ad had the effect of
disconcerting a good many more than himself. Stansfield had quite hard
work going round among his troops and rousing them once more to the
proper pitch of enthusiasm.

"What--whatever does it matter," he said, "if the fellow did take it?
_You_ didn't take it, Winter, or you, Wren; and what on earth's the use
of getting down in the mouth, and perhaps losing the match, because of
it? We're always having our football spoiled by something or other," he
added with a groan. "I'll tell you what it is, let's only lick these
fellows this afternoon, and then I'll howl and groan and do anything you
like, for a week."

There was no resisting such a generous offer. The fellows made up their
minds to forget everything else that afternoon but the County, and so to
play that the County should have some difficulty in soon forgetting
them.

"Fire away, you fellows, and peel!" cried Stansfield, as Oliver and
Wraysford sauntered past.

They fired away. But while dressing they exchanged a few words on the
forbidden subject.

"Did you ever expect it would be brought home to Loman like this, Noll?"
asked Wray.

"No, I didn't. And yet in a way--"

"Eh? What do you say?"

"Why, Wray, you remember me saying that evening, after I left the study,
the only fellow I met in the passage besides Simon was Loman?"

"Yes; so you did."

"He was going towards the Doctor's study," said Oliver.

"Hum! I remember now you said so."

"And yet," continued Oliver, plunging into his jersey--"and yet I can't
see how, if he did take the paper, he didn't do better in the exam. He
came out so very low."

"Yes, that's queer, unless he took a fit of repentance all of a sudden,
and didn't look at it."

"Then it's queer he didn't destroy it, instead of sticking it in his
Juvenal."

"Well, I suppose the Doctor will clear it up, now he's on the scent."

"I suppose so," said Oliver; "but, I say, old man," he added, "of course
there's no need for us to say anything about it to anybody. The poor
beggar doesn't want _our_ help to get him into trouble."

"No, indeed. I'd be as glad, quite, if it were found to be another
wrong scent, after all," said Wraysford. "The fellow's in a bad enough
way as it is."

"Are you nearly ready, you two?" thundered Stansfield at the door.

"Just ready!" they exclaimed; and in another minute they, too, had
dismissed from their minds everything but Saint Dominic's versus County,
as they tr