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He did not venture on further argument, but, bidding a hasty farewell, returned as fast as he could to Saint Dominic's, wondering whatever Oliver would say, and sorely repenting the day when first he was tempted to think of the unlucky bat. He made a clean breast of it to his brother that evening, who, of course, called him an ass, and everything else complimentary, and was deservedly angry.
At least, so thought Wraysford that night, as he lay meditating upon his friend's troubles, and found himself liking him none the less for this latest singular piece of eccentricity. Stephen, before he had been a fortnight in the school, found himself very much at home at Saint Dominic's.
They assembled on every possible occasion in their room, and fortified their door with chairs and desks, and their zeal with fiery orations and excited conjurations. One wretched youth who the first evening had been weak enough to poke his master's fire, was expelled ignominiously from the community, and for a week afterwards lived the life of an outcast in Saint Dominic's.
Never had a Sixth versus School Match been looked forward to with more excitement at Saint Dominic's than the present one. Party feeling had been running high all the term, intensified on the one hand by the unpopularity of some of the monitors, and on the other by the defiant attitude of the Fifth and the tone of their organ, the Dominican.
Two years ago, when he first entered the school, he was popular with his fellows and voted an acquisition on the cricket-ground and football-field whenever the youth of Saint Dominic's strove in emulation against their rivals.
So, much against their own inclination and the advice of the carman, who characterised the proceedings as "tomfoolery," they alighted, and attempted to take the short cut across the fields to Saint Dominic's. Short cut, indeed! It was indeed a sarcastic name for the road those two boys took that terrible night. Oliver could never recollect all that happened those few hours.
In due time the holidays ended, and the Dominicans reassembled once more in their venerable Alma Mater. Need I say there were three within those walls who, whatever they were before, were now friends bound together by a bond the closest of all a bond which had stood the test of life and death? Saint Dominic's reassembled after the holidays in an amiable frame of mind.
He hardly ever saw the Doctor from one month's end to another; but somehow, to know he was away to know any one was away who ought to be there to look after him was a glorious opportunity! He launched at once into a series of revolutionary exploits on the strength of it. He organised mutinies ten times a day, and had all the specifications drawn up for blowing up Saint Dominic's with paraffin oil.
The "leading article" of the present number bore the suggestive title, "Thank Goodness!" and began as follows: "Thank goodness, we are at last rid of the pest which has made Saint Dominic's hideous for months past! At a single blow, with a single clap of the hands, we have sent Guinea-pigs and Tadpoles packing, and can now breathe pure air. No longer shall we have to put up with the plague.
Stephen scratched his head and rubbed his eyes. This was not like anything he had learned at home. They must learn out of quite different books at Saint Dominic's. "Question 2. History " "Hullo," thought Stephen, "they don't give many questions in grammar; that's a good job." "Question 2. History. Whose daughter was Stephen the Second, and why was he nicknamed the `Green?" Stephen laughed.
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