anished, and I
found that I had moved away from Ward and Dennison. When I returned to
them I found that my interrupted remark had created a greater
disturbance than I had expected. Dennison was fuming like anything,
and so far was he from thinking that Ward and I had a grievance against
him that he was treating himself as a thoroughly injured man.

"It is a pretty low down game," he was saying to Ward, when I came
back, "for you to go and give your name up to the Subby and tell me
nothing about it. What do you think everybody will be saying about me?
Marten has been talking to me as if I was a pick-pocket, while you were
standing there and thinking yourself a sort of tin hero. If you want
to know what I think you are, my opinion is that you're a confounded
fool, but since you have done this I must go and see the Subby when I
get back to college."

This is only an expurgated copy of what Dennison said, as a matter of
fact he called Ward and me much worse names than a pick-pocket, and
qualified them with adjectives too violent to be recorded.

I looked blankly at Ward, who had his head down and looked thoroughly
ashamed of himself.

"It is one of the few times in my life," he said, "when I have tried to
do the right thing, and it seems to have been all wrong."

There was only one line to take, and I started on it at once. "That's
rot," I began, "because you suggested the whole thing, and if you felt
like owning up to it no one else has any right to swear at you.
Dennison is altogether different, and if he goes to the Subby everybody
else will have to go. We are like a lot of school-boys."

I thought my last remark a sound one, for Dennison pretended to despise
boys, because he said they always got up so late for morning school
that they had not time to wash properly. There was always a faint
smell of scent about Dennison, which did not make me take much notice
of his opinion about school-boys.

I cannot even now tell whether he was really angry or whether he was
just pretending a rage to put us into a hole. I did find out
afterwards that he knew all the time that Ward had given up his name,
so if he pretended one thing I do not see why he should not have
pretended another. But the result was the same whether he was shamming
or not. Ward and I implored him not to go to the Subby, for quite ten
minutes during that damp and shivery afternoon we besought him to leave
things as they were. And at last with gr