the last train had not seen all their friends the night before. There
was much shaking of hands. In the middle a loud voice from the head of
the Sixth Form table shouted out: "Silence! I want to see all new boys
in my study at nine o'clock." It was Clarke, the head of the House, who
spoke. He was tall, with pince-nez, one of those brilliant scholars who
are too brilliant to get scholarships. He was a fanatic in many ways, a
militarist essentially, a firebrand always. There was bound to be
trouble during his reign. He could never let anything alone. He was a
great fighter.

Gordon looked up with immense awe. Clarke looked so powerful, so
tremendous; even Lovelace himself was not much greater. He wondered
vaguely what would be said to them.

And indeed Clarke was even more imposing in his own study. The back of
the room sloped down into a low alcove in which hung strange Egyptian
curtains. The walls were decorated with a few Pre-Raphaelite
photogravures. Behind the door was a pile of cases. Clarke sat with his
back to the window.

"Now you are all quite new to school life," he began, "entirely ignorant
of its perils and dangers, and you are now making the only beginning you
can ever make. You start with clean, fresh reputations. I don't know how
long you will remain so, but you must remember that you are members of
the finest house in Fernhurst. Last year we had the two finest athletes,
Wincheston and Lovelace, who played cricket for Leicestershire, and is
now captain of the House. We had also the two finest scholars, Scott and
Pembroke, both of whom won scholarships. Now we can't all be county
cricketers, we can't all win scholarships, but we can all work to one
end with an unfailing energy. You will find prefects here who will beat
you if you play the ass. Well, I don't mind ragging much and it is no
disgrace to be caned for that. But it is a disgrace to be beaten for
slacking either at games or work. It shows that you are an unworthy
member of the House. Now I want all of you to try. Some of you will
perhaps never rise above playing on House games, or get higher than the
Upper Fifth. But if you can manage to set an example of keenness you
will have proved yourselves worthy of the School House, which is beyond
doubt _the_ House at Fernhurst. That's all I have got to say."

That scene was in many ways the most vivid in Gordon's career. From that
moment he felt that he was no longer an individual, but a member of a