ere so new to him that he found it impossible to master
them. He was not accustomed to work in such a crowded and noisy place
as the great schoolroom, and the early hour for going to bed left little
time for evening work. Accordingly he often failed, and whenever he
did, the impositions, or detentions, or both, took away from his
available time for mastering his difficulties, and as this necessitated
fresh failures, every single punishment became frightfully accumulative,
and, alas! before three weeks were over, Walter was "sent up for bad" to
the headmaster. By this he felt degraded and discouraged to the last
degree. Moreover, harm was done to him in many other ways. Conscious
that all this disgrace had come upon him without any serious fault of
his own, and even in spite of his direct and strenuous efforts, he
became oppressed with a sense of injustice and undeserved persecution.
The apparent uselessness of every attempt to shake himself free from
these trammels of routine rendered him desperate and reckless, and the
serious diminution of his hours for play and exercise made him
dispirited and out-of-sorts. And all this brought on a bitter fit of
homesickness, during which he often thought of writing home and
imploring to be removed from the school, or even of taking his
deliverance into his own hands, and running away himself. But he knew
that his father and mother were already distressed beyond measure to
hear of the mill-round of punishment and discredit into which he had
fallen, and about which he frankly informed them; so for their sakes he
determined to bear-up a little longer.

Walter was getting a bad name as an idler, and was fast losing his
self-respect. And when that sheet-anchor is once lost, anything may
happen to the ship; however gay its trim, however taut its sides,
however delicate and beautiful the curve of its prow, it may drive
before the gale, it may be dashed pitilessly among the iron rocks, or
stranded hopelessly upon the harbour bar. A little more of this
discipline, and a boy naturally noble-hearted and capable, might have
been transformed into a mere moon-calf, like poor Plumber, or a cruel
and vicious bully, like Harpour or Jones.

Happily our young Walter was saved by other influences from losing his
self-respect. He was saved from it by one or two kindly and genial
friendships; by success in other lines, and by the happy consciousness
that his presence at Saint Winifred's was a