, "when are you going to let me
have that paper of yours?"

"What paper do you mean?" demanded Ricketts.

"Why for the _Dominican_, of course; you don't suppose I want one of
your cast-off exam papers, do you?"

"Oh, I can't do anything for the _Dominican_ this time," said Ricketts.

"Yes, you can, and yes, you will," coolly replied Anthony.

"Who says I will?" demanded Ricketts, inclined to be angry.

"It sounds as if _I_ do," replied the editor. "Why of course you'll do
something for it, Rick?"

"I'd be glad enough, but really I'm not in the humour," said Ricketts.

"Why ever not?" demanded Tony.

"Why, the fact is," said Ricketts, "I fancy the Fifth is not exactly
looking up at present, and we've nothing particular to be proud of. If
you take my advice you'll keep the _Dominican_ quiet for a bit."

"My dear fellow, that's the very thing we mustn't do. Don't you see,
you old duffer you, that if we shut up shop and retire into private
life, everybody will be thinking we daren't hold up our heads? I mean
to hold up my head, for one," added Tony, proudly, "if there were a
thousand Greenfields in the class; and I mean to make you hold up yours
too, old man. It'll be time enough to do the hang-dog business when we
all turn knaves; but till we do, we've as good a right to be known at
Saint Dominic's as anybody else. So none of your humbug, Rick. We'll
get out an extra good _Dominican_, and let the fellows see we're alive
and kicking."

This speech had the required effect. It not only won over Ricketts, but
most of the other leading spirits of the Fifth, who had been similarly
holding back.

Tony was not the fellow to let an advantage go by. Having once got his
men into a becoming frame of mind, he kept them well in hand and worked
them up into something like the old enthusiasm on the subject of the
_Dominican_.

Every one was determined the present number should be an out-and-out
good one, and laboured and racked his brains accordingly.

But somehow or other the fellows had never found it so hard, first to
get inspirations, and then to put them down on paper, as they did at
present. Every one thought he had something very fine and very clever
to say if he could only find expression for it. The amount of
brain-cudgelling that went on over this _Dominican_ was simply awful.
Wraysford gave it up in disgust. Ricketts, Bullinger, Tom Senior, and
others stumbled through their tasks, and could only tur