"I shall be in the schools," Jack replied sadly, and though The Bradder
turned away suddenly I saw him smiling, for Jack's essays were some of
the most comical things ever written.

Anything which resembled style he said was unwholesome, and although
Mr. Grace talked to him like a parent and The Bradder tried persuasion
and abuse, he stuck to his solid way of giving information. But he
confided in me that the reason was that he couldn't write a proper
essay to save his life.

"All I want," he exclaimed, "is a degree, and that's what these men
don't understand. Besides, I spell badly; it's a disease with me, and
when you have got it, you may be able to think of a word, but you would
be a precious fool to use it when another man has to read what you have
written. So my vocabulary gets limited, and I'm going to stick to
facts, and I shouldn't wonder if the examiners don't like them. They
so seldom get them."

I don't think he understood what a very great deal some of the history
men manage to know, but, at any rate, his way of tackling the examiners
was novel, and considering the disease from which he was suffering,
perhaps it was also the best he could choose. So he went on learning
things by heart, and put up long lists of things on his looking-glass,
or any place where he was likely to see them. I saw the extraordinary
word "Brom" pinned on to a photograph of Collier, and found out that it
stood for Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

"I can't help thinking that Marlborough finished off with Blenheim,
because it is the sort of battle any one who is not even reading
history has heard of," he explained, "and I have to get that idea out
of my head. You will find all sorts of funny words stuck about the
place. I've got 'Kajakk' pinned on to a lobelia in my flower-box,
because I am always leaving out Anne of Cleves; she never seemed to
have a chance, and you must have the man's wives all right."

"Do you think they matter much?" I asked.

"Of course they do. They are guide-posts to the reign, but they would
do much better if half of them were not Katharines."

I suggested that he should call one of them Kate and another Kathleen
to avoid confusion, but he said that "Kajakk" would pull him through
all right, and that if there was any question about Henry VIII. he did
not mean to miss is. I am certain that had he been given an
opportunity, the examiners would have had a correct list of these
l