the raw-toned desks and tables at which a rabble of unsympathetic boys
were noisily whispering and chattering, with occasional glances in his
direction, from which, taught by experience, he augured no good; the
high uncurtained windows, blurred with little stars of half-frozen rain,
and the bare, bleak branches of the trees outside tossing drearily
against a low leaden sky--he tried in vain to cheat himself into a
dreamy persuasion that all this misery could not be real, but would fade
away as suddenly and mysteriously as it had stolen upon him.

Towards the close of the afternoon the Doctor came in and took his
place at the writing-table, where he was apparently very busy with the
composition of some sort of document, which he finished at last with
evident satisfaction at the result of his labour. Then he observed that,
according to their custom of a Saturday afternoon, the hour before
tea-time should be devoted to "writing home."

So the books, chess-boards, and dominoes were all put away, and a new
steel pen and a sheet of notepaper, neatly embossed with the heading
"Crichton House School" in old English letters, having been served out
to everyone, each boy prepared himself to write down such things as
filial affection, strict truthfulness, and the desire of imparting
information might inspire between them.

Paul felt, as he clutched his writing materials, much as a shipwrecked
mariner might be expected to do at finding on his desolate island a
good-sized flag and a case of rockets. His hopes revived once more; he
forgot the smarts left by the knots in the handkerchiefs, he had a whole
hour before him--it was possible to set several wires in motion for his
release in an hour.

Yes, he must write several letters. First, one to his solicitor
detailing, as calmly and concisely as his feelings would allow, the
shameful way in which he had been treated, and imploring him to take
measures of some sort for getting him out of his false and awkward
position; one to his head clerk, to press upon him the necessity of
prudence and caution in dealing with the impostor; notes to Bangle and
Fishwick putting them off--they should not be outraged by an
introduction to a vulgar pantomime clown under his roof; and lastly
(this was an outburst he could not deny himself), a solemn impressive
appeal to the common humanity, if not to the ordinary filial instincts,
of his undutiful son.

His fingers tingled to begin. Sentences of burn