cidedly questionable character.

"It's awfully bad form of a chap who's a prefect chumming up with a
fellow like Mouler in the Upper Fourth," said Carton one afternoon.
"I wonder old 'Thirsty' isn't ashamed to do it. And now he's hand
and glove with those chaps Hawley and Gull in the Fifth; they've both
got heaps of money, but they're frightful cads."

From the morning following their return to Ronleigh the Triple Alliance
had been kept in a continual state of uneasiness and suspense, wondering
what action Noaks would take regarding his discovery of their visit to
The Hermitage.

The days passed by, and still he made no further reference to the
matter, and took no notice of any of the three friends when he happened
to pass them in the passages. The fact was that for the time being his
attention was turned in another direction. Like most fellows of his
kind, Noaks was a regular toady, ready to do anything in return for the
privilege of being able to rub shoulders occasionally with some one in a
higher position than himself, and he eagerly seized the opportunity
which his friendship with Mouler afforded him of becoming intimate with
Thurston. It was rather a fine thing for a boy in the Upper Fourth to
be accosted in a familiar manner by a prefect, and asked sometimes to
visit the latter in his study; and when such things were possible, it
was hardly worth while to spend time and attention in carrying on a feud
with youngsters in the Third Form. But Noaks had never forgotten the
double humiliation he had suffered at Chatford--first in being sent off
the football field, and again in the disastrous ending to the attempted
raid on the Birchites' fireworks; nor had he forgiven the Triple
Alliance for the part which they had played, especially on the latter
occasion, in bringing shame and confusion on the heads of the
Philistines.

One morning, nearly a month after the half-term holiday, the three
friends were strolling arm in arm through the archway leading from the
quadrangle to the paved playground, when they came face to face with
their old enemy. He was about to push past them without speaking; then,
seeming suddenly to change his mind, he pulled up, took something from
his pocket, and handing it to Jack Vance, said shortly,--

"There! I thought you'd like to see that; it seems a good chance to
earn some pocket-money."

The packet turned out to be a copy of the Todderton weekly paper.

"I've marked the place