and self-condemnings, and longings
unutterable. Then they all kiss the mother and wish her a Happy
New-Year.

"My boy, my dear boy, I have never known deeper moments than those.
And when I went to shake hands with her, she seemed so like a queen
receiving homage, that without seeming to feel I was making a fool
of myself, I did the Queen Victoria act, and saluted her hand. It is
wonderful how great moments discover the lady to you. She must have
known how I was feeling, for with a very beautiful grace, she said, 'Let
me be your mother for to-night,' and by Jove, she kissed me. I have been
kissed before, and have kissed some women in my time, but that is the
only kiss I can remember, and s'help me Bob, I'll never kiss another
till I kiss my wife.

"And then and there, Maitland, I swore by all that I knew of God, and by
everything sacred in life, that I'd quit the past and be worthy of her
trust; for the mischief of it is, she will persist in trusting you, puts
you on your honor noblesse oblige business, and all that. I think I told
you that I might end in being a saint. That dream I have surrendered,
but, by the grace of heaven, I'm going to try to be a man. And I am
going to play shinny with those boys, and if I can help them to win that
match, and the big game of life, I will do it.

"As witness my hand and seal, this first day of January, 18--

"J. C."

CHAPTER XIV

THE FINAL ROUND

After the New-Year the school filled up with big boys, some of whom had
returned with the idea of joining the preparatory class for college,
which the minister had persuaded John Craven to organize.

Shinny, however, became the absorbing interest for all the boys, both
big and little. This interest was intensified by the rumors that came up
from the Front, for it was noised through the Twentieth section that Dan
Munro, whose father was a cousin of Archie Munro, the former teacher,
had come from Marrintown and taken charge of the Front school, and that,
being used to the ice game, and being full of tricks and swift as
a bird, he was an exceedingly dangerous man. More than that, he was
training his team with his own tricks, and had got back to school some
of the old players, among whom were no less renowned personages than Hec
Ross and Jimmie "Ben." Jimmie Ben, to wit, James son of Benjamin McEwen,
was more famed for his prowess as a fighter than for his knowledge
of the game of shinny, but every one who saw him play said he