I am sorry for
it, for _their_ sakes; they will be more likely to sin again. In cases
like this, punishment is a blessing, and impunity a burden." On leaving
the room he bade Eric follow him into his study. Eric obeyed, and stood
before the head-master with downcast eyes.
"Williams," he said, "I have had a great regard for you, and felt a deep
interest in you from the day I first saw you, and knew your excellent
parents. At one time I had conceived great hopes of your future course,
and your abilities seemed likely to blossom into noble fruit. But you
fell off greatly, and grew idle and careless. At last an event happened,
in which for a time you acted worthily of yourself, and which seemed to
arouse you from your negligence and indifference. All my hopes in you
revived; but as I continued to watch your course (more closely, perhaps,
than you supposed), I observed with pain that those hopes must be again
disappointed. It needs but a glance at your countenance to be sure that
you are not so upright or right-minded a boy as you were two years ago.
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