herein at the page dealing with the ancient _langue d'oc_; while Mr
Rampson, also linguistical, opened a sickly-looking vellum volume,
horribly mildewy and stained, and made as if to read a very brown page
of Greek whose characters looked like so many tiny creases and
shrinkings in a piece of dry skin.

Only one boy spoke, and that was Glyn Severn, and he to himself; but at
the same time he had caught Singh's eye as he sat some distance from
him, and, placing his sheet of foolscap by his side, he raised his
blotting-pad so that his companion could see a great blotch of ink
thereon which seemed as if it had been roughly made by a brush that had
been dipped in ink.

This done, he laid the pad back in its place, twisted the fold towards
him, and taking a bright, new two-bladed knife that had been purchased
with the proceeds of the Colonel's cheque, he opened the large blade and
carefully passed it along the fold, setting free one half-sheet of the
absorbent paper. This he folded and put in his pocket; but the ink had
gone through to the next half-sheet, and this he also separated,
treating it as he did the first. This left two half-sheets, with the
possibility of their slipping about and away from the rest. So, after
pocketing his knife, he opened the remainder where they were folded, and
refolded the pad inside out, so as to leave the two cut half-sheets in
the middle.

"That nasty nuisance of a cat!" he muttered to himself. "It must have
come along smelling after poor little Burton's white mice, and smudged
my paper like this. Ah," he continued, to himself, "I have promised the
poor little chap that I'll lick Master Slegge, and--Hullo! What's this?
What does old Morris mean by giving me half-used paper, and the other
fellows new?"

His hands had been busy redoubling and smoothing the fold over the now
prisoned half-sheets, and he was about to hold up his hand as a sign to
the nearest master that he wanted to speak; but he let it fall again
upon the desk, and sat gazing down at some indistinctly seen lines upon
the blotting-paper, which looked as if a letter had been inserted wet
within the pad and hastily blotted.

He could barely read a word, but somehow his curiosity was aroused, and
he turned the leaf over, to find that the newly written letter had been
placed in contact with the other side, the lines looking far blacker
there, but seen like a page of printing type the reverse way on, so that
he could not