I fear that this was in some measure owing to the fact, that Tom could probably have thrashed any boy in the room except the praepostor; at any rate, every boy knew that he would try upon very slight provocation, and didn't choose to run the risk of a hard fight because Tom Brown had taken a fancy to say his prayers.

[Footnote 5: A praepostor is a monitor, a scholar appointed to oversee other scholars.