CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
AMONG THE NOELITES.
But, I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young squarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil?
Much Ado about Nothing.
Etiam si quis a culpa vacuus in amicitiam ejus inciderat, quotidiano usu per similisque ceteris efficiebatur.--Sallust.
The changes described in the last chapter were not the only ones whichseriously affected the prosperity of Saint Winifred's School, for thestall of masters was also partly altered during the last two years, andthe alterations had not been improvements. Mr Paton--who had by thistime manfully resumed his old theological labours, and who, to pleaseWalter, had often employed him as a willing amanuensis in attempting toreplace the burnt manuscript--had retired from his mastership to a quietcountry living to which he had been presented by Sir Lawrence Power.Strange as it may seem, Mr Paton chiefly, though of course indirectly,owed this living to Walter, who had first talked to Sir Lawrence aboutMr Paton, in terms of deep regard. The opportunity, therefore, whichWalter had sought so earnestly, of atoning in some way for the mischiefwhich he had done to his old master, was amply granted to him; and MrPaton never felt more strongly, that even out of the deepest apparentevils God can bring about undoubted blessings. Saint Winifred's,however, was the loser by his promotion. The benefit of his impartialjustice and stern discipline, and the weight of his firm and manlycharacter in the councils of the school, was gone. And Saint Winifred'shad suffered a still greater loss in the departure of Mr Percival, whohad accepted, some months before, the offer of a tutorship in his ownuniversity. Had he continued where he was, his influence, hiswell-deserved popularity, his kind, wise, conciliatory manner, thegratitude which rewarded his ready and self-denying sympathy, would, inthe troubled period which ensued, have been even more useful than hisbrilliant scholarship and successful method of teaching a form. Thesetwo masters had left amid the universal regret of the boys and of theircolleagues, and their places had been filled up by younger, less able,and less experienced men.
And worse than this, Dr Lane, soon after the term began, was takenseriously ill, and was ordered to the German baths for two months,during which his work was done by another master, who had not the sameinfluence. From all which causes, this half-year at Saint Winifreds wasthe most turbulent, the most riotous, and the most unhappy, ever knownin that honourable and ancient school.
So little Charlie Evson soon found reason to revise and modify hisopinion, that Saint Winifred's--as he _then_ saw it--was jollier thaneven Semlyn itself. His name had been entered in the list of MrPercival's house, before it was known that he was going to leave.Walter liked Mr Percival so much better than he did his own tutor, MrRobertson, and had experienced from him so much more kindness, that hethought it would be an advantage for Charlie to be placed directly underso wise and kind a friend; and Mr Evson, afraid that his little sonwould be quite overshadowed by his elder brother, and that Walter'sinfluence, which was very transcendent over Charlie's mind, would makehim too dependent on another, and prevent him from developing his ownnatural character, was by no means averse to the arrangement. But sinceMr Percival had left, Charlie, with the other boys in the house, washanded over to the charge of Mr Noel, a new master, who had to win hisway and learn his work, neither of which he succeeded in doing until hehad committed many mistakes.
In this house were Kenrick and Mackworth--Kenrick, as monitor, was insome measure responsible for the character of the house, and he hadCharlie as one of his fags. At this time, as I have already observedwith sorrow, Kenrick's influence was not only useless for good, but waseven positively bad. There was _no_ other monitor who did not try to beof some use to his fags; many of the monitors, by quiet kindnesses anduseful hints, by judicious help and unselfish sympathy, were of mostreal service to the boys who nominally "fagged" for them, but who, inpoint of fact, were required to do nothing except taking an occasionalmessage, seeing that the study fires did not go out, and carrying up thetea and breakfast for a week each, in order of rotation. Few SaintWinifred's boys would have hesitated to admit that they would have beenless happy, and would have had fewer chances in school-life, if they hadnot been fags at first, and thereby found friends and protectors in theboys for whom they fagged. Kenrick, however, did not follow the goodexample which had become almost traditional; for, filled as he was withthe spirit of wilful pride, and on bad terms with the order to which hebelonged, he either spoiled his fags by petting and pampering them, andletting them see his own disregard for duty, or, if they did not takehis fancy, he snubbed and disregarded them--at any rate, did nothingwhatever to help them.
Kenrick was quite willing to have placed Charlie Evson in the first ofthese classes, for he was a boy whom it was impossible to see and not tolike. His antagonistic position towards most of his own body, made himthe head of a sort of faction in the school, and he would have beenproud beyond measure to have had any boy like Charlie as one of hisfollowers. But Kenrick had better reasons for wishing to attach Charlieto himself. Deeply as he had degenerated, disgraceful as his presentconduct was, Kenrick, in the secret depths of his soul, sighed and pinedfor better things; though vice, and folly, and pride had theirattractions for him, he was still sick at heart for the purer atmospherewhich he had left. He looked at Charlie with vague hopes, for throughhim he thought that he might yet perhaps, without lowering his pride byactually seeming to have made any advance, bring about a reconciliationwith his best and earliest friends, bring about a return to his formerand more upright course.
But this was not to be. When a boy goes wrong he strews every step ofhis downward career with obstacles against his own return; and he littledreams how difficult of removal some of these obstacles will be. Theobstacle in this case was another little fag of Kenrick's, named Wilton.I am sorry to write of that boy. Young in years, he was singularly oldin vice. A more brazen, a more impudent, a more hardened littlescapegrace--in schoolboy language, "a cooler hand"--it would have beenimpossible to find. He had early gained the name of Raven from hisartful looks. His manner was a mixture of calm audacity and consummateself-conceit. Though you knew him to be a thorough scamp, the young impwould stare you in the face with the effrontery of a man about town. Hewas active, sharp, and nice-looking, and there was nothing which he waseither afraid or ashamed to do. He had not a particle of that modestywhich in every good boy is as natural as it is graceful; he could tell alie without the slightest hesitation or the faintest blush; nay, whilehe was telling it, though _he_ knew that you _knew_ it to be a lie, hewould not abash for an instant the cold glance of his wicked dark eyes.Yet this boy, like Charlie, was only thirteen years old. And for allthese reasons, Wilton was the idol of all the big bad boys in theschool; and in spite of all these reasons--for the boy had in him thefascination of a serpent--he was the declared favourite of Kenrick too.
The three boys who gave the tone to Mr Noel's house, were Kenrick,Mackworth, and Wilton. They formed as it were an electric chain of badinfluence, and as they were severally prominent in the chief divisionsof the school, they had peculiar opportunities for doing harm.Kenrick's evil example told with extraordinary power through the wholehouse, and especially upon the highest boys, who naturally imitated him.I do not mean to say that Kenrick had sunk so low that wilfully andconsciously he lowered the character of the house, which as monitor heought to have improved and raised; but he _did_ so whether withintention or not; he did so negatively by neglecting all his duties, andby giving no direct countenance to what was right; he did so positivelyby not openly discountenancing, and by actually practising, many thingswhich he knew to be wrong. The bad work was carried on by Mackworth,who was the most prominent fifth-form boy in the house. This boy'sability, and strength of will, and keenness of tongue, gave him immenseauthority, and enabled him to carry out almost everything he liked. Tocomplete the mischief, among the lower boys Wilton reigned supreme; andas Wilton was prouder of Kenrick's patronage than of anything e
lse, andby flattery and cajolery could win over Kenrick to nearly anything, theworst part of the characters of these boys acting and reacting on eachother, leavened the house through and through with all that is leastgood, or true, or lovely, or of a good report. The mischief beganbefore Mr Percival left, but it never could have proceeded half so far,if Mr Noel's inexperience, and the very kindness which led him to relaxthe existing discipline, had not tempted the boys to unwontedpresumption.
Such was the state of things when Charlie entered Mr Noel's house.Walter knew that Mr Percival's promotion had frustrated the plan he hadformed when he advised his father to put Charlie in that house, but thestep could not now be recalled, nor, indeed, was Walter or any othermonitor aware how bad the state of things had become. For among otherdangerous innovations, Mackworth and Wilton had brought about a kind ofunderstanding, that the house should to some extent keep to itself,resent all intrusion into its own precincts, and maintain a profoundsilence about its own secrets. Besides all this, Walter bitterly andsorrowfully felt that for some reason, which he was unable to fathom,the whole school was just then in an unsatisfactory state, and thatCharlie, for whom his whole heart yearned with brotherly love and pity,would be exposed to severe temptations in whatever house he should beplaced. He hoped too that, as Charlie would always have the run of hisand of Power's study, it would make little difference to him that he wasunder a different house master.
To Mackworth and Wilton the arrival of one or two new boys was a matterof some importance, but little anxiety. The new boys were necessarilyyoung, and in the present united state of the house, it was tolerablycertain that they would catch the prevalent spirit, and be quicklyassimilated to the condition of the others. The task of moulding them--if they were at all difficult to manage--fell to Wilton, and hecertainly accomplished it with astonishing success. A newcomer'ssensibilities were not too quickly shocked. The Noelites, for their ownpurposes, behaved very kindly to him at first; they were first-ratehands at "destroying a boy by means of his best affections," at"seething a kid in its mother's milk." The bad language, the schooltrickeries and deceits, the dodges for breaking rules and escapingpunishments, the agreed-on lies to avoid detection, the suppers, andbrandy, and smoking parties, and false keys to get out after lock-up,and all the other detestable symptoms of a vitiated and depraved set,were carefully kept in abeyance at first. The new fellow was treatedvery kindly, was sounded and fathomed cautiously, was taught to get up astrong house feeling by perpetual endeavours to wake in him the _espritde corps_, was gently ridiculed if he displayed any good principle, wastremendously bullied if he showed signs of recalcitrance, was accordingto his temperament led, or coaxed, or initiated, or intimidated, intothe condition of wickedness required of him before the house couldcontinue to go to the devil, as fast as it wished to do, and was doingbefore. This was Mackworth's work, and Wilton acted as his Azazel, andKenrick did not interfere, though he knew or guessed all that was goingon; he did not interfere, he did not prevent it, he did not evenremonstrate at first, and afterwards he began by acquiescing, he endedby--yes, the truth must be told--he ended in joining in it all. OKenrick, when human beings meet face to face before a certainjudgment-seat, there are some young souls who will have a bill ofindictment against you; the same who may point to Mackworth or toWilton, and say, as of old, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."Five new boys had come this half-year. Four of them had been sounded bythe rest of the house; one of them, named Stone, had come from a largeprivate school, and was prepared for whatever he might find in moresenses than one. Another, Symes, was a boy ill-trained at home, of noparticular principles, and quite ready to flow with the stream. Athird, Hanley, had come meaning to be good; he had been shocked when hefirst heard oaths, and when he was first asked if he would mind tellingany of the regular lies--"crams" the boys called them--in the event ofany master questioning him; but his wounded sensibilities were veryquickly healed, and he had passed with fatal facility from disgust toindifference, from indifference to toleration. The fourth, Elgood, wasa timid child, for whom no one cared either way, and whom they took careto frighten into promising to do whatever he was ordered. A terriblestate of things--was it not? But, ah me! it was so once upon a time.The fifth new boy in Mr Noel's house was Charles Evson; and with thisfifth new boy the devil's agents knew instinctively that they would havea great deal of trouble. But they meant to bait their hook verycarefully, and they did not at all despair. Their task was madepeculiarly piquant by its very difficulty, and by the fact that Charliewas one in whom their declared enemy, Walter Evson, was so nearlyconcerned. They were determined by fair means or foul to win him over,and make him their proselyte, until he became as much a child of sin asthey were themselves. But they proceeded to their task with the utmostcaution, and endeavoured to charm Charlie over to their views by showinghim great attention, by trying to make things pleasant for him, byflattering him with notice, and seeming to welcome him cordially as oneof themselves. Their dissimulation was profound; at first the new boyfound everything quite delightful, and before a week was over hadcaught, as they meant him to catch, the spirit of party, and always wasready to stick up for the Noelites as the best house in the school. Sofar so good; but this was only the first step of initiation into theseEleusinian mysteries.
So Master Wilton--Belial junior, as Henderson always called him--ingratiated himself into Charlie's favour, and tried, not withoutsuccess, to make himself peculiarly agreeable. At first sight, indeed,Charlie felt an inward repulsion to him. He did not know _why_ he did,for, so far from there being anything obviously repulsive in Wilton'slook or manners, there were many who thought him the picture ofinnocence, and considered his manners quite perfection in theirpoliteness and good breeding. Charlie therefore instantly conquered hisfirst feeling of dislike as uncharitable and groundless; and as Wiltonseemed to lay himself out for his friendship, he was oftener with himduring the first fortnight than with any other boy. It was strange tosee the two together, so utterly different were they in every respect,and so great was the contrast of Charlie's sweet, bright, modest face,with the indescribable dangerous coolness of Wilton's knowing smile.
"Look," said Henderson to Whalley, as he saw them together one day inthe playground; "there go Ithuriel and Belial junior, very thick atpresent."
"Yes; I don't like to see it. I don't hear any good of that fellowWilton."
"Good! I should rather think not!"
"Give young Evson a hint, Flip, will you, that Wilton's not a goodfriend for him. He looks a nice little fellow, and I don't like to tellhim, because I don't know him."
"Never fear; when Charlie touches him with his spear, or sees him lighton the top of Niphates--one of which things will happen soon enough--he'll not be slow to discover who he is. If not, I'll tell Walter, andhe shall be Charlie's Uriel."
"Touches him with his spear!--what spear?--top of Niphates!--Uriel!"said Whalley, with ludicrous astonishment; "here, Power, you're just intime to help me to put a strait-waistcoat on Flip. He says that whenWilton lights on the top of Niphates, which he will do soon, young Evsonwill discover that he's a scamp. What _does_ it all mean?"
"It only means that Flip and I have been reading the Paradise Lost,"said Power, laughing, "and at present Flip's mind is a Miltonicconglomerate." And he proceeded to explain to Whalley that Ithuriel wasone of the Cherubs who guarded Eden--
("Only that in this case Eden guards the cherub," observed Henderson,parenthetically.)
"--and who, by touching Satan with his spear, made him bound up in hisoriginal state, when he sat like a toad squat at the ear of Eve, and,moreover, that Uriel had recognised Satan through his mask, when,lighting on Niphates, his looks became `Alien from heaven, with passionsfoul obscured.'"
"Seriously, though," said Henderson, "Uriel must be asleep, or hewouldn't let his little brother get under Belial's wings."
In fact, Wilton was forced to keep on the mask much longer than he hadever meant to do. He could find
no joint in Charlie's armour. The boywas so thoroughly manly, so simple-hearted, so trustful and innocent,that Wilton could make nothing of him. If he tried to indoctrinateCharlie into the state of morality among the Noelites, either Charliedid not understand him, or else quite openly expressed his disapprovaland even indignation; and when finally Wilton quite tired out, did throwoff the mask, Charlie shook him away from him, turned with a sickeningsensation from the unbared features of vice, and unfeignedly loathed theboy who had pretended to be his friend--loathed him all the more becausehe had tried to like him, but now saw the snare which was being spreadin his sight.
Every now and then during their early intercourse Charlie had felt acertain restraint in talking to Wilton; he could not be at ease with himthough he tried. He caught the gleam of the snake through the flowersthat only half concealed his folds. And Wilton, too, had got very tiredof playing a part. He could not help his real wickedness cropping outnow and then, yet whenever it did, Charlie started in such a way thateven Wilton was ashamed; and though generally the shafts of conscienceglanced off from the panoply of steel and ice which cased this boy'sheart, yet during these days they once or twice reached the mark, andmade him smart with long-unwonted anguish. He was conscious that he wasdoing the devil's work, and doing it for very poor wages, he felt nowand then Charlie's immense superiority to himself, and, in a mood ofpity, when, as they were standing one day in Mr Noel's private room tosay a lesson, he caught sight of their two selves reflected in thelooking-glass over the mantelpiece, and realised the immense gulf whichseparated them--a gulf not of void chaos and flaming space, but thedeeper gulf of warped affections and sinful thoughts--he had felt asudden longing to be other than what he was, to have Charlie for a truefriend, to give up trying to make him a bad boy, and to fall at his feetand ask his pardon. And when he had doggedly failed in his lesson, andgot his customary bad mark, and customary punishment, and received hiscustomary objurgation, that he was getting worse and worse, and that histime was utterly wasted--and when he saw the master's face light up witha pleased expression as Charlie went cheerfully and faultlessly throughhis work--a sudden paroxysm of penitence seized Wilton, and, once out ofthe room, he left Charlie and ran up the stairs to Kenrick's study, inwhich he was allowed to sit whenever he liked. No one was there, andthrowing himself into a chair, Wilton covered his face with both hands,and burst into passionate tears. A long train of thoughts and memoriespassed through his mind--memories of his own headlong fall to what hewas, memories of younger and of innocent days, memories of a father, nowdead, who had often set him on his knee, and prayed, before all otherthings, that he might grow up a good and truthful boy, and with no stainupon his name. But while memory whispered of past innocence, consciencetold him of present guilt; told him that if his father could haveforeseen what he would become, his heart would have broken; told him,and he knew it, that his name was a proverb and a byeword in the school.But the prominent and the recurring thought was ever this--"Is it toolate to mend? Is the door shut against me?" For Wilton remembered howonce before his mind was harrowed by fear and guilt as he had listenedto Mr Percival's parting sermon on that sad text--one of the saddest inall the Holy Book--"_And the door was shut_."
Suddenly he was startled violently from his reverie, for the door _was_shut with a bang, and Kenrick, entering, flung himself in a chair,saying, with a vexed expression of voice, "Too late."
It was but a set of verses which Kenrick had written for a prizeexercise, and which he had just sent in too late. He had not lost allambition, but he had no real friend now to inspirit or stimulate him, sothat he often procrastinated, and was seldom successful with anything.
But his accidental words fell with awful meaning and strange emphasis onpoor Wilton's ear. Wilton had never heard of the Bath Kol, he knewnothing of the power that wields the tongue amid the chances of destiny;but fear made him superstitious, and, forgetting his usualdissimulation, he looked up at Kenrick aghast, without wiping away thetraces which unwonted tears had left upon his face.
"Why, Raven, boy, what's the matter?" asked Kenrick, looking at him withastonishment; "much _you_ care for my having a set of iambics too late."
"Oh, is that all?" asked Wilton, still looking frightened.
"All? Yes; and enough, too, for me. But"--stopping suddenly--"why,Raven, what's the row? You've been crying, by all that's odd! Why, Ididn't know you'd ever shed a tear since you'd been in the cradle.Raven crying--what a notion! Crocodile tears, eh?"
Wilton was ashamed to have been caught crying, and angry to be laughedat. He was leaving the room silently and in a pet, when Kenrick caughthim, and, looking at him, said in a kindlier tone--
"Nonsense, Ra; don't mind a little chaff. What's happened? Nothingserious, I hope?"
But Wilton was angry and miserable just then, and struggled to get free.He did not venture to tell Kenrick what had really been passing throughhis mind. "Let me go," he said, struggling to get free.
"O, go, by all means," said Kenrick, with his pride all on fire in amoment; "don't suppose that I want you or care for you;" and he turnedhis back on Wilton, to whom he had never once spoken harshly before.
The current of Wilton's thoughts was turned; he really loved Kenrick,who was the only person for whom he had any regard at all. Besides,Kenrick's support and favour were everything to him just then, and hestopped irresolutely at the door, unwilling to leave him in anger.
"What do you want? Why don't you go?" asked Kenrick, with his backstill turned.
Wilton came back to the window, and humbly took Kenrick's hand, lookingup at him as though to ask forgiveness.
"How odd you are to-day, Raven," said Kenrick, relenting. "What wereyou crying about when I came in?"
"Well, I'll tell you, Ken. I was thinking how much better some fellowsare than I am, and whether it was _too late_ to begin afresh, andwhether the door _was open_ to me still, when you came in, and said,`Too late,' and banged the door, which I took for an answer to mythoughts."
They were the first serious words Kenrick had ever heard from Wilton;but he did not choose to heed them, and only said, after a pause--
"Other fellows better than you? Not a bit of it. Less plucky, perhaps;greater hypocrites, certainly; but you are the jolliest of them all,Ra."
And with that silly, silly speech Wilton was reassured; a gratifiedsmile perched itself upon his lips, and his eyes sparkled with delight;nor was he soon revisited by any qualms of conscience.