Page:JMBarrie Hook at Eton 1925.djvu/13

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remark when he fell asleep again. He will never be nearer to being torn apart like a piece of linen. In the morning he thought he had dreamt the visit, but he is now alive to his celebrity and would much like me to mention his name here, which for that reason I decline to do.

To the common criminal of the night it would be very difficult to invade undetected any of these hives of learning, and still more to enter that room without falling into it, for it is approached by several descending steps which begin suddenly with the opening of the door, and is therefore a sought-after room by boys who anticipate visits from their relatives. James, however, was no stranger to the old Pop room, and he must have come and gone as softly as snow. Whether his object was no more than to shed a delicious tear, or whether, thinking that this was still the club-room of the giants he sought it because he had a definite deed to do is matter for surmise, but later he certainly did break into the present premises of the Eton Society and abstract from its books the evidence that he had once been a member. All other evidence of his connection with Eton to which he could obtain access by hook or jemmy disappeared similarly that night. To obliterate the memory of himself from those tabernacles he had fouled was all this erring son of Eton could do for his beloved. Surely a more tortured revisit to Eton never disturbed her shades. No one saw the Solitary depart. Thus he vanishes, bleeding, from the scene.

His demise must have occurred not long afterward, but for a time the only reason in this country for fearing the untoward