There
he lay, a very queer specimen of boyhood, by name Diggs, and familiarly
called "the Mucker." He was young for his size, and a very clever
fellow, nearly at the top of the fifth. His friends at home, having
regard, I suppose, to his age, and not to his size and place in the
school, hadn't put him into tails; and even his jackets were always too
small; and he had a talent for destroying clothes and making himself
look shabby. He wasn't on terms with Flashman's set, who sneered at his
dress and ways behind his back; which he knew, and revenged himself
by asking Flashman the most disagreeable questions, and treating him
familiarly whenever a crowd of boys were round him. Neither was he
intimate with any of the other bigger boys, who were warned off by
his oddnesses, for he was a very queer fellow; besides, amongst other
failings, he had that of impecuniosity in a remarkable degree. He
brought as much money as other boys to school, but got rid of it in no
time, no one knew how; and then, being also reckless, borrowed from any
one; and when his debts accumulated and creditors pressed, would have
an auction in the hall of everything he possessed in the world, selling
even his school-books, candlestick, and study table. For weeks after
one of these auctions, having rendered his study uninhabitable, he would
live about in the fifth-form room and hall, doing his verses on old
letter-backs and odd scraps of paper, and learning his lessons no one
knew how.
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