I say, Mary, don't you hate the Dean's Ernest ?" "Yes, I do," she answered fervently, although she had not thought about him at all--enough for her that Jeremy should hate him! Then she gasped: "Here he comes--" He was walking towards them with a swagger of his long yellow neck and his thin leggy body that Jeremy found especially offensive.

Jeremy "bristled," and Mary was conscious of that bristling.
"Hallo!" said Ernest.
"Hallo!" said Jeremy.
"What rot these silly games are!" said Ernest.

"Why can't they have something decent, like cricket ?" Jeremy had never played cricket, so he said nothing.

"At our school," said Ernest, "we're very good at cricket.

We win all our matches always--" "I don't care about your school," said Jeremy, breathing through his nose.
The Dean's Ernest was obviously surprised by this; he had not expected it.