"Comprehensive? Oh, well, his real name is Worcester, you know. Of course no one could stand that, and he is so short that it would never do to call him 'Unabridged,' so I suggested 'Comprehensive,' which is the size you have in school, you know; and the fellows took to it, and now he is called that altogether, or 'Comp' for short."
"I see! By the way, what are you and Phil called? Anything except your own names, I suppose!"
"Pretty much!" Gerald admitted. "Phil is called the 'Holy Poker'—don't know why, I'm sure!—and 'Thumbling,'—he has grown about nine feet, Phil has; really, he is a whole head taller than I am!"
"Dear me!" said Hildegarde, innocently. "I had no idea your head was so big as that, Gerald! of course I knew it was rather—"
"Mrs. Grahame!" cried Gerald, in a tone of anguish. "Will you speak to her, please? She is trampling all over my delicate sensibilities, and talking slang besides!"
"Hildegarde," said Mrs. Grahame, "I am surprised at you!"
"Yes, dear madam!" said Hildegarde, meekly. "You didn't hear the things he said. Go on with the names, Gerald!"
"They call him 'Bottle-washer,' too, and 'Cappadocia.' I think that is rather the favourite name for Ferguson."
"Why 'Cappadocia?'" asked Hildegarde.
"Oh, well, there isn't really much reason,—but then, it doesn't take much. They call me 'Capsicum,' you see, and we are twins, and 'Cappadocia' begins,—surely I need explain no further even to a person of limited intelligence?"