d the plan,
and it works splendidly."

"I think," said I, "that you have discovered the way in which good
archers shoot. You have stated the correct method of managing a bow
and arrow."

"Then you don't think it's an original method with me?"

"Certainly not," I answered.

"But it's the correct way?"

"There's no doubt of that," said I.

"Well," said Pepton, "then I shall make it my way."

He did so, and the consequence was that one day, when the champion
happened to be away, Pepton won the badge. When the result was
announced, we were all surprised, but none so much so as Pepton
himself. He had been steadily improving since he had adopted a good
style of shooting, but he had had no idea that he would that day be
able to win the badge.

When our president pinned the emblem of success upon the lapel of his
coat, Pepton turned pale, and then he flushed. He thanked the
president, and was about to thank the ladies and gentlemen; but
probably recollecting that we had had nothing to do with it,--unless,
indeed, we had shot badly on his behalf,--he refrained. He said
little, but I could see that he was very proud and very happy. There
was but one drawback to his triumph:

Miss Rosa was not there. She was a very regular attendant, but for
some reason she was absent on this momentous afternoon. I did not say
anything to him on the subject, but I knew he felt this absence deeply.

But this cloud could not wholly overshadow his happiness. He walked
home alone, his face beaming, his eyes sparkling, and his good bow
under his arm.

That evening I called on him, for I thought that when he had cooled
down a little he would like to talk over the affair. But he was not
in. Miss Maria said that he had gone out as soon as he had finished
his dinner, which he had hurried through in a way which would certainly
injure his digestion if he kept up the practice; and dinner was late,
too, for they waited for him, and the archery meeting lasted a long
time today; and it really was not right for him to stay out after the
dew began to fall with only ordinary shoes on, for what's the good of
knowing how to shoot a bow and arrow, if you're laid up in your bed
with rheumatism or disease of the lungs? Good old lady! She would
have kept Pepton in a green baize bag, had such a thing been possible.

The next morning, full two hours before church-time, Pepton called on
me. His face was still beaming. I could not help smiling.