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Rh They walked away together in a sorrowful silence.

At the School that day at luncheon every one was talking of the calamity. There was general depression; it was not merely because  the loss of the captain of the crew would be  serious, but it was also a tribute to Sheldon’s  personality.

There were other boys in the Sixth Form who were more respectfully admired because  they had greater force—Blanchard, for instance, and perhaps Durant and Payne; but  Sheldon’s following adored him. There was hardly a Third Former who frequented the  gymnasium who had not had the privilege of  feeling Sheldon’s muscles and calling him  Tom; he was kind and friendly to them all,  and always pretended to know them even if  he could n’t remember their names; and his  very enjoyment of their admiration endeared  him to them.

“If everybody is so gloomy about it here,” said Lawrence, “it must be a regular funeral over  at the Upper; I wonder how Tom stands it.”