"Why to-night in particular, Elgood?"
"Because I"ve heard them say that they"re going to have a grand gathering to-night, and to make you, and me too; but I can"t hold out as you do, Evson."
"I shall try not to give way; indeed, I _won"t_ be made to tell a lie,"
said Charlie, thinking of his interview with Walter, and the hopes it had inspired.
"Then _I_ won"t either," said Elgood, plucking up courage. "But we shall catch it awfully, both of us."
"They can"t do more than lick us," said Charlie, trying to speak cheerily, "and I"ve been licked so often that I"m getting accustomed to it."
"And I"d rather be licked," said a voice beside them, "and be like you two fellows, than escape being licked, and be like Stone and Symes, or even like myself."
"Who"s that?" asked Elgood hastily, for it was not light enough to see.
"Me--Hanley. Don"t you fellows give in; it will only make you miserable, as it has done me."
They went in to Preparation, which was succeeded by chapel, and then to their dormitories. They undressed and got into bed, as usual, although they knew that they should be very soon disturbed, for various signs told them that the rest had some task in hand. Accordingly, the lights were barely put out, when a scout was posted, the candles were re-lighted, and a number of other Noelites, headed by Mackworth, came crowding into the dormitory.
"Now you, No-thank-you, you"ve got one last chance--here"s this paper for you to sign; fellows have always signed it before, and _you_ shall too, whether you like or no. We"re not going to alter our rules because of you. We want to have a supper again in a day or two, and we can"t have you sneaking about it." Mackworth was the speaker.
"I don"t want to sneak," said Charlie firmly; "you"ve been making me wretched, and knocking me about, all these weeks, and I"ve never told of you yet."
"We don"t want any orations; only Yes or No--will you sign?"
"Stop," said Wilton, "here"s another fellow, Mac, who hasn"t signed;"
and he dragged Elgood out of bed by one arm.
"Oh, _you_ haven"t signed, haven"t you? Well, we shall make short work of you. Here"s the pencil, here"s the paper, and here"s the place for your name. Now, you poor little fool, sign without giving us any more trouble."
Elgood trembled and hesitated.
"Look here," said Mackworth brutally; "I don"t want to break such a b.u.t.terfly as you upon the wheel, but--how do you like that?" He drew a cane from behind his back, and brought it down sharply on Elgood"s knuckles, who, turning very white, sat down and scrawled his name hastily on the paper; but no sooner had he done it than, looking up, he caught Charlie"s pitying glance upon him, and running the pencil through his signature, said no more, but pushed the paper hastily away and cowered down, expecting another blow, while Charlie whispered, "Courage."
"You must take the other fellow first, Mac, if you want to get on,"
suggested Wilton. "Evson, as a friend, I advise you not to refuse."
"_As a friend_!" said Charlie, with simple scorn, looking full at Wilton. "You are no friend of mine; and, Wilton, I wouldn"t even now change places with you."
"Wouldn"t you?--Pitch into him, Mac. And you," he said to Elgood, "you may wait for the present." He administered a backhander to Elgood as he spoke, and the next minute Charlie, roused beyond all bearing, had knocked him down. Twenty times before he would have been tempted to fight Wilton, if he could have reckoned upon fair play; but what he could stand in his own person was intolerable to him to witness when applied to another.
Wilton sprang up in perfect fury, and a fight began; but Mackworth at once pulled Charlie off, and said, "Fight him another time, if you condescend to do so, Raven; don"t you see now that it"s a mere dodge of his to get off. Now, No-thank-you, the time has come for deeds; we"ve had words enough. You stand there." He pushed Charlie in front of him.
"Now, will you sign?"
"_Never_," said Charlie, in a low but firm tone.
"Then--"
"_Not with the cane, not with the cane_, Mackworth," cried several voices in agitation, but not in time to prevent the cane descending with heavy hand across the child"s back.
Charlie"s was one of those fine, nervous, susceptible temperaments, which feel every physical sensation, and every mental emotion, with tenfold severity. During the whole of this scene; so painfully antic.i.p.ated, in which he had stood alone among a group of boys, whose sole object seemed to be to show their hatred, and who were twice as strong as himself, his feelings had been highly wrought; and though he had had many opportunities of late to train his delicate organisation into manly endurance, yet the sudden anguish of this unexpected blow quite conquered him. A thrilling cry broke from his lips, and the next moment, when the cane again tore his shoulders, a fit of violent hysteria supervened, which alarmed the brutes who were trying to master his n.o.ble resolution.
And at this crisis the door burst open with a sudden crash, and Bliss entered in a state of burning indignation, followed more slowly by Kenrick.
"O, I am too late," he said, stamping his foot; "what _have_ you been doing to the little fellow?" and thrusting some of them aside, he took up Charlie in his arms, and gradually soothed and calmed him till his wild sobs and laughter were hushed, while the rest looked on silent.
But feeling that Charlie shrank as though a touch were painful to him, Bliss unbared his back, and the two blue weals all across it showed him what had been done.
"Look there, Kenrick," he said, with great sternness, as he pointed to the marks; and then, laying Charlie gently down on his bed, he thundered out, in a voice shaken with pa.s.sion, "You _dogs_, could you look on and allow this? By heavens, Kenrick, if _you_ mean to suffer this, I won"t.
Out of my way, you." Scattering the rest before him like a flock of sheep, he seized Mackworth with his strong hands, shook him violently by both shoulders, and then tearing the cane out of his grasp, he demanded, "Was it you who did this?"
"What are you about, you Bliss?" said Mackworth, with very ruffled dignity. "Mind what you"re after, and don"t make such a row, you a.s.s"s head," he continued authoritatively, "or you"ll have Noel or some one in here."
"Ho! that"s your tone, you cruel, reprobate bully," said Bliss, supplied by indignation with an unusual flow of words; "we"ve had enough of that, and too much. You can look at poor little Evson there, and not sink into the very earth for shame! By heavens, Belial, you shall receive what you"ve given. I"ll beat you as if you were a dog. Take that."
The cut which followed showed that he was in desperate earnest, and that, however immovable he might generally be, it was by no means safe to trifle with him in such a mood as this.
Mackworth tried in vain to seize the cane; Bliss turned him round and round as if he were a child; and as it was quite clear that he did not mean to have done with him just yet, Mackworth"s impudent bravado was changed into abject terror as he received a second weighty stroke, so heartily administered that the cane bent round him, in the hideous way which canes have, and caught him a blow on the ribs.
Mackworth sprang away, and fled, howling with shame and pain, through the open door, but not until Bliss had given him two more blows on the back, with one of the two cutting open his coat from the collar downwards, with the other leaving a mark at least as black as that which he had inflicted on the defenceless Charlie.
"To your rooms, the rest of you wretches," said he, as they dispersed in every direction before him. "Kenrick," he continued, brandishing the cane, "I may be a dolt, as you"ve called me before now, but since you won"t do your duty, henceforth I will do it for you."
Kenrick slank off, half afraid that Bliss would apply the cane to _him_; and, speaking in a tone of authority, Bliss said to the boys in the dormitory, "If one of you henceforth touch a hair of Evson"s head, look out; you know me. You little scamp and scoundrel, Wilton, take especial care." He enforced the admonition by making Wilton jump with a little rap of the cane, which he then broke, and flung out of the window. And then, his whole manner changing instantly into an almost womanly tenderness, he sat by poor little Charlie, soothing and comforting him till his hysterical sobs had ceased; and, when he felt sure that the fit was over, gently bade him good-night, and went out, leaving the room in dense silence, which no one ventured to break but the warm-hearted little Hanley, who, going to Charlie"s bedside, said--
"Oh, Charlie, are you hurt much?"
"No, not very much, thank you, Hanley."
Hanley pressed his hand, and said, "You"ve conquered, Charlie; you"ve held out to the end. Oh, I wish I were like you!"
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
A CONSPIRACY FOILED.
As the feathery snows Fall frequent on some wintry day...
The stony volleys flew.
Cowper.
Yes, Charlie had conquered, thanks to the grace that sustained him, and thanks, secondarily, to a good home training, and to Walter"s strong and excellent influence. And in gaining that one point he had gained all.
No one dared directly to molest him further, and he had never again to maintain so hard a struggle. He had resisted the beginnings of evil; he had held out under the stress of persecution; and now he could enjoy the smoother and brighter waters over which he sailed.
His enemies were for the time discomfited, and even the hardy Wilton was abashed. For a week or two there was considerably less bravado in his face and manner, and his influence over those of his own age was shaken.
That little rap of the cane which Bliss had given him had a most salutary effect in diminishing his conceit. Hanley retracted his promise to deny all knowledge of anything wrong that went on, and openly defied Wilton; even Elgood ceased to fear him. Charlie had felt inclined to cut him, but, with generous impulse, he forgave all that was past, and, keeping on civil terms with him, did all he could to draw him to less crooked paths.
Mackworth was so ashamed that he hardly ventured to show his face. He had always made Bliss a laughing-stock, had nicknamed him a.s.s"s Head, and had taught others to jeer at his backwardness. He had presumed on his lazy good humour, and affected to patronise and look down on him.
An eruption in a long-extinct volcano could not have surprised him more than the sudden outburst of Bliss"s wrath, and if the two blows which he had received as he fled before him in sight of the whole house had been branded on his back with a hot iron, they could hardly have caused him more painful humiliation. For some time he slunk about like a whipped puppy, and imagined, not without some ground, that no one saw him without an inclination to smile.
Kenrick, too, had reason to blush. Every one knew that it was Bliss, and not he, who had rescued the house from attaching to its name another indelible disgrace; and when he heard the monitors and sixth-form talking seriously among themselves of the bad state into which the Noelites had fallen, he felt that the stigma was deserved, and that _he_, as being the chief cause of the mischief, must wear the brand.