erage, the company seated themselves round the stove, in
which there still smouldered some remains of the morning's fire, and
prepared to enjoy themselves.

From the first, however, the proceeding's fell as flat as ditch-water.
Even the gallant efforts of "Rats" to enliven the party were of no
avail; and for some time everybody munched away in silence, Jack Vance
occasionally pausing to remark, "Here, pass over that nose-bag, and help
yourselves."

The classroom itself, which belonged to the Third Form, was suggestive
of that glad season known as "breaking-up." The ink-pots had all been
collected, and stood together in a tray on the master's table; fragments
of examination papers filled the paper-basket, and were littered here
and there about the floor, while some promising Latin scholar had
scrawled across the blackboard the well-known words, _Dulce Domum_.
These inspiriting signs of a "good time coming" were, however, lost on
the Triple Alliance. Their present surroundings served only to remind
them of the old days of "The Happy Family," when they had first come to
Ronleigh, never expecting but to have completed the period of their
school lives in one another's company.

"Well," said Jack Vance, suddenly broaching the subject which was
uppermost in each of their minds, "we've had jolly times together.--
D'you remember when we made the Alliance, the day you first came
to The Birches, Diggory?"

"Yes," answered Diggory; "it was just after we'd been frightened by the
ghost. D'you remember the 'Main-top' and the 'House of Lords' and the
Philistines? I wonder what's become of them all?"

One reminiscence suggested another, and after exhausting their
recollections of The Birches, they recalled their varied experiences at
Ronleigh. Only one adventure was by mutual consent not alluded
to: their clandestine visit to The Hermitage, coupled with Noaks's
threat, hung like the sword suspended by a single hair above the head of
Damocles at the feast.

At length, when the paper bags had been wellnigh emptied, Jack Vance
intimated his intention of making a speech--which announcement was
received with considerable applause.

"Don't finish up your cocoa," he began, "because, before we dissolve the
Alliance, I'm going to propose a toast. We've been friends a long time,
and both here and at The Birches, as Diggory says, the Triple Alliance
has done wonders and covered itself with glory." (Cheers.) "We said
when we started