ry much, though nothing more was said on
the one subject which absorbed him the most. It was quite bed-time when
he went home, so he had no opportunity of putting in practice that night
the good resolutions which were springing up within him; but the next
day all the brothers and sisters remarked how much more amiable he was,
and little Jessie's intense belief in his goodness revived in full
force. He was not so merry as usual: it was impossible he should be
after his deep disappointment, and with the sense of his father's
displeasure resting on him, and the prospect of the day school before
him. Both father and mother were touched sometimes when they caught the
sad expression of his face; but he was no longer sullen; and if a
pettish word escaped him, he seemed to catch himself up quickly before
it could be followed by another.

'I can't see the rights of it yet,' he said to Jessie privately, 'nor
why I should be so served out for not working, when I _did_ work; but I
think there were things--feeling set up, you know, and crowing over
other fellows, and all that--which may have brought me in for this in a
kind of way.'

Jessie could hardly bring herself to believe that he could have deserved
it in _any_ way, but his submission was much less grievous and
perplexing to her than his rebellion had been; and she received these
few words--spoken rather gruffly, with his back turned to her--as a
great proof of confidence, which indeed they were.

'If being very good makes people ready to be clergymen, I'm sure Cecil's
getting ready as fast as he can,' she remarked to Frances.

And though Frances was not so firmly convinced as her sister that
Cecil's troubles had not been brought on him by his own fault, she
answered readily, 'Yes, he has been so nice and pleasant since Sunday,
and hasn't grumbled once about having to go to Mr. Bardsley's.'

[Illustration]

CHAPTER III.

GOOD NEWS.

MR. BARDSLEY'S was rather a large day school, in a town about two miles
distant from Wilbourne. His terms were low, and he was not particular
who the boys might be that came to him, so that they behaved themselves
when they did come; but he taught really well, and was very
conscientious, and therefore even very careful parents allowed their
sons to go to him, convinced that there they would be at least well
grounded in classics and mathematics, and would learn nothing amiss from
the general tone of the school, though individual pu