on this appeal; and although they desisted from this
particular practice at Henderson's request, they knew that he was too
wavering a character, and too fond of popularity to be _easily_ induced
to make them his open enemies. If Eden had only told Walter, he knew
that Walter would have sheltered him from unkindness at all hazards; but
he was a thoroughly grateful child, and did not wish to get Walter into
any difficulties on his account. So, in schoolboy phrase, there was
nothing left for him but to "grin and bear it;" which he heroically did,
earnestly longing for Walter's return to the dormitory as for some
golden age. But his trials were not over yet.

Is there in human nature an instinctive cruelty? That there is in
it--_when ill-trained_--an absorbing selfishness, a total absence of all
tenderness and delicate consideration, is abundantly obvious. But
besides this, there is often an astonishing and almost incredible
tendency to take positive pleasure in the infliction of pain. Now it so
happens that Jones and Harpour were bad boys, as I have shown already,
in the worst sense of the word, and yet the real _enjoyment_ which they
felt in making little Eden's life miserable is an inexplicable
phenomenon. One would have thought that the mere sight of the little
boy, his tender age; his delicate look, his extreme gentleness and
courtesy of manner, and the mute appealing glance in his blue eyes,
would have sufficed to protect him from wanton outrage. It _did_
suffice with most boys; but if anything, it added zest and piquancy to
the persecutions of those two big bullies.

Reader, have you ever been "taken prisoner?" that is to say, have you
ever been awaked from a sweet sleep by feeling an intolerable agony in
your right toe, and finding that it is caused by somebody having tied a
string tight round it without waking you, and then pulling the said
string with all his force? If not, congratulate yourself thereupon, and
accept the assurance of one who has undergone it, that the pain caused
by this process is absolutely excruciating. It was this pain which made
Eden start up with a scream during one of the nights I speak of, and the
cry rose in intensity as he grew fully awake to the sensation.

"Hallo! what's the row, Eden?" said Henderson, starting up in bed; but
the child could only continue his screams, and Henderson, springing out
of bed stumbled against the string, and instantly (for the trick was a
famili