his head he threw a despairing look round the room; it was quiet enough now; the only sounds he heard were the creaking of the master’s boots as he walked slowly up and down; the dreamily-mournful flaring of the gas burning in uncovered jets high up on bare cross-bars; and the low murmur of a boy two places off upon his right, who was softly repeating something to himself, now raising his head and looking about, now again consulting his book. Through the sort of haze with which the place seemed filled, he saw and noted the cracked and dirty yellow maps hanging awry against the dingy walls; the uncurtained windows, through the steam on which you could just perceive the close blackness of the winter’s night that seemed, as it were, to be pressing against them on the other side; and the deal boards of the floor all splotched with ink. Everything was very strange: there was not so much as a fire whose cheerful blaze he could have welcomed as a friend.
And then, in the course of his rounds, the master went into the farther room: as he disappeared through the narrow doorway there was a general sigh of relief, and everybody began to take their ease. Just opposite him, side by side, were Orr and Els; the former, leaning back against the wall, was looking with a smile at his companion; the latter, alert and full of life, was sitting up, his hands already clenched and stretched out towards the big boy in readiness for the playful attack upon him which he was obviously intending, his eyes sparkling with fun, as now they followed the master’s retreating back, and now returned to Orr on whom, the moment that the coast was clear, he began to bear rapidly down. The other, pretending to be afraid, put up his arm to shelter himself and went edging off along the form. And what a savage look he gave the boy next him, who was a little slow in making room! At last, driven back as far as he could go:
‘Southwood, Southwood!’ he said in a loud whisper, as if he wished to make the master hear—‘Southwood, go on with your work!’
Then the kitchen-clock over the door struck nine, the
