first-rate hand at anything; he was one of those fellows who
saunter through school, get up just enough lessons to rub along
comfortably, never take any prominent part in games, but have a
little set of their own, and hold themselves aloof from school in
general.

"Once or twice when we had played cricket he had done so
excellently that it was a grievance that he would not play
regularly, and there was a sort of general idea that if he chose he
could do most things well. After that fight he changed altogether.
He took to cricket in downright earnest, and was soon acknowledged
to be the best bat and best bowler in the school. Before that it
had been regarded as certain that when the captain left I should be
elected, but when the time came he got a majority of votes. I
should not have minded that, for I recognised that he was a better
player than I, but I fancied that he had not done it fairly, for
many fellows whom I regarded as certain to support me turned round
at the last moment.

"We were in the same form at school. He had been always near the
bottom; I stood fairly up in it, and was generally second or third.
He took to reading, and in six weeks after the fight won his way to
the top of the class and remained there; and not only so, but he
soon showed himself so far superior to the rest of us that he got
his remove to the form above.

"Then there was a competition in Latin verses open to both forms.
Latin verse was the one thing in which I was strong. There is a
sort of knack, you know, in stringing them together. A fellow may
be a duffer generally and yet turn out Latin verse better than