Only one outsider was invited to attend--namely, "Rats," whose cheery presence it was thought would tend to enliven the proceedings, and chase away the gloomy clouds of regret which would naturally hang over the near prospect of parting.
The box-room (where such functions usually took place) being at this time in a state of indescribable uproar, it was decided that the banquet should be served in one of the remote classrooms.
"None of the fellows'll come near it," said Jack Vance; "and if old Watford should be knocking round and catch us there, he won't do anything to-day; we shall have to clear out, that's all." Accordingly, about a quarter to four, the three friends, with their solitary guest, assembled at the trysting-place.

Jack Vance carried two big paper bags, Diggory a biscuit-box and a small tin kettle, while the other two were provided with four clean jam-pots, it having been announced that there was "going to be some cocoa." For the preparation of this luxury Diggory mounted a form and lit one of the gas-jets, over which he and Jack Vance took it in turns to hold the kettle until the water boiled.

Sugar, cocoa, and condensed milk were produced from the biscuit-tin, and the jam-pots having been filled with the steaming beverage, the company seated themselves round the stove, in which there still smouldered some remains of the morning's fire, and prepared to enjoy themselves.
From the first, however, the proceeding's fell as flat as ditch-water.
Even the gallant efforts of "Rats" to enliven the party were of no avail; and for some time everybody munched away in silence, Jack Vance occasionally pausing to remark, "Here, pass over that nose-bag, and help yourselves." The classroom itself, which belonged to the Third Form, was suggestive of that glad season known as "breaking-up." The ink-pots had all been collected, and stood together in a tray on the master's table; fragments of examination papers filled the paper-basket, and were littered here and there about the floor, while some promising Latin scholar had scrawled across the blackboard the well-known words, _Dulce Domum_.
These inspiriting signs of a "good time coming" were, however, lost on the Triple Alliance.

Their present surroundings served only to remind them of the old days of "The Happy Family," when they had first come to Ronleigh, never expecting but to have completed the period of their school lives in one another's company.
"Well," said Jack Vance, suddenly broaching the subject which was uppermost in each of their minds, "we've had jolly times together .-- D'you remember when we made the Alliance, the day you first came to The Birches, Diggory ?" "Yes," answered Diggory; "it was just after we'd been frightened by the ghost.

D'you remember the 'Main-top' and the 'House of Lords' and the Philistines?
I wonder what's become of them all ?" One reminiscence suggested another, and after exhausting their recollections of The Birches, they recalled their varied experiences at Ronleigh.