"Now, go to your seat."

Eric did go to his seat, with all his bad passions roused, and he walked
in a jaunty and defiant kind of way that made the master really grieve
at the disgrace into which he had fallen. But he instantly became a hero
with the form, who unanimously called him a great brick for not telling,
and admired him immensely for bearing up without crying under so severe
a punishment. The punishment _was_ most severe, and for some weeks after
there were dark weals visible across Eric's palm, which rendered the use
of his hands painful.

"Poor Williams," said Duncan, as they went out of school, "how very
plucky of you not to cry."

"Vengeance deep brooding o'er the _cane_,
Had locked the source of softer woe;
And burning pride, and high disdain,
Forbade the gentler tear to flow,"

said Eric, with a smile.

But he only bore up until he got home, and there, while he was telling
his father the occurrence, he burst into a storm of passionate tears,
mingled with the fiercest invectives against Mr. Gordon for his
injustice.

"Never mind, Eric," said his father; "only take care that you never get
a punishment _justly_, and I shall always be as proud of you as I am
now. And don't cherish this resentment, my boy; it will only do you
harm. Try to forgive and forget."