[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Hush!" came from many mouths.
"Oh, we want to forget it! Yes, we don"t want to talk about it, I know.
But I"ve got to this once. If there had been an accident--to Armitage--it wouldn"t have been wholly the March Hare"s fault. It was those who first started the quarrel between boarders and day-boys, those who put the notion of ill-feeling into his silly little head. I see you"re thinking of the swimming-baths, and Toppin"s dive. Now I happen to know, and Toppin can bear me out, that the kid asked to be pushed, and that Armitage would have saved him next moment if the March Hare hadn"t jumped in and hindered things. And everyone of you who have listened and nodded to the March Hare"s tale have added coal to the fire you might have quenched in a moment. And--and--and--and--" poor Jack was shaking and stammering with excitement, "what--what if it had--ended in--"
But there he sat down, leaving his sentence unfinished.
Cadbury was the first to reply, and that was not at once. Slowly he ruled a long, thick, black line in his exercise-book, then, pushing his chair away from the table, tilted it back, and spoke:
"Well, I don"t know what anyone else thinks, but I"ll tell you what I do. Brady"s last sentence was certainly not fluent, and I shouldn"t care to have to a.n.a.lyse it. As for the jokes in it, they were about as plentiful as wasps in January. All that"s true enough. Still, nevertheless, speaking for my humble self, he thrust home. You did, Jack, you beggar! You"d no business to, but you actually had the impudence to make me feel ashamed of myself. And, of course, I don"t know what you others will say, but I vote we bury the hatchet in old Thompson"s biggest flower-pot. Who"s with me?"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"And I!"
"Of course it"s quite right to forgive," drawled Green, with a curl of the lip. "I"m more than willing."
Jack ground his teeth, but Hallett saved him the trouble of replying.
"No, no; if we do the thing at all, we"ll do it properly. Don"t let"s have any half-measures--kindly-forgivings, and all the rest of it! If anyone starts forgiving me, I"ll lick him! We won"t forgive anyone, not even ourselves. We"ll go straight ahead on a new tack, and forget everything that"s happened. If our friends the enemy look askance at us at first (and we needn"t be surprised if they do), that mustn"t affect us. Remember this: Scores are Settled. That"s our motto; there is to be no more paying off. Chaff them if you like--I fancy they"d think there was something fishy if we didn"t--but no tricks, if you please."
"What if they start them on us, Hallett?" enquired Grey, in the tone of one who merely seeks information. Hallett frowned slightly.
"Hadn"t thought of that. Of course if they insist on picking a quarrel in that way--"
"But I"m nearly sure they won"t," cried Jack.
"I caught Lucy pasting the leaves of my _Delectus_ together," murmured Grey, looking at the ceiling.
"And how many things have you done to them?" retorted Jack desperately, sighing as he felt the weakness of that argument.
"Vick, will you hand Grey your india-rubber?" put in Cadbury. "There"s a bit of his memory he hasn"t rubbed out yet. I did as Hallett told us, and forgot everything at once. I"ve even forgotten my translation for to-morrow--it"s gone entirely. Never mind: to obey is our first duty; to labour for Peace comes only second."
"Labouring for peace--why, Brady, that"s been your little task!"
exclaimed Vickers. "And a n.o.ble one"--here he put on the "West voice".
"Have you thought of it in that light, my boy? To labour for peace! We might all do worse. Conceive, for instance, of working for love!"
Jack laughed noisily, and called Vickers "a silly old loony". But he blushed at the same time. And he went to sleep that night feeling uncommonly hopeful.
When, in short jerky phrases, he broke to Hannah the plan he had devised, the maid was so grateful and "took aback", as she said, as to become for the moment half-hysterical; but soon rallying her common sense, she sat down and penned a note to her father, to accompany the young gentlemen"s communication. Hannah"s spelling, handwriting, and grammar were all very shaky, but it is a fact that Mr. J. Thompson, Nurseryman, found her letter a help in throwing light upon the "formal, business" doc.u.ment.
CHAPTER IX
LOST--A NAME
Of course Jack"s task was only half accomplished. And the second half was somewhat harder than he had antic.i.p.ated. When in the morning he met the day-scholars, they were not as eager for a reconciliation as he would have liked to find them.
Mason had come armed with a handful of wild barley-gra.s.s, or "crawly", as it was better known among the boys.
"_Dictee_ this morning," he said with a sly wink.
In Monsieur Blonde"s cla.s.s, dictation offered great possibilities to a quick writer, with a supply of crawly. When heads are bent, what a chance down the collar for a deft hand! And the Monsieur was very short-sighted.
"I sit between Vickers and Green," Mason added.
"But look here, you must chuck that stuff away," cried Jack. He knew that as a good-humoured joke an inch of crawly can be tolerated, but when used in malice, nothing is more irritating. "Chuck it away! We"ve all agreed to call _Pax_ now, _Pax_ for good and all."
"Oh, I dare say!" retorted Mason. "When our lives have been made a burden for the last week! Who are the "all" who"ve agreed, pray?"
"The whole lot of the boarders. They"re ready to chum up right away.
Mason, you must agree! We"ve got to join forces over Sat.u.r.day"s job."
But Mason didn"t see it. Nor did Armitage. Nor did Bacon. And the rest were doubtful, except little Frere, who declared at once that he was longing to be friends with everybody--and to feel safe.
"But don"t mind us, Brady," pursued Mason. "We aren"t so sweet on shoving wheel-barrows as all that. You and your dear Green and the rest can have the whole glory and honour of the pots and the barrows to yourselves. We won"t fight for them, will we? After all, there are more amusing ways of spending a half than in wheeling flower-pots round the town."
Jack"s hopes sank. He did not feel equal to making a second speech, but he caught Mason by the arm, and spoke with vehement emphasis:
"It"s an awful responsible thing, Mason, to refuse to patch a quarrel.
The chance of making-up doesn"t come every day."
"We must have a chance of getting even with them first, and then we"ll talk about stopping."
"Nonsense! You know that t.i.t-for-tat"s a game without an end!"
"My dear Brady, if you knew the toil and time it has cost me to gather this bunch of crawly, you wouldn"t ask me so lightly to waste it."
"If that"s all," said Jack, "you can stick the whole lot down my neck. I give you free leave. Go on!"
There is no stronger influence than earnestness, and Jack was intensely in earnest. It had its effect on his listeners, who were almost won over already, while he thought his efforts were thrown away. While he spoke, Simmons had secretly released three earwigs with which he had meant mischief, and Hughes was opening his mouth to utter a word or two for Jack, when Cadbury glided up to the group with outspread arms, and a square box balanced on his head.
"Pax tea-cup! pax O biscuit!" began the flippant boy. "Dear brethren, I entreat you to join with me in smoking the calumet of peace in the shape of this humble weed."
As he bowed, the box fell from his head into his hands, and, removing the lid, he offered it round. It appeared to contain a double layer of cigars; but the Brincliffe scholars knew these cigars well, and where they came from. They were composed of almond paste, and coated with a brown sugary paper, which was always consumed with the rest.
Jack almost held his breath. Would the boys refuse or accept them?
Hughes dipped his hand in at once with a smile and a nod. "Thanks very much, Cadbury!" Simmons followed suit with a wicked little chuckle.
Bacon hesitated, and then helped himself awkwardly. Frere took one with an "Oo!" of appreciation. Now it was Mason"s turn. If Jack had been a recruiting sergeant, and the sugar cigar the Queen"s shilling, he could scarcely have felt more anxious.
Mason put forward his thumb and finger, then hesitated and looked at Jack with a twinkle in his eye.