Deering of Deal; Or, The Spirit of the SchoolGriswold, Latta
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Deering of Deal; Or, The Spirit of the School
Griswold, Latta
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Schools -- Juvenile fiction
“Pah!” cried Wilson, “I can’t stand the touch of you. Get out of my
sight.” He gave Finch a vicious kick that sent him reeling toward the
door.
“If ever you come near my room again,” shouted Kit, “I’ll break every
bone in your miserable body. You sneak! You cur! Get out!”
Poor Finch did not debate upon the manner of his going. With one
movement, he had wrenched open the door and fled, not escaping,
however, a parting shot from Wilson’s boot.
Kit turned wrathfully to survey his damaged desk and papers, and began
to clear the litter up.
“The sneak!” he muttered. “And that’s the specimen that Tony Deering
thought we ought to take into the Dealonian, that’s the dirty little
cur for whom he’s thrown me over!”
Unfortunately, as Finch sped down the corridor for his own room, he
ran squarely into Tony who was just coming out of Number Five study.
“Well, what the deuce is the matter with you?” exclaimed Deering,
turning to look at the bewildered figure. But Finch did not reply.
He dashed into his own room, and slammed and locked the door. Tony
whistled softly, and went on. He was on his way to the shower, and had
nothing on but his wrapper. His way led past Number Twelve study where
Kit roomed, and at its door, as he turned a corner of the corridor,
he saw Wilson thrusting armfuls of paper into the waste basket. Tony
dropped his eyes and did not speak. Wilson looked up suddenly and
recognized him, and impulsively exclaimed: “I say, Deering, just look
here and see what a mess your particular pet has made for me.”
Tony stopped, surprised, and annoyed by Wilson’s angry tone. He glanced
indifferently at the disordered room, the desk stained by the great
blot of ink, the crumbled papers. “Well,” he remarked, “I don’t see how
this concerns me or my friends.”
“You don’t, eh?” exclaimed Kit. “Well, I blamed well do. That’s the
sort of thing I’ve had to put up with for the last three weeks. Your
friend Finch has been in here, kindly putting my room on the bum.”
“Finch!” cried Tony. “I don’t be—I reckon you’ve made a mistake.”
“I _reckon_ I haven’t. I laid for him, if you want to know; and I had
the pleasure just now of kicking him out. If I catch him in here again,
I’ll break every bone in his body. Since you are so deeply interested
in his welfare, you’ll be doing him a kindness if you tell him that
for me.”
Deering’s lips curled contemptuously. “I don’t know exactly what you
are driving at, Wilson, and I don’t think I particularly care.”
Kit snorted, and went on with the task of setting his things to right.
Tony majestically proceeded toward the shower. After he had stood for
a quarter of an hour under cold water he felt considerably cooler,
and when he had dressed, he stopped at Finch’s room on his way to the
Rectory for tea. Finch at first refused to respond to his knock.
“Come, come, open up, old man. I want to see you particularly.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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