Having once seen how the wind lay, and what he had to expect from the Fifth, he altered the course of his life to suit the new circumstances with the greatest coolness. Instead of going up the river in a pair-oar or a four, he now went up in a sculling boat or a canoe, and seemed to enjoy himself quite as much. Instead of doing his work with Wraysford evening after evening, he now did it undisturbed by himself, and, to judge by his progress in class, more successfully than ever. Instead of practising with the fifteens at football, he went in for a regular course of practice in the gymnasium, and devoted himself with remarkable success to the horizontal bar and the high jump. Instead of casting in his lot in class with a jovial though somewhat distracting set, he now kept his mind free for his studies, and earned the frequent commendation of the Doctor and Mr Jellicott. Now, reader, I ask you, if you had been one of the Fifth of Saint Dominic's would not all this have been very riling? Here was a fellow convicted of a shameful piece of deceit, caught, one might say, in the very act, and by his own conduct as good as admitting it. Here was a fellow, I say, whom every sensible boy ought to avoid, not only showing himself utterly indifferent to the aversion of his class-fellows, but positively thriving and triumphing before their very faces! Was it any wonder if they felt very sore, and increasingly sore on the subject of Oliver Greenfield? One boy, of course, stuck to the exile through thick and thin. If Oliver had murdered all Saint Dominic's with slow poison, Stephen would have stuck to him to the end, and he stuck to him now. He, at least, never once admitted that his brother was guilty. When slowly he first discovered what were the suspicions of the Fifth, and what was the common talk of the school about Oliver, the small boy's indignation was past description. He rushed to his brother. "Do you hear the lies the fellows are telling about you, Noll?" "Yes," said Oliver. "Why don't you stop it, and tell them?" "What's the use? I've told them once. If they don't choose to believe it, they needn't." Any other boy would, of course, have taken this as clear evidence of the elder brother's guilt; but it only strengthened the small boy's indignation. "_I'll_ let them know, if _you_ won't!" and forthwith he went and proceeded to make himself a perfect nuisance in the school. He began with Wraysford. "I say, Wray," he demanded, "do you hear all the lies the fellows are telling about Noll?" "Don't make a row now," said Wraysford, shortly. "I'm busy." But Stephen had no notion of being put down. "The fellows say he stole an exam paper, the blackguards! I'd like to punch all their heads, and I will too!" "Clear out of my study, now," said Wraysford, sharply. Stephen stared at him a moment. Then his face grew pale as he grasped the meaning of it all. "I say, Wray, surely _you_ don't believe it?" he cried.