The Hill Part 3

"What a sn.o.b d.i.c.k is!" drawled a very tall, very thin, aristocratic-looking boy.

"And a fool," added Scaife. "This sort of thing makes him loathed."

"It _is_ a sell his being here."

All three fell to talking. The question still festering in John's mind was answered within a minute. The "brute" was Rutford. Towards the end of the previous term gossip had it that the master of the Manor had been offered an appointment elsewhere. Whereat the worthier spirits in the ancient house rejoiced. Now the joy was turned into wailing and gnashing of teeth.

"Is he a beast to _us_?" said John.

The freckle-faced boy answered affably, "That depends. His Imperial Highness"--he kicked the new portmanteau hard--"will not find Mr.

Richard Rutford a beast. Far from it. And he's civil to the Demon, because his papa is a man of many shekels. But to mere outsiders, like myself, a beast of beasts; ay, the very king of beasts, is--Dirty d.i.c.k."

And then--oh, horrors!--the door of No. 15 opened, and Rutford appeared, followed by a seemingly young and very fashionably dressed lady. The boys jumped to their feet. All, except Scaife, looked preternaturally solemn. The house-master nodded carelessly.

"This is Scaife, d.u.c.h.ess," he said in his thick, rasping tones. "Scaife and Verney, let me present you to the d.u.c.h.ess of Trent."

He mouthed the ill.u.s.trious name, as if it were a large and ripe greengage.

The d.u.c.h.ess advanced, smiling graciously. "These"--Rutford named the other boys--"are Egerton, Lovell, and--er--Duff."

Scaife, alone of those present, appreciated the order in which his schoolfellows had been named. Egerton--known as the Caterpillar--was the son of a Guardsman; Lovell's father was a judge; Duff's father an obscure parson.

The d.u.c.h.ess shook hands with each boy. "Your father and I are old friends," she said to Egerton; "and I have had the pleasure of meeting your uncle," she smiled at John.

Duff looked unhappy and ill at ease, because it was almost certain that his last sentence had been overheard by the house-master. The d.u.c.h.ess asked a few questions and then took her leave. She and her son were dining with the Head Master. Rutford accompanied her.

"Did the blighter hear?" said Duff.

"How could he help it with his enormous a.s.ses' ears?" said the tall, thin Egerton.

Duff, an optimist, like all red-headed, freckled boys, appealed to the others, each in turn. The verdict was unanimous.

"He hates me like poison," said Duff. "I shall catch it hot. What an unlucky beggar I am!"

"Pooh!" said Scaife. "He knows jolly well that the whole school calls him Dirty d.i.c.k."

But whatever hopes Duff may have entertained of his house-master's deafness were speedily laid in the dust. Within five minutes Rutford reappeared. He stood in the doorway, glaring.

"Just now, Duff," said he, "I happened to overhear your voice, which is singularly, I may say vulgarly, penetrating. You were speaking of me, your house-master, as 'd.i.c.k.' But you used an adjective before it. What was it?"

Duff writhed. "I don't--remember."

"Oh yes, you do. Why lie, Duff?"

John's brown face grew pale.

"The adjective you used," continued Rutford, "was 'dirty.' You spoke of _me_ as 'Dirty d.i.c.k,' and I fancy I caught the word 'beast.' You will write out, if you please, one hundred Greek lines, accents and stops, and bring them to me, or leave them with Dumbleton, _twenty-five_ lines at a time, _every_ alternate half hour during the afternoon of the next half holiday. Good night to you."

"Good night, sir," said all the boys, save John and Scaife.

"Good night, Verney."

Master and pupil confronted each other. John's face looked impa.s.sive; and Rutford turned from the new boy to Scaife.

"Good night, Scaife."

Scaife drew himself up, and, in a quiet, cool voice, replied--

"Good night, sir."

Duff waited till Rutford's heavy step was no longer heard; then he rushed at John.

"I say," he spluttered, "you're a good sort--ain't he, Demon? Refusing to say 'Good night' to the beast because he was ragging me. But he'll never forgive you--never!"

"Oh yes, he will," said Scaife. "It won't be difficult for Dirty d.i.c.k to forgive the future Verney of Verney Boscobel."

John stared. "Verney Boscobel?" he repeated. "Why, that belongs to my uncle. Mother and I hope he'll marry and have a lot of jolly kids of his own."

"You hope he'll marry? Well, I'm----"

John's jaw stuck out. The emphasis on the "hope" and the upraised eyebrow smote hard.

"You don't mean to say," he began hotly, "you don't _think_ that----"

"I can think what I please," said Scaife, curtly; "and so can you." He laughed derisively. "_Thinking_ what they please is about the only liberty allowed to new boys. Even the Duffer learned to hold his tongue during his first term."

The Caterpillar--the tall, thin, aristocratic boy--spoke solemnly. He was a dandy, the understudy--as John soon discovered--of one of the "Bloods"; a "Junior Blood," or "Would-be," a tremendous authority on "swagger," a stickler for tradition, who had been nearly three years in the school.

"The Demon is right," said he. "A new boy can't be too careful, Verney.

Your being funny in hall just now made a dev'lish bad impression."

"But I didn't mean to be funny. I told Lawrence so directly after call-over."

The Caterpillar pulled down his cuffs.

"If you didn't mean to be funny," he concluded, "you must be an a.s.s."

Duff, however, remembered that John was nephew to an explorer.

"I say," he jogged John's elbow, "do you think you could get me your uncle's autograph?"

"Why, of course," said John.

"Thanks. I've not a bad collection," the Duffer murmured modestly.

"And the gem of it," said Scaife, "is Billington's, the hangman! The Duffer shivers whenever he looks at it."

"Yes, I do," said Duff, grinning horribly.