House,' said Vaughan.

'Ward's the worst type of beak. He simply lives for the sake of booking
chaps. If he books a chap out of bounds it keeps him happy for a week.'

'A man like that's bound to be a criminal of sorts in his spare time.
It's action and reaction,' said Vaughan.

Mr Ward happening to pass at this moment, the speaker went on to ask
Dallas audibly if life was worth living, and Dallas replied that under
certain conditions and in some Houses it was not.

Dallas and Vaughan did not like Mr Ward. Mr Ward was not the sort of
man who inspires affection. He had an unpleasant habit of 'jarring', as
it was called. That is to say, his conversation was shaped to one
single end, that of trying to make the person to whom he talked feel
uncomfortable. Many of his jars had become part of the School history.
There was a legend that on one occasion he had invited his prefects to
supper, and regaled them with sausages. There was still one prefect
unhelped. To him he addressed himself.

'A sausage, Jones?'

'If you please, sir.'

'No, you won't, then, because I'm going to have half myself.'

This story may or may not be true. Suffice it to say, that Mr Ward was
not popular.