The story of Harry Campbell
This story is about a boy who lived about a hundred and fifty years ago
Harry Cambell went to boarding school. He had been sent there because his mother had died. His father was in the Navy so of course he could not look after him.
During the holidays he used to go to stay with Mrs Valentine who had been a friend of his father and mother for many years.
Wilton school was built on a cliff at the coast. Sometimes Harry would look out of the classroom window and look at the sea and think of his father sailing on a ship. The teacher would say, "Campbell! Get on with your work and do not look out of the window."
But most of the time Harry worked very hard. His father had said, "I would like you to go to Oxford University but I haven't the money to pay the fees. I would like you to try for a scholarship." This meant that Harry had to take an exam.
Picture of Harry and Egerton
On the day of the exam, Harry came in and sat down at a desk. He was determined to do his best. "If only I get get a scholarship," he thought, I will be able to go to Oxford and the fees will be paid for me. It will not cost me any money."
Now Harry was one of the best in the class but there was another boy who was also very clever. His name was Egerton. Egertonsat down at the desk next to Harry.
Harry read the first question on the exam paper and then he started writing but then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Egerton had a book on his knee. He was resting his head on his left arm so that the teacher could not see what he was doing. Harry could not help looking at Egerton to see what he was doing. Egerton was reading from the book on his knee and then writing .
Harry could not help looking more closely. Then the teacher, Mr Pritchard looked in their direction and thought that Harry was looking at Egerton's paper. He said, " Harry! What are you looking at?"
When the other boys in the class heard this they all looked round and there was a scraping of chairs. When Mr Pritchard heard this he looked towards the other boys for a moment. This gave Egerton time to hide the book by sitting on it.
Picture of Mr Pritchard
At the end of the exam Harry handed in his paper to Mr Pritchard and said, "I was not looking at Egerton's paper, Sir - honestly, I wasn't ." But he was really upset to think that Mr Pritchard believed he was and he turned very red. Mr Pritchard did not say anything but looked very hard at Harry. Harry's face turned even redder. He would like to have told Mr Pritchard what really happened but he thought that it was wrong to tell tales about another boy in the class.
Mr Pritchard decided to ask the examiner to look at both papers and try and find out if Harry had copied any of Egerton's answers. Everything should have ended there but the next day something else happened and it made it look very likely that Harry was guilty.
