"What! Williams! get out of bed, sir, this instant."
Eric, forgetful of his disguise, sheepishly obeyed, but when he stood on
the floor, he looked so odd in his crimson girdle and corked cheeks,
with Dr Rowlands surveying him in intense astonishment, that the scene
became overpoweringly ludicrous to Duncan, who now in his turn was
convulsed with a storm of laughter, faintly echoed in stifled titterings
from other beds.
"_Very_ good," said Dr Rowlands, now thoroughly angry; "you will hear
of this to-morrow," and he walked away with a heavy step, stopping at
the lavatory door to restore the tin-basin to its proper place, and then
mounting to the studies.
Standing in the passage into which the studies opened, he knocked at one
of the doors, and told a boy to summon all their occupants at once to
the library.
Meanwhile the dormitory boys were aghast, and as soon as they heard the
Doctor's retreating footsteps, began flocking in the dark to Number 7,
not daring to relight their candles.
"Good gracious!" said Attlay, "only to think of Rowley appearing! How
could he have twigged?"
"He must have seen our lights in the window as he came home," said Eric.
"I say, what a row that tin-basin dodge of yours made! What a rage the
Doctor will be in to-morrow!"
"Won't you just catch it!" said Barker to Duncan, but intending the
remark for Eric.
"Just like your mean chaff," retorted Duncan. "But I say, Williams," he
continued, laughing, "you _did_ look so funny in the whiskers."
At this juncture they heard all the study-boys running downstairs to the
library, and, lost in conjecture, retired to their different rooms.
"What do you think he'll do to us?" asked Eric.
"I don't know," said Duncan uneasily; "flog us for one thing, that's
certain. I'm so sorry about that basin, Eric; but it's no good
fretting. We've had our cake, and now we must pay for it, that's all."
Eric's cogitations began to be unpleasant, when the door opened, and
somebody stole noiselessly in.
"Who's there?"
"Upton. I've come to have a chat. The Doctor's like a turkey-cock at
the sight of a red handkerchief. Never saw him in such a rage."
"Why, what's he been saying?" asked Eric, as Upton came and took a seat
on his bed.
"Oh! he's been rowing us like six o'clock," said Upton, "about `moral
responsibility,' `abetting the follies of children,' `forgetting our
position in the school,' and I don't know what all; and he ended by
asking who'd been in the dormitories. Of course, I confessed the soft
impeachment, whereon he snorted, `Ha! I suspected so. Very well, sir,
you don't know how to use a study; you shall be deprived of it till the
end of term.'"
"Did he really, Horace?" said Eric. "And it's all my doing that you've
got into the scrape. Do forgive me."
"Bosh! My dear fellow," said Upton, "it's twice as much my fault as
yours; and, after all, it was only a bit of fun. It's rather a bore
losing the study, certainly; but never mind, we shall see all the more
of each other. Good-night; I must be off."
Next morning, prayers were no sooner over than Dr Rowlands said to the
boys, "Stop! I have a word to say to you."
"I find that there was the utmost disorder in the dormitories yesterday
evening. All the candles were relighted at forbidden hours, and the
noise made was so great that it was heard through the whole building. I
am grieved that I cannot leave you, even for a few hours, without your
taking such advantage of my absence; and that the upper boys, so far
from using their influence to prevent these infractions of discipline,
seem inclined rather to join in them themselves. On this occasion I
have punished Upton, by depriving him of a privilege which he has
abused; and as I myself detected Duncan and Williams, they will be
flogged in the library at twelve. But I now come to the worst part of
the proceeding. Somebody had been reckless enough to try and prevent
surprise by the dangerous expedient of putting a tin-basin against the
iron door. The consequence was, that I was severely hurt, and _might_
have been seriously injured in entering the lavatory. I must know the
name of the delinquent."
Upton and Eric immediately stood up. Dr Rowlands looked surprised, and
there was an expression of grieved interest in Mr Rose's face.
"Very well," said the Doctor, "I shall speak to you both privately."
Twelve o'clock came, and Duncan and Eric received a severe caning.
Corporal punishment, however necessary and desirable for some
dispositions, always produced on Eric the worst effects. He burned not
with remorse or regret, but with shame and violent indignation, and
listened, with an affectation of stubborn indifference, to Dr
Rowlands's warnings. When the flogging was over, he almost rushed out
of the room, to choke in solitude his sense of humiliation, nor would he
suffer any one for an instant to allude to his disgrace. Dr Rowlands
had hinted that Upton was doing him no good; but he passionately
resented the suggestion, and determined, with obstinate perversity, to
cling more than ever to the boy whom he had helped to involve in the
same trouble with himself.
Any attempt on the part of masters to interfere in the friendships of
boys is usually unsuccessful. The boy who has been warned against his
new acquaintance not seldom repeats to him the fact that Mr So-and-so
doesn't like seeing them together, and after that they fancy themselves
bound in honour to show that they are not afraid of continuing their
acquaintance. It was not strange, therefore, that Eric and Upton were
thrown more than ever into each other's society, and consequently that
Eric, while he improved daily in strength, activity, and prowess,
neglected more and more his school duties and honourable ambitions.
Mr Rose sadly remarked the failure of promise in his character and
abilities, and did all that could be done, by gentle firmness and
unwavering kindness, to recall his pupil to a sense of duty. One night
he sent for him to supper, and invited no one else. During the evening
he drew out Eric's exercise, and compared it with those of Russell and
Owen, who were now getting easily ahead of him in marks. Eric's was
careless, hurried, and untidy; the other two were neat, spirited, and
painstaking, and had, therefore, been marked much higher. They
displayed all the difference between conscientious and perfunctory work.
"Your exercises _used_ to be far better--even incomparably better," said
Mr Rose; "what is the cause of this falling off?"
Eric was silent.
Mr Rose laid his hand gently on his head. "I fear, my boy, you have
not been improving lately. You have got into many scrapes, and are
letting boys beat you in form who are far your inferiors in ability.
That is a very bad _sign_, Eric; in itself it is a discouraging fact,
but I fear it indicates worse evils. You are wasting the golden hours,
my boy, that can never return. I only hope and trust that no other
change for the worse is taking place in your character."
And so he talked on till the boy's sorrow was undisguised. "Come," he
said gently, "let us kneel down together before we part."
Boy and master knelt down humbly side by side, and, from a full heart,
the young man poured out his fervent petitions for the boy beside him.
Eric's soul seemed to catch a glow from his words, and he loved him as a
brother. He rose from his knees full of the strongest resolutions, and
earnestly promised amendment for the future.
But poor Eric did not yet know his own infirmity. For a time, indeed,
there was a marked improvement; but daily life flowed on with its usual
allurements, and when the hours of temptation came, his good intentions
melted away like the morning dew, so that, in a few more weeks, the
prayer, and the vows that followed it, had been obliterated from his
memory without leaving any traces in his life.