The Grit-advocate., 1902-12-26


we walked on; but for the next quar-
ter of an hour | could not get an in
telligible word out of him; he seemed
lost in thought.
Every boy was a fayorite with Old
Jimmy; but to me, who watched him
closely. it soon became apparent that
the new boy exercised a magnetic
power over him. l have often seen
him stand and gaze on the boy for
few moments with a hard, stern look
in his eyes-a look almost of aver
sion; but at the sound of his fresh
young voice the dark look would at
once give place to one of great ten
derness. He strove, and successfully
strove in great measure, to hide this
prediction from the eyes of others,
for it was maxim with him, "Never
allow boys to see that you have any
special favorites; it will encourage
them to think you are partial in your
rewards and punishments." Yet to
close observer it was plain to see that
he loved to be in the boys presence.
The night of the day on which we
| assembled after the Easter holidays,
Old Jimmy and l were having quiet
| pipe in his study when knock came
| to the door, and in came Tommy
Warde
Il have just got back from home,
| sir; and my mother gave me this let
ter for you. think it is to thank you
| for having been SO kind to me, sir. l
| told her your name was Mr.. Jameson,
| and she asked me whether you were
| an Oxford man, and about what age
thought you were; and | said you
were about fifty, and from Cambridge,
l thought"
"And what did your mother say to
that, Tommy"
81 forget, sir Oh, she said, Then
it cannot be-"
"Al right, my boy! Goodnight"
said Old Jimmy, with look of min
| gled sorrow and relief.
When the boy had gone he opened
the letter with trembling hands, and
after lengthy silence said, "Haw-
| thornden, l suppose this must be an
swered. wish you would write for
me. l think l must have touch of
my old enemy the rheumatism in my
hand tonight; see how it shakes and
twitches. Here. read the letter."
read as follows:
| "Westbrae, Fieldferry, N. B., May 18th.
Dear Sir: write to thank you for
| all the kindness you have shown to
my boy during the past term. He has
| spoken of you so much that l feel |
cannot do otherwise than write to you.
l am coming down to see him and
| the school on Saturday week, when |
shall hope to thank you in person.
Yours truly,
IN. l.. Warde."
Old Jimmy's hand did shake, 1t
was true. but l had never known him
| to be troubled with the rheumatism
quest that he made Of me; however,
wrote at his dictation as follows:
Dear Madam: l am afraid that
| do not deserve the thanks so kindly
expressed in your letter. l fear that |
shall not be able to see you when you
| come down to St. Anslem's on Satur-
| day week, as l shall be away all the
| afternoon and evening"
will you sign it," said 1.
"No, do 1t for me, please-and put
w. Jameson; I was christened Her
bert William, and although l have
never been called by the latter name
| rather like to use it sometimes"
This, too, l thought strange, as also
the fact Of his going away on the Sat
urday; since l knew it had been his
intention to stay and watch the first
cricket match of the season, which
was down on the fixture card for that
day.
On the Saturday week, sure enough,
as soon as the school was over, he hur-
ried away, and did not return till long
after Mrs. Warde had gone.
caught a glimpse of her during
the afternoon, and a remarkably pret-
ty little woman she was-blue-eyed,
like Old Jimmy, and with face
which, like other faces l have known,
was only improved and made more be-
witching by reason Of its many freck-
les. one was uIeSStu very UcCOmluE-
ly in widows weeds, and appeared to
be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine
years old.
Well, the weeks crept on until early
in July, when Founders day came
round, and the whole school had
holiday in honor OF it. Old Jimmy
and l, with Hilliard, the second math-
ematical master, set off for a days
fishing in the river about three miles
away The boys had free leave
t. e., liberty to go anywhere they pleas
ed within certain bounds.
After fishing for couple of hours
we came to the old water-mill, where
we determined to lunch under the
shade of some chestnut trees about a
hundred yards away from the spot
where the mill-wheel was going mer-
rily round and round.
After lunch we lit our pipes and pre-
pared to spend lazy half-hour before
whipping the stream again. had
been less fortunate in my share of the