As the reader may suppose, the sympathetic soul of Miss Daisy Herapath was considerably moved by the contents of her brother"s letter, which we gave in the last chapter. She naturally took an interest in the welfare and doings of Railsford"s house; and as she heard quite as often from the master as she did from his pupil, she was able to form a pretty good, all-round opinion on school politics.
Arthur"s lively account of the House sports had delighted her. Not that she understood all the obscure terms which embellished it; but it was quite enough for her that the house had risen above its tribulations and rewarded its master and itself by these brilliant exploits in the fields. But when Arthur pa.s.sed from public to personal matters, his sister felt rather less at ease. She much disliked the barefaced proposal for the testimonial, and had told her brother as much more than once. On the whole, she decided to send Arthur"s letter and its enclosure to Railsford, and confide her perplexities to him.
Railsford perused the "dear boy"s" florid effusion with considerable interest, particularly, I grieve to say, certain portions of it, which if Daisy had been as wise as she was affectionate, she would have kept to herself. When people put notes into circulation, it"s not the fault of those into whose hands they come if they discover in them beauties unsuspected by the person for whose benefit they were issued. Railsford saw a great deal more in Arthur"s letter than Daisy had even suspected.
A certain pa.s.sage, which had seemed mere mysterious jargon to her, had a pretty plain meaning for him, especially after the interview last Sunday with Mr Bickers.
"It"s a jolly good job that row about Bickers came on when it did. ...
n.o.body wants to find the chap out now, so your particular is all serene up to now, and I don"t mean to drip and spoil his game."
What could this mean except that Arthur, somehow or other, knew a secret respecting the Bickers affair which he was keeping to himself, presumably in the interests of Railsford? Could this mysterious hint have any connection with the false rumour which had reached Bickers and magnified itself in his mind to such an uncomfortable extent? Railsford resolved to delight the heart of his young relative by a friendly visit, and make a reconnaissance of the position. He had a very good pretext in the anxious solicitude expressed in Daisy"s letter for the health and appet.i.te of her love-tossed brother. He would make it his business to inquire how the sufferer did.
Waiting, therefore, until a preternatural stillness in the room above a.s.sured him that Dig was out of the way, the Master of the Sh.e.l.l went up-stairs and ushered himself into Arthur"s study.
"Hard at work, I see," said Railsford cheerily. "How are you getting on?"
"All serene, thanks," replied Arthur. "That is, not very well."
"Have you stuck fast in your translations? Let me look."
"Oh no. I"m not doing my exercise," said Arthur, in alarm. "I"m only looking up some words. Do you want to see Dig? He"s gone to Wake"s room."
"No, I came to see you. I heard you"d been out of sorts. Are you all right now? Was it the sports knocked you up?"
"No--that is, yes, they did a bit, I think," said Arthur. It was the sports which had done it, though not in the way "Marky" fancied.
"Well, we mustn"t have you laid up, must we? We want you for the Swift Scholarship, you know."
"Oh, all right, sir, I"m going to mug hard for that after Easter, really."
"Why put it off till then? You may come to my room any evening you like. I shall generally have time enough."
This invitation did not fascinate the boy as it deserved to do.
"I fancy I"d work steadier here," said he. "Besides, Dig and I use the same books."
"Well, the first thing is to get yourself all right. What"s troubling you, Arthur?"
This was a startling question, and Arthur felt himself detected.
"I suppose you"ve heard. Keep it quiet, I say."
"What is it? Keep what quiet?"
"Why, about _her_, you know. I say, Marky--I mean Mr Railsford--could you ever give me a leg-up with her? If you asked her to your room one day, you know I could come too, and do my work."
Railsford laughed.
"I thought you could do your work better here; besides, you and Oakshott use the same books."
"Oakshott be hanged! I mean--I say, Marky, do you think I"ve a chance?
I know Smedley"s--"
Railsford"s experience in cases of this sort was limited, but he was philosopher enough to know that some distempers need to be taken seriously.
"Look here, Arthur," said he gravely, "the best thing you can do is to go straight over to Dr Ponsford"s and ask to see him, and tell him exactly how matters stand. Remind him that you"re just fifteen, and in the Sh.e.l.l, and that your income is a shilling a week. You need not tell him you were detained two afternoons this week, because he will probably find that out for himself by looking at monsieur"s books. If he says he will be delighted to accept your offer, then I promise to back you up.
Let me see, I know the doctor"s at home this evening; it"s not 7.30 yet, so you"ll have time, if you go at once, to catch him before his tea.
I"ll wait here till you come back."
Arthur"s face underwent a wonderful change as the master quietly uttered these words. It began by lengthening, and growing a little pale; then it grew troubled, then bewildered, then scarlet, and finally, when he had ended, it relaxed into a very faint smile.
"I think I"ll wait a bit," said he gravely.
"Very well, only let me hear the result when you do go."
"I think I may as well start work for the Swift to-night," said he, "if you don"t mind."
"By all means, my boy. Come along to my room and we"ll look through the list of subjects."
Arthur, before the task was half over, had recovered his spirits and advanced far in the esteem of his future kinsman.
"Awfully brickish of you, sir," he said. "It wouldn"t be a bad score for our house if we got all the prizes at the exams, would it?"
"Not at all. But we mustn"t be too confident."
"Jolly lucky we"re cut off from the rest of the chaps, isn"t it? It makes us all sit up."
"That state of things may end any time, you know," said the master.
"But we must "sit up" all the same."
"Oh, but it won"t come out till the exams, are over, will it?"
"How do I know?"
Arthur glanced up at his kinsman, and inwardly reflected what a clever chap he was to ask such a question in such a way.
"Oh, all right. All I meant was, it wouldn"t suit our book, would it, to let it out just yet?"
"It"s not a question of what suits anyone. It"s a question of what is right. And if anybody in the house knows anything I don"t, he ought to speak, whatever it costs."
"There"s an artful card," thought Arthur to himself, and added aloud--
"I don"t fancy any fellow knows anything you don"t, Marky--I mean Mr Railsford. _I_ don"t."
"Don"t you? Do you know," said the master, "I have sometimes had an impression you did. I am quite relieved to hear it, Arthur."
"Oh, you needn"t be afraid of me," said Arthur, lost in admiration for the cleverness of his future brother-in-law. "I"m safe, never you fear."
"It"s a strange mystery," said Railsford, "but sooner or later we shall know the meaning of it."