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+Project Gutenberg's The Fifth Form at Saint Dominics, by Talbot Baines Reed
+
+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: The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's
+       A School Story
+
+Author: Talbot Baines Reed
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2008 [EBook #24632]
+[Last Updated: September 15, 2013]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIFTH FORM AT SAINT DOMINIC'S ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's, by Talbot Baines Reed.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+This is a rather famous book about life in a boys' boarding school.  We
+start off with the entry to the school of a little new boy, not quite
+eleven years old, who also happens to have an older brother in the
+school.  We learn about the school at the same time as little Steevie
+does.
+
+Steevie is appointed to be the fag of one Loman, and as the story
+unfolds we begin to see life through the eyes of the older boy.  There
+is an interesting moment when Steevie refuses to do the work of fag to
+Loman, and is soundly beaten up for his refusal.
+
+There is a rather unsuitable public-house owner, Cripps, and Loman
+becomes indebted to him for a large sum of money.  What Loman does to
+try to liquidate his debt is what much of the latter part of the book
+is about.  We do not wish to spoil the story for you, so we will not go
+into any details of this.
+
+There is a rather nice episode during the summer holidays when some of
+the boys row down the river Thames from Oxford to London, which your
+reviewer has also done more than once.  Many of the landmarks that they
+saw are still there.  You will enjoy reading or listening to this book.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+THE FIFTH FORM AT SAINT DOMINIC'S, BY TALBOT BAINES REED.
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+_The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's_ is a story of public-school life,
+and was written for the _Boy's Own Paper_, in the Fourth Volume of which
+it appeared.  The numbers containing it are now either entirely out of
+print or difficult to obtain; and many and urgent have been the
+requests--from boys themselves, as well as from parents, head masters,
+and others--for its re-issue as a book.
+
+Of the story itself little need be said.  It deals in a bright and
+vigorous style with the kaleidoscopic, throbbing life of a great public
+school--that world in miniature which, in its daily opportunities and
+temptations, ambitions and failures, has so often afforded superabundant
+material for narratives powerful to enchain the attention and sway the
+emotions, whether to smiles or tears.  This will take its place, amongst
+the best of them.
+
+Though the story is one of school life, its interest is by no means
+limited to school or college walls.  Boys of all sorts and conditions--
+ay, and their parents too--will follow its fortunes with unflagging zest
+from the first page to the last; and it is difficult to conceive of any
+reader, be he young or old, who would not be the better for its vivid
+portraiture and bracing atmosphere.  There is a breeziness about it
+calculated to stir the better life in the most sluggish; and without
+pretence or affectation it rings out its warnings, no less than its
+notes of cheer, clear and rousing as trumpet blasts.
+
+  "Do right, and thou hast nought to fear,
+  Right hath a power that makes thee strong;
+  The night is dark, but light is near,
+  The grief is short, the joy is long."
+
+Without the most distant approach to that fatal kind of sermonising
+which all but inevitably repels those whom it is meant to benefit, the
+story forcefully illustrates how rapidly they may sink who once tamper,
+for seeming present advantage, with truth, and how surely, sooner or
+later, a noble character comes to vindication and honour; and in all
+such respects it is eminently true to life.  These boys of Saint
+Dominic's, even the best of them, are very human--neither angels nor
+monstrosities, but, for the most part, ardent, impulsive, out-and-out,
+work-a-day lads; with the faults and failings of inexperience and
+impetuosity, no doubt, but also with that moral grit and downright
+honesty of purpose that are still, we believe, the distinguishing mark
+of the true British public-school boy.  Hence one is impelled to take
+from the outset a most genuine interest in them and their affairs, and
+to feel quite as though one had known many of them personally for years,
+and been distinctly the better, too, for that knowledge.  Such boys
+stand at the antipodes alike of the unreal abstractions of an effeminate
+sentimentalism--the paragons who prate platitudes and die young--and of
+the morbid specimens of youthful infamy only too frequently paraded by
+the equally unreal sensationalism of to-day to meet the cravings of a
+vitiated taste.
+
+_The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's_ is the kind of book we should place
+with confidence in the hands of our own boys when leaving the home
+shelter, whether for school or the sterner after-battle; and we cannot
+conceive of the parent who, having read it with care and pleasure, as we
+have done, and knowing at the same time anything of the stress and
+strain of daily life, would not, with gratitude to the author, gladly do
+the same.  With all their faults, Oliver Greenfield and Wraysford are
+splendid boys, of just the fibre that the Church needs, and the world
+cannot afford to do without; and yet their school career proves by no
+means a bed of roses.  To drift with the current is proverbially easy;
+to seek to stem it manfully, and steer by the stars, may, and often
+does, lay one open to misapprehension or envy, and all the ills that
+follow in their train; yet--
+
+  "God is God, and right is right,
+  And truth the day must win;
+  To doubt would be disloyalty,
+  To falter would be sin."
+
+Our heroes had their full share of trouble--what real hero has not?--but
+they come out of the ordeal purified and strengthened, with nobler
+aspirations after duty, and tenderer thoughts of helpfulness towards
+those needing, if far from seeking, their succouring arm.
+
+How all this comes about it is not for us to tell.  Readers will find
+that out for themselves, and thank us for allowing them, unaided, to do
+so.  The school cricket match, the grand football struggle, the
+ever-memorable prize-day--these are matters that no alien pen may touch.
+Our prayer is that God may abundantly bless the book to the building up
+in our schools and families of strong Christian characters, who in the
+after days shall do valiant service for Christ and humanity.
+
+G.A. Hutchison.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE NOTICE BOARD.
+
+The four o'clock bell was sounding up the staircase and down the
+passages of Saint Dominic's school.  It was a minute behind its time,
+and had old Roach, the school janitor, guessed at half the abuse
+privately aimed at his devoted head for this piece of negligence, he
+might have pulled the rope with a good deal more vivacity than he at
+present displayed.
+
+At the signal there was a general shuffling of feet and uproar of
+voices--twelve doors swung open almost simultaneously, and next moment
+five hundred boys poured out, flooding the staircases and passages,
+shouting, scuffling, and laughing, and throwing off by one easy effort
+the restraint and gravity of the last six hours.
+
+The usual rush and scramble ensued.  Some boys, taking off their coats
+and tucking up their sleeves as they ran, made headlong for the
+playground.  Some, with books under their arms, scuttled off to their
+studies.  The heroes of the Sixth stalked majestically to their
+quarters.  The day boarders hurried away to catch the train at Maltby.
+A few slunk sulkily to answer to their names in the detention-room, and
+others, with the air of men to whom time is no object and exertion no
+temptation, lounged about in the corridors with hands in pockets,
+regarding listlessly the general stampede of their fellows, and
+apparently not knowing exactly what to do with themselves.
+
+Among these last happened to be Bullinger of the Fifth and his
+particular friend Ricketts, who, neither of them having any more
+tempting occupation, were comfortably leaning up against the door of the
+Fourth junior class-room, thereby making prisoners of some twenty or
+thirty youngsters, whose infuriated yells and howls from within appeared
+to afford the two gentlemen a certain languid satisfaction.
+
+"Open the door! do you hear?" shrieked one little treble voice.
+
+"All right!" piped another.  "I know who you are, you cads.  See if I
+don't tell Dr Senior!"
+
+"Oh, please, I say, I shall lose my train!" whimpered a third.
+
+"Wait till I get out; see if I don't kick your shins!" howled a fourth.
+
+It was no use.  In vain these bantams stormed and raved, and entreated
+and blubbered.  The handle would not turn, and the door would not yield.
+Mr Bullinger and his friend vouchsafed no reply, either to their
+threats or their supplications, and how long the blockade might have
+lasted it is impossible to say, had not a fresh dissension called the
+beleaguerers away.  A cluster of boys at a corner of the big corridor
+near the main entrance attracted their curiosity, and suggested a
+possibility of even more entertainment than the goading into fury of a
+parcel of little boys, so, taking advantage of a moment when the
+besieged had combined, shoulder to shoulder, to make one magnificent and
+desperate onslaught on to the obdurate door, they quietly "raised the
+siege," and quitting their hold, left the phalanx of small heroes to
+topple head over heels and one over another on to the stone floor of the
+passage, while they sauntered off arm-in-arm to the scene of the new
+excitement.
+
+The object which had attracted the knot of boys whom they now joined was
+the School Notice Board, on which, from time to time, were posted
+notices of general and particular interest to the school.  On this
+particular afternoon (the first Friday of the Summer term) it was, as
+usual, crowded with announcements, each interesting in its way.
+
+The first was in the handwriting of Dr Senior's secretary, and ran as
+follows:--
+
+"A Nightingale Scholarship, value 50 pounds a year for three years, will
+fall vacant at Michaelmas.  Boys under seventeen are eligible.
+Particulars and subject of examination can be had any evening next week
+in the secretary's room."
+
+"Fifty-pounds a year _for_ three years!" exclaimed a small boy, with a
+half whistle.  "I wouldn't mind getting that!"
+
+"Well, why don't you, you avaricious young Jew?  You're under seventeen,
+I suppose?" retorted the amiable Mr Bullinger, thereby raising a laugh
+at the expense of this little boy of eleven, who retired from the scene
+extinguished.
+
+The next notice was in the classical handwriting of the secretary of the
+Sixth Form Literary Society, and ran as follows:--
+
+"This Society will meet on Tuesday.  Subject for debate, `That the
+present age is degenerate,' moved by A.E. Callander, opposed by T.
+Winter.  Boys from the Senior Fifth are invited as auditors."
+
+This notice, even with the patronising postscript, would have passed
+without comment, as Sixth Form notices usually did, had not some
+audacious hand ventured to alter a word and make the subject of debate,
+instead of "That the present age is degenerate," read "That the present
+Sixth is degenerate."  Who the perpetrator of this outrage might be was
+a mystery, but the alteration was quite enough to render the notice very
+amusing to many of the readers, especially the Fifth Form boys, and very
+terrible to others, especially the small boys, who looked nervous and
+guilty, and did not dare by the slightest sign to join in the mirth of
+their irreverent seniors.  Most of the assembly agreed that "there would
+be a row about it," with which assurance they passed on to the next
+notice.
+
+"Wanted, a Smart Fag.  No Tadpoles or Guinea-pigs need apply.  Horace
+Wraysford, Fifth Form."
+
+"Bravo, Horatius!" said Ricketts.  "A lucky young cub it will be that he
+takes on," added he, turning to a group of the small boys near.  "He'll
+do your sums and look over your exercises for you like one o'clock.
+Ugh! though, I suppose every man Jack of you is a Tadpole or a Pig?"
+
+Tadpoles and Guinea-pigs, I should say, were the names given to two
+combinations or clubs in the clannish Junior School, the mysteries of
+which were known only to their members, but which were not regarded with
+favour by the older boys.
+
+As no one answered this charge, Ricketts indulged in a few general
+threats, and a few not very complimentary comments on the clubs in
+question, and then returned to the notice board, which contained two
+more announcements.
+
+"Cricket Notices.  To-morrow will be a final big practice, when the
+elevens for the `A to M _versus_ N to Z' match on the 25th will be
+chosen.  `Sixth _versus_ School' will be played on the 1st proxo.  The
+School Eleven will be selected from among players in the two above
+matches."
+
+"A private meeting of the Fifth will be held this afternoon at 4.30 to
+discuss an important matter."
+
+"Hullo!" said Bullinger, looking up at the clock, "it's half-past now!
+Come along, Rick."
+
+And the two demagogues disappeared arm-in-arm down the passage, followed
+by the admiring glances of the juniors, who spent the next half-hour in
+wondering what could be the important matter under consideration at the
+private meeting of the Fifth.  The universal conclusion was that it had
+reference to the suppression of the Tadpoles and Guinea-pigs--a
+proceeding the very suggestion of which made those small animals tremble
+with mingled rage and fear, and sent them off wriggling to their own
+quarters, there to deliberate on the means of defence necessary to
+protect themselves from the common enemy.
+
+The meeting in the Fifth, however, was to consider a far more important
+subject than the rebellious clubs of the Junior School.
+
+The reader will doubtless have inferred, from what has already been
+said, that the young gentlemen of the Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's
+entertained, among other emotions, a sentiment something like jealousy
+of their seniors and superiors in the sixth.  Perhaps Saint Dominic's is
+not the only school in which such a feeling has existed; but, at any
+rate during the particular period to which I am referring, it was pretty
+strong there.  Not that the two Forms were at war, or that there was any
+fear of actual hostilities.  It was not so bad as all that.  But the
+Fifth were too near the heroes of the top Form to consent to submit to
+their authority.  They would be Sixth men themselves soon, and then of
+course they would expect the whole school to reverence them.  But till
+that time they resented the idea of bowing before these future comrades;
+and not only that, they took every opportunity of asserting their
+authority among the juniors, and claiming the allegiance for themselves
+they refused to render to others.  And they succeeded in this very well,
+for they took pains to make themselves popular in the school, and to
+appear as the champions quite as much as the bullies of the small fry.
+The consequence was that while Tadpoles and Guinea-pigs quaked and
+blushed in the presence of the majestic Sixth, they quaked and smirked
+in the presence of the Fifth, and took their thrashings meekly, in the
+hope of getting a Latin exercise looked over or a minor tyrant punished
+later on.
+
+Just at the present time, too, the Fifth was made up of a set of fellows
+well able to maintain the peculiar traditions of their fellowship.  They
+numbered one or two of the cleverest boys (for their age) in Saint
+Dominic's; and, more important still in the estimation of many, they
+numbered not a few of the best cricketers, boxers, football-players, and
+runners in the school.  With these advantages their popularity as a body
+was very great--and it is only due to them to say that they bore their
+honours magnanimously, and distributed their kicks and favours with the
+strictest impartiality.
+
+Such was the company which assembled on this afternoon in their own
+class-room, with closed doors, to deliberate on "private and important
+business."  About twenty boys were present, and the reader must let me
+introduce a few of them, before his curiosity as to the occasion of
+their assembling themselves together can be satisfied.
+
+That handsome, jovial-looking boy of sixteen who is sitting there
+astride of a chair, in the middle of the floor, biting the end of a
+quill pen, is the redoubtable Horace Wraysford, the gentleman, it will
+be remembered, who is in want of a fag.  Wraysford is one of the best
+"all-round men" in the Fifth, or indeed in the school.  He is certain to
+be in the School Eleven against the County, certain to win the mile race
+and the "hurdles" at the Athletic Sports, and is not at all unlikely to
+carry off the Nightingale Scholarship next autumn, even though one of
+the Sixth is in for it too.  Indeed, it is said he would be quite
+certain of this honour, were it not that his friend and rival Oliver
+Greenfield, who is standing there against the wall, with his head
+resting on a map of Greece, is also in for it.  Greenfield does not
+strike one as nearly so brilliant a fellow as his friend.  He is quieter
+and more lazy, and more solemn.  Some say he has a temper, and others
+that he is selfish; and generally he is not the most popular boy in
+Saint Dominic's.  Wraysford, however, sticks to him through thick and
+thin, and declares that, so far from being ill-tempered and selfish, he
+is one of the best fellows in the school, and one of the cleverest.  And
+Mr Wraysford is prepared to maintain his allegation at the point of
+the--knuckle!  That hulking, ugly youth is Braddy, the bully, the terror
+of the Guinea-pigs, and the laughing-stock of his own class-mates.  The
+boy who is fastening a chalk duster on to the collar of Braddy's coat is
+Tom Senior, the Doctor's eldest son, who, one would have imagined, might
+have learned better manners.  Last, not least (for we need not
+re-introduce Messrs. Ricketts or Bullinger, or go out of our way to
+present Simon, the donkey of the Form, to the reader), is Master Anthony
+Pembury, the boy now mounting up onto a chair with the aid of two
+friends.  Anthony is lame, and one of the most dreaded boys in Saint
+Dominic's.  His father is editor of the _Great Britain_, and the son
+seems to have inherited his talent for saying sharp things.  Woe betide
+the Dominican who raises Tony's dander!  He cannot box, he cannot
+pursue; but he can _talk_, and he can ridicule, as his victims all the
+school over know.
+
+He it is who has, of his own sweet will, summoned together the present
+meeting, and the business he is now about to explain.
+
+"The fact is, you fellows," he begins, "I wanted to ask your opinion
+about a little idea of my own.  You know the _Sixth Form Magazine_?"
+
+"Rather," says Ricketts; "awful rubbish too!  Papers a mile long in it
+about Greek roots; and poetry about the death of Seneca, and all that
+sort of thing."
+
+"That's just it," continued Pembury; "it's rubbish, and unreadable; and
+though they condescend to let us see it, I don't suppose two fellows in
+the Form ever wade through it."
+
+"I know _I don't_, for one," says Wraysford, laughing; "I _did_ make a
+start at that ode on the birth of Senior junior in the last, which began
+with--
+
+  "`Hark, 'tis the wail of an infant that wakes the still echoes of
+  lofty Olympus,'
+
+"but I got no farther."
+
+"Yes," says Tom Senior, "Wren wrote that.  I felt it my duty to
+challenge him for insulting the family, you know.  But he said it was
+meant as a compliment, and that the Doctor was greatly pleased with it."
+
+"Well," resumed Pembury, laughing, "they won't allow any of us to
+contribute.  I suggested it to the editor, and he said (you know his
+stuck-up way), `They saw no reason for opening their columns to any but
+Sixth Form fellows.'  So what I propose is, that we get up a paper of
+our own!"
+
+"Upon my word, it's a splendid idea!" exclaimed Wraysford, jumping up in
+raptures.  And every one else applauded Pembury's proposition.
+
+"We've as good a right, you know," he continued, "as they have, and
+ought to be able to turn out quite as respectable a paper."
+
+"Rather," says Ricketts, "if you'll only get the fellows to write."
+
+"Oh, I'll manage that," said Anthony.
+
+"Of course you'll have to be editor, Tony," says Bullinger.
+
+"If you like," says the bashful Tony, who had no notion of _not_ being
+editor.
+
+"Well, I call that a splendid idea," says Braddy.  "Won't they be in a
+fury?  (Look here, Senior, I wish you wouldn't stick your pins into my
+neck, do you hear?)"
+
+"What shall we call it?" some one asks.
+
+"Ah, yes," says Pembury, "we ought to give it a good name."
+
+"Call it the _Senior Wrangler_," suggested Ricketts.
+
+"Sounds too like a family concern," cried Tom Senior.
+
+"Suppose we call it the _Fifth Form War Whoop_," proposed Wraysford,
+amid much laughter.
+
+"Or the _Anti-Sixth_," says Braddy, who always professes an implacable
+enmity towards the Sixth when none of them are near to hear him.
+
+"Not at all," says Greenfield, speaking now for the first time.  "What's
+the use of making fools of ourselves?  Call it the _Dominican_, and let
+it be a paper for the whole school."
+
+"Greenfield is right," adds Pembury.  "If we can make it a regular
+school paper it will be a far better slap at the Sixth than if we did
+nothing but pitch into them.  Look here, you fellows, leave it to me to
+get out the first number.  We'll astonish the lives out of them--you
+see!"
+
+Every one is far too confident of Tony's capacity to raise an objection
+to this proposal; and after a good deal more talk, in which the idea of
+the _Dominican_ excites quite an enthusiasm among these amiable young
+gentlemen, the meeting breaks up.
+
+That evening, as the fellows passed down the corridor to prayers, a new
+notice appeared on the board:
+
+"The first number of the _Dominican_ will appear on the 24th inst."
+
+"What does it mean?" asked Raleigh of the Sixth, the school captain, of
+his companion, as they stopped to examine this mysterious announcement;
+"there's no name to it."
+
+"I suppose it's another prank of the Fifth.  By the way, do you see how
+one of them has altered this debating society notice?"
+
+"Upon my word," said Raleigh reading it, and smiling in spite of
+himself, "they are getting far too impudent.  I must send a monitor to
+complain of this."
+
+And so the two grandees walked on.
+
+Later in the evening Greenfield and Wraysford sat together in the study
+of the former.
+
+"Well, I see the Nightingale is vacant at last.  Of course you are going
+in, old man?" said Wraysford.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so; and you?" asked the other.
+
+"Oh, yes.  I'll have a shot, and do my best."
+
+"I don't mean to let you have it, though," said Greenfield, "for the
+money would be valuable to me if I ever go up to Oxford."
+
+"Just the reason I want to get it," said Wraysford, laughing.  "By the
+way, when is your young brother coming?"
+
+"This week, I expect."
+
+"I wonder if he'll fag for me?" asked Wraysford, mindful of his
+destitute condition.
+
+Greenfield laughed.  "You'd better ask the captain about that.  I can't
+answer for him.  But I must be off now.  Good-night."
+
+And an hour after that Saint Dominic's was as still and silent as,
+during the day, it had been bustling and noisy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A NEW BOY.
+
+"Good-Bye, my boy; God bless you! and don't forget to tell the
+housekeeper about airing your flannel vests."
+
+With this final benediction ringing in his ears, the train which was to
+carry Master Stephen Greenfield from London to Saint Dominic's steamed
+slowly out of the station, leaving his widowed mother to return lonely
+and sorrowful to the home from which, before this day, her youngest son
+had never wandered far without her.
+
+Stephen, if the truth must be told, was hardly as affected by the
+parting as his poor mother.  Not that he was not sorry to leave home, or
+that he did not love her he left behind; but with all the world before
+him, he was at present far too excited to think of anything rationally.
+Besides, that last remark about the flannel vests had greatly disturbed
+him.  The carriage was full of people, who must have heard it, and would
+be sure to set him down as no end of a milksop and mollycoddle.
+
+He blushed to the roots of his hair as he pulled up the window and sat
+down in his corner, feeling quite certain every one of his
+fellow-travellers must be secretly smiling at his expense.  He wished
+his mother would have whispered that last sentence.  It wasn't fair to
+him.  In short, Stephen felt a trifle aggrieved; and, with a view to
+manifesting his hardihood, and dispelling all false impressions caused
+by the maternal injunction, he let down the window and put his bare head
+out of it for about a quarter of an hour, until a speck of dust settled
+in his eye and drove him back to his seat.
+
+It is decidedly awkward to get dust in your eye when you want to figure
+as a hero, for the eyes will water, and must be wiped, and that looks
+particularly like weeping.  Stephen refrained from using his
+handkerchief as long as he could; but it was no use; he must wipe his
+eye in the presence of his fellow-passengers.  However, if he whistled a
+tune while doing so, no one could suspect him of real tears; so he
+struck up, "Glide along, my bonny boat," as cheerfully as he could, and
+mopped his smarting eye at the same time.  Alas! the dust only got
+farther in, and the music, after half an hour's heroic perseverance,
+flagged altogether.  It was no use trying to appear heroic any longer,
+so, what with pain and a dawning sense of loneliness and home-sickness,
+Stephen shed a _few_ real tears into his handkerchief, an indulgence
+which did him good in every way, for it not only relieved his drooping
+spirits, but washed that wretched piece of dust fairly out of its
+hiding-place.
+
+This relief, with the aid of a bun and a bottle of ginger-beer at one of
+the stations, set him, so to speak, on his feet again, and he was able
+to occupy the rest of his journey very pleasantly in drumming his heels
+on the floor, and imagining to himself all the marvellous exploits which
+were to mark his career at Saint Dominic's.  He was to be a prodigy in
+his new school from the very first; in a few terms he was to be captain
+of the cricket club, and meanwhile was to gain the favour of the Sixth
+by helping them regularly in their lessons, and fighting any one against
+whom a special champion should be requisite.  He was, indeed, just being
+invited to dinner with the Doctor, who was about to consult him
+concerning some points of school management, when the train suddenly
+pulled up at Maltby, and his brother Oliver's head looked in at the
+window with a "Hullo! here you are!  Tumble out!"
+
+Oliver and Stephen were Mrs Greenfield's only children.  Their father
+had died twelve years ago, when Stephen was a baby, and the two boys had
+been left in charge of an uncle, who had carefully watched over their
+education, and persuaded his sister to allow her elder boy to go to a
+public school.  Mrs Greenfield had consented, with many tremblings, and
+Oliver had, four years ago, been sent to Saint Dominic's, where he was
+now one of the head boys in the Fifth Form.  Only a _few_ weeks before
+the opening of this story the boys' uncle had died, leaving in his will
+a provision for sending Stephen to the same school as his brother, or
+any other his mother might select.  The poor widow, loth to give up her
+boy, yet fain to accept the offer held out, chose to send Stephen to
+Saint Dominic's too, and this was the reason of that young gentleman's
+present appearance on the stage at that centre of learning.
+
+"I'll send up your traps by the carter; we can walk," said Oliver,
+taking his young brother into charge.
+
+Stephen was only too glad, as it gave him time to breathe before
+plunging at once into the scene of his future exploits.  "Is it far?" he
+asked.
+
+"Only a mile," said Oliver; "come on.  Hullo, Rick, where have you been
+to?"
+
+This was addressed to Ricketts, whom they met just outside the station.
+
+"Oh! to Sherren's about my togs.  I wanted them for the match to-morrow,
+you know.  I've told him if he doesn't send them up in time we'll all
+get our things made in London, so I guess he'll hurry himself for once.
+Oh, look here! did you get a paper with the result of the American
+match?  Bother!  Here, you kid, what's your name, cut back to the
+station and get a daily.  Look sharp!  Bring it to me in my room.  Come
+on, Greenfield."
+
+Master Stephen looked so astonished at this cool request from a total
+stranger that both the elder boys laughed.
+
+"This is my young brother, Rick, just come--"
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Mr Ricketts, blushing, "I'll go--"
+
+"No, I'll go," said Stephen, darting off, and expending a penny of his
+own to get this magnifico of the Fifth his paper.
+
+This little incident served to break the ice for the new boy, who felt
+highly honoured when Ricketts said he was "much obliged to him."
+
+"By the way," said Oliver, suddenly, "I ought to get my togs up too.
+Bother that Sherren!  I say, Rick, see my young brother up to the
+school, will you? while I cut back; he can wait in my study."
+
+Stephen felt very desolate to be left thus alone the moment after his
+arrival, and it did not add to his pleasure to observe that Ricketts by
+no means appeared to look upon the task of seeing him to Saint Dominic's
+as a privilege.  They walked on in silence for about half a mile, and
+then encountered several groups of boys strolling out along the road.
+Ricketts stopped to talk to several of them, and was very nearly going
+off with one of the party, when he suddenly remembered his charge.  It
+was rather humiliating this, for Stephen; and already his triumphal
+entry into Saint Dominic's was beginning to be shorn of some of its
+glory.  No one noticed him; and the only one that paid him the least
+attention appeared to look upon him as a nuisance.
+
+"Here, Tony," suddenly shouted Ricketts to Pembury, who was jogging
+along on his crutches a little way ahead, towards the school; "do you
+mind showing this kid the way up?  I have to go back with Wren.  There's
+a good fellow."
+
+"Well, that's cool," replied Master Pembury; "I'm not a kid-conductor!
+Come on, youngster; I suppose you haven't got a name, have you?"
+
+"Yes, Stephen Greenfield."
+
+"Oh, brother of our dear friend Oliver; I hope you'll turn out a better
+boy than him, he's a shocking character."
+
+Stephen looked concerned.  "I'm sure he doesn't mean to do what's
+wrong," began he, apologetically.
+
+"That's just it, my boy.  If he doesn't mean to do it, why on earth does
+he do it?  I shall be sorry if he's expelled, very sorry.  But come on;
+don't mind if I walk too fast," added he, hobbling along by Stephen's
+side.
+
+Stephen did not know what to think.  If Ricketts had not addressed his
+companion as "Tony" he would have fancied he was one of the masters, he
+spoke with such an air of condescension.  Stephen felt very
+uncomfortable, too, to hear what had been told him about Oliver.  If he
+had not been told, he could not have believed his brother was anything
+but perfection.
+
+"I'm lame, you see," said Pembury, presently.  "You are quite sure you
+see?  Look at my left leg."
+
+"I see," said Stephen, blushing; "I--I hope it doesn't hurt."
+
+"Only when I wash my face.  But never mind that Vulcan was lame too, but
+then he never washed.  You know who Vulcan was, of course?"
+
+"No, I don't think so," faltered Stephen, beginning to feel very uneasy
+and ignorant.
+
+"Not know Vulcan!  My eye! where have you been brought up?  Then of
+course you don't know anything about the Tenth Fiji War?  No?  I thought
+not.  Dreadful!  We shall have to see what you do know.  Come on."
+
+Stephen entered Saint Dominic's thoroughly crestfallen, and fully
+convinced he was the most ignorant boy that ever entered a public
+school.  The crowds of boys in the playground frightened him, and even
+the little boys inspired him with awe.  _They_, at any rate, had heard
+of Vulcan, and knew about the Tenth Fiji War!
+
+"Here," said Anthony, "is your brother's study.  Sit here till he
+returns, and make the most of your time, for you'll have to put your
+best foot foremost to-morrow in the Doctor's examination."
+
+So saying, he left abruptly, and the poor lad found himself alone, in
+about as miserable a frame of mind as a new boy would wish to be in.
+
+He looked about the study; there were some shelves with books on them.
+There was a little bed let into the wall on one side; there was an
+easy-chair, and what professed to be a sofa; and there was a pile of
+miscellanies, consisting of bats and boots and collars and papers,
+heaped up in the corner, which appeared to be the most abundantly
+furnished portion of the little room.  Stephen sat there, very dismal,
+and wishing himself home again once more, when the door suddenly opened
+and a small boy of his own age appeared.
+
+"Hullo!  What do you want?" demanded this hero.
+
+"I'm waiting for my brother."
+
+"Who's your brother?"
+
+"Oliver Greenfield."
+
+"Oh, all right! you can get his tea as well as I can; you'll find all
+the things in the cupboard there.  And look here, tell him Bullinger
+wants to know if he can lend him some jam--about half a pint, tell him."
+
+Poor Stephen! even the small boys ordered him about, and regarded him as
+nobody.  He would fain have inquired of this young gentleman something
+about Vulcan, and have had the advantage of his experience in the
+preparation of his brother's tea; but the youth seemed pressed for time,
+and vanished.
+
+As well as he could, Stephen extricated the paraphernalia of his
+brother's tea-table from the cupboard, and set it out in order on the
+table, making the tea as well as profound inexperience of the mystery
+and a kettle full of lukewarm water would permit.  Then he sat and
+waited.
+
+Before Oliver arrived, four visitors broke in upon Stephen's vigil.  The
+first came "to borrow" some tea, and helped himself coolly to two
+teaspoonfuls out of Oliver's canister.  Stephen stood by aghast and
+speechless.
+
+"Tell him I'll _owe_ it him," calmly remarked the young gentleman, as he
+departed with his booty, whistling a cheerful ditty.
+
+Then a fag came in and took a spoon, and after him another fag, with a
+mug, into which he poured half of the contents of Oliver's milk-jug; and
+finally a big fellow rushed in in a desperate hurry and snatched up a
+chair and made off with it.
+
+Stephen wondered the roof of Saint Dominic's did not fall in upon these
+shameless marauders, and was just contemplating putting the stores all
+back again into the cupboard to prevent further piracy, when the welcome
+sound of Oliver's voice in the passage put an end to further suspense.
+
+"Well, here you are," said Oliver, entering with a friend.  "Wray, this
+is my young brother, just turned up."
+
+"How are you?" said Wraysford, in a voice which won over Stephen at
+once; "I heard you were coming.  Have you--"
+
+"Oh!" suddenly ejaculated Oliver, lifting up the lid of his teapot.  "If
+that young wretch Paul hasn't been and made my tea with coal-dust and
+cold water!  I'd like to scrag him!  And--upon my word--oh, this is too
+much!--just look, Wray, how he's laid the table out!  Those Guinea-pigs
+are beyond all patience.  Where _is_ the beggar?"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Stephen, starting up, very red in the face, as his
+brother went to the door; "it wasn't him.  I made the tea.  The boy told
+me to, and I didn't know the way.  I had to guess."
+
+Oliver and Wraysford both burst out laughing.
+
+"A pretty good guess, too, youngster," said Wraysford.  "When you come
+and fag for me I'll give you a few lessons to begin with."
+
+"Oh! by the way, Wray," said Oliver, "that's all knocked on the head.
+Loman makes out the captain promised him the first new boy that came.
+I'm awfully sorry."
+
+"Just like Loman's cheek.  I believe he did it on purpose to spite me or
+you.  I say, Greenfield, I'd kick-up a row about it if I were you."
+
+"What's the use, if the captain says so?" answered Oliver.  "Besides,
+Loman's a monitor, bad luck to him!"
+
+"Loman's a fellow I don't take a great fancy to," said Wraysford.  "I
+wouldn't care for a young brother of mine to fag to him."
+
+"You are prejudiced, old man," said Oliver.  "But I wish all the same
+Stephen was to fag for you.  It's a pity, but it can't be helped."
+
+"I'll speak to the captain, anyhow," growled Wraysford, sitting down to
+his tea.
+
+All this was not very pleasant for Stephen, who gathered that he was
+destined to serve a not very desirable personage in the capacity of fag,
+instead of, as he would have liked, his brother's friend Wraysford.
+
+However, he did justice to the tea, bad as it was, and the sardines
+Oliver had brought from Maltby.  He was relieved, too, to find that his
+brother was not greatly exasperated on hearing of the various raids
+which had been made on his provisions, or greatly disconcerted at Mr
+Bullinger's modest request for half a pint of jam.
+
+Then, as the talk fell upon home, and cricket, and other cheerful
+topics, the small boy gradually forgot his troubles, even down to the
+Fiji War, and finished up his first evening at Saint Dominic's in a good
+deal more cheerful frame of mind than that in which he had begun it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A MORNING WITH A TADPOLE.
+
+It so happened that on the day following Stephen Greenfield's arrival at
+Saint Dominic's, the head master, Dr Senior, was absent.
+
+This circumstance gave great satisfaction to the new boy when his
+brother told him of it, as it put off for another twenty-four hours the
+awful moment when he would be forced to expose his ignorance before that
+terrible personage.
+
+"You'd better stick about in my room while I'm in school," said Oliver,
+"and then you can come down to the cricket-field and see the practice.
+By the way, some of the fellows may be in to bag my ink; they always run
+short on Friday; but don't let them take it, for I shall want it
+to-night.  Ta, ta; give my love to the _mater_ if you're writing home.
+I'll be back for you after the twelve bell."
+
+And off he went, leaving Stephen to follow his own sweet devices for
+three hours.
+
+That young gentleman was at no loss how to occupy part of the time.  He
+must write home.  So after much searching he unearthed a crumpled sheet
+of note-paper from one of the drawers, and set himself to his task.  As
+he wrote, and his thoughts flew back to the home and the mother he had
+left only yesterday, his spirits fell, and the home-sickness came over
+him worse than ever.  What would he not give to change places with this
+very letter, and go back home!
+
+Here, no one cared for him, every one seemed to despise him.  He wasn't
+used to those rough public schools, and would never get on at Saint
+Dominic's.  Ah! that wretched Tenth Fiji War.  What _would_ become of
+him to-morrow when the Doctor would be back?  There was no one to help
+him.  Even Oliver seemed determined to let him fight his own battles.
+
+Poor boy!  He sat back in his chair and let his mind wander once more
+back to the snug little home he had left.  And, as he did so, his eyes
+unconsciously filled with tears, and he felt as if he would give
+anything to escape from Saint Dominic's.
+
+At this moment the door opened and a small boy entered.
+
+He did not seem to expect to find any one in the room, for he uttered a
+hurried "Hullo!" as he caught sight of Stephen.
+
+Stephen quickly dashed away a tear and looked up.
+
+"Where's Greenfield?" demanded the small boy.
+
+"He's in school," replied Stephen.
+
+"Hullo! what are you blubbering at?" cried the small boy, growing very
+bold and patronising all of a sudden, "eh?"
+
+Stephen did not answer this home question.
+
+"I suppose you are a new kid, just left your mammy?" observed the other,
+with the air of a man of forty; "what's your name, young 'un?"
+
+"Stephen Greenfield."
+
+"Oh, my! is it?  What form are you in?"
+
+"I don't know yet."
+
+"Haven't you been examined?"
+
+"No, not yet."
+
+"Oh, of course; old Senior's away.  Never mind, you'll catch it
+to-morrow, blub-baby!"
+
+This last epithet was thrown in in such a very gratuitous and offensive
+way, that Stephen did not exactly like it.
+
+The small youth, however, finding himself in a bantering mood, pursued
+his questions with increasing venom.
+
+"I suppose they call you Steenie at home?" he observed, with a sneer
+that was meant to be quite annihilating.
+
+"No, they don't," replied Stephen; "mother calls me Steevie."
+
+"Oh, Steevie, does she?  Well, Steevie, were you ever licked over the
+knuckles with a ruler?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "why?"
+
+"Because you will be--I know who'll do it, too, and kick you on the
+shins, too, if you're cheeky!"
+
+Stephen was quite at a loss whether to receive this piece of news in the
+light of information or a threat.  He was inclined to believe it the
+latter; and as he was a rash youth, he somewhat tartly replied, "_You_
+won't!"
+
+The small boy looked astounded--not that he ever contemplated attempting
+the chastisement about which he had talked; but the idea of a new boy
+defying _him_, one of the chosen leaders of the Tadpoles, who had been
+at Saint Dominic's two years, was amazing.  He glared at the rash
+Stephen for half a minute, and then broke out, "Won't I? that's all! you
+see, you pretty little blubber boy!  Yow-ow-ow! little sneak! why don't
+you cut behind your mammy's skirt, if you're afraid?  I would cry if I
+were you.  Where's his bottle?  Poor infant!  Yow-ow-boo-boo!"
+
+This tornado, delivered with increasing vehemence and offensiveness,
+quite overpowered Stephen, who stared at the boy as if he had been a
+talking frog.
+
+That youth evidently seemed to expect that his speech would produce a
+far deeper impression than it did, for he looked quite angry when
+Stephen made no reply.
+
+"Wretched little sneak!" the amiable one continued; "I suppose he'll go
+peaching to his big brother.  Never mind, _we'll_ pay you out, see if we
+don't!  Go and kiss your mammy, and tell your big brother what they did
+to little duckie Steevie, did they then? they shouldn't!  Give him a
+suck of his bottle! oh, my!" and he finished up with a most withering
+laugh.  Then, suddenly remembering his errand, he walked up to the
+table, and said, "I want that inkpot!"
+
+Now was Stephen's time.  He was just in the humour for an argument with
+this young Philistine.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"What's that to you? give it up!"
+
+"I shan't give it up; Oliver said it was not to be taken."
+
+"What do you say?" yelled the small boy, almost beside himself with rage
+and astonishment.  "It's my brother's ink, and I'm not to give it up,"
+said Stephen, shutting the top and keeping his hand on it.
+
+It was enough!  The patriarch of the Tadpoles knew his strong point was
+in words rather than action; but this could not be endured.  At whatever
+risk, the dignity of his order must be maintained, and this insolent,
+mad new boy must be--kicked.
+
+"I'll kick you on the legs if you don't give it up," said the Tadpole,
+in a suppressed white heat.
+
+Stephen said nothing, but kept his hand on the pot, and awaited what was
+to follow.
+
+The hero stepped back a pace or two, to allow of a run worthy of the
+coming kick; and what might have happened no one knows.  At that moment
+the door opened, and Pembury entered on his crutches.
+
+At sight of this Fifth Form celebrity the Tadpole cringed and cowered,
+and tried to sneak out of the study unobserved.  But Anthony was too
+quick for him.  Gently hooking him by the coat-collar with the end of a
+crutch, he brought him back.
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Yes, he is," shouted Stephen; "he's been trying to take, away Oliver's
+ink."
+
+"Silence, young gentleman, pray!" said Pembury, very grandly.  Then,
+turning to the Tadpole, he added, "Oh, so you've been trying to bag some
+ink, have you?"
+
+"Well, I only wanted a little; and this--"
+
+"Silence! how much ink did you want?"
+
+"Only half a potful."
+
+"You shall have half a potful!" said Pembury.  "Come here."
+
+The Tadpole obeyed, and glared triumphantly at Stephen.
+
+"Now, Master Greenfield," said Pembury, addressing Stephen; "have the
+kindness to hand me the ink."
+
+Stephen hesitated; he felt _sure_ Anthony was a master; and yet Oliver's
+directions had been explicit.
+
+"Do you hear?" thundered Anthony.
+
+"Do you hear?" squeaked the Tadpole, delighted to have the tables turned
+on his adversary.
+
+"Oliver said I wasn't to let it go," faltered Stephen.
+
+"Do you hear me, sir?" again demanded Anthony.
+
+"Do you hear? give it up!" again squeaked the Tadpole.
+
+Stephen sighed, and surrendered the inkpot.  There was an air of
+authority about Pembury which he dared not defy.
+
+"Now, Master Tadpole, here's your ink; half a pot you said?  Put your
+hands behind you, and stir if you dare!" and Pembury looked so awful as
+he spoke that the wretched boy was quite petrified.
+
+The Fifth Form boy then solemnly emptied half the inkpot on to the top
+of the young gentleman's head, who ventured neither by word nor gesture
+to protest.
+
+"Now you can go, sir!" and without another word he led the small youth,
+down whose face trickled a dozen tiny streams of black, making it look
+very like a gridiron, to the door, and there gently but firmly handed
+him into the passage.  The wretched youth flew off to proclaim his
+sorrows to his confederates, and vow vengeance all over Tadpole and
+Guinea-pig-land against his tormentor and the new boy, who was the
+author of all his humiliation.
+
+Pembury meanwhile returned to Stephen.  That young gentleman had felt
+his belief in Pembury's authority somewhat shaken by this unusual mode
+of punishment, but the Fifth Form boy soon reassumed his ascendency.  He
+produced from his pocket a paper, and thus addressed Stephen: "Dr
+Senior regrets that he should be absent at such an important time in the
+history of Saint Dominic's as the day of your arrival, Master
+Greenfield, but he will be back to-morrow.  Meanwhile, you are to occupy
+yourself with answering the questions on this paper, and take the
+answers to the head master's study at ten to-morrow.  Of course you will
+not be so dishonourable as to show the questions to any one, not even
+your brother, or attempt to get the slightest help in answering them.
+Good-bye, my boy.  Don't trouble to stare at my left leg, if it _is_
+shorter than the other.  Good-bye."
+
+Poor Stephen felt so confused by the whole of this oration, particularly
+the last sentence, which made him blush scarlet with shame, that for
+some time after the lame boy had hobbled off he could not bring himself
+to look at the paper.  At last, however, he took it up.
+
+This, then, was the awful examination paper which was to determine his
+position at Saint Dominic's, or else expose his ignorance to the scorn
+of his masters.  How he wished he was on the other side of it, and that
+the ordeal was over!
+
+"Question 1.  Grammar.  Parse the sentence, `Oh, ah!' and state the
+gender of the following substantives: `and,' `look,' `here.'"
+
+Stephen scratched his head and rubbed his eyes.  This was not like
+anything he had learned at home.  They must learn out of quite different
+books at Saint Dominic's.
+
+"Question 2.  History--"
+
+"Hullo," thought Stephen, "they don't give many questions in grammar;
+that's a good job."
+
+"Question 2.  History.  Whose daughter was Stephen the Second, and why
+was he nicknamed the `Green?'"
+
+Stephen laughed.  He had found out a mistake in his examiners.
+"`Daughter,' the paper said, should be `son' of course.  Funny for Dr
+Senior to make such a slip," thought he.
+
+"Question 3.  History and Geography.  Who built England? and state the
+latitude and longitude of Saint Dominic's, and the boundaries of Gusset
+Weir."
+
+"_However_ am I to know?" murmured Stephen, in despair.  "I was never
+here before in my life.  Oh, dear, I shall _never_ pass!"
+
+"Question 4.  Compound Theology.  Give a sketch of the rise and history
+of the Dominicans from the time of Herod the Conqueror to the death of
+Titmus."
+
+"Whew!" was Stephen's despairing ejaculation.  "I never heard of Titmus;
+it sounds like a Latin name."
+
+"Question 5.  Pure Theology.  Who was Mr Finis?  Give a list of the
+works bearing his signature, with a short abstract of their contents.
+What is he particularly celebrated for?"
+
+"Mr Finis?" groaned Stephen.  "How can they expect a boy like me to
+know who he was?  And yet I seem to know the name.  Oh dear me!"
+
+"Question 6, and last but one," ("That's a comfort," sighed Stephen).
+"Mathematics.  What is a minus?  Describe its shape, and say how many
+are left when the whole is divided by seven.  Reduce your answer to
+vulgar decimals."
+
+"I'm certain I can never do that.  Minus?  Minus?  I know the name, too.
+But here's the last."
+
+"Question 7.  Miscellaneous.  Give a brief history of your own life from
+the earliest times, being particular to state your vicious deeds in
+chronological order."
+
+Stephen sighed a sigh of relief.  "I can answer that, after a fashion,"
+he said; "but I can't even then be sure of all the dates.  As for the
+others--" and he dashed the paper down on the table with an air of
+bewildered despair.
+
+"What am I to do?  They are all too hard for me.  Oh!  I wish I might
+just show them to Oliver.  If I was only at home, mother could help me.
+Oh, dear!  I wish I had never come here!"
+
+And he gave himself over to the extreme of misery, and sat staring at
+the wall until the twelve bell rang, and Oliver and Wraysford broke in
+on his solitude.
+
+"Hullo, young 'un; in the dumps?  Never mind; you'll be used to it in a
+day or two, won't he, Wray?"
+
+"Of course you will," said Wraysford, cheerily; "it's hard lines at
+first.  Keep your pecker up, young 'un."
+
+The young 'un, despite this friendly advice, felt very far from keeping
+up his pecker.  But he did his best, and worked his face into a
+melancholy sort of a smile.
+
+"Fish us my spike shoes out of that cupboard, Stee, there's a good
+fellow," said Oliver, "and come along to the cricket-field.  There's a
+big practice on this afternoon."
+
+Stephen hesitated.
+
+"I've got to do my exam before ten to-morrow.  Some one brought me up
+the paper and said so.  Perhaps I'd better stop here and do it?"
+
+"I thought you weren't to be had up till the Doctor came back.  Who
+brought you the paper?  I suppose it was Jellicott, the second master?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Stephen, who had never heard of Mr Jellicott in
+his life before.
+
+"Let's have a look at it," said the elder brother.
+
+"I promised I wouldn't."
+
+"Oh, all serene; I only wanted to see the questions.  It's a new dodge
+giving papers, isn't it, Wray?  We were examined _viva voce_ in the
+Doctor's study.  Well, come on, old man, or we shall be late.  You'll
+have lots of time for that this evening."
+
+And off they went, the wretched Stephen wrestling mentally with his
+problems all the while.
+
+Of course, profound reader, you have made the brilliant discovery by
+this time that Master Stephen Greenfield was a very green boy.  So were
+you and I at his age; and so, after all, we are now.  For the more we
+think we know, the greener we shall find we are; that's a fact!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+FAGGING.
+
+There is a queer elasticity about boys which no one, least of all
+themselves, can account for.  A quarter of an hour after the big
+practice had begun Stephen had forgotten all about his examination, and
+could think of nothing but cricket.
+
+As he sat cross-legged on the grass among half a dozen youngsters like
+himself, he even began to forget that he was a new boy, and was
+surprised to find himself holding familiar converse with one and another
+of his companions.
+
+"Well bowled, sir!" shouted Master Paul, as a very swift ball from
+Ricketts took Bullinger's middle stump clean out of the
+ground--"rattling well bowled!  I say," he added, turning round; "if
+Ricketts bowls like that to-day week, the others will be nowhere."
+
+"Oh," said Stephen, to whom this remark seemed to be addressed.
+
+Master Paul looked sharply round.
+
+"Hullo, young 'un, is that you?  Jolly good play, isn't it?  Who are you
+for, A or Z?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Mean?  Do you back the A's or the Z's? that's what I mean.  Oh, I
+suppose you don't twig, though.  A to M, you know, against N to Z."
+
+"Oh," said Stephen, "I back the A to M's, of course; my brother is in
+that half."
+
+"So he is--isn't that him going in now?  Yes; you see if Ricketts
+doesn't get him out in the first over!"
+
+Stephen watched most eagerly and anxiously.  They were not playing a
+regular game, only standing up to be bowled at in front of the nets, or
+fielding at fixed places; but each ball, and each hit, and each piece of
+fielding, was watched and applauded as if a victory depended on it, for
+out of those playing to-day the two elevens for the Alphabet match were
+to be chosen; and out of those two elevens, as every one knew, the
+School eleven, which would play the County in June, was to be selected.
+Oliver, despite Paul's prophecy, stood out several overs of Rickett's,
+and Loman's, and the school captain's, one after the other, cutting some
+of their balls very hard, and keeping a very steady guard over his
+wicket.  At last a ball of Loman's got past him and snicked off his
+bails.
+
+Stephen looked inquiringly round at Paul, and then at the small knot of
+Sixth fellows who were making notes of each candidate's play.
+
+"He's all right," said Paul; "I guess Raleigh," (that was the school
+captain) "didn't fancy his balls being licked about like that.  Never
+mind--there goes Braddy in."
+
+And so the practice went on, each candidate for the honour of a place in
+the eleven submitting to the ordeal, and being applauded or despised
+according as he acquitted himself.  Wraysford, of course, came out of
+the trial well, as he always did.
+
+"I declare, the Fifth could lick the Sixth this year, Tom," said Pembury
+to Tom Senior, as they sat together looking on.
+
+"I'm sure they could; I hope we challenge them."
+
+Just then a Sixth Form fellow strolled up to where the speakers were
+standing.
+
+"I say, Loman," said Pembury, "we were just saying our men could lick
+yours all to fits.  Don't you think so yourself?"
+
+"Can't say I do; but you are such a wonderful lot of heroes, you Fifth,
+that there's no saying what you couldn't do if you tried," replied
+Loman, with a sneer.
+
+"But you take such precious good care we shall not try, that's just it,"
+said Pembury, winking at his companion.  "Never mind, we'll astonish you
+some day," growled the editor of the _Dominican_ as he hobbled away.
+
+Loman strolled up to where the small boys were sitting.
+
+"Which of you is young Greenfield?" he said.
+
+"I am," said Stephen, promptly.
+
+"Run with this letter to the post, then, and bring me back some stamps
+while you are there, and get tea ready for two in my study by half-past
+six--do you hear?"
+
+And off he went, leaving Stephen gaping at the letter in his hand, and
+quite bewildered as to the orders about tea.
+
+Master Paul enjoyed his perplexity.
+
+"I suppose you thought you were going to get off fagging.  I say, you'll
+have to take that letter sharp, or you'll be late."
+
+"Where's the post-office?"
+
+"About a mile down Maltby Road.  Look here, as you are going there, get
+me a pound of raisins, will you?--there's a good chap.  We'll square up
+to-night."
+
+Stephen got up and started on his errands in great disgust.
+
+He didn't see why he was to be ordered about and sent jobs for the other
+boys, just at a time, too, when he was enjoying himself.  However, it
+couldn't be helped.
+
+Three or four fellows stopped him as he walked with the letter in his
+hand to the gates.
+
+"Oh, are you going to the post?  Look here, young 'un, just call in at
+Splicer's about my bat, will you? thanks awfully!" said one.
+
+Another wanted him to buy a sixpenny novel at the library; a third
+commissioned him to invest threepence in "mixed sweets, chiefly
+peppermint;" and a fourth to call at Grounding, the naturalist's, with a
+dead white mouse which the owner wanted stuffed.
+
+After this, Stephen--already becoming a little more knowing--stuffed the
+letter in his pocket, and took care, if ever he passed any one, not to
+look as if he was going anywhere, for fear of being entrusted with a
+further mission.
+
+He discharged all his errands to the best of his ability, including that
+relating to the dead mouse, which he had great difficulty in rescuing
+from the clutches of a hungry dog on the way down, and then returned
+with Paul's raisins in one pocket, the mixed sweets in another, the book
+in another, and the other boy's bat over his shoulder.
+
+Paul was awaiting him at the gate of Saint Dominic's.
+
+"Got them?" he shouted out, when Stephen was still twenty yards off.
+
+Stephen nodded.
+
+"How much?" inquired Paul.
+
+"Eighteenpence."
+
+"You duffer!  I didn't mean them--pudding raisins I meant, about
+sixpence.  I say, you'd better take them back, hadn't you?"
+
+This was gratitude!  "I can't now," said Stephen.
+
+"I've got to get somebody's tea ready--I say, where's his study?"
+
+"Whose?  Loman's?  Oh, it's about the eighth on the right in the third
+passage; next to the one with the kicks on it.  What a young muff you
+are to get this kind of raisin!  I say, you'd have plenty of time to
+change them."
+
+"I really wouldn't," said Stephen, hurrying off, and perhaps guessing
+that before he met Mr Paul again the raisins would be past changing.
+
+The boy to whom belonged the mixed sweets was no more grateful than Paul
+had been.
+
+"You've chosen the very ones I hate," he said, surveying the selection
+with a look of disgust.
+
+"You said peppermint," said Stephen.
+
+"But I didn't say green, beastly things!" grumbled the other.  "Here,
+you can have one of them, it's sure to make you sick!"
+
+Stephen said "Thank you," and went off to deliver up the bat.
+
+"What a time you've been!" was all the thanks he got in that quarter.
+"Why couldn't you come straight back with it?"
+
+This was gratifying.  Stephen was learning at least one lesson that
+afternoon--that a fag, if he ever expects to be thanked for anything he
+does, is greatly mistaken.  He went off in a highly injured frame of
+mind to Loman's study.
+
+Master Paul's directions might have been more explicit--"The eighth door
+on the right; next to the one with the kicks."  Now, as it happened, the
+door with the kicks on it was itself the eighth door on the right, with
+a study on either side of it, and which of these two was Loman's Stephen
+could not by the unaided light of nature determine.  He peeped into
+Number 7; it was empty.
+
+"Perhaps he's cut his name on the door," thought Stephen.
+
+He might have done so, but as there were about fifty different letters
+cut on the door, he was not much wiser for that.
+
+"I'd better look and see if his name is on his collars," Stephen next
+reflected, remembering with what care his mother had marked his own
+linen.
+
+He opened a drawer; it was full of jam-pots.  At that moment the door
+opened behind him, and the next thing Stephen was conscious of was that
+he was half-stunned with a terrific box on the ears.
+
+"Take that, you young thief!" said the indignant owner of the study;
+"I'll teach you to stick your finger in my jam.  What do you mean by
+it?" and a cuff served as a comma between each sentence.
+
+"I really didn't--I only wanted--I was looking for--"
+
+"That'll do; don't tell lies as well as steal; get away."
+
+"I never stole anything!" began Stephen, whose confusion was being
+rapidly followed by indignation at this unjust suspicion.
+
+"That'll do.  A little boy like you shouldn't practise cheating.  Off
+you go!  If I catch you again I'll take you to the Doctor."
+
+In vain Stephen, now utterly indignant, and burning with a sense of
+injustice, protested his innocence.  He could not get a hearing, and
+presently found himself out in the passage, the most miserable boy in
+all Saint Dominic's.
+
+He wandered disconsolately along the corridor, trying hard to keep down
+his tears, and determined to beg and beseech his brother to let him
+return home that very evening, when Loman and a friend confronted him.
+
+"Hullo, I say, is tea ready?" demanded the former.
+
+"No," said Stephen, half choking.
+
+"Why ever not, when I told you?"
+
+Stephen looked at him, and tried to speak, and then finally burst into
+tears.
+
+"Here's an oddity for you!  Why, what's the row, youngster?"
+
+"Nothing," stammered Stephen.
+
+"That's a queer thing to howl at.  If you were weeping because you
+hadn't made my tea, I could understand it.  Come along, I'll show you
+how to do it this time, young greenhorn."
+
+Stephen accompanied him mechanically, and was ushered into the study on
+the other side of the door with the kicks to that in which he had been
+so grievously wronged.
+
+He watched Loman prepare the meal, and was then allowed to depart, with
+orders to be in the way, in case he should be wanted.
+
+Poor Stephen!  Things were going from bad to worse, and life was already
+a burden to him.  And besides--that exam paper!  It now suddenly dawned
+upon him.  Here it was nearly seven o'clock, and by ten to-morrow he was
+to deliver it up to Dr Senior!
+
+How _ever_ was he to get through it?  He darted off to Oliver's study.
+It was empty, and he sat down, and drawing out the paper, made a dash at
+the first question.
+
+The answer _wouldn't_ come!  Parse "Oh, ah!"
+
+"Oh" is an interjection agreeing with "ah."
+
+"Ah" is an interjection agreeing with "oh."  It wouldn't do.  He must
+try again.
+
+"Why," cried the voice of Wraysford, half an hour later, "here's a
+picture of industry for you, Greenfield.  That young brother of yours is
+beginning well!"
+
+Stephen hurriedly caught up his papers for fear any one should catch a
+glimpse of the hopeless attempts at answers which he had written.  He
+was greatly tempted to ask Oliver about "Mr Finis," only he had
+promised not to get any help.
+
+"Let's have a look at the questions," again demanded Oliver, but at that
+moment Loman's voice sounded down the passage.
+
+"Greenfield junior, where are you?"
+
+Stephen, quite glad of this excuse for again refusing to show that
+wretched paper, jumped up, and saying, "There's Loman wants his tea
+cleared away," vanished out of the room.
+
+Poor Stephen!  There was little chance of another turn at his paper that
+night.  By the time Loman's wants had been attended to, and his
+directions for future fagging delivered, the prayer-bell rang, and for
+the half-hour following prayers the new boy was hauled away by Master
+Paul into the land of the Guinea-pigs, there to make the acquaintance of
+some of his future class-fellows, and to take part in a monster
+indignation meeting against the monitors for forbidding single wicket
+cricket in the passage, with a door for the wicket, an old inkpot for
+the ball, and a ruler for the bat.  Stephen quite boiled with rage to
+hear of this act of tyranny, and vowed vengeance along with all the rest
+twenty times over, and almost became reconciled with his enemy of the
+morning (but not quite) in the sympathy of emotion which this
+demonstration evoked.
+
+Then, just as the memory of that awful paper rushed back into his mind,
+and he was meditating sneaking off to his brother's study, the first
+bed-bell sounded.
+
+"Come on," said Paul, "or they'll bag our blankets."
+
+Stephen, wondering, and shivering at the bare idea, raced along the
+passage and up the staircase with his youthful ally to the dormitory.
+There they found they had been anticipated by the blanket-snatchers; and
+as they entered, one of these, the hero of the inky head, was
+deliberately abstracting one of those articles of comfort from Stephen's
+own bed.
+
+"There's young Bramble got your blanket, Greenfield," cried Paul, "pitch
+into him!"
+
+Stephen, nothing loth, marched up to Master Bramble and demanded his
+blanket.  A general engagement ensued, some of the inhabitants of the
+dormitory siding with Stephen, and some with Bramble, until it seemed as
+if the coveted blanket would have parted in twain.  In the midst of the
+confusion a sentry at the door suddenly put his head in and shouted
+"Nix!"  The signal had a magical effect on all but the uninitiated
+Stephen, who, profiting by his adversaries' surprise, made one desperate
+tug at his blanket, which he triumphantly rescued.
+
+"Look sharp," said Paul, "here comes Rastle."  Mr Rastle was the small
+boys' tutor and governor.  Stephen took the hint, and was very soon
+curled up, with his brave blanket round him, in bed, where, despite the
+despairing thought of his paper, the cruel injustice of the owner of the
+jam-pots, and the general hardness of his lot, he could not help feeling
+he was a good deal more at home at Saint Dominic's than he had ever yet
+found himself.
+
+Of one thing he was determined.  He would be up at six next morning, and
+make one last desperate dash at his exam paper.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+SHAKING DOWN TO WORK.
+
+"Master Greenfield, junior, is to go to the head master's study at
+half-past nine," called out Mr Roach, the school porter, putting his
+head into the dormitory, at seven o'clock next morning.
+
+Stephen had been up an hour, making fearful and wonderful shots of
+answers to his awful questions, half of which he had already ticked off
+as done for better or worse.  "If I write _something_ down to each,"
+thought he to himself, "I might happen to get one thing right; it'll be
+better than putting down no answer at all."
+
+"Half-past nine!" said he to Paul, on hearing this announcement; "_ten_
+was the time I was told."
+
+"Who told you?"
+
+"The gentleman who gave me my paper."
+
+"What paper? you don't have papers.  It's _viva voce_."
+
+"I've got a paper, anyhow," said Stephen, "and a precious hard one, too,
+and I've only half done it."
+
+"Well, you'll have to go at half-past nine, or you'll catch it," said
+Paul.  "I say, there's Loman calling you."
+
+Stephen, who, since the indignation meeting last night, had felt himself
+grow very rebellious against the monitors, did not choose to hear the
+call in question, and tried his hardest to make another shot at his
+paper.  But he could not keep deaf when Loman himself opened the door,
+and pulling his ear inquired what he meant by not coming when he was
+told?  The new boy then had to submit, and sulkily followed his lord to
+his study, there to toast some bread at a smoky fire, and look for about
+half an hour for a stud that Loman said had rolled under the chest of
+drawers, but which really had fallen into one of that gentleman's boots.
+
+By the time these labours were over, and Stephen had secured a mouthful
+of breakfast in his brother's study, it was time to go down to prayers;
+and after prayers he had but just time to wonder what excuse he should
+make for only answering half his questions, when the clock pointed to
+the half-hour, and he had to scuttle off as hard as he could to the
+Doctor's study.
+
+Dr Senior was a tall, bald man, with small, sharp eyes, and with a
+face as solemn as an owl's.  He looked up as Stephen entered.
+
+"Come in, my man.  Let me see; Greenfield?  Oh, yes.  You got here on
+Tuesday.  How old are you?"
+
+"Nearly eleven, sir," said Stephen, with the paper burning in his
+pocket.
+
+"Just so; and I dare say your brother has shown you over the school, and
+helped to make you feel at home.  Now suppose we just run through what
+you have learned at home."
+
+Now was the time.  With a sigh as deep as the pocket from which he
+pulled it, Stephen produced that miserable paper.
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir," he began, "I've not had time--"
+
+"Tut, tut!" said the Doctor; "put that away, and let us get on."
+
+Stephen stared.  "It's the paper you gave me!" he said.
+
+The Doctor frowned.  "I hope you are not a silly boy," he said, rather
+crossly.
+
+"I'm afraid they are all wrong," said Stephen; "the questions were--
+were--rather hard."
+
+"What questions?" exclaimed the Doctor, a trifle impatient, and a trifle
+puzzled.
+
+"These you sent me," said Stephen, humbly handing in the paper.
+
+"Hum! some mistake; let's see, perhaps Jellicott--ah!" and he put on his
+glasses and unfolded the paper.
+
+"Question 1.  Grammar!" and then a cloud of amazement fell over the
+Doctor's face.  He looked sharply out from under his spectacles at
+Stephen, who stood anxiously and nervously before him.  Then he glanced
+again at the paper, and his mouth twitched now and then as he read the
+string of questions, and the boy's desperate attempts to answer them.
+
+"Humph!" he said, when the operation was over, "I'm afraid, Greenfield,
+you are not a very clever boy--"
+
+"I know I'm not, sir," said Stephen, quite relieved that the Doctor did
+not at once order him to quit Saint Dominic's.
+
+"Or you would have seen that this paper was a practical joke."  Then it
+burst all of a sudden on Stephen.  And all this about "Mr Finis", "Oh,
+ah," and the rest of it had been a cruel hoax, and no more!
+
+"Come, now, let us waste no more time.  I'm not surprised," said the
+Doctor, suppressing a smile by a very hard twitch; "I'm not surprised
+you found these questions hard.  How far have you got in arithmetic?"
+
+And then the Doctor launched Stephen into a _viva voce_ examination, in
+which that young prodigy of learning acquitted himself far more
+favourably than could have been imagined, and at the end of which he
+heard that he would be placed in the fourth junior class, where it would
+be his duty to strain every nerve to advance, and make the best use of
+his time at Saint Dominic's.  Then the Doctor rang his bell.
+
+"Tell Mr Rastle kindly to step here," said he to the porter.
+
+Mr Rastle appeared, and to his charge, after solemnly shaking hands and
+promising to be a paragon of industry and good conduct, Stephen was
+consigned by the head master.
+
+"By the way," said the Doctor, as Stephen was leaving, "will you tell
+the boy who gave you this paper I wish to see him?"
+
+Stephen, who had been too much elated by the result of the real
+examination to recollect for the moment the trickery of the sham one,
+now blushed very red as he remembered what a goose he had been, and
+undertook to obey the Doctor's order.  And this it was very easy to do.
+For as he opened the study-door he saw Pembury just outside, leaning
+against the wall with his eyes on the clock as it struck ten.
+
+As he caught sight of Stephen emerging from the head master's study, his
+countenance fell, and he said eagerly and half-anxiously, "Didn't I tell
+you ten o'clock, Greenfield?"
+
+"Yes, but the Doctor said half-past nine.  And you are a cad to make a
+fool of me," added Stephen, rising with indignation, "and--and--and--"
+and here he choked.
+
+"Calm yourself, my young friend," said Pembury.  "It's such a hard thing
+to make a fool of you that, you know, and--and--and--!"
+
+"I shall not speak to you," stammered Stephen.
+
+"Oh, don't apologise," laughed Pembury.  "Perhaps it would comfort you
+to kick me.  Please choose my right leg, as the other is off the ground,
+eh?"
+
+"The Doctor wants to speak to you, he says," said Stephen.
+
+Pembury's face fell again.  "Do you mean to say he saw the paper, and
+you told him?" he said, angrily.
+
+"I showed him the paper, because I thought he had sent it; but I didn't
+tell him who gave it to me."
+
+"Then why does he want me?"
+
+"He wants the boy who gave me the paper, that's all he said," answered
+Stephen, walking off sulkily to his quarters, and leaving Anthony to
+receive the rebukes of Dr Senior, and make his apologies for his evil
+deeds as best he could.
+
+The offence after all was not a very terrible one, and Pembury got off
+with a mild reprimand on the evils of practical joking, at the end of
+which he found himself in his usual amiable frame of mind, and
+harbouring no malice against his innocent victim.
+
+"Greenfield," said he, when shortly afterwards he met Oliver, "I owe
+your young brother an apology."
+
+"What on earth for?"
+
+"I set him an examination paper to answer, which I'm afraid caused him
+some labour.  Never mind, it was all for the best."
+
+"What, did that paper he was groaning over come from you?  What a shame,
+Tony, to take advantage of a little beggar like him!"
+
+"I'm awfully sorry, tell him; but I say, Greenfield, it'll make a
+splendid paragraph for the _Dominican_.  By the way, are you going to
+let me have that poem you promised on the Guinea-pigs?"
+
+"I can't get on with it at all," said Oliver.  "I'm stuck for a rhyme in
+the second line."
+
+"Oh, stick down anything.  How does it begin?"
+
+  "`Oh, dwellers in the land of dim perpetual,'"
+
+began Oliver.
+
+"Very good; let's see; how would this do?--
+
+  "`I hate the day when first I met you all,
+  And this I undertake to bet you all,
+  One day I'll into trouble get you all,
+  And down the playground steps upset you all,
+  And with a garden hose I'll wet you all,
+  And then--'"
+
+"Oh, look here," said Oliver, "that'll do.  You may as well finish the
+thing right out at that rate."
+
+"Not at all, my dear fellow.  It was just a sudden inspiration, you
+know.  Don't mention it, and you may like to get off that rhyme into
+another.  But I say, Greenfield, we shall have a stunning paper for the
+first one.  Tom Senior has written no end of a report of the last
+meeting of the Sixth Form Debating Society, quite in the parliamentary
+style; and Bullinger is writing a history of Saint Dominic's, `gathered
+from the earliest sources,' as he says, in which he's taking off most of
+the Sixth.  Simon is writing a love-ballad, which is sure to be fun; and
+Ricketts is writing a review of Liddell and Scott's _Lexicon_; and
+Wraysford is engaged on `The Diary of the Sixth Form Mouse.'"
+
+"Good!" said Oliver, "and what are _you_ writing?"
+
+"Oh, the leading article, you know, and the personal notes, and `Squeaks
+from Guineapigland and Tadpoleopolis,' and some of the advertisements.
+Come up to my study, you and Wray, this evening after prayers, I say,
+and we'll go through it."
+
+And off hobbled the editor of the _Dominican_, leaving Oliver greatly
+impressed with his literary talents, especially in the matter of finding
+rhymes for "perpetual."
+
+By the time he and Wraysford went in the evening to read over what had
+been sent in, the poem on the Guinea-pigs was complete.
+
+They found Pembury busy over a huge sheet of paper, the size of his
+table.
+
+"What on earth have you got there?" cried Wraysford.
+
+"The _Dominican_, to be sure," said Anthony, gravely.
+
+"Nonsense! you are not going to get it out in that shape?"
+
+"I am, though.  Look here, you fellows," said Anthony, "I'll show you
+the dodge of the thing.  The different articles will either be copied or
+pasted into this big sheet.  You see each of these columns is just the
+width of a sheet of school paper.  Well, here's a margin all round--do
+you twig?--so that when the whole thing's made up it'll be ready for
+framing."
+
+"Framing!" exclaimed Greenfield and his friend.
+
+"To be sure.  I'm getting a big frame, with glass, made for it, with the
+title of the paper in big letters painted on the wood.  So the way we
+shall publish it will be to hang it outside our class-room, and then
+every one can come and read it who likes--much better than passing it
+round to one fellow at a time."
+
+"Upon my word, Tony, it's a capital notion," exclaimed Wraysford,
+clapping the lame boy on the back; "it does you credit, my boy."
+
+"Don't mention it," said Tony; "and don't whack me like that again, or
+I'll refuse to insert your `Diary of the Sixth Form Mouse.'"
+
+"But, I say," said Greenfield, "are you sure they'll allow it to hang
+out there?  It may get knocked about."
+
+"I dare say we may have a row with the monitors about it; but we must
+square them somehow.  We shall have to keep a fag posted beside it,
+though, to protect it."
+
+"And to say `Move on!' like the policemen," added Wraysford.  "Well,
+it's evident you don't want any help, Tony, so I'll go."
+
+"Good-bye; don't ask me to your study for supper, please."
+
+"I'm awfully sorry, I promised Bullinger.  I know he has a dozen
+sausages in his cupboard.  Come along there.  Are you coming,
+Greenfield?"
+
+And the worthy friends separated for a season.
+
+Meanwhile, Stephen had made his _debut_ in the Fourth Junior.  He was
+put to sit at the bottom desk of the class, which happened to be next to
+the desk owned by Master Bramble, the inky-headed blanket-snatcher.
+This young gentleman, bearing in mind his double humiliation, seemed by
+no means gratified to find who his new neighbour was.
+
+"Horrid young blub-baby!" was his affectionate greeting, "I don't want
+you next to me."
+
+"I can't help it," said Stephen.  "I was put here."
+
+"Oh, yes, because you're such an ignorant young sneak; that's why."
+
+"I suppose that's why you were at the bottom before I came--oh!"
+
+The last exclamation was uttered aloud, being evoked by a dig from the
+amiable Master Bramble's inky pen into Stephen's leg.
+
+"Who was that?" said Mr Rastle, looking up from his desk.
+
+"Now then," whispered Bramble, "sneak away--tell tales, and get me into
+a row--I'll pay you!"
+
+Stephen, feeling himself called upon, stood up.
+
+"It was me," he said.
+
+"It was I, would be better grammar," said Mr Rastle, quietly.
+
+Mr Rastle was a ruddy young man, with a very good-humoured face, and a
+sly smile constantly playing at the corners of his mouth.  He no doubt
+guessed the cause of the disturbance, for he asked, "Was any one
+pinching you?"
+
+"Go it," growled Bramble, in a savage whisper.  "Say it was me, you
+sneak."
+
+Stephen said, No, no one had pinched him; but finished up his sentence
+with another "Oh!" as the gentle Bramble gave him a sharp side-kick on
+the ankle as he stood.
+
+Mr Rastle's face darkened as he perceived this last piece of by-play.
+
+"Bramble," said he, "oblige me by standing on the form for half an hour.
+I should be sorry to think you were as objectionable as your name
+implies.  Sit down, Greenfield."
+
+And then the class resumed, with Master Bramble perched like a statue of
+the sulky deity on his form, muttering threats against Greenfield all
+the while, and the most scathing denunciations against all who might be
+even remotely connected with big brothers, and mammies, and blub-babies.
+
+Stephen, who was beginning to feel himself much more at home at Saint
+Dominic's, betrayed no visible terror at these menaces, and only once
+took any notice of his exalted enemy, when the latter attempted not only
+to stand on the form, but upon a tail of Stephen's jacket, and a bit of
+the flesh of his leg at the same time.  Then he gave the offending foot
+a knock with his fist and an admonitory push.
+
+"Please, sir," squeaked the lordly Bramble, "Greenfield junior is trying
+to knock me over."
+
+"I was not," shouted Stephen; "he was squashing me with his foot, and I
+moved it away."
+
+"Really, Bramble," said Mr Rastle, "you are either very unfortunate or
+very badly behaved.  Come and stand on this empty form beside my desk.
+There will be no danger here of `squashing' any one's leg or of being
+knocked over.  Come at once."
+
+So Mr Bramble took no advantage by his last motion, and served the rest
+of his term of penal servitude, in the face of the entire class, under
+the immediate eye of Mr Rastle.
+
+Directly class was over, Stephen had to go and wait upon Loman for a
+particular purpose, which the reader must hear of in due time.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+MR CRIPPS THE YOUNGER.
+
+Loman was a comparatively new boy at Saint Dominic's.  He had entered
+eighteen months ago, in the Fifth Form, having come direct from another
+school.  He was what many persons would call an agreeable boy, although
+for some reason or other he was never very popular.  What that something
+was, no one could exactly define.  He was clever, and good-tempered, and
+inoffensive.  He rarely quarrelled or interfered with any one, and he
+had been known to do more than one good-natured act.  But whether it was
+that he was conceited, or selfish, or not quite straight, or a little
+bit of all three, he never made any very great friends at Saint
+Dominic's, and since he had got into the Sixth and been made a monitor,
+he had quite lost the favour of his old comrades in the Fifth.
+
+As far as Wraysford and Greenfield were concerned, this absence of
+goodwill had ripened into something like soreness, by the way in which
+Loman had made use of his own position as a monitor, on a casual
+reference by Oliver to the probable coming of Stephen to Saint
+Dominic's, to secure that young gentleman as his fag, although he quite
+well knew that Wraysford was counting on having him.  Though of course
+the captain's word was final, the two friends felt that they had not
+been quite fairly dealt with in the matter.  They took no trouble to
+conceal what they thought from Loman himself, who seemed to derive
+considerable satisfaction from the fact, and to determine to keep his
+hand on the new boy quite as much for the sake of "scoring off" his
+rivals as on the fag's own account.
+
+Loman, Wraysford, and Greenfield _were_ rivals in more matters than one.
+They were all three candidates for a place in the school eleven, and
+all three candidates for the Nightingale Scholarship next autumn; and
+besides this, they each of them aspired to control the Junior
+Dominicans; and it was a sore mortification to Loman to find that,
+though a monitor, his influence among the small fry was by no means as
+great as that of the two Fifth Form boys, who were notoriously popular,
+and thought much of by their juniors.
+
+For these and other reasons, the relations between the two friends and
+Loman were at the present time a little "strained."
+
+To Stephen, however, Loman was all civility.  He helped him in his
+lessons, and gave him the reversion of his feasts, and exercised his
+monitorial authority against Master Bramble in a way that quite charmed
+the new boy, and made him consider himself fortunate to have fallen into
+the hands of so considerate a lord.
+
+When he entered Loman's study after his first morning's work in class,
+he found that youth in a highly amiable frame of mind, and delighted to
+see him.
+
+"Hullo, Greenfield!" he said; "how are you? and how are you getting on?
+I hear you are in the Fourth Junior; all among the Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles, eh?  Which do you belong to?"
+
+"I don't know," said Stephen; "they are going to draw lots for me
+to-morrow."
+
+"That's a nice way of being elected!  I say, have you any classes this
+afternoon?"
+
+"No; Mr Rastle has given us a half-holiday."
+
+"That's just the thing.  I'm going to scull up the river a bit after
+dinner, and if you'd like you can come and steer for me."
+
+Stephen was delighted.  Of all things he liked boating.  They lived near
+a river at home, he said, and he always used to steer for Oliver there.
+
+So, as soon as dinner was over, the two went down to the boathouse and
+embarked.
+
+"Which way shall you row?" asked Stephen, as he made himself comfortable
+in the stern of the boat, and took charge of the rudder-lines.
+
+"Oh, up stream.  Keep close in to the bank, out of the current."
+
+It was a beautiful afternoon, and Loman paddled lazily and luxuriously
+up, giving ample time to Stephen, if so inclined, to admire the wooded
+banks and picturesque windings of the Shar.  Gusset Lock was reached in
+due time, and here Loman suggested that Stephen should get out and go
+round and look at the weir, while he went on and took the boat through.
+Stephen acceded and landed, and Loman paddled on to the lock.
+
+"Hello, maister," called down a feeble old voice, as he got up to the
+gate.
+
+"Hullo, Jeff, is Cripps about?" replied Loman.
+
+"Yas; he be inside or somewheres, maister," replied the old lock-keeper.
+
+"All right! take the boat up; I want to see Cripps."
+
+Cripps was the son of the old man whom Loman had addressed as Jeff.  He
+was not exactly a gentleman, for he kept the Cockchafer public-house at
+Maltby, and often served behind the bar in his own person.  Neither was
+he altogether a reputable person, for he frequently helped himself to an
+overdose of his own beverages, besides being a sharp hand at billiards,
+and possessing several packs of cards with extra aces in them.  Neither
+was he a particularly refined personage, for his choice of words was
+often more expressive than romantic, and his ordinary conversation was
+frequently the reverse of edifying; it mainly had to do with details of
+the stable or the card-room, and the anecdotes with which he enlivened
+it were often "broader than they were long," to put it mildly.  In
+short, Cripps was a blackguard by practice, whatever he was by
+profession.  He had, however, one redeeming virtue; he was very partial
+to young gentlemen, and would go a good bit out of his way to meet one.
+He always managed to know of something that young gentlemen had a fancy
+for.  He could put them into the way of getting a thoroughbred bull-dog
+dirt-cheap; he could put them up to all the tips at billiards and "Nap,"
+and he could make up a book for them on the Derby or any other race,
+that was bound to win.  And he did it all in such a pleasant, frank way
+that the young gentlemen quite fell in love with him, and entrusted
+their cash to him with as much confidence as if he were the Bank of
+England.
+
+Of all the young gentlemen whose privilege it had been to make the
+acquaintance of Mr Cripps--and there were a good many--he professed the
+greatest esteem and admiration for Loman, of Saint Dominic's school, to
+whom he had been only recently introduced.  The two had met at the
+lock-keeper's house a week ago, when Loman was detained there an hour or
+two by stress of weather, and, getting into conversation, as gentlemen
+naturally would, Loman chanced to mention that he wanted to come across
+a really good fishing-rod.
+
+By a most curious coincidence, Mr Cripps had only the other day been
+asked by a particular friend of his, who was removing from the country
+to London--"where," said Mr Cripps, "there ain't over much use for a
+rod,"--if he knew of any one in want of a really good fishing-rod.  It
+was none of your ordinary ones, made out of green wood with pewter
+joints, but a regular first-class article, and would do for trout or
+perch or jack, or any mortal fish you could think of.  Cripps had seen
+it, and flattered himself he knew something about rods, but had never
+seen one to beat this.  Reel and all, too, and a book of flies into the
+bargain, if he liked.  He had been strongly tempted to get it for
+himself--it seemed a downright sin to let such a beauty go--and would
+have it if he had not already got a rod, but of a far inferior sort, of
+his own.  And he believed his friend would part with it cheap.
+
+"I tell you what, young gentleman," said he, "I'll bring it up with me
+next time I come, and you shall have a look at it.  Of course, you can
+take it or not, as you like, but if my advice is worth anything--well,
+never mind, I suppose you are sure to be up stream in the course of the
+next week or so."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Loman, who in the presence of this universal genius was
+quite deferential; "when can you bring it?"
+
+"Well, my time ain't so very valuable, and I'd like to oblige you over
+this little affair.  Suppose we say to-day week.  I'll have the rod
+here, and you can try him."
+
+"Thank you--have you--that is--about what--"
+
+"You mean, about what figure will he want for it?  Well, I don't know
+exactly.  They run so very various, do good rods.  You could get what
+they call a rod for ten bob, I dare say.  But _you_ wouldn't hardly
+fancy that style of thing."
+
+"Oh no; if it was a really good one," said Loman, "I wouldn't mind
+giving a good price.  I don't want a rotten one."
+
+"That's just it.  This one I'm telling you of is as sound as a bell, and
+as strong as iron.  And _you_ know, as well as I do, these things are
+always all the better after a little use.  My friend has only used this
+twice.  But I'll find out about the price, and drop you a line, you
+know.  May be 2 pounds or 3 pounds, or so."
+
+"I suppose that's about what a really good rod ought to cost?" said
+Loman, who liked to appear to know what was what, but secretly rather
+taken aback by this estimate.
+
+"So it is.  It's just a guess of mine though; but I know for _me_ he'll
+put it as low as he can."
+
+"I'm sure I shall be very much obliged to you," said Loman, "if you can
+manage it for me."
+
+"Not at all, young gentleman.  I always like to oblige where I can;
+besides, you would do as much for me, I'll wager.  Well, good-day, Mr--
+what's your name?"
+
+"Loman--at Saint Dominic's.  You'll send me a line, then about the
+price?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Good-day, sir."
+
+But Mr Cripps had forgotten to send the line, and to-day, when Loman,
+according to arrangement, came up to the lock-keeper's to receive the
+rod, the keeper of the Cockchafer was most profuse in his apologies.  He
+was most sorry, but his friend had been ill and not able to attend to
+business.  He had been a _trifle_ afraid from what he heard that he was
+not quite as anxious to part with that rod as formerly.  But Cripps had
+gone over on purpose and seen him, and got his promise that he should
+have it to-morrow certain, and if Mr Loman would call or send up, it
+should be ready for him, without fail.
+
+At this stage, Stephen, having explored the weir, rejoined his
+schoolfellow, and the two, after partaking of a bottle of ginger-beer at
+Mr Cripps's urgent request, returned with the stream to Saint
+Dominic's.
+
+The result of this delay was to make Loman doubly anxious to secure this
+famous fishing-rod, on which his heart was set.  Next day, however, he
+had classes all the afternoon, and could not go himself.  He therefore
+determined to send Stephen.
+
+"I want you to run up to Gusset Weir," said he to his fag, "to fetch me
+a rod the keeper's son is getting for me.  Be quick back, will you? and
+ask him what the price is."
+
+So off Stephen trotted, as soon as school was over, in spite of the
+counter attraction of a Guinea-pig cricket match.  When he reached the
+lock, Cripps had not arrived.
+
+"He warn't be long, young maister," said old Jeff, who was one of the
+snivelling order.  "Take a seat, do 'ee.  Nice to be a young gemm'un, I
+says--us poor coves as works wery 'ard, we'd like to be young gemm'un
+too, with lots o' money, and all so comfortable off.  Why, young
+maister, you don't know now what it is to be in want of a shillun.  I
+do!"
+
+Stephen promptly pulled out one of his five shillings of pocket-money in
+answer to this appeal, and felt rather ashamed to appear "comfortable
+off" in the presence of this patriarch.
+
+"Not that I complains o' my lot, young gemm'un," continued old Cripps,
+pulling his forelock with one hand and pocketing the shilling with the
+other.  "No, I says, the honest working man don't do no good
+a-grumblin', but when he's got his famerly to feed," [old Cripps was a
+widower, and his family consisted of the landlord of the Cockchafer],
+"and on'y this here shillin' to do it with--"
+
+Stephen was _very_ green.  He almost cried at the sight of this
+destitute, tottering, honest old man, and before the latter could get
+farther in his lament another shilling was in his palsied old hand, and
+the grey old forelock was enduring another tug.
+
+It was well for Stephen that Mr Cripps junior turned up at this
+juncture, or the entire five shillings might have made its way into the
+old man's pouch.
+
+Mr Cripps junior had the rod.  He had had a rare job, he said, to get
+it, for his friend had only yesterday had an offer of 3 pounds 15
+shillings, and was all but taking it.  However, here it was, and for
+only 3 pounds 10 shillings tell Mr Loman; such a bargain as he wouldn't
+often make in his life, and he could get him the fly-book for a
+sovereign if he liked.  And Mr Cripps would charge him nothing for his
+trouble.
+
+After this Mr Cripps junior and the boy got quite friendly.  The former
+was greatly interested in hearing about Saint Dominic's, especially when
+he understood Stephen was a new boy.  Cripps could remember the day when
+_he_ was a new boy, and had to fight three boys in three hours the first
+afternoon.  He was awfully fond of cricket when he was a boy.  Was
+Stephen?
+
+"Oh, yes," said Stephen; "I like it more than anything."
+
+"Ah, you should have seen the way we played.  Bless me!  I'd a bat, my
+boy, that could tip the balls clean over the school-house.  You've got a
+bat, of course, or else--"
+
+"No, I haven't," said Stephen.  "I shall get one as soon as I can."
+
+"Well, that _is_ lucky!  Look here, young gentleman," continued Cripps
+confidentially; "I've taken a fancy to you.  It's best to be plain and
+speak out.  I've taken a fancy to you, and you shall have that bat.
+It's just your size, and the finest bit of willow you ever set eyes on.
+I'll wager you'll make top score every time you use it.  You shall have
+it.  Never mind about the stumpy--"
+
+"Stumpy!" ejaculated Stephen; "I don't want stumps, only a bat."
+
+"What I meant to say was, never mind about the price.  You can give me
+what you like for it.  I wish I could make you a present of it.  My eye,
+it's a prime bat!  Spliced!  Yes.  Treble-cane, as I'm a poor man.  I'll
+send it up to you, see if I don't, and you can pay when you like."
+
+And so he chattered on, in a way which quite charmed Stephen, and made
+him rejoice in his new friend, and still more at the prospect of the
+bat.
+
+"If it's awfully dear," he said, at parting, with a sort of sigh, "I
+couldn't afford it.  My pocket-money's nearly all gone."
+
+He did not say how.
+
+"Oh, never mind, not if you don't pay at all," replied the genial
+Cripps.  "You'll be having more tin soon, I bet."
+
+"Not till June," said Stephen.
+
+"Well, leave it till June--no matter.  But you may as well have the use
+of the bat now.  Good-day, Master Green--"
+
+"Greenfield, Stephen Greenfield," said Stephen.
+
+"Good-day, and give my respects to Mr Loman, and I hope I shall see you
+both again."
+
+Stephen hoped so too, and went off, highly elated, with Loman's rod
+under his arm.
+
+Loman pulled rather a long face at hearing the price, and pulled a still
+longer face when Stephen told him about the bat.  He read his fag a long
+lecture about getting into debt and pledging his pocket-money in
+advance.
+
+That evening Stephen was solemnly tossed up for by the Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles.  "Heads, Guinea-pigs; tails, Tadpoles."  It turned up heads,
+and from that time forward Greenfield junior was a Guinea-pig.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE "DOMINICAN," NUMBER ONE.
+
+The eventful day had come at last.  Anthony and his confederates had
+worked hard, evening after evening, in the secrecy of their studies, and
+the first number of the _Dominican_ was ready for publication.  The big
+frame had been smuggled in, and the big sheet was now safely lodged
+behind the glass, with its eight broad columns of clearly-written
+manuscript all ready to astonish Saint Dominic's.  Two nails had
+surreptitiously been driven into the wall outside the Fifth Form room,
+on which the precious document was to be suspended, and Tony only waited
+for "lights out" to creep down and, with the aid of Ricketts and
+Bullinger, fix it in position.  Everything succeeded well.  The secret
+had been kept most carefully, and when, next morning, Saint Dominic's
+woke up and swarmed down the passage past the Fifth Form class-room, the
+sight of a huge frame, with the words _The Dominican_ staring out from
+it, and several yards of writing underneath, fairly startled them.
+Master Paul, the fag who had been deputed to the no easy task of
+preserving the structure from injury, had a hard time of it, there was
+such a hustling and crowding in front of it whenever classes were not
+going on.  The little boys squeezed in front; the bigger boys read over
+their heads; the Sixth examined it from the back of the crowd, and the
+Fifth Form from various positions watched with complacency the effect of
+this venture.
+
+At first it was looked upon as a curiosity, then as a joke; then
+gradually it dawned on Saint Dominic's that it was a Fifth Form
+production, and finally it appeared in its true light as a school
+newspaper.
+
+Loman, attracted by the crowd of boys, strolled down the passage to the
+place and joined the group, just as a small boy was reading aloud the
+following descriptive extract from:
+
+"Our Special Correspondent in Guinea-pig Land.
+
+"Last night the ceremony of admitting a new member into the ancient and
+honourable craft of Guinea-pigs was celebrated with the usual mysteries.
+The event took place in the fourth junior class-room.  The Guinea-pigs
+assembled in force, with blackened faces and false whiskers.  The lights
+being put out, Brother Bilke proposed, and Brother Smudge seconded, the
+election of the new aspirant, and the motion being put to the
+Guinea-pigs, was received with a unanimous grunt.  The Guinea-pig elect
+was then admitted.  He was classically attired in a pair of slippers and
+a collar, and the ceremony of initiation at once commenced.  The
+candidate was stretched across the lowest desk, face downwards, and in
+this position greeted with the flat side of a cricket-bat by the junior
+brother present.  He was then advanced to the next desk, where a similar
+compliment was paid by the next youngest; and so on to the senior
+brother present.  Half way through the ceremony the new member expressed
+a desire to withdraw his candidature, but this motion was negatived by a
+large majority.  When our reporter left, the ceremony was being repeated
+with the round side of the bat.  We understand the new Guinea-pig is
+keeping his bed to-day after the exciting ceremony of initiation."
+
+This was capital fun, and greatly appreciated by all--even by Stephen,
+who knew it was intended to represent his own experience, which,
+mercifully, had not been nearly so sore as pictured.
+
+But the next extract was not quite as pleasing.
+
+"Cricket Notice.
+
+"The Alphabet Match will be played on Saturday.  The following are the
+two elevens [and here the list followed].  Of these twenty-two players,
+it is worthy of mention that fourteen are from the Fifth, and only eight
+from the Sixth.  What is our Sixth coming to?"
+
+This was not at all gratifying to the Sixth Form fellows present.  It
+was unfortunately true, but they did not at all fancy such prominence
+being given to the fact.  The next extract was still more pointed.
+
+"Sixth Form Debating Society.
+
+"The usual meeting of the Sixth Form Debating Society was held last
+week, the Doctor in the chair.  A sprinkling of lads from the Fifth, in
+their Sunday coats and collars, was present, by kind permission.  The
+subject for discussion was, `That the present Sixth is degenerate.'  In
+the absence of any member of the Sixth to open the discussion, Master
+Bramble, captain of the Tadpoles, kindly undertook the task.  He had no
+hesitation in asserting that the Sixth were degenerate.  They had fallen
+off in cricket since he could remember, and in intellect, he was sorry
+to say, the falling off was still worse.  If they would take his advice,
+they would avoid the playground during the present season, and by all
+means withdraw their candidate for the Nightingale Scholarship, as he
+was certain to be beaten by boys in a lower form.  As to behaviour, he
+could point to virtuous behaviour among the Tadpoles, quite equal to
+that of the monitors.  He didn't wish to ask questions, but would like
+to know what they all found so attractive in Maltby.  Then, too, they
+all oiled their hair.  No previous Sixth had ever been guilty of this
+effeminacy, or of wearing lavender kid gloves on Sundays.  He repeated,
+`What were we coming to?'"
+
+"Mr R-g-h opened in the negative.  He denied all the charges made by
+the young gentleman who had last spoken.  He undertook to get up an
+eleven to beat any eleven the Tadpoles could put into the field; and as
+to intellect, why, didn't the Tadpoles, some of them, get their sums
+done by the Sixth?  Besides, even if their intellect was weak, couldn't
+they use cribs?  He didn't use them himself, but he knew one or two who
+did.  He didn't understand the objection to the hair-oil; he used it to
+make the hair sit down on his head.  [Raleigh, it should be said, had a
+most irrepressible bunch of curls on his head.]  He wore kid gloves on
+Sunday because he had had a pair given him by his great-aunt Jane Ann.
+He maintained the Sixth was not degenerate.
+
+"Mr L-m-n followed on the same side.  He thought it the greatest
+liberty of any one to discuss the Sixth.  He was a Sixth Form fellow,
+and a monitor, and if he wasn't looked up to he ought to be, and he
+intended to be.  He was in the cricket eleven, and he was intellectual--
+very, very much so.  He was going in for the Nightingale Scholarship,
+and had no doubt in his own mind as to the result.  He hardly understood
+his friend's reference to Maltby.  Why shouldn't he go there and take
+his fag too if he chose?  He didn't see what right the Fifth had to fags
+at all.  He had a fag, but then he was in the Sixth.  His fag admired
+him, and he never told him not to.  The Sixth _could not_ be degenerate
+so long as _he_ was in it."
+
+"Other speakers followed, including Mr W-r-n, who maintained that
+Michael Angelo was a greater musician than Queen Anne.  He was here
+called to order, and reminded that Michael Angelo had nothing to do with
+the degeneracy of the Sixth.  He begged leave to explain--
+
+"At this point our reporter fell asleep."
+
+The laughter which greeted the reading of this extract was by no means
+shared by the Sixth Form boys present, who, had the next selection been
+in a similar strain, would have quitted the scene and taken their chance
+of satisfying their curiosity as to the rest of the contents of the
+paper at a more convenient season.
+
+But the next lucubration was the unfortunate Stephen's examination
+paper, with the answers thereto embellished, and in many cases bodily
+supplied, by the fertile Anthony.  The luckless Stephen, who was wedged
+up in the front row of readers, could have sunk into the earth on
+meeting once more that hateful paper face to face, and feeling himself
+an object of ridicule to the whole school.  For the wonderful answers
+which now appeared were hardly any of them his own composition, and he
+did not even get credit for the few correct things he had said.  Shouts
+of laughter greeted the reading, during which he dared not lift his eyes
+from the ground.  But the answer to Question 6, "What is a minus?" was
+more than human flesh and blood could endure.
+
+"What is a Minus?"
+
+"`Minus' is derived from two English words, `my,' meaning my, and `nus,'
+which is the London way of pronouncing `nurse.'  My nurse is a dear
+creature; I love her still, especially now she doesn't wash my face.  I
+hated having my face washed.  My nurse's name is Mrs Blake, but I
+always call her my own Noodle-oodle-oo.  I do love her so!  How I would
+like to hug her!  She sewed the strings of my little flannel vest on in
+front just before I came here because she knew I couldn't tie them
+behind by myself--"
+
+"She didn't!" shouted Stephen, in a voice trembling with indignation.
+
+Poor boy!  The laughter which greeted this simple exclamation was enough
+to finish up any one, and, with a bursting heart, and a face crimson
+with confusion, he struggled out of the crowd and ran as fast as his
+legs would take him to his own class-room.
+
+But if he imagined in his misery that the whole school was going to
+spend the entire day jeering at him, and him alone, he was greatly
+mistaken, for once out of sight Stephen soon passed out of mind in
+presence of the next elegant extract read out for the benefit of the
+assembled audience.  This was no other than Simon's "Love-Ballad."
+
+Simon, it should be known, was one of the dullest boys in Saint
+Dominic's, and it was a standing marvel how he ever came to be in the
+Fifth, for he was both a dunce and an idiot.  But he had one ambition
+and one idea, which was that he could write poetry; and the following
+touching ballad from his pen he offered to the _Dominican_, and the
+_Dominican_ showed its appreciation of real talent by inserting it:--
+
+  "A Love-Ballad.
+
+  "I wish I was a buttercup,
+  Upon the mountain top,
+  That you might sweetly pick me up,
+  And sweetly let me drop.
+  I wish I was a little worm,
+  All rigling in the sun,
+  That I myself towards thee might turn
+  When thou along didst come.
+  Oh, I wish I was a doormat, sweet,
+  All prostrate on the floor,
+  If only thou wouldst wipe thy feet,
+  On me, what could I want more?"
+
+  ["Rigling" is possibly "wriggling".]
+
+Simon, who, with true poet's instinct, was standing among the crowd
+listening to his own poem, was somewhat perplexed by the manner in which
+his masterpiece was received.  That every one was delighted there could
+be no doubt.  But he had an impression he had meant the ballad to be
+pathetic.  Saint Dominic's, however, had taken it up another way, and
+appeared to regard it as facetious.  At any rate his fame was made, and
+looking as if a laurel wreath already encircled his brow, he modestly
+retired, feeling no further interest, now his own piece was ended.
+
+Oliver's poem on the Tadpoles, with its marvellous rhymes, fell
+comparatively flat after this; and Bullinger's first chapter of the
+History of Saint Dominic's failed to rivet the attention of the
+audience, which, however, became suddenly and painfully absorbed in the
+"Diary of the Sixth Form Mouse," from the pen of Wraysford.  We must
+inflict a few passages from this document on the reader, as the paper
+was the cause of some trouble hereafter.
+
+"Diary of the Sixth Form Mouse.
+
+"Monday.--Up early and took a good breakfast in one of the desks where
+there was a jam sandwich and several toffee-drops.  The Sixth seem to
+like jam sandwiches and toffee-drops, there are some of them in nearly
+every desk.  The desk I was in had a packet of cigarettes in one corner.
+They were labelled `Mild.'  I wonder why the Sixth like their
+cigarettes mild.  In the same desk were one or two books written by a
+man called Bohn; they seemed queer books, for they had Latin and Greek
+names outside, but all the reading inside was English.  It is sad to see
+the quarrelling that goes on in this room.  You would not suppose, to
+see these monitors walking grandly up and down the passages striking
+terror into the hearts of all the small boys, that they could possibly
+condescend to quarrel over the possession of an inkpot or the ownership
+of an acid-drop found among the cinders.  Alas! it is very sad.  They
+don't seem anything like the Sixth of old days.  I shall emigrate if
+this goes on.
+
+"Wednesday.--A great row to-day when the Doctor was out of the room.
+The two senior monitors engaged in a game of marbles--knuckle down--in
+the course of which one player accused the other of cheating.  There was
+nearly a fight, only neither seemed exactly to like to begin, and both
+appeared relieved when the Doctor came in and confiscated the marbles."
+
+And so the diary went on, in a strain highly offensive to the Sixth and
+equally delighting to the lower forms.  After this the Sixth withdrew,
+not caring to face further taunts of the kind, and leaving a free field
+to the rest of Saint Dominic's, who perused this wonderful broadside to
+the end with unflagging interest.  Some of the advertisements with which
+Tony had filled up the gaps caused considerable mirth--such as this: "A
+gentleman about to clear out his desk, begs to give notice that he will
+Sell by Auction to-morrow after `Lights out,' all those rare and
+valuable articles, to wit:--one and a half gross best cherry-stones,
+last year's, in excellent condition.  About twelve assorted bread
+crusts, warranted dry and hard--one with a covering of fossilised
+sardine.  Six quires of valuable manuscript notes on various subjects,
+comprising Latin, Greek, Mathematics, French, and Crambo.  One apple,
+well seasoned, and embellished with a brilliant green fur of two years'
+growth.  And many other miscellaneous treasures, such as slate pencils,
+nutshells, an antique necktie, several defunct silkworms, a noble
+three-bladed knife (deficient of the blades), and half a pound of putty.
+No reserve price.  Must be cleared out at whatever sacrifice."
+
+And this was another:--
+
+"This is to give notice, that whereas certain parties calling themselves
+Guinea-pigs have infringed on our patent rights, we, the Tadpoles of
+Saint Dominic's, have been and are from time immemorial entitled to the
+exclusive privilege of appearing in public with dirty faces, uncombed
+hair, and inky fingers.  We have also the sole right of making beasts of
+ourselves on every possible occasion; and we hereby declare that it is
+our intention to institute proceedings against all parties, of whatever
+name, who shall hereafter trespass on these our inalienable rights.  By
+order, B. Smudgeface and T. Blacknose, Secretaries."
+
+This final onslaught broke up the party.  The aggrieved Tadpoles rushed
+to their quarters and fumed and raged themselves into a state bordering
+on, madness; and vowed revenge till they were hoarse.
+
+It was a curious fact, nevertheless, that at prayers that evening there
+were more clean faces among the Tadpoles than had been seen there since
+the formation of that ancient and honourable fraternity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+A QUARREL AND A CRICKET MATCH.
+
+The first number of the _Dominican_ had undoubtedly caused a sensation;
+and it would have created far more sensation but for the fact that the
+Alphabet Match was to be played on the following day.  But even this
+counter-attraction could not wholly divert the mind of Saint Dominic's
+from this new literary marvel; and a skirmish took place on the very
+afternoon of its appearance.
+
+Pembury and his friends had quite expected that the Sixth would attempt
+a high-handed blow at their paper, and they were not disappointed.  For
+no sooner had Loman and his peers stalked away from the scene of their
+indignation, and found themselves in the retirement of their own room,
+than they fell to talking in terms the reverse of pleasant about the
+event of the morning.  The least important of their number was specially
+wroth.
+
+"There's a great row out in the passage to-day," said Raleigh, who was
+blissfully ignorant of the whole matter; "why can't some of you monitors
+keep a little better order?  The Doctor will be wanting to know what
+it's all about!"
+
+"All very well," said Raikes, one of the monitors; "but if the Fifth
+will stick their tomfoolery out in the passage, there's sure to be a
+row."
+
+"What tomfoolery?  Some of you are for ever grumbling at the Fifth."
+
+"And so would you if you saw the complimentary remarks they make about
+you in this precious newspaper of theirs."
+
+"Oh, the _Dominican_?  I must have a look at it by and by; but meanwhile
+something had better be done to stop that row, or we shall catch it
+ourselves."
+
+And so saying, the captain left these injured youths to their own
+counsels, which it is to be feared were moved more by dislike for the
+_Dominican_ than by a burning desire for the good order of the school.
+
+However, they must do something; and there would be nothing inconsistent
+with their dignity in demanding the withdrawal of the obnoxious
+broadside on account of the noise it caused.  This would be a safe move,
+and might be checkmate.  Loman was deputed to wait upon the Fifth with
+the demand of the monitors, and lost no time in carrying out this
+welcome task.  Class was just over, and the Fifth were just about to
+clear out of their room when Loman entered.  It was not often that a
+Sixth Form fellow penetrated into their camp, and had they not guessed
+his mission they might have resented the intrusion.
+
+"Oh, you fellows," began Loman, feeling not quite so confident now as he
+had felt five minutes ago, "we can't have that thing of yours hanging
+out in the passage like that.  It makes a crowd--too much row.  Whose is
+it?"
+
+"Not mine," said Wraysford, laughing; "ask Bully--perhaps it's his."
+
+"Not a bit of it," said Bullinger; "it's yours, isn't it, Simon?"
+
+"Only part," said the poet of the "Love-Ballad", "and I presented that
+to the paper."
+
+"Suppose it was mine?" said Oliver, with a drawl.
+
+"Then," said Loman, losing his temper, "all I can say is, the sooner you
+clear it away the better."
+
+"Oh! all right; only it's not mine."
+
+"Look here," said Loman, "I'm not going to fool about with you.  You may
+think it all very funny, but I'll report it to the Doctor, and then
+you'll look foolish."
+
+"How nice!  So pleasant it will be to look for once like what you look
+always," observed Pembury, gnawing the top of his crutch.
+
+At that moment there was a loud shout of laughter in the passage
+outside, confirming the monitor's complaint.  Wraysford walked hastily
+to the door.
+
+"The next time there's a row like that outside our door," called he to
+the group outside, "we'll--what do you mean by it, you young
+blackguard?"
+
+So saying, he caught Master Bramble, who happened to be the nearest
+offender within reach, by the collar of his coat, and lugged him bodily
+into the class-room.
+
+"There, now!  Do you know this gentleman?  He's a monitor.  Have a good
+look at him.  He's been complaining of the row you are making, and quite
+rightly.  Take that, and tell all the little Pigs outside that if they
+don't hold their noise they will find themselves, every man jack of
+them, _mentioned by name_ in the next number!"
+
+So saying, with a gentle cuff he handed the ill-starred Master Bramble
+out again to his fellows, and from that time there was scarcely a sound
+audible from the passage.
+
+"Good-bye," said Pembury, kissing his hand to Loman, who all this time
+had been standing in the middle of the room, in a white heat, and
+perplexed what to do or say next.
+
+"You aren't going to live here, are you?" asked Bullinger.
+
+"Any one got a toffee-drop?" drily inquired Oliver.  To his surprise,
+and to the surprise of every one, Loman wheeled round towards the last
+speaker, and without a word struck him a blow on the mouth with his
+hand.
+
+He saw he had made a mistake, and looked ashamed the moment the deed was
+done.  All eyes turned to Oliver, whose face was crimson with a sudden
+flush of pain and anger.  He sprang to his feet, and Braddy, the bully,
+was already beginning to gloat over the prospect of a fight, when, to
+every one's amazement, Oliver coolly put his hands back into his
+pockets, and walking up to Loman said, quietly, "Hadn't you better go?"
+
+Loman stared at him in astonishment.  He had at least expected to be
+knocked down, and this, behaviour was quite incomprehensible.
+
+He turned on his heel and quitted the room without a word; and somehow
+or other from that time the Fifth heard no more protests from the
+monitors on the subject of the _Dominican_.
+
+But Oliver's conduct, much as it had astonished the person chiefly
+concerned, had astonished the Fifth still more.  For the first time in
+the history of their class, as far as they could recollect, a blow
+struck had not been returned, and they could not tell what to make of
+it.
+
+The blow had been a cowardly one, and certainly unmerited, and by all
+schoolboy tradition one fairly demanding a return.  Could it be possible
+their man was lacking in courage?  The idea was a shock to most present,
+who, although Oliver was never very popular among them, as has been
+said, had never before suspected his pluck.  In fact, it was an awkward
+moment for all, and it was quite a relief when Simon broke silence by
+asking Oliver, "Why didn't you knock him down, I say?"
+
+"Because I did not choose, if you want to know," replied Oliver,
+shortly.
+
+"Oh!  I beg your pardon," replied Simon, rather taken aback by this
+brusque answer.
+
+This was not satisfactory.  Had the offender been a Guinea-pig, one
+could have understood the thing; but when it was a Sixth Form fellow--a
+good match in every respect, as well as a rival--the Fifth were offended
+at their man for drawing back as he had done.
+
+"I suppose you _will_ fight him?" said Ricketts, in a voice which
+implied that there was no doubt about it.
+
+"Do you?" replied Oliver, briefly.
+
+The boy's manner was certainly not winsome, and, when once put out, it
+was evident he took no trouble to conceal the fact.  He refused to
+answer any further questions on the subject, and presently quitted the
+room, leaving more than half his class-fellows convinced that, after
+all, he _was_ a coward.
+
+An angry discussion followed his departure.
+
+"He ought to be made to fight, whether he likes or not," said Braddy the
+bully.
+
+"Some one ought to pay Loman out," suggested Ricketts, "if Greenfield
+doesn't."
+
+"A nice name we shall get, all of us," said Bullinger, "when it gets
+abroad all over the school."
+
+"It's a shame, because one fellow funks, for the whole Form to be
+disgraced; that's what I say," said some one else.
+
+There were, however, two boys who did not join in this general cry of
+indignation against Oliver, and they were Wraysford and Pembury.  The
+latter was always whimsical in his opinions, and no one was surprised to
+see him come out on the wrong side.  As for Wraysford, he always backed
+his friend up, whether others thought him right or wrong.  These two
+scouted the idea of Oliver being a coward; the one with his usual weapon
+of ridicule, the other with all the warmth of friendship.
+
+"Who calls him a coward?" exclaimed Wraysford, glaring at the last
+speaker.
+
+Wraysford was not a coward, and looked so ready to avenge his friend by
+hard knocks, that the boy who had insinuated that Greenfield was afraid
+withdrew his charge as mildly as he could.  "I only meant, it looks as
+if he didn't like to fight," he said.
+
+"And what business of yours is it what it looks like?" demanded
+Wraysford.
+
+"Come, old man," said Pembury; "don't eat him up!  I fancy Greenfield
+might screw up courage to pull _his_ nose, whoever else he lets off, eh?
+It's my private opinion, though, Oliver knew what he was about."
+
+"Of course he did," sneered Braddy; "he knew jolly well what he was
+about."
+
+"Dear me!  Is that you, Mr Braddy?  I had not noticed you here, or I
+should not have ventured to speak on a matter having to do with pluck
+and heroism.  I'm glad you agree with me, though, although I didn't say
+he knew _jolly_ well what he was about.  That is an expression of your
+own."
+
+Braddy, who as usual felt and looked extinguished when Pembury made fun
+of him, retired sulkily, and the editor of the _Dominican_ thereupon
+turned his attack on another quarter.  And so the dispute went on,
+neither party being convinced, and all satisfied only on one point--that
+a cloud had arisen to mar the hitherto peaceful horizon of Fifth Form
+existence.
+
+The cricket match of the following day, however, served to divert the
+thoughts of all parties for a time.
+
+As it was only the prelude to a much more important match shortly to
+follow, I shall not attempt to describe it fully here, as the reader
+will probably be far more interested in the incidents of Sixth versus
+School Match when it comes off.
+
+The Alphabet Match was, to tell the truth, not nearly as interesting an
+affair as it promised to be, for from the very first the N's to Z's had
+the best of it.  Stephen, who with a company of fellow-Tadpoles and
+Guinea-pigs was perched on the palings, looking on, felt his heart sink
+within him as first one and then another of his brother's side lost
+their wickets without runs.  For once he and Bramble were in sympathy,
+and he and Paul were at difference.  The row these small boys kicked up,
+by the way, was one of the most notable features of the whole match.
+Every one of them yelled for his own side.  There had, indeed, been a
+question whether every Guinea-pig, whatever his private initial, ought
+not to yell for the G's, and every Tadpole for the T's; but it was
+eventually decided that each should yell "on his own hook," and the
+effect was certainly far more diverting.
+
+The first four men of the A to M went out for two runs between them, and
+Stephen and Bramble sat in gloomy despair.  The next man in knocked down
+his wicket before he had played a single ball.  It was frightful, and
+the jeers of the Z's were hateful to hear.
+
+But Stephen brightened as he perceived that the next batsman was his
+brother.  "Now they'll pick up!" said he.
+
+"No they won't!  Greenfield senior skies his balls too much for my
+taste," cheeringly replied the small Bramble.
+
+But Stephen was right.  For the first time that afternoon the A's made a
+stand.  Oliver's partner at the wickets was Callonby, of the Sixth, a
+steady, plodding player, who hardly ever hit out, and got all his runs
+(if he got any) from the slips.  This afternoon he hardly scored at all,
+but kept his wicket carefully while Oliver did the hitting.
+
+Things were looking up.  The telegraph went up from 2 to 20.  Wraysford,
+who had hitherto been bowling with Ricketts against his friend, gave up
+the ball to Raikes, and the field generally woke up to the importance of
+getting rid of this daring player.
+
+Stephen's throat was too hoarse to roar any more, so he resigned that
+duty to Bramble, and looked on in delighted silence.  The score crept
+up, till suddenly Callonby tipped a ball into cover-slip's hand and was
+caught, to the great delight of the Z's, who guessed that, once a
+separation had been effected, the survivor would soon be disposed of.
+
+The next man in was Loman.  He was better as a bowler than a batsman;
+but he followed Callonby's tactics and played a steady block, leaving
+the boy he had struck yesterday to do the hitting.
+
+Oliver was certainly playing in fine form, and for a moment his
+class-fellows forgot their resentment against him in applauding his
+play.  The score was at 35, and the new coalition promised to be as
+formidable as the last, when Oliver cut a ball past point.
+
+"Run! no! yes, run!" he shouted.  Loman started, then hesitated, then
+started again--but it was too late.  Before he could get across, the
+ball was up and he was run out.  He was furious, and it certainly was
+hard lines for him, although there would have been time enough for the
+run had he not pulled up in the middle.  Forgetful of all the rules of
+cricket, he turned round to Oliver and shouted, "You are a fool!" as he
+left the wicket.
+
+Stephen luckily was too much engrossed in watching the telegraph to hear
+or notice this remark; which, however, was not lost on the Fifth
+generally, who experienced a return of their former discontent when they
+observed that Oliver (though he must have heard it) took not the
+slightest notice of the offensive expression.
+
+The match passed off without further incident.  The Z's won in the end
+by two wickets, after a closer match than it had promised to be at
+first, and Stephen was comforted for the reverse by feeling sure that
+his brother at any rate had played his best, and would certainly get his
+place in the School Eleven.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+A ROD IN PICKLE.
+
+Loman, who had arrived at the same conclusion respecting Oliver's
+bravery as the majority in the Fifth, did not allow his conscience to
+trouble him as to his share of the morning's business.  He never had
+liked Oliver, and lately especially he had come to dislike him.  He was
+therefore glad to have made him smart; and now, since the blunder in the
+cricket match, he felt greatly inclined to repeat the blow, particularly
+as there did not seem much to fear if he did so.
+
+He was quick, too, to see that Oliver had lost favour with his comrades,
+and had no hesitation in availing himself of every opportunity of
+widening the breach.  He affected to be sorry for the poor fellow, and
+to feel that he had been too hard on him, and so on, in a manner which,
+while it offended the Fifth, as applied to one of their set, exasperated
+them all the more against Oliver.  And so matters went on, getting more
+and more unsatisfactory.
+
+Loman, however, had other things to think of than his rival's cowardice,
+and foremost among these was his new fishing-rod--or rather, the rod
+which he coveted for his own.  Until the day after the Alphabet Match he
+had not even had time to examine his treasure.  Three pounds ten was an
+appalling figure to pay for a rod; "But then," thought Loman, "if it's
+really a good one, and worth half as much again, it would be a pity to
+miss such a bargain;" and every one knew the Crippses, father and son,
+were authorities on all matters pertaining to the piscatorial art.
+Loman, too, was never badly off for pocket-money, and could easily raise
+the amount, he felt sure, when he represented the case at home.  So he
+took the rod out of its canvas bag, and began to put it together.
+
+Now, a boy's study is hardly the place in which to flourish a
+fishing-rod, and Loman found that with the butt down in one bottom
+corner of the room, the top joint would have to be put on up in the
+opposite top corner.  When this complicated operation was over, there
+was no room to move it from its position, still less to judge of its
+weight and spring, or attach the winch and line.  Happy thought! the
+window!  He would have any amount of scope there.  So, taking it to
+pieces, and putting it together again in this new direction, he had the
+satisfaction of testing it at its full length.  He was pleased with the
+rod, on the whole.  He attached the line, with a fly at the end, in
+order to give it a thorough trial, and gave a scientific "cast" into an
+imaginary pool.  It was a splendid rod, just right for him; how he
+wished he was up above Gusset Weir at that moment!  Why, he could--
+
+Here he attempted to draw up the rod.  There was an ugly tug and a crack
+as he did so, and he found, to his disgust, that the hook, having
+nothing else to catch, had caught the ivy on the wall, and, what was
+worse, that the top joint of the rod had either snapped or cracked in
+its inability to bring this weighty catch to shore.  It was a long time
+before Loman was able to disengage his line, and bring the rod in again
+at the window.  The top joint was cracked.  It looked all right as he
+held it, but when he tried to bend it it had lost its spring, and the
+crack showed only too plainly.  Another misfortune still was in store.
+The reel in winding up suddenly stuck.  Loman, fancying it had only
+caught temporarily, tried to force it, and in so doing the spring broke,
+and the handle turned uselessly round and round in his hand.  This _was_
+a streak of bad luck, and no mistake!  The rod was not his, and what was
+worse, it was (so Cripps said) a rod of extraordinary excellence and
+value.  Loman had his doubts now about this.  A first-rate top-piece
+would bend nearly double and then not break, and a reel that broke at
+the least pressure could hardly be of the best kind.  Still, Cripps
+thought a lot of it, and Loman had undoubtedly himself alone to blame
+for the accidents which had occurred.  As it was, the rod was now
+useless.  He knew there was no place in Maltby where he could get it
+repaired, and it was hardly to be expected that Cripps would take it
+back.
+
+What was to be done?  Either he must pay 3 pounds 10 shillings for a rod
+of no value, or--
+
+He slowly took the rod to pieces and put it back into the canvas bag.
+The top joint after all did not look amiss; and, yes, there was a
+_little_ bit of elasticity in it.  Perhaps the crack was only his fancy;
+or perhaps the crack was there when he got it.  As to the reel, it
+looked as if it _ought_ to work, and perhaps it would if he only knew
+the way.  Ah! suppose he just sent the rod back to Cripps with a message
+that he found he did not require it?  He would not say he had not used
+it, but if Cripps chose to imagine he received it back just as he sent
+it, well, what harm?  Cripps would be sure to sell it to some one else,
+or else put it by (he had said he possessed a rod of his own).  If he,
+Loman, had felt quite certain that he had damaged the rod himself, of
+course he would not think of such a thing; but he was not at all certain
+the thing was not defective to begin with.  In any case it was an
+inferior rod--that he had no doubt about--and Cripps was not acting
+honestly by trying to pass it off on him as one of the best make.  Yes,
+it would serve Cripps right, and be a lesson to him, and he was sure,
+yes, quite sure now, it had been damaged to begin with.
+
+And so the boy argued with himself and coquetted with the tempter.
+Before the afternoon was over he felt (as he imagined) quite comfortable
+in his own mind over the affair.  The rod was tied up again in its bag
+exactly as it had been before, and only wanted an opportunity to be
+returned to Mr Cripps.
+
+After that Loman settled down to an evening's study.  But things were
+against him again.  Comfortable as his conscience was, that top joint
+would not let him alone.  It seemed to get into his hand in place of the
+pen, and to point out the words in the lexicon in place of his finger.
+He tried not to mind it, but it annoyed him, and, what was worse,
+interfered with his work.  So, shutting up his books, and imagining a
+change of air might be beneficial, he went off to Callonby's study,
+there to gossip for an hour or two, and finally rid himself of his
+tormentor.
+
+Stephen, meanwhile, had had Mr Cripps on his mind too, for that
+afternoon his bat had come home.  It was addressed to "Mr Greenfield,
+Saint Dominic's," and of course taken to Oliver, who wondered much to
+receive a small size cricket-bat in a parcel.  Master Paul, however, who
+was in attendance, was able to clear up the mystery.
+
+"Oh! that's your young brother's, I expect; he said he had got a bat
+coming."
+
+"All I can say is, he must be more flush of cash than I am, to go in for
+a thing like this.  Send him here, Paul."
+
+So Paul vanished, and presently Stephen put in an appearance, blushing,
+and anxious-looking.
+
+"Is this yours?" asked the elder brother.
+
+"Yes; did Mr Cripps send it?"
+
+"Mr Cripps the lock-keeper?"
+
+"No, his son.  He said he would get it for me.  I say, is that a good
+bat, Oliver?"
+
+"Nothing out of the way.  But, I say, young 'un, how much have you given
+for it?"
+
+"Not anything yet.  Mr Cripps said I could pay in June, when I get my
+next pocket-money."
+
+"What on earth has he to do with when you get your pocket-money?"
+demanded Oliver.  "Who is this young Cripps?  He's a cad, isn't he?"
+
+"He seemed a very nice man," said Stephen.
+
+"Well, look here! the less you have to do with men like him the better.
+What is the price of the bat?"
+
+"I don't know; it's one Mr Cripps had himself when he was a boy.  He
+says it's a beauty!  I say, it looks as good as new, Oliver."
+
+"You young muff!" said the elder brother; "I expect the fellow's
+swindling you.  Find out what he wants for it at once, and pay him; I'm
+not going to let you run into debt."
+
+"But I can't; I've only two shillings left," said Stephen, dejectedly.
+
+"Why, whatever have you done with the five shillings you had last week?"
+
+Stephen blushed, and then faltered, "I spent sixpence on stamps and
+sixpence on--on brandy-balls!"
+
+"I thought so.  And what did you do with the rest?"
+
+"Oh!  I--I--that is--I--gave them away."
+
+"Gave them away!  Who to--to Bramble?"
+
+"No," said Stephen, laughing at the idea; "I gave them to a poor old
+man!"
+
+"Where?--when?  Upon my word, Stephen, you _are_ a jackass--who to?"
+
+And then Stephen confessed, and the elder brother rated him soundly for
+his folly, till the little fellow felt quite miserable and ashamed of
+himself.  In the end, Oliver insisted on Stephen finding out at once
+what the price of the bat was, and promised he would lend his brother
+the money for it.  In return for this, Stephen promised to make no more
+purchases of this kind without first consulting Oliver, and at this
+juncture Wraysford turned up, and Stephen beat a retreat with his bat
+over his shoulder.
+
+The two friends had not been alone together since _the fracas_ in the
+Fifth two days before, and both now appeared glad of an opportunity of
+talking over that and subsequent events.
+
+"I suppose you know a lot of the fellows are very sore at you for not
+thrashing Loman?" said Wraysford.
+
+"I guessed they would be.  Are you riled, too, Wray?"
+
+"Not I!  I know what _I_ should have done myself, but I suppose you know
+your own business best."
+
+"I was greatly tempted to let out," said Oliver, "but the fact is--I
+know you'll jeer, Wray--the fact is, I've been trying feebly to turn
+over a new leaf this term."
+
+Wraysford said "Oh!" and looked uncomfortable.
+
+"And one of the things I wanted to keep out of was losing my temper,
+which you know is not a good one."
+
+"Not at all," said Wraysford, meaning quite the opposite to what he
+said.
+
+"Well, if you'll believe me, I've lost my temper oftener in trying to
+keep this resolution than I ever remember to have done before.  But on
+Friday it came over me just as I was going to thrash Loman.  That's why
+I didn't."
+
+Wraysford looked greatly relieved when this confession was over.  "You
+are a rum fellow, Noll," said he, after a pause, "and of course it is
+all right; but the fellows don't know your reason, and think you showed
+the white feather."
+
+"Let them think!" shouted Oliver, in a voice so loud and angry that
+Master Paul came to the door and asked what he wanted.
+
+"What do I care what they think?" continued Oliver, forgetting all about
+his temper; "they can think what they like, but they had better let me
+alone.  I'd like to knock all their heads together! so I would!"
+
+"Steady, old man!" said Wraysford, good-humouredly; "I quite agree with
+you.  But I say, Noll, I think it's a pity you don't put yourself right
+with them and the school generally, somehow.  Everybody heard Loman call
+you a fool yesterday, and you know our fellows are so clannish that they
+think, for the credit of the Fifth, something ought to be done."
+
+"Let them send Braddy to thrash him, then; I don't intend to fight to
+please _them_!"
+
+"Oh! that's all right.  And if they all knew what you've told me they
+would understand it; but as it is, they don't."
+
+"They'll find out some day, most likely," growled Oliver; "I'm not going
+to bother any more about it.  I say, Wray, do you know anything of
+Cripps's son?"
+
+"Yes.  Don't you know he keeps a dirty public-house in Maltby?--a
+regular cad, they say.  The fishing-fellows have seen him up at the Weir
+now and then."
+
+"I don't know how he came across him, but my young brother has just been
+buying a bat from him, and I don't much fancy it."
+
+"No, the youngster won't get any good with that fellow; you had better
+tell him," said Wraysford.
+
+"So I have, and he won't do it again."
+
+Shortly after this Pembury hobbled in on his way to bed.
+
+"You're a pretty fellow," said he to Oliver; "not one of our fellows
+cares a rush about the _Dominican_ since you made yourself into the
+latest sensation."
+
+"Oh, don't let us have that up again," implored Oliver.
+
+"All very well, but what is to become of the _Dominican_?"
+
+"Oh, have a special extra number about me.  Call me a coward, and a
+fool, and a Tadpole, any mortal thing you like, only shut up about the
+affair now!"
+
+Pembury looked concerned.
+
+"Allow me to feel your pulse," said he to Oliver.
+
+"Feel away," said Oliver, glad of any diversion.
+
+"Hum!  As I feared--feverish.  Oliver, my boy, you are not well.
+Wandering a bit in your mind, too; get to bed.  Be better soon.  Able to
+talk like an ordinary rational animal then, and not like an animated
+tom-cat.  Good-bye!"
+
+And so saying he departed, leaving the friends too much amused to be
+angry at his rudeness.
+
+The two friends did a steady evening's work after this, and the thought
+of the Nightingale Scholarship drove away for the time all less pleasant
+recollections.
+
+They slept, after it all, far more soundly than Loman, whose dreams were
+disturbed by that everlasting top joint all the night long.
+
+The reader will no doubt have already decided in his own mind whether
+Oliver Greenfield did rightly or wrongly in putting his hands into his
+pockets instead of using them to knock down Loman.  It certainly did not
+seem to have done him much good at the time.  He had lost the esteem of
+his comrades, he had lost the very temper he had been trying to keep--
+twenty times since the event--and no one gave him credit for anything
+but "the better part of valour" in the whole affair.
+
+And yet that one effort of self-restraint was not altogether an unmanly
+act.  At least, so thought Wraysford that night, as he lay meditating
+upon his friend's troubles, and found himself liking him none the less
+for this latest singular piece of eccentricity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+THE FOURTH JUNIOR AT HOME.
+
+Stephen, before he had been a fortnight in the school, found himself
+very much at home at Saint Dominic's.  He was not one of those
+exuberant, irrepressible boys who take their class-fellows by storm, and
+rise to the top of the tree almost as soon as they touch the bottom.
+Stephen, as the reader knows, was not a very clever boy, or a very
+dashing boy, and yet he somehow managed to get his footing among his
+comrades in the Fourth Junior, and particularly among his fellow
+Guinea-pigs.
+
+He had fought Master Bramble six times in three days during his second
+week, and was engaged to fight him again every Tuesday, Thursday, and
+Friday during the term.  He had also taken the chair at one indignation
+meeting against the monitors, and spoken in favour of a resolution at
+another.  He had distributed brandy-balls in a most handsome manner to
+his particular adherents, and he had been the means of carrying away no
+less than two blankets from the next dormitory.  This was pretty good
+for a fortnight.  Add to this that he had remained steadily at the
+bottom of his class during the entire period, and that once he had
+received an "impot" (or imposition) from Mr Rastle, and it will easily
+be understood that he soon gained favour among his fellows.
+
+This last cause of celebrity, however, was one which did not please
+Stephen.  He had come to Saint Dominic's with a great quantity of good
+resolutions, the chief of which was that he would work hard and keep out
+of mischief, and it grieved him much to find that in neither aim was he
+succeeding.
+
+The first evening or two he had worked very diligently at preparation.
+He had taken pains with his fractions, and looked out every word in his
+Caesar.  He had got Oliver to look over his French, and Loman had
+volunteered to correct the spelling of his "theme;" and yet he stuck at
+the bottom of the class.  Other boys went up and down.  Some openly
+boasted that they had had their lessons done for them, and others that
+they had not done them at all.  A merry time they had of it; but
+Stephen, down at the bottom, was in dismal dumps.  He could not get up,
+and he could not get down, and all his honest hard work went for
+nothing.
+
+And so, not content to give that system a longer trial, he grew more lax
+in his work.  He filched the answers to his sums out of the "Key," and
+copied his Caesar out of the "crib."  It was much easier, and the result
+was the same.  He did not get up, and he could not get down.
+
+Oliver catechised him now and then as to his progress, and received
+vague answers in reply, and Loman never remembered a fag that pestered
+him less with lessons.  Stephen was, in fact, settling down into the
+slough of idleness, and would have become an accomplished dunce in time,
+had not Mr Rastle come to the rescue.  That gentleman caught the new
+boy in an idle mood, wandering aimlessly down the passage one afternoon.
+
+"Ah, Greenfield, is that you?  Nothing to do, eh?  Come and have tea
+with me, will you, in my room?"
+
+Stephen, who had bounded as if shot on hearing the master's unexpected
+voice behind him, turned round and blushed very red, and said "Thank
+you," and then looked like a criminal just summoned to the gallows.
+
+"That's right, come along;" and the master took the lad by the arm and
+marched him off to his room.
+
+Here the sight of muffins and red-currant jam, in addition to the
+ordinary attractions of a tea-table, somewhat revived Stephen's drooping
+spirits.
+
+"Make yourself comfortable, my boy, while the tea is brewing," said Mr
+Rastle, cheerily.  "Have you been playing any cricket since you came?"
+
+"Only a little, sir," said Stephen.
+
+"Well, if you only turn out as good a bat as your brother--how well he
+played in the Alphabet Match!"
+
+Stephen was reviving fast now, and embarked on a lively chat about his
+favourite sport, by the end of which the tea was brewed, and he and Mr
+Rastle sitting "cheek by jowl" at the table, with the muffins and jam
+between them.
+
+Presently Mr Rastle steered the talk round to Stephen's home, a topic
+even more delightful than cricket.  The boy launched out into a full
+account of the old house and his mother, till the tears very nearly
+stood in his eyes and the muffins very nearly stuck in his throat.  Mr
+Rastle listened to it all with a sympathetic smile, throwing in
+questions now and then which it charmed the boy to answer.
+
+"And how do you like Saint Dominic's?" presently inquired the master.
+"I suppose you've made plenty of friends by this time?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir.  It's not as slow as it was at first."
+
+"That's right.  You'll soon get to feel at home.  And how do you think
+you are getting on in class?"
+
+Stephen was astonished at this question.  If any one knew how he was
+getting on in class Mr Rastle did, and, alas!  Mr Rastle must know
+well enough that Stephen was getting on badly.
+
+"Not very well, I'm afraid, sir, thank you," replied the boy, not
+feeling exactly comfortable.
+
+"Not?  That's a pity.  Are the lessons too hard for you?" kindly
+inquired Mr Rastle.
+
+"No, I don't think so--that is--no, they're not, sir."
+
+"Ah, your Latin exercise I thought was very fair in parts to-day."
+
+Stephen stared at his master, and the master looked very pleasantly at
+Stephen.
+
+"I copied it off Raddleston," said the boy, in a trembling voice, and
+mentally resigning himself to his fate.
+
+"Ah!" said Mr Rastle, laughing; "it's a funny thing, now, Greenfield, I
+knew that myself.  No two boys could possibly have translated `nobody'
+into `_nullus corpus_' without making common cause!"
+
+Stephen was desperately perplexed.  He had expected a regular row on the
+head of his confession, and here was his master cracking jokes about the
+affair!
+
+"I'm very sorry I did it.  I won't do it again," said he.  "That's
+right, my boy; Raddleston isn't infallible.  Much better do it yourself.
+I venture to say, now, you can tell me what the Latin for `nobody' is
+without a dictionary."
+
+"_Nemo_," promptly replied Stephen.
+
+"Of course! and therefore if you had done the exercise yourself you
+wouldn't have made that horrid--that fearful mistake!"
+
+Stephen said, "Yes, sir," and meditated.
+
+"Come now," said Mr Rastle, cheerily, "I'm not going to scold you.  But
+if you take my advice you will try and do the next exercise by yourself.
+Of course you can't expect to be perfect all at once, but if you always
+copy off Raddleston, do you see, you'll _never_ get on at all."
+
+"I'll try, sir," said Stephen, meaning what he said.
+
+"I know you will, my boy.  It's not easy work to begin with, but it's
+easier far in the long run.  Try, and if you have difficulties, as you
+are sure to have, come to me.  I'm always here in the evenings, and
+we'll hammer it out between us.  School will not be without its
+temptations, and you will find it hard always to do your duty.  Yet you
+have, I hope, learnt the power of prayer; and surely the Saviour is able
+not only to forgive us our sins, but also to keep us from falling.  At
+school, my boy, as elsewhere, it is a safe rule, whenever one is in
+doubt, to avoid everything, no matter who may be the tempter, of which
+one cannot fearlessly speak to one's father or mother, and above all to
+our Heavenly Father.  Don't be afraid of Him--He will always be ready to
+help you and to guide you with His Holy Spirit.  Have another cup of
+tea?"
+
+This little talk, much as he missed at the time its deeper meaning,
+saved Stephen from becoming a dunce.  He still blundered and boggled
+over his lessons, and still kept pretty near to the bottom form in his
+class, but he felt that his master had an interest in him, and that
+acted like magic to his soul.  He declined Master Raddleston's
+professional assistance for the future, and did the best he could by
+himself.  He now and then, though hesitatingly, availed himself of Mr
+Rastle's offer, and took his difficulties to head-quarters; and he
+always, when he did so, found the master ready and glad to help, and not
+only that, but to explain as he went along, and clear the way of future
+obstacles of the same sort.
+
+And so things looked up with Stephen.  He wrote jubilant letters home;
+he experienced all the joys of an easy conscience, and he felt that he
+had a friend at court.
+
+But as long as he was a member of the honourable fraternity of
+Guinea-pigs, Stephen Greenfield was not likely to be dull at Saint
+Dominic's.
+
+The politics of the lower school were rather intricate.  The Guinea-pigs
+were not exactly the enemies of the Tadpoles, but the rivals.  They were
+always jangling among themselves, it was true; and when Stephen, for the
+second time in one week, had hit Bramble in the eye, there was such
+jubilation among the Guinea-pigs that any one might have supposed the
+two clans were at daggers drawn.  But it was not so--at least, not
+always--for though they fell out among themselves, they united their
+forces against the common enemy--the monitors!
+
+Monitors, in the opinion of these young republicans, were an invention
+of the Evil One, invented for the sole purpose of interfering with them.
+But for the monitors they could carry out their long-cherished scheme
+of a pitched battle on the big staircase, for asserting their right to
+go down the left side, when they chose, and up on the right.  As it was,
+the monitors insisted that they should go up on the left and come down
+on the right.  It was intolerable tyranny!  And but for the monitors
+their comb-and-paper musical society might give daily recitals in the
+top corridor and so delight all Saint Dominic's.  What right had the
+monitors to forbid the performance and confiscate the combs?  Was it to
+be endured?  And but for the monitors, once more, they might perfect
+themselves in the art of pea-shooting.  Was such a thing ever heard of,
+as that fellows should be compelled to shoot peas at the wall in the
+privacy of their own studies, instead of at one another in the passages?
+It was a shame--it was a scandal--it was a crime!
+
+On burning questions such as these, Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles sunk all
+petty differences, and thought and felt as one man; and not the least
+ardent among them was Stephen.
+
+"Come on, quick!  Greenfield junior," squeaked the voice of Bramble, one
+afternoon, as he and Stephen met on the staircase.
+
+Stephen had fought Bramble yesterday at four o'clock, and was to fight
+him again to-morrow at half-past twelve, but at the call of common
+danger he forgot the feud and tore up the stairs, two steps at a time,
+beside his chronic enemy.
+
+"What's the row?" he gasped, as they flew along.
+
+"Row?  Why, what do you think?  Young Bellerby has been doctored for
+tying a string across the passage!"
+
+"Had up before the Doctor?  My eye, Bramble!"
+
+"It is your eye indeed!  One of the monitors tripped over it, and got in
+a rage, and there's Bellerby now catching it in the Black Hole.  Come on
+to the meeting; quick!"
+
+The two rushed on, joined by one and another of their fellows who had
+heard the terrible news.  The party rushed pellmell into the Fourth
+Junior class-room, where were already assembled a score or more youths,
+shouting, and stamping, and howling like madmen.  At the sight of
+Bramble, the acknowledged leader of all malcontents, they quieted down
+for a moment to hear what he had to say.
+
+"Here's a go!" classically began that hero.
+
+At this the clamour, swelled twofold by the new additions, rose louder
+than ever.  It _was_ a go!
+
+"I wish it had been _me_!" again yelled Bramble; "I have let them know."
+
+Once more the shouts rose high and loud in approval of this noble
+sentiment.
+
+"_I'd_ have kicked their legs!" once more howled Bramble, as soon as he
+could make himself heard.
+
+"So would we; kicked their legs!"
+
+"They ought to be hanged!" screamed Bramble.
+
+"_I'll_ not fag any more for Wren!" bellowed Bramble.
+
+"I'll not fag any more for Greenfield senior!" thundered Paul.
+
+"I'll not fag any more for Loman!" shrieked Stephen.
+
+"Why don't some of you put poison in their teas?" cried one.
+
+"Or blow them up when they're in bed with gunpowder?"
+
+"Or flay them alive?"
+
+"Or boil them in tar?"
+
+"Or throw them into the lions' den?"
+
+"Those who say we won't stand it any longer," shouted Bramble, jumping
+up on to a form, "hold up your hands!"
+
+A perfect forest of inky hands arose, and a shout with them that almost
+shook the ceiling.
+
+At that moment the door opened, and Wren appeared.  The effect was
+magical; every one became suddenly quiet, and looked another way.
+
+"The next time there's a noise like that," said the monitor, "the whole
+class will be detained one hour," and, so saying, departed.
+
+After that the indignation meeting was kept up in whispers.  Now and
+then the feelings of the assembly broke out into words, but the noise
+was instantly checked.
+
+"If young Bellerby has been flogged," said Bramble, in a most sepulchral
+undertone, "I've a good mind to fight every one of them!"
+
+"Yes, every one of them," whispered the multitude.
+
+"They're all as bad as each other!" gasped Bramble.
+
+"_We'll_ let them know," muttered the audience.
+
+"I'll tell you what I've a good mind to--to--ur--ur--I've a good mind
+to--ugh!"
+
+Again the door opened.  This time it was Callonby.
+
+"Where's young Raddleston?--What _are_ you young beggars up to?--is
+Raddleston here?"
+
+"Yes," mildly answered the voice of Master Raddleston, who a moment ago
+had nearly broken a blood-vessel in his endeavours to scream in a
+whisper.
+
+"Come here, then."
+
+The fag meekly obeyed.
+
+"Oh, and Greenfield junior," said Callonby, as he was turning to depart,
+"Loman wants to know when you are going to get his tea; you're to go at
+once, he says."
+
+Stephen obeyed, and was very humble in explaining to Loman that he had
+forgotten (which was the case) the time.  The meeting in the Fourth
+class-room lasted most of the afternoon; but as oratory in whispers is
+tedious, and constant repetition of the same sentiments, however
+patriotic, is monotonous, it flagged considerably in spirit towards the
+end, and degenerated into one of the usual wrangles between Guinea-pigs
+and Tadpoles, in the midst of which Master Bramble left the chair, and
+went off in the meekest manner possible to get Wren to help him with his
+sums for next day.
+
+Stephen meanwhile was engaged in doing a little piece of business for
+Loman, of which more must be said in a following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+IN THE TOILS.
+
+The afternoon of the famous "indignation meeting" in the Fourth Junior
+was the afternoon of the week which Mr Cripps the younger, putting
+aside for a season the anxieties and responsibilities of his "public"
+duties in Maltby, usually devoted to the pursuit of the "gentle craft,"
+at his worthy father's cottage by Gusset Weir.  Loman, who was aware of
+this circumstance, and on whose spirit that restless top joint had
+continued to prey ever since the evening of the misadventure a week ago,
+determined to avail himself of the opportunity of returning the unlucky
+fishing-rod into the hands from which he had received it.
+
+He therefore instructed Stephen to take it up to the lock-house with a
+note to the effect that having changed his mind in the matter since
+speaking to Cripps, he found he should not require the rod, and
+therefore returned it, with many thanks for Mr Cripps's trouble.
+
+Stephen, little suspecting the questionable nature of his errand,
+undertook the commission, and duly delivered both rod and letter into
+the hands of Mr Cripps, who greatly astonished him by swearing very
+violently at the contents of the letter.  "Well," said he, when he had
+exhausted his vocabulary (not a small one) of expletives--"well, of all
+the grinning jackanapeses, this is the coolest go!  Do you take me for a
+fool?"
+
+Stephen, to whom this question appeared to be directly applied,
+disclaimed any idea of the kind, and added, "I don't know what you
+mean."
+
+"Don't you, my young master?  All right!  Tell Mr Loman I'll wait upon
+him one fine day, see if I don't!  Here's me, given up a whole blessed
+day to serve him, and a pot of money out of my pocket, and here he goes!
+not a penny for my pains!  Chucks the thing back on my 'ands as cool as
+a coocumber, all because he's changed his mind.  I'll let him have a bit
+of my mind, tell him, Mr Gentleman Schoolboy, see if I don't.  I ain't
+a-going to be robbed, no! not by all the blessed monkeys that ever wrote
+on slates!  _I'll_ wait upon him, see if I don't!"
+
+Stephen, to whom the whole of this oration, which was garnished with
+words that we can hardly set down in print, or degrade ourselves by
+suggesting, was about as intelligible as if it had been Hebrew, thought
+it better to make no reply, and sorrowed inwardly to find that such a
+nice man as Mr Cripps should possess so short a temper.  But the
+landlord of the Cockchafer soon recovered from his temporary annoyance,
+and even proceeded to apologise to Stephen for the warmth of his
+language.
+
+"You'll excuse me, young gentleman," said he, "but I'm a plain-spoken
+man, and I was--there, I won't deny it--I was a bit put out about this
+here rod first go off.  You'll excuse me--of course I don't mean no
+offence to you or Mister Loman neither, who's one of the nicest young
+gentlemen I ever met.  Of course if you'd a' paid seventy bob out of
+your own pocket it would give _you_ a turn; leastways, if you was a
+struggling, honest working man, like me."
+
+"That's it," snivelled, old Mr Cripps, who had entered during this last
+speech; "that's it, Benny, my boy, honest Partisans, that's what we is,
+who knows what it are to be in want of a shillin' to buy a clo' or two
+for the little childer."
+
+What particular little "childer" Mr Cripps senior and his son were
+specially interested in no one knew, for neither of them was blessed
+with any.  However, it was one of old Mr Cripps's heart-moving phrases,
+and no one was rude enough to ask questions.
+
+Stephen did not, on the present occasion, feel moved to respond to the
+old man's lament, and Cripps junior, with more adroitness than filial
+affection, hustled the old gentleman out of the door.
+
+"Never mind him," said he to Stephen.  "He's a silly old man, and always
+pretends he's starvin'.  If you believe me, he's a thousand pounds
+stowed away somewheres.  I on'y wish," added he, with a sigh, "he'd give
+me a taste of it, for its 'ard, up-'ill work makin' ends meet,
+particular when a man's deceived by parties.  No matter.  I'll pull
+through; you see!"
+
+Stephen once more did not feel called upon to pursue this line of
+conversation, and therefore changed the subject.
+
+"Oh, Mr Cripps, how much is that bat?"
+
+"Bat!  Bless me if I hadn't nearly forgot all about it.  Ain't it a
+beauty, now?"
+
+"Yes, pretty well," said Stephen, whose friends had one and all abused
+the bat, and who was himself a little disappointed in his expectations.
+
+"Pretty well!  I like that.  You must be a funny cricketer, young
+gentleman, to call that bat only pretty well.  I suppose you want me to
+take _that_ back, too?" and here Mr Cripps looked very fierce.
+
+"Oh, no," said Stephen, hurriedly.  "I only want to know what I am to
+pay for it."
+
+"Oh, come now, we needn't mind about that.  That'll keep, you know.  As
+if I wanted the money.  Ha, ha!"
+
+Even a green boy like Stephen could not fail to wonder why, if Mr
+Cripps was as hard up as he had just described himself, he should now be
+so anxious to represent himself as not in want of money.
+
+"Please, I want to know the price."
+
+"As if I was a-going to name prices to a young gentleman like you!
+Please yourself about it.  I shall not be disappointed if you gives me
+only eighteenpence, and if _you_ thinks twelve bob is handsome, well,
+let it be.  _I_ can struggle on somehow."
+
+This was uncomfortable for Stephen, who, too green, fortunately, to
+comprehend the drift of Mr Cripps's gentle hints, again asked that he
+would name a price.
+
+This time Mr Cripps answered more precisely.
+
+"Well, that there bat is worth a guinea, if you want to know, but I'll
+say a sovereign for cash down."
+
+Stephen whistled a long-drawn whistle of dismay.
+
+"A sovereign!  I can't pay all that!  I thought it would be about seven
+shillings!"
+
+"Did you?  You may think what you like, but that's my price, and you are
+lucky to get it at that."
+
+"I shall have to send it back.  I can't afford so much," said Stephen,
+despondingly.
+
+"Not if I know it!  I'll have none of your second-hand bats, if I know
+it.  Come, young gentleman, I may be a poor man, but I'm not a fool, and
+you'll find it out if I've any of your nonsense.  Do you suppose I've
+nothing to do but wait on jackanapeses like you and your mates?  No
+error!  There you are.  That'll do, and if you don't like it--well, the
+governor shall know about it!"
+
+Stephen was dreadfully uncomfortable.  Though, to his knowledge, he had
+done nothing wrong, he felt terribly guilty at the bare notion of the
+Doctor being informed of his transactions with Mr Cripps, besides
+greatly in awe of the vague threats held out by that gentleman.  He did
+not venture on further argument, but, bidding a hasty farewell, returned
+as fast as he could to Saint Dominic's, wondering whatever Oliver would
+say, and sorely repenting the day when first he was tempted to think of
+the unlucky bat.
+
+He made a clean breast of it to his brother that evening, who, of
+course, called him an ass, and everything else complimentary, and was
+deservedly angry.  However, Stephen had reason to consider himself lucky
+to possess an elder brother at the school who had a little more
+shrewdness than himself.  Oliver was determined the debt should be paid
+at once, without even waiting to write home, and by borrowing ten
+shillings from Wraysford, and adding to it the residue of his own
+pocket-money, the sovereign was raised and dispatched that very night to
+Mr Cripps; after which Oliver commanded his brother to sit down and
+write a full confession of his folly home, and ask for the money,
+promising never to make such a fool of himself again.  This task the
+small boy, with much shame and trembling at heart, accomplished; and in
+due time an answer came from his mother which not only relieved his mind
+but paid off his debts to Oliver and Wraysford, and once for all closed
+the business of the treble-cane splice bat.
+
+It would have been well for Loman if he could have got out of his
+difficulties as easily and as satisfactorily.
+
+Ever since he had gathered from Stephen Mr Cripps's wrath on receiving
+the returned rod, he had been haunted by a dread lest the landlord of
+the Cockchafer should march up to Saint Dominic's, and possibly make an
+exposure of the unhappy business before the Doctor and the whole school.
+He therefore, after long hesitation and misgiving, determined himself
+to call at the Cockchafer, and try in some way to settle matters.  One
+thing reassured him.  If Cripps had discovered the crack or the fracture
+in the rod, he would have heard of it long before now; and if he had
+not, then the longer the time the less chance was there of the damage
+being laid at his door.  So he let three weeks elapse, and then went to
+Maltby.  The Cockchafer was a small, unpretentious tavern, frequented
+chiefly by carriers and tradesmen, and, I regret to say, not wholly
+unknown to some of the boys of Saint Dominic's, who were foolish enough
+to persuade themselves that skittles, and billiards, and beer were
+luxuries worth the risk incurred by breaking one of the rules of the
+school.  No boy was permitted to enter any place of refreshment except a
+confectioner's in Maltby under the penalty of a severe punishment, which
+might, in a bad case, mean expulsion.  Loman, therefore, a monitor and a
+Sixth Form boy, had to take more than ordinary precautions to reach the
+Cockchafer unobserved, which he succeeded in doing, and to his
+satisfaction--as well as to his trepidation--found Mr Cripps the
+younger at home.
+
+"Ho, he! my young shaver," was that worthy's greeting, "here you are at
+last."
+
+This was not encouraging to begin with.  It sounded very much as if Mr
+Cripps had been looking forward to this visit.  However, Loman put as
+bold a face as he could on to it, and replied, "Hullo, Cripps, how are
+you?  It's a long time since I saw you; jolly day, isn't it?"
+
+"Jolly!" replied Mr Cripps, looking very gloomy, and drawing a glass of
+beer for the young gentleman before he ordered it.  Loman did not like
+it at all.  There was something about Cripps's manner that made him feel
+very uncomfortable.
+
+"Oh, Cripps," he presently began, in as off-hand a manner as he could
+assume under the depressing circumstances--"Oh, Cripps, about that rod,
+by the way.  I hope you didn't mind my sending it back.  The fact is,"
+(and here followed a lie which till that moment had not been in the
+speaker's mind to tell)--"the fact is, I find I'm to get a present of a
+rod this summer at home, or else of course I would have kept it."
+
+Mr Cripps said nothing, but began polishing up a pewter pot with a
+napkin.
+
+"I hope you got it back all right," continued Loman, who felt as if he
+must say something.  "They are such fragile things, you know.  I thought
+I'd just leave it in the bag and not touch it, but send it straight
+back, for fear it should be damaged."
+
+There was a queer smile about Mr Cripps's mouth as he asked, "Then you
+didn't have a look at it even?"
+
+"Well, no, I thought I would--I thought I wouldn't run any risk."
+
+Loman was amazed at himself.  He had suddenly made up his mind to tell
+one lie, but here they were following one after another, as if he had
+told nothing but lies all his life!  Alas, there was no drawing back
+either!
+
+"The fact is," he began again, speaking for the sake of speaking, and
+not even knowing what he was going to say--"the fact is--" Here the
+street door opened, and there entered hurriedly a boy whom Loman, to his
+confusion and consternation, recognised as Simon of the Fifth, the
+author of the "Love-Ballad."  What could the monitor say for himself to
+explain his presence in this prohibited house?
+
+"Hullo, Loman, I say, is that you?" remarked Simon.
+
+"Oh, Simon, how are you?" faltered the wretched Loman; "I've just popped
+in to speak to Cripps about a fishing-rod.  You'd better not come in;
+you might get into trouble."
+
+"Oh, never mind.  You won't tell of me, and I won't tell of you.  Glass
+of the usual, please, Cripps.  I say, Loman, was that the fishing-rod
+you were switching about out of your window that afternoon three weeks
+ago?"
+
+Loman turned red and white by turns, and wished the earth would swallow
+him!  And to think of this fellow, the biggest donkey in Saint
+Dominic's, blurting out the very thing which of all things he had
+striven to keep concealed!
+
+Mr Cripps's mouth worked up into a still more ugly smile.
+
+"I was below in the garden, you know, and could not make out what you
+were up to.  You nearly had my eye out with that hook.  I say, what a
+smash you gave it when it caught in the ivy.  Was it broken right off,
+or only cracked, eh?  Cripps will mend it for you, won't you, Cripps?"
+
+Neither Mr Cripps nor Loman spoke a word.  The latter saw that
+concealment was no longer possible; and bitterly he rued the day when
+first he heard the name of Cripps.
+
+That worthy, seeing the game to have come beautifully into his own
+hands, was not slow to take advantage of it.  He beckoned Loman into the
+inner parlour, whither the boy tremblingly followed, leaving Simon to
+finish his glass of "the usual" undisturbed.
+
+I need not repeat the painful conversation that ensued between the
+sharper and the wretched boy.  It was no use for the latter to deny or
+explain.  He was at the mercy of the man, and poor mercy it was.
+Cripps, with many oaths and threats, explained to Loman that he could,
+if he chose, have him up before a magistrate for fraud, and that he
+would do so for a very little.  Loman might choose for himself between a
+complete exposure, involving his disgrace for life, or paying the price
+of the rod down and 20 besides, and he might consider himself lucky more
+was not demanded.
+
+The boy, driven to desperation between terror and shame, implored mercy,
+and protested with tears in his eyes that he would do anything, if only
+Cripps did not expose him.
+
+"You know what it is, then," replied Cripps.
+
+"But how am I to get the 20 pounds?  I daren't ask for it at home, and
+there's no one here will lend it me.  Oh, Cripps, what shall I do?" and
+the boy actually caught Mr Cripps's hand in his own as he put the
+question.
+
+"Well, look here," said Mr Cripps, unbending a little, "that 20 pounds
+I must have, there's no mistake about it; but I don't want to be too
+hard on you, and I can put you up to raising the wind."
+
+"Oh, can you?" gasped Loman, eager to clutch at the faintest straw of
+hope.  "I'll do anything."
+
+"Very good; then it's just this: I've just got a straight tip about the
+Derby that I know for certain no one else has got--that is, that Sir
+Patrick won't win, favourite and all as he is.  Now there's a friend of
+mine I can introduce you to, who's just wanting to put a twenty on the
+horse, if he can find any one to take it.  It wouldn't do for me to make
+the wager, or he'd smell a rat; but if you put your money _against_ the
+horse, you're bound to win, and all safe.  What do you say?"
+
+"I don't know anything about betting," groaned Loman.  "Are you quite
+sure I'd win?"
+
+"Certain.  If you lose I'll only ask 10 pounds of you, there! that's as
+good as giving you 10 pounds myself on the horse, eh?"
+
+"Well," said Loman, "I suppose I must.  Where is he?"
+
+"Wait here a minute, and I'll bring him round."
+
+Loman waited, racked by a sense of ignominy and terror.  Yet this seemed
+his only hope.  Could he but get this 20 pounds and pay off Cripps he
+would be happy.  Oh, how he repented listening to that first temptation
+to deceive!
+
+In due time Mr Cripps returned with his friend, who was very civil on
+hearing Loman's desire to bet against Sir Patrick.
+
+"Make it a 50 pounds note while you are about it," said he.
+
+"No, 20 pounds is all I want to go for," replied Loman.
+
+"Twenty then, all serene, sir," said the gentleman, booking the bet.
+"What'll you take to drink?"
+
+"Nothing, thank you," said Loman, hurriedly rising to leave.
+
+"Good-day, sir," said Cripps, holding out his hand.
+
+Loman looked at the hand and then at Mr Cripps's face.  There was the
+same ugly leer about the latter, into which a spark of anger was infused
+as the boy still held back from the proffered hand.
+
+With an inward groan Loman gave the hand a spiritless grasp, and then
+hurried back miserable and conscience-stricken to Saint Dominic's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+THE "DOMINICAN" AGAIN.
+
+The circumstances which had attended the publication of the first number
+of the _Dominican_ had been such as to throw a damper over the future
+success of that valuable paper.  It was most uncomfortably connected in
+the minds of the Fifth with the cowardice of Oliver Greenfield, and with
+the stigma which his conduct had cast upon the whole Form, and they one
+and all experienced a great diminution of interest in its future.
+
+The Fifth were far more intent on vindicating their reputation with the
+Sixth--and, indeed, with the rest of the school.  They sought every
+opportunity of bringing on a collision with the monitors.  One or two of
+their number went, so far as to pick quarrels with members of the rival
+class, in hopes of a fight.  But in this they were not successful.  The
+Sixth chose to look upon this display of feeling among their juniors as
+a temporary aberration of mind, and were by no means to be tempted into
+hostilities.  They asserted their authority wherever they could enforce
+it, and sacrificed it whenever it seemed more discreet to do so.  Only
+one thing evoked a temporary display of vexation from them, and that was
+when Ricketts and Braddy appeared one day, arm-in-arm, in the passages
+with _tall hats_ on their heads.  Now, tall hats on week-days were the
+exclusive privilege of the Sixth at Saint Dominic's, and, worn by them
+during school hours, served as the badge of monitorship.  This action on
+the part of the Fifth, therefore, was as good as a usurpation of
+monitorial rights, and that the Sixth were not disposed to stand.
+However, Raleigh, the captain, when appealed to, pooh-poohed the matter.
+"Let them be," said he; "what do you want to make a row about it for?
+If the boys do mistake them for monitors, so much the less row in the
+passages."
+
+Raleigh was always a man of peace--though it was rumoured he could, if
+he chose, thrash any two Dominicans going--and the monitors were much
+disgusted to find that he did not authorise them to interfere with the
+Fifth in the matter.  But the Fifth _were_ interfered with in another
+quarter, and in a way which caused them to drop their chimney-pots
+completely.  One afternoon the entire Fourth Junior appeared in the
+corridors in their Sunday tiles!  In their Sunday tiles they slid down
+the banisters; in their Sunday tiles they played leapfrog; in their
+Sunday tiles they executed a monster tug-of-war in the bottom corridor!
+Stephen and Bramble fought their usual battle in top hats, and Master
+Paul insisted on wearing the same decoration while washing up Oliver's
+tea-things.  It was a splendid hit, and for once in a way Guinea-pigs
+and Tadpoles scored one, for the Fifth appeared next day in their
+ordinary "boilers," and the dignity of the monitors was vindicated.
+
+But the blood was up between Fifth and Sixth, and each Form looked
+forward to the match, Sixth _versus_ School, with redoubled interest.
+
+"Were not these boys fools?" some one asks.
+
+To be sure they were, sir.  But what of that? they were none the less
+boys, and most of them fine young fellows, too, with all their nonsense.
+
+However, as has been said, all this came out of the circumstances which
+attended the bringing out of the first number of the _Dominican_, and
+there seemed but a poor look-out for Number 2, which was now nearly due,
+in consequence.
+
+"What on earth am I to do?" asked Pembury of Tom Senior one day; "I've
+not got a single contribution yet.  There's you making out you're too
+busy, and Rick the same.  It's all humbug, I know!  What are you busy at
+I'd like to know?  I never saw you busy yet."
+
+"Upon my word, old man," said Tom, "I'm awfully sorry, but I've got a
+tremendous lot to do.  I'm going to try for the French prize; I am,
+really."
+
+"And you'll get it, too; rather!  Wasn't it you who translated `I know
+the way to write' into `_Je non le chemin a writer_' eh?  Oh, stick to
+French by all means, Tom; it's in your line!  But you might just as well
+write for Number 2."
+
+"I really can't this time," said Tom.
+
+Ricketts had an excuse very similar.  Bullinger had hurt his foot, he
+said, and could not possibly write; and Braddy had begun to study
+fossils, he said, and was bound to devote all his spare time to them.
+To all of whom Master Pembury gave a piece of his mind.
+
+"Wray, old man," said he, that evening, "you and Noll and I shall have
+to do the whole thing between us, that's all about it."
+
+"Awfully sorry!" said Wraysford; "you'll have to let me off this time.
+I'm working like nails for the Nightingale."
+
+"Bother the Nightingale, I say!  What is it to the _Dominican_?  Come, I
+say, old man, that won't do! you aren't going to leave me in the lurch
+like all the rest?"
+
+But Wraysford was; he would gladly have helped if he could, but he
+really must not this time; perhaps he would for the next.
+
+Oliver was as bad; he declared the things he had written before--even
+with Pembury's assistance--had taken him such ages to do, that he wasn't
+going in for the next number.  He was very sorry to disappoint, and all
+that; but if Tony was in for a scholarship next Michaelmas he would
+understand the reason.  Why not let the thing drop this month?
+
+This, however, by no means met Tony's views.  A pretty figure he would
+cut if it were to be said he couldn't keep up a paper for two numbers
+running!  No! his mind was made up.  Number 2 _should_ come out, even if
+he wrote every word of it himself!  And with that determination he
+hobbled off to his study.  Here he met Simon waiting for him.
+
+"Oh," said the poet; "I only brought this, if you'll put it in.  I think
+it's not bad.  I could make it longer if you like.  I find poetry comes
+so easily, you know!"
+
+Tony glanced over the paper and grinned.  "Thanks, awfully!  This will
+do capitally; it would spoil it to make it any longer.  You're a brick,
+Simon!  I wish _I_ could write poetry."
+
+"Oh, never mind.  I could do some more bits about other things, you
+know, if you like."
+
+Pembury said he didn't think he should require any more "bits," but was
+awfully obliged by this one, which was first-rate, a recommendation
+which sent Simon away happy to his study, there immediately to compose
+the opening stanza of his famous epic, "The Sole's Allegery--a sacred
+Poem."
+
+With one contribution in hand, Tony locked his door and sat down to
+write.  There was something out of the common about Pembury.  With the
+body of a cripple he had the heart of a lion, and difficulties only made
+it more dauntless.  Any one else would have thought twice, indeed,
+before undertaking the task he was now setting himself to do, and
+ninety-nine out of every hundred would have abandoned it before it was
+half done.  But Tony was indomitable.  Every night that week he locked
+his study-door, and threats and kicks and entreaties would not open it
+even to his dearest friends.  And slowly the huge white sheet before him
+showed the signs of his diligence.  The great long columns, one after
+another, filled up; paragraph followed paragraph, and article article.
+He coolly continued the "History of Saint Dominic's" begun last month by
+Bullinger, and the "Reports of the Sixth Form Debates" commenced by Tom
+Senior.  And the "Diary of the Sixth Form Mouse" went on just as if
+Wraysford had never abandoned it; and the poem on the Guinea-pigs,
+promised in Number 1, by the author of "To a Tadpole," duly appeared
+also.  Besides this, there were the continuations of Tony's own
+articles, and his "Personal Notes," and "Squeaks from Tadpoleopolis,"
+and advertisements just as usual; until, in due time, the last column
+was filled up, the sheet triumphantly fixed in its frame, and as
+triumphantly hung up on its own particular nails on the wall outside the
+Fifth Form door.
+
+It was a feat to be proud of, and Tony was justly and pardonably proud.
+It was at least a gratification next morning to see not only that the
+school generally took unabated interest in the _Dominican_, but that he
+had fairly astonished his own class-fellows.  Their admiration of the
+editor was unbounded and undisguised.  Their consciences had all, more
+or less, reproached them for backing out of their responsibilities in
+the way they had; and now it quite touched them to see how,
+notwithstanding, Anthony had by his own labour made up for their defect,
+and sustained the reputation of the Fifth before all the school.
+
+The crush outside the door was greater than ever this time, and Master
+Paul, who again acted as policeman, was obliged to summon Stephen to his
+assistance in watching to see that no damage came to the precious
+document.
+
+The account of the Alphabet Match was very graphic, and written quite in
+the usual absurd "sporting style," greatly to the amusement of most of
+those who had taken part in it.  Here is a specimen:--
+
+"At 4.30, sharp, the leather was taken into custody by `Gamey' Raikes,
+at the wash-house end, who tried what his artful `yorkers' could do in
+the way of dissolving partnership.  But Teddy Loman kept his willow
+straight up, and said `Not at home' to every poser, leaving Noll to do
+all the smacking.  This pretty business might have gone on till
+to-morrow week had the men's upper stories been as `O.K.' as their
+timbers, but they messed about over a pretty snick of Noll's, and, after
+popping the question three times, Teddy got home just in time to see his
+two bails tumble out of their groove.  Teddy didn't like this, and
+bowled his partner a wide compliment, which Noll, like a sensible man,
+didn't walk out to, and Teddy was astonished to find his party could get
+on without him;" and so on.
+
+This version of the incident was by no means pleasant to Loman, but to
+every one else it was highly diverting, and it actually made one or two
+of the Fifth think that Oliver, after all, had not done such a very
+discreditable thing in taking that angry word in silence.  If only he
+had shown more spirit about the blow, they could have forgiven the rest.
+
+Then followed more from the "Sixth Form Mouse":--
+
+"The Sixth held a Cabinet Council to-day to discuss who should go out
+for nuts.  The choice fell on Callonby.  I wonder why the Sixth are so
+fond of nuts.  Why, monkeys eat nuts.  Perhaps that is the reason.  What
+a popular writer Mr Bohn is with the Sixth! they even read him at
+lesson time!  I was quite sorry when the Doctor had to bone Wren's Bohn.
+I wonder, by the way, why that bird found it so hard to translate the
+simplest sentence without his Bohn!  The Doctor really shouldn't--I hope
+he will restore to Wren his backbone by giving him back his Bohn.  Hum!
+I heard some one smiling.  I'll go."
+
+The Sixth, a good many of them, were imprudent enough to look very
+guilty at the reading of this extract, a circumstance which appeared to
+afford keenest delight to the Fifth.  But as Simon's poem followed, they
+had other food for thought at the moment.  The poem was entitled--
+
+  A Revverie.
+
+  I.
+
+  I walked me in the garden, all in the garden fair,
+  And mused upon my hindmost sole all in the open air.
+  When lo!  I heard above my head a sound all like a wisk,
+  I stepped me aside thereat out of the way so brisk.
+
+  [Hindmost sole, possibly "inmost soul"; wisk, possibly "whisk."]
+
+  II.
+
+  I looked me up, and there behold! and lo! a window broad,
+  And out thereof I did dizzern a gallant fishing-rod,
+  All sporting in the breaze untill the hook in ivy caught,
+  And then the little lad he tried to pull it harder than he ought.
+
+  III.
+
+  It broke, alas! and so messeems fades life's perplecksing dreems,
+  And vanish like that fishing-rod all in the dark messeems.
+  I wonder if my perplecksing dreems will vanish like the rod in the
+  dark,
+  And I shall rise and rise and rise and rise all like a lark.
+
+  IV.
+
+  Oh wood I was a lark, a lark all lofty in the sky,
+  I do not know what I should do to quench my blazing eye.
+  I'd look me down on Dominic's, and think of the days when I was young,
+  Or would I was an infant meek all sucking of my thumb.
+
+Again Simon, who had watched with intense interest the reception of his
+poem, was perplexed to notice the amusement it had caused.  Even Pembury
+had mistaken its "inmost soul," for he had placed it in the column
+devoted to "Facetiae."  Nor could Simon understand why, for the next
+week, every one he met had his thumb in his mouth.  It was very queer--
+one of life's mysteries--and he had thoughts of embodying the fact in
+his "Sole's Allegery," which was now rapidly approaching completion.
+
+After this bubbling up of pure verse there followed a few remarks about
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles, which had the effect of highly incensing those
+young gentlemen.  The paragraph was entitled--
+
+"Market Intelligence.
+
+"Half a dozen mixed Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles were offered for sale by
+auction on the centre landing yesterday.  There was only a small
+attendance.  The auctioneer said he couldn't honestly recommend the lot,
+but they must be got rid of at any cost.  He had scrubbed their faces
+and combed their hair for the occasion, but couldn't guarantee that
+state of things to last.  But they might turn out to be of use as
+substitutes in case worms should become scarce; and, any way, by boiling
+down their fingers and collars, many gallons of valuable ink could be
+obtained.  The first bid was a farthing, which seemed to be far beyond
+the expectation of the salesman, who at once knocked the lot down.  The
+sale was such a success that it is proposed to knock down several more
+lots in a like manner."
+
+The rage of the Fourth Junior on reading this paragraph was something
+awful to witness.  Bramble, feeling he must kick somebody on the legs,
+kicked Stephen, who, forgetting that he was on police duty, seized
+Bramble by the hair of his head and rushed off with him to the
+"meeting," closely followed by Paul and the whole swarm.  That meeting
+lasted from three to five.  What awful threats were uttered, and what
+awful vows taken, no one knew.  At five o'clock Stephen's fight with
+Bramble came off as usual, and all that evening Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles
+did nothing but make paper darts.  It was certain a crisis had come in
+their history.  The "dogs of war" were let loose!  They would be
+revenged on somebody!  So they at once began to be revenged on one
+another, till it should be possible to unite their forces against the
+common foe.
+
+But the remainder of the crowd stayed on to read one more extract from
+the _Dominican_.  Under the title of "Reviews of Books," Anthony had
+reviewed in style the last number of the _Sixth Form Magazine_ as
+follows:--
+
+"This book appears to be the praiseworthy attempt of some ambitious
+little boys to enter the field of letters.  We are always pleased to
+encourage juvenile talent, but we would suggest that our young friends
+might have done better had they kept to their picture-books a little
+longer before launching out into literature on their own account.  In
+the words of the poet we might say--
+
+  "Babies, wait a little longer,
+  Till the little wings are stronger,
+  Then you'll fly away."
+
+"Nevertherless, we would refer to one or two of these interesting
+attempts.  Take, for example, the essay on the `Character of Julius
+Caesar,' by one who signs himself Raleigh.  This is very well written.
+Pains have been taken about the formation of the letters, and some of
+the capitals are specially worthy of praise.  For one so young, we
+rarely saw the capital D so well done.  Dr Smith, were he alive, would
+be pleased to see his remarks on Caesar so well and accurately copied
+out.  Master Wren gives us some verse--a translation out of Horace.  We
+wonder if Mr Wren is any relation to the late Jenny Wren who married
+Mr Cock Robin.  We should imagine from these verses that Mr Wren must
+be well acquainted with _Robbin_.  Take one more, Master Loman's `A
+Funny Story.'  We are sorry to find Master Loman tells stories.  Boys
+shouldn't tell stories; it's not right.  But Master Loman unfortunately
+does tell stories, and this is one.  He calls it `A Funny Story.'  That
+is a story to begin with, for it is not funny.  We don't know what
+Master Loman thinks funny; perhaps he calls being run out at cricket
+funny, or hitting another boy in the mouth when he's looking another
+way.  In any case, we can't make out why he calls this story funny.  The
+only funny thing about it is its title, and his spelling `attach'
+`attatch.'  The last is really funny.  It shows how partial Mr Loman is
+to _tea_.  If this funny story is the result of his partiality to tea,
+we are afraid it was very weak stuff."
+
+Loman, who had already been made dreadfully uncomfortable by Simon's
+poem, made no secret of his rage over this number of the _Dominican_.
+He was one of those vain fellows who cannot see a jest where it is
+levelled at themselves.  The rest of the Sixth had the sense, whatever
+they felt, to laugh at Anthony's hard hits.  But not so Loman; he lost
+his temper completely.  He ordered the _Dominican_ to be taken down; he
+threatened to report the whole Fifth to the Doctor.  He would not allow
+the junior boys to stand and read it.  In short, he made a regular ass
+of himself.
+
+Undoubtedly Anthony had put a great deal of venom into his pen.  Still,
+by taking all the poison and none of the humour to himself Loman made a
+great mistake, and displayed a most unfortunate amount of weakness.
+
+He shut himself up in his study in a fume; he boxed Stephen's ears for
+nothing at all, and would see no one for the rest of the evening.  He
+knew well he could not have given his enemies a greater crow over him
+than such conduct, and yet he could not command his vanity to act
+otherwise.
+
+But that evening, just before tea-time, something happened which gave
+Loman more to think about than the _Dominican_.  A letter marked
+"Immediate" came to him by the post.  It was from Cripps, to say that,
+after all, Sir Patrick _had_ won the Derby!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+COMPANY AT THE COCKCHAFER.
+
+Cripps's letter was as follows:
+
+"Hon. Sir,--This comes hoping you are well.  You may like to know Sir
+Patrick won.  The tip was all out.  Honourable Sir,--My friend would
+like his ten pounds sharp, as he's a poor man.  Please call in on
+Saturday afternoon.  Your very humble servant, Ben Cripps."
+
+This letter was startling enough to drive fifty _Dominicans_ out of
+Loman's head, and for a long time he could hardly realise how bad the
+news it contained was.
+
+He had reckoned to a dead certainty on winning the bet which Cripps had
+advised him to make with his friend.  Not that Loman knew anything about
+racing matters, but Cripps had been so confident, and it seemed so safe
+to bet against this one particular horse, that the idea of events
+turning out otherwise had never once entered his head.
+
+He went to the door and shouted for Stephen, who presently appeared with
+a paper dart in his hand.
+
+"Greenfield," said Loman, "cut down at once to Maltby and bring me a
+newspaper."
+
+Stephen stared.
+
+"I've got my lessons to do," he said.
+
+"Leave them here, I'll do them," replied Loman; "look sharp."
+
+Still Stephen hesitated.
+
+"We aren't allowed out after seven without leave," he faltered, longing
+to get back to the war preparations in the Fourth Junior.
+
+"I know that, and I give you leave--there!" said Loman, with all the
+monitorial dignity he could assume.  This quite disarmed Stephen.  Of
+course a monitor could do no wrong, and it was no use objecting on that
+score.
+
+Still he was fain to find some other excuse.
+
+"I say, will it do in the morning?" he began.
+
+Loman's only reply was a book shied at his fag's head--quite explicit
+enough for all practical purposes.  So Stephen hauled down his colours
+and prepared to start.
+
+"Look sharp back," said Loman, "and don't let any one see you going out.
+Look here, you can get yourself some brandy-balls with this."
+
+Stephen was not philosopher enough to argue with himself why, if he had
+leave to go out, he ought to avoid being seen going out.  He pocketed
+Loman's extra penny complacently, and giving one last longing look in
+the direction of the Fourth Junior, slipped quietly out of the school
+and made the best of his way down to Maltby.
+
+It was not easy at that time of day to get a paper.  Stephen tried half
+a dozen stationers' shops, but they were all sold out.  They were
+evidently more sought after than brandy-balls, of which he had no
+difficulty in securing a pennyworth at an early stage of his pilgrimage.
+The man in the sweet-shop told him his only chance of getting a paper
+was at the railway station.
+
+So to the station he strolled, with a brandy-ball in each cheek.  Alas!
+the stall was closed for the day.
+
+Stephen did not like to be beaten, but there was nothing for it now but
+to give up this "paper-chase," and return to Loman with a report of his
+ill-success.
+
+As he trotted back up High Street, looking about everywhere but in the
+direction in which he was going (as is the habit of small boys), and
+wondering in his heart whether his funds could possibly stand the strain
+of another pennyworth of brandy-balls, he suddenly found himself in
+sharp collision with a man who expressed himself on the subject of
+clumsy boys generally in no very measured terms.
+
+Stephen looked up and saw Mr Cripps the younger standing before him.
+
+"Why!" exclaimed that worthy, giving over his irascible expletives, and
+adopting an air of unfeigned pleasure, "why, if it ain't young Master
+Greenhorn.  Ha, ha!  How do, my young bantam?  Pretty bobbish, eh?"
+
+Stephen did not know exactly what was meant by "bobbish," but replied
+that he was quite well, and sorry he had trodden on Mr Cripps's toes.
+
+"Never mind," said Mr Cripps, magnanimously, "you're a light weight.
+And so you're taking a dander down town, are you? looking for lollipops,
+eh?"
+
+Stephen blushed very red at this.  However had Mr Cripps guessed about
+the brandy-balls?
+
+"I came to get a paper for Loman," he said, "but they're all sold out."
+
+"No, are they?  I wonder what Mr Loman wants with a paper, now?"
+
+"He said it was very important, and I was to be sure to get one of
+to-day's," said Stephen.  "Do you know where I can get one?"
+
+"Of course.  Come along with me; I've got one at home you can have.  And
+so he said it was very important, did he?  That's queer.  There's
+nothing in to-day's paper at all.  Only something about a low
+horse-race.  He don't want it for that, I guess; eh?"
+
+"Oh, no, I shouldn't think," said Stephen, trotting along beside his
+amiable acquaintance.
+
+Mr Cripps was certainly a very friendly man, and as he conducted
+Stephen to the Cockchafer, Stephen felt quite a liking for him, and
+couldn't understand why Oliver and Wraysford both ran him down.
+
+True, Mr Cripps did use some words which didn't seem exactly proper,
+but that Stephen put down to the habit of men in that part.  The man
+seemed to take such an interest in boys generally, and in Stephen in
+particular, and was so interested and amused to hear all about the
+Guinea-pigs, and the _Dominican_, and the Sixth _versus_ School, that
+Stephen felt quite drawn out to him.  And then he told Stephen such a
+lot of funny stories, and treated him with such evident consideration,
+that the small boy felt quite flattered and delighted.
+
+So they reached the Cockchafer.  Here Stephen, whose former visits had
+all been to the lock-house, pulled up.
+
+"I say," said he, "is this a public-house?"
+
+"Getting on that way," said Mr Cripps.
+
+"We aren't allowed to go in public-houses," said Stephen, "it's one of
+the rules."
+
+"Ah, quite right too; not a good thing for boys at all.  We'll go in by
+the private door into my house," said Mr Cripps.
+
+Stephen was not quite comfortable at this evasion, but followed Mr
+Cripps by the side door into his bar parlour.
+
+"You won't forget the paper," he said, "please.  I've got to be back in
+school directly."
+
+"I'll have a look for it.  Now, I guess you like ginger-beer, don't
+you?"
+
+Stephen was particularly partial to ginger-beer, as it happened, and
+said so.
+
+"That's the style," said Mr Cripps, producing a bottle.  "Walk into
+that while I go and get the paper."
+
+Stephen did walk into it with great relish, and began to think Mr
+Cripps quite a gentleman.  He was certain, even if that bat had been a
+poor one, it was quite worth the money paid for it, and Oliver was
+unjust in calling Cripps hard names.
+
+The landlord very soon returned with the paper.
+
+"Here you are, young governor.  Now don't hurry away.  It's lonely here
+all by myself, and I like a young gentleman like you to talk to.  I knew
+a nice little boy once, just your age, that used to come and see me
+regular once a week and play bagatelle with me.  He was a good player at
+it too!"
+
+"Could he get clear-board twice running with two balls?" asked Stephen,
+half jealous of the fame of this unknown rival.
+
+"Eh!--no, scarcely that.  He wasn't quite such a dab as that."
+
+"I can do it," said Stephen with a superior smile.
+
+"You?  Not a bit of you!" said Mr Cripps, incredulously.
+
+"Yes, I can," reiterated Stephen, delighted to have astonished his host.
+
+"I must see it before I can believe that," said Mr Cripps.  "Suppose
+you show me on my board."
+
+Stephen promptly accepted the challenge, and forgetting in his
+excitement all about school rules or Loman's orders accompanied Cripps
+to the bagatelle-room, with its sanded floor, smelling of stale tobacco
+and beer-dregs.  His first attempt, greatly to Mr Cripps's glee, was
+unsuccessful.
+
+"I knew you couldn't," exclaimed that worthy.
+
+"I know I can do it," said Stephen, excitedly.  "Let's try again."
+
+After a few more trials he made the two clear-boards, and Mr Cripps was
+duly astonished and impressed.
+
+"That's what I call smart play," said he.  "Now, if I was a betting man,
+I'd wager a sixpence you couldn't do it again."
+
+"Yes, I can, but I won't bet," said Stephen.  He did do it again, and
+Mr Cripps said it was a good job for him the young swell didn't bet, or
+he would have lost his sixpence.  Stephen was triumphant.
+
+How long he would have gone on showing off his prowess to the admiring
+landlord of the Cockchafer, and how far he might have advanced in the
+art of public-house bagatelle, I cannot say, but the sudden striking of
+a clock and the entry of visitors into the room reminded him where he
+was.
+
+"I must go back now," he said, hurriedly.
+
+"Must you?  Well, come again soon.  I've a great fancy to learn that
+there stoke.  I'm a born fool at bagatelle.  What do you say to another
+ginger-beer before you go?"
+
+Stephen said "Thank you," and then taking the newspaper in his hand bade
+Cripps good-bye.
+
+"Good-bye, my fine young fellow.  You're one of the right sort, you are.
+No stuck-up nonsense about you.  That's why I fancy you.  Bye-bye.  My
+love to Mr Loman."
+
+Stephen hurried back to Saint Dominic's as fast as his legs would carry
+him.  He was not quite comfortable about his evening's proceedings,
+although he was not aware of having done anything wicked.  Loman, a
+monitor, had given him leave to go down to Maltby, so that was hardly a
+crime; and as to the Cockchafer--well, he had only been in the private
+part of the house, and not the public bar, and surely there had been no
+harm in drinking ginger-beer and playing bagatelle, especially when he
+had distinctly refused to bet on the latter.  But, explain it as he
+would, Stephen felt uncomfortable enough to determine him to say as
+little as possible about his expedition.
+
+He found Loman impatiently awaiting him.
+
+"Wherever have you been to all this time?" he demanded.
+
+"The papers were all sold out," said Stephen.  "I tried seven places."
+
+Loman had eagerly caught up and opened the paper while Stephen nervously
+made this explanation, and he took no further heed of his fag, who
+presently, seeing he was no longer wanted, and relieved to get out of
+reach of questions, prudently retired.
+
+A glance sufficed to confirm the bad news about the Derby.  Sir Patrick
+had won, and it was a fact therefore that Loman owed Cripps and his
+friend between them thirty pounds, without the least possibility of
+paying them.
+
+One thing was certain.  He must see Cripps on Saturday, and trust to his
+luck (though that of late had not been very trustworthy) to pull him
+through, somehow.
+
+Alas! what a spirit this, in which to meet difficulties!  Loman had yet
+to learn that it is one thing to regret, and another thing to repent;
+that it is one thing to call one's self a fool, and another thing,
+quite, to cease to be one.
+
+But, as he said to himself, he must go through with it now, and the
+first step took him deeper than ever into the mire.
+
+For the coming Saturday was the day of the great cricket match, Sixth
+versus School, from which a Dominican would as soon think of deserting
+as of emigrating.
+
+But Loman must desert if he was to keep his appointment, and he managed
+the proceeding with his now characteristic untruthfulness; a practice he
+would have scorned only a few months ago.  How easy the first wrong
+step!  What a long weary road when one, with aching heart, attempts to
+retrace the way!  And at present Loman had made no serious effort in
+that direction.
+
+On the Friday morning, greatly to the astonishment of all his
+class-fellows, he appeared in his place with his arm in a sling.
+
+"Hullo, Loman!" said Wren, the first whom he encountered, "what's the
+row with you?"
+
+"Sprained my wrist," said Loman, to whom, alas!--so easy is the downward
+path when once entered on--a lie had become an easy thing to utter.
+
+"How did you manage that?" exclaimed Callonby.  "Mind you get it right
+by to-morrow, or we _shall_ be in a fix."
+
+This little piece of flattery pleased Loman, who said, "I'm afraid I
+shan't be able to play."
+
+"What!  Who's that won't be able to play?" said Raleigh, coming up in
+unwonted excitement.
+
+"Loman; he's sprained his wrist."
+
+"Have you shown it to Dr Splints?" said Raleigh.
+
+"No," said Loman, beginning to feel uncomfortable.  "It's hardly bad
+enough for that."
+
+"Then it's hardly bad enough to prevent your playing," said Raleigh,
+drily.
+
+Loman did not like this.  He and Raleigh never got on well together, and
+it was evident the captain was more angry than sympathetic now.
+
+"Whatever shall we do for bowlers?" said some one.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry," said Loman, wishing he was anywhere but where he
+was; "but how am I to help?"
+
+"Whatever induced you to sprain your wrist?" said Wren.  "You might just
+as well have put it off till Monday."
+
+"Just fancy how foolish we shall look if those young beggars beat us, as
+they are almost sure to do," said Winter.
+
+Loman was quickly losing his temper, for all this was, or seemed to be,
+addressed pointedly to him.
+
+"What's the use of talking like that?" he retorted.  "You ass, you! as
+if I could help."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder if you could help," replied Winter.
+
+"Perhaps," suggested some one, "it was the _Dominican_ put him out of
+joint.  It certainly did give him a rap over the knuckles."
+
+"What do you mean?" exclaimed Loman, angrily, and half drawing his
+supposed sprained hand out of the sling.
+
+"Shut up, you fellows," interposed Raleigh, authoritatively.  "Baynes
+will play in the eleven to-morrow instead of Loman, so there's an end of
+the matter."
+
+Loman was sorely mortified.  He had expected his defection would create
+quite a sensation, and that his class-fellows would be inconsolable at
+his accident.  Instead of that, he had only contrived to quarrel with
+nearly all of them, alienating their sympathy; and in the end he was to
+be quietly superseded by Baynes, and the match was to go on as if he had
+never been heard of at Saint Dominic's.
+
+"Never mind; I'm bound to go and see Cripps.  Besides," said he to
+himself, "they'll miss me to-morrow, whatever they say to-day."
+
+Next day, just when the great match was beginning, and the entire school
+was hanging breathless on the issue of every ball, Loman quietly slipped
+out of Saint Dominic's, and walked rapidly and nervously down to the
+Cockchafer in Maltby.
+
+"What _shall_ I say to Cripps?" was the wild question he kept asking
+himself as he went along; and the answer had not come by the time he
+found himself standing within that worthy's respectable premises.
+
+Mr Cripps was in his usual good humour.
+
+"Why, it's Mr Loman! so it is!" he exclaimed, in a rapture.  "Now who
+_would_ have thought of seeing _you_ here?"
+
+Loman was perplexed.
+
+"Why, you told me to come this afternoon," said he.
+
+"Did I?  Ah, I dare say!  Never mind.  Very kind of a young gentleman
+like you to come and see the likes of me.  What'll you take?"
+
+Loman did not know what to make of this at all.
+
+"I came to see you about that--that horse you told me to bet against,"
+he said.
+
+"I remember.  What's his name?  Sir Patrick, wasn't it?  My friend told
+me that he'd had the best of that.  What was it?  Ten bob?"
+
+This affected ignorance of the whole matter in hand was utterly
+bewildering to Loman, who had fully expected that, instead of having to
+explain himself, he would have the matter pretty plainly explained to
+him by his sportive acquaintance.
+
+"No, ten pounds.  That was what I was to pay if the horse won; and,
+Cripps, I can't pay it, or the twenty pounds either, to you."
+
+Cripps whistled.
+
+"That's a go and no mistake!" he said.  "Afraid it won't do, mister."
+
+"You told me Sir Patrick was sure not to win," said Loman.
+
+"Ah, there was several of us took in over that there horse," coolly said
+Mr Cripps.  "I lost a shilling myself over him.  Nice to be you, flush
+of cash, and able to pay straight down."
+
+"I can't pay," said Loman.
+
+"Ah, but the governor can, I'll wager," insinuated Cripps.
+
+"He would never do it!  It's no use asking him," said Loman.
+
+Cripps whistled again.
+
+"That's awkward.  And my friend wants his money, too, and so do I."
+
+"I really can't pay," said Loman.  "I say, Cripps, let us off that
+twenty pounds.  I really didn't mean about that rod."
+
+Mr Cripps fired up in righteous indignation.
+
+"Ah, I dare say, mister.  You'll come and snivel now, will you?  But you
+were ready enough to cheat a honest man when you saw a chance.  No, I'll
+have my twenty or else there'll be a rumpus.  Make no mistake of that!"
+
+The bare idea of a "rumpus" cowed Loman at once.  Anything but that.
+
+"Come, now," said Cripps, encouragingly, "I'll wager you can raise the
+wind somewheres."
+
+"I wish I knew how.  I see no chance whatever, unless--" and here a
+brilliant idea suddenly struck him--"unless I get the Nightingale.  Of
+course; I say, Cripps, will you wait till September?"
+
+"What!  Three months!  And how do you suppose I'm to find bread to eat
+till then?" exclaimed Mr Cripps.
+
+"Oh, do!" said Loman.  "I'm certain to be able to pay then.  I forgot
+all about the Nightingale."
+
+"The Nightingale?  It must be an uncommon spicy bird to fetch in thirty
+pound!"
+
+"It's not a bird," said Loman, laughing; "it's a scholarship."
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A scholarship.  I'm in for an exam, you know, and whoever's first gets
+fifty-pounds a year for three years."
+
+"But suppose you ain't first? what then?"
+
+"Oh, but I'm _sure_ to be.  I've only got Fifth Form fellows against me,
+and I'm certain to beat them!"
+
+"Well," said Mr Cripps, "I don't so much care about your nightingales
+and cock-sparrows and scholarships, and all them traps, but I'd like to
+oblige you."
+
+"Oh, thank you!" cried Loman, delighted, and feeling already as if the
+debt was paid.  "And you'll get your friend to wait too, won't you?"
+
+"Can't do that.  I shall have to square up with him and look to you for
+the lot, and most likely drop into the workhouse for my pains."
+
+"Oh, no.  You can be quite certain of getting the money."
+
+"Well, blessed if I ain't a easy-going cove," said Mr Cripps, with a
+grin.  "It ain't every one as 'ud wait three months on your poll-parrot
+scholarships, or whatever you call 'em.  Come, business is business.
+Give us your promise on a piece of paper--if you must impose upon me."
+Loman, only too delighted, wrote at Mr Cripps's dictation a promise to
+pay the thirty pounds, together with five pounds interest, in September,
+and quitted the Cockchafer with as light a heart as if he had actually
+paid off every penny of the debt.
+
+"Of course I'm safe to get it!  Why ever didn't I think of that before?
+Won't I just work the rest of the term!  Nothing like having an object
+when you're grinding."
+
+With this philosophical reflection he re-entered Saint Dominic's, and
+unobserved rejoined the spectators in the cricket-field, just in time to
+witness a very exciting finish to a fiercely contested encounter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+SIXTH VERSUS SCHOOL.
+
+Never had a Sixth versus School Match been looked forward to with more
+excitement at Saint Dominic's than the present one.  Party feeling had
+been running high all the term, intensified on the one hand by the
+unpopularity of some of the monitors, and on the other by the defiant
+attitude of the Fifth and the tone of their organ, the _Dominican_.
+
+The lower school naturally looked on with interest at this rivalry
+between the two head forms, the result of which, as might have been
+expected, was the reverse of beneficial for the discipline of the school
+generally.  If the big boys set a bad example and disregard rules, what
+can one expect of the little ones?
+
+So far, anything like conflict had been avoided.  The Fifth had
+"cheeked" the Sixth, and the Sixth had snubbed the Fifth; but with the
+exception of Loman's assault on Oliver, which had not led to a fight,
+the war had been strictly one of words.  Now, however, the opposing
+forces were to be ranged face to face at cricket; and to the junior
+school the opportunity seemed a grand one for a display of partisanship
+one side or the other.
+
+The School Eleven, on this occasion, moreover, consisted exclusively of
+Fifth Form boys--a most unusual circumstance, and one which seemed to be
+the result quite as much of management as of accident.  At least so said
+the disappointed heroes of the Fourth.
+
+The match was, in fact--whatever it was formally styled--a match between
+the Sixth and the Fifth, and the partisans of either side looked upon it
+as a decisive event in the respective glories of the two top forms.
+
+And now the day had come.  All Saint Dominic's trooped out to the
+meadows, and there was a rush of small boys as usual for the front
+benches.  Stephen found himself along with his trusty ally, Paul, and
+his equally trusty enemy, Bramble, and some ten other Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles, wedged like sardines upon a form that would comfortably hold
+six, eagerly canvassing the prospects of the struggle.
+
+"The Sixth are going to win in a single innings, if you fellows want to
+know," announced Bramble, with all the authority of one who knows.
+
+"Not a bit of it," replied Paul.  "The Fifth are safe to win, I tell
+you."
+
+"But they've got no decent bowlers," said Raddleston.
+
+"Never mind," said Stephen.  "Loman's not going to play for the Sixth.
+He's sprained his wrist."
+
+"Hip, hip, hurrah?" yelled Paul, "that _is_ jolly!  They are sure to be
+licked now.  Are you sure he's out of it?"
+
+"Yes.  Look at him there with his arm in a sling."
+
+And Stephen pointed to where Loman stood in his ordinary clothes talking
+to some of his fellows.
+
+"Well, that _is_ a piece of luck!" said Paul.  "Who's to take his
+place?"
+
+"Baynes, they say.  He's no use, though."
+
+"Don't you be too cock-sure, you two," growled Bramble.  "I say we shall
+beat you even if Loman don't play.  Got any brandy-balls left,
+Greenfield?"
+
+Similar speculations and hopes were being exchanged all round the field,
+and when at last the Fifth went out to field, and Callonby and Wren went
+in to bat for the Sixth, you might have heard a cat sneeze, so
+breathless was the excitement.
+
+Amid solemn silence the first few balls were bowled.  The third ball of
+the first over came straight on to Wren's bat, who played it neatly back
+to the bowler.  It was not a run, only a simple block; but it was the
+first play of the match, and so quite enough to loosen the tongues of
+all the small boys, who yelled, and howled, and cheered as frantically
+as if a six had been run or a wicket taken.  And the ice once broken,
+every ball and every hit were marked and applauded as if empires
+depended on them.
+
+It was in the midst of this gradually rising excitement that Loman
+slipped quietly and unobserved from the scene, and betook himself to the
+errand on which we accompanied him in the preceding chapter.
+
+The two Sixth men went quickly to work, and at the end of the second
+over had scored eight.  Then Callonby, in stepping back to "draw" one of
+Wraysford's balls, knocked down his wicket.
+
+How the small boys yelled at this!
+
+But the sight of Raleigh going in second soon silenced them.
+
+"They mean hard work by sending in the captain now," said Paul.  "I
+don't like that!"
+
+"No more do I," said Stephen.  "He always knocks Oliver's bowling
+about."
+
+"Oh, bother; is your brother bowling?" said Master Paul, quite
+unconscious of wounding any one's feelings.  "It's a pity they've got no
+one better."
+
+Stephen coloured up at this, and wondered what made Paul such a horrid
+boy.
+
+"Better look-out for your eyes," said Bramble, cheerily.  "The captain
+always knocks up this way, over square-leg's head."
+
+There was a general buzz of youngsters round the field, as the hero of
+the school walked up to the wicket, and coolly turned to face Oliver's
+bowling.
+
+The scorer in the tent hurriedly sharpened his pencil.  The big fellows,
+who had been standing up to watch the opening overs, sat down on the
+grass and made themselves comfortable.  Something was going to happen,
+evidently.  The captain was in, and meant business.
+
+Oliver gripped the ball hard in his hand, and walked back to the end of
+his run.  "Play!" cried the umpire, and amid dead silence the ball shot
+from the bowler's hand.
+
+Next moment there rose a shout loud enough to deafen all Saint
+Dominic's.  The ball was flying fifty feet up in the air, and Raleigh
+was slowly walking, bat in hand, back to the tent he had only a moment
+ago quitted!
+
+The captain had been clean bowled, first ball!
+
+Who shall describe the excitement, the yelling, the cheering, the
+consternation that followed?  Paul got up and danced a hornpipe on the
+bench; Bramble kicked the boy nearest to him.  "Well bowled, sir!"
+shouted some.  "Hard lines!" screamed others.  "Hurrah for the Fifth!"
+
+"You'll beat them yet, Sixth!" such were a few of the shouts audible
+above the general clamour.
+
+As for Stephen, he was wild with joy.  He was a staunch partisan of the
+Fifth in any case, but that was nothing to the fact that it was _his_
+brother, his own brother and nobody else's, who had bowled that eventful
+ball, and who was at that moment the hero of Saint Dominic's.  Stephen
+felt as proud and elated as if he had bowled the ball himself, and could
+afford to be absolutely patronising to those around him, on the head of
+this achievement.
+
+"That wasn't a bad ball of Oliver's," he said to Paul.  "He can bowl
+very well when he tries."
+
+"It was a beastly fluke!" roared Bramble, determined to see no merit in
+the exploit.
+
+"Shut up and don't make a row," said Stephen, with a bland smile of
+forgiveness.
+
+Bramble promised his adversary to shut _him_ up, and after a little more
+discussion and altercation and jubilation, the excitement subsided, and
+another man went in.  All this while the Fifth were in ecstasies.  They
+controlled their feelings, however, contenting themselves with clapping
+Oliver on the back till he was nearly dead, and speculating on the
+chances of beating their adversaries in a single innings.
+
+But they had not won the match yet.
+
+Winter was next man in, and he and Wren fell to work very speedily in a
+decidedly business-like way.  No big hits were made, but the score
+crawled up by ones and twos steadily, and the longer they were at it the
+steadier they played.  Loud cheers announced the posting of thirty on
+the signal-board, but still the score went on.  Now it was a slip, now a
+bye, now a quiet cut.
+
+"Bravo! well played!" cried Raleigh and his men frequently.  The
+captain, by the way, was in excellent spirits, despite his misfortune.
+
+Thirty-five, forty!  The Fifth began to look hot and puzzled.  The
+batsmen were evidently far too much at home with the bowling.  A change
+must be made, even though it be to put on only a second-rate bowler.
+
+Tom Senior was put on.  He was nothing like as good a bowler as either
+Wraysford, or Oliver, or Ricketts.  He bowled a very ordinary slow lob,
+without either twist or shoot, and was usually knocked about
+plentifully; and this appeared likely to be his fate now, for Wren got
+hold of his first ball, and knocked it right over into the scorer's tent
+for five.  The Fifth groaned, and could have torn the wretched Tom to
+pieces.  But the next ball was more lucky; Winter hit it, indeed, but he
+hit it up, sky-high, over the bowler's head, and before it reached the
+ground Bullinger was safe underneath it.  It was with a sigh of relief
+that the Fifth saw this awkward partnership broken up.  The score was at
+forty-eight for three wickets; quite enough too!
+
+After this the innings progressed more evenly.  Men came in and went out
+more as usual, each contributing his three or four, and one or two their
+ten or twelve.  Among the latter was Baynes, who, at the last moment, it
+will be remembered, had been put into the eleven to replace Loman.  By
+careful play he managed to put together ten, greatly to his own delight,
+and not a little to the surprise of his friends.
+
+In due time the last wicket of the Sixth fell, to a total of eighty-four
+runs.
+
+The small boys on the bench had had leisure to abate their ardour by
+this time.  Bramble had recovered his spirits, and Paul and Stephen
+looked a little blue as they saw the total signalled.
+
+"Eighty-four's a lot," said Stephen.
+
+Paul nodded glumly.
+
+"Ya, ha!  How do you like it, Guinea-pigs?" jeered Bramble.  "I hope
+_you'll_ get half as much.  _I_ knew how it would be."
+
+The two friends listened to these taunts in silent sorrow, and wished
+the next innings would begin.
+
+It did presently, and not very brilliantly either.  The Fifth only
+managed to score fifty-one, and to this total Wraysford was the only
+player who made anything like good scoring.  Oliver got out for six,
+Ricketts for nine, and Tom Senior and Braddy both for a "duck's-egg."
+Altogether it was a meagre performance, and things looked very gloomy
+for the Fifth when, for a second time, their adversaries took the
+wickets.
+
+Things never turn out at cricket as one expects, however, and the second
+innings of the Sixth was no exception to the rule.  They only made
+thirty-six runs.  Stephen and Paul were hoarse with yelling, as first
+one wicket, then another, went down for scarcely a run.  Raleigh and
+Baynes seemed the only two who could stand up at all to the bowling of
+Oliver and Wraysford, but even their efforts could not keep the wickets
+up for long.
+
+Every one saw now that the final innings would be a desperate struggle.
+The Fifth wanted sixty-nine to be equal and seventy to win, and the
+question was, Would they do it in time?
+
+Stephen and his confederate felt the weight of this question so
+oppressive that they left the irritating company of Mr Bramble, and
+walked off and joined themselves to a group of Fourth Form fellows, who
+were watching the match with sulky interest, evidently sore that they
+had none of their men in the School Eleven.
+
+"They'll never do it, and serve them right!" said one.  "Why didn't they
+put Mansfield in the eleven, or Banks?  They're far more use than Fisher
+or Braddy."
+
+"For all that, it'll be a sell if the Sixth lick," said another.
+
+"I wouldn't much care.  If we are going to be sat upon by those Fifth
+snobs every time an eleven is made up, it's quite time we did go in with
+the Sixth."
+
+"Jolly for the Sixth!" retorted the other; whereupon Stephen laughed,
+and had his ears boxed for being cheeky.  The Fourth Senior could not
+stand "cheek."
+
+But Saint Dominic's generally was "sweet" on the Fifth, and hoped they
+would win.  When, therefore, Tom Senior and Bullinger went in first and
+began to score there was great rejoicing.
+
+But the Fourth Form fellows, among whom Stephen now was, refused to
+cheer for any one; criticism was more in their line.
+
+"Did you ever see a fellow hit across wickets more horribly than
+Senior?" said one.
+
+"Just look at that!" cried another.  "That Bullinger's a downright muff
+not to get that last ball to leg!  I could have got it easily."
+
+"Well, with that bowling, it's a disgrace if they _don't_ score; that's
+all I can say," remarked a third.
+
+And so these Fourth Form grandees went on, much to Stephen's wrath, who,
+when Oliver went in, removed somewhere else, so as to be out of ear-shot
+of any offensive remarks.
+
+Oliver, however, played so well that even the Fourth Form critics could
+hardly run him down.  He survived all the other wickets of his side,
+and, though not making a brilliant score, did what was almost as
+useful--played steadily, and gradually demoralised the bowling of the
+enemy.
+
+As the game went on the excitement increased rapidly; and when at length
+the ninth wicket went down for sixty-one, and the last man in appeared,
+with nine to win, the eagerness on both sides scarcely knew bounds.
+Every ball, every piece of fielding, was cheered by one side, and every
+hit and every piece of play was as vehemently cheered by the other.  If
+Raleigh and Wren had been nervous bowlers, they would undoubtedly have
+been disconcerted by the dead silence, followed by terrific applause,
+amid which every ball--even a wide--was delivered.  But happily they
+were not.
+
+It was at this critical juncture that Loman reappeared on the scene,
+much consoled to have the interview with Cripps over, and quite ready
+now to hear every one lament his absence from the match.
+
+The last man in was Webster, a small Fifth boy, who in the last innings
+had signalised himself by making a duck's-egg.  The Fifth scarcely dared
+hope he would stay in long enough for the nine runs required to be made,
+and looked on now almost pale with anxiety.
+
+"Now," said Pembury, near whom Loman, as well as our two Guinea-pigs,
+found themselves, "it all depends on Oliver, and I back Oliver to do it,
+don't you, Loamy?"
+
+Loman, who since the last _Dominican_ had not been on speaking terms
+with Pembury, did not vouchsafe a reply, "I do!" said Stephen, boldly.
+
+"Do you, really?" replied Pembury, looking round at the boy.  "Perhaps
+you back yourself to talk when you're not spoken to, eh, Mr Greenhorn?"
+
+"Bravo! bravo!  Well run, sir!  Bravo, Fifth!" was the cry as Oliver,
+following up the first ball of the over, pilfered a bye from the
+long-stop.
+
+"Didn't I tell you!" exclaimed Pembury, delighted; "he'll save us; he's
+got down to that end on purpose to take the bowling.  Do you twig,
+Loamy?  And he'll stick to that end till the last ball of the over, and
+then he'll run an odd number, and get up to the other end.  Do you
+comprehend?"
+
+"You seem to know all about it," growled Loman, who saw the force of
+Pembury's observations, but greatly disliked it all the same.
+
+"Do I, really?" replied the lame boy; "how odd that is, now--
+particularly without a crib!"
+
+Loman was fast losing patience--a fact which seemed to have anything but
+a damping effect on the editor of the _Dominican_.  But another hit or
+two by Oliver created a momentary diversion.  It was quite clear that
+Pembury's version of Oliver's tactics was a correct one.  He could
+easily have run three, but preferred to sacrifice a run rather than
+leave the incompetent and flurried Webster to face the bowling.
+
+"Six to win!" cried Stephen; "I'm _certain_ Oliver will do it!"
+
+"Yes, Oliver was always a plodding old blockhead!" drily observed
+Pembury, who seemed to enjoy the small boy's indignation whenever any
+one spoke disrespectfully of his big brother.
+
+"He's not a blockhead!" retorted Stephen, fiercely.
+
+"Go it!  Come and kick my legs, young 'un; there's no one near but
+Loamy, and he can't hurt."
+
+"Look here, you lame little wretch!" exclaimed Loman, in a passion; "if
+I have any more of your impudence I'll box your ears!"
+
+"I thought your wrist was sprained?" artlessly observed Pembury.  "Here,
+young Paul, let's get behind you, there's a good fellow, I _am_ in such
+a funk!"
+
+Whether Loman would have carried out his threat or not is doubtful, but
+at that moment a terrific shout greeted another hit by Oliver--the best
+he had made during the match--for which he ran four.  One to tie, two to
+win! will they do it?
+
+It was a critical moment for Saint Dominic's.  Had the two batsmen been
+playing for their lives they could not have been more anxiously watched;
+even Pembury became silent.
+
+And now the last ball of the over is bowled in dead silence.  Onlookers
+can even hear the whizz with which it leaves Wren's hand.
+
+It is almost wide, but Oliver steps out to it and just touches it.
+Webster is half across the wickets already--ready for a bye.  Oliver
+calls to him to come on, and runs.  It is a desperate shave--too
+desperate for good play.  But who cares for that when that run has
+pulled the two sides level, and when, best of all, Oliver has got up to
+the proper end for the next over?
+
+Equal!  What a shout greets the announcement!  But it dies away
+suddenly, and a new anxious silence ensues.  The game is saved, but not
+won; another run is wanted.
+
+No one says a word, but the Fifth everywhere look on with a confidence
+which is far more eloquent than words.
+
+Raleigh is the bowler from the lower end, and the Sixth send out their
+hearts to him.  He may save them yet!
+
+He runs, in his usual unconcerned manner, up to the wicket and delivers
+the ball.  It is one which there is but one way of playing--among the
+slips.
+
+Oliver understands it evidently, and, to the joy of the Fifth, plays it.
+But why does their cheer drop suddenly, and why in a moment is it
+drowned, over and over and over again, by the cheers of the Sixth and
+their partisans, as the crowd suddenly breaks into the field, and the
+ball shoots high up in the air?
+
+A catch!  Baynes, the odd man, had missed a chance a few overs back from
+standing too deep.  This time he had crept in close, and saved the Sixth
+by one of the neatest low-catches that had ever been seen in a Dominican
+match.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A LOWER SCHOOL FESTIVAL.
+
+"I tell you what, Wray," said Oliver one evening about a week after the
+match, "I heartily wish this term was over."
+
+"Why, that's just what I heard your young brother say.  He is going to
+learn the bicycle, he says, in the holidays."
+
+"Oh, it's not the holidays I want," said Oliver.  "But somehow things
+have gone all wrong.  I've been off my luck completely this term."
+
+"Off your luck!--You great discontented, ungrateful bear.  Haven't you
+got the English prize?  Aren't you in the School Eleven? and didn't you
+make top score in the match with the Sixth last Saturday?  Whatever do
+you mean by `off your luck'?"
+
+"Oh, it's not that, you know," said Oliver, pulling a quill pen to bits.
+"What I mean is--oh, bother!--a fellow can't explain it."
+
+"So it seems," laughed Wraysford; "but I wish a fellow could, for I've
+not a notion what you're driving at."
+
+"Well, I mean I'm not doing much good.  There's that young brother of
+mine, for instance.  What good have I been to him?  There have I let him
+go and do just what he likes, and not looked after him a bit ever since
+he came here."
+
+"And I wager he's got on all the better for not being tied up to your
+apron strings.  He's a fine honest little chap, is young Greenfield."
+
+"Oh, I dare say; but somehow I don't seem to know as much of him now as
+I used to do before he came here."
+
+"That's Loman's fault, I bet you anything," exclaimed Wraysford.  "I'm
+sure he won't do the kid any good.  But Rastle was saying only yesterday
+how well Stephen was getting on in class."
+
+"Was he?  It's little thanks to me if he is," said Oliver, gloomily.
+
+"And what else have you got to grumble about?" asked his friend.
+
+"Why, you know how I'm out with the Fifth over that affair with Loman.
+They all set me down as a coward, and I'm not that."
+
+"Of course you aren't," warmly replied the other.  "But, Noll, you told
+me a little while ago you didn't care a snap what they thought."
+
+"No more I do, in a way.  But it's very uncomfortable."
+
+"Why don't you tell them straight out why you didn't let out at Loman?
+They are sure to respect your motive."
+
+"Yes, and set me down as posing as a martyr or a saint!  No!  I'd sooner
+pass as a coward than set up as a saint when I'm not one.  Why, Wray, if
+you'll believe me, I've been a worse Christian since I began to try to
+be one, than I ever was before.  I'm for ever losing my temper, and--"
+
+"Shut up that tune, now," interposed Wraysford, hurriedly.  "If you are
+beginning at that again, I'll go.  As if you didn't know you were the
+best fellow in the school!"
+
+"I'm not the best, _or_ anything like," said Oliver, warmly; "I hate
+your saying so--I wish almost I had never told you anything about it."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Wraysford, walking to the window and looking
+out.  "Ever since you told me of it, I've been trying myself in a mild
+way to go straight.  But it's desperate hard work."
+
+"Desperate hard work even if you try in more than a mild way," said
+Oliver.
+
+Both were silent for a little, and then Oliver, hurriedly changing the
+subject, said, "And then, to proceed with my growl, I'm certain to come
+a howler over the Nightingale."
+
+Wraysford turned from the window with a laugh.
+
+"I suppose you expect me to sympathise with you about that, eh?  The
+bigger the howler the better for me!  I only wish you were a true
+prophet, Noll, in that particular."
+
+"Why, of course you'll beat me--and if you don't Loman will.  I hear
+he's grinding away like nuts."
+
+"Is he, though?" said Wraysford.
+
+"Yes, and he's going to get a `coach' in the holidays too."
+
+"More likely a dog-cart.  Anyhow, I dare say he will run us close.  But
+he's such a shifty fellow, there's no knowing whether he will stay out."
+
+Just at that moment a terrific row came up from below.
+
+"Whatever's up down there?"
+
+"Only the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles.  By the way," said Wraysford,
+"they've got a grand `supper,' as they call it, on to-night to celebrate
+their cricket match.  Suppose we go and see the fun?"
+
+"All right!" said Oliver.  "Who won the match?"
+
+"Why, what a question!  Do you suppose a match between Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles _ever_ came to an end?  They had a free fight at the end of the
+first innings.  The Tadpole umpire gave one of his own men `not out'
+when he hit his wicket, and they made a personal question of it, and
+fell out.  Your young brother, I hear, greatly distinguished himself in
+the argument."
+
+"Well, it doesn't seem to interfere with their spirits now, to judge of
+the row they are making.  Just listen!"
+
+By this time they had reached the door of the Fourth Junior room, whence
+proceeded a noise such as one often hears in a certain popular
+department of the Zoological Gardens.  Amid the tumult and hubbub the
+two friends had not much difficulty in slipping in unobserved and
+seating themselves comfortably in an obscure corner of the festive
+apartment, behind a pyramid of piled-up chairs and forms.
+
+The Junior "cricket feast" was an institution in Saint Dominic's, and
+was an occasion when any one who had nerves to be excruciated or
+ear-drums to be broken took care to keep out of the way.  In place of
+the usual desks and forms, a long table ran down the room, round which
+some fifty or sixty urchins sat, regaling themselves with what was left
+of a vast spread of plum-cake, buns, and ginger-beer.  How these
+banquets were provided was always a mystery to outsiders.  Some said a
+levy of threepence a head was made; others, that every boy was bound in
+honour to contribute something eatable to the feast; and others averred
+that every boy had to bring his own bag and bottle, and no more.  Be
+that as it might, the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles at present assembled
+looked uncommonly tight about the jackets after it all, and not one had
+the appearance of actual starvation written on his lineaments.
+
+The animal part of the feast, however, was now over, and the
+intellectual was beginning.  The tremendous noise which had brought
+Oliver and Wraysford on to the scene had indeed been but the applause
+which followed the chairman's opening song--a musical effort which was
+imperatively encored by a large and enthusiastic audience.
+
+The chairman, by the way, was no other than our friend Bramble, who by
+reason of seniority--he had been two years in the Fourth Junior, and
+showed no signs of rising higher all his life--claimed to preside on all
+such occasions.  He sat up at the top end in stately glory, higher than
+the rest by the thickness of a Liddell and Scott, which was placed on
+his chair to lift him up to the required elevation, blushingly receiving
+the applause with which his song was greeted, and modestly volunteering
+to sing it again if the fellows liked.
+
+The fellows did like.  Mr Bramble mounted once more on to the seat of
+his chair, and saying, "Look-out for the chorus!" began one of the
+time-honoured Dominican cricket songs.  It consisted of about twelve
+verses altogether, but three will be quite enough for the reader.
+
+  "There was a little lad,
+  (Well bowled!)
+  And a little bat he had;
+  (Well bowled!)
+  He skipped up to the wicket,
+  And thought he'd play some cricket,
+  But he didn't, for he was--
+  Well bowled!
+
+  "He thought he'd make a score
+  (So bold),
+  And lead-off with a four
+  (So bold);
+  So he walked out to a twister,
+  But somehow sort of missed her,
+  And she bailed him, for he was
+  Too bold.
+
+  "Now all ye little boys
+  (So bold),
+  Who like to make a noise
+  (So bold),
+  Take warning by young Walker,
+  Keep your bat down to a yorker,
+  Or, don't you see? you'll be--
+  Well bowled!"
+
+The virtue of the pathetic ballad was in the chorus, which was usually
+not sung, but spoken, and so presented a noble opportunity for variety
+of tone and expression, which was greedily seized upon by the riotous
+young gentlemen into whose mouths it was entrusted.  By the time the sad
+adventures of Master Walker had been rehearsed in all their twelve
+verses, the meeting was so hoarse that to the two elder boys it seemed
+as if the proceedings must necessarily come abruptly to a close for want
+of voice.
+
+But no!  If the meeting was for the moment incapable of song, speech was
+yet possible and behold there arose Master Paul in his place to propose
+a toast.
+
+Now Master Paul was a Guinea-pig, and accounted a mighty man in his
+tribe.  Any one might have supposed that the purpose for which he had
+now risen was to propose in complimentary terms the health of his
+gallant opponents the Tadpoles.  This, however, was far from his
+intention.  His modesty had another theme.  "Ladies and gentlemen," he
+began.  There were no ladies present, but that didn't matter.
+Tremendous cheers greeted this opening.  "You all know me; I am one of
+yourselves."  Paul had borrowed this expression from the speech of a
+Radical orator, which had appeared recently in the papers.  Every one
+knew it was borrowed, for he had asked about twenty of his friends
+during the last week whether that wouldn't be "a showy lead-off for his
+cricket feast jaw?"
+
+The quotation was, however, now greeted as vociferously as if it had
+been strictly original, and shouts of "So you are!"
+
+"Bravo, Paul!" for a while drowned the orator's voice.  When silence was
+restored his eloquence took a new and unexpected departure.  "Jemmy
+Welch, I'll punch your head when we get outside, see if I don't!"  Jemmy
+Welch was a Guinea-pig who had just made a particularly good shot at the
+speaker's nose with a piece of plum-cake.  "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
+shall not detain you with a speech (loud cheers from all, and `Jolly
+good job!' from Bramble).  I shall go on speaking just as long as I
+choose, Bramble, so now!  (Cheers.)  I've as much right to speak as you
+have.  (Applause.)  You're only a stuck-up duffer.  (Terrific cheers,
+and a fight down at the end of the table.)  I beg to drink the health of
+the Guinea-pigs.  (Loud Guinea-pig cheers.)  We licked the old Tadpoles
+in the match.  (`No you didn't!'  `That's a cram!' and groans from the
+Tadpoles.)  I say we did!  Your umpire was a cheat--they always are!  We
+beat you hollow, didn't we, Stee Greenfield?"
+
+"Yes, rather!" shouted Stephen, snatching a piece of cake away from a
+Tadpole and shying it to a Guinea-pig.
+
+"That's eight matches we've won," proceeded Paul; "and--all right,
+Spicer!  I saw you do it this time!  See if I don't pay you for it!"
+whereat the speaker hurriedly quitted his seat and, amid howls and
+yells, proceeded to "pay out" Spicer.
+
+Meanwhile Stephen heard his name suddenly called upon for a song, an
+invitation he promptly obeyed.  But as the clamour was at the time
+deafening, and the attention of the audience was wholly monopolised by
+the commercial transactions taking place between Paul and Spicer, the
+effect of the performance was somewhat lost.  Oliver certainly did see
+his young brother mount up on the table, turn very red in the face, open
+his mouth and shut it, smile in one part, look sorrowful in another, and
+wave his hand above his head in another.  But that was the only
+intimation he had of a musical performance proceeding.  Words and tune
+were utterly inaudible by any one except the singer himself--even if
+_he_ heard them.
+
+This was getting monotonous, and the two visitors were thinking of
+withdrawing, when the door suddenly opened, and a dead silence
+prevailed.  The new-comer was the dirtiest and most ferocious-looking of
+all the boys in the lower school, who rushed into the room breathless,
+and in what would have been a white heat had his face been clean enough
+to show it.  "What do you think?" he gasped, catching hold of the back
+of a chair for support; "Tony Pembury's kept me all this while brushing
+his clothes!  I told him it was cricket feast, but he didn't care!  What
+do you think of that?  Of course, you've finished all the grub; I knew
+you would!"
+
+This last plaintive wail of disappointment was drowned in the clamour of
+execration which greeted the boy's announcement.  Lesser feuds were
+instantly forgotten in presence of this great insult.  The most sacred
+traditions of Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles were being trampled upon by the
+tyrants of the upper school!  Not even on cricket feast night was a fag
+to be let off fagging!
+
+It was enough!  The last straw breaks the camel's back, and the young
+Dominicans had now reached the point of desperation.
+
+It was long before silence enough could be restored, and then the
+redoubtable Spicer yelled out, "Let's strike!"
+
+The cry was taken up with yells of enthusiasm--"Strike!  No more
+fagging!"
+
+"Any boy who fags after this," screamed Bramble, "will be cut dead!
+Those who promise hold up your hands--mind, it's a promise!"
+
+There was no mistaking the temper of the meeting, every hand in the room
+was held up.
+
+"Mind now, no giving in!" cried Paul.  "Let's stick all together.
+Greenfield senior shall _kill_ me before I do anything more for him!"
+
+"Poor fellow!" whispered Oliver, laughing; "what a lot of martyrdoms
+he'll have to put up with!"
+
+"And Pembury shall kill me," squealed the last comer, who had comforted
+himself with several crusts of plum-cakes and the dregs of about a dozen
+bottles of ginger-beer.  And every one protested their willingness to
+die in the good cause.
+
+At this stage Oliver and Wraysford withdrew unobserved.  "I'm afraid
+we've been eavesdropping," said Oliver.  "Anyhow, I don't mean to take
+advantage of what I've heard."
+
+"What a young ruffian your brother is!" said Wraysford; "he looked
+tremendously in earnest!"
+
+"Yes, he always is.  You'll find he'll keep his word far better than
+most of them."
+
+"If he does, I'm afraid Loman will make it unpleasant for him," said
+Wraysford.
+
+"Very likely."
+
+"Then you'll have to interfere."
+
+"Why, what a bloodthirsty chap you are, Wray!  You are longing for me to
+quarrel with Loman.  I'll wait till young Stephen asks me to."
+
+"Do you think he will?  He's a proud little chap."
+
+Oliver laughed.  "It'll serve him right if he does get a lesson.  Did
+ever you see such a lot of young cannibals as those youngsters?  Are you
+coming to have supper with me?"
+
+The nine o'clock bell soon rang, and, as usual, Oliver went to his door
+and shouted for Paul.
+
+No Paul came.
+
+He shouted again and again, but the fag did not appear.  "They mean
+business," he said.  "What shall I do?  Paul!"
+
+This time there came a reply down the passage--"Shan't come!"
+
+"Ho, he!" said Oliver; "this is serious; they are sticking to their
+strike with a vengeance!  I suppose I must go and look for my fag, eh,
+Wray?  Discipline must be maintained."
+
+So saying, Oliver stepped out into the passage and strolled off in the
+direction from which the rebel's voice had proceeded.  The passages were
+empty; only in the Fourth Junior room was there a sound of clamour.
+
+Oliver went to the door; it was shut.  He pushed; it was fortified.  He
+kicked on it; a defiant howl greeted him from the inside.  He called
+aloud on his fag; another "Shan't come!" was his only answer.
+
+It was getting past a joke, and Oliver's temper was, as we have seen not
+of the longest.  He kicked again, angrily, and ordered Paul to appear.
+
+The same answer was given, accompanied with the same yell, and Oliver's
+temper went faster than ever.  He forgot he was making himself
+ridiculous; he forgot he was only affording a triumph to those whom he
+desired to punish; he forgot the good resolutions which had held him
+back on a former occasion, and, giving way to sudden rage, kicked
+desperately at the door once more.
+
+This time his forcible appeal had some effect.  The lower panel of the
+door gave way before the blow and crashed inwards, leaving a breach
+large enough to admit a football.
+
+It was an unlucky piece of success for Oliver, for next moment he felt
+his foot grabbed by half a dozen small hands within and held firmly,
+rendering him unable to stir from his ridiculous position.  In vain he
+struggled and raged; he was a tight prisoner, at the mercy of his
+captors.
+
+It was all he could do to stand on his one foot, clinging wildly to the
+handle of the door.  In this dignified attitude Wraysford presently
+found his friend, and in such a state of passion and fury as he had
+never before seen him.
+
+To rap the array of inky knuckles inside with a ruler, and so disengage
+the captive foot, was the work of a minute.  Oliver stood for a moment
+facing the door and trembling with anger, but Wraysford, taking him
+gently by the arm, said, "Come along, old boy!"
+
+There was something in his voice and look which brought a sudden flush
+into the pale face of the angry Oliver.  Without a word, he turned from
+the door and accompanied his friend back to the study.  There were no
+long talks, no lectures, no remorseful confessions that evening.  The
+two talked perhaps less than usual, and when they did it was about
+ordinary school topics.
+
+No reference was made either then or for a long while afterwards to the
+events of the evening.  And yet Oliver and Wraysford, somehow, seemed
+more than ever drawn together, and to understand one another better
+after this than had ever been the case before.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+GUINEA-PIGS AND TADPOLES ON STRIKE.
+
+If anything had been required to make the "strike" of the Guinea-pigs
+and Tadpoles a serious matter, the "affair of Greenfield senior's right
+foot" undoubtedly had that effect.  The _eclat_ which that heroic
+exploit lent to the mutiny was simply marvellous.  The story was told
+with fifty exaggerations all over the school.  One report said that the
+whole body of the monitors had besieged the Fourth Junior door, and had
+been repulsed with heavy slaughter.  Another declared that Oliver had
+been captured by the fags, and branded on the soles of his feet with a G
+and a T, to commemorate the emancipation of the Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles; and a third veracious narrative went so far as to say that the
+Upper Fifth and several members of the Sixth had humbly come and begged
+forgiveness for their past misdeeds, and were henceforth to become the
+fags of their late victims.
+
+True or untrue as these stories were, any amount of glory accompanied
+the beginning of the strike, and there was sufficient sense of common
+danger to unite the youngsters in very close bonds.  You rarely caught a
+Guinea-pig or a Tadpole alone now; they walked about in dozens, and were
+very wide awake.  They assembled on every possible occasion in their
+room, and fortified their door with chairs and desks, and their zeal
+with fiery orations and excited conjurations.  One wretched youth who
+the first evening had been weak enough to poke his master's fire, was
+expelled ignominiously from the community, and for a week afterwards
+lived the life of an outcast in Saint Dominic's.  The youngsters were in
+earnest, and no mistake.  Stephen Greenfield, as was only natural, did
+not altogether find cause for exultation over the event which led to the
+strike.  For a whole day he was very angry on his brother's account, and
+threatened to stand aloof from the revolution altogether; but when it
+was explained to him this would lead to a general "smash-up" of the
+strike, and when it was further explained that the fellows who caught
+hold of his big brother's right foot couldn't possibly be expected to
+know to whom that foot belonged, he relented, and entered as
+enthusiastically as any one into the business.  Indeed, if all the
+rebels had been like Stephen, the fags at Saint Dominic's would be on
+strike to this day.  He contemplated martyrdom with the utmost
+equanimity, and the Inquisition itself never saw a more determined
+victim.
+
+The morning after the famous "cricket feast" gave him his first
+opportunity of sacrificing himself for the good of his country.  Loman
+met him in the passage after first-class.
+
+"Why didn't you turn up and get my breakfast, you idle young vagabond?"
+inquired the Sixth Form boy, half good-humouredly, and little guessing
+what was in the wind.  "I'm not idle," said Stephen.
+
+"Then what do you mean by not doing your work?"
+
+"It's not my work."
+
+Loman opened his eyes in amazement, and stared at this bold young hero
+as if he had dropped from the clouds.  "What!" he cried; "what do you
+say?"
+
+"It's not my work," repeated Stephen, blushing, but very determined.
+
+"Look here, young fellow," said Loman, when he was sure that he had
+really heard correctly, "don't you play any of your little games with
+me, or you'll be sorry for it."
+
+Stephen said nothing, and waited with a tremor for what was to follow.
+
+Loman was hardly a bully naturally.  It was always easier for him to be
+civil than to be angry, especially with small boys, but this cool
+defiance on the part of his fag was too much for any one's civility, and
+Loman began to be angry.
+
+"What do you mean by it?" he said, catching the boy by the arm.
+
+Stephen wrenched away his arm and stood dogged and silent.
+
+Nothing could have irritated Loman more.  To be defied and resisted by a
+youngster like this was an experience quite new to him.
+
+"Just come to my room," said he, gripping his fag angrily by the
+shoulder.  "We'll see who's master of us two!"
+
+Stephen was forced to submit, and allowed himself to be dragged to the
+study.
+
+"Now!" said Loman shutting the door.
+
+"Now!" said Stephen, as boldly as he could, and wondering what on earth
+was to become of him.
+
+"Are you going to do what you're told, or not?" demanded Loman.
+
+"Not what _you_ tell me," replied Stephen, promptly, but not exactly
+cheerfully.
+
+"Oh!" said Loman, his face becoming crimson, "you're quite sure?"
+
+"Yes," said Stephen.
+
+"Then take that!" said Loman.
+
+It was a sharp box on the ears, suddenly administered.  Stephen recoiled
+a moment, but only a moment.  He had expected something a good deal
+worse.  If that was all, he would brave it out yet.
+
+"Don't you hit me!" he said, defiantly.
+
+Loman could not stand to be defied.  His vanity was his weak point, and
+nothing offended his vanity so much as to find any one as determined as
+himself.
+
+He took up a ruler, and in his passion flung it at the luckless
+Stephen's head.  It struck him hard on the cheek.  The blood flushed to
+the boy's face as he stood a moment half-stunned and smarting with the
+pain, confronting his adversary.  Then he rushed blindly in and flung
+himself upon the bully.
+
+Of course it was no match.  The small boy was at the mercy of the big
+one.  The latter was indeed taken aback for a moment at the fury of his
+young assailant, impotent as it was, but that was all.  He might have
+defended himself with a single hand; he might have carried the boy under
+one arm out into the passage.  But the evil spirit had been roused
+within him, and that spirit knew no mercy.  He struck out and fought his
+little foeman as if he had been one of his own size and strength.  For
+every wild, feeble blow Stephen aimed, Loman aimed a hard and straight
+blow back.  If Stephen wavered, Loman followed in as he would in a
+professional boxing match, and when at last the small boy gave up,
+exhausted, bleeding, and scarcely able to stand, his foe administered a
+parting blow, which, if he had struck no other, would have stamped him
+as a coward for ever.
+
+"Now!" exclaimed Loman, looking down on his victim, "will you do what
+you're told now, eh?"
+
+It was a critical moment for poor Stephen.  After all, was the "strike"
+worth all this hardship?  A single word would have saved him; whereas if
+he again defied his enemy, it was all up with him.
+
+He did waver a moment; and lucky for him he did.  For just then the door
+opened, and Simon entered.  Stephen saw his chance.  Slipping to the
+open door, he mustered up energy to cry as loud as he could, "No, I
+won't;" and with that made good his escape into the passage, as done up
+as a small boy well could be without being quite floored.
+
+A dozen eager friends were at hand to aid in stopping the bleeding of
+their hero's nose, and to apply raw steak to his black eye.  The story
+of his desperate encounter flew on the wings of fame all over the
+school, and the glory and pride of the youngsters reached its climax
+when, that afternoon, Stephen with his face all on one side, his eye a
+bright green and yellow, and his under lip about twice its ordinary
+thickness, took his accustomed place in the arithmetic class of the
+Fourth Junior.
+
+"Why, Greenfield," exclaimed Mr Rastle, when in due time the young
+hero's turn came to stand up and answer a question, "what have you been
+doing to yourself?"
+
+"Nothing, sir," remarked Stephen, mildly.
+
+"How did you come by that black eye?" asked the master.
+
+"Fighting, sir," said Stephen, rather pompously.
+
+"Ah! what did you say forty-eight sixths was equal to?"
+
+This was Mr Rastle's way.  He very rarely hauled a boy over the coals
+before the whole class.
+
+But after the lesson he beckoned Stephen into his study.
+
+"I'm afraid you got the worst of that fight," he said.
+
+Stephen, who by this time knew Mr Rastle too well to be afraid of him,
+and too well, also, not to be quite frank with him, answered meekly,
+"The fellow was bigger than me."
+
+"I should guess that by the state of your face.  Now, I don't want to
+know what the fight was about, though I dare say you'd like to tell me
+[Stephen was boiling to tell him].  You small boys have such peculiar
+reasons for fighting, you know, no one can understand them."
+
+"But this was because--"
+
+"Hush!  Didn't I tell you I won't hear what it was about, sir!" said Mr
+Rastle, sharply.  "Did you shake hands afterwards?"
+
+"No, I didn't, _and I won't_!" exclaimed Stephen, forgetting, in his
+indignation, to whom he was speaking.
+
+"Then," said Mr Rastle, quietly, "write me out one hundred lines of
+Caesar, Greenfield; and when you have recollected how to behave
+yourself, we will talk more about this.  You can go."
+
+Mr Rastle _was_ a queer man; he never took things as one expected.
+When Stephen expected him to be furious he was as mild as a lamb.  There
+was no making him out.
+
+But this was certain: Stephen left his room a good deal more crestfallen
+than he entered it.  He had hoped to win Mr Rastle's sympathy and
+admiration by an account of his grievances, and, instead of that, he was
+sent off in disgrace, with an imposition for being rude, and feeling
+anything but a hero.
+
+Even the applause of his friends failed to console him quite.  Besides,
+his head ached badly, and the bruise on his cheek, which he had scarcely
+felt among his other wounds, now began to swell and grow painful.
+Altogether, he was in the wars.
+
+He was groaning over his imposition late that evening in the class-room,
+feeling in dreadful dumps, and wishing he had never come to Saint
+Dominic's, when a hand laid on his shoulder made him start.  He looked
+up and saw Mr Rastle.
+
+"Greenfield," said the master, kindly, "how much of your imposition have
+you done?"
+
+"Seventy lines, sir."
+
+"Hum!  That will do this time.  You had better get to bed."
+
+"Oh, sir!" exclaimed Stephen, moved far more by Mr Rastle's kind tone
+than by his letting him off thirty lines of the Caesar, "I'm so sorry I
+was rude to you."
+
+"Well, I was sorry, too; so we'll say no more about that.  Why, what a
+crack you must have got on your cheek!"
+
+"Yes, sir; that was the ruler did that."
+
+"The ruler!  Then it wasn't a fair fight?  Now don't begin telling me
+all about it.  I dare say you were very heroic, and stood up against
+terrible odds.  But you've a very black eye and a very sore cheek now,
+so you had better get to bed as fast as you can."
+
+And certainly the pale, bruised, upturned face of the boy did not look
+very bright at that moment.
+
+Stephen Greenfield went off to bed that night in a perturbed state of
+mind and body.  He had stuck loyally to his promise not to fag, and he
+had earned the universal admiration of his comrades.  But, on the other
+hand, he had been awfully knocked about, and, almost as bad, he had been
+effectively snubbed by Mr Rastle.  He did not exactly know what to
+think of it all.  Had he done a fine deed or a foolish one? and what
+ought he to do to-morrow?
+
+Like a sensible little man, he went sound asleep over these questions,
+and forgot all about them till the morrow.
+
+When he woke Stephen was like a giant refreshed.  His eye was certainly
+a rather more brilliant yellow than the day before, and his cheek still
+wore a dull red flush.  But somehow he felt none of the misgivings and
+dumps that had oppressed him the night before.  He was full of hope
+again and full of courage.  The Guinea-pigs should never charge _him_
+with treachery and desertion, and what he had gone through already in
+the "good cause" he would go through again.
+
+With this determination he dressed and went down to school.  Loman,
+whose summons he expected every moment to hear, did not put him to the
+necessity of a renewed struggle.  From all quarters, too, encouraging
+reports came in from the various insurgents.  Paul announced that
+Greenfield senior took it "like a lamb"; Bramble recounted how his
+"nigger-driver," as he was pleased to call Wren, had chased him twice
+round the playground and over the top of the cricket-shed without being
+able to capture him; and most of the others had exploits equally heroic
+to boast of.  Things were looking up in the Fourth Junior.
+
+They spent a merry morning, these young rebels, wondering in whispers
+over their lessons what this and that Sixth or Fifth Form fellow had
+done without them.  With great glee they imagined Raleigh blacking his
+own boots and Pembury boiling his own eggs, and the very idea of such
+wonders quite frightened them.  At that rate Saint Dominic's would come
+to a standstill altogether.
+
+"Serve 'em right!" said Bramble; "they want a lesson.  I wish I'd two
+fellows to strike against instead of one!"
+
+"One's enough if he strikes you back," said Stephen, with a rueful grin.
+
+Master Bramble evinced his sympathy by laughing aloud.  "I say, you look
+just like a clown; doesn't he, Padger, with his eye all sorts of colours
+and his cheek like a house on fire?"
+
+"All very well," said Stephen; "I wish you'd got my cheek."
+
+"Bramby's got cheek enough of his own, I guess," put in Paul; whereat
+Master Bramble fired up, and a quarrel became imminent.
+
+However, Stephen prevented it by calling back attention to his own
+picturesque countenance.  "I don't mind the eye, that don't hurt; but I
+can tell you, you fellows, my cheek's awful!"
+
+"I always said you'd got an awful cheek of your own, young Greenfield,"
+said Bramble, laughing, as if _he_ was the inventor of the joke.
+Stephen glowered at him.
+
+"Well, you said so yourself," put in Bramble, a little mildly, for since
+Stephen's exploit yesterday that young hero had advanced a good deal in
+the respect of his fellows.  "But, I say, why don't you stick some
+lotion or something on it?  It'll never get right if you don't, will it,
+Padger?"
+
+Padger suggested that young Greenfield might possibly have to have his
+cheek cut off if he didn't look-out, and Paul said the sooner he
+"stashed his cheek" the better.
+
+The result of this friendly and witty conference was that Stephen took
+it into his head to cure his cheek, and to that end applied for leave
+from Mr Rastle to go down that afternoon to Maltby to get something
+from the chemist.
+
+Mr Rastle gave him leave, and told him the best sort of lotion to ask
+for, and so, as soon as afternoon school was over, our young champion
+sallied boldly forth on his errand.  He felt very self-satisfied and
+forgiving to all the world as he walked along.  There was no doubt about
+it, he was a hero.  Every one seemed to take an interest in his black
+eye and sore cheek, from Mr Rastle downwards.  Very likely that fight
+of his with Loman yesterday would be recorded as long as Saint Dominic's
+remained, as the event which saved the lower school from the tyranny of
+the upper!
+
+His way to the chemist's lay past the turning up to the Cockchafer, and
+the idea occurred to him to turn in on the way back and talk over the
+event of the hour with Mr Cripps, whom he had not seen since the
+bagatelle-lesson a week ago.  He was sure that good gentleman would
+sympathise with him, and most likely praise him; and in any case it
+would be only civil, after promising to come and see him sometimes, to
+look in.
+
+The only thing was that the Cockchafer, whatever one might say about it,
+was a public-house.  The private door at the side hardly sufficed to
+satisfy Stephen that he was not breaking rules by going in.  He would
+not have entered by the public door for worlds, and the thought did
+occur to him, Was there very much difference after all between one door
+and the other?  However, he had not answered the question before he
+found himself inside, shaking hands with Mr Cripps.
+
+That gentleman was of course delighted, and profuse in his gratitude to
+the "young swell" for looking him up.  He listened with profound
+interest and sympathy to his story, and made some very fierce remarks
+about what he would do to "that there" Loman if he got hold of him.
+Then the subject of bagatelle happened to come up, and presently Stephen
+was again delighting and astonishing the good gentleman by his skill in
+that game.  Then in due time it came out that the boy's mother had
+bought him a bicycle, and he was going to learn in the holidays, a
+resolution Mr Cripps highly approved of, and was certain a clever young
+fellow like him would learn in no time, which greatly pleased Stephen.
+
+Before parting, Mr Cripps insisted on lending his young friend a
+lantern for his bicycle, when he rode it in the dark.  It was a
+specially good one, he said, and the young gentleman could easily return
+it to him after the holidays, and so on.
+
+Altogether it was a delightful visit, and Stephen wondered more than
+ever how some of the fellows could think ill of Mr Cripps.
+
+"Oh, I say," said the boy, at parting; "don't do what you said you would
+to Loman.  I'm not afraid of him, you know."
+
+"I'd like to knock his ugly head off for him!" cried Mr Cripps,
+indignantly.
+
+"No, don't; please don't!  I'd rather not.  I dare say he's sorry for
+it."
+
+"I'll see he is!" growled Mr Cripps.
+
+"Besides, I've forgiven him," said Stephen, "and oughtn't to have told
+tales of him; so mind you don't do it, Mr Cripps, will you?"
+
+"I'll see," said Mr Cripps.  "Good-bye for the present, young
+gentleman, and come again soon."
+
+And so, at peace with all the world, and particularly with himself,
+Stephen strolled back to Saint Dominic's, whistling merrily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+THE DOCTOR AMONG THE GUINEA-PIGS.
+
+The _Dominican_ appeared once more before the holidays, and, as might
+have been expected (besides its usual articles at the expense of the
+Sixth Form), made itself particularly merry over the rebellion of the
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles.
+
+Pembury was not the fellow to give quarter in his own particular line of
+attack; and it must be confessed he had the proud satisfaction of making
+his unfortunate young victims smart.
+
+The "leading article" of the present number bore the suggestive title,
+"Thank Goodness!" and began as follows:
+
+"Thank goodness, we are at last rid of the pest which has made Saint
+Dominic's hideous for months past!  At a single blow, with a single clap
+of the hands, we have sent Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles packing, and can now
+breathe pure air.  No longer shall we have to put up with the plague.
+We are to be spared the disgust of seeing them, much more of talking to
+them or hearing their hideous voices.  No longer will our morning milk
+be burned; no longer will our herrings be grilled to cinders; no longer
+will our jam be purloined; no longer will our books and door-handles be
+made abominable by contact with their filthy hands!  Thank goodness!
+The Doctor never did a more patriotic deed than this!  The small animals
+are in future to be kept to their own quarters, and will be forbidden
+the liberty they have so long abused of mixing with their betters.  It
+is as well for all parties; and if any event could have brightened the
+last days of this term, it is this--" and so on.
+
+Before this manifesto, a swarm of youngsters puzzled on the day of
+publication with no little bewilderment and fury.  They had refused to
+allow any of their number to act as policeman, and had secretly been
+making merry over the embarrassment of their late persecutors, and
+wondering whatever they would be able to say for their humiliated selves
+in the _Dominican_--and lo! here was an article which, if it meant
+anything, meant that the heroic rebellion of the juniors was regarded
+not with dismay, but with positive triumph, by the very fellows it had
+been intended to "squash!"
+
+"What does it mean, Padger?" asked Bramble, who, never much of a
+scholar, was quite unable to master the meaning of this.
+
+"It's all a pack of crams," replied Padger, not quite sure of the sense
+himself.
+
+"It means," said Stephen, "the fellows say they are jolly glad to get
+rid of us."
+
+"Eh?" yelled Bramble; "oh, I say, you fellows, come to the meeting!
+Jolly glad!  They aren't a bit glad."
+
+"They say so," said Paul.  "Hold hard, Bramble, let's read the rest."
+
+It was all his friends could do to restrain the ardent Bramble from
+summoning a meeting on the spot to denounce the _Dominican_ and all its
+"crams."  But they managed to hold him steady while they read on.
+
+"The Doctor never did a more--pat--pat--ri--what do you call it?--
+patriotic deed than this!"
+
+"Hullo, I say, look here!" cried Stephen, turning quite yellow; "the
+Doctor's in it, they say, Bramble.  `The small animals'--that's you and
+Padger--`are to be kept in their own quarters.'  Whew! there's a go."
+
+"What!" shrieked Bramble, "who says so?  The Doctor never said so.  I
+shall do what I choose.  He never said so.  Bother the Doctor!  Who's
+coming to the meeting, eh?"
+
+But at that moment the grave form of Doctor Senior appeared in the midst
+of the group, just in time to hear Master Bramble's last complimentary
+shout.
+
+The head master was in the most favourable times an object of terror to
+the "guilty-conscienced youth" of the Fourth Junior, and the sight even
+of his back often sufficed to quell their tumults.  But here he stood
+face to face with his unhappy victims, one of whom had just cried,
+"Bother the Doctor!" and all of whom had by word and gesture approved of
+the sentiment.  Why would not the pavement yawn and swallow them?  And
+which of them would not at that moment have given a thousand pounds (if
+he had it) to be standing anywhere but where he was?
+
+"Go to your class-room," said the Doctor, sternly, eyeing the culprits
+one by one, "and wait there for me."
+
+They slunk off meekly in obedience to this order, and waited the hour of
+vengeance in blank dismay.
+
+Dr Senior did not keep them long in suspense, however.  His slow, firm
+step sounded presently down the corridor, and at the sound each wretched
+culprit quaked with horror.
+
+Mr Rastle was in the room, and rose as usual to greet his chief; the
+boys also, as by custom bound, rose in their places.  "Good morning, Mr
+Rastle," said the Doctor.  "Are your boys all here?"
+
+"Yes, sir, we have just called over."
+
+"Ah!  And what class comes on first?"
+
+"English literature, sir."
+
+"Well, Mr Rastle, I will take the class this morning, please--instead
+of you."
+
+A groan of horror passed through the ranks of the unhappy Guinea-pigs
+and Tadpoles at these words.  Bramble looked wildly about him, if haply
+he might escape by a window or lie hid in a desk; while Stephen, Paul,
+Padger, and the other ringleaders, gave themselves up for lost, and
+mentally bade farewell to joy for ever.
+
+"What have the boys been reading?" inquired Dr Senior of Mr Rastle.
+
+"Grey's _Elegy_, sir.  We have just got through it."
+
+"Oh!  Grey's _Elegy_!" said the Doctor; and then, as if forgetting where
+he was, he began repeating to himself,--
+
+  "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
+  The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea."
+
+"The first boy,--what can you tell me about the curfew?"  The first boy
+was well up in the curfew, and rattled off a "full, true, and particular
+account" of that fine old English institution, much to everybody's
+satisfaction.  The Doctor went on repeating two or three verses till he
+came to the line,--
+
+  "The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
+
+"What does that line mean?" he asked of a boy on the second desk.
+
+The boy scarcely knew what it meant, but the boy below him did, and was
+quite eager for the question to be passed on.  It was passed on, and the
+genius answered promptly, "Four old men."
+
+"Four rude old men," shouted the next, seeing a chance.
+
+"Four rude old men who used to sleep in church," cried another, ready to
+cap all the rest.
+
+The Doctor passed the question on no further; but gravely explained the
+meaning of the line, and then proceeded with his repetition in rather a
+sadder voice.
+
+Now and again he stopped short and demanded an explanation of some
+obscure phrase, the answers to which were now correct, now hazy, now
+brilliantly original.  On the whole it was not satisfactory; and when
+for a change the Doctor gave up reciting, and made the boys read, the
+effect was still worse.  One boy, quite a master of elocution, spoilt
+the whole beauty of the lines,--
+
+  "Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
+  The short and simple annals of the Poor,--"
+
+by reading "animals" instead of "annals"; while another, of an equally
+zoological turn of mind, announced that--
+
+  "On some fond _beast_ the parting soul relies,--"
+
+instead of "breast."
+
+But the climax of this "animal mania" was reached when the wretched
+Bramble, finally pitched upon to go on, in spite of all his efforts to
+hide, rendered the passage:--
+
+  "Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
+  Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn," etcetera, as--
+
+"Happy some hairy-headed swine may say."
+
+This was a little too much.
+
+"That will do, sir," said the Doctor, sternly.  "That will do.  What is
+your name, sir?"
+
+"Bramble, please, sir."
+
+"Well, Bramble, how long have you been in this class?"
+
+"Two years, sir."
+
+"And have you been all the while on the bottom desk?"
+
+"Yes, please, sir."
+
+"Sir, it displeases me.  You are a dunce, sir."
+
+And then, to Bramble's utter despair and to the terror of all the other
+unprofitable members of the class, the Doctor proceeded to catechise
+sharply the unhappy youth on his general knowledge of the subjects
+taught during the term.
+
+As might be expected, the exhibition was a miserable one; Bramble was
+found wanting in every particular.  The simplest questions could hardly
+coax a correct answer out of him, whereas an ordinary inquiry was
+hopelessly beyond his powers.  He mixed up William the Conqueror and
+William of Orange; he subtracted what ought to be multiplied, and
+floundered about between conjunctions and prepositions in a sickening
+way.  The Doctor did not spare him.  He went ruthlessly on--exposing the
+boy's ignorance, first in one thing, then another.  Bramble stood and
+trembled and perspired before him, and wished he was dead, but the
+questions still came on.  If he had answered a single thing correctly it
+would have been a different matter, but he knew nothing.  I believe he
+did know what twice two was, but that was the one question the Doctor
+did not ask him.  As to French, Latin, Grammar, and Euclid, the clock on
+the wall knew as much of them as Bramble.  It came to an end at last.
+
+"Come here, Bramble," said the Doctor, gravely; "and come here, you, and
+you, and you," added he, pointing to Stephen and Paul and four or five
+others of the party who had been reading the _Dominican_ that morning.
+
+The luckless youngsters obeyed, and when they stood in a row before the
+dreaded Doctor, the bottom form and half of the bottom form but one were
+empty.
+
+"Now, you boys," began the head master, very gravely, "I hadn't intended
+to examine you to-day; but, from something I heard one of you say, I
+felt rather anxious to know how some of you are doing in your studies.
+These half-dozen boys I was particularly anxious to know of, because I
+heard them talking to-day as if they were the most important boys in the
+whole school.  They _are_ the most important; for they are the most
+ignorant, and require, and in future will receive, the closest looking
+after.  You, little boys," said the Doctor, turning to the row of
+abashed culprits, "take a word of warning from me.  Do not be silly as
+well as dunces.  Do not think, as long as you know least of any one in
+the school you can pretend to rule the school.  I hope some of you have
+been led to see to-day you are not as clever as you would like to be.
+If you try, and work hard, and stick like men to your lessons, you will
+know more than you do now; and when you do know more you will see that
+the best way for little boys to get on is not by giving themselves
+ridiculous airs, but by doing their duty steadily in class, and living
+at peace with one another, and submitting quietly to the discipline of
+the school.  Don't let me hear any more of this recent nonsense.  You'll
+be going off in a day or two for the holidays.  Take my advice, and
+think over what I have said; and next term let me see you in your right
+minds, determined to work hard and do your part honestly for the credit
+of the good old school.  Go to your places, boys."
+
+And so the Doctor's visitation came to an end.  It made a very deep
+impression on the youthful members of the Fourth Junior.  Most of them
+felt very much ashamed of themselves; and nearly every one felt his
+veneration and admiration for the Doctor greatly heightened.  Only a few
+incorrigibles like Bramble professed to make light of the scene through
+which they had just passed, and even he, it was evident, was
+considerably chastened by his experience.
+
+That evening, after the first bed-bell, Dr Senior requested some of the
+masters to meet with him for a few minutes in his study.
+
+"Do any of you know," asked the head master, "anything about this
+newspaper, the _Dominican_, which I see hanging outside the Fifth door?"
+
+"I hear a great many boys talking about it," said Mr Jellicott of the
+Fifth.  "It is the joint production of several of the boys in my form."
+
+"Indeed!  A Fifth form paper!" said the Doctor.  "Has any one perused
+it?"
+
+"I have," said Mr Rastle.  "It seems to me to be cleverly managed,
+though perhaps a little personal."
+
+"Ah, only natural with schoolboys," said the Doctor.  "I should like to
+see it.  Can you fetch it, Rastle?"
+
+"It is nailed to the wall," said Mr Rastle, smiling, "like Luther's
+manifesto; but I can get one of the boys, I dare say, to unfasten it for
+you."
+
+"No, do not do that," said the Doctor.  "If the mountain will not come
+to Mahomet, you know, Mahomet and his disciples must go to the mountain,
+eh, Mr Harrison?  I think we might venture out and peruse it where it
+hangs."  So half-stealthily, when the whole school was falling asleep,
+Dr Senior and his colleagues stepped out into the passage, and by the
+aid of a candle satisfied their curiosity as to the mysterious
+_Dominican_.
+
+A good deal of its humour was, of course, lost upon them, as they could
+hardly be expected to understand the force of all the allusions it
+contained.  But they saw quite enough to enable them to gather the
+general tenor of the paper; it amused and it concerned them.
+
+"It shows considerable ability on the part of its editor," said the
+Doctor, after the masters had returned to his study, "but I rather fear
+its tone may give offence to some of the boys--in the Sixth for
+instance."
+
+"I fancy there is a considerable amount of rivalry between the two head
+forms," said Mr Harrison.
+
+"If there is," said Mr Jellicott, "this newspaper is hardly likely to
+diminish it."
+
+"And it seems equally severe on the juniors," said Mr Rastle.
+
+"Ah," said the Doctor, smiling, "about that `strike.'  I can't
+understand that.  Really the politics of your little world, Rastle, are
+too intricate for any ordinary mortal.  But I gather the small boys have
+a grievance against the big ones?"
+
+"Yes, on the question of fagging, I believe."
+
+"Oh!" said the Doctor.  "I hope that is not coming up.  You know I'm
+heretic enough to believe that a certain amount of fagging does not do
+harm in a school like ours."
+
+"Certainly not," said Mr Jellicott.  "But these small boys are really
+very amusing.  They appear to be regularly organised, and some of them
+have quite a martyr spirit about them."
+
+"As I can testify," said Mr Rastle, proceeding to recount the case of
+Stephen Greenfield and his sore cheek.  The Doctor listened to it all,
+half gravely, half amused, and presently said:
+
+"Well, it is as well the holidays are coming.  Things are sure to calm
+down in them; and next term I dare say we shall be all the wiser for the
+lessons of this.  Meanwhile I should like to see the editor of this
+paper to-morrow.  Who is he, Jellicott?"
+
+"I believe it is Pembury."
+
+"Very well.  Send him to me, will you, to-morrow at ten?  Good-night.
+Thank you for your advice!"
+
+Next morning the Doctor talked to Pembury about the _Dominican_.  He
+praised the paper generally, and congratulated him on the success of his
+efforts.  But he took exception to its personal tone.
+
+"As long as you can keep on the broad round of humour and pure fun,
+nothing can please us more than to see you improving your time in a
+manner like this.  But you must be very careful to avoid what will give
+pain or offence to any section of your schoolfellows.  I was sorry to
+see in the present number a good deal that might have been well omitted
+of that kind.  Remember this, Pembury, I want all you boys, instead of
+separating off one set from another, and making divisions between class
+and class, to try to make common cause over the whole school, and unite
+all the boys in common cause for the good of Saint Dominic's.  Now your
+paper could help not a little in this direction.  Indeed, if it does not
+help, it had better not be issued.  There!  I shall not refer to the
+matter again unless you give me cause.  I do not want to discourage you
+in your undertaking, for it's really an excellent idea, and capitally
+carried out.  And _verbum sap_, you know, is quite sufficient."
+
+Anthony, with rather a long face, retired from the Doctor's presence.
+
+A few days later the school broke up for the summer holidays.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A HOLIDAY ADVENTURE.
+
+When a big school like Saint Dominic's is gathered together within the
+comparatively narrow compass of four walls, there _is_ some possibility
+of ascertaining how it prospers, and what events are interesting it.
+But when the same school is scattered to the four winds of heaven during
+the holidays, it would require a hundred eyes and more to follow its
+movements.
+
+It would be impossible, for instance, at one and the same time to
+accompany Raleigh and his sisters up Snowdon, and look on at Bramble
+catching crabs on the rocks at Broadstairs; nor, while we follow Dr
+Senior among the peaks and passes of Switzerland (and remark, by the
+way, what a nice quiet boy Tom Senior is, when he has only his father
+and his mother to tempt him into mischief) can we possibly expect to
+regard very attentively the doings of Simon, as he gapes about before
+the London shop-windows, and jerks off a score or more stanzas of his
+"Hart's Earnings," which is now about a quarter done.
+
+So the reader must imagine how most of the boys spent their holidays,
+how they enjoyed them, and how they behaved themselves during the
+period, and be content to be told only about two groups of
+holiday-makers, about whom, as they are destined to figure pretty
+conspicuously in next term's doings at Saint Dominic's, it will be
+interesting to hear rather more particularly now.
+
+And the first group--if we can call a single person a "group"--is Loman.
+
+Loman began his holidays in anything but cheerful spirits.  No one had
+seemed particularly sorry to say good-bye to him at Saint Dominic's, and
+a good many had been unmistakably glad.  And he had quite enough on his
+mind, apart from this, to make his home-coming far less joyous than it
+might have been.  It ought to have been the happiest event possible, for
+he was coming home to parents who loved him, friends who were glad to
+see him, and a home where every comfort and pleasure was within his
+reach.  Few boys, indeed, were more blessed than Loman with all the
+advantages of a Christian and happy home; and few boys could have failed
+to return to such a home after a long absence without delight.  But to
+Loman, these holidays, the surroundings of home afforded very little
+pleasure.  His mind was ill at ease.  The burden of debt was upon him,
+and the burden of suspense.  He had tried hard to assure himself that
+all would come right--that he would certainly win the scholarship, and
+so wipe off the debt; but his confidence became less and less
+comfortable as time went on.
+
+He dared not tell his troubles to his father, for he feared his
+upbraiding; and he would not confess them to his mother, for she, he
+knew, would tell all to his father.  He still clung to the hope that all
+would come right in the end; and then what would have been gained by
+telling his parents all about it?
+
+The one thing was hard work--and Loman came home determined to work.
+His parents saw him out of spirits, and were concerned.  They did what
+they could to cheer him, but without much success.
+
+"Come, Edward, put away your books to-day," his mother would say; "I
+want you to drive me over to Falkham in the pony-chaise."
+
+"I really can't, mother; I must work for the scholarship."
+
+"Nonsense, boy; what is a scholarship compared with your health?
+Besides, you'll work all the better if you take some exercise."
+
+But for a week nothing could tempt him out.  Then, instead of
+accompanying his father or mother, he would take long solitary rides on
+his own pony, brooding all the while over his troubles.
+
+One day, when in the course of one of these expeditions he had taken the
+direction of Maltby--which was only fifteen miles distant from his
+home--he became suddenly aware of an approaching dog-cart in the road
+before him, and a familiar voice crying, "Why, if it ain't young Squire
+Loman, riding a bit of very tidy horseflesh too, as I'm a Dutchman!"
+
+It was Cripps.  What evil spirit could have brought him on the scene
+now?
+
+"Well, I never reckoned to see you now," said he, in his usual jaunty
+manner.  "Fact is, I was just trotting over to see _you_.  I wanted to
+try what this here cob was made of, and, thinks I, I may as well kill
+two birds with one stone, and look up my young squire while I'm about
+it."
+
+"Coming to see me!" exclaimed Loman, horrified.  "I say, Cripps, you
+mustn't do that.  My father would be very angry, you know."
+
+"Nice, that is!  As if I wasn't as good company as any one else!"
+
+"Oh! it's not that," said Loman, fearing he had given offence.  "What I
+mean is--"
+
+"Oh, I know--about that there rod.  Bless me!  I won't let out on you,
+my beauty--leastways, if you come up to scratch.  He'd like to hear the
+story, though, the old gentleman, I fancy.  Wouldn't he now?"
+
+"I wouldn't have him know it for worlds.  It'll be all right, Cripps,
+indeed it will about the money."
+
+Mr Cripps looked very benignant.
+
+"All right, young swell, I hope it will.  Funny I feel such an interest
+in you, 'specially since that young greeny friend of yours put in a word
+for you.  He's a real nice sort, he is--he owes you one, and no
+mistake."
+
+"What!" said Loman, in surprise; "who do you mean?  Young Greenfield?"
+
+"To be sure.  Regular young chum of mine, he is.  I know all about you,
+my master, and no mistake!"
+
+"What--the young sneak?  What has he been saying about me?"
+
+"Eh!--what ain't he been saying!  In course you didn't half murder him,
+eh?  In course you ain't a good hand at cheatin' all round up at the
+school!  What?  In course you ain't saying nice things agin me all over
+the place--and in course some of us wouldn't like to see you get a
+reg'lar good hiding, wouldn't we?  Bless you, I knows all about it; but
+I'm mum, never fear!"  Loman was furious.
+
+"The young liar!" he exclaimed.  "I did owe him one; I'll pay him when
+we get back!"
+
+"Hold hard, young gentleman," said Cripps, coolly.  "To be sure, he
+ain't downright sweet on you; but I ain't a-going to have him smashed,
+mind, all to bits.  Well, never mind that.  I'll turn back with you,
+young gentleman, if I may.  We're only three miles from Maltby, and
+maybe you'll honour a poor chap like me by having a look in at the
+Cockchafer."
+
+Loman did not know how to say "No," much as he disliked and feared his
+host.  He returned with him to Maltby, and there spent an hour in the
+Cockchafer.  He was introduced to several of Mr Cripps's low friends,
+in whose society he found it easy enough to become low himself.  Cripps,
+by a judicious mixture of flattery and sly threats, managed to keep the
+boy well in hand, and when at last he rose to go it was with a promise
+to return again before the holidays were over--"to prevent Cripps having
+the trouble of calling on him," as that virtuous gentleman significantly
+put it.
+
+Loman kept his promise, and visited Maltby once or twice, becoming each
+time more familiar with Cripps and his low friends, who made a great
+deal of him, and flattered him on all possible occasions, so that the
+boy presently found himself, as he imagined, quite a young hero at the
+Cockchafer.
+
+Meanwhile, naturally, his reading fell behindhand.  His parents, only
+too glad to see their boy taking more regular exercise, never suspected
+or inquired as to the direction of his frequent solitary rides.  To them
+he seemed the same quiet, clever boy they fondly believed him.  Little
+guessed they of the troubles that filled his breast or the toils that
+were daily enwrapping him!
+
+Thus Loman's holidays came to an end.  The farewell was once more said,
+parents and son parted, and on the first day of an eventful term the boy
+found himself once more within the walls of Saint Dominic's.
+
+Oliver and Stephen, meanwhile, had been spending a very different sort
+of holiday at home.  There was high feast and revelry when the two boys
+returned once more to the maternal roof.  Stephen for once in a way had
+the satisfaction of finding himself a most unmistakable hero.  He never
+tired telling of his adventures and discoursing on the whole manner of
+his life since the day he left home for Saint Dominic's.  To his sister
+he recounted in all the slang phraseology he had at his command, the
+famous cricket matches in which he had borne a part; and she, though it
+was exactly like Greek to her, drank in every word with interest.  And
+to his mother he narrated his various fights with Bramble, and the
+terrific adventures through which he had passed, till the good lady's
+hair nearly stood on end, and she began to think a public school was a
+terrible place to send a small boy to.
+
+Oliver, of course, had his stories to tell too, only in a more sober
+manner.
+
+There was a great scene when, on the first day of the holidays, the
+elder brother produced his books and announced that he must study at
+least two hours a day in prospect of the Nightingale Scholarship
+examination.  But every one knew how much depended on his winning that
+scholarship, and in a few years being able to go to the university, so
+that the family gave in in the end, and Oliver was allowed his two
+hours' study, but not a second more, every day.  Stephen, meanwhile,
+taught his sister round-arm bowling, and devoted himself mind and body
+to the bicycle.
+
+The two brothers, during these holidays, became very great cronies.  At
+school Oliver had seen comparatively little of his young brother, but
+now they were daily and hourly thrown together, the brotherly instincts
+in each blossomed wonderfully, and a mutual attachment sprang up which
+had hardly been there before.
+
+It had been arranged, before breaking-up, that Oliver and Wraysford
+should spend the last week of the holiday together in rowing down the
+Thames from Oxford to London.
+
+Great was Stephen's joy and pride when one morning, near the appointed
+time, Oliver said to him, "Look here, Stee.  How would you like to come
+with Wray and me next week?"
+
+"Like! wouldn't I rather!" shouted the small boy in ecstasy.  "Thanks,
+Noll, old man!  I say, it will be a spree."  And the youngster became so
+riotous over the prospect that his elder brother had to threaten not to
+take him at all, and give him a thrashing into the bargain, before he
+could be reduced to order.
+
+They were to take a tent with them, and cooking utensils, so as to be
+quite independent of inns, and each voyager was to contribute his share
+of provender.  Quite a Robinson Crusoe business, even down to the desert
+island, for on desert islands the boys had declared they intended every
+night to take up their quarters, and, come hail, snow, or lightning,
+there to sleep under their waterproof tent.
+
+Mrs Greenfield didn't half like the idea, and became very pathetic on
+the subject of ague and rheumatic fever.  But the boys carried the day
+by promising faithfully that they would catch neither malady.  The
+looked-for day came at last, and to Oxford they went, where the familiar
+sight of Wraysford, in boating costume, at the railway station still
+further elated their high spirits.  The boat was ready.  The tent, the
+provender, the blankets, were snugly stowed away on board.  The weather
+was fine, the river was charming, everything promised well; and
+punctually that Monday afternoon the three adventurers loosed from their
+moorings and turned the nose of their boat towards London.
+
+I wish I could tell the reader all the events of that wonderful voyage:
+how they paddled down merrily with the stream; how they found their
+desert island covered with nettles, which they had to mow down with
+their oars; how the soup-kettle wouldn't act, and the stew-pan leaked;
+how grand the potted lobster tasted; how Stephen offered to make tea
+with muddy water, and how the paraffin oil of their lanterns leaked all
+over their plum-cake and sandwiches; how Stephen was sent up inland to
+forage, and came back with wonderful purchases of eggs and milk; how
+they started off one day leaving their tent behind them, and had to row
+back in a panic to recover it; how it rained one night, and a puddle
+formed on the roof of the tent, which presently grew so big that it
+overflowed and gave Wraysford a shower-bath; how each morning they all
+took headers into the stream, much to the alarm of the sleepy ducks; how
+they now and then ran foul of a boat, and now and then were turned off
+their camping ground by an indignant keeper!  It was glorious fun.  But
+it would take a volume to recount all that happened to them.
+
+They were coming near the end of their cruise.  They had paddled down
+past the magnificent woods of Cliveden, and under the pretty bridge of
+Maidenhead; they had watched the boys bathing at "Athens," and they had
+rowed through the gloomy shadow of Windsor Castle and on past Eton.
+
+Here the river is broken by a string of islands, which in many parts
+make the stream narrow; and the river being full of boats and barges,
+our three adventurers found themselves called upon to exercise more than
+ordinary precautions in keeping their course.  This responsibility
+became at last so irksome that Oliver said, "I say, can't we get out of
+this rabble anyhow?  Why shouldn't we take the other side of the
+islands?"
+
+"I don't know.  It would be a good deal quieter.  I wonder none of the
+boats do it."
+
+"Let's try, anyhow.  We can't be far from the lock, and then the river
+will be wider.  Take us up inside the next island, Stee, and mind you
+don't foul any one while you're about it."
+
+Stephen did as he was bid.  The stream was pretty strong just there, and
+the two rowers had to pull pretty hard to get round without drifting on
+to the island.
+
+Once out of the main stream, they were delighted to find the course
+clear.  Indeed, they had the channel all to themselves.
+
+"What a jolly pace the stream is going at!" said Stephen; "why don't you
+drift, you fellows, instead of pulling like that?"
+
+"Good idea for you, young 'un," said Wraysford, pulling in his oar.
+Oliver followed his example.
+
+"Keep a look-out ahead," said he to Stephen, "and sing out if any
+thing's coming."
+
+Stephen said, "All right," but (careless pilot that he was) began
+pulling on his socks and shoes, which he had dispensed with during the
+morning.
+
+Thus occupied, and the other two sitting with their backs to the prow,
+the unnatural pace at which the boat flew along did not for a moment or
+two become apparent.  Suddenly, however, Wraysford started up.
+
+"Get out your oar, Noll--quick!"
+
+"What's the row?" said Oliver, proceeding leisurely to obey the order.
+
+"The weir!  Quick, man, quick, or we shall be on to it!"
+
+They had indeed got into the race leading to the weir, and every moment
+the stream, swelled by recent rains, rushed faster.
+
+"Pull your right--hard!" cried Wraysford, backing water while Oliver
+flew to his oar.
+
+There was just time, by a tremendous effort, to save themselves; but
+Oliver's oar was caught under one of the seats, and before he could
+extricate it the precious opportunity was lost.
+
+No one said a word.  Stephen, with pale face, pulled his rudder string;
+and Wraysford, with his one oar, tried desperately to arrest the
+headlong progress of the boat.
+
+There was a shout from the bank, and a nearer and louder one from the
+lock.  They became conscious of a great half-open gate on their right,
+and a rush of footsteps beside them.  Then, in far shorter time than it
+takes to write it, the boat, side on to the weir, lurched and dashed for
+a moment in the troubled water, and the next instant turned over, and
+the three boys were struggling in the water.
+
+In an ordinary current such an adventure would have been of little
+moment, for the boys could swim.  But in a torrent like this it was an
+awful peril.  The swift flood sweeps on and sucks under its prey with
+fearful force.  To resist it is impossible--to escape being dashed
+against its stony bottom is almost as impossible.
+
+Mercifully for Oliver, he did escape this latter peril, and, being cool
+always in the presence of danger, he offered no resistance to the
+stream, but struck out hard under the water for as long as his breath
+would permit.
+
+When at last, exhausted and unable to swim farther, he rose to the
+surface, he was in calm deep water many yards below the weir.  Help was
+at hand, or he could never have reached the bank.  As it was, when at
+last friendly arms did drag him ashore, he was too exhausted even to
+utter his brother's name.
+
+Where was Stephen? and where was Wraysford?
+
+Wraysford had been more fortunate even than Oliver in his first capsize.
+He was swept over the weir, indeed, but into a side eddy which brought
+him up violently against a projecting branch, to which he clung wildly.
+Here he would have been safe, and even able to help himself to shore.
+But at the moment when he began to draw himself up from the water on to
+the branch, there was something--an arm cast wildly up--in the water
+beside him.  In an instant Wraysford quitted his hold and plunged once
+more into the rapid.  How, he knew not, but he just reached the hapless
+boy.  It was too late to recover the friendly branch.  All he could do
+was to cling to Stephen and trust to reaching calm water safely.  Many a
+bruise the two received in that terrible passage, but the elder boy
+never once quitted his hold of the younger.
+
+At last--it seemed an age--calm water was reached, providentially near
+the bank.  Still clinging to one another, they were pulled ashore,
+bruised, stunned, but safe.
+
+Thus ended this famous holiday cruise.  The three boys kept their own
+secret, and talked little about the adventure, even to one another.
+
+In due time the holidays ended, and the Dominicans reassembled once more
+in their venerable Alma Mater.  Need I say there were three within those
+walls who, whatever they were before, were now friends bound together by
+a bond the closest of all--a bond which had stood the test of life and
+death?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+AN OLD FIRE RE-KINDLED.
+
+Saint Dominic's reassembled after the holidays in an amiable frame of
+mind.
+
+The Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles, as the Doctor had prophesied, had cooled
+down considerably in spirit during the period, and now returned quietly
+to work just as if the mighty "strike" had never existed.  Stephen's
+regular fights with Bramble recommenced the very first day, so that
+everything was quite like old times.
+
+Oliver found that the Fifth, all but one or two, had quite forgotten
+their suspicions of his bravery which had spoiled the pleasure of his
+last term, and there seemed every prospect of his getting through this
+with less risk to his quick temper than before.
+
+As for the Sixth, the Fifth had forgiven them all their offences, and
+would have been quite prepared, had it been allowed, to live in peace
+with their seniors, and forget all the dissensions of the Summer term.
+But it was not allowed, and an event which happened early in the term
+served to revive all the old animosities between the two head classes.
+
+At Saint Dominic's, for reasons best known to the all-wise beings who
+presided over its management, the principal examinations and "removes"
+of the year took place not, as in most schools, at the end of the
+Midsummer term, but at the beginning of the Autumn term, about
+Michaelmas; consequently now, with the examinations looming in the
+distance, everybody who had anything to hope for from hard work settled
+down to study like mad.  Cricket was over for the year, and football had
+not begun.  Except boating there was not much doing out of doors, and
+for that reason the season was favourable for work.  Studies, which used
+to be bear-gardens now suddenly assumed an appearance of respectability
+and quiet.  Books took the place of boxing-gloves, and pens of
+fencing-sticks.  The disorderly idlers who had been in the habit of
+invading at will the quarters of the industrious were now given to
+understand they must "kick-up their heels" elsewhere.  _They_ might not
+want to grind, but others did.
+
+The idlers of the Fifth, to whom this warning was addressed on every
+hand, had nothing for it but to obey, and, feeling themselves greatly
+ill-used, to retire sadly, to some spot where "they could kick-up a row
+to themselves."
+
+Casting about them for such a spot, it happened that Braddy and Ricketts
+one day lit almost by accident on an old empty study, which some years
+since had been a monitor's room, but was now empty and tenantless.
+
+It at once occurred to these two astute heroes that this would be a
+magnificent place for boxing-matches.  In the other studies one was
+always banging against the corners of tables, or tripping over fenders,
+but here there was absolutely nothing, but four bare walls to interfere
+with anybody.
+
+They called in two more friends--Tom Senior and another--who declared it
+was a splendid find, and the four thereupon took formal possession of
+their new territory, and inaugurated the event by a terrific
+eight-handed match.
+
+Nothing could have been more satisfactory.  The room was well out of the
+way; the studious ones of the Fifth were spared all annoyance, and the
+riotous ones had an asylum to go to.  No one was a bit the worse for the
+move; every one, on the contrary, found himself decidedly the better.
+
+"Go and kick-up a row in the monitor's room," became quite a common
+objurgation in the Form, among the diligent; as common, in fact, as
+"Come along, old man, and have it out in the monitor's room," was among
+the idlers.
+
+But, as ill-luck would have it, this delightful retreat happened to be
+situated immediately over the study occupied by Wren of the Sixth.  That
+worthy hero, seated one afternoon over his books, was startled by a
+terrific noise, followed by a vibration, followed by the rattling of all
+his tumblers in the cupboard, followed by a dull, heavy thud over his
+head, which tempted him to believe either that an earthquake was in
+progress, or that one of the chimney-stacks had fallen on to the roof.
+When, however, the noise was repeated, and with it were blended laughter
+and shouts of "Now then, let him have it!"
+
+"Well parried!"
+
+"Bravo, Bully!" and the like, Wren began to change his mind, and laid
+down his pen.  He walked up the stairs to the upper landing, where, at
+once, the noise guided him to the old monitor's room.  Then the truth
+dawned upon him.  He stayed long enough to get a pretty clear idea of
+who the "new lodgers" were, and then prudently retired without
+attempting a parley single-handed.
+
+But next morning, when the festive rioters of the Fifth approached once
+more the scene of their revels, what was their amazement and rage to
+find the door locked, and the following notice, on a piece of school
+paper, affixed to the panel--"Monitor's room.  This room is closed by
+direction of the monitors."
+
+You might have knocked them over with a feather, so stupefied were they
+by this announcement!  They stared at the door, they stared at one
+another, and then they broke out into a tempest of rage.
+
+"The blackguards! what do they mean?" exclaimed Braddy, tearing down the
+paper and crushing it up in his hands.
+
+"Monitor's room, indeed!" cried Ricketts.  "_We'll_ let them see whose
+room it is!"
+
+"Kick open the door, can't you?" said Tom Senior.
+
+They did kick open the door between them.  The lock was a weak one, and
+soon gave way.
+
+Once inside, the evicted ones indulged their triumph by an uproar of
+more than usual vehemence, longing that it might tempt into their
+clutches the daring intruders who had presumed to interfere with their
+possession.  No one came.  They had their fling undisturbed.  But before
+they quitted their stronghold one of their number, by diligent
+searching, had found in the lock of a neighbouring study-door a key
+which would fit theirs.  Repairing, therefore, the catch, damaged by
+their late forcible entry, they calmly locked the door behind them when
+they went, and affixed to it, in the identical place where the other
+notice had hung, "Fifth Form.  Private study.  Not to be entered without
+permission."
+
+Of course, the news of this interesting adventure soon spread, and for a
+day or two the diligent as well as the idle on either side looked on
+with increasing interest for the issue of the contest.
+
+For a while the Fifth had the best of it.  They defied the enemy to turn
+them out, and procured and fixed an additional lock on the door.  The
+Sixth threatened to report the matter to the Doctor, and summoned the
+invaders for the last time to capitulate.  The invaders laughed them to
+scorn, and protested the room belonged to them, and leave it they would
+not for all the monitors in the world.  The monitors retired, and the
+Fifth enjoyed their triumph.
+
+But next day the Doctor abruptly entered the Fifth Form room, and said,
+"There is an unoccupied room at the end of the top landing, which some
+boys in this class have been making use of to the annoyance of other
+boys.  This room, please remember, is not to be entered in future
+without my permission."
+
+Checkmate with a vengeance for the Fifth!
+
+This event it was which, trivial in itself, re-kindled once more with
+redoubled heat the old animosity between the two head Forms at Saint
+Dominic's.  Although the original quarrel had been confined to only
+half-a-dozen individuals, it became now a party question of intense
+interest.  The Sixth, who were the triumphant party, could afford to
+treat the matter lightly and smile over it, a demeanour which irritated
+the already enraged Fifth past description.  The two Forms cut one
+another dead in the passages.  The Fifth would gladly have provoked
+their rivals to blows, but, like sensible men, the Sixth kept the right
+side of the law, and refused to have anything to do with the challenges
+daily hurled at them.
+
+As might be expected, the affair did not long remain a secret from the
+rest of the school.  The Fourth Senior, as a body, stood up for the
+Sixth, and the Third and Second, on the whole, sided with the Fifth.
+But when it came to the junior school--the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles--all
+other partisanship was thrown quite into the shade.
+
+The quarrel was one completely after their own hearts.  It had begun in
+a row, it had gone on in a row, and, if it ever ended, it would end in a
+row.
+
+A meeting was summoned at the earliest opportunity to take the momentous
+matter into consideration.
+
+"What I say," said Bramble, "is, it's a jolly good job!"
+
+"What's a jolly good job?" demanded Stephen, who, of course, was red-hot
+for the Fifth.
+
+"Why, chucking them out!  I'm glad to see it, ain't you, Padger?"
+
+"They didn't chuck them out!" roared Paul; "they went and sneaked to the
+Doctor, that's what they did!"
+
+"I don't care!  I say it's a jolly good job!  Those who say it's a jolly
+good job hold up--"
+
+"Shut up your row!" cried Stephen; "you're always sticking yourself up.
+I say it's a beastly shame, and I hope the Fifth will let them know it!"
+
+"You're a young idiot, that's what you are!" exclaimed Bramble in a
+rage.  "What business have you got at the meeting?  Turn him out!"
+
+"I'll turn _you_ out!" replied the undaunted Stephen; "I've as much
+right here as you have.  So there!"
+
+"Turn him out, can't you?" roared Bramble.  "Bah! who goes and swills
+ginger-beer down in a public-house in the town, eh?"
+
+This most unexpected turn to the conversation startled Stephen.  He
+turned quite pale as he replied, "_I_ did, there!  But I didn't go in at
+the public door.  And you've been sneaking!"
+
+"No, I haven't.  Padger told me, didn't you, Padger?  Padger peeped
+through the door, and saw you.  Oh, my eye! won't I kick-up a shine
+about it!  I'll let out on you, see if I don't.  Bah, public-house boy!
+potboy, yah!"
+
+Stephen's only answer to this was a book, accurately shied at the head
+of his enemy.
+
+The subsequent proceedings at the meeting were a trifle animated, but
+otherwise not interesting to the reader.  The chief result was that the
+Guinea-pigs emerged as uncompromising champions for the Fifth, and the
+Tadpoles equally strong for the Sixth, while Stephen felt decidedly
+uncomfortable as to the consequences of Bramble's discovery of his
+secret visits last term to the Cockchafer.
+
+Stephen had in a confidential moment during the holidays told Oliver of
+these visits, and of his intimacy with Mr Cripps.  The elder brother
+was very angry and astonished when he heard of it.  He set before the
+boy, in no measured terms, the risk he was running by breaking one of
+the rules of the school; and, more than that, he said Cripps was a
+blackguard, and demanded of Stephen a promise, there and then, that he
+would never again enter the Cockchafer under any pretext whatever.
+Stephen, forced to submit, although not convinced that Cripps was such a
+wicked man as his brother made out, promised, but reserved to himself
+mentally the right to see Cripps at least once more at the Lock-House,
+there to return him the bicycle lantern, which it will be remembered
+that kind gentleman had lent the boy before the holidays.  As to the
+Cockchafer, he was thoroughly frightened at the thought of having been
+seen there, and fully determined, even before Bramble's threat, never
+again to cross its threshold.  After all, Stephen knew he had little
+enough to fear from that small braggadocio; Bramble had neither the wit
+nor the skill to use his discovery to any advantage.  For a day or two
+he followed his adversary up and down the passages with cries of
+"Potboy!" till everybody was sick of the sound, and felt heartily glad
+when, one fine afternoon, Stephen quietly deposited his adversary on his
+back on the gravel of the playground.
+
+But to return to the feud between Fifth and Sixth.
+
+Things after a little seemed to quiet down once more.  The exiled
+rioters, after a long and disheartening search, found rest for the soles
+of their feet in Tom Senior's study, which, though not nearly so
+convenient, afforded them asylum during their pugilistic encounters.
+
+The studious ones settled down once more to their work, and the near
+approach of the examinations presently absorbed all their attention.
+
+The struggle for the Nightingale Scholarship naturally was regarded with
+the most intense interest--not because it was the most important
+examination of the year: it was not.  Not because it was worth 50 pounds
+a year for three years.  That to most of the school was a minor
+consideration.  It was as nothing to the fact that of the three
+candidates for the scholarship one was a Sixth Form boy and two Fifth.
+If only one of the latter could come out first, the Fifth and their
+partisans, all the school over, felt that the insult of the past month
+would be wiped out, and the glory of the Form avenged for ever.  And it
+must be confessed that the Sixth, however much they professed to ignore
+the rivalry of their juniors, were equally anxious for their own man,
+and of late Loman had been working hard.  He had worked, so it was
+reported, during the holidays, and now, ever since term had begun, he
+had remained more or less secluded in his study, or else, with a book
+under his arm, had taken walks outside.
+
+Of course, the Sixth Form boy would win!  Who ever heard of a Fifth boy
+beating a Sixth?  And yet, in Oliver and Wraysford, the Fifth, every one
+admitted, had two strong men.  They would at least make a hard fight for
+the prize.  The Sixth only hoped they would not run their man _too_
+close, and so make the glory of his certain victory at all doubtful.
+
+Loman was not a favourite even with his own class-fellows, but they
+could forgive anything now, provided he made sure of the Nightingale.
+
+"He'll be all right!" said Callonby to Wren one day, when the two
+happened to hit on the topic of the hour; "he's a great deal steadier
+than he was last term."
+
+"I wish he'd read indoors, then, and not be everlastingly trotting out
+with his books."
+
+"Oh!  I don't know; it's much jollier reading out of doors, if you can
+do it."
+
+"As long as he _does_ read.  Well, it will be a regular sell if he comes
+to grief; the Fifth will be intolerable."
+
+"They're not far short of that now.  Hullo!"  This exclamation was
+provoked by the sight of Loman in the playground under their window.  He
+was returning from one of his studious rambles, with his book under his
+arm, slowly making for the school.
+
+There was nothing in this to astonish the two boys as they looked down.
+What did astonish them was that he was walking unsteadily, with a queer,
+stupid look on his face, utterly unlike anything his schoolfellows had
+ever seen there before.  They watched him cross the playground and enter
+the school-house.  Then Wren said, gravely, "It's all up with the
+Nightingale, at that rate."
+
+"Looks like it," said the other, and walked away.  Loman was returning
+from one of his now frequent visits to the Cockchafer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A CRISIS.
+
+The eventful day, which at the beginning of the term had seemed an age
+away, slowly but surely drew near.
+
+This was Saturday.  On Monday the examination would be over, and in a
+week the competitors would know their fates!
+
+Some of my readers may know the queer sensation one sometimes gets at
+the approach of a long-looked-for and hardly-worked-for examination.
+For a week or so you have quietly been counting up what you _do_ know.
+Now there breaks upon you an awful picture of what you do _not_ know,
+and with it the absolute conviction that what you do not know is exactly
+what you ought to know, and what you do know is no use at all.  It is
+too late to do anything.  You cannot get up in a day what it would take
+you a fortnight to go through.  And it is not much good, now you are
+sure it is useless, to go over again what you have done.  You begin to
+feel a sort of despair, which becomes, as the hours close in, positively
+reckless.  What do you care if you do miss?  What's the use of bothering
+any more about it?  It cannot be helped; why make yourself miserable?
+Only, you would give worlds to have the thing all over.  Such at least
+were the sensations which stirred in the breasts of Oliver Greenfield
+and Horace Wraysford as they sat somewhat dejectedly over their books in
+Oliver's study that Saturday afternoon.
+
+They had both worked hard since the holidays, generally together,
+neither concealing from the other what he had read or what he intended
+to read.  Very bad rivals were these two, for though each was intent on
+winning the scholarship, each felt he would not break his heart if the
+other beat him, and that, as every one knows, is a most unheard-of piece
+of toleration.  Now, however, each felt he had had enough of it.  Oliver
+in particular was very despondent.  He slammed up his books suddenly,
+and said, "I give it up; it's not a bit of use going on!"
+
+Wraysford pushed back his chair slowly, and said, not very cheeringly,
+"Upon my word I think you're right, Noll."
+
+"I've a good mind," said Oliver, looking very morose, "to scratch, and
+leave you and Loman to fight it out."
+
+"Don't be a jackass, Noll," replied Wraysford, half laughing.  "That
+_would_ be a sensible thing to do!"
+
+"All very well for you to laugh," said Oliver, his brow clouding.  "You
+know you are well up and are going to win."
+
+"I'm no better up than you are," said the other.
+
+"You know you're going to win," repeated Oliver.
+
+"I only wish I did," said Wraysford, with a sigh.
+
+"Why," pursued Oliver, evidently bent on a melancholy tack, "I assure
+you, Wray, I've forgotten half even of what I did know.  I was going
+over some of those brutal Roman History dates in bed last night, for
+instance, and I positively couldn't remember one.  Then I tried the map
+of Greece, but I was still worse there; I couldn't remember where one
+single place was except Athens and Corinth, and I'm sure I used to be
+pretty well up in that."
+
+"I expect you were half asleep at the time," suggested his friend.
+
+"No, I wasn't; I couldn't sleep a wink.  I say, Wray, _wouldn't_ it be
+jolly if we only knew now what the questions are going to be on Monday?"
+
+"Why don't you go and ask the Doctor?" said Wraysford, laughing; "he'd
+be delighted to tell you."
+
+"What a humbug you are, Wray!  I say, suppose we shut up work now and
+have a turn on the river.  I'm certain it will do us more good than
+cracking our skulls here."
+
+"Just what I had been thinking.  I'm game, and it can't make much
+difference."
+
+"I suppose Loman is grinding up to the last?"
+
+"I suppose so; I was almost in hopes he wouldn't keep it up."
+
+"Never mind, it will all be over on Monday; that's a comfort!  Come
+along, old man.  Suppose we get young Stee to cox us up to the lock and
+back."
+
+Hue and cry was forthwith made for Stephen, but he was not to be found.
+He was out, Paul said; at the post, or somewhere.
+
+"Oh, all right; you can come and cox us yourself, youngster," said
+Wraysford.
+
+"Cox you!" exclaimed Paul; "why, ain't the Nightingale exam coming on,
+then, on Monday?"
+
+"Of course it is!"
+
+"And you two going out to row!  I say, the Sixth will win it if you
+don't look-out!" said Paul, in a very concerned voice.
+
+It was quite a revelation to the two boys to discover how great was the
+interest taken by outsiders in the coming event.  Paul was in a great
+state of alarm, and was actually inclined to refuse to aid and abet what
+he imagined to be a wicked waste of precious opportunity, until, putting
+his head into Loman's study, he found that the Sixth Form fellow was
+also not at work.
+
+When Oliver and Wraysford appeared in boating flannels in the playground
+they created as much sensation as if they had been ghosts.
+
+"You don't mean to say you're going out, you fellows?" exclaimed
+Ricketts, one of the idle ones of the Fifth.
+
+"Yes, I do," said Wraysford.
+
+"But the Nightingale, I say?"
+
+"That's not till Monday."
+
+"I know; but aren't you grinding for it?  I say, don't let them beat
+you!  Hadn't you better work instead of going out?"
+
+Ricketts, by the way, had not done a stroke of work that he could
+possibly help all the term!
+
+All the other Fifth Form fellows they encountered echoed more or less
+anxiously the same advice.  But the two friends were obdurate.  Threats,
+promises, entreaties, would not put them off their row up the river, and
+they went on their way, leaving behind them an unusual gloom on the
+spirits of their dearest friends.
+
+The only person who seemed really glad to see them leaving their work
+was Bramble.  He, with his friend Padger, and a few other
+irreconcilables, were just returning from a rat-catching expedition, and
+the sight of the Fifth Form heroes in boating costume filled them with
+joy.
+
+"Hullo--my eye--hurrah!" shouted Bramble, taking in the situation in a
+moment.  "There they go!  I hope they get drowned; don't you, Padger?"
+
+Padger was understood to assent to this benevolent aspiration.
+
+"Go it.  _You'll_ get the Nightingale!  I thought you would!  Hope you
+get drowned, do you hear!  Hurrah for the Sixth!"
+
+At this juncture Master Paul gave chase, and for a few moments Bramble
+and his friends were too much engaged to speak; but at last, when the
+chase was over, and further reprisals were out of the question, the hero
+of the Tadpoles summoned up all his remaining powers to yell:
+
+"Yah boo, Nightingale!  Hope you get drowned!  Yah!" after which he went
+his way.
+
+The two friends paddled quietly up the river.  They talked very little,
+but both felt relieved to be away from their books.  As they went on
+their spirits rose, greatly to Paul's displeasure.  That young
+gentleman, immoderately jealous for the glory of the Fifth, was content
+as long as the two rowers remained grave and serious; he could then make
+himself believe they were engaged in mental exercises favourable to
+Monday's examination.  But as soon as they began to whistle, and chaff
+him and one another, and talk of their holiday adventures, Paul became
+displeased, for they could not possibly do this and be inwardly
+preparing for the examination at the same time.
+
+However, he had to submit as best he could, and gave all his attention
+to steering them carefully, so that it should be no fault of his, at any
+rate, if they were prevented from showing up on the critical day.
+
+"This old Shar isn't half such a jolly river as the Thames, is it,
+Wray?"
+
+"Rather not!" replied Wraysford, resting on his oar; "and yet it's
+pretty enough in parts."
+
+"Oh, up at the weir?--yes.  But I'm out of love with weirs at present.
+I shudder every time I think of that one up the Thames."
+
+"It wasn't pleasant, certainly," said Wraysford.
+
+"Pleasant!  Old man, if you hadn't been there it would have been a good
+deal worse than unpleasant.  Poor Stee!"
+
+"Pull your left, Greenfield senior, or you'll be into the bank!" sung
+out Paul.
+
+They paddled on again until Gusset Lock came in sight.  There were very
+few boats about; the season was, in fact, at an end, and the river,
+which a month or two ago had generally swarmed with boats just at this
+part on Saturday afternoons, looked quite deserted.
+
+"Shall we go through the lock or turn round?" inquired Paul.
+
+"May as well turn, eh, Wray?"
+
+Paul was about to obey the order and turn the boat, when, casting his
+eyes on the bank, he started suddenly to his feet and exclaimed,
+pointing towards the lock-house, "Hullo!  I say, there's something up
+there!"
+
+The two others looked round; something more lively than usual was
+undoubtedly taking place at old Mr Cripps's residence, to judge by the
+shouts and laughter which proceeded from the group of people assembled
+near the door.
+
+From where they were the boys in the boat could not see what the nature
+of the excitement was, and therefore paddled on with a view to satisfy
+their curiosity.
+
+As they came up to the lock Paul suddenly exclaimed, "That's young
+Greenfield!"
+
+"What!" said Oliver--"Stephen?"
+
+"Yes, and--what _on earth_ are they doing to him?"
+
+The boat being low down under the bank, it was impossible to see what
+was going on on the tow-path.  Oliver, however, having once heard
+Stephen's name, ordered Paul to put them into the opposite bank quick,
+where they could land.
+
+While this was being done a shriek from the bank sent the blood suddenly
+to the faces of the two friends.  It was Stephen!  They dashed ashore,
+and in a moment were across the lock and on the spot.  The spectacle
+which met their eyes as they came up was a strange one.  The central
+figure was the luckless Stephen, in the clutches of three or four
+disreputable fellows, one of whom was Cripps the younger, who, with loud
+laughter at the boy's struggles and brutal unconcern at his terror, were
+half dragging, half carrying him towards the water's edge.
+
+Beside them stood Loman, flushed, excited, and laughing loudly.  Poor
+Stephen, very unlike himself, appeared to be utterly cowed and
+terrified, and uttered shriek upon shriek as his persecutors dragged him
+along.
+
+"Oh, don't!  Please, Cripps!  Don't let them, Loman--don't let them
+drown me!" he shouted.
+
+A laugh was the only answer.
+
+It was at this moment, and just when, to all appearances, the boy was
+about to be thrown into the water, that Oliver and Wraysford appeared on
+the scene.
+
+Their appearance was so sudden and unexpected that the fellows, even
+though they did not know who the two boys were, were momentarily taken
+aback and dropped their prey.
+
+With a bound Oliver sprang furiously on Cripps, who happened to be
+nearest him, and before that respectable gentleman knew where he was,
+had dealt him a blow which sent him staggering back in the utmost alarm
+and astonishment.  Wraysford, no less prompt, tackled one of the other
+blackguards, while Stephen, now released, and cured of his momentary
+terror by the appearance of the rescuers, did his share manfully with
+one of the others.
+
+The contest was short and sharp.  A pair of well-trained athletic
+schoolboys, with a plucky youngster to help them, are a match any day
+for twice the number of half-tipsy cads.  In a minute or two the field
+was clear of all but Cripps, who appeared, after his short experience,
+by no means disposed to continue the contest single-handed.  As for
+Loman, he had disappeared.
+
+"What is all this?" demanded Oliver, when at last, breathless and pale
+with excitement, he could find words.
+
+"Oh, Noll!" cried Stephen, "I'll tell you all about it.  But let's get
+away from here."
+
+"No, I won't go!" shouted Oliver--"not till I know what it all means.
+You fellow!" added he, walking up to Cripps, "you'd better speak or I'll
+thrash you!"
+
+Mr Cripps, who had had time to recover somewhat from his first
+surprise, looked a little inclined to defy his young antagonist, but,
+thinking better of it, suddenly assumed his usual impudent swagger as he
+replied, with a laugh, "Come, I say, you _do_ do it well, you do!  It
+was a joke--just a joke, young gentleman.  You've no occasion to flurry
+yourself; we wouldn't have hurt a hair of the young gentleman's head.
+Ask Mr Loman."
+
+"Where's Loman?" demanded Oliver.  "Gone," said Stephen.  "But I say,
+Noll, do come away.  I'll tell you all about it.  Do come."
+
+Cripps laughed.  "Don't you swallow all that young swell tells you.
+He's a nice boy, he is, but--well, he'd better mind what he says, that's
+all!"
+
+"Do come away!" once more entreated Stephen.
+
+"Yes, do come away," laughed Cripps, mimicking the boy's tones.  "When I
+calls up at the school I'll let them all know what a nice young prig he
+is, coming down and drinking at my public-house and then turning round
+on me.  Never fear!  _I'll_ let them know, my beauties!  I'll have a
+talk with your Doctor and open his eyes for him.  Good-bye, you sneaking
+young--"
+
+"Look here!" said Wraysford, quietly walking up to the blackguard in the
+midst of this discourse, "if you don't stop instantly you'll be sorry
+for it."
+
+Cripps stared a moment at the speaker, and at the first he held out.
+Then, without another word, he turned on his heel into the cottage,
+leaving the three boys standing in undisputed possession of the
+tow-path.
+
+"Come on, how, old man!" said Wraysford; "we can't do any good by
+staying here."
+
+Oliver looked disposed to resist, and cast a glance at the cottage door
+by which Cripps had just vanished.  But he let himself be persuaded
+eventually, and turned gloomily towards the boat.  Here Paul, who had
+been a witness of the _fracas_ on the tow-path, was waiting, ready to
+steer home, and bursting with curiosity to hear all Stephen had to say.
+
+Greatly to his disgust, Oliver said, peremptorily, "You'll have to walk
+home, Paul; Stephen will steer."
+
+"Why, you said I might steer."
+
+Oliver was in no humour for an argument, so he gave Paul a light box on
+his ears and advised him to go home quietly unless he wanted a
+thrashing, and not say a word to any one about what had occurred.
+
+Paul had nothing for it but sulkily to obey, and walk back.  At last the
+others got on board and put off homeward.
+
+"Now," said Oliver, presently, resting on his oar and bending forward
+towards Stephen.
+
+"Oh, Noll!" began that unhappy youngster, "I am so very, very sorry! it
+was all--"
+
+"None of that," angrily interrupted the elder brother.  "Just tell me
+how it came about."
+
+Stephen, quite cowed by his brother's angry manner, told his story
+shortly and hurriedly.
+
+"Why," he said, "you know I promised you never to go to the Cockchafer
+again, and I didn't, but I thought I ought to see Cripps and give him
+back the bicycle-lamp."
+
+"Young muff!" ejaculated his brother.
+
+"So," pursued Stephen, still more falteringly, "I thought I'd come up
+this afternoon."
+
+"Well, go on, can't you?" said Oliver, losing his temper at the poor
+boy's evident uneasiness.
+
+"Cripps asked me into the cottage, and there were some fellows there,
+smoking and drinking and playing cards."
+
+"Was Loman one of them?" put in Wraysford.
+
+"I think so," said poor Stephen, who had evidently started his story in
+the hope of keeping Loman's name quiet.
+
+"_Think_ so, you young cad!" cried Oliver.  "Why can't you tell the
+truth straight out?  Was he there or not?"
+
+"Yes, he was.  I did mean to tell the truth, Noll, really, only--only
+there's no need to get Loman in a row."
+
+"Go on," said Oliver.
+
+"They made fun of me because I wouldn't smoke and play with them.  You
+know I promised mother not to play cards, Noll.  I didn't mind that,
+though, but when I wanted to go away they--that is, Cripps--wouldn't let
+me.  I tried to get away, but he stopped me, and they said they'd make
+me play."
+
+"Who said?  Did Loman?" inquired Oliver, again.  "Why--yes," said
+Stephen falteringly, "he and the rest.  They held me down in a chair,
+and made me take hold of the cards, and one of them opened my mouth and
+shouted beastly words down into it--ugh!"
+
+"Was that Loman?"
+
+"No," said Stephen, relieved to be able to deny it.
+
+"What did he do?" demanded Oliver.
+
+"They all--"
+
+"What did Loman do, I say?" again asked Oliver.
+
+It was no use trying to keep back anything.
+
+"He pulled my ears, but not very hard.  Really I expect it was only fun,
+Noll."  This was said quite beseechingly.  "I said I thought they were
+very wicked to be doing what they did; but they only laughed at that,
+and called me a prig."
+
+"Much better if you'd kept what you thought to yourself," said
+Wraysford.  "Well?"
+
+"Oh, then they did a lot of things to rile me, and knocked me about
+because I wouldn't drink their stuff, and they swore too."
+
+"Did Loman swear?"
+
+"They all swore, I think," said Stephen; "and then, you know, when I
+wouldn't do what they wanted they said they'd throw me in the river, and
+then you fellows turned up."
+
+"Did Loman tell them to throw you in the river?" said Oliver, whose brow
+had been growing darker and darker.
+
+"Oh, no," exclaimed Stephen, "he didn't, really!  I think he was sorry."
+
+"Did he try to prevent it, then?" asked Oliver.
+
+"Well, no; I didn't hear him say--" faltered Stephen; but Oliver shut
+him up, and turning to Wraysford said, "Wray, I shall thrash Loman."
+
+"All serene," replied Wraysford; "you'd better have it out to-night."
+
+"Oh, Noll!" cried Stephen in great distress; "don't fight, please.  It
+was all my fault, for--"
+
+"Shut up, Stee," said Oliver, quietly, but not unkindly.  Then turning
+to Wraysford, he added, "After tea, then, Wray, in the gymnasium."
+
+"Right you are!" replied his friend.
+
+And then, without another word, the three rowed back to Saint Dominic's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE FIGHT THAT DID NOT COME OFF.
+
+On reaching Saint Dominic's the three boys discovered that the news of
+their afternoon's adventure had arrived there before them.  Paul,
+despite his promise of secrecy, had not been able to refrain from
+confiding to one or two bosom friends, in strict confidence, his version
+of the _fracas_ on the tow-path.  Of course the story became frightfully
+distorted in its progress from mouth to mouth, but it flew like wildfire
+through Saint Dominic's all the same.
+
+When Oliver and his friend with Stephen entered the school-house, groups
+of inquisitive boys eyed them askance and whispered as they went by.  It
+seemed quite a disappointment to not a few that the three did not appear
+covered with blood, or as pale as sheets, or with broken limbs.  No one
+knew exactly what had happened, but every one knew something had
+happened, and it would have been much more satisfactory if the heroes of
+the hour had had something to show for it.
+
+Oliver was in no mood for gratifying the curiosity of anybody, and
+stalked off to his study in gloomy silence, attended by his chum and the
+anxious Stephen.
+
+A hurried council of war ensued.
+
+"I must go and challenge Loman at once," said Oliver.
+
+"Let me go," said Wraysford.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because most likely if you go you'll have a row in his study.  Much
+better wait and have it out decently in the gymnasium.  I'll go and tell
+him."
+
+Oliver yielded to this advice.
+
+"Look sharp, old man," he said, "that's all."
+
+Wraysford went off on his mission without delay.
+
+He found Loman in his study with his books before him.
+
+"Greenfield senior wants me to say he'll meet you after tea in the
+gymnasium if you'll come there," said the ambassador.
+
+Loman, who was evidently prepared for the scene, looked up angrily as he
+replied, "Fight me?  What does he want to fight me for, I should like to
+know!"
+
+"You know as well as I do," said Wraysford.
+
+"I know nothing about it, and what's more I'll have nothing to do with
+the fellow.  Tell him that."
+
+"Then you won't fight?" exclaimed the astounded Wraysford.
+
+"No, I won't to please him.  When I've nothing better to do I'll do it;"
+and with the words his face flushed crimson as he bent it once more over
+his book.
+
+Wraysford was quite taken aback by this unexpected answer, and hesitated
+before he turned to go.
+
+"Do you hear what I say?" said Loman.  "Don't you see I'm working?"
+
+"Look here," said Wraysford, "I didn't think you were a coward."
+
+"Think what you like.  Do you suppose I care?  If Greenfield wants so
+badly to fight me, why didn't he do it last term when I gave him the
+chance?  Get out of my study, and tell him I'll have nothing to do with
+him or any of your stuck-up Fifth!"
+
+Wraysford stared hard at the speaker and then said, "I suppose you're
+afraid to fight _me_, either?"
+
+"If you don't clear out of my study I'll report you to the Doctor,
+that's what I'll do," growled Loman.
+
+There was no use staying, evidently; and Wraysford returned dejectedly
+to Oliver.
+
+"He won't fight," he announced.
+
+"Not fight!" exclaimed Oliver.  "Why ever not?"
+
+"I suppose because he's a coward.  He says because he doesn't choose."
+
+"But he _must_ fight, Wray.  We must make him!"
+
+"You can't.  I called him a coward, and that wouldn't make him.  You'll
+have to give it up this time, Noll."
+
+But Oliver wouldn't hear of giving it up so easily.  He got up and
+rushed to Loman's study himself.  But it was locked.  He knocked, no one
+answered.  He called through the keyhole, but there was no reply.
+Evidently Loman did not intend to fight, and Oliver returned crestfallen
+and disappointed to his study.
+
+"It's no go," he said, in answer to his friend's inquiry.
+
+"Oh, well, never mind," said Wraysford.  "Even if you could have fought,
+I dare say it wouldn't have done much good, for he's such a sullen
+beggar there would have been no making it up afterwards.  If I were you
+I wouldn't bother any more about it.  I'll let all the fellows know he
+refused to fight you!"
+
+"What's the use of that?" said Oliver.  "Why tell them anything about
+it?"
+
+But tell them or not tell them, the fellows knew already.  It had oozed
+out very soon that a fight was coming off, and instantly the whole
+school was in excitement.  For, however little some of them cared about
+the personal quarrel between Oliver and Loman, a fight between Fifth and
+Sixth was too great an event to be passed by unheeded.
+
+The Fifth were delighted.  They knew their man could beat Loman any day
+of the week, and however much they had once doubted his courage, now it
+was known he was the challenger every misgiving on that score was done
+away with.
+
+"I tell you," said Ricketts to a small knot of his class-fellows, "he
+could finish him up easily in one round."
+
+"Yes," chimed in another knowing one, "Loman's got such a wretched knack
+of keeping up his left elbow, that he's not a chance.  A child could get
+in under his guard, I tell you; and as for wind, he's no more wind than
+an old paper bag!"
+
+"I wish myself it was a closer thing, as long as our man won," said Tom
+Senior, with a tinge of melancholy in his voice.  "It will be such a
+miserably hollow affair I'm afraid."
+
+"I'm sorry it's not Wren, or Callonby, or one of them," said another of
+these amiable warriors; "there'd be some pleasure in chawing them up."
+
+At this moment up came Pembury, with a very long face.
+
+"It's no fight after all, you fellows," said he.  "Loman funks it!"
+
+"What! he won't fight!" almost shrieked the rest.  "It must be wrong."
+
+"Oh, all right, if it's wrong," snarled Pembury.  "I tell you there's no
+fight; you can believe it or not as you like," and off he hobbled, in
+unusual ill-humour.
+
+This was a sad blow to the Fifth.  They saw no comfort anywhere.  They
+flocked to Oliver's study, but he was not there, and Wraysford's door
+was locked.  The news, however, was confirmed by other reporters, and in
+great grief and profound melancholy the Fifth swallowed their tea, and
+wondered if any set of fellows were so unlucky as they.
+
+But their rage was as nothing to that of the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles.
+
+These amiable young animals had of course sniffed the battle from afar
+very early in the evening, and, as usual, rushed into all sorts of
+extremes of enthusiasm on the subject.  A fight!  A fight between Fifth
+and Sixth!  A fight between Greenfield senior and a monitor!  Oh, it was
+too good to be true, a perfect luxury; something to be grateful for, and
+no mistake!
+
+Of course a meeting was forthwith assembled to gloat over the auspicious
+event.
+
+Bramble vehemently expressed his conviction that the Sixth Form man
+would eat up his opponent, and went the length of offering to cut off
+his own head and Padger's if it turned out otherwise.
+
+Paul and his friends, on the other hand, as vehemently backed the Fifth
+fellow.
+
+"When's it to come off, I say?" demanded Bramble.
+
+"To-night, I should say, or first thing in the morning."
+
+"Sure to be to-night.  My eye! won't Greenfield senior look black and
+blue after it!"
+
+"No, he won't," cried Paul.
+
+"Turn him out!" shouted Bramble.  "No one wants you here; do we, Padger?
+Get yourself out of the meeting, you sneak!"
+
+"Get yourself out!" retorted Paul.
+
+The usual lively scene ensued, at the end of which the door suddenly
+opened, and a boy entered.
+
+"Look sharp," he cried: "it's half over by now.  They were--"
+
+But what the end of his sentence was to be, history recordeth not.  With
+a simultaneous yell the youngsters rushed headlong from the room, down
+the passages, out at the door, across the quadrangle, and into the
+gymnasium.  Alas! it was empty.  Only the gaunt parallel bars, and idle
+swings, and melancholy vaulting-horse.
+
+With a yelp of anger the pack cried back, and made once more for the
+school-house.  At the door they met Stephen.
+
+"Where's the fight, young Greenfield?" shouted Bramble.
+
+"Nowhere," replied Stephen.
+
+"What! not coming off?" shrieked the youngsters.
+
+"No," laconically answered Stephen.
+
+"Has your brother funked it again?" demanded Bramble, in his usual
+conciliatory way.
+
+"He never funked, you young cad!" retorted the young brother.
+
+"Yes, he did, didn't he, Padger?  That time, you know, last term.  But I
+say, Greenfield junior, why ever's the fight not coming off?"
+
+"Loman won't fight, that's why," said Stephen; and then, having had
+quite enough of catechising, turned on his heel and left the indignant
+youngsters to continue their rush back to the Fourth Junior, there to
+spend an hour or so in denouncing the caddishness of everybody and to
+make up by their own conflicts for the shortcomings of others.
+
+Oliver meanwhile had settled down as best he could once more to work,
+and tried to forget all about the afternoon's adventures.  But for a
+long time they haunted him and disturbed him.  Gradually, however, he
+found himself cooling down under the influence of Greek accents and
+Roman history.
+
+"After all," said he to Wraysford, "if the fellow is a coward why need I
+bother?  Only I should have rather liked to thrash him for what he did
+to Stee."
+
+"Never mind--thrash him over the Nightingale instead."
+
+The mention of the Nightingale, however, did not serve to heighten
+Oliver's spirits at all.
+
+He turned dejectedly to his books, but soon gave up further study.
+
+"You can go on if you like," said he to Wraysford.  "I can't.  It's no
+use.  I think I shall go to bed."
+
+"What!  It's not quite nine yet."
+
+"Is that all it is?  Never mind; good-night, old man.  I'm glad it will
+all be over on Monday."
+
+Before Oliver went to bed he had a talk with Stephen in his study.  He
+succeeded in putting pretty vividly before his young brother the
+position in which he had placed himself by going down to the
+public-house and associating with a man like Cripps.
+
+"What I advise you is, to make a clean breast of it to the Doctor at
+once.  If he hears of it any other way, you're done for."  Oliver
+certainly had an uncompromising way of putting things.
+
+"Oh, Noll, I never could!  I know I couldn't.  I say, will you?  You can
+tell him anything you like."
+
+Oliver hesitated a moment, and then said, "All serene; I'll do it.
+Mind, I must tell him everything, though."
+
+"Oh, yes!  I say, do you think I'll be expelled?"
+
+"I hope not.  There's no knowing, though."
+
+"Oh, Noll! what _shall_ I do?"
+
+"It's your only chance, I tell you.  If Cripps comes up and talks about
+it, or Loman tells, you're sure to be expelled."
+
+"Well," said Stephen, with a gulp, "I suppose you'd better tell him,
+Noll.  Need I come too?"
+
+"No, better not," said Oliver.  "I'll go and see if he's in his study
+now.  You go up stairs, and I'll come and tell you what he says."
+
+Stephen crawled dismally away, leaving his brother to fulfil his
+self-imposed task.
+
+Oliver went straight to the Doctor's study.  The door stood half-open,
+but the Doctor was not there.  He entered, and waited inside a couple of
+minutes, expecting that the head master would return; but no one came.
+After all, he would have to put off his confession of Stephen's
+delinquencies till to-morrow; and, half relieved, half disappointed, he
+quitted the room.  As he came out he encountered Simon in the passage.
+
+"Hullo, Greenfield!" said that worthy; "what have you been up to in
+there?"
+
+"I want the Doctor," said Oliver; "do you know where he is?"
+
+"If saw him go up stairs a minute ago; that is, I mean down stairs, you
+know," said the lucid poet.
+
+This information was sufficiently vague to determine Oliver not to
+attempt a wild-goose chase after the Doctor that night, so, bidding a
+hurried good-night to Simon, he took his way down the passage which led
+to Stephen's dormitory.
+
+He had not, however, gone many steps when a boy met him.  It was Loman.
+There was a momentary struggle in Oliver's breast.  Here was the--very
+opportunity which an hour or two ago he had so eagerly desired.  The
+whole picture of that afternoon's adventures came up before his mind,
+and he felt his blood tingle as his eyes caught sight of Stephen's
+persecutor.  Should he pay off the score now?
+
+Loman saw him, and changed colour.  He evidently guessed what was
+passing through his enemy's mind, for a quick flush came to his face and
+an angry scowl to his brow.
+
+Oliver for one moment slackened pace.  Then suddenly there came upon him
+a vision of Stephen's appealing face as he interceded that afternoon for
+the boy who had done him such mischief, and that vision settled the
+thing.
+
+Hurriedly resuming his walk, Oliver passed Loman with averted eyes, and
+went on his way.
+
+"Well?" said Stephen, in the midst of undressing, as his brother entered
+the dormitory.
+
+"He wasn't there.  I'll see him in the morning," said Oliver.
+"Good-night, Stee."
+
+"Good-night, Noll, old man!  I say, you are a brick to me!" and as the
+boy spoke there was a tremble in his voice which went straight to his
+brother's heart.
+
+"You are a brick to me!"  A pretty "brick" he had been, letting the
+youngster drift anywhere--into bad company, into bad ways, without
+holding out a hand to warn him; and in the end coming to his help only
+by accident, and serving him by undertaking a task which would quite
+possibly result in his expulsion from the school.
+
+A brick, indeed!  Oliver went off to his own bed that night more
+dispirited and dissatisfied with himself than he had ever felt before.
+And all through his dreams his brother's troubled face looked up at him,
+and the trembling voice repeated, again and again, "You are a brick to
+me--a brick to me!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+THE NIGHTINGALE EXAMINATION.
+
+The next morning early, before breakfast, Oliver joined the Doctor in
+his study, and made a clean breast to him there and then of Stephen's
+delinquencies.  He had evidently taken the right step in doing so, for,
+hearing it all thus frankly confessed by the elder brother, Dr Senior
+was disposed to take a much more lenient view of the case than he would
+had the information come to him through any other channel.
+
+But at its best the offence was a grave one, and Oliver more than once
+felt anxious at the sight of the head master's long face during the
+narrative.  However, when it was all over his fears were at once
+dispelled by the doctor saying, "Well, Greenfield, you've done a very
+proper thing in telling me all this; it is a straightforward as well as
+a brotherly act.  Your brother seems to have been very foolish, but I
+have no doubt he has got a lesson.  You had better send him to me after
+morning service."
+
+And so, much relieved, Oliver went off and reported to the grateful
+Stephen the success of his mission, and the two boys went off to the
+school chapel together a good deal more happy than they had been the
+previous day.
+
+"I say," said Stephen, as they went along, "I suppose you didn't say
+anything about Loman, did you?"
+
+"Of course not! he's no concern of mine," said Oliver, rather tartly.
+"But look here, young 'un, I'm not going to let you fag any more for
+him, or have anything to do with him."
+
+"All right!" said Stephen, who had no desire to continue his
+acquaintance with his late "proprietor."
+
+"But the captain will row me, won't he?"
+
+"If he does I'll make that square.  You can fag for Wraysford if you
+like, though, he wants a fellow."
+
+"Oh, all right!" cried Stephen, delighted, "that'll be jolly!  I like
+old Wray."
+
+"Very kind of you," said a voice close by.
+
+It was Wraysford himself, who had come in for this very genuine
+compliment.
+
+"Hullo!  I say, look here, Wraysford," said the beaming Stephen, "I'm
+going to cut Loman and fag for you.  Isn't it jolly?"
+
+"Depends on whether I have you.  I don't want any Guinea-pigs in my
+study, mind."
+
+Stephen's face fell.  For even such a privilege as fagging for Wraysford
+he could not afford to sever the sacred ties which held him to the
+fellowship of the Guinea-pigs.  "I really wouldn't kick-up shines," said
+he, imploringly.
+
+"You'd be a queer Guinea-pig if you didn't!" was the flattering answer.
+"And how many times a week would you go on strike, eh?"
+
+"Oh!" said Stephen, "I'll never go on strike again; I don't like it."
+
+The two friends laughed at this ingenuous admission, and then Wraysford
+said, "Well, I'll have you; but mind, I'm awfully particular, and knock
+my fags about tremendously, don't I, Noll?"
+
+"I don't mind that," said the delighted Stephen.  "Besides, you've not
+had a fag to knock about!"
+
+At that moment, however, the bell for morning chapel cut short all
+further talk for the present.  Stephen obeyed its summons for once in a
+subdued and thankful frame of mind.  Too often had those weekly services
+been to him occasions of mere empty form, when with his head full of
+school worries or school fun he had scarcely heard, much less heeded,
+what was said.
+
+To-day, however, it was different.  Stephen was a sobered boy.  He had
+passed through perils and temptations from which, if he had escaped, it
+had been through no merit of his own.  Things might have been far
+different.  His life had been saved, so had his peace of mind, and now
+even the consequences of old transgressions had been lightened for him.
+What had he done to deserve all this?
+
+This was the question which the boy humbly asked himself as he entered
+the chapel that morning, and the Doctor's sermon fitted well with his
+altered frame of mind.
+
+It was a sermon such as he had often heard before in that chapel; the
+words struck him now with a new force which almost startled him.
+"Forgetting those things which are behind--reaching forth unto those
+things which are before,"--this was the Doctor's text, and in the few
+simple words in which he urged his hearers to lay the past, with all its
+burdens, and disappointments, and shame, upon Him in whom alone
+forgiveness is to be found, Stephen drank in new courage and hope for
+the future, and in the thankfulness and penitence of his heart resolved
+to commit his way more honestly than ever to the best of all keeping,
+compared with which even a brother's love is powerless.
+
+Before the morning was over Stephen duly went to the Doctor, who talked
+to him very seriously.  I need not repeat the talk here.  Stephen was
+very penitent, and had the good sense to say as little as possible; but
+when it was all over he thanked the Doctor gratefully, and promised he
+should never have to talk to him for bad conduct again.
+
+"You must thank your brother for my not dealing a great deal more
+severely with the case," said Dr Senior; "and I am quite ready to
+believe it will not occur again.  Now, good-bye."
+
+And off Stephen went, the happiest boy alive, determined more than ever
+to respect the Doctor's authority, and prove himself a model boy.
+
+Sunday afternoon at Saint Dominic's was usually spent by the boys in
+fine weather, in strolling about in the gardens, or rambling into the
+woods by the banks of the Shar.
+
+This afternoon, however, was somewhat overcast, and a good many of the
+boys consequently preferred staying indoors to running the risk of
+spoiling their best hats in a shower.  Among those who kept the house
+was Oliver, who, in reply to Wraysford's invitation to go out, pleaded
+that he was not in the humour.
+
+This indeed was the case, for, now that Stephen's affairs were settled,
+the dread of the approaching Nightingale examination came back over him
+like a nightmare, and made him quite miserable.  The nearer the hour of
+trial came the more convinced did Oliver become that he stood no chance
+whatever of winning, and with that conviction all the bright hopes of a
+university course, and the prospects of after-success, seemed
+extinguished.
+
+Of course it was very ridiculous of him to worry himself into such a
+state, but then, reader, he had been working just a little too hard, and
+it was hardly his fault if he was ridiculous.
+
+Wraysford, though by no means in high spirits, kept his head a good deal
+better, and tried to enjoy his walk and forget all about books, as if
+nothing at all was going to happen to-morrow.  As for Loman, he was not
+visible from morning till night, and a good many guessed, and guessed
+correctly, that he was at work, even on Sunday.
+
+The small boys, not so much though, I fear, out of reverence for the day
+as for partisanship of the Fifth, were very indignant on the subject,
+and held a small full-dress meeting after tea, to protest against one of
+the candidates taking such an unfair advantage over the others.
+
+"He ought to be expelled!" exclaimed Paul.
+
+"All very well," said Bramble.  "Greenfield senior's cramming too, he's
+been in all the afternoon."
+
+"He's not cramming, he's got a headache!" said Stephen.
+
+"Oh, yes, I dare say, don't you, Padger?  Got a headache--that's a nice
+excuse for copying out of cribs on a Sunday."
+
+"He doesn't use cribs, and I tell you he's not working!" said Stephen,
+indignantly.
+
+"Shut up, do you hear, or you'll get turned out, Potboy!"
+
+This was too much for Stephen, who left the assembly in disgust, after
+threatening to take an early opportunity on the next day of giving his
+adversary "one for himself," a threat which we may as well say at once
+here he did not fail to carry out with his wonted energy.
+
+The long Sunday ended at last--a Sunday spoiled to many of the boys of
+Saint Dominic's by distracting thoughts and cares--a day which many
+impatiently wished over, and which some wished would never give place to
+the morrow.
+
+But that morrow came at last, and with it rose Oliver, strengthened and
+hopeful once more for the trial that lay before him.  He was early at
+Wraysford's study, whom he found only just out of bed.
+
+"Look alive, old man.  What do you say to a dip in the river before
+breakfast?  We've got plenty of time, and it will wash off the cobwebs
+before the exam."
+
+"All serene," said Wraysford, not very cheerily, though.  "Anything's
+better than doing nothing."
+
+"Why, Wray, I thought you weren't going to let yourself get down about
+it?"
+
+"I thought you weren't going to let yourself get up--why, you're quite
+festive this morning."
+
+"Well, you see, a fellow can't do better than his best, and so as I have
+done my best I don't mean to punish myself by getting in the blues."
+
+"Pity you didn't make that resolution yesterday.  You were awfully glum,
+you know, then; and now I've got my turn, you see."
+
+"Oh, never mind, a plunge in the Shar will set you all right."
+
+"Stee," said he, addressing his younger brother, who at that moment
+entered proudly in his new capacity as Wraysford's fag, "mind you have
+breakfast ready sharp by eight, do you hear? the best you can get out of
+Wray's cupboard.  Come along, old boy."
+
+And so they went down to the river, Oliver in unusually good spirits,
+and Wraysford most unusually depressed and nervous.  The bathe was not a
+great success, for Wraysford evidently did not enjoy it.
+
+"What's wrong, old man?" said Oliver, as they walked back, "aren't you
+well?"
+
+"I'm all right," said Wraysford.
+
+"But you're out of spirits.  It's odd that I was in dumps and you were
+in good spirits up to the fatal day, and now things are just reversed.
+But, I say, you mustn't get down, you know, or it'll tell against you at
+the exam."
+
+"It strikes me every answer I give will tell against me.  All I hope is
+that you get the scholarship."
+
+"I mean to try, just like you and Loman."
+
+And so they went into breakfast, which was a solemn meal, and despite
+Stephen's care in hunting up delicacies, not very well partaken of.
+
+It seemed ages before the nine o'clock bell summoned them down to the
+Fifth Form room.
+
+Here, however, the sympathy and encouragement of their class-fellows
+amply served to pass the time till the examination began.
+
+"Well, you fellows," cried Pembury, as the two entered, "do you feel
+like winning?"
+
+"Not more than usual," said Oliver.  "How do you feel?"
+
+"Oh, particularly cheerful, for I've nothing to do all day, I find.  I'm
+not in for the Nightingale, or for the Mathematical Medal, or for the
+English Literature.  Simon's in for that, you know, so there's no chance
+for any one."
+
+Simon smiled very blandly at this side compliment.
+
+"So you fellows," continued Tony, "may command my services from morning
+to night if you like."
+
+"Loman was grinding hard all yesterday," said Braddy.  "I'm afraid he'll
+be rather a hot one to beat."
+
+"But we _must_ beat him, mind, you fellows," said Ricketts, calmly,
+comprehending the whole class in his "we."
+
+"Why, Wray," said another, "how jolly blue you look!  Don't go and funk
+it, old man, or it's all UP."
+
+"Who's going to funk it?" said Oliver, impatiently, on his friend's
+behalf.  "I tell you Wray will most likely win."
+
+"Well, as long as one of you does," said Tom Senior, with noble
+impartiality, "we don't care which; do we, Braddy?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+So, then, all this sympathy and encouragement were not for the two boys
+at all, but for their Form.  They might just as well have been two
+carefully trained racehorses starting on a race with heavy odds upon
+them.
+
+The Doctor's entry, however, put an end to any further talk, and, as
+usual, a dead silence ensued after the boys had taken their seats.
+
+The Doctor looked a little uneasy.  Doubtless he was impressed, too, by
+the importance of the occasion.  He proceeded to call over the lists of
+candidates for the different examinations in a fidgety manner, very
+unlike his usual self, and then turning abruptly to the class, said:
+
+"The Mathematical Medal candidates will remain here for examination.
+The English Literature and Nightingale Scholarship candidates will be
+examined in the Sixth Form room.  Boys not in for either of these
+examinations may go to their studies till the twelve o'clock bell rings.
+Before you disperse, however,"--and here the Doctor grew still more
+fidgety--"I want to mention one matter which I have already mentioned in
+the Sixth.  I mention it not because I suspect any boy here of a
+dishonourable act, but because--the matter being a mystery--I feel I
+must not neglect the most remote opportunity of clearing it up."
+
+What on earth was coming?  It was as good as a ghost story, every one
+was so spellbound and mystified.
+
+"On Saturday evening I had occasion to leave my study for rather less
+than five minutes, shortly after nine o'clock.  I had been engaged in
+getting together the various papers of questions for to-day's
+examinations, and left them lying on the corner of the table.  On
+returning to my study--I had not been absent five minutes--I found that
+one of the papers--one of the Nightingale Scholarship papers, which I
+had only just copied out, was missing.  If I were not perfectly sure the
+full number was there before I left the room, I should conclude I was
+mistaken, but of that I am sure.  I just wish to ask this one question
+here, which I have already asked in the Sixth.  Does any boy present
+know anything about the missing paper?"
+
+You might have heard a pin drop as the Doctor paused for a reply.
+
+"No?  I expected not; I am quite satisfied.  You can disperse, boys, to
+your various places."
+
+"What a fellow the Doctor is for speeches, Wray," said Oliver, as he and
+his friend made their way to the Sixth Form room.
+
+"Yes.  But that's a very queer thing about the paper, though."
+
+"Oh, he's certain to have mislaid it somewhere.  It's a queer thing
+saying anything about it; for it looks uncommonly as if he suspected
+some one."
+
+"So it does.  Oh, horrors! here we are at the torture-chamber!  I wish
+it was all over!"
+
+They entered the Sixth Form room, which was regularly cleared for
+action.  One long desk was allotted to the three Nightingale candidates,
+two others to the English Literature boys, and another to the
+competitors in a Sixth Form Greek verse contest.
+
+Loman was already in his place, waiting with flushed face for the ordeal
+to begin.  The two friends took their seats without vouchsafing any
+notice of their rival, and an uncomfortable two minutes ensued, during
+which it seemed as if the Doctor were never to arrive.
+
+He did arrive at last, however, bringing with him the examination papers
+for the various classes.
+
+"Boys for the Greek verse prize come forward."
+
+Wren, Raleigh, Winter, and Callonby advanced, and received each one his
+paper.
+
+"Boys for the Nightingale Scholarship come forward."
+
+The three competitors obeyed the summons, and to each was handed a
+paper.
+
+It was not in human nature to forbear glancing hurriedly at the
+momentous questions, as each walked slowly back to his seat.  The effect
+of that momentary glance was very different on the three boys.
+Wraysford's face slightly lengthened, Loman's grew suddenly aghast,
+Oliver's betrayed no emotion whatever.
+
+"Boys for the English Literature prize come forward."
+
+These duly advanced and were furnished, and then silence reigned in the
+room, broken only by the rapid scratching of pens and the solemn tick of
+the clock on the wall.
+
+Reader, you doubtless know the horrors of an examination-room as well as
+I do.  You know what it is to sit biting the end of your pen, and
+glaring at the ruthless question in front of you.  You know what it is
+to dash nervously from question to question, answering a bit of this and
+a bit of that, but lacking the patience to work steadily down the list.
+And you have experienced doubtless the aggravation of hearing the pen of
+the man on your right flying along the paper with a hideous squeak,
+never stopping for a moment to give you a chance.  And knowing all this,
+there is no need for me to describe the vicissitudes of this particular
+day of ordeal at Saint Dominic's.
+
+The work went steadily on from morning to afternoon.  More than one
+anxious face darted now and then nervous glances up at the clock, as the
+hour of closing approached.
+
+Loman was one of them.  He was evidently in difficulties, and the Fifth
+Form fellows, who looked round occasionally from their English
+Literature papers, were elated to see their own men writing steadily and
+hard, while the Sixth man looked all aground.  There was one boy,
+however, who had no time for such observations.  That was Simon.  He had
+got hold of a question which was after his own heart, and demanded every
+second of his attention--"Describe, in not more than twelve lines of
+blank verse, the natural beauties of the River Shar."  Here was a chance
+for the _Dominican_ poet!
+
+  "The Shar is a very beautiful stream,
+  Of the Ouse a tributary;
+  Up at Gusset Weir it's prettiest, I ween,
+  Because there the birds sing so merry."
+
+These four lines the poet styled, "Canto One."  Cantos 2, 3, and 4 were
+much of the same excellence, and altogether the effusion was in one of
+Simon's happiest moods.  Alas! as another poet said, "Art is long, time
+is fleeting."  The clock pointed to three long before the bard had
+penned his fifth canto; and sadly and regretfully he and his
+fellow-candidates gathered together and handed in their papers, for
+better or worse.
+
+Among the last to finish up was Oliver, who had been working hammer and
+tongs during the whole examination.
+
+"How did you get on?" said Wraysford, as they walked back to the Fifth.
+
+"Middling, not so bad as I feared; how did you?"
+
+"Not very grand, I'm afraid; but better than I expected," said
+Wraysford.  "But I say, did you see how gravelled Loman seemed?  I fancy
+he didn't do very much."
+
+"So I thought; but I hadn't time to watch him much."
+
+In the Fifth there was a crowd of questioners, eager to ascertain how
+their champions had fared; and great was their delight to learn that
+neither was utterly cast down at his own efforts.
+
+"You fellows are regular bricks if you get it!" cried Ricketts.
+
+"It'll be the best thing that has happened for the Fifth for a long
+time."
+
+"Oh, I say," said Simon, suddenly, addressing Oliver in a peculiarly
+knowing tone, "wasn't it funny, that about the Doctor losing the paper?
+Just the very time I met you coming out of his study, you know, on
+Saturday evening.  But of course I won't say anything.  Only wasn't it
+funny?"
+
+What had come over Oliver, that he suddenly turned crimson, and without
+a single word struck the speaker angrily with his open hand on the
+forehead?
+
+Was he mad? or could it possibly be that--
+
+Before the assembled Fifth could recover from their astonishment or
+conjecture as to the motive for this sudden exhibition of feeling, he
+turned abruptly to the door and quitted the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A TURN OF THE TIDE.
+
+An earthquake could hardly have produced a greater shock than Oliver's
+strange conduct produced on the Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's.  For a
+moment or two they remained almost stupefied with astonishment, and then
+rose a sudden clamour of tongues on every hand.
+
+"What can he mean?" exclaimed one.
+
+"Mean!  It's easy enough to see what he means," said another, "the
+hypocrite!"
+
+"I should never have thought Greenfield senior went in for that sort of
+thing!"
+
+"Went in for what sort of thing?" cried Wraysford, with pale face and in
+a perfect tremble.
+
+"Why--cheating!" replied the other.
+
+"You're a liar to say so!" shouted Wraysford, walking rapidly up to the
+speaker.
+
+The other boys, however, intervened, and held the indignant Wraysford
+back.
+
+"I tell you you're a liar to say so!" again he exclaimed.  "He's not a
+cheat, I tell you; he never cheated.  You're a pack of liars, all of
+you!"
+
+"I say, draw it mild, Wray, you know," interposed Pembury.  "You needn't
+include me in your compliments."
+
+Wraysford glared at him a moment and then coloured slightly.
+
+"_You_ don't call Oliver a cheat?" he said, inquiringly.
+
+"I shouldn't till I was cock-sure of the fact," replied the cautious
+editor of the _Dominican_.
+
+"Do you mean to say you aren't sure?" said Wraysford.
+
+Pembury vouchsafed no answer, but whistled to himself.
+
+"All I can say is," said Bullinger, who was one of Wraysford's chums,
+"it looks uncommonly ugly, if what Simon says is true."
+
+"I don't believe a word that ass says."
+
+"Oh, but," began Simon, with a most aggravating cheerfulness, "I assure
+you I'm not telling a lie, Wraysford.  I'm sorry I said anything about
+it.  I never thought there would be a row about it.  I promise I'll not
+mention it to anybody."
+
+"You blockhead! who cares for your promises?  I don't believe you."
+
+"Well, I know I met Greenfield senior coming out of the Doctor's study
+on Saturday evening, about five minutes past nine.  I'm positive of
+that," said Simon.
+
+"And I suppose he had the paper in his hand?" sneered Wraysford, looking
+very miserable.
+
+"No; I expect he'd put it in his pocket, you know, at least, that is, I
+would have."
+
+This candid admission on the part of the ingenious poet was too much for
+the gravity of one or two of the Fifth.  Wraysford, however, was in no
+laughing mood, and went off to his study in great perturbation.
+
+He could not for a moment believe that his friend could be guilty of
+such a dishonourable act as stealing an examination paper, and his
+impulse was to go at once to Oliver's study and get the suspicions of
+the Fifth laid there and then.  But the fear of seeming in the least
+degree to join in those suspicions kept him back.  He tried to laugh the
+thing to scorn inwardly, and called himself a villain and a traitor
+twenty times for admitting even the shadow of a doubt into his own mind.
+Yet, as Wraysford sat that afternoon and brooded over his friend's new
+trouble, he became more and more uncomfortable.
+
+When on a former occasion the fellows had called in question Oliver's
+courage, he had felt so sure, so very sure the suspicion was a
+groundless one, that he had never taken it seriously to heart.  But
+somehow this affair was quite different.  What possible object would
+Simon, for instance, have for telling a deliberate lie? and if it had
+been a lie, why should Oliver have betrayed such confusion on hearing
+it?
+
+These were questions which, try all he would, Wraysford could not get
+out of his mind.
+
+When Stephen presently came in, cheery as ever, and eager to hear how
+the examination had gone off, the elder boy felt an awkwardness in
+talking to him which he had never experienced before.  As for Stephen,
+he put down the short, embarrassed answers he received to Wraysford's
+own uneasiness as to the result of the examination.  Little guessed the
+boy what was passing in the other's mind!
+
+There was just one hope Wraysford clung to.  That was that Oliver should
+come out anywhere but first in the result.  If Loman, or Wraysford
+himself, were to win, no one would be able to say his friend had
+profited by a dishonourable act; indeed, it would be as good as proof he
+had not taken the paper.
+
+And yet Wraysford felt quite sick as he called to mind the unflagging
+manner in which Oliver had worked at his paper that morning, covering
+sheet upon sheet with his answers, and scarcely drawing in until time
+was up.  It didn't look like losing, this.
+
+He threw himself back in his chair in sheer misery.  "I would sooner
+have done the thing myself," groaned he to himself, "than Oliver."  Then
+suddenly he added, "But it's not true!  I'm certain of it!  He couldn't
+do it!  I'll never believe it of him!"
+
+Poor Wraysford!  It was easier to say the generous words than feel them.
+
+Pembury looked in presently with a face far more serious and overcast
+than he usually wore.
+
+"I say, Wray," said he, in troubled tones, "I'm regularly floored by all
+this.  Do you believe it?"
+
+"No, I don't," replied Wraysford, but so sadly and hesitatingly that had
+he at once confessed he did, he could not have expressed his meaning
+more plainly.
+
+"I'd give anything to be sure it was all false," said Pembury, "and so
+would a lot of the fellows.  As for that fool Simon--"
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Wraysford, fiercely, "the fellow ought to be kicked
+round the school."
+
+"He's getting on that way already, I fancy," said Pembury.  "I was
+saying I'd think nothing at all about it if what he says was the only
+thing to go by, but--well, you saw what a state Greenfield got into
+about it?"
+
+"Maybe he was just in a sudden rage with the fellow for thinking of such
+a thing," said Wraysford.
+
+"It looked like something more than rage," said Pembury, dismally,
+"something a good deal more."
+
+Wraysford said nothing, but fidgeted in his chair.  A long silence
+followed, each busy with his own thoughts and both yearning for any sign
+of hope.  "I don't see what good it could have done him if he did take
+the paper.  He'd have no time to cram it up yesterday.  He was out with
+you, wasn't he, all the afternoon?"
+
+"No," said Wraysford, not looking up, "he had a headache and stayed in."
+
+Pembury gave a low whistle of dismay.
+
+"I say, Wray," said he, presently, "it really does look bad, don't you
+think so yourself?"
+
+"I don't know what to think," said Wraysford, with a groan; "I'm quite
+bewildered."
+
+"It's no use pretending not to see what's as plain as daylight," said
+Pembury, as he turned and hobbled away.
+
+The Fifth meanwhile had been holding a sort of court-martial on the
+affair.
+
+Simon was made to repeat his story once more, and stuck to it too, in
+spite of all the browbeating he got.
+
+"What makes you so sure of the exact time?" asked one of his
+inquisitors.
+
+"Oh, because, you know, I wanted to get off a letter by the post, and
+thought I was in time till I saw the clock opposite the Doctor's study
+said five minutes past."
+
+"Did Greenfield say anything to you when he saw you?" some one else
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes, he asked me if I knew where the Doctor was."
+
+"Did you tell him?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I said he'd gone down to the hall or somewhere."
+
+"And did Greenfield go after him?"
+
+"Oh, no, you know, he went off the other way as quick as he could," said
+Simon, in a voice as though he would say, "How can you ask such an
+absurd question?"
+
+"Did you ask him what he wanted in the study?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but of course he didn't tell me--not likely.  But I say, I
+suppose we're sure to win the Nightingale now, aren't we?  Mind, I'm not
+going to tell anybody, because, of course, it's a secret."
+
+"Shut up, you miserable blockhead, unless you want to be kicked!"
+shouted Bullinger.  "No one wants to know what you're going to do.
+You've done mischief enough already."
+
+"Oh, well, I didn't mean, you know," said the poet; "all I said was I
+met him coming--"
+
+"Shut up, do you hear? or you'll catch it!" once more exclaimed
+Bullinger.
+
+The wretched Simon gave up further attempts to explain himself.  Still
+what he had said, in his blundering way, had been quite enough.
+
+The thing was beyond a doubt; and as the Fifth sat there in judgment, a
+sense of shame and humiliation came over them, to which many of them
+were unused.
+
+"I know this," said Ricketts, giving utterance to what was passing in
+the minds of nearly all his class-fellows, "I'd sooner have lost the
+scholarship twenty times over than win it like this."
+
+"Precious fine glory it will be if we do get it!" said Braddy.
+
+"Unless Wray wins," suggested Ricketts.
+
+"No such luck as that, I'm afraid," said Bullinger.  "That's just the
+worst of it.  He's not only disgraced us, but he's swindled his best
+friend.  It's a blackguard shame!" added he, fiercely.
+
+"At any rate, Loman is out of it, from what I hear; he got regularly
+stuck in the exam."
+
+"I tell you," said Ricketts, "I'd sooner have had Loman take the
+scholarship and our two men nowhere at all, than this."
+
+There was nothing more than this to be said, assuredly, to prove the
+disgust of the Fifth at the conduct of their class-fellow.
+
+"I suppose Greenfield will have the grace to confess it, now it's all
+come out," said Ricketts.
+
+"If he doesn't I fancy we can promise him a pretty hot time of it among
+us," said Braddy.
+
+One or two laughed at this, but to most of those present the matter was
+past a joke.
+
+For it must be said of the Dominicans--and I think it may be said of a
+good many English public schoolboys besides--that, however foolish they
+may have been in other respects, however riotous, however jealous of one
+another, however well satisfied with themselves, a point of honour was a
+point which they all took seriously to heart.  They could forgive a
+schoolfellow for doing a disobedient act sometimes, or perhaps even a
+vicious act, but a cowardly or dishonourable action was a thing which
+nothing would excuse, and which they felt not only a disgrace to the boy
+perpetrating it, but a disgrace put upon themselves.
+
+Had Oliver been the most popular boy in the school it would have been
+all the same.  As it was, he was a long way from being the most popular.
+He never took any pains to win the good opinion of his fellows.  When,
+by means of some achievement in which he excelled, he had contrived (as
+in the case of the cricket match last term) to bring glory on his school
+and to make himself a hero in the eyes of Saint Dominic's, he had been
+wont to take the applause bestowed on him with the utmost indifference,
+which some might even construe into contempt.  And in precisely the same
+spirit would he take the displeasure which he now and then managed to
+incur.
+
+Boys don't like this.  It irritates them to see their praise or blame
+made little of; and for this reason, if for no other, Oliver would
+hardly have been a favourite.
+
+But there was another reason.  Now that the Fifth found their faith in
+Greenfield senior rudely dashed to the ground, they were not slow to
+recall the unpleasant incidents of last term, when, by refusing to
+thrash Loman, he had discredited the whole Form, and laid himself under
+the suspicion of cowardice.
+
+Most of the fellows had at the time of the Nightingale examination
+either forgotten, or forgiven, or repented of their suspicions, and,
+indeed, by his challenge to Loman the previous Saturday Oliver had been
+considered quite to have redeemed his reputation in this respect.  But
+now it all came up again.  A fellow who could do a cowardly deed at one
+time could do a mean one at another.  If one was natural to his
+character, so was the other, and in fact one explained the other.  He
+was mean when he showed himself a coward last term.  He was a coward
+when he did a mean act this term.
+
+What wonder, in these circumstances, if the Fifth felt sore, very sore
+indeed, on the subject of Oliver Greenfield?
+
+To every one's relief, he did not put in an appearance again that day.
+He kept his study, and Paul brought down word at prayer time that he had
+a headache and had gone to bed.
+
+At this the Fifth smiled grimly and said nothing.
+
+Next morning, however, Oliver turned up as usual in his place.  He
+looked pale, but otherwise unconcerned, and those who looked-for traces
+of shame and self-abasement in his face were sorely disappointed.
+
+He surely must have known or guessed the resolution the Fifth had come
+to with regard to him; but from his unabashed manner he was evidently
+determined not to take it for granted till the hint should be given
+pretty clearly.
+
+On Ricketts, whose desk was next to that of Oliver, fell the task of
+first giving this hint.
+
+"How did you get on yesterday in the English Literature?" asked Oliver.
+
+Ricketts' only answer was to turn his back and begin to talk to his
+other neighbour.
+
+Those who were watching this incident noticed a sudden flush on Oliver's
+cheek as he stared for an instant at his late friend.  Then with an
+effort he seemed to recover himself.
+
+He did not, however, attempt any further conversation either with
+Ricketts or his other neighbour, Braddy, who in a most marked manner had
+moved as far as possible away from him.  On the contrary, he coolly
+availed himself of the extra room on the desk and busied himself
+silently with the lessons for the day.
+
+But he now and then looked furtively up in the direction of Wraysford,
+who was seated at an opposite desk.  The eyes of the two friends met now
+and then, and when they did each seemed greatly embarrassed.  For
+Wraysford, after a night's heart-searching, had come to the
+determination not, after all, to cut his friend; and yet he found it
+impossible to feel and behave towards him as formerly.  He tried very
+hard indeed not to appear constrained, but the more he tried the more
+embarrassed he felt.  After class he purposely walked across the room to
+meet his old chum.
+
+"How are you?" he said, in a forced tone and manner utterly unlike his
+old self.
+
+It was a ridiculous and feeble remark to make, and it would have been
+far better had he said nothing.  Oliver stared at him for a moment in a
+perplexed way, and then, without answering the question, walked
+somewhere else.
+
+Wraysford was quite conscious of his own mistake; still it hurt him
+sorely that his well-meant effort, which had cost him so much, should be
+thus summarily thrust aside without a word.  For the first time in his
+life he felt a sense of resentment against his old friend, the beginning
+of a gap which was destined to become wider as time went on.
+
+The only person in the room who did meet Oliver on natural ground was
+the poetic Simon.  To him Oliver walked up and said, quietly, "I beg
+your pardon for hitting you yesterday."
+
+"Oh," said Simon, with a giggle.  "Oh, it's all right, Greenfield, you
+know; I never meant to let it out.  It'll soon get hushed up; I don't
+intend to let it go a bit farther."
+
+The poet was too much carried away by the enthusiasm of his own
+magnanimity to observe that he was in imminent risk, during the delivery
+of this speech, of another blow a good deal more startling than that of
+yesterday.  When he concluded, he found Oliver had left him to himself
+and hurriedly quitted the room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+THE RESULT OF THE EXAMINATION.
+
+The adventures of the morning did not certainly tend to make the Fifth
+think better of Oliver Greenfield.
+
+Had he appeared before them humble and penitent, there were some who
+even then might have tried to forgive him and forget what was done.  But
+instead of that he was evidently determined to brazen the thing out, and
+had begun by snubbing the very fellows whom he had so deeply injured.
+
+Wraysford felt specially hurt.  It had cost him a good deal to put on a
+friendly air and speak as if nothing had happened; and to find himself
+scorned for his pains and actually avoided by the friend who had wronged
+him was too much.  But even that would not have been so bad, had not
+Oliver immediately gone and made up to Simon before all the class.
+
+Wraysford did not remain to join in the chorus of indignation in which
+the others indulged after morning school was over.  He left them and
+strolled out dismally into the playground.
+
+He must do something!  He must know one way or the other what to think
+of Oliver.  Even now he would gladly believe that it was all a dream,
+and that nothing had come between him and his old friend.  But the more
+he pondered it the more convinced he became it was anything but a dream.
+
+He wandered unconsciously beyond the playground towards the woods on the
+side of the Shar, where he and Oliver had walked so often in the old
+days.
+
+The old days!  It was but yesterday that they had last walked there.
+Yet what an age ago it seemed! and how impossible that the old days
+should ever come back again.
+
+He had not got far into the wood when he heard what seemed to him
+familiar footsteps ahead of him.  Yesterday he would have shouted and
+whistled and called on the fellow to hold hard.  But now he had no such
+inclination.  His impulse was to turn round and go back.
+
+"And yet," thought he, "why should _I go_ back?  If it is Oliver, what
+have _I_ to feel ashamed of?"
+
+And so he advanced.  The boy in front of him was walking slowly, and
+Wraysford soon came in view of him.  As he expected, it was Oliver.
+
+At the sight of his old friend, wandering here solitary and listless,
+all Wraysford's old affection came suddenly back.  At least he would
+make one more effort.  So he quickened his pace.  Oliver turned and saw
+him coming.  But he did not wait.  He walked on slowly as before,
+apparently indifferent to the approach of anybody.
+
+This was a damper certainly to Wraysford.  At least Oliver might have
+guessed why his friend was coming after him.
+
+It was desperately hard to know how to begin a conversation.  Oliver
+trudged on, sullen and silent, in anything but an encouraging manner.
+Still, Wraysford, now his mind was made up, was not to be put from his
+purpose.
+
+"Noll, old man," he began, in as much of his old tone and manner as he
+could assume.
+
+"Well?" said Oliver, not looking up.
+
+"Aren't we to be friends still?"
+
+The question cost the speaker a hard effort, and evidently went home.
+Oliver stopped short in his walk, and looking full in his old friend's
+face, said, "Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I'm afraid we are not friends at this moment."
+
+"And whose fault is that?" said Oliver, scornfully.
+
+The question stung Wraysford as much as it amazed him.  Was he, then, of
+all the fellows in the school, to have an explanation thus demanded of
+him from one who had done him the most grievous personal wrong one
+schoolboy well could do to another?
+
+His face flushed as he replied slowly, "Your fault, Greenfield; how can
+you ask?"
+
+Oliver gave a short laugh very like contempt, and then turned suddenly
+on his heel, leaving Wraysford smarting with indignation, and finally
+convinced that between his old friend and himself there was a gulf which
+now it would be hard indeed to bridge over.
+
+He returned moodily to the school.  Stephen was busy in his study
+getting tea.
+
+"Hullo, Wray," he shouted, as the elder boy entered; "don't you wish it
+was this time to-morrow?  I do, I'm mad to hear the result!"
+
+"Are you?" said Wraysford.
+
+"Yes, and so are you, you old humbug.  Noll says he thinks he did pretty
+well, and that you answered well too.  I say, what a joke if it's a dead
+heat, and you both get bracketed first."
+
+"Cut away now," said Wraysford, as coolly as he could, "and don't make
+such a row."
+
+There was something unusual in his tone which surprised the small boy.
+He put it down, however, to worry about the examination, and quietly
+withdrew as commanded.
+
+The next day came at last.  Two days ago, in the Fifth Form, at any
+rate, it would have been uphill work for any master to attempt to
+conduct morning class in the face of all the eagerness and enthusiasm
+with which the result of the examinations would have been looked-for.
+Now, however, there was all the suspense, indeed, but it was the
+suspense of dread rather than triumph.
+
+"Never mind," said Ricketts to Pembury, after the two had been talking
+over the affair for the twentieth time.  "Never mind; and there's just
+this, Tony, if Wray is only second, it will be a splendid win for the
+Fifth all the same."
+
+"I see nothing splendid in the whole concern," said Pembury.  And that
+was the general feeling.
+
+Oliver entered and took his accustomed seat in silence.  No one spoke to
+him, many moved away from him, and nearly all favoured him with a long
+and unfriendly stare.
+
+All these things he took unmoved.  He sat coolly waiting for class to
+begin, and when it did begin, any one would have supposed he was the
+only comfortable and easy-minded fellow in the room.  The lesson dragged
+on languidly that morning.  Most of the boys seemed to regard it as
+something inflicted on them to pass the time rather than as a serious
+effort of instruction.  The clock crawled slowly on from ten to eleven,
+and from eleven to half-past, and every one was glad when at last Mr
+Jellicott closed his book.  Then followed an interval of suspense.  The
+Doctor was due with the results, and was even now announcing them in the
+Sixth.  What ages it seemed before his footsteps sounded in the passage
+outside the Fifth!
+
+At last he entered, and a hush fell over the class.  One or two glanced
+quickly up, as though they hoped to read their fate in the head master's
+face.  Others waited, too anxious to stir or look up.  Others groaned
+inwardly with a sort of prophetic foresight of what was to come.
+
+The Doctor walked up to the desk and unfolded his paper.
+
+Wraysford looked furtively across the room to where his old friend sat.
+There was a flush in Oliver's face as he followed the Doctor with his
+eyes; he was breathing hard, Wraysford could see, and the corners of his
+mouth were working with more than ordinary nervousness.
+
+"Alas!" thought Wraysford, "I don't envy him his thoughts!"
+
+The Doctor began to speak.
+
+"The following are the results of the various examinations held on
+Monday.  English Literature--maximum number of marks 100. 1st,
+Bullinger, 72 marks; 2nd, West, 68; 3rd, Maybury, 51; 4th, Simon, 23.
+I'm afraid, Simon, you were a little too venturesome entering for an
+examination like this.  Your paper was a very poor performance."
+
+Simon groaned and gulped down his astonishment.
+
+"I say," whispered he to Oliver, who sat in front of him, "I know it's a
+mistake: you know I wrote five cantos about the Shar--good too.  He's
+lost that.  I say, had I better tell him?"
+
+Oliver vouchsafing no reply, the unfortunate poet merely replied to the
+head master's remarks, "Yes, sir," and then subsided, more convinced
+than ever that Saint Dominic's was not worthy of him.
+
+"The Mathematical Medal--maximum number of marks 80. 1st, Heath, 65;
+2nd, Price, 54; 3rd, Roberts, 53.  Heath's answers, I may say, were very
+good, and the examiners have specially commended him."
+
+Heath being a Sixth Form man, this information was absolutely without
+interest to the Fifth, who wondered why the Doctor should put himself
+out of the way to announce it.
+
+"The Nightingale Scholarship."
+
+Ah, now!  There was a quick stir, and then a deeper silence than ever as
+the Doctor slowly read out, "The maximum number of marks possible, 120.
+First, Greenfield, Fifth Form, 112 marks.  And I must say I and the
+examiners are astonished as well as highly gratified with this really
+brilliant performance.  Greenfield, I congratulate you as well as your
+class-fellows on your success.  It does you the very greatest credit!"
+
+A dead silence followed this eulogium.  Those who watched Oliver saw his
+face first glow, then turn pale, as the Doctor spoke.  He kept his eyes
+steadily fixed on the paper in the head master's hand, as if waiting for
+what was to follow.
+
+The Doctor went on, "Second, Wraysford, Fifth Form, 97 marks, also a
+creditable performance."
+
+One or two near Wraysford clapped him warmly on the back, and throughout
+the class generally there was a show of satisfaction at this result, in
+strange contrast with the manner in which the announcement of Oliver's
+success had been received.
+
+Still, every one was too eager to hear the third and final announcement
+to disturb the proceedings by any demonstration just now.
+
+"Loman, Sixth Form--" and here the Doctor paused, and knitted his brows.
+
+"Loman, Sixth Form, 70 marks!"
+
+This finally brought down the house.  Scarcely was the Doctor's back
+turned, when a general clamour rose on every hand.  He, good man, set it
+down to applause of the winners, but every one else knew it meant
+triumph over the vanquished.
+
+"Bravo, Wray! old man.  Hurrah for the Fifth!" shouted Bullinger.
+
+"Ninety-seven to seventy.  Splendid, old fellow!" cried another.
+
+"I was certain you'd win," said another.
+
+"I have not won," said Wraysford, drily, and evidently not liking these
+marked congratulations; "I'm second."
+
+"So you are, I quite forgot," said Ricketts: then turning to Oliver, he
+added, mockingly, "Allow me to congratulate you, Greenfield, on your
+really brilliant success. 112 marks out of 120!  You could hardly have
+done better if you had seen the paper a day or two before the exam!
+Your class, I assure you, are very proud of you."
+
+A general sneer of contempt followed this speech, in the midst of which
+Oliver, after darting one angry glance at the speaker, deliberately
+quitted the room.
+
+This proceeding greatly irritated the Fifth, who had hoped at least to
+make their class-fellow smart while they had the opportunity.  They
+greeted his departure now with a general chorus of hissing, and revenged
+themselves in his absence by making the most of Wraysford.
+
+"Surely the fellow won't be allowed to take the scholarship after this?"
+said Ricketts.  "The Doctor must see through it all."
+
+"It's very queer if he doesn't," said Bullinger.
+
+"The scholarship belongs to Wray," said Braddy, "and I mean to say it's
+a blackguard shame if he doesn't get it!"
+
+"It's downright robbery, that's what it is!" said another; "the fellow
+ought to be kicked out of the school!"
+
+"I vote some one tells the Doctor," said Braddy.
+
+"Suppose you go and tell him now, yourself," said Pembury, with a
+sarcastic smile; "you could do it capitally.  What do you say?"
+
+Braddy coloured.  Pembury was always snubbing him.
+
+"I don't want to tell tales," he said.  "What I mean is, Wraysford ought
+not to be cheated out of his scholarship."
+
+"It's a lucky thing Wray has got you to set things right for him,"
+snarled Pembury, amid a general titter.
+
+Braddy subsided at this, and left his tormentor master of the situation.
+
+"There's no use our saying or doing anything," said that worthy.  "We
+shall probably only make things worse.  It's sure to come out in time,
+and till then we must grin and bear it."
+
+"All very well," said some one, "but Greenfield will be grinning too."
+
+"I fancy not," said Pembury.  "I'm not a particular angel myself, but
+I've a notion if I had cheated a schoolfellow I should be a trifle off
+my grinning form; I don't know."
+
+This modest confession caused some amusement, and helped a good deal to
+restore the class to a better humour.
+
+"After all, I don't envy the fellow his feelings this minute," continued
+Pembury, following up his advantage.
+
+"And I envy his prospects in the Fifth still less," said Ricketts.
+
+"If you take my advice," said Pembury, "you'll leave him pretty much to
+himself.  Greenfield is a sort of fellow it's not easy to score off; and
+some of you would only make fools of yourselves if you tried to do it."
+
+Wraysford had stood by during this conversation, torn by conflicting
+emotions.  He was undoubtedly bitterly disappointed to have missed the
+scholarship; but that was as nothing to the knowledge that it was his
+friend, his own familiar friend, who had turned against him and thus
+grievously wronged him.  Yet with all his sense of injury he could
+hardly stand by and listen to all the bitter talk about Oliver in his
+absence without a sense of shame.  Two days ago he would have flared up
+at the first word, and given the rash speaker something to remember.
+Now it was his misery to stand by and hear his old chum abused and
+despised, and to feel that he deserved every word that was spoken of
+him!
+
+If he could only have found one word to say on his behalf!
+
+But he could not, and so left the room as soon as it was possible to
+escape, and retired disconsolately to his own study.
+
+As for the Fifth, Pembury's advice prevailed with them.  There were a
+few who were still disposed to take their revenge on Oliver in a more
+marked manner than by merely cutting him; but a dread of the tongue of
+the editor of the _Dominican_, as well as a conviction of the
+uselessness of such procedure, constrained them to give way and fall in
+with the general resolution.
+
+One boy only was intractable.  That was Simon.  It was not in the poet's
+nature to agree to cut anybody.  When the class dispersed he took it
+into his gifted head to march direct to Oliver's study.  Oliver was
+there, writing a letter.
+
+"Oh, I say, you know," began Simon, nervously, but smiling most affably,
+"all the fellows are going to cut you, you know, Greenfield.  About that
+paper, you know, the time I met you coming out of the Doctor's study.
+But _I_ won't cut you, you know.  We'll hush it all up, you know,
+Greenfield; upon my word we will.  But the fellows think--"
+
+"That will do!" said Oliver, angrily.
+
+"Oh, but you know, Greenfield--"
+
+"Look here, if you don't get out of my study," said Oliver, rising to
+his feet, "I'll--"
+
+Before he could finish his sentence the poet, who after all was one of
+the best-intentioned jackasses in Saint Dominic's, had vanished.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+LOMAN IN LUCK.
+
+While we have been talking of Oliver and Wraysford, and of the manner in
+which the results of the Nightingale examination affected them and the
+class to which they belonged, the reader will hardly have forgotten that
+there was another whose interest in that result was fully as serious and
+fully as painful.
+
+Loman had been counting on gaining the scholarship to a dead certainty.
+From the moment when it occurred to him he would be able to free himself
+of his money difficulties with Cripps by winning it, he had dismissed,
+or seemed to dismiss, all further anxiety from his mind.  He never
+doubted that he in the Sixth could easily beat the two boys in the
+Fifth; and though, as we have seen, he now and then felt a sneaking
+misgiving on the subject, it never seriously disturbed his confidence.
+
+Now, however, he was utterly floored.  He did not need to wait for the
+announcement of the results to be certain he had not won, for he had
+known his fate the moment his eyes glanced down the questions on the
+paper on the morning of examination.
+
+At his last interview with Cripps that memorable Saturday afternoon, he
+had promised confidently to call at the Cockchafer next Thursday with
+the news of the result, as a further guarantee for the payment of the
+thirty pounds, never doubting what that result would be.  How was he to
+face this interview now?
+
+He could never tell Cripps straight out that he had been beaten in the
+examination; that would be the same thing as telling him to go at once
+to the Doctor or his father with the document which the boy had signed,
+and expose the whole affair.  And it would be no use making a poor mouth
+to the landlord of the Cockchafer and begging to be forgiven the debt;
+Loman knew enough by this time to feel convinced of the folly of that.
+What was to be done?
+
+"I shall have to humbug the fellow some way," said Loman to himself, as
+he sat in his study the afternoon after the announcement of the result.
+And then followed an oath.
+
+Loman had been going from bad to worse the last month.  Ever since he
+had begun, during the holidays, regularly to frequent the Cockchafer,
+and to discover that it was his interest to make himself agreeable to
+the man he disliked and feared, the boy's vicious instincts had
+developed strangely.  Company which before would have offended him, he
+now found--especially when it flattered him--congenial, and words and
+acts from which in former days he would have shrunk now came naturally.
+
+"I shall have to humbug the fellow somehow," said he; "I only wish I
+knew how;" and then Loman set himself deliberately to invent a lie for
+Mr Cripps.
+
+A charming afternoon's occupation this for a boy of seventeen!
+
+He sat and pondered for an hour or more, sometimes fancying he had hit
+upon the object of his search, and sometimes finding himself quite off
+the tack.  Had Cripps only known what care and diligence was being
+bestowed on him that afternoon he would assuredly have been highly
+nattered.
+
+At length he seemed to come to a satisfactory decision, and, naturally
+exhausted by such severe mental exertion, Loman quitted his study and
+sought in the playground the fresh air and diversion he so much needed.
+One of the first boys he met there was Simon.  "Hullo, Loman!" said that
+amiable genius, "would you have believed it?"
+
+"Believed what?" said Loman.
+
+"Oh! you know, I thought you knew, about the Nightingale, you know.  I
+say, how jolly low you came out!"
+
+"Look here! you'd better hold your row!" said Loman, surlily, "unless
+you want a hiding."
+
+"Oh; it's not that, you know.  What I meant was about Greenfield senior.
+Isn't that a go?"
+
+"What about him?  Why can't you talk like an ordinary person, and not
+like a howling jackass?"
+
+"Why, you know," said Simon, off whom all such pretty side compliments
+as these were wont to roll like water off a duck's back--"why, you know,
+about that paper?"
+
+"What paper?" said Loman, impatiently.  "The one that was stolen out of
+the Doctor's study, you know.  Isn't that a go?  But we're going to hush
+it up.  Honour bright!"
+
+Loman's face at that moment was anything but encouraging.  Somehow, this
+roundabout way of the poet's seemed particularly aggravating to him, for
+he turned quite pale with rage, and, seizing the unhappy bard by the
+throat, said, with an oath, "What do you mean, you miserable beast?
+What about the paper?"
+
+"Oh!" said Simon, not at all put about by this rough handling--"why,
+don't you know? _we_ know who took it, we do; but we're all going to--"
+
+But at this point Simon's speech was interrupted, for the very good
+reason that Loman's grip on his throat became so very tight that the
+wretched poet nearly turned black in the face.
+
+With another oath the Sixth Form boy exclaimed, "Who took it?"
+
+"Why--don't you know?--oh!--oh, I say, mind my throat!--haven't you
+heard?--why, Greenfield senior, you know!"
+
+Loman let go his man suddenly and stared at him.
+
+"Greenfield senior?" he exclaimed in amazement.
+
+"Yes; would you have thought it?  None of us would--we're all going to
+hush it up, you know, honour bright we are."
+
+"Who told you he took it?"
+
+"Why, you know, I saw him;" and here Simon giggled jubilantly, to mark
+what astonishment his disclosure was causing.
+
+"_You_ saw him take it?" asked Loman, astounded.
+
+"Yes; that is, I saw him coming out of the Doctor's study with it."
+
+"You did?"
+
+"Yes; that is, of course he must have had it; and he says so himself."
+
+"What, Greenfield says he took the paper?" exclaimed Loman, in utter
+astonishment.
+
+"Yes; that is, he doesn't say he didn't; and all the fellows are going
+to cut him dead, but we mean to hush it up if we can."
+
+"Hush yourself up, that's what you'd better do," said Loman, turning his
+back unceremoniously on his informant, and proceeding, full of this
+strange news, on his solitary walk.  What was in his mind as he went
+along I cannot tell you.  I fancy it was hardly sorrow at the thought
+that a schoolfellow could stoop to a mean, dishonest action, nor, I
+think, was it indignation on Wraysford's or his own account.
+
+Indeed, the few boys who passed Loman that afternoon were struck with
+the cheerfulness of his appearance.  Considering he had been miserably
+beaten in the scholarship examination, this show of satisfaction was all
+the more remarkable.
+
+"The fellow seems quite proud of himself," said Callonby to Wren as they
+passed him.
+
+"He's the only fellow who is, if that's so," said Wren.
+
+Loman stopped and spoke to them as they came up.
+
+"Hullo! you fellows," said he, in as free and easy a manner as one
+fellow can assume to others who he knows dislike him, "I wanted to see
+you.  Which way are you going?--back to the school?"
+
+"Wren and I are going a stroll together," said Callonby, coldly;
+"good-bye."
+
+"Half a minute," said Loman.  "I suppose you heard the results of the
+Nightingale read out."
+
+"Considering I was sitting on the same form with you when they were, I
+suppose I did," said Wren.
+
+"That's all right," said Loman, evidently determined not to notice the
+snubbing bestowed on him.  "Mine wasn't a very loud score, was it?
+Seventy!  I was surprised it was as much!"
+
+The two Sixth boys looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"The fact is, I never tried to answer," said Loman, "and for a very good
+reason.  I suppose you know."
+
+"No--what?" asked they.
+
+"Haven't you heard?  I thought it was all over the school.  You heard
+about the Doctor missing a paper?"
+
+"Yes; what about it?  Was it found, or lost, or what?"
+
+"No one owned to having taken it, that's certain."
+
+"I should hope not.  Not the sort of thing any fellow here would do."
+
+"That's just what I should have thought," said Loman.  "But the fact is,
+some one did take it--you can guess who--and you don't suppose I was
+going to be fool enough to take any trouble over my answers when I knew
+one of the other fellows had had the paper in his pocket a day and a
+half before the exam."  And here Loman laughed.
+
+"Do you mean to say Greenfield stole it?" exclaimed both the friends at
+once, in utter astonishment.
+
+"I mean to say you're not far wrong.  But you'd better ask some of the
+Fifth.  It's all come out, I hear, there."
+
+"And you knew of it before the exam?"
+
+"I guessed it; or you may be sure I'd have taken a little more trouble
+over my answers.  It wasn't much use as it was."
+
+Loman had the satisfaction of seeing the two Sixth boys depart in
+amazement, and the still greater satisfaction of seeing them a little
+later in confidential conference with Simon, from whom he guessed pretty
+correctly they would be sure to get a full "all-round" narrative of the
+whole affair.
+
+"I'm all right with the Sixth, anyhow," muttered he to himself.  "I only
+wish I was as right with that blackguard Cripps."
+
+"That blackguard Cripps" had, next afternoon, the peculiar pleasure of
+welcoming his young friend and patron under the hospitable roof of the
+Cockchafer.  As usual, he was as surprised as he was delighted at the
+honour done him, and could not imagine for the life of him to what he
+was indebted for so charming a condescension.  In other words, he left
+Loman to open the business as best he could.
+
+"I promised to come and tell you about the exam, didn't I?"
+
+"Eh?  Oh, yes, to be sure.  That was last Saturday.  Upon my word, I'd
+quite forgotten."
+
+Of course Loman knew this was false; but he had to look pleasant and
+answer, "Well, you see, my memory was better than yours."
+
+"Right you are, young captain.  And what about this here fifty-pound
+dicky-bird you've been after?"
+
+"The Nightingale?" said Loman.  "Oh, it's all right, of course; but the
+fact is, I forgot when I promised you the money now, that of course
+they--"
+
+"Oh, come now, none of your gammon," said Mr Cripps, angrily; "a
+promise is a promise, and I expect young swells as makes them to keep
+them, mind that."
+
+"Oh, of course I'll keep them, Cripps.  What I was saying was that they
+don't pay you the money till the beginning of each year."
+
+Loman omitted to mention, as he had omitted to mention all along, that
+young gentlemen who win scholarships do not, as a rule, have the money
+they win put into their hands to do as they like with.  But this was a
+trifling slip of the memory, of course!
+
+"I don't care when they pay you your money!  All I know is I must have
+mine now, my young dandy.  Next week the time's up."
+
+"But, Cripps, how _can_ I pay you unless I've got the money?"
+
+"No, no; I've had enough of that, young gentleman.  This time I'm
+a-going to have my way, or the governor shall know all about it,--you
+see!"
+
+"Oh, don't say that!" said Loman.  "Wait a little longer and it will be
+all right, it really will."
+
+"Not a bit of it.  That's what you said three months ago," replied
+Cripps.
+
+"I won't ask you again," pleaded the boy; "just this time, Cripps."
+
+"Why, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, that you ought," exclaimed
+the virtuous landlord of the Cockchafer, "a keeping a honest man out of
+his money!"
+
+"Oh, but I'm certain to have it then--that is, next to certain."
+
+"Oh! then what you're telling me about this here Nightingale of yours is
+a lie, is it?" said the 'cute Mr Cripps.  "You ain't got it at all,
+ain't you?"
+
+Loman could have bitten his tongue off for making such a blunder.
+
+"A lie?  No; that is--Why, Cripps, the fact is--" he stammered, becoming
+suddenly very red.
+
+"Well, drive on," said Cripps, enjoying the boy's confusion, and proud
+of his own sharpness.
+
+"The fact is--I was going to tell you, Cripps, I was really; there's
+been something wrong about this exam.  One of the fellows stole one of
+the papers, and so got the scholarship unfairly."
+
+"And I can make a pretty good guess," said Mr Cripps, with a grin,
+"which of the fellows that gentleman was."
+
+"No, it wasn't me, Cripps, really," said Loman, pale and quite humble in
+the presence of his creditor; "it was one of the others--Greenfield in
+the Fifth; the fellow, you know, who struck you on Saturday."
+
+"What, him?" exclaimed Cripps, astonished for once in a way.  "That
+bloke?  Why, he looked a honest sort of chap, he did, though I _do_ owe
+him one."
+
+"Oh," said Loman, following up this temporary advantage, "he's a regular
+swindler, is Greenfield.  He stole the paper, you know, and so won the
+scholarship, of course.  I was certain of it, if it hadn't been for
+that.  I mean to have a row made about it, and there's certain to be
+another exam, so that I'm sure of the money if you'll only wait."
+
+"And how long do you want me to wait, I'd like to know?" said Cripps.
+
+"Oh, till after Christmas, please, at any rate.  It'll be all right
+then, I'll answer for that."
+
+"You'll answer for a lot of things, it strikes me, young gentleman,"
+said Cripps, "before you've done."
+
+There were signs of relenting in this speech which the boy was quick to
+take advantage of.
+
+"_Do_ wait till then!" he said, beseechingly.
+
+Cripps pretended to meditate.
+
+"I don't see how I can.  I'm a poor man, got my rent to pay and all
+that.  Look here, young gentleman, I must have 10 pounds down, if I'm to
+wait."
+
+"Ten pounds!  I haven't as much in the world!" exclaimed Loman.  "I can
+give you five pounds, though," he added.  "I've just got a note from
+home to-day."
+
+"Five's no use," said Cripps, contemptuously, "wouldn't pay not the
+interest.  You'll have to make it a tenner, young gentleman."
+
+"Don't say that, Cripps, I'd gladly do it if I could; I'd pay you every
+farthing, and so I will if you only wait."
+
+"That's just the way with you young swells.  You get your own ways, and
+leave other people to get theirs best way they can.  Where's your
+five-pound?"
+
+Loman promptly produced this, and Cripps as promptly pocketed it,
+adding, "Well, I suppose I'll have to give in.  How long do you say--two
+months?"
+
+"Three," said Loman.  "Oh, thanks, Cripps, I really _will_ pay up then."
+
+"You'd better, because, mind you, if you don't, I shall walk straight to
+the governor.  Don't make any mistake about that."
+
+"Oh, yes, so you may," said the wretched Loman, willing to promise
+anything in his eagerness.
+
+Finally it was settled.  Cripps was to wait three months longer; and
+Loman, although knowing perfectly well that there was absolutely less
+chance then of having the money than there had been now, felt a weight
+temporarily taken off his mind, and was all gratitude.
+
+Of course, he stayed a while as usual and tasted Mr Cripps's beer, and
+of course he met again not a few of his new friends--sharpers, most of
+them, of Cripps's own stamp, or green young gentlemen of the town, like
+Loman himself.  From one of the latter Loman had the extraordinary "good
+luck" that afternoon to win three pounds over a wager, a sum which he at
+once handed over to Cripps in the most virtuous way, in further
+liquidation of his debt.
+
+Indeed, as he left the place, and wandered slowly back to Saint
+Dominic's, he felt quite encouraged.
+
+"There's eight pounds of it paid right off," said he to himself; "and
+before Christmas something is sure to turn up.  Besides, I'm sure to get
+some more money from home between now and then.  Oh, it'll be all
+right!"
+
+So saying he tried to dismiss the matter from his mind and think of
+pleasanter subjects, such, for instance, as Oliver's crime, and his own
+clever use of it to delude the Sixth.
+
+Things altogether were looking up with Loman.  Cheating, lying, and
+gambling looked as if they would pay after all!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+AT COVENTRY.
+
+Were you ever at Coventry, reader?  I don't mean the quaint old
+Warwickshire city, but that other place where from morning till night
+you are shunned and avoided by everybody?  Where friends with whom you
+were once on the most intimate terms now pass you without a word, or
+look another way as you go by?  Where, whichever way you go, you find
+yourself alone?  Where every one you speak to is deaf, every one you
+appear before is blind, every one you go near has business somewhere
+else?  Where you will be left undisturbed in your study for a week, to
+fag for yourself, study by yourself, disport yourself with yourself?
+Where in the playground you will be as solitary as if you were in the
+desert, in school you will be a class by yourself, and even in church on
+Sundays you will feel hopelessly out in the cold among your
+fellow-worshippers?
+
+If you have ever been to such a place, you can imagine Oliver
+Greenfield's experiences during this Christmas term at Saint Dominic's.
+
+When the gentlemen of the Fifth Form had once made up their minds to
+anything, they generally carried it through with great heartiness, and
+certainly they never succeeded better in any undertaking than in this of
+"leaving Oliver to himself."
+
+The only drawback to their success was that the proceeding appeared to
+have little or no effect on the _very_ person on whose behalf it was
+undertaken.  Not that Oliver could be _quite_ insensible of the honours
+paid him.  He could not--they were too marked for that.  And without
+doubt they were as unpleasant as they were unmistakable.  But, for any
+sign of unhappiness he displayed, the whole affair might have been a
+matter of supreme indifference to him.  Indeed, it looked quite as much
+as if Greenfield had sent the Fifth to Coventry as the Fifth Greenfield.
+If they determined none of them to speak to him, he was equally
+determined none of them should have the chance; and if it was part of
+their scheme to leave him as much as possible to himself, they had
+little trouble in doing it, for he, except when inevitable, never came
+near them.
+
+Of course this was dreadfully irritating to the Fifth!  The moral
+revenge they had promised themselves on the disgracer of their class
+never seemed to come off.  The wind was taken out of their sails at
+every turn.  The object of their aversion was certainly not reduced to
+humility or penitence by their conduct; on the contrary, one or two of
+them felt decidedly inclined to be ashamed of themselves and feel
+foolish when they met their victim.
+
+Oliver always had been a queer fellow, and he now came out in a queerer
+light than ever.
+
+Having once seen how the wind lay, and what he had to expect from the
+Fifth, he altered the course of his life to suit the new circumstances
+with the greatest coolness.  Instead of going up the river in a pair-oar
+or a four, he now went up in a sculling boat or a canoe, and seemed to
+enjoy himself quite as much.  Instead of doing his work with Wraysford
+evening after evening, he now did it undisturbed by himself, and, to
+judge by his progress in class, more successfully than ever.  Instead of
+practising with the fifteens at football, he went in for a regular
+course of practice in the gymnasium, and devoted himself with remarkable
+success to the horizontal bar and the high jump.  Instead of casting in
+his lot in class with a jovial though somewhat distracting set, he now
+kept his mind free for his studies, and earned the frequent commendation
+of the Doctor and Mr Jellicott.
+
+Now, reader, I ask you, if you had been one of the Fifth of Saint
+Dominic's would not all this have been very riling?  Here was a fellow
+convicted of a shameful piece of deceit, caught, one might say, in the
+very act, and by his own conduct as good as admitting it.  Here was a
+fellow, I say, whom every sensible boy ought to avoid, not only showing
+himself utterly indifferent to the aversion of his class-fellows, but
+positively thriving and triumphing before their very faces!  Was it any
+wonder if they felt very sore, and increasingly sore on the subject of
+Oliver Greenfield?
+
+One boy, of course, stuck to the exile through thick and thin.  If
+Oliver had murdered all Saint Dominic's with slow poison, Stephen would
+have stuck to him to the end, and he stuck to him now.  He, at least,
+never once admitted that his brother was guilty.  When slowly he first
+discovered what were the suspicions of the Fifth, and what was the
+common talk of the school about Oliver, the small boy's indignation was
+past description.  He rushed to his brother.
+
+"Do you hear the lies the fellows are telling about you, Noll?"
+
+"Yes," said Oliver.
+
+"Why don't you stop it, and tell them?"
+
+"What's the use?  I've told them once.  If they don't choose to believe
+it, they needn't."
+
+Any other boy would, of course, have taken this as clear evidence of the
+elder brother's guilt; but it only strengthened the small boy's
+indignation.
+
+"_I'll_ let them know, if _you_ won't!" and forthwith he went and
+proceeded to make himself a perfect nuisance in the school.  He began
+with Wraysford.
+
+"I say, Wray," he demanded, "do you hear all the lies the fellows are
+telling about Noll?"
+
+"Don't make a row now," said Wraysford, shortly.  "I'm busy."  But
+Stephen had no notion of being put down.
+
+"The fellows say he stole an exam paper, the blackguards!  I'd like to
+punch all their heads, and I will too!"
+
+"Clear out of my study, now," said Wraysford, sharply.
+
+Stephen stared at him a moment.  Then his face grew pale as he grasped
+the meaning of it all.
+
+"I say, Wray, surely _you_ don't believe it?" he cried.
+
+"Go away now," was Wraysford's only answer.
+
+But this did not suit Stephen, his blood was up, and he meant to have it
+out.
+
+"Surely _you_ don't believe it?" he repeated, disregarding the
+impatience of the other; "_you_ aren't a blackguard, like the rest?"
+
+"Do you hear what I tell you?" said Wraysford.
+
+"No, and I don't mean to!" retorted the irate Stephen.  "If you were
+anything of a friend you'd stand up for Oliver.  You're a beast,
+Wraysford, that's what you are!" continued he, in a passion.  "You're a
+blackguard! you're a liar!  I could kill you!"
+
+And the poor boy, wild with rage and misery, actually flung himself
+blindly upon his brother's old friend--the saviour of his own life.
+
+Wraysford was not angry.  There was more of pity in his face than anger
+as he took the small boy by the arm and led him to the door.  Stephen no
+longer resisted.  After giving vent to the first flood of his anger,
+misery got the upper hand of him, and he longed to go anywhere to hide
+it.  He could have endured to know that Oliver was suspected by a good
+many of the fellows, but to find Wraysford among them was a cruel blow.
+
+But in due time his indignation again came to the fore, and he ventured
+on another crusade.  This time it was to Pembury.  He knew before he
+went he had little enough to expect from the sharp-tongued editor of the
+_Dominican_, so he went hoping little.
+
+To his surprise, however, Pembury was kinder than usual.  He told him
+plainly that he did suspect Oliver, and explained why, and advised
+Stephen, if he were wise, to say as little about Oliver as possible at
+present.  The young champion was quite cowed by this unexpected
+reception.  He did his best to fly in a rage and be defiant, but it was
+no use, and he retired woefully discomfited from the interview.
+
+Others to whom he applied, when once again his anger got the better of
+his wretchedness, met him with taunts, others with contempt, others with
+positive unkindness; and after a week Stephen gave it up and retired in
+dudgeon to the territory of the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles, determined
+that there at least he would, at the edge of the knuckle, if needs be,
+compel a faction to declare for his brother.
+
+In this undertaking, I need hardly say, he was eminently successful.
+There were those among the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles who were ready to
+declare for anybody or anything as long as there was a chance of a row
+on the head of it.  Already the question of Greenfield senior had been
+occupying their magnificent minds.  When the story first fell suddenly
+into their midst, it was so surprising that, like the frogs and the log
+in the fable, they were inclined to be a little shy of it.  But,
+gradually becoming accustomed to it, and looking carefully into it from
+all sides, it seemed somehow to contain the promise of a jolly row, and
+their hearts warmed to it proportionally.  No one quite liked to start
+the thing at first, for fear doubtless of not doing it full justice, but
+it only wanted a spark to kindle the whole lower school on the question
+of Greenfield senior.  Stephen it was who supplied the spark.
+
+He entered the Fourth Junior room one day, after one of the unsuccessful
+crusades of which we have spoken, utterly cast down and out of humour.
+He flung his cap on to the peg, and himself on to his seat, in an
+unusually agitated manner, and then, to the astonishment of everybody,
+broke out into tears!
+
+This was a rare and glorious opportunity, of course, for Bramble.
+
+"Beastly young blub-baby!" exclaimed that doughty hero, "you're always
+blubbing!  I never knew such a fellow to blub, did you, Padger?"
+
+Padger said it was worse than the baby at home, and the two thereupon
+started a mocking caterwaul on their own account, in which not a few of
+their nearest and dearest friends joined.
+
+This performance had the effect of restoring Stephen's composure.
+Hastily dashing away his tears, he flew with unwonted wrath at his
+enemy.  Bramble, however, managed to get behind Padger and the rest, and
+thus fortified shouted out, "Yah, boo, howling young sucking pig! go
+home to your mammy, or your great big cheat of a blackguard thief of a
+caddish big brother!  Do you hear?  Who stole the exam paper?  Eh,
+Padger?  Yah, boo, pack of sneaking Guinea-pigs!"
+
+This last objurgation, which was quite unnecessary to the beauty or
+force of the speech, gave rise to a huge tumult.
+
+The Guinea-pigs present took it up as a direct challenge to themselves,
+and it decided them instantly to declare in favour of Stephen and his
+big brother.  Paul led the attack.
+
+"Shut up, you young cad, will you?" said he; "you know well enough _you_
+stole the paper."
+
+Of course no one, not even Paul himself, attached any meaning to such an
+absurd accusation, but it came conveniently to hand.
+
+This declaration of war was promptly taken up on all sides, and for a
+short period the Fourth Junior had a rather dusty appearance.  When at
+length a little order was restored, a lively discussion on the crime of
+Greenfield senior ensued.  The Tadpoles to a man believed in it, and
+gave it as their candid opinion that the fellow ought to be hung.  "Yes,
+and expelled too!" added a few of the more truculent.
+
+The Guinea-pigs, on the other hand, whatever they thought, protested
+vehemently that Greenfield senior was the most virtuous, heroic,
+saintly, and jolly fellow in all Saint Dominic's, and denounced the
+Tadpoles and all the rest of the school as the most brutal ruffians in
+Christendom.
+
+"They ought all to be expelled, every one of them," said one; "all
+except Greenfield senior, and I hope they will be."
+
+"All I know is," said Paul, "I'll let them have a bit of my mind, some
+of them."
+
+"So will I," said another.
+
+"You haven't got any to give 'em a bit of," squealed Bramble, "so now!"
+
+"All right, I'll give 'em a bit of _you_ then," retorted Paul.
+
+"You wouldn't get any of them to touch him with a pair of tongs," added
+another.
+
+This was too much for Bramble, and another brief period of dust ensued.
+Then, comparative quiet once more prevailing, Paul said, "I tell you
+what, _I_ mean to stick to Greenfield senior."
+
+"So do I," said another youth, with his face all over ink.  "I mean _to
+fag_ for him."
+
+"So do I!" shouted another.
+
+"So do I!" shouted another.
+
+And a general chorus of assent hailed the idea.
+
+"We'll all fag for him, I vote, eh, Stee?" said Paul, "the whole lot of
+us!  My eye, that'll be prime!  Won't the others just about look black
+and blue!"
+
+It was a magnificent idea!  And no sooner conceived than executed.
+
+There was a great rush of Guinea-pigs to Oliver's study.  He was not
+there.  So much the better.  They would give him a delightful surprise!
+
+So they proceeded straightway to empty his cupboards and drawers, to
+polish up his cups, to unfold his clothes and fold them again, to take
+down his books and put them up again, to upset his ink and mop it up
+with one of his handkerchiefs, to make his tea and spill it on the
+floor, to dirty his collars with their inky hands, to clean his boots
+with his hat-brush, and many other thoughtful and friendly acts
+calculated to make the heart of their hero glad.
+
+In the midst of their orgies, Wraysford and Pembury passed the door, and
+stopped to look in, wondering what on earth the tumult was about.  But
+they were greeted with such a storm of yells and hisses that they passed
+on, a little uneasy in their minds as to whether or no hydrophobia had
+broken out in Saint Dominic's.
+
+After them a detachment of Tadpoles, headed by Bramble appeared on the
+scene, for the purpose of mocking.  But, whatever their purpose may have
+been, it was abandoned for more active opposition when Paul presently
+emptied a tumblerful of lukewarm tea in the face of Master Bramble.
+
+A notable battle was fought on the threshold of Greenfield senior's
+study, in which many were wounded on both sides, and in the midst of
+which Oliver arrived on the scene, kicking right and left, and causing a
+general rout.
+
+How their hero appreciated the attentions his admirers had paid him
+during his absence the Guinea-pigs did not remain or return to
+ascertain.  They took for granted he was grateful, and bashfully kept
+out of the way of his thanks for a whole day.
+
+After that their enthusiasm returned, but this time it found a new vent.
+They decided that, although they would all fag for him to the end of
+his days, they would not for a season, at any rate, solicit jobs from
+him, but rather encourage him by their sympathy and applause at a more
+respectful distance.
+
+So they took to cheering him in the playground, and following him down
+the passages.  And this not being enough, they further relieved
+themselves by hooting (at a respectful distance also) the chiefs of the
+senior school, whose opinions on the question of Greenfield senior were
+known not to agree with their own.
+
+If Oliver was not grateful for all this moral support in his trouble, he
+must have been a villain indeed of the deepest dye.  He never said in so
+many words he was grateful; but then the Guinea-pigs remembered that
+feelings are often too deep and too many for words, and so took for
+granted the thanks which their consciences told them they deserved.
+
+Meanwhile a fresh number of the _Dominican_ was in progress, and rapidly
+nearing the hour of publication.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+THE "DOMINICAN" ON THE SITUATION.
+
+The examination at the beginning of the term had seriously interfered
+with the prospects of the _Dominican_.  Pembury knew well enough it was
+no good trying to get anything out of the diligent section of his
+class-fellows at such a time; and he knew equally well that a number
+contributed entirely by the idlers of the Fifth would neither be
+creditable to the paper nor appreciated by any one outside.
+
+So like a prudent man he held back patiently till the examinations were
+over, and then pounced down on his men with redoubled importunity.
+
+"Look here," said he one day to Ricketts, "when are you going to let me
+have that paper of yours?"
+
+"What paper do you mean?" demanded Ricketts.
+
+"Why for the _Dominican_, of course; you don't suppose I want one of
+your cast-off exam papers, do you?"
+
+"Oh, I can't do anything for the _Dominican_ this time," said Ricketts.
+
+"Yes, you can, and yes, you will," coolly replied Anthony.
+
+"Who says I will?" demanded Ricketts, inclined to be angry.
+
+"It sounds as if _I_ do," replied the editor.  "Why of course you'll do
+something for it, Rick?"
+
+"I'd be glad enough, but really I'm not in the humour," said Ricketts.
+
+"Why ever not?" demanded Tony.
+
+"Why, the fact is," said Ricketts, "I fancy the Fifth is not exactly
+looking up at present, and we've nothing particular to be proud of.  If
+you take my advice you'll keep the _Dominican_ quiet for a bit."
+
+"My dear fellow, that's the very thing we mustn't do.  Don't you see,
+you old duffer you, that if we shut up shop and retire into private
+life, everybody will be thinking we daren't hold up our heads?  I mean
+to hold up my head, for one," added Tony, proudly, "if there were a
+thousand Greenfields in the class; and I mean to make you hold up yours
+too, old man.  It'll be time enough to do the hang-dog business when we
+all turn knaves; but till we do, we've as good a right to be known at
+Saint Dominic's as anybody else.  So none of your humbug, Rick.  We'll
+get out an extra good _Dominican_, and let the fellows see we're alive
+and kicking."
+
+This speech had the required effect.  It not only won over Ricketts, but
+most of the other leading spirits of the Fifth, who had been similarly
+holding back.
+
+Tony was not the fellow to let an advantage go by.  Having once got his
+men into a becoming frame of mind, he kept them well in hand and worked
+them up into something like the old enthusiasm on the subject of the
+_Dominican_.
+
+Every one was determined the present number should be an out-and-out
+good one, and laboured and racked his brains accordingly.
+
+But somehow or other the fellows had never found it so hard, first to
+get inspirations, and then to put them down on paper, as they did at
+present.  Every one thought he had something very fine and very clever
+to say if he could only find expression for it.  The amount of
+brain-cudgelling that went on over this _Dominican_ was simply awful.
+Wraysford gave it up in disgust.  Ricketts, Bullinger, Tom Senior, and
+others stumbled through their tasks, and could only turn out lame
+productions at the best.  Even Pembury's lucubrations lacked a good deal
+of their wonted dash and spirit.  The cloud which was hanging over the
+Fifth seemed to have overshadowed its genius for a while.
+
+Still Pembury kept his men at it and gave them no peace till their
+productions, such as they were, were safe in his hands.  One boy only
+was equal to the emergency; that I need hardly say was Simon.  He was
+indeed more eloquent than ever.  He offered Pembury a poem of forty
+verses, entitled, "An Elegy on the Wick of a Candle that had just been
+blown out," to begin with, and volunteered to supplement this
+contribution with one or two smaller pieces, such as, "My Little Lark,"
+or "An Adventure outside the Dormitory Door," or "Mind Mewsings."
+
+Pembury prudently accepted all, and said he would insert what he thought
+fit, an assurance which delighted Simon, who immediately sat down and
+wrote some more "pieces," in case at the last moment there might be room
+for them too.  But, in spite even of these valuable contributions, the
+_Dominican_ fell flat.  There were a few good things in it here and
+there, but it was far below its ordinary form; and not a few of the
+writers repented sorely that ever they had put pen to paper to help
+produce it.
+
+The chief amusement of the paper was contained in a "New Code of
+Regulations for the Better Management of Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles," from
+the editor's pen.  It began thus:
+
+"A society has lately been started at Saint Dominic's for the
+preservation and management of Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles.  The following
+are some of the rules to be observed:--
+
+"Any one owning a Guinea-pig or Tadpole is to be responsible for washing
+it with soap and hot water at least twice a day.
+
+"Any one owning a Guinea-pig or Tadpole is to supply the rest of the
+school with cotton wool and scent.
+
+"No Guinea-pig or Tadpole is on any account to use hair oil or grease
+which has not been sanctioned by a joint committee of the Fifth, Sixth,
+and masters.
+
+"During the approaching winter, every one possessing a Guinea-pig or
+Tadpole shall be at liberty, providing it is regularly washed, to use it
+as a warming-pan for his own bed."
+
+The small tribe of furious juniors who as usual had crowded round the
+paper on the morning of publication to get "first read," broke forth at
+this point into a howl of exasperation.
+
+"They won't!  I'll see they won't use me as a warming-pan, won't you,
+Padger?  The brutes!  I'll bite their horrid cold feet if they stick
+them against me, that's what I'll do."
+
+"I'll keep a pin to stick into them," said another.
+
+"I'll get some leeches and put on their legs," shouted another.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said Stephen, changing the subject, "it's cool
+cheek of them calling us `it,' as if we were things."
+
+"So they have," exclaimed Paul; "oh, I say, that's too much; I'll let
+them know _I'm_ not a thing."
+
+"Yes, you are a thing, isn't he, Padger?  A regular _it_," exclaimed the
+vindictive Bramble.  "Yah, boo, old `_its_,' both of you."
+
+"Hold hard," said some one, just as the usual hostilities were about to
+commence.  "Listen to this."  And he read the next "regulation":--
+
+"Immediate steps are to be taken to pickle a Tadpole as a specimen for
+the school museum.  The following is a recipe for this.  Take the
+ugliest, dirtiest, noisiest, and most ignorant specimen that can be
+found.  Lift it carefully with a pair of tongs into a bath full of
+vinegar.  Close the lid and let it remain there to soak for a week.  At
+the end of that time lift it out and scrape it well all over with a
+sharp substance, to get off the first coating of grime.  Soak again for
+another week and scrape again, and so on till the ninth or tenth coating
+is removed.  After that the creature will appear thinner than when it
+began.  Hang it up to dry in a clean place, and be sure no other
+Guinea-pigs or Tadpoles come near it.  Then put it in a clean gown, and
+quickly, before it can get at the ink, put it in a large glass bottle
+and fasten down the stopper.  Label it, `Specimen of a curious reptile
+formerly found at Saint Dominic's.  Now happily extinct.'"
+
+"There you are," said Paul, when, after much blundering and sticking at
+words, this remarkable paragraph had been read through.  "There you are,
+Bramble, my boy; what do you think of that?"  Bramble had no difficulty
+in intimating what he thought of it in pretty strong language, and for
+some little time the further reading of the _Dominican_ was suspended.
+
+When, however, the row was over, the group had been joined by several of
+the elder boys, who appeared to appreciate Simon's poem, "An Adventure
+outside the Dormitory Door."  It was called an "epick," and began thus.
+The reader must be contented with quite a short extract:--
+
+  "Outside the Dormitory door
+  I walked me slow upon the floor
+  And just outside the Doctor's study
+  A youth I met all in a hurry;
+  His name perhaps I had better not tell
+  But like a snail retire into my shell."
+
+This last simile had evidently particularly delighted the poet.  So much
+so, that he brought it in at the close of every succeeding verse.  The
+"epick" went on, of course, to unravel the threads of the "adventure,"
+and to intimate pretty plainly who "the youth" referred to was.  To any
+one not interested in the poet or his epic the production was a dull
+one, and the moral at the end was not quite clear even to the most
+intellectual.
+
+  "Now I must say farewell; yet stay, methinks
+  How many many youths do sit on brinks.
+  Oh joy to feel the soft breeze sigh
+  And in the shady grove to wipe the eye,
+  It makes me feel a man I know full well,
+  But like a snail I'll now retire within my shell."
+
+These were the only articles in the _Dominican_ that afforded any
+amusement.  The remainder of the paper, made up of the usual articles
+sneering at the Sixth and crowing over the school generally, were very
+tame.  The result of the Nightingale Scholarship was announced as
+follows:--
+
+  "The examination for the Nightingale Scholarship was held on the 1st
+  October.  The scholarship was lost by Loman of the Sixth by 70 marks
+  to 97.  A good performance on the whole."
+
+This manner of announcing the unfortunate result was ingenious, and did
+Tony credit.  For, whether his object was to annoy the Sixth or to
+shield the Fifth, he succeeded amply in both.  There were some, however,
+in the Fifth who were by no means content that Greenfield should be let
+off so easily in the _Dominican_, and these read with interest the
+following "Notes from Coventry," contributed by Bullinger.  Anthony had
+accepted and inserted them against his better judgment.
+
+"If the fellow is at Coventry, why not let him stay there?" he said to
+Bullinger.  "The best thing we can possibly do is to let him alone."
+
+"I don't see it," said Bullinger.  "Everybody will think we are trying
+to shield him if we keep so quiet.  Anyhow, here's my paper.  You can
+put it in or not, which you like.  I'm not going to write anything
+else."
+
+Pembury took the paper and put it in.  The reader may like to hear a few
+of the "Notes from Coventry."
+
+"The quaint old city of Coventry has lately been visited by a
+`gentleman' from Saint Dominic's, who appears so charmed with all he has
+seen and heard that it is expected he will remain there for some
+considerable time.
+
+"The object of his visit is of a private nature, possibly for the
+purpose of scientific research, for which absolute quiet is necessary.
+His experiments are chiefly directed to the making or taking of
+examination papers, and on his return we may look for valuable
+discoveries.  Meanwhile he sees very little company.  The society in
+which he most delights is that of certain Guinea-pigs, between whom and
+himself a special bond of sympathy appears to exist.  It is a touching
+sight to see him taking his daily walks in company with these singular
+animals; who, be it said, seem to be the only creatures able to
+appreciate his character.  Curiously enough, since he left us, Saint
+Dominic's has not collapsed; indeed, it is a singular fact that now he
+is away it is no longer considered necessary for every fellow to lock
+his study-door when he goes out, and keep the key."  And so on.
+
+Miserable stuff indeed, as Stephen thought, but quite stinging enough to
+wound him over and over again as he saw the sneers and heard the laughs
+with which the reading of the extract was greeted.  Everybody evidently
+was against his brother, and, with a deep disgust and fury at his heart,
+he left them to laugh by themselves and returned to Oliver's study.
+
+He found his brother in what were now his usual cheerful spirits.  For
+after the first week or so of his being sent to Coventry, Oliver, in his
+own study at least, kept up a cheerful appearance.
+
+"Hullo, Stee," said he as the young brother entered.  "You're just in
+time.  Here's a letter from mother."
+
+"Is there?  How jolly!  Read it out, Noll."
+
+So Oliver read it out.  It was an ordinary, kind, motherly epistle, such
+as thousands of schoolboys get every week of the school year.  All about
+home, and what is going on, how the dogs are, where sister Mary has been
+to, how the boiler burst last week, which apple-tree bore most, and so
+on; every scrap of news that could be scraped up from the four winds of
+heaven was in that letter.
+
+And to the two brothers, far away, and lonely even among their
+schoolfellows, it came like a breath of fresh air that morning.
+
+"I have been so proud," went on Mrs Greenfield towards the end of the
+letter, "ever since I heard of dear Oliver's success in winning the
+scholarship.  Not so much for the value of it, though that is pretty
+considerable, but because I am so sure he deserves it."
+
+"Hear, hear!" put in Stephen.
+
+"Poor Mr Wraysford!  I hope he is not very much disappointed.  How nice
+it would have been if there had been two scholarships, and each could
+have had one!  I suppose the Fifth is making quite a hero of Oliver.  I
+know one foolish old woman who would like to be with her boys this
+moment to share their triumph."
+
+Oliver laughed bitterly.
+
+"That _would_ be a treat for her!"
+
+Stephen, very red in the face, was too furious for words, so Oliver went
+on:
+
+"And if, instead of triumph, they should ever be in trouble or sorrow,
+still more would I love to be with them, to share it.  But most of all
+do I trust and pray they may both make a constant friend of the Saviour,
+who wants us all to cast our burdens on Him, and follow the example He
+has left us in all things."
+
+There was a silence for some moments after this home message fell on the
+brothers' ears.  The hearts of both were full--too full for words--but I
+think, had the widow-mother far away been able to divine the secret
+thoughts of her boys, hope would have mingled with all her pity and all
+her solicitude on their account.
+
+But the old trouble, for the present at any rate, was destined to swamp
+all other emotions.
+
+Oliver continued reading: "Christmas will not be so very long now in
+coming.  We must have a real snug, old-fashioned time of it here.  Uncle
+Henry has promised to come, and your cousins.  It would be nice if you
+could persuade Mr Wraysford to come here then.  I am so anxious to see
+him again.  Tell him from me I reckon on him to be one of our party if
+he can possibly manage it."
+
+"Baa!" exclaimed Stephen.  "The beast!  I'll let her know what sort of
+blackguard the fellow is!"
+
+"Easy all, young 'un," said Oliver.
+
+"I shan't easy all, Noll!" exclaimed the boy; "he _is_ a blackguard, you
+know he is, and I hate him."
+
+"I think he's a fool just now," said Oliver, "but--well, he fished you
+out of the Thames, Stee; you oughtn't to call him a blackguard."
+
+"I wish he'd left me in the Thames," said Stephen, nearly breaking down.
+"I've been miserable enough this term for half a dozen."
+
+Oliver looked hard and long at his young brother.  It never seemed to
+have occurred to him before how deeply the boy took the trouble of his
+elder brother to heart.
+
+Now if Oliver had really been innocent, the natural thing would have
+been--wouldn't it?--for him to be quite cut up at this exhibition of
+feeling, and fall on his brother's neck and protest once more that he
+never did or would or could do such a thing as that he was suspected of.
+But instead of this, the hardened villain turned quite cross when he
+saw his brother at the point of tears, and exclaimed, hurriedly, "Don't
+make a young fool of yourself, Stee, whatever you do.  It won't do a bit
+of good."
+
+"But, Noll, old man," pleaded the boy, "why ever don't you--"
+
+"Because I don't choose, and it would be no use if I did," retorted the
+other.
+
+"But the fellows all suspect you!"
+
+"I can't help that, if they do.  Come now, Stee, we've had enough of
+this.  It'll all come right some day, you see, and meanwhile what do you
+say to a turn in the gymnasium?"
+
+"Well, but," persisted Stephen, not half satisfied, "you surely aren't
+going to give mother's message to Wraysford?  _I_ don't want him home at
+Christmas."
+
+"No one asked you if you did, you young duffer.  But I don't think, all
+the same, I shall give it just yet."
+
+They were walking down the big passage arm-in-arm in the direction of
+the gymnasium, and as Oliver spoke these last words the subject of their
+conversation appeared advancing towards them.
+
+Who could have believed that those three friends who only a month or two
+ago were quoted all over Saint Dominic's as inseparables could ever meet
+and pass one another as these three met and passed one another now?
+
+Wraysford coloured as he caught sight of his old ally, and looked
+another way.  Oliver, more composed, kept his eyes fixed straight ahead,
+and appeared to be completely unconscious of the presence of any one but
+Stephen, who hung on to his arm, snorting and fuming and inwardly raging
+like a young tiger held in by the chain from his prey.
+
+An odd meeting indeed, and a miserable one; yet to none of the three so
+miserable as to the injured Wraysford, who ever since the day of the
+Nightingale examination had not known a happy hour at Saint Dominic's.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+MR CRIPPS AT SAINT DOMINIC'S.
+
+Oliver Greenfield's banishment from civilised society, however much it
+may have gratified the virtuous young gentlemen of the Fifth, was
+regarded by a small section of fellows in the Sixth with unmitigated
+disgust.  These fellows were the leading spirits of the Saint Dominic
+Football Club, which was just about to open proceedings for the season.
+To them the loss of the best half-back in the school was a desperate
+calamity.
+
+They raged and raved over the matter with all the fury of disappointed
+enthusiasts.  _They_ didn't care a bit, it almost seemed, whether the
+fellow was a cheat or not.  All they knew was, he was the quickest
+half-back and the safest drop-kick the school had, and here was the
+match with Landfield coming on, and, lo and behold! their man was in
+Coventry, forsooth, and not to be had out for love or money.  Thus
+baulked, the Sixth Form athletes could afford to wax very virtuous and
+philanthropic on the subject of Coventry generally.
+
+"The Doctor ought to put a stop to it," said Stansfield, who this year
+occupied the proud position of captain of the fifteen.
+
+"Why, we've not got a single man worth twopence behind the scrimmage!"
+
+This was gratifying for Loman, one of the council of war, who usually
+played quarter or half-back in the matches.
+
+"I don't see why we shouldn't get him to play if he _is_ at Coventry,"
+said Callonby; "_we_ didn't send him there."
+
+"All very well," said the captain; "if we got him we should lose
+Ricketts, and Bullinger, and Tom Senior, and Braddy, which would come to
+about the same thing."
+
+"And I shouldn't play either," said Loman, "if Greenfield played."
+
+Stansfield shrugged his shoulders and looked vicious.
+
+"All child's play!" said he.  "They think it's very grand and a fine
+spectacle and all that.  But they ought to have more consideration for
+the credit of the school."
+
+"It's not much to the credit of the school," said Loman, "to have a
+fellow like him in the fifteen."
+
+"It's less credit to have a pack of louts who tumble head over heels
+every time they try to pick up a ball, and funk a charge twice out of
+every thrice!" retorted Stansfield, who was one of the peppery order.
+"Greenfield's worth any half-dozen of you, I tell you."
+
+"Better get him to play Landfield by himself," growled Loman, who
+generally got the worst of it in discussions like this.
+
+"It's a plaguey nuisance, that's what it is," said Stansfield; "we are
+sure to get licked.  Who's to play half-back instead of him, I'd like to
+know?"
+
+"Forrester, in the Fourth, plays a very good half-back," said Callonby;
+"he's tremendously quick on his feet."
+
+"Yes, but he can't kick.  I've a good mind to put Wraysford in the
+place.  And yet he's such a rattling steady `back' I don't like to move
+him."
+
+"Wraysford told me yesterday," said Wren, "he wasn't going to play."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Stansfield, starting up as if he had been shot.
+"Wraysford not going to play!"
+
+"So he said," replied Wren.
+
+"Oh, this is a drop too much!  Why ever not?"
+
+"I don't know.  He's been awfully down in the mouth lately; whether it
+is about the Nightingale, or--"
+
+The captain gave a howl of rage.
+
+"I wish that miserable brute of a Nightingale had been scragged, that I
+do!  Everything's stopped for the Nightingale!  Who cares a button about
+the thing, I'd like to know?  Wraysford can get dozens more of them
+after the football season's over.  Why, the Doctor gave out another
+scholarship to be gone in for directly after Christmas, only to-day.
+Can't he go in for that?"
+
+"So he will, I expect," said Wren; "but I don't fancy he'll play, all
+the same, on Saturday."
+
+Stansfield groaned.  "There go my two best men," he said; "we may as
+well shut up shop and go in for croquet."
+
+A powerful deputation waited on Wraysford that same evening to try to
+prevail upon him to play in the fifteen.  They had hard work to do it.
+He said he was out of form, and didn't feel in the humour, and was
+certain they could get on well enough without him.
+
+"Oh, no, we can't," said Stansfield.  "I say, Wraysford," he added,
+bluntly, "I expect it's this Nightingale affair's at the bottom of all
+this nonsense.  Can't you possibly patch it up, at any rate till after
+Saturday?  I'd give my head to get you and Greenfield in the team."
+
+"Do play, Wraysford," put in Callonby.  "Don't let the school be beaten
+just because you've got a row on with another fellow."
+
+"It's not that at all," said Wraysford, feeling and looking very
+uncomfortable.  "It's nothing to do with that.  It's just that I'm not
+in the humour.  I'd really rather not."
+
+"Oh, look here," cried Stansfield; "that won't wash.  Come to oblige me,
+there's a good fellow."
+
+In the end Wraysford gave in, and the captain went off half consoled to
+complete his preparations, and inveigh in his odd moments against all
+Nightingales and Coventrys, and examinations, and all such enemies and
+stumbling-blocks to the glorious old English sport of football.
+
+Loman looked forward to the coming match with quite good spirits.
+Indeed, it was a long time since he had felt or appeared so
+light-hearted.
+
+That very day he had received a most unexpected present in the shape of
+a five-pound note from an aunt, which sum he had promptly and virtuously
+put into an envelope and sent down to Mr Cripps in further liquidation
+of his "little bill."  Was ever such luck?  And next week the usual
+remittance from home would be due; there would be another three or four
+pounds paid off.  Loman felt quite touched at the thought of his own
+honesty and solvency.  If only everybody in the world paid their debts
+as he did, what a happy state of things it would be for the country!
+
+So, as I said, Loman looked forward to the football match in quite good
+spirits, just as a man who has been working hard and anxiously for
+eleven long months looks forward to his well-earned summer holiday.
+Things were looking up with him, and no mistake.
+
+And then, just like his luck, the Doctor had that same day made the
+announcement, already referred to, of another scholarship to be competed
+for directly after Christmas.  It was for Sixth form boys under
+seventeen, and he meant to go in for it!  True, this scholarship was
+only for twenty pounds for a single year, but that was something.  As
+far as he could see, Wraysford, who would get his move up at Christmas,
+would be the only man in against him, if he did go in, and he fancied he
+could beat Wraysford.  For in the Nightingale exam he had not really
+tried his best, but this time he would and astonish everybody.
+Greenfield would scarcely go in for this exam, even if he got his move
+up; it was safe to conclude his recent exploit would suffice him in the
+way of exams, for some time to come.
+
+And then, what could be more opportune than its coming off just after
+Christmas, at the precise time when Cripps would be looking for a final
+settlement of his account, or whatever little of it remained still to
+pay!  Oh, dear! oh, dear!  What a thing it is to be straight and honest!
+Everything prospers with a man when he goes in for being honest!  Why,
+Loman was positively being bathed in luck at the present time!
+
+The Saturday came at last.  Stansfield had drilled his men as well as he
+could during the interval, and devoutly hoped that he had got a
+respectable team to cope with the Landfield fellows.  If he could only
+have been sure of his half-back he would have been quite happy; and
+never a practice passed without his growling louder than ever at the
+disgraceful custom of sending useful behind-scrimmage men to Coventry.
+At the last moment he decided to give the responsible post to Loman,
+rather than move forward Wraysford from his position at "back"; and
+Loman's usual place at quarter-back was filled up by young Forrester of
+the Fourth, greatly to that young gentleman's trepidation and to the
+exultation of the Fourth Senior as a body, who felt terrifically puffed
+up to have one of their men actually in the first fifteen.
+
+Some of my readers may perhaps know from actual experience what are the
+numerous and serious anxieties which always beset the captain of the
+football fifteen.  If the fellow is worth his salt he knows to a nicety
+where he is strong and where he is weak; he knows, if the wind blows one
+way, which is the best quarter-back to put on the left and which on the
+right.  He knows which of his "bulldogs" he can safely put into the
+middle of the scrimmage, and which are most useful in the second tier.
+He knows when to call "Kick!" to a man and when to call "Run!" and no
+man knows better when to throw the ball far out from touch, or when to
+nurse it along close to the line.  It is all very well for outsiders to
+talk of football everlastingly as a _game_.  My dear, good people,
+football is a science if ever there was a science; the more you know of
+it the more you will find that out.
+
+This piece of lecturing is thrown in here for the purpose of observing
+that Stansfield was a model football captain.  However worried and
+worrying and crabby he was in his ordinary clothes, in his football togs
+and on the field of battle he was the coolest, quickest, readiest, and
+cunningest general you could desire.  He said no more than he could
+help, and never scolded his men while play was going on, and, best of
+all, worked like a horse himself in the thick of the fight, and looked
+to every one else to do the same.
+
+Yet on this Saturday all the captain's prowess and generalship could not
+win the match for Saint Dominic's against Landfield.
+
+The match began evenly, and for the first half of the time the game was
+one long succession of scrimmages in the middle of the ground, from
+which the ball hardly ever escaped, and when it did, escaped only to be
+driven back next moment into the "mush."
+
+"It'll do at this rate!" thinks Stansfield to himself.  "As long as they
+keep it among the forwards we shan't hurt."
+
+Alas! one might almost have declared some tell-tale evil spirit had
+heard the boast and carried it to the ear of the enemy, for next moment
+half-time was called, the sides changed over, and with them the
+Landfielders completely reversed their tactics.
+
+The game was no longer locked up in a scrimmage in the middle of the
+ground.  It became looser all along the line; the ball began to slip
+through the struggling feet into the hands of those behind, who sent it
+shooting over the heads of the forwards into more open ground.  The
+quarter-backs and half-backs on either side ran and got round the
+scrimmages; and when at last they were collared, took to ending up with
+an expiring drop-kick, which sent the ball far in the direction of the
+coveted goals.
+
+Nothing could have happened worse for Saint Dominic's, for the strain
+fell upon them just at their weakest point.  Stansfield groaned as he
+saw chance after chance missed behind his scrimmages.  Young Forrester
+played pluckily and hard at quarter-back, and shirked nothing; but he
+could not kick, and his short runs were consequently of little use.
+Callonby, of course, did good work, but Loman, the half-back, was
+woefully unsteady.
+
+"What a jackass I was to put the fellow there!" said Stansfield to
+himself.
+
+And yet Loman, as a rule, was a good player, with plenty of dash and not
+a little courage.  It was odd that to-day he should be showing such
+specially bad form.
+
+There goes the ball again, clean over the forwards' heads, straight for
+him!  He is going to catch it and run!  No; he is not!  He is going to
+take a flying kick!  No, he is not; he is going to make his mark!  No,
+he is not; he is going to dribble it through!  Now if there is one thing
+fatal to football it is indecision.  If you wobble about, so to speak,
+between half a dozen opinions, you may just as well sit down on the
+ground where you are and let the ball go to Jericho.  Loman gets
+flurried completely, and ends by giving the ball a miserable side-kick
+into touch--to the extreme horror of everybody and the unmitigated
+disgust of the peppery Stansfield.
+
+Yet had the captain and his men known the cause of all this--had they
+been aware that that flash, half-tipsy cad of a fellow who, with half a
+dozen of his "pals," was watching the match with a critical air, there
+at the ropes was the landlord of the Cockchafer himself, the holder of
+Loman's "little bill" for 30 pounds, they would perhaps have understood
+and forgiven their comrade's clumsiness.  But they did not.
+
+Whatever had brought Cripps there?  A thousand possibilities flashed
+through Loman's mind as he caught sight of his unwelcome acquaintance in
+the middle of the match.  Was he come to make a row about his money
+before all the school? or had anything fresh turned up, or what?  And
+why on earth did he bring those other cads with him, all of whom Loman
+recognised as pot-house celebrities of his own acquaintance?  No wonder
+if the boy lost his head and became flurried!
+
+He felt miserable every time the ball flew over to Cripps's side of the
+ground.  There was a possibility the landlord of the Cockchafer had only
+come up out of curiosity, and, if so, might not have recognised his
+young friend among the players.  But this delusion was soon dispelled.
+
+The ball went again into touch--this time close to the spot occupied by
+the unwelcome group, and was about to be thrown out.
+
+Stansfield signalled to Loman.  "Go up nearer the line: close up."
+
+Loman obeyed, and as he did so there fell on his ears, in familiar
+tones, the noisy greeting, "What cheer, Nightingale?  What cheer, my
+hearty?  Stick to your man; eh, let him have it, Mr Loman!  Two to one
+in half-sovereigns on Mr Loman."
+
+A laugh greeted this encouraging appeal, in the midst of which Loman,
+knowing full well every one had heard every word, became completely
+disconcerted, and let the ball go through his fingers as if it had been
+quicksilver.
+
+This was too much for Stansfield's patience.
+
+"Go up forward, for goodness' sake," he exclaimed, "if you must play the
+fool!  I'll go half-back myself."
+
+Loman obeyed like a lamb, only too glad to lose himself in the
+scrimmages and escape observation.
+
+The match went on--worse and worse for Saint Dominic's.  Despite
+Stansfield's gallant efforts at half-back (where he had never played
+before), despite Wraysford's steady play in goal, the ball worked up
+nearer and nearer the Dominican lines.
+
+The Landfield men were quick enough to see the weak point of their
+enemies, and make use of the discovery.  They played fast and loose,
+giving the ball not a moment's peace, and above all avoiding scrimmages.
+The Saint Dominic's forwards were thus made practically useless, and
+the brunt of the encounter fell on the four or five players behind, and
+they were not equal to it.
+
+The calamity comes at last.  One of the Landfield men gets hold of the
+ball, and runs down hard along the touch-line.  Forrester is the
+quarter-back that side, and gallant as the Fourth Form boy is, his big
+opponent runs over him as a mastiff runs over a terrier.
+
+Stansfield, anticipating this, is ready himself at half-back, and it
+will go hard with him indeed if he does not collar his man.  Alas! just
+as the Landfielder comes to close quarters, and the Saint Dominic's
+captain grips him round the waist, the ball flies neatly back into the
+hands of another of the enemy, who, amid the shouts of his own men and
+the crowd, makes off with it like fury, with a clear field before him,
+and only Wraysford between him and the Dominican goal.
+
+"Look-out behind there!"
+
+No need of such a caution to a "back" like Wraysford.  He is looking
+out, and has been looking out ever since the match began.
+
+But if he had the eyes of an Argus, and the legs of an Atlas, he could
+not prevent that goal.  For the Landfield man has no notion of coming to
+close quarters; he is their crack drop-kick, and would be an ass indeed
+if he did not employ his talent with such a chance as this.  He only
+runs a short way.  Then he slackens pace.  Wraysford rushes forward in
+front, the pursuing host rush on behind, but every one sees how it will
+be.  The fellow takes a deliberate drop-kick at the goal, and up flies
+the ball as true as a rocket, clean over the posts, as certain a goal as
+Saint Dominic's ever lost!  It was no use crying over spilt milk, and
+for the rest of the game Stansfield relaxed no efforts to stay the tide
+of defeat.  And he succeeded too, for though the ball remained
+dangerously near the school goal, and once or twice slipped behind, the
+enemy were unable to make any addition to their score before "Time" was
+called.
+
+When the match was over, Loman tried his best to slip away unobserved by
+his respectable town acquaintances; but they were far too polite to
+allow him.
+
+"Well," cried Mr Cripps, coolly joining the boy as he walked with the
+other players back to the school--"well, you _do_ do it, you do.  Bless
+me!  I call that proper sport, I do.  What do you put on the game, bobs
+or sovereigns, eh?  Never mind, I and my pals we wanted a dander, so we
+thought we'd look you up, eh?  You know Tommy Granger here?  I heard him
+saying as we came along he wondered what you'd stand to drink after it
+all."
+
+All Loman could do was to stand still as soon as this talk began, and
+trust his schoolfellows would walk on, and so miss all Mr Cripps's
+disgusting familiarities.
+
+"I say," whispered he, in an agitated voice, "for goodness' sake go
+away, Cripps!  I shall get into an awful row if you don't."
+
+"Oh, all serene, my young bantam," replied Cripps, aloud, and still in
+the hearing of not a few of the boys.  "I'll go if you want it so
+particular as all that.  _I_ can tear myself away.  Only mind you come
+and give us a look up soon, young gentleman, for I and my pals ain't
+seen you for a good while now, and was afraid something was up.  Ta! ta!
+Good-day, young gentlemen all.  By-bye, my young Nightingales."
+
+Loman's feelings can be more easily imagined than expressed when Cripps,
+saying these words, held out his hand familiarly to be shaken.  The boy
+did shake it, as one would shake hands with a wolf, and then, utterly
+ashamed and disgraced, he made his way among his wondering schoolfellows
+up to the school.
+
+Was this his luck, after all?  A monitor known to be the companion and
+familiar friend of the disreputable cad at the Cockchafer!  The boy who,
+if not liked, had yet passed among most of his schoolfellows as a
+steady, well-conducted fellow, now suddenly shown up before the whole
+school like this!
+
+Loman went his way to his study, feeling that the mask was pretty nearly
+off his face at last, and that Saint Dominic's knew him almost as he
+really was.  Yet did they know all?
+
+As Loman passed Greenfield's study he stopped and peeped in at the door.
+The owner was sitting in his armchair, with his feet upon the
+mantelpiece, laughing over a volume of _Pickwick_ till the tears came.
+And yet the crime Oliver was suspected of was theft and lying?  Was it
+not strange--must it not have struck Loman as strange, in all his
+misery, that any one under such a cloud as Greenfield could think of
+laughing, while _he_, under a cloud surely no greater, felt the most
+miserable boy alive!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+A QUEER PRIZE-DAY.
+
+The long Christmas term crawled slowly on unsatisfactorily to everybody.
+It was unsatisfactory to Loman, who, after the football match,
+discovered that what little popularity or influence he ever had was
+finally gone.  It was unsatisfactory to Wraysford, who, not knowing
+whether to be ashamed of himself or wroth with his old friend, settled
+down to be miserable for the rest of the term.  It was unsatisfactory to
+the Fifth, who felt the luck was against them, and that the cloud
+overhead seemed to have stuck there for good.  It was unsatisfactory to
+Stephen, who raged and fretted twenty times a day on his brother's
+behalf, and got no nearer putting him right than when he began.  And
+undoubtedly it must have been unsatisfactory to Oliver, a banished man,
+forgetting almost the use of tongue and ears, and, except his brother,
+not being able to reckon on a single friend at Saint Dominic's outside
+the glorious community of the Guinea-pigs.
+
+In fact, the only section in the school to whom the term was
+satisfactory, was these last-named young gentlemen and their sworn foes,
+the Tadpoles.
+
+Now, at last, they had a clear issue before them--Greenfield senior, was
+he a hero or was he a blackguard?  There was no mistaking sides there.
+There was no unpleasant possibility of having to make common cause and
+proclaim an armistice.  No! on the question of Greenfield senior,
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles had something to fight about from morning till
+night, and therefore _they_, at any rate, were happy!
+
+"Jellicott," said Dr Senior one day, as the masters met for five
+minutes' talk in the head master's study, "Greenfield in the Fifth is
+not well, I'm afraid.  I never see him out in the playground."
+
+"Really?" said Mr Jellicott.  "I'm so rarely out there that I haven't
+noticed.  I believe, however, he is quite well."
+
+"I hope he is not overworking," said the Doctor.  "He has done so very
+well this term that it would be a pity if he spoiled his chance by
+knocking himself up."
+
+"Greenfield senior," put in Mr Rastle, "appears to be unpopular just at
+present; at least, so I gather from what I have heard.  I don't know
+what crime he has committed, but the tribunal of his class have been
+very severe on him, I fancy."
+
+The Doctor laughed.
+
+"Boys will be boys!  Well, it's a relief if that's the solution of the
+mystery, for I was afraid he was ill.  We have no right to interfere
+with these boyish freaks, as long as they are not mischievous.  But you
+might keep your eye on the little comedy, Jellicott.  It would be a pity
+for it to go too far."
+
+Mr Jellicott did keep his eye on the little comedy, and came to the
+conclusion that, whatever Greenfield had done, he was being pretty
+severely paid out.  He reported as much to the Doctor, who, however,
+still deprecated interference.
+
+"We might only make things worse," said he, "by meddling.  Things like
+this always right themselves far better than an outsider can right them.
+Besides, as Greenfield will get his move up after Christmas, he will be
+less dependent on the good graces of his present class-fellows."
+
+And so the matter ended for the present, as far as the masters were
+concerned.  The reader will, perhaps, feel very indignant, and declare
+the Doctor was neglecting his duty in treating so serious a matter so
+lightly.  He ought (some one says) to have investigated the whole affair
+from beginning to end, and made sure what was the reason of the Fifth's
+displeasure and of Oliver's disgrace.  In fact, when one comes to think
+of it, it is a marvel how the Doctor had not long ago guessed who took
+the lost examination paper, and treated the criminal accordingly.
+
+Christmas prize-day was always a great event at Saint Dominic's.  For,
+as all the examinations had been held at the beginning of the term, all
+the rewards were naturally distributed at the end of it.
+
+Fellows who were leaving made on these occasions their last appearance
+before their old companions.  Fellows who had earned their removes
+figured now for the last time as members of their old classes; and
+fellows who had distinguished themselves during the last year generally
+were patted on the back by the masters and cheered by their
+schoolfellows, and made much of by their sisters, and cousins, and
+aunts.
+
+For ladies turned up at the Christmas prize-day at Saint Dominic's;
+ladies, and big brothers, and old boys, and the school governors, with
+the noble Earl at their head to give away the prizes.  It was a great
+occasion.  The school was decorated with flags and evergreens; Sunday
+togs were the order of the day; the Doctor wore his scarlet hood, and
+the masters their best gowns.  The lecture-theatre was quite gay with
+red-baize carpet and unwonted cushions, and the pyramid of
+gorgeously-bound books awaiting the hour of distribution on the centre
+table.
+
+Prize-day, too, was the object of all sorts of preparations long before
+the eventful date came round.  Ten days at least before it arrived the
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles were wont secretly to buy pumice-stone for
+their finger ends, and used one by one to disappear casually into Maltby
+and come back with their hair cut.  Then the Fourth Senior, who were for
+ever getting up testimonials to their master (they gave him a
+testimonial on an average twice every term), were very busy collecting
+contributions and discussing whether Mr Brand would prefer an ormolu
+mustard-pot, or a steel watch-chain, or an antimacassar.  The musical
+set at the school, too, were busy rehearsing part songs for the
+evening's festivities, and the dramatic set were terribly immersed for a
+fortnight beforehand in the preparations for a grand charade.
+
+Altogether the end of the Christmas term at Saint Dominic's was a busy
+time, and the present year was certainly no exception to the rule.
+Greatly to the relief of Stephen and Oliver, Mrs Greenfield found
+herself unable at the last moment to come down and take part in the
+proceedings of the eventful day.  As long as the boys had expected her
+to come they had looked forward to prize-day with something like horror,
+but now that that danger was passed, Oliver recovered his old unconcern,
+and Stephen relapsed once more into his attitude of terror-in-chief to
+his big brother, snapping and snarling at any one who dared so much as
+to mention the name of Greenfield senior in his hearing.
+
+Well, the day came at last, fully as grand an occasion as any one
+expected.  The noble Earl turned up half an hour early, and spent the
+interval in patting the greasy heads of all the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles
+he came across.  The mothers and sisters swarmed up and down the
+staircases and in and out the studies, escorted proudly by their dear
+Johnnys and precious Bobs.  The red robes of the Doctor flashed down the
+corridor, and in the lecture-theatre there was such a rustling of silk
+gowns and waving of feather bonnets, and gleaming of white collars and
+sparkling patent-leather boots, as must have fairly astonished that
+sombre place.  Every one was there--every fellow nearly had got a mother
+or somebody to show off to.  Even Bramble turned up with a magnificent
+grandmother, greatly to the envy of friend and foe, and would have been
+the proudest Tadpole alive if the dear good old lady had not insisted on
+taking her descendant's _hand_ instead of his arm, and trotting him
+about instead of letting him trot her.  Oliver and Stephen alone had no
+kith and kin to see them on this proud day.
+
+In due time the lecture-theatre filled up, crowded from floor to
+ceiling.  The noble Earl walked in amid terrific cheers and took his
+seat.  The Doctor walked in after him, amid cheers almost as terrific,
+and after him the ordinary procession of governors, masters, and
+examiners; and when they were all seated prize-day had begun.
+
+For up steps Mr Raleigh, the captain of the school, on to the raised
+dais, whence, after bowing profoundly to the noble Earl and everybody,
+he delivers a neat speech in honour of a good old soul who lived three
+or four centuries ago, and left behind him the parcel of ground on which
+Saint Dominic's now stands, and a hatful of money besides, to found the
+school.  Raleigh having said his say (and how proud the smallest boys
+are of the captain's whiskers as they listen!), up steps Wren and
+commences a similar harangue in Greek.  The small boys, of course, cheer
+this even more than the English.  Then up gets Mr Winter and spins off
+a Latin speech, but this does not go down so well, for the juniors know
+a _little_ Latin, and so are a good deal more critical over that than
+over the Greek.  The French and German speeches however, restore them to
+good humour, and then the speeches are done.
+
+Then comes the noble Earl.  He is an old, old man, and his voice is weak
+and wavering, and scarcely any one hears a word he says.  Yet how they
+cheer him, those youngsters!  They watch the back of his head, and when
+it bobs then they know the end of a sentence has come, and they let out
+accordingly.
+
+"My dearie," says Bramble's grandmother, "don't stamp so.  The poor old
+gentleman can't hear his own voice."
+
+"That's no matter," says "my dearie," pounding away with his feet.  "If
+we keep it up the old boy may give us an extra week's holiday."
+
+The old lady subsided at this, in a resigned way; and certainly when the
+good old nobleman did reach his final bob, his merry, jovial face looked
+particularly promising for the extra week.  And now the Doctor advances
+to the table with the prize list in his hand.  The prize boys are
+marshalled in the background, in the order in which their names appear,
+and Bramble tries hard to look as if nothing but his duty to his
+grandmother would have kept him from forming one of that favoured band
+himself.
+
+The prize list is arranged backwards way; that is, the small boys come
+on first and the great events last.
+
+It is a treat to see the little mites of the First, Second, and Third
+Junior trot up to get their prizes.  They look so pleased, and they
+blush so, and look so wistfully up to where their relatives are sitting,
+that it is quite pathetic, and the good old Earl has a vigorous wipe of
+his spectacles before he calls up the Fourth Junior.
+
+"General proficiency," reads the Doctor from his list--"Watson."  No one
+knows Watson; he is quite an obscure member of the glorious community,
+and so he trots in and out again without much excitement.  In fact, all
+the best prizes of the Form go without much applause, but when the
+Doctor summons "Paul" to advance and receive "the second arithmetic
+prize," there rises a shout enough to bring down the house.
+
+"Bravo, Guinea-pigs!" shouts one small voice up somewhere near the
+ceiling, whereat there is a mighty laugh and cheer, and Bramble turns
+crimson in the face, and tells his grandmother gloomily, "That fellow
+Paul is a beast!"
+
+But the youth's face brightens when the next name is called: "Third
+arithmetic--Padger."
+
+Then doth Bramble the Tadpole stand in his seat and cheer till he is
+hoarse, and till his grandmother pulleth him by the tail of his jacket.
+The hero Padger, perspiring very much in the face, but otherwise
+composed, takes the homage of his chief and the third arithmetic prize
+with becoming humility, and clears off the arena as fast as he
+conveniently can.
+
+Surely the Fourth Junior have come to an end now!  No! there is one more
+prize.
+
+"First Latin--Greenfield junior."
+
+This time there was a louder cheer than ever, for Stephen is a popular
+boy outside his own class.  Oliver joins in the cheer, and Pembury and
+Wraysford and one or two others, and of course the Guinea-pigs, go in a
+lump for him.  It is quite a minute before the noble Earl can get hold
+of the words of presentation; and when at last Stephen is dispatched,
+the Doctor turns round and says, "If you boys will make a _little_ less
+noise I dare say we shall get through the list quite as satisfactorily,
+and possibly a little more quickly."
+
+"Hear, hear!" says one of the governors, and nod, nod goes the noble
+Earl's head.
+
+The consequence of this is that the prizes to the First, Second, Third,
+and Fourth Senior are presented amid something very much like silence,
+which, however, grows less and less solemn as the proceedings go on.
+The last Fourth Senior boy to be called is the hero Forrester, who is
+now fully constituted a member of the first football fifteen.  He gets a
+vehement cheer at all costs, mingled with shouts of "Well kicked, sir!"
+
+"Hack it through!" and the like, which clearly show that the sympathy of
+Saint Dominic's is quite as much with the exploits accomplished by the
+young hero's feet as by those of his head.
+
+Now for the Fifth!  If the Doctor expects the company is to remain
+solemn during the next quarter of an hour he knows nothing at all about
+the school over which he presides.
+
+"Fifth Form--(cheers)--French--(cheers)--Pembury--(terrific applause,
+during which Tony walks in demurely on his crutches and receives his
+well-merited award).  English history--(applause)--Pembury."
+
+Once more enter Tony on his crutches to receive another prize.
+
+"Bravo, Tony!"
+
+"Hurrah for the _Dominican_!"
+
+"Well done, Editor!" rise from various parts of the hall, in the midst
+of which Pembury retires positively for the last time.
+
+"First Greek prize--Wraysford."
+
+Wraysford advances gravely and slowly.  The instant he appears there
+arises a cheer--the mightiest of any yet.  Everybody cheers, and when
+they have done cheering they stamp, and when they have done stamping
+they clap.  Wraysford stands disconcerted and flushed with the
+demonstration, at a loss whether to smile or frown.  He knows the
+meaning of that cheer as well as anybody, and it grates on his ear
+unpleasantly as he listens.  What ages it seems before it is done, and
+the noble Earl at last holds out the book and says, "I have great
+pleasure, Wraysford, in handing you this prize.  Your schoolfellows are
+all proud of you; I feel sure you deserve their good opinion.  I wish
+you success, Wraysford;" and so saying, the good old gentleman bobs
+affably, and Wraysford, amid another tempest of applause, bows too, and
+takes off his prize.
+
+"The next name," says the Doctor, referring to his list, "is that of the
+winner of the Nightingale Scholarship--(sensation)--and I may tell your
+lordship that the boy is, in the opinion of his examiners and myself,
+one of the most promising boys for his age that Saint Dominic's has
+known.  The examiners report that his answers to the questions on the
+paper deserve the greatest credit.  I will say only this before his
+face: Nightingale Scholarship--Greenfield senior."
+
+A solemn silence marks the close of the Doctor's speech, in the midst of
+which Oliver, with pale face, but otherwise unmoved, advances to where
+the noble Earl stands.  A few of the strangers greet his appearance with
+a clapping of hands, but the sound falls strangely on the silence all
+round.
+
+The noble Earl, who is evidently ready with a neat little speech which
+shall sum the applause that never comes, is disconcerted at this
+unwonted stillness.  You might hear a pin fall as the old gentleman, in
+dumb show, places the certificate into the boy's hand and tries to get
+at the words which the silence has scared away.
+
+Oliver waits no longer than he can help.  With a bow, he takes the
+parchment and turns to quit the scene.
+
+It is at this moment, that somewhere or other in the hall, there rises a
+faint, almost whispered, hiss.  Slight as it is, it falls with startling
+effect upon the dead silence which reigns.  Then, like the first whisper
+of a storm, it suddenly grows and swells and rushes, angrily and
+witheringly, about the head of the wretched Oliver.  Then as suddenly it
+dies away into silence, and the presentation of the Nightingale
+Scholarship is at an end.
+
+The visitors, the committee, the ladies, the noble Earl, look about them
+in blank astonishment and misery.  The Doctor's face flushes up mightily
+as he glares for one instant around him, and then drops his head over
+the prize list.
+
+The only thing there is for him to do he does.  He calls on the next
+name as composedly as he can, and proceeds with the business of the day.
+
+But the magic has suddenly gone out of prize-day, and no coaxing can
+bring it back.  The Fifth, and after them the Sixth, advance and receive
+their rewards amidst the listless indifference of the audience, and
+uncheered by the faintest spark of enthusiasm.  No one takes the trouble
+to cheer anybody.  Even Raleigh, the captain, comes in and out almost
+unheeded; and when at last the final name is reached, it is a relief to
+every one.
+
+The rest of the day drags heavily--it is no use trying to get up the
+steam.  The visitors are out of humour, and the noble Earl leaves early.
+The musical feast provided by the glee club is a failure altogether.  A
+few only come to it, and nothing interferes with music like a poor
+audience.
+
+As to the charade, it is abandoned at the last moment.
+
+Then a great many mothers and aunts make the discovery that there is an
+evening train from Maltby; and having made it, act upon it; and the tide
+of emigration sets out forthwith.
+
+Among the first to depart is Wraysford.
+
+As he appears at the school door, trunk in hand, waiting for the school
+omnibus (which vehicle, by the way, is having a busy time of it),
+Pembury hobbles up, similarly equipped for the road.
+
+"You off by this train?" says the latter to Wraysford.
+
+"Yes; are you?"
+
+"I may as well.  I can get home by nine; and my people won't be in a
+great rage if I turn up earlier than they expect."
+
+"Well, we may as well get a fly as wait for the wretched omnibus," says
+Wraysford.  "Come along; there are flies at the corner of Hall Street."
+
+Out walked the two, saying good-bye to one or two on the road.  At the
+drive gate two boys are standing waiting for the omnibus.  Wraysford and
+Pembury are upon them before they observe that these are Oliver and his
+brother.
+
+What is to be done?  There is no escaping them--they must pass; yet both
+of them, somehow, would at that moment--they couldn't tell why--have
+dropped into the earth.
+
+Oliver looks up as they approach.
+
+Now or never!  Wraysford feels he must say something!
+
+"Good-bye, Greenfield," he says.  "I hope--"
+
+Oliver quietly takes Stephen's arm and turns on his heel.
+
+Wraysford stares after him for a moment, and then slowly goes on his
+way, breathing hard.
+
+"I wonder," said Pembury, after a long silence--"I wonder, Wray, if it's
+possible we are wrong about that fellow?"
+
+Wraysford says nothing.
+
+"He doesn't act like a guilty person.  Just fancy, Wray,"--and here Tony
+pulls up short, in a state of perturbation--"just fancy if you and I and
+the rest have been making fools of ourselves all the term!"
+
+Ah! my Fifth Form heroes, just fancy!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+A NEW TURN OF THE TIDE.
+
+The three weeks of Christmas holiday darted past only too rapidly for
+most of the boys at Saint Dominic's.  Holidays have a miserable knack of
+sliding along.  The first few days seem delightfully long.  Then, after
+the first week, the middle all of a sudden becomes painfully near.  And
+the middle once passed, they simply tear, and bolt, and rush pitilessly
+on to the end, when, lo and behold! your time is up before you well knew
+it had begun.
+
+So it happened with most of the boys.  With one or two, however, the
+holiday dragged heavily, and one of these was Master Thomas Senior.
+This forlorn youth, no longer now rollicking Tom of the Fifth, but the
+meek and mild, and withal sulky, hopeful of the Reverend Thomas Senior,
+D.D., of Saint Dominic's, watched the last of his chums go off with
+anything but glee.  He was doomed to three weeks' kicking of his heels
+in the empty halls and playgrounds of Saint Dominic's, with nothing to
+do and no one to do it with.  For the boy's mother was ill, which kept
+the whole family at home, and Tom's baby brother, vivacious youth as he
+was, was hardly of a companionable age yet.
+
+As to the Doctor (Tom, by the way, even in the bosom of his family,
+always thought and talked of his father as the "Doctor")--as for the
+Doctor, well, Tom was inclined to shirk the risk of more _tete-a-tetes_
+than he could possibly help with so formidable a personage, even though
+he _was_ his own parent.
+
+But try all he could, Tom was let in for it once, when he found himself
+face to face one day at dinner with the Doctor, and no third person to
+help him out.
+
+The occasion was quite early in the holidays, and was indeed about the
+first opportunity the father had had since breaking-up for anything like
+a conversation with his affable son.
+
+Tom's conversational powers were never very brilliant, and when in the
+subduing presence of his father they always dwindled down to nothing.
+It was, therefore, somewhat difficult, under the circumstances, to keep
+the talk going, but the Doctor did his best.  Tom answered in
+monosyllables, and looked fearfully sheepish, and found his best policy
+was always to keep his mouth full, and so have the excuse of good
+manners on his side for his silence.
+
+"Tom," said the Doctor, presently, steering round to a subject which it
+had been for some time in his mind to question his son about, "that was
+an extraordinary demonstration on prize-day, when Greenfield senior came
+up to get his scholarship."
+
+"It wasn't me," said Tom, colouring up.
+
+"My dear boy, I never supposed it was," said the Doctor, laughing.  "But
+it surprised me very much, as well as pained me."
+
+"I couldn't help it," again said Tom.
+
+"Of course you couldn't, Tom.  But I am sorry to find Greenfield is so
+unpopular in the school."
+
+The Doctor did not care to put a direct question to Tom on the matter
+that was perplexing him.  He hoped to draw him out by more indirect
+means.  But he was mistaken if he ever expected it, for Tom, with the
+perversity of a fellow who _will_ take everything that is said as a
+rebuke to himself, showed no inclination to follow the lead.  The Doctor
+had, therefore, to ask outright.
+
+"What dreadful crime has he committed, Tom, to be treated so severely?"
+
+"I don't want to treat him severely," said Tom.  "Tom," said the Doctor,
+half angrily, "you are very foolish.  I was not referring to you
+particularly, but to the whole school."
+
+Tom sulked at this more than ever.  _He_ wasn't going to be called
+foolish.  The Doctor, however, tried once more.
+
+"What has he done to offend you all?  Has he missed a catch at cricket,
+or a kick at football?  I hope, whatever it is--"
+
+"It isn't me!" once more growled Tom, heartily wishing the meal was
+over.
+
+The Doctor gave it up as a bad job.  There was no use trying to get a
+rise out of Tom.  If that ingenuous youth had been trying to shield his
+Form, he could not have done it better.  As it was, he was only stupidly
+trying to shield himself, and letting his dread of his "Doctor" father
+get the better of his common sense and good manners.
+
+Luckily for Tom, a friend wrote to invite him to spend the last week of
+the holidays in London, an invitation which that youth, as well as his
+parent for him, thankfully accepted.  Indeed, during the holidays Mrs
+Senior became so ill that the poor Doctor had no thoughts to spare for
+anybody or anything but her and her hope of recovery.  He watched her
+night and day through all the vicissitudes of her fever, and when at
+last the crisis was over, and the doctors said she would recover, they
+said also that unless Dr Senior wanted to have an illness himself he
+must go away and get perfect rest and change for a week or two at the
+very least.
+
+The consequence of all this was that Saint Dominic's had to reassemble
+after the Christmas holidays without the Doctor.
+
+To some of the boys this was sorrowful news; others regarded the
+circumstance with indifference, while one section there was who received
+the intelligence with positive joy.
+
+Strange that that section should contain in it two such opposites as
+Loman of the Sixth and Bramble of the Fourth Junior.
+
+Loman, despite his "run of luck," had spent an uneasy holiday.  He had
+been in constant terror of seeing Cripps every time he ventured outside
+his house; and he had been in still more terror of Cripps calling up at
+Saint Dominic's and telling the Doctor all about him directly after the
+holidays.  For now Loman's time was up.  Though he had in one way and
+another paid off all his debt to the landlord of the Cockchafer but
+eight pounds, still he knew Cripps could make himself quite as
+unpleasant about eight pounds as about thirty pounds, and probably
+would.
+
+But as long as the Doctor was away it didn't matter so much.  And,
+besides, the examination for the exhibition would of course be
+postponed, which meant so much longer time for preparation--which meant
+so much better chance for Loman of winning it.  For, when he tried, he
+could work hard and effectively.
+
+So Loman was very glad to hear the Doctor was away ill.  So was Bramble!
+
+That youth (who, by the way, had during the holidays quite recovered
+from the sobering effect of his grandmother's visit to the school) was
+always on a look-out for escaping the eye of the constituted
+authorities.  He hardly ever saw the Doctor from one month's end to
+another; but somehow, to know he was away--to know any one was away who
+ought to be there to look after him--was a glorious opportunity!  He
+launched at once into a series of revolutionary exploits on the strength
+of it.  He organised mutinies ten times a day, and had all the
+specifications drawn up for blowing up Saint Dominic's with paraffin
+oil.  There was nothing, in short, Bramble would not venture while the
+Doctor was away; and there is no knowing how far he might have carried
+his bloodthirsty conspiracies into effect had not Mr Rastle caught him
+one day with a saw, sawing the legs off the writing-master's stool, and
+given him such a chastisement, bodily and mental, as induced him for a
+brief season to retire from public life, and devote all his spare time
+to copying out an imposition.
+
+On the first morning after reassembling, Mr Jellicott, the master in
+charge of Saint Dominic's, summoned the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth to meet
+him in the lecture-theatre, and there announced to them the reason of
+the head master's absence.
+
+"In consequence of this," said Mr Jellicott, "the removes gained last
+term will not be put into force for a week or two, till the head master
+returns; but, meanwhile, Dr Senior is anxious that the work of the
+school should go on as usual.  We shall, therefore, resume studies
+to-morrow; and on Monday next the examination for the Waterston
+Exhibition will be held, as arranged.  The three boys--Loman, Greenfield
+senior, and Wraysford--entered for this will be excused ordinary lessons
+till after the examination."
+
+Greenfield senior!  Then Oliver _was_ in for it after all!  The
+announcement amazed Wraysford as much as it did Loman and every one
+else.  It had never entered their minds that he would go in for it.
+Hadn't he got the Nightingale? and wasn't that enough for one half-year?
+And didn't every one know _how_ he had got it, and how could the fellow
+now have the assurance to put in for another examination?
+
+Oliver always had been a queer fellow, and this move struck every one as
+queerer than ever.
+
+But to Wraysford and one or two others it occurred in a different light.
+If Oliver had really won the Nightingale in the manner every one
+suspected, he would hardly now boldly enter for another examination, in
+which he might possibly not succeed, and so prove those suspicions to be
+true.  For the subjects were almost exactly the same as those examined
+in for the Nightingale, and unless Oliver did as well here as he did
+there--and that was _remarkably_ well--it would be open for anybody to
+say, "Of course--he couldn't steal the paper this time, that's why!"
+
+Wraysford, as he thought over it, became more and more uneasy and
+ashamed of himself.  One moment he persuaded himself Oliver was a
+hypocrite, and the next that he was innocent.  "At any rate," said he to
+himself, "this examination will settle it."
+
+In due time the examination day came, and once more the three rivals
+heard their names called upon to come forward and occupy that memorable
+front desk in the Sixth Form room.
+
+This time at any rate there had been no chance for any one to take an
+unfair advantage, for the Doctor's papers did not reach Saint Dominic's
+till the morning of the examination.  Indeed, Mr Jellicott was opening
+the envelope which contained them when the boys entered the room.
+
+Any one closely observing the three boys as they glanced each down his
+paper would once more have been struck by the strange contrast in their
+faces.  Oliver's, as his eyes glanced rapidly down the page, was
+composed and immovable; Wraysford's, as he looked first at his paper and
+then hurriedly at Oliver and Loman, was perplexed and troubled; Loman's
+was blank and pale and desponding.
+
+But of the three, the happiest that morning was Wraysford--not that he
+was sure of success, not that his conscience was clear of all reproach,
+but because, as he sat there, working hard himself and hearing some
+one's pen on his left flying with familiar sound quickly over the paper,
+he felt at last absolutely sure that he had misjudged his friend, and
+equally resolved that, come what would of it, and humiliating as the
+confession would be, he would, before that day ended, be reconciled to
+Oliver Greenfield.  What mattered it to him, then, who won the
+exhibition?  Loman might win it for all _he_ cared, as long as he won
+back his friend.
+
+However, Loman at that moment did not look much like winning anything.
+If he had been in difficulties in the former examination, he was utterly
+stranded now.  He tried first one question, then another, but no
+inspiration seemed to come; and at last, after dashing off a few lines
+at random, he laid down his pen, and, burying his face in his hands,
+gave himself up to his own wretched thoughts.  He must see Cripps soon;
+he must go to him or Cripps would come up to Saint Dominic's, and then--
+
+Well, Loman did not do much execution that morning, and was thankful
+when presently Mr Jellicott said, "Time will be up in five minutes,
+boys."
+
+The announcement was anything but welcome to the other two competitors,
+both of whom were writing, hammer and tongs, as though their lives
+depended on it.  Loman looked round at them and groaned as he looked.
+Why should they be doing so well and he be doing so ill?
+
+"Look at those two beggars!" said Callonby to Stansfield, in a whisper,
+pointing to Wraysford and Oliver.  "There's a neck-and-neck race for
+you!"
+
+So it was.  Now Oliver seemed to be getting over the ground quicker, and
+now Wraysford.  Now Wraysford lost a good second by looking up at the
+clock; now Greenfield made a bad shot with his pen at the inkpot, and
+had to dip again, which threw him back half a second at least.
+
+Unconscious of the interest and amusement they were exciting among the
+sporting section of the Sixth, they kept the pace up to the finish, and
+when at last Mr Jellicott said, "Cease writing and bring up your
+papers," both groaned simultaneously, as much as to say, "A second or
+two more would have done it."
+
+The examination was over, but the event of that memorable day was still
+to take place.
+
+Five minutes later Oliver, who had retired alone, as usual, to his
+study, there to announce to the anxious Stephen how he had fared in the
+examination, caught the sudden sound of an old familiar footstep outside
+his door, which sent the blood to his cheeks with strange emotion.
+Stephen heard it, and knew it too.
+
+"There's that beast Wraysford," he said, at the very instant that
+Wraysford, not waiting to knock, flung open the door and entered.
+
+There was no need for him to announce his errand.  It was written on his
+face as he advanced with outstretched hand to his old friend.
+
+"Noll, old man," was all he could say, as their eyes met, "the
+youngster's right--I _am_ a beast!"
+
+At the first word--the first friendly word spoken to him for months--
+Oliver started to his feet like one electrified; and before the sentence
+was over his hand was tightly grasping the hand of his friend, and
+Stephen had disappeared from the scene.  It is no business of ours to
+pry into that happy study for the next quarter of an hour.  If we did
+the reader would very likely be disappointed, or perhaps wearied, or
+perhaps convinced that these two were as great fools in the manner of
+their making up as they had been in the manner of their falling out.
+
+Oh! the happiness of that precious quarter of an hour, when the veil
+that has divided two faithful friends is suddenly dashed aside, and they
+rush one to the other, calling themselves every imaginable bad name in
+the dictionary, insisting to the verge of quarrelling that it was all
+their fault, and no fault at all of the other, far too rapturous to talk
+ordinary common sense, and far too forgetful of everything to remember
+that they are saying the same thing over and over again every few
+minutes.
+
+"The falling out of faithful friends"--as the old copybooks say in
+elegant Virgilian Latin--"renewing is of love."  And so it was with
+Oliver and Wraysford.
+
+Why, they were twice the friends they were before!  Twice!  Fifty times!
+And they laughed and talked and made fools of themselves for a whole
+half-hour over the discovery, and might have done so for an hour, had
+not Stephen, who had patiently remained outside for a reasonable time,
+now returned to join in the celebration.
+
+"Stee, you young beggar," said Wraysford, as the boy entered, "if you
+don't have my tea piping hot to-night, and fresh herrings for three done
+to a regular turn, I'll flay you alive, my boy.  And now, if you're
+good, you may come and kick me!"
+
+Stephen, overflowing with joy, and quite rickety with emotion, flew at
+his old friend, and, instead of kicking him, caught hold of his arm, and
+turning to his brother, cried, "Oh, Noll! _isn't_ this prime?  Why,
+here's old Wray--"
+
+"That beast Wraysford," suggested the owner of the title; "do give a
+fellow his proper name, young 'un."
+
+This little interruption put Stephen off his speech; and the three,
+locking the study-door, settled down to talk rationally, or, at any
+rate, as rationally as they could, over affairs.
+
+"You see," said Wraysford, "I can't imagine now what possessed me to
+make such a fool of myself."
+
+"Now you needn't begin at that again," said Oliver.  "If I hadn't cut up
+so at that jackass Simon, when he began about my being in the Doctor's
+study that evening, it would never have happened."
+
+"Bah! any one might have known the fellow was telling lies."
+
+"But he wasn't telling lies," said Oliver.  "I _was_ in the Doctor's
+study all alone that evening, and at the very time the paper went too.
+That's just the queer thing about it."
+
+"You were?" exclaimed both the boys, for this was news even to Stephen.
+
+"Yes, of course I was.  Don't you know I went to see him about Stephen,
+and that row he had up at the Lock?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Stephen, "I remember.  I was in a regular blue funk that
+evening."
+
+"Well, the Doctor wasn't there.  I hung about a few minutes for him, and
+then, as he didn't turn up, I left, and met that old booby just as I was
+coming out of the door."
+
+"And he's gone and told everybody he saw you coming out with the paper
+in your pocket."
+
+Oliver laughed loud at this.
+
+"Upon my word, the fellow must have sharp eyes if he could do that!
+Well, I was so disgusted when he came up after the examination, and
+began to insinuate that I knew all about the missing paper, that--Well,
+you know how I distinguished myself."
+
+"It would have served him right if you'd throttled him," observed
+Wraysford.  "But I say, Noll," added he more gravely, "why on earth, old
+man, didn't you say all this then?  What a lot of unpleasantness it
+would have saved."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Oliver, suddenly firing up, "do you suppose, when the
+fellows all chose to believe that miserable idiot's story, I was going
+to stir a finger or bother myself a snap about what they thought?  Bah!
+I'm not angry now, Wray; but, upon my word, when I think of that time--"
+
+"What a pack of curs we all were," said Wraysford, almost as angry as
+his friend.
+
+"Hear, hear!" put in Stephen, an observation which had the effect of
+making the whole thing ridiculous and so restoring both the friends to
+their composure.
+
+"But, Noll, I say, old man," said Wraysford, presently, "of course you
+didn't intend it, but if you meant to make every one believe you did it,
+you couldn't have gone on better than you did.  I'm certain not half the
+fellows would have believed Simon if you hadn't--"
+
+"Made such an ass of myself," said Oliver, laughing.  "Of course I can
+see now how it would all work in beautifully against me, and I'm certain
+I've myself to thank for the whole business."
+
+"Now, don't say that.  Nothing can excuse the way all of us treated you,
+poor old boy.  But, thank goodness, it's all right now.  I'll let them
+know--"
+
+"Now, Wray, that's just what I won't have you do.  You must not say a
+word to them about it, or, seriously, I'll be in a great rage.  If they
+can't think well of me of their own accord, I won't have them do it for
+anybody else's, so there."
+
+"But, Noll, old man--"
+
+"Upon my word, Wray, I mean what I say.  Not a word to anybody."
+
+"Do you mean to say you intend to live at Coventry all your life?"
+
+"It's not Coventry now, is it, Stee, old boy?" said Oliver, with a
+bright smile.  "And now, Wray," said he, "I want to know how you got on
+in the exam to-day.  You were going ahead furiously, it seemed to me."
+
+"Yes, but wasn't doing much good, I'm afraid.  How have you done?"
+
+"Pretty well; but I hadn't time to touch the last question."
+
+"I knew, as soon as I saw you were entered for the exam," said
+Wraysford, "we had all been taking you up wrong.  I can guess now why
+you went in for it."
+
+"Well, it struck me it might be a way of putting myself right with the
+fellows if I won; but I'm half afraid I won't win, and then their
+highnesses will be doubly sure of my villainy!"
+
+"I know you will win," said Wraysford.
+
+"If I do I shall feel an awful blackguard, for you would have been
+certain of it."
+
+"I'm not so very sure.  However, I think I could have beaten Loman."
+
+"He seemed out of it, quite.  Do you know I think that fellow is going
+to the dogs altogether?"
+
+"Pity," said Wraysford, "if he is, but it does look like it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+LOMAN IN LUCK AGAIN.
+
+It certainly did look as if Loman was going to the dogs.  And any one
+able to see and know all that was going on in his mind would have found
+out that he was a good deal nearer "the dogs" even than he seemed.
+
+On the evening after the examination he received a note from Cripps--
+brought up in a most barefaced way by one of the potboys at the
+Cockchafer--requesting the pleasure of Mr Loman's company at that
+pleasant spot _immediately_, to talk over business!
+
+"Why didn't he send it by post?" demanded Loman, angrily, of the
+disreputable messenger.  "Don't you know if you were seen up here
+there'd be a row?"
+
+"Dunno so much about that, but the governor, he says he's dead on the
+job this time, he says, and if you don't show up sharp with the stumpy,
+he says he'll give you a call himself and wake you up, he says--"
+
+"Tell him I'll come, and go off quick," said Loman, hurriedly.
+
+"Beg pardon, mister," said the potboy, with a leer, and touching his
+cap, "anything allowed for this here little job--carrying up the
+letter?"
+
+"I'll allow you a kick if you don't go!" exclaimed the wretched Loman,
+furiously.
+
+"Oh, very good," said the boy, making a long nose.  "Wait till the
+governor walks up.  We'll see who'll kick then!"
+
+And so saying the amiable and respectable youth departed.
+
+"Hullo!" said Wren, coming up just at this moment, "who's your friend,
+Loman?  He looks a nice sort of boy!"
+
+Wren was now captain and head monitor at Saint Dominic's--far too blunt
+and honest ever to be an object of anything but dislike and uneasiness
+to Loman.  Now the uneasiness was the more prominent of the two.  Loman
+replied, confused and reddening, "Oh, that boy?  Why--oh, he's a
+shop-boy from the town, come up about an order--you know--for a
+hat-box."
+
+"I don't know.  Do you mean Morris's boy?"
+
+"Ye--yes.  A new boy of Morris's."
+
+"Well, whoever he is, he's a precious cheeky specimen.  Why didn't you
+kick him?"
+
+"Eh?  Kick him?  Yes, I was just going to," began Loman, scarcely
+knowing what he said, "when--"
+
+"When I turned up?  Well, I shouldn't have interfered.  By the way,
+Loman, I suppose you've given up going to that public now?  What's the
+fellow's name?"
+
+"Cripps," said Loman.  "Oh, I never go near the place now."
+
+"That's a good job.  It was awkward enough his turning up as he did last
+term, and all a chance the Doctor didn't hear of it, I can tell you.
+Anyhow, now I'm captain, that sort of thing will have to drop, mind."
+
+"Oh, I assure you I've never been near the place since," said Loman,
+meekly, anxious if possible to keep the new captain in humour, much as
+he disliked him.
+
+"I'm glad of it," said Wren, coldly.
+
+Just at that moment a third personage arrived on the scene.  This was
+Simon, who approached, not noticing Wren, and crying out with his usual
+gush, "Hullo, Loman, I say.  I saw Cripps to-day.  He was asking after
+you.  He says you've not been down since last Sat--Hullo, Wren!"
+
+And here the poet caught sight of the captain.
+
+"So _you've_ been down to the Cockchafer, have you?" inquired Wren.
+
+"Well.  Oh, don't tell, Wren, I say.  I don't often go.  Ask Loman if I
+do.  He's always there, and could easily tell if I went.  Do I go often,
+Loman?  Besides, I've given it up now!"
+
+"Quick work," observed Wren, drily, "if you were down there this
+morning."
+
+"Well," said Simon, shifting his ground slightly, "I didn't think there
+could be any harm, as Loman goes.  _He's_ a monitor.  And then I don't
+owe Cripps money, do I, Loman?  Or play cards and bet, like you, do I?
+Oh, look here, Wren, do let us off this time.  Don't report me, there's
+a good fellow.  I promise I won't do it again!  Oh, I say, Loman, beg us
+off.  I never let out on you--not even when you got--"
+
+Wren, who had allowed this burst of eloquence to proceed thus far, here
+turned sharply on his heel, and left the two companions in wrong in
+possession of the field.
+
+Next morning, when Loman got up, he found the following note on his
+table:
+
+"Wraysford takes your place as monitor.  The Doctor will be told you
+have `resigned.'--C.W."
+
+Loman crushed the paper angrily in his hand, and muttered a curse as he
+flung it into the fire.  He felt little enough gratitude to Wren for
+describing him merely as resigned, and not, as was actually the case,
+dismissed.  Yet, even in his wretchedness, there was an atom of relief
+in knowing that at least a shred of his good old name remained.
+
+Poor shred indeed! but better than nothing.
+
+Every one treated him as usual--except Wren, who cut him contemptuously.
+The Sixth, ever since the exposure at the football match last term, had
+lost any respect they ever had for their comrade, and many had wondered
+how it was he was still allowed to remain a monitor.  Every one now
+supposed he had taken "the better part of valour" in resigning, and, as
+it mattered very little to any one what he did, and still less what he
+thought, they witnessed his deposition from the post of honour with
+profound indifference.
+
+Poor Loman!  Some righteous reader will be shocked at my pitying such a
+foolish, miserable failure of a fellow as this Edward Loman; and yet he
+was to be pitied, wasn't he?  He hadn't been naturally a vicious boy, or
+a cowardly boy, or a stupid boy, but he had become all three; and as he
+sat and brooded over his hard luck, as he called it, that morning, his
+mind was filled with mingled misery and fear and malice towards every
+one and everything, and he felt well-nigh desperate.
+
+His interview with Cripps came off that afternoon.  The landlord of the
+Cockchafer, as the reader may have gathered, had changed his tone pretty
+considerably the last few days, and Loman found it out now.
+
+"Well?" said he, gloomily, as the boy entered.
+
+"Well?" said Loman, not knowing how to begin.
+
+"I suppose you've got my money?" said Cripps.
+
+"No, Cripps, I haven't," said the boy.
+
+"All right," said Cripps; "that's quite enough for me;" and, to Loman's
+astonishment and terror, he walked away without another word, and left
+the unhappy boy to stay or go as he pleased.
+
+Loman could not go, leaving things thus.  He must see Cripps again, if
+it was only to know the worst.  So he stayed in the bar for the
+landlord's return.  Cripps took no notice of him, but went on with his
+ordinary pursuits, smiling to himself in a way which perfectly terrified
+his victim.  Loman had never seen Cripps like this before.
+
+"Cripps," he said, after half an hour's waiting--"Cripps, I want to
+speak to you."
+
+"You may want," was the surly reply.  "I've done with you, young
+gentleman."
+
+"Oh, Cripps, don't talk like that!  I do mean to pay you, every
+farthing, but--"
+
+"Yes, you're very good at meaning, you are," said the other.  "Anyhow,
+it don't much matter to me _now_."
+
+"What _do_ you mean, Cripps?  Oh, do give me a little more time!  A
+week--only a week longer."
+
+"Aren't you done?" was the only reply; "aren't you going home?"
+
+"Will you, Cripps?  Have pity on me!  I'm so miserable!"
+
+Cripps only whistled pleasantly to himself.
+
+Loman, almost frantic, made one last effort.
+
+"Give us just a week more," he entreated.
+
+No answer.
+
+"Do speak, Cripps; say you will; please do!"
+
+Cripps only laughed and went on whistling.
+
+"Oh, what shall I do, what _shall_ I do?" cried the wretched boy.  "I
+shall be ruined if you don't have some pity--"
+
+"Look here," said Cripps, curtly, "you'd better stop that noise here, my
+lad.  You can go; do you hear?  Look alive."
+
+It was no use staying further.  Loman went What anguish he endured for
+the next twenty-four hours no one knows.  What plans he turned in his
+head, what wild schemes, what despair, what terrors filled him, only he
+himself could tell.  Every moment he expected the fatal vision of Cripps
+at Saint Dominic's, and with it his own certain disgrace and ruin, and,
+as time went on, his perturbation became so great that he really felt
+ill with it.
+
+But Cripps did not come that day or the next.  The next day was one of
+mighty excitement in Saint Dominic's.  The result of the examination for
+the Waterston Exhibition was announced.
+
+Had any other three boys but those actually taking part been the
+competitors, few outsiders would have felt much interest in the result
+of an ordinary examination confined to Sixth Form boys.  But on this
+occasion, as we have seen, the general curiosity was aroused.  No one
+expected much of Loman.  The school had discovered pretty well by this
+time that he was an impostor, and their chief surprise had been that he
+should venture into the list against two such good men as Oliver and
+Wraysford.
+
+But which of those two was to win?  That was the question.  Every one
+but a few had been positive it would be Wraysford, whom they looked upon
+as the lawful winner of the Nightingale last term, and whom, they were
+convinced, Oliver was unable to beat by fair means.  And yet to these it
+had been a great astonishment to hear that Oliver had entered for the
+examination.  Unless he was certain of winning he would only do himself
+harm by it, and confirm the suspicions against him.  And yet, if he
+should win after all--if he was able fairly to beat Wraysford--why
+should he have gone to the trouble last term of stealing the examination
+paper and making himself the most unpopular boy in all Saint Dominic's?
+
+These questions sorely exercised the school, and made them await eagerly
+the announcement of the result.
+
+The news came at last.
+
+"I have just received," said Mr Jellicott that morning, when the Fifth
+and Sixth were assembled together in the lecture-theatre--"I have just
+received from the examiners the report on the Waterston examination.
+The result is as follows: First--Greenfield, 108 marks; second--
+Wraysford, 96 marks; third--Loman, 20 marks."
+
+Here Mr Jellicott was interrupted by a laugh and a muttered "Bravo,
+Loman! very good!" in what sounded to the knowing something like
+Pembury's voice.  The master looked up and frowned angrily, and then
+proceeded: "The examiners add an expression of their very high approval
+of Greenfield's answers.  The highest marks obtainable were 120, and,
+considering he left the last question untouched--doubtless for want of
+time--they feel that he has passed with very great distinction, and
+fully in accordance with their expectations of the winner of the
+Nightingale Scholarship last term.  We will now proceed to the usual
+lessons."
+
+This announcement made the strangest impression on all present.  No one
+attempted any demonstration, but while Mr Jellicott was speaking many
+perplexed and troubled faces turned to where Oliver, by the side of his
+friend Wraysford, was sitting.  Wraysford's face was beaming as he
+clapped his friend on the back.  Oliver looked as unconcerned and
+indifferent as ever.  The fellow _was_ a puzzle, certainly.
+
+As soon as lesson was over, the Fifth retired to its own quarters in a
+perturbed state of mind, there to ponder over what had happened.  Oliver
+spared them the embarrassment of his society as usual, and Wraysford was
+not there either.  So the Fifth were left pretty much to their own
+devices and the guidance of some lesser lights.
+
+"Isn't it queer?" said Ricketts.  "Whoever would have thought of it
+turning out like this?"
+
+"One could understand it," said Braddy, "if there had been any chance of
+his repeating the dodge of last term.  But he couldn't have done that."
+
+"I don't know," said another; "he may have been up to some other dodge.
+Perhaps he copied off Wraysford."
+
+"Hardly likely," said Bullinger, "up on the front desk just under
+Jellicott's nose."
+
+"Well, I can't make it out at all," said Ricketts.
+
+"Nor can I," said Bullinger.
+
+All this while Pembury had not spoken, but he now turned to Simon, and
+said, "What do _you_ think, Simon?  Did you see Greenfield stealing the
+examination paper this time, eh?"
+
+"Oh, no, not this time," promptly replied the poet; "last term it was,
+you know.  I didn't see him this time."
+
+"Oh, you didn't even see him with it in his pocket?  Now, be very
+careful.  Are you sure he didn't have it in his pocket a day before the
+exam?"
+
+"Why," said Simon, laughing at Pembury's innocence, "how could I see
+what was in a fellow's pocket, Pembury, you silly!  I can't tell what's
+in your pocket."
+
+"Oh, can't you?  I thought you could, upon my honour.  I thought you saw
+the paper in Greenfield's pocket last term."
+
+"So I did.  That is--"
+
+Here the wretched poet was interrupted by a general laugh, in the midst
+of which he modestly retired to the background, and left the Fifth to
+solve the riddle in hand by themselves.
+
+"Suppose," began Pembury, after a pause--"suppose, when Braddy's done
+playing the fool, if such a time ever comes--"
+
+Here Braddy collapsed entirely.  He would sooner be sat upon by Dr
+Senior himself than by Pembury.
+
+"Suppose," once more began Pembury, amid dead silence--"suppose, instead
+of Greenfield senior being a thief and liar, I and all of you have been
+fools and worse for the last six months?  Wouldn't that be funny, you
+fellows?"
+
+"Why, whatever do you mean?" demanded Tom Senior.
+
+"Why, you don't suppose I mean anything, do you?" retorted the
+cross-grained Tony.  "What's the use of saying what you mean--"
+
+"But do you really--" began Bullinger.
+
+"I say, suppose I and you, Bullinger, and one or two others here who
+ought to have known better, have been making fools of ourselves,
+wouldn't that be funny?"
+
+There was a pause, till Simon, plucking up heart, replied, "Very funny!"
+
+The gravity even of Pembury broke down at this, and the present
+conference of the Fifth ended without arriving at any nearer conclusion
+on the question which was perplexing it.
+
+Meanwhile, Oliver and Wraysford were in their study, talking over the
+event of the day.
+
+"I was certain how it would be, old boy," said Wraysford, genuinely
+delighted.  "I wonder what the Fifth will say now?  Bah! it doesn't
+become me to say too much, though, for I was as bad as any of them
+myself."
+
+"No, you weren't, old boy; you never really believed it.  But I say,
+Wray, I don't intend to take this exhibition.  You must have it."
+
+"I!" exclaimed Wraysford.  "Not a bit of me.  You won it."
+
+"But I never meant to go in for it, and wouldn't have if it had not been
+for the Fifth.  After all, it's only twenty pounds.  Do take it, old
+man.  I've got the Nightingale, you know."
+
+"What does that matter?  I wouldn't have this for anything.  The fellows
+tried to make me think _I_ was the real winner of the Nightingale, and I
+was idiot enough half to believe it.  But I think I've had a lesson."
+
+"But, Wray--"
+
+"Not a word, my dear fellow; I won't hear of it."
+
+"Very well, then; I shall shy the money when I get it into the nearest
+fish-pond."
+
+"All serene," said Wraysford, laughing; "I hope the fish will relish
+it."
+
+At that moment there was a knock at the door.
+
+"Come in," said Oliver.
+
+The door opened, and, to the astonishment of the two boys, Loman
+entered.
+
+Was it peace, or war, or what?  Loman's miserable face and strange
+manner quickly answered the question.
+
+"Oh, Greenfield," he said, "excuse me.  I want to speak to you;" and
+here he glanced at Wraysford, who rose to go.
+
+"Stay where you are, Wray," said Oliver.  "What is it, Loman?"
+
+Loman, quite cowed, hardly knew how to go on.
+
+"I was glad to hear you got the Waterston," he said.  "I--I thought you
+would."
+
+What was the fellow at?
+
+After a long pause, which seemed to drive Loman almost to despair, he
+said, "You'll wonder what I have come here for.  I know we've not been
+friends.  But--but, Greenfield, I'm in awful trouble."
+
+"What is it?" again asked Oliver.
+
+"Why, the fact is," said Loman, gaining courage, as he found neither
+Oliver nor Wraysford disposed to resent his visit--"the fact is,
+Greenfield, I'm in debt.  I've been very foolish, you know, betting and
+all that.  I say, Greenfield, _could_ you possibly--would you lend me--
+eight pounds?  I don't know why I ask you, but unless I can pay the
+money to-day, I shall--"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Oliver, "eight pounds to pay your bets?"
+
+"Oh, no, not all bets.  I've been swindled too--by Cripps.  You know
+Cripps."
+
+And here Loman, utterly miserable, threw himself down on a chair and
+looked beseechingly at the two friends.
+
+"I could pay you back in a month or so," he went on; "or at any rate
+before Easter.  Do lend it me, please, Greenfield.  I don't know where
+else to go and ask, and I shall get into such an awful row if I can't
+pay.  Will you?"
+
+Oliver looked at Wraysford; Wraysford looked at Oliver; and then both
+looked at Loman.  The sight of the wretched boy there entreating money
+of the very fellow who had least reason in all Saint Dominic's to like
+him, was strange indeed.
+
+"Wray," said Oliver, abruptly, after another pause, during which he had
+evidently made up his mind, "have you any money about you?"
+
+"I've three pounds," said Wraysford, taking out his purse.
+
+Oliver went to his desk and took from it a five-pound note which was
+there, his savings for the last year.  This, with Wraysford's three
+sovereigns, he handed without a word to Loman.  Then, not waiting to
+hear the thanks which the wretched boy tried to utter, he took
+Wraysford's arm and walked out of the study.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+THE "DOMINICAN" COMES ROUND.
+
+The Fifth were a good while coming round on the question of Greenfield
+senior.  But the delay was more on account of pride than because they
+still considered their old class-fellow a knave.  They had taken up such
+a grand position last term, and talked so magnificently about honour,
+and morality, and the credit of the school, that it was a sad come-down
+now to have to admit they had all been wrong, and still more that they
+had all been fools.  And yet, after what had happened, they could no
+longer retain their suspicions of Oliver Greenfield.
+
+A few of the better sort, like Pembury and Bullinger, had the courage,
+at whatever cost, to act up to their convictions, and declared at once
+that they had been wrong, and were ashamed of it.
+
+The next step was to approach Oliver, and that was more difficult, for
+he was such a queer fellow there was no knowing where to have him.
+However, Pembury's wit helped him over the difficulty as usual.
+
+He was hobbling down the passage one morning when he suddenly
+encountered Oliver and Wraysford, arm-in-arm, approaching him.  If at
+any time in his life Pembury did feel uncomfortable and awkward he felt
+it now.  If he let Oliver go by this time without making it up somehow,
+the chance might never come again; but how to set about it, that was the
+difficulty, and every half-second brought the two nearer.  Twenty
+different ideas flashed through his mind.  He was not the sort of fellow
+to go to any one and eat humble-pie straight off.  That was far too tame
+a proceeding.  No, there was only one way he could think of, and he
+would chance that.
+
+"Noll, old man," said he, in the old familiar tones, "you've got a spare
+arm.  May I take it?"
+
+Oliver stopped short and looked at him for an instant in astonishment.
+Next moment, with a hearty "Rather!" he slipped his arm into that of the
+happy Pembury, and the three went on their way rejoicing, a sight and a
+moral for all Saint Dominic's.
+
+That was the whole of Anthony Pembury's making up.  As for Bullinger, he
+wrote his man a letter, worded in beautiful English, in the most elegant
+handwriting and punctuated to a nicety, setting forth his contrition,
+and his hope that Greenfield would henceforth reckon him among his
+friends--"Yours very sincerely, H. Bullinger."  This literary effort he
+carefully dispatched by a Guinea-pig to its destination, and awaited a
+reply with the utmost impatience.  The reply was laconic, but highly
+satisfactory.  It was a verbal one, given by Oliver himself in class
+that afternoon, who volunteered the information to the delighted
+Bullinger that it was a "jolly day."
+
+It was indeed a jolly day to that contrite youth.  He never believed it
+would all be got over so easily.  He had dreaded all sorts of scenes and
+lectures and humiliations, but here he was, by a single word, passed
+back straight into friendship, and no questions asked.
+
+The sight of Oliver surrounded by these three friends, of whom it would
+have been hard to say which was the happiest, made a deep impression on
+the rest of the Fifth, and certainly did not tend to make them feel more
+comfortable as to what they ought to do in a similar direction.
+
+"It's all very well," said Ricketts, when the question was being
+canvassed for the hundredth time among his immediate friends.  "I dare
+say they are all right, but it makes it jolly uncomfortable for us."
+
+"They oughtn't to have given in in this way without letting the rest of
+us know first," said Braddy.  "Just see what a corner it puts us in."
+
+"All I can say is," said Tom Senior, "I'll be better satisfied when I
+know who _did_ collar that paper if Greenfield didn't."
+
+"Oh, but," said Simon, seeing a chance, "I can assure you I saw him when
+he took it.  I was going--"
+
+"Shut up, you great booby!" cried Ricketts; "who asked _you_ anything
+about it?"
+
+Simon modestly retired hereupon, and Braddy took up the talk.
+
+"Yes, who did take the paper? that's it.  Greenfield must have done it.
+Why, he as good as admitted it last term."
+
+"Well, then, it's very queer those fellows making up to him," said
+Ricketts.  "It's no use our trying to send the fellow to Coventry when
+the others don't back us up."
+
+"Wraysford always was daft about Greenfield," said Tom Senior, "but I am
+astonished at Pembury and Bullinger."
+
+"All I can say is," said Braddy, "Greenfield will have to ask me before
+I have anything to do with him."
+
+"And do you know," said Ricketts, "I heard to-day he is down to play in
+the match against the County."
+
+"Is he?" exclaimed Braddy in excitement; "very well, then.  _I_ shall
+not play if he does.  That's all about that."
+
+Ricketts laughed.
+
+"Awfully sorry, old man, but you're not in the fifteen this time."
+
+Braddy's face was a picture at this moment--he turned red and blue and
+white in his astonishment.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, as soon as he could find words.  "I'm not in the
+team!"
+
+"You'll see the list on the notice board; you'd better go and look."
+
+Off went the wretched Braddy to be convinced of his fate.
+
+"You're in the team, Ricketts, I see," said Tom Senior.  "Shall _you_
+play if Greenfield does?"
+
+"Don't know," said Ricketts.  "A fellow doesn't get a chance to play
+against the County every day.  It's precious awkward."
+
+"So it is; that's just where we began, too," said Tom, philosophically.
+And, as a matter of fact, whenever these young gentlemen of the Fifth
+started the subject of Greenfield senior among themselves, they always
+found themselves in the end at the identical place from which they had
+set out.
+
+Nor were they the only boys at Saint Dominic's in this dilemma.  The
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles were equally taken aback by the new aspect of
+affairs.  These young gentlemen had looked upon Oliver's "row" with his
+class as a peculiar mercy designed specially for their benefit.  They
+had hardly known such a happy time as that during which the row had
+lasted.  Did they want a pretext for a battle?  Greenfield senior was a
+glorious bone of contention.  Did they want an object for an indignation
+meeting?  What better object could they have than Greenfield senior?
+Did they want an excuse generally for laziness, disobedience, and
+tumult?  Greenfield senior served for this too.  Indeed, the name of the
+Fifth Form Martyr had passed into a household word among the lower
+school, either of glory or reproach, and round it the small fry rallied,
+as round an old flag of battle.
+
+But now, both friend and foe were aghast.  To the Guinea-pigs half the
+charm of their position had been that they were Greenfield senior's sole
+champions in all Saint Dominic's.  While every one else avoided him,
+they stuck to him, week-days and Sundays.  Now, however, they
+discovered, with something like consternation, that they no longer had
+the field to themselves.
+
+The sight of Greenfield senior walking down the passage one day,
+arm-in-arm with Wraysford, and the next day with one arm in Wraysford's
+and the other in Pembury's, and the day after between Pembury and
+Bullinger, with Wraysford and Stephen in the rear, struck bewilderment
+and bitter jealousy to their hearts.
+
+They had come out into the passage to cheer, but they went away silently
+and sadly, feeling that their very occupation was departed.
+
+Bramble, always quick to see a chance, took advantage as usual of this
+panic.
+
+"Hullo, I say, Guinea-pigs, you can shut up shop now, you know.  We're
+going to let off Greenfield senior this time, ain't we, Padger?  Jolly
+fellow, Greenfield senior."
+
+This was abominable!  To have their hero and idol thus calmly taken out
+of their hands and appropriated by a set of sneaking Tadpoles was more
+than human patience could endure!
+
+"Bah!  A lot he'll care for _your_ letting him off!" exclaimed Paul, in
+dire contempt.  "He wouldn't touch you with a shovel."
+
+"Oh, yes, he would, though, wouldn't he, Padger?  And what do you think,
+Guinea-pigs? _we're going to get Greenfield senior to take the chair at
+one of our meetings_!"
+
+Bramble came out with the last triumphant announcement with a positive
+shout, which made the hearts of his adversaries turn cold.  In vain they
+laughed the idea to scorn; in vain they argued that if for the last six
+months he had never said a word even to the Guinea-pigs, he would hardly
+now come and take up with the Tadpoles.  Bramble and Padger insisted on
+their story.
+
+"Now, you fellows," concluded Bramble, at the end of another oration;
+"those who say three cheers for Greenfield senior hold up--"
+
+The infuriated Paul here hurled the cap of a brother Guinea-pig, who was
+standing near him, full at the face of the speaker, who thereupon,
+altering the current of his observations, descended from his form and
+"went for" his opponent.
+
+From that day a keener war raged round the head of Greenfield senior
+than ever.  Not of attack and defence of his character, but of rivalry
+as to whom should be accounted his foremost champions.
+
+It was at this critical period in the history of Saint Dominic's that a
+new number of the _Dominican_ came out.  Pembury had been compelled to
+write it nearly all himself, for, in the present state of divided
+feeling in the Fifth, he found it harder than ever to get contributions.
+
+Even those of his own way of thinking, Oliver, Wraysford, and Bullinger,
+begged to be let off, and, indeed, the two former ingeniously pleaded
+that, as they were now really Sixth Form fellows (though remaining in
+their old class till the Doctor came home), they had no right to have a
+hand in the Fifth Form magazine.  And their conscientious scruples on
+this ground were so strong that no persuasions of Anthony's could shake
+them.  So the unlucky editor had finally, as on a previous occasion, to
+retire into private life for a season, and get the whole thing out
+himself, with only the aid of a few inches of "Sonits" from Simon.
+
+But "what man has done man can do," and this time the editor's efforts
+were crowned with no less success than on the former occasion.
+
+The _Dominican_ certainly did not seem to have lost its novelty, to
+judge by the crowd which once more assembled outside the classic portals
+of the Fifth, to peruse the contents of the now familiar big oak frame.
+
+"School News" was the first item of Tony's bill of fare.
+
+After announcing in appropriate terms the Doctor's illness, and
+"universal hope of seeing him back in all his former vigour" (one or two
+boys whistled low as they read this, and thought the editor might at
+least have been content to "speak for himself"), Anthony went on to
+announce the various school events which had happened since the
+publication of the last number.  Christmas prize-day of course came in
+for a good share of the description, and contained a touch-off for
+everybody.
+
+"The Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles," said the _Dominican_, "looked quite
+unearthly in their cleanliness.  It was commonly reported that one or
+two of them had washed their faces twice in one week.  But this is
+hardly credible.  It is, however, a fact that Bramble was shut up in his
+study for half an hour with his grandmother and a basin of hot water,
+and that the conclusion come to from the yells and shrieks which
+proceeded from the torture-chamber that evening, and the appearance of
+the dear child next day, is that he undoubtedly underwent one scrubbing
+this term."
+
+Bramble's face turned so purple at the reading of this that it was
+impossible to say whether or not any traces of the scouring still
+remained.  He favoured Paul, who stood in front of him, with a furious
+kick, which that young gentleman, always punctual in his obligations,
+promptly repaid, and the two combatants somehow managed to miss a good
+deal of what immediately followed.
+
+After describing the other incidents of prize-day, the _Dominican_ went
+on as follows:
+
+"But the event of the day was the presentation of the Nightingale
+Scholarship, which will be sufficiently fresh in our readers' memories
+to need no comment here, save this one word--that the only Dominican who
+behaved himself like a gentleman during that remarkable scene was the
+winner of the scholarship himself!"
+
+This was coming round with a vengeance!  The Fifth had half expected it,
+and now they felt more uncomfortable than ever.
+
+Nor did the succeeding paragraphs leave them much chance of recovery.
+
+"The Waterston Exhibition, our readers will be glad to hear, has been
+won--and won brilliantly--by Oliver Greenfield, now of the Sixth.  No
+fellow in Saint Dominic's deserves the honour better."
+
+Then, as if his penitence were not yet complete, Pembury went on boldly
+farther on:
+
+"Speaking of Greenfield senior, it is time some of us who have been
+doing him injustice for a whole term did what little we could to make
+amends now.  So here goes.  Take notice, all of you, that we, the
+undersigned, are heartily ashamed of our conduct to Greenfield senior,
+and desire all Saint Dominic's to know it.  Signed, A. Pembury, H.
+Wraysford, T. Bullinger."
+
+The effect of this manifesto was curious.  Pembury himself had been
+unable to prophesy how it would be taken.  The boys in front of the
+board, as they heard it read out, couldn't tell exactly whether to laugh
+or be serious over the paragraph.  Most, however, did the latter, and
+hurried on to the next sentence:
+
+"The following are also ashamed of themselves, but don't like to say so.
+The _Dominican_ means to give them a leg up:--Tom Senior, G. Ricketts,
+R. Braddy, and the rest of the Fifth, except Simon, who never was or
+could be ashamed of himself while he lived to write such pathetic,
+soul-stirring lines as the following `Sonits:'"
+
+[It was a great relief to one or two who stood by that Pembury had thus
+cunningly gone on from grave to gay, and left no pause after the very
+awkward paragraph about the Fifth.]
+
+  Sonit A.
+
+  To the _Dominican_.
+
+  I cannot write as I would like all in a noisy room
+  There's such a noise of mortal boys who sometimes go and come
+  Oh I will to the woods away all in the lonely shade
+  Where I no more of being disturbed need not to be afraid.
+
+  Sonit B.
+
+  To Dr Senior.
+
+  Dear Doctor I am very grieved to hear that you are not well
+  Oh cruel fate and yet methinks one cannot always tell
+  Things are so catching nowadays I wonder if I ever
+  Shall like unto the Doctor be by catching a low fever.
+
+  Sonit C.
+
+  To O-- G--.
+
+  Oh Greenfield melancholy wite hear me once before I go
+  'Tis sad to see the blossoms all in autumn time fall low
+  Canst thou recall that night in September when in the passage fair
+  I met you all so unexpectedly and you didn't seem to care
+  Oh may my hair turn white and me become a soreing lark
+  Before the memory of that day shines out in life's last spark.
+
+  [Wite, possibly wight.]
+
+This was beautiful.  Saint Dominic's was beginning to appreciate poetry
+at last!  Simon was positively delirious with triumph when, after the
+burst of laughter (he called it applause) which greeted the reading of
+this gem, some one cried out--
+
+"Oh, I say! read that last one again, some one!"  And then, amid
+redoubled hilarity, the whole effusion was encored.
+
+The poet promptly sought out his enthusiastic admirer.
+
+"Oh!  I say," said he, "would you like a copy of it?"
+
+"Eh--oh, rather!" was the reply.
+
+"Very good.  You won't mind if I put a few more verses in, will you?
+Pembury had to cut some out."
+
+"My dear fellow, I shan't be happy unless I get at least twenty pages."
+
+So off went the delighted Simon to work at this self-imposed task, and
+caring little about the rest of the _Dominican_.
+
+But some of that was worth reading, too.  Tony's leading article, for
+instance, was an important document.  It was headed "Gone Up," and
+began, "Alas! our occupation's gone!  No longer will the _Dominican_ be
+able to bring its sledge-hammer down on high places and walk into the
+Sixth.  For two of our men, O Fifth!--Greenfield and Wraysford--have
+joined the classic ranks of those who eat toffee in the top form, and
+play `odds and evens' under the highest desks of Saint Dominic's.  We
+must be careful now, or we shall catch it.  And yet we ought to
+congratulate the Sixth!  At last they have got intelligence and high
+principle, and two good men behind a scrimmage among them; and more are
+coming!  There's some hope for the Sixth yet, and we would not grudge
+even our two best men for such a good object as regenerating the top
+form of Saint Dominic's," and so on--not very flattering to the Sixth,
+or very comfortable for its two newest members, who, however, had
+prudently retired from the scene long ago, as soon as the first
+references to Oliver had been read out.
+
+Then came "Notes from Coventry, continued," which were very brief.
+"Since our last, the population of Coventry has undergone a change.  The
+former inhabitant has walked out with flying colours, and the place is
+empty.  Who wants to go?"
+
+Then came one or two odd paragraphs; one of them was:--
+
+"By the way, the _Dominican_ wants to know why Loman is no longer a
+monitor?  Do his engagements with friends in Maltby prevent his giving
+the necessary time to this duty? or are the Sixth beginning to see that
+if they want order in the school they must have fellows who have at
+least a little influence to do it?  They have done well in appointing
+Wraysford.  But why is Loman resigned?  Who can tell?  It's a riddle.  A
+prize for the best answer in our next."
+
+The finishing stroke, however, was Pembury's "Notes and Queries from
+Down Below," supposed to be of special interest to the Fourth Junior.
+The first was as follows:--
+
+"Lessons.--Padger the Tadpole writes to ask, `How do you do lessons?'
+The answer is a simple one, Padger.  If you are a member of the Fourth
+Junior, as we have a vague idea you are, the way of `doing' lessons
+there is as follows: Sit at a desk full of old cherry-stones,
+orange-peel, and dusty sherbet, and put your elbows on it.  Then with
+your pen scatter as much ink as you conveniently can over your own
+collar and face, and everybody else, without unduly exerting yourself.
+After that kick your right and left neighbours; then carefully rub your
+hands in the dust and pass them several times over your countenance, all
+the while making the most hideous and abominable howls and shrieks you
+can invent.  And then your lessons are `done.'"
+
+This paragraph so grievously incensed the honourable community at which
+it was directed, that for the first time for some months Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles made common cause to protest against the base insinuations it
+contained.
+
+The "meeting" in the Fourth Junior that afternoon lasted, on and off,
+from half-past four to half-past eight.  Among the speakers were
+Bramble, Paul, and Stephen; while Padger, Walker, and Rook did very good
+execution with their fists.  About half-past seven the dust was so dense
+that it was impossible to see across the room; but those who knew
+reported that there was another row on about Greenfield senior, and that
+Paul and Padger were having their twenty-seventh round!  Anyhow, the
+Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles missed the rest of the _Dominican_, which,
+however, only contained one other paragraph of special interest:
+
+"To-morrow week the football match of the season, School against County,
+will be played in the Saint Dominic's meadow.  We are glad to say the
+School team will be a crack one, including this time Greenfield senior,
+and excluding one or two of the `incompetents' of last term.  The
+following is the school fifteen:--Stansfield (football captain), Brown,
+Winter, Callonby, Duncan, Ricketts, T. Senior, Henderson, Carter, and
+Watkins, forwards; Wren (school captain) and Forrester (iv.),
+quarter-back; Greenfield and Bullinger, half-back; and Wraysford, back.
+With a team like this the school ought to give a good account of itself
+against our visitors."
+
+This announcement was interesting in more than one respect.  Greenfield
+_was_ in the team, Loman was _not_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
+
+It is now time to return to Loman, whom we left two chapters ago, with
+his usual luck, standing in Greenfield's study with the 8 pounds in his
+hand which was finally to clear him of all his troubles, set him once
+for all on his feet again, and take such a weight off his mind as ought
+to leave him the lightest-hearted boy in all Saint Dominic's.
+
+He stood there for a minute or two after Oliver and Wraysford had left
+the room, too bewildered to collect his thoughts or realise one-half of
+his good fortune, for he had come to Oliver in his extremity as a
+desperate chance, fully expecting an angry rebuff--or, at best, a
+chilling snub.  But to get through the interview like this, and find the
+money in his hand within three minutes of his entering the room--why, it
+quite took his breath away.
+
+Oliver Greenfield _was_ a queer, unaccountable fellow, and no mistake!
+
+Yet, strange to say, when Loman did come to himself he did not burst out
+into a rapture of delight and gratitude.  On the contrary, he suddenly
+felt himself growing to such a pitch of misery and low spirits as even
+in the worst of his troubles he had never experienced.  He repented
+bitterly of ever bringing himself to come and ask such a favour of his
+worst enemy, and, stranger than all, he felt his dislike for Greenfield
+increased rather than swept away by this abrupt, startling piece of
+generosity.  Strange the whims that seize us!  Loman would almost have
+been happier in his old suspense about Cripps than to feel he owed such
+a debt to such a creditor.
+
+However, the thought of Cripps, his other creditor, flashed suddenly
+through his mind at that moment, so, closing his hand over the money, he
+turned moodily and left the room.
+
+At any rate, he would get clear of Cripps now he had the chance.
+
+As soon as ever morning school was over he took his hat and traversed
+once more the familiar road between Saint Dominic's and the Cockchafer.
+"Is Cripps at home?" he inquired of the potboy.
+
+"Yas," said the boy.  "Who wants him?"
+
+"I do, you young blockhead!"
+
+"You do?  Oh, all right!  I'll tell him, mister.  Don't you collar no
+mugs while I'm gone, mind!"
+
+The very potboys despised and ridiculed him!
+
+Loman waited patiently for a quarter of an hour, when the boy returned.
+
+"Oh!" said he, "the governor can't see you, he says.  He's a-smoking his
+pipe, he says, and he ain't a-goin' to put himself about, he says, for
+the likes of you.  That's what he says!  Ti ridde tol rol ro!" and here
+the youth indulged in a spitefully cheerful carol as he resumed the
+polishing of the mugs.
+
+"Look here!" said Loman, miserable and half frightened, "tell him I
+_must_ see him; I've got some money for him, tell him."
+
+"No! have you?" said the boy.  "Well, wait till I've done this here
+job--I'm dead on this here job, I am!  You can keep, you can."
+
+This was too much even for the dispirited and cowed Loman.  He caught
+the impudent boy a box on the ear, which resounded all over the
+Cockchafer, and sent him howling and yelling to his master.
+
+Cripps appeared at last in a fury.  What, he demanded, with half a dozen
+oaths, did Loman mean by coming there and assaulting him and his
+assistants?  "What do you mean, you thieving jackanapes, you!  Get out
+of my shop, do you hear? or I'll get some one in who will help you out!
+_I'll_ teach you to come here and make yourself at home, you lying--"
+
+"Now, Cripps," began Loman.
+
+"Hold your noise! do you hear?" said Cripps, savagely.
+
+"I'm very sorry, Cripps," said the wretched boy; "I didn't mean to hurt
+him, but he--"
+
+"Oh! you won't go, won't you?  Very good! we'll see if we can make you;"
+and Cripps departed from the bar, leaving his young "patron" in anything
+but a comfortable frame of mind.
+
+For once in a way, however, Loman was roused, and would not go.  The
+boy--miserable specimen as he was--had some courage in him, and when
+once goaded up to the proper pitch it came out.  If he went, he argued
+to himself, Cripps would certainly come up to Saint Dominic's after him.
+If he waited till the police or some of the roughs came and ejected him
+he could not be much worse off; and there was a chance that, by
+remaining, he might still be able to pacify his evil genius.
+
+So he stayed.  Another quarter of an hour passed; no one came to turn
+him out.  A few customers came into the bar and were served by the sulky
+potboy, but there was no sign of Cripps.
+
+"Go and tell your master I'm here still, and want to see him
+particularly," said Loman, presently, to the boy.
+
+The boy looked up and scowled and rubbed his ear, but somehow that
+timely blow of Loman's had wrought wonders with his spirit, for he
+quietly went off and did as he was bid.
+
+In a few minutes he came back and delivered the laconic message, "You're
+got to wait."
+
+This was satisfactory as far as it went.  Loman did wait, simmering
+inwardly all the time, and not wholly losing his desperation before once
+again Cripps appeared and beckoned him inside.
+
+"Here's the rest of the money," said Loman, hurriedly.  "You can give me
+back the bill now, Cripps."
+
+Cripps took up the money, counted it and pocketed it, and then turned on
+his victim with an impudent smile.
+
+"Give me the bill," repeated Loman, suddenly turning pale with the
+dreadful misgiving that after all he had not got rid of the blackguard.
+
+"What do you want the bill for?" asked Cripps, laughing.
+
+"Want it for?  Why, Cripps--" and here Loman stopped short.
+
+"Fire away," said Cripps.
+
+"I've paid you all I owe," said Loman, trembling.
+
+"What if you have?"
+
+"Then give me back that bill!"
+
+Cripps only laughed--a laugh which drove the boy frantic.  The villain
+was going to play him false after all.  He had got the money, every
+farthing of it, and now he was going to retain the bill which contained
+Loman's promise to pay the whole amount!  Poor Loman, he was no match in
+cunning for this rogue.  Who would believe him that he had paid, when
+Cripps was still able to produce the promise signed with his own name to
+do so?
+
+Bitterly did the boy repent the day when first, by a yielding to deceit,
+he had put himself in the power of such a villain!
+
+He was too confounded and panic-struck to attempt either argument or
+persuasion.  He felt himself ruined, and muttering, in a voice which
+trembled with misery, "I must tell father all about it," he turned to
+go.
+
+Oh, Loman!  Why have you left such a resolve till now?  Why, like that
+other prodigal, have you waited till everything else has failed, till
+your own resources and cunning have been exhausted to the last dregs,
+before you turn and say this!
+
+The boy uttered the words involuntarily, not intending that they should
+be heard.  Little he thought Cripps or any one would heed them.  But
+Cripps did heed them.  His quick ear caught the words, and they _had_ a
+meaning for him; for he might be able to cheat and browbeat and swindle
+a boy, but when it came to dealing no longer with the boy, but with the
+boy's father, Cripps was sharp enough to know that was a very different
+matter.  He had relied on the boy's fears of exposure and his dread of
+his father's anger to carry his extortions to the utmost limit with
+confidence.  But now he had gone a step too far.  When, in his
+desperation, the boy naturally turned to the very being he had all along
+most carefully kept ignorant of his proceedings, it was time for Cripps
+to pull up.
+
+He stopped Loman as he was going away, with a laugh, as he said, in his
+old tones, "Steady there, young gentleman, what a hurry you are in!  A
+man can't have a little bit of fun, just to see how you like it, but
+there you go, and give it all up, and go and get yourself into a regular
+perspiration!  Tell the governor, indeed!  You don't suppose I'd let you
+get yourself into such a mess as all that, do you?  No, no.  You shall
+have the bill, my man, never fear."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Cripps, thank you!" cried Loman, in a sudden convulsion
+of gratitude and relief.
+
+"'Pon my word, I might take offence, that I might, at your wanting the
+paper.  As if _I'd_ ever take advantage of a young gentleman like you!
+No, no; honesty's the best policy for us poor folks as well as for you
+nobs.  No one can say I defrauded any one."
+
+"Oh, no, of course not," cried Loman, enthusiastically.  "I should like
+to see any one who did!"
+
+Mr Cripps, smiling sweetly and modestly, went to his cupboard, and
+after a good deal of fumbling and search, produced the little slip of
+blue paper he was looking for.
+
+"Is that it?" cried the excited Loman.
+
+"Looks like it," said Cripps, unfolding it and reading out, with his
+back to the boy, "`Three months after date I promise to pay George
+Cripps thirty-five pounds, value received.  Signed, E. Loman.'  That's
+about it, eh, young gentleman?  Well, blessed if I ain't a soft-hearted
+chap after the doing you've given me over this here business.  Look
+here; here goes."
+
+And so saying, Mr Cripps first tore the paper up into little bits, and
+then threw the whole into the fire before the eyes of the delighted
+Loman.
+
+"Thanks, Cripps, thanks," said the boy.  "I am so glad everything's
+settled now, and I am so sorry to have kept you waiting so long."
+
+"Oh, well, as long as it's been an obligement to you, I don't so much
+care," said the virtuous Cripps.  "And now you've done with me I suppose
+you'll cut me dead, eh, young gentleman?  Just the way.  You stick to us
+as long as you can get anything out of us, and then we're nobodies."
+
+And here Mr Cripps looked very dejected.
+
+"Oh, no," said Loman, "I don't mean to cut you, Cripps.  I shall come
+down now and then--really I will--when I can manage it.  Good-bye now."
+
+And he held out his hand.
+
+Foolish and wicked as Loman was, there was still left in him some of
+that boyish generosity which makes one ready to forget injuries and
+quick to acknowledge a good turn.  Loman forgot for a moment all the
+hideous past, with its suspense and humiliations and miseries, and
+remembered only that Cripps had torn up the bill and allowed him to
+clear off accounts once for all at the hated Cockchafer.  Alas! he had
+forgotten, too, about telling all to his father!
+
+"Good-day, young gentleman," said Cripps, with a pensive face which made
+the boy quite sorry to see.
+
+He shook hands cordially and gratefully, and departed lighter in heart
+than he had felt for some time.
+
+But as he returned to Saint Dominic's the thought of Oliver, and of his
+debt to him, returned, and turned again all his satisfaction into
+vexation.  He wished he had the money that moment to fling back into the
+fellow's face!
+
+I don't pretend to explain this whim of Loman's.  It may have been his
+conscience which prompted it.  For a mean person nearly always detests
+an honest one, and the more open and generous the one is, the meaner the
+other feels in his own heart by contrast.
+
+However, for some days Loman had not the painful reminder of his debt
+often before his eyes; for as long as the Doctor was absent Oliver
+remained in the Fifth.
+
+At length, however, the head master returned, restored and well, and
+immediately the "removes" were put into force, and Oliver and Wraysford
+found themselves duly installed on the lowest bench of the Sixth--the
+only other occupant of which was Loman.  The two friends, however, held
+very little intercourse with their new class-fellow, and Oliver never
+once referred to the eight pounds; and, like every one and everything
+else, Loman grew accustomed to the idea of being his rival's debtor,
+and, as the days went on, ceased to be greatly troubled by the fact at
+all.
+
+But an event happened one day, shortly after the Doctor's return, which
+gave every one something else to think about besides loans and debtors.
+
+It was the morning of the day fixed for the great football match against
+the County, and every one, even the Sixth and Fifth, chafed somewhat at
+the two hours appointed on such a day for so mundane an occupation as
+lessons.
+
+Who could think of lessons when any minute the County men might turn up?
+Who could be bothered with dactyls and spondees when goal-posts and
+touch-lines were far more to the point?  And who could be expected to
+fix his mind on hexameters and elegiacs when the height of human
+perfection lay in a straight drop-kick or a fast double past the enemy's
+half-backs?  However, the Doctor had made up his mind Latin verses
+should get their share of attention that morning, and the two head forms
+were compelled to submit as best they could.
+
+Now, on this occasion, the Doctor was specially interested in the
+subject in hand, and waxed more than usually eloquent over the
+comparative beauties of Horace and Virgil and Ovid, and went into the
+minutest details about their metres.  Over one line which contained what
+seemed to be a false quantity he really became excited.
+
+"It is a most remarkable thing, and I am really pleased we have fallen
+on the passage," said he, "that this identical mistake, if it is a
+mistake, occurs in a line of Juvenal; it is in the--dear me, I have
+forgotten how it begins!  Has any one here a Juvenal?"
+
+"I have one in my study, sir," said Loman.  (Juvenal had been one of the
+Latin subjects for the Nightingale.)
+
+"Ah!  Would you fetch it, Loman, please?  I think I know precisely where
+the line occurs."
+
+Loman rose and went for the book, which he found upon his bookcase,
+enjoying a dignified and dusty repose on the top shelf.  Carefully
+brushing off the dust, so as to give the volume a rather less unused
+look, he returned with it to the class-room, and handed it to the
+Doctor.
+
+"Thank you, Loman.  Now, it is in the Fourth--no, the Fifth Satire,"
+said he, turning over the pages.  "Let me see--yes, not far from--ah!"
+
+This last exclamation was uttered in a voice which made every boy in the
+room look suddenly up and fix his eyes on the Doctor.  It was evidently
+something more than an exclamation of recognition on finding the desired
+passage.  There was too much surprise and too much pain in the word for
+that.
+
+Was the Doctor ill?  He closed the book and sat back in his chair in a
+sort of bewilderment.  Then suddenly, and with an evident effort,
+recovering himself, he let his eyes once more rest on the closed
+Juvenal.
+
+"Loman," he said, "will you come and find the passage for me?  Turn to
+the Fifth Satire."
+
+Loman obeyed, much wondering, notwithstanding, why the Doctor should ask
+him, of all people, to come up and turn to the passage.
+
+He advanced to the head master's desk and took up the Juvenal.
+
+"The Fifth Satire," repeated the Doctor, keeping his eyes on the book.
+
+Certainly the Doctor was very queer this morning.  One would suppose his
+life depended on the discovery of that unlucky line, so keenly he
+watched Loman as he turned over the pages.
+
+Was the book bewitched?  Loman, as he held it, suddenly turned deadly
+white, and closed it quickly, as if between the leaves there lay a
+scorpion!  Then again, seeing the Doctor's eye fixed on him, he opened
+it, and, with faltering voice, began to read the line.
+
+"That will do.  Hand me the book, Loman."
+
+The Doctor's voice, as he uttered these words, was strangely solemn.
+
+Loman hurriedly took a paper from between the leaves and handed the book
+to the Doctor.
+
+"Hand me that paper, Loman!"
+
+Loman hesitated.
+
+"Obey me, Loman!"
+
+Loman looked once at the Doctor, and once at the Juvenal; then, with a
+groan, he flung the paper down on to the desk.
+
+The Doctor took it up.
+
+"This paper," said he, slowly, and in an agitated voice--"this paper is
+the missing paper of questions for the Nightingale Scholarship last
+term.  Loman, remain here, please.  The other boys may go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+THE MATCH AGAINST THE COUNTY.
+
+The boys, astounded and bewildered by this unexpected revelation, slowly
+rose to obey the Doctor's order, leaving Loman alone with the head
+master.
+
+The boy was ashy pale as Dr Senior turned to him and said, solemnly--
+
+"How do you account for this, Loman?"
+
+Loman lowered his eyes and made no reply.
+
+"Answer me please, Loman.  Can you account for this?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did you ever see this paper before?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Do you know how it came into your Juvenal?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did you know anything at all about the lost paper?"
+
+"No."
+
+The Doctor looked long and searchingly at him as he said once more--
+
+"Loman, are you sure you are telling me the truth?  You know nothing
+whatever about the paper--never saw it before this moment?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You knew the paper had been missed off my desk?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Had you the least reason for believing any boy took it?"
+
+Loman hesitated.
+
+"I would rather not say," he said at last.
+
+"You must please answer me frankly, Loman.  Had you any reason, I ask,
+for believing any boy took the paper?"
+
+"Must I say?" asked Loman.
+
+"Yes--you must."
+
+"Well, then, I did fancy some one had taken it."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Greenfield senior," said Loman, flushing quickly as he said the name.
+
+"And what made you suspect Greenfield senior?"
+
+"All the boys suspected him."
+
+"That is not an answer, Loman.  Why?"
+
+"Because, for one thing," said Loman, sullenly, "he was seen coming out
+of your study that evening."
+
+"And why else?"
+
+"Because he came out so high in the exam."
+
+"And for these reasons you suspected Greenfield of taking the paper?
+Why did you not mention the matter to me?"
+
+Loman did his best to look virtuous.
+
+"I did not wish to get any one into trouble."
+
+"And you preferred to let an affair like this go on without taking any
+steps to have it cleared up?  Did Greenfield deny the charge?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did he admit it?"
+
+"Very nearly.  He wouldn't speak to any one for months."
+
+"And you really believe that Greenfield took the paper?"
+
+Loman looked up at the Doctor for a moment and answered, "Yes."
+
+"Did you lend him your Juvenal at any time?"
+
+"Not that I remember."
+
+"Do you suppose he put the paper in the book?"
+
+"I couldn't say; but I don't see who else could."
+
+"That will do, Loman; you can go.  Kindly leave the paper and the
+Juvenal with me."
+
+Loman turned to go, but the Doctor stopped him with one more question.
+
+"You know, I suppose, that the questions which you actually had set for
+the Nightingale examination were quite different from those on the
+paper?"
+
+"Yes," said Loman.  "I mean--that is," he added, stammering, and taking
+up the paper in question.  "I see by this paper they were quite
+different."
+
+"Yes; you can go now, Loman."
+
+There was something so solemn and hard in the head master's voice as he
+dismissed the boy that Loman felt very uncomfortable as he slowly
+departed to his own study.
+
+_He_, at any rate, was in no humour for enjoying the big football match
+which was just beginning.
+
+And it must be confessed the event of the morning had had the effect of
+disconcerting a good many more than himself.  Stansfield had quite hard
+work going round among his troops and rousing them once more to the
+proper pitch of enthusiasm.
+
+"What--whatever does it matter," he said, "if the fellow did take it?
+_You_ didn't take it, Winter, or you, Wren; and what on earth's the use
+of getting down in the mouth, and perhaps losing the match, because of
+it?  We're always having our football spoiled by something or other," he
+added with a groan.  "I'll tell you what it is, let's only lick these
+fellows this afternoon, and then I'll howl and groan and do anything you
+like, for a week."
+
+There was no resisting such a generous offer.  The fellows made up their
+minds to forget everything else that afternoon but the County, and so to
+play that the County should have some difficulty in soon forgetting
+them.
+
+"Fire away, you fellows, and peel!" cried Stansfield, as Oliver and
+Wraysford sauntered past.
+
+They fired away.  But while dressing they exchanged a few words on the
+forbidden subject.
+
+"Did you ever expect it would be brought home to Loman like this, Noll?"
+asked Wray.
+
+"No, I didn't.  And yet in a way--"
+
+"Eh?  What do you say?"
+
+"Why, Wray, you remember me saying that evening, after I left the study,
+the only fellow I met in the passage besides Simon was Loman?"
+
+"Yes; so you did."
+
+"He was going towards the Doctor's study," said Oliver.
+
+"Hum!  I remember now you said so."
+
+"And yet," continued Oliver, plunging into his jersey--"and yet I can't
+see how, if he did take the paper, he didn't do better in the exam.  He
+came out so very low."
+
+"Yes, that's queer, unless he took a fit of repentance all of a sudden,
+and didn't look at it."
+
+"Then it's queer he didn't destroy it, instead of sticking it in his
+Juvenal."
+
+"Well, I suppose the Doctor will clear it up, now he's on the scent."
+
+"I suppose so," said Oliver; "but, I say, old man," he added, "of course
+there's no need for us to say anything about it to anybody.  The poor
+beggar doesn't want _our_ help to get him into trouble."
+
+"No, indeed.  I'd be as glad, quite, if it were found to be another
+wrong scent, after all," said Wraysford.  "The fellow's in a bad enough
+way as it is."
+
+"Are you nearly ready, you two?" thundered Stansfield at the door.
+
+"Just ready!" they exclaimed; and in another minute they, too, had
+dismissed from their minds everything but Saint Dominic's versus County,
+as they trotted off to join the rest of their comrades on the field of
+battle.
+
+And, indeed, for the next two hours there was no opportunity, even, had
+they desired it, for any one to think of anything but this momentous
+struggle.
+
+For three years running the County had beaten the schoolboys, each time
+worse than before, until at last the latter had got to be afraid the
+others would begin to think them foemen not worthy of their steel.  This
+year they hardly dared hope a better fate than before, for the enemy
+were down in force.  Yet the boys had determined to die hard, and at
+least give their adversaries all the trouble they could before their
+goal should fall; and of this they were all the more sanguine, because
+their team was the very best the school could muster, and not a man
+among them but knew his business, and could be depended on to do it too.
+
+Bad luck!  Of course, just when it's not wanted there's a breeze got up,
+blowing right down the field, and in the very teeth of the schoolboys,
+who have lost the toss, and have to play from the oak-tree end for the
+first half of the game!
+
+"It's always the way," growls Ricketts.  "They'll simply eat us up while
+they've got the chance, you see!"
+
+"No they won't," says Stansfield, bound to take a cheerful view of
+things.  "We're strong in backs.  It's not like last match, when
+Greenfield wasn't playing, and Loman was there to make such a mess of
+it."
+
+"Well, it's a comfort, that, anyhow."
+
+"Of course it is," says the captain.  "What you fellows have got to do
+is to keep the ball in close, and nurse it along all the while, or else
+run--but you'd better let the quarter-backs do that."
+
+This sage advice is not thrown away on the worthies who lead the van for
+Saint Dominic's, and an opportunity for putting it into practice occurs
+the moment the game begins.  For the School has to kick-off, and to
+kick-off against that wind is a hopeless business.  Stansfield does not
+attempt anything like a big kick, but just drives the ball hard and low
+on to the legs of the County forwards, sending his own men close after
+it, so that a scrimmage is formed almost at the very spot where the ball
+grounds.
+
+"Now, School, sit on it!  Do you hear?" calls out the captain; and
+certainly it looks as if that unhappy ball were never destined to see
+the light again.  The enemy's forwards cannot get it out from among the
+feet of the School forwards, try all they will, until, by sheer weight,
+they simply force it through.  And then, when it does go through, there
+is young Forrester of the Fourth ready for it, and next moment it is
+back in its old place in the middle of the "mush."  In due time, out it
+comes again--this time on Wren's side--and once again, after a short
+run, there it is again, on almost the identical spot of earth where it
+has undergone its last two poundings.
+
+"Played up, Dominies!" cries out Stansfield, cheerily.  "Stick to it
+now!"
+
+Stick to it they do, with the wind fresh on their faces, and the County
+fellows charging and plunging and shoving like fury upon them.
+
+Ah! there goes the ball, out at the County end for a wonder.  The
+spectators cheer loudly for the schoolboys.  Little they know!  It had
+much better have stayed there among their feet than roll out into the
+open.  The County quarter-back has it in his hands in a twinkling, and
+in another twinkling he has lifted it with a drop-kick high into the
+air, all along the wind, which carries it, amid cheers and shouts, right
+up to the boundary of the School goal.
+
+So much for cutting through the scrimmage!
+
+Wraysford, the Dominican "back," is ready for it when it drops, and,
+without touching-down, runs out with it.  He is a cautious fellow, is
+Wraysford, and does not often try this game.  But the ball has far
+outstripped the enemy's forwards, and so he has a pretty open field.
+But not for long.  In a _few_ seconds the County is upon him, and he and
+the ball are no longer visible.  Then follow a lot more scrimmages, with
+similar results.  It is awfully slow for the spectators, but Stansfield
+rejoices over it, and the County men chafe.
+
+"Can't you let it out there?  Play looser, and let it through," says
+their captain.
+
+Loose it is.
+
+"That's better!" says the County captain, as presently the ball comes
+out with a bound full into the quarter-back's hands, who holds it, and,
+to the horror of the boys, makes his mark before he can be collared.
+
+The scrimmage has been near up to the Dominican goal--within a kick--and
+now, as the schoolboys look round first at the goal and then at the
+County man with the ball, the distance looks painfully small.  And even
+if it were greater, this wind would do the business.
+
+The County man takes plenty of room back from his mark, up to which the
+School forwards stand ready for one desperate rush the moment the ball
+touches the ground.  Alas, it is no go!  They have a knowing hand and a
+quick foot to deal with.  Before they can cover the few yards which
+divide them, the ball is dropped beautifully, and flies, straight as an
+arrow, over the cross-bar, amid the tremendous cheers of the County men
+and their friends.
+
+"Never mind!" says Stansfield, as his men walk out once more to the
+fray, "they shan't get another before half-time!"
+
+Won't they?  Such is the perversity of that creature people call Luck,
+and such is the hatred it has for anything like a boast, that two
+minutes--only two minutes--after the words are out of the captain's
+mouth another Dominican goal has fallen.
+
+For Stansfield in kicking off gets his foot too much under the ball,
+which consequently rises against the wind and presents an easy catch to
+any one who comes out to take it.  A County forward sees his chance.
+Rushing up, he catches the ball, and instantaneously, so it seems,
+drop-kicks it, a tremendous kick clean over the School goal, before even
+the players have all taken up their places after the last catastrophe.
+
+This is dreadful! worse than ever!  Never in their worst days had such a
+thing happened.  For once in a way Stansfield's hopefulness deserts him,
+and he feels the School is in for an out-and-out hiding.
+
+The captain would like extremely to blow some one up, if he only knew
+whom.  It is so aggravating sometimes to have no one to blow-up.
+Nothing relieves the feelings so, does it?
+
+However, Stansfield has to bottle up his feelings, and, behold! once
+more he and his men are in battle array.
+
+This time it's steady all again, and the ball is kept well out of sight.
+It can't even slip out behind now, as before; for the School
+quarter-backs are up to that dodge, and ready to pounce upon it before
+it can be lifted or sent flying.  Indeed, the only chance the wretched
+ball has of seeing daylight is--
+
+Hullo! half-time!
+
+The announcement falls on joyful ears among the Dominicans.  They have
+worked hard and patiently against heavy odds; and they feel they really
+deserve this respite.
+
+Now, at last, if the wind wouldn't change for them, they have changed
+over to the wind, which blows no longer in their faces, but gratefully
+on to their backs.
+
+The kick-off is a positive luxury under such circumstances; Stansfield
+needn't be afraid of skying the ball now, and he isn't.  It shoots up
+with a prodigious swoop and soars right away to touch-line, so that the
+County's "back" is the first of their men to go into action.  He brings
+the ball back deftly and prettily, slipping in and out among his own
+men, who get beside him as a sort of bodyguard, ready at any moment to
+carry on the ball.  It is ludicrous to see Ricketts and Winter and
+Callonby flounder about after him.  The fellow is like an eel.  One
+moment you have him, the next he's away; now you're sure of him, now
+he's out of all reach.  Ah!  Stansfield's got him at last!  No he
+hasn't; but Winter has--No, Winter has lost him; and--just look--he's
+past all the School forwards, no one can say how.
+
+Young Forrester tackles him gamely--but young Forrester is no hand at
+eel-catching; in fact, the eel catches Forrester, and leaves him
+gracefully on his back.  Past the quarter-backs!  The man has a charmed
+life!
+
+Ah!  Greenfield has got him at last.  Yes, Mr Eel, you may wriggle as
+hard as you like, but you'd hardly find your way out of that grip
+without leave!
+
+Altogether this is a fine run, and makes the School see that even with
+the wind they are not going to have it all their own way.  However, they
+warm up wonderfully after this.
+
+Steady is still the word (what grand play we should get if it were
+always the word at football, you schoolboys!  You may kick and run and
+scrimmage splendidly, but you are not steady--but this is digression).
+Steady is still the word, and _every_ minute Saint Dominic's pulls
+better together.  The forwards work like one man, and, lighter weight
+though they are, command the scrimmages by reason of their good
+"packing."
+
+Wren and young Forrester, the quarter-backs, are "dead on" the ball the
+moment it peeps out from the scrimmage; and behind them at half-back
+Oliver and Bullinger are not missing a chance.  If they did, Wraysford
+is behind them, a prince of "backs."
+
+Oh, for a chance to put this fine machinery into motion!  Time is
+flying, and the umpire is already fidgeting with his watch.  Oh, for one
+chance!  And while we speak here it comes.  A County man has just darted
+up along the touch-line half the length of the field.  Wren goes out to
+meet him, and behind Wren--too close behind--advances Oliver.  The
+County man thinks twice before delivering himself up into the clutches
+of one of these heroes, and ends his run with a kick, which, Oliver
+being not in his place, Wraysford runs forward to take.  Now Wraysford
+has hardly had a run this afternoon.  He means to have one now!  And he
+does have one.  He takes the ball flying, gives one hurried look round,
+and then makes right for the thick of the fray.  Who backs him up?
+Greenfield for one, and all the rest of Saint Dominic's for the other.
+
+"Stick close!" he says to Oliver, as he flies past.  Oliver wants no
+bidding.  He follows his man like a shadow.  In and out among the
+forwards, and round about past the quarter-backs; and when at last
+Wraysford is borne down by a combined force of half and
+three-quarter-backs, Greenfield is there to take the ball on.
+
+"Look-out there!" cries the County captain, "mark that man."  The County
+does mark that man, and they have the painful task of marking him pass
+one half-back and floor another before he is arrested.
+
+"I'm here!" cries Wraysford's voice at that moment; and next instant the
+ball is again hurrying on towards the County goal in Wraysford's arms,
+Greenfield once more being in close attendance.
+
+And now the County backs come into action, and the first of them collars
+Wraysford.  But it is Oliver who collars the ball, and amid the shouts,
+and howls, and cheers of players and spectators rushes it still onward.
+The second "back" is the County's only remaining hope, nor surely will
+he fail.  He rushes at Oliver.  Oliver rushes at him.  Wraysford, once
+more on his feet, rushes on them both.
+
+"Look-out for the ball there!" is the panic cry of the County.  Ay, look
+indeed!  Oliver is down, but Wraysford has it, and walks with it merrily
+over the County's goal-line, and deposits it on the ground in the exact
+centre of the posts.
+
+"There never was such a rush-up, or such a pretty piece of double play,"
+say the knowing ones among the onlookers; and when a minute later the
+ball is brought out, and Stansfield kicks it beautifully over the goal,
+every one says that it is one of the best-earned goals that old meadow
+has ever seen kicked, and that Saint Dominic's, though beaten, has
+nothing in that day's performance to be ashamed of.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+A VOCAL, INSTRUMENTAL, AND DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT IN THE FOURTH JUNIOR.
+
+Now among those who were present to witness the famous "rush-up" of
+Greenfield senior and Wraysford, which ended in the fall of the County
+goal, was one boy who showed very little enthusiasm over the
+achievement, or very little delight at the glory which the school
+thereby derived.
+
+Loman, who, unable to sit in his study, and not knowing what else to do,
+had wandered almost instinctively to the meadow, found himself on this
+particular afternoon one of the most miserable boys in Saint Dominic's.
+
+Two years ago, when he first entered the school, he was popular with his
+fellows and voted an acquisition on the cricket-ground and
+football-field whenever the youth of Saint Dominic's strove in emulation
+against their rivals.  He could remember a time when fellows strolled
+arm-in-arm with him down to the matches; when the small boys looked
+quite meek in his presence, and the masters gave a friendly nod in
+answer to his salutes.  That was when he was quite new at Saint
+Dominic's; but how changed now!  This afternoon, for instance, as he
+stood looking on, he had the cheerful knowledge that not a boy in all
+that assembly cared two straws about him.  Why wasn't _he_ playing in
+the match?  Why did the fellows, as they came near him, look straight in
+front of them, or go round to avoid him?  Why did the Guinea-pigs and
+Tadpoles strut about and crack their vulgar jokes right under his very
+nose, as if he was nobody?  Alas, Loman! something's been wrong with you
+for the last year or thereabouts; and if we don't all know the cause, we
+can see the effect.  For it is a fact, you _are_ nobody in the eyes of
+Saint Dominic's at the present time.
+
+However, he was destined to become a somebody pretty soon; and, indeed,
+as soon as the football match was over, and the supper after it was
+disposed of, and the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles (who, you know, had
+selected this same afternoon _for their_ great football match) had
+ceased their rows in slumber, every one's mind, at least the mind of
+every one in the two head forms, turned naturally to the strange and
+mysterious event of the morning.  What various conclusions they came to
+it is not for me to set down here.  They probably came to as good a
+conclusion as the reader has done, and waited impatiently to have the
+whole thing cleared up.
+
+And it looked as if the Doctor were about to do this next morning, for
+he summoned together the Fifth and Sixth, and thus solemnly addressed
+them:--
+
+"Before we begin the lesson for the day, boys, I wish to refer to an
+incident that happened here yesterday morning, which must be fresh in
+your memories.  I mean the accidental discovery of the lost examination
+paper for the Nightingale Scholarship.  I hope you will not draw hasty
+conclusions from what then occurred.  The boy in whose book the paper
+was found is present here, and has assured me on his honour he never saw
+the paper before, and is quite ignorant how it came into his book.  That
+is so, Loman?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Loman.
+
+"When a boy makes a statement to me on his honour, I accept it as such,"
+said the Doctor, very gravely, and looking hard at the boy.  "I accept
+it as such--"
+
+Loman sat motionless with his eyes on the desk before him.
+
+"But," went on the Doctor, turning again to the boys, "before I dismiss
+the subject I must do justice to one among you who I find, much to my
+pain, has been an object of suspicion in connection with this same lost
+paper.  Greenfield senior, I have no hesitation in saying, is perfectly
+clear of any such imputation as that you put upon him.  I may say in his
+presence I believe him to be incapable of a fraudulent and mean act; and
+further than that, you boys will be interested to hear that the
+questions which he answered so brilliantly in that examination were not
+the questions which appeared on the lost paper at all, but an entirely
+new set, which for my own satisfaction I drew up on the morning of
+examination itself."
+
+This announcement _did_ interest every one--the Fifth particularly, who
+felt their own humiliation now fourfold as they looked at Oliver, and
+thought of what their conduct to him had been.
+
+It interested Oliver and Wraysford as much as any one, but for a
+different reason.  Supposing Loman had taken the paper--this was the
+reflection which darted through both their minds--supposing Loman _had_
+taken the paper and worked up the answers from it, might not the sudden
+change of questions described by the Doctor account for the low place he
+had taken in the exam?
+
+Altogether the Doctor's speech left things (except as concerned Oliver)
+not much more satisfactory than before.  The natural impulse of
+everybody was to suspect Loman.  But, then, six months ago the natural
+impulse had been equally as strong to suspect Oliver, and--well, that
+had somehow turned out a bad "spec," and so might this.
+
+So Saint Dominic's really didn't know what to think, and settled down to
+the work of the term in an uneasy frame of mind, wishing something would
+turn up, to end the wretched affair of the lost paper definitely one way
+or another.
+
+Of course the report of the new state of affairs soon penetrated down to
+the lower school, and the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles at any rate were not
+slow in making up _their_ minds on the burning question.
+
+They turned out in a body and hooted Loman up and down the passages with
+as much, if not more, glee than some of them had lately hooted Oliver.
+"Yah, boo!  Who stole the exam paper?--there! old Loman."  Such were the
+cries which presently became familiar in the school, until one day Mr
+Rastle dropped down on some twenty of the "howlers," and set them each
+twelve propositions of Euclid to learn by heart, and two hours a-piece
+in the detention-room, there to meditate over their evil ways.
+
+The quiet of the lower school during the next week was something
+delicious.
+
+The tyrannical proceeding on the part of Mr Rastle provoked bitter
+indignation, of course, in the breasts of the culprits.  Why weren't
+they to be allowed to express their feelings?  And if Rastle did want to
+"pot" them, why should he give them Euclid to learn, when he knew
+perfectly well Euclid was the very thing not one of them _could_ learn
+by heart?  And if he did want to detain them, why _ever_ should he fix
+on the identical week in which the grand "Vocal, Instrumental, and
+Dramatic Entertainment" of the Fourth Junior was due to come off.
+
+It was an abominable piece of spite, that was a fact; and Mr Rastle was
+solemnly condemned one evening in the dormitory to be blown up with
+dynamite at the first convenient opportunity.  Meanwhile, come what
+would, the "Vocal, Instrumental, and Dramatic Entertainment" _should_
+come off, if it cost every man Jack of the "entertainers" his head.
+
+Stephen, who by this time was a person of authority in his class, was
+appointed president of the "V. I. and D. Society."  The manner of his
+election to this honourable office had been peculiar, but emphatic.  He
+had been proposed by Paul and seconded by himself in a short but elegant
+speech, in which he asserted he would only serve if his appointment was
+unanimous.  It _was_ unanimous, for directly after this magnanimous
+statement he and Paul and a few others proceeded summarily to eject
+Bramble, Padger, and others who showed signs of opposition; and then,
+locking the door, proceeded to an immediate vote, which, amid loud
+Guinea-pig cheers, was declared to be unanimous, one contumacious
+Tadpole, who had escaped notice, having his hands held down by his sides
+during the ceremony.  As soon as the doors were open, Bramble, who had
+meanwhile collected a large muster of adherents, rushed in, and, turning
+out all the Guinea-pigs, had himself elected treasurer, and Padger
+honorary secretary.  These exciting appointments having been made, the
+meeting was "thrown open," a programme was drawn up, and the
+preparations were in a very forward state when the sad interruption
+occasioned by Mr Rastle's brutal conduct took place.  But if Mr Rastle
+thought he was going to extinguish the "Vocal, Instrumental, and
+Dramatic Entertainment" he was woefully mistaken.
+
+As soon as ever, by superhuman exertions, Bramble and a few others of
+the "potted" ones had struggled through their Euclid, and served their
+term of detention, an evening was fixed upon for the great event to come
+off.
+
+Immediately a question arose.  Should the public be admitted?
+
+"Rather!" exclaimed Bramble, the treasurer, "five bob each."
+
+"Masters half price," suggested Padger.
+
+"Greenfield senior free!" shouted the loyal Paul.
+
+"Bah! do you think Greenfield senior would come to hear you spout, you
+young muff!" roared the amiable Bramble.
+
+"I know what he would come for," retorted Paul, "and I'd come with him
+too.  Guess!"
+
+"Shan't guess.  Shall I, Padger?"
+
+"May as well," suggested Padger.
+
+"He'd come," cried Paul, not waiting for the Tadpole to guess--"he'd
+come a mile to see you hung.  So would I--there!"
+
+It was some time before the meeting got back to the subject of admitting
+the public.  But it was finally agreed that, though the public were not
+to be invited, the door should be left open, and any one ("presenting
+his card," young Bilbury suggested) might come in, with the exception of
+Loman, Mr Rastle, Tom Braddy, and the school cat.
+
+For the next few days the Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles were busy, learning
+their parts, practising their songs, arranging all the details of their
+dramatic performance, and so on; and Mr Rastle had to "pot" one or two
+more of them, and detain one or two others, before he could get anything
+like the ordinary work of the class done.  All this the young vocal,
+instrumental, and dramatic enthusiasts bore patiently, devoting so many
+extra ounces of dynamite to Mr Rastle's promised blow-up for each
+offence.
+
+At last the festival day arrived.  Stephen, on whom, somehow, all the
+work had devolved, while the talking and discussion of knotty points had
+fallen on his two brother officers, looked quite pale and anxious on the
+eventful morning.
+
+"Well, young 'un," said Oliver, "I suppose Wray and I are to be allowed
+to come and see the fun to-night."
+
+"Yes," said Stephen, with considerable misgivings about the "fun."
+
+"All serene; we'll be there, won't we, Wray?  Not the first Guinea-pig
+kick-up we've been witness to, either."
+
+"Do you think Pembury will come?" asked Stephen, nervously.
+
+"Oh, rather.  He'll have to report it in the next _Dominican_.  I'll see
+he comes."
+
+"Oh, I think he needn't mind," said Stephen, with a queer shyness; "I
+could write out a report for him."
+
+"Oh, I dare say; a nice report that would be.  No, Tony must be there.
+He wouldn't miss it for a five-pound note."
+
+Stephen retired to report these rather alarming prospects of an audience
+to his comrades.
+
+"Talking of five-pound notes," said Wraysford, after he had gone, "does
+Loman ever mean to pay up that 8 pounds?"
+
+"I don't know; it doesn't look like it," said Oliver.  "The fact is, he
+came to me yesterday to borrow another pound for something or another.
+He said Cripps had been up to the school and tried to make out that
+there was another owing, and had threatened, unless he got it, at once
+to speak to the head master."
+
+"Did you lend it him?" said Wraysford.  "It's a regular swindle."
+
+"I hadn't got it to lend.  I told him I was sure the fellow was a thief,
+and advised him to tell the Doctor."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Oh, he got in an awful state, and said he would get into no end of a
+row, and wouldn't for the world have the Doctor know a word of it."
+
+"I don't like it at all," said Wraysford.  "Don't you have more to do
+than you can help with that business, Noll, old man."
+
+"But the poor beggar seems regularly at his wits' end."
+
+"Never mind; you'll do him and yourself no good by lending him money."
+
+"Well, I haven't done so, for a very good reason, as I tell you.  But
+I'm sorry for him.  I do believe he can't see that he's being fleeced.
+He made me promise not to utter a word of it to the Doctor, so I really
+don't know how to help him."
+
+"It's my impression he's good reason to be afraid of the Doctor just
+now," said Wraysford.  "That Nightingale business has yet to be cleared
+up."
+
+The two friends pursued this disagreeable topic no farther, but agreed,
+for all Loman wasn't a nice boy, and for all they had neither of them
+much cause to love him, they would see the next day if they could not do
+something to help him in his difficulty.  Meanwhile they gave themselves
+over to the pure and refined enjoyment of the "Vocal, Instrumental, and
+Dramatic Entertainment."
+
+At seven that evening, after tea, the Fourth Junior room became a centre
+of attraction to all Saint Dominic's.  Fellows from the Sixth and Fifth,
+always ready for novelty in the way of amusement, looked in to see the
+sport.  The Fourth Senior grandly condescended to witness the vulgar
+exploits of their juniors, and the other classes were most of them
+represented by one or more spectators.
+
+The programme had been carefully got up.  Stephen took the chair
+solemnly at the appointed hour, and with a great deal of stammering
+announced that the proceedings were now about to commence, and then sat
+down.  An awful pause ensued.  At first it was borne with interest, then
+with impatience; then, when Stephen began to whisper to Paul, and Paul
+began to signal to Bramble, and Bramble gesticulated in dumb show at
+Padger, and all four whispered together, and finally looked very gravely
+in an opposite direction to the audience, then they began to be amused.
+
+"Oh," said Stephen, very red, turning round abruptly after this awkward
+pause had continued for a minute or two--"oh, that was wrong; he doesn't
+begin, and the other fellow's away.  Look here, Bramble, do your thing
+now."
+
+"No, I can't," whispered Bramble in an audible voice.  "I've forgotten
+the first line."
+
+"Something about a kid asleep," suggested Padger, also audibly.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Bramble, starting up and blushing very red as he began.
+
+"`Lines on Seeing my Wife and Two Children Asleep'--Hood."
+
+This modest announcement of his subject was overwhelming in itself, and
+was greeted with such yells of laughter that the poor elocutionist found
+it utterly impossible to go on.  He tried once or twice, but never got
+beyond the first half line.
+
+"And has the earth--" and here he stuck, but in answer to the cheers
+began again, looking round for Padger to help.
+
+"And has the earth--(Go it, Padger, give a fellow a leg up, can't you?)"
+
+"I can't find the place," said Padger, very hot and flurried, and
+whipping over the pages of a book with his moist thumb.
+
+"And has the earth--(Look in the index, you lout!  Oh, won't I give it
+to you afterwards!)" once more began the wretched Bramble.  He got no
+farther.  Even had he remembered the words his voice could never have
+risen above the laughter, which continued as long as he remained on his
+feet.
+
+He retired at length in dudgeon, and Stephen called on Paul for a song.
+This went off better, only everybody stamped the time with his feet, so
+that the singer could neither be heard for the row nor seen for the
+dust.  After that followed another "reading."  This time the subject was
+a humorous one--"Ben Battle," by T. Hood.  Every one, by the way, chose
+Hood.  It was the only poetry-book to be had in the Fourth Junior.  The
+reading progressed satisfactorily for the first two lines--indeed, until
+a joke occurred, and here the reader was so overcome with the humour of
+the thing that he broke into a laugh, and every time he tried to begin
+the next line he laughed before he could get it out, until at last it
+got to be quite as monotonous as watching the hyena at the Zoological
+Gardens.  Finally he did get through the line, but in a voice so weak,
+wavering by reason of his efforts not to laugh, that the effect was more
+ludicrous than ever.  He could get no farther, however.  For the
+recollection of the joke that had passed, and the anticipation of the
+one that was coming, fairly doubled him up, and he let the book drop out
+of his hands in the middle of one of his convulsions.
+
+The next performance was an "instrumental" one, which bade fair to be a
+great success.  Four of the boys had learned to whistle "Home, Sweet
+Home" in parts, and were now about to ravish the audience with this
+time-honoured melody.  They stood meekly side by side in a straight line
+facing the audience, waiting for the leader to begin, and screwing their
+mouths up into the proper shape.  Just as the signal was given, and each
+had taken a long breath and was in the act of letting out, some lout in
+the audience laughed!  The result may be imagined.  The first note,
+which was to have been so beautiful, sounded just like the letting off
+of steam from four leaky safety-valves, and no effort could recover the
+melody.  The more they tried the more they laughed.  The more they
+laughed the more the audience roared.  There they stood, with faces of
+mingled agony and mirth, frantically trying to get the sound out; but it
+never came, and they finally had to retire, leaving the audience to
+imagine what the effect of "Home, Sweet Home" might have been had they
+only got at it.
+
+However, as the "dramatic" performance came next, the audience were
+comforted.  The modest subject chosen was _Hamlet_.
+
+Stephen, who was combining the duties of master of the ceremonies with
+those of president, rose and said to the company, "All turn round, and
+don't look till I tell you."
+
+Of course every one pretended to turn round, and of course everybody
+looked as hard as he could.  And they saw Bramble hop up on a chair and
+lower the gas, to represent night.  And they saw Paul and Padger stick
+up two or three forms on end, to represent a castle.  And they saw two
+other boys walk majestically on to the platform in ulsters and billycock
+hats, and their trousers turned up, and sticks in their hands to
+represent soldiers.
+
+"Now you can turn round," cried Stephen.
+
+They did turn round, just at the very moment when Bramble, attempting to
+lower the gas still further, turned it right out.  The effect was
+remarkable.  No one and nothing was visible, but out of the black
+darkness came the following singular dialogue:--
+
+"_Who's there_?"
+
+"Have you got a lucifer about you, any of you?"
+
+"_Nay, answer me.  Stand and unfold yourself_."
+
+"Don't be a fool (in agitated accents); you're shoving me off the
+platform."
+
+"Why don't you light up?"
+
+"_Long live the king_."
+
+"Ah, here's one.  What's become of the chair?"
+
+Next moment, amid great applause, the gas was re-lit, and the thrilling
+tragedy proceeded.
+
+It went on all right till the ghost enters, and here another calamity
+occurred.  Padger was acting ghost, dressed up in a long sheet, and with
+flour on his face.  Being rather late in coming on, he did so at a very
+unghostlike pace, and in the hurry tripped up on the bottom of his
+sheet, falling flop on the platform, which, being none of the cleanest,
+left an impression of dust on his face and garment, which greatly added
+to the horror of his appearance.  He recovered the perpendicular with
+the help of two soldiers and a few friends, and was about to proceed
+with his part, when the door suddenly opened and Mr Rastle appeared.
+
+He had evidently not come to see the show--indeed he hardly seemed aware
+that a show was going on.  His face was grave, and his voice agitated,
+as he said--
+
+"Has any one here seen Loman?"
+
+No one had seen him since breakfast that morning.
+
+"Is Greenfield senior here?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Oliver.
+
+"Will you come with me to the Doctor at once, please?"
+
+Oliver was out in the passage in a moment, and hurrying with the master
+to Dr Senior's study.
+
+"I'm afraid," said Mr Rastle, as they went--"I'm afraid something has
+happened to Loman!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+MISSING.
+
+Slowly Oliver followed Mr Rastle to the Doctor's study with strange
+forebodings at heart.
+
+What the "something that must have happened to Loman" could be, he could
+not conjecture; but the recollection of his unhappy schoolfellow's
+troubles and of his difficulties, and--worse still--of his dishonesty
+(for Oliver had no doubt in his mind that Loman had taken the
+examination paper), all came to his mind now with terrifying force.
+
+Oliver had never been fond of Loman, as the reader knows, but somehow
+there are times when one forgets whether one is fond of another person
+or not, and Oliver felt as if he would give anything now to be sure--
+
+Here he was at the Doctor's study.
+
+Dr Senior was standing at the fireplace with a very grave look,
+holding a letter in his hand.
+
+"Greenfield," said he, the moment the boy entered, "when did you see
+Loman last?"
+
+"Last night, sir, after preparation."
+
+"He was not in his class this morning?"
+
+"No, sir--he sent down word he had a headache."
+
+"You saw him last night--where?"
+
+"In my study."
+
+The Doctor paused uncomfortably, and Mr Rastle put in a question.
+
+"Are you and Loman great friends?"
+
+"No, we are not friends."
+
+"Does he often come to your study?"
+
+"No, sir.  Very rarely."
+
+"May I ask, Greenfield," said the Doctor, "why he was in your study last
+night?"
+
+This was getting close quarters for Oliver, who, however, had made up
+his mind he must, if put to it, say all he knew.
+
+"He came to--to ask me about something."
+
+"Yes, what?"
+
+"He made me promise not to tell any one."
+
+"Greenfield," said the Doctor, seriously, "Loman has disappeared from
+Saint Dominic's.  Why, I cannot say.  If you know of anything which will
+account for this proceeding, you owe it to yourself, to me, and to your
+schoolfellow, who may yet be recovered, to speak plainly now."
+
+The Doctor's voice, which had been stern when he began to speak,
+betrayed his emotion before the sentence was ended, and Oliver
+surrendered without further demur.
+
+"He came to borrow some money," he replied.
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor.
+
+Oliver had nothing for it but to narrate all he knew of Loman's recent
+money difficulties, of his connection with Cripps, and of his own and
+Wraysford's share in helping him out of his straits.
+
+The Doctor heard all he had to say, putting in a question here and
+there, whenever by the boy's manner there seemed to be anything kept in
+the background which wanted some coaxing to bring out.
+
+"And he wanted to borrow more money yesterday, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  He said Cripps had found there was another sovereign owing,
+and had threatened to expose Loman before you and the whole school
+unless he got it at once.  But I fancy that must only have been an
+excuse."
+
+"Yes.  And did you lend him the pound?"
+
+"I hadn't got it to lend," replied Oliver, "the last lot had completely
+cleared me out."
+
+"There is one other question I want to ask you, Greenfield," said the
+Doctor, fidgeting with the paper in his hand.  "How long do you suppose
+this has been going on?"
+
+"I don't know, sir--but should think for some time."
+
+"What makes you think so?"
+
+"Because," replied Oliver--and there was no help for it--"because at the
+time I spoke to you about the scrape my young brother got into at the
+lock, last autumn, Loman was very thick with Cripps."
+
+"Indeed?  That was just before the Nightingale examination, was it not?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Oliver, beginning to feel the ground very uncomfortable
+all round.  Here he was telling tales right and left, and no help for
+it.  Surely the Doctor was carrying it a little too far.
+
+"Do you suppose Loman was in debt at that time?"
+
+"I have no idea," replied the boy, wondering whatever that had to do
+with Loman's disappearance now.
+
+"You wonder why I ask this question," said the Doctor, apparently
+reading the boy's thoughts.  "This letter will explain.  I will read it
+to you, as you may be able to throw some light on it.  I received it
+just now.  It is from Cripps."
+
+"Hon. Sir,--I take the liberty of informing you that one of your young
+gents, which his name is Mister Loman, is a prig.  He's been a regular
+down at my shop this twelve month, and never paid a farthing for his
+liquor.  More than that, he's been a-drawing money from me up to
+thirty-five pounds, which I've got his promissory note due last
+Micklemas.  He said he was a-going to get a Nightingale or something
+then that would pay it all off, and I was flat enough to believe him.
+If that ain't enough, he's a-been and played me nicely over a rod I sold
+him.  I might have persecuted him over that job but I didn't.  He
+cracked it to rights, and then tries to pass it back on me for same as
+when he got it, and if I hadn't a-been a bit sharper nor some folk I
+should have been clean done.  This is to tell you I ain't a-going to
+stand it no longer, and if I don't get my money there'll be a rumpus up
+at the school which won't be pleasant for none of you.  So the shortest
+cut is to send on the money sharp to your humble servant, Ben Cripps.
+
+"P.S.--I've wrote and told the young swell I've put you on the job."
+
+"It is evident," said Mr Rastle, "this letter has something to do with
+Loman's disappearance."
+
+"Yes," said Oliver, "he was awfully frightened of you or his father
+getting to know about it all, sir."
+
+"Foolish boy!" said the Doctor, with a half groan.
+
+What little could be done at that late hour was done.  Strict inquiries
+were made on all hands as to when and where the missing boy was last
+seen, and it was ascertained that he must have left Saint Dominic's that
+morning during early class time, when every one supposed him ill in bed
+with a headache.
+
+But where had he gone, and with what object?  A telegram was sent to his
+father, and the reply came back that the boy had not gone home, and that
+Mr Loman was on his way to Saint Dominic's.  At the Maltby railway
+station no one had seen or heard anything of him.
+
+Meanwhile, Mr Rastle had gone down to the Cockchafer to see Cripps.
+The landlord was not at home, but, said the potboy, was most likely "up
+along with the old 'un at the lock-'us."  From which Mr Rastle gathered
+there was a chance of seeing Mr Cripps junior at the residence of Mr
+Cripps senior, at Gusset Lock-house, and thither he accordingly went.
+Mr Cripps junior was there, sweetly smoking, and particularly amiable.
+
+In answer to Mr Rastle's inquiries, he made no secret of his belief
+that the boy had run away for fear of exposure.
+
+"You see, Mister," said he, "I don't like a-getting young folk into
+trouble, but when it comes to robbing a man downright, why, I considers
+it my dooty to give your governor the tip and let him know."
+
+Mr Rastle had no opinion to offer on this question of morals.  What he
+wanted to know was whether Cripps had seen the boy that day, or had the
+slightest idea what had become of him.
+
+Mr Cripps laughed at the idea.
+
+"Not likely," he said, "he'd tell me where he was a-goin' to, when he'd
+got thirty-five-pound of mine in his pocket, the young thief.  All I can
+say is, he'd better not show up again in a hurry till that little bill's
+squared up."  And here Mr Cripps relapsed into quite a state of
+righteous indignation.
+
+"Wait till he do come back, I says," he repeated.  "I'll be on him,
+mister, no error.  I'll let the folks know the kind of young gents you
+turn out up at your school, so I will."
+
+Mr Rastle took no notice of all this.  He admitted to himself that this
+man had some reason for being disagreeable, if Loman had really
+absconded with such a debt as he represented.
+
+"Thirty-five pounds," continued Cripps, becoming quite sentimental over
+his wrongs, "and if you won't believe me, look at this.  This here bit
+of paper's all I've got in return for my money--all I've got!"
+
+And so saying he took from his pocket and exhibited to Mr Rastle the
+very promissory note, signed by Loman, which he had pretended to tear up
+and burn the last time that unhappy boy was at the Cockchafer.
+
+Had Mr Rastle known as much as the reader knows he would not have
+wasted more time over Mr Cripps.  He would have seen that, whatever had
+happened to the boy, Mr Cripps's purpose was to make money by it.  But
+he did not know all, and looked at the bill with mingled astonishment
+and sorrow as an important piece of evidence.
+
+"He really owed you this?" he asked.
+
+"He did so--every brass farthing, which I've waited ever since
+Michaelmas for it, mister.  But I ain't a-going to wait no longer.  I
+must have my money slap down, I let you know, or somebody shall hear of
+it."
+
+"But he has paid you something?" said Mr Rastle, remembering Oliver's
+account of the loan of eight pounds.
+
+"Has he?" exclaimed Cripps, satirically.  "Oh, that's all right, only I
+ain't seen it, that's all."
+
+"Do you mean he hasn't paid you anything?" demanded Mr Rastle, becoming
+impatient with his jocular manner.
+
+"Of course, as you says so, it ain't for me to say the contrairy; but if
+you hadn't told me, I should have said he ain't paid me one brass
+farthing, so now."
+
+"Dear me, dear me!" exclaimed Mr Rastle.  Of course, if that was so,
+Loman must have borrowed the eight pounds from Oliver on false
+pretences, and kept it for his own use.
+
+"I tell you what," broke in Mr Cripps, in the midst of this meditation,
+"I don't want to do nothing unpleasant to you, or the governor, or
+anybody.  What I say is, you'd better see this little bill put square
+among you, and then the thing can be kept quiet, do you see?  It would
+be awkward for you to have a regular shindy about it, my man, but that's
+what it'll come to if I don't get my money."
+
+This declaration Mr Cripps delivered in a solemn voice which was his
+nearest approach to earnestness.  But he was mistaken in expecting Mr
+Rastle to be much affected or overawed by it.  On the contrary, it gave
+that gentleman a new insight into his acquaintance's character, which
+decided him that a prolongation of this interview would neither be
+pleasant nor profitable.
+
+So Mr Rastle abruptly turned and went, much to the regret of Cripps,
+who had not half spoken his mind yet.
+
+Returning to the school, the master reported all he had to say, which
+was not much.  There an anxious night was spent by the masters and the
+one or two boys who were in their confidence in the matter.
+
+The half hope that Loman might return of his own accord before night was
+quickly dispelled.  Bed-time came, and no signs of him.  Later his
+father arrived, anxious and excited, and was closeted for some time with
+the Doctor.
+
+Meanwhile everything that could be done at that time of night was done.
+The Maltby newspapers were communicated with, and the police.
+Unpleasant as it was, the masters decided the right thing to do was to
+make the matter known at once, and not damage the chance of the boy's
+discovery by any attempt to keep his disappearance quiet.
+
+At dawn next day an organised search was begun, and inquiries were
+started in every direction.  Mr Cripps, among others, once more
+received the honour of a visit, this time from Mr Loman himself, who,
+greatly to the astonishment of the worthy landlord, called for his son's
+promissory note, which, being produced, he paid without a word.  Cripps
+was fairly taken aback by this unexpected piece of business, and even a
+trifle disconcerted.  It never suited him to be quite square with
+anybody, and now that Mr Loman had paid every farthing that could be
+claimed against his son, he did not like the look of Mr Loman at all,
+and he liked it less before the interview ended.  For Mr Loman (who, by
+the way, was a barrister by profession) put his man that morning through
+a cross-examination which it wanted all his wits to get over creditably.
+As it was, he was once or twice driven completely into a corner, and
+had to acknowledge, for the sake of telling one lie, that the last
+twenty statements he had made had been lies too.  Still Mr Loman kept
+at him.  Now he wanted to know exactly how often his son had visited the
+Cockchafer?  When he was there last?  When the time before that?  What
+he had done during his visits?  Had he played cards?  With whom?  With
+Cripps?  Had he lost?  Had Cripps won?  Had Cripps gone on letting him
+run up a score and lose money, even though he got no payment?  Why had
+Cripps done so?  Where had he expected to get payment from in the end?
+
+Altogether it was hot quarters for Cripps that morning, and once or
+twice he struck completely, and putting himself on his dignity, declared
+"he wasn't a-going to be questioned and brow-beated as if he was a
+common pickpocket!" which objection Mr Loman quietly silenced by saying
+"Very well," and turning to go, a movement which so terrified the worthy
+publican that he caved in at once, and submitted to further questions.
+
+Mr Loman then followed up his advantage by finding out all he could
+about the companions whom his son had been in the habit of meeting on
+the occasion of his visits to the Cockchafer.  What were their names,
+occupations, addresses, and so on?  Cripps, if any one had told him
+twenty-four hours ago that he would be meekly divulging all this
+information to any one in his own house, would have scoffed at the idea.
+But there was something about Mr Loman's voice, and Mr Loman's eye,
+and Mr Loman's note-book, which was too much for the publican, and he
+submitted like a lamb.
+
+In due time the ordeal was over, and Mr Loman said he would now go and
+call upon these young gentlemen, and see what they had to say, and that
+Mr Cripps would most likely hear from him again.
+
+Altogether the landlord of the Cockchafer had hardly ever passed such an
+uncomfortable morning.
+
+Meanwhile the other searchers, among whom were Oliver and Wraysford,
+were busy.
+
+For a whole day there came no news of the missing boy.  No one could be
+met who had seen him or heard of him.  Neither in Maltby nor up the
+river, nor in the country roads round, could any tidings of him be
+found.  Towards evening those who remained anxiously behind began to
+entertain fresh fears.  Had the boy been merely running away, some one
+would surely have seen him or heard of him.  Had anything worse happened
+to him?
+
+Mr Loman and the police-inspector paid a hurried visit to the
+boathouse.  Had the boy been there?  No, no one had been there for two
+days.  They followed the paths through the woods, asking at every
+cottage and stopping every passer-by.  But no, no one knew anything.  No
+boat had passed through the lock, no passenger on foot had gone past it.
+
+The night came, and with it most of the searchers returned, dejected and
+worn-out.
+
+The school was strangely silent.  Not a sound could be heard in the
+passages or class-rooms.  Nothing but the heavy rain, which now began to
+fall dismally upon the roof and windows of the old school-house.
+
+Boys who heard it shuddered, and their minds went out into the dark wet
+night after their lost schoolfellow, wherever he might be.
+
+Where was he now? they wondered, and how was he faring?
+
+"Has Greenfield returned?" asked the Doctor, as about ten o'clock the
+masters and Mr Loman met for the mockery of supper in the head master's
+study.
+
+"No," said Mr Jellicott.  "I have just been inquiring.  He has not
+returned."
+
+"Strange," said the Doctor; "which direction did he take?"
+
+"Up towards Grandham," said Wraysford; "we went together as far as the
+cross roads, and then I went off on the Dallingford road and back by the
+river."
+
+"He ought to be back now," said the Doctor, looking concerned.
+
+"There is no railway or coach from Grandham," suggested Mr Rastle; "he
+would have to walk back most likely."
+
+"And in this rain!" said the Doctor.
+
+"Perhaps," said Wraysford, "he may have heard something."
+
+It was a cheery suggestion.  If it could but be true!
+
+"He would have telegraphed," said Mr Loman.
+
+"There is no telegraph office there," said the Doctor; "the Grandham
+people have to come here or to Dallingford to telegraph."
+
+They waited an hour, but Oliver did not return.
+
+The night became more and more stormy.  The bleak February wind whistled
+among the chimneys, and the hard rain beat pitilessly at the windows and
+on the gravel walk outside.
+
+The Doctor rose and pulled up the blind and looked out.  It was a dreary
+prospect.  The rain had turned to sleet, and the wind was growing fast
+to a gale.  The trees round the house creaked and groaned beneath it.
+
+"It is a dreadful night," said the Doctor.  "Those two poor boys!"
+
+No one else said anything.  The storm grew fiercer and fiercer.  Boys in
+their dormitories sit up in bed and listened to the roar of the wind as
+it howled round the house.  And that silent party in the Doctor's study
+never once thought of seeking rest.  Midnight came; but no Oliver, no
+Loman--and the storm as furious as ever.
+
+Presently there came a soft knock at the door, which made every one
+start suddenly as the door opened.
+
+It was Stephen in his night-shirt.  He, like every one else, had been
+awakened by the storm.  Oliver was the monitor of his dormitory; and now
+for the first time the boy missed his elder brother.  Where was Oliver?
+he asked.  No one could say.  He had been out all day, and no one had
+seen him since he got back.
+
+This was enough for Stephen.  With bounding heart and quivering lips he
+sprang from his bed and hurried down stairs.  There was a light in the
+Doctor's study; and there he went.
+
+The boy's alarm and terror on hearing that his brother had not returned
+was piteous to see.  He begged to be allowed to go and look for him, and
+only the Doctor's authoritative command could put him from this purpose.
+But nothing would induce him to return to bed; so Wraysford fetched him
+an ulster to keep out the cold.
+
+The night wore on, by inches; and the storm raged outside with unabated
+wildness.
+
+More than once the impulse had seized Wraysford to sally out at all
+risks and look for his friend.  But what _could_ one do in a night like
+this, with a blinding sleet full in one's face, and a wind which mocked
+all attempts at progress or shouting!
+
+No, there was nothing for it but to sit patiently and await daylight.
+
+One, two, three o'clock came, and still nothing but the storm.  Stephen
+crouched closer up beside Wraysford, and the elder boy, as he put his
+arm round the younger, could feel how his chest heaved, and how his
+teeth chattered.
+
+"You're cold, old boy," said he, kindly.
+
+"No, I'm not, Wray," said the boy, with a gulp; "but don't talk, Wray,
+I--"
+
+The next instant Stephen, with a sudden cry, had bounded to his feet and
+rushed to the window.
+
+"Some one called!" he cried.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+FOUND!
+
+The little company of watchers sprang to their feet with one accord and
+listened, as Stephen wildly flung up the window.  The storm burst into
+the room as he did so, with all its vehemence, drenching those who stood
+near, and deafening every one with its roar.  But no other sound could
+be heard.  Stephen, heedless of the weather, stood motionless with his
+head out of the window, listening.  Alas! it must have been a false hope
+after all--a brother's fancy.
+
+"A mistake, I fear," said Dr Senior.  "Greenfield, I think you had
+better close the window.  It will be daylight in--"
+
+He had not time to finish his sentence, for with a sudden exclamation
+and a shout of, "There it is again; come, Wray!" the boy had leapt from
+the low window, half clad as he was, into the garden.
+
+For Wraysford to follow him was the work of an instant. Mr Rastle and
+Roach the porter did the same, while the others went hurriedly out into
+the passage to the hall door.  Close as they were to one another,
+Wraysford lost sight of Stephen for a moment in the blinding sleet which
+dashed full in their faces.  But he heard him shouting a few yards off,
+and was at his side the same moment.
+
+"No use shouting," said he, "against the wind."
+
+"I _must_ shout!" exclaimed Stephen, calling out once more.
+
+"Where--what did you hear?" asked Wraysford.
+
+"Some one shouting.  I'm positive of it!" said the boy, plunging
+forward.
+
+"Stand still, and listen again," said Wraysford; "we may be going all
+wrong."
+
+It was all he could do to keep the younger boy still for a few seconds.
+What ages those seconds seemed!
+
+A voice somewhere?  No, only Mr Rastle and Roach coming up behind.
+
+"Well?" inquired the master, breathlessly.
+
+"Hush!" said Stephen, turning his head to the wind to listen.
+
+What a wind it was!  Surely it would beat any voice to shreds!
+
+"We may as well go on," said the boy, impatiently.
+
+"Wait a second or two longer," said Wraysford.
+
+Scarcely had he spoken when, joyous sound! there came on the wind from
+somewhere what sounded like a feeble shout!
+
+In an instant all four bounded forward and were once more lost in the
+storm.
+
+But they had hope, and every moment, a night like this, was precious.
+They groped down the garden walk, and towards the meadow, shouting as
+they went.  Then presently they halted again and listened.
+
+Yes there was the call again, and nearer.  Thank Heaven! they were on
+the right track.  On they went once more.  Another shout!  Nearer still!
+
+Oh, for a lull in the tempest, that they might give one shout back!
+
+"Try," said Mr Rastle, "they may hear it.  Here, Roach, come and
+shout--one, two, three, and a--"
+
+What a shout it was!  The wind got hold of it as if it had been a
+sparrow's twitter, and tossed it mockingly over their heads and far away
+behind them, who knows where?  "It's no go," said Wraysford.  "Hullo,
+here's the meadow ditch.  Hadn't we better follow it up and down?
+Stephen and I will take the left."
+
+Once more, as they turned, a shout!
+
+"Oh, be quick!" cried Stephen.  "Where does it come from?  Come, Wray,
+quick!"
+
+They might as well have tried to fly as run against that wind; but they
+crawled rapidly forward.
+
+Suddenly, close at their side, rose the shout again.  With a bound the
+two boys were over the ditch, and in another moment a fourfold shout
+proclaimed that the wanderers were found!
+
+Oliver and Loman were crouching under a tree, the former without coat or
+waistcoat, which he had thrown round the shivering and now senseless
+form of his companion.
+
+It was no time for words, either of joy or explanation; time enough for
+that when every one was safe indoors.  Mr Rastle and Roach between them
+carried Loman, while Oliver, in scarcely better plight, was helped along
+by his brother and friend.
+
+"Is it far?" he asked, faintly.
+
+"No, old man; that light there is Saint Dominic's."
+
+"Is it?  I didn't know that when I shouted; I thought we were miles
+away."
+
+"Oh, no!  Hold up, old boy; we're just there."
+
+And so this strange procession returned before the wind to Saint
+Dominic's, and when, a few minutes later, watchers and rescuers and
+rescued all gathered in the Doctor's study, Oliver, as well as Loman,
+was insensible.
+
+It was some days before the true story of that terrible night could be
+told, and then Oliver only told it briefly.
+
+Late in the afternoon, as he was about to turn back, he said, he heard
+from a farmer's boy that he had seen a stranger that morning asleep
+under a hedge about a mile off.  Vague as this information was, it
+decided Oliver at once to go forward, which he did.  As might have been
+expected, there was no trace of the "stranger" at the hedge, and no
+amount of searching along it could discover any clue.  Still, he did not
+like to turn back while a chance remained.  He went on towards Grandham,
+inquiring of everybody and looking everywhere.
+
+At last--it was getting dusk--he entered a field across which ran a
+footpath which led direct to Grandham Green.  He was half way across,
+wondering if he could by any chance find a cart or vehicle of any kind
+to drive him back to Saint Dominic's, when at the other side of the
+field he suddenly caught sight of a figure getting up from under the
+hedge and moving quickly away.  He instantly and instinctively gave
+chase.  The other, seeing he was discovered, began to run too.  It was
+Loman.  Oliver called to him to stop, but he paid no heed.  He continued
+to run as long as he could, and then, like a hunted animal, turned at
+bay.
+
+Oliver told very few all that had passed when finally he did come up
+with the wanderer.  His first impression, judging from the unhappy boy's
+strange and excited manner, was that he had gone out of his mind.  He
+appeared reckless and desperate at first, and determined to resist all
+attempts to bring him back.  He would sooner die than go back to Saint
+Dominic's, he said.  What right had Oliver to interfere with him and dog
+him in this way?  He had a right to go where he chose, and no one should
+stop him.  Oliver let him talk on, not attempting to reply, and avoiding
+all appearance of using force to detain him.
+
+This wise policy had its effect.  In time the poor fellow, who was
+really suffering more from hunger and fatigue (he had not had a morsel
+of food since the afternoon before) than from anything else, quieted
+down, and gave up further resistance.  Oliver told him, in as few words
+as he could, of the distress which his disappearance had caused at Saint
+Dominic's and to his parents, and besought him to return quietly,
+promising forgiveness for the past, and undertaking that all would be
+made right if he would only come home.
+
+Loman listened to all doggedly.  "You're humbugging me!" he said.  "You
+know I stole that paper?"
+
+"Oh, don't talk of that!" cried Oliver.  "Do come back!"
+
+"You know--can't you get me something to eat?"
+
+As he said this he sunk down with a groan upon the grass.  Oliver
+started wildly to rush to the nearest cottage.  As he did so, however, a
+doubt crossed his mind, and he said, "You'll promise to wait here, will
+you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! be quick."
+
+Oliver flew on the wings of the wind towards the village.  There was a
+cottage a few hundred yards away.  As he neared it, he cast one look
+back.  The wretched boy was on his feet, hurrying away in an opposite
+direction.
+
+Another chase ensued, though only a short one.  For Loman was in no
+condition to hold out long.  Oliver half led, half dragged him to
+Grandham, where at last he procured food, which the unhappy fugitive
+devoured ravenously.  Then followed another talk, far more satisfactory
+than the last.  Restored once more in body and mind, Loman consented
+without further demur to accompany Oliver back to Saint Dominic's, but
+not before he had unburdened his mind of all that was on it.
+
+Oliver implored him not to do it now, to wait till he got back, and then
+to tell all to his father, not to him.  But the poor penitent was not to
+be put off.  Until he had confessed all he would not stir a foot back to
+the school.
+
+Then Oliver heard all that sad story with which the reader is now
+familiar.  How that first act of fraud about the rod had been the
+beginning of all this misery.  How Cripps had used his advantage to
+drive the boy from one wickedness and folly to another--from deceit to
+gambling, from gambling to debt, from debt to more deceit, and so on.
+How drinking, low company, and vicious habits had followed.  How all the
+while he was trying to keep up appearances at the school, though he saw
+that he was gradually becoming an object of dislike to his fellows.  How
+he had staked everything--his whole hope of getting free from Cripps--on
+the result of the Nightingale examination; and how, when the critical
+moment came, he yielded to the tempter and stole the paper.
+
+"And you can fancy how punished I was when, after all, the Doctor missed
+the paper and altered the questions, Greenfield.  I was so taken aback
+that I didn't even answer as well as I could.  And then I lost the paper
+I had stolen--couldn't find it anywhere, and for weeks I was in constant
+terror lest it should turn up.  Then I saw the fellows were all
+suspecting you to be the thief, and you know how meanly I took advantage
+of that to hide my own guilt.  Oh, Greenfield, what a wretch, what a
+miserable wretch I have been!"
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Oliver, with true sympathy.  "But, I say, do let's
+be going back, it's getting late, and looks as if it might rain."
+
+"I _must_ tell you the rest, Greenfield, please.  You're the only fellow
+I can tell it to.  Somehow I think if I'd had a friend like you all the
+last year I shouldn't have gone wrong as I have.  How I used to envy you
+and Wraysford, always together, and telling one another your troubles!
+Well, of course, after the Nightingale exam, things were worse than
+ever.  I'd given Cripps a bill, you know, a promise to pay in September.
+I don't know anything about bills, but he made me sign it.  Of course I
+couldn't pay when it came due, and had to make all sorts of excuses and
+tell all sorts of lies to get him to give me more time; as if I was more
+likely to pay later on than then!  But, somehow, if I could only get the
+thing off my mind for the present, I felt that was all I cared about.
+He gave in at last, and I was able to pay it off bit by bit.  But I was
+in constant terror all that term of his coming up to Saint Dominic's.
+You know he did come once, at the football match against Landfield, and
+I thought I was done for."
+
+Here Loman paused a moment, and Oliver, seeing that he was determined to
+tell his story to the end, waited patiently till he continued.
+
+"Then there was that Waterston exam.  I fancied I might get that if I
+worked.  Ass that I was to think, after all my wasted time and sin, I
+had any chance against you or Wraysford!  I tried to work, but soon gave
+it up, and went on going down to the Cockchafer instead, to keep Cripps
+in good humour, till I was quite a regular there.  You know what a
+fearful hash I made of the exam.  I could answer nothing.  That very day
+Cripps had sent up to threaten to tell the Doctor everything unless I
+paid what I still owed.  I had paid off all the bill but eight pounds.
+I had got some of it from home, and some of it by gambling; I'd paid off
+all but eight pounds.  You know, Greenfield, who lent me that."
+
+"I'm thankful we were able to do it," said Oliver.
+
+"If you'd known how I hated you and despised myself over that eight
+pounds you would hardly have been glad.  Everything was hateful.  I took
+the money down to Cripps and paid it him.  He pretended at first that he
+wouldn't take it; and then when he did, and I asked him to give me back
+my promissory note, he laughed at me.  I nearly went mad, Greenfield, at
+the thought of not being clear after all.  At length he did make believe
+to give in, and produced what I thought was the bill, and tore it up in
+my presence.  I couldn't see it, but he read it out aloud, and I had no
+doubt it was actually the thing.  I was so grateful I actually felt
+happy.  But then came the discovery of that miserable exam paper.  I
+must have left it in my Juvenal last September, and forgotten all about
+it.  I was certain the Doctor knew quite well I was the thief, but I
+denied it and tried feebly to put it on you.  Then everybody cut me; but
+I hoped still all might blow over in time.  But every day it became
+harder to bear; I should have had to confess at last, I believe.  Then
+came Cripps's final villainy.  He had never destroyed my bill after all,
+but now calmly claimed the whole amount."
+
+"The scoundrel!" exclaimed Oliver, indignantly.
+
+"I had no receipts to show what I had paid, and of course was at his
+mercy.  This last move really drove me half crazy.  I daren't tell any
+one about it.  I was too desperate to think of anything but running away
+and hiding somewhere.  I had no money.  I came to you with a lie to try
+to borrow a pound, so that I might go somewhere by train.  You couldn't
+do it, and so I had to walk, and--and--oh!  Greenfield, what shall I do?
+what will become of me?"
+
+"My dear fellow," said Oliver, laying his hand on the unhappy boy's arm,
+"we'll go back together, and I can promise you you'll find nothing but
+kindness and forgiveness when you get back.  If I wasn't sure of that, I
+wouldn't urge you to come.  There!  I wish you could have seen your poor
+father's face last night."
+
+Loman held out no longer; and, indeed, it was high time to think of
+moving, for the afternoon was closing in and rain was already beginning
+to fall.
+
+Loman was in no condition for walking, nor, indeed, was Oliver, who had
+been on his feet since early morning.  A farmer's cart was with some
+difficulty found, which happened to be going a good part of the
+distance, and in this the two boys late that afternoon ensconced
+themselves.  They talked little at first, and presently not at all.
+Each had his own thoughts, and they were serious enough to occupy them
+for a much longer journey.
+
+Night fell presently, soon after they had started, and with it the rain
+and wind came heavily.  There was little enough protection for these two
+worn-out ones in an empty open cart, but what they could get from an old
+wrap and some boards they secured.
+
+As the storm grew worse this poor shelter became quite useless, and the
+two boys suffered all the horrors of a bitter exposure.
+
+Loman, who had got a cough already, was the first to show distress, and
+he soon became so cold and numbed that Oliver grew alarmed.  They would
+be better walking than sitting still in that jolting cart a night like
+this.
+
+So, much against their own inclination and the advice of the carman, who
+characterised the proceedings as "tomfoolery," they alighted, and
+attempted to take the short cut across the fields to Saint Dominic's.
+
+Short cut, indeed!  It was indeed a sarcastic name for the road those
+two boys took that terrible night.  Oliver could never recollect all
+that happened those few hours.  He was conscious of the tremendous
+storm, of the hopeless losing of their way, and of Loman's relapse into
+a state of half-unconsciousness, in the midst of which he constantly
+begged to be allowed to lie down and sleep.
+
+To prevent this was Oliver's principal occupation during that fearful
+time.  More than once he was forced into a hand-to-hand struggle to keep
+his companion from his purpose.  To let him lie down and sleep on such a
+night would be, he knew, to leave him to certain death.  At any cost he
+must be kept moving.  At last the storm fairly vanquished them.  Even
+Oliver began to grow half-hearted in his determination.  He took off his
+own coat and waistcoat and pat them on his comrade, who by this time was
+stupid with cold and exhaustion.  A few minutes longer and both might
+have given themselves up, when suddenly there flickered a light before
+them.  All Oliver could do was to shout.  He had no power left to drag
+Loman farther, and leave him he would not.  He shouted, and the reader
+knows who heard that shout, and what the answer was.
+
+Such was Oliver's story, and it needed little amplification.  If it had,
+the only boy who could have added to it was in no position to do so.
+For four weeks after that night Loman lay ill with rheumatic fever, so
+ill that more than once those who watched him despaired of his recovery.
+But he did recover, and left Saint Dominic's a convalescent, and,
+better still, truly penitent, looking away from self and his own poor
+efforts to Him, the World's Great Burden Bearer, whose blood "cleanseth
+us from all sin."
+
+His schoolfellows saw him no more; did not know, indeed, when he left
+them.  Only one of them shook hands with him at the door of the old
+school as he went.  That boy was Oliver Greenfield.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+GOOD-BYE TO SAINT DOMINIC'S.
+
+And now, reader, we are at the end of our story, and there only remain
+the usual "last words" before we say good-bye.
+
+Saint Dominic's flourishes still, and only last season beat the County
+by five wickets!  The captain on that occasion was a fellow called
+Stephen Greenfield, who carried his bat for forty-eight in the first
+innings.  He is a big fellow, is the captain, and has got a moustache.
+Though he is the oldest boy at Saint Dominic's, every one talks of him
+as "Greenfield junior."  He is vastly popular, and fellows say there
+never was such a good Sixth at the school since the days of his brother,
+Greenfield senior, five years ago.  The captain is an object of special
+awe among the youngsters of the Fourth Junior, who positively quake in
+their shoes whenever his manly form appears in the upper corridor.
+
+These youngsters, by the way, are still the liveliest section of Saint
+Dominic's.  The names Guinea-pig and Tadpole have died out, and left
+behind them only the Buttercups and Daisies, who, however, are as fierce
+rivals and as inky scamps as even their predecessors were.  There is a
+lout of a fellow in the Fourth Senior called Bramble, who is extremely
+"down" on these juveniles, always snubbing them, and, along with one
+Padger, a friend of his, plotting to get them into trouble.  But somehow
+they are not much afraid of Bramble, whereat Bramble is particularly
+furious, and summons Padger to a "meeting" about once a week in his
+study, there to take counsel against these irreverent Buttercups and
+Daisies.
+
+About the only other fellow the reader will recollect is Paul, now in
+the Sixth, a steady-going sort of fellow, who, by the way, has just won
+the Nightingale Scholarship, greatly to the delight of his particular
+friend the captain.
+
+Last year the Fifth tried to revive an old institution of their Form, in
+the shape of a newspaper entitled the _Dominican_, directed chiefly
+against the members of the Sixth.  But somehow the undertaking did not
+come off.  The _Dominican_ was a very mild affair for one thing, and
+there was nothing amusing about it for another thing, and there was a
+good deal offensive about it for another thing; and for another thing,
+the captain ordered it to be taken down off the wall on the first day of
+its appearance, and announced that if he had any more of this nonsense
+he would thrash one or two whose names he mentioned, and knock one or
+two others out of the first eleven.
+
+The _Dominican_ has not appeared since.
+
+The big cricket match against the County I spoke of just now was a
+famous event for more reasons than one.  The chief reason, of course,
+was the glorious victory of the old school; but another reason, almost
+as notable, was the strange muster of old boys who turned up to witness
+the exploits of the "youngsters."
+
+There was Tom Braddy, for instance, smoking a big cigar the size of a
+pencil-case, looking the picture of a snob.  And with him a
+vacant-looking young man with a great crop of whiskers on his puffy
+cheeks.  His name was Simon.  The great idea of these two worthies
+seemed to be to do the grand before their posterity.  They were
+convinced in their own minds that in this they were completely
+successful, but no one else saw it.
+
+Boys took a good deal more interest in a lame gentleman present, who was
+cracking jokes with everybody, and hobbling about from one old crony to
+another in a manner that was perfectly frisky.  Every one seemed to like
+Mr Pembury, and not a _few_ to be afraid of him.  Perhaps that was
+because he was the editor of a well-known paper of the day, and every
+one likes to be on good terms with an editor.
+
+Then there were a batch of fellows whose names we need hardly enumerate,
+who had run over from Oxford, or Cambridge, or London for the day, and
+who got into clusters between the innings and talked and laughed a great
+deal over old times, when "Bully did this," and "Rick did that," and so
+on.  A nice lot of fellows they looked on the whole, and one or two, so
+people said, were doing well.
+
+But among these _the_ lions of the day were two friends who strolled
+about arm-in-arm, and appeared far more at home in Saint Dominic's even
+than the boys themselves.  One of them was the big brother of the
+captain--a terrible fellow by all accounts.  He rowed in the boat of his
+'Varsity the last year he was at Cambridge, and since then he has been
+called to the bar, and no one knows what else!  People say Oliver
+Greenfield is a rising man; if so, we may hear of him again.  At any
+rate in the eyes of the admiring youngsters of Saint Dominic's he was a
+great man already.
+
+So was his friend Wraysford, a fellow of his college, and a "coach" for
+industrious undergraduates.  He does not look like a tutor, certainly,
+to judge by his jovial face and the capers he persisted in cutting with
+some of his old comrades of years ago.  But he is one, and Saint
+Dominic's Junior eyed him askance shyly, and thought him rather more
+learned and formidable a person than the old Doctor himself.
+
+No one enjoyed themselves on that day more than these two, who prowled
+about and visited every nook and cranny of the old place--studies,
+passages, class-rooms, Fourth Junior and all.
+
+The match is over, the jubilations of victory have subsided, and one by
+one the visitors depart.  Among the last to leave are Oliver and
+Wraysford; they have stayed to dine with the Doctor, and when at last
+they do turn their backs on the old school it is getting late.
+
+Stephen accompanies them down to the station.  On the way they pass the
+well-known Cockchafer.  The old board is still there, but a new name is
+upon it.
+
+"Hullo! what's become of Cripps?" asked Wraysford.
+
+"Oh! he's gone," said Stephen.  "Didn't you know?"
+
+"No!  When was that?"
+
+"The very time you and Noll went up to Cambridge.  The magistrates took
+away his licence for allowing gambling to go on at his house.  He stuck
+on at the lock-house for some time, and then disappeared suddenly.  They
+said he was wanted for some bit of swindling or other.  Anyhow, he's
+gone."
+
+"And a very good riddance too," says Oliver.
+
+"So it is," replies Stephen.  "By the way, Noll, what's the last news of
+Loman?"
+
+"Oh, I meant to tell you.  He's coming home; I had a letter from him a
+week or two ago.  He says the four or five years' farming and knocking
+about in Australia have pulled him together quite; you know how ill he
+was when he went out?"
+
+"So he was," says Wraysford.
+
+"He's coming home to be near his father and mother.  He's been reading
+law, he says, out in the backwoods, and means to go into his father's
+office."
+
+"I'm glad he's coming home," says Wraysford.  "Poor fellow!  I wonder
+when he'll come to this old place again."
+
+A silence follows, and Oliver says, "When he does, I tell you what: we
+must all make up a jolly party and come down together and help him
+through with it."
+
+"Well, old man!" said Stephen, taking his brother's arm, "if it hadn't
+been for you, he--"
+
+"Hullo, I say! there's the train coming!" breaks out Oliver.  "Look
+alive, you fellows, or we shall be late!"
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's, by
+Talbot Baines Reed
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