"Then, that's why." "You see, I cannot put my ringer on the brute." "He has you in a cleft stick. Who knows that better than Acton?" "I'm going to thrash Jack, the little idiot. I distinctly told him to give Acton a wide berth." "Jack, of course, is an idiot; but Acton is the fellow that wants the thrashing." Phil pondered over this for fully five minutes. "You're right, old man, and I'll give--I'll try to give--him the thrashing he deserves." "Big biz," said I. "You say you aren't as good as Hodgson; Hodgson isn't in the same street as Acton; _ergo_, you aren't in the same parish." "That's your beastly logic, Carr. Does a good cause count for nothing?" "Not for much, when you're dealing with sharps." "I see _you've_ inherited your pater's law books. The school goes home to-morrow, doesn't it? Well, my Lord Chief Justice, in what relation do you stand towards the school to-morrow? Are you Captain?" "No," said I, in my best legal manner. "There is no school to-morrow--_ergo_, there cannot be a captain of a non-existent thing. To-morrow is a _dies non_ as far as I'm concerned. Why this thirst for knowledge, Phil?" "Because I want you to be my second against Acton, and I didn't want your captaincy to aid or abet me in a thing which is against rules." "I see," said I, warmly, "and I will sink the rules and all the rest, and trust to a little rough justice being done on an arrant scamp." "Thanks," said Phil. "With you as second and a good cause, I ought to teach Acton a little genuine lesson." "I'd rather trust in a good straight left." "All right, then. I'll see Acton now, and bring him to the point." "Do, and let me have the result." Phil swung off in that cool, level-headed fashion which is peculiarly his own. He had thought the matter out thoroughly in that five minutes' brown study, and now that he had put his hand to the plough he would not look back. I liked the set shoulders and his even step down the corridor. Surely something must reach Acton now! He walked down the street, turned in at Biffen's yard, and mounted up to Acton's room. He knocked firmly on the partly open door, and when he heard Acton's "Come in," walked solidly in. Acton smiled amiably when he saw his visitor, and, with his half-foreign politeness, drew out a chair. "No, thanks," said Phil, icily; "but, if you've no objection, I'd like to close your door. May I?" "By all means." "My opinion of you, Acton----" "Why trouble about that, Bourne; I know it.". ----"is that you're an unmitigated cad." "Gently, friend, gently," said Acton, half getting up. "You, by your foul play, have disfigured poor Aspinall for life----" "Bourne, you're a monomaniac on that subject. I've had the pleasure of telling you once before that you were a liar." "And you did not get your 'footer' cap for it, which seems such a paltry punishment for so villainous a crime." "That is stale, stale," said Acton, coolly.