, lying down upon his chest, where he had crawled
unseen among the shrubs, and there he was, with his elbows on the ground
and his chin in his hands, watching me, just as a faithful dog might his
master.

I shrank away from the window, as soon as I saw him, and then waited
till the bell rang for tea, when I peeped out again, to see that he was
gone, but I could trace him by the movement of the laurels, bays, and
lilacs, whose branches were thrust aside as he crept through.

"He'll come back again after tea," I thought, and I was right. I had
only just finished my own, brought up as before, when, glancing from the
window, there I saw him, gazing up at me like a whipped dog, asking to
be taken into favour once again.

"Why hasn't the Doctor sent for me?" I asked myself; but I could find
only one reason,--he meant me to come to his study quite late in the
evening.

But he did not, and that dreary time passed slowly away, as I watched
the darkness come on, and the stars peer out one by one. Then I saw the
moon rise far away over the sea, shining brightly, till the sky grew
cloudy, as my life seemed now to be.

But no footstep--no summons to go down to the Doctor's room, and, though
I kept on fancying that I heard steps on the stairs, I was always
deceived, and it was not until I heard the bell ring for prayers and
bed, that I knew I should not have to meet the Doctor that night.

There were steps enough now in the corridors and on the stairs, and I
sat near the door, for the sake of the company, naming the boys to
myself, as I recognised the voices. But I shrank away once, as two boys
stopped by my door, and I heard them say,--

"Wonder how old Burr junior's getting on?"

"Ah! he's in for it now. Don't talk, or he'll hear us."

They passed on, and I heard their door close, after which there was a
loud scuffling and bumping from the other sides accompanied by smothered
laughter and dull blows.

I knew directly what was going on, and sighed, as I recalled how many
times I had engaged in the forbidden joys of a bolstering match.

Their merriment only made me feel the pain the more bitterly, and I was
glad when I heard a familiar cough at the end of the passage, and the
tapping of a stick on the floor.

All was silent in an instant, and by degrees every murmur died away, and
I lay down and slept heavily, for mine was weary trouble. There was no
guilty conscience to keep me awake.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.