avation of hearing the pen of
the man on your right flying along the paper with a hideous squeak,
never stopping for a moment to give you a chance. And knowing all this,
there is no need for me to describe the vicissitudes of this particular
day of ordeal at Saint Dominic's.

The work went steadily on from morning to afternoon. More than one
anxious face darted now and then nervous glances up at the clock, as the
hour of closing approached.

Loman was one of them. He was evidently in difficulties, and the Fifth
Form fellows, who looked round occasionally from their English
Literature papers, were elated to see their own men writing steadily and
hard, while the Sixth man looked all aground. There was one boy,
however, who had no time for such observations. That was Simon. He had
got hold of a question which was after his own heart, and demanded every
second of his attention--"Describe, in not more than twelve lines of
blank verse, the natural beauties of the River Shar." Here was a chance
for the _Dominican_ poet!

"The Shar is a very beautiful stream,
Of the Ouse a tributary;
Up at Gusset Weir it's prettiest, I ween,
Because there the birds sing so merry."

These four lines the poet styled, "Canto One." Cantos 2, 3, and 4 were
much of the same excellence, and altogether the effusion was in one of
Simon's happiest moods. Alas! as another poet said, "Art is long, time
is fleeting." The clock pointed to three long before the bard had
penned his fifth canto; and sadly and regretfully he and his
fellow-candidates gathered together and handed in their papers, for
better or worse.

Among the last to finish up was Oliver, who had been working hammer and
tongs during the whole examination.

"How did you get on?" said Wraysford, as they walked back to the Fifth.

"Middling, not so bad as I feared; how did you?"

"Not very grand, I'm afraid; but better than I expected," said
Wraysford. "But I say, did you see how gravelled Loman seemed? I fancy
he didn't do very much."

"So I thought; but I hadn't time to watch him much."

In the Fifth there was a crowd of questioners, eager to ascertain how
their champions had fared; and great was their delight to learn that
neither was utterly cast down at his own efforts.

"You fellows are regular bricks if you get it!" cried Ricketts.

"It'll be the best thing that has happened for the Fifth for a long
time."

"Oh, I say," said Simon, suddenly, addressing