d very happy and engaging, and
was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started up and gazed
after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment the
unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the
whole world, and he couldn't realise the fact that, before the day was
over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort
of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again,
and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy's destiny
is twined for many a day with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will
know very soon.

At nine o'clock Mr Williams started towards the school with his son.
The walk led them by the sea-side, over the sands, and past the ruin, at
the foot of which the waves broke at high tide. At any other time Eric
would have been overflowing with life and wonder at the murmur of the
ripples, the sight of the ships in the bay or on the horizon, and the
numberless little shells, with their bright colours and sculptured
shapes, which lay about the beach. But now his mind was too full of a
single anxiety; and when, after crossing a green playground, they stood
by the head-master's door, his heart fluttered, and it required all his
energy to keep down the nervous trembling which shook him.

Mr Williams gave his card, and they were shown into Dr Rowlands's
study. He was a kind-looking gentlemanly man, and when he turned to
address Eric, after a few minutes' conversation with his father, the boy
felt instantly reassured by the pleasant sincerity and frank courtesy of
his manner. A short examination showed that Eric's attainments were
very slight as yet, and he was to be put in the lowest form of all,
under the superintendence of the Reverend Henry Gordon. Dr Rowlands
wrote a short note in pencil, and giving it to Eric, directed the
servant to show him to Mr Gordon's schoolroom.

The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so
that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at
their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them.
As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the
broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to
feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, "I say, what sort of
a fellow is Mr Gordon?"

"Terrible strict, sir, I hear," said the man, touching his cap with a
comic expression, which didn't at