my feelings to be sent over to the ladies' side of the shop to
get them, as they were not kept for boys on the men's side. As it was,
I feared they did not come up to Tempest's description of "thick boots
for kicking back in," but they were the thickest I could procure.

At length my preparations were all complete. My mother had been an
angel about them all. She had let me have my own way, and forborne
criticism when my taste--or rather my conjecture as to what the Low
Heath form might demand--ran counter to hers. On this account she made
no remark about my check shirts, or the steel chain which, after the
most approved fashion, came out from under the side of my waistcoat and
supported the weight of my keys in my side trouser pocket. I confess it
was an inconvenient arrangement. It was impossible to unlock my
portmanteau without either half undressing, or kneeling down so as to
bring the end of the chain on a level with the keyhole, or else standing
the portmanteau on a chair or table to bring it up to the key. But it
was undoubtedly the smart way of carrying keys. So the tailor said, and
so one or two friends in whom I confided also assured me.

I was really quite glad when I had sat down on the floor beside my trunk
for the last time, and knew I should not have to perform with the key
again till I was unpacking at Low Heath.

My handbag, for certain reasons, I carried with me unlocked. It
contained, to tell the truth, the hat and gloves and tan boots and other
_articles de rigueur_ which I did not exactly like to start off in, but
which I was resolved to don during the journey, so as to dawn on the Low
Heath horizon altogether "up to Cocker," as Tempest would say.

At the last moment my spirits failed me a little. I had been so taken
up with my own plans that I had almost forgotten I was leaving my mother
solitary, and turning my back on the sunshine of affection which during
the last year had come to be such a natural and soothing feature of my
surroundings.

"Don't forget the old home, Tommy," she said. "God bless you and keep
you good, and innocent, and honest! Don't be led astray by bad
companions, but try to help others to be good. And, Tommy dear, don't
try to be a man just yet--be the dear boy you are--don't try to be
anything else, and--" But here the train began to move, and there was
barely time for a farewell kiss.

What she said ran rather in my head, especially the last exhortation,
wh