The Channings | Page 4

in amazement.
"They shall pay me the worth of the surplice," spoke Bywater, an angry shade crossing his usually good-tempered face.
"And have a double flogging into the bargain," exclaimed the master. "Who has done this?"
"It looks as though it had been rabbled up for the purpose," cried Hurst, in schoolboy phraseology, bending down and touching it gingerly with his finger. "The ink has been poured on to it."
"Where did you find it?" sharply demanded the master--not that he was angry with the boys before him, but he felt angry that the thing should have taken place.
"I found it behind the screen, sir," replied Bywater. "I thought I'd look there, as a last resource, and there it was. I should think nobody has been behind that screen for a twelvemonth past, for it's over ankles in dust there."
"And you know nothing of it, Hurst?"
"Nothing whatever, sir," was the reply of the senior chorister, spoken earnestly. "When Bywater whispered to me what had occurred, I set it down as the work of one of the choristers, and I taxed them with it. But they all denied it strenuously, and I believe they spoke the truth. I put them on their honour."
The head-master peered at the choristers. Innocence was in every face--not guilt; and he, with Hurst, believed he must look elsewhere for the culprit. That it had been done by a college boy there could be no doubt whatever; either out of spite to Bywater, or from pure love of mischief. The king's scholars had no business in the vestry; but just at this period the cathedral was undergoing repair, and they could enter, if so minded, at any time of the day, the doors being left open for the convenience of the workmen.
The master turned out of the vestry. The cathedral was emptied of its crowd, leaving nothing but the dust to tell of what had been, and the bells once more went pealing forth over the city. Mr. Pye crossed the nave, and quitted the cathedral by the cloister door, followed by the choristers. The schoolroom, once the large refectory of the monks in monkish days, was on the opposite side of the cloisters; a large room, which you gained by steps, and whose high windows were many feet from the ground. Could you have climbed to those windows, and looked from them, you would have beheld a fair scene. A clear river wound under the cathedral walls; beyond its green banks were greener meadows, stretching out in the distance; far-famed, beautiful hills bounded the horizon. Close by, were the prebendal houses; some built of red stone, some covered with ivy, all venerable with age. Pleasant gardens surrounded most of them, and dark old elms towered aloft, sheltering the rooks, which seemed as old as the trees.
The king's scholars were in the schoolroom, cramming their surplices into bags, or preparing to walk home with them thrown upon their arms, and making enough hubbub to alarm the rooks. It dropped to a dead calm at sight of the master. On holidays--and this was one--it was not usual for the masters to enter the school after service. The school was founded by royal charter--its number limited to forty boys, who were called king's scholars, ten of whom, those whose voices were the best, were chosen choristers. The master marched to his desk, and made a sign for the boys to approach, addressing himself to the senior boy.
"Gaunt, some mischief has been done in the vestry, touching Bywater's surplice. Do you know anything of it?"
"No, sir," was the prompt answer. And Gaunt was one who scorned to tell a lie.
The master ranged his eyes round the circle. "Who does?"
There was no reply. The boys looked at one another, a sort of stolid surprise for the most part predominating. Mr. Pye resumed:
"Bywater tells me that he left his clean surplice in the vestry this morning. This afternoon it was found thrown behind the screen, tumbled together, beyond all doubt purposely, and partially covered with ink. I ask, who has done this?"
"I have not, sir," burst forth from most of the boys simultaneously. The seniors, of whom there were three besides Gaunt, remained silent. But this was nothing unusual; for the seniors, unless expressly questioned or taxed with a fault, did not accustom themselves to a voluntary denial.
"I can only think this has been the result of accident," continued the head-master. "It is incredible to suppose any one of you would wantonly destroy a surplice. If so, let that boy, whoever he may have been, speak up honourably, and I will forgive him. I conclude that the ink must have been spilt upon it, I say accidentally, and that he then, in his consternation, tumbled the surplice together, and threw it out of sight behind the