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diff --git a/24632.txt b/24632.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83201f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24632.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14041 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIFTH FORM AT SAINT DOMINIC'S *** + +***** This file should be named 24632.txt or 24632.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/3/24632/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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