SCHOOLDAYS 43 



resemblance to a human face — and, uttering 

 uncouth and blood-curdling sounds of horror, he 

 so terrified and convinced his sceptical com- 

 panion that the latter fled, trembling from head 

 to foot. But tidings of the rambles of my 

 brother and the little girl reached Dr. Bick- 

 more's ears, and further intercourse was strictly 

 forbidden, with a rebuke to the eleven-year- 

 old naturalist for his ' liking for low company.' 

 The schoolboy and the little girl rambled no 

 more together, but the former caught a glimpse 

 of the owner of the red hair and the freckled 

 face for the last time on the day of his final 

 departure from the school, and the solitary 

 shilling that remained in his purse found its 

 way as a keepsake to his little friend. 



With the exception of the late Lord 

 Portarlington, I know of no one of Dr. 

 Bickmore's boys who was a contemporary and 

 friend of my brother's. As regards the old 

 schoolfellow just mentioned, he writes in his 

 diary January 19, 1892 : ' I am grieved to hear 

 of the death of Portarlington at Bournemouth. 

 I knew him, in my earliest schooldays under 

 old Charley Bickmore at Berkswell ; then used 



