What did strike one was his air of lazy humour, which seemed to regard life as a huge joke, if only one could summon up the energy to enjoy it.

Pridgin did indeed enjoy his share of it, but one could not help feeling that, were he to choose, that share would be a great deal larger than it really was.
It was plain to see he was fond of Tempest; a weakness which reconciled me to him from the first.

Tempest, however, seemed, if anything, to prefer the third member of the party present, who was in every way a contrast to his genial host.
Wales struck one as a far more imposing person than Pridgin, but not quite as attractive.

He was dressed in what seemed to me the top of the fashion, and had the appearance of a youth who made a point of having everything of the best.

He had the reputation, as I discovered afterwards, of possessing the most expensive bats and racquets, the best-bound books, the best-fitting clothes, of any one in Low Heath.