For a time the renown of those three champions would hover over Shebourne Academy. The acts of the new claimants would be criticised and compared with what had been done before by those doughty heroes. Then the hour would arrive when their successors appeared to overtop them in the eyes of the young censors; then they would fade into oblivion with the majority, and be remembered by a few as demi-gods. In every school there are minds formed to lead and natures made to admire. Wisely, the majority of mankind are those who exist for the present, and trouble themselves neither with the past nor the future. Their hero is the one who serves their interests for the time. Thus mankind goes on, trampling the road smoother which old footsteps have partly made, leaving the dreamers and the regretters to linger on the side pathways.
Filled with hope and laden with their prizes, the three boys bade farewell to their old life, and set forth to interview the present arbitrator of their lives, Mr Jabez Raymond—the man who held the sinews of war.
Ned had written to this gentleman, and in his reply Mr Raymond gave them a warm invitation to visit him and consult over matters at his place.
Mr Jabez Raymond was, as we have already stated, not a family man, but he had a good practice in the cathedral town of Abbotsmore, about one hundred and thirty miles from Shebourne.
His sister acted as housekeeper to him, and although it was not a very large house, yet Ned Romer wondered that he had not been invited before during his holidays. There were bedrooms enough to accommodate him and his comrades. He excused his guardian, however, as being a bachelor, and not caring for the company of youngsters.
Mr Raymond’s house and offices faced the main street, with the cathedral in front of it, and a large garden leading down to the river at the back. It was an old-fashioned and somewhat dark house inside, filled with passages, recesses, cupboards, and unexpected nooks. The walls of the dining-room were oak-wainscotted. The offices also were lined with the same enduring and time-blackened material.
It had been a great family house at one time, as the crests and ornaments on the ceilings showed. The small-paned windows likewise told of its ancient history. The furniture also was old and solid, with little of the modern superfluities to lighten it up. It was a comfortable house, but not one where youth would be likely to bud out with exuberance.
Both Mr Raymond and his austere sister suited the appointments of the house. She was an elderly spinster, stiff, precise, and most severely orderly. He was a sharp-faced man, who appeared wedded to his legal documents, and possessing a mind never far out of his office.
It was late in the afternoon when our heroes arrived, and, after spending a few hours in the society of their host and hostess, they were not sorry when bedtime came.
“There is no good lingering here any longer than we can help, lads,” said Ned on retiring. “Tomorrow I intend to tackle old Raymond, and see what he purposes doing for us.”