You're better than a dirty halfpenny, to be played pitch and toss with." These words sank deep in the boy's disturbed mind, and drove away any lingering desire for an immediate reconciliation.
Day after day the two old chums met and cut one another dead, and the spectacle of the "split" became a part of every-day life at Templeton.
At the end of a week fellows almost forgot that David and Jonathan had ever been on speaking terms.
Then an unlooked-for incident caused a diversion and upset the calculations of everybody.
Coote had, of all interested parties, least relished the falling-out of his two old comrades.

It had not only pained him as a friend, but, personally, it had caused him the greatest discomfort.
For he found himself in the position of an animated buffer between the two.

When Heathcote wanted to show off to Dick that he was not breaking his heart on his account, he got possession of Coote, and lavished untoward affection on that tender youth.

And when Dick wanted to exhibit to Heathcote that he was not pining in solitude for want of an adherent, he attached Coote to his person and treated him like his own brother.
And Coote, when Heathcote had him, was all for Heathcote, and eloquent on the abominable sins of piety and inconstancy.

And when he was with Dick he was all for Dick, and discoursed no less eloquently on the wickedness of deceit and poorness of spirit.