"No it wasn't!" roared Thomas, determined to purge his soul. "It was _me_! I was in the Study when Pip was outside, and I did it and got out when he was talking to Isabel, and--and I won't do it again. Aah--ooh!" * * * * * Pip became a hero, of course, but bore his honours with indifference. Isabel expostulated with him. "It was awful brave of you to say nothin' all the time," she remarked admiringly. "There was nothing to say," replied Pip, with truth. "But you said nothin' when you knew it was Tommy all the time," persisted Isabel, anxious to keep her idol on his pedestal. "I didn't think it was Tommy," said Pip; "I thought it was you." Isabel's round eyes grew positively owl-like. "Me? Oh, Pip! How _splendid_ of you!" In his lifetime Pip inspired three women with love for him--two more than his proper allowance. Isabel was the first. The others will follow in due course. CHAPTER III "HAM" THE schoolmaster realises early in his career that he is not a universally popular person. If he keeps his boys in order and compels them to work, they dislike him heartily; if he allows them to do as they please they despise him; if he is cheerful and jocose in his demeanour, they consider him "a funny ass"; if he is austere and academic, they call him "a gloomy swine." If he endeavours, by strong measures, to call sinners to repentance, he is said to have done so from personal spite; and if he shows kindness to the few righteous persons whom he may encounter in his form, he is accused of favouritism. After he has been at school a short time he realises this, and it distresses him.