"Why, we never thought of you wanting to be a gardener, Winn," said the schoolmaster, with a smile. "Let me see; how long have you been at school, my boy?"
"A little more than a month, sir," said Tom.
"Then he will have been here just about long enough to be nominated as a candidate," said the clergyman. "I am very glad you came to speak about it, for I was about to write and say we had no candidate ready. Now, I can say, we shall claim our right to nominate one; only, if you are not to disgrace us all, you will have to work very hard at your books through the summer."
"Yes, sir; I shall not mind that," said Tom, in a tumult of delight, that he could hardly speak.
"His sister won a scholarship before she came here," said Mr. Murray, "so I daresay, he knows something of what will be required of him. That will do, Winn; you can go and tell your mother I will do the best I can for you."
The boys indulged in a few gambols at their success before they went home, and then Jack suddenly grew grave, and said, "I had well-nigh forgotten something I meant to tell you. Just before we moved, which was a fortnight or three weeks after you had gone, I met Alfred Mearns with a chap who had been asking about you,—where you lived, and where you had gone.
"I didn't like the look of the chap, and so when he asked me to give him your address, I told him to go for a walk, for he wouldn't get me peaching on my friends. He told me a lot of blarney about something to your advantage, like the newspapers have it, but I said he might take that tale to the marines, for he wouldn't get anything out of me. I could see what he was after, for he had money written all over him."
"Money," repeated Tom.
"Why, yes; don't you twig? I expect your mother left a few debts owing at the shops. What else could be expected when you were ill so long, and nobody earning a penny all the time. I know what things are when father has been out of work for a week or too. So the next time I saw Alf, I said, 'If ever you should hear where Tom Winn has gone to live, forget it, for they won't want any of that sort of cattle after them where they are—'"
"But—but I don't think my mother owed anything at the shops," said Tom, thoughtfully.