rehead, stroking his hair off, while she replied,

"He is very happy in having so kind a friend, I am sure; he ought
to have been expelled."

"Oh no, ma'am--I think kindness was much the best way," said Louis;
and remembering how incautiously he had spoken of him before, he said
all that he could in his praise.

The conversation then turned upon the school in general, and it
was astonishing to watch how much Louis said indirectly in his own
praise, and how nearly every thing seemed to turn in the direction
of _dear self_, in the history of his lessons, progress, and rivals--and
even when it branched off to his friends, among whom in the first rank
stood Hamilton.

"You would so like Hamilton, he is so kind to me. I told you about him
before," said Louis, eagerly.

"Is that the young gentleman who had charge of you the other day?"
asked Mrs. Paget.

Louis answered in the affirmative.

"I did not much like him, only one doesn't judge people fairly
at first, often."

"Oh, Hamilton's such a good creature!" exclaimed Louis, in his energy
letting fall one end of a skein of silk he was holding. He gathered it
up, apologized, and resumed his defence of his friend.

"He is, perhaps, a little blunt, but he is so sincere, and so steady
and kind, Dr. Wilkinson is very, _very_ fond of him, I know; he
makes me sit by him every night, and I learn my lessons with him.
I am sure if it were not for him I should be terribly behind Clifton."

"I saw them coming out of Redland Chapel yesterday morning," said
Mrs. Paget. "At least I saw Mr. Hamilton, but I did not see you."

Louis informed her of the division of the school on Sunday, and she
continued,

"I noticed a very aristocratic young gentleman with Mr. Hamilton--quite
a contrast, so very handsome and elegant; who was he?"

"Was he tall?" asked Louis; "and dressed in black, with a light
waistcoat?"

"I don't know what waistcoat he had," said Mrs. Paget, laughing.
"His dress was in perfect gentlemanly taste. He was, I should think,
tall for his age, and had dark hair and eyes."

"I have no doubt it was Trevannion; he is the handsomest fellow in the
school, except Salisbury."

"That he is not," said Mrs. Paget, significantly.

Louis blushed, and felt rather foolish, certainly not wholly insensible
to the injudicious hint.

"Only Fred Salisbury is so different: he is not elegant, and yet he
is not awkward; he is rough and ready, and says all kinds of vulgar
things.