"No, Home was head; his brilliant composition, and thorough knowledge of the books, brought him to the top. Either he or Owen were first in all the papers except one." "Which was that, sir?" "The Aeschylus paper, in which you were first, Mr Kennedy; you did it remarkably accurately. If you had seen the paper, you could hardly have done it better." "Indeed! Would you give me a library order, sir?" said Kennedy, rising abruptly, to change the subject. Mr Grayson was offended at this sudden change of subject, and, silently writing the order, bade Kennedy a cold "good morning." All that Kennedy hoped was that he would not tell others as well as himself, the odious fact of his success. The thought damped his spirits, but he shook it off. The novelty of returning as a junior soph, the pleasure of meeting the familiar faces once more, the consciousness of that bright change of existence, which, during the past vacation, had bound the golden thread of Violet's destiny with his, filled him with inward exultation. And then there was real delight in the warmth with which he was greeted by all alike. He found himself, very unexpectedly, a hero in the general estimation. The romantic adventure on the Schilthorn had been rumoured about among the numerous English visitors to the Valley of Lauterbrunnen, until it had reached the editor of a local paper, and so had flowed through _Galignani_ into the general stream of the English journals. True, the names had been suppressed, but all the Saint Werner's men knew who was intended by "Mr K dash y," and as he entered the hall there was a murmur of applause. He was greeted on all sides with eager questions. "I say, Mr K dash y," said one, "did the fellow whom you shot die of his wound?" "It was rather a chouse to shoot a cretin, though," said another, in chaff. "I _didn't_ shoot him," said Kennedy. "No, you very leerily managed to make the other fellow shoot him. Preserve me from my friends, must have been his secret reflections." "Have you kept the guns, Kennedy? You must let me have a look after hall." While this kind of talk was going on, Brogten, who was nearly opposite to Kennedy, sat silent, and watched him. He did not join in the remarks about the night adventure in Switzerland, but when there was a slight pause in the fire of questions, he turned the conversation to the subject of the May examination. "Those are not your only triumphs, Kennedy, it appears. You seem to have been doing uncommonly well in the examination, too." "Oh aye, you were in the first ten," said Suton; "Mr Grayson told me so." "Who was first?" asked Lillyston. "Oh, Home of course; except in one paper, and Kennedy was first in that." "I believe that was the Aeschylus paper," said Brogten, throwing the slightest unusual emphasis into his tone; "you were first in that, weren't you, Kennedy?"