Page:Hornung - Fathers of Men.djvu/64

 The mass was deflating rapidly, and Jan was moistening his lips before opening them for the first time in public, when a reddish head, whose shoulders were wedged not far in front of him, suddenly caught Jan's eye.

"Shockley."

"Here, sir." "Nunn minor." "Here, sir."

"Carpenter."

"Here, sir."

"Rutter."

No answer. Heriot looking up with pencil poised.

"Rutter?"

"Here, sir!"

And out slips Jan in dire confusion, to join Carpenter on the outskirts of the throng; to be cursed under Shockley's breath; and just to miss the stare of the boy with reddish hair, who has turned a jovial face on hearing the name for the second time.

"I say, Carpenter!"

"Yes?"

"Did you see who that was in front of us?"

"You bet! And they said he wasn't coming back till half-term! I'm going to wait for him."

"Then don't say anything about me—see? He never saw me, so don't say anything about me."

And off went Jan to watch the match, more excited than when he had lost self-control in the quad; the difference was that he did not lose it for a moment now. He heard the name of Devereux called over in its turn. He knew that Carpenter had joined Devereux a moment later. He wondered whether Devereux had seen him also—seen him from the first and pretended not to see him—or only this minute while talking to Chips? Was