wo hearers laugh till the boy blushes crimson, and wishes he had
not made such an ass of himself.

"Rather," says Wrangham. "He is one of the elect. It's worth fifty
pounds a year to him, so it would be a wonder if he wasn't."

"Yes, my boy," says Pledge, "if you want to get on at Templeton, take
holy orders. Believe everybody's as good as he tries to make out, and
you'll have no trouble at all. When a fellow cracks up your batting,
don't on any account suspect he wants to borrow five shillings of you,
and if he tells you it's naughty to look about in chapel, don't imagine
for a moment he's got half-a-dozen cribs in his study. Bah! They're
all alike. Thank goodness you're not a hypocrite yet, young 'un,
whatever you may become. Now you can cut. Good-night."

And Heathcote obeys, and lies wide awake an hour, wondering how he can
ever have remained a simpleton as long as he has.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

HOW PONTY TAKES HIS HAND OUT OF HIS POCKET.

The Grandcourt match was the only match of the season which Templeton
played away from home. All its other matches, the house match, and even
the match against the town, were played in the Fields, in the presence
of the whole school. But once every other year, Templeton went forth to
war in drags and omnibuses against its hereditary rival, and mighty was
the excitement with which the expedition and its equipment were regarded
by every boy who had the glory of his school at heart.

Seventy boys, and seventy only, were permitted to form the invading
army, the selection of whom was a matter of intrigue and emulation for
weeks beforehand. But for a few broad rules, which eliminated at least
half the school, the task might have been still more difficult than it
was. For instance, all juniors, to the eternal wrath and indignation of
the Den, were excluded. Further, all boys who during the term had
suffered punishment, either monitorial or magisterial, all boys who had
not shown up at the proper number of practices in the Fields, all boys
who had lost a given number of "call-overs" forfeited the chance of
getting their names on the "Grandcourt List," as it was called.

Of the reduced company that remained, each member of the eleven had the
right of nominating six, the remaining four being chosen by the
patriarchal method of lot.

Altogether, it was admitted that the system of selection was on the
whole impartial, although, as a matter of course, it involved bitter