"I'll lick him again to-morrow." "Softly, my son! It was not of HIM I speak, but of something more terrible and awful.

Were you not afraid of--of--" he paused, and suddenly darting his clear eyes into the very depths of Clarence's soul, added--"of YOURSELF ?" The boy started, shuddered, and burst into tears.
"So, so," said the priest gently, "we have found our real enemy.

Good! Now, by the grace of God, my little warrior, we shall fight HIM and conquer." Whether Clarence profited by this lesson, or whether this brief exhibition of his quality prevented any repetition of the cause, the episode was soon forgotten.

As his school-fellows had never been his associates or confidants, it mattered little to him whether they feared or respected him, or were hypocritically obsequious, after the fashion of the weaker.

His studies, at all events, profited by this lack of distraction.