"
With these words Willie bolted from the shop, and set off at full
speed. The latter part of his statement was perfectly true.
The day after the fight, Mr Malison came to the school as usual, but
with his arm in a sling. To Annie's dismay, Alec did not make his
appearance.
It had of course been impossible to conceal his corporal condition from
his mother; and the heart of the widow so yearned over the suffering of
her son, though no confession of suffering escaped Alec's lips, that
she vowed in anger that he should never cross the door of that school
again. For three or four days she held immovably to her resolution,
much to Alec's annoyance, and to the consternation of Mr Malison, who
feared that he had not only lost a pupil, but made an enemy. For Mr
Malison had every reason for being as smooth-faced with the parents as
he always was: he had ulterior hopes in Glamerton. The clergyman was
getting old, and Mr Malison was a licentiate of the Church; and
although the people had no direct voice in the filling of the pulpit,
it was very desirable that a candidate should have none but friends in
the parish.
Mr Malison made no allusion whatever to the events of Monday, and
things went on as usual in the school, with just one exception: for a
whole week the tawse did not make its appearance.
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