CHAPTER III.

THE MASTER'S PROPOSAL.

A DAY or two after Elsie took home the news of her success, her brother Tom was called to the master's desk at school. "I suppose you are very pleased, Winn, that your sister has won a scholarship?" said the master, looking the boy over as he spoke.

"Yes, sir," answered Tom with a smile; but wondering what was coming.

He was not kept long in doubt. "We are all very proud that one of our girls has carried off this scholarship, and I mean the boys shall have a try next year,—we mustn't let the girls beat us. Do you understand, Winn? I want you to get one of these scholarships, as well as your sister. It would please your mother and father, I know; but of course you must work hard for it, as your sister did. As there is nothing like beginning in good time—for a thing of that sort—I am going to start a scholarship class after school hours next week, and I should like you and half a dozen other sixth standard boys to join it—if your parents would like this. Do you understand, Winn, my boy?—There will be nothing extra to pay, tell your father."

"Yes, sir; I'll tell mother when I go home. Father isn't well, and can't be bothered about things just now." And, with a bow, Tom went back to his class, leaving the master somewhat puzzled as to whether his proposal was welcome to the boy or not.

To his school-fellows, Tom said nothing of what he had been told by the master, for he could not make up his mind whether to be pleased or not. But when he got home, he sat down to his tea sullen and silent. And Elsie, of course, who was serving the children while her mother was upstairs, soon noticed it.

"What is the matter, Tom? Couldn't you get on with your lessons to-day?" asked his sister.

This reference to his lessons seemed to turn the scale. "What does it matter to you about my lessons?" he said, in a grumbling tone. "I wish I had never heard of your blessed lessons and scholarship; for now I shall never have a minute to myself. There'll be no time for play, no time for—"

"Why, Tom, what has happened,—what do you mean?" asked his sister in some concern.

"What did you want to go and get that scholarship for? It's just sent the whole school scholarship mad, and Potter's as bad as anybody now!"

"What do you mean?" asked Elsie, thinking her brother would burst into a merry laugh the next minute, and tell her of some further congratulations he had received on her success.

But Tom only glared as she looked smilingly at him, in anticipation of more pleasant words. "I tell you this; I won't do it for any of them!" he burst out at last. "And they may say what they like, and so may you."

"Won't do what?" inquired Elsie, feeling greatly puzzled.

"Why, I'm not going to swat up for a scholarship, like you did, to please anybody."

"O Tom, would you have a chance of getting one, do you think?" said Elsie earnestly. "Would Mr. Potter help you? There are scholarships for boys, you know, as well as for girls," she went on; "and mother would be so pleased if you got one too."

"Oh, I'll please mother and father too, never fear; but it won't be by getting a scholarship," grunted Tom. "I'm not going to worry my life out, morning, noon, and night, over that, when I ought to be at play. One in a family is enough, I reckon."

"Oh, Tom, I do wish you would try," said Elsie; "everybody says you are clever."

"That's all you know about it, Madam Elsie. Mr. Potter told me to-day that I was dropping behind with my arithmetic, and must join his class at once if I wanted to stand a chance."

"And you will, Tom, won't you?" pleaded his sister; "father and mother would be so pleased, you know, only they can't be bothered about it just now,—at least, father mustn't be worried. Mother might tell you what she thinks you ought to do."

Tom grunted out something about Elsie minding her own business, and leaving him to mind his, but she was all eagerness that her brother should share her pleasure and success; and so, when she took the children up to bed, and her mother came to kiss them, she told her what she and Tom had been talking about.

"Of course, he is pleased at the idea of joining this class," said Mrs. Winn.

"I daresay he would be pleased, if he knew you wished it, mother," whispered Elsie.

"I'll speak to him about it. If he could join this class, it might take him away from that John Bond he is so fond of, for I don't like him as a companion for Tom, since I feel sure he makes him worse than he would be, for getting into mischief."

So when Tom went to say good-night an hour later, his mother whispered, "You will join Mr. Potter's class, I hope, my boy, for your father would wish it, I am sure, if we could talk to him about it."

"Very well, mother," said Tom, not liking to make any objection just now, but half wishing he had not told Elsie a word about the matter.

On his way to school the next morning, he met his chosen friend John Bond a few yards from his own door. This lad was nearly a head taller than Tom, a big loutish fellow, who lorded it over his companions whenever he could, on the score of his size, and to him Tom confided his grievance of having to join the scholarship class.

"Potter never told me about this class," he said, as though the master had committed some offence in not consulting his biggest scholar on the matter. "I wonder why I am not asked as well as you and the other fellows," he went on. "I'm in the sixth too; why shouldn't he ask me?" he demanded.

Tom laughed. "You're likely to stop in the sixth, Jack, while you play such pranks, and make the teacher's life a misery to him. I don't believe Potter would cry his eyes out if he never saw your face in the school again," he said.

"What's the matter with my face?" asked the boy, and he turned to Tom with such a droll expression—rolling his eyes, and twisting his mouth about—that Tom exploded with laughter, as he had frequently done before, over his companion's queer grimaces.

"You'd be a nice help to a class that was swatting, wouldn't you?" said Tom, when he could speak.

"Why shouldn't I help if I like?" said John, with another grimace. Then growing more serious, he said, "They won't ask me to come to this precious class, because I live in Sadler Street."

"Oh, nonsense!" exclaimed Tom. "Potter's a beast over some things, but he's a just beast, and he wouldn't keep you out of anything if he thought you could get it, because you live in Sadler Street."

"Wouldn't he, though," grumbled Jack. "You'll see not a fellow that lives in our street will be asked."

Tom was silent for a minute or two, for it had suddenly occurred to him that most of the boys that came from Sadler Street were an untidy, unruly lot of lads, giving the teachers far more trouble than other boys. So that it might be true as Bond said, that no Sadler Street boys would be asked to join this class, though not from the cause he stated.

"You'll see we shall all be shut out, every mother's son of us that lives in Sadler Street," said Bond, again referring to his grievance.

"Well, you know, people don't like the street; it hasn't a good name in the school," said Tom, not liking to hurt his friend's feelings by telling him all the thoughts that had occurred to him upon the matter.

"Ah, and 'give a dog a bad name, you may as well hang him at once.' But now, about this precious class. Why do you want to join it, if you don't mean to go to a desk and drive a pen all day?" demanded Jack.

"I don't know. I haven't told my mother that I should like to be a gardener, and watch the flowers grow; but I mean to tell her all about it when father gets better, and then he, and mother too, will see that it's no good for me to go to this stupid old class."

"So you do mean to join it, then?" said the other, pretending to be very much surprised.

"Well, you see, I must for a little while, as mother is so worried about dad being ill, that it would only make things worse, if I kicked up a fuss and said I didn't want to go. You see, they've all gone so stark staring mad over my sister Elsie's scholarship, both at school and at home, that one would think all our lives depended upon it, so I must join this class for a bit, though I'm not going to swat much, I can tell you. Potter says that I am behind with my arithmetic, and must work hard at that. I'd like to catch myself at it! I wouldn't do home lessons, if I could help it," added Tom.

"I never did," laughed Bond; "my father said I could do as I liked about it, and I didn't like. Why shouldn't we spell taters with a 't' as well as a 'p,' I'd like to know? It did well enough for our grandfathers, why shouldn't it do for their children? I've heard my dad say that many a time, and I'm not going to worry myself about 'p's' and 't's' so long as I get the taters. They need not ask me to join any of their classes, for I wouldn't do it now, if they went down on their knees and begged me to go."

"They won't do that, Jack; they won't trouble you with William the Conqueror, or who rode through the streets of Coventry with her hair down her back."

"All right! They can leave me alone, but I'm not going to promise to leave all their precious class alone. We were chums before they ever dreamt of having a class, and I'll take blessed good care that it don't spoil all our fun, Tom," and he winked and nodded in a knowing fashion that set Tom laughing again.

But the laugh was cut short this time by the sudden ceasing of the clang, clang, of the school bell, and both boys set of to run the remaining distance at the top of their speed. For they would be marked late if they were not in their places by the time the other lads were seated, so that there was no time for further talk just now.

Soon after the ordinary school work began, the master came to take the names of those boys whose parents wished them to join the scholarship class.

"What did your father say about it, Winn?" he asked, pausing in front of Tom.

"If you please, sir, father is ill; but mother would like me to join, and she will speak to father about it when he gets better," answered Tom.

"Very well, I will put your name down, my boy; but you must take care to work a little more, and laugh a little less in school time, and attend the class regularly, as well as doing all the tasks set you."

"Please, sir, I don't want to be a clerk, and sit at a desk all day," said Tom, scarcely knowing how he had mustered courage to say so.

"Very well, you are not obliged to be a clerk; only win a scholarship and you may have a chance by-and-bye of learning something you would like as an occupation. Give all your attention to the lessons that are taught, and you will stand as good a chance of winning a scholarship as any boy in the school," concluded the schoolmaster.

But Tom was not pleased at the outlook before him. He glanced across to his friend Jack Bond, who nodded and winked as only Jack could, and nearly set Tom laughing in spite of the presence of the head-master as well as the class teacher.

They, however, escaped detection, and Tom tried to give some attention to his lessons for the next hour or two, so that his teacher whispered a word of commendation as he passed out.

But after school, when he met Jack Bond in the playground, and the two were free to talk over the events of the morning, Bond did his best to try and set Tom against working steadily in the new class, even if he was compelled to attend it.

"It's all very well for girls to try for scholarships, but why should a fellow like you have to do it?" he urged. "It's fit for girls, of course, but why should you be expected to put your neck into this noose just because your sister liked it? Gals is gals, and boys is boys, and if it isn't good for gals to wear a coat and trousers, why, it isn't good for a fellow like you to wear a gal's frock instead of your own clothes. That's just what it comes to," concluded the young giant, in a tone of authority.

Tom laughed, and professed to treat the talk as a joke; but he went home feeling uncomfortable, and was snappish and out of temper, for when Elsie opened the door and asked him in a whisper if he had got his name put down, he pushed her aside, exclaiming, "There, don't you bother about what, don't concern you! I shan't tell you anything again, if you're going to run off to mother with it directly."

"What have I told mother?" asked his sister in surprise, for Tom often confided in Elsie when he had got into a scrape at school, or wanted a little service done to help forward some of his plans. "What have I told mother about you?" she demanded again.

"Why, there was no occasion for you to run and tell her about that class, as you did," said Tom in an injured tone.

"Well, but that didn't matter, Tom; you were going to tell her yourself before you went to bed. I thought you might not get a chance when you went up, and so I told her, that she might have time to think about it, and tell you at once when you spoke to her," said Elsie in an altered tone.

"Well, don't go chattering about my business again," said Tom, crossly.

But he soon forgot his ill humour when he heard that Elsie had made his favourite pudding for dinner, in honour of the news he had brought home the previous day; and with his mouth full of this sweet delicacy, he forgot what he had said when he first came in, and told her Mr. Potter had arranged that the class should be commenced the following Tuesday. It was to be held from six to seven, in their own class-room, and eight boys besides himself had given in their names to join it.

"I hope that Jack Bond isn't one of them," said Elsie, in an uncautious moment.

"Why not? The Bonds are as good as we are, any day." said Tom.

"Well, perhaps they are; but mother says—" and then Elsie remembered that her mother had said she had better not mention Bond's name to Tom, as it might do more harm than good, if she attempted to interfere with the boys.

"Now, then, out with it! What had mother got to say about Jack, I should like to know? Just because Sadler Street isn't one of the most fashionable places in the town, everybody is down on poor Jack, and that is why I always take his part."

Elsie thought she had better occupy herself with the children and their dinner, and not notice what Tom said, for fear it should lead to a quarrel—for Tom was quarrelsome very often—and she had a hasty temper. But nothing of the kind must be allowed to take place now that her father was so ill, and peace and quietness was so necessary in the house.

Tom grumbled on, and Elsie busied herself with little Bobbie and his pudding, so that there was no breach of the peace at the dinner table. Before he took his cap to go back to school, Tom asked her to sew up a rent in his trousers when he came home, which she readily promised to do, as a peace-offering for having spoken against his chosen friend.

She did not, however, forget that the following Tuesday was to be the first meeting of the class. And when five o'clock struck, and Tom had not come home to tea, she began to grow anxious, for, from various hints he had dropped, she feared he was not so anxious as he ought to be to profit by this extra class.

Half-past five came, and then Tom rushed in, hot and out of breath. "Give us some tea, quick!" he said, as Elsie opened the door. "I shall be late for that blessed class if I don't look-out, and then Potter will have a fit."

"Oh, Tom, how is it you are so late?" said Elsie, in a reproachful tone. "I had your tea ready by five o'clock, for I thought you would be sure to be home, that you might have time to wash yourself before you go back."

"Oh, yes, I shouldn't wonder! What do girls know about things? It's a jolly shame to have to give up just the only time I can be out to play, for this stupid old class. Why, the tea is cold!" he exclaimed in disgust, pushing away his cup.

"Perhaps it is. I got it ready early to-day that you might have time to get it comfortably before you went back to school; but you are more than half an hour late."

"Suppose I am," said Tom, speaking with his mouth full of bread and butter; but he did not seem disposed to hurry himself, although Elsie was impatient to help him to get off, that he might not be late for the class.

He went at last, and his sister hoped if he ran all the way he might reach the school by six o'clock.

But these small worries about Tom and his concerns Elsie kept to herself, for she could see as the days went on, that her mother grew more anxious about her father. For, although she knew he was dangerously ill, she did not fully understand the extent of the danger, and no one thought it wise to tell her just then.