"Very well, then," said Mr. Lloyd, bringing the conversation to a close. "I will make some further inquiries about Dr. Johnston's, and if the results are satisfactory I will see Mr. Bowser, and do what I can to persuade him to let Frank accompany Bert."
A few days after, Mr. Lloyd called Bert to him, while they were all sitting in the parlour, just after dinner.
"Come here, Bert," said he. "I want to have a talk with you about going to school. You know I don't intend you to go back to Mr. Garrison's. Now, where would you like to go yourself?"
"Oh, I don't know, father," replied Bert. "I don't want to go to the Acadian or National school anyway."
"You need not feel troubled on that score. So far as I can learn, they are no better than the one you have been going to. But what do you think of Dr. Johnston's school? How would you like to become a pupil there?"
"Oh, father," exclaimed Bert, looking up, with a face expressive of both surprise and concern, "I'm not big enough for that school. They're all big boys that go there."
"But you're a big boy,—for your age, at all events,—Bert," returned Mr. Lloyd, with a reassuring smile, "and you'll soon grow to be as big as any of them."
"But, father," objected Bert, "they're awfully rough there, and so hard on the new fellows. They always hoist them."
"Hoist them?" inquired Mr. Lloyd. "What do you mean?"
"Why, they hang them up on the fence, and then pound them. It hurts awfully. Robbie Simpson told me about it. They hoisted him the first day."