Tell England | Page 8

of
tired children, finished the day in listless woolgathering. And his
mother, recalling the conversation in the stately garden up the stream,
fell to wondering whither these boys were tending.
So the passage down the full and slumbery Fal seemed nearly a
soundless thing. But all the real river-noises were there; the birds were
singing endlessly in the groves; the gulls with their hoarse language
were flying seawards from the mud-flats of Truro; the water was gently
lapping the sides of the boat; and voices could be heard from the
distances higher up and lower down the stream. And behind all this
prattle of the Estuary hung the murmur of the sea.
It was a very quiet boat that unladed the Pennybets on the steps of a
stone pier at Falmouth, and then swung round and carried Edgar up its
own wake. Baptist was a glorious hand with the paddles, and, as the
Lady Fal swept easily over the glassy water, Edgar gazed at the
familiar things coming into view. There, at last, was the huge house of
Graysroof, belittled by the loftiness of the quilted hill, on whose slope
it stood, and by the extent of its surrounding woods. And there in the
water lay mirrored a reflection of house and trees and hillside. Baptist
rested on his oars, and, turning round on his seat, drank in the
loveliness of England and the Fal. His oars remained motionless for a
long time, till he suddenly commented:
"H'm."
This encouraging remark Master Doe interpreted as a willingness to
converse, and he let escape a burst of confidence.
"You know, I like Archie Pennybet very much indeed. In fack, I think I
like him better than anyone else in the world, 'septing of course my
relations."
Watching his hearer nervously to see how he would receive this
important avowal, Master Doe flushed when he saw no signs of
emotion on Baptist's countenance. He didn't like thinking he had made

himself look a fool. Probably Baptist perceived this, for he felt he must
contrive a reply, and, abandoning "H'm" as too uncouth and too
unflavoured with sympathy, gave of his best, muttering:
"Ah, he's one of we."
Then, realising that the sun had gone in a blaze of glory, and that he
must waste no further time in prolonged gossip, he dipped his blade
into the still water, and turned the head of the boat for the Graysroof
bank; and for the things that should be.

BOOK I FIVE GAY YEARS OF SCHOOL
_
Part I: Tidal Reaches_

CHAPTER I
RUPERT RAY BEGINS HIS STORY
§1
"I'm the best-looking person in this room," said Archibald Pennybet.
"Ray's face looks as though somebody had trodden on it, and
Doe's--well, Doe's would be better if it had been trodden on."
It was an early morning of the Kensingtowe Summer Term, and the
three of us, Archie Pennybet, Edgar Gray Doe, and I, Rupert Ray, were
waiting in the Junior Preparation Room at Bramhall House, till the bell
should summon us over the playing fields to morning school.
Kensingtowe, of course, is the finest school in England, and Bramhall
its best house. Now, Pennybet, though not himself courteous, always
insisted that Doe and I should treat him with proper respect, so, since
he was senior and thus magnificent, I'll begin by describing him.
He was right in saying that he was the handsomest. He was a tall boy of
fifteen years, with long limbs that were saved from any unlovely
slimness by their full-fleshed curves and perfect straightness. His face,

whose skin was as smooth as that of a bathed and anointed Greek, was
crowned by dark hair, and made striking by a pair of those long-lashed
eyes that are always brown. And in character he was the most
remarkable. Though two years our senior, he deliberately lagged behind
the boys of his own age, and remained the oldest member of our form.
Thoughtless masters called him a dunce, but abler ones knew him to be
only idle. And Pennybet cared little for either opinion. He had schemed
to remain in a low form; and that was enough. It was better to be a
field-marshal among the "kids" than a ranker among his peers. Like
Satan, for whom he probably felt a certain admiration, he found it
better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
The personal attendants of this splendid sultan consisted of Edgar Doe
and myself. We were not allowed by him to forget that, if he could total
fifteen years, we could only scrape together a bare thirteen. We were
mere children. Doe and I, being thirteen and an exact number of days,
were twins, or we would have been, had it not been for the divergence
of our parentage. We