Smith remained silent, and I who watched him could see that his mind was made up.
“Do you hear Mr Ladislaw, Smith?” demanded the Henniker; “do as you are bid, at once.”
“Please, sir,” began Hawkesbury, with his pleasant smile.
“Silence, Hawkesbury,” said the Henniker. “Now, Smith.”
But she might have been addressing a log of wood.
“Do you hear what I say to you?” once more she exclaimed.
Smith only glared at her with his big eyes, and resolutely held his tongue.
“Then,” said Mr Ladislaw, “Smith must be publicly punished.”
Smith was punished publicly; and a more repulsive spectacle I never wish to witness. A public punishment at Stonebridge House meant a flogging administered to one helpless boy by the whole body of his schoolfellows, two of whom firmly held the victim, while each of the others in turn flogged him. In the case of an unpopular boy like Smith, this punishment was specially severe, and I turned actually sick as each of the cowardly louts stepped up and vented their baffled wrath upon him. Hawkesbury, of course, only made the slightest pretence of touching him; but this of all his punishment seemed to be the part Smith could bear least. At last, when it was all over, the bruised boy slunk back to his desk, and class proceeded.
That night, as I knelt beside my poor chum’s bed, he said, “We’ve paid pretty dear for our run on the heath, Fred.”