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"You only want to leave because you are expected to work here; and that is the very reason I wish you to stay." Cashel made no reply; but his face darkened ominously. "I have a word to say to the doctor before I go," she added, reseating herself. "You may return to your play now. Good-bye, Cashel." And she again raised her face to be kissed. "Good-bye," said Cashel, huskily, as he turned toward the door, pretending that he had not noticed her action. "Cashel!" she said, with emphatic surprise. "Are you sulky?" "No," he retorted, angrily. "I havent said anything. I suppose my manners are not good enough, Im very sorry; but I cant help it." "Very well," said Mrs. Byron, firmly. "You can go, Cashel. I am not pleased with you." Cashel walked out of the room and slammed the door. At the foot of the staircase he was stopped by a boy about a year younger than himself, who accosted him eagerly. "How much did she give you?" he whispered. "Not a halfpenny," replied Cashel, grinding his teeth. "Oh, I say!" exclaimed the other, much disappointed. "That was beastly mean." "Shes as mean as she can be," said Cashel. "Its all old Monkeys fault. He has been cramming her with lies about me. But shes just as bad as he is. I tell you, Gully, I hate my mother." "Oh, come!" said Gully, shocked. "Thats a little too strong, old chap. But she certainly ought to have stood something." "I dont know what you intend to do, Gully; but I mean to bolt. If she thinks I am going to stick here for the next two years she is jolly much mistaken." "It would be an awful lark to bolt," said Gully, with a chuckle. "But," he added, seriously, "if you really mean it, by George, Ill go too! Wilson has just given me a thousand lines; and Ill be hanged if I do them." "Gully," said Cashel, his eyes sparkling, "I should like to see one of those chaps we saw on the common pitch into the doctor--get him on the ropes, you know." Gullys mouth watered. "Yes," he said, breathlessly; "particularly the fellow they called the Fibber. Just one round would be enough for the old beggar. Lets come out into the playground; I shall catch it if I am found here." Part II That night there was just sufficient light struggling through the clouds to make Panley Common visible as a black expanse, against the lightest tone of which a piece of ebony would have appeared pale. Not a human being was stirring within a mile of Moncrief House, the chimneys of which, ghostly white on the side next the moon, threw long shadows on the silver-gray slates. The stillness had just been broken by the stroke of a quarter past twelve from a distant church tower, when, from the obscurity of one of these chimney shadows, a head emerged. It belonged to a boy, whose body presently wriggled through an open skylight. When his shoulders were through he turned himself face upward, seized the miniature gable in which the skylight was set, drew himself completely out, and made his way stealthily down to the parapet. He was immediately followed by another boy. The door of Moncrief House was at the left-hand corner of the front, and was surmounted by a tall porch, the top of which was flat and could be used as a balcony. A wall, of the same height as the porch, connected the house front with the boundary wall, and formed part of the enclosure of a fruit garden which lay at the side of the house between the lawn and the playground. When the two boys had crept along the parapet to a point directly above the porch they stopped, and each lowered a pair of boots to the balcony by means of fishing-lines. When the boots were safely landed, their owners let the lines drop and reentered the house by another skylight. A minute elapsed. Then they reappeared on the top of the porch, having come out through the window to which it served as a balcony. Here they put on their boots, and stepped on to the wall of the fruit garden. As they crawled along it, the hindmost boy whispered. "I say, Cashy." "Shut up, will you," replied the other under his breath. "Whats wrong?" "I should like to have one more go at old mother Moncriefs pear-tree; thats all." "There are no pears on it this season, you fool." "I know. This is the last time we shall go this road, Cashy. Usent it to be a lark? Eh?" "If you dont shut up, it wont be the last time; for youll be caught. Now for it." Cashel had reached the outer wall, and he finished his sentence by dropping from it to the common. Gully held his breath for some moments after the noise made by his companions striking the ground. Then he demanded in a whisper whether all was right. "Yes," returned Cashel, impatiently. "Drop as soft as you can." Gully obeyed; and was so careful lest his descent should shake the earth and awake the doctor, that his feet shrank from the concussion. He alighted in a sitting posture, and remained there, looking up at Cashel with a stunned expression. "Crikey!" he ejaculated, presently. "That was a buster." "Get up, I tell you," said