few months of Mrs. Wardleigh's life were cheered by the favourable reports she now received on all hands, of the marked change in her son's habits. Her death did not cause any relapse in the boy's improvement. If anything, it seemed to stimulate him to a more strict compliance with her desire, than he had shown before. He carried off the prizes in every class through which he passed, until, at the beginning of his eighteenth year, he found himself pitted, as the reader has heard, against the champions of the other two sections of the school. During the last half-year the interest in the approaching struggle had been gradually growing, until it eclipsed every other matter which ordinarily occupied the attention of the boys.

The fatal day arrived at last. The two examiners, one from Oxford, the other from Cambridge-both of them Harchester men who had carried off the great prizes of their respective Universities-arrived at the head master's house, as his guests for the occasion. The examination began, and was carried on for three days consecutively. Every paper, as it came out, became the subject of eager speculation as to how it was likely to affect the chances of the several candidates. All manner of rumours were circulated, each being continually contradicted by another, as soon as it had obtained credence; and the candidates themselves were overwhelmed by their friends with anxious questions, as to the success they had had. At length the last paper was given in, and nothing remained but the announcement-which would certainly be made on the following morning-as to who had proved the victor in the momentous contest.

CHAPTER III.

FIRST TWO YEARS-OSBORNE AND WARDLEIGH.

WISH they would give this out!" exclaimed Rush, one of the home boarders, as he stood surrounded by a cluster of his schoolfellows in the long passage leading from the head master's study to the schoolroom. "If I had known how long they would be about it, I should have gone home two hours ago. I never knew the decision so late in coming."

"Well, you know what we heard this morning?" said Maples, his next-door neighbour. "It was said that there was a dead heat between two of the horses-some said between all three of the favourites. But that turned out to be a mistake of Tom Bedwell's. There were three decidedly better than the others, but only two running neck-and-neck.”

"Yes," said Hinton, one of the commoners, "the run is between Osborne and Wardleigh, and they gave them the paper of Greek verse this morning to settle it. It's

pretty safe to be given in Wardleigh's favour. His Greek verse beats Osborne's all to smithereens."

"That's what you think, is it?" said Floyer, a foundationer. "Guess you know nothing of Osborne's Greek verse, or you wouldn't say that. Barnet said, only last week, that Osborne's iambics might have come out of one of the Greek plays."

"What's more," said Hutchinson, another foundationer, "I judge the tie, if there is one, is between Osborne and Wilton, not Osborne and Wardleigh. That stiff history and geography paper must have shut up your pet Wardleigh pretty close, I expect."

"You may fancy, and fancy, and fancy just what you like," observed Clarkson; "but your fancies don't go for much. The only thing that is clear to my mind is, that there must be an awfully near run between some of the fellows."

"We shall know now," cried Rush, "for here is Tom Bedwell, at last. Well, Tom," he continued, as Dr. Barnet's servant appeared in the passage, "who is it, then? Not me, I am afraid."

"I don't think it is, Mr. Rush. Leastways, the doctor didn't mention your name. It's Mr. Wardleigh and Mr. Osborne he wants to see."

The two boys, who had been hanging about in a state of nervous fidget, obeyed the summons with alacrity, and disappeared through the head master's door. A fresh dispute now arose, as to what this summons might portend. It appeared, certainly, to confirm the report circulated in the forenoon. But though the foundationers and commoners were satisfied with this view of the

matter, the home boarders refused their consent. They felt assured that there must have been a doubt as to the meaning of some passages in their papers, which required explanation, before they could come to a decision; but there was no reason for supposing either to be the successful candidate. This view seemed to be confirmed when, a few minutes afterwards, another message arrived, summoning Wilton also to the doctor's study. Half an hour passed, during which the excitement continued to increase. Then the three boys returned, and the mystery was at last made clear.

The Harford scholar, it appeared, was Osborne. The Dodd Exhibition, given sometimes, though rarely, to the second, and worth forty pounds a year, was awarded to Wilton; but the circumstances attending the award were peculiar. During the first two days the run between the three principal competitors had been so close a one, that it was impossible to say which would prove the winner. Then Wilton had fallen behind, slightly indeed, but enough to forfeit his chance. The struggle between the other two had continued to be as severe as ever; and at last the two boys had been sent for to construe two extremely difficult passages in Plato and Tacitus, to determine the question between them. They were told, at the same time, that the examiners were so pleased with their performances, that it had been resolved to give the Dodd that year to whichever of them failed to win the scholarship itself. They only regretted that there was not a third prize of equal value to bestow on Wilton; who, though a trifle behind the other two, had acquitted himself excellently in the examination. Thereupon,

D

instead of complying with the examiners' directions to read out the passage from Plato, Wardleigh had asked to be allowed to say a word. He represented that he had been induced to compete for the scholarship, because it was the wish of others that he should do so, but it was of no pecuniary consequence to him. Under these circumstances, he hoped he should not be thought presumptuous, if he now resigned the contest in favour of his schoolfellows; he himself being quite satisfied with the acknowledgment that he and Osborne had been. equal in the examination. The proposal was warmly approved by Dr. Barnet, who was well acquainted with the circumstances of all the boys, and who would have been a good deal distressed by the failure of either Osborne or Wilton.

The matter was, therefore, so arranged The head master and the examiners shook hands with Wardleigh; and Mr. Ingram, the Oxford examiner, expressed his satisfaction at hearing that he was about to enter St. Cuthbert's as a commoner, so that they would not lose him, in consequence of his generous conduct. The boys drank his health, with three times three, at the school supper, and made him the hero of the evening-a piece of chivalry of this kind being the thing of all others that wins their admiration. Osborne and Wilton thanked Wardleigh heartily, but made no scruple of accepting his kindness-aware that, to their friends, the thing was of too much importance to be declined. But a few weeks afterwards, when Osborne had been declared the winner of the English poem, always recited on the breaking-up day as its prime attraction, and his mother and sister