pal

Studies palled just a wee bit then; the Queen’s class, left behind in school while the others scattered to green lanes and leafy wood cuts and meadow byways, looked wistfully out of the windows and discovered that Latin verbs and French exercises had somehow lost the tang and zest they had possessed in the crisp winter months.

“I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.”

“You’ll see your pal again presently,” said Jones.

Holmes, for six months and more, and he my closest pal.