orship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow down myself in the
house of Rimmon, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the
Lord pardon thy servant in this thing."[15]

[14] #Agamemnon#, etc.: a Greek tragedy. Thucydides was a
Greek historian; "The Birds," a Greek comedy; Tacitus, a Latin
historian.

[15] 2 Kings v. 18.

Not a word more was said on the subject, and the boys were again
silent,--one of those blessed, short silences in which the resolves
which color a life are so often taken.

TOM OUT-GENERALLED.

Tom was the first to break it. "You've been very ill indeed, haven't
you, Geordie?" said he, with a mixture of awe and curiosity, feeling
as if his friend had been in some strange place or scene, of which he
could form no idea, and full of the memory of his own thoughts during
the last week.

"Yes, very. I'm sure the Doctor thought I was going to die. He gave me
the Sacrament last Sunday, and you can't think what he is when one is
ill. He said such brave, and tender, and gentle things to me, I felt
quite light and strong after it, and never had any more fear. My
mother brought our old medical man, who attended me when I was a poor
sickly child; he said my constitution was quite changed, and that I'm
fit for anything now. If it hadn't, I couldn't have stood three days
of this illness. That's all, thanks to you, and the games you've made
me fond of."

"More thanks to old Martin," said Tom; "he's been your real friend."

"Nonsense, Tom; he never could have done for me what you have."

"Well, I don't know; I did little enough. Did they tell you--you won't
mind hearing it now, I know--that poor Thompson died last week? The
other three boys are getting quite round, like you."

"Oh, yes, I heard of it."

Then Tom, who was quite full of it, told Arthur of the burial service
in the chapel, and how it had impressed him and, he believed, all the
other boys. "And though the Doctor never said a word about it," said
he, "and it was a half-holiday and match day, there wasn't a game
played in the close all the afternoon, and the boys all went about as
if it were Sunday."

"I'm very glad of it," said Arthur. "But, Tom, I've had such strange
thoughts about death lately. I've never told a soul of them, not even
my mother. Sometimes I think they're wrong, but, do you know, I don't
think in my heart I could be sorry at the death of any of my friends."

Tom was taken quite aback. "What