He therefore replied that he must either remove Ernest
from Roughborough altogether, which would for many reasons be
undesirable, or trust to the discretion of the head-master as
regards the treatment he might think best for any of his pupils.
Ernest said no more; he still felt that it was so discreditable to him
to have allowed any confession to be wrung from him, that he could not
press the promised amnesty for himself.
It was during the "Mother Cross row," as it was long styled among
the boys, that a remarkable phenomenon was witnessed at
Roughborough: I mean that of the head boys under certain conditions
doing errands for their juniors. The head boys had no bounds and could
go to Mrs. Cross's whenever they liked; they actually, therefore, made
themselves go-betweens, and would get anything from either Mrs.
Cross's or Mrs. Jones's for any boy, no matter how low in the
school, between the hours of a quarter to nine and nine in the
morning, and a quarter to six and six in the afternoon. By degrees,
however, the boys grew bolder, and the shops, though not openly
declared in bounds again, were tacitly allowed to be so.
CHAPTER XLIV
I MAY spare the reader more details about my hero's school days.
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