Cords for Keys. 73 



only keep the bar fast instead of releasing it. More- 

 over, the passage in front of the door was not very 

 well lighted, and the ends of the cords, being placed 

 as far asunder as could be managed, and projecting 

 outside as little as possible, were not readily seen. 

 To pull the cords in the proper order was easy enough 

 for those in the secret, but sufficiently puzzling for 

 any stranger bent on mischief and liable to be sur- 

 prised in the attempt. The plan answered the purpose 

 of the three students exceedingly well, and they had 

 neither the trouble of carrying keys nor the risk of 

 losing them. 



As the summer season was now near its close, the 

 elder of the two brothers, Robert Miller, and Robert- 

 son thought that they might add a little to their 

 finances by commencing an evening-school for writing 

 and arithmetic. 



The step from the cart-wheel to the college was 

 good, but the farm servant commencing schoolmaster, 

 in order to pay for his own schooling, gives an even 

 more delicious picture of cool courage and a still 

 more striking specimen of the unexpected. 



They rented a moderately large single apartment 

 on the ground-floor in a close in the High Street 

 a little above the Cross. They had been fortunate 

 enough to hear of a person who had some old 

 school furniture for sale or hire. They arranged for 

 hiring it on moderate terms. They then thought 

 that, if they could sleep in the schoolroom, they could 

 save the rent they were paying for the attics, and, as 

 may be supposed, they had good reason to appreciate 

 the old proverb, " A penfiy hained is a penny gained." 



