CHAPTER XI.
ERIC IN COVENTRY "And either greet him not Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more Than if not looked on."-- TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, iii.

3.
Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were too high in the school for "the boarders' room," and who were waiting to succeed to the studies as they fell vacant.

There were three or four others with him in this class-room, and although it was less pleasant than his old quarters, it was yet far more comfortable than the Pandemonium of the shell and fourth-form boys.
As a general rule, no boys were allowed to sit in any of the class-rooms except their legitimate occupants.

The rule, however, was very generally overlooked, and hence Eric, always glad of an opportunity to escape from the company of Barker and his associates, became a constant frequenter of his friend's new abode.

Here they used to make themselves very comfortable.