he snorted 'Ha! I suspected so. Very well, Sir, you
+don't know how to use a study; you shall be deprived of it till the end
+of term.'"
+
+"Did he really, Horace?" said Eric. "And it's all my doing that you've
+got into the scrape. Do forgive me."
+
+"Bosh! My dear fellow," said Upton, "it's twice as much my fault as
+yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It's rather a bore
+losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all the more
+of each other. Good night; I must be off."
+
+Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said to the
+boys, "Stop! I have a word to say to you."
+
+"I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories yesterday
+evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden hours, and the
+noise made was so great that it was heard through the whole building. I
+am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for a few hours, without your
+taking such advantage of my absence; and that the upper boys, so far
+from using their influence to prevent these infractions of discipline,
+seem inclined rather to join in them themselves. On this occasion I have
+punished Upton, by depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and
+as I myself detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the
+library at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by the
+dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron door. The
+consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and _might_ have been
+seriously injured in entering the lavatory. I must know the name of the
+delinquent."
+
+Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked surprised, and
+there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr. Rose's face.
+
+"Very well," said the Doctor, "I shall speak to you both privately."
+
+Twelve o'clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe caning.
+Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for some
+dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He burned, not
+with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent indignation, and
+listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr. Rowlands' warnings. When the
+flogging was over, he almost rushed out of the room, to choke in
+solitude his sense of humiliation, nor would he suffer any one for an
+instant to allude to his disgrace. Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton
+was doing him no good; but he passionately resented the suggestion, and
+determined, with obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the
+boy whom he had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.
+
+Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the friendships of
+boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been warned against his
+new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the fact that Mr. So-and-so
+doesn't like seeing them together, and after that they fancy themselves
+bound in honor to show that they are not afraid of continuing their
+connection. It was not strange, therefore, that Eric and Upton were
+thrown more than ever into each other's society, and consequently, that
+Eric, while he improved daily in strength, activity, and prowess,
+neglected more and more his school duties and honorable ambitions.
+
+Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character and
+abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness and
+unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One night he
+sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During the evening he
+drew out Eric's exercise, and compared it with, those of Russell and
+Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him in marks. Eric's was
+careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two were neat, spirited, and
+painstaking, and had, therefore, been marked much higher.
+
+"Your exercises _used_ to be far better--I may say incomparably better,"
+said Mr. Rose; "what is the cause of this falling off?"
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. "I fear, my boy, you have not
+been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and are letting
+boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in ability. That is a
+very bad _sign_, Eric; in itself it is a discouraging fact, but I fear
+it indicates worse evils. You are wasting the golden hours, my boy, that
+can never return. I only hope and trust that no other change for the
+worse is going on in your character."
+
+And so he talked on till the boy's sorrow was undisguised. "Come," he
+said gently, "let us kneel down together before we part."
+
+Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full heart,
+the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child beside him.
+Eric's heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and he loved him as
+a brother. He rose from his knees full of the strongest resolutions, and
+earnestly promised amendment for the future.
+
+But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time, indeed,
+there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on with its usual
+allurements, and when the hours of temptation came, his good intentions
+melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the prayer, and the vows that
+followed it, had been obliterated from his memory without leaving any
+traces in his life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ERIC IN COVENTRY
+
+                     "And either greet him not
+     Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more
+     Than if not looked on."--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.
+
+Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller
+class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were
+too high in the school for "the boarders' room," and who were waiting to
+succeed to the studies as they fell vacant. There were three or four
+others with him in this class-room, and although it was less pleasant
+than his old quarters, it was yet far more comfortable than the
+Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form boys.
+
+As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the class-rooms
+except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however, was very generally
+overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an opportunity to escape from
+the company of Barker and his associates, became a constant frequenter
+of his friend's new abode. Here they used to make themselves very
+comfortable. Joining the rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and
+amuse themselves over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a
+green or yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest:
+and Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.
+
+Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him unmolested; but
+if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice him, he invariably
+turned him out, and after the first offence or two, had several times
+set him an imposition. This treatment gave fresh intensity to his now
+deeply-seated disgust at his late master, and his expressions of
+indignation at "Gordon's spite" were loud and frequent.
+
+One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one there but
+Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the window, with
+Upton's arm resting kindly on Eric's shoulder as they watched with
+admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that flashed over the sea.
+Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid phrase [Greek: an�rithmon
+gelasma ponti�n], which he had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that
+morning, and they were trying which would hit on the best rendering of
+it. Eric stuck up for the literal sublimity of "the innumerable laughter
+of the sea," while Upton was trying to win him over to "the
+many-twinkling smile of ocean." They were enjoying the discussion, and
+each stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.
+
+On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial dislike
+of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that the younger had
+grown more than usually conceited and neglectful, since he had been
+under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in Eric's presence there, a
+new case of wilful disobedience.
+
+"Williams, here _again!_" he exclaimed sharply. "Why, sir, you seem to
+suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How often have I told you
+that no one is allowed to sit here, except the regular occupants?"
+
+His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant discussion.
+
+"No other master takes any notice of it, sir," said Upton.
+
+"I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will bring me
+the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for your repeated
+disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish you also, for
+tempting him to come here."
+
+This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon's part, of which Upton took immediate
+advantage.
+
+"I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides," he
+continued, with annoying blandness of tone, "it would be inhospitable;
+and I am too glad of his company."
+
+Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. "Williams, leave the room
+instantly."
+
+The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. "Mr. Rose never interferes with me,
+when he sees me here," he said as he retreated.
+
+"Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit and
+impertinence are getting intolerable."
+
+Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton joined him
+on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a little
+ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground together. He went
+away full of strong contempt, and from that moment began to look on the
+friends as two of the worst boys in the school.
+
+This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a half-holiday, and
+instead of being able to join in any of the games, Eric had to spend
+that weary afternoon in writing away at the fourth Georgic; Upton
+staying in a part of the time to help him a little, by dictating the
+lines to him--an occupation not unfrequently interrupted by storms of
+furious denunciation against Mr. Gordon's injustice and tyranny; Eric
+vowing "that he would pay him out somehow yet."
+
+The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again consumed some
+of the next day's leisure, part of it being written between schools in
+the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite finished on Friday
+afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric stayed a few minutes
+behind the rest to scribble off the last ten lines; which done, he
+banged down the lid of his desk, not locking it, and ran out.
+
+The next morning an incident happened which involved considerable
+consequences to some of the actors in my story.
+
+Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves, like
+Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one end of this
+hall was a board used for the various school notices, to which there
+were always affixed two or three pieces of paper containing
+announcements about examinations and other matters of general interest.
+
+On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the boys, as
+they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a new notice on
+the board, and, thronging round to see what it was, read these words,
+written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by wafers to the board--
+
+"GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL."
+
+As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took them all
+very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so audacious as to
+play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by the entrance of the
+masters, and they all took their seats, without any one tearing down the
+dangerous paper.
+
+After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready, fell on the
+paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment transfixed with
+astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.
+
+Pointing to the inscription, he said: "I think we had better leave that
+there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has seen it. Would you
+mind asking him to step in here?"
+
+Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr. Gordon
+while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his seat, Montagu,
+who was next him, whispered--
+
+"I say, have you seen the notice-board?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not very
+favorable."
+
+"And serve him right, too, brute!" said Eric, smarting with the memory
+of his imposition.
+
+"Well, there'll be no end of a row; you'll see."
+
+During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He read
+the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr. Rose--"Would
+you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As it would be painful
+to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better explain to him how
+matters stand."
+
+"Halloa! here's a rumpus!" whispered Montagu; "he never has the lower
+school down for nothing."
+
+A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower school. When
+they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there was a dead silence
+and hush of expectation.
+
+"I have summoned you all together," said the Doctor, "on a most serious
+occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the masters
+found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose of writing
+up an insult to one of our number, which is at once coarse and wicked.
+As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my deeply painful duty to
+inform you of its purport; the words are these--'Gordon is a surly
+devil.'"--A _very_ slight titter followed this statement, which was
+instantly succeeded by a sort of thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he
+heard the words, started perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu's
+eye fixed on him.
+
+Dr. Rowlands continued--"I suppose this dastardly impertinence has been
+perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am perfectly
+amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the attempt, and it
+may be very difficult to discover the author of it. But, depend upon it,
+discover him _we will_, at whatever cost. Whoever the offender may be,
+and he must be listening to me at this moment, let him be assured that
+he shall _not_ be unpunished. His guilty secret shall be torn from him.
+His punishment can only be mitigated by his instantly yielding
+himself up."
+
+No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric was so
+uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that several eyes
+were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy were awakened.
+
+"Very well," said the head master, "the guilty boy is not inclined to
+confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up to me by to-day
+week, every indulgence to the school will be forfeited, the next whole
+holiday stopped, and the coming cricket-match prohibited."
+
+"The handwriting may be some clue," suggested Mr. Ready. "Would you have
+any objection to my examining the note-books of the Shell?"
+
+"None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr. Ready
+immediately."
+
+The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to the
+desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and suddenly
+stopped at one. Eric's heart beat loud, as his saw Mr. Rose point
+towards him.
+
+"We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles that on the
+board. I give the offender one more chance of substituting confession
+for detection."
+
+No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.
+
+"Eric Williams, stand out in the room."
+
+Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed
+
+"The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know anything
+of this shameful proceeding?"
+
+"Nothing, sir," he murmured in a low tone.
+
+"Nothing whatever?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, sir."
+
+Dr. Rowlands' look searched him through and through, and seemed to burn
+into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The Doctor felt
+certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained him to the spot
+with his glance for a minute or two, and then said slowly, and with a
+deep sigh--
+
+"Very well; I _hope_ you have spoken the truth; but whether you have or
+no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially the upper boys,
+will remember what I have said. I shall now tear down the insulting
+notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as head of the school, that
+you may make further inquiries." He left the room, and the boys resumed
+their usual avocation till twelve o'clock. But poor Eric could hardly
+get through his ordinary pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until
+everybody noticed his strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.
+
+No sooner had twelve o'clock struck, than the whole school broke up into
+knots of buzzing and eager talkers.
+
+"I wonder who did it," said a dozen voices at once.
+
+"The writing was undoubtedly Williams'," suggested some.
+
+"And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor spoke to
+him, and how he hung his head?"
+
+"Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon."
+
+"Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and he has
+been swearing at him ever since."
+
+"I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night," said
+Barker.
+
+"Did he? By Jove, that looks bad."
+
+"Has any one charged him with it?" asked Duncan.
+
+"Yes," answered one of the group: "but he's as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought to
+know him better than to think him capable of such a thing."
+
+"And quite right, too," said Duncan. "If he did it, he's done something
+totally unlike what one would have believed possible of him."
+
+The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly they
+seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was of a
+violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to patronise;
+and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had been attached
+to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same size with some which
+Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts had been discovered,
+nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very generally whispered
+throughout the school.
+
+In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys proclaimed that
+he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at once, and save the
+school from the threatened punishment. But he listened to such
+suggestions with the most passionate indignation.
+
+"What!" he said, angrily, "tell a wilful lie to blacken my own innocent
+character? Never!"
+
+The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put into
+Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and maintained
+his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the boys whom he
+had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous in his defence.
+They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and little Wright.
+
+On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and said in a
+very serious tone, "This is a bad business, Williams. I cannot forget
+how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I won't believe you
+guilty, yet you ought to explain."
+
+"What? even _you_, then suspect me?" said Eric, bursting into proud
+tears. "Very well. I shan't condescend to _deny_ it. I won't speak to
+you again till you have repented of mistrusting me;" and he resolutely
+rejected all further overtures on Upton's part.
+
+He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted to
+destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that the
+whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing which
+from his soul he abhorred. "No," he thought, "bad I may be, but I
+_could_ not have done such a base and cowardly trick."
+
+Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to the
+rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the rising tide.
+The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and console the tumult of
+his heart. He drank in strength and defiance from the roar of the
+waters, and climbed to their very edge along the rocks, where every
+fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in white swirls of angry loam.
+The look of the green, rough, hungry sea, harmonised with his feelings,
+and he sat down and stared into it, to find relief from the torment of
+his thoughts.
+
+At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet the crowd
+of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone over his sorrow
+in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps, when he caught sight
+of Russell in the distance. His first impulse was to run away and
+escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and when he came up, said,
+"Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose to tell you that _I_ don't
+suspect you, and have never done so for a moment. I know you too well,
+my boy, and be sure that _I_ will always stick to you, even if the whole
+school cut you."
+
+"Oh, Edwin, I am _so_ wretched. I needn't tell you that I am quite
+innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected? Why, even your
+cousin Upton won't believe me."
+
+"But he does, Eric," said Russell; "he told me so just now, and several
+others said the same thing."
+
+A transient gleam passed over Eric's face.
+
+"O, I do so long for home again," he said. "Except you, I have no
+friend."
+
+"Don't say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon it, as
+the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the fellows
+will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions. And you _have_
+one friend, Eric," he continued, pointing reverently upwards.
+
+Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face till the
+tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat silent and pitying
+beside him, and let Eric's head rest upon his shoulder.
+
+When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One was from
+Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--
+
+"I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act. Believe me,
+I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and confess, and I
+promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and save you."
+
+This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up furiously
+into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the room.
+
+Another was from Mr. Rose;
+
+"Dear Eric--I _cannot, will_ not, believe you guilty, although
+appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I feel sure that
+I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too noble-minded for a revenge so
+petty and so mean. Come to me, dear boy, if I can help you in any way. I
+_trust you_, Eric, and will use every endeavor to right you in the
+general estimation. You are innocent; pray to God for help under this
+cruel trial, and be sure that your character will yet be
+cleared.--Affectionately yours, WALTER ROSE."
+
+"_P.S._--I can easily understand that just now you will like quiet; come
+and sit with me in the library as much as you like."
+
+He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and at that
+moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was from Owen, as
+follows:--
+
+"Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately; naturally,
+perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some consolation to you to be
+told, even by a rival, that I, for one, feel certain of your innocence.
+If you want company, I shall be delighted now to walk with you.--Yours
+truly, D. OWEN."
+
+This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy's lonely and
+passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at once to
+accept Mr. Rose's kind offer of allowing him to sit for the present in
+the library.
+
+There were several boys in the room while he was reading his notes, but
+none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to notice them, or
+interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out he met Duncan and
+Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing of the rest.
+
+"Ha! Williams," said Duncan, "we have been looking everywhere for you,
+dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for one, and Monty
+for another, will maintain your innocence before the whole school."
+
+Montagu _said_ nothing, but Eric understood full well the trustful
+kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was too full to
+speak, and he went on towards the library.
+
+"I wonder at your speaking to that fellow," said Bull, as the two new
+comers joined the group at the fire-place.
+
+"You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him before long,"
+said Montagu warmly; "ay, the whole lot of you; and you are very unkind
+to condemn him before you are certain."
+
+"I wish you joy of your _friend_, Duncan," sneered Barker.
+
+"Friend?" said Duncan, firing up; "yes! he is my friend, and I'm not
+ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if _all_ the fellows
+were as honorable as Williams."
+
+Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush, thought
+it better to say no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+"A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all." TENNYSON, _The Princess_.
+
+On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands that the
+perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but that one boy was
+very generally suspected, and on grounds that seemed plausible. "I
+admit," he added, "that from the little I know of him he seems to me a
+very unlikely sort of boy to do it."
+
+"I think," suggested the Doctor, "that the best way would be for you to
+have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence. Do you think
+that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation publicly, with
+good order and fairness?"
+
+"I think so, sir," said Avonley.
+
+"Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by themselves
+in the boarders' room tomorrow afternoon at three, and see what you can
+do among you."
+
+Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys assembled,
+they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and were rather
+disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they determined to have
+a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly; and by general consent
+he was himself voted into the desk as president. He then got up
+and said--
+
+"There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all the boys
+take their seats quietly down the room."
+
+They did so, and Avonley asked, "Is Williams here?"
+
+Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly went to the
+library to fetch him, and told him what was going on. He took Eric's arm
+kindly as they entered, to show the whole school that he was not ashamed
+of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy of his goodwill.
+
+"Are you willing to be tried, Williams," asked Avonley, "on the charge
+of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of course we
+know very little how these kind of things ought to be conducted, but we
+will see that everything done is open and above ground, and try to
+manage it properly."
+
+"There is nothing I should like better," said Eric.
+
+He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet conversation
+with his dearly loved friend and master had assured him in the
+confidence of innocence, and though the color on his cheek had through
+excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he looked wonderfully noble
+and winning as he stood before the boys in the centre of the room. His
+appearance caused a little reaction in his favor, and a murmur of
+applause followed his answer.
+
+"Good," said Avonley; "who will prosecute on the part of the school?"
+
+There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.
+
+"Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge drops."
+
+"I will do it," said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys at the
+top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric liked the little
+he had seen of him.
+
+"Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of the
+sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?"
+
+"No," said Eric, glancing round with confidence.
+
+"Well, now, who will defend the accused?"
+
+Another pause, and Upton got up.
+
+"No," said Eric, at once. "You were inclined to distrust me, Upton, and
+I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my innocence."
+
+Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got up. "I
+am only a Shell-boy," he said, "but if Eric doesn't mind trusting his
+cause to me, I will defend him, since no other fifth-form fellow stirs."
+
+"Thank you, Russell, _I wanted_ you to offer, I could wish no better
+defender."
+
+"Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?" asked Russell.
+
+"Very willingly," they all three said, and went to take their seats by
+him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then declared
+themselves ready.
+
+"All I have got to do," said Gibson, rising, "is to bring before the
+school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the evidence which
+makes it probable that he is the offender. Now, first of all, the thing
+must have been done between Friday evening and Saturday morning; and
+since the school-room door is generally locked soon after school, it was
+probably done in the short interval between six and a quarter past. I
+shall now examine some witnesses."
+
+The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on Friday
+evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few minutes, the
+only boy remaining in it was Williams.
+
+Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that he had
+met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he went at a
+quarter past six to lock the door.
+
+Examined by Gibson.--"Was any boy in the room when you did lock the
+door?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Did you meet any one else in the passage?"
+
+"No."
+
+Cross-examined by Russell.--"Do boys ever get into the room after the
+door is locked?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By what means?"
+
+"Through the side windows."
+
+"That will do."
+
+Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the room,
+and on returning, after a few minutes' absence, gave Russell a
+significant nod.
+
+Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.
+
+"Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular kind of
+ink?"
+
+"Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell."
+
+"Could you recognise anything written with it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much trouble.
+
+"Is that the kind of ink?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know the handwriting on that paper?"
+
+"Yes; it is Williams' hand."
+
+"How can you tell?"
+
+"He makes his r's in a curious way."
+
+"Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers before?"
+
+"Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk."
+
+"Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like those?"
+
+"No."
+
+Cross-examined by Duncan.--"_How_ do you know that Williams has wafers
+like those?"
+
+"I have seen him use them."
+
+"For what purpose?"
+
+"To fasten letters."
+
+"I can't help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with what he
+does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him oftenest,
+never heard of these wafers. May I ask," he said, "if any one else in
+the school will witness to having seen Williams use these wafers?"
+
+No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been changed into
+uneasiness, sat down.
+
+Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--"You have seen a good deal of
+Williams?"
+
+"Yes," said Upton smiling.
+
+"Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?"
+
+"Often."
+
+"Of what kind?"
+
+"Dislike and contempt," said Upton, amidst general laughter.
+
+"Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to injure
+him?"
+
+"The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition, and I
+heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out."
+
+This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great sensation.
+
+"When did he say this?"
+
+"On Friday afternoon."
+
+Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although, being
+simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed nothing
+that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose to
+cross-examine him.
+
+"Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Do you consider him a boy _likely_ to have been guilty on this
+occasion?"
+
+"Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence."
+
+The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt greatly
+relieved by it.
+
+One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the great
+agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in the
+school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible, self-contained fellow,
+said, "I have now done my part. I have shown that the accused had a
+grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the occurrence, and had
+threatened to be revenged on him; that he was the last boy in the room
+during the time when the offence must have been committed; that the
+handwriting is known to resemble his, and that the ink and wafers
+employed were such as he, and he only, was known to possess. In addition
+to all this, his behavior, when the matter was first publicly noticed,
+was exactly such as coincides with the supposition of his guilt. I think
+you will all agree in considering these grounds of suspicion very
+strong; and leaving them to carry their full weight with you, I close
+the case for the prosecution."
+
+The school listened to Gibson's quiet formality with a kind of grim and
+gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were probably few
+but Eric's own immediate friends who were not fully convinced of his
+guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so unfavorable an opinion of
+a companion whom they all admired.
+
+After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked, "Has
+Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of its
+contents put in as evidence?"
+
+"Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my place in
+school."
+
+The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked, and
+Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He then
+began--"In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show that
+Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr. Gordon,
+and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is quite true
+that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that the ink and
+wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that the handwriting is
+not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy intending to post up an
+insult such as this, would do so in a manner, and at a time so likely to
+involve him in immediate detection, and certain punishment? At any rate,
+he would surely disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to
+look at this paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the
+contrary, that these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would
+be the case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?" Russell here handed
+the paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.
+
+"Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because Carter
+himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the window; a fact to
+which we shall have to allude again.
+
+"We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is rather
+strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since neither I, nor
+any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat by him when writing
+letters, have ever observed that he possessed any like them."
+
+Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill at ease
+on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear unconcerned.
+
+"There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must mention.
+It will explain Williams' agitation when Dr. Rowlands read out the words
+on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am indifferent to its
+appearing to tell against him. I myself once heard Williams use the very
+words written on that paper, and not only heard them, but expostulated
+with him strongly for the use of them. I need hardly say how very
+unlikely it is, that remembering this, he should thus publicly draw my
+suspicions on him, if he meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But,
+besides myself, there was another boy who accidentally overheard that
+expression. That boy was Barker.
+
+"I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least ought to
+go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of note-paper, I see that
+the printer's name on the stamp in the corner is 'Graves, York.' Now, I
+have just found that there is no paper at all like this in Williams'
+desk; all the note-paper it contains is marked 'Blakes, Ayrton.'
+
+"I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams' general
+character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going to do this.
+We think we know the real offender. We have had one trial, and now
+demand another. It is our painful duty to prove Williams' innocence by
+proving another's guilt. That other is a known enemy of mine, and of
+Montagu's, and of Owen's. We therefore leave the charge of stating the
+case against him to Duncan, with whom he has never quarrelled."
+
+Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his task with a
+wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled every one with
+admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.
+
+The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan, after a
+minute's pause, starting up, said--"Williams has allowed his desk to be
+brought in and examined. Will Barker do the same?"
+
+The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell, Duncan,
+and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk to be
+brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened, it was
+immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was identical with
+that on which the words had been written. At this he affected to be
+perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against what he called the
+meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.
+
+"And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two," asked
+Gibson, quietly, "but endeavoring to fix the charge on another?"
+
+"We have stronger evidence against you," said Duncan, confronting him
+with an undaunted look, before which his insolence quailed. "Russell,
+will you call Graham?"
+
+Graham was called, and put on his honor.
+
+"You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side window?"
+
+"I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing nothing in the
+sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to the school-room by
+the window, which he left open. I was looking on simply from curiosity,
+and saw him search Williams' desk, from which he took out something, I
+could not make out what. He then went to his own place, and wrote for
+about ten minutes, after which I observed him go up and stand by the
+notice board. When he had done this he got out by the window again,
+and ran off."
+
+"Didn't this strike you as extraordinary?"
+
+"No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in the
+sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had seen,
+and it wasn't till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I thought it
+worth while to make it generally known."
+
+Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and silent), and
+then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket, put them together,
+and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the fragments of paper, he
+asked, "Have you ever seen these before?"
+
+"Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed behind to
+think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced that Williams
+was _not_ guilty, spite of appearances. I was standing by the empty
+fire-place, when these bits of paper caught my eye. I picked them up,
+and, after a great deal of trouble, fitted them together. They are
+covered apparently with failures in an attempt at forgery, viz., first,
+'Gordon is a sur--' and then a stop, as though the writer were
+dissatisfied, and several of the words written over again for practice,
+and then a number of r's made in the way that Williams makes them."
+
+"There you may stop," said Barker, stamping fiercely; "I did it all."
+
+A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this announcement.
+
+"What! _you_ did it, and caused all this misery, you ineffable
+blackguard!" shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand, while he struck
+him with the other.
+
+"Stop!" said Avonley; "just see that he doesn't escape, while we decide
+on his punishment."
+
+It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run the
+gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their handkerchiefs,
+and knotted them tight. They then made a double line down each side of
+the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood stock-still at one end,
+while the fellows nearest him thrashed him unmercifully with the heavy
+knots. At last the pain was getting severe, and he moved on, finally
+beginning to run. Five times he was forced up and down the line, and
+five times did every boy in the line give him a blow, which, if it did
+not hurt much, at least spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was
+dogged and unmoved to the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the
+presence of Dr. Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and
+the next morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled.
+Thenceforth he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.
+
+I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any part in
+this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders' room till it
+was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent event. Most
+warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness. "Thank you," he said,
+"with all my heart, for proving my innocence; but thank you, even more a
+great deal, for first believing it."
+
+Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered for a
+moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had hardly shaken
+hands when the rest came flocking in. "We have all been unjust," said
+Avonley; "let's make up for it as well as we can. Three cheers for Eric
+Williams!"
+
+They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and meanwhile,
+every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry they were for
+the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show their regret for
+his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart readily forgave them, and
+his eyes were long wet with tears of joy. The delicious sensation of
+returning esteem made him almost think it worth while to have under gone
+his trial.
+
+Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and it was no
+small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to find themselves
+finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied, and whose name no one
+mentioned without disgust. He had done more than any other boy to
+introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice, and the very atmosphere of
+the rooms seemed healthier in his absence. One boy only forgave him, one
+boy only prayed for him, one boy only endeavored to see him for one last
+kind word. That boy was Edwin Russell.
+
+After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands' to dinner,
+apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did and said all
+that could be done by an honorable man to repair the injury of an unjust
+doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and from thenceforth, though
+they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon ceased to be enemies.
+
+That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous evening
+they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when the master
+bade them "good night," he kindly detained Eric, and said to him, "Keep
+an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never fear trouble. Only think
+if you had been guilty, and were now in Barker's place!"
+
+"O, I _couldn't_ be guilty, sir," said Eric, gaily.
+
+"Not of such a fault, perhaps. But," he added solemnly, "there are many
+kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to fall into.
+You will find it no light battle to resist them."
+
+"Believe me, sir, I will try," he answered with humility.
+
+"Jehovah-Nissi!" said Mr. Rose. "Let the Lord be your banner, Eric, and
+you will win the victory. God bless you."
+
+And as the boy's graceful figure disappeared through the door, Mr. Rose
+drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated long. He was
+imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of splendid usefulness, of
+reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+
+     "Ten cables from where green meadows
+     And quiet homes could be seen,
+         No greater space
+         From peril to peace,
+     But the savage sea between!"--EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most of the
+boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at school. Many of
+the usual rules were suspended during this time, and the boys were
+supplied every day with pocket-money; consequently the Easter holidays
+passed very pleasantly, and there was plenty of fun.
+
+It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and the boys
+would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or about the
+coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in great request
+among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular than ever, and felt
+as if nothing were wanting to his happiness. But this brilliant
+prosperity was not good for him, and he felt continually that he cared
+far less for the reproaches of conscience than he had done in the hours
+of his trial; sought far less for help from God than he had done when he
+was lonely and neglected.
+
+He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of Russell.
+For Edwin's sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin's disapproval,
+he abstained from many things into which he would otherwise have
+insensibly glided in conformation to the general looseness of the school
+morality. But Russell's influence worked on him powerfully, and tended
+to counteract a multitude of temptations.
+
+Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke; and he
+was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays in lurking
+about with pipes in their mouths at places where they were unlikely to
+be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty and healthy game. When
+he began to "learn" smoking, he found it anything but pleasant; but a
+little practice had made him an adept, and he found a certain amount of
+enjoyable excitement in finding out cozy places by the river, where he
+and Upton might go and lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.
+
+In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed a fine
+thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from vacuity.
+Besides, they had a confused notion that there was something "manly" in
+it, and it derived an additional zest from the stringency of the rules
+adopted to put it down. So a number of the boys smoked, and some few of
+them to such excess as to get them into great mischief, and form a habit
+which they could never afterwards abandon.
+
+One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell started
+for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they passed through
+Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs and other provisions,
+as they did not mean to be back for dinner. In about ten minutes he
+caught up the other two, just as they were getting out of the town.
+
+"What an age you've been buying a few Easter eggs," said Russell,
+laughing; "have you been waiting till the hens laid?"
+
+"No; they are not the _only_ things I've got."
+
+"Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same shop."
+
+"Ay; but I've procured a more refined article. Guess what it is?"
+
+The two boys didn't guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them, "Will you
+have a whiff, Monty?"
+
+"A whiff! Oh! I see you've been wasting your tin on cigars--_alias_,
+rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!"
+
+"Well, will you have one?"
+
+"If you like," said Montagu, wavering; "but I don't much care to smoke."
+
+"Well, _I_ shall, at any rate," said Eric, keeping off the wind with his
+cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.
+
+They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn't promote conversation,
+and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look so ridiculous, and
+entirely unlike himself, as he did while strutting along with the weed
+in his mouth. The fact was, Eric didn't guess how much he was hurting
+Edwin's feelings, and he was smoking more to "make things look like the
+holidays," by a little bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he
+caught the expression of Russell's face, and instantly said--
+
+"O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don't like smoking;" and he instantly
+flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad to get rid of
+it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the affected manner he
+displayed just before, and the spirits of all three rose at once.
+
+"It isn't that I don't _like_ smoking only, Eric, but I think it
+wrong--for _us_ I mean."
+
+"O, my dear fellow! surely there can't be any harm in it. Why everybody
+smokes."
+
+"It may be all very well for men, although I'm not so sure of that. But,
+at any rate, it's wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know yourself what
+harm it does in every way."
+
+"O, it's a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong? Why, I even
+know clergymen who smoke."
+
+Montagu laughed. "Well, clergymen ain't immaculate," said he; "but I
+never met a man yet who didn't tell you that he was _sorry_ he'd
+acquired the habit."
+
+"I'm sure you won't thank that rascally cousin of mine for having taught
+you," said Russell; "but seriously, isn't it a very moping way of
+spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind some hay-stack, or in
+some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers do, instead of playing
+racquets or football?"
+
+"O, it's pleasant enough sometimes," said Eric, speaking rather against
+his own convictions.
+
+"As for me, I've nearly left it off," said Montagu, "and I think Rose
+convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I ever did
+smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know how he despises
+it in boys. Were you in school the other day when he caught Pietrie and
+Brooking?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected, Rose smelt
+that he had been smoking, and charged him with it. Brooking stoutly
+denied it, but after he had told the most robust lies, Rose made him
+empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were a pipe and a cigar-case
+half full! You _should_ have heard how Rose thundered and lightened at
+him for his lying, and then sent him to the Doctor. I never saw him so
+terrific before."
+
+"You don't mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because Brooking
+was caught, and told lies--do you? _Non sequitur_."
+
+"Stop--not so fast." Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who at once
+confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library when Rose sent
+for him, and Pietrie said mildly that "he didn't see the harm of it."
+Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, "Don't see the _harm_ of it! Do
+you see any good in it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Well, isn't it forbidden?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And doesn't it waste your money?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen yourself?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.
+
+"And don't your parents disapprove it? And doesn't it throw you among
+some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles? Silly child,"
+he said, pulling Pietrie's ear (as he sometimes does, you know), "don't
+talk nonsense; and remember next time you're caught I shall have you
+punished." So off went Pietrie, [Greek: achreian idon] as our friend
+Homer says. And your humble servant was convinced."
+
+"Well, well," said Eric laughing, "I suppose you're right. At any rate,
+I give in. Two to one ain't fair; [Greek: ards duo o Aerachlaes], since
+you're in a quoting humor."
+
+Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found plenty to
+amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four hundred feet
+out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of rock scenery on
+all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit, and flung innocuous
+stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far below them over the water,
+and every now and then pounced at some stray fish that came to the
+surface; or they watched the stately barks as they sailed by on the
+horizon, wondering at their cargo and destination; or chaffed the
+fishermen, whose boats heaved on the waves at the foot of the
+promontory. When they were rested, they visited a copper-mine by the
+side of the head, and filled their pockets with bits of bright quartz or
+red shining spar, which they found in plenty among the rocks.
+
+In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop a
+little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It was a
+very favorite resort of Eric's, as the coast all about it was bold and
+romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday evening to
+watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them over the water
+from the setting sun--a sight which they often agreed to consider one
+of the most peaceful and mysteriously beautiful in nature.
+
+They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The sun was
+just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red and gold.
+
+"We shan't see the line on the waters this evening," said Eric; "there's
+too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious sunset!"
+
+"Yes; it'll be stormy tomorrow," answered Russell, "but come along,
+let's get to the top; the wind's rising, and the waves will be
+rather grand."
+
+"Ay, we'll sit and watch them; and let's finish our grub; I've got
+several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my pocket."
+
+They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the waves,
+which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet, and then fell
+back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they remembered that it was
+getting late, and that they ought to get home for tea at seven.
+
+"Hallo!" said Russell, looking at his watch, "it's half-past six. We
+must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the tide hasn't been
+coming in all this time."
+
+"Good God!" said Montagu, with a violent start, "I'm afraid it has,
+though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets. Let's set
+off as hard as we can pelt."
+
+Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down the
+Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it to the
+mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the tide had come
+in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided them from the shore.
+
+"There's only one way for it," said Eric; "if we're plucky we can jump
+that; but we musn't wait till it gets worse. A good jump will take us
+_nearly_ to the other side--far enough, at any rate, to let us flounder
+across somehow."
+
+As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where the
+momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be narrowest; and
+where the rocks on the other side were lower than those on which they
+stood. Their situation was by no means pleasant. The wind had been
+rising more and more, and the waves dashed into this little channel with
+such violence, that to swim it would have been a most hazardous
+experiment, particularly as they could not dive in from the ledge on
+which they stood, from their ignorance of the depth of water.
+
+Eric's courage supported the other two. "There's no good _thinking_
+about it," said he, "jump we _must_; the sooner the better. We can but
+be a little hurt at the worst. Here, I'll set the example."
+
+He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force. He was a
+practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he alighted near
+the water's edge, on the other side, where, after slipping once or twice
+on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he effected a safe landing, with
+no worse harm than a wetting up to the knees.
+
+"Now then, you too," he shouted; "no time to lose."
+
+"Will you jump first, Monty?" said Russell; "both of you are better
+jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I'm rather afraid."
+
+"Then I won't leave you," said Montagu; "we'll both stay here."
+
+"And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty, _you_ can
+clear it, I've no doubt."
+
+"Couldn't we try to swim it together, Edwin?"
+
+"Madness! look there." And as he spoke, a huge furious wave swept down
+the whole length of the gulf by which they stood, roaring and surging
+along till the whole water seethed, and tearing the seaweeds from their
+roots in the rock.
+
+"Now's your time," shouted Eric again. "What _are_ you waiting for? For
+God's sake, jump before another wave comes."
+
+"Monty, you _must_ jump now," said Russell, "if only to help me when I
+try."
+
+Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few steps, and
+leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly up to his neck,
+and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on the sharp slippery
+schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and in half a minute, Eric
+leaning out as far as he could, caught his hand, and just pulled him to
+the other side in time to escape another rush of tumultuous and
+angry foam.
+
+"Now, Edwin," they both shouted, "it'll be too late in another minute.
+Jump for your life."
+
+Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he prepared
+to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant. In truth, the
+leap was now most formidable; to clear it was hopeless; and the fury of
+the rock-tormented waves rendered the prospect of a swim on the other
+side terrible to contemplate. Once in the grasp of one of those billows,
+even a strong man must have been carried out of the narrow channel, and
+hurled against the towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.
+
+"Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--_do_ jump," cried Eric with passionate
+excitement. "We will rush in for you."
+
+Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he stepped
+back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp cry of pain,
+fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant, Eric and Montagu
+stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw Russell's head emerge,
+and then another wave foaming madly by, made them run backwards for
+their lives, and hid him from their view. When it had passed, they saw
+him clinging with both hands, in the desperate instinct of
+self-preservation, to a projecting bit of rock, by the aid of which he
+gradually drew himself out of the water, and grasping at crevices or
+bits of seaweed, slowly and painfully reached the ledge on which they
+had stood before they took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle;
+his face, pale as death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his
+breast; his clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap
+was gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push aside,
+hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and in pain;
+and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.
+
+While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke, lest their
+voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now, they both cried
+out, "Are you hurt, Edwin?"
+
+He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand, while he put
+the other to his head, from which the blood was flowing fast.
+
+"O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more," said Montagu; "you will
+die if you spend the night on that rock."
+
+They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and waves
+were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently, that they
+caught the faint words, "I can't, my leg is hurt." Besides, they both
+saw that a jump was no longer possible; the channel was more than double
+the width which it had been when Eric leaped, and from the rapid ascent
+of rocks on both sides, it was now far out of depth.
+
+"O God, what can we do," said Montagu, bursting into tears. "We can
+never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is covered at
+high tide."
+
+Eric had not lost his presence of mind. "Cheer up, Edwin," he shouted;
+"I _will_ get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl up to the
+top again."
+
+Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back on the
+rock.
+
+"Monty," said Eric, "just watch for a minute or two. When I have got
+across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them that we are
+cut off by the tide on the Stack. They'll bring round the life-boat.
+It's our only chance."
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Montagu, terrified. "Why, Eric, it's
+death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!" And he drew Eric back hastily,
+as another vast swell of water came rolling along, shaking its white
+curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on destruction.
+
+"Monty, it's no use," said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket and
+waistcoat; "I'm not going to let Russell die on that ledge of rock. I
+shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I want to keep
+these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across, fling them over
+to me if you can, and then do as I told you."
+
+He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing that his
+only chance was to swim over before another came, he plunged in, and
+struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert swimmer, and as yet
+the channel was not more than a dozen yards across. He dashed over with
+the speed and strength of despair, and had just time to clutch the rocks
+on the other side before the next mighty swirl of the tide swept up in
+its white and tormented course. In another minute he was on the ledge by
+Russell's side.
+
+He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the dry
+clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief round a
+fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and then flung it
+over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and once more shouted
+to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time the boy lingered,
+reluctant to leave them, and then started off at the run. Looking back
+after a few minutes, he caught, through the gathering dusk, his last
+glimpse of the friends in their perilous situation. Eric was seated
+supporting Russell across his knees; when he saw Montagu turn he waved
+his cap over his head as a signal of encouragement, and then began to
+carry Edwin higher up the rock for safety. It soon grew too dark to
+distinguish them, and Montagu at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a
+mile off. When he got to the harbor he told some sailors of the danger
+in which his friends were, and then ran on to the school. It was now
+eight o'clock, and quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past,
+when he stood excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr.
+Rowlands' door.
+
+"Good gracious! Master Montagu," said the servant; "what's the matter;
+have you been robbed?"
+
+He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands' study. "O
+sir!" he exclaimed, bursting in, "Williams and Russell are on the Stack,
+cut off by the tide."
+
+Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. "What! on this stormy night? Have you
+raised the alarm?"
+
+"I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on."
+
+"I will set off myself at once," said the Doctor, seizing his hat. "But,
+my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet through too. You
+had better change your clothes at once, or go to bed."
+
+"O no, sir," said Montagu, pleadingly; "do take me with you."
+
+"Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in consequence.
+Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea shall be ready
+for you down here, and we will start."
+
+Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to tell
+Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their companions.
+The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had already excited
+general surmise, and Montagu's appearance, jacketless and wet, at the
+door of the boarders' room, at once attracted a group round him. He
+rapidly told them how things stood, and, hastening off, left them nearly
+as much agitated as himself. In a very short time he presented himself
+again before Dr. Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the
+cup of tea, they sallied out.
+
+It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at intervals
+struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind howled in fitful
+gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side, Montagu shuddered to hear
+how rough and turbulent the sea was, even on the sands. He stumbled once
+or twice, and then the Doctor kindly drew his trembling arm through his
+own, and made him describe the whole occurrence, while the servant went
+on in front with the lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved
+the danger of reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands'
+admiration was unbounded. "Noble boy," he exclaimed, with enthusiasm; "I
+shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after this."
+
+They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.
+
+"Have you put out the life-boat?" said Dr. Rowlands anxiously.
+
+"Ill luck, sir," said one of the sailors, touching his cap; "the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn't been
+brought round again yet."
+
+"Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try and save
+those poor boys."
+
+"We've been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start; but in a
+sea like that it's very dangerous, and it's so dark and gusty that I
+doubt it's no use, so I expect they'll put back."
+
+The Doctor sighed deeply. "Don't alarm any other people," he said; "it
+will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George," he continued to
+the servant, "give me the lantern; I will go with this boy to the Stack;
+you follow us with ropes, and order a carriage from the King's Head.
+Take care to bring anything with you that seems likely to be useful."
+
+Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made their
+way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here they raised
+the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming with such
+violence that they were not sure that they heard any answering shout.
+Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just make out the huge
+black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast of boiling waves, and
+enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of spray. On the top of it
+Montagu half thought that he saw something, but he was not sure.
+
+"Thank God, there is yet hope," said the Doctor, with difficulty making
+his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the elements; "if
+they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may perhaps rescue them
+before morning."
+
+Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and Montagu joined
+his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they fancied that in one
+of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint cheer returned, was sound
+more welcome, and as they paced up and down they shouted at intervals,
+and held up the lantern, to show the boys that friends and help
+were near.
+
+Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to the
+highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and soothing
+words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him in every
+piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his arms, heedless
+of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell thanked him, and
+pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain continually, and at last
+fainted away.
+
+Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the rocks, and
+the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think of nothing but
+storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the sea beat up,
+drenching them to the skin continually with, its clammy spray; and the
+storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and flung about the wet hair on
+Eric's bare head, and forced him to plant himself firmly, lest the rage
+of the gusts should hurl them from their narrow resting-place. The
+darkness made everything more fearful, for his eyes could distinguish
+nothing but the gulfs of black water glistening here and there with
+hissing foam, and he shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises
+that came to him in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent
+wave. It was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he was in
+ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the violence of the
+breakers. "At least," thought he, as he looked down and saw that the
+ledge on which they had been standing had long been covered with deep
+and agitated waves, "at least I have saved Edwin's life." And he bravely
+made up his mind to keep up heart and hope, and weather the comfortless
+night with Russell in his arms.
+
+And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still unconscious; and
+stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white forehead of his friend. He
+felt _then_, how deeply he loved him, how much he owed him; and no
+mother could have nursed a child more tenderly than he did the fainting
+boy. Russell's head rested on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled
+with welling blood, stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die,
+his fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had received
+some dangerous hurt.
+
+At last Russell stirred and groaned. "Where am I?" he said, and half
+opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back heavily. He saw
+only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and salt mist; heard only
+the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had no time to wake, and he
+screamed and fainted once more.
+
+Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of his
+power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he bent over
+him, and said, "Don't you remember, Edwin? We're quite safe. I'm with
+you, and Monty's gone for help."
+
+"Oh! I daren't jump," sobbed Russell; "oh mother, I shall be drowned.
+Save me! save me! I'm so glad they're safe, mother; but my leg hurts
+so." And he moaned again. He was delirious.
+
+"How cold it is, and wet too! where's Eric? are we bathing? run along,
+we shall be late. But stop, you're smoking. Dear Eric, don't smoke.
+Poor fellow, I'm afraid he's getting spoilt, and learning bad ways. Oh
+save him." And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer for Eric, which
+evidently had been often on his lips.
+
+Eric was touched to the heart's core, and in one rapid lightning-like
+glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful past, in all its
+sorrowfulness. And _he_, too, prayed wildly for help both for soul and
+body. Alone on the crag, with the sea tumbling and plashing round them,
+growing and gaining so much on their place of refuge, that his terror
+began to summon up the image of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and
+exhausted, with the wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on
+his courage, he prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow
+calmer by his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done
+in the green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.
+
+A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down, now
+disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came the sound
+of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in a boat to
+save them.
+
+But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing towards the
+harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in the surf at the
+foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given it up in despair.
+His heart sank again, all the more for the glimpse of hope, and his
+strength began to give way. Russell's delirium continued, and he grew
+too frightened even to pray.
+
+A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be sure of
+it; it was Dr. Rowlands' voice and Montagu's. He got convinced of this,
+and summoned all his strength to shout in return. The light kept moving
+up and down on the shore, not a hundred yards off. His fear vanished;
+they were no longer alone. The first moment that the tide suffered any
+one to reach them they would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and
+he determined to hold up for Russell's sake until help should come; and
+every now and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts
+which came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the storm.
+
+But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master soothed
+the boy's fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently, that Montagu
+began to wonder if this really could be the awful head-master, whose
+warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was comforting him as a father
+might. What a depth of genuine human kindness that stern exterior
+concealed! And every now and then, when the storm blew loudest, the
+Doctor would stand still for a moment, and offer up a short intense
+prayer, or ejaculation, that help and safety might come to his beloved
+charge in their exposure and peril.
+
+Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink, and the
+sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The carriage drove up
+with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful servant brought with him
+the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and anxiously did they watch the
+ebbing tide, and when it had gone out sufficiently to allow of two
+stout planks being laid across the channel, an active sailor ventured
+over with a light, and in a few moments stood by Eric's side. Eric saw
+him coming, but was too weak and numb to move; and when the sailor
+lifted up the unconscious Russell from his knees, Eric was too much
+exhausted even to speak. The man returned for him, and lifting him on
+his back crossed the plank once more in safety, and carried them both to
+the carriage, where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything
+likely to revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the
+school, and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the
+boys were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the signal
+for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows, with many an
+anxious inquiry, "Are they safe?"
+
+"Yes, thank God!" called Dr. Rowlands; "so now, boys, shut the windows,
+and get to sleep."
+
+Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor's own
+house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu had beds
+provided them in another room by themselves, away from the dormitory:
+the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire, and looked like
+home and when the two boys had drank some warm wine, and cried for
+weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after their dangers and fatigues,
+and slept the deep, calm, dreamless sleep of tired children.
+
+So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the Easter
+holidays.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+
+     "Calm on the bosom of thy God,
+       Fair spirit, rest thee now!
+     E'en while with us thy footsteps trod,
+       His seal was on thy brow."--MRS. HEMANS.
+
+They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at first
+could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little room, the
+bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair before it. But
+turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who was still asleep, and
+he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed, refreshed and perfectly
+well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric; but Eric was still languid
+and weak, and did not get up that day, nor was he able to go to work
+again for some days; but he was young and strong, and his vigorous
+constitution soon threw off the effects of his fast and exposure.
+
+Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head sadly. "He
+is very dangerously ill."
+
+"Is he?" said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a deep
+silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress, knelt down to
+say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt also over his
+pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest prayers were mingling
+for the one who seemed to have been taken while they were left.
+
+The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was thought
+that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the exposure to wet,
+cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened his constitution; and
+when his youth seemed to be triumphing over these dangers, another
+became more threatening. His leg never mended; he had both sprained the
+knee badly, and given the tibia an awkward twist, so that the least
+motion was agony to him.
+
+In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to see him,
+though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the earnest
+inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully apparent than
+ever, that, although Edwin was among them without being _of_ them, no
+boy in the school was more deeply honored and fondly loved than he. Even
+the elastic spirits of boyhood could not quite throw off the shadow of
+gloom which his illness cast over the school.
+
+Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do was done
+for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin had no
+father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs. Upton,
+would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he was often
+left alone in his delirium and agony.
+
+Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his thoughts,
+always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not deserting the hurt
+lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy himself, and who, when he was
+a boy, did his Father's business, and was subject unto his parents in
+the obscure home of the despised village. Alone! nay, to them whose
+eyes were opened, the room of sickness and pain was thronged and
+beautiful with angelic presences.
+
+Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved friend.
+Eric's life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in passionate,
+unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued more than ever the
+sweet remembered hours spent with him; their games, and communnings, and
+walks, and Russell's gentle influence, and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he
+must not even see him, must not whisper one word of soothing to him in
+his anguish; he could only pray for him, and that he did with a depth
+of hope.
+
+At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to visit him.
+His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could not yet even
+recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room were so sad and
+useless, that Upton forbore. "And yet you should hear him talk in his
+delirium," he said to Eric; "not one evil word, or bad thought, or
+wicked thing, ever escapes him. I'm afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so
+with you or me."
+
+"No" said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience brought
+the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his cheeks.
+
+"And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks sometimes of
+all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in his thoughts, and
+every now and then he prays for you quite unconsciously."
+
+Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. "When do you think I shall be
+allowed too see him?"
+
+"Not just yet, I fear."
+
+After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell's mind ceased to
+wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for alarm. Fresh
+advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg must be amputated.
+
+When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints. "Only
+think, Monty, isn't it hard, isn't it cruel? When we see our brave,
+bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple." Eric hardly understood that
+he was railing at the providence of a merciful God.
+
+The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell seemed to
+amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him relief. They were
+all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no murmur, no cry escaped
+him; no words but the sweetest thanks for every little office of
+kindness done to him. A few days after, he asked Dr. Underhay "if he
+might see Eric?"
+
+"Yes, my boy," said the doctor kindly, "you may see him, and one or two
+other of your particular friends if you like, provided you don't excite
+yourself too much. I trust you will get better now."
+
+So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they might go
+and see their friend. "Be sure," he added, "that you don't startle or
+excite him."
+
+They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of early
+summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held their breath,
+and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known voice which gave the
+answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe, they softly opened the
+door, which admitted them into the presence of the dear companion whom
+they had not seen for so long. Since then it seemed as though gulfs far
+deeper than the sea had been flowing between him and them.
+
+Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on tiptoe--the
+darkened room where Russell was What a hush and oppression there seemed
+to them at first in the dim, silent chamber; what an awfulness in all
+the appliances which showed how long and deeply their schoolfellow had
+suffered. But all this vanished directly they caught sight of his face.
+There he lay, so calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest
+eyes turned towards them, as though to see whether any of their
+affection for him had ceased or been forgotten!
+
+In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with bowed
+foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their heads, and
+pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and looked at them
+tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces with their hands,
+and broke into deep suppressed sobs of compassion.
+
+"Oh hush, hush!" he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his hands
+while they kissed him. "Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you cry so for
+me? I am very happy."
+
+But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed, and had
+now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for life; and as
+the throng of memories came on them--memories of his skill and fame at
+cricket, and racquets, and football--of their sunny bathes together in
+sea and river, and all their happy holiday wanderings--they could not
+restrain their emotion, and wept uncontrollably. Neither of them could
+speak a word, or break the holy silence; and as he patted their heads
+and cheeks, his own tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he
+felt the comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in
+his loneliness, and it did him good.
+
+The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would agitate Edwin
+too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys left, only
+whispering, "We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!"
+
+They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite cheerfully
+with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation more than any
+game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the sick-room more
+than repaid them for the glad life without, when they heard Russell's
+simple and heartfelt thanks. "Ah! how good of you, dear fellows," he
+would say, "to give up the merry playground for a wretched cripple," and
+he would smile cheerfully to show that his trial had not made him weary
+of life. Indeed, he often told them that he believed they felt for him
+more than he did himself.
+
+One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and violets. He
+seemed much better, and Eric's spirits were high with the thoughts and
+hopes of the coming holidays. "There, Edwin," he said, as the boy
+gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, "don't they make you glad? They
+are one of our _three_ signs, you know, of the approaching holidays. One
+sign was the first sight of the summer steamer going across the bay;
+another was May eve, when these island-fellows light big gorse fires all
+over the mountains, and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep
+off the fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin to
+twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly talk we
+had that evening about the holidays; but my father and mother were here
+then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm. But the third
+sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the happiest. You can't
+think how I _grabbed_ at the first primrose this year; I found it by a
+cave on the Ness. And though these are rather the last than the first,
+yet I knew you'd like them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And
+how much better you're looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I
+positively declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You'll soon
+be out among us again, that's clear----"
+
+He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry way that
+Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he caught the
+touch of sadness on Russell's face, and saw his long, abstracted, eager
+look at the flowers.
+
+"Dear fellow, you're not worse, are you?" he said quickly. "What a fool
+I am to chatter so; it makes you ill."
+
+"No, no, Eric, talk on; you can't think how I love to hear you. Oh, how
+very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you, for bringing
+them." And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy look which had
+startled Eric--as though he were learning their color and shape
+by heart.
+
+"I wish I hadn't brought them, though," said Eric, "they are filling
+your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you'll be well by the holidays--a
+month hence, you know--or else I shouldn't have talked so gladly
+about them."
+
+"No, Eric," said Russell sadly, "these dear flowers are the last spring
+blossoms that I shall see--_here_ at least. Yes, I will keep them, for
+your sake, Eric, till I die."
+
+"Oh don't talk so," said Eric, shocked and flustered, "why everybody
+knows and says that you're getting better."
+
+Russell smiled and shook his head. "No, Eric, I shall die. There stop,
+dear fellow, don't cry," said he, raising his hands quietly to Eric's
+face; "isn't it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at first to leave
+this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel sea," he continued
+smiling; "and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and Monty, and, above all, to
+leave _you_, Eric, whom I love best in all the world. Yes, remember I've
+no home, Eric, and no prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in
+this, so long as God gave me health and strength; but health went for
+ever into those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear,
+gallant Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn't look so happy to
+_halt_ through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am dying--dying,
+Eric," he said solemnly, "my brother; let me call you brother; I have no
+near relations, you know, to fill up the love in my yearning heart, but
+I _do_ love _you_. Kiss me, Eric, as though I were a child, and you a
+child. There, that comforts me; I feel as if I _were_ a child again, and
+had a dear brother;--and I _shall_ be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father's house."
+
+Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+_recently_ of Russell's death, but had begun to reckon on his recovery,
+and now life seemed darker to him than ever.
+
+But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. "The grass
+withereth," he murmured, "the flower fadeth, and the glory of its beauty
+perisheth; but--_but_ the word of the Lord endureth for ever." And here
+he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed his hand, with more
+than a brother's fondness, to his heart.
+
+"Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full," he said, "too full to speak to you.
+Let me read to you;" and with Russell's arm round his neck he sat down,
+beside his pillow, and read to him about "the pure river of water of
+life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
+Lamb." At first sobs choked his voice, but it gathered firmness as
+he went on.
+
+"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
+there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded
+her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
+of the nations.
+
+"And there shall be no more curse"--and here the reader's musical voice
+rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--"but the throne of God and of
+the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they
+shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads."
+
+"And they shall see his face," murmured Russell, "_and they shall see
+his face_" Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of rapture seemed to be
+lighted in his eyes, as though they saw heavenly things, and his
+countenance was like an angel's to look upon. Eric closed the book
+reverently, and gazed.
+
+"And now pray for me, Eric, will you?" Eric knelt down, but no prayer
+would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but emotion
+prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his hand on his
+head and prayed.
+
+"O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two erring,
+weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the love thou
+bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord, take me to the
+green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and one remains--O Lord!
+bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead and guide him, and keep him
+for ever in thy fear and love, that he may continue thine for ever, and
+hereafter we may meet together among the redeemed, in the immortal glory
+of the resurrection. Hear us, O Father, for thy dear Son's sake.
+Amen! Amen!"
+
+The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One long
+brotherly kiss he printed on Russell's forehead, and, full of sorrowful
+forebodings, bade him good night.
+
+He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. "Yes," he said,
+"he may die at any time; he _must_ die soon. It is even best that he
+should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the head would
+certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he lived."
+
+Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.
+
+The holidays drew on; for Russell's sake, and at his earnest wish, Eric
+had worked harder than he ever did before. All his brilliant abilities,
+all his boyish ambition, were called into exercise; and, to the delight
+of every one, he gained ground rapidly, and seemed likely once more to
+dispute the palm with Owen. No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose,
+and he often gladdened Russell's heart by telling him about it; for
+every day he had a long visit to the sick boy's room, which refreshed
+and comforted them both.
+
+In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new leaf. He
+and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and every bad
+habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the dying boy, whom
+they both loved so well. And although Eric's popularity, after the
+romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous daring, was at its very
+zenith,--although he had received a medal and flattering letter from the
+Humane Society, who had been informed of the transaction by Dr.
+Rowlands,--although his success both physical and intellectual was
+higher than ever,--yet the dread of the great loss he was doomed to
+suffer, and the friendship which was to be snapped, overpowered every
+other feeling, and his heart was ennobled and purified by contact with
+his suffering friend.
+
+It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had drawn up
+the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze, pure from the
+sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing refreshfully into the sick
+boy's room. Russell was very, very happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed
+him; all was peace and trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did
+he talk to Eric, and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him
+gently to that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the sufferer
+stopped to pray aloud.
+
+"Good night, Eric," he said, "I am tired, _so_ tired. I hope we shall
+meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my books, Eric, except a
+few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And my watch, that dear watch
+your mother, _my_ mother, gave me, I shall leave to Rose as a
+remembrance of us both. Good night, brother."
+
+A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with Upton and
+Montagu to Russell's bedside. He was sinking fast; and as he had but a
+short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them, though he could
+see no others.
+
+They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy looked. They
+received his last farewells--he would die that night. Sweetly he blessed
+them, and made them promise to avoid all evil, and read the Bible, and
+pray to God. But he had only strength to speak at intervals. Mr. Rose,
+too, was there; it seemed as though he held the boy by the hand, as
+fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he entered the waters of the dark river.
+
+"Oh, I should _so_ like to stay with you, Monty, Horace, dear, dear
+Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my father and
+mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple there--nor be in
+pain." His words grew slow and difficult. "God bless you, dear fellows;
+God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to God."
+
+He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat, and he
+was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as they kissed
+again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly, Mr. Rose checked
+them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes while he prayed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOME AGAIN
+
+     "O far beyond the waters
+       The fickle feet may roam,
+     But they find no light so pure and bright
+       As the one fair star of home;
+     The star of tender hearts, lady,
+       That glows in an English home,"
+
+     F.W.F.
+
+That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and weighed down
+with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other boys were silent
+from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn both knew and loved
+Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to hear of his death; they
+asked some of the particulars, but Eric was not calm enough to tell them
+that evening. The one sense of infinite loss agitated him, and he
+indulged his paroxysms of emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if
+ever the life has been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever
+you have been made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and
+then only, will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.
+
+But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric, as he
+rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly sought for
+the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize before, how
+odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and partaken in since he
+became an inmate of that little room. How his soul revolted with
+infinite disgust from the language which he had heard, and the open
+glorying in sin of which he had so often been a witness. The stain and
+the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on his heart; it rode on his
+breast like a nightmare; it haunted his fancy with visions of guilty
+memory, and shapes of horrible regret. The ghosts of buried misdoings,
+which he had thought long lost in the mists of recollection, started up
+menacingly from their forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense
+of their awful reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which
+the locust had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and
+been reckoned to him as they past.
+
+And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he fondly
+imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven, crowned, and in
+white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he had walked and talked
+with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin's death, quenched his human
+affections, and altered his human heart? If not, might not he be there
+even now, leaning over his friend with the beauty of his invisible
+presence? The thought startled him, and seemed to give an awful lustre
+to the moonbeam which fell into the room. No; he could not endure such a
+presence now, with his weak conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid
+his head under the clothes, and shut his eyes.
+
+Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his soul. Should
+he ever meet Russell again? What if _he_ had died instead of Edwin,
+where would he have been? "Oh, no! no!" he murmured aloud, as the
+terrible thought came over him of his own utter unfitness for death, and
+the possibility that he might never, never again hear the beloved
+accents, or gaze on the cherished countenance of his school friend.
+
+In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that night the
+dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of sleep. He was
+frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his conscience obtruded
+on him his sinfulness, and his affection called up the haunting
+lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering down a path, at the
+end of which Russell stood with open arms inviting him earnestly to join
+him there; he saw his bright ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his
+joyous words, and he hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure
+disappeared, and in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming
+garments, and drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a
+great wood alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his
+name, and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him back
+again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark forest, amid the
+sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking, sinking, sinking into a
+gulf, deep and darker even than the inner darkness of a sin-desolated
+heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly, everlastingly; while far away,
+like a star, stood the loved figure in light infinitely above him, and
+with pleading hands implored his deliverance, but could not prevail; and
+Eric was still sinking, sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him
+with a violent start and stifled scream.
+
+He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the pale,
+dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he was praying
+beside his corpse, praying to be more like _him_, who lay there so white
+and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing that he had so often rejected
+his kind warnings, and pained his affectionate heart. So Eric began
+again to make good resolutions about all his future life. Ah! how often
+he had done so before, and how often they had failed. He had not yet
+learned the lesson which David learned by sad experience; "Then I said,
+it is mine own infirmity, _but I will remember the years of the right
+hand of the Most High_."
+
+That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of late far
+more thoughtful than before; under Edwin's influence he had been laying
+aside, one by one, the careless sins of school life, and his tone was
+nobler and manlier than it had ever been. Montagu had never known or
+heard much about godliness; his father, a gentleman, a scholar, and a
+man of the world, had trained him in the principles of refinement and
+good taste, and given him a high standard of conventional honor; but he
+passed through life lightly, and had taught his son to do the same.
+Possessed of an ample fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled
+himself with none of the deep mysteries of life, and
+
+     "Pampered the coward heart
+     With feelings all too delicate for use;
+     Nursing in some delicious solitude
+     His dainty love and slothful sympathies."
+
+But Montagu in Edwin's sick-room and by his death bed; in the terrible
+storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands' earnestness, and
+Mr. Rose's deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety; by witnessing Eric's
+failures and recoveries; and by beginning to take in his course the same
+heartfelt interest which Edwin taught him--Montagu, in consequence of
+these things, had begun to see another side of life, which awoke all his
+dormant affections and profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for
+the first time, he began to catch some of
+
+     "The still gad music of humanity,"
+
+and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be well
+dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to him a
+realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and worthier aims;
+and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest in his work exceeded
+that of any other boy, had pointed out to him that solemn question of
+Euripides--
+
+     "[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate
+     Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips
+     Pepheugenai to theion];"
+
+he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting impression upon
+his character.
+
+The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as possible from
+his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working for the examination,
+and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now spent most of his time with
+the best of his friends, particularly Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for
+Upton, like himself, had been much sobered by sorrow at their loss. This
+time he came out _second_ in his form, and gained more than one prize.
+This was his first glimpse of real delight since Russell's death; and
+when the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take his
+prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the governor who
+took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly entered into the
+pleasure which his success caused, as well as into the honors won by his
+friends. One outward sign only remained of his late bereavement--his
+mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore rosebuds or lilies of the valley
+in their button-holes on the occasion, but on this day Eric would not
+wear them. Little Wright, who was a great friend of theirs, had brought
+some as a present both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on
+the prize-day morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes
+met, they understood each other's thoughts.
+
+"No," said Eric to Wright, "we won't wear these to-day, although we have
+both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with them."
+
+They all three walked together to the little green, quiet churchyard,
+where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many a silent visit
+had the friends paid to that grave, on which the turf was now green
+again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A stone had just been placed
+
+       SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+                OF
+
+             AN ORPHAN,
+
+  WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,
+
+        AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ "_Is it well with the child? It is well_."
+
+           2 KINGS iv. 26.
+
+The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a time.
+
+"He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty," said Eric; "let
+us leave the signs of it upon his grave."
+
+And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the choice
+rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they turned away
+without another word.
+
+The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded the
+passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the deserted
+building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer. What joyous
+triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted and bounded with,
+the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal was the gladness and
+good humor of every one. Never were voyages so merry as those of the
+steamer that day, and even the "good-byes" that had to be said at
+Southpool were lightly borne. From thence the boys quickly scattered to
+the different railways, and the numbers of those who were travelling
+together got thinner and thinner as the distance increased. Wright and
+one or two others went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got
+down at the little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail
+to Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at Fairholm.
+
+It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their intensity.
+He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer holidays were
+nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter were short, so that
+it had not been worth while to travel so far as Fairholm, and Eric had
+spent his Christmas with friends in another part of the island. But now
+he was once more to see dear Fairholm, and his aunt, his cousin Fanny,
+and above all, his little brother. His heart was beating fast with joy,
+and his eyes sparkling with pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his
+head out of the window, each well-remembered landmark gave him the
+delicious sensation of meeting again an old friend. "Ah! there's the
+white bridge, and there's the canal, and the stile; and _there_ runs the
+river, and there's Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are." And springing out
+of the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into the
+carriage in a moment.
+
+Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so often
+plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its sleeping
+churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten yards he met old
+acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and whom he greeted with
+glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the Latin school, from which
+came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a man he felt himself now by
+comparison!);--by the old Roman camp, where he had imagined such heroic
+things when he was a child; through all the scenes so rich with the
+memories and associations of his happy childhood, they flew along; and
+now they had entered the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.
+
+Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon, on
+the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones ran to meet
+him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty kiss, and put his
+arm round Vernon's neck, and then held him in front to have a look
+at him.
+
+"How tall you've grown, Verny, and how well you look," he said, gazing
+proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be justly proud of.
+And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw the healthy glow of
+Eric's features, and the strong graceful development of his limbs.
+
+And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew with a
+mother's love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of delightful
+trifles, that "blossoming vein" of household talk, which gives such an
+incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they all three turned
+into the house, where Eric, hungry with his travels, did ample justice
+to the "jolly spread" prepared for him, luxurious beyond anything he had
+seen for his last year at school. When he and Vernon went up to their
+room at night--the same little room in which they slept on the night
+when they first had met--they marked their heights on the door again,
+which showed Eric that in the last year he had grown two inches, a fact
+which he pointed out to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they
+went to bed, and to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation
+of a great unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once
+or twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.
+
+He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned out with
+his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it. The garden
+looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an early enjoyment of
+those currants which hung in ruby clusters over the walls. Everything
+was bathed in the dewy balm of summer morning, and he felt very happy
+as, with his little spaniel frisking round him, he visited the great
+Newfoundland in his kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He
+had barely finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once
+more met the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year.
+And yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but _he_ was changed. Mrs. Trevor, and
+Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over _him_, had come an
+alteration of feeling and circumstance; an unknown or half-known
+_something_ which cast a shadow between them and him, and sometimes made
+him half shrink and start as he met their loving looks. Can no
+schoolboy, who reads history, understand and explain the feeling which
+I mean?
+
+By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of Russell's
+death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter was so blurred.
+"But," he wrote, "I have some friends still; especially Mr. Rose among
+the masters, and Monty and Upton among the boys. Monty you know; he is
+more like Edwin than any other boy, and I like him very much. You didn't
+know Upton, but I am a great deal with him, though he is much older than
+I am. He is a fine handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the
+school. I hope you will know him some day."
+
+The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once recognised
+to be in Upton's handwriting He eagerly tore off the envelope,
+and read--
+
+"My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I feel it
+to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will feel it to be
+bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave Roslyn, and probably we
+shall never meet there again. The reason is, I have had a cadetship
+given me, and I am to sail for India in September. I have already
+written to the school to tell them to pack up and send me all my books
+and clothes.
+
+"I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I wanted to
+stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly tell you,
+Eric, one reason: I'm very much afraid that I've done you, and Graham,
+and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I possibly could, to undo
+the harm I had done. Poor Edwin's death opened my eyes to a good many
+things, and now I'd give all I have never to have taught or encouraged
+you in wrong things. Unluckily it's too late;--only, I hope that you
+already see, as I do, that the things I mean lead to evil far greater
+than we ever used to dream of.
+
+"Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me, and
+believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON."
+
+"P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you this
+time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my poor cousin,
+when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice little chap he
+looked. I hope you'll look after him as a brother should, and keep him
+out of mischief."
+
+Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he didn't
+often show them his school letters, because, like this one, they often
+contained allusions to things which he did not like his aunt to know.
+The thought of Upton's leaving him made him quite unhappy, and he wrote
+him a long letter by that post, indignantly denying the supposition that
+his friendship had ever done him anything but good.
+
+The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often been in
+his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he thought of that
+bright little brother of his being initiated in the mysteries of evil
+which he himself had learnt, and sinking like himself into slow
+degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and perplexed him, and at last
+he determined to open his heart, partially at least, in a letter to Mr.
+Rose. The master fully understood his doubts, and wrote him the
+following reply:--
+
+"My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your brother
+Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly give you my
+own opinion.
+
+"You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear that
+Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his modesty, and
+much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear that he will meet
+with many bad examples, and learn to look on God and godliness in a way
+far different from that to which he has been accustomed at home. You
+fear, in short, that he must pass through the same painful temptations
+to which you have yourself been subjected; to which, perhaps, you have
+even succumbed.
+
+"Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all means
+let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor
+thing; it _cannot_, under any circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at
+all valuable as a foundation of character. The true preparation for
+life, the true basis of a manly character, is not to have been ignorant
+of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not to hare been sheltered
+from temptation, but to have passed through it and overcome it by God's
+help. Many have drawn exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public
+school morality; the best answer is to point to the good and splendid
+men that have been trained in public schools, and who lose no
+opportunity of recurring to them with affection. It is quite possible to
+be _in_ the little world of school-life, and yet not _of_ it. The ruin
+of human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend; the
+peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances under which
+he was placed. He often told me before his last hour, that he rejoiced
+to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced there much real
+happiness, and derived in every way lasting good.
+
+"I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will come
+back with the 'spell of home affection' alive in your heart. I shall
+rejoice to make Vernon's acquaintance, and will do for him all I can.
+Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you arrive.--Ever,
+dear Eric,
+
+"Affectionately yours,
+
+"WALTER ROSA."
+
+END OF PART I
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+"Sed revocare gradum."--VIRGIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ABDIEL
+
+     [Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth' omiliai kakai].--MENANDEB.
+
+A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter, and had
+brought with it many changes.
+
+To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell were
+getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had vanished; the
+bad habits laid aside after his death had been resumed. All this took
+place very gradually; there were many inward struggles, much occasional
+remorse, but the struggles by degrees grew weaker, and remorse lost its
+sting, and Eric Williams soon learned again to follow the multitude
+to do evil.
+
+He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and, besides
+this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had fallen off and
+no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise of genius which he
+had given when he first came. But in all school sports he had improved,
+and was the acknowledged leader and champion in matters requiring
+boldness and courage. His popularity made him giddy; favor of man led
+him to forgetfulness of God; and even a glance at his countenance showed
+a self-sufficiency and arrogance which ill became the refinement of his
+features, and ill replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.
+
+And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had happened to
+him, which Eric in his better moments could have feared. He had fallen
+into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who should have been his natural
+guardian and guide, began to treat him with indifference, and scarcely
+ever had any affectionate intercourse with him. It is by no means
+unfrequent that brothers at school see but little of each other, and
+follow their several pursuits, and choose their various companions, with
+small regard to the relationship between them.
+
+Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that Vernon's chief
+friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he could have chosen. It
+was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had been expelled from one of the
+most ill-managed schools in Ireland, although, of course, the fact had
+been most treacherously concealed from the authorities at Roslyn; and
+now he was let loose, without warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys.
+Better for them if their gates had been open to the pestilence! the
+pestilence could but have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front
+fighter in the devil's battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He
+systematically, from the very first, called evil good and good evil,
+put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the
+admission of any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn
+boys, to their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable
+flood of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as Montagu
+and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight of a feather
+to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have done much, Duncan
+might have done much, to aid the better cause, had they tried; but they
+resisted at first but faintly, and then not at all, until they too were
+swept away in the broadening tide of degeneracy and sin.
+
+Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if he stated
+his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in the school,
+naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all the lower
+forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if they accepted
+his guidance. A little army of small boys attended him, and were ever
+ready for the schemes of mischief to which he deliberately trained them,
+until they grew almost as turbulent, as disobedient, and as wicked, as
+himself. He taught, both, by precept and example, that towards masters
+neither honor was to be recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To
+cheat them, to lie to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to
+misrepresent their motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their
+actions--was the conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the
+time that he continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a
+Pandemonium of evil passions and despicable habits.
+
+Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty this
+would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often with his
+brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his side. He
+flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious that Vernon
+should grow spirited and independent; but, had he examined himself, he
+would have found selfishness at the bottom of it. Once or twice his
+manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the little boy both observed and
+resented it. Montagu and others noticed him for Eric's sake; but, being
+in the same form with Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and
+feeling, as he did, deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the
+ascendancy of his physical strength and reckless daring. Before three
+months were over, he became, to Eric's intolerable disgust, a ringleader
+in the band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were
+the despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.
+
+Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he had
+no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He simply
+kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own tastes and
+pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial spirits in the school,
+so as in no way to come in contact with the spreading corruption.
+
+Montagu, now Owen's chief friend, was also in the sixth, and fearlessly
+expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his dread of the evil he
+was effecting. Had the monitorial system existed, that contagion could
+have been checked at once; but, as it was, brute force the unlimited
+authority. Ill indeed are those informed who raise a cry, and join in
+the ignorant abuse of that noble safeguard of English schools. Any who
+have had personal and intimate experience of how schools work _with_ it
+and _without_ it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and morality;
+how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the bulwark of
+discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful, often at the
+most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all their sympathies
+and interests on the side of the honorable and the just.
+
+Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did not
+come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan he was
+scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to keep
+apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be ignorant
+of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the indignant and
+measureless invectives of Montagu and others, professed to see in
+Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild, perhaps, but still a very
+good fellow.
+
+Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the unvarying
+glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across him openly, since
+Montagu was so high in the school; and besides, though much the bigger
+of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of him. But he chose sly
+methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named him "Rosebud;" he talked
+_at_ him whenever he had an opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the
+gang of youngsters against him; he spread malicious reports about him;
+he diminished his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every
+secret and underhand means which, lay in his power.
+
+One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy, Montagu did
+not come to bed till an hour later than _the_ lower part of the school,
+and Brigson taught some of the little fellows to play all kinds of
+tricks to his bed and room, so that, when he came down, it was with the
+certainty of finding everything in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be
+turned right on end, and he would have to put it to the ground and
+remake it before he could lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the
+room would be thrown about in different corners, with no trace of the
+offender. Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain that
+this was done by Brigson's instigation, or by his own hand, without
+having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor Monty grew very
+sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly annoyance weighed the more
+heavily on his spirits, from its being of a kind which peculiarly grated
+on his refined taste, and his natural sense of what was gentlemanly
+and fair.
+
+One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a light
+under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier than
+usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they were at it!
+The instant he entered, there was a rush through the opposite door, and
+he felt convinced that one of the retreating figures was Brigson's. In a
+second he had sprung across, so as to prevent the rest from running, and
+with heaving breast and flaming eyes, glared at the intruders as they
+stood there, sheepish and afraid.
+
+"What!" he said angrily, "so _you_ are the fellows who have had the
+cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks; you miserable,
+degraded young animals!" And he looked at the four or five who had not
+made their escape. "What! and _you_ among them," he said with a start,
+as he caught the eye of Vernon Williams--"Oh, this is too bad." His tone
+showed the deepest sorrow and vexation, and for a moment he said no
+more. Instantly Vernon was by him.
+
+"_Do_ forgive me, _do_ forgive me, Montagu," he said; "I really didn't
+know it teased you so much."
+
+But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself. "Wretched
+boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh, as usual," he
+said, glancing at the complete disorder which they had been effecting.
+"Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has introduced another vile secret
+among you. Well, he shall rue it!" and he pointed to some small, almost
+invisible flakes of a whitish substance scattered here and there over
+his pillow. It was a kind of powder, which if once it touched the skin,
+caused the most violent and painful irritation.
+
+"By heavens, this is _too_ bad!" he exclaimed, stamping his foot with
+anger. "What have I ever done to you young blackguards, that you should
+treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I ever harmed one of you?
+And _you_, too, Vernon Williams!"
+
+The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble glance of
+sorrow and scorn.
+
+"Well, I _know_ who has put you up to this; but you shall not escape so.
+I shall thrash you every one."
+
+Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none. They took
+it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it; and when it was
+over, Vernon said, "Forgive me, Montagu. I am very sorry, and will never
+do so again." Montagu, without deigning a reply, motioned them to go,
+and then sat down, full of grief, on his bed. But the outrage was not
+over for that night, and no sooner had he put out the light than he
+became painfully aware that several boys were stealing into the room,
+and the next moment he felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of
+bed in an instant, and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had
+scattered the crowd of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A
+number of fellows had set on him in the dark--on _him_, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should be
+possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson's baseness had spread
+far indeed.
+
+He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had reason to
+repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an antagonist. But
+this did not content him; his blood was up, and he determined to attack
+the evil at its source. He strode through his discomfited enemies
+straight into Brigson's room, struck a match, and said, "Brigson, get
+out of bed this instant."
+
+"Hullo!" grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.
+
+"None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?"
+
+"No!" roared Brigson, "I should think not."
+
+"Well, then, take _that_!" he shouted, striking him in the face.
+
+The fight that followed was very short. In a single round Montagu had
+utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced to beg for
+mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to tower above him
+with a magnificent superiority, and there was a self-controlled passion
+about him which gave tremendous energy to every blow. Brigson was
+utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and took without a word the
+parting kick of ineffable contempt which Montagu bestowed on him.
+
+"There," he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all the
+dormitories at the first hint of a fight, "I, a sixth-form fellow, have
+condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom all you miserable
+lower boys have been making an idol and hero of, and from whom you have
+been so readily learning every sort of blackguardly and debasing trick.
+But let me tell you and your hero, that if any of you dare to annoy or
+lift a finger at me again, you shall do it at your peril. I despise you
+all; there is hardly one gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you
+since that fellow Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you
+know that you deserve it." And every one of them _did_ shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.
+
+The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr. Rose
+appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his night-shirt, the
+boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose, which was bleeding
+profusely, at his basin.
+
+Montagu instantly stepped up to him. "You can trust me, sir; may I ask
+you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some one that
+deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson."
+
+Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. "I can trust you," he
+said, "Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this irregularity.
+And now get instantly to your beds."
+
+But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the studies,
+and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them what had
+occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves for the future
+to check, if they could, by all fair means, Brigson's pernicious
+influence and abominable example.
+
+But it was too late now; the mischief was done.
+
+"O Eric," said Montagu, "why did you not make a stand against all this
+before? Your own brother was one of them."
+
+"Little wretch. I'll kick him well for it," said Eric.
+
+"No, no!" said Montagu, "that'll do no good. Try rather to look after
+him a little more."
+
+"I hope _you_ will forgive him, and try and rescue him."
+
+"I will do what I can," said Montagu, coldly.
+
+Eric sighed, and they parted.
+
+Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off all open
+connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do so. But that
+personage kept carefully out of his way until the first burst of
+indignation against him had subsided, and after a time began to address
+Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he had completely regained
+his ascendancy over the lower part of the school, which was not
+difficult, because they were wincing under Montagu's contempt, and
+mingled no little dislike with it; a dislike which all are too apt to
+feel towards those whose very presence and moral superiority are a tacit
+rebuke of their own failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at
+the zenith of popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously
+encouraged. He was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a
+large score at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All
+this he was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the
+reasons why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to stand
+in much the same relation to him as before.
+
+The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much, and the
+sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main parties--the
+one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by Duncan, who devoted
+themselves to the games and diversions of the school, and troubled
+themselves comparatively little about anything else; the other, headed
+by Montagu, who took the lead in intellectual pursuits, and endeavored,
+by every means in their power, to counteract the pernicious effects of
+the spreading immorality.
+
+And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved boy,
+and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was disunion,
+misery, and deterioration. The community which had once been peaceful,
+happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy and heart-burnings;
+every boy's hand seemed to be against his neighbor; lying, bad language,
+dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and the few who, like Owen and Montagu,
+remained uncontaminated by the general mischief, walked alone and
+despondent amid their uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WILDNEY
+
+     "That punishment's the best to bear
+        That follows soonest on the sin,
+      And guilt's a game where losers fare
+        Better than those who seem to win."
+
+     COV. PATMORE.
+
+At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded to one of
+the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which adjoined it.
+
+Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of disobedience, had
+frequented the studies a good deal, but it was generally understood that
+no study-boy might ask any one to be a regular visitor to his room
+without the leave of its other occupant.
+
+So one evening Duncan said to Eric, "Do you know little Wildney?"
+
+"You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the great
+black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I don't
+know him."
+
+"Well, he's a very nice little fellow; a regular devil"
+
+"Humph!" said Eric, laughing; "I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very nice
+little fellow."
+
+"Pooh!" said Duncan; "you know well enough what I mean; I mean he's not
+one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has lots of fun
+in him."
+
+"Well, what of him?"
+
+"Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study when he
+likes?"
+
+"Not the least in the world."
+
+"Very well, I'll go and fetch him now. But wouldn't you like to ask your
+brother Vernon to come in too whenever he's inclined?"
+
+"No," said Eric, "I don't care. He does come every now and then."
+
+Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was thinking
+_why_ he didn't give Vernon the free run of his study. He would not
+admit to himself the true reason, which was, that he had too much ground
+to fear that his example would do his brother no good.
+
+Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright, engaging,
+spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him which took
+Eric's fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of the lower
+fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in school, and was
+in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was "taken up" by Eric,
+he had been a regular little hero among his compeers, because he was
+game for any kind of mischief, and, in the new tone of popular morality,
+his fearless disregard of rules made him the object of general
+admiration. From this time, however, he was much in the studies, and
+unhappily carried with him to those upper regions the temptation to a
+deeper and more injurious class of transgressions than had yet
+penetrated there.
+
+It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised little
+son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first asked the
+child to frequent their study.
+
+It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed, but
+there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric's knee by the study fire,
+while Duncan was doing some Arnold's verses for him to be shown up
+next day.
+
+"Bother these verses," said Duncan, "I shall have a whiff. Do you mind,
+Eric?"
+
+"No; not at all."
+
+"Give me a weed, too," said Wildney.
+
+"What! young un--you don't mean to say you smoke?" asked Eric in
+surprise.
+
+"Don't I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went and
+smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday."
+
+"Phew!" said Eric, "then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you in
+countenance;" and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had touched
+one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him gloomy and
+silent. "Tempora mutantur," thought he, "nos et mutamur in illis."
+
+"Why, how glum you are," said Wildney, patting him on the head.
+
+"O no!" said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. "Look," he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, "what a
+glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars."
+
+"Yes," said Duncan, yawning; "this smoking makes one very thirsty. I
+wish I'd some beer."
+
+"Well, why shouldn't we get some?" said Wildney "it would he very
+jolly."
+
+"Get some! What! at this time of night?"
+
+"Yes; I'll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before ten."
+
+"Nonsense," said Eric; "it aint worth while."
+
+"I believe you think I'm afraid," said Wildney, laughing, and looking at
+Eric with his dark eyes; "and what's more, I believe _you're_ afraid."
+
+"Little whippersnapper!" said Eric, coloring, "as if I was afraid to do
+anything _you_ dare do. I'll go with you at once, if you like."
+
+"What are you thinking of?" asked Duncan. "I don't care twopence about
+the beer, and I hope you won't go."
+
+"But I will, though," said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney, of all
+people, should think him wanting in pluck.
+
+"But how will you get out?"
+
+"Oh, _I'll_ show you a dodge there," said Wildney. "Come along. Have you
+a dark lantern?"
+
+"No, but I'll get Llewellyn's."
+
+"Come along then."
+
+So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying the dark
+lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a secret which had
+long been known to the lower part of the school.
+
+"Ibant obscuri dubi� sub luce." He led them quietly down stairs, stole
+with them noiselessly past the library door, and took them to a window
+in the passage, where a pane was broken.
+
+"Could you get through that?" he whispered to Eric, "if we broke away
+the rest of the glass?"
+
+"I don't know. But, then, there's the bar outside."
+
+"Oh, I'll manage that. But will you go and peep through the key-hole of
+the library, and see who's there, Duncan?"
+
+"No," said Duncan, bluntly, "no key-holes for me."
+
+"Hush! then _I_ will," and he glided away, while Eric, as quietly as he
+could, broke away the glass until it was all removed.
+
+"There's only old Stupid," whispered he, irreverently designating an
+under-master named Harley, "and he's asleep before the fire. Now, then,
+just lift me up, Eric, will you?"
+
+Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end of the
+bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long driven into
+the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened, and only wanted a
+little pull to bring them out. In one minute Wildney had unfastened and
+pushed down one end of the bar. He then got through the broken pane, and
+dropped down outside. Eric followed with some little difficulty, for the
+aperture would only just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to
+the study, anxiously awaited their return.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant and
+cool. But Eric's first thought, as he dropped on to the ground, was one
+of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere child, so easily
+to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had hardly thought till then
+of what their errand was to be, but now his couldn't help so strongly
+disapproving of it, that he was half-inclined to turn back. He did not,
+however, dare to suggest this, lest Wildney should charge him with
+cowardice, and betray it to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own
+excitement, the stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.
+
+"I hope we shan't be seen crossing the play-ground," said Wildney. "My
+eye, shouldn't we catch it!"
+
+He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air of
+nonchalance, and played the part of protector.
+
+"Here, take my arm," he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight, instead
+of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one so much his
+junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by community of danger and
+interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly struck him that he didn't know
+where they were going to buy the beer. He asked Wildney.
+
+"Oh, I see you're not half up to snuff," said Wildney, whose courage had
+risen; "I'll show you."
+
+He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were booming,
+and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in they saw some
+sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in tobacco-smoke.
+
+The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held up a
+light to see who they were.
+
+"Hollo, Billy," said Wildney, confidentially, "all serene; give us two
+bottles of beer--on tick, you know."
+
+"Yessir--d'reckly," said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the eyes.
+"So you're out for a spree," he continued, winking in a knowing way.
+"Won't you walk into the back-parlor while I get them?" And he showed
+them into a dingy horrid room behind the house, stale with smoke, and
+begrimed with dust.
+
+Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home. The
+man soon returned with the beer. "Wouldn't you like a glass of summat
+now, young gen'lmen?" he asked, in an insinuating way.
+
+"No, Billy! don't jabber--we must be off. Here open the door."
+
+"Stop, I'll pay," said Eric. "What's the damage?"
+
+"Three shilling, sir," said the man. "Glad to see a new customer, sir."
+He pocketed the money, and showed them, out, standing to look after them
+with a malicious leer as they disappeared, and jerking his left thumb
+over his shoulder.
+
+"Faugh!" said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again into the
+moonlight, "what a poisonous place! Good gracious, Charlie, who
+introduced you there?"
+
+"Oh, I don't think much of going _there_" said Wildney, carelessly; "we
+go every-week almost."
+
+"We! who?"
+
+"Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call the
+'Anti-muffs,' and that's our smoking-room."
+
+"And is that horrid beast the landlord?"
+
+"Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there's no harm in him that I
+know of."
+
+But Eric only "phewed" again two or three times, and thought of Montagu.
+
+Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into the deep
+shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, "Look!"
+
+Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He had heard
+voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at their sudden
+cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking round.
+
+"We must run for it," whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose approached
+the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and scampered away as
+hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by taking his hand, and
+neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr. Rose following them at
+first, but soon distanced him, and reached a place where two roads met,
+either of which would lead to the school.
+
+"We won't go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What fun!"
+said Wildney, laughing.
+
+"What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of dodges,"
+said Eric.
+
+They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got to the
+school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected their
+entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his study, and
+Wildney to his dormitory.
+
+"Here's a go!" said the latter, as they ran up stairs; "I've smashed one
+of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and my trousers are
+deluged with the stuff."
+
+They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose's step was heard on the stairs.
+He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight of two boys
+and the sound of their voices startled him in the street, and their
+sudden disappearance made him sure that they were Roslyn boys,
+particularly when they began to run. He strongly suspected that he
+recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore made straight for his
+dormitory, which he entered, just as that worthy had thrust the
+beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr. Rose, walked up quietly to his
+bedside, and observed that he was not asleep, and that he still had half
+has clothes on. He was going away when he saw a little bit of the
+trousers protruding under the mattress, and giving a pull, out they
+came, wringing wet with the streams of beer. He could not tell at first
+what this imported, but a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket
+with, a crash on the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of
+Wildney's pretended sleep, he said, quietly, "Come to me before
+breakfast tomorrow, Wildney," and went down stairs.
+
+Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly attempting
+to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring auditors the
+night's adventure; being evidently rather prouder of the "Eric and I,"
+which he introduced every now and then into his story.
+
+"Has he twigged you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And me?"
+
+"I don't know; we shall see to-morrow."
+
+"I hope not," said Eric; "I'm sorry for you, Charlie."
+
+"Can't be cured, must be endured," said Wildney.
+
+"Well, good night! and don't lose heart."
+
+Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the other
+bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment, because they
+were full of surmises as to the extent of the discovery, and the nature
+of the punishment.
+
+Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.
+
+He listened very coldly, and said, "Well, Eric, it would serve you right
+to be caught. What business have you to be going out at night, at the
+invitation of contemptible small fry, like this little Wildney?"
+
+"I beg you won't speak of any friend of mine in those terms," said Eric,
+drawing up haughtily.
+
+"I hope you don't call a bad little boy like Wildney, who'd be no
+credit to any one, _your_ friend, Eric?"
+
+"Yes I do, though. He's one of the pluckiest, finest, most promising
+fellows in the lower school."
+
+"How I begin to hate that word plucky," said Montagu; "it's made the
+excuse here for everything that's wrong, base, and unmanly. It seems to
+me it's infinitely more 'plucky' just now to do your duty and not be
+ashamed of it."
+
+"You've certainly required _that_ kind of pluck to bear you up lately,
+Monty," said Owen, looking up from his books.
+
+"Pluck!" said Montagu, scornfully; "you seem to me to think it consists
+in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious Brigson, and
+joining hand and glove with the dregs of the school."
+
+"Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you're cool, to speak of any of my
+associates in that way," said Eric, now thoroughly angry.
+
+"Associates!" retorted Montagu, hotly; "pretty associates! How do you
+expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the school like you
+have such dealings with the refined honorable Brigson, and the exemplary
+intellectual Wildney?"
+
+"You're a couple of confounded muffs," shouted Eric, banging the door,
+and flinging into his own study again without farther reply.
+
+"Hav'n't you been a little hard on him, considering the row he's in?"
+asked Owen.
+
+Montagu's head was resting on his hand as he bent over the table.
+"Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the present
+state of things? Yes, you're right," he said, after a pause; "_this_
+wasn't the time to speak. I'll go and talk to him again. But how utterly
+changed he is!"
+
+He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an affectation of
+noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--
+
+"Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt to
+express myself strongly." He could not trust himself to say more, but
+held out his hand.
+
+Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+"Come, Eric, it isn't _wholly_ my fault, is it, that we are not so warm
+to each other as we were when ..."
+
+"Oh, Monty, Monty!" said Eric, softened by the allusion; and warmly
+grasped his friend's proffered hand.
+
+"Oh, Eric!"
+
+The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they felt
+that while things continued thus their friendship could not last. It was
+a sad thought for both.
+
+Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained great
+reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to drop the
+least hint as to their means of getting out, or their purpose in
+visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained undiscovered, and when
+any boy wanted to get out at night--(unhappily the trick now became
+common enough)--he had only to break a pane of glass in that particular
+window, which, as it was in the passage, often remained unmended and
+undiscovered for weeks.
+
+After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, "I want to speak to
+you."
+
+The boy's heart misgave him as they entered the familiar library.
+
+"I think I suspect who was Wildney's companion."
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+"I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague suspicion; but
+the boy whom I _do_ suspect is one whose course lately has given me the
+deepest pain; one who has violated all the early promise he gave; one
+who seems to be going farther and farther astray, and sacrificing all
+moral principle to the ghost of a fleeting and most despicable
+popularity--to the approval of those whom he cannot himself approve."
+
+Eric still silent.
+
+"Whatever you do _yourself_, Williams"--(it was the first time for two
+years that Mr. Rose had called him "Williams," and he winced a
+little)--"whatever you do _yourself_, Williams, rests with _you_; but
+remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and more accursed crime to set
+stumbling-blocks in the way of others, and abuse your influence to cause
+any of Christ's little ones to perish."
+
+"I wasn't the tempter, however," thought Eric, still silent.
+
+"Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me, Williams, I
+grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you is no less warm,
+though my affection for you cannot be the same. You may go."
+
+"Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not asked me
+to see him once this term," thought Eric, sadly; but a shout of pleasure
+greeted him directly he joined the football in the play-ground, and,
+half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard it, and understood that was
+meant for the boy whom he had just been rebuking. "Well, after all," he
+thought, "I have _some_ friends still."
+
+Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy whom he
+really respected ever walked with him now. Even little Wright, one of
+the very few lower boys who had risen superior to Brigson's temptations,
+seemed to keep clear of him as much as he could; and, in absolute
+vacuity, he was obliged to associate with fellows like Attlay, and
+Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.
+
+Even with Bull! All Eric's repugnance for this boy seemed to have
+evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance, were sworn
+friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation as was pursued
+unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay, worse, it had lost
+its horror, and he was neither afraid nor ashamed to join in it himself.
+This plague-spot had fretted more deeply than any other into the heart
+of the school morality, and the least boys seemed the greatest
+proficients in unbaring without a blush, its hideous ugliness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"THE JOLLY HERRING"
+
+"Velut unda supervenit undam."--VIRGIL.
+
+The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams' company to a spread they
+are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four, in their
+smoking-room--
+
+A note to this effect was put into Eric's hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew whether
+to be pleased or disgusted at it.
+
+He tossed it to Duncan, and said, "What shall I do?"
+
+Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the fire.
+
+"I'd give them that answer, and no other."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, Eric," said Duncan, with more seriousness than was usual with
+him, "I can't help thinking things have gone too far lately."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Well, I'm no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that the
+fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse. Your
+friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid down a law
+that _no work_ is to be done down stairs ever under any pretence, and
+it's only by getting into one of the studies that good little chaps
+like Wright can get on at all. Even in the class-rooms there's so much
+row and confusion that the mere thought of work is ridiculous."
+
+"Well, there's no great harm in a little noise, if that's all."
+
+"But it isn't all. The talk of nearly the whole school is getting most
+blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney was chatting with
+Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not have been here) while
+I was reading; they didn't seem to mind me, and I'm sure you'd have been
+vexed to the heart if you'd heard how they talked to each other. At last
+I couldn't stand it any longer, and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears
+smartly, and kicked them down stairs."
+
+As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, "And I wish it ended in talk,
+but----"
+
+"But I believe you're turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we're only
+schoolboys; it'll be lots of time to turn saint some other day."
+
+Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition. "You don't
+want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the rosebuds,
+do you?"
+
+There was something of assumed bravado in Eric's whole manner which
+jarred on Duncan exceedingly. "Do as you like," he said, curtly, and
+went into another study.
+
+Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney, as he
+often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping his trousers
+over his nightshirt, and running up to the studies.
+
+"Well, you'll come to the Anti-muffs, won't you?" he said.
+
+"To that pestilential place again?--not I."
+
+Wildney looked offended. "Not after we've all asked you? The fellows
+won't half like your refusing."
+
+He had touched Eric's weak point.
+
+"Do come," he said, looking up in Eric's face.
+
+"Confound it all," answered Eric, hastily. "Yes, I've no friends, I'll
+come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy."
+
+"That's a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows. They'll be
+no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you." And he scampered
+off, leaving Eric ill at ease.
+
+Duncan didn't re-enter the study that evening.
+
+The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the way to
+Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and said--
+
+"Are you going to the Anti-muffs?"
+
+"Yes; why? are you going too?"
+
+"Yes; do you mind our going together?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep him in
+countenance, for he felt considerably more than half ashamed
+of himself.
+
+They went to "The Jolly Herring," as the pot-house was called, and
+passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor, to which
+Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen boys were
+assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as the two
+new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room, which was
+regularly spread for dinner.
+
+"Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose," called Brigson. "I vote,
+boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair."
+
+"Hear! hear!" said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his will,
+found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson and Bull
+on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom they called
+Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the table, and some
+fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample justice to the [Greek:
+daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them. There was immense uproar during
+the dinner, every one eating as fast, and talking as loud, as he could.
+
+The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.
+
+"Now for the dessert, Billy," called several voices; and that worthy
+proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and four black
+bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these dainties, and one
+boy shouted, "I say, I've had no wine."
+
+"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy--it's cheaper," said
+Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys
+diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.
+
+"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got a
+health; 'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti's.'"
+
+"And their chairman,' suggested Wildney.
+
+"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added Brigson.
+
+The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
+
+"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and there's
+no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged
+to you for asking me; and now I call for a song."
+
+"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.
+
+Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness--
+
+     "Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
+       Until it does run overt
+     Come, landlord, fill," &c
+
+"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--
+
+     "For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+       To-morrow we'll be sober!"
+
+While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round the
+room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could not
+recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame passed
+over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and Brigson
+heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not help observing
+what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of Russell came back to him.
+Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was in such company at such a
+place! And by the door stood Billy, watching them all like an evil
+spirit, with a leer of saturnine malice on his evil face.
+
+But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric's bitter thoughts,
+sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him, shining out like
+a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like blood-guiltiness on his
+soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning the young boy's presence in
+that degraded assemblage.
+
+Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of "cav�, cav�." In an instant the room was
+in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon the floor, the table was
+overturned with a mighty crash, and plates, glasses, and bottles rushed
+on to the ground in shivers. Nearly every one bolted for the door, which
+led through the passage into the street; and in their headlong flight
+and selfishness, they stumbled over each other, and prevented all
+egress, several being knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made
+for the tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there
+stood Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was the
+work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters quickly took
+down the names of full half the boys who, in the suddenness of the
+surprise, had been unable to make their exit.
+
+And Eric?
+
+The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney seize
+his hand, and whisper, "This way all serene;" following, he groped his
+way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney, shoving aside a
+green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door, which at once let them
+into a little garden. There they both crouched down, under a lilac tree
+beside the house, and listened intently.
+
+There was no need for this precaution; their door remained unsuspected,
+and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into the house again,
+they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that the masters had gone,
+and all was safe.
+
+"Glad ye're not twigged, gen'lmen," he said; "but there'll be a pretty
+sight of damage for all this glass and plates."
+
+"Shut up with your glass and plates," said Wildney. "Here, Eric, we must
+cut for it again."
+
+It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the close
+room into the open air, and they had to consider which way they would
+choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the wrong, but
+escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney's old short cut. As they
+ran they passed several boys (who having been caught, were walking home
+leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered, when they both
+answered their names quite innocently at the roll-call, immediately
+after lock up.
+
+"What lucky dogs you are to get off," said many boys to them.
+
+"Yes, it's precious lucky for me," said Wildney. "If I'd been caught at
+this kind of thing a second time, I should have got something worse than
+a swishing."
+
+"Well, it's all through you I escaped," said Eric, "you knowing little
+scamp."
+
+"I'm glad of it, Eric," said Wildney in his fascinating way, "since it
+is all through me you went. It's rather too hazardous though; we must
+manage better another time."
+
+During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that none of the
+sixth form or other study boys would particularly sympathise with his
+late associates. Since the previous evening he had been cool with
+Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised him as a boy who'd do
+anything to be popular; so he sat there silent, looking as disdainful as
+he could, and not touching the tea, for which he felt disinclined after
+the recent potations. But the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving
+heart, and he felt how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How
+gladly would he have changed places with them! how much he would have
+given to recover some of their forfeited esteem!
+
+The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room for a
+few minutes while the tables were cleared for "preparation," and the
+boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the study and
+class-room boys were expected to go away during this interval; but Eric,
+not noticing Mr. Rose's entrance, sat gossipping with Wildney about the
+dinner and its possible consequences to the school.
+
+He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the other, and
+bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that he looked like a
+regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the Jolly Herring, and
+Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended by the simile.
+
+"Hush! no more talking," said Mr. Rose, who did everything very gently
+and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger, and had
+always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he didn't think
+he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment he did not, so
+Wildney began to chatter again.
+
+"All study boys to leave the room," said Mr. Rose.
+
+Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone away,
+but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney's eye, and besides wanted
+to show off a little indifference to his old master, with whom he had
+had no intercourse since their last-mentioned conversation.
+
+"Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after I have
+dismissed you?" said Mr. Rose sternly.
+
+Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this speech
+created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was going out of
+the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all his proud and
+dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten something, he walked
+conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to him, "I shan't go if he
+chooses to speak like that."
+
+A red flush passed over Mr. Rose's cheek; he took two strides to Eric,
+and laid the cane sharply once across his back.
+
+Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had done.
+His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events of the
+evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane, which he had
+not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He bounded up, sprang
+towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what he was about, had
+wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it violently in the middle
+until it broke, and flung one of the pieces furiously into the fire.
+
+For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr. Rose--stood
+facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy panting and
+passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on fire; the master
+pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but perfectly self-collected.
+
+"After that exhibition," said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet dignity,
+"you had better leave the room."
+
+"Yes, I had," answered Eric bitterly; "there's your cane." And, flinging
+the other fragment at Mr. Rose's head, he strode blindly out of the
+room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning several boys in his
+way. He then banged the door with all his force, and rushed up into
+his study.
+
+Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor, asked, after
+a moment's awkward silence, "Is anything the matter, Williams?"
+
+"Williams!" echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; "yes, that's always the
+way with a fellow when he's in trouble. I always know what's coming when
+you begin to leave off calling me by my Christian name."
+
+"Very well, then," said Duncan, good-humoredly, "what's the matter,
+Eric?"
+
+"Matter?" answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with an
+angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything which
+came in his way. "Matter? hang you all, you are all turning against me,
+because you are a set of muffs, and----"
+
+"Take care!" said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric's look, and
+stopped.
+
+"And I've been breaking Rose's cane over his head, because he had the
+impudence to touch, me with it, and----"
+
+"Eric, you're not yourself to-night," said Duncan, interrupting, but
+speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric's hand, he looked him
+steadily in the face.
+
+Their eyes met; the boy's false self once more slipped off. By a strong
+effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of drink had
+caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to speak again, or
+even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell rang.
+
+Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done with him,
+Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after prayers into
+Montagu's, and talked with him over the recent events, of which the
+boys' minds were all full.
+
+But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing nothing,
+and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to resent
+his presence.
+
+"So!" he said, looking up at the ceiling, "another saint come to cast a
+stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned," he continued, dropping
+his cheek on his hand again; "only don't let the sermon be long."
+
+But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated himself
+by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.
+
+"Come, Eric," said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling him; "I
+won't be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won't you even look? Oh
+Eric, one wouldn't have fancied this in past days, when we were so much
+together with one who is dead. It's a long long time since we've eyen
+alluded to him, but _I_ shall never forget those happy days."
+
+Eric heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"I'm not come to reproach you. You don't give me a friend's right to
+reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow, I can't help
+being sorry for all this. I did hope you'd have broken with Brigson
+after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which he treated me. I
+don't think you _can_ know the mischief he is doing."
+
+The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric's eye, "Ah!" he said,
+"it's all of no use; you're all giving me the cold shoulder, and I'm
+going to the bad, that's the long and short of it."
+
+"Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents' sake, for the school's
+sake, for all your real friends' sake, don't talk in that bitter
+hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool or the
+patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you. I _do_ hope
+you'll join us even yet in resisting them."
+
+Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his emotion. "I
+can't talk, Monty," he said, in an altered tone; "but leave me now; and
+if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow."
+
+"Most willingly, Eric." And again, warmly pressing his hand, Montagu
+returned to his own study.
+
+Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric's door. He expected Wildney
+as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him, and hoping
+he would come, but he didn't want to see him now, so he answered rather
+peevishly, "Come in; but I don't want to be bothered to-night."
+
+Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. "May I come in? not if it
+bothers you, Eric," he said, gently.
+
+"Oh, Verny, I didn't know it was you; I thought it would be Wildney. You
+_never_ come now."
+
+The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say, "Whose
+fault is that?"
+
+"Come here, Verny;" and Eric drew him towards him, and put him on his
+knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the child's eyes.
+
+It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had been
+alone together, the first time for many a long day that any acts of
+kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember this, and, at
+the same time, to remember home, and their absent parents, and their
+mother's prayers, and all the quiet half-forgotten vista of innocent
+pleasures, and sacred relationships, and holy affections. And why did
+they see each other so little at school? Their consciences told them
+both, that either wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and
+forgetfulness of God.
+
+They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since they were
+children, each brother put his arm round the other's neck, and
+remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his cruel heartless
+selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far astray; left him as a
+prey to such boys as were his companions in the lower school.
+
+"Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?"
+
+"You!" said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. "Good heavens! I didn't
+notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I'd known you were
+there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such, a bad example."
+
+"Yes, I was there, and I was caught."
+
+"Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can't get much
+done to you."
+
+"It isn't _that_ I care for; I've been flogged before, you know.
+But--may I say something?"
+
+"Yes, Vernon, anything you like."
+
+"Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to Mr. Rose
+to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course; but I could
+have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn't have minded if it had been
+anybody but Rose."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because, Eric, he's been so good, so kind to both of us. You've often
+told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he's done such, lots of
+kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was caught, he
+sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so gently, about
+the wickedness of going to such low places, and about so young a boy as
+I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it and--and"--His voice was
+choked by sobs for a time,--"and then he knelt down and prayed for me,
+so as I have never heard any one pray but mother;--and do you know,
+Eric, it was strange, but I thought I _did_ hear our mother's voice
+praying for me too, while he prayed, and"--He tried in vain to go on;
+but Eric's conscience continued for him; "and just as he had ceased
+doing this for one brother, the other brother, for whom he has often
+done the same, treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence."
+
+"Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think that while
+I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at home. And, oh,
+Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you were talking the
+other day."
+
+Vernon hid his face on Eric's shoulder; and as his brother stooped over
+him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in silence, until wearied
+with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and then Eric carried him tenderly
+down stairs, and laid him, still half-sleeping, upon his bed.
+
+He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other boys had
+not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat down on his
+brother's bed to think, shading off the light of the candle with his
+hand. It was rarely now that Eric's thoughts were so rich with the
+memories of childhood, and sombre with the consciousness of sin, as they
+were that night, while he gazed on his brother Vernon's face. He did not
+know what made him look so long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an
+unconjectured foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a
+summer cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but there was
+an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and the long
+eyelashes were still wet with tears.
+
+"Poor child," thought Eric; "dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow."
+
+He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that _he_ too
+would come in for certain punishment the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+
+     "Raro antecedentem scelestum
+     Deseruit pede Poena claudo."--HOR.
+
+After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his boarders on the
+previous day's discovery, and in a few forcible vivid words set before
+them, the enormity of the offence. He ended by announcing that the boys
+who were caught would be birched,--"except the elder ones, Bull and
+Brigson, who will bring me one hundred lines every hour of the
+half-holidays till further notice. There are some," he said, "I am well
+aware, who, though present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for
+it, for _their_ sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden." On leaving
+the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric obeyed, and stood
+before the head-master with downcast eyes.
+
+"Williams," he said, "I have had a great regard for you, and felt a deep
+interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew your excellent
+parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of your future course,
+and your abilities seemed likely to blossom into noble fruit. But you
+fell off greatly, and grew idle and careless. At last an event happened,
+in which for a time you acted worthily of yourself, and which seemed to
+arouse you from your negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you
+revived; but as I continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps,
+than you supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure that
+you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two years ago.
+I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply fear, Williams,
+I deeply fear, that in _other_ respects also you are going the down-hill
+road. And what am I to think now, when on the _same_ morning, you and
+your little brother _both_ come before me for such serious and heavy
+faults? I cannot free you from blame even for _his_ misdoings, for you
+are his natural guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved
+with him in that charge."
+
+"Let _me_ bear the punishment, sir, instead of him," said Eric, by a
+sudden impulse; "for I misled him, and was there myself."
+
+Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. "You, Williams! on the verge
+of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the state of things
+among you is even worse than I had supposed."
+
+Eric again hung his head.
+
+"No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at present I
+shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware. But I must turn
+to the other matter. What excuse have you for your intolerable conduct
+to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from the first the most
+unusual and disinterested kindness?"
+
+"I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not control my
+passion."
+
+"Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I shall make
+you read aloud before the whole school at twelve to-day."
+
+Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr Rowlands glanced at
+it. "Come to me again at twelve," he said.
+
+At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and miserable,
+followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The masters stood at one
+end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who, however, appeared an
+indifferent and uninterested spectator of the transaction. Every eye was
+fixed on Eric, and every one pitied him.
+
+"We are assembled," said Dr. Rowlands, "for an act of justice. One of
+your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed of his
+conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will read. I had
+intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr. Rose has earnestly
+begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to his wishes. Williams,
+read your apology."
+
+There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to utter a
+word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his voice, and read,
+but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even those nearest him heard
+what he was saying.
+
+Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. "Owing," he said, "to a very
+natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in such a way
+that you could not have understood it. I will therefore read it myself.
+It is to this effect--
+
+"'I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.'
+
+"You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his own
+expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and compunction for
+the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted to elevate him into a
+hero, for a folly which he himself so much regrets. This affair,--as I
+should wish all bad deeds to be after they have once been
+punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope forgotten."
+
+They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all shunned and
+looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu came, and taking
+his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with him. It was a
+constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad when it was over,
+although Montagu did all he could to show that he loved Eric no less
+than before. Still it was weeks since they had been much together, and
+they had far fewer things in common now than they used to have.
+
+"I'm so wretched, Monty," said Eric at last; "do you think Rose despises
+me?"
+
+"I am _sure_ of the contrary. Won't you go to him, Eric, and say all you
+feel?"
+
+"Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the last two
+years!"
+
+"You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same words
+comfort you that have often brought hope to me--'I will restore the
+years which the locust hath eaten.'"
+
+They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the library. Mr.
+Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as usual, and Eric went up
+to the fire-place where he was standing. They had often stood by that
+library fire on far different terms.
+
+"Forgive me, sir," was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed to his
+eyes.
+
+"Freely, my boy," said Mr. Rose, sadly. "I wish you could feel how fully
+I forgive you; but," he added, laying his hand for the last time on
+Eric's head, "you have far more, Eric, to forgive yourself. I will not
+talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I fear; but you little know
+how much I pity and tremble for you."
+
+While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group was
+collected round the fire-place in the boarders' room, and many tongues
+were loudly discussing the recent events.
+
+Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom Mr. Rose
+had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them far more than
+they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for them in private,
+when his weak frame was harassed by suffering; many a sleepless night
+had he wrestled for them in prayer, when, for their sakes, his own many
+troubles were laid aside. Work on, Walter Rose, and He who seeth in
+secret will reward you openly! but expect no gratitude from those for
+whose salvation you, like the great tenderhearted apostle, would almost
+be ready to wish yourself accursed.
+
+Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It had long
+been Brigson's cue to do so; he derided him on every opportunity, and
+delighted to represent him as hypocritical and insincere. Even his weak
+health was the subject of Brigson's coarse ridicule, and the bad boy
+paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute which vice must ever accord to
+excellence.
+
+"You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him," said Brigson;
+"why, even that old beast Gordon isn't as bad."
+
+"Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton's
+serpent," drawled Bull;
+
+     "Hope elevates and joy brightens his crest."
+
+"He-e-ar! He-e-ar!" said Pietrie; "_vide_ the last fifth form Rep."
+
+"I expect Eric won't see everything so much _couleur de Rose_ now, as
+the French frog hath it," remarked Graham.
+
+"It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly," observed Wildney.
+
+"I say, you fellows," remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was sitting
+reading a book at one of the desks, "all that isn't fair. I'm sure you
+all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he said, you know,
+that it was merely for the sake of school discipline that he put the
+matter in Rowlands' hands."
+
+"Discipline be hanged," shouted Brigson; "we'll have our revenge on him
+yet, discipline or no."
+
+"I hope you won't, though," said Vernon; "I know Eric will be sorry if
+you do."
+
+"The more muff he. We shall do as we like."
+
+"Well, I shall tell him; and I'm sure he'll ask you not. You know how he
+tries to stick up for Rose."
+
+"If you say a word more," said Brigson, unaccustomed to being opposed
+among his knot of courtiers, "I'll kick you out of the room; you and
+that wretched little fool there with you."
+
+"You may do as you like," answered Wright, quietly, "but you won't go
+on like this long, I can tell you."
+
+Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with flinging
+a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which narrowly missed
+his head.
+
+"I have it!" said Brigson; "that little donkey's given me an idea. We'll
+_crust_ Rose to-night."
+
+"To crust," gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person with
+crusts.
+
+"Capital!" said some of the worst boys present; "we will."
+
+"Well, who'll take part?"
+
+No one offered. "What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards? Here,
+Wildney, won't you? you were abusing Rose just now."
+
+"Yes, I will," said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. "You'll not
+have done till you've got us all expelled, I believe."
+
+"Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can't expel half the
+school."
+
+First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining courage
+by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and Graham were to
+put out the lights at each end of one table immediately after tea, and
+Wildney and Brooking at the other, when the study fellows had gone out.
+There would then be only Mr. Rose's candle burning, and the two middle
+candles, which, in so large a room, would just give enough light for
+their purpose. Then all the conspirators were to throng around the door,
+and from it aim their crusts at Mr. Rose's head, Not nearly so many
+would have volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too
+gentle to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by
+his quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.
+
+Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that numbers of
+boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting off the crusts,
+and breaking them into good-sized bits.
+
+Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly reading in
+his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental) dropping of a plate
+by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.
+
+Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in the fall.
+
+Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried movement
+towards the door, and a murmur of voices.
+
+"Now then," said Brigson, in a loud whisper, "what a funky set you are!
+Here goes?"
+
+The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had just looked
+up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson's crust caught him
+a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.
+
+In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew by or
+hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the door.
+Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the passage, and if
+he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm might have followed.
+But he did not. Going to the door, he said, "Preparation will be in five
+minutes; every boy not then in his place will be punished."
+
+During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea, full of
+wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no notice of any
+one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their places, with their
+books open before them, and in the thrilling silence you might have
+heard a pin drop. 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. A pause.
+
+"Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at me?"
+
+Still silence.
+
+"I warn you that I _will_ know, and it will be far worse for the guilty
+if I do not know at once." There was unmistakeable decision in the tone.
+
+"Very well. I know many boys who were _not_ guilty because I saw them
+in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I shall now _ask_
+all the rest, one by one, if they took any part in this. And beware of
+telling me a lie."
+
+There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys began to
+whisper aloud, "Brigson! Brigson!" The whisper grew louder, and Mr. Rose
+heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion, and said--
+
+"They call your name; stand out!"
+
+The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance, shambled
+out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose swept him with
+one flashing glance. "_That_ is the boy," thought he to himself, "who
+has been like an ulcer to this school. These boys shall have a good look
+at their hero." It was but recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm
+which Brigson had been doing, though he had discovered, almost from the
+first, what _sort_ of character he had.
+
+So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him, many a boy
+cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as a lifetime's
+struggle could not unteach. And it was _that_ fellow, that stupid,
+clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice, that had ruled like a king
+among them. Faugh!
+
+"They call your name! Do you know anything of this?"
+
+"No!" said Brigson; "I'll swear I'd nothing to do with it."
+
+"Oh-h-h-h!" the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust and
+contempt ran round the room.
+
+"You have told me a lie!" said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with ineffable
+contempt. "No words can express my loathing for your false and
+dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you shall find
+immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare to deny it
+again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in this?"
+
+He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed to scorch
+and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. "As I thought,"
+said Mr. Rose.
+
+"Not _one_ boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call you up one by
+one to answer me. Wildney, come here."
+
+The boy walked in front of the desk.
+
+"Were you one of those who threw?"
+
+Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no coward,
+and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new scrape might
+be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening eyes to Mr. Rose,
+he said penitently--
+
+"I didn't throw, sir, but I _did_ put out one of the candles that it
+might be done."
+
+The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a little
+less darkly on Mr. Rose's forehead, and there was a very faint murmur
+of applause.
+
+"Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up."
+
+Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters except
+Brooking. Mr. Rose's lip curled with scorn as he heard the exclamation
+which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit down.
+
+When Wright's turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--"No! I shall not
+even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too good to be
+involved in such an attempt."
+
+The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned was
+Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his answer.
+
+"No," he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.
+
+"Go on," said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.
+
+"Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won't think Eric knew of
+this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I do."
+
+"Good," said Mr. Rose; "I am sure of it. And now," turning to the
+offenders, "I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty of such
+presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you according to
+my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me a cane from
+that desk."
+
+He brought it.
+
+"Hold out your hand."
+
+The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr. Rose
+looked at it, for it was new that morning.
+
+"Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it."
+
+The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete success of
+the trick.
+
+"Who did this? I must be told at once."
+
+"I did, sir," said Wildney, stepping forward.
+
+"Ha! very well," said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a smile
+hovered at the corner of his lips. "Go and borrow me a cane from
+Mr. Harley."
+
+While he went there was unbroken silence.
+
+"Now, sir," said he to Brigson, "I shall flog you."
+
+Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had
+never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled;
+at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like
+a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes
+fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's arm, and implored and besought for mercy.
+
+"_Miserable_ coward," said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word such ringing
+scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He indignantly shook the
+boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the floor, losing every
+particle of self-control, and calling out, "The devil--the devil--the
+devil!" ("invoking his patron saint," as Wildney maliciously observed).
+
+"There! cease to blaspheme, and get up," said the master, blowing out a
+cloud of fiery indignation. "There, sir. Retribution comes at last,
+leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of sins is visited on
+you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body, but on your conscience
+too, if you have one left. Let those red marks betoken that your reign
+is ended. Liar and tempter, you have led boys into the sins which you
+then meanly deny! And now, you boys, _there_ in that coward, who cannot
+even endure his richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have
+suffered to be your _leader_ for well-nigh six months!"
+
+"Now, sir"--again he turned upon Brigson--"that flogging shall be
+repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will take
+each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they should see
+where _you_ lead them to."
+
+Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he was bid.
+No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was all which Mr.
+Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time, for he was tired,
+and displeased to be an executioner.
+
+"And now," he said, "since that disgusting but necessary scene is over,
+_never_ let me have to repeat it again."
+
+But his authority was established like a rock from that night forward.
+No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that evening. Mr.
+Rose's noble moral influence gained tenfold strength from the respect
+and wholesome fear that he then inspired.
+
+But, as he had said, Brigson's reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat alone and
+shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now to loathe and
+nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping. He had not done
+blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No sooner had Mr. Rose
+left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes sparkling with rage, leaped on
+the table, and shouted--
+
+"Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward," a sign of
+execration which he was the first to lead off, and which the boys echoed
+like a storm.
+
+Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. "Oh, we're
+not hissing you, sir," said Wildney excitedly; "we're all hissing at
+lying and cowardice."
+
+Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he was
+striding out again, without a word, when--
+
+"Three times three for Mr. Rose," sang out Wildney.
+
+Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips and
+lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like wildfire to the
+studies, and the other boys came flocking in during the uproar, to join
+in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like a sound of silver
+clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the midst of the excited
+throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side, hurrahing more lustily than
+all the rest.
+
+But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips and
+lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he had
+dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening's painful experiences
+had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no gratitude, and hope
+for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and unmurmuringly, to work
+on in God's vineyard so long as life and health should last.
+
+Brigson's brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which would have
+crushed another. But still he felt that his position at Roslyn could
+never be what it had been before, and he therefore determined to leave
+at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he got his father to remove
+him, and announced, to every one's great delight, that he was going in a
+fortnight. On his last day, by way of bravado, he smashed and damaged as
+much of the school property as he could, a proceeding which failed to
+gain him any admiration, and merely put his father to ruinous expense.
+
+The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the least
+pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed throughout
+the school.
+
+In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear, "You cut
+me, curse you; but, _never fear, I'll be revenged on you yet_."
+
+"Do your worst," answered Eric, contemptuously, "and never speak to me
+again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+RIPPLES
+
+     "Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
+     And live for ever and for ever."--TENNYSON.
+
+Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over the
+affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and Vernon
+Williams in front of them.
+
+"I am so glad to see those two together," said Montagu; "I really think
+Wright is one of the best little fellows in the school, and he'll be the
+saving of Vernon. He's already persuaded him to leave off smoking and
+other bad things, and has got him to work a little harder, and turn over
+a new leaf altogether."
+
+"Yes," answered Owen; "I've seen a marvellous improvement in little
+Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson the other
+night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been leading him by
+the hand; but the best thing is that, through Wright, he sees less of
+Eric's _friend_, that young scapegrace Wildney."
+
+"Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a pity that
+Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be spoilt by him. I'm
+glad Vernon's escaped his influence now; he's too fine a boy to be made
+as bad as the general run of them. What a brilliant little fellow he is;
+just like his brother."
+
+"Just like what his brother _was_," said Owen; "his face, like his
+mind, has suffered lately."
+
+"Too true," answered Montagu, with a sigh; "and yet, cool as we now are
+in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him, and yearn
+for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had lived, and then
+I believe that Williams wouldn't have gone so for wrong."
+
+"Well, I think there's another chance for him now that--that--what name
+is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is gone."
+
+"I hope so. But"--he added after a pause--"his works do follow him. Look
+there!" He took a large stone and threw it into the Silverburn stream;
+there was a great splash, and then ever-widening circles of blue ripple
+broke the surface of the water, dying away one by one in the sedges on
+the bank. "There," he said, "see how long those ripples last, and how
+numerous they are."
+
+Owen understood him. "Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope there was
+in him after Russell's death!"
+
+"Yes, for a time," said Montagu; "heigh ho! I fear we shall never be
+warm friends again. We can't be while he goes on as he is doing. And yet
+I love him."
+
+A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called Riverbend.
+
+"If you want a practical comment on what we've been talking about,
+you'll see it there," said Montagu.
+
+He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a pleasant
+grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric, stretched at
+ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which curled the puffed
+fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney's. That worthy was beside him
+similarly employed.
+
+The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did not
+wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances. But they
+saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of laughter which
+followed his remarks, they had little doubt that they were the subject
+of the young gentleman's wit. This is never a pleasant sensation; but
+they observed that Eric made a point of not looking their way, and went
+on in silence.
+
+"How very sad!" said Montagu.
+
+"How very contemptible!" said Owen.
+
+"Did you observe what they were doing?"
+
+"Smoking?"
+
+"Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which, if Eric
+doesn't take care, will one day be his ruin."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy."
+
+"Good heavens!"
+
+"It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the ripples,
+you see, of Brigson's influence."
+
+Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and walked in
+together.
+
+"We've been talking," said Wright, "about a bad matter. Vernon here says
+that there's no good working for a prize in his form, because the
+cribbing's so atrocious. Indeed, it's very nearly as bad in my form. It
+always is under Gordon; he _can't_ understand fellows doing
+dishonorable things."
+
+"It's a great bore in the weekly examinations," said Vernon; "every now
+and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few minutes, and then out
+come dozens of books."
+
+"Well, Wright," said Montagu, "if that happens again next examination,
+I'd speak out about it."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Why, I'd get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his name,
+and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have pledged
+yourselves not to do it."
+
+"Humph! I don't know how that would answer. They'd half kill me for one
+thing."
+
+"Never mind; do your duty. I wish I'd such an opportunity, if only to
+show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness."
+
+And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to their study.
+
+It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn school.
+Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an hour after,
+Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some brandy, and then
+arrange to have a "jollification," that evening.
+
+They got the brandy through "Billy." One of Brigson's most cursed
+legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a nefarious
+intercourse with the boys. His character was so well known that it had
+long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty, for any boy ever to
+speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed to take a pleasure in
+doing so, and just now particularly it was thought a fine thing, a sign
+of "pluck" and "anti-muffishness," to be on familiar and intimate terms
+with that degraded and villainous scoundrel.
+
+Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him in his
+escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He had not been
+altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of rough honesty and
+good sense about him, which preserved him from the worst and most
+dangerous failings, and his character had been gradually improving as he
+mounted higher in the school. He was getting steadier, more diligent,
+more thoughtful, more manly; he was passing through that change so
+frequent in boys as they grow older, to which Eric was so sad an
+exception. Accordingly Duncan, though sincerely fond of Eric, had
+latterly disapproved vehemently of his proceedings, and had therefore
+taken to snubbing his old friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to
+have an infatuation, and who was the means of involving him in every
+kind of impropriety and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what
+was intended, sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney,
+Graham, and Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were
+lower boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney's almost nightly custom.
+
+A little pebble struck the study window.
+
+"Hurrah!" said Wildney, clapping his hands, "here's the grub."
+
+They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they let
+down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a basket, and,
+after bidding them "Good night, and a merry drink," retired. No sooner
+had they shut the window, than he grimaced as usual towards them, and
+shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal exultation, muttering, "Oh, I'll
+have you all under my thumb yet, you fine young fools!"
+
+Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread its
+contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of sausages, a
+tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.
+
+They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches of songs,
+peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so loud that the
+other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters should come up and
+catch the revellers. All of them heard every word that was spoken by
+Eric and his party as the walls between the rooms were very thin; and
+very objectionable much of the conversation was.
+
+"This _won't_ do," said Duncan emphatically, after a louder burst of
+merriment than usual; "those fellows are getting drunk; I can tell it to
+a certainty from the confused and random way in which some of them
+are talking."
+
+"We'd better go in and speak to them," said Montagu; "at any rate,
+they've no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?"
+
+"I'll join you," said Owen; "though I'm afraid my presence won't do you
+much good."
+
+The three boys went to the door of Eric's study, and their knock could
+not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they found a
+scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about, plates and
+glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all sides, and there
+was an intolerable smell of brandy.
+
+"If you fellows don't care," said Duncan, sharply, "Rose or somebody'll
+be coming up and catching you. It's ten now."
+
+"What's that to you?" answered Graham, with an insolent look.
+
+"It's something to me that you nice young men have been making such a
+row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and that,
+between you, you've made this study in such a mess that I can't
+endure it."
+
+"Pooh!" said Pietrie; "we're all getting such saints, that one can't
+have the least bit of spree now-a-days."
+
+"Spree!" burst in Montagu indignantly; "fine spree, to make sots of
+yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----"
+
+"Amen!" said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair; and he
+turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic air.
+
+"There, Williams," continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; "see that spectacle, and be ashamed of
+yourself, if you can. That's what you lead boys to! Are you anxious to
+become the teacher of drunkenness?"
+
+In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe, for the
+scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.
+
+They hardly understood the look on Eric's countenance; he had been
+taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled fiercely, and
+though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be resenting the intrusion
+in furious silence.
+
+"How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?" asked Bull, with
+his usual insufferable drawl; "for I want to finish my brandy."
+
+Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a box on the
+ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn't worth the trouble, when
+Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst into a fit
+of laughter.
+
+"Let's turn out these impudent lower-school fellows," said Montagu,
+speaking to Duncan. "Here! you go first," he said, seizing Wildney by
+the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no means steady on
+his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.
+
+"By Jove, I won't stand this any longer," shouted Eric, springing up
+ferociously. "What on earth do you mean by daring to come in like this?
+Do you hear?"
+
+Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for he was
+looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not, proceeded to
+drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.
+
+"Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won't go for you," cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. "Eric, why do you let him bully me?"
+
+"You let him go this minute," repeated Eric, hoarsely.
+
+"I shall do no such thing. You don't know what you're about."
+
+"Don't I? Well, then, take _that_, to show whether I do or no!" and
+suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent back-handed blow
+on the mouth.
+
+Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded them
+into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public, and that
+by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had loved--by a boy who
+had been his schoolfellow for three years now, and whose whole life
+seemed bound to him by so many associations; it was strange, and
+sad indeed.
+
+Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one stride
+towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes, while the blood
+started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But he stopped suddenly
+and his hand fell to his side; by a strong effort of self-control he
+contrived to master himself, and sitting down quite quietly on a chair,
+he put his white handkerchief to his wounded mouth, and took it away
+stained with blood.
+
+No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into his study
+without a word.
+
+"Very well," said Duncan; "you may all do as you like; only I heartily
+hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen."
+
+"Oh, Williams," said Owen, "you are changed indeed, to treat your best
+friend so."
+
+But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil passion at
+that moment. "Serve him right," he said; "what business has he to
+interfere with what I choose to do?"
+
+There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk off
+ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on the
+table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He had neither
+strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into bed just as was.
+When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan (for Montagu was
+silent and melancholy) went into his study, put out the candle, and had
+only just cleared away, to the best of their power, the traces of the
+carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up stairs on his usual nightly rounds.
+They had been lighting brown paper to take away the fumes of the brandy,
+and the Doctor asked them casually the cause of the smell of burning.
+Neither of them answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed
+implicit trust, the Doctor thought no more about it.
+
+Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and sickness. When
+he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing he thought to
+himself, "Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory of last night!" Of
+course, after what had occurred, Eric and Montagu were no longer on
+speaking terms, and miserable as poor Eric felt when he saw how his blow
+had bruised and disfigured his friend's face, he made no advances. He
+longed, indeed, from his inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but
+feeling that he had done grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his
+pride would not suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no
+regret, and, supported by his late boon-companions, represented the
+matter as occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu
+was bullying.
+
+Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although ready to
+forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take the first step
+to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that it was not for
+Eric's good that he should do so.
+
+"You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now," said Mr.
+Rose. "I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy who has
+any influence over him."
+
+"I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much more."
+
+"Wildney?" asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. "Wildney more
+influence than _you_?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!"
+
+So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their friendship
+for Eric until happier days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ERIC AND MONTAGU
+
+     "And constancy lives in realms above;
+       And life is thorny; and youth is vain;
+     And to be wroth with one we love,
+       Doth work like madness in the brain.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Each spoke words of high disdain
+       And insult to his heart's best brother."
+
+     COLERIDGE'S _Christabel_.
+
+Wright had not forgotten Montagu's advice, and had endeavored to get the
+names of boys who wern't afraid to scout publicly the disgrace of
+cheating in form. But he could only get one name promised him--the name
+of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little could be gained by using it,
+he determined to spare Vernon the trial, and speak, if he spoke at all,
+on his own responsibility.
+
+As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was well-nigh
+universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch something he had
+forgotten, merely saying, "I trust to your honor not to abuse my
+absence," books and papers were immediately pulled out with the coolest
+and most unblushing indifference.
+
+This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had counted
+the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his duty, he had
+decided that speak he would. He well knew that his interference would
+be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking, and every kind of wrong
+motive, since he was himself one of the greatest sufferers from the
+prevalent dishonesty; but still he had come to the conclusion that he
+_ought_ not to draw back, and therefore he bravely determined that he
+would make his protest, whatever happened.
+
+So, very nervously, he rose and said, "I want to tell you all that I
+think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don't mind losing by
+it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in the lower fourth,
+and any one gets it by copying, I've made up my mind to tell Gordon."
+
+His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and acquired
+firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and curiosity had held the
+boys silent with amazement, but by the end of this sentence they had
+recovered themselves, and a perfect burst of derision and
+indignation followed.
+
+"Let's see if _that'll_ cut short his oration," said Wildney, throwing a
+book at his head, which was instantly followed by others from
+all quarters.
+
+"My word! we've had nothing but lectures lately," said Brooking. "Horrid
+little Owenite saint."
+
+"Saint!--sneak, you mean. I'll teach him," growled Pietrie, and jumping
+up, he belabored Wright's head with the Latin grammar out of which he
+had just been cribbing.
+
+The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright sat
+stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.
+
+Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor little
+penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright had alluded so
+prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be misconstrued, but he
+had his brother's spirit, and would not shrink. Amid the tumult he got
+up in his seat, and they heard his pleasant, childish voice saying
+boldly, "I hope Wright won't tell; but he's the best fellow in the room,
+and cribbing _is_ a shame, as he says."
+
+What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful, for at the
+critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered cav� caused
+instantaneous quiet.
+
+Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many an angry
+kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the spirit and
+heroism with which he endured them. The news of his impudence spread
+like wildfire, and not five boys in the school approved of what he had
+done, while most of them were furious at his ill-judged threat of
+informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general agreement to thrash him after
+roll-call that afternoon.
+
+Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had been
+fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a disagreeable
+and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of them in
+condemning his announced determination to "sneak." Had he known that
+Wright had acted under Montagu's well-meant, though rather mistaken
+advice, he might have abstained from having anything more to do with the
+matter, but now he promised to kick Wright himself after the four
+o'clock bell.
+
+Four o'clock came; the names were called; the master left the room.
+Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there pale but
+fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance to Eric, who
+walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears, though without hurting
+him, said contemptuously, "Conceited little sneak."
+
+Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had determined even
+single-handed to prevent it. He did _not_, however, expect that Eric
+would have taken part in it, and was therefore unprepared. The color
+rushed into his cheeks; he went up, took Wright quietly by the hand, and
+said with firm determination, "No one in the school shall touch
+Wright again."
+
+"What? no one! just hark to that," said Graham; "I suppose he thinks
+himself cock of the school."
+
+Eric quite misunderstood Montagu's proceedings; he took it for a public
+challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield would have
+looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius Wildney was by, and
+said, "How very nice! another dictation lesson!"
+
+A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed lips, and
+flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit which made them
+waver, and he quietly repeated, "No one shall touch you, Wright."
+
+"They _will_, though," said Eric instantly; "_I_ will, for one, and I
+should like to see you prevent me." And so saying he gave Wright another
+slight blow.
+
+Montagu dropped Wright's hand and said slowly, "Eric Williams, I have
+taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear the marks of
+it yet. It is time to show that it was _not_ through cowardice that I
+did not return it. Will you fight?"
+
+The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the school
+knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the
+sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined to fight with
+Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.
+
+"I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once," he answered,
+falteringly, "and we have been friends--"
+
+But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two should
+fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that Montagu's
+authority, which stood in their way, might be flung aside. So Brooking
+whispered in an audible voice--
+
+"Faith! he's showing the white feather."
+
+"You're a liar!" flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he said--"There!
+I'll fight you this moment."
+
+Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for action. A
+ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of sixteen, like
+Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles have usually been
+decided in their earlier school-days; and it was also but seldom that
+two boys so strong, active, and prominent, took this method of settling
+their differences.
+
+The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on the side
+of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But he fought with
+a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as Eric, on the other
+hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was soon pretty fairly divided
+between them.
+
+After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had been a
+silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys of such
+high standing, said with much, feeling--
+
+"This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu."
+
+"It is necessary," was Montagu's laconic reply.
+
+Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had taken
+place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain of seeing
+his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But curiosity soon took him
+back, and he came in just as the second round began. At first he only
+saw a crowd of boys in the middle of the room, but jumping on a desk he
+had a full view of what was going on.
+
+There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now thoroughly roused
+by the remarks he overheard, and especially by Wildney's whisper that
+"he was letting himself be licked," was exerting himself with more vigor
+and effect. It was anything but a noble sight; the faces of the
+combatants were streaked with blood and sweat, and as the miserable gang
+of lower school-boys backed them on with eager shouts of--"Now Eric, now
+Eric," "Now Montagu, go it, sixth, form," etc., both of them fought
+under a sense of deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which
+they shared in common.
+
+All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and vexation,
+his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard amid all the
+uproar, "Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!" There was reproach and
+sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one boy there, for Vernon,
+spite of the recent change in him, could not but continue a favorite.
+
+"Shut up there, you little donkey," shouted one or two, looking back at
+him for a moment.
+
+But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother's voice. The
+thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position was, and how
+different it might have been. He felt that he was utterly in the wrong,
+and Montagu altogether in the right; and from that moment his blows once
+more grew feeble and ill-directed. When they again stopped to take rest,
+the general shout for Montagu showed that he was considered to have the
+best of it.
+
+"I'm getting so tired of this," muttered Eric, during the pause.
+
+"Why, you're fighting like a regular muff," said Graham; "you'll have to
+acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute."
+
+"That I'll _never_ do," he said, once more firing up.
+
+Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for Owen, who
+had left the room, told him what was going on. He had always been a
+leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had several times been
+exerted in the right direction, and he was very much looked up to by all
+the boys alike, good or bad. He determined, for the credit of the sixth,
+that the fight should not go on, and bursting into the ring, with his
+strong shoulders he hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way,
+and struck down the lifted arms of the fighters.
+
+"You _shan't_ fight," he said, doggedly, thrusting himself between them;
+"so there's an end of it. If you do, you'll both have to fight
+me first."
+
+"Shame!" said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by Bull and
+others.
+
+"Shame, is it?" said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn. "There's
+only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or any other boy,
+repeat that word, I'll thrash him. Here, Monty, come away from this
+disgraceful scene."
+
+"I'm sick enough of it," said Montagu, "and am ready to stop if Williams
+is,--provided no one touches Wright."
+
+"I'm sick of it too," said Eric sullenly.
+
+"Then you two shall shake hands," said Duncan.
+
+For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of his
+life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply wronged,
+deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the momentary feeling:
+but Eric had observed the gesture, and his passionate pride took the
+alarm. "It's come to this, then," he thought; "Montagu doesn't think me
+good enough to be shaken hands with."
+
+"Pish!" he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; "it may be an awful honor
+to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but I'm not
+proud on the subject;" and he turned away.
+
+Montagu's hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle of anger
+or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was too late; that
+moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric's turn coldly
+to withdraw.
+
+"You don't think me worthy of your friendship, and what's the good of
+grasping hands if we don't do it with cordial hearts?"
+
+Montagu's lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting on his
+coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of his arm, and
+left the room with Duncan.
+
+"Come along, Wright," he said.
+
+"Nay, leave him," said Eric with a touch of remorse. "Much as you think
+me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one hurts him."
+
+The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained with
+Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their observations.
+
+"You didn't fight half like yourself," said Wildney.
+
+"Can't you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for." And getting up
+abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study, and bathe his
+swollen and aching face.
+
+In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him Eric
+burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the study, after
+the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his really warm
+affection for his little brother; and as he could no longer conceal the
+line he took in the school, they had been often together since then; and
+Eric's moral obliquity was not so great as to prevent him from feeling
+deep joy at the change for the better in Vernon's character.
+
+"Verny, Verny," he said, as the boy came up and affectionately took his
+hand, "it was you who lost me that fight."
+
+"Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu."
+
+"Don't you remember the days, Eric," he continued, "when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and how
+mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend, except
+poor Russell?"
+
+"I do, indeed. I didn't think then that it would come to this."
+
+"I've always been _so_ sorry," said Vernon, "that I joined the fellows
+in playing him tricks. I can't think how I came to do it, except that
+I've done such lots of bad things here. But he's forgiven and forgotten
+that long ago, and is very kind to me now."
+
+It was true; but Eric didn't know that half the kindness which Montagu
+showed to his brother was shown solely for _his_ sake.
+
+"Do you know, I've thought of a plan for making you two friends again?
+I've written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us next
+holidays."
+
+"Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; _there_ we might be friends. Perhaps
+there," he added, half to himself, "I might be more like what I was in
+better days."
+
+"But it's a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn't come yet," said
+Vernon.
+
+So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it otherwise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PIGEONS
+
+     "Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram."
+
+     Juv. X. 21.
+
+"How awfully dull it is, Charlie," said Eric, a few weeks before Easter,
+as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday afternoon.
+
+"Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket." And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.
+
+"I suppose this is what they call ennui," said Eric again, after a
+pause. "What is to be done, Sunbeam?"
+
+"You _shan't_ call me that, so there's an end of it," said Wildney,
+hitting him on the arm.
+
+"By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow's my birth-day, and I've got
+a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home. Let's go and see
+if it's come."
+
+"Capital! We will."
+
+So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they found
+the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the school, and
+carried up to Eric's study.
+
+On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a pair of
+fowls and a large plum-cake.
+
+"Hurrah!" said Wildney, "you were talking of nothing to do; I vote we
+have a carouse to-morrow."
+
+"Very well; only let's have it _before_ prayers, because we were so
+nearly caught last time."
+
+"Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here, lest
+we have another incursion of the 'Rosebuds.' I shall have to cut
+preparation, but that don't matter, It's Harley's night, and old Stupid
+will never twig."
+
+"Well, whom shall we ask?" said Eric.
+
+"Old Llewellyn for one," said Wildney. "We havn't seen him for an age,
+and he's getting too lazy even for a bit of fun."
+
+"Good; and Graham," suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded their
+possessions so much as common property, that he hadn't the least
+delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.
+
+"Yes; Graham's a jolly bird; and Bull?"
+
+"I've no objection; and Pietrie?"
+
+"Well; and your brother Vernon?"
+
+"No!" said Eric, emphatically. "At any rate I won't lead _him_ into
+mischief any more."
+
+"Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?"
+
+"No, again," said Eric; "he's a blackguard."
+
+"I wonder you haven't mentioned Duncan," said Wildney.
+
+"Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even old
+Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he's a great deal too correct to
+come now."
+
+"Well; we've got six already, that's quite enough."
+
+"Yes; but two fowls isn't enough for six hungry boys."
+
+"No, it isn't," said Wildney. He thought a little, and then, clapping
+his hands, danced about and said, "Are you game for a _regular_
+lark, Eric?"
+
+"Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I've very nearly been
+taking to work again to fill up the time."
+
+Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an excuse
+for the low places in form to which he was gradually sinking. Everybody
+knew that had he properly exerted his abilities he was capable of
+beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his conscience, he professed to
+ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece of muffishness, and was never
+slow to sneer at the "grinders," as he contemptuously called all those
+who laid themselves out to win school distinctions.
+
+"Ha, ha!" said Wildney, "that's rather good! No, Eric, it's too late for
+you to turn 'grinder' now. I might as well think of doing it myself, and
+I've never been higher than five from lag in my form yet."
+
+"Haven't you? But what's the regular lark you hinted at?"
+
+"Why, we'll go and seize the Gordonites' _pigeons_, and make another
+dish of them."
+
+"Seize the Gordonites' pigeons! Why, when do you mean?"
+
+"To-night."
+
+Eric gave a long whistle. "But wouldn't it be st--t--?"
+
+"Stealing?" said Wildney, with a loud laugh. "Pooh! '_convey_ the wise
+call it.'"
+
+But Eric still looked serious. "Why, my dear old boy," continued
+Wildney, "the Gordonites'll be the first to laugh at the trick when we
+tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There, now, don't
+look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with. Graham, and tell you
+the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at bed-time."
+
+After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study according to
+promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan. He didn't tell it
+plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan caught enough to guess
+what was intended, and said, when Wildney had gone--
+
+"Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric."
+
+Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly from any
+fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had recently
+received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly all the
+study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to assert his
+independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.
+
+"Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it's asked for," he
+answered, roughly. "You've done nothing but _advise_ lately, and I'm
+rather sick of it."
+
+"Comme vous voulez," replied Duncan, with a shrug. "Gang your own gait;
+I'll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you, since you _will_
+ruin yourself."
+
+Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric went down
+he didn't even bid Duncan goodnight.
+
+"Charlie," he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney's dormitory.
+
+"Hush!" whispered Wildney, "the other fellows are asleep. Come and sit
+by my bedside, and I'll tell you what we're going to do."
+
+Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed "First of all,
+_you're_ to keep awake till twelve to-night," he whispered; "old
+Rowley'll have gone round by that time, and it'll be all safe. Then come
+and awake me again, and I'll watch till one, Pietrie till two, and
+Graham till three. Then Graham'll awake us all, and we'll dress."
+
+"Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?"
+
+"Oh, I'll manage that," said Wildney, chuckling. "But come again and
+awake me at twelve, will you?"
+
+Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn't take off his clothes,
+for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as usual at
+eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes, till the
+head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake thinking for an
+hour, but his thoughts weren't very pleasant.
+
+At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.
+
+"I don't feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour, Charlie?"
+
+"Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim there; we
+shan't want it, and it might give the alarm."
+
+"All right."
+
+So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they talked in
+low voices until they heard the great school clock strike one. They then
+woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.
+
+At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the others in
+the lavatory.
+
+"Now, I'm going to get the key," said Wildney, "and mean to have a
+stomach-ache for the purpose."
+
+Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley's bed-room, which
+opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.
+
+No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder still.
+
+"Bother the fellow," said Wildney; "he sleeps like a grampus. Won't one
+of you try to wake him?"
+
+"No," said Graham; "'taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches."
+
+"Well, I must try again." But it seemed no use knocking, and Wildney at
+last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo on the
+bed-room door.
+
+"Who's there?" said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.
+
+"Only me, sir!" answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent way.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I'm indisposed," said
+Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the others
+shook with laughing.
+
+Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about suspiciously.
+
+"Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don't happen to have the
+key to-night." And so saying, he shut the door.
+
+"Phew! Here's a go!" said Wildney, recovering immediately. "It'll never
+do to awake old Rose. He'd smell a rat in no time."
+
+"I have it," said Pietrie. "I've got an old nail, with which I believe I
+can open the lock quite simply. Let's try."
+
+"Quietly and quick, then," said Eric.
+
+In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old nail, and
+the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in their hands,
+ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same window at which Eric
+and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had taken care beforehand to
+break the pane and move away the glass, so they had only to loosen the
+bar and slip through one by one.
+
+It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they stood out
+in the playground, all four would rather have been safe and harmlessly
+in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the enterprise bore them
+up, and they started off quickly for the house at which Mr. Gordon and
+his pupils lived, which was about half a mile from the school. They went
+arm in arm to assure each other a little, for at first in their fright
+they were inclined to take every post and tree for a man in ambush, and
+to hear a recalling voice in every sound of wind and wave.
+
+Not far from Mr. Gordon's was a carpenter's shop, and outside of this
+there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to carry this
+ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the low garden wall
+with it, and then place it against the house, immediately under the
+dovecot which hung by the first story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest
+of the four, was to take the birds, while the others held the ladder.
+
+Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the window as
+possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the cot. He
+succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing so threw the
+other birds into a state of such alarm that they fluttered about in the
+wildest manner, and the moment his hands were withdrawn, flew out with a
+great flapping of hurried wings.
+
+The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down the
+ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the others, who
+instantly wrung their necks.
+
+"I'm nearly sure I heard somebody stir," said Wildney; "we haven't been
+half quiet enough. Here! let's crouch down in this corner."
+
+All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held their
+breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they heard the
+window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon's voice asked
+sternly--"Who's there?"
+
+He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made an
+endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at full
+length, he could not do so.
+
+"We must cut for it," said Eric; "it's quite too dark for him to see us,
+or even to notice that we are boys."
+
+They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after the other,
+as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got to the top of
+the wall he heard the back door open, and some one run out into
+the yard.
+
+"Run for your lives," said Eric hurriedly; "it's Gordon, and he's
+raising the alarm."
+
+They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+"thieves! thieves!"
+
+"We must separate and run different ways, or we've no chance of escape.
+We'd better turn towards the town to put them off the right scent," said
+Eric again.
+
+"Don't leave me," pleaded Wildney; "you know I can't run very fast."
+
+"No, Charlie, I won't;" and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him over the
+style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham took the opposite
+direction.
+
+Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be Mr.
+Gordon's servant-man) was running after them, and they could distinctly
+hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field distant. He carried
+a light, and they heard him panting. They were themselves tired, and in
+the utmost trepidation; the usually courageous Wildney was trembling all
+over, and his fear communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a
+trial for burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations, as
+the sound of the footsteps came nearer.
+
+"I can't run any further, Eric," said Wildney. "What shall we do? don't
+leave me, for heaven's sake."
+
+"Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t'other side of this
+hedge."
+
+They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part of a
+plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some bushes, and
+keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover over their
+white collars.
+
+The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in front
+of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on both sides
+and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering boys, and at last
+giving up the search in despair, went slowly home. They heard him
+plodding back over the field, and it was not until the sound of his
+footsteps had died away, that Eric cautiously broke cover, and looked
+over the hedge. He saw the man's light gradually getting more distant,
+and said, "All right now, Charlie. We must make the best of our
+way home."
+
+"Are you sure he's gone?" said Wildney, who had not yet recovered from
+his fright.
+
+"Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain't caught."
+
+They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric's room to wait for the other two. To
+their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.
+
+"Were you twigged?" asked Wildney eagerly.
+
+"No," said Graham; "precious near it though. Old Gordon and some men
+were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and escaped them.
+It's all serene, and we shan't be caught."
+
+"Well, we'd best to bed now," said Eric; "and, to my thinking, we should
+be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this affair."
+
+"Yes, we had better tell _no one_." They agreed, and went off to bed
+again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as if nothing had
+happened, and made no allusion to the preceding night, although, they
+could not help chuckling inwardly a little when the Gordonites came to
+morning school, brimful of a story about their house having been
+attacked in the night by thieves, who, after bagging some pigeons, had
+been chevied by Gordon and the servants. Wildney professed immense
+interest in the incident, and asked many questions, which showed that
+there was not a shadow of suspicion in any one's mind as to the
+real culprits.
+
+Carter, the school servant, didn't seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to his
+disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy reads
+this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to hear that the
+burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie, Graham,
+and Wildney.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+     "Praepediuntur
+     Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,
+     Nant oculi."
+
+     LUCR. iii. 417.
+
+Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got everything
+ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney, relying on the chance
+of names not being called over (which, was only done in case any one's
+absence was observed), had absented himself altogether from the
+boarders' room, and helped busily to spread the table for the banquet.
+The cook had roasted for them the fowls and pigeons, and Billy had
+brought an ample supply of beer and some brandy for the occasion. A
+little before eight o'clock everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and
+Llewellyn were summoned to join the rest.
+
+The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys were in the
+highest spirits. Eric's reckless gaiety was kindled by Wildney's
+frolicsome vivacity, and Graham's sparkling wit; they were all six in a
+roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of fun elicited by the
+more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn, and the dainties of
+Wildney's parcel were accompanied by draughts of brandy and water, which
+were sometimes exchanged for potations of the raw liquor. It was not the
+first time, be it remembered, that the members of that young party had
+been present at similar scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was
+astonished, and alarmed occasionally at the quantities of spirits and
+other inebriating drinks that of late had found their way to the
+studies. The disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that he
+was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual tastes were
+getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he perceived in
+himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence, he saw them still
+more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which seemed to be
+spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance, the mind, and the
+manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the vision of a Nemesis
+breaking in fire out of his darkened future, terrified his guilty
+conscience in the watches of the night; and the conviction of some
+fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out of the night of his
+undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with agony and fear. But he
+fancied it too late to repent. He strangled the half-formed resolutions
+as they rose, and trusted to the time when, by leaving school, he should
+escape, as he idly supposed, the temptations to which he had yielded.
+Meanwhile, the friends who would have rescued him had been alienated by
+his follies, and the principles which might have preserved him had been
+eradicated by his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer,
+and the helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
+word of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet of
+every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.
+
+As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more foolish and
+random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But still most of them
+mingled some sense of caution with their enjoyment, and warned Eric and
+Wildney more than once that they must look out, and not take too much
+that night for fear of being caught. But it was Wildney's birth-day, and
+Eric's boyish mirth, suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out
+unrestrained. In the riot of their feasting, the caution had been
+utterly neglected, and the boys were far from being sober when the sound
+of the prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.
+
+"Good heavens!" shouted Graham, springing up; "there's the prayer-bell;
+I'd no notion it was so late. Here, let's shove these brandy bottles and
+things into the cupboards and drawers, and then we must run down."
+
+There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had cleared
+the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the more
+difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and conduct them
+steadily into the prayer-room.
+
+Wildney's seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty in
+getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn took him by
+the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him safely to his seat,
+where he assumed a look of preternatural gravity. But Eric sat near the
+head of the first table, not far from Dr. Rowlands' desk, and none of
+the others had to go to that part of the room. Graham grasped his arm
+tight, led him carefully down stairs, and, as they were reaching the
+door, said to him, in a most earnest and imploring tone--"Do try and
+walk sensibly to your place, Eric, or we shall all be caught."
+
+It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly seated, and
+most of the Bibles were already open, although the Doctor had not yet
+come in. Consequently, the room was still, and the entrance of Graham
+and Eric after the rest attracted general notice. Eric had just sense
+enough to try and assume his ordinary manner; but he was too giddy with
+the fumes of drink to walk straight, or act naturally.
+
+Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother with great
+eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.
+
+"Wright," whispered he, in a timid voice; "just see how Eric walks. What
+can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be ill!" he said,
+starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger to one side, and
+nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.
+
+Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.
+
+"Hush!" he whispered; "take no notice; he's been drinking, Verny, and I
+fear he'll be caught."
+
+Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought, and he
+had hoped, that since the day at the "Jolly Herring," his brother had
+abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most careful to conceal
+from him the worst of his failings. And now he trembled violently with
+fear for his discovery, and horror at his disgraceful condition.
+
+The sound of Eric's unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly raise
+his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for the boy
+on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist him. It was not
+Eric's proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long look of astonishment,
+looked down at his book again, and said nothing.
+
+It made other hearts besides Vernon's ache to see the unhappy boy roll
+to his place in that helpless way.
+
+Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were finished,
+the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly answering his
+"adsum," as he should have done, stood up, with a foolish look, and
+said, "Yes, Sir." The head master looked at him for a minute; the boy's
+glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid appearance, told an unmistakable tale;
+but Dr. Rowlands only remarked, "Williams, you don't look well. You had
+better go at once to bed."
+
+It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help, so
+Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much difficulty
+(for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his bed-room.
+
+Wildney's condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while walking up
+and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind that both Eric
+and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no remarks to them, and
+merely went to the Doctor to talk over the steps which were to be taken.
+
+"I shall summon the school," said Dr. Rowlands, "on Monday, and by that
+time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear, is the only
+course open to us."
+
+"Is not that a _very_ severe line to take?"
+
+"Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must consider the
+matter."
+
+"Poor Williams!" sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.
+
+The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by Eric and
+his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness. It seemed
+clear that two of them at least were detected, and they were
+inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who had to
+stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached violently, and he
+was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He longed for the morrow,
+that at least he might have the poor consolation of knowing his fate. No
+one came near him all day. Eric wished to do so, but as he could not
+have visited the room without express leave, the rest dissuaded him from
+asking, lest he should excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect
+made poor Wildney even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as
+it was possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed
+hard to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close
+a friend.
+
+At school the next morning the various masters read out to their forms a
+notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to meet at ten in
+the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was pretty clearly
+understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had reference to the
+drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been _said_ on the subject
+as yet; and every guilty heart among those 250 boys beat fast lest _his_
+sin too should have been discovered, and he should be called out for
+some public and heavy punishment.
+
+The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room, took
+their places according to their respective forms. The masters in their
+caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular bench at the
+upper end of the room, and in the centre of them, before a small table,
+sate Dr. Rowlands.
+
+The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush. The
+blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a breath
+could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.
+
+Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said, "I
+shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth, and
+upper-fourth forms."
+
+This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were present on
+whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once told Eric and
+Wildney that _they_ were the boys to be punished, and that the others
+had escaped.
+
+The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have told,
+from the sound of the boys' voices as they answered, which of them were
+afflicted with a troubled conscience.
+
+Another slight pause, and breathless hush.
+
+"Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward."
+
+The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was sitting with
+his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced; and Wildney, from
+the other end of the room, where the younger boys sat, getting up, came
+and stood by his side.
+
+Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never once
+raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces, you could
+scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited friends, whose laugh
+and shout had often rung so merrily through the play-ground, and woke
+the echoes of the rocks along the shore. Every eye was on them, and
+they were conscious of it, though they could not see it--painfully
+conscious of it, so that they wished the very ground to yawn beneath
+their feet for the moment, and swallow up their shame. Companionship in
+disgrace increased the suffering; had either of them been alone, he
+would have been less acutely sensible to the trying nature of his
+position; but that they, so different in their ages and position in the
+school, should thus have their friendship and the results of it
+blazoned, or rather branded, before their friends and enemies added
+keenly to the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric
+and Charlie awaited their sentence.
+
+"Williams and Wildney," said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of which
+every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer, "you have been
+detected in a sin most disgraceful and most dangerous. On Saturday night
+you were both drinking, and you were guilty of such gross excess, that
+you were neither of you in a fit state to appear among your
+companions--least of all to appear among them at the hour of prayer. I
+shall not waste many words on an occasion like this; only I trust that
+those of your schoolfellows who saw you staggering and rolling into the
+room on Saturday evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and
+degrading, will learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the
+Spartans taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most ruinous
+vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment will be public
+expulsion, for which you will prepare this very evening. I am unwilling
+that for a single day either of you--especially the elder of
+you--should linger, so as possibly to contaminate others with the danger
+of so pernicious an example."
+
+Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters equally
+by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy sensation, which
+was evident to all present, though no one spoke a word; but Dr. Rowlands
+took no notice of it, and only said to the culprits--
+
+"You may return to your seats."
+
+The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly knew how.
+They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their sentence, and the
+painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned over the desk with his
+head resting on a book, too stunned even to think; and Wildney looked
+straight before him with his eyes fixed in a stupid and
+unobserved stare.
+
+Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was liberated Eric
+sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to him, and rushed
+wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a moment, however, he
+re-opened it, for he heard Wildney's step, and, after admitting him,
+locked it once more.
+
+Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms round
+Eric's neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a flood of
+tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to their sorrow.
+
+"O my father! my father!" sobbed Wildney at length. "What will he say?
+He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me when he thinks
+I bring disgrace on him."
+
+Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents, and of the
+pang which _his_ disgrace would cause their loving hearts; but he could
+say nothing, and only stroked Wildney's dark hair again and again with
+a soothing hand.
+
+They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric could not
+help thinking how very, very different their relative positions might
+have been; how, while he might have been aiding and ennobling the young
+boy beside him, he had alternately led and followed him into wickedness
+and disgrace. His heart was full of misery and bitterness, and he felt
+almost indifferent to all the future, and weary of his life.
+
+A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the school
+servant.
+
+"You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen."
+
+"O no! no! no!" exclaimed Wildney; "_cannot_ be sent away like this. It
+would break my father's heart. Eric, _do_ come and entreat Dr. Rowlands
+to forgive us only this once."
+
+"Yes," said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; "he _shall_ forgive
+us--_you_ at any rate. I will not leave him till he does. Cheer up,
+Charlie, cheer up, and come along."
+
+Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and sprang
+down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following him. They went
+straight for the Doctor's study, and without waiting for the answer to
+their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr. Rowlands, who sate
+thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst out passionately, "O
+sir, forgive us this once."
+
+The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy's manner. He remained silent a
+moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--
+
+"Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could be no
+more perilous example for the school, than the one you have been
+setting, Williams. Leave the room," he added, with an authoritative
+gesture, "my mind is made up."
+
+But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master's manner; an
+imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations, and,
+heedless of the command, he broke out again--
+
+"O sir, try me but once, _only_ try me. I promise you most faithfully
+that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do trust me, and I
+will be responsible for Wildney too."
+
+Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric's present mood he must and would be
+heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to pace silently up
+and down the room in perplexed and anxious thought; at last he stopped
+and turned over the pages of a thick school register, and found
+Eric's name.
+
+"It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind. That
+most seriously aggravates your fault."
+
+"O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I _could_ do
+such great things, if you will be but merciful, and give me time to
+change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only this once, and I will
+never ask again. Let us bear _any_ other punishment but this. O sir," he
+said, approaching the doctor in an imploring attitude, "spare us this
+one time for the sake of our friends."
+
+The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the room in
+silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain his emotion.
+
+"It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must not
+weakly yield to entreaty. You must go."
+
+Eric wrung his hands in agony. "O, sir, then, if you must do so, expel
+me only, and not Charlie, _I_ can bear it, but do not let me ruin him
+also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do, do forgive him. It
+is I who have misled him;" and he flung himself on his knees, and lifted
+his hands entreatingly towards the Doctor.
+
+Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears, his
+agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a look
+of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his wild word
+of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that seemed to come
+from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his resolve, wavered for a
+moment, and then once more looked at the register.
+
+"Yes," he said, after a long pause, "here is an entry which shall save
+you this time. I find written here against your name, 'April 3. Risked
+his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at the Stack.' That one
+good and noble deed shall be the proof that you are capable of better
+things. It may be weak perhaps--I know that it will be called weak--and
+I do not feel certain that I am doing right; but if I err it shall be on
+the side of mercy. I shall change expulsion into some other punishment.
+You may go."
+
+Wildney's face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray of
+sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.
+
+"O thank you, thank you, sir," he exclaimed, drying his eyes, and
+pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no light
+pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and while the
+two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a timid hand knocked
+at the door, and Vernon entered.
+
+"I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric," he said in a low voice, and
+trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he modestly approached
+towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the presence of the others in
+the complete absorption of his feelings. He stood in a sorrowful
+attitude, not venturing to look up, and his hand played nervously with
+the ribbon of his straw hat.
+
+"I have just forgiven him, my little boy," said the Doctor kindly,
+patting his stooping head; "there he is, and he has been speaking
+for himself."
+
+"O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don't know what to say for joy. O Eric,
+thank God that you are not to be expelled;" and Vernon went to his
+brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.
+
+Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally a man
+of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by this act the
+charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in him to be willing
+to do so, but it would have required an iron heart to resist such
+earnest supplications, and he was more than repaid when he saw how much
+anguish he had removed by yielding to their entreaties.
+
+Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys retired.
+
+They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in their
+favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to alter the
+Doctor's intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had been strongly
+endeavoring to change the Doctor's mind, and had dwelt forcibly on all
+the good points in Eric's character, and the promise of his earlier
+career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and Duncan to beg that the
+expulsion might be commuted into some other punishment. They had failed
+to convince him; but, perhaps, had they not thus exerted themselves, Dr.
+Rowlands might have been unshaken, though he could not be unmoved by
+Vernon's gentle intercession and Eric's passionate prayers.
+
+Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of feeling,
+only shook Eric's hand with all his might, and then darted out into the
+playground to announce the happy news. The boys all flocked round him,
+and received the intelligence with unmitigated pleasure. Among them all
+there was not one who did not rejoice that Eric and Wildney were yet to
+continue of their number.
+
+But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful in his
+penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric sat down on a
+chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side. The sun was
+setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green fields and silver
+sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air was full of peace and
+coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket field blended joyously
+with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric was fond of beauty in every
+shape, and his father had early taught him a keen appreciation of the
+glories of nature. He had often gazed before on that splendid scene, as
+he was now gazing on it thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He
+looked long and wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds,
+and passed his arm more fondly round Vernon's shoulder.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying still,"
+said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had overflowed on his
+brother's cheek, "aren't you glad that the Doctor has forgiven you?"
+
+"Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I hope your
+school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would give up all I
+have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have learnt. God grant
+that I may yet have time and space to do better."
+
+"Let us pray together, Eric," whispered his brother reverently, and they
+knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant parents and
+friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for each other, and for
+Wildney, and they thanked God for all his goodness to them; and then
+Eric poured out his heart in a fervent prayer that a holier and happier
+future might atone for his desecrated past, and that his sins might be
+forgiven for his Saviour's sake.
+
+The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more light-hearted, and
+gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss, before they went down again
+to the play-ground. But they avoided the rest of the boys, and took a
+stroll together along the sands, talking quietly, and happily, and
+hoping bright hopes for future days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+
+     "Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?
+     A tress of maiden's hair,
+     Of drowned maiden's hair,
+     Above the nets at sea?"--KINGSLEY.
+
+Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead
+of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and
+penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to repair the
+injury which their characters had received. Eric, especially, seemed to
+be devoting himself with every energy to regain, if possible, his long
+lost position, and by the altered complexion of his remaining
+school-life, to atone in some poor measure for its earlier sins. And he
+carried Wildney with him, influencing others also of his late companions
+in a greater or less degree. It was not Eric's nature to do things by
+halves, and it became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and
+abandon his old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no
+longer hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of idleness
+cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded sufficiently, by dint of
+desperately hard work, to acquit himself with considerable credit, and
+in the Easter examination came out sufficiently high, to secure his
+remove into the sixth form after the holidays.
+
+He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he had
+ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect, and the
+change for the better in his character tended to restore unanimity and
+good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the party which made a
+point of ridiculing and preventing industry; and, sharing as he did the
+sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was able quietly and unobtrusively
+to calm down the jealousies and allay the heartburnings which had for so
+long a time brought discord and disunion into the school society.
+Cheerfulness and unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and
+Eric had the intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within
+his power.
+
+So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first days
+glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled again to
+Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of companions more
+truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow circle of his late
+associates.
+
+"What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?" asked Duncan, as they
+chatted together one evening.
+
+"I won't go without leave," said Eric; "I should only get caught, and
+get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged now to strict
+obedience."
+
+"Ay, you're quite right. We'll get leave easily enough though, provided
+we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we make up a party."
+
+"By the bye, I forgot; I'm engaged to Wildney to-morrow."
+
+"Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you like."
+
+"Most gladly," said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this that Duncan
+observed the improvement in his old friends, and was falling in with the
+endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to each other, and destroy
+all traces of the late factions.
+
+"Do you mind my bringing Montagu?"
+
+"Not at all. Why should I?" answered Eric, with a slight blush. Montagu
+and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as yet, spoken
+to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the excursion to give
+them an opportunity of becoming friends once more, by being thrown
+together. He knew well that they both earnestly wished it, although,
+with the natural shyness of boys, they hardly knew how to set about
+effecting it. Montagu hung back lest he should seem to be patronising a
+fallen enemy, and Eric lest he should have sinned too deeply to
+be forgiven.
+
+The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they should
+meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the boat, at ten
+o'clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a ready consent to the
+row, on condition of their being accompanied by the experienced sailor
+whom the boys called Jim. The precaution was by no means unnecessary,
+for the various currents which ran round the island were violent at
+certain stages of the tide, and extremely dangerous for any who were not
+aware of their general course.
+
+Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any feeling of
+restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a strong effort,
+determined to "make up with him" before starting, and went into his
+study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly he came in, Montagu
+jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when, without any allusion to
+the past, the two shook hands with all warmth, and looked the old proud
+look into each other's faces, they felt once more that their former
+affection was unimpaired, and that in heart they were real and loving
+friends. Most keenly did they both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and
+they found endless subjects to talk about on their way to Starhaven,
+where the others were already assembled when they came.
+
+With Jim's assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and sprang into
+it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing off they saw Wright
+and Vernon running down to the shore towards them, and they waited to
+see what they wanted. "Couldn't you take us with you?" asked Vernon,
+breathless with his run.
+
+"I'm afraid not, Verny," said Montagu; "the boat won't hold more than
+six, will it, Jim?"
+
+"No, sir, not safely."
+
+"Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny," said Eric, as he saw his
+brother's disappointed look.
+
+"Then Wright shall take mine," said Wildney.
+
+"O dear no," said Wright, "we wouldn't turn you out for the world.
+Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast instead, and will
+meet you here as we come back."
+
+"Well, good bye, then; off we go;" and with light hearts the boaters and
+the pedestrians parted.
+
+Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the oars, while
+Wildney steered. Graham's "crabs," and Wildney's rather crooked
+steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they were full of
+fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the waves. Then they made
+Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as they rowed, and joined
+vigorously in the choruses. They had arranged to make straight for St.
+Catherine's Head, and land somewhere near it to choose a place for their
+pic-nic. It took them nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed
+leisurely, and enjoyed the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the
+sunniest days of early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the
+calm sea breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in
+the warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the green
+and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through which
+occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart like an
+arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they kept not far
+from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with its rocks and
+hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a glowing picture, to
+which the golden green of the spring herbage, bathed in its morning
+sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who could have been otherwise
+than happy in such a scene and at such a time? but these were boys with
+the long bright holiday before them, and happiness is almost too quiet a
+word to express the bounding exultation of heart, the royal and tingling
+sense of vigorous life, which made them shout and sing, as their boat
+rustled through the ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible
+enjoyment.
+
+They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it made a very
+tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny pebbled cave, by
+St. Catherine's Head; although, instead of anything more objectionable,
+they had thought it best to content themselves with a very moderate
+quantity of beer. When they had done eating, they amused themselves on
+the shore; and had magnificent games among the rocks, and in every
+fantastic nook of the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a
+bathe to wind up with, as it was the first day when it had been quite
+warm enough to make bathing pleasant.
+
+"But we've got no towels."
+
+"Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we're dry." So they
+bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they all agreed
+that it was the very jolliest day they'd ever had at Roslyn, and voted
+to renew the experiment before the holidays were over, and take Wright
+and Vernon with them in a larger boat.
+
+It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when they
+began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the land for
+variety's sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily as ever.
+
+"I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest bit of
+the whole coast," said Eric, as they neared a glen through whose narrow
+gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled down with noisy
+turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that glen; its steep and
+rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss, and wild-flowers, and the
+sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely windings, which were colored
+with topaz and emerald by the pencillings of nature and the rich
+stains of time.
+
+"Yes," answered Montagu, "_I_ always stick up for Avon Glen as the
+finest scene we've got about here. But, I say, who's that gesticulating
+on the rock there to the right of it? I verily believe it's Wright,
+apostrophising the ocean for Vernon's benefit. I only see one of
+them though."
+
+"I bet you he's spouting
+
+     'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!
+     Ten thousand fleets, etc.'"
+
+said Graham laughing.
+
+"What do you say to putting in to shore there?" said Duncan; "it's only
+two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make shift to take them
+in for that distance. If Jim says anything we'll chuck him overboard."
+
+They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who stood
+there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made out that it
+_was_ Wright), still continued to wave his arms and beckon them in a
+manner which they at first thought ridiculous, but which soon make them
+feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and they soon got within two
+hundred yards of the beach. Wright had ceased to make signals, but
+appeared to be shouting to them, and pointing towards one corner of the
+glen; but though they caught the sound of his voice they could not hear
+what he said.
+
+"I wonder why Vernon isn't with him," said Eric anxiously; "I hope--why,
+what _are_ you looking at, Charlie?"
+
+"What's that in the water there?" said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.
+
+Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. "Good God!"
+he exclaimed, turning pale; "what can be the matter?"
+
+"O _do_ let me look," said Eric.
+
+"No! stop, stop, Eric, you'd better not, I think; pray don't, it may be
+all a mistake. You'd better not--but it looked--nay, you really
+_mustn't,_ Eric," he said, and, as if accidentally, he let the telescope
+fall into the water, and they saw it sink down among the seaweeds at
+the bottom.
+
+Eric looked at him reproachfully. "What's the fun of that, Monty? you
+let it drop on purpose."
+
+"O never mind; I'll get Wildney another. I really daren't let you look,
+for fear you should _fancy_ the same as I did, for it must be fancy. O
+_don't_ let us put in there--at least not all of us."
+
+What _was_ that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon left the
+others, they walked along the coast, following the direction of the
+boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting eggs. They were very
+successful, and, to their great delight, managed to secure some rather
+rare specimens. When they had tired themselves with this pursuit, they
+lay on the summit of one of the cliffs which formed the sides of Avon
+Glen, and Wright, who was very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of
+Marmion with great enthusiasm.
+
+So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over, Vernon
+took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the cliff's edge. It
+thundered over the side, bounding down till it reached the strand, and a
+large black cormorant, startled by the reverberating echoes, rose up
+suddenly, and flapped its way with protruded neck to a rock on the
+further side of the little bay.
+
+"I bet you that animal's got a nest somewhere near here," said Vernon
+eagerly. "Come, let's have a look for it; a cormorant's egg would be a
+jolly addition to our collection."
+
+They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some eight
+feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a tree, on
+which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the existence of a
+rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it contained eggs or no.
+
+"I must bag that nest; it's pretty sure to have eggs in it," said
+Vernon, "and I can get at it easy enough." He immediately began to
+descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he found it
+harder than he expected.
+
+"Hallo," he said, "this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn't a better dodge for getting at it." He reached
+the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the ledge which
+promised more hope of success.
+
+"You'd better give it up, Verny," said Wright. "I'm sure it's harder
+than we fancied, _I_ couldn't manage it, I know."
+
+"O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards the right
+the way's plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest in no time."
+Again his descended in a different direction, but again he failed. The
+nest could only be seen from the top, and he had lost the right route.
+
+"You must keep more to the right."
+
+"I know," answered Vernon; "but, bother take it, I can't manage it, now
+I'm so far down. I must climb up _again_."
+
+"_Do_ give it up, Verny, there's a good fellow. You _can't_ reach it,
+and really it's dangerous."
+
+"O no, not a bit of it. My head's very steady, and I feel as cool as
+possible. We mustn't give up; I've only to get at the tree, and then I
+shall be able to reach the nest from it quite easily."
+
+"Well, do take care, that's a dear fellow."
+
+"Never fear," said Vernon, who was already commencing his third attempt.
+This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a part of the root,
+while with his hands he clung on to a clump of heather. "Hurrah!" he
+cried, "it's got two eggs in it, Wright;" and he stretched downwards to
+take them. Just as he was doing so, he heard the root on which his foot
+rested give a great crack, and with a violent start he made a spring for
+one of the lower branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest
+for an instant on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather
+gave way, and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of
+the cliff.
+
+With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.
+
+"Vernon! Vernon!" shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close up to the
+edge of the precipice. "O Vernon! for heaven's sake speak!"
+
+There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some minutes he
+was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild attempts to descend
+the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the attempt in despair.
+There was a tradition in the school that the feat had once been
+accomplished by an adventurous and active boy, but Wright at any rate
+found it hopeless for himself. The only other way to reach the glen was
+by a circuitous route which led to the entrance of the narrow gorge,
+along the sides of which it was possible to make way with difficulty
+down the bank of the river to the place where it met the sea. But this
+would have taken him an hour and a half, and was far from easy when the
+river was swollen with high tide. Nor was there any house within some
+distance at which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult
+of conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the chance
+of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine's Head. It was
+already three o'clock, and he knew that they could not now be longer
+than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching the headland,
+round which he knew they would first come in sight. He watched with wild
+eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire to catch sight of them;
+but the leaden-footed moments crawled on like hours, and he could not
+help shivering with agony and fear. At last he caught a glimpse of them,
+and springing up, began to shout at the top of his voice, and wave his
+handkerchief and his arms in the hope of attracting their attention.
+Little thought those blithe merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy
+laughter which they sent ringing over the waters, little they thought
+how terrible a tragedy awaited them.
+
+At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting inland,
+and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but feeling sure that
+they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as fast as he could to
+Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at a farm-house what had
+happened, and asked them to get a cart ready to convey the wounded boy
+to Roslyn school.
+
+Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy evening,
+radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight and transparent
+wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place where Vernon lay; and
+the little ripples fell over him wonderingly, with the low murmur of
+their musical laughter, and blurred and dimmed the vivid splashes and
+crimson streaks upon the white stone on which his head had fallen, and
+washed away some of the purple bells and green sprigs of heather round
+which his fingers were closed in the grasp of death, and played softly
+with his fair hair as it rose, and fell, and floated on their
+undulations like a leaf of golden-colored weed, until they themselves
+were faintly discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new
+plaything, they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just
+strong enough to move rudely the boy's light weight, and in a few
+moments more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu's
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had been
+gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat, while Eric
+at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to verify his
+horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it _was_ a boy lying
+in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was motionless;--he must have fallen
+there from the cliff.
+
+Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the boat
+grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to the spot
+where his brother's body lay. With a burst of passionate affection, he
+flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the cold hand in his
+own--the little rigid hand in which the green blades of grass, and fern,
+and heath, so tightly clutched, were unconscious of the tale they told.
+
+"Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!" he cried in anguish, as
+he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little blood had flowed.
+But the child's head fell back heavily, and his arms hung motionless
+beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly caught the look of dead
+fixity in his blue open eyes.
+
+The others had come up. "O God, save my brother, save him, save him from
+death," cried Eric, "I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh God! Look!
+look!" he continued, "he has fallen from the cliff with his head on this
+cursed stone," pointing to the block of quartz, still red with
+blood-stained hair; "but we must get a doctor. He is not dead! no, no,
+no, he _cannot_ be dead. Take him quickly, and let us row home. Oh God!
+why did I ever leave him?"
+
+The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon's corpse
+into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the body, and
+moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold pale brow and
+white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and was not dead, the
+others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling of terrified anxiety
+lay like frost upon their hearts.
+
+They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless boy, and
+heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few boys were about
+the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn, and Dr. Underhay, who
+had been summoned, was instantly in attendance. He looked at Vernon for
+a moment, and then shook his head in a way that could not be mistaken.
+Eric saw it, and flung himself with uncontrollable agony on his
+brother's corpse. "O Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then
+he is dead." And, unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.
+
+I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the very sun
+in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric's wounded and crushed spirit. He
+hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried Vernon in the little
+green churchyard by Russell's side, and the patter of the earth upon the
+coffin--that most terrible of all sounds--struck his ear, the iron
+entered into his soul, and he had but one wish as he turned away from
+the open grave, and that was, soon to lie beside his beloved little
+brother and to be at rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAST TEMPTATION
+
+     [Greek: 'Ae d' Atae sthenazae te chai 'aztipos sunecha pasas
+     Pollou 'upechpzotheei, phthaneei d' de te pasan ep' aiach
+     Blaptous' anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.
+
+Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged the
+violence of Eric's grief, which seemed likely to settle down into a
+sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to Fairholm were
+almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of sorrow; but they
+grew calmer in time,--and while none of his school-fellows ever ventured
+in his presence to allude to Vernon, because of the emotion which the
+slightest mention of him excited, yet he rarely wrote any letters to his
+relations in which he did not refer to his brother's death, in language
+which grew at length both manly and resigned.
+
+A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his study in
+the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to play
+regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He spoke
+freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than he had
+ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence, but even
+strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. "I can hardly even yet
+realize," he added, "that I am alone here, and that I am writing to my
+aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my noble, only brother,
+Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards him. I _must_ be a better
+boy, I _will_ be better than I have been, in the hopes of meeting him
+again. Indeed, indeed, dear aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am
+laying aside, with all my might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing
+my very best to redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my
+time at Roslyn will be more worthily spent than any of it has been
+as yet."
+
+He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing quietly
+on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and repose stole
+over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was ajar, the leering
+eyes and villainously cunning countenance of Billy.
+
+"What do you want?" he said angrily, casting at the intruder a look of
+intense disgust.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the man, pulling his hair. "Anything in my line,
+sir, to-day?"
+
+"No!" answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. "What business
+have you here? Get away instantly."
+
+"Not had much custom from you lately, sir," said the man.
+
+"What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to me? If you
+don't make yourself scarce at once, I'll--"
+
+"O well," said the man; "if it comes to that, I've business enough.
+Perhaps you'll just pay me this debt," he continued, changing his
+fawning manner into a bullying swagger. "I've waited long enough."
+
+Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It purported to
+be a bill for various items of drink, all of which Eric _knew_ to have
+been paid for, and among other things, a charge of �6 for the dinner at
+the "Jolly Herring."
+
+"Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds for the
+dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for it before it
+took place."
+
+"That's now't to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the young
+gen'lman in the cheer, I comes to you."
+
+_Now_ Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant by his
+threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put up to act
+in this way by some one, and had little doubt that Brigson was the
+instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the man said, that he had
+never received the money. Brigson was quite wicked enough to have
+embezzled it for his own purposes.
+
+"Go," he said to the man; "you shall have the money in a week."
+
+"And mind it bean't more nor a week. I don't chuse to wait for my money
+no more," said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an undisguised
+chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down stairs.
+
+What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu, who were
+best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the memory of
+unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to obliterate from the
+memory of all. He had not the moral courage to face the natural
+consequences of his past misconduct, and was now ashamed to speak of
+what he had not then been ashamed to do. He told Graham and Wildney, who
+were the best of his old associates, and they at once agreed that _they_
+ought to be responsible for at least a share of the debt. Still, between
+them they could only muster three pounds out of the six which were
+required, and the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect
+of extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.
+
+A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source of his
+trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest friend. To him
+he could speak without scruple and without reserve, and from him he knew
+that he would receive nothing but the noblest advice and the
+warmest sympathy.
+
+He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.
+
+"Ah, Eric, Eric!" said Mr. Rose; "you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins."
+
+"O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems cruel
+that I should receive at once so sad a check."
+
+"There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for the
+money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to me."
+
+It was a hard course for Eric's proud and loving heart to write and tell
+his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it faithfully,
+extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved him, to send the
+money by return of post.
+
+It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection. Mrs.
+Trevor knew her nephew's character, and did not add by reproaches to the
+bitterness which she perceived he had endured; she simply sent him the
+money, and told him, that in spite of his many failures, "she still had
+perfect confidence in the true heart of her dear boy."
+
+Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it became
+more and more the passionate craving of Eric's soul to be worthy of that
+love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost path than to keep in
+the right one all along; and by one more terrible fall, the poor erring
+boy was to be taught for the last time the fearful strength of
+temptation, and the only source in earth and heaven from which
+deliverance can come. Theoretically he knew it, but as yet not
+practically. Great as his trials had been, and deeply as he had
+suffered, it was God's will that he should pass through a yet fiercer
+flame ere he could be purified from pride and passion and
+self-confidence, and led to the cross of a suffering Saviour, there to
+fling himself down in heart-rending humility, and cast his great load of
+cares and sins upon Him who cared for him through all his wanderings,
+and was leading him back through thorny places to the green pastures and
+still waters, where at last he might have rest.
+
+The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring, he dashed
+it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade him write a
+receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an air of cunning and
+triumph that Eric was both astonished and dismayed. Could the miscreant
+have any further plot against him? At first he fancied that Billy might
+attempt to extort money by a threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this
+supposition he banished as unlikely since it might expose Billy himself
+to very unpleasant consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said
+contemptuously, "Never come near me again; next time you come up to the
+studies I'll tell Carter to turn you out."
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" sneered Billy. "How mighty we young gents are all of a
+sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me again;
+never fear, young gen'lman." He shouted out the latter words, for Eric
+had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already in the street.
+Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from this quarter. At first
+the thought of it was disquieting, but three weeks glided away, and
+Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school work, began to remember it
+as a mere vague and idle threat. But one afternoon, to his horror, he
+again heard Billy's step on the stairs, and again saw the hateful
+iniquitous face at the door.
+
+"Not much custom from you lately, sir," said Billy, mockingly. "Anything
+in my line to-day."
+
+"Didn't I tell you never to come near me again, you foul villain? Go
+this instant, or I'll call Carter;" and, opening the window, he prepared
+to put his threat into execution.
+
+"Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I've got first." It was a printed
+notice to the following effect--
+
+"FIVE POUNDS REWARD.
+
+"WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the evening of
+April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon's premises; the above reward will be
+given for any such information as may lead to the apprehension of the
+offenders."
+
+Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor that Gordon
+had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had been forgotten,
+and the boys had long fancied their secret secure, though at first they
+had been terribly alarmed.
+
+"What do you show me that for?" he asked, reddening and then growing
+pale again.
+
+Billy's only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the words "Five
+pounds reward!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I thinks I knows who took them pigeons."
+
+"What's that to me?"
+
+"Ho, ho, ho! that's a good un," was Billy's reply; and he continued to
+cackle as though enjoying a great joke.
+
+"Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get 'em. I
+know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I'll give ye another week
+to decide."
+
+Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his chair.
+Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get them? To write
+home again was out of the question. The Trevors, though liberal, were
+not rich, and after just sending him so large a sum, it was impossible,
+he thought, that they should send him five pounds more at his mere
+request. Besides, how could he be sure that Billy would not play upon
+his fears to extort further sums? And to explain the matter to them
+fully was more than he could endure. He remembered now how easily his
+want of caution might have put Billy in possession of the secret, and
+he knew enough of the fellow's character to feel quite sure of the use
+he would be inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!
+
+Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure. He
+thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was clear--he
+_had_, not the money, and could not get it. Miserable boy! It was too
+late then! for him repentance was to be made impossible; every time he
+attempted it he was to be thwarted by some fresh discovery. And, leaning
+his head on his open palms, poor Eric sobbed like a child.
+
+Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the want of
+five pounds! Expulsion was _certain_, was _inevitable_ now, and perhaps
+for Wildney too as well as for himself. After all his fine promises in
+his letters home,--yes, that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not
+closed for a month over one brother, and the other would be _expelled_.
+Oh misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother's heart. Oh how
+cruel everything was to him!
+
+Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or any other
+boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the boys would have
+spent the money they brought with them from home. There was no chance of
+any one having five pounds, and to a master he _dare_ not apply, not
+even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too serious to be overlooked, and if
+noticed at all, he fancied that, after his other delinquencies, it
+_must_, as a matter of notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could
+not face that bitter thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon
+his father's and his brother's name; this was the fear which kept
+recurring to him with dreadful iteration.
+
+By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of the
+school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by being
+treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon's death he lost
+all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his office, to
+which Montagu had been elected by the general suffrage.
+
+He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was in
+Montagu's study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was merely
+a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.
+
+All this passed through Eric's mind as he sat in his study after Billy
+had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors were open, and
+all their occupants were absent in the cricket-field, or bathing. He
+stole into Montagu's study, hastily got the key, and took down the box.
+
+"O put it down, put it down, Eric," said Conscience; "what business have
+you with it?"
+
+"Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn't trust myself!"
+
+"Put it down," repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no longer
+to argue or entreat.
+
+Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not instantly leave
+the room. He began to look at Montagu's books, and then out of the
+window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he noticed, for the
+cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well, what of that? he was
+doing no harm.
+
+"Nonsense! I _will_ just look and see if there's five pounds in the
+cricket-box." Slowly at first he put out his hand, and then, hastily
+turning the key, opened the box. It contained three pounds in gold, and
+a quantity of silver. He began to count the silver, putting it on the
+table, and found that it made up three pounds ten more. "So that,
+altogether, there's six pounds ten; that's thirty shillings more than
+...and it won't be wanted till next summer term, because all the bats
+and balls are bought now. I daresay Montagu won't even open the box
+again. I know he keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks
+at it, and I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next
+term, and it will save me from expulsion."
+
+Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his pocket,
+and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and sixpences which he
+had counted, and dropped them also into his trousers; they fell into the
+pocket with a great jingle....
+
+"Eric, you are a thief!" He thought he heard his brother Vernon's voice
+utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was conscience who had
+borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he began to shake the money
+out of his pockets again into the box. He was only just in time; he had
+barely locked the box, and put it in its place, when he heard the sound
+of voices and footsteps on the stairs. He had no time to take out the
+key and put it back where he found it, and had hardly time to slip into
+his own study again, when the boys had reached the landing.
+
+They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.
+
+"Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual," said Duncan, good-humoredly; but he
+only got a sickly smile in reply.
+
+"What! are you the only fellow in the studies?" asked Montagu. "I was
+nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up stairs."
+
+"I don't think there's any one here but me," said Eric, "and I'm going a
+walk now."
+
+He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away through the
+play-ground towards the shore But he could not so escape his thoughts.
+"Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a thief!" rang in his ear. "Yes,"
+he thought; "I am even a thief. Oh, good God, yes, _even_ a _thief_, for
+I _had_ actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only fellow
+up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!"
+
+It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid in the
+coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow. And as he
+lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good heavens! there was
+something still there. He pulled it out; it was a sovereign! Then he WAS
+a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was against him; and, starting to
+his feet, he flung the accursed gold over the rocks far into the sea.
+
+When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable to work,
+he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before he fell asleep;
+but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than the haunted
+wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and horrid dreams.
+Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic proportions, and their
+faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness, seemed to be standing over him,
+and demanding five pounds on pain of death. Flights of pigeons darkening
+the air, settled on him, and flapped about him. He fled from them madly
+through the dark midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose,
+and running up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in
+his dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, "O Charlie,
+save me;" but Charlie ran away, saying, "Williams, you are a thief!" and
+then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry, voices of expostulation,
+voices of contempt, voices of indignation, voices of menace; they took
+up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed it; but, most unendurable of all,
+there were voices of wailing and voices of gentleness among them, and
+his soul died within him as he caught, amid the confusion of condemning
+sounds, the voices of Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to
+him, in tender pity and agonized astonishment, "Eric, Eric, you are
+a thief!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+     "For alas! alas! with me
+      The light of life is o'er;
+     No more--no more--no more
+     (Such language holds the solemn sea
+      To the sands upon the shore)
+     Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
+      Or the stricken eagle soar!"
+
+     EDGAR A. POE.
+
+The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits to
+Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the doors
+for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to make use of
+this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well acquainted with
+the building (in which for a short time he had been a servant), he laid
+his plans without the least dread of discovery.
+
+There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel, and it
+could be reached by a path through the fields without any chance of
+being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched his opportunity.
+By this path Billy came, two days after his last visit, and walked
+straight up the great staircase, armed with the excuse of business with
+Eric in case any one met or questioned him. But no one was about, since
+between twelve and one the boys were pretty sure to be amusing
+themselves out of doors; and after glancing into each of the studies,
+Billy finally settled on searching Montagu's (which was the neatest and
+best furnished), to see what he could get.
+
+The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where Eric
+had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled him. In a
+moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking booty, and
+opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of gratification, the
+unexpected store of silver and gold. This he instantly transferred to
+his own pocket, and then replacing the box where he had found it,
+decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the study in all other respects
+exactly as he had found it.
+
+Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with apprehension and
+suspense. Unable to endure his misery in loneliness, he had made several
+boys to a greater or less degree participators in the knowledge of his
+difficult position, and in the sympathy which his danger excited, the
+general nature of his dilemma with Billy (though not its special
+circumstances) was soon known through the school.
+
+At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was sitting with
+Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and the sorrow which lay
+at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious expression of his face,
+and the deep dejection of his attitude and manner.
+
+The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every possible
+topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing to be said,
+and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet though their
+arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness of their
+affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his heavy mood.
+
+"Well, well; at least _do_ hope the best, Eric," said Graham.
+
+"Yes!" urged Wildney; "only think, dear old fellow, what lots of worse
+scrapes we've been in before, and how we've always managed to get out of
+them somehow."
+
+"No, my boy; not worse scrapes," answered Eric. "Depend upon it this is
+the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting into another at
+_Roslyn_, anyhow."
+
+"Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?" said Wildney, putting his arm
+round Eric's neck. "Besides it's all my fault, hang it, that you got
+into this cursed row."
+
+     "'The curse is come upon, me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott,'
+
+"those words keep ringing in my ears," murmured Eric.
+
+"Well, Eric, if _you_ are sent away, I know I shall get my father to
+take me too, and then we'll join each other somewhere. Come, cheer up,
+old boy--being sent isn't such a very frightful thing after all."
+
+"No" said Graham; "and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was only a
+lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn't like stealing, you know;
+_that_'d be quite a different thing."
+
+Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not notice
+it. "Ah," thought he, "there's _one_ passage of my life which I never
+shall be able to reveal to any human soul."
+
+"Come now, Eric," said Wildney, "I've got something to propose. You
+shall play cricket to-day; you haven't played for an age, and it's high
+time you should. If you don't you'll go mooning about the shore all day,
+and that'll never do, for you'll come back glummer than ever."
+
+"No!" said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon instantly
+passed through his mind; "no more cricket for me."
+
+"Nay, but you _must_ play to-day. Come, you shan't say no. You won't say
+no to me, will you, dear old fellow?" And Wildney looked up to him with
+that pleasant smile, and the merry light in his dark eyes, which had
+always been so charming to Eric's fancy.
+
+"There's no refusing you," said Eric with the ghost of a laugh, as he
+boxed Wildney's ears. "O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I wish I
+were you."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! now you shan't get sentimental again. As if you wern't
+fifty times better than me every way. I'm sure I don't know how I shall
+ever love you enough, Eric," he added more seriously, "for all your
+kindness to me."
+
+"I'm so glad you're going to play, though," said Graham; "and so will
+everybody be; and I'm certain it'll be good for you. The game will
+divert your thoughts."
+
+So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny's death, played
+with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The school cheered
+him vigorously as he appeared again on the field, and the sound lighted
+up his countenance with some gleam of its old joyousness. When one
+looked at him that day with his straw hat on and its neat light-blue
+ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink jersey and leather belt, with a
+silver clasp in front), showing off his well-built and graceful figure,
+one little thought what an agony was gnawing like a serpent at his
+heart. But that day, poor boy, in the excitement of the game he half
+forgot it himself, and more and more as the game went on.
+
+The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric caught out
+two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who stayed in long,
+and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying with a magnificent
+ball, the shouts of "well bowled! well bowled _indeed_," were universal.
+
+"Just listen to that, Eric," said Montagu; "why, you're out-doing every
+body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by storm."
+
+"Wait till you see me come out for a duck," said Eric laughing.
+
+"Not you. You're too much in luck to come out with a duck," answered
+Montagu. "You see I've already become the Homer of your triumphs, and
+vaticinate in rhyme."
+
+And now it was Eric's turn to go in. It was long since he had stood
+before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a beautiful
+picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his fair hair shine
+like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows were flung to the
+winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest and joy.
+
+He contented himself with blocking Duncan's balls until his eye was in;
+but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right and left. His
+score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of getting him out, so
+that there was every probability of his carrying out his bat.
+
+"Oh, _well_ hit! _well_ hit! A three'r for Eric," cried Wildney to the
+scorer; and he began to clap his hands and dance about with excitement
+at his friend's success.
+
+"Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!" shouted all the lookers on, as Eric
+caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over the hedge,
+getting a sixer by the hit.
+
+At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run, for the
+handle of his bat broke right off.
+
+"How unlucky!" he said, flinging down the handle with vexation. "I
+believe this was our best bat."
+
+"Oh, never mind," said Montagu; "we can soon get another; we've got lots
+of money in the box."
+
+What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of poison in
+the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected than he was by
+Montagu's simple remark. Montagu could not help noticing it, but at the
+time merely attributed it to some unknown gust of feeling, and made no
+comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing another bat, took his place again
+quite tamely; he was trembling, and at the very next ball, he spooned a
+miserable catch into Graham's hand, and the shout of triumph from the
+other side proclaimed that his innings was over.
+
+He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys, who
+were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after his
+brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the light had
+died away from his face and figure, and he never raised his eyes from
+the ground.
+
+"Modest Eric!" said Wildney chaffingly, "you don't acknowledge your
+honors."
+
+Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm, and
+walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and whispered again
+in a low voice--
+
+     "'The curse has come upon me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott.'"
+
+"Hush, Eric, nonsense," whispered Wildney; "you're not going away," he
+continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. "Why, there are only
+two more to go in!"
+
+"Yes, thank you, I must go."
+
+"Oh, then, I'll come too."
+
+Wildney at once joined his friend. "There's nothing more the matter, is
+there?" he asked anxiously, when they were out of hearing of the rest.
+
+"God only knows."
+
+"Well, let's change the subject. You've being playing brilliantly, old
+fellow."
+
+"Have I?"
+
+"I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid way."
+
+"Ah well! it matters very little."
+
+Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note from
+Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking him to tea
+that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been several times
+lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she always showed him
+caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she had known his mother.
+
+"Upon my word, honors _are_ being showered on you!" said Wildney. "First
+to get _the_ score of the season at cricket, and bowl out about half the
+other side, and then go to tea with the head-master. Upon my word! Why
+any of us poor wretches would give our two ears for such distinctions.
+Talk of curse indeed! Fiddlestick end!"
+
+But Eric's sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering with a
+sigh, he went to dress for tea.
+
+Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together. "How
+splendidly Eric played," said Duncan.
+
+"Yes, indeed. I'm so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting a new
+bat. I don't know exactly how much money we've got, but I know there's
+plenty. Let's come and see."
+
+They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the key.
+"Hallo," he said, "I'm nearly sure I left it in the corner of this
+drawer, under some other things; but it isn't there now. What can have
+become of it?"
+
+"Where's the box?" said Duncan; "let's see if any of my keys will fit
+it. Hallo! why _you're_ a nice treasurer, Monty! here's the key _in_
+the box!"
+
+"No, is it though?" asked Montagu, looking serious. "Here, give it me; I
+hope nobody's been meddling with it."
+
+He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to see it
+empty.
+
+"Phew-w-w-w!" Montagu gave a long whistle.
+
+"By Jove!" was Duncan's only comment.
+
+The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what was in
+his thoughts.
+
+"A bad, bad business! what's to be done, Monty?"
+
+"I'll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it. Would you
+mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes? Tell him there's
+a row."
+
+He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the boys were
+talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally praising
+Eric's play.
+
+"I've got something unpleasant to say," he announced, raising his voice.
+
+"Hush! hush! hush! what's the row?" asked half a dozen at once.
+
+"The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has vanished
+from the box in my study!"
+
+For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.
+
+"Does any fellow know anything about this?"
+
+All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.
+
+"Where is Williams?" asked one of the sixth form casually.
+
+"He's taking tea with the Doctor," said Wildney.
+
+Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be said,
+except in confidential whispers.
+
+Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. "What's to be
+done?" was the general question.
+
+"I think we've all had a lesson once before not to suspect too hastily.
+Still, in a matter like this," said Montagu, "one _must_ take notice of
+apparent cues."
+
+"I know what you're thinking of, Monty," said Duncan.
+
+"Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?"
+
+"I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought."
+
+"I heard more--though at the time it didn't strike me particularly. I
+distinctly heard the jingle of money."
+
+"Well, it's no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we must _ask_
+him about it, and act accordingly.'
+
+"Will he come up to the studies again to-night?"
+
+"I think not," said Owen; "I notice he generally goes straight to bed
+after he has been out to tea; that's to say, directly after prayers."
+
+The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful. Their
+books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident that
+Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the evening he
+drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and looked at it
+long and earnestly. "Is it possible?" he thought. "Oh Eric! can that
+face be the face of a thief?"
+
+The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the Rowlands,
+and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant, quiet evening,
+and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more cheerful and
+hopeful than he had done before, although he was still ignorant how to
+escape the difficulty which threatened him.
+
+He couldn't help observing that as he entered he was the object of
+general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing that day,
+or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy's treachery, of
+which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when prayers were over,
+and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked and spoke in the
+coldest manner, his most terrible fears revived.
+
+He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat half
+abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan entered, and he
+started to see them, for they were evidently the bearers of some serious
+intelligence.
+
+"Eric," said Duncan, "do you know that some one has stolen all the
+cricket money?"
+
+"Stolen--what--_all_?" he cried, leaping up as if he had been shot. "Oh,
+what new retribution is this?" and he hid his face, which had turned
+ashy pale, in his hands.
+
+"To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?"
+
+"If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it," he said, not lifting his
+head.
+
+"Do you know anything about it?"
+
+"No!" he sobbed convulsively. "No, no, no! Yet stop; don't let me add a
+lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!" he said, looking up, "I do _not_ know
+who stole it."
+
+They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu's averted
+face.
+
+"O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful," said Eric. "Don't _yet_
+condemn me. _I_ am guilty, not of _this_, but of something as bad. I
+admit I was tempted; but if the money really is all gone, it is _not_ I
+who am the thief."
+
+"You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very strong, and
+rests on some definite facts."
+
+"Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don't yet condemn me.
+I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty, believe me
+in this."
+
+But the boys still stood silent.
+
+"Well, then," he said, "I will tell you all. But I can only tell it to
+you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn't be angry; you are my friend, but
+not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him only."
+
+Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the bed, and
+put his arm round him to support him, for he shook violently. There,
+with deep and wild emotion, and many interruptions of passionate
+silence, Eric told to Montagu his miserable tale. "I am the most
+wretched fellow living," he said; "there must be some fiend that hates
+me, and drives me to ruin. But let it all come; I care nothing, nothing,
+what happens to me now. Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love
+me still."
+
+"O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you were
+sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won't you pray
+to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my heart, and do you
+think God can be less kind than man? And _I_, too, will pray for you,
+Eric. Good night, and God bless you" He gently disengaged himself--for
+Eric clung to him, and seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a
+moment after he was gone.
+
+Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but somehow
+it didn't seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and his thoughts
+began instantly to wander far away. Still he knelt--knelt even until his
+candle had gone out, and he had nearly fallen asleep, thought-wearied,
+on his knees. And then he got into bed still dressed. He had been making
+up his mind that he could bear it no longer, and would run away to sea
+that night.
+
+He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The Doctor
+had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they amounted in
+his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he stopped to look at
+the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly terms so short a time
+before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep, but opened his eyes, and
+looked at the head-master. Very sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head,
+and went away. Eric never saw him again.
+
+The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study, collect
+the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of Russell, Wildney,
+and his other friends--above all, Vernon's likeness--and then make his
+escape from the building, using for the last time the broken pane and
+loosened bar in the corridor, with which past temptations had made him
+so familiar.
+
+He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not yield. Half
+contemplating the possibility of such an intention on Eric's part, Dr.
+Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went out.
+
+"Ha!" thought the boy, "then he, too, knows and suspects. Never mind. I
+must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny's picture; perhaps it is
+best I should, for I'm only disgracing his noble memory. But they shan't
+prevent me from running away."
+
+Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He _could_, not endure another public expulsion, or even
+another birching; he _could_ not endure the cold faces of even his best
+friends. No, no! he _could_ not face the horrible phantom of detection,
+and exposure, and shame. Escape he must.
+
+After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he succeeded in
+loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took his two sheets,
+tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end tightly round the
+remaining bar, and let the other fall down the side of the building. He
+took one more glance round his little room, and then let himself down by
+the sheet, hand under hand, until he could drop to the ground. Once
+safe, he ran towards Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he
+were flying for his life. But when he got to the end of the playground
+he could not help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at
+the scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind him
+like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he spent in
+that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by without their
+own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had first walked across
+that playground, hand in hand with his father, a little boy of twelve.
+He remembered his first troubles with Barker, and how his father had at
+last delivered him from the annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered
+how often he and Russell had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant
+talk, especially the evening when he had got his first prize and head
+remove in the lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell's death, he
+had gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and Wildney
+afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then the stroll to
+Port Island, and Barker's plot against him, and the evening at the Stack
+passed through his mind; and the dinner at the Jolly Herring, and, above
+all, Vernon's death. Oh! how awful it seemed to him now, as he looked
+through the darkness at the very road along which they had brought
+Verny's dead body. Then his thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons,
+his own drunkenness, and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and
+this dreadful end of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed _so_
+bright on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the conclusion of
+his school days?
+
+Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there they lay,
+all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan, and all whom he
+cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose's light still burning in the
+library window; and he was leaving the school and those who had been
+with him there so long, in the dark night, by stealth, penniless and
+broken-hearted, with the shameful character of a thief.
+
+Suddenly Mr. Rose's light moved, and, fearing discovery or interception,
+he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to Starhaven through
+the darkness. There was still a light in the little sailors' tavern;
+and, entering, he asked the woman who kept it, "if she knew of any ship
+which was going to sail next morning?"
+
+"Why, your'n is, bean't it, Maister Davey!" she asked, turning to a
+rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.
+
+"Ees," grunted the man.
+
+"Will you take me on board?" said Eric.
+
+"You be a runaway, I'm thinking?"
+
+"Never mind. I'll come as cabin-boy--anything."
+
+The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress. "Hardly in
+the cabun-buoy line I should say."
+
+"Will you take me?" said Eric. "You'll find me strong and willing
+enough."
+
+"Well--if the skipper don't say no. Come along."
+
+They went down to a boat, and "Maister Davey" rowed to a schooner in the
+harbor, and took Eric on board.
+
+"There," he said, "you may sleep there for to-night," and he pointed to
+a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.
+
+Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and sound till
+the morning, on board the "Stormy Petrel."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE STORMY PETREL
+
+     "They hadna sailed a league, a league,
+      A league, but barely three,
+     When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,
+      And gurly grew the sea."
+
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.
+
+"Hilloa!" exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next morning, as he
+saw Eric's recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff, "Who be this
+young varmint!"
+
+"Oh, I brought him aboord last night," said Davey; "he wanted to be
+cabun-buoy."
+
+"Precious like un _he_ looks. Never mind, we've got him and we'll use
+him."
+
+The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his scattered
+thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first, as the Stormy
+Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea, he felt one
+absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But before he had
+been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to the trying nature of
+his circumstances, which were, indeed, _so_ trying that _anything_ in
+the world seemed preferable to enduring them. He had not been three
+hours on board when he would have given everything in his power to be
+back again; but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now
+fairly on her way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo
+of cattle.
+
+There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was only a
+little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest and meanest
+grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the captain, who was a
+drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.
+
+This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly because he
+was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The first words he
+addressed to him were--
+
+"I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing."
+
+"I've got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me."
+
+"Well, then, you shall give us your gran' clothes. Them things isn't fit
+for a cabin-boy."
+
+Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged his good
+cloth suit for a rough sailor's shirt and trowsers, not over clean,
+which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at once appropriated by
+that functionary, who carried them into his cabin. But it was lucky for
+Eric that, seeing how matters were likely to go, he had succeeded in
+secreting his watch.
+
+The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind rose to
+a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make his case worse,
+could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight of such coarse food
+as was contemptuously flung to him.
+
+"Where am I to sleep?" he asked, "I feel very sick."
+
+"Babby," said one of the sailors, "what's your name?"
+
+"Williams."
+
+"Well, Bill, you'll have to get over your sickness pretty soon, _I_ can
+tell ye. Here," he added, relenting a little, "Davey's slung ye a
+hammock in the forecastle."
+
+He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the lurches of
+the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the companion-ladder, much
+less get into his hammock. The man saw his condition, and, sulkily
+enough, hove him into his place.
+
+And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible, and out
+of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and pitched through
+the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty men sleeping round
+him at night, until the atmosphere of the forecastle became like poison,
+hopelessly and helplessly sick, and half-starved, the boy lay for two
+days. The crew neglected him shamefully. It was nobody's business to
+wait on him, and he could procure neither sufficient food, nor any
+water; they only brought him some grog to drink, which in his weakness
+and sickness was nauseous to him as medicine.
+
+"I say, you young cub down there," shouted the skipper to him from the
+hatchway, "come up and swab this deck."
+
+He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled about to
+find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But he staggered
+from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to grasp for some
+fresh support at every step.
+
+"None of that 'ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d---- you, what
+d'ye think you're here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in five minutes,
+or I'll teach you, and be d----d."
+
+Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his task
+without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no means of
+washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap, or clean linen;
+and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the waking brought no change
+in his condition. And then the whole life of the ship was odious to him.
+His sense of refinement was exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill,
+and kicked and cuffed about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their
+rough, coarse, drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more
+intolerable familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.
+
+His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing his
+fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse of open
+kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to pity him
+in heart.
+
+Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure at first,
+when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him least; he longed
+for death, and often contemplated flinging himself into those cold deep
+waves which he gazed on daily over the vessel's side. Hope was the only
+thing which supported him. He had heard from one of the crew that the
+vessel would be back in not more than six weeks, and he made a deeply
+seated resolve to escape the very first day that they again anchored in
+an English harbor.
+
+The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on board
+greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and disgusting work
+which fell to his snare, as well as made the atmosphere of the close
+little schooner twice as poisonous as before. And to add to his
+miseries, his relations with the crew got more and more unfavorable, and
+began to reach their climax.
+
+One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard him
+winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as secretly and
+silently as he could, and never looked at it, except when no one could
+observe him; while, during the day, he kept both watch and chain
+concealed in his trousers.
+
+Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch, and tried
+by every species of threat and promise to extort it from him. But the
+watch had been his mother's gift, and he was resolute never to part with
+it into such hands.
+
+"Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he'll soon
+get it out of you as your footing, depend on it."
+
+The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the watch
+as pay for Eric's feed, for he maintained that he'd done no work, and
+was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still refused, and the man
+struck him brutally on the face, and at the same time aimed a kick at
+him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It caught him on the knee-cap, and
+put it out, causing him the most excruciating agony.
+
+He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was only
+with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move caused him
+violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all day on the
+vessel's side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any sight of land, or
+gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea and sky.
+
+Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted, and the
+skipper ordered him to furl a sail.
+
+"I can't," said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring, and not
+lifting his eyes to the man's unfeeling face.
+
+"Can't, d---- you. Can't. We'll soon see whether you can or no! You do
+it, or _I_ shall have to mend your leg for you;" and he showered down a
+storm of oaths.
+
+Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined at
+least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty. But the
+effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he dropped once
+more on deck.
+
+"Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we're going to bother ourselves
+with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for nothing. It's all
+sham. Here, Jim, tie him up."
+
+A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands together, and
+then drew them up above his head, and strung them to the rigging.
+
+"Why didn't ye strip him first, d---- you?" roared the skipper.
+
+"He's only got that blue shirt on, and that's soon mended," said the
+man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and tearing
+it open with a great rip.
+
+Eric's white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging, and his
+injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. "And now for some rope-pie
+for the stubborn young lubber," said the skipper, lifting a bit of rope
+as he spoke.
+
+Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the next
+instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump, rasping away a
+red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time the awful reality of
+intense pain; he had determined to utter no sound, to give no sign; but
+when the horrible rope fell on him, griding across his back, and making
+his body literally creak under the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf
+in every limb, and could not suppress the harrowing murmur, "Oh God,
+help me, help me."
+
+Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the boy's
+naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to the violent
+laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang from his lips, so
+shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in the memory of all who
+heard it. But the brute who administered the torture was untouched. Once
+more, and again, the rope rose and fell, and under its marks the blood
+first dribbled, and then streamed from the white and tender skin.
+
+But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of nature;
+his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs still seemed to
+creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted away.
+
+"Stop, master, stop, if you don't want to kill the boy outright," said
+Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while the hot flush of
+indignation burned through his tanned and weather-beaten cheek. The
+sailors called him "Softy Bob," from that half-gentleness of disposition
+which had made him, alone of all the men, speak one kind or consoling
+word for the proud and lonely cabin-boy.
+
+"Undo him then, and be--," growled the skipper and rolled off to drink
+himself drunk.
+
+"I doubt he's well-nigh done for him already," said Roberts, quickly
+untying Eric's hands, round which the cords had been pulled so tight as
+to leave two blue rings round his wrists. "Poor fellow, poor fellow!
+it's all over now," he murmured soothingly, as the boy's body fell
+motionless into his arms, which he hastily stretched to prevent him from
+tumbling on the deck.
+
+But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity, carried
+him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a clean
+blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.
+
+It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words had
+been prophetic.
+
+"How is the young varmint?" shouted the skipper, looking into the
+forecastle.
+
+"You've killed him, I think."
+
+The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was sufficiently
+frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his patient.
+
+At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the raw
+state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone, reminded
+him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all that could be
+done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid place, in the
+languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the unbidden tears
+flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the sickness of his
+heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he thought that he
+should die.
+
+But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and agony, and
+death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his comfortless hammock.
+The news that land was in sight first roused him, and with the help of
+Roberts, he was carried on deck, thankful, with childlike gratitude,
+that God suffered him to breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and
+sit under the canopy of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the
+sunlight refreshed him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes
+upraised, he poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable
+thankfulness to a Father in Heaven.
+
+Yes! at last he had remembered his Father's home. There, in the dark
+berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean atmosphere
+brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead burned, and his
+heart melted within him, and he had felt almost inclined to curse his
+life, or even to end it by crawling up and committing himself to the
+deep cold water which, he heard rippling on the vessel's side; then,
+even then, in that valley of the shadow of death, a Voice had come to
+him--a still small Voice--at whose holy and healing utterance Eric had
+bowed his head, and listened to the messages of God, and learnt his
+will; and now, in humble resignation, in touching penitence with solemn
+self-devotion, he had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to
+be helped, and guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the
+darkness of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till
+they were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus' sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no evil,
+for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting arms.
+
+And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by harsh
+word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of the sea
+wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something half-like
+an apology.
+
+The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder again,
+but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or horror, put out
+his hand to the man to shake. There was something touching and noble in
+the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of himself for once, the fellow
+shook the proffered hand, and slunk away.
+
+They entered the broad river at Southpool.
+
+"I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts," said Eric.
+
+"I doubt whether you'll let you," answered Roberts, jerking his finger
+towards the skipper's cabin.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He'll be afeard you might take the law on him."
+
+"He needn't fear."
+
+Roberts only shook his head.
+
+"Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?"
+
+"Yes, that I will."
+
+That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown to all
+but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the water in the
+evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard or two distant; but
+the effort almost exhausted his strength, for his knee was still
+painful, and he was very weak.
+
+Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the sleepless
+night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a pawnbroker's,
+and raised �2:10s. on his watch, with which money he walked straight to
+the railway station.
+
+It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As Eric
+dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney on the
+other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to meet him,
+as he would have done in old times. His whole heart yearned towards him.
+It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one loving face, and during all
+that time he had hardly heard one kindly word. And now he saw before him
+the boy whom he loved so fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy
+hours of school-boy friendship, with whom he had gone through so many
+schoolboy adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.
+
+Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the street.
+Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some four years
+older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising immensely. They
+were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the word Roslyn. Like a
+lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the memory of his ruin came
+upon him; he looked down at his dress--it was a coarse blue shirt, which
+Roberts had given him in place of his old one, and the back of it was
+stained and saturated with blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers
+were dirty, tarred, and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely
+covered his feet. He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able
+to wash, and that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at
+a shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the eyes
+sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and lustreless. No! he
+could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged sailor-boy; perhaps even he
+might not be recognised if he did. He drew back, and hid himself till
+the merry-hearted pair had passed, and it was almost with a pang of
+jealousy that he saw how happy Wildney could be, while _he_ was thus;
+but he cast aside the unworthy thought at once. "After all, how is poor
+Charlie to know what has happened to me?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HOME AT LAST
+
+     "I will arise and go to my father."
+
+     "Ach! ein Schicksal droht,
+     Und es droht nicht lange!
+     Auf der holden Wange
+     Brennt ein b�ses Roth!"--TIEDGE.
+
+Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and found
+that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat during the
+day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary train to
+Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the branch line
+to Ayrton.
+
+He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding himself from
+notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it carried poor people for
+the most part, so, of course it could matter but little how tedious or
+slow it was!)--the weary train, stopping at every station, and often
+waiting on the rail until it had been passed by trains that started four
+or five hours after it,--dragged its slow course through the fair
+counties of England. Many people got in and out of the carriage, which
+was generally full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and his
+heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with civil
+answers to the questions put to him, dropping the conversation as soon
+as he could.
+
+At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he got down.
+
+"Ticket," said the station-man.
+
+Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well from
+having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked hard at him,
+and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,
+
+"Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be you?"
+
+"Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don't say a word, that's
+a good fellow; I'm going on to Ayrton this evening."
+
+"Well, sir, I _am_, hurt like to see you looking so ragged and poorly.
+Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by first train
+to-morrow."
+
+"O no, thank you, John. I've got no money, and--"
+
+"Tut, tut, sir; I thought you'd know me better nor that. Proud I'd be
+any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor's nephew, let alone a young
+gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my little cart
+this evening."
+
+"No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but," he
+said, and the tears were in his eyes, "I want to walk in alone
+to-night."
+
+"Well, God keep and bless you, sir," said the man, "for you look to need
+it;" and touching his cap, he watched the boy's painful walk across some
+fields to the main road.
+
+"Who'd ha' thought it, Jenny?" he said to his wife. "There's that young
+Master Williams, whom we've always thought so noble like, just been
+here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color o' my white
+signal flag."
+
+"Lawks!" said the woman; "well, well! poor young gentleman, I'm afeard
+he's been doing something bad."
+
+Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without toil, made
+his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten miles off. The road
+wound through the valley, across the low hills that encircled it,
+sometimes spanning or running parallel to the bright stream that had
+been the delight of Eric's innocent childhood. There was something
+enjoyable at first to the poor boy's eyes, so long accustomed to the
+barren sea, in resting once more on the soft undulating green of the
+summer fields, which were intertissued with white and yellow flowers,
+like a broidery of pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the
+exquisite light, and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious
+evening, which filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation
+of rose and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in Eric's
+heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with recollections
+of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how differently; and
+of the last time when he had come home with Vernon by his side. "Oh
+Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God that I were with you now.
+But you are resting, Verny, in the green grave by Russell's side, and
+I--oh God, be merciful to me now!"
+
+It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds, and Eric
+walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought on the pain in
+his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the road-side to rest.
+He reached Ayrton at ten o'clock, but even then he could not summon up
+courage to pass through the town where he was so well known, lest any
+straggler should recognise him,--and he took a detour in order to get to
+Fairholm. He did not arrive there till eleven o'clock; and then he could
+not venture into the grounds, for he saw through the trees of the
+shrubbery that there was no light in any of the windows, and it was
+clear that they were all gone to bed.
+
+What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night. He
+remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from him
+since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of so sudden
+an emotion as his appearance at that hour might excite.
+
+So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank beside the
+gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was long before he
+slept, but at last weary nature demanded her privilege with importunity,
+and gentle sleep floated over him like a dark dewy cloud, and the sun
+was high in heaven before he woke.
+
+It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor, with Fanny,
+was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an occupation full of
+holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which she had found more than
+usual consolation during the heavy trials which she had recently
+suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon as a mother does her own
+children, and now Vernon, the little cherished jewel of her heart, was
+dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric, she feared, not dead but worse than
+dead, guilty, stained, dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in
+deep anguish of heart, "Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen
+and ruined!"
+
+"Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass," said Fanny, pointing to
+a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the gate. "He has had
+a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night there, as I fear."
+
+Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. "What is Flo' doing?" she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy's reclining
+figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into a quick short
+bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him, and leapt upon him,
+joyously wagging his tail.
+
+The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he saw the
+dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its little
+silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught sight of
+the Trevors.
+
+"It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric," cried Mrs. Trevor, as she flew
+towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent, speechless,
+with long arrears of pent-up emotion.
+
+"O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are forgiven,
+more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that my prayers
+would be answered; this is as though we received you from the dead." And
+the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric, his heart shaken with
+accumulated feelings, clung to her and wept.
+
+Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their lost
+child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm bath, and
+tended him with every gentle office of female ministering hands. And in
+the evening, when he told them his story in a broken voice of penitence
+and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet balsam, and he rested
+by them, "seated, and clothed, and in his right mind."
+
+The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the greenhouse,
+was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste, and its glass
+doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long, long since Eric had
+ever seen anything like it, and he had never hoped to see it again. "Oh
+dearest aunty," he murmured, as he rested his weary head upon her lap,
+while he sat on a low stool at her feet, "Oh aunty, you will never know
+how different this is from the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy
+Petrel,' and its detestable inmates."
+
+When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more fed on
+nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once more about the
+garden by Fanny's side, he began to recover his old appearance, and the
+soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and the light to his blue eye.
+But still his health gave most serious cause for apprehension; weeks of
+semi-starvation, bad air, sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights
+of exposure and wet, had at last undermined the remarkable strength of
+his constitution, and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact
+that he was sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.
+
+Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which he
+could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace at
+Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He avoided
+the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him, especially as he
+had taken away the bitterest part of their trial in remembering it, by
+explaining to them that he was far from being so wicked in the matter of
+the theft as they had at first been (how slowly and reluctantly!) almost
+forced to believe.
+
+"Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever heard,
+aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?" he asked, one
+evening, with evident effort.
+
+"No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I heard no
+more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from Dr. Rowlands,
+and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of what had happened
+about you."
+
+"O, have they sent home my things?" he asked, eagerly. "There are very
+few among them that I care about, but there is just one----"
+
+"I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you, should
+have given it you before;" and she drew out of a drawer the little
+likeness of Vernon's sweet childish face.
+
+Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his eyes.
+
+"Do not weep, my boy," said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead. "Dear
+little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes away all
+tears from off all eyes."
+
+"Is there anything else you would like?" asked Fanny, to divert his
+painful thoughts. "I will get you anything in a moment."
+
+"Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell's life,
+and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you never
+knew him!"
+
+He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed to give
+him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name, and speak of
+them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.
+
+"I have a plan to please you, Eric," said Mrs. Tremor. "Shall I ask
+Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them."
+
+"O, thank you," he said, with the utmost eagerness. "Thank you, dearest
+aunt." Then suddenly his countenance fell. "Stop--shall we?--yes, yes, I
+am going to die soon, I know; let me see them before I die."
+
+The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious tenure of
+his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did not contradict
+him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose directions Eric
+knew), telling them what had happened, and begging them, simply for his
+sake, to come and stay with her for a time. She hinted clearly that it
+might be the last opportunity they would ever have of seeing him.
+
+Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived together
+at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both greeted Eric
+with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired of pressing their
+hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now and then a memory of
+sadness would pass over his face, like a dark ripple on the clear
+surface of a lake.
+
+"Tell me, Monty," he said one evening, "all about what happened after I
+left Roslyn."
+
+"Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--"
+
+"My name cleared!" said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you say
+that?"
+
+"Yes, Eric. Didn't you know, then, that the thief had been discovered?"
+
+"No," he murmured faintly, leaning back; "O thank God, thank God! Do
+tell me all about it, Monty."
+
+"Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may guess how
+utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard that you had
+run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it, for he went early
+to your bed-room----"
+
+"Dear little Sunbeam," interrupted Eric, resting his hand against
+Wildney's cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he heard the
+forbidden name.
+
+"He found the door locked," continued Montagu, "and called to you, but
+there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and we were
+certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent sheet. The
+masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make inquiries, but
+they did not succeed in discovering anything definite about you. Then,
+of course, everybody assumed as a certainty that you were guilty, and I
+fear that my bare assertion on the other side had little weight."
+
+Eric's eyes glistened as he drank in his friend's story.
+
+"But, about a fortnight after, _more_ money and several other articles
+disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as to the perpetrator
+was baffled; only now the boys began to admit that, after all, they had
+been premature in condemning you. It was a miserable time; for every one
+was full of distrust, and the more nervous boys were always afraid lest
+any one should on some slight grounds suspect _them. Still_, things kept
+disappearing.
+
+"We found out at length that the time when the robberies were effected
+must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed that some one
+should be concealed in the studies for a day or two during those hours.
+Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced in one of the big
+cupboards in a study which had not yet been touched. On the third day he
+heard some one stealthily mount the stairs. The fellows were more
+careful now, and used to keep their doors shut, but the person was
+provided with keys, and opened the study in which Carter was. He moved
+about for a little time--Carter watching him through the key-hole, and
+prepared to spring on him before he could make his escape. Not getting
+much, the man at last opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just
+time to conceal himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the
+plunderer's fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter
+before him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though
+a ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was he
+who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was sentenced
+to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name was cleared."
+
+"As I always knew it would be, dear old boy," said Wildney.
+
+Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm, and
+were never tired of Eric's society, and of his stories about all that
+befell him on board the "Stormy Petrel." They perceived a marvellous
+change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance had passed
+away; every stain of passion had been removed; every particle of
+hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All was gentleness,
+love, and dependence, in the once bright, impetuous, self-willed boy; it
+seemed as though the lightning of God's anger had shattered and swept
+away all that was evil in his heart and life, and left all his true
+excellence, all the royal prerogatives of his character, pure and
+unscathed Eric, even in his worst days, was, as I well remember, a
+lovable and noble boy; but at this period there must have been something
+about him for which to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and
+irresistibly attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk
+with them, Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing
+excursions by themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit
+out reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric's health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not deceive
+herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his head when they
+called him convalescent.
+
+Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week after their
+arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the open air, under a
+lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to set, and the rain of
+golden sunlight fell over them through the green ambrosial foliage of
+the tree whose pale blossoms were still murmurous with bees. Eric was
+leaning back in an easy chair, with Wildney sitting on the grass,
+cross-legged at his feet, while Montagu, resting on one of the mossy
+roots, read to them the "Midsummer Night's Dream," and the ladies were
+busy with their work.
+
+"There--stop now," said Eric, "and let's sit out and talk until we see
+some of 'the fiery a'es and o'es of light' which he talks of."
+
+"I'd no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading," remarked
+Wildney na�vely. "I shall take to reading him through when I get home."
+
+"Do you remember, Eric," said Montagu, "how Rose used to chaff us in old
+days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant we used to be
+when he asked if we'd ever heard of an obscure person called William
+Shakspeare?"
+
+"Yes, very well," answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this strain
+they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed listening to
+their school-boy mirth.
+
+"What a perfectly delicious evening. It's almost enough to make me wish
+to live," said Eric.
+
+He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half sang,
+half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother's sweet voice had
+made him familiar in their cottage-home at Ellan:--
+
+     "There is a calm for those who weep,
+       A rest for weary pilgrims found;
+     They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,
+       Low in the ground.
+
+     "The storm that wrecks the winter sky,
+       No more disturbs their deep repose,
+     Than summer evening's latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose."
+
+The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he murmured to
+himself again, in low tones--
+
+     "Than summer evening's latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose."
+
+"Oh hush, hush, Eric!" said Wildney, laying his hand upon his friend's
+lips; "don't let's spoil to-night by forebodings."
+
+It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful thing to
+be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the sun broadened
+and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft meadow and silver
+stream. One might have fancied that the last rays of sunshine loved to
+linger over Eric's face, now flushed with a hectic tinge of pleasure,
+and to light up sudden glories in his bright hair, which the wind just
+fanned off his forehead as he leaned back and inhaled the luxury of
+evening perfume, which the flowers of the garden poured on the gentle
+breeze. Ah, how sad that such scenes should be so rare and so
+short-lived!
+
+"Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!" said Wildney; "there goes the postman's
+horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the gate?"
+
+"Yes, do," they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun, greeting
+the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that the man shook
+with laughing at him.
+
+"Here it is at last," said Wildney. "Now, then, for the key. Here's a
+letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss Trevor--_what_ people you
+young ladies are for writing to each other! None for you, Monty--Oh,
+yes! I'm wrong, here's one; but none for Eric."
+
+"I expected none," said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed earnestly
+on one of Mrs. Trevor's letters. He saw that it was from India, and
+directed in his father's hand.
+
+Mrs. Trevor caught his look. "Shall I read it aloud to you, dear I Do
+you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to ours,
+telling them of--"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes," he said, eagerly, "do let me hear it."
+
+With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric pressed
+them to stay. "It will help me to bear what mother says, if I see you by
+me," he pleaded.
+
+God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written from the
+depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise with, who for
+thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human misery. By the
+former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny's melancholy death; by the
+next she had been told that her only other child, Eric, was not dead
+indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked with the brand of terrible
+suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it was God who sent it, and he only
+enabled her to endure it. With bent head, and streaming eyes, and a
+breast that heaved involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as
+though to his mother's voice, and only now and then he murmured low to
+himself, "O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God
+and man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once more."
+
+Mrs. Trevor's eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all, and Fanny
+finished it. "Here is a little note from your father, Eric, which
+dropped out when we opened dear aunt's letter. Shall I read it, too?"
+
+"Perhaps not now, love," said Mrs. Trevor. "Poor Eric is too tired and
+excited already."
+
+"Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty," he said. He opened it,
+read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back swooning, while
+it dropped out of his hands.
+
+Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in a few
+heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs. Williams had
+been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired of, and that,
+before the letter reached England, she would, in all human probability,
+be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul resigned indeed, and
+humble, but crushed down to the very earth with the load of mysterious
+bereavement, and irretrievable sorrow.
+
+"Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!" said Eric, in a hollow
+voice, when he came to himself. "O God, forgive me, forgive me!"
+
+They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed for
+him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength appeared to have
+been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At last a momentary energy
+returned; his eyes were lifted to the gloaming heaven where a few stars
+had already begun to shine, and a bright look illuminated his
+countenance. They listened deeply--"Yes, mother," he murmured, in broken
+tones, "forgiven now, for Christ's dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes,
+there they are, and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at
+last--too happy!"
+
+The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient moment
+more the smile and the brightness played over his fair features like a
+lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with those he dearliest
+loved, in the land where there is no more curse.
+
+"Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now," sobbed Mrs. Trevor; and her
+tears fell fast upon the dead boy's face, as she pressed upon it a long,
+last kiss.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+     "And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?
+     Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?
+     And borne unscathed through danger's stormy field
+     Honor's white wreath and virtue's stainless shield?"
+
+     HARROW. A Prize Poem.
+
+The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to his
+father's estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles around. He
+intends to stand for the county at the next general election, and I
+haven't the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed. If he does,
+Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu has the very soul
+of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of his vigorous judgment,
+and the treasures of his cultivated taste, with an eloquence that rises
+to extraordinary grandeur when he is fulminating his scorn at any
+species of tyranny or meanness.
+
+It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days in his
+charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over his grounds,
+and then across one of the richest plains in England) one long summer
+evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and figures of the past,
+until we almost felt ourselves boys again.
+
+"I have just been staying at Trinity," said I, "and Owen, as I suppose
+you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first class, and
+they have already elected him fellow and assistant tutor."
+
+"Is he liked?"
+
+"Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of those
+fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful as men, than
+they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the _greatest_ things
+of him; but have you heard anything of Duncan lately?"
+
+"Yes, he's just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from him the
+other day. He's met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and Upton, the
+latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there are not two
+finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and Wildney, as you may
+easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room. You know, I suppose,
+that Graham is making a great start at the bar."
+
+"Is he? I'm delighted to hear it."
+
+"Yes. He had a 'mauvais sujet' to defend the other day, in the person of
+our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned by his
+relations, is at present a policeman in London."
+
+"On the principle, I suppose, of 'Set a thief to catch a thief,'" said
+Montagu, with a smile.
+
+"Yes; but he exemplifies the truth 'chassez le naturel, il revient au
+galop' for he was charged with abetting a street fight between two boys,
+which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was penitent, and Graham
+got him off with wonderful cleverness."
+
+"Ah!" said Montagu, sighing, "there was _one_ who would have been the
+pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!"
+
+We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning words,
+his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his melancholy fate,
+and a deep sadness fell over us.
+
+"Poor boy, he is at peace now," said Montagu; and he told me once more
+the sorrowful particulars of his death. "Shall I read you some verses?"
+he asked, "which he must have composed, poor fellow, on board the
+'Stormy Petrel,' though he probably wrote them at Fairholm afterwards."
+
+"Yes, do."
+
+And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much feeling,
+these lines, written in Eric's boyish hand, and signed with his name.
+
+ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.
+
+     Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,
+       In all the world alone I stand,
+     With none to wed their hearts to mine,
+       Or link in mine a loving hand.
+
+     Ah! I tell me not that I have those
+       Who owe the ties of blood and name,
+     Or pitying friends who love me well,
+       And dear returns of friendship claim.
+
+     I have, I have! but none can heal,
+       And none shall see my inward woe,
+     And the deep thoughts within me veiled
+       No other heart but mine shall know.
+
+     And yet amid my sins and shames
+       The shield of God is o'er me thrown
+     And, 'neath its awful shade I feel
+       Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!
+
+     Not all alone! and though my life
+       Be dragged along the stained earth,
+     O God! I feel thee near me still,
+       And thank thee for my birth!
+
+     E.W.
+
+Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest memorial of my
+erring but noble schoolboy friend.
+
+Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I gave him
+a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his pleasant vicarage
+of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or two ago by Dr. Rowlands,
+now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also appointed him examining chaplain. I
+sat and watched Mr. Rose while he read them. A mournful interest was
+depicted on his face, his hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he
+bent his grey hair over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at
+school that Eric was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and
+Vernon were with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away
+without even having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr.
+Rose displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we returned
+to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the intelligence
+of Eric's return to Fairholm, and of his death. The news plunged many of
+us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in chapel, Mr. Rose alluded
+to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes among those who listened to
+him. I shall never forget that Sunday afternoon. A deep hush brooded
+over us, and before the sermon was over, many a face was hidden to
+conceal the emotion which could not be suppressed.
+
+"I speak," said Mr. Rose, "to a congregation of mourners, for one who
+but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of yourselves. But,
+for myself, I do _not_ mourn over his death. Many a time have I mourned
+for him in past days, when I marked how widely he went astray,--but I do
+not mourn now; for after his fiery trials he died penitent and happy,
+and at last his sorrows are over for ever, and the dreams of ambition
+have vanished, and the fires of passion have been quenched, and for all
+eternity the young soul is in the presence of its God. Let none of you
+think that his life has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to
+spare him, he might have found great works to do among his fellow-men,
+and he would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far rather
+must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that we are all
+partakers of God's unspeakable blessing, the common mystery of
+immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of very many here to
+recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and converse with our dear
+departed brother in a holier and happier world."
+
+I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can give no
+conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or the intense
+pathos of his tones.
+
+The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he lingered
+over Eric's verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of thought.
+
+At last he looked up and sighed. "Poor Eric!--But no, I will not call
+him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him well," he
+continued; "why do you not try and preserve some records of his life?"
+
+The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and at once
+began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were numerous and
+vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends gladly supplied
+me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of Roslyn, Mr. Rose,
+Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric's ruin has been told, and
+told as he would have wished it done, with simple truth. Noble Eric! I
+do not fear that I have wronged your memory, and you I know would
+rejoice to think how sorrowful hours have lost something of their
+sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so many of which we were engaged
+together in our school-boy days.
+
+I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along the sands,
+picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling the joyous
+tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys were playing by
+the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to them; and as I marked
+how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with its murmur and its foam,
+each sweeping farther than the other, each effacing the traces of the
+last, I saw an emblem of the passing generations, and was content to
+find that my place knew me no more.
+
+     Ah me the golden time!--
+       But its hours have passed away,
+     With the pure and bracing clime,
+       And the bright and merry day.
+
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,
+       And the shore still shines in the lustre of the wave;
+     But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o'er,
+       And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--
+         And he who comes again
+         Wears a brow of toil and pain,
+     And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+***** This file should be named 12083-8.txt or 12083-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/8/12083/
+
+Produced by Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/old/12083-8.zip b/old/old/12083-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f642189
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old/12083-8.zip
diff --git a/old/old/12083.txt b/old/old/12083.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f0ee69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old/12083.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11204 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Eric
+
+Author: Frederic William Farrar
+
+Release Date: April 19, 2004 [EBook #12083]
+[Last updated: May 4, 2011]
+
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+ERIC
+
+OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+A TALE OF ROSLYN SCHOOL
+
+By
+
+FREDERIC W. FARRAR, D.D.
+
+Author of "The Life of Christ," "Julian Home," "St. Winifreds," etc
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+GEORGE A. TRAVER
+
+
+1902
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I
+
+CHAPTER I--CHILDHOOD
+CHAPTER II--A NEW HOME
+CHAPTER III--BULLYING
+CHAPTER IV--CRIBBING
+CHAPTER V--THE SECOND TERM
+CHAPTER VI--HOME AFFECTIONS
+CHAPTER VII--ERIC A BOARDER
+CHAPTER VIII--"TAKING UP"
+CHAPTER IX--"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"
+CHAPTER X--DORMITORY LIFE
+CHAPTER XI--ERIC IN COVENTRY
+CHAPTER XII--THE TRIAL
+CHAPTER XIII--THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+CHAPTER XIV--THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+CHAPTER XV--HOME AGAIN
+
+
+PART II
+
+CHAPTER I--ABDIEL
+CHAPTER II--WILDNEY
+CHAPTER III--THE JOLLY HERRING
+CHAPTER IV--MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+CHAPTER V--RIPPLES
+CHAPTER VI--ERIC AND MONTAGU
+CHAPTER VII--THE PIGEONS
+CHAPTER VIII--SOWING THE WIND
+CHAPTER IX--WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+CHAPTER X--THE LAST TEMPTATION
+CHAPTER XI--REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+CHAPTER XII--THE STORMY PETREL
+CHAPTER XIII--HOME AT LAST
+CHAPTER XIV--CONCLUSION
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+BULLYING
+ERIC _Vignette on title-page_
+SMOKING
+ON THE ROCK
+OUT OF THE WINDOW
+ERIC AND VERNON
+HIDING
+ERIC ESCAPING FROM THE SHIP _Frontispiece_
+
+
+
+
+ERIC: OR, LITTLE BY LITTLE
+
+PART 1
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+     "Ah dear delights, that o'er my soul
+     On memory's wing like shadows fly!
+     Ah flowers that Joy from Eden stole,
+     While Innocence stood laughing by."--COLERIDGE.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" cried a young boy, as he capered vigorously
+about, and clapped his hands. "Papa and mamma will be home in a week
+now, and then we shall stay here a little time, and _then_, and _then_,
+I shall go to school."
+
+The last words were enunciated with immense importance, as he stopped
+his impromptu dance before the chair where his sober cousin Fanny was
+patiently working at her crochet; but she did not look so much affected
+by the announcement as the boy seemed to demand, so he again exclaimed,
+"And then, Miss Fanny, I shall go to school."
+
+"Well, Eric," said Fanny, raising her matter-of-fact quiet face from her
+endless work, "I doubt, dear, whether you will talk of it with quite as
+much joy a year hence."
+
+"O ay, Fanny, that's just like you to say so; you're always talking and
+prophesying; but never mind, I'm going to school, so hurrah! hurrah!
+hurrah!" and he again began his capering,--jumping over the chairs,
+trying to vault the tables, singing and dancing with an exuberance of
+delight, till, catching a sudden sight of his little spaniel Flo, he
+sprang through the open window into the garden, and disappeared behind
+the trees of the shrubbery; but Fanny still heard his clear, ringing,
+silvery laughter, as he continued his games in the summer air.
+
+She looked up from her work after he had gone, and sighed. In spite of
+the sunshine and balm of the bright weather, a sense of heaviness and
+foreboding oppressed her. Everything looked smiling and beautiful, and
+there was an almost irresistible contagion in the mirth of her young
+cousin, but still she could not help feeling sad. It was not merely that
+she would have to part with Eric, "but that bright boy," thought Fanny,
+"what will become of him? I have heard strange things of schools; oh, if
+he should be spoilt and ruined, what misery it would be. Those baby
+lips, that pure young heart, a year may work sad change in their words
+and thoughts!" She sighed again, and her eyes glistened as she raised
+them upwards, and breathed a silent prayer.
+
+She loved the boy dearly, and had taught him from his earliest years.
+In most things she found him an apt pupil. Truthful, ingenuous, quick,
+he would acquire almost without effort any subject that interested him,
+and a word was often enough to bring the impetuous blood to his cheeks,
+in a flush, of pride or indignation. He required the gentlest teaching,
+and had received it, while his mind seemed cast in such a mould of
+stainless honor that he avoided most of the faults to which children are
+prone. But he was far from blameless. He was proud to a fault; he well
+knew that few of his fellows had gifts like his, either of mind or
+person, and his fair face often showed a clear impression of his own
+superiority. His passion, too, was imperious, and though it always met
+with prompt correction, his cousin had latterly found it difficult to
+subdue. She felt, in a word, that he was outgrowing her rule. Beyond a
+certain age no boy of spirit can be safely guided by a woman's
+hand alone.
+
+Eric Williams was now twelve years old. His father was a civilian in
+India, and was returning on furlough to England after a long absence.
+Eric had been born in India, but had been sent to England by his parents
+at an early age, in charge of a lady friend of his mother. The parting,
+which had been agony to his father and mother, he was too young to feel;
+indeed the moment itself passed by without his being conscious of it.
+They took him on board the ship, and, after a time, gave him a hammer
+and some nails to play with. These had always been to him a supreme
+delight, and while he hammered away, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, denying
+themselves, for the child's sake, even one more tearful embrace, went
+ashore in the boat and left him. It was not till the ship sailed that he
+was told he would not see them again for a long, long time. Poor child,
+his tears and cries were wild when he first understood it; but the
+sorrows of four years old are very transient, and before a week was
+over, little Eric felt almost reconciled to his position, and had become
+the universal pet and plaything of every one on board, from Captain
+Broadland down to the cabin boy, with whom he very soon struck up an
+acquaintance. Yet twice a day at least, he would shed a tear, as he
+lisped his little prayer, kneeling at Mrs. Munro's knee, and asked God
+"to bless his dear dear father and mother, and make him a good boy."
+
+When Eric arrived in England, he was intrusted to the care of a widowed
+aunt, whose daughter, Fanny, had the main charge of his early teaching.
+At first, the wayward little Indian seemed likely to form no accession
+to the quiet household, but he soon became its brightest ornament and
+pride. Everything was in his favor at the pleasant home of Mrs. Trevor.
+He was treated with motherly kindness and tenderness, yet firmly checked
+when he went wrong. From the first he had a well-spring of strength,
+against temptation, in the long letters which every mail brought from
+his parents; and all his childish affections were entwined round the
+fancied image of a brother born since he had left India. In his bed-room
+there hung a cherub's head, drawn in pencil by his mother, and this
+picture was inextricably identified in his imagination with his "little
+brother Vernon." He loved it dearly, and whenever he went astray,
+nothing weighed on his mind so strongly as the thought, that if he were
+naughty he would teach little Vernon to be naughty too when he
+came home.
+
+And Nature also--wisest, gentlest, holiest of teachers-was with him in
+his childhood. Fairholm Cottage, where his aunt lived, was situated in
+the beautiful Vale of Ayrton, and a clear stream ran through the valley
+at the bottom of Mrs. Trevor's orchard. Eric loved this stream, and was
+always happy as he roamed by its side, or over the low green hills and
+scattered dingles, which lent unusual loveliness to every winding of its
+waters. He was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it did
+him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the
+want of amusement. The garden and orchard supplied him a theatre for
+endless games and romps, sometimes with no other companion than his
+cousin and his dog, and sometimes with the few children of his own age
+whom he knew in the hamlet. Very soon he forgot all about India; it only
+hung like a distant golden haze on the horizon of his memory. When asked
+if he remembered it, he would say thoughtfully, that in dreams and at
+some other times, he saw a little child, with long curly hair, running
+about in a little garden, near a great river, in a place where the air
+was very bright. But whether the little boy was himself or his brother
+Vernon, whom he had never seen, he couldn't quite tell.
+
+But above all, it was happy for Eric that his training was religious and
+enlightened. With Mrs. Trevor and her daughter, religion was not a
+system but a habit--not a theory, but a continued act of life. All was
+simple, sweet, and unaffected about their charity and their devotions.
+They loved God, and they did all the good they could to those around
+them. The floating gossip and ill-nature of the little village never
+affected them; it melted away insensibly in the presence of their
+cultivated minds; and so friendship with them was a bond of union among
+all, and from the vicar to the dairyman every one loved and respected
+them, asked their counsel, and sought their sympathy.
+
+They called themselves by no sectarian name, nor could they have told to
+what "party" they belonged. They troubled themselves with no theories of
+education, but mingled gentle nurture with "wholesome neglect." There
+was nothing exotic or constrained in the growth of Eric's character. He
+was not one of your angelically good children at all, and knew none of
+the phrases of which infant prodigies are supposed to be so fond. He had
+not been taught any distinction between "Sunday books" and "week-day"
+books, but no book had been put in his way that was not healthy and
+genuine in tone. He had not been told that he might use his Noah's ark
+on Sunday, because it was "a Sunday plaything," while all other toys
+were on that day forbidden. Of these things the Trevors thought little;
+they only saw that no child could be happy in enforced idleness or
+constrained employment; and so Eric grew up to love Sunday quite as well
+as any other day in the week, though, unlike your angelic children, he
+never professed to like it better. But to be truthful, to be honest, to
+be kind, to be brave, these had been taught him, and he never _quite_
+forgot the lesson; nor amid the sorrows of after life did he ever quite
+lose the sense--learnt at dear quiet Fairholm--of a present loving God,
+of a tender and long-suffering Father.
+
+As yet he could be hardly said to know what school was. He had been sent
+indeed to Mr. Lawley's grammar-school for the last half-year, and had
+learned a few declensions in his Latin grammar. But as Mr. Lawley
+allowed his upper class to hear the little boys their lessons, Eric had
+managed to get on pretty much as he liked. Only _once_ in the entire
+half-year had he said a lesson to the dreadful master himself, and of
+course it was a ruinous failure, involving some tremendous pulls of
+Eric's hair, and making him tremble like a leaf. Several things combined
+to make Mr. Lawley dreadful to his imagination. Ever since he was quite
+little, he remembered hearing the howls which proceeded from the "Latin
+school" as he passed by, whilst some luckless youngster was getting
+caned; and the reverend pedagogue was notoriously passionate. Then,
+again, he spoke so indistinctly with his deep, gruff voice, that Eric
+never could and never did syllable a word he said, and this kept him in
+a perpetual terror. Once Mr. Lawley had told him to go out, and see what
+time it was by the church clock. Only hearing that he was to do
+something, too frightened to ask what it was, and feeling sure that even
+if he did, he should not understand what the master said, Eric ran out,
+went straight to Mr. Lawley's house, and after having managed by
+strenuous jumps to touch the knocker, informed the servant "that Mr.
+Lawley wanted his man."
+
+"What man?" said the maid-servant, "the young man? or the butler? or is
+it the clerk?"
+
+Here was a puzzler! all Eric knew was that he was in the habit of
+sending sometimes for one or the other of these functionaries; but he
+was in for it, so with a faltering voice he said "the young man" at
+hazard, and went back to the Latin school.
+
+"Why have you been so long?" roared Mr. Lawley, as he timidly entered.
+Fear entirely prevented Eric from hearing what was said, so he answered
+at random, "He's coming, sir." The master, seeing by his scared look
+that something was wrong, waited to see what would turn up.
+
+Soon after, in walked "the young man," and coming to the astonished Mr.
+Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, "Master Williams said you sent for
+me, sir."
+
+"A mistake," growled the schoolmaster, turning on Eric a look which
+nearly petrified him; he quite expected a book at his head, or at best a
+great whack of the cane; but Mr. Lawley had naturally a kind heart,
+soured as it was, and pitying perhaps the child's white face, he
+contented himself with the effects of his look.
+
+The simple truth was, that poor Mr. Lawley was a little wrong in the
+head. A scholar and a gentleman, early misfortunes and an imprudent
+marriage had driven him to the mastership of the little country
+grammar-school; and here the perpetual annoyance caused to his refined
+mind by the coarseness of clumsy or spiteful boys, had gradually
+unhinged his intellect. Often did he tell the boys "that it was an
+easier life by far to break stones by the roadside than to teach them;"
+and at last his eccentricities became too obvious to be any longer
+overlooked.
+
+The denouement of his history was a tragic one, and had come a few days
+before the time when, our narrative opens. It was a common practice
+among the Latin school boys, as I suppose among all boys, to amuse
+themselves by putting a heavy book on the top of a door left partially
+ajar, and to cry out "Crown him" as the first luckless youngster who
+happened to come in received the book thundering on his head. One day,
+just as the trap had been adroitly laid, Mr. Lawley walked in
+unexpectedly. The moment he entered the school-room, down came an
+Ainsworth's Dictionary on the top of his hat, and the boy, concealed
+behind the door, unconscious of who the victim was, enunciated with mock
+gravity, "Crown him! three cheers."
+
+It took Mr. Lawley a second to raise from his eyebrows the battered hat,
+and recover from his confusion; the next instant he was springing after
+the boy who had caused the mishap, and who, knowing the effects of the
+master's fury, fled with precipitation. In one minute the offender was
+caught, and Mr. Lawley's heavy hand fell recklessly on his ears and
+back, until he screamed with terror. At last by a tremendous writhe,
+wrenching himself free, he darted towards the door, and Mr. Lawley, too
+exhausted to pursue, snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and
+hurled it at the boy's retreating figure. The watch flew through the
+air;--crash! it had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the
+lintel, fell smashed into a thousand shivers.
+
+The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken watch,
+which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly woke the master to
+his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there pale and
+breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could bear it no
+longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face with his hands,
+and burst into hysterical tears. It was the outbreak of feelings long
+pent up. In that instant all his life passed before him--its hopes, its
+failures, its miseries, its madness. "Yes!" he thought, "I am mad."
+
+Raising his head, he cried wildly, "Boys, go, I am mad!" and sank again
+into his former position, rocking himself to and fro. One by one the
+boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is soon told. Forced to
+leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his daily bread; and the weight
+of this new anxiety hastening the crisis, the handsome proud scholar
+became an inmate of the Brerely Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards,
+Eric heard that he was dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest
+in peace.
+
+Such was Eric's first school and schoolmaster. But although he learnt
+little there, and gained no experience of the character of others or of
+his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin School, which he
+never regretted. It was the mixture there of all classes. On those
+benches gentlemen's sons sat side by side with plebeians, and no harm,
+but only good, seemed to come from the intercourse. The neighboring
+gentry, most of whom had begun their education there, were drawn into
+closer and kindlier union with their neighbors and dependents, from the
+fact of having been their associates in the days of their boyhood. Many
+a time afterwards, when Eric, as he passed down the streets,
+interchanged friendly greetings with some young glazier or tradesman
+whom he remembered at school, he felt glad that thus early he had learnt
+practically to despise the accidental and nominal differences which
+separate man from man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A NEW HOME
+
+     "Life hath its May, and all is joyous then;
+     The woods are vocal and the flowers breathe odour,
+     The very breeze hath, mirth in't."--OLD PLAY.
+
+At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter informed
+the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at Southampton on
+July 5th, and would probably reach Ayrton the evening after. They
+particularly requested that no one should come to meet them on their
+landing. "We shall reach Southampton," wrote Mrs. Trevor, "tired, pale,
+and travel-stained, and had much rather see you first at dear Fairholm,
+where we shall be spared the painful constraint of a meeting in public.
+So please expect our arrival at about seven in the evening."
+
+Poor Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since the news
+came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and expectation
+made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing all day, every
+hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.
+
+At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening filled the
+sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the sound of wheels; a
+carriage dashed up to the door, and the next moment Eric sprang into his
+mother's arms.
+
+"O mother, mother!"
+
+"My own darling, darling boy!"
+
+And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
+child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
+another moment Eric had been folded to his father's heart, and locked in
+the arms of "little brother Vernon." Who shall describe the emotions of
+those few moments? they did not seem like earthly moments; they seemed
+to belong not to time, but to eternity.
+
+The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy. The little
+party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast asleep with his
+arm round his newfound brother's neck.
+
+Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father and
+mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could have shown
+no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met their eyes. The
+pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed distinctly the forms
+and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft regular breathing was the
+only sound that broke the stillness of the July night. The small shining
+flower-like faces, with their fair hair--the trustful loving arms folded
+round each brother's neck--the closed lids and parted lips made an
+exquisite picture, and one never to be forgotten. Side by side, without
+a word, the parents knelt down, and with eyes wet with tears of
+joyfulness, poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for their young
+and beloved boys.
+
+Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed opened to
+Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded itself before
+him. His parents--above all, his mother--were everything that he had
+longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled to his loving heart the ideal
+of his childish fancy. He was never tired of playing with and
+patronising his little brother, and their rambles by stream and hill
+made those days appear the happiest he had ever spent. Every evening
+(for he had not yet laid aside the habits of childhood) he said his
+prayers by his mother's knee, and at the end of one long summer's day,
+when prayers were finished, and full of life and happiness he lay down
+to sleep, "O mother," he said, "I am so happy--I like to say my prayers
+when you are here."
+
+"Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them."
+
+"Aren't there some who never say prayers, mother?"
+
+"Very many, love, I fear."
+
+"How unhappy they must be! I shall _always_ love to say my prayers."
+
+"Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!"
+
+And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often came
+back to Eric's mind in later and less happy days--days when that gentle
+hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when those mild blue
+eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed in heart and life,
+often flung himself down with an unreproaching conscience to
+prayerless sleep.
+
+It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to school in
+the Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house in the town of
+Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of furlough, at the end
+of which period Vernon was to be left at Fairholm, and Eric in the house
+of the head-master of the school. Eric enjoyed the prospect of all
+things, and he hardly fancied that Paradise itself could be happier than
+a life at the seaside with his father and mother and Vernon, combined
+with the commencement of schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage
+came, his first glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it
+with only a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him
+silent with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue
+sky melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with
+sunlight. At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan. On
+the way Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills, so that
+when they reached the town and took possession of their cottage, he was
+dumb with the inrush of new and marvellous impressions.
+
+Next morning he was awake early, and jumping out of bed, so as not to
+disturb the sleeping Vernon, he drew up the window-blind, and gently
+opened the window. A very beautiful scene burst on him, one destined to
+be long mingled with all his most vivid reminiscences. Not twenty yards
+below the garden, in front of the house, lay Ellan Bay, at that moment
+rippling with golden laughter in the fresh breeze of sunrise. On either
+side of the bay was a bold headland, the one stretching out in a series
+of broken crags, the other terminating in a huge mass of rock, called
+from its shape the Stack. To the right lay the town, with its grey old
+castle, and the mountain stream running through it into the sea; to the
+left, high above the beach, rose the crumbling fragment of a picturesque
+fort, behind which towered the lofty buildings of Roslyn School. Eric
+learnt the whole landscape by heart, and thought himself a most happy
+boy to come to such a place. He fancied that he should be never tired of
+looking at the sea, and could not take his eyes off the great buoy that
+rolled about in the centre of the bay, and flashed in the sunlight at
+every move. He turned round full of hope and spirits, and, after
+watching for a few moments the beautiful face of his sleeping brother,
+he awoke him with a boisterous kiss.
+
+That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr. Rowlands. The
+school had already re-opened, and one of the boys in his college cap
+passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He looked very happy
+and engaging, and was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started
+up and gazed after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment
+the unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the
+whole world, and he couldn't realize the fact that, before the day was
+over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort
+of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again,
+and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy's destiny
+is twined a good deal with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will know
+very soon.
+
+At nine o'clock Mr. Williams started towards the school with his son.
+The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past the ruin, at
+the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any other time Eric
+would have been overflowing with life and wonder at the murmur of the
+ripples, the sight of the ships passing by the rock-bound bay, and the
+numberless little shells, with their bright colors and sculptured
+shapes, which lay about the beach. But now his mind was too full of a
+single sensation, and when, after crossing a green playground, they
+stood by the head-master's door, his heart fluttered, and it required
+all his energy to keep down the nervous trembling which shook him.
+
+Mr. Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr. Rowlands'
+study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he turned to
+address Eric, after a few minutes' conversation with his father, the boy
+felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity and frank courtesy of
+his manner. A short examination showed that Eric's attainments were very
+slight as yet, and he was to be put in the lowest form of all, under the
+superintendence of the Rev. Henry Gordon. Dr. Rowlands wrote a short
+note in pencil, and giving it to Eric, directed the servant to show him
+to Mr. Gordon's school-room.
+
+The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so
+that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at
+their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them.
+As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the
+broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to
+feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, "I say, what sort of
+a fellow is Mr. Gordon?"
+
+"Terrible strict, Sir, I hear," said the man, touching his cap with a
+comic expression, which didn't at all tend to enliven the future pupil.
+"That's the door," he continued, "and you'll have to give him the
+doctor's note;" and, pointing to a door at the end of the passage, he
+walked off.
+
+Eric stopped irresolutely. The man had disappeared, and he was by
+himself in the great silent building. Afraid of the sound of his own
+footsteps, he ran along the passage, and knocked timidly. He heard a
+low, a very low murmur in the room, but there was no answer. He knocked
+again a little louder; still no notice; then, overdoing it in his
+fright, he gave a very loud tap indeed.
+
+"Come in," said a voice, which to the new boy sounded awful; but
+he opened the door, and entered. As he came in every head was
+quickly raised, he heard a whisper of "New fellow," and the crimson
+flooded his face, as he felt himself the cynosure of some forty
+intensely-inquisitive pairs of eyes.
+
+He found himself in a high airy room, with three large windows opening
+towards the sea. At one end was the master's throne, and facing it, all
+down the room, were desks and benches, along which the boys were sitting
+at work. Every one knows how very confusing it is to enter a strange
+room full of strange people, and especially when you enter it from a
+darker passage. Eric felt dazzled, and not seeing the regular route to
+the master's desk, went towards it between two of the benches. As these
+were at no great distance from each other, he stumbled against several
+legs on his way, and felt pretty sure that they were put out on purpose
+to trip him, especially by one boy, who, pretending to be much hurt,
+drew up his leg, and began rubbing it, ejaculating _sotto voce_,
+"awkward little fool."
+
+In this very clumsy way he at last reached the desk, and presented his
+missive. The master's eye was on him, but all Eric had time to observe
+was, that he looked rather stern, and had in his hand a book which he
+seemed to be studying with the deepest interest. He glanced first at the
+note, and then looked full at the boy, as though determined to read his
+character at a glance.
+
+"Williams, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, Sir," said Eric, very low, still painfully conscious that all the
+boys were looking at him, as well as the master.
+
+"Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form--the fourth. I
+hope you will work well. At present they are learning their Cesar. Go
+and sit next to that boy," pointing towards the lower end of the room;
+"he will show you the lesson, and let you look over his book. Barker,
+let Williams look over you!"
+
+Eric went and sat down at the end of a bench by the boy indicated. He
+was a rough-looking fellow, with a shock head of black hair, and a very
+dogged look. Eric secretly thought that he wasn't a very nice-looking
+specimen of Roslyn school. However, he sate by him, and glanced at the
+Cesar which the boy shoved about a quarter of an inch in his direction.
+But Barker didn't seem inclined to make any further advances, and
+presently Eric asked in a whisper,
+
+"What's the lesson?"
+
+The boy glanced at him, but took no further notice.
+
+Eric repeated, "I say, what's the lesson?"
+
+Instead of answering, Barker stared at him, and grunted,
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Eric--I mean Williams."
+
+"Then why don't you say what you mean?"
+
+Eric moved his foot impatiently at this ungracious reception; but as he
+seemed to have no redress, he pulled the Cesar nearer towards him.
+
+"Drop that; 't isn't yours."
+
+Mr. Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. "Silence!" he said,
+and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric, resigning
+himself to his fate, looked about him.
+
+He had plenty to occupy his attention in the faces round him. He
+furtively examined Mr. Gordon, as he bent over his high desk, writing,
+but couldn't make our the physiognomy. There had been something reserved
+and imperious in the master's manner, yet he thought he should not
+dislike him on the whole. With the countenances of his future
+schoolfellows he was not altogether pleased, but there were one or two
+which thoroughly attracted him. One boy, whose side face was turned
+towards him as he sat on the bench in front, took his fancy
+particularly, so, tired of doing nothing, he plucked up courage, and
+leaning forward whispered, "Do lend me your Cesar for a few minutes."
+The boy at once handed it to him with a pleasant smile, and as the
+lesson was marked, Eric had time to hurry over a few sentences, when Mr.
+Gordon's sonorous voice exclaimed,
+
+"Fourth form, come up!"
+
+Some twenty of the boys went up, and stood in a large semicircle round
+the desk. Eric of course was placed last, and the lesson commenced.
+
+"Russell, begin," said the master; and immediately the boy who had
+handed Eric his Caesar, began reading a few sentences, and construed
+them very creditably, only losing a place or two. He had a frank open
+face, bright intelligent fearless eyes, and a very taking voice and
+manner. Eric listened admiringly and felt sure he should like him.
+
+Barker was put on next. He bungled through the Latin in a grating
+irresolute sort of a way, with several false quantities, for each of
+which the next boy took him up. Then he began to construe;--a frightful
+confusion of nominatives without verbs, accusatives translated as
+ablatives, and perfects turned into prepositions ensued, and after a
+hopeless flounder, during which Mr. Gordon left him entirely to himself,
+Barker came to a full stop; his catastrophe was so ludicrous, that Eric
+could not help joining in the general titter Barker scowled.
+
+"As usual, Barker," said the master, with a curl of the lip. "Hold out
+your hand!"
+
+Barker did so, looking sullen defiance, and the cane immediately
+descended on his open palm. Six similar cuts followed, during which the
+form looked on, not without terror; and Barker, squeezing his hands
+tight together, went back to his seat.
+
+"Williams, translate the piece in which Barker has just failed!"
+
+Eric did as he was bid, and got through it pretty well. He had now quite
+recovered his ordinary bearing, and spoke out clearly and without
+nervousness. He afterwards won several places by answering questions,
+and at the end of the lesson was marked about half-way up the form. The
+boys' numbers were then taken down in the weekly register, and they went
+back to their seats.
+
+On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was clumsily
+scrawled, "I'll teach you to grin when I'm turned, you young brute."
+
+The paper seemed to fascinate his eyes. He stared at it fixedly, and
+augured ominously of Barker's intentions, since that worthy obviously
+alluded to his having smiled in form, and chose to interpret it as an
+intentional provocation. He felt that he was in for it, and that Barker
+meant to pick a quarrel with him. This puzzled and annoyed him, and he
+felt very sad to have found an enemy already.
+
+While he was looking at the paper, the great school-clock struck twelve;
+and the captain of the form getting up, threw open the folding-doors of
+the school-room.
+
+"You may go," said Mr. Gordon; and leaving his seat disappeared by a
+door at the further end of the room.
+
+Instantly there was a rash for caps, and the boys poured out in a
+confused and noisy stream, while at the same moment the other
+school-rooms disgorged their inmates. Eric naturally went out among the
+last; but just as he was going to take his cap, Barker seized it, and
+flung it with a whoop to the end of the passage, where it was trampled
+on by a number of the boys as they ran out.
+
+Eric, gulping down his fury with a great effort, turned to his opponent,
+and said coolly, "Is that what you always do to new fellows?"
+
+"Yes, you bumptious young owl, it is, and that too;" and a tolerably
+smart slap on the face followed--leaving a red mark on a cheek already
+aflame with, anger and indignation,--"should you like a little more?"
+
+He was hurt, both mind and body, but was too proud to cry. "What's that
+for?" he said, with flashing eyes.
+
+"For your conceit in laughing at me when I was caned."
+
+Eric stamped. "I did nothing of the kind, and you know it as well as I
+do."
+
+"What! I'm a liar, am I? O we shall take this kind of thing out of you,
+you young cub--take that;" and a heavier blow followed.
+
+"You brutal cowardly bully," shouted Eric; and in another moment he
+would have sprung upon him. It was lucky for him that he did not, for
+Barker was three years older than he, and very powerful. Such an attack
+would hare been most unfortunate for him in every way. But at this
+instant some boys hearing the quarrel ran up, and Russell among them.
+
+"Hallo, Barker," said one, "what's up?"
+
+"Why, I'm teaching this new fry to be less bumptious, that's all."
+
+"Shame!" said Russell, as he saw the mark on Eric's cheek; "what a
+fellow you are, Barker. Why couldn't you leave him alone for his first
+day, at any rate?"
+
+"What's that to you? I'll kick you too, if you say much."
+
+"Cave, cave!" whispered half a dozen voices, and instantly the knot of
+boys dispersed in every direction, as Mr. Gordon was seen approaching.
+He had caught a glimpse of the scene without understanding it, and
+seeing the new boy's red and angry face, he only said, as he passed by,
+"What, Williams! fighting already? Take care."
+
+This was the cruellest cut of all. "So," thought Eric, "a nice
+beginning! it seems both boys and masters are against me;" and very
+disconsolately he walked to pick up his cap.
+
+The boys were all dispersed in the play-ground at different games, and
+as he went home he was stopped perpetually, and had to answer the usual
+questions, "What's your name? Are you a boarder or a day scholar? What
+form are you in?" Eric expected all this, and it therefore did not annoy
+him. Under any other circumstances, he would have answered cheerfully
+and frankly enough; but now he felt miserable at his morning's
+rencontre, and his answers were short and sheepish, his only desire
+being to get away as soon as possible. It was an additional vexation to
+feel sure that his manner did not make a favorable impression.
+
+Before he had got out of the play ground, Russell ran up to him. "I'm
+afraid you won't like this, or think much of us, Williams," he said.
+"But never mind. It'll only last a day or two, and the fellows are not
+so bad as they seem; except that Barker. I'm sorry you've come across
+him, but it can't be helped."
+
+It was the first kind word he had had since the morning, and after his
+troubles kindness melted him. He felt half inclined to cry, and for a
+few moments could say nothing in reply to Russell's soothing words. But
+the boy's friendliness went far to comfort him, and at last, shaking
+hands with him, he said--
+
+"Do let me speak to you sometimes, while I am a new boy, Russell."
+
+"O yes," said Russell, laughing, "as much as ever you like. And as
+Barker hates me pretty much as he seems inclined to hate you, we are in
+the same box. Good bye."
+
+So Eric left the field, and wandered home, like Calchas in the Iliad,
+"Sorrowful by the side of the sounding sea." Already the purple mantle
+had fallen from his ideal of schoolboy life. He got home later than they
+expected, and found his parents waiting for him. It was rather
+disappointing to them to see his face so melancholy, when they expected
+him to be full of animation and pleasure. Mrs. Williams drew her own
+conclusions from the red mark on his cheek, as well as the traces of
+tears welling to his eyes; but, like a wise mother, she asked nothing,
+and left the boy to tell his own story,--which, in time he did, omitting
+all the painful part, speaking enthusiastically of Russell, and only
+admitting that he had been a little teased.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BULLYING
+
+"Give to the morn of life its natural blessedness." Wordsworth.
+
+Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I have often
+fancied that there must be in boyhood a pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a
+sort of "wild trick of the ancestral savage," which, no amount of
+civilization can entirely repress. Certain it is, that to most boys the
+first term is a trying ordeal. They are being tested and weighed. Their
+place in the general estimation is not yet fixed, and the slightest
+circumstances are seized upon to settle the category under which the boy
+is to be classed. A few apparently trivial accidents of his first few
+weeks at school often decide his position in the general regard for the
+remainder of his boyhood. And yet these are _not_ accidents; they are
+the slight indications which give an unerring proof of the general
+tendencies of his character and training. Hence much of the apparent
+cruelty with which new boys are treated is not exactly intentional. At
+first, of course, as they can have no friends worth speaking of, there
+are always plenty of coarse and brutal minds that take a pleasure in
+their torment, particularly if they at once recognise any innate
+superiority to themselves. Of this class was Barker. He hated Eric at
+first sight, simply because his feeble mind could only realise one idea
+about him, and that was the new boy's striking contrast with his own
+imperfections. Hence he left no means untried to vent on Eric his low
+and mean jealousy. He showed undisguised pleasure when he fell in form,
+and signs of disgust when he rose; he fomented every little source of
+disapproval or quarrelling which happened to arise against him; he never
+looked at him without a frown or a sneer; he waited for him to kick and
+annoy him as he came out of, or went into, the school-room. In fact, he
+did his very best to make the boy's life miserable, and the occupation
+of hating him seemed in some measure to fill up the vacuity of an
+ill-conditioned and degraded mind.
+
+Hatred is a most mysterious and painful phenomenon to the unhappy person
+who is the object of it, and more especially if he have incurred it by
+no one assignable reason. To Eric it was peculiarly painful; he was
+utterly unprepared for it. In his bright joyous life at Fairholm, in the
+little he saw of the boys at the Latin school, he had met with nothing
+but kindness and caresses, and the generous nobleness of his character
+had seemed to claim them as a natural element. "And now, why," he asked
+impatiently, "should this bull-dog sort of fellow have set his whole aim
+to annoy, vex, and hurt me?" Incapable himself of so mean a spirit of
+jealousy at superior excellence, he could not make it out; but such,
+was the fact, and the very mysteriousness of it made it more
+intolerable to bear.
+
+But it must be admitted that he made matters worse by his own bursts of
+passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and
+spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on
+his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight
+conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy.
+Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent look, much less a
+civil word. Eric loathed him, and the only good and happy part of the
+matter to his own mind was, that conscientiously his only desire was to
+get rid of him and be left alone, while he never cherished a particle
+of revenge.
+
+While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning himself
+a very good position with the other boys, who liked his frankness, his
+mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud with Barker like a
+dark background to all his enjoyment. He even had to manoeuvre daily how
+to escape him, and violent scenes were of constant occurrence between
+them. Eric could not, and would not, brook his bullying with silence.
+His resentment was loud and stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was,
+even _his_ phlegmatic temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce
+and uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.
+
+Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the form, and
+such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first, his position as a
+home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides Russell, there were
+three whom he liked best, and respected most--Duncan, Montagu, and Owen.
+They were very different boys, but all of them had qualities which well
+deserved his esteem. Duncan was the most boyish of boys, intensely full
+of fun, good-nature, and vigor; with fair abilities, he never got on
+well, because he could not be still for two minutes, and even if, in
+some fit of sudden ambition, he got up high in the form, he was sure to
+be put to the bottom again before the day was over, for trifling or
+talking. But out of school he was the soul of every game; whatever _he_
+took up was sure to be done pleasantly, and no party of amusement was
+ever planned without endeavoring to secure him as one of the number.
+
+Montagu's chief merit was, that he was such a thorough little gentleman;
+"such a jolly little fellow" every one said of him. Without being clever
+or athletic, he managed to do very fairly both at work and at the games,
+and while he was too exclusive to make many _intimate_ friends,
+everybody liked walking about or talking with him. Even Barker,
+blackguard as he was, seemed to be a little uneasy when confronted with
+Montagu's naturally noble and chivalrous bearing. In nearly all respects
+his influence was thoroughly good, and few boys were more
+generally popular.
+
+Owen, again, was a very different boy. His merit was a ceaseless
+diligence, in which it was doubtful whether ambition or
+conscientiousness had the greatest share. Reserved and thoughtful,
+unfitted for or indifferent to most games, he was anything but a
+favorite with the rest, and Eric rather respected than liked him. When
+he first came, he had been one of the most natural butts for Barker's
+craving ill-nature, and for a time he had been tremendously bullied. But
+gradually his mental superiority asserted itself. He took everything
+without tears and without passion, and this diminished the pleasure of
+annoying him. One day when Barker had given him an unprovoked kick, he
+quietly said,
+
+"Barker, next time you do that, I'll tell Mr. Gordon."
+
+"Sneak! do it if you dare." And he kicked him again; but the moment
+after he was sorry for it, for there was a dark look in Owen's eyes, as
+he turned instantly into the door of the master's room, and laid a
+formal complaint against Barker for bullying.
+
+Mr. Gordon didn't like "telling," and he said so to Owen, without
+reserve. An ordinary boy would have broken into a flood of explanations
+and palliations, but Owen simply bowed, and said nothing. "He stood
+there for justice," and he had counted the cost. Strong-minded and
+clear-headed, he calculated correctly that the momentary dislike of his
+schoolfellows, with whom he well knew that he never could be popular,
+would be less unbearable than Barker's villanous insults. The
+consequence was that Barker was caned soundly, although, with some
+injustice, Mr. Gordon made no attempt to conceal that he did it
+unwillingly.
+
+Of course the fellows were very indignant with Owen for sneaking, as
+they called it, and for a week or two he had the keen mortification of
+seeing "Owen is a sneak," written up all about the walls. But he was
+too proud or too cold to make any defence till called upon, and bore it
+in silence. Barker vowed eternal vengeance, and the very day after, had
+seized Owen with the avowed intention of "half murdering him." But
+before he could once strike him, Owen said in the most chill tone,
+"Barker, if you touch me, I shall go straight to Dr. Rowlands." The
+bully well knew that Owen never broke his word, but he could not govern
+his rage, and first giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash
+him without limit or remorse.
+
+Pale, but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr. Rowlands'
+door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed at his
+temerity, for the doctor was to all their imaginations a regular _Deus
+ex machina._ That afternoon, again Barker was publicly caned, with the
+threat that the next offence would be followed by instant and public
+expulsion. This punishment he particularly dreaded, because he was
+intended for the army, and he well knew that it might ruin his
+prospects. The consequence was, that Owen never suffered from him again,
+although he daily received a shower of oaths and curses, which he passed
+over with silent contempt.
+
+My dear boy-reader, don't suppose that I want you to imitate Owen in
+this matter. I despise a boy who "tells" as much as you do, and it is a
+far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of
+spirit and good humor, as in time to disarm it. But Owen was a peculiar
+boy, and remember he had _no_ redress. He bore for a time, until he felt
+that he _must_ have the justice and defence, without which it would
+have been impossible for him to continue at Roslyn school.
+
+But why, you ask, didn't he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at Roslyn
+the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a school of
+250 boys, the sixth form, with all their privileges, had no prerogative
+of authority. They hadn't the least right to interfere, because no such
+power had been delegated to them, and therefore they felt themselves
+merely on a par with the rest, except for such eminence as their
+intellectual superiority gave them. The consequence was, that any
+interference from them would have been of a simply individual nature,
+and was exerted very rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to
+tell a sixth-form boy, than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a
+favorite, he was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles or
+maintain his just rights.
+
+All this had happened before Eric's time, and he heard it from his best
+friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became friends at once
+by a kind of electric sympathy; the first glance of each at the other's
+face prepared the friendship, and every day of acquaintance more firmly
+cemented it. Eric could not have had a better friend; not so clever as
+himself, not so diligent as Owen, not so athletic as Duncan, or so
+fascinating as Montagu, Russell combined the best qualities of them all.
+And, above all, he acted invariably from the highest principle; he
+presented that noblest of all noble spectacles--one so rare that many
+think it impossible--the spectacle of an honorable, pure-hearted, happy
+boy, who, as his early years speed by, is ever growing in wisdom, and
+stature, and favor with God and man.
+
+"Did that brute Barker ever bully you as he bullies me?" said Eric, one
+day, as he walked on the sea-shore with his friend.
+
+"Yes," said Russell; "I slept in his dormitory when I first came, and he
+has often made me so wretched that I have flung myself on my knees at
+night in pretence of prayer, but really to get a little quiet time to
+cry like a child."
+
+"And when was it he left off at last?"
+
+"Why, you know, Upton in the fifth is my cousin, and very fond of me; he
+heard of it, though I didn't say anything about it, and told Barker that
+if ever he caught him at it, he would thrash him within an inch of his
+life; and that frightened him for one thing. Besides, Duncan, Montagu,
+and other friends of mine began to cut him in consequence, so he thought
+it best to leave off."
+
+"How is it, Russell, that fellows stand by and let him do it?"
+
+"You see, Williams," said Russell, "Barker is an enormously strong
+fellow, and that makes the younger chaps, whom he fags, look up to him
+as a great hero. And there isn't one in our part of the school who can
+thrash him. Besides, people never do interfere, you know--at least not
+often. I remember once seeing a street-row in London, at which twenty
+people stood by, and let a drunken beast of a husband strike his wife
+without ever stirring to defend her."
+
+"Well," sighed Eric, "I hope my day of deliverance will come soon, for
+I can't stand it much longer, and 'tell' I won't, whatever Owen may do."
+
+Eric's deliverance came very soon. It was afternoon; the boys were
+playing at different games in the green playground, and he was waiting
+for his turn at rounders. At this moment Barker lounged up, and calmly
+snatching off Eric's cap, shied it over Dr. Rowlands' garden wall.
+"There, go and fetch that."
+
+"You blackguard!" said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few minutes;
+and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall. It was not very
+high, but boys were peremptorily forbidden to get over it under any
+circumstances, and Eric broke the rule not without trepidation. However,
+he dropped down on one of Mrs. Rowlands' flower-beds, and got his cap in
+a hurry, and clambered back undiscovered.
+
+He thought this would have satisfied his tormentor for one day; but
+Barker was in a mischievous mood, so he again came up to Eric, and
+calling out, "Who'll have a game at football?" again snatched the cap,
+and gave it a kick; Eric tried to recover it, but every time he came up
+Barker gave it a fresh kick, and finally kicked it into a puddle.
+
+Eric stood still, trembling with rage, while his eyes lightened scorn
+and indignation. "You hulking, stupid, cowardly bully,"--here Barker
+seized him, and every word brought a tremendous blow on the head, but
+blind with passion Eric went on--"you despicable bully, I won't touch
+that cap again, you shall pick it up yourself. Duncan, Russell, here! do
+help me against this intolerable brute."
+
+Several boys ran up, but they were all weaker than Barker, who besides
+was now in a towering fury, and kicked Eric unmercifully.
+
+"Leave him alone," shouted Duncan, "or by heaven I'll get you a sound
+thrashing from some fellow."
+
+"I won't; mind your own business," growled Barker, shaking himself free
+from Duncan's hand.
+
+"Barker, I'll never speak to you again from this day," said Montagu,
+turning on his heel with a look of withering contempt.
+
+"What do I care? puppy, you want taking down too," was the reply, and
+some more kicks at Eric followed.
+
+"Barker, I won't stand this any longer," said Russell; and seizing him
+by the arm, he dealt him a swinging blow on the face.
+
+The bully stood in amazement, and dropped Eric, who fell on the turf
+nearly fainting, and bleeding at the nose. But now Russell's turn came,
+and in a moment Barker, who was twice his weight, had tripped him up,
+when he found himself collared in an iron grasp.
+
+There had been an unobserved spectator of the whole scene, in the person
+of Mr. Williams himself, and it was his strong hand that now griped
+Barker's shoulder. He was greatly respected by the boys, who all knew
+his tall handsome figure by sight, and he frequently stood a quiet and
+pleased observer of their games. The boys in the playground came
+crowding round, and Barker in vain struggled to escape. Mr. Williams
+held him firmly, and said in a calm voice, "I have just seen you treat
+one of your schoolfellows with the grossest violence. It makes me blush
+for you, Roslyn Boys," he continued, turning to the group that
+surrounded him, "that you can stand by unmoved, and see such things
+done. You know that you despise any one who tells a master, yet you
+allow this bullying to go on, and that, too, without any provocation.
+Now, mark; it makes no difference that the boy hurt is my own son; I
+would have punished this scoundrel, whoever it had been, and I shall
+punish him now." With these words he lifted the riding-whip which he
+happened to be carrying, and gave Barker one of the most satisfactory
+castigations he had ever undergone; the boys declared that Dr. Rowlands'
+"swishings" were nothing to it. Mr. Williams saw that the offender was a
+tough subject, and determined that he should not soon forget the
+punishment he then received. He had never heard from Eric how this boy
+had been treating him, but he had heard it from Russell, and now he had
+seen one of the worst specimens of it with his own eyes. He therefore
+belabored him till his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy,
+and promises never so to offend again.
+
+At this crisis he flung the boy from him with a "phew" of disgust, and
+said, "I give nothing for your word; but if ever you do bully in this
+way again, and I see or hear of it, your present punishment shall be a
+trifle to what I shall then administer. At present, thank me for not
+informing your master." So saying, he made Barker pick up the cap, and,
+turning away, walked home with Eric leaning on his arm.
+
+Barker, too, carried himself off with the best grace be could; but it
+certainly didn't mend matters when he heard numbers of fellows, even
+little boys, say openly, "I'm so glad; serves you right."
+
+From that day Eric was never troubled with personal violence from Barker
+or any other boy. But rancor smouldered deep in the mind of the baffled
+tyrant, and, as we shall see hereafter, there are subtler means of
+making an enemy wretched than striking or kicking him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CRIBBING
+
+     "Et nos ergo manum forulae subduximus."--Juv. i. 15.
+
+It must not be thought that Eric's year as a home boarder was made up of
+dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a dark side, and
+Eric enjoyed it "to the finger-tips." School-life, like all other life,
+is an April day of shower and sunshine. Its joys may be more childish,
+its sorrows more trifling than those of after years;--but they are more
+keenly felt.
+
+And yet, although we know it to be a mere delusion, we all idealise and
+idolise our childhood. The memory of it makes pleasant purple in the
+distance, and as we look back on the sunlight of its blue far-off hills,
+we forget how steep we sometimes found them.
+
+After Barker's discomfiture, which took place some three weeks after his
+arrival, Eric liked the school more and more, and got liked by it more
+and more. This might have been easily foreseen, for he was the type of a
+thoroughly boyish mind in its more genial and honorable characteristics,
+and his round of acquaintances daily increased. Among others, a few of
+the sixth, who were also day-scholars, began to notice and walk home
+with him. He looked on them as great heroes, and their condescension
+much increased his dignity both in his own estimation and that of
+his equals.
+
+Now, too, he began to ask some of his most intimate acquaintances to
+spend an evening with him sometimes at home. This was a pleasure much
+coveted, for no boy ever saw Mrs. Williams without loving her, and they
+felt themselves humanised by the friendly interest of a lady who
+reminded every boy of his own mother. Vernon, too, now a lively and
+active child of nine, was a great pet among them, so that every one
+liked Eric who "knew him at home." A boy generally shows his best side
+at home; the softening shadows of a mother's tender influence play over
+him, and tone down the roughness of boyish character. Duncan, Montagu,
+and Owen were special favorites in the home circle, and Mrs. Williams
+felt truly glad that her son had singled out friends who seemed, on the
+whole, so desirable. But Montagu and Russell were the most frequent
+visitors, and the latter became almost like one of the family; he won so
+much on all their hearts that Mrs. Williams was not surprised when Eric
+confided to her one day that he loved Russell almost as well as be
+loved Vernon.
+
+As Christmas approached, the boys began to take a lively interest in the
+half-year's prizes, and Eric was particularly eager about them. He had
+improved wonderfully, and as both his father and mother prevented him
+from being idle, even had he been so inclined, he had soon shown that
+he was one of the best in the form. Two prizes were given, half-yearly
+to each remove; one for "marks" indicating the boy who had generally
+been highest throughout the half year, and the other for the test proofs
+of proficiency in a special examination. It was commonly thought in the
+form that Owen would get the first of these prizes, and Eric the other;
+and towards the approach of the examination, he threw his whole energy
+into the desire to win. The desire was not selfish. Some ambition was of
+course natural; but he longed for the prize chiefly for the delight
+which he knew his success would cause at Fairholm, and still more to his
+own family.
+
+During the last week, an untoward circumstance happened, which, while it
+increased his popularity, diminished a good deal (as he thought) his
+chance of success. The fourth form were learning a Homer lesson, and
+Barker, totally unable to do it by his own resources, was trying to
+borrow a crib. Eric, much to their mutual disgust, still sat next to him
+in school, and would have helped him if he had chosen to ask; but he
+never did choose, nor did Eric care to volunteer. The consequence was,
+that unless he could borrow a crib, he was invariably turned, and he was
+now particularly anxious to get one, because the time was nearly up.
+
+There was a certain idle, good-natured boy, named Llewellyn, who had
+"cribs" to every book they did, and who, with a pernicious _bonhommie,_
+lent them promiscuously to the rest, all of whom were only too glad to
+avail themselves of the help, except the few at the top of the form, who
+found it a slovenly way of learning the lesson, which was sure to get
+them into worse difficulties than an honest attempt to master the
+meaning for themselves. Llewellyn sat at the farther end of the form in
+front, so Barker scribbled in the fly-leaf of his book, "Please send us
+your Homer crib," and got the book passed on to Llewellyn, who
+immediately shoved his crib in Barker's direction. The only danger of
+the transaction being noticed, was when the book was being handed from
+one bench to another, and as Eric unluckily had an end seat, he had got
+into trouble more than once.
+
+On this occasion, just as Graham, the last boy on the form in front,
+handed Eric the crib, Mr. Gordon happened to look up, and Eric, very
+naturally anxious to screen another from trouble, popped the book under
+his own Homer.
+
+"Williams, what are you doing?"
+
+"Nothing, Sir," said Eric, looking up innocently.
+
+"Bring me that book under your Homer."
+
+Eric blushed, hesitated--but at last, amid a dead silence, took up the
+book. Mr. Gordon looked at it for a moment, let it fall on the ground,
+and then, with an unnecessary affectation of disgust, took it up with
+the tongs, and dropped it into the fire. There was a titter round
+the room.
+
+"Silence," thundered the master; "this is no matter for laughing. So,
+sir, _this_ is the way you get up to the top of the form?"
+
+"I wasn't using it, sir," said Eric.
+
+"Not using it! Why, I saw you put it, open, under your Homer."
+
+"It isn't mine, sir."
+
+"Then whose is it?" Mr. Gordon looked at the fly leaf, but of course no
+name was there; in those days it was dangerous to write one's name in a
+translation.
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+"Under the circumstances, Williams, I must punish you," said Mr. Gordon.
+"Of course I am _bound_ to believe you, but the circumstances are very
+suspicious. You had no business with such a book at all. Hold out
+your hand."
+
+As yet, Eric had never been caned. It would have been easy for him in
+this case to clear himself without mentioning names, but (very rightly)
+he thought it unmanly to clamor about being punished, and he felt
+nettled at Mr. Gordon's merely official belief of his word. He knew that
+he had his faults, but certainly want of honor was not among them.
+Indeed, there were only three boys out of the twenty in the form, who
+did not resort to modes of unfairness far worse than the use of cribs,
+and those three were Russell, Owen, and himself; even Duncan, even
+Montagu, inured to it by custom, were not ashamed to read their lesson
+off a concealed book, or copy a date from a furtive piece of paper. They
+would have been ashamed of it before they came to Roslyn school, but the
+commonness of the habit had now made them blind or indifferent to its
+meanness. It was peculiarly bad in the fourth form, because the master
+treated them with implicit confidence, and being scrupulously honorable
+himself, was unsuspicious of others. He was therefore extremely
+indignant at this apparent discovery of an attempt to overreach him in
+a boy so promising and so much of a favorite as Eric Williams.
+
+"Hold out your hand," he repeated.
+
+Eric did so, and the cane tingled sharply across his palm. He could bear
+the pain well enough, but he was keenly alive to the disgrace; he, a boy
+at the head of his form, to be caned in this way by a man who didn't
+understand him, and unjustly too! He mustered up an indifferent air,
+closed his lips tight, and determined to give no further signs. The
+defiance of his look made Mr. Gordon angry, and he inflicted in
+succession five hard cuts on either hand, each one of which, was more
+excruciating than the last.
+
+"Now, go to your seat."
+
+Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked
+in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve
+at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero
+with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling,
+and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe
+a punishment. The punishment _was_ most severe, and for some weeks after
+there were dark weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use
+of his hands painful.
+
+"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how very
+plucky of you not to cry."
+
+     "Vengeance deep brooding o'er the _cane_,
+       Had locked the source of softer woe;
+     And burning pride, and high disdain,
+       Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"
+
+said Eric, with a smile.
+
+But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling
+his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears,
+mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his
+injustice.
+
+"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you never get
+a punishment _justly_, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am
+now. And don't cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you
+harm. Try to forgive and forget."
+
+"But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a favorite
+of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me. It is a great
+shame that he shouldn't believe my word. I don't mind the pain; but I
+shan't like him any more, and I'm sure, now, I shan't get the
+examination prize."
+
+"You don't mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality in the
+matter?"
+
+"No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won't _intend_ to be. But
+it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a master, and I know I shan't
+work so well."
+
+On the whole, the boy was right in thinking this incident a misfortune.
+Although he had nothing particular for which to blame himself, yet the
+affair had increased his pride, while it lowered his self-respect; and
+he had an indistinct consciousness that the popularity in his form would
+do him as much harm as the change of feeling in his master. He grew
+careless and dispirited, nor was it till in the very heat of the final
+competition, that he felt his energies fully revived.
+
+Half the form were as eager about the examination as the other half
+were indifferent; but none were more eager than Eric. He was much
+hindered by Barker's unceasing attempt to copy his papers
+surreptitiously; and very much disgusted at the shameless way in which
+many of the boys "cribbed" from books, and from each other, or used torn
+leaves concealed in their sleeves, or dates written on their wristbands,
+and on their nails. He saw how easily much of this might have been
+prevented; but Mr. Gordon was fresh at his work, and had not yet learnt
+the practical lesson, that to trust young boys to any great extent, is
+really to increase their temptations. He _did_ learn the lesson
+afterwards, and then almost entirely suppressed the practice, partly by
+increased vigilance, and partly by forbidding _any_ book to be brought
+into the room during the time of examination. But meanwhile, much evil
+had been done by the habitual abuse of his former confidence.
+
+I shall not linger over the examination. At its close, the day before
+the breaking-up, the list was posted on the door of the great
+school-room, and most boys made an impetuous rush to see the result. But
+Eric was too nervous to be present at the hour when this was usually
+done, and he had asked Russell to bring him the news.
+
+He was walking up and down the garden, counting the number of steps he
+took, counting the number of shrubs along each path, and devising every
+sort of means to beguile the time, when he heard hasty steps, and
+Russell burst in at the back gate, breathless with haste, and bright
+with excitement.
+
+"Hurrah! old fellow," he cried, seizing both Eric's hands; "I never
+felt so glad in my life;" and he shook his friend's arms up and down,
+laughing joyously.
+
+"Well! tell me," said Eric.
+
+"First, {Owen/Williams} Aequales," "you've got head remove you see, in
+spite of your forebodings, as I always said you would; and I
+congratulate you with all my heart."
+
+"No?" said Eric, "have I really?--you're not joking? Oh! hurrah!--I must
+rush in and tell them;" and he bounded off.
+
+In a second he was back at Russell's side. "What a selfish animal I am!
+Where are you placed, Russell?"
+
+"Oh! magnificent; I'm third;--far higher than I expected."
+
+"I'm so glad," said Eric. "Come in with me and tell them. I'm head
+remove, mother," he shouted, springing into the parlor where his father
+and mother sat.
+
+In the lively joy that this announcement excited, Russell stood by for
+the moment unheeded; and when Eric took him by the hand to tell them
+that he was third, he hung his head, and a tear was in his eye.
+
+"Poor boy! I'm afraid you're disappointed," said Mrs. Williams kindly,
+drawing him to her side.
+
+"Oh no, no! it's not _that_," said Russell, hastily, as he lifted his
+swimming eyes towards her face.
+
+"Are you hurt, Russell?" asked Eric, surprised.
+
+"Oh! no; don't ask me; I am only foolish to-day;" and with a burst of
+sorrow he flung his arms round Mrs. Williams' neck. She folded him to
+her heart, and kissed him tenderly; and when his sobs would let him
+speak, he whispered to her in a low tone, "It is but a year since I
+became an orphan."
+
+"Dearest child," she said, "look on me as a mother; I love you very
+dearly for your own sake as well as Eric's."
+
+Gradually he grew calmer. They made him stay to dinner and spend the
+rest of the day there, and by the evening he had recovered all his usual
+sprightliness. Towards sunset he and Eric went for a stroll down the
+bay, and talked over the term and the examination.
+
+They sat down on a green bank just beyond the beach, and watched the
+tide come in, while the sea-distance was crimson with the glory of
+evening. The beauty and the murmur filled them with a quiet happiness,
+not untinged with the melancholy thought of parting the next day.
+
+At last Eric broke the silence. "Russell, let me always call you Edwin,
+and call me Eric."
+
+"Very gladly, Eric. Your coming here has made me so happy." And the two
+boys squeezed each other's hands, and looked into each other's faces,
+and silently promised that they would be loving friends for ever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SECOND TERM
+
+     "Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our vines; for our
+     vines have tender grapes."--CANT. ii. 15.
+
+The second term at school is generally the great test of the strength of
+a boy's principles and resolutions. During the first term the novelty,
+the loneliness, the dread of unknown punishments, the respect for
+authorities, the desire to measure himself with his companions--all tend
+to keep him right and diligent. But many of these incentives are removed
+after the first brush of novelty, and many a lad who has given good
+promise at first, turns out, after a short probation, idle, or vicious,
+or indifferent.
+
+But there was little comparative danger for Eric, so long as he
+continued to be a home boarder, which was for another half-year. On the
+contrary, he was anxious to support in his new remove the prestige of
+having been head boy; and as he still continued under Mr. Gordon, he
+really wished to turn over a new leaf in his conduct towards him, and
+recover, if possible, his lost esteem.
+
+His popularity was a fatal snare. He enjoyed and was very proud of it,
+and was half inclined to be angry with Russell for not fully sharing his
+feelings; but Russell had a far larger experience of school life than
+his new friend, and dreaded with all his heart lest "he should follow a
+multitude to do evil."
+
+The "cribbing," which had astonished and pained Eric at first, was more
+flagrant than even in the Upper Fourth, and assumed a chronic form. In
+all the repetition lessons one of the boys used to write out in a large
+hand the passage to be learnt by heart, and dexterously pin it to the
+front of Mr. Gordon's desk. There any boy who chose could read it off
+with little danger of detection, and, as before, the only boys who
+refused to avail themselves of this trickery were Eric, Russell,
+and Owen.
+
+Eric did _not_ yield to it; never once did he suffer his eyes to glance
+at the paper when his turn to repeat came round. But although this was
+the case, he never spoke against the practice to the other boys, even
+when he lost places by it. Nay more, he would laugh when any one told
+him how he had escaped "skewing" (_i.e._ being turned) by reading it
+off; and he even went so far as to allow them to suppose that he
+wouldn't himself object to take advantage of the master's unsuspicious
+confidence.
+
+"I say, Williams," said Duncan, one morning as they strolled into the
+school-yard, "do you know your Rep.?"
+
+"No," said Eric, "not very well; I haven't given more than ten minutes
+to it."
+
+"Oh, well, never mind it now; come and have a game at racquets? Russel
+and Montagu have taken the court."
+
+"But I shall skew."
+
+"Oh no, you needn't, you know. I'll take care to pin it up on the desk
+near you."
+
+"Well, I don't much care. At any rate I'll chance it." And off the boys
+ran to the racquet-court, Eric intending to occupy the last quarter of
+an hour before school-time in learning his lesson. Russell and he stood
+the other two, and they were very well matched. They had finished two
+splendid games, and each side had been victorious in turn, when Duncan,
+in the highest spirits, shouted, "Now, Russell, for the conqueror."
+
+"Get some one else in my place," said Russell; "I don't know my Rep.,
+and must cut and learn it."
+
+"O bother the Rep.," said Montagu; "somebody's sure to write it out in
+school, and old Gordon'll never see."
+
+"You forget, Montagu, I never condescend to that."
+
+"O ay, I forgot. Well, after all, you're quite right; I only wish I was
+as good."
+
+"What a capital fellow he is," continued Montagu, leaning on his racquet
+and looking after him, as Russell left the court; "but I say, Williams,
+you're not going too, are you?"
+
+"I think I must, I don't know half my lesson."
+
+"O no! don't go; there's Llewellyn; he'll take Russell's place, and we
+_must_ have the conquering game."
+
+Again Eric yielded; and when the clock struck he ran into school, hot,
+vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as Russell strolled
+in, whispering, "I've had lots of time to get up the Horace, and know
+it pat."
+
+Still he clung to the little thistledown of hope that he should have
+plenty of time to cram it before the form were called up. But another
+temptation awaited him. No sooner was he seated than Graham whispered,
+"Williams, it's your turn to write out the Horace; I did last time,
+you know."
+
+Poor Eric. He was reaping the fruits of his desire to keep up
+popularity, by never denying his complicity in the general cheating.
+Everybody seemed to assume now that _he_ at any rate didn't think much
+of it, and he had never claimed his real right up to that time of
+asserting his innocence. But this was a step further than he had ever
+gone before. He drew back--
+
+"My _turn_, what do you mean?"
+
+"Why, you know as well as I do that we all write it out by turns."
+
+"Do you mean to say that Owen or Russell ever wrote it out?"
+
+"Of course not; you wouldn't expect the saints to be guilty of such a
+thing, would you?"
+
+"I'd rather not, Graham," he said, getting very red.
+
+"Well, that _is_ cowardly," answered Graham, angrily; "then I suppose I
+must do it myself."
+
+"Here, I'll do it," said Eric suddenly; "shy us the paper."
+
+His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
+offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
+uncomfortable.
+
+"There," he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; "I've written it,
+and I'll have nothing more to do with it."
+
+Just as he finished they were called up, and Barker, taking the paper,
+succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk. Eric had
+never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and firmly
+believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it badly on
+purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so Eric be got
+once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of apprehension, and when
+put on, was totally unable to say a word of his Rep. But low as he had
+fallen, he would not cheat like the rest; he kept his eyes resolutely
+turned away from the guilty paper, and even refused to repeat the words
+which were prompted in his ear by the boys on each side. Mr. Gordon,
+after waiting a moment, said--
+
+"Why, Sir, you know nothing about it; you can't have looked at it. Go to
+the bottom and write it out five times."
+
+"_Write it out_" thought Eric; "this is retribution, I suppose;" and
+covered with shame and vexation, he took his place below the malicious
+Barker at the bottom of the form.
+
+It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and Mr.
+Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was this
+done than the mischievous whiff of sea air which entered the room began
+to trifle and coquet with the perdulous half sheet pinned in front of
+the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little pattering crepitation. In
+alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out the pin, and immediately the
+paper floated gracefully over Russell's head, as he sat at the top of
+the form, and, after one or two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre
+of the room.
+
+"Bring me that piece of paper," said Mr. Gordon, full of vague
+suspicion.
+
+Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously around.
+
+"Did you hear? fetch me that half sheet of paper."
+
+A boy picked it up and handed it to him. He held it for a full minute in
+his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust, and rising anger
+struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly turned full on Eric,
+whose writing he recognized, and broke out,
+
+"So, Sir! a second time caught in gross deceit. I should not have
+thought it possible. Your face and manners belie you. You have lost my
+confidence forever. I _despise_ you."
+
+"Indeed, Sir," said the penitent Eric, "I never meant--"
+
+"Silence--you are detected, as cheats always will be. I shall report you
+to Dr. Rowlands."
+
+The next boy was put on, and broke down. The same with the next, and the
+next, and the next; Montagu, Graham, Llewellyn, Duncan, Barker, all
+hopeless failures; only two boys had said it right--Russell and Owen.
+
+Mr. Gordon's face grew blacker and blacker. The deep undisguised pain
+which the discovery caused him was swallowed up in unbounded
+indignation. "False-hearted, dishonorable boys," he exclaimed,
+"henceforth my treatment of you shall be very different. The whole form,
+except Russell and Owen, shall have an extra lesson every half-holiday;
+not one of the rest of you will I trust again. I took you for gentlemen.
+I was mistaken. Go." And so saying, he waved them to their seats with
+imperious disdain.
+
+They went, looking sheepish, and ashamed. Eric, deeply vexed, kept
+twisting and untwisting a bit of paper, without raising his eyes, and
+even Barker thoroughly repented his short-sighted treachery; the rest
+were silent and miserable.
+
+At twelve o'clock two boys lingered in the room to speak to Mr. Gordon;
+they were Eric Williams and Edwin Russell, but they were full of very
+different feelings.
+
+Eric stepped to the desk first. Mr. Gordon looked up.
+
+"You! Williams, I wonder that you have the audacity to speak to me.
+Go--I have nothing to say to you!"
+
+"But, sir, I want to tell you that--"
+
+"Your guilt is only too clear, Williams. You will hear more of this. Go,
+I tell you."
+
+Eric's passion overcame him; he stamped furiously on the ground, and
+burst out, "I _will_ speak, sir; you have been unjust to me for a long
+time, but I will _not_ be--"
+
+Mr. Gordon's cane fell sharply across the boy's back; he stopped, glared
+for a moment; and then saying:
+
+"Very well, sir! I shall tell Dr. Rowlands that you strike before you
+hear me," he angrily left the room, and slammed the door violently
+behind him.
+
+Before Mr. Gordon had time to recover from his astonishment, Russell
+stood by him.
+
+"Well, my boy," said the master, softening in a moment, and laying his
+hand gently on Russell's head, "what have you to say? You cannot tell
+how I rejoice, amid the deep sorrow that this has caused me, to find
+that _you_ at least are uncontaminated. But I _knew_, Edwin, that I
+could trust you."
+
+"O sir, I come to speak for Eric--for Williams." Mr. Gordon's brow
+darkened again, and the storm gathered, as he interrupted vehemently,
+"Not a word, Russell; not a word. This is the _second_ time that he has
+wilfully deceived me; and this time he has involved others too in his
+base deceit."
+
+"Indeed, sir, you wrong him. I can't think how he came to write the
+paper, but I _know_ that he did not and would not use it. Didn't you see
+yourself, sir, how he turned his head quite another way when he
+broke down."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Edwin, to defend him," said Mr. Gordon coldly,
+"but at present, at any rate, I must not hear you. Leave me; I feel very
+sad, and must have time to think over this disgraceful affair."
+
+Russell went away disconsolate, and met his friend striding up and down,
+the passage, waiting for Dr. Rowlands to come out of the library.
+
+"O Eric," he said, "how came you to write that paper?"
+
+"Why, Russell, I did feel very much ashamed, and I would have explained
+it, and said so; but that Gordon spites me so. It is such a shame; I
+don't feel now as if I cared one bit."
+
+"I am sorry you don't get on with him; but remember you have given him
+in this case good cause to suspect. You never crib, Eric, I know, but I
+can't help being sorry that you wrote the paper."
+
+"But then Graham asked me to do it, and called me cowardly because I
+refused at first."
+
+"Ah, Eric," said Russell, "they will ask you to do worse things if you
+yield so easily. I wouldn't say anything to Dr. Rowlands about it, if I
+were you."
+
+Eric took the advice, and, full of mortification, went home. He gave his
+father a true and manly account of the whole occurrence, and that
+afternoon Mr. Williams wrote a note of apology and explanation to Mr.
+Gordon. Next time the form went up, Mr. Gordon said, in his most
+freezing tones, "Williams, at present I shall take no further notice of
+your offence beyond including you in the extra lesson every
+half-holiday."
+
+From that day forward Eric felt that he was marked and suspected, and
+the feeling worked on him with the worst effects. He grew more careless
+in work, and more trifling and indifferent in manner. Several boys now
+beat him whom he had easily surpassed before, and his energies were for
+a time entirely directed to keeping that supremacy in the games which he
+had won by his activity and strength.
+
+It was a Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the summer term, and the
+boys were sauntering about in the green playground, or lying on the
+banks reading and chatting. Eric was with a little knot of his chief
+friends, enjoying the sea breeze as they sat on the grass. At last the
+bell of the school chapel began to ring, and they went in to the
+afternoon service. Eric usually sat with Duncan and Llewellyn,
+immediately behind the benches allotted to chance visitors. The bench in
+front of them happened on this afternoon to be occupied by some rather
+odd people, viz., an old man with long white hair, and two ladies
+remarkably stout, who were dressed with much juvenility, although past
+middle age. Their appearance immediately attracted notice, and no sooner
+had they taken their seats than Duncan and Llewellyn began to titter.
+The ladies' bonnets, which were of white, trimmed with long green leaves
+and flowers, just peered over the top of the boys' pew, and excited much
+amusement. But Eric had not yet learnt to disregard the solemnity of the
+place, and the sacred act in which they were engaged. He tried to look
+away, and attend to the service, and for a time he partially succeeded,
+although, seated as he was between the two triflers, who were
+perpetually telegraphing to each other their jokes, he found it a
+difficult task, and secretly he began to be much tickled.
+
+At last the sermon commenced, and Llewellyn, who had imprisoned a
+grasshopper in a paper cage, suddenly let it hop out. The first hop took
+it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the shoulder of the
+stoutest lady. Duncan and Llewellyn tittered louder, and even Eric could
+not resist a smile. But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her
+shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap
+into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none
+of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which
+they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming
+their handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
+enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her
+uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause
+of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At last all three
+began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their
+direction, and Dr. Rowlands' stern eye caught sight of their levity. He
+stopped short in his sermon, and for one instant transfixed them with
+his indignant glance. Quiet was instantly restored, and alarm reduced
+them to the most perfect order, although the grasshopper still sat
+imperturbable among the artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had
+discovered that for some unknown reason she had been causing
+considerable amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule,
+looked round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
+vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
+transaction.
+
+Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
+fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to rise, and
+after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be seated. Eric's
+heart sank within him.
+
+"Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!" said the Doctor. The boys,
+with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before him.
+
+"I was sorry to notice," said he, "your shameful conduct in chapel
+yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were making
+yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal defects of
+others. The lessons you receive here must be futile indeed, if they do
+not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and courtesy to man. It
+gives me special pain, Williams, to have observed that you, too, a boy
+high in your remove, were guilty of this most culpable levity. You will
+all come to me at twelve o'clock in the library."
+
+At twelve o'clock they each received a flogging. The pain inflicted was
+not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into similar trouble
+before, cared very little for it, and went out laughing to tell the
+number of swishes they had received, to a little crowd of boys who were
+lingering outside the library door. But not so Eric. It was his _first_
+flogging, and he felt it deeply. To his proud spirit the disgrace was
+intolerable. At that moment he hated Dr. Rowlands, he hated Mr. Gordon,
+he hated his schoolfellows, he hated everybody. He had been flogged; the
+thought haunted him; he, Eric Williams, had been forced to receive this
+most degrading corporal punishment. He pushed fiercely through the knot
+of boys, and strode as quick as he could along the playground, angry and
+impenitent.
+
+At the gate Russell met him. Eric felt the meeting inopportune; he was
+ashamed to meet his friend, ashamed to speak to him, envious of him, and
+jealous of his better reputation. He wanted to pass him by without
+notice, but Russell would not suffer this. He came up to him and took
+his arm affectionately. The slightest allusion to his late disgrace
+would have made Eric flame out into passion; but Russell was too kind to
+allude to it then. He talked as if nothing had happened, and tried to
+turn his friend's thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Eric appreciated
+his kindness, but he was still sullen and fretful, and it was not until
+they parted that his better feelings won the day. But when Russell said
+to him "Good bye, Eric," it was too much for him, and seizing Edwin's
+hand, he wrung it hard, and tears rushed to his eyes.
+
+"Dear, good Edwin! how I wish I was like you. If all my friends were
+like you, I should never get into these troubles."
+
+"Nay, Eric," said Russell, "you may be far better than I. You have far
+batter gifts, if you will only do yourself justice."
+
+They parted by Mr. Williams' door, and Russell walked home sad and
+thoughtful; but Eric, barely answering his brother's greeting, rushed up
+to his room, and, flinging himself on his bed, sobbed like a child at
+the remembrance of his disgrace. They were not refreshing tears; he felt
+something hard at his heart, and, as he prayed neither for help nor
+forgiveness, it was pride and rebellion, not penitence, that made him
+miserable.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOME AFFECTIONS
+
+     "Keep the spell of home affection.
+       Still alive in every heart;
+     May its power, with mild direction,
+       Draw our love from self apart,
+         Till thy children
+     Feel that thou their Father art."
+
+     SCHOOL HYMN.
+
+"I have caught such a lot of pretty sea anemones, Eric," said little
+Vernon Williams, as his brother strolled in after morning school; "I
+wish you would come and look at them."
+
+"O, I can't come now, Verny; I am going out to play cricket with some
+fellows directly."
+
+"But it won't take you a minute; do come."
+
+"What a little bore you are. Where are the things?"
+
+"O, never mind, Eric, if you don't want to look at them," said Vernon,
+hurt at his brother's rough manner.
+
+"First you ask me to look, and then say 'never mind,'" said Eric
+impatiently; "here, show me them."
+
+The little boy brought a large saucer, round which the crimson
+sea-flowers were waving their long tentacula in the salt water.
+
+"Oh, ay; very pretty indeed. But I must be off to cricket."
+
+Vernon looked up at his brother sadly.
+
+"You aren't so kind to me, Eric, as you used to be."
+
+"What nonsense! and all because I don't admire those nasty red-jelly
+things, which one may see on the shore by thousands any day. What a
+little goose you are, Vernon!"
+
+Vernon made no reply, but was putting away his sea-anemones with a sigh,
+when in came Russell to fetch Eric to the cricket.
+
+"Well, Verny," he said, "have you been getting those pretty
+sea-anemones? come here and show me them. Ah, I declare you've got one
+of those famous white plumosa fellows among them. What a lucky little
+chap you are!"
+
+Vernon was delighted.
+
+"Mind you take care of them," said Russell. "Where did you find them?"
+
+"I have been down the shore getting them."
+
+"And have you had a pleasant morning?"
+
+"Yes, Russell, thank you. Only it is rather dull being always by myself,
+and Eric never comes with me now."
+
+"Naughty Eric," said Russell, playfully. "Never mind, Verny; you and I
+will cut him, and go by ourselves."
+
+Eric had stood by during the conversation, and the contrast of Russel's
+unselfish kindness with his own harsh want of sympathy, struck him. He
+threw his arms round his brother's neck, and said, "We will both go with
+you, Verny, next half holiday."
+
+"O, thank you, Eric," said his brother; and the two schoolboys ran out.
+But when the next half holiday came, warm and bright, with the promise
+of a good match that afternoon, Eric repented his promise, and left
+Russell to amuse his little brother, while he went off, as usual, to the
+playground.
+
+There was one silent witness of scenes like these, who laid them up
+deeply in her heart. Mrs. Williams was not unobservant of the gradual
+but steady falling off in Eric's character, and the first thing she
+noticed was the blunting of his home affections. When they first came to
+Roslyn, the boy used constantly to join his father and mother in their
+walks; but now he went seldom or never; and even if he did go, he seemed
+ashamed, while with them, to meet any of his schoolfellows. The spirit
+of false independence was awake and growing in her darling son. The
+bright afternoons they had spent together on the sunny shore, or seeking
+for sea-flowers among the lonely rocks of the neighboring
+headlands,--the walks at evening and sunset among the hills, and the
+sweet counsel they had together, when the boy's character opened like a
+flower in the light and warmth of his mother's love,--the long twilights
+when he would sit on a stool with his young head resting on her knees,
+and her loving hand among his fair hair,--all these things were becoming
+to Mrs. Williams memories, and nothing more.
+
+It was the trial of her life, and very sad to bear; the more so because
+they were soon to be parted, certainly for years, perhaps for ever. The
+time was drawing nearer and nearer; it was now June, and Mr. Williams'
+term of furlough ended in two months. The holidays at Roslyn were the
+months of July and August, and towards their close Mr. and Mrs. Williams
+intended to leave Vernon at Fairholm, and start for India--sending back
+Eric by himself as a boarder in Dr. Rowlands' house.
+
+After morning school, on fine days, the boys used to run straight down
+to the shore and bathe. A bright and joyous scene it was. They stripped
+off their clothes on the shingle that adjoined the beach, and then
+running along the sands, would swim out far into the bay till their
+heads looked like small dots glancing in the sunshine. This year Eric
+had learned to swim, and he enjoyed the bathing more than any
+other pleasure.
+
+One day after they had dressed, Russell and he began to amuse themselves
+on the sea-shore. The little translucent pools left on the sands by the
+ebbing tide always swarm with life, and the two boys found great fun in
+hunting audacious little crabs, or catching the shrimps that shuffled
+about in the shallow water. At last Eric picked up a piece of wood which
+he found lying on the beach, and said, "What do you say to coming
+crabfishing, Edwin? this bit of stick will do capitally to thrust
+between the rocks in the holes where they lie?"
+
+Russell agreed, and they started to the rocks of the Ness to seek a
+likely place for their purpose. The Ness was a mile off, but in the
+excitement of their pleasure they were oblivious of time.
+
+The Williams', for the boys' convenience, usually dined at one, but on
+this day they waited half an hour for Eric. Since, however, he didn't
+appear, they dined without him, supposing that he was accidentally
+detained, and expecting him to come in every minute. But two o'clock
+came, and no Eric; half-past two, and no Eric; three, but still no Eric.
+Mrs. Williams became seriously alarmed, and even her husband
+grew uneasy.
+
+Vernon was watching for his brother at the window, and seeing Duncan
+pass by, ran down to ask him, "If he knew where Eric was?"
+
+"No," said Duncan; "last time I saw him was on the shore. We bathed
+together, and I remember his clothes were lying by mine when I dressed.
+But I hav'n't seen him since. If you like we'll go and look for him. I
+daresay he's on the beach somewhere."
+
+But they found no traces of him there; and when they returned with this
+intelligence, his mother got so agitated that it required all her
+husband's firm gentleness to support her sinking spirits. There was
+enough to cause anxiety, for Vernon repeatedly ran out to ask the boys
+who were passing if they had seen his brother, and the answer always
+was, that they had left him bathing in the sea.
+
+Meanwhile our young friends, having caught several crabs, suddenly
+noticed by the sun that it was getting late.
+
+"Good gracious, Edwin," said Eric, pulling out his watch, "it's
+half-past three; what have we been thinking of? How frightened they'll
+be at home;" and running back as fast as they could, they reached the
+house at five o'clock, and rushed into the room.
+
+"Eric, Eric," said Mrs. Williams faintly, "where have you been? has
+anything happened to you, my child?"
+
+"No, mother, nothing. I've only been crabfishing with Russell, and we
+forgot the time."
+
+"Thoughtless boy," said his father, "your mother has been in an agony
+about you."
+
+Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in her arms,
+and mother and son wept in a long embrace. "Only two months," whispered
+Mrs. Williams, "and we shall leave you, dear boy, perhaps forever. O do
+not forget your love for us in the midst of new companions."
+
+The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only instead of
+first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to sit among the
+crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his parents were
+disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously mortified. But he had
+full confidence in his own powers, and made the strongest resolutions to
+work hard the next half-year, when he had got out of "that
+Gordon's" clutches.
+
+The Williams' spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed, in the
+prospect of losing them, Eric's feelings to his parents came out in all
+their strength. Most happily the days glided by, and the father and
+mother used them wisely. All their gentle influence, all their deep
+affection, were employed in leaving on the boy's heart lasting
+impressions of godliness and truth. He learnt to feel that their love
+would encircle him for ever with its heavenly tenderness, and their pure
+prayers rise for him night and day to the throne of God.
+
+The day of parting came, and most bitter and heartrending it was. In the
+wildness of their passionate sorrow, Eric and Vernon seemed to hear the
+sound of everlasting farewells. It is God's mercy that ordains how
+seldom young hearts have to endure such misery.
+
+At length it was over. The last sound of wheels had died away; and
+during those hours the hearts of parents and children felt the
+bitterness of death. Mrs. Trevor and Fanny, themselves filled with
+grief, still used all their unselfish endeavors to comfort their dear
+boys. Vernon, weary of crying, soon sank to sleep; but not so Eric. He
+sat on a low stool, his face buried in his hands, breaking the stillness
+every now and then with his convulsive sobs.
+
+"O Aunty," he cried, "do you think I shall ever see them again? I have
+been so wicked, and so little grateful for all their love. O, I wish I
+had thought at Roslyn how soon I was to lose them."
+
+"Yes, dearest," said Mrs. Trevor, "I have no doubt we shall all meet
+again soon. Your father is only going for five years, you know, and that
+will not seem very long. And then they will be writing continually to
+us, and we to them. Think, Eric, how gladdened their hearts will be to
+hear that you and Vernon are good boys, and getting on well."
+
+"O, I _will_ be a better boy, I _will_ indeed," said Eric; "I mean to do
+great things, and they shall have nothing but good reports of me."
+
+"God helping you, dear," said his aunt, pushing back his hair from his
+forehead, and kissing it softly; "without his help, Eric, we are all
+weak indeed."
+
+She sighed. But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she known
+the future. Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from human eyes!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ERIC A BOARDER
+
+     "We were, fair queen,
+     Two lads that thought there was no more behind,
+     But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
+     And to be boy eternal."--WINTER'S TALE, i. 2.
+
+The holidays were over. Vernon was to have a tutor at Fairholm, and Eric
+was to return alone, and be received into Dr. Rowlands' house.
+
+As he went on board the steam-packet, he saw numbers of the well-known
+faces on deck, and merry voices greeted him.
+
+"Hallo, Williams! here you are at last," said Duncan, seizing his hand.
+"How have you enjoyed the holidays? It's so jolly to see you again."
+
+"So you're coming as a boarder," said Montagu, "and to our noble house,
+too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and let's watch
+whether the boats are bringing any more fellows; we shall be starting in
+a few minutes."
+
+"Ha! there's Russell," said Eric, springing to the gangway, and warmly
+shaking his friend's hand as he came on board.
+
+"Have your father and mother gone, Eric?" said Russell, after a few
+minutes' talk.
+
+"Yes," said Eric, turning away his head, and hastily brushing his eyes.
+"They are on their way back to India."
+
+"I'm so sorry," said Russell; "I don't think anyone has ever been so
+kind to me as they were."
+
+"And they loved you, Edwin, dearly, and told me, almost the last thing,
+that they hoped we should always be friends. Stop! they gave me
+something for you." Eric opened his carpet-bag, and took out a little
+box carefully wrapped up, which he gave to Russell. It contained a
+pretty silver watch, and inside the case was engraved--"Edwin Russell,
+from the mother of his friend Eric."
+
+The boy's eyes glistened with joyful surprise. "How good they are," he
+said; "I shall write and thank Mrs. Williams directly we get to Roslyn."
+
+They had a fine bright voyage, and arrived that night. Eric, as a new
+comer, was ushered at once into Dr. Rowlands' drawing-room, where the
+head master was sitting with his wife and children. His greeting was
+dignified, but not unkindly; and, on saying "good night," he gave Eric a
+few plain words of affectionate advice.
+
+At that moment Eric hardly cared for advice. He was full of life and
+spirits, brave, bright, impetuous, tingling with hope, in the flush and
+flower of boyhood. He bounded down the stairs, and in another minute
+entered the large room where all Dr. Rowlands' boarders assembled, and
+where most of them lived, except the few privileged sixth form, and
+other boys who had "studies." A cheer greeted his entrance into the
+room. By this time most of the Rowlandites knew him, and were proud to
+have him among their number. They knew that he was clever enough to get
+them credit in the school, and, what was better still, that he would be
+a capital accession of strength to the cricket and football. Except
+Barker, there was not one who had not a personal liking for him, and on
+this occasion even Barker was gracious.
+
+The room in which Eric found himself was large and high. At one end was
+a huge fire-place, and there was generally a throng of boys round the
+great iron fender, where, in cold weather, a little boy could seldom
+get. The large windows opened on the green playground; and iron bars
+prevented any exit through them. This large room, called "the boarders'
+room," was the joint habitation of Eric and some thirty other boys; and
+at one side ran a range of shelves and drawers, where they kept their
+books and private property. There the younger Rowlandites breakfasted,
+dined, had tea, and, for the most part, lived. Here, too, they had to
+get through all such work as was not performed under direct supervision.
+How many and what varied scenes had not that room beheld! had those dumb
+walls any feeling, what worlds of life and experience they would have
+acquired! If against each boy's name, as it was rudely cut on the oak
+panels, could have been also cut the fate that had befallen him, the
+good that he had there learnt, the evil that he had there suffered--what
+_noble_ histories would the records unfold of honor and success, of
+baffled temptations and hard-won triumphs; what _awful_ histories of
+hopes blighted and habits learned, of wasted talents and ruined lives!
+
+The routine of school-life was on this wise:--At half-past seven the
+boys came down to prayers, which were immediately followed by breakfast.
+At nine they went into school, where they continued, with little
+interruption, till twelve. At one they dined, and, except on
+half-holidays, went into school again from two till five. The lock-up
+bell rang at dusk; at six o'clock they had tea--which was a repetition
+of breakfast, with leave to add to it whatever else they liked--and
+immediately after sat down to "preparation," which lasted from seven
+till nine. During this time one of the masters was always in the room,
+who allowed them to read amusing books, or employ themselves in any
+other quiet way they liked, as soon as ever they had learnt their
+lessons for the following day. At nine Dr. Rowlands came in and read
+prayers, after which the boys were dismissed to bed.
+
+The arrangement of the dormitories was peculiar. They were a suite of
+rooms, exactly the same size, each opening into the other; six on each
+side of a lavatory, which occupied the space between them, so that, when
+all the doors were open, you could see from one end of the whole range
+to the other. The only advantage of this arrangement was, that one
+master walking up and down could keep all the boys in order while they
+were getting into bed. About a quarter of an hour was allowed for this
+process, and then the master went along the rooms putting out the
+lights. A few of the "study-boys" were allowed to sit up till ten, and
+their bedrooms were elsewhere. The consequence was, that in these
+dormitories the boys felt perfectly secure from any interruption. There
+were only two ways by which a master could get at them; one up the great
+staircase, and through the lavatory; the other by a door at the extreme
+end of the range, which led into Dr. Rowlands' house, but was generally
+kept locked.
+
+In each dormitory slept four or five boys, distributed by their order in
+the school list, so that, in all the dormitories, there were nearly
+sixty; and of these a goodly number were, on Eric's arrival, collected
+in the boarders' room, the rest being in their studies, or in the
+classrooms which some were allowed to use in order to prevent too great
+a crowd in the room below.
+
+At nine o'clock the prayer-bell rang. Immediately all the boarders took
+their seats for prayers, each with an open Bible before him; and when
+the school servants had also come in, Dr. Rowlands read a chapter, and
+offered up an extempore prayer. While reading, he generally interspersed
+a few pointed remarks or graphic explanations, and Eric learnt much in
+this simple way. The prayer, though short, was always well suited to the
+occasion, and calculated to carry with it the attention of the
+worshippers.
+
+Prayers over, the boys noisily dispersed to their bed rooms, and Eric
+found himself placed in a room immediately to the right of the lavatory,
+occupied by Duncan, Graham, Llewellyn, and two other boys named Bull and
+Attlay, all in the same form with himself They were all tired with their
+voyage, and the excitement of coming back to school, so that they did
+not talk much that night, and before long Eric was fast asleep,
+dreaming, dreaming, dreaming that he should have a very happy life at
+Roslyn school, and seeing himself win no end of distinctions, and make
+no end of new friends.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"TAKING UP"
+
+
+     "We are not worst at once; the course of evil
+     Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
+     An infant's hand might stop the breach with clay;
+     But let the stream grow wider, and Philosophy--
+     Ay, and Religion too--may strive in vain
+     To stem the headlong current!"--ANON.
+
+With intense delight Eric heard it announced next morning, when the new
+school-list was read, that he had got his remove into the "Shell," as
+the form was called which intervened between the fourth and the fifth.
+Russell, Owen, and Montagu also got their removes with him, but his
+other friends were left for the present in the form below.
+
+Mr. Rose, hiss new master, was in every respect a great contrast with
+Mr. Gordon. He was not so brilliant in his acquirements, nor so vigorous
+in his teaching, and therefore clever boys did not catch fire from him
+so much as from the fourth-form master. But he was a far truer and
+deeper Christian; and, with no less scrupulous a sense of honor, and
+detestation of every form of moral obliquity, he never yielded to those
+storms of passionate indignation which Mr. Gordon found it impossible to
+control. Disappointed in early life, subjected to the deepest and most
+painful trials, Mr. Rose's fine character had come out like gold from
+the flame. He now lived in and for the boys alone, and his whole life
+was one long self-devotion to their service and interests. The boys felt
+this, and even the worst of them, in their worst moments, loved and
+honored Mr. Rose. But he was not seeking for gratitude, which he neither
+expected nor required; he asked no affection in return for his
+self-denials; he worked with a pure spirit of human and self-sacrificing
+love, happy beyond all payment if ever he were instrumental in saving
+one of his charge from evil, or turning one wanderer from the error
+of his ways.
+
+He was an unmarried man, and therefore took no boarders himself, but
+lived in the school-buildings, and had the care of the boys in Dr.
+Rowlands' house.
+
+Such was the master under whom Eric was now placed, and the boy was
+sadly afraid that an evil report would have reached his ears, and given
+him already an unfavorable impression. But he was soon happily
+undeceived. Mr. Rose at once addressed him with much kindness, and he
+felt that, however bad he had been before, he would now have an
+opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and begin again a career of hope.
+He worked admirably at first, and even beat, for the first week or two,
+his old competitors, Owen and Russell.
+
+From the beginning, Mr. Rose took a deep interest in him. Few could look
+at the boy's bright blue eyes and noble face without doing so, and the
+more when they knew that his father and mother were thousands of miles
+away, leaving him alone in the midst of so many dangers. Often the
+master asked him, and Russell, and Owen, and Montagu, to supper with him
+in the library, which gave them the privilege of sitting up later than
+usual, and enjoying a more quiet and pleasant evening than was possible
+in the noisy rooms. Boys and master were soon quite at home with each
+other, and in this way Mr. Rose had an opportunity of instilling many a
+useful warning without the formality of regular discipline or
+stereotyped instruction.
+
+Eric found the life of the "boarders' room" far rougher than he had
+expected. Work was out of the question there, except during the hours of
+preparation, and the long dark winter evenings were often dull enough.
+Sometimes, indeed, they would all join in some regular indoor boys' game
+like "baste the bear," or "high-cockolorum;" or they would have amusing
+"ghost-hunts," as they called them, after some dressed-up boy among the
+dark corridors and staircases. This was good enough fun, but at other
+times they got tired of games, and could not get them up, and then
+numbers of boys felt the idle time hang heavy on their hands. When this
+was the case, some of the worse sort, as might have been expected, would
+fill up their leisure with bullying or mischief.
+
+For some time they had a form of diversion which disgusted and annoyed
+Eric exceedingly. On each of the long iron-bound deal tables were placed
+two or three tallow candles in tin candlesticks, and this was the only
+light the boys had. Of course, these candles often, wanted snuffing, and
+as snuffers were sure to be thrown about and broken as soon as they
+were brought into the room, the only resource was to snuff them with the
+fingers, at which all the boys became great adepts from necessity. One
+evening Barker, having snuffed the candle, suddenly and slyly put the
+smouldering wick unnoticed on the head of a little quiet inoffensive
+fellow named Wright, who happened to be sitting next to him. It went on
+smouldering for some time without Wright's perceiving it, and at last
+Barker, highly delighted, exclaimed--
+
+"I see a chimney," and laughed.
+
+Four or five boys looked up, and very soon every one in the room had
+noticed the trick except little Wright himself, who unconsciously wrote
+on at the letter he was sending home.
+
+Eric did not like this; but not wishing to come across Barker again,
+said nothing, and affected not to have observed. But Russell said
+quietly, "There's something on your head, Wright," and the little boy
+putting up his hand, hastily brushed off the horrid wick.
+
+"What a shame!" he said, as it fell on his letter, and made a smudge.
+
+"Who told you to interfere?" said Barker, turning fiercely to Russell.
+Russell, as usual, took not the slightest notice of him, and Barker,
+after a little more bluster, repeated the trick on another boy. This
+time Russell thought that every one might be on the look out for
+himself, and so went on with his work. But when Barker again chanted
+maliciously--
+
+"I see a chimney," every boy who happened to be reading or writing,
+uneasily felt to discover this time he was himself the victim or no; and
+so things continued for half an hour.
+
+Ridiculous and disgusting as this folly was, it became, when constantly
+repeated, very annoying. A boy could not sit down to any quiet work
+without constant danger of having some one creep up behind him and put
+the offensive fragment of smoking snuff on his head; and neither Barker
+nor any of his little gang of imitators seemed disposed to give up their
+low mischief.
+
+One night, when the usual exclamation was made, Eric felt sure, from
+seeing several boys looking at him, that this time some one had been
+treating him in the same way. He indignantly shook his head, and sure
+enough the bit of wick dropped off. Eric was furious, and springing up,
+he shouted--
+
+"By Jove! I _won't_ stand this any longer."
+
+"You'll have to sit it then," said Barker.
+
+"O, it was _you_ who did it, was it? Then take that;" and, seizing one
+of the tin candlesticks, Eric hurled it at Barker's head. Barker dodged,
+but the edge of it cut open his eyebrow as it whizzed by, and the blood
+flowed fast.
+
+"I'll kill you for that," said Barker, leaping at Eric, and seizing him
+by the hair.
+
+"You'll get killed yourself then, you brute," said Upton, Russell's
+cousin, a fifth-form boy, who had just come into the room--and he boxed
+his ears as a premonitory admonition. "But, I say, young un," continued
+he to Eric, "this kind of thing won't do, you snow. You'll get into
+rows if you shy candlesticks at fellows' heads at that rate."
+
+"He has been making the room intolerable for the last month by his
+filthy tricks," said Eric hotly; "some one must stop him, and I will
+somehow, if no one else does."
+
+"It wasn't I who put the thing on your head, you passionate young fool,"
+growled Barker.
+
+"Who was it then? How was I to know? You began it."
+
+"You shut up, Barker," said Upton; "I've heard of your ways before, and
+when I catch you at your tricks, I'll teach you a lesson. Come up to my
+study, Williams, if you like."
+
+Upton was a fine sturdy fellow of eighteen, immensely popular in the
+school for his prowess and good looks. He hated bullying, and often
+interfered to protect little boys, who accordingly idolised him, and did
+anything he told them very willingly. He meant to do no harm, but he did
+great harm. He was full of misdirected impulses, and had a great notion
+of being manly, which he thought consisted in a fearless disregard of
+all school rules, and the performance of the wildest tricks. For this
+reason he was never very intimate with his cousin Russell, whom he liked
+very much, but who was too scrupulous and independent to please him.
+Eric, on the other hand, was just the boy to take his fancy, and to
+admire him in return; his life, strength, and pluck, made him a ready
+pupil in all schemes of mischief, and Upton, who had often noticed him,
+would have been the first to shudder had he known how far his example
+went to undermine all Eric's lingering good resolutions, and ruin for
+ever the boy of whom he was so fond.
+
+From this time Eric was much in Upton's study, and constantly by his
+side in the playground. In spite of their disparity in age and position
+in the school, they became sworn friends, though, their friendship was
+broken every now and then by little quarrels, which united them all the
+more closely after they had not spoken to each other perhaps for a week.
+
+"Your cousin Upton has 'taken up' Williams," said Montagu to Russell one
+afternoon, as he saw the two strolling together on the beach, with
+Eric's arm in Upton's.
+
+"Yes, I am sorry for it."
+
+"So am I. We shan't see so much of him now."
+
+"O, that's not my only reason," answered Russell, who had a rare habit
+of always going straight to the point.
+
+"You mean you don't like the 'taking-up' system."
+
+"No, Montagu; I used once to have fine theories about it. I used to
+fancy that a big fellow would do no end of good to one lower in the
+school, and that the two would stand to each other in the relation of
+knight to squire. You know what the young knights were taught, Monty--to
+keep their bodies under, and bring them into subjection; to love God,
+and speak the truth always. That sounds very grand and noble to me. But
+when a big fellow takes up a little one _you_ know pretty well that
+_those_ are not the kind of lessons he teaches."
+
+"No, Russell; you're quite right. It's bad for a fellow in every way.
+First of all, it keeps him in an unnatural sort of dependence; then ten
+to one it makes him conceited, and prevents his character from really
+coming out well. And besides, the young chap generally gets paid out in
+kicks and abuse from the jealousy and contempt of the rest; and if his
+protector happens to leave, or anything of that kind, woe betide him!"
+
+"No fear for Eric in that line, though," said Russell; "he can hold his
+own pretty well against any one. And after all, he is a most jolly
+fellow. I don't think even Upton will spoil him; it's chiefly the soft
+self-indulgent fellows, who are all straw and no iron, who get spoilt by
+being 'taken up.'"
+
+Russell was partly right. Eric learnt a great deal of harm from Upton,
+and the misapplied hero-worship led to bad results. But he was too manly
+a little fellow, and had too much self-respect, to sink into the
+effeminate condition which usually grows on the young delectables who
+have the misfortune to be "taken up."
+
+Nor did he in the least drop his old friends, except Owen. A coolness
+grew up between the latter and Eric, not unmingled with a little mutual
+contempt. Eric sneered at Owen as a fellow who did nothing but grind all
+day long, and had no geniality in him; while Owen pitied the love of
+popularity which so often led Eric into delinquencies, which he himself
+despised. Owen had, indeed, but few friends in the school; the only boy
+who knew him well enough to respect and like him thoroughly was Russell,
+who found in him the only one who took the same high, ground with
+himself. But Russell loved the good in every one, and was loved by all
+in return, and Eric he loved most of all, while he often mourned over
+his increasing failures.
+
+One day as the two were walking together in the green playground, Mr.
+Gordon passed by; and as the boys touched their caps, he nodded and
+smiled pleasantly at Russell, but hardly noticed, and did not return
+Eric's salute. He had begun to dislike the latter more and more, and had
+given him up altogether as one of the reprobates.
+
+"What a surly devil that is," said Eric, when he had passed; "did you
+see how he purposely cut me?"
+
+"A surly ...? Oh Eric, that's the first time I ever heard you swear."
+
+Eric blushed. He hadn't meant the word to slip out in Russell's hearing,
+though similar expressions were common enough in his talk with other
+boys. But he didn't like to be reproved, even by Russell, and in the
+ready spirit of self-defence, he answered--
+
+"Pooh, Edwin, you don't call that swearing, do you? You're so strict, so
+religious, you know. I love you for it, but then, there are none like
+you. Nobody thinks anything of swearing here."
+
+Russell was silent.
+
+"Besides, what can be the harm of it? it means nothing. I was thinking
+the other night, and I concluded that you and Owen are the only two
+fellows here who don't swear."
+
+Russell still said nothing.
+
+"And, after all, I didn't swear; I only called that fellow a surly
+devil."
+
+"O, hush! Eric, hush!" said Russell sadly. "You wouldn't have said so
+half-a-year ago."
+
+Eric knew what he meant. The image of his father and mother rose before
+him, as they sate far away in their lonely Indian home, thinking of him,
+praying for him, centring all their hopes in him. In him!--and he knew
+how many things he was daily doing and saying, which would cut them to
+the heart. He knew that all his moral consciousness was fast vanishing,
+and leaving him a bad and reckless boy.
+
+In a moment, all this passed through his mind. He remembered how shocked
+he had been at swearing at first; and even when it became too familiar
+to shock him, how he determined never to fall into the habit himself.
+Then he remembered how gradually it had become quite a graceful sound in
+his ears; a sound of entire freedom and independence of moral restraint;
+an open casting off, as it were, of all authority, so that he had begun
+to admire it, particularly in Duncan, and above all, in his new hero,
+Upton; and he recollected how, at last, an oath had one day slipped out
+suddenly in his own words, and how strange it sounded to him, and how
+Upton smiled to hear it, though conscience had reproached him bitterly;
+but now that he had done it once, it became less dreadful, and gradually
+grew common enough, till even conscience hardly reminded him that he was
+doing wrong.
+
+He thought of all this, and hung his head. Pride struggled with him for
+a moment, but at length he answered, "O Edwin, I fear I am getting
+utterly bad; I wish I were more like you," he added, in a low sad tone.
+
+"Dear Eric, I have no right to say it, full of faults as I am myself;
+but you will be so much happier, if you try not to yield to all the bad
+things round us. Remember, I know more of school than you."
+
+The two boys strolled on silently. That night Eric knelt at his bedside,
+and prayed as he had not done for many a long day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"DEAD FLIES," OR "YE SHALL BE AS GODS"
+
+"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night." PROV.
+vii. 9.
+
+At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was half-past nine.
+It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing with turbulent life,
+should lie down quietly, and get to sleep. They never dreamt of doing
+so. Very soon after the masters were gone, the sconces were often
+relighted, sometimes in separate dormitories, sometimes in all of them,
+and the boys amused themselves by reading novels or making a row. They
+would play various games about the bedrooms, vaulting or jumping over
+the beds, running races in sheets, getting through the windows upon the
+roofs, to frighten the study-boys with sham ghosts, or playing the
+thousand other pranks which suggested themselves to the fertile
+imagination of fifteen. But the favorite amusement was a bolstering
+match. One room would challenge another, and, stripping the covers off
+their bolsters, would meet in mortal fray. A bolster well wielded,
+especially when dexterously applied to the legs, is a very efficient
+instrument to bring a boy to the ground; but it doesn't hurt very much,
+even when the blows fall on the head. Hence these matches were excellent
+trials of strength and temper, and were generally accompanied with
+shouts of laughter, never ending until one side was driven back to its
+own room. Many a long and tough struggle had Eric enjoyed, and his
+prowess was so universally acknowledged, that his dormitory, No. 7, was
+a match for any other, and far stronger in this warfare than most of the
+rest. At bolstering, Duncan was a perfect champion; his strength and
+activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric and Graham
+backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with sturdy
+vigor, supported the skirmishers. Bull, the sixth boy in No. 7, was the
+only _faineant_ among them, though he did occasionally help to keep off
+the smaller fry.
+
+Happy would it have been for all of them if Bull had never been placed
+in No. 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn school. Backward
+in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed good looks, of mean
+disposition and feeble intellect, he was the very worst specimen of a
+boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even Barker so deeply excited Eric's
+repulsion and contempt. And yet, since the affair of Upton, Barker and
+Eric were declared enemies, and, much to the satisfaction of the latter,
+never spoke to each other; but with Bull--much as he inwardly loathed
+him--he was professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
+universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even of
+this worthless boy.
+
+Any two boys talking to each other about Bull would probably profess to
+like him "well enough," but if they were honest, they would generally
+end by allowing their contempt.
+
+"We've got a nice set in No. 7, haven't we?" said Duncan to Eric one
+day.
+
+"Capital. Old Llewellyn's a stunner, and I like Attlay and Graham."
+
+"Don't you like Bull then?"
+
+"O yes; pretty well."
+
+The two boys looked each other in the face, then, like the confidential
+augurs, burst out laughing.
+
+"You know you detest him," said Duncan.
+
+"No, I don't. He never did me any harm that I know of."
+
+"Him!--well, _I_ detest him."
+
+"Well!" answered Eric, "on coming to think of it, so do I. And yet he is
+popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is."
+
+"He's not _really_ popular. I've often noticed that fellows pretty
+generally despise him, yet somehow don't like to say so."
+
+"Why do you dislike him, Duncan?"
+
+"I don't know. Why do you?"
+
+"I don't know either."
+
+Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet if they
+had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found out in their
+secret souls the reasons of their dislike.
+
+Bull had been to school before, and of this school he often bragged as
+the acme of desirability and wickedness. He was always telling boys what
+they did at "his old school," and he quite inflamed the minds of such as
+fell under his influence by marvellous tales of the wild and wilful
+things which he and his former school-fellows had done. Many and many a
+scheme of sin and mischief, at Roslyn was suggested, planned, and
+carried out on the model of Bull's reminiscences of his previous life.
+
+He had tasted more largely of the tree of the knowledge of evil than any
+other boy, and strange to say, this was the secret why the general odium
+was never expressed. He claimed his guilty experience so often as a
+ground of superiority, that at last the claim was silently allowed. He
+spoke from the platform of more advanced iniquity, and the others
+listened first curiously, then eagerly to his words.
+
+"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Such was the temptation
+which assailed the other boys in dormitory No. 7; and Eric among the
+number. Bull was the tempter. Secretly, gradually, he dropped into their
+too willing ears the poison of his polluting acquirements.
+
+In brief, Bull was cursed with a degraded and corrupting mind.
+
+I hurry over a part of my subject inconceivably painful; I hurry over
+it, but if I am to perform my self-imposed duty of giving a true picture
+of what school life _sometimes_ is, I must not pass it by altogether.
+
+The first time that Eric heard indecent words in dormitory No. 7, he was
+shocked beyond bound or measure. Dark though it was, he felt himself
+blushing scarlet to the roots of his hair, and then growing pale again,
+while a hot dew was left upon his forehead. Bull was the speaker; but
+this time there was a silence, and the subject instantly dropped. The
+others felt that "a new boy" was in the room; they did not know how he
+would take it; they were unconsciously abashed.
+
+Besides, though they had themselves joined in such conversation before,
+they did not love it, and on the contrary, felt ashamed of yielding
+to it.
+
+Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption
+and purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your
+destiny may hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these
+fellows that unseemly words wound your conscience; tell them that they
+are ruinous, sinful, damnable; speak out and save yourself and the rest.
+Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric, and vice is downcast in her awful
+presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and you have lost a jewel
+which the whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect chrysolite,"
+cannot replace.
+
+Good spirits guard that young boy, and give him grace in this his hour
+of trial! Open his eyes that he may see the fiery horses and the fiery
+chariots of the angels who would defend him, and the dark array of
+spiritual foes who throng around his bed. Point a pitying finger to the
+yawning abyss of shame, ruin, and despair that even now perhaps is being
+cleft under his feet. Show him the garlands of the present and the past,
+withering at the touch of the Erinnys in the future. In pity, in pity
+show him the canker which he is introducing into the sap of the tree of
+life, which shall cause its root to be hereafter as bitterness, and its
+blossom to go up as dust.
+
+But the sense of sin was on Eric's mind. How _could_ he speak? was not
+his own language sometimes profane? How--how could he profess to reprove
+another boy on the ground of morality, when he himself said did things
+less ruinous perhaps, but equally forbidden?
+
+For half an hour, in an agony of struggle with himself, Eric lay silent.
+Since Bull's last words nobody had spoken. They were going to sleep. It
+was too late to speak now, Eric thought. The moment passed by for ever;
+Eric had listened without objection to foul words, and the irreparable
+harm was done.
+
+How easy it would have been to speak! With the temptation, God had
+provided also a way to escape. Next time it came, it was far harder to
+resist, and it soon became, to men, impossible.
+
+Ah Eric, Eric! how little we know the moments which decide the destinies
+of life. We live on as usual. The day is a common day, the hour a common
+hour. We never thought twice about the change of intention, which by one
+of the accidents--(accidents!)--of life determined for good or for evil,
+for happiness or misery, the color of our remaining years. The stroke of
+the pen was done in a moment which led unconsciously to our ruin; the
+word was uttered quite heedlessly, on which turned for ever the decision
+of our weal or woe.
+
+Eric lay silent. The darkness was not broken by the flashing of an
+angel's wing, the stillness was not syllabled by the sound of an angel's
+voice; but to his dying day Eric never forgot the moments which passed,
+until, weary and self-reproachful, he fell asleep.
+
+Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish. He at once remembered what
+had passed. Bull's words haunted him; he could not forget them; they
+burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever. He was moody and
+petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his aversion to Bull. Ah
+Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you, but prayerfulness would;
+one word, Eric, at the throne of grace--one prayer before you go down
+among the boys, that God in his mercy would wash away, in the blood of
+his dear Son, your crimson stains, and keep your conscience and
+memory clean.
+
+The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a few
+formal words. Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have given way
+to a burst of penitence and supplication--but he heard Bull's footstep,
+and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast; so Eric did not pray.
+
+Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory No. 7. On
+the contrary, they generally flashed along in the liveliest way, till
+some one said "Good night;" and then the boys turned off to sleep. Eric
+knew this, and instantly conjectured that it was only a sort of respect
+for him, and ignorance of the manner in which he would consider it, that
+prevented Duncan and the rest from taking any further notice of Bull's
+remark. It was therefore no good disburdening his mind to any of them;
+but he determined to speak about the matter to Russell in their
+next walk.
+
+They usually walked together on Sunday. Dr. Rowlands had discontinued
+the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys taking their
+exercise under a master's inspection. Boys are not generally fond of
+constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays they almost entirely
+confined their open-air exercise to the regular games, and many of them
+hardly left the play-ground boundaries once a week. But on Sundays they
+often went walks, each with his favorite friend or companion. When Eric
+first came as a boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and
+many a pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by
+Duncan, Montagu, or Owen. The latter, however, had dropped even this
+intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more often gone
+with his new friend Upton.
+
+"Come a walk, boy," said Upton, as they left the dining-room.
+
+"O excuse me to-day, Upton," said Eric, "I'm going with your cousin."
+
+"Oh _very_ well," said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping to make Eric
+jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had "taken up" before he
+knew Williams.
+
+Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said, "Come a
+stroll to Fort Island, Edwin--will you?"
+
+"O yes," said Russell cheerfully; "why, we haven't seen each other for
+some time lately! I was beginning to fancy that you meant to drop
+me, Eric."
+
+He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his head,
+for the charge was true. Proud of his popularity among all the school,
+and especially at his friendship with so leading a fellow as Upton, Eric
+had _not_ seen much of his friend since their last conversation about
+swearing. Indeed, conscious of failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in
+Russell's company.
+
+He faltered, and answered humbly, "I hope you will never drop _me_,
+Edwin, however bad I get? But I particularly want to speak to
+you to-day."
+
+In an instant Russell had twined his arm in Eric's, as they turned
+towards Fort Island; and Eric, with an effort, was just going to begin,
+when they heard Montagu's voice calling after them--
+
+"I say, you fellows, where are you off to! may I come with you?"
+
+"O yes, Monty, do," said Russell, "It will be quite like old times; now
+that my cousin Horace has got hold of Eric, we have to sing 'When shall
+we three meet again?'"
+
+Russell only spoke in fun; but, unintentionally, his words jarred in
+Eric's heart. He was silent, and answered in monosyllables, so the walk
+was provokingly dull. At last they reached Fort Island, and sat down by
+the ruined chapel looking on the sea.
+
+"Why what's the row with you, old boy," said Montagu, playfully shaking
+Eric by the shoulder, "you're as silent as Zimmerman on Solitude, and as
+doleful as Harvey on the Tombs. I expect you've been going through a
+select course of Blair's Grave, Young's Night Thoughts, and Drelincourt
+on Death."
+
+To his surprise Eric's head was still bent, and, at last, he heard a
+deep suppressed sigh.
+
+"My dear child, what is the matter with you?" said Russell,
+affectionately taking his hand, "surely you're not offended at my
+nonsense?"
+
+Eric had not liked to speak while Montagu was by, but now he gulped down
+his rising emotion, and briefly told them of Bull's vile words the night
+before. They listened in silence.
+
+"I knew it must come, Eric," said Russell at last, "and I am so sorry
+you didn't speak at the time."
+
+"Do the fellows ever talk in that way in either of your dormitories?"
+asked Eric.
+
+"No," said Russell.
+
+"Very little," said Montagu.
+
+A pause followed, during which all three plucked the grass and looked
+away.
+
+"Let me tell you," said Russell solemnly; "my father (he is dead now you
+know, Eric), when I was sent to school, warned me of this kind of thing.
+I had been brought up in utter ignorance of such coarse knowledge as is
+forced upon one here, and with my reminiscences of home, I could not
+bear even that much of it which was impossible to avoid. But the very
+first time such talk was begun in my dormitory I spoke out. What I said
+I don't know, but I felt as if I was trampling on a slimy poisonous
+adder, and, at any rate, I showed such pain and distress that the
+fellows dropped it at the time. Since then I have absolutely refused to
+stay in the room if ever such talk is begun. So it never is now, and I
+do think the fellows are very glad of it themselves."
+
+"Well," said Montagu, "I don't profess to look on it from the religious
+ground, you know, but I thought it blackguardly, and in bad taste, and
+said so. The fellow who began it, threatened to kick me for a conceited
+little fool, but he didn't; and they hardly ever venture on that
+ground now."
+
+"It is more than blackguardly--it is deadly," answered Russell; "my
+father said it was the most fatal curse which could ever become rife in
+a public school."
+
+"Why do masters never give us any help or advice on these matters?"
+asked Eric thoughtfully.
+
+"In sermons they do. Don't you remember Rowlands' sermon not two weeks
+ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah? But I for one think them quite right not to
+speak to us privately on such subjects, unless we invite confidence.
+Besides, they cannot know that any boys talk in this way. After all, it
+is only a very few of the worst who ever do."
+
+They got up and walked home, but from day to day Eric put off performing
+the duty which Russell had advised, viz.--a private request to Bull to
+abstain from his offensive communications, and an endeavor to enlist
+Duncan into his wishes.
+
+One evening they were telling each other stories in No. 7. Bull's turn
+came, and in his story the vile element again appeared. For a while Eric
+said nothing, but as the strain grew worse, he made a faint
+remonstrance.
+
+"Shut up there, Williams," said Attlay, "and don't spoil the story."
+
+"Very well. It's your own fault, and I shall shut my ears."
+
+He did for a time, but a general laugh awoke him. He pretended to be
+asleep, but he listened. Iniquity of this kind was utterly new to him;
+his curiosity was awakened; he no longer feigned indifference, and the
+poison flowed deep into his veins. Before that evening was over, Eric
+Williams was "a god, knowing good from evil."
+
+O young boys, if your eyes ever read these pages, pause and beware. The
+knowledge of evil is ruin, and the continuance in it hell. That little
+matter--that beginning of evil,--it will be like the snowflake detached
+by the breath of air from the mountain-top, which, as it rushes down,
+gains size, and strength, and impetus, till it has swollen to the mighty
+and irresistible avalanche that overwhelms garden, and field, and
+village, in a chaos of undistinguishable death.
+
+Kibroth-Hattaavah! Many and many a young Englishman has perished there!
+Many and many a happy English boy, the jewel of his mother's
+heart,--brave, and beautiful, and strong,--lies buried there. Very pale
+their shadows rise before us--the shadows of our young brothers who have
+sinned and suffered. From the sea and the sod, from foreign graves and
+English churchyards, they start up and throng around us in the paleness
+of their fall. May every schoolboy who reads this page be warned by the
+waving of their wasted hands, from that burning marle of passion, where
+they found nothing but shame and ruin, polluted affections, and an
+early grave.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DORMITORY LIFE
+
+     [Greek: Aspasiae trillistos hepaeluths nux herebennae.]
+     HOM.
+
+For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last chapter, Upton
+and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at Eric's declining the
+honor of his company, and Eric was piqued at Upton's unreasonableness.
+In the "taking up" system, such quarrels were of frequent occurrence,
+and as the existence of a misunderstanding was generally indicated in
+this very public way, the variations of good will between such friends
+generally excited no little notice and amusement among the other boys.
+But both Upton and Eric were too sensible to carry their differences so
+far as others similarly circumstanced; each thoroughly enjoyed the
+other's company, and they generally seized an early opportunity for
+effecting a reconciliation, which united them more firmly than ever.
+
+As soon as Eric had got over his little pique, he made the first
+advances, by writing a note to Upton, which he slipped under his study
+door, and which ran as follows:--
+
+"Dear Horace--Don't let us quarrel about nothing. Silly fellow, why
+should you be angry with me because for once I wanted to go a walk with
+Russell, who, by the bye, is twice as good a fellow as you? I shall
+expect you to make it up directly after prayers.--Yours, if you are not
+silly, E.W."
+
+The consequence was, that as they came out from prayers, Upton seized
+Eric's hand, and slapped him on the back, after which they had a good
+laugh over their own foolish fracas, and ran up stairs chattering
+merrily.
+
+"There's to be an awful lark in the dormitories tonight," said Eric;
+"the doctor's gone to a dinner-party, and we're going to have no end
+of fun."
+
+"Are you? Well, if it gets amusing, come to my study and tell me, I'll
+come and look on."
+
+"Very well; depend upon it, I'll come." And they parted at the foot of
+the study stairs.
+
+It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range
+of Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he
+put out all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed
+the utmost quiet and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had
+passed away through the lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a
+scout, had seen the last glimmer of his candle disappear round the
+corner at the foot of the great staircase, and heard the library door
+close behind him.
+
+After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that
+they were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the
+first to stir.
+
+"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
+pitching his pillow at Eric's head.
+
+"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing; "but
+give us a match, first."
+
+Duncan produced some vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
+candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and
+one after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed
+to them in a sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that a length all the
+twelve dormitories had their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts
+of amusement, some in their night-shirts and others with their trousers
+slipped on. Leap-frog was the prevalent game for a time, but at last
+Graham suggested theatricals, and they were agreed on.
+
+"But we're making a regular knock-me-down shindy," said Llewellyn;
+"somebody must keep cave."
+
+"O, old Rose is safe enough at his Hebrew in the library; no fear of
+disturbing him if we were dancing hippopotami," answered Graham.
+
+But it was generally considered safest to put some one at the top of the
+stairs, in case of an unexpected diversion in that direction, and little
+Wright consented to go first. He had only to leave the lavatory door
+open; and stand at the top of the staircase, and he then commanded for a
+great distance the only avenue in which danger was expected. If any
+master's candle appeared n the hall, the boys had full three minutes'
+warning, and a single loudly-whispered "cave" would cause some one in
+each dormitory instantly to "douse the glim," and shut the door; so that
+by the time of the adversary's arrival, they would all be (of course)
+fast asleep in bed, some of them snoring in an alarming manner. Whatever
+noise the master might have heard, it would be impossible to fix it on
+any of the sleepers.
+
+So at the top of the stairs stood little Wright, shoeless, and shivering
+in his night-gown, but keenly entering into the fun, and not
+unconscious of the dignity of his position. Meanwhile the rest were
+getting up a scenic representation of Bombastes Furioso, arranging a
+stage, piling a lot of beds together for a theatre, and dressing up the
+actors in the most fantastic apparel.
+
+The impromptu Bombastes excited universal applause, and just at the end
+Wright ran in through the lavatory.
+
+"I say," said the little fellow, "it's jolly cold standing at the top of
+the stairs. Won't some one relieve guard?"
+
+"O, I will," answered Eric, good-naturedly; "it's a shame that one
+fellow should have all the bother and none of the fun;" and he ran to
+take Wright's post.
+
+After watching a minute or two, he felt sure that there was no danger,
+and therefore ran up to Upton's study for a change.
+
+"Well, what's up?" said the study-boy, approvingly, as he glanced at
+Eric's laughing eyes.
+
+"O, we've been having leap-frog, and then Bombastes Furioso. But I'm
+keeping 'cave' now; only it's so cold that I thought I'd run up to
+your study."
+
+"Little traitor; we'll shoot you for a deserting sentinel."
+
+"O no;" said Eric, "it's all serene; Rowley's out, and dear old Rose'd
+never dream of supposing us elsewhere than in the arms of Morpheus.
+Besides the fellows are making less row now."
+
+"Well! look here! let's go and look on, and I'll tell you a dodge; put
+one of the tin washing-basins against the iron door of the lavatory, and
+then if any one comes he'll make clang enough to wake dead; and while
+he's amusing himself with this, there'll be lots of time to 'extinguish
+the superfluous abundance of the nocturnal illuminators.' Eh?"
+
+"Capital!" said Eric, "come along."
+
+They went down and arranged the signal very artistically, leaving the
+iron door ajar a little, and then neatly poising the large tin basin on
+its edge, so as to lean against it. Having extremely enjoyed this part
+of the proceeding, they went to look at the theatricals again, the boys
+being highly delighted at Upton's appearance among them.
+
+They at once made Eric take a part in some very distant reminiscences of
+Macbeth, and corked his cheeks with whiskers and mustachios to make him
+resemble Banquo, his costume being completed by a girdle round his
+nightshirt, consisting of a very fine crimson silk handkerchief, richly
+broidered with gold, which had been brought to him from India, and which
+at first, in the innocence of his heart, he used to wear on Sundays,
+until he acquired the sobriquet of "the Dragon." Duncan made a
+superb Macbeth.
+
+They were doing the dagger-scene, which was put on the stage in a most
+novel manner. A sheet had been pinned from the top of the room, on one
+side of which stood a boy with a broken dinner knife, the handle end of
+which he was pushing through a hole in the middle of the sheet at the
+shadow of Duncan on the other side.
+
+Duncan himself, in an attitude of intensely affected melodrama, was
+spouting--
+
+     "Is this a dagger which I see before me?
+     The handle towards me now? come, let me clutch thee;"
+
+And he snatched convulsively at the handle of the protruded knife; but
+as soon as he nearly touched it, this end was immediately withdrawn, and
+the blade end substituted, which made the comic Macbeth instantly draw
+back again, and recommence his apostrophe. This scene had tickled the
+audience immensely, and Duncan, amid shouts of laughter, was just
+drawing the somewhat unwarrantable conclusion that it was
+
+     "A dagger of the mind, a false creation,"
+
+when a sudden grating, followed by a reverbrated clang, produced a dead
+silence.
+
+"Cave," shouted Eric, and took a flying leap into his bed. Instantly
+there was a bolt in different directions; the sheet was torn down, the
+candles dashed out, the beds shoved aside, and the dormitories at once
+plunged in profound silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of
+sleepers, when in strode--not Mr. Rose or any of the under
+masters--but--Dr. Rowlands himself!
+
+He stood for a moment to survey the scene. All the dormitory doors were
+wide open; the sheet which had formed the stage curtain lay torn on the
+floor of No. 7; the beds in all the adjoining rooms were in the
+strangest positions; and half-extinguished wicks still smouldered in
+several of the sconces. Every boy was in bed, but the extraordinary way
+in which the bed clothes were huddled about told an unmistakeable tale.
+
+He glanced quickly round, but the moment he had passed into No. 8, he
+heard a run, and, turning, just caught sight of Upton's figure vanishing
+into the darkness of the lavatory, towards the study stairs.
+
+He said not a word, but stalked hastily through all dormitories, again
+stopping at No. 7 on his return.
+
+He heard nothing but the deep snores of Duncan, and instantly fixed on
+him as a chief culprit.
+
+"Duncan!"
+
+No reply; but calm stertorous music from Duncan's bed.
+
+"Duncan!" he said, still louder and more sternly, "you sleep soundly,
+sir, too soundly; get up directly," and he laid his hand on the
+boy's arm.
+
+"Get away, you old donkey," said Duncan sleepily; "'t, aint time to get
+up yet. First bell hasn't rung."
+
+"Come, sir, this shamming will only increase your punishment;" but the
+imperturbable Duncan stretched himself lazily, gave a great yawn, and
+then awoke with such an admirably feigned start at seeing Dr. Rowlands,
+that Eric, who had been peeping at the scene from over his bed-clothes,
+burst into an irresistible explosion of laughter.
+
+Dr. Rowlands swung round on his heel--"What! Williams! get out of bed,
+sir, this instant."
+
+Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed; but when he stood on
+the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and corked cheeks,
+with Dr. Rowlands surveying him in intense astonishment, that the scene
+became overpoweringly ludicrous to Duncan, who now in his turn was
+convulsed with a storm of laughter, faintly echoed in stifled titterings
+from other beds.
+
+"_Very_ good," said Dr. Rowlands, now thoroughly angry, "you will hear
+of this to-morrow;" and he walked away with a heavy step, stopping at
+the lavatory door to restore the tin basin to its proper place, and then
+mounting to the studies.
+
+Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he knocked at
+one of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their occupants at once
+to the library.
+
+Meanwhile, the dormitory-boys were aghast, and as soon as they heard the
+doctor's retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark to No. 7, not
+daring to relight their candles.
+
+"Good gracious!" said Attlay, "only to think of Rowley appearing! How
+could he have twigged?"
+
+"He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home," said Eric.
+
+"I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a rage the
+Doctor will be in to-morrow?"
+
+"Won't you just catch it!" said Barker to Duncan, but intending the
+remark for Eric.
+
+"Just like your mean chaff," retorted Duncan. "But I say, Williams," he
+continued, laughing, "you _did_ look so funny in the whiskers."
+
+At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running down stairs to
+the library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their different rooms.
+
+"What do you think he'll do to us?" asked Eric.
+
+"I don't know," said Duncan uneasily; "flog us, for one thing, that's
+certain. I'm so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it's no good fretting.
+We've had our cake, and now we must pay for it, that's all."
+
+Eric's cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened, and
+somebody stole noiselessly in.
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Upton. I've come to have a chat. The Doctor's like a turkey-cock in
+sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a rage."
+
+"Why, what's he been saying?" asked Eric, as Upton came and took a seat
+on his bed.
+
+"Oh! he's been rowing us like six o'clock," said Upton, "about 'moral
+responsibility,' 'abetting the follies of children,' 'forgetting our
+position in the school,' and I don't know what all; and he ended by
+asking who'd been in the dormitories. Of course I confessed the soft
+impeachment, whereon he snorted 'Ha! I suspected so. Very well, Sir, you
+don't know how to use a study; you shall be deprived of it till the end
+of term.'"
+
+"Did he really, Horace?" said Eric. "And it's all my doing that you've
+got into the scrape. Do forgive me."
+
+"Bosh! My dear fellow," said Upton, "it's twice as much my fault as
+yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It's rather a bore
+losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all the more
+of each other. Good night; I must be off."
+
+Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr. Rowlands said to the
+boys, "Stop! I have a word to say to you."
+
+"I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories yesterday
+evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden hours, and the
+noise made was so great that it was heard through the whole building. I
+am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for a few hours, without your
+taking such advantage of my absence; and that the upper boys, so far
+from using their influence to prevent these infractions of discipline,
+seem inclined rather to join in them themselves. On this occasion I have
+punished Upton, by depriving him of a privilege which he has abused; and
+as I myself detected Duncan and Williams, they will be flogged in the
+library at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of the proceeding.
+Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent surprise by the
+dangerous expedient of putting a tin basin against the iron door. The
+consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and _might_ have been
+seriously injured in entering the lavatory. I must know the name of the
+delinquent."
+
+Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr. Rowlands looked surprised, and
+there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr. Rose's face.
+
+"Very well," said the Doctor, "I shall speak to you both privately."
+
+Twelve o'clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe caning.
+Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for some
+dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He burned, not
+with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent indignation, and
+listened, with a glare in his eye, to Dr. Rowlands' warnings. When the
+flogging was over, he almost rushed out of the room, to choke in
+solitude his sense of humiliation, nor would he suffer any one for an
+instant to allude to his disgrace. Dr. Rowlands had hinted that Upton
+was doing him no good; but he passionately resented the suggestion, and
+determined, with obstinate perversity, to cling more than ever to the
+boy whom he had helped to involve in the same trouble with himself.
+
+Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the friendships of
+boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been warned against his
+new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the fact that Mr. So-and-so
+doesn't like seeing them together, and after that they fancy themselves
+bound in honor to show that they are not afraid of continuing their
+connection. It was not strange, therefore, that Eric and Upton were
+thrown more than ever into each other's society, and consequently, that
+Eric, while he improved daily in strength, activity, and prowess,
+neglected more and more his school duties and honorable ambitions.
+
+Mr. Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character and
+abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness and
+unwavering kindness, to recal his pupil to a sense of duty. One night he
+sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During the evening he
+drew out Eric's exercise, and compared it with, those of Russell and
+Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him in marks. Eric's was
+careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two were neat, spirited, and
+painstaking, and had, therefore, been marked much higher.
+
+"Your exercises _used_ to be far better--I may say incomparably better,"
+said Mr. Rose; "what is the cause of this falling off?"
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+Mr. Rose laid his hand gently on his head. "I fear, my boy, you have not
+been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and are letting
+boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in ability. That is a
+very bad _sign_, Eric; in itself it is a discouraging fact, but I fear
+it indicates worse evils. You are wasting the golden hours, my boy, that
+can never return. I only hope and trust that no other change for the
+worse is going on in your character."
+
+And so he talked on till the boy's sorrow was undisguised. "Come," he
+said gently, "let us kneel down together before we part."
+
+Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full heart,
+the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the child beside him.
+Eric's heart seemed to catch a glow from his words, and he loved him as
+a brother. He rose from his knees full of the strongest resolutions, and
+earnestly promised amendment for the future.
+
+But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time, indeed,
+there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on with its usual
+allurements, and when the hours of temptation came, his good intentions
+melted away, so that, in a few more weeks, the prayer, and the vows that
+followed it, had been obliterated from his memory without leaving any
+traces in his life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ERIC IN COVENTRY
+
+                     "And either greet him not
+     Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more
+     Than if not looked on."--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii. 3.
+
+Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller
+class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were
+too high in the school for "the boarders' room," and who were waiting to
+succeed to the studies as they fell vacant. There were three or four
+others with him in this class-room, and although it was less pleasant
+than his old quarters, it was yet far more comfortable than the
+Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form boys.
+
+As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the class-rooms
+except their legitimate occupants. The rule, however, was very generally
+overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an opportunity to escape from
+the company of Barker and his associates, became a constant frequenter
+of his friend's new abode. Here they used to make themselves very
+comfortable. Joining the rest, they would drink coffee or chocolate, and
+amuse themselves over the fire with Punch, or some warlike novel in a
+green or yellow cover. One of them very often read aloud to the rest:
+and Eric, being both a good reader and a merry, intelligent listener,
+soon became quite a favorite among the other boys.
+
+Mr. Rose had often seen him sitting there, and left him unmolested; but
+if ever Mr. Gordon happened to come in and notice him, he invariably
+turned him out, and after the first offence or two, had several times
+set him an imposition. This treatment gave fresh intensity to his now
+deeply-seated disgust at his late master, and his expressions of
+indignation at "Gordon's spite" were loud and frequent.
+
+One day Mr. Gordon had accidentally come in, and found no one there but
+Upton and Eric; they were standing very harmlessly by the window, with
+Upton's arm resting kindly on Eric's shoulder as they watched with
+admiration the net-work of rippled sunbeams that flashed over the sea.
+Upton had just been telling Eric the splendid phrase [Greek: anerithmon
+gelasma pontion], which he had stumbled upon in an Aeschylus lesson that
+morning, and they were trying which would hit on the best rendering of
+it. Eric stuck up for the literal sublimity of "the innumerable laughter
+of the sea," while Upton was trying to win him over to "the
+many-twinkling smile of ocean." They were enjoying the discussion, and
+each stoutly maintaining his own rendering, when Mr. Gordon entered.
+
+On this occasion he was particularly angry; he had an especial dislike
+of seeing the two boys together, because he fancied that the younger had
+grown more than usually conceited and neglectful, since he had been
+under the fifth-form patronage; and he saw in Eric's presence there, a
+new case of wilful disobedience.
+
+"Williams, here _again!_" he exclaimed sharply. "Why, sir, you seem to
+suppose that you may defy rules with impunity! How often have I told you
+that no one is allowed to sit here, except the regular occupants?"
+
+His voice startled the two boys from their pleasant discussion.
+
+"No other master takes any notice of it, sir," said Upton.
+
+"I have nothing to do with other masters, Williams, you will bring me
+the fourth Georgic, written out by Saturday morning, for your repeated
+disobedience. Upton, I have a great mind to punish you also, for
+tempting him to come here."
+
+This was a mistake on Mr. Gordon's part, of which Upton took immediate
+advantage.
+
+"I have no power to prevent it, sir, if he wishes it. Besides," he
+continued, with annoying blandness of tone, "it would be inhospitable;
+and I am too glad of his company."
+
+Eric smiled, and Mr. Gordon frowned. "Williams, leave the room
+instantly."
+
+The boy obeyed slowly and doggedly. "Mr. Rose never interferes with me,
+when he sees me here," he said as he retreated.
+
+"Then I shall request Mr. Rose to do so in future; your conceit and
+impertinence are getting intolerable."
+
+Eric only answered with a fiery glance; the next minute Upton joined him
+on the stairs, and Mr. Gordon heard them laughing a little
+ostentatiously, as they ran out into the playground together. He went
+away full of strong contempt, and from that moment began to look on the
+friends as two of the worst boys in the school.
+
+This incident had happened on Thursday, which was a half-holiday, and
+instead of being able to join in any of the games, Eric had to spend
+that weary afternoon in writing away at the fourth Georgic; Upton
+staying in a part of the time to help him a little, by dictating the
+lines to him--an occupation not unfrequently interrupted by storms of
+furious denunciation against Mr. Gordon's injustice and tyranny; Eric
+vowing "that he would pay him out somehow yet."
+
+The imposition was not finished that evening, and it again consumed some
+of the next day's leisure, part of it being written between schools in
+the forbidden class-room. Still it was not quite finished on Friday
+afternoon at six, when school ended, and Eric stayed a few minutes
+behind the rest to scribble off the last ten lines; which done, he
+banged down the lid of his desk, not locking it, and ran out.
+
+The next morning an incident happened which involved considerable
+consequences to some of the actors in my story.
+
+Mr. Rose and several other masters had not a room to themselves, like
+Mr. Gordon, but heard their forms in the great hall. At one end of this
+hall was a board used for the various school notices, to which there
+were always affixed two or three pieces of paper containing
+announcements about examinations and other matters of general interest.
+
+On Saturday morning (when Eric was to give up his Georgic), the boys, as
+they dropped into the hall for morning school, observed a new notice on
+the board, and, thronging round to see what it was, read these words,
+written on a half-sheet of paper, attached by wafers to the board--
+
+"GORDON IS A SURLY DEVIL."
+
+As may be supposed, so completely novel an announcement took them all
+very much by surprise, and they wondered who had been so audacious as to
+play this trick. But their wonder was cut short by the entrance of the
+masters, and they all took their seats, without any one tearing down the
+dangerous paper.
+
+After a few minutes the eye of the second master, Mr. Ready, fell on the
+paper, and, going up, he read it, stood for a moment transfixed with
+astonishment, and then called Mr. Rose.
+
+Pointing to the inscription, he said: "I think we had better leave that
+there, Rose, exactly as it is, till Dr. Rowlands has seen it. Would you
+mind asking him to step in here?"
+
+Just at this juncture Eric came in, having been delayed by Mr. Gordon
+while he rigidly inspected the imposition. As he took his seat, Montagu,
+who was next him, whispered--
+
+"I say, have you seen the notice-board?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Why, some fellow has been writing up an opinion of Gordon not very
+favorable."
+
+"And serve him right, too, brute!" said Eric, smarting with the memory
+of his imposition.
+
+"Well, there'll be no end of a row; you'll see."
+
+During this conversation, Dr. Rowlands came in with Mr. Rose. He read
+the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr. Rose--"Would
+you kindly summon the lower school into the hall? As it would be painful
+to Mr. Gordon to be present, you had better explain to him how
+matters stand."
+
+"Halloa! here's a rumpus!" whispered Montagu; "he never has the lower
+school down for nothing."
+
+A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower school. When
+they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there was a dead silence
+and hush of expectation.
+
+"I have summoned you all together," said the Doctor, "on a most serious
+occasion. This morning, on coming into the school-room, the masters
+found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose of writing
+up an insult to one of our number, which is at once coarse and wicked.
+As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my deeply painful duty to
+inform you of its purport; the words are these--'Gordon is a surly
+devil.'"--A _very_ slight titter followed this statement, which was
+instantly succeeded by a sort of thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he
+heard the words, started perceptibly, and colored as he caught Montagu's
+eye fixed on him.
+
+Dr. Rowlands continued--"I suppose this dastardly impertinence has been
+perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am perfectly
+amazed at the unparalleled audacity and meanness of the attempt, and it
+may be very difficult to discover the author of it. But, depend upon it,
+discover him _we will_, at whatever cost. Whoever the offender may be,
+and he must be listening to me at this moment, let him be assured that
+he shall _not_ be unpunished. His guilty secret shall be torn from him.
+His punishment can only be mitigated by his instantly yielding
+himself up."
+
+No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric was so
+uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that several eyes
+were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy were awakened.
+
+"Very well," said the head master, "the guilty boy is not inclined to
+confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up to me by to-day
+week, every indulgence to the school will be forfeited, the next whole
+holiday stopped, and the coming cricket-match prohibited."
+
+"The handwriting may be some clue," suggested Mr. Ready. "Would you have
+any objection to my examining the note-books of the Shell?"
+
+"None at all. The Shell-boys are to show their books to Mr. Ready
+immediately."
+
+The head-boy of the Shell collected the books, and took them to the
+desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and suddenly
+stopped at one. Eric's heart beat loud, as his saw Mr. Rose point
+towards him.
+
+"We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles that on the
+board. I give the offender one more chance of substituting confession
+for detection."
+
+No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling
+violently.
+
+"Eric Williams, stand out in the room."
+
+Blushing scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed
+
+"The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know anything
+of this shameful proceeding?"
+
+"Nothing, sir," he murmured in a low tone.
+
+"Nothing whatever?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, sir."
+
+Dr. Rowlands' look searched him through and through, and seemed to burn
+into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The Doctor felt
+certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained him to the spot
+with his glance for a minute or two, and then said slowly, and with a
+deep sigh--
+
+"Very well; I _hope_ you have spoken the truth; but whether you have or
+no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially the upper boys,
+will remember what I have said. I shall now tear down the insulting
+notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as head of the school, that
+you may make further inquiries." He left the room, and the boys resumed
+their usual avocation till twelve o'clock. But poor Eric could hardly
+get through his ordinary pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until
+everybody noticed his strange embarrassed manner, and random answers.
+
+No sooner had twelve o'clock struck, than the whole school broke up into
+knots of buzzing and eager talkers.
+
+"I wonder who did it," said a dozen voices at once.
+
+"The writing was undoubtedly Williams'," suggested some.
+
+"And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor spoke to
+him, and how he hung his head?"
+
+"Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon."
+
+"Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and he has
+been swearing at him ever since."
+
+"I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night," said
+Barker.
+
+"Did he? By Jove, that looks bad."
+
+"Has any one charged him with it?" asked Duncan.
+
+"Yes," answered one of the group: "but he's as proud about it as
+Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought to
+know him better than to think him capable of such a thing."
+
+"And quite right, too," said Duncan. "If he did it, he's done something
+totally unlike what one would have believed possible of him."
+
+The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly they
+seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the
+probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was of a
+violet color, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to patronise;
+and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had been attached
+to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same size with some which
+Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts had been discovered,
+nobody exactly knew, but they began to be very generally whispered
+throughout the school.
+
+In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys proclaimed that
+he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at once, and save the
+school from the threatened punishment. But he listened to such
+suggestions with the most passionate indignation.
+
+"What!" he said, angrily, "tell a wilful lie to blacken my own innocent
+character? Never!"
+
+The consequence was, they all began to shun him. Eric was put into
+Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and maintained
+his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the boys whom he
+had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous in his defence.
+They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and little Wright.
+
+On the evening of the Saturday, Upton had sought out Eric, and said in a
+very serious tone, "This is a bad business, Williams. I cannot forget
+how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I won't believe you
+guilty, yet you ought to explain."
+
+"What? even _you_, then suspect me?" said Eric, bursting into proud
+tears. "Very well. I shan't condescend to _deny_ it. I won't speak to
+you again till you have repented of mistrusting me;" and he resolutely
+rejected all further overtures on Upton's part.
+
+He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted to
+destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of
+suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that the
+whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing which
+from his soul he abhorred. "No," he thought, "bad I may be, but I
+_could_ not have done such a base and cowardly trick."
+
+Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to the
+rocks, and watched the waves dashing against them with the rising tide.
+The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and console the tumult of
+his heart. He drank in strength and defiance from the roar of the
+waters, and climbed to their very edge along the rocks, where every
+fresh, rush of the waves enveloped him in white swirls of angry loam.
+The look of the green, rough, hungry sea, harmonised with his feelings,
+and he sat down and stared into it, to find relief from the torment of
+his thoughts.
+
+At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back, and meet the crowd
+of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone over his sorrow
+in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps, when he caught sight
+of Russell in the distance. His first impulse was to run away and
+escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and when he came up, said,
+"Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose to tell you that _I_ don't
+suspect you, and have never done so for a moment. I know you too well,
+my boy, and be sure that _I_ will always stick to you, even if the whole
+school cut you."
+
+"Oh, Edwin, I am _so_ wretched. I needn't tell you that I am quite
+innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected? Why, even your
+cousin Upton won't believe me."
+
+"But he does, Eric," said Russell; "he told me so just now, and several
+others said the same thing."
+
+A transient gleam passed over Eric's face.
+
+"O, I do so long for home again," he said. "Except you, I have no
+friend."
+
+"Don't say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon it, as
+the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the fellows
+will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions. And you _have_
+one friend, Eric," he continued, pointing reverently upwards.
+
+Eric was overcome; he sat down on the grass and hid his face till the
+tears flowed through his closed fingers. Russell sat silent and pitying
+beside him, and let Eric's head rest upon his shoulder.
+
+When they got home, Eric found three notes in his drawer. One was from
+Mr. Gordon, and ran thus:--
+
+"I have little doubt, Williams, that you have done this act. Believe me,
+I feel no anger, only pity for you. Come to me and confess, and I
+promise, by every means in my power, to befriend and save you."
+
+This note he read, and then, stamping on the floor, tore it up furiously
+into twenty pieces, which he scattered about the room.
+
+Another was from Mr. Rose;
+
+"Dear Eric--I _cannot, will_ not, believe you guilty, although
+appearances look very black. You have many faults, but I feel sure that
+I cannot be mistaken in supposing you too noble-minded for a revenge so
+petty and so mean. Come to me, dear boy, if I can help you in any way. I
+_trust you_, Eric, and will use every endeavor to right you in the
+general estimation. You are innocent; pray to God for help under this
+cruel trial, and be sure that your character will yet be
+cleared.--Affectionately yours, WALTER ROSE."
+
+"_P.S._--I can easily understand that just now you will like quiet; come
+and sit with me in the library as much as you like."
+
+He read this note two or three times with grateful emotion, and at that
+moment would have died for Mr. Rose. The third note was from Owen, as
+follows:--
+
+"Dear Williams--We have been cool to each other lately; naturally,
+perhaps. But yet I think that it will be some consolation to you to be
+told, even by a rival, that I, for one, feel certain of your innocence.
+If you want company, I shall be delighted now to walk with you.--Yours
+truly, D. OWEN."
+
+This note, too, brought much comfort to the poor boy's lonely and
+passionate heart. He put it into his pocket, and determined at once to
+accept Mr. Rose's kind offer of allowing him to sit for the present in
+the library.
+
+There were several boys in the room while he was reading his notes, but
+none of them spoke to him, and he was too proud to notice them, or
+interrupt the constrained silence. As he went out he met Duncan and
+Montagu, who at once addressed him in the hearing of the rest.
+
+"Ha! Williams," said Duncan, "we have been looking everywhere for you,
+dear fellow. Cheer up, you shall be cleared yet. I, for one, and Monty
+for another, will maintain your innocence before the whole school."
+
+Montagu _said_ nothing, but Eric understood full well the trustful
+kindness of his soft pressure of the hand. His heart was too full to
+speak, and he went on towards the library.
+
+"I wonder at your speaking to that fellow," said Bull, as the two new
+comers joined the group at the fire-place.
+
+"You will be yourself ashamed of having ever suspected him before long,"
+said Montagu warmly; "ay, the whole lot of you; and you are very unkind
+to condemn him before you are certain."
+
+"I wish you joy of your _friend_, Duncan," sneered Barker.
+
+"Friend?" said Duncan, firing up; "yes! he is my friend, and I'm not
+ashamed of him. It would be well for the school if _all_ the fellows
+were as honorable as Williams."
+
+Barker took the hint, and although he was too brazen to blush, thought
+it better to say no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+"A plot, a plot, a plot, to ruin all." TENNYSON, _The Princess_.
+
+On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands that the
+perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but that one boy was
+very generally suspected, and on grounds that seemed plausible. "I
+admit," he added, "that from the little I know of him he seems to me a
+very unlikely sort of boy to do it."
+
+"I think," suggested the Doctor, "that the best way would be for you to
+have a regular trial on the subject, and hear the evidence. Do you think
+that you can be trusted to carry on the investigation publicly, with
+good order and fairness?"
+
+"I think so, sir," said Avonley.
+
+"Very well. Put up a notice, asking all the school to meet by themselves
+in the boarders' room tomorrow afternoon at three, and see what you can
+do among you."
+
+Avonley did as the Doctor suggested. At first, when the boys assembled,
+they seemed inclined to treat the matter as a joke, and were rather
+disorderly; but Avonley briefly begged them, if they determined to have
+a trial, to see that it was conducted sensibly; and by general consent
+he was himself voted into the desk as president. He then got up
+and said--
+
+"There must be no sham or nonsense about this affair. Let all the boys
+take their seats quietly down the room."
+
+They did so, and Avonley asked, "Is Williams here?"
+
+Looking round, they discovered he was not. Russell instantly went to the
+library to fetch him, and told him what was going on. He took Eric's arm
+kindly as they entered, to show the whole school that he was not ashamed
+of him, and Eric deeply felt the delicacy of his goodwill.
+
+"Are you willing to be tried, Williams," asked Avonley, "on the charge
+of having written the insulting paper about Mr. Gordon? Of course we
+know very little how these kind of things ought to be conducted, but we
+will see that everything done is open and above ground, and try to
+manage it properly."
+
+"There is nothing I should like better," said Eric.
+
+He had quite recovered his firm, manly bearing. A quiet conversation
+with his dearly loved friend and master had assured him in the
+confidence of innocence, and though the color on his cheek had through
+excitement sunk into two bright red spots, he looked wonderfully noble
+and winning as he stood before the boys in the centre of the room. His
+appearance caused a little reaction in his favor, and a murmur of
+applause followed his answer.
+
+"Good," said Avonley; "who will prosecute on the part of the school?"
+
+There was a pause. Nobody seemed to covet the office.
+
+"Very well; if no one is willing to prosecute, the charge drops."
+
+"I will do it," said Gibson, a Rowlandite, one of the study boys at the
+top of the fifth form. He was a clever fellow, and Eric liked the little
+he had seen of him.
+
+"Have you any objection, Williams, to the jury being composed of the
+sixth form? or are there any names among them which you wish to
+challenge?"
+
+"No," said Eric, glancing round with confidence.
+
+"Well, now, who will defend the accused?"
+
+Another pause, and Upton got up.
+
+"No," said Eric, at once. "You were inclined to distrust me, Upton, and
+I will only be defended by somebody who never doubted my innocence."
+
+Another pause followed, and then, blushing crimson, Russell got up. "I
+am only a Shell-boy," he said, "but if Eric doesn't mind trusting his
+cause to me, I will defend him, since no other fifth-form fellow stirs."
+
+"Thank you, Russell, _I wanted_ you to offer, I could wish no better
+defender."
+
+"Will Owen, Duncan, and Montagu help me, if they can?" asked Russell.
+
+"Very willingly," they all three said, and went to take their seats by
+him. They conversed eagerly for a few minutes, and then declared
+themselves ready.
+
+"All I have got to do," said Gibson, rising, "is to bring before the
+school the grounds for suspecting Williams, and all the evidence which
+makes it probable that he is the offender. Now, first of all, the thing
+must have been done between Friday evening and Saturday morning; and
+since the school-room door is generally locked soon after school, it was
+probably done in the short interval between six and a quarter past. I
+shall now examine some witnesses."
+
+The first boy called upon was Pietrie, who deposed, that on Friday
+evening, when he left the room, having been detained a few minutes, the
+only boy remaining in it was Williams.
+
+Carter, the school-servant, was then sent for, and deposed, that he had
+met Master Williams hastily running out of the room, when he went at a
+quarter past six to lock the door.
+
+Examined by Gibson.--"Was any boy in the room when you did lock the
+door?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Did you meet any one else in the passage?"
+
+"No."
+
+Cross-examined by Russell.--"Do boys ever get into the room after the
+door is locked?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By what means?"
+
+"Through the side windows."
+
+"That will do."
+
+Russell here whispered something to Duncan, who at once left the room,
+and on returning, after a few minutes' absence, gave Russell a
+significant nod.
+
+Barker was next brought forward, and questioned by Gibson.
+
+"Do you know that Williams is in the habit of using a particular kind of
+ink?"
+
+"Yes; it is of a violet color, and has a peculiar smell."
+
+"Could you recognise anything written with it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Gibson here handed to Barker the paper which had caused so much trouble.
+
+"Is that the kind of ink?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know the handwriting on that paper?"
+
+"Yes; it is Williams' hand."
+
+"How can you tell?"
+
+"He makes his r's in a curious way."
+
+"Turn the paper over. Have you ever seen those kind of wafers before?"
+
+"Yes; Williams has a box of them in his desk."
+
+"Has any other boy, that you are aware of, wafers like those?"
+
+"No."
+
+Cross-examined by Duncan.--"_How_ do you know that Williams has wafers
+like those?"
+
+"I have seen him use them."
+
+"For what purpose?"
+
+"To fasten letters."
+
+"I can't help remarking that you seem very well acquainted with what he
+does. Several of those who know him best, and have seen him oftenest,
+never heard of these wafers. May I ask," he said, "if any one else in
+the school will witness to having seen Williams use these wafers?"
+
+No one spoke, and Barker, whose malice seemed to have been changed into
+uneasiness, sat down.
+
+Upton was the next witness. Gibson began--"You have seen a good deal of
+Williams?"
+
+"Yes," said Upton smiling.
+
+"Have you ever heard him express any opinion of Mr. Gordon?"
+
+"Often."
+
+"Of what kind?"
+
+"Dislike and contempt," said Upton, amidst general laughter.
+
+"Have you ever heard him say anything which implied a desire to injure
+him?"
+
+"The other day Mr. Gordon gave him a Georgic as an imposition, and I
+heard Williams say that he would like to pay him out."
+
+This last fact was new to the school, and excited a great sensation.
+
+"When did he say this?"
+
+"On Friday afternoon."
+
+Upton had given his evidence with great reluctance, although, being
+simply desirous that the truth should come out, he concealed nothing
+that he knew. He brightened up a little when Russell rose to
+cross-examine him.
+
+"Have you ever known Williams to do any mean act?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Do you consider him a boy _likely_ to have been guilty on this
+occasion?"
+
+"Distinctly the reverse. I am convinced of his innocence."
+
+The answer was given with vehement emphasis, and Eric felt greatly
+relieved by it.
+
+One or two other boys were then called on as witnesses to the great
+agitation which Eric had shown during the investigation in the
+school-room, and then Gibson, who was a sensible, self-contained fellow,
+said, "I have now done my part. I have shown that the accused had a
+grudge against Mr. Gordon at the time of the occurrence, and had
+threatened to be revenged on him; that he was the last boy in the room
+during the time when the offence must have been committed; that the
+handwriting is known to resemble his, and that the ink and wafers
+employed were such as he, and he only, was known to possess. In addition
+to all this, his behavior, when the matter was first publicly noticed,
+was exactly such as coincides with the supposition of his guilt. I think
+you will all agree in considering these grounds of suspicion very
+strong; and leaving them to carry their full weight with you, I close
+the case for the prosecution."
+
+The school listened to Gibson's quiet formality with a kind of grim and
+gloomy satisfaction, and when he had concluded, there were probably few
+but Eric's own immediate friends who were not fully convinced of his
+guilt, however sorry they might be to admit so unfavorable an opinion of
+a companion whom they all admired.
+
+After a minute or two, Russell rose for the defence, and asked, "Has
+Williams any objection to his desk being brought, and any of its
+contents put in as evidence?"
+
+"Not the least; there is the key, and you will find it in my place in
+school."
+
+The desk was brought, but it was found to be already unlocked, and
+Russell looked at some of the note-paper which it contained. He then
+began--"In spite of the evidence adduced, I think I can show that
+Williams is not guilty. It is quite true that he dislikes Mr. Gordon,
+and would not object to any open way of showing it; it is quite true
+that he used the expressions attributed to him, and that the ink and
+wafers are such as may be found in his desk, and that the handwriting is
+not unlike his. But is it probable that a boy intending to post up an
+insult such as this, would do so in a manner, and at a time so likely to
+involve him in immediate detection, and certain punishment? At any rate,
+he would surely disguise his usual handwriting. Now, I ask any one to
+look at this paper, and tell me whether it is not clear, on the
+contrary, that these letters were traced slowly and with care, as would
+be the case with an elaborate attempt to imitate?" Russell here handed
+the paper to the jury, who again narrowly examined it.
+
+"Now the evidence of Pietrie and Carter is of no use, because Carter
+himself admitted that boys often enter the room by the window; a fact to
+which we shall have to allude again.
+
+"We admit the evidence about the ink and wafers. But it is rather
+strange that Barker should know about the wafers, since neither I, nor
+any other friend of Williams, often as we have sat by him when writing
+letters, have ever observed that he possessed any like them."
+
+Several boys began to look at Barker, who was sitting very ill at ease
+on the corner of a form, in vain trying to appear unconcerned.
+
+"There is another fact which no one yet knows, but which I must mention.
+It will explain Williams' agitation when Dr. Rowlands read out the words
+on that paper; and, confident of his innocence, I am indifferent to its
+appearing to tell against him. I myself once heard Williams use the very
+words written on that paper, and not only heard them, but expostulated
+with him strongly for the use of them. I need hardly say how very
+unlikely it is, that remembering this, he should thus publicly draw my
+suspicions on him, if he meant to insult Mr. Gordon, undiscovered. But,
+besides myself, there was another boy who accidentally overheard that
+expression. That boy was Barker.
+
+"I have to bring forward a new piece of evidence which at least ought to
+go for something. Looking at this half-sheet of note-paper, I see that
+the printer's name on the stamp in the corner is 'Graves, York.' Now, I
+have just found that there is no paper at all like this in Williams'
+desk; all the note-paper it contains is marked 'Blakes, Ayrton.'
+
+"I might bring many witnesses to prove how very unlike Williams' general
+character a trick of this kind would be. But I am not going to do this.
+We think we know the real offender. We have had one trial, and now
+demand another. It is our painful duty to prove Williams' innocence by
+proving another's guilt. That other is a known enemy of mine, and of
+Montagu's, and of Owen's. We therefore leave the charge of stating the
+case against him to Duncan, with whom he has never quarrelled."
+
+Russell sat down amid general applause; he had performed his task with a
+wonderful modesty and self-possession, which filled every one with
+admiration, and Eric warmly pressed his hand.
+
+The interest of the school was intensely excited, and Duncan, after a
+minute's pause, starting up, said--"Williams has allowed his desk to be
+brought in and examined. Will Barker do the same?"
+
+The real culprit now saw at once that his plot to ruin Eric was
+recoiling on himself. He got up, swore and blustered at Russell, Duncan,
+and Williams, and at first flatly refused to allow his desk to be
+brought. He was, however, forced to yield, and when opened, it was
+immediately seen that the note-paper it contained was identical with
+that on which the words had been written. At this he affected to be
+perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against what he called the
+meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.
+
+"And what have you been doing the whole of the last day or two," asked
+Gibson, quietly, "but endeavoring to fix the charge on another?"
+
+"We have stronger evidence against you," said Duncan, confronting him
+with an undaunted look, before which his insolence quailed. "Russell,
+will you call Graham?"
+
+Graham was called, and put on his honor.
+
+"You were in the sick-room on Friday evening?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you see any one get into the school-room through the side window?"
+
+"I may as well tell you all about it. I was sitting doing nothing in the
+sick-room, when I suddenly saw Barker clamber in to the school-room by
+the window, which he left open. I was looking on simply from curiosity,
+and saw him search Williams' desk, from which he took out something, I
+could not make out what. He then went to his own place, and wrote for
+about ten minutes, after which I observed him go up and stand by the
+notice board. When he had done this he got out by the window again,
+and ran off."
+
+"Didn't this strike you as extraordinary?"
+
+"No; I thought nothing more about it, till some one told me in the
+sick-room about this row. I then mentioned privately what I had seen,
+and it wasn't till I saw Duncan, half an hour ago, that I thought it
+worth while to make it generally known."
+
+Duncan turned an enquiring eye to Barker (who sat black and silent), and
+then pulled some bits of torn paper from his pocket, put them together,
+and called Owen to stand up. Showing him the fragments of paper, he
+asked, "Have you ever seen these before?"
+
+"Yes. On Saturday, when the boys left the schoolroom, I stayed behind to
+think a little over what had occurred, feeling convinced that Williams
+was _not_ guilty, spite of appearances. I was standing by the empty
+fire-place, when these bits of paper caught my eye. I picked them up,
+and, after a great deal of trouble, fitted them together. They are
+covered apparently with failures in an attempt at forgery, viz., first,
+'Gordon is a sur--' and then a stop, as though the writer were
+dissatisfied, and several of the words written over again for practice,
+and then a number of r's made in the way that Williams makes them."
+
+"There you may stop," said Barker, stamping fiercely; "I did it all."
+
+A perfect yell of scorn and execration followed this announcement.
+
+"What! _you_ did it, and caused all this misery, you ineffable
+blackguard!" shouted Upton, grasping him with one hand, while he struck
+him with the other.
+
+"Stop!" said Avonley; "just see that he doesn't escape, while we decide
+on his punishment."
+
+It was very soon decided by the sixth form that he should run the
+gauntlet of the school. The boys instantly took out their handkerchiefs,
+and knotted them tight. They then made a double line down each side of
+the corridor, and turned Barker loose. He stood stock-still at one end,
+while the fellows nearest him thrashed him unmercifully with the heavy
+knots. At last the pain was getting severe, and he moved on, finally
+beginning to run. Five times he was forced up and down the line, and
+five times did every boy in the line give him a blow, which, if it did
+not hurt much, at least spoke of no slight anger and contempt. He was
+dogged and unmoved to the last, and then Avonley hauled him into the
+presence of Dr. Rowlands. He was put in a secure room by himself, and
+the next morning was first flogged and then publicly expelled.
+Thenceforth he disappears from the history of Roslyn school.
+
+I need hardly say that neither Eric nor his friends took any part in
+this retributive act. They sat together in the boarders' room till it
+was over, engaged in exciting discussion of the recent event. Most
+warmly did Eric thank them for their trustfulness. "Thank you," he said,
+"with all my heart, for proving my innocence; but thank you, even more a
+great deal, for first believing it."
+
+Upton was the first to join them, and since he had but wavered for a
+moment, he was soon warmly reconciled with Eric. They had hardly shaken
+hands when the rest came flocking in. "We have all been unjust," said
+Avonley; "let's make up for it as well as we can. Three cheers for Eric
+Williams!"
+
+They gave, not three, but a dozen, till they were tired; and meanwhile,
+every one was pressing round him, telling him how sorry they were for
+the false suspicion, and doing all they could to show their regret for
+his recent troubles. His genial, boyish heart readily forgave them, and
+his eyes were long wet with tears of joy. The delicious sensation of
+returning esteem made him almost think it worth while to have under gone
+his trial.
+
+Most happily did he spend the remainder of that afternoon, and it was no
+small relief to all the Rowlandites in the evening to find themselves
+finally rid of Barker, whose fate no one pitied, and whose name no one
+mentioned without disgust. He had done more than any other boy to
+introduce meanness, quarrelling, and vice, and the very atmosphere of
+the rooms seemed healthier in his absence. One boy only forgave him, one
+boy only prayed for him, one boy only endeavored to see him for one last
+kind word. That boy was Edwin Russell.
+
+After prayers, Mr. Gordon, who had been at Dr. Rowlands' to dinner,
+apologised to Eric amply and frankly for his note, and did and said all
+that could be done by an honorable man to repair the injury of an unjust
+doubt. Eric felt his generous humility, and from thenceforth, though
+they were never friends, he and Mr. Gordon ceased to be enemies.
+
+That night Mr. Rose crowned his happiness by asking him and his
+defenders to supper in the library. A most bright and joyous evening
+they passed, for they were in the highest spirits; and when the master
+bade them "good night," he kindly detained Eric, and said to him, "Keep
+an innocent heart, my boy, and you need never fear trouble. Only think
+if you had been guilty, and were now in Barker's place!"
+
+"O, I _couldn't_ be guilty, sir," said Eric, gaily.
+
+"Not of such a fault, perhaps. But," he added solemnly, "there are many
+kinds of temptation, Eric many kinds. And they are easy to fall into.
+You will find it no light battle to resist them."
+
+"Believe me, sir, I will try," he answered with humility.
+
+"Jehovah-Nissi!" said Mr. Rose. "Let the Lord be your banner, Eric, and
+you will win the victory. God bless you."
+
+And as the boy's graceful figure disappeared through the door, Mr. Rose
+drew his arm-chair to the fire, and sat and meditated long. He was
+imagining for Eric a sunny future--a future of splendid usefulness, of
+reciprocated love, of brilliant fame.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURE AT THE STACK
+
+     "Ten cables from where green meadows
+     And quiet homes could be seen,
+         No greater space
+         From peril to peace,
+     But the savage sea between!"--EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most of the
+boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at school. Many of
+the usual rules were suspended during this time, and the boys were
+supplied every day with pocket-money; consequently the Easter holidays
+passed very pleasantly, and there was plenty of fun.
+
+It was the great time for excursions all over the island, and the boys
+would often be out the whole day long among the hills, or about the
+coast. Eric enjoyed the time particularly, and was in great request
+among all the boys. He was now more gay and popular than ever, and felt
+as if nothing were wanting to his happiness. But this brilliant
+prosperity was not good for him, and he felt continually that he cared
+far less for the reproaches of conscience than he had done in the hours
+of his trial; sought far less for help from God than he had done when he
+was lonely and neglected.
+
+He always knew that his great safeguard was the affection of Russell.
+For Edwin's sake, and for shame at the thought of Edwin's disapproval,
+he abstained from many things into which he would otherwise have
+insensibly glided in conformation to the general looseness of the school
+morality. But Russell's influence worked on him powerfully, and tended
+to counteract a multitude of temptations.
+
+Among other dangerous lessons, Upton had taught Eric to smoke; and he
+was now one of those who often spent a part of his holidays in lurking
+about with pipes in their mouths at places where they were unlikely to
+be disturbed, instead of joining in some hearty and healthy game. When
+he began to "learn" smoking, he found it anything but pleasant; but a
+little practice had made him an adept, and he found a certain amount of
+enjoyable excitement in finding out cozy places by the river, where he
+and Upton might go and lounge for an hour to enjoy the forbidden luxury.
+
+In reality he, like most boys, detested the habit; but it seemed a fine
+thing to do, and to some, at any rate, it was a refuge from vacuity.
+Besides, they had a confused notion that there was something "manly" in
+it, and it derived an additional zest from the stringency of the rules
+adopted to put it down. So a number of the boys smoked, and some few of
+them to such excess as to get them into great mischief, and form a habit
+which they could never afterwards abandon.
+
+One morning of the Easter holidays, Eric, Montagu, and Russell started
+for an excursion down the coast to Rilby Head. As they passed through
+Ellan, Eric was deputed to go and buy Easter eggs and other provisions,
+as they did not mean to be back for dinner. In about ten minutes he
+caught up the other two, just as they were getting out of the town.
+
+"What an age you've been buying a few Easter eggs," said Russell,
+laughing; "have you been waiting till the hens laid?"
+
+"No; they are not the _only_ things I've got."
+
+"Well, but you might have got all the grub at the same shop."
+
+"Ay; but I've procured a more refined article. Guess what it is?"
+
+The two boys didn't guess, and Eric said, to enlighten them, "Will you
+have a whiff, Monty?"
+
+"A whiff! Oh! I see you've been wasting your tin on cigars--_alias_,
+rolled cabbage-leaves. Oh fumose puer!"
+
+"Well, will you have one?"
+
+"If you like," said Montagu, wavering; "but I don't much care to smoke."
+
+"Well, _I_ shall, at any rate," said Eric, keeping off the wind with his
+cap, as he lighted a cigar, and began to puff.
+
+They strolled on in silence; the smoking didn't promote conversation,
+and Russell thought he had never seen his friend look so ridiculous, and
+entirely unlike himself, as he did while strutting along with the weed
+in his mouth. The fact was, Eric didn't guess how much he was hurting
+Edwin's feelings, and he was smoking more to "make things look like the
+holidays," by a little bravado, than anything else. But suddenly he
+caught the expression of Russell's face, and instantly said--
+
+"O, I forgot, Edwin; I know you don't like smoking;" and he instantly
+flung the cigar over the hedge, being really rather glad to get rid of
+it. With the cigar, he seemed to have flung away the affected manner he
+displayed just before, and the spirits of all three rose at once.
+
+"It isn't that I don't _like_ smoking only, Eric, but I think it
+wrong--for _us_ I mean."
+
+"O, my dear fellow! surely there can't be any harm in it. Why everybody
+smokes."
+
+"It may be all very well for men, although I'm not so sure of that. But,
+at any rate, it's wrong and ridiculous in boys. You know yourself what
+harm it does in every way."
+
+"O, it's a mere school rule against it. How can it be wrong? Why, I even
+know clergymen who smoke."
+
+Montagu laughed. "Well, clergymen ain't immaculate," said he; "but I
+never met a man yet who didn't tell you that he was _sorry_ he'd
+acquired the habit."
+
+"I'm sure you won't thank that rascally cousin of mine for having taught
+you," said Russell; "but seriously, isn't it a very moping way of
+spending the afternoon, to go and lie down behind some hay-stack, or in
+some frowsy tumble-down barn, as you smokers do, instead of playing
+racquets or football?"
+
+"O, it's pleasant enough sometimes," said Eric, speaking rather against
+his own convictions.
+
+"As for me, I've nearly left it off," said Montagu, "and I think Rose
+convinced me that it was a mistake. Not that he knows that I ever did
+smoke; I should be precious sorry if he did, for I know how he despises
+it in boys. Were you in school the other day when he caught Pietrie and
+Brooking?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, when Brooking went up to have his exercise corrected, Rose smelt
+that he had been smoking, and charged him with it. Brooking stoutly
+denied it, but after he had told the most robust lies, Rose made him
+empty his pockets, and there, sure enough, were a pipe and a cigar-case
+half full! You _should_ have heard how Rose thundered and lightened at
+him for his lying, and then sent him to the Doctor. I never saw him so
+terrific before."
+
+"You don't mean to say you were convinced it was wrong because Brooking
+was caught, and told lies--do you? _Non sequitur_."
+
+"Stop--not so fast." Very soon after Rose twigged Pietrie, who at once
+confessed, and was caned. I happened to be in the library when Rose sent
+for him, and Pietrie said mildly that "he didn't see the harm of it."
+Rose smiled in his kind way, and said, "Don't see the _harm_ of it! Do
+you see any good in it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Well, isn't it forbidden?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And doesn't it waste your money?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And tempt you to break rules, and tell lies to screen yourself?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Pietrie, putting his tail between his legs.
+
+"And don't your parents disapprove it? And doesn't it throw you among
+some of the worst boys, and get you into great troubles? Silly child,"
+he said, pulling Pietrie's ear (as he sometimes does, you know), "don't
+talk nonsense; and remember next time you're caught I shall have you
+punished." So off went Pietrie, [Greek: achreian idon] as our friend
+Homer says. And your humble servant was convinced."
+
+"Well, well," said Eric laughing, "I suppose you're right. At any rate,
+I give in. Two to one ain't fair; [Greek: ards duo o Aerachlaes], since
+you're in a quoting humor."
+
+Talking in this way they got to Rilby Head, where they found plenty to
+amuse them. It was a splendid headland, rising bluff four hundred feet
+out of the sea, and presenting magnificent reaches of rock scenery on
+all sides. The boys lay on the turf at the summit, and flung innocuous
+stones at the sea-gulls as they sailed far below them over the water,
+and every now and then pounced at some stray fish that came to the
+surface; or they watched the stately barks as they sailed by on the
+horizon, wondering at their cargo and destination; or chaffed the
+fishermen, whose boats heaved on the waves at the foot of the
+promontory. When they were rested, they visited a copper-mine by the
+side of the head, and filled their pockets with bits of bright quartz or
+red shining spar, which they found in plenty among the rocks.
+
+In the afternoon they strolled towards home, determining to stop a
+little at the Stack on their way. The Stack formed one of the
+extremities of Ellan Bay, and was a huge mass of isolated schist,
+accessible at low water, but entirely surrounded at high tide. It was a
+very favorite resort of Eric's, as the coast all about it was bold and
+romantic; and he often went there with Russell on a Sunday evening to
+watch the long line of golden radiance slanting to them over the water
+from the setting sun--a sight which they often agreed to consider one
+of the most peaceful and mysteriously beautiful in nature.
+
+They reached the Stack, and began to climb to its summit. The sun was
+just preparing to set, and the west was gorgeous with red and gold.
+
+"We shan't see the line on the waters this evening," said Eric; "there's
+too much of a breeze. But look, what a glorious sunset!"
+
+"Yes; it'll be stormy tomorrow," answered Russell, "but come along,
+let's get to the top; the wind's rising, and the waves will be
+rather grand."
+
+"Ay, we'll sit and watch them; and let's finish our grub; I've got
+several eggs left, and I want to get them out of my pocket."
+
+They devoured the eggs, and then stood enjoying the sight of the waves,
+which sometimes climbed up the rock almost to their feet, and then fell
+back, hissing and discomfited. Suddenly they remembered that it was
+getting late, and that they ought to get home for tea at seven.
+
+"Hallo!" said Russell, looking at his watch, "it's half-past six. We
+must cut back as hard as we can. By the bye, I hope the tide hasn't been
+coming in all this time."
+
+"Good God!" said Montagu, with a violent start, "I'm afraid it has,
+though! What asses we have been, with our waves and sunsets. Let's set
+off as hard as we can pelt."
+
+Immediately they scrambled, by the aid of hands and knees, down the
+Stack, and made their way for the belt of rock which joined it to the
+mainland; but, to their horror, they at once saw that the tide had come
+in, and that a narrow gulf of sea already divided them from the shore.
+
+"There's only one way for it," said Eric; "if we're plucky we can jump
+that; but we musn't wait till it gets worse. A good jump will take us
+_nearly_ to the other side--far enough, at any rate, to let us flounder
+across somehow."
+
+As fast as they could they hurried along down to the place where the
+momentarily increasing zone of water seemed as yet to be narrowest; and
+where the rocks on the other side were lower than those on which they
+stood. Their situation was by no means pleasant. The wind had been
+rising more and more, and the waves dashed into this little channel with
+such violence, that to swim it would have been a most hazardous
+experiment, particularly as they could not dive in from the ledge on
+which they stood, from their ignorance of the depth of water.
+
+Eric's courage supported the other two. "There's no good _thinking_
+about it," said he, "jump we _must_; the sooner the better. We can but
+be a little hurt at the worst. Here, I'll set the example."
+
+He drew back a step or two, and sprang out with all his force. He was a
+practised and agile jumper, and, to their great relief, he alighted near
+the water's edge, on the other side, where, after slipping once or twice
+on the wet and seaweed-covered rocks, he effected a safe landing, with
+no worse harm than a wetting up to the knees.
+
+"Now then, you too," he shouted; "no time to lose."
+
+"Will you jump first, Monty?" said Russell; "both of you are better
+jumpers than I, and to tell the truth I'm rather afraid."
+
+"Then I won't leave you," said Montagu; "we'll both stay here."
+
+"And perhaps be drowned or starved for our pains No, Monty, _you_ can
+clear it, I've no doubt."
+
+"Couldn't we try to swim it together, Edwin?"
+
+"Madness! look there." And as he spoke, a huge furious wave swept down
+the whole length of the gulf by which they stood, roaring and surging
+along till the whole water seethed, and tearing the seaweeds from their
+roots in the rock.
+
+"Now's your time," shouted Eric again. "What _are_ you waiting for? For
+God's sake, jump before another wave comes."
+
+"Monty, you _must_ jump now," said Russell, "if only to help me when I
+try."
+
+Montagu went back as far as he could, which was only a few steps, and
+leapt wildly forward. He lighted into deep water, nearly up to his neck,
+and at first tried in vain to secure a footing on the sharp slippery
+schist; but he stumbled forwards vigorously, and in half a minute, Eric
+leaning out as far as he could, caught his hand, and just pulled him to
+the other side in time to escape another rush of tumultuous and
+angry foam.
+
+"Now, Edwin," they both shouted, "it'll be too late in another minute.
+Jump for your life."
+
+Russell stood on the rock pale and irresolute. Once or twice he prepared
+to spring, and stopped from fear at the critical instant. In truth, the
+leap was now most formidable; to clear it was hopeless; and the fury of
+the rock-tormented waves rendered the prospect of a swim on the other
+side terrible to contemplate. Once in the grasp of one of those billows,
+even a strong man must have been carried out of the narrow channel, and
+hurled against the towering sweep of rocks which lay beyond it.
+
+"Oh Edwin, Edwin--dear Edwin--_do_ jump," cried Eric with passionate
+excitement. "We will rush in for you."
+
+Russell now seemed to have determined on running the risk; he stepped
+back, ran to the edge, missed his footing, and with a sharp cry of pain,
+fell heavily forward into the water. For an instant, Eric and Montagu
+stood breathless,--but the next instant, they saw Russell's head emerge,
+and then another wave foaming madly by, made them run backwards for
+their lives, and hid him from their view. When it had passed, they saw
+him clinging with both hands, in the desperate instinct of
+self-preservation, to a projecting bit of rock, by the aid of which he
+gradually drew himself out of the water, and grasping at crevices or
+bits of seaweed, slowly and painfully reached the ledge on which they
+had stood before they took the leap. He presented a pitiable spectacle;
+his face, pale as death, was dabbled with blood; his head drooped on his
+breast; his clothes were torn, and streamed with the salt water; his cap
+was gone, and the wet hair, which he seemed too exhausted to push aside,
+hung over his forehead and eyes. He was evidently dizzy, and in pain;
+and they noticed that he only seemed to use one foot.
+
+While he was regaining the ledge, neither of the boys spoke, lest their
+voices should startle him, and make him fall; but now, they both cried
+out, "Are you hurt, Edwin?"
+
+He did not answer, but supported his pale face on one hand, while he put
+the other to his head, from which the blood was flowing fast.
+
+"O Edwin, for the love of God, try once more," said Montagu; "you will
+die if you spend the night on that rock."
+
+They could not catch the reply, and called again. The wind and waves
+were both rising fast, and it was only by listening intently, that they
+caught the faint words, "I can't, my leg is hurt." Besides, they both
+saw that a jump was no longer possible; the channel was more than double
+the width which it had been when Eric leaped, and from the rapid ascent
+of rocks on both sides, it was now far out of depth.
+
+"O God, what can we do," said Montagu, bursting into tears. "We can
+never save him; and all but the very top of the Stack is covered at
+high tide."
+
+Eric had not lost his presence of mind. "Cheer up, Edwin," he shouted;
+"I _will_ get back to you somehow. If I fail, crawl up to the
+top again."
+
+Again the wind carried away the reply, and Russell had sunk back on the
+rock.
+
+"Monty," said Eric, "just watch for a minute or two. When I have got
+across, run to Ellan as hard as you can tear, and tell them that we are
+cut off by the tide on the Stack. They'll bring round the life-boat.
+It's our only chance."
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Montagu, terrified. "Why, Eric, it's
+death to attempt swimming that. Heavens!" And he drew Eric back hastily,
+as another vast swell of water came rolling along, shaking its white
+curled mane, like a sea-monster bent on destruction.
+
+"Monty, it's no use," said Eric hastily, tearing off his jacket and
+waistcoat; "I'm not going to let Russell die on that ledge of rock. I
+shall try to reach him, whatever happens to me. Here; I want to keep
+these things dry. Be on the look out; if I get across, fling them over
+to me if you can, and then do as I told you."
+
+He turned round; the wave had just spent its fury, and knowing that his
+only chance was to swim over before another came, he plunged in, and
+struck out like a man. He was a strong and expert swimmer, and as yet
+the channel was not more than a dozen yards across. He dashed over with
+the speed and strength of despair, and had just time to clutch the rocks
+on the other side before the next mighty swirl of the tide swept up in
+its white and tormented course. In another minute he was on the ledge by
+Russell's side.
+
+He took him tenderly in his arms, and called to Montagu for the dry
+clothes. Montagu tied them skilfully with his neck-handkerchief round a
+fragment of rock, adding his own jacket to the bundle, and then flung it
+over. Eric wrapped up his friend in the clothes, and once more shouted
+to Montagu to go on his errand. For a short time the boy lingered,
+reluctant to leave them, and then started off at the run. Looking back
+after a few minutes, he caught, through the gathering dusk, his last
+glimpse of the friends in their perilous situation. Eric was seated
+supporting Russell across his knees; when he saw Montagu turn he waved
+his cap over his head as a signal of encouragement, and then began to
+carry Edwin higher up the rock for safety. It soon grew too dark to
+distinguish them, and Montagu at full speed flew to Ellan, which was a
+mile off. When he got to the harbor he told some sailors of the danger
+in which his friends were, and then ran on to the school. It was now
+eight o'clock, and quite dark. Tea was over, and lock-up time long past,
+when he stood excited, breathless, and without his jacket, at Dr.
+Rowlands' door.
+
+"Good gracious! Master Montagu," said the servant; "what's the matter;
+have you been robbed?"
+
+He pushed the girl aside, and ran straight to Dr. Rowlands' study. "O
+sir!" he exclaimed, bursting in, "Williams and Russell are on the Stack,
+cut off by the tide."
+
+Dr. Rowlands started up hastily. "What! on this stormy night? Have you
+raised the alarm?"
+
+"I told the life-boat people, sir, and then ran on."
+
+"I will set off myself at once," said the Doctor, seizing his hat. "But,
+my poor boy, how pale and ill you look, and you are wet through too. You
+had better change your clothes at once, or go to bed."
+
+"O no, sir," said Montagu, pleadingly; "do take me with you."
+
+"Very well; but you must change first, or you may suffer in consequence.
+Make haste, and directly you are dressed, a cup of tea shall be ready
+for you down here, and we will start."
+
+Montagu was off in an instant, and only stopped on his way to tell
+Duncan and the others of the danger which threatened their companions.
+The absence of the three boys from tea and lock-up had already excited
+general surmise, and Montagu's appearance, jacketless and wet, at the
+door of the boarders' room, at once attracted a group round him. He
+rapidly told them how things stood, and, hastening off, left them nearly
+as much agitated as himself. In a very short time he presented himself
+again before Dr. Rowlands, and when he had swallowed with difficulty the
+cup of tea, they sallied out.
+
+It was pitch dark, and only one or two stars were seen at intervals
+struggling through the ragged masses of cloud. The wind howled in fitful
+gusts, and as their road led by the sea-side, Montagu shuddered to hear
+how rough and turbulent the sea was, even on the sands. He stumbled once
+or twice, and then the Doctor kindly drew his trembling arm through his
+own, and made him describe the whole occurrence, while the servant went
+on in front with the lantern. When Montagu told how Williams had braved
+the danger of reaching his friend at the risk of his life, Dr. Rowlands'
+admiration was unbounded. "Noble boy," he exclaimed, with enthusiasm; "I
+shall find it hard to believe any evil of him after this."
+
+They reached Ellan, and went to the boat-house.
+
+"Have you put out the life-boat?" said Dr. Rowlands anxiously.
+
+"Ill luck, sir," said one of the sailors, touching his cap; "the
+life-boat went to a wreck at Port Vash two days ago, and she hasn't been
+brought round again yet."
+
+"Indeed! but I do trust you have sent out another boat to try and save
+those poor boys."
+
+"We've been trying, sir, and a boat has just managed to start; but in a
+sea like that it's very dangerous, and it's so dark and gusty that I
+doubt it's no use, so I expect they'll put back."
+
+The Doctor sighed deeply. "Don't alarm any other people," he said; "it
+will merely raise a crowd to no purpose. Here, George," he continued to
+the servant, "give me the lantern; I will go with this boy to the Stack;
+you follow us with ropes, and order a carriage from the King's Head.
+Take care to bring anything with you that seems likely to be useful."
+
+Montagu and Dr. Rowlands again started, and with difficulty made their
+way through the storm to the shore opposite the Stack. Here they raised
+the lantern and shouted; but the wind was now screaming with such
+violence that they were not sure that they heard any answering shout.
+Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, could just make out the huge
+black outline of the Stack rising from the yeast of boiling waves, and
+enveloped every moment in blinding sheets of spray. On the top of it
+Montagu half thought that he saw something, but he was not sure.
+
+"Thank God, there is yet hope," said the Doctor, with difficulty making
+his young companion catch his words amid the uproar of the elements; "if
+they can but keep warm in their wet clothes, we may perhaps rescue them
+before morning."
+
+Again he shouted to cheer them with his strong voice, and Montagu joined
+his clear ringing tones to the shout. This time they fancied that in one
+of the pauses of the wind they heard a faint cheer returned, was sound
+more welcome, and as they paced up and down they shouted at intervals,
+and held up the lantern, to show the boys that friends and help
+were near.
+
+Eric heard them. When Montagu left, he had carried Russell to the
+highest point of the rock, and there, with gentle hands and soothing
+words, made him as comfortable as he could. He wrapped him in every
+piece of dry clothing he could find, and held him in his arms, heedless
+of the blood which covered him. Very faintly Russell thanked him, and
+pressed his hand; but he moaned in pain continually, and at last
+fainted away.
+
+Meanwhile the wind rose higher, and the tide gained on the rocks, and
+the sacred darkness came down. At first Eric could think of nothing but
+storm and sea. Cold, and cruel, and remorseless, the sea beat up,
+drenching them to the skin continually with, its clammy spray; and the
+storm shrieked round them pitilessly, and flung about the wet hair on
+Eric's bare head, and forced him to plant himself firmly, lest the rage
+of the gusts should hurl them from their narrow resting-place. The
+darkness made everything more fearful, for his eyes could distinguish
+nothing but the gulfs of black water glistening here and there with
+hissing foam, and he shuddered as his ears caught the unearthly noises
+that came to him in the mingled scream of weltering tempest and plangent
+wave. It was fearful to be isolated on the black rent rock, and see the
+waves gaining on them higher, higher, higher, every moment and he was in
+ceaseless terror lest they should be swept away by the violence of the
+breakers. "At least," thought he, as he looked down and saw that the
+ledge on which they had been standing had long been covered with deep
+and agitated waves, "at least I have saved Edwin's life." And he bravely
+made up his mind to keep up heart and hope, and weather the comfortless
+night with Russell in his arms.
+
+And then his thoughts turned to Russell, who was still unconscious; and
+stooping down he kissed fondly the pale white forehead of his friend. He
+felt _then_, how deeply he loved him, how much he owed him; and no
+mother could have nursed a child more tenderly than he did the fainting
+boy. Russell's head rested on his breast, and the soft hair, tangled
+with welling blood, stained his clothes. Eric feared that he would die,
+his fainting-fit continued so long, and from the helpless way in which
+one of his legs trailed on the ground he felt sure that he had received
+some dangerous hurt.
+
+At last Russell stirred and groaned. "Where am I?" he said, and half
+opened his eyes; he started up frightened, and fell-back heavily. He saw
+only the darkness; felt only the fierce wind and salt mist; heard only
+the relentless yell of the blast. Memory had no time to wake, and he
+screamed and fainted once more.
+
+Poor Eric knew not what to do but to shelter him to the best of his
+power, and when he showed any signs of consciousness again, he bent over
+him, and said, "Don't you remember, Edwin? We're quite safe. I'm with
+you, and Monty's gone for help."
+
+"Oh! I daren't jump," sobbed Russell; "oh mother, I shall be drowned.
+Save me! save me! I'm so glad they're safe, mother; but my leg hurts
+so." And he moaned again. He was delirious.
+
+"How cold it is, and wet too! where's Eric? are we bathing? run along,
+we shall be late. But stop, you're smoking. Dear Eric, don't smoke.
+Poor fellow, I'm afraid he's getting spoilt, and learning bad ways. Oh
+save him." And as he wandered on, he repeated a prayer for Eric, which
+evidently had been often on his lips.
+
+Eric was touched to the heart's core, and in one rapid lightning-like
+glance, his memory revealed to him the faultful past, in all its
+sorrowfulness. And _he_, too, prayed wildly for help both for soul and
+body. Alone on the crag, with the sea tumbling and plashing round them,
+growing and gaining so much on their place of refuge, that his terror
+began to summon up the image of certain death; alone, wet, hungry, and
+exhausted, with the wounded and delirious boy, whose life depended on
+his courage, he prayed as he had never prayed before, and seemed to grow
+calmer by his prayer, and to feel God nearer him than ever he had done
+in the green cricket-field, or the safe dormitories of Roslyn school.
+
+A shout startled him. Lights on the water heaved up and down, now
+disappearing, and now lifted high, and at intervals there came the sound
+of voices. Thank God! help was near; they were coming in a boat to
+save them.
+
+But the lights grew more distant; he saw then disappearing towards the
+harbor. Yes! it was of no use; no boat could live in the surf at the
+foot of the Stack cliffs, and the sailors had given it up in despair.
+His heart sank again, all the more for the glimpse of hope, and his
+strength began to give way. Russell's delirium continued, and he grew
+too frightened even to pray.
+
+A light from the land. The sound of shouts--yes, he could be sure of
+it; it was Dr. Rowlands' voice and Montagu's. He got convinced of this,
+and summoned all his strength to shout in return. The light kept moving
+up and down on the shore, not a hundred yards off. His fear vanished;
+they were no longer alone. The first moment that the tide suffered any
+one to reach them they would be rescued. His mind grew calm again, and
+he determined to hold up for Russell's sake until help should come; and
+every now and then, to make it feel less lonely, he answered the shouts
+which came from the friendly voices in the fitful pauses of the storm.
+
+But Dr. Rowlands and Montagu paced up and down, and the master soothed
+the boy's fears, and talked to him so kindly, so gently, that Montagu
+began to wonder if this really could be the awful head-master, whose
+warm strong hand he was grasping, and who was comforting him as a father
+might. What a depth of genuine human kindness that stern exterior
+concealed! And every now and then, when the storm blew loudest, the
+Doctor would stand still for a moment, and offer up a short intense
+prayer, or ejaculation, that help and safety might come to his beloved
+charge in their exposure and peril.
+
+Six or seven hours passed away; at last the wind began to sink, and the
+sea to be less violent. The tide was on the turn. The carriage drove up
+with, more men and lights, and the thoughtful servant brought with him
+the school surgeon, Dr. Underhay. Long and anxiously did they watch the
+ebbing tide, and when it had gone out sufficiently to allow of two
+stout planks being laid across the channel, an active sailor ventured
+over with a light, and in a few moments stood by Eric's side. Eric saw
+him coming, but was too weak and numb to move; and when the sailor
+lifted up the unconscious Russell from his knees, Eric was too much
+exhausted even to speak. The man returned for him, and lifting him on
+his back crossed the plank once more in safety, and carried them both to
+the carriage, where Dr. Underhay had taken care to have everything
+likely to revive and sustain them. They were driven rapidly to the
+school, and the Doctor raised to God tearful eyes of gratitude as the
+boys were taken to the rooms prepared for them. Mrs. Rowlands was
+anxiously awaiting their arrival, and the noise of wheels was the signal
+for twenty heads to be put through the dormitory windows, with many an
+anxious inquiry, "Are they safe?"
+
+"Yes, thank God!" called Dr. Rowlands; "so now, boys, shut the windows,
+and get to sleep."
+
+Russell was carefully undressed, and put to bed in the Doctor's own
+house, and the wound in his head was dressed. Eric and Montagu had beds
+provided them in another room by themselves, away from the dormitory:
+the room was bright and cheerful, with a blazing fire, and looked like
+home and when the two boys had drank some warm wine, and cried for
+weariness and joy, they sank to sleep after their dangers and fatigues,
+and slept the deep, calm, dreamless sleep of tired children.
+
+So ended the perilous adventure of that eventful night of the Easter
+holidays.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SILVER CORD BROKEN
+
+     "Calm on the bosom of thy God,
+       Fair spirit, rest thee now!
+     E'en while with us thy footsteps trod,
+       His seal was on thy brow."--MRS. HEMANS.
+
+They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at first
+could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little room, the
+bright fire, and the housekeeper seated in her arm-chair before it. But
+turning his head, he caught a glimpse of Eric, who was still asleep, and
+he then remembered all. He sprang out of bed, refreshed and perfectly
+well, and the sound of his voice woke Eric; but Eric was still languid
+and weak, and did not get up that day, nor was he able to go to work
+again for some days; but he was young and strong, and his vigorous
+constitution soon threw off the effects of his fast and exposure.
+
+Their first inquiry was for Edwin. The nurse shook her head sadly. "He
+is very dangerously ill."
+
+"Is he?" said they both, anxiously. And then they preserved a deep
+silence; and when Montagu, who immediately began to dress, knelt down to
+say his prayers, Eric, though unable to get up, knelt also over his
+pillow, and the two felt that their young earnest prayers were mingling
+for the one who seemed to have been taken while they were left.
+
+The reports grew darker and darker about Edwin, At first it was thought
+that the blow on his head was dangerous, and that the exposure to wet,
+cold, fear, and hunger, had permanently weakened his constitution; and
+when his youth seemed to be triumphing over these dangers, another
+became more threatening. His leg never mended; he had both sprained the
+knee badly, and given the tibia an awkward twist, so that the least
+motion was agony to him.
+
+In his fever he was constantly delirious. No one was allowed to see him,
+though many of the boys tried to do so, and many were the earnest
+inquiries for him day by day. It then became more fully apparent than
+ever, that, although Edwin was among them without being _of_ them, no
+boy in the school was more deeply honored and fondly loved than he. Even
+the elastic spirits of boyhood could not quite throw off the shadow of
+gloom which his illness cast over the school.
+
+Very tenderly they nursed him. All that human kindness could do was done
+for him by the stranger hands. And yet not all; poor Edwin had no
+father, no mother, hardly any relatives. His only aunt, Mrs. Upton,
+would have come to nurse him, but she was an invalid, and he was often
+left alone in his delirium and agony.
+
+Alone, yet not alone. There was One with him--always in his thoughts,
+always leading, guiding, blessing him unseen--not deserting the hurt
+lamb of his flock; one who was once a boy himself, and who, when he was
+a boy, did his Father's business, and was subject unto his parents in
+the obscure home of the despised village. Alone! nay, to them whose
+eyes were opened, the room of sickness and pain was thronged and
+beautiful with angelic presences.
+
+Often did Eric, and Upton, and Montagu, talk of their loved friend.
+Eric's life seemed absorbed in the thought of him, and in passionate,
+unspeakable longings for his recovery. Now he valued more than ever the
+sweet remembered hours spent with him; their games, and communnings, and
+walks, and Russell's gentle influence, and brave, kindly rebukes. Yet he
+must not even see him, must not whisper one word of soothing to him in
+his anguish; he could only pray for him, and that he did with a depth
+of hope.
+
+At last Upton, in virtue of his relationship, was allowed to visit him.
+His delirium had become more infrequent, but he could not yet even
+recognise his cousin, and the visits to his sick-room were so sad and
+useless, that Upton forbore. "And yet you should hear him talk in his
+delirium," he said to Eric; "not one evil word, or bad thought, or
+wicked thing, ever escapes him. I'm afraid, Eric, it would hardly be so
+with you or me."
+
+"No" said Eric, in a low and humble tone; and guilty conscience brought
+the deep color, wave after wave, of crimson into his cheeks.
+
+"And he talks with such affection of you, Eric. He speaks sometimes of
+all of us very gently; but you seem to be always in his thoughts, and
+every now and then he prays for you quite unconsciously."
+
+Eric turned his head to brush away a tear. "When do you think I shall be
+allowed too see him?"
+
+"Not just yet, I fear."
+
+After a week or two of most anxious suspense, Russell's mind ceased to
+wander, but the state of his sprain gave more cause for alarm. Fresh
+advice was called in, and it was decided that the leg must be amputated.
+
+When Eric was told of this, he burst into passionate complaints. "Only
+think, Monty, isn't it hard, isn't it cruel? When we see our brave,
+bright Edwin again, he will be a cripple." Eric hardly understood that
+he was railing at the providence of a merciful God.
+
+The day for the operation came. When it was over, poor Russell seemed to
+amend, and the removal of the perpetual pain gave him relief. They were
+all deeply moved at his touching resignation; no murmur, no cry escaped
+him; no words but the sweetest thanks for every little office of
+kindness done to him. A few days after, he asked Dr. Underhay "if he
+might see Eric?"
+
+"Yes, my boy," said the doctor kindly, "you may see him, and one or two
+other of your particular friends if you like, provided you don't excite
+yourself too much. I trust you will get better now."
+
+So Eric and Montagu were told by Dr. Rowlands that at six they might go
+and see their friend. "Be sure," he added, "that you don't startle or
+excite him."
+
+They promised, and after school on that beautiful evening of early
+summer they went to the sick-room door Stopping, they held their breath,
+and knocked very gently. Yes! it was the well-known voice which gave the
+answer, but it was faint and low. Full of awe, they softly opened the
+door, which admitted them into the presence of the dear companion whom
+they had not seen for so long. Since then it seemed as though gulfs far
+deeper than the sea had been flowing between him and them.
+
+Full of awe, and hand in hand, they entered the room on tiptoe--the
+darkened room where Russell was What a hush and oppression there seemed
+to them at first in the dim, silent chamber; what an awfulness in all
+the appliances which showed how long and deeply their schoolfellow had
+suffered. But all this vanished directly they caught sight of his face.
+There he lay, so calm, and weak, and still, with his bright, earnest
+eyes turned towards them, as though to see whether any of their
+affection for him had ceased or been forgotten!
+
+In an instant they were kneeling in silence by the bed with bowed
+foreheads; and the sick boy tenderly put his hands on their heads, and
+pushed the frail white fingers through their hair, and looked at them
+tearfully without a word, till they hid their faces with their hands,
+and broke into deep suppressed sobs of compassion.
+
+"Oh hush, hush!" he said, as he felt their tears dropping on his hands
+while they kissed him. "Dear Eric, dear Monty, why should you cry so for
+me? I am very happy."
+
+But they caught the outline of his form as he lay on the bed, and had
+now for the first time realized that he was a cripple for life; and as
+the throng of memories came on them--memories of his skill and fame at
+cricket, and racquets, and football--of their sunny bathes together in
+sea and river, and all their happy holiday wanderings--they could not
+restrain their emotion, and wept uncontrollably. Neither of them could
+speak a word, or break the holy silence; and as he patted their heads
+and cheeks, his own tears flowed fast in sympathy and self-pity. But he
+felt the comforting affection which they could not utter; he felt it in
+his loneliness, and it did him good.
+
+The nurse broke in upon the scene, which she feared would agitate Edwin
+too much; and with red eyes and heavy hearts the boys left, only
+whispering, "We will come again to-morrow, Edwin!"
+
+They came the next day, and many days, and got to talk quite cheerfully
+with him, and read to him. They loved this occupation more than any
+game, and devoted themselves to it. The sorrow of the sick-room more
+than repaid them for the glad life without, when they heard Russell's
+simple and heartfelt thanks. "Ah! how good of you, dear fellows," he
+would say, "to give up the merry playground for a wretched cripple," and
+he would smile cheerfully to show that his trial had not made him weary
+of life. Indeed, he often told them that he believed they felt for him
+more than he did himself.
+
+One day Eric brought him a little bunch of primroses and violets. He
+seemed much better, and Eric's spirits were high with the thoughts and
+hopes of the coming holidays. "There, Edwin," he said, as the boy
+gratefully and eagerly took the flowers, "don't they make you glad? They
+are one of our _three_ signs, you know, of the approaching holidays. One
+sign was the first sight of the summer steamer going across the bay;
+another was May eve, when these island-fellows light big gorse fires all
+over the mountains, and throw yellow marsh-lilies at their doors to keep
+off the fairies. Do you remember, Eddy, gathering some last May eve, and
+sitting out in the playground till sunset, watching the fires begin to
+twinkle on Cronck-Irey and Barrule for miles away? What a jolly talk we
+had that evening about the holidays; but my father and mother were here
+then, you know, and we were all going to Fairholm. But the third
+sign--the first primrose and violet--was always the happiest. You can't
+think how I _grabbed_ at the first primrose this year; I found it by a
+cave on the Ness. And though these are rather the last than the first,
+yet I knew you'd like them, Eddy, so I hunted for them everywhere. And
+how much better you're looking too; such shining eyes, and, yes! I
+positively declare, quite a ruddy cheek like your old one. You'll soon
+be out among us again, that's clear----"
+
+He stopped abruptly: he had been rattling on just in the merry way that
+Russell now most loved to hear, but, as he was talking, he caught the
+touch of sadness on Russell's face, and saw his long, abstracted, eager
+look at the flowers.
+
+"Dear fellow, you're not worse, are you?" he said quickly. "What a fool
+I am to chatter so; it makes you ill."
+
+"No, no, Eric, talk on; you can't think how I love to hear you. Oh, how
+very beautiful these primroses are! Thank you, thank you, for bringing
+them." And he again fixed on them the eager dreamy look which had
+startled Eric--as though he were learning their color and shape
+by heart.
+
+"I wish I hadn't brought them, though," said Eric, "they are filling
+your mind with regrets. But, Eddy, you'll be well by the holidays--a
+month hence, you know--or else I shouldn't have talked so gladly
+about them."
+
+"No, Eric," said Russell sadly, "these dear flowers are the last spring
+blossoms that I shall see--_here_ at least. Yes, I will keep them, for
+your sake, Eric, till I die."
+
+"Oh don't talk so," said Eric, shocked and flustered, "why everybody
+knows and says that you're getting better."
+
+Russell smiled and shook his head. "No, Eric, I shall die. There stop,
+dear fellow, don't cry," said he, raising his hands quietly to Eric's
+face; "isn't it better for me so? I own it seemed sad at first to leave
+this bright world and the sea--yes, even that cruel sea," he continued
+smiling; "and to leave Roslyn, and Upton, and Monty, and, above all, to
+leave _you_, Eric, whom I love best in all the world. Yes, remember I've
+no home, Eric, and no prospects. There was nothing to be sorry for in
+this, so long as God gave me health and strength; but health went for
+ever into those waves at the Stack, where you saved my life, dear,
+gallant Eric; and what could I do now? It doesn't look so happy to
+_halt_ through life. Oh Eric, Eric, I am young, but I am dying--dying,
+Eric," he said solemnly, "my brother; let me call you brother; I have no
+near relations, you know, to fill up the love in my yearning heart, but
+I _do_ love _you_. Kiss me, Eric, as though I were a child, and you a
+child. There, that comforts me; I feel as if I _were_ a child again, and
+had a dear brother;--and I _shall_ be a child again soon, Eric, in the
+courts of a Father's house."
+
+Eric could not speak. These words startled him; he never dreamt
+_recently_ of Russell's death, but had begun to reckon on his recovery,
+and now life seemed darker to him than ever.
+
+But Russell was pressing the flowers to his lips. "The grass
+withereth," he murmured, "the flower fadeth, and the glory of its beauty
+perisheth; but--_but_ the word of the Lord endureth for ever." And here
+he too burst into natural tears, and Eric pressed his hand, with more
+than a brother's fondness, to his heart.
+
+"Oh Eddy, Eddy, my heart is full," he said, "too full to speak to you.
+Let me read to you;" and with Russell's arm round his neck he sat down,
+beside his pillow, and read to him about "the pure river of water of
+life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
+Lamb." At first sobs choked his voice, but it gathered firmness as
+he went on.
+
+"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
+there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded
+her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
+of the nations.
+
+"And there shall be no more curse"--and here the reader's musical voice
+rose into deeper and steadier sweetness--"but the throne of God and of
+the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they
+shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads."
+
+"And they shall see his face," murmured Russell, "_and they shall see
+his face_" Eric paused and looked at him; a sort of rapture seemed to be
+lighted in his eyes, as though they saw heavenly things, and his
+countenance was like an angel's to look upon. Eric closed the book
+reverently, and gazed.
+
+"And now pray for me, Eric, will you?" Eric knelt down, but no prayer
+would come; his breast swelled; and his heart beat fast, but emotion
+prevented him from uttering a word. But Russell laid his hand on his
+head and prayed.
+
+"O gracious Lord God, look down, merciful Father on us, two erring,
+weak, sinful boys; look down and bless us, Lord, for the love thou
+bearest unto thy children. One thou art taking; Lord, take me to the
+green pastures of thy home, where no curse is; and one remains--O Lord!
+bless him with the dew of thy blessing; lead and guide him, and keep him
+for ever in thy fear and love, that he may continue thine for ever, and
+hereafter we may meet together among the redeemed, in the immortal glory
+of the resurrection. Hear us, O Father, for thy dear Son's sake.
+Amen! Amen!"
+
+The childlike, holy, reverent voice ceased, and Eric rose. One long
+brotherly kiss he printed on Russell's forehead, and, full of sorrowful
+forebodings, bade him good night.
+
+He asked Dr. Underhay whether his fears were correct. "Yes," he said,
+"he may die at any time; he _must_ die soon. It is even best that he
+should; besides the loss of a limb, that blow on the head would
+certainly affect the brain and the intellect if he lived."
+
+Eric shuddered--a long cold shudder.
+
+The holidays drew on; for Russell's sake, and at his earnest wish, Eric
+had worked harder than he ever did before. All his brilliant abilities,
+all his boyish ambition, were called into exercise; and, to the delight
+of every one, he gained ground rapidly, and seemed likely once more to
+dispute the palm with Owen. No one rejoiced more in this than Mr. Rose,
+and he often gladdened Russell's heart by telling him about it; for
+every day he had a long visit to the sick boy's room, which refreshed
+and comforted them both.
+
+In other respects, too, Eric seemed to be turning over a new leaf. He
+and Upton, by common consent, had laid aside smoking, and every bad
+habit or disobedient custom which would have grieved the dying boy, whom
+they both loved so well. And although Eric's popularity, after the
+romantic Stack adventure and his chivalrous daring, was at its very
+zenith,--although he had received a medal and flattering letter from the
+Humane Society, who had been informed of the transaction by Dr.
+Rowlands,--although his success both physical and intellectual was
+higher than ever,--yet the dread of the great loss he was doomed to
+suffer, and the friendship which was to be snapped, overpowered every
+other feeling, and his heart was ennobled and purified by contact with
+his suffering friend.
+
+It was a June evening, and he and Russell were alone; he had drawn up
+the blind, and through the open window the summer breeze, pure from the
+sea and fragrant from the garden, was blowing refreshfully into the sick
+boy's room. Russell was very, very happy. No doubt, no fear, assailed
+him; all was peace and trustfulness. Long and earnestly that evening did
+he talk to Eric, and implore him to shun evil ways, striving to lead him
+gently to that love of God which was his only support and refuge now.
+Tearfully and humbly Eric listened, and every now and then the sufferer
+stopped to pray aloud.
+
+"Good night, Eric," he said, "I am tired, _so_ tired. I hope we shall
+meet again; I shall give you my desk and all my books, Eric, except a
+few for Horace, Owen, Duncan, and Monty. And my watch, that dear watch
+your mother, _my_ mother, gave me, I shall leave to Rose as a
+remembrance of us both. Good night, brother."
+
+A little before ten that night Eric was again summoned with Upton and
+Montagu to Russell's bedside. He was sinking fast; and as he had but a
+short time to live, he expressed a desire to see them, though he could
+see no others.
+
+They came, and were amazed to see how bright the dying boy looked. They
+received his last farewells--he would die that night. Sweetly he blessed
+them, and made them promise to avoid all evil, and read the Bible, and
+pray to God. But he had only strength to speak at intervals. Mr. Rose,
+too, was there; it seemed as though he held the boy by the hand, as
+fearlessly now, yea, joyously, he entered the waters of the dark river.
+
+"Oh, I should _so_ like to stay with you, Monty, Horace, dear, dear
+Eric, but God calls me. I am going--a long way--to my father and
+mother--and to the light. I shall not be a cripple there--nor be in
+pain." His words grew slow and difficult. "God bless you, dear fellows;
+God bless you, dear Eric; I am going--to God."
+
+He sighed very gently; there was a slight sound in his throat, and he
+was dead. A terrible scene of boyish anguish followed, as they kissed
+again and again the lifeless brow. But quietly, calmly, Mr. Rose checked
+them, and they knelt down with streaming eyes while he prayed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOME AGAIN
+
+     "O far beyond the waters
+       The fickle feet may roam,
+     But they find no light so pure and bright
+       As the one fair star of home;
+     The star of tender hearts, lady,
+       That glows in an English home,"
+
+     F.W.F.
+
+That night when Eric returned to No. 7, full of grief, and weighed down
+with the sense of desolation and mystery, the other boys were silent
+from sympathy in his sorrow. Duncan and Llewellyn both knew and loved
+Russell themselves, and they were awestruck to hear of his death; they
+asked some of the particulars, but Eric was not calm enough to tell them
+that evening. The one sense of infinite loss agitated him, and he
+indulged his paroxysms of emotion unrestrained, yet silently. Reader, if
+ever the life has been cut short which you most dearly loved, if ever
+you have been made to feel absolutely lonely in the world, then, and
+then only, will you appreciate the depth of his affliction.
+
+But, like all affliction, it purified and sanctified. To Eric, as he
+rested his aching head on a pillow wet with tears, and vainly sought for
+the sleep whose blessing he had never learned to prize before, how
+odious seemed all the vice which he had seen and partaken in since he
+became an inmate of that little room. How his soul revolted with
+infinite disgust from the language which he had heard, and the open
+glorying in sin of which he had so often been a witness. The stain and
+the shame of sin fell heavier than ever on his heart; it rode on his
+breast like a nightmare; it haunted his fancy with visions of guilty
+memory, and shapes of horrible regret. The ghosts of buried misdoings,
+which he had thought long lost in the mists of recollection, started up
+menacingly from their forgotten graves, and made him shrink with a sense
+of their awful reality. Behind him, like a wilderness, lay years which
+the locust had eaten; the intrusted hours which had passed away, and
+been reckoned to him as they past.
+
+And the thought of Russell mingled with all--Russell, as he fondly
+imagined him now, glorified with the glory of heaven, crowned, and in
+white robes, and with a palm in his hand. Yes, he had walked and talked
+with one of the Holy Ones. Had Edwin's death, quenched his human
+affections, and altered his human heart? If not, might not he be there
+even now, leaning over his friend with the beauty of his invisible
+presence? The thought startled him, and seemed to give an awful lustre
+to the moonbeam which fell into the room. No; he could not endure such a
+presence now, with his weak conscience and corrupted heart; and Eric hid
+his head under the clothes, and shut his eyes.
+
+Once more the pang of separation entered like iron into his soul. Should
+he ever meet Russell again? What if _he_ had died instead of Edwin,
+where would he have been? "Oh, no! no!" he murmured aloud, as the
+terrible thought came over him of his own utter unfitness for death, and
+the possibility that he might never, never again hear the beloved
+accents, or gaze on the cherished countenance of his school friend.
+
+In this tumult of accusing thoughts he fell asleep; but that night the
+dew of blessing did not fall for him on the fields of sleep. He was
+frightened by unbidden dreams, in all of which his conscience obtruded
+on him his sinfulness, and his affection called up the haunting
+lineaments of the dear dead face. He was wandering down a path, at the
+end of which Russell stood with open arms inviting him earnestly to join
+him there; he saw his bright ingenuous smile, and heard, as of old, his
+joyous words, and he hastened to meet him; when suddenly the boy-figure
+disappeared, and in its place he saw the stern brow, and gleaming
+garments, and drawn flaming sword of the Avenger. And then he was in a
+great wood alone, and wandering, when the well-known voice called his
+name, and entreated him to turn from that evil place; and he longed to
+turn,--but, whenever he tried, ghostly hands seemed to wave him back
+again, and irresistible cords to drag him into the dark forest, amid the
+sound of mocking laughs. Then he was sinking, sinking, sinking into a
+gulf, deep and darker even than the inner darkness of a sin-desolated
+heart; sinking, helplessly, hopelessly, everlastingly; while far away,
+like a star, stood the loved figure in light infinitely above him, and
+with pleading hands implored his deliverance, but could not prevail; and
+Eric was still sinking, sinking, infinitely, when the agony awoke him
+with a violent start and stifled scream.
+
+He could sleep no longer. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the pale,
+dead, holy features of Edwin, and at last he fancied that he was praying
+beside his corpse, praying to be more like _him_, who lay there so white
+and calm; sorrowing beside it, sorrowing that he had so often rejected
+his kind warnings, and pained his affectionate heart. So Eric began
+again to make good resolutions about all his future life. Ah! how often
+he had done so before, and how often they had failed. He had not yet
+learned the lesson which David learned by sad experience; "Then I said,
+it is mine own infirmity, _but I will remember the years of the right
+hand of the Most High_."
+
+That, too, was an eventful night for Montagu. He had grown of late far
+more thoughtful than before; under Edwin's influence he had been laying
+aside, one by one, the careless sins of school life, and his tone was
+nobler and manlier than it had ever been. Montagu had never known or
+heard much about godliness; his father, a gentleman, a scholar, and a
+man of the world, had trained him in the principles of refinement and
+good taste, and given him a high standard of conventional honor; but he
+passed through life lightly, and had taught his son to do the same.
+Possessed of an ample fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled
+himself with none of the deep mysteries of life, and
+
+     "Pampered the coward heart
+     With feelings all too delicate for use;
+     Nursing in some delicious solitude
+     His dainty love and slothful sympathies."
+
+But Montagu in Edwin's sick-room and by his death bed; in the terrible
+storm at the Stack, and by contact with Dr. Rowlands' earnestness, and
+Mr. Rose's deep, unaffected, sorrow-mingled piety; by witnessing Eric's
+failures and recoveries; and by beginning to take in his course the same
+heartfelt interest which Edwin taught him--Montagu, in consequence of
+these things, had begun to see another side of life, which awoke all his
+dormant affections and profoundest reasonings. It seemed as though, for
+the first time, he began to catch some of
+
+     "The still gad music of humanity,"
+
+and to listen with deep eagerness to the strain. Hitherto, to be well
+dressed, handsome, agreeable, rich, and popular, had been to him a
+realised ideal of life; but now he awoke to higher and worthier aims;
+and once, when Russell, whose intelligent interest in his work exceeded
+that of any other boy, had pointed out to him that solemn question of
+Euripides--
+
+     "[Greek: Ohiei su tous thanontas o Nichaezate
+     Tzuphaes hapasaes metalabontas en bips
+     Pepheugenai to theion];"
+
+he fell into a train of reflection, which made a lasting impression upon
+his character.
+
+The holidays were approaching. Eric, to escape as much, as possible from
+his sorrow, plunged into the excitement of working for the examination,
+and rapidly made up for lost ground. He now spent most of his time with
+the best of his friends, particularly Montagu, Owen, and Upton; for
+Upton, like himself, had been much sobered by sorrow at their loss. This
+time he came out _second_ in his form, and gained more than one prize.
+This was his first glimpse of real delight since Russell's death; and
+when the prize-day came, and he stood with his companions in the
+flower-decorated room, and went up amid universal applause to take his
+prize-books, and receive a few words of compliment from the governor who
+took the chair, he felt almost happy, and keenly entered into the
+pleasure which his success caused, as well as into the honors won by his
+friends. One outward sign only remained of his late bereavement--his
+mourning dress. All the prize-boys wore rosebuds or lilies of the valley
+in their button-holes on the occasion, but on this day Eric would not
+wear them. Little Wright, who was a great friend of theirs, had brought
+some as a present both to Eric and Montagu, as they stood together on
+the prize-day morning; they took them with thanks, and, as their eyes
+met, they understood each other's thoughts.
+
+"No," said Eric to Wright, "we won't wear these to-day, although we have
+both got prizes. Come along I know what we will do with them."
+
+They all three walked together to the little green, quiet churchyard,
+where, by his own request, Edwin had been buried. Many a silent visit
+had the friends paid to that grave, on which the turf was now green
+again, and the daisies had begun to bloom. A stone had just been placed
+
+       SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+                OF
+
+             AN ORPHAN,
+
+  WHO DIED AT ROSLYN SCHOOL, MAY 1847,
+
+        AGED FIFTEEN YEARS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ "_Is it well with the child? It is well_."
+
+           2 KINGS iv. 26.
+
+The three boys stood by the grave in silence and sorrow for a time.
+
+"He would have been the gladdest at our success. Monty," said Eric; "let
+us leave the signs of it upon his grave."
+
+And, with reverent hand, scattering over that small mound the choice
+rosebuds and fragrant lilies with their green leaves, they turned away
+without another word.
+
+The next morning the great piles of corded boxes which crowded the
+passage were put on the coach, and the boys, gladly leaving the deserted
+building, drove in every sort of vehicle to the steamer. What joyous
+triumphant mornings those were! How the heart exulted and bounded with,
+the sense of life and pleasure, and how universal was the gladness and
+good humor of every one. Never were voyages so merry as those of the
+steamer that day, and even the "good-byes" that had to be said at
+Southpool were lightly borne. From thence the boys quickly scattered to
+the different railways, and the numbers of those who were travelling
+together got thinner and thinner as the distance increased. Wright and
+one or two others went nearly all the way with Eric, and when he got
+down at the little roadside station, from whence started the branch rail
+to Ayrton, he bade them merry and affectionate farewell. The branch
+train soon started, and in another hour he would be at Fairholm.
+
+It was not till then that his home feelings woke in all their intensity.
+He had not been there for a year. At Roslyn the summer holidays were
+nine weeks, and the holidays at Christmas and Easter were short, so that
+it had not been worth while to travel so far as Fairholm, and Eric had
+spent his Christmas with friends in another part of the island. But now
+he was once more to see dear Fairholm, and his aunt, his cousin Fanny,
+and above all, his little brother. His heart was beating fast with joy,
+and his eyes sparkling with pleasure and excitement. As he thrust his
+head out of the window, each well-remembered landmark gave him the
+delicious sensation of meeting again an old friend. "Ah! there's the
+white bridge, and there's the canal, and the stile; and _there_ runs the
+river, and there's Velvet Lawn. Hurrah! here we are." And springing out
+of the train before it had well stopped, he had shaken hands heartily
+with the old coachman, who was expecting him, and jumped up into the
+carriage in a moment.
+
+Through the lanes he knew so well, by whose hedgerows he had so often
+plucked sorrel and wild roses; past the old church with its sleeping
+churchyard; through, the quiet village, where every ten yards he met old
+acquaintances who looked pleased to see him, and whom he greeted with
+glad smiles and nods of recognition; past the Latin school, from which
+came murmurs and voices as of yore (what a man he felt himself now by
+comparison!);--by the old Roman camp, where he had imagined such heroic
+things when he was a child; through all the scenes so rich with the
+memories and associations of his happy childhood, they flew along; and
+now they had entered the avenue, and Eric was painfully on the look-out.
+
+Yes! there they were all three--Mrs. Trevor, and Fanny, and Vernon, on
+the mound at the end of the avenue; and the younger ones ran to meet
+him. It was a joyous meeting; he gave Fanny a hearty kiss, and put his
+arm round Vernon's neck, and then held him in front to have a look
+at him.
+
+"How tall you've grown, Verny, and how well you look," he said, gazing
+proudly at him; and indeed the boy was a brother to be justly proud of.
+And Vernon quite returned the admiration as he saw the healthy glow of
+Eric's features, and the strong graceful development of his limbs.
+
+And so they quickly joined Mrs. Trevor, who embraced her nephew with a
+mother's love: and, amid all that nameless questioning of delightful
+trifles, that "blossoming vein" of household talk, which gives such an
+incommunicable charm to the revisiting of home, they all three turned
+into the house, where Eric, hungry with his travels, did ample justice
+to the "jolly spread" prepared for him, luxurious beyond anything he had
+seen for his last year at school. When he and Vernon went up to their
+room at night--the same little room in which they slept on the night
+when they first had met--they marked their heights on the door again,
+which showed Eric that in the last year he had grown two inches, a fact
+which he pointed out to Vernon with no little exultation. And then they
+went to bed, and to a sleep over which brooded the indefinite sensation
+of a great unknown joy;--that rare heavenly sleep which only comes once
+or twice or thrice in life, on occasions such as this.
+
+He was up early next morning, and, opening his window, leaned out with
+his hands among the green vine-leaves which encircled it. The garden
+looked beautiful as ever, and he promised himself an early enjoyment of
+those currants which hung in ruby clusters over the walls. Everything
+was bathed in the dewy balm of summer morning, and he felt very happy
+as, with his little spaniel frisking round him, he visited the great
+Newfoundland in his kennel, and his old pet the pony in the stable. He
+had barely finished his rounds when breakfast was ready, and he once
+more met the home-circle from which he had been separated for a year.
+And yet over all his happiness hung a sense of change and half
+melancholy; they were not changed but _he_ was changed. Mrs. Trevor, and
+Fanny, and Vernon were the same as ever, but over _him_, had come an
+alteration of feeling and circumstance; an unknown or half-known
+_something_ which cast a shadow between them and him, and sometimes made
+him half shrink and start as he met their loving looks. Can no
+schoolboy, who reads history, understand and explain the feeling which
+I mean?
+
+By that mail he wrote to his father and mother an account of Russell's
+death, and he felt that they would guess why the letter was so blurred.
+"But," he wrote, "I have some friends still; especially Mr. Rose among
+the masters, and Monty and Upton among the boys. Monty you know; he is
+more like Edwin than any other boy, and I like him very much. You didn't
+know Upton, but I am a great deal with him, though he is much older than
+I am. He is a fine handsome fellow, and one of the most popular in the
+school. I hope you will know him some day."
+
+The very next morning Eric received a letter which he at once recognised
+to be in Upton's handwriting He eagerly tore off the envelope,
+and read--
+
+"My dearest Eric--I have got bad news to tell you, at least, I feel it
+to be bad news for me, and I flatter myself that you will feel it to be
+bad news for you. In short, I am going to leave Roslyn, and probably we
+shall never meet there again. The reason is, I have had a cadetship
+given me, and I am to sail for India in September. I have already
+written to the school to tell them to pack up and send me all my books
+and clothes.
+
+"I feel leaving very much; it has made me quite miserable. I wanted to
+stay at school another year at least; and I will honestly tell you,
+Eric, one reason: I'm very much afraid that I've done you, and Graham,
+and other fellows, no good; and I wanted, if I possibly could, to undo
+the harm I had done. Poor Edwin's death opened my eyes to a good many
+things, and now I'd give all I have never to have taught or encouraged
+you in wrong things. Unluckily it's too late;--only, I hope that you
+already see, as I do, that the things I mean lead to evil far greater
+than we ever used to dream of.
+
+"Good-bye now, old fellow! Do write to me soon, and forgive me, and
+believe me ever--Your most affectionate, HORACE UPTON."
+
+"P.S.--Is that jolly little Vernon going back to school with you this
+time? I remember seeing him running about the shore with my poor cousin,
+when you were a home-boarder, and thinking what a nice little chap he
+looked. I hope you'll look after him as a brother should, and keep him
+out of mischief."
+
+Eric folded the letter sadly, and put it into his pocket; he didn't
+often show them his school letters, because, like this one, they often
+contained allusions to things which he did not like his aunt to know.
+The thought of Upton's leaving him made him quite unhappy, and he wrote
+him a long letter by that post, indignantly denying the supposition that
+his friendship had ever done him anything but good.
+
+The postscript about Vernon suggested a thought that had often been in
+his mind. He could not but shudder in himself, when he thought of that
+bright little brother of his being initiated in the mysteries of evil
+which he himself had learnt, and sinking like himself into slow
+degeneracy of heart and life. It puzzled and perplexed him, and at last
+he determined to open his heart, partially at least, in a letter to Mr.
+Rose. The master fully understood his doubts, and wrote him the
+following reply:--
+
+"My dear Eric--I have just received your letter about your brother
+Vernon, and I think that it does you honor. I will briefly give you my
+own opinion.
+
+"You mean, no doubt, that, from your own experience, you fear that
+Vernon will hear at school many things which will shock his modesty, and
+much language which is evil and blasphemous; you fear that he will meet
+with many bad examples, and learn to look on God and godliness in a way
+far different from that to which he has been accustomed at home. You
+fear, in short, that he must pass through the same painful temptations
+to which you have yourself been subjected; to which, perhaps, you have
+even succumbed.
+
+"Well, Eric, this is all true. Yet, knowing this, I say, by all means
+let Vernon come to Roslyn. The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor
+thing; it _cannot_, under any circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at
+all valuable as a foundation of character. The true preparation for
+life, the true basis of a manly character, is not to have been ignorant
+of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not to hare been sheltered
+from temptation, but to have passed through it and overcome it by God's
+help. Many have drawn exaggerated pictures of the lowness of public
+school morality; the best answer is to point to the good and splendid
+men that have been trained in public schools, and who lose no
+opportunity of recurring to them with affection. It is quite possible to
+be _in_ the little world of school-life, and yet not _of_ it. The ruin
+of human souls can never be achieved by enemies from without, unless
+they be aided by traitors from within. Remember our lost friend; the
+peculiar lustre of his piety was caused by the circumstances under which
+he was placed. He often told me before his last hour, that he rejoiced
+to have been at Roslyn; that he had experienced there much real
+happiness, and derived in every way lasting good.
+
+"I hope you have been enjoying your holidays, and that you will come
+back with the 'spell of home affection' alive in your heart. I shall
+rejoice to make Vernon's acquaintance, and will do for him all I can.
+Bring him with you to me in the library as soon as you arrive.--Ever,
+dear Eric,
+
+"Affectionately yours,
+
+"WALTER ROSA."
+
+END OF PART I
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+"Sed revocare gradum."--VIRGIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ABDIEL
+
+     [Greek: Phtheirousin aethae chraesth' omiliai kakai].--MENANDEB.
+
+A year had passed since the events narrated in the last chapter, and had
+brought with it many changes.
+
+To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell were
+getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had vanished; the
+bad habits laid aside after his death had been resumed. All this took
+place very gradually; there were many inward struggles, much occasional
+remorse, but the struggles by degrees grew weaker, and remorse lost its
+sting, and Eric Williams soon learned again to follow the multitude
+to do evil.
+
+He was now sixteen years old, and high in the fifth form, and, besides
+this, he was captain of the school eleven. In work he had fallen off and
+no one now expected the fulfilment of that promise of genius which he
+had given when he first came. But in all school sports he had improved,
+and was the acknowledged leader and champion in matters requiring
+boldness and courage. His popularity made him giddy; favor of man led
+him to forgetfulness of God; and even a glance at his countenance showed
+a self-sufficiency and arrogance which ill became the refinement of his
+features, and ill replaced the ingenuous modesty of former years.
+
+And Vernon Williams was no longer a new boy. The worst had happened to
+him, which Eric in his better moments could have feared. He had fallen
+into thoroughly bad hands, and Eric, who should have been his natural
+guardian and guide, began to treat him with indifference, and scarcely
+ever had any affectionate intercourse with him. It is by no means
+unfrequent that brothers at school see but little of each other, and
+follow their several pursuits, and choose their various companions, with
+small regard to the relationship between them.
+
+Yet Eric could not overlook or be blind to the fact, that Vernon's chief
+friend or leader was the most undesirable whom he could have chosen. It
+was a new boy named Brigson. This boy had been expelled from one of the
+most ill-managed schools in Ireland, although, of course, the fact had
+been most treacherously concealed from the authorities at Roslyn; and
+now he was let loose, without warning or caution, among the Roslyn boys.
+Better for them if their gates had been open to the pestilence! the
+pestilence could but have killed the body, but this boy--this fore-front
+fighter in the devil's battle--did ruin many an immortal soul. He
+systematically, from the very first, called evil good and good evil,
+put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. He openly threw aside the
+admission of any one moral obligation. Never did some of the Roslyn
+boys, to their dying day, forget the deep, intolerable, unfathomable
+flood of moral turpitude and iniquity which he bore with him; a flood,
+which seemed so irresistible, and the influence of such boys as Montagu
+and Owen to stay its onrush seemed as futile as the weight of a feather
+to bar the fury of a mountain stream. Eric might have done much, Duncan
+might have done much, to aid the better cause, had they tried; but they
+resisted at first but faintly, and then not at all, until they too were
+swept away in the broadening tide of degeneracy and sin.
+
+Big, burly, and strong, though much younger than he looked (if he stated
+his age correctly, which I doubt), Brigson, being low in the school,
+naturally became the bully and the Coryphaeus of all the lower
+forms--the bully if they opposed him, the Coryphaeus if they accepted
+his guidance. A little army of small boys attended him, and were ever
+ready for the schemes of mischief to which he deliberately trained them,
+until they grew almost as turbulent, as disobedient, and as wicked, as
+himself. He taught, both, by precept and example, that towards masters
+neither honor was to be recognized, nor respect to be considered due. To
+cheat them, to lie to them, to annoy them in every possible way--to
+misrepresent their motives, mimic their defects, and calumniate their
+actions--was the conduct which he inaugurated towards them; and for the
+time that he continued at Roslyn the whole lower school was a
+Pandemonium of evil passions and despicable habits.
+
+Every one of the little boys became more or less amenable to his
+influence, and among them. Vernon Williams. Had Eric done his duty this
+would never have been; but he was half-ashamed to be often with his
+brother, and disliked to find him so often creeping to his side. He
+flattered himself that in this feeling he was only anxious that Vernon
+should grow spirited and independent; but, had he examined himself, he
+would have found selfishness at the bottom of it. Once or twice his
+manner showed harshness to Vernon, and the little boy both observed and
+resented it. Montagu and others noticed him for Eric's sake; but, being
+in the same form with Brigson, Vernon was thrown much with him, and
+feeling, as he did, deserted and lonely, he was easily caught by the
+ascendancy of his physical strength and reckless daring. Before three
+months were over, he became, to Eric's intolerable disgust, a ringleader
+in the band of troublesome scapegraces, whose increasing numbers were
+the despair of all who had the interests of the school at heart.
+
+Unfortunately, Owen was now head of the school, and from his
+constitutional want of geniality, he was so little of a boy that he had
+no sympathy from the others, and little authority over them. He simply
+kept aloof, holding his own way, and retiring into his own tastes and
+pursuits, and the society of one or two congenial spirits in the school,
+so as in no way to come in contact with the spreading corruption.
+
+Montagu, now Owen's chief friend, was also in the sixth, and fearlessly
+expressed at once his contempt for Brigson, and his dread of the evil he
+was effecting. Had the monitorial system existed, that contagion could
+have been checked at once; but, as it was, brute force the unlimited
+authority. Ill indeed are those informed who raise a cry, and join in
+the ignorant abuse of that noble safeguard of English schools. Any who
+have had personal and intimate experience of how schools work _with_ it
+and _without_ it, know what a Palladium it is of happiness and morality;
+how it prevents bullying, upholds manliness, is the bulwark of
+discipline, and makes boys more earnest and thoughtful, often at the
+most critical period of their lives, by enlisting all their sympathies
+and interests on the side of the honorable and the just.
+
+Brigson knew at a glance whom he had most to fear; Bull, Attlay,
+Llewellyn, Graham, all tolerated or even approved of him. Owen did not
+come in his way, so he left him unmolested. To Eric and Duncan he was
+scrupulously civil, and by flattery and deference managed to keep
+apparently on excellent terms with them. Eric pretended to be ignorant
+of the harm he was bringing about, and in answer to the indignant and
+measureless invectives of Montagu and others, professed to see in
+Brigson a very good fellow; rather wild, perhaps, but still a very
+good fellow.
+
+Brigson hated Montagu, because he read on his features the unvarying
+glance of withering contempt. He dared not come across him openly, since
+Montagu was so high in the school; and besides, though much the bigger
+of the two, Brigson was decidedly afraid of him. But he chose sly
+methods of perpetual annoyance. He nick-named him "Rosebud;" he talked
+_at_ him whenever he had an opportunity; he poisoned the minds of the
+gang of youngsters against him; he spread malicious reports about him;
+he diminished his popularity, and embittered his feelings, by every
+secret and underhand means which, lay in his power.
+
+One method of torment was most successful. As a study-boy, Montagu did
+not come to bed till an hour later than _the_ lower part of the school,
+and Brigson taught some of the little fellows to play all kinds of
+tricks to his bed and room, so that, when he came down, it was with the
+certainty of finding everything in confusion. Sometimes his bed would be
+turned right on end, and he would have to put it to the ground and
+remake it before he could lie down. Sometimes all the furniture in the
+room would be thrown about in different corners, with no trace of the
+offender. Sometimes he would find all sorts of things put inside the bed
+itself. The intolerable part of the vexation was, to be certain that
+this was done by Brigson's instigation, or by his own hand, without
+having the means of convicting or preventing him. Poor Monty grew very
+sad at heart, and this perpetual dastardly annoyance weighed the more
+heavily on his spirits, from its being of a kind which peculiarly grated
+on his refined taste, and his natural sense of what was gentlemanly
+and fair.
+
+One night, coming down, as usual, in melancholy dread, he saw a light
+under the door of his room. It struck him that he was earlier than
+usual, and he walked up quickly and noiselessly. There they were at it!
+The instant he entered, there was a rush through the opposite door, and
+he felt convinced that one of the retreating figures was Brigson's. In a
+second he had sprung across, so as to prevent the rest from running, and
+with heaving breast and flaming eyes, glared at the intruders as they
+stood there, sheepish and afraid.
+
+"What!" he said angrily, "so _you_ are the fellows who have had the
+cowardice to annoy me thus, night after night, for weeks; you miserable,
+degraded young animals!" And he looked at the four or five who had not
+made their escape. "What! and _you_ among them," he said with a start,
+as he caught the eye of Vernon Williams--"Oh, this is too bad." His tone
+showed the deepest sorrow and vexation, and for a moment he said no
+more. Instantly Vernon was by him.
+
+"_Do_ forgive me, _do_ forgive me, Montagu," he said; "I really didn't
+know it teased you so much."
+
+But Montagu shook him off, and at once recovered himself. "Wretched
+boys! let me see what you have been doing to-night. Oh, as usual," he
+said, glancing at the complete disorder which they had been effecting.
+"Ha! but what is this? So Brigson has introduced another vile secret
+among you. Well, he shall rue it!" and he pointed to some small, almost
+invisible flakes of a whitish substance scattered here and there over
+his pillow. It was a kind of powder, which if once it touched the skin,
+caused the most violent and painful irritation.
+
+"By heavens, this is _too_ bad!" he exclaimed, stamping his foot with
+anger. "What have I ever done to you young blackguards, that you should
+treat me thus? Have I ever been a bully? Have I ever harmed one of you?
+And _you_, too, Vernon Williams!"
+
+The little boy trembled and looked ashamed under his noble glance of
+sorrow and scorn.
+
+"Well, I _know_ who has put you up to this; but you shall not escape so.
+I shall thrash you every one."
+
+Very quietly he suited the action to the word, sparing none. They took
+it patiently enough, conscious of richly deserving it; and when it was
+over, Vernon said, "Forgive me, Montagu. I am very sorry, and will never
+do so again." Montagu, without deigning a reply, motioned them to go,
+and then sat down, full of grief, on his bed. But the outrage was not
+over for that night, and no sooner had he put out the light than he
+became painfully aware that several boys were stealing into the room,
+and the next moment he felt a bolster fall on his head. He was out of
+bed in an instant, and with a few fierce and indignant blows, had
+scattered the crowd of his cowardly assailants, and driven them away. A
+number of fellows had set on him in the dark--on _him_, of all others.
+Oh, what a change must have happened in the school that this should be
+possible! He felt that the contagion of Brigson's baseness had spread
+far indeed.
+
+He fought like a lion, and several of the conspirators had reason to
+repent their miscalculation in assaulting so spirited an antagonist. But
+this did not content him; his blood was up, and he determined to attack
+the evil at its source. He strode through his discomfited enemies
+straight into Brigson's room, struck a match, and said, "Brigson, get
+out of bed this instant."
+
+"Hullo!" grunted Brigson, pretending to be only just awake.
+
+"None of that, you blackguard! Will you take a thrashing?"
+
+"No!" roared Brigson, "I should think not."
+
+"Well, then, take _that_!" he shouted, striking him in the face.
+
+The fight that followed was very short. In a single round Montagu had
+utterly thrashed, and stricken to the earth, and forced to beg for
+mercy, his cumbrous and brutal opponent. He seemed to tower above him
+with a magnificent superiority, and there was a self-controlled passion
+about him which gave tremendous energy to every blow. Brigson was
+utterly dashed, confounded, and cowed, and took without a word the
+parting kick of ineffable contempt which Montagu bestowed on him.
+
+"There," he said to the fellows, who had thronged in from all the
+dormitories at the first hint of a fight, "I, a sixth-form fellow, have
+condescended to thrash that base coward there, whom all you miserable
+lower boys have been making an idol and hero of, and from whom you have
+been so readily learning every sort of blackguardly and debasing trick.
+But let me tell you and your hero, that if any of you dare to annoy or
+lift a finger at me again, you shall do it at your peril. I despise you
+all; there is hardly one gentlemanly or honorable fellow left among you
+since that fellow Brigson has come here; yes, I despise you, and you
+know that you deserve it." And every one of them _did_ shrink before his
+just and fiery rebuke.
+
+The scene was not over when the door suddenly opened, and Mr. Rose
+appeared. He stood amazed to see Montagu there in his night-shirt, the
+boys all round, and Brigson washing his nose, which was bleeding
+profusely, at his basin.
+
+Montagu instantly stepped up to him. "You can trust me, sir; may I ask
+you kindly to say nothing of this? I have been thrashing some one that
+deserved it, and teaching these fellows a lesson."
+
+Mr. Rose saw and allowed for his excited manner. "I can trust you," he
+said, "Montagu, and shall take no farther notice of this irregularity.
+And now get instantly to your beds."
+
+But Montagu, slipping on his clothes, went straight up to the studies,
+and called the upper boys together. He briefly told them what had
+occurred, and they rejoiced greatly, binding themselves for the future
+to check, if they could, by all fair means, Brigson's pernicious
+influence and abominable example.
+
+But it was too late now; the mischief was done.
+
+"O Eric," said Montagu, "why did you not make a stand against all this
+before? Your own brother was one of them."
+
+"Little wretch. I'll kick him well for it," said Eric.
+
+"No, no!" said Montagu, "that'll do no good. Try rather to look after
+him a little more."
+
+"I hope _you_ will forgive him, and try and rescue him."
+
+"I will do what I can," said Montagu, coldly.
+
+Eric sighed, and they parted.
+
+Montagu had hoped that after this Eric would at least break off all open
+connection with Brigson; and, indeed, Eric had meant to do so. But that
+personage kept carefully out of his way until the first burst of
+indignation against him had subsided, and after a time began to address
+Eric as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile he had completely regained
+his ascendancy over the lower part of the school, which was not
+difficult, because they were wincing under Montagu's contempt, and
+mingled no little dislike with it; a dislike which all are too apt to
+feel towards those whose very presence and moral superiority are a tacit
+rebuke of their own failings. But while Montagu was hated, Eric was at
+the zenith of popular favor, a favor which Brigson ostentatiously
+encouraged. He was openly flattered and caressed, and if ever he got a
+large score at cricket, it was chalked triumphantly over the walls. All
+this he was weak enough to enjoy immensely, and it was one of the
+reasons why he did not wish to risk his popularity by breaking with
+Brigson. So, after a little constraint and coldness, he began to stand
+in much the same relation to him as before.
+
+The best-disposed of the upper boys disliked all this very much, and the
+sixth and fifth forms began to be split up into two main parties--the
+one, headed by Eric, and, to a much less degree, by Duncan, who devoted
+themselves to the games and diversions of the school, and troubled
+themselves comparatively little about anything else; the other, headed
+by Montagu, who took the lead in intellectual pursuits, and endeavored,
+by every means in their power, to counteract the pernicious effects of
+the spreading immorality.
+
+And so at Roslyn, owing mainly to the wickedness of one depraved boy,
+and the weak fear of man which actuated others, all was disunion,
+misery, and deterioration. The community which had once been peaceful,
+happy, and united, was filled with violent jealousy and heart-burnings;
+every boy's hand seemed to be against his neighbor; lying, bad language,
+dishonesty, grew fearfully rife, and the few who, like Owen and Montagu,
+remained uncontaminated by the general mischief, walked alone and
+despondent amid their uncongenial and degraded schoolfellow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WILDNEY
+
+     "That punishment's the best to bear
+        That follows soonest on the sin,
+      And guilt's a game where losers fare
+        Better than those who seem to win."
+
+     COV. PATMORE.
+
+At the beginning of this quarter Eric and Duncan had succeeded to one of
+the studies, and Owen shared with Montagu the one which adjoined it.
+
+Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of disobedience, had
+frequented the studies a good deal, but it was generally understood that
+no study-boy might ask any one to be a regular visitor to his room
+without the leave of its other occupant.
+
+So one evening Duncan said to Eric, "Do you know little Wildney?"
+
+"You mean that jolly fearless-looking little fellow, with, the great
+black eyes, who came at the beginning of the quarter? No, I don't
+know him."
+
+"Well, he's a very nice little fellow; a regular devil"
+
+"Humph!" said Eric, laughing; "I shall bring out a new
+Duncan-dictionary, in which. [Greek: chezchochezons chos] = very nice
+little fellow."
+
+"Pooh!" said Duncan; "you know well enough what I mean; I mean he's not
+one of your white-faced, lily-hearted new boys, but has lots of fun
+in him."
+
+"Well, what of him?"
+
+"Have you any objection to my asking him to sit in the study when he
+likes?"
+
+"Not the least in the world."
+
+"Very well, I'll go and fetch him now. But wouldn't you like to ask your
+brother Vernon to come in too whenever he's inclined?"
+
+"No," said Eric, "I don't care. He does come every now and then."
+
+Duncan went to fetch Wildney, and while he was gone, Brie was thinking
+_why_ he didn't give Vernon the free run of his study. He would not
+admit to himself the true reason, which was, that he had too much ground
+to fear that his example would do his brother no good.
+
+Eric soon learned to like Wildney, who was a very bright, engaging,
+spirited boy, with a dash of pleasant impudence about him which took
+Eric's fancy. He had been one of the most mischievous of the lower
+fellows, but, although clever, did little or nothing in school, and was
+in the worst repute with the masters. Until he was "taken up" by Eric,
+he had been a regular little hero among his compeers, because he was
+game for any kind of mischief, and, in the new tone of popular morality,
+his fearless disregard of rules made him the object of general
+admiration. From this time, however, he was much in the studies, and
+unhappily carried with him to those upper regions the temptation to a
+deeper and more injurious class of transgressions than had yet
+penetrated there.
+
+It was an ill day for General Wildney when he sent his idolised little
+son to Roslyn; it was an ill day for Eric when Duncan first asked the
+child to frequent their study.
+
+It was past nine at night, and the lower school had gone to bed, but
+there was Wildney quietly sitting on Eric's knee by the study fire,
+while Duncan was doing some Arnold's verses for him to be shown up
+next day.
+
+"Bother these verses," said Duncan, "I shall have a whiff. Do you mind,
+Eric?"
+
+"No; not at all."
+
+"Give me a weed, too," said Wildney.
+
+"What! young un--you don't mean to say you smoke?" asked Eric in
+surprise.
+
+"Don't I, though? let me show you. Why, a whole lot of us went and
+smoked two or three pipes by Riverbend only yesterday."
+
+"Phew!" said Eric, "then I suppose I must smoke too to keep you in
+countenance;" and he took a cigar. It was the first time he had touched
+one since the day at the Stack. The remembrance made him gloomy and
+silent. "Tempora mutantur," thought he, "nos et mutamur in illis."
+
+"Why, how glum you are," said Wildney, patting him on the head.
+
+"O no!" said Eric, shaking off unpleasant memories. "Look," he
+continued, pointing out of the window to change the subject, "what a
+glorious night it is! Nothing but stars, stars, stars."
+
+"Yes," said Duncan, yawning; "this smoking makes one very thirsty. I
+wish I'd some beer."
+
+"Well, why shouldn't we get some?" said Wildney "it would he very
+jolly."
+
+"Get some! What! at this time of night?"
+
+"Yes; I'll go now, if you like, to Ellan, and be back before ten."
+
+"Nonsense," said Eric; "it aint worth while."
+
+"I believe you think I'm afraid," said Wildney, laughing, and looking at
+Eric with his dark eyes; "and what's more, I believe _you're_ afraid."
+
+"Little whippersnapper!" said Eric, coloring, "as if I was afraid to do
+anything _you_ dare do. I'll go with you at once, if you like."
+
+"What are you thinking of?" asked Duncan. "I don't care twopence about
+the beer, and I hope you won't go."
+
+"But I will, though," said Eric, a little nettled that Wildney, of all
+people, should think him wanting in pluck.
+
+"But how will you get out?"
+
+"Oh, _I'll_ show you a dodge there," said Wildney. "Come along. Have you
+a dark lantern?"
+
+"No, but I'll get Llewellyn's."
+
+"Come along then."
+
+So the little boy of twelve took the initiative, and, carrying the dark
+lantern, instructed the two study-boys of sixteen in a secret which had
+long been known to the lower part of the school.
+
+"Ibant obscuri dubia sub luce." He led them quietly down stairs, stole
+with them noiselessly past the library door, and took them to a window
+in the passage, where a pane was broken.
+
+"Could you get through that?" he whispered to Eric, "if we broke away
+the rest of the glass?"
+
+"I don't know. But, then, there's the bar outside."
+
+"Oh, I'll manage that. But will you go and peep through the key-hole of
+the library, and see who's there, Duncan?"
+
+"No," said Duncan, bluntly, "no key-holes for me."
+
+"Hush! then _I_ will," and he glided away, while Eric, as quietly as he
+could, broke away the glass until it was all removed.
+
+"There's only old Stupid," whispered he, irreverently designating an
+under-master named Harley, "and he's asleep before the fire. Now, then,
+just lift me up, Eric, will you?"
+
+Eric lifted him, and he removed the nails which fastened the end of the
+bar. They looked secure enough, and were nails an inch long driven into
+the mortar; but they had been successfully loosened, and only wanted a
+little pull to bring them out. In one minute Wildney had unfastened and
+pushed down one end of the bar. He then got through the broken pane, and
+dropped down outside. Eric followed with some little difficulty, for the
+aperture would only just admit his passage; and Duncan, going back to
+the study, anxiously awaited their return.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night, and the autumn air was pleasant and
+cool. But Eric's first thought, as he dropped on to the ground, was one
+of shame that he should suffer his new friend, a mere child, so easily
+to tempt him into disobedience and sin. He had hardly thought till then
+of what their errand was to be, but now his couldn't help so strongly
+disapproving of it, that he was half-inclined to turn back. He did not,
+however, dare to suggest this, lest Wildney should charge him with
+cowardice, and betray it to the rest. Besides, the adventure had its own
+excitement, the stars looked splendid, and the stolen waters were sweet.
+
+"I hope we shan't be seen crossing the play-ground," said Wildney. "My
+eye, shouldn't we catch it!"
+
+He was obviously beginning to be afraid, so Eric assumed an air of
+nonchalance, and played the part of protector.
+
+"Here, take my arm," he said; and as Wildney grasped it tight, instead
+of feeling angry and ashamed at having been misled by one so much his
+junior, Eric felt strongly drawn towards him by community of danger and
+interest. Reaching Ellan, it suddenly struck him that he didn't know
+where they were going to buy the beer. He asked Wildney.
+
+"Oh, I see you're not half up to snuff," said Wildney, whose courage had
+risen; "I'll show you."
+
+He led to a little low public-house, whence tipsy songs were booming,
+and tapped at a side door three times. As they looked in they saw some
+sailors boozing in a dirty tap-room, and enveloped in tobacco-smoke.
+
+The side-door was opened, and a cunning wicked-looking man held up a
+light to see who they were.
+
+"Hollo, Billy," said Wildney, confidentially, "all serene; give us two
+bottles of beer--on tick, you know."
+
+"Yessir--d'reckly," said the man, with a hateful twinkle of the eyes.
+"So you're out for a spree," he continued, winking in a knowing way.
+"Won't you walk into the back-parlor while I get them?" And he showed
+them into a dingy horrid room behind the house, stale with smoke, and
+begrimed with dust.
+
+Eric was silent and disgusted, but Wildney seemed quite at home. The
+man soon returned with the beer. "Wouldn't you like a glass of summat
+now, young gen'lmen?" he asked, in an insinuating way.
+
+"No, Billy! don't jabber--we must be off. Here open the door."
+
+"Stop, I'll pay," said Eric. "What's the damage?"
+
+"Three shilling, sir," said the man. "Glad to see a new customer, sir."
+He pocketed the money, and showed them, out, standing to look after them
+with a malicious leer as they disappeared, and jerking his left thumb
+over his shoulder.
+
+"Faugh!" said Eric, taking a long breath as they got out again into the
+moonlight, "what a poisonous place! Good gracious, Charlie, who
+introduced you there?"
+
+"Oh, I don't think much of going _there_" said Wildney, carelessly; "we
+go every-week almost."
+
+"We! who?"
+
+"Oh, Brigson and a lot of us. We have a club there which we call the
+'Anti-muffs,' and that's our smoking-room."
+
+"And is that horrid beast the landlord?"
+
+"Yes; he was an old school-servant, and there's no harm in him that I
+know of."
+
+But Eric only "phewed" again two or three times, and thought of Montagu.
+
+Suddenly Wildney clutched him by the arm, and pulled him into the deep
+shadow of a porch, whispering, in a low tone, "Look!"
+
+Under a lamp-post, directly opposite them, stood Mr. Rose! He had heard
+voices and footsteps a moment before, and, puzzled at their sudden
+cessation in the noiseless street, he was looking round.
+
+"We must run for it," whispered Wildney hastily, as Mr. Rose approached
+the porch; and the two boys took to their heels, and scampered away as
+hard as they could, Eric helping on Wildney by taking his hand, and
+neither of them looking behind. They heard Mr. Rose following them at
+first, but soon distanced him, and reached a place where two roads met,
+either of which would lead to the school.
+
+"We won't go by the road; I know a short cut by the fields. What fun!"
+said Wildney, laughing.
+
+"What an audacious little monkey you are; you know all sorts of dodges,"
+said Eric.
+
+They had no time to talk, but with, a speed winged by fear got to the
+school, sprang on the buttress beneath the window, effected their
+entrance, and vanished after replacing the bar--Eric to his study, and
+Wildney to his dormitory.
+
+"Here's a go!" said the latter, as they ran up stairs; "I've smashed one
+of the beer-bottles in getting through the window, and my trousers are
+deluged with the stuff."
+
+They had hardly separated when Mr. Rose's step was heard on the stairs.
+He was just returning from a dinner-party, when the sight of two boys
+and the sound of their voices startled him in the street, and their
+sudden disappearance made him sure that they were Roslyn boys,
+particularly when they began to run. He strongly suspected that he
+recognised Wildney as one of them, and therefore made straight for his
+dormitory, which he entered, just as that worthy had thrust the
+beer-stained trousers under his bed. Mr. Rose, walked up quietly to his
+bedside, and observed that he was not asleep, and that he still had half
+has clothes on. He was going away when he saw a little bit of the
+trousers protruding under the mattress, and giving a pull, out they
+came, wringing wet with the streams of beer. He could not tell at first
+what this imported, but a fragment of the bottle fell out of the pocket
+with, a crash on the floor, and he then discovered. Taking no notice of
+Wildney's pretended sleep, he said, quietly, "Come to me before
+breakfast tomorrow, Wildney," and went down stairs.
+
+Eric came in soon after, and found the little fellow vainly attempting
+to appear indifferent, as he related to his admiring auditors the
+night's adventure; being evidently rather prouder of the "Eric and I,"
+which he introduced every now and then into his story.
+
+"Has he twigged you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And me?"
+
+"I don't know; we shall see to-morrow."
+
+"I hope not," said Eric; "I'm sorry for you, Charlie."
+
+"Can't be cured, must be endured," said Wildney.
+
+"Well, good night! and don't lose heart."
+
+Eric went back to Duncan in the study, and they finished the other
+bottle of beer between them, though without much enjoyment, because they
+were full of surmises as to the extent of the discovery, and the nature
+of the punishment.
+
+Eric went in to tell Montagu of their escapade.
+
+He listened very coldly, and said, "Well, Eric, it would serve you right
+to be caught. What business have you to be going out at night, at the
+invitation of contemptible small fry, like this little Wildney?"
+
+"I beg you won't speak of any friend of mine in those terms," said Eric,
+drawing up haughtily.
+
+"I hope you don't call a bad little boy like Wildney, who'd be no
+credit to any one, _your_ friend, Eric?"
+
+"Yes I do, though. He's one of the pluckiest, finest, most promising
+fellows in the lower school."
+
+"How I begin to hate that word plucky," said Montagu; "it's made the
+excuse here for everything that's wrong, base, and unmanly. It seems to
+me it's infinitely more 'plucky' just now to do your duty and not be
+ashamed of it."
+
+"You've certainly required _that_ kind of pluck to bear you up lately,
+Monty," said Owen, looking up from his books.
+
+"Pluck!" said Montagu, scornfully; "you seem to me to think it consists
+in lowering yourself down to the level of that odious Brigson, and
+joining hand and glove with the dregs of the school."
+
+"Dregs of the school! Upon my word, you're cool, to speak of any of my
+associates in that way," said Eric, now thoroughly angry.
+
+"Associates!" retorted Montagu, hotly; "pretty associates! How do you
+expect anything good to go on, when fellows high in the school like you
+have such dealings with the refined honorable Brigson, and the exemplary
+intellectual Wildney?"
+
+"You're a couple of confounded muffs," shouted Eric, banging the door,
+and flinging into his own study again without farther reply.
+
+"Hav'n't you been a little hard on him, considering the row he's in?"
+asked Owen.
+
+Montagu's head was resting on his hand as he bent over the table.
+"Perhaps I have, indeed. But who could help it, Owen, in the present
+state of things? Yes, you're right," he said, after a pause; "_this_
+wasn't the time to speak. I'll go and talk to him again. But how utterly
+changed he is!"
+
+He found Eric on the stairs going down to bed with an affectation of
+noise and gaiety. He ran after him, and said--
+
+"Forgive me my passion and sarcasm, Williams. You know I am apt to
+express myself strongly." He could not trust himself to say more, but
+held out his hand.
+
+Eric got red, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+"Come, Eric, it isn't _wholly_ my fault, is it, that we are not so warm
+to each other as we were when ..."
+
+"Oh, Monty, Monty!" said Eric, softened by the allusion; and warmly
+grasped his friend's proffered hand.
+
+"Oh, Eric!"
+
+The two shook hands in silence, and as they left each other they felt
+that while things continued thus their friendship could not last. It was
+a sad thought for both.
+
+Next morning Wildney received a severe flogging, but gained great
+reputation by not betraying his companion, and refusing to drop the
+least hint as to their means of getting out, or their purpose in
+visiting Ellan. So the secret of the bar remained undiscovered, and when
+any boy wanted to get out at night--(unhappily the trick now became
+common enough)--he had only to break a pane of glass in that particular
+window, which, as it was in the passage, often remained unmended and
+undiscovered for weeks.
+
+After the flogging, Mr. Rose said shortly to Eric, "I want to speak to
+you."
+
+The boy's heart misgave him as they entered the familiar library.
+
+"I think I suspect who was Wildney's companion."
+
+Eric was silent.
+
+"I have no proof, and shall not therefore act on vague suspicion; but
+the boy whom I _do_ suspect is one whose course lately has given me the
+deepest pain; one who has violated all the early promise he gave; one
+who seems to be going farther and farther astray, and sacrificing all
+moral principle to the ghost of a fleeting and most despicable
+popularity--to the approval of those whom he cannot himself approve."
+
+Eric still silent.
+
+"Whatever you do _yourself_, Williams"--(it was the first time for two
+years that Mr. Rose had called him "Williams," and he winced a
+little)--"whatever you do _yourself_, Williams, rests with _you_; but
+remember it is a ten-thousandfold heavier and more accursed crime to set
+stumbling-blocks in the way of others, and abuse your influence to cause
+any of Christ's little ones to perish."
+
+"I wasn't the tempter, however," thought Eric, still silent.
+
+"Well, you seem hardened, and give no sign. Believe me, Williams, I
+grieve for you, and that bitterly. My interest in you is no less warm,
+though my affection for you cannot be the same. You may go."
+
+"Another friend alienated, and oh, how true a one! He has not asked me
+to see him once this term," thought Eric, sadly; but a shout of pleasure
+greeted him directly he joined the football in the play-ground, and,
+half consoled, he hoped Mr. Rose had heard it, and understood that was
+meant for the boy whom he had just been rebuking. "Well, after all," he
+thought, "I have _some_ friends still."
+
+Yes, friends, such as they were! Except Duncan, hardly one boy whom he
+really respected ever walked with him now. Even little Wright, one of
+the very few lower boys who had risen superior to Brigson's temptations,
+seemed to keep clear of him as much as he could; and, in absolute
+vacuity, he was obliged to associate with fellows like Attlay, and
+Graham, and Llewellyn, and Bull.
+
+Even with Bull! All Eric's repugnance for this boy seemed to have
+evaporated; they were often together, and, to all appearance, were sworn
+friends. Eric did not shrink now from such conversation as was pursued
+unchecked in his presence by nearly every one; nay, worse, it had lost
+its horror, and he was neither afraid nor ashamed to join in it himself.
+This plague-spot had fretted more deeply than any other into the heart
+of the school morality, and the least boys seemed the greatest
+proficients in unbaring without a blush, its hideous ugliness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"THE JOLLY HERRING"
+
+"Velut unda supervenit undam."--VIRGIL.
+
+The Anti-muffs request the honor of Williams' company to a spread they
+are going to have to-morrow evening at half-past four, in their
+smoking-room--
+
+A note to this effect was put into Eric's hands by Wildney after
+prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew whether
+to be pleased or disgusted at it.
+
+He tossed it to Duncan, and said, "What shall I do?"
+
+Duncan turned up his nose, and chucked the note into the fire.
+
+"I'd give them that answer, and no other."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, Eric," said Duncan, with more seriousness than was usual with
+him, "I can't help thinking things have gone too far lately."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Well, I'm no saint myself, Heaven knows; but I do think that the
+fellows are worse now than I have ever known them--far worse. Your
+friend Brigson reigns supreme out of the studies; he has laid down a law
+that _no work_ is to be done down stairs ever under any pretence, and
+it's only by getting into one of the studies that good little chaps
+like Wright can get on at all. Even in the class-rooms there's so much
+row and confusion that the mere thought of work is ridiculous."
+
+"Well, there's no great harm in a little noise, if that's all."
+
+"But it isn't all. The talk of nearly the whole school is getting most
+blackguardly; shamelessly so. Only yesterday Wildney was chatting with
+Vernon up here (you were out, or Vernon would not have been here) while
+I was reading; they didn't seem to mind me, and I'm sure you'd have been
+vexed to the heart if you'd heard how they talked to each other. At last
+I couldn't stand it any longer, and bouncing up, I boxed both their ears
+smartly, and kicked them down stairs."
+
+As Eric said nothing, Duncan continued, "And I wish it ended in talk,
+but----"
+
+"But I believe you're turning Owenite. Why, bless me, we're only
+schoolboys; it'll be lots of time to turn saint some other day."
+
+Eric was talking at random, and in the spirit of opposition. "You don't
+want to make the whole school such a muffish set as the rosebuds,
+do you?"
+
+There was something of assumed bravado in Eric's whole manner which
+jarred on Duncan exceedingly. "Do as you like," he said, curtly, and
+went into another study.
+
+Immediately after came a rap at the door, and in walked Wildney, as he
+often did after the rest were gone to bed, merely slipping his trousers
+over his nightshirt, and running up to the studies.
+
+"Well, you'll come to the Anti-muffs, won't you?" he said.
+
+"To that pestilential place again?--not I."
+
+Wildney looked offended. "Not after we've all asked you? The fellows
+won't half like your refusing."
+
+He had touched Eric's weak point.
+
+"Do come," he said, looking up in Eric's face.
+
+"Confound it all," answered Eric, hastily. "Yes, I've no friends, I'll
+come, Charlie. Anything to please you, boy."
+
+"That's a brick. Then I shall cut down and tell the fellows. They'll be
+no end glad. No friends! why all the school like you." And he scampered
+off, leaving Eric ill at ease.
+
+Duncan didn't re-enter the study that evening.
+
+The next day, about half-past four, Eric found himself on the way to
+Ellan. As he was starting, Bull caught him up, and said--
+
+"Are you going to the Anti-muffs?"
+
+"Yes; why? are you going too?"
+
+"Yes; do you mind our going together?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+In fact, Eric was very glad of some one--no matter who--to keep him in
+countenance, for he felt considerably more than half ashamed
+of himself.
+
+They went to "The Jolly Herring," as the pot-house was called, and
+passed through the dingy beery tap-room into the back parlor, to which
+Eric had already been introduced by Wildney. About a dozen boys were
+assembled, and there was a great clapping on the table as the two
+new-comers entered. A long table was laid down the room, which was
+regularly spread for dinner.
+
+"Now then, Billy; make haste with the goose," called Brigson. "I vote,
+boys, that Eric Williams takes the chair."
+
+"Hear! hear!" said half a dozen; and Eric, rather against his will,
+found himself ensconced at the end of the table, with Brigson and Bull
+on either hand. The villainous-low-foreheaded man, whom they called
+Billy, soon brought in a tough goose at one end of the table, and some
+fowls at the other; and they fell to, doing ample justice to the [Greek:
+daiz heisae] while Billy waited on them. There was immense uproar during
+the dinner, every one eating as fast, and talking as loud, as he could.
+
+The birds soon vanished, and were succeeded by long rolly-polly
+puddings, which the boys called Goliahs; and they, too, rapidly
+disappeared. Meanwhile beer was circling only too plentifully.
+
+"Now for the dessert, Billy," called several voices; and that worthy
+proceeded to put on the table some figs, cakes, oranges, and four black
+bottles of wine. There was a general grab for these dainties, and one
+boy shouted, "I say, I've had no wine."
+
+"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy--it's cheaper," said
+Brigson; and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys
+diluted with hot water, and soon despatched.
+
+"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got a
+health; 'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti's.'"
+
+"And their chairman,' suggested Wildney.
+
+"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added Brigson.
+
+The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
+
+"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and there's
+no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged
+to you for asking me; and now I call for a song."
+
+"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.
+
+Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness--
+
+     "Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
+       Until it does run overt
+     Come, landlord, fill," &c
+
+"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less
+excited, joined in heartily and uproariously--
+
+     "For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+     For to-night we'll merry merry be!
+       To-morrow we'll be sober!"
+
+While Wildney sang, Eric had time to think. As he glanced round the
+room, at the flushed faces of the boys, some of whom he could not
+recognise in the dusky atmosphere, a qualm of disgust and shame passed
+over him. Several of them were smoking, and, with Bull and Brigson
+heading the line on each, side of the table, he could not help observing
+what a bad set they looked. The remembrance of Russell came back to him.
+Oh, if Edwin could have known that he was in such company at such a
+place! And by the door stood Billy, watching them all like an evil
+spirit, with a leer of saturnine malice on his evil face.
+
+But the bright little Wildney, unconscious of Eric's bitter thoughts,
+sang on with overflowing mirth. As Eric looked at him, shining out like
+a sunbeam among the rest, he felt something like blood-guiltiness on his
+soul, when, he felt that he was sanctioning the young boy's presence in
+that degraded assemblage.
+
+Wildney meanwhile was just beginning the next verse, when he was
+interrupted by a general cry of "cave, cave." In an instant the room was
+in confusion; some one dashed the candles upon the floor, the table was
+overturned with a mighty crash, and plates, glasses, and bottles rushed
+on to the ground in shivers. Nearly every one bolted for the door, which
+led through the passage into the street; and in their headlong flight
+and selfishness, they stumbled over each other, and prevented all
+egress, several being knocked down and bruised in the crush. Others made
+for the tap-room; but, as they opened the door leading into it, there
+stood Mr. Ready and Mr. Gordon! and as it was impossible to pass without
+being seen, they made no further attempt at escape. All this was the
+work of a minute. Entering the back parlor, the two masters quickly took
+down the names of full half the boys who, in the suddenness of the
+surprise, had been unable to make their exit.
+
+And Eric?
+
+The instant that the candles were knocked over, he felt Wildney seize
+his hand, and whisper, "This way all serene;" following, he groped his
+way in the dark to the end of the room, where Wildney, shoving aside a
+green baize curtain, noiselessly opened a door, which at once let them
+into a little garden. There they both crouched down, under a lilac tree
+beside the house, and listened intently.
+
+There was no need for this precaution; their door remained unsuspected,
+and in five minutes the coast was clear. Creeping into the house again,
+they whistled, and Billy coming in, told them that the masters had gone,
+and all was safe.
+
+"Glad ye're not twigged, gen'lmen," he said; "but there'll be a pretty
+sight of damage for all this glass and plates."
+
+"Shut up with your glass and plates," said Wildney. "Here, Eric, we must
+cut for it again."
+
+It was the dusk of a winter evening when they got out from the close
+room into the open air, and they had to consider which way they would
+choose to avoid discovery. They happened to choose the wrong, but
+escaped by dint of hard running, and Wildney's old short cut. As they
+ran they passed several boys (who having been caught, were walking home
+leisurely), and managed to get back undiscovered, when they both
+answered their names quite innocently at the roll-call, immediately
+after lock up.
+
+"What lucky dogs you are to get off," said many boys to them.
+
+"Yes, it's precious lucky for me," said Wildney. "If I'd been caught at
+this kind of thing a second time, I should have got something worse than
+a swishing."
+
+"Well, it's all through you I escaped," said Eric, "you knowing little
+scamp."
+
+"I'm glad of it, Eric," said Wildney in his fascinating way, "since it
+is all through me you went. It's rather too hazardous though; we must
+manage better another time."
+
+During tea-time Eric was silent, as he felt pretty sure that none of the
+sixth form or other study boys would particularly sympathise with his
+late associates. Since the previous evening he had been cool with
+Duncan, and the rest had long rather despised him as a boy who'd do
+anything to be popular; so he sat there silent, looking as disdainful as
+he could, and not touching the tea, for which he felt disinclined after
+the recent potations. But the contemptuous exterior hid a self-reproving
+heart, and he felt how far more noble Owen and Montagu were than he. How
+gladly would he have changed places with them! how much he would have
+given to recover some of their forfeited esteem!
+
+The master on duty was Mr. Rose, and after tea he left the room for a
+few minutes while the tables were cleared for "preparation," and the
+boys were getting out their books and exercises. All the study and
+class-room boys were expected to go away during this interval; but Eric,
+not noticing Mr. Rose's entrance, sat gossipping with Wildney about the
+dinner and its possible consequences to the school.
+
+He was sitting on the desk carelessly, with one leg over the other, and
+bending down towards Wildney. He had just told him that he looked like a
+regular little sunbeam in the smoking-room of the Jolly Herring, and
+Wildney was pretending to be immensely offended by the simile.
+
+"Hush! no more talking," said Mr. Rose, who did everything very gently
+and quietly. Eric heard him, but he was inclined to linger, and had
+always received such mild treatment from Mr. Rose, that he didn't think
+he would take much notice of the delay. For the moment he did not, so
+Wildney began to chatter again.
+
+"All study boys to leave the room," said Mr. Rose.
+
+Eric just glanced round and moved slightly; he might have gone away,
+but that he caught a satirical look in Wildney's eye, and besides wanted
+to show off a little indifference to his old master, with whom he had
+had no intercourse since their last-mentioned conversation.
+
+"Williams, go away instantly; what do you mean by staying after I have
+dismissed you?" said Mr. Rose sternly.
+
+Every one knew what a favorite Eric had once been, so this speech
+created a slight titter. The boy heard it just as he was going out of
+the room, and it annoyed him, and called to arms all his proud and
+dogged obstinacy. Pretending to have forgotten something, he walked
+conceitedly back to Wildney, and whispered to him, "I shan't go if he
+chooses to speak like that."
+
+A red flush passed over Mr. Rose's cheek; he took two strides to Eric,
+and laid the cane sharply once across his back.
+
+Eric was not quite himself, or he would not have acted as he had done.
+His potations, though not deep, had, with the exciting events of the
+evening, made his head giddy, and the stroke of the cane, which he had
+not felt now for two years, roused him to madness. He bounded up, sprang
+towards Mr. Rose, and almost before he knew what he was about, had
+wrenched the cane out of his hands, twisted it violently in the middle
+until it broke, and flung one of the pieces furiously into the fire.
+
+For one instant, boy and master--Eric Williams and Mr. Rose--stood
+facing each other amid breathless silence, the boy panting and
+passionate, with his brain swimming, and his heart on fire; the master
+pale, grieved, amazed beyond measure, but perfectly self-collected.
+
+"After that exhibition," said Mr. Rose, with cold and quiet dignity,
+"you had better leave the room."
+
+"Yes, I had," answered Eric bitterly; "there's your cane." And, flinging
+the other fragment at Mr. Rose's head, he strode blindly out of the
+room, sweeping books from the table, and overturning several boys in his
+way. He then banged the door with all his force, and rushed up into
+his study.
+
+Duncan was there, and remarking his wild look and demeanor, asked, after
+a moment's awkward silence, "Is anything the matter, Williams?"
+
+"Williams!" echoed Eric with a scornful laugh; "yes, that's always the
+way with a fellow when he's in trouble. I always know what's coming when
+you begin to leave off calling me by my Christian name."
+
+"Very well, then," said Duncan, good-humoredly, "what's the matter,
+Eric?"
+
+"Matter?" answered Brie, pacing up and down the little room with an
+angry to-and-fro like a caged wild beast, and kicking everything which
+came in his way. "Matter? hang you all, you are all turning against me,
+because you are a set of muffs, and----"
+
+"Take care!" said Duncan; but suddenly he caught Eric's look, and
+stopped.
+
+"And I've been breaking Rose's cane over his head, because he had the
+impudence to touch, me with it, and----"
+
+"Eric, you're not yourself to-night," said Duncan, interrupting, but
+speaking in the kindest tone; and taking Eric's hand, he looked him
+steadily in the face.
+
+Their eyes met; the boy's false self once more slipped off. By a strong
+effort he repressed the rising passion which the fumes of drink had
+caused, and flinging him self on his chair, refused to speak again, or
+even to go down stairs when the prayer-bell rang.
+
+Seeing that in his present mood there was nothing to be done with him,
+Duncan, instead of returning to the study, went after prayers into
+Montagu's, and talked with him over the recent events, of which the
+boys' minds were all full.
+
+But Eric sat lonely, sulky, and miserable, in his study, doing nothing,
+and when Montagu came in to visit him, felt inclined to resent
+his presence.
+
+"So!" he said, looking up at the ceiling, "another saint come to cast a
+stone at me! Well! I suppose I must be resigned," he continued, dropping
+his cheek on his hand again; "only don't let the sermon be long."
+
+But Montagu took no notice of his sardonic harshness, and seated himself
+by his side, though Eric pettishly pushed him away.
+
+"Come, Eric," said Montagu, taking the hand which was repelling him; "I
+won't be repulsed in this way. Look at me. What? won't you even look? Oh
+Eric, one wouldn't have fancied this in past days, when we were so much
+together with one who is dead. It's a long long time since we've eyen
+alluded to him, but _I_ shall never forget those happy days."
+
+Eric heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"I'm not come to reproach you. You don't give me a friend's right to
+reprove. But still, Eric, for your own sake, dear fellow, I can't help
+being sorry for all this. I did hope you'd have broken with Brigson
+after the thrashing I gave him, for the way in which he treated me. I
+don't think you _can_ know the mischief he is doing."
+
+The large tears began to soften the fire of Eric's eye, "Ah!" he said,
+"it's all of no use; you're all giving me the cold shoulder, and I'm
+going to the bad, that's the long and short of it."
+
+"Oh, Eric! for your own sake, for your parents' sake, for the school's
+sake, for all your real friends' sake, don't talk in that bitter
+hopeless way. You are too noble a fellow to be made the tool or the
+patron of the boys who lead, while they seem to follow you. I _do_ hope
+you'll join us even yet in resisting them."
+
+Eric had laid his head on the table, which shook with his emotion. "I
+can't talk, Monty," he said, in an altered tone; "but leave me now; and
+if you like, we will have a walk to-morrow."
+
+"Most willingly, Eric." And again, warmly pressing his hand, Montagu
+returned to his own study.
+
+Soon after, there came a timid knock at Eric's door. He expected Wildney
+as usual; a little before, he had been looking out for him, and hoping
+he would come, but he didn't want to see him now, so he answered rather
+peevishly, "Come in; but I don't want to be bothered to-night."
+
+Not Wildney, but Vernon appeared at the door. "May I come in? not if it
+bothers you, Eric," he said, gently.
+
+"Oh, Verny, I didn't know it was you; I thought it would be Wildney. You
+_never_ come now."
+
+The little boy came in, and his pleading look seemed to say, "Whose
+fault is that?"
+
+"Come here, Verny;" and Eric drew him towards him, and put him on his
+knee, while the tears trembled large and luminous in the child's eyes.
+
+It was the first time for many a long day that the brothers had been
+alone together, the first time for many a long day that any acts of
+kindness had passed between them. Both seemed to remember this, and, at
+the same time, to remember home, and their absent parents, and their
+mother's prayers, and all the quiet half-forgotten vista of innocent
+pleasures, and sacred relationships, and holy affections. And why did
+they see each other so little at school? Their consciences told them
+both, that either wished to conceal from the other his wickedness and
+forgetfulness of God.
+
+They wept together; and once more, as they had not done since they were
+children, each brother put his arm round the other's neck, and
+remorseful Eric could not help being amazed, how, in his cruel heartless
+selfishness, he had let that fair child go so far astray; left him as a
+prey to such boys as were his companions in the lower school.
+
+"Eric, did you know I was caught to-night at the dinner?"
+
+"You!" said Brie, with a start and a deep blush. "Good heavens! I didn't
+notice you, and should not have dreamt of coming, if I'd known you were
+there. Oh, Vernon, forgive me for setting you such, a bad example."
+
+"Yes, I was there, and I was caught."
+
+"Poor boy! but never mind; there are such a lot that you can't get much
+done to you."
+
+"It isn't _that_ I care for; I've been flogged before, you know.
+But--may I say something?"
+
+"Yes, Vernon, anything you like."
+
+"Well, then,--oh, Eric! I am so, so sorry that you did that to Mr. Rose
+to-night. All the fellows are praising you up, of course; but I could
+have cried to see it, and I did. I wouldn't have minded if it had been
+anybody but Rose."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because, Eric, he's been so good, so kind to both of us. You've often
+told me about him, you know, at Fairholm, and he's done such, lots of
+kind things to me. And only to-night, when he heard I was caught, he
+sent for me to the library, and spoke so firmly, yet so gently, about
+the wickedness of going to such low places, and about so young a boy as
+I am learning to drink, and the ruin of it and--and"--His voice was
+choked by sobs for a time,--"and then he knelt down and prayed for me,
+so as I have never heard any one pray but mother;--and do you know,
+Eric, it was strange, but I thought I _did_ hear our mother's voice
+praying for me too, while he prayed, and"--He tried in vain to go on;
+but Eric's conscience continued for him; "and just as he had ceased
+doing this for one brother, the other brother, for whom he has often
+done the same, treated him with coarseness, violence, and insolence."
+
+"Oh, I am utterly wretched, Verny. I hate myself And to think that while
+I am like this, they are yet loving and praising me at home. And, oh,
+Verny, I was so sorry to hear from Duncan, how you were talking the
+other day."
+
+Vernon hid his face on Eric's shoulder; and as his brother stooped over
+him, and folded him to his heart, they cried in silence, until wearied
+with sorrow, the younger fell asleep; and then Eric carried him tenderly
+down stairs, and laid him, still half-sleeping, upon his bed.
+
+He laid him down, and looked at him as he slumbered. The other boys had
+not been disturbed by their noiseless entrance, and he sat down on his
+brother's bed to think, shading off the light of the candle with his
+hand. It was rarely now that Eric's thoughts were so rich with the
+memories of childhood, and sombre with the consciousness of sin, as they
+were that night, while he gazed on his brother Vernon's face. He did not
+know what made him look so long and earnestly; an indistinct sorrow, an
+unconjectured foreboding, passed over his mind, like the shadow of a
+summer cloud. Vernon was now slumbering deeply; his soft childish curls
+fell off his forehead, and his head nestled in the pillow; but there was
+an expression of uneasiness on his sleeping features, and the long
+eyelashes were still wet with tears.
+
+"Poor child," thought Eric; "dear little Vernon; and he is to be
+flogged, perhaps birched, to-morrow."
+
+He went off sadly to bed, and hardly once remembered, that _he_ too
+would come in for certain punishment the next day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MR. ROSE AND BRIGSON
+
+     "Raro antecedentem scelestum
+     Deseruit pede Poena claudo."--HOR.
+
+After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his boarders on the
+previous day's discovery, and in a few forcible vivid words set before
+them, the enormity of the offence. He ended by announcing that the boys
+who were caught would be birched,--"except the elder ones, Bull and
+Brigson, who will bring me one hundred lines every hour of the
+half-holidays till further notice. There are some," he said, "I am well
+aware, who, though present yesterday, were not detected. I am sorry for
+it, for _their_ sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
+like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden." On leaving
+the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric obeyed, and stood
+before the head-master with downcast eyes.
+
+"Williams," he said, "I have had a great regard for you, and felt a deep
+interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew your excellent
+parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of your future course,
+and your abilities seemed likely to blossom into noble fruit. But you
+fell off greatly, and grew idle and careless. At last an event happened,
+in which for a time you acted worthily of yourself, and which seemed to
+arouse you from your negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you
+revived; but as I continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps,
+than you supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
+disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure that
+you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two years ago.
+I can judge only from your outward course; but I deeply fear, Williams,
+I deeply fear, that in _other_ respects also you are going the down-hill
+road. And what am I to think now, when on the _same_ morning, you and
+your little brother _both_ come before me for such serious and heavy
+faults? I cannot free you from blame even for _his_ misdoings, for you
+are his natural guardian here; I am only glad that you were not involved
+with him in that charge."
+
+"Let _me_ bear the punishment, sir, instead of him," said Eric, by a
+sudden impulse; "for I misled him, and was there myself."
+
+Dr. Rowlands paced the room in deep sorrow. "You, Williams! on the verge
+of the sixth form. Alas! I fear, from this, that the state of things
+among you is even worse than I had supposed."
+
+Eric again hung his head.
+
+"No; you have confessed the sin voluntarily, and therefore at present I
+shall not notice it; only, let me entreat you to beware. But I must turn
+to the other matter. What excuse have you for your intolerable conduct
+to Mr. Rose, who, as I know, has shown you from the first the most
+unusual and disinterested kindness?"
+
+"I cannot defend myself, sir. I was excited, and could not control my
+passion."
+
+"Then you must sit down here, and write an apology, which I shall make
+you read aloud before the whole school at twelve to-day."
+
+Eric, with trembling hand, wrote his apology, and Dr Rowlands glanced at
+it. "Come to me again at twelve," he said.
+
+At twelve all the school were assembled, and Eric, pale and miserable,
+followed the Doctor into the great school-room. The masters stood at one
+end of the room, and among them Mr. Rose, who, however, appeared an
+indifferent and uninterested spectator of the transaction. Every eye was
+fixed on Eric, and every one pitied him.
+
+"We are assembled," said Dr. Rowlands, "for an act of justice. One of
+your number has insulted a master publicly, and is ashamed of his
+conduct, and has himself written the apology which he will read. I had
+intended to add a still severer punishment, but Mr. Rose has earnestly
+begged me not to do so, and I have succumbed to his wishes. Williams,
+read your apology."
+
+There was a dead hush, and Eric tried once or twice in vain to utter a
+word. At last, by a spasmodic effort, he regained his voice, and read,
+but in so low and nervous a tone, that not even those nearest him heard
+what he was saying.
+
+Dr. Rowlands took the paper from him. "Owing," he said, "to a very
+natural and pardonable emotion, the apology has been read in such a way
+that you could not have understood it. I will therefore read it myself.
+It is to this effect--
+
+"'I, Eric Williams, beg humbly and sincerely to apologise for my
+passionate and ungrateful insult to Mr. Rose.'
+
+"You will understand that he was left quite free to choose his own
+expressions; and as he has acknowledged his shame and compunction for
+the act, I trust that none of you will be tempted to elevate him into a
+hero, for a folly which he himself so much regrets. This affair,--as I
+should wish all bad deeds to be after they have once been
+punished,--will now be forgiven, and I hope forgotten."
+
+They left the room and dispersed, and Eric fancied that all shunned and
+looked coldly on his degradation But not so: Montagu came, and taking
+his arm in the old friendly way, went a walk with him. It was a
+constrained and silent walk, and they were both glad when it was over,
+although Montagu did all he could to show that he loved Eric no less
+than before. Still it was weeks since they had been much together, and
+they had far fewer things in common now than they used to have.
+
+"I'm so wretched, Monty," said Eric at last; "do you think Rose despises
+me?"
+
+"I am _sure_ of the contrary. Won't you go to him, Eric, and say all you
+feel?"
+
+"Heigh ho! I shall never get right again. Oh, to recover the last two
+years!"
+
+"You can redeem them, Eric, by a nobler present. Let the same words
+comfort you that have often brought hope to me--'I will restore the
+years which the locust hath eaten.'"
+
+They reached the school-door, and Eric went straight to the library. Mr.
+Rose was there alone. He received him kindly, as usual, and Eric went up
+to the fire-place where he was standing. They had often stood by that
+library fire on far different terms.
+
+"Forgive me, sir," was all Eric could say, as the tears rushed to his
+eyes.
+
+"Freely, my boy," said Mr. Rose, sadly. "I wish you could feel how fully
+I forgive you; but," he added, laying his hand for the last time on
+Eric's head, "you have far more, Eric, to forgive yourself. I will not
+talk to you, Eric; it would be little good, I fear; but you little know
+how much I pity and tremble for you."
+
+While these scenes were being enacted with Eric, a large group was
+collected round the fire-place in the boarders' room, and many tongues
+were loudly discussing the recent events.
+
+Alas for gratitude! there was not a boy in that group to whom Mr. Rose
+had not done many an act of kindness; and to most of them far more than
+they ever knew. Many a weary hour had he toiled for them in private,
+when his weak frame was harassed by suffering; many a sleepless night
+had he wrestled for them in prayer, when, for their sakes, his own many
+troubles were laid aside. Work on, Walter Rose, and He who seeth in
+secret will reward you openly! but expect no gratitude from those for
+whose salvation you, like the great tenderhearted apostle, would almost
+be ready to wish yourself accursed.
+
+Nearly every one in that noisy group was abusing Mr. Rose. It had long
+been Brigson's cue to do so; he derided him on every opportunity, and
+delighted to represent him as hypocritical and insincere. Even his weak
+health was the subject of Brigson's coarse ridicule, and the bad boy
+paid, in deep hatred, the natural tribute which vice must ever accord to
+excellence.
+
+"You see how he turns on his pets if they offend him," said Brigson;
+"why, even that old beast Gordon isn't as bad."
+
+"Yes; while poor Eric was reading, Rose reminded me of Milton's
+serpent," drawled Bull;
+
+     "Hope elevates and joy brightens his crest."
+
+"He-e-ar! He-e-ar!" said Pietrie; "_vide_ the last fifth form Rep."
+
+"I expect Eric won't see everything so much _couleur de Rose_ now, as
+the French frog hath it," remarked Graham.
+
+"It was too bad to stand by and triumph, certainly," observed Wildney.
+
+"I say, you fellows," remonstrated Wright, who, with Vernon, was sitting
+reading a book at one of the desks, "all that isn't fair. I'm sure you
+all saw how really sorry Rose looked about it; and he said, you know,
+that it was merely for the sake of school discipline that he put the
+matter in Rowlands' hands."
+
+"Discipline be hanged," shouted Brigson; "we'll have our revenge on him
+yet, discipline or no."
+
+"I hope you won't, though," said Vernon; "I know Eric will be sorry if
+you do."
+
+"The more muff he. We shall do as we like."
+
+"Well, I shall tell him; and I'm sure he'll ask you not. You know how he
+tries to stick up for Rose."
+
+"If you say a word more," said Brigson, unaccustomed to being opposed
+among his knot of courtiers, "I'll kick you out of the room; you and
+that wretched little fool there with you."
+
+"You may do as you like," answered Wright, quietly, "but you won't go
+on like this long, I can tell you."
+
+Brigson tried to seize him, but failing, contented himself with flinging
+a big coal at him as he ran out of the room, which narrowly missed
+his head.
+
+"I have it!" said Brigson; "that little donkey's given me an idea. We'll
+_crust_ Rose to-night."
+
+"To crust," gentle reader, means to pelt an obnoxious person with
+crusts.
+
+"Capital!" said some of the worst boys present; "we will."
+
+"Well, who'll take part?"
+
+No one offered. "What! are we all turning sneaks and cowards? Here,
+Wildney, won't you? you were abusing Rose just now."
+
+"Yes, I will," said Wildney, but with no great alacrity. "You'll not
+have done till you've got us all expelled, I believe."
+
+"Fiddle-stick end! and what if we are? besides, he can't expel half the
+school."
+
+First two or three more offered, and then a whole lot, gaining courage
+by numbers. So the plot was regularly laid. Pietrie and Graham were to
+put out the lights at each end of one table immediately after tea, and
+Wildney and Brooking at the other, when the study fellows had gone out.
+There would then be only Mr. Rose's candle burning, and the two middle
+candles, which, in so large a room, would just give enough light for
+their purpose. Then all the conspirators were to throng around the door,
+and from it aim their crusts at Mr. Rose's head, Not nearly so many
+would have volunteered to join, but that they fancied Mr. Rose was too
+gentle to take up the matter with vigor, and they were encouraged by
+his quiet leniency towards Eric the night before. It was agreed that no
+study-boy should be told of the intention, lest any of them should
+interfere.
+
+Many hearts beat fast at tea that night as they observed that numbers of
+boys, instead of eating all their bread, were cutting off the crusts,
+and breaking them into good-sized bits.
+
+Tea finished, Mr. Rose said grace, and then sat down quietly reading in
+his desk. The signal agreed on was the (accidental) dropping of a plate
+by Brigson. The study-boys left the room.
+
+Crash!--down fell a plate on the floor, breaking to pieces in the fall.
+
+Instantly the four candles went out, and there was a hurried movement
+towards the door, and a murmur of voices.
+
+"Now then," said Brigson, in a loud whisper, "what a funky set you are!
+Here goes?"
+
+The master, surprised at the sudden gloom and confusion, had just looked
+up, unable to conjecture what was the matter. Brigson's crust caught him
+a sharp rap on the forehead as he moved.
+
+In an instant he started up, and ten or twelve more crusts flew by or
+hit him on the head, as he strode out of the desk towards the door.
+Directly he stirred, there was a rush of boys into the passage, and if
+he had once lost his judgment or temper, worse harm might have followed.
+But he did not. Going to the door, he said, "Preparation will be in five
+minutes; every boy not then in his place will be punished."
+
+During that five minutes the servants had cleared away the tea, full of
+wonder; but Mr. Rose paced up and down the room, taking no notice of any
+one. Immediately after, all the boys were in their places, with their
+books open before them, and in the thrilling silence you might have
+heard a pin drop. 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. A pause.
+
+"Which of you had the audacity to throw pieces of bread at me?"
+
+Still silence.
+
+"I warn you that I _will_ know, and it will be far worse for the guilty
+if I do not know at once." There was unmistakeable decision in the tone.
+
+"Very well. I know many boys who were _not_ guilty because I saw them
+in parts of the room where to throw was impossible. I shall now _ask_
+all the rest, one by one, if they took any part in this. And beware of
+telling me a lie."
+
+There was an uneasy sensation in the room, and several boys began to
+whisper aloud, "Brigson! Brigson!" The whisper grew louder, and Mr. Rose
+heard it. He turned on Brigson like a lion, and said--
+
+"They call your name; stand out!"
+
+The awkward, big, ungainly boy, with his repulsive countenance, shambled
+out of his place into the middle of the room. Mr. Rose swept him with
+one flashing glance. "_That_ is the boy," thought he to himself, "who
+has been like an ulcer to this school. These boys shall have a good look
+at their hero." It was but recently that Mr. Rose knew all the harm
+which Brigson had been doing, though he had discovered, almost from the
+first, what _sort_ of character he had.
+
+So Brigson stood out in the room, and as they looked at him, many a boy
+cursed him in their hearts for evil taught them, such as a lifetime's
+struggle could not unteach. And it was _that_ fellow, that stupid,
+clumsy, base compound of meanness and malice, that had ruled like a king
+among them. Faugh!
+
+"They call your name! Do you know anything of this?"
+
+"No!" said Brigson; "I'll swear I'd nothing to do with it."
+
+"Oh-h-h-h!" the long, intense, deep-drawn expression of disgust and
+contempt ran round the room.
+
+"You have told me a lie!" said Mr. Rose, slowly, and with ineffable
+contempt. "No words can express my loathing for your false and
+dishonorable conduct. Nor shall your lie save you, as you shall find
+immediately. Still, you shall escape if you can or dare to deny it
+again. I repeat my question--Were you engaged in this?"
+
+He fixed his full, piercing eye on the culprit, whom it seemed to scorch
+and wither. Brigson winced back, and said nothing. "As I thought,"
+said Mr. Rose.
+
+"Not _one_ boy only, but many, were engaged. I shall call you up one by
+one to answer me. Wildney, come here."
+
+The boy walked in front of the desk.
+
+"Were you one of those who threw?"
+
+Wildney, full as he was of dangerous and deadly faults, was no coward,
+and not a liar. He knew, or at least feared, that this new scrape might
+be fatal to him, but, raising his dark and glistening eyes to Mr. Rose,
+he said penitently--
+
+"I didn't throw, sir, but I _did_ put out one of the candles that it
+might be done."
+
+The contrast with Brigson was very great; the dark cloud hung a little
+less darkly on Mr. Rose's forehead, and there was a very faint murmur
+of applause.
+
+"Good! stand back. Pietrie, come up."
+
+Pietrie, too, confessed, and indeed all the rest of the plotters except
+Brooking. Mr. Rose's lip curled with scorn as he heard the exclamation
+which his denial caused; but he suffered him to sit down.
+
+When Wright's turn came to be asked, Mr. Rose said--"No! I shall not
+even ask you, Wright. I know well that your character is too good to be
+involved in such an attempt."
+
+The boy bowed humbly, and sat down. Among the last questioned was
+Vernon Williams, and Mr. Rose seemed anxious for his answer.
+
+"No," he said at once,--and seemed to wish to add something.
+
+"Go on," said Mr. Rose, encouragingly.
+
+"Oh, sir! I only wanted to say that I hope you won't think Eric knew of
+this. He would have hated it, sir, more even than I do."
+
+"Good," said Mr. Rose; "I am sure of it. And now," turning to the
+offenders, "I shall teach you never to dare again to be guilty of such
+presumption and wickedness as to-night. I shall punish you according to
+my notion of your degrees of guilt. Brigson, bring me a cane from
+that desk."
+
+He brought it.
+
+"Hold out your hand."
+
+The cane fell, and instantly split up from top to bottom. Mr. Rose
+looked at it, for it was new that morning.
+
+"Hah! I see; more mischief; there is a hair in it."
+
+The boys were too much frightened to smile at the complete success of
+the trick.
+
+"Who did this? I must be told at once."
+
+"I did, sir," said Wildney, stepping forward.
+
+"Ha! very well," said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a smile
+hovered at the corner of his lips. "Go and borrow me a cane from
+Mr. Harley."
+
+While he went there was unbroken silence.
+
+"Now, sir," said he to Brigson, "I shall flog you."
+
+Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had
+never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled;
+at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like
+a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes
+fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's arm, and implored and besought for mercy.
+
+"_Miserable_ coward," said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word such ringing
+scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He indignantly shook the
+boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the floor, losing every
+particle of self-control, and calling out, "The devil--the devil--the
+devil!" ("invoking his patron saint," as Wildney maliciously observed).
+
+"There! cease to blaspheme, and get up," said the master, blowing out a
+cloud of fiery indignation. "There, sir. Retribution comes at last,
+leaden-footed but iron-handed. A long catalogue of sins is visited on
+you to-day, and not only on your shrinking body, but on your conscience
+too, if you have one left. Let those red marks betoken that your reign
+is ended. Liar and tempter, you have led boys into the sins which you
+then meanly deny! And now, you boys, _there_ in that coward, who cannot
+even endure his richly-merited punishment, see the boy whom you have
+suffered to be your _leader_ for well-nigh six months!"
+
+"Now, sir"--again he turned upon Brigson--"that flogging shall be
+repeated with interest on your next offence. At present you will take
+each boy on your back while I cane him. It is fit that they should see
+where _you_ lead them to."
+
+Trembling violently, and cowed beyond description, he did as he was bid.
+No other boy cried, or even winced; a few sharp cuts was all which Mr.
+Rose gave them, and even they grew fewer each time, for he was tired,
+and displeased to be an executioner.
+
+"And now," he said, "since that disgusting but necessary scene is over,
+_never_ let me have to repeat it again."
+
+But his authority was established like a rock from that night forward.
+No one ever ventured to dispute it again, or forgot that evening. Mr.
+Rose's noble moral influence gained tenfold strength from the respect
+and wholesome fear that he then inspired.
+
+But, as he had said, Brigson's reign was over. Looks of the most
+unmitigated disgust and contempt were darted at him, as he sat alone and
+shunned at the end of the table; and the boys seemed now to loathe and
+nauseate the golden calf they had been worshipping. He had not done
+blubbering even yet, when the prayer-bell rang. No sooner had Mr. Rose
+left the room than Wildney, his dark eyes sparkling with rage, leaped on
+the table, and shouted--
+
+"Three groans, hoots, and hisses, for a liar and a coward," a sign of
+execration which he was the first to lead off, and which the boys echoed
+like a storm.
+
+Astonished at the tumult, Mr. Rose re-appeared at the door. "Oh, we're
+not hissing you, sir," said Wildney excitedly; "we're all hissing at
+lying and cowardice."
+
+Mr. Rose thought the revulsion of feeling might do good, and he was
+striding out again, without a word, when--
+
+"Three times three for Mr. Rose," sang out Wildney.
+
+Never did a more hearty or spontaneous cheer burst from the lips and
+lungs of fifty boys than that. The news had spread like wildfire to the
+studies, and the other boys came flocking in during the uproar, to join
+in it heartily. Cheer after cheer rang out like a sound of silver
+clarions from the clear boy-voices; and in the midst of the excited
+throng stood Eric and Montagu, side by side, hurrahing more lustily than
+all the rest.
+
+But Mr. Rose, in the library, was on his knees, with moving lips and
+lifted hands. He coveted the popular applause as little as he had
+dreaded the popular opposition; and the evening's painful experiences
+had taught him anew the bitter lesson to expect no gratitude, and hope
+for no reward, but simply, and contentedly, and unmurmuringly, to work
+on in God's vineyard so long as life and health should last.
+
+Brigson's brazen forehead bore him through the disgrace which would have
+crushed another. But still he felt that his position at Roslyn could
+never be what it had been before, and he therefore determined to leave
+at once. By grossly calumniating the school, he got his father to remove
+him, and announced, to every one's great delight, that he was going in a
+fortnight. On his last day, by way of bravado, he smashed and damaged as
+much of the school property as he could, a proceeding which failed to
+gain him any admiration, and merely put his father to ruinous expense.
+
+The day after his exposure Eric had cut him dead, without the least
+pretence of concealment; an example pretty generally followed throughout
+the school.
+
+In the evening Brigson went up to Eric and hissed in his ear, "You cut
+me, curse you; but, _never fear, I'll be revenged on you yet_."
+
+"Do your worst," answered Eric, contemptuously, "and never speak to me
+again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+RIPPLES
+
+     "Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
+     And live for ever and for ever."--TENNYSON.
+
+Owen and Montagu were walking by Silverburn, and talking over the
+affairs of the school. During their walk they saw Wright and Vernon
+Williams in front of them.
+
+"I am so glad to see those two together," said Montagu; "I really think
+Wright is one of the best little fellows in the school, and he'll be the
+saving of Vernon. He's already persuaded him to leave off smoking and
+other bad things, and has got him to work a little harder, and turn over
+a new leaf altogether."
+
+"Yes," answered Owen; "I've seen a marvellous improvement in little
+Williams lately. I think that Duncan gave him a rough lesson the other
+night which did him good, and dear old Rose too has been leading him by
+the hand; but the best thing is that, through Wright, he sees less of
+Eric's _friend_, that young scapegrace Wildney."
+
+"Yes; that little wretch has a good deal to answer for. What a pity that
+Eric spoils him so, or rather suffers himself to be spoilt by him. I'm
+glad Vernon's escaped his influence now; he's too fine a boy to be made
+as bad as the general run of them. What a brilliant little fellow he is;
+just like his brother."
+
+"Just like what his brother _was_," said Owen; "his face, like his
+mind, has suffered lately."
+
+"Too true," answered Montagu, with a sigh; "and yet, cool as we now are
+in our outward intercourse, he little knows how I love him, and yearn
+for the Eric I once knew. Would to God poor Russell had lived, and then
+I believe that Williams wouldn't have gone so for wrong."
+
+"Well, I think there's another chance for him now that--that--what name
+is bad enough, for that Brigson?--is gone."
+
+"I hope so. But"--he added after a pause--"his works do follow him. Look
+there!" He took a large stone and threw it into the Silverburn stream;
+there was a great splash, and then ever-widening circles of blue ripple
+broke the surface of the water, dying away one by one in the sedges on
+the bank. "There," he said, "see how long those ripples last, and how
+numerous they are."
+
+Owen understood him. "Poor Williams! What a gleam of new hope there was
+in him after Russell's death!"
+
+"Yes, for a time," said Montagu; "heigh ho! I fear we shall never be
+warm friends again. We can't be while he goes on as he is doing. And yet
+I love him."
+
+A sudden turn of the stream brought them to the place called Riverbend.
+
+"If you want a practical comment on what we've been talking about,
+you'll see it there," said Montagu.
+
+He pointed to a party of boys, four or five, all lying on a pleasant
+grass bank, smoking pipes. Prominent among them was Eric, stretched at
+ease, and looking up at the clouds, towards which curled the puffed
+fumes of his meerschaum--a gift of Wildney's. That worthy was beside him
+similarly employed.
+
+The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did not
+wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances. But they
+saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of laughter which
+followed his remarks, they had little doubt that they were the subject
+of the young gentleman's wit. This is never a pleasant sensation; but
+they observed that Eric made a point of not looking their way, and went
+on in silence.
+
+"How very sad!" said Montagu.
+
+"How very contemptible!" said Owen.
+
+"Did you observe what they were doing?"
+
+"Smoking?"
+
+"Worse than that a good deal. They were doing something which, if Eric
+doesn't take care, will one day be his ruin."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I saw them drinking. I have little doubt it was brandy."
+
+"Good heavens!"
+
+"It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the ripples,
+you see, of Brigson's influence."
+
+Before they got home they caught up Wright and Vernon, and walked in
+together.
+
+"We've been talking," said Wright, "about a bad matter. Vernon here says
+that there's no good working for a prize in his form, because the
+cribbing's so atrocious. Indeed, it's very nearly as bad in my form. It
+always is under Gordon; he _can't_ understand fellows doing
+dishonorable things."
+
+"It's a great bore in the weekly examinations," said Vernon; "every now
+and then Gordon will even leave the room for a few minutes, and then out
+come dozens of books."
+
+"Well, Wright," said Montagu, "if that happens again next examination,
+I'd speak out about it."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Why, I'd get every fellow who disapproves of it to give me his name,
+and get up and read the list, and say that you at least have pledged
+yourselves not to do it."
+
+"Humph! I don't know how that would answer. They'd half kill me for one
+thing."
+
+"Never mind; do your duty. I wish I'd such an opportunity, if only to
+show how sorry I am for my own past unfairness."
+
+And so talking, the four went in, and the two elder went to their study.
+
+It was too true that drinking had become a common vice at Roslyn school.
+Accordingly, when Eric came in with Wildney about half an hour after,
+Owen and Montagu heard them talk about ordering some brandy, and then
+arrange to have a "jollification," that evening.
+
+They got the brandy through "Billy." One of Brigson's most cursed
+legacies to the school was the introduction of this man to a nefarious
+intercourse with the boys. His character was so well known that it had
+long been forbidden, under the strictest penalty, for any boy ever to
+speak to him; yet, strange to say, they seemed to take a pleasure in
+doing so, and just now particularly it was thought a fine thing, a sign
+of "pluck" and "anti-muffishness," to be on familiar and intimate terms
+with that degraded and villainous scoundrel.
+
+Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him in his
+escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He had not been
+altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of rough honesty and
+good sense about him, which preserved him from the worst and most
+dangerous failings, and his character had been gradually improving as he
+mounted higher in the school. He was getting steadier, more diligent,
+more thoughtful, more manly; he was passing through that change so
+frequent in boys as they grow older, to which Eric was so sad an
+exception. Accordingly Duncan, though sincerely fond of Eric, had
+latterly disapproved vehemently of his proceedings, and had therefore
+taken to snubbing his old friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to
+have an infatuation, and who was the means of involving him in every
+kind of impropriety and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what
+was intended, sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney,
+Graham, and Pietrie, had the room to themselves. Several of them were
+lower boys still, but they came to the studies after bed-time, according
+to Wildney's almost nightly custom.
+
+A little pebble struck the study window.
+
+"Hurrah!" said Wildney, clapping his hands, "here's the grub."
+
+They opened the window and looked out. Billy was there, and they let
+down to him a long piece of cord, to which he attached a basket, and,
+after bidding them "Good night, and a merry drink," retired. No sooner
+had they shut the window, than he grimaced as usual towards them, and
+shook his fist in a sort of demoniacal exultation, muttering, "Oh, I'll
+have you all under my thumb yet, you fine young fools!"
+
+Meanwhile the unconscious boys had opened the basket, and spread its
+contents on the table. They were, bread, a large dish of sausages, a
+tart, beer, and, alas! a bottle of brandy.
+
+They soon got very noisy, and at last uproarious. The snatches of songs,
+peals of laughter, and rattle of plates, at last grew so loud that the
+other study-boys were afraid lest one of the masters should come up and
+catch the revellers. All of them heard every word that was spoken by
+Eric and his party as the walls between the rooms were very thin; and
+very objectionable much of the conversation was.
+
+"This _won't_ do," said Duncan emphatically, after a louder burst of
+merriment than usual; "those fellows are getting drunk; I can tell it to
+a certainty from the confused and random way in which some of them
+are talking."
+
+"We'd better go in and speak to them," said Montagu; "at any rate,
+they've no right to disturb us all night. Will you come?"
+
+"I'll join you," said Owen; "though I'm afraid my presence won't do you
+much good."
+
+The three boys went to the door of Eric's study, and their knock could
+not at first be heard for the noise. When they went in they found a
+scene of reckless disorder; books were scattered about, plates and
+glasses lay broken on the floor, beer was spilt on all sides, and there
+was an intolerable smell of brandy.
+
+"If you fellows don't care," said Duncan, sharply, "Rose or somebody'll
+be coming up and catching you. It's ten now."
+
+"What's that to you?" answered Graham, with an insolent look.
+
+"It's something to me that you nice young men have been making such a
+row that none of the rest of us can hear our own voices, and that,
+between you, you've made this study in such a mess that I can't
+endure it."
+
+"Pooh!" said Pietrie; "we're all getting such saints, that one can't
+have the least bit of spree now-a-days."
+
+"Spree!" burst in Montagu indignantly; "fine spree, to make sots of
+yourselves with spirits; fine spree, to----"
+
+"Amen!" said Wildney, who was perched on the back of a chair; and he
+turned up his eyes and clasped his hands with a mock-heroic air.
+
+"There, Williams," continued Montagu, pointing to the
+mischievous-looking little boy; "see that spectacle, and be ashamed of
+yourself, if you can. That's what you lead boys to! Are you anxious to
+become the teacher of drunkenness?"
+
+In truth, there was good ground for his sorrowful apostrophe, for the
+scene was very painful to a high-minded witness.
+
+They hardly understood the look on Eric's countenance; he had been
+taking far more than was good for him; his eyes sparkled fiercely, and
+though as yet he said nothing, he seemed to be resenting the intrusion
+in furious silence.
+
+"How much longer is this interesting lecture to last?" asked Bull, with
+his usual insufferable drawl; "for I want to finish my brandy."
+
+Montagu rather looked as if he intended to give the speaker a box on the
+ear; but he was just deciding that Bull wasn't worth the trouble, when
+Wildney, who had been grimacing all the time, burst into a fit
+of laughter.
+
+"Let's turn out these impudent lower-school fellows," said Montagu,
+speaking to Duncan. "Here! you go first," he said, seizing Wildney by
+the arm, and giving him a swing, which, as he was by no means steady on
+his legs, brought him sprawling to the ground.
+
+"By Jove, I won't stand this any longer," shouted Eric, springing up
+ferociously. "What on earth do you mean by daring to come in like this?
+Do you hear?"
+
+Montagu took no sort of notice of his threatening gesture, for he was
+looking to see if Wildney was hurt, and finding he was not, proceeded to
+drag him out, struggling and kicking frantically.
+
+"Drop me, you fellow, drop me, I say. I won't go for you," cried
+Wildney, shaking with passion. "Eric, why do you let him bully me?"
+
+"You let him go this minute," repeated Eric, hoarsely.
+
+"I shall do no such thing. You don't know what you're about."
+
+"Don't I? Well, then, take _that_, to show whether I do or no!" and
+suddenly leaning forward, he struck Montagu a violent back-handed blow
+on the mouth.
+
+Everybody saw it, everybody heard it; and it instantly astounded them
+into silence. That Montagu should have been struck in public, and that
+by Eric--by a boy who had loved him, and whom he had loved--by a boy who
+had been his schoolfellow for three years now, and whose whole life
+seemed bound to him by so many associations; it was strange, and
+sad indeed.
+
+Montagu sprang straight upright; for an instant he took one stride
+towards his striker with lifted hand and lightning eyes, while the blood
+started to his lips in consequence of the blow. But he stopped suddenly
+and his hand fell to his side; by a strong effort of self-control he
+contrived to master himself, and sitting down quite quietly on a chair,
+he put his white handkerchief to his wounded mouth, and took it away
+stained with blood.
+
+No one spoke; and rising with quiet dignity, he went back into his study
+without a word.
+
+"Very well," said Duncan; "you may all do as you like; only I heartily
+hope now you will be caught. Come, Owen."
+
+"Oh, Williams," said Owen, "you are changed indeed, to treat your best
+friend so."
+
+But Eric was excited with drink, and the slave of every evil passion at
+that moment. "Serve him right," he said; "what business has he to
+interfere with what I choose to do?"
+
+There was no more noise that night. Wildney and the rest slunk off
+ashamed and frightened, and Eric, leaving his candle flaring on the
+table, went down to his bed-room, where he was very sick. He had neither
+strength nor spirit to undress, and flung himself into bed just as was.
+When they heard that he was gone, Owen and Duncan (for Montagu was
+silent and melancholy) went into his study, put out the candle, and had
+only just cleared away, to the best of their power, the traces of the
+carouse, when Dr. Rowlands came up stairs on his usual nightly rounds.
+They had been lighting brown paper to take away the fumes of the brandy,
+and the Doctor asked them casually the cause of the smell of burning.
+Neither of them answered, and seeing Owen there, in whom he placed
+implicit trust, the Doctor thought no more about it.
+
+Eric awoke with a bad headache, and a sense of shame and sickness. When
+he got up he felt most wretched, and while washing he thought to
+himself, "Ah! that I could thus wash away the memory of last night!" Of
+course, after what had occurred, Eric and Montagu were no longer on
+speaking terms, and miserable as poor Eric felt when he saw how his blow
+had bruised and disfigured his friend's face, he made no advances. He
+longed, indeed, from his inmost heart, to be reconciled to him; but
+feeling that he had done grievous wrong, he dreaded a repulse, and his
+pride would not suffer him to run the risk. So he pretended to feel no
+regret, and, supported by his late boon-companions, represented the
+matter as occurring in the defence of Wildney, whom Montagu
+was bullying.
+
+Montagu, too, was very miserable; but he felt that, although ready to
+forgive Eric, he could not, in common self-respect, take the first step
+to a reconciliation: indeed, he rightly thought that it was not for
+Eric's good that he should do so.
+
+"You and Williams appear never to speak to each other now," said Mr.
+Rose. "I am sorry for it, Monty; I think you are the only boy who has
+any influence over him."
+
+"I fear you are mistaken, sir, in that. Little Wildney has much more."
+
+"Wildney?" asked Mr. Rose, in sorrowful surprise. "Wildney more
+influence than _you_?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Ah, that our poor Edwin had lived!"
+
+So, with a sigh, Walter Rose and Harry Montagu buried their friendship
+for Eric until happier days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ERIC AND MONTAGU
+
+     "And constancy lives in realms above;
+       And life is thorny; and youth is vain;
+     And to be wroth with one we love,
+       Doth work like madness in the brain.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Each spoke words of high disdain
+       And insult to his heart's best brother."
+
+     COLERIDGE'S _Christabel_.
+
+Wright had not forgotten Montagu's advice, and had endeavored to get the
+names of boys who wern't afraid to scout publicly the disgrace of
+cheating in form. But he could only get one name promised him--the name
+of Vernon Williams; and feeling how little could be gained by using it,
+he determined to spare Vernon the trial, and speak, if he spoke at all,
+on his own responsibility.
+
+As usual, the cribbing at the next weekly examination was well-nigh
+universal, and when Mr. Gordon went out to fetch something he had
+forgotten, merely saying, "I trust to your honor not to abuse my
+absence," books and papers were immediately pulled out with the coolest
+and most unblushing indifference.
+
+This was the time for Wright to deliver his conscience; he had counted
+the cost, and, rightly or wrongly considering it to be his duty, he had
+decided that speak he would. He well knew that his interference would
+be attributed to jealousy, meanness, sneaking, and every kind of wrong
+motive, since he was himself one of the greatest sufferers from the
+prevalent dishonesty; but still he had come to the conclusion that he
+_ought_ not to draw back, and therefore he bravely determined that he
+would make his protest, whatever happened.
+
+So, very nervously, he rose and said, "I want to tell you all that I
+think this cheating very wrong and blackguardly. I don't mind losing by
+it myself, but if Vernon Williams loses the prize in the lower fourth,
+and any one gets it by copying, I've made up my mind to tell Gordon."
+
+His voice trembled a little at first, but he spoke fast, and acquired
+firmness as he went on. Absolute astonishment and curiosity had held the
+boys silent with amazement, but by the end of this sentence they had
+recovered themselves, and a perfect burst of derision and
+indignation followed.
+
+"Let's see if _that'll_ cut short his oration," said Wildney, throwing a
+book at his head, which was instantly followed by others from
+all quarters.
+
+"My word! we've had nothing but lectures lately," said Brooking. "Horrid
+little Owenite saint."
+
+"Saint!--sneak, you mean. I'll teach him," growled Pietrie, and jumping
+up, he belabored Wright's head with the Latin grammar out of which he
+had just been cribbing.
+
+The whole room was in confusion and hubbub, during which Wright sat
+stock still, quietly enduring without bowing to the storm.
+
+Only one boy sympathised with him, but he did so deeply--poor little
+penitent Vernon. He felt his position hard because Wright had alluded so
+prominently to him, and he knew how much he must be misconstrued, but he
+had his brother's spirit, and would not shrink. Amid the tumult he got
+up in his seat, and they heard his pleasant, childish voice saying
+boldly, "I hope Wright won't tell; but he's the best fellow in the room,
+and cribbing _is_ a shame, as he says."
+
+What notice would have been taken of this speech is doubtful, for at the
+critical moment Mr. Gordon reappeared, and the whispered cave caused
+instantaneous quiet.
+
+Poor Wright awaited with some dread the end of school; and many an angry
+kick and blow he got, though he disarmed malice by the spirit and
+heroism with which he endured them. The news of his impudence spread
+like wildfire, and not five boys in the school approved of what he had
+done, while most of them were furious at his ill-judged threat of
+informing Mr. Gordon. There was a general agreement to thrash him after
+roll-call that afternoon.
+
+Eric had lately taken a violent dislike to Wright, though he had been
+fond of him in better days. He used to denounce him as a disagreeable
+and pragmatical little muff, and was as loud as any of them in
+condemning his announced determination to "sneak." Had he known that
+Wright had acted under Montagu's well-meant, though rather mistaken
+advice, he might have abstained from having anything more to do with the
+matter, but now he promised to kick Wright himself after the four
+o'clock bell.
+
+Four o'clock came; the names were called; the master left the room.
+Wright, who perfectly knew what was threatened, stood there pale but
+fearless. His indifferent look was an additional annoyance to Eric, who
+walked up to him carelessly, and boxing his ears, though without hurting
+him, said contemptuously, "Conceited little sneak."
+
+Montagu had been told of the intended kicking, and had determined even
+single-handed to prevent it. He did _not_, however, expect that Eric
+would have taken part in it, and was therefore unprepared. The color
+rushed into his cheeks; he went up, took Wright quietly by the hand, and
+said with firm determination, "No one in the school shall touch
+Wright again."
+
+"What? no one! just hark to that," said Graham; "I suppose he thinks
+himself cock of the school."
+
+Eric quite misunderstood Montagu's proceedings; he took it for a public
+challenge. All the Rowlandites were round, and to yield would have
+looked like cowardice. Above all, his evil genius Wildney was by, and
+said, "How very nice! another dictation lesson!"
+
+A threatening circle had formed round Montagu, but his closed lips, and
+flushing brow, and dilated nostrils, betrayed a spirit which made them
+waver, and he quietly repeated, "No one shall touch you, Wright."
+
+"They _will_, though," said Eric instantly; "_I_ will, for one, and I
+should like to see you prevent me." And so saying he gave Wright another
+slight blow.
+
+Montagu dropped Wright's hand and said slowly, "Eric Williams, I have
+taken one unexpected blow from you without a word, and bear the marks of
+it yet. It is time to show that it was _not_ through cowardice that I
+did not return it. Will you fight?"
+
+The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the school
+knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the
+sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined to fight with
+Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.
+
+"I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once," he answered,
+falteringly, "and we have been friends--"
+
+But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two should
+fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that Montagu's
+authority, which stood in their way, might be flung aside. So Brooking
+whispered in an audible voice--
+
+"Faith! he's showing the white feather."
+
+"You're a liar!" flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he said--"There!
+I'll fight you this moment."
+
+Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for action. A
+ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of sixteen, like
+Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles have usually been
+decided in their earlier school-days; and it was also but seldom that
+two boys so strong, active, and prominent, took this method of settling
+their differences.
+
+The fight began, and at first the popular favor was entirely on the side
+of Eric, while Montagu found few or none to back him. But he fought with
+a fire and courage which soon won applause; and as Eric, on the other
+hand, was random and spiritless, the cry was soon pretty fairly divided
+between them.
+
+After a sharp round they paused for breath, and Owen, who had been a
+silent and disgusted spectator of such a combat between boys of such
+high standing, said with much, feeling--
+
+"This is not a very creditable affair, Montagu."
+
+"It is necessary," was Montagu's laconic reply.
+
+Among other boys who had left the room before the fracas had taken
+place, was Vernon Williams, who shrank away to avoid the pain of seeing
+his new friend Wright bullied and tormented. But curiosity soon took him
+back, and he came in just as the second round began. At first he only
+saw a crowd of boys in the middle of the room, but jumping on a desk he
+had a full view of what was going on.
+
+There was a tremendous hubbub of voices, and Eric, now thoroughly roused
+by the remarks he overheard, and especially by Wildney's whisper that
+"he was letting himself be licked," was exerting himself with more vigor
+and effect. It was anything but a noble sight; the faces of the
+combatants were streaked with blood and sweat, and as the miserable gang
+of lower school-boys backed them on with eager shouts of--"Now Eric, now
+Eric," "Now Montagu, go it, sixth, form," etc., both of them fought
+under a sense of deep disgrace, increased by the recollections which
+they shared in common.
+
+All this Vernon marked in a moment, and, filled with pain and vexation,
+his said in a voice which, though low, could be heard amid all the
+uproar, "Oh Eric, Eric, fighting with Montagu!" There was reproach and
+sorrow in the tone, which touched more than one boy there, for Vernon,
+spite of the recent change in him, could not but continue a favorite.
+
+"Shut up there, you little donkey," shouted one or two, looking back at
+him for a moment.
+
+But Eric heard the words, and knew that it was his brother's voice. The
+thought rushed on him how degraded his whole position was, and how
+different it might have been. He felt that he was utterly in the wrong,
+and Montagu altogether in the right; and from that moment his blows once
+more grew feeble and ill-directed. When they again stopped to take rest,
+the general shout for Montagu showed that he was considered to have the
+best of it.
+
+"I'm getting so tired of this," muttered Eric, during the pause.
+
+"Why, you're fighting like a regular muff," said Graham; "you'll have to
+acknowledge yourself thrashed in a minute."
+
+"That I'll _never_ do," he said, once more firing up.
+
+Just as the third round began, Duncan came striding in, for Owen, who
+had left the room, told him what was going on. He had always been a
+leading fellow, and quite recently his influence had several times been
+exerted in the right direction, and he was very much looked up to by all
+the boys alike, good or bad. He determined, for the credit of the sixth,
+that the fight should not go on, and bursting into the ring, with his
+strong shoulders he hurled on each side the boys who stood in his way,
+and struck down the lifted arms of the fighters.
+
+"You _shan't_ fight," he said, doggedly, thrusting himself between them;
+"so there's an end of it. If you do, you'll both have to fight
+me first."
+
+"Shame!" said several of the boys, and the cry was caught up by Bull and
+others.
+
+"Shame, is it?" said Duncan, and his lip curled with scorn. "There's
+only one way to argue with, you fellows. Bull, if you, or any other boy,
+repeat that word, I'll thrash him. Here, Monty, come away from this
+disgraceful scene."
+
+"I'm sick enough of it," said Montagu, "and am ready to stop if Williams
+is,--provided no one touches Wright."
+
+"I'm sick of it too," said Eric sullenly.
+
+"Then you two shall shake hands," said Duncan.
+
+For one instant--an instant which he regretted till the end of his
+life--Montagu drew himself up and hesitated. He had been deeply wronged,
+deeply provoked, and no one could blame him for the momentary feeling:
+but Eric had observed the gesture, and his passionate pride took the
+alarm. "It's come to this, then," he thought; "Montagu doesn't think me
+good enough to be shaken hands with."
+
+"Pish!" he said aloud, in a tone of sarcasm; "it may be an awful honor
+to shake hands with such an immaculate person as Montagu, but I'm not
+proud on the subject;" and he turned away.
+
+Montagu's hesitation was but momentary, and without a particle of anger
+or indignation he sorrowfully held out his hand. It was too late; that
+moment had done the mischief, and it was now Eric's turn coldly
+to withdraw.
+
+"You don't think me worthy of your friendship, and what's the good of
+grasping hands if we don't do it with cordial hearts?"
+
+Montagu's lip trembled, but he said nothing, and quietly putting on his
+coat, waved back the throng of boys with a proud sweep of his arm, and
+left the room with Duncan.
+
+"Come along, Wright," he said.
+
+"Nay, leave him," said Eric with a touch of remorse. "Much as you think
+me beneath you, I have honor enough to see that no one hurts him."
+
+The group of boys gradually dispersed, but one or two remained with
+Eric, although he was excessively wearied by their observations.
+
+"You didn't fight half like yourself," said Wildney.
+
+"Can't you tell why? I had the wrong side to fight for." And getting up
+abruptly, he left the room, to be alone in his study, and bathe his
+swollen and aching face.
+
+In a few minutes Vernon joined him, and at the mere sight of him Eric
+burst into tears of shame. That evening with Vernon in the study, after
+the dinner at the Jolly Herring, had revived all his really warm
+affection for his little brother; and as he could no longer conceal the
+line he took in the school, they had been often together since then; and
+Eric's moral obliquity was not so great as to prevent him from feeling
+deep joy at the change for the better in Vernon's character.
+
+"Verny, Verny," he said, as the boy came up and affectionately took his
+hand, "it was you who lost me that fight."
+
+"Oh, but, Eric, you were fighting with Montagu."
+
+"Don't you remember the days, Eric," he continued, "when we were
+home-boarders, and how kind Monty used to be to me even then, and how
+mother liked him, and thought him quite your truest friend, except
+poor Russell?"
+
+"I do, indeed. I didn't think then that it would come to this."
+
+"I've always been _so_ sorry," said Vernon, "that I joined the fellows
+in playing him tricks. I can't think how I came to do it, except that
+I've done such lots of bad things here. But he's forgiven and forgotten
+that long ago, and is very kind to me now."
+
+It was true; but Eric didn't know that half the kindness which Montagu
+showed to his brother was shown solely for _his_ sake.
+
+"Do you know, I've thought of a plan for making you two friends again?
+I've written to Aunt Trevor to ask him to Fairholm with us next
+holidays."
+
+"Oh, have you? Good Verny! Yes; _there_ we might be friends. Perhaps
+there," he added, half to himself, "I might be more like what I was in
+better days."
+
+"But it's a long time to look forward to. Easter hasn't come yet," said
+Vernon.
+
+So the two young boys proposed; but God had disposed it otherwise.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PIGEONS
+
+     "Et motae ad Lunam trepidabis arundinis umbram."
+
+     Juv. X. 21.
+
+"How awfully dull it is, Charlie," said Eric, a few weeks before Easter,
+as he sat with Wildney in his study one holiday afternoon.
+
+"Yes; too late for football, too early for cricket." And Wildney
+stretched himself and yawned.
+
+"I suppose this is what they call ennui," said Eric again, after a
+pause. "What is to be done, Sunbeam?"
+
+"You _shan't_ call me that, so there's an end of it," said Wildney,
+hitting him on the arm.
+
+"By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow's my birth-day, and I've got
+a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home. Let's go and see
+if it's come."
+
+"Capital! We will."
+
+So Eric and Wildney started off to the coach-office, where they found
+the hamper, and ordered it to be brought at once to the school, and
+carried up to Eric's study.
+
+On opening it they found it rich in dainties, among which were a pair of
+fowls and a large plum-cake.
+
+"Hurrah!" said Wildney, "you were talking of nothing to do; I vote we
+have a carouse to-morrow."
+
+"Very well; only let's have it _before_ prayers, because we were so
+nearly caught last time."
+
+"Ay, and let it be in one of the class-rooms, Eric; not up here, lest
+we have another incursion of the 'Rosebuds.' I shall have to cut
+preparation, but that don't matter, It's Harley's night, and old Stupid
+will never twig."
+
+"Well, whom shall we ask?" said Eric.
+
+"Old Llewellyn for one," said Wildney. "We havn't seen him for an age,
+and he's getting too lazy even for a bit of fun."
+
+"Good; and Graham," suggested Eric. He and Wildney regarded their
+possessions so much as common property, that he hadn't the least
+delicacy in mentioning the boys whom he wanted to invite.
+
+"Yes; Graham's a jolly bird; and Bull?"
+
+"I've no objection; and Pietrie?"
+
+"Well; and your brother Vernon?"
+
+"No!" said Eric, emphatically. "At any rate I won't lead _him_ into
+mischief any more."
+
+"Attlay, then; and what do you say to Brooking?"
+
+"No, again," said Eric; "he's a blackguard."
+
+"I wonder you haven't mentioned Duncan," said Wildney.
+
+"Duncan! why, my dear child, you might as well ask Owen, or even old
+Rose, at once. Bless you, Charlie, he's a great deal too correct to
+come now."
+
+"Well; we've got six already, that's quite enough."
+
+"Yes; but two fowls isn't enough for six hungry boys."
+
+"No, it isn't," said Wildney. He thought a little, and then, clapping
+his hands, danced about and said, "Are you game for a _regular_
+lark, Eric?"
+
+"Yes; anything to make it less dull. I declare I've very nearly been
+taking to work again to fill up the time."
+
+Eric often talked now of work in this slighting way partly as an excuse
+for the low places in form to which he was gradually sinking. Everybody
+knew that had he properly exerted his abilities he was capable of
+beating almost any boy; so, to quiet his conscience, he professed to
+ridicule diligence as an unboyish piece of muffishness, and was never
+slow to sneer at the "grinders," as he contemptuously called all those
+who laid themselves out to win school distinctions.
+
+"Ha, ha!" said Wildney, "that's rather good! No, Eric, it's too late for
+you to turn 'grinder' now. I might as well think of doing it myself, and
+I've never been higher than five from lag in my form yet."
+
+"Haven't you? But what's the regular lark you hinted at?"
+
+"Why, we'll go and seize the Gordonites' _pigeons_, and make another
+dish of them."
+
+"Seize the Gordonites' pigeons! Why, when do you mean?"
+
+"To-night."
+
+Eric gave a long whistle. "But wouldn't it be st--t--?"
+
+"Stealing?" said Wildney, with a loud laugh. "Pooh! '_convey_ the wise
+call it.'"
+
+But Eric still looked serious. "Why, my dear old boy," continued
+Wildney, "the Gordonites'll be the first to laugh at the trick when we
+tell them of it next morning, as of course we will do. There, now, don't
+look grumpy. I shall cut away and arrange it with. Graham, and tell you
+the whole dodge ready prepared to-night at bed-time."
+
+After lights were put out, Wildney came up to the study according to
+promise, and threw out hints about the proposed plan. He didn't tell it
+plainly, because Duncan was there, but Duncan caught enough to guess
+what was intended, and said, when Wildney had gone--
+
+"Take my advice, and have nothing to do with this, Eric."
+
+Eric had grown very touchy lately about advice, particularly from any
+fellow of his own standing; and after the checks he had recently
+received, a coolness had sprung up between him and nearly all the
+study-boys, which made him more than ever inclined to assert his
+independence, and defy and thwart them in every way.
+
+"Keep your advice to yourself, Duncan, till it's asked for," he
+answered, roughly. "You've done nothing but _advise_ lately, and I'm
+rather sick of it."
+
+"Comme vous voulez," replied Duncan, with a shrug. "Gang your own gait;
+I'll have nothing more to do with trying to stop you, since you _will_
+ruin yourself."
+
+Nothing more was said in the study that evening, and when Eric went down
+he didn't even bid Duncan goodnight.
+
+"Charlie," he said, as he stole on tiptoe into Wildney's dormitory.
+
+"Hush!" whispered Wildney, "the other fellows are asleep. Come and sit
+by my bedside, and I'll tell you what we're going to do."
+
+Eric went and sat by him, and he sat up in his bed "First of all,
+_you're_ to keep awake till twelve to-night," he whispered; "old
+Rowley'll have gone round by that time, and it'll be all safe. Then come
+and awake me again, and I'll watch till one, Pietrie till two, and
+Graham till three. Then Graham'll awake us all, and we'll dress."
+
+"Very well. But how will you get the key of the lavatory?"
+
+"Oh, I'll manage that," said Wildney, chuckling. "But come again and
+awake me at twelve, will you?"
+
+Eric went to his room and lay down, but he didn't take off his clothes,
+for fear he should go to sleep. Dr. Rowlands came round as usual at
+eleven, and then Eric closed his eyes for a few minutes, till the
+head-master had disappeared. After that he lay awake thinking for an
+hour, but his thoughts weren't very pleasant.
+
+At twelve he went and awoke Wildney.
+
+"I don't feel very sleepy. Shall I sit with you for your hour, Charlie?"
+
+"Oh, do! I should like it of all things. But douse the glim there; we
+shan't want it, and it might give the alarm."
+
+"All right."
+
+So Eric went and sat by his dangerous little friend, and they talked in
+low voices until they heard the great school clock strike one. They then
+woke Pietrie, and Eric went off to bed again.
+
+At three Graham awoke him, and dressing hastily, he joined the others in
+the lavatory.
+
+"Now, I'm going to get the key," said Wildney, "and mean to have a
+stomach-ache for the purpose."
+
+Laughing quietly he went up to the door of Mr. Harley's bed-room, which
+opened out of the lavatory, and knocked.
+
+No answer. He knocked a little louder. Still no answer. Louder still.
+
+"Bother the fellow," said Wildney; "he sleeps like a grampus. Won't one
+of you try to wake him?"
+
+"No," said Graham; "'taint dignified for fifth-form boys to have
+stomach-aches."
+
+"Well, I must try again." But it seemed no use knocking, and Wildney at
+last, in a fit of impatience, thumped a regular tattoo on the
+bed-room door.
+
+"Who's there?" said the startled voice of Mr. Harley.
+
+"Only me, sir!" answered Wildney, in a mild and innocent way.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Please, sir, I want the key of the lavatory. I'm indisposed," said
+Wildney again, in a tone of such disciplined suavity, that the others
+shook with laughing.
+
+Mr. Harley opened the door about an inch, and peered about suspiciously.
+
+"Oh, well, you must go and awake Mr. Rose. I don't happen to have the
+key to-night." And so saying, he shut the door.
+
+"Phew! Here's a go!" said Wildney, recovering immediately. "It'll never
+do to awake old Rose. He'd smell a rat in no time."
+
+"I have it," said Pietrie. "I've got an old nail, with which I believe I
+can open the lock quite simply. Let's try."
+
+"Quietly and quick, then," said Eric.
+
+In ten minutes he had silently shot back the lock with the old nail, and
+the boys were on the landing. They carried their shoes in their hands,
+ran noiselessly down stairs, and went to the same window at which Eric
+and Wildney had got out before. Wildney had taken care beforehand to
+break the pane and move away the glass, so they had only to loosen the
+bar and slip through one by one.
+
+It was cold and very dark, and as on the March morning they stood out
+in the playground, all four would rather have been safe and harmlessly
+in bed. But the novelty and the excitement of the enterprise bore them
+up, and they started off quickly for the house at which Mr. Gordon and
+his pupils lived, which was about half a mile from the school. They went
+arm in arm to assure each other a little, for at first in their fright
+they were inclined to take every post and tree for a man in ambush, and
+to hear a recalling voice in every sound of wind and wave.
+
+Not far from Mr. Gordon's was a carpenter's shop, and outside of this
+there was generally a ladder standing. They had arranged to carry this
+ladder with them (as it was only a short one), climb the low garden wall
+with it, and then place it against the house, immediately under the
+dovecot which hung by the first story-windows. Wildney, as the lightest
+of the four, was to take the birds, while the others held the ladder.
+
+Slanting it so that it should be as far from the side of the window as
+possible, Wildney ascended and thrust both hands into the cot. He
+succeeded in seizing a pigeon with each hand, but in doing so threw the
+other birds into a state of such alarm that they fluttered about in the
+wildest manner, and the moment his hands were withdrawn, flew out with a
+great flapping of hurried wings.
+
+The noise they made alarmed the plunderer, and he hurried down the
+ladder as fast as he could. He handed the pigeons to the others, who
+instantly wrung their necks.
+
+"I'm nearly sure I heard somebody stir," said Wildney; "we haven't been
+half quiet enough. Here! let's crouch down in this corner."
+
+All four shrank up as close to the wall as they could, and held their
+breath. Some one was certainly stirring, and at last they heard the
+window open. A head was thrust out, and Mr. Gordon's voice asked
+sternly--"Who's there?"
+
+He seemed at once to have caught sight of the ladder, and made an
+endeavor to reach it; but though he stretched out his arm at full
+length, he could not do so.
+
+"We must cut for it," said Eric; "it's quite too dark for him to see us,
+or even to notice that we are boys."
+
+They moved the ladder to the wall, and sprang over, one after the other,
+as fast as they could. Eric was last, and just as he got to the top of
+the wall he heard the back door open, and some one run out into
+the yard.
+
+"Run for your lives," said Eric hurriedly; "it's Gordon, and he's
+raising the alarm."
+
+They heard footsteps following them, and an occasional shout of
+"thieves! thieves!"
+
+"We must separate and run different ways, or we've no chance of escape.
+We'd better turn towards the town to put them off the right scent," said
+Eric again.
+
+"Don't leave me," pleaded Wildney; "you know I can't run very fast."
+
+"No, Charlie, I won't;" and grasping his hand, Eric hurried him over the
+style and through the fields, while Pietrie and Graham took the opposite
+direction.
+
+Some one (they did not know who it was, but suspected it to be Mr.
+Gordon's servant-man) was running after them, and they could distinctly
+hear his footsteps, which seemed to be half a field distant. He carried
+a light, and they heard him panting. They were themselves tired, and in
+the utmost trepidation; the usually courageous Wildney was trembling all
+over, and his fear communicated itself to Eric. Horrible visions of a
+trial for burglary, imprisonment in the castle jail, and perhaps
+transportation, presented themselves to their excited imaginations, as
+the sound of the footsteps came nearer.
+
+"I can't run any further, Eric," said Wildney. "What shall we do? don't
+leave me, for heaven's sake."
+
+"Not I, Charlie. We must hide the minute we get t'other side of this
+hedge."
+
+They scrambled over the gate, and plunged into the thickest part of a
+plantation close by, lying down on the ground behind some bushes, and
+keeping as still as they could, taking care to cover over their
+white collars.
+
+The pursuer reached the gate, and no longer hearing footsteps in front
+of him, he paused. He went a little distance up the hedge on both sides
+and held up his light, but did not detect the cowering boys, and at last
+giving up the search in despair, went slowly home. They heard him
+plodding back over the field, and it was not until the sound of his
+footsteps had died away, that Eric cautiously broke cover, and looked
+over the hedge. He saw the man's light gradually getting more distant,
+and said, "All right now, Charlie. We must make the best of our
+way home."
+
+"Are you sure he's gone?" said Wildney, who had not yet recovered from
+his fright.
+
+"Quite; come along. I only hope Pietrie and Graham ain't caught."
+
+They got back about half-past four, and climbed in unheard and
+undetected through the window pane. They then stole up stairs with
+beating hearts, and sat in Eric's room to wait for the other two. To
+their great relief they heard them enter the lavatory about ten
+minutes after.
+
+"Were you twigged?" asked Wildney eagerly.
+
+"No," said Graham; "precious near it though. Old Gordon and some men
+were after us, but at last we doubled rather neatly, and escaped them.
+It's all serene, and we shan't be caught."
+
+"Well, we'd best to bed now," said Eric; "and, to my thinking, we should
+be wise to keep a quiet tongue in our heads about this affair."
+
+"Yes, we had better tell _no one_." They agreed, and went off to bed
+again. So, next morning, they all four got up quite as if nothing had
+happened, and made no allusion to the preceding night, although, they
+could not help chuckling inwardly a little when the Gordonites came to
+morning school, brimful of a story about their house having been
+attacked in the night by thieves, who, after bagging some pigeons, had
+been chevied by Gordon and the servants. Wildney professed immense
+interest in the incident, and asked many questions, which showed that
+there was not a shadow of suspicion in any one's mind as to the
+real culprits.
+
+Carter, the school servant, didn't seem to have noticed that the
+lavatory door was unlocked, and Mr. Harley never alluded again to his
+disturbance in the night. So the theft of the pigeons remained
+undiscovered, and remains so till this day. If any old Roslyn boy reads
+this veracious history, he will doubtless be astounded to hear that the
+burglars on that memorable night were Brio, Pietrie, Graham,
+and Wildney.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+     "Praepediuntur
+     Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens,
+     Nant oculi."
+
+     LUCR. iii. 417.
+
+Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got everything
+ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney, relying on the chance
+of names not being called over (which, was only done in case any one's
+absence was observed), had absented himself altogether from the
+boarders' room, and helped busily to spread the table for the banquet.
+The cook had roasted for them the fowls and pigeons, and Billy had
+brought an ample supply of beer and some brandy for the occasion. A
+little before eight o'clock everything was ready, and Eric, Attlay, and
+Llewellyn were summoned to join the rest.
+
+The fowls, pigeons, and beer had soon vanished, and the boys were in the
+highest spirits. Eric's reckless gaiety was kindled by Wildney's
+frolicsome vivacity, and Graham's sparkling wit; they were all six in a
+roar of perpetual laughter at some fresh sally of fun elicited by the
+more phlegmatic natures of Attlay or Llewellyn, and the dainties of
+Wildney's parcel were accompanied by draughts of brandy and water, which
+were sometimes exchanged for potations of the raw liquor. It was not the
+first time, be it remembered, that the members of that young party had
+been present at similar scenes, and even the scoundrel Billy was
+astonished, and alarmed occasionally at the quantities of spirits and
+other inebriating drinks that of late had found their way to the
+studies. The disgraceful and deadly habit of tippling had already told
+physically on both Eric and Wildney. The former felt painfully that he
+was losing his clear-headedness, and that his intellectual tastes were
+getting not only blunted but destroyed; and while he perceived in
+himself the terrible effects of his sinful indulgence, he saw them still
+more indisputably in the gradual coarseness which seemed to be
+spreading, like a grey lichen, over the countenance, the mind, and the
+manners of his younger companion. Sometimes the vision of a Nemesis
+breaking in fire out of his darkened future, terrified his guilty
+conscience in the watches of the night; and the conviction of some
+fearful Erynnis, some discovery dawning out of the night of his
+undetected sins, made his heart beat fast with agony and fear. But he
+fancied it too late to repent. He strangled the half-formed resolutions
+as they rose, and trusted to the time when, by leaving school, he should
+escape, as he idly supposed, the temptations to which he had yielded.
+Meanwhile, the friends who would have rescued him had been alienated by
+his follies, and the principles which might have preserved him had been
+eradicated by his guilt. He had long flung away the shield of prayer,
+and the helmet of holiness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
+word of God; and now, unarmed and helpless, Eric stood alone, a mark for
+the fiery arrows of his enemies, while, through the weakened inlet of
+every corrupted sense, temptation rushed in upon him perpetually
+and unawares.
+
+As the class-room they had selected was in a remote part of the
+building, there was little immediate chance of detection. So the
+laughter of the party grew louder and sillier; the talk more foolish and
+random; the merriment more noisy and meaningless. But still most of them
+mingled some sense of caution with their enjoyment, and warned Eric and
+Wildney more than once that they must look out, and not take too much
+that night for fear of being caught. But it was Wildney's birth-day, and
+Eric's boyish mirth, suppressed by his recent troubles, was blazing out
+unrestrained. In the riot of their feasting, the caution had been
+utterly neglected, and the boys were far from being sober when the sound
+of the prayer-bell ringing through the great hall, startled them into
+momentary consciousness.
+
+"Good heavens!" shouted Graham, springing up; "there's the prayer-bell;
+I'd no notion it was so late. Here, let's shove these brandy bottles and
+things into the cupboards and drawers, and then we must run down."
+
+There was no time to lose. The least muddled of the party had cleared
+the room in a moment, and then addressed themselves to the more
+difficult task of trying to quiet Eric and Wildney, and conduct them
+steadily into the prayer-room.
+
+Wildney's seat was near the door, so there was little difficulty in
+getting him to his place comparatively unobserved. Llewellyn took him by
+the arm, and after a little stumbling, helped him safely to his seat,
+where he assumed a look of preternatural gravity. But Eric sat near the
+head of the first table, not far from Dr. Rowlands' desk, and none of
+the others had to go to that part of the room. Graham grasped his arm
+tight, led him carefully down stairs, and, as they were reaching the
+door, said to him, in a most earnest and imploring tone--"Do try and
+walk sensibly to your place, Eric, or we shall all be caught."
+
+It was rather late when they got down. Everybody was quietly seated, and
+most of the Bibles were already open, although the Doctor had not yet
+come in. Consequently, the room was still, and the entrance of Graham
+and Eric after the rest attracted general notice. Eric had just sense
+enough to try and assume his ordinary manner; but he was too giddy with
+the fumes of drink to walk straight, or act naturally.
+
+Vernon was sitting next to Wright, and stared at his brother with great
+eyes and open lips. He was not the only observer.
+
+"Wright," whispered he, in a timid voice; "just see how Eric walks. What
+can be the matter with him? Good gracious, he must be ill!" he said,
+starting up, as Eric suddenly made a great stagger to one side, and
+nearly fell in the attempt to recover himself.
+
+Wright pulled the little boy down with a firm hand.
+
+"Hush!" he whispered; "take no notice; he's been drinking, Verny, and I
+fear he'll be caught."
+
+Vernon instantly sat down, and turned deadly pale. He thought, and he
+had hoped, that since the day at the "Jolly Herring," his brother had
+abandoned all such practices, for Eric had been most careful to conceal
+from him the worst of his failings. And now he trembled violently with
+fear for his discovery, and horror at his disgraceful condition.
+
+The sound of Eric's unsteady footsteps had made Mr. Rose quickly raise
+his head; but at the same moment Duncan hastily made room for the boy
+on the seat beside him, and held out his hand to assist him. It was not
+Eric's proper place; but Mr. Rose, after one long look of astonishment,
+looked down at his book again, and said nothing.
+
+It made other hearts besides Vernon's ache to see the unhappy boy roll
+to his place in that helpless way.
+
+Dr. Rowlands came in, and prayers commenced. When they were finished,
+the names were called, and Eric, instead of quietly answering his
+"adsum," as he should have done, stood up, with a foolish look, and
+said, "Yes, Sir." The head master looked at him for a minute; the boy's
+glassy eyes, and jocosely stupid appearance, told an unmistakable tale;
+but Dr. Rowlands only remarked, "Williams, you don't look well. You had
+better go at once to bed."
+
+It was hopeless for Eric to attempt getting along without help, so
+Duncan at once got up, took him by the arm, and with much difficulty
+(for Eric staggered at every step) conducted him to his bed-room.
+
+Wildney's condition was also too evident; and Mr. Rose, while walking up
+and down the dormitories, had no doubt left on his mind that both Eric
+and Wildney had been drinking. But he made no remarks to them, and
+merely went to the Doctor to talk over the steps which were to be taken.
+
+"I shall summon the school," said Dr. Rowlands, "on Monday, and by that
+time we will decide on the punishment. Expulsion, I fear, is the only
+course open to us."
+
+"Is not that a _very_ severe line to take?"
+
+"Perhaps; but the offence is of the worst character I must consider the
+matter."
+
+"Poor Williams!" sighed Mr. Rose, as he left the room.
+
+The whole of the miserable Sunday that followed was spent by Eric and
+his companions in vain inquiries and futile restlessness. It seemed
+clear that two of them at least were detected, and they were
+inexpressibly wretched with anxiety and suspense. Wildney, who had to
+stay in bed, was even more depressed; his head ached violently, and he
+was alone with his own terrified thoughts. He longed for the morrow,
+that at least he might have the poor consolation of knowing his fate. No
+one came near him all day. Eric wished to do so, but as he could not
+have visited the room without express leave, the rest dissuaded him from
+asking, lest he should excite further suspicion. His apparent neglect
+made poor Wildney even more unhappy, for Wildney loved Eric as much as
+it was possible for his volatile mind to love any one; and it seemed
+hard to be deserted in the moment of disgrace and sorrow by so close
+a friend.
+
+At school the next morning the various masters read out to their forms a
+notice from Dr. Rowlands, that the whole school were to meet at ten in
+the great schoolroom. The object of the summons was pretty clearly
+understood; and few boys had any doubt that it had reference to the
+drinking on Saturday night. Still nothing had been _said_ on the subject
+as yet; and every guilty heart among those 250 boys beat fast lest _his_
+sin too should have been discovered, and he should be called out for
+some public and heavy punishment.
+
+The hour arrived. The boys thronging into the great school-room, took
+their places according to their respective forms. The masters in their
+caps and gowns were all seated on a small semicircular bench at the
+upper end of the room, and in the centre of them, before a small table,
+sate Dr. Rowlands.
+
+The sound of whispering voices sank to a dead and painful hush. The
+blood was tingling consciously in many cheeks, and not even a breath
+could be heard in the deep expectation of that anxious and
+solemn moment.
+
+Dr. Rowlands spread before him the list of the school, and said, "I
+shall first read out the names of the boys in the first-fifth, and
+upper-fourth forms."
+
+This was done to ascertain formally whether the boys were present on
+whose account the meeting was convened; and it at once told Eric and
+Wildney that _they_ were the boys to be punished, and that the others
+had escaped.
+
+The names were called over, and an attentive observer might have told,
+from the sound of the boys' voices as they answered, which of them were
+afflicted with a troubled conscience.
+
+Another slight pause, and breathless hush.
+
+"Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, stand forward."
+
+The boys obeyed. From his place in the fifth, where he was sitting with
+his head propped on his hand, Eric rose and advanced; and Wildney, from
+the other end of the room, where the younger boys sat, getting up, came
+and stood by his side.
+
+Both of them fixed their eyes on the ground, whence they never once
+raised them; and in the deadly pallor of their haggard faces, you could
+scarcely have recognized the joyous high-spirited friends, whose laugh
+and shout had often rung so merrily through the play-ground, and woke
+the echoes of the rocks along the shore. Every eye was on them, and
+they were conscious of it, though they could not see it--painfully
+conscious of it, so that they wished the very ground to yawn beneath
+their feet for the moment, and swallow up their shame. Companionship in
+disgrace increased the suffering; had either of them been alone, he
+would have been less acutely sensible to the trying nature of his
+position; but that they, so different in their ages and position in the
+school, should thus have their friendship and the results of it
+blazoned, or rather branded, before their friends and enemies added
+keenly to the misery they felt. So, with eyes bent on the floor, Eric
+and Charlie awaited their sentence.
+
+"Williams and Wildney," said Dr. Rowlands in a solemn voice, of which
+every articulation thrilled to the heart of every hearer, "you have been
+detected in a sin most disgraceful and most dangerous. On Saturday night
+you were both drinking, and you were guilty of such gross excess, that
+you were neither of you in a fit state to appear among your
+companions--least of all to appear among them at the hour of prayer. I
+shall not waste many words on an occasion like this; only I trust that
+those of your schoolfellows who saw you staggering and rolling into the
+room on Saturday evening in a manner so unspeakably shameful and
+degrading, will learn from that melancholy sight the lesson which the
+Spartans taught their children by exhibiting a drunkard before them--the
+lesson of the brutalising and fearful character of this most ruinous
+vice. Eric Williams and Charles Wildney, your punishment will be public
+expulsion, for which you will prepare this very evening. I am unwilling
+that for a single day either of you--especially the elder of
+you--should linger, so as possibly to contaminate others with the danger
+of so pernicious an example."
+
+Such a sentence was wholly unexpected; it took boys and masters equally
+by surprise. The announcement of it caused an uneasy sensation, which
+was evident to all present, though no one spoke a word; but Dr. Rowlands
+took no notice of it, and only said to the culprits--
+
+"You may return to your seats."
+
+The two boys found their way back instinctively, they hardly knew how.
+They seemed confounded and thunderstruck by their sentence, and the
+painful accessories of its publicity. Eric leaned over the desk with his
+head resting on a book, too stunned even to think; and Wildney looked
+straight before him with his eyes fixed in a stupid and
+unobserved stare.
+
+Form by form the school dispersed, and the moment he was liberated Eric
+sprang away from the boys, who would have spoken to him, and rushed
+wildly to his study, where he locked the door. In a moment, however, he
+re-opened it, for he heard Wildney's step, and, after admitting him,
+locked it once more.
+
+Without a word Wildney, who looked very pale, flung his arms round
+Eric's neck, and, unable to bear up any longer, burst into a flood of
+tears. Both of them felt relief in giving the reins to their sorrow.
+
+"O my father! my father!" sobbed Wildney at length. "What will he say?
+He will disown me, I know; he is so stern always with me when he thinks
+I bring disgrace on him."
+
+Eric thought of Fairholm, and of his own far-distant parents, and of the
+pang which _his_ disgrace would cause their loving hearts; but he could
+say nothing, and only stroked Wildney's dark hair again and again with
+a soothing hand.
+
+They sat there long, hardly knowing how the time passed; Eric could not
+help thinking how very, very different their relative positions might
+have been; how, while he might have been aiding and ennobling the young
+boy beside him, he had alternately led and followed him into wickedness
+and disgrace. His heart was full of misery and bitterness, and he felt
+almost indifferent to all the future, and weary of his life.
+
+A loud knocking at the door disturbed them. It was Carter, the school
+servant.
+
+"You must pack up to go this evening, young gentlemen."
+
+"O no! no! no!" exclaimed Wildney; "_cannot_ be sent away like this. It
+would break my father's heart. Eric, _do_ come and entreat Dr. Rowlands
+to forgive us only this once."
+
+"Yes," said Eric, starting up with sudden energy; "he _shall_ forgive
+us--_you_ at any rate. I will not leave him till he does. Cheer up,
+Charlie, cheer up, and come along."
+
+Filled with an irresistible impulse, he pushed Carter aside, and sprang
+down stairs three steps at a time, with Wildney following him. They went
+straight for the Doctor's study, and without waiting for the answer to
+their knock at the door, Eric walked up to Dr. Rowlands, who sate
+thinking in his arm-chair by the fire, and burst out passionately, "O
+sir, forgive us this once."
+
+The Doctor was completely taken by surprise, so sudden was the
+intrusion, and so intense was the boy's manner. He remained silent a
+moment from astonishment, and then said with asperity--
+
+"Your offence is one of the most dangerous possible. There could be no
+more perilous example for the school, than the one you have been
+setting, Williams. Leave the room," he added, with an authoritative
+gesture, "my mind is made up."
+
+But Eric was too excited to be overawed by the master's manner; an
+imperious passion blinded him to all ordinary considerations, and,
+heedless of the command, he broke out again--
+
+"O sir, try me but once, _only_ try me. I promise you most faithfully
+that I will never again commit the sin. O sir, do, do trust me, and I
+will be responsible for Wildney too."
+
+Dr. Rowlands, seeing that in Eric's present mood he must and would be
+heard, unless he were ejected by actual force, began to pace silently up
+and down the room in perplexed and anxious thought; at last he stopped
+and turned over the pages of a thick school register, and found
+Eric's name.
+
+"It is not your first offence, Williams, even of this very kind. That
+most seriously aggravates your fault."
+
+"O sir! give us one more chance to mend. O, I feel that I _could_ do
+such great things, if you will be but merciful, and give me time to
+change. O, I entreat you, sir, to forgive us only this once, and I will
+never ask again. Let us bear _any_ other punishment but this. O sir," he
+said, approaching the doctor in an imploring attitude, "spare us this
+one time for the sake of our friends."
+
+The head-master made no reply for a time, but again paced the room in
+silence. He was touched, and seemed hardly able to restrain his emotion.
+
+"It was my deliberate conclusion to expel you, Williams. I must not
+weakly yield to entreaty. You must go."
+
+Eric wrung his hands in agony. "O, sir, then, if you must do so, expel
+me only, and not Charlie, _I_ can bear it, but do not let me ruin him
+also. O I implore you, sir, for the love of God do, do forgive him. It
+is I who have misled him;" and he flung himself on his knees, and lifted
+his hands entreatingly towards the Doctor.
+
+Dr. Rowlands looked at him--at his blue eyes drowned with tears, his
+agitated gesture, his pale, expressive face, full of passionate
+supplication. He looked at Wildney, too, who stood trembling with a look
+of painful and miserable suspense, and occasionally added his wild word
+of entreaty, or uttered sobs more powerful still, that seemed to come
+from the depth of his heart. He was shaken in his resolve, wavered for a
+moment, and then once more looked at the register.
+
+"Yes," he said, after a long pause, "here is an entry which shall save
+you this time. I find written here against your name, 'April 3. Risked
+his life in the endeavor to save Edwin Russell at the Stack.' That one
+good and noble deed shall be the proof that you are capable of better
+things. It may be weak perhaps--I know that it will be called weak--and
+I do not feel certain that I am doing right; but if I err it shall be on
+the side of mercy. I shall change expulsion into some other punishment.
+You may go."
+
+Wildney's face lighted up as suddenly and joyously as when a ray of
+sun-light gleams for an instant out of a dark cloud.
+
+"O thank you, thank you, sir," he exclaimed, drying his eyes, and
+pouring into the words a world of expression, which it was no light
+pleasure to have heard. But Eric spoke less impulsively, and while the
+two boys were stammering out their deep gratitude, a timid hand knocked
+at the door, and Vernon entered.
+
+"I have come, sir, to speak for poor Eric," he said in a low voice, and
+trembling with emotion, as, with downcast eyes, he modestly approached
+towards Dr. Rowlands, not even observing the presence of the others in
+the complete absorption of his feelings. He stood in a sorrowful
+attitude, not venturing to look up, and his hand played nervously with
+the ribbon of his straw hat.
+
+"I have just forgiven him, my little boy," said the Doctor kindly,
+patting his stooping head; "there he is, and he has been speaking
+for himself."
+
+"O, Eric, I am so, so glad, I don't know what to say for joy. O Eric,
+thank God that you are not to be expelled;" and Vernon went to his
+brother, and embraced him with the deepest affection.
+
+Dr. Rowlands watched the scene with moist eyes. He was generally a man
+of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by this act the
+charge of vacillation. It was a noble self-denial in him to be willing
+to do so, but it would have required an iron heart to resist such
+earnest supplications, and he was more than repaid when he saw how much
+anguish he had removed by yielding to their entreaties.
+
+Once more humbly expressing their gratitude, the boys retired.
+
+They did not know that other influences had been also exerted in their
+favor, which, although ineffectual at the time, had tended to alter the
+Doctor's intention. Immediately after school Mr. Rose had been strongly
+endeavoring to change the Doctor's mind, and had dwelt forcibly on all
+the good points in Eric's character, and the promise of his earlier
+career. And Montagu had gone with Owen and Duncan to beg that the
+expulsion might be commuted into some other punishment. They had failed
+to convince him; but, perhaps, had they not thus exerted themselves, Dr.
+Rowlands might have been unshaken, though he could not be unmoved by
+Vernon's gentle intercession and Eric's passionate prayers.
+
+Wildney, full of joy, and excited by the sudden revulsion of feeling,
+only shook Eric's hand with all his might, and then darted out into the
+playground to announce the happy news. The boys all flocked round him,
+and received the intelligence with unmitigated pleasure. Among them all
+there was not one who did not rejoice that Eric and Wildney were yet to
+continue of their number.
+
+But the two brothers returned to the study, and there, sorrowful in his
+penitence, with his heart still aching with remorse, Eric sat down on a
+chair facing the window, and drew Vernon to his side. The sun was
+setting behind the purple hills, flooding the green fields and silver
+sea with the crimson of his parting rays. The air was full of peace and
+coolness, and the merry sounds of the cricket field blended joyously
+with the whisper of the evening breeze. Eric was fond of beauty in every
+shape, and his father had early taught him a keen appreciation of the
+glories of nature. He had often gazed before on that splendid scene, as
+he was now gazing on it thoughtfully with his brother by his side. He
+looked long and wistfully at the gorgeous pageantry of quiet clouds,
+and passed his arm more fondly round Vernon's shoulder.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Eric? Why, I declare you are crying still,"
+said Vernon playfully, as he wiped a tear which had overflowed on his
+brother's cheek, "aren't you glad that the Doctor has forgiven you?"
+
+"Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I hope your
+school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would give up all I
+have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have learnt. God grant
+that I may yet have time and space to do better."
+
+"Let us pray together, Eric," whispered his brother reverently, and they
+knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant parents and
+friends; they prayed for their schoolfellows and for each other, and for
+Wildney, and they thanked God for all his goodness to them; and then
+Eric poured out his heart in a fervent prayer that a holier and happier
+future might atone for his desecrated past, and that his sins might be
+forgiven for his Saviour's sake.
+
+The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more light-hearted, and
+gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss, before they went down again
+to the play-ground. But they avoided the rest of the boys, and took a
+stroll together along the sands, talking quietly, and happily, and
+hoping bright hopes for future days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG
+
+     "Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?
+     A tress of maiden's hair,
+     Of drowned maiden's hair,
+     Above the nets at sea?"--KINGSLEY.
+
+Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead
+of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and
+penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to repair the
+injury which their characters had received. Eric, especially, seemed to
+be devoting himself with every energy to regain, if possible, his long
+lost position, and by the altered complexion of his remaining
+school-life, to atone in some poor measure for its earlier sins. And he
+carried Wildney with him, influencing others also of his late companions
+in a greater or less degree. It was not Eric's nature to do things by
+halves, and it became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and
+abandon his old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no
+longer hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
+easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of idleness
+cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded sufficiently, by dint of
+desperately hard work, to acquit himself with considerable credit, and
+in the Easter examination came out sufficiently high, to secure his
+remove into the sixth form after the holidays.
+
+He felt far happier in the endeavor to fulfill his duty, than he had
+ever done during the last years of recklessness and neglect, and the
+change for the better in his character tended to restore unanimity and
+good will to the school. Eric no longer headed the party which made a
+point of ridiculing and preventing industry; and, sharing as he did the
+sympathy of nearly all the boys, he was able quietly and unobtrusively
+to calm down the jealousies and allay the heartburnings which had for so
+long a time brought discord and disunion into the school society.
+Cheerfulness and unanimity began to prevail once more at Roslyn, and
+Eric had the intense happiness of seeing how much good lay still within
+his power.
+
+So the Easter holidays commenced with promise, and the few first days
+glided away in innocent enjoyments. Eric was now reconciled again to
+Owen and Duncan, and, therefore, had a wider choice of companions more
+truly congenial to his high nature than the narrow circle of his late
+associates.
+
+"What do you say to a boat excursion to-morrow?" asked Duncan, as they
+chatted together one evening.
+
+"I won't go without leave," said Eric; "I should only get caught, and
+get into another mess. Besides, I feel myself pledged now to strict
+obedience."
+
+"Ay, you're quite right. We'll get leave easily enough though, provided
+we agree to take Jim the boatman with us; so I vote we make up a party."
+
+"By the bye, I forgot; I'm engaged to Wildney to-morrow."
+
+"Never mind. Bring him with you, and Graham too, if you like."
+
+"Most gladly," said Eric, really pleased; for he saw by this that Duncan
+observed the improvement in his old friends, and was falling in with the
+endeavor to make all the boys really cordial to each other, and destroy
+all traces of the late factions.
+
+"Do you mind my bringing Montagu?"
+
+"Not at all. Why should I?" answered Eric, with a slight blush. Montagu
+and he had never been formally reconciled, nor had they, as yet, spoken
+to each other. Indeed Duncan had purposely planned the excursion to give
+them an opportunity of becoming friends once more, by being thrown
+together. He knew well that they both earnestly wished it, although,
+with the natural shyness of boys, they hardly knew how to set about
+effecting it. Montagu hung back lest he should seem to be patronising a
+fallen enemy, and Eric lest he should have sinned too deeply to
+be forgiven.
+
+The next morning dawned gloriously, and it was agreed that they should
+meet at Starhaven, the point where they were to get the boat, at ten
+o'clock. As they had supposed, Dr. Rowlands gave a ready consent to the
+row, on condition of their being accompanied by the experienced sailor
+whom the boys called Jim. The precaution was by no means unnecessary,
+for the various currents which ran round the island were violent at
+certain stages of the tide, and extremely dangerous for any who were not
+aware of their general course.
+
+Feeling that the day would pass off very unpleasantly if any feeling of
+restraint remained between him and Montagu, Eric, by a strong effort,
+determined to "make up with him" before starting, and went into his
+study for that purpose after breakfast. Directly he came in, Montagu
+jumped up and welcomed him cordially, and when, without any allusion to
+the past, the two shook hands with all warmth, and looked the old proud
+look into each other's faces, they felt once more that their former
+affection was unimpaired, and that in heart they were real and loving
+friends. Most keenly did they both enjoy the renewed intercourse, and
+they found endless subjects to talk about on their way to Starhaven,
+where the others were already assembled when they came.
+
+With Jim's assistance they shoved a boat into the water, and sprang into
+it in the highest spirits. Just as they were pushing off they saw Wright
+and Vernon running down to the shore towards them, and they waited to
+see what they wanted. "Couldn't you take us with you?" asked Vernon,
+breathless with his run.
+
+"I'm afraid not, Verny," said Montagu; "the boat won't hold more than
+six, will it, Jim?"
+
+"No, sir, not safely."
+
+"Never mind, you shall have my place, Verny," said Eric, as he saw his
+brother's disappointed look.
+
+"Then Wright shall take mine," said Wildney.
+
+"O dear no," said Wright, "we wouldn't turn you out for the world.
+Vernon and I will take an immense walk down the coast instead, and will
+meet you here as we come back."
+
+"Well, good bye, then; off we go;" and with light hearts the boaters and
+the pedestrians parted.
+
+Eric, Graham, Duncan, and Montagu took the first turn at the oars, while
+Wildney steered. Graham's "crabs," and Wildney's rather crooked
+steering, gave plenty of opportunity for chaff, and they were full of
+fun as the oar-blades splashed and sparkled in the waves. Then they made
+Jim sing them some of his old sailor songs as they rowed, and joined
+vigorously in the choruses. They had arranged to make straight for St.
+Catherine's Head, and land somewhere near it to choose a place for their
+pic-nic. It took them nearly two hours to get there, as they rowed
+leisurely, and enjoyed the luxury of the vernal air. It was one of the
+sunniest days of early spring; the air was pure and delicious, and the
+calm sea breeze, just strong enough to make the sea flame and glister in
+the warm sunlight, was exhilarating as new wine. Underneath them the
+water was transparent as crystal, and far below they could see the green
+and purple sea-weeds rising like a many-colored wood, through which
+occasionally they saw a fish, startled by their oars, dart like an
+arrow. The sky overhead was a cloudless blue, and as they kept not far
+from shore, the clearly cut outline of the coast, with its rocks and
+hills standing out in the vivid atmosphere, made a glowing picture, to
+which the golden green of the spring herbage, bathed in its morning
+sunlight, lent the magic of enchantment. Who could have been otherwise
+than happy in such a scene and at such a time? but these were boys with
+the long bright holiday before them, and happiness is almost too quiet a
+word to express the bounding exultation of heart, the royal and tingling
+sense of vigorous life, which made them shout and sing, as their boat
+rustled through the ripples, from a mere instinct of inexpressible
+enjoyment.
+
+They had each contributed some luxury to the pic-nic, and it made a very
+tempting display as they spread it out, under a sunny pebbled cave, by
+St. Catherine's Head; although, instead of anything more objectionable,
+they had thought it best to content themselves with a very moderate
+quantity of beer. When they had done eating, they amused themselves on
+the shore; and had magnificent games among the rocks, and in every
+fantastic nook of the romantic promontory. And then Eric suggested a
+bathe to wind up with, as it was the first day when it had been quite
+warm enough to make bathing pleasant.
+
+"But we've got no towels."
+
+"Oh! chance the towels. We can run about till we're dry." So they
+bathed, and then getting in the boat to row back again, they all agreed
+that it was the very jolliest day they'd ever had at Roslyn, and voted
+to renew the experiment before the holidays were over, and take Wright
+and Vernon with them in a larger boat.
+
+It was afternoon,--and afternoon still warm and beautiful,--when they
+began to row home; so they took it quietly, and kept near the land for
+variety's sake, laughing, joking, and talking as merrily as ever.
+
+"I declare I think this is the prettiest or anyhow the grandest bit of
+the whole coast," said Eric, as they neared a glen through whose narrow
+gorge a green and garrulous little river gambolled down with noisy
+turbulence into the sea. He might well admire that glen; its steep and
+rugged sides were veiled with lichens, moss, and wild-flowers, and the
+sea-birds found safe refuge in its lonely windings, which were colored
+with topaz and emerald by the pencillings of nature and the rich
+stains of time.
+
+"Yes," answered Montagu, "_I_ always stick up for Avon Glen as the
+finest scene we've got about here. But, I say, who's that gesticulating
+on the rock there to the right of it? I verily believe it's Wright,
+apostrophising the ocean for Vernon's benefit. I only see one of
+them though."
+
+"I bet you he's spouting
+
+     'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll!
+     Ten thousand fleets, etc.'"
+
+said Graham laughing.
+
+"What do you say to putting in to shore there?" said Duncan; "it's only
+two miles to Starhaven, and I dare say we could make shift to take them
+in for that distance. If Jim says anything we'll chuck him overboard."
+
+They rowed towards Avon Glen, and to their surprise Wright, who stood
+there alone (for with a pocket telescope they clearly made out that it
+_was_ Wright), still continued to wave his arms and beckon them in a
+manner which they at first thought ridiculous, but which soon make them
+feel rather uneasy. Jim took an oar, and they soon got within two
+hundred yards of the beach. Wright had ceased to make signals, but
+appeared to be shouting to them, and pointing towards one corner of the
+glen; but though they caught the sound of his voice they could not hear
+what he said.
+
+"I wonder why Vernon isn't with him," said Eric anxiously; "I hope--why,
+what _are_ you looking at, Charlie?"
+
+"What's that in the water there?" said Wildney, pointing in the
+direction to which Wright was also looking.
+
+Montagu snatched the telescope out of his hand and looked. "Good God!"
+he exclaimed, turning pale; "what can be the matter?"
+
+"O _do_ let me look," said Eric.
+
+"No! stop, stop, Eric, you'd better not, I think; pray don't, it may be
+all a mistake. You'd better not--but it looked--nay, you really
+_mustn't,_ Eric," he said, and, as if accidentally, he let the telescope
+fall into the water, and they saw it sink down among the seaweeds at
+the bottom.
+
+Eric looked at him reproachfully. "What's the fun of that, Monty? you
+let it drop on purpose."
+
+"O never mind; I'll get Wildney another. I really daren't let you look,
+for fear you should _fancy_ the same as I did, for it must be fancy. O
+_don't_ let us put in there--at least not all of us."
+
+What _was_ that thing in the water?--When Wright and Vernon left the
+others, they walked along the coast, following the direction of the
+boat, and agreed to amuse themselves in collecting eggs. They were very
+successful, and, to their great delight, managed to secure some rather
+rare specimens. When they had tired themselves with this pursuit, they
+lay on the summit of one of the cliffs which formed the sides of Avon
+Glen, and Wright, who was very fond of poetry, read Vernon a canto of
+Marmion with great enthusiasm.
+
+So they whiled away the morning, and when the canto was over, Vernon
+took a great stone and rolled it for amusement over the cliff's edge. It
+thundered over the side, bounding down till it reached the strand, and a
+large black cormorant, startled by the reverberating echoes, rose up
+suddenly, and flapped its way with protruded neck to a rock on the
+further side of the little bay.
+
+"I bet you that animal's got a nest somewhere near here," said Vernon
+eagerly. "Come, let's have a look for it; a cormorant's egg would be a
+jolly addition to our collection."
+
+They got up, and looking down the face of the cliff, saw, some eight
+feet below them, a projection half hidden by the branch of a tree, on
+which the scattered pieces of stick clearly showed the existence of a
+rude nest. They could not, however, see whether it contained eggs or no.
+
+"I must bag that nest; it's pretty sure to have eggs in it," said
+Vernon, "and I can get at it easy enough." He immediately began to
+descend towards the place where the nest was built, but he found it
+harder than he expected.
+
+"Hallo," he said, "this is a failure. I must climb up again to
+reconnoitre if there isn't a better dodge for getting at it." He reached
+the top, and, looking down, saw a plan of reaching the ledge which
+promised more hope of success.
+
+"You'd better give it up, Verny," said Wright. "I'm sure it's harder
+than we fancied, _I_ couldn't manage it, I know."
+
+"O no, Wright, never say die. Look; if I get down more towards the right
+the way's plain enough, and I shall have reached the nest in no time."
+Again his descended in a different direction, but again he failed. The
+nest could only be seen from the top, and he had lost the right route.
+
+"You must keep more to the right."
+
+"I know," answered Vernon; "but, bother take it, I can't manage it, now
+I'm so far down. I must climb up _again_."
+
+"_Do_ give it up, Verny, there's a good fellow. You _can't_ reach it,
+and really it's dangerous."
+
+"O no, not a bit of it. My head's very steady, and I feel as cool as
+possible. We mustn't give up; I've only to get at the tree, and then I
+shall be able to reach the nest from it quite easily."
+
+"Well, do take care, that's a dear fellow."
+
+"Never fear," said Vernon, who was already commencing his third attempt.
+This time he got to the tree, and placed his foot on a part of the root,
+while with his hands he clung on to a clump of heather. "Hurrah!" he
+cried, "it's got two eggs in it, Wright;" and he stretched downwards to
+take them. Just as he was doing so, he heard the root on which his foot
+rested give a great crack, and with a violent start he made a spring for
+one of the lower branches. The motion caused his whole weight to rest
+for an instant on his arms;--unable to sustain the wrench, the heather
+gave way, and with a wild shriek he fell headlong down the surface of
+the cliff.
+
+With, a wild shriek!--but silence followed it.
+
+"Vernon! Vernon!" shouted the terrified Wright, creeping close up to the
+edge of the precipice. "O Vernon! for heaven's sake speak!"
+
+There was no answer, and leaning over, Wright saw the young boy
+outstretched on the stones three hundred feet below. For some minutes he
+was horrorstruck beyond expression, and made wild attempts to descend
+the cliff and reach him. But he soon gave up the attempt in despair.
+There was a tradition in the school that the feat had once been
+accomplished by an adventurous and active boy, but Wright at any rate
+found it hopeless for himself. The only other way to reach the glen was
+by a circuitous route which led to the entrance of the narrow gorge,
+along the sides of which it was possible to make way with difficulty
+down the bank of the river to the place where it met the sea. But this
+would have taken him an hour and a half, and was far from easy when the
+river was swollen with high tide. Nor was there any house within some
+distance at which assistance could be procured, and Wright, in a tumult
+of conflicting emotions, determined to wait where he was, on the chance
+of seeing the boat as it returned from St. Catherine's Head. It was
+already three o'clock, and he knew that they could not now be longer
+than an hour at most; so with eager eyes he sat watching the headland,
+round which he knew they would first come in sight. He watched with wild
+eager eyes, absorbed in the one longing desire to catch sight of them;
+but the leaden-footed moments crawled on like hours, and he could not
+help shivering with agony and fear. At last he caught a glimpse of them,
+and springing up, began to shout at the top of his voice, and wave his
+handkerchief and his arms in the hope of attracting their attention.
+Little thought those blithe merry-hearted boys in the midst of the happy
+laughter which they sent ringing over the waters, little they thought
+how terrible a tragedy awaited them.
+
+At last Wright saw that they had perceived him, and were putting inland,
+and now, in his fright, he hardly knew what to do; but feeling sure that
+they could not fail to see Vernon, he ran off as fast as he could to
+Starhaven, where he rapidly told the people at a farm-house what had
+happened, and asked them to get a cart ready to convey the wounded boy
+to Roslyn school.
+
+Meanwhile the tide rolled in calmly and quietly in the rosy evening,
+radiant with the diamond and gold of reflected sunlight and transparent
+wave. Gradually gently it crept up to the place where Vernon lay; and
+the little ripples fell over him wonderingly, with the low murmur of
+their musical laughter, and blurred and dimmed the vivid splashes and
+crimson streaks upon the white stone on which his head had fallen, and
+washed away some of the purple bells and green sprigs of heather round
+which his fingers were closed in the grasp of death, and played softly
+with his fair hair as it rose, and fell, and floated on their
+undulations like a leaf of golden-colored weed, until they themselves
+were faintly discolored by his blood. And then, tired with their new
+plaything, they passed on, until the swelling of the water was just
+strong enough to move rudely the boy's light weight, and in a few
+moments more would have tossed it up and down with every careless wave
+among the boulders of the glen. And then it was that Montagu's
+horror-stricken gaze had identified the object at which they had been
+gazing. In strange foreboding silence they urged on the boat, while Eric
+at the prow seemed wild with the one intense impulse to verify his
+horrible suspicion. The suspicion grew and grew:--it _was_ a boy lying
+in the water;--it was Vernon;--he was motionless;--he must have fallen
+there from the cliff.
+
+Eric could endure the suspense no longer. The instant that the boat
+grated on the shingle, he sprang into the water, and rushed to the spot
+where his brother's body lay. With a burst of passionate affection, he
+flung himself on his knees beside it, and took the cold hand in his
+own--the little rigid hand in which the green blades of grass, and fern,
+and heath, so tightly clutched, were unconscious of the tale they told.
+
+"Oh Verny, Verny, darling Verny, speak to me!" he cried in anguish, as
+he tenderly lifted up the body, and marked how little blood had flowed.
+But the child's head fell back heavily, and his arms hung motionless
+beside him, and with a shriek, Eric suddenly caught the look of dead
+fixity in his blue open eyes.
+
+The others had come up. "O God, save my brother, save him, save him from
+death," cried Eric, "I cannot live without him. Oh God! Oh God! Look!
+look!" he continued, "he has fallen from the cliff with his head on this
+cursed stone," pointing to the block of quartz, still red with
+blood-stained hair; "but we must get a doctor. He is not dead! no, no,
+no, he _cannot_ be dead. Take him quickly, and let us row home. Oh God!
+why did I ever leave him?"
+
+The boys drew round in a frightened circle, and lifted Vernon's corpse
+into the boat; and then, while Eric still supported the body, and
+moaned, and called to him in anguish, and chafed his cold pale brow and
+white hands, and kept saying that he had fainted and was not dead, the
+others rowed home with all speed, while a feeling of terrified anxiety
+lay like frost upon their hearts.
+
+They reached Starhaven, and got into the cart with the lifeless boy, and
+heard from Wright how the accident had taken place. Few boys were about
+the play-ground, so they got unnoticed to Roslyn, and Dr. Underhay, who
+had been summoned, was instantly in attendance. He looked at Vernon for
+a moment, and then shook his head in a way that could not be mistaken.
+Eric saw it, and flung himself with uncontrollable agony on his
+brother's corpse. "O Vernon, Vernon, my own dear brother! oh God, then
+he is dead." And, unable to endure the blow, he fainted away.
+
+I cannot dwell on the miserable days that followed, when the very sun
+in heaven seemed dark to poor Eric's wounded and crushed spirit. He
+hardly knew how they went by. And when they buried Vernon in the little
+green churchyard by Russell's side, and the patter of the earth upon the
+coffin--that most terrible of all sounds--struck his ear, the iron
+entered into his soul, and he had but one wish as he turned away from
+the open grave, and that was, soon to lie beside his beloved little
+brother and to be at rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LAST TEMPTATION
+
+     [Greek: 'Ae d' Atae sthenazae te chai 'aztipos sunecha pasas
+     Pollou 'upechpzotheei, phthaneei d' de te pasan ep' aiach
+     Blaptous' anthxopous.] Hom Il. ix. 505.
+
+Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged the
+violence of Eric's grief, which seemed likely to settle down into a
+sober sadness. At first his letters to his parents and to Fairholm were
+almost unintelligible in their fierce abandonment of sorrow; but they
+grew calmer in time,--and while none of his school-fellows ever ventured
+in his presence to allude to Vernon, because of the emotion which the
+slightest mention of him excited, yet he rarely wrote any letters to his
+relations in which he did not refer to his brother's death, in language
+which grew at length both manly and resigned.
+
+A month after, in the summer term, he was sitting alone in his study in
+the afternoon (for he could not summon up spirit enough to play
+regularly at cricket), writing a long letter to his aunt. He spoke
+freely and unreservedly of his past errors,--more freely than he had
+ever done before,--and expressed not only deep penitence, but even
+strong hatred of his previous unworthy courses. "I can hardly even yet
+realize," he added, "that I am alone here, and that I am writing to my
+aunt Trevor about the death of my brother, my noble, only brother,
+Vernon. Oh how my whole soul yearns towards him. I _must_ be a better
+boy, I _will_ be better than I have been, in the hopes of meeting him
+again. Indeed, indeed, dear aunt, though I have been so guilty, I am
+laying aside, with all my might, idleness and all bad habits, and doing
+my very best to redeem the lost years. I do hope that the rest of my
+time at Roslyn will be more worthily spent than any of it has been
+as yet."
+
+He finished the sentence, and laid his pen down to think, gazing quietly
+on the blue hills and sunlit sea. A feeling of hope and repose stole
+over him;--when suddenly he saw at the door, which was ajar, the leering
+eyes and villainously cunning countenance of Billy.
+
+"What do you want?" he said angrily, casting at the intruder a look of
+intense disgust.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the man, pulling his hair. "Anything in my line,
+sir, to-day?"
+
+"No!" answered Eric, rising up in a gust of indignation. "What business
+have you here? Get away instantly."
+
+"Not had much custom from you lately, sir," said the man.
+
+"What do you mean by having the insolence to begin talking to me? If you
+don't make yourself scarce at once, I'll--"
+
+"O well," said the man; "if it comes to that, I've business enough.
+Perhaps you'll just pay me this debt," he continued, changing his
+fawning manner into a bullying swagger. "I've waited long enough."
+
+Eric, greatly discomfited, took the dirty bit of paper. It purported to
+be a bill for various items of drink, all of which Eric _knew_ to have
+been paid for, and among other things, a charge of L6 for the dinner at
+the "Jolly Herring."
+
+"Why, you villain, these have all been paid. What! six pounds for the
+dinner! Why Brigson collected the subscriptions to pay for it before it
+took place."
+
+"That's now't to me, sir. He never paid me; and as you was the young
+gen'lman in the cheer, I comes to you."
+
+_Now_ Eric knew for the first time what Brigson had meant by his
+threatened revenge. He saw at once that the man had been put up to act
+in this way by some one, and had little doubt that Brigson was the
+instigator. Perhaps it might be even true, as the man said, that he had
+never received the money. Brigson was quite wicked enough to have
+embezzled it for his own purposes.
+
+"Go," he said to the man; "you shall have the money in a week."
+
+"And mind it bean't more nor a week. I don't chuse to wait for my money
+no more," said Billy, impudently, as he retired with an undisguised
+chuckle, which very nearly made Eric kick him down stairs.
+
+What was to be done? To mention the subject to Owen or Montagu, who were
+best capable of advising him, would have been to renew the memory of
+unpleasant incidents, which he was most anxious to obliterate from the
+memory of all. He had not the moral courage to face the natural
+consequences of his past misconduct, and was now ashamed to speak of
+what he had not then been ashamed to do. He told Graham and Wildney, who
+were the best of his old associates, and they at once agreed that _they_
+ought to be responsible for at least a share of the debt. Still, between
+them they could only muster three pounds out of the six which were
+required, and the week had half elapsed before there seemed any prospect
+of extrication from the difficulty; so Eric daily grew more miserable
+and dejected.
+
+A happy thought struck him. He would go and explain the source of his
+trouble to Mr. Rose, his oldest, his kindest, his wisest friend. To him
+he could speak without scruple and without reserve, and from him he knew
+that he would receive nothing but the noblest advice and the
+warmest sympathy.
+
+He went to him after prayers that night, and told his story.
+
+"Ah, Eric, Eric!" said Mr. Rose; "you see, my boy, that sin and
+punishment are twins."
+
+"O but, sir, I was just striving so hard to amend, and it seems cruel
+that I should receive at once so sad a check."
+
+"There is only one way that I see, Eric. You must write home for the
+money, and confess the truth to them honestly, as you have to me."
+
+It was a hard course for Eric's proud and loving heart to write and tell
+his aunt the full extent of his guilt. But he did it faithfully,
+extenuating nothing, and entreating her, as she loved him, to send the
+money by return of post.
+
+It came, and with it a letter full of deep and gentle affection. Mrs.
+Trevor knew her nephew's character, and did not add by reproaches to the
+bitterness which she perceived he had endured; she simply sent him the
+money, and told him, that in spite of his many failures, "she still had
+perfect confidence in the true heart of her dear boy."
+
+Touched by the affection which all seemed to be showing him, it became
+more and more the passionate craving of Eric's soul to be worthy of that
+love. But it is far, far harder to recover a lost path than to keep in
+the right one all along; and by one more terrible fall, the poor erring
+boy was to be taught for the last time the fearful strength of
+temptation, and the only source in earth and heaven from which
+deliverance can come. Theoretically he knew it, but as yet not
+practically. Great as his trials had been, and deeply as he had
+suffered, it was God's will that he should pass through a yet fiercer
+flame ere he could be purified from pride and passion and
+self-confidence, and led to the cross of a suffering Saviour, there to
+fling himself down in heart-rending humility, and cast his great load of
+cares and sins upon Him who cared for him through all his wanderings,
+and was leading him back through thorny places to the green pastures and
+still waters, where at last he might have rest.
+
+The money came, and walking off straight to the Jolly Herring, he dashed
+it down on the table before Billy, and imperiously bade him write a
+receipt. The man did so, but with so unmistakable an air of cunning and
+triumph that Eric was both astonished and dismayed. Could the miscreant
+have any further plot against him? At first he fancied that Billy might
+attempt to extort money by a threat of telling Dr. Rowlands; but this
+supposition he banished as unlikely since it might expose Billy himself
+to very unpleasant consequences. Eric snatched the receipt, and said
+contemptuously, "Never come near me again; next time you come up to the
+studies I'll tell Carter to turn you out."
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" sneered Billy. "How mighty we young gents are all of a
+sudden. Unless you buy of me sometimes, you shall hear of me again;
+never fear, young gen'lman." He shouted out the latter words, for Eric
+had turned scornfully on his heel, and was already in the street.
+Obviously more danger was to be apprehended from this quarter. At first
+the thought of it was disquieting, but three weeks glided away, and
+Eric, now absorbed heart and soul in school work, began to remember it
+as a mere vague and idle threat. But one afternoon, to his horror, he
+again heard Billy's step on the stairs, and again saw the hateful
+iniquitous face at the door.
+
+"Not much custom from you lately, sir," said Billy, mockingly. "Anything
+in my line to-day."
+
+"Didn't I tell you never to come near me again, you foul villain? Go
+this instant, or I'll call Carter;" and, opening the window, he prepared
+to put his threat into execution.
+
+"Ho, ho, ho! Better look at summat I've got first." It was a printed
+notice to the following effect--
+
+"FIVE POUNDS REWARD.
+
+"WHEREAS some evil-disposed persons stole some pigeons on the evening of
+April 6th from the Rev. H. Gordon's premises; the above reward will be
+given for any such information as may lead to the apprehension of the
+offenders."
+
+Soon after the seizure of the pigeons there had been a rumor that Gordon
+had offered a reward of this kind, but the matter had been forgotten,
+and the boys had long fancied their secret secure, though at first they
+had been terribly alarmed.
+
+"What do you show me that for?" he asked, reddening and then growing
+pale again.
+
+Billy's only answer was to pass his finger slowly along the words "Five
+pounds reward!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I thinks I knows who took them pigeons."
+
+"What's that to me?"
+
+"Ho, ho, ho! that's a good un," was Billy's reply; and he continued to
+cackle as though enjoying a great joke.
+
+"Unless you gives me five pound, anyhow, I knows where to get 'em. I
+know who them evil-disposed persons be! So I'll give ye another week
+to decide."
+
+Billy shambled off in high spirits; but Eric sank back into his chair.
+Five pounds! The idea haunted him. How could he ever get them? To write
+home again was out of the question. The Trevors, though liberal, were
+not rich, and after just sending him so large a sum, it was impossible,
+he thought, that they should send him five pounds more at his mere
+request. Besides, how could he be sure that Billy would not play upon
+his fears to extort further sums? And to explain the matter to them
+fully was more than he could endure. He remembered now how easily his
+want of caution might have put Billy in possession of the secret, and
+he knew enough of the fellow's character to feel quite sure of the use
+he would be inclined to make of it. Oh how he cursed that hour of folly!
+
+Five pounds! He began to think of what money he could procure. He
+thought again and again, but it was no use; only one thing was clear--he
+_had_, not the money, and could not get it. Miserable boy! It was too
+late then! for him repentance was to be made impossible; every time he
+attempted it he was to be thwarted by some fresh discovery. And, leaning
+his head on his open palms, poor Eric sobbed like a child.
+
+Five pounds! And all this misery was to come upon him for the want of
+five pounds! Expulsion was _certain_, was _inevitable_ now, and perhaps
+for Wildney too as well as for himself. After all his fine promises in
+his letters home,--yes, that reminded him of Vernon. The grave had not
+closed for a month over one brother, and the other would be _expelled_.
+Oh misery, misery! He was sure it would break his mother's heart. Oh how
+cruel everything was to him!
+
+Five pounds--he wondered whether Montagu would lend it him, or any other
+boy? But then it was late in the quarter, and all the boys would have
+spent the money they brought with them from home. There was no chance of
+any one having five pounds, and to a master he _dare_ not apply, not
+even to Mr. Rose. The offence was too serious to be overlooked, and if
+noticed at all, he fancied that, after his other delinquencies, it
+_must_, as a matter of notoriety, be visited with expulsion. He could
+not face that bitter thought; he could not thus bring open disgrace upon
+his father's and his brother's name; this was the fear which kept
+recurring to him with dreadful iteration.
+
+By the bye, he remembered that if he had continued captain of the
+school eleven, he would have had easy command of the money by being
+treasurer of the cricket subscriptions. But at Vernon's death he lost
+all interest in cricket for a time, and had thrown up his office, to
+which Montagu had been elected by the general suffrage.
+
+He wondered whether there was as much as five pounds of the
+cricketing-money left? He knew that the box which contained it was in
+Montagu's study, and he also knew where the key was kept. It was merely
+a feeling of curiosity--he would go and look.
+
+All this passed through Eric's mind as he sat in his study after Billy
+had gone. It was a sultry summer day; all the study-doors were open, and
+all their occupants were absent in the cricket-field, or bathing. He
+stole into Montagu's study, hastily got the key, and took down the box.
+
+"O put it down, put it down, Eric," said Conscience; "what business have
+you with it?"
+
+"Pooh! it is merely curiosity; as if I couldn't trust myself!"
+
+"Put it down," repeated Conscience authoritatively, deigning no longer
+to argue or entreat.
+
+Eric hesitated, and did put down the box; but he did not instantly leave
+the room. He began to look at Montagu's books, and then out of the
+window. The gravel play-ground was deserted, he noticed, for the
+cricket-field. Nobody was near, therefore. Well, what of that? he was
+doing no harm.
+
+"Nonsense! I _will_ just look and see if there's five pounds in the
+cricket-box." Slowly at first he put out his hand, and then, hastily
+turning the key, opened the box. It contained three pounds in gold, and
+a quantity of silver. He began to count the silver, putting it on the
+table, and found that it made up three pounds ten more. "So that,
+altogether, there's six pounds ten; that's thirty shillings more than
+...and it won't be wanted till next summer term, because all the bats
+and balls are bought now. I daresay Montagu won't even open the box
+again. I know he keeps it stowed away in a corner, and hardly ever looks
+at it, and I can put back the five pounds the very first day of next
+term, and it will save me from expulsion."
+
+Very slowly Eric took the three sovereigns and put them in his pocket,
+and then he took up one of the heaps of shillings and sixpences which he
+had counted, and dropped them also into his trousers; they fell into the
+pocket with a great jingle....
+
+"Eric, you are a thief!" He thought he heard his brother Vernon's voice
+utter the words thrillingly distinct; but it was conscience who had
+borrowed the voice, and, sick with horror, he began to shake the money
+out of his pockets again into the box. He was only just in time; he had
+barely locked the box, and put it in its place, when he heard the sound
+of voices and footsteps on the stairs. He had no time to take out the
+key and put it back where he found it, and had hardly time to slip into
+his own study again, when the boys had reached the landing.
+
+They were Duncan and Montagu, and as they passed the door, Eric
+pretended to be plunged in books.
+
+"Hallo, Eric! grinding as usual," said Duncan, good-humoredly; but he
+only got a sickly smile in reply.
+
+"What! are you the only fellow in the studies?" asked Montagu. "I was
+nearly sure I heard some one moving about as we came up stairs."
+
+"I don't think there's any one here but me," said Eric, "and I'm going a
+walk now."
+
+He closed his books with, a bang, flew down stairs, and away through the
+play-ground towards the shore But he could not so escape his thoughts.
+"Eric, you are a thief! Eric, you are a thief!" rang in his ear. "Yes,"
+he thought; "I am even a thief. Oh, good God, yes, _even_ a _thief_, for
+I _had_ actually stolen the money, until I changed my mind. What if they
+should discover the key in the box, knowing that I was the only fellow
+up stairs? Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!"
+
+It was a lonely place, and he flung himself, with his face hid in the
+coarse grass, trying to cool the wild burning of his brow. And as he
+lay, he thrust his hand into the guilty pocket. Good heavens! there was
+something still there. He pulled it out; it was a sovereign! Then he WAS
+a thief, even actually. Oh, everything was against him; and, starting to
+his feet, he flung the accursed gold over the rocks far into the sea.
+
+When he got home he felt so inconceivably wretched that, unable to work,
+he begged leave to go to bed at once. It was long before he fell asleep;
+but when he did, the sleep was more terrible than the haunted
+wakefulness. For he had no rest from tormenting and horrid dreams.
+Brigson and Billy, their bodies grown to gigantic proportions, and their
+faces fierce with demoniacal wickedness, seemed to be standing over him,
+and demanding five pounds on pain of death. Flights of pigeons darkening
+the air, settled on him, and flapped about him. He fled from them madly
+through the dark midnight, but many steps pursued him. He saw Mr. Rose,
+and running up, seized him by the hand, and implored protection. But in
+his dream Mr. Rose turned from him with a cold look of sorrowful
+reproach. And then he saw Wildney, and cried out to him, "O Charlie,
+save me;" but Charlie ran away, saying, "Williams, you are a thief!" and
+then a chorus of voices took up that awful cry, voices of expostulation,
+voices of contempt, voices of indignation, voices of menace; they took
+up the cry, and repeated and re-echoed it; but, most unendurable of all,
+there were voices of wailing and voices of gentleness among them, and
+his soul died within him as he caught, amid the confusion of condemning
+sounds, the voices of Russell and Vernon, and they, too, were saying to
+him, in tender pity and agonized astonishment, "Eric, Eric, you are
+a thief!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+     "For alas! alas! with me
+      The light of life is o'er;
+     No more--no more--no more
+     (Such language holds the solemn sea
+      To the sands upon the shore)
+     Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree,
+      Or the stricken eagle soar!"
+
+     EDGAR A. POE.
+
+The landlord of the Jolly Herring had observed during his visits to
+Eric, that at mid-day the studies were usually deserted, and the doors
+for the most part left unlocked. He very soon determined to make use of
+this knowledge for his own purposes, and as he was well acquainted with
+the building (in which for a short time he had been a servant), he laid
+his plans without the least dread of discovery.
+
+There was a back entrance into Roslyn school behind the chapel, and it
+could be reached by a path through the fields without any chance of
+being seen, if a person set warily to work and watched his opportunity.
+By this path Billy came, two days after his last visit, and walked
+straight up the great staircase, armed with the excuse of business with
+Eric in case any one met or questioned him. But no one was about, since
+between twelve and one the boys were pretty sure to be amusing
+themselves out of doors; and after glancing into each of the studies,
+Billy finally settled on searching Montagu's (which was the neatest and
+best furnished), to see what he could get.
+
+The very first thing which caught his experienced eye was the
+cricket-fund box, with the key temptingly in the lock, just where Eric
+had left it when the sounds of some one coming had startled him. In a
+moment Billy had made a descent on the promising-looking booty, and
+opening his treasure, saw, with lively feelings of gratification, the
+unexpected store of silver and gold. This he instantly transferred to
+his own pocket, and then replacing the box where he had found it,
+decamped with the spoil unseen, leaving the study in all other respects
+exactly as he had found it.
+
+Meanwhile the unhappy Eric was tossed and agitated with apprehension and
+suspense. Unable to endure his misery in loneliness, he had made several
+boys to a greater or less degree participators in the knowledge of his
+difficult position, and in the sympathy which his danger excited, the
+general nature of his dilemma with Billy (though not its special
+circumstances) was soon known through the school.
+
+At the very time when the money was being stolen, Eric was sitting with
+Wildney and Graham under the ruin by the shore, and the sorrow which lay
+at his heart was sadly visible in the anxious expression of his face,
+and the deep dejection of his attitude and manner.
+
+The other two were trying to console him. They suggested every possible
+topic of hope; but it was too plain that there was nothing to be said,
+and that Eric had real cause to fear the worst. Yet though their
+arguments were futile, he keenly felt the genuineness of their
+affection, and it brought a little alleviation to his heavy mood.
+
+"Well, well; at least _do_ hope the best, Eric," said Graham.
+
+"Yes!" urged Wildney; "only think, dear old fellow, what lots of worse
+scrapes we've been in before, and how we've always managed to get out of
+them somehow."
+
+"No, my boy; not worse scrapes," answered Eric. "Depend upon it this is
+the last for me; I shall not have the chance of getting into another at
+_Roslyn_, anyhow."
+
+"Poor Eric! what shall I do if you leave?" said Wildney, putting his arm
+round Eric's neck. "Besides it's all my fault, hang it, that you got
+into this cursed row."
+
+     "'The curse is come upon, me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott,'
+
+"those words keep ringing in my ears," murmured Eric.
+
+"Well, Eric, if _you_ are sent away, I know I shall get my father to
+take me too, and then we'll join each other somewhere. Come, cheer up,
+old boy--being sent isn't such a very frightful thing after all."
+
+"No" said Graham; "and besides, the bagging of the pigeons was only a
+lark, when one comes to think of it. It wasn't like stealing, you know;
+_that_'d be quite a different thing."
+
+Eric winced visibly at this remark, but his companions did not notice
+it. "Ah," thought he, "there's _one_ passage of my life which I never
+shall be able to reveal to any human soul."
+
+"Come now, Eric," said Wildney, "I've got something to propose. You
+shall play cricket to-day; you haven't played for an age, and it's high
+time you should. If you don't you'll go mooning about the shore all day,
+and that'll never do, for you'll come back glummer than ever."
+
+"No!" said Eric, with a heavy sigh, as the image of Vernon instantly
+passed through his mind; "no more cricket for me."
+
+"Nay, but you _must_ play to-day. Come, you shan't say no. You won't say
+no to me, will you, dear old fellow?" And Wildney looked up to him with
+that pleasant smile, and the merry light in his dark eyes, which had
+always been so charming to Eric's fancy.
+
+"There's no refusing you," said Eric with the ghost of a laugh, as he
+boxed Wildney's ears. "O you dear little rogue, Charlie, I wish I
+were you."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! now you shan't get sentimental again. As if you wern't
+fifty times better than me every way. I'm sure I don't know how I shall
+ever love you enough, Eric," he added more seriously, "for all your
+kindness to me."
+
+"I'm so glad you're going to play, though," said Graham; "and so will
+everybody be; and I'm certain it'll be good for you. The game will
+divert your thoughts."
+
+So that afternoon Eric, for the first time since Verny's death, played
+with the first eleven, of which he had been captain. The school cheered
+him vigorously as he appeared again on the field, and the sound lighted
+up his countenance with some gleam of its old joyousness. When one
+looked at him that day with his straw hat on and its neat light-blue
+ribbon, and the cricket dress (a pink jersey and leather belt, with a
+silver clasp in front), showing off his well-built and graceful figure,
+one little thought what an agony was gnawing like a serpent at his
+heart. But that day, poor boy, in the excitement of the game he half
+forgot it himself, and more and more as the game went on.
+
+The other side, headed by Montagu, went in first, and Eric caught out
+two, and bowled several. Montagu was the only one who stayed in long,
+and when at last Eric sent his middle wicket flying with a magnificent
+ball, the shouts of "well bowled! well bowled _indeed_," were universal.
+
+"Just listen to that, Eric," said Montagu; "why, you're out-doing every
+body to-day, yourself included, and taking us by storm."
+
+"Wait till you see me come out for a duck," said Eric laughing.
+
+"Not you. You're too much in luck to come out with a duck," answered
+Montagu. "You see I've already become the Homer of your triumphs, and
+vaticinate in rhyme."
+
+And now it was Eric's turn to go in. It was long since he had stood
+before the wicket, but now he was there, looking like a beautiful
+picture as the sunlight streamed over him, and made his fair hair shine
+like gold. In the triumph of success his sorrows were flung to the
+winds, and his blue eyes sparkled with interest and joy.
+
+He contented himself with blocking Duncan's balls until his eye was in;
+but then, acquiring confidence, he sent them flying right and left. His
+score rapidly mounted, and there seemed no chance of getting him out, so
+that there was every probability of his carrying out his bat.
+
+"Oh, _well_ hit! _well_ hit! A three'r for Eric," cried Wildney to the
+scorer; and he began to clap his hands and dance about with excitement
+at his friend's success.
+
+"Oh, well hit! well hit in--deed!" shouted all the lookers on, as Eric
+caught the next ball half-volley, and sent it whizzing over the hedge,
+getting a sixer by the hit.
+
+At the next ball they heard a great crack, and he got no run, for the
+handle of his bat broke right off.
+
+"How unlucky!" he said, flinging down the handle with vexation. "I
+believe this was our best bat."
+
+"Oh, never mind," said Montagu; "we can soon get another; we've got lots
+of money in the box."
+
+What had come over Eric? if there had been a sudden breath of poison in
+the atmosphere he could hardly have been more affected than he was by
+Montagu's simple remark. Montagu could not help noticing it, but at the
+time merely attributed it to some unknown gust of feeling, and made no
+comment. But Eric, hastily borrowing another bat, took his place again
+quite tamely; he was trembling, and at the very next ball, he spooned a
+miserable catch into Graham's hand, and the shout of triumph from the
+other side proclaimed that his innings was over.
+
+He walked dejectedly to the pavilion for his coat, and the boys, who
+were seated in crowds about it, received him, of course, after his
+brilliant score, with loud and continued plaudits. But the light had
+died away from his face and figure, and he never raised his eyes from
+the ground.
+
+"Modest Eric!" said Wildney chaffingly, "you don't acknowledge your
+honors."
+
+Eric dropped his bat in the corner, put his coat across his arm, and
+walked away. As he passed Wildney, he stooped down and whispered again
+in a low voice--
+
+     "'The curse has come upon me, cried
+     The Lady of Shallott.'"
+
+"Hush, Eric, nonsense," whispered Wildney; "you're not going away," he
+continued aloud, as Eric turned towards the school. "Why, there are only
+two more to go in!"
+
+"Yes, thank you, I must go."
+
+"Oh, then, I'll come too."
+
+Wildney at once joined his friend. "There's nothing more the matter, is
+there?" he asked anxiously, when they were out of hearing of the rest.
+
+"God only knows."
+
+"Well, let's change the subject. You've being playing brilliantly, old
+fellow."
+
+"Have I?"
+
+"I should just think so, only you got out in rather a stupid way."
+
+"Ah well! it matters very little."
+
+Just at this moment one of the servants handed Eric a kind note from
+Mrs. Rowlands, with whom he was a very great favorite, asking him to tea
+that night. He was not very surprised, for he had been several times
+lately, and the sweet womanly kindness which she always showed him
+caused him the greatest pleasure. Besides, she had known his mother.
+
+"Upon my word, honors _are_ being showered on you!" said Wildney. "First
+to get _the_ score of the season at cricket, and bowl out about half the
+other side, and then go to tea with the head-master. Upon my word! Why
+any of us poor wretches would give our two ears for such distinctions.
+Talk of curse indeed! Fiddlestick end!"
+
+But Eric's sorrow lay too deep for chaff, and only answering with a
+sigh, he went to dress for tea.
+
+Just before tea-time Duncan, and Montagu strolled in together. "How
+splendidly Eric played," said Duncan.
+
+"Yes, indeed. I'm so glad. By the bye, I must see about getting a new
+bat. I don't know exactly how much money we've got, but I know there's
+plenty. Let's come and see."
+
+They entered his study, and he looked about everywhere for the key.
+"Hallo," he said, "I'm nearly sure I left it in the corner of this
+drawer, under some other things; but it isn't there now. What can have
+become of it?"
+
+"Where's the box?" said Duncan; "let's see if any of my keys will fit
+it. Hallo! why _you're_ a nice treasurer, Monty! here's the key _in_
+the box!"
+
+"No, is it though?" asked Montagu, looking serious. "Here, give it me; I
+hope nobody's been meddling with it."
+
+He opened it quickly, and stood in dumb and blank amazement to see it
+empty.
+
+"Phew-w-w-w!" Montagu gave a long whistle.
+
+"By Jove!" was Duncan's only comment.
+
+The boys looked at each other, but neither dared to express what was in
+his thoughts.
+
+"A bad, bad business! what's to be done, Monty?"
+
+"I'll rush straight down to tea, and ask the fellows about it. Would you
+mind requesting Rose not to come in for five minutes? Tell him there's
+a row."
+
+He ran down stairs hastily and entered the tea-room, where the boys were
+talking in high spirits about the match, and liberally praising
+Eric's play.
+
+"I've got something unpleasant to say," he announced, raising his voice.
+
+"Hush! hush! hush! what's the row?" asked half a dozen at once.
+
+"The whole of the cricket money, some six pounds at least, has vanished
+from the box in my study!"
+
+For an instant the whole room was silent; Wildney and Graham
+interchanged anxious glances.
+
+"Does any fellow know anything about this?"
+
+All, or most, had a vague suspicion, but no one spoke.
+
+"Where is Williams?" asked one of the sixth form casually.
+
+"He's taking tea with the Doctor," said Wildney.
+
+Mr. Rose came in, and there was no opportunity for more to be said,
+except in confidential whispers.
+
+Duncan went up with Owen and Montagu to their study. "What's to be
+done?" was the general question.
+
+"I think we've all had a lesson once before not to suspect too hastily.
+Still, in a matter like this," said Montagu, "one _must_ take notice of
+apparent cues."
+
+"I know what you're thinking of, Monty," said Duncan.
+
+"Well, then, did you hear anything when you and I surprised Eric
+suddenly two days ago?"
+
+"I heard some one moving about in your study, as I thought."
+
+"I heard more--though at the time it didn't strike me particularly. I
+distinctly heard the jingle of money."
+
+"Well, it's no good counting up suspicious circumstances; we must _ask_
+him about it, and act accordingly.'
+
+"Will he come up to the studies again to-night?"
+
+"I think not," said Owen; "I notice he generally goes straight to bed
+after he has been out to tea; that's to say, directly after prayers."
+
+The three sat there till prayer-time taciturn and thoughtful. Their
+books were open, but they did little work, and it was evident that
+Montagu was filled with the most touching grief. During the evening he
+drew out a little likeness which Eric had given him, and looked at it
+long and earnestly. "Is it possible?" he thought. "Oh Eric! can that
+face be the face of a thief?"
+
+The prayer-bell dispelled his reverie. Eric entered with the Rowlands,
+and sat in his accustomed place. He had spent a pleasant, quiet evening,
+and, little knowing what had happened, felt far more cheerful and
+hopeful than he had done before, although he was still ignorant how to
+escape the difficulty which threatened him.
+
+He couldn't help observing that as he entered he was the object of
+general attention; but he attributed it either to his playing that day,
+or to the circumstances in which he was placed by Billy's treachery, of
+which he knew that many boys were now aware. But when prayers were over,
+and he saw that every one shunned him, or looked and spoke in the
+coldest manner, his most terrible fears revived.
+
+He went off to his dormitory, and began to undress. As he sat half
+abstracted on his bed doing nothing Montagu and Duncan entered, and he
+started to see them, for they were evidently the bearers of some serious
+intelligence.
+
+"Eric," said Duncan, "do you know that some one has stolen all the
+cricket money?"
+
+"Stolen--what--_all_?" he cried, leaping up as if he had been shot. "Oh,
+what new retribution is this?" and he hid his face, which had turned
+ashy pale, in his hands.
+
+"To cut matters short, Eric, do you know anything about it?"
+
+"If it is all gone, it is not I who stole it," he said, not lifting his
+head.
+
+"Do you know anything about it?"
+
+"No!" he sobbed convulsively. "No, no, no! Yet stop; don't let me add a
+lie.... Let me think. No, Duncan!" he said, looking up, "I do _not_ know
+who stole it."
+
+They stood silent, and the tears were stealing down Montagu's averted
+face.
+
+"O Duncan, Monty, be merciful, be merciful," said Eric. "Don't _yet_
+condemn me. _I_ am guilty, not of _this_, but of something as bad. I
+admit I was tempted; but if the money really is all gone, it is _not_ I
+who am the thief."
+
+"You must know, Eric, that the suspicion against you is very strong, and
+rests on some definite facts."
+
+"Yes, I know it must. Yet, oh, do be merciful, and don't yet condemn me.
+I have denied it. Am I a liar Monty? Oh Monty, Monty, believe me
+in this."
+
+But the boys still stood silent.
+
+"Well, then," he said, "I will tell you all. But I can only tell it to
+you, Monty. Duncan, indeed you mustn't be angry; you are my friend, but
+not so much as Monty. I can tell him, and him only."
+
+Duncan left the room, and Montagu sat down beside Eric on the bed, and
+put his arm round him to support him, for he shook violently. There,
+with deep and wild emotion, and many interruptions of passionate
+silence, Eric told to Montagu his miserable tale. "I am the most
+wretched fellow living," he said; "there must be some fiend that hates
+me, and drives me to ruin. But let it all come; I care nothing, nothing,
+what happens to me now. Only, dear, dear Monty, forgive me, and love
+me still."
+
+"O Eric, it is not for one like me to talk of forgiveness; you were
+sorely tempted. Yet God will forgive you if you ask him. Won't you pray
+to him to-night? I love you, Eric, still, with all my heart, and do you
+think God can be less kind than man? And _I_, too, will pray for you,
+Eric. Good night, and God bless you" He gently disengaged himself--for
+Eric clung to him, and seemed unwilling to lose sight of him--and a
+moment after he was gone.
+
+Eric felt terribly alone. He knelt down and tried to pray, but somehow
+it didn't seem as if the prayer came from his heart, and his thoughts
+began instantly to wander far away. Still he knelt--knelt even until his
+candle had gone out, and he had nearly fallen asleep, thought-wearied,
+on his knees. And then he got into bed still dressed. He had been making
+up his mind that he could bear it no longer, and would run away to sea
+that night.
+
+He waited till eleven, when Dr. Rowlands took his rounds. The Doctor
+had been told all the circumstances of suspicion, and they amounted in
+his mind to certainty. It made him very sad, and he stopped to look at
+the boy from whom he had parted on such friendly terms so short a time
+before. Eric did not pretend to be asleep, but opened his eyes, and
+looked at the head-master. Very sorrowfully Dr. Rowlands shook his head,
+and went away. Eric never saw him again.
+
+The moment he was gone Eric got up. He meant to go to his study, collect
+the few presents, which were his dearest mementos of Russell, Wildney,
+and his other friends--above all, Vernon's likeness--and then make his
+escape from the building, using for the last time the broken pane and
+loosened bar in the corridor, with which past temptations had made him
+so familiar.
+
+He turned the handle of the door and pushed, but it did not yield. Half
+contemplating the possibility of such an intention on Eric's part, Dr.
+Rowlands had locked it behind him when he went out.
+
+"Ha!" thought the boy, "then he, too, knows and suspects. Never mind. I
+must give up my treasures--yes, even poor Verny's picture; perhaps it is
+best I should, for I'm only disgracing his noble memory. But they shan't
+prevent me from running away."
+
+Once more he deliberated. Yes, there could be no doubt about the
+decision. He _could_, not endure another public expulsion, or even
+another birching; he _could_ not endure the cold faces of even his best
+friends. No, no! he _could_ not face the horrible phantom of detection,
+and exposure, and shame. Escape he must.
+
+After using all his strength in long-continued efforts, he succeeded in
+loosening the bar of his bed-room window. He then took his two sheets,
+tied them together in a firm knot, wound one end tightly round the
+remaining bar, and let the other fall down the side of the building. He
+took one more glance round his little room, and then let himself down by
+the sheet, hand under hand, until he could drop to the ground. Once
+safe, he ran towards Starhaven as fast as he could, and felt as if he
+were flying for his life. But when he got to the end of the playground
+he could not help stopping to take one more longing, lingering look at
+the scenes he was leaving for ever. It was a chilly and overclouded
+night, and by the gleams of struggling moonlight, he saw the whole
+buildings standing out black in the night air. The past lay behind him
+like a painting. Many and many unhappy or guilty hours had he spent in
+that home, and yet those last four years had not gone by without their
+own wealth of life and joy. He remembered how he had first walked across
+that playground, hand in hand with his father, a little boy of twelve.
+He remembered his first troubles with Barker, and how his father had at
+last delivered him from the annoyances of his old enemy. He remembered
+how often he and Russell had sat there, looking at the sea, in pleasant
+talk, especially the evening when he had got his first prize and head
+remove in the lower fourth; and how, in the night of Russell's death, he
+had gazed over that playground from the sick-room window. He remembered
+how often he had got cheered there for his feats at cricket and
+football, and how often he and Upton in old days, and he and Wildney
+afterwards, had walked there on Sundays, arm in arm. Then the stroll to
+Port Island, and Barker's plot against him, and the evening at the Stack
+passed through his mind; and the dinner at the Jolly Herring, and, above
+all, Vernon's death. Oh! how awful it seemed to him now, as he looked
+through the darkness at the very road along which they had brought
+Verny's dead body. Then his thoughts turned to the theft of the pigeons,
+his own drunkenness, and then his last cruel, cruel experiences, and
+this dreadful end of the day which, for an hour or two, had seemed _so_
+bright on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how
+little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the conclusion of
+his school days?
+
+Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there they lay,
+all his schoolfellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan, and all whom he
+cared for best. And there was Mr. Rose's light still burning in the
+library window; and he was leaving the school and those who had been
+with him there so long, in the dark night, by stealth, penniless and
+broken-hearted, with the shameful character of a thief.
+
+Suddenly Mr. Rose's light moved, and, fearing discovery or interception,
+he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to Starhaven through
+the darkness. There was still a light in the little sailors' tavern;
+and, entering, he asked the woman who kept it, "if she knew of any ship
+which was going to sail next morning?"
+
+"Why, your'n is, bean't it, Maister Davey!" she asked, turning to a
+rough-looking sailor, who sat smoking in the bar.
+
+"Ees," grunted the man.
+
+"Will you take me on board?" said Eric.
+
+"You be a runaway, I'm thinking?"
+
+"Never mind. I'll come as cabin-boy--anything."
+
+The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress. "Hardly in
+the cabun-buoy line I should say."
+
+"Will you take me?" said Eric. "You'll find me strong and willing
+enough."
+
+"Well--if the skipper don't say no. Come along."
+
+They went down to a boat, and "Maister Davey" rowed to a schooner in the
+harbor, and took Eric on board.
+
+"There," he said, "you may sleep there for to-night," and he pointed to
+a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast.
+
+Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and sound till
+the morning, on board the "Stormy Petrel."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE STORMY PETREL
+
+     "They hadna sailed a league, a league,
+      A league, but barely three,
+     When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high,
+      And gurly grew the sea."
+
+SIR PATRICK SPENS.
+
+"Hilloa!" exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next morning, as he
+saw Eric's recumbent figure on the ratlin-stuff, "Who be this
+young varmint!"
+
+"Oh, I brought him aboord last night," said Davey; "he wanted to be
+cabun-buoy."
+
+"Precious like un _he_ looks. Never mind, we've got him and we'll use
+him."
+
+The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his scattered
+thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first, as the Stormy
+Petrel dashed its way gallantly through the blue sea, he felt one
+absorbing sense of joy to have escaped from Roslyn. But before he had
+been three hours on board, his eyes were opened to the trying nature of
+his circumstances, which were, indeed, _so_ trying that _anything_ in
+the world seemed preferable to enduring them. He had not been three
+hours on board when he would have given everything in his power to be
+back again; but such regrets were useless, for the vessel was now
+fairly on her way for Corunna, where she was to take in a cargo
+of cattle.
+
+There were eight men belonging to the crew; and as the ship was only a
+little trading schooner, these were sailors of the lowest and meanest
+grade. They all seemed to take their cue from the captain, who was a
+drunken, blaspheming, and cruel vagabond.
+
+This man from the first took a savage hatred to Eric, partly because he
+was annoyed with Davey for bringing him on board. The first words he
+addressed to him were--
+
+"I say, you young lubber, you must pay your footing."
+
+"I've got nothing to pay with. I brought no money with me."
+
+"Well, then, you shall give us your gran' clothes. Them things isn't fit
+for a cabin-boy."
+
+Eric saw no remedy, and making a virtue of necessity, exchanged his good
+cloth suit for a rough sailor's shirt and trowsers, not over clean,
+which the captain gave him. His own clothes were at once appropriated by
+that functionary, who carried them into his cabin. But it was lucky for
+Eric that, seeing how matters were likely to go, he had succeeded in
+secreting his watch.
+
+The day grew misty and comfortless, and towards evening the wind rose to
+a storm. Eric soon began to feel very sick, and, to make his case worse,
+could not endure either the taste, smell, or sight of such coarse food
+as was contemptuously flung to him.
+
+"Where am I to sleep?" he asked, "I feel very sick."
+
+"Babby," said one of the sailors, "what's your name?"
+
+"Williams."
+
+"Well, Bill, you'll have to get over your sickness pretty soon, _I_ can
+tell ye. Here," he added, relenting a little, "Davey's slung ye a
+hammock in the forecastle."
+
+He showed the way, but poor Eric in the dark, and amid the lurches of
+the vessel, could hardly steady himself down the companion-ladder, much
+less get into his hammock. The man saw his condition, and, sulkily
+enough, hove him into his place.
+
+And there, in that swinging bed, where sleep seemed impossible, and out
+of which, he was often thrown, when the ship rolled and pitched through
+the dark, heaving, discolored waves, and with dirty men sleeping round
+him at night, until the atmosphere of the forecastle became like poison,
+hopelessly and helplessly sick, and half-starved, the boy lay for two
+days. The crew neglected him shamefully. It was nobody's business to
+wait on him, and he could procure neither sufficient food, nor any
+water; they only brought him some grog to drink, which in his weakness
+and sickness was nauseous to him as medicine.
+
+"I say, you young cub down there," shouted the skipper to him from the
+hatchway, "come up and swab this deck."
+
+He got up, and after bruising himself severely, as he stumbled about to
+find the ladder, made an effort to obey the command. But he staggered
+from feebleness when he reached the deck, and had to grasp for some
+fresh support at every step.
+
+"None of that 'ere slobbering and shamming, Bill. Why, d---- you, what
+d'ye think you're here for, eh? You swab the deck, and in five minutes,
+or I'll teach you, and be d----d."
+
+Sick as death, Eric slowly obeyed, but did not get through his task
+without many blows and curses. He felt very ill--he had no means of
+washing or cleaning himself; no brush, or comb, or soap, or clean linen;
+and even his sleep seemed unrefreshful when the waking brought no change
+in his condition. And then the whole life of the ship was odious to him.
+His sense of refinement was exquisitely keen, and now to be called Bill,
+and kicked and cuffed about by these gross-minded men, and to hear their
+rough, coarse, drunken talk, and sometimes endure their still, more
+intolerable familiarities, filled him with deeply-seated loathing.
+
+His whole soul rebelled and revolted from them all, and, seeing his
+fastidious pride, not one of them showed him the least glimpse of open
+kindness, though he observed that one of them did seem to pity him
+in heart.
+
+Things grew worse and worse. The perils which he had to endure at first,
+when ordered about the rigging, were what affected him least; he longed
+for death, and often contemplated flinging himself into those cold deep
+waves which he gazed on daily over the vessel's side. Hope was the only
+thing which supported him. He had heard from one of the crew that the
+vessel would be back in not more than six weeks, and he made a deeply
+seated resolve to escape the very first day that they again anchored in
+an English harbor.
+
+The homeward voyage was even more intolerable, for the cattle on board
+greatly increased the amount of necessary menial and disgusting work
+which fell to his snare, as well as made the atmosphere of the close
+little schooner twice as poisonous as before. And to add to his
+miseries, his relations with the crew got more and more unfavorable, and
+began to reach their climax.
+
+One night the sailor who occupied the hammock next to his heard him
+winding up his watch. This he always did in the dark, as secretly and
+silently as he could, and never looked at it, except when no one could
+observe him; while, during the day, he kept both watch and chain
+concealed in his trousers.
+
+Next morning the man made proposals to him to sell the watch, and tried
+by every species of threat and promise to extort it from him. But the
+watch had been his mother's gift, and he was resolute never to part with
+it into such hands.
+
+"Very well, you young shaver, I shall tell the skipper and he'll soon
+get it out of you as your footing, depend on it."
+
+The fellow was as good as his word, and the skipper demanded the watch
+as pay for Eric's feed, for he maintained that he'd done no work, and
+was perfectly useless. Eric, grown desperate, still refused, and the man
+struck him brutally on the face, and at the same time aimed a kick at
+him, which he vainly tried to avoid. It caught him on the knee-cap, and
+put it out, causing him the most excruciating agony.
+
+He now could do no work whatever, not even swab the deck. It was only
+with difficulty that he could limp along, and every move caused him
+violent pain. He grew listless and dejected, and sat all day on the
+vessel's side, eagerly straining his eyes to catch any sight of land, or
+gazing vacantly into the weary sameness of sea and sky.
+
+Once, when it was rather gusty weather, all hands were wanted, and the
+skipper ordered him to furl a sail.
+
+"I can't," said Eric, in an accent of despair, barely stirring, and not
+lifting his eyes to the man's unfeeling face.
+
+"Can't, d---- you. Can't. We'll soon see whether you can or no! You do
+it, or _I_ shall have to mend your leg for you;" and he showered down a
+storm of oaths.
+
+Eric rose, and resolutely tried to mount the rigging, determined at
+least to give no ground he could help to their wilful cruelty. But the
+effort was vain, and with a sharp cry of suffering he dropped once
+more on deck.
+
+"Cursed young brat! I suppose you think we're going to bother ourselves
+with you, and yer impudence, and get victuals for nothing. It's all
+sham. Here, Jim, tie him up."
+
+A stout sailor seized the unresisting boy, tied his hands together, and
+then drew them up above his head, and strung them to the rigging.
+
+"Why didn't ye strip him first, d---- you?" roared the skipper.
+
+"He's only got that blue shirt on, and that's soon mended," said the
+man, taking hold of the collar of the shirt on both sides, and tearing
+it open with a great rip.
+
+Eric's white back was bare, his hands tied up, his head hanging, and his
+injured leg slightly lifted from the ground. "And now for some rope-pie
+for the stubborn young lubber," said the skipper, lifting a bit of rope
+as he spoke.
+
+Eric, with a shudder, heard it whistle through the air, and the next
+instant it had descended on his back with a dull thump, rasping away a
+red line of flesh. Now Eric knew for the first time the awful reality of
+intense pain; he had determined to utter no sound, to give no sign; but
+when the horrible rope fell on him, griding across his back, and making
+his body literally creak under the blow, he quivered like an aspen-leaf
+in every limb, and could not suppress the harrowing murmur, "Oh God,
+help me, help me."
+
+Again the rope whistled in the air, again it grided across the boy's
+naked back, and once more the crimson furrow bore witness to the violent
+laceration. A sharp shriek of inexpressible agony rang from his lips, so
+shrill, so heart-rending, that it sounded long in the memory of all who
+heard it. But the brute who administered the torture was untouched. Once
+more, and again, the rope rose and fell, and under its marks the blood
+first dribbled, and then streamed from the white and tender skin.
+
+But Eric felt no more; that scream had been the last effort of nature;
+his head had dropped on his bosom, and though his limbs still seemed to
+creep at the unnatural infliction, he had fainted away.
+
+"Stop, master, stop, if you don't want to kill the boy outright," said
+Roberts, one of the crew, stepping forward, while the hot flush of
+indignation burned through his tanned and weather-beaten cheek. The
+sailors called him "Softy Bob," from that half-gentleness of disposition
+which had made him, alone of all the men, speak one kind or consoling
+word for the proud and lonely cabin-boy.
+
+"Undo him then, and be--," growled the skipper and rolled off to drink
+himself drunk.
+
+"I doubt he's well-nigh done for him already," said Roberts, quickly
+untying Eric's hands, round which the cords had been pulled so tight as
+to leave two blue rings round his wrists. "Poor fellow, poor fellow!
+it's all over now," he murmured soothingly, as the boy's body fell
+motionless into his arms, which he hastily stretched to prevent him from
+tumbling on the deck.
+
+But Eric heard not; and the man, touched with the deepest pity, carried
+him down tenderly into his hammock, and wrapped him up in a clean
+blanket, and sat by him till the swoon should be over.
+
+It lasted very long, and the sailor began to fear that his words had
+been prophetic.
+
+"How is the young varmint?" shouted the skipper, looking into the
+forecastle.
+
+"You've killed him, I think."
+
+The only answer was a volley of oaths; but the fellow was sufficiently
+frightened to order Roberts to do all he could for his patient.
+
+At last Eric woke with a moan. To think was too painful, but the raw
+state of his back, ulcerated with the cruelty he had undergone, reminded
+him too bitterly of his situation. Roberts did for him all that could be
+done, but for a week Eric lay in that dark and fetid place, in the
+languishing of absolute despair. Often and often the unbidden tears
+flowed from very weakness from his eyes, and in the sickness of his
+heart, and the torment of his wounded body, he thought that he
+should die.
+
+But youth is very strong, and it wrestled with despair, and agony, and
+death, and, after a time, Eric could rise from his comfortless hammock.
+The news that land was in sight first roused him, and with the help of
+Roberts, he was carried on deck, thankful, with childlike gratitude,
+that God suffered him to breathe once more the pure air of heaven, and
+sit under the canopy of its gold-pervaded blue. The breeze and the
+sunlight refreshed him, as they might a broken flower; and, with eyes
+upraised, he poured from his heart a prayer of deep unspeakable
+thankfulness to a Father in Heaven.
+
+Yes! at last he had remembered his Father's home. There, in the dark
+berth, where every move caused irritation, and the unclean atmosphere
+brooded over his senses like lead; when his forehead burned, and his
+heart melted within him, and he had felt almost inclined to curse his
+life, or even to end it by crawling up and committing himself to the
+deep cold water which, he heard rippling on the vessel's side; then,
+even then, in that valley of the shadow of death, a Voice had come to
+him--a still small Voice--at whose holy and healing utterance Eric had
+bowed his head, and listened to the messages of God, and learnt his
+will; and now, in humble resignation, in touching penitence with solemn
+self-devotion, he had cast himself at the feet of Jesus, and prayed to
+be helped, and guided, and forgiven. One little star of hope rose in the
+darkness of his solitude, and its rays grew brighter and brighter, till
+they were glorious now. Yes, for Jesus' sake he was washed, he was
+cleansed, he was sanctified, he was justified; he would fear no evil,
+for God was with him and underneath were the everlasting arms.
+
+And while he sat there, undisturbed at last, and unmolested by harsh
+word or savage blow, recovering health with every breath of the sea
+wind, the skipper came up to him, and muttered something half-like
+an apology.
+
+The sight of him, and the sound of his voice, made Eric shudder again,
+but he listened meekly, and, with no flash of scorn or horror, put out
+his hand to the man to shake. There was something touching and noble in
+the gesture, and, thoroughly ashamed of himself for once, the fellow
+shook the proffered hand, and slunk away.
+
+They entered the broad river at Southpool.
+
+"I must leave the ship when we get to port, Roberts," said Eric.
+
+"I doubt whether you'll let you," answered Roberts, jerking his finger
+towards the skipper's cabin.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He'll be afeard you might take the law on him."
+
+"He needn't fear."
+
+Roberts only shook his head.
+
+"Then I must run away somehow. Will you help me?"
+
+"Yes, that I will."
+
+That very evening Eric escaped from the Stormy Petrel, unknown to all
+but Roberts. They were in the dock, and he dropped into the water in the
+evening, and swam to the pier, which was only a yard or two distant; but
+the effort almost exhausted his strength, for his knee was still
+painful, and he was very weak.
+
+Wet and penniless, he knew not where to go, but spent the sleepless
+night under an arch. Early the next morning he went to a pawnbroker's,
+and raised L2:10s. on his watch, with which money he walked straight to
+the railway station.
+
+It was July, and the Roslyn summer holidays had commenced. As Eric
+dragged his slow way to the station, he suddenly saw Wildney on the
+other side of the street. His first impulse was to spring to meet him,
+as he would have done in old times. His whole heart yearned towards him.
+It was six weeks now since Eric had seen one loving face, and during all
+that time he had hardly heard one kindly word. And now he saw before him
+the boy whom he loved so fondly, with whom he had spent so many happy
+hours of school-boy friendship, with whom he had gone through so many
+schoolboy adventures, and who, he believed, loved him fondly still.
+
+Forgetful for the moment of his condition, Eric moved across the street.
+Wildney was walking with his cousin, a beautiful girl, some four years
+older than himself, whom he was evidently patronising immensely. They
+were talking very merrily, and Eric overheard the word Roslyn. Like a
+lightning-flash the memory of the theft, the memory of his ruin came
+upon him; he looked down at his dress--it was a coarse blue shirt, which
+Roberts had given him in place of his old one, and the back of it was
+stained and saturated with blood from his unhealed wounds; his trousers
+were dirty, tarred, and ragged, and his shoes, full of holes, barely
+covered his feet. He remembered too that for weeks he had not been able
+to wash, and that very morning, as he saw himself in a looking-glass at
+a shop-window, he had been deeply shocked at his own appearance. His
+face was white as a sheet, the fair hair matted and tangled, the eyes
+sunken and surrounded with a dark color, and dead and lustreless. No! he
+could not meet Wildney as a sick and ragged sailor-boy; perhaps even he
+might not be recognised if he did. He drew back, and hid himself till
+the merry-hearted pair had passed, and it was almost with a pang of
+jealousy that he saw how happy Wildney could be, while _he_ was thus;
+but he cast aside the unworthy thought at once. "After all, how is poor
+Charlie to know what has happened to me?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HOME AT LAST
+
+     "I will arise and go to my father."
+
+     "Ach! ein Schicksal droht,
+     Und es droht nicht lange!
+     Auf der holden Wange
+     Brennt ein boeses Roth!"--TIEDGE.
+
+Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and found
+that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat during the
+day, and carry him third class by the parliamentary train to
+Charlesbury, the little station where he had to take the branch line
+to Ayrton.
+
+He got into the carriage, and sat in the far corner, hiding himself from
+notice as well as he could. The weary train--(it carried poor people for
+the most part, so, of course it could matter but little how tedious or
+slow it was!)--the weary train, stopping at every station, and often
+waiting on the rail until it had been passed by trains that started four
+or five hours after it,--dragged its slow course through the fair
+counties of England. Many people got in and out of the carriage, which
+was generally full, and some of them tried occasionally to enter into
+conversation with him. But poor Eric was too sick and tired, and his
+heart was too full to talk much, and he contented himself with civil
+answers to the questions put to him, dropping the conversation as soon
+as he could.
+
+At six in the evening the train stopped at Charlesbury, and he got down.
+
+"Ticket," said the station-man.
+
+Eric gave it, turning his head away, for the man knew him well from
+having often seen him there. It was no use; the man looked hard at him,
+and then, opening his eyes wide, exclaimed,
+
+"Well, I never! what, Master Williams of Fairholm, can that be you?"
+
+"Hush, John, hush! yes, I am Eric Williams. But don't say a word, that's
+a good fellow; I'm going on to Ayrton this evening."
+
+"Well, sir, I _am_, hurt like to see you looking so ragged and poorly.
+Let me give you a bed to-night, and send you on by first train
+to-morrow."
+
+"O no, thank you, John. I've got no money, and--"
+
+"Tut, tut, sir; I thought you'd know me better nor that. Proud I'd be
+any day to do anything for Mrs. Trevor's nephew, let alone a young
+gentleman like you. Well, then, let me drive you, sir, in my little cart
+this evening."
+
+"No, thank you, John, never mind; you are very, very good, but," he
+said, and the tears were in his eyes, "I want to walk in alone
+to-night."
+
+"Well, God keep and bless you, sir," said the man, "for you look to need
+it;" and touching his cap, he watched the boy's painful walk across some
+fields to the main road.
+
+"Who'd ha' thought it, Jenny?" he said to his wife. "There's that young
+Master Williams, whom we've always thought so noble like, just been
+here as ragged as ragged, and with a face the color o' my white
+signal flag."
+
+"Lawks!" said the woman; "well, well! poor young gentleman, I'm afeard
+he's been doing something bad."
+
+Balmily and beautiful the evening fell, as Eric, not without toil, made
+his way along the road towards Ayrton, which was ten miles off. The road
+wound through the valley, across the low hills that encircled it,
+sometimes spanning or running parallel to the bright stream that had
+been the delight of Eric's innocent childhood. There was something
+enjoyable at first to the poor boy's eyes, so long accustomed to the
+barren sea, in resting once more on the soft undulating green of the
+summer fields, which were intertissued with white and yellow flowers,
+like a broidery of pearls and gold. The whole scene was bathed in the
+exquisite light, and rich with the delicate perfumes of a glorious
+evening, which filled the sky over his head with every perfect gradation
+of rose and amber and amethyst, and breathed over the quiet landscape a
+sensation of unbroken peace. But peace did not remain long in Eric's
+heart; each well-remembered landmark filled his soul with recollections
+of the days when he had returned from school, oh! how differently; and
+of the last time when he had come home with Vernon by his side. "Oh
+Verny, Verny, noble little Verny, would to God that I were with you now.
+But you are resting, Verny, in the green grave by Russell's side, and
+I--oh God, be merciful to me now!"
+
+It was evening, and the stars came out and shone by hundreds, and Eric
+walked on by the moonlight. But the exertion had brought on the pain in
+his knee, and he had to sit down a long time by the road-side to rest.
+He reached Ayrton at ten o'clock, but even then he could not summon up
+courage to pass through the town where he was so well known, lest any
+straggler should recognise him,--and he took a detour in order to get to
+Fairholm. He did not arrive there till eleven o'clock; and then he could
+not venture into the grounds, for he saw through the trees of the
+shrubbery that there was no light in any of the windows, and it was
+clear that they were all gone to bed.
+
+What was he to do? He durst not disturb them so late at night. He
+remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from him
+since he had run away from Roslyn, and he feared the effect of so sudden
+an emotion as his appearance at that hour might excite.
+
+So under the star-light he lay down to sleep on a cold bank beside the
+gate, determining to enter early in the morning. It was long before he
+slept, but at last weary nature demanded her privilege with importunity,
+and gentle sleep floated over him like a dark dewy cloud, and the sun
+was high in heaven before he woke.
+
+It was about half-past nine in the morning, and Mrs. Trevor, with Fanny,
+was starting to visit some of her poor neighbors, an occupation full of
+holy pleasure to her kind heart, and in which she had found more than
+usual consolation during the heavy trials which she had recently
+suffered; for she had loved Eric and Vernon as a mother does her own
+children, and now Vernon, the little cherished jewel of her heart, was
+dead--Vernon was dead, and Eric, she feared, not dead but worse than
+dead, guilty, stained, dishonored. Often had she thought to herself, in
+deep anguish of heart, "Our darling little Vernon dead--and Eric fallen
+and ruined!"
+
+"Look at that poor fellow asleep on the grass," said Fanny, pointing to
+a sailor boy, who lay coiled up on the bank beside the gate. "He has had
+a rough bed, mother, if he has spent the night there, as I fear."
+
+Mrs. Trevor had grasped her arm. "What is Flo' doing?" she said,
+stopping, as the pretty little spaniel trotted up to the boy's reclining
+figure, and began snuffing about it, and then broke into a quick short
+bark of pleasure, and fawned and frisked about him, and leapt upon him,
+joyously wagging his tail.
+
+The boy rose with the dew wet from the flowers upon his hair; he saw the
+dog, and at once began playfully to fondle it, and hold its little
+silken head between his hands; but as yet he had not caught sight of
+the Trevors.
+
+"It is--oh, good heavens! it is Eric," cried Mrs. Trevor, as she flew
+towards him. Another moment and he was in her arms, silent, speechless,
+with long arrears of pent-up emotion.
+
+"O my Eric, our poor, lost, wandering Eric--come home; you are forgiven,
+more than forgiven, my own darling boy. Yes, I knew that my prayers
+would be answered; this is as though we received you from the dead." And
+the noble lady wept upon his neck, and Eric, his heart shaken with
+accumulated feelings, clung to her and wept.
+
+Deeply did that loving household rejoice to receive back their lost
+child. At once they procured him a proper dress, and a warm bath, and
+tended him with every gentle office of female ministering hands. And in
+the evening, when he told them his story in a broken voice of penitence
+and remorse, their love came to him like a sweet balsam, and he rested
+by them, "seated, and clothed, and in his right mind."
+
+The pretty little room, fragrant with sweet flowers from the greenhouse,
+was decorated with all the refinement of womanly taste, and its glass
+doors opened on the pleasant garden. It was long, long since Eric had
+ever seen anything like it, and he had never hoped to see it again. "Oh
+dearest aunty," he murmured, as he rested his weary head upon her lap,
+while he sat on a low stool at her feet, "Oh aunty, you will never know
+how different this is from the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy
+Petrel,' and its detestable inmates."
+
+When Eric was dressed once more as a gentleman, and once more fed on
+nourishing and wholesome food, and was able to move once more about the
+garden by Fanny's side, he began to recover his old appearance, and the
+soft bloom came back to his cheek again, and the light to his blue eye.
+But still his health gave most serious cause for apprehension; weeks of
+semi-starvation, bad air, sickness, and neglect, followed by two nights
+of exposure and wet, had at last undermined the remarkable strength of
+his constitution, and the Trevors soon became aware of the painful fact
+that he was sinking to the grave, and had come home only to die.
+
+Above all, there seemed to be some great load at his heart which he
+could not remove; a sense of shame, the memory of his disgrace at
+Roslyn, and of the dark suspicion that rested on his name. He avoided
+the subject, and they were too kind to force it on him, especially as he
+had taken away the bitterest part of their trial in remembering it, by
+explaining to them that he was far from being so wicked in the matter of
+the theft as they had at first been (how slowly and reluctantly!) almost
+forced to believe.
+
+"Have you ever heard--oh, how shall I put it?--have you ever heard,
+aunty, how things went on at Roslyn after I ran away?" he asked, one
+evening, with evident effort.
+
+"No, love, I have not. After they had sent home your things, I heard no
+more; only two most kind and excellent letters--one from Dr. Rowlands,
+and one from your friend, Mr. Rose--informed me of what had happened
+about you."
+
+"O, have they sent home my things?" he asked, eagerly. "There are very
+few among them that I care about, but there is just one----"
+
+"I guessed it, my Eric, and, but that I feared to agitate you, should
+have given it you before;" and she drew out of a drawer the little
+likeness of Vernon's sweet childish face.
+
+Eric gazed at it till the sobs shook him, and tears blinded his eyes.
+
+"Do not weep, my boy," said Mrs. Trevor, kissing his forehead. "Dear
+little Verny, remember, is in a land where God himself wipes away all
+tears from off all eyes."
+
+"Is there anything else you would like?" asked Fanny, to divert his
+painful thoughts. "I will get you anything in a moment."
+
+"Yes, Fanny, dear, there is the medal I got for saving Russell's life,
+and one or two things which he gave me;--ah, poor Edwin, you never
+knew him!"
+
+He told her what to fetch, and when she brought them it seemed to give
+him great pleasure to recall his friends to mind by name, and speak of
+them--especially of Montagu and Wildney.
+
+"I have a plan to please you, Eric," said Mrs. Tremor. "Shall I ask
+Montagu and Wildney here? we have plenty of room for them."
+
+"O, thank you," he said, with the utmost eagerness. "Thank you, dearest
+aunt." Then suddenly his countenance fell. "Stop--shall we?--yes, yes, I
+am going to die soon, I know; let me see them before I die."
+
+The Trevors did not know that he was aware of the precarious tenure of
+his life, but they listened to him in silence, and did not contradict
+him; and Mrs. Trevor wrote to both the boys (whose directions Eric
+knew), telling them what had happened, and begging them, simply for his
+sake, to come and stay with her for a time. She hinted clearly that it
+might be the last opportunity they would ever have of seeing him.
+
+Wildney and Montagu accepted the invitation; and they arrived together
+at Fairholm on one of the early autumn evenings. They both greeted Eric
+with the utmost affection; and he seemed never tired of pressing their
+hands, and looking at them again. Yet every now and then a memory of
+sadness would pass over his face, like a dark ripple on the clear
+surface of a lake.
+
+"Tell me, Monty," he said one evening, "all about what happened after I
+left Roslyn."
+
+"Gladly, Eric; now that your name is cleared, there is--"
+
+"My name cleared!" said Eric, leaning forward eagerly. "Did you say
+that?"
+
+"Yes, Eric. Didn't you know, then, that the thief had been discovered?"
+
+"No," he murmured faintly, leaning back; "O thank God, thank God! Do
+tell me all about it, Monty."
+
+"Well, Eric, I will tell you all from the beginning. You may guess how
+utterly astonished we were in the morning, when we heard that you had
+run away. Wildney here was the first to discover it, for he went early
+to your bed-room----"
+
+"Dear little Sunbeam," interrupted Eric, resting his hand against
+Wildney's cheek; but Wildney shook his fist at him when he heard the
+forbidden name.
+
+"He found the door locked," continued Montagu, "and called to you, but
+there came no answer; this made us suspect the truth, and we were
+certain, of it when some one caught sight of the pendent sheet. The
+masters soon heard the report, and sent Carter to make inquiries, but
+they did not succeed in discovering anything definite about you. Then,
+of course, everybody assumed as a certainty that you were guilty, and I
+fear that my bare assertion on the other side had little weight."
+
+Eric's eyes glistened as he drank in his friend's story.
+
+"But, about a fortnight after, _more_ money and several other articles
+disappeared from the studies, and all suspicion as to the perpetrator
+was baffled; only now the boys began to admit that, after all, they had
+been premature in condemning you. It was a miserable time; for every one
+was full of distrust, and the more nervous boys were always afraid lest
+any one should on some slight grounds suspect _them. Still_, things kept
+disappearing.
+
+"We found out at length that the time when the robberies were effected
+must be between twelve and one, and it was secretly agreed that some one
+should be concealed in the studies for a day or two during those hours.
+Carter undertook the office, and was ensconced in one of the big
+cupboards in a study which had not yet been touched. On the third day he
+heard some one stealthily mount the stairs. The fellows were more
+careful now, and used to keep their doors shut, but the person was
+provided with keys, and opened the study in which Carter was. He moved
+about for a little time--Carter watching him through the key-hole, and
+prepared to spring on him before he could make his escape. Not getting
+much, the man at last opened the cup-board door, where Carter had just
+time to conceal himself behind a great-coat. The great-coat took the
+plunderer's fancy; he took it down off the peg, and there stood Carter
+before him! Billy--for it was he--stood absolutely confounded, as though
+a ghost had suddenly appeared; and Carter, after enjoying his
+unconcealed terror, collared him, and hauled him off to the police
+station. He was tried soon after, and finally confessed that it was he
+who had taken the cricket-money too; for which offences he was sentenced
+to transportation. So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name was cleared."
+
+"As I always knew it would be, dear old boy," said Wildney.
+
+Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm, and
+were never tired of Eric's society, and of his stories about all that
+befell him on board the "Stormy Petrel." They perceived a marvellous
+change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance had passed
+away; every stain of passion had been removed; every particle of
+hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All was gentleness,
+love, and dependence, in the once bright, impetuous, self-willed boy; it
+seemed as though the lightning of God's anger had shattered and swept
+away all that was evil in his heart and life, and left all his true
+excellence, all the royal prerogatives of his character, pure and
+unscathed Eric, even in his worst days, was, as I well remember, a
+lovable and noble boy; but at this period there must have been something
+about him for which to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and
+irresistibly attractive. During the day, as Eric was too weak to walk
+with them, Montagu and Wildney used to take boating and fishing
+excursions by themselves, but in the evening the whole party would sit
+out reading and talking in the garden till twilight fell. The two
+visitors began to hope that Mrs. Trevor had been mistaken, and that
+Eric's health would still recover; but Mrs. Trevor would not deceive
+herself with a vain hope, and the boy himself shook his head when they
+called him convalescent.
+
+Their hopes were never higher than one evening about a week after their
+arrival, when they were all seated, as usual, in the open air, under a
+lime-tree on the lawn. The sun was beginning to set, and the rain of
+golden sunlight fell over them through the green ambrosial foliage of
+the tree whose pale blossoms were still murmurous with bees. Eric was
+leaning back in an easy chair, with Wildney sitting on the grass,
+cross-legged at his feet, while Montagu, resting on one of the mossy
+roots, read to them the "Midsummer Night's Dream," and the ladies were
+busy with their work.
+
+"There--stop now," said Eric, "and let's sit out and talk until we see
+some of 'the fiery a'es and o'es of light' which he talks of."
+
+"I'd no idea Shakspeare was such immensely jolly reading," remarked
+Wildney naively. "I shall take to reading him through when I get home."
+
+"Do you remember, Eric," said Montagu, "how Rose used to chaff us in old
+days for our ignorance of literature, and how indignant we used to be
+when he asked if we'd ever heard of an obscure person called William
+Shakspeare?"
+
+"Yes, very well," answered Eric, laughing heartily. And in this strain
+they continued to chat merrily, while the ladies enjoyed listening to
+their school-boy mirth.
+
+"What a perfectly delicious evening. It's almost enough to make me wish
+to live," said Eric.
+
+He did not often speak thus; and it made them sad. But Eric half sang,
+half murmured to himself, a hymn with which his mother's sweet voice had
+made him familiar in their cottage-home at Ellan:--
+
+     "There is a calm for those who weep,
+       A rest for weary pilgrims found;
+     They softly lie, and sweetly sleep,
+       Low in the ground.
+
+     "The storm that wrecks the winter sky,
+       No more disturbs their deep repose,
+     Than summer evening's latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose."
+
+The two last lines lingered pleasantly in his fancy and he murmured to
+himself again, in low tones--
+
+     "Than summer evening's latest sigh
+       That shuts the rose."
+
+"Oh hush, hush, Eric!" said Wildney, laying his hand upon his friend's
+lips; "don't let's spoil to-night by forebodings."
+
+It seemed, indeed, a shame to do so, for it was almost an awful thing to
+be breathing the splendor of the transparent air, as the sun broadened
+and fell, and a faint violet glow floated over soft meadow and silver
+stream. One might have fancied that the last rays of sunshine loved to
+linger over Eric's face, now flushed with a hectic tinge of pleasure,
+and to light up sudden glories in his bright hair, which the wind just
+fanned off his forehead as he leaned back and inhaled the luxury of
+evening perfume, which the flowers of the garden poured on the gentle
+breeze. Ah, how sad that such scenes should be so rare and so
+short-lived!
+
+"Hark--tirra-la-lirra-lirra!" said Wildney; "there goes the postman's
+horn! Shall I run and get the letter-bag as he passes the gate?"
+
+"Yes, do," they all cried; and the boy bounded off full of fun, greeting
+the postman with such a burst of merry apostrophe, that the man shook
+with laughing at him.
+
+"Here it is at last," said Wildney. "Now, then, for the key. Here's a
+letter for me, hurrah!--two for you, Miss Trevor--_what_ people you
+young ladies are for writing to each other! None for you, Monty--Oh,
+yes! I'm wrong, here's one; but none for Eric."
+
+"I expected none," said Eric sighing; but his eye was fixed earnestly
+on one of Mrs. Trevor's letters. He saw that it was from India, and
+directed in his father's hand.
+
+Mrs. Trevor caught his look. "Shall I read it aloud to you, dear I Do
+you think you can stand it? Remember it will be in answer to ours,
+telling them of--"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes," he said, eagerly, "do let me hear it."
+
+With instinctive delicacy Montagu and Wildney rose, but Eric pressed
+them to stay. "It will help me to bear what mother says, if I see you by
+me," he pleaded.
+
+God forbid that I should transcribe that letter. It was written from the
+depths of such sorrow as He only can fully sympathise with, who for
+thirty years pitched his tent in the valley of human misery. By the
+former mail Mrs. Williams had heard of Verny's melancholy death; by the
+next she had been told that her only other child, Eric, was not dead
+indeed, but a wandering outcast, marked with the brand of terrible
+suspicion. Let her agony be sacred; it was God who sent it, and he only
+enabled her to endure it. With bent head, and streaming eyes, and a
+breast that heaved involuntarily with fitful sobs, Eric listened as
+though to his mother's voice, and only now and then he murmured low to
+himself, "O mother, mother, mother--but I am forgiven now. O mother, God
+and man have forgiven me, and we shall be at peace again once more."
+
+Mrs. Trevor's eyes grew too dim with weeping, to read it all, and Fanny
+finished it. "Here is a little note from your father, Eric, which
+dropped out when we opened dear aunt's letter. Shall I read it, too?"
+
+"Perhaps not now, love," said Mrs. Trevor. "Poor Eric is too tired and
+excited already."
+
+"Well, then, let me glance it myself, aunty," he said. He opened it,
+read a line or two, and then, with a scream, fell back swooning, while
+it dropped out of his hands.
+
+Terrified, they picked up the fallen paper; it told briefly, in a few
+heartrending words, that, after writing the letter, Mrs. Williams had
+been taken ill; that her life was absolutely despaired of, and that,
+before the letter reached England, she would, in all human probability,
+be dead. It conveyed the impression of a soul resigned indeed, and
+humble, but crushed down to the very earth with the load of mysterious
+bereavement, and irretrievable sorrow.
+
+"Oh, I have killed her, I have killed my mother!" said Eric, in a hollow
+voice, when he came to himself. "O God, forgive me, forgive me!"
+
+They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed for
+him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength appeared to have
+been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At last a momentary energy
+returned; his eyes were lifted to the gloaming heaven where a few stars
+had already begun to shine, and a bright look illuminated his
+countenance. They listened deeply--"Yes, mother," he murmured, in broken
+tones, "forgiven now, for Christ's dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes,
+there they are, and we shall meet again. Verny--oh, happy, happy at
+last--too happy!"
+
+The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient moment
+more the smile and the brightness played over his fair features like a
+lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with those he dearliest
+loved, in the land where there is no more curse.
+
+"Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now," sobbed Mrs. Trevor; and her
+tears fell fast upon the dead boy's face, as she pressed upon it a long,
+last kiss.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+     "And hath that early hope been blessed with truth?
+     Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?
+     And borne unscathed through danger's stormy field
+     Honor's white wreath and virtue's stainless shield?"
+
+     HARROW. A Prize Poem.
+
+The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to his
+father's estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles around. He
+intends to stand for the county at the next general election, and I
+haven't the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed. If he does,
+Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu has the very soul
+of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of his vigorous judgment,
+and the treasures of his cultivated taste, with an eloquence that rises
+to extraordinary grandeur when he is fulminating his scorn at any
+species of tyranny or meanness.
+
+It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days in his
+charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over his grounds,
+and then across one of the richest plains in England) one long summer
+evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and figures of the past,
+until we almost felt ourselves boys again.
+
+"I have just been staying at Trinity," said I, "and Owen, as I suppose
+you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first class, and
+they have already elected him fellow and assistant tutor."
+
+"Is he liked?"
+
+"Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of those
+fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful as men, than
+they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the _greatest_ things
+of him; but have you heard anything of Duncan lately?"
+
+"Yes, he's just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from him the
+other day. He's met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and Upton, the
+latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there are not two
+finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and Wildney, as you may
+easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room. You know, I suppose,
+that Graham is making a great start at the bar."
+
+"Is he? I'm delighted to hear it."
+
+"Yes. He had a 'mauvais sujet' to defend the other day, in the person of
+our old enemy, Brigson, who, having been at last disowned by his
+relations, is at present a policeman in London."
+
+"On the principle, I suppose, of 'Set a thief to catch a thief,'" said
+Montagu, with a smile.
+
+"Yes; but he exemplifies the truth 'chassez le naturel, il revient au
+galop' for he was charged with abetting a street fight between two boys,
+which very nearly ended fatally. However, he was penitent, and Graham
+got him off with wonderful cleverness."
+
+"Ah!" said Montagu, sighing, "there was _one_ who would have been the
+pride of Roslyn had he lived Poor, poor Eric!"
+
+We talked long of our loved friend; his bright face, his winning words,
+his merry smile, came back to us with the memory of his melancholy fate,
+and a deep sadness fell over us.
+
+"Poor boy, he is at peace now," said Montagu; and he told me once more
+the sorrowful particulars of his death. "Shall I read you some verses?"
+he asked, "which he must have composed, poor fellow, on board the
+'Stormy Petrel,' though he probably wrote them at Fairholm afterwards."
+
+"Yes, do."
+
+And Montagu, in his pleasant musical voice, read me, with much feeling,
+these lines, written in Eric's boyish hand, and signed with his name.
+
+ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.
+
+     Alone, alone! ah, weary soul,
+       In all the world alone I stand,
+     With none to wed their hearts to mine,
+       Or link in mine a loving hand.
+
+     Ah! I tell me not that I have those
+       Who owe the ties of blood and name,
+     Or pitying friends who love me well,
+       And dear returns of friendship claim.
+
+     I have, I have! but none can heal,
+       And none shall see my inward woe,
+     And the deep thoughts within me veiled
+       No other heart but mine shall know.
+
+     And yet amid my sins and shames
+       The shield of God is o'er me thrown
+     And, 'neath its awful shade I feel
+       Alone,--yet, ah, not all alone!
+
+     Not all alone! and though my life
+       Be dragged along the stained earth,
+     O God! I feel thee near me still,
+       And thank thee for my birth!
+
+     E.W.
+
+Montagu gave me the paper, and I cherish it as my dearest memorial of my
+erring but noble schoolboy friend.
+
+Knowing how strong an interest Mr. Rose always took in Eric, I gave him
+a copy of these verses when last I visited him at his pleasant vicarage
+of Seaford, to which he was presented a year or two ago by Dr. Rowlands,
+now Bishop of Roslyn, who has also appointed him examining chaplain. I
+sat and watched Mr. Rose while he read them. A mournful interest was
+depicted on his face, his hand trembled a little, and I fancied that he
+bent his grey hair over the paper to hide a tear. We always knew at
+school that Eric was one of his greatest favorites, as indeed he and
+Vernon were with all of us; and when the unhappy boy had run away
+without even having the opportunity for bidding any one farewell, Mr.
+Rose displayed such real grief, that for weeks he was like a man who
+went mourning for a son. After those summer holidays, when we returned
+to school, Montagu and Wildney brought back with them the intelligence
+of Eric's return to Fairholm, and of his death. The news plunged many of
+us in sorrow, and when, on the first Sunday in chapel, Mr. Rose alluded
+to this sad tale, there were few dry eyes among those who listened to
+him. I shall never forget that Sunday afternoon. A deep hush brooded
+over us, and before the sermon was over, many a face was hidden to
+conceal the emotion which could not be suppressed.
+
+"I speak," said Mr. Rose, "to a congregation of mourners, for one who
+but a few weeks back was sitting among you as one of yourselves. But,
+for myself, I do _not_ mourn over his death. Many a time have I mourned
+for him in past days, when I marked how widely he went astray,--but I do
+not mourn now; for after his fiery trials he died penitent and happy,
+and at last his sorrows are over for ever, and the dreams of ambition
+have vanished, and the fires of passion have been quenched, and for all
+eternity the young soul is in the presence of its God. Let none of you
+think that his life has been wasted. Possibly, had it pleased heaven to
+spare him, he might have found great works to do among his fellow-men,
+and he would have done them as few else could. But do not let us fancy
+that our work must cease of necessity with our lives. Not so; far rather
+must we believe that it will continue for ever; seeing that we are all
+partakers of God's unspeakable blessing, the common mystery of
+immortality. Perhaps it may be the glorious destiny of very many here to
+recognise that truth, more fully when we meet and converse with our dear
+departed brother in a holier and happier world."
+
+I have preserved some faint echo of the words he used, but I can give no
+conception of the dignity and earnestness of his manner, or the intense
+pathos of his tones.
+
+The scene passed before me again as I looked at him, while he lingered
+over Eric's verses, and seemed lost in a reverie of thought.
+
+At last he looked up and sighed. "Poor Eric!--But no, I will not call
+him poor; after all he is happier now than we. You loved him well," he
+continued; "why do you not try and preserve some records of his life?"
+
+The suggestion took me by surprise, but I thought over it, and at once
+began to accomplish it. My own reminiscences of Eric were numerous and
+vivid, and several of my old schoolfellows and friends gladly supplied
+me with other particulars, especially the Bishop of Roslyn, Mr. Rose,
+Montagu, and Wildney. So the story of Eric's ruin has been told, and
+told as he would have wished it done, with simple truth. Noble Eric! I
+do not fear that I have wronged your memory, and you I know would
+rejoice to think how sorrowful hours have lost something of their
+sorrow, as I wrote the scenes in so many of which we were engaged
+together in our school-boy days.
+
+I visited Roslyn a short time ago, and walked for hours along the sands,
+picturing in my memory the pleasant faces, and recalling the joyous
+tones of the many whom I had known and loved. Other boys were playing by
+the sea-side, who were strangers to me and I to them; and as I marked
+how wave after wave rolled up the shore, with its murmur and its foam,
+each sweeping farther than the other, each effacing the traces of the
+last, I saw an emblem of the passing generations, and was content to
+find that my place knew me no more.
+
+     Ah me the golden time!--
+       But its hours have passed away,
+     With the pure and bracing clime,
+       And the bright and merry day.
+
+And the sea still laughs to the rosy shells ashore,
+       And the shore still shines in the lustre of the wave;
+     But the joyaunce and the beauty of the boyish days is o'er,
+       And many of the beautiful lie quiet in the grave;--
+         And he who comes again
+         Wears a brow of toil and pain,
+     And wanders sad and silent by the melancholy main.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eric, by Frederic William Farrar
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERIC ***
+
+***** This file should be named 12083.txt or 12083.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/8/12083/
+
+Produced by Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/old/12083.zip b/old/old/12083.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53ad6d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old/12083.zip