54 NEWRY SCHOLARSHIP. "The Newry scholarship is adjudged to Julian Home!" Off darts Lillyston, bounds up the hill into the church-yard, and has informed the happy Julian of his good fortune long before the "three cheers for Mr. Burton" and "three cheers for Home" have died away. CHAPTER V. SAINT WERNER'S. "So soon the boy a youth, the youth a man, THE last day at Harton came; the last chapel service in that fair school fabric; the last sermon, "Arise, let us go hence;" the last look at the church-yard and the fourth-form room; the last "Speecher," and delivering up of the monitors' keys; the last farewells to Mr. Carden and the other masters, and the doctor, and their school-fellows and fags; and then, with swelling hearts, Julian and Lillyston got into the special train, thronged with its laughing and noisy passengers, and during the twenty minutes which were occupied by their transit to London, were filled with the melancholy thought that the days of boyhood were over for ever. "Good-by, Frank," said Julian "To-morrow, to fresh fields and pastures new." "Good-by, Julian. We must meet next at St. Werner's." "Mind you write meanwhile." "All right. You shall hear in a week-good-by." 56 BRUCE "EN PRINCE." And Lillyston nodded from the cab window his last farewell to Julian Home, the Harton boy. But if there were partings, what glorious meetings there were too, during those twenty-four hours! Ah! they must be felt, not written of: but I am sure that no family felt a keener joy that day than Julian's mother, and sister, and brothers, when they saw him again, and learned with pride that he had won a scholarship of £100 a year; even Will and Mary, the faithful servants, seemed, when they heard it, to look up to their young master with even more honor than before. Bruce spent the first part of his holidays in shooting, and the latter weeks in all the gayeties of a wealthy London family. He was naturally self-indulgent, and as no one urged him to make good use of his time, he devoted it to every possible amusement which riches could procure. Both he and his parents had a boundless belief in his natural abilities, and these, he thought, would be quite sufficient to gain him such honors as should be a graceful addition to the public reputation which he intended to win. A week or two before the Camford term commenced, he engaged some splendid lodgings, the most expensive which he heard of, and, turning out the furniture which was usually let with them, gave an almost unlimited order to a fashionable upholsterer to see them fitted out with due luxury and taste. When he came up as a freshman, which he deferred doing until the last possible moment, he was himself amazed to see how literally his orders had been obeyed. The rooms were refulgent with splendor: glossy tables, velvet-cushioned chairs, Turkey carpets, rich curtains, and an abundance of mirrors, made them, as the tradesman remarked, "fit for a lord;" and Bruce took possession, with no little pride and selfsatisfaction, at finding himself his own master in so brilliant an abode. Meanwhile the holidays had passed by with Julian very differently, but very happily. Without tiring himself, or harassing his attention by study, he made a rule of devoting to work some portion at least of every day. Long strolls with his mother and sister in the bright summer evenings, bathes and boating excursions with Cyril and Frank, and happy, lonely rambles on the beach, kept him in health and spirits; and he looked forward with eager ambition to the arena which he was so soon to enter. "The Harton boys have gone back by this time, haven't they?" asked Violet, as she sat with her mother and brother on the lawn one afternoon. "Don't you wish you were there again with them, Julian?" "No," said Julian, "I wouldn't exchange St. Werner's man even for Harton boy.” "How soon shall you have to go up to St. Werner's?" said Mrs. Home. "On October fifteenth; in about a fortnight's time. I mean to go up a day or two beforehand, to get settled. You and Violet must come with me, mother." "But is that usual? won't you get laughed at as though you were coming up under female escort?" asked Violet. "Pooh! you don't suppose I care for that," said Julian, "even supposing it were likely to be true; besides" He said no more, but his proud look at his sister's face seemed to imply that he expected rather to be envied than laughed at. Accordingly, they went up together, and, as the train drew nearer and nearer to Camford, all three grew silent and thoughtful. They were rightly conscious that on the years to be spent in college life depended no small part of Julian's future happiness and prosperity. Three years at least would be spent there; years wealthy with all blessing, or prolific of evil and regret. It was night when they arrived, and in the dimlylighted streets there was not enough visible to gratify Julian's eager curiosity. The omnibus was crowded with undergraduates, who were chiefly freshmen, but apparently anxious to seem very much at home. At the station, the piles of luggage seemed interminable, and Mrs. Home and Violet were not sorry to escape from the unusual confusion, to the quiet of their hotel. Next morning, directly after an impatient breakfast, Julian started to call on his tutor. "Which is the way to St. Werner's College?" he asked of the waiter. "Straight along, sir," was the reply; and off he started down King's Parade. In his hurry to make the first acquaintance with his new college, Julian hardly stopped to admire the smooth green quadrangle and lofty turrets of King Henry's College, or St. Mary's, or the Senate House and Library, but strode on to the gate of St. Werner's. Entering, he gazed eagerly at the famous great court, with its chapel, hall, fountain, and master's lodge; and then made his way |