Bring your
shorthand book and lots of pencils, mind.'
'How many?'
'Oh, half a dozen will do.'
The boy turned in and hurried after his sister. But he was so busy
collecting all the pencils and paper he could find that he forgot to
brush his hair, and consequently appeared at the supper table with a
head like a tangled blackberry bush. His eyes were bright as stars.
CHAPTER XIV
O pure one, take thy seat in the barque of the Sun,
And sail thou over the sky.
Sail thou with the imperishable stars,
Sail thou with the unwearied stars.
_Pyramid Texts, Dynasty VI._
But Henry Rogers ran the whole two hundred yards to his lodgings in
the carpenter's house. He ran as though the entire field of brilliant
stars were at his heels. There was bewilderment, happiness,
exhilaration in his blood. He had never felt so light-hearted in his
life. He felt exactly fifteen years of age--and a half. The half was
added to ensure a good, safe margin over the other two.
But he was late for supper too--later than the children, for first he
jotted down some notes upon the back of an envelope. He wrote them at
high speed, meaning to correct them later, but the corrections were
never made. Later, when he came to bed, the envelope had been tidied
away by the careful housewife into the dustbin.
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