The King of the School, or, Who will Win?

The King of the School; or, Who Will Win? This story serial follows Frank Egerton's arrival at Lexicon College for the autumn term. At a London railway station, Egerton befriends Charlie Fitzgerald and encounters several schoolboys—wealthy Albert Marsham and his circle, and the bullying Baynes. When Egerton witnesses Baynes mistreat a starving street urchin named Harry, he canes the bully and then hires the boy as a servant at five shillings weekly. The boys board a train to Ballsbury, where Lexicon College sits beneath a cathedral. Headmaster Reverend Doctor Whackley, known for strict discipline, welcomes Egerton and warns against visiting certain town streets. Fitzgerald shows Egerton the college buildings and explains the rivalry between the paying scholars and the free-boarded cathedral choristers called "nightingales." The narrative establishes competing social hierarchies and tensions that will apparently drive the serial's plot.