said Eric suddenly; "shy us the paper."

His conscience smote him bitterly. In his silly dread of giving
offence, he was doing what he heartily despised, and he felt most
uncomfortable.

"There," he said, pushing the paper from him in a pet; "I've written it,
and I'll have nothing more to do with it."

Just as he finished, they were called up, and Barker, taking the paper,
succeeded in pinning it as usual on the front of the desk. Eric had
never seen it done so carelessly and clumsily before, and firmly
believed, what was indeed a fact, that Barker had done it badly on
purpose, in the hope that it might be discovered, and so Eric be got
once more into a scrape. He was in an agony of apprehension, and when
put on, was totally unable to say a word of his Repetition. But far as
he had yielded, he would not cheat like the rest; in this respect, at
any rate, he would not give up his claim to chivalrous and stainless
honour; he kept his eyes resolutely turned away from the guilty paper,
and even refused to repeat the words which were prompted in his ear by
the boys on each side. Mr Gordon, after waiting a moment, said--

"Why, sir, you know nothing about it; you can't have looked at it. Go
to the bottom, and write it out five times."

"_Write it out_," thought Eric; "this is retribution, I suppose," and,
covered with shame and vexation, he took his place below the malicious
Barker at the bottom of the form.

It happened that during the lesson the fire began to smoke, and Mr
Gordon told Owen to open the window for a moment. No sooner was this
done than the mischievous whiff of sea-air which entered the room began
to trifle and coquet with the pendulous half-sheet pinned in front of
the desk, causing thereby an unwonted little pattering crepitation. In
alarm, Duncan thoughtlessly pulled out the pin, and immediately the
paper floated gracefully over Russell's head, as he sat at the top of
the form, and, after one or two gyrations, fluttered down in the centre
of the room.

"Bring me that piece of paper," said Mr Gordon, full of vague
suspicion.

Several boys moved uneasily, and Eric looked nervously round.

"Did you hear? fetch me that half-sheet of paper."

A boy picked it up, and handed it to him. Mr Gordon held it for a full
minute in his hands without a word, while vexation, deep disgust, and
rising anger, struggled in his countenance. At last, he suddenly turned
full on Eric, whose writing he recognis