I was awfully sorry to see this, for I myself was leaving at midsummer,
and in my own mind I had always looked upon Phil to take up the
captaincy. He would have made, in my opinion, the _beau ideal_ of a
captain, for he was a gentleman, a scholar, and an athlete. But the
other monitors, or at least many of them, did not look upon Phil with
enthusiasm, and his election for the captaincy did not now seem the sure
thing it had done a few months before.
At St. Amory's the monitors elect a captain, and Corker confirms the
appointment if he thinks their choice suitable, but he insists that he
must be well up in the Sixth, and not a mere athlete.
Now, Phil's ambition was to be Captain of St. Amory's, as his father had
been before him, and when the home authorities finally decided that I
was to go to Cambridge in the Michaelmas term; Phil hoped and desired
to step into my shoes. He had one great lever to move the fellows in his
favour, he was much the best cricketer in the school and deservedly
Captain of the Eleven, and, besides that, was one of the best all-round
fellows in Sixth Form work. But Phil did not in the least hint that the
captaincy was his soul's desire; he determined to merit it, and then
leave the matter in the hands of the school. So, from the very beginning
of the term, he read hard and played hard, and he left his mark on the
class lists and the scoring-board in very unmistakable fashion.
And now Acton came like an evil genius on the scene.
Pages:
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187