ricks, jugglings, and strange, fearful gymnastics; and lastly came
yarns, and more yarns, and yarns till bedtime. There had never been any
one like Billy in his own particular sphere; and now he was drowned,
they said, and Martha was miserable, and--and I couldn't get a new
bootlace. They told me that Billy would never come back any more, and I
stared out of the window at the sun which came back, right enough, every
day, and their news conveyed nothing whatever to me. Martha's sorrow hit
home a little, but only because the actual sight and sound of it gave
me a dull, bad sort of pain low down inside--a pain not to be actually
located. Moreover, I was still wanting my bootlace.

This was a poor sort of a beginning to a day that, so far as outside
conditions went, had promised so well. I rigged up a sort of jurymast
of a bootlace with a bit of old string, and wandered off to look up the
girls, conscious of a jar and a discordance in the scheme of things. The
moment I entered the schoolroom something in the air seemed to tell
me that here, too, matters were strained and awry. Selina was staring
listlessly out of the window, one foot curled round her leg. When I
spoke to her she jerked a shoulder testily, but did not condescend to
the civility of a reply. Charlotte, absolutely unoccupied, sprawled in
a chair, and there were signs of sniffles about her, even at that early
hour. It was but a trifling matter that had caused all this electricity
in the atmosphere, and the girls' manner of taking it seemed to me most
unreasonable. Within the last few days the time had come round for the
despatch of a hamper to Edward at school. Only one hamper a term was
permitted him, so its preparation was a sort of blend of revelry
and religious ceremony. After the main corpus of the thing had been
carefully selected and safely bestowed--the pots of jam, the cake, the
sausages, and the apples that filled up corners so nicely--after the
last package had been wedged in, the girls had deposited their own
private and personal offerings on the top. I forget their precise
nature; anyhow, they were nothing of any particular practical use to a
boy. But they had involved some contrivance and labour, some skimping
of pocket money, and much delightful cloud-building as to the effect
on their enraptured recipient. Well, yesterday there had come a terse
acknowledgment from Edward, heartily commending the cakes and the jam,
stamping the sausages with the se