'm not ashamed to tell you what it is that has brought me to
my senses. Don't scoff, but help a lame dog over a stile. My object in
life is to have an object in life at present. Give me your counsel, and
deserve the benediction of someone besides your friend, M.R."

The patient reader must infer what he can from these five letters. They
are copied word for word from the original documents, and speak for
themselves. I am unable to say whether the luggage was found--whether
Miss Daisy got her sleeves altered to her liking--whether Arthur found
any "fun" left on his arrival, a fortnight late, at Grandcourt, or how
soon Mr Blake's reply to the father's letter reached Lucerne. All
these momentous questions the reader can settle for himself as well as I
can for him. He will at any rate be able to understand that when one
day in October a telegram reached Railsford from Grandcourt with the
brief announcement--"Vacancy here; see advertisement _Athenaeum_! am
writing"--it created no small stir in the manly breast of the worthy to
whom it was directed.

He went at once to Westbourne Park and held a cabinet council with his
chief adviser, and again, on returning home, called his sisters into
consultation. He wrote to his college tutor, drew up a most elegant
letter to the governors, read a few chapters of _Tom Brown's
Schooldays_, and then waited impatiently for Grover's promised letter.

"You will have guessed," said that letter, when it arrived, "from my
telegram that Moss has resigned, and that there will be a vacancy for a
house-master and Master of the Shell here at Christmas. You know how I
would like to see you appointed. But--"

"But what?" inquired someone who read the letter over the reader's
shoulder.

"I should not be your friend if I represented this place as a bed of
roses, especially Moss's house. You'll have hard work to hold your own
with the boys, and harder still with some of the masters. You will get
more criticism than backing-up from head-quarters. Still it is a
splendid opening for a man of courage like you; and all the school would
profit by your success. Talk to Podmore about it; he'll give you good
advice. So will Weston. Of course I can do nothing at all but look on
sympathetically, and, if you try for the place and succeed, promise you
at least one hearty welcome."

"It seems pretty clear it won't be child's play," said Railsford,
folding up the letter.

"It would not suit you if