ld mean certain
suspension for him at any rate.

He glared at the offending watch, and shook it savagely. It ticked
feebly for a few seconds, then hopelessly stopped once more. A pretty
trick it had played him, and he felt inclined to hurl it into the first
pond he should pass, as he sped along at a hard steady run: for every
minute he was late would, if possible, render his case worse.

CHAPTER NINE.

DISASTER.

Saint Kirwin's boasted a really beautiful chapel, large, lofty, rich in
stained glass and abundant sculpture of first-rate design and execution.
The services, which were fully choral, were rendered by an excellent
choir drawn from the school, and on Sundays and on certain saints' days
its performance would have done credit even to the average cathedral.
The structure was in shape a parallelogram, the seats running in long
rows, tier upon tier the whole length, certain stalls, however, being
returned against the west wall on either side of the entrance. The
principal of these was that of the headmaster, who thus had the whole
assemblage under his view. And his lynx gaze was quick to descry any
irregularity, and woe indeed to the prefect in whose row such should
occur, and still greater woe to the delinquent or delinquents.

We have said that Dr Bowen cut an imposing figure as he entered the big
schoolroom in cap and gown amid an awed silence, but he looked, if
possible, more imposing still in chapel, in his snowy voluminous
surplice and great scarlet hood, as, preceded by a verger, he made his
way along the aisle to read the Lessons from the great eagle lectern
which stood in the middle of the choir; indeed, so majestic was his gait
and bearing on these occasions as to be the source of a good deal of
surreptitious fun on the part of the more satirically minded, among
whom, needless to say, was our friend Haviland.

Now the latter, on this ill-fated afternoon, was standing outside the
door, striving to recover breath after the length and severity of his
run. If only he could enter and reach his place unseen by the Doctor,
it would be all right. The master of the week--in this case Mr
Williams--his own dormitory master, a good-natured and genial athlete,
would give him an imposition, as in duty bound, but would almost
certainly not report him at head-quarters, which he was not strictly
bound to do. But how on earth could he accomplish any such entrance
seeing that the Doctor's stall was next to t