"he is a fine young fellow, but his past life has been spent amidst very different scenes, and he is far from having a fitting education. but he is very intellectual and will acquire knowledge quickly. his father must have been a gentleman, and he has taught his son to be one also."
it was mr. st. clive who spoke, and his words were addressed to dr. beverly, the principal of marlthorpe college—the best school in all the county.
a fine-looking man was the doctor, tall, erect, dignified, with firm face and piercing eyes—eyes which could look terribly severe when their owner was angry, but which otherwise were gentle, and even mirthful.
dr. beverly was proud of his school, but prouder still of his work. he did not labour to make scholars only, but also to build up men—good, noble men—who should be a credit to the old school, and a blessing to their country. work or play, the doctor believed in everything being done as well as it could be, for his watchword was "whatever you do, do it to the[pg 36] glory of god," and nothing can be done to god's glory that is not done as well as it possibly can be.
mr. st. clive had explained how ralph came to be under his care, and had told the doctor how much he owed to him; and he finished by mentioning the cruel statement which lord elgert had made, and the angry way in which ralph had answered it.
"i tell you this," he said, "that you may know everything. i attach no weight to elgert's statement myself—it is too absurd, but you must exercise your own discretion," and the doctor smiled slightly.
"lord elgert is rather prone to make rash statements," he said. "i shall be quite willing to receive your young friend, and i will do my best to turn him into a good man."
"that i am sure of," was the hearty reply, "and i am also sure that you will have good material to work upon. then i will bring ralph over."
"and do you propose that he shall board here entirely, or return to you every saturday, as most of the lads do?"
"oh, come home. that is how i did in my day—you know i want to watch the boy. good-day, doctor," and mr. st. clive came away.
marlthorpe college was a splendid old building, with large playing fields at the back, and a great quadrangle in front, to which entrance was gained through a pair of great iron gates, against which the porter's lodge was built.
[pg 37]
the school itself was at the other side of the quadrangle, directly facing the gates—a two storey building, with the hall, in which the whole school assembled upon special occasions, below, and with the classrooms above. it had two wings; the one to the right being the doctor's own residence, and that on the left the undermaster's quarters.
at the back there were again buildings on the right and left—on the left junior dormitories, the dining-hall, and matron's rooms; and on the right senior dormitories and studies.
mr. st. clive drove home and told ralph the result of his visit.
"i am sure that you will like the doctor," he said, "and you will find your companions a nice lot of fellows. of course there will be some unpleasant ones; and ralph, if things are as they used to be, you will find that there are two sets of fellows—those who mean to work honestly, and those who never intend to take pains. i need not ask which set you will belong to," and mr. st. clive smiled. "but now," he added, "i want you to try and be brave. you have a very terrible sorrow, i know; and it is hard to put it from my mind——"
"it is never from my mind, sir," interrupted ralph sadly. "i am always thinking of it."
"but you must not brood over it. to do that, will unfit you for all else. leave it with god, ralph, and do not let even so great a grief interfere with life's[pg 38] duties. will you promise me to try and remember this?"
"i will indeed, sir," answered ralph. "if i have lost father, i mean to try and think that he knows, and just do that which would please him."
"that is good; but still better is it to remember that we have to try and do that which shall please our heavenly father. now, ralph, i suppose that out where you made your home, blows often were the only way of settling troubles. i do not say that blows are never justifiable, for sometimes we are placed in such circumstances as warrant fighting, but do not be too ready to quarrel, or to avenge every fancied insult with your fist. but there, i am sure that i can leave that to you. now come to lunch, and then we must see about starting."
"i am so glad that you are coming home every week, ralph," so said irene st. clive, when she heard of the arrangements which her father had made. "my own lessons are finished on friday, and we can have all saturday to ourselves. i shall count all the days until each saturday comes."
so with kindly words to cheer him on his way, ralph started off with mr. st. clive, and was introduced to dr. beverly; and ralph felt that he liked the doctor from the very first moment that he saw him; and he determined that he would do all that he could to get on and prove to mr. st. clive that he meant to keep his word.
[pg 39]
then when his friend had gone, the doctor questioned ralph to see just what he knew; and at the conclusion of the examination he laid his hand on his shoulder.
"my boy," he said, "it is my desire always to have the fullest confidence in my scholars, and also to enjoy their confidence. i want you to remember that i desire to be your friend as well as your master, and that out of school hours i am always glad to see any of my boys who want to talk with me. i do not mean who want to come tale-bearing," he added, and ralph smiled as he answered—
"thank you, sir. i think i understand."
"you will have to be in the fourth form at first, that is the lowest form in the senior house," the doctor continued. "but if you work well, you will soon be in the fifth. now, if you will come with me i will introduce you to your master, mr. delermain, and i think you will find him ever ready to help you in any way he can."
ralph thanked the head again, and followed him, with more of curiosity than of nervousness, to make the acquaintance of the boys with whom he was to study; and twenty pairs of eyes glanced up as the head opened the door, and then dropped as quickly when they saw who had entered.
but the master rose from his seat and came forward to meet the doctor, who said, patting ralph on the shoulder—
[pg 40]
"i have brought you a new scholar, mr. delermain. this is ralph rexworth, and he is the young gentleman of whom you have heard—the one who saved mr. st. clive's daughter." hereat the eyes were stealthily raised, and glances of something like respectful awe followed. of course every one there had heard of the incident about the bull, and of the disappearance of mr. rexworth.
"rexworth is rather backward," the head continued. "his life has been spent abroad, and he has not had the opportunities for study; but i believe that he will soon pick up." and with this dr. beverly went, and mr. delermain, having spoken a few words of welcome, beckoned to a boy to come forward.
"warren, let rexworth sit beside you this afternoon, and give him a set of the sums we are doing. if you find them too difficult," he added to ralph, "do not hesitate to come to me."
but ralph did not need to ask for aid, he could do the sums and the exercises that followed. indeed, he did better than some who had been there longer, notably one big lad with a sickly flabby face, who was seated at the bottom of the class, and who received a reprimand from his master for his indolence.
"it is shameful, dobson! here, a new boy has done better than you have. your idleness is disgraceful."
a writing exercise followed; and ralph was bending over his book, when flop!—a wad of wet blotting-paper[pg 41] hit him in the cheek. he looked up, but every one seemed busy with their work, so wiping his cheek he put the wet mass on one side, and went on with his task. flop! a second wad came. ralph noted the direction, and saw that at the end of the form dobson was seated, and ralph had his suspicions. pretending to be absorbed in his work, he kept a covert watch; and presently he was rewarded by seeing dobson extract a third wad from his mouth, where he had been chewing it into a convenient pellet, and under cover of the boy in front of him prepare to fire it by a flick of his thumb. ralph raised his eyes and looked him full in the face, and, somehow, dobson seemed confused. he turned red, and bent over his work hastily; and no more pellets were fired at ralph that afternoon.
it seemed rather a wearisome afternoon to the boy, used as he was to his open-air life, but he worked away with all his might; and presently the bell rang and work was over; and then warren, the boy beside whom he had sat, came to him and held out his hand.
"i am first monitor of our form," he said, "and i hope that we shall be friends. if you come with me i will take you round the school."
"rexworth."
ralph turned as his name was called; his master stood there.
"i want you a few minutes. warren, you can take[pg 42] him round afterwards. i want to arrange about his study."
"we have only got one vacant, sir," the monitor said. "charlton has that."
"i know," was the quiet answer; and then, when warren ran off, the master turned to ralph.
"rexworth," he said, "i must explain that in our form every two boys have one study between them, and as you heard warren say, we have only one study that is not fully occupied. a lad named charlton has it, and you must chum with him. it is about him i want to speak to you."
"yes, sir," said ralph, wondering why his master spoke so gravely.
"rexworth, i am sorry to say that charlton is not quite in favour with his schoolmates. his father got into some trouble and has disappeared—it is supposed that he is dead—and the boy managed to gain a scholarship at another and poorer school, and has come here. he is a real nice lad, but very weakly and timid, and the others put upon him, partly on that account, partly because of his father's disappearance, and partly because he is poor—a sad crime in the eyes of many. it would have been wiser, i think, if he had not come here, but dr. beverly wished him to do so. i wish, rexworth, that you would try to be his friend, for he needs one; some of the lads are nice enough to him, but he seems so very much alone."
[pg 43]
"i would like to help him, sir," was the ready answer. and the master smiled.
"i thought that i was not mistaken in you," he said. "look, there the lad is. charlton, come here."
the lad came up. he was a pale boy, very delicate in appearance, and with a sad, wistful face.
"yes, sir," he said.
"charlton, there is only one vacancy in our studies, and that is with you. rexworth will have to chum with you." the boy cast a startled glance at ralph. "take him and show him where it is, and try to make him feel at home."
"yes, sir." the boy beckoned to ralph. "please come with me," he said, in troubled tones, as if he doubted whether ralph would care about sharing the study with him.
"have we got to be chums?" asked ralph; and the other boy nodded.
"yes. that is what we call it. it means sharing studies; but you need not speak to me if you don't want to, and i will not be in the study much. i am not as it is, for they are always disturbing me and spoiling my things."
"they! who?" demanded ralph; and the lad answered—
"the other chaps and the fifths. dobson, in ours, and elgert of the fifth, are the worst. they go in and spoil my things."
"they have no business to, of course?"
[pg 44]
"go in? no, of course not—only the two who chum have any right in it. here we are, and—there, they are in now!"—as a scuffling and burst of laughter came from the inside of the study before which the boy had halted. "oh, what are they doing! will you stop until they have gone?"
"not i," answered ralph grimly. "that study is mine as well as yours, and i mean to see that we have it to ourselves, charlton. come on, and we will see what is up." and saying this, ralph threw open the door and walked into the little room, followed by his companion.
