School that morning went uncomfortably for me. I escaped being "lagged"
for my neglect of preparation, chiefly owing to the friendly prompting I received from d.i.c.ky Brown. But it was a time of anxiety and trepidation, and my nerves were somewhat strained before it was over.
The shock of the day, however, awaited me as I got outside on my way to the fields.
A small youth of my own size accosted me.
"I say, are you the new chap?"
"What new chap?"
"The new chap that Redwood told to fetch his belt."
"Yes," said I, turning a little pale.
"All right. You"ve got to go to him, sharp."
"I tried to give it him back yesterday, really I did; but I was stopped," said I. "Do you think I"ll get in a row?"
"I wouldn"t be in your shoes, that"s all I know," remarked the messenger brutally. "It"ll be all the worse if you don"t cut."
"Where is he?"
"In the captain"s room at the School House."
I went off with my heart in my boots. And I had hoped so much to show up well to Redwood! It was all Jarman"s fault, and I wrote down yet another grudge against him in my mental book.
The captain was alone, and evidently expecting me, as he rose and came to meet me when I appeared.
"Here you are, then, youngster," said he, in a tone which, if it meant a licking, was a very deceptive one.
"I"m very sorry," said I; "I tried to bring the belt round yesterday evening, but--"
"Hang the belt!" said the captain. "That"s not what I want you for.
Why didn"t you tell me what happened at home yesterday afternoon?"
Then it was another row altogether I was in for! What, I wondered, had I done! Surely he didn"t suspect me of having pushed his young sister into the water?
"I didn"t like, while the match was on. I didn"t know Mamie had tumbled in, or I would have stopped her."
"But you fished her out?" he asked.
"I told Annie to take her and dry her," said I, wondering where the blow was going to fall. "You see, she went upstairs for the belt, and it was when she had gone it happened. I don"t think it was her fault."
To my amazement Redwood laughed and clapped me on the back.
"You young donkey, don"t you know you saved Mamie"s life, and I want to say "Thank you," to you?"
This unexpected _denouement_ alarmed me almost as much as my previous misgivings.
"Oh no, really I didn"t," said I; "she was close to the edge."
"Another inch or two and she would have been in six feet of water," said he. Then, with a friendly laugh, he added--
"You may not have meant to save her life; but you did, and must take the consequences. My mother wants you to come to tea to-morrow. Call here for me after evening chapel, and we"ll go together. Good-bye now, and thanks, youngster."
I could hardly tell if I was on my head or my heels as I walked back.
It had never occurred to me till now that I had done anything out of the common in fishing Miss Mamie out of her muddy bath. Indeed, I still felt I was getting credit I did not deserve, and blushed to myself. As to the invitation for to-morrow, that seemed to me a burst of glory quite past my present comprehension, and I resolved to treasure it as a secret in my own bosom until at least I had made sure it was not a dream.
Before then, however, I had less pleasant work on hand. My comrades did not fail to remind me several times during the afternoon of my "promise," as they called it, to distribute the Conversation Club circulars in Great Hall, and adjured me not to run it too fine. The consequence was that, at a quarter to five, I was convoyed, with the bundle of papers under my arm, to the door of the dining-hall, and gently shoved inside, with all retreat cut off until my task was done.
Some of the servants who were laying the tables objected to my presence, but on my explaining I had been sent to do it, they allowed me without interruption to lay a copy of the precious doc.u.ment on each of the five hundred plates. I had barely concluded this arduous duty when the bell commenced to ring, and the fellows in twos and threes began to drop in.
It was all I could do to affect unconsciousness, as from a modest retreat near the door I marked the effect of the announcement on Low Heath generally. At first there was a note of surprise; then, as one after another read on, a t.i.tter, and finally a general laugh, which was only checked by the entrance of the masters and the call to grace.
I had--being a stranger to the place--distributed my favours among the masters quite as liberally as among the boys, and presently, with horror, perceived Dr England rise in his place with his copy in his hand.
"Whew!" whistled Langrish, "there"s a row on, I fancy."
"Serve you right if there is," said Trimble. "Why ever did you put them on _that_ table?"
"How was I to know?" groaned I.
"What boy," said the doctor, when silence prevailed, "what boy has been putting this foolish paper round the hall?"
Oh dear! How I wished I was safe at home!
"Please, sir, I did," said I, rising meekly in my place.
"Your name?"
"Jones iv., please, sir."
"Then come at once, Jones iv., and collect them again, every one, and write out two hundred lines. Let dinner proceed now."
If the object of the promoters of the Philosophical Conversation Club had been cheap advertis.e.m.e.nt, they must have been amply gratified.
Hercules never performed any labour equal to mine that afternoon. The masters handed me up their copies gravely and reproachfully; but the Low Heathens generally made sport of my misery. Scarcely one in ten would part with his rare broadside, and those who did made it manifest that they had the contents by heart. The unfortunate "misprint" of my Christian name, moreover, was the occasion for much ribald comment.
When, finally, I reached the quarters of my own particular comrades, I received more kicks than papers. They were unkind enough to say I had mulled the whole thing, and to promise me untold penalties when they got me in the privacy of the f.a.ggery.
At last, when the pudding was almost vanishing, I sat down to my hard- earned meal. But it mattered little, for I could have eaten nothing.
Be that as it may, the Philosophical Conversation Club was able to boast that afternoon that it had attracted the attention and interest of every member of the school, from the headmaster down to the junior f.a.g. And few school clubs can boast as much as that!
CHAPTER TWELVE.
A COMMITTEE OF WAYS AND MEANS.
"Where are you going?" demanded the f.a.ggery next afternoon, as I tried to desert them after afternoon chapel. "To take up your lines to England?"