Boycotted | Page 3

did with Potter that evening.
There was nothing for it but to give him up as a bad job, and go to bed.
Which I did; and awoke next morning in a forgiving mood.
It was always a scramble at breakfast on Saturdays at Draven's to see
who could get nearest to the ham, for we sickened of the cold mutton
they gave us on other days. This morning, to my gratification, I was
"well up." That is, there were only two fellows before me, so that at any
rate I was good for a fair, straight slice from the middle.
"Huzza!" said I, crowding up to Williams, who was next above me.
"I've never had anything but knuckle all this--"
Williams faced round as he heard my voice; and then, without waiting
to hear the end of my sentence, got up and took a seat at the lower end
of the table.
"Poor beggar's out of sorts," said I to myself. "Another of his bilious
attacks, I suppose," I added, moving up to his seat and addressing the
proud occupant of the carver's chair. This fellow was Harrison, whom,
next to Browne, we counted the oiliest fellow at Draven's. He could
sing, and make puns, and though a long way behind Browne, was a
popular, jovial companion.
He appeared not to hear my remark, but, hitching his chair a little away,
began deliberately to carve a slice of ham.
He took a long time about it, and I watched him patiently till he was
done. It was a prime ham, I could see, and, ashamed as I am to confess
it, it made me feel amiable to all the world to find it was so.
"If they were all like this--" I began.

"There's room here, Harrison, old man," Williams called up the table.
Whereupon Harrison, plate in hand, went down to keep Williams
company, leaving me for the first time in my life "top-hammer."
Somehow I did not enjoy the dignity quite as much as I should have
expected. I was sorry Harrison had gone, for I wanted to speak to him
about Potter, and I could not help fancying, from his unusual manner,
that he was put out about something, and I thought he might have told
me about it instead of chumming up to Williams. However, I was
hungry, and took my slice of ham and passed the dish along to the
fellow next me, who sat below the two empty chairs up which I had
risen.
It was rather a solitary meal, and I was glad when it was over and the
bell rang for first school. There at least I should have the society of the
sympathetic Sadgrove, who, as I knew, felt as sore as I did about
Potters behaviour.
But, to my mortification as well as perplexity, Sadgrove I found, had
cleared out his desk and removed his goods and chattels to a seat on the
row behind mine, where he appeared to have met with a cordial
welcome from his new neighbours.
I could not make it out. He always told me he liked his desk better than
any, and would not change it even for Browne's. And here he was, for
no apparent reason, on a lower form, at a smaller desk, and in-- well,
less select society.
As I sat in my place that morning, with an empty desk on each side of
me, it began slowly to dawn on my mind that something was wrong
somewhere.
The proceedings of Odger junior, Potter, Sadgrove, Williams, and
Harrison, taken singly, were not of much importance, but taken as a
whole I did not like them. I might be wrong. There might be no
intention to cut me, and I could not think of anything I had done or said
which would account for it. I would try, at any rate, to get to the bottom

of it before I was many hours older.
So I went in search of my cousin, who was a few months my senior,
and a particular chum of Williams.
"I say, Arthur, what did Williams cut me dead for this morning?"
Arthur looked uncomfortable and said--
"How should I know?"
"You do know," said I, "and I want to know why."
He coloured up, and made as though he would leave room. But my
blood was up, and I stepped across door.
"Tell me this," I said. "Have these fellows cut on purpose or no?"
"However should--"
"You do know. Are they cutting me or no?"
He flushed up again, and then said hurriedly--
"Yes, we are!"
Sub-Chapter II.
I AM BEATEN.
"Yes, we are."
The reader may think it strange when I tell him that my first sensation
on receiving this momentous announcement was one of