"Now, go to your seat."
Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling, and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe a punishment. The punishment was most severe, and for some weeks after there were dark weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use of his hands painful.
"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how very plucky of you not to cry."
"Vengeance deep brooding o'er the cane,
Had locked the source of softer woe;
And burning pride, and high disdain,
Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"
said Eric, with a smile.
But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears, mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his injustice.
"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you never get a punishment justly, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am now. And don't cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you harm. Try to forgive and forget."
"But, Papa, Mr. Gordon is so hasty. I have indeed been rather a favorite of his, yet now he shows that he has no confidence in me. It is a great shame that he shouldn't believe my word. I don't mind the pain; but I shan't like him any more, and I'm sure, now, I shan't get the examination prize."
"You don't mean, Eric, that he will be influenced by partiality in the matter?"
"No, Papa, not exactly; at least I dare say he won't intend to be. But it is unlucky to be on bad terms with a master, and I know I shan't work so well."