ying still,"
said Vernon playfully, as he wiped away a tear which had overflowed on
his brother's cheek; "aren't you glad that the Doctor has forgiven you?"

"Gladder, far gladder than I can say, Verny. O Verny, Verny, I hope
your school-life may be happier than mine has been. I would give up all
I have, Verny, to have kept free from the sins I have learnt. God grant
that I may yet have time and space to do better."

"Let us pray together, Eric," whispered his brother reverently, and they
knelt down and prayed; they prayed for their distant parents and
friends; they prayed for their school-fellows and for each other, and
for Wildney, and they thanked God for all His goodness to them; and then
Eric poured out his heart in a fervent prayer that a holier and happier
future might atone for his desecrated past, and that his sins might be
forgiven for his Saviour's sake.

The brothers rose from their knees calmer and more light-hearted in the
beauty of holiness, and gave each other a solemn affectionate kiss,
before they went down again to the playground. But they avoided the
rest of the boys, and took a stroll together along the sands, talking
quietly and happily, and hoping bright hopes for future days.

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINE.

WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG.

Oh is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?
A tress of maiden's hair,
Of drowned maiden's hair,
Above the nets at sea!
_Kingsley_.

Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead
of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and
penitent way, and set themselves with all their might to repair the
injury which their characters had received. Eric especially seemed to
be devoting himself with every energy to regain, if possible, his
long-lost position, and by the altered complexion of his remaining
school-life, to atone in some poor measure for its earlier sins. And he
carried Wildney with him, influencing others also of his late companions
in a greater or less degree. It was not Eric's nature to do things by
halves, and it became obvious to all that his exertions to resist and
abandon his old temptations were strenuous and unwavering. He could no
longer hope for the school distinctions, which would have once lain so
easily within his reach, for the ground lost during weeks of idleness
cannot be recovered by a wish; but he succeeded sufficiently, by dint of
desperately hard work, to acquit himself wi