l enough. It was Stanley's.
Why were they discussing him?

On entering the room, the voices ceased as by magic. Every eye was
turned in his direction. Several boys were gathered round the fireplace.
Foremost in the group were Newall, Parfitt, and Stanley.

"I thought I heard my name?" Paul exclaimed, as he stepped into the
room.

"Quite right," said Stanley, coming from the group and confronting him.
"I've been looking for you."

Paul was on the point of saying that he also had been looking for
Stanley, but the silence that followed Stanley's words, the concentrated
gaze of that group of boys, and, above all, the face of Stanley
himself--white, yet with a burning, feverish light in the eyes--kept
back the words.

"Looking for me?" he repeated.

"Yes; I did hope that I should never have to speak to you again, but one
or two things that have just happened make me. All the fellows here know
how much it's against the grain."

Paul's face fell. He had come in search of Stanley with the hope of
bringing about a reconciliation. That hope receded in an instant to the
far distance.

"If it's against the grain, I wonder you should trouble," he could not
help answering.

"Oh, we have to swallow things we don't like sometimes." Then he broke
off into a tone of banter. "So you've brought the flag back to Garside?"

Paul did not answer. He was only conscious that the group had drawn
closer to him, and that Stanley's eyes were burning at a fiercer heat.
It seemed some other than Stanley who was speaking. He had assumed the
tone and manner of Newall; but he was forcing himself into a part which
did not suit him, so that he acted it badly.

"The worst of Percival is that he's so modest. He doesn't know what a
smart thing he's done," went on Stanley. "It isn't to be wondered at
that the kids of the Third and Fourth have been cheering him like mad.
Why should we be left out in the cold, eh?"

"Why?" echoed Parfitt. "Let's give him a rouser."

Parfitt led off the cheers--cheers which fell with a hollow sound on
Paul's ears, for he knew well enough they were only mocking him.

"When we hear about a smart thing, we're naturally anxious to know how
it was done," jeered Parfitt.

"Naturally," echoed Newall, followed by cries of assent from the rest.

"Order! Order for Percival!" exclaimed Stanley, holding up his hand for
silence.

Silence instantly reigned. You might have heard a pin drop as they
waited for Paul to speak