"This is my den; and mind when you clean the window you don"t crack that pane more than it is; and when you brush my things, you know, see the shelf isn"t dirty, because I sometimes keep my worms there--do you hear?
And now come along to bed; they put out lights at half-past nine."
The mention of the time recalled me instinctively to Charlie"s thoughts.
He could not resist the temptation, suggested half by anxiety and half by vanity, of taking me out and looking at me.
"Hullo! What, have you got a watch?"
"Yes," said Charlie meekly, not exactly knowing whether his companion would be admiring or indignant with him.
"More than I have," was all Joe"s rejoinder.
Charlie"s generosity was at once touched.
"Oh, never mind, we can go shares sometimes, if you like, you know,"
said he, not without an effort.
"I don"t want your watch," was Master Halliday"s somewhat ungracious reply. "Let"s have a look at it, will you?"
He took me, and examined me; and evidently would not have objected to be the possessor of a watch himself, though he tried to make it appear it was a matter of indifference to him.
"Why don"t you get your father to give you one?" asked Charlie innocently.
"Because I haven"t got a father."
"Not got a father! Oh, I am sorry!" and the starting tears in the little fellow"s eyes testified only too truly to his sincerity. "Look here," he added, "do take the watch, please; perhaps you would like it, and my father would give me another."
Joe Halliday gazed at his young f.a.g in amazement.
"Why, you are a queer chap," he said. "I wouldn"t take your watch for anything; but I tell you what, I"ll ask you the time whenever I want to know."
"Will you really?" cried the delighted Charlie. "How jolly!"
"And look here," continued Halliday, "take my advice, and don"t go offering your watch to everybody who hasn"t got a father, or some of them might take you at your word, and then you"d look foolish. Come along now."
And he led the boy into the dormitory, where there were about twenty beds, most of them already occupied by boys, and the rest waiting for occupants, who were rapidly undressing in different parts of the room.
"Look sharp and tumble in," said Joe, pointing out the bed Charlie was to have. "There"s only five minutes more."
Charlie, with all the naturalness of innocence, knelt, as he was always used to do, and said his prayers, adding a special pet.i.tion for his dear absent parents, and another for the poor boy who hadn"t got a father.
He was wholly unaware of the curiosity he had excited by his entrance into the dormitory, still less did he imagine the sensation which his simple act of devotion was creating. Twenty pairs of eyes stared at the unwonted spectacle of a boy saying his prayers, and many were the whispered comments which pa.s.sed from lip to lip. No one however (had any been so inclined) stirred either to disturb or molest him--an immunity secured to him as much perhaps by the fact of his being under the protection of so redoubtable a champion as Halliday as by any special feeling of sympathy for his act.
The good example was not, however, wholly lost, for that same night, after the lights were out, and when silence reigned in the room, more than one boy covered his head with his sheet and tried to recall one of the early prayers of his childhood.
As for Charlie, with me and the knife under his pillow, he slept the sleep of the just, and dreamt of home; and I can answer for it his weary head never turned once the livelong night.
CHAPTER FIVE.
HOW MY MASTER ENTERED AND QUITTED THE HEAD MASTER"S STUDY TWICE IN ONE MORNING.
Charlie"s first care in the morning was, as I need hardly say, to pull me out from under his pillow, and consult me as to the time. None of his companions were astir, so that, not having anything particular to do, he lay still, and abandoned himself to the luxury of an idle half- hour in bed.
His spirits were so greatly revived by his night"s rest that he forgot both the novelty and the loneliness of his position, and fell to polishing first his knife and then me as merrily as if he were at home.
What a difference a sound sleep often makes in the aspect of our affairs! Twelve hours ago he had felt as if he could never be sufficiently bold as to whistle within the walls of Randlebury, and now the first sight and sound which greeted Halliday"s returning senses, as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, was his young _protege_ whistling to himself like a lark, and brightening me up with all his might with the corner of his blanket till I glowed again at nearly a red heat.
"Who"s that kicking up that row whistling?" growled a voice from the far end of the room; "because I"d like to shy a boot at his head."
At this Charlie subsided, not desiring to gratify his unknown auditor in his benevolent desire, and very soon after jumped up and dressed himself.
"Look here, youngster," said Joe, "you"d better do my study now, as you mayn"t have time after breakfast to-day. You know which room it is--the sixth on your right when you get downstairs. Cut along, look sharp, you"ve a good half-hour."
Charlie made his way down to the lion"s den, meeting on his way several other discontented f.a.gs, bound on similar errands. He set himself to clean the window, tidy the cupboard, and generally put things square, and had succeeded fairly well in this endeavour by the time his patron made his appearance.
"What"s the time?" inquired that lord of creation, running his eye rapidly round the room at the same time, to notice how his f.a.g had done his duty.
"It"s five minutes to eight," replied Charlie, after consulting me, and highly delighted to be thus appealed to.
"Come along to breakfast, then. You"ll have to sit at a different table from me; but mind and wait for me afterwards, for I"ve got to take you to the doctor."
So Charlie was conducted down to the hall to breakfast, and provided with a humble seat at the foot of the lowest table, while Joe Halliday made his way with all the dignity that became his years to a distinguished place at the highest.
My master found himself among a set of noisy little boys, who amused themselves during the greater part of the meal by interchanging volleys of bread pellets, which much oftener missed their marks than reached them, in consequence of which he himself came in for the brunt of the cannonade. Once he ventured to return one of the random shots which had found its way to his fingers. Fortune favoured his aim, and his shaft hit the boy it was intended for full in the eye.
"Who did that?" cried the wounded hero sharply.
"I did," replied Charlie, quite proud of his achievement.
"All right, I"ll punch your head for it when we get outside."
This was by no means what Charlie had expected. He had imagined the wound would be received in the same spirit of jest in which it was aimed.
"It was only in fun," he explained; "did it hurt you?"
"Of course it did," exclaimed the injured youth, who till Charlie"s arrival had been the junior pupil of the school, and was now delighted to find some one below himself in the scale of seniority. "Of course it did, and you"ll catch it."
All the other boys laughed, and Charlie, who could not find it in him to be overawed by even so majestic a hero as little Master Johnny Walker, made the best of his position.
"Look here," he said, "I"ll give you three shots at my mouth, and if you--"
"There"s too much talking at table six!" exclaimed an awful voice, and instantly every voice was hushed, including Charlie"s, who blushed to the roots of his hair, and felt as if he had been singled out before the whole school as a rioter. He gulped down his breakfast without further argument with Master Walker, and was relieved, when the meal was over, to find that that doughty warrior appeared to have altered his mind about punching his youthful head.
After some time he saw Halliday beckoning to him from the other side of the room.
"Now you"ve got to go to the doctor," said he; "come along."
This was the first time my master had fully realised the solemn nature of the approaching interview, and I felt his heart flutter as he inquired,--