his
strength and activity were marvellous, and his mirth uproarious. Eric
and Graham backed him up brilliantly; while Llewellyn and Attlay, with
sturdy vigour, supported the skirmishers. Ball, the sixth boy in Number
7, was the only _faineant_ among them, though he did occasionally help
to keep off the smaller fry.

Happy would it have been for all of them if Ball had never been placed
in Number 7; happier still if he had never come to Roslyn School.
Backward in work, overflowing with vanity at his supposed good looks, of
mean disposition and feeble intellect, he was the very worst specimen of
a boy that Eric had ever seen. Not even Barker so deeply excited Eric's
repulsion and contempt. And yet, since the affair of Upton, Barker and
Eric were declared enemies, and, much to the satisfaction of the latter,
never spoke to each other; but with Ball--much as he inwardly loathed
him--he was professedly and apparently on good terms. His silly love of
universal popularity made him accept and tolerate the society even of
this worthless boy.

Any two boys talking to each other about Ball would probably profess to
like him "well enough," but if they were honest, they would generally
end by allowing their contempt.

"We've got a nice set in Number 7, haven't we?" said Duncan to Eric one
day.

"Capital. Old Llewellyn's a stunner, and I like Attlay and Graham."

"Don't you like Ball, then?"

"Oh yes; pretty well."

The two boys looked each other in the face, and then, like the
confidential augurs, burst out laughing.

"You know you detest him," said Duncan.

"No, I don't. He never did me any harm that I know of."

"Hm!--well, _I_ detest him."

"Well!" answered Eric, "on coming to think of it, so do I. And yet he's
popular enough in the school. I wonder how that is."

"He's not _really_ popular. I've often noticed that fellows pretty
generally despise him, yet somehow don't like to say so."

"Why do you dislike him, Duncan?"

"I don't know. Why do you?"

"I don't know either."

Neither Eric nor Duncan meant this answer to be false, and yet if they
had taken the trouble to consider, they would have found out in their
secret souls the reasons of their dislike.

Ball had been to school before, and of this school he often bragged as
the acme of desirability and wickedness. He was always telling boys
what they did at "his old school," and he quite inflamed the minds of
such as fell under his influence by