blue eyes, an aquiline nose, and an air
of being very well satisfied with the world in general and himself in
particular. This was Oswald Elliston, the son of a country squire, who
had heard of the successes of Mr Asplin's pupils, and was storing up
disappointment for himself in expecting similar exploits from his own
handsome, but by no means over-brilliant, son. The second pupil had a
small microscope in his hand, and was poring over a collection of
"specimens," with his shoulders hitched up to his ears, in a position
the reverse of elegant. Every now and then he would bend his head to
write down a few notes on the paper beside him, showing a square-chinned
face, with heavy eyebrows and strong roughly-marked features. His
clothes were worn, his cuffs invisible, and his hair ruffled into wild
confusion by the unconscious rubbings of his hands; and this was the
Honourable Robert Darcy, third son of Lord Darcy, a member of the
Cabinet, and a politician of world-wide reputation.

The servants at the vicarage were fond of remarking, apropos of the
Honourable Robert, that he "didn't look it"; which remark would have
been a subject of sincere gratification to the lad himself, had it been
overheard; for there was no surer way of annoying him than by referring
to his position, or giving him the prefix to which he was entitled.

The young folks looked up inquiringly as Mr and Mrs Asplin entered the
room, for the hour after tea was set apart for recreation, and the
elders were usually only too glad to remain in their own quiet little
sanctum. Oswald, the gallant, sprang to his feet and brought forward a
chair for Mrs Asplin, but she waved him aside, and broke impetuously
into words.

"Children! we have news for you. You are going to have a new companion.
Father has had a letter this afternoon about another pupil--"

Mellicent yawned, and Esther looked calmly uninterested, but the three
lads were full of interest. Their faces turned towards the vicar with
expressions of eager curiosity.

"A new fellow! This term! From what school, sir?"

"A ladies' boarding-school at Brighton!" Mrs Asplin spoke rapidly, so
as to be beforehand with her husband, and her eyes danced with
mischievous enjoyment, as she saw the dismay depicted on the three
watching faces. A ladies' school! Maxwell, Oswald, and Robert, had a
vision of a pampered pet in curls, and round jacket, and their backs
stiffened in horrified indignation at the i