"I know why," sneered the enemy.
"Why, then?" flared Jim.
"He daren't. Give the show away."
After that the lad gave his enemy a sound hiding, and peace reigned. The bounders might say he was a bounder, but they had to admit that he could give and take punishment with the best.
He left Eton absolutely unspoilt.
A year before the lad quitted the school his father sent for him.
"I didn't want you to go to Eton, Jim," he said. "I'm glad now. Do you want to go on to Oxford?"
The boy thought; and when his reply came it was honest as himself.
"All my friends are going," he said. "I should like it for that reason. But I don't know that I should get much out of it."