arth for shame! By heavens, Belial, you shall receive
what you've given. I'll beat you as if you were a dog. Take that."
The cut which followed showed that he was in desperate earnest, and
that, however immovable he might generally be, it was by no means safe
to trifle with him in such a mood as this.

Mackworth tried in vain to seize the cane; Bliss turned him round and
round as if he were a child; and as it was quite clear that he did not
mean to have done with him just yet, Mackworth's impudent bravado was
changed into abject terror as he received a second weighty stroke, so
heartily administered that the cane bent round him, in the hideous way
which canes have, and caught him a blow on the ribs.

Mackworth sprang away, and fled, howling with shame and pain, through
the open door, but not until Bliss had given him two more blows on the
back, with one of the two cutting open his coat from the collar
downwards, with the other leaving a mark at least as black as that which
he had inflicted on the defenceless Charlie.

"To your rooms, the rest of you wretches," said he, as they dispersed in
every direction before him. "Kenrick," he continued, brandishing the
cane, "I may be a dolt, as you've called me before now, but since you
won't do your duty, henceforth I will do it for you."

Kenrick slank off, half afraid that Bliss would apply the cane to _him_;
and, speaking in a tone of authority, Bliss said to the boys in the
dormitory, "If one of you henceforth touch a hair of Evson's head, look
out; you know me. You little scamp and scoundrel, Wilton, take especial
care." He enforced the admonition by making Wilton jump with a little
rap of the cane, which he then broke, and flung out of the window. And
then, his whole manner changing instantly into an almost womanly
tenderness, he sat by poor little Charlie, soothing and comforting him
till his hysterical sobs had ceased; and, when he felt sure that the fit
was over, gently bade him good-night, and went out, leaving the room in
dense silence, which no one ventured to break but the warm-hearted
little Hanley, who, going to Charlie's bedside, said--

"Oh, Charlie, are you hurt much?"

"No, not very much, thank you, Hanley."

Hanley pressed his hand, and said, "You've conquered, Charlie; you've
held out to the end. Oh, I wish I were like you!"

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

A CONSPIRACY FOILED.

As the feathery snows
Fall frequent on some wintry day...
Th