Tom, Dick and Harry Part 15

There was the gymnasium, I supposed--the place presided over by the drill master whom Tempest so much detested. I meant to back Tempest up in that feud.

Ah, there was the Lion Gate, standing open to receive me. Little I had expected, when once before I entered it on my way to examination, that I should so soon be coming back, so to speak, in triumph like this.

It took some little self-persuasion, I must confess, to feel that it really was a triumph. I did think Tempest might have been on the look- out for me. I did not know where to go, or of whom to inquire my way.

The boys I met either took no notice of me at all, or else stared so rudely at my hat and boots that I could not bring myself to accost them.

At length I was beginning to think I had better march boldly to the first master's house I came to, when, as luck would have it, I stumbled up against my old travelling companion, who, having safely arrived a quarter of an hour before, was now prowling about on the look-out for old acquaintances.

"Please," said I, "would you mind telling me the way to Mr Sharpe's house?"

"Are you a Sharper then?" he inquired. "My word! what are we coming to?

Why didn't you come up by the 'bus?"

"I tried to," said I; "you wouldn't stop."

"Jim's horses were a bit shy," said he, with a grin. "They can't be held in when they see a moke. You should have got in quietly, without their spotting you."

I didn't like this fellow. He appeared to me to think he was funny when he was not.

"Do you know if Tempest has come?" said I, hoping to impress him a little.

"Who?"

"Tempest--Harry Tempest. He's at Sharpe's too."

"What sort of looking chap is he?" demanded the youth, who, I suspected, could have told me without any detailed description.

"He's one of the seniors," said I; "he was in the reserve for the Eleven last term."

"Oh, that lout? I hope you aren't a pal of his. That would about finish you up. If you want him, you'd better go and look for him. I don't know whether every sn.o.b in the place has come up or not."

And he departed in chase of a friend whom he had just sighted.

This was depressing. Not that I believed what he said about Tempest.

But I had hoped that my acquaintance with my old schoolmate would redound to my own dignity, whereas it seemed to do nothing of the kind.

Presently I encountered a very small boy, of chirpy aspect, whom I thought I might safely accost.

"I say," said I, "which is Mr Sharpe's house?"

"Over there," said he, pointing to an ivy-covered house at some little distance higher up the street. Then, regarding me attentively, he added, "I say, you'll get in a jolly row if he sees you in that get-up."

"Oh," said I, feeling that the youngster was ent.i.tled to an explanation, "I'm an exhibitioner."

"A who? All I know is he's down on chaps playing the fool. You'd better cut in on the quiet before they bowl you out in that thing," said he, pointing to my hat.

That thing! True, I had not observed many hats like it, so far, at Low Heath; but that was probably because I had not encountered any other fellow-exhibitioner. Tempest knew more about the form than this kid.

"Thanks," said I. "Mr Sharpe will know who I am."

"Oh, all right," said he; "don't say I didn't tell you, that's all."

"I say," said I, feeling that enough had been said on a matter on which we evidently misunderstood each other, "do you know Tempest?"

"Rather. He's in our house. You'll get it pretty hot from him if you cheek him."

"Oh, I know him well; he's an old chum."

The boy laughed incredulously.

"He'd thank you if he heard you say so. Oh my! fancy Tempest-- Hullo, I say, there he is. Cut away, kid, before he sees you." And the youth set me a prompt example.

I was sorry he had not remained to witness the fact that I was not quite the outsider he took me for.

Tempest was strolling across the road, arm-in-arm with a friend. He certainly was not got up in the "form" which he had prescribed for me.

He wore a straw hat on the back of his head, and boots of unmistakable blackness. But then, though an exhibitioner himself once, he had now attained to the dignity of a senior, and was probably exempt from the laws binding on new boys.

As he approached I crossed the road to meet him, full of joy at the prospect of encountering at least one friend, and marching under his protection into my new quarters. But I was doomed to a slight disappointment. For though for a moment, when he looked up, I fancied he recognised me, he did not discontinue his conversation with his friend, but drew him out into the middle of the road. They seemed to be enjoying a joke between them. His companion looked round once or twice at me, but Tempest, who was looking quite flushed, apparently did not take me in, and walked on, looking the other way.

It was a little shock to me, or would have been had I not remembered his friendly warning about the etiquette of a junior not accosting a senior till the senior accosted him. I wished he had spoken to me, for just then his help would have been particularly patronising. As it was, I was tantalised by seeing him pa.s.s by close to me, and yet being unable, without "shirking form" in a reprehensible way, to bring myself to his notice.

In due time I reached Mr Sharpe's house. To my dismay the door stood wide open, and the hall was crowded with fellows claiming their luggage as it was being deposited by the railway van. As I arrived there was an ominous silence, in the midst of which I stood on the step, and carefully rung the bell marked, not "servants," but "visitors." No one came, so after a due interval, and amid the smiles of the onlookers, I mustered up resolution to ring again, rather louder. This time I had not to wait long. A person dressed as a sort of butler, very red in the face, emerged from a green baize door at the end of the pa.s.sage and advanced wrathfully.

"Which of you young gents keeps ringing the bell?" demanded he. "He's to be made an example of this time. Oh, it was you, was it?" said he, catching sight of me.

"Yes," said I. "Is Mr Sharpe at home?"

"At home?" demanded the official, redder in the face than ever. "You seem to be pretty much at home." Then, apparently struck by my appearance, he pulled himself up and honoured me with a long stare in which all the a.s.sembled boys joined.

"Who is it?"

"One of the porters from the station, I should say, from the looks of him," suggested a boy.

"Whoever it is, don't you ring that visitors' bell--do you hear?" said the man-servant. "If you want anything, go round to the side door and don't interfere with the young gentlemen."

"But I'm a new boy," said I. "I'm--I'm an exhibitioner;" at which there was a great roar of laughter, which even my self-satisfaction could hardly construe into jubilation.

I began to have a horrible suspicion that I had committed some great _faux pas_ by ringing the visitors' bell, and blushed consciously, to the increased amus.e.m.e.nt of my fellow "Sharpers."

"Can I see Mr Sharpe?" I inquired, thinking it best to take the bull by the horns.

"Can't you wait?" said the servant. "Do you suppose the master has nothing to do but run out and see--wild Indians?" Here followed another laugh at my expense. "He'll see you quite soon enough."

Here a shove from behind precipitated me into the bosom of the speaker, who returned me with thanks, and before I could apologise, into the hands of the sender. Thence I found myself pa.s.sed on by a side impetus to a knot of juveniles, who, not requiring my presence, pa.s.sed me on to a senior standing by, who shot me back to a friend, who sent me forward among the boxes into the arms of the matron, who indignantly hustled me up the pa.s.sage, where finally I pulled up short in the grasp of a gentleman who at that moment emerged from the green baize door.

In the confusion I had lost both my hat and my presence of mind. I was far too confused to observe who the new-comer was, and far too indignant to care. All that I called to my mind as I reeled into his clutches was Tempest's directions about kicking back, which accordingly I proceeded to do, with all the vigour of which my new tan boots were capable.

Mr Sharpe suffered this a.s.sault meekly for a second or two, then he held me out stiffly at arm's length, like a puppy in a fit, and demanded,--

"What do you mean, sir, by behaving like this?"