school told me so before they called the name
— was Garnett. He advanced to the table in
his gown as a foundation boy, and took the
little case of books, which was the prize,
with a bow to the company. The master
spoke some words of compliment as he sat
down, amidst the boys' cheers. I had glanced
again at Alice a moment before. She was
then looking round the room, as if in search
of me, for she could not have seen me where
I sat. When the prize was given, she was
looking down with a thoughtful expression.
Was she grieved, i thought, for my
failure?

I did not care to see my friends just then;
but, with a cowardice of which I was afterwards
ashamed, I stole away, before any of
the rest, to walk down by the wharfs alone.
As I came out of the playground I saw some
one stealthily peeping round from the corner
of the lane — some one who withdrew quickly
on seeing me; and, as I came to the end of
the lane, I saw the same figure walking away
up a yard which was not a thoroughfare. It
turned back before I had passed it long, and
looking behind me after a while, I saw the
same person where I had first seen him still
peeping round, and ducking the head, and
shrinking back in a manner which even to
me then seemed very ludicrous. It was old
Garnett, more shabby and greasy than ever.
He was watching for his son, no doubt to get
the earliest news of the result of his
examination, and unwilling to be seen by the
company in their holiday attire.

I knew that Garnett would soon join his
father, and walk away with him into Salters'
Hall Garden, and I was glad to think that
for this reason he would not miss me; but it
was a rare thing, indeed, and it seemed
strange to me to go down by the river without
Garnett. Something of the feeling which
had come upon me unawares, when talking
to Alice and my godfather of the boys who
would compete with me, returned. What it
was exactly I shrank from asking of myself:
but I felt that it did injury to my whole
nature. Never till then had I dreamed that
I regarded my old friend and schoolfellow
with the faintest thought of envy; but now
I remembered that my preparation for this
prize day had been different from all other
such occasions. I had never told Garnett
those things in which I had taken most pains,
and for which I hoped for success. I had
thought that there was no other reason for
this than a wish to win my prizes fairly—
not taxing his generosity to let me win by
his neglect— for how could we two strive
against one another for the same thing? But
now I felt that there had been another feeling,
which he had never suspected — a shrinking
from the whole subject of the examinations,
closely akin to the cowardice with
which I now stole away from him to walk
about alone.

There was some public festival that day,
on what occasion I have now forgotten; but
all along the river above bridge the barges
and small vessels had colours flying, and
from some of the wharfs they fired guns.
Many people were about; the day, though at
the beginning of November, and rather cold,
was fine and cheerful, and the exercise of
walking, and the bustle that I saw, helped to
raise my spirits. I determined to shake off
my gloomy thoughts and ungenerous feelings,
and go back at once. As I drew near the
school again, I met Garnett just coming from
Salters' Hall Garden. He came up to me
and shook hands, looking so cheerful, and so
far from suspecting what had been my feeling
that I was struck with remorse. I would
gladly have told him the whole history of
that day; but dared not, lest even a breath of
such a sentiment as envy should so change
our friendship, that it could never be again
what it had been.

Nor was this all. I could not rest without
giving some active tokens of this feeling
towards him. When I went into my father's
counting house, I begged my father to take
him also, that he might serve his articles
with me, which was agreed to. And now
Garnett, living in the house with me, and
being my constant, faithful companion, as
before, all thought of that unlucky day
soon vanished. Such was his openness and
generous nature, that no dream of rivalry
had ever ruffled it. I could not help feeling
this, and growing to admire him and respect
him more and more. Indeed, I had become
now so used to his society— for I had no
other friend— that when he had been absent
in the country on business for a few days, the
place seemed empty, and I as if all the
habits of my life had suffered violent change.
Nor even when his term was ended, and he
began business for himself, were we less
together; for his office was not far off. He
took at first some troublesome business,
which my father did not care to have, but
which to him was welcome; and with this,
and some connection which he secured for
himself, he soon began to make a little way.
The most remarkable change, however, which
this introduced was in the appearance of old
Garnett. From the first the son had treated
him as the head of the new business, writing
up on the door of his office the words
"Garnett and Son;" and now, the old man was
seen no more loitering about the courts in
the city, or chatting on door-steps, with his
old companions. Whether he was the chief
of a fraternity of greasy, shabby old men,
which fell into complete dissolution when he
resigned his post, or whether he helped at
once to clothe them better, or by what other
surmise to explain the fact, I know not; but
certain it is that, from that day, even his old
associates seemed to have vanished. Some
of their faces and other characteristics I
knew well; but I often looked for them in
vain, wondering where they had gone, or