'I'd play by myself then,' said his sister.
'Ah! and see every other fellow pick up his ball and walk out of the court as soon as you appeared. You'd feel like playing then, wouldn't you?' he added.
His sister sighed. She was very fond of Leonard, although he was not very brave, she feared. Still, big lads like Taylor and Curtis could make things very uncomfortable for the younger and weaker lads, like Leonard.
'Now just see if you can't help me out of this hole, Flo,' said the boy, after another pause. 'I told the fellows I'd do something to-night, and I must, you know.'
'Do something!' repeated his sister, 'what do you want to do?'
'I don't want to do anything. The poor beggar might stay at Torrington's for ever if he liked; but you see the others have set their faces against it, and they say I must either make the pater remove him, or else think of another plan to get rid of him. Don't you see, Duffy, I must do one or the other?'
'No, I don't see; and you shan't call me Duffy either, if you mean to help these wretched cads at Torrington's, and I'll never own you for a brother again!' His sister spoke calmly, but with the utmost scorn and contempt in her tones, and then laid her head on the table and burst into tears. 'I'm ashamed of you, I am!' she sobbed through her tears.
Leonard stared at her in silent amazement for a minute or two, and then said slowly, 'You don't know this scholarship boy, do you?'
She shook her head. 'Of course I don't,' she said, as soon as she could speak.
'Then what are you crying for? I'd be ashamed to cry for a fellow I'd never seen; and you a girl too!'