"Look out, Porter's looking." Whereupon this brief but edifying dialogue broke off for the present.
The monitors duly assembled in the doctor's library after chapel.

They all of them knew what was coming, and their general attitude did not seem promising for the new _regime_.

Each one possibly fancied he had the interests of Willoughby at heart, and all but one or two felt convinced that in putting Riddell into the position of captain the doctor was committing a serious mistake.

Every one could have given good reasons for thinking so, and would have asserted that they had no personal ill-feeling towards the new captain, but for the sake of the school they were sure he was not the fit person.

Whether each one felt equally sure that he himself would have filled the post better is a question it is not necessary to ask here.
The doctor was brief and to the point.
"I dare say you know why I have called you together," he said.
"Wyndham--whom every one here liked and respected, and who did a great deal for the school"-- ("Hear, hear," from one or two voices)--"has left, and we shall all miss him.