Oh, well, his real name is Worcester, you know. Of
course no one could stand that, and he is so short that it would never
do to call him 'Unabridged,' so I suggested 'Comprehensive,' which is
the size you have in school, you know; and the fellows took to it, and
now he is called that altogether, or 'Comp' for short."

"I see! By the way, what are you and Phil called? Anything except your
own names, I suppose!"

"Pretty much!" Gerald admitted. "Phil is called the 'Holy Poker'--don't
know why, I'm sure!--and 'Thumbling,'--he has grown about nine feet,
Phil has; really, he is a whole head taller than I am!"

"Dear me!" said Hildegarde, innocently. "I had no idea your head was so
big as _that_, Gerald! of course I knew it was _rather_--"

"Mrs. Grahame!" cried Gerald, in a tone of anguish. "Will you speak to
her, please? She is trampling all over my delicate sensibilities, and
talking slang besides!"

"Hildegarde," said Mrs. Grahame, "I am surprised at you!"

"Yes, dear madam!" said Hildegarde, meekly. "You didn't hear the things
_he_ said. Go on with the names, Gerald!"

"They call him 'Bottle-washer,' too, and 'Cappadocia.' I think that is
rather the favourite name for Ferguson."

"_Why_ 'Cappadocia?'" asked Hildegarde.

"Oh, well, there isn't really much reason,--but then, it doesn't take
much. They call me 'Capsicum,' you see, and we are twins, and
'Cappadocia' begins,--surely I need explain no further even to a person
of limited intelligence?"

"Go on, Master Impudence! Do they call you 'Cayenne,' too?"

"Yes, indeed! And 'Bricks,' and 'Mortar,' and 'Flag,'--short for
'Conflagration,'--and everything of that sort. I don't care; I don't
mind any of these; but when they call me 'Hamlet,' I knock them down."

"Dear Jerry! Why do they call you 'Hamlet?'"

"Oh! just some idiot started it,--you can't tell how these things start.
One comfort is,--I called him the 'Grave-digger,' and it will stick to
him through college, for he looks it to the life. And the joke of
it,--I don't know whether it's safe to tell you the joke of it, Hilda."

"Try and see!"

"Well, the real joke of it is that his father is an undertaker, and I
never knew it.

"But I haven't finished about the courses!" he added, hastily, seeing
Hilda look serious. "I am taking French, and Ferguson German. We have
delightful conversations every evening, I speaking my language, and he
his. You shall have a specimen when you see us togeth--Hullo! Wh