Stainsfield is a school for spies.
It is known more commonly to those not aware of its true primary function as a boarding school for gifted boys located in the countryside of England. There young teens are taught everything they will supposedly need to head to the famous institutes such as Oxford and Cambridge. Again, this is as most people know it.
In truth it is where those young people who have been pointed out by spotters around the various other prep schools in the nation are gathered to be taught the intricacies of spycraft so that they can eventually take their spots in the different intelligence organizations that Britain has.
The subject of this entry is the school but its nature is told through the actions of several of its pupils. These students share two major traits. One is that they are all quite gifted in one area or another, fields which will be very useful in the spy world. The other is that they are all orphans. This puts their care in the control of the government, hence the ability to transfer each student to Stainsfield as desired.
The one at the forefront of this attention and the one that the action follows most of the time is Danny Conway, a dark-haired polite boy of 12 years of age. Conway's gift is that of an impressive ability with languages. When we first meet him he is the bane of several masters at the school he is originally at because they "just can't teach the young whippersnapper any more ... he's better than us all!" French, German, Arabic, Latvian, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, and undoubtedly several more. "He's even brilliant at dialects".
At Stainfield Conway will learn that each of the students is given a nickname which usually helps to identify their unique skill. As a result of his grasp of languages, Conway will be given at Stainsfield the nickname of "Chatter".
Two young fellows sent by Stainsfield to escort Conway to the school are "Dipper" Davis and "Lanky" Lowther. The latter has his nickname from his tall, extremely think physique which keeps people from suspecting he is a martial arts expert able to launch into action instantly and effectively. The former gets his name from the fact that he is an excellent thief, especially at pickpocketing.
There is also "Poacher" Price, a boy with an amazing gift with controlling animals, "Prof" Perkins, a wizard with electronics, and "Springy" Smith, the school's best athlete.
The boys are all under the direction of the Headmaster, Mr. Lucan (don't call him the "Old Man" unless you fancy an hour in detention).