alking about, and generally gave him to understand
that he was an impertinent, conceited puppy for presuming to have an
opinion of his own on such matters!

Riddell came out of the ordeal very much as a duck comes out of the
hands of the poulterer. Luckily, by the time the discussion was over it
was time for him to go. He certainly could not have held out much
longer. As it was, he was good for nothing after it, and went to bed
early that night with a very bad headache.

Before he left, however, the doctor had accompanied him into the hall,
and said, "There are a few things, Riddell, I want to speak to you
about. Will you come to my study a quarter of an hour before morning
chapel to-morrow?"

Had the invitation been to breakfast in that horrible parlour Riddell
would flatly have declined it. As it was he cheerfully accepted it, and
only wished the doctor had thought of it before, and spared him the
misery of that evening with the two Willoughby griffins!

He could hardly help guessing what it was the doctor had to say to him,
or why it was he had been asked to tea that evening. And he felt very
dejected as he thought about it. Like most of the other Willoughbites,
the idea of a new captain having to be appointed had never occurred to
him till Wyndham had finally left the school. And when it did occur,
and when moreover it began to dawn upon him that he himself was the
probable successor, horror filled his mind. He couldn't do it. He was
not cut out for it. He would sooner leave Willoughby altogether. The
boys either knew nothing about him, or they laughed at him for his
clumsiness, or they suspected him as a coward, or they despised him as a
prig. He had wit enough to know what Willoughby thought of him, and
that being so, how could he ever be its captain?

"I would much rather you named some one else," said he to the doctor at
their interview next morning. "I know quite well I couldn't get on."

"You have not tried yet," said the doctor.

"But I've not the strength, and the boys don't like me," pleaded
Riddell.

"You must make them like you, Riddell," said the doctor.

"How can I? They will dislike me all the more if I am made captain. I
have no influence with them, indeed I have not."

"How do you know?" said the doctor again. "Have you tried yet?"

"I could never do what Wyndham did. He was such a splendid captain."

"Why?" asked the doctor.

"I suppose because he was a splendid athl