Among these were two boys belonging to the group whose conversation the reader has already overheard.
One of them, young Forrester, has already been introduced.

Junior as he was, he was a favourite all over Bolsover, for he was about the only boy in the school who was always in good spirits, and did not seem to be infected with the universal dry-rot of the place.

He was a small, handsome boy, older indeed then he looked (for he was nearly fifteen), not particularly clever or particularly jocular.

To look at him you would have thought him delicate, but there was nothing feeble in his manner.

He looked you straight in the face with a pair of brown saucy eyes; he was ready to break his neck to oblige any one; and his pocket- money (fancy a Bolsover boy having pocket-money!) was common property.
Altogether he was a phenomenon at Bolsover, and fellows took to him instinctively, as fellows often do take to one whose character and disposition are a contrast to their own.