So I went, under the painful suspicion that I had failed, and was to be punished accordingly. I was not yet aware that the succeeding boy went on with the lesson where his predecessor had left off; and when he had said his three or four lines, he likewise was dismissed, and so on--it being taken for granted, that the boy knew the remainder of the task; but this extreme innocence of mine, when I informed the master that I had not accomplished the whole lesson, is not a little amusing, when compared to my future career, was it not for the remorse a man of crime might feel when he reverts his thoughts to a time ere he had transgressed. At that time I should have acted similarly under every circumstance; I intended well. "Now let us go to breakfast," said Kennedy, as I returned to the room. "Will you fellows get it ready, and make the tea," asked Tyrrel, "while I go and lay breakfast for my master?" Kennedy and myself were as yet exempt from that duty for a fortnight, which is the privilege granted to each new comer. "What a lucky fellow I am," said Tyrrel, on his return, "to have you two in my mess, with your new set of tea-things, and a double set, too! If we manage well, they'll last us easily to the holidays. Till you came, I was obliged to slip into other fellows' rooms, and sharp a cup of tea. Now, let us regularly lock up everything in my cupboard, for it's quite empty; how comfortable we shall be; and your pictures, Kennedy, make the room look so nice!" "And what beautiful frames they have!" I observed. "The frames and glasses," replied Kennedy, "were a present for those views about home, which a sister sketched for me." "What shall we do after twelve?" asked Tyrrel. "Can't we go out in a boat?" It was soon arranged that Kennedy and Tyrrel should play at cricket, and that I should stay in to work at my Greek, of which another lesson occurred at five-o'clock-school. At two o'clock, the trio met at dinner; after which we proceeded to our room, where, soon as we entered, Kennedy beheld each of his drawings rifled of their glasses, which lay shivered to pieces beneath them on the floor. Gregory _mi_ had, in an unlucky moment, lounged into the room with a little cross-bow, and had practised his skill on each in succession. "Never mind, Kennedy," said Tyrrel, "they must have been broken one time or another." I now proceeded unwarily enough to the cloisters, where I thought I might puzzle out my hieroglyphical task more in quiet. "I say, my little man, you must come and bowl to me." "I've got my lesson to learn," I replied.