onary."

"_Nemo_," promptly replied Stephen.

"Of course! and therefore if you had done the exercise yourself you
wouldn't have made that horrid--that fearful mistake!"

Stephen said, "Yes, sir," and meditated.

"Come now," said Mr Rastle, cheerily, "I'm not going to scold you. But
if you take my advice you will try and do the next exercise by yourself.
Of course you can't expect to be perfect all at once, but if you always
copy off Raddleston, do you see, you'll _never_ get on at all."

"I'll try, sir," said Stephen, meaning what he said.

"I know you will, my boy. It's not easy work to begin with, but it's
easier far in the long run. Try, and if you have difficulties, as you
are sure to have, come to me. I'm always here in the evenings, and
we'll hammer it out between us. School will not be without its
temptations, and you will find it hard always to do your duty. Yet you
have, I hope, learnt the power of prayer; and surely the Saviour is able
not only to forgive us our sins, but also to keep us from falling. At
school, my boy, as elsewhere, it is a safe rule, whenever one is in
doubt, to avoid everything, no matter who may be the tempter, of which
one cannot fearlessly speak to one's father or mother, and above all to
our Heavenly Father. Don't be afraid of Him--He will always be ready to
help you and to guide you with His Holy Spirit. Have another cup of
tea?"

This little talk, much as he missed at the time its deeper meaning,
saved Stephen from becoming a dunce. He still blundered and boggled
over his lessons, and still kept pretty near to the bottom form in his
class, but he felt that his master had an interest in him, and that
acted like magic to his soul. He declined Master Raddleston's
professional assistance for the future, and did the best he could by
himself. He now and then, though hesitatingly, availed himself of Mr
Rastle's offer, and took his difficulties to head-quarters; and he
always, when he did so, found the master ready and glad to help, and not
only that, but to explain as he went along, and clear the way of future
obstacles of the same sort.

And so things looked up with Stephen. He wrote jubilant letters home;
he experienced all the joys of an easy conscience, and he felt that he
had a friend at court.

But as long as he was a member of the honourable fraternity of
Guinea-pigs, Stephen Greenfield was not likely to be dull at Saint
Dominic's.

The politics of the lower