ill find the necessary books and copy-books inside;
you will be in the fifth class, under Monsieur Dumollard. You will
occupy yourself with the study of Cornelius Nepos, the commentaries
of Caesar, and Xenophon's retreat of the ten thousand. Soyez diligent
et attentif, mon ami; a plus tard!"

He gave the boy a friendly pat on the cheek and left the room.

Josselin walked to his desk and sat down, between d'Adhemar and
Laferte, both of whom were _en cinquieme_. He pulled a Caesar out of
his desk and tried to read it. He became an object of passionate
interest to the whole school-room, till M. Bonzig said:

"The first who lifts his eyes from his desk to stare at '_le
nouveau_' shall be _au piquet_ for half an hour!" (To be _au piquet_
is to stand with your back to a tree for part of the following
play-time; and the play-time which was to follow would last just
thirty minutes.)

Presently I looked up, in spite of piquet, and caught the new boy's
eye, which was large and blue and soft, and very sad and
sentimental, and looked as if he were thinking of his mammy, as I
did constantly of mine during my first week at Brossard's, three
years before.

Soon, however, that sad eye slowly winked at me, with an expression
so droll that I all but laughed aloud.

Then its owner felt in the inner breast pocket of his Eton jacket
with great care, and delicately drew forth by the tail a very fat
white mouse, that seemed quite tame, and ran up his arm to his wide
shirt collar, and tried to burrow there; and the boys began to
interest themselves breathlessly in this engaging little quadruped.

M. Bonzig looked up again, furious; but his spectacles had grown
misty from the heat and he couldn't see, and he wiped them; and
meanwhile the mouse was quickly smuggled back to its former nest.

Josselin drew a large clean pocket-handkerchief from his trousers
and buried his head in his desk, and there was silence.

"La!--re, fa!--la!--re"--

So strummed, over and over again, poor Chardonnet in his remote
parlor--he was getting tired.

I have heard "L'Invitation a la Valse" many hundreds of times since
then, and in many countries, but never that bar without thinking of
Josselin and his little white mouse.

"Fermez votre pupitre, Josselin," said M. Bonzig, after a few
minutes.

Josselin shut his desk and beamed genially at the usher.

"What book have you got there, Josselin--Caesar or Cornelius Nepos?"

Josselin held the book with