“You always stick up for a chap,” he observed. “Anything else?”
“Yes. I may as well tell you, as everybody else will know by chapel-time. Fact is, I’m putting you into the twenty-two to-night. And on Saturday, next week, you’re playing in the eleven and sixteen match for the eleven.”
David stopped quite dead. And then he thought he saw. Frank had tried to get a rise out of him just now and failed, and of course was trying again. It wasn’t really quite nice of him to try to get a rise out of him over such matters, but then he didn’t know how dreadfully David cared.
“Oh! Jolly funny!” he said, and walked on again.
“David, do you think I’m such a brute as to try to get a rise out of you with that sort of thing?” asked Frank.
“B-b-but do you mean it’s true?” asked David suddenly stammering.
“Yes, you ass. That’s what I wanted to consult Tommy about, and he agrees. We can’t have a kid like you bowling the eleven out, so you’ve jolly well got to bowl the sixteen out instead. And I’ll take away your twenty-two cap, if you don’t.”
“Oh, Frank, I can’t quite believe it,” said David. “What’s it all for? What have I done?”
“That’s one of your bad points, as I told the Head,” said Frank. “I said you were filthily conceited.”
“Well, congratters on your twenty-two. And you can bring your preparation to my study if you like, and I’ll give you a construe. I haven’t got any work to do myself.”
“Comes of being a scholar of Trinity,” remarked David, and fled.
Frank had written out the list of promotions into the twenty-two when David came to his study with a copy of “Œdipus Coloneus,” which was his lesson for next day, and he pushed it over to him.
“I’ve stuck you in first,” he said, “to prepare for your appearance next Saturday. Now we’ll leave the silly business alone. What’s your work? ‘Œdipus Coloneus’?”
“Yes; twenty-five lines of a chorus that’s simply beastly,” said David, finding his place. “There; line 668.”
“Oh, it’s not without merit,” he said. “Now look out every word you don’t know, and then try to make something of it for half an hour. After that, I’ll give you a construe. No talking.”
“Oh, won’t you construe it first?” asked David. “It’ll save me a lot of trouble.”
“And did you suppose I wanted to save you trouble?” asked Frank.