Eric, or Little by Little Part 13

"Well, there'll be no end of a row; you'll see."

During this conversation, Dr Rowlands came in with Mr Rose. He read the paper, frowned, pondered a moment, and then said to Mr Rose--

"Would you kindly summon the lower-school into the hall? As it would be painful to Mr Gordon to be present, you had better explain to him how matters stand."

"Hulloa! here's a rumpus!" whispered Montagu; "he never has the lower-school down for nothing."

A noise was heard on the stairs, and in flocked the lower-school. When they had ranged themselves on the vacant forms, there was a dead silence and hush of expectation.

"I have summoned you all together," said the Doctor, "on a most serious occasion. This morning, on coming into the schoolroom, the masters found that the notice-board had been abused for the purpose of writing up an insult to one of our number, which is at once coa.r.s.e and wicked.

As only a few of you have seen it, it becomes my deeply painful duty to inform you of its purport; the words are these--'Gordon is a surly devil.'" A _very_ slight t.i.tter followed this statement, which was instantly succeeded by a sort of thrilling excitement; but Eric, when he heard the words, started perceptibly, and coloured as he caught Montagu's eye fixed on him.

Dr Rowlands continued--

"I suppose this dastardly impertinence has been perpetrated by some boy out of a spirit of revenge. I am perfectly amazed at the audacity and meanness of the attempt, and it may be very difficult to discover the author of it. But, depend upon it, discover him _we will_ at whatever cost. Whoever the offender may be, and he must be listening to me at this moment, let him be a.s.sured that he shall _not_ be unpunished. His guilty secret shall be torn from him. His punishment can only be mitigated by his instantly yielding himself up."

No one stirred, but during the latter part of this address Eric was so uneasy, and his cheek burned with such hot crimson, that several eyes were upon him, and the suspicions of more than one boy were awakened.

"Very well," said the head-master, "the guilty boy is not inclined to confess. Mark, then; if his name has not been given up to me by to-day week, every indulgence to the school will be forfeited, the next whole holiday stopped, and the coming cricket-match prohibited."

"The handwriting may be some clue," suggested Mr Ready. "Would you have any objection to my examining the note-books of the Sh.e.l.l?"

"None at all. The Sh.e.l.l boys are to show their books to Mr Ready immediately."

The head-boy of the Sh.e.l.l collected the books, and took them to the desk; the three masters glanced casually at about a dozen, and suddenly stopped at one. Eric's heart beat loud, as he saw Mr Rose point towards him.

"We have discovered a handwriting which remarkably resembles that on the board. I give the offender one more chance of subst.i.tuting confession for detection."

No one stirred; but Montagu felt that his friend was trembling violently.

"Eric Williams, stand out in the room!"

Blus.h.i.+ng scarlet, and deeply agitated, the boy obeyed.

"The writing on the notice is exactly like yours. Do you know anything of this shameful proceeding?"

"Nothing, sir," he murmured in a low tone.

"Nothing whatever?"

"Nothing whatever, sir."

Dr Rowlands's look searched him through and through, and seemed to burn into his heart. He did not meet it, but hung his head. The Doctor felt certain from his manner that he was guilty. He chained him to the spot with his glance for a minute or two, and then said slowly, and with a deep sigh--

"Very well; I _hope_ you have spoken the truth, but whether you have or no, we shall soon discover. The school, and especially the upper boys, will remember what I have said. I shall now tear down the insulting notice, and put it into your hands, Avonley, as head of the school, that you may make further inquiries." He left the room, and the boys resumed their usual avocation till twelve o'clock. But poor Eric could hardly get through his ordinary pursuits; he felt sick and giddy, until everybody noticed his strange embarra.s.sed manner and random answers.

No sooner had twelve o'clock struck than the whole school broke up into knots of buzzing and eager talkers.

"I wonder who did it," said a dozen voices at once. "The writing was undoubtedly Williams's," suggested some.

"And did you notice how red and pale he got when the Doctor spoke to him, and how he hung his head?"

"Yes; and one knows how he hates Gordon."

"Ay; by the bye, Gordon set him a Georgic only on Thursday, and he has been swearing at him ever since."

"I noticed that he stayed in after all the rest last night," said Barker pointedly.

"Did he? By Jove, that looks bad."

"Has any one charged him with it?" asked Duncan.

"Yes," answered one of the group; "but he's as proud about it as Lucifer, and is furious if you mention it to him. He says we ought to know him better than to think him capable of such a thing."

"And quite right, too," said Duncan. "If he did it, he's done something totally unlike what one would have believed possible of him."

The various items of evidence were put together, and certainly they seemed to prove a strong case against Eric. In addition to the probabilities already mentioned, it was found that the ink used was of a violet colour, and a peculiar kind, which Eric was known to patronise; and not only so, but the wafers with which the paper had been attached to the board were yellow, and exactly of the same size with some which Eric was said to possess. How the latter facts had been discovered, n.o.body exactly knew, but they began to be very generally whispered throughout the school.

In short, the almost universal conviction among the boys proclaimed that he was guilty, and many urged him to confess it at once, and save the school from the threatened punishment. But he listened to such suggestions with the most pa.s.sionate indignation.

"What!" he said angrily, "tell a wilful lie to blacken my own innocent character? Never!"

The consequence was, they all begun to shun him. Eric was put into Coventry. Very few boys in the school still clung to him, and maintained his innocence in spite of appearances, but they were the boys whom he had most loved and valued, and they were most vigorous in his defence. They were Russell, Montagu, Duncan, Owen, and little Wright.

On the evening of the Sat.u.r.day, Upton had sought out Eric, and said, in a very serious tone, "This is a bad business, Williams. I cannot forget how you have been abusing Gordon lately, and though I won't believe you guilty, yet you ought to explain."

"What? even _you_, then, suspect me?" said Eric, bursting into proud and angry tears. "Very well. I shan't condescend to _deny_ it. I won't speak to you again till you have repented of mistrusting me," and he resolutely rejected all further overtures on Upton's part.

He was alone in his misery. Some one, he perceived, had plotted to destroy his character, and he saw too clearly how many causes of suspicion told against him. But it was very bitter to think that the whole school could so readily suppose that he would do a thing which from his soul he abhorred. "No," he thought; "bad I may be, but I _could_ not have done such a base and cowardly trick."

Never in his life had he been so wretched. He wandered alone to the rocks, and watched the waves das.h.i.+ng against them with the rising tide.

The tumult of the weather seemed to relieve and console the tumult of his heart. He drank in strength and defiance from the roar of the waters, and climbed to their very edge along the rocks, where every fresh rush of the waves enveloped him in white swirls of cold salt spray. The look of the green, rough, hungry sea harmonised with his feelings, and he sat down and stared into it, to find relief from the torment of his thoughts.

At last, with a deep sigh, he turned away to go back and meet the crowd of suspicious and unkindly companions, and brood alone over his sorrow in the midst of them. He had not gone many steps when he caught sight of Russell in the distance. His first impulse was to run away and escape; but Russell determined to stop him, and when he came up, said, "Dear Eric, I have sought you out on purpose to tell you that I don't suspect you, and have never done so for a moment. I know you too well, my boy, and be sure that _I_ will always stick to you, even if the whole school cut you."

"Oh, Edwin, I am _so_ wretched. I needn't tell you that I am quite innocent of this. What have I done to be so suspected? Why, even your cousin Upton won't believe me."

"But he does, Eric," said Russell; "he told me so just now, and several others said the same thing."

A transient gleam pa.s.sed over Eric's face.

"Oh, I do so long for home again," he said. "I hate this place. Except you, I have no friend."

"Don't say so, Eric. This cloud will soon blow over. Depend upon it, as the Doctor said, we shall discover the offender yet, and the fellows will soon make you reparation for their false suspicions. And you _have_ one friend, Eric," he continued, pointing reverently upwards.

Eric was overcome; he sat down on the gra.s.s, while intense pride and the consciousness of innocence struggled with the burning sense of painful injustice. Russell sat silent and pitying beside him, till at last Eric, with sudden energy, sprang to his feet, and said, "Now, Edwin!

I've been conquering my cowardice, thanks to you, so come along home.

After all, the fellows are in the wrong, not I," and so saying he took Russell's arm, and walked across the playground with almost a haughty look.