The Schism, parts 3642 - 3645

 3642. But the Minister’s wife, in her desire to make the appearance of Alexis as near as possible to the looks of the handsome young military cadets, made his outfits more and more to a military cut so that the poor boy on that fateful day, was not thought to be the coachman’s boy, but rather the ministers son.

 3643. This then is the reason that late on that afternoon Alexis found himself in a line of boys waiting their turn to complete in the simple tug of war sort of game called ‘Land,” having slipped through the fence bars owing to the slenderness of his ribcage, at the bidding of the cadets who thought him one of themselves.

 3644. As you might expect Alexis did very well in his wrestling matches with the young cadets. He won his first three matches without any difficulty. The simple trick of the match was a sort of waiting game, the first to make a strenuous effort to move his opponent almost invariably lost, because the ring being small, the first to move would end up being thrown out by the force of his own efforts. 

 3645. One of the reasons Alexis did so well was that the cadets, when they placed their hands upon Alexis’ shoulders felt that under his linen blouse with the ruffled front he seemed to be made up of walnuts and ships cables, so tightly constructed and firm was his anatomy.