hing which he was
either afraid or ashamed to do. He had not a particle of that modesty
which in every good boy is as natural as it is graceful; he could tell a
lie without the slightest hesitation or the faintest blush; nay, while
he was telling it, though _he_ knew that you _knew_ it to be a lie, he
would not abash for an instant the cold glance of his wicked dark eyes.
Yet this boy, like Charlie, was only thirteen years old. And for all
these reasons, Wilton was the idol of all the big bad boys in the
school; and in spite of all these reasons--for the boy had in him the
fascination of a serpent--he was the declared favourite of Kenrick too.

The three boys who gave the tone to Mr Noel's house, were Kenrick,
Mackworth, and Wilton. They formed as it were an electric chain of bad
influence, and as they were severally prominent in the chief divisions
of the school, they had peculiar opportunities for doing harm.
Kenrick's evil example told with extraordinary power through the whole
house, and especially upon the highest boys, who naturally imitated him.
I do not mean to say that Kenrick had sunk so low that wilfully and
consciously he lowered the character of the house, which as monitor he
ought to have improved and raised; but he _did_ so whether with
intention or not; he did so negatively by neglecting all his duties, and
by giving no direct countenance to what was right; he did so positively
by not openly discountenancing, and by actually practising, many things
which he knew to be wrong. The bad work was carried on by Mackworth,
who was the most prominent fifth-form boy in the house. This boy's
ability, and strength of will, and keenness of tongue, gave him immense
authority, and enabled him to carry out almost everything he liked. To
complete the mischief, among the lower boys Wilton reigned supreme; and
as Wilton was prouder of Kenrick's patronage than of anything else, and
by flattery and cajolery could win over Kenrick to nearly anything, the
worst part of the characters of these boys acting and reacting on each
other, leavened the house through and through with all that is least
good, or true, or lovely, or of a good report. The mischief began
before Mr Percival left, but it never could have proceeded half so far,
if Mr Noel's inexperience, and the very kindness which led him to relax
the existing discipline, had not tempted the boys to unwonted
presumption.

Such was the state of things when Charlie ent