Luckily, by the time the discussion was over it was time for him to go.

He certainly could not have held out much longer.

As it was, he was good for nothing after it, and went to bed early that night with a very bad headache.
Before he left, however, the doctor had accompanied him into the hall, and said, "There are a few things, Riddell, I want to speak to you about.

Will you come to my study a quarter of an hour before morning chapel to-morrow ?" Had the invitation been to breakfast in that horrible parlour Riddell would flatly have declined it.

As it was he cheerfully accepted it, and only wished the doctor had thought of it before, and spared him the misery of that evening with the two Willoughby griffins! He could hardly help guessing what it was the doctor had to say to him, or why it was he had been asked to tea that evening.