while Stephen felt decidedly
uncomfortable as to the consequences of Bramble's discovery of his
secret visits last term to the Cockchafer.

Stephen had in a confidential moment during the holidays told Oliver of
these visits, and of his intimacy with Mr Cripps. The elder brother
was very angry and astonished when he heard of it. He set before the
boy, in no measured terms, the risk he was running by breaking one of
the rules of the school; and, more than that, he said Cripps was a
blackguard, and demanded of Stephen a promise, there and then, that he
would never again enter the Cockchafer under any pretext whatever.
Stephen, forced to submit, although not convinced that Cripps was such a
wicked man as his brother made out, promised, but reserved to himself
mentally the right to see Cripps at least once more at the Lock-House,
there to return him the bicycle lantern, which it will be remembered
that kind gentleman had lent the boy before the holidays. As to the
Cockchafer, he was thoroughly frightened at the thought of having been
seen there, and fully determined, even before Bramble's threat, never
again to cross its threshold. After all, Stephen knew he had little
enough to fear from that small braggadocio; Bramble had neither the wit
nor the skill to use his discovery to any advantage. For a day or two
he followed his adversary up and down the passages with cries of
"Potboy!" till everybody was sick of the sound, and felt heartily glad
when, one fine afternoon, Stephen quietly deposited his adversary on his
back on the gravel of the playground.

But to return to the feud between Fifth and Sixth.

Things after a little seemed to quiet down once more. The exiled
rioters, after a long and disheartening search, found rest for the soles
of their feet in Tom Senior's study, which, though not nearly so
convenient, afforded them asylum during their pugilistic encounters.

The studious ones settled down once more to their work, and the near
approach of the examinations presently absorbed all their attention.

The struggle for the Nightingale Scholarship naturally was regarded with
the most intense interest--not because it was the most important
examination of the year: it was not. Not because it was worth 50 pounds
a year for three years. That to most of the school was a minor
consideration. It was as nothing to the fact that of the three
candidates for the scholarship one was a Sixth Form boy and two Fifth.
If