ather particular about our being tidy and that sort of thing, and when
I came here and some of you rather made fun of me about it, I think that
I stuck to it all the more because it annoyed you. I shall be going up
for Sandhurst this term, and I am very glad to be on good terms with all
you fellows before I leave; so don't let us say anything more about it."

And with another shake of the hands their agreement to be friends was
ratified.

The term between Christmas and Easter was always the dullest of the
year. The house matches at football were over. Although a game was
sometimes played, there was but a languid interest in it. Paper-chases
were the leading incident in the term, and there was a general looking
forward to spring weather, when cricket could begin and the teams
commence practice for the matches of the following term.

Easton was going up in the summer for the examination for the line. He
was not troubling himself specially about it; and indeed his getting in
was regarded as a certainty, for Mr. Southley had said that he would be
safe for the Indian Civil if he chose to try, and considered it a great
pity that he was going up for so comparatively an easy competition as
that for the line. He occasionally went for a walk with Rupert, and
while chatting with him frequently about Edgar, was continually urging
him not to let his thoughts dwell too much upon it, but to stick to his
work.

The watch at the various ports had long since been given up, for had
Edgar intended to emigrate he would certainly have done so very shortly
after his arrival in London, as his means would not have permitted him
to make any stay there.

"I think it is very thoughtful of Edgar," Easton said one day when
Rupert told him that he had heard from his father that another letter
had arrived. "So many fellows when they run away or emigrate, or
anything of that sort, drop writing altogether, and do not seem to give
a thought to the anxiety those at home are feeling for them. He is
evidently determined that he will go his own way and accept no help from
your people, and under the circumstances I can quite enter into his
feelings; but, you see, he does not wish them to be anxious or troubled
about him, and I don't think there is anything for you to worry about,
Clinton. He may be having a hardish time of it; still he is no doubt
getting his living somehow or other, and I don't know that it will do
him any harm.

"I think he is the so