"Very well, I will put your name down, my boy; but you must take care to work a little more, and laugh a little less in school time, and attend the class regularly, as well as doing all the tasks set you."
"Please, sir, I don't want to be a clerk, and sit at a desk all day," said Tom, scarcely knowing how he had mustered courage to say so.
"Very well, you are not obliged to be a clerk; only win a scholarship and you may have a chance by-and-bye of learning something you would like as an occupation. Give all your attention to the lessons that are taught, and you will stand as good a chance of winning a scholarship as any boy in the school," concluded the schoolmaster.
But Tom was not pleased at the outlook before him. He glanced across to his friend Jack Bond, who nodded and winked as only Jack could, and nearly set Tom laughing in spite of the presence of the head-master as well as the class teacher.
They, however, escaped detection, and Tom tried to give some attention to his lessons for the next hour or two, so that his teacher whispered a word of commendation as he passed out.
But after school, when he met Jack Bond in the playground, and the two were free to talk over the events of the morning, Bond did his best to try and set Tom against working steadily in the new class, even if he was compelled to attend it.
"It's all very well for girls to try for scholarships, but why should a fellow like you have to do it?" he urged. "It's fit for girls, of course, but why should you be expected to put your neck into this noose just because your sister liked it? Gals is gals, and boys is boys, and if it isn't good for gals to wear a coat and trousers, why, it isn't good for a fellow like you to wear a gal's frock instead of your own clothes. That's just what it comes to," concluded the young giant, in a tone of authority.
Tom laughed, and professed to treat the talk as a joke; but he went home feeling uncomfortable, and was snappish and out of temper, for when Elsie opened the door and asked him in a whisper if he had got his name put down, he pushed her aside, exclaiming, "There, don't you bother about what, don't concern you! I shan't tell you anything again, if you're going to run off to mother with it directly."
"What have I told mother?" asked his sister in surprise, for Tom often confided in Elsie when he had got into a scrape at school, or wanted a little service done to help forward some of his plans. "What have I told mother about you?" she demanded again.
"Why, there was no occasion for you to run and tell her about that class, as you did," said Tom in an injured tone.