"Yes, I do not doubt it, but your sorrow will not bring Crusoe's boat up from the bottom of the sea. Recollect, my boy, that if you do wrong, punishment will always follow; and I want to teach you this before you go out into the world, for your punishment there will not be so merciful as I or your mamma would inflict."
And this is why Leslie Ross was sent to school.
CHAPTER II.
LESLIE'S INTRODUCTION TO ASCOT HOUSE.
A few days after his adventure with old Crusoe, Leslie bade farewell to home and all its delights. He tried to be brave and not cry, but in spite of all his efforts he continually felt a kind of choking sensation in the throat, and when he kissed his mother for the last time, he fairly burst into tears, and did not again recover his calmness until he found himself seated by his papa in a first-class carriage, and being whirled to London as fast as an express train could whirl him.
"Come, Leslie," said Mr Ross, "dry up your tears and be a man, you will not find school life so unpleasant as you imagine; after the first few days, you will settle down and soon make friends."
The school to which Mr Ross was conveying Leslie was situated about fifty miles the opposite side of London to that of his own home, and was known by the name of Ascot House, and had the reputation of being one of the best private schools in its county; Mr Ross, however, had chiefly selected it from the fact that its principal, Dr Price, had been an old college companion and friend, and he knew him to be a man of probity and honour, and one to whom he could safely intrust both the moral and mental education of his son.