had his watch long then, and was always taking it out to look
at it,' said Cecil, laughing. 'I think that was how the chain got
broken. He's used to it now. I wonder if Uncle Percy will give _me_ a
watch when I'm sixteen. Of course Percy wanted one particularly, because
of his going to Sandhurst. He's gone out fishing this morning: mustn't
it be jolly in the water-meadows?'

'Very; but how well this part of the road is watered!--it's quite
pleasant walking here. I suppose the Fairview water-carts come out as
far as this.'

'I wish they'd come all the way,' said Cecil; 'I was just thinking how
dusty it was before I met you.'

'And I was wondering whether you chose the road instead of the path on
purpose, because you _liked_ the dust: there's no accounting for
tastes.'

'I'll try the path next time,' said Cecil with a smile. 'Do you know old
Bardsley, Mr. Yorke?'

'Yes, I met him at the Institute one day, and we had a lively discussion
about Greek roots. He's a clever man, I think, and has a real taste for
teaching. When he gets hold of a fellow that cares to learn, I'm told
there's no limit to the pains he'll take with him.'

'Jim Payne didn't like him at all,' said Cecil, alluding to the son of a
small farmer in the neighbourhood; 'he said he was an awful brute.'

'Jim Payne likes nothing but idleness, and his father is mistaken enough
to let him have his way.'

Cecil wisely suppressed some further quotations which he had meant to
make from Jim Payne's account of Mr. Bardsley; and they walked on
sociably together, talking of other things. It really seemed quite a
short walk, after all, though Cecil had fancied it very long when he
first set out.

He was in tolerably good spirits when he trod that road again in the
evening, though this time he was alone the whole way. He did not dislike
either the school or the schoolmaster as much as he had expected; and he
felt that if he worked hard, and conformed to rules, there was no danger
of his ever finding Mr. Bardsley the terrible monster that Jim Payne had
described him to be.

It would, and did, seem a drudgery to prepare school tasks that evening,
while Percy was enjoying 'elegant leisure;' but there was the Saturday
half-holiday to look forward to, and Cecil's health was good, and not
likely to suffer from his speedy return to work. Seeing him so patient
and industrious, his father wondered how it was that he still expressed
no sorrow for his past idleness, bu