for everybody in a big school like Torrington's.'

'I wish the youngster did not look so serious,' said Fred, after his
brother had gone to bed that night.

'He always was quiet,' remarked his mother.

'Quiet, yes; but now he looks up from his book sometimes, as though he
had a world of care upon his mind.'

'Perhaps he is thinking over his "idea." You know he could talk of
nothing else for a day or two,' said Mrs. Howard.

'Well, he doesn't talk much now, at any rate, and I am wondering
whether he is quite happy at that school.'

'But surely he would tell us if he was not. I have asked him again and
again. I think he would tell us if there was anything wrong.'

'Now, mother, don't vex yourself, or I shall be sorry I have spoken.
Just let that extra shilling a week I am to have go for the
youngster's mid-day meal. Get him something better than bread and
butter to take with him--sandwiches or a little meat-pie. They say
people who work with their brains want as much to eat as those who
work with their hands, and I am sure two slices of bread and butter
wouldn't satisfy me at twelve o'clock.'

CHAPTER V.

THE CHAMPION.

'Mother, I think I shall be obliged to wear that other jacket to go to
school,' said Horace one evening as he ate his dinner.

He had come home from school looking almost radiant, and his mother
had heard incidentally that one of the other boys had walked most of
the way with him.

'But I thought you said no one lived this way?' said Mrs. Howard.

'Oh, I think Warren came out of his way a bit that we might finish our
talk! He likes history awfully, and so do I a bit, and we got talking
about those old battles, and almost forgot the time. Now, mother,
don't you think I had better take my best jacket for school? The
sleeves of this are getting so short.'

His mother laughed.

'Why, I told you the same thing a month ago,' she said, 'but you
insisted that it did not matter!'

'Well, you know, I don't want to cost you more than I am obliged for
clothes, and I thought I might wear the old jacket a bit longer, as I
should wear out so many boots; but now----' And there Horace stopped,
lest he should say something that might betray how his schoolfellows
had treated him lately.

'You must be careful to wear the linen apron and sleeves while you do
your chemistry work,' remarked his mother, 'for you are beginning to
make the old one a variegated colour.'

'All right, I'll be careful; b