chump!" Gilbert added.

"It seems an odd choice," Roger said, quietly.

Henry blushed. "Of course," he hurried to say, "I've given up the idea.
It was just a notion that came into my head!"

He went on to say that as Gilbert had resolved to be a writer, he did
not see any reason why he should not become one too. "I've read an awful
lot of books," he said, "so I daresay I could write one. I used to write
things when I was a youngster, just like you, Gilbert!"

They gazed dubiously at Henry. A fellow who could make such choices of
profession ... a parson or an actor ... was a rum bird, in their
opinion, and they told him so. Gilbert said that the conjunction of
_actor_ with _parson_ showed that all Henry cared about was the chance
to show off. "All you want is to get yourself up," he said. "If you were
a parson, you could get yourself up in a surplice!..."

"He'd turn High Churchman," Roger interrupted, "and trot about in
chasubles and copes!..."

"And if he were an actor, he could get himself up in terrific style!..."
Gilbert continued.

Henry got up and walked away from them. "It isn't fair," he said, as he
went, "to chip me like that. I'm not going to be a parson and I'm not
going to be an actor!..."

Gilbert followed him and brought him back to the council.

"All right, Quinny," he said, "we won't chip you any more. Only, don't
talk like a soppy ass again, will you? Sit down and listen to me!..."

He forced Henry to sit beside him and then he proceeded to plan their
lives for them.

"We'll all go to Cambridge," he said. "That's settled. I arranged that
before, didn't I? Well, we all go to the same college, and we all
promise to swot hard. We've got to Do Well, d'ye hear?" He said "do
well" as if each word had a capital letter. "We've got to be the Pride
of our College, d'ye hear, and work so that the dons will shed tears of
joy when they hear our names mentioned. I draw the particular attention
of Ninian Graham to what I am saying, and I warn him that if he goes on
whittling a stick while I'm talking, I shall clout his fat head for him.
I also trust that our young friend, Quinny, will make up his mind to
work hard. He's Irish, of course, and we must make allowances for
him!..."

There was almost a row when Gilbert said that, and it was not completely
averted until Gilbert had admitted that the English had their faults.

"I need not say anything on the subject of hard work to our young
friend, Roger,"