The boy was fairly out of his depth now, and gave up trying to recover his feet.
"Would you like to know why; or don"t you care?"
"I would like to know, please."
"I daresay you"ve heard of a fellow called Forbes?"
Heathcote had, from twenty different fellows.
"Forbes was a f.a.g of mine last year--a nice boy, but dreadfully weak- minded. Any one could twist him round his thumb. As long as I kept my eye on him he was steady enough; but if ever I let him slide he got into trouble. I was laid up a month last autumn with scarlet fever, and, of course, Forbes was on the loose, and spent most of his time with Cresswell and his set. As soon as I got back I noticed a change in him.
He had got into bad ways, and talked like a fellow who was proud of what he had learned. He used to swear and tell lies, and other things a great deal worse. I did all I could to pull him up, and before Christmas I fancied he was rather steadier. But last term he broke out again as bad as ever. I could keep no hold of him. He was constantly cutting me for his other friend; and all the time I, as his senior, got the credit of his ruin. He was expelled in February for some disgraceful row he got into, and, because I stuck to him to the end, his other friend gets up a report that I was to blame for it all. I don"t profess to be better than I ought to be, youngster; I know I should be better than I am; but I"m not a blackguard."
Heathcote was greatly impressed by this narrative. It cleared up, to his mind, a great deal of the mystery that had been tormenting him the last few days, and accounted for most of the stories and rumours which he had heard. The manner, too, in which Pledge defended himself, taking no undue credit for virtue, and showing such little bitterness towards his traducers, went far to win him over.
"It"s hard lines on you," he said.
"You see, even a ghost can be wrong sometimes."
"Yes, he can," said Heathcote, resolutely.
"I should like to see the letter, if you have it."
And he did see it, and Heathcote watched the two red spots kindle on his cheeks as he read it and then crushed it up in his hand.
"You don"t want it back, I suppose? You"re not going to frame it?"
"No," replied the boy, watching the ghost"s letter, rather regretfully, as it flared up and burned to ashes on the grate.
He wished the unpleasant impression caused in his own mind by the affair could come to an end as easily as that sc.r.a.p of paper did.
Care, however, was not wont to sit heavily at any time on the spirit of George Heathcote, and as Pledge did not again return to the subject, and even d.i.c.k, seeing no immediate catastrophe befall his friend, began to suspect the whole affair as an intricate and elaborate practical joke at the expense of two new boys, the matter gradually subsided, and life went on at its usual jog-trot.
This jog-trot gave place, however, on one eventful afternoon to a more stately parade, on the occasion of the captain"s levee, a week after Elections.
This ceremony, one of the immemorial traditions of Templeton, which fellows would as soon have thought of neglecting as of omitting to take a holiday on the Queen"s birthday, was always an occasion of general interest after the rea.s.sembling of the school.
The captain of Templeton on this evening was "at home;" in other words, he stood on the platform at the top of "Hall" in his "swallows" and received the school, who all turned up in their very best attire to do honour to the occasion.
New boys were "presented" by their seniors, and the captain, if he was a fellow of tact and humour, usually contrived to say something friendly to the nervous juniors; and generally the occasion was looked upon as one on which Templeton was expected to make itself agreeable all round and do itself honour.
For some days previously our heroes had been carefully looking up their wardrobes in antic.i.p.ation of the show. d.i.c.k, on the very evening of Elections, had put aside his whitest shirt, and Heathcote had even gone to the expense of a lofty masher collar, and had forgotten all about the ghost in his excitement over the washing of a choker which _would_ come out limp, though he personally devoted a cupful of starch to its strengthening.
There was, as usual, keen compet.i.tion among the members of the Den as to who should achieve the "showiest rig" on the occasion. For some days the owner of Heathcote"s steel chain was mentioned as the favourite, until rumour got abroad that young Aspinall was a "hot man," and had white gloves and three coral studs. But Culver outdid everybody at the last moment by appearing in a real swallow-tail of his own, which he had secretly borrowed from a cousin during the holidays and kept dark till now.
This, of course, settled the contest in favour of the president of the Den, and so much enthusiasm prevailed over the discovery, that a Den levee was immediately proposed.
The idea took, and, after much debate, it was resolved that the honourable and original fraternity should take possession of the lower end of Hall on the captain"s night, and, after doing duty at the top end, repair to the bottom, there to display their loyalty to their own particular "swallow." Due announcement was made to this effect, and Rule 5 carefully rehea.r.s.ed in the ears of all waverers.
The evening came at last. Pontifex, surrounded by the Sixth, rambled up on to the dais and waited good-humouredly for the show to begin, quite regardless of his own imposing appearance and of the awe which the array of senior shirt-fronts struck into the hearts of the new juniors who looked on.
In solemn order Templeton ascended the dais and rendered homage. With the Fifth the captain was affable, and with the Upper Fourth he exchanged a few jocular courtesies. With the Middle school he contented himself with a shake of the hand and a "How are you, Wright?"
"Ah, Troup, old man," and such-like greetings. Boys he had punished yesterday he received quite as warmly now as the most immaculate of the virtuous ones, and boys who had cheeked him two hours ago in the fields he shook hands with as cordially as he did with the most loyal of his adherents.
There was a pause as the last of the Middle school descended from the dais, and the Den, headed by the resplendent Culver, advanced.
Templeton tried to look grave and remember its good manners, but it was an effort under such an array of glory. Culver himself, with his borrowed coat so tight under the arms that he could not keep his elbows down, and his waistcoat pinned back so far that the empty b.u.t.ton-hole in his front quite put the studded ones to shame, might have pa.s.sed in a crowd; but Gosse, with his hair parted in the middle and his "whisker"
elaborately curled; Pauncefote, with his light blue silk handkerchief protruding half out of his waistcoat pocket; and Smith, with the cuffs that hid the tips of his fingers, were beyond gravity, and a suppressed t.i.tter followed the grandees up the hall and on to the platform.
Pontifex received them all with serene affability and good breeding.
"Hullo, youngster!" said he to Culver, not even bestowing a glance on his finery: "hope to see you in an eleven this season. Ah, Gosse, my boy; quiet as ever, eh? You"re an inch taller than last levee. How are you, Pauncefote? How are you, Smith? How goes the novel? not dead, I hope?"
"No; it"s going on," said Pauncefote, blushing.
"Put me down for a copy," said the captain. "Hullo! here come the new boys."
Time did not appear to have endowed our heroes yet with confidence or elegance in the art of ascending the Templeton platform. d.i.c.k still retained a painful recollection of his legs, and Heathcote was torn asunder by the cruel vagaries of his high collar, which would not keep on the b.u.t.ton, but insisted on heeling over, choker and all, at critical moments to one side. Aspinall made a more respectable show, for he was too nervous to bestow a thought on his dress, or to notice the curious eyes turned upon him from remote corners.
New boys were always presented by their seniors, and it was a critical moment when Cresswell, taking d.i.c.k and Aspinall, one by each arm, said in an audible voice:--
"Captain, allow me to introduce Mr Richardson and Mr Aspinall, two new boys."
d.i.c.k bowed as gracefully as he could, and watched the captain"s hand sharply, in case it might show signs of expecting to be shaken, which it did, with a cheery--
"Very glad to see you, Richardson. I hear you won the new boys" race.
You"ve got a good trainer in Cresswell. How do you do, Aspinall?
Feeling more at home here, aren"t you? I recollect how lost I was the first time I tumbled into school."
"Captain, allow me to introduce Mr Heathcote," said Pledge.
Poor Heathcote, whose choker had now got round to his back, turned crimson, and said, "Thank you," and then made a grab at the captain"s hand, by way of hiding his confusion.
"Ah, how are you, Heathcote?" said the magnate kindly. "Hope to see plenty of you in the "Tub," and down field. You new boys should show up out of doors all you can."
Mansfield was not the only senior standing by who heard and appreciated this delicate hint. Pledge heard it too, and knew what it meant.
"If old Ponty," said Mansfield to Cresswell, "would only follow it up, what a splendid captain he would be. There"s not another fellow can go through levee the way he does. He strokes down everybody. Goodness knows, when my turn comes, I shall come a cropper."
"Your turn will come soon, if Ponty leaves this term. You"re bound to have levee in your first week. Hullo! what"s up down there?"
This last question was caused by the slight excitement of Den levee, which, according to programme, was in the act of being celebrated at the bottom of the hall.
Culver, who was really rather sore under the arms, with his long confinement in his cousin"s "swallow," was mounted on a lexicon, and word being pa.s.sed that he was ready to receive company, the Den proceeded to file past him, in imitation of the ceremony which had just been concluded on the upper dais.
The imitation in this case, however, was not flattery. Culver was not a dignified youth, and his sense of humour was not of that refined order which enables a man to distinguish between comedy and burlesque. He had a general idea that he had to make himself pleasant, which he accordingly did in his own peculiar style.
"Ah, Gossy, old chap!" he said, as the secretary of the Den presented himself with his whiskered cheek nearest to his chief. "It"s coming on, my boy. You"ll have a hair and a half before the Grandcourt match."