he was roused
by a timid hand resting on his arm, while a gentle voice whispered:
"Percival."

He looked up quickly. Hibbert was standing beside him, his face, usually
so pale, was slightly flushed, as the brown eyes turned to Paul.

"I haven't disturbed you, have I?" he asked.

"What do you want with me, Hibbert?" Paul asked rather sharply; for he
did not like the lad breaking in upon him so quietly.

"You looked so wretched and miserable I could not help coming in. You're
not angry with me, are you?"

"Angry with you? No; why should I be?" answered Paul, forcing a smile to
his face at the boy's eager question.

"Oh, I'm so used to people being angry with me, except you and--and Mr.
Weevil."

"Mr. Weevil! Doesn't he ever get angry with you?"

"No; he's very good to me."

Paul was rather astonished at this piece of information, knowing that
Weevil had a reputation for harshness.

"Glad to hear it. He makes it up on the other fellows." Paul's mind
flitted back to the night when Stanley was sent to Dormitory X. "But why
aren't you outside, enjoying yourself with your class-mates?"

"They never want me to play with them. I'm no good at their games,"
answered the boy sadly; "but I've been with some of them this afternoon.
I was at the--sand-pit."

He volunteered the information with some hesitation. Paul flushed. What
had happened would soon be known, then, to every boy in the school.

"We found out what was going to happen in our Form; and so I went with
the rest to see you--to see you----"

Again the boy hesitated.

"To see me turn tail and run. Out with it. Don't be afraid of hurting my
feelings," cried Paul bitterly. "The other fellows won't. You'll hear
what they'll be calling me presently--quite a choice collection of
names--cur, pariah, coward, and the rest of it."

"No, not coward. I know you couldn't be," said the boy confidently. "Any
one can see that by looking in your face. I know you had some reason for
going away. It's that made you so wretched. I knew you would be, and
so--and so after waiting a little time to see what would happen, I
followed after you."

Paul was touched at Hibbert's devotion. In that one moment the boy had
repaid a hundredfold the little act of kindness he had shown him when he
first entered the school. He had come to Paul in his loneliness, and had
brought a ray of sunshine into the gloom that had suddenly sprung up
around him.

"Do you know, Hibbert, you're a ver