n your eleven, and I
hope we shall have you for a member if you come up to town."

As Tom and the rest of the eleven were turning back into the close, and
everybody was beginning to cry out for another country-dance, encouraged
by the success of the night before, the young master, who was just
leaving the close, stopped him, and asked him to come up to tea at
half-past eight, adding, "I won't keep you more than half-an-hour, and
ask Arthur to come up too."

"I'll come up with you directly, if you'll let me," said Tom, "for I
feel rather melancholy, and not quite up to the country-dance and supper
with the rest."

"Do by all means," said the master; "I'll wait here for you."

So Tom went off to get his boots and things from the tent, to tell
Arthur of the invitation, and to speak to his second in command about
stopping the dancing and shutting up the close as soon as it grew dusk.
Arthur promised to follow as soon as he had had a dance. So Tom handed
his things over to the man in charge of the tent, and walked quietly
away to the gate where the master was waiting, and the two took their
way together up the Hillmorton road.

Of course they found the master's house locked up, and all the servants
away in the close, about this time no doubt footing it away on the grass
with extreme delight to themselves, and in utter oblivion of the
unfortunate bachelor their master, whose one enjoyment in the shape of
meals was his "dish of tea" (as our grandmothers called it) in the
evening; and the phrase was apt in his case, for he always poured his
out into the saucer before drinking. Great was the good man's horror at
finding himself shut out of his own house. Had he been alone, he would
have treated it as a matter of course, and would have strolled
contentedly up and down his gravel-walk until some one came home; but he
was hurt at the stain on his character of host, especially as the guest
was a pupil. However, the guest seemed to think it a great joke, and
presently as they poked about round the house, mounted a wall, from
which he could reach a passage window: the window, as it turned out,
was not bolted, so in another minute Tom was in the house and down at
the front door, which he opened from inside. The master chuckled grimly
at this burglarious entry, and insisted on leaving the hall-door and two
of the front windows open, to frighten the truants on their return; and
then the two set about foraging for tea, in which opera