h of feminine
attractiveness. The two of them vowed in the darkness to stick always
together, so that whatever fate life held for either it should hold for
both. They swore fidelity to their friendship in the silence and
intimacy of the night; and when, rosy in the morning, they stood up
straightly in the pale London sunlight, they did not regret the vows of
the night, nor did they blush for their devotion, since the world
conjured a long vista of them both arm in arm eternally, and in the
immediate present all the adventurous charm of a Saturday's whole
holiday.

If there was a First Fifteen match on the School ground, Michael and
Alan honoured it with their attendance and liked nothing so well as to
elbow their way through a mob of juniors in order to nod familiarly to a
few members of the Fifteen. The School team that year was not so
successful as its two predecessors, and Michael and Alan were often
compelled to voice their disdain to the intense disgust of the juniors
huddled about them. Sometimes they would hear an irreverent murmur of
'Hark at sidey Fane and sidey Merivale,' which would necessitate the
punching of a number of heads to restore the disciplinary respect they
demanded. On days when the School team was absent at Dulford or Tonbury
or Haileybridge, Michael and Alan would scornfully glance at the Second
Fifteen's desolate encounter with some other Second Fifteen, and vote
that such second-rate football was bally rot. On such occasions the
School ground used to seem too large and empty for cheerfulness, and the
two friends would saunter round West Kensington on the chance of an
adventure, ending up the afternoon by laying out money on sweets or on
the fireworks now displayed in anticipation of the Fifth of November.
Saturday evening would be spent in annoying the neighbours with squibs
and Chinese crackers and jumping crackers and tourbillons and maroons
and Roman candles and Bengal lights, while after dinner the elaborate
preparations for home work would again be made with the same inadequate
result.

On Sunday Michael and Alan used to brush their top-hats and button their
gloves and tie their ties very carefully and, armed with sticks of
sobriety and distinction, swagger to whatever church was fashionable
among their friends. During the service they would wink to acquaintances
and nudge each other and sing very loudly and clearly their favourite
hymns, while through the dull hymns they would criticiz