ot to imagine that Railsford's house contained nobody but
the four prefects of the Sixth-form and the sedate tenants of the study
immediately over the master's head, who belonged to the Shell. On the
contrary, the fifty boys who made up the little community were fully
representative of all grades and classes of Grandcourt life. There was
a considerable substratum of "Babies" belonging to the junior forms, who
herded together noisily and buzzed like midges in every hole and corner
of the house. Nor were Herapath and Oakshott, with their two cronies,
by any means the sole representatives of that honourable fraternity
known as the Shell, too mature for the junior school, and yet too
juvenile for the upper forms. A score at least of Railsford's subjects
belonged to this noble army, and were ready to wage war with anybody or
anything--for a consideration.

Still ascending in the scale, came a compact phalanx of Fifth-form
heroes, counting some of the best athletes of the second eleven and
fifteen, and yet not falling in with the spirited foreign policy so
prevalent in the rest of the house. On an emergency they could and
would turn out, and their broad backs and sturdy arms generally gave a
good account of themselves. But as a general rule they grieved their
friends by an eccentric habit of "mugging," which, as anybody knows, is
a most uncomfortable and alarming symptom in a boy of a house such as
Railsford's. True, there were among them a few noble spirits who never
did a stroke of work unless under compulsion; but as a rule the Fifth-
form fellows in Railsford's lay under the imputation of being studious,
and took very little trouble to clear their characters. Only when the
school sports came round, or the house matches, their detractors used to
forgive them.

The four prefects, to whom the reader has been already introduced,
divided among them the merits and shortcomings of their juniors. Ainger
and Felgate, though antagonistic by nature, were agreed as to an
aggressive foreign policy; while Barnworth and of course the amiable
Stafford considered there was quite enough work to do at home without
going afield. Yet up to the present these four heroes had been popular
in their house--Barnworth was the best high jumper Grandcourt had had
for years, and Ainger was as steady as a rock at the wickets of the
first eleven, and was reported to be about to run Smedley, the school
captain, very close for the mile at the sp