CHAPTER IV
A SLIGHT MISTAKE
The procession came down the corridor and stopped outside a small door. It was headed by a tall boy, as thin as a match-stick, and with a face so tiny that it seemed to be almost entirely hidden behind a pair of enormous spectacles which he wore tied round his ears with knotted elastic bands. Behind this boy came another of his own age, but less extraordinary in appearance, and behind them, in their turn, came Rouse and Terence Nicholson. The boy in spectacles rejoiced in the name of Henry Hope, and he claimed to have been the devoted admirer of Rouse and Terence longer than anybody else in the school. Certainly no other boy would have dared to go and roust the captain of Rugby football out of his sanctum merely in the hope that he would set right a small minor trouble of his own. It is true that the fact that Rouse happened to be the said captain made a certain difference. Rouse was everybody’s friend and particularly the friend of unhappy juniors. But what made the chief difference was the fact that one of the boys in trouble on this particular occasion was Henry Hope.
Henry drew his crony aside, and they stood for a moment looking at the two seniors in turn with eyes that shone with admiration, until at last Rouse spoke.
“Yes,” said he. “This is the one all right. No. 18, the list said. There can’t be any mistake.”
“Are you sure that it said No. 18?” asked Terence modestly. “Seems rather odd.”
“My good sir,” responded Rouse, “there is no doubt about it.”
He moved forward and opened the door. Terence came up alongside and they stood for a moment regarding the interior.
“Well, it isn’t a bad one,” said Terence at last.
Rouse regarded him with deep sorrow.
“You are a sunny child.”