It was the Saturday before the boat-race, and the excitement of
Willoughby was working up every hour. Boys who were generally in the
habit of lying in bed till the chapel bell began to ring had been up at
six for a week past, to look at the practices on the river. Parliament
had adjourned till after the event, and even the doings of the rival
captains indoors were forgotten for a while in prospect of the still
more exciting contest out of doors.
Everybody--even the Welchers, who at the last moment had given up any
attempt to form a crew, and "scratched"--found it hard to think or talk
of any other subject, and beyond the school bounds, in Shellport itself,
a rumour of the coming race had got wind and attracted many outsiders to
the river banks.
But it was not the prospect of the coming race which this Saturday
afternoon was agitating the mind of Master Henry Brown.
Brown was a Limpet, belonging to the schoolhouse, who occupied the
distinguished position of being the only day-boarder in Willoughby. His
parents lived in Shellport, and thus had the benefit of the constant
society of their dear Harry; while the school, on the other hand, was
deprived of that advantage for a portion of every day in the term.
It was probably to make up for this deprivation that Mr and Mrs Brown
made it a practice of giving an evening party once a term, to which the
doctor and his ladies were always invited, and also any two of dear
Harry's friends he liked to name.
In this way the fond parents not only felt they were doing a polite and
neighbourly act to their son's schoolmaster and schoolfellows, but that
they were also the means of bringing together teacher and pupil in an
easy unconstrained manner which would hardly be possible within the
walls of the school itself.
It was the prospect of one of these delightful entertainments that was
exhilarating Brown this Saturday afternoon.
And it must be confessed the excitement was due to very opposite
emotions in the breast of the day-boarder. The doctor and his ladies
were coming! On the last two occasions they had been unfortunately
prevented, which had been a great blow to Brown's "pa and ma" but a
relief to Brown himself. And now the prospect of meeting these awful
dignitaries face to face in his own house put him in a small panic. But
on the other hand, he knew there would be jellies, and savoury pie, and
strawberries, and tipsy-cake, at home that night. He had seen them
arrive from the confectioner's that morning, and, Limpet as he was,
Brown smiled inwardly as he meditated thereon. This was a second ground
for excitement. And a third, equal to either of the other two, was that
Parson and Telson were invited and were coming!
He had tried one or two other fellows first. He had sounded Coates on
the subject, but he unfortunately was engaged. He had pressed Wyndham
to come, but Wyndham was busy that evening with the library. He had
appealed to one or two other schoolhouse Limpets, but all, on hearing
that the doctor and Co. were to be present, respectfully declined.
Finally Brown dropped upon Telson, and condescendingly proposed to him
to be present as one of his two friends.
Telson thought the matter over and fancied it promised well. He liked
the sound of the jellies and the tipsy-cake, and just at present he knew
of no special reason for "funking" the doctor. As for the doctor's
ladies, Telson had never seen them, so they did not weigh particularly
with him.
"Who else is going?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't know yet," said Brown, rather grandly. "I've one or two
fellows in my mind."
"Why don't you ask young Parson?" suggested Telson, innocently.
"Parson? he's not a schoolhouse kid."
"I know he's not, but he and I are very chummy, you know. I wouldn't
mind coming if he went."
"I'll see," said Brown, mightily, but secretly relieved to know of some
one likely to come as his second "friend."
"All right," said Telson. "I've not promised, mind, if he can't come."
"Oh, yes, you have!" replied Brown, severely, as he left the room.
In due time he found Parson and broached the subject to him.
Parson viewed the matter in very much the same light as Telson had. He
liked the "tuck-in" better than the company.
It never occurred to him it was odd that Brown should come all the way
from the schoolhouse to invite him, a Parrett's junior, to his feast;
nor did it occur to him either that the invitation put him under any
obligation to his would-be host.
"I tell you what I'll do," said he, in a business-like manner, much as
if Brown had asked him to clean out his study for him, "if you ask
Telson to come too, I'm game."
Brown half doubted whether these two allies had not been consulting
together on the subject, so startling was the similarity of their
conditions.
"Oh! Telson's coming," he said, in as offhand a way as he could.
"He is! Then I'm on, old man; rather!" exclaimed the delighted Parson.
"All right! Six-thirty, mind, and chokers!" said Brown, not a little
relieved to have scraped up two friends for the festive occasion. At
the appointed time--or rather before the appointed time, for they
arrived at twenty minutes past six--our two heroes, arrayed in their
Sunday jackets and white ties, presented themselves at the house of
their host. They had "put it on" considerably in order to get ahead of
the doctor's party; for they considered that--as Parson expressed
it--"it would be a jolly lot less blushy work" to be there before the
head master arrived. There was no doubt about their success in this
little manoeuvre, for when the servant opened the door the hall was full
of rout seats, and a man, uncommonly like the greengrocer, in a dress
coat, was busily unpacking plates out of a small hamper.
Into this scene of confusion Parson and Telson were ushered, and here
they were left standing for about five minutes, interested spectators,
till the hall was cleared and the domestic had leisure to go and tell
Master Harry of their arrival.
Master Harry was dressing, and sent down word they had better go into
the shoe-room till he came down. Which they did, and amused themselves
during the interval with trying on Mr Brown's Wellingtons, and tying
together the laces of all Harry's boots they could discover.
In due time Harry appeared in grand array. "How jolly early you are!"
was his hospitable greeting. "You said six-thirty, didn't you?" said
Telson. "Yes; it's only just that now. Nobody will be here for a
quarter of an hour yet. You had better come in and see ma."
The two guests obeyed cheerfully. Ma was in the drawing-room, busily
adjusting the sashes of the three juvenile Misses Brown, with her mouth
full of pins. So all she could do was to smile pleasantly at her two
visitors and nod her head as they each came up and held out their hands
to be shaken.
"Better sit down," suggested Brown.
Parson and Telson thereupon retreated to the sofa, on the edge of which
they sat for another five or ten minutes, looking about them
complacently, and not attempting to break the silence of the scene.
The silence, however, was soon broken by a loud double knock at the hall
door, which was the signal for Mr Brown, senior, to bolt into the room
in a guilty way with one cuff not quite buttoned, and stand on the
hearthrug with as free-and-easy an air as if he had been waiting there a
quarter of an hour at least. Knock followed knock in quick succession,
and after the usual amount of fluttering in the hall, the greengrocer
flung open the drawing-room door and ushered in Dr and Mrs Patrick,
Miss Stringer, and half a dozen other arrivals.
Our two heroes, sitting side by side, unnoticed on the edge of the sofa,
had full opportunity to take stock of the various guests, most of whom
were strangers to them.
As every one appeared to be about the doctor's age, things promised
slowly for Parson and Telson, whose interest in Brown's party decidedly
languished when finally they found themselves swept off their perch and
helplessly wedged into a corner by an impenetrable phalanx of skirts.
But this was nothing compared with a discovery they made at the same
time that they had missed their tea! There was a merry rattle of cups
and spoons in a room far off, through the half-open door of which they
could catch glimpses of persons drinking tea, and of Brown handing round
biscuits and cake. The sight of this was too much to be borne. It was
at least worth an effort to retrieve their fatal mistake.
"I say," said Telson, looking for his friend round the skirts of a
stately female, "hadn't we better go and help Brown, Parson?"
Luckless youth! The lady in question, hearing the unexpected voice at
her side, backed a little and caught sight of the speaker.
"What, dear?" she said, benevolently, taking his hand and sitting down
on the sofa; "and who are you, my little man?"
"My little man" was fairly trapped; there was no escaping this seizure.
Parson got away safely to the tea-room, and the sight of him dodging
about among the cakes and cups only added to the misery of the hapless
Telson.
"Who are you, my little dear?" said the lady, who was no other than Miss
Stringer herself.
Telson, fortunately for him, was ignorant of the fact--as ignorant,
indeed, as Miss Stringer was of the fact that the little dear she was
addressing was a Willoughbite.
"Telson, ma'am," said Telson, following Parson with longing eyes.
"Johnny?" said the lady.
"No--Augustus," replied the proud bearer of the name.
Miss Stringer surveyed him benevolently. He was a nice-looking boy, was
Telson--and the lady thought so too.
"And will you give me a kiss, Augustus dear?" she said, with her most
winning smile.
What could Augustus do? A hundred desperate alternatives darted through
his mind. He would bolt into the tea-room; he would shout for help; he
would show fight; he would-- But while he was making up his mind what he
would do, he found himself being kissed on the cheek in the most
barefaced manner, before everybody, by this extraordinary female; and,
more than that, being actually set down on the sofa beside her! He only
hoped Parson or Brown had not seen it.
Well for Miss Stringer she did not guess the wrath that boiled in the
bosom of her small companion!
"And do you live here, dear?" inquired she, pleased to have this
opportunity of studying the juvenile human nature in which she was so
much interested.
"No, I don't," said Telson, surlily; then, suddenly recollecting he was
in polite though disagreeable company, he added, "ma'am."
"And where do you go to school, pray?" inquired the spinster.
"Oh, Willoughby," replied Telson, who had gradually given up all hope of
tea, and was making up his mind to his fate.
Miss Stringer gave a little start at this piece of information, and was
on the point of betraying her identity, but she forbore. "After all,"
thought she, "he might be more constrained if I were to enlighten him on
that subject."
"So you go to Willoughby," she said, with interest. "And how do you
like it?"
"Oh, well enough," said Telson, relenting somewhat towards his companion
as she showed no further signs of kissing him. "Nice lot of fellows,
you know, on the whole."
"Indeed? Let me see, who is the head master?" inquired the lady.
"Oh, Paddy--that old boy there by the fire. And that's Mrs Paddy there
with the curls."
Miss Stringer appeared to receive another shock at this piece of
information, which, however, Telson, flattered by her evident interest
in his remarks, did not take to heart.
"And," said she, presently, with a slight nervousness in her voice, "I
hope you like them?"
"Oh," blurted out Telson, "Paddy's not so bad, but the dame's an old
beast, you know--at least, so fellows say. I say," added he, "don't you
tell her I said so!"
Miss Stringer regarded him with a peculiar smile, which the boy at once
took to mean a promise. So he rattled on. "And she's got a sister, or
somebody hangs about the place, worse than any of them. Why, when old
Wynd--"
"And," said Miss Stringer, suddenly--"and which house are you in--in the
schoolhouse?"
"Hullo, then! you know Willoughby?" demanded Telson sharply.
Miss Stringer looked confused, as well she might, but replied, "Ah! all
public schools have a schoolhouse, have they not?"
"I suppose so," said Telson. "Yes, I'm a schoolhouse fellow. I'm the
captain's fag, you know--old Riddell."
"Mr Riddell is the captain, then?"
"Rather! Do you know him?"
Poor Miss Stringer! How sad it is, to be sure, when once we go astray.
She, the Griffin of Willoughby, was as much at the mercy of this honest
unconscious fag as if he had caught her in the act of picking a pocket.
For how could she reveal herself now?
"I--I think I met him once," she said.
"Where? at his home, was it?" asked Telson, who seemed to be urged by a
most fiendish curiosity on the subject.
"No," faltered the lady; "it was--er--I think it was at Dr Patrick's."
"Very likely," said Telson. "He was up there to tea, I know, just
before he was made captain. But I didn't know any one else was there
except Paddy and his hyenas."
"His what, sir!" exclaimed Miss Stringer, in a voice which nearly
startled Telson off the sofa.
"I mean, you know, the fellows--?"
"And where do you live at home?" asked Miss Stringer, determined to
steer clear of this awkward topic.
"Oh, London," said Telson; "do you know London?"
"Yes--it is indeed a wonderful place," said Miss Stringer, "and
whereabouts does your father live?"
"Oh, my governor's in India," began Telson.
"Your who?" said Miss Stringer, with a feeble attempt at severity.
"My dad, you know; and I live with my grandfather. Jolly old boy. He
was at Willoughby when he was a boy. Did you know him then? I expect
he'll recollect you, you know."
"I do not think," said Miss Stringer, with a very ruffled countenance,
"that your grandfather and I ever met."
"Oh, I don't know. He recollects most of the old people down here, you
know. I say, there's Parson beckoning; he's my chum, you know. I
expect he wants me to help with some of the things."
And so saying off he went, leaving Miss Stringer, so to speak, fairly
doubled up, and in a state of mind which may be more easily imagined
than described.
Every one observed how singularly silent and retiring Miss Stringer was
all that evening. Some attributed it to the heat of the room, others
feared she might not be well, others guessed she found the Browns'
entertainment very slow; but no one, least of all Telson himself, had a
suspicion of the true reason.
That young gentleman and his ally, after finding out that there was not
much chance of their services being required to "look after the
things"--the greengrocer being quite able to deal with the business
single-handed--found themselves once more stranded in the drawing-room,
and gradually getting edged back by the skirts, when an unlooked-for
distinction rescued them from their perilous situation.
The distinction was none other than a sign of recognition from the
doctor and a friendly signal to approach.
Like a pair of small well-trained circus ponies the two friends obeyed
the summons and climbed over the intervening skirts.
"Well, Telson and Parson," said the doctor, shaking hands, "I'd no idea
you were here--how are you?"
"We got a captain's permit. Quite well, thank you, sir."
"My dear, these are two of our boys, Telson and Parson."