"We shall be able to do just what we like all the term.

There! we're in luck.

Mark thinks Ainger's looking after us; and Ainger will think Mark's looking after us; and, Diggy, my boy, nobody will look after us except Smiley--eh, old dog ?" Smiley, who had wonderfully recovered since an hour ago, here made a playful run at the speaker's heels under the belief that the football had recommenced; and the heart-rending yelps which Railsford heard in the room below a few moments later were occasioned by an endeavour to detach the playful pet's teeth from the trouser-ends of his owner's friend.
The Master of the Shell retired to bed that night doubtful about his boys, and doubtful about himself.

He was excellent at shutting stable doors after the abstraction of the horses, and could see a blunder clearly after it had been committed.

Still, hope sprang eternal in the breast of Mark Railsford.