d to this that he had remained steadily at the
bottom of his class during the entire period, and that once he had
received an "impot" (or imposition) from Mr Rastle, and it will easily
be understood that he soon gained favour among his fellows.

This last cause of celebrity, however, was one which did not please
Stephen. He had come to Saint Dominic's with a great quantity of good
resolutions, the chief of which was that he would work hard and keep out
of mischief, and it grieved him much to find that in neither aim was he
succeeding.

The first evening or two he had worked very diligently at preparation.
He had taken pains with his fractions, and looked out every word in his
Caesar. He had got Oliver to look over his French, and Loman had
volunteered to correct the spelling of his "theme;" and yet he stuck at
the bottom of the class. Other boys went up and down. Some openly
boasted that they had had their lessons done for them, and others that
they had not done them at all. A merry time they had of it; but
Stephen, down at the bottom, was in dismal dumps. He could not get up,
and he could not get down, and all his honest hard work went for
nothing.

And so, not content to give that system a longer trial, he grew more lax
in his work. He filched the answers to his sums out of the "Key," and
copied his Caesar out of the "crib." It was much easier, and the result
was the same. He did not get up, and he could not get down.

Oliver catechised him now and then as to his progress, and received
vague answers in reply, and Loman never remembered a fag that pestered
him less with lessons. Stephen was, in fact, settling down into the
slough of idleness, and would have become an accomplished dunce in time,
had not Mr Rastle come to the rescue. That gentleman caught the new
boy in an idle mood, wandering aimlessly down the passage one afternoon.

"Ah, Greenfield, is that you? Nothing to do, eh? Come and have tea
with me, will you, in my room?"

Stephen, who had bounded as if shot on hearing the master's unexpected
voice behind him, turned round and blushed very red, and said "Thank
you," and then looked like a criminal just summoned to the gallows.

"That's right, come along;" and the master took the lad by the arm and
marched him off to his room.

Here the sight of muffins and red-currant jam, in addition to the
ordinary attractions of a tea-table, somewhat revived Stephen's drooping
spirits.

"Make yoursel