hat he was the cleverest boy, so the others
told me, in the whole school.

"He doesn't seem very bashful," said another.

Nor indeed did he. He sauntered slowly down the path, looking solemnly
now on one side, now on the other, and now at us all, until presently he
stood in our midst, and gazed half inquiringly, half doubtfully, from
one to the other.

I know I felt a good deal more uncomfortable than he did himself, and
was quite glad when Flanagan broke the solemn silence.

"Hullo, youngster, who are you, eh?"

"Smith," laconically replied the new boy, looking his questioner in the
face.

There was nothing impudent in the way he spoke or looked; but somehow or
other his tone didn't seem quite as humble and abject as old boys are
wont to expect from new. Flanagan's next inquiry therefore was a little
more roughly uttered.

"What's your Christian name, you young donkey? You don't suppose you're
the only Smith in the world, do you?"

We laughed at this. It wasn't half bad for Flanagan.

The new boy, however, remained quite solemn as he replied, briefly,
"John Smith."

"And where do you come from?" said Philpot, taking up the questioning,
and determining to get more out of the new-comer than Flanagan had; "and
who's your father, do you hear? and how many sisters have you got? and
why are you sent here? and are you a backward or a troublesome, eh?"

The new boy gazed in grave bewilderment at the questioner during this
speech. When it was ended, he quietly proceeded to move off to another
part of the playground without vouchsafing any reply.

But Philpot, who was on his mettle, prevented this manoeuvre by a sudden
and dexterous grip of the arm, and drew him back into the circle.

"Do you hear what I say to you?" said he, roughly, emphasising his
question with a shake. "What on earth do you mean by going off without
answering?"

"It's no business of yours, is it?" said the new boy, mildly.

"Yes," exclaimed Philpot, "it is. You don't suppose we fellows are
going to be humbugged by a young sneak like you, do you?"

"I sha'n't tell you, then!" quietly replied Smith.

This astounding reply, quietly as it was uttered, quite took away
Philpot's breath, and the breath of all of us. We were so astonished,
indeed, that for some time no one could utter a word or make up his mind
what to do next.

Then gradually it dawned on the company generally that this defiant,
stuck-up youngster must immediately be