faced fellow, continued, as the saying
goes, "to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds."

"It's an awful pity about old 'Thirsty,'" he would say to his brother
prefects. "I try to keep him a bit straight; but upon my word, if he
will go on being so friendly with such cads as Gull and Noaks, I shall
chuck him altogether."

The speaker's methods of endeavouring to keep his chum straight were, to
say the least of it, not very effective, and, if anything, rather more
calculated to encourage him still further in his descent along the
downward road.

"Look here!" said Fletcher, as they sat one evening talking in
Thurston's study: "don't you think you'd better make peace with
Allingford and the rest, and be a nice white sheep again, instead of a
giddy old black one? I can tell you at present they don't look upon you
as being a particular credit to the Sixth."

"I don't care what they think; they're a beastly set of prigs, and I'll
have nothing more to do with them--with Allingford especially."

"Well, of course," answered Fletcher, with an air of resignation, "the
quarrel's yours and not mine. I must own that I think Allingford made a
great deal of unnecessary fuss over that Black Swan business, and acted
very shabbily in making you send in your resignation just before the
holidays. There's something, too, that I can't understand about the
doctor's not confirming your re-election; and I think there ought to
have been some further attempt made to get you to remain in the team--
you did a lot of good service last season. However, my advice is, Put
your pride in your pocket, and return to the fold."

Young Carton had shown that he possessed a certain amount of insight
into character when he told Diggory that Thurston was a dangerous fellow
to cross. The ex-prefect's brow darkened as Fletcher enumerated this
list of real or imaginary grievances, and at the conclusion of the
latter's speech there was a short silence.

"Yes," said Thurston, suddenly making the fender jump and rattle with a
vicious kick. "Allingford's got his knife in me; he's bent on spoiling
my life here. But that's a game two can play at. I've got a plan or
two in my head, and I'll take the change out of him and those other
prigs before the term's finished."

Grundy still continued to brag and swagger in the Lower Fourth, but his
attitude towards Jack Vance suddenly underwent a change. Towards the
latter he assumed quite a friendly bearing,