ad an unpleasant smell, and I was already driven to
thinking of my pocket-money and my play-box--agreeable thoughts
which I had made up my mind in the train to reserve carefully for
possible hours of unhappiness. But the low roof of the omnibus was
like a limit to my imagination, and my body was troubled by the
displeasing contact of the velvet cushions. I was still wondering
why this made my wrists ache, when the omnibus lurched from the
cobbles on to a gravel drive, and I saw the school buildings
towering all about me like the walls of a prison. I jumped out and
stretched my legs while the driver climbed down to collect the
fares. He looked at me without a jot of interest, and I knew that
he must have driven a great many boys from the station to the
school in the course of his life.

A man appeared in shirt-sleeves of grey flannel and wheeled my boxes
away on a little truck, and after a while a master came down and
showed us, in a perfunctory manner, over the more presentable
quarters of the school. My brother was anxious to get away, because
he had not been emancipated long enough to find the atmosphere of
dormitories and class-rooms agreeable. I was naturally interested,
in my new environment, but the presence of the master constrained
me, and I was afraid to speak in front of this unknown man whom it
was my lot to obey, so we were all relieved when our hurried
inspection was over. He told me that I was at liberty to do what I
pleased till seven o'clock, so I went for a walk through the town
with my brother.

The day was drawing to a chill grey close, and the town was filled
with a clammy mist tainted with the odour of sewage, due, I
afterwards discovered, to the popular abuse of the little stream
that gave the place its name. Even my brother could not entirely
escape the melancholy influence of the hour and the place, and he
was glad to take me into a baker's shop and have tea. By now the
illusion of adventure that had reconciled me to leaving home was in
a desperate state, and I drank my tea and consumed my cakes without
enjoyment. If life was always going to be the same--if in fleeing
one misfortune I had merely brought on myself the pain of becoming
accustomed to another--I felt sure that my meagre stoicism would not
suffice to carry me through with credit. I had failed once, I would
fail again. I looked forward with a sinking heart to a tearful and
uncomfortable future.

There was only a very poor train se