l to toss about restlessly in the
breeze, and now and then even to rise on end and drag its little car a
few inches.

Where it came from and who it belonged to we never discovered. Probably
some toy balloon let up by Christmas Eve revellers, who little thought
it would alight on the roof of Jolliffe's, and after flopping about
there for some minutes would finally tumble into the court below, and
there act the part of Bubbles to a handful of scared schoolboys.

However, all's well that ends well, and among the many amusements which
made that day a Merry Christmas to us all there was none over which we
laughed more than "Bubbles's Ghost."

CHAPTER THREE.

Sub-Chapter I.

THE POETRY CLUB.

During one of my terms at G-- (and in speaking of that famous old school
it is quite unnecessary to mention more than the first letter of its
name) a serious epidemic broke out. It affected chiefly the lower half
of the upper school, and during the brief period of its duration it
assumed so malignant a type that it is still a marvel to me how any one
of its victims ever survived it. The medical and other authorities were
utterly incompetent to deal with it. In fact--incredible as it may
seem--they deliberately ignored its existence, and left the sufferers to
pull through as and how they could. Had it been an ordinary outbreak,
as, for instance, scarlatina or diphtheria, or even measles, they would
have cleared the school between two "call-overs," and had us all either
in the infirmary or in four-wheelers at our parents' doors. But just
because they had not got this--the most destructive kind of all
epidemics--down on their list of infectious disorders, they chose to
disregard it utterly, and leave us all to sink or swim, without even
calling in the doctor to see us or giving our people at home the option
of withdrawing us from our infected surroundings.

I love the old place too well to dwell further on this gross case of
neglect. The present authorities no doubt would not repeat the error of
their predecessors. Should they be tempted to do so, I trust the
present harrowing revelation may be in time to avert the repetition of
the calamity of which I was not only a witness but a victim.

The fact is, in the term to which I allude, we fellows in the upper
Fifth and lower Sixth took to _writing poetry_! I don't know how the
distemper broke out, or who brought it to G--. Certain it is we all
took it, some worse than o