Priscilla and charybdis

Excerpt from Priscilla and Charybdis: A Story of Alternatives
What Morley Quorn could not understand was why people made such a fuss over that fellow Kelton. Who was Kelton anyway that he should give himself airs, he enquired with some insistence of the five "bassi" - they were labelled "bassi" in the programme - who were lounging about the door of the schoolroom where the rehearsal for the concert was being held.
"He does give himself airs, doesn't he?" growled another of the same division of the chorus.
The rest shook their heads gloomily. It was denied to them to express themselves adequately on this point, the fact being that the Reverend Edwin Tucknott, the curate of St. Joan of Arc, was standing hard by with his flute. The proximity of the clergyman checked complete freedom of speech, including "language," among the young men, for they failed to recollect that in the due performance of that portion of his sacred office known as the Commination Service he went much further than the most highly qualified basso could go even when he found it necessary to describe the absurdities of another and more popular vocalist.
Mr. Tucknott smiled his olive branch smile in the direction of the "bassi."
"I suppose it is natural for a tenor to give himself airs," he remarked. The instant he had spoken he glanced around in rather a shaky way. He had a feeling that he had gone a little too far.
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