man's clemency.

But to the small band of hot-headed enthusiasts the very notion of being
under an obligation to the Radical was repulsive. They could scarcely
wait till the doctor had departed before they vehemently denounced the
idea.

"Well," said Merrison, "if that's not what you call adding insult to
injury, I don't know what you do! I know _I_ mean to write every letter
of my impot if it was a thousand lines instead of a hundred!"

"So shall I; and I'll not stir out of doors all Wednesday afternoon
either," said another.

"Of course not; no honourable fellow would."

"I suppose he thinks he's going to bribe us, the cad. Perhaps he hopes
we'll give _him_ a leg-up next election?"

"I vote we put on a spurt with the impots and get them all done
together," said another. "Paddy shall see which way we go, at any
rate."

And so, sorely to the disappointment of some of the juniors, who had
been rejoicing prematurely in the removal of their penalties, the order
went round in all the houses that every boy was expected in honour to
finish his imposition by next day, and also to remain in on Wednesday
afternoon, as a protest against "Radical cheek," and this was an appeal
no loyal Whig could resist.

It was at least an unusual spectacle in Willoughby to see nearly the
whole school insisting on performing a task which no one required of
them; each boy not only doing it himself, but seeing that his neighbour
did it too!

Several of the small boys and a few lazy seniors protested, but they
were coerced with most terrific threats.

The Wednesday half-holiday was spent in determined seclusion, scarcely a
boy showing his face in the playground. Even those who had not broken
bounds on election-day, and who, therefore, in no case came under the
penalty, felt quite out of it, and half ashamed of themselves in the
presence of this general burst of political devotion; and it was
rumoured that one or two of the weakest-minded of these actually stayed
in and wrote out the imposition too!

The following morning was an impressive one in the annals of Willoughby.
The doctor, as he stood in the Great Hall speaking to Mr Parrett after
morning prayers, was, much to his amazement, waylaid by the school in a
body. Every boy carried in his hand a sheet of paper, and wore on his
face a most self-satisfied expression.

"What is all this?" inquired the doctor, sharply, a little bit
frightened, perhaps, at this sudden and mysteri