The lady took it and opened it. Then closing it, she put it in her own pocket, saying--
"This is confiscated till the end of the term. Flanagan and Batchelor, `Show nails.""
We did show nails. Mine still needed some tr.i.m.m.i.n.g before they were satisfactory, and then I was bidden descend to the parlour for prayers.
Prayers at Stonebridge House consisted of a few sentences somewhat quickly uttered by Mr Ladislaw, who put in an appearance for the occasion, followed by a loud "Amen" from Miss Henniker, and in almost the same breath, on this occasion, the award of a bad mark to Philpot for having opened his eyes twice during the ceremony.
After this we partook of a silent breakfast, and adjourned for study.
Miss Henniker dogged us wherever we went and whatever we did. She sat and glared at us all breakfast time; she sat and glared at us while Mr Ladislaw, or Mr Hashford, the usher, were drilling Latin grammar and arithmetic into us. She sat and glared while we ate our dinner, and she stood and glared when after school we a.s.sembled in the boot-room and prepared to escape to the playground. Even there, if we ventured to lift our voices too near the house, a bad mark was shot at us from a window, and if an unlucky ball should come within range of her claws it was almost certainly "confiscated."
I don"t suppose Stonebridge House, except for Miss Henniker, was much worse than most schools for "backward and troublesome boys." We were fairly well fed, and fairly well taught, and fairly well quartered. I even think we might have enjoyed ourselves now and then, had we been left to ourselves. But we never _were_ left to ourselves. From morning to night, and, for all we could tell, from night till morning, we were looked after by the lady housekeeper, and that one fact made Stonebridge House almost intolerable.
We were lounging about in the so-called "playground" that afternoon, and I was beginning to discover a little more about some of my new schoolfellows, when there appeared walking towards us down the gravel path a boy about my own age.
He was slender and delicate-looking, I remember, and his pale face contrasted strangely with his almost black cl.u.s.tering hair and his dark big eyes. He wasn"t a handsome boy, I remember thinking; but there was something striking about him, for all that. It may have been his solemn expression, or his square jaw, or his eyes, or his brow, or his hair, or the whole of them put together. All I know is, that the sight of him as he appeared that afternoon walking towards us in the playground, has lived in my memory ever since, and will probably live there till I die.
"Here comes the new boy," said Philpot. Of course we all knew it must be he.
"And a queer fish, too, by all appearances," responded Flanagan.
"Very queer indeed," said Hawkesbury. Hawkesbury was one of the two "backwards,"--but for all that he was the cleverest boy, so the others told me, in the whole school.
"He doesn"t seem very bashful," said another.
Nor indeed did he. He sauntered slowly down the path, looking solemnly now on one side, now on the other, and now at us all, until presently he stood in our midst, and gazed half inquiringly, half doubtfully, from one to the other.
I know I felt a good deal more uncomfortable than he did himself, and was quite glad when Flanagan broke the solemn silence.
"Hullo, youngster, who are you, eh?"
"Smith," laconically replied the new boy, looking his questioner in the face.
There was nothing impudent in the way he spoke or looked; but somehow or other his tone didn"t seem quite as humble and abject as old boys are wont to expect from new. Flanagan"s next inquiry therefore was a little more roughly uttered.
"What"s your Christian name, you young donkey? You don"t suppose you"re the only Smith in the world, do you?"
We laughed at this. It wasn"t half bad for Flanagan.
The new boy, however, remained quite solemn as he replied, briefly, "John Smith."
"And where do you come from?" said Philpot, taking up the questioning, and determining to get more out of the new-comer than Flanagan had; "and who"s your father, do you hear? and how many sisters have you got? and why are you sent here? and are you a backward or a troublesome, eh?"
The new boy gazed in grave bewilderment at the questioner during this speech. When it was ended, he quietly proceeded to move off to another part of the playground without vouchsafing any reply.
But Philpot, who was on his mettle, prevented this manoeuvre by a sudden and dexterous grip of the arm, and drew him back into the circle.
"Do you hear what I say to you?" said he, roughly, emphasising his question with a shake. "What on earth do you mean by going off without answering?"
"It"s no business of yours, is it?" said the new boy, mildly.
"Yes," exclaimed Philpot, "it is. You don"t suppose we fellows are going to be humbugged by a young sneak like you, do you?"
"I sha"n"t tell you, then!" quietly replied Smith.
This astounding reply, quietly as it was uttered, quite took away Philpot"s breath, and the breath of all of us. We were so astonished, indeed, that for some time no one could utter a word or make up his mind what to do next.
Then gradually it dawned on the company generally that this defiant, stuck-up youngster must immediately be put down.
"Come here!" said Philpot, as majestically as he could.
Smith remained where he was, as solemn as ever. But I, who stood near, could detect a queer light in his black eyes that looked rather ominous.
When one fellow, in the presence of an admiring audience, grandly orders a junior to "Come here!" and when that junior coolly declines to move, it is a very critical situation both for the boy who orders and the boy who disobeys. For the one, unless he follows up his brag, will pretty certainly be laughed at; and the other, unless he shows the white feather and runs away, will generally come in for a little rough usage.
This seemed likely to happen now. As Smith would not come to Philpot for a thrashing, Philpot must go to Smith and thrash him where he stood.
And so doubtless he would have done, had not Mr Hashford appeared at that very moment on the gravel walk and summoned us in to preparation.
This interruption was most unsatisfactory. Those who wanted to see what the new boy was made of were disappointed, and those whose dignity wanted putting to-rights were still more disappointed.
But there was no helping it. We trailed slowly indoors, Philpot vowing he would be quits with the young cub some day, and Hawkesbury, in his usual smiling way, suggesting that "the new boy didn"t seem a very nice boy."
"I know what _I_ should do," said Flanagan, "if I--"
"A bad mark to Flanagan for not coming in quietly," said the voice of Miss Henniker; and at the sound the spirit went out from us, and we remembered we were once more in Stonebridge House.
"Preparation" was a dreadful time. I knew perfectly well, though I could not see her, that Miss Henniker"s eyes were upon me all the time.
I could feel them on the back of my head and the small of my back. You never saw such an abject spectacle as we nine spiritless youths appeared bending over our books, hardly daring to turn over a leaf or dip a pen, for fear of hearing that hateful voice. I could not help, however, turning my eyes to where the new boy sat, to see how he was faring. He, too, seemed infected with the depressing air of the place, and was furtively looking round among his new schoolfellows. I felt half fascinated by his black eyes, and when presently they turned and met mine, I almost thought I liked the new boy. My face must somehow have expressed what was pa.s.sing through my mind, for as our eyes met there was a very faint smile on his lips, which I could not help returning.
"Batchelor and Smith, a bad mark each for inattention. That makes four bad marks to Batchelor in one day. No playground for half a week!"
Cheerful! I was getting used to the lady by this time, and remember sitting for the rest of the time calculating that if I got four bad marks every day of the week, that would be twenty-eight a week, or a hundred and twelve a month; and that if four bad marks deprived me of half a week"s playground, one month"s bad marks would involve an absence of precisely fourteen weeks from that peaceful retreat; whereat I bit my pen, and marvelled inwardly.
The dreary day seemed as if it would never come to an end. My spirits sank when, after "preparation," we were ordered up stairs to tea. How _could_ one enjoy tea poured out by Miss Henniker? Some people call it the "cup that cheers." Let them take tea one afternoon at Stonebridge House, and they will soon be cured of that notion! I got another bad mark during the meal for scooping up the sugar at the bottom of my cup with my spoon.
"Surely," thought I, "they"ll let us read or play, or do as we like, after tea for a bit?"
Vain hope! The meal ended, we again went down to our desks, where sheets of paper were distributed to each, and we were ordered to "write home"! Write home under Miss Henniker"s eye! That was worse than anything!
I began, however, as best I could. Of course, my letter was to Mrs Hudson. Where she was, was the only home I knew. I was pretty certain, of course, the letter would be looked over, but for all that I tried not to let the fact make any difference, and, as I warmed up to my task, I found my whole soul going out into my letter. I forgot all about its contents being perused, and was actually betrayed into shedding a few tears at the thought of my dear absent protectress.
"I wish I was back with you," I wrote. "It"s _miserable_ here. The sweets you gave me have been stolen by that horrid old--"
At this interesting juncture I was conscious of somebody standing behind me and looking over my shoulder. It was Miss Henniker!
"Give me that," she said.
I s.n.a.t.c.hed the letter up and tore it into pieces. I could stand a good deal, as I have said, but even a boy of twelve must draw the line somewhere.
Miss Henniker stood motionless as I destroyed my letter, and then said, in icy tones--