“Oh, very well, I think,” said Grey, glancing sideways at his questioner, and adding, after a moment, “I have wondered rather not to see you there of late.”
“Are you going to your school?” said Tom, breaking away from the subject.
“Yes, and I am rather late; I must make haste on; good night.”
“Will you let me go with you to-night? It would be a real kindness. Indeed,” he added, as he saw how embarrassing his proposal was to Grey, “I will do whatever you tell me—you don't know how grateful I should be to you. Do let me go—just for to-night. Try me once.”
Grey hesitated, turned his head sharply once or twice as they walked on together, and then said with something like a sigh—
“I don't know, I'm sure. Did you ever teach in a night school?”
“No, but I have taught in the Sunday-school at home sometimes. Indeed, I will do whatever you tell me.”
“Oh! but this is not at all like a Sunday-school. They are a very rough, wild lot.”
“The rougher the better,” said Tom; “I shall know how to manage them then.”
“But you must not really be rough with them.”