His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and
spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on
his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight
conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy.
Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent look, much less a
civil word. Eric loathed him, and the only good and happy part of the
matter to his own mind was, that conscientiously his only desire was to
get rid of him and be left alone, while he never cherished a particle
of revenge.
While every day Eric was getting on better in form, and winning himself
a very good position with the other boys, who liked his frankness, his
mirth, his spirit, and cleverness, he felt this feud with Barker like a
dark background to all his enjoyment. He even had to manoeuvre daily how
to escape him, and violent scenes were of constant occurrence between
them. Eric could not, and would not, brook his bullying with silence.
His resentment was loud and stinging, and, Ishmaelite as Barker was,
even _his_ phlegmatic temperament took fire when Eric shouted his fierce
and uncompromising retorts in the hearing of the others.
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