Philip got up and knelt down to say his prayers.  It was a cold morning, and he shivered a little; but he had been taught by his uncle that his prayers were more acceptable to God if he said them in his nightshirt than if he waited till he was dressed.  This did not surprise him, for he was beginning to realise that he was the creature of a God who appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers.  Then he washed.  There were two baths for the fifty boarders, and each boy had a bath once a week.  The rest of his washing was done in a small basin on a wash-stand, which with the bed and a chair, made up the furniture of each cubicle.  The boys chatted gaily while they dressed.  Philip was all ears.  Then another bell sounded, and they ran downstairs.  They took their seats on the forms on each side of the two long tables in the school-room; and Mr. Watson, followed by his wife and the servants, came in and sat down.  Mr. Watson read prayers in an impressive manner, and the supplications thundered out in his loud voice as though they were threats personally addressed to each boy.  Philip listened with anxiety.  Then Mr. Watson read a chapter from the Bible, and the servants trooped out.  In a moment the untidy youth brought in two large pots of tea and on a second journey immense dishes of bread and butter.

Philip had a squeamish appetite, and the thick slabs of poor butter on the bread turned his stomach, but he saw other boys scraping it off and followed their example.  They all had potted meats and such like, which they had brought in their play-boxes; and some had ‘extras,’ eggs or bacon, upon which Mr. Watson made a profit.  When he had asked Mr. Carey whether Philip was to have these, Mr. Carey replied that he did not think boys should be spoilt.  Mr. Watson quite agreed with him—­he considered nothing was better than bread and butter for growing lads—­but some parents, unduly pampering their offspring, insisted on it.

Philip noticed that ‘extras’ gave boys a certain consideration and made up his mind, when he wrote to Aunt Louisa, to ask for them.

After breakfast the boys wandered out into the play-ground.  Here the day-boys were gradually assembling.  They were sons of the local clergy, of the officers at the Depot, and of such manufacturers or men of business as the old town possessed.  Presently a bell rang, and they all trooped into school.  This consisted of a large, long room at opposite ends of which two under-masters conducted the second and third forms, and of a smaller one, leading out of it, used by Mr. Watson, who taught the first form.  To attach the preparatory to the senior school these three classes were known officially, on speech days and in reports, as upper, middle, and lower second.  Philip was put in the last.  The master, a red-faced man with a pleasant voice, was called Rice; he had a jolly manner with boys, and the time passed quickly.  Philip was surprised when it was a quarter to eleven and they were let out for ten minutes’ rest.