t him which he had not known
before; but during the last few weeks of last term, and the opening days
of the present, the two had crossed one another's paths frequently, and
with increasing friction. Ainger was one of those fellows who, when
their mind is set on a thing, seem to lose sight of all but two
persons--the person who can help them most and the person who can hinder
them most.

In the present case Ainger's heart was set on making his house the crack
house of Grandcourt. The person who could help him most was Railsford,
and the person who could hinder him most was Felgate. The captain had
been shy of the new Master of the Shell for a long time, and the
mistrust had not been all on one side, but as last term had worn on, and
a common cause had arisen in the temporary disgrace of the house, master
and head prefect had felt drawn together in mutual confidence, and
Railsford now, though he still did not always realise it, had no more
loyal adherent than Ainger. Ainger, on his part, was quite ready to
acknowledge that without Railsford the house stood a poor chance of
fulfilling the ambitious project he and Barnworth had marked out for it,
and he only hoped, now, that the master might not rest on the laurels of
last term, but would help to carry through the still more important
exploits of this.

The great obstacle to whatever good was going on in Railsford's at
present was Felgate. He had nearly succeeded last term in sowing
discontent among the juvenile athletes, and he had, in the most
unmistakable manner, not done his best in the one competition at the
sports for which he had entered. That was bad enough, and the quick-
tempered Ainger wrote up a heavy score against him on those two items.
But now he had begun on a new line. Although a prefect himself, he not
only evinced no interest in the order of the house at a time when the
prefects were specially on their mettle, but he had taken pains to
undermine the discipline of the place and set his authority up in
antagonism to that of his own colleagues.

Felgate laid his plans deeply and cleverly. Ainger, as he knew, was
popular because he had won the mile, and was upright, and meant what he
said, and said what he meant. No boy of whom the same can be said could
help being popular.

"But," said Felgate to himself, "there are other ways of being popular.
I haven't won the mile or anything else; I'm not particularly upright,
and I shouldn't like to asser