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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch, 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 Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch
+
+Author: Talbot Baines Reed
+
+Release Date: April 11, 2007 [EBook #21035]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE-GUINEA WATCH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch
+
+By Talbot Baines Reed
+________________________________________________________________________
+This is really a most unusual book.  Told, we must imagine, by the
+watch, we are led through the owner's days at a boys' boarding school,
+to being stolen, pawned, auctioned, taken to quite another small town,
+given to a brilliant local boy when he left for Cambridge, lost in a
+field, found, and through further adventures being taken to India to
+fight in a battle near Lucknow, finally making its way into the pocket
+of its original owner, whose life was saved by the watch having
+deflected a bullet.
+
+It's well-told, too, and not too long, at under ten hours.
+
+The copy we worked from was very browned, and it was not too easy to do
+the transcription, but we have done our best: if you find anything
+obviously wrong, don't hesitate to tell us about it. NH.
+________________________________________________________________________
+THE ADVENTURES OF A THREE-GUINEA WATCH
+
+BY TALBOT BAINES REED
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+MY INFANCY AND EDUCATION--HOW I WAS SOLD AND WHO BOUGHT ME.
+
+"Then you can guarantee it to be a good one to go?"
+
+"You couldn't have a better, sir."
+
+"And it will stand a little roughish wear, you think?"
+
+"I'm sure of it, sir; it's an uncommon strong watch."
+
+"Then I'll take it."
+
+These few sentences determined my destiny, and from that moment my
+career may be said to have begun.
+
+I am old, and run down, and good for nothing now; but many a time do I
+find my thoughts wandering back to this far-off day; and remembering all
+that has befallen me since that eventful moment, I humbly hope my life
+has not been one to disgrace the good character with which I went out
+into the world.
+
+I was young at the time, very young--scarcely a month old.  Watches
+however, as every one knows, are a good deal more precocious in their
+infancy than human beings.  They generally settle down to business as
+soon as they are born, without having to spend much of their time either
+in the nursery or the schoolroom.
+
+Indeed, after my face and hands had once been well cleaned, and a brand-
+new shiny coat had been put on my back, it was years before I found
+myself again called upon to submit to that operation which is such a
+terror to all mortal children.
+
+As to my education, it lasted just a week; and although I am bound to
+say, while it lasted, it was both carefully and skilfully managed, I did
+not at all fancy the discipline I was subjected to in the process.  I
+used to be handed over to a creature who took me up and examined me (as
+if he were a policeman and a magistrate combined), and according as I
+answered his questions he exclaimed, "You're going too fast," or "You're
+going too slow," and with that he set himself to "regulate" me, as he
+called it.  I was ordered to turn round, take off my coat, and submit my
+poor shoulders to his instrument of correction.  But why need I describe
+this experience to boys?  They know what "regulating" means as well as I
+do!
+
+Well in due time I profited by the instructions received, and one day my
+tutor, after the usual examination, grumpily told me, "You're right at
+last; you can go."  And I did go, and I've been going ever since.
+
+The troubles of my infancy however were not all over.  I discovered at a
+very early age that the one thing a watch is never allowed to do is to
+go to sleep.  They'd as soon think of leaving an infant to starve as of
+letting a watch go to sleep.
+
+But to my story.  Ever since I had left school--or, in other words, gone
+through my due course of regulation--I had remained shut up under a
+glass-case, lying comfortably upon a bed of purple velvet, and decorated
+with a little white label bearing the mysterious inscription, "Only
+Three Guineas."  From this stately repose I was only once a day
+disturbed in order to be kept from sleeping, and had all the rest of my
+time to look about me and observe what went on in the world in which I
+found myself.
+
+It was not a big world indeed, but I could see I was not the only
+inhabitant.  All around me were watches like myself, some of a golden
+complexion, and some--of which I was one--of a silvery.  Some were big,
+and made an awful noise, and some were tiny, and just whispered what
+they had to say.  Some were very proud, and showed off their jewels and
+chains in a way which made me blush for the vanity of my fellow-
+creatures--"dear" watches, the ladies called these, and others were as
+plain as plain could be.
+
+Every now and then our case would be opened, and one of my neighbours
+taken out and never put back.  Then we knew he had been sold, and we who
+were left spent our time in gossiping about what had become of him, and
+speculating whose turn would come next.  A gold repeater near me was
+very confident the turn would be his, and so impressed us with the sense
+of his "striking" importance and claims, that when the next time our
+glass house was entered, and a hand came groping in our direction, I at
+once concluded it was his summons into publicity and honour.  Imagine my
+astonishment, then, when the hand, instead of reaching my gold
+neighbour, took hold of me and cautiously drew me out of the case!  My
+heart leaped to my mouth--or whatever part of a watch's anatomy
+corresponds with that organ--and I was ready to faint with excitement.
+I had always imagined I was to lie in that case for years, but now, when
+I was barely a month old, here was I going out into the world.
+
+It made me quite bashful to listen to all the flattering things my
+master said of me.  I was worth twice the price he was selling me at, he
+said; in fact, if trade had been good he would not have parted with me
+under three times that price.  It was a relief to think the repeater
+could not overhear this, or he would have sneered in a way to extinguish
+me altogether.  As it was, no other watch was by, so that I was not very
+much embarrassed.
+
+After turning me over, and feeling my pulse, and listening to the
+beating of my heart, and taking off my coat and waistcoat to inspect my
+muscle, my master's customer at last laid me down on the counter and
+pronounced the sentences with which I have begun my story.
+
+"Then I'll take it," he said, and pulled out his purse.  "Stop a bit,
+though!" exclaimed he; "I'd better have a chain too, my little chap will
+think more of that than the watch.  Let me see some silver chains, will
+you?"
+
+So my master went and fetched a tray containing a large number of
+tempting-looking chains.
+
+While he was gone my new owner took me up again in his hand and turned
+me over and put me to his ear; then as he laid me down again he smiled
+to himself and murmured.
+
+"Bless his little heart! how proud he'll be!"
+
+I was quite taken aback.  Who was this taking upon himself to bless my
+little heart and prophesy that I should be proud?  Then all of a sudden
+it occurred to me this remark may have been intended to refer not to me,
+but to the "little chap" the gentleman had just now spoken of.  So I
+recovered my composure, especially when I saw what a kind, gentle face
+my purchaser had.
+
+He chose a neat, strong silver chain which was forthwith, in accordance
+with the barbarous practice of the age, fixed to my poor neck.  I could
+not help sighing as I felt for the first time the burden of bondage.
+
+What had I done to be thus chained like a Roman captive, like a dog,
+like a parrot?  But it was no use being in a rage.  I swallowed my
+indignation as well as I could, and consoled myself with the reflection
+that every watch, even gold repeaters themselves, are subject to the
+same hardship.
+
+Ah!  I was young then, and my knowledge of the world was small.  Many a
+time since I have blessed the chain that held me, just as the ship,
+could it speak, would bless the cable that saved it from the rocks.
+Take the advice of an old ticker, you young watches, and instead of
+rebelling against your chains, rather hope they may be strong and sound
+in every link!
+
+"That will be just five pounds, won't it?" said my purchaser.  "Here is
+a bank note.  Never mind about doing it up, I'll just slip it into my
+pocket.  Good-morning."
+
+And with that I was conscious of being lowered into a dark, deep pit,
+and without time to bid my comrades good-bye, or to take a last look at
+my old master, I felt myself hurried away I knew not whither.
+
+This, then, was my first step into the world.
+
+I lay untouched and apparently forgotten for several hours.  Gradually
+getting my eyes accustomed to the darkness, and looking about me as far
+as I was able, I heard a ticking going on in a pocket not very far from
+the one I was in, which I at once concluded to proceed from the watch of
+my new master.  Thinking I might be able to gain some information from
+him, I groped about till I found a small hole in my lodgings through
+which I was able to peep, and call.
+
+"Tick!" said I, as loud as I could, to secure the attention of my
+fellow-watch.
+
+"Who's that?" at once exclaimed the other.
+
+"I'm a new watch, bought to-day."
+
+"Humph!  How much?"
+
+"Three guineas."
+
+"Chain and all?"
+
+"No; five pounds with the chain."
+
+"Humph, I cost thirty guineas.  Never mind, you're for the boy."
+
+"What boy?"
+
+"The governor's.  I heard him say he was going to get him one.  That boy
+will be spoiled, as sure as I go on springs; he's made such a lot of.
+Have you been regulated?"
+
+"I should think I have!" exclaimed I, in indignant recollection of my
+education.
+
+"All right; keep your temper.  What time are you?"
+
+"Seven minutes to six."
+
+"Wrong!  It's seven and three-quarters!"
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because that's what I make it."
+
+"How do you know you are right?"  I asked, wondering at my own impudence
+in thus questioning an old ticker.
+
+"Look here, young fellow," said the other in an awful voice; "you don't
+seem to know you are addressing a gold watch that has neither gained nor
+lost a minute for five years!  There!  You may think yourself clever;
+but you're too fast."
+
+"I'm sure I beg your--"
+
+"That'll do!" said the offended veteran.  "I want no more words."
+
+I was completely shut up at this, and retired back to my pocket very
+crestfallen.
+
+Presently I began to feel drowsy; my nerves seemed to get unstrung, and
+my circulation flagged.  It was long after the time I had generally been
+in the habit of being wound up; and I began to be afraid I was really
+going to be left to go to sleep.  That, by this time, I knew would be
+nothing short of a calamity.  I therefore gave a slight tug at my chain.
+
+"What's the matter?" it said, looking down.
+
+"I've not been wound up."
+
+"I can't help that," said the chain.
+
+"Can't you let him know somehow?"  I gasped, faintly.
+
+"How can I?  He's busy packing up books."
+
+"Couldn't you catch yourself in his fingers or something?  I'm in a bad
+way."
+
+"I'll see," said the chain.
+
+Presently I felt an awful tug at my neck, and I knew the chain had
+managed to entangle itself somehow with his fingers.
+
+"Hullo!"  I heard my master exclaim, "I mustn't smash Charlie's chain
+before I give it to him.  I'd better put it and the watch away in my
+drawer till the morning.  Heigho! it'll be a sad day for me to-morrow!"
+
+As he spoke he drew me from the pocket, and, disengaging the chain from
+his button-hole, he laid us both in a drawer and shut it up.  I was in
+despair, and already was nearly swooning from weakness.
+
+He had shut the drawer, and his hand was still on the knob, when all of
+a sudden he exclaimed,--
+
+"By the way, I must wind it up, or it'll stop!"
+
+With what joy and relief I saw the drawer again opened, and felt myself
+taken out and wound up!  Instantly new life seemed to infuse itself
+through my frame; my circulation revived, my nerves were strung again,
+and my drooping heart resumed its usual healthy throb.  Little did my
+master think of the difference this winding up made to my health and
+comfort.
+
+"Now you're happy!" said the chain, as we found ourselves once more in
+the drawer.
+
+"Yes; I'm all right now, I'm glad to say," said I.  "What's going to
+happen to us to-morrow?"  I asked presently.
+
+"We're going to be given to the boy, and he's going to school;" so the
+silver chain told me.  "Nice time we shall have of it, I expect."
+
+After that he went to sleep, and I fell to counting the seconds, and
+wondering what sort of life I was destined to lead.
+
+About an hour after I heard two voices talking in the room.
+
+"Well," said one, and I recognised it at once as my master's, "the
+packing's all finished at last."
+
+"Ah, Charles," said the other, and it seemed to be a woman's voice
+speaking amid tears, "I never thought it would be so hard to part with
+him."
+
+"Tut, tut!" said the first, "you mustn't give way, Mary.  You women are
+so ready to break down.  He'll soon be back;" but before my master had
+got to the end of his sentence he too had broken down.
+
+For a long time they talked about their boy, their fine boy who had
+never before left his parents' roof, and was about now to step out into
+the treacherous world.  How they trembled for him, yet how proudly and
+confidently they spoke of his prospects; how lovingly they recalled all
+their life together, from the days when he could first toddle about,
+down to the present.
+
+Many tears were mingled with their talk, and many a smothered sob
+bespoke a desperate effort to subdue their common sorrow.  At last they
+became quieter, then I heard my master say,--
+
+"I positively have never shown you the watch I got for him," and with
+that he opened the drawer and produced me.
+
+"Oh, Charles," cried the mother, "how delighted he will be, and what a
+capital watch it is!"
+
+And she looked at me affectionately for a long time, for her son's sake,
+smiling through her tears, and then put me back.
+
+Need I say that as these two knelt together that night, their only son
+was not forgotten in their prayers?
+
+So ended the first day of my adventures.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+HOW I WAS PRESENTED TO A BOY, AND OF A CERTAIN JOURNEY WE TOOK TOGETHER.
+
+Very early next morning, when my hands scarcely pointed to five o'clock,
+the little household was astir.  There was a noise of hurried going and
+coming, and of trunks being carried down stairs, and for the first time
+I heard mingled with the sedate voices of my master and his wife,
+another voice, cheery and musical, which I at once guessed to belong to
+my future lord and master.
+
+It was not till after this bustle had been going on for a good while
+that I was taken out of the drawer and put back into the pocket in which
+I had spent so many anxious hours the day before.  But here I was
+destined not to remain long, as will be seen.
+
+Breakfast was a sad meal to that little family.  Even the gay, high-
+spirited boy was sobered in anticipation of the coming parting, and as
+to his parents, they dared not open their lips for fear of breaking
+down.
+
+Then there was a rumbling of wheels in the street, and a banging about
+of boxes at the hall door; then a last long embrace between mother and
+son.  She no longer resisted her grief, and he for the time forgot
+everything but her he was leaving; then father and son stepped into the
+cab and drove away.
+
+I felt the father's heart beating quicker and his chest heaving deeper
+as we proceeded.  Presently his hand stole to the pocket where I lay
+hid, and he said--
+
+"Charlie, boy, I've said all I have to say to you.  You will remember
+our talk last night, I am sure, and I shall remember it too.  I have no
+greater wish than to see my boy brave and honest and true to himself.
+Remember always I am your father, and never hesitate to tell me whenever
+you are in trouble, or danger, or--and I hope this won't often be--in
+disgrace.  See here," said he, drawing me forth, "this is a watch which
+your mother and I have got for you.  Think of us when you use it; and
+mind this, Charlie, make the best use of time, or time will become your
+enemy."
+
+The poor man faltered out these words with a half-broken heart, as he
+handed me to his son.
+
+The boy's eyes brightened and his face became radiant at the sight of
+his unexpected treasure.  What boy does not covet a watch of his own at
+some time or other?
+
+"Oh, father!" he cried, "how good and kind of you!  What a beauty!"
+
+The father smiled to see his son's delight, and helped to fasten the
+chain to his button-hole.
+
+"You and mother are bricks!" exclaimed Charlie, feasting his eyes upon
+me, and half wild with delight.  "How _did_ you know I was longing to
+have one?"
+
+"Were you?" inquired the father.
+
+"Of course I was, and you knew it.  What a swell I shall be!  And it
+will always be sure to remind me of home."
+
+While this talk was going on I had leisure to examine my new owner.
+Picture to yourselves a curly-haired, bright-eyed boy of thirteen with
+honest, open face, good features, and winning smile.  He is big for his
+age, and strongly built.  At present his form is arrayed in a brand-new
+suit of grey; his collar is new and his tie is new, his boots are new
+and his socks are new; everything is new about him, down to the very
+guard of his hat, and he himself is the newest and purest of all.  Was
+ever such a radiant young hero turned loose into the world?
+
+And now, over and above his other glories, he had me to crown all.  The
+graceful curve of my chain on his waistcoat gave that garment quite a
+distinguished appearance, and the consciousness of a silver watch in his
+pocket made him hold his head even higher than usual.
+
+"He is a beauty!" again he broke out, "exactly the kind I like most.
+I'll take ever such a lot of care of him."  And so saying, he began to
+swing me at the end of the chain, till I suddenly came sharply into
+collision with the door of the cab.
+
+"Hullo," exclaimed my young master, "that won't do.  I'll put him away
+now.  It _was_ good of you, father."
+
+With that we reached the railway station, and in the bustle that ensued
+I was for the time forgotten.
+
+Charlie's trunks were duly labelled for Randlebury, and then came the
+hardest moment of all, when father and son must part.
+
+"I wonder if you'll be altered, Charlie, when I see you again."
+
+"Not for the worse I hope, anyhow," replied the boy, laughing.
+
+"Tickets, please!" demanded the guard.
+
+"There goes the bell," said Charlie, pulling me out of his pocket.
+"They're very punctual.  Hullo, we're off!  Good-bye, father."
+
+"Good-bye, boy, and God bless you."
+
+And there was a close grasp of the hand, a last smile, a hasty wave from
+the window; and then we were off.
+
+How many grown-up men are there who cannot recall at some time or other
+this crisis in their lives, this first good-bye from the home of their
+childhood, this stepping forth into the world with all that is familiar
+and dear at their backs, and all that is strange and unknown and
+wonderful stretching away like a vast landscape before them?  How many
+are there who would not give much to be back once more at that threshold
+of their career; and to have the chance of living over again the life
+they began there with such bright hopes and such careless confidence?
+Ah, if some of them could have seen whither that flower-strewn path was
+to lead them, would they not rather have chosen even to die on the
+threshold, than take so much as the first step forth from the innocent
+home of childhood!
+
+But I am wandering from my story.  For half an hour after that last
+good-bye Charlie leaned back in the corner of his carriage and gave
+himself up to his loneliness, and I could feel his chest heaving to keep
+down the tears that would every now and then rise unbidden to his eyes.
+
+But what boy of thirteen can be in the dumps for long?  Especially if he
+has a new watch in his pocket.  Charlie was himself again before we had
+well got clear of London, and his reviving spirits gradually recalled to
+his memory his father's parting gift, which had for a while been half
+forgotten amid other cares.
+
+Now again I was produced, I was turned over and over, was listened to,
+was peeped into, was flourished about, was taken off my chain, and put
+on again with the supremest satisfaction.  At every station we came to,
+out I came from his pocket, to be compared with the railway time.  By
+the clock at Batfield I was a minute slow--a discrepancy which was no
+sooner discovered than I felt my glass face opened, and a fat finger and
+thumb putting forward my hand to the required time.  At Norbely I was
+two minutes fast by the clock, and then (oh, horrors!)  I found myself
+put back in the same rough-and-ready way.  At Maltby I was full half a
+minute behind the great clock, and on I went again.  At the next station
+the clock and I both gave the same time to a second, and then what must
+he do but begin to regulate me!  After a minute calculation he made the
+astounding discovery that I had lost a minute and a quarter in four
+hours, and that in order to compensate for this shortcoming it would be
+necessary for him to move my regulator forward the two hundred and
+fortieth part of an inch.  This feat he set himself to accomplish with
+the point of his scarf-pin while the train was jolting forward at the
+rate of thirty miles an hour!
+
+I began to grow nervous.  If this was a sample of what I was to expect,
+I had indeed need be the healthy, hardy watch I was represented to be by
+my maker.
+
+And yet I could not be angry with my brave, honest little tormentor.
+
+It was a sight to see him during that long journey, in all the glory of
+a new suit, with a high hat on his head for the first time, and a watch
+in his pocket.  _In_ his pocket, did I say?  I was hardly ever so lucky.
+Every five minutes he whipped me out to see how the time was going.  If
+he polished me up once with his handkerchief, he did it twenty times,
+and each time with such vigour that I was nearly red-hot under the
+operation.  And no sooner was he tired of polishing me, than he took to
+paying his hat the same attention, till that wretched article of
+decoration must have trembled for its nap.  Then he would take to
+whistling and singing (what boy can help doing one or the other in a
+train?) and as I heard all his little artless songs and gay chirping, I
+thought it the pleasantest music one could possibly listen to.  And, not
+to let his hands be less busy than his throat, he would bring out the
+wonderful six-bladed knife his uncle had given him, and exploring all
+its wonders, and opening all its blades at the same time, together with
+the corkscrew, the gimlet, the pincers, and the button-hook, at
+different angles, would terrify the lives out of his fellow-passengers
+by twirling the awful bristling weapon in his fingers within a foot or
+so of their faces.
+
+"Mind, dear," said an old lady on the seat opposite, "you'll cut your
+fingers off, I'm certain."
+
+"Oh, no, I won't," exclaimed he, taking out his handkerchief, and
+beginning to polish the blades one after another.
+
+The old lady trembled as she watched him, and sighed with relief when
+the operation was over.
+
+Presently, having nothing particular to do, he stared at her.  "Would
+you like to know the time, ma'am?" he inquired.
+
+"If you please," replied the good old soul.
+
+"Well, it's just seventeen minutes and nineteen seconds past three by my
+watch.  Would you like to see for yourself, ma'am?"
+
+And, pleased to have a confidant of his possessions, he loosed my chain,
+and flourished me bodily before the eyes of his new friend.
+
+She took me kindly, and said, "What a fine watch you've got, dear?"
+
+"Yes," replied he, with lofty condescension; "like to see his works?"
+
+"You should be careful, you know," she said, "watches so easily get out
+of order."
+
+"Oh, I won't hurt it," said he, proceeding to take off my coat and
+waistcoat.  "There! there are his works.  Don't breathe hard, or you'll
+damp them."
+
+So the old lady held her breath and peeped in, much to my young master's
+gratification.
+
+"And so you're going to school, my man?" said she presently.
+
+"Yes; who told you!  Did my father tell you?"
+
+"No, I guessed."
+
+"Did you though?  Can you guess what the name of the school is?"
+
+"No, I can't do that."
+
+"Have a try."
+
+"Well, then, I guess Randlebury, because my boy is there, and it's the
+only one I can think of."
+
+The boy stared at her.  "How ever did you know that?"
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "you don't mean to tell me you _are_ going to
+Randlebury?"
+
+"I am, though."
+
+"Well, I never," cried the good old soul, "who would have believed it!
+Think of your going to the same school as my Tom."
+
+"Is Tom your boy's name?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is he a nice boy?"
+
+Such a question to ask any one's mother!
+
+The old lady burst into tears instead of answering--a proceeding which
+greatly alarmed and disconcerted my master.
+
+"Don't cry," he said excitedly.  "Look here!  I didn't mean--oh, don't!
+Look here, shall I tell you the time?  It's--it's sixteen minutes to
+four--I didn't mean, you know.  Of course he's a nice boy--oh, don't
+cry!"
+
+And he got into such a state that the old lady dried her eyes at once.
+
+"Never mind me, dear," said she, "it wasn't you made me cry: it was
+thinking of my Tom.  You'll be a good friend to him, won't you, dear?"
+
+"Perhaps he won't like me."
+
+"Now I'm sure he will," exclaimed the lady warmly; so warmly that I
+quite loved her for my little master's sake.  Both were silent for some
+time, and then Charlie asked,--
+
+"I say, has he got a watch?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, never mind," said he, in a tone of evident relief, "I can tell him
+the time, you know, whenever he wants to know."
+
+"To be sure you can."
+
+Then Charlie took to polishing me and the chain up again, an occupation
+which lasted until we arrived at Gunborough Junction, where passengers
+changed for Randlebury.
+
+"Good-bye, dear," said the old lady, as Charlie proceeded to get
+together his things.
+
+"Good-bye," said he.  "Would you like to know the time before I go?
+It's eight past five.  Good-bye."
+
+"May I give you a kiss?" said she.
+
+Charlie blushed, but offered his cheek hurriedly.
+
+"And you promise to be a good friend to Tom," said she, kissing him,
+"won't you?"
+
+"All right," said the boy, jumping out on to the platform, and running
+to see after his luggage.
+
+In a moment however he returned to the window and put his head in.
+
+"I say," said he, "what's his name--Tom what?"
+
+"Drift," said the old lady, "Tom Drift!"
+
+"Oh!" replied my master, "all right, good-bye;" and next minute the
+train went on, and he was left standing surrounded by his luggage in the
+middle of the platform, like a lighthouse in the middle of an island.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+HOW MY MASTER AND I REACH RANDLEBURY IN STATE, AND OF A GREAT CALAMITY.
+
+My master and I had nearly an hour to wait on the platform at Gunborough
+before the Randlebury train came up.  Part of this interval Charlie, for
+fear he might forget to do it at night, devoted to winding me up; an
+experiment which nearly closed my career for ever, for he first began to
+turn the key the wrong way; then, when he had discovered his mistake, he
+started in the other direction with a sudden dash, and finally overwound
+me to such an extent that I expected every second to hear my heart break
+with the strain.
+
+Then he sat on his boxes, whistling to himself and drumming his heels on
+the platform.  The train came up at last, and in he jumped, finding
+himself and a grave elderly gentleman in joint possession of the
+carriage.
+
+Charlie was too busy staring out of the window, whistling, and brushing
+the dust off his new hat, to take much notice of his companion until the
+train was fairly started; then, observing the gentleman look at his
+watch, the boy at once recognised a bond of sympathy and pulled out me.
+
+"I wonder if I'm the same as you?" he said eagerly.
+
+"I hope you are not," said the gentleman, "for I'm a quarter of an hour
+fast."
+
+"Are you though?" said the boy, in astonishment.
+
+"Why don't you put it right?  I would."
+
+"It's a bad thing to put a watch back, my boy; besides, I rather like
+keeping mine a little fast."
+
+"Do you?  I say, do you think my watch is a good one?" said Charlie,
+thrusting me into the hands of his astonished travelling companion.
+
+"I can't say, my boy.  I know nothing about watches.  It looks a nice
+one."
+
+"Yes, father gave it me.  I say, are you going to Randlebury?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know the school?  I'm going there."
+
+"Oh, yes; I know the school.  And you are going there, are you?"
+inquired the gentleman, with interest.
+
+"Yes, I'm a new boy, you know."
+
+"And how do you like going to school?"
+
+"Oh, all right; only I don't know what it'll be like.  Eat I say, I
+don't suppose there's many of the boys my age have got watches, do you?"
+
+The gentleman laughed.  "I dare say not," he said.  Charlie was silent
+for a time, and then asked,--
+
+"I say, what sort of fellow's the head master; do you know?"
+
+"I've seen him now and then," said the gentleman.
+
+"Is he awfully stuck-up and strict?" asked the boy anxiously.
+
+"I really don't know," said the gentleman, biting his lips; "I hope
+not."
+
+"So do I.  I wish my father was the head master," said Charlie, the
+tears for a moment starting to his eyes at the bare thought of such
+happiness.
+
+The gentleman looked at him very kindly, and said,--
+
+"Cheer up, my little man; perhaps it won't be so bad after all."
+
+Charlie smiled again as he said,--
+
+"Oh, yes, I've got to be brave, you know, because I promised father.
+But I say, if you ever come to the school, ask for me--my name's Charlie
+Newcome--will you? because I don't know any of the fellows; and
+besides," added he, brightening at the idea, "we can see if our watches
+are going the same, you know."
+
+The gentleman promised, and soon after this the train arrived at
+Randlebury.  The boy bid his companion farewell, and went off as before
+to look after his belongings.
+
+As he was standing surrounded by his baggage, a man in the dress of a
+coachman came up to him and said,--
+
+"Are you the young party from London for the school?"
+
+"Yes," replied the boy.
+
+"It's all right," said the man; "give us hold of these things, and jump
+inside my trap."
+
+"How far is it?" he asked of the man.
+
+"Better of three miles."
+
+"Is it, though?  I say, can't you put the things inside, and then I can
+ride on the box?"
+
+"All square," said the man; "hop up, my young bantam."
+
+The young bantam did hop up, and they were soon on their way to the
+school.
+
+I need hardly say it was not long before Charlie and the driver were on
+confidential terms.  The boy duly produced first me and then his six-
+bladed knife to the admiring eyes of his new companion, insisting on his
+taking both into his hands, and demanding his candid opinion on their
+merits.
+
+Presently a wholly new idea seemed to strike him.
+
+"I say, driver, what's your name?"
+
+"Jim, if you want to know," replied that public servant.
+
+"Well, Jim, I wish you'd just get inside and look after the luggage, and
+let me drive; will you?"
+
+The man opened his eyes and his mouth at the proposition, and then
+bursting out laughing.
+
+"Hark at him!" he exclaimed; "did you ever hear the like?  Me get inside
+and let a young shaver like him drive me--ho! ho!"
+
+"Come along, Jim; I know the way; and it _would_ be a lark.  Come on,
+_dear_ Jim."
+
+And the boy got quite affectionate in his eagerness.
+
+"Dear Jim," who was one of those easy-going men who don't take much
+persuading when they're approached the right way, at length consented to
+hand over the reins to Charlie; and after waiting some time to see for
+himself that the boy could really manage, after a fashion, to drive the
+horse, he further gratified him by descending from the box, and leaving
+him in sole possession of the coveted position.
+
+"Get inside, Jim," cried the boy, with beaming face.
+
+Jim, his face all one grin, obeyed, saying, as he did so,--
+
+"Well, if you ain't a queer one!  That's the house there, on the top of
+that hill.  Mind how you go, now."
+
+"All right; you get inside.  And I say, Jim," added the boy, leaning
+down from his perch, "make yourself comfortable, you know, and don't
+bother about me.  I want to drive all by myself, and you aren't to help
+me a bit, mind."
+
+So the driver got inside, and seating himself among the luggage,
+proceeded to make himself "comfortable," as instructed.
+
+Meanwhile my master, as proud as an emperor, lashed his steed into a
+canter, and rattled off in the direction of the school.
+
+"That'll astonish some of them caps and gowns, I reckon," I heard cabby
+say to himself.  "You see, if he don't drive us right up to the front
+door, as comfortable as if we was the sheriff of the county."
+
+You may imagine what was the astonishment of the grave and reverend
+authorities at Randlebury School when they perceived, coming up the
+carriage drive, a cab with a boy of thirteen perched on the box, tugging
+at the reins, hallooing to the horse, and making his whip crack like so
+many fireworks; while inside, comfortably lounging amid a pile of
+luggage, reclined cabby at his ease, grinning from ear to ear.
+
+The young Jehu, perfectly innocent of the sensation he was making,
+pursued his triumphant career at full speed up to the very hall door,
+pulling up his steed with such a sudden jerk as almost to bring him into
+a sitting position, while the piled-up luggage inside fell all about the
+cab with the shock, to the imminent risk of cabby's life.
+
+"Well, if that ain't one way of doing it, I don't know what is!"
+exclaimed that astonished charioteer, emerging from his precarious
+quarters.  "Down you jump, young un."
+
+Charlie descended, all jubilant with triumph, and pulling out me,
+exclaimed, "We did that three miles in half an hour--not bad, was it?"
+
+In his excitement he had not observed that the door of the house had
+opened, and that these words, instead of being addressed to the cabby,
+had been spoken to a stately female who stood in the portal before him.
+
+Now however he caught sight of her, and not knowing exactly what was the
+proper thing to do under the circumstances, stared at her.
+
+"What do you say, young man?" inquired she, in a solemn voice.
+
+"Oh," said the boy, "I didn't know it was you.  I was telling Jim we had
+come from the station in half an hour.  You know we started at 6.2 by my
+watch, and it's just 6.33 now.  Would you like to see for yourself,
+marm?" added he, preparing to unfasten the chain.
+
+"I know what the time is, young man," replied she sternly; "and pray,
+who is Jim?" she asked, looking down in solemn perplexity at this queer
+boy.
+
+"Oh, he's the driver is Jim, and he got inside, you know, and I've
+driven nearly all the way up by myself; haven't I, Jim?"
+
+"Come inside, sir," said the matron hurriedly, "and don't stand talking
+to vulgar cabmen and calling them by their Christian names.  Your name
+is Charles Newcome, I suppose?  Come this way."
+
+Charlie followed her in, his enthusiasm rather damped at this somewhat
+frigid greeting, and sorry in his heart he had not been allowed an
+opportunity of bidding farewell to his friend the driver.
+
+And now I could hear the little fellow's heart begin to beat quicker as
+he found himself at length for the first time in his life inside a
+public school.  The rows of caps in the corridors, the distant hum of
+voices through half-opened doors, the occasional shout from the
+playground, and the fleeting vision of a master in cap and gown, all had
+for him the deepest and most mysterious interest.  As he sat waiting in
+the matron's room while that worthy lady went to superintend the
+bringing in of his luggage, his mind became full of wonderings and
+misgivings.  I who lay so near the seat of his emotions could tell what
+was going on in his breast.  He wondered if the pair of socks lying on
+the table with a hole in each heel, which appeared to be waiting their
+turn for mending, belonged to the son of the old lady he had met in the
+train.  He wondered if the footsteps in the passage belonged to the head
+master, and whether that awful being was being fetched to punish him for
+his crime of driving the cab.  He wondered who the boy was who put his
+head in at the door and drew it back again.  With what reverential eyes
+he followed that hero's retreating form, and how he hung on his
+whistling.
+
+When would _he_, he wondered, be sufficiently hardy to whistle within
+those awful walls?  Then he wondered if he was the only new boy, and if
+so, whether every one would stare at him and laugh at his new coat.  He
+wished he'd got his old one on, then he wouldn't have felt so brand-new.
+And then--and then...
+
+But here, tired-out with his long journey and the excitement of the day,
+a drowsy fit came over him, and without another thought he dropped off
+to sleep, where he sat.  In this attitude the housekeeper found him when
+she returned.
+
+She could not help feeling rather more than a common interest in this
+curly-haired, tired-out little fellow, as he sat there in his new
+clothes, huddled up, with his little hat slipping from his head, and his
+hand clasping his precious six-bladed knife.  Accustomed as she was to
+boys and their rude ways, this matron had a good deal of softness left
+in her heart, and I dare say she thought as she watched Charlie that
+afternoon that if she had ever had a son of her own she would have liked
+a boy something like the little fellow before her.  She went softly up
+to him, took his hat from its perilous situation, and, lifting him in
+her strong arms so gently as not to wake him, laid him on her own sofa,
+and left him there to enjoy his well-merited sleep, while she busied
+herself about making tea.
+
+It was at this moment that a calamity befell me, which, in my
+inexperience of the ways and natures of watches, I imagined to be
+nothing short of fatal.  The excitement through which I had passed, and
+the rough-and-ready usage to which I had been subjected during the day,
+seemed all of a sudden to overpower me.  In some unaccountable way I
+found my hands caught together in a manner I had never known them to be
+before; no effort of mine could disengage them, and the exertion thus
+required, added to the fatigues of the day, produced a sort of paralysis
+of my whole system without quite losing consciousness.  I could feel my
+circulation become slower and finally stop; my nerves and energies
+became suspended, and my hands grew numb and powerless.  Even my heart
+ceased to beat, and the little cry of alarm which I gave just before my
+powers left me failed to bring me any help.  I was ill, very ill indeed;
+to me it seemed as if my last moment had come, and I could not bear the
+thought of thus early being taken from my young master, whom already I
+had learned to love as my best, though my roughest friend.
+
+How long I lay thus, speechless and helpless, I cannot say.  Once I was
+just conscious of a slight jerk from my chain as he peeped in and
+whispered,--
+
+"What are you so quiet about down there?"
+
+Of course I could not answer.
+
+"Do you hear?  What are you so quiet about?"
+
+It only added to my misery to know that there was a fellow-being so
+close at hand, and yet that I was powerless to make him aware of my
+condition.  My silence offended him, for he turned away, muttering to
+himself,--
+
+"Sulky humbug!  I declare some people haven't so much as the manners of
+a kitchen clock."
+
+After that I was left to myself, in agony and suspense, to wait the
+moment of my dissolution.
+
+A long time passed before my master stirred, and when he did the
+housekeeper's tea was cold.  She bustled about to make him some more,
+and was so kind in buttering his toast and hunting for some jam, that
+the drooping spirits of the tired-out boy revived wonderfully.  Indeed,
+as the meal proceeded he became on friendly and confidential terms even
+with so awful a personage as Mrs Packer.
+
+"Would you like to see my knife, ma'am?" he asked.
+
+"Bless me, what a knife it is," cried the lady.  "You'll go doing
+yourself some harm with it."
+
+"That's what the other old lady in the train said," replied Charlie,
+unconscious of wounding the feelings of his hostess, who fondly imagined
+she was not more than middle-aged; "but then, you know, she thought it
+was a fine knife, and I think so too, don't you?  I say, marm, do you
+know Tom Drift?"
+
+The change of subject was so sudden that Mrs Packer stared at the boy,
+half wondering whether he was not talking in his sleep.
+
+"What about him?" she inquired.
+
+"Oh, only the old lady was his mother, and I promised her--at least she
+said--do you know Tom Drift, ma'am?"
+
+"To be sure; he's one of the boys here."
+
+"Yes--I say, ma'am, might I see Tom Drift, do you think?  I've got
+something to say to him."
+
+Mrs Packer, wholly at a loss to understand her youthful guest, but at
+the same time disposed to be indulgent to his little whims, said Tom
+would be at lessons now, and she didn't think he would be able to come.
+
+"Wouldn't it do in the morning?"
+
+"Oh no," said Charlie, with the gravest face.  "I must see him to-night,
+please, if you don't mind."
+
+The housekeeper concluded that Charlie had some important message from
+the mother to her son, and therefore rang for a servant, whom she
+despatched with a message to Master Drift that some one wanted to see
+him.
+
+In a very little time that hero made his appearance; and as he was the
+first Randlebury boy Charlie had set eyes on, he appeared for a moment a
+very awful and a very sublime personage in that little new boy's eyes.
+But Charlie was too intent on his mission to allow himself to be quite
+overawed.
+
+"Here's a new boy, Master Drift, wants to speak to you."
+
+"What do you want, young un--eh?"
+
+"Oh, it's all right, Tom Drift; only I saw your mother, you know, in the
+train, and she said you were a nice boy, and she sent her love, and I
+told her I'd let you know the time whenever you wanted, because you
+ain't got a watch, you know, and I have.  I say, would you like to know
+the time now, Tom Drift?"
+
+All this was rattled out with such eager volubility, that Tom Drift,
+hero as he was, was fairly taken aback, and looked quite sheepish, as
+the beaming boy proceeded to pull me out of his pocket.
+
+"Well, it's just--hullo!"
+
+He saw in an instant something was wrong.
+
+"Why, it says only half-past six--that must be wrong!"
+
+"It's eight o'clock by the hall clock," said Mrs Packer; "it's just now
+struck."
+
+Charlie looked at me, opened me, held me to his ear, and then
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Oh! my watch has stopped!  My watch has stopped!  What shall I do?" and
+the poor boy, overwhelmed with his misfortune, held me out appealingly,
+and scarcely restrained the tears which started to his eyes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+HOW I WAS CURED OF MY AILMENTS, AND HOW MY MASTER BEGAN LIFE AT
+RANDLEBURY.
+
+All this while Tom Drift had said nothing, but had stood regarding first
+my master, and then me, with mingled amusement, pity, and astonishment.
+At last, when poor Charlie fairly thrust me into his hands, that he
+might see with his own eyes the calamity which had befallen the watch
+that had been destined to minister such consolation to his time-
+inquiring mind, he took me gingerly, and stared at me as if I had been a
+toad or a dead rat.
+
+"Can't you make it go, Tom Drift?  Please do."
+
+"How can I make him go?  I don't know what's the row."
+
+"Do you think it would be a good thing to wind it up?" asked Charlie.
+
+"Don't know; you might try."
+
+Charlie did wind me up; but that was not what I wanted.  Already I had
+had that done while waiting at Gunborough Junction.
+
+"What do you say to shaking him?" asked Tom Drift presently.  Most
+people spoke of me as "it," but Tom Drift always called me "him."
+
+"I hardly like," said Charlie; "_you_ try."
+
+Tom took me and solemnly shook me; it was no use.  I still remained
+speechless and helpless.
+
+"Suppose we shove his wheels on?" next suggested that sage philosopher.
+
+Charlie demurred a little at this; it seemed almost too bold a remedy,
+even for him; however he yielded to Tom's superior judgment.
+
+The heir of the house of Drift accordingly took a pin from the lining of
+his jacket, and, taking off my coat and waistcoat, proceeded first to
+prod one of my wheels and then another, but in vain.  They just moved
+for an instant but then halted again, as stiff end lifeless as ever.
+
+For a moment the profound Tom seemed baffled, and then at last a
+brilliant idea occurred to him.
+
+"I tell you what, I expect he's got damp, or cold, or something.  We'd
+better warm him!"
+
+And the two boys knelt before the fire with me between them, turning me
+at the end of my chain so as to get the warmth on all sides, like a leg
+of mutton on a spit.
+
+Of course that had no effect.  What was to be done?  No winding up, no
+shaking, no irritation of my wheels with a pin, no warming of me at the
+fire, could avail anything.  They were ready to give me up.  Suddenly,
+however, Tom, who had been examining my face minutely, burst into a loud
+laugh.
+
+"What a young donkey you are!" he cried.  "Don't you see his hands are
+caught?  That's what's the matter.  The minute-hand's got bent, and
+can't get over the hour hand.  You're a nice chap to have a watch!"
+
+It might have occurred to Charlie (as it did to me) that whatever sort
+of watch-owner the former might be, a boy who successively shook,
+tickled, and roasted me to get me to go, was hardly the one to lecture
+him on his failings; but my master was too delighted at the prospect of
+having his treasure cured to be very critical of the physician.  And
+this time, at last, Tom Drift had found the real cause of my
+indisposition.  In endeavouring to pass one another at half-past six, my
+two hands had become entangled, and refusing to proceed in company, had
+stopped where they were stopping my circulation and indeed my animation
+at the same time.
+
+Once more the astute Tom produced his pin; and sticking it under the end
+of my minute-hand, disengaged it from its fellow and bent it back into
+its proper position.  Instantly, as if by magic, the life rushed back
+into my body; my circulation started afresh, and my heart beat its old
+beat.  Charlie set up a shout of jubilation, and almost hugged Tom in
+his gratitude.  The latter looked very wise and very condescending--as
+had he not a right?--and, handing me back to my master, said, with the
+air of a physician prescribing a course of treatment for a convalescent
+patient,--
+
+"You'd better shove him on to the right time, and then keep him quiet,
+young un."
+
+This Charlie did, and it would be hard to say which of us two was the
+happier at that moment.
+
+I had scarcely been deposited once more into my accustomed pocket, when
+a loud bell sounded down the corridors, and made Tom Drift jump as if he
+had been shot.
+
+"I say, that's the prayer-bell!  Come on! unless you want to get into a
+jolly row."
+
+And without further words he seized the astonished Charlie by the arm,
+and ran with him at full speed along one or two empty passages, dashing
+at last in through a big door, which was in the very act of closing as
+the two reached it.
+
+Charlie was so confused, and so out of breath with this astonishing and
+frantic race, that for a minute he did not know whether he was standing
+on his head or his heels.
+
+There was, however, no time for solving the problem just then, for Tom
+Drift, still retaining his grasp on his arm, dragged him forward,
+whispering,--
+
+"This way; wasn't that a close shave?  Get in here, and don't make a
+noise."
+
+Charlie obeyed, and found himself in a pew, one of a congregation of
+some two hundred boys, assembled in the school chapel for evening
+prayers.  At the far end of the chapel he could hear a man's voice,
+reading; but what it said it was impossible for him to make out, owing
+to the talking that was going on around him.
+
+He looked eagerly and curiously down the long rows of his new
+schoolfellows, feeling half afraid at the sight of so many new faces,
+and half proud of being a Randlebury boy, with a right to a seat in the
+chapel.  And as he looked he saw some faces he thought he should like,
+and some that he thought he would dislike; there were merry, bright-eyed
+boys, like himself, and there were ill-tempered, sullen-looking boys;
+there were boys haggard with hard-reading, and boys who looked as if
+their heads were altogether empty.
+
+But what puzzled and troubled Charlie not a little was to notice, that
+though the school was supposed to be at prayers, and though most of them
+must have been within hearing of the reader's voice, a considerable
+proportion of the boys before him were neither listening nor evincing in
+their behaviour the slightest sign of reverence for the service in which
+they were engaged.
+
+He was sorry to see that Tom Drift was laughing and whispering with his
+companions; entertaining them with an account of the way in which he had
+set the new "young un's" watch to rights, and what a shave they had from
+being shut out from prayers.  (Charlie wondered, as he noticed all this,
+whether, after all, he would have lost much good if that misfortune had
+happened.)  And one or two boys were chewing toffee; at least, Charlie
+thought it must be toffee, their mouths were so brown, and they made
+such a noise over the process of mastication; some, with their hands in
+their pockets, were listlessly staring up at the roof; and some were
+reading books, anything but prayer-books, under the desk.
+
+Charlie did his best to attend to what the invisible and inarticulate
+voice was saying, and tried to recall what his father had told him about
+not letting new scenes and new companions tempt him to forget of neglect
+the lessons of duty and religion which he had learned at his parents'
+home; but it was not easy work, and to him it was a relief when all was
+over, and the boys proceeded to file out of the chapel.
+
+"Where are they all going?" he inquired, turning round to where Tom
+Drift had been standing.
+
+That young man, however, was no longer there.  He had gone off to enjoy
+the questionable luxury of roast potatoes in a friend's study, entirely
+forgetting his young and forlorn charge.
+
+Charlie was puzzled.  He was sure he could never find his way back to
+Mrs Packer's through such a maze of passages, and he knew not where
+else to go.
+
+As he stood watching in despair the last remnant of his fellow-
+worshippers passing out, and wondering what was to become of him, he
+became aware of two big boys stopping in front of him and looking at
+him.
+
+"That's him!" said one, whose grammar was perhaps not his strongest
+point at this moment.
+
+"Why, he's only a kid!" said the other, who, being sixteen, felt fully
+justified in so designating my young master.
+
+"I can't help that, I know it's him," said the first.
+
+"I say, you fellow," added he, addressing Charlie, "wasn't it you drove
+up to the front door in a cab this afternoon?"
+
+Charlie trembled in his shoes.  More than once had his heart misgiven
+him, he had committed an unpardonable offence in the mode of his advent
+to Randlebury; and now, with these two awful accusers before him, he
+felt as if his doom was come.
+
+"I'm very sorry," he began; "yes, it was--I didn't mean, I'm sure."
+
+"What did you do it for, if you didn't mean, you young muff?--why don't
+you go off to bed?"
+
+"Because I don't know where to go, and Tom Drift--"
+
+"Do you know Tom Drift?"
+
+"Yes--that is, I met his mother," stammered Charlie, becoming more and
+more embarrassed.
+
+Both the big boys burst out laughing.  "What a treat for his mother!"
+said one.  "I suppose she told you Tom was a real nice boy?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought so; so he is, isn't he, Joe?" and both boys laughed again.
+
+"And she gave you a kiss to take to him?"
+
+"No," said Charlie, blushing scarlet; "she did give me a kiss, but not
+for him."
+
+It was a hard effort for the poor boy to come out with this admission,
+but candour compelled it.
+
+"Oh, she gave you one for yourself, did she?" and again they laughed.
+"What a dear old noodle she must be!"
+
+"She was very kind to me," said Charlie, not liking to hear his friend
+made fun of.
+
+Just then a master came by.
+
+"What are you three boys doing here?" he asked.
+
+"Please, sir, this is a new boy," replied he who had been called Joe,
+"and he doesn't know where to go."
+
+"Hum!" said the master, "I thought Mrs Packer would have seen after
+that.  Let me see.  You had better take him to your dormitory to-night,
+Halliday; there's a vacant bed there.  Bring him to the doctor's room
+after breakfast to-morrow," and he passed on.
+
+"Here's a treat!" exclaimed Joe, with a not ill-natured grin.  "This
+comes of stopping and talking to young scarecrows.  Come along,
+youngster; think yourself lucky you've been handed over to me.  I wear
+patent leather boots, and they don't need as much blacking as some of
+the fellows'."
+
+Charlie was at a loss to understand what the material of Master
+Halliday's boots had to do with his own alleged good fortune in falling
+into the hands of such a guardian; but he said nothing, and, reassured
+by the good-humoured face of his conductor, followed him cheerfully from
+the chapel.
+
+"Hullo, Joe! got a donkey at last?" cried some one, as the two wended
+their way up the stairs leading to the dormitories.
+
+"Looks like it," was Joe's reply.
+
+It was not very long before Charlie learned that the four-footed beast
+thus vaguely referred to was a polite term which the big boys at
+Randlebury used to designate their fags.
+
+"Come in here," said his conductor, turning in at a small door.
+
+Charlie found himself inside a small apartment, measuring about ten feet
+square, lighted by a small window, warmed by a small fire, decorated
+with a small bookcase, and furnished with a small table, two small
+chairs, and a small cupboard.
+
+"This is my den; and mind when you clean the window you don't crack that
+pane more than it is; and when you brush my things, you know, see the
+shelf isn't dirty, because I sometimes keep my worms there--do you hear?
+And now come along to bed; they put out lights at half-past nine."
+
+The mention of the time recalled me instinctively to Charlie's thoughts.
+He could not resist the temptation, suggested half by anxiety and half
+by vanity, of taking me out and looking at me.
+
+"Hullo!  What, have you got a watch?"
+
+"Yes," said Charlie meekly, not exactly knowing whether his companion
+would be admiring or indignant with him.
+
+"More than I have," was all Joe's rejoinder.
+
+Charlie's generosity was at once touched.
+
+"Oh, never mind, we can go shares sometimes, if you like, you know,"
+said he, not without an effort.
+
+"I don't want your watch," was Master Halliday's somewhat ungracious
+reply.  "Let's have a look at it, will you?"
+
+He took me, and examined me; and evidently would not have objected to be
+the possessor of a watch himself, though he tried to make it appear it
+was a matter of indifference to him.
+
+"Why don't you get your father to give you one?" asked Charlie
+innocently.
+
+"Because I haven't got a father."
+
+"Not got a father!  Oh, I am sorry!" and the starting tears in the
+little fellow's eyes testified only too truly to his sincerity.  "Look
+here," he added, "do take the watch, please; perhaps you would like it,
+and my father would give me another."
+
+Joe Halliday gazed at his young fag in amazement.
+
+"Why, you are a queer chap," he said.  "I wouldn't take your watch for
+anything; but I tell you what, I'll ask you the time whenever I want to
+know."
+
+"Will you really?" cried the delighted Charlie.  "How jolly!"
+
+"And look here," continued Halliday, "take my advice, and don't go
+offering your watch to everybody who hasn't got a father, or some of
+them might take you at your word, and then you'd look foolish.  Come
+along now."
+
+And he led the boy into the dormitory, where there were about twenty
+beds, most of them already occupied by boys, and the rest waiting for
+occupants, who were rapidly undressing in different parts of the room.
+
+"Look sharp and tumble in," said Joe, pointing out the bed Charlie was
+to have.  "There's only five minutes more."
+
+Charlie, with all the naturalness of innocence, knelt, as he was always
+used to do, and said his prayers, adding a special petition for his dear
+absent parents, and another for the poor boy who hadn't got a father.
+
+He was wholly unaware of the curiosity he had excited by his entrance
+into the dormitory, still less did he imagine the sensation which his
+simple act of devotion was creating.  Twenty pairs of eyes stared at the
+unwonted spectacle of a boy saying his prayers, and many were the
+whispered comments which passed from lip to lip.  No one however (had
+any been so inclined) stirred either to disturb or molest him--an
+immunity secured to him as much perhaps by the fact of his being under
+the protection of so redoubtable a champion as Halliday as by any
+special feeling of sympathy for his act.
+
+The good example was not, however, wholly lost, for that same night,
+after the lights were out, and when silence reigned in the room, more
+than one boy covered his head with his sheet and tried to recall one of
+the early prayers of his childhood.
+
+As for Charlie, with me and the knife under his pillow, he slept the
+sleep of the just, and dreamt of home; and I can answer for it his weary
+head never turned once the livelong night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+HOW MY MASTER ENTERED AND QUITTED THE HEAD MASTER'S STUDY TWICE IN ONE
+MORNING.
+
+Charlie's first care in the morning was, as I need hardly say, to pull
+me out from under his pillow, and consult me as to the time.  None of
+his companions were astir, so that, not having anything particular to
+do, he lay still, and abandoned himself to the luxury of an idle half-
+hour in bed.
+
+His spirits were so greatly revived by his night's rest that he forgot
+both the novelty and the loneliness of his position, and fell to
+polishing first his knife and then me as merrily as if he were at home.
+What a difference a sound sleep often makes in the aspect of our
+affairs!  Twelve hours ago he had felt as if he could never be
+sufficiently bold as to whistle within the walls of Randlebury, and now
+the first sight and sound which greeted Halliday's returning senses, as
+he sat up and rubbed his eyes, was his young _protege_ whistling to
+himself like a lark, and brightening me up with all his might with the
+corner of his blanket till I glowed again at nearly a red heat.
+
+"Who's that kicking up that row whistling?" growled a voice from the far
+end of the room; "because I'd like to shy a boot at his head."
+
+At this Charlie subsided, not desiring to gratify his unknown auditor in
+his benevolent desire, and very soon after jumped up and dressed
+himself.
+
+"Look here, youngster," said Joe, "you'd better do my study now, as you
+mayn't have time after breakfast to-day.  You know which room it is--the
+sixth on your right when you get downstairs.  Cut along, look sharp,
+you've a good half-hour."
+
+Charlie made his way down to the lion's den, meeting on his way several
+other discontented fags, bound on similar errands.  He set himself to
+clean the window, tidy the cupboard, and generally put things square,
+and had succeeded fairly well in this endeavour by the time his patron
+made his appearance.
+
+"What's the time?" inquired that lord of creation, running his eye
+rapidly round the room at the same time, to notice how his fag had done
+his duty.
+
+"It's five minutes to eight," replied Charlie, after consulting me, and
+highly delighted to be thus appealed to.
+
+"Come along to breakfast, then.  You'll have to sit at a different table
+from me; but mind and wait for me afterwards, for I've got to take you
+to the doctor."
+
+So Charlie was conducted down to the hall to breakfast, and provided
+with a humble seat at the foot of the lowest table, while Joe Halliday
+made his way with all the dignity that became his years to a
+distinguished place at the highest.
+
+My master found himself among a set of noisy little boys, who amused
+themselves during the greater part of the meal by interchanging volleys
+of bread pellets, which much oftener missed their marks than reached
+them, in consequence of which he himself came in for the brunt of the
+cannonade.  Once he ventured to return one of the random shots which had
+found its way to his fingers.  Fortune favoured his aim, and his shaft
+hit the boy it was intended for full in the eye.
+
+"Who did that?" cried the wounded hero sharply.
+
+"I did," replied Charlie, quite proud of his achievement.
+
+"All right, I'll punch your head for it when we get outside."
+
+This was by no means what Charlie had expected.  He had imagined the
+wound would be received in the same spirit of jest in which it was
+aimed.
+
+"It was only in fun," he explained; "did it hurt you?"
+
+"Of course it did," exclaimed the injured youth, who till Charlie's
+arrival had been the junior pupil of the school, and was now delighted
+to find some one below himself in the scale of seniority.  "Of course it
+did, and you'll catch it."
+
+All the other boys laughed, and Charlie, who could not find it in him to
+be overawed by even so majestic a hero as little Master Johnny Walker,
+made the best of his position.
+
+"Look here," he said, "I'll give you three shots at my mouth, and if
+you--"
+
+"There's too much talking at table six!" exclaimed an awful voice, and
+instantly every voice was hushed, including Charlie's, who blushed to
+the roots of his hair, and felt as if he had been singled out before the
+whole school as a rioter.  He gulped down his breakfast without further
+argument with Master Walker, and was relieved, when the meal was over,
+to find that that doughty warrior appeared to have altered his mind
+about punching his youthful head.
+
+After some time he saw Halliday beckoning to him from the other side of
+the room.
+
+"Now you've got to go to the doctor," said he; "come along."
+
+This was the first time my master had fully realised the solemn nature
+of the approaching interview, and I felt his heart flutter as he
+inquired,--
+
+"I say, what will he say to me?"
+
+"Oh, all sorts of things; you'd better mind what you're up to, I can
+tell you," was the reassuring reply.
+
+"Do you think I shall get in a row for driving the cab yesterday?"
+faltered Charlie.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," was the reply.
+
+"Oh, dear!  And do you think he saw me hit Johnny Walker in the eye at
+breakfast?"
+
+"What, were you the boy who was kicking up all that row?  My eye! you're
+in for it!  Here you are; I'll knock for you."
+
+And giving the poor trembling boy not so much as an instant in which to
+collect his flurried ideas, Joe gave a rap at the door, which was
+answered at once by a sharp "Come in!" from within.
+
+"Now then," said Halliday, "in you go."
+
+Charlie's knees shook under him, and he hung back from that awful door
+in mute terror.
+
+"Come in!" again cried the voice.
+
+"Do you hear, you young muff?" exclaimed Halliday.  "Won't you catch it!
+Go in, will you?"
+
+And opening the door himself he fairly pushed my poor master into the
+head master's study.
+
+Fancy the agony of the poor boy, fully believing himself a doomed
+miscreant, entering for the first time the awful presence of the head
+master of Randlebury School.
+
+He stood there with downcast eyes, not daring to speak, and rooted to
+the spot.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, my boy?"
+
+At the words Charlie started like one electrified.  He had surely heard
+that voice before somewhere!  He looked up, and what was his
+astonishment to find in his dreaded principal no other than the
+gentleman with whom he had yesterday spent such a friendly hour in the
+train between Gunborough and Randlebury!
+
+And his face was as kind as ever, and his voice encouraging, as he
+repeated,--
+
+"What's the matter, my man? has the watch stopped."
+
+"Oh, sir," said Charlie, running up to him, "I am glad it's you, and I'm
+so sorry I drove the cab, and hit Walker in the eye.  I'll never do it
+again!"
+
+"Tut, tut," said the head master; "if you never do any worse than that,
+you won't go far wrong.  I didn't tell you who I was yesterday, because
+I wanted you to manage for yourself, and fight your own battle on first
+arriving.  Now tell me how you have got on."
+
+And Charlie faithfully recounted to him everything, including my sudden
+indisposition, and my cure by Tom Drift.
+
+Dr Weldon (for that was his name) listened to his story, and then
+said,--
+
+"Well, you've made a pretty good beginning.  Now try to remember this:
+your father has sent you here for two reasons; one is that your head may
+be furnished, and the other is that your character may be trained.  I
+and your teachers can undertake the first; but it depends chiefly on you
+how the second succeeds.  You will constantly be having to choose for
+yourself between what is right and what is wrong, and between what is
+true and what is false.  Take the advice of one who has passed through
+all the temptations you are likely to meet here--rely always on a wisdom
+that is better than your own, and when once you see which way duty
+calls, follow that way as if your life depended on it.  Do this, and
+you'll turn out a far better man than the man who is talking to you.
+Whenever you are in trouble come to me, I shall always be glad to see
+you.  I promised you, you know, I would ask for you occasionally, didn't
+I?  And now let's see what you've got in your head."
+
+And then followed a brief examination, conducted in a way which put
+Charlie quite at his ease, and so enabled him to acquit himself with a
+fair amount of credit and win from his master a commendation, which he
+prized not a little, for it was that his father's efforts had not been
+wasted on him.
+
+"You will be put in the second-form," said the doctor, "and if you work
+hard, I see no reason why you should not get up into the third next
+midsummer.  Now, good-bye.  I hope you won't find the head master of
+Randlebury is as `stiff and stuck-up a fellow' as you dreaded, and I
+trust I shall find you as honest and brave a fellow as I hoped you would
+turn out the first time I saw you.  Good-bye."
+
+Charlie rose to leave with overflowing heart.  He even forgot in the
+midst of his pleasant emotion to inquire, as he had fully intended to
+do, after the doctor's watch, and if it was still a quarter of an hour
+fast.
+
+As he left the room he could not help contrasting with thankfulness his
+present state of mind with that in which he had entered it an hour ago.
+He laughed at himself for all his foolish fears then, and as for the
+future, that seemed now ever so much easier and brighter.
+
+Outside the door he found Tom Drift passing along the corridor in a
+state of great excitement.
+
+"The very chap, I declare," cried he.  "I say, lend us your watch, young
+un, will you?"
+
+"What for?" asked Charlie.
+
+"Only a time race.  Tom Shadbolt says he can run a mile in 4.40.  I say
+he can't do it under 4.50, and we've got a bet of half-a-crown a side
+upon it.  So lend us your watch to time him by."
+
+Charlie hesitated, and a pang passed through his breast.  He knew that
+one of the things which he had promised his father was that he would
+have nothing to do with betting or gambling in any form, and how could
+he obey in this respect if he now lent me for the purpose for which I
+was required?  And yet he owed Tom Drift no common gratitude for the
+good service he had done in setting me right yesterday, and surely if
+any one had a right to borrow me it was he.  The struggle was a sore
+one, but soon decided.
+
+"I can't lend it you, Tom Drift."
+
+"Why ever not?" asked Tom sharply.
+
+"I'm very sorry; if it had been anything else--but I promised father I
+would not gamble."
+
+"Young ass! who wants you to gamble?  I only want you to lend us your
+watch."
+
+"_You_ are gambling, though," said Charlie timidly.
+
+"And what's that got to do with you, you young idiot," exclaimed Drift,
+fairly losing his temper, "if I am?"
+
+"I'm very sorry," said Charlie, "especially as you put it all right.  If
+it was anything else; but I can't for this."
+
+"Look here," said Drift in a fury, "we've had fooling enough.  Hand me
+the watch this moment, or I'll take it and smash it, and you into the
+bargain!"
+
+"Oh, Tom Drift, don't do that.  I would so gladly for anything else, but
+I promised father--"
+
+"Once more, will you, or will you not?"
+
+"I can't."
+
+"Then take that!" and next moment Charlie received a blow full on the
+chest, which sent him staggering back against the wall.
+
+Oh, how he wished that moment he had never owned me!
+
+Tom came upon him with an angry oath, and seized him by the throat.
+
+"Will you give it up?"
+
+"No," replied Charlie.
+
+He was fairly roused now; no boy--certainly no boy of his sort--can
+stand quietly by and receive undeserved blows.  Tom tightened his grip
+on the boy's throat, and strove to snatch me from his pocket.
+
+Quick as thought Charlie threw his arms round him, and, though the
+smaller boy of the two, extricated himself from the clutch of the bully,
+and sent him in turn staggering back.  Livid with rage, Tom rushed at
+him; but Charlie eluded him, and left him to overbalance himself and
+fall sprawling on the paved floor.  At this instant the doctor's door
+opened, and the head master stood gazing on the scene.
+
+Poor Charlie! five minutes ago so full of bright hopes and brave
+resolutions, and now, under the eyes of the very man who had inspired in
+him those hopes and resolutions, engaged in a common fight with a
+schoolfellow!
+
+"What is all this?" asked the doctor sternly.  "Come in here, you two."
+
+Charlie, with sinking heart, entered again that solemn room, and Drift
+followed, sulky, and with a black bruise on his forehead.
+
+Charlie left his antagonist to tell his story after his own fashion, and
+was too dispirited either to contradict him or seek to justify himself.
+He felt ashamed of himself, and in his self-humiliation saw neither
+defence nor extenuation for his conduct.
+
+Drift was dismissed with a few sharp words of reproof and warning.
+Charlie remained longer.
+
+What the doctor said to him, and what he said to the doctor, I need not
+here repeat.  Suffice it to say, the former was able to form a fairer
+estimate of my master's conduct than he himself was.  He did not blame
+him; he even told him that no boy could expect to get through his school
+days without some blows, and advised him to see they were always on the
+right side.  He talked to him long and seriously about home, and so
+comforted him in prospect of future difficulties and temptations, that
+when he left that study the second time, it was as a wiser, though
+perhaps a sadder boy than before.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+HOW MY MASTER HAD BOTH HIS FRIENDS AND HIS ENEMIES AT RANDLEBURY.
+
+The events of Charlie's first day at Randlebury had at least taught him
+one salutary lesson, and that was, to moderate his enthusiasm with
+regard to me, and consequently for the next few weeks I had a quiet time
+of it.  True enough, my master would occasionally produce me in
+confidence to a select and admiring audience, and would ever and again
+proffer the use of me to his protector, Joe Halliday, but he gave up
+flourishing me in the face of every passer-by, and took to buttoning his
+jacket over the chain, I found my health all the better for this gentler
+usage, and showed my gratitude by keeping perfect time from one week's
+end to the other.
+
+It is hardly necessary for me to say that Charlie was not long in making
+friends at Randlebury.  Indeed some of his acquaintance looked upon this
+exceeding friendliness in the boy's disposition as one of his weak
+points.
+
+"I do believe," said Walcot, who was only four from the head of the
+school, to his friend, Joe Halliday, one day, about a month after my
+master's arrival at Randlebury--"I do believe that young fag of yours
+would chum up to the poker and tongs if there were no fellows here."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," said Joe.  "He's a sociable young beggar, and keeps
+my den uncommon tidy.  Why, only the other day, when I was in no end of
+a vicious temper about being rowed about my Greek accents, you know, and
+when I should have been really grateful to the young scamp if he'd given
+me an excuse for kicking him, what should he do but lay wait for me in
+my den with a letter from his father, which he insisted on reading aloud
+to me.  What do you think it was about?"
+
+"I couldn't guess," said Walcot.
+
+"Well, you must know he's lately chummed up very thick with my young
+brother Jim in the second, and--would you believe it?--he took it into
+his head to sit down and write to his governor to ask him if he would
+give Jim and me each a watch like the one he's got himself.  What do you
+think of that?"
+
+"Did he, though?" exclaimed Walcot, laughing.  "I say, old boy, you'll
+make your fortune out of that youngster; and what did his father say?"
+
+"Oh, he was most polite, of course; his boy's friends were his friends,
+and all that, and he finished up by saying he hoped we should both come
+and spend Christmas there."
+
+"Ha! ha! and did he send the watches?"
+
+"No; I suppose he wants to spy out the land first."
+
+"Well," said Walcot, "the boy's all right with you, but he'll go making
+a fool of himself some day if he makes up to everybody he meets."
+
+My master, in fact, was already a popular boy with his fellows.  He had
+a select band of admirers among the youth of the Second-Form, who
+cackled round him like hens round a bantam.  Together they groaned over
+their Latin exercises and wrestled with their decimals; together they
+heard the dreaded summons to the master's desk; and side by side, I am
+sorry to say, they held out their open palms to receive his cane.  If a
+slate bearing on its surface an outline effigy of the gentleman who
+presided over the lessons of the class was brought to light, and the
+names of its perpetrators demanded, Charlie's hand would be seen among a
+forest of other upraised, ink-stained hands, and he would confess with
+contrition to having contributed the left eye of the unlucky portrait.
+And if, amid the solemn silence which attended a moral discourse from
+the master on the evils of gluttony, a sudden cataract of nuts, apples,
+turnips, and jam sandwiches on to the floor should drown the good man's
+voice, Charlie would be one of the ill-starred wights who owned to a
+partnership in the bag of good things which had thus miserably burst,
+and would proceed with shame first to crawl and grope on the dusty floor
+to collect his contraband possessions, and then solemnly to deposit the
+same jam, turnips, and all, on the desk of the offended dominie as a
+confiscated forfeit.
+
+By these and many other like experiences Charlie identified himself with
+his comrades, and established many and memorable bonds of sympathy.  He
+took the allegiance of his followers and the penalties of his masters in
+equal good part.  He was not the boy to glory in his scrapes, but he was
+the boy to get into them, and once in, no fear of punishment could make
+a tell-tale, a cheat, or a coward of him.
+
+With the elder boys he was also a favourite, for what big boy does not
+take pride in patronising a plucky, frank youngster?  Patronising with
+Charlie did not mean humiliation.  It is true he would quake at times in
+the majestic company of the heroes of the Sixth Form, but without
+hanging his head or toadying.  It is one thing to reverence a fellow-
+being, and another to kneel and lick his boots.
+
+Altogether Charlie had what is called "fallen on his feet" at
+Randlebury.  By the end of two months he was as much at home there as if
+he had strutted its halls for two years.  His whistle was as shrill as
+any in the lobbies, and Mrs Packer stuck her fingers in her ears when
+he burst into her parlour to demand a clean collar.  He had already
+signalised himself too on the cricket field, having scored one run (by a
+leg-bye) in the never-to-be-forgotten match of First Form, First Eleven,
+against Second-Form, Second Eleven; and he had annihilated the
+redoubtable Alfred Redhead in the hundred yards hopping match,
+accomplishing that distance in the wonderfully short time of forty-five
+seconds!
+
+But the dearest of all his friends was Jim Halliday, his lord and
+master's young brother.  To Jim, Charlie opened his own soul, and me,
+and the knife; with Jim he laid his schemes for the future, and
+arranged, when he was Governor-General of India and Jim was Prime
+Minister, he would swop a couple of elephants for one of Ash and
+Tackle's best twenty-foot fishing-rods, with a book of flies complete.
+With Jim, Charlie talked about home and his father, and the coming
+holidays, till his face shone with the brightness of the prospect.  Nor
+was the faithful Jim less communicative.  He told Charlie all about his
+sisters down at Dullfield, where his father had once been clergyman, and
+gave it as his opinion that Jenny was the one Charlie had better marry;
+and to Charlie he imparted, as an awful secret not to be so much as
+whispered to any one, that he (Jim) was going to array his imposing
+figure for the first time in a tail-coat at Christmas.
+
+With two friends on such a footing of confidence, is it a wonder they
+clave one to the other in mute admiration and affection?  Many a
+sumptuous supper, provided at the imminent peril of embargo by the
+authorities on the one hand, and capture by hungry pirates on the other,
+did they smuggle into port and enjoy in company; on many a half-holiday
+did they fish for hours in the same pool, or climb the same tree for the
+same nest; what book of Jim's was there (schoolbooks excepted) that
+Charlie had not dog's-eared; and was not Charlie's little library
+annotated in every page by Jim's elegant thumbs?  In short, these two
+were as one.  David and Jonathan were nothing to them.
+
+But in the midst of all his comfort and happiness one continually
+recurring thought troubled Charlie, that was about Tom Drift.  He had
+promised the mother to be a friend to her son, and although he owned to
+himself he neither liked nor admired Tom, he could not be easy with this
+broken promise on his mind.
+
+One day, about a month after the quarrel outside the head master's
+study, my master, after a hard inward struggle, conceived the desperate
+resolve of going himself to the lion in his den and seeking a
+reconciliation.
+
+He walked quickly to Tom's study, for fear his resolution might fail
+him, and knocked as boldly as he could at the door.
+
+"Come in!" cried Tom inside.
+
+Charlie entered, and found his late antagonist sprawling on two chairs,
+reading a yellow-backed novel.
+
+At the sight of Charlie he scowled, and looked anything but
+conciliatory.
+
+"What do you want?" he said angrily.
+
+"Oh, Tom Drift!" cried Charlie, plunging at once into his subject, "I do
+wish you'd be friends; I am so sorry I hurt you."
+
+This last was an ill-judged reference; Tom was vicious enough about that
+bruise on his forehead not to need any reminder of the injuries he had
+sustained in that memorable scuffle.
+
+"Get off with you, you little beast!" he cried.  "What do you mean by
+coming here?"
+
+"I know I've no business, Tom Drift; but I do so want to be friends,
+because--because I promised your mother, you know."
+
+"What do I care what you promised my mother?  I don't want you.  Come,
+off you go, or I'll show you the way."
+
+Charlie turned to go, yet still lingered.  A desperate struggle was
+taking place, I could feel, within him, and then he stammered out, "I
+say, Tom Drift, if you'll only be friends I'll _give_ you my watch."
+
+Poor boy!  Who knows what that offer cost him? it was indeed the dearest
+bribe he had to give.
+
+Tom laughed sneeringly.  "Who wants your watch, young ass?--a miserable,
+second-hand, tin ticker; I'd be ashamed to be seen with it.  Come, once
+more, get out of here or I'll kick you out!"
+
+Charlie obeyed, miserable and disappointed.
+
+He could stand being spoken roughly to, he could bear his
+disappointment, but to hear his father's precious gift spoken of as a
+"miserable, second-hand tin ticker," was more than he could endure, and
+he made his way back to his room conscious of having lost more than he
+had gained by this thankless effort at reconciliation.
+
+"What are you in the sulks about?" inquired Halliday that evening, as
+Charlie was putting away his lord and master's jam in the cupboard.
+
+"I don't want to be sulky," Charlie said, "but I wish I could make it up
+with Tom Drift."
+
+"With who?" exclaimed Joe, who, as we have before observed, was subject
+to occasional lapses of grammar.
+
+"Tom Drift, you know; we had a row the first day."
+
+"I know," replied Joe; "about that everlasting watch of yours, wasn't
+it?"
+
+"Yes," said Charlie, "I didn't like to lend it him, because--"
+
+"I know all about that," said Halliday.  "You were squeamish about
+something or other he wanted it for.  Well, the watch belonged to you, I
+suppose, and you aren't obliged to lend it to anybody.  What on earth do
+you want to go worrying about the thing any more for?"
+
+"I'm not; only I wanted to be friends with Tom Drift."
+
+"What for?" demanded Joe.
+
+"Oh, because--because I promised his mother I would be," pleaded
+Charlie.
+
+"All I can say is, you had no business to promise any one to be friends
+with a fellow you never saw."
+
+"But she said he was a nice fellow; and besides he made my watch go when
+it had stopped," added Charlie, as a great argument.
+
+"Why, Charlie, you are a greater little noodle than I took you for.
+Every one who calls that precious watch a good name is your master, and
+you're his slave."
+
+"Not so bad as that, Joe," said Charlie; "but I say, isn't Tom Drift a
+nice boy, then?"
+
+"Isn't he? that's all," replied the other.  "I'm not going to abuse him
+behind his back, but take my advice, young un.  You are better off as
+Tom's enemy than his friend, and don't you try to make up to him any
+more."
+
+"Why not?" asked Charlie in bewilderment.
+
+"Never you mind," was all Joe's reply; "and now hand me down my Liddell
+and Scott and make yourself scarce."
+
+Charlie, sorely puzzled, did as he was bid.
+
+He certainly was not in love with Tom Drift; but it was not easy for him
+to give up, without an effort, his promise to be his friend.
+
+Tom, however, was by no means in need of friends.  Not many weeks after
+the day when Charlie had left his study, disappointed and miserable, he
+might have been seen entertaining company of quite a different sort.
+
+[My readers, let me here observe, must not be too curious to understand
+how it is I am able to speak of so many things which must have taken
+place beyond the range of my observation.  They will find the reason all
+in good time.]
+
+The supper party over which Tom presided consisted of four boys,
+including himself.  One was Shadbolt, on whose account, it will be
+remembered, Tom had desired to borrow Charlie's watch.  Shadbolt was an
+unwholesome-looking fellow of fifteen, with coarse features and eyes
+that could not look you straight in the face if they had tried.  He was
+accompanied by his chum Margetson, who certainly had the advantage of
+his friend in looks, as well as in intellect.  The quartet was completed
+by Gus Burke, one of the smallest and most vicious boys at Randlebury.
+He was the son of a country squire, who had the unenviable reputation of
+being one of the hardest drinkers and fastest riders in his county; and
+the boy had already shown himself only too apt a pupil in the lessons in
+the midst of which his childhood had been passed.  He had at his
+tongue's tip all the slang of the stables and all the blackguardisms of
+the betting-ring; and boy--almost child--as he was, he affected the
+swagger and habits of a "fast man," like a true son of his father.
+
+At Randlebury he had wrought incredible mischief.  Tom Drift was not the
+only soft-minded vain boy whom he had infected by his pernicious
+example.  Like all reckless swaggerers, he had his band of admirers, who
+marked every action and drank in every word that fell from their hero's
+lips.
+
+It was just with such boys as Drift that his influence was most telling;
+for Tom was a boy not without aptitude to note and emulate a powerful
+example, whether it were good or bad, while his vanity rendered him as
+pliant as wax to the hand of the flatterer.
+
+Such was the party which assembled surreptitiously in Tom's study that
+evening and partook of the smuggled supper.
+
+Tom had had hard work to provide for his guests, and had succeeded only
+at the risk of grave penalties if detected.
+
+"I say, Tom, old horse, this is a prime spread!" said Gus; "where did
+you get it?"
+
+"Oh!" said Tom, "I had a new hat coming from Tiler's, so I got old
+Tripes (the butcher) to make a neat brown-paper parcel of the kidneys,
+and got them up in my gossamer.  The old donkey might have done the
+thing better though, for the juice squeezed through, and the inside of
+my hat looks as if I had lately been scalped."
+
+"Hard lines!  But never mind, perhaps they'll put it down to the crack
+you got on your forehead."
+
+Tom flushed scarlet; any reference to his inglorious scuffle with
+Charlie Newcome was odious to him, as Gus and the others knew well
+enough.  He said nothing, however, only scowled angrily.
+
+"What!" said Gus, "does it hurt you still then?  Never mind, it was a
+good shot, and I wouldn't be ashamed of having floored you myself."
+
+"He didn't floor me; I fell!" cried Tom indignantly.
+
+"Did you?  Rather a way fellows have when they get knocked down!"
+
+"I was not knocked down, Gus, I tell you; and you'd better shut up!"
+
+"All right, old horse! you mustn't mind a bit of chaff.  I'm sure you've
+taken it all very well."
+
+"Yes," said Margetson, "everybody thinks you must take after your
+mother; you're such a sweet-tempered chap."
+
+"What do you know about my mother?" snarled Tom.
+
+"Only what your young friend tells everybody about her."
+
+"What business has he to go talking all over the school about my
+affairs?" exclaimed Tom furiously.  "What's my mother to do with him?"
+
+"A great deal, it seems," replied Margetson, "for he promised her, on
+the strength of her assertion that you were a nice boy, to be your
+friend, and now he's awfully hurt you won't let him."
+
+"I thought it was Tom who was awfully hurt," put in Gus, by way of
+parenthesis.
+
+"I tell you what it is, you fellows," said Tom, "it may be all very
+funny for you, but I've had quite enough of it.  Ever since that young
+canting humbug came here I've led the life of a dog.  If, instead of
+making a fool of me, you'd tell me how I can pay him out, I should be
+better pleased."
+
+"All very fine," said Margetson; "why don't you pay your own bills?"
+
+"If you want some one to punch his head," said Shadbolt the ugly, "I
+don't mind trying; my life is insured."
+
+"Suppose we make him stupid," suggested Gus, "with milk punch, and shove
+him inside the doctor's study."
+
+"Couldn't you get hold of his watch and boil it?" said Margetson, who
+had heard of the experiments practised on me in Mrs Packer's parlour.
+
+"If I got hold of it I'd smash it into fifty pieces!" growled Tom
+between his teeth.
+
+"Look here, you fellows, I've got a glorious plan!" exclaimed Gus
+suddenly.
+
+"What is it?" they all cried.
+
+But Gus's plan requires a new chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+HOW A PLEASANT TREAT IN STORE WAS PREPARED FOR MY MASTER.
+
+Gus proceeded then to divulge his plan for giving Tom Drift his revenge
+on my master.
+
+"Let's take him to Gurley races on Saturday," said he.  "You know it's a
+holiday, and if we can only get him with us, well astonish his
+sanctimonious young soul.  What do you say?"
+
+"You'll never get him to come," said Margetson.
+
+"Won't we?  Well see about that," replied Gus, "he needn't know where
+he's going."
+
+"But even so," said Drift, "you won't get him; he's not in love with me,
+and I don't fancy any of you are much in his line."
+
+"Oh, you'll have to manage that part, Tom.  You know how the young
+idiot's pining to make it up with you, for your dear old mother's sake!"
+
+"Now you needn't start that nonsense again," put in Tom sulkily.
+
+"All right; but don't you see, if you were to take a forgiving fit and
+make up to him, and talk about the old lady and his watch, and all that,
+he'd be out of his wits with joy? and then if you asked him to come for
+a day's fishing on Saturday, we could meet you somewhere on the road,
+and then he'd have to come whether he liked or not; and won't we
+astonish him!"
+
+Tom mused a little.
+
+"It's not a bad idea," said he presently, "if it would only work.  But I
+can't make up to the young puppy as you think.  Ten to one I should stop
+short in the middle and kick him."
+
+"That would spoil all the fun.  Try it on, any way, it'll be a nice
+little excitement to have young Innocent with us.  And now, Tom, where
+are blacks and reds; I'm just in the humour for a rubber, aren't you?"
+
+The host produced from a locked desk a dirty and much-worn pack of
+cards, and the party sat down to play.
+
+They played for penny points, and as Gus and Margetson were partners, it
+is hardly necessary to say that Drift and his ill-looking friend lost
+every game.
+
+Before this amiable and congenial quartet separated, Gus had referred
+again to the scheme of getting Charlie to Gurley races, and got Drift to
+promise he would secure his victim next day.
+
+Next day, accordingly, as Charlie was in the midst of a desperate game
+of fives with his friend Jim, a small boy came to him and said that Tom
+Drift wanted him.
+
+"What for?" demanded Charlie, who, since his talk with the elder
+Halliday, had felt somewhat "shy" about Tom.
+
+"I don't know," said the boy.
+
+"Your turn, Charlie," called out Jim from the end of the court.
+
+Charlie took his turn while he was revolving on his answer to this
+mysterious summons.
+
+"What does that child want?" inquired Jim, with all the loftiness of a
+second-form boy speaking of a first.
+
+"He says Tom Drift wants me."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Jim, who of course knew the whole mystery of the affair
+between his chum and Tom; "tell him to go to Jericho!  Look out for
+yourself!"
+
+And so saying, he took his turn with the ball.
+
+"That wouldn't do," said Charlie; "I don't want to rile him."
+
+"_I'd_ like to have a chance," retorted the implacable Jim.  "Well,
+then, tell him you can't come.  Here, young un, tell Tom Drift Charlie
+can't come.  Do you hear?  Cut your sticks!"
+
+But Charlie called the messenger back.  "I _could_, go if I wanted, Jim.
+Better tell him I'd rather not come.  Say that, youngster--I'd rather
+not."
+
+So off the youngster ran, and Charlie and Jim finished their game.  Of
+coarse, the youthful messenger gave Tom a full, true, and particular
+account of this conversation in all its details, which rendered that
+young gentleman rather less eager than ever for his enterprise.
+However, he had the fear of Gus before his eyes, and strolled out into
+the playground on the chance of coming across Charlie.
+
+And he did come across him, arm-in-arm with the faithful Jim.  Tom
+worked his face into the ghastly similitude of a friendly smile as he
+approached, and said, in as genial a voice as he could pretend, "I'm
+glad I met you, Newcome, because I want to speak to you, if you don't
+mind taking a turn round the playground."
+
+Charlie, of course, was astonished; he had expected at the very least to
+be kicked over the wall when he saw Tom approach, and he was utterly at
+a loss to understand this not unfriendly greeting.  Innocent boy! it
+never occurred to him the demonstration could be anything but real.  Jim
+would have been a tougher subject to deal with.  Indeed, as he let go
+Charlie's arm, and saw him walk off with Tom, he muttered to himself,
+not caring particularly whether the latter heard him or not.
+
+"Gammon! that's what it is."
+
+Charlie had not long to wait before his companion began the
+conversation.
+
+"I suppose you wonder why I want you, Newcome?" said he.  "The fact is,
+I've been thinking I wasn't altogether right in being down on you the
+other day about lending me that watch, especially as you were a new boy;
+and I'm sorry if I hurt you."
+
+Charlie sprung towards him and caught his arm.
+
+"Oh, Tom Drift, don't say that, please!  It was my fault--all my fault,
+and I have been so sorry ever since.  And you will be friends now, won't
+you?  I do so want to be, because I promised your mother--"
+
+Tom gave a quick gesture of impatience, which, if Charlie had
+understood, he would have known how near receiving a kick he was at that
+moment.
+
+Tom, however, restrained himself, and said,--
+
+"Oh, yes, for her sake I'd like to be friends, of course, and I hope
+you'll forget all about that wretched quarrel."
+
+"Indeed I will," cried Charlie; "and don't let us say any more about it.
+I am ever so much happier now, and it was so good of you to come to me
+and make it up."
+
+"Well," said Tom loftily, "you know it's no use for two fellows to be at
+loggerheads when it can be helped, and I dare say we shall get on all
+the better now.  How are you going on in the second?"
+
+Whereupon Charlie launched into a lengthy and animated account of his
+experiences, to which Tom pretended to listen, but scarcely heard a
+word.
+
+"So you are fond of fishing?" he said, casually, after the boy had
+mentioned something on that subject.
+
+"Ain't I, though?" cried Charlie, now quite happy, and his old self
+again.  "I say, Tom Drift, would you like to see the new lance-wood top
+I've got to my rod?  It's a stunner, I can tell you.  I'll lend it you,
+you know, any time you like."
+
+"Have you caught much since you were here!" asked Tom, anxious to get
+this hateful business over.
+
+"No.  You know the brook here isn't a good one for fish, and I don't
+know anywhere else near."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you what," said Tom, as if the idea had then for the
+first time occurred to him.  "Suppose we go off for a regular good day
+on Saturday?  It's a holiday, you know, and we could go and try up the
+Sharle, near Gurley.  There's lots of trout there, and we are certain to
+have a good day."
+
+"How jolly!" exclaimed Charlie.  "It would be grand.  But I say, Tom
+Drift, are you sure you wouldn't mind coming?  It wouldn't be a bother
+to you, would it?"
+
+"Not a bit.  I like a good day's fishing.  But, I say, young un, you'd
+better not say anything about it to any one, or we shall have a swarm of
+fellows come too, and that will spoil all the sport."
+
+"All right," said Charlie.  "I say what a day we shall have!  I'll bring
+my watch and knife, you know, and some grub, and we can picnic there,
+eh?"
+
+"That'll be splendid.  Well, I must go in now, so good-bye, Newcome, and
+shake hands."
+
+What a grip was that! on one side all trust and fervour, and on the
+other all fraud and malice!
+
+Tom Drift was not yet utterly bad.  Would that he had allowed his
+conscience to speak and his better self prevail!  Half a dozen times in
+the course of his walk from the playground to the school he repented of
+the wicked part he was playing in the scheme to injure Charlie.  But
+half a dozen times the thought of Gus and his taunts, and the
+recollection of his own bruised forehead came to drive out all passing
+sentiments of pity or remorse.
+
+Charlie rejoined his chum with a beaming face.
+
+"Well," asked Jim, "what has he been saying to humbug you this time?"
+
+"Nothing very particular; and I won't let you call him a humbug.  I say,
+Jim, old boy, he's made it up at last, and we're friends, Tom Drift and
+I!  Hurrah!  I was never so glad, isn't it jolly?"
+
+Jim by no means shared his friend's enthusiasm.  Like his elder brother,
+he instinctively disliked Tom Drift, without exactly being able to give
+a reason.
+
+His reserve, however, had no effect on Charlie's high spirits.  At last
+the wish of his heart had been gained!  No longer did he walk with the
+burden of a broken promise weighting his neck; no longer did the
+consciousness of having an enemy oppress him.
+
+"Simpleton!" many of my readers will exclaim.  Perhaps he was; but even
+if you laugh at him, I think you will hardly despise him for his simple-
+mindedness, for who would not rather be such a one than the tempter, Tom
+Drift?
+
+All that week he was jubilant.  Boys looked round in astonishment at the
+shrillness of his whistle and the ring of his laughter.  His corner of
+the class room was a simple Babel, and the number of apples he bestowed
+in charity was prodigious.
+
+Something, every one could see, had happened to make him happier than
+ever.  Few knew what that something was, and fewer still knew what it
+meant.
+
+"What are you up to to-morrow?" asked the elder Halliday of his fag on
+the Friday evening.
+
+"Fishing," briskly replied the boy.
+
+"You're for ever fishing," said Joe.  "I suppose that young brother of
+mine is going with you?"
+
+"No; Jim's going to play in the match against the Badgers."
+
+The "Badgers," let me explain, was the name of a scratch cricket eleven
+made up of boys in the first, second and third forms.
+
+"Are you going alone, then?"
+
+Charlie felt uncomfortable as he answered,--
+
+"No."
+
+"Whom are you going with?" pursued the inquiring Joe.
+
+"A fellow in the fifth who asked me to come."
+
+"What's his name?"
+
+Charlie had no help for it now.
+
+"Tom Drift," he faltered.
+
+"Tom Drift!  I thought you and he were at loggerheads."
+
+"Oh, don't you know we've made it up?  He was awfully kind about it, and
+said he was sorry, when it was really my fault, and we shook hands, and
+to-morrow we are going to fish in a place he knows where there's no end
+of trout."
+
+"Where's that?"
+
+"He didn't want me to tell, for fear everybody should come and spoil the
+sport; but I suppose I can tell you, though; it's up the Sharle, near
+Gurley."
+
+"Humph!  I've fished there before now.  Not such a wonderful lot of
+fish, either."
+
+"I suppose you won't be there to-morrow?" asked Charlie nervously,
+afraid of losing the confidence of Tom Drift by attracting strangers to
+his waters.
+
+"Not if I know it," replied Joe.  "I say, youngster, I thought you had
+given up the notion of making up to that fellow?"
+
+"I didn't make up to him, only I can't be sorry to be friends with
+him--"
+
+"Well, I hope you won't be sorry now you've done it.  Take care what
+you're about, that's all."
+
+Charlie was again perplexed to understand why Halliday seemed to have
+such a dislike to poor Tom.
+
+Just as he was going off to bed Joe stopped him and asked,--
+
+"By the way, shall you be using your watch to-morrow?"
+
+"Well, I promised I'd take it, to see how the time went; but I dare say
+we could do without it, and I would like to lend it to you, Halliday."
+
+"Not a bit of it," replied the other.  "I can do without it as well as
+you.  I am going to walk over to Whitstone Woods and back."
+
+"Hullo, that's a long trot," said Charlie.  "It must be nearly thirty
+miles."
+
+"Something like that," said Joe.  "Walcot and I are going to make a day
+of it."
+
+"Which way do you go?"
+
+"Through Gurley, and then over Rushton Common and past Slingcomb."
+
+"Never!  I wish I could do thirty miles at a stretch."
+
+"So you will some day.  Good-night."
+
+And Charlie went to bed, to dream of the lance-wood top of his rod and
+the trout in the Sharle.
+
+In the meanwhile the conspirators had had another meeting in Drift's
+den.
+
+"Well, have you hooked him?" asked Gus.
+
+"Yes; it's all right.  He took it all in like a lamb."
+
+"And all the school," said Margetson, "is talking of the great
+reconciliation, and the gratification which that event will undoubtedly
+afford to your venerable mother."
+
+"Shut up, will you, Margetson?  I've had quite enough of that chaff."
+
+"But I do assure you, Tom--"
+
+"That'll do," said Tom, snappishly; and Margetson did not go the length
+of saying what it was he was so ready to assure him of.
+
+"Well," said Gus, "we'll meet you and the young cub at the cross roads
+by Sharle Bridge.  The races don't begin till twelve, so we shall have
+lots of time.  I mean to see if we can't get a trap at Gurley, and do
+the thing in style.  What do you say?  We could get one for about ten
+bob."
+
+"All serene," said Margetson.  "I'll fork out my share."
+
+"You'll pay for me, Tom," said Shadbolt, "won't you?"
+
+"I'll see," said Tom.
+
+"All right, that's settled; and you are seeing about grub, Tom, aren't
+you?  Don't forget the etceteras.  What time have you told young mooney-
+face?"
+
+"Nine.  He's sure to be in time."
+
+"Well, we'll start a little before, you know, and meet you quite by
+accident, and the young beggar won't smell a rat till we are safe in
+Gurley."
+
+"And if he turns cantankerous?"
+
+"Then we can put Shaddy to look after him."
+
+"Who's going to win the Gulley Plate, Gus?"
+
+And then the party fell to canvassing the entries for the morrow's
+races, and making their bets, in which, of course, Tom stood almost
+bound to lose, whichever horse won.
+
+Long ere they had parted company Charlie was sound asleep and dreaming,
+with me under his pillow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+HOW MY MASTER DID NOT CATCH THE FISH HE EXPECTED.
+
+About ten years before the time of my story it had happened that in a
+famous battle fought between her Majesty's troops and those of a hostile
+and savage king, the colours of the 300th Regiment were noticed to be in
+imminent peril of capture.  The ensign who carried them was wounded, and
+already a score of the enemy were rushing forward to seize the prize and
+carry it off in triumph to their king.  Suddenly, however, there dashed
+up to the spot a young cornet of dragoons, who, seeing the peril of his
+fellow-officer and the colours he carried, dragged him, flag and all, up
+nearly into his own saddle, and started off with his precious burden
+towards a place of shelter from the fire and spears of the savages.
+Before, however, he had gone twenty yards the poor ensign tumbled to the
+ground, shot through the heart, yielding with his dying hands his
+colours to the dragoon.  That plucky young soldier, wrapping the torn
+and stained flag round his body, set his teeth, stooped forward in his
+saddle, and, digging his spurs into his horse, galloped for his life.
+He had a terrific gauntlet to run, and grandly he ran it.  The friendly
+trench was in sight, the cheers of his comrades fell like music on his
+ears, a vision of glory and honour flashed through his mind, and then
+suddenly he reeled forward in his seat--a malignant shot had found him
+out at last, and, with the colours round him, he dropped from his horse
+into his comrades' arms a dead man.
+
+This hero was an old Randlebury boy; and ever since that day, on every
+anniversary of his glorious death, Randlebury kept, and still keeps,
+holiday.
+
+All this Charlie was informed of by his faithful chum, Jim Halliday, as
+the former was dressing himself on the morning of the eventful holiday
+in question.
+
+What possessed him to get up at six, when he was not to start till nine,
+I cannot say.  He even routed me from under his pillow at five, so
+fidgety was he, and as soon as ever I pointed to six he bounced out of
+bed as if he was shot.
+
+"What are you up to, getting up at this time?" growled Jim, who, much to
+the mutual delight of the boys, slept in the same room with Charlie.
+
+"Oh, you know; I don't want to be behindhand," replied Charlie.
+
+"Behindhand!  Why, do you know it's only just six?"
+
+"I know that, and I mean to make the most of my holiday.  I say, Jim,
+what do they want to give us a holiday for, do you know?"
+
+"They don't want to at all; they've got to."
+
+"Got to?  What do you mean?" inquired Charlie, dragging on his boots.
+
+And then Jim, with many yawns and growls, told him the story; and,
+without waiting for his comments thereon, rolled over and went off to
+sleep again.
+
+Charlie spent his early hour in polishing up things generally.  When he
+had polished up his rod with the lance-wood top, he polished up his
+green can and his hooks.  Then he warmed me up with a piece of wash-
+leather, and then his many-fanged knife.
+
+By the time these little jobs were accomplished, and Joe's study put in
+order, the breakfast bell sounded, and he went down with a mouth sore
+with whistling.
+
+He caught sight of Tom Drift at another table, and nodded and waved his
+green can to him; he informed every boy within hearing distance that it
+was certain to be a fine day, whatever it looked like now; and he made
+the wildest and most indiscriminate promises to entertain his whole
+acquaintance at no end of a trout supper on the spoils of that day's
+sport.  Twenty times during breakfast did he pull me out and look
+impatiently at my minute-hand slowly making its way from eight to nine;
+and as soon as ever the meal was over he rushed upstairs like mad for
+his rod and bag, and then tore down again four steps at a time, nearly
+knocking the head master over at the bottom.
+
+"Gently, my man," said that gentleman, recognising in this cannon-ball
+of a young fellow his little travelling companion.  "Why, what's the
+matter?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, doctor," said Charlie; "did I hurt you?"
+
+"Not a bit.  So you are going to fish to-day?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the beaming Charlie.  "I say, sir, do you think it'll
+be a fine day?"
+
+"I hope so--good-bye.  I suppose this can will be full when you come
+back?"
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said Charlie, secretly resolving that if fortune
+favoured him he would present the two finest of his trout to the doctor.
+
+He found Drift ready for him when he reached that young gentleman's
+study.
+
+Besides his rod, Tom had a somewhat cumbersome bag, which, as it carried
+most of the provisions for the whole party, he was not a little surly
+about being burdened with.
+
+Charlie, of course, thought it was his and Tom's dinner.
+
+"Is that the grub?" he cried.  "Why, Tom Drift, you have been laying in
+a spread!  What a brick you are!  Look here, I'd carry it--isn't it a
+weight, though!  If we get all this inside us two we shan't starve!"
+
+And so they started, Charlie lugging along the bag and whistling like a
+lark.
+
+"Looks cloudy," said Tom, who felt he must say something or other.
+
+"Never mind, all the better for the trout, you know.  I say, I wish I
+had my fly on the water this minute."
+
+As Tom was silent, Charlie kept up the conversation by himself.
+
+"I say, Tom Drift," said he, "if your mother could only see us two chaps
+going off for a day's fishing she--"
+
+"Look here, draw it mild about my mother, young un.  She can take care
+of herself well enough."
+
+Charlie blushed to the roots of his hair at this rebuke, and for some
+time the flow of his conversation was arrested.
+
+It was a good four miles from Randlebury to Sharle Bridge; and long ere
+they reached it Charlie's arm ached with the ponderous bag he was
+carrying.  He did not, however, like to say anything, still less to ask
+Tom to take a turn at carrying it; so he plodded on, changing hands
+every few minutes, and buoying himself up with the prospect of the river
+and the trout.
+
+Presently they came within sight of the signpost which marks the
+junction of the Gurley and Sharle Bridge roads.
+
+"Here we are at last!" cried Charlie, panting and puffing.  "I say, Tom
+Drift, I don't believe I could have carried this bag any farther if I'd
+tried."
+
+"It'll be lighter when we go home.  Hullo! who are these three?" for at
+this moment Gus, Margetson, and Shadbolt made their appearance.
+
+"They look like Randlebury fellows by their caps.  Oh, I know who one of
+them is," added Charlie-- "Margetson, in the fourth; don't you know
+him?"
+
+"Rather!" replied Tom; "and the other two are Shaddy and Gus.  Who'd
+have thought of meeting _them_!" and he gave a whistle, which succeeded
+in attracting the attention of the worthy trio.
+
+Of course their surprise at meeting Tom and his companion was no less
+great--in fact, they had to inquire who the youngster was.
+
+"Where are you off to?" demanded Gus.
+
+"We're going to try our luck up the Sharle," said Tom.
+
+"You'll be sold if you do," said Gus.  "We were down looking at it, and
+a pretty state it's in.  Old Skinner at the Tannery took it into his
+head to leave his gates up last night, and his muck has got into the
+river and poisoned every fish in it--hasn't it, Shad?"
+
+"Rather!" replied Shad.  "I was glad enough to get my nose away from the
+place."
+
+"Here's a go, Charlie!" said Tom, turning to his young companion.
+
+During this short conversation Charlie had passed through all the
+anguish of a bitter disappointment.  It is no light thing to have the
+hope of days snuffed out all in a moment, and he was ready to cry with
+vexation.  However it couldn't be helped, and he had learned before now
+how to take a disappointment like a man.  So when Tom appealed to him he
+put a good face on it, and said,--
+
+"Awful hard lines.  Never mind, let's go back and see the match with the
+Badgers, Tom."
+
+"Why don't you come with us?" asked Gus.  "We are going to Gurley; have
+you ever been to Gurley, young un?"
+
+"No," said Charlie.
+
+"Come along, then, we'll show it you.  It's a prime town, isn't it,
+Margetson?"
+
+"Don't ask me," said Margetson; "I'd sooner see about Gurley than catch
+a seven-pounder, any day."
+
+"And besides," said Tom, "isn't there some good fishing above the lock!
+Come along, Charlie; we shall not be baulked of our day's sport after
+all."
+
+Charlie joined the party, although he did not conceive any great
+admiration for Tom's three friends.  His anxiety not to offend his now
+reconciled enemy, and the possibility of fishing after all, overruled
+him; and still dragging the bag, he trudged along with the others
+towards Gurley.
+
+As they approached the town he could not help noticing the number of
+holiday-makers and vehicles that passed them.  There were drags full of
+gaily-dressed ladies; and gentlemen who wore veils; and there were light
+jaunty dog-carts with spruce young white-hatted gentlemen perched in
+them; there were vans in which corks were popping like musketry fires
+and parties on foot like themselves, hurrying forward with loud laughter
+and coarse music.
+
+"Surely," thought he, "there's something on at Gurley."
+
+Presently a waggonette, driven by a very loud youth in a check suit, and
+with an enormous cigar in his mouth, pulled up in passing, and its
+driver addressed Gus.
+
+"So you've found _your_ way here, have you, my young bantam?  Catch
+_you_ being out of a good thing.  Are you going on the grand stand?"
+
+"Don't know," said Gus grandly.  "We may pick up a trap in the town."
+
+"Ho, ho! going to do it flash, are you?  Well, there's one of you could
+do with a little spice," added he, glancing at Charlie.  "I suppose my
+trap's not grand enough for you."
+
+"Can you give us a lift, then, Bill?" asked Gus, charmed at the idea.
+
+"Yes, to be sure; I've no company to-day.  There's just room.  Hop in.
+I may as well turn an honest penny as not.  Here, you young sinner, jump
+up beside me on the box."  And before Charlie knew where he was or
+whither he was going he found himself on the box of the waggonette
+beside the flash youth, and his four friends behind him inside.
+
+"Who's your friend, Gus?" he heard Margetson ask.
+
+"Son of Belsham, who keeps the `Green Tiger' at Randlebury.  We're in
+luck, I can tell you, you fellows."
+
+As Charlie gradually recovered from his bewilderment he felt himself
+extremely uncomfortable and ill at ease.  From what had been said he had
+gathered that the object of the boys in going to Gurley was something
+more than to see the town; and he by no means liked Gus's new friend, or
+approved of his easy familiarity with a low publican's son.  It was not
+long before his dawning suspicions were fully confirmed.
+
+"So you're going to see the races?" asked Mr Belsham.
+
+"No, I'm not," replied Charlie, as curtly as he could, for he had no
+desire to encourage the conversation of this objectionable person.
+
+"Ain't you?  And what are you going to do, then, my young lamb?"  And in
+the course of this brief sentence Mr Belsham succeeded in interjecting
+at least three oaths.
+
+"I shan't speak to you if you swear," said Charlie; "it's wrong to
+swear."
+
+"No! is it?  Who says that?"
+
+"My father says so," blurted out Charlie, fully satisfied that no better
+reason could be demanded.
+
+Belsham laughed, and turning to the four inside, said,--
+
+"I say, young gentlemen, this young pippin tells me he's got a father
+who says it's wrong to swear.  What do you think of that?"
+
+"His father must be an amusing man," replied Gus.
+
+"Wait till we get on to the course," said Margetson; "he'll hear
+something to astonish him there, young prig!"
+
+"I'm not going to the races!" cried my master, starting from his seat,
+and now fully alive to the fraud of which he had been made the victim.
+"How could you do this, Tom Drift!  Let me down, will you!" and he
+struggled so desperately with Belsham that that gentleman was obliged to
+let go the reins in order to hold him.
+
+Of course it was no use his resisting.  Amid the shouts and jeers of his
+schoolfellows he was held on to the box.  In vain he pleaded, besought,
+struggled, threatened; there he was compelled to stay, all through
+Gurley and out to the racecourse.  Here he found himself in the midst of
+a yelling, blaspheming, drunken multitude, from the sight of whose faces
+and the sound of whose words his soul revolted so vehemently that it
+lent new vigour to his exhausted frame, and urged him to one last
+desperate struggle to free himself and escape from his tormentors.
+
+"Look here," said Belsham to Gus; "if you suppose I'm going to have all
+my fun spoiled by looking after this cub of yours while you're enjoying
+yourselves there inside, you're mistaken; here, look after him
+yourselves."
+
+So saying, he dragged Charlie from his seat and swung him down into the
+waggonette with such force that he lay there half stunned and incapable
+of further resistance, and so for the time being saved his persecutors a
+good deal of trouble.
+
+And indeed had it been otherwise it is hardly likely they would have
+just then been able to pay him much attention, for at that moment the
+horses were all drawn up at the starting-post, waiting for the signal to
+go.
+
+That was a feverish moment for Tom Drift.  He had bet all his money on
+one horse, and if that horse did not win, he would lose every penny of
+it.
+
+As usual, he had repented a hundred times of that day's business, and
+the last brutal outrage on poor Charlie had called up even in his seared
+breast a fleeting feeling of indescribable shame.  It was, alas! only
+fleeting.
+
+Next moment he forgot all but the horses.  There they stood in a long
+restless line.  A shout! and they were off.  In the first wild scramble
+he could catch a sight of the colours on which his hopes depended near
+the front.  On they came like the wind.  A man near shouted the name of
+Tom's horse--"It's winning," and Tom's head swam at the sound.  On still
+nearer, and now they have passed.  In the retreating, straggling crowd
+he can see his horse still, but it seems to be going back instead of
+forward.  Like a torrent the others overhaul and pass it.  Then a louder
+shout than usual proclaims the race over, and the favourite beaten, and
+Tom staggers down to his seat sick and half stupid.
+
+"Never mind, old man," he heard Gus say, "luck's against you this time;
+you'll have your turn some day.  Take some of this, man, and never say
+die."
+
+And Tom, reckless in his misery, took the proffered bottle, and drank
+deeply.
+
+It was late in the afternoon before Belsham thought of turning his
+horse's head homeward, and by that time Charlie, on the floor of the
+waggonette, was slowly beginning to recover consciousness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+HOW MY MASTER AND I HAD QUITE AS MUCH EXCITEMENT IN ONE AFTERNOON AS WAS
+GOOD FOR US.
+
+Just as they were turning to go, a sudden shout and rush of people
+arrested them.  The crowd on the course had been immense, and of the
+roughest and lowest description: sharpers, thieves, and roughs were
+there by the hundred, attracted from the neighbouring villages by the
+opportunity of plunder and riot which Gurley races always afforded.  As
+soon as the serious business of the racing was over, this low mob
+naturally sought excitement of their own making, and increasing in
+disorder and intemperance as the day wore on, had become beyond control
+just about the time when Mr Belsham, junior, took it into his muddled
+head to make a start in the direction of home.  The shout which kept him
+where he was, was occasioned by that spectacle dear to the eyes of all
+blackguards, a fight.  Round the two blood and dust-stained combatants,
+the mob surged and yelled.  Every moment it grew denser and wilder; and
+every moment it swayed nearer and nearer to the spot where the
+Randlebury boys stood in their waggonette; and before they could move or
+get clear, they found themselves in the very centre of the mob.  Shouts,
+shrieks, and wild laughter rose on every side of them; some of the crowd
+scrambled up onto their wheels to get a glimpse of the pugilists; some
+abused and swore at them for getting in the way; some tried to invade
+their waggonette, and struck at them when they resisted.
+
+In the midst of all, Belsham's horse took fright.  There was a wild
+plunge, a shriek from the crowd in front, and next moment the five boys
+were thrown down among the crowd, while the horse, with the shattered
+and overturned vehicle behind him, forced for himself a ghastly lane
+through the mob.
+
+Of Gus and his three friends, Charlie, whom the shock roused to sudden
+consciousness, could see nothing.  He tried to rise, but the crowd
+pressed too wildly to give him the chance.  For some moments he lay
+among a host of crowding, struggling feet, expecting every moment to be
+stunned, if not killed.  But by a wonderful providence he escaped the
+peril.  The crowd gave a sudden swing in a new direction, and he was
+left unhurt, though stupefied and almost unable to stir.
+
+Presently he was conscious of a man standing in front of him.
+
+"Oh, help me!" gasped my poor master.
+
+The man seized him roughly by the arm and raised him to his feet.
+
+"That's worth a tip," he growled; "come, hand over."
+
+Charlie put his hand in his pocket and drew out a shilling.
+
+The man scowled.
+
+"Do you suppose I'll take a dirty shilling?  Come, young swell, empty
+out them pockets.  Look sharp, I've no time to waste on the like of
+you."
+
+Tremblingly Charlie obeyed, and gave the man all the little stock of
+money he possessed.
+
+But he was not yet to escape.  From under his jacket the greedy eye of
+the thief had caught a glimpse of a chain.  With a rough hand he tore
+open the coat.  "What, a ticker?  Here's luck; out with it, come."
+
+"Oh," cried Charlie, "take anything but that!  Take my chain and my
+knife, but not my watch?"
+
+Hardly and brutally laughed the man as he snatched me out of the poor
+boy's hand, and administering a parting cuff on the head of his victim,
+turned to walk off with me in the recesses of one of his filthy pockets.
+
+Scarcely, however, had he turned, when three men appeared in front of
+him, coming in the direction of Charlie.  The boy saw them, and imagine
+his joy when in one of the party he recognised his old acquaintance, the
+cabman Jim!  With a sudden bound and cry of delight he rushed towards
+him, shouting and pointing to the robber.  "Oh, Jim, he's taken my
+watch; get my watch back, Jim."
+
+Jim took in the state of affairs in an instant, and calling on his two
+companions to follow him, rushed upon and secured the thief before the
+latter was even aware of their intention.  It was vain for one man to
+resist three.  He was forced to disgorge first me, then the knife, and
+then the money.  Charlie indeed pleaded that they should leave him the
+money, or some of it, but this proposal Jim scouted, and in his zeal
+relieved the robber of a good deal more than he had stolen from Charlie.
+Then with kicks and blows they drove the wretch away as fast as his
+legs could carry him.
+
+This done, Jim the cabman had an opportunity of renewing his
+acquaintance with my master.
+
+"Well," said he, "who'd have thought of seeing _you_ here?  And what a
+nice mess you're in.  You look as if--"
+
+"Oh, don't," cried Charlie, holding him by the arm; "it's bad enough as
+it is, without you thinking ill of me."
+
+And then he told him as well as he could how he had been decoyed to
+these vile races; how he had been kept there by main force; how he had
+been made senseless by their rough treatment, and how, but for Jim's
+timely help, he would now have been robbed and helpless.
+
+Jim listened in astonishment, not unmingled with many an ejaculation of
+indignation at the poor boy's persecutors.
+
+"And where are they now?" he asked, when Charlie had done.
+
+"I don't know.  We were all thrown out, you know, among the crowd.  I
+only hope they've not been killed."
+
+"Well, if I was you," said the downright cabman, "I wouldn't break my
+heart over them.  I know _I'd_ like to have a chance of a quiet talk
+with the young swells; _I'd_ give them something to take home with them,
+I would."
+
+Charlie said nothing, but gratefully put himself under the protection of
+his deliverer, who, making a considerable round to avoid the crush, led
+him safely to Gurley.
+
+"There's no trap to be got for love or money, so you'll just have to
+walk if you want to get back to Randlebury to-night."
+
+Anything to get away from that odious crowd.  If the distance had been
+twice as far, Charlie would have undertaken it.
+
+It was long enough, however, before they got away from the crowd.  The
+road from Gurley to Sharle Bridge was alive for a mile and more with
+vehicles, drunken men and women, beggars and pickpockets.  On either
+side of the road were jugglers, and thimble-riggers, and card-sharpers,
+who each attracted their crowd of simpletons.  Many were the fights and
+riots that attended these eager assemblages.  As they passed one booth,
+the headquarters of a blustering card-sharper, a sudden disturbance
+arose which threatened to block the entire road.  The man had offered a
+sovereign to any one of his audience who could tell which of three cards
+he held uppermost in his hand.  One voice called out a number.  The man
+shuffled his cards, and by some slip on his part the guess of the
+speculator turned out correct.  Instantly that youth demanded his
+sovereign, which the man refused, vowing and calling others to witness
+that another number had been guessed.
+
+"I'll bring the police," cried the voice, and instantly there was a
+movement in the group as of some one endeavouring to force his way out.
+
+"Knock him over!" some one cried; "he's only one of them donkey
+schoolboys.  What business have they here at all?"  And at the signal
+two or three of the juggler's accomplices made a dash at the retreating
+youth and seized him.
+
+"Souse him in the river!" cried somebody else.
+
+"Sit on him!" shouted a third.
+
+In the midst of these contradictory advices the roughs lifted their
+struggling victim from his feet, and proceeded to carry him in the
+direction of the bridge.
+
+In the momentary glimpse which Charlie got of the wretched object of
+this persecution, he recognised, to his horror and astonishment, Tom
+Drift, livid with terror, frantic with rage, and yelling with pain.
+
+"Jim," cried Charlie, "that's Tom Drift!  Oh! can't we help him?  Will
+you try, Jim!  Poor Tom!"
+
+"Is he one of them four as brought you here?" asked Jim, not offering to
+move.
+
+"Yes; but never mind that; they will drown him; see how furious they
+are!  Will you help him, Jim?"
+
+"Not a bit of me," replied the stubborn Jim, who was well content to see
+the tables turned on one who had so brutally ill-treated his young
+companion.
+
+"Then I must try myself;" and so saying, the boy of thirteen rushed in
+among the crowd, and wildly tried to make his way to where his
+schoolfellow was being dragged by his persecutors.
+
+Of course Jim had nothing for it but to back him up, and in a moment he
+was beside my young master.
+
+"Let the boy be!" he shouted to those who carried Drift, in a voice so
+loud that for a moment the rabble stood quiet to hear.
+
+In the midst of this silence Charlie shouted,--
+
+"Hold on, Tom Drift, we'll help you if we can."
+
+Instantly the crowd took up the name.
+
+"Tom Drift!  Yah!  Souse Tom Drift!  Roll Tom Drift in the mud!  Yah!
+Tom Drift!"
+
+And sure enough Tom Drift would have suffered the penalty prepared for
+him, despite Charlie's attempt at rescue, had not help come at that
+moment from a most unexpected quarter.
+
+It will be remembered that Joe Halliday and his friend Walcot had
+planned a long walk on this holiday to Whitstone Woods, some ten miles
+beyond Gurley.
+
+This plan they had duly carried out, and were now making the best of
+their way back to Randlebury along the crowded highway, when the sudden
+cry of a schoolfellow's name startled them.
+
+"Tom Drift!  Yah!  Beggarly schoolboy!"
+
+"I say, Joe, that's one of our fellows!  What's happening?"
+
+Joe accosted a passer-by.
+
+"What's going on?" he inquired.
+
+"They're only going to souse a young chap in the river."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"I don't know; 'cause he don't think the same as old Shuffle, the three-
+card chap."
+
+"We must do something, Joe," said Walcot.
+
+"I wish it were any other chap; but come on, we're in for it now," said
+Joe.
+
+And with that these two broad-shouldered, tall fellows dashed into the
+thick of the fray.
+
+Tom's bearers were now at the bridge, which was a low one, and were
+turning down towards the water's edge, when a new cry arrested them.
+
+"Now, Randlebury!  Put it on, Randlebury!  Who backs up Randlebury?"
+
+It was the old familiar cry of the football field, and at the sound of
+the well-known voices, Charlie's heart leapt for joy.
+
+"I do!" he shouted, with all his might.  "Here you are, Randlebury!"
+
+And Jim's gruff voice took up the cry too.
+
+A panic set in among the blackguards.  To them it seemed that the school
+was come in force to rescue their comrade, for on either side the cry
+rose, and fighting towards them they could, see at any rate two stalwart
+figures, who, they concluded, were but the leaders of following force.
+One of the men was hardy enough to turn at bay at the moment Walcot had
+cleared his way at last up to the front.  Big bully though he was, he
+was no match for the well-conditioned, active athlete who faced him, and
+Walcot punished him in a manner that made him glad enough to take to his
+heels as fast as he could.
+
+This exploit turned the day.  Dropping Tom--how and where they did not
+stay to consider--they followed their retreating companion with all the
+speed they were capable of, and left the enemy without another blow
+masters of the situation.
+
+But if, as a victory, this charge of the Randlebury boys had been
+successful, as a rescue it had failed; for Tom Drift, being literally
+dropped from the shoulders of his executioners, had fallen first on to
+the parapet of the bridge, and then with a heavy shock into the stony
+stream beneath.  When Walcot, Joe, Charlie, and Jim among them, went to
+pull him out, he was senseless.  At first they thought him merely
+stunned by the fall (the stream was only a few inches deep), but
+presently when they began to lift him, they found that his right arm, on
+which he had fallen, was broken.
+
+Bandaging the limb as well as they could, and bathing his forehead with
+water, they succeeded in restoring Tom to consciousness, and then,
+between them, carried him as gently as possible to the nearest house,
+when they managed, with some difficulty, to get a vehicle to convey them
+the rest of their journey.  It was a sad, silent journey.  To Tom, the
+pain caused by every jolt was excruciating.  They did their best to ease
+him, holding him lying across their knees, while Jim drove along the
+level footpath; but by the time the school was reached the sufferer was
+again insensible, and so he remained till the surgeon had set his arm.
+
+Thus ended the eventful holiday.
+
+Before Charlie went to bed, the doctor sent for him to his study, and
+there required to know the true history of that day's doings.  And
+Charlie told him all.  I need hardly say that, according to his version,
+the case against the four culprits was far lighter than had their
+impeachment been in other hands.  He took to himself whatever blame he
+could, and dwelt as little as possible on the plot that had been laid to
+get him to Gurley, and on the means which had been used to keep him when
+once there.  He finished up with a very warm and pathetic appeal for Tom
+Drift.
+
+"Don't, please, expel Tom Drift," he said, in all the boldness of
+generosity; "he was led on by the others, sir, and he's punished badly
+enough as it is.  Oh! sir, if you'd seen his mother cry, when she only
+spoke of him, you couldn't do it."
+
+"You must leave that to me," said the doctor sternly, "I hope I shall do
+nothing that is unjust or unkind.  And now go to bed, and thank God for
+the care He has taken of you to-day."
+
+And Charlie went.
+
+Tom Drift was not expelled.  For weeks he lay ill, and during that time
+no nurse was more devoted, and no companion more constant, than Charlie
+Newcome.  A friendship sprang up between the two, strangely in contrast
+with the old footing on which they had stood.  No longer was Tom the
+vain, hectoring patron, but the docile penitent, over whose spirit
+Charlie's character began from that time to exercise an influence which,
+if in the time to come it could always have worked as it did now, would
+have gone far to save Tom Drift from many a bitter fall and experience.
+
+When Tom, a week before the Christmas holidays, left the sick-room and
+took his place once more in his class, Gus, Margetson, and Shadbolt were
+no longer inmates of Randlebury School.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+HOW I CHANGED HANDS AND QUITTED RANDLEBURY.
+
+And now, dear reader, we must take a leap together of three years.  For
+remember, I am not setting myself to record the life of any one person,
+or the events which happened at any one place.  I am writing my own
+life--or those parts of it which are most memorable--and therefore it
+behoves me not to dwell unduly on times and scenes in which I was not
+personally interested.
+
+I had a very close connection with the events that rendered Charlie's
+first term at school so exciting, but after that, for three years, I
+pursued the even tenor of my way, performing some twenty-six thousand
+two hundred and eighty revolutions, unmarked by any incident, either in
+my own life or that of my master worthy of notice.
+
+By the end of those three years, however, things were greatly changed at
+Randlebury.  Charlie, not far from his sixteenth birthday, was now a
+tall, broad-shouldered fellow, lording it in the Upper Fifth, and the
+hero of the cricket field of which he himself had once been a cadet.  In
+face he was not greatly altered.  Still the old curly head and bright
+eyes.  He _was_ noticed occasionally to stroke his chin abstractedly;
+and some envious detractors went so far as to rumour that, in the lowest
+recesses of his trunk he had a razor, wherewith on divers occasions, in
+dread secret, he operated with slashing effect.  Be this as it might,
+Charlie was growing up.  He had a fag of his own, who alternately quaked
+and rejoiced beneath his eye; he wore a fearful and wonderful stick-up
+collar on Sundays, and, above all, he treated me with a careless
+indifference which contrasted wonderfully with his former enthusiasm,
+and betokened only too significantly the advance of years on his young
+head.
+
+True, he wound me up regularly; but he often left me half the day under
+his pillow; and though once in a fit of artistic zeal he set himself to
+hew out a C.N. in startling characters on my back, with the point of a
+bodkin, he never polished me now as he was once wont to do.
+
+All this was painful to me, especially the operation with the bodkin,
+but I still rejoiced to call him master, and to know that though years
+had changed his looks, and sobered his childish exuberance, the same
+true heart still beat close to mine, and remained still as warm and
+guileless as when little Charlie Newcome, with me in his pocket, first
+put his foot forth into the world.
+
+There were two besides myself who could bear witness at the end of these
+three years that time had not changed the boy's heart.  These two, I
+need hardly say, were Tom Drift and Jim Halliday.
+
+To Tom, Charlie had become increasingly a friend of the true kind.  Ever
+since the day at Gurley races, the influence of the younger boy had
+grown and overshadowed the elder, confirming his unstable resolutions,
+animating his sluggish mind with worthy ambitions, and giving to his
+pliant character a tone coloured by his own honesty and uprightness.
+Just as a pilot will safely steer the ship amid shoals and rocks out
+into the deeper waters, so Charlie, by his quiet influence, had given
+Tom's life a new direction towards honour and usefulness.
+
+Once, and once only, during those three years had he shown a disposition
+to hark back on his old discreditable ways, and that was the result of a
+casual meeting with Gus one summer during the holidays, with whom, he
+afterwards confessed to Charlie, he was induced to forget for a time his
+better resolutions in the snares of a billiard-room.  But the
+backsliding was repented of almost as soon as committed, and, to
+Charlie's anxious eyes, appeared to leave behind no bad result.
+
+Jim was the same downright outspoken boy as ever.  He had yielded,
+surlily at first, to the admission of Tom Drift into the confidence and
+friendship of himself and his chum, but by degrees, moved by Charlie's
+example, he had become more hearty, and now these three boys were the
+firmest friends in Randlebury.
+
+One day, as Charlie was sitting in his study attempting, with many
+groans, to make sense out of a very obscure passage in Cicero, his fag
+entered and said,--
+
+"Newcome, there's a parcel for you down at Trotter's."
+
+"Why didn't you bring it up, you young muff?" inquired his lord.
+
+"Because it's got to be signed for, and he wouldn't let me do that for
+you."
+
+"Like your cheek to think of such a thing.  What's it like?"
+
+"Oh, it's in a little box.  I say, Newcome, shall we go and get it?"
+
+"I can't go at present; it'll wait, I suppose," said Charlie, with the
+air of a man who was daily in the habit of receiving little boxes by the
+carrier.
+
+But for all that he could not wholly conceal his curiosity.
+
+"What size box?" he asked presently.
+
+"About the size of a good big pill-box."
+
+"All that?  I dare say I can fetch that up by myself," said Charlie.
+
+Size of a large pill-box!  It could not be anything so very important
+after all.  So he turned again to his Cicero, and sent the fag about his
+business.
+
+Presently, however, that youth returned with a letter for Charlie.  It
+ran thus:
+
+  "Dear Young Scamp,
+
+  "People always say bachelor uncles are fools, and I think they are
+  right.  I've sent you a proof of my folly in a little box, which ought
+  to reach you about the same time as this letter.  You've done nothing
+  to deserve a present from me, and a box on the ears would be much
+  better bestowed.  Never mind.  Take care of this little gift for me,
+  in memory of the jolly Christmas you and I last spent together, and
+  when you are not kicking up a row with your cronies at Randlebury or
+  have nothing better to do, think of your affectionate
+
+  "Uncle Ralph."
+
+Much to the fag's astonishment, Charlie, having perused this letter,
+slammed up Cicero, and seizing the cap from off his (the fag's) head, as
+being most ready to hand, dashed out of school in the direction of the
+village.
+
+"Trot!" he exclaimed, as he reached the establishment of that familiar
+merchant, "hand up that little box, you old villain!  Do you hear?"
+
+The long-suffering Trotter, to whom this address was comparatively
+polite in its phraseology, was not long in producing the parcel, in
+acknowledgment of which Charlie gave his sign manual in lordly
+characters upon the receipt; and then, burning with impatience, yet
+trying hard to appear unconcerned, walked swiftly back to the school.
+
+The fag was hanging about his study, scarcely less curious than himself.
+
+"Hook it!" cried his master, putting the parcel down on the table and
+taking out his penknife to cut the string.
+
+Still the inquisitive fag lingered.  Whereupon Charlie, taking him
+kindly yet firmly by the collar of his coat, conveyed him to the open
+window, whence he gently dropped him a distance of six feet to the
+earth.
+
+Privacy being thus secured, he turned again to his parcel and opened it.
+Imagine his delight and my agony when there came to light a splendid
+gold watch and chain!  I turned faint with jealousy, and when a second
+glance showed me that the interloper was no other than the identical
+gold repeater whom I had known and dreaded in my infancy, I was ready to
+break my mainspring with vexation.  To me the surprise had brought
+nothing but foreboding and despair, and already I felt myself discarded
+for my rival; but to Charlie it brought a rapture of delight which
+expressed itself in a whoop which could be heard half over the school.
+
+"What on earth's the row?" said a head looking in at the door; "caught
+cold, or what?"
+
+"Come here, Jim, this moment; look at this!"
+
+And Jim came and looked, and as he looked his eyes sparkled with
+admiration.
+
+"My eye, Charlie, what a beauty!" said he, taking up the treasure in his
+hand.  His thumb happened to touch the spring on the handle, and
+instantly there came a low melodious note from inside the repeater--One,
+two, three, and then a double tinkle twice repeated.
+
+"That's striking," observed Jim, who was occasionally guilty of a pun.
+"Why, it's a repeater!"
+
+"So it is!  Did you ever know such a brick as that uncle of mine?"
+
+"It's a pity your people can't think of anything else but watches for
+presents.  Why, what a donkey you made of yourself about that silver
+turnip when you first had it!  Don't you remember?  What's to become of
+it, by the by?"
+
+"How do I know?  I say, Jim, this one wasn't got for nothing."  And then
+the boys together investigated the wonders of the new watch, peeping at
+its works and making it strike, till I was quite sick of hearing it.
+But then I was jealous.  There was no more Cicero for Charlie that day.
+He was almost as ridiculous, though not so rough, with his new treasure
+as he had been with me.  He turned me out of my pocket to make room for
+it; and then half a dozen times a minute pulled it out and gloated over
+it.  At night he put us both under his pillow, little dreaming of the
+sorrow and disappointment that filled my breast.
+
+Where were all the old days now?  Who would admire or value _me_, a
+poor, commonplace silver drudge, now that this grand, showy rival had
+come and taken my place?  In my anger and excitement my heart beat fast
+and loud, so loud that presently I heard a voice beside me saying,--
+
+"Gently, there, if you please; no one can hear himself speak with that
+noise."
+
+"I've more right to be here than you," I growled.
+
+"That is as our mutual master decides; but surely I have heard your
+voice before!  Let me look at you."
+
+And he edged himself up, so as to get a peep at my shabby face.
+
+"To be sure--my young friend the three-guinea silver watch?  How do you
+do, my little man?"
+
+This patronage was intolerable, and I had no words to reply.
+
+"Ah! you find it difficult to converse.  You must indeed be almost worn
+out after the work you have had.  I am indeed astonished to see you
+alive at all.  I am sure, in my master's name, I may be allowed to thank
+you for your praiseworthy exertions in his service.  We are both much
+obliged to you, and hope we shall show ourselves not unmindful of
+your--"
+
+"Brute!" was all I could shriek, so mad was I, Whether my rival would
+have pursued his discourse I cannot say, but at that instant a hand came
+fumbling under the pillow.  It passed me by, and sought the repeater,
+and next moment the tinkling chimes sounded half-past eleven.
+
+It was as much as I could endure to be thus slighted and triumphed over.
+
+"Contemptible creature!"  I exclaimed; "you may think you've a fine
+voice, but, like a simpering schoolgirl, you can't sing till you're
+pressed!"  I had him there, surely!
+
+"Better that than having no voice at all, like some people, or using it
+when no one wants to hear it, like others."  I suppose he thought he had
+me there, the puppy!
+
+He went on chiming at intervals during the night, and of course my
+master had very little rest in consequence.
+
+The next day Charlie and Jim had a solemn confabulation as to the
+disposal of me.
+
+"It's no use wasting it, you know," said Jim.  "Pity you haven't got a
+young brother to pass it on to."
+
+"Suppose you take it," said the generous Charlie.
+
+"No, old man, I don't want it.  I'm not so mad about tickers as you.
+But, I tell you what, Charlie, you might like Tom to have it.  He's
+leaving, you know, and it would be a nice reminder of Randlebury."
+
+"Just what I thought directly the new one came," exclaimed Charlie,
+"only then I remembered we had a row about this very watch three years
+ago, and I'm afraid he wouldn't like it."
+
+"Try.  Old Tom would be quite set up with a watch."
+
+Charlie proceeded that same day in quest of Tom, whom he found packing
+up his books and chemicals in a large trunk.
+
+To him my master exhibited his new treasure, greatly to Drift's delight.
+
+"Why, Charlie," he said, "I don't know much about watches, but I'm
+certain that's worth twenty pounds."
+
+"No!" exclaimed Charlie; "you don't mean that."
+
+"Yes, I do; but, for all that, I'll back your old turnip to keep as good
+time as it."
+
+"It's always gone well, the old one.  I'm glad you like it, Tom."
+
+"I always liked it, you know."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I've known it as long as I've known you, and if it hadn't been
+for it things might have been different."
+
+"Yes," said Charlie, "it was the cause of all the row three years ago."
+
+"And if it hadn't been for that row I should have gone to the bad long
+ago.  That was a lucky row for me, Charlie, thanks to you."
+
+"Don't say that, old man, because it's a cram."
+
+"I say, Tom," added Charlie nervously, coming to his point, "will you do
+me a favour?"
+
+"Anything in the world.  What is it?"
+
+"Take my old watch, Tom.  It's not worth much, you know, but it may be
+useful, and it will help to remind you of old days.  Will you, Tom?"
+
+Tom's lips quivered as he took me from Charlie's outstretched hand.
+
+"Old boy," said he, "I'd sooner have this than anything else in the
+world.  Somehow I feel I can't go wrong as long as I have it."
+
+Charlie was beyond measure delighted to find his present accepted with
+so little difficulty.
+
+"Oh, Tom," he said, "I am glad to think you'll have it, and I know
+you'll think of me when you use it."
+
+"Won't I?" said Tom.  "I say, Charlie, I wish you were coming to London
+with me."
+
+"So do I.  Never mind, we'll often write, and you'll promise to let me
+know how you are getting on, won't you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you'll call and see my father pretty often, won't you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you'll keep yourself free for a week's jaunt at Easter?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+They had much more talk that evening, which lasted till late.  What they
+talked about it is not for me to repeat, and if it were it would
+probably not interest my reader.  He would perhaps be disappointed to
+find that a considerable part of it related to a new suit of Tom's, just
+arrived from the tailor's, and that another part had reference to Tom's
+intention to prevail on his landlady in London to allow him to support a
+bull-dog puppy on her premises.  These subjects, deeply interesting to
+the two friends, would not improve with repetition; and neither would
+the rest of their talk, which was chiefly a going over of old times, and
+a laying of many a wondrous scheme for the future.  Suffice it to say,
+on this last evening the two boys unbosomed themselves to one another,
+and if Tom Drift went off to bed in a sober and serious frame of mind,
+it was because he and Charlie both had thought and felt a great deal
+more than they had spoken during the interview.  The packing went on at
+the same time as the talk, and then the two friends separated, only to
+meet once more on the morrow for a hurried farewell.
+
+"Let's have a last look at him," said Charlie, as Tom was getting into
+the cab to go.
+
+Tom took me out and handed me to him.  Long and tenderly my dear young
+master looked at me, then, patting me gently with his hand as if I were
+a child, he said,--
+
+"Good-bye, and be good to Tom Drift; do you hear?"
+
+If a tick could express anything, my reply at that moment must have
+satisfied him his parting wish would not be forgotten.  Then returning
+me to my new master, he said,--
+
+"Good-bye, old boy; joy go with you.  We'll hear of you at the head of
+your profession before Jim and I have left school."
+
+"Not quite so soon," replied Tom, laughing.
+
+Then came a last good-bye, and the cab drove off.  As it turned the
+corner of the drive Tom leaned out of the window and held me out in his
+hand.
+
+Long shall I remember that parting glimpse.  He was standing on the
+steps with Jim waving his hands.  The sun shone full on him, lighting up
+his bright face and curly head.  I thought as I looked, "Where could one
+find his equal?"--_Sans peur et sans reproche_--"matchless for
+gentleness, honesty, and courage," and felt, as the vision faded from
+me, that I should never see another like him.  And I never did.
+
+Little, however, did I dream in what strange way I was next to meet
+Charlie Newcome.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+HOW TOM DRIFT MADE ONE START IN LONDON, AND PREPARED TO MAKE ANOTHER.
+
+The two months that followed my departure from Randlebury were
+melancholy and tedious.
+
+It was hard for me, after the boisterous surroundings of a public
+school, to settle down to the heavy monotony of a dull lodging in a back
+street of London; and it was harder still, after being the pride and
+favourite of a boy like Charlie Newcome, to find myself the property of
+Tom Drift.
+
+Not that Tom used me badly at first.  He wound me up regularly, and for
+the sake of his absent friend honoured me with a considerable share of
+his affection.
+
+Indeed, for the first week or so he was quite gushing, scarcely letting
+me out of his sight, and sometimes even dropping a tear over me.  And I,
+remembering Charlie's last words, "Be good to Tom Drift," felt glad to
+be able to remind my new master of old times, and keep fresh the hopes
+and resolutions with which Charlie had done so much to inspire him.  But
+Tom Drift, I could not help feeling, was not a safe man.
+
+There was something lacking in him, and that something was ballast.  No
+one, perhaps, ever had a greater theoretical desire to be all that was
+right and good, but that was not in itself enough.
+
+In quiet, easy times, and with a guiding friend to help him, Tom Drift
+did well enough; but left to himself amid currents and storms he could
+hardly fail to come to grief, as we shall presently see.
+
+For the first two months he stuck hard to his work he was regular at
+lectures, and attentive when there; he spent his spare time well in
+study bearing upon the profession for which he was preparing; he wrote
+and heard once a week from Charlie; he kept clear of the more rackety of
+his fellow-students; he spent his Sundays at Mr Newcome's house, and he
+took plenty of healthy exercise both for body and mind.
+
+With many examples about him of industry and success he determined to
+make the most of his time as a student, and spoke of the life and sphere
+of a country doctor, for which he was training, with the enthusiasm of
+one whose heart is in his work.
+
+"The more I think of it," he once wrote to his mother, who was residing
+abroad for her health, "the more I take to it.  A good doctor is the
+best-liked man in his parish.  Everybody comes to him in their trouble.
+He gets into the best society, and yet makes himself loved by the
+poorest.  In four or five years at least I ought to get through my
+course here, and then there is nothing to prevent my settling down at
+once.  By that time I hope you'll be well enough to come and keep house
+for me, for all country doctors, you know, are bachelors," and so on.
+
+All this was very well, and, as one of Tom's friends, I rejoiced to see
+him thus setting himself in earnest to the duties of his calling.  But I
+rejoiced with trembling.  Although he kept clear, for the most part, of
+his fellow-students, choosing his friends charily and shyly, I could yet
+see that he had no objection to contemplate from a distance the humours
+and festivities of his more high-spirited companions.  He was not one of
+those impulsive fellows who shut their eyes and take a header into the
+midst of a new good-fellowship, only to discover too late their error,
+and repent their rashness at leisure.
+
+No, Tom had his eyes open.  He saw the evil as well as the good, and,
+alas for him, having seen it, he looked still!
+
+The students of Saint Elizabeth's Hospital were not on the whole a bad
+set.  On Tom's arrival in London, however, he had the firm impression in
+his mind that all medical students were bad characters, and this foolish
+notion did him much harm.  If two or three of them were to go off for a
+spree, his imagination would at once picture them in scenes and places
+such as no respectable man would like to frequent, whereas, if the truth
+were known, these misjudged young men had committed no greater crime
+than that of taking a boat up the river, or a drive in a dog-cart.  If a
+group of them should be seen by him laughing and talking, he
+instinctively concluded their topic must be ribaldry, whereas they would
+perhaps be only joking at the expense of some eccentric professor, or
+else chaffing one of their own number.  And so it happened that Tom
+failed in time to distinguish between the really bad and such as he only
+imagined to be bad; and from his habit of looking on at them and their
+doings from a studied distance, their presence began gradually and
+insensibly to exercise a very considerable influence over his mind.
+
+"After all," he would sometimes say to himself, "these fellows get on.
+They pass their exams, they pay their bills, they gain the confidence of
+their professors, and at the same time they manage to enjoy themselves.
+Perhaps I am a fool to take so much pains about the first three of these
+things, and to deny myself the fourth.  Perhaps, after all, these
+fellows are not so bad as I have fancied, or perhaps I am prudish."
+
+And then the silly fellow, having once inclined to admit there was
+something to be said for medical students, and having before considered
+all bad alike, became tolerant all round, more particularly of the
+really bad set, who appeared to him to enjoy themselves the most.
+
+As his companions became more attractive to him, his work became less
+interesting.
+
+"Why should I grind and plod here," he said, "while every one else is
+enjoying himself?  If young Charlie were here, I'm pretty sure _he'd_ be
+in for some of their sprees, and laugh at me for wearing my eyes out as
+I'm doing."
+
+And then he leaned back in his chair and took to wondering what the six
+fellows who started that afternoon for Richmond were doing.  Smashing
+the windows of the "Star and Garter," perhaps, or fighting the bargees
+on the river, or capturing a four-in-hand drag, or disporting themselves
+in some such genial and truly English manner.  And as Tom conjured up
+the picture he half envied them their sport.
+
+So he gradually became restless and discontented.  The days were weary
+and the evenings intolerably dull.  The visits to Mr Newcome were of
+course pleasant enough, but it was slow being cooped up an entire Sunday
+with two old people.  On the whole, life in London was becoming stupid.
+
+One of the first symptoms of his altered frame of mind was the
+occasional neglect of his regular letter to Charlie.  That ever-faithful
+young man wrote as punctually as clockwork.  Every Thursday morning a
+letter lay on Tom's plate at breakfast-time, addressed in the well-known
+hand, and bearing the Randlebury post-mark.  And jolly lively letters
+they were.
+
+I remembered one of them well.  It came after two weeks' omission on
+Tom's part, and ran thus:--
+
+  "Dear Tom,
+
+  "A pretty fellow you are to correspond with!  Here am I, piping to you
+  with all my might, but I can't get you to dance.  I know what you'll
+  tell me, you old humbug--`awfully hard grind'--`exam coming
+  on'--`lectures day and night,' and rubbish like that.  All very well,
+  but look here, Thomas, don't fancy that your diligence in cutting off
+  legs and arms can be an excuse for cutting yours truly in this
+  heartless manner.  Not having a letter of yours to answer, I don't
+  know how I shall scrape up material enough for a yarn.  There was a
+  big football-match on Saturday, and Jim and I were in it.  You should
+  have seen me turning somersaults, and butting my head into the
+  fellows' stomachs.  Jim and I got shoulder to shoulder once in the
+  game.  You know old Howe?  Well, he was running with the ball to wards
+  our goal, and Jim and I were in front of him.
+
+  I was nearest, and charged, and over I went like a ninepin; then Jim
+  was on him, and over _he_ went too.  However, I was up again in time
+  to jump on Howe's back; but he shook me off on to the ground on my
+  nose.  Then Jim, having recovered, took _his_ fling, and a rare fling
+  it was, for Howe dodged him just as he was at the top of a kangaroo
+  leap, and left him looking very foolish in a sitting posture on the
+  ground.  However, in dodging, Howe had allowed me time to extricate my
+  nose from the earth and make my third attempt.  This time was more
+  successful, for I got my hands round the ball; but I shouldn't have
+  kept them there if Jim hadn't taken the opportunity of executing
+  another astounding buck-jump, which landed him safe on his man's
+  shoulders, where he stuck like a scared cat on the back of a
+  somnambulist.  So between us we brought our quarry to earth and gained
+  no end of applause.  Wasn't it prime?
+
+  That's about all the news here, except that Willoughby is going to
+  Trinity at Midsummer, and that Salter is laid up from the effects of
+  an explosion of crackers in his trousers pockets.
+
+  "I've taken a turn at reading hard, which may astonish you.  The
+  doctor told me, if I really thought of some day arraying my manly form
+  in a scarlet jacket and wearing a sword, I ought to put it on with my
+  mathematics, which are not my _forte_, you know.  So now I'm drawing
+  circles and triangles at every available moment, and my logarithm
+  tables are thumbed almost to death.  Don't imagine _you're_ the only
+  burner of midnight oil.
+
+  "I had a letter from home to-day.  They were saying they hadn't seen
+  you lately.  I hope you'll go up when you can; it would be a charity
+  to the dear old folk; besides, they are very fond of you--queer taste!
+  How's the ticker?  Give it a cuff from me for not reminding you to
+  write the last two weeks.
+
+  The repeater goes on all serene.  It has already gained some
+  notoriety, as I was publicly requested, before the whole Fifth, the
+  other day, to abstain from evoking its musical talents in the course
+  of the Latin prose lesson.  Now I must shut up.  Seriously, old man,
+  don't overwork yourself, and don't bother to write unless you've time;
+  but you know how welcome your letters are to
+
+  "Your affectionate chum,
+
+  "C.N."
+
+Of course Tom sat down and answered this letter at once, much
+reproaching himself for his past neglect.
+
+With the vision of Charlie before his eyes, and with the sound of his
+voice again in his ears, all his old resolutions and impulses returned
+that morning.  He worked hard, and flung the trashy novel, over which he
+had been wasting his time the day before, into the fire; he went off to
+lectures with something like his old eagerness, and discharged his
+duties in the wards with interest and thoroughness; he refused to allow
+his mind to be distracted by the proceedings of his fellow-students, and
+he resolved to spend that very evening at Mr Newcome's.
+
+Tom Drift would probably have laughed at the idea that this sudden
+change was due entirely to Charlie's letter.  To him it seemed like a
+spontaneous reassertion of its natural self by his mind, and a matter
+for such self-congratulation and satisfaction, that it at once covered
+the multitude of past omissions.
+
+Indeed, Tom felt very virtuous as he returned that afternoon to his
+lodgings; and so felt no need to look away from self to Him who alone
+can keep us from falling.
+
+He read Charlie's letter over again, and smiled at the idea of _his_
+getting up mathematics in his spare time.
+
+"He's not the sort of fellow to stick to work of that sort," said Tom to
+himself, secretly comparing his own remarkable powers of application
+with those of his Randlebury friend.
+
+Then he sat down, and more than ever admiring and wondering at his own
+greediness for hard work, read till it was time to start for Mr
+Newcome's.
+
+It was a good long way, but being a fine evening, Tom determined to
+walk.  He felt that after his work the fresh air would do him good, and
+besides, as he was in plenty of time, he could indulge himself in that
+very cheap and harmless luxury, an inspection of the shop windows as he
+went along.  He therefore selected a longer and more crowded route than
+perhaps he need have done, and certainly, as far as the shops went, was
+rewarded for his pains.
+
+However, Tom seemed to me to have as much interest in watching the
+people who passed to and fro as in the shops.  He amused himself by
+wondering where this one was going and what that one was doing.  With
+his usual tendency, he chose to imagine they were all bent on mischief
+or folly, and because they happened to be in a certain street, and
+because in that street he had frequently heard some of his fellow-
+students speak of a low theatre, he jumped to the conclusion that every
+one he saw was bound for this place.  Something impelled him to go
+himself and take an exterior survey of this mysterious and much-spoken-
+of building.  He found it; and, as he expected, he found people
+thronging in, though not in the numbers he had anticipated.  He stood
+and watched them for some time, and wondered what they were going to
+see.
+
+He went up and read the playbill.  He read the name of the play, the
+titles of its acts, and the names of its actors.  He wondered if the man
+who just then drove up in a hansom was one of the heroes of the piece,
+or whether he was one of the performers in the farce announced to follow
+the play.  Still the people streamed in.  There was no one he knew, and
+no one knew him.
+
+"Strange," thought he, "there are so many places in London where one
+could go and no one ever know it."
+
+He wished he could see what the place was like inside; it must surely be
+crowded by this time.
+
+Thus he dawdled for some time; then with a sigh and an effort he tore
+himself away and walked quickly on to the Newcomes' house.  Their
+welcome was most cordial.
+
+"We were afraid," said Mr Newcome, "you had quite deserted us.  Come
+in, it is pleasant to see you.  We had a letter from Charlie only to-
+day, telling us to see you did not overwork yourself, and to make you
+come up here whether you would or not.  Of course we could hardly follow
+such instructions literally."
+
+Tom spent a pleasant evening with the two good people.
+
+He always had found Mr Newcome a clever and very entertaining man--a
+man whom one feels all the better for talking to, and who naturally sets
+every guest in his house at ease.  They talked much about Charlie and
+his prospects.  They even consulted Tom as to the wisdom of yielding to
+the boy's desire for a military career, and Tom strongly supported the
+idea.
+
+Then Tom's own prospects were canvassed and highly approved of by both
+Mr, and Mrs Newcome.
+
+Tom already pictured himself settled down in his country practice,
+enjoying himself, doing good to others, and laying by a comfortable
+competency for future years.  On the whole, he felt, as he quitted the
+hospitable roof of his genial friends, that he had rarely spent a more
+pleasant or profitable evening.
+
+People were thronging out of the theatre as he returned, and he could
+not resist the desire to stand and watch them; for a little.  He
+wondered what they had seen, and whether those he saw had waited for the
+"farce," or was that still going on?--and he wondered if any people ever
+went into a theatre at so late an hour as eleven.
+
+Ah, Tom! he did not go in that night, or the next, but he was getting
+himself ready for the first step.
+
+Reader, do not mistake Tom's weakness and folly.  He was not trying to
+persuade himself this place was a good one for him to enter; he was not
+thoughtlessly going in to discover too late that he had better have
+stayed out.  No, Tom--rightly or wrongly--had made up his own mind that
+this theatre was a bad place, and _yet_ he had a desire to enter in!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+HOW TOM DRIFT BEGINS TO GO DOWNHILL.
+
+Time went on, and Tom Drift advanced inch by inch nearer the brink.  He
+slipped, not without many an effort to recover himself, many a pang of
+self-reproach, many a vague hope of deliverance.
+
+"Be good to Tom Drift!" was ever ringing in my ears.  But what could I
+do?  He often neglected me for days.  All I could do was to watch and
+tremble for what was coming.
+
+You who are so ready to call Tom a fool, and hug yourselves that you
+have more strength of character and resolution than he had, try to
+realise what were his perils and what were his temptations at that time,
+before you pass judgment.
+
+The dulness of those lodgings in Grime Street was often almost
+unbearable.  When his work was done, and Tom looked out of the window
+and saw nothing but carts and cabs and tradesmen, and the dismal houses
+opposite, what wonder if he sometimes felt miserable?  When he heard
+nothing but pattering footsteps down the pavement, the rumble of wheels
+and the street cries under his window, what wonder if he felt lonely and
+friendless?  No footsteps stopped at _his_ door, no friendly face
+lightened _his_ dull study, no cheery laughter brought music to _his_
+life.  What wonder, I say, if he moped and felt discontented?
+
+What wonder if his thoughts wandered to scenes and places that
+contrasted forcibly with his dead-alive occupation?  What wonder if he
+hankered after a "little excitement," to break the monotony of lectures,
+hard reading, and stupid evenings?
+
+"Ah," I hear you say, "there are plenty of things he might have done.
+It was his own fault if he was dull in London.  I would have gone to the
+museums, the libraries, the concerts, the parks, the river, the picture
+galleries, and other harmless and delightful places of amusement.  Why,
+I could not be dull in London if I tried.  Tom Drift was an idiot."
+
+My dear friend, what a pity Tom Drift had not the advantage of your
+acquaintance when he was in London!  But he had not.  He had no friends,
+as I have said, except the Newcomes, whom he only visited occasionally,
+and as a matter chiefly of duty, and his anxiety to keep right at first
+had led him to reject and fight shy of friendships with his fellow-
+students.  Doubtless it was his own fault to a large extent that he
+allowed himself to get into this dull, dissatisfied condition.  If he
+had had a healthy mind like you, friend, it would not have happened.
+But instead of utterly scouting him as an idiot, rather thank God you
+have been spared all his weaknesses and all his temptations.
+
+Was Tom never to learn that there was a way--"The Way, the Truth, and
+the Life"--better than any he had yet tried, which would lead him
+straight through the tangled mazes of his London life?  Was he never to
+discover that Friend, truer than all earthly friends, at Whose side he
+might brave each trial and overcome each temptation?
+
+Poor Tom! he walked in a way of his own? and trusted in no one better
+than himself; and that was why he fell.
+
+As I have said, he did not fall without an effort.  I have known him one
+day buy a bad, trashy book, and the same evening, in a fit of
+repentance--for God's Spirit wonderfully strives with men--take and burn
+it to ashes in his grate.  But I have also known him to buy the same
+book again the next day.  I have known him to walk a mile out of his way
+to avoid a place of temptation; and yet, before his walk was done, find
+himself, after all, under the glare of its lamps.  The moth hovers in
+wide circles round the candle before it ventures its wings in the flame.
+And so it was with Tom; but the catastrophe came at last.
+
+One evening about three weeks before the time fixed for the Easter trip
+with Charlie, Tom felt in tolerably dull.  He had been neglecting his
+work during several days for novels of the lowest and most sensational
+type.  Over these he had dawdled till his brain had become muddled with
+their unreal incidents and impure suggestions, and now that they were
+done he felt fit for nothing.  He could not settle down to work, he had
+no friends to turn to, and so he put his hat on his head and sallied out
+into the streets to seek there the variety he could not find indoors.
+
+As usual, his steps led him to the low theatre about which he was so
+curious, and of which he heard so much from his fellow-students.  It was
+half-past seven, and people were beginning to crowd round the door,
+waiting for it to open.  Tom, standing on the other side of the
+pavement, watched them with a painful fascination.
+
+"Shall I go for once?" he asked himself.  Then he strolled up to the
+playbill and read it.
+
+As he was doing so some one slapped him on the shoulder, and, turning
+quickly round, he found himself face to face with his old acquaintance
+Gus Burke and another youth.
+
+Gus, who was still small of stature, though fully nineteen years of age,
+was arrayed in the height of the fashion.  As Tom regarded him he felt
+his own coat become more shabby and his hat older, and he wished he had
+brought his dogskin gloves and cane.  Gus was smoking, too, a cigarette,
+and very distinguished and gentlemanly Tom thought it looked.  He felt,
+as he regarded his brilliant and unexpected acquaintance, that he was
+rather glad those people who were standing at the theatre door should
+see him accosted in so familiar a way by such a hero.  And Gus's friend
+was no less imposing--more so, indeed, for he wore an eyeglass.
+
+Tom was so astonished at this unexpected meeting that he had noticed all
+this long before he found words to return his old schoolfellow's
+salutation.
+
+Gus, however, relieved him of his embarrassment.
+
+"Tom Drift, upon my honour!  How are you, old horse, and how's your
+mother?  Who'd have thought of running up against you like this?"
+
+Tom tried to look as much at his ease as he could as he replied,--
+
+"Why, Gus, old man, where _did_ you spring from?  I didn't know you were
+in London."
+
+"Ain't I, though!" replied Gus, tapping the end of his cigarette on his
+cane.  "But what are you up to, Tom?--you're not going in here, are
+you?" pointing over his shoulder to the theatre.
+
+"Well, no," said Tom; "that is," added he, with as much of a swagger as
+he could assume on the spur of the moment, "I had been half thinking of
+just seeing what it was like.  Some of our fellows, you know, fancy the
+place."
+
+How suddenly and easily he was, under the eyes of these two "swells,"
+casting off the few slender cords that still held him moored to the
+shore.
+
+"Oh, don't go in there," said Gus, with a look of disgust; "it's the
+slowest place in London--nothing on but that old fool Shakespeare's
+plays, or somebody's equally stupid.  You come along with us, Tom, we'll
+take you to a place where you'll get your money's worth and no mistake.
+Won't we, Jack?"
+
+The youth appealed to as Jack answered with a most affected drawl, and
+with an effort which appeared to cause him no little fatigue, "Wathah."
+
+"Come along," said Gus, lighting a fresh cigarette.
+
+Tom was uncomfortable.  He would not for worlds seem unwilling to go,
+and yet he wished he could get out of it somehow.
+
+"Very kind of you," he said, "I'd like it awfully; but I must get back
+to do some work, you know, I've an exam coming on.  It's an awful
+nuisance!"
+
+"Why, I thought you were going in here, in any case!" said Gus.
+
+"Ah--well--yes, so I was, just for a little, to see what sort of affair
+it was; but I meant to be home by nine."
+
+"Well, just have a squint in at our place; and if you must go, you must.
+Come along, old man; cut work for one evening, can't you?  You've
+become an awfully reformed character all of a sudden; you usen't to be
+so hot on your books."
+
+Tom had no ambition before these two to figure in the light of a
+reformed character, and he therefore abandoned further protest, and
+proceeded to accompany Gus and his friend down the street.
+
+"Have a weed?" asked Gus.
+
+"Thanks, I hardly ever smoke," said Tom.
+
+"They're very mild," said Gus, with a sneer.
+
+Tom took the proffered cigar without another word, and did his best
+first to light and then to smoke it as if he were an experienced smoker.
+
+"Who's your fwend?" inquired Gus's languid acquaintance.
+
+"By the way," said that young man, "I've never introduced you two.
+Mortimer, allow me to introduce you to my friend Tom Drift."
+
+Mr Mortimer gave a nod which Tom felt he would like greatly to have at
+his command, there was something so very knowing and familiar about it.
+
+"It was Tom got up that little race party I was telling you of, Jack,
+you know.  He's a regular sporting card.  By the way, what's become of
+that little mooney-face prig we took with us that day; eh, Tom?"
+
+Tom was out in midstream now, floating fast out to sea.
+
+"Who--oh, young Newcome?" said he; "he's still at Randlebury."
+
+"Young puppy!  You never knew such a spree as that was, Jack," said Gus;
+and then he launched forth into a highly-spiced account of the eventful
+expedition to Gurley races, contriving to represent Tom as the hero of
+the day, greatly to that youth's discomfort and confusion, and no less
+to the amusement of Mr Mortimer.
+
+"Here we are at last," said Gus, as the trio arrived at a gorgeously
+illuminated and decorated restaurant.
+
+Tom's heart sunk within him.  More than ever did he wish himself back in
+his dull lodgings, never again to set foot abroad, if only he could have
+got out of this fix.  But there was no drawing back.
+
+"Shall we go in yet, or knock the balls about for a bit?" said Gus.
+"This fellow Tom's a regular swell at billiards.  Do you remember
+thrashing me last time we met, Tom--the summer after I'd left
+Randlebury?"
+
+Tom could not deny he had beaten Gus on the occasion referred to, and
+felt it was useless for him to protest--what was the case--that he was
+only a very indifferent player.  He agreed to the idea of a game,
+however, as he hoped he might at its close be able to make his escape
+without accompanying his two companions to the music-hall attached to
+the restaurant, and which he already knew by reputation as one of the
+lowest entertainments in London.  "You two play," said Gus, "and I'll
+mark.  You'll have to give Jack points, Tom, you know, you're such a
+dab."
+
+It was vain for Tom to disclaim the distinction, and the game began.
+
+"Hold hard!" said Gus, after the first stroke; "what are you playing
+for?"
+
+"Weally, I don't know; thillingth, I thuppothe," lisped Mr Mortimer.
+
+"All serene!  Go on."
+
+And they went on, and Mr Mortimer made no end of misses, so that, in
+spite of the points he had received, Tom beat him easily.  In the two
+games which followed the same success attended him, and he won all the
+stakes.
+
+"Didn't I tell you he was a swell?" said Gus.  "Upon my word, Tom, I
+don't know how you do it!"
+
+"It's just the sort of table I like to play on," said Tom, elated with
+his success, and unwilling to own that half his lucky shots had been
+"flukes."
+
+"I tell you what," said Gus; "you owe me my revenge, you know, from last
+time.  I'll play you to-morrow for half-crowns, if you'll give me the
+same points as you did to Jack."
+
+Tom was fast nearing the breakers now.  He had nothing for it but to
+accept the challenge, and the table was consequently engaged for the
+next evening.
+
+"I must be off now, you fellows!" he said.
+
+"Nonsense!  Why, you haven't yet seen the fun below.  You must stay for
+that."
+
+"I wish I could," faltered Tom; "but I really must do some reading to-
+night."
+
+"So you can; the thing only lasts an hour, and you're not obliged to go
+to bed at eleven, are you?"
+
+Still Tom hesitated.
+
+"You don't mean to say you are squeamish about it?" said Gus, in
+astonishment.  "I could fancy that young friend of your mother's turning
+up _his_ eyes at it, but a fellow like you wouldn't be so particular, I
+reckon; eh, Jack?"
+
+And Mr John Mortimer, thus appealed to, laughed an amused laugh at the
+bare notion.
+
+That laugh and the term, "a fellow like you," destroyed the last of
+Tom's wavering objections, and he yielded.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+HOW TOM DRIFT, STILL GOING DOWNHILL, MET MY OLD MASTER.
+
+When Tom reached his lodgings that night he found a jubilant letter from
+Charlie awaiting him.
+
+"Just fancy," he said, "it's only three weeks more, old man, and then to
+Jericho with books, and test-tubes, and anatomy!  I'll drag you out of
+your study by the scruff of your neck, see if I don't; I'll clap a
+knapsack on your back, and haul you by sheer force down into Kent.
+There you shall snuff the ozone, and hold your hat on your head with
+both hands on the cliff top.  I'll hound you through old castles, and
+worry you up hills.  If I catch so much as a leaflet on chemistry in
+your hands, I'll tear it up and send it flying after the sea-gulls.  In
+short, I shouldn't like to say what I won't do, I'm so wild at the
+prospect of a week with you.  Of course, the dear old people growl at me
+for leaving them in the lurch; but they are glad for us to get the blow;
+indeed, my pater insists on paying the piper, which is handsome of him.
+I expect I shall get a day in London on my way, either going or
+returning; and if you can put me up at your diggings for the night,
+we'll have a jolly evening, and you can show me all your haunts."
+
+Tom gasped as he got so far; and well he might.
+
+"I'll tell you all the news when I come.  I suppose, by your not
+writing, you are saving yours up for me.  Ta, ta, old boy, and _au
+revoir_ in twenty-one days!  Hurrah!  Yours ever,--C.N."
+
+Tom, in his misery, crushed the letter up in his fingers and flung it
+from him.  If a passing pang shot through his breast, it was followed
+almost instantly by other feelings of vexation and shame.  One moment he
+was ready to sink to the floor in a passion of penitence and remorse--
+the next, he was ready to resent Charlie's influence over him even at a
+distance, and to sneer, as Gus and his friend had done, at the boy's
+expense.  His brain was too muddled with the excitement and the strange
+emotions of that evening to reason with himself; his head ached, and his
+mind was poisoned.
+
+"What right has the fellow always to be following me up in this way?" he
+asked.  "I'm a fool to stand it.  Why can't I do as I choose without his
+pulling a long face?"
+
+Thus Tom questioned, and thus he proved that it was Charlie's influence
+more than his letter that worried him; for what had the latter said,
+either in the way of exhortation or reproof?
+
+Then he threw himself on the bed, and lay with the wild memory of the
+evening crowding on his feverish mind.  He rose, and, lighting a candle,
+endeavoured to read; but even his novel was flat and stupid, and in the
+midst of it he fell asleep, to dream of Gus and his friend all night
+long.  Long ere he awoke my senses had left me, for he had neglected to
+wind me up.  Next morning he went to lectures as usual.  To his fellow-
+students he appeared the same shy, quiet youth he had always seemed; to
+Mr
+
+Newcome, whom he met in the street, he appeared still as Charlie's
+chosen and dear friend, ready for his holiday and rejoicing in the
+prospect of the coming meeting; to his professors he appeared still the
+same steady, hard-working student, bent on making his way in his
+profession.  But to himself, alas! how altered, how degraded he
+appeared!
+
+In the midst of his duties his thoughts ran continually--now back to the
+strange experience of last evening, now forward to the doubtful events
+of this.
+
+The recollection of the past had lost a good deal of its repulsiveness
+after twelve hours' interval, and although he still felt it to be low
+and harmful, he yet secretly encouraged his curiosity to revisit the
+place of his temptation.
+
+"After all, it did me no harm," said he to himself; "it's not interfered
+with my work, or made me feel worse than before.  What harm in going
+again to-night?  When Charlie comes, and we get away from town, I shall
+easily be able to break it off; and besides, Charlie's sure to help to
+put me square; he always does.  Yes; I think I'll just go and see what's
+on there to-night; it can't be worse than it was.  Besides," thought he,
+glad to seize on any straw of excuse, "I'm bound in honour to play Gus a
+return match; it would be ungentlemanly to back out of that."
+
+But why sicken you, dear reader, and myself, with recapitulating the sad
+workings of this poor fellow's mind?  The more he tried to convince
+himself he was doing only a slight wrong, the more his conscience cried
+out he was running to his ruin.  But he stopped his ears and shut his
+eyes, and blindly dared his fate.  He went that evening to the music-
+hall.  He met Gus and Mortimer, and two other friends.  He had taken
+care to get himself up in a nearer approach to his companions' style.
+He bought some cigars of his own on the way, and offered them with a
+less awkward swagger than he had been able to assume the night before.
+He found himself able to nod familiarly to the barmaid, and fancied that
+even Mortimer must have approved of the way in which he ordered about
+the billiard-marker.
+
+In the match with Gus for half-crowns he lost, though only narrowly--so
+narrowly that he was not content, without a further trial of skill, to
+own himself beaten, and therefore challenged his adversary to a second
+meeting the next evening.  Then he watched the others play, and betted
+with Mortimer on the result--and alas! for him, he won.
+
+It was Tom himself who said, at nine o'clock,--
+
+"And now, suppose we see what's going on below."
+
+It was the same stupid, disgusting spectacle, but to Tom it seemed less
+repulsive than he had found it the night before.  True, he at times felt
+a return of the old feeling of shame; the blush would occasionally
+suffuse his face; but such fits were rare, and he was able to carry them
+off more easily with joke and laughter.
+
+"Jack," said Gus in a whisper to Mortimer, as Tom, after accepting a
+very broad hint to treat the party to spirits, was turning to go, "that
+fellow will be a credit to you and me.  Did you see how he smacked his
+lips over the play, and yet all the while wanted to make us think he saw
+that sort of thing every day of his life, eh?  He's a promising chap,
+eh, Jack?"
+
+"Wathah," replied Jack, laughing.
+
+Meanwhile Tom, glad enough to get out into the pure air, though in not
+so desperate a case as the night before, shouldered his way among the
+loitering company towards the door.  He was just emerging into the
+street, when the sound of voices arrested him.
+
+"That's one of our men, isn't it?" said one.
+
+"Why, so it is; I fancied he was anything but a festive blade.  Yes; and
+upon my word he's half seas over!"
+
+Tom had no difficulty in discovering that these hurried words had
+reference to him, and turning instinctively towards the voices, he found
+himself face to face with two, reputedly, of the wildest of his fellow-
+students.
+
+Gladly would he have avoided them; gladly would he have shrunk back and
+lost himself in the crowd, but it was too late now; he stood discovered.
+
+"How are you?" cried one of the two, as he passed; "isn't your name
+Drift?"
+
+Tom stared as if he would have denied his name; but the next moment he
+put on his lately acquired swagger, and said, "Yes."
+
+"Ah!  I thought so; one of the Saint Elizabeth men.  Hullo! he's in a
+hurry, though," added he, as Tom made a dive forward and strode rapidly
+down the street.
+
+It was but a step deeper.  Well he knew that by to-morrow every one of
+his fellow-students would know of him as a frequenter of that wretched
+place.  Well he knew that, as far as they were concerned, the mask of
+shyness and reticence under which he had sheltered in their midst was
+for ever pulled away.  "One of us," indeed!  So truly the very worst of
+them might now speak and think of him.  Oh, if he had but considered in
+time; if he had but stemmed this flood at its source!  But it was too
+late now.
+
+And he strode home reckless and hardened.
+
+The next day, as he expected, every one seemed to know of his visits to
+the music-hall.  The two who had seen him accosted him with every show
+of friendship and intelligence.  He was appealed to in the presence of
+nearly a dozen of his fellow-students as to the name of one of the low
+songs there given; he was asked if he was going to be there to-night,
+and he was invited to join this party and that in similar expeditions to
+similar places.  And to all these questions and greetings he was
+constrained to reply in keeping with his assumed character of a gay
+spark.  How sick, how vile he felt; yet in that one day how hardened and
+desperate he became!
+
+It was not in Tom Drift to cry "I have sinned!  I will return!"  No,
+once loose from his moorings, he let himself float down the stream,
+watching the receding banks in mute despair, raising no shout for
+succour, venturing no plunge for safety.
+
+You, who by this time have given him up, disgusted at his weakness, his
+vanity, his low instincts, his cowardliness--who say let him wallow in
+the mire he has prepared for himself, who know so glibly what you would
+have done, what you would have said, what you would have felt, remember
+once more that Tom Drift was not such as you; and unfortunately did not
+know you.  He was not gifted with your heroic resolution or your all-
+penetrating wisdom.  He was an ordinary sinful being of flesh and blood,
+relying only on his own poor strength; and therefore, reader, try to
+realise all he went through before you fling your stone.
+
+The toils were closing round him fast.  His will had been the first to
+suffer, his conscience next.  Then with a rush had gone honour,
+temperance, and purity; and now finally the flimsy rag, his good name,
+had been torn from him, and he stood revealed a prodigal--and a
+hypocrite.
+
+Even yet, however, help might have been forthcoming.
+
+"I say, you fellow," said one of his fellow-students this same day,
+"I've never spoken to you before, and perhaps shall never do so again;
+but _don't be a fool_!"
+
+"What do you mean?" said Tom sharply.
+
+"Only this, and I can't help it if you are angry, keep clear of these
+new friends of yours, and still more, keep clear of the places they
+visit.  If you've been led in once, rather cut off your right hand than
+be led in again, that's all!"
+
+What spirit of infatuation possessed Tom Drift, that he did not spring
+for very life at the proffered help, that he did not besiege this
+friend, however blunt and outspoken, and compel his timely aid?  Alas,
+for his blindness and folly!
+
+Scowling round at the speaker, he muttered an oath, and said, "What on
+earth concern is it of yours who my friends are and where I go?  Mind
+your own business."
+
+And so, thrusting rudely away the hand that might, by God's grace, have
+saved him, he swept farther and farther out towards the dark waters.
+
+One final and great hope was still reserved for him, and that was
+Charlie's visit.  But to Tom that prospect was becoming day by day mere
+distasteful.  As the days wore on, and Tom sunk deeper and deeper into
+the snare prepared for him, the thought of a week in the society of one
+so upright and pure as Charlie became positively odious.  The effort to
+conceal his new condition would be almost impossible, and yet to admit
+it to him would be, he felt, to shatter for ever the only friendship he
+really prized.  He racked his brain for expedients and excuses to avert
+the visit, but without avail.  If he pleaded illness Charlie would be
+the first to rush to his bedside; if he pleaded hard work Charlie would
+insist on sharing it, or improving its few intervals of rest; if he
+pleaded disinclination Charlie would devise a hundred other plans to
+please him.  In short, Charlie's visit was inevitable, and as he looked
+forward to it he writhed in misgiving and anxiety.
+
+His visits to the music-hall were meanwhile continuing, and his circle
+of acquaintance at that evil haunt enlarging.  He was duly installed as
+one of the "fast set" at Saint Elizabeth's, and under its auspices had
+already made his _debut_ at other scenes and places than that of his
+first transgression.  He was known by sight to a score of billiard-
+markers, potmen, blacklegs, and lower characters still, and was on
+nodding terms with fully half of them.  He had lost considerably more
+than he had gained at billiards, and was still further emptying his
+purse at cards.  Quick work for a few weeks!  So quickly and fatally,
+alas!  Will the infection, once admitted, spread, especially in a
+patient whose moral constitution has undergone so long a course of slow
+preparation as Tom's had.
+
+The day came at last.  Tom had carefully hidden away his worst books and
+his spirits; he had bathed his face half a dozen times, to remove the
+traces of last night's intemperance he had gathered together from the
+corners where they had for so long lain neglected the books and relics
+of his Randlebury days, and restored them to their old places; he had
+brightened me up, and he had taken pains to purify his room from the
+smell of rank tobacco; and then he sauntered down to the station.
+
+How my heart beat as the train came into the platform!  _His_ head was
+out of the window, and _his_ hand was waving to us a hundred yards off;
+and the next minute he had burst from the carriage, and seized Tom by
+the hands.
+
+"How are you, old Tom?  I thought we'd never get here; how glad I am to
+set eyes on you!  Isn't this a spree?"  And not waiting for Tom's answer
+he hauled his traps out of the carriage in a transport of delight.
+
+Still the same jovial, honest, fine-hearted boy.
+
+"Hi! here! some of you," he shouted to a porter, "look after these
+things, will you, and get us a cab.  I tell you what, Tom, you've got to
+come up home with me first, and we can have dinner there; then I'll come
+on to your den, and we can pack our knapsacks and sleep, and then start
+by the five train to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus he bustled, and thus he brought back the old times on poor Tom
+Drift.  Without the heart to speak, he helped his friend to collect his
+luggage, and when they were fairly started in the cab he even smiled
+feebly in reply to the boy's sallies.
+
+"Tom, you rascal, didn't I tell you you weren't to knock yourself up,
+eh?  Why can't you do what you're told?  Why, I declare you're as thin
+as a hurdle, and as black under the eyes as if you had been fighting
+with a collier.  You ought to be ashamed of yourself!  Look at me; do
+all I can I can't get up an interesting pallor like you, and I've
+fretted enough over those conic sections (comic sections Jim always
+calls them).  Never mind!  Wait till I get you down to the sea."
+
+And so he rattled on, while Tom leaned back in his seat and winced at
+every word.
+
+When they reached Mr Newcome's of course there was a scene of eager
+welcome on one side and boisterous glee on the other.  Tom, as he looked
+on, sighed, as well he might, and wished he could have been spared the
+torture of this day.
+
+Charlie tore himself away from his mother, to drag his friend into the
+house.
+
+"Look at this object!" he cried; "did you ever see such a caution to
+students?  If we do nothing else in Kent we shall scare the crows, eh,
+Tom?"
+
+"Charlie!" exclaimed his mother; "you have come home quite rude!  I hope
+you'll excuse him, Mr Drift."
+
+Mr Drift said nothing, and looked and felt extremely miserable.
+
+"He looks really ill, poor fellow!" said Mrs Newcome to her husband.
+"I wonder they allow the students to overwork themselves in that way."
+
+And then they sat down to dinner--a meal as distasteful to Tom as it was
+joyful to Charlie and his parents.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+HOW TOM DRIFT PARTED WITH HIS BEST FRIEND.
+
+Charlie could not fail to discover before long that there was something
+wrong with my master.
+
+Never before had he known him so silent, so spiritless, so mysterious.
+No effort could rouse him into cheerfulness or conversation, and for the
+first time for three years Charlie felt that Tom was sorry to see him.
+Naturally, he put it all down to the results of overwork.  Tom in his
+letters had always represented himself as engrossed in study.  Even the
+few hurried scrawls of the past few weeks he had excused on the same
+ground.  It never once occurred to the simple-minded schoolboy that a
+chum of his could possibly be struggling in the agonies of shame and
+temptation and he know nothing of it; he who knew so little of evil
+himself, was not the one to think or imagine evil where any other
+explanation was possible.
+
+And yet Tom's manner was so strange and altered, that he determined, as
+soon as they should find themselves alone, to make an effort to
+ascertain its cause.
+
+The opportunity came when the two youths, having bid farewell to Mr and
+Mrs Newcome, found themselves at last in Tom's lodgings in Grime
+Street.
+
+"Well," said Charlie, with all the show of cheerfulness he could muster,
+for his spirits had been strangely damped by the irresponsive gloom of
+his old schoolfellow--"well! here's the den at last.  Upon my word, old
+man, I've seen livelier holes!  Why don't you explore and find some
+place a trifle less dead-alive?  But I dare say it's convenient to be
+near the Hospital, and when a fellow's working, it doesn't much matter
+what sort of a place he's in, as long as there's not a row going on
+under his window--and I don't suppose there's much chance of that here,"
+said Charlie, looking out into the black street with a kind of shudder.
+
+Tom said nothing; he wished his friend would not everlastingly be
+talking of hard work and study in the way he did.  However Charlie
+intended it, it was neither more nor less than a talking at him, and
+that he could not stand.
+
+Charlie took no notice of his silence, but continued his inspection of
+the dismal apartment, lighting up with pleasure at the sight of the old
+Randlebury relics.
+
+"My old rod!" exclaimed he, taking down the very rod with the lance-wood
+top which had figured so conspicuously in a certain adventure three
+years ago; "how jolly to see it again!  I'm afraid you don't get much
+use for it here.  And our fencing-sticks, too; see, Tom, here's the very
+place where you got under my guard and snipped a bit out of the basket.
+Ha, ha! what a crack that was!  And here's the picture of old
+Randlebury, with you at your window, and me lying on the grass (and
+looking uncommonly like a recently felled tree).  Look here, Tom, this
+window here is where Jim and I hang out now.  It used to be Callaghan's.
+By the way, do you ever see Call?  He's in London, articled to a
+solicitor.  A pretty lawyer he'll make!  Have you seen him yet, Tom?"
+
+Tom, during this rattle, had been looking listlessly out of the window.
+He now turned round with a start and said--
+
+"Eh? what did you say?"
+
+The look which accompanied the words was so haggard and miserable, that
+Charlie's pity was instantly touched.  He stepped across the room and
+put his arm in Tom's as he stood, and said,--
+
+"Tom, old boy, what's wrong?"
+
+Tom said nothing, but walked away and leaned against the mantelpiece.
+
+"What is it, Tom?  Are you ill, or in trouble?  You'll tell me, won't
+you?"
+
+Tom still remained silent, but his flushing face and restless lips
+showed that the appeal had at least been heard.
+
+"Old boy," continued Charlie, venturing again nearer, "we never used to
+have secrets.  I'm sure something's the matter.  Mayn't I know what it
+is?  Very likely I can't help you; but I could try."
+
+Tom's lips quivered.  The old influence was fast coming back.  Already
+in his mind he was picturing himself telling Charlie all and with his
+help extricating himself from the slough into which he had sunk.  How
+_could_ he stand unmoved with that voice, familiar by many a memory of
+simple courageous goodness, again falling on his ear; and that appealing
+face, one so loved and delighted in, again turned to his?
+
+"I'm afraid it's something more than ill health, old boy.  You've
+something on your mind.  Oh! why won't you at least tell me what it is?"
+
+Tom could stand it no longer.  He _must_ speak.  Whatever the confession
+cost him, whatever its effect would be on his old schoolfellow's
+friendship, Charlie must know all.  To him at least he could not play
+the hypocrite or the deceiver.  He had turned from the mantelpiece, his
+hand was held out to take that of his friend's, he was just about to
+speak, when the door of his room opened, and there entered Gus,
+Mortimer, and two companions.
+
+"Here he is!" cried Gus, not noticing that Tom had company.  "Tommy, old
+man, you're in luck.  Old Owl has got a supper on to-night, no end of
+punch, my boy, and he's expecting you; and afterwards we're going for a
+regular night of it to the-- Hullo! who's your friend?"
+
+He caught sight of Charlie at this moment, and for an instant failed to
+recognise in Tom's companion the boy whom he had treated so shamefully
+at Gurley races.  But he remembered him in a moment.
+
+"What, surely--yet upon my honour so it is, our young sporting friend.
+How are you, Charlie, my boy?  Here's a game!  You'll come too, of
+course?  Mortimer, this fellow is Drift's special--up to all the
+wrinkles, no end of a knowing blade."
+
+During this brief and rapid salutation Tom and Charlie, I need hardly
+say, were speechless.  One in utter despair, the other in utter rage and
+astonishment.  In both the revulsion of feeling caused by the
+interruption was almost stupefying, and they stood for a moment staring
+at the intruders in simple bewilderment.
+
+Tom was the first to find words.  His cheeks were white, and his voice
+almost choked as he said to Gus,--
+
+"I wish you'd go.  I'm engaged."
+
+"So you are," said Gus, with a sneer; "but I say.  Tom, old man, I wish
+you'd come.  It's too good a thing to miss."
+
+"Go away!" almost gasped Tom.
+
+"Oh, of course an Englishman's house is his castle," said Gus, offended
+at this unusual rebuff; "you're a fool, though, that's all.  We were
+going to have a spree to-night that would make all sprees of the past
+month look foolish.  Come along, don't be an ass; and bring young
+mooney-face; I dare say by this time he knows what's what as well as you
+or me, Tom; eh, Jack?"
+
+"Lookth tho," replied the amused Jack.
+
+By this time Charlie had found words.  The truth of course had all
+flashed in upon him; he knew the secret now of Tom's strange manner, of
+the neglected letters, of the haggard looks, of the reluctant welcome.
+
+And he knew, too, that but for this untimely incursion he would have
+heard it all from Tom himself, penitent and humble, instead of, as now,
+hardened and desperate.
+
+And he recognised in the miserable little swaggering dandy before him
+the author and the promoter of his friend's ruin; on him therefore his
+sudden rage expended itself.
+
+"You little cowardly wretch!" he exclaimed, addressing Gus, "haven't you
+done mischief enough to Tom already?  Go out of his room!"
+
+Poor Charlie!  Nothing could have been more fatal to his hopes than this
+rash outbreak.  The words had scarcely escaped his lips before he saw
+the mischief he had done.
+
+Tom's manner suddenly altered.  All signs of shame and penitence
+disappeared as he stepped with a swagger up to Charlie and exclaimed,--
+
+"What business have you to attack my friends?  Get out yourself!"
+
+"Bravo, Tom, old man," cried the delighted Gus.  "Do you hear, young
+prig? walk off, you're not wanted here."
+
+Charlie stood for one moment stunned and irresolute.  Had there been in
+Tom's face the faintest glimmer of regret, or the faintest trace of the
+old affection, he would have stayed and braved all consequences.  But
+there was neither.  The spell that bound Tom Drift, his fear of being
+thought a milksop, had changed him utterly, and as Charlie's eyes turned
+with pleading look to his they met only with menace and confusion.
+
+"Go!" repeated Tom, driven nearly wild by the mocking laugh in which
+Mortimer and his two companions joined.
+
+This, then, was the end of their friendship--so full of hope on one
+side, so full of promise on the other.
+
+It was a strange moment in the lives of those two.  To one it was the
+wilful throwing away of the last and best chance of deliverance, to the
+other it was the cruel extinction of a love and trust that had till now
+bid fair to stand the wear of years to come.
+
+"Get out, I say!" said Tom Drift, once more goaded to madness by the
+pitying sneers of Mortimer.
+
+Charlie stayed no longer.  Half stunned, and scarcely knowing what he
+did, with one wild, mute prayer at his heart, he turned without a word
+and left the room.
+
+Tom's friends followed his departure with mocking laughter, and watched
+his slowly retreating figure down the street with many a foul jest, and
+then returned to congratulate Tom Drift on his deliverance.
+
+"Well," said Gus, "you are well rid of _him_, at any rate.  What a lucky
+thing we turned up just when we did!  He'd have snivelled you into a
+shocking condition.  Why, what a weak-minded fellow Tom is; ain't he,
+Jack?"
+
+"Wathah," replied Jack, with a laugh.
+
+Meanwhile Tom had abandoned even himself.  He hated his friends, he
+hated himself, he hated Charlie and cursed himself for having ever
+allowed him within his doors.  He took no notice of Gus's gibes for a
+long time.  At last, "Ugh!" said he, "never mind if I'm weak-minded or
+not, I'm sick of all this.  Suppose we go off to the supper, and I'll
+stand treat afterwards at the music-hall?"
+
+And crushing his hat on his head, he dashed out of the house utterly
+reckless and desperate.
+
+Need I say my thoughts were with the poor injured boy, who, stung with
+ingratitude, robbed of his friend, and ill with mingled pity, dread, and
+sorrow, walked slowly down the street away from Tom's lodgings?  Ah!
+when should I see his face or hear his voice again now?
+
+At the supper that evening Tom drank often and deeply, and of all the
+party his shout rose highest and his laugh drowned all the others.  They
+led him staggering away among them, and brought him to their vile
+resort.  Even his companions wondered at his reckless demeanour, and
+expostulated with him on his extravagant wildness.  He laughed them to
+scorn and called for more drink.  After a while they rose to depart,
+leaving him where he was, noisy and helpless.
+
+How long he remained so I cannot say, for suddenly and most unexpectedly
+I found myself called upon to enter upon a new stage in my career.
+
+As my master leaned back hopelessly tipsy in his seat, a hand quietly
+and swiftly slipped under his coat and drew me from my pocket; as
+swiftly the chain was detached from its button-hole, and the next thing
+I was conscious of was being thrust into a strange pocket, belonging to
+some one who was quitting the hall as fast as his legs would carry him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+HOW I FOUND MYSELF IN VERY LOW COMPANY.
+
+My capturer was a boy, and as remarkable a specimen of a boy as it has
+ever been my lot to meet during the whole of my career.  His age was,
+say, fourteen.  He stood four feet one in his slipshod boots.
+
+The hat which adorned his head was an old white billycock, which in its
+palmy days might have adorned noble brows, so fashionable were its
+pretensions.  Now, alas! it had one side caved in, and the other was
+green with wear and weather.  The coat which arrayed his manly form was
+evidently one not made recently or to wearer's measure, for besides
+showing cracks and rents in various parts, its tails were so
+extravagantly long for its small occupant that they literally almost
+touched the ground.  His nether garments, on the other hand, although
+they resembled the coat in their conveniences for ventilation, being all
+in rags and tatters, appeared to have been borrowed from a smaller pair
+of legs even than those owned by my present possessor, for they--at
+least one leg--barely reached half way below the knee, while the other
+stopped short very little lower.  Altogether, the boy was as nondescript
+and "scarecrowy" an object as one could well expect to meet with.
+
+As he left the hall he gave a quick look round to assure himself no one
+was following him; then he darted across the road and proceeded to
+shuffle forward in so extremely leisurely and casual a way, that very
+few of the people who met him would have imagined he carried a stolen
+watch in his pocket.
+
+Such a hole as it was!  As soon as I had sufficiently recovered from my
+astonishment to look about me, I became aware that I was by no means the
+sole occupant of the receptacle he was pleased to designate by the title
+of a pocket, but which other people would have called a slit in the
+lining of his one sound coat-tail.
+
+There was a stump of a clay pipe, with tobacco still hot in it.  There
+was a greasy piece of string, a crust of bread, a halfpenny, a few brass
+buttons, and a very greasy and very crumpled and very filthy copy of a
+"penny awful" paper.  I need hardly say that this scrutiny did not
+afford me absolute pleasure.  In the first place, my temporary lodging
+was most unsavoury and unclean; and in the second place, there was not
+one among my many fellow-lodgers who could be said to be in my position
+in life, or to whom I felt in any way tempted to address any inquiry.
+
+This difficulty, however, was settled for me.  A voice close beside me
+said, in a hoarse whisper, "What cheer, Turnip? how do you like it?"
+
+I looked round, and perceived that the speaker was the clay pipe, who
+happened to be close beside me as I lay.
+
+I held my nose--so to speak (for watches are not supposed to be gifted
+with that organ)--the tobacco which was smouldering in him must have
+been a month old, while the pipe itself looked remarkably grimy and
+dirty.  However, thought I, there would be no use in being uncivil to my
+new comrades, unpleasant though they were, and I might as well make use
+of this pipe to assist me to certain information I was curious to get.
+So I answered, "I don't like it at all.  Can you tell me where I am?"
+
+"Where are you, Turnip?  Why, you're in young Cadger's pocket, to be
+sure; but you won't stay there long, no error."
+
+I secretly wished this objectionable pipe would not insist on addressing
+me as "Turnip," but on the whole the present did not seem exactly the
+time to stand on my dignity, so I replied,--
+
+"Why, what's going to become of me?"
+
+"What's going to become of you, Turnip!  Why, you'll go to Cadger's
+uncle.  Won't he, mate?"
+
+The mate addressed was the piece of string, who, I should say, was by no
+means the latest addition to the Cadger's collection of valuables.  He
+now grinned and wriggled in reply to the pipe's appeal, and snuffled,--
+
+"That's right, mate; that's where he'll go.  Do you hear, Turnip? that's
+where you'll go--to Cadger's uncle."
+
+It occurred to me that Cadger's uncle would have to be vastly more
+respectable and fragrant than his nephew to make the change at all
+advantageous to me.
+
+"Is young Cadger a thief?"  I next inquired.
+
+The pipe laughed.
+
+"Why, what a funny chap you are, Turnip!" it said.
+
+"Does it look like it?  Cadger a thief!--oh, my eye! not at all.  Eh,
+mate?"
+
+The greasy string took up the laugh, and snivelled in chorus.
+
+"Ho, ho! ain't he a funny chap?  Do you hear.  Turnip? ain't you a funny
+chap?  Oh, my eye! not at all."
+
+It was disgusting!  Not only was I cooped up in an abominably filthy
+tail-coat pocket, with a motley rabble of disreputable associates, but
+every time I opened my lips here I was insulted and laughed at for every
+word I spoke.
+
+However, I gathered that the purport of the reply to my last inquiry was
+that the young Cadger _was_ a thief, and I made one more attempt to gain
+information.
+
+"Where are we going to now?"  I asked.
+
+"Going!" cried the pipe, with his insulting jeer.
+
+"What, don't you know where you're a-going, old Turnip?  You're a-going
+wherever he takes yer; ain't he, mate?"
+
+It was positively painful to see how that vile piece of string wriggled
+as he replied,--
+
+"Do you hear, Turnip?  You're a-going wherever young Cadger takes yer.
+Now what do you think of that?"
+
+It was impossible to continue a conversation with such low, ill-mannered
+creatures, and I therefore abandoned the attempt, having at least
+ascertained that I was at present located in a thief's pocket, that my
+immediate destination was vague, and that ultimately I might expect to
+become the property of a near relative of my present possessor.
+
+Noticing that I became silent, the pipe and the string between them
+began to question me.  But I was neither in the mood nor the desire to
+gratify their curiosity.  They therefore contented themselves with
+cracking jokes at my expense, and thus we journeyed together a mile or
+two towards our unknown destination.
+
+Presently a dirty little hand came groping down into our place of
+retreat.  It first fumbled me and my chain, with a view, I suppose, to
+ascertain if we were all safe, and then proceeded among the other
+occupants of the pocket to secure and draw forth the half penny which I
+have before mentioned.
+
+I was relieved to have even one of my unpleasant companions removed, and
+could not refrain from expressing my feelings by a sigh.
+
+"What are you snivelling at, Turnip?" asked the pipe.
+
+I did not deign to reply.
+
+"Suppose yer think that there _sou_," (fancy the stump of a clay pipe
+speaking French!) "is gone for good, and good riddance, do yer?  You
+wait a bit, that's all."
+
+"Boh, boh!" chimed in the string.  "Do you hear, Turnip?  Wait till you
+see the soldier; then see how you'll laugh!"
+
+"What soldier?"  I inquired, my curiosity for a moment getting the
+better of my reserve.  I could not imagine what possible connexion there
+could be between the military and the disreputable copper I had so
+lately seen depart.
+
+I was not long in suspense, however, for before my two vulgar companions
+could answer my question, the "soldier" made his appearance.
+
+The dirty little hand again entered our quarters, and let fall in our
+midst a red herring!  At the sight and smell of him I turned sick with
+disgust.  Fancy a silver watch sat upon, squeezed, and besmeared by a
+reeking red herring.  He came sprawling right on the top of me, the
+brute, his ugly mouth wide open and his loathsome fins scraping along my
+back.  Ugh!
+
+"That there's the soldier, Turnip; ain't it, mate?" called out the pipe.
+
+"Do you hear, Turnip? this here's the soldier.  How do you like him?"
+snuffled the string.
+
+It was enough!  I felt my nerves collapse, and my circulation fail, and
+for the remainder of that dreadful night I was speechless.
+
+I was not, however, blind, or so far gone as to be unable to notice in a
+vague sort of way what happened.
+
+The young gentleman rejoicing in the name of Cadger (but whose real
+cognomen I subsequently ascertained to be Stumpy Walker) proceeded on
+his walk, whistling shrilly to himself, exchanging a passing recognition
+with one and another loafer, and going out of his way to kick every boy
+he saw smaller than himself, which last exertion, by the way, at twelve
+o'clock at night he did not find very often necessary.
+
+I observed that he did not go out of his way to avoid the police; on the
+contrary, he made a point of touching his hat to every guardian of the
+peace he happened to meet, and actually went so far as to inform one
+that "he'd want his muckintogs before morning"--a poetical way of
+prophesying rain.
+
+He proceeded down a succession of back streets, which it would have
+puzzled a stranger to remember, till he came into a large deserted
+thoroughfare which was undergoing a complete renovation of its drainage
+arrangements.  All along the side of the road extended an array of huge
+new pipes, some three feet in diameter, awaiting their turn underground.
+Into one of these Master Walker dived, and as it was just tall enough
+to allow of his sitting upright in its interior, and just long enough to
+allow his small person to lie at full length without either extremity
+protruding; and further, as the rain was just beginning to come down, I
+could not forbear, even in the midst of my misery, admiring his
+selection of a lodging.
+
+Greatly to my relief, the "soldier," the crust, and the pipe were all
+three presently summoned from the pocket, and with the help of the first
+two and the consolation of the last, Master Walker contrived to make an
+evening meal which at least afforded _him_ satisfaction.
+
+Before making himself snug for the night he pulled me out, and by the
+aid of the feeble light of a neighbouring lamp-post, made a hasty
+examination of my exterior and interior.  Having apparently satisfied
+himself as to my value, he put me and the pipe back into his dreadful
+pocket, from which, even yet, the fumes of the "soldier" had not faded,
+and then curled himself up like a dormouse and composed himself to
+slumber.
+
+He had not, however, settled himself many moments before another ragged
+figure came crawling down the inside of the pipes towards him.  Stumpy
+started up at the first sound in a scared sort of way, but instantly
+resumed his composure on seeing who the intruder was.
+
+"What cheer, Stumpy?" said the latter.
+
+"What cheer, Tuppeny?" replied my master.  "Where've yer been to?"
+
+"Lunnon Bridge," replied Mr Tuppeny.
+
+"An' what 'ave yer got?" asked Stumpy.
+
+"Only a rag," said the other, in evident disgusts producing a white
+handkerchief.
+
+"That ain't much; I've boned a turnip."
+
+"Jus' your luck.  Let's 'ave a look at him."
+
+Stumpy complied, and his comrade, lighting a match, surveyed me with
+evident complacency.
+
+"Jus' your luck," said he again.  "Where did yer git 'im?"
+
+"At the gaff, off a young cove as was reg'lar screwed up.  I could 'ave
+took 'is nose off if I'd a wanted it, and he wouldn't have knowed."
+
+"Then this 'ere rag might 'a been some use," replied the disconsolate
+Tuppeny.  "'Tain't worth three'a'pence."
+
+"Any marks?" inquired my master.
+
+"Yees; there is so.  C.N. it is; hup in one corner.  He was sticking out
+of the pocket of a young chap as was going along with a face as long as
+a fooneral, and as miserable-lookin' as if 'e'd swallowed a cat."
+
+C.N.!  Could this handkerchief possibly have belonged to poor Charlie
+Newcome?  His way home from Grime Street I knew would lead by London
+Bridge, and with the trouble of that afternoon upon him, would he not
+indeed have looked as miserable as the thief described?
+
+And these two boys, having thus briefly compared notes, and exhibited to
+one another their ill-gotten gains, curled themselves up and fell fast
+asleep.
+
+Dear reader, does it ever occur to your mind that there are hundreds of
+such vagrants in this great city?  Night after night they crowd under
+railway arches and sheds, on doorsteps and in cellars.  They have
+neither home nor friend.  To many of them the thieves' life is their
+natural calling; they live as animals live, and hope only as animals
+hope, and when they die, die as animals die; ignorant of God, ignorant
+of good, ignorant of their own souls.  Yet even for such as they, Christ
+died, and the Spirit strives.
+
+The pipe, and his friend, the string, that night had a long conversation
+as their master lay asleep.  They evidently thought I was asleep too,
+for they made no effort to conceal their voices, and I consequently
+heard every word.
+
+It chiefly had reference to me, and was in the main satirical.
+
+"Some coves is uncommon proud o' themselves, mate, ain't they?--
+particular them as ain't much account after all?"
+
+"You're right, mate.  Do you hear, Turnip? you ain't much account;
+you're on'y silver-plate, yer know, so you don't ought to be proud, you
+don't!"
+
+"What I say," continued the pipe, "is that coves as gives 'emselves
+hairs above their stations is a miserable lot.  What do _you_ think?"
+
+"What don't I?" snuffled the string.  "Do you hear, Turnip? you're a
+miserable cove, you are.  Why can't you be 'appy like me and my mate?
+We don't give ourselves hairs; that's why we're 'appy."
+
+"And, arter all," pursued the pipe, "that's the sort of coves as go
+second-hand in the end.  People 'ud think better on 'em if they didn't
+think such a lot of theirselves; wouldn't they now, mate?"
+
+"Wouldn't they just!  What do you think of that, Turnip?  You're on'y a
+second-hand turnip, now, and that's all along of being stuck-up and
+thinking such a lot of yourself!  You won't go off for thirty bob, you
+won't see!"
+
+"Mate!" exclaimed the pipe, presently (after I had had leisure to
+meditate on the foregoing philosophical dialogue), "mate, I'll give you
+a riddle!"
+
+"Go it!" said the mate.
+
+"Why," asked the pipe, in a solemn voice, "is a second-hand pewter-
+plate, stuck-up turnip, like a weskit that ain't paid for?"
+
+"Do you hear, Turnip?  Why are you like a weskit that ain't paid for?
+Do yer give it up?  I do."
+
+"'Cos it's on tick!" pronounced the pipe.
+
+I could have howled to find myself the victim of such a low, villainous
+joke, that had not even the pretence of wit, and I could have cried to
+see how that greasy string wriggled and snuffled at my expense.
+
+"My eye, mate! that's a good 'un!  Do you hear, Turnip? you're on tick,
+you know, like the weskit.  Oh, my eye! that'll do, mate; another o'
+them will kill me.  Oh, turn it up! do you hear?  On tick!-- hoo, hoo,
+hoo!  Do you hear, Turnip? _tick_!"
+
+Need I say I spent a sad and sleepless night?  When my disgust admitted
+of thought I could not help reflecting how very happy some vulgar people
+can be with a very little sense, and how very unhappy other people who
+flatter themselves they are very clever and superior can at times find
+themselves.
+
+By the time I had satisfied myself of this my master uncurled himself
+and got up.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+HOW I CHANGED MASTERS TWICE IN TWO DAYS, AND AFTER ALL FOUND MYSELF IN
+PAWN.
+
+It was scarcely four o'clock when my lord and master arose from his
+brief repose, and sallied through the rain and darkness back in the
+direction of the city.  He was far less anxious to salute the police now
+than he had been a few hours ago.  He slunk down the back streets, and
+now and then darted up a court at the sound of approaching foot steps;
+or retreated for some distance by the way he had come, in order to
+strike a less guarded street.
+
+In this manner he pursued his way for about an hour, till he reached a
+very narrow street of tumble-down houses, not far from Holborn.  Down
+this he wended his way till he stood before a door belonging to one of
+the oldest, dingiest, and most decayed houses in all the street.  Here
+he gave a peculiar scrape with his foot along the bottom of the door,
+and then sat down on the doorstep.
+
+Presently a voice came through the keyhole, in a whisper.
+
+"That you, Stumpy?" it said.
+
+"Yas," replied my master.
+
+"All clear?"
+
+Stumpy looked up and down the street and then hurriedly whispered, "No."
+
+Instantly the voice within was silent, and Stumpy was to all appearance
+sleeping soundly and heavily, as if tired nature in him had fairly
+reached its last strait.
+
+The distant footsteps came nearer; and still he slept on, snoring gently
+and regularly.  The policeman advanced leisurely, turning his lantern
+first on this doorway, then on that window; trying now a shutter-bar,
+then a lock.  At last he stood opposite the doorstep where Stumpy lay.
+It was a critical moment.  He turned his lamp full on the boy's sleeping
+face, he took hold of his arm and gently shook him, he tried the bolt of
+the door against which he leaned.  The sleeper only grunted drowsily and
+settled down to still heavier slumber, and the policeman, evidently
+satisfied, walked on.
+
+"Is he gone?" asked the voice within, the moment the retreating
+footsteps showed this.
+
+"Yas, but he'll be back," whispered the boy.
+
+And so he was.  Three times he paced the street, and every time found
+the boy in the same position, and wrapped in the same profound slumber.
+Then at last he strode slowly onward to the end of his beat, and his
+footsteps died gradually away.
+
+"Now?" inquired the voice.
+
+"Yas," replied Stumpy.
+
+Whereat the door half-opened, and Stumpy entered.
+
+It was a dirty, half-ruinous house, in which the rats had grown tame and
+the spiders fat.  The stairs creaked dismally as Stumpy followed his
+entertainer up them, while the odours rising from every nook and cranny
+in the place were almost suffocating.
+
+The man led the way into a small room, foul and pestilential in its
+closeness.  In it lay on the floor no less than nine or ten sleeping
+figures, mostly juveniles, huddled together, irrespective of decency,
+health, or comfort.  Stumpy surveyed the scene composedly.
+
+"Got lodgers, then," he observed.
+
+"Yes, two on 'em--on'y penny ones, though."
+
+Just then a sound of moaning came from one corner of the room, which
+arrested Stumpy's attention.
+
+"Who's that?" he asked.
+
+"Old Sal; she's bad, and I reckon she won't last much longer the way
+she's a-going on.  I shall pack her off to-day."
+
+Stumpy whistled softly; but it was evident, by the frequent glances he
+stole every now and then towards the corner where the sufferer lay, that
+he possessed a certain amount of interest in the woman described as "Old
+Sal."
+
+The man who appeared to be the proprietor of this one well-filled
+lodging-room was middle-aged, and had a hare-lip.  He had an expression
+half careworn, and half villainous, of which he gave Stumpy the full
+benefit as he inquired.
+
+"What 'ave yer got?"
+
+"Got, pal?" replied Stumpy; "a ticker."
+
+"Hand it up," said the man, hurriedly.
+
+Stumpy produced me, and the man, taking me to the candle, examined me
+greedily and minutely.
+
+Then he said,--
+
+"I shall get fifteen bob for him."
+
+"Come, now, none of your larks!" replied Stumpy, who had produced the
+pipe, and was endeavouring to rekindle its few remaining embers at the
+candle; "try ag'in."
+
+"Well, I don't see as he'll fetch seventeen-and-six, but I'll do it for
+_you_."
+
+"Try ag'in," coolly replied Stumpy.
+
+The man did try again, and named a sovereign, which my master also
+declined.
+
+In this manner he advanced to twenty-four shillings.
+
+"Won't do," said Stumpy.
+
+"Then you can take 'im off," said the man, with an oath; "he ain't worth
+the money."
+
+"Yas 'e is, an' a tanner more," put in Stumpy.
+
+The man uttered a few more oaths, and again examined me.  Then he
+dropped me in his pocket, and slowly counted out the purchase-money from
+a drawer at his side.
+
+Stumpy watched the process eagerly, doubtless calculating with
+professional interest how the entire hoard of this thieves' broker could
+at some convenient opportunity be abstracted.  However, for the present
+he made sure of the sum given him, and dropped the coins one by one into
+his tail pocket.
+
+"Now lay down," said the man, "and make yourself comfortable."
+
+I fancy Stumpy was a good deal more comfortable in his drain-pipe an
+hour or two ago than in this foul, choking lodging-room; however, he
+curled himself up on the floor near the dying woman, and did his share
+in exhausting the air of the apartment.
+
+I should offend all rules of good taste and decency if I described the
+loathsome room; I wish I could forget it, but that I shall never do.
+Suffice it to say daylight broke in at last on the squalid scene, and
+then one by one the sleepers rose and departed--all but Stumpy and she
+whose groaning had risen ceaselessly and hopelessly the livelong night.
+
+"Old Sal's very bad," said Stumpy to his host.
+
+"Yas, she'll have to clear out of here."
+
+"She's nigh dying, I reckon," said the boy.
+
+"Can't help that; she ain't paid a copper this three weeks, and I ain't
+a-going to have her lumbering up my place no longer."
+
+"Where's she a-going to?" asked Stumpy.
+
+"How do I know?--out of 'ere, anyways, and pretty soon, too.  I can tell
+yer."
+
+"Pal," said the boy, after a long pause, "I charged yer a tanner too
+much for that there ticker; here you are, lay hold."
+
+And he tossed back the sixpence.  The man understood quite well the
+meaning of the act, and Old Sal lay undisturbed all that day.
+
+Stumpy took his departure early.  I have never seen him since; what has
+become of him I know not; where he is now I know still less.
+
+But to return to myself.  I spent that entire day in the man's pocket,
+too ill to care what became of me, and too weak to notice much of what
+passed around me.  I was conscious of others like Stumpy coming up the
+creaking stairs and offering their ill-gotten gains as he had done; and
+I was conscious towards evening, when the last rays of the setting sun
+were struggling feebly through the dingy window, of a groan in that
+dismal corner, deeper than all that had gone before.  Then I knew Old
+Sal was dead.  In an hour the body was laid in its rude coffin, and had
+made its last journey down those stairs: and that night another outcast
+slept in her corner.
+
+The night was like the one which had preceded it, foul and sickening.  I
+was thankful that my illness had sufficiently deadened my senses to
+render me unable to hear and see all that went on during those hours.
+Morning came at length, and one by one the youthful lodgers took their
+departure.  When the last had left, my possessor produced a bag, into
+which he thrust me, with a score or more of other articles acquired as I
+had been acquired; then, locking the door behind him, he descended the
+stairs and stepped out.
+
+Oh, the delight of that breath of fresh morning air!  Even as it
+struggled in through the crevices and cracks of that old bag, it was
+like a breath of Paradise, after the vile, pestilential atmosphere of
+that room!
+
+As we went on, I had leisure to observe the company of which I formed
+one.  What a motley crew we were!  There were watches, snuff-boxes, and
+pencils, bracelets and brooches, handkerchiefs and gloves, studs, pins,
+and rings--all huddled together higgledy-piggledy.  We none of us spoke
+to one another, nor inquired whither we were going; we were a sad,
+spiritless assembly, and to some of us it mattered little what became of
+us.
+
+Still I could not help wondering if the man in whose possession I and my
+fellow-prisoners found ourselves was Stumpy's "uncle," referred to by
+that miserable clay pipe.  If he was, I felt I could not candidly
+congratulate that youth on his relative.  What he could want with us all
+I could not imagine.
+
+If I had been the only watch, and if there hadn't been half a dozen
+scarf-pins, snuff-boxes, and pencils, it would not have been so
+extraordinary.  It would have been easy enough to imagine the person of
+Stumpy's "aunt" decorated with one brooch, two bracelets, and three or
+four rings; but when instead of that modest allowance these articles
+were present by the half-dozen, it was hardly possible to believe that
+any one lady could accommodate so much splendour.  How ever, I could
+only suppose the superfluous treasures were destined for Stumpy's
+cousins, masculine and feminine, and occupied the rest of the journey in
+the harmless amusement of wondering to whose lot I was likely to fall.
+
+The man walked some considerable distance, and strangely enough bent his
+steps in a direction not far removed from Saint Elizabeth's Hospital.
+Surely he was not going to restore me to Tom Drift!  No; we passed the
+end of Grime Street.  There were milkmen's carts rattling up and down;
+servants were scrubbing doorsteps; and a few sleepy-looking men, with
+their breakfasts in their hands, were scurrying off to work.  It was all
+the same as usual; yet how interesting, all of a sudden, the dull street
+had become to me.  It was here I had last seen poor Charlie, outraged
+and struck by the friend he strove to save, creeping slowly home; it was
+here Tom Drift still dwelt, daily sinking in folly and sin, with no
+friend now left to help him.  Poor Tom Drift!  How gladly would I have
+returned to him, even to be neglected and ill-used, if only I might have
+the opportunity once again of fulfilling that charge put upon me by my
+first master, and which yet ever rang in my ears,--
+
+"Be good to Tom Drift."
+
+But it was not to be yet.  The man walked rapidly on down a street
+parallel with Grime Street, at the farthest corner of which stood a
+small private house.
+
+Here he knocked.
+
+The occupant of the house evidently knew and expected him, for he at
+once admitted him, and led the way upstairs into a private parlour.
+Here the thieves' broker emptied the contents of his bag, laying the
+articles one by one on the table.
+
+The man of the house looked on in an unconcerned way while this was
+taking place, picking up now one, now another of the objects, and
+examining them superficially.  When the bag was empty, and the whole of
+the ill-gotten booty displayed, he remarked, "Not so much this time,
+Bill."
+
+"No; trade's bad, sir," replied he who owned the bag.
+
+"Well, I'll send the most of 'em down to the country to-day," resumed
+the master of the house.
+
+"When shall I call, sir?" inquired Stumpy's friend.
+
+"Monday.  But look here, Bill!" said the other, taking me up, "it's no
+use leaving this; I shall be able to manage the gold ones, but this is
+no good."
+
+I had long lost the pride which in former days would have made me resent
+such a remark, and patiently waited for the result.
+
+Stumpy's friend took me back.  "Well," he said, "if you can't, you
+can't.  I'll see to him myself.  Well, good-day; and I'll call on
+Monday."
+
+And he turned to depart, with me in his hand.  In a minute, however, he
+came back.  "Would yer mind lending me some togs, sir, for a few
+minutes?" said he; "I don't want no questions asked at the pawnshop."
+
+And he certainly did not look, in his present get-up, as the likeliest
+sort of owner of a silver watch.  The man of the house, however, lent
+him some clothes, in which he arrayed himself, and which so transformed
+him that any one would have taken him, not for the disreputable thieves'
+broker he was, but for the unfortunate decayed gentleman he professed to
+be.  In this guise he had no difficulty in disposing of me at the
+nearest pawnbroker's shop, which happened to be at the corner of Grime
+Street.
+
+The pawnbroker asked no questions, and I am sure never suspected
+anything wrong.  He advanced thirty shillings on me and the chain, gave
+the man his ticket, and put a corresponding one on me.
+
+Then Stumpy's friend departed, and my new master went back to his
+breakfast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+HOW TOM DRIFT GETS LOWER STILL.
+
+Two years passed.
+
+They were, without exception, the dullest two years I, or, I venture to
+say, any watch made, ever spent.  There I lay, run down, tarnished and
+neglected, on the pawnbroker's shelf, never moved, never used, never
+thought of.  Week followed week, and month month, and still no claimant
+for me came.
+
+Other articles on the shelves beside me came and went, some remaining
+only a day, some a week, but I survived them all.  Even my friend the
+chain took his departure, and left me without a soul to speak to.
+
+None of the hundreds of tickets handed in bore the magic number 2222,
+which would have released me from my ignoble custody, and, in time, I
+gave up expecting it, and settled down to the old-fogeydom of my
+position, and exacted all the homage due to the "father of the shop"
+from my restless companions.
+
+My place was at the end of a long shelf, next to the screen dividing the
+shop from the office, and my sole amusement during those two dreary
+years was peeping through a crack and watching my master's customers.
+They were of all sorts and all conditions, and many of them became
+familiar.
+
+There was the little girl, for instance, the top of whose bonnet just
+reached as high as the counter, who, regularly every Monday morning,
+staggered in under the weight of a bundle containing her father's Sunday
+clothes, and, as regularly every Saturday evening, returned to redeem
+them.  It was evident her respectable parent did not attend many evening
+parties between those two days, for I never remember his sending for
+them except at the regular times.
+
+Then there was the wretched drunkard, who crept in stealthily, with now
+a child's coat, now a picture, now a teapot; and with the money thus
+raised walked straight across the road to the public-house.  And there
+was his haggard, worn wife, who always came next day with the ticket,
+and indignantly took back her household goods.  There was the young
+sailor's wife, too, with her baby in her arms, who came rarely at first,
+but afterwards more often, to pawn her few poor treasures, until at
+length a glad day came when the brawny tar himself, with his pockets
+full of cash, came with her and redeemed them every one.
+
+I could tell of scores of others if I wished, but I have my own life to
+record, and not the transactions of my master, the pawnbroker.
+
+One day, towards the end of the first year, the door opened softly and
+quickly, and there entered into the office a youth, haggard and
+reckless-looking, whom, I thought, surely I had seen before.  I looked
+again.
+
+Was it possible?  Yes! this was none other than Tom Drift!  But oh, how
+changed!  A year ago, erring and wayward as he had been, he was yet
+respectable; his dress was the dress of a gentleman; his bearing was
+that of a gentleman too; his face had been naturally intelligent and
+pleasant; and his voice clear and cheerful.  But now!  There was a wild,
+restless roll about his eyes, a bright flush on his hollow cheeks, a
+dulness about his mouth, a hoarseness in his voice, which seemed to
+belong to another being.  He was dissipated and seedy in appearance, and
+hung his head, as though ashamed to meet a fellow-being's look, and,
+instead of one, looked at least ten years older than he had.
+
+Such a wreck will evil ways make of a youth!  He looked eagerly round,
+to see that no one but he was in the office, and then produced from his
+pocket a scarf-pin.
+
+"What will you give me for this?" he whispered.
+
+The pawnbroker took it up and turned it over.  It was a handsome pin,
+with a pearl in the front.
+
+"Ten shillings," said the pawnbroker.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Tom; "do you know what it's worth?"
+
+"Ten shillings is all I can give you," curtly replied the pawnbroker.
+
+Tom gulped down a groan.  "Give me the money, then, for goodness' sake,"
+he said.
+
+The pawnbroker coolly and deliberately made out the ticket, while Tom
+stood chafing impatiently.
+
+"Be quick, please!" he said, as though fearful of some one detecting him
+in a crime.
+
+"Don't you be in a hurry," said the pawnbroker.
+
+"Here's the ticket."
+
+"And the ten shillings?" broke in Tom.
+
+"You shall have it," said my master, going to his drawer.
+
+To Tom it seemed ages while the silver was being counted, and when he
+had got it he darted from the shop as swiftly as he had entered it.
+
+"That fellow's going wrong," muttered the pawnbroker to himself, as he
+laid the pin on the shelf beside me.
+
+I recognised it at once as having often been my companion on Tom's
+dressing-table at nights, but I myself was so discoloured and ill that
+it did not at first know me.  I was too anxious, however, to hear some
+thing about Tom to allow myself to remain disguised.
+
+"Don't you know me, scarf-pin?"  I asked.
+
+He looked hard at me.  "Not a bit," he said.
+
+"I'm Tom Drift's old watch."
+
+"You don't say so!  So you are!  How ever did you come here?  Did he
+pawn you?"
+
+"No; I was stolen from him one night at the music-hall, and pawned here
+by the thief."
+
+"Ah, that music-hall!" groaned the pin; "that place has ruined Tom
+Drift."
+
+"When I left him," I said, "he was just going to the bad as hard as he
+could.  He had broken with his best friend, and seemed completely--"
+
+"Hold hard! what friend?" interposed the pin.
+
+"Charlie Newcome, my first master; they had a quarrel the day I was
+stolen."
+
+"That must be nearly two years ago?" said the pin.
+
+"Just," said I.  "Do tell me what has happened since then."
+
+"It's a long story," said the pin.
+
+"Never mind, we've nothing else to do here," I said encouragingly.
+
+"Well," said the pin, "the night you were lost Tom never turned up at
+home at all."
+
+"He was utterly drunk," I said, by way of explanation.
+
+"Don't you interrupt," said the pin, "or I won't tell you anything."
+
+I was silenced.
+
+"Tom never turned up at all until the next morning; and he sat all that
+day in his chair, and did nothing but look at the wall in front of him."
+
+"Poor fellow!"  I could not help saying.
+
+"There you go!" said the pin; "be good enough to remember what I said,
+and if you can't endure to hear of anybody sitting and looking at a
+wail, it's no use my going on with my story."
+
+"I only meant that I could imagine how miserable he was that day," said
+I; "but go on, please."
+
+"Two or three days after, Charlie Newcome called.  Tom was alone, but he
+refused to see him.  He cursed to himself when he heard the name.
+Charlie went back disappointed, but Tom made a great boast to his
+`friends' that same night of his `cold shoulder to the prig,' as he
+called it, and they highly applauded him for his sense.
+
+"Again, a week later, Charlie called once more, but with the same
+result.  He wrote letters, but Tom put them in the fire unread; he sent
+books, but they were all flung into a corner.  In a thousand different
+ways he contrived to show Tom that, though ill-used and in suited, he
+was still his friend, and ready to serve him whenever opportunity should
+offer.
+
+"All this while Tom was sinking lower and lower in self-respect.  He was
+contracting a habit of drinking, and in a month or two after you had
+left he rarely came home sober."
+
+"And what about his bad friends?" asked I.
+
+"There you are! why can't you let me tell my story in peace?  His bad
+friends visited him daily at first, made a lot of him, and praised him
+loudly for his resolution in dismissing Charlie, and for his `growing a
+man at last.'  They lent him money, they lost to him at cards and
+billiards, and they made his downward path as easy for him as possible.
+
+"At last, about six months ago, Tom was found tipsy in the dissecting-
+room at the hospital, and cautioned by the Board.  A fortnight later he
+was found in a similar state in one of the wards, and then he was
+summarily expelled from the place, and his name was struck off the roll
+of students."
+
+"Has it come to that?"  I groaned.
+
+"Come to that?  Of course it has; I shouldn't have said so if it
+hadn't," replied the testy pin, who seemed unable to brook the slightest
+interruption.  "He took a fit of blues after that; he went to the Board,
+and begged to be allowed to return to his studies, representing that all
+his prospects in life depended on his finishing his course there.  They
+gave him one more chance.  In his gratitude he resolved to discard his
+companions, and actually sat down and wrote a letter to Charlie, begging
+him to come and see him."
+
+"Did he really?"  I exclaimed, trembling with eagerness.
+
+"All right, I shall not tell you of it again.  Stop me once more, and
+you'll have to find the rest of my story out for yourself."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said I.
+
+"So you ought to be.  When it came to the time, however, Tom's
+resolutions failed him.  Gus and his friends called as usual that
+evening and laughed him to scorn.  He dare not quarrel with them, dare
+not resist them.  He crumpled up the letter in his pocket and never
+posted it, and that night returned to his evil ways without a struggle.
+
+"For a week or two, however, he kept up appearances at the hospital; but
+it could not last.  A misdemeanour more serious than the former one
+caused his second expulsion, and this time with an intimation that under
+no circumstances would he be readmitted.  That was three months ago.  He
+became desperate, and at the same time the behaviour of Gus altered.
+Instead of flattering and humouring him, he became imperious and
+spiteful.  And still further, he demanded to be repaid the money he had
+advanced to Tom.  Tom paid what little he could, and borrowed the rest
+from Mortimer.  He got behindhand with his rent, and his landlady has
+given him notice.  As usual, everybody to whom he owes money has found
+out his altered circumstances, and is down on him.  The keeper of the
+music-hall, the tailor, the cigar merchant, are among the most urgent."
+
+"And your being here is a result of all this, I see," said I, knowing
+the story was at an end, and considering my tongue to be released.
+
+"Find out!" angrily retorted the pin, relapsing into ill-tempered
+silence.
+
+I had little enough inclination to revert to the sad topic, and for the
+rest of that day gave myself up to sorrow and pity for Tom Drift.  One
+thing I felt pretty sure of--it would not be long before he came again;
+and I was right.
+
+In two days he entered the office, wild and haggard as before, but with
+less care to conceal his visit.
+
+This time he laid on the counter the famous lance-wood fishing-rod which
+Charlie had given him months ago, and which surely ought to have been a
+reminder to him of better times.
+
+He flung it down, and taking the few shillings the pawnbroker advanced
+on it, hurried from the shop.
+
+The next time he came some one else was in the shop.  A passing flush
+came over Tom's face on discovering a witness to his humiliation; but he
+transacted his business with an assumed swagger which ill accorded with
+his inward misery.  For even yet Tom Drift had this much of hope left in
+him--that he knew he was fallen, and was miserable at the thought.  His
+self-respect and sensitiveness had been growing less day by day, and he
+himself growing proportionately hardened; but still he knew what remorse
+was, and by the very agony of his shame was still held out of the lowest
+of all depths--the depths of ruthless sin.
+
+The stranger in the shop eyed him keenly, and when he had gone said to
+the pawnbroker, "He's a nice article, he is!"
+
+"Not much good, I'm thinking," observed the pawnbroker, dryly.
+
+"So you may say; I know the beauty.  He banged me on the 'ed with a
+chair once, when he was screwed.  Never mind, I know of two or three as
+is after him."
+
+And so saying, the disreputable man departed.
+
+After that Tom came daily.  Now it was an article of clothing, now some
+books, now some furniture, that he brought.  It was soon evident that
+not only was he miserable and destitute, but ill too; and when presently
+for a fortnight he never passed the now well-known door, I knew that the
+fever had laid him low.
+
+Poor Tom Drift!  I wondered who was there now to nurse him in his
+weakness and comfort him in his wretchedness.  He must be untended and
+unheeded.  Well I knew his "friends" (oh, sad perversion of the sacred
+title!) would keep their distance, or return only in time to quench the
+first sparks of repentance.  If only Charlie could have seen him at this
+time, with his spirit cowed and his weary heart beating about in vain
+for peace and hope, how would he not have flown to his bedside, and from
+those ruins have striven to help him to rise again to purity and
+honesty.
+
+But no Charlie was there.  Since the last appealing letter so scornfully
+rejected, Tom had heard not a word of him or from him.  What wonder
+indeed if after so many disappointments and insults, the boy should at
+length leave his old schoolfellow to his fate?
+
+With returning health there came to Tom no returning resolutions or
+efforts.  The friends who had deserted his sick-bed were ready, as soon
+as ever he rose from it, with their temptations and baneful influence.
+One of his first visits after his recovery was to my master with a pair
+of boots.  He looked so pale and feeble that the pawnbroker inquired
+after his health--a most unusual departure from business on the part of
+that merchant.
+
+"Hope you're feeling better," he said.
+
+"Yes; so much the better for you," replied Tom with a ghastly smile.
+"What can you give me for these, they are nearly new?"
+
+"Five shillings?"
+
+"Oh, anything you like; I've to pay two pounds to-morrow.  What you give
+me is all I shall have to do it with--I don't care!"
+
+The pawnbroker counted out the five shillings, and handed them across
+the counter.
+
+"Good-bye!" said Tom, with another attempt at a smile; "I shall have to
+change my address to-morrow."
+
+And with that he turned on his heel.  I watched him through the window
+as he left the shop.  He walked straight across the road and went in at
+the public-house opposite.
+
+And that glimpse was the last sight I had of Tom Drift for many, many
+months.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+HOW I WAS KNOCKED DOWN BY AN AUCTIONEER, AND PICKED UP BY A COUNTRYMAN.
+
+One day, about two years after my arrival at the pawnbroker's shop, an
+unusual circumstance happened to break the monotony of my unruffled
+existence.  This was nothing more nor less than a Clearance Sale.  I
+must tell you how it happened.
+
+For a week, every night, I saw my master poring over a big account-book
+in his parlour, comparing the entries in it with those of his pawn-
+tickets, and marking off on one list what articles had been pawned and
+redeemed, and on another what had been pawned and still remained
+unredeemed.  So lengthy and complicated a process was this that it
+consumed the entire week.  The next week further indications of a coming
+change manifested themselves.  A printer came to the office with a bill
+for approval, worded as follows:--
+
+  "Great Clearance Sale!  The entire valuable and miscellaneous
+  unredeemed stock of a pawnbroker will be sold by auction at the
+  Central Mart, on Monday next, by Mr Hammer.  Sale to commence at
+  twelve o'clock precisely.  Catalogues will be ready on Saturday, and
+  may be had on application."
+
+Thus I, and one or two of my neighbours on the shelf, read as we peeped
+through the crack at the printer's proof-sheet.
+
+"`Entire valuable and miscellaneous unredeemed stock!' that's a good bit
+of writing," observed a pair of silver sugar-tongs near me; "that means
+you and me and the rest, Ticker.  Who'd have thought of us getting such
+a grand name!"
+
+"Well, it strikes me we, at least I, have been lying here idle long
+enough," said I; "it's two years since I came here."
+
+"Bless you, that's no time," said the tongs.  "I knew a salt-spoon lay
+once ten years before he was put up--but then, you know, we silver
+things are worth our money any time."
+
+"Yes," said I, "we are."
+
+The tongs laughed.  "You don't suppose I meant you when I talked of
+silver things, do you?"
+
+"Of course I am a silver watch."
+
+"You're a bigger muff than I took you for," replied the aristocratic
+tongs, turning his hall-mark towards me.  It was humiliating.  Of course
+I ought to have known I was not solid silver, and had no claim to class
+myself of the same metal as a genuine silver pair of tongs.
+
+It was but one of many painful lessons I have had during my life not to
+give myself airs beyond my station.
+
+These solid silver goods certainly constituted the "upper ten thousand"
+of our valuable and miscellaneous community.  When the time came for
+cataloguing us all, they separated themselves from the rest of us, and
+formed a distinct society, having their several names recorded in full
+at the head of the list.
+
+What a scene it was the day the catalogue came to our department!  I
+suffered a further humiliation then by being almost entirely overlooked.
+A great tray of silver watches lay on the bench, brought together from
+all parts of the shop; and, to my horror, I found I was not among them.
+
+"That's the lot," said the pawnbroker.
+
+"Very good," said the auctioneer, who was making the catalogue; "shall
+we take leather bags next?"
+
+"As you please," said my master.
+
+"Hold hard," said the auctioneer, hastily counting the watches on the
+tray and comparing the number with a list he held in his hand, "there's
+one short."
+
+"Is there?  I don't know how that can be."
+
+"You've got twenty-two down here and there's only twenty-one on the
+tray."
+
+The pawnbroker looked puzzled.
+
+"Better call over the number," said the auctioneer.  So my master called
+out the number attached to each watch, and the auctioneer ticked it off
+on his list.  When the last had been called, he said,--
+
+"Where's Number 2222?"
+
+"Ah, to be sure, that's the one," said the pawnbroker, reaching up to
+where I lay, and taking me down; "this one.  I'd forgotten all about
+him."
+
+Flattering, certainly! and still more so when the auctioneer, surveying
+my tarnished and dingy appearance, said, "Well, he's not much of a show
+after all.  You'd better rub him up a bit, or we shan't get him off hand
+at all."
+
+"Very good," said the pawnbroker, and I was handed over forthwith to an
+assistant to be cleaned.  And much I needed it.  My skin was nearly as
+black as a negro's, and my joints and muscles were perfectly clogged
+with dust.  I had a regular watch's Turkish bath.  I was scrubbed and
+powdered, my works were taken out and cleaned, my joints were oiled, my
+face was washed, and my hands were polished.  Altogether I was
+overhauled, and when I took my place on the tray with my twenty-one
+companions I was altogether a new being, and by no means the least
+presentable of the company.
+
+How we quarrelled and wrangled, and shouldered one another on that tray!
+There was such a Babel of voices (for each of us had been set going)
+that scarcely any one could hear himself speak.  Nothing but
+recriminations and vituperations rose on every hand.
+
+"Get out of the way, ugly lever," snarled one monstrous hunter watch
+near me, big enough for an ordinary clock.  "Who do you suppose wants
+you?  Get out of the way, do you hear?"
+
+"Where to?"  I inquired, not altogether liking to be so summarily
+ordered about, and yet finding the excitement of a little quarrel
+pleasant after two years' monotony.
+
+"Anywhere, as long as you get out of my way.  Do you know I'm a hundred
+years old?"
+
+"Are you, though?" said I.  "People must have had bigger pockets in
+those days than they have now!"
+
+This I considered a very fair retort for his arrogance, and left him
+snorting and croaking to himself, and bullying some other little
+watches, whom, I suppose, he imagined would be more deferential to his
+grey hairs than I was.
+
+I was not destined, however, to be left in peace.
+
+"Who are you?"  I heard a sharp voice say.  Looking round, I saw a
+creature with a great eye in the middle of his face, and a long, lanky
+hand spinning round and round over his visage.
+
+"Who are _you_, rather?"  I replied.
+
+It was evidently what he wanted, for he began at once: "I'm all the
+latest improvements--compensation balance and jewelled in four holes;
+perfect for time, beauty, and workmanship; sound, strong, and accurate;
+with keyless action, and large full-dial second hand; air-tight, damp-
+tight, and dust-tight; seven guineas net and five per cent, to
+teetotalers.  There, what do you think of that?"
+
+"I think," said I, with a laugh, in which a good many others joined,
+"that if you're so tight as all that teetotalers had better do without
+you."
+
+It will be observed the scenes and company I had been in of late years
+had tended to improve neither my temper nor my manners.
+
+In this way we spent most of the day before the auction, and it was
+quite a relief early next morning to find ourselves being removed to the
+"Central Mart."
+
+It was impossible, however, to resist the temptation of another quarrel
+in our tray while we were waiting for the sale to begin.  The culprit in
+this instance was a certain Queen Anne's shilling attached to the chain
+of an insignificant-looking watch.
+
+"What business has that ugly bit of tin here?" asked a burly hunter.
+
+"Who calls me an ugly bit of tin?" squeaked out the coin.
+
+"I do; there!" said the hunter; "now what have you got to say?"
+
+"Only that you're a falsehood.  Why, you miserable, machine-made,
+wheezing, old make-believe of a turnip--"
+
+"Draw it mild, young fellow," said the hunter.
+
+"Do you know that I was current coin of the realm before the tin mine
+that supplied your carcass was so much as discovered?  I'm a Queen
+Anne's shilling!"
+
+"Are you, though?  And what good are you now, my ancient Bob?"
+
+The shilling grew, so to speak, black in the face.
+
+"I won't be called a Bob!  I'm not a Bob!  Who dares call me a Bob?"
+
+"I do, Bob; there, Bob.  What do you think of that, Bob?  What's the use
+of you, Bob, eh?  Can _you_ tell the time, Bob, eh, Bob, Bob, Bob?"
+
+And we all took up the cry, and from that moment until the time of our
+sale every sound, for us, was drowned in a ceaseless cry of "Bob!" in
+the midst of which the unlucky Queen Anne's shilling crawled under his
+watch, and devoutly wished he were as undoubtedly dead as the
+illustrious royal lady whose image and superscription he had the
+misfortune to bear.
+
+In due time the sale began.  Among the earliest lots I recognised my
+acquaintance the solid silver sugar-tongs, which went for very nearly
+his full value, thus confirming me in my belief that, after all, there's
+nothing like the genuine thing all the world over.
+
+After the disposal of the silver goods--for which comparatively few
+people bid, and that with little or no competition--the real excitement
+of the auction began.
+
+"I have here, ladies and gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "a remarkably
+fine and superior lot of silver watches, all of which have been
+carefully cleaned and kept in order, and which, I can safely say, are
+equal to, if not better than, new.  In many cases the watches are
+accompanied by chains of a very elegant and chaste description, which
+appendages considerably enhance their value.  When I inform you that we
+value the contents of this tray, at the very lowest, at L90, being an
+average of L4 per watch, you will see I am not presenting to you any
+ordinary lot of goods.  I will put up the watches singly in the order in
+which they are described in the catalogue."
+
+Some of the company looked as if they were not sure whether they ought
+not to say "Hear, hear!" after this very elegant and polished speech,
+but they restrained their admiration, and reserved their energies for
+the bidding.
+
+As I was last on the list I had full opportunity of noticing how my
+fellows fared, and was specially curious to see how the three or four
+watches whose acquaintance I had chanced to make went off.
+
+The common-looking watch with the unlucky "Bob" attached to its chain
+was knocked down for L3 5 shillings, which, on the whole, was a triumph
+to the mortified coin, for it is certain without him the lot would not
+have fetched nearly so much, and his triumph was further enhanced by the
+fact that the hunter with whom he had had his altercation fetched only
+L2 17 shillings 6 pence.  However, there was no time for jeers and
+recriminations at present, we were all too deeply absorbed in watching
+the fate of our fellows and speculating on our own.
+
+The compensation balance, keyless, air-tight, seven-guinea grandee was
+the next to be put up, and the first bid for him was L1 10s.
+
+"That I should have lived to hear that!"  I heard the poor creature
+gasp.
+
+"And if he's a teetotaler," I murmured, by way of encouragement, "that
+only means L1 8 shillings 6 pence!"
+
+"Scoffer! be silent and leave me to my misery," said the keyless one, in
+a solemn tone.
+
+The bidding improved considerably.  He was run up to L2, L2 10
+shillings, L3, L3 10 shillings, and finally to L4.
+
+"Nothing more for this very magnificent watch?" said the auctioneer; "I
+positively cannot let him go for a song."
+
+No answer.
+
+"I wish gentlemen would take the trouble to look at it," continued the
+persevering official; "they could not fail to see it was worth twice the
+money bid."
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"Did I understand you to bid four five, sir?" said the auctioneer to an
+innocent-looking stripling near the door.  "Thank you."
+
+The stripling, however, disclaimed the soft impeachment, and looked very
+guilty as he did so.
+
+"Well, there seems no help for it.  I wish I were down among you
+gentlemen.  I'd take good care not to lose this chance."
+
+No answer.
+
+"Then I must knock it down.  Going, going, gone, sir; it's yours, and
+dirt cheap, too."
+
+All this was encouraging for me.  If a seven-guinea watch goes for four
+pounds, for how much will a three-guinea one go?
+
+This was a problem which I feebly endeavoured to solve as I lay waiting
+my turn.
+
+It came at last.  I felt myself lifted on high, and heard my merits
+pronounced in the words of the catalogue.
+
+"Lot 68.  London made, lever, open-face watch, capped and jewelled, in
+very fine order."
+
+"Look for yourselves, gentlemen."
+
+The gentlemen did look for themselves, and complimented me by a
+preliminary bid of 15 shillings.
+
+The auctioneer laughed a pleasant laugh, as much as to say, "That is a
+capital joke," and waited for the next bid.
+
+It was not long in coming, and I advanced rapidly by half-crowns to
+thirty shillings.  Here I made sure I should stop, for this was the
+figure at which the pawnbroker himself had valued me.  But no; such are
+the vagaries of an auction, I went on still, up to L2, and from that to
+L2 10 shillings.  Surely there was some mistake.  I looked out to see
+who they were who were thus bidding for me, and fancied I detected in
+that scrutiny the secret of my unexpected value.
+
+It was a countryman bidding--endeavouring in his downright way to become
+my possessor, and wholly unconscious of the array of Jews against him,
+who bid him up from half-crown to half-crown until I had nearly reached
+my original value.
+
+"Three pounds," at last said one of the Jews.
+
+The countryman had evidently come to the end of his tether, and did not
+answer the challenge.
+
+"Three pounds," said the auctioneer; "you're not going to stop, sir?"
+
+The countryman said nothing.
+
+"Try once more," said the auctioneer; but the rustic was silent.
+
+"Three pounds; no more?  Going, going--"
+
+"Guineas!" roared the countryman, at the last moment.
+
+"Thank you, sir; I thought you were not going to be beaten.  Three
+guineas, gentlemen; who says more?  Nobody?  Going, then, to you, sir;
+going, going, gone!"
+
+And so, once more, I changed masters.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+HOW, AFTER MUCH CEREMONY, I FOUND MYSELF IN THE POCKET OF A GENIUS.
+
+Muggerbridge is a straggling, picturesque little midland village, with
+one principal street, an old church, a market-place, and a pound.  Its
+population, all told, does not number a thousand, the majority of whom
+are engaged in agriculture; its houses are for the most part old-
+fashioned and poor, though clean; and altogether its general character
+and appearance combine to proclaim the village an unpretending English
+hamlet, with nothing whatever but its name to distinguish it from a
+hundred others like it.
+
+It was here I found myself duly installed in the window of the village
+jeweller's--held out as a bait to the purses of Muggerbridge.  The
+countryman who had purchased me was a big enough man in his own place,
+though very little had been made of him in the "Central Mart."  He was
+jeweller, silversmith, church warden, postmaster, and special
+Muggerbridge correspondent to the London _Thunderbolt_ all in one here,
+and appeared to be aware of his accumulated dignities!
+
+It was his custom twice a year to visit London for the purpose of
+replenishing his stock.  It was the common talk of the place that he
+always returned from such expeditions with prodigies of bargains, which
+went far to encourage the popular tradition as to the prodigal wealth of
+the metropolis.  People who knew him in town, on the other hand, always
+laughed at him, and were unkind enough to hint that he never by any
+chance bought an article at less than its full price, and often paid an
+extremely fanciful ransom for his purchases.
+
+The churchwarden and postmaster of Muggerbridge would have been very
+indignant had such an insinuation ever reached his ears.  It never did,
+happily, and the worthy man was consequently always well satisfied with
+his purchases; which--whatever he gave for them--he always contrived to
+sell at a very respectable profit.
+
+It was with a view to this profit that I found myself looking out of Mr
+Argent's window, in the High Street of Muggerbridge, with a ticket round
+my neck, conveying the (to me) very gratifying information that "this
+superb watch was to be disposed of for the moderate amount of L4 10
+shillings only," and a parenthesis below further indulged my vanity by
+volunteering the information that I was worth L6.  It _did_ occur to me
+to wonder why, if I was worth L6, Mr Argent should be such a donkey as
+to sell me for only three-quarters of that sum.  Either he was a very
+benevolent man, or he was in immediate want of L4 10 shillings, or he
+had his doubts as to my alleged value.  I somehow fancied the last was
+the true reason, and was half afraid he was right too.
+
+Well, I looked out of Mr Argent's windows for two months, and by that
+time became acquainted with nearly all the inhabitants of Muggerbridge.
+
+On my first arrival I was an object of a good deal of curiosity and
+admiration, for any change in a country shop window is an excitement,
+and when that change takes the form of a L6 "superb" watch offered for
+L4 10 shillings, it was no wonder the honest Muggerbridgians gaped in at
+me and read my label.
+
+But in a very little time familiarity had bred contempt, and I lay
+almost unheeded by the outside world.  The grocer opposite, with his
+triumphal arch of jam-pots monopolised all the wonder, and most of the
+admiration, and I had the mortification of seeing passers turn their
+backs on me, and step over the way to contemplate that vulgar structure.
+
+I had, however, one or two constant admirers.  One of these was a youth,
+scarcely more than a boy, with a very pale, thoughtful face.  He was
+poorly dressed, but respectable.  A book was generally tucked under his
+arm, and very often I could see his lips moving, as if repeating
+something to himself.
+
+He paid me more attention than anybody.  Every time he passed the shop
+he halted and looked at me, as I thought, wistfully, and usually
+appeared relieved to find me still in my place.
+
+"George Reader's took a fancy to the new watch, I can see," I heard Mr
+Argent say one day to his wife.
+
+He spoke, let me observe, in a very broad country dialect, which I do
+not feel equal to reproducing here.
+
+"Poor lad!" said Mrs Argent; "I dare say he'd like to have it in his
+pocket when he goes to college."
+
+"He is going, then?"
+
+"Yes, for certain; the clergyman says it would be a sin for a boy of his
+cleverness not to go, and so I think."
+
+"Well, learning's a great thing; and when a gamekeeper's son does take a
+fit of it, I suppose it's all right to humour it.  But you and I, wife,
+can get on very well without it."
+
+"Speak for yourself," retorted Mrs Argent; "I wish you had half as much
+in your head as that boy has got, that's all!"
+
+"And I suppose you wish you'd got the other half, eh?  Stuff!"
+
+And after this little tiff the worthy couple were silent for a while.
+Presently Mrs Argent again spoke.  "I wonder what they'll do about the
+church organ when George's gone?"
+
+"Ah! you may say so," said the husband, with a touch of importance in
+his voice which became a churchwarden when speaking of church matters;
+"it'll be hard to fill his place there."
+
+"So it will.  Did you stay after the service on Sunday?"
+
+"No; you know I had to go round to the curate's.  Why?"
+
+"Just because if you'd heard him play you'd have been glued to your
+chair, as I was.  It was beautiful.  I couldn't have got up from that
+chair if I'd tried."
+
+"Good job you didn't try, if you were glued down, especially in your
+Sunday gown.  I shouldn't care to have to buy many of them a month."
+
+"Now, John, you know I've not had a new gown for nearly a year."
+
+And then the talk took a departure over a range of topics to which I
+need not drag my unoffending reader.  This short conversation sufficed
+to satisfy my curiosity in part as to the boy who was paying me such
+constant attention; and another event which shortly happened served to
+bring me into still closer acquaintance with George Reader.  One day
+there entered the shop a party consisting of half a dozen persons.  One
+of them was a young man in the dress of a clergyman, and the others I
+knew well by sight as respectable and respected villagers.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr Argent," said the curate, for the clerical gentleman
+was none other; "we've come to see you on a little matter of business."
+
+"Hope there's nothing wrong with the heating stoves in the church, sir,"
+said Mr Argent, with an anxious face, "I was always against them being
+used at all."
+
+"The stoves are quite well, I believe," said the curate, smiling; "our
+business is of quite a different kind.  We've come to make a purchase,
+in fact."
+
+Mr Argent's face brightened considerably, partly at the assurance as to
+the salubrity of the gas-stoves and partly at the prospect of business.
+
+"What can I do for you, sir?" he said, no longer with his churchwarden's
+voice, but as the Muggerbridge silversmith.
+
+"Well, we have been asked to select a small present to be given by the
+choir and congregation of our church to George Reader, who, I suppose
+you know, is going next week to college."
+
+"I have heard tell of it, sir," said Mr Argent, "and my wife and I were
+only wondering the other day what was to become of the music at the
+church when he's gone."
+
+"We don't like to think of it," said one of the party.  "It would want a
+good one to take his place," said another.
+
+"We shall all miss him," said the curate; "and we are anxious before he
+leaves us to present him with some little token of our regard.  We have
+kept the thing from you, Mr Argent, as of course we should have to come
+to you to procure whatever we decided on getting, so your contribution
+to the gift will have to be some good advice on the matter we are still
+undecided about--what to get."
+
+"I shall be very glad to help--have you decided--er--I mean--has
+anything been said--that is--about what--"
+
+"About how much?  Well, we have nearly four pounds--in fact, we might
+call it four.  What have you about that price that would be suitable?"
+
+Oh! how my heart fluttered, for I could guess by this time what was
+coming.
+
+Mr Argent looked profound for a minute, and then said, "There's one
+thing, I think, would do."
+
+"What?" asked the deputation.
+
+He pulled me out of the window and laid me on the counter.
+
+"A watch!  Dear me! we thought of all sorts of things, but not once of
+that!"
+
+"It would be a suitable present," said one of the party; "but this one
+is L4 10."
+
+"That needn't matter," said Mr Argent; "if you like it my wife and I
+will settle about the difference."
+
+"That's very kind of you, Mr Argent.  Does any one know if George has a
+watch?"
+
+"I know he hasn't," said one of the party.  "And what's more, I've heard
+him say he wishes he had one."
+
+"And I can answer for it he's been looking in at my window at this very
+one every day for the last month," said the silversmith.
+
+"Well, what do you say to getting this, then?  We needn't ask you if
+it's a good one, Mr Argent."
+
+"No, you needn't, sir," replied the smiling Mr Argent, who, as I had
+remained run down since the day he bought me, could not well have
+answered the question more definitely.
+
+"You'll clean it up, will you, and set it going, and send it to me this
+afternoon?" said the curate;--"and perhaps you would like to come with
+us to Reader's cottage this evening, when we are going to present it?"
+
+Mr Argent promised to form one of the party, and the deputation then
+left.
+
+I was swiftly subjected to all the cleaning and polishing which brushes,
+wash-leather, and whiting could give me.  I was wound up and set to the
+right time, and a neat piece of black watered ribbon was attached to my
+neck, and then I waited patiently till the time came for my presentation
+to my new master.
+
+The gamekeeper's cottage to which I was conducted in state that evening
+was not an imposing habitation.  It boasted of only three rooms, and
+just as many occupants.  George, the hero of the occasion, was the son
+of its humble owner and his wife, and, as will have been gathered, had
+turned out a prodigy.  From his earliest days he had displayed a
+remarkable aptitude for study.  Having once learned to read at the
+village school, he became insatiable after books, and devoured all that
+came within his reach.
+
+Happily he fell into the hands of a wise and able guide, the clergyman
+of the parish, who, early recognising the cleverness of the boy, strove
+to turn his thirst for learning into profitable channels, lent him
+books, explained to him what he failed to understand, incited him to
+thoroughness, and generally constituted himself his kind and helpful
+adviser.
+
+The consequence of this timely tuition had been that George had grown
+up, not a boisterous, over bearing prig, showing off his learning at
+every available chance, and making himself detestable, and everybody
+else miserable, by his conceited air, but a modest, quiet scholar, with
+plenty of hidden fire and ambition, and not presuming on his talents to
+scorn his humble origin, or be ashamed of his home and parents--on the
+contrary, connecting them with all his dearest hopes of success and
+advancement in the world.
+
+They, good souls, were quite bewildered by the sudden blaze of their
+son's celebrity.  They hardly seemed to understand what it all meant,
+but had a vague sort of idea that they were implicated in "Garge's"
+achievements.  They would sit and listen to him as he read to them, as
+if they were at an exhibition at which they had paid for admission, and
+it is not too much to say "Garge" was, in their eyes, almost as dreadful
+a personage as the lord of the manor himself.
+
+Among his fellow-villagers George was, as the reader will have gathered,
+somewhat of a hero, and not a little of a favourite.  This distinction
+he owed to a talent for music, which had at a very early age displayed
+itself, and had been heartily encouraged by the rector.  In this
+pursuit, which he followed as his only recreation, he had made such
+progress that, while yet a boy, he became voluntary organist at the
+church, and as such had won the hearts of the neighbours.
+
+They didn't know much about music, but they knew the organ sounded
+beautiful on Sundays, and that "Garge" played it.  And so it was a real
+trouble to them now that he was about to leave Muggerbridge.
+
+You may imagine the state of excitement into which this unexpected visit
+threw simple Mr and Mrs Reader.  The good lady was too much taken
+aback even to offer her customary welcome, and as for the gamekeeper, he
+sat stock still in his chair, with his eyes on his son, like a hound
+that waits the signal for action.
+
+"We are rather an invasion, I'm afraid," said the curate, squeezing
+himself into the little kitchen between a clothes-horse and a dresser.
+
+"Not at all," said George, looking very bewildered.
+
+"Perhaps you'll wonder why we've come?" added the curate, turning to the
+gamekeeper.
+
+"Maybe you've missed something, and thinks one of us has got it," was
+the cheerful suggestion.
+
+The curate laughed, and the deputation laughed, and George laughed, and
+George's mother laughed, which made things much easier for all parties.
+
+"No, we haven't missed anything, Mr Reader," replied the curate, "but
+we expect to miss _somebody_--George, and that is the reason of our
+visit."
+
+And then the curate explained what the business was, and one of the
+churchwardens made a speech (the composition of which had kept him awake
+all the previous night), and then I was produced and handed over.  And
+George blushed and stammered out something which nobody could
+understand, and George's mother began to cry, and George's father,
+unable otherwise to express his sense of the occasion, began to whistle.
+And so the little business was satisfactorily concluded, and the
+deputation withdrew, leaving me in the pocket of a new master.  Three
+days afterwards both of us took our departure for Cambridge.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+HOW MY NEW MASTER MADE TRIAL OF A PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER
+DIFFICULTIES.
+
+But now let us follow Reader.  My master's rooms at Saint George's
+College were of the poorest and meanest description; in fact it would
+not be too much to describe them--the bedroom and study--as being like a
+pair of big cupboards under a great staircase.  They looked out on
+nothing more picturesque than a blank wall.  They were carpeted with
+nothing better than an old drugget; and as for paper, the place would
+have looked better simply whitewashed.  They were suffocating in summer
+and draughty in winter, and at nights afforded rendezvous to a whole
+colony of rats.  Every step on the staircase above thundered down into
+the study; the loosely-hung windows rattled even in a light breeze, and
+the flavours of the college dustbins, hard by, appeared to have selected
+these chambers, above all others, for their favourite haunt.  I am told
+Saint George's College has recently undergone renovation.  It so, it is
+probable "the Mouse-trap"--for this was the designation by which George
+Reader's classical domain was familiarly styled--has disappeared.  Let
+us hope so, for a more miserable, uncomfortable, and uninviting couple
+of rooms I never saw.
+
+But they had one merit, and that a great one: they were cheap, which to
+George Reader meant everything.  He had gained a small entrance
+scholarship, by the help of which he hoped, with the most rigid economy,
+to support himself during his college career.  Most other young fellows
+would have shrunk from the prospect, but such was my master's ambition
+that I believe he would have endured life in a stable if only he could
+have there enjoyed the advantages and encouragements of a college
+course.
+
+It was, at any rate, a fine sight to see him settle down in his new
+dispiriting quarters, determined to make the best of everything, and
+suffer nothing to damp his ardour for work.  He unpacked his few
+precious books and laid them on the shelf; he hung up the likenesses of
+his father and mother over the chimney-piece; he produced the cheese
+which the latter had insisted on his bringing with him, and, as a
+crowning-effect, set me up on the mantel-shelf with as much pride as if
+I had been a marble clock.
+
+"That looks something like!" he said to himself.  "Now for a little tea,
+and then--grind!"
+
+The little tea, however, was "sooner said than done."  It involved a
+prolonged hunt for the "gyp," or attendant, and a still more prolonged
+conference on the subject of hot water, tea, and bread.  The suggestions
+thrown out by the college official, too, were so very lordly and
+extravagant--such, for instance, as ham and eggs, chicken, marmalade,
+and chocolate--that poor George's heart fluttered as much as his mouth
+watered while he listened.  Chicken and chocolate for a poor student who
+had barely enough money to afford so much as the luxury of living in the
+"Mouse-trap" of Saint George's!  Well he might be scared at the idea!
+He politely declined the grand offer of his scout, and asking him to
+light a small fire and procure him a loaf, sallied out himself into the
+town and purchased a small and very cheap quantity of groceries.  With
+these he returned in triumph to his rooms, and, with the utmost
+satisfaction, partook of his first college meal, with a Euclid open on
+the table beside him.
+
+Then pouring out a final cup of tea to enjoy, cold, later on, he
+"cleared the decks for action," as he called it, which meant putting
+away the tea, butter, sugar, and bread in a cupboard, and folding up the
+table cloth.  Poor George! he had no false pride to forbid such menial
+offices; he had not the brag about him which would have led another to
+stand on the staircase and howl "Gyp" till every one far and near should
+be made aware that he had had a meal which required clearing away.  No;
+he was only a gamekeeper's son, in a hurry to get at his books; and to
+him it was far more natural to wait on his own frugal table than sit in
+state till a servant should come and clear it.
+
+"Now," said he to himself, "I shall get a good quiet time for work.
+After all it's not bad to be one's own master where reading is
+concerned."
+
+And without more ado he set himself down to his books, with me on the
+table at his elbow, and his cup of tea within reach, when such
+refreshment should be desirable.  It was a fine thing to see this young
+fellow plunging straight into his work.
+
+Assuredly he had not come to college to fritter away his time--to row,
+play cricket, give wine-parties, or drive dog-carts; he had not even
+come because it was "the thing," or afforded a "good introduction into
+the world."  No, he was here for one purpose, and one alone.  That was
+work.  To him the days were as precious mines, and every minute a
+nugget.  It mattered nothing to him who won the cricket-match this year,
+who occupied the rooms next his, how many bumps the Saint George's boat
+made on the river; far more important was the thought that perhaps the
+oil in his lamp would run short before the night was out, or whether the
+edition of Plato his friend the Muggerbridge clergyman had given him was
+the best, and contained the fullest notes.  In short, George Reader was
+in earnest.
+
+But, like the tea, the "good quiet time" he hoped for was not so easy to
+secure.  Scarcely had he settled down when the voices of two men in loud
+conversation rose, immediately under his window.  Now, when one is in
+the agony of trying to understand how it comes that a certain number of
+angles in one figure are equal to a certain number of angles in another,
+it is, to say the least of it, confusing to have to listen to a spirited
+account of a boxing-match between Jack Straight and the Hon.  Wilfred
+Dodge; and when that account manages to get interwoven inextricably with
+the problem in hand the effect is likely to be distracting; for
+instance:--
+
+"Since the solid angle at B is contained by three plane angles, BAF,
+FAC, and CAB, then--"
+
+"Jack let out and got in sweetly under his man's guard," and so on.
+
+"Therefore," persevered George, "the angles ABC and ABF--"
+
+"Rounded on him grandly, and--"
+
+"The angles ABC and ABF are together greater than the angle CBF; and,
+similarly--"
+
+Here the conversation was continued in language far more worthy of the
+disgraceful prize-ring than a college, until George could bear it no
+longer.  He leapt from his seat and sprang to the window, which he
+opened.  Leaning out, he surveyed the two disturbers of his peace with
+very little affection, but controlled himself sufficiently to say
+politely,--
+
+"Would you mind not talking just here?  I'm reading."
+
+One of the two scowled up at him, and replied,--
+
+"What business is it of yours where we talk?"
+
+"Come on, Fisher," said the other, taking his arm; "let the man read if
+he wants; I suppose that's the poor beggar who's come to the `trap.'"
+
+"He's got a cool cheek of his own, whoever he is," retorted the
+indignant Fisher.
+
+George was too relieved to be rid of their clatter under his window to
+trouble himself as to their sentiments towards himself, and he therefore
+once again settled down to work.
+
+But now a new interruption occurred.
+
+There arose a sudden rush of feet outside his door, a laughing and a
+cheering, in the midst of which he caught the following confused
+utterances:
+
+"George's has bumped Corpus!" cried a voice.
+
+[See Note 1.]
+
+"Hurrah!" yelled half a dozen voices.
+
+"It was the finest bit of rowing ever you saw," continued the first
+speaker.  "Bailey put it on from the very first stroke, and was on the
+top of them before the Point."
+
+And then the three cheers and yells rose again.
+
+"You can fancy how black and blue Corpus looked--it's the biggest sell
+they've had for a long time."
+
+Once more the shouts.
+
+"And what do you think?" resumed the first speaker.  "Old Bailey vows he
+won't come to the supper to-night.  Did ever you hear of such an old
+bear?"
+
+"He'll have to come," cried the rest; "let's waylay him here and carry
+him off."
+
+"All serene," said the leader; "he's sure to come here--let's hang about
+on the stairs."
+
+Oh, horrors! here were six noisy men going to establish themselves on
+the stairs over poor George's head, and remain there until their victim
+arrived, when, unless college traditions were utterly false, there would
+certainly be a battle royal.  It was impossible, with the cheering and
+stamping and shouting and laughing, and scuffling overhead, to do a
+stroke of work, and yet George did his best.  He pulled his table into
+the corner of the room farthest away from the noise, and, burying his
+head in his hands, struggled desperately to abstract himself from the
+disturbance.  But as sure as he succeeded for a minute, a clamour louder
+than ever would drive _every_ idea out of his head.  It was vain to
+attempt expostulation--what would these jubilant revellers care for a
+poor new man like him!--and he had nowhere else to go to escape them
+there was nothing for it but to be patient.  In due time the victorious
+and unsuspecting Bailey, accompanied by four of his friends, appeared on
+the scene, and their approach was the immediate signal for action.  With
+a cheer and a howl the ambush sprang upon their victims; and, with equal
+vehemence, these, having rapidly taken in the state of affairs, prepared
+to defend themselves.  Poor George might as well have been sitting under
+Niagara.  Step by step, the new-comers strove to force a passage up to
+Bailey's rooms, and step by step the opposing force strove to repulse
+them.  The balustrades creaked, the ceiling of George's room quaked, and
+the walls thundered with the weight of conflicting bodies.  The
+occupants of every room on the staircase turned out to see the fun, and
+on hearing of Bailey's contumacy, joined with his persecutors in
+refusing him the shelter of his own sanctuary.  Bailey's party, on the
+other hand, was joined by reinforcements from without, who stormed up
+the stairs with the noise of an earthquake.  The opposing forces soon
+became so great that the press of battle raged even to the door of
+George's study, which creaked and rattled as if every moment it were
+about to yield and admit the whole tide of conflict.
+
+For half an hour the tumult roared and the battle swayed, and neither
+party gained nor yielded a foot.
+
+Then suddenly from the confines of the battle rose and spread a cry of
+"Cave canem!" on which, as if by magic, the action was suspended, and
+retreating footsteps betokened a panic.  A rally was sounded by Bailey's
+foes, but too late; the hero of the day had taken advantage of the
+momentary pause to dash past his persecutors and gain his study, and
+once there no force could dislodge him.  The vanquished ones stormed and
+raged outside his door for another ten minutes, threatening all sorts of
+vengeance; then with three mighty cheers they struck camp and retired,
+leaving the staircase in peace.
+
+Thus ended the famous battle of Bailey's Staircase, at the end of which
+George, with sunken spirits but indomitable resolution, sat down again
+to work.
+
+For half an hour he made good progress, without let or hindrance, when--
+ah, cruel fate!--a wretch calling himself a man, in a neighbouring
+apartment, began to practise on the ophicleide!  At the first note
+George bounded from his seat as if he had been shot, and literally tore
+his hair.  This was worse than all that had gone before.  To one of his
+musical inspiration, the human voice divine in conversation was,
+endurable, and the roar of battle might even be tolerable, but to hear a
+creature attempt to play one of the "songs without words" on an
+instrument he knew as little of as the music he was parodying, was
+beyond all bearing!  Then, if ever, did my wretched master dig his
+fingers into his ears, and writhe and shiver and groan at each discord
+produced by that inhuman performer.  He retreated into the innermost
+recess of his bedroom; he even hid his unhappy head beneath the clothes,
+if haply he might escape the agony of this torture.  But it was
+hopeless.  The shrieks and groans of that brutal ophicleide would have
+penetrated the walls of the Tower of London.
+
+It lasted, I should not like to say how long; and when it was over, the
+recollection of its horrors was almost as bad as their endurance.  When
+George set himself again to work, it was with nerves unstrung and
+unutterable forebodings, yet still unconquered.
+
+"At any rate," said he to himself, with a sigh, "there can't be anything
+worse than that--unless, indeed, he invites a friend like himself to
+practise duets with him!"
+
+Happily this climax was not reached, and for one evening the worst of
+George Reader's persecutions had been suffered--but not the last.
+
+By the time the last wail of the ophicleide had wriggled away into
+silence it was getting late, and the college was meditating retirement
+to rest.  This operation was not got through, as may be imagined,
+without a good deal of clamour and a good deal of scuffling on the
+staircase, and a good deal of dialogue outside the window; but in due
+time silence reigned, and George congratulated himself that he had a
+quiet time at last before him.
+
+Unlucky boast!  Not an hour had passed, the lights in the windows round
+the courtyard had vanished, the distant shouts had ceased, and the
+footsteps on the pavement without had died away, when George was
+startled by a sound that seemed like the boring of a hole under his
+fireplace.  The noise grew, and other similar noises rose in different
+parts.  What was it?  Surely the gay students of Saint George's were not
+about to effect an amateur burglary on the friendless owner of the
+"Mouse-trap?"
+
+Nearer and nearer came the sounds, and George's heart beat loud.  He
+closed his book and pushed his chair back from the table, ready to
+defend himself, on an emergency, to the bitter end.  Then, under the
+hearth, there was a sound of scraping and grating, then a rushing noise,
+and then George saw--two enormous rats!
+
+Loud and long laughed my master to himself at the discovery.  What cared
+_he_ for rats?  He pulled his chair back to the table, and buried
+himself in his book for the next three hours, until his lamp began to
+burn low, and the letters on the pages grew blurred and dim, and the
+rats had scuffled back by the way they came, and my flagging hands
+pointed to four o'clock.
+
+Then George Reader, after kneeling in silent prayer, went to bed.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  At the college races at Cambridge the boats start one behind
+the other at fixed distances, and any boat overtaking and "bumping" the
+one in front of it moves up a place nearer to the "Head of the River."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+HOW MY MASTER FARED AT SAINT GEORGE'S COLLEGE AND MET AN OLD
+ACQUAINTANCE OF THE READER'S THERE.
+
+It is not my intention in these pages to give a full and particular
+account of George Reader's college life.  It would neither be on the
+whole interesting, nor would it be found to have much bearing on my own
+career, which is the ostensible theme of the present veracious history.
+
+Stories of college life have furnished amusing material for many a book
+before now, to which the reader must turn, should his curiosity in that
+direction require to be satisfied.  The life of a hard--a too hard-
+working student in his cell under the college staircase is neither
+amusing nor sensational, and it is quite enough to say that, after his
+first eventful evening, George Reader pursued his studies with
+unflagging ardour, though with greater precaution than ever.
+
+He soon discovered which hours of the day and night were most favourable
+for uninterrupted work.
+
+He made a point of taking his constitutional during the hour made
+hideous by the ill-starred aspirant on the ophicleide.  He invested in a
+trap for the rats, which, with the aid of his mother's cheese, yielded
+him a nightly harvest of victims, and he arranged with Benson, the
+"gyp," not to interrupt him, preferring rather to wait on himself--nay,
+even to dust out his own room--than have to sacrifice precious time
+while the same offices were being performed by another, especially by
+such an overpowering and awe-inspiring person as Benson.
+
+So he set himself to work, attending lectures by day, reading every
+night into the small hours, spending scarcely anything, shrinking from
+all acquaintanceships, taking only a minimum of recreation, and living
+almost the life of a hermit, until I could see his cheeks grow pale, and
+his eyes dark round the rims, and feared for his health.
+
+He treated me uniformly well.  Of course, as the gift of his fellow-
+villagers, he prized me highly, but by no means consigned me to the
+stately repose of a purely ornamental treasure.  I lay nightly beside
+his elbow on the table, and counted for him the hours as they sped from
+night to morning.  I lay beneath his pillow at night, and helped him to
+rise betimes.  I insured his punctual attendance at lectures, and drove
+him home from his scanty walks in the fresh air more quickly than I
+myself would have cared to do if I could have helped it.  In short, I
+found myself in the satisfactory position of one thoroughly useful in
+his sphere of life, and on the whole, though my first young master
+returned constantly to my thoughts, I contrived to be very happy in my
+new capacity.
+
+Two events, however, both of a pleasant nature, served to vary the
+monotony of George's second term at college.  The first of these was a
+visit from his friend and patron, Dr Wilkins, the rector of
+Muggerbridge.
+
+George was sitting at his modest breakfast one morning, when his door
+suddenly opened, and the well-known and beloved face of his old tutor
+lit up the apartment.
+
+My master sprang to his feet, and with unaffected joy rushed forward to
+welcome his guest, before it had do much as occurred to him into what
+uninviting quarters he was receiving him.
+
+"How good of you to come, sir!" he cried.  "I never expected such
+happiness."
+
+"You don't suppose I should go through Cambridge and never beat up your
+quarters, my boy!  But, dear me, how ill you are looking!"
+
+"Am I?  I don't feel ill."
+
+"Humph! you're overdoing it.  But aren't you going to offer me some
+breakfast?"
+
+George coloured, and his spirits sank as his eyes fell on the scanty
+fare of which he himself had been partaking.
+
+"It's only bread-and-butter," he said.
+
+"And what better?" said Dr Wilkins, sitting down; "and I warrant the
+butter's good if it's your mother's making."
+
+"So it is," said George, beginning to recover his spirits.  "And how did
+you leave them at home, sir?"
+
+"First-rate, my boy;--looking much better than you are.  And so this is
+your den?  Well, it's--"
+
+"Nothing very grand," put in George.
+
+"Exactly, nothing very grand; but I dare say you find it as good a place
+to read in as a drawing-room, eh?  Now tell me all about yourself, my
+boy, while I drink this good tea of yours."
+
+And George, with light heart and beaming face, told his good friend of
+all his doings, his hardships, his difficulties, his triumphs, and his
+ambitions.
+
+And Dr Wilkins sat and listened with pride and thankfulness at heart,
+to find his young _protege_ the same earnest, unaffected boy he had
+parted with from Muggerbridge six months before.  They talked for a long
+time that morning.  The tutor and boy passed in review all the work
+hitherto accomplished and discussed the programme of future study.  Many
+were the wholesome counsels the elder gave to the younger, and many were
+the new hopes and resolutions which filled the lad's heart as he opened
+all his soul to his good friend.
+
+"And now," said Dr Wilkins, "I want you to take me to see your college
+and chapel."
+
+George looked perplexed.  Who was _he_ to conduct a Doctor of Divinity
+over his college.  Such a hermit's life had he led that he hardly knew
+the ins and outs of the place himself, and there was not a single man in
+the college to whom he was not a stranger.
+
+"I'm afraid you've chosen a bad guide," faltered he.  "I don't know any
+of the men, and very little of the place."
+
+"Oh, never mind that," said the doctor; "it will be all the more
+interesting to make a tour of discovery, so come along!"
+
+George put on his cap and gown and obeyed.  For a moment he wished the
+gown had been long enough to conceal the patch on the knee of his
+trousers, but the next he laughed at himself for his vanity.
+
+"There's nothing to be ashamed of," thought he, "and if it _is_
+patched--well, it is."
+
+And thus consoling himself, he accompanied the doctor across the
+quadrangle.
+
+Men certainly did stare at him as he passed, and some of them deemed him
+a queer "specimen," and others wondered what Saint George's was coming
+to.  But my master, if he noticed their looks, disregarded them, and as
+for Dr Wilkins, he smiled to himself to think how prone mankind is to
+judge by appearances.
+
+"Unless I mistake," mused he to himself, "these young sparks of Saint
+George's will some day think fit to be proud of their poor fellow-
+collegian."
+
+The two made the tour of the college, and finished up with the grand old
+Gothic chapel.  It was easy to guess why George's face lit up as he
+approached the place.  The deep notes of an organ were sounding across
+the quadrangle, and as they entered the door a flood of harmony swept
+towards them down the long aisles.  Dr Wilkins could feel the boy's arm
+tremble, and heard the sigh of delight which escaped his lips.  Without
+a word they sat in the nearest stalls, and listened while the music went
+on.  How it rose and fell, how it trembled in the oak arches of the
+roof, and swept through the choir down to where they sat!  It was only
+an ordinary organist's practice; but to George, after his hard work, and
+with the memories of home revived by the presence of his dear tutor, it
+came as a breath from heaven.  Daily, nearly, had he heard that organ
+since his coming to Cambridge, but never had it delighted him as it did
+now.
+
+"Can we see the organ?" he said, when the last chord had died away.
+
+"Let us try," said the doctor.
+
+The gallery door was open, and ascending the stairs to the organ loft,
+they found the organist preparing to depart.
+
+"We have been a clandestine audience," said the doctor, "and couldn't
+help coming to thank you for the treat you have given us.  My young
+friend here is music mad."
+
+The organist smiled.
+
+"You took me at a disadvantage," he said, "I was only amusing myself."
+
+"Whatever you were doing for yourself, you delighted us," said the
+doctor.
+
+"Would you like to try the organ?" presently said the organist to
+George.
+
+Oh, what a bound of delight I could feel in my master's breast at the
+invitation.
+
+"May I?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly, if you like--and if you can," added the other, hesitatingly,
+as if not sure whether the lad's skill would be equal to his enthusiasm.
+
+George sat down on the bench, and laid his fingers lovingly on the keys.
+But he withdrew them before he had sounded a note.  "I would rather you
+did not watch me too closely," he said, nervously, "for I am only a
+beginner."
+
+"Let us go and sit down stairs," suggested the doctor.
+
+The organist looked still more doubtful than before, and began to repent
+his offer.  However, he retired with the doctor, and made up his mind to
+be excruciated.  They sat down in two of the stalls and waited.
+
+And then George began to play.  What he played I cannot tell.  It began
+first in a faint whisper of music which swelled onward into a pure
+choral melody.  Then suddenly the grand old roof trembled with the clash
+of a martial movement, strong and steady, which carried the listener
+onward till he was, with the sound, lost in the far distance.  Then, in
+wailing minor numbers the music returned, slowly working itself up into
+the tumult and fury of a pent-up agony, and finally sweeping all before
+it in a wild hurricane of bitterness.  Then a pause, and then sweetly
+and in the far distance once more rose the quiet hymn, and after that
+all was silence.
+
+After the first few notes the organist had uttered a startled
+ejaculation, and drawn the doctor to another seat farther down the nave,
+where, till all was over, he sat motionless as a statue.  But the moment
+the music had ceased he ran up the stairs with a face full of pleasure
+and admiration, and actually seized George by the hand.
+
+"You're a genius, sir.  That was not at all bad, I can tell you."
+
+A happy smile was all the answer George could give.
+
+"Not at all bad," repeated the organist.  "I was telling your friend,"
+added he to Dr Wilkins, who had returned more slowly to the organ,
+"that was not at all bad.  He must come here often."
+
+"Nothing, I am sure, would delight him more," said the doctor.  "Eh, my
+boy?"
+
+"Nothing, indeed," said George, "but--"
+
+"But your reading, I suppose."
+
+"Never mind your reading, sir!" exclaimed the organist.  "What's that to
+music?  Take my advice, and go in for music."
+
+Poor George! for a moment he felt tempted to abandon all his ambitions
+and resolutions at the prospect of a career so delightful and congenial.
+
+But he was made of firmer stuff than Tom Drift, and replied,--
+
+"I cannot do that, sir; but if I may come now and then--"
+
+"Come whenever you like," said the organist; and so saying he shook
+George and his friend by the hand, and hurried from the chapel.
+
+This was the event which of all others brightened George Reader's first
+year at college.
+
+Instead of aimless walks, he now stole at every spare moment (without
+cutting into his ordinary work) to the organ, and there revelled in
+music.
+
+His acquaintance with the college organist increased and developed into
+a friendship, of which mutual admiration formed a large element, and one
+happy Sunday, a year after his arrival at Cambridge, he received, for
+the first time, the much coveted permission to preside at the organ
+during a college service, a task of which he acquitted himself so well--
+nay, so remarkably well--that not only did he frequently find himself
+again in the same position, but his playing came to be a matter of
+remark among the musical set of Saint George's.
+
+"Who is the fellow who played to-day?" a man inquired one day of the
+organist; "is he a pupil of yours?"
+
+"No.  I might be a pupil of his in some things.  He's a boy, and, mark
+my words, if he goes on as he's begun he'll be heard of some day."
+
+"What's his name, do you know?" inquired the youth.
+
+"I don't even know that, I never-- Here he comes!"
+
+"Introduce me, will you?"
+
+"With pleasure.  Allow me to introduce Mr Halliday," said the organist
+to George.
+
+Halliday!  Wasn't that a familiar name to me?  Was it possible?  This
+fine fellow, then, was no other than Jim Halliday, whom I had last seen
+as a boy on the steps of Randlebury, with his chum Charlie Newcome,
+waving farewell to Tom Drift.
+
+Ah, how my heart beat at being thus once more brought back into the
+light of those happy days by this unexpected meeting!
+
+My master by no means shared my delight at the incident.  He had always
+shrunk from acquaintanceships among his fellow-collegians.  With none,
+hitherto, but the organist had he become familiar, and that only by
+virtue of an irresistible common interest.  His poverty and humble
+station forbade him to intrude his fellowship on the clannish gentry of
+Saint George's, and certainly his cravings for hard study led him, so
+far from considering the exclusion as a hardship, to look upon it as a
+mercy, and few things he desired more devoutly than that this
+satisfactory state of affairs might continue.
+
+I do not say George was right in this.  Sociability is, to a certain
+extent, a duty, and one that ought not without the soundest reason to be
+shirked.  George may have carried his reserve rather too far, but at any
+rate you will allow he erred on the right side, if he erred at all, and
+carried his purpose through with more honesty and success than poor Tom
+Drift had displayed in a very similar situation.
+
+Now, however, his hermitage was in peril of a siege, and he quailed as
+he acknowledged the introduction offered him.
+
+"How are you?" said Halliday, with all his own downrightness.  "I and a
+lot of fellows have liked your playing, and I don't see why I shouldn't
+tell you so.  How are you?"
+
+"I'm quite well, thank you," faltered George.
+
+"You're a freshman, I suppose?" asked Jim.
+
+"No, I'm in my second year."
+
+"Are you?  I thought I knew all the men in the college; but perhaps you
+live in the town?"
+
+"No, I live in college."
+
+"Where are your rooms?" asked the astonished Jim.
+
+"In, or rather under, H staircase," replied George.  "Perhaps you would
+know the place best as the `Mouse-trap.'"
+
+Jim could not resist a whistle of surprise and a rapid scrutiny of his
+new acquaintance.
+
+"The `Mouse-trap'!  That's an awful hole, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said George, his candour coming to his rescue to deliver him from
+this cross-examination, "but it's cheap--"
+
+Jim looked as afflicted as if he had been seized with a sudden
+toothache.
+
+"What a blundering jackass I am!  Please excuse my rudeness; I never
+meant to annoy you."
+
+"You have not done so.  You are not the sort of man I should mind
+knowing I was poor--"
+
+"Of course not; so am I poor; but don't let's talk of that.  Will you
+come to my rooms?"
+
+George hesitated, and then answered,--
+
+"I'd rather not, please.  I'm reading hard, and, besides--"
+
+"Besides what?"
+
+"I've no right to expect you to associate with me."
+
+"Why _ever_ not?"
+
+"I may as well tell you straight out.  My father is a gamekeeper, and I
+am a gamekeeper's son."
+
+Jim laughed pleasantly.
+
+"Well, really your logic is perfect, but I can't say as much for your
+sense.  Bless you, man, aren't we all of us lineal descendants of a
+gardener?  Come along!"
+
+"Please excuse me," again faltered George; "you are very kind, but your
+friends may not thank you for--"
+
+"My friends!--oh, yes!" blurted out Jim.  "What on earth business have
+they to put their noses into my affairs.  Like their impudence, all of
+them!"
+
+Jim, you will see, was still a boy, though he had whiskers.
+
+"Don't blame them till they have offended.  Anyhow, Mr Halliday, please
+excuse me.  I want to read, and have made a rule never to go out."
+
+"Look here--what's your name?" began Jim.
+
+"Reader," replied my master.
+
+"Reader!  Are you the fellow who's in for the Wigram Scholarship?" cried
+Jim, in astonishment.
+
+"Yes," replied George; "how did you know?"
+
+"Only that some of the fellows are backing you for winner."
+
+George laughed.  "They'll be disappointed," he said.
+
+"I hope not," said Jim, "for if you get it you'll be free of the
+college, and get into rather better quarters than the `Mouse-trap.'  But
+look here, Reader, do come to my rooms, there's a good fellow; if _you_
+don't want any friends, don't prevent my having one."
+
+This was irresistible, and George had nothing for it but to yield, and
+with many misgivings to accompany his new friend.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+HOW MY MASTER AND I WENT OUT TO BREAKFAST, AND WHOM WE MET.
+
+Jim Halliday--now a strapping youth of nineteen--was a good
+representative of the "steady set" at Saint George's College.  Indeed,
+as he was intending to become a clergyman in due time, it would have
+been a deplorable thing if this had not been the case.  He worked hard,
+and though not a clever fellow, had already taken a good position in the
+examination lists of his college.  He was also an ardent superintendent
+at a certain ragged-school in the town conducted by University men; and
+was further becoming a well-known figure in the debates at the Union--on
+all which accounts his friends were not a little satisfied.  But on one
+point Jim and his friends did not hit it.  Ever since his Randlebury
+days he had kept up his passion for athletic sports, and if he had now
+been famous for nothing else at his college, he would at least have been
+noted as a good bat, a famous boxer, a desperate man in a football
+scrimmage, and a splendid oar.  It was on this subject that Jim and his
+relations were at variance.  When I speak of "relations" I refer, by the
+way, to a certain old-fashioned uncle and aunt in Cornwall, who since
+Jim's father's death had assumed the guardianship of that youth and his
+brothers and sisters.  This good uncle and aunt were horribly shocked
+that one destined for so solemn a sphere in life as the ministry should
+profane himself with athletic sports.  The matter formed the theme for
+many serious remonstrances, and long letters addressed to the depraved
+Jim, who, on his part, maintained his side of the argument with
+characteristic vehemence.  He actually spent a whole day in the college
+library, making out a list of all the athletic divines in history since
+the creation of the world, the which he hurled triumphantly at his good
+relations' heads as an unanswerable challenge.  But, however
+satisfactory it may have been to Jim, it failed to convince them, and
+neither party being disposed to give in, the feud in this particular had
+become chronic.
+
+All this Jim contrived to impart to George (for lack of better
+conversation) in the course of a short walk previous to the breakfast in
+his rooms, to which he was leading his new acquaintance a captive.
+
+"I suppose we shall have it all opened again now," he remarked, "for you
+may have seen that my name is down to play in the football-match against
+Sandhurst."
+
+"I never read the athletic intelligence in the papers," said George.
+
+"Well, my uncle and aunt do.  The names were actually printed in the
+_Times_, and I shall be greatly surprised if I don't find a letter or
+telegram when I get back to my rooms.  We may as well beat to quarters,
+though, or the fellows will be waiting."
+
+"You didn't tell me anyone else was to be there," said George
+reproachfully, suddenly stopping short, "I can't come!"
+
+"Stuff and nonsense," said Jim; "they won't eat you!"
+
+"Halliday," said George, hurriedly, "I'm much obliged to you for asking
+me, but I have made a rule, as I tell you, never to go out, and I've
+told you the reason."
+
+"An utterly rubbishing reason!" put in Jim.
+
+"I promised to come with you because I thought there would be only us
+two; but I really can't come if there are more."
+
+"My dear fellow," said Jim good-humouredly, "anyone else would be
+offended with you.  Why, you're a regular bear."
+
+"I know it's very rude of me," said George, feeling and looking very
+uncomfortable, "and I don't want to be that."
+
+"Of course you don't; so come along.  Why, my dear fellow, one would
+think my friends were all as abandoned wretches as I am, by the manner
+in which you shrink from the notion of meeting them, but they aren't."
+
+"Do let me off," put in George, in despair.
+
+"Not a bit of it.  But I tell you what, if you don't like them or me--"
+
+"It's not that, you know, but I've no right to associ--"
+
+"Associate with your grandmother!  Come this once, and I'll never ask
+you again unless you like, there!"
+
+"Who are the fellows?" asked George.
+
+"Two of them are College men--very nice men, in my humble opinion; and,
+now I come to think of it, one of them, Clarke, is in against you for
+the `Wigram,' but everyone says you're safe; and the third is an old
+particular school chum, who is playing in Sandhurst team against us, and
+whom it is therefore my interest to incapacitate by a howling
+breakfast."
+
+George laughed.
+
+"I wish you'd let him eat my share as well."
+
+"I dare say he would be equal to the occasion.  Newcome was always a
+good trencherman."
+
+At the name I bounded nearly out of my master's pocket.  Newcome! an old
+school chum of Jim Halliday's.  It must be my old master!  And--yes--now
+I remembered, he had spoken in one of his letters to Tom Drift of going
+to Sandhurst Military College.  It must be he.  How I longed for my
+master to make up his mind and go to the breakfast!
+
+"But I wouldn't have you miss seeing him," said Jim, "for I'm no end
+proud of him; and when you've once seen him, you'll have seen the best
+fellow going.  That is," added he, "present company of course excepted."
+
+"I'm sure he's a nice man."
+
+"Nice!  Of course, and therefore fit company for you and me; so come
+along, old man.  I never had such hard work inviting a man to breakfast
+in all my life."
+
+"I'm certain I'm ill-mannered," said George, "but I won't hold out any
+more.  You will--"
+
+"Hurrah, that's settled, and here we are, too!"
+
+With that he led the way up a staircase, on the second floor of which he
+opened a door, and ushered George into his rooms.  No one was there yet,
+and there was consequently time to look about.  Jim's rooms were nothing
+very grand, but they were palatial compared with the "Mouse-trap."
+Cheerful and well-lighted, with a pleasant look-out into the old
+quadrangle, comfortably furnished, further enlivened with all those
+adornments in the shape of swords, fencing-sticks, dumb-bells, etcetera,
+without which no model undergraduate's rooms would be complete.
+
+George could hardly help sighing as his thoughts flew back to his own
+dingy cell under "H" staircase.
+
+"Lay another plate, Smith," said Jim, addressing his "gyp"; "and now,
+old man, make yourself comfortable."
+
+And then the host, in a business-like way, devoted himself to the
+mysteries of coffee-making and egg-boiling, in the midst of which
+occupation Clarke and the other Saint George's man arrived.
+
+George felt very miserable on being introduced and devoutly hoped the
+fellows would have sufficient to converse about among themselves,
+without it being needful for him to come under observation.  This
+reserve, however, he was not destined to maintain for very long.
+
+"Halliday," said Clarke, "were you in chapel this morning?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, did you ever hear the organ so grandly played?"
+
+George blushed deeply, half with pleasure at this genuine compliment,
+and half with nervousness at the turn the talk was taking.
+
+"And it wasn't the regular organist," said Clarke's friend, "for I saw
+_him_ downstairs."
+
+"No, it's some fellow--plough-boy or stable-boy; or somebody he's got
+hold of, so I heard.  Whoever he is, he knows how to play."
+
+At this point Jim was as red in the face as George, and equally
+embarrassed.
+
+"Is the fellow at college, do you know?" asked Clarke's friend.
+
+"I believe so, in fact--"
+
+"In fact," broke out Jim, in fear of further awkwardness, "in fact the
+gentleman you are speaking of is my friend here."
+
+If Clarke and his friend had suddenly been confronted by a tribe of wild
+Indians they could not have been more taken aback than they were at this
+announcement.  In fact, it was an awkward moment for everybody.  Nobody
+knew exactly what to say, or which way to look.  But a welcome
+interruption arrived.
+
+My heart beat suddenly as I heard at the bottom of the stairs a sound.
+Some one was coming up two steps at a time.  Nearer and nearer the light
+feet came, and my agitation told me whom they brought.
+
+There was a rap at the door, a click on the latch, and then, after all
+these years, I saw once more my dear first master, Charlie Newcome.
+Little he guessed I was so near him!
+
+He had spent the previous day with Jim, and was therefore no stranger in
+his rooms; indeed, from the moment he entered them, he appeared as much
+at home there as their own master.  He greeted the visitors pleasantly,
+and then, in the old Randlebury style, demanded if breakfast was
+anywhere near ready, as he was starving.
+
+He had the beginnings of a fierce moustache, he stood six feet high in
+his boots, and there was a look of power about him which exceeded even
+the promise of his Randlebury days.  Otherwise he was the same.  He had
+the same clear, honest eyes, the same frank smile, the same merry laugh,
+for which everyone had loved him then; and as I looked at him and
+rejoiced, I felt I would give the world to be back in my old place in
+his pocket.
+
+Jim, as he himself had said, was proud enough of his friend, and no
+wonder.  His arrival, too, at the instant when it occurred, was most
+opportune, and made him a specially welcome addition to our party,
+which, including my master, was very soon on the best of terms round the
+hospitable Jim's table.
+
+"It's not often," said that worthy, "one gets two pairs of deadly
+enemies eating out of the same dish."
+
+"What's the fellow talking about?" asked Charlie, passing up his plate
+for more steak.
+
+"Well," said Jim, "you and I are, or shall be, deadly enemies to-day,
+old man."
+
+"Rather," responded Charlie; "so much the worse for you.  But where's
+the other pair?"
+
+"Why, Clarke and Reader."
+
+"I?" exclaimed Clarke, in an alarmed tone.  "I hope Mr Reader and I are
+not at enmity?"
+
+"Oh, yes, you are; don't you know Reader's the fellow in against you for
+the `Wigram'?" said Jim.
+
+Clarke was astonished.  He had been told there was another candidate for
+the scholarship, who in some quarters was considered a formidable
+opponent, but he had never fairly realised the fact till now.
+
+"I'm very glad to meet you," said he, courteously, to George, "though I
+can hardly wish you as much success in your exam, as I dare say you wish
+yourself."
+
+"I hope I shall not break my heart if I lose," replied George.  "Are we
+the only two in for it?"
+
+And then they fell to talking about their approaching struggle, during
+which I gave heed to a hurried talk between Charlie and Jim.
+
+"Do you remember Tom Drift?" asked Jim.
+
+Charlie's face at once became serious as he replied, "How could I forget
+him?  What about him?"
+
+"Why," said Jim, "I had a letter from my brother Joe the other day, and
+he says Tom has altogether gone to the bad.  He met him drunk coming out
+of some slum in Holborn, and followed him for a long time in hopes of
+being able to speak to him, but the fellow couldn't, or wouldn't
+recognise him, and only swore.  He is living at some disreputable
+lodging-house--"
+
+"Where?" exclaimed Charlie, excitedly.
+
+"I don't know.  Why! what's the matter?"
+
+"Can you find out his address?" asked Charlie.
+
+"I dare say.  Why do you want it?"
+
+"Because I must go and see him.  Could you find out to-day by telegram?"
+
+"I'll try."  Presently he added, "I could never make out why you stuck
+to the fellow as you did, old man, especially when he turned against
+you.  You're a better man than ever I shall be."
+
+"Nonsense!  I promised once to be his friend, that's all.  Do send the
+telegram soon.  And now tell me who's the pale man talking to Clarke?"
+
+"A fellow called Reader--one of the cleverest men we've got."
+
+"He looks half-starved!"
+
+"Yes; I'm afraid he's--I mean, I don't think he takes proper care of
+himself."
+
+"Pity," said Charlie.  "I say, old man, this is rare steak!  Give us a
+bit more.  What time does the match begin?"
+
+"At two.  You old beggar! see if I don't pay off some old scores before
+the day's over."
+
+"I thought you told me once your people didn't fancy your going in for
+athletics?"
+
+"No more they do.  I expect a stinger by this post; but I shall not open
+it till after the match.  What matches we used to have at Randlebury!"
+
+"Didn't we!"
+
+"And do you remember what an ass you used to make of yourself over that
+precious silver watch of yours?"
+
+It did one good to hear the laugh with which Charlie greeted this
+reminder.
+
+"I'd give my repeater, and a ten-pound note besides, to get back that
+old watch," said he.  (If he had but known!) "But there's no knowing
+where it is now; poor Tom Drift must have parted with it years ago."
+
+With such talk the meal proceeded, and presently the conversation grew
+more general, and branched out on to all sorts of topics.  George,
+having got over the first strangeness of finding himself in society,
+found it not so bad after all; and, indeed, he very soon amazed himself
+by the amount he talked.  It was a new world to him, the hermit of the
+"Mouse-trap," to find himself exchanging ideas with men of his own
+intellectual standing; and he certainly forgave Jim his persistency in
+compelling his company this morning.  He forgot the patches in his
+clothes among such gentlemen as Clarke and Charlie, and for the first
+time in his life felt himself superior to his natural diffidence and
+reserve.  Who could help being at his ease where Charlie was?  He kept
+up a running fire of chaff at his old schoolfellow, for which
+occasionally the others came in; and if it be true that laughter is a
+good digestive, Jim Halliday's breakfast that morning must have agreed
+with the five who partook of it.
+
+"Who's this coming?" suddenly exclaimed the latter, as there came a
+sound of footsteps slowly ascending the stairs.
+
+"Two of them!" said Charlie.  "Perhaps it's your tailor and your hatter
+with their little bills."
+
+"Whoever it is, they're blowing hard," said Clarke.
+
+"They don't enjoy my `Gradus at Parnassum,'" said Jim.  "Come in, all of
+you!" he shouted.
+
+The door opened slowly, and there appeared to the astonished eyes of Jim
+and his party a grave middle-aged gentleman and still more grave and
+middle-aged lady.
+
+"Oh, my prophetic soul! my uncle and aunt!" groaned Jim.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+HOW JIM'S UNCLE AND AUNT SPENT A DIFFERENT SORT OF DAY FROM THAT WHICH
+THEY HAD EXPECTED.
+
+The apparition was indeed none other than Jim Halliday's dreaded uncle
+and aunt, and the object of their visit was easy to guess.  They had, in
+fact, taken the long journey from Cornwall as fast as express trains
+could bring them, in order to remonstrate personally with their depraved
+nephew on the error of his ways.
+
+They were evidently as astonished to find Jim's room full of visitors,
+as Jim on his part was to see them, and they looked so taken aback and
+disconcerted that the party at once rose, and offered to take their
+leave.  Clarke and his friend actually did depart, but Jim still had
+presence of mind enough left to groan out an entreaty to Charlie and my
+master that they would remain--an appeal so pathetic that there was no
+resisting it.
+
+Charlie politely handed the good people to chairs, while Jim, under
+cover of preparing a second edition of breakfast, hastily arranged his
+plan of defence.
+
+"Reader," he whispered to my master, "whatever you do, keep the talk
+going, old man, or it's all U P."  Then turning to his relatives, he
+broke out,--
+
+"This _is_ a surprise!  How are you both?  Upon my word, you're looking
+grandly.  How kind to come and see me up here!  Will you allow me to
+introduce my two friends, Ensign Newcome and Mr Reader?  My uncle and
+aunt, gentlemen."
+
+The uncle and aunt bowed gravely, and in a frightened sort of way, in
+acknowledgment of the courteous greeting of the two young men.  It was
+clear they had expected to find Jim alone, and over a quiet cup of cocoa
+to reduce him to a sense of his wickedness.  It put them out of their
+reckoning, quite, to find that, if they were to open fire at once, it
+would have to be in the presence of these two gentlemanly and rather
+imposing strangers.  However, they were too full of their mission to
+delay, and so the uncle began,--
+
+"It will be as well, James, that I should state to you--"
+
+"Not a word now, till you've had some breakfast," interrupted the wary
+Jim.  "My poor dear aunt must be simply fagged to death.  Do take your
+bonnet off, and come and sit here in the easy-chair.  Let me make you
+some cocoa; I know the way you take it, exactly.  Try those chops in
+front of you, sir, they are prime, as Charlie will tell you.  Reader,
+old man, draw in and keep us company.  Well, I declare, this _is_ a
+jolly family party!  And what's the news down in your part of the world?
+Have you had a good harvest?  My uncle comes from Cornwall, Charlie."
+
+And he gave his friend a lugubrious wink, as much as to say, "Keep it
+up."
+
+"Do you live near the sea?" thereupon began Charlie.
+
+"Pretty near, that is, about twenty miles off," said the uncle, looking
+at Charlie under his spectacles.
+
+"My love, the gentleman will laugh at you," said his good lady.  "I call
+twenty miles a long way."
+
+"I perfectly agree with you, ma'am," said Charlie, "Twenty miles is a
+good distance in this little island of ours.  But it's curious how
+little they make of such a distance in a big country like India, for
+instance, where I am going.  There, I am told, it is quite a common
+thing for a man to be twenty miles from his next-door neighbour, and yet
+be on constant visiting terms."
+
+"Dear me!" said the uncle.
+
+"You don't know India, I suppose, sir?" inquired Charlie.
+
+"No; that is--"
+
+"He's only read about it in books," again put in the aunt; "and so, my
+love, you'd better say at once you don't know anything about it."
+
+"Well," said Charlie, "it depends a good deal on the books.  Some books
+of travel are so vivid one almost seems to be in the country they
+describe.
+
+"Er--what did you say, Reader?"
+
+Reader was quick enough to take this broad hint, and keep up the talk.
+
+"To my mind, the most interesting books are those which describe, not so
+much places, as people and their manners.  There are a great many books
+of this kind about India.  One I lately read was specially interesting."
+
+And then, to Jim's unbounded delight and gratitude, George began calmly
+to give a review a quarter of an hour long of the work in question for
+the benefit of the two old people, who, as they listened, became more
+and more impressed with the importance of their nephew's friend, and of
+the impossibility of obtruding their special grievance on the party at
+the present time.  Indeed, the aunt had almost forgotten the speech with
+which she had come prepared, in her pleasure at hearing the young men
+talk, and she even joined in the conversation in a manner which showed
+how she enjoyed it.  The uncle was still gloomy, and appeared to be
+waiting the first favourable opportunity for "coming to the point."
+
+The opportunity, however, never occurred.  After a long and lively talk
+on all sorts of matters, Jim adroitly turned the conversation on to the
+subject of athletics by appealing to his uncle to add his voice to that
+of Reader's other friends in rebuking him for never taking any exercise.
+
+"Look at his pale face!" he exclaimed; "isn't it a disgrace?"
+
+George bore this attack good-naturedly, and began to excuse himself; but
+the uncle, who had not before noticed his looks, interrupted him by
+saying,--
+
+"Pardon me, sir, but I quite agree with James.  If is very wrong to
+cultivate the brain at the expense of the body."
+
+This observation brought down Charlie's hearty approval, who forthwith
+launched into a rhapsody on athletic sports--particularly football--
+appealing in every sentence to the uncle, who now found himself fairly
+in the toils.
+
+"If it were for nothing more than the moral training it gives a man,"
+said Charlie--"for the pluck, manliness, and endurance it puts into
+him--we couldn't over-estimate the value of athletics; could we, sir?"
+
+"No--er--that is to say--"
+
+"Why, look at Jim, here!  Upon my word, sir, if you'll excuse me saying
+it, it does you the greatest credit the way he has been brought up to
+value healthy exercise.  Why, there are some parents and guardians who,
+instead of encouraging that sort of thing, would positively so far wrong
+their sons as to forbid it.  I can't make out that sort of training, can
+you?"
+
+"Eh?  Well, possibly not," faltered the uncle, turning very red.
+
+"Of course not, and you'll have your reward in seeing Jim turn out a far
+better clergyman than your mollycoddles, who don't know the way to look
+their fellow-men straight in the face.  Jim, old man, you've had my cup
+up there ten minutes; hand it up."
+
+Jim filled it to overflowing, as a token, perhaps, of the gratitude of
+his heart towards his champion, and forthwith handed it up.
+
+"And _a propos_ of that," pursued Charlie, having gulped down his
+coffee, "you are just come up here in the nick of time, for there's a
+glorious football-match on to-day--"
+
+The uncle groaned and the aunt fidgeted.
+
+"In which Jim is playing, and no one deserves the honour better.  You
+must come and see it by all means.  Eh, Jim?"
+
+"Rather," said Jim; "it would never do to miss it, especially as Newcome
+is playing against us.  The worst of it is, as we are both engaged,
+there will be no one to pilot you about."
+
+"I shall be very glad," said Reader--though, if truth must be told, his
+politeness cost him an effort--"if your uncle and aunt will let me.  I'm
+almost as great a stranger, though, in the town as they are."
+
+"You are very kind, sir," said Jim's aunt, who had been long since
+gained over by the enemy.  "We shall be most pleased to have your
+escort.  Eh, my love?  Besides, we shall help to keep you out in the
+fresh air for once.  But, James," she said, "I can't get over you and
+Mr Newcome being opponents in this match and yet such friends."
+
+Every one laughed at this, and Charlie confided to the good lady his
+fixed determination of breaking her nephew's legs before the day was
+out--a purpose which, from the speaker's point of view, she could not
+help admitting was a laudable one.
+
+Thus the breakfast ended very satisfactorily for everyone except the
+uncle, who had at last discovered the trap into which he had let himself
+fall, from which, however, he could not with grace free himself.
+
+Three hours later the two worthies, having seen many of the sights of
+Cambridge with the advantage of Reader's escort, found themselves with
+some hundreds of other spectators on the field in which the notable
+football-match of Cambridge _versus_ Sandhurst was immediately about to
+begin.
+
+Jim Halliday's uncle and aunt could hardly have denied that the thirty
+young men, half of them in blue jerseys and half in red, who were now
+strolling out onto the ground, were as fine a body of youths as one
+could easily encounter in the course of a long day's march.  The picture
+of health and physique, they seemed almost like some of those heroes of
+old beside whom poor everyday man was wont to shrink into
+insignificance.  Among the blues towered Jim, among the reds Charlie,
+two by no means the least noble-looking of the company.
+
+"How well James looks in that dress, my love!" said the aunt.
+
+"My love" could hardly dispute the fact, so he said nothing; but in his
+secret heart he began to doubt whether he had not taken an exaggerated
+view of the demoralising nature of athletic sports.
+
+Play was soon ordered, and then amidst breathless silence the ball shot
+upward, propelled by the vigorous kick of the Sandhurst captain.
+
+It is not my purpose to follow in all its details the famous match of
+which I was that day spectator.  My muse has other things to sing of
+besides rallies and charges, scrimmages and drop kicks, touch-downs and
+passings.  To me the game was chiefly interesting as it was interesting
+to Jim Halliday and Charlie Newcome; but as during the first part of the
+match both these worthies were what they would call "out of it"--that
+is, on outpost duty--I found the company I was in better worth studying
+than the ups and downs of the football.
+
+When the game first began the two good people gazed in silent
+astonishment.  It always takes some time to understand the humour of a
+football-match from outside, and Jim's uncle and aunt consequently for a
+time could make nothing out of the constant succession of charges and
+scrimmages of which they were witnesses.  Presently, however, with the
+aid of their own observation and the remarks of people around them, they
+came to appreciate the sport better, and grew proportionately
+interested.  After a time the interest grew to excitement and excitement
+found relief in speech.
+
+"There's that little red-haired fellow got it again!" exclaimed the
+aunt; "see how he runs!"
+
+"Wait a bit!" cried the uncle; "that fellow there will catch him--no, he
+hasn't--just look at him; there's smartness for you!  Ah! he's down!"
+
+"But another of the blues has got the ball!" cried the aunt, starting on
+tiptoe.  "Well, to be sure! five onto one! what a shame!"
+
+And so they kept up a running commentary on the fortunes of the game,
+much to George's amusement and that of those near us.  Now and then the
+uncle appeared suddenly to recollect himself, and would come out with a
+grunt of disapproval.  Once, for instance, when by a sort of common
+impulse the whole of the players engaged in one of the scrimmages fell
+to the ground, he was hardy enough to ejaculate--
+
+"Disgraceful!"
+
+"Hold your tongue, my love," broke in his wife; "you know very well
+you'd like to be in it yourself if you were a boy.  _I_ would!"
+
+After that the uncle, whatever he thought, said nothing.
+
+The sides appeared to be very evenly matched; so much so, that when
+"half-time" was called neither had gained the least advantage.
+
+Just as the sides were changing over, preparing to renew the contest, a
+man came running up to where our party stood and called out,--
+
+"Will anyone lend me a watch?  Mine has stopped."  This man was the
+timekeeper for Cambridge, and indeed was no other than Clarke's friend,
+one of the breakfast-party that morning.
+
+"Here is one!" cried George, recognising him and unfastening me from his
+ribbon-chain.  The next moment I was hurrying towards the goals in my
+borrower's hands.
+
+I had now nothing for it but to attend closely to the game, for the old
+gentleman and lady were too far away for me to be able to observe them
+any further.
+
+The ball was started again, and I had the satisfaction of seeing that
+both Jim and Charlie were in new posts, which promised a better chance
+of sport.
+
+And so it happened.
+
+Hardly had the first scrimmage been formed when Jim was seen slipping
+out of it with the ball under his arm, making straight for the Sandhurst
+goal.  He was quickly stopped, however, and after a desperate encounter
+the ball got free and rolled out of the crush towards where Charlie
+stood.
+
+He, not waiting to pick it up, went at it with a flying kick.  Up flew
+the ball, amid cheers and shouts, right over the heads of the players,
+and had it not been for the promptitude of the Cambridge "backs" it
+might have got behind their goal.  And now, as if every one knew the
+time was getting short, the play became harder than ever.  Many a time
+did I catch sight of my two Randlebury friends in the thick of the
+fight, sometimes hand to hand, sometimes separated by a living wall of
+humanity, but always doing their work, and straining for the one object.
+The time went on.  The man who held me looked at me now oftener than he
+had done hitherto; and presently, when I pointed to five minutes to
+four, he cried out to a player near him, "Five minutes more."
+
+That player was Charlie Newcome, and I saw his face flush as of old, and
+knew he at any rate intended to make the most of the brief time
+remaining.
+
+But two of the minutes were gone before his chance came.  Then there was
+a cry, and all eyes turned towards him, for there came the ball flying
+straight to where he stood.  In a moment he had it, and started to run.
+It was a desperate chance, but Charlie was ready for desperate deeds.
+Shout rose on shout, and cheer on cheer, as first one, then another of
+the enemy was overturned or dodged.  The more he achieved, the less his
+enemies ventured against him, and he dashed through their "forwards" and
+between their "quarter-backs."  Next moment, with a mighty swoop, their
+"half-back" fell to the earth.
+
+And now there are but two men to pass, and one of these is Jim Halliday.
+The avenging host follows in hot haste behind, but the issue of the
+fight lies with these two.  See the grin of joy on Jim's face as he
+throws away his cap, and watches his dear enemy advance!  It was as if a
+trumpet-call had suddenly sounded in the ears of two old chargers, and
+to them that moment the world was all contained in the space which
+severed them.  Straight as an arrow rushed Charlie, firm as a rock
+waited Jim.  Nor had he long to wait.  With a bound and a howl his enemy
+leapt at him, and next moment the two were locked in an embrace the
+shock of which even I could distinctly hear.  Oh, shades of Randlebury I
+did your school every turn out two finer men than this pair of
+struggling, straining, rival friends!  The collision occurred close to
+the goal-line, and a moment afterwards a cry of "Maul!" proclaimed that
+they had in their struggle crossed the line, and that consequently (in
+accordance with the law of the game) the contest for the ball must be
+decided by these two alone, without aid or hindrance from the breathless
+friends and foes who stood round.  A fair field and no favour!  A ring
+was formed, and as my heart beat rapidly on towards the critical moment,
+these two strained every nerve to get the advantage for his side before
+"time" should be called.
+
+"Bravo, our man!" cried one.  "Stick to it, Newcome!" shouted others.
+"Now you have it, Halliday!" called out a third.  Never was duel before
+the walls of Troy more desperate.  The crowd burst in onto the field and
+thronged round, foremost among whom Jim's aunt's voice was heard crying
+out shrilly,--
+
+"Well, I never, it's James and Mr Newcome, my love.  How hot they are!"
+
+It was evident the contest in which the two youths were engaged was one
+not destined to end before time was up.  I pointed to within half a
+minute of the fated hour--and it would take far longer than that for
+even so powerful a champion as Jim to wrest the ball from Charlie's
+defiant grasp.  The timekeeper turned away from the rivals and held me
+up.  On went my hand, and on went the struggle.
+
+"Now, Newcome; one tug more?"
+
+"Bravo, our man!  You'll do it yet!"
+
+"Time's up!  No side!"
+
+Then rose those two from the earth, and immediately the astonished Jim
+felt himself embraced before the whole multitude by his aunt.
+
+"Well, James, and how do you feel after it all?"
+
+"Hungry," replied Jim.
+
+So ended the famous match.  After that Jim had no more trouble from his
+uncle and aunt on the subject of athletics, which they were fain to
+admit were a branch of science beyond their comprehension.
+
+Charlie started that same night for London, with the intention of making
+one more effort to help Tom Drift at all hazards.  I, meanwhile, was
+restored to the possession of my lawful owner, who returned to his
+studies in the "Mouse-trap"; sitting up all night, I am sorry to say, to
+make up for the loss of the day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+HOW GEORGE READER WENT UP FOR HIS FINAL EXAMINATION AND LEFT ME BEHIND
+HIM.
+
+"Old man, you're overdoing it!"
+
+These words were uttered by Jim Halliday, one evening two years after
+the events related in our last chapter, to his friend George Reader, as
+the two sat together in Jim's rooms at Saint George's.
+
+Time had wrought changes with both.  My master had secured the
+scholarship for which he had worked so hard during his first year's
+residence, and no longer inhabited the "Mouse-trap."  His present
+quarters were the rooms immediately above those in which he was at this
+moment sitting, and it is hardly necessary to say that the two friends
+were constantly in one another's society.  George, though still
+retaining much of his shyness, had made many acquaintances at his
+college, but Jim was his only friend.  The two had their meals together,
+attended lectures together, worked together, and, though a greater
+contrast in all respects could hardly have been possible, were fairly
+inseparable.
+
+At the present moment they were both working hard for the grand Tripos
+examination which was to close their college career.  Every one said
+George would stand high in this, and Jim (since he had taken to hard
+reading) was expected to pass too, though how, none of his friends cared
+to prophesy.
+
+They were working hard on the evening in question, when Jim, suddenly
+shutting up his books and pushing back his chair, exclaimed,--
+
+"Old man, you're overdoing it!"
+
+George looked up from his work, surprised at the interruption.  Alas!
+his pale face and sunken eyes testified only too forcibly to his
+friend's protest.  I, who knew him best, and saw him at all times, had
+watched with grief the steady and persistent undermining of his health,
+at no times robust, and dreaded to think what might be the result of
+this protracted strain on his constitution.
+
+"I tell you, you're overdoing it, old man, and you must pull up!"
+
+"Suppose we talk of that afterwards," said George.
+
+"Not at all," retorted the dogged Jim; "just shut up your books, Reader,
+and listen to me."
+
+"I'll listen to you, Jim, but don't make me shut up my books.  What have
+you got to say?"
+
+"Just this; you're doing too much.  I can see it.  Everybody can see it.
+Do you think I can't see your eyes and your cheeks?  Do you think I
+can't hear you blowing like--"
+
+"Really--" began George.
+
+"Listen to me!" went on Jim--"blowing like an old broken-winded horse?
+Yes, you may laugh, but I mean it.  Do you think I don't know you've
+never been out of doors ten minutes that you could help for six months?
+and that you have even given up the organ?"
+
+"That's true," groaned George, leaning back in his chair.
+
+"Of course it's true, and it's equally true that you'll smash up
+altogether if this goes on much longer.  Then what will be the use of
+all your achievements?  What will be the good of them to your father and
+mother, for instance, when you are knocked up?"
+
+"I _must_ work up to the Tripos now," pleaded George, "it's only a
+fortnight."
+
+"My dear fellow, how you talk!  As if you weren't certain of a first
+class even if you were not to look at another book between now and
+then."
+
+"I'm not at all certain," said George, anxiously.
+
+"Yes you are, and if you hadn't worked yourself into an unhealthy,
+morbid state you would know it.  No, old fellow, we've never quarrelled
+yet, and don't let us begin."
+
+"Certainly not.  Why should we?"
+
+"We shall if I don't get my way.  Now tell me, what time did you go to
+bed last night?"
+
+"Three, I believe."
+
+"No, it wasn't, it was four, for I heard you over head; and the night
+before it was three; and the night before that, if I mistake not, you
+didn't go to bed at all.  Eh?"
+
+George smiled, but said nothing.
+
+"Well," said Jim, putting down his foot, "this must be stopped.  You may
+work till ten every night, but then you _must_ go to bed, or you and I
+will fall out."
+
+Jim looked so grave as he said this that George was bound to take it in
+the earnest way in which it was meant.  A long argument ensued.  George
+pleaded, Jim bullied, and at last my master was obliged to promise to
+give over work at twelve every night for the next fortnight.  But more
+he would not promise.  No persuasions could tempt him out of doors for
+more than a hurried five minutes' walk, or induce him to yield to the
+fascinations of the organ.  As the days went on, too, he grew more and
+more despondent about his own chances, and implored more than once to be
+released from his promise.  But Jim was inflexible, and held him grimly
+to his engagement.
+
+"You're certain to be among the first three," he said, over and over
+again, "and if you'll only give yourself two days' rest you may be
+first."
+
+"Yes, of the third class," mournfully replied my master.  "I tell you
+what, Jim, it isn't fair to bind me down to a promise I made almost
+under compulsion, and for fear of making you angry."
+
+"It's quite fair, and you would make me angry if you didn't stick to it.
+Why, my dear fellow, has it ever occurred to you I'm in for the same
+Tripos as you, and I'm not behaving as ridiculously as you?"
+
+"You are safe to be in the second class," said George.
+
+"I wish I were as safe of a second as you are of a first; but I wouldn't
+kill myself to be senior classic."
+
+"You forget how important it is for me to take a good place."
+
+"It is far more important to retain your health."
+
+"Think what a difference it would make at home if I got a fellowship."
+
+"What a difference it would make if you had to go to a hospital."
+
+"What a pity, when I have the chance, not to use it."
+
+"What a pity, when you have the chance, to throw it away by knocking
+yourself up."
+
+"Surely four days can't make any difference."
+
+"Then why not stop work now and take a rest?"
+
+It was plain to see these two would never agree, and so the time went on
+until the date of the examination arrived.
+
+The night before the two friends met in George's room.  George was in
+low spirits, nervous and fretful.  It was plain to see his friend's
+protest had come too late to be of much use, for he had grown more and
+more worn every day; and the additional hours spent in bed had only been
+a source of worry and vexation.  Jim, on the other hand, was doing his
+best to keep up, not his own spirits only, but those of his friend.  His
+chances of a second class were as momentous to him (though he would not
+admit it) as his friend's of a first, and he too was experiencing,
+though in a less degree, that heart-sinking which so often characterises
+the eve of an examination.
+
+"You are not going to work to-night?" said he to my master.
+
+"I think I must," said George, wearily, and putting his hand to his
+forehead.
+
+"It can't be any earthly good now," said Jim, "so let's forget all about
+it for a bit and talk of something else."
+
+Forget all about it!  George smiled in a melancholy way at the words;
+but nevertheless he was not well enough to contest the point.  "And by
+the way," added Jim, cheerily, "I've got a letter from Newcome (you
+remember Newcome, George, the man who played for Sandhurst against us
+two years ago) I think you'll like to hear."
+
+There was one in the room, whether George liked it or not, who was dying
+to hear it!
+
+"He's just gone out to India, you know, to join his regiment."
+
+"Here's his letter," he said, producing it and nervously glancing at
+George to see if he appeared interested.  "Shall I read it?"
+
+"Yes, please," said George, slowly.
+
+"It's not a long one.  `Dear Jim,' he says, `I wish you were out here
+with all my heart.  I should at least have one fellow to talk to among
+all these strangers.  I had a decent enough passage.  Father Ocean was
+on his good behaviour, and the vessel was a snug one.  We came in for
+rough weather in the Persian Gulf, but it didn't afflict me much, and I
+landed here two days ago, safe and sound.  I reported myself to our
+colonel yesterday and was introduced to my fellow-officers.  Some of
+them are decent fellows, though perhaps hardly in your and my line.  I
+had been told the officers of our regiment were a rackety lot, but I
+don't see much sign of that yet.  It's awfully dull here, and I would
+give a lot to be up in your rooms at George's, sprawling in your easy-
+chair and talking over Randlebury days.  I suppose you will soon be in
+for your final.  Good luck be with you, my boy!  Remember me in your
+will if you get made a Fellow.  I suppose the man I met in your rooms
+once--Read I believe his name was--will be first.  Talking of that day,
+have you heard lately of Tom Drift?  I shall always be glad I went up to
+town that night and found him out, though I lost him again so soon.  I
+inquired everywhere when I was last in town, but nothing was known of
+him, except that he was supposed to have been engaged in some--' But
+that's all about an old schoolfellow and won't interest you.  `We expect
+to be ordered up-country pretty soon now, and meanwhile have liberty to
+amuse ourselves pretty much as we like, but, as far as I can see, cards
+unfortunately seem the only recreation in which the officers indulge.
+However, I shall be kept busy with drill, and being junior officer
+expect I shall be for some time fag of the regiment.  Mind you write as
+soon as ever you get this, and a regular yarn.  I have had to write this
+in a hurry, and in a room where a noise is going on.  By next mail you
+shall get a full, true, and particular account of all the doings,
+sayings, and adventures of yours as ever, C.N.'
+
+"I'm afraid," said Jim, as he folded up the letter, "it will be rather
+dull out there, for--hullo!"
+
+This ejaculation was caused by seeing that George was sitting motionless
+with his elbows on the table and his face buried in his hands.
+
+"What's the matter?" he said, getting up and laying his hand on his
+friend's arm.
+
+George looked up suddenly with a scared face, which frightened Jim.
+
+"Old man, aren't you well?" said the latter anxiously.
+
+"Eh?--oh, yes!  I'm all right.  Why--why do you ask?  But I say, Jim,
+this room is close.  Let's go out and take a turn in the big court."
+
+Jim, in sore perplexity, complied, and for an hour those two paced the
+flags round the great quadrangle.  George was himself again, much to
+Jim's relief, and suffered himself to be sent uncomplainingly to bed at
+ten.  To bed, but not to sleep.  All night long I heard him toss to and
+fro, vainly endeavouring to recall Greek and Latin lines or some other
+fragment of his studies.  At about six he dozed fitfully for an hour,
+and then came the knock at the door which summoned him from his bed to
+the first day of his ordeal.
+
+I would rather not dwell on those examination days, for I could tell, if
+no one else could, that my master was really ill, and was only prevented
+by sheer excitement from succumbing at any moment.  As day by day passed
+I could see the effort becoming more and more difficult.  The nights
+were worse than the days--sleepless, feverish, distracted.  It was
+evident this could not go on for long.
+
+The last day of the examination arrived, and my master was in his usual
+place in the Senate House.  His pen flew swiftly all the morning along
+the paper, and one by one, a triumphant tick was set against the printed
+questions before him.  I could see no one as well employed as he.  Jim,
+at a distant desk, was biting the end of his pen and looking up at the
+ceiling; other men sat back in their seats and stared with knitted brows
+at the paper before them; others buried their fingers in their hair and
+looked the picture of despair.  But still my master wrote on.  It wanted
+half an hour to the time of closing when he reached the last question on
+the paper.  I saw his lips curl into a smile as he dashed his pen into
+the ink and began to write.  Then suddenly it dropped from his fingers,
+and his hands were clasped to his forehead.  He made no motion and
+uttered no cry; men went on with their work on each side of him, and
+professors at their desks never turned his way.  I looked wildly towards
+Jim; he sat there, biting the end of his pen and scowling at the
+question before him, but for a long time never looked our way.  At last
+his head turned, and in an instant he was at his friend's side.  Others
+came round too and offered help.  Among them my poor master was borne
+from the hall and carried to his rooms, and that evening it was known
+all over the University that Reader, of George's, had been taken ill
+during the Tripos examination, and now lay delirious in his rooms in
+college.
+
+Every one believed the attack was but a slight one, but I feared the
+worst; I knew how systematically and fatally my master's constitution
+had been undermined by the work of the last three years, and felt sure
+it could never rally from the fierce fever which had laid him low.  And
+it never did.  The fever left him in due time, and his mind ceased to
+wander, but every hour his strength failed him.  His parents and Jim,
+and sometimes his old friend the rector, would constantly be about his
+bed, and to all of them it soon became evident what little hope there
+was of his recovery.  Indeed, he must have guessed it too!
+
+One day, as Jim sat with him, a faint shout was heard below in the
+quadrangle.
+
+"What's that?" inquired George.
+
+"I'll see," said Jim, and he went lightly from the room.
+
+Presently he returned with a face almost beaming.
+
+"It's good news," he said; "they were reading the result of the Tripos."
+
+"And where are you?" asked George.
+
+"_You_ are first!" said Jim, proudly.
+
+"Where are you?" repeated George.
+
+"I am twelfth."
+
+"In the first class?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That is good news, old fellow!"
+
+"That shout was in your honour, you know; our college is as proud as
+anything to have the first man."
+
+George smiled feebly, and for a long time both were silent.
+
+Then George said,--
+
+"You were right, Jim, after all.  If I had listened to you I should have
+been wiser."
+
+"Never mind, old man, you'll know better another time."
+
+"I shall never have the chance, Jim."
+
+"Don't say that, George; every one hopes you'll get better."
+
+George smiled again, then said,--
+
+"Jim, you will look after my father and mother, won't you?  You know
+I've got a little money now, and they will be comfortably off, but
+you'll go and see them now and then?"
+
+Jim laid his hand on the wasted hand of his friend.
+
+"And, Jim, I want you to take my watch when I'm gone.  I always valued
+it as much as anything, and I'd like you to have it."
+
+Poor Jim could say nothing, he only gave another pressure of his
+friend's hand.
+
+Then presently Mrs Reader returned to the room, and he slipped away.
+
+The end was not long in coming.  One afternoon as the four friends he
+loved most stood round his bed, George opened his eyes, and said,--
+
+"Listen!"
+
+"What is it, lad?" whispered the father.
+
+"An organ--somewhere--open the window."
+
+They opened the window, but the only music out there was the chirping of
+birds in the trees, and the distant footfalls of passers-by.
+
+"Listen, there it is!" he said again.
+
+"What is it playing?" asked the clergyman.
+
+"A new tune."
+
+And almost as he spoke the words, he closed his eyes for the last time
+on earth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+HOW I FALL INTO THE HANDS OF AN OLD FRIEND.
+
+Boys may imagine with what astonishment Jim Halliday discovered, on
+receiving the legacy bequeathed him by his dead friend, that I was the
+very watch which years before he had known so familiarly as the property
+of Charlie Newcome.  At first he could not believe it, and marvelled how
+any two watches could be so much alike.  Then he discovered the "C.N."
+scratched long ago inside, which he well remembered.  And further
+inquiries enabling him to trace me back to the Muggerbridge silversmith,
+and from him to the pawnbroker's sale in London, he had no doubt left
+that I was actually the watch of which nothing had been heard since Tom
+Drift owned me.
+
+My new master did not long remain in Cambridge after the death of his
+friend.  He left the University in many respects a more thoughtful and
+earnest man than he had entered it, and in leaving it set himself
+honestly and faithfully to the work for which he had prepared, and on
+which his heart was fixed.
+
+I shall not follow him through all the labours of his first village
+curacy, which lasted a year, during which time many people learned to
+love the manly, open-hearted young clergyman, and to bless the day when
+he had been sent among them.
+
+At the end of a year he was removed to the charge of a church in a
+distant large seaport, where everything was in strangest contrast with
+the scenes he had just left.  Instead of simple villagers and rustics,
+his work now lay amongst labourers and artisans of the poorest and
+lowest class.  Instead of fresh country air he had now to breathe the
+vitiated air of close courts and ill-kept streets; and instead of an
+atmosphere of repose and innocence, he had now to move in an atmosphere
+of vice and disorder, from which very often his soul turned with a deep
+disgust.  Still he worked manfully at his post with a bold heart, ready
+to face any hardship in the service of his Master, and never weary of
+striving by the Spirit's help to bring into the hard lives around him
+the elevating joys which they alone know who can call Christ the Saviour
+theirs.  One day an adventure befell him which had a strange bearing on
+my own fortunes, and the fortunes of more than one of my several
+masters.
+
+The gaol chaplain at Seatown had recently died, and during the interval
+necessary for appointing a successor Jim was asked and undertook to add
+to his other labours that of visiting the prisoners confined there.  It
+was melancholy, and on the whole monotonous work, for the persons whom
+he thus attended, were mostly stupid, ignorant beings on whose hardened
+souls it was difficult indeed to make the slightest impression.  They
+listened sulkily to what the chaplain had to say, but to all appearance
+neither understood nor cared about a single word, and he had the
+disappointment of noticing, week after week, and month after month,
+scarcely a sign of good rising out of his labours in the case of any one
+of them.
+
+One day the governor met him as he was about to pay his customary
+visits.
+
+"Oh, good-morning, sir.  You'll find a new customer to-day."
+
+The gaol governor, you will observe, spoke about his prisoners in a very
+commercial sort of way.
+
+"Yes, and a queer one too," he added; "he doesn't look like one of our
+regular customers."
+
+"What is he imprisoned for?"
+
+"He was drunk, and quarrelled with a sailor on the quay, and pushed him
+into the water, I believe."
+
+"Was the sailor drowned?"
+
+"No, they fished him out, but this gentleman has got six months for it.
+He seems very down about it, so I'd like you to see him."
+
+"All right; I will make a point of visiting his cell.  Good-morning."
+
+And Jim went on his round, thinking very little about the governor's
+communication.
+
+Presently he came to the gallery in which the new prisoner's cell was,
+and asked the turnkey to show him the door.
+
+"No use you a-going in there," muttered that functionary.
+
+"Why?" asked Jim.
+
+"He do swear so as I never hear a cove swear afore."
+
+"Ah," said Jim, "and I suppose you've heard a good deal too in your
+time."
+
+"So you may say, but this here young fellow comes out with it as if he'd
+skin you alive."
+
+"Well, I must see him.  Let me in, please."
+
+When the door was opened the prisoner's back was turned, nor did he
+alter his position as Jim entered the cell.
+
+There was undoubtedly something unusual about the man.  His figure was
+not that of a labourer or a rough, nor was his attitude one of stolid
+brutishness, such as the chaplain had grown only too familiar with.
+
+Jim stood a moment irresolute, and then said,--
+
+"May I speak to you, friend?"
+
+The man turned himself, and without raising his eyes from the stone
+floor, poured out a volley of curses which fully justified the turnkey's
+description.
+
+Jim started, and uttered a quick exclamation.  But it was not at the
+curses, terrible as they were.  No, his amazement was of another kind
+altogether; for in the face and voice of this unhappy speaker he was
+forcibly reminded of one he once knew in very different scenes.  As the
+man went on he watched him keenly and earnestly.  He heeded not the
+oaths, or the taunts, or the threats which flowed from his lips; but as
+word followed word, and gesture gesture, and look look, he became
+gradually convinced that the resemblance was more than imaginary--that,
+indeed, this blaspheming convict was one whom he had once known and
+still remembered.
+
+Walking up to him, and laying his hand on his shoulder, Jim said,
+quietly,--
+
+"Tom Drift, do you remember me?"
+
+The man started as for an instant he raised his eyes.  Then, letting
+them drop once more, he growled,--
+
+"That's not my name; I don't know you.  Let me alone!"
+
+Jim, more convinced than ever, now did the wisest thing he could in
+leaving the cell without another word.
+
+"Well," said the turnkey, with a half-triumphant grin, as they turned to
+leave the gallery, "wasn't I right?  Didn't he give you half a dozen as
+pretty bits of language as you ever heard?"
+
+"Do not speak to me about it, please," replied Jim, more tartly than he
+had been ever known to speak to any one.
+
+He did not return to the gaol for a week; and then the first visit he
+paid was to the new prisoner's cell.
+
+He entered it anxiously, and not without misgivings.  Tom Drift was
+sitting on his little bench with his head in his hands.
+
+"May I come in?" said Jim, nervously.
+
+Tom neither spoke nor raised his head; and Jim quietly stepped in.  It
+was evident the interview of a week ago had had its effect on Tom Drift.
+He seemed as he sat there like a man who would fain lose himself if he
+only knew how.  He never once raised his head from his hands or uttered
+a syllable while Jim sat and talked to him.  The latter knew better than
+to return to the topic which had so startled the prisoner a week ago,
+and contented himself with mere kindly talk and the reading of a short
+passage of Scripture.  All this Tom suffered without interruption,
+stirring neither head nor foot all the time.
+
+"Now, good-bye," said Jim, rising; "don't get to think you have no
+friends."
+
+The man fidgeted impatiently, and next moment Jim was out in the
+gallery.
+
+"What's that man's name?" he inquired of the turnkey.
+
+"Dykes; and I tell you what, Mr Halliday, he--"
+
+"Open this door, please, my man," interrupted Jim, by way of cutting him
+short.
+
+During the week which followed Jim was restless and out of spirits.  He
+seemed unable to settle down to anything, and it was evident his heart
+was ill at ease--why, it was easy to guess.  He had found Tom Drift, and
+there was a chance of rescuing him.  But how to do it?  How to approach
+one who was ashamed of his own name, and who repelled with an oath every
+offer of help?
+
+Long and earnestly did my master think over the matter.  He also wrote a
+long letter to Charlie, telling him all, and promising to do all that
+could be done for the poor prodigal.  During the days that intervened
+before his next visit, too, he made as careful and full inquiries about
+Tom as it was possible to do.
+
+The poor fellow had come to Seatown a month before, and very shortly
+became a familiar loafer on the quays.  No one knew where he came from
+or why he was in Seatown, unless indeed he expected to be able to
+conceal himself on some vessel going abroad.  Jim found out the lodging-
+house where he he had lived, but was unable to hear anything there to
+throw light on what he had been doing, or whence he had come.  One man
+said he had found him once down by the water's edge, looking as though
+he intended to throw himself in--and the man who gave him drink at the
+public-house remembered him--and the man whom he had assaulted--but that
+was all.
+
+Wretched enough was the picture it presented of a hopeless, friendless
+vagabond, weary of life, yet not daring to die, and finding his only
+solace in deeper degradation.
+
+Tom was walking to and fro in his cell the next time Jim called.  It was
+almost the first time I had been able to get a view of his face.  And
+oh! how changed it was.  Not merely that it looked pale and worn, with
+bloodshot eyes and hectic cheeks, but there was a scared despairing look
+there which fairly shocked me.  Dissipation, and shame, and want, had
+all set their mark there.  Alas! how soon may the likeness of God be
+degraded and defaced!  He continued to walk to and fro as Jim sat down
+and began to read, but I could see he more than once darted a quick
+glance from under his clouded eyebrows at my master.  I could tell by
+the beating of the latter's heart that he had made up his mind not to
+leave this morning without an effort to speak to Tom of old times, and I
+trembled for the result of his venture.
+
+It seemed impossible to say a word while Tom continued to walk up and
+down his cell like a caged beast in his den, and Jim saw that every
+moment his opportunity was becoming less likely.
+
+"Will you stand still and listen to me a moment?" he said at last.
+
+Tom growled out an oath, and halted in front of him.
+
+"Be quick," said he.
+
+"I'm not going to preach," said Jim, "I want you to look at something."
+
+"I want to look at nothing," muttered Tom, beginning to walk again.
+
+"But you must, you shall look at it!" exclaimed Jim, starting at once to
+his feet.
+
+Tom stopped short, suddenly, and turned upon him like a hunted animal.
+But Jim neither faltered nor quailed.  He walked resolutely up to the
+poor fellow, and suddenly drawing me from his pocket, held me out
+towards him, saying,--
+
+"Look at this, Tom Drift!"
+
+Tom knew me at once, and I never saw a man change as he did that moment.
+The savage scowl vanished from his face, and a sudden pallor came to
+his hollow cheeks.  A trembling seized him as he held out his hand to
+take me, and but for Jim's support he would hardly have remained
+standing.  My master led him gently to the bench, and putting me into
+his hand, said,--
+
+"I'll leave it with you till to-morrow, old fellow; good-bye."
+
+I heard the key turn in the door behind him, and counted his retreating
+footsteps down the gallery, and then became fully conscious where and in
+whose charge I was.
+
+And now an old familiar sound rang in my ears once more, "Be good to Tom
+Drift!"  Long, long had I ceased to believe it possible that the chance
+of obeying my dear first master's request would ever again come to me;
+but here it was.  I lay in the prodigal's trembling hands, and looked up
+into his troubled face, and heard his deep-drawn sigh, and felt that
+there was still something left for me to do.
+
+No one disturbed Tom Drift and me that night, Jim had explained enough
+to the governor to gain permission for me to remain in the poor fellow's
+company till next day, and I need hardly say I never left his hand.
+Memories of better days, of noble friends, of broken vows, crowded in
+upon him as he sat bending over me that night.
+
+Daylight faded, but still he never stirred; the governor made his
+nightly round, but he never took his eyes off me; and when it was too
+dark to see me he held me clasped between his hands as tenderly as if I
+had been a child.
+
+I cannot, and would not if I could, describe all that passed through Tom
+Drift's soul that night.  What struggles, what remorse, what penitence.
+Once he murmured Charlie Newcome's name, and once he whispered to
+himself, in the words of the parable he had so lately heard, "No more
+worthy, no more worthy!"  Save for this he neither spoke nor moved, till
+an early streak of dawn shot through the grated window and fell upon us.
+
+Then he turned and knelt, with me still clasped in his hands.  And so
+that night, and with it the crisis of Tom Drift's life, was passed.
+
+There was no more difficulty now for Jim Halliday.  Tom even gave me up
+when he heard how I had come into my master's possession.
+
+Then he asked about Charlie, and Jim told him all he knew.  And so the
+weeks went on, and hope once more lit up Tom Drift's face.  How could I
+help rejoicing in the share I had had in this blessed work of
+restoration?
+
+Alas! how fleeting is this world's satisfaction!
+
+A short time afterwards, only a week or so before the termination of Tom
+Drift's imprisonment, my master was returning home from the gaol, tired-
+out after his day's work.  His way lay over a place half brickfield,
+half common, across which a narrow footpath went.  We had got half way
+over when suddenly a dreadful sensation seized me.  I was slipping
+through the bottom of my pocket!  Though I had a watered ribbon attached
+to me my master always carried me loose in his waistcoat pocket, with
+never a suspicion of the hole that was there.  But now that hole seemed
+suddenly to expand in order to let me through.
+
+Lower and lower I slipped.  I tried to scream, I endeavoured to attract
+my master's attention.  But all in vain.  He strode unconsciously on,
+never giving a thought to me or my peril.  I held on as long as I could.
+Then I dropped.  If only I could have fallen on his foot, or struck his
+knee as I descended!  But no.  I slid quietly down, scarcely grazing his
+trousers, and just out of the reach of his boot.  For a moment I hoped
+wildly he would see me as I lay at his feet.  Alas! he walked heedlessly
+on, leaving me on my back on the footpath, powerless to cry after him,
+and not daring to guess what would become of me.
+
+In fact, reader, I was lost.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+HOW I WAS UNEXPECTEDLY ENLISTED IN A NEW SERVICE, IN COMPANY WITH AN
+IRISHMAN.
+
+The first thing I was conscious of, after partially recovering from the
+agony, mental and bodily, of my late accident, was a sharp tugging at my
+handle.
+
+"Watch!  I say, watch!"  I heard a voice whisper, "what's to be done?"
+It was the watered ribbon.
+
+"How should I know?"  I growled; "if you had done your duty we should
+never have been here!"
+
+One is always ready to blame somebody for everything that happens amiss.
+
+"Oh, yes, I dare say," it replied; "if you hadn't poked your nose into
+that hole we should never have been here."
+
+I did not like being thus talked to by a disreputable piece of watered
+ribbon, and so kept a dignified silence.
+
+"What's to be done?" presently repeated my companion, giving me another
+rude tug at the collar.
+
+"Hold your tongues, if we've nothing to say," was my curt reply.
+
+"Oh, but I've a lot to say," went on this irrepressible chatterbox; "in
+the first place--"
+
+"_Will_ you be silent?" said I, angrily; "isn't it bad enough to be down
+here, all through your carelessness?"
+
+"But it's not through my carelessness; it was through the hole in the
+pocket you got down here."
+
+"If you had half the sense of a--"
+
+"Of a nickel watch, let us say," said the watered ribbon, losing his
+temper; "and that would be precious little.  Well?"
+
+"If you had half the sense of a blade of grass, you would have been able
+to prevent it."
+
+"But you see I hadn't half the sense of a blade of grass, or a quarter,
+or an eighth, or a sixteenth.  If I had I should have known better than
+to lend my moral support to a good-for-nothing, tarnished, ill-
+regulated, mendacious piece of Britannia metal, that chooses to call
+itself a silver watch.  Ha, ha! what do you think of that?"
+
+What I thought of that this impudent ribbon was not destined then to
+hear; for there came at that moment a sound of approaching footsteps
+across the field, which made us both hold our breaths.  Unless the
+comer, whoever he was, could get sight of us, he was sure to tread right
+on the top of us!  Luckily the moon was out, and with her aid I made
+myself as bright as possible.  The footsteps belonged to a youth, not,
+certainly, oppressed by melancholy, to judge by the tune he was
+whistling, or very infirm, to judge by the pace at which he advanced.
+
+He came nearer and nearer, and in another step would have been upon me
+when suddenly both he and the whistling halted.  He stooped, and, with
+an exclamation of surprise, picked me up.
+
+"Man alive, an' it's a watch!  Hout, boys! there's luck for yez!"
+
+So saying he thrust me and the ribbon into a pocket crowded with all
+sorts of oddments, and walked on more rapidly than ever.
+
+I was too bewildered at first by my narrow escape and the sudden change
+in my fortunes to pay much heed to my new quarters; but presently that
+everlasting ribbon jerked my neck roughly, and called out in a loud
+whisper,--
+
+"I say, watch, he's an Irishman!"
+
+"Oh!" said I, as briefly as I could.
+
+"Yes, and there's a lucifer here tells me he's no better than he ought
+to be.  What do you think of that?"
+
+"I think you and he ought to understand one another, if that's the
+case," growled I, unable to resist the temptation of a sarcastic reply.
+
+"Ho, ho! that's pretty good for you, watch.  However, there are some
+folk who are not as good as they ought to be, let alone better."
+
+After a brief pause he began once more.
+
+"He's young; only eighteen, I'm told."
+
+As no answer was necessary here, I vouchsafed none.
+
+"And he's trying to get a job on some ship, there's a nice look-out!
+What a poor figure _you'd_ cut if you went to sea!"
+
+I could not stand this, probably because I knew it was true; so I turned
+my back, and in self-defence bade good evening to an old pocket-comb
+which lay near me.
+
+"Whew! good evening! whew!" replied he.  He had a curious way, this
+comb, of giving a sort of half-whistle, half-sigh, between every few
+words he spoke.
+
+"I suppose you are an older resident here than I am?"  I suggested, by
+way of making myself agreeable.
+
+"No, I'm not, whew!  I belong to the other pocket, whew!  I don't know
+why I'm here, whew! but make yourself at home, whew!"
+
+"I hear your master is going to sea," said I.
+
+"Not at all, whew!  Who told you that? whew! but I tell you what,
+whew--"
+
+"What?"  I inquired.
+
+At this moment our master stopped still in the middle of the road.  I
+looked out and saw that he was standing face to face with a fine
+soldierly-looking fellow in uniform, who wore a cockade of ribbons on
+his shako.
+
+"Good evening, my lad," said the soldier.
+
+"Good evening, cap'n," said the youth.
+
+"Not cap'n just yet," said the other, laughing; "call it sergeant."
+
+"Well, sargint.  Good evening to ye, sargint."
+
+"I've been looking for you all day, that I have," said the sergeant.
+
+"What, me!" said my new master, in astonishment.
+
+"Well, I was told to look out for the finest young fellow in the place,
+and that's about the same thing."
+
+The lad chuckled at this vastly, and then said,--
+
+"And what might ye be wanting me for, gineral, at all at all?"
+
+"Faith, Patrick," said the sergeant, adopting the Irish brogue as if he
+had been a native, "to give yez a message from the Quane, just."
+
+"The Quane!" shouted the Irishman.
+
+"Sure, no other.  She wants your help, my lad."
+
+"And she shall have it, bless her!  What can I do at all?"
+
+"Arrah, she wants yez to foight a blackguard or two that's guv' her
+impidence."
+
+"They have!  I'm yer boy for a shindy.  Where are they, colonel?"
+
+"Not far off.  And, by the way, she sent ye this bran new shillin' with
+her best respex to ye, Pat; and sez I'm to axe ye what you'll take to
+drink her health in; so come along, my lad."
+
+Patrick did come along, and of course was duly and willingly enlisted by
+his new friend, who promised him honour, and glory, and riches enough to
+make a commander-in-chief's mouth water.
+
+My new master, perhaps, was fond of making himself out a greater
+simpleton than he really was.  At any rate, he appeared to believe every
+word the recruiting officer told him.  And having no friends to say
+good-bye to, and no luggage to pack up, and no money (unless he pawned
+me) to spend, he was ready for marching orders immediately.  To my
+surprise, he showed no desire now to dispose of me.
+
+"What 'ud I want to give him up?" he said to himself as he held me in
+his hand.  "Shure he'll be handy to tell the toime by on the faylde of
+battle."  And with this satisfactory assurance he put me back in his
+pocket, which, greatly to my relief, was not the one which contained
+that asthmatic pocket-comb.
+
+Patrick had not to leave for his depot till next day, and took a long
+stroll through the streets of Seatown along with the recruiting officer
+this evening.  He was in high spirits and very proud of being a soldier,
+so the sergeant had very little difficulty in keeping him in good
+humour.  Indeed, he stood that officer in good stead once; for
+encountering a compatriot acquaintance, a likely sort of fellow too, he
+helped her Majesty's army to a fine recruit.
+
+"Here, Larry, ye blackguard," called he, "here's a gentman axing for
+yez."
+
+Larry, a hulking sheepish young Irishman, did not look particularly
+happy at this information, and replied,--
+
+"And what's to prevent him axing?"
+
+"Man dear, and is that the way ye address one of the Quane's foighting
+men?  Spake to him, meejor dear."
+
+The "dear meejor" at this point took up the discourse.
+
+"Faith," he said, "till I saw Patrick here I thought there wasn't a
+single boy in the place smart enough to wear a red coat, but I see
+there's two of ye anyhow."
+
+And the sergeant laughed loud and clapped Larry on the back, and told
+him it was a shame for him to be walking about in boots full of holes,
+when he might be strutting up and down as fine as any gentleman in the
+place, to say nothing of regular pay and quarters, and all the chance of
+glory.  And Patrick added his persuasions, and quoted his own example as
+a great argument.  And between them Larry let the shilling drop into his
+hand, and the three went off to drink her Majesty's health, and then
+continued their pilgrimage through the streets.
+
+At one street corner there was a rush of people, reading a newly-posted
+bill.  Fancy my astonishment as I read:--"L20 reward!  Lost yesterday
+(February 4th), near Seatown Gaol, an old silver watch, of very little
+value to any one but the owner.  A piece of black ribbon was attached.
+Any one bringing the above to the Reverend James Halliday, at 2, Quay
+Street, will receive L20 reward."
+
+How my heart beat as our party halted in front of this announcement.
+Alas! my new master was not a scholar, and on satisfying himself the
+object of the people's assembling was not a fight, he took no further
+interest in the matter, but shouldered his way past with no more thought
+of me just at that moment than of the North Pole.
+
+That night, as I lay in the dark in my new quarters, I had leisure to
+think over the strange turn which my fortune had taken.  Here I was in a
+town where three of those whom at some time or other I had called master
+were living.  One was a common prisoner, one a hard-working curate, and
+one a raw recruit.  Of my other masters, one was a London thief, one lay
+in his grave, and the other, and best loved of all, was far away in
+scenes and perils which I could not so much as picture to myself.  What
+would become of me?  I knew not; but I could not help feeling the best
+part of my life was spent, for who could be to me again what some of
+those whom I now remembered had been?
+
+I had arrived thus far in my meditations when I all of a sudden turned
+faint.  I knew what the matter was at once, and what did this lump of an
+Irishman understand about watch-keys and winding up?
+
+I called faintly to the watered ribbon--
+
+"I'm running down!"
+
+"Down where?" ejaculated he, in well-feigned alarm.
+
+"Wretch!" gasped I, "somebody ought to wind me up."
+
+"Up where?" again asked my unsympathetic tormentor.
+
+"Brute!" was all I could say.
+
+"That's just the way with you clever people," began the ribbon; "as long
+as you are all right no name's bad enough for poor people like us; but
+as soon as ever you get into trouble--"
+
+Here with a groan I ran down, and was spared the end of his speech.
+
+I only had a vague, dim idea of what took place for the next few months.
+I was conscious of long railway journeys, and arriving at a big,
+dreary-looking sort of prison where there was nothing but soldiers.
+
+All day long the place rang with bugle notes and words of command; and
+all night my master slept in a great room with a lot of noisy men, of
+whom I have an impression he was not the most silent.  In due time he
+put a coat over the waistcoat in which I lived, and was mightily proud
+the first time he walked abroad in his new dress.  And so things went on
+for nearly a year.
+
+But one day it was evident some great excitement had come to vary the
+monotony of our barrack life.  Officers talked in clusters instead of
+drilling their men, and the men instead of doing their ordinary work
+crowded into the long shed to talk over the news.
+
+And it soon came out what the news was.  The regiment had been ordered
+to hold itself in readiness for immediate service at the seat of war in
+India!  What excitement there was!  What cheers and exultation!  What
+spirits the men were in, and what friends every one became all of a
+sudden with everybody else!  Among the rest my young master's blood rose
+within him at the thought of fighting.  He had grown sick of the dull
+routine of barrack life, and more than once half repented his easy
+acceptance of the Queen's shilling, but now he thought of nothing but
+the wars, and his spirits rose so high that the sergeant on duty had to
+promise him an arrest before he could be reduced to order.
+
+At night the room where we slept was a perfect Babel.  Men talked of
+nothing but the voyage and the campaign that was to follow, and wished
+the marching orders had been for to-morrow instead of next week.
+
+Suddenly (and I don't exactly know why) my master remembered my
+existence, and I heard him call out,--
+
+"Does any of you boys know anything about a watch, at all?"
+
+"Duck Downie does," replied one or two voices.
+
+"Duck Downie, me jewil, will ye step this way just?" called out my
+master, "and cast your eye on my watch?"
+
+The gentleman rejoicing in the name of Duck Downie was a ferocious-
+looking little fellow who had, before he decided to devote his energies
+to the extermination of her Majesty's foes, been a watchmaker's
+apprentice.  He came, forward at the invitation, and cast his eye in the
+direction indicated.  It was evidently the first time he had known that
+Paddy so much as owned a watch; for he stared hard at me, and then said
+with a knowing wink,--
+
+"Did he struggle much?"
+
+"Faith and he did a wee bit, Duck, but so did I too, ye see," said
+Paddy, entering into the joke.
+
+"Let's have a look at him," said Duck, taking me and stripping the coat
+off my back.  "Give us the key."
+
+"The kay!" said Paddy, whose notions of a watch's interior were
+delightfully vague; "sure there's no kay.  Here, Edward I will ye lend
+Mister Downie a kay!"
+
+The youth addressed as Edward fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the
+key of his locker, which he handed to my master.
+
+"That's the boy!  Here's a kay, Duck darlint, since ye want one."
+
+Duck was rude enough to laugh immoderately at this--so much so, that my
+master, who was unconscious of a joke, grew quite angry.
+
+"Ef that's all ye can do--gape like an ould money-box--I can do that as
+well myself; so hand up the watch!"
+
+Duck Downie laughed again at this, and then said,--
+
+"I want the key of the watch, puddin'-head, not this thing!"
+
+"Arrah, it's got no kay, I tell ye.  What ud _it_ want a kay for?"
+
+Duck laughed again at this.
+
+"Paddy," said he, "next time you borrow a gentleman's watch be sure you
+ask 'im for the key, do you hear?  You want the key to wind the thing
+up--that's why he don't go."
+
+Paddy, who had sense enough to see that Mr Downie knew more about a
+watch than he did, held his peace, and took no trouble to refute the
+imputation on the way in which he had come by me.
+
+Duck Downie having, with some difficulty, borrowed a watch-key, wound me
+up, greatly to my delight and that of my master.  It was delicious to
+feel the blood tingling through my veins once more, and to have my heart
+beat again with renewed animation.  My master's glee was only equalled
+by his astonishment.  He looked at first as if he suspected Duck Downie
+of being in league with supernatural powers; but when that eminent
+mechanic took the trouble to explain to him the value of the operation
+he had just performed on me, Paddy without a word rushed out, at the
+risk of all sorts of penalties, into the town, and knew no peace till he
+had possessed himself of a "kay," which henceforth became the
+inseparable companion of me and the watered ribbon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+HOW I MADE A LONG JOURNEY, AND REACHED THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE.
+
+One morning, in the autumn of the same year, a small cluster of men
+standing on the deck of the troopship "Lizard," as she tumbled lazily
+forward over the waves, descried in the far horizon before them a dim
+low line of blue.  My master was one of this cluster, and having
+recovered from the depression which had afflicted both his spirits and
+his stomach during the early part of the voyage, now celebrated the
+"discovery of India" with a cry so outlandish, and other manifestations
+of joy so extravagant (one of which was pitching one of the sergeants'
+caps overboard) that he was instantly summoned before the officer in
+command, and ordered to remain below for the next twelve hours.  This
+was, I need hardly say, a disappointment to both of us.
+
+All day long we heard overhead the crowding of footsteps, the clanking
+of chains, and the banging about of baggage.  The men were paraded on
+deck and one or two servants down where we were were very busy polishing
+the officers' swords.  Altogether it looked as if we were not intended
+to remain an hour longer in Bombay than was necessary before marching to
+the front.  Indeed, the arrival of a newspaper on board, along with the
+pilot, created such a ferment among the officers and men that it was
+evident something unusual had happened since we last heard the news.
+
+When, towards evening, my master was allowed once more to come on deck,
+we were not long in discovering the cause of all this.
+
+The Indian Mutiny, which had just broken out when we left England, had
+suddenly assumed enormous and hideous dimensions.  The rebels, taking
+advantage of their first success, seemed to have gone mad with a most
+cruel madness.  Helpless Englishwomen and children had been massacred
+and outraged; gallant Englishmen, overpowered by numbers, had been put
+to shameful deaths.  One by one our strongholds had been surprised and
+captured; and, carrying all before them, the traitors bade fair to leave
+England not so much as a foothold in India.
+
+This was enough to make the blood of the tamest among us boil with
+indignation, and, as the dreadful truth, bit by bit, dawned on our
+gallant fellows, their impatience became almost beyond control.  My
+master was in sad peril of another arrest by reason of his excitement.
+
+"Show me the spalpeens!  Show me 'em!" roared he, almost beside himself.
+"Let me at 'em, Duck, ye blackguard; let me at 'em!"
+
+And so saying he seized Mr Downie, who happened to be standing near
+him, and nearly shook the bones out of that unoffending hero's body.
+
+"Do ye hear?" roared Paddy, quite out of his senses.
+
+"I hear," said Downie, coolly, proceeding to take off his coat and tuck
+up his shirt-sleeves as if he were going to wash his hands.
+
+"What's the gossoon about at all?" cried my master, taken aback by this
+unexpected reply to his question.
+
+"On'y going to smash you!" calmly replied the imperturbable Duck,
+beginning to spar--"so come on, my lad!"
+
+That Patrick would have joyfully accepted the invitation I have no
+doubt, had not an accident at that moment befallen him.
+
+A trolly coming up behind, took him off his feet.  To recover himself,
+he took a spring forward, and landed full on the top of the junior
+ensign of the regiment, a mild youth with a very little voice, and for
+the next minute the two were rolling, one on the top of the other, over
+and over, along the wet deck, amid the laughter of everybody.
+
+By the time Paddy had picked himself up, and helped the poor young
+ensign to his feet, his ardour was sufficiently damped.  He apologised
+with as good grace as he could to his late victim, and made very humble
+excuses to the sergeant in charge, who, fortunately for him, had
+witnessed that the affair was an accident.
+
+Duck Downie, however, with his coat off and his sleeves tucked up, still
+awaited his man as if nothing had happened, and seemed surprised that
+Paddy was not as eager as before for the fray.  The latter, however,
+quite sobered by this time, merely cried out in the hearing of
+everybody,--
+
+"Arrah!  Downie, darlint, ye may put on your coat, because I forgive you
+this onst; but, man dear, don't do it again!" and was thereby considered
+by everybody to have had the best of the whole adventure.
+
+Under such dignified circumstances did we set foot on Indian soil.
+
+The reader will be surprised that I have never yet remembered that when
+I last heard of him, Charlie, my first master, was in India.  I did
+remember it often and often--during the voyage and after landing.  And
+yet I quite despised myself for imagining (as I did) that the next white
+face I saw would surely be his.  India is a big place--a dreadfully big
+place--and the chances of finding any one particular person there are
+about as great as of discovering a needle in a haystack.  He might have
+left India long ago; he might have fallen in the massacres of the past
+few months; he might be somewhere right across the continent.  And so,
+though I could not get rid of a vague sort of expectation, during the
+first few days of my being in India, I always laughed at myself for a
+simpleton for thinking such a chance possible.
+
+However, we had no time for thinking just then.  From the moment we
+landed in Bombay, and for a week or two afterwards, we were continually
+on the move.  Long forced marches under a broiling sun, it was enough to
+wear out any ordinary troops.  But our men, and the column to which they
+were now attached, formed no ordinary body of men.  They were Englishmen
+hastening to the rescue, and nothing on earth could stop them.  It was
+strange how slowly the news of those stirring times came to our ears.
+
+One day we heard with a horror that I can never describe of that foul
+massacre at Cawnpore, where in cold blood gentle English ladies and
+innocent children had been brutally massacred, and their bodies flung
+into a well.  Then the news came of the achievements of that wonderful
+army of relief led by Havelock.
+
+Day after day came the news of his march on Lucknow, where our besieged
+fellow-countrymen lay.  Every one knows of that heroic march.  Inch by
+inch, almost, that handful of men fought their way, fighting a battle a
+day, and never yielding a step.
+
+One day a horseman galloped into our camp in a great state of
+excitement.  As he flung himself from his horse he shouted something,
+but we only caught the two words, "Havelock," "Lucknow."  It was enough.
+Lucknow was saved!  There rose cheer upon cheer at the news, and shout
+upon shout.  Men and officers alike waved their hats and shook hands,
+Paddy, as usual, let his feelings get the better of him, and nearly
+broke Larry's spine with the joyful thump he gave it; indeed, it is safe
+to say our men were almost as proud as if they had themselves achieved
+the relief.
+
+Presently, however, there spread a rumour that though Lucknow was saved,
+it was not yet relieved.
+
+Havelock had fought his way in, but until help arrived, he, too, would
+be a prisoner within its walls; and almost in the same breath came the
+grand news; our column was the one destined for this glorious work!  How
+our hearts beat!  What mattered it now how long the marches were, and
+how grilling the sun?
+
+"Lucknow" was the cry; and that magic word sustained us in every
+hardship and peril.
+
+We reached Cawnpore at last, and there joined Sir Colin Campbell's
+force.  The sight of this house of murder was simply maddening to the
+men.  They left the place next morning with a sort of shudder, and set
+their faces towards Lucknow.  It was not till we were well on the march
+that I had leisure to look about me and notice how our force was
+increased.
+
+Several now regiments were with us, and the commander-in-chief and his
+staff and heavy guns and siege trains accompanied the march.  With the
+exception of a few skirmishes, my master had yet to learn what a battle
+was.  We crept on, halting sometimes, and sometimes pushing on, until
+one jubilant afternoon the distant walls of Lucknow appeared in sight.
+Then indeed our brave fellows began to breathe again.
+
+To-morrow would bring them to the city walls, and--what was equally
+after their hearts--face to face with the enemy.  We bivouacked here for
+the night.
+
+Now it happened on this particular night that my master was on sentinel
+duty for the first time in his life, and mightily proud of his charge.
+There he stood as stiff as a poker, with his rifle at his side, and I
+verily believe would have thought nothing of running his bayonet through
+the body of the commander-in-chief if he had presented himself without
+the password.
+
+Patrick was not a dreamer; and as he looked across in the direction of
+Lucknow I don't suppose his meditations were of the loftiest kind.  He
+knew there would be a fight to-morrow, and so he was happy; he knew duty
+might call him to action even to-night, and so he kept a very sharp
+look-out at his post; but otherwise his mind was profoundly untroubled.
+It was not so with me.  On the eve of the battle I could not but feel
+that in a few hours I might be ownerless, and in a dead man's pocket;
+and, as I looked back upon my strangely eventful life, I sighed, and
+half hoped, if he were slain, they would in mercy bury me with him, and
+so end my cares once and for all.  Little I knew!
+
+It was scarcely ten o'clock when Paddy was startled by approaching
+footsteps.  They belonged to an officer of our force who was returning
+at this hour from an outpost.  Paddy eyed him suspiciously, and even
+when he gave the word looked disappointed at not having the privilege of
+using his bayonet upon him.  Just as he was going on his way, the
+officer turned and said, in a voice which startled me,--
+
+"Is it ten yet, my man?"
+
+Why did the voice startle me?  I could not see the speaker's face, but
+as he spoke I fancied myself back in the Randlebury schoolroom, and my
+memory saw a bright-eyed boy I had known once whom I could almost have
+believed to be the speaker of these few words.  Strange what fancies
+take possession of one!  Patrick, as he _had_ a watch, and had by this
+time learned the mysterious art of telling the time, was not the man to
+answer such a question as this at random.
+
+"Hould my gun, cap'n," he said, "till I sthrike a light."
+
+Fancy a sentinel asking an officer to hold his gun!  I knew enough of
+military discipline to make me tremble at the thought of what would
+become of my unceremonious master.
+
+But the officer, instead of flying into a rage, took the rifle and
+laughed.  That laugh reminded me more than ever of Randlebury.
+
+"You're a pretty fellow," he said.  "Is that the manners they teach you
+at home."
+
+"I axe yer pardon, colonel, but--"
+
+Here the officer laughed again--and oh! how my heart beat as I heard
+him.  "If I stay here much longer I shall get promoted to general, I
+suppose," said he.  "Look sharp and tell me the time."
+
+Patrick, without another word, produced a light.  The officer's face was
+half turned as he did so, and I could not catch his features, but as he
+turned impatiently towards the sentinel the light fell full upon it, and
+with a bound of astonishment I recognised in the swarthy, soldierly
+officer before me, no other than my oldest and dearest master, Charlie
+Newcome, of Randlebury.
+
+The strange presentiment, then, was true--I had found him after so long
+a time!  But what if he should not see me?  What torment to be so near
+and yet so far!  And how was it likely he would take notice of a common
+private's watch, and if he did, how was it likely at this distance of
+time he would remember poor me?  Jim, I know, had told him of the
+strange way in which I had come into his hands, and would certainly have
+also told him about losing me.  He must, therefore, long ago have given
+up all thoughts about me, or if he ever remembered me it would be as one
+dead.
+
+My master took me out and held me up to the light.
+
+"It'll be about five minutes past ten, your honour, by my watch."
+
+"Thank you.  Good--hullo?"
+
+He had seen me!  His eyes were suddenly riveted upon me, and he seemed
+glued to the spot where he stood.
+
+"Did your honour plaze to spake?" asked Paddy, proceeding to put me back
+into his pocket.
+
+"My old watch!" cried Charlie, springing forward, and catching hold of
+my master's hand.  "Give it to me!"
+
+Paddy's surprise was unbounded.  At first he deemed the man mad, then
+drunk, then gradually it dawned upon him this was not an officer at all,
+but a highwayman in disguise, seeking to take advantage of his solitude
+to rob him.
+
+In an instant he sprang back, and, seizing his rifle, levelled the
+bayonet to within an inch of Charlie's heart.
+
+"Now, ye thievin' blackguard," said he, "move an inch and I'll stick ye
+like a pig.  Arrah! but ye came to the wrong boy when ye thought to play
+your tricks on me!  Stan' still now, or as sure as you're alive you're a
+dead man;" and he gave Charlie a suggestive touch with the point of his
+weapon, which showed plainly he had every intention of being as good as
+his word.
+
+Here was a predicament! and I could do nothing to help.
+
+Charlie, fairly penned in a corner, was at a loss what to say or do.  He
+began in an angry strain,--
+
+"Don't be a fool, sir; do you--"
+
+"Howld yer tongue!" roared Paddy, giving another poke with his bayonet.
+
+Then Charlie attempted to laugh, which enraged the sentry all the more.
+
+"Is it mock me, ye would, as well as rob me, ye foul-mouthed spalpeen,
+you?" he cried.
+
+"I don't want to rob you," put in Charlie.
+
+"Faith and I'll see ye don't," retorted the Irishman.
+
+"Listen to me an instant," besought Charlie.
+
+"The sorra a word.  Ye shall say it all before the gineral the morrow,
+for there I'll take ye."
+
+For some moments Charlie stood in this awkward fix, not daring to stir,
+or even to speak, and with every prospect of spending the night with a
+bayonet point within an inch of his body.
+
+Suddenly, however, a brilliant idea occurred to him.  If I really was
+his old watch, as he fancied, this man had possibly found me where
+Halliday had lost me.
+
+It was a bare chance every way, but he determined to try it.
+
+"So you are from Seatown!" he suddenly exclaimed.
+
+The rifle literally dropped from the astonished sentry's hand.
+
+"Who told ye that?" he almost shrieked.
+
+"Never mind," said Charlie, following up the advantage, and softly
+stepping out of his corner.  "It's two years since you left, isn't it?"
+
+Patrick was "dumfoundered."  This man must be in league, surely, with
+the powers of darkness!
+
+"_Now_ do you know why I want that watch?" said Charlie sternly, at the
+same time quietly picking up the dropped rifle.  The tables were fairly
+turned now.  The wretched Patrick, whose conscience had more than once
+smitten him about the way in which he had become possessed of me, looked
+the picture of terror--not at the bayonet, but at the man who held it.
+
+He drew me from his pocket with trembling hands, and holding me out at
+arm's length, cried,--
+
+"Arrah, arrah! take him, gineral, take him.  How was I to know you was
+the gentleman dropped him there?  Who'd have--"
+
+By this time Charlie had seized me and taken me to the light.  In an
+instant he stripped me of my coat, and there, with bounding heart, read
+his own initials, scratched years ago with his own boyish hand, in the
+dormitory of Randlebury.
+
+"It _is_ it!" he shouted; "my old watch!  Who would have thought it
+possible!"
+
+Then turning to the trembling Paddy, he said, in a voice almost unsteady
+in its eagerness,--
+
+"My man, what will you sell me this watch for?"
+
+Paddy looked more astonished than ever.
+
+"Sure it's your honour's own."
+
+"It was once, but it's yours now.  But I'll give you a ten-pound note
+for him and a gold watch besides if you'll let me have him back."
+
+Imagine Paddy's astonishment.
+
+"Sure Duck Downie says it's not worth thirty shillings--"
+
+"Who cares for Duck Downie?" shouted Charlie, pulling out his purse.
+"Here's the money, and if you come to Lieutenant Newcome's tent when you
+are off duty you shall have the watch."
+
+And so saying, and not waiting for another word, he darted off, with me
+still in his hands, leaving Paddy fairly stupefied with amazement, and
+with only presence of mind enough left to pick up his rifle and make a
+royal salute to the retreating form of my first and last and dearest
+master.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+HOW I SAVED MY MASTER'S LIFE, AND RETIRED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE.
+
+I may with truth say, I reached that night the happiest moment in my
+life.
+
+Indeed, as the young officer walked on, with me held tight in his hand,
+it would be hard to say which of us two was the happier.
+
+Charlie's soldier life had not turned out as happily as, long ago, he
+had pictured it to himself.  Away from home, and with comparatively few
+friends, he had felt himself losing somewhat of his freshness and boyish
+enthusiasm, and settling down rather to habits of a humdrum commonplace
+official.  Books he had very few, and congenial society still less.
+Quartered as he had been during the first two years in dull country
+stations, he had grown weary of the routine of everyday life, and longed
+for the sight of fresh faces, fresh scenes, fresh occupation.
+
+After a while this desire was gratified in his removal to Calcutta.  But
+if he had suffered from dulness and weariness before, he was now in
+danger of going to another extreme.  In his first joy at getting back
+into lively society he rushed with ardour into all the attractions and
+gaieties of the capital.  Not that Charlie was a fellow ever to make the
+same mistakes as Tom Drift.  He never associated with companions he knew
+to be bad, or allowed himself to be led into scenes which were in the
+slightest degree discreditable.  But he did enter rather too readily
+into the frivolities of his new quarters, at the expense of his peace of
+mind.  His popularity was his greatest snare.  Everywhere he went he
+became a favourite.  People were eager to get him to join their parties,
+and he was often enough too good-natured to refuse.  And thus Charlie
+wasted much of his time, and in the end found himself far more
+dissatisfied with himself than in the quiet monotony of his up-country
+duties.
+
+Do not let me do him injustice, reader, in my account of him during
+those few weeks at Calcutta.
+
+He was gay but not fast, frivolous though not dissipated.  His errors
+were errors of unprofitableness, but never of viciousness.  Even in his
+most frivolous moments he had never been anything but a gentleman and a
+good fellow.  Still, it had been unsatisfactory, and he knew it to be so
+in his inmost soul.
+
+In the midst of this life came the mutiny, and, like hundreds of others,
+Charlie leapt at the call of duty, and flung to the winds all those
+attractions which had held him captive during the weeks of his idleness.
+Like hundreds of others his blood boiled at the tragedies of that awful
+time, and now, of all the rescuing host, there was not one who loved his
+own life less, or his country's glory more, than Charlie Newcome.
+
+And thus it was with him when I found him.
+
+But to-night, whatever may have been the memories, and hopes, and
+regrets which secretly animated his breast in finding himself again
+possessed of his boyish treasure and the companion of so many of his
+happiest days, Charlie Newcome had no leisure to sit down and spend his
+time in passive contemplation.  He had a report to make to his colonel,
+and an important despatch to carry to the commander-in-chief.  Then
+there was the ammunition to be served out among his men, and he had to
+superintend the process.  And there were the plans for next day's
+assault to be talked over with his brother officers, and the various
+detachments for that duty to be selected.  So that Charlie was a busy
+man that night.  But with what a light heart he laboured!  Among his
+occupations he did not forget the gold watch, but had the satisfaction
+of making Paddy the happiest man (but one) in the camp.
+
+Thus, first with one thing, then another, the night wore on; and, when
+towards morning he lay down on his camp bed for a hurried rest, he fell
+asleep like a child, whistling one of the old Randlebury songs, and with
+me, as of old, under his pillow.
+
+At the first note of the bugle he sprang from his couch, and putting me
+in my old abode, next his heart, sallied out to see the preparations for
+the advance.  It was generally known we were to make a dash for the
+approaches to Lucknow this day; and at the prospect of the attack the
+troops hailed the signal to get under arms with enthusiasm.  It was
+plain to see, by the alacrity with which the men worked, that my master
+was a prime favourite in his own company; indeed, such was their
+promptitude that we stood ready and waiting long before the order to
+march arrived.
+
+During this interval, if Charlie was seized with a desire to know the
+time once, he was seized twenty times; and each time a mere glance was
+not enough to satisfy him.  How natural it all seemed, and how like old
+times!
+
+Then came the longed-for signal, and with a cheer the men set their
+faces towards Lucknow.
+
+Now, the reader must not expect I am going to describe military
+operations for his edification.  I know nothing about columns and
+countermarches, and echelons and skirmishing; how could a watch, hid
+under a scarlet jacket, be expected to do so?
+
+True, I had eyes that could penetrate any number of scarlet jackets, but
+what good was that when I knew about as much of the art of war as I did
+of candle-making!
+
+But there are some things in the events of that memorable day which I
+shall remember as long as I live.
+
+After about an hour's march we were suddenly halted, and almost at the
+same moment there came the sullen boom of a gun ahead.  I could feel
+Charlie's heart leap at the sound.  It was the enemy at last; and now
+the fate of Lucknow was to be decided.
+
+A horseman dashed up to the head of our column and called out to our
+colonel, in a voice loud enough for us all to hear, "Bring up your
+battalion."  Next moment we were advancing in double quick time through
+a lane of troops to the front.  There two other regiments stood waiting,
+and almost the instant we arrived the whole body moved forward at a run.
+
+It was an exciting moment.  The enemy's guns sounded louder and more
+frequent ahead, and dropping shot at either side announced that our
+danger was not all in front.  The pace was kept up for a hundred yards
+or so, until we reached a cluster of trees, in whose shelter the column
+was halted to get breath.  The fire in front still kept up, and through
+the smoke I thought I could discern the dim outline of a low building,
+not five hundred yards distant.  At this moment Charlie and the other
+officers were summoned to the front for orders.  They were brief and to
+the point.
+
+"Straight for the fort, there!" said the commanding officer, "the
+shortest way you can take your men!"
+
+It was an order that meant certain death to scores of those brave
+fellows; yet when they had heard it they cheered as schoolboys cheer for
+a holiday.
+
+Again we stood waiting.  The officers with their swords drawn stepped in
+front.  The men quickly loaded and fixed bayonets, and then came the
+shout,--
+
+"Forward!"
+
+As we cleared the trees we burst full in the face of the enemy's fire.
+For a moment the balls whizzed harmlessly over our heads, then there was
+a crash on the ground before us, and, as we rushed on, the men parted on
+either side to avoid stepping over a dying man.  It was awful; and every
+step we took grew more and more fatal.  Under that withering fire men
+went down by the dozen; yet still the column rushed on.  The front rank
+broke into gaps, which the rear rank men dashed forward to fill, till
+they themselves fell.  And still on we rushed.  Officers, too,
+everywhere to the front, dropped one by one; but still we never checked
+our pace.  The sullen walls of the fort stood clear before us and poured
+upon us an unceasing shower of bullet and ball.  In a minute our
+foremost men would be at the walls.
+
+"Forward now! follow me!"  I heard Charlie cry; and looking round
+noticed for the first time that the captain of his company was missing.
+The men cheered by way of answer, and their run broke into a rush as
+they followed him under the guns.  Others were at the fort before us,
+and the storm had already begun.  Heedless of wounds, heedless of peril,
+the men swept towards the breach, and called on those behind to come on.
+Charlie was one of the earliest of our battalion there, and already his
+feet were in the place, and he was waving to his men to come up when--
+
+I felt a dull crushing sensation.  My nerves collapsed; my senses left
+me.  Speech, sight, hearing, all failed me in an instant; a strange
+darkness came over me, and then I was conscious of nothing.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+When my senses slowly and wearily recovered I was still lying in my
+master's pocket in the place where he had fallen at the storming of the
+breach.  Firing was still going on all around, but the shouts of our men
+rose now from inside the fort instead of outside.  And what shouting it
+was!  The enemy's guns ceased as if by magic, and the distant sounds of
+firing showed plainly enough that the main body, now that we had
+silenced the fort, was resuming its march on Lucknow.
+
+All this flashed through me as my senses gradually returned, and before
+even I had time to contemplate my own condition.  What a wreck I was!  A
+helpless cripple past all healing, of no use to any one, and utterly
+incapable of resuming the ordinary duties of life.  But almost before I
+could realise this, another care flashed through my mind and drove out
+every other.
+
+My master!  What of him?  There he lay, motionless and pale, with his
+blue eyes closed, and a little stream of blood trickling down his chest.
+Could he be dead?
+
+Anxiously I listened if his heart still beat.  At first all seemed
+silent as death.  Then there seemed a slight quiver, and as I listened
+still, a faint throb.  He lived still!  How I longed for help to come!
+
+And before long it came.  Two soldiers of Charlie's regiment came out of
+the fort and walked straight towards us.
+
+"It was close to the breach he dropped," said one.
+
+"Come on, then," said the other, "and we may be in time."
+
+They were not long in finding the object of their search, and leant
+eagerly over him.
+
+"He's dead, poor fellow!" said the first; "shot right through the
+heart!"
+
+"So he is," said the other.  "It must have--wait a bit!" cried he, in
+sudden excitement.  "Feel here, Tom, quick! he's alive yet!  Oh, if we
+could only get hold of a doctor!"
+
+"Is there one about at all?"
+
+"Not that I know of, unless the Major knows what to do."
+
+Just then there came up a gaunt man, in an undress uniform, who, seeing
+that they knelt over a wounded man, said,--
+
+"Is he alive?"
+
+"It's all he is, sir," replied one of the men; "and we're wondering how
+to get a doctor to him."
+
+"Let me see," said the stranger, approaching the body.
+
+He knelt beside it and gently removed the coat from the wound.
+
+"It looks as if he must be shot through the heart.  Stay a bit, though,
+here's a watch!" and he pulled me softly out of the pocket.  As he did
+so I looked up at him.  Surely I knew his face!  Surely somewhere I had
+seen that troubled frightened face before!  Then I remembered Seatown
+Gaol!  Could this be Tom Drift here in India, and kneeling beside his
+old schoolfellow's body?
+
+It was indeed Tom Drift!  But he neither recognised me nor the wounded
+man before him; indeed he was too busy examining the latter's wound to
+look very closely at his face.  As he removed the waistcoat he uttered
+an exclamation of astonishment.
+
+"A most wonderful thing," he said; "the bullet, which must have been a
+spent one, has struck his watch and turned aside.  A most wonderful
+escape!"
+
+And then he produced a box of instruments, with one of which he probed
+the wound, and after some trouble extracted the bullet.  Then, bandaging
+up the place, he said,--
+
+"He may do now, but he has lost a lot of blood.  Let him lie here a bit,
+and presently, if he seems better, move him into the fort.  I will see
+him again this evening."
+
+And so saying, he passed on to the next prostrate figure.
+
+Towards evening the two men tenderly lifted their officer in their arms
+and carried him inside the fort, where a rude hospital had been fitted
+up.  Here Charlie, who, after the extraction of the bullet and
+staunching of blood, had shown symptoms of recovery, opened his eyes,
+and found himself able to say a few words to those round him.  And when
+they told him how I had probably saved his life his face lit up with a
+most triumphant smile, and he asked that I might be put into his hand.
+
+As he lay there, scarcely strong enough to speak, and fondling me in his
+fingers, the doctor entered the hospital.
+
+He came straight to Charlie's bed.  My master's eyes were closed when
+Tom first reached his side; and I could see by the face of the latter
+that he was still as far from recognising his old schoolfellow as ever.
+But directly Tom softly lifted the clothes in order to examine his
+wound, the patient woke and opened his eyes.  They rested for a moment
+on the doctor's face, and then, with a sudden flush and start, he half
+raised himself in his bed, and exclaimed,--
+
+"Tom Drift, is it you?"
+
+The doctor thus unexpectedly hearing his own name pronounced, turned
+pale, and started back as if he had been shot.  The scared, terrified
+look returned to his face, and for an instant he seemed as if he would
+rush from the place.  But only for an instant.
+
+As he looked again on the face of his patient a strange expression came
+over his own.  Wonder, doubt, joy, succeeded each other in rapid
+succession, and then all of a sudden it flashed upon him who this was.
+
+"Charlie!" he exclaimed, trembling with astonishment; and next moment
+the poor prodigal was on his knees beside his friend's bed, sobbing,
+with his head buried in his hands.
+
+Don't laugh at him, reader, for thus forgetting himself.  Tom Drift had
+been through many trials you know nothing about, and out of those trials
+he had come broken in spirit and as humble as a child.  _You_ might have
+had more regard for appearances, perhaps, and controlled your emotion
+genteelly; but, as I have said before, Tom Drift was not anything like
+so strong-minded as you.  So he knelt there and sobbed; and Charlie, as
+he lay, took his hand into his own, and held it.
+
+Presently he said, softly, "Tom!"
+
+Tom looked up and rose to his feet.
+
+"What, old fellow?"
+
+"Look here, Tom!" said Charlie, showing me.
+
+At the sight of me, bruised and battered as I was, Tom's feelings
+overcame him again.  He seized me eagerly, and looked long and tenderly
+into my face; then his tears came again, and once more he sunk on his
+knees at Charlie's side and buried his face in his hands.
+
+The place was getting dark.  The noise of voices outside and the distant
+roar of guns slowly died away; the guards for the night were called out,
+and one by one soldier and invalid fell asleep after their hard day's
+toil.  But Tom Drift never moved from Charlie's bedside, nor did
+Charlie, by word or movement, disturb him.  In the silence of that night
+I seemed to be back in the past--when, years ago, I first knew these
+two.  The dreary hospital changed, in my imagination, into the old
+Randlebury dormitory.
+
+These beds all round were occupied not by wounded soldiers, but by
+soundly-sleeping boys, worn out with sports or study.  And the two
+between whom I lay were no longer suffering men, but the light-hearted
+lads of long ago.  I could almost fancy myself ticking through the
+silent watches; and when now and then the fingers that held me closed
+over me, or fondled me tenderly, I could almost have believed I heard
+the low sweet whistling of an innocent boy as he furtively turned in his
+waking moments to his father's precious gift.
+
+It all seemed so strangely natural that as I woke from my dream it
+required an effort to remember where I really was.  All was silent
+around me.  I peered first at my master, then at Tom Drift; they were
+both asleep--sleeping, perhaps, as simply as ever they did in those
+bygone days--Tom kneeling still by the bedside with his head upon his
+arms, and Charlie turned towards him with one hand upon his friend's,
+and I--I lay between them.
+
+Thus the sultry Indian night passed, and then at the little window
+opposite there came a faint gleam of light.
+
+Charlie woke first, and, laying his hand gently on Tom's arm, said, "Tom
+Drift, old fellow!"
+
+With a start and a bound Tom was awake and on his feet, staring in a
+bewildered way round him.
+
+At last his eyes fell on Charlie, and he remembered where he was.  "I
+was asleep and dreaming," he said.
+
+"So was I," said Charlie--and _I_ could almost guess what their dreams
+had been.
+
+"Now, Tom," said Charlie, "you must look to my wound."
+
+"My poor boy!" exclaimed Tom; "to think I have forgotten it all this
+time!"
+
+"It's not worth bothering about, after all," said my master, "But see,
+Tom, the day is breaking."
+
+"Ay!" said Tom, looking down with a new light in his weary eyes, "the
+day _is_ breaking!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+WHICH BRINGS MY ADVENTURES TO A CLOSE.
+
+Reader, be my companion in one scene more, and my story is done.
+
+A month or two ago there was a grand merrymaking at the house of one
+Charles Newcome, Esquire, late captain in her Majesty's army, to
+celebrate the tenth birthday of his son, Master Thomas James Newcome.
+The company was mostly juvenile, and included, of course, the gallant
+captain's two little girls and his younger son, that most terrible of
+all Turks, Charlie the younger.  Then there were all the little boys and
+girls living in the square, and many others from a distance, and one or
+two big boys and girls, and one or two young gentlemen who stroked their
+chins as if something was to be felt there, and one or two young ladies
+who would not take twice of sponge-cake, for fear of looking as if they
+were hungry.  But besides these there were a few grown-up people
+present, whom I must not forget to name.  Naturally the gallant captain
+was one, and the gallant captain's lady was another; and then there were
+the last-named lady's two brothers there, one a clergyman called the
+Reverend James Halliday, and the other (and elder) Mr Joseph Halliday,
+a civil engineer with a ferocious pair of whiskers.  And, to complete
+the party, there was present a grave, anxious-looking gentleman by the
+name of Mr Drift, a surgeon.
+
+These all sat apart and looked on while the young folk enjoyed
+themselves.  And how the young folk did enjoy themselves that night!
+What shouting and laughter there was, what a jingling of the piano, what
+hiding in corners, what romping on the stair case!  And the round games,
+and the charades, and the family posts!  Oh dear me, I'm an old watch,
+and I've gone through a good many noisy scenes, but I never remember
+such a racket as this.
+
+And how the young folk besieged the elder and compelled them to join in
+the fun.  There was papa down on his hands and knees with half-a-dozen
+youngsters on his back.  And there was Uncle Joseph performing tricks of
+conjuring before a select audience; and Mr Drift telling stories to
+another; and as for the reverend Uncle Jim, he was made blind man, and
+had his long coat-tails pulled; and, strange to say, he never caught
+anybody all the time.  And then the supper! who shall describe that? the
+clattering of dishes, the rattle of knives and forks, the banging of
+crackers, the peals of laughter, and the cross-fire of chaff.
+
+Alas! all good things must come to an end, and so did this party.  One
+by one the little guests said good-bye, and after they had gone the
+little family of children and elders was left alone.  Though it was past
+eleven, the little urchin Charlie insisted on clambering on to Mr
+Drift's knee, to hear one last story, and the little girls besieged
+their uncles, and put their arms round their necks, and besought their
+intercession with mamma to gain them another half-hour's respite down
+stairs.
+
+"Charlie," said Tom Drift, "this little fellow is worrying me for a
+story.  Suppose you tell one."
+
+"Oh yes," shouted that small chorus.  "Oh yes! papa, please tell us a
+story?"
+
+"Hear, hear!" said Uncle Joe.
+
+"Fire away," said Uncle Jim.
+
+"Remember, it must be quite a short one, Charles," said mamma.
+
+Charlie Newcome the elder looked puzzled for a minute, and fidgeted
+uncomfortably in his seat.
+
+Then he turned to his eldest boy, and said,--
+
+"Tom, open that cabinet there and bring me the watch that is under the
+glass-case."
+
+"The old, ugly watch, papa?" asked the boy, running off on his errand.
+
+"Yes, the old, ugly watch," said papa, with a queer sort of smile.
+
+The boy brought me.  I was taken out of my case, and lay there in his
+open hand.
+
+"Once upon a time," began papa--and what a hush fell on that little
+company!--"once upon a time there was a little boy,"--why was it
+everyone but the children looked so grave? and why did Mr Drift push
+his chair back into the shadow? why, even, did papa's voice tremble now
+and then as he went on, and caught the eye first of one and then another
+of his listeners?
+
+That night he told my story--not as I have told it to you.  There was
+not much about Mr Drift in the story he told, and a great deal less
+about himself than there might have been.  But as he went on these
+children crowded round me and looked with awe upon my battered body, and
+read with reverence those quaintly-scratched initials, and as they
+followed me in imagination from one master to another, and from one
+peril to the next, ending up with the famous battle before Lucknow, they
+forgot I was old and ugly, and I gradually appeared to their little eyes
+one of the greatest treasures which their father's house contained.
+
+"And here he lies in my hand, children," concluded papa; "and if you
+love him as much as I do you must be very fond of him.  And now, good-
+night, all of you."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch, by
+Talbot Baines Reed
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