sausage had gone the way of all flesh, Vaughan returned to the sore
subject like a moth to a candle.

'It isn't only the not being head of the House that I bar. It's the man
himself. You say you haven't studied Plunkett much. When you get to
know him better, you'll appreciate his finer qualities more. There are
so few of them.'

'The only fine quality I've ever seen in him,' said Dallas, 'is his
habit of slinking off in the afternoons when he ought to be playing
games, and not coming back till lock-up.'

'Which brings us back to where we started,' put in the Babe. 'You were
wondering what he did with himself.'

'Yes, it can't be anything good so we'll put beetles and butterflies
out of the question right away. He might go and poach. There's heaps of
opportunity round here for a chap who wants to try his hand at that. I
remember, when I was a kid, Morton Smith, who used to be in this
House--remember him?--took me to old what's-his-name's place. Who's
that frantic blood who owns all that land along the Badgwick road? The
M.P. man.'

'Milord Sir Alfred Venner, M.P., of Badgwick Hall.'

'That's the man. Generally very much of Badgwick Hall. Came down last
summer on Prize Day. One would have thought from the side on him that
he was all sorts of dooks. Anyhow, Morton-Smith took me rabbiting
there. I didn't know it was against the rules or anything. Had a grand
time. A few days afterwards, Milord Sir Venner copped him on the hop