Eric could
not resist a smile. But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her
shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap
into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none
of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which
they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming
their handkerchiefs into their mouths. Eric, having once given way,
enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her
uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause
of the tittering, which she could not help hearing. At last all three
began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their
direction, and Dr. Rowlands' stern eye caught sight of their levity. He
stopped short in his sermon, and for one instant transfixed them with
his indignant glance. Quiet was instantly restored, and alarm reduced
them to the most perfect order, although the grasshopper still sat
imperturbable among the artificial flowers. Meanwhile the stout lady had
discovered that for some unknown reason she had been causing
considerable amusement, and, attributing it to intentional ridicule,
looked round, justly hurt. Eric, with real shame, observed the deep
vexation of her manner, and bitterly repented his share in the
transaction.

Next morning Dr. Rowlands, in full academicals, sailed into the
fourth-form room. His entrance was the signal for every boy to rise, and
after a word or two to Mr. Gordon, he motioned them to be seated. Eric's
heart sank within him.

"Williams, Duncan, and Llewellyn, stand out!" said the Doctor. The boys,
with downcast eyes and burning cheeks, stood before him.

"I was sorry to notice," said he, "your shameful conduct in chapel
yesterday afternoon. As far as I could observe, you were making
yourselves merry in that sacred place with the personal defects of
others. The lessons you receive here must be futile indeed, if they do
not teach you the duty of reverence to God, and courtesy to man. It
gives me special pain, Williams, to have observed that you, too, a boy
high in your remove, were guilty of this most culpable levity. You will
all come to me at twelve o'clock in the library."

At twelve o'clock they each received a flogging. The pain inflicted was
not great, and Duncan and Llewellyn, who had got into similar trouble
before, cared very little for it, and went out laughing to tell the
number o