|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 33
But, with one exception, this was not the case with the Blackrock boys;
the Tuesday reception was always a red-letter day with them, and if
ever, through misbehavior, an invitation was withheld, it was regarded
as one of the severest punishments inflicted in the school.
Several boys were one day standing in a group under the elms which
inclosed the play-ground, putting on their jackets to return to the
school-room, as the recreation hour was nearly over.
"Who's going to the house on Tuesday?" asked Howard Pemberton.
"I am," said Martin Venables.
"And I," added Alick Fraser.
"And I too, worse luck," said Digby Morton.
"Why worse luck?" asked Martin.
"Oh, it wouldn't do for me to enter into particulars with you," replied
Digby, rather testily. "You're the Doctor's nephew, and we all know
that we've got to be careful of what we say about the house before you.
The wind might carry it around."
Martin turned as red as a poppy, as he flashed up in honest anger that
such paltry meanness should be charged on him.
"I tell you what it is, Digby," he said, trying to keep himself cool,
"I can stand a joke as well as anybody, but there is no joking about
your ill-natured speeches. I tell you now, once for all, that I never
did and never shall blow upon any boy in this school. You know as well
as I do that the Doctor treats me as a scholar here, and not as a spy
or a relative, and if ever you charge me again with tale-bearing, I'll
answer you with my fists."
"Good!" cried several voices at once, while some of the small boys who
had gathered round seemed delighted at the rebuke administered to
Digby, who was by no means a favorite with them.
"And now let's drop it," said Howard, the boy who had asked the
question as to the invitations for Tuesday. "If Digby doesn't like the
receptions, it's a pity he doesn't stay away. I don't know another boy
in the school who would think with him."
"Nor I, and I can't make out why any one should," said Alick; "to my
mind they are the jolliest evenings we have."
"Oh yes, I should think they would just suit _you_" answered Digby,
with his accustomed sneer, "but they don't suit me. They are precious
slow affairs, and I don't care much for the society of Mrs. B. She
pries into the school affairs a sight too much as it is, and----"
What other objections Digby might have advanced will forever remain
unknown. He had committed high treason in speaking lightly of a name
dear to the heart of every boy there, and a storm of hissing and
hooting greeted his unfinished sentence.
He saw that he had trespassed on ground which was too dangerous for him
to tread any further, and so, with a defiant "Bah!" he threw his
jacket over his shoulder and walked sullenly away.
Many of the boys in Blackrock school would have found a difficulty in
stating the exact grounds of their regard for Mrs. Brier. To some of
them she was a comparative stranger; they could not trace one direct
act in which they were indebted to her. Perhaps the merest commonplaces
in conversation had passed between them, and yet they felt there was a
something in her presence which threw sunshine around them; they felt
that they were thought about, cared for and loved, and in any little
scrape into which, boy-like, they might get, they felt satisfied that
if the matter only came to her knowledge they would get an impartial
judgment on the case, and the best construction that could be put upon
their conduct would be sure to be suggested by her. But out of eighty
boys it would not be reasonable to suppose that all should share this
feeling alike,--we have seen already one exception; yet the disaffected
were in a very small minority, and the majority was so overwhelming,
and had amongst it all the best acknowledged strength and power of the
school, that no one dared to say above his breath one word against Mrs.
Brier, if he cared for a whole skin.
While Digby was returning to the school by one road, Howard and Martin
strolled leisurely along by another path under the trees.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|