r offensive to others. He was hail-fellow-well-met with the
boys he had lately kicked and made miserable; he did not know what you
were talking about when you reminded him that a day or two ago he had
behaved like a cad to you; and, greatest exploit of all, he had the
effrontery to charge Dig with being "spoons" on Violet, and to hold him
up to general ridicule in consequence!

"How much have you really got for the testimonial?" said Dig one
morning.

"Eleven and six," said Arthur dismally; "not a great lot, but enough for
a silver ring."

"Not with Daisy's name on it."

"No, we'll have to drop that, unless we can scratch it on."

"We'll have a try. When shall we give it?"

"To-morrow's Rag Sunday, isn't it? Let's give it him to-night--after
tea. I'll write out a list of the chaps, and you can get up an address,
unless Felgate will come and give him a speech."

"Think he will? All serene. We'll give the fellows the tip, and do the
thing in style. Hadn't you better cut and get the ring, I say?"

Arthur cut, armed with an _exeat_, and made the momentous purchase. The
fancy stationer of whom he bought the ring assured him it was solid
silver, and worth a good deal more than the 10 shillings 6 pence he
asked. The other shilling Arthur invested in a box wherein to put it,
and returned to school very well satisfied with his bargain. He and Dig
spent an anxious hour trying to scratch the letters with a pin on the
inner surface; and to Arthur belonged the credit of the delicate
suggestion that instead of writing the term of endearment in vulgar
English they should engrave it in Classic Greek, thus: _chuki_. The
result was on the whole satisfactory; and when the list of contributors
was emblazoned on a sheet of school paper, and Sir Digby Oakshott's
address (for Felgate declined the invitation to make a speech) had been
finally revised and corrected, the prospects of the ceremonial seemed
very encouraging.

Arthur and Dig, once more completely reconciled, went through the farce
of house tea that evening in the common room with considerable
trepidation. They had a big job on hand, in which they were to be the
principal actors, and when the critical time comes at last, we all know
how devoutly we wish it had forgotten us! But everything had been
carefully arranged, and everyone had been told what to expect. It was
therefore impossible to back out, and highly desirable, as they _were_
in for it, to do it in