Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IK. WIN AND SLOW. ' The rude will shuffle through with ease enough : Great schools best suit the sturdy and the rough.' COWPER. At school Griffith was very happy, and brilliantly successful, alike in study and sport, though sports were not made prominent in those days, and triumphs in them were regarded by the elders with doubtful pride, lest they should denote a lack of attention to matters of greater importance. All his achievements were, however, poured forth by himself and Clarence to Emily and me, and we felt as proud of them as if they had been our own. Clarence was industrious, and did not fail in his school work, but when he came home for the holidays there was a cowed look about him, and private revelations were made over my sofa that made my flesh creep. The scars were still visible, caused by having been compelled to grasp the bars of the grate bare-handed; and, what was worse, he had been suspended outside a third story window by the wrists, held by a schoolfellow of thirteen! 'But what was Griff about?' I demanded, with hot tears of indignation. ' Oh, Win!—that's what they call him, and me Slow;—he said it would do me good. But I don't think it did, Eddy. It only makes my heart beat fit to choke me whenever I go near the passage window.' I could only utter a vain wish that I had been there and able to fight for him, and I attacked Griff on the subject on the first opportunity. ' Oh!' was his answer,' it is only what all fellows have to bear if there's no pluck in them. They tried it on upon me, you know, but I soon showed them it would not do'—with the cock of the nose, the flash of the eyes, the clench of the fist, that were peculiarly Griffs own; and when I pleaded that he might have protected Clarence, he laughed scornfully. ' As...