Next morning he awoke, restless and feverish.  He at once remembered what had passed.  Bull’s words haunted him; he could not forget them; they burnt within him like the flame of a moral fever.  He was moody and petulant, and for a time could hardly conceal his aversion to Bull.  Ah Eric! moodiness and petulance cannot save you, but prayerfulness would; one word, Eric, at the throne of grace—­one prayer before you go down among the boys, that God in his mercy would wash away, in the blood of his dear Son, your crimson stains, and keep your conscience and memory clean.

The boy knelt down for a few minutes, and repeated to himself a few formal words.  Had he stayed longer on his knees, he might have given way to a burst of penitence and supplication—­but he heard Bull’s footstep, and getting up, he ran down stairs to breakfast; so Eric did not pray.

Conversations did not generally drop so suddenly in dormitory No. 7.  On the contrary, they generally flashed along in the liveliest way, till some one said “Good night;” and then the boys turned off to sleep.  Eric knew this, and instantly conjectured that it was only a sort of respect for him, and ignorance of the manner in which he would consider it, that prevented Duncan and the rest from taking any further notice of Bull’s remark.  It was therefore no good disburdening his mind to any of them; but he determined to speak about the matter to Russell in their next walk.

They usually walked together on Sunday.  Dr. Rowlands had discontinued the odious and ridiculous custom of the younger boys taking their exercise under a master’s inspection.  Boys are not generally fond of constitutionals, so that on the half-holidays they almost entirely confined their open-air exercise to the regular games, and many of them hardly left the play-ground boundaries once a week.  But on Sundays they often went walks, each with his favorite friend or companion.  When Eric first came as a boarder, he invariably went with Russell on Sunday, and many a pleasant stroll they had taken together, sometimes accompanied by Duncan, Montagu, or Owen.  The latter, however, had dropped even this intercourse with Eric, who for the last few weeks had more often gone with his new friend Upton.

“Come a walk, boy,” said Upton, as they left the dining-room.

“O excuse me to-day, Upton,” said Eric, “I’m going with your cousin.”

“Oh very well,” said Upton, in high dudgeon, and, hoping to make Eric jealous, he went a walk with Graham, whom he had “taken up” before he knew Williams.

Russell was rather surprised when Eric came to him and said, “Come a stroll to Fort Island, Edwin—­will you?”

“O yes,” said Russell cheerfully; “why, we haven’t seen each other for some time lately!  I was beginning to fancy that you meant to drop me, Eric.”

He spoke with a smile, and in a rallying tone, but Eric hung his head, for the charge was true.  Proud of his popularity among all the school, and especially at his friendship with so leading a fellow as Upton, Eric had not seen much of his friend since their last conversation about swearing.  Indeed, conscious of failure, he felt sometimes uneasy in Russell’s company.