Then he looked at Charlton, and thought how sad he looked, even in his sleep; and he noted how often he sighed. Perhaps he was dreaming of his father.
That sent him thinking of his own father, and the mystery of his fate; and he pondered whether it would ever be possible for him--a lonely boy in this strange land--to find out the truth concerning his parent's disappearance. But he was not altogether alone; it was wrong to think of himself in that light. God had given him a friend in Mr. St. Clive, and another in Mrs. St. Clive, and yet a third--a very nice, lovable third--in Irene! Ralph, who had never had anything to do with girls, thought Irene the sweetest, dearest little friend that it would be possible to find.
A bell rang, and his companions stretched and yawned and opened their eyes; and though some grunted and turned over again, determined to have every minute they could, several jumped up at once, and hastily pulling on their clothes began sluicing and splashing in good, honest, cold water.
"Hallo! Awake? Slept well?" queried Warren seeing that Ralph was preparing to follow the example of these last boys. "Any one try any games with you in the night?" And he came and sat down on Ralph's bed, and grinned when the new boy answered that he had not been disturbed.
"I suppose they thought better of it. That is your basin!" he added, pointing to one washstand. "Mind that they don't take all the water, or you will either have to sneak another fellow's, or go and get some more for yourself. Look sharp, and then we will go and have a turn with the bells, and a spin afterwards, I like to get all I can before breakfast; it seems to set a fellow up for the day."
Ralph nodded, and began vigorously sluicing and polishing; and the boys, too busy about their own business, paid no attention to him. He was quite capable of looking after himself, in their opinion. At last, all ready to accompany the monitor, he quietly repeated his action of the previous night--he knelt down in prayer.
That staggered even Warren. As a whole, the boys were good lads, but even those who had been accustomed to evening prayers in their homes did not seem to think that morning prayers were quite as important. They wanted to scramble off to play as quickly as possible. The Head always read prayers in school, and that was enough; and here was this new fellow wasting precious time in this way!