ound the hot pipes in the passage,
fearful of being late. Then in No. 1 Lovelace would wind up the
gramophone, and the strains of _When the Midnight Choo-choo leaves for
Alabama_ broke out with deafening violence. The concert lasted till the
first strokes of the hour had boomed out. Roll over, they all separated
to their various studies. Lovelace took out his _Sportsman_ and began to
total up his winnings; Gordon either lay full length in the hammock, a
new and much envied acquisition which was slung across from door to
window, and read for the hundredth time the haunting melodies of
_Rococo_, or else, as was more usual, wandered round the studies with
the magnificent air of indifference that marked all members of the
Sixth.

Then came prayers; after which Gordon and Davenport made for the
seclusion of their double dormitory. Lights were out at nine-fifteen for
the big upper dormitories, and till then they used to wander down the
passage for the ostensible reason of getting hot water, but in reality
to watch, with the superior air of Olympians, the life of lesser breeds.
They imagined themselves great bloods during these few minutes after
prayers. Sometimes when the House tutor was supposed to be out they
would join in a game of football in the passage; but as they were caught
once and each got a Georgic, this pastime lost its charm. Usually they
lolled in the doorway with a perfect superiority, and talked of the old
"rags" and discomfitures of two years back, for the benefit of admiring
listeners.

"Do you remember when Mansell slept in that bed?" Gordon would say.

"No; I was not here that term," Davenport would reply; "but I sha'n't
forget when the Chief found Betteridge's bed pitched on the floor, with
Betteridge underneath and Lovelace sitting on top."

Was it possible, thought some small fry, that the great Mansell, who
played for the Fifteen, had once actually slept in the same bed as he
occupied now? Had Betteridge, who had only that night given half the
day-room a hundred lines, once had his bed shipped on that very floor!
It all seemed like a gigantic fairy story. And to think that Caruthers
had seen these things!

But they were not long, these moments of the assumption of the godhead.
Darkness soon fell on the long passage, and only whispered talking
sounded faint and far away. Gordon and Davenport then went back to their
room, and on evenings after a hard game they had a small supper. They
had managed