mph like this.

It took some little self-persuasion, I must confess, to feel that it
really was a triumph. I did think Tempest might have been on the look-
out for me. I did not know where to go, or of whom to inquire my way.
The boys I met either took no notice of me at all, or else stared so
rudely at my hat and boots that I could not bring myself to accost them.
At length I was beginning to think I had better march boldly to the
first master's house I came to, when, as luck would have it, I stumbled
up against my old travelling companion, who, having safely arrived a
quarter of an hour before, was now prowling about on the look-out for
old acquaintances.

"Please," said I, "would you mind telling me the way to Mr Sharpe's
house?"

"Are you a Sharper then?" he inquired. "My word! what are we coming to?
Why didn't you come up by the 'bus?"

"I tried to," said I; "you wouldn't stop."

"Jim's horses were a bit shy," said he, with a grin. "They can't be
held in when they see a moke. You should have got in quietly, without
their spotting you."

I didn't like this fellow. He appeared to me to think he was funny when
he was not.

"Do you know if Tempest has come?" said I, hoping to impress him a
little.

"Who?"

"Tempest--Harry Tempest. He's at Sharpe's too."

"What sort of looking chap is he?" demanded the youth, who, I suspected,
could have told me without any detailed description.

"He's one of the seniors," said I; "he was in the reserve for the Eleven
last term."

"Oh, that lout? I hope you aren't a pal of his. That would about
finish you up. If you want him, you'd better go and look for him. I
don't know whether every snob in the place has come up or not."

And he departed in chase of a friend whom he had just sighted.

This was depressing. Not that I believed what he said about Tempest.
But I had hoped that my acquaintance with my old schoolmate would
redound to my own dignity, whereas it seemed to do nothing of the kind.

Presently I encountered a very small boy, of chirpy aspect, whom I
thought I might safely accost.

"I say," said I, "which is Mr Sharpe's house?"

"Over there," said he, pointing to an ivy-covered house at some little
distance higher up the street. Then, regarding me attentively, he
added, "I say, you'll get in a jolly row if he sees you in that get-up."

"Oh," said I, feeling that the youngster was entitled to an explanation,
"I'm an exhibitioner."

"A who? A