rather sorry for him, though he had, as has been said,
no great liking for boys; but this particular one, a round-faced,
freckled boy, with honest eyes and a certain refinement in his voice
and bearing that somehow suggested that he had a mother or sister who
was a gentlewoman, was less objectionable to Mark than his fellows.
Still he could not enter into his feelings sufficiently to guess why
he was being appealed to in this way.

Young Langton half turned to go, dejectedly enough; then he came back
and said, 'Please, sir, can't you help me? I shouldn't mind the--the
swishing so much if I'd done anything. But I haven't.'

'What can I do?' asked Mark.

'If you wouldn't mind speaking to Mr. Shelford for me--he'd listen to
you, and he won't to me.'

'He will have gone by this time,' objected Mark.

'Not if you make haste,' said the boy, eagerly.

Mark was rather flattered by this confidence in his persuasive powers:
he liked the idea, too, of posing as the protector of his class, and
the good-natured element in him made him the readier to yield.

'Well, we'll have a shot at it, Langton,' he said. 'I doubt if it's
much good, you know, but here goes--when you get in, hold your tongue
and keep in the background--leave it to me.'

So they went out into the long passage with its whitewashed walls and
rows of doors on each side, and black barrel-vaulting above; at the
end the glimmer of light came through the iron bars of the doorway,
which had a prison-like suggestion about them, and the reflectors of
the unlighted gas lamps that projected here and there along the
corridor gave back the glimmer as a tiny spark in the centre of each
metal disc.

Mark stopped at the door of the Upper Fourth Classroom, which was Mr.
Shelford's, and went in. It was a plain room, not unlike his own, but
rather smaller; it had a dais with a somewhat larger desk for the
master, and a different arrangement of the benches and lockers, but
it was quite as gloomy, with an outlook into a grim area giving a
glimpse of the pavement and railings above.

Mr. Shelford was evidently just going, for as they came in he had put
a very large hat on the back of his head, and was winding a long grey
comforter round his throat; but he took off the hat courteously as he
saw Mark. He was a little old man, with a high brick-red colour on his
smooth, scarcely wrinkled cheeks, a big aquiline nose, a wide
thin-lipped mouth, and sharp little grey eyes, which he