racter; not a sort of rack on which to hang dates and facts.

Football, however, was not going quite so satisfactorily. Gordon was
never tried for the Colts Fifteen, although he subsequently proved
himself better than most of the other forwards in it, and had to play in
House games every day. Once a week a House game is a thundering good
game, but more often it is one-sided, and for a person who really cares
for footer, such afternoons are very dull. On the Upper or Lower a good
game was certain; the captain of the school always chose sides that
would be fairly level. But House sides were different. Nothing depended
on their results. Sometimes bloods would play, sometimes not; it was a
toss up. And worst of all, Simonds was abominably slack. For a few weeks
the House thought it rather funny, and the smaller members of the House
secretly rejoiced; but the games-loving set waxed furious.

"Damn it all," said Mansell, "the man's here to coach us, not to sit in
his study swating up dates!"

The result of it was that Mansell and his friends got filled with an
enormous sense of their own importance; they considered themselves the
only people in the House who were keen. And they let the rest of the
House know it. They groused about "the great days of Lovelace," and gave
people like Rudd a most godless time. There is no more thoroughly
self-satisfied person than the second-class athlete; and when he also
imagines himself an Isaiah preaching repentance, he wants kicking badly.
Unfortunately no one kicked Gordon or Lovelace; and they went on their
way contented with themselves, though with no one else.

* * * * *

One of the easiest ways of discovering a person's social status at
school is by watching his behaviour in the tuck-shop. The tuck-shop or
"Toe," as it is generally called, is a long wooden building with
corrugated iron roof, situated just opposite Buller's house, not far
from the new buildings. It is divided by a wooden partition into two
shops; at each end of the outer shop run two counters. On the right-hand
counter, which is connected with a small kitchen, cakes, muffins and
sausages are sold; on the left-hand side there are sweets and fruit. The
inner and larger room is filled with tables, and round the room are
photographs of all the school teams. At the far end, in huge green
frames, are hung photographs of the two great Fernhurst Fifteens who
went through the season without losi