to be in my lesson for the
day, and was probably the first to come to hand.

Tempest laughed when I told him.

"It's all very well," said he, "but it's encouraging the enemy.
Redwood's a dear old chap, but he's too much of an anything-for-a-quiet-
life fellow for captain. By the way, has Crofter replied to your polite
letter?"

"No," said I, "not a word, and I haven't seen him."

"Well, take my advice, kid. If he wants to kick you, consider yourself
lucky. If he's extra civil, cut him like mischief. Some day you may
thank me for the tip."

It seemed queer advice at the time, but I had occasion to call it to
mind later on, as the reader will discover.

By the end of my first week I was pretty well domesticated at Low Heath.
My chief regret was that I saw so little of Dicky Brown; and when we
did meet the only thing we had in common was our lessons, which were not
always congenial topics of conversation.

Dicky was fully imbued with the superiority of the town-boy over the
house boy, and irritated me sometimes by his repeated regret that I was
not eligible for the junior Urbans.

"What do you do?" I inquired.

"Oh, hosts of things. We go in for geology, and part songs, and
antiquities, and all that sort of thing; and have excursions--at least,
we're going to have one soon--to look for remains."

"Ah! it's a pity you couldn't come to our picnic next week. It's to be
no end of a spree."

"Oh, we've heard all about that," said Dicky, with a grin. "_Mens sano
in corpore sanae_--you should hear some of our chaps yell about that."

"I'm sure it's not a bad motto," ventured I.

"I don't know about that. But it's not the motto, it's the grammar."

I wasn't quite pleased with Dicky for this. It seemed as if he thought
he knew more than other people, which I held to be a reprehensible
failing in any one--particularly a day boy. I flattered myself that, as
an exhibitioner, he had hardly the right to talk to me about grammar.
But it was Dicky's way, and I knew he couldn't help it.

For all that, I referred to the subject in the faggery that evening. My
comrades were in high glee. Half a dozen subscriptions had come in,
with requests to be allowed to join the picnic, and a considerable
number of others had asked to be allowed at half price or on the
deferred payment system.

"It's going like anything, Sarah," said Langrish, thumping me violently
on the back.

"Where's the picnic to be?" I inquired.