United States or Lebanon ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Evidently Beaumont-Greene was too prudent to bully Fluff; he had resorted to the crueller alternative of terrorizing him. Lawrence would have settled this fellow's hash so John reflected in a jiffy, but Trieve, "Miss Trieve," was hopelessly incapable. Presently inspiration came.
What had Beaumont-Greene done? "What crime, sir?" Scaife, the more self-possessed, although fully two years the younger, asked the question. "Forgery." "Forgery?" Lovell repeated. He was plainly shocked. "The idiot!" exclaimed Scaife. "Yes forgery. Have you anything to say? It is a time when the truth, all the truth, might be accepted as an extenuating circumstance. I speak to you first, Lovell.
He seized an opportunity when Beaumont-Greene happened to be by himself; then he marched boldly into his room, leaving the door ajar. "Hullo! what do you want?" Beaumont-Greene was sitting opposite the fire, reading a novel and leisurely consuming macaroons. "I want you to leave young Kinloch alone please." Beaumont-Greene nearly choked; then he spluttered out "Say that again, will you?"
"My name," said he, in a shrill pipe, "is Beaumont-Greene, and we spell the Greene with a final 'e'." Beaumont-Greene was a type of boy, unhappily, too common at all Public Schools. He had no feeling whatever for Harrow, save that it was a place where it behoved a boy to escape punishment if he could, and to run, hot foot, towards anything which would yield pleasure to his body.
"I must have the stuff now," said Lovell, when Beaumont-Greene asked for time. "I'm going to shoot a lot this Christmas, and the governor makes me pay for my cartridges." "So does mine," said Scaife, grinning. He was quite indifferent to the money, but he liked to see Beaumont-Greene squirm. He continued suavely, "You ought to settle before you leave. Ain't your people in Rome? Yes.
The paper was thin notepaper, the kind that is sold everywhere for foreign correspondence. Beaumont-Greene, economical in such matters, had bought a couple of quires when his people went abroad. The paper he had bought did not quite match the Roman envelope. Warde opened a drawer, from which he took some thin paper. This also he held up to the light.
I ought to have foreseen that such a swine as Beaumont-Greene would be sure to betray us sooner or later. I shall be wiser next time." "Next time?" The dismay in Desmond's voice made Scaife smile. "Don't worry, Caesar. No more bridge for me; but," he laughed harshly, "the leopard can't change his spots, and he won't give up hunting because he has fallen into a trap, and got out of it.
From time to time he glanced at Beaumont-Greene. Seeing his utter collapse, he rang the bell, answered by the ever-discreet Dumbleton. "Dumbleton, take Mr. Beaumont-Greene to the sick-room. There is no one in it, I believe?" "No, sir." "You will fetch what he may require for the night; quietly, you understand." "Very good, sir." "Follow Dumbleton," Warde addressed Beaumont-Greene.
"I'm paying the usual bill for learning a difficult game. That's how the Demon puts it. But I've a turn for bridge, and now I can hold my own. I'm better than Beaumont-Greene, and quite as good as Lovell. The Demon, of course, is in another class." "And therefore he oughtn't to play with you. It's robbery." "Now you're talking bosh." The Eton and Harrow match ended in another draw.
In the past there have been grave scandals connected with lending money to boys. And Harrow tradesmen are at the mercy of the Head Master. If a school-tailor be put out of bounds, he can put up his shutters at once. Still "I'll let you have the money," said the man, eying Beaumont-Greene keenly. "Thanks."
Word Of The Day