ly to him. And yet Mullally was
civil enough to him, was anxious even to be friendly with him. There was
something of a flabby sort in Mullally's nature that made Henry
instinctively angry with him: his vague features, his weak, wandering
eyes, peering from behind large glasses, his tow-coloured hair that
seemed to have "washed-out," and above all, his squeaky voice that piped
on one jerky note....

It was Gilbert Farlow who gave Mullally his nick-name. (It was the time
of the Boer War, and the nick-name came easily enough.) "He isn't a
man," said Gilbert; "he's a regrettable incident!"

Gilbert Farlow, though he was the youngest and the slightest of the four
boys, was the leader of them. He had the gift of vivid language. He
could cut a man with a name as sharply as if it were a knife. He
invented new oaths for the delight of Ninian Graham, who had a taste for
strong language but no genius in developing it. It was he who appointed
Roger to the office of Purse-Bearer because Roger was careful. It was he
who decided that their pocket-money, with small exceptions, should be
spent conjointly, and that no money should be spent unless three out
of four consented to the expenditure. ("Damn it, is it my money or is it
not?" said Ninian when the rule was proposed, and "Fined sixpence for
cheek!" Gilbert replied, ordering Roger to collect the sixpence which
was then divided between the three who had not murmured.) It was he who
declared that "Henry" was too long and "Quinn," too short (though Roger
said the words were exactly the same length) and insisted on calling
Henry "Quinny" (which Roger said was actually longer than either of the
displaced words. "Well, it sounds shorter," said Gilbert decisively).

Gilbert planned their lives for them. "We'll all go to Cambridge," he
said, "and then we'll become Great!"

"Righto!" said Ninian.

"If any of our people propose to send us to Oxford, there's to be a row!
Sloppy asses go to Oxford ... fellows like Mullally!" Henry made a
terrible grimace at the mention of Mullally's name and Gilbert, swift to
notice the grimace, pointed the moral, "Well, Quinny, if your guv'nor
tries to send you to Oxford, don't let him. Remember Mullally, the ...
the boiled worm!" he continued, "an' say you won't go!"

"But my father was at Oxford," said Roger quietly.

"Your father was a parson and didn't know any better," Gilbert replied.
"And that reminds me, if one of us becomes a parson, the rest