ter I came into his possession, I was won by Frank Spenser.
He was just on the eve of leaving school, and consequently I had no very
unpleasant encounters to anticipate. With the rest of my companions I
was put aside and forgotten, and that is how I came to reside in the toy
cupboard!"

"Well," said one of the common marbles, coming forward, "_I_ can't lay
any claim to such a fine appearance, nor shall I be able to relate such
a distinguished history. My origin is humble enough, for I am made of
clay, in common with many other things of far more importance than
marbles. My first appearance in life was in a wicker basket with a lot
of others in the dingy window of old Spattleberry's shop, where we lived
in company with bottles of lollipops, ginger beer, jam tarts, string,
slate pencil, tops, knives, and parliament. I have lived in a public
school almost all my life, and I only wish I could get back there once
more. None of your grand scented drawing rooms and faddling girls for
me! I prefer boys for companions, and revel in a playground; why I don't
even object to a jacket pocket! I can't say I have exactly a partiality
for pockets in general, for my friends, the boys, _are_ rather apt to
put queer things in them, such as biscuit crumbs, beetles, fishing
worms, and a host of other odds and ends, not to mention an occasional
snake. But I've been very lucky, for I was a favourite alley, and have a
bright red ring round me, so that I was pretty generally kept in careful
quarters. Oh! how many jolly games I have had in the capital playground
of Dewberry Grammar School with my owner, Ben Baily, and his chum, Bill
Smith. The marbles I won for him, helped by his own good play, for he
_was_ a first-rate player, made quite a goodly store in his play-box.
Many a boy who had been so lucky, and who played so well, would have
sold them secretly to old Spattleberry, as indeed I have known some mean
boys do. But Ben was an honest, open-hearted fellow, born to be a
sailor, so I was not surprised to hear of him afterwards as a naval
cadet, going through a course of training in the "Dreadnought" frigate.
But at the time I knew him he was only a truthful, frank schoolboy, very
mischievous, and getting into lots of scrapes, but then they were never
wicked ones, or likely to do harm to anybody, and only arising from the
spirit of fun in him, that brimmed over sometimes.

"I soon discovered how his hoard of marbles gradually melted away, for