"That means a prefects" meeting--sure pop," said Stalky. "Honor of the Sixth involved, and all the rest of it. Tulke"ll write notes all this afternoon, and Carson will call us up after tea. They daren"t overlook that."
"Bet you a bob he follows us!" said McTurk. "He"s King"s pet, and it"s scalps to both of "em if we"re caught out. We must be virtuous."
"Then I move we go to Mother Yeo"s for a last gorge. We owe her about ten bob, and Mary"ll weep sore when she knows we"re leaving," said Beetle.
"She gave me an awful wipe on the head last time--Mary," said Stalky.
"She does if you don"t duck," said McTurk. "But she generally kisses one back. Let"s try Mother Yeo."
They sought a little bottle-windowed half dairy, half restaurant, a dark-brewed, two-hundred-year-old house, at the head of a narrow side street. They had patronized it from the days of their f.a.gdom, and were very much friends at home.
"We"ve come to pay our debts, mother," said Stalky, sliding his arm round the fifty-six-inch waist of the mistress of the establishment. "To pay our debts and say good-by--and--and we"re awf"ly hungry."
"Aie!" said Mother Yeo, "makkin" love to me! I"m shaamed of "ee."
""Rackon us wouldn"t du no such thing if Mary was here," said McTurk, lapsing into the broad North Devon that the boys used on their campaigns.
"Who"m takin" my name in vain?" The inner door opened, and Mary, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and apple-checked, entered with a bowl of cream in her bands. McTurk kissed her. Beetle followed suit, with exemplary calm. Both boys were promptly cuffed.
"Niver kiss the maid when "e can kiss the mistress," said Stalky, shamelessly winking at Mother Yeo, as he investigated a shelf of jams.
"Glad to see one of "ee don"t want his head slapped no more?" said Mary invitingly, in that direction.
"Neu! Reckon I can get "em give me," said Stalky, his back turned.
"Not by me--yeou little masterpiece!"
"Niver asked "ee. There"s maids to Northam. Yiss--an" Appledore." An unreproducible sniff, half contempt, half reminiscence, rounded the retort.
"Aie! Yeou won"t niver come to no good end. Whutt be "baout, smellin"
the cream?"
""Tees bad," said Stalky. "Zmell "un."
Incautiously Mary did as she was bid.
"Bidevoor kiss."
"Niver amiss," said Stalky, taking it without injury.
"Yeou--yeou--yeou--" Mary began, bubbling with mirth.
"They"m better to Northam--more rich, laike an" us gets them give back again," he said, while McTurk solemnly waltzed Mother Yeo out of breath, and Beetle told Mary the sad news, as they sat down to clotted cream, jam, and hot bread.
"Yiss. Yeou"ll niver zee us no more, Mary. We"re goin" to be pa.s.sons an"
missioners."
"Steady the Buffs!" said McTurk, looking through the blind. "Tulke has followed us. He"s comin" up the street now."
"They"ve niver put us out o" bounds," said Mother Yeo. "Bide yeou still, my little dearrs." She rolled into the inner room to make the score.
"Mary," said Stalky, suddenly, with tragic intensity. "Do "ee lov" me, Mary?"
"Iss--fai! Talled "ee zo since yeou was zo high!" the damsel replied.
"Zee "un comin" up street, then?" Stalky pointed to the unconscious Tulke. "He"ve niver been kissed by no sort or manner o" maid in hees borned laife, Mary. Oh, "tees shaamful!"
"Whutt"s to do with me? "Twill come to "un in the way o" nature, I rackon." She nodded her head sagaciously. "You niver want me to kiss un--sure-_ly_?"
"Give "ee half-a-crown if "ee will," said Stalky, exhibiting the coin.
Half-a-crown was much to Mary Yeo, and a jest was more; but
"Yeu"m afraid," said McTurk, at the psychological moment.
"Aie!" Beetle echoed, knowing her weak point. "There"s not a maid to Northam "ud think twice. An" yeou such a fine maid, tu!"
McTurk planted one foot firmly against the inner door lest Mother Yeo should return inopportunely, for Mary"s face was set. It was then that Tulke found his way blocked by a tall daughter of Devon--that county of easy kisses, the pleasantest under the sun. He dodged aside politely.
She reflected a moment, and laid a vast hand upon his shoulder.
"Where be "ee gwaine tu, my dearr?" said she.
Over the handkerchief he had crammed into his mouth Stalky could see the boy turn scarlet.
"Gie I a kiss! Don"t they larn "ee manners to College?"
Tulke gasped and wheeled. Solemnly and conscientiously Mary kissed him twice, and the luckless prefect fled.
She stepped into the shop, her eyes full of simple wonder. "Kissed "un?"
said Stalky, handing over the money.
"Iss, fai! But, oh, my little body, he"m no Colleger. "Zeemed tu-minded to cry, like."
"Well, we won"t. Yell couldn"t make us cry that way," said McTurk.
"Try."
Whereupon Mary cuffed them all round.
As they went out with tingling ears, said Stalky generally, "Don"t think there"ll be much of a prefects" meeting."
"Won"t there, just!" said Beetle. "Look here. If he kissed her--which is our tack--he is a cynically immoral hog, and his conduct is blatant indecency. _Confer orationes Regis furiosissimi_, when he collared me readin" "Don Juan.""
""Course he kissed her," said McTurk. "In the middle of the street. With his house-cap on!"
"Time, 3.57 p.m. Make a note o" that. What d"you mean, Beetle?" said Stalky.
"Well! He"s a truthful little beast. He may say he was kissed."
"And then?"