“Yes, you have. Here am I. You would not have had me, if you had been at Proctor’s heels at this moment.”
“Will you be my friend, then?”
“That I will.”
“What, a great boy like you, that sits reading in a tree! But I may read here beside you. You said there was room for two.”
“Ay; but you must not use it yet,—at least, not often, if you wish to do well here. Everybody knows I can play at anything. From the time I became captain of the wall at fives, I have had liberty to do what I like, without question. But you must show that you are up to play, before they will let you read in peace and quiet.”
“But how can I, if— if—”
“Once show your spirit,—prove that you can shift for yourself, and you will find Phil open out wonderfully. He and you will forget all his shyness then. Once show him that he need not be ashamed of you—”
“Ashamed of me!” cried Hugh, firing up.
“Yes. Little boys are looked upon as girls in a school till they show that they are little men. And then again, you have been brought up with girls,—have not you?”
“To be sure; and so was he.”