Mr Wilkins, an unpopular master of Jennings' boarding school, is rumoured to be leaving.
Jennings Abounding
“Hey, Venables, I asked first,” Jennings protested. Venables pretended not to hear and tipped the remaining morsel on to Temple's over-full plate. Jennings was furious. “That's not fair! I was first. You know I was!” “Oh, were you?
Venables wandered into the classroom to see what progress the committee had made. “If it was me who was leaving, I know what I'd like,” he said, when he heard of their difficulties. “What?” asked Jennings, with rising hope.
“You'd better sit here, Jennings, next to this other new chap,” said Venables. “Here, you, what's your name?” “Charles Edwin Jeremy Darbishire,” said the small edition of his father, in capital letters. “You can keep the Charles Edwin ...
Venables quoted: “January 5th: Listened for cuckoo, but did not hear it.” The audience rocked with mirth, and tapped their foreheads pityingly at the diarist's quaint zoological observations. “He should have listened to himself;” said ...
When Jennings and Darbishire discover a hibernating hedgehog they are intrigued and decide to rescue it.
“I've been thinking it over, and I've decided not to do my ventriloquism after all,” he told Venables as they waited their turn at the wash-basins. “It seemed a good scheme to begin with, but it sort of got harder and harder as it went ...
Jennings and Darbishire had to be firm about declining to join their friends when Venables suggested going for a walk together on Sunday afternoon. They gave no reasons; they merely dropped veiled hints about a secret mission on which ...
The staircase was a tunnel of darkness as Venables and Temple groped their way up. At the top, Venables ran his hands along the wall until he located the cupboard. The storeroom key was hanging on a nail just inside, and in a matter of ...
Venables clutched the garment tightly about his chest and a lost and helpless look glazed his eyes. But he could not stand like that for ever and at last, very unwillingly, he unbuttoned his jacket, revealing a blazer underneath.