instantaneous withdrawal from the school was a matter of public
necessity. He was afterwards taken, in the charge of a private tutor, to
Europe, where, I trust, we shall NOT meet."

I could not resist saying cheerfully that, at least, Johnnyboy had for a
short time made it lively for the big boys.

The Rev. Mr. Belcher rose slowly, but painfully, said with a deeply
grieved expression, "I don't think that I entirely follow you," and
moved gently away.

The changes of youth are apt to be more bewildering than those of age,
and a decade scarcely perceptible in an old civilization often means
utter revolution to the new. It did not seem strange to me, therefore,
on meeting Jack Bracy twelve years after, to find that he had forgotten
Miss Circe, or that SHE had married, and was living unhappily with a
middle-aged adventurer by the name of Jason, who was reputed to have had
domestic relations elsewhere. But although subjugated and exorcised,
she at least was reminiscent. To my inquiries about the Sluysdaels, she
answered with a slight return of her old vivacity:--

"Ah, yes, dear fellow, he was one of my greatest admirers."

"He was about four years old when you knew him, wasn't he?" suggested
Jason meanly. "Yes, they usually WERE young, but so kind of you to
recollect them. Young Sluysdael," he continued, turning to me, "is--but
of course you know that disgraceful story."

I felt that I could stand this no longer. "Yes," I said indignantly,
"I know all about the school, and I don't call his conduct disgraceful