h in all my life; I'm quite ashamed of myself."

Templeton forgot its good manners, and cheered loudly at this point.

There was something about the genial, unassuming, straightforward Hermit
which touched the fellows on their soft side, and made them accept him
with pride as a representative of the truest Templeton spirit. They
might not, perhaps, love him as fondly as they loved dear old lazy
Ponty, but there was not one fellow who did not admire and respect him,
or covet his good opinion.

As soon as silence was obtained, Mansfield rose.

It was a self-denying thing to do, and the Captain knew it. There was
very little affection in the silence which fell on the room. He had
given up, long since, expecting it. It said much for him that its
absence neither soured nor embittered him. It made him unhappy, but he
kept that to himself, and let it influence him not a whit in the path of
duty he had set before him--a path from which not even the hatred of
Templeton would have driven him.

"I'm sure we are all very grateful to Freckleton," he said. "It will be
an honour to anyone to get into the Club, and for those who don't get on
at first, it will be something to look forward to and work for. I don't
think a better set of rules could have been drawn up. It will be a
thoroughly representative Club of all that is good in Templeton. It
doesn't favour any one set of fellows more than another. Fellows who
are good at work, and fellows who are good at sports have all an equal
chance. The only sort of fellows it doesn't favour are the louts and
the cads, and the less they are favoured anywhere in Templeton the
better. It's a shame to trouble Freckleton with more questions, but
some of us would like to know when the ballot for the new Club is to
take place, and how he proposes we should vote?"

There was a faint cheer as the Captain sat down. Templeton, whatever
its likes and dislikes were, always appreciated generosity. And the
Captain's honest, ungrudging approval of a comrade who had already
distanced him in the hold he exercised over Templeton, pleased them, and
told in the speaker's favour.

"I think the best way would be," said Freckleton, "for every fellow to
make a list of the thirty fellows he thinks most eligible, between now
and to-day week. If he can't think of thirty, then let him put down all
he can, remembering that there are not to be more than six in any form.
To-day week we'll have the ballot