Part 3 (1/2)

”We have been up to the judges, as usual, for holiday, sir,” replied Gaunt, in a tone of deprecation. ”His lords.h.i.+p sends his card and compliments to you, and--”

”Holiday!” interrupted the master. ”Holiday!” he repeated, with emphasis, as if disbelieving his own ears. ”Do you consider that the school deserves it? A pretty senior you must be, if you do.”

”What has the school done, sir?” respectfully asked Gaunt.

”Your memory must be conveniently short,” chafed the master. ”Have you forgotten the inked surplice?”

Gaunt paused. ”But that was not the act of the whole school, sir. It was probably the act of only one.”

”But, so long as that one does not confess, the whole school must bear it,” returned the master, looking round on the a.s.sembly. ”Boys, understand me. It is not for the fault itself--that may have been, as I said yesterday, the result of accident; but it is the concealment of the fault that makes me angry. Will you confess now?--he who did it?”

No; the appeal brought forth no further result than the other had done. The master continued: ”You may think--I speak now to the guilty boy, and let him take these words to himself--that you were quite alone when you did it; that no eye was watching. But let me remind you that the eye of G.o.d was upon you. What you refuse to tell, He can bring to light, if it shall so please Him, in His own wonderful way, His own good time. There will be no holiday to-day. Prayers.”

The boys fell into their places, and stood with hanging heads, something like rebellion working in every breast. At breakfast-time they were dismissed, and gathered in the cloisters to give vent to their sentiments.

”Isn't it a stunning shame?” cried hot Tom Channing. ”The school ought not to suffer for the fault of one boy. The master has no right--”

”The fault lies in the boy, not in the master,” interrupted Gaunt. ”A sneak! a coward! If he has a spark of manly honour in him, he'll speak up now.”

”As it has come to this, I say Charley Channing should be made to declare what he knows,” said one. ”He saw it done!”

”Who says he did?” quickly asked Tom Channing.

”Some one said so; and that he was afraid to tell.”

Gaunt lifted his finger, and made a sign to Charles to approach. ”Now, boy”--as the latter obeyed--”you will answer _me_, remember. The master has called the seniors to his aid, and I order you to speak. Did you see this mischief done?”

”No, I did not!” fearlessly replied little Channing.

”If he doesn't know, he suspects,” persisted Hurst. ”Come, Miss Channing.”

”We don't declare things upon suspicion, do we, Mr. Gaunt?” appealed Charles. ”I may suspect one; Hurst may suspect another; Bywater said he suspected two; the whole school may be suspicious, one of another. Where's the use of that?”

”It is of no use,” decided Gaunt. ”You say you did not see the surplice damaged?”

”I did not; upon my word of honour.”

”That's enough,” said Gaunt. ”Depend upon it, the fellow, while he was at it, took precious good precautions against being seen. When he gets found out, he had better not come within reach of the seniors; I warn him of that: they might not leave him a head on his shoulders, or a tooth in his mouth.”

”Suppose it should turn out to have been a senior, Mr. Gaunt?” spoke Bywater.

”Suppose you should turn out to be an everlasting big donkey?” retorted the senior boy.

CHAPTER V.

ROLAND YORKE.

Just without the Boundaries, in a wide, quiet street, called Close Street, was the office of Richard Galloway, Esquire, Proctor, and Steward to the Dean and Chapter. Excepting for this solitary office, the street consisted of private houses, and it was one of the approaches to the cathedral, though not the chief one. Mr. Galloway was a bachelor; a short, stout man, shaped like a cask, with a fat, round face, round, open, grey eyes--that always looked as if their owner was in a state of wonder--and a little round mouth. But he was a shrewd man and a capable; he was also, in his way, a dandy; dressed scrupulously in the fas.h.i.+on, with delicate s.h.i.+rt fronts and snow-white wristbands; and for the last twenty-five years, at least, had been a mark for all the single ladies of Helstonleigh to set their caps at.

Of beauty, Mr. Galloway could boast little; but of his hair he was moderately vain: a very good head of hair it was, and curled naturally. But hair, let it be luxuriant enough to excite the admiration of a whole army of coiffeurs, is, like other things in this sublunary world of ours, subject to change; it will not last for ever; and Mr. Galloway's, from a fine and glossy brown, turned, as years went on, to sober grey--nay, almost to white. He did not particularly admire the change, but he had to submit to it. Nature is stronger than we are. A friend hinted that it might be ”dyed.” Mr. Galloway resented the suggestion: anything false was abhorrent to him. When, however, after an illness, his hair began to fall off alarmingly, he thought it no harm to use a certain specific, emanating from one of her Majesty's physicians; extensively set forth and patronized as an undoubted remedy for hair that was falling off. Mr. Galloway used it extensively in his fear, for he had an equal dread both of baldness and wigs. The lotion not only had the desired effect, but it had more: the hair grew on again luxuriantly, and its whiteness turned into the finest flaxen you ever saw; a light delicate flaxen, exactly like the curls you see upon the heads of blue-eyed wax dolls. This is a fact: and whether Mr. Galloway liked it, or not, he had to put up with it. Many would not be persuaded but that he had used some delicate dye, hitherto unknown to science; and the suspicion vexed Mr. Galloway. Behold him, therefore, with a perfect shower of smooth, fair curls upon his head, equal to any young beau.

It was in this gentleman's office that Arthur Channing had been placed, with a view to his becoming ultimately a proctor. To article him to Mr. Galloway would take a good round sum of money; and this had been put off until the termination of the suit, when Mr. Channing had looked forward to being at his ease, in a pecuniary point of view. There were two others in the same office. The one was Roland Yorke, who was articled; the other was Joseph Jenkins, a thin, spare, humble man of nine and thirty, who had served Mr. Galloway for nearly twenty years, earning twenty-five s.h.i.+llings a week. He was a son of old Jenkins, the bedesman, and his wife kept a small hosiery shop in High Street. Roland Yorke was, of course, not paid; on the contrary, he had paid pretty smartly to Mr. Galloway for the privilege of being initiated into the mysteries belonging to a proctor. Arthur Channing may be said to have occupied a position in the office midway between the two. He was to become on the footing of Roland Yorke; but meanwhile, he received a small weekly sum in remuneration of his services, as Joe Jenkins did. Roland Yorke, in his proud moods, looked down upon him as a paid clerk; Mr. Jenkins looked up to him as a gentleman. It was a somewhat anomalous position; but Arthur had held his own bravely up in it until this blow came, looking forward to a brighter time.

In the years gone by, one of the stalls in Helstonleigh Cathedral was held by the Reverend Dr. Yorke: he had also some time filled the office of sub-dean. He had married, imprudently, the daughter of an Irish peer, a pretty, good-tempered girl, who was as fond of extravagance as she was devoid of means to support it. She had not a s.h.i.+lling in the world; it was even said that the bills for her trousseau came in afterwards to Dr. Yorke: but people, you know, are given to scandal. Want of fortune had been nothing, had Lady Augusta only possessed ordinary prudence; but she spent the doctor's money faster than he received it.

In the course of years Dr. Yorke died, leaving eight children, and slender means for them. There were six boys and two girls. Lady Augusta went to reside in a cheap and roomy house (somewhat dilapidated) in the Boundaries, close to her old prebendal residence, and scrambled on in her careless, spending fas.h.i.+on, never out of debt. She retained their old barouche, and would retain it, and was a great deal too fond of ordering horses from the livery stables and driving out in state. Gifted with excellent qualities had her children been born; but of training, in the highest sense of the word, she had given them none. George, the eldest, had a commission, and was away with his regiment. Roland, the second, had been designed for the Church, but no persuasion could induce him to be sufficiently attentive to his studies to qualify himself for it; he was therefore placed with Mr. Galloway, and the Church honours were now intended for Gerald. The fourth son, Theodore, was also in the college school, a junior. Next came two girls, Caroline and f.a.n.n.y, and there were two little boys still younger.

Haughty, self-willed, but of sufficiently honourable nature, were the Yorkes. If Lady Augusta had only toiled to foster the good, and eradicate the evil, they would have grown up to bless her. Good soil was there to work upon, as there was in the Channings; but, in the case of the Yorkes, it was allowed to run to waste, or to generate weeds. In short, to do as it pleased.

A noisy, scrambling, uncomfortable sort of home was that of the Yorkes; the boys sometimes contending one with another, Lady Augusta often quarrelling with all. The home of the Channings was ever full of love, calm, and peace. Can you guess where the difference lay?

On the morning when the college boys had gone up to crave holiday of the judges, and had not obtained it--at least not from the head-master--Arthur Channing proceeded, as usual, to Mr. Galloway's, after breakfast. Seated at a desk, in his place, writing--he seemed to be ever seated there--was Mr. Jenkins. He lifted his head when Arthur entered, with a ”Good morning, sir,” and then dropped it again over his copying.

”Good morning,” replied Arthur. And at that moment Mr. Galloway--his flaxen curls in full flow upon his head, something like rings--came forth from his private room. ”Good morning, sir,” Arthur added, to his master.

Mr. Galloway nodded a reply to the salutation. ”Have you seen anything of Yorke?” he asked. ”I want that deed that he's about finished as soon as possible.”

”He will not be an instant,” said Arthur. ”I saw him coming up the street.”

Roland Yorke bustled in; a dark young man of twenty-one, with large but fine features, and a countenance expressive of indecision.

”Come, Mr. Yorke, you promised to be here early to-day. You know that deed is being waited for.”

”So I am early, sir,” returned Roland.

”Early! for you perhaps,” grunted Mr. Galloway. ”Get to it at once.”

Roland Yorke unlocked a drawer, collected sundry parchments together, and sat down to his desk. He and Arthur had their places side by side. Mr. Galloway stood at a table, and began sorting some papers that were upon it.

”How is Mr. Channing this morning, Arthur?”

”Much as usual, thank you, sir. Certain news, which arrived last night, has not tended to cheer him.”

”It is true, then?” remarked Mr. Galloway. ”I heard a rumour of it.”

”Oh, it's true enough,” said Arthur. ”It is in all the morning papers.”

”Well, there never was a more unjust decision!” emphatically spoke Mr. Galloway. ”Mark you, I am not reflecting on the Lord Chancellor's judgment. I have always said that there were one or two nasty points in that suit, which the law might get hold of; but I know the whole cause by heart, from beginning to end; and that money was as much your father's, as this coat, that I have on, is mine. Tell him I'll come in one of these fine evenings, and abuse the injustice of our laws with him,--will you?”

”Yes, sir,” replied Arthur.

”What's this row in the college school about a destroyed surplice, and the boys not getting their holiday through it?” resumed Mr. Galloway.

”Oh, are they not savage!” struck in Roland Yorke. ”The first thing Tod did, when he came home to breakfast, was to fling over his bowl of coffee, he was in such a pa.s.sion. Lady Augusta--she came down to breakfast this morning, for a wonder--boxed his ears, and ordered him to drink water; but he went into the kitchen, and made a lot of chocolate for himself.”

”What are the particulars? How was it done? I cannot understand it at all,” said Mr. Galloway.