Tom, Dick and Harry

A midnight shot jolts a schoolboy out of a dream about a machine that solves Latin exercises. When he notices Tempest’s empty bed, his imagination supplies a frightening explanation. Talbot Baines Reed opens this school novel with a nervous young narrator whose alarm is as comic as it is mysterious. At Dr Plummer’s small Hampstead establishment, Tempest commands the boys’ respect and has won a place at Low Heath, giving the school something to boast about.

The story’s school world includes dormitory gossip, rivalries on the water, and arguments about the authority of older pupils and masters. A disputed boat race leaves scratched paint and wet competitors, while an order for extra drill puts Tempest’s pride under pressure. The lively first-person voice makes these quarrels feel immediate. Readers interested in older British school stories will find humour built from exaggerated fears, loyalties, and the small rules that become large matters among boys.