He had a tendency to chubbiness, and his moustache, when it did come, was merely a silken whisp, hardly visible.

He did some fagging in return for the extraordinary favour of adoption.

The Baby from the first was entirely accustomed to being 'sat upon.' He had no unnecessary independence of mind.

At twenty-one he still continued to be 'Baby.' All the affairs of the Syndicate flourished, including the feud with the neighbouring landowner.

All went well with the men and their boats and the Baby, until, at length, upon one fateful day for the latter, there came a young person to the locality who made an addition to the household of Farmer Johns.
'Old Johns has got a niece,' said the bachelors sitting at dinner, as if the niece had come fresh to the world as babies do, and had not held the same relation to old Johns for twenty-five years.