knowing the effects of the
master's fury, fled with precipitation. In one minute the offender was
caught, and Mr Lawley's heavy hand fell recklessly on his ears and
back, until he screamed with terror. At last, by a tremendous writhe,
wrenching himself free, he darted towards the door, and Mr Lawley, too
much tired to pursue, snatched his large gold watch out of his fob, and
hurled it at the boy's retreating figure. The watch flew through the
air;--crash! it had missed its aim, and, striking the wall above the
lintel, fell smashed into a thousand shivers.

The sound, the violence of the action, the sight of the broken watch,
which was the gift of a cherished friend, instantly awoke the master to
his senses. The whole school had seen it; they sate there pale and
breathless with excitement and awe. The poor man could bear it no
longer. He flung himself into his chair, hid his face with his hands,
and burst into hysterical tears. It was the outbreak of feelings long
pent-up. In that instant all his life passed before him--its hopes, its
failures, its miseries, its madness. "Yes!" he thought, "I am mad."

Raising his head, he cried wildly, "Boys, go, I am mad!" and sank again
into his former position, rocking himself to and fro. One by one the
boys stole out, and he was left alone. The end is soon told. Forced to
leave Ayrton, he had no means of earning his daily bread; and the weight
of this new anxiety hastening the crisis, the handsome proud scholar
became an inmate of the Brerely Lunatic Asylum. A few years afterwards,
Eric heard that he was dead. Poor broken human heart! may he rest in
peace.

Such was Eric's first school and schoolmaster. But although he learnt
little there, and gained no experience of the character of others or of
his own, yet there was one point about Ayrton Latin-School which he
never regretted. It was the mixture there of all classes. On those
benches gentlemen's sons sat side by side with plebeians, and no harm,
but only good, seemed to come from the intercourse. The neighbouring
gentry, most of whom had begun their education there, were drawn into
closer and kindlier union with their neighbours and dependants, from the
fact of having been their associates in the days of their boyhood. Many
a time afterwards, when Eric, as he passed down the streets,
interchanged friendly greetings with some young glazier or tradesman
whom he remembered at school, he felt glad that thus earl