‘Didn’t you now?’ I insisted.
‘Well, I did; I confess I did. And it was very plucky of him.’
‘Tell him that, Home,’ I said. ‘For God’s sake tell him that. It will comfort him. You must be kind to him, Home. We’re not so bad as Forest takes us for.’
‘I will,’ said Home.
And he kept his word.
We were never allowed to share the same room again, and school was not what it had been to either of us.
Within a few weeks Charley’s father, to our common dismay, suddenly appeared, and the next morning took him away. What he said to Charley I do not know. He did not take the least notice of me, and I believe would have prevented Charley from saying good-bye to me. But just as they were going Charley left his father’s side, and came up to me with a flush on his face and a flash in his eye that made him look more manly and handsome than I had ever seen him, and shook hands with me, saying—
‘It’s all right—isn’t it, Wilfrid?’
‘It is all right, Charley, come what will,’ I answered.
‘Good-bye then, Wilfrid.’