Mildred Arkell Volume Iii Part 14

Indeed, the incautious revelation of Mr. Aultane was exciting some disagreeable consternation in the minds of the seniors; and that gentleman himself already wished his pa.s.sionate tongue had been bitten out before he made it.

The following morning the college boys were astir betimes, and flocked up in a body to the judges' lodgings, according to usage, to beg what was called the judges' holiday. The custom was for the senior judge to send his card out and his compliments to the head master, requesting him to grant it; and the boys' custom was, as they tore back again, bearing the card in triumph, to raise the whole street with their shouts of "Holiday! holiday!"

But there was no such luck on this morning. The judges, instead of the card and the request, sent out a severe message--that from what they had heard the previous day in the cathedral, the school appeared to merit punishment rather than holiday. So the boys went back, dreadfully chapfallen, kicking as much mud as they could over their trousers and boots, for it had rained in the night, and ready to buffet Aultane junior as the source of the calamity.

Aultane himself was in an awful state of mind. He felt perfectly certain that the affair in the cathedral must now come out to the head master, who would naturally inquire into the cause of the holiday's being denied; and he wondered how it was that judges dared to come abroad without their gowns and wigs, deceiving unsuspicious people to perdition.

Before nine, Mr. St. John was at Henry Arkell's bedside. "Well," said he, "how's the head?"

"It feels light--or heavy. I hardly know which. It does not feel as usual. I shall get up presently."

"All right. Put on this when you do," said Mr. St. John, handing him the watch. "And put up this in your treasure place, wherever that may be,"

he added, laying the gold medal beside it.

"Oh, Mr. St. John! You have----"

"I shall have some sport to-day. I have wormed it all out of Rutterley; and he tells me who was down there and on what errand. Ah, ah, Mr.

Aultane! so you peached to the dean. Wait until your turn comes."

"I wonder Rutterley told you anything," said Henry, very much surprised.

"He knew me, and the name of St. John bears weight in Westerbury,"

smiled he who owned it. "Harry, mind! you must not attempt to go into school to-day."

"It is the judges' holiday."

"The judges have refused it, and the boys have sneaked back like so many dogs with their tails scorched."

"Refused it! Refused the holiday!" interrupted Henry. Such a thing had never been heard of in his memory.

"They have refused it. Something must be wrong with the boys, but I am not at the bottom of the mischief yet. Don't you attempt to go near school or college, Harry: it might play tricks with your head. And now I'm going home to breakfast."

Henry caught his arm as he was departing. "How can I ever thank you, Mr.

St. John? I do not know when I shall be able to repay you the money; not until----"

"You never will," interrupted Mr. St. John. "I should not take it if you were rolling in gold. I have done this for my own pleasure, and I will not be cheated out of it. I wonder how many of the boys have got their watches in now. Good-bye, old fellow."

When Mr. Wilberforce came to know of the refused holiday, his consternation nearly equalled Aultane's. _What_ could the school have been doing that had come to the ears of the judges? He questioned sharply the senior boy, and it was as much as Prattleton's king's scholars.h.i.+p was worth to attempt to disguise by so much as a word, or to soften down, the message sent out from the judges. But the closer the master questioned the rest of the boys, the less information he could get; and all he finally obtained was, that some quarrel had taken place between the two head choristers, Arkell and Aultane, on the Sunday afternoon, and that the judges overheard it.

Early school was excused that morning, as a matter of necessity; for the master--relying upon the holiday--did not emerge from his bed-chamber until between eight and nine; and you may be very sure that the boys did not proceed to the college hall of their own accord. But after breakfast they a.s.sembled as usual at half-past nine, and the master, uneasy and angry, went in also to the minute. Henry Arkell failed to make his appearance, and it was remarked upon by the masters.

"By the way," said Mr. Wilberforce, "how came he to fall down in college yesterday? Does anybody know?"

"Please, sir, he trod upon a surplice," said Vaughan the bright. "Lewis junior says so."

"Trod upon a surplice!" repeated Mr. Wilberforce. "How could he do that?

You were standing. Your surplices are not long enough to be trodden upon. What do you mean by saying that, Lewis junior?"

Lewis junior's face turned red, and he mentally vowed a licking to Bright Vaughan, for being so free with his tongue; but he looked up at the master with an expression as innocent as a lamb's.

"I only said he might have trodden on a surplice, sir. Perhaps he was giddy yesterday afternoon, as he fainted afterwards."

The subject dropped. The choristers went into college for service at ten o'clock, but the master remained in his place. It was not his week for chanting. Before eleven they were back again; and the master had called up the head cla.s.s, and was again remarking on the absence of Henry Arkell, when the dean and Mr. St. John walked into the hall. Mr.

Wilberforce rose, and pushed his spectacles to the top of his brow in his astonishment.

"Have the goodness to call up Aultane," said the dean, after a few words of courtesy, as he stood by the master's desk.

"Senior, or junior, Mr. Dean?"

"The chorister."

"Aultane, junior, walk up," cried the master. And Aultane, junior, walked up, wis.h.i.+ng himself and his tongue and the dean, and all the rest of the world within sight and hearing, were safely boxed up in the coffins in the cathedral crypt.

"Now, Aultane," began the dean, regarding him with as much severity as it was in the dean's nature to regard anyone, even a rebellious college boy, "you preferred a charge to me yesterday against the senior chorister; that he had been pledging his gold medal at Rutterley's. Have the goodness to substantiate it."

"Oh, my heart alive, I wish he'd drop through the floor!" groaned Aultane to himself. "What will become of me? What a jacka.s.s I was!"

"I did not enter into the matter then," proceeded the dean, for Aultane remained silent. "You had no business to make the complaint to me on a Sunday. What grounds have you for your charge?"

Aultane turned red and white, and green and yellow. The dean eyed him closely. "What proof have you?"

"I have no proof," faltered Aultane.

"No proof! Did you make the charge to me, knowing it was false?"

"No, sir. He _has_ pledged his medal."

"Tell me how you know it. Mr. St. John knows he had it in his own house on Sat.u.r.day."

Aultane shuffled first on one foot, and then on the other; and the dean, failing explanation from him, appealed to the school, but all disclaimed cognizance of the matter. "If you behave in this extraordinary way, you will compel me to conclude that you have made the charge to prejudice me against Arkell; who, I hear, had a serious charge to prefer against _you_ for ill-behaviour in college," continued the dean to Aultane.

"If you will send to the place, you will find his medal is there, sir,"

sullenly replied Aultane.

"The shortest plan would be to send to Arkell's, and request him to dispatch his medal here, if the dean approves," interposed Mr. St. John, speaking for the first time.

The dean did approve, and Cookesley was despatched on the errand. He brought back the medal. Henry was not in the way, but Mrs. Arkell had found it and given it to him.

"Now what do you mean by your conduct?" sternly asked the dean of Aultane.

"I know he pledged it on Sat.u.r.day, if he has got it out to-day,"

persisted the discomfited Aultane, who was in a terrible state, between wis.h.i.+ng to prove his charge true, and the fear of compromising himself.

"I know Henry Arkell could not be guilty of a despicable action," spoke up Mr. St. John; "and, hearing of this charge, I went to Rutterley's to ask him a few questions. He informed me there _was_ a college boy at his place on Sat.u.r.day, endeavouring to pledge a table-spoon, but he knew the crest, and would not take it in--not wis.h.i.+ng, he said, to encourage boys to rob their parents. Perhaps Aultane can tell the dean who that was?"

There was a dead silence in the school, and the look of amazement on the head-master's face was only matched by the confusion of Aultane's. The dean, a kind-hearted man, would not examine further.

"I do not press the matter until I hear the complaint of the senior chorister against Aultane," said he aloud, to Mr. Wilberforce. "It was something that occurred in the cathedral yesterday, in the hearing, unfortunately, of the judges. But a few preliminary tasks, by way of present punishment, will do Aultane no harm."