r the time, in the desire, from moment to moment, to avoid
present trouble or fear. Under Norman's care his better self had
freer scope, he was guarded from immediate terror, and kept from the
suggestions of the worse sort of boys, as much as was in his brother's
power; and the looks they cast towards him, and the sly torments they
attempted to inflict, by no means invited him back to them. The lessons,
where he had a long inveterate habit of shuffling, came under Norman's
eye at the same time. He always prepared them in his presence,
instead of in the most secret manner possible, and with all Anderson's
expeditious modes of avoiding the making them of any use. Norman sat by,
and gave such help as was fair and just, showed him how to learn, and
explained difficulties, and the ingenuity hitherto spent in eluding
learning being now directed to gaining it, he began to make real
progress and find satisfaction in it. The comfort of being good dawned
upon him once more, but still there was much to contend with; he had
acquired such a habit of prevarication that, if by any means taken by
surprise, his impulse was to avoid giving a straightforward answer,
and when he recollected his sincerity, the truth came with the air of
falsehood. Moreover, he was an arrant coward, and provoked tricks by his
manifest and unreasonable terrors. It was no slight exercise of patience
that Norman underwent, but this was the interest he had made for
himself; and the recovery of the boy's attachment, and his improvement,
though slow, were a present recompense.

Ernescliffe, Larkins, and others of the boys, held fast to him, and
after the first excitement was past, all the rest returned to their
former tone. He was decidedly as much respected as ever, and, at the
same time, regarded with more favour than when his strictness was
resented. And as for the discipline of the school, that did not suffer.
Anderson felt that, for his own credit, he must not allow the rules
to be less observed than in May's reign, and he enforced them upon the
reluctant and angry boys with whom he had been previously making common
cause. Dr. Hoxton boasted to the under-masters that the school had never
been in such good order as under Anderson, little guessing that this was
but reaping the fruits of a past victory, or that every boy in the whole
school gave the highest place in their esteem to the deposed dux.

To Anderson, Norman's cordial manner and ready support were the