Head of Kay's

had not been very numerousup to the present, but the misfortunes of his friends always troubledhim exceedingly. When anything happened to him personally, he foundthe d

ul," he said, bre

said Fenn

anything. You can do anythingyou like with him if you lift a cup. I should have thought Kay wouldhave been all

t idea that we are in the final at all, or, if hehas, he doesn't understand what being

ing thefortunes of his house seemed to him, having before

re an expression of extreme alertness--the sort of look a ferretwears as he slips in at the mouth of a rabbit-hole. A doctor, calledupon to sum up Mr Kay at a glance, would probably have said that hesuffered from nerves, which would have been a perfectly correctdiagnosis, though none of the members of his house put his manners andcustoms down to that cause. They considered that the methods hep

and Kennedy at the gate,

ter. If this was the sort ofthing that happened every day, no wonder that there was dissension inthe house of Kay. He tried to imagine Blackburn speaking in that wayto Jimmy Silver or himself, but his imagination was unequal to thetask. Betw

me fresh air before loc

outside thehouse at this hour. Go indoors directly."Ke

ht, Kennedy

ng," sai

smiled painfully. Then he t

arently still unsatisfied. He dire

e."This, thought Kennedy, was getting a bit too warm. Mr Kay might do ashe ple

ouse-master, sir," he s

Kay s

to emphasise this point, he walked towards the school buildingsagain. For a moment it seemed as if Mr Kay intended to call him back,but he thought better of it. Mr

enhe had ventured to let fall a few well-meant hints as to how a hous

o leave him to look

and Kennedy, having watched himva

e gate, it neverthelessrankled. He read prayer

or another term. And he had been invitedto play for the county against Middlesex four days after the holidaysbegan. That should have been a soothing thought. But it really seemedto make matters worse. It was hard that a man who on Monday

erewas a noise going on in the fags' room. There always was at Kay's. Itwas not a particularly noisy noise--considering; but it had better

ged upon spirited festivities, partly in honourof the near approach of the summer holidays,

ny books flying about,

passed the timeby kicking violently at certain hands, which were endeavouring to draghim from his post, and shrieking f

he signal for a temporary

s is all this row

ne or two of the weaker spirits even went sofar as to sit down and begin to read. All would ha

" observed this genial sp

d an eighty, and was going to knock off theruns against Blackburn's tomorrow off his own bat. Also, he had takeneighteen wickets in the final house-match. Obvi

, and then "He's a jolly go

, were echoing through the room in various keys, that asmall and energetic form brush

was M

foreMr Kay could make himself heard. But after a couple of minutes

. What is the meaning o

"Fenn, I am surprised atyou standing here and allowing such a disgraceful disturbance to goon. Really, if you cannot keep order better--It is disgraceful,disgraceful."Mr Kay shot

round as he reach

nn?"Fenn sa

""I do not understand you, Fenn.""I thought you might wish to apologise for slanging me in front o

makes this well-worn remark, the wise youth realisesthat the time has come to c

efore a roomful of fags. How do you think I cankeep order in the house if you do that sort o

rder in the house, F

'sir' when you speak to me, Fenn,"said Mr Kay, thereby scoring anothe

er himself, Mr Kay was inhis study, and ther

Fenn that he hadnot shown up to advantage in the rece