<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <br/><span class="cheaderfont">LEAVING SCHOOL.</span></SPAN></h2>
<p>The time arrived, all too soon, when Edgar Foster was
to leave Redbank. Unlike many lads, he was not
eager to have done with lessons, and take his place
in the busy world. During his stay at Redbank he
had made many friends, Will Brown being an
especial favourite with him. Dr. Hook was proud
of his scholar, for Edgar had done as well at work as
at play.</p>
<p>When the holiday time came round, Edgar Foster
bade farewell to Redbank with feelings of regret. As
he looked back at the school he was leaving he
thought of the many happy hours he had spent
within its walls. He had gone through trial and
struggle, such as every lad must encounter, but they
only made victory taste the sweeter.</p>
<p>‘I shall feel quite lonely next term,’ said Will
Brown, who was going home with Edgar to spend a
few days. ‘It’s lucky for some of us Rakes is leaving,
or he would have made it uncomfortably hot. I shall
never forget the thrashing you gave him. It did me
good to see you punish him;’ and Will Brown
chuckled with delight at the mere thought.</p>
<p>‘If I never have a harder battle to fight than that,’
said Edgar, ‘I shall be lucky.’</p>
<p>‘What are you going to do?’ asked Will Brown.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[39]</span></p>
<p>‘With my father’s permission I shall go to Australia,’
said Edgar. ‘You know how fond I have
always been of reading and learning about our great
colonies. I think it is a splendid thing to start life
in a new country, where you are not bound down
by a lot of old-world prejudices.’</p>
<p>‘And what shall you do in Australia?’ asked Will
Brown.</p>
<p>‘I hardly know, but you may be sure I shall
not remain idle very long. There ought to be
plenty for an active young fellow like me to do out
there.’</p>
<p>‘They are great cricketers, the Australians,’ said
Brown. ‘You’re sure to get into one of the best
elevens, and that will help you along.’</p>
<p>‘And give me a chance of a trip home perhaps,’
said Edgar. ‘I should hardly like playing against
England.’</p>
<p>‘I expect you will become such an enthusiastic
colonist that you will be only too eager to assist in
lowering the flag of old England on the cricket-field.’</p>
<p>‘We shall see,’ replied Edgar. ‘Of one thing you
may be quite sure: I shall look upon Australia as my
home if I have to earn my living there.’</p>
<p>Robert Foster was heartily glad to welcome his
son’s schoolmate at Elm Lodge. He was a believer
in schoolboy friendships when judiciously made.</p>
<p>Elm Lodge was not a large place, but it was old-fashioned
and picturesque, and overlooked the
Thames near Twickenham. Robert Foster, in<span class="pagenum">[40]</span>
addition to being a great cricketer, was a skilful
oarsman, and many a Thames waterman had found
it a hard task to row with him. He was also an
enthusiastic fisherman, and knew the favourite haunts
of the famous Thames trout, and where many a good
jack was to be found. There was a boathouse at
Elm Lodge, and Edgar always anticipated a good
time on the great river.</p>
<p>Doris Foster was a bright, merry girl of seventeen,
a perfect picture of ruddy health, her cheeks untouched
by any artificial beautifier. Nature was her
lady’s-maid, and Doris Foster would not have
changed her for the most skilful of tire-women. It
was a difficult matter to keep Doris Foster indoors,
no matter how bad the weather might be. She
revelled in sunshine, but she loved the keen, sharp,
frosty air of winter, and the sound of the frozen snow
crunching beneath her tiny feet. She knew the
names of the wild-flowers, and was well acquainted
with their haunts, and also their habits. She was
not a clever girl, but she was thoroughly domesticated,
a far more desirable accomplishment. Her
father and brother were her best friends, and she
made but few new acquaintances. Doris Foster
was a true-born English girl, not a forced artificial
production such as may be encountered by the score
in the Row, or the fashionable thoroughfares of the
West End. She had not learned to talk slang, and
to consider it correct to endeavour to make people
think, ‘What a pity she is not a man!’</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[41]</span></p>
<p>With the enthusiasm of a schoolboy, Will Brown
adored Doris Foster. There was no maudlin, sentimental
love nonsense about his adoration. It was
the pure affection and liking a healthy youth feels for
a healthy girl.</p>
<p>‘Excuse the expression, Edgar,’ he said one day,
‘but your sister is a brick.’</p>
<p>The schoolboy ‘brick’ is synonymous for everything
that is good. When one lad calls another a
‘brick’ there’s a ring about the word that is unmistakable.
So, when Will Brown called his sister a
brick, Edgar Foster heartily endorsed the sentiment.</p>
<p>‘I’d like to know,’ said Will, ‘if there is anything
she cannot do?’</p>
<p>‘Several things,’ said Edgar.</p>
<p>They were sitting in a boat close to the garden
hedge, and passing their time pleasantly enough.</p>
<p>‘Enumerate some of them,’ said Will Brown incredulously.</p>
<p>‘She cannot smoke,’ said Edgar solemnly; ‘nor
can she make a speech. She would be a ghastly
failure as a woman politician, or a leader of fashion.
I am afraid she could not write a book, and drag all
her female friends through a moral pillory in it. Oh,
there are heaps of things Doris cannot do!’</p>
<p>‘And a jolly good thing, too!’ said Will Brown.
‘I hate stuck-up girls—they’re worse than spoony
girls. Now, your sister—well, a fellow can make a
chum of her, and all that, don’t you know.’</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[42]</span></p>
<p>‘Comprehensive, certainly,’ laughed Edgar. ‘What
does “all that, don’t you know” mean?’</p>
<p>Will Brown waved his hand towards the flowing
river, and was at a loss for an answer.</p>
<p>Splash!</p>
<p>‘What’s that?’ said Will, as he shook the water
off his boating-jacket.</p>
<p>‘That is Miss “All that, don’t you know,”’ laughed
Edgar.</p>
<p>‘Where is she?’ said Will, jumping up, and narrowly
missing overturning the boat.</p>
<p>‘In safety, on the other side of the hedge,’ said
Edgar loudly. ‘She dare not come nearer, for fear
of the consequences.’</p>
<p>Splash!</p>
<p>‘We had better get out of this,’ said Will.</p>
<p>A merry peal of laughter sounded from the other
side of the hedge.</p>
<p>‘You lazy boys! I thought I would rouse you.
Pull the boat round to the steps, and take me for a
row immediately.’</p>
<p>‘We decline to be ordered about,’ said Edgar.
‘Ask politely, and your request may be granted.’</p>
<p>‘Will Mr. William Brown and Mr. Edgar Foster,
of Redbank School—ahem! College—have the goodness
to row to the steps of Elm Lodge, where they
will find Miss Doris Foster at home?’</p>
<p>‘That’s much better,’ said Edgar. ‘Our compliments
to Miss Doris Foster, and we hasten to comply
with her request.’</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[43]</span></p>
<p>‘Pull, Edgar, you lazy beggar!’ said Will, ‘for
Elm Lodge, home, and beauty.’</p>
<p>Doris Foster looked charming in her light summer
dress and large river hat, as she stood on the steps
leading from the lawn to the water.</p>
<p>‘Your ladyship has showered many favours upon
us of late,’ said Will Brown, as he gave her his hand
and she stepped into the boat; ‘in fact, we are in
danger of being overwhelmed with them.’</p>
<p>‘Doris, you ought not to throw stones,’ said Edgar,
with an attempt to be serious.</p>
<p>‘I did not throw stones,’ said Doris.</p>
<p>‘You hear her?’ said Edgar to Will. ‘She did not
throw stones! I blush for my sister.’</p>
<p>‘They were two half-bricks,’ said Doris. ‘Didn’t
they splash!’ And she laughed merrily.</p>
<p>‘There’s prevarication!’ said Edgar. ‘A brick
in this instance is to all intents and purposes a
stone.’</p>
<p>‘A brick is a brick,’ said Doris; ‘therefore it cannot
be a stone.’</p>
<p>‘A brick is not a brick when it is only half a brick,’
said Edgar.</p>
<p>‘If you don’t stop it,’ said Will Brown, ‘I’ll——Look
out!’ he shouted.</p>
<p>There was a bend in the river, and they did not
see the small launch until it was nearly on to them.
The swirl she made in the water caused their boat to
dance up and down in the swell.</p>
<p>‘All your fault,’ said Edgar to his sister. ‘But,<span class="pagenum">[44]</span>
thank goodness! it has put an end to your argument.’</p>
<p>They had a pleasant row, and came back glowing
with health, and very hungry. Luncheon proved
most acceptable, and was thoroughly enjoyed by
these young people with good appetites and no
thoughts of indigestion.</p>
<p>Doris Foster missed Will Brown when he left Elm
Lodge, for she had come to regard him as a sincere
friend. She had, however, other things to occupy
her mind now, for Edgar was to sail for Australia in
a couple of months. She dreaded the parting with
her brother, not only on her own account, but because
she knew how much her father would miss him. She
was half inclined to be angry with Edgar because he
had chosen to go abroad. At the same time, she
admired the spirit of adventure that tempted him
away from a comparatively easy life in England.
She knew if she had been a man she would have
followed her brother’s example.</p>
<p>Robert Foster made the most of the time his son
was to remain at home.</p>
<p>‘I shall be sorry to part with you,’ he said to
Edgar; ‘but you are young, and I am not old. So I
hope, ere many years have gone, we may meet again.
I believe it will do you good to go abroad. One
thing you must bear in mind: come home again if
you do not like it.’</p>
<p>Edgar Foster was fond of the sea, and, as his father
knew the owner of one of the principal lines of sailing<span class="pagenum">[45]</span>
ships trading to Australia, he had decided to make
the voyage in the <em>Distant Shore</em>, a large vessel holding
a quick record.</p>
<p>‘You are quite sure you prefer to go out in a sailing
vessel?’ said Robert Foster. ‘It will be a tedious
voyage.’</p>
<p>‘I am sure the time will pass quickly,’ said Edgar.
‘I love the sea. Those big steamers are too much
like hotels, and I cannot bear hotel life.’</p>
<p>‘Please yourself, my boy. The <em>Distant Shore</em> is a
fine vessel, and Captain Manton a good seaman.
He’ll look after you well, I feel sure.’</p>
<p>The weeks rolled all too quickly by, and the time
drew near when the <em>Distant Shore</em> was to sail for
Sydney.</p>
<p>Edgar Foster paid a visit to Redbank, and was
heartily welcomed by his old schoolmates, who
wished him a prosperous voyage and success in the
new country. Dr. Hook was very kind to him, and
gave him some good advice.</p>
<p>As Edgar shook hands with him, Dr. Hook said:</p>
<p>‘An old friend of mine once gave me what I consider
good advice. He said: “Don’t fret, keep your
temper, and mind your own business.” If you carry
out his precepts, I think you will do well.’</p>
<p>Edgar did not feel in very good spirits when his
last night at home arrived. As he looked around the
cosy room, he wondered how many years it would be
before he saw it again, and the dear ones he must
leave behind. He said to himself he must work hard<span class="pagenum">[46]</span>
and earn a good name, and then he would come home
and be received with open arms.</p>
<p>His father was kinder than ever on this their evening
of parting, and Doris did all in her power to make
things bright and cheerful. Edgar never ceased to
remember this particular night, and it came vividly
before him on many occasions when far away.</p>
<p>Robert Foster and his daughter saw Edgar sail in
the <em>Distant Shore</em>, and waved him a tearful farewell.</p>
<p>As Edgar stood looking at them he felt lonely, and
when they gradually receded from his sight he heaved
a sigh, and felt a choking sensation in his throat.</p>
<p>When Robert Foster and Doris reached Elm Lodge
again he kissed her fondly, and said in a broken
voice:</p>
<p>‘God knows when we shall see him again, Doris.
You are all I have left now; you must not leave your
father.’</p>
<p>‘Edgar will return some day,’ she said quietly. ‘I
will take his place until then. When he comes back
you will forget all the sorrow of parting.’</p>
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