United States or Guam ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
His eye had caught sight of the smoking apparatus on the table. The Head paced the room, something after the fashion of the tiger at the Zoo, whose clock strikes lunch. 'Plunkett, he said, suddenly, 'you are a School-prefect. 'Yes, sir, murmured Plunkett. The fact was undeniable. 'You know the duties of a School-prefect? 'Yes, sir.
As a small boy at Harrow he had, with an imperturbable smile and a sense of humour that, in spite of his rotund youth and a general sense amongst his elders that he was "cheeky," won him popularity, worked always for his own comfort. He secured it and, first as fag and afterwards as House-prefect, finally as School-prefect, did exactly what he wanted with everybody.
'Why, Mr Thompson, the boy's a School-prefect, had been his exact words. School-prefects had been in his eyes above suspicion. It is a bad day for a school when they are not so. Had that day arrived for St Austin's? he asked himself. 'He may be a School-prefect, Mr Perceval, but the fact remains that he is a trespasser, and ought from your point of view to be punished for breaking bounds.
'I merely asked because this was found by my keeper on the boy when he caught him. He produced a small silver match-box. The Head breathed again. The reputation of the School-prefect, though shaky, was still able to come up to the scratch. 'A match-box is scarcely a proof that a boy has been smoking, I think, said he. 'Many boys carry matches for various purposes, I believe.
He looked at me in his superior sort of way, and observed without blenching that he was head of the House. 'Just another of Ward's jars, said Dallas. 'Knowing that Vaughan was keen on being head of the House he actually went to the Old Man and persuaded him that it would be better to bring in some day boy who was a School-prefect than let Vaughan boss the show. What do you think of that?
His name is Plunkett. Am I to understand that he was trespassing on your land? Surely there is some mistake? The boy's a School-prefect. Here it suddenly flashed upon his mind that he had used that expression before in the course of the day, on the occasion when Mr Thompson first told him of his suspicions in connection with Jim.
He could not probably have explained exactly why he was worried, but he undoubtedly was. Welch had a very grave and serious mind. He shared a study with Charteris for Charteris, though not yet a School-prefect, was part owner of a study and close observation had convinced him that the latter was not responsible for his actions, and that he wanted somebody to look after him.
On the other hand, this feeling was more than equalled by his relief at finding that his faith in the virtue of the genus School-prefect, though at fault in the matter of Plunkett, was not altogether misplaced. It made up for a good deal. Then his thoughts drifted to Sir Alfred Venner. Struggle with his feelings as he might, the Head could not endure that local potentate.
It was an incredible thing, he thought, that a public school boy, a School-prefect, too, into the bargain, should break out of his House and into a cricket pavilion, however great a crisis his finances might be undergoing. And then to steal two of the prizes for the Sports. Impossible. Against this, however, must be placed the theft of the two pounds.
Word Of The Day