A Prefect's Uncle

hed to Leicester's House, Beckford College, as a mixture of butler and bootboy. He carried a pail of water in his hand. He had been engaged in cleaning up the House against the conc

Marriott,

Of course they did. Why, they specially wrote and asked me. Well, where's the red carpet? Where's the awning? Where's the brass band that ought to have met me at the station? Where's anything? I tell you wha

conversation (of which there was always plenty) was generally too much for him, caught thankfully

n to the field, Mr Marriott

ok, and mind you don't work too hard. Think what it would be if

running for the cricket and football cups. The fact of the matter was that, with the exception of Gethryn, Marriott, a boy named Reece, who kept wicket for the School Eleven, and perhaps two others, Leicester's seniors were not a good lot. To the School in general, who gauged a fellow's character principally by his abilities in the cricket and football fields, it seemed a very des

t was willing, but his will was not spirited. When things went on that ought not to have gone on, he generally managed to avoid see

as in the Sixth, the First Fifteen, and the First Eleven. Also a backbone was include

ssing one, that worthy was sitting in the Headmaster's study with a cup in his right hand and a muffin (half-eaten) in his left, drinking in tea and wisdom simultaneously. The

l miss him very much--_but_ he was not a good head of a House. He was weak. Much too weak. Too easy-going. You must avoid that, Gethryn. Reynolds...

ed Marriott. 'I've been looki

' said Gethryn, 'have been havin

Was he

ctly af

ake his tea with water that wasn't two degrees below lukewarm, and bring on his muffins cooked instead of raw, and supply some butter

right, too. You know, there's no doubt a

cricket cup,' said Mar

ool House and Jephson's especially. And anyhow, that

. 'That'll be all right. Wait till we get at 'em. What I

to inflict the whole lot on you. Just look at line four. You see what she says: "A boy is coming to Mr Leicester's House this term, whom I particula

to the eyes in pure, undiluted cheek, and will want kick

name

el

on Percy. It's the surname that stumps me. Personally, I think it's MacCow, though I trust it isn't, for the kid's sake. I showed the letter to my brother, th

nized the docu

ith a D. You

el

u. I see. Of cou

y. 'Well, let's go and ask the matr

rtsman of the name of MacCow or Watson? I am also prepared to accept Sandys or Duncan. The Chris

list,' said the matron, after

arriott. 'Thanks very much. I

u two are the on

e to see him when he does come.

out on to th

up of the House,' said Marriot

ost fearfully sporting time. It's got to be done

did he

aps of

things that Reynolds was the worst idi

ng of th

it's the only description of him that really suits. Monk and Danvers and the mob in general used to do what they lik

ey're both such good bats. When you see a chap putting them through the sl

man. He's slimy. It's the only word for him. And he uses

ly? I never

eidelberg to study German, and Danvers is going into his

d Gethryn thoughtfully. 'I suppos

y a sort of bottle-washer to the firm. When they go he'll collapse. Let's be s

Headmaster. He rather gave one the impression that he was thinking of something a fortnight ahead, or trying to solve a chess problem without the aid of the board. In appearance he was on the short side, and thin. He was in the Sixth, and a consc

Gethryn an

uent intervals to another Gethryn, a bishop, who, it appeared, had a see, and did much excellent work among the heathen at the back of beyond. Gethryn's friends and acquaintances, who had been alternating between 'Ginger'--Gethryn's

e said, as he finishe

ust read it out now out of common decency,

t private. It's fro

ews has your representative got to air? Is _she_ springing any

wn here. He's coming tomorrow, and I'm to meet him. The uncann

rely known to succeed in finishing any of them. He resembled those serial stories which appear in papers destined at a moderate price to fill an obvious void, and which break off abruptly at the third chapter, owing to the premature decease of the said periodicals. On this occasion Marriott cut in with a few sage remarks on the subject of uncles as a class. 'Uncles,' he said, 'are tric

thought I knew every uncle on the list, but I can't plac

f chance, you know. The unknown may have struck it rich in sheep or something out in Australia. Most uncles come from Australia

n't join in myself. I have assimilated three pounds odd of the Hea

hryn's. Two in a study was the rule at Beckford, though th

, had been reduced to a mere wreck of its former self, the thought of his aunt's friend's friend's son returned to

Gethryn. 'Has

in weird stillness in the atmosphere. There is usually a row going on that you could cut with a knife. I looked about.

the minimum of risk with the maximum of noise, then it was Skinner who had engineered the thing. Again, did a master, playing nervously forward on a bad pitch at the nets to Gosling, the School fast bowler, receive the ball gaspingly in the small ribs, and

' said

d the fags' room at four-fifteen. At four-fifteen-and-a-half, punctually, Skinner was observed to be trying to rag him. Apparently the great Percy has no sense of humour, for at four-seventeen he got tired of it, and hit Skinner crisply in the right eyeball, blacking the same as per illustration. The subsequent fight raged gorily for five minutes odd, and then Wilson, who seems to be a professional pugilist in disguise, landed what my informant describes as

ve got to look after,' s

built on those lines to look after me. But you ought to go down