But my especial boy of the batch was A. -- proud and cold and shy to other people , sad and serious sometimes when his good heart and tender conscience showed him his short-comings , but so grateful for sympathy and a kind word . I could not get at him as easily as I could the other lads , but , thanks to Dickens , I found him out at last . We played Dolphus and Sophy Tetterby in the ` Haunted Man , ' at one of the school festivals ; and during the rehearsals I discovered that my Dolphus was -- permit the expression , oh , well-bred readers ! -- a trump . What fun we had to be sure , acting the droll and pathetic scenes together , with a swarm of little Tetterbys skirmishing about us ! From that time he has been my Dolphus and I his Sophy , and my yellow-haired laddie do n't forget me , though he has a younger Sophy now , and some small Tetterbys of his own . He writes just the same affectionate letters as he used to do , though I , less faithful , am too busy to answer them . But the best and dearest of all my flock was my Polish boy , Ladislas Wisniewski -- two hiccoughs and a sneeze will give you the name perfectly . Six years ago , as I went down to my early breakfast at our Pension in Vevey , I saw that a stranger had arrived . He was a tall youth , of eighteen or twenty , with a thin , intelligent face , and the charmingly polite manners of a foreigner . As the other boarders came in , one by one , they left the door open , and a draught of cold autumn air blew in from the stone corridor , making the new-comer cough , shiver , and cast wistful glances towards the warm corner by the stove . My place was there , and the heat often oppressed me , so I was glad of an opportunity to move . A word to Madame Vodoz effected the change ; and at dinner I was rewarded by a grateful smile from the poor fellow , as he nestled into his warm seat , after a pause of surprise and a flush of pleasure at the small kindness from a stranger . We were too far apart to talk much , but , as he filled his glass , the Pole bowed to me , and said low in French -- ' I drink the good health to Mademoiselle . ' I returned the wish , but he shook his head with a sudden shadow on his face , as if the words meant more than mere compliment to him . ` That boy is sick and needs care . I must see to him , ' said I to myself , as I met him in the afternoon , and observed the military look of his blue and white suit , as he touched his cap and smiled pleasantly . I have a weakness for brave boys in blue , and having discovered that he had been in the late Polish Revolution , my heart warmed to him at once . That evening he came to me in the salon , and expressed his thanks in the prettiest broken English I ever heard . So simple , frank , and grateful was he that a few words of interest won his little story from him , and in half an hour we were friends .
With his fellow-students he had fought through the last outbreak , and suffered imprisonment and hardship rather than submit , had lost many friends , his fortune and his XXXXX , and at twenty , lonely , poor , and ill , was trying bravely to cure the malady which seemed fatal .
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