by F. Anstey
4. _A Minnow amongst Tritons_
"Boys are capital fellows in their own way among their mates; but they are unwholesome companions for grown people."--_Essays of Elia._
For some time after they were fairly started the Doctor read his eveningpaper with an air of impartial but severe criticism, and Mr. Bultitudeas he sat opposite him next to the window, found himself overwhelmedwith a new and very unpleasant timidity.
He knew that, if he would free himself, this utterly unreasonablefeeling must be wrestled with and overcome; that now, if ever, was thetime to assert himself, and prove that he was anything but the raw youthhe was conscious of appearing. He had merely to speak and act, too, inhis ordinary everyday manner; to forget as far as possible the changethat had affected his outer man, which was not so very difficult to doafter all--and yet his heart sank lower and lower as each freshtelegraph post flitted past.
"I will let him speak first," he thought; "then I shall be able to feelmy way." But there was more fear than caution in the resolve.
At last, however, the Doctor laid down his paper, and, looking roundwith the glance of proprietorship on his pupils, who had relapsed into adecorous and gloomy silence, observed: "Well, boys, you have had anunusually protracted vacation this time--owing to the unprecedentedseverity of the weather. We must try to make up for it by the zest andardour with which we pursue our studies during the term. I intend toreduce the Easter holidays by a week by way of compensation."
This announcement (which by no means relieved the generaldepression--the boys receiving it with a sickly interest) was good newsto Paul, and even had the effect of making him forget his position forthe time.
"I'm uncommonly glad to hear it, Dr. Grimstone," he said heartily, "anexcellent arrangement. Boys have too many holidays as it is. There's noreason, to my mind, why parents should be the sufferers by everysnowstorm. It's no joke, I can assure you, to have a great idle boyhanging about the place eating his empty head off!"
A burglar enlarging upon the sanctity of the law of property, or a sheepexposing the fallacies of vegetarianism, could hardly have produced agreater sensation.
Every boy was roused from his languor to stare and wonder at thesetraitorous sentiments, which, from the mouth of any but a known andtried companion, would have roused bitter hostility and contempt. As itwas, their wonder became a rapturous admiration, and they waited for thesituation to develop with a fearful and secret joy.
It was some time before the Doctor quite recovered himself; then he saidwith a grim smile, "This is indeed finding Saul amongst the prophets;your sentiments, if sincere, Bultitude--I repeat, if sincere--are verycreditable. But I am obliged to look upon them with suspicion!" Then, asif to dismiss a doubtful subject, he inquired generally, "And how haveyou all been spending your holidays, eh!"
There was no attempt to answer this question, it being felt probablythat it was, like the conventional "How do you do?" one to which ananswer is neither desired nor expected, especially as he continuedalmost immediately, "I took my boy Tom up to town the week beforeChristmas to see the representation of the 'Agamemnon' at St. George'sHall. The 'Agamemnon,' as most of you are doubtless aware, is a drama byAEschylus, a Greek poet of established reputation. I was much pleased bythe intelligent appreciation Tom showed during the performance. Hedistinctly recognised several words from his Greek Grammar in the courseof the dialogue."
No one seemed capable of responding except Mr. Bultitude, who dashedinto the breach with an almost pathetic effort to maintain hisaccustomed stiffness.
"I may be old-fashioned," he said, "very likely I am; butI--ah--decidedly disapprove of taking children to dramatic exhibitionsof any kind. It unsettles them, sir--unsettles them!"
Dr. Grimstone made no answer, but he put a hand on each knee, and glaredwith pursed lips and a leonine bristle of the beard at his youthfulcritic for some moments, after which he returned to his _Globe_ with ashort ominous cough.
"I've offended him now," thought Paul. "I must be more careful what Isay. But I'll get him into conversation again presently."
So he began at the first opportunity: "You have this evening's paper, Isee. No telegrams of importance, I suppose?"
"No, sir," said the Doctor shortly.
"I saw a report in to-day's _Times_," said poor Mr. Bultitude, with adesperate attempt at his most conversational and instructive manner, "Isaw a report that the camphor crop was likely to be a failure thisseason. Now, it's a very singular thing about camphor, that theJapanese----" (he hoped to lead the conversation round to colonialproduce, and thus open the Doctor's eyes by the extent of hisacquaintance with the subject).
"I am already acquainted with the method of obtaining camphor, thankyou, Bultitude," said the Doctor, with dangerous politeness.
"I was about to observe, when you interrupted me," said Paul, "(and thisis really a fact that I doubt if you are aware of), that the Japanesenever----"
"Well, well," said the Doctor, with some impatience, "probably theynever do, sir, but I shall have other opportunities of finding out whatyou have read about the Japanese."
But he glanced over the top of the paper at the indignant Paul, who wasnot accustomed to have his information received in this manner, withless suspicion and a growing conviction that some influence during theholidays had changed the boy from a graceless young scapegrace into aprig of the first water.
"He's most uncivil"--Mr. Bultitude told himself--"almost insulting, butI'll go on. I'm rousing his curiosity. I'm making way with him; he seesa difference already." And so he applied himself once more.
"You're a smoker, of course, Dr. Grimstone?" he began. "We don't stopanywhere, I think, on the way, and I must confess myself, after dinner,a whiff or two--I think I can give you a cigar you'll appreciate."
And he felt for his cigar-case, really forgetting that it was gone, likeall other incidents of his old self; while Jolland giggled withunrestrained delight at such charming effrontery.
"If I did not know, sir," said the Doctor, now effectually roused, "thatthis was ill-timed buffoonery, and not an intentional insult, I shouldbe seriously angry. As it is, I can overlook any exuberance of mirthwhich is, perhaps, pardonable when the mind is elated by the return tothe cheerful bustle and activity of school-life. But be very careful."
"He needn't be so angry," thought Paul, "how could I know he doesn'tsmoke? But I'm afraid he doesn't quite know me, even now."
So he began again: "Did I hear you mention the name of Kiffin amongstthose of your pupils here, Doctor? I thought so. Not the son of JordanKiffin, of College Hill, surely? Yes? Why, bless my soul, your fatherand I, my little fellow, were old friends in days before you were bornor thought of--born or thought of. He was in a very small way then, avery small---- Eh, Dr. Grimstone, don't you feel well?"
"I see what you're aiming at, sir. You wish to prove to me that I'mmaking a mistake in my treatment of you."
"That was my idea, certainly," said Paul, much pleased. "I'm very gladyou take me, Doctor."
"I shall take you in a way you won't appreciate soon, if this goes on,"said the Doctor under his breath.
"When the time comes I shall know how to deal with you. Till thenyou'll have the goodness to hold your tongue," he said aloud.
"It's not a very polite way of putting it," Paul said to himself, "but,at any rate, he sees how the case stands now, and after all, perhaps, heonly speaks like that to put the boys off the scent. If so, it'suncommonly considerate and thoughtful of him, by Gad. I won't say anymore."
But by-and-by, the open window made him break his resolution. "I'm sorryto inconvenience you, Dr. Grimstone," he said, with the air of one usedto having his way in these matters, "but I positively must ask youeither to allow me to have this window up or to change places with you.The night air, sir, at this time of the year is fatal, my doctor tellsme, simply fatal to a man of my constitution."
The Doctor pulled up the window with a frown, and yet a somewhat puzzledexpression. "I warn you, Bultitu
de," he said, "you are acting veryimprudently."
"So I am," thought Paul, "so I am. Good of him to remind me. I must keepit up before all these boys. This unpleasant business mustn't get about.I'll hold my tongue till we get in. Then, I daresay, Grimstone will seeme off by the next train up, if there is one, and lend me enough for abed at an hotel for the night. I couldn't get to St. Pancras till verylate, of course. Or he might offer to put me up at the school. If hedoes, I think I shall very possibly accept. It might be better."
And he leant back in his seat in a much easier frame of mind; it wasannoying, of course, to have been turned out of his warm dining-room,and sent all the way down to Market Rodwell on a fool's errand likethis; but still, if nothing worse came of it, he could put up with thetemporary inconvenience, and it was a great relief to be spared thenecessity of an explanation.
The other boys watched him furtively with growing admiration, whichexpressed itself in subdued whispers, varied by little gurgles and"squirks" of laughter; they tried to catch his eye and stimulate him tofurther feats of audacity, but Mr. Bultitude, of course, repulsed allsuch overtures with a coldness and severity which at once baffled andpiqued them.
At last his eccentricity took a shape which considerably lessened theirenthusiasm. Kiffin, the new boy, occupied the seat next to Paul; he wasa nervous-looking little fellow, with a pale face and big pathetic browneyes like a seal's, and his dress bore plain evidence of a mother'scareful supervision, having all the uncreased trimness and specklessnessrarely to be observed except in the toilettes of the waxen prodigies ina shop-window.
It happened that, as he lay back in the padded seat between thesheltering partitions, watching the sickly yellow dregs of oil surgingdismally to and fro with the motion in the lamp overhead, or the blackindistinct forms flitting past through the misty blue outside, thepathos of his situation became all at once too much for him.
He was a home-bred boy, without any of that taste for the companionshipand pursuits of his fellows, or capacity for adapting himself to theirprejudices and requirements, which give some home-bred boys a readypassport into the roughest communities.
His heart throbbed with no excited curiosity, no conscious pride, atthis his first important step in life; he was a forlorn little stranger,in an unsympathetic strange land, and was only too well aware of hisposition.
So that it is not surprising that as he thought of the home he had leftan hour or two ago which now seemed so shadowy, so inaccessible andremote, his eyes began to smart and sting, and his chest to heaveominously, until he felt it necessary to do something to give a partialvent to his emotions and prevent a public and disgraceful exhibition ofgrief.
Unhappily for him he found this safety-valve in a series of suppressedbut distinctly audible sniffs.
Mr. Bultitude bore this for some time with no other protest than anoccasional indignant bounce or a lowering frown in the offender'sdirection, but at last his nerves, strung already to a high pitch by allhe had undergone, could stand it no longer.
"Dr. Grimstone," he said with polite determination, "I'm not a man tocomplain without good reason, but really I must ask you to interfere.Will you tell this boy here, on my right, either to control his feelingsor to cry into his pocket-handkerchief, like an ordinary human being? Agood honest bellow I can understand, but this infernal whiffling andsniffing, sir, I will not put up with. It's nothing less than unnaturalin a boy of that size."
"Kiffin," said the Doctor, "are you crying?"
"N--no, sir," faltered Kiffin; "I--I think I must have caught cold,sir."
"I hope you are telling me the truth, because I should be sorry tobelieve you were beginning your new life in a spirit of captiousness andrebellion. I'll have no mutineers in my camp. I'll establish a spirit oftrustful happiness and unmurmuring content in this school, if I have toflog every boy in it as long as I can stand over him! As for you,Richard Bultitude, I have no words to express my pain and disgust at theheartless irreverence with which you persist in mimicking andburlesquing a fond and excellent parent. Unless I perceive, sir, in avery short time a due sense of your error and a lively repentance, mydisapproval will take a very practical form."
Mr. Bultitude fell back into his seat with a gasp. It was hard to beaccused of caricaturing one's own self, particularly when conscious ofentire innocence in that respect, but even this was slight in comparisonwith the discovery that he had been so blindly deceiving himself!
The Doctor evidently had failed to penetrate his disguise, and thedreaded scene of elaborate explanation must be gone through after all.
The boys (with the exception of Kiffin) still found exquisite enjoymentin this extraordinary and original exhibition, and waited eagerly forfurther experiment on the Doctor's patience.
They were soon gratified. If there was one thing Paul detested more thananother, it was the smell of peppermint--no less than three office boyshad been discharged by him because, as he alleged, they made the clerks'room reek with it,--and now the subtle searching odour of the hatedconfection was gradually stealing into the compartment and influencingits atmosphere.
He looked at Coggs, who sat on the seat opposite to him, and saw hischeeks and lips moving in slow and appreciative absorption of something.Coggs was clearly the culprit.
"Do you encourage your boys to make common nuisances of themselves in apublic place, may I ask, Dr. Grimstone?" he inquired, fuming.
"Some scarcely seem to require encouragement, Bultitude," said theDoctor pointedly: "what is the matter now?"
"If he takes it medicinally," said Paul, "he should choose some othertime and place to treat his complaint. If he has a depraved liking forthe abominable stuff, for Heaven's sake make him refrain from it onoccasions when it is a serious annoyance to others!"
"Will you explain? Who and what are you talking about?"
"That boy opposite," said Paul, pointing the finger of denunciation atthe astonished Coggs; "he's sucking an infernal peppermint lozengestrong enough to throw the train off the rails!"
"Is what Bultitude tells me true, Coggs?" demanded the Doctor in anawful voice.
Coggs, after making several attempts to bolt the offending lozenge, andturning scarlet meanwhile with confusion and coughing, stammered huskilysomething to the effect that he had "bought the lozenges at achemist's," which he seemed to consider, for some reason, a mitigatingcircumstance.
"Have you any more of this pernicious stuff about you?" said the Doctor.
Very slowly and reluctantly Coggs brought out of one pocket afteranother three or four neat little white packets, make up with thatlavish expenditure of time, string, and sealing-wax, by which thestruggling chemist seeks to reconcile the public mind to a charge of twohundred and fifty per cent. on cost price, and handed them to Dr.Grimstone, who solemnly unfastened them one by one, glanced at theircontents with infinite disgust, and flung them out of window.
Then he turned to Paul with a look of more favour than he had yet shownhim. "Bultitude," he said, "I am obliged to you. A severe cold in thehead has rendered me incapable of detecting this insidious act ofinsubordination and self-indulgence, on which I shall have more to sayon another occasion. Your moral courage and promptness in denouncing theevil thing are much to your credit."
"Not at all," said Paul, "not at all, my dear sir. I mentioned itbecause I--ah--happen to be peculiarly sensitive on the subject and----"Here he broke off with a sharp yell, and began to rub his ankle. "One ofthese young savages has just given me a severe kick; it's that fellowover there, with the blue necktie. I have given him no provocation, andhe attacks me in this brutal manner, sir; I appeal to you forprotection!"
"So, Coker" (Coker wore a blue necktie), said the Doctor, "you emulatethe wild ass in more qualities than those of stupidity and stubbornness,do you? You lash out with your hind legs at an inoffensiveschool-fellow, with all the viciousness of a kangaroo, eh? Write out allyou find in Buffon's Natural History upon those two animals a dozentimes, and bring it to me by to-morrow evening. If I am to
stable wildasses, sir, they shall be broken in!"
Six pairs of sulky glowering eyes were fixed upon the unconscious Paulfor the rest of the journey; indignant protests and dark vows ofvengeance were muttered under cover of the friendly roar and rattle oftunnels. But the object of them heard nothing; his composure wasreturning once more in the sunshine of Dr. Grimstone's approbation, andhe almost decided on declaring himself in the station fly.
And now at last the train was grinding along discordantly with thebrakes on, and, after a little preliminary jolting and banging over thepoints, drew up at a long lighted platform, where melancholy porterspaced up and down, croaking "Market Rodwell!" like so many SolomonEagles predicting woe.
Paul got out with the others, and walked forward to the guard's van,where he stood shivering in the raw night air by a small heap ofportmanteaux and white clamped boxes.
"I should like to tell him all about it now," he thought, "if he wasn'tso busy. I'll get him to go in a cab alone with me, and get it overbefore we reach the house."
Dr. Grimstone certainly did not seem in a very receptive mood forconfidences just then. No flys were to be seen, which he took as apersonal outrage, and visited upon the station-master in hotindignation.
"It's scandalous, I tell you," he was saying: "scandalous! No cabs tomeet the train. My school reassembles to-day, and here I find noarrangements made for their accommodation! Not even an omnibus! I shallwrite to the manager and report this. Let some one go for a flyimmediately. Boys, go into the waiting room till I come to you.Stay--there are too many for one fly. Coker, Coggs, and, let me see,yes, Bultitude, you all know your way. Walk on and tell Mrs. Grimstonewe are coming."
Paul Bultitude was perhaps more relieved than disappointed by thispostponement of a disagreeable interview, though, if he had seen Cokerdig Coggs in the side with a chuckle of exultant triumph, he might havehad misgivings as to the prudence of trusting himself alone with them.
As it was he almost determined to trust the pair with his secret. "Theywill be valuable witnesses," he said to himself, "that, whoever else Imay be, I am not Dick."
So he went on briskly ahead over a covered bridge and down somebreak-neck wooden steps, and passed through the wicket out upon therailed-in space, where the cabs and omnibuses should have been, butwhich was now a blank spectral waste with a white ground-fog lurkinground its borders.
Here he was joined by his companions, who, after a little whispering,came up one on either side and put an arm through each of his.
"Well," said Paul, thinking to banter them agreeably; "here you are,young men, eh? Holidays all over now! Work while you're young, andthen---- Gad, you're walking me off my legs. Stop; I'm not as young as Iused to be----"
"Grim can't see us here, can he, Coker?" said Coggs when they hadcleared the gates and palings.
"Not he!" said Coker.
"Very well, then. Now then, young Bultitude, you used to be a decentfellow enough last term, though you _were_ coxy. So, before we go anyfurther--what do you mean by this sort of thing?"
"Because," put in Coker, "if you aren't quite right in your head,through your old governor acting like a brute all the holidays, as yousaid he does, just say so, and we won't be hard on you."
"I--he--always an excellent father," stammered Paul. "What am I toexplain?"
"Why, what did you go and sneak of _him_ for bringing tuck back toschool for, eh?" demanded Coker.
"Yes, and sing out when he hacked your shin?" added Coggs; "and tellGrimstone that new fellow was blubbing? Where's the joke in all that,eh? Where's the joke?"
"You don't suppose I was bound to sit calmly down and allow you to suckyour villainous peppermints under my very nose, do you?" said Mr.Bultitude. "Why shouldn't I complain if a boy annoys me by sniffing, orkicks me on the ankle? Just tell me that? Suppose my neighbour has anoisy dog or a smoky chimney, am I not to venture to tell him of it? Ishe to----"
But his arguments, convincing as they promised to be, were brought to asudden and premature close by Coker, who slipped behind him andadministered a sharp jog below his back, which jarred his spine andcaused him infinite agony.
"You little brute!" cried Paul, "I could have you up for assault forthat!"
But upon this Coggs did the very same thing only harder. "Last termyou'd have shown fight for much less, Bultitude," they both observedseverely, as some justification for repeating the process.
"Now, perhaps, you'll drop it for the future," said Coker. "Look here!we'll give you one more chance. This sneaking dodge is all very well forChawner. Chawner could do that sort of thing without getting sat upon,because he's a big fellow; but we're not going to stand it from you.Will you promise on your sacred word of honour, now, to be a decent sortof chap again, as you were last term?"
But Mr. Bultitude, though he longed for peace and quietness, dreadeddoing or saying anything to favour the impression that he was theschoolboy he unluckily appeared to be, and he had not skill and tactenough to dissemble and assume a familiar genial tone of equality withthese rough boys.
"You don't understand," he protested feebly. "If I could only tellyou----"
"We don't want any fine language, you know," said the relentless Coggs."Yes or no. Will you promise to be your old self again?"
"I only wish I could," said poor Mr. Bultitude--"but I can't!"
"Very well, then," said Coggs firmly, "we must try the torture. Coker,will you screw the back of his hand, while I show him how they makebarley-sugar?"
And he gave Paul an interesting illustration of the latter branch ofindustry by twisting his right arm round and round till he nearlywrenched it out of the socket, while Coker seized his left hand andpounded it vigorously with the first joint of his forefinger, causingthe unfortunate Paul to yell for mercy.
At last he could bear no more, and breaking away from his tormentorswith a violent effort, he ran frantically down the silent road towards ahouse which he knew from former visits to be Dr. Grimstone's.
He was but languidly pursued, and, as the distance was short, he soongained a gate on the stuccoed posts of which he could read "CrichtonHouse" by the light of a neighbouring gas-lamp.
"This is a nice way," he thought, as he reached it breathless andtrembling, "for a father to visit his son's school!"
He had hoped to reach sanctuary before the other two could overtake him;but he soon discovered that the gate was shut fast, and all his effortswould not bring him within reach of the bell-handle--he was too short.
So he sat down on the doorstep in resigned despair, and waited for hisenemies. Behind the gate was a large many-windowed house, with stepsleading up to a portico. In the playground to his right the schoolgymnasium, a great gallows-like erection, loomed black and grim throughthe mist, the night wind favouring the ghastliness of its appearance byswaying the ropes till they creaked and moaned weirdly on the hooks, andthe metal stirrups clinked and clashed against one another in irregularcadence.
He had no time to observe more, as Coker and Coggs joined him, and, onfinding he had not rung the bell, seized the occasion to pummel him attheir leisure before announcing their arrival.
Then the gate was opened, and the three--the revengeful pair assuming anair of lamb-like inoffensiveness--entered the hall and were met by Mrs.Grimstone.
"Why, here you are!" she said, with an air of surprise, and kissing themwith real kindness. "How cold you look! So you actually had to walk. Nocabs as usual. You poor boys! come in and warm yourselves. You'll findall your old friends in the schoolroom."
Mr. Bultitude submitted to be kissed with some reluctance, inwardlyhoping that Dr. Grimstone might never hear of it.
Mrs. Grimstone, it may be said here, was a stout, fair woman, not in theleast intellectual or imposing, but with a warm heart, and a way oftalking to and about boys that secured her the confidence of mothersmore effectually, perhaps, than the most polished conversation andirreproachable deportment could have done.
She did not reserve her motherliness for the reception r
oom either, assome schoolmasters' wives have a tendency to do, and the smallest boyfelt less homesick when he saw her.
She opened a green baize outer door, and the door beyond it, and ledthem into a long high room, with desks and forms placed against thewalls, and a writing table, and line of brown-stained tables down themiddle. Opposite the windows there was a curious structure of shelvespartitioned into lockers, and filled with rows of shabby schoolbooks.
The room had been originally intended for a drawing-room, as was evidentfrom the inevitable white and gold wall-paper and the tarnished giltbeading round the doors and window shutters; the mantelpiece, too, wasof white marble, and the gaselier fitted with dingy crystal lustres.
But sad-coloured maps hung on the ink-splashed walls, and a clock with ablank idiotic face (it is not every clock that possesses a decentlyintelligent expression) ticked over the gilt pier-glass. The boards wereuncarpeted, and stained with patches of ink of all sizes and ages; whilethe atmosphere, in spite of the blazing fire, had a scholastic blendingof soap and water, ink and slate-pencil in its composition, whichproduced a chill and depressing effect.
On the forms opposite the fire some ten or twelve boys were sitting, afew comparing notes as to their holiday experiences with some approachto vivacity. The rest, with hands in pockets and feet stretched towardsthe blaze, seemed lost in melancholy abstraction.
"There!" said Mrs. Grimstone cheerfully, "you'll have plenty to talk toone another about. I'll send Tom in to see you presently!" And she leftthem with a reassuring nod, though the prospect of Tom's company did notperhaps elate them as much as it was intended to do.
Mr. Bultitude felt much as if he had suddenly been dropped down abear-pit, and, avoiding welcome and observation as well as he could, gotaway into a corner, from which he observed his new companions withuneasy apprehension.
"I say," said one boy, resuming the interrupted conversation, "did yougo to Drury Lane? Wasn't it stunning! That goose, you know, and the lionin the forest, and all the wooden animals lumbering in out of the toyNoah's Ark!"
"Why couldn't you come to our party on Twelfth-night?" asked another."We had great larks. I wish you'd been there!"
"I had to go to young Skidmore's instead," said a pale, spiteful-lookingboy, with fair hair carefully parted in the middle. "It was like hischeek to ask me, but I thought I'd go, you know, just to see what it waslike."
"What was it like?" asked one or two near him languidly.
"Oh, awfully slow! They've a poky little house in Brompton somewhere,and there was no dancing, only boshy games and a conjurer, without anypresents. And, oh! I say, at supper there was a big cake on the table,and no one was allowed to cut it, because it was hired. They're so poor,you know. Skidmore's pater is only a clerk, and you should see hissisters!"
"Why, are they pretty?"
"Pretty! they're just like young Skidmore--only uglier; and just fancy,his mother asked me 'if I was Skidmore's favourite companion, and if hehelped me in my studies?'"
The unfortunate Skidmore, when he returned, soon found reason to regrethis rash hospitality, for he never heard the last of the cake (whichhad, as it happened, been paid for in the usual manner) during the restof the term.
There was a slight laugh at the enormity of Mrs. Skidmore's presumption,and then a long pause, after which some one asked suddenly, "Does anyone know whether Chawner really has left this time?"
"I hope so," said a big, heavy boy, and his hope seemed echoed with ageneral fervour. "He's been going to leave every term for the last year,but I believe he really has done it this time. He wrote and told me hewasn't coming back."
"Thank goodness!" said several, with an evident relief, and some one wasjust observing that they had had enough of the sneaking business, when afly was heard to drive up, and the bell rang, whereupon everyoneabandoned his easy attitude, and seemed to brace himself up for a tryingencounter.
"Look out--here's Grimstone!" they whispered under their breaths, asvoices and footsteps were heard in the hall outside.
Presently the door of the schoolroom opened, and another boy entered theroom. Dr. Grimstone, it appeared, had not been the occupant of the fly,after all. The new-comer was a tall, narrow-shouldered, stooping fellow,with a sallow, unwholesome complexion, thin lips, and small sunkenbrown eyes. His cheeks were creased with a dimpling subsmile, halfuneasy, half malicious, and his tread was mincing and catlike.
"Well, you fellows?" he said.
All rose at once, and shook hands effusively. "Why, Chawner!" theycried, "how are you, old fellow? We thought you weren't coming back!"
There was a heartiness in their manner somewhat at variance with theirrecent expressions of opinion; but they had doubtless excellent reasonsfor any inconsistency.
"Well," said Chawner, in a low, soft voice, which had a suggestion offeminine spitefulness, "I was going to leave, but I thought you'd begetting into mischief here without me to watch over you. Appleton, andLench, and Coker want looking after badly, I know. So, you see, I'vecome back after all."
He laughed with a little malevolent cackle as he spoke, and the threeboys named laughed too, though with no great heartiness, and shiftingthe while uneasily on their seats.
After this sally the conversation languished until Tom Grimstone'sappearance. He strolled in with a semi-professional air, and shook handswith affability.
Tom was a short, flabby, sandy-haired youth, not particularly beloved ofhis comrades, and his first remark was, "I say, you chaps, have you doneyour holiday task? Pa says he shall keep everyone in who hasn't. I'vedone mine;" which, as a contribution to the general liveliness, was adistinct failure.
Needless to say, the work imposed as a holiday occupation had been firstdeferred, then forgotten, then remembered too late, and recklesslydefied with the confidence begotten in a home atmosphere.
Amidst a general silence Chawner happened to see Mr. Bultitude in hiscorner, and crossed over to him. "Why, there's Dicky Bultitude there allthe time, and he never came to shake hands! Aren't you going to speak tome?"
Paul growled something indistinctly, feeling strangely uncomfortableand confused.
"What's the matter with him?" asked Chawner. "Does anyone know? Has helost his tongue?"
"He hadn't lost it coming down in the train," said Coker: "I wish hehad. I tell you what, you fellows--He--here's Grim at last! I'll tellyou all about it up in the bedroom."
And Dr. Grimstone really did arrive at this point, much to Paul'srelief, and looked in to give a grip of the hand and a few words tothose of the boys he had not seen.
Biddlecomb, Tipping, and the rest, came in with him, and the schoolroomsoon filled with others arriving by later trains, amongst the latercomers being the two house-masters, Mr. Blinkhorn and Mr. Tinkler; andthere followed a season of bustle and conversation, which lasted untilthe Doctor touched a small hand-bell, and ordered them to sit down roundthe tables while supper was brought in.
Mr. Bultitude was not sorry to hear the word "supper." He was faint anddispirited, and although he had dined not very long since, thought thatperhaps a little cold beef and beer, or some warmed-up trifle, mightgive him courage to tell his misfortunes before bedtime.
Of one thing he felt certain. Nothing should induce him to trust hisperson in a bedroom with any of those violent and vindictive boys;whether he succeeded in declaring himself that night or not, he would atleast insist on a separate bedroom. Meantime he looked forward to supperas likely to restore geniality and confidence.
But the supper announced so imposingly proved to consist of nothing morethan two plates piled with small pieces of thinly-buttered bread, whicha page handed round together with tumblers of water; and Paul, in hisdisappointment, refused this refreshment with more firmness thanpoliteness, as Dr. Grimstone observed.
"You got into trouble last term, Bultitude," he said sternly, "onaccount of this same fastidious daintiness. Your excellent father hasinformed me of your waste and gluttony at his own bountifully spreadtable. Don't let me have occa
sion to reprove you for this again."
Mr. Bultitude, feeling the necessity of propitiating him, hastened totake the two largest squares of bread and butter on the plate. They weremoist and thick, and he had considerable difficulty in disposing ofthem, besides the gratification of hearing himself described as a "pig"by his neighbours, who reproved him with a refreshing candour.
"I must get away from here," he thought, ruefully. "Dick seems veryunpopular. I wish I didn't feel so low-spirited and unwell. Why can't Icarry it off easily as--as a kind of joke? How hard these forms are, andhow those infernal boys did jog my back!"
Bedtime came at length. The boys filed, one by one, out of the room, andthe Doctor stood by the door to shake hands with them as they passed.
Mr. Bultitude lingered until the others had gone, for he had made up hismind to seize this opportunity to open the Doctor's eyes to the mistakehe was making. But he felt unaccountably nervous; the diplomatic andwell-chosen introduction he had carefully prepared had left him at thecritical moment; all power of thought was gone with it, and he wenttremblingly up to the schoolmaster, feeling hopelessly at the mercy ofanything that chose to come out of his mouth.
"Dr. Grimstone," he began; "before retiring I--I must insist--I mean Imust request---- What I wish to say is----"
"I see," said the Doctor, catching him up sharply. "You wish toapologise for your extraordinary behaviour in the railway carriage?Well, though you made some amends afterwards, an apology is very rightand proper. Say no more about it."
"It's not that," said Paul hopelessly; "I wanted to explain----"
"Your conduct with regard to the bread and butter? If it was simplywant of appetite, of course there is no more to be said. But I have anabhorrence of----"
"Quite right," said Paul, recovering himself; "I hate waste myself, butthere is something I must tell you before----"
"If it concerns that disgraceful conduct of Coker's," said the Doctor,"you may speak on. I shall have to consider his case to-morrow. Has anysimilar case of disobedience come to your knowledge? If so, I expect youto disclose it to me. You have found some other boy with sweetmeats inhis possession?"
"Good Heavens, sir!" said Mr. Bultitude, losing his temper; "I haven'tbeen searching the whole school for sweetmeats! I have other things tooccupy my mind, sir. And, once for all, I demand to be heard! Dr.Grimstone, there are, ahem, domestic secrets that can only be alluded toin the strictest privacy. I see that one of your assistants is writingat his table there. Cannot we go where there will be less risk ofinterruption? You have a study, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir," said the Doctor with terrible grimness, "I have a study--andI have a cane. I can convince you of both facts, if you wish it. If youinsult me again by this brazen buffoonery, I will! Be off to yourdormitory, sir, before you provoke me to punish you. Not another word!Go!"
And, incredible as it may appear to all who have never been in hisposition, Mr. Bultitude went. It was almost an abdication, it wastreachery to his true self; he knew the vital importance of firmness atthis crisis. But nevertheless his courage gave way all at once, and hecrawled up the bare, uncarpeted stairs without any further protest!
"Good night, Master Bultitude," said a housemaid, meeting him on thestaircase: "you know your bedroom. No. 6, with Master Coker, and MasterBiddlecomb, and the others."
Paul dragged himself up to the highest landing-stage, and, with a sickforeboding, opened the door on which the figure 6 was painted.
It was a large bare plainly papered room, with several curtainlesswindows, the blinds of which were drawn, a long deal stand of wash-handbasins, and eight little white beds against the walls.
A fire was lighted in consideration of its being the first night, andseveral boys were talking excitedly round it. "Here he is! He's stayedbehind to tell more tales!" they cried, as Paul entered nervously. "Nowthen, Bultitude, what have you got to say for yourself?"
Mr. Bultitude felt powerless among all these young wolves. He had noknowledge of boys, nor any notion of acquiring an influence over them,having hitherto regarded them as necessary nuisances, to be ratherrepressed than studied. He could only stare hopelessly at them infascinated silence.
"You see he hasn't a word to say for himself!" said Tipping. "Look here,what shall we do to him? Shall we try tossing in a blanket? I've nevertried tossing a fellow in one myself, but as long as you don't jerk himtoo high, or out on the floor, you can't hurt him dangerously."
"No, I say, don't toss him in a blanket," pleaded Biddlecomb, and Paulfelt gratefully towards him at the words; "anyone coming up would seewhat was going on. I vote we flick at him with towels."
"Now just you understand this clearly," said Paul, thinking, not withoutreason, that this course of treatment was likely to prove painful; "Irefuse to allow myself to be flicked at with towels. No one has everoffered me such an indignity in my life! Oh, do you think I've notenough on my mind as it is without the barbarities of a set of youngbrutes like you!"
As this appeal was not of a very conciliatory nature they at onceproceeded to form a circle round him and, judging their distance withgreat accuracy, jerked towels at his person with such diabolicaldexterity that the wet corners cut him at all points like so many finethongs, and he span round like a top, dancing, and, I regret to add,swearing violently, at the pain.
When he was worked up almost to frenzy pitch Biddlecomb's sweet lowvoice cried, "_Cave_, you fellows! I hear Grim. Let him undress now, andwe can lam it into him afterwards with slippers!"
At this they all cast off such of their clothes as they still wore, andslipped modestly and peacefully into bed, just as Dr. Grimstone's largeform appeared at the doorway. Mr. Bultitude made as much haste as hecould, but did not escape a reprimand from the Doctor as he turned thegas out; and as soon as he had made the round of the bedrooms and hisheavy tread had died away down the staircase, the light-heartedoccupants of No. 6 "lammed" it into the unhappy Paul until they weretired of the exercise and left him to creep sore and trembling with rageand fright into his cold hard bed.
Then, after a little desultory conversation, one by one sank fromincoherence into silence, and rose from silence to snores, while Paulalone lay sleepless, listening to the creeping tinkle of the dying fire,drearily wondering at the marvellous change that had come over his lifeand fortunes in the last few hours, and feverishly composing impassionedappeals which were to touch the Doctor's heart and convince his reason.