the previous night.

'So you see,' he concluded, 'this two pound business makes it all the
worse.'

'I don't see why,' said Welch.

'Well, you see, money's a thing everybody wants, whereas cups wouldn't
be any good to a fellow at school. So that I should find it much harder
to prove that I didn't take the two pounds, than I should have done to
prove that I didn't take the cups.'

'But there's no earthly need for you to prove anything,' said Tony.
'There's not the slightest chance of your being found out.'

'Exactly,' observed Charteris. 'We will certainly respect your incog.
if you wish it. Wild horses shall draw no evidence from us. It is, of
course, very distressing, but what is man after all? Are we not as the
beasts that perish, and is not our little life rounded by a sleep?
Indeed, yes. And now--with full chorus, please.

'"We-e take him from the city or the plough.
We-e dress him up in uniform so ne-e-e-at."'

And at the third line some plaster came down from the ceiling, and
Merevale came up, and the meeting dispersed without the customary
cheers.