"Ho! ho!" said I to myself, "nice boys these to be going in for an exam.! How can they expect to do anything if they dawdle away their time in this way! I declare I quite feel as if I were taking an unfair advantage of them to be grinding away up here!" Had I realised that these three fellows had been working incessantly for the last month, and were now taking a breath of fresh air in anticipation of the ordeal of the following day, I should have been less astonished at what I saw, and more inclined to work, at any rate this day, like mad. But I allowed my benevolent desire not to take an unfair advantage to prevail, and was soon far up the stream with my fishing-rod. So Monday passed. In the evening I had another turn at my books, but an unsatisfactory one. "What's the use of muddling my brain? I had better take it easy, and be fresh for to-morrow," thought I, as I shut them up and pushed my chair back from the table. Next morning brought me a letter from my father: "This will reach you on the eventful day. You know who will be thinking of their boy every moment. We are happy to know your success is so sure; but don't be _too_ confident till it's all well over. Then we shall be ready to rejoice with you. I have already heard of rooms at Cambridge for you; so you see mother and I are counting our chickens before they are hatched! But I have no fears, after what you have told me." This letter made me unhappy; the sight of my books made me unhappy; the sight of Wilton, Johnson, and Walker, fresh and composed, made me unhappy; the sight of the doctor wishing me good morning made me unhappy. I was, in fact, thoroughly uncomfortable. The list of those one or two little matters that I had intended to polish off grew every time I thought of them, till they wellnigh seemed to eclipse the other subjects about which I felt sure. What an ass I had been! "The candidates for the Calton Scholarship are to go to the doctor's class-room!" To the doctor's class-room we four accordingly proceeded. On the way, not to appear nervous, I casually inquired of Wilton if he had caught any specimens yesterday. "Yes," he said gaily. "I got one splendid fellow, a green-winged moth. I'll show him to you in my study after the exam, is over." Here was a fellow who could calmly contemplate the end of this day's ordeal. I dared not do as much as that! The doctor affably welcomed us to his room, and bade us be seated. Several quires of blank paper, one or two pens, a ruler, and ink, were provided at each of our four desks. Then a printed paper of questions was handed to each, and the examination began.