Billy Bunter's Benefit By Frank Richards - Friardale

Billy Bunter’s Benefit
By Frank Richards
to do?” asked Bunter, distressfully.
“Well, you won’t be able to do Parker’s,” said Bob. “You’ll have to pay for
that bike somehow.”
“The payfulness is a deadly cert and a sine qua non,” said Hurree Jamset
Ram Singh.
“I say, you fellows, if you can lend me the money—.”
“Gather round, and shell out your guineas, you men,” said Bob. “How many
of you have got seven guineas in your trousers pocket?”
“Ha, ha, ha!”
“You fat chump,” said Harry Wharton. “Parker might take something on
account, and wait for the balance. How much have you got?”
“Twopence,” said Bunter.
“Oh, my hat!”
“I—I’m expecting a postal-order,” said Bunter. “In fact, I’m expecting
more than one postal-order, from— from some of my titled relations, you
know. If you fellows can lend me seven pounds six shillings and tenpence,
I— I’ll put up my twopence, and—and—I’ll square when my postal-orders
come—.”
“Good-bye, Bunter.”
“I say, you fellows, don’t walk away while a chap’s talking to you—Beasts!”
hooted Bunter.
It was perhaps doubtful whether, had the Famous Five possessed seven
pounds six shillings and tenpence, they would have felt disposed to invest
that sum in a new bike for Bunter. But as their combined resources
amounted to less than five shillings that morning, the question did not
arise.
They went out into the quad, and Billy was left with his little bill and the
parental letter. He was also left with a long and lugubrious face. That
little bill had to be paid somehow, but the “how” was a deep mystery to
Bunter.
His usual resource in hard times was to borrow, and in that line he had
great skill. How many “tanners” and “bobs” and even half-crowns he
extracted from other Remove fellows in the course of a term, he hardly
knew, but he knew that the number was considerable. But guineas were a
very different proposition. Guineas were things that fellows couldn’t lend
if they would, and wouldn’t if they could. A fellow who set out to borrow
seven pounds seven shillings in a junior form at school certainly had some
uphill work before him.
“I say, Mauly,” Billy Bunter spotted Lord Mauleverer in the distance, and
rolled hurriedly after him. “I say, Mauly, stop a minute.”
“Oh, dear!” sighed Lord Mauleverer. He stopped.
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