Duncan had made friends again with Eric; but he did not join him in his
escapades and excesses, and sat much in other studies. He had not been
altogether a good boy, but yet there was a sort of rough honesty and
good sense about him, which preserved him from the worst and most
dangerous failings, and his character had been gradually improving as he
mounted higher in the school. He was getting steadier, more diligent,
more thoughtful, more manly; he was passing through that change so
frequent in boys as they grow older, to which Eric was so sad an
exception. Accordingly Duncan, though sincerely fond of Eric, had
latterly disapproved vehemently of his proceedings, and had therefore
taken to snubbing his old friend Wildney, in whose favor Eric seemed to
have an infatuation, and who was the means of involving him in every
kind of impropriety and mischief. So that night Duncan, hearing of what
was intended, sat in the next study, and Eric, with Bull, Wildney,
Graham, and Pietrie, had the room to themselves.
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