p to wrong conclusions. It isn't the only plucky
thing Warren has done. Have you joined the swatting club yet, my boy?'

'What did you say, father?' asked Leonard, with widely opened eyes.

'The formation of a swatting club is the last new move, I hear, at
Torrington's. To swat is to study, I understand--is that right?'

'Oh yes, the word is right enough; but who told you about it?'

'Is it a secret, then? Didn't you know about it--haven't you been
asked to join it?'

'No! they wouldn't ask me; it isn't likely; for all the school know
that I am trying to keep up the honour of Torrington's--keep it from
going to the dogs, in fact,' said the boy, loftily, but with an angry
tone in his voice.

'I am glad to hear it, Len. I was a Torrington boy in my time, and I
love the old school still.'

'Then, father, what did you send that beastly scholarship boy there
for?' burst out Leonard, scarcely knowing what he said in his anger.

'Leonard! Leonard!' chided his mother.

'I beg your pardon, mother, but it is what the fellows are always
saying, and I forgot.'

'But why should the boys be vexed that the County Council chose to
send one of the most promising of their scholars to that school? Has
he done anything to offend you?'

'We don't give him the chance, and we want you, father, to take him
away at once. Don't you see the honour of the school is at stake, and
the fellows like Curtis and Taylor----'

The doctor held up his hand to stop the boy's angry flow of words. 'We
won't discuss those gentlemen, if you please,' he said.

'But they are always discussing it,' exclaimed Leonard.

'Very foolish of them,' interrupted Mr. Morrison. 'But now tell me
what you mean by the honour of the school, and why this lad has
endangered it.'

'He comes from a board school, which, of course, is intended for poor,
common people,' answered the boy.

'But "poor, common people" must be taught, you know; and now, if they
possess the brains, they have the right to learn to use them as well
as those who are better off. From Dr. Mason's report to the Council,
this lad has given every satisfaction while he has been at the school,
and I had hoped that you would have made his acquaintance by this
time, and that I might have learned a little more about him from your
point of view.'

Leonard shook his head. 'You must go to Warren for that; he has chosen
to take him up in defiance of the whole school, and--and----' he
stopped, dimly cons