"Eric, Eric," said Mrs. Williams faintly, "where have you been? has
anything happened to you, my child?"
"No, mother, nothing. I've only been crabfishing with Russell, and we
forgot the time."
"Thoughtless boy," said his father, "your mother has been in an agony
about you."
Eric saw her pale face and tearful eyes, and flung himself in her arms,
and mother and son wept in a long embrace. "Only two months," whispered
Mrs. Williams, "and we shall leave you, dear boy, perhaps forever. O do
not forget your love for us in the midst of new companions."
The end of term arrived; this time Eric came out eighth only instead of
first, and, therefore, on the prize day, was obliged to sit among the
crowd of undistinguished boys. He saw that his parents were
disappointed, and his own ambition was grievously mortified. But he had
full confidence in his own powers, and made the strongest resolutions to
work hard the next half-year, when he had got out of "that
Gordon's" clutches.
The Williams' spent the holidays at Fairholm, and now, indeed, in the
prospect of losing them, Eric's feelings to his parents came out in all
their strength.
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