n.o.body present liked Rand-Brown, and they looked at him rather inquiringly, as if to ask what he had come for. A friend may drop in for a chat. An acquaintance must justify his intrusion.
Rand-Brown ignored the silent inquiry. He seated himself on the table, and dragged up a chair to rest his legs on.
"Talking about Mill, of course?" he said.
"Yes," said Drummond. "Have you seen his study since it happened?"
"Yes."
Rand-Brown smiled, as if the recollection amused him. He was one of those people who do not look their best when they smile.
"Playing for the first tomorrow, Barry?"
"I don"t know," said Barry, shortly. "I haven"t seen the list."
He objected to the introduction of the topic. It is never pleasant to have to discuss games with the very man one has ousted from the team.
Drummond, too, seemed to feel that the situation was an embarra.s.sing one, for a few minutes later he got up to go over to the gymnasium.
"Any of you chaps coming?" he asked.
Barry and M"Todd thought they would, and the three left the room.
"Nothing like showing a man you don"t want him, eh, Bertie? What do you think?" said Rand-Brown.
Bertie grinned politely.
VI
TREVOR REMAINS FIRM
The most immediate effect of telling anybody not to do a thing is to make him do it, in order to a.s.sert his independence. Trevor"s first act on receipt of the letter was to include Barry in the team against the Town. It was what he would have done in any case, but, under the circ.u.mstances, he felt a peculiar pleasure in doing it. The incident also had the effect of recalling to his mind the fact that he had tried Barry in the first instance on his own responsibility, without consulting the committee. The committee of the first fifteen consisted of the two old colours who came immediately after the captain on the list. The powers of a committee varied according to the determination and truculence of the members of it. On any definite and important step, affecting the welfare of the fifteen, the captain theoretically could not move without their approval. But if the captain happened to be strong-minded and the committee weak, they were apt to be slightly out of it, and the captain would develop a habit of consulting them a day or so after he had done a thing. He would give a man his colours, and inform the committee of it on the following afternoon, when the thing was done and could not be repealed.
Trevor was accustomed to ask the advice of his lieutenants fairly frequently. He never gave colours, for instance, off his own bat. It seemed to him that it might be as well to learn what views Milton and Allardyce had on the subject of Barry, and, after the Town team had gone back across the river, defeated by a goal and a try to nil, he changed and went over to Seymour"s to interview Milton.
Milton was in an arm-chair, watching Renford brew tea. His was one of the few studies in the school in which there was an arm-chair. With the majority of his contemporaries, it would only run to the portable kind that fold up.
"Come and have some tea, Trevor," said Milton.
"Thanks. If there"s any going."
"Heaps. Is there anything to eat, Renford?"
The f.a.g, appealed to on this important point, pondered darkly for a moment.
"There _was_ some cake," he said.
"That"s all right," interrupted Milton, cheerfully. "Scratch the cake.
I ate it before the match. Isn"t there anything else?"
Milton had a healthy appet.i.te.
"Then there used to be some biscuits."
"Biscuits are off. I finished "em yesterday. Look here, young Renford, what you"d better do is cut across to the shop and get some more cake and some more biscuits, and tell "em to put it down to me. And don"t be long."
"A miles better idea would be to send him over to Donaldson"s to fetch something from my study," suggested Trevor. "It isn"t nearly so far, and I"ve got heaps of stuff."
"Ripping. Cut over to Donaldson"s, young Renford. As a matter of fact,"
he added, confidentially, when the emissary had vanished, "I"m not half sure that the other dodge would have worked. They seem to think at the shop that I"ve had about enough things on tick lately. I haven"t settled up for last term yet. I"ve spent all I"ve got on this study.
What do you think of those photographs?"
Trevor got up and inspected them. They filled the mantelpiece and most of the wall above it. They were exclusively theatrical photographs, and of a variety to suit all tastes. For the earnest student of the drama there was Sir Henry Irving in _The Bells_, and Mr Martin Harvey in _The Only Way._ For the admirers of the merely beautiful there were Messrs Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell.
"Not bad," said Trevor. "Beastly waste of money."
"Waste of money!" Milton was surprised and pained at the criticism.
"Why, you must spend your money on _something."_
"Rot, I call it," said Trevor. "If you want to collect something, why don"t you collect something worth having?"
Just then Renford came back with the supplies.
"Thanks," said Milton, "put "em down. Does the billy boil, young Renford?"
Renford asked for explanatory notes.
"You"re a bit of an a.s.s at times, aren"t you?" said Milton, kindly.
"What I meant was, is the tea ready? If it is, you can scoot. If it isn"t, buck up with it."
A sound of bubbling and a rush of steam from the spout of the kettle proclaimed that the billy did boil. Renford extinguished the Etna, and left the room, while Milton, murmuring vague formulae about "one spoonful for each person and one for the pot", got out of his chair with a groan--for the Town match had been an energetic one--and began to prepare tea.
"What I really came round about--" began Trevor.
"Half a second. I can"t find the milk."
He went to the door, and shouted for Renford. On that overworked youth"s appearance, the following dialogue took place.
"Where"s the milk?"
"What milk?"
"My milk."