"But it"s such a beastly way that I wouldn"t put up with it," said the other. "He may be "the c.o.c.k of the walk," but he need not think we are all going to cackle to him like a set of hens. I mean to take that fellow out of Coventry after this. Come on, let us both walk home with him a bit, and see how the c.o.c.k likes that. There"s Howard just ahead; let"s catch him."
But instead of quickening his pace Leonard looked timorously back; and there was Taylor with a group of lads round him vigorously declaiming against the County Council for sending one of their scholarship boys to Torrington"s. So Leonard felt afraid to join this unpopular scholar, and set himself in defiance of the present wave of anger that was pa.s.sing over his friends, and he turned down a by-road and walked home by himself.
CHAPTER IV.
DR. MORRISON.
Leonard Morrison found himself sent to Coventry, not by his schoolfellows, but by his sister. It was just the punishment he had decided she deserved for daring to have an opinion of her own that differed from his, and so to find himself "hoist with his own petard"
made him very angry.
"Where is Flo going to do her lessons to-night?" he asked his mother, when he went to the study and found it in darkness. His sister usually lighted the lamp ready for him, but his mother had come with him to do it to-night.
"She has gone to her own room--she wants to be quiet, she says. You should not talk so much, Lenny dear," added the lady.
"Nasty little thing! She has been telling tales, I suppose?"
"She did not say what you had been talking about, if that is what you mean," said Mrs. Morrison, "but your father heard a great deal of chatter, he says."
"So Flo has taken herself off," said Leonard, as he took his seat and opened his school satchel. "A nice time I shall have, if Taylor keeps his word and sends me to Coventry at school! I shall lose the use of my tongue in about a week, if n.o.body will speak to me. It"s a lively look-out, any way, and what have I done to deserve it, I should like to know?"
Leonard considered himself a very ill-used individual just then, and he was specially angry with his sister because she had so neatly turned the tables upon him in leaving him to do his lessons alone.
He missed her sadly as the time went on, and there was no one to grumble at or ask advice from. What to do about speaking to his father he did not know, and at last he decided to say something to his mother about the matter; not that he meant to tell her all, but he would just ask her if she thought Taylor was right in his statement.
So when Mrs. Morrison came into the room with his slice of cake for his supper, he said, "Do you know whether father had anything to do with sending that scholarship boy to Torrington"s?"
"Why--isn"t he a good boy?" said the lady.
"That isn"t it, mother. He may be good--I dare say he is--but did father send him there?"
"The County Council sent him; your father would not have the power."
"I suppose not," said Leonard in a satisfied tone.
"But why did you ask, my boy?" said the lady.
"Oh, it doesn"t matter," said Leonard, lightly. "As long as daddy didn"t send him it"s all right."
"But what has happened? What sort of a boy is he?"
"Oh, he"s all right, I dare say. Boys can"t peach, you know, mother."
And Leonard"s light words sent his mother out with an aching heart.
"More trouble, I fear," she said softly to herself, as she closed the door and went back to the dining-room. "Poor d.i.c.k! poor, dear d.i.c.k!
What misery he has brought to us all! And yet he was never wicked--only weak."
The lady buried her face in her handkerchief for a few minutes, but roused herself when she heard the street door open and close, and went and rung the bell for supper to be served.
"You are late to-night, dear," she said, when her husband entered the room.
"Yes, I have had a busy day, and am as hungry as a hunter. Chicks gone to bed, I suppose, he added, as he looked round the room before going to wash his hands and change his coat for a comfortable hour by his own fireside.
A tasty hot supper was on the table when he came back, but he noticed as he ate that his wife scarcely touched hers; but he did not ask what was troubling her until the meal was over and the table cleared. Then he said, leaning back in his chair--
"Now, little woman, I have done my duty to your nice supper, which I know is all you have been waiting for. Now tell me what is amiss. Has Flo cut her finger, or Len got into mischief?" he asked.
"No, dear, the children are all right," said Mrs. Morrison, with a sigh; "but I have been wondering whether you were wise to get that little board school boy sent to Torrington"s. You did have a good deal to do with it, I know," added the lady.
"To be sure I did. The lad had fairly earned the Thompson Scholarship, and, from all we heard of the lad and his relatives, we thought he would be an acquisition to the school rather than otherwise. His mother was a patient of mine about a year ago, and from all I saw then I concluded that they were people who had come down in the world, for it was easy to see that they were superior to their surroundings, and I thought then that if ever it was in my power to help them I would do so. The father is abroad, travelling, I understand; but he seems to have left his family badly provided for. What have you heard about the boy?"
"Oh, nothing," promptly replied Mrs. Morrison. "Only from a word Lenny dropped I fancy he is not popular at the school, and you know what queer notions people take sometimes; and if it was said that Dr.
Morrison sent a board school boy to the school they are all so proud of, we might have all our old troubles over again."
The doctor laughed. "You think half my patients must be offended as well as the boys at Torrington"s! I have heard a whisper that some of them don"t like the new scholar; but he will live it down, I daresay, and I am not going to notice it."
"But, my dear, if you should lose your patients? If this boy should disgrace himself, people will be sure to say that you had no business to send him to such a school, and the worst of the trouble is sure to come upon us."
"Ah, I see you have been saddling the horse ready to go and meet it!
How many times am I to tell you, little woman, to wait until the trouble comes to you, and then to look it squarely in the face and fight it, if fighting is likely to do any good, and if it is not, then bear it with all the patience and courage that G.o.d will give you, if you only do your share in the matter? Now what has Master Len been saying about this lad?"
"He asked if it was true that you were the means of sending that scholarship boy to Torrington"s. The boys had said you did it.
The doctor laughed. "Murder will out, you see, Maria."
"I told him the County Council sent him, and of course they did."
"Quite true; but I had the casting vote in the matter, and I voted that the lad should go to Torrington"s, both for the sake of the school and the boy, and also that I might hear incidentally from Len what sort of a lad he was. What does he say?"
"Nothing definite. He wanted to know whether it was true that you had sent him, and when I asked why, he said boys were not allowed to tell tales, or words to that effect.
The doctor smiled. "Then it"s nothing very bad," he said, "and if this lad can only hold his own among some of those big louting lads, he will do our school a world of good."
"How is he to do that?" asked the lady.
"Why, this boy has formed the habit of steady application to the task before him, whatever it may be. If he had not, he could not have pa.s.sed the examination necessary to gain this scholarship. Now Torrington"s sadly needs a few lads like this, for it is beginning to suffer from the dry rot that a great name often brings to a school after some years. The sons of wealthy men are sent there, who have no need to toil with either hands or brains, and they take care not to do it themselves, and to hinder others from doing it if they can. For Len, and lads like him, this example is bad; and so to introduce a studious lad, who will think less of games than of lessons, has become a necessity, if Torrington"s is to be saved from going to the dogs; and I should be very sorry to see the school go down. I went there when I was a lad, and have always been proud of Torrington"s, and that is why I am anxious to save it from collapse."
"I believe Lenny is just as proud of it as you are," said his wife.
"I should hope so. I don"t think much of a lad who is not proud and fond of his school, and ready to fight for its honour against all antagonists."
"I think all Torrington"s lads feel the same about their school," said Mrs. Morrison. "But suppose some of them should think a poor boy, who is dependent upon a scholarship for his schooling, beneath the rest of the scholars? I cannot forget the old trouble," she added.
"Then they must learn to know better! Learn to consider that there is something more in the world than money worth consideration. This is what I am afraid is spoiling some of the Torrington boys just now, and it is high time it was checked. We talked this aspect of the matter over at the Council meeting--for there are several old boys among us who are proud of our school--and we agreed that a little new blood among these purse-proud young gentlemen would do them a world of good, and I hope this boy may be what is needed among them. As for the old trouble," went on Dr. Morrison, "that is left behind, I hope; but you must remember that it arose from a very different cause. Your brother d.i.c.k behaved very badly to more than one of my patients, and so disgraced us."