"Follow me, Batchelor."
I rose meekly, and followed her--I cared not if it was to the gallows!
She led me to her parlour, and ordered me to stand in the corner. Then she rang her bell.
"Tell Mr Ladislaw I should like to see him," said she to the servant.
In due time Mr Ladislaw appeared, and the case for the prosecution forthwith opened. My misdemeanours for the entire day were narrated, culminating with this last heinous offence.
"Batchelor," said Miss Henniker, "repeat to Mr Ladislaw word for word what you were writing when I came to you."
I know not what spirit of meekness came over me. I did as I was told, and repeated the sentence verbatim down to the words, "The sweets you gave me have been stolen by that horrid old--"
"Old what?" said Mr Ladislaw.
"Old what?" said Miss Henniker, I hesitated.
"Come, now, say what you were going to write," demanded Mr Ladislaw.
"Old what, Batchelor?" reiterated the Henniker, keeping her eyes on me.
I must be honest!
"Old beast," I said in a low tone.
"I thought so," said the lady. "Batchelor has called me a beast twice since he came here, Mr Ladislaw."
"Batchelor must be punished," said Mr Ladislaw, who, I could not help privately thinking, was a little afraid of Miss Henniker himself. "Come to my study, sir."
I came, followed of course by the Henniker; and in Mr Ladislaw"s study I was caned on both hands. Miss Henniker would, I fancy, have laid it on a little harder than the master did. Still, it was enough to make me smart.
But the smart within was far worse than that without.
"Return to the cla.s.s-room now, and write at once to your uncle, Mr Jakeman," said Miss Henniker, "and to no one else."
I returned to the room, where I found an eager whispered discussion going on. When a boy was taken off for punishment by the Henniker, those who were left always had a brief opportunity for conversation.
The subject of discussion, I found, was Smith, who sat apart, with no paper before him, apparently exempt from the general task. As usual, he was looking solemnly round him, but in no way to explain the mystery.
At last Hawkesbury, the "pet" of the school--in other words, the only boy who seemed to get on with Miss Henniker and Mr Ladislaw--had walked up to Mr Hashford"s desk, where the usher sat in temporary authority, and had said, "Oh, Smith, the new boy, hasn"t any paper, Mr Hashford."
"No, I was told not to give him any," said the usher, terrified lest the Henniker should return.
"I wonder why?" said Hawkesbury.
"Yes, it is strange," replied Mr Hashford; "but please go to your place, Hawkesbury; Miss Henniker will return."
Hawkesbury had reported this brief conversation to his fellows, and this was what had given rise to the discussion I found going on when I returned from my caning. It was soon cut short by the Henniker"s reappearance; but the mystery became all the greater when it was seen that no notice was taken of the new boy"s idleness, and that at the close of the exercise, when we were all called upon to bring up our letters, his name was distinctly omitted.
My effusion to my uncle was brief and to the point.
Dear Uncle Jakeman,--Miss Henniker wishes me to say that I have had five bad marks to-day. I have also been caned hard on both hands for writing to dear Mrs Hudson, and for calling Miss Henniker bad names. I hope you are very well. Believe me, dear uncle, your affectionate nephew,--
Fred. Batchelor.
With the exception of striking out the "dear" before Mrs Hudson this letter was allowed to pa.s.s.
In due time and to my great relief the bell rang for bed, and glad of any chance of forgetting the hateful place, I went up stairs to the dormitory.
The new boy, I found, was to occupy the bed next mine, at which I was rather pleased than otherwise. I could not make out why I should take a fancy to Smith, but somehow I did; and when once during the night I happened to wake, and heard what sounded very much like a smothered sob in the bed next mine, I at least had the consolation of being sure I was not the only miserable boy at Stonebridge House.
CHAPTER FOUR.
HOW SMITH AND I TOOK A BREATH OF FRESH AIR AND PAID FOR IT.
As "circ.u.mstances over which I had no control" prevented my joining my fellow troublesome and backward boys in their daily retreat to the playground for the next few days, I had only a limited opportunity of seeing how the new boy settled down to his new surroundings.
Inside Stonebridge House we were all alike, all equally subdued and "Henpecked." The playground was really the only place where any display of character could be made; and as for three days I was a prisoner, Smith remained as much a mystery to me at the end of the week as he had been on the day of his arrival.
I could, however, guess from his looks and the looks of the others that he was having rather a bad time of it out there. Hawkesbury used to come in with such a gracious smile every afternoon that I was certain something was wrong; and Philpot"s flushed face, and Rathbone"s scowl, and Flanagan"s unusual gravity, all went to corroborate the suspicion.
But Smith"s face and manner were the most tell-tale. The first day he had seemed a little doubtful, but gradually the lines of his mouth pulled tighter at the corners, and his eyes flashed oftener, and I could guess easily enough that he at least had not found his heart"s content at Stonebridge House.
My term of penal servitude expired on Sunday; and in some respects I came out of it better than I had gone in. For Mr Hashford had the charge of all detained boys, and he, good-hearted, Henniker-dreading usher that he was, had spent the three days in drilling me hard in decimal fractions; and so well too, that I actually came to enjoy the exercise, and looked upon the "repeating dot" as a positive pastime.
Even Miss Henniker could not rob me of that pleasure.
"Batchelor," whispered Flanagan to me, as we walked two and two to church behind the Henniker that Sunday, "that new fellow"s an awfully queer cove. I can"t make him out."
"Nor can I. But how"s he been getting on the last day or two?"
"Getting on! You never knew such scenes as we"ve had. He"s afraid of n.o.body. He licked Philpot to fits on Thursday--smashed him, I tell you.
You never saw such a demon as he is when his dander"s up. Then he walked into Rathbone; and if Rathbone hadn"t been a foot taller than him, with arms as long as windmills, he"d have smashed Rathbone."
"Did he try it on you?" I inquired.
"No--why should he?" said the st.u.r.dy Flanagan; "time enough for that when I make a brute of myself to him. But I dare say he"d smash me too.
It"s as good as a play, I tell you. That time he did for Philpot he was as quick with his right, and walked in under his man"s guard, and drove up at him, and took him on the flank just like--"
"A bad mark to Flanagan for talking, and to Batchelor for listening,"
rose the voice of Miss Henniker in the street.
This public award made us both jump, and colour up too, for there were a lot of ladies and gentlemen and young ladies close at hand, all of whom must have distinctly heard the Henniker"s genial observation. However, I was most curious to hear more of Smith. Flanagan and I both had colds the rest of the way and finished our conversation behind our handkerchiefs.
"Have you heard any more about him?" asked I. "Not a word. He"s as close as an owl. Hawkesbury says Hashford told him he came here straight from another school. By the way--keep your handkerchief up, man!--by the way, when I said he"s afraid of no one, he _is_ afraid of Hawkesbury, I fancy. I don"t know why--"
"I don"t think I like Hawkesbury, either. He"s got such an everlasting grin."
"So will you have if you don"t talk lower, you young idiot," said Flanagan. "Yes, it"s the grin that fetches Smith, I fancy. I grinned at him one day, meaning to be friendly, but he didn"t half like it."