It was usually four or five days before the result of the examination
became known, and another day for a letter to reach us in Hampshire, so
that I fairly calculated a week would pass before I should know my fate.
The excitement of the examination, which had kept me up during the past
few days, now left me, and a feeling of despondency, caused probably by
reaction, came over me. My cough returned, and a low fever came on,
which kept me to my bed. Say what I would, I could not help being most
anxious about the result of my examination. My nights were sleepless,
and each morning, as the time arrived for the postman to come, I could
scarcely keep in bed, as I listened to every sound in the hope of
hearing that my suspense was ended.
It was on the eighth day after my return home that, on the arrival of
the postman, I heard anxious voices downstairs; a minute's silence, and
then a rush of feet. My two sisters hurried into my room, carrying a
large letter, and exclaimed,--
"Bob, you've passed; and have done well, too! Listen to this:--
"`Sir,--I have the honour to inform you that at the late examination at
Woolwich, your son, Robert Shepard, was found fully qualified for
admission to the Royal Military Academy. I am directed to request that
he will join that institution on the 1st proximo, and report himself to
the Captain of the Cadet Company.
"`I have the honour to be, (signature)'
"Some one whose name I can't read," said my sister.
"Bravo, Bob! isn't this capital? I knew you'd pass?"
Six months previously, if any prophet had informed me that I should pass
my examination and become a gentleman cadet, I should have fancied that
such a result would have caused me to shout with joy, and to be quite
overcome with delight; now, however, that I had passed, and the
intelligence had arrived, so as to place the result beyond a doubt, I
was myself surprised at the little effect that was produced on me.
Although I did not like to give way to any sanguine hopes, still, when
the examination was over, I felt tolerably certain I had done well. The
examination had been what may be called a lucky one for me. The
questions were such as I had been practising for days previous to the
examination, and were consequently easy to me. My success, therefore,
was not entirely a surprise to me, and I saw clearly the means by which
I had gained success. At Hostler's, as soon as a boy came out of
school, he tried to forget all about work, and his problems, therefore,
made but a small impression on him. At Rouse's, however, the hours of
study were so brief by comparison, and reason so completely took the
place of cramming, that the mind was not worn out when the evening came,
and I often found myself deliberating about a problem as I took a
constitutional round the Square gardens. I now knew that the hours of
quiet thought I had given to various subjects had enabled me to pass the
examination, which to a crammed boy was so very difficult.
When I thought of Mr Hostler, his boys, and his prophecies about the
impossibility of my passing, I felt a feeling of intense satisfaction,
for I believed, in my innocence, that Hostler would own he had made a
mistake. I little imagined then that a man of his type of character
never owns to a mistake, but invariably claims some merit to himself,
even out of his blunders. I afterwards ascertained that Mr Hostler
claimed the entire merit of my passing, in consequence, as he said, of
the thoroughly sound groundwork he had given me at his school, thus
enabling Mr Rouse to give a little superficial polish on it.
I continued so weak, and my cough was so bad, that it was considered
advisable to apply for sick-leave for me, which was granted, and I
remained at home for seven weeks. Howard had been removed to Ireland,
so I saw nothing of him, a fact I much regretted, as I hoped to gain
from him some hints relative to my course at the Academy, a subject on
which I was very anxious; for I had heard various rumours, when at
Rouse's, of the "fagging" and "bullying," as it was termed, carried on
by the older cadets on their juniors.
At length the day arrived when I reached Woolwich with my father, and
presented myself at the office of the Captain of the Cadet Company,
where I signed a paper to the effect that I was amenable to certain
laws, was appointed to a room, and then left to commence my experiences
as a gentleman cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.