"I should say," says young Wyndham, blushing a little to hear his own voice before this imposing a.s.sembly, "all Willoughby"s coming up to his level!"
"The young "un"s right, though he is a Limpet," says Crossfield. "I had my doubts of old Riddell once, but I"ve more doubts about myself than him now."
"You know, Wynd.," says Porter, "we"re such a happy family, I shouldn"t wonder if I forget before long what house I belong to."
"I"ll see you"re reminded of that, my boy, before the house football matches next term," says Fairbairn, laughing.
"Yes," says the old captain, "you"ll be a poor show if you don"t stick up for your own house."
"Well, I don"t know," says Porter, "we"ve had such a lot of sticking up for our own houses this term, that I"m rather sick of it."
"Sticking up for ourselves, you mean," says Bloomfield, "that"s where one or two I could name went wrong."
"It seems to me," says Coates, "that sticking up for your house, and sticking up for your school, and sticking up for yourself, are none of them bad things."
"But," says old Wyndham, "unless you put them in the right order they may do more harm than good."
"And what do you say the right order is?" asks Crossfield.
"Why, of course, Willoughby first, your house next, and yourself last."
"In other words," says the captain, "if you stick up for Willoughby you can save yourself any trouble about the other two, for they are both included in the good of the old school. At least, that"s my notion!"
And with what better notion could we say good-bye to the Willoughby Captains?