You never know."

* * * * *

Towards the end of the second week of term Fate, by way of
compensation, allowed Dunstable a distinct stroke of luck. Mr. Forman,
the master of his new form, set him a hundred lines of Virgil, and
told him to show them up next day. To Dunstable's delight, the next
day passed without mention of them; and when the day after that went
by, and still nothing was said, he came to the conclusion that Mr.
Forman had forgotten all about them.

Which was indeed the case. Mr. Forman was engaged in editing a new
edition of the "Bacchae," and was apt to be absent-minded in
consequence. So Dunstable, with a glad smile, hove the lines into a
cupboard in his study to keep company with the Greek numerals which he
had done for Mr. Day, and went out to play fives with Linton.

Linton, curiously enough, had also had a stroke of luck in a rather
similar way. He told Dunstable about it as they strolled back to the
houses after their game.

"Bit of luck this afternoon," he said. "You remember Appleby setting
me a hundred-and-fifty the day before yesterday? Well, I showed
them up to-day, and he looked through them and chucked them into the
waste-paper basket under his desk. I thought at the time I hadn't seen
him muck them up at all with his pencil, which is his usual game, so
after he had gone at the end of school I nipped to the basket and
fished them out. They were as good as new, so I saved them up in case
I get any more."