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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:33:02 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:33:02 -0700 |
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diff --git a/26851-0.txt b/26851-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28067d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/26851-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28594 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 26851 *** +TOM BROWN AT OXFORD + +Thomas Hughes + +(1822-96) + +[Illustration: 0010] + +[Illustration: 0011] + +With Illustrations by Sydney P. Hall + +New York: John W. Lovell Company + +150 Worth Street, Corner Mission Place + +PUBLISHING HISTORY + +First serialized ending in circa 1861 in MacMillan's Magazine +(mentioned by the author in his preface, and Chapter 28 contains +the author's footnote indicating that at least part of this +chapter was not written earlier than 1859) + +First published in 3 volume book form 1861 by Cambridge, London +(British Library) + +2nd edition published 1861 by MacMillan & Co., Cambridge & London +(British Library) + +Published 1861 by Ticknor & Fields, Boston (Library of Congress) + +May have been serialized by Ticknor & Fields in 1859 (parts +offered on Amazon.com by an antique bookseller) + +Published 1863 by Ticknor & Fields, Boston (Library of Congress) + +Published 1865 by MacMillan & Co. (British Library) + +Published 1870 by Harper Bros., New York (British Library) + +Published 1871 by Harper Bros., New York (Library of Congress & +British Library) + +Published 1879 by unknown, New York (Library of Congress) + +Published 1881 by MacMillan & Co., New York (Library of Congress) + +French translation published 1881 in Paris with added name +Girardin, Jules Marie Alfred who is possibly the translator(?) +(British Library) + +Published circa 1888-92 by John W. Lovell, New York (Ebook +transcriber's scanned copy) + +Published 1888 by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia (Ebook +transcriber's proofreading copy) + +Published 1889 by MacMillan, London & New York (Library of +Congress) + +Published 1890 by Lovell, Coryell & Co., New York (Library of +Congress) + +Published 1905 in two volumes with Tom Brown's School Days +(British Library) + +Published 1914 by T. Nelson & Sons (British Library) + +Published 1920 by S.W. Partridge & Co., London (British Library) + +Published 2004 as part of a five volume set entitled Victorian +Novels of Oxbridge Life, Christopher Stray editor, Thoemmes, +Bristol (British Library) + +* * * * * + +(Transcriber's Notes: Notice the author's name does not appear on +the title page or on the cover, and in fact it is only given as +T. Hughes at the end of his preface and nowhere else. Sydney +Hall, 1842-1922, did portraits, newspaper and magazine +illustrations, but oddly enough there are none to be found in the +Lovell produced book, though the Porter & Coates edition has one +unattributed woodcut) + +Printed and Bound by Donohue & Henneberry, Chicago + +(Transcriber's Note: Donahue & Henneberry were in business +1871-99 doing book binding and printing for the cheap book trade +at various addresses in Chicago's business district known as the +Loop, mostly on Dearborn Street.) + +* * * * * + +TOM BROWN AT OXFORD + +By Thomas Hughes + +Author of "Tom Brown's School Days" + +Philadelphia: Porter & Coates + +(Transcriber's Note: the date 1888 is penciled in here on this +page by a previous owner) + +* * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: + +A Short Summary, With Some Explanations of Concepts Presented by +Hughes, but Not Well Defined by Him, Being Apparently Well +Understood in His Day, but With Which Modern Readers May be +Unfamiliar. + +This is the sequel to Hughes' more successful novel _Tom Brown's +School Days_, which told about Tom at the Rugby School from the +age of 11 to 16. Now Tom is at Oxford University for a three year +program of study, in which he attends class lectures and does +independent reading with a tutor. A student in residence at +Oxford is said to be "up" or have "come up", and one who leaves +is said to have gone "down". + +The author weaves a picture of life at Oxford University in the +1840s, where he himself was at that time, at Oriel College, where +he excelled in sports rather than academics. The University is +made up of a number of separate colleges, and the students form +friendships within and develop a loyalty to their own college. +Tom's college, St. Ambrose, is fictional. The study programs +available to the students are intended to prepare them for the +legal, ecclesiastical, medical and educational professions. +Students who do poorly might be expected to enter the diplomatic +corps or the army or navy, though a son of the aristocracy might +be thrust into a minor church role. To enter into business or +manufacturing engineering or the research sciences would require +an inheritance or family connection. + +Latin was still taught because the best literature available to +them was still the ancient Greek and Roman poets and +philosophers, and the legal and medical professions still used it +extensively, though the ecclesiastical and educational fields had +largely abandoned it. + +Tom finds that there is a social barrier between the wealthy +students and the students that are there on the equivalent of a +modern academic scholarship, or have to work as a graduate +student tutor to earn their stipend. There were no sports +scholarships at this time, though the author hints vaguely at one +point that someday the idea could be explored. + +There were no female students at this time. Tom becomes involved +with a local barmaid. The barmaid being of a different social +class than Tom, this relationship causes problems for both of +them, and it is important for the modern reader to realize that +such social distinctions were very real and inflexible in those +days. The working class referred to the educated class as their +"betters", meaning better educated and entitled to better +respect, regardless of whether it was earned or deserved. + +There were no dormitories and self-serve cafeterias as with +modern colleges, instead meals were served in a dining hall by +scouts, and each student gets what are called "rooms", consisting +of a bedroom and a sitting room for study and entertaining. +"Scouts" are a kind of servant attached to one student or a small +number of students. They run errands, bring meals from the +kitchen, and take care of clothing. A bootblack called the +"boots" takes care of footwear. A charwoman called the "char" +cleaned the rooms. + +If a student wished to study without interruption, he would close +the oak door to his rooms, which was called "sporting his oak", +the signal not to disturb. + +The term "the eleven" refers to the cricket team, and "prize-men" +refers to students who win prizes for scholarship. "Hunting +Pinks" are red riding jackets, and "hunters" are horses +especially suited to steeplechase or fox hunting type riding. + +The Boating Club and Boat Racing is the popular sport of crew +rowing or sculling, where each college appoints a crew of eight +strong scull pullers or oarsmen and one small coxswain or +steersman to pilot a long narrow boat called a skiff or shell. +The coxswain calls the strokes and is generally the coach and +commander of the crew. Unlike in a canoe, the pullers face +backwards, and the one nearest the coxswain is called the "stroke +oar", because all the other oars watch him and match his stroke. +The racing takes place on the river which runs through Oxford, +and since because of the oars the river is too narrow for normal +passing as in most other kinds of racing, the race is sometimes +with just two boats, one ahead of the other. If the prow of the +second boat touches the stern of the first boat, the second boat +is considered the winner and advances in ranking. If the first +boat rows the length of the course without being bumped, it is +considered the winner and maintains its ranking. Sometimes the +winning crewmen put their little coxswain in the boat and parade +him through the streets of the town. At the end of the season the +honor of "Head of the River" belongs to the boat that has not +been defeated and is presumably the fastest, whereas the slowest +boat, Tail End Charlie, has been defeated by all the other +colleges. For another description of boating on the Thames in the +nineteenth century, see the humorous travel-log "Three Men in a +Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog" by Jerome K. Jerome, written in +1889, which also mentions the dangers of the lasher at the +Sandford Lock. + +Students were required to wear the traditional student's gown and +mortarboard cap to classes. Professors wore floppy caps and +similar gowns with indications of their rank on the sleeves, +Doctor, Master or Batchelor. This garb dates from the Middle +Ages, but is now only seen at Graduation Day and special +university occasions, and the gown has survived in some church +choirs. A professor was also called a don, and graduate +assistants were called fellows or servitors. + +The "tufts" or students from the nobility or titled families were +a privileged set, paid double fees and were not required to do +much of anything academically. Gentlemen-commoners were from the +untitled but wealthy families and also paid double fees. A few +students from poorer social classes were accepted if they had +good references. "Town and Gown" refers to the animosity between +the local permanent residents of the town and the rowdy students, +occasionally descending into actual fist fights. To be "gated" +was to be confined to college and to be "rusticated" was to be +suspended from college. + +A "wine" is the nineteenth century equivalent of a student's beer +and pizza party, though it seems to have been paid for entirely +out of the pocket of the host. It is also a form of student +networking, wherein they build relationships useful for their +future business, professional or social life. German university +students joined a Kadet Korps, which was somewhat like a +combination of a modern day fraternity and Officer's Training +Corps, but no such equivalent seems to have been at Oxford. +Instead there was an academic set called the "reading men" which +buckled down to the books, and a set of "fast men" who lived the +dissipated high life of drinking, gambling, women and riding fast +horses. The fast set, though they were gentleman commoners and +not titled nobility, usually were from wealthy families, and +often ran up large bills with the local tradesmen, called "going +tick", which could go unpaid for quite a long time. + +In Chapter 14 the author mentions Big Ben, but this is not the +clock tower bell in London, which at the time of writing had not +yet been rung; instead this is Benjamin Caunt, the bare-knuckle +boxer who defeated William Thompson in 75 rounds to become +Heavyweight Champion of England in 1838. The bell may possibly +have been named after him. + +It should be remembered that at the time this story was written, +the dangers of tobacco smoke were mostly unknown, and cigars, +cheroots and pipes were quite commonly used, though the cigarette +had not come into use yet. Tobacco, often called weed, was only +discouraged during physical training, thus at one point in +Chapter 15 Tom recommends smoking to Hardy for an almost +therapeutic purpose. + +In Chapter 17 the author imagines a flying machine, though at the +time of writing only balloons had ever carried men aloft. He +imagines it something like a carriage equipped to carry +passengers, with the most comfortable carriage type C-springs, +steam powered, and faster than the latest trains, which at that +time went 40 miles per hour, the fastest speed that anyone had +ever achieved. + +The author mentions Tractarians and Germanizers. The Tractarians +were a group of Oxford dons who, in the 1840s, wrote a series of +tracts, aimed at proposing some changes to the theological system +of the Anglican Church. Germanizers proposed some changes more +along the lines of the Lutheran theology, and these controversies +occupied the Anglican theologians of the time. The author did not +expand on these subjects, nor even indicate his support or +opposition to them, as it was not necessary for the story. + +At this time, as in many other times, the evangelical Christians +were in the forefront of movements to help poor and downtrodden +people, but other elements were attempting to become involved, +promoting their own methods and beliefs. Karl Marx was not known +in England, and the Russian Revolution was still in the distant +future, but a few radical left-wing idealists know as Chartists +and Swings were beginning to be heard on campus, and Tom gets +briefly involved with them, speaking up for the poor, but +realizes their destructive ideas cannot be reconciled with proper +Christian behavior, thus voicing some of the author's views on +social reforms. The author later in life got involved with a +communal living experiment. + +Some words and expressions are used differently today than they +were used in the nineteenth century. For example, when Tom says +"There must always be some blackguards," he means "Regrettably +there will always be blackguards," not "We ought to have some +blackguards". Katie and Tom discuss "profane" poetry, in the +sense of being secular and not sacred or religious. Mary weighs +"8 stone", which is 112 pounds or 50 kilograms, and "famously" is +used in the sense of being well done, not in the incorrect modern +use of being well known. A "twelve-horse screw" is the propeller +of a steam launch. To "give someone a character" is to speak or +write about their moral character, either favorably or +slanderously. + +The book which I scanned using Optical Character Recognition was +printed in the 1888-92 period by John W. Lovell of 150 Worth St. +New York. Lovell has been described as a book pirate who tried to +form a monopoly in the cheap uncopyrighted book trade. The US +copyright laws were rather weak in the nineteenth century, and +Charles Dickens was particularly hurt by pirates. There was even +a book war, with rival publishers of the same book undercutting +each other on price. Proof reading was done with another copy of +the book published in 1888 by Porter & Coates of Philadelphia, +which is in poorer condition with water damage, and would not +scan well, but has fewer typesetting errors. + +Nineteenth century punctuation made much more use of commas, +hyphens and semicolons, and these have been retained as much as +possible. British spellings of words such as colour, neighbour, +odour, and flavour are retained, though in some cases the +American publisher seems to have made his own corrections as he +saw fit, and some words such as "connection" have retained the +nineteenth century spelling "connexion", but where a word was +obviously spelled wrong by the typesetter, I have corrected it. +The author used a few Greek words, which do not scan, and I have +entered those manually using Symbol font for the rtf file, but +substituted normal characters for the plain txt file and +indicated [Greek text] where appropriate. The English pound +symbol cannot be expressed in ASCII, so 25 pounds is rendered as +25L. Words printed in italics for emphasis are here rendered with +_underscores_ for the ASCII file. + +Robert E. Reilly, PE, BSIE, BSME + +Chicago, 2008 + +* * * * * + +INITIUM + +Tom Brown at Oxford + +Thomas Hughes (1822-96) + +Author's Dedication + +To the Rev. F. D. Maurice, in memory of fourteen years' fellow +work, and in testimony of ever increasing affection and gratitude +this volume is dedicated by + +The Author. + + + + +PREFACE + +Prefaces written to explain the objects and meaning of a book, or +to make any appeal, _ad miseracordiam_ or other, in its favor, +are, in my opinion, nuisances. Any book worth reading will +explain its own objects and meaning, and the more it is +criticized and turned inside out, the better for it and its +author. Of all books, too, it seems to me that novels require +prefaces least--at any rate, on their first appearance. +Notwithstanding which belief, I must ask readers for three +minutes' patience before they make trial of this book. + +The natural pleasure which I felt at the unlooked for popularity +of the first part of the present story, was much lessened by the +pertinacity with which many persons, acquaintance as well as +strangers, would insist (both in public and in private) on +identifying the hero and the author. On the appearance of the +first few numbers of the present continuation in Macmillan's +Magazine, the same thing occurred, and, in fact, reached such a +pitch, as to lead me to make some changes to the story. +Sensitiveness on such a point may seem folly, but if the readers +had felt the sort of loathing and disgust which one feels at the +notion of painting a favorable likeness of oneself in a work of +fiction, they would not wonder at it. So, now that this book is +finished and Tom Brown, so far as I am concerned, is done with +for ever, I must take this, my first and last chance of saying, +that he is not I, either as boy or man--in fact, not to beat +about the bush, is a much braver, and nobler, and purer fellow +than I ever was. + +When I first resolved to write the book, I tried to realize to +myself what the commonest type of English boy of the upper middle +class was, so far as my experience went; and to that type I have +throughout adhered, trying simply to give a good specimen of the +genus. I certainly have placed him in the country, and scenes +which I know best myself, for the simple reason, that I knew them +better than any others, and therefore was less likely to blunder +in writing about them. + +As to the name, which has been, perhaps, the chief "cause of +offense," in this matter, the simple facts are, that I chose the +name "Brown," because it stood first in the trio of "Brown, +Jones, and Robinson," which had become a sort of synonym for the +middle classes of Great Britain. It happens that my own name and +that of Brown have no single letter in common. As to the +Christian name of "Tom," having chosen Brown, I could hardly help +taking it as the prefix. The two names have gone together in +England for two hundred years, and the joint name has not enjoyed +much of a reputation for respectability. This suited me exactly. +I wanted the _commonest_ name I could get, and did not want any +name which had the least heroic, or aristocratic, or even +respectable savor about it. Therefore I had a natural leaning to +the combination which I found ready to my hand. Moreover, I +believed "Tom" to be a more specially English name than John, the +only other as to which I felt the least doubt. Whether it be that +Thomas a Beckett was for so long the favorite English saint, or +from whatever other cause, it certainly seems to be the fact, +that the name "Thomas," is much commoner in England than in any +other country. The words, "tom-fool," + +"tom-boy," etc., though, +perhaps not complimentary to the "Tom's" of England, certainly +show how large a family they must have been. These reasons +decided me to keep the Christian name which had been always +associated with "Brown"; and I own that the fact that it happened +to be my own, never occurred to me as an objection, till the +mischief was done, past recall. + +I have only, then, to say, that neither is the hero a portrait of +myself, nor is there any other portrait in either of the books, +except in the case of Dr. Arnold, where the true name is given. +My deep feeling of gratitude to him, and reverence for his +memory, emboldened me to risk the attempt at a portrait in his +case, so far as the character was necessary for the work. With +these remarks, I leave this volume in the hands of readers. + +T. Hughes + +Lincoln's Inn, + +October, 1861 + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTORY + +I--ST. AMBROSE'S COLLEGE + +II--A ROW ON THE RIVER + +III--A BREAKFAST AT DRYSDALE'S + +IV--THE ST. AMBROSE BOAT CLUB; ITS MINISTRY--AND THEIR BUDGET + +V--HARDY, THE SERVITOR + +VI--HOW DRYSDALE AND BLAKE WENT FISHING + +VII--AN EXPLOSION + +VIII--HARDY'S HISTORY + +IX--"A BROWN BAIT" + +X--SUMMER TERM + +XI--MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY + +XII--THE CAPTAIN'S NOTIONS + +XIII--THE FIRST BUMP + +XIV--A CHANGE IN THE CREW AND WHAT CAME OF IT + +XV--A STORM BREWS AND BREAKS + +XVI--THE STORM RAGES + +XVII--NEW GROUND + +XVIII--ENGLEBOURN VILLAGE + +XIX--A PROMISE OF FAIRER WEATHER + +XX--THE RECONCILIATION + +XXI--CAPTAIN HARDY ENTERTAINED BY ST. AMBROSE + +XXII--DEPARTURES EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED + +XXIII--THE ENGLEBOURN CONSTABLE + +XXIV--THE SCHOOLS + +XXV--COMMEMORATION + +XXVI--THE LONG WALK IN CHRISTCHURCH MEADOWS + +XXVII--LECTURING A LIONESS + +XXVIII--THE END OF THE FRESHMEN'S YEAR + +XXIX--THE LONG VACATION LETTER BAG + +XXX--AMUSEMENTS AT BARTON MANOR + +XXXI--BEHIND THE SCENES + +XXXII--A CRISIS + +XXXIII--BROWN PATRONUS + +XXXIV--[Greek text] MEHDEN AGAN + +XXXV--SECOND YEAR + +XXXVI--THE RIVER SIDE + +XXXVII--THE NIGHT WATCH + +XXXVIII--MARY IN MAYFAIR + +XXXIX--WHAT CAME OF THE NIGHT WATCH + +XL--HUE AND CRY + +XLI--THE LIEUTENANT'S SENTIMENTS AND PROBLEMS + +XLII--THIRD YEAR + +XLIII--AFTERNOON VISITORS + +XLIV--THE INTERCEPTED LETTER BAG + +XLV--MASTER'S TERM + +XLVI--FROM INDIA TO ENGLE BOURN + +XLVII--THE WEDDING DAY + +XLVIII--THE BEGINNING OF THE END + +XLIX--THE END + +L--THE POSTSCRIPT + +TOM BROWN AT OXFORD + +By Thomas Hughes (1822-96) + + + + +CHAPTER INTRODUCTORY + +In the Michaelmas term after leaving school, Tom Brown received a +summons from the authorities, and went up to matriculate at St. +Ambrose's College, Oxford. He presented himself at the college +one afternoon, and was examined by one of the tutors, who carried +him, and several other youths in like predicament, up to the +Senate House the next morning. Here they went through the usual +forms of subscribing to the articles, and otherwise testifying +their loyalty to the established order of things, without much +thought perhaps, but in very good faith nevertheless. Having +completed the ceremony, by paying his fees, our hero hurried back +home, without making any stay in Oxford. He had often passed +through it, so that the city had not the charm of novelty for +him, and he was anxious to get home; where, as he had never spent +an autumn away from school till now, for the first time in his +life he was having his fill of hunting and shooting. + +He had left school in June, and did not go up to reside at Oxford +till the end of the following January. Seven good months; during +a part of which he had indeed read for four hours or so a week +with the curate of the parish, but the residue had been +exclusively devoted to cricket and field sports. Now, admirable +as these institutions are, and beneficial as is their influence +on the youth of Britain, it is possible for a youngster to get +too much of them. So it had fallen out with our hero. He was a +better horseman and shot, but the total relaxation of all the +healthy discipline of school, the regular hours and regular work +to which he had been used for so many years, had certainly thrown +him back in other ways. The whole man had not grown; so that we +must not be surprised to find him quite as boyish, now that we +fall in with him again, marching down to St. Ambrose's with a +porter wheeling his luggage after him on a truck as when we left +him at the end of his school career. + +Tom was in truth beginning to feel that it was high time for him +to be getting to regular work again of some sort. A landing place +is a famous thing, but it is only enjoyable for a time by any +mortal who deserves one at all. So it was with a feeling of +unmixed pleasure that he turned in at the St. Ambrose gates, and +inquired of the porter what rooms had been allotted to him within +those venerable walls. + +While the porter consulted his list, the great college sundial, +over the lodge, which had lately been renovated, caught Tom's +eye. The motto underneath, _"Pereunt et imputantur,"_ stood out, +proud of its new gilding, in the bright afternoon sun of a frosty +January day: which motto was raising sundry thoughts in his +brain, when the porter came upon the right place in his list, and +directed him to the end of his journey: No. 5 staircase, second +quadrangle, three pair back. In which new home we shall leave him +to install himself, while we endeavor to give the reader some +notion of the college itself. + + + + +CHAPTER I--ST. AMBROSE'S COLLEGE + +St. Ambrose's College was a moderate-sized one. There might have +been some seventy or eighty undergraduates in residence, when our +hero appeared there as a freshman. Of these, unfortunately for +the college, there were a very large proportion of the +gentleman-commoners; enough, in fact, with the other men whom +they drew round them, and who lived pretty much as they did, to +form the largest and leading set in the college. So the college +was decidedly fast. + +The chief characteristic of this set was the most reckless +extravagance of every kind. London wine merchants furnished them +with liqueurs at a guinea a bottle and wine at five guineas a +dozen; Oxford and London tailors vied with one another in +providing them with unheard-of quantities of the most gorgeous +clothing. They drove tandems in all directions, scattering their +ample allowances, which they treated as pocket money, about +roadside inns and Oxford taverns with open hand, and "going tick" +for everything which could by possibility be booked. Their cigars +cost two guineas a pound; their furniture was the best that could +be bought; pine-apples, forced fruit, and the most rare preserves +figured at their wine parties; they hunted, rode steeple-chases +by day, played billiards until the gates closed, and then were +ready for _vingt-et-une_, unlimited loo, and hot drink in their +own rooms, as long as anyone could be got to sit up and play. + +The fast set then swamped, and gave the tone to the college; at +which fact no persons were more astonished and horrified than the +authorities of St. Ambrose. + +That they of all bodies in the world should be fairly run away +with by a set of reckless, loose young spendthrifts, was indeed a +melancholy and unprecedented fact; for the body of fellows of St. +Ambrose was as distinguished for learning, morality and +respectability as any in the University. The foundation was not, +indeed, actually an open one. Oriel at that time alone enjoyed +this distinction; but there were a large number of open +fellowships, and the income of the college was large, and the +livings belonging to it numerous; so that the best men from other +colleges were constantly coming in. Some of these of a former +generation had been eminently successful in their management of +the college. The St. Ambrose undergraduates at one time had +carried off almost all the university prizes, and filled the +class lists, while maintaining at the same time the highest +character for manliness and gentlemanly conduct. This had lasted +long enough to establish the fame of the college, and great lords +and statesmen had sent their sons there; head-masters had +struggled to get the names of their best pupils on the books; in +short, everyone who had a son, ward, or pupil, whom he wanted to +push forward in the world--who was meant to cut a figure, and +take the lead among men, left no stone unturned to get him into +St. Ambrose's; and thought the first, and a very long step gained +when he had succeeded. + +But the governing bodies of colleges are always on the change, +and, in the course of things men of other ideas came to rule at +St. Ambrose--shrewd men of the world; men of business, some of +them, with good ideas of making the most of their advantages; who +said, "Go to; why should we not make the public pay for the great +benefits we confer on them? Have we not the very best article in +the educational market to supply--almost a monopoly of it--and +shall we not get the highest price for it?" So by degrees they +altered many things in the college. In the first place, under +their auspices, gentlemen-commoners increased and multiplied; in +fact, the eldest sons of baronets, even squires, were scarcely +admitted on any other footing. As these young gentlemen paid +double fees to the college, and had great expectations of all +sorts, it could not be expected that they should be subject to +quite the same discipline as the common run of men, who would +have to make their own way in the world. So the rules as to +attendance at chapel and lectures, though nominally the same for +them as for commoners, were in practice relaxed in their favour; +and, that they might find all things suitable to persons in their +position, the kitchen and buttery were worked up to a high state +of perfection, and St. Ambrose, from having been one of the most +reasonable, had come to be about the most expensive college in +the university. These changes worked as their promoters probably +desired that they should work, and the college was full of rich +men, and commanded in the university the sort of respect which +riches bring with them. But the old reputation, though still +strong out of doors, was beginning sadly to wane within the +university precincts. Fewer and fewer of the St. Ambrose men +appeared in the class lists, or amongst the prize-men. They no +longer led the debates at the Union; the boat lost place after +place on the river; the eleven got beaten in all their matches. +The inaugurators of these changes had passed away in their turn, +and at last a reaction had commenced. The fellows recently +elected, and who were in residence at the time we write of, were +for the most part men of great attainments, all of them men who +had taken very high honors. The electors naturally enough had +chosen them as the most likely persons to restore, as tutors, the +golden days of the college; and they had been careful in the +selection to confine themselves to very quiet and studious men, +such as were likely to remain up at Oxford, passing over men of +more popular manners and active spirits, who would be sure to +flit soon into the world, and be of little more service to St. +Ambrose. + +But these were not the men to get any hold on the fast set who +were now in the ascendant. It was not in the nature of things +that they should understand each other; in fact, they were +hopelessly at war, and the college was getting more and more out +of gear in consequence. + +What they could do, however, they were doing; and under their +fostering care were growing up a small set, including most of the +scholars, who were likely, as far as they were concerned, to +retrieve the college character of the schools. But they were too +much like their tutors, men who did little else but read. They +neither wished for, nor were likely to gain, the slightest +influence on the fast set. The best men amongst them, too, were +diligent readers of the _Tracts for the Times_, and followers of +the able leaders of the High-church party, which was then a +growing one; and this led them also to form such friendships as +they made amongst out-college men of their own way of +thinking-with high churchmen, rather than St. Ambrose men. So +they lived very much to themselves, and scarcely interfered with +the dominant party. + +Lastly, there was the boating set, which was beginning to revive +in the college, partly from the natural disgust of any body of +young Englishmen, at finding themselves distanced in an exercise +requiring strength and pluck, and partly from the fact, that the +captain for the time being was one of the best oars in the +University boat, and also a deservedly popular character. He was +now in his third year of residence, had won the pair-oar race, +and had pulled seven in the great yearly match with Cambridge, +and by constant hard work had managed to carry the St. Ambrose +boat up to the fifth place on the river. He will be introduced to +you, gentle reader, when the proper time comes; at present, we +are only concerned with a bird's-eye view of the college, that +you may feel more or less at home in it. The boating set was not +so separate or marked as the reading set, melting on one side +into, and keeping up more or less connexion with, the fast set, +and also commanding a sort of half allegiance from most of the +men who belonged to neither of the other sets. The minor +divisions, of which of course there were many, need not be +particularized, as the above general classification will be +enough for the purposes of this history. + +Our hero, on leaving school, having bound himself solemnly to +write all his doings and thoughts to the friend whom he had left +behind him: distance and separation were to make no difference +whatever in their friendship. This compact had been made on one +of their last evenings at Rugby. They were sitting together in +the six-form room, Tom splicing the handle of a favourite cricket +bat, and Arthur reading a volume of Raleigh's works. The Doctor +had lately been alluding to the "History of the World," and had +excited the curiosity of the active-minded amongst his pupils +about the great navigator, statesman, soldier, author, and fine +gentleman. So Raleigh's works were seized on by various voracious +young readers, and carried out of the school library; and Arthur +was now deep in a volume of the "Miscellanies," curled up on a +corner of the sofa. Presently, Tom heard something between a +groan and a protest, and, looking up, demanded explanations; in +answer to which, Arthur, in a voice half furious and half +fearful, read out:-- + +"And be sure of this, thou shalt never find a friend in thy young +years whose conditions and qualities will please thee after thou +comest to more discretion and judgment; and then all thou givest +is lost, and all wherein thou shalt trust such a one will be +discovered." + +"You don't mean that's Raleigh's?" + +"Yes--here it is, in his first letter to his son." + +"What a cold-blooded old Philistine," said Tom. + +"But it can't be true, do you think?" said Arthur. + +And in short, after some personal reflections on Sir Walter, they +then and there resolved that, so far as they were concerned, it +was not, could not, and should not be true, that they would +remain faithful, the same to each other; and the greatest friends +in the world, through I know not what separations, trials, and +catastrophes. And for the better insuring this result, a +correspondence, regular as the recurring months, was to be +maintained. It had already lasted through the long vacation and +up to Christmas without sensibly dragging, though Tom's letters +had been something of the shortest in November, when he had lots +of shooting, and two days a week with the hounds. Now, however, +having fairly got to Oxford, he determined to make up for all +short-comings. His first letter from college, taken in connexion +with the previous sketch of the place, will probably accomplish +the work of introduction better than any detailed account by a +third party; and it is therefore given here verbatim:-- + +_"St. Ambrose, Oxford,_ + +_"February, 184-_ + +"MY DEAR GEORDIE, + +"According to promise, I write to tell you how I get on up here, +and what sort of a place Oxford is. Of course, I don't know much +about it yet, having only been up some weeks, but you shall have +my first impressions. + +"Well, first and foremost it's an awfully idle place; at any rate +for us freshmen. Fancy now. I am in twelve lectures a week of an +hour each--Greek Testament, first book of Herodotus, second +AEneid, and first book of Euclid! There's a treat! Two hours a +day; all over by twelve, or one at latest, and no extra work at +all, in the shape of copies of verses, themes, or other +exercises. + +"I think sometimes I'm back in the lower fifth; for we don't get +through more than we used to do there; and if you were to hear +the men construe, it would make your hair stand on end. Where on +earth can they have come from? Unless they blunder on purpose, as +I often think. Of course, I never look at a lecture before I go +in, I know it all nearly by heart, so it would be sheer waste of +time. I hope I shall take to reading something or other by +myself; but you know I never was much of a hand at sapping, and, +for the present, the light work suits me well enough, for there's +plenty to see and learn about in this place. + +"We keep very gentlemanly hours. Chapel every morning at eight, +and evening at seven. You must attend once a day, and twice on +Sundays--at least, that's the rule of our college--and be in +gates by twelve o'clock at night. Besides which, if you're a +decently steady fellow, you ought to dine in hall perhaps four +days a week. Hall is at five o'clock. And now you have the sum +total. All the rest of your time you may just do what you like +with. + +"So much for our work and hours. Now for the place. Well, it's a +grand old place, certainly; and I dare say, if a fellow goes +straight in it, and gets creditably through his three years, he +may end by loving it as much as we do the old school-house and +quadrangle at Rugby. Our college is a fair specimen: a venerable +old front of crumbling stone fronting the street, into which two +or three other colleges look also. Over the gateway is a large +room, where the college examinations go on, when there are any; +and, as you enter, you pass the porters lodge, where resides our +janitor, a bustling little man, with a pot belly, whose business +it is to put down the time at which the men come in at night, and +to keep all discommonsed tradesmen, stray dogs, and bad +characters generally, out of the college. + +"The large quadrangle into which you come first, is bigger than +ours at Rugby, and a much more solemn and sleepy sort of a place, +with its gables and old mullioned windows. One side is occupied +by the hall and chapel; the principal's house takes up half +another side; and the rest is divided into staircases, on each of +which are six or eight sets of rooms, inhabited by us +undergraduates, and here and there a tutor or fellow dropped down +amongst us (in the first-floor rooms, of course), not exactly to +keep order, but to act as a sort of ballast. This quadrangle is +the show part of the college, and is generally respectable and +quiet, which is a good deal more than can be said for the inner +quadrangle, which you get at through a passage leading out of the +other. The rooms ain't half so large or good in the inner quad; +and here's where all we freshmen live, besides a lot of the older +undergraduates who don't care to change their rooms. Only one +tutor has rooms here; and I should think, if he's a reading man, +it won't be long before he clears out; for all sorts of high +jinks go on on the grass-plot, and the row on the staircases is +often as bad, and not half so respectable, as it used to be in +the middle passage in the last week of the half-year. + +"My rooms are what they call garrets, right up in the roof, with +a commanding view of the college tiles and chimney pots, and of +houses at the back. No end of cats, both college Toms and +strangers, haunt the neighbourhood, and I am rapidly learning +cat-talking from them; but I'm not going to stand it--I don't +want to know cat-talk. The college Toms are protected by the +statutes, I believe; but I'm going to buy an air-gun for the +benefit of the strangers. My rooms are pleasant enough, at the +top of the kitchen staircase, and separated from all mankind by a +great, iron-clamped, outer door, my oak, which I sport when I go +out or want to be quiet; sitting room eighteen by twelve, bedroom +twelve by eight, and a little cupboard for the scout. + +"Ah, Geordie, the scout is an institution! Fancy me waited upon +and valeted by a stout party in black of quiet, gentlemanly +manners, like the benevolent father in a comedy. He takes the +deepest interest in all my possessions and proceedings, and is +evidently used to good society, to judge by the amount of +crockery and glass, wines, liquors, and grocery, which he thinks +indispensable for my due establishment. He has also been good +enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply +these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here +already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite +immaterial when I pay--which is very kind of them; but, with the +highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging +friends, I shall make some enquiries before "letting in" with any +of them. He waits on me in hall, where we go in full fig of cap +and gown at five, and get very good dinners, and cheap enough. It +is rather a fine old room, with a good, arched, black oak ceiling +and high panelling, hung round with pictures of old swells, +bishops and lords chiefly, who have endowed the college in some +way, or at least have fed here in times gone by, and for whom, +_"caeterisque benefactoribus nostris,"_ we daily give thanks in a +long Latin grace, which one of the undergraduates (I think it +must be) goes and rattles out at the end of the high table, and +then comes down again from the dais to his own place. No one +feeds at the high table except the dons and the +gentlemen-commoners, who are undergraduates in velvet caps and +silk gowns. Why they wear these instead of cloth and serge I +haven't yet made out, I believe it is because they pay double +fees; but they seem uncommonly wretched up at the high table, and +I should think would sooner pay double to come to the other end +of the hall. + +"The chapel is a quaint little place, about the size of the +chancel of Lutterworth Church. It just holds us all comfortably. +The attendance is regular enough, but I don't think the men care +about it a bit in general. Several I can see bring in Euclids, +and other lecture books, and the service is gone through at a +great pace. I couldn't think at first why some of the men seemed +so uncomfortable and stiff about the legs at morning service, but +I find that they are the hunting set, and come in with pea-coats +over their pinks, and trousers over their leather breeches and +top-boots; which accounts for it. There are a few others who seem +very devout, and bow a good deal, and turn towards the altar at +different parts of the service. These are of the Oxford +High-church school, I believe; but I shall soon find out more +about them. On the whole I feel less at home at present, I am +sorry to say, in the chapel, than anywhere else. + +"I was very near forgetting a great institution of the college, +which is the buttery-hatch, just opposite the hall-door. Here +abides the fat old butler (all the servants at St. Ambrose's are +portly), and serves out limited bread, butter, and cheese, and +unlimited beer brewed by himself, for an hour in the morning, at +noon, and again at supper-time. Your scout always fetches you a +pint or so on each occasion in case you should want it, and if +you don't, it falls to him; but I can't say that my fellow gets +much, for I am naturally a thirsty soul, and cannot often resist +the malt myself, coming up as it does, fresh and cool, in one of +the silver tankards, of which we seem to have an endless supply. + +"I spent a day or two in the first week, before I got shaken down +into my place here, in going round and seeing the other colleges, +and finding out what great men had been at each (one got a taste +for that sort of work from the Doctor, and I'd nothing else to +do). Well, I never was more interested; fancy ferreting out +Wycliffe, the Black Prince, our friend Sir Walter Raleigh, Pym, +Hampden, Laud, Ireton, Butler, and Addison, in one afternoon. I +walked about two inches taller in my trencher cap after it. +Perhaps I may be going to make dear friends with some fellow who +will change the history of England. Why shouldn't I? There must +have been freshmen once who were chums of Wycliffe of Queen's, or +Raleigh of Oriel. I mooned up and down the High-street, staring +at all the young faces in caps, and wondering which of them would +turn out great generals, or statesmen, or poets. Some of them +will, of course, for there must be a dozen at least, I should +think, in every generation of undergraduates, who will have a +good deal to say to the ruling and guiding of the British nation +before they die. + +"But, after all, the river is the feature of Oxford, to my mind; +a glorious stream, not five minutes' walk from the colleges, +broad enough in most places for three boats to row abreast. I +expect I will take to boating furiously: I have been down the +river three or four times already with some other freshmen, and +it is glorious exercise; that I can see, though we bungle and cut +crabs desperately at present. + +"Here's a long yarn I'm spinning for you; and I dare say after +all you'll say it tells you nothing, and you'd rather have twenty +lines about the men, and what they're thinking about and the +meaning, and the inner life of the place, and all that. Patience, +patience! I don't know anything about it myself yet, and have had +only time to look at the shell, which is a very handsome and +stately affair; you shall have the kernel, if I ever get at it, +in due time. + +"And now write me a long letter directly, and tell me about the +Doctor, and who are in the Sixth, and how the house goes on, and +what sort of an eleven there'll be, and what you are doing and +thinking about. Come up here try for a scholarship; I'll take you +in and show you the lions. Remember me to old friends.--Ever your +affectionately, + +T. B." + + + + +CHAPTER II--A ROW ON THE RIVER + +Within a day or two of the penning of this celebrated epistle, +which created quite a sensation in the sixth-form room as it went +the round after tea, Tom realized one of the objects of his young +Oxford ambition, and succeeded in embarking on the river in a +skiff by himself, with such results as are now described. He had +already been down several times in pair-oar and four-oar boats, +with an old oar to pull stroke, and another to steer and coach +the young idea, but he was not satisfied with these essays. He +could not believe that he was such a bad oar as the old hands' +made him out to be, and thought that it must be the fault of the +other freshmen who were learning with him that the boat made so +little way and rolled so much. He had been such a proficient in +all the Rugby games, that he couldn't realize the fact of his +unreadiness in a boat. Pulling looked a simple thing enough--much +easier than tennis; and he had made a capital start at the latter +game, and been highly complimented by the marker after his first +hour in the little court. He forgot that cricket and fives are +capital training for tennis, but that rowing is a speciality, of +the rudiments of which he was wholly ignorant. And so, in full +confidence that, if he could only have a turn or two alone, he +should not only satisfy himself, but everybody else, that he was +a heaven-born oar, he refused all offers of companionship, and +started on the afternoon of a fine February day down to the boats +for his trial trip. He had watched his regular companions well +out of college, and gave them enough start to make sure that they +would be off before he himself could arrive at St. Ambrose's +dressing room at Hall's, and chuckled, as he came within sight of +the river, to see the freshmen's boat in which he generally +performed, go plunging away past the University barge, keeping +three different times with four oars, and otherwise demeaning +itself so as to become an object of mirthful admiration to all +beholders. + +Tom was punted across to Hall's in a state of great content, +which increased when, in answer to his casual inquiry, the +managing man informed him that not a man of his college was about +the place. So he ordered a skiff with as much dignity and +coolness as he could command, and hastened up stairs to dress. He +appeared again, carrying his boating coat and cap. They were +quite new, so he would not wear them; nothing about him should +betray the freshman on this day if he could help it. + +"Is my skiff ready?" + +"All right, sir; this way, sir;" said the manager, conducting him +to a good, safe-looking craft. "Any gentleman going to steer, +sir?" + +"No" said Tom, superciliously; "You may take out the rudder." + +"Going quite alone, sir? Better take one of our boys--find you a +very light one. Here, Bill!"--and he turned to summons a juvenile +waterman to take charge of our hero. + +"Take out the rudder, do you hear?" interrupted Tom. "I won't +have a steerer." + +"Well, sir, as you please," said the manager, proceeding to +remove the degrading appendage. "The river's rather high, please +to remember, sir. You must mind the mill stream at Iffley Lock. I +suppose you can swim?" + +"Yes, of course," said Tom, settling himself on his cushion. +"Now, shove her off." + +The next moment he was well out in the stream, and left to his +own resources. He got his sculls out successfully enough, and, +though feeling by no means easy on his seat, proceeded to pull +very deliberately past the barges, stopping his sculls in the air +to feather accurately, in the hopes of deceiving spectators into +the belief that he was an old hand just going out for a gentle +paddle. The manager watched him for a minute, and turned to his +work with an aspiration that he might not come to grief. + +But no thought of grief was on Tom's mind as he dropped gently +down, impatient for the time when he should pass the mouth of the +Cherwell, and so, having no longer critical eyes to fear, might +put out his whole strength, and give himself at least if not the +world, assurance of a waterman. + +The day was a very fine one, a bright sun shining, and a nice +fresh breeze blowing across the stream, but not enough to ruffle +the water seriously. Some heavy storms up Gloucestershire way had +cleared the air, and swollen the stream at the same time; in +fact, the river was as full as it could be without overflowing +its banks--a state in which, of all others, it is the least safe +for boating experiments. Fortunately, in those days there were no +outriggers. Even the racing skiffs were comparatively safe craft, +and would now be characterized as tubs; while the real tubs (in +one of the safest of which the prudent manager had embarked our +hero) were of such build that it required considerable ingenuity +actually to upset them. + +If any ordinary amount of bungling could have done it, Tom's +voyage would have terminated within a hundred yards of the +Cherwell. While he had been sitting quiet and merely paddling, +and almost letting the stream carry him down, the boat had +trimmed well enough; but now, taking a long breath, he leaned +forward, and dug his sculls into the water, pulling them through +with all his strength. The consequence of this feat was that the +handles of the sculls came into violent collision in the middle +of the boat, the knuckles of his right hand were barked, his left +scull unshipped, and the head of his skiff almost blown round by +the wind before he could restore order on board. + +"Never mind; try again," thought he, after the first sensation of +disgust had passed off, and a glance at the shore showed him that +there were no witnesses. "Of course, I forgot one hand must go +over the other. It might have happened to anyone. Let me see, +which hand shall I keep uppermost; the left, that's the weakest." +And away he went again, keeping his newly-acquired fact painfully +in mind, and so avoiding further collision amidships for four or +five strokes. But, as in other sciences, the giving of undue +prominence to one fact brings others inexorably on the head of +the student to avenge his neglect of them, so it happened with +Tom in his practical study of the science of rowing that by +thinking of his hands he forgot his seat, and the necessity of +trimming properly. Whereupon the old tub began to rock fearfully, +and the next moment, he missed the water altogether with his +right scull, and subsided backwards, not without struggles, into +the bottom of the boat; while the half stroke which he had pulled +with his left hand sent her head well into the bank. + +Tom picked himself up, and settled himself on his bench again, a +sadder and wiser man, as the truth began to dawn upon him that +pulling, especially sculling, does not, like reading and writing, +come by nature. However, he addressed himself manfully to his +task; savage indeed, and longing to drive a hole in the bottom of +the old tub, but as resolved as ever to get to Sandford and back +before hall time, or perish in the attempt. + +He shoved himself off the bank, and warned by his last mishap, +got out into mid stream, and there, moderating his ardor, and +contenting himself with a slow and steady stroke, was progressing +satisfactorily, and beginning to recover his temper, when a loud +shout startled him; and, looking over his shoulder at the +imminent risk of an upset, he beheld the fast sailor the Dart, +close hauled on a wind, and almost aboard of him. Utterly +ignorant of what was the right thing to do, he held on his +course, and passed close under the bows of the miniature cutter, +the steersman having jammed his helm hard down, shaking her in +the wind, to prevent running over the skiff, and solacing himself +with pouring maledictions on Tom and his craft, in which the man +who had hold of the sheets, and the third, who was lounging in +the bows, heartily joined. Tom was out of ear-shot before he had +collected vituperation enough to hurl back at them, and was, +moreover, already in the difficult navigation of the Gut, where, +notwithstanding all his efforts, he again ran aground; but, with +this exception, he arrived without other mishap at Iffley, where +he lay on his sculls with much satisfaction, and shouted, +"Lock--lock!" + +The lock-keeper appeared to the summons, but instead of opening +the gates seized a long boat-hook, and rushed towards our hero, +calling upon him to mind the mill-stream, and pull his right-hand +scull; notwithstanding which warning, Tom was within an ace of +drifting past the entrance to the lock, in which case assuredly +his boat, if not he, had never returned whole. However, the +lock-keeper managed to catch the stern of his skiff with the +boat-hook, and drag him back into the proper channel, and then +opened the lock-gates for him. Tom congratulated himself as he +entered the lock that there were no other boats going through +with him; but his evil star was in the ascendant, and all things, +animate and inanimate, seemed to be leagued together to humiliate +him. As the water began to fall rapidly, he lost his hold of the +chain and the tub instantly drifted across the lock, and was in +imminent danger of sticking and breaking her back, when the +lock-keeper again came to the rescue with his boat-hook and, +guessing the state of the case, did not quit him until he had +safely shoved him and his boat well out into the pool below, with +an exhortation to mind and go outside of the barge which was +coming up. + +Tom started on the latter half of his outward voyage with the +sort of look which Cato must have worn when he elected the losing +side, and all the gods went over to the winning one. But his +previous struggles had not been thrown away, and he managed to +keep the right side of the barge, turn the corner without going +around, and zigzag down Kennington reach, slowly indeed, but with +much labor, but at any rate safely. Rejoicing in his feat, he +stopped at the island, and recreated himself with a glass of +beer, looking now hopefully towards Sandford, which lay within +easy distance, now upwards again along the reach which he had +just overcome, and solacing himself with the remembrance of a +dictum, which he had heard from a great authority, that it was +always easier to steer up stream than down, from which he argued +that the worst part of his trial trip was now over. + +Presently he saw a skiff turn the corner at the top of the +Kennington reach, and, resolving in his mind to get to Sandford +before the new comer, paid for his beer, and betook himself again +to his tub. He got pretty well off, and, the island shutting out +his unconscious rival from his view, worked away at first under +the pleasing delusion that he was holding his own. But he was +soon undeceived, for in monstrously short time the pursuing skiff +showed around the corner and bore down on him. He never relaxed +his efforts, but could not help watching the enemy as he came up +with him hand over hand, and envying the perfect ease with which +he seemed to be pulling his long steady stroke and the precision +with which he steered, scarcely ever casting a look over his +shoulder. He was hugging the Berkshire side himself, as the other +skiff passed him, and thought he heard the sculler say something +about keeping out, and minding the small lasher; but the noise of +the waters and his own desperate efforts prevented his heeding, +or, indeed, hearing the warning plainly. In another minute, +however, he heard plainly enough most energetic shouts behind him +and, turning his head over his right shoulder, saw the man who +had just passed him backing his skiff rapidly up stream towards +him. The next moment he felt the bows of his boat whirl round, +the old tub grounded for a moment, and then, turning over on her +side, shot him out on to the planking of the steep descent into +the small lasher. He grasped at the boards, but they were too +slippery to hold, and the rush of water was too strong for him, +and rolling him over and over like a piece of driftwood, plunged +him into the pool below. + +After the first moment of astonishment and fright was over, Tom +left himself to the stream, holding his breath hard, and paddling +gently with his hands, feeling sure that, if he could only hold +on, he should come to the surface sooner or later; which +accordingly happened after a somewhat lengthy submersion. + +His first impulse on rising to the surface, after catching his +breath, was to strike out for the shore, but, in the act of doing +so, he caught sight of the other skiff coming stern foremost down +the decent after him, and he trod the water and drew in his +breath to watch. Down she came, as straight as an arrow, into the +tumult below; the sculler sitting upright, and holding his sculls +steadily in the water. For a moment she seemed to be going under, +but righted herself, and glided swiftly into the still water; and +then the sculler cast a hasty and anxious glance around, till his +eyes rested on our hero's half-drowned head. + +"Oh, there you are!" he said, looking much relieved; "all right, +I hope. Not hurt, eh?" + +"No, thankee; all right, I believe," answered Tom. "What shall I +do?" + +"Swim ashore; I'll look after your boat." So Tom took the advice, +swam ashore, and there stood dripping and watching the other as +he righted the old tub which was floating quietly bottom upwards, +little the worse for the mishap, and no doubt, if boats can wish, +earnestly desiring in her wooden mind to be allowed to go quietly +to pieces then and there, sooner to be rescued than be again +entrusted to the guidance of freshmen. + +The tub having been brought to the bank, the stranger started +again, and collected the sculls and bottom boards which were +floating about here and there in the pool, and also succeeded in +making salvage of Tom's coat, the pockets of which held his +watch, purse, and cigar case. These he brought to the bank, and +delivering them over, inquired whether there was anything else to +look after. + +"Thank you, no; nothing but my cap. Never mind it. It's luck +enough not to have lost the coat," said Tom, holding up the +dripping garment to let the water run out of the arms and +pocket-holes, and then wringing it as well as he could. "At any +rate," thought he, "I needn't be afraid of its looking too new +any more." + +The stranger put off again, and made one more round, searching +for the cap and anything else which he might have overlooked, but +without success. While he was doing so, Tom had time to look him +well over, and see what sort of a man had come to his rescue. He +hardly knew at the time the full extent of his obligation--at +least if this sort of obligation is to be reckoned not so much by +the service actually rendered, as by the risk encountered to be +able to render it. There were probably not three men in the +University who would have dared to shoot the lasher in a skiff in +its then state, for it was in those times a really dangerous +place; and Tom himself had an extraordinary escape, for, as +Miller, the St. Ambrose coxswain, remarked on hearing the story, +"No one who wasn't born to be hung could have rolled down it +without knocking his head against something hard, and going down +like lead when he got to the bottom." + +He was very well satisfied with his inspection. The other man was +evidently a year or two older than himself, his figure was more +set, and he had stronger whiskers than are generally grown at +twenty. He was somewhere about five feet ten in height, very +deep-chested, and with long powerful arms and hands. There was no +denying, however, that at the first glance he was an ugly man; he +was marked with small-pox, had large features, high cheekbones, +deeply set eyes, and a very long chin; and had got the trick +which many underhung men have of compressing his upper lip. +Nevertheless, there was that in his face which hit Tom's fancy, +and made him anxious to know his rescuer better. He had an +instinct that good was to be gotten out of him. So he was very +glad when the search was ended, and the stranger came to the +bank, shipped his sculls, and jumped out with the painter of his +skiff in his hand, which he proceeded to fasten to an old stump, +while he remarked-- + +"I'm afraid the cap's lost." + +"It doesn't matter the least. Thank you for coming to help me; it +was very kind indeed, and more than I expected. Don't they say +that one Oxford man will never save another from drowning unless +they have been introduced?" + +"I don't know," replied the other; "are you sure you're not +hurt?" + +"Yes, quite," said Tom, foiled in what he considered an artful +plan to get the stranger to introduce himself. + +"Then we're very well out of it," said the other, looking at the +steep descent into the lasher, and the rolling tumbling rush of +the water below. + +"Indeed we are," said Tom; "but how in the world did you manage +not to upset?" + +"I hardly know myself--I had shipped a good deal of water, you +see. Perhaps I ought to have jumped out on the bank and come +across to you, leaving my skiff in the river, for if I had upset +I couldn't have helped you much. However, I followed my instinct, +which was to come the quickest way. I thought, too, that if I +could manage to get down in the boat I should be of more use. I +am very glad I did it," he added after a moment's pause; "I'm +really proud of having come down that place." + +"So ain't I," said Tom, with a laugh, in which the other joined. + +"But now you're getting chilled," and he turned from the lasher +and looked at Tom's chattering jaws. + +"Oh, it's nothing. I'm used to being wet." + +"But you may just as well be comfortable if you can. Here's this +rough Jersey which I use instead of a coat; pull off that wet +cotton affair, and put it on, and then we'll get to work, for we +have plenty to do." + +After a little persuasion Tom did as he was bid, and got into the +great woolen garment, which was very comforting; and then the two +set about getting their skiffs back into the main stream. This +was comparatively easy as to the lighter skiff, which was soon +baled out and hauled by main force on to the bank, carried across +and launched again. The tub gave them much more trouble, for she +was quite full of water and very heavy; but after twenty minutes +or so of hard work, during which the mutual respect of the +labourers for the strength and willingness of each other was much +increased, she also lay in the main stream, leaking considerably, +but otherwise not much the worse for her adventure. + +"Now what do you mean to do?" said the stranger. "I don't think +you can pull home in her. One doesn't know how much she may be +damaged. She may sink in the lock, or play any prank." + +"But what am I to do with her?" + +"Oh, you can leave her at Sandford and walk up, and send one of +Hall's boys after her. Or, if you like, I will tow her up behind +my skiff." + +"Won't your skiff carry two?" + +"Yes; if you like to come I'll take you, but you must sit very +quiet." + +"Can't we go down to Sandford first and have a glass of ale? What +time is it?--the water has stopped my watch." + +"A quarter past three. I have about twenty minutes to spare." + +"Come along, then," said Tom; "but will you let me pull your +skiff down to Sandford? I resolved to pull to Sandford to-day, +and don't like to give it up." + +"By all means, if you like," said the other, with a smile; "jump +in, and I'll walk along the bank." + +"Thank you," said Tom, hurrying into the skiff, in which he +completed the remaining quarter of a mile, while the owner walked +by the side, watching him. + +They met on the bank at the little inn by Sandford lock, and had +a glass of ale, over which Tom confessed that it was the first +time he had ever navigated a skiff by himself, and gave a +detailed account of his adventures, to the great amusement of his +companion. And by the time they rose to go, it was settled, at +Tom's earnest request, that he should pull the sound skiff up, +while his companion sat in the stern and coached him. The other +consented very kindly, merely stipulating that he himself should +take the sculls, if it should prove that Tom could not pull them +up in time for hall dinner. So they started, and took the tub in +tow when they came up to it. Tom got on famously under his new +tutor, who taught him to get forward, and open his knees +properly, and throw his weight on to the sculls at the beginning +of the stroke. He managed even to get into Iffley lock on the way +up without fouling the gates, and was then and there complimented +on his progress. Whereupon, as they sat, while the lock filled, +Tom poured out his thanks to his tutor for his instruction, which +had been given so judiciously that, while he was conscious of +improving at every stroke, he did not feel that the other was +asserting any superiority over him; and so, though more humble +than at the most disastrous period of his downward voyage, he was +getting into a better temper every minute. + +It is a great pity that some of our instructors in more important +matters than sculling will not take a leaf out of the same book. +Of course, it is more satisfactory to one's own self-love to make +everyone who comes to one to learn, feel that he is a fool, and +we wise men; but if our object is to teach well and usefully what +we know ourselves there cannot be a worse method. No man, +however, is likely to adopt it, so long as he is conscious that +he has anything himself to learn from his pupils; and as soon as +he has arrived at the conviction that they can teach him +nothing--that it is henceforth to be all give and no take--the +sooner he throws up his office of teacher, the better it will be +for himself, his pupils, and his country, whose sons he is +misguiding. + +On their way up, so intent were they on their own work that it +was not until shouts of "Hello, Brown! how did you get there? +Why, you said you were not going down today," greeted them just +above the Gut, that they were aware of the presence of the +freshmen's four-oar of St. Ambrose College, which had with some +trouble succeeded in overtaking them. + +"I said I wasn't going down with _you_," shouted Tom, grinding +away harder than ever, that they might witness and wonder at his +prowess. + +"Oh, I dare say! Whose skiff are you towing up? I believe you've +been upset." + +Tom made no reply, and the four-oar floundered on ahead. + +"Are you at St. Ambrose's?" asked his sitter, after a minute. + +"Yes; that's my treadmill, that four-oar. I've been down in it +almost every day since I came up, and very poor fun it is. So I +thought to-day I would go on my own hook, and see if I couldn't +make a better hand of it. And I have too, I know, thanks to you." + +The other made no remark, but a little shade came over his face. +He had no chance of making out Tom's college, as the new cap +which would have betrayed him had disappeared in the lasher. He +himself wore a glazed straw hat, which was of no college; so that +up to this time neither of them had known to what college the +other belonged. + +When they landed at Hall's, Tom was at once involved in a wrangle +with the manager as to the amount of damage done to the tub; +which the latter refused to assess before he knew what had +happened to it; while our hero vigorously and with reason +maintained, that if he knew his business it could not matter what +had happened to the boat. There she was, and he must say whether +she was better or worse, or how much worse than when she started. +In the middle of which dialogue his new acquaintance, touching +his arm, said, "You can leave my jersey with your own things; I +shall get it to-morrow," and then disappeared. + +Tom, when he had come to terms with his adversary, ran upstairs, +expecting to find the other, and meaning to tell his name, and +find out who it was that had played the good Samaritan by him. He +was much annoyed when he found the coast clear, and dressed in a +grumbling humour. "I wonder why he should have gone off so quick. +He might just as well have stayed and walked up with me," thought +he. "Let me see, though; didn't he say I was to leave his Jersey +in our room, with my own things? Why, perhaps he is a St. Ambrose +man himself. But then he would have told me so, surely. I don't +remember to have seen his face in chapel or hall; but then there +is such a lot of new faces, and he may not sit near me. However I +mean to find him out before long, whoever he may be." With which +resolve Tom crossed in the punt into Christ's Church meadow, and +strolled college-wards, feeling that he had had a good hard +afternoon's exercise, and was much the better for it. He might +have satisfied his curiosity at once by simply asking the manager +who it was that had arrived with him; and this occurred to him +before he got home, whereat he felt satisfied, but would not go +back then, as it was so near hall time. He would be sure to +remember it the first thing tomorrow. + +As it happened, however, he had not so long to wait for the +information which he needed; for scarcely had he sat down in hall +and ordered his dinner, when he caught sight of his boating +acquaintance, who walked in habited in a gown which Tom took for +a scholar's. He took his seat at a little table in the middle of +the hall, near the bachelors' table, but quite away from the rest +of the undergraduates, at which sat four or five other men in +similar gowns. He either did not or would not notice the looks of +recognition which Tom kept firing at him until he had taken his +seat. + +"Who is that man that has just come in, do you know?" said Tom to +his next neighbour, a second term man. + +"Which?" said the other, looking up. + +"That one over at the little table in the middle of the hall, +with the dark whiskers. There, he has just turned rather from us, +and put his arm on the table." + +"Oh, his name is Hardy." + +"Do you know him?" + +"No; I don't think anybody does. They say he is a clever fellow, +but a very queer one." + +"Why does he sit at that table!" + +"He is one of our servitors; they all sit there together." + +"Oh," said Tom, not much wiser for the information, but resolved +to waylay Hardy as soon as the hall was over, and highly +delighted to find that they were after all of the same college; +for he had already begun to find out, that however friendly you +may be with out-college men, you must live chiefly with those of +your own. But now his scout brought his dinner, and he fell to +with the appetite of a freshman on his ample commons. + + + + +CHAPTER III--A BREAKFAST AT DRYSDALE'S + +No man in St. Ambrose College gave such breakfasts as Drysdale. +Not the great heavy spreads for thirty or forty, which came once +or twice a term, when everything was supplied out of the college +kitchen, and you had to ask leave of the Dean before you could +have it at all. In those ponderous feasts the most hum-drum of +the undergraduate kind might rival the most artistic, if he could +only pay his battle-bill, or get credit with the cook. But the +daily morning meal, when even gentlemen commoners were limited to +two hot dishes out of the kitchen, this was Drysdale's forte. +Ordinary men left the matter in the hands of scouts, and were +content with the ever-recurring buttered toasts and eggs, with a +dish of broiled ham, or something of the sort, with a marmalade +and bitter ale to finish with; but Drysdale was not an ordinary +man, as you felt in a moment when you went to breakfast with him +for the first time. + +The staircase on which he lived was inhabited, except in the +garrets, by men in the fast set, and he and three others, who had +an equal aversion to solitary feeding, had established a +breakfast-club, in which, thanks to Drysdale's genius, real +scientific gastronomy was cultivated. Every morning the boy from +the Weirs arrived with freshly caught gudgeon, and now and then +an eel or trout, which the scouts on the staircase had learnt to +fry delicately in oil. Fresh watercresses came in the same +basket, and the college kitchen furnished a spitchedcocked +chicken, or grilled turkey's leg. In the season there were +plover's eggs; or, at the worst, there was a dainty omelette; and +a distant baker, famed for his light rolls and high charges, sent +in the bread--the common domestic college loaf being of course +out of the question for anyone with the slightest pretension to +taste, and fit only for the perquisite of scouts. Then there +would be a deep Yorkshire pie, or reservoir of potted game, as a +_piece, de resistance_, and three or four sorts of preserves; and +a large cool tankard of cider or ale-cup to finish up with, or +soda-water and maraschino for a change. Tea and coffee were there +indeed, but merely as a compliment to those respectable +beverages, for they were rarely touched by the breakfast eaters +of No. 3 staircase. Pleasant young gentlemen they were on No. 3 +staircase; I mean the ground and first floor men who formed the +breakfast-club, for the garrets were nobodies. Three out of the +four were gentlemen-commoners, with allowances of 500L a year at +least each; and, as they treated their allowances as +pocket-money, and were all in their first year, ready money was +plenty and credit good, and they might have had potted +hippopotamus for breakfast if they had chosen to order it, which +they would most likely have done if they had thought of it. + +Two out of the three were the sons of rich men who made their own +fortunes, and sent their sons to St. Ambrose's because it was +very desirable that the young gentlemen should make good +connexions. In fact, the fathers looked upon the University as a +good investment, and gloried much in hearing their sons talk +familiarly in the vacations of their dear friends Lord Harry This +and Sir George That. + +Drysdale, the third of the set, was the heir of an old as well of +a rich family, and consequently, having his connexion ready made +to his hand, cared little enough with whom he associated, +provided they were pleasant fellows, and gave him good food and +wines. His whole idea at present was to enjoy himself as much as +possible; but he had good manly stuff in him at the bottom, and, +had he fallen into any but the fast set, would have made a fine +fellow, and done credit to himself and his college. + +The fourth man at the breakfast-club, the Hon. Piers St. Cloud +was in his third year, and was a very well-dressed, +well-mannered, well-connected young man. His allowance was small +for the set he lived with, but he never wanted for anything. He +didn't entertain much, certainly, but when he did, everything was +in the best possible style. He was very exclusive, and knew no +man in college out of the fast set, and of these he addicted +himself chiefly to the society of the rich freshmen, for somehow +the men of his own standing seemed a little shy of him. But with +the freshmen he was always hand and glove, lived in their rooms, +and used their wines, horses, and other movable property as his +own. Being a good whist and billiard player, and not a bad +jockey, he managed in one way or another to make his young +friends pay well for the honour of his acquaintance; as, indeed, +why should they not, at least those of them who came to the +college to form eligible connexions; for had not his remote +lineal ancestor come over in the same ship with William the +Conqueror? Were not all his relations about the Court, as lords +and ladies in waiting, white sticks or black rods, and in the +innermost of all possible circles of the great world; and was +there a better coat of arms than he bore in all Burke's Peerage? + +Our hero had met Drysdale at a house in the country shortly +before the beginning of his first term, and they had rather taken +to one another. Drysdale had been amongst his first callers; and, +as he came out of chapel one morning shortly after his arrival, +Drysdale's scout came up to him with an invitation to breakfast. +So he went to his own rooms, ordered his commons to be taken +across to No. 3, and followed himself a few minutes afterwards. +No one was in the rooms when he arrived, for none of the club had +finished their toilettes. Morning chapel was not meant for, or +cultivated by gentlemen-commoners; they paid double chapel fees, +in consideration of which, probably, they were not expected to +attend so often as the rest of the undergraduates; at any rate, +they didn't, and no harm came to them in consequence of their +absence. As Tom entered, a great splashing in an inner room +stopped for a moment, and Drysdale's voice shouted out that he +was in his tub, but would be with him in a minute. So Tom gave +himself up to contemplation of the rooms in which his fortunate +acquaintance dwelt; and very pleasant rooms they were. The large +room in which the breakfast-table was laid for five, was lofty +and well proportioned, and panelled with old oak, and the +furniture was handsome and solid, and in keeping with the room. + +There were four deep windows, high up in the wall, with +cushioned seats under them, two looking into the large +quadrangle, and two into the inner one. Outside these windows, +Drysdale had rigged up hanging gardens, which were kept full of +flowers by the first nurseryman in Oxford, all the year round; +so that even on this February morning, the scent of gardenia and +violets pervaded the room, and strove for mastery with the smell +of stale tobacco, which hung about the curtains and sofa. There +was a large glass in an oak frame over the mantelpiece, which +was loaded with choice pipes and cigar cases and quaint +receptacles for tobacco; and by the side of the glass hung small +carved oak frames, containing lists of meets of the Heyshrop, +the Old Berkshire, and Drake's hounds, for the current week. +There was a queer assortment of well-framed paintings and +engravings on the walls; some of considerable merit, especially +some watercolor and sea-pieces and engravings from Landseer's +pictures, mingled with which hung Taglioni and Cerito, in short +petticoats and impossible attitudes; Phosphurous winning the +Derby; the Death of Grimaldi (the famous steeple-chase horse, +not poor old Joe); an American Trotting Match, and Jem Belcher +and Deaf Burke in attitudes of self-defense. Several tandem and +riding whips, mounted in heavy silver, and a double-barrelled +gun, and fishing rods, occupied one corner, and a polished +copper cask, holding about five gallons of mild ale, stood in +another. In short, there was plenty of everything except +books--the literature of the world being represented, so far as +Tom could make out in his short scrutiny, by a few well-bound +but badly used volumes of the classics, with the cribs thereto +appertaining, shoved away into a cupboard which stood half open, +and contained besides, half-emptied decanters, and large +pewters, and dog collars, and packs of cards, and all sorts of +miscellaneous articles to serve as an antidote. + +Tom had scarcely finished his short survey when the door of the +bedroom opened, and Drysdale emerged in a loose jacket lined +with silk, his velvet cap on his head, and otherwise gorgeously +attired. He was a pleasant-looking fellow of middle size, with +dark hair, and a merry brown eye, with a twinkle in it, which +spoke well for his sense of humor; otherwise, his large features +were rather plain, but he had the look and manners of a +thoroughly well-bred gentleman. + +His first act, after nodding to Tom, was to seize on a pewter +and resort to the cask in the corner, from whence he drew a pint +or so of the contents, having, as he said, "'a whoreson longing +for that poor creature, small beer.' We were playing Van-John in +Blake's rooms till three last night, and he gave us devilled +bones and mulled port. A fellow can't enjoy his breakfast after +that without something to cool his coppers." + +Tom was as yet ignorant of what Van-John might be, so held his +peace, and took a pull at the beer which the other handed to +him; and then the scout entered, and received orders to bring up +Jack and the breakfast, and not wait for any one. In another +minute, a bouncing and scratching was heard on the stairs, and a +white bulldog rushed in, a gem in his way; for his brow was +broad and massive, his skin was as fine as a lady's, and his +tail taper and nearly as thin as a clay pipe. His general look, +and a way he had of going 'snuzzling' about the calves of +strangers, were not pleasant for nervous people. Tom, however, +was used to dogs, and soon became friends with him, which +evidently pleased his host. And then the breakfast arrived, all +smoking, and with it the two other ingenious youths, in velvet +caps and far more gorgeous apparel, so far as colors went, than +Drysdale. They were introduced to Tom, who thought them somewhat +ordinary and rather loud young gentlemen. One of them +remonstrated vigorously against the presence of that confounded +dog, and so Jack was sent to lie down in a corner, and then the +four fell to work upon the breakfast. + +It was a good lesson in gastronomy, but the results are scarcely +worth repeating here. It is wonderful, though, how you feel +drawn to a man who feeds you well; and, as Tom's appetite got +less, his liking and respect for his host undoubtedly increased. + +When they had nearly finished, in walked the Honorable Piers, a +tall slight man, two or three years older than the rest of them; +good looking, and very well and quietly dressed, but with the +drawing up of his nostril, and a drawing down of the corners of +his mouth, which set Tom against him at once. The cool, +supercilious half-nod, moreover, to which he treated our hero +when introduced to him, was enough to spoil his digestion, and +hurt his self-love a good deal more than he would have liked to +own. + +"Here, Henry," said the Honorable Piers to the scout in +attendance, seating himself, and inspecting the half-cleared +dishes; "what is there for my breakfast?" + +Henry bustled about, and handed a dish or two. + +"I don't want these cold things; haven't you kept me any +gudgeon?" + +"Why sir" said Henry, "there was only two dozen this morning, +and Mr. Drysdale told me to cook them all. + +"To be sure I did," said Drysdale. "Just half a dozen for each +of us four: they were first-rate. If you can't get here at +half-past nine, you won't get gudgeon, I can tell you." + +"Just go and get me a broil from the kitchen," said the +Honorable Piers, without deigning an answer to Drysdale. + +"Very sorry, sir; kitchen's shut by now, sir," answered Henry. + +"Then go to Hinton's, and order some cutlets." + +"I say, Henry," shouted Drysdale to the retreating scout; "not +to my tick, mind! Put them down to Mr. St. Cloud." + +Henry seemed to know very well that in that case he might save +himself the trouble of the journey, and consequently returned to +his waiting; and the Honorable Piers set to work upon his +breakfast, without showing any further ill temper certainly, +except by the stinging things which he threw every now and then +into the conversation, for the benefit of each of the others in +turn. + +Tom thought he detected signs of coming hostilities between his +host and St. Cloud, for Drysdale seemed to prick up his ears and +get combative whenever the other spoke, and lost no chance in +roughing him in his replies. And, indeed, he was not far wrong; +the fact being, that during Drysdale's first term, the other had +lived on him--drinking his wine, smoking his cigars, driving his +dog-cart, and winning his money; all which Drysdale, who was the +easiest going and best tempered fellow in Oxford, had stood +without turning a hair. But St. Cloud added to these little +favors a half patronizing, half contemptuous manner, which he +used with great success towards some of the other +gentleman-commoners, who thought it a mark of high breeding, and +the correct thing, but which Drysdale, who didn't care three +straws about knowing St. Cloud, wasn't going to put up with. + +However, nothing happened but a little sparring, and the +breakfast things were cleared away, and the tankards left on the +table, and the company betook themselves to cigars and easy +chairs. Jack came out of his corner to be gratified with some of +the remnants by his fond master, and then curled himself up on +the sofa along which Drysdale lounged. + +"What are you going to do to-day, Drysdale?" said one of the +others. "I've ordered a leader to be sent on over the bridge, and +mean to drive my dog-cart over, and dine at Abingdon. Won't you +come?" + +"Who's going besides?" asked Drysdale. + +"Oh, only St. Cloud and Farley here. There's lots of room for a +fourth." + +"No, thank'ee; teaming's slow work on the back seat. Besides, +I've half promised to go down in the boat." + +"In the boat!" shouted the other. "Why, you don't mean to say +you're going to take to pulling?" + +"Well, I don't know; I rather think I am. I'm dog-tired of +driving and doing the High Street, and playing cards and +billiards all day, and our boat is likely to be head of the +river, I think." + +"By Jove! I should as soon have thought of you taking to reading, +or going to University Sermon," put in St. Cloud. + +"And the boating-men, too," went on Farley; "did you ever see +such a set, St. Cloud? with their everlasting flannels and +jerseys, and hair cropped like prize-fighters?" + +"I'll bet a guinea there isn't one of them has more than 200L a +year," put in Chanter, whose father could just write his name, +and was making a colossal fortune by supplying bad iron rails to +the new railway companies. + +"What the devil do I care," broke in Drysdale; "I know they're a +deal more amusing than you fellows, who can't do anything that +don't cost pounds." + +"Getting economical!" sneered St. Cloud. + +"Well, I don't see the fun of tearing one's heart out, and +blistering one's hands, only to get abused by that little brute +Miller the coxswain," said Farley. + +"Why, you won't be able to sit straight in your chair for a +month," said Chanter; "and the captain will make you dine at one, +and fetch you out of anybody's rooms, confound his impudence +whether he knows them or not, at eleven o'clock every night." + +"Two cigars every day, and a pint and a half of liquid," and +Farley inserted his cod fish face into the tankard; "fancy +Drysdale on training allowance!" + +Here a newcomer entered in a bachelor's gown, who was warmly +greeted by the name of Sanders by Drysdale. St. Cloud and he +exchanged the coldest possible nods; and the other two, taking +the office from their mentor, stared at him through their smoke, +and, after a minute or two's silence, and a few rude +half-whispered remarks amongst themselves, went off to play a +game of pyramids till luncheon time. Saunders took a cigar which +Drysdale offered, and began asking about his friends at home, and +what he had been doing in the vacation. + +They were evidently intimate, though Tom thought that Drysdale +didn't seem quite at his ease at first, which he wondered at, as +Sanders took his fancy at once. However, eleven o'clock struck, +and Tom had to go to lecture, where we cannot follow him just +now, but must remain with Drysdale and Saunders, who chatted on +very pleasantly for some twenty minutes, till a knock came at the +door. It was not till the third summons that Drysdale shouted, +"Come in," with a shrug of his shoulders, and an impatient kick +at the sofa cushion at his feet, as though not half pleased at +the approaching visit. + +Reader! Had you not ever a friend a few years older than +yourself, whose good opinions you were anxious to keep? A fellow +_teres atqua rotundus_; who could do everything better than you, +from Plato and tennis down to singing a comic song and playing +quoits? If you have had, wasn't he always in your rooms or +company whenever anything happened to show your little weak +points? Sanders, at any rate, occupied this position towards our +young friend Drysdale, and the latter, much as he liked Sander's +company, would have preferred it at any time than on an idle +morning just at the beginning of term, when the gentlemen +tradesmen, who look upon undergraduates in general, and +gentlemen-commoners in particular, as their lawful prey, are in +the habit of calling in flocks. + +The new arrival was a tall florid man, with a half servile, half +impudent, manner, and a foreign accent; dressed in sumptuous +costume, with a velvet-faced coat, and a gorgeous plush +waist-coat. Under his arm he carried a large parcel, which he +proceeded to open, and placed upon a sofa the contents, +consisting of a couple of coats, and three or four waistcoats and +a pair of trousers. He saluted Sanders with a most obsequious +bow, looked nervously at Jack, who opened one eye from between +his master's legs and growled, and then, turning to Drysdale, +asked if he should have the honor of seeing him try on any of the +clothes? + +"No; I can't be bored with trying them on now," said Drysdale; +"leave them where they are." + +Mr. Schloss would like very much on his return to town, in a day +or two, to be able to assure his principals, that Mr. Drysdale's +orders had been executed to his satisfaction. He had also some +very beautiful new stuffs with him, which he should like to +submit to Mr. Drysdale, and without more ado began unfolding +cards of the most fabulous plushes and cloths. + +Drysdale glanced first at the cards and then at Sanders, who sat +puffing his cigar, and watching Schloss's proceedings with a look +not unlike Jack's when anyone he did not approve of approached +his master. + +"Confound your patterns, Schloss," said Drysdale; "I tell you I +have more things than I want already." + +"The large stripe, such as these, is now very much worn in +London," went on Schloss, without heeding the rebuff, and +spreading his cards on the table. + +"D---- trousers," replied Drysdale; "you seem to think a fellow has +ten pair of legs." + +"Monsieur is pleased to joke," smiled Schloss; "but, to be in the +mode, gentlemen must have variety." + +"Well, I won't order any now, that's flat," said Drysdale. + +"Monsieur will do as he pleases; but it is impossible that he +should not have some plush waists; the fabric is only just out, +and is making a sensation." + +"Now look here, Schloss; will you go if I order a waist coat?" + +"Monsieur is very good; he sees how tasteful these new patterns +are." + +"I wouldn't, be seen at a cock-fight in one of them, there're as +gaudy as a salmon-fly," said Drysdale, feeling the stuff which +the obsequious Schloss held out. "But it seems nice stuff, too," +he went on; "I shouldn't mind having a couple of waistcoats of it +of this pattern;" and he chucked across to Schloss a dark tartan +waistcoat which was lying near him. "Have you got the stuff in +that pattern?" + +"Ah! no," said Schloss, gathering up the waistcoat; "but it shall +not hinder. I shall have at once a loom for Monsieur set up at +once in Paris." + +"Set it up in Jericho if you like," said Drysdale; "and now go!" + +"May I ask, Mr. Schloss," broke in Sanders, "what it will cost to +set up the loom?" + +"Ah! indeed, a trifle only; some twelve, or perhaps fourteen +pounds." Sanders gave a chuckle, and puffed away at his cigar. + +"By Jove," shouted Drysdale, jerking himself in a sitting +posture, and upsetting Jack, who went trotting about the room, +and snuffing at Schloss's legs; "do you mean to say, Schloss, you +were going to make me waistcoats at fourteen guineas apiece?" + +"Not if Monsieur disapproves. Ah! the large hound is not friendly +to strangers; I will call again when Monsieur is more at +leisure." And Schloss gathered up his cards and beat a hasty +retreat, followed by Jack with his head on one side, and casting +an enraged look at Sanders, as he slid through the door. + +"Well done, Jack, old boy!" said Sanders, patting him; "what a +funk the fellow was in. Well, you've saved your master a pony +this fine morning. Cheap dog you've got, Drysdale." + +"D---- the fellow," answered Drysdale, "he leaves a bad taste in +one's mouth;" and he went to the table, took a pull at the +tankard, and then threw himself down on the sofa again, as Jack +jumped up and coiled himself round by his master's legs, keeping +one half-open eye winking at him, and giving an occasional wag +with the end of his taper tail. + +Saunders got up, and began handling the new things. First he held +up a pair of bright blue trousers, with a red stripe across them, +Drysdale looking on from the sofa. "I say, Drysdale, you don't +mean to say you really ordered these thunder-and-lightening +affairs?" + +"Heaven only knows," said Drysdale; "I daresay I did, I'd order a +full suit cut out of my grandmother's farthingale to get that +cursed Schloss out of my rooms sometimes." + +"You'll never be able to wear them; even in Oxford the boys would +mob you. Why don't you kick him down stairs?" suggested Sanders, +putting down the trousers, and turning to Drysdale. + +"Well, I've been very near it once or twice; but I don't know--my +name's Easy--besides, I don't want to give up the beast +altogether; he makes the best trousers in England." + +"And these waistcoats," went on Sanders; "let me see; three light +silk waistcoats, peach-color, fawn-color, and lavender. Well, of +course, you can only wear these at your weddings. You may be +married the first time in the peach or fawn-color; and then, if +you have luck, and bury your first wife soon, it will be a +delicate compliment to take to No.2 in the lavender, that being +half-mourning; but still, you see, we're in difficulty as to one +of the three, either the peach or the fawn-color--" + +Here he was interrupted by another knock, and a boy entered from +the fashionable tobacconist's in Oriel Lane, who had general +orders to let Drysdale have his fair share of anything very +special in the cigar line. He deposited a two pound box of cigars +at three guineas the pound, on the table, and withdrew in +silence. + +Then came a boot-maker with a new pair of top-boots, which +Drysdale had ordered in November, and had forgotten next day. The +artist, wisely considering that his young patron must have plenty +of tops to last him through the hunting season (he himself having +supplied three previous pairs in October), had retained the +present pair for show in his window; and everyone knows that +boots wear much better for being kept sometime before use. Now, +however, as the hunting season was drawing to a close, and the +place in the window was wanted for spring stock, he judiciously +sent in the tops, merely adding half-a-sovereign or so to the +price for interest on the out lay since the order. He also kindly +left on the table a pair of large plated spurs to match the +boots. + +It never rains but it pours. Sanders sat smoking his cigar in +provoking silence, while knock succeeded knock and tradesman +followed tradesman; each depositing some article ordered, or +supposed to have been ordered, or which ought in the judgment of +the depositors to have been ordered, by the luckless Drysdale: +and new hats, and ties, and gloves, and pins, jostled balsam of +Neroli, and registered shaving-soap, and fancy letter paper, and +Eau de Cologne, on every available table. A visit from two +livery-stable-keepers in succession followed, each of whom had +several new leaders which they were anxious Mr. Drysdale should +try as soon as possible. Drysdale growled and grunted, and wished +them or Sanders at the bottom of the sea; however, he consoled +himself with the thought that the worst was now passed,--there +was no other possible supplier of undergraduate wants who could +arrive. + +Not so; in another minute a gentle knock came at the door. Jack +pricked up his ears and wagged his tail; Drysdale recklessly +shouted, "Come in!" the door slowly opened about eighteen inches, +and a shock head of hair entered the room, from which one lively +little gimlet eye went glancing about into every corner. The +other eye was closed, but as a perpetual wink to indicate the +unsleeping wariness of the owner, or because that hero had really +lost the power of using it in some of his numerous encounters +with men and beasts, no one, so far as I know, has ever +ascertained. + +"Ah! Mr. Drysdale, sir!" began the head; and then rapidly +withdrew behind the door to avoid one of the spurs, which (being +the missile nearest at hand) Drysdale instantly discharged at it. +As the spur fell to the floor, the head reappeared in the room, +and as quickly disappeared again, in deference to the other spur, +the top boots, an ivory handled hair brush, and a translation of +Euripides, which in turn saluted each successive appearance of +said head; and the grin was broader on each reappearance. + +Then Drysdale, having no other article within reach which he +could throw, burst into a loud fit of laughter, in which Sanders +and the head heartily joined, and shouted, "Come in, Joe, you old +fool! and don't stand bobbing your ugly old mug in and out there, +like a jack in the box." + +So the head came in, and after it the body, and closed the door +behind it; and a queer, cross-grained, tough-looking body it was, +of about fifty years standing, or rather slouching, clothed in an +old fustian coat, corduroy breeches and gaiters, and being the +earthly tabernacle of Joe Muggles, the dog-fancier of St. +Aldate's. + +"How the deuce did you get by the lodge, Joe?" inquired Drysdale. +Joe, be it known, had been forbidden the college for importing a +sack of rats into the inner quadrangle, upon the turf of which a +match at rat-killing had come off between the terriers of two +gentlemen-commoners. This little event might have passed +unnoticed, but that Drysdale had bought from Joe a dozen of the +slaughtered rats, and nailed them on the doors of the four +college tutors, three to a door; whereupon inquiry had been made, +and Joe had been outlawed. + +[Illustration: 0054] + +"Oh, please Mr. Drysdale, sir, I just watched the 'ed porter, +sir, across to the buttery to get his mornin', and then I tips a +wink to the under porter (pal o' mine, sir, the under porter), +and makes a run of it right up." + +"Well, you'll be quod'ed if you're caught! Now what do you want?" + +"Why, you see, Mr. Drysdale, sir," said Joe, in his most +insinuating tone, "my mate hev got an old dog brock, sir, from +the Heythrop kennel, and Honble Wernham, sir of New Inn 'All, +sir, he've jist been down our yard with a fighting chap from +town, Mr. Drysdale--in the fancy, sir, he is, and hev got a +matter of three dogs down a stoppin' at Milky Bill's. And he +says, says he, Mr. Drysdale, as arra one of he's dogs'll draw the +old un three times, while arra Oxford dog'll draw un twice, and +Honble Wernham chaffs as how he'll back un for a fi' pun +note;"--and Joe stopped to caress Jack, who was fawning on him as +if he understood every word. + +"Well, Joe, what then?" said Drysdale. + +"So you see, Mr. Drysdale, sir," went on Joe, fondling Jack's +muzzle, "my mate says, says he, 'Jack's the dog as can draw a +brock,' says he, 'agin any Lonnun dog as ever was whelped; and +Mr. Drysdale' says he, 'ain't the man as'd see two poor chaps +bounced out of their honest name by arra town chap, and a fi' pun +note's no more to he for the matter o' that, then to Honble +Wernham his self,' says my mate." + +"So I'm to lend you Jack for a match, and stand the stakes?" + +"Well, Mr. Drysdale, sir, that was what my mate was a sayin'." + +"You're cool heads, you and your mate," said Drysdale; "here, +take a drink, and get out, and I'll think about it." Drysdale was +now in a defiant humor, and resolved not to let Sanders think +that his presence could keep him from any act of folly to which +he was inclined. + +Joe took his drink; and just then several men came in from +lecture, and drew off Drysdale's attention from Jack, who quietly +followed Joe out of the room, when that worthy disappeared. +Drysdale only laughed when he found it out, and went down to the +yard that afternoon to see the match between the London dog and +his own pet. + +"How in the world are youngsters with unlimited credit, plenty of +ready money, and fast tastes, to be kept from making fools and +blackguards of themselves up here," thought Sanders, as he +strolled back to his college. And it is a question which has +exercised other heads besides his, and probably is a long way yet +from being well solved. + + + + +CHAPTER IV--THE ST. AMBROSE BOAT CLUB: ITS MINISTERY AND THEIR BUDGET. + +We left our hero, a short time back, busily engaged on his dinner +commons, and resolved forthwith to make great friends with Hardy. +It never occurred to him that there could be the slightest +difficulty in carrying out this resolve. After such a passage as +they two had had together that afternoon, he felt that the usual +outworks of acquaintanceship had been cleared at a bound, and +looked upon Hardy already as an old friend to whom he could talk +out his mind as freely as he had been used to do to his old tutor +at school, or to Arthur. Moreover, as there were already several +things in his head which he was anxious to ventilate, he was all +the more pleased that chance had thrown him across a man of so +much older standing than himself, and one to whom he +instinctively felt that he could look up. + +Accordingly, after grace had been said, and he saw that Hardy had +not finished his dinner, but sat down again when the fellows had +left the hall, he strolled out, meaning to wait for his victim +outside, and seize upon him then and there; so he stopped on the +steps outside the hall-door, and to pass the time, joined himself +to one or two other men with whom he had a speaking acquaintance, +who were also hanging about. While they were talking, Hardy came +out of the hall, and Tom turned and stepped forward, meaning to +speak to him. To his utter discomfiture, Hardy walked quickly +away, looking straight before him, and without showing, by look +or gesture, that he was conscious of our hero's existence, or had +ever seen him before in his life. + +Tom was so taken aback that he made no effort to follow. He just +glanced at his companions to see whether they had noticed the +occurrence, and was glad to see that they had not (being deep in +the discussion of the merits of a new hunter of Simmons's, which +one of them had been riding); so he walked away by himself to +consider what it could mean. But the more he puzzled about it, +the less could he understand it. Surely, he thought, Hardy must +have seen me; and yet, if he had, why did he not recognize me? My +cap and gown can't be such a disguise as all that. And yet common +decency must have led him to ask whether I was any the worse for +my ducking, if he knew me. + +He scouted the notion, which suggested itself once or twice, that +Hardy meant to cut him; and so, not being able to come to any +reasonable conclusion, suddenly bethought him that he was asked +to a wine-party; and putting his speculations aside for a moment, +with the full intention nevertheless of clearing up the mystery +as soon as possible, he betook himself to the rooms of his +entertainer. + +They were fair-sized rooms in the second quadrangle, furnished +plainly but well, so far as Tom could judge, but, as they were +now laid out for the wine-party, they had lost all individual +character for the time. Everyone of us, I suppose, is fond of +studying the rooms, chambers, dens in short, of whatever sort +they may be, of our friends and acquaintances--at least, I knew +that I myself like to see what sort of a chair a man sits in, +where he puts it, what books lie or stand on the shelves nearest +his hand, what the objects are which he keeps most familiarly +before him, in that particular nook of the earth's surface in +which he is most at home, where he pulls off his coat, collar, +and boots, and gets into an old easy shooting-jacket, and his +broadest slippers. Fine houses and fine rooms have little +attraction for most men, and those who have the finest +drawing-rooms are probably the most bored by them; but the den of +the man you like, or are disposed to like, has the strongest and +strangest attraction for you. However, an Oxford undergraduate's +room, set out for a wine-party, can tell you nothing. All the +characteristics are shoved away into the background, and there is +nothing to be seen but a long mahogany set out with bottles, +glasses, and dessert. In the present instance the preparations +for festivity were pretty much what they ought to be: good sound +port and sherry, biscuits, and a plate or two of nuts and dried +fruits. The host, who sat at the head of the board, was one of +the main-stays of the College boat-club. He was treasurer of the +club, and also a kind of a boating nurse, who looked-up and +trained the young oars, and in this capacity had been in command +of the freshmen's four-oar, in which Tom had been learning his +rudiments. He was a heavy, burly man, naturally awkward in his +movements, but gifted with a steady sort of dogged enthusiasm, +and by dint of hard and constant training, had made himself into +a most useful oar, fit for any place in the middle of the boat. +In the two years of his residence, he had pulled down to Sandford +every day except Sundays, and much farther whenever he could get +anybody to accompany him. He was the most good natured man in the +world, very badly dressed, very short sighted, and called +everybody "old fellow." His name was simple Smith, generally +known as Diogenes Smith, from an eccentric habit which he had of +making an easy chair of his hip bath. Malicious acquaintance +declared that when Smith first came up, and, having paid the +valuation for the furniture in his rooms, came to inspect the +same, the tub in question had been left by chance in the +sitting-room, and that Smith, not having the faintest idea of its +proper use, had by the exercise of his natural reason come to the +conclusion that it could only be meant for a man to sit in, and +so had kept it in his sitting-room, and had taken to it as an +arm-chair. This I have reason to believe was a libel. Certain it +is, however, that in his first term he was discovered sitting +solemnly in the tub, by his fire-side, with his spectacles on, +playing the flute--the only other recreation besides boating in +which he indulged; and no amount of quizzing could get him out of +the habit. When alone, or with only one or two friends in his +room, he still occupied the tub; and declared that it was the +most perfect of seats hitherto invented, and, above all, adapted +for the recreation of a boating man, to whom cushioned seats +should be an abomination. He was naturally a very hospitable man, +and on this night was particularly anxious to make his rooms +pleasant to all comers, as it was a sort of opening for the +boating season. This wine of his was a business matter, in fact, +to which Diogenes had invited officially, as treasurer of the +boat-club, every man who had ever shown the least tendency to +pulling,--many with whom he had scarcely a nodding acquaintance. +For Miller, the coxswain, had come up at last. He had taken his +B.A. degree in the Michaelmas term, and had been very near +starting for a tour in the East. Upon turning the matter over in +his mind, however, Miller had come to the conclusion that +Palestine, and Egypt, and Greece could not run away, but that, +unless he was there to keep matters going, the St. Ambrose boat +would lose the best chance it was ever likely to have of getting +to the head of the river. So he had patriotically resolved to +reside till June, read divinity, and coach the racing crew; and +had written to Diogenes to call together the whole boating +interest of the College, that they might set to work at once in +good earnest. Tom, and the three or four other freshmen present, +were duly presented to Miller as they came in, who looked them +over as the colonel of a crack regiment might look over horses at +Horncastle-fair, with a single eye to their bone and muscle, and +how much work might be got out of them. They then gathered +towards the lower end of the long table, and surveyed the +celebrities at the upper end with much respect. Miller, the +coxswain, sat on the host's right hand,--a slight, resolute, +fiery little man, with curly black hair. He was peculiarly +qualified by nature for the task which he had set himself; and it +takes no mean qualities to keep a boat's crew well together and +in order. Perhaps he erred a little on the side of +over-strictness and severity; and he certainly would have been +more popular had his manners been a thought more courteous; but +the men who rebelled most against his tyranny grumblingly +confessed that he was a first-rate coxswain. + +A very different man was the captain of the boat, who sat +opposite to Miller; altogether, a noble specimen of a very noble +type of our countrymen. Tall and strong of body; courageous and +even-tempered; tolerant of all men; sparing of speech, but ready +in action; a thoroughly well balanced, modest, quiet Englishman; +one of those who do a good stroke of the work of the country +without getting much credit for it, or even becoming aware of the +fact; for the last thing such men understand is how to blow their +own trumpets. He was perhaps too easy for the captain of St. +Ambrose boat-club; at any rate, Miller was always telling him so. +But, if he was not strict enough with others, he never spared +himself, and was as good as three men in the boat at a pinch. + +But if I venture on more introductions, my readers will get +bewildered; so I must close the list, much as I should like to +make them known to "fortis Gyas fortisque Cloanthus," who sat +round the chiefs, laughing and consulting, and speculating on the +chances of the coming races. No, stay, there is one other man +they must make room for. Here he comes, rather late, in a very +glossy hat, the only man in the room not in cap and gown. He +walks up and takes his place by the side of the host as a matter +of course; a handsome, pale man, with a dark, quick eye, +conscious that he draws attention wherever he goes, and +apparently of the opinion that it is right. + +"Who is that who has just come in in beaver?" said Tom, touching +the next man to him. + +"Oh, don't you know? that's Blake; he's the most wonderful fellow +in Oxford," answered his neighbor. + +"How do you mean?" said Tom. + +"Why, he can do everything better than almost anybody, and +without any trouble at all. Miller was obliged to have him in the +boat last year, though he never trained a bit. Then he's in the +eleven, and is a wonderful rider, and tennis-player, and shot." + +"Ay, and he's so awfully clever with it all," joined in the man +on the other side. "He'll be a safe first, though I don't believe +he reads more than you or I. He can write songs, too, as fast as +you can talk nearly, and sings them wonderfully." + +"Is he of our College, then?" + +"Yes, of course, or he couldn't have been in our boat last year." + +"But I don't think I ever saw him in chapel or hall" + +"No, I daresay not. He hardly ever goes to either, and yet he +manages never to get hauled up much, no one knows how. He never +gets up now till the afternoon, and sits up nearly all night +playing cards with the fastest fellows, or going round singing +glees at three or four in the morning." + +Tom sipped his port and looked with great interest at the +admirable Crichton of St. Ambrose's; and, after watching him a +few moments said in a low voice to his neighbor, + +"How wretched he looks! I never saw a sadder face." + +Poor Blake! one can't help calling him "poor," although he +himself would have winced at it more than any name you could have +called him. You might have admired, feared, or wondered at him, +and he would have been pleased; the object of his life was to +raise such feelings in his neighbors; but pity was the last which +he would like to excite. + +He was indeed a wonderfully gifted fellow, full of all sorts of +energy and talent, and power and tenderness; and yet, as his face +told only too truly to anyone who watched him when he was +exerting himself in society, one of the most wretched men in the +College. He had a passion for success--for beating everybody else +in whatever he took in hand, and that, too, without seeming to +make any great effort himself. The doing a thing well and +thoroughly gave him no satisfaction unless he could feel that he +was doing it better and more easily than A, B, or C, and they +felt and acknowledged this. He had had full swing of success for +two years, and now the Nemesis was coming. + +For, although not an extravagant man, many of the pursuits in +which he has eclipsed all rivals were far beyond the means of any +but a rich one, and Blake was not rich. He had a fair allowance, +but by the end of his first year was considerably in debt, and, +at the time we are speaking of, the whole pack of Oxford +tradesmen into whose books he had got (having smelt out the +leaness of his expectations), were upon him, besieging him for +payment. This miserable and constant annoyance was wearing his +soul out. This was the reason why his oak was sported, and he was +never seen till the afternoons, and turned night into day. He was +too proud to come to an understanding with his persecutors, even +had it been possible; and now, at his sorest need, his whole +scheme of life was failing him; his love of success was turning +into ashes in his mouth; he felt much more disgust than pleasure +at his triumphs over other men, and yet the habit of striving for +successes, notwithstanding its irksomeness, was too strong to be +resisted. + +Poor Blake! he was living on from hand to mouth, flashing out in +his old brilliancy and power, and forcing himself to take the +lead in whatever company he might be; but utterly lonely and +depressed when by himself--reading feverishly in secret, in a +desperate effort to retrieve all by high honors and a fellowship. +As Tom said to his neighbor, there was no sadder face than his to +be seen in Oxford. + +And yet at this very wine party he was the life of everything, as +he sat up there between Diogenes--whom he kept in a constant sort +of mild epileptic fit, from laughter, and wine going the wrong +way (for whenever Diogenes raised his glass Blake shot him with +some joke)--and the Captain who watched him with the most +undisguised admiration. A singular contrast, the two men! Miller, +though Blake was the torment of his life, relaxed after the first +quarter of all hour; and our hero, by the same time, gave himself +credit for being a much greater ass than he was, for having ever +thought Blake's face a sad one. + +When the room was quite full, and enough wine had been drunk to +open the hearts of the guests, Diogenes rose on a signal from +Miller, and opened the budget. The financial statement was a +satisfactory one; the club was almost free of debt; and, +comparing their position with that of other colleges, Diogenes +advised that they might fairly burden themselves a little more, +and then, if they would stand a whip of ten shillings a man, they +might have a new boat, which he believed they all would agree had +become necessary. Miller supported the new boat in a pungent +little speech; and the Captain, when appealed to, nodded and said +he thought they must have one. So the small supplies and the +large addition to the club debt was voted unanimously, and the +Captain, Miller, and Blake, who had many notions as to the +flooring, lines, and keel of a racing boat, were appointed to +order and superintend the building. + +Soon afterwards, coffee came in and cigars were lighted; a large +section of the party went off to play pool, others to stroll +about the streets, others to whist; a few, let us hope, to their +own rooms to read; but these latter were a sadly small minority +even in the quietest of St. Ambrose parties. + +Tom, who was fascinated by the heroes at the head of the table, +sat steadily on, sidling up towards them as the intermediate +places became vacant, and at last attained the next chair but one +to the Captain, where for the time he sat in perfect bliss. Blake +and Miller were telling boating stories of the Henley and Thames +regattas, the latter of which had been lately started with great +_eclat_; and from these great yearly events, and the deeds of +prowess done thereat, the talk came gradually round to the next +races. + +"Now, Captain," said Miller, suddenly, "have you thought yet what +new men we are to try in the crew this year?" + +"No, 'pon my honor I haven't," said the Captain, "I'm reading, +and have no time to spare. Besides, after all, there's lots of +time to think about it. Here we're only half through Lent term, +and the races don't begin till the end of Easter term." + +"It won't do," said Miller, "we must get the crew together this +term." + +"Well, you and Smith put your heads together and manage it," said +the Captain. "I will go down any day, and as often as you like, +at two o'clock." + +"Let's see," said Miller to Smith, "how many of the old crew have +we left?" + +"Five, counting Blake," answered Diogenes. + +"Counting me! well, that's cool," laughed Blake; "you old tub +haunting flute-player, why am I not to be counted?" + +"You never will train, you see," said Diogenes. + +"Smith is quite right," said Miller; "there's no counting on you, +Blake. Now, be a good fellow, and promise to be regular this +year." + +"I'll promise to do my work in a race, which is more than some of +your best-trained men will do," said Blake, rather piqued. + +"Well you know what I think on the subject," said Miller; "but +who have we got for the other three places?" + +"There's Drysdale would do," said Diogenes; "I hear he was a +capital oar at Eton; and so, though I don't know him, I managed +to get him once down last term. He would do famously for No.2, or +No.3 if he would pull." + +"Do you think he will, Blake? You know him, I suppose," said +Miller. + +"Yes, I know him well enough," said Blake; and, shrugging his +shoulders, added, "I don't think you'll get him to train much." + +"Well, we must try," said Miller. "Now, who else is there?" + +Smith went through four or five names, at each of which Miller +shook his head. + +"Any promising freshmen?" said he at last. + +"None better than Brown here," said Smith. "I think he'll do well +if he will only work, and stand being coached." + +"Have you ever pulled much?" said Miller. + +"No," said Tom, "never till this last month--since I've been up +here." + +"All the better," said Miller; "now, Captain, you hear; we may +probably have to go in with three new hands; they must get into +your stroke this term, or we shall be nowhere." + +"Very well," said the Captain; "I'll give from two till five any +days you like." + +"And now let's go and have one pool," said Blake, getting up. +"Come, Captain, just one little pool after all this business." + +Diogenes insisted on staying to play his flute; Miller was +engaged; but the Captain, with a little coaxing, was led away by +Blake, and good-naturedly asked Tom to accompany them, when he +saw that he was looking as if he would like it. So the three went +off to the billiard-rooms; Tom in such spirits at the chance of +being tried in the crew, that he hardly noticed the exceedingly +bad exchange which he had involuntarily made of his new cap and +gown for a third-year cap with the board broken into several +pieces, and a fusty old gown which had been about college +probably for ten generations. Under-graduate morality in the +matter of caps and gowns seems to be founded on the celebrated +maxim, "_Propriete c'est le vol_." + +They found the St. Ambrose pool-room full of the fast set; and +Tom enjoyed his game much, though his three lives were soon +disposed of. The Captain and Blake were the last lives on the +board, and divided the pool at Blake's suggestion. He had +scarcely nerve for playing out a single handed match with such an +iron-nerved, steady piece of humanity as the Captain, though he +was the more brilliant player of the two. The party then broke +up, and Tom returned to his rooms; and, when he was by himself +again, his thoughts recurred to Hardy. How odd, he thought, that +they never mentioned him for the boat! Could he have done +anything to be ashamed of? How was it that nobody seemed to know +him, and he to know nobody. + +Most readers, I doubt not, will think our hero very green for +being puzzled at so simple a matter; and, no doubt, the steps in +the social scale in England are very clearly marked out, and we +all come to the appreciation of the gradations sooner or later. +But our hero's previous education must be taken into +consideration. He had not been instructed at home to worship mere +conventional distinctions of rank or wealth, and had gone to a +school which was not frequented by persons of rank, and where no +one knew whether a boy was heir to a principality, or would have +to fight his own way in the world. So he was rather taken by +surprise at what he found to be the state of things at St. +Ambrose's and didn't easily realize it. + + + + +CHAPTER V--HARDY, THE SERVITOR + +It was not long before Tom had effected his object in part. That +is to say, he had caught Hardy several times in the Quadrangle +coming out of Lecture Hall, or Chapel, and had fastened himself +upon him; often walking with him even up to the door of his +rooms. But there matters ended. Hardy was very civil and +gentlemanly; he even seemed pleased with the volunteered +companionship; but there was undoubtedly a coolness about him +which Tom could not make out. But, as he only liked Hardy more, +the more he saw of him, he very soon made up his mind to break +ground himself, and to make a dash at any rate for something more +than a mere speaking acquaintance. + +One evening he had as usual walked from Hall with Hardy up to his +door. They stopped a moment talking, and then Hardy, half-opening +the door, said, "Well, goodnight; perhaps we shall meet on the +river to-morrow," and was going in, when Tom, looking him in the +face, blurted out, "I say, Hardy, I wish you'd let me come in and +sit with you a bit." + +"I never ask a man of our college into my rooms," answered the +other, "but come in by all means if you like;" and so they +entered. + +The room was the worst, both in situation and furniture, which +Tom had yet seen. It was on the ground floor, with only one +window, which looked out into a back yard, where were the offices +of the college. All day, and up to nine o'clock at night, the +yard and offices were filled with scouts; boys cleaning boots and +knives; bed-makers emptying slops and tattling scandal; scullions +peeling potatoes and listening; and the butchers' and +green-grocers' men who supply the college, and loitering about to +gossip and get a taste of the college ale before going about +their business. The room was large, but low and close, and the +floor uneven. The furniture did not add to the cheerfulness of +the apartment. It consisted of one large table in the middle, +covered with an old chequered table-cloth, and an Oxford table +near the window, on which lay half-a-dozen books with writing +materials. A couple of plain Windsor chairs occupied the two +sides of the fireplace, and half-a-dozen common wooden chairs +stood against the opposite wall, three on each side of a +pretty-well-filled book-case; while an old rickety sofa, covered +with soiled chintz, leaned against the wall which fronted the +window, as if to rest its lame leg. The carpet and rug were +dingy, and decidedly the worse for wear; and the college had +evidently neglected to paper the room or whitewash the ceiling +for several generations. On the mantle-piece reposed a few long +clay pipes, and a brown earthenware receptacle for tobacco, +together with a japanned tin case, shaped like a figure of eight, +the use of which puzzled Tom exceedingly. One modestly framed +drawing of a 10-gun brig hung above, and at the side of the +fireplace a sword and belt. All this Tom had time to remark by +the light of the fire, which was burning brightly, while his host +produced a couple of brass candlesticks from his cupboard and +lighted up, and drew the curtain before his window. Then Tom +instinctively left off taking his notes, for fear of hurting the +other's feelings (just as he would have gone on doing, and making +remarks on everything, had the rooms been models of taste and +comfort), and throwing his cap and gown on the sofa, sat down on +one of the Windsor chairs. + +"What a jolly chair," said he; "where do you get them? I should +like to buy one." + +"Yes, they're comfortable enough," said Hardy, "but the reason I +have them is, that they're the cheapest armchair one can get. I +like an arm-chair, and can't afford to have any other than +these." + +Tom dropped the subject of the chairs at once, following his +instinct again, which, sad to say, was already teaching him that +poverty is a disgrace to a Briton, and that, until you know a man +thoroughly, you must always seem to assume that he is the owner +of unlimited ready money. Somehow or another, he began to feel +embarrassed, and couldn't think of anything to say, as his host +took down the pipes and tobacco from the mantle-piece, and placed +them on the table. However, anything was better than silence, so +he began again. + +"Very good-sized rooms yours seem," said he, taking up a pipe +mechanically. + +"Big enough, for the matter of that," answered the other, "but +very dark and noisy in the day-time." + +"So I should think," said Tom; "do you know, I'd sooner, now, +have my freshman's rooms up in the garrets. I wonder you don't +change." + +"I get these for nothing," said his host, putting his long clay +to the candle, and puffing out volumes of smoke. Tom felt more +and more unequal to the situation, and filled his pipe in +silence. The first whiff made him cough as he wasn't used to the +fragrant weed in this shape. + +"I'm afraid you don't smoke tobacco," said his host from behind +his own cloud; "shall I go out and fetch you a cigar? I don't +smoke them myself; I can't afford it." + +"No, thank you," said Tom blushing for shame as if he had come +there only to insult his host, and wishing himself heartily out +of it, "I've got my case here; and the fact is I will smoke a +cigar if you'll allow me, for I'm not up to pipes yet. I wish +you'd take some," he went on, emptying his cigars on to the +table. + +"Thank'ee," replied his host, "I prefer a pipe. And now what will +you have to drink? I don't keep wine but I can get a bottle of +anything you like from the common room. That's one of _our_ +privileges,"--he gave a grim chuckle as he emphasised the word +"our". + +"Who on earth are _we_?" thought Tom "servitors I suppose," for +he knew already that undergraduates in general could not get wine +from the college cellars. + +"I don't care a straw about wine," said he, feeling very hot +about the ears; "a glass of beer, or anything you have here--or +tea." + +"Well, I can give you a pretty good glass of whiskey," said his +host, going to the cupboard, and producing a black bottle, two +tumblers of different sizes, some little wooden toddy ladles, and +sugar in an old cracked glass. + +Tom vowed that, if there was one thing in the world he liked more +than another, it was whiskey; and began measuring out the liquor +carefully into his tumbler, and rolling it round between his eyes +and the candle and smelling it, to show what a treat it was to +him; while his host put the kettle on the fire, to ascertain that +it had quit boiling, and then, as it spluttered and fizzed, +filled up the two tumblers, and restored it to its place on the +hob. + +Tom swallowed some of the mixture, which nearly made him cough +again--for, though it was very good, it was also very potent. +However, by an effort he managed to swallow his cough; he would +about as soon have lost a little finger as let it out. Then, to +his great relief, his host took the pipe from his lips, and +inquired, "How do you like Oxford?" + +"I hardly know yet," said Tom; "the first few days I was +delighted with going about and seeing the buildings, and finding +out who had lived in each of the old colleges, and pottering +about in the Bodleian, and fancying I should like to be a great +scholar. Then I met several old school fellows going about, who +are up at other colleges, and went to their rooms and talked over +old times. But none of my very intimate friends are up yet, and +unless you care very much about a man already, you don't seem +likely to get intimate with him up here, unless he is at your own +college." + +He paused, as if expecting an answer. + +"I daresay not," said Hardy, "but I never was at a public school, +unluckily, and so am no judge." + +"Well, then, as to the college life," went on Tom, "it's all very +well as far as it goes. There's plenty of liberty and good food. +And the men seem nice fellows--many of them, at least, so far as +I can judge. But I can't say that I like it as much as I liked +our school life." + +"I don't understand," said Hardy. "Why not?" + +"Oh! I hardly know," said Tom laughing; "I don't seem as if I had +anything to do here; that's one reason, I think. And then, you +see, at Rugby I was rather a great man. There one had a share in +the ruling of 300 boys, and a good deal of responsibility; but +here one has only just to take care of oneself, and keep out of +scrapes; and that's what I never could do. What do you think a +fellow ought to do, now, up here?" + +"Oh I don't see much difficulty in that," said his host, smiling; +"get up your lectures well, to begin with." + +"But my lectures are a farce," said Tom; "I've done all the books +over and over again. They don't take me an hour a day to get up." + +"Well, then, set to work reading something regularly--reading for +your degree, for instance." + +"Oh, hang it! I can't look so far forward as that; I shan't be +going up for three years." + +"You can't begin too early. You might go and talk to your +college-tutor about it." + +"So I did," said Tom; "at least I meant to do it. For he asked me +and two other freshmen to breakfast the other morning, and I was +going to open out to him; but when I got there I was quite shut +up. He never looked one of us in the face, and talked in set +sentences, and was cold, and formal, and condescending. The only +bit of advice he gave us was to have nothing to do with +boating--just the one thing which I feel a real interest in. I +couldn't get out a word of what I wanted to say." + +"It is unlucky, certainly, that our present tutors take so little +interest in anything which the men care about. But it is more +from shyness than anything else, that manner which you noticed. +You may be sure that he was more wretched and embarrassed than +any of you." + +"Well, but now I should really like to know what you did +yourself," said Tom; "you are the only man of much older standing +than myself whom I know at all yet--I mean I don't know anybody +else well enough to talk about this sort of thing to them. What +did you do, now, besides learning to pull, in your first year?" + +"I had learnt to pull before I came up here," said Hardy. + +"I really hardly remember what I did besides read. You see, I +came up with a definite purpose of reading. My father was very +anxious that I should become a good scholar. Then my position in +the college and my poverty naturally kept me out of the many +things which other men do." + +Tom flushed again at the ugly word, but not so much as at first. +Hardy couldn't mind the subject, or he would never be forcing it +up at every turn, he thought. + +"You wouldn't think it," he began again, harping on the same +string, "but I can hardly tell you how I miss the sort of +responsibility I was talking to you about. I have no doubt I +shall get the vacuum filled up before long, but for the life of +me I can't see how yet." + +"You will be a very lucky fellow if you don't find it quite as +much as you can do to keep yourself in order up here. It is about +the toughest part of a man's life, I do believe, the time he has +spent here. My university life has been so different altogether +from what yours will be, that my experience isn't likely to +benefit you." + +"I wish you would try me, though," said Tom; "you don't know what +a teachable sort of a fellow I am, if any body will take me the +right way. You taught me to scull, you know; or at least put me +in a way to learn. But sculling, and rowing, and cricket, and all +the rest of it, with such reading as I am likely to do, won't be +enough. I feel sure of that already. + +"I don't think it will," said Hardy. "No amount of physical or +mental work will fill the vacuum you were talking of just now. It +is the empty house swept and garnished which the boy might have +had glimpses of, but the man finds yawning within him, which must +be filled somehow. It's a pretty good three years' work to learn +how to keep the devils out of it, more or less; by the time you +take your degree. At least I have found it so." + +Hardy rose and took a turn or two up and down his room. He was +astonished at finding himself talking so unreservedly to one of +whom he knew so little, and half-wished the words recalled. He +lived much alone, and thought himself morbid and too +self-conscious; why should he be filling a youngster's head with +puzzles? How did he know that they were thinking of the same +thing? + +But the spoken word cannot be recalled; it must go on its way for +good or evil; and this one set the hearer staring into the ashes, +and putting many things together in his head. + +It was some minutes before he broke silence, but at last he +gathered up his thoughts, and said, "Well, I hope I sha'n't shirk +when the time comes. You don't think a fellow need shut himself +up, though? I'm sure I shouldn't be any the better for that." + +"No, I don't think you would," said Hardy. + +"Because, you see," Tom went on, waxing bolder and more +confidential, "If I were to take to moping by myself, I shouldn't +read as you or any sensible fellow would do; I know that well +enough. I should just begin, sitting with my legs upon the +mantel-piece, and looking into my own inside. I see you are +laughing, but you know what mean, don't you now?" + +"Yes; staring into the vacuum you were talking of just now; it +all comes back to that," said Hardy. + +"Well, perhaps it does," said Tom; "and I don't believe it does a +fellow a bit of good to be thinking about himself and his own +doings." + +"Only he can't help himself," said Hardy. "Let him throw himself +as he will into all that is going on up here, after all he must +be alone for a great part of his time--all night at any rate--and +when he gets his oak sported, it's all up with him. He must be +looking more or less into his own inside, as you call it." + +"Then I hope he won't find it as ugly a business as I do. If he +does, I'm sure he can't be worse employed." + +"I don't know that," said Hardy; "he can't learn anything worth +learning in any other way." + +"Oh, I like that!" said Tom; "it's worth learning how to play +tennis, and how to speak the truth. You can't learn either by +thinking of yourself ever so much." + +"You must know the truth before you can speak it," said Hardy. + +"So you always do in plenty of time." + +"How?" said Hardy. + +"Oh, I don't know," said Tom; "by a sort of instinct I suppose. I +never in my life felt any doubt about what I _ought_ to say or +do; did you?" + +"Well, yours is a good, comfortable, working belief at any rate," +said Hardy, smiling; "and I should advise you to hold on to it as +long as you can." + +"But you don't think I can very long, eh?" + +"No: but men are very different. There's no saying. If you were +going to get out of the self-dissecting business altogether +though, why should you have brought the subject up at all +to-night? It looks awkward for you, doesn't it?" + +Tom began to feel rather forlorn at this suggestion, and probably +betrayed it in his face, for Hardy changed the subject suddenly. + +"How do you get on in the boat? I saw you going down to-day, and +thought the time much better." + +Tom felt greatly relieved, as he was beginning to find himself in +rather deep water; so he rushed into boating with great zest, and +the two chatted on very pleasantly on that and other matters. + +The college clock struck during a pause in their talk, and Tom +looked at his watch. + +"Eight o'clock I declare," he said; "why I must have been here +more than two hours. I'm afraid, now, you have been wanting to +work, and I have kept you from it with my talk." + +"No, it's Saturday night. Besides, I don't get much society that +I care about, and so I enjoy it all the more. Won't you stop and +have some tea?" + +Tom gladly consented, and his host produced a somewhat +dilapidated set of crockery, and proceeded to brew the drink +least appreciated at St. Ambrose's. Tom watched him in silence, +much excercised in his mind as to what manner of man he had +fallen upon; very much astonished at himself for having opened +out so freely, and feeling a desire to know more about Hardy, not +unmixed with a sort of nervousness as to how he was to accomplish +it. + +When Hardy sat down again and began pouring out the tea, +curiosity overcame, and he opened with-- + +"So you read nights, after Hall? + +"Yes, for two or three hours; longer, when I am in a good humor." + +"What, all by yourself?" + +"Generally; but once or twice a week Grey comes in to compare +notes. Do you know him?" + +"No, at least he hasn't called on me, I have just spoken to him." + +"He is a quiet fellow, and I daresay doesn't call on any man +unless he knew something of him before." + +"Don't you?" + +"Never," said Hardy, shortly; and added after a short pause, +"very few men would thank me if I did; most would think it +impertinent, and I'm too proud to risk that." + +Tom was on the point of asking why; but the uncomfortable feeling +which he had nearly lost came back on him. + +"I suppose one very soon gets tired of the wine and supper party +life, though I own I find it pleasant enough now." + +"I have never been tired," said Hardy; "servitors are not +troubled with that sort of a thing. If they were I wouldn't go +unless I could return them, and that I can't afford." + +"There he goes again," thought Tom; "why will he be throwing that +old story in my face over and over again? He can't think I care +about his poverty; I won't change the subject this time, at any +rate." And so he said: + +"You don't mean to say it makes any real difference to a man in +society up here, whether he is poor or rich; I mean, of course, +if he is a gentleman and a good fellow?" + +"Yes, it does--the very greatest possible. But don't take my word +for it. Keep your eyes open and judge for yourself; I daresay I'm +prejudiced on the subject." + +"Well, I shan't believe it if I can help it," said Tom; "you +know, you said just now that you never called on any one. Perhaps +you don't give men a fair chance. They might be glad to know you +if you would let them, and may think it's your fault that they +don't." + +"Very possible," said Hardy; "I tell you not to take my word for +it." + +"It upsets all one's ideas so," went on Tom; "why Oxford ought to +be the place in England where money should count for nothing. +Surely, now, such a man as Jervis, our captain, has more +influence than all the rich men in the college put together, and +is more looked up to?" + +"He's one of a thousand," said Hardy; "handsome, strong, +good-tempered, clever, and up to everything. Besides, he isn't a +poor man; and mind, I don't say that if he were he wouldn't be +where he is. I am speaking of the rule, and not of the +exceptions." + +Here Hardy's scout came in to say that the Dean wanted to speak +to him. So he put on his cap and gown, and Tom rose also. + +"Well, I'm sorry to turn you out," said Hardy; "and I'm afraid +I've been very surly and made you very uncomfortable. You won't +come back again in a hurry." + +"Indeed I will though, if you will let me," said Tom; "I have +enjoyed my evening immensely." + +"Then come whenever you like," said Hardy. + +"But I am afraid of interfering with your reading," said Tom. + +"Oh, you needn't mind that, I have plenty of time on my hands; +besides, one can't read all night, and from eight till ten you'll +find me generally idle." + +"Then you'll see me often enough. But promise, now, to turn me +out whenever I am in the way." + +"Very well," said Hardy, laughing; and so they parted for the +time. + +Some twenty minutes afterwards Hardy returned to his room after +his interview with the Dean, who merely wanted to speak to him +about some matter of college business. + +He flung his cap and gown on the sofa, and began to walk up and +down his room, at first hurriedly, but soon with his usual +regular tramp. However expressive a man's face may be, and +however well you may know it, it is simply nonsense to say that +you can tell what he is thinking about by looking at it, as many +of us are apt to boast. Still more absurd would it be to expect +readers to know what Hardy is thinking about, when they have +never had the advantage of seeing his face even in a photograph. +Wherefore, it would seem that the author is bound on such +occasions to put his readers on equal vantage ground with +himself, and not only tell what a man does, but, so far as may +be, what he is thinking about also. + +His first thought, then, was one of pleasure at having been +sought by one who seemed to be just the sort of friend he would +like to have. He contrasted our hero with the few men with whom +he had generally lived, and for some of whom he had a high +esteem--whose only idea of exercise was a two hour constitutional +walk in the afternoons, and whose life was chiefly spent over +books and behind sported oaks--and felt that this was more of a +man after his own heart. Then came doubts whether his new friend +would draw back when he had been up a little longer, and knew +more of the place. At any rate he had said and done nothing to +tempt him; "if he pushes the acquaintance--and I think he +will--it will be because he likes me for myself. And I can do him +good too, I feel sure," he went on, as he ran over rapidly his +own life for the last three years. "Perhaps he won't flounder +into all the sloughs which I have had to drag through; he will +get too much of the healthy, active life up here for that, which +I have never had; but some of them he must get into. All the +companionship of boating and cricketing, and wine-parties, and +supper parties, and all the reading in the world won't keep him +from many a long hour of mawkishness, and discontent, and +emptiness of heart; he feels that already himself. Am I sure of +that, though? I may be only reading myself into him. At any rate, +why should I have helped to trouble him before the time? Was that +a friend's part? Well, he _must_ face it, and the sooner the +better perhaps. At any rate it is done. But what a blessed thing +if one can only help a youngster like this to fight his own way +through the cold clammy atmosphere which is always hanging over +him, ready to settle down on him--can help to keep some living +faith in him, that the world, Oxford and all, isn't a respectable +piece of machinery set going some centuries back! Ah! It's an +awful business, that temptation to believe, or think you believe, +in a dead God. It has nearly broken my back a score of times. +What are all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the +devil to this? It includes them all. Well, I believe I can help +him, and, please God, I will, if he will only let me; and the +very sight of him does me good; so I won't believe we went down +the lasher together for nothing." + +And so at last Hardy finished his walk, took down a volume of Don +Quixote from his shelves, and sat down for an hour's enjoyment +before turning in. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--HOW DRYSDALE AND BLAKE WENT FISHING + +"Drysdale, what's a servitor?" + +"How the deuce should I know?" + +This short and pithy dialogue took place in Drysdale's rooms one +evening soon after the conversation recorded in the last chapter. +He and Tom were sitting alone there, for a wonder, and so the +latter seized the occasion to propound this question, which he +had had on his mind for some time. He was scarcely satisfied with +the above rejoinder, but while he was thinking how to come at the +subject by another road, Drysdale opened a morocco fly-book, and +poured its contents on the table, which was already covered with +flies of all sorts and patterns, hanks of gut, delicate made-up +casts, reels, minnows, and tackle enough to kill all the fish in +the four neighboring counties. Tom began turning them over and +scrutinizing the dressings of the flies. + +"It has been so mild, the fish must be in season don't you think? +Besides, if they're not, it's a jolly drive to Fairford at any +rate. You've never been behind my team Brown. You'd better come, +now, to-morrow." + +"I can't cut my two lectures." + +"Bother your lectures! Put on an aeger, then." + +"No! that doesn't suit my book, you know." + +"I can't see why you should be so cursedly particular. Well, if +you won't, you won't; I know that well enough. But what cast +shall you fish with to-morrow?" + +"How many flies do you use?" + +"Sometimes two, sometimes three." + +"Two's enough, I think; all depends on the weather; but, if it's +at all like today, you can't do better, I should think, than the +old March brown and a palmer to begin with. Then, for change, +this hare's ear, and an alder fly, perhaps; or,--let me see," and +he began searching the glittering heap to select a color to go +with the dull hare's ear. + +"Isn't it early for the alder?" said Drysdale. + +"Rather, perhaps; but they can't resist it." + +"These bang-tailed little sinners any good?" said Drysdale, +throwing some cock-a-bondies across the table. + +"Yes; I never like to be without them, and a governor or two. +Here, this is a well-tied lot," said Tom, picking out half +a-dozen. "You never know when you may not kill with either of +them. But I don't know the Fairford water; so my opinion isn't +worth much." + +Tom soon returned to the old topic. + +"But now, Drysdale, you must know what a servitor is." + +"Why should I? Do you mean one of our college servitors?" + +"Yes?" + +"Oh, something in the upper-servant line. I should put him above +the porter, and below the cook, and butler. He does the don's +dirty work, and gets their broken victuals, and I believe he pays +no college fees." + +Tom rather drew into himself at this insolent and offhand +definition. He was astonished and hurt at the tone of his friend. +However, presently, he resolved to go through with it, and began +again. + +"But servitors are gentlemen, I suppose?" + +"A good deal of the cock-tail about them, I should think. But I +have not the honor of any acquaintance amongst them." + +"At any rate, they are undergraduates, are not they?" + +"Yes." + +"And may take degrees, just like you or me?" + +"They may have all the degrees to themselves, for anything I +care. I wish they would let one pay a servitor for passing +little-go for one. It would be deuced comfortable. I wonder it +don't strike the dons, now; they might get clever beggars for +servitors, and farm them, and so make loads of tin." + +"But, Drysdale, seriously, why should you talk like that? If they +can take all the degrees we can, and are, in fact, just what we +are, undergraduates, I can't see why they're not as likely to be +gentlemen as we. It can surely make no difference, their being +poor men?" + +"It must make them devilish uncomfortable," said the incorrigible +payer of double fees, getting up to light his cigar. + +"The name ought to carry respect here, at any rate. The Black +Prince was an Oxford man, and he thought the noblest motto he +could take was, 'Ich dien,' I serve." + +"If he were here now, he would change it for 'Je paye.'" + +"I often wish you would tell me what you really and truly think, +Drysdale." + +"My dear fellow I am telling you what I do really think. Whatever +the Black Prince might be pleased to observe if he were here, I +stick to my motto. I tell you the thing to be able to do here at +Oxford is--to pay." + +"I don't believe it." + +"I knew you wouldn't." + +"I don't believe you do either." + +"I do, though. But what makes you so curious about servitors?" + +"Why, I made friends with Hardy, one of our servitors. He is such +a fine fellow!" + +I am sorry to relate that it cost Tom an effort to say this to +Drysdale, but he despised himself that it was so. + +"You should have told me so, before you began to pump me," said +Drysdale. "However, I partly suspected something of the sort. +You've a good bit of a Quixote in you. But really, Brown," he +added, seeing Tom redden and look angry, "I'm sorry if what I +said pained you. I daresay this friend of yours is a gentleman, +and all you say." + +"He is more of a gentleman by a long way than most of the--" + +"Gentlemen commoners, you were going to say. Don't crane at such +a small fence on my account. I will put it in another way for +you. He can't be a greater snob than many of them." + +"Well, but why do you live with them so much, then?" + +"Why? because they happen to do the things I like doing, and live +up here as I like to live. I like hunting and driving, and +drawing badgers, and playing cards, and good wine and cigars. +They hunt and drive, and keep dogs and good cellars, and will +play unlimited loo or Van John as long as I please." + +"But I know you get very sick of all that often, for I've heard +you say as much half-a-dozen times in the little time I've been +here." + +"Why, you don't want to deny me the Briton's privilege of +grumbling, do you?" said Drysdale, as he flung his legs up on the +sofa, crossing one over the other as he lounged on his back--his +favorite attitude; "but suppose I am getting tired of it +all--which I am not--what do you purpose as a substitute?" + +"Take to boating. I know you could be in the first boat if you +liked; I heard them say so at Smith's wine the other night." + +"But what's to prevent my getting just as tired of that? Besides, +it's such a grind. And then there's the bore of changing all +one's habits." + +"Yes, but it's such splendid hard work," said Tom, who was bent +on making a convert of his friend. + +"Just so; and that's just what I don't want; the 'books and work +and healthful play' line don't suit my complaint. No, as my uncle +says, 'a young fellow must sow his wild oats,' and Oxford seems a +place especially set apart by Providence for that operation." + +In all the wild range of accepted British maxims there is none, +take it for all in all, more thoroughly abominable than this one, +as to the sowing of wild oats. Look at it on what side you will, +and you can make nothing but a devil's maxim of it. What a +man--be he young, old, or middle-aged--sows, _that_, and nothing +else shall he reap. The one only thing to do with wild oats, is +to put them carefully into the hottest part of the fire, and get +them burnt to dust, every seed of them. If you sow them no matter +in what ground, up they will come, with long tough roots like +couch grass, and luxuriant stalks and leaves, as sure as there is +a sun in heaven--a crop which it turns one's heart cold to think +of. The devil, too, whose special crop they are, will see that +they thrive, and you, and nobody else, will have to reap them; +and no common reaping will get them out of the soil, which must +be dug down deep again and again. Well for you if with all your +care you can make the ground sweet again by your dying day. "Boys +will be boys" is not much better, but that has a true side to it; +but this encouragement to the sowing of wild oats, is simply +devilish, for it means that a young man is to give way to the +temptations and follow the lusts of his age. What are we to do +with the wild oats of manhood and old age--with ambition, +over-reaching the false weights, hardness, suspicion, avarice--if +the wild oats of youth are to be sown, and not burnt? What +possible distinction can be drawn between them? If we may sow the +one, why not the other? + +But to get back to our story. Tom went away from Drysdale's rooms +that night (after they had sorted all the tackle, which was to +accompany the fishing expedition, to their satisfaction) in a +disturbed state of mind. He was very much annoyed at Drysdale's +way of talking, because he was getting to like the man. He was +surprised and angry at being driven more and more to the +conclusion that the worship of the golden calf was verily and +indeed rampant in Oxford--side by side, no doubt, with much that +was manly and noble, but tainting more or less the whole life of +the place. In fact, what annoyed him most was, the consciousness +that he himself was becoming an idolater. For he couldn't help +admitting that he felt much more comfortable when standing in the +quadrangles or strolling in the High Street with Drysdale in his +velvet cap, and silk gown, and faultless get-up, than when doing +the same things with Hardy in his faded old gown, shabby loose +overcoat, and well-worn trousers. He wouldn't have had Hardy +suspect the fact for all he was worth, and hoped to get over the +feeling soon; but there it was unmistakably. He wondered whether +Hardy had ever felt anything of the kind himself. + +Nevertheless, these thoughts did not hinder him from sleeping +soundly, or from getting up an hour earlier than usual to go and +see Drysdale start on his expedition. + +Accordingly, he was in Drysdale's rooms next morning betimes, and +assisted at the early breakfast which was going on there. Blake +was the only other man present. He was going with Drysdale, and +entrusted Tom with a message to Miller and the Captain, that he +could not pull in the boat that day, but would pay a waterman to +take his place. As soon as the gate opened, the three, +accompanied by the faithful Jack, and followed by Drysdale's +scout, bearing overcoats, a splendid water-proof apron lined with +fur, and the rods and reels, sallied out of the college, and +sought the livery stables, patronized by the men of St. +Ambrose's. Here they found a dog cart all ready in the yard, with +a strong Roman-nosed, vicious-looking, rat-tailed horse in the +shafts, called Satan by Drysdale; the leader had been sent on to +the first turnpike. The things were packed, and Jack, the +bull-dog, hoisted into the interior in a few minutes; Drysdale +produced a long straight horn, which he called his yard of tin +(probably because it was made of brass), and after refreshing +himself with a blast or two, handed it over to Blake, and then +mounted the dog cart, and took the reins. Blake seated himself by +his side; the help who was to accompany them got up behind, and +Jack looked wisely out from his inside place over the back-board. + +"Are we all right?" said Drysdale, catching his long tandem whip +into a knowing double thong. + +"All right, sir," said the head ostler, touching his cap. + +"You'd better have come, my boy," said Drysdale to Tom, as they +trotted off out of the yard; and Tom couldn't help envying them +as he followed, and watched the dog cart lessening rapidly down +the empty street, and heard the notes of the yard of tin, which +Blake managed to make really musical, borne back on the soft +western breeze. It was such a pleasant morning for fishing. + +However, it was too late to repent, had he wished it; and so he +got back to chapel, and destroyed the whole effect of the morning +service on Miller's mind, by delivering Blake's message to that +choleric coxswain as soon as chapel was over. Miller vowed for +the twentieth time that Blake should be turned out of the boat, +and went off to the Captain's rooms to torment him, and consult +what was to be done. + +The weather continued magnificent--a soft, dull grey March day, +and a steady wind; and the thought of the lucky fishermen, and +visions of creels filled with huge three-pounders, haunted Tom at +lecture, and throughout the day. + +At two o'clock he was down at the river. The college eight was to +go down for the first time in the season to the reached below +Nuneham, for a good training pull, and he had notice, to his +great joy, that he was to be tried in the boat. But, great, no +doubt, as was the glory, the price was a heavy one. This was the +first time he had been subjected to the tender mercies of Miller, +the coxswain, or had pulled behind the Captain; and it did not +take long to convince him that it was a very different style of +thing from anything he had as yet been accustomed to in the +freshman's crew. The long steady sweep of the so-called paddle +tried him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt. + +Miller, too, was in one of his most relentless moods. He was +angry at Blake's desertion, and seemed to think that Tom had +something to do with it, though he simply delivered the message +which had been entrusted to him; and so, though he distributed +rebuke and objurgation to every man in the boat except the +Captain, he seemed to our hero to take particular delight in +working him. There he stood in the stern, the fiery little +coxswain, leaning forward with a tiller-rope in each hand, and +bending to every stroke, shouting his warnings, and rebukes, and +monitions to Tom, till he drove him to his wits' end. By the time +the boat came back to Hall's, his arms were so numb that he could +hardly tell whether his oar was in or out of his hand; his legs +were stiff and aching, and every muscle in his body felt as if it +had been pulled out an inch or two. As he walked up to College, +he felt as if his shoulders and legs had nothing to do with one +another; in short, he had had a very hard day's work, and, after +going fast asleep at a wine-party, and trying in vain to rouse +himself by a stroll in the streets, fairly gave in about ten +o'clock and went to bed without remembering to sport his oak. + +For some hours he slept the sleep of the dead, but at last began +to be conscious of voices, and the clicking of glasses, and +laughter, and scraps of songs; and after turning himself once or +twice in bed, to ascertain whether he was awake or no, rubbed his +eyes, sat up, and became aware that something very entertaining +to the parties concerned was going on in his sitting-room. After +listening for a minute, he jumped up, threw on his shooting-coat, +and appeared at the door of his own sitting-room, where he paused +a moment to contemplate the scene which met his astonished +vision. His fire recently replenished, was burning brightly in +the grate, and his candles on the table on which stood his whisky +bottle, and tumblers, and hot water. On his sofa, which had been +wheeled round before the fire, reclined Drysdale, on his back, in +his pet attitude, one leg crossed over the other, with a paper in +his hand, from which he was singing, and in the arm-chair sat +Blake, while Jack was coiled on the rug, turning himself every +now and then in a sort of uneasy protest against his master's +untimely hilarity. At first, Tom felt inclined to be angry, but +the jolly shout of laughter with which Drysdale received him, as +he stepped out into the light in night-shirt, shooting-coat, and +dishevelled hair, appeased him at once. + +"Why, Brown, you don't mean to say you have been in bed this last +half-hour? We looked into the bed-room, and thought it was empty. +Sit down, old fellow, and make yourself at home. Have a glass of +grog; it's first-rate whisky." + +"Well you're a couple of cool hands, I must say," said Tom. "How +did you get in?" + +"Through the door, like honest men," said Drysdale. "You're the +only good fellow in college to-night. When we got back our fires +were out, and we've been all round the college, and found all the +oaks sported but yours. Never sport your oak, old boy; it's a bad +habit. You don't know what time in the morning you may entertain +angels unawares." + +"You're a rum pair of angels, anyhow," said Tom, taking his seat +on the sofa. "But what o'clock is it?" + +"Oh, about half-past one," said Drysdale. "We've had a series of +catastrophes. Never got into college till near one. I thought we +should never have waked that besotted little porter. However, +here we are at last, you see, all right." + +"So it seems," said Tom; "but how about the fishing?" + +"Fishing! We've never thrown a fly all day," said Drysdale. + +"He is so cursedly conceited about his knowledge of the country," +struck in Blake. "What with that, and his awful twist, and his +incurable habit of gossiping, and his blackguard dog, and his +team of a devil and a young female--" + +"Hold your scandalous tongue," shouted Drysdale. "To hear _you_ +talking of my twist, indeed; you ate four chops and a whole +chicken to-day, at dinner, to your own cheek, you know." + +"That's quite another thing," said Blake. "I like to see a fellow +an honest grubber at breakfast and dinner; but you've always got +your nose in the manger. That's how we all got wrong to-day, +Brown. You saw what a breakfast he ate before starting; well, +nothing would satisfy him but another at Whitney. There we fell +in with a bird in mahogany tops, and, as usual, Drysdale began +chumming with him. He knew all about the fishing of the next +three counties. I daresay he did. My private belief is, that he +is one of the Hungerford town council, who let the fishing there; +at any rate, he swore it was no use our going to Fairford; the +only place where fish would be in season was Hungerford. Of +course Drysdale swallowed it all, and nothing would serve him but +that we should turn off for Hungerford at once. Now, I did go +once to Hungerford races, and I ventured to suggest that we +should never get near the place. Not a bit of use; he knew every +foot of the country. It was then about nine; he would guarantee +that we should be there by twelve, at latest." + +"So we should have been, but for accidents," struck in Drysdale. + +"Well, at any rate, what we did was to drive into Farringdon, +instead of Hungerford, both horses dead done up, at twelve +o'clock, after missing our way about twenty times." + +"Because you would put in your oar," said Drysdale. + +"Then grub again," went on Blake, "and an hour to bait the +horses. I knew we were as likely to get to Jericho as to +Hungerford. However, he would start; but, luckily, about two +miles from Farringdon, old Satan bowled quietly into a bank, +broke a shaft, and deposited us then and there. He wasn't such a +fool as to be going to Hungerford at that time of day; the first +time in his wicked old life that I ever remember seeing him do +anything that pleased me." + +"Come, now," said Drysdale, "do you mean to say you ever sat +behind a better wheeler, when he's in a decent temper?" + +"Can't say," said Blake; "never sat behind him in a good temper, +that I can remember." + +"I'll trot him five miles out and home in a dog-cart, on any road +out of Oxford, against any horse you can bring, for a fiver." + +"Done!" said Blake. + +"But were you upset?" said Tom. "How did you get into the bank?" + +"Why, you see," said Drysdale, "Jessy,--that's the little +blood-mare, my leader,--is very young, and as shy and skittish as +the rest of her sex. We turned a corner sharp, and came right +upon a gipsy encampment. Up she went into the air in a moment, +and then turned right around and came head on at the cart. I gave +her the double thong across her face to send her back again, and +Satan, seizing the opportunity, rushed against the bank, dragging +her with him, and snapping the shaft." + +"And so ended our day's fishing," said Blake. "And next moment +out jumps that brute Jack, and pitches into the gipsy's dog, who +had come up very naturally to have a look at what was going on. +Down jumps Drysdale to see that his beast gets fair play, leaving +me and the help to look after the wreck, and keep his precious +wheeler from kicking the cart into little pieces." + +"Come, now," said Drysdale, "you must own we fell on our legs +after all. Hadn't we a jolly afternoon? I'm thinking of turning +tramp, Brown. We spent three or four hours in that camp, and +Blake got spooney on a gipsy girl, and has written I don't know +how many songs on them. Didn't you hear us singing them just +now?" + +"But how did you get the cart mended?" said Tom. + +"Oh, the tinker patched up the shaft for us,--a cunning old +beggar, the _pere de famille_ of the encampment; up to every move +on the board. He wanted to have a deal with me for Jessy. But +'pon my honor, we had a good time of it. There was the old +tinker, mending the shaft, in his fur cap, with a black pipe, one +inch long, sticking out of his mouth; and the old brown parchment +of a mother, with her head in a red handkerchief, smoking a ditto +pipe to the tinker's, who told our fortunes, and talked like a +printed book. Then there was his wife, and the slip of a girl who +bowled over Blake there, and half a dozen ragged brats; and a +fellow on a tramp, not a gipsy--some runaway apprentice, I take +it, but a jolly dog--with no luggage but an old fiddle on which +he scraped away uncommonly well, and set Blake making rhymes as +we sat in the tent. You never heard any of his songs. Here's one +for each of us; we're going to get up the characters and sing +them about the country;--now for a rehearsal; I'll be the +tinker." + +"No, you must take the servant girl," said Blake. + +"Well, we'll toss up for characters when the time comes. You +begin then; here's a song," and he handed one of the papers to +Blake, who began singing-- + + "Squat on a green plot, + We scorn a bench or settle, oh. + Plying or trying, + A spice of every trade; + Razors we grind, + Ring a pig, or mend a kettle, oh; + Come, what d'ye lack? + Speak it out, my pretty maid. + + "I'll set your scissors, while + My granny tells you plainly! + Who stole your barley meal, + Your butter or your heart; + Tell if your husband will + Be handsome or ungainly, + Ride in a coach and four, or + Rough it in a cart." + +"Enter Silly Sally; that's I, for the present you see," said +Drysdale; and he began-- + + "Oh, dear! what can the matter be? + Dear, dear! what can the matter be? + Oh, dear! what can the matter be? + All in a pucker be I; + + I'm growing uneasy about Billy Martin, + For love is a casualty desper't unsartin. + Law! yonder's the gipsy as tells folk's fortin; + I'm half in the mind for to try." + +"Then you must be the old gipsy woman, Mother Patrico; here's +your part Brown." + +"But what's the tune?" said Tom. + +"Oh, you can't miss it; go ahead;" and so Tom, who was dropping +into the humour of the thing, droned out from the MS. handed to +him-- + + "Chairs to mend, + Old chairs to mend, + Rush bottom'd cane bottom'd, + Chairs to mend. + + Maid, approach, + If thou wouldst know + What the stars + May deign to show." + +"Now, tinker," said Drysdale, nodding at Blake, who rattled on,-- + + "Chance feeds us, chance leads us; + Round the land in jollity; + Rag-dealing, nag-stealing, + Everywhere we roam; + Brass mending, ass vending, + Happier than the quality; + Swipes soaking, pipes smoking, + Ev'ry barn a home; + Tink, tink, a tink a tink, + Our life is full of fun, boys; + Clink tink, a tink a tink, + Our busy hammers ring; + Clink, tink, a tink a tink, + Our job will soon be done boys; + Then tune we merrily + The bladder and the string." + +DRYSDALE, as _Silly Sally_. + + "Oh, dear! what can the matter be? + Dear, dear! what can the matter be? + Oh, dear! what can the matter be? + There's such a look in her eye. + + Oh, lawk! I declare I be all of a tremble; + My mind it misgives me about Sukey Wimble, + A splatter faced wench neither civil nor nimble + She'll bring Billy to beggary." + +TOM, as _Mother Patrico_. + + "Show your hand; + Come show your hand! + Would you know + What fate has planned? + Heaven forefend, + Ay, heav'n forefend! + What may these + Cross lines portend?" + +BLAKE, as _the Tinker_. + + "Owl, pheasant, all's pleasant, + Nothing comes amiss to us; + Hare, rabbit, snare, nab it; + Cock, or hen, or kite; + Tom cat, with strong fat, + A dainty supper is to us; + Hedge-hog and sedge-frog + To stew is our delight; + Bow, wow, with angry bark + My lady's dog assails us; + We sack him up, and clap + A stopper on his din. + Now pop him in the pot; + His store of meat avails us; + Wife cook him nice and hot, + And granny tans his skin." + +DRYSDALE, as _Silly Sally_. + + "Oh, lawk! what a calamity! + Oh, my! what a calamity! + Oh, dear! what a calamity! + Lost and forsaken be I. + + I'm out of my senses, and nought will content me, + But pois'ning Poll Ady who helped circumvent me; + Come tell me the means, for no power shall prevent me: + Oh, give me revenge, or die." + +TOM, as _Mother Patrico_ + + "Pause awhile! + Anon, anon! + Give me time + The stars to con. + True love's course + Shall yet run smooth; + True shall prove + The favor'd youth." + +BLAKE, as _the Tinker_. + + "Tink tink, a tink a tink, + We'll work and then get tipsy, oh! + Clink tink, on each chink, + Our busy hammers ring. + Tink tink, a tink a tink, + How merry lives a gypsy, oh! + Chanting and ranting; + As happy as a king." + +DRYSDALE, as _Silly Sally_. + + "Joy! Joy! all will end happily! + Joy! Joy! all will end happily! + Joy! joy! all will end happily! + Bill will be constant to I. + + Oh, thankee, good dame, here's my purse and my thimble; + A fig for Poll Ady and fat Sukey Wimble; + I now could jump over the steeple so nimble; + With joy I be ready to cry." + +TOM, as _Mother Patrico_. + + "William shall + Be rich and great; + And shall prove + A constant mate. + Thank not me, + But thank your fate, + On whose high + Decrees I wait." + +"Well, won't that do? won't it bring the house down? I'm going to +send for dresses to London, and we'll start next week." + +"What, on the tramp, singing these songs?" + +"Yes; we'll begin in some out-of-the-way place till we get used +to it." + +"And end in the lock-up, I should say," said Tom; "it'll be a +good lark, though. Now, you haven't told me how you got home." + +"Oh, we left camp at about five--" + +"The tinker having extracted a sovereign from Drysdale," +interrupted Blake. + +"What did you give to the little gypsy yourself?" retorted +Drysdale; "I saw your adieus under the thorn-bush.--Well, we got +on all right to old Murdock's, at Kingston Inn, by about seven, +and there we had dinner; and after dinner the old boy came in. He +and I are great chums, for I'm often there, and always ask him +in. But that beggar Blake, who never saw him before, cut me clean +out in five minutes. Fancy his swearing he is Scotch, and that an +ancestor of his in the sixteenth century married a Murdock!" + +"Well, when you come to think what a lot of ancestors one must +have had at that time, it's probably true," said Blake. + +"At any rate, it took," went on Drysdale. "I thought old Murdock +would have wept on his neck. As it was, he scattered snuff enough +to fill a pint pot over him out of his mull, and began talking +Gaelic. And Blake had the cheek to jabber a lot of gibberish back +to him, as if he understood every word." + +"Gibberish! it was the purest Gaelic," said Blake laughing. + +"I heard a lot of Greek words myself," said Drysdale; "but old +Murdock was too pleased at hearing his own clapper going, and too +full of whisky, to find him out." + +"Let alone that I doubt whether he remembers more than about five +words of his native tongue himself," said Blake. + +"The old boy got so excited that he went up stairs for his plaid +and dirk, and dressed himself up in them, apologising that he +could not appear in the full grab of old Gaul, in honor of his +new-found relative, as his daughter had cut up his old kilt for +'trews for the barnies' during his absence from home. Then they +took to more toddy and singing Scotch songs, till at eleven +o'clock they were standing on their chairs, right hands clasped, +each with one foot on the table, glasses in the other hands, the +toddy flying over the room as they swayed about roaring like +maniacs, what was it?--oh, I have it: + + 'Wug-an-toorey all agree, + Wug-an-toorey, wug-an-toorey.'" + +"He hasn't told you that he tried to join us, and tumbled over +the back of his chair into the dirty-plate basket." + +"A libel! a libel!" shouted Drysdale; "the leg of my chair broke, +and I stepped down gracefully and safely, and when I looked up +and saw what a tottery performance it was, I concluded to give +them a wide berth. It would be no joke to have old Murdock topple +over on to you. I left them 'wug-an-tooreying,' and went out to +look after the trap, which was ordered to be at the door at +half-past ten. I found Murdock's ostler very drunk, but sober +compared with that rascally help whom we had been fools enough to +take with us. They had got the trap out and the horses in, but +that old rascal Satan was standing so quiet that I suspected +something wrong. Sure enough, when I came to look, they had him +up to the cheek on one side of his mouth, and third bar on the +other, his belly-band buckled across his back, and no kicking +strap. The old brute was chuckling to himself what he would do +with us as soon as we had started in that trim. It took half an +hour getting all right, as I was the only one able to do +anything." + +"Yes, you would have said so," said Blake, "if you had seen him +trying to put Jack up behind. He made six shots with the old dog, +and dropped him about on his head and the broad of his back as if +he had been a bundle of ells." + +"The fact is, that that rascally ostler had made poor old Jack +drunk too," explained Drysdale, "and he wouldn't be lifted +straight. However we got off at last, and hadn't gone a mile +before the help (who was maundering away some cursed sentimental +ditty or other behind), lurched more heavily than usual, and +pitched off into the night somewhere. Blake looked for him for +half-an-hour, and couldn't find a hair." + +"You don't mean to say the man tumbled off and you never found +him?" said Tom in horror. + +"Well, that's about the fact," said Drysdale; "but it isn't so +bad as you think. We had no lamps, and it was an uncommon bad +night for running by holloas." + +"But a first-rate night for running by scent," broke in Blake; +"the fellow leant against me until he made his exit, and I'd have +backed myself to have hit the scent again half-a-mile off if the +wind had only been right." + +"He may have broken his neck," said Tom. + +"Can a fellow sing with a broken neck?" said Drysdale; "hanged if +I know! But don't I tell you, we heard him maundering on +somewhere or other? And when Blake shouted, he rebuked him +piously out of the pitch darkness, and told him to go home and +repent. I nearly dropped off the box laughing at them; and then +he 'uplifted his testimony,' as he called it, against me, for +driving a horse called Satan. I believe he's a ranting methodist +spouter." + +"I tried hard to find him," said Blake; "For I should dearly have +liked to kick him safely into the ditch." + +"At last Black Will himself couldn't have held Satan another +minute. So Blake scrambled up, and away we came, and knocked into +college at one for a finish: the rest you know." + +"Well, you've had a pretty good day of it," said Tom, who had +been hugely amused; "but I should feel nervous about the help, if +I were you." + +"Oh, he'll come to no grief, I'll be bound," said Drysdale, "but +what o'clock is it?" + +"Three," said Blake, looking at his watch and getting up; "time +to turn in." + +"The first time I ever heard you say that," said Drysdale. + +"Yes; but you forget we were up this morning before the world was +aired. Good night, Brown." + +And off the two went, leaving Tom to sport his oak this time, and +retire in wonder to bed. + +Drysdale was asleep, with Jack curled up on the foot of the bed, +in ten minutes. Blake, by the help of wet towels and a knotted +piece of whipcord round his forehead, read Pinder till the chapel +bell began to ring. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--AN EXPLOSION + +Our hero soon began to feel that he was contracting his first +college friendship. The great, strong, badly-dressed, +badly-appointed servitor, who seemed almost at the same time +utterly reckless of, and nervously alive to, the opinion of all +around him, with his bursts of womanly tenderness and Berserker +rage, alternating like storms and sunshine of a July day on a +high moorland, his keen sense of humor and appreciation of all +the good things of life, the use and enjoyment of which he was so +steadily denying himself from high principle, had from the first +seized powerfully on all Tom's sympathies, and was daily gaining +more hold upon him. + +Blessed is the man who has the gift of making friends; for it is +one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, +the power of going out of oneself, and seeing and appreciating +whatever is noble and living in another man. + +But even to him who has the gift, it is often a great puzzle to +find out whether a man is really a friend or not. The following +is recommended as a test in the case of any man about whom you +are not quite sure; especially if he should happen to have more +of this world's goods, either in the shape of talents, rank or +money, or what not, than you. + +Fancy the man stripped stark naked of every thing in the world, +except an old pair of trousers and a shirt, for decency's sake, +without even a name to him, and dropped down in the middle of +Holborn or Piccadilly. Would you go up to him then and there, and +lead him out from amongst the cabs and omnibuses, and take him to +your own home and feed him and clothe him, and stand by him +against all the world, to your last sovereign, and your last leg +of mutton? If you wouldn't do this you have no right to call him +by the sacred name of friend. If you would, the odds are that he +would do the same by you, and you may count yourself a rich man. +For, probably were friendship expressible by, or convertible +into, current coin of the realm, one such friend would be worth +to a man, at least 100,000L. How many millionaires are there in +England? I can't even guess; but more by a good many, I fear, +than there are men who have ten real friends. But friendship is +not expressible or convertible. It is more precious than wisdom; +and wisdom "cannot be gotten for gold, nor shall rubies be +mentioned in comparison thereof." Not all the riches that ever +came out of earth and sea are worth the assurance of one such +real abiding friendship in your heart of hearts. + +But for the worth of a friendship commonly so called--meaning +thereby a sentiment founded on the good dinners, good stories, +opera stalls, and days' shooting you have gotten or hope to get +out of a man, the snug things in his gift, and his powers of +procuring enjoyment of one kind or another to miserable body or +intellect--why, such a friendship as that is to be appraised +easily enough, if you find it worth your while; but you will have +to pay your pound of flesh for it one way or another--you may +take your oath of that. If you follow my advice, you will take a +10L note down, and retire to your crust of bread and liberty. + +Tom was rapidly falling into friendship with Hardy. He was not +bound hand and foot and carried away captive yet, but he was +already getting deep in the toils. + +One evening he found himself as usual at Hardy's door about eight +o'clock. The oak was open, but he got no answer when he knocked +at the inner door. Nevertheless he entered, having quite got over +all shyness or ceremony by this time. The room was empty, but two +tumblers and the black bottle stood on the table, and the kettle +was hissing away on the hob. "Ah," thought Tom, "he expects me, I +see;" so he turned his back to the fire and made himself at home. +A quarter of an hour passed, and still Hardy did not return. +"Never knew him out so long before at this time of night," +thought Tom. "Perhaps he's at some party. I hope so. It would do +him a good deal of good; and I know he might go out if he liked. +Next term, see if I won't make him more sociable. It's a stupid +custom that freshmen don't give parties in their first term, or +I'd do it at once. Why won't he be more sociable? No, after all +sociable isn't the word; he's a very sociable fellow at bottom. +What in the world is it that he wants?" + +And so Tom balanced himself on the two hind legs of one of the +Windsor chairs, and betook himself to pondering what it was +exactly which ought to be added to Hardy to make him an +unexceptional object of hero-worship; when the man himself came +suddenly into the room, slamming his oak behind him, and casting +his cap and gown fiercely on to the sofa before he noticed our +hero. + +Tom jumped up at once. "My dear fellow, what's the matter?" he +said; "I'm sorry I came in; shall I go?" + +"No--don't go--sit down," said Hardy, abruptly; and then began to +smoke fast without saying another word. + +Tom waited a few minutes watching for him, and then broke silence +again.-- + +"I am sure something is the matter, Hardy; you look dreadfully +put out--what is it?" + +"What is it?" said Hardy, bitterly; "Oh, nothing at all--nothing +at all; a gentle lesson to servitors as to the duties of their +position; not pleasant, perhaps, for a youngster to swallow; but +I ought to be used to such things at any rate by this time. I beg +your pardon for seeming put out." + +"Do tell me what it is," said Tom. "I'm sure I am very sorry for +anything which annoys you." + +"I believe you are," said Hardy, looking at him, "and I'm much +obliged to you for it. What do you think of that fellow Chanter's +offering Smith, the junior servitor, a boy just come up, a bribe +of ten pounds to prick him in at chapel when he isn't there?" + +"The dirty blackguard," said Tom; "by Jove he ought to be cut. He +will be cut, won't he? You don't mean that he really did offer +him the money?" + +"I do," said Hardy, "and the poor little fellow came here after +hall to ask me what he should do with tears in his eyes." + +"Chanter ought to be horsewhipped in quad," said Tom. "I will go and +call on Smith directly. What did you do?" + +"Why, as soon as I could master myself enough not to lay hands on +him," said Hardy, "I went across to his rooms where he was +entertaining a select party, and just gave him his choice between +writing an abject apology then and there to my dictation, or +having the whole business laid before the principal to-morrow +morning. He chose the former alternative, and I made him write +such a letter as I don't think he will forget in a hurry." + +"That's good," said Tom; "but he ought to have been horsewhipped +too. It makes one's fingers itch to think of it. However, Smith's +all right now." + +"All right!" said Hardy, bitterly. "I don't know what you call +'all right.' Probably the boy's self-respect is hurt for life. +You can't salve over this sort of thing with an apology-plaster." + +"Well, I hope it isn't so bad as that," said Tom. + +"Wait till you've tried it yourself," said Hardy, "I'll tell you +what it is; one or two things of this sort--and I've seen many +more than that in my time--sink down into you, and leave marks +like a red-hot iron." + +"But, Hardy, now, really, did you ever know a bribe offered +before?" said Tom. + +Hardy thought for a moment. "No," said he, "I can't say that I +have; but things as bad, or nearly as bad, often." He paused a +minute, and then went on; "I tell you, if it were not for my dear +old father, who would break his heart over it, I would cut the +whole concern to-morrow. I've been near doing it twenty times, +and enlisting in a good regiment." + +"Would it be any better there, though?" said Tom, gently, for he +felt that he was in a gunpowder magazine. + +"Better! yes, it must be better," said Hardy; "at any rate the +youngsters there are marchers and fighters; besides, one would be +in the ranks and know one's place. Here one is by way of being a +gentleman--God save the mark! A young officer, be he never such a +fop or profligate, must take his turn at guard, and carry his +life in his hand all over the world wherever he is sent, or he +has to leave the service. Service!--yes, that's the word; that's +what makes every young red-coat respectable, though he mayn't +think it. He is serving his Queen, his country--the devil, too, +perhaps--very likely--but still the other is some sort. He is +bound to it, sworn to it, must do it; more or less. But a +youngster up here, with health, strength, and heaps of +money--bound to no earthly service, and choosing that of the +devil and his own lusts, because some service or other he must +have--I want to know where else under the sun you can see such a +sight as that?" + +Tom mumbled something to the effect that it was by no means +necessary that men at Oxford, either rich or poor, need embark in +the service which had been alluded to; which remark, however, +only seemed to add fuel to the fire. For Hardy now rose from his +chair, and began striding up and down the room, his right arm +behind his back, the hand gripping his left elbow, his left hand +brought round in front close to his body, and holding the bowl of +his pipe, from which he was blowing off clouds in puffs like an +engine just starting with a heavy train. The attitude was one of +a man painfully trying to curb himself. His eyes burnt like coals +under his deep brows. The man altogether looked awful, and Tom +felt particularly uncomfortable and puzzled. After a turn or two, +Hardy burst out again-- + +"And who are they, I should like to know, these fellows who dare +to offer bribes to gentlemen? How do they live? What do they do +for themselves or for this University? By heaven, they are +ruining themselves body and soul, and making this place, which +was meant for the training of learned and brave and righteous +Englishmen, a lie and a snare. And who tries to stop them? Here +and there a don is doing his work like a man; the rest are either +washing their hands of the business, and spending their time in +looking after those who don't want looking after, and cramming +those who would be better without the cramming, or else standing +by, cap in hand, and shouting, 'Oh young men of large fortune and +great connexions! You future dispensers of the good things of +this Realm, come to our colleges and all shall be made pleasant!' +and the shout is taken up by undergraduates, and tradesmen, and +horse-dealers, and cricket-cads, and dog-fanciers 'Come to us, +and us, and us, and we will be your toadies!' Let them; let them +toady and cringe to their precious idols, till they bring this +noble old place down about their ears. Down it will come, down it +must come, for down it ought to come, if it can find nothing +better to worship than rank, money, and intellect. But to live in +the place and love it too, and to see all this going on, and +groan and writhe under it, and not be able--" + +At this point in his speech Hardy came to the turning-point in +his march at the farther end of the room, just opposite his +crockery cupboard; but, instead of turning as usual, he paused, +let go the hold on his left elbow, poised himself for a moment to +get a purchase, and then dashed his right fist full against one +of the panels. Crash went the slight deal boards, as if struck +with a sledge-hammer, and crash went glass and crockery behind. +Tom jumped to his feet, in doubt whether an assault on him would +not follow, but the fit was over, and Hardy looked round at him +with a rueful and deprecating face. For a moment Tom tried to +look solemn and heroic, as befitted the occasion; but somehow, +the sudden contrast flashed upon him, and sent him off, before he +could think about it, into a roar of laughter, ending in a +violent fit of coughing; for in his excitement he had swallowed a +mouthful of smoke. Hardy, after holding out for a moment, gave in +to the humour of the thing, and the appealing look passed into a +smile, and the smile into a laugh, as he turned towards his +damaged cupboard, and began opening it carefully in a legitimate +manner. + +"I say, old fellow," said Tom, coming up, "I should think you +must find it an expensive amusement. Do you often walk into your +cupboard like that?" + +"You see, Brown, I am naturally a man of a very quick temper." + +"So it seems" said Tom; "but doesn't it hurt your knuckles? I +should have something softer put up for me if I were you; your +bolster, with a velvet cap on it, or a doctor of divinity's gown, +now." + +"You be hanged," said Hardy, as he disengaged the last splinter, +and gently opened the ill-used cupboard door. "Oh, thunder and +turf, look here," he went on, as the state of affairs inside +disclosed itself to his view; "how many times have I told that +thief George never to put anything on this side of my cupboard! +Two tumblers smashed to bits, and I've only four in the world. +Lucky we had those two out on the table." + +"And here's a great piece out of the sugar-basin, you see," said +Tom, holding up the broken article; "and, let me see, one cup and +three saucers gone to glory." + +"Well, it's lucky it's no worse," said Hardy, peering over his +shoulder; "I had a lot of odd saucers, and there's enough left to +last my time. Never mind the smash, let's sit down again and be +reasonable." + +Tom sat down in high good humor. He felt himself more on an +equality with his host than he had done before, and even thought +he might venture on a little mild expostulation or lecturing. But +while he was considering how to improve the occasion Hardy began +himself. + +"I shouldn't go so furious, Brown, if I didn't care about the +place so much. I can't bear to think of it as a sort of learning +machine, in which I am to grind for three years to get certain +degrees which I want. No--this place, and Cambridge, and our +great schools, are the heart of dear old England. Did you ever +read Secretary Cook's address to the Vice-Chancellor, Doctors, +&c. in 1636--more critical times, perhaps, even than ours? No? +Well, listen then;" and he went to his bookcase, took down a +book, and read; "'The very truth is, that all wise princes +respect the welfare of their estates, and consider that schools +and universities are (as in a body) the noble and vital parts, +which being vigorous and sound send good blood and active spirits +into the veins and arteries, which cause health and strength; or, +if feeble or ill-affected, corrupt all the vital parts; whereupon +grow diseases, and in the end, death itself.' A low standard up +here for ten years may corrupt half the parishes in the kingdom." + +"That's true," said Tom, "but-" + +"Yes; and so one has a right to be jealous for Oxford. Every +Englishman ought to be." + +"But I really think, Hardy, that you're unreasonable," said Tom, +who had no mind to be done out of his chance of lecturing his +host. + +"I am very quick-tempered," said Hardy, "as I told you just now." + +"But you're not fair on the fast set up here. They can't help +being rich men, after all." + +"No; so one oughtn't to expect them to be going through the eyes +of needles, I suppose. But do you mean to say you ever heard of a +more dirty, blackguard business than this?" said Hardy; "he ought +to be expelled the University." + +"I admit that," said Tom; "but it was only one of them, you know. +I don't believe there's another man in the set who would have +done it." + +"Well, I hope not," said Hardy; "I may be hard on them--as you +say, they can't help being rich. But, now, I don't want you to +think me a violent one-sided fanatic; shall I tell you some of my +experiences up here--some passages from the life of a servitor?" + +"Do," said Tom, "I should like nothing so well." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--HARDY'S HISTORY + +"My father is an old commander in the Royal Navy. He was a second +cousin of Nelson's Hardy, and that, believe, was what led him +into the navy, for he had no interest whatever of his own. It was +a visit which Nelson's Hardy, then a young lieutenant, paid to +his relative, my grandfather, which decided my father, he has +told me: but he always had a strong bent to the sea, though he +was a boy of very studious habits. + +"However, those were times when brave men who knew and loved +their profession couldn't be overlooked, and my dear old father +fought his way up step by step--not very fast certainly, but, +still fast enough to keep him in heart about his chances in life. +I can show you the accounts of some of the affairs he was in, in +James's History, which you see up on my shelf there, or I could +tell them you myself; but I hope some day, you will know him, and +then you will hear them in perfection. + +"My father was made commander towards the end of the war, and got +a ship, which he sailed with a convoy of merchantmen from +Bristol. It was the last voyage he ever made in active service; +but the Admiralty was so well satisfied with his conduct in it +that they kept his ship in commission two years after peace was +declared. And well they might be; for in the Spanish main he +fought an action which lasted, on and off, for two days, with a +French sloop of war, and a privateer, which he always thought was +an American, either of which ought to have been a match for him. +But he had been with Vincent in the _Arrow_, and was not likely +to think much of such small odds as that. At any rate he beat +them off, and not a prize could either of them make out of his +convoy, though I believe his ship was never fit for anything +afterwards, and was broken up as soon as she was out of +commission. We have got her compasses, and the old flag which +flew at the peak through the whole voyage, at home now. It was my +father's own flag, and his fancy to have it always flying. More +than half the men were killed, or badly hit--the dear old father +amongst the rest. A ball took off part of his knee cap, and he +had to fight the last six hours of the action sitting in a chair +on the quarter-deck; but he says it made the men fight better +than when he was among them, seeing him sitting there sucking +oranges. + +"Well, he came home with a stiff leg. The Bristol merchants gave +him the freedom of the city in a gold box, and a +splendidly-mounted sword with an inscription on the blade, which +hangs over the mantel-piece at home. When I first left home, I +asked him to give me his old service sword, which used to hang by +the other, and he gave it me at once, though I was only a lad of +seventeen, as he would give me his right eye, dear old father, +which is the only one he has now; the other he lost from a +cutlass wound in a boarding-party. There it hangs, and those are +his epaulettes in the tin case. They used to lie under my pillow +before I had a room of my own, and many a cowardly down-hearted +fit have they helped me to pull through, Brown; and many a mean +act have they helped to keep me from doing. There they are +always; and the sight of them brings home the dear old man to me +as nothing else does, hardly even his letters. I must be a great +scoundrel to go very wrong with such a father. + +"Let's see--where was I? Oh, yes; I remember. Well, my father got +his box and sword, and some very handsome letters from several +great men. We have them all in a book at home, and I know them by +heart. The ones he values most are from Collingwood, and his old +captain, Vincent, and from his cousin Nelson's Hardy, who didn't +come off very well himself after the war. But my poor old father +never got another ship. For some time he went up every year to +London, and was always, he says, very kindly received by the +people in power, and often dined with one and another Lord of the +Admiralty who had been an old messmate. But he was longing for +employment; and it used to prey on him while he was in his prime +to feel year after year slipping away and he still without a +ship. But why should I abuse people, and think it hard, when he +doesn't? 'You see, Jack,' he said to me the last time we spoke +about it, 'after all I was a battered old hulk, lame and half +blind. So was Nelson you'll say: but every man isn't a Nelson, my +boy. + +'And though I might think I could con or fight a ship as well as +ever, I can't say other folk who didn't know me were wrong for +not agreeing with me. Would you, now Jack, appoint a lame and +blind man to command your ship, if you had one?' But he left off +applying for work as soon as he was fifty, (I just remember the +time), for he began to doubt then whether he was quite so fit to +command a vessel as a younger man; and, though he had a much +better chance after that of getting a ship (for William IV came +to the throne, who knew all about him), he never went near the +Admiralty again. 'God forbid,' he said, 'that his Majesty should +take me if there's a better man to be had.' + +"But I have forgotten to tell you how I came into the world, and +am telling you my father's story instead of my own. You seem to +like hearing about it though, and you can't understand one +without the other. However, when my father was made commander, he +married, and bought, with his prize-money and savings, a cottage +and piece of land, in a village on the south coast, where he left +his wife when he went on his last voyage. They had waited some +years, for neither of them had any money; but there never were +two people who wanted it less, or did more good without it to all +who came near them. They had a hard time of it too, for my father +had to go on half-pay; and a commander's half-pay isn't much to +live upon and keep a family. For they had a family; three besides +me; but they are all gone. And my mother, too; she died when I +was quite a boy, and left him and me alone; and since then I have +never known what a woman's love is, for I have no near relations; +and a man with such prospects as mine had better keep down +all--however, there's no need to go into any notions; I won't +wander any more if I can help it. + +"I know my father was very poor when my mother died, and I think +(though he never told me so) that he had mortgaged our cottage, +and was very near having to sell it at one time. The expenses of +my mother's illness had been very heavy; I know a good deal of +the best furniture was sold--all, indeed except a handsome arm +chair and a little work table of my mother's. She used to sit in +the chair, in her last illness, on our lawn, and watch the +sunsets. And he sat by her, and watched her, and sometimes read +the Bible to her; while I played about with a big black dog we +had then, named Vincent, after my father's old captain; or with +Burt, his old boatswain, who came with his wife to live with my +father before I can recollect, and lives with us still. He did +everything in the garden, and about the house; and in the house, +too, when his wife was ill, for he can turn his hand to most +anything, like most old salts. It was he who rigged up the +mast and weather-cock on the lawn, and used to let me run up the +old flag on Sundays, and on my father's wedding-day, and on the +anniversary of his action, and of Vincent's action in the Arrow. + +"After my mother's death my father sent away all the servants, +for the boatswain and his wife are more like friends. I was wrong +to say that no woman has loved me since my mother's death, for I +believe dear old nanny loves me as if I were her own child. My +father, after this, used to sit silent for hours together, doing +nothing but look over the sea, but, except for that, was not much +changed. After a short time he took to teaching me to read, and +from that time I never was away from him for an hour, except when +I was asleep, until I went out into the world. + +"As I told you, my father was naturally fond of study. He had +kept up the little Latin he had learnt as a boy, and had always +been reading whatever he could lay his hands on; so that I +couldn't have had a better tutor. They were no lessons to me, +particularly the geographical ones; for there was no part of the +world's sea-coast that he did not know, and could tell me what it +and the people were like; and often when Burt happened to come in +at such times, and heard what my father was talking about, he +would give us some of his adventures and ideas of geography, +which were very queer indeed. + +"When I was nearly ten, a new vicar came. He was about my +father's age and a widower, like him; only he had no child. Like +him, too, he had no private fortune, and the living is a very +poor one. He soon became very intimate with us, and made my +father his churchwarden; and, after being present at some of our +lessons, volunteered to teach me Greek, which, he said, it was +time I should begin to learn. + +"This was great relief to my father, who had bought a Greek +grammar and dictionary, and a delectus, some time before; and I +could see him often, dear old father, with his glass in his eye, +puzzling away over them when I was playing, or reading Cook's +Voyages, for it had grown to be the wish of his heart that I +should be a scholar, and should go into orders. So he was going +to teach me Greek himself, for there was no one in the parish +except the Vicar who knew a word of anything but English--so that +he could not have got me a tutor, and the thought of sending me +to school had never crossed his mind, even if he could have +afforded to do either. My father only sat by at Greek lessons, +and took no part; but first he began to put in a word here and +there, and then would repeat words and sentences himself, and +look over my book while I construed, and very soon was just as +regular a pupil of the Vicar's as I. + +"The Vicar was for the most part very proud of his pupils, and +the kindest of masters; but every now and then he used to be hard +on my father, which made me furious, though he never seemed to +mind it. I used to make mistakes on purpose at those times to +show that I was worse than he at any rate. But this only happened +after we had had a political discussion at dinner; for we dined +at three, and took to our Greek afterwards, to suit the Vicar's +time, who was generally a guest. My father is a Tory, of course, +as you may guess, and the Vicar was a Liberal, of a very mild +sort, as I have since thought; a Whig of '88,' he used to call +himself. But he was in favor of the Reform Bill, which was enough +for my father, who lectured him about loyalty, and opening the +flood-gates to revolution; and used to call up old Burt from the +kitchen, where he was smoking his pipe, and ask him what he used +to think of the Radicals on board ship; and Burt's regular reply +was-- + +"'Skulks, yer honor, regular skulks. I wouldn't give the twist of +a fiddler's elbow for all the lot of 'em as ever pretended to +handle a swab, or handle a topsail.' + +"The Vicar always tried to argue, but, as Burt and I were the +only audience, my father was always triumphant; only he took it +out of us afterwards, at the Greek. Often I used to think, when +they were reading history, and talking about the characters, that +my father was much the more liberal of the two. + +"About this time he bought a small half-decked boat of ten tons, +for he and Burt agreed that I ought to learn to handle a boat, +although I was not to go to sea; and when they got the Vicar in +the boat on the summer evenings (for he was always ready for a +sail though he was a very bad sailor), I believe they used to +steer as near the wind as possible, and get into short chopping +seas on purpose. But I don't think he was ever frightened, though +he used sometimes to be very ill. + +"And so I went on, learned all I could from my father, and the +Vicar, and old Burt, till I was sixteen. By that time I had begun +to think for myself; and I had made up my mind that it was time I +should do something. No boy ever wanted to leave home less, I +believe; but I saw that I must make a move if I was ever to be +what my father wished me to be. So I spoke to the Vicar, and he +quite agreed with me, and made inquiries amongst his +acquaintance; and so, before I was seventeen, I was offered the +place of under-master in a commercial school, about twenty miles +from home. The Vicar brought the offer, and my father was very +angry at first; but we talked him over, and so I took the +situation. + +"And I am very glad I did, although there were many drawbacks. +The salary was 35L a year, and for that I had to drill all the +boys in English, and arithmetic, and Latin, and to teach the +Greek grammar to the five or six who paid extra to learn it. Out +of the school I had always to be with them, and was responsible +for the discipline. It was weary work very often, and what seemed +the worst part of it to me, at the time, was the trade spirit +which leavened the whole of the establishment. The master and +owner of the school, who was a keen vulgar man, but always civil +enough to me, thought of nothing but what would pay. And this +seemed to be what filled the school. Fathers sent their boys, +because the place was so practical, and nothing was taught +(except as extras) which was not to be of so-called real use to +the boys in the world. We had our work quite clearly laid down +for us; and it was, not to put the boys in the way of getting +real knowledge or understanding, or any of the things Solomon +talks about, but to put them in the way of getting on. + +"I spent three years at that school, and in that time I rounded +myself pretty well in Latin and Greek--better, I believe, than I +should have done if I had been at a first-rate school myself; and +I hope I did the boys some good, and taught some of them that +cunning was not the best quality to start in life with. And I was +not often very unhappy, for I could always look forward to my +holidays with my father. + +"However, I own that I never was better pleased than one +Christmas when the Vicar came over to our cottage, and brought +with him a letter from the Principal of St. Ambrose College, +Oxford, appointing me to a servitorship. My father was even more +delighted than I, and that evening produced a bottle of old rum, +which was part of his ship's stock, and had gone all through his +action, and been in his cellar ever since. And we three in the +parlor, and old Burt and his wife in the kitchen, finished it +that night; the boatswain, I must own, taking the lion's share. +The Vicar took occasion, in the course of the evening, to hint +that it was only poor men who took these places at the +University; and that I might find some inconvenience, and suffer +some annoyance, by not being exactly in the same position as +other men. But my dear old father would not hear of it; I was now +going to be in amongst the very pick of English gentlemen--what +could it matter whether I had money or not? That was the last +thing which real gentlemen thought of. Besides, why was I to be +so very poor? He should be able to allow me whatever would be +necessary to make me comfortable. 'But, Jack,' he said suddenly, +later in the evening, 'one meets low fellows everywhere. You have +met them, I know, often at the confounded school, and will meet +them again. Never you be ashamed of your poverty, my boy.' I +promised readily enough, for I didn't think I could be more tried +in that way than I had been already. I had lived for three years +amongst people whose class notoriously measured all things by a +money standard; now that was all over, I thought. It's easy +making promises in the dark. The Vicar, however, would not let +the matter rest; so we resolved ourselves into a Committee of +Ways and Means, and my father engaged to lay before us an exact +statement of his affairs next day. I went to the door with the +Vicar, and he told me to come and see him in the morning. + +"I half-guessed what he wanted to see me for. He knew all my +father's affairs perfectly well, and wished to prepare me for +what was to come in the evening. 'Your father,' he said, 'is one +of the most liberal men I ever met; he is almost the only person +who gives anything to the schools and other charities in this +parish, and he gives to the utmost. You would not wish him, I +know, to cut off these gifts, which bring the highest reward with +them, when they are made in the spirit in which he makes them. +Then he is getting old, and you would never like him to deny +himself the comforts (and few enough they are) which he is used +to. He has nothing but his half-pay to live on; and out of that +he pays 50L a year for insurance; for he has insured his life, +that you may have something besides the cottage and land when he +dies. I only tell you this that you may know the facts +beforehand. I am sure you would never take a penny from him if +you could help it. But he won't be happy unless he makes you some +allowance; and he can do it without crippling himself. He has +been paying off an old mortgage on his property here for many +years, by installments of 40L a year, and the last was paid last +Michaelmas; so that it will not inconvenience him to make you +that allowance. Now, you will not be able to live properly upon +that at Oxford, even as a servitor. I speak to you now, my dear +Jack, as your oldest friend (except Burt), and you must allow me +the privilege of an old friend. I have more than I want, and I +propose to make up your allowance at Oxford to 80L a year, and upon +that I think you may manage to get on. Now, it will not be quite +candid, but I think, under the circumstances, we shall be +justified in representing to your father that 40L a year will be +ample for him to allow you. You see what I mean? + +"I remember almost word for word what the Vicar said; for it is +not often in one's life that one meets with this sort of friend. +At first I thanked him, but refused to take anything from him. I +had saved enough, I said, to carry me through Oxford. But he +would not be put off; and I found that his heart was as much set +on making me an allowance himself as on saving my father. So I +agreed to take 25L a year from him. + +"When we met again in the evening, to hear my father's statement, +it was as good as a play to see the dear old man, with his +spectacles on and his papers before him, proving in some +wonderful way that he could easily allow me at least 80L or 100L +a year. I believe it cost the Vicar some twinges of conscience to +persuade him that all I should want would be 40L a year; and it +was very hard work; but at last we succeeded, and it was so +settled. During the next three weeks the preparations for my +start occupied us all. The Vicar looked out all the classics, +which he insisted that I should take. There they stand on that +middle shelf--all well bound, you see, and many of them old +college prizes. My father made an expedition to the nearest town, +and came back with a large new portmanteau and hat-box; and the +next day the leading tailor came over to fit me out with new +clothes. In fact, if I had not resisted stoutly, I should have +come to college with half the contents of the cottage, and Burt +as valet; for the old boatswain was as bad as the other two. But +I compromised the matter with him by accepting his pocket compass +and the picture of the brig which hangs there; the two things, +next to his wife, which he values, I believe, most in the world. + +"Well, it is now two years last October since I came to Oxford as +a servitor; so you see I have pretty, nearly finished my time +here. I was more than twenty then--much older as you know, than +most freshmen. I daresay it was partly owing to the difference in +age, and partly to the fact that I knew no one when I came up, +but mostly to my own bad management and odd temper, that I did +not get on better than I have done with the men here. Sometimes I +think that our college is a bad specimen, for I have made several +friends amongst out-college men. At any rate, the fact is, as you +have no doubt found out--and I hope I haven't tried at all to +conceal it--that I am out of the pale, as it were. In fact, with +the exception of one of the tutors, and one man who was a +freshman with me, I do not know a man in college except as a mere +speaking acquaintance. + +"I had been rather thrown off my balance, I think, at the change +in my life, for at first I made a great fool of myself. I had +believed too readily what my father had said, and thought that at +Oxford I should see no more of what I had been used to. Here I +thought that the last thing a man would be valued by would be the +length of his purse, and that no one would look down upon me +because I performed some services to the college in return for my +keep, instead of paying for it in money. + +"Yes, I made a great fool of myself, no doubt of that; and, what +is worse, I broke my promise to my father--I often _was_ ashamed +of my poverty, and tried at first to hide it, for somehow the +spirit of the place carried me along with it. I couldn't help +wishing to be thought of and treated as an equal by the men. It's +a very bitter thing for a proud, shy, sensitive fellow, as I am +by nature, to have to bear the sort of assumption and insolence +one meets with. I furnished my rooms well, and dressed well. Ah! +you stare; but this is not the furniture I started with; I sold +it all when I came to my senses, and put in this tumble-down +second-hand stuff, and I have worn out my fine clothes. I know +I'm not well dressed now. (Tom nodded ready acquiescence to this +position.) Yes, though I still wince a little now and then--a +great deal oftener than I like--I don't carry any false colors. I +can't quite conquer the feeling of shame (for shame it is, I am +afraid), but at any rate I don't try to hide my poverty any +longer, I haven't for these eighteen months. I have a grim sort +of pleasure in pushing it in everybody's face. (Tom assented with +a smile, remembering how excessively uncomfortable Hardy had made +him by this little peculiarity the first time he was in his +rooms.) The first thing which opened my eyes a little was the +conduct of the tradesmen. My bills all came in within a week of +the delivery of the furniture and clothes; some of them wouldn't +leave the things without payment. I was very angry and vexed, not +at the bills, for I had my savings, which were more than enough +to pay for everything. But I knew that these same tradesmen never +thought of asking for payment under a year, oftener two, from +other men. Well, it was a lesson. Credit for gentlemen-commoners, +ready-money dealings with servitors! I owe the Oxford tradesmen +much for that lesson. If they would only treat every man who +comes up as a servitor, it would save a deal of misery. + +"My cure was completed by much higher folk, though. I can't go +through the whole treatment, but will give you a specimen or two +of the doses, giving precedence (as is the way here) to those +administered by the highest in rank. I got them from all sorts of +people, but none did me more good than the lords' pills. Amongst +other ways of getting on I took to sparring, which was then very +much in vogue. I am a good hand at it, and very fond of it, so +that it wasn't altogether flunkeyism, I'm glad to think. In my +second term two or three fighting men came down from London, and +gave a benefit at the Weirs. I was there, and set to with one of +them. We were well matched, and both of us did our very best; and +when we had had our turn we drew down the house, as they say. +Several young tufts and others of the faster men came up to me +afterwards and complimented me. They did the same by the +professional, but it didn't occur to me at the time that they put +us both in the same category. + +"I am free to own that I was really pleased two days afterwards, +when a most elaborate flunkey brought a card to my door inscribed +'The Viscount Philippine, Ch. Ch., at home to-night, eight +o'clock--sparring.' Luckily, I made a light dinner, and went +sharp to time into Christ Church. The porter directed me to the +noble Viscount's rooms; they were most splendid, certainly--first +floor rooms in Peckwater. I was shown into the large room, which +was magnificently furnished and lighted. A good space was cleared +in the centre; there were all sorts of bottles and glasses on the +sideboard. There might have been twelve or thirteen men present, +almost all in tufts or gentlemen commoners' caps. One or two of +our college I recognized. The fighting man was also there, +stripped for sparring, which none of the rest were. It was plain +that the sport had not begun; I think he was doing some trick of +strength as I came in. My noble host came forward with a nod and +asked me if I would take anything, and when I declined, said, +'Then will you put on the gloves?' I looked at him rather +surprised, and thought it an odd way to treat the only stranger +in his rooms. However, I stripped, put on the gloves, and one of +the others came forward to tie them for me. While he was doing it +I heard my host say to the man, 'A five-pound note, mind, if you +do it within the quarter-of-an-hour.' 'Only half-minute time, +then, my lord,' he answered. The man who was tying my gloves +said, 'Be steady; don't give him a chance to knock you down.' It +flashed across me in a moment now why I was there; but it was too +late to draw back; so we stood up and began sparring. I played +very steadily and light at first to see whether my suspicions +were well founded, and in two minutes I was satisfied. My +opponent tried every dodge to bring on a rally, and when he was +foiled I could see that he was shifting his glove. I stopped and +insisted that his gloves should be tied, and then we went on +again. + +"I kept on the defensive. The man was in bad training, and +luckily I had the advantage by an inch or so in length of arm. +Before five minutes was over, I had caught enough of the +bystander's remarks to know that my noble host had betted a pony +that I should be knocked down in a quarter-of-an-hour. My one +object now was to make him lose his money. My opponent did his +utmost for his patron, and fairly winded himself in his efforts +to get at me. He had to call time twice himself. I said not a +word; my time would come I knew, if I could keep on my legs, and +of this I had little fear. I held myself together, made no +attack, and my length of arm gave me the advantage in every +counter. It was all I could do, though, to keep clear of his +rushes as the time drew on. On he came time after time, careless +of guarding, and he was full as good a man as I. 'Time's up; it's +past the quarter.' 'No, by Jove half a minute yet; now's your +time, said my noble host to his man, who answered by a rush. I +met him as before with a steady counter, but this time my blow +got home under his chin, and he staggered, lost his footing, and +went fairly over on his back. + +"Most of the bystanders seemed delighted, and some of them +hurried towards me. But I tore off the gloves, flung them on the +ground, and turned to my host. I could hardly speak, but I made +an effort, and said quietly, 'You have brought a stranger to your +rooms, and have tried to make him fight for your amusement; now I +tell you it is a blackguard act of yours--an act which no +gentleman would have done.' My noble host made no remark. I threw +on my waist-coat, and then turned to the rest and said +'_Gentlemen_ would not have stood by and seen it done.' I went up +to the side-board, uncorked a bottle of champagne, and half +filled a tumbler, before a word was spoken. Then one of the +visitors stepped forward and said, 'Mr. Hardy, I hope you won't +go, there has been a mistake; we did not know of this. I am sure +many of us are very sorry for what has occurred; stay and look +on, we will all of us spar.' I looked at him, and then at my +host, to see whether the latter joined in the apology. Not he, he +was doing the dignified sulky, and most of the rest seemed to me +to be with him. 'Will any of you spar with me?' I said, +tauntingly, tossing off the champagne. 'Certainly, the new +speaker said directly, 'If you wish it, and are not too tired, I +will spar with you myself; you will, won't you, James?' and he +turned to one of the other men. If any of them had backed him by +a word I should probably have stayed; several of them, I learnt +afterwards, would have liked to have done so, but it was an +awkward scene to interfere in. I stopped a moment and then said, +with a sneer, 'You're too small, and none of the other gentlemen +seem inclined to offer.' + +"I saw that I had hurt him, and felt pleased at the moment I had +done so. I was now ready to start, and I could not think of +anything more unpleasant to say at the moment; so I went up to my +antagonist, who was standing with the gloves on still, not quite +knowing what to be at, and held out my hand. 'I can shake hands +with you at any rate,' I said; 'you only did what you were paid +for in the regular way of business, and you did your best.' He +looked rather sheepish, but held out his gloved hand, which I +shook. 'Now, I have the honor to wish you all a very good +evening;' and so I left the place and got home to my own rooms, +and sat down there with several new ideas in my head. On the +whole, the lesson was not a very bitter one, for I felt that I +had had the best of the game. The only thing I really was sorry +for was my own insolence to the man who had come forward as a +peacemaker. I had remarked his face before. I don't know how it +is with you, but I can never help looking at a tuft--the gold +tassel draws one's eye somehow; and then it's an awful position, +after all, for mere boys to be placed in. So I knew his face +before that day, though I had only seen him two or three times in +the street. Now it was much more clearly impressed on my mind; +and I called it up and looked it over, half hoping that I should +detect something to justify me to myself, but without success. +However, I got the whole affair pretty well out of my head by +bedtime. + +"While I was at breakfast the next morning, my scout came in with +a face of the most ludicrous importance, and quite a deferential +manner. I declare I don't think he has ever got back since that +day to his original free-and-easy swagger. He laid a card on my +table, paused a moment, and then said, 'His ludship is houtside +watin', sir.' + +"I had had enough of lords' cards; and the scene of yesterday +rose painfully before me as I threw the card into the fire +without looking at it, and said, 'Tell him I am engaged.' + +"My scout, with something like a shudder at my audacity, replied, +'His ludship told me to say, sir, as his bis'ness was very +particular, so hif you was engaged he would call again in 'arf an +hour.' + +"Tell him to come in, then, if he won't take a civil hint.' I +felt sure who it would be, but hardly knew whether to be pleased +or annoyed, when in another minute the door opened, and in walked +the peacemaker. I don't know which of us was the most +embarrassed; he walked straight up to me without lifting his +eyes, and held out his hand saying, 'I hope, Mr. Hardy, you will +shake hands with me now.' + +"'Certainly, my lord,' I said, taking his hand; 'I am sorry for +what I said to you yesterday, when my blood was up.' + +"'You said no more than we deserved,' he answered twirling his +cap by the long gold tassel; 'I could not be comfortable without +coming to assure you again myself, that neither I, nor, I +believe, half the men in Philippine's rooms yesterday, knew +anything of the bet. I really cannot tell you how annoyed I have +been about it.' + +"I assured him that he might make himself quite easy, and then +remained standing, expecting him to go, and not knowing exactly +what to say further. But he begged me to go on with my breakfast, +and sat down, and then asked me to give him a cup of tea, as he +had not breakfasted. So in a few minutes we were sitting opposite +one another over tea and bread and butter, for he didn't ask for, +and I didn't offer, anything else. It was rather a trying meal, +for each of us was doing all he could to make out the other. I +only hope I was as pleasant as he was. After breakfast he went +and I thought the acquaintance was probably at an end; he had +done all that a gentleman need have done, and had well-nigh +healed a raw place in my mental skin. + +"But I was mistaken. Without intruding himself on me, he managed +somehow or another to keep on building up the acquaintance little +by little. For some time I looked out very jealously for any +patronizing airs, and even after I was convinced, that he had +nothing of the sort in him, avoided him as much as I could, +though he was the most pleasant and best-informed man I knew. +However, we became intimate, and I saw a good deal of him in a +quiet way, at his own rooms. I wouldn't go to his parties, and +asked him not to come to me here, for my horror of being thought +a tuft-hunter had become almost a disease. He was not so old as +I, but he was just leaving the University, for he had come up +early, and lord's sons are allowed to go out in two years;--I +suppose because the authorities think they will do less harm here +in two than three years; but it is sometimes hard on poor men, +who have to earn their bread, to see such a privilege given to +those who want it least. When he left, he made me promise to go +and pay him a visit--which I did in the long vacation, at a +splendid place up in the North, and enjoyed myself more than I +care to own. His father, who is quite worthy of his son, and all +his family, were as kind as people could be. + +"Well, amongst other folks I met there a young sprig of nobility +who was coming up here the next term. He had been brought up +abroad, and, I suppose, knew very few men of his own age in +England. He was not a bad style of boy, but rather too +demonstrative, and not strong-headed. He took to me wonderfully, +was delighted to hear that I was up at Oxford, and talked +constantly of how much we should see of one another. As it +happened, I was almost the first man he met when he got off the +coach at the 'Angel,' at the beginning of his first term. He +almost embraced me, and nothing would serve but I must dine with +him at the inn, and we spent the evening together, and parted +dear friends. Two days afterwards we met in the street; he was +with two other youngsters, and gave me a polished and distant +bow; in another week he passed me as if we had never met. + +"I don't blame him, poor boy. My only wonder is, that any of them +ever get through this place without being thoroughly spoilt. From +Vice-Chancellor down to scout's boy, the whole of Oxford seems to +be in league to turn their boys heads, even if they come up with +them set on straight, which toadying servants at home take care +shall never happen if they can hinder it. The only men who would +do them good up here, both dons and undergraduates, keep out of +their way, very naturally. Gentlemen-commoners have a little +better chance, though not much, and seem to me to be worse than +the tufts, and to furnish most of their toadies. + +"Well, you are tired of my railing? I daresay I am rabid about it +all. Only it does go to my heart to think what this place might +be, and what it is. I see I needn't give you any more of my +experience. + +"You'll understand now some of the things that have puzzled you +about me. Oh! I know they did; you needn't look apologetic. I +don't wonder, or blame you. I am a very queer bird for the perch +I have lit on; I know that as well as anybody. The only wonder is +that you ever took the trouble to try to lime me. Now have +another glass of toddy. Why! it is near twelve. I must have one +pipe and turn in. No Aristophanes to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER IX--"A BROWN BAIT." + +Tom's little exaltation in his own eyes consequent on the +cupboard-smashing escapade of his friend was not to last long. +Not a week had elapsed before he himself arrived suddenly in +Hardy's room in as furious a state of mind as the other had so +lately been in, allowing for the difference of the men. Hardy +looked up from his books and exclaimed:-- + +"What's the matter? Where have you been to-night? You look fierce +enough to sit for a portrait of Sanguinoso Volcanoni, the +bandit." + +"Been!" said Tom, sitting down on the spare Windsor chair, which +he usually occupied, so hard as to make it crack again; "been! +I've been to a wine party at Hendon's. Do you know any of that +set?" + +"No, except Grey, who came into residence in the same term with +me; we have been reading for degree together. You must have seen +him here sometimes in the evenings." + +"Yes, I remember; the fellow with a stiff neck, who won't look +you in the face." + +"Ay, but he is a sterling man at the bottom, I can tell you." + +"Well, he wasn't there. You don't know any of the rest?" + +"No." + +"And never went to any of their parties?" + +"No." + +"You've had no loss, I can tell you," said Tom, pleased that the +ground was clear for him. "I never was amongst such a set of +waspish, dogmatical, over-bearing fellows in my life." + +"Why, what in the name of fortune have they been doing to you? +How did you fall among such Philistines?" + +"I'm such an easy fool, you see," said Tom, "I go off directly +with any fellow that asks me; fast or slow, it's all the same. I +never think twice about the matter, and generally, I like all the +fellows I meet, and enjoy everything. But just catch me at +another of their stuck-up wines, that's all." + +"But you won't tell me what's the matter." + +"Well, I don't know why Hendon should have asked me. He can't +think me a likely card for a convert, I should think. At any +rate, he asked me to wine, and I went as usual. Everything was in +capital style (it don't seem to be any part of their creed, mind +you, to drink bad wine), and awfully gentlemanly and decorous." + +"Yes, that's aggravating, I admit. It would have been in better +taste, of course, if they had been a little blackguard and +indecorous. No doubt, too, one has a right to expect bad wine at +Oxford. Well?" + +Hardy spoke so gravely, that Tom had to look across at him for +half a minute to see whether he was in earnest. Then he went on +with a grin. + +"There was a piano in one corner, and muslin curtains--I give you +my word, muslin curtains, besides the stuff ones." + +"You don't say so," said Hardy; "put up, no doubt, to insult you. +No wonder you looked so furious when you came in. Anything +else?" + +"Let me see--yes--I counted three sorts of scents on the +mantel-piece, besides Eau-de-Cologne. But I could have stood it +well enough if it hadn't been for their talk. From one thing to +another they got to cathedrals, and one of them called St. Paul's +'a disgrace to a Christian city;' I couldn't stand that, you +know. I was always bred to respect St. Paul's; weren't you?" + +"My education in that line was neglected," said Hardy, gravely. +"And so you took up the cudgels for St. Paul's?" + +"Yes, I plumped out that St. Paul's was the finest cathedral in +England. You'd have thought I had said that lying was one of the +cardinal virtues--one or two just treated me to a sort of pitying +sneer, but my neighbors were down upon me with a vengeance. I +stuck to my text though, and they drove me into saying I liked +the Ratcliffe more than any building in Oxford; which I don't +believe I do, now I come to think of it. So when they couldn't +get me to budge for their talk, they took to telling me that +every body that knew anything about church architecture was +against me--of course meaning that I knew nothing about it--for +the matter of that, I don't mean to say that I do"--Tom paused; +it had suddenly occurred to him that there might be some reason +in the rough handling he had got. + +"But what did you say to the authorities?" said Hardy, who was +greatly amused. + +"Said I didn't care a straw for them" said Tom, "there was no +right or wrong in the matter, and I had as good a right to my +opinion as Pugin--or whatever his name is--and the rest." + +"What heresy!" said Hardy, laughing; "you caught it for that, I +suppose?" + +"Didn't I! They made such a noise over it, that the men at the +other end of the table stopped talking (they were all freshmen at +our end), and when they found what was up, one of the older ones +took me in hand, and I got a lecture about the middle ages, and +the monks. I said I thought England was well rid of the monks; +and then we got on to Protestantism, and fasting, and apostolic +succession, and passive obedience, and I don't know what all! I +only know I was tired enough of it before the coffee came; but I +couldn't go, you know, with all of them on me at once, could I?" + +"Of course not; you were like the 6,000 unconquerable British +infantry at Albuera. You held your position by sheer fighting, +suffering fearful loss." + +"Well," said Tom, laughing, for he had talked himself into good +humor again. "I dare say I talked a deal of nonsense; and, when I +come to think it over, a good deal of what some of them said had +something in it. I should like to hear it again quietly; but +there were others sneering and giving themselves airs, and that +puts a fellow's back up." + +"Yes," said Hardy, "a good many of the weakest and vainest men +who come up take to this sort of thing now. They can do nothing +themselves, and get a sort of platform by going in on the High +Church business from which to look down on their neighbors." + +"That's just what I thought," said Tom, "they tried to push +mother Church, mother Church, down my throat at every turn; I'm +as fond of the Church as any of them, but I don't want to be +jumping up on her back every minute, like a sickly chicken +getting on the old hen's back to warm its feet whenever the +ground is cold, and fancying himself taller than all the rest of +the brood." + +"You were unlucky," said Hardy; "there are some very fine fellows +amongst them." + +"Well, I haven't seen much of them," said Tom, "and I don't want +to see any more, for it seems to be all Gothic mouldings and +man-millinery business." + +"You won't think so when you've been up a little longer." said +Hardy, getting up to make tea, which operation he had hardly +commenced, when a knock came at the door, and in answer to +Hardy's "Come in," a slight, shy man appeared, who hesitated, and +seemed inclined to go when he saw that Hardy was not alone. + +"Oh, come in, and have a cup of tea, Grey. You know Brown, I +think?" said Hardy, looking round from the fire, where he was +filling his teapot, to watch Tom's reception of the new comer. + +Our hero took his feet down, drew himself up and made a solemn +bow, which Grey returned, and then slid nervously into a chair +and looked very uncomfortable. However, in another minute Hardy +came to the rescue and began pouring out the tea. He was +evidently tickled at the idea of confronting Tom so soon with +another of his enemies. Tom saw this, and put on a cool and +majestic manner in consequence, which evidently increased the +discomfort of Grey's seat, and kept Hardy on the edge of an abyss +of laughter. In fact, he had to ease himself by talking of +indifferent matters and laughing at nothing. Tom had never seen +him in this sort of humor before, and couldn't help enjoying it, +though he felt that it was partly at his own expense. But when +Hardy once just approached the subject of the wine party, Tom +bristled up so quickly, and Grey looked so meekly wretched, +though he knew nothing of what was coming, that Hardy suddenly +changed the subject, and turning to Grey, said-- + +"What have you been doing the last fortnight? You haven't been +here once. I've been obliged to get on with my Aristotle without +you." + +"I'm very sorry indeed, but I haven't been able to come," said +Grey, looking sideways at Hardy, and then at Tom, who sat +regarding the wall, supremely indifferent. + +"Well, I've finished my Ethics," said Hardy; "can't you come in +to-morrow night to talk them over? I suppose you're through them +too?" + +"No, really," said Grey. "I haven't been able to look at them +since the last time I was here." + +"You must take care," said Hardy. "The new examiners are all for +science and history; it won't do for you to go in trusting to +your scholarship." + +"I hope to make it up in the Easter vacation," said Grey. "You'll +have enough to do then," said Hardy; "but how is it you've +dropped astern so?" + +"Why, the fact is," said Grey, hesitatingly, "that the curate of +St. Peter's has set up some night schools, and wanted some help. +So I have been doing what I could to help him; and really," +looking at his watch, "I must be going. I only wanted to tell you +how it was I didn't come now." + +Hardy looked at Tom, who was rather taken aback by this +announcement, and began to look less haughtily at the wall. He +even condescended to take a short glance at his neighbor. + +"It's unlucky," said Hardy; "but do you teach every night?" + +"Yes," said Grey. "I used to do my science and history at night, +you know; but I find that teaching takes so much out of me, that +I'm only fit for bed now, when I get back. I'm so glad I've told +you. I have wanted to do it for some time. And if you would let +me come in for an hour, directly after hall, instead of later, I +think I could still manage that." + +"Of course," said Hardy, "come when you like. But it's rather +hard to take you away every night, so near the examinations." + +"It is my own wish," said Grey. "I should have been very glad if +it hadn't happened just now; but as it has I must do the best I +can." + +"Well, but I should like to help you. Can't I take a night or two +off your hands?" + +"No!" said Tom, fired with sudden enthusiasm; "it will be as bad +for you, Hardy. It can't want much scholarship to teach there. +Let me go. I'll take two nights a week if you'll let me." + +"Oh, thank you," said Grey; "but I don't know how my friend might +like it. That is--I mean," he said, getting very red, "it's very +kind of you, only I'm used to it; and--and they rely on me. But I +really must go--good night;" and Grey went off in confusion. + +As soon as the door had fairly closed, Hardy could stand it no +longer, and lay back in his chair laughing till the tears ran +down his cheeks. Tom, wholly unable to appreciate the joke, sat +looking at him with perfect gravity. + +"What can there be in your look, Brown?" said Hardy, when he +could speak again, "to frighten Grey so? Did you see what a +fright he was in at once, at the idea of turning you into the +night schools? There must be some lurking Protestantism in your +face somewhere, which I hadn't detected." + +"I don't believe he was frightened at me a bit. He wouldn't have +you either, remember," said Tom. + +"Well, at any rate, that doesn't look as if it were all mere +Gothic-mouldings and man-millinery, does it?" said Hardy. + +Tom sipped his tea, and considered. + +"One can't help admiring him, do you know, for it," he said. "Do +you think he is really thrown back, now, in his own reading by +this teaching?" + +"I'm sure of it. He is such a quiet fellow, that nothing else is +likely to draw him off reading; I can see that he doesn't get on +as he used, day by day. Unless he makes it up somehow, he won't +get his first." + +"He don't seem to like the teaching work much," said Tom. + +"Not at all, so far as I can see." + +"Then it is a very fine thing of him," said Tom. + +"And you retract your man-millinery dictum, so far as he is +concerned?" + +"Yes, that I do, heartily; but not as to the set in general." + +"Well, they don't suit me either; but, on the whole, they are +wanted--at any rate, in this college. Even the worst of them is +making some sort of protest for self-denial, and against +self-indulgence, which is nowhere more needed than here." + +"A nice sort of protest--muslin curtains, a piano, and old +claret." + +"Oh, you've no right to count Henden among them; he has only a +little hankering after mediaevalism, and thinks the whole thing +gentlemanly." + +"I only know the whole clamjamfery of them were there, and didn't +seem to protest much." + +"Brown, you're a bigot. I should never have thought you would +have been so furious against any set of fellows, I begin to smell +Arnold." + +"No you don't. He never spoke to me against anybody." + +"Hallo! It was the Rugby atmosphere, then, I suppose. But I tell +you they are the only men in the college who are making that +protest, whatever their motives may be." + +"What do you say to yourself, old fellow?" + +"Nonsense! I never deny myself any pleasure that I can afford, if +it isn't wrong in itself, and doesn't hinder anyone else. I can +tell you I am as fond of fine things and good living as you." + +"If a thing isn't wrong, and you can afford it, and it doesn't +hurt anybody! Just so; well, then, mustn't it be right for you to +have? You wouldn't have it put under your nose, I suppose, just +for you to smell at, and let it alone?" + +"Yes, I know all that. I've been over it often enough, and +there's truth in it. But, mind you, it's rather slippery ground, +especially for a freshman; and there's a good deal to be said on +the other side--I mean, for denying oneself just for the sake of +the self denial." + +"Well, they don't deny themselves the pleasure of looking at a +fellow as if he were a Turk, because he likes St. Paul's better +than Westminster Abbey." + +"How that snubbing you got at the Ecclesiological wine party +seems to rankle.--There now! don't bristle up like a hedgehog. +I'll never mention that unfortunate wine again. I saw the eight +come in to-day. You were keeping much better time, but there is a +weak place or two forward." + +"Yes," said Tom, delighted to change the subject, "I find it +awfully hard to pull up to Jervis's stroke. Do you think I shall +ever get to it?" + +"Of course you will. Why you have only been pulling behind him a +dozen times or so, and his is the most trying stroke on the +river. You quicken a little on it; but I didn't mean you. Two and +five are the blots in the boat." + +"You think so?" said Tom, much relieved. "So does Miller, I can +see. It's so provoking--Drysdale is to pull two in the races next +term, and Blake seven, and then Diogenes will go to five. He's +obliged to pull seven now, because Blake won't come down this +term; no more will Drysdale. They say there will be plenty of +time after Easter." + +"It's a great pity," said Hardy. + +"Isn't it," said Tom; "and it makes Miller so savage. He walks +into us all as if it were our faults. Do you think he's a good +coxswain?" + +"First rate on most points, but rather too sharp tongued. You +can't get a man's best out of him without a little praise." + +"Yes, that's just it, he puts one's back up," said Tom. "But the +Captain is a splendid fellow, isn't he?" + +"Yes, but a little too easy, at least with men like Blake and +Drysdale. He ought to make them train, or turn them out." + +"But who could he get? There's nobody else. If you would pull, +now--why shouldn't you? I'm sure it would make us all right." + +"I don't subscribe to the club," said Hardy; "I wish I had, for I +should have liked to have pulled with you, and behind Jervis this +year." + +"Do let me tell the Captain," said Tom, "I'm sure he'd manage it +somehow." + +"I'm afraid it's too late," said Hardy; "I cut myself off from +everything of the sort two years ago, and I'm beginning to think +I was a fool for my pains." + +Nothing more was said on the subject at the time, but Tom went +away in great spirits at having drawn this confession out of +Hardy--the more so, perhaps, because he flattered himself that he +had something to say to the change in his friend. + + + + +CHAPTER X--SUMMER TERM + +How many spots in life are there which will bear comparison with +the beginning of our second term at the University? So far as +external circumstances are concerned, it seems hard to know what +a man could find to ask for at that period of his life, if a +fairy godmother were to alight in his rooms and offer him the +usual three wishes. The sailor who had asked for "all the grog in +the world," and "all the baccy in the world," was indeed driven +to "a little more baccy" as his third requisition; but, at any +rate his two first requisitions were to some extent grounded on +what he held to be substantial wants; he felt himself actually +limited in the matters of grog and tobacco. The condition which +Jack would have been in as a wisher, if he had been started on +his quest with the assurance that his utmost desires in the +direction of alcohol and narcotic were already provided for, and +must be left out of the question, is the only one affording a +pretty exact parallel to the case we are considering. In our +second term we are no longer freshmen, and begin to feel +ourselves at home, while both "smalls" and "greats" are +sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored if we are that way +inclined, or to be looked forward to with confidence that the +game is in our own hands if we are reading men. Our financial +position--unless we have exercised rare ingenuity in involving +ourselves--is all that heart can desire; we have ample allowances +paid in quarterly to the University bankers without thought or +trouble of ours, and our credit is at its zenith. It is a part of +our recognized duty to repay the hospitality we have received as +freshmen; and all men will be sure to come to our first parties +to see how we do the thing; it will be our own faults if we do +not keep them in future. We have not had time to injure our +characters to any material extent with the authorities of our own +college, or of the University. Our spirits are never likely to be +higher, or our digestions better. These and many other comforts +and advantages environ the fortunate youth returning to Oxford +after his first vacation; thrice fortunate, however, if, as +happened in our hero's case, it is Easter term to which he is +returning; for that Easter term, with the four days' vacation, +and the little Trinity term at the end of it, is surely the cream +of the Oxford year. Then, even in this our stern northern +climate, the sun is beginning to have power, the days have +lengthened out, great-coats are unnecessary at morning chapel, +and the miseries of numbed hands and shivering skins no longer +accompany every pull on the river and canter on Bullingdon. In +Christ Church meadows and the college gardens the birds are +making sweet music in the tall elms. You may almost hear the +thick grass growing, and the buds on tree and shrub are changing +from brown, red, or purple, to emerald green under your eyes; the +glorious old city is putting on her best looks, and bursting into +laughter and song. In a few weeks the races begin, and Cowley +marsh will be alive with white tents and joyous cricketers. A +quick ear, on the towing-path by the Gut, may feast at one time +on those three sweet sounds, the thud thud of the eight-oar, the +crack of the rifles at the Weirs, and the click of the bat on the +Magdalen ground. And then Commemoration rises in the background, +with its clouds of fair visitors, and visions of excursions to +Woodstock and Nuneham in the summer days--of windows open on to +the old quadrangles in the long still evenings, through which +silver laughter and strains of sweet music, not made by man, +steal out and puzzle the old celibate jackdaws, peering down from +the battlements, with heads on one side. To crown all, long +vacation, beginning with the run to Henley regatta, or up to town +to see the match with Cambridge at Lord's and taste some of the +sweets of the season, before starting on some pleasure tour or +reading party, or dropping back into the quiet pleasures of +English country life! Surely, the lot of young Englishmen who +frequent our universities is cast in pleasant places. The country +has a right to expect something from those for whom she finds +such a life as this in the years when enjoyment is keenest. + +Tom was certainly alive to the advantages of the situation, and +entered on his kingdom without any kind of scruple. He was very +glad to find things so pleasant, and quite resolved to make the +best he could of them. Then he was in a particularly good humour +with himself, for in deference to the advice of Hardy, he had +actually fixed on the books which he should send in for his +little-go examination before going down for the Easter vacation, +and had read them through at home, devoting an hour or two almost +daily to this laudable occupation. So he felt himself entitled to +take things easily on his return. He had brought back with him +two large hampers of good sound wine, a gift from his father, who +had a horror of letting his son set before his friends the +fire-water which is generally sold to the undergraduate. Tom +found that his father's notions of the rate of consumption +prevalent in the university were wild in the extreme. "In his +time," the squire said, "eleven men came to his first wine party, +and he had opened nineteen bottles of port for them. He was very +glad to hear that the habits of the place had changed so much for +the better; and as Tom wouldn't want nearly so much wine, he +should have it out of an older bin." Accordingly, the port which +Tom employed the first hour after his return in stacking +carefully away in his cellar, had been more than twelve years in +bottle, and he thought with unmixed satisfaction of the pleasing +effect it would have on Jervis and Miller, and the one or two +other men who knew good wine from bad, and guided public opinion +on the subject, and of the social importance which he would soon +attain from the reputation of giving good wine. + +The idea of entertaining, of being hospitable, is a pleasant and +fascinating one to most young men; but the act soon gets to be a +bore to all but a few curiously constituted individuals. With +these hospitality becomes first a passion and then a faith--a +faith the practice of which, in the cases of some of its +professors, reminds one strongly of the hints on such subjects +scattered about the New Testament. Most of us feel, when our +friends leave us a certain sort of satisfaction, not unlike that +of paying a bill; they have been done for, and can't expect +anything more for a long time. Such thoughts never occur to your +really hospitable man. Long years of narrow means cannot hinder +him from keeping open house for whoever wants to come to him, and +setting the best of everything before all comers. He has no +notion of giving you anything but the best he can command if it +be only fresh porter from the nearest mews. He asks himself not, +"Ought I to invite A or B? do I owe him anything?" but, "Would A +or B like to come here?" Give me these men's houses for real +enjoyment, though you never get anything very choice there,--(how +can a man produce old wine who gives his oldest every +day?)--seldom much elbow room or orderly arrangement. The high +arts of gastronomy and scientific drinking so much valued in our +highly civilized community, are wholly unheeded by him, are +altogether above him, are cultivated in fact by quite another set +who have very little of the genuine spirit of hospitality in +them, from those tables, should one by chance happen upon them, +one senses, certainly with a feeling of satisfaction and +expansion, chiefly physical, but entirely without the expansion +of heart which one gets at the scramble of the hospitable man. So +that we are driven to remark, even in such everyday matters as +these, but it is the invisible, the spiritual, which after all +gives value and reality even to dinners; and, with Solomon, to +prefer the most touching _diner Russe_, the dinner of herbs where +love is, though I trust that neither we nor Solomon should object +to well-dressed cutlets with our salad, if they happened to be +going. + +Readers will scarcely need to be told that one of the first +things Tom did, after depositing his luggage and unpacking his +wine, was to call at Hardy's rooms, where he found his friend +deep as usual in his books, the hard-worked atlases and +dictionaries of all sorts taking up more space than ever. After +the first hearty greeting, Tom occupied his old place with much +satisfaction. + +"How long have you been up, old fellow?" he began; "you look +quite settled." + +"I only went home for a week. Well, what have you been doing in +the vacation?" + +"Oh, there was nothing much going on; so, amongst other things, +I've nearly floored my little-go work." + +"Bravo! you'll find the comfort of it now. I hardly thought you +would take to the grind so easily." + +"It's pleasant enough for a spurt," said Tom; "but I shall never +manage a horrid perpetual grind like yours. But what in the world +have you been doing to your walls?" + +Tom might well ask, for the corners of Hardy's room were covered +with sheets of paper of different sizes, pasted against the wall +in groups. In the line of sight, from about the height of four to +six feet, there was scarcely an inch of the original paper +visible, and round each centre group there were outlying patches +and streamers, stretching towards floor or ceiling, or away +nearly to the bookcases or fireplace. + +"Well, don't you think it is a great improvement on the old +paper?" said Hardy. "I shall be out of rooms next term, and it +will be a hint to the College that the rooms want papering. +You're no judge of such matters, or I should ask you whether you +don't see great artistic taste in the arrangement." + +"Why, they're nothing but maps, and lists of names and dates," +said Tom, who had got up to examine the decorations. "And what in +the world are all these queer pins for?" he went on, pulling a +strong pin with a large red sealing-wax head out of the map +nearest to him. + +"Hullo! take care there, what are you about?" shouted Hardy, +getting up and hastening to the corner. "Why, you irreverent +beggar, those pins are the famous statesmen and warriors of +Greece and Rome." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon; I didn't know I was in such august +company;" saying which, Tom proceeded to stick the red-headed pin +back in the wall. + +"Now, just look at that," said Hardy, taking the pin out from the +place where Tom had stuck it. "Pretty doings there would be +amongst them with your management. This pin is Brasidas; you've +taken him away from Naupactus, where he was watching the eleven +Athenian galleys anchored under the temple of Apollo, and struck +him down right in the middle of the Pnyx, where he will be +instantly torn in pieces by a ruthless and reckless mob. You call +yourself a Tory indeed! However, 'twas always the same with you +Tories; calculating, cruel, and jealous. Use your leaders up, and +throw them over--that's the golden rule of aristocracies." + +"Hang Brasidas," said Tom, laughing; "stick him back at Naupactus +again. Here, which is Cleon? The scoundrel! give me hold of him, +and I'll put him in a hot berth." + +"That's he, with the yellow head. Let him alone, I tell you, or +all will be hopeless confusion when Grey comes for his lecture. +We're only in the third year of the war." + +"I like your chaff about Tories sacrificing their great men," +said Tom, putting his hands in his pockets to avoid temptation. +"How about your precious democracy, old fellow? Which is +Socrates?" + +"Here, the dear old boy!--this pin with the great grey head, in +the middle of Athens, you see. I pride myself on my Athens. +Here's the Piraeus and the long walls, and the hill of Mars. +Isn't it as good as a picture?" + +"Well, it is better than most maps, I think," said Tom; "but +you're not going to slip out so easily. I want to know whether +your pet democracy did or did not murder Socrates." + +"I'm not bound to defend democracies. But look at my pins. It may +be the natural fondness of a parent, but I declare they seem to +me to have a great deal of character, considering the material. +You'll guess them at once, I'm sure, if you mark the color and +shape of the wax. This one now, for instance, who is he?" + +"Alcibiades," answered Tom, doubtfully. + +"Alcibiades!" shouted Hardy; "you fresh from Rugby, and not know +your Thucydides better than that? There's Alcibiades, that little +purple-headed, foppish pin, by Socrates. This rusty-colored one +is that respectable old stick-in-the-mud, Nicias." + +"Well, but you've made Alcibiades nearly the smallest of the +whole lot," said Tom. + +"So he was, to my mind," said Hardy; "just the sort of insolent +young ruffian whom I should have liked to buy at my price, and +sell at his own. He must have been very like some of our +gentlemen-commoners, with the addition of brains." + +"I should really think, though," said Tom, "It must be a capital +plan for making you remember the history." + +"It is, I flatter myself. I've long had the idea, but I should +never have worked it out and found the value of it but for Grey. +I invented it to coach him in his history. You see we are in the +Grecian corner. Over there is the Roman. You'll find Livy and +Tacitus worked out there, just as Herodotus and Thucydides are +here; and the pins are stuck for the Second Punic War, where we +are just now. I shouldn't wonder if Grey got his first, after +all, he's picking up so quick in my corners; and says he never +forgets any set of events when he has picked them out with the +pins." + +"Is he working at that school still?" asked Tom. + +"Yes, as hard as ever. He didn't go down for the vacation, and I +really believe it was because the curate told him the school +would go wrong if he went away." + +"It's very plucky of him, but I do think he's a great fool not to +knock it off now till he has passed, don't you?" + +"No," said Hardy; "he is getting more good there than he can ever +get in the schools, though I hope he'll do well in them too." + +"Well, I hope so; for he deserves it. And now, Hardy, to change +the subject, I am going to give my first wine next Thursday; and +here's the first card which has gone out for it. You'll promise +me to come now, won't you?" + +"What a hurry you're in." said Hardy, taking the card which he +put on his mantel-piece, after examining it. + +"But you'll promise to come, now?" + +"I'm very hard at work; I can't be sure." + +"You needn't stay above half an hour. I've brought back some +famous wine from the governor's cellar; and I want so to get you +and Jervis together. He is sure to come." + +"Why, that's the bell for chapel beginning already," said Hardy; +"I had no notion it was so late. I must be off, to put the new +servitor up to his work. Will you come in after hall?" + +"Yes if you will come to me next Thursday." + +"We'll talk about it. But mind you come to-night; for you'll find +me working Grey in the Punic wars, and you'll see how the pins +act. I'm very proud of my show." + +And so Hardy went off to chapel, and Tom to Drysdale's rooms, not +at all satisfied that he had made Hardy safe. He found Drysdale +lolling on his sofa, as usual, and fondling Jack. He had just +arrived, and his servant and the scout were unpacking his +portmanteaus. He seemed pleased to see Tom, but looked languid +and used up. + +"Where have you been this vacation?" said Tom; "you look seedy." + +"You may say that," said Drysdale. "Here, Henry, get out a bottle +of Schiedam. Have a taste of bitters? there's nothing like it to +set one's digestion right." + +"No, thank'ee," said Tom, rejecting the glass which Henry +proffered him; "my appetite don't want improving." + +"You're lucky, then," said Drysdale. "Ah, that's the right stuff! +I feel better already." + +"But where have you been?" + +"Oh, in the little village. It's no use being in the country at +this time of year. I just went up to Limmer's, and there I stuck, +with two or three more, till to-day." + +"I can't stand London for more than a week," said Tom. "What did +you do all the day?" + +"We hadn't much to say to day-light" said Drysdale. "What with +theatres, and sparing-cribs and the Coal-hole and Cider-cellars, +and a little play in St. James's Street now and then, one wasn't +up to early rising. However, I was better than the rest, for I +had generally breakfasted by two o'clock." + +"No wonder you look seedy. You'd much better have been in the +country." + +"I should have been more in pocket, at any rate," said Drysdale. +"By Jove, how it runs away with the ready! I'm fairly cleaned +out; and if I haven't luck at Van John, I'll be hanged if I know +how I'm to get through term. But, look here, here's a bundle of +the newest songs--first rate, some of them." And he threw some +papers across to Tom, who glanced at them without being at all +edified. + +"You're going to pull regularly, I hope, this term, Drysdale." + +"Yes, I think so; it's cheap amusement, and I want a little +training for a change." + +"That's all right." + +"I've brought down some dresses for our gipsy business, by the +way. I didn't forget that. Is Blake back?" + +"I don't know," said Tom; "but we shan't have time before the +races." + +"Well afterwards will do; though the days oughtn't to be too +long. I'm all for a little darkness in masquerading." + +"There's five o'clock striking. Are you going to dine in hall?" + +"No; I shall go to the Mitre, and get a broil." + +"Then I'm off. Let's see,--will you come and wine with me next +Thursday?" + +"Yes; only send us a card, 'to remind.'" + +"All right!" said Tom, and went off to hall, feeling dissatisfied +and uncomfortable about his fast friend, for whom he had a +sincere regard. + +After hall, Tom made a short round amongst his acquaintance, and +then, giving himself up to the strongest attraction, returned to +Hardy's rooms, comforting himself with the thought that it really +must be an act of Christian charity to take such a terrible +reader off his books for once in a way, when his conscience +pricked him for intruding on Hardy during his hours of work. He +found Grey there, who was getting up his Roman history, under +Hardy's guidance; and the two were working the pins on the maps +and lists in the Roman corner when Tom arrived. He begged them +not to stop, and very soon was as much interested in what they +were doing as if he also were going into the schools in May; for +Hardy had a way of throwing life into what he was talking about, +and, like many men with strong opinions, and passionate natures, +either carried his hearers off their legs and away with him +altogether, or aroused every spark of combativeness in them. The +latter was the effect which his lecture on the Punic Wars had on +Tom. He made several protests as Hardy went on; but Grey's +anxious looks kept him from going fairly into action, till Hardy +stuck the black pin, which represented Scipio, triumphantly in +the middle of Carthage, and, turning round said, "And now for +some tea, Grey, before you have to turn out." + +Tom opened fire while the tea was brewing. + +"You couldn't say anything bad enough about aristocracies this +morning, Hardy, and now to-night you are crowing over the success +of the heaviest and cruelest oligarchy that ever lived, and +praising them up to the skies." + +"Hullo! here's a breeze!" said Hardy, smiling; "but I rejoice, O +Brown, in that they thrashed the Carthaginians, and not, as you +seem to think, in that they being aristocrats, thrashed the +Carthaginians; for oligarchs they were not at this time." + +"At any rate they answer to the Spartans in the struggle, and the +Carthaginians to the Athenians; and yet all your sympathies are +with the Romans to-night in the Punic Wars, though they were with +the Athenians before dinner." + +"I deny your position. The Carthaginians were nothing but a great +trading aristocracy--with a glorious family or two I grant you, +like that of Hannibal; but, on the whole, a dirty, +bargain-driving, buy-cheap-and-sell-dear aristocracy--of whom the +world was well rid. They like the Athenians indeed! Why, just +look what the two people have left behind them-" + +"Yes," interrupted Tom; "but we only know the Carthaginians +through the reports of their destroyers. Your heroes trampled +them out with hoofs of iron." + +"Do you think the Roman hoof could have trampled out their Homer +if they ever had one?" said Hardy. "The Romans conquered Greece +too, remember." + +"But Greece was never so near beating them." + +"True. But I hold to my point. Carthage was the mother of all +hucksters, compassing sea and land to sell her wares." + +"And no bad line of life for a nation. At least Englishmen ought +to think so." + +"No they ought not; at least if _'Punica fides'_ is to be the +rule of trade. Selling any amount of Brummagem wares never did +nation or man much good, and never will. Eh, Grey?" + +Grey winced at being appealed to, but remarked that he hoped the +Church would yet be able to save England from the fate of Tyre or +Carthage, the great trading nations of the old world; and then, +swallowing his tea, and looking as if he had been caught robbing +a henroost, he made a sudden exit, and hurried away out of +college to the night school. + +"What a pity he is so odd and shy," said Tom; "I should so like +to know more of him." + +"It _is_ a pity. He is much better when he is alone with me. I +think he has heard from some of the set that you are a furious +Protestant, and sees an immense amount of stiff-neckedness in +you." + +"But about England and Carthage," said Tom, shirking the subject +of his own peculiarities; "you don't really think us like them? +It gave me a turn to hear you translating '_Punica fides_' into +Brummagem wares just now. + +"I think that successful trade is our rock ahead. The devil who +holds new markets and twenty per cent profits in his gift is the +devil that England has most to fear from. 'Because of unrighteous +dealings, and riches gotten by deceit the kingdom is translated +from one people to another,' said the wise man. Think of that +opium war the other day. I don't believe we can get over many +more such businesses as that. Grey falls back on the Church, you +see, to save the nation; but the Church he dreams of will never +do it. Is there any that can? There _must_ be surely, or we have +believed a lie. But this work of making trade righteous, of +Christianizing trade, looks like the very hardest the Gospel has +ever had to take in hand--in England at any rate." + +Hardy spoke slowly and doubtfully, and paused as if asking for +Tom's opinion. + +"I never heard it put in that way. I know very little of politics +or the state of England. But come, now; the putting down the +slave-trade and compensating our planters, _that_ shows that we +are not sold to the trade devil yet, surely." + +"I don't think we are. No, thank God, there are plenty of signs +that we are likely to make a good fight of it yet." + +They talked together for another hour, drawing their chairs round +to the fire, and looking dreamingly into the embers, as is the +wont of men who are throwing out suggestions, and helping one +another to think, rather than arguing. At the end of that time, +Tom left Hardy to his books, and went away laden with several new +ideas, one of the clearest of which was that he was awfully +ignorant of the contemporary history of his own country, and that +it was the thing of all others which he ought to be best informed +on, and thinking most about. So, being of an impetuous turn of +mind, he went straight to his rooms to commence his new study, +where, after diligent hunting, the only food of the kind he +required which turned up was the last number of _Bell's Life_ +from the pocket of his great coat. Upon this he fell to work, in +default of anything better, and was soon deep in the P. R. +column, which was full of interesting speculations as to the +chances of Bungaree, in his forthcoming campaign against the +British middleweights. By the time he had skimmed through the +well-known sheets, he was satisfied that the columns of his old +acquaintance were not the place, except in the police reports, +where much could be learnt about the present state or future +prospects of England. Then, the first evening of term being a +restless place, he wandered out again, and before long landed, as +his custom was, at Drysdale's door. + +On entering the room he found Drysdale and Blake alone together, +the former looking more serious than Tom had ever seen him +before. As for Blake, the restless, haggard expression sat more +heavily than ever on his face, sadly marring its beauty. It was +clear that they changed the subject of their talk abruptly on his +entrance; so Tom looked anywhere except straight before him as he +was greeting Blake. He really felt very sorry for him at the +moment. However, in another five minutes, he was in fits of +laughter over Blake's description of the conversation between +himself and the coachman who had driven the Glo'ster day-mail by +which he had come up; in which conversation, nevertheless, when +Tom came to think it over, and try to repeat it afterwards, the +most facetious parts seemed to be the "sez he's" and the "sez +I's" with which Jehu larded his stories; so he gave up the +attempt, wondering what he could have found in it to laugh at. + +"By the way, Blake," said Drysdale, "how about our excursion into +Berkshire masquerading this term? Are you game?" + +"Not exactly," said Blake; "I really must make the most of such +time as I have left, if I'm going into the schools this term." + +"If there's one thing which spoils Oxford it is those schools," +said Drysdale; "they get in the way of everything. I ought to be +going up for smalls myself next term, and I haven't opened a book +yet, and don't mean to do so. Follow a good example, old fellow, +you're cock-sure of your first, everybody knows." + +"I wish everybody would back his opinion, and give me a shade of +odds. Why, I have scarcely thought of my history." + +"Why the d---l should they make such a fuss about history? One +knows perfectly well that those old black-guard heathens were no +better than they should be; and what good it can do to lumber +one's head with who their grandmothers were, and what they ate, +and when and where and why they had their stupid brains knocked +out, I can't see for the life of me." + +"Excellently well put. Where did you pick up such sound views, +Drysdale? But you're not examiner yet; and, on the whole, I must +rub up my history somehow. I wish I knew how to do it." + +"Can't you put on a coach?" said Drysdale. + +"I have one on, but history is my weak point, said Blake. + +"I think I can help you," said Tom. "I've just been hearing a +lecture in Roman history, and one that won't be so easy to forget +as most;" and he went on to explain Hardy's plans, to which Blake +listened eagerly. + +"Capital!" he said, when Tom had finished. "In whose rooms did +you say they are?" + +"In Hardy's, and he works at them every night with Grey." + +"That's the queer big servitor, his particular pal," put in +Drysdale; "there's no accounting for tastes." + +"You don't know him," retorted Tom; "and the less you say about +him the better." + +"I know he wears highlows and short flannels, and-" + +"Would you mind asking Hardy to let me come to his lectures?" +interrupted Blake, averting the strong language which was rising +to Tom's lips. "I think they seem just the things I want. I +shouldn't like to offer to pay him, unless you think-" + +"I'm quite sure," interrupted Tom, "that he won't take anything. +I will ask him to-morrow whether he will let you come, and he is +such a kind good fellow that I'm almost sure he will." + +"I should like to know your pal, too, Brown," said Drysdale; "you +must introduce me, with Blake." + +"No, I'll be hanged if I do," said Tom. + +"Then I shall introduce myself," said Drysdale; "see if I don't +sit next him, now, at your wine on Thursday." + +Here Drysdale's scout entered with two notes, and wished to know +if Mr. Drysdale would require anything more. Nothing but hot +water; he could put the kettle on, Drysdale said, and go; and +while the scout was fulfilling his orders, he got up carelessly, +whistling, and walking to the fire, read the notes by the light +of one of the candles which were burning on the mantle-piece. +Blake was watching him eagerly, and Tom saw this, and made some +awkward efforts to go on talking about the advantages of Hardy's +plan for learning history. But he was talking to deaf ears, and +soon came to a stand still. He saw Drysdale crumple up the notes +in his hand and shove them into his pocket. After standing for a +few seconds in the same position, with his back to them, he +turned around with a careless air, and sauntered to the table +where they were sitting. + +"Let's see, what were we saying?" he began. "Oh, about your +eccentric pal, Brown." + +"You've answers from both?" interrupted Blake. Drysdale nodded, +and was beginning to speak again to Tom when Blake got up and +said, with white lips, "I _must_ see them." + +"No, never mind, what does it matter?" + +"Matter! by heaven, I must and will see them now." + +Tom saw at once that he had better go, and so took up his cap, +wished them good night, and went off to his own rooms. + +He might have been sitting there for about twenty minutes, when +Drysdale entered. + +"I couldn't help coming over, Brown," he said, "I must talk to +some one, and Blake has gone off raging. I don't know what he'll +do--I never was so bothered or savage in my life." + +"I am very sorry," said Tom; "he looked very bad in your rooms. +Can I do anything?" + +"No, but I must talk to some one. You know--no you don't, by the +way--but, however, Blake got me out of a tremendous scrape in my +first term, and there's nothing that I am not bound to do for +him, and wouldn't do if I could. Yes, by George, whatever fellows +say of me they shall never say I didn't stand by a man who stood +by me. Well, he owes a dirty 300L. or 400L. or something of the +sort--nothing worth talking of, I know--to people in Oxford, and +they have been leading him a dog's life this year and more. Now, +he's just going up for his degree, and two or three of these +creditors--the most rascally of course--are sueing him in the +Vice-Chancellor's Court, thinking now's the time to put the screw +on. He will be ruined if they are not stopped somehow. Just after +I saw you to-day, he came to me about it. You never saw a fellow +in such a state; I could see it was tearing him to pieces, +telling it to me even. However, I soon set him at ease as far as +I was concerned; but, as the devil will have it, I can't lend him +the money, though 60L. would get him over the examination, and +then he can make terms. My guardian advanced me 200L. beyond my +allowance just before Easter, and I haven't 20L. left, and the +bank here has given me notice not to overdraw any more. However, +I thought to settle it easy enough; so I told him to meet me at +the Mitre in half an hour for dinner, and when he was gone I sat +down and wrote two notes--the first to St. Cloud. That fellow was +with us off and on in town, and one night he and I went partners +at _roulette_, I finding ready-money for the time, gains and +losses to be equally shared in the end. I left the table to go +and eat some supper, and he lost 80L., and paid it out of my +money. I didn't much care, and he cursed the luck and +acknowledged that he owed me 40L. at the time. Well, I just +reminded him of this 40L. and said I should be glad of it (I know +he has plenty of money just now), but added, that it might stand +if he would join me and Blake in borrowing 60L.; I was fool +enough to add that Blake was in difficulties, and I was most +anxious to help him. As I thought that St. Cloud would probably +pay the 40L. but do no more, I wrote also to Chanter--heaven +knows why, except that the beast rolls in money, and has fawned +on me till I've been nearly sick this year past--and asked him to +lend Blake 50L. on our joint note of hand. Poor Blake! when I +told him what I had done at the Mitre, I think I might as well +have stuck the carving knife into him. We had a wretched two +hours; then you came in, and I got my two answers--here they +are." + +Tom took the proffered notes, and read: + +"DEAR DRYSDALE,--Please explain the allusion in yours to some +mysterious 40L. I remember perfectly the occurrence to which you +refer in another part of your note. You were tired of sitting at +the table, and went off to supper, leaving me (not by my own +desire) to play for you with your money. I did so, and had +abominable luck, as you will remember, for I handed you back a +sadly dwindled heap on your return to the table. I hope you are +in no row about that night? I shall be quite ready to give +evidence of what passed if it will help you in any way. I am +always yours very truly, + +A. ST. CLOUD + +"P. S. I must decline the little joint operation for Blake's +benefit, which you propose." + +The second answer ran: + +"DEAR DRYSDALE,--I am sorry that I cannot accommodate Mr. Blake, +as a friend of yours, but you see his acceptance is mere waste +paper, and you cannot give security until you are of age, so if +you were to die the money would be lost. Mr. Blake has always +carried his head as high as if he had 5000l. a year to spend; +perhaps now he will turn less haughty to men who could buy him up +easy enough. + +I remain yours sincerely, + +JABEZ CHANTER." + +Tom looked up and met Drysdale's eyes, which had more of purpose +in them than he had ever seen before. "Fancy poor Blake reading +those two notes," he said, "and 'twas I brought them on him. +However, he shall have the money somehow to-morrow, if I pawn my +watch. I'll be even with those two some day." The two remained in +conference for some time longer; it is hardly worth while to do +more than relate the result. + +At three o'clock the next day, Blake, Drysdale and Tom were in +the back parlor of a second-rate inn, in the Corn-market. On the +table were pens and ink, some cases of Eau-de-Cologne and +jewelry, and behind it a fat man of forbidding aspect who spent a +day or two in each term at Oxford. He held in his thick red damp +hand, ornamented as to the fore-finger with a huge ring, a piece +of paper. + +"Then I shall draw for a hundred-and-five?" + +"If you do we won't sign," said Drysdale; "now, be quick, Ben" +(the fat man's name was Benjamin), "you infernal shark, we've +been wrangling long enough over it. Draw for 100L at three +months, or we're off." + +"Then, Mr. Drysdale, you gents will take part in goods. I wish to +do all I can for gents as comes well introduced, but money is +very scarce just now." + +"Not a stuffed bird, bottle of Eau-de-Cologne, ring or cigar, +will we have. So now, no more nonsense, put down 75L on the +table." + +The money-lender, after another equally useless attempt to move +Drysdale, who was the only one of the party who spoke, produced a +roll of bills, and counted out 75L, thinking to himself that he +would make this young spark sing a different tune before very +long. He then filled up the piece of paper, muttering that the +interest was nothing considering the risk, and he hoped they +would help him to some thing better with some of their friends. +Drysdale reminded him, in terms not too carefully chosen, that he +was getting cent per cent. The document was signed,--Drysdale +took the notes, and they went out. + +"Well, that's well over," said Drysdale, as they walked towards +High Street. "I'm proud of my tactics, I must say; one never does +so well for oneself as for anyone else. If I had been on my own +hook, that fellow would have let me in for 20L worth of stuffed +birds and bad jewelry. Let's see, what do you want, Blake?" + +"Sixty will do," said Blake. + +"You had better take 65L; there'll be some law costs to pay," and +Drysdale handed him the notes. + +"Now, Brown, shall we divide the balance,--a fiver a piece?" + +"No, thank you," said Tom, "I don't want it; as you two are to +hold me harmless, you must do what you like with the money." So +Drysdale pocketed the 10L, after which they walked in silence to +the gate of St. Ambrose. The most reckless youngster doesn't +begin this sort of thing without reflections which are apt to +keep him silent. At the gates Blake wrung both their hands. "I +don't say much, but I sha'n't forget it." He got out the words +with some difficulty, and went off to his rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER XI--MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY + +Within the next week or two several important events had happened +to one and another of our St. Ambrose friends. Tom had introduced +Blake to Hardy, after some demur on the part of the latter. Blake +was his senior by a term; might have called on him any time these +three years; why should he want to make his acquaintance now? But +when Tom explained to him that it would be a kind thing to let +Blake come and coach up his history with him, for that unless he +took a high degree in the coming examination, he would have to +leave the college, and probably be ruined for life, Hardy at once +consented. + +Tom did not venture to inquire for a day or two how the two hit +it off together. When he began cautiously to approach the +subject, he was glad to find that Hardy liked Blake. "He is a +gentleman, and very able," he said; "it is curious to see how +quickly he is overhauling Grey, and yet how Grey takes to him. He +has never looked scared at him (as he still does at you, by the +way) since the first night they met. Blake has the talent of +setting people at their ease without saying anything. I shouldn't +wonder if Grey thinks he has sound Church notions. It's a +dangerous talent, and may make a man very false if he doesn't +take care." Tom asked if Blake would be up in his history in +time. Hardy thought he might perhaps, but he had a great lee-way +to make up. If capacity for taking in cram would do it, he would +be all right. He had been well crammed in his science, and had +put him (Hardy) up to many dodges which might be useful in the +schools, and which you couldn't get without a private tutor. + +Then Tom's first wine had gone off most successfully. Jervis and +Miller had come early and stayed late, and said all that was +handsome of the port, so that he was already a social hero with +the boating set. Drysdale, of course, had been there, rattling +away to everybody in his reckless fashion, and setting a good +example to the two or three fast men whom Tom knew well enough to +ask, and who consequently behaved pretty well, and gave +themselves no airs, though as they went away together they +grumbled slightly that Brown didn't give claret. The rest of the +men had shaken together well, and seemed to enjoy themselves. The +only drawback to Tom had been that neither Hardy nor Grey had +appeared. They excused themselves afterwards on the score of +reading, but Tom felt aggrieved in Hardy's case; he knew that it +was only an excuse. + +Then the training had begun seriously, Miller had come up +specially for the first fortnight, to get them well in hand, as +he said. After they were once fairly started, he would have to go +down till just before the races; but he thought he might rely on +the Captain to keep them up to their work in the interval. + +So Miller, the coxswain, took to drawing the bow up to the ear at +once. At the very beginning of the term, five or six weeks before +the races, the St. Ambrose boat was to be seen every other day at +Abingdon; and early dinners, limitation of liquids and tobacco, +and abstinence from late supper parties, pastry, ice, and all +manner of trash, likely in Miller's opinion to injure nerve or +wind, were hanging over the crew, and already, in fact, to some +extent enforced. The Captain shrugged his shoulders, submitted to +it all himself and worked away with all imperturbable temper; +merely hinting to Miller, in private, that he was going too fast, +and that it would be impossible to keep it up. Diogenes highly +approved; he would have become the willing slave of any tyranny +which should insist that every adult male subject should pull +twenty miles, and never imbibe more than a quart of liquid, in +the twenty-four hours. Tom was inclined to like it, as it helped +him to realize the proud fact that he was actually in the boat. +The rest of the crew were in all stages of mutiny and were only +kept from breaking out by their fondness for the Captain and the +knowledge that Miller was going in a few days. As it was, Blake +was the only one who openly rebelled. Once or twice he stayed +away. Miller swore and grumbled, the Captain shook his head, and +the crew in general rejoiced. + +It is to one of these occasions to which we must now turn. If the +usual casual voyager of novels had been standing on Sandford +lock, at about four, on the afternoon of April -th, 184-, he +might have beheld the St. Ambrose eight-oar coming with a steady +swing up the last reach. If such voyager were in the least +conversant with the glorious mystery of rowing, he would have +felt his heart warm at the magnificent sweep and life of the +stroke, and would, on the whole, have been pleased with the +performance of the crew generally, considered as a college crew +in the early stages of training. They came "hard all" up to the +pool below the lock, the coxswain standing in the stern with a +tiller-rope in each hand, and then shipped oars; the lock-gates +opened, and the boat entered, and in another minute or two was +moored to the bank above the lock, and the crew strolled into the +little inn which stands by the lock, and, after stopping in the +bar to lay hands on several pewters full of porter, passed +through the house into the quoit and skittle-grounds behind. +These were already well filled with men of other crews, playing +in groups or looking on at the players. One of these groups, as +they passed, seized on the Captain, and Miller stopped with him; +the rest of the St. Ambrose men, in no humor for skittles, +quoits, or any relaxation except rest and grumbling, took +possession of the first table and seats offered, and came to +anchor. + +Then followed a moment of intense enjoyment, of a sort only +appreciable by those who have had a twelve miles' training pull +with a coxswain as sharp as a needle, and in an awful temper. + +"Ah," said Drysdale, taking the pewter down from his lips, with a +sigh, and handing it to Tom who sat next him, "by Jove I feel +better." + +"It's almost worth while pulling 'hard all' from Abingdon to get +such a thirst," said another of the crew. + +"I'll tell you what, though," said Drysdale, "to-day's the last +day you'll catch me in this blessed boat." + +Tom had just finished his draught, but did not reply; it was by +no means the first time that Drysdale had announced this resolve. +The rest were silent also. + +"It's bad enough to have to pull your heart out, without getting +abused all the way into the bargain. There Miller stands in the +stern--and a devilish easy thing it is to stand there and walk +into us--I can see him chuckle as he comes to you and me, +Brown--'Now, 2, well forward;' '3, don't jerk;' 'Now 2, throw +your weight on the oar; come, now, you can get another pound on.' +I hang on like grim Death,--then its 'Time, 2; now, 3-'" + +"Well, it's a great compliment," broke in Tom, with a laugh; "he +thinks he can make something of us." + +"He'll make nothing of us first, I think," said Drysdale. "I've +lost eight pounds in a fortnight. The Captain ought to put me in +every place in the boat, in turn, to make it water-tight. I've +larded the bottom boards under my seat so that not a drop of +water will ever come through again." + +"A very good thing for you, old fellow," said Diogenes; "you look +ten times better than you did at the beginning of the term." + +"I don't know what you call a good thing, you old fluter. I'm +obliged to sit on my hip bones--I can't go to a lecture--all the +tutors think I am poking fun at them, and put me on directly. I +haven't been able to go to lecture these ten days." + +"So fond of lecture as he is, too, poor fellow," put in Tom. + +"But they've discommonsed me for staying away," said Drysdale; +"not that I care much for that, though." + +"Well, Miller goes down to-morrow morning--I heard him say so," +said another. + +"Then we'll memorialize the Captain and get out of these Abingdon +pulls. Life isn't worth having at this rate." + +"No other boat has been below Sandford, yet." + +And so they sat on and plotted, and soon most of the other crews +started. And then they took their turn at skittles, and almost +forgot their grievances, which must be explained to those who +don't know the river at Oxford. + +The river runs along the south of the city, getting into the +university quarter after it passes under the bridge connecting +Berks and Oxfordshire, over which is the road to Abingdon. Just +below this bridge are the boat builders' establishments on both +sides of the river, and then on the Oxfordshire side is +Christchurch meadow, opposite which is moored the university +barge. Here is the goal of all university races; and the +racecourse stretches away down the river for a mile and a half, +and a little below the starting place of the races is Iffley +Lock. The next lock below Iffley is the Sandford Lock (where we +left our boat's crew playing at skittles), which is about a mile +and a half below Iffley. Below Sandford there is no lock till you +get to Abingdon, a distance of six miles and more by the river. +Now, inasmuch as the longest distance to be rowed in the races is +only the upper mile and a half from Iffley to the university +barge, of course all crews think themselves very hardly treated +if they are taken further than to Sandford. Pulling "hard all" +from Sandford to Iffley, and then again from Iffley over the +regular course, ought to be enough in all conscience. So chorus +the crews; and most captains and coxswains give in. But here and +there some enemy of his kind--some uncomfortable, worriting, +energizing mortal, like Miller--gets command of a boat, and then +the unfortunate crew are dragged, bemoaning their fate, down +below Sandford, where no friendly lock intervenes to break the +long, steady swing of the training pull every two miles, and the +result for the time is blisters and mutiny. I am bound to add +that it generally tells, and that the crew which has been +undergoing that _peine forte et dure_ is very apt to get the +change out of it on the nights of hard races. + +So the St. Ambrose crew played out their skittles, and settled to +appeal the Captain in a body the next day, after Miller's +departure; and then being summoned to the boat, they took to the +water again, and paddled steadily up home, arriving just in time +for hall for those who liked to hurry. Drysdale never liked +hurrying himself; besides, he could not dine in hall, as he was +discommonsed for persistent absence from lecture, and neglect to +go to the Dean when sent for to explain his absence. + +"I say, Brown, hang hall," he said to Tom, who was throwing on +his things; "come and dine with me at the Mitre. I'll give you a +bottle of hock; it's very good there." + +"Hock's about the worst thing you drink in training," said +Miller. "Isn't it, Jervis?" + +"It's no good, certainly," said the Captain, as he put on his cap +and gown; "come along, Miller." + +"There, you hear?" said Miller. "You can drink a glass of sound +sherry, if you want wine;" and he followed the Captain. + +Drysdale performed a defiant pantomime after the retiring +coxswain, and then easily carried his point with Tom, except as +to the hock. So they walked up to the Mitre together, where +Drysdale ordered dinner and a bottle of hock in the coffee-room. + +"Don't order hock, Drysdale; I shan't drink any." + +"Then I shall have it all to my own cheek. If you begin making a +slave of yourself to that Miller, he'll very soon cut you down to +a glass of water a day, with a pinch of rhubarb in it, and make +you drink that standing on your head." + +"Gammon; but I don't think it's fair on the rest of the crew not +to train as well as one can." + +"You don't suppose drinking a pint of hock to-night will make you +pull any the worse this day six weeks, when the races begin, do +you?" + +"No; but--" + +"Hullo! look here," said Drysdale, who was inspecting a printed +bill pinned up on the wall of the coffee hall; "Wombwell's +menagerie is in the town, somewhere down by Worcester. What fun! +We'll go there after dinner." + +The food arrived with Drysdale's hock, which he seemed to enjoy +all the more from the assurance which every glass gave him that +he was defying the coxswain, and doing just the thing he would +most dislike. So he drank away, and facetiously speculated how he +could be such an idiot as to go on pulling. Every day of his life +he made good resolutions in the reach above the Gut that it +should be his last performance, and always broke them next day. +He supposed the habit he had of breaking all good resolutions was +the way to account for it. + +After dinner they set off to find the wild-beast show; and, as +they will be at least a quarter of an hour reaching it, for the +pitch is in a part of the suburbs little known to gownsmen, the +opportunity may be seized of making a few remarks to the patient +reader, which impatient readers are begged to skip. + +Our hero on his first appearance in public some years since, was +without his own consent at once patted on the back by the +good-natured critics, and enrolled for better or worse in the +brotherhood of muscular Christians, who at that time were +beginning to be recognised as an actual and lusty portion of +general British life. As his biographer, I am not about to take +exception to his enrolment; for, after considering the persons up +and down Her Majesty's dominions to whom the new nick-name has +been applied, the principles which they are supposed to hold, and +the sort of lives they are supposed to lead; I cannot see where +he could in these times have fallen upon a nobler brotherhood. I +am speaking of course under correction, and with only a slight +acquaintance with the faith of muscular Christianity, gathered +almost entirely from the witty expositions and comments of +persons of a somewhat dyspeptic habit, who are not amongst the +faithful themselves. Indeed, I am not aware that any authorized +articles of belief have been sanctioned or published by the sect, +Church, or whatever they may be. Moreover, at the age at which +our hero has arrived, and having regard to his character, I +should say that he has in all likelihood thought very little on +the subject of belief, and would scarcely be able to give any +formal account of his own, beyond that contained in the Church +Catechism, which I for one think may very well satisfy him for +the present. Nevertheless, had he suddenly been caught at the +gate of St. Ambrose's College, by one of the gentlemen who do the +classifying for the British public, and accosted with, "Sir, you +belong to a body whose creed it is to fear God, and walk 1000 +miles in 1000 hours;" I believe he would have replied, "Do I, +sir? I'm very glad to hear it. They must be a very good set of +fellows. How many weeks' training, do they allow?" + +But in the course of my inquiries on the subject of muscular +Christians, their works and ways, a fact has forced itself on my +attention, which, for the sake of ingenious youth, ought not to +be passed over. I find, then, that, side by side with these +muscular Christians, and apparently claiming some sort of +connection with them (the same concern, as the pirates of +trade-marks say), have risen up another set of persons, against +whom I desire to caution my readers and my hero, and to warn the +latter that I do not mean on any pretense whatever to allow him +to connect himself with them, however much he may be taken with +their off-hand, "hail brother well-met" manner and dress, which +may easily lead careless observers to take the counterfeit for +the true article. I must call the persons in question +"musclemen," as distinguished from muscular Christians; the only +point in common between the two being, that both hold it to be a +good thing to have strong and well-exercised bodies, ready to be +put at the shortest notice to any work of which bodies are +capable, and to do it well. Here all likeness ends; for the +muscleman seems to have no belief whatever as to the purposes +for which his body has been given him, except some hazy idea that +it is to go up and down the world with him, belaboring men or +captivating women for his benefit or pleasure, at once the +servant and fomentor of those fierce and brutal passions which he +seems to think it a necessity, and rather a fine thing than +otherwise, to indulge and obey. Whereas, so far as I know, the +least of the muscular Christians has hold of the old chivalrous +and Christian belief, that a man's body is given him to be +trained and brought into subjection, and then used for the +protection of the weak, the advancement of all righteous causes, +and the subduing of the earth which God has given to the children +of men. He does not hold that mere strength or activity are in +themselves worthy of any respect or worship, or that one man is a +bit better than another because he can knock him down, or carry a +bigger sack of potatoes than he. For mere power, whether of body +or intellect, he has (I hope and believe) no reverence whatever, +though, _cæteris paribus_, he would probably himself, as a +matter of taste, prefer the man who can lift a hundred-weight +round his head with his little finger to the man who can +construct a string of perfect Sorites, or expound the doctrine of +"contradictory inconceivables." + +The above remarks occur as our hero is marching innocently down +towards his first "town and gown" row, and I should scarcely like +to see him in the middle of it, without protesting that it is a +mistake. I know that he, and other youngsters of his kidney, will +have fits of fighting or desiring to fight with their poorer +brethren, just as children have the measles. But the shorter the +fit the better for the patient, for like the measles it is a +great mistake, and a most unsatisfactory complaint. If they can +escape it altogether so much the better. But instead of treating +the fit as a disease, "musclemen" professors are wont to +represent it as a state of health, and to let their disciples run +about in middle age with the measles on them as strong as ever. +Now although our hero had the measles on him at this particular +time, and the passage of arms which I am about shortly to +describe led to results of some importance in his history, and +cannot therefore be passed over, yet I wish at the same time to +disclaim, both in my sponsorial and individual character, all +sympathy with town and gown rows, and with all other class rows +and quarrels of every sort and kind, whether waged with sword, +pen, tongue, fist or otherwise. Also to say that in all such +rows, so far as I have seen or read, from the time when the Roman +plebs marched out to Mons Sacer, down to 1848, when the English +chartists met on Kennington Common, the upper classes are most to +blame. It may be that they are not the aggressors on any given +occasion; very possibly they may carry on the actual fighting +with more fairness (though this is by no means true as a rule); +nevertheless the state of feeling which makes such things +possible, especially in England, where men in general are only +too ready to be led and taught by their superiors in rank, may be +fairly laid at their door. Ever, in the case of strikes, which +just now will of course be at once thrown in my teeth, I say +fearlessly, let any man take the trouble to study the question +honestly, and he will come to the conviction that all +combinations of the men for the purpose of influencing the labor +market, whether in the much and unjustly abused Trades' +Societies, or in other forms, have been defensive organizations, +and that the masters might, as a body, over and over again have +taken the sting out of them if they had acted fairly, as many +individuals amongst them have done. Whether it may not be too +late now, is a tremendous question for England, but one which +time only can decide. + +When Drysdale and Tom at last found the caravans, it was just +getting dark. Something of a crowd had collected outside, and +there was some hissing as they ascended the short flight of steps +which led to the platform in front of the show; but they took no +notice of it, paid their money, and entered. + +Inside they found an exciting scene. The place was pretty well +lighted, and the birds and beasts were all alive in their several +dens and cages, walking up and down, and each uttering +remonstrances after its own manner, the shrill notes of birds +mingling with the moan of the beasts of prey and chattering of +the monkeys. Feeding time had been put off till night to suit the +undergraduates, and the undergraduates were proving their +appreciation of the attention by playing off all manner of +practical jokes on birds and beasts, their keepers, and such of +the public as had been rash enough to venture in. At the farther +end was the keeper, who did the showman, vainly endeavouring to +go through his usual jogtrot description. His monotone was +drowned every minute by the chorus of voices, each shouting out +some new fact in natural history touching the biped or quadruped +whom the keeper was attempting to describe. At that day a great +deal of this sort of chaff was current, so that the most +dunder-headed boy had plenty on the tip of his tongue. A small +and indignant knot of townspeople, headed by a stout and severe +middle-aged woman, with two big boys, her sons, followed the +keeper, endeavouring by caustic remarks and withering glances to +stop the flood of chaff, and restore the legitimate authority and +the reign of keeper and natural history. + +At another point was a long Irishman in cap and gown, who had +clearly had as much wine as he could carry, close to the bars of +the panther's den, through which he was earnestly endeavouring, +with the help of a crooked stick, to draw the tail of whichever +of the beasts stopped for a moment in its uneasy walk. On the +other side were a set of men bent on burning the wretched +monkeys' fingers with the lighted ends of their cigars, in which +they seemed successful enough, to judge by the angry chatterings +and shriekings of their victims. + +The two new comers paused for a moment on the platform inside the +curtain; and then Drysdale, rubbing his hands, and in high glee +at the sight of so much misrule in so small a place, led the way +down on to the floor deep in sawdust, exclaiming, "Well, this +_is_ a lark! We're just in for all the fun of the fair." + +Tom followed his friend, who made straight for the show man, and +planted himself at his side, just as that worthy, pointing with +his pole, was proceeding-- + +"This is the jackal, from--" + +"The Caribee Hielands, of which I'm a native mysel'," shouted a +gownsman. + +"This is the jackal, or lion's provider," began again the much +enduring keeper. + +"Who always goes before the lion to purwide his purwisions, +purwiding there's anything to purwide," put in Drysdale. + +"Hem--really I do think it's scandalous not to let the keeper +tell about the beasteses," said the unfortunate matron, with a +half turn towards the persecutors, and grasping her bag. + +"My dear madam," said Drysdale, in his softest voice, "I assure +you he knows nothing about the beasteses. We are Doctor +Buckland's favourite pupils, are also well known to the great +Panjandrum, and have eaten more beasteses than the keeper has +ever seen." + +"I don't know who you are, young man, but you don't know how to +behave yourselves," rejoined the outraged female; and the keeper, +giving up the jackal as a bad job, pointing with his pole, +proceeded-- + +"The little hanimal in the upper cage is the hopossom, of North +America--" + +"The misguided offspring of the raccoon and the gumtree," put in +one of his tormentors. + +Here a frightful roaring and struggling at a little distance, +mingled with shouts of laughter, and "Hold on, Pat!" + +"Go it, +panther!" interrupted the lecture, and caused a rush to the other +side, where the long Irishman, Donovan, by name, with one foot +against the bars, was holding on to the tail of one of the +panthers, which he had at length managed to catch hold of. The +next moment he was flat on his back in the sawdust, and his +victim was bounding wildly about the cage. The keeper hurried +away to look after the outraged panther; and Drysdale, at once +installing himself as showman, began at the next cage-- + +"This is the wild man of the woods, or whangee-tangee, the most +untameable--good heavens, ma'am, take care!" and he seized hold +on the unfortunate woman and pulled her away from the bars. + +"Oh, goodness!" she screamed, "it's got my tippet; oh, Bill, +Peter, catch hold!" Bill and Peter proved unequal to the +occasion, but a gownsman seized the vanishing tippet, and after a +moment's struggle with the great ape, restored a meagre half to +the proper owner, while Jacko sat grinning over the other half, +picking it to pieces. The poor woman had now had enough of it, +and she hurried off with her two boys, followed by the few +townspeople who were still in the show, to lay her case directly +before the mayor, as she informed the delinquents from the +platform before disappearing. Her wrongs were likely to be more +speedily avenged, to judge by the angry murmurs which arose +outside immediately after her exit. + +But still the high jinks went on, Donovan leading all mischief, +until the master of the menagerie appeared inside, and +remonstrated with the men. "He must send for the police," he +said, "if they would not leave the beasts alone. He had put off +the feeding in order to suit them; would they let his keepers +feed the beasts quietly?" The threat of the police was received +with shouts of defiance by some of the men, though the greater +part seemed of the opinion that matters were getting serious. + +The proposal of feeding, was however, welcomed by all and +comparative quiet ensued for some ten minutes, while the baskets +of joints, bread, stale fish, and potatoes were brought in, and +the contents distributed to the famished occupants of the cages. +In the interval of peace the showman-keeper, on a hint from his +master, again began his round. But the spirit of mischief was +abroad, and it only needed this to make it break out again. In +another two minutes the beasts, from the lion to the smallest +monkey, were struggling for their suppers, with one or more +undergraduates; the elephant had torn the gown off Donovan's +back, having only just missed his arm; the manager in a confusion +worthy of the tower of Babel, sent off a keeper for the city +police, and turned the gas out. + +The audience, after the first moment of surprise and indignation, +groped their way towards the steps and mounted the platform, +where they held a council of war. Should they stay where they +were or make a sally at once, break through the crowd and get +back to their colleges? It was curious to see how in that short +minute individual character came out, and the coward, the +cautious man, the resolute prompt Englishman, each was there, and +more than one species of each. Donovan was one of the last up the +steps, and as he stumbled up caught something of the question +before the house. He shouted loudly at once for descending and +offering battle. "But boys," he added, "first wait till I +adthress the meeting," and he made for the opening in the canvas +through which the outside platform was reached. Stump oratory and +a free fight were just the two temptations which Donovan was +wholly unable to resist; it was with a face radiant with +devil-may-care delight that he burst through the opening, +followed by all the rest (who felt that the matter was out of +their hands, and must go its own way after the Irishman), and +rolling to the front of the outside platform, rested one hand on +the rail, and waved the other gracefully towards the crowd. + +This was the signal for a burst of defiant shouts and hissing. +Donovan stood blandly waving his hand for silence. Drysdale, +running his eye over the mob, turned to the rest and said, +"There's nothing to stop us, not twenty grown men in the whole +lot." + +Then one of the men lighting upon the drumsticks, which the usual +man in corduroys had hidden away, began beating the big drum +furiously. One of the unaccountable whims which influence crowds +seized on the mob, and there was almost perfect silence. This +seemed to take Donovan by surprise; the open air was having the +common effect on him; he was getting unsteady on his legs, and +his brains were wondering. "Now's your time, Donovan, my +boy--begin." + +"Ah, yes, to be sure, what'll I say? let's see," said Donovan, +putting his head on one side-- + +"Friends, Romans, countrymen," suggested some wag. + +"To be sure," cried Donovan; "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend +me your ears." + +"Bravo Pat, well begun; pull their ears well when you've got +'em." + +"Bad luck to it! where was I? you divels--I mean ladies and +gentlemen of Oxford city as I was saying, the poets--" + +Then the storm of shouting and hissing arose again, and Donovan, +after an ineffectual attempt or two to go on, leaned forward and +shook his fist generally at the mob. Luckily for him, there were +no stones about; but one of the crowd, catching the first missel +at hand, which happened to be a cabbage stalk, sent it with true +aim at the enraged orator. He jerked his head on one side to +avoid it; the motion unsteadied his cap; he threw up his hand, +which, instead of catching the falling cap, as it was meant to +do, sent it spinning among the crowd below. The owner, without a +moment's hesitation, clapped both hands on the bar before him, +and followed his property, vaulting over on the heads of those +nearest the platform, amongst whom he fell, scattering them right +and left. + +"Come on, gown, or he'll be murdered," sang out one of Donovan's +friends. Tom was one of the first down the steps; they rushed to +the spot in another moment, and the Irishman rose, plastered with +dirt, but otherwise none the worse for his feat; his cap, covered +with mud, was proudly stuck on, hind part before. He was of +course thirsting for battle, but not quite so much master of his +strength as usual; so his two friends, who were luckily strong +and big men, seized him, one to each arm. + +"Come along, keep together," was the word; "there's no time to +lose. Push for the corn-market." + +The cry of "Town! town!" now rose on all sides. The gownsmen in a +compact body, with Donovan in the middle, pushed rapidly across +the open space in which the caravans were set up and gained the +street. Here they were comparatively safe; they were followed +close, but could not be surrounded by the mob. And now again a +bystander might have amused himself by noting the men's +characters. Three or four pushed rapidly on, and were out of +sight ahead in no time. The greater part, without showing any +actual signs off fear, kept steadily on, at a good pace. Close +behind these, Donovan struggled violently with his two +conductors, and shouted defiance to the town; while a small and +silent rear guard, amongst whom were Tom and Drysdale, walked +slowly and, to all appearance, carelessly behind, within a few +yards of the crowd of shouting boys who headed the advancing +town. Tom himself felt his heart beating quick, and I don't think +had any particular desire for the fighting to begin, with such +long odds on the town side; but he was resolved to be in it as +soon as any one if there was to be any. Thus they marched through +one or two streets without anything more serious than an +occasional stone passing their ears. Another turn would have +brought them into the open parts of the town, within hearing of +the colleges, when suddenly Donovan broke loose from his +supporters, and rushing with a shout on the advanced guard of the +town, drove them back in confusion for some yards. The only thing +to do was to back him up; so the rear-guard, shouting "Gown! +gown!" charged after him. The effect of the onset was like that +of Blount at Flodden, when he saw Marmion's banner go down,--a +wide space was cleared for a moment, the town driven back on the +pavements, and up the middle of the street, and the rescued +Donovan caught, set on his legs, and dragged away again some +paces towards college. But the charging body was too few in +number to improve the first success, or even to insure its own +retreat. "Darkly closed the war around." The town lapped on them +from the pavements, and poured on them down the middle of the +street, before they had time to rally and stand together again. + +What happened to the rest--who was down, who fought, who +fled,--Tom had no time to inquire; for he found himself suddenly +the centre of a yelling circle of enemies. So he set his teeth +and buckled to his work; and the thought of splendid single +combat, and glory such as he had read of in college stories, and +tradition handing him down as the hero of that great night, +flashed into his head as he cast his eye round for foemen worthy +of his steel. None such appeared; so, selecting the one most of +his own size, he squared and advanced on him. But the challenged +one declined the combat, and kept retreating; while from behind, +and at the sides, one after another of the "town" rushing out +dealt Tom a blow and vanished again into the crowd. For a moment +or two he kept his head and temper; the assailants individually +were too insignificant to put out his strength upon; but head and +temper were rapidly going;--he was like a bull in the arena with +the picadores sticking their little javelins in him. A smart blow +on the nose, which set a myriad of stars dancing before his eyes, +finished the business, and he rushed after the last assailant, +dealing blows to right and left, on small and great. The mob +closed in on him, still avoiding attacks in front, but on the +flank and rear they hung on him and battered at him. He had to +turn sharply round after every step to shake himself clear, and +at each turn the press thickened, the shouts waxed louder and +fiercer; he began to get unsteady; tottered, swayed, and, +stumbling over a prostrate youth, at last went down full length +on to the pavement, carrying a couple of his assailants with him. +And now it would have fared hardly with him, and he would +scarcely have reached college with sound bones,--for I am sorry +to say an Oxford town mob is a cruel and brutal one, and a man +who is down has no chance with it,--but that for one moment he +and his prostrate foes were so jumbled together that the town +could not get at him, and the next cry of "Gown! gown!" rose high +above the din; the town were swept back again by the rush of a +reinforcement of gownsmen, the leader of whom seized him by the +shoulders and put him on his legs again; while his late +antagonists crawled away to the side of the road. + +"Why, Brown!" said his rescuer,--Jervis, the Captain,--"this, +you? Not hurt, eh?" + +"Not a bit," said Tom. + +"Good; come on, then; stick to me." In three steps they joined +the rest of the gown, now numbering some twenty men. The mob was +close before them, gathering for another rush. Tom felt a cruel, +wild devil beginning to rise in him; he had never felt the like +before. This time he longed for the next crash, which happily for +him, was fated never to come off. + +"Your names and colleges, gentlemen," said a voice close behind +them at this critical moment. The "town" set up a derisive shout, +and, turning round, the gownsmen found the velvet sleeves of one +of the proctors at their elbow and his satellites, vulgarly +called bull-dogs, taking notes of them. They were completely +caught, and so quietly gave the required information. + +"You will go to your colleges at once," said the proctor, "and +remain within gates. You will see these gentlemen to the +High-street," he added to his marshal; and then strode on after +the crowd, which was vanishing down the street. + +The men turned and strolled towards the High-street, the marshall +keeping, in a deferential but wide-awake manner, pretty close to +them, but without making any show of watching them. When they +reached the High-street he touched his hat and said civilly, "I +hope you will go home now, gentlemen, the senior proctor is very +strict." + +"All right, marshall; good night," said the good natured ones. + +"D--- his impudence," growled one or two of the rest, and the +marshal bustled away after his master. The men looked at one +another for a moment or two. They were of different colleges, and +strangers. The High-street was quiet; so without the exchange of +a word, after the manner of British youth, they broke up into +twos and threes, and parted. Jervis, Tom, and Drysdale, who +turned up quite undamaged, sauntered together towards St. +Ambrose's. + +"I say, where are you going?" said Drysdale. + +"Not to college, I vote," said Tom. + +"No, there may be some more fun." + +"Mighty poor fun, I should say, you'll find it," said Jervis; +"however, if you will stay, I suppose I must. I can't leave you +two boys by yourselves." + +"Come along then, down here." So they turned down one of the +courts leading out of the High-street, and so by back streets +bore up again for the disturbed districts. + +"Mind and keep a sharp lookout for the proctors," said Jervis; +"as much row as you please, but we mustn't be caught again." + +"Well, only let's keep together if we have to bolt." + +They promenaded in lonely dignity for some five minutes, keeping +eyes and ears on full strain. + +"I tell you what," said Drysdale, at last, "it isn't fair, these +enemies in the camp; what with the 'town' and their stones and +fists, and the proctors with their 'name and college,' we've got +the wrong end of the stick." + +"Both wrong ends, I can tell you," said Jervis. "Hello, Brown, +your nose is bleeding." + +"Is it?" said Tom, drawing his hand across his mouth; "'twas that +confounded little fellow then who ran up to my side while I was +squaring at the long party. I felt a sharp crack, and the little +rascal bolted into the crowd before I could turn at him." + +"Cut and come again," said Drysdale, laughing. + +"Ay, that's the regular thing in these blackguard street +squabbles. Here they come then," said Jervis. "Steady, all." + +They turned around to face the town, which came shouting down the +street behind them in pursuit of one gownsman, a little, +harmless, quiet fellow, who had fallen in with them on his way back to +his college from a tea with his tutor, and, like a wise man, was +giving them leg-bail as hard as he could foot it. But the little +man was of a courageous, though prudent soul, and turned panting +and gasping on his foes the moment he found himself amongst +friends again. + +"Now, then, stick together; don't let them get around us," said +Jervis. + +They walked steadily down the street, which was luckily a narrow +one, so that three of them could keep the whole of it, halting +and showing front every few yards, when the crowd pressed too +much. "Down with them! Town, town! That's two as was in the +show." + +"Mark the velvet-capped chap. Town, town!" shouted the +hinder part of the mob, but it was a rabble of boys as before, +and the front rank took very good care of itself, and forbore +from close quarters. + +The small gownsman had now got his wind again; and smarting under +the ignominy of his recent flight, was always a pace or two +nearer the crowd than the other three, ruffling up like a little +bantam, and shouting defiance between the catchings of his +breath. + +"You vagabonds! you cowards! Come on now I say! Gown, gown!" And +at last, emboldened by the repeated halts of the mob, and +thirsting for revenge, he made a dash at one of the nearest of +the enemy. The suddenness of the attack took both sides by +surprise, then came a rush by two or three of the town to the +rescue. + +"No, no! stand back--one at a time," shouted the Captain, +throwing himself between the combatants and the mob. "Go it, +little 'un; serve him out. Keep the rest back boys; steady!" Tom +and Drysdale faced towards the crowd, while a little gownsman and +his antagonist--who defended himself vigorously enough now--came +to close quarters, in the rear of the gown line; too close to +hurt one another but what with hugging and cuffing the townsman +in another half-minute was sitting quietly on the pavement with +his back against the wall, his enemy squaring in front of him, +and daring him to renew the combat. "Get up, you coward; get up, +I say, you coward! He won't get up," said the little man, eagerly +turning to the Captain. "Shall I give him a kick?" + +"No, let the cur alone," replied Jervis. "Now, do any more of you +want to fight? Come on like men one at a time. I'll fight any man +in the crowd." + +Whether the challenge would have been answered must rest +uncertain; for now the crowd began to look back, and a cry arose, +"Here they are, proctors! now they'll run." + +"So we must, by Jove, Brown," said the Captain. "What's your +college?" to the little hero. + +"Pembroke." + +"Cut away, then; you're close at home." + +"Very well, if I must; good night," and away went the small man +as fast as he had come; and it has never been heard that he came +to further grief, or performed other feats that night. + +"Hang it, don't let's run," said Drysdale. + +"Is it the proctors?" said Tom. "I can't see them." + +"Mark the bloody-faced one; kick him over," sang out a voice in +the crowd. + +"Thank'ee," said Tom, savagely. "Let's have one rush at them." + +"Look! there's the proctor's cap just through them; come along +boys--well, stay if you like, and be rusticated, I'm off," and +away went Jervis, and the next moment Tom and Drysdale followed +the good example, and, as they had to run, made the best use of +their legs, and in two minutes were well ahead of their pursuers. +They turned a corner; "Here, Brown! alight in this public, cut +in, and it's all right." Next moment they were in the dark +passage of a quiet little inn, and heard with a chuckle part of +the crowd scurry by the door in pursuit, while they themselves +suddenly appeared in the neat little bar, to the no small +astonishment of its occupants. These were a stout elderly woman +in spectacles, who was stitching away at plain work in an +arm-chair on one side of the fire; the foreman of one of the +great boat-builders, who sat opposite her, smoking his pipe with +a long glass of clear ale at his elbow; and a bright-eyed, neat +handed bar maid, who was leaning against the table, and talking +to the others as they entered. + + + + +CHAPTER XII--THE CAPTAIN'S NOTIONS + +The old lady dropped her work, the barmaid turned round with a +start and little ejaculation, and the foreman stared with all his +eyes for a moment, and then, jumping up, exclaimed-- + +"Bless us, if it isn't Muster Drysdale and Muster Brown, of +Ambrose's. Why what's the matter, sir? Muster Brown, you be all +covered wi' blood, sir." + +"Oh dear me! poor young gentlemen!" cried the hostess;--"Here, +Patty, run and tell Dick to go for the doctor, and get the best +room--" + +"No, please don't; it's nothing at all," interrupted Tom, +laughing;--"a basin of cold water and a towel, if you please, +Miss Patty, and I shall be quite presentable in a minute. I'm +very sorry to have frightened you all." + +Drysdale joined in the assurances that it was nothing but a +little of his friend's "claret," which he would be all the better +for losing, and watched with an envious eye the interest depicted +in Patty's pretty face, as she hurried in with a basin of fresh +pumped water, and held the towel. Tom bathed his face, and very +soon was as respectable a member of society as usual, save for a +slight swelling on one side of his nose. + +Drysdale meantime--seated on the table--had been explaining the +circumstances to the landlady and the foreman. "And now, ma'am," +said he as Tom joined them, and seated himself on a vacant chair, +"I'm sure you must draw famous ale." + +"Indeed, sir, I think Dick--that's my ostler, sir--is as good a +brewer as is in the town. We always brew at home, sir, and I hope +always shall." + +"Quite right, ma'am, quite right," said Drysdale; "and I don't +think we can do better than follow Jem here. Let us have a jug of +the same ale as he is drinking. And you'll take a glass with us, +Jem? or will you have spirits?" + +Jem was for another glass of ale, and bore witness to its being +the best in Oxford, and Patty drew the ale, and supplied two more +long glasses. Drysdale, with apologies, produced his cigar case; +and Jem, under the influence of the ale and a first-rate Havannah +(for which he deserted his pipe, though he did not enjoy it half +as much), volunteered to go and rouse the yard and conduct them +safely back to college. This offer was of course, politely +declined and then, Jem's hour for bed having come, he being a +methodical man, as became his position, departed, and left our +two young friends in sole possession of the bar. Nothing could +have suited the two young gentlemen better, and they set to work +to make themselves agreeable. They listened with lively interest +to the landlady's statement of the difficulties of a widow woman +in a house like hers, and to her praises of her factotum Dick and +her niece Patty. They applauded her resolution of not bringing up +her two boys in the publican line, though they could offer no +very available answer her appeals for advice as to what trade +they should be put to; all trades were so full, and things were +not as they ought to be. The one thing, apparently, which was wanting +to the happiness of Drysdale at Oxford, was the discovery of such +beer as he had at last found at "The Choughs." + +Dick was to come up to St. Ambrose's the first thing in the +morning and carry off his barrel, which would never contain in +future any other liquid. At last that worthy appeared in the bar +to know when he was to shut up, and was sent out by his mistress +to see that the street was clear, for which service he received a +shilling, though his offer of escort was declined. And so, after +paying in a splendid manner for their entertainment, they found +themselves in the street, and set off for college, agreeing on +the way that "The Choughs" was a great find, the old lady was the +best old soul in the world, and Patty the prettiest girl in +Oxford. They found the streets quiet, and walking quickly along +them, knocked at the college gates at half-past eleven. The stout +porter received them with a long face. + +"Senior proctor's sent down here an hour back, gentlemen, to find +whether you was in college." + +"You don't mean that, porter? How kind of him! What did you say?" + +"Said I didn't know, sir; but the marshal said, if you come in +after, that you was to go to the senior proctor's at half-past +nine to-morrow." + +"Send my compliments to the senior proctor," said Drysdale, "and +say I have a very particular engagement to morrow morning, which +will prevent my having the pleasure of calling on him." + +"Very good, sir," said the porter, giving a little dry chuckle, +and tapping the keys against his leg; "only perhaps you wouldn't +mind writing him a note, sir, as he is rather a particular +gentleman." + +"Didn't he send after anyone else?" said Tom. + +"Yes, sir, Mr. Jervis, sir." + +"Well, and what about him?" + +"Oh, sir, Mr. Jervis! an old hand, sir. He'd been in gates long +time, sir, when the marshal came." + +"The sly old beggar!" said Drysdale, "good night, porter; mind +you send my message to the proctor. If he is set on seeing me +to-morrow, you can say that he will find a broiled chicken and a +hand at picquet in my rooms, if he likes to drop in to lunch." + +The porter looked after them for a moment, and then retired to +his deep old chair in the lodge, pulled his night cap over his +ears, put up his feet before the fire on a high stool, and folded +his hands on his lap. "The most impidentest thing on the face of +the earth is it gen'l'man-commoner in his first year," +soliloquized the little man. "'Twould ha' done that one a sight +of good, now, if he'd got a good hiding in the street to-night. +But he's better than most on 'em, too," he went on; "uncommon +free with his tongue, but just as free with his arf-sovereigns. +Well, I'm not going to peach if the proctor don't send again in +the morning. That sort's good for the college; makes things +brisk; has his _wine_ from town, and don't keep no keys. I +wonder, now, if my Peter's been out a fighting? He's pretty nigh +as hard to manage, is that boy, as if he was at college hisself." + +And so, muttering over his domestic and professional grievances, +the small janitor composed himself to a nap. I may add, +parenthetically, that his hopeful Peter, a precocious youth of +seventeen, scout's boy on No. 3 staircase of St. Ambrose's +College, was represented in the boot cleaning and errand line by +a substitute for some days; and when he returned to duty was +minus a front tooth. + +"What fools we were not to stick to the Captain. I wonder what we +shall get," said Tom, who was troubled in his mind at the +proctor's message, and not gifted naturally with the recklessness +and contempt of authority which in Drysdale's case approached the +sublime. + +"Who cares? I'll be bound, now, the old fox came straight home to +earth. Let's go and knock him up." + +Tom assented, for he was anxious to consult Jervis as to his +proceedings in the morning; so they soon found themselves +drumming at his oak, which was opened shortly by "the stroke" in +an old boating-jacket. They followed him in. At one end of his +table stood his tea-service and the remains of his commons, which +the scout had not cleared away; at the other, open books, +note-books, and maps showed that the Captain read, as he rowed, +"hard all." + +"Well, are you two only just in?" + +"Only just, my Captain," answered Drysdale. + +"Have you been well thrashed, then? You don't look much damaged?" + +"We are innocent of fight since your sudden departure--flight, +shall I call it?--my Captain." + +"Where have you been?" + +"Where! why in the paragon of all pot houses; snug little bar +with red curtains; stout old benevolent female in spectacles; +barmaid an houri; and for malt the most touching tap in Oxford, +wasn't it, Brown?" + +"Yes, the beer was undeniable," said Tom. + +"Well, and you dawdled there till now?" said Jervis. + +"Even so. What with mobs that wouldn't fight fair, the captains +who would run away, and the proctors marshals who would +interfere, we were 'perfectly disgusted with the whole +proceedings,' as the Scotchman said when he was sentenced to be +hanged." + +"Well! Heaven, they say, protects children, sailors, and drunken +men; and whatever answer to Heaven in the academical system +protects freshmen," remarked Jervis. + +"Not us, at any rate," said Tom, "for we are to go to the proctor +to-morrow morning." + +"What, did he catch you in your famous public?" + +"No; the marshal came round to the porter's lodge, asked if we +were in, and left word that, if we were not, we were to go to him +in the morning. The porter told us just now as we came in." + +"Pshaw," said the Captain, with disgust; "now you'll be gated +probably, and the whole crew will be thrown out of gear. Why +couldn't you have come home when I did?" + +"We do not propose to attend the levee of that excellent person +in office to-morrow morning," said Drysdale. "He will forget all +about it. Old Copas won't say a word--catch him. He gets too much +out of me for that." + +"Well, you'll see; I'll back the proctor's memory." + +"But, Captain, what are you going to stand?" + +"Stand! nothing, unless you like a cup of cold tea. You'll get no +wine or spirits here at this time of night, and the buttery is +shut. Besides you've had quite as much beer as good for you at +your paragon public." + +"Come, now, Captain, just two glasses of sherry, and I'll promise +to go to bed." + +"Not a thimbleful." + +"You old tyrant!" said Drysdale, hopping off his perch on the +elbow of the sofa. "Come along, Brown, let's go and draw for some +supper, and a hand at Van John. There's sure to be something +going up my staircase; or, at any rate, there's a cool bottle of +claret in my rooms." + +"Stop and have a talk, Brown," said the Captain, and prevailed +against Drysdale, who, after another attempt to draw Tom off, +departed on his quest for drink and cards. + +"He'll never do for the boat, I'm afraid," said the Captain; +"with his rascally late hours, and drinking and eating all sorts +of trash. It's a pity, too for he's a pretty oar for his weight." + +"He is such uncommon good company, too," said Tom. + +"Yes; but I'll tell you what. He's just a leetle too good company +for you and me, or any fellows who mean to take a degree. Let's +see, this is only his third term? I'll give him, perhaps, two +more to make the place too hot to hold him. Take my word for it, +he'll never get to his little-go." + +"It will be a great pity, then," said Tom. + +"So it will. But after all, you see, what does it matter to him? +He gets rusticated; takes his name off with a flourish of +trumpets--what then? He falls back on 5,000L a year in land, and +a good accumulation in consols, runs abroad or lives in town for +a year. Takes the hounds when he comes of age, or is singled out +by some discerning constituency, and sent to make laws for his +country, having spent the whole of his life hitherto in breaking +all the laws he ever came under. You and I, perhaps, go fooling +about with him, and get rusticated. We make our friends +miserable. We can't take our names off, but have to come cringing +back at the end of our year, marked men. Keep our tails between +our legs for the rest of the time. Lose a year at our +professions, and most likely have the slip casting up against us +in one way or another for the next twenty years. It's like the +old story of the giant and the dwarf, or like fighting a sweep, +or any other one-sided business." + +"But I'd sooner have to fight my own way in the world after all; +wouldn't you?" said Tom. + +"H-m-m!" said the Captain, throwing himself back in the chair, +and smiling; "can't answer off hand. I'm a third year man, and +begin to see the other side rather clearer than I did when I was +a freshman like you. Three years at Oxford, my boy, will teach +you something of what rank and money count for, if they teach you +nothing else." + +"Why, here's the Captain singing the same song as Hardy," thought +Tom. + +"So you two have to go to the proctor to-morrow?" + +"Yes." + +"Shall you go? Drysdale won't." + +"Of course I shall. It seems to me childish not to go; as if I +were back in the lower school again. To tell you the truth, the +being sent for isn't pleasant; but the other I couldn't stand." + +"Well, I don't feel anything of that sort. But I think you're +right on the whole. The chances are that he'll remember your +name, and send for you again if you don't go; and then you'll be +worse off." + +"You don't think he'll rusticate us, or anything of that sort?" +said Tom, who had felt horrible twinges at the Captain's picture +of the effects of rustication on ordinary mortals. + +"No; not unless he's in a very bad humour. I was caught three +times in one night in my freshman's term, and only got an +imposition." + +"Then I don't care," said Tom. "But it's a bore to have been +caught in so seedy an affair; if it had been a real good row, one +wouldn't have minded so much." + +"Why, what did you expect? It was neither better nor worse than +the common run of such things." + +"Well, but three parts of the crowd were boys." + +"So they are always--or nine times out of ten at any rate." + +"But there was no real fighting; at least, I only know I got +none." + +"There isn't any real fighting, as you call it, nine times out of +ten." + +"What is there, then?" + +"Why, something of this sort. Five shopboys, or scouts' boys, +full of sauciness, loitering at an out-of-the-way street corner. +Enter two freshmen, full of dignity and bad wine. Explosion of +inflammable material. Freshmen mobbed into High-street or +Broad-street, where the tables are turned by a gathering of many +more freshmen, and the mob of town boys quietly subsides, puts +its hands in its pockets, and ceases to shout 'Town, town!' The +triumphant freshmen march up and down for perhaps half an hour, +shouting 'Gown, gown!' and looking furious, but not half sorry +that the mob vanishes like mist at their approach. Then come the +proctors, who hunt down, and break up the gown in some half-hour +or hour. The 'town' again marches about in the ascendant, and +mobs the scattered freshmen, wherever they can be caught in very +small numbers." + +"But with all your chaff about freshmen, Captain, you were in it +yourself to-night; come now." + +"Of course, I had to look after you two boys." + +"But you didn't know we were in when you came up?" + +"I was sure to find some of you. Besides, I'll admit one don't +like to go in while there's any chance of a real row as you call +it, and so gets proctorized in one's old age for one's +patriotism." + +"Were you ever in a real row?" said Tom. + +"Yes, once, about a year ago. The fighting numbers were about +equal, and the town all grown men, labourers and mechanics. It +was desperate hard work, none of your shouting and promenading. +That Hardy, one of our Bible clerks, fought like a Paladin; I +know I shifted a fellow in corduroys on to him, whom I had found +an uncommon tough customer, and never felt better pleased in my +life than when I saw the light glance on his hobnails as he went +over into the gutter two minutes afterwards. It lasted, perhaps, +ten minutes, and both sides were very glad to draw off." + +"But, of course, you licked them?" + +"We said we did." + +"Well, I believe that a gentleman will always lick in a fair +fight." + +"Of course you do, it's the orthodox belief." + +"But don't you?" + +"Yes; if he is as big and strong, and knows how to fight as well +as the other. The odds are that he cares a little more for giving +in, and that will pull him through." + +"That isn't saying much, though." + +"No, but it's quite as much as is true. I'll tell you what it is, +I think just this, that we are generally better in the fighting +way than shopkeepers, clerks, flunkies, and all fellows who don't +work hard with their bodies all day. But the moment you come to +the real hard-fisted fellow; used to nine or ten hours' work a +day, he's a cruel hard customer. Take seventy or eighty of them +at haphazard, the first you meet, and turn them into St. Ambrose +any morning--by night I take it they would be lords of this +venerable establishment if we had to fight for the possession; +except, perhaps, for that Hardy--he's one of a thousand, and was +born for a fighting man; perhaps he might pull us through." + +"Why don't you try him in the boat?" + +"Miller manages all that. I spoke to him about it after that row, +but he said that Hardy had refused to subscribe to the club, said +he couldn't afford it, or something of the sort. I don't see why +that need matter, myself, but I suppose, as we have rules, we +ought to stick to them." + +"It's a great pity though. I know Hardy well, and you can't think +what a fine fellow he is." + +"I'm sure of that. I tried to know him, and we don't get on badly +as speaking acquaintance. But he seems a queer, solitary bird." + +Twelve o'clock struck; so Tom wished the Captain good night and +departed, meditating much on what he had heard and seen. The +vision of terrible single combats, in which the descendant of a +hundred earls polishes off the huge representative of the masses +in the most finished style, without a scratch on his own +aristocratic features, had faded from his mind. + +He went to bed that night, fairly sickened with his experience of +a town and gown row, and with a nasty taste in his mouth. But he +felt much pleased at having drawn out the Captain so completely. +For "the stroke" was in general a man of marvellous few words, +having many better uses than talking to put his breath to. + +Next morning he attended at the proctor's rooms at the appointed +time, not without some feeling of shame at having to do so; +which, however, wore off when he found some dozen men of other +colleges waiting about on the same errand as himself. In his turn +he was ushered in, and as he stood by the door, had time to look +the great man over as he sat making a note of the case he had +just disposed of. The inspection was reassuring. The proctor was +a gentlemanly, straight-forward looking man of about thirty, not +at all donnish, and his address answered to his appearance. + +"Mr. Brown, of St. Ambrose's, I think," he said. + +"Yes, sir." + +"I sent you to your college yesterday evening; did you go +straight home?" + +"No, sir." + +"How was that, Mr. Brown?" + +Tom made no answer, and the proctor looked at him steadily for a +few seconds, and then repeated. + +"How was that?" + +"Well, sir," said Tom, "I don't mean to say I was going straight +to college, but I should have been in long before you sent, only +I fell in with the mob again, and then there was a cry that you +were coming. And so-" He paused. + +"Well," said the proctor, with a grim sort of curl about the +corners of his mouth. + +"Why, I ran away, and turned into the first place which was open, +and stopped till the streets were quiet." + +"A public house, I suppose." + +"Yes, sir; 'The Choughs.'" + +The proctor considered a minute, and again scrutinized Tom's look +and manner, which certainly were straightforward, and without any +tinge of cringing or insolence. + +"How long have you been up?" + +"This is my second term, sir." + +"You have never been sent to me before, I think?" + +"Never, sir." + +"Well, I can't overlook this, as you yourself confess to a direct +act of disobedience. You must write me out 200 lines of Virgil. +And now, Mr. Brown, let me advise you to keep out of disreputable +street quarrels in future. Good morning." + +Tom hurried away, wondering what it would feel like to be writing +out Virgil again as a punishment at his time of life, but glad +above measure that the proctor had asked him no questions about +his companion. The hero was of course, mightily tickled at the +result, and seized the occasion to lecture Tom on his future +conduct, holding himself up as a living example of the benefits +which were sure to accrue to a man who never did anything he was +told to do. The soundness of his reasoning, however, was somewhat +shaken by the dean, who, on the same afternoon, managed to catch +him in quad; and, carrying him off, discoursed with him +concerning his various and systematic breaches of discipline, +pointed out to him that he had already made such good use of his +time that if he were to be discommonsed for three more days he +would lose his term; and then took off his cross, gave him a book +of Virgil to write out and gated him for a fortnight after hall. +Drysdale sent out his scout to order his punishment as he might +have ordered a waistcoat, presented old Copas with a +half-sovereign, and then dismissed punishment and gating from his +mind. He cultivated with great success the science of mental +gymnastics, or throwing everything the least unpleasant off his +mind at once. And no doubt it is a science worthy of all +cultivation, if one desires to lead a comfortable life. It gets +harder, however, as the years roll over us, to attain to any +satisfactory proficiency in it; so it should be mastered as early +in life as may be. + +The town and gown row was the talk of the college for the next +week. Tom, of course, talked much about it, like his neighbors, +and confided to one and another the Captain's heresies. They were +all incredulous; for no one had ever heard him talk as much in a +term as Tom reported him to have done on this one evening. + +So it was resolved that he should be taken to task on the subject +on the first opportunity; and, as nobody was afraid of him, there +was no difficulty in finding a man to bell the cat. Accordingly, +at the next wine of the boating set, the Captain had scarcely +entered when he was assailed by the host with-- + +"Jervis, Brown says you don't believe a gentleman can lick a cad, +unless he is the biggest and strongest of the two." + +The Captain, who hated coming out with his beliefs, shrugged his +shoulders, sipped his wine, and tried to turn the subject. But, +seeing that they were all bent on drawing him out, he was not the +man to run from his guns; and so he said quietly: + +"No more I do." + +Notwithstanding the reverence in which he was held, this saying +could not be allowed to pass, and a dozen voices were instantly +raised, and a dozen authentic stories told to confute him. He +listened patiently, and then, seeing he was in for it, said: + +"Never mind fighting. Try something else; cricket, for instance. +The players generally beat the gentlemen, don't they?" + +"Yes; but they are professionals." + +"Well, and we don't often get a university crew which can beat +the watermen?" + +"Professionals again." + +"I believe the markers are the best tennis-players, ain't they?" +persevered the Captain; "and I generally find keepers and +huntsmen shooting and riding better than their master's, don't +you?" + +"But that's not fair. All the cases you put are those of men who +have nothing else to do, who live by the things gentlemen only +take up for pleasure." + +"I only say that the cads, as you call them, manage, somehow or +another, to do them best," said the Captain. + +"How about the army and navy? The officers always lead." + +"Well, there they're all professionals, at any rate," said the +Captain. "I admit that the officers lead; but the men follow +pretty close. And in a forlorn hope there are fifty men to one +officer, after all." + +"But they must be led. The men will never go without an officer +to lead." + +"It's the officers' business to lead, I know; and they do it. But +you won't find the best judges talking as if the men wanted much +leading. Read Napier: the finest story in his book is of the +sergeant who gave his life for his boy officer's--your namesake, +Brown--at the Coa." + +"Well, I never thought to hear you crying down gentlemen." + +"I'm not crying down gentlemen," said the Captain. "I only say +that a gentleman's flesh and blood, and brains, are just the +same, and no better than another man's. He has all the chances on +his side in the way of training, and pretty near all the prizes; +so it would be hard if he didn't do most things better than poor +men. But give them the chance of training, and they will tread on +his heels soon enough. That's all I say." + +That was all, certainly, that the Captain said, and then relapsed +into his usual good-tempered monosyllabic state; from which all +the eager talk of the men, who took up the cudgels naturally +enough for their own class, and talked themselves before the wine +broke up into a renewed consciousness of their natural +superiority, failed again to rouse him. + +This was, in fact, the Captain's weak point, if he had one. He +had strong beliefs himself; one of the strongest of which was, +that nobody could be taught anything except by his own +experience; so he never, or very rarely, exercised his own +personal influence, but just quietly went on his own way, and let +other men go theirs. Another of his beliefs was, that there was +no man or thing in the world too bad to be tolerated; faithfully +acting up to which belief, the Captain himself tolerated persons +and things intolerable. + +Bearing which facts in mind, the reader will easily guess the +result of the application which the crew duly made to him the day +after Miller's back was turned. He simply said that the training +they proposed would not be enough, and that he himself should +take all who chose to go down, to Abingdon twice a week. From +that time there were many defaulters; and the spirit of Diogenes +groaned within him, as day after day the crew had to be filled up +from the torpid or by watermen. Drysdale would ride down to +Sandford, meeting the boat on its way up, and then take his place +for the pull up to Oxford, while his groom rode his horse up to +Folly bridge to meet him. There he would mount again and ride off +to Bullingdon, or to the Isis, or Quentin, or other social +meeting equally inimical to good training. Blake often absented +himself three days in a week, and other men once or twice. + +From considering which facts, Tom came to understand the +difference between his two heroes; their strong likeness in many +points he had seen from the first. They were alike in +truthfulness, bravery, bodily strength, and in most of their +opinions. But Jervis worried himself about nothing, and let all +men and things alone, in the belief that the world was not going +so very wrong, or would right itself somehow without him. Hardy, +on the other hand, was consuming his heart over everything that +seemed to him to be going wrong in himself and round about +him--in the college, in Oxford, in England, in the ends of the +earth, and never letting slip a chance of trying to set right, +here a thread, and there a thread. A self-questioning, much +enduring man; a slayer of dragons himself, and one with whom you +could not live much without getting uncomfortably aware of the +dragons which you also had to slay. + +What wonder that, apart altogether from the difference in their +social position, the one man was ever becoming more and more +popular, while the other was left more and more to himself. There +are few of us at Oxford, or elsewhere, who do not like to see a +man living a brave and righteous life, so long as he keeps clear +of us; and still fewer who _do_ like to be in constant contact +with one who, not content with so living himself, is always +coming across them, and laying bare to them their own +faint-heartedness, and sloth, and meanness. The latter, no doubt, +inspires the deeper feeling, and lays hold with a firmer grip of +the men he does lay hold of, but they are few. For men can't +always keep up to high pressure till they have found firm ground +to build upon, altogether outside of themselves; and it is hard +to be thankful and fair to those who are showing us time after +time that our foothold is nothing but shifting sand. + +The contrast between Jervis and Hardy now began to force itself +daily more and more on our hero's attention. + +From the night of the town and gown row, "The Choughs" became a +regular haunt of the crew, who were taken there under the +guidance of Tom and Drysdale the next day. Not content with +calling there on his way from the boats, there was seldom an +evening now that Tom did not manage to drop in and spend an hour +there. + +When one is very much bent on doing a thing, it is generally easy +enough to find very good reasons, or excuses at any rate, for it; +and whenever any doubts crossed Tom's mind, he silenced them by +the reflection that the time he spent at "The Choughs" would +otherwise have been devoted to wine parties or billiards; and it +was not difficult to persuade himself that his present occupation +was the more wholesome of the two. He could not, however, feel +satisfied till he had mentioned his change in life to Hardy. This +he found a much more embarrassing matter than he fancied it would +be. But, after one or two false starts, he managed to get out +that he had found the best glass of ale in Oxford, at a quiet +little public on the way to the boats, kept by the most perfect +of widows, with a factotum of an ostler, who was a regular +character, and that he went there most evenings for an hour or +so. Wouldn't Hardy come some night? + +No, Hardy couldn't spare the time. + +Tom felt rather relieved at this answer; but, nevertheless went +on to urge the excellence of the ale as a further inducement. + +"I don't believe it's half so good as our college beer, and I'll +be bound it's half as dear again." + +"Only a penny a pint dearer," said Tom, "that won't ruin +you,--all the crew go there." + +"If I were the Captain," said Hardy, "I wouldn't let you run +about drinking ale at night after wine parties. Does he know +about it?" + +"Yes, and goes there himself often on the way from the boats," +said Tom. + +"And at night, too?" said Hardy. + +"No," said Tom, "but I don't go there after drinking wine; I +haven't been to a wine these ten days, at least not for more than +five minutes." + +"Well, sound ale is better than Oxford wine," said Hardy, "if you +must drink something;" and so the subject dropped. + +And Tom went away satisfied that Hardy had not disapproved of his +new habit. It certainly occurred to him that he had omitted all +mention of the pretty barmaid in his enumeration of the +attractions of "The Choughs," but he set down to mere accident; +it was a slip which he would set right in their next talk. But +that talk never came, and the subject was not again mentioned +between them. In fact, to tell the truth, Tom's visits to his +friend's rooms in the evenings became shorter and less frequent +as "The Choughs" absorbed more and more of his time. He made +excuses to himself, that Hardy must be glad of more time, and +would be only bored if he kept dropping in every night, now that +the examination for degree was so near; that he was sure he drove +Grey away, who would be of much more use to Hardy just now. +These, and many other equally plausible reasons, suggested +themselves whenever his conscience smote him for his neglect, as +it did not seldom. But he always managed to satisfy himself +somehow, without admitting the real fact, that these visits were +no longer what they had been to him; that a gulf had sprung up, +and was widening day by day between him and the only friend who +would have had the courage and honesty to tell him the truth +about his new pursuit. Meantime Hardy was much pained at the +change in his friend, which _he_ saw quickly enough, and often +thought over it with a sigh as he sat at his solitary tea. He set +it down to his own dullness, to the number of new friends such a +sociable fellow as Tom was sure to make, and who, of course, +would take up more and more of his time; and, if he felt a little +jealousy every now and then, put it resolutely back, struggling +to think no evil, or if there were any, to lay it on his own +shoulders. + +Cribbage is a most virtuous and respectable game, and yet +scarcely, one would think, possessing in itself sufficient +attractions to keep a young gentleman in his twentieth year tied +to the board, and going through the quaint calculation night +after night of "fifteen two, fifteen four, two for his nob, and +one for his heels." The old lady of "The Choughs" liked nothing +so much as her game of cribbage in the evenings, and the board +lay ready on the little table by her elbow in the cozy bar, a +sure stepping-stone to her good graces. Tom somehow became an +enthusiast in cribbage, and would always loiter behind his +companions for his quiet game; chatting pleasantly while the old +lady cut and shuffled the dirty pack, striving keenly for the +nightly stake of sixpence, which he seldom failed to lose, and +laughingly wrangling with her over the last points in the game +which decided the transfer of the two sixpences (duly posted in +the snuffer-tray beside the cribbage-board) into his waistcoat +pocket or her bag, until she would take off her spectacles to +wipe them, and sink back in her chair exhausted with the pleasing +excitement. + +Such an odd taste as it seemed, too, a bystander might reasonably +have thought, when he might have been employing his time so much +more pleasantly in the very room. For, flitting in and out of the +bar during the game, and every now and then stooping over the old +lady's shoulder to examine her hand, and exchange knowing looks +with her, was the lithe little figure of Miss Patty, with her +oval race, and merry eyes, and bright brown hair, and jaunty +little cap, with fresh blue ribbons of the shade of the St. +Ambrose colors. However, there is no accounting for tastes, and +it is fortunate that some like apples and some onions. It may +possibly be, too, that Miss Patty did not feel herself neglected, +or did not care about attention. Perhaps she may not have been +altogether unconscious that every least motion and word of hers +was noticed, even when the game was at its keenest. At any rate, +it was clear enough that she and Tom were on the best terms, +though she always took her aunt's part vehemently in any little +dispute which arose, and sometimes even came to the rescue at the +end, and recaptured the vanished sixpences out of the wrongful +grasp which he generally laid on them the moment the old lady +held out her hand and pronounced the word "game." One knows that +size has little to do with strength, or one might have wondered +that her little hands should have been able to open his fingers +so surely one by one, though he seemed to do all he could to keep +them shut. But, after all, if he really thought he had a right to +the money, he had always time to put it in his pocket at once, +instead of keeping his clenched hand on the table, and arguing +about it till she had time to get up to the succour of her aunt. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--THE FIRST BUMP + +"What's the time, Smith?" + +"Half-past three, old fellow," answered Diogenes, looking at his +watch. + +"I never knew a day go so slowly," said Tom; "isn't it time to go +down to the boats?" + +"Not by two hours and more, old fellow--can't you take a book, or +something to keep you quiet? You won't be fit for anything by six +o'clock, if you go on worrying like this." And so Diogenes turned +himself to his flute, and blew away to all appearances as +composedly as if it had been the first week of term, though, if +the truth must be told, it was all he could do not to get up and +wander about in a feverish and distracted state, for Tom's +restlessness infected him. + +Diogenes' whole heart was in the college boat; and so, though he +had pulled dozens of races in his time, he was almost as nervous +as a freshman on this the first day of the races. Tom, all +unconscious of the secret discomposure of the other, threw +himself into a chair and looked at him with wonder and envy. The +flute went "toot, toot, toot," till he could stand it no longer. +So he got up and went to the window, and, leaning out, looked up +and down the street for some minutes in a purposeless sort of +fashion, staring hard at everybody and everything, but +unconscious all the time that he was doing so. He would not have +been able in fact, to answer Diogenes a word, had not that worthy +inquired of him what he had seen, when he presently drew in his +head and returned to his fidgety ramblings about the room. + +"How hot the sun is! but there's a stiff breeze from the +south-east. I hope it will go down before the evening, don't +you?" + +"Yes, this wind will make it very rough below the Gut. Mind you +feather high now at starting." + +"I hope to goodness I sha'n't catch a crab," said Tom. + +"Don't think about it, old fellow; that's your best plan." + +"But I can't think of anything else," said Tom. "What the deuce +is the good of telling a fellow not to think about it?" + +Diogenes apparently had nothing particular to reply, for he put +his flute to his mouth again; and at the sound of the "toot, +toot" Tom caught up his gown and fled into the quadrangle. + +The crew had had their early dinner of steaks and chops, stale +bread, and a glass and a half of old beer a piece at two o'clock, +in the Captain's rooms. The current theory of training at that +time was--as much meat as you could eat, the more underdone the +better, and the smallest amount of drink upon which you could +manage to live. Two pints in the twenty-four hours was all that +most boat's crews that pretended to train at all were allowed, +and for the last fortnight it had been the nominal allowance of +the St. Ambrose crew. The discomfort of such a diet in the hot +summer months, when you were at the same time taking regular and +violent exercise, was something very serious. Outraged human +nature rebelled against it; and though they did not admit it in +public, there were very few men who did not rush to their water +bottles for relief, more or less often, according to the +development of their bumps of conscientiousness and obstinacy. To +keep to the diet at all strictly involved a very respectable +amount of physical endurance. Our successors have found out the +unwisdom of this, as of other old superstitions; and that in +order to get a man into training for a boat-race now-a-days, it +is not of the first importance to keep him in a constant state of +consuming thirst, and the restlessness of body and sharpness of +temper which thirst generally induces. + +Tom appreciated the honor of being in the boat in his first year +so keenly, that he had almost managed to keep to his training +allowance, and consequently, now that the eventful day had +arrived, was in a most uncomfortable frame of body and +disagreeable frame of mind. + +He fled away from Diogenes' flute, but found no rest. He tried +Drysdale. That hero was lying on his back on his sofa playing +with Jack, and only increased Tom's thirst and soured his temper +by the viciousness of his remarks on boating, and everything and +person connected therewith; above all, on Miller, who had just +come up, had steered them the day before, and pronounced the crew +generally, and Drysdale in particular, "not half trained." + +Blake's oak was sported, as usual. Tom looked in at the Captain's +door, but found him hard at work reading, and so carried himself +off; and, after a vain hunt after others of the crew, and even +trying to sit down and read, first a novel, then a play of +Shakespeare, with no success whatever, wandered away out of the +college, and found himself in five minutes, by a natural and +irresistible attraction, on the university barge. + +There were half a dozen men or so reading the papers, and a group +or two discussing the coming races. Amongst other things the +chances of St. Ambrose's making a bump the first night were +weighed. Every one joining in praising the stroke, but there were +great doubts whether the crew could live up to it. Tom carried +himself on to the top of the barge to get out of hearing, for +listening made his heart beat and his throat drier than ever. He +stood on the top and looked right away down to the Gut, the +strong wind blowing his gown about. Not even a pair oar was to be +seen; the great event of the evening made the river a solitude at +this time of day. Only one or two skiffs were coming home, +impelled by reading men, who took their constitutionals on the +water, and were coming in to be in time for afternoon chapel. The +fastest and best of these soon came near enough for Tom to +recognize Hardy's stroke; so he left the barge and went down to +meet the servitor at his landing, and accompanied him to the St. +Ambrose dressing-room. + +"Well, how do you feel for the race to-night?" said Hardy, as he +dried his neck and face, which he had been sluicing with cold +water, looking as hardy and bright as a racer on Derby day. + +"Oh, wretched! I'm afraid I shall break down" said Tom, and +pouring out some of his doubts and miseries. Hardy soon comforted +him greatly; and by the time they were half across Christchurch +meadow, he was quite in heart again. For he knew how well Hardy +understood rowing, and what a sound judge he was; and it was +therefore cheering to hear that he thought they were certainly +the second best, if not the best boat on the river; and that they +would be sure to make some bumps unless they had accidents. + +"But that's just what I fear so," said Tom. "I'm afraid I shall +make some awful blunder." + +"Not you!" said Hardy; "only remember. Don't you fancy you can +pull the boat by yourself, and go to trying to do it. There's +where young oars fail. If you keep thorough good time you'll be +pretty sure to be doing your share of work. Time is everything, +almost." + +"I'll be sure to think of that," said Tom; and they entered St. +Ambrose just as the chapel bell was going down; and he went to +chapel and then to hall, sitting by and talking for companionship +while the rest dined. + +And so at last the time slipped away, and the Captain and Miller +mustered them at the gates and walked off to the boats. A dozen +other crews were making their way in the same direction, and half +the undergraduates of Oxford streamed along with them. The banks +of the river were crowded; and the punts plied rapidly backwards +and forwards, carrying loads of men over to the Berkshire side. +The university barge, and all the other barges, were decked with +flags, and the band was playing lively airs as the St. Ambrose +crew reached the scene of action. + +No time was lost in the dressing-room, and in two minutes they +were all standing in flannel trousers and silk jerseys at the +landing-place. + +"You had better keep your jackets on," said the Captain; "we +sha'n't be off yet." + +"There goes Brazen-nose." + +"They look like work, don't they?" + +"The black and yellow seems to slip along so fast. They're no end +of good colors. I wish our new boat was black." + +"Hang her colors, if she's only stiff in the back, and don't +dip." + +"Well, she didn't dip yesterday; at least, the men on the bank +said so." + +"There go Baliol, and Oriel, and University." + +"By Jove, we shall be late! Where's Miller?" + +"In the shed, getting the boat out. Look, here's Exeter." + +The talk of the crew was silenced for the moment as every man +looked eagerly at the Exeter boat. The Captain nodded to Jervis +with a grim smile as they paddled gently by. + +Then the talk began again, "How do you think she goes?" + +"Not so badly. They're very strong in the middle of the boat." + +"Not a bit of it; it's all lumber." + +"You'll see. They're better trained than we are. They look as +fine as stars." + +"So they ought. They've pulled seven miles to our five for the +last month, I'm sure." + +"Then we sha'n't bump them." + +"Why not?" + +"Don't you know that the value of products consist in the +quantity of labor which goes to produce them? Product pace over +course from Iffley up. Labor expended, Exeter 7; St. Ambrose, 5. +You see it is not in the nature of things that we should bump +them--Q.E.D." + +"What moonshine! as if ten miles behind their stroke are worth +two behind Jervis!" + +"My dear fellow, it isn't my moonshine; you must settle the +matter with the philosophers. I only apply a universal law to a +particular case." + +Tom, unconscious of the pearls of economic lore which were being +poured out for the benefit of the crew, was watching the Exeter +eight as it glided away towards the Cherwell. He thought they +seemed to keep horribly good time. + +"Halloa, Drysdale; look, there's Jack going across in one of the +punts." + +"Of course it is. You don't suppose he would go down to see the +race." + +"Why won't Miller let us start? Almost all the boats are off." + +"There's plenty of time. We may just as well be up here as +dawdling about the bank at Iffley." + +"We sha'n't go down till the last; Miller never lets us get out +down below." + +"Well, come; here's the boat, at last." + +The new boat now emerged from its shed, guided steadily to where +they were standing by Miller and the waterman. Then the coxswain +got out and called for bow, who stepped forward. + +"Mind how you step now, there are no bottom boards, said Miller. + +"Shall I take my jacket?" + +"Yes; you had better all go down in jackets in this wind. I've +sent a man down to bring them back. Now two." + +"Aye, aye!" said Drysdale, stepping forward. Then came Tom's +turn, and soon the boat was manned. + +"Now," said Miller, taking his place, "are all your stretchers +right?" + +"I should like a little more grease on my rollocks." + +"I'm taking some down; we'll put it on down below. Are you all +right?" + +"Yes." + +"Then push her off--gently." + +The St. Ambrose boat was almost the last, so there were no punts +in the way, or other obstructions; and they swung steadily down +past the university barge, the top of which was already covered +with spectators. Every man in the boat felt as if the eyes of +Europe were on him, and pulled in his very best form. Small +groups of gownsmen were scattered along the bank in Christchurch +meadow, chiefly dons, who were really interested in the races, +but, at that time of day, seldom liked to display enthusiasm +enough to cross the water and go down to the starting-place. +These sombre groups lighted up here and there by the dresses of a +few ladies, who were walking up and down, and watching the boats. +At the mouth of the Cherwell were moored two punts, in which +reclined at their ease some dozen young gentlemen, smoking; +several of these were friends of Drysdale's, and hailed him as +the boat passed. + +"What a fool I am to be here!" he grumbled, in an undertone, +casting an envious glance at the punts in their comfortable +berth, up under the banks, and out of the wind. "I say, Brown, +don't you wish we were well past this on the way up?" + +"Silence in the bows?" shouted Miller. + +"You devil, how I hate you!" growled Drysdale, half in jest and +half in earnest, as they sped along under the willows. + +Tom got more comfortable at every stroke, and by the time they +reached the Gut began to hope that he should not have a fit or +lose all his strength just at the start, or cut a crab, or come +to some other unutterable grief, the fear of which had been +haunting him all day. + +"Here they are at last!--come along now--keep up with them," said +Hardy to Grey, as the boat neared the Gut; and the two trotted +along downwards, Hardy watching the crew and Grey watching him. + +"Hardy, how eager you look!" + +"I'd give twenty pounds to be going to pull in the race." Grey +shambled on in silence by the side of his big friend, and wished +he could understand what it was that moved him so. + +As the boat shot into the Gut from under the cover of the +Oxfordshire bank, the wind caught the bows. + +"Feather high, now," shouted Miller; and then added in a low +voice to the Captain, "It will be ticklish work, starting in this +wind." + +"Just as bad for all the other boats," answered the Captain. + +"Well said, old philosopher!" said Miller. "It's a comfort to +steer you; you never make a fellow nervous. I wonder if you ever +felt nervous yourself, now?" + +"Can't say," said the Captain. "Here's our post; we may as well +turn." + +"Easy, bow side--now two and four, pull her round--back water, +seven and five!" shouted the coxswain; and the boat's head swung +round, and two or three strokes took her into the bank. + +Jack instantly made a convulsive attempt to board, but was +sternly repulsed, and tumbled backwards into the water. + +Hark!--the first gun. The report sent Tom's heart into his mouth +again. Several of the boats pushed off at once into the stream; +and the crowds of men on the bank began to be agitated, as it +were, by the shadow of the coming excitement. The St. Ambrose +crew fingered their oars, put a last dash of grease on their +rollocks, and settled their feet against the stretchers. + +"Shall we push her off?" asked "bow." + +"No, I can give you another minute," said Miller, who was +sitting, watch in hand, in the stern, "only be smart when I give +the word." + +The Captain turned on his seat, and looked up the boat. His face +was quiet, but full of confidence, which seemed to pass from him +into the crew. Tom felt calmer and stronger, he met his eye. "Now +mind, boys, don't quicken," he said, cheerily; "four short +strokes, to get way on her, and then steady. Here, pass up the +lemon." + +And he took a sliced lemon out of his pocket, put a small piece +into his own mouth, and then handed it to Blake, who followed his +example, and passed it on. Each man took a piece; and just as +"bow" had secured the end, Miller called out-- + +"Now, jackets off, and get her head out steadily." + +The jackets were thrown on shore, and gathered up by the boatmen +in attendance. The crew poised their oars, No. 2 pushing out her +head, and the Captain doing the same for the stern. Miller took +the starting-rope in his hand. + +"How the wind catches her stern," he said; "here, pay out the +rope, one of you. No, not you--some fellow with a strong hand. +Yes, you'll do," he went on, as Hardy stepped down the bank and +took hold of the rope; "let me have it foot by foot as I want it. +Not too quick; make the most of it--that'll do. Two and three dip +your oars in to give her way." + +The rope paid out steadily, and the boat settled to her place. +But now the wind rose again, and the stern drifted towards the +bank. + +"You _must_ back her a bit, Miller, and keep her a little further +out, or our oars on stroke side will catch the bank." + +"So I see; curse the wind. Back her, one stroke all. Back her, I +say!" shouted Miller. + +It is no easy matter to get a crew to back her an inch just now, +particularly as there are in her two men who have never rowed a +race before, except in the torpids, and one who has never rowed a +race in his life. + +However, back she comes; the starting-rope slackens in Miller's +left hand, and the stroke, unshipping his oar, pushes the stern +gently out again. + +There goes the second gun! one short minute more, and we are off. +Short minute, indeed! you wouldn't say so if you were in the +boat, with your heart in your mouth, and trembling all over like +a man with the palsy. Those sixty seconds before the starting gun +in your first race--why, they are a little life-time. + +"By Jove, we are drifting in again," said Miller, in horror. The +Captain looked grim, but said nothing; it was too late now for +him to be unshipping again. "Here, catch hold of the long +boat-hook, and fend her off." + +Hardy, to whom this was addressed, seized the boat-hook, and, +standing with one foot in the water, pressed the end of the +boat-hook against the gunwale, at the full stretch of his arm, +and so by main force, kept the stern out. There was just room for +stroke oars to dip, and that was all. The starting-rope was as +taut as a harp-string; will Miller's left hand hold out? + +[Illustration: 0170] + +It is an awful moment. But the coxswain, though almost dragged +backwards off his seat, is equal to the occasion. He holds his +watch in his right hand with the tiller rope. + +"Eight seconds more only. Look out for the flash. Remember, all +eyes in the boat." + +There it comes, at last--the flash of the starting gun. Long +before the sound of the report can roll up the river, the whole +pent-up life and energy which has been held in leash, as it were, +for the last six minutes, is let loose, and breaks away with a +bound and a dash which he who has felt it will remember for his +life, but the like of which, will he ever feel again? The +starting-ropes drop from the coxswains' hands, the oars flash +into the water, and gleam on the feather, the spray flies from +them, and the boats leap forward. + +The crowds on the bank scatter, and rush along, each keeping as +near as it may be to its own boat. Some of the men on the towing +path, some on the very edge of, often in, the water--some +slightly in advance, as if they could help to drag their boat +forward--some behind, where they can see the pulling better--but +all at full speed, in wild excitement, and shouting at the top of +their voices to those on whom the honor of the college is laid. + +"Well pulled, all!" + +"Pick her up there, five!" + +"You're gaining, +every stroke!" + +"Time in the bows!" + +"Bravo, St. Ambrose!" + +On they rushed by the side of the boats, jostling one another, +stumbling, struggling, and panting along. + +For a quarter of a mile along the bank the glorious maddening +hurly-burly extends, and rolls up the side of the stream. + +For the first ten strokes Tom was in too great fear of making a +mistake to feel or hear or see. His whole soul was glued to the +back of the man before him, his one thought to keep time, and get +his strength into the stroke. But as the crew settled down into +the well known long sweep, what we may call consciousness +returned; and while every muscle in his body was straining, and +his chest heaved, and his heart leapt, every nerve seemed to be +gathering new life, and his senses to wake into unwonted +acuteness. He caught the scent of the wild thyme in the air, and +found room in his brain to wonder how it could have got there, as +he had never seen the plant near the river, or smelt it before. +Though his eye never wandered from the back of Diogenes, he +seemed to see all things at once. The boat behind, which seemed +to be gaining--it was all he could do to prevent himself from +quickening on the stroke as he fancied that--the eager face of +Miller, with his compressed lips, and eyes fixed so earnestly +ahead that Tom could almost feel the glance passing over his +right shoulder; the flying banks and the shouting crowd; see them +with his bodily eyes he could not, but he knew nevertheless that +Grey had been upset and nearly rolled down the bank into the +water in the first hundred yards, that Jack was bounding and +scrambling and barking along by the very edge of the stream; +above all, he was just as well aware as if he had been looking at +it, of a stalwart form in cap and gown, bounding along, +brandishing the long boat-hook, and always keeping just opposite +the boat; and amid all the Babel of voices, and the dash and +pulse of the stroke, and the laboring of his own breathing, he +heard Hardy's voice coming to him again and again, and clear as +if there had been no other sound in the air, "Steady, two! +steady! well pulled! steady, steady!" The voice seemed to give +him strength and keep him to his work. And what work it was! he +had had many a hard pull in the last six weeks, but "never aught +like this." + +But it can't last for ever; men's muscles are not steel, or their +lungs bull's hide, and hearts can't go on pumping a hundred miles +an hour without bursting. The St. Ambrose's boat is well away +from the boat behind, there is a great gap between the +accompanying crowds; and now, as they near the Gut, she hangs for +a moment or two in hand, though the roar from the bank grows +louder and louder, and Tom is already aware that the St. Ambrose +crowd is melting into the one ahead of them. + +"We must be close to Exeter!" The thought flashes into him, and +it would seem into the rest of the crew at the same moment. For, +all at once, the strain seems taken off their arms again; there +is no more drag; she springs to the stroke as she did at the +start; and Miller's face which had darkened for a few seconds, +lightens up again. + +Miller's face and attitude are a study. Coiled up into the +smallest possible space, his chin almost resting on his knees, +his hands close to his sides, firmly but lightly feeling the +rudder, as a good horseman handles the mouth of a free-going +hunter,--if a coxswain could make a bump by his own exertions, +surely he will do it. No sudden jerks of the St. Ambrose rudder +will you see, watch as you will from the bank; the boat never +hangs through fault of his, but easily and gracefully rounds +every point. "You're gaining! you're gaining!" he now and then +mutters to the Captain, who responds with a wink, keeping his +breath for other matters. Isn't he grand, the Captain, as he +comes forward like lightening, stroke after stroke, his back +flat, his teeth set, his whole frame working from the hips with +the regularity of a machine? As the space still narrows, the eyes +of the fiery little coxswain flash with excitement, but he is far +too good a judge to hurry the final effort before victory is safe +in his grasp. + +The two crowds mingle now, and no mistake; and the shouts come +all in a heap over the water. "Now, St. Ambrose, six strokes +more." + +"Now, Exeter, you're gaining; pick her up." + +"Mind the Gut, +Exeter." + +"Bravo, St. Ambrose." The water rushes by, still eddying +from the strokes of the boat ahead. Tom fancies now that he can +hear their oars, and the working of their rudder, and the voice +of their coxswain. In another moment both boats are in the Gut, +and a perfect storm of shouts reaches them from the crowd, as it +rushes madly off to the left of the footbridge, amidst which "Oh, +well steered, well steered, St. Ambrose!" is the prevailing cry. +Then Miller, motionless as a statue till now, lifts his right +hand and whirls the tassel round his head; "Give it her now, +boys; six strokes and we are into them." Old Jervis lays down +that great broad back, and lashes his oar through the water with +the might of a giant, the crew caught him up in another stroke, +the tight new boat answers to the spurt, and Tom feels a little +shock behind him, and then a grating sound, as Miller shouts +"Unship oars, bow and three," and the nose of the St. Ambrose +boat glides quietly up the side of the Exeter, till it touches +their stroke oar. + +"Take care what you're coming to." It is the coxswain of the +bumped boat who speaks. + +Tom, looking round, finds himself within a foot or two of him; +and, being utterly unable to contain his joy, and unwilling to +exhibit it before the eyes of a gallant rival, turns away towards +the shore, and begins telegraphing to Hardy. + +"Now then, what are you at there in the bows? Cast her off quick. +Come, look alive! Push across at once out of the way of the other +boats." + +"I congratulate you, Jervis," says the Exeter stroke as the St. +Ambrose boat shot past him. "Do it again next race and I sha'n't +care." + +"We were within three lengths of Brazen-nose when we bumped," +says the all-observant Miller in a low voice. + +"All right," answers the Captain; "Brazen-nose isn't so strong as +usual. We sha'n't have much trouble there, but a tough job up +above, I take it." + +"Brazen-nose was better steered than Exeter." + +"They muffed it in the Gut, eh?" said the Captain. "I thought so +by the shouts." + +"Yes, we were pressing them a little down below, and their +coxswain kept looking over his shoulder. He was in the Gut before +he knew it, and had to pull his left hand hard or they would have +fouled the Oxfordshire corner. That stopped their way, and in we +went." + +"Bravo; and how well we started too." + +"Yes, thanks to that Hardy. It was touch and go though; I +couldn't have held that rope two seconds more." + +"How did our fellows work; she dragged a good deal below the +Gut." + +Miller looked somewhat serious, but even he cannot be finding +fault just now. For the first step is gained, the first victory +won; and, as Homer sometimes nods, so Miller relaxes the +sternness of his rule. The crew, as soon as they have found their +voices again, laugh and talk, and answer the congratulations of +their friends, as the boat slips along close to the towing path +on the Berks side, "easy all," almost keeping pace nevertheless +with the lower boats, which are racing up under the willows on +the Oxfordshire side. Jack, after one or two feints, makes a +frantic bound into the water, and is hauled dripping into the +boat by Drysdale, unchid by Miller, but to the intense disgust of +Diogenes, whose pantaloons and principles are alike outraged by +the proceeding. He--the Cato of the oar--scorns to relax the +strictness of his code even after victory won. Neither word nor +look does he cast to the exhulting St. Ambrosians on the bank; a +twinkle in his eye and a subdued chuckle or two, alone betray +that though an oarsman he is mortal. Already he revolves in his +mind the project of an early walk under a few pea-coats, not +being quite satisfied (conscientious old boy!) that he tried his +stretcher enough in that final spurt, and thinking that there +must be an extra pound of flesh on him somewhere or other which +did the mischief. + +"I say, Brown," said Drysdale, "how do you feel?" + +"All right," said Tom; "I never felt jollier in my life." + +"By Jove, though, it was an awful grind; didn't you wish yourself +well out of it below the Gut?" + +"No, nor you either." + +"Didn't I? I was awfully baked, my throat is like a limekiln yet. +What did you think about?" + +"Well, about keeping time, I think," said Tom, "but I can't +remember much." + +"I only kept on by thinking how I hated those devils in the +Exeter boat, and how done up they must be, and hoping their +No. 2 felt like having a fit." + +At this moment they came opposite the Cherwell. The leading boat +was just passing the winning-post, off the university barge, and +the band struck up the "Conquering Hero," with a crash. And while +a mighty sound of shouts, murmurs, and music went up into the +evening sky, Miller shook the tiller-ropes again, the Captain +shouted, "Now then, pick her up," and the St. Ambrose boat shot +up between the swarming banks at racing pace to her +landing-place, the lion of the evening. + +Dear readers of the gentler sex! you, I know, will pardon the +enthusiasm which stirs our pulses, now in sober middle age, as we +call up again the memories of this the most exciting sport of our +boyhood (for we were but boys then, after all). You will pardon, +though I fear hopelessly unable to understand, the above sketch; +your sons and brothers will tell you it could not have been less +technical. + +For you, male readers, who have never handled an oar,--what shall +I say to you? You at least, I hope, in some way--in other +contests of one kind or another--have felt as we felt, and have +striven as we strove. You _ought_ to understand and sympathize +with us in all our boating memories. Oh, how fresh and sweet they +are! Above all, that one of the gay little Henley town, the +carriage-crowded bridge, the noble river reach, the giant +poplars, which mark the critical point of the course--the roaring +column of "undergrads," light blue and dark purple, Cantab and +Oxonian, alike and yet how different,--hurling along together, +and hiding the towing-path--the clang of Henley church-bells--the +cheering, the waving of embroidered handkerchiefs, and glancing +of bright eyes, the ill-concealed pride of fathers, open delight +and exultation of mothers and sisters--the levee in the town-hall +when the race was rowed, the great cup full of champagne (inn +champagne, but we were not critical)--the chops, the steaks, the +bitter beer--but we run into anti-climax--remember, we were boys +then, and bear with us if you cannot sympathize. + +And you, old companions, [Greek text] thranitai, benchers, (of +the gallant eight-oar), now seldom met, but never-forgotten, +lairds, squires, soldiers, merchants, lawyers, grave J.P.'s, +graver clergymen, gravest bishops (for of two bishops at least +does our brotherhood boast), I turn for a moment, from my task, +to reach to you the right hand of fellowship from these pages, +and empty the solemn pewter--trophy of hard-won victory--to your +health and happiness. + +Surely none the worse Christians and citizens are ye for your +involuntary failing of muscularity! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--A CHANGE IN THE CREW, AND WHAT CAME OF IT + +It was on a Saturday that the St. Ambrose boat made the first +bump, described in our last chapter. On the next Saturday, the +day-week after the first success, at nine o'clock in the evening, +our hero was at the door of Hardy's rooms. He just stopped for +one moment outside, with his hand on the lock, looking a little +puzzled, but withal pleased, and then opened the door and +entered. The little estrangement which there had been between +them for some weeks, had passed away since the races had begun. +Hardy had thrown himself into the spirit of them so thoroughly, +that he had not only regained all his hold on Tom, but had warmed +up the whole crew in his favour, and had mollified the martinet +Miller himself. It was he who had managed the starting-rope in +every race, and his voice from the towing path had come to be +looked upon as a safe guide for clapping on or rowing steady. +Even Miller, autocrat as he was, had come to listen for it, in +confirmation of his own judgment, before calling on the crew for +the final effort. + +So Tom had recovered his old footing in the servitor's rooms; and +when he entered on the night in question did so with the bearing +of an intimate friend. Hardy's tea commons were on one end of the +table as usual, and he was sitting at the other poring over a +book. Tom marched straight up to him, and leant over his +shoulder. + +"What, here you are at the perpetual grind," he said. "Come; shut +up, and give me some tea; I want to talk to you." + +Hardy looked up with a grim smile. + +"Are you up to a cup of tea?" he said; "look here, I was just +reminded of you fellows. Shall I construe for you?" + +He pointed with his finger to the open page of the book he was +reading. It was the Knights of Aristophanes, and Tom, leaning +over his shoulder, read,-- + + [Greek text] chata chathixion malachoz ina meh tribehz tehn en +Salamint, &c. + +After meditating a moment, he burst out; "You hardhearted old +ruffian! I come here for sympathy, and the first thing you do is +to poke fun at me out of your wretched classics. I've a good mind +to clear out and not to do my errand." + +"What's a man to do?" said Hardy. "I hold that it's always better +to laugh at fortune. What's the use of repining? You have done +famously, and second is a capital place on the river." + +"Second be hanged!" said Tom. "We mean to be first." + +"Well, I hope we may!" said Hardy. "I can tell you nobody felt it +more than I--not even old Diogenes--when you didn't make your +bump to-night." + +"Now you talk like a man, and a Saint Ambrosian," said Tom. "But +what do you think? Shall we ever catch them?" and, so saying, he +retired to a chair opposite the tea things. + +"No," said Hardy; "I don't think we ever shall. I'm very sorry to +say it, but they are an uncommonly strong lot, and we have a weak +place or two in our crew. I don't think we can do more than we +did to-night--at least with the present crew." + +"But if we could get a little more strength we might?" + +"Yes, I think so. Jervis's stroke is worth two of theirs. A very +little more powder would do it." + +"Then we must have a little more powder." + +"Ay, but how are we to get it? Who can you put in?" + +"You!" said Tom, sitting up. "There, now, that's just what I am +come about. Drysdale is to go out. Will you pull next race? They +all want you to row." + +"Do they?" said Hardy, quietly (but Tom could see that his eye +sparkled at the notion, though he was too proud to show how much +he was pleased); "then they had better come and ask me +themselves." + +"Well, you cantankerous old party, they're coming, I can tell +you!" said Tom in great delight. "The Captain just sent me to +break ground, and will be here directly himself. I say now, +Hardy," he went on, "don't you say no. I've set my heart upon it. +I'm sure we shall bump them if you pull." + +"I don't know that," said Hardy, getting up, and beginning to +make tea, to conceal the excitement he was in at the idea of +rowing; "you see I'm not in training." + +"Gammon," said Tom, "you're always in training, and you know it." + +"Well," said Hardy, "I can't be in worse than Drysdale. He has +been of no use above the Gut these last three nights." + +"That's just what Miller says," said Tom, "and here comes the +Captain." There was a knock at the door while he spoke, and +Jervis and Miller entered. + +Tom was in a dreadful fidget for the next twenty minutes, and may +best be compared to an enthusiastic envoy negotiating a treaty, +and suddenly finding his action impeded by the arrival of his +principals. Miller was very civil, but not pressing; he seemed to +have come more with a view of talking over the present state of +things, and consulting upon them, than to enlisting a recruit. +Hardy met him more than halfway, and speculated on all sorts of +possible issues, without a hint of volunteering himself. But +presently Jervis, who did not understand finessing, broke in, and +asked Hardy, point blank, to pull in the next race; and when he +pleaded want of training, overruled him at once by saying that +there was no better training than sculling. So in half an hour +all was settled. Hardy was to pull five in the next race, +Diogenes was to take Blake's place, at No. 7, and Blake to take +Drysdale's oar at No. 2. The whole crew were to go for a long +training walk the next day, Sunday, in the afternoon; to go down +to Abingdon on Monday, just to get into swing in their new +places, and then on Tuesday to abide the fate of war. They had +half an hour's pleasant talk over Hardy's tea, and then +separated. + +"I always told you he was our man," said the Captain to Miller, +as the walked together to the gates; "we want strength, and he is +as strong as a horse. You must have seen him sculling yourself. +There isn't his match on the river to my mind." + +"Yes, I think he'll do," replied Miller; "at any rate he can't be +worse than Drysdale." + +As for Tom and Hardy, it may safely be said that no two men in +Oxford went to bed in better spirits that Saturday night than +they two. + +And now to explain how it came about that Hardy was wanted. +Fortune had smiled upon the St. Ambrosians in the two races which +succeeded the one in which they had bumped Exeter. They had risen +two more places without any very great trouble. Of course, the +constituencies on the bank magnified their powers and doings. +There never was such a crew, they were quite safe to be head of +the river, nothing could live against their pace. So the young +oars in the boat swallowed all they heard, thought themselves the +finest fellows going, took less and less pains to keep up their +condition, and when they got out of earshot of Jervis and +Diogenes, were ready to bet two to one that they would bump Oriel +the next night, and keep easily head of the river for the rest of +the races. + +Saturday night came, and brought with it a most useful though +unpalatable lesson to the St. Ambrosians. The Oriel boat was +manned chiefly by old oars, seasoned in many a race, and not +liable to panic when hard pressed. They had a fair, though not a +first-rate stroke, and a good coxswain; experts remarked that +they were rather too heavy for their boat, and that she dipped a +little when they put on anything like a severe spurt; but on the +whole they were by no means the sort of crew you could just run +into hand over hand. So Miller and Diogenes preached, and so the +Ambrosians found out to their cost. + +They had the pace of the other boat, and gained as usual a boat's +length before the Gut; but, first those two fatal corners were +passed, and then other well-remembered spots where former bumps +had been made, and still Miller made no sign; on the contrary, he +looked gloomy and savage. The St. Ambrosian shouts from the shore +too changed from the usual exultant peals into something like a +quaver of consternation, while the air was rent with the name and +laudations of "little Oriel." + +Long before the Cherwell Drysdale was completely baked (he had +played truant the day before and dined at the Weirs, were he had +imbibed much dubious hock), but he from old habit managed to keep +time. Tom and the other young oars got flurried, and quickened; +the boat dragged, there was no life left in her, and, though they +managed just to hold their first advantage, could not put her a +foot nearer the stern of the Oriel boat, which glided past the +winning-post a clear boat's length ahead of her pursuer, and with +a crew much less depressed. + +Such races must tell on strokes; and even Jervis, who had pulled +magnificently throughout, was very much done at the close, and +leant over his oar with a swimming in his head, and an approach +to faintness, and was scarcely able to see for a minute or so. +Miller's indignation knew no bounds, but he bottled it up till he +had manoeuvered the crew into their dressing-room by themselves, +Jervis having stopped below. Then he did not spare them. "They +would kill their captain, whose little finger was worth the whole +of them; they were disgracing the college; three or four of them +had neither heart, head nor pluck." They all felt that this was +unjust, for after all had they not brought the boat up to the +second place? Poor Diogenes sat in a corner and groaned; he +forgot to prefix "old fellow" to the few observations he made. +Blake had great difficulty in adjusting his necktie before the +glass; he merely remarked in a pause of the objurgation, "In +faith, coxswain, these be very bitter words." Tom and most of the +others were too much out of heart to resist; but at last Drysdale +fired up-- + +"You've no right to be so savage that I can see," he said, +suddenly stopping the low whistle in which he was indulging, as +he sat on the corner of the table; "you seem to think No 2 the +weakest out of several weak places in the boat." + +"Yes, I do," said Miller. + +"Then this honourable member," said Drysdale, getting off the +table, "seeing that his humble efforts are unappreciated, thinks +it best for the public service to place his resignation in the +hands of your coxswainship." + +"Which my coxswainship is graciously pleased to accept," replied +Miller. + +"Hurrah for a roomy punt and a soft cushion next racing +night--it's almost worth while to have been rowing all this time, +to realize the sensations I shall feel when I see you fellows +passing the Cherwell on Tuesday." + +"_Suave est_, it's what I'm partial to, _mari mango_, in the last +reach, _terra_, from the towing path, _alterius magnum spectare +laborem_, to witness the tortures of you wretched beggars in the +boat. I'm obliged to translate for Drysdale, who never learned +Latin," said Blake, finishing his tie before the glass. There was +an awkward silence. Miller was chafing inwardly and running over +in his mind what was to be done; and nobody else seemed quite to +know what ought to happen next, when the door opened and Jervis +came in. + +"Congratulate me, my Captain," said Drysdale; "I'm well out of it +at last." + +Jervis "pished and pshaw'd" a little at hearing what had +happened, but his presence acted like oil on the waters. The +moment the resignation was named, Tom's thoughts had turned to +Hardy. Now was the time--he had such confidence in the man, that +the idea of getting him in for next race entirely changed the +aspect of affairs to him, and made him feel as "bumptious" again +as he had done in the morning. So with this idea in his head, he +hung about till the Captain had made his toilet, and joined +himself to him and Miller as they walked up. + +"Well, what are we going to do now," said the Captain. + +"That's just what you have to settle," said Miller; "you have +been up all the term, and know the men's pulling better than I." + +"I suppose we must press somebody from the torpid--let me see, +there's Burton." + +"He rolls like a porpoise," interrupted Miller, positively; +"impossible." + +"Stewart might do, then." + +"Never kept time for three strokes in his life," said Miller. + +"Well, there are no better men," said the Captain. + +"Then we may lay our account to stopping where we are, if we +don't even lose a place," said Miller. + +"Dust unto dust, what must be, must; + +If you can't get crumb, you'd best eat crust." said the Captain. + +"It's all very well talking coolly now," said Miller, "but you'll +kill yourself trying to bump, and there are three more nights." + +"Hardy would row if you asked him, I'm sure," said Tom. + +The Captain looked at Miller, who shook his head. "I don't think +it," he said; "I take him to be a shy bird that won't come to +everybody's whistle. We might have had him two years ago, I +believe--I wish we had." + +"I always told you so," said Jervis; "at any rate let's try him. +He can but say no, and I don't think he will for you see he has +been at the starting place every night, and as keen as a freshman +all the time." + +"I'm sure he won't," said Tom; "I know he would give anything to +pull." + +"You had better go to his rooms and sound him," said the Captain; +"Miller and I will follow in half an hour." + +We have already heard how Tom's mission prospered. + +The next day, at a few moments before two o'clock, the St. +Ambrose crew, including Hardy, with Miller (who was a desperate +and indefatigable pedestrian), for leader, crossed Magdalen +Bridge. At five they returned to college, having done a little +over fifteen miles fair heal and toe walking in the interval. The +afternoon had been very hot, and Miller chuckled to the Captain, +"I don't think there will be much trash left in any of them after +that. That fellow Hardy is as fine as a race-horse, and, did you +see, he never turned a hair all the way." + +The crew dispersed to their rooms, delighted with the performance +now that it was over, and feeling that they were much the better +for it, though they all declared it had been harder work than any +race they had yet pulled. It would have done a trainer's heart +good to have seen them, some twenty minutes afterwards, dropping +into hall (where they were allowed to dine on Sundays on the +joint), fresh from cold baths, and looking ruddy and clear, and +hard enough for anything. + +Again on Monday, not a chance was lost. The St. Ambrose boat +started soon after one o'clock for Abingdon. They swung steadily +down the whole way, and back again to Sandford without a single +spurt; Miller generally standing in the stern and preaching above +all things steadiness and time. From Sandford up, they were +accompanied by half a dozen men or so, who ran up the bank +watching them. The struggle for the first place on the river was +creating great excitement in the rowing world, and these were +some of the most keen connoisseurs, who, having heard that St. +Ambrose had changed a man, were on the look-out to satisfy +themselves as to how it would work. The general opinion was +veering round in favor of Oriel; changes so late in the races, at +such a critical moment, were looked upon as very damaging. + +Foremost amongst the runners on the bank was a wiry, dark man, +with a sanguine complexion, who went with a peculiar long, low +stride, keeping his keen eye well on the boat. Just above +Kennington Island, Jervis, noticing this particular spectator for +the first time, called on the crew, and, quickening his stroke, +took them up the reach at racing pace. As they lay in Iffley Lock +the dark man appeared above them, and exchanged a few words and a +great deal of dumb show with the Captain and Miller, and then +disappeared. + +From Iffley up they went steadily again. On the whole Miller +seemed to be in very good spirits in the dressing room; he +thought the boat trimmed better, and went better than she had +ever done before, and complimented Blake particularly for the +ease with which he had changed sides. They all went up in high +spirits, calling on their way at "The Choughs" for one glass of +old ale round, which Miller was graciously pleased to allow. Tom +never remembered till they were out again that Hardy had never +been there before, and felt embarrassed for a moment, but it soon +passed off. A moderate dinner and early to bed finished the day, +and Miller was justified in his parting remark to the Captain, +"Well, if we don't win, we can comfort ourselves that we hav'n't +dropped a stitch this last two days, at any rate." + +Then the eventful day arose which Tom, and many others felt was +to make or mar St. Ambrose. It was a glorious early-summer day, +without a cloud, scarcely a breath of air stirring. "We shall +have a fair start at any rate," was the general feeling. We have +already seen what a throat-drying, nervous business, the morning +of a race-day is, and must not go over the same ground more than +we can help; so we will imagine the St. Ambrose boat down at the +starting place, lying close to the towing path, just before the +first gun. + +There is a much greater crowd than usual opposite the two first +boats. By this time most of the other boats have found their +places, for there is not much chance of anything very exciting +down below; so, besides the men of Oriel and St. Ambrose (who +muster to-night of all sorts, the fastest of the fast and the +slowest of the slow having been by this time shamed into +something like enthusiasm), many of other colleges, whose boats +have no chance of bumping or being bumped, flock to the point of +attraction. + +"Do you make out what the change is?" says a backer of Oriel to +his friend in the like predicament. + +"Yes, they've got a No. 5, don't you see, and, by George, I don't +like his looks," answered his friend; "awfully long and strong in +the arm, and well ribbed up. A devilish awkward customer. I shall +go and try to get a hedge." + +"Pooh," says the other, "did you ever know one man win a race?" + +"Ay, that I have," says his friend, and walks off toward the +Oriel crowd to take five to four on Oriel in half-sovereigns, if +he can get it. + +Now their dark friend of yesterday comes up at a trot, and pulls +up close to the Captain, with whom he is evidently dear friends. +He is worth looking at, being coxswain of the O. U. B., the best +steerer, runner and swimmer in Oxford; amphibious himself and +sprung from an amphibious race. His own boat is in no danger, so +he has left her to take care of herself. He is on the look-out +for recruits for the University crew, and no recruiting sergeant +has a sharper eye for the sort of stuff he requires. + +"What's his name?" he says in a low tone to Jervis, giving a jerk +with his head towards Hardy. "Where did you get him?" + +"Hardy," answers the Captain, in the same tone; "it's his first +night in the boat." + +"I know that," replies the coxswain; "I never saw him row before +yesterday. He's the fellow who sculls in that brown skiff, isn't +he?" + +"Yes, and I think he'll do; keep your eye on him." + +The coxswain nods as if he were somewhat of the same mind, and +examines Hardy with the eye of a connoisseur, pretty much as the +judge at an agricultural show looks at the prize bull. Hardy is +tightening the strop of his stretcher, and all-unconscious of the +compliments which are being paid him. The great authority seems +satisfied with his inspection, grins, rubs his hands, and trots +off to the Oriel boat to make comparisons. + +Just as the first gun is heard, Grey sidles nervously to the +front of the crowd as if he were doing something very audacious, +and draws Hardy's attention, exchanging sympathizing nods with +him, but saying nothing, for he knows not what to say, and then +disappearing again in the crowd. + +"Hallo, Drysdale, is that you?" says Blake, as they push off from +the shore. "I thought you were going to take it easy in a punt." + +"So I thought," says Drysdale, "but I couldn't keep away, and +here I am. I shall run up; and mind, if I see you within ten +feet, and cock-sure to win, I'll give a view holloa. I'll be +bound you shall hear it." + +"May it come speedily," said Blake, and then settled himself in +his seat. + +"Eyes in the boat--mind now, steady all, watch the stroke and +don't quicken." + +These are Miller's last words; every faculty of himself and the +crew being now devoted to getting a good start. This is no +difficult matter, as the water is like glass, and the boat lies +lightly on it, obeying the slightest dip of the oars of bow and +two, who just feel the water twice or thrice in the last minute. +Then, after a few moments of breathless hush on the bank, the +last gun is fired, and they are off. + +The same scene of mad excitement ensues, only tenfold more +intense, as almost the whole interest of the races is tonight +concentrated on the two head boats and their fate. At every gate +there is a jam, and the weaker vessels are shoved into the +ditches, upset and left unnoticed. The most active men, including +the O. U. B. coxswain, shun the gates altogether, and take the +big ditches in their stride, making for the long bridges, that +they may get quietly over these and be safe for the best part of +the race. They know that the critical point of the struggle will +be near the finish. + +Both boats made a beautiful start, and again as before in the +first dash the St. Ambrose pace tells, and they gain their boat's +length before first winds fail; then they settle down for a long +steady effort. Both crews are rowing comparatively steady +reserving themselves for the tug of war up above. Thus they pass +the Gut, and those two treacherous corners, the scene of +countless bumps, into the wider water beyond, up under the +willows. + +Miller's face is decidedly hopeful; he shows no sign, indeed, but +you can see that he is not the same man as he was at this place +in the last race. He feels that to-day the boat is full of life, +and that he can call on his crew with hopes of an answer. His +well-trained eye also detects that, while both crews are at full +stretch, his own, instead of losing, as it did on the last night, +is now gaining inch by inch on Oriel. The gain is scarcely +perceptible to him even; from the bank it is quite imperceptible; +but there it is; he is surer and surer of it, as one after +another the willows are left behind. + +And now comes the pinch. The Oriel captain is beginning to be +conscious of the fact which has been dawning on Miller, but will +not acknowledge it to himself, and as his coxswain turns the +boat's head gently across the stream, and makes for the Berkshire +side and the goal, now full in view, he smiles grimly as he +quickens his stroke; he will shake off these light heeled gentry +yet, as he did before. + +Miller sees the move in a moment, and signals his captain, and +the next stroke St. Ambrose has quickened also; and now there is +no mistake about it, St. Ambrose is creeping up slowly but +surely. The boat's length lessens to forty feet, thirty feet; +surely and steadily lessens. But the race is not lost yet; thirty +feet is a short space enough to look at on the water, but a good +bit to pick up foot by foot in the last two or three hundred +yards of a desperate struggle. They are over, under the Berkshire +side now and there stands up the winning-post, close ahead, all +but won. The distance lessens, and lessens still, but the Oriel +crew stick steadily and gallantly to their work, and will fight +every inch of distance to the last. The Oriel men on the bank who +are rushing along sometimes in the water, sometimes out, hoarse, +furious, madly alternating between hope and despair, have no +reason to be ashamed of a man in the crew. Off the mouth of the +Cherwell there is still twenty feet between them. Another minute +and it will be over one way or another. Every man in both crews +is now doing his best, and no mistake; tell me which boat holds +the most men who can do better than their best at a pinch, who +will risk a broken blood-vessel, and I will tell you how it will +end. "Hard pounding, gentlemen; let's see who will pound +longest," the Duke is reported to have said at Waterloo, and won. +"Now, Tommy, lad, 'tis thou or I," Big Ben said as he came up to +the last round of his hardest fight, and won. Is there a man of +that temper in either crew tonight? If so, now's his time. For +both coxswains have called on their men for the last effort; +Miller is whirling the tassel of his right-hand tiller rope round +his head, like a wiry little lunatic; from the towing path, from +Christchurch meadow, from the row of punts, from the clustered +tops of the barges, comes a roar of encouragement and applause, +and the band, unable to resist the impulse, breaks with a crash +into the "Jolly Young Watermen," playing two bars to the second. +A bump in the Gut is nothing--a few partisans on the towing-path +to cheer you, already out of breath; but up here at the very +finish, with all Oxford looking on, when the prize is the +headship of the river--once in a generation only do men get such +a chance. + +Who ever saw Jervis not up to his work? The St. Ambrose stroke is +glorious. Tom had an atom of go still left in the very back of +his head, and at this moment he heard Drysdale's view holloa +above all the din; it seemed to give him a lift, and other men +besides in the boat, for in another six strokes the gap is +lessened and St. Ambrose has crept up to ten feet, and now to +five from the stern of Oriel. Weeks afterwards Hardy confided to +Tom that when he heard that view holloa he seemed to feel the +muscles of his arms and legs turn into steel, and did more work +in the last twenty strokes than in any other forty in the earlier +part of the race. + +Another fifty yards and Oriel is safe, but the look on the +captain's face is so ominous that their coxswain glances over his +shoulder. The bow of St. Ambrose is within two feet of their +rudder. It is a moment for desperate expedients. He pulls his +left tiller rope suddenly, thereby carrying the stern of his own +boat out of the line of the St. Ambrose, and calls on his crew +once more; they respond gallantly yet, but the rudder is against +them for a moment, and the boat drags. St. Ambrose overlaps. "A +bump, a bump," shout the St. Ambrosians on shore. "Row on, row +on," screams Miller. He has not yet felt the electric shock, and +knows he will miss his bump if the young ones slacken for a +moment. A young coxswain would have gone on making shots at the +stern of the Oriel boat, and so have lost. + +A bump now and no mistake; the bow of the St. Ambrose boat jams +the oar of the Oriel stroke, and the two boats pass the +winning-post with the way that was on them when the bump was +made. So near a shave was it. + +Who can describe the scene on the bank? It was a hurly-burly of +delirious joy, in the midst of which took place a terrific combat +between Jack and the Oriel dog--a noble black bull terrier +belonging to the college in general, and no one in +particular--who always attended the races and felt the misfortune +keenly. Luckily they were parted without worse things happening; +for though the Oriel men were savage, and not disinclined for a +jostle, the milk of human kindness was too strong for the moment +in their adversaries. So Jack was choked off with some trouble, +and the Oriel men extricated themselves from the crowd, carrying +off Crib, their dog, and looking straight before them into +vacancy. + +"Well rowed, boys," says Jervis, turning round to his crew as +they lay panting on their oars. + +"Well rowed; five," says Miller, who even in the hour of such a +triumph is not inclined to be general in laudation. + +"Well rowed, five," is echoed from the bank; it is that cunning +man, the recruiting-sergeant. "_Fatally_ well rowed," he adds to +a comrade, with whom he gets into one of the punts to cross to +Christchurch meadow; "we must have him in the University crew." + +"I don't think you'll get him to row, from what I hear," answers +the other. + +"Then he must he handcuffed and carried into the boat by force," +says the O. U. B. coxswain; "why is not the press-gang an +institution in this university?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV--A STORM BREWS AND BREAKS + +Certainly Drysdale's character came out well that night. He did +not seem the least jealous of the success which had been achieved +through his dismissal. On the contrary, there was no man in the +college who showed more interest in the race, or joy at the +result, then he. Perhaps the pleasure of being out of it himself +may have reckoned for something with him. In any case, there he +was at the door with Jack, to meet the crew as they landed after +the race, with a large pewter, foaming with shandygaff, in each +hand, for their recreation. Draco himself could not have +forbidden them to drink at that moment; so, amidst shaking of +hands and clapping on the back, the pewters travelled round from +stroke to bow, and then the crew went off to their dressing-room, +accompanied by Drysdale and others. + +"Bravo! it was the finest race that has been seen on the river +this six years; everybody says so. You fellows have deserved well +of your country. I've sent up to college to have supper in my +room, and you must all come. Hang training! there are only two +more nights, and you're safe to keep your place. What do you say +Captain? eh, Miller? Now be good-natured for once." + +"Well, we don't get head of the river every night," said Miller. +"I don't object if you'll all turn out and go to bed at eleven." + +"That's all right," said Drysdale; "and now let's go to the old +'Choughs' and have a glass of ale while supper is getting ready. +Eh, Brown?" and he hooked his arm into Tom's and led the way into +the town. + +"I'm so sorry you were not in it for the finish," said Tom, who +was quite touched by his friend's good-humour. + +"Are you?" said Drysdale; "it's more than I am, then, I can tell +you. If you could have seen yourself under the willows, you +wouldn't have thought yourself much of an object of envy. Jack +and I were quite satisfied with our share of work and glory on +the bank. Weren't we, old fellow?" at which salutation Jack +reared himself on his hind legs and licked his master's hand. + +"Well, you're a real good fellow for taking it as you do. I don't +think I could have come near the river if I had been you." + +"I take everything as it comes," said Drysdale. "The next race is +on Derby day, and I couldn't have gone if I hadn't been turned +out of the boat; that's a compensation, you see. Here we are. I +wonder if Miss Patty has heard of the victory?" + +They turned down the little passage entrance of "The Choughs" as +he spoke, followed by most of the crew, and by a tail of younger +St. Ambrosians, their admirers, and the bar was crowded the next +moment. Patty was there, of course, and her services were in +great requisition; for though each of the crew only took a small +glass of the old ale, they made as much fuss about it with the +pretty barmaid as if they were drinking hogsheads. In fact, it +had become clearly the correct thing with the St. Ambrosians to +make much of Patty; and, considering the circumstances, it was +only a wonder that she was not more spoiled than seemed to be the +case. Indeed, as Hardy stood up in the corner opposite to the +landlady's chair, a silent onlooker at the scene, he couldn't +help admitting to himself that the girl held her own well, +without doing or saying anything unbecoming a modest woman. And +it was a hard thing for him to be fair to her, for what he saw +now in a few minutes confirmed the impression which his former +visit had left on his mind--that his friend was safe in her +toils; how deeply, of course he could not judge, but that there +was more between them than he could approve was now clear enough +to him, and he stood silent, leaning against the wall in that +farthest corner, in the shadow of a projecting cupboard, much +distressed in mind, and pondering over what it behove him to do +under the circumstances. With the exception of a civil sentence +or two to the old landlady who sat opposite him knitting, and +casting rather uneasy looks from time to time towards the front +of the bar, he spoke to no one. In fact, nobody came near that +end of the room, and their existence seemed to have been +forgotten by the rest. + +Tom had been a little uncomfortable for the first minute; but +after seeing Hardy take his glass of ale, and then missing him, +he forgot all about him, and was too busy with his own affairs to +trouble himself further. He had become a sort of drawer, or +barman, at "The Cloughs," and presided, under Patty, over the +distribution of the ale, giving an eye to his chief to see that +she was not put upon. + +Drysdale and Jack left after a short stay, to see that the supper +was being properly prepared. Soon afterwards Patty went off out +of the bar in answer to some bell which called her to another +part of the house; and the St. Ambrosians voted that it was time +to go off to college to supper, and cleared out into the street. + +Tom went out with the last batch of them, but lingered a moment +in the passage outside. He knew the house and its ways well +enough by this time. The next moment Patty appeared from a side +door, which led to another part of the house. + +"So you're not going to stay and play a game with aunt," she +said; "what makes you in such a hurry?" + +"I must go up to college; there's a supper to celebrate our +getting head of the river." Patty looked down and pouted a +little. Tom took her hand, and said sentimentally, "Don't be +cross, now; you know that I would sooner stay here, don't you?" + +She tossed her head, and pulled away her hand, and then changing +the subject, said, "Who's that ugly old fellow who was here again +to-night?" + +"There was no one older than Miller, and he is rather an admirer +of yours. I shall tell him you called him ugly." + +"Oh, I don't mean Mr. Miller; you know that well enough," she +answered. "I mean him in the old rough coat, who don't talk to +anyone." + +"Ugly old fellow, Patty? Why, you mean Hardy. He's a great friend +of mine, and you must like him for my sake." + +"I'm sure I won't. I don't like him a bit; he looks so cross at +me." + +"It's all your fancy. There now, good-night." + +"You shan't go, however, till you've given me that handkerchief. +You promised it me if you got head of the river." + +"Oh! you little story-teller. Why, they are my college colors. I +wouldn't part with them for worlds. I'll give you a lock of my +hair, and the prettiest handkerchief you can find in Oxford; but +not this." + +"But I _will_ have it and you _did_ promise me it," she said, and +put up her hands suddenly, and untied the bow of Tom's +neck-handkerchief. He caught her wrists in his hands, and looked +down into her eyes, in which, if he saw a little pique at his +going, he saw other things which stirred in him strange feelings +of triumph and tenderness. + +"Well, then you shall pay for it, anyhow," he said.--Why, need I +tell what followed?--There was a little struggle; a "Go along, +do, Mr. Brown;" and the next minute Tom minus his handkerchief, +was hurrying after his companions; and Patty was watching him +from the door, and setting her cap to rights. Then she turned and +went back into the bar, and started, and turned red, as she saw +Hardy there, still standing in the further corner, opposite her +aunt. He finished his glass of ale as she came in, and then +passed out wishing them "Good-night." + +"Why aunt" she said, "I thought they were all gone. Who was that +sour-looking man?" + +"He seems a nice quiet gentleman, my dear," said the old lady, +looking up. "I'm sure he's much better than those ones as make so +much racket in the bar. But where have you been, Patty?" + +"Oh, to the commercial room, aunt. Won't you have a game at +cribbage?" and Patty took up the cards and set the board out, the +old lady looking at her doubtfully all the time through her +spectacles. She was beginning to wish that the college gentlemen +wouldn't come so much to the house, though they were very good +customers. + +Tom, minus his handkerchief, hurried after his comrades, and +caught them up before they got to college. They were all there +but Hardy, whose absence vexed our hero for a moment; he had +hoped that Hardy, now that he was in the boat, would have shaken +off all his reserve towards the other men, and blamed him because +he had not done so at once. There could be no reason for it but +his own oddness he thought, for everyone was full of his praises +as they strolled on talking of the race. Miller praised his +style, and time, and pluck. "Didn't you feel how the boat sprung +when I called on you at the Cherwell?" he said to the Captain. +"Drysdale was always dead beat at the Gut, and just like a log in +the boat, pretty much like some of the rest of you." + +"He's in such good training, too," said Diogenes; "I shall find +out how he diets himself." + +"We've pretty well done with that, I should hope," said No. 6. +"There are only two more nights, and nothing can touch us now." + +"Don't be too sure of that," said Miller. "Mind now, all of you, +don't let us have any nonsense till the races are over and we are +all safe." + +And so they talked on till they reached college, and then +dispersed to their rooms to wash and dress and met again in +Drysdale's rooms, where supper was awaiting them. + +Again Hardy did not appear. Drysdale sent a scout to his rooms, +who brought back word that he could not find him; so Drysdale set +to work to do the honors of his table and enjoyed the pleasure of +tempting the crew with all sorts of forbidden hot liquors, which +he and the rest of the non professionals imbibed freely. But with +Miller's eye on them, and the example of Diogenes and the Captain +before them, the rest of the crew exercised an abstemiousness +which would have been admirable, had it not been in a great +measure compulsory. + +It was a great success, this supper at Drysdale's, although +knocked up at an hour's notice. The triumph of their boat, had, +for the time, the effect of warming up and drawing out the +feeling of fellowship, which is the soul of college life. Though +only a few men besides the crew sat down to supper, long before +it was cleared away men of every set in the college came in, in +the highest spirits, and the room was crowded. For Drysdale sent +round to every man in the college with whom he had a speaking +acquaintance, and they flocked in and sat where they could, and +men talked and laughed with neighbors, with whom, perhaps, they +had never exchanged a word since the time when they were freshmen +together. + +Of course there were speeches, cheered to the echo, and songs, of +which the choruses might have been heard in the High-street. At a +little before eleven, nevertheless, despite the protestations of +Drysdale, and the passive resistance of several of their number, +Miller carried off the crew, and many of the other guests went at +the same time, leaving their host and a small circle to make a +night of it. + +Tom went to his room in high spirits, humming the air of one of +the songs he had just heard; but he had scarcely thrown his gown +on a chair when a thought struck him, and he ran down stairs +again and across to Hardy's rooms. + +Hardy was sitting with some cold tea poured out, but untasted, +before him, and no books open--a very unusual thing with him at +night. But Tom either did not or would not notice that there was +anything unusual. + +He seated himself and began gossiping away as fast as he could, +without looking much at the other. He began by recounting all the +complimentary things which had been said by Miller and others of +Hardy's pulling. Then he went on to the supper party; what a +jolly evening they had had; he did not remember anything so +pleasant since he had been up, and he retailed the speeches, and +named the best songs. "You really ought to have been there. Why +didn't you come? Drysdale sent over for you. I'm sure every one +wished you had been there. Didn't you get his message?" + +"I didn't feel up to going," said Hardy. + +"There's nothing the matter, eh?" said Tom, as the thought +crossed his mind that perhaps Hardy had hurt himself in the race, +as he had not been regularly training. + +"No, nothing," answered the other. + +Tom tried to make play again, but soon came to an end of his +talk. It was impossible to make head against that cold silence. +At last he stopped, looked at Hardy for a minute, who was staring +abstractedly at the sword over his mantel-piece, and then said,-- + +"There _is_ something the matter, though. Don't sit glowering as +if you had swallowed a furze bush. Why you haven't been smoking, +old boy?" he added, getting up and putting his hand on the others +shoulder. "I see that's it. Here, take one of my weeds, they're +mild. Miller allows two of these a day." + +"No, thank'ee," said Hardy, rousing himself; "Miller hasn't +interfered with my smoking, and I _will_ have a pipe, for I think +I want it." + +"Well, I don't see that it does you any good," said Tom, after +watching him fill and light, and smoke for some minutes without +saying a word. "Here, I've managed the one thing I had at heart. +You are in the crew, and we are head of the river, and everybody +is praising your rowing up to the skies, and saying that the bump +was all your doing. And here I come to tell you, and not a word +can I get out of you. Ain't you pleased? Do you think we shall +keep our place?" He paused a moment. + +"Hang it all, I say," he added, losing all patience; "swear a +little if you can't do anything else. Let's hear your voice; it +isn't such a tender one that you need keep it all shut up." + +"Well," said Hardy, making a great effort; "the real fact is I +_have_ something, and something very serious to say to you." + +"Then I'm not going to listen to it," broke in Tom; "I'm not +serious, and I won't be serious, and no one shall make me serious +to-night. It's no use, so don't look glum. But isn't the ale at +'The Choughs' good? and isn't it a dear little place?" + +"It's that place I want to talk to you about," said Hardy, +turning his chair suddenly so as to front his visitor. "Now, +Brown, we haven't known one another long, but I think I +understand you, and I know I like you, and I hope you like me." + +"Well, well, well," broke in Tom, "of course I like you, old +fellow, or else I shouldn't come poking after you, and wasting so +much of your time, and sitting on your cursed hard chairs in the +middle of the races. What has liking to do with 'The Choughs,' or +'The Choughs' with long faces? You ought to have had another +glass of ale there." + +"I wish you had never had a glass of ale there," said Hardy, +bolting out his words as if they were red hot. "Brown you have no +right to go to that place." + +"Why?" said Tom, sitting up in his chair and beginning to be +nettled. + +"You know why," said Hardy, looking him full in the face, and +puffing out huge volumes of smoke. In spite of the bluntness of +the attack, there was a yearning look which spread over the +rugged brow, and shone out of the deep set eyes of the speaker, +which almost conquered Tom. But first pride, and then the +consciousness of what was coming next, which began to dawn on +him, rose in his heart. It was all he could do to meet that look +full, but he managed it, though he flushed to the roots of his +hair, as he simply repeated through his set teeth, "Why?" + +"I say again," said Hardy, "you know why." + +"I see what you mean," said Tom, slowly; "as you say, we have not +known one another long; long enough, though, I should have +thought, for you to have been more charitable. Why am I not to go +to 'The Cloughs'? Because there happens to be a pretty bar maid +there? All our crew go, and twenty other men besides." + +"Yes; but do any of them go in the sort of way you do? Does she +look at anyone of them as she does at you?" + +"How do I know?" + +"That's not fair, or true, or like you, Brown," said Hardy, +getting up and beginning to walk up and down the room. "You _do_ +know that that girl doesn't care a straw for the other men who go +there. You _do_ know that she is beginning to care for you." + +"You seem to know a great deal about it," said Tom; "I don't +believe you were ever there before two days ago." + +"No, I never was." + +"Then I think you needn't be quite so quick at finding fault. If +there were anything I didn't wish you to see, do you think I +should have taken you there? I tell you she is quite able to take +care of herself." + +"So I believe," said Hardy; "if she were a mere giddy, light +girl, setting her cap at every man who came in, it wouldn't +matter so much--for her at any rate. She can take care of herself +well enough so far as the rest are concerned, but you know it +isn't so with you. You know it now, Brown; tell the truth; anyone +with half an eye can see it." + +"You seem to have made pretty good use of your eyes in these two +nights, anyhow," said Tom. + +"I don't mind your sneers, Brown," said Hardy as he tramped up +and down with his arms locked behind him; "I have taken on myself +to speak to you about this; I should be no true friend if I +shirked it. I'm four years older than you, and have seen more of +the world and of this place than you. You sha'n't go on with this +folly, this sin, for want of warning." + +"So it seems," said Tom doggedly. "Now I think I've had warning +enough; suppose we drop the subject." + +Hardy stopped his walk, and turned on Tom with a look of anger. +"Not yet," he said, firmly; "you know best how and why you have +done it, but you know that somehow or other you have made that +girl like you." + +"Suppose I have, what then; whose business is that but mine and +hers?" + +"It's the business of everyone who won't stand by and see the +devil's game played under his nose if he can hinder it." + +"What right have you to talk about the devil's game to me?" said +Tom. "I'll tell you what; if you and I are to keep friends we had +better drop this subject." + +"If we are to keep friends we must go to the bottom of it. There +are only two endings to this sort of business and you know it as +well as I." + +"A right and wrong one, eh? and because you call me your friend +you assume that my end will be the wrong one." + +"I do call you my friend, and I say the end must be the wrong one +here. There's no right end. Think of your family. You don't mean +to say--you dare not tell me, that you will marry her?" + +"I _dare_ not tell you!" said Tom, starting up in his turn; "I +dare tell you or any man anything I please. But I won't tell you +or any man anything on compulsion." + +"I repeat," went on Hardy, "you _dare_ not say you mean to marry +her. You don't mean it--and, as you don't, to kiss her as you did +to-night--" + +"So you were sneaking behind to watch me!" burst out Tom, chafing +with rage, and glad to find any handle for a quarrel. The two men +stood fronting one another, the younger writhing with the sense +of shame and outraged pride, and longing for a fierce answer--a +blow--anything, to give vent to the furies which were tearing +him. + +But at the end of a few seconds the elder answered, calmly and +slowly,-- + +"I will not take those words from any man; you had better leave +my rooms." + +"If I do, I shall not come back till you have altered your +opinions." + +"You need not come back till you have altered yours." + +The next moment Tom was in the passage; the next, striding up and +down the side of the inner quadrangle in the pale moonlight. + +Poor fellow! it was no pleasant walking ground for him. Is it +worth our while to follow him up and down in his tramp? We have +most of us walked the like marches at one time or another of our +lives. The memory of them is by no means one which we can dwell +on with pleasure. Times they were of blinding and driving storm, +and howling winds, out of which voices as of evil spirits spoke +close in our ears--tauntingly, temptingly, whispering to the +mischievous wild beast which lurks in the bottom of all our +hearts, now, "Rouse up! art thou a man and darest not do this +thing?" now, "Rise, kill and eat--it is thine, wilt thou not take +it? Shall the flimsy scruples of this teacher, or the sanctified +cant of that, bar thy way, and balk thee of thine own? Thou hast +strength to brave them--to brave all things in earth, or heaven, +or hell; put out thy strength and be a man!" + +Then did not the wild beast within us shake itself, and feel its +power, sweeping away all the "Thou shalt not's" which the law +wrote up before us in letters of fire, with the "_I will_" of +hardy, godless, self-assertion? And all the while--which alone +made the storm really dreadful to us--was there not the still +small voice--never to be altogether silenced by the roarings of +the tempest of passion, by the evil voices, by our own violent +attempts to stifle it--the still small voice appealing to the +man, the true man, within us, which is made in the image of +God--calling on him to assert his dominion over the wild +beast--to obey, and conquer, and live? Ay! and though we may have +followed the other voices, have we not, while following them, +confessed in our hearts, that all true strength, and nobleness, +and manliness, was to be found in the other path? Do I say that +most of us have had to tread this path, and fight this battle? +Surely I might have said all of us; all, at least, who have +passed the bright days of their boyhood. The clear and keen +intellect no less than the dull and heavy; the weak, the cold, +the nervous, no less than the strong and passionate of body. The +arms and the field have been divers; can have been the same, I +suppose, to no two men, but the battle must have been the same to +all. One here and there may have had a foretaste of it as a boy; +but it is the young man's battle, and not the boy's, thank God +for it! That most hateful and fearful of all realities, call it +by what name we will--self, the natural man, the old Adam--must +have risen up before each of us in early manhood, if not sooner, +challenging the true man within us to which the Spirit of God is +speaking, to a struggle for life or death. + +Gird yourself, then, for the fight, my young brother, and take up +the pledge which was made for you when you were a helpless child. +This world, and all others, time and eternity, for you hang upon +the issue. This enemy must be met and vanquished--not finally, +for no man while on earth I suppose, can say that he is slain; +but, when once known and recognized, met and vanquished he must +be, by God's help in this and that encounter, before you can be +truly called a man; before you can really enjoy any one even of +this world's good things. + +This strife was no light one for our hero on the night in his +life at which we have arrived. The quiet sky overhead, the quiet +solemn old buildings, under the shadow of which he stood, brought +him no peace. He fled from them into his own rooms; he lighted +his candles and tried to read, and force the whole matter from +his thoughts; but it was useless; back it came again and again. +The more impatient of its presence he became, the less could he +shake it off. Some decision he must make; what should it be? He +could have no peace till it was taken. The veil had been drawn +aside thoroughly, and once for all. Twice he was on the point of +returning to Hardy's rooms to thank him, confess, and consult; +but the tide rolled back again. As the truth of the warning sank +deeper and deeper into him, the irritation against him who had +uttered it grew also. He could not and would not be fair yet. It +is no easy thing for anyone of us to put the whole burden of any +folly or sin on our own backs all at once. "If he had done it in +any other way," thought Tom, "I might have thanked him." + +Another effort to shake off the whole question. Down into the +quadrangle again; lights in Drysdale's rooms. He goes up, and +finds the remains of the supper, tankards full of egg-flip and +cardinal, and a party playing at _vingt-un_. He drinks freely, +careless of training or boat-racing, anxious only to drown +thought. He sits down to play. The boisterous talk of some, the +eager keen looks of others, jar on him equally. One minute he is +absent, the next boisterous, then irritable, then moody. A +college card-party is no place to-night for him. He loses his +money, is disgusted at last, and gets to his own rooms by +midnight; goes to bed feverish, dissatisfied with himself, with +all the world. The inexorable question pursues him even into the +strange helpless land of dreams, demanding a decision, when he +has no longer power of will to choose either good or evil. + +But how fared it all this time with the physician? Alas! little +better than with his patient. His was the deeper and more +sensitive nature. Keenly conscious of his own position, he had +always avoided any but the most formal intercourse with the men +in his college whom he would have liked most to live with. This +was the first friendship he had made amongst them, and he valued +it accordingly; and now it seemed to lie at his feet in hopeless +fragments, and cast down too by his own hand. Bitterly he blamed +himself over and over again, as he recalled every word that had +passed--not for having spoken--that he felt had been a sacred +duty--but for the harshness and suddenness with which he seemed +to himself to have done it. + +"One touch of gentleness or sympathy, and I might have won him. +As it was, how could he have met me otherwise than he did--hard +word for hard word, hasty answer for proud reproof? Can I go to +him and recall it all? No! I can't trust myself; I shall only +make matters worse. Besides, he may think that the servitor--Ah! +am I there again? The old sore, self, self, self! I nurse my own +pride; I value it more than my friend; and yet--no, no! I cannot +go, though I think I could die for him. The sin, if sin there +must be, be on my head. Would to God I could bear the sting of +it! But there will be none--how can I fear? he is too true, too +manly. Rough and brutal as my words have been, they have shown +him the gulf. He will, he must escape it. But will he ever come +back to me? I care not, so he escape." + +How can my poor words follow the strong loving man in the +wrestlings of his spirit, till far on in the quiet night he laid +the whole before the Lord and slept! Yes, my brother, even so: +the old, old story; but start not at the phrase, though you may +never have found its meaning--He laid the whole before the Lord +in prayer, for his friend, for himself, for the whole world. + +And you, too, if ever you are tried as he was--as every man must +be in one way or another--must learn to do the like with every +burthen on your soul, if you would not have it hanging round you +heavily, and ever more heavily, and dragging you down lower and +lower till your dying day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--THE STORM RAGES + +Hardy was early in the chapel the next morning. It was his week +for pricking in. Every man who entered--from the early men who +strolled in quietly while the bell was still ringing, to the +hurrying, half-dressed loiterers who crushed in as the porter was +closing the doors, and disturbed the congregation in the middle +of the confession--gave him a turn (as the expressive phrase is), +and every turn only ended in disappointment. He put by his list +at last, when the doors were fairly shut, with a sigh. He had +half expected to see Tom come into morning chapel with a face +from which he might have gathered hope that his friend had taken +the right path. But Tom did not come at all, and Hardy felt it +was a bad sign. + +They did not meet till the evening, at the river, when the boat +went down for a steady pull, and then Hardy saw at once that all +was going wrong. Neither spoke to or looked at the other. Hardy +expected some one to remark it, but nobody did. After the pull +they walked up, and Tom as usual led the way, as if nothing had +happened, into "The Choughs." Hardy paused for a moment, and then +went in too, and stayed till the rest of the crew left. Tom +deliberately stayed after them all. Hardy turned for a moment as +he was leaving the bar, and saw him settling himself down in his +chair with an air of defiance, meant evidently for him, which +would have made most men angry. He was irritated for a moment, +and then was filled with ruth for the poor wrong-headed youngster +who was heaping up coals of fire for his own head. In his +momentary anger Hardy said to himself, "Well, I have done what I +can; now he must go his own way;" but such a thought was soon +kicked in disgrace from his noble and well-disciplined mind. He +resolved, that, let it cost what it might in the shape of loss of +time and trial of temper, he would leave no stone unturned, and +spare no pains, to deliver his friend of yesterday from the +slough into which he was plunging. How he might best work for +this end occupied his thoughts as he walked towards college. + +Tom sat on at "The Choughs," glorifying himself in the thought +that now, at any rate, he had shown Hardy that he wasn't to be +dragooned into doing or not doing anything. He had had a bad time +of it all day, and his good angel had fought hard for victory; +but self-will was too strong for the time. When he stayed behind +the rest, it was more out of bravado than from any defined +purpose of pursuing what he tried to persuade himself was an +innocent flirtation. When he left the house some hours after he +was deeper in the toils than ever, and dark clouds were gathering +over his heart. From that time he was an altered man, and +altering as rapidly for the worse in body as in mind. Hardy saw +the change in both, and groaned over it in secret. Miller's quick +eye detected the bodily change. After the next race he drew Tom +aside, and said,-- + +"Why, Brown, what's the matter? What have you been about? You're +breaking down. Hold on, man; there's only one more night." + +"Never fear," said Tom, proudly, "I shall last it out." + +And in the last race he did his work again, though it cost him +more than all the preceding ones put together, and when he got +out of the boat he could scarcely walk or see. He felt a fierce +kind of joy in his own distress, and wished that there were more +races to come. But Miller, as he walked up arm-in-arm with the +Captain, took a different view of the subject. + +"Well, it's all right, you see," said the Captain; "but we're not +a boat's length better than Oriel over the course after all. How +was it we bumped them? If anything, they drew a-little on us +to-night." + +"Ay, half a boat's length, I should say," answered Miller. "I'm +uncommonly glad it's over; Brown is going all to pieces; he +wouldn't stand another race, and we haven't a man to put in his +place." + +"It's odd, too," said the Captain; "I put him down as a laster, +and he has trained well. Perhaps he has overdone it a little. +However, it don't matter now." + +So the races were over; and that night a great supper was held in +St. Ambrose Hall, to which were bidden, and came, the crews of +all the boats from Exeter upwards. The Dean, with many misgivings +and cautions, had allowed the hall to be used, on pressure from +Miller and Jervis. Miller was a bachelor and had taken a good +degree, and Jervis bore a high character and was expected to do +well in the schools. So the poor Dean gave in to them, extracting +many promises in exchange for his permission, and flitted +uneasily about all the evening in his cap and gown, instead of +working on at his edition of the Fathers, which occupied every +minute of his leisure, and was making an old man of him before +his time. + +From eight to eleven the fine old pointed windows of St. Ambrose +Hall blazed with light, and the choruses of songs, and the cheers +which followed the short intervals of silence which the speeches +made, rang out over the quadrangles, and made the poor Dean amble +about in a state of nervous bewilderment. Inside there was hearty +feasting, such as had not been seen there, for aught I know, +since the day when the king came back to "enjoy his own again." +The one old cup, relic of the Middle Ages, which had survived the +civil wars,--St. Ambrose's had been a right loyal college, and +the plate had gone without a murmur into Charles the First's +war-chest,--went round and round; and rival crews pledged one +another out of it, and the massive tankards of a later day, in +all good faith and good fellowship. Mailed knights, grave +bishops, royal persons of either sex, and "other our +benefactors," looked down on the scene from their heavy gilded +frames, and, let us hope, not unkindly. All passed off well and +quietly; the out-college men were gone, the lights were out, and +the butler had locked the hall door by a quarter past eleven, and +the Dean returned in peace to his own rooms. + +Had Tom been told a week before that he would not have enjoyed +that night, that it would not have been amongst the happiest and +proudest of his life, he would have set his informer down as a +madman. As it was, he never once rose to the spirit of the feast, +and wished it all over a dozen times. He deserved not to enjoy +it; but not so Hardy, who was nevertheless almost as much out of +tune as Tom; though the University coxswain had singled him out, +named him in his speech, sat by him and talked to him for a +quarter of an hour, and asked him to go to the Henley and Thames +regattas in the Oxford crew. + +The next evening, as usual, Tom found himself at "The Choughs" +with half a dozen others. Patty was in the bar by herself, +looking prettier than ever. One by one the rest of the men +dropped off, the last saying, "Are you coming, Brown?" and being +answered in the negative. + +He sat still, watching Patty as she flitted about, washing up the +ale glasses and putting them on their shelves, and getting out +her work basket; and then she came and sat down in her aunt's +chair opposite him, and began stitching away demurely at an apron +she was making. Then he broke silence,-- + +"Where's your aunt to-night, Patty?" + +"Oh, she has gone away for a few days, for a visit to some +friends." + +"You and I will keep house, then, together; you shall teach me +all the tricks of the trade. I shall make a famous barman, don't +you think?" + +"You must learn to behave better, then. But I promised aunt to +shut up at nine; so you must go when it strikes. Now promise me +you will go." + +"Go at nine! what, in half an hour? The first evening I have ever +had a chance of spending alone with you; do you think it likely?" +and he looked into her eyes. She turned away with a slight +shiver, and a deep blush. + +His nervous system had been so unusually excited in the last few +days, that he seemed to know everything that was passing in her +mind. He took her hand. "Why, Patty, you're not afraid of me, +surely?" he said, gently. + +"No, not when you're like you are now. But you frightened me just +this minute. I never saw you look so before. Has anything +happened to you?" + +"No, nothing. Now then, we're going to have a jolly evening, and +play Darby and Joan together," he said, turning away, and going +to the bar window; "shall I shut up, Patty?" + +"No, it isn't nine yet; somebody may come in." + +"That's just why I mean to put the shutters up; I don't want +anybody." + +"Yes, but I do, though. Now I declare, Mr. Brown, if you go on +shutting up, I'll run into the kitchen and sit with Dick." + +"Why will you call me 'Mr. Brown'?" + +"Why, what should I call you?" + +"Tom, of course." + +"Oh, I never! one would think you was my brother," said Patty, +looking up with a pretty pertness which she had a most bewitching +way of putting on. Tom's rejoinder, and the little squabble which +they had afterward about where her work-table should stand, and +other such matters, may be passed over. At last he was brought to +reason, and to anchor opposite his enchantress, the work-table +between them; and he sat leaning back in his chair and watching +her, as she stitched away without ever lifting her eyes. He was +in no hurry to break the silence. The position was particularly +fascinating to him, for he had scarcely ever yet had a good look +at her before, without fear of attracting attention, or being +interrupted. At last he roused himself. + +"Any of our men been here to-day, Patty?" he said, sitting up. + +"There now, I've won," she laughed; "I said to myself I wouldn't +speak first, and I haven't. What a time you were. I thought you +would never begin." + +"You're a little goose! Now I begin then; who've been here +to-day?" + +"Of your college? let me see;" and she looked away across to the +bar window, pricking her needle into the table. "There was Mr. +Drysdale and some others called for a glass of ale as they +passed, going out driving. Then there was Mr. Smith and them from +the boats about four, and that ugly one--I can't mind his name--" + +"What, Hardy?" + +"Yes, that's it; he was here about half-past six, and--" + +"What, Hardy here after hall?" interrupted Tom, utterly +astonished. + +"Yes, after your dinner up at college. He's been here two or +three times lately." + +"The deuce he has!" + +"Yes, and he talks so pleasant to aunt, too. I'm sure he is a +very nice gentleman, after all. He sat and talked tonight for +half an hour, I should think." + +"What did he talk about?" said Tom, with a sneer. + +"Oh, he asked me whether I had a mother, and where I came from, +and all about my bringing up, and made me feel quite pleasant. He +is so nice and quiet and respectful, not like most of you. I'm +going to like him very much, as you told me." + +"I don't tell you so now." + +"But you did say he was your great friend." + +"Well, he isn't that now." + +"What, have you quarreled?" + +"Yes." + +"Dear; dear; how odd you gentlemen are!" + +"Why, it isn't a very odd thing for men to quarrel, is it?" + +"No, not in the public room. They're always quarreling there, +over their drink and the bagatelle-board; and Dick has to turn +them out. But gentlemen ought to know better." + +"They don't, you see, Patty." + +"But what did you quarrel about?" + +"Guess." + +"How can I guess? What was it about?" + +"About you." + +"About me!" she said, looking up from her work in wonder. "How +could you quarrel about me?" + +"Well, I'll tell you; he said I had no right to come here. You +won't like him after that, will you Patty?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said Patty, going on with her work, and +looking troubled. + +They sat still for some minutes. Evil thoughts crowded into Tom's +head. He was in the humor for thinking evil thoughts, and, +putting the worst construction on Hardy's visits, fancied he came +there as his rival. He did not trust himself to speak till he had +mastered his precious discovery, and put it away in the back of +his heart, and weighed it down there with a good covering of +hatred and revenge, to be brought out as occasion should serve. +He was plunging down rapidly enough now; but he had new motives +for making the most of his time, and never played his cards +better or made more progress. When a man sits down to such a +game, the devil will take good care he sha'n't want cunning or +strength. It was ten o'clock instead of nine before he left, +which he did with a feeling of triumph. Poor Patty remained +behind, and shut up the bar, her heart in a flutter, and her +hands shaking, while Dick was locking the front door. She hardly +knew whether to laugh or cry; she felt the change which had come +over him, and was half fascinated and half repelled by it. + +Tom walked quickly back to college, in a mood which I do not care +to describe. The only one of his thoughts which my readers need +be troubled with, put itself into some such words as these in his +head:--"So, it's Abingdon fair next Thursday, and she has +half-promised to go with me. I know I can make it certain. Who'll +be going besides? Drysdale, I'll be bound. I'll go and see him." + +On entering college he went straight to Drysdale's rooms, and +drank deeply, and played high into the short hours of the night, +but found no opportunity of speaking. + +Deeper and deeper yet for the next few days, downwards and ever +faster downwards he plunged, the light getting fainter and ever +fainter above his head. Little good can come of dwelling on those +days. He left off pulling, shunned his old friends, and lived +with the very worst men he knew in college, who were ready enough +to let him share all their brutal orgies. + +Drysdale, who was often present, wondered at the change, which he +saw plainly enough. He was sorry for it in his way, but it was no +business of his. He began to think that Brown was a good enough +fellow before, but would make a devilish disagreeable one if he +was going to turn fast man. + +At "The Choughs" all went on as if the downward path knew how to +make itself smooth. Now that the races were over, and so many +other attractions were going on in Oxford, very few men came in +to interfere with him. He was scarcely ever away from Patty's +side, in the evenings while her aunt was absent, and gained more +and more power over her. He might have had some compassion, but +that he was spurred on by hearing how Hardy haunted the place +now, at times when he could not be there. He felt that there was +an influence struggling with his in the girl's mind; he laid it +to Hardy's door, and imputed it still more and more to motives as +base as his own. But Abingdon fair was coming on Thursday. When +he left "The Choughs" on Tuesday night, he had extracted a +promise from Patty to accompany him there, and had arranged their +place of meeting. + +All that remained to be done was to see if Drysdale was going. +Somehow he felt a disinclination to go alone with Patty. Drysdale +was the only man of those he was now living with to whom he felt +the least attraction. In a vague way he clung to him; and though +he never faced the thought of what he was about fairly, yet it +passed through his mind that even in Drysdale's company he would +be safer than if alone. It was all pitiless, blind, wild work, +without rudder or compass; the wish that nothing very bad might +come out of it all, however, came up in spite of him now and +again, and he looked to Drysdale, and longed to become even as +he. + +Drysdale was going. He was very reserved on the subject, but at +last confessed that he was not going alone. Tom persisted. +Drysdale was too lazy and careless to keep anything from a man +who was bent on knowing it. In the end it was arranged that he +should drive Tom out the next afternoon. He did so. They stopped +at a small public house some two miles out of Oxford. The cart +was put up, and after carefully scanning the neighborhood they +walked quickly to the door of a pretty retired cottage. As they +entered, Drysdale said, + +"By Jove, I thought I caught a glimpse of your friend Hardy at +that turn." + +"Friend! he's no friend of mine." + +"But didn't you see him?" + +"No." + +They reached college again between ten and eleven, and parted, +each to his own rooms. + +To his surprise, Tom found a candle burning on his table. Round +the candle was tied a piece of string, at the end of which hung a +note. Who ever had put it there had clearly been anxious that he +should in no case miss it when he came in. He took it up and saw +that it was in Hardy's hand. He paused, and trembled as he stood. +Then with an effort he broke the seal and read:-- + +"I must speak once more. To-morrow it may be too late. If you go +to Abingdon fair with her in the company of Drysdale and his +mistress, or, I believe, in any company, you will return a +scoundrel, and she--; in the name of the honor of your mother and +sister, in the name of God, I warn you. May He help you through +it. + +"JOHN HARDY." + +Here we will drop the curtain for the next hour. At the end of +that time, Tom staggered out of his room, down the staircase, +across the quadrangle, up Drysdale's staircase. He paused at the +door to gather some strength, ran his hands through his hair, and +arranged his coat; notwithstanding, when he entered, Drysdale +started to his feet, upsetting Jack from his comfortable coil on +the sofa. + +"Why, Brown, you're ill; have some brandy," he said, and went to +his cupboard for the bottle. + +Tom leant his arm on the fireplace; his head on it. The other +hung down by his side, and Jack licked it, and he loved the dog +as he felt the caress. Then Drysdale came to his side with a +glass of brandy, which he took and tossed off as though it had +been water. "Thank you," he said, and as Drysdale went back with +the bottle, reached a large armchair and sat down in it. + +"Drysdale, I sha'n't go with you to Abingdon fair to-morrow." + +"Hullo! what, has the lovely Patty thrown you over?" said +Drysdale, turning from the cupboard, and resuming his lounge on +the sofa. + +"No." he sank back into the chair, on the arms of which his +elbows rested, and put his hands up before his face, pressing +them against his burning temples. Drysdale looked at him hard, +but said nothing; and there was a dead silence of a minute or so, +broken only by Tom's heavy breathing, which he labored in vain to +control. + +"No," he repeated at last, and the remaining words came out +slowly as they were trying to steady themselves, "but, by God, +Drysdale I _can't_ take her with you, and that--" a dead pause. + +"The young lady you met to-night, eh?" + +Tom nodded, but said nothing. + +"Well, old fellow," said Drysdale, "now you've made up your mind, +I tell you, I'm devilish glad of it. I'm no saint, as you know, +but I think it would have been a d--d shame if you had taken her +with us." + +"Thank you," said Tom, and pressed his fingers tighter on his +forehead; and he did feel thankful for the words, though coming +from such a man, they went into him like coals of fire. + +Again there was a long pause, Tom sitting as before. + +Drysdale got up and strolled up and down his room, with his hands +in the pockets of his silk-lined lounging coat, taking at each +turn a steady look at the other. Presently he stopped, and took +his cigar out of his mouth. "I say, Brown," he said, after +another minute's contemplation of the figure before him, which +bore such an unmistakable impress of wretchedness, that it made +him quite uncomfortable, "why don't you cut that concern?" + +"How do you mean?" said Tom. + +"Why that 'Choughs' business--I'll be hanged if it won't kill +you, or make a devil of you before long, if you go on with it." + +"It's not far from that now." + +"So I see--and I'll tell you what, you're not the sort of fellow +to go in for this kind of thing. You'd better leave it to +cold-blooded brutes, like some we know--I needn't mention names." + +"I'm awfully wretched, Drysdale; I've been a brute my self to you +and everybody of late." + +"Well, I own I don't like the new side of you. Now make up your +mind to cut the whole concern, old fellow," he said, coming up +goodnaturedly, and putting his hand on Tom's shoulder, "it's hard +to do, I dare say, but you had better make a plunge and get it +over. There's wickedness enough going about without your helping +to shove another one into it." + +Tom groaned as he listened, but he felt that the man was trying +to help him in his own way, and according to his light, as +Drysdale went on expounding his own curious code of morality. +When it was ended, he shook Drysdale's hand, and, wishing him +good night, went back to his own rooms. The first step upwards +towards the light had been made,--for he felt thoroughly humbled +before the man on whom he had expended in his own mind so much +patronizing pity for the last half year--whom he had been +fancying he was influencing for good. + +During the long hours of the night the scenes of the last few +hours, of the last few days, came back to him and burnt into his +soul. The gulf yawned before him now plain enough, open at his +feet--black, ghastly. He shuddered at it, wondering if he should +even yet fall in, felt wildly about for strength to stand firm, +to retrace his steps; but found it not. He found not yet the +strength he was in search of, but in the grey morning he wrote a +short note:-- + +"I shall not be able to take you to Abingdon fair to-day. You +will not see me perhaps for some days. I am not well. + +"I am very sorry. Don't think that I am changed. Don't be +unhappy, or I don't know what I may do." There was no address and +no signature to the note. + +When the gates opened he hurried out of the college and, having +left it and a shilling with Dick (whom he found cleaning the +yard, and much astonished at his appearance, and who promised to +deliver it to Patty with his own hands before eight o'clock), he +got back again to his own rooms, went to bed, worn out in mind +and body, and slept till mid-day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--NEW GROUND + +My readers have now been steadily at Oxford for six months +without moving. Most people find such a spell of the place +without a change quite as much as they care to take; perhaps too, +it may do our hero good to let him alone for a little, that he +may have time to look steadily into the pit which he has been so +near falling down, which is still yawning awkwardly in his path; +moreover, the exigencies of a story teller must lead him away +from home now and then. Like the rest of us, his family must have +change of air, or he has to go off to see a friend properly +married, or a connexion buried; to wear white or black gloves +with or for some one, carrying such sympathy as he can with him, +so that he may come back from every journey, however short, with +a wider horizon. Yes; to come back home after every stage of +life's journeying with a wider horizon--more in sympathy with men +and nature, knowing ever more of the righteous and eternal laws +which govern them, and of the righteous and loving will which is +above all, and around all, and beneath all--this must be the end +and aim of all of us, or we shall be wandering about blindfold, +and spending time and labor and journey-money on that which +profiteth nothing. So now I must ask my readers to forget the old +buildings and quadrangles of the fairest of England's cities, the +caps and the gowns, the reading and rowing for a short space, and +take a flight with me to other scenes and pastures new. + +The nights are pleasant in May, short and pleasant for travel. We +will leave the ancient city asleep, and do our flight in the +night to save time. Trust yourself then to the story-teller's +aerial machine. It is but a rough affair, I own, rough and +humble, unfitted for high or great flights, with no gilded panels +or dainty cushions, or C-springs--not that we shall care about +springs, by the way, until we alight on terra firma again--still, +there is much to be learned in a third-class carriage if we will +only not look while in it for cushions and fine panels, and forty +miles an hour traveling, and will not be shocked at our fellow +passengers for being weak in their h's and smelling of fustian. +Mount in it, then, you who will, after this warning; the fares +are holiday fares, the tickets return tickets. Take with you +nothing but the poet's luggage, + + "A smile for Hope, a tear for Pain, + A breath to swell the voice of Prayer." + +and may you have a pleasant journey, for it is time that the +stoker should be looking to his going gear. + +So now we rise slowly in the moonlight from St. Ambrose's +quadrangle, and, when we are clear of the clock-tower, steer away +southwards, over Oxford city and all its sleeping wisdom and +folly, over street and past spire, over Christ Church and the +canons' houses, and the fountain in Tom quad; over St. Aldate's +and the river, along which the moonbeams lie in a pathway of +twinkling silver, over the railway sheds--no, there was then no +railway, but only the quiet fields and footpaths of Hincksey +hamlet. Well, no matter; at any rate, the hills beyond, and +Bagley Wood, were there then as now; and over hills and wood we +rise, catching the purr of the night-jar, the trill of the +nightingale, and the first crow of the earliest cock-pheasant, as +he stretches his jewelled wings, conscious of his strength and +his beauty, heedless of the fellows of St. John's, who slumber +within sight of his perch, on whose hospitable board he shall one +day lie, prone on his back, with fair larded breast turned +upwards for the carving-knife, having crowed his last crow. He +knows it not; what matters it to him? If he knew it, could a +Bagley Wood cock-pheasant desire a better ending? + +We pass over the vale beyond; hall and hamlet, church, and +meadow, and copse, folded in mist and shadow below us, each +hamlet holding in its bosom the material of three volumed novels +by the dozen, if we could only pull off the roofs of the houses +and look steadily into the interiors; but our destination is +farther yet. The faint white streak behind the distant Chilterns +reminds us that we have no time for gossip by the way; May nights +are short, and the sun will be up by four. No matter; our journey +will now be soon over, for the broad vale is crossed, and the +chalk hills and downs beyond. Larks quiver up by us, "higher, +ever higher," hastening up to get a first glimpse of the coming +monarch, careless of food, flooding the fresh air with song. +Steadily plodding rooks labour along below us, and lively +starlings rush by on the look-out for the early worm; lark and +swallow, rook and starling, each on his appointed round. The sun +arises, and they get them to it; he is up now, and these breezy +uplands over which we hang are swimming in the light of +horizontal rays, though the shadows and mists still lie on the +wooded dells which slope away southwards. + +Here let us bring to, over the village of Englebourn, and try to +get acquainted with the outside of the place before the good folk +are about, and we have to go down among them and their sayings +and doings. + +The village lies on the southern slopes of the Berkshire hills, +on the opposite side to that under which our hero was born. +Another soil altogether is here, we remark in the first place. +This is no chalk; this high knoll which rises above--one may +almost say hangs over--the village, crowned with Scotch firs, its +sides tufted with gorse and heather. It is the Hawk's Lynch, the +favorite resort of Englebourn folk, who come up for the view, for +the air, because their fathers and mothers came up before them, +because they came up themselves as children--from an instinct +which moves them all in leisure hours and Sunday evenings, when +the sun shines and the birds sing, whether they care for view or +air or not. Something guides all their feet hitherward; the +children, to play hide-and-seek and look for nests in the +gorse-bushes; young men and maidens, to saunter and look and +talk, as they will till the world's end--or as long, at any rate, +as the Hawk's Lynch and Englebourn last--and to cut their +initials, enclosed in a true lover's knot, on the short rabbit's +turf; steady married couples, to plod along together consulting +on hard times and growing families; even old tottering men, who +love to sit at the feet of the firs, with chins leaning on their +sticks, prattling of days long past, to anyone who will listen, +or looking silently with dim eyes into the summer air, feeling +perhaps in their spirits after a wider and more peaceful view +which will soon open for them. A common knoll, open to all, up in +the silent air, well away from every-day Englebourn life, with +the Hampshire range and the distant Beacon Hill lying soft on the +horizon, and nothing higher between you and the southern sea, +what a blessing the Hawk's Lynch is to the village folk, one and +all! May Heaven and a thankless soil long preserve it and them +from an enclosure under the Act! + +There is much temptation lying about, though, for the enclosers +of the world. The rough common land stretches over the whole of +the knoll, and down to its base, and away along the hills behind, +of which the Hawk's Lynch is an outlying spur. Rough common land, +broken only by pine woods of a few acres each in extent, an +occasional woodman's or squatter's cottage and little patch of +attempted garden. But immediately below, and on each flank of the +spur, and half-way up the slopes, come small farm enclosures, +breaking here and there the belt of woodlands, which generally +lies between the rough wild upland, and the cultivated country +below. As you stand on the knoll you can see common land just +below you at its foot narrow into a mere road, with a border of +waste on each side which runs into Englebourn street. At the end +of the straggling village stands the church with its square +tower, a lofty grey stone building, with bits of fine decorated +architecture about it, but much of churchwarden Gothic +supervening. The churchyard is large, and the graves, as you can +see plainly even from this distance, are all crowded on the +southern side. The rector's sheep are feeding in the northern +part, nearest to us, and a small gate at one corner opens into +his garden. The Rectory looks large and comfortable, and its +grounds well cared for and extensive, with a rookery of elms at +the lawn's end. It is the chief house of the place, for there is +no resident squire. The principal street contains a few shops, +some dozen, perhaps, in all; and several farm houses lie a little +back from it, with gardens in front, and yards and barns and +orchards behind; and there are two public-houses. The other +dwellings are mere cottages, and very bad ones for the most part, +with floors below the level of the street. Almost every house in +the village is thatched, which adds to the beauty though not to +the comfort of the place. The rest of the population who do not +live in the street are dotted about the neighboring lanes, +chiefly towards the west, on our right as we look down from the +Hawk's Lynch. On this side the country is more open, and here +most of the farmers live, as we may see by the number of +homesteads. And there is a small brook on that side too, which +with careful damming is made to turn a mill, there where you see +the clump of poplars. On our left as we look down, the country to +the east of the village is thickly wooded; but we can see that +there is a village green on that side, and a few scattered +cottages, the farthest of which stands looking out like a little +white eye, from the end of a dense copse. + +Beyond it there is no sign of habitation for some two miles; then +you can see the tall chimneys of a great house, and a well +timbered park round it. The Grange is not in Englebourn +parish--happily for that parish, one is sorry to remark. It must +be a very bad squire who does not do more good than harm by +living in a country village. But there are very bad squires, and +the owner of the Grange is one of them. He is, however, for the +most part, an absentee, so that we are little concerned with him, +and in fact, have only to notice this one of his bad habits, that +he keeps that long belt of woodlands, which runs into Englebourn +parish, and comes almost up to the village, full of hares and +pheasants. He has only succeeded to the property some three or +four years, and yet the head of game on the estate, and above all +in the woods, has trebled or quadrupled. Pheasants by hundreds +are reared under hens, from eggs bought in London, and run about +the keepers' houses as tame as barn door fowls all the summer. +When the first party comes down for the first _battue_ early in +October, it is often as much as the beaters can do to persuade +these pampered fowls that they are wild game, whose duty it is to +get up and fly away, and be shot at. However, they soon learn +more of the world--such of them, at least, as are not slain--and +are unmistakable wild birds in a few days. Then they take to +roosting farther from their old haunts, more in the outskirts of +the woods, and the time comes for others besides the squire's +guests to take their education in hand, and teach pheasants at +least that they are no native British birds. These are a wild +set, living scattered about the wild country; turf-cutters, +broom-makers, squatters, with indefinite occupations, and +nameless habits, a race hated of keepers and constables. These +have increased and flourished of late years; and, notwithstanding +the imprisonments and transportations which deprive them +periodically of the most enterprising members of their community, +one and all give thanks for the day when the owner of the Grange +took to pheasant breeding. If the demoralization stopped with +them, little harm might come of it, as they would steal fowls in +the homesteads if there were no pheasants in the woods--which +latter are less dangerous to get, and worth more when gotten. +But, unhappily, this method of earning a livelihood has strong +attractions, and is catching; and the cases of farm labourers who +get into trouble about game are more frequent season by season in +the neighbouring parishes, and Englebourn is no better than the +rest. And the men are not likely to be much discouraged from +these practices, or taught better by the fanners; for, if there +is one thing more than another that drives that sturdy set of +men, the Englebourn yeomen, into a frenzy, it is talk of the game +in the Grange covers. Not that they dislike sport; they like it +too well, and, moreover, have been used to their fair share of +it. For the late squire left the game entirely in their hands. +"You know best how much game your land will carry without serious +damage to the crops," he used to say. "I like to show my friends +a fair day's sport when they are with me, and have enough game to +supply the house and make a few presents. Beyond that, it is no +affair of mine. You can course whenever you like; and let me know +when you want a day's shooting, and you shall have it." Under +this system the yeomen became keen sportsmen; they and all their +labourers took a keen interest in preserving, and the whole +district would have risen on a poacher. The keeper's place became +a sinecure, and the squire had as much game as he wanted without +expense, and was, moreover, the most popular man in the county. +Even after the new man came, and all was changed, the mere +revocation of their sporting liberties, and the increase of game, +unpopular as these things were, would not alone have made the +farmers so bitter, and have raised that sense of outraged justice +in them. But with these changes came in a custom new in the +country--the custom of selling the game. At first the report was +not believed; but soon it became notorious that no head of game +from the Grange estates was ever given away, that not only did +the tenants never get a brace of birds or a hare, or the +labourers a rabbit, but not one of the gentlemen who helped to +kill the game ever found any of the bag in his dog-cart after the +day's shooting. Nay, so shameless had the system become, and so +highly was the art of turning the game to account cultivated at +the Grange, that the keepers sold powder and shot to any of the +guests who had emptied their own belts or flasks at something +over the market retail price. The light cart drove to the +market-town twice a week in the season, loaded heavily with game, +but more heavily with the hatred and scorn of the farmers; and, +if deep and bitter curses could break patent axles or necks, the +new squire and his game-cart would not long have vexed the +countryside. As it was, not a man but his own tenants would +salute him in the market-place; and these repaid themselves for +the unwilling courtesy by bitter reflections on a squire who was +mean enough to pay his butcher's and poulterer's bills out of +their pockets. + +Alas that the manly instinct of sport which is so strong in all +of us Englishmen--which sends Oswells single handed against the +mightiest beasts that walk the earth, and takes the poor cockney +journeyman out a ten miles' walk almost before daylight, on the +rare summer holiday mornings, to angle with rude tackle in +reservoir or canal--should be dragged through such mire as this +in many an English shire in our day. If English landlords want to +go on shooting game much longer, they must give up selling it. +For if selling game becomes the rule, and not the exception (as +it seems likely to do before long), good-bye to sport in England. +Every man who loves his country more than his pleasure or his +pocket--and, thank God, that includes the great majority of us +yet, however much we may delight in gun and rod, let any +demagogue in the land say what he pleases--will cry, "Down with +it," and lend a hand to put it down for ever. + +But to return to our perch on the Hawk's Lynch above Englebourn +village. The rector is the fourth of his race who holds the +family living--a kind, easy-going, gentlemanly old man, a Doctor +of Divinity, as becomes his position, though he only went into +orders because there was the living ready for him. In his day he +had been a good magistrate and neighbour, living with and much in +the same way as the squires round about. But his contemporaries +had dropped off one by one; his own health had long been failing; +his wife was dead; and the young generation did not seek him. His +work and the parish had no real hold on him; so he had nothing to +fall back on, and had become a confirmed invalid, seldom leaving +the house and garden even to go to church, and thinking more of +his dinner and his health than of all other things in earth or +heaven. + +The only child who remained at home with him was a daughter, a +girl of nineteen or thereabouts, whose acquaintance we shall make +presently, and who was doing all that a good heart and sound head +prompted in nursing an old hypochondriac, and filling his place +in the parish. But though the old man was weak and selfish, he +was kind in his way, and ready to give freely or do anything that +his daughter suggested for the good of his people, provided the +trouble were taken off his shoulders. In the year before our tale +opens, he had allowed some thirty acres of his glebe to be +parcelled out in allotments amongst the poor; and his daughter +spent almost what she pleased in clothing-clubs, and sick-clubs, +and the school, without a word from him. Whenever he did +remonstrate, she managed to get what she wanted out of the +house-money, or her own allowance. + +We must make acquaintance with such other of the inhabitants as +it concerns us to know in the course of the story; for it is +broad daylight, and the villagers will be astir directly. Folk +who go to bed before nine, after a hard day's work, get into the +habit of turning out soon after the sun calls them. So now, +descending from the Hawk's Lynch, we will alight at the east end +of Englebourn, opposite the little white cottage which looks out +at the end of the great wood, near the village green. + +Soon after five on that bright Sunday morning, Harry Winburn +unbolted the door of his mother's cottage, and stepped out in his +shirt-sleeves on to the little walk in front, paved with pebbles. +Perhaps some of my readers will recognize the name of an old +acquaintance, and wonder how he got here; so let us explain at +once. Soon after our hero went to school, Harry's father had died +of a fever. He had been a journeyman blacksmith, and in the +receipt, consequently, of rather better wages than generally fall +to the lot of the peasantry, but not enough to leave much of a +margin over current expenditure. Moreover, the Winburns had +always been open-handed with whatever money they had; so that all +he left for his widow and child, of worldly goods, was their "few +sticks" of furniture, L5 in the savings bank, and the money from +his burial-club which was not more than enough to give him a +creditable funeral--that object of honorable ambition to all the +independent poor. He left, however, another inheritance to them, +which is in price above rubies, neither shall silver be named in +comparison thereof,--the inheritance of an honest name, of which +his widow was proud, and which was not likely to suffer in her +hands. + +After the funeral, she removed to Englebourn, her own native +village, and kept her old father's house till his death. He was +one of the woodmen to the Grange, and lived in the cottage at the +corner of the wood in which his work lay. When he, too, died, +hard times came on Widow Winburn. The steward allowed her to keep +on the cottage. The rent was a sore burden to her, but she would +sooner have starved than leave it. Parish relief was out of the +question for her father's child and her husband's widow; so she +turned her hand to every odd job which offered, and went to work +in the fields when nothing else could be had. Whenever there was +sickness in the place, she was an untiring nurse; and, at one +time, for some nine months, she took the office of postman, and +walked daily some nine miles through a severe winter. The fatigue +and exposure had broken down her health, and made her an old +woman before her time. At last, in a lucky hour, the Doctor came +to hear of her praiseworthy struggles, and gave her the Rectory +washing, which had made her life a comparatively easy one again. + +During all this time her poor neighbors had stood by her as the +poor do stand by one another, helping her in numberless small +ways, so that she had been able to realize the great object of +her life, and keep Harry at school till he was nearly fourteen. +By this time he had learned all that the village pedagogue could +teach, and had in fact become an object of mingled pride and +jealousy to that worthy man, who had his misgivings lest Harry's +fame as a scholar should eclipse his own before many years were +over. + +Mrs. Winburn's character was so good, that no sooner was her son +ready for a place than a place was ready for him; he stepped at +once into the dignity of carter's boy, and his earnings, when +added to his mother's, made them comfortable enough. Of course +she was wrapped up in him, and believed that there was no such +boy in the parish. And indeed she was nearer the truth than most +mothers, for he soon grew into a famous specimen of a countryman; +tall and lithe, full of nervous strength, and not yet bowed down +or stiffened by the constant toil of a labourer's daily life. In +these matters, however, he had rivals in the village; but in +intellectual accomplishments he was unrivalled. He was full of +learning according to the village standard, could write and +cipher well, was fond of reading such books as came in his way, +and spoke his native English almost without an accent. He is +one-and-twenty at the time when our story takes him up; a +thoroughly skilled labourer, the best hedger and ditcher in the +parish; and, when his blood is up, he can shear twenty sheep in a +day, without razing the skin, or mow for sixteen hours at a +stretch, with rests of half an hour for meals twice in the day. + +Harry shaded his eyes with his hand for a minute, as he stood +outside the cottage drinking in the fresh, pure air, laden with +the scent of the honeysuckle which he had trained over the porch, +and listening to the chorus of linnets and finches from the copse +at the back of the house; he then set about the household duties, +which he always made it a point of honour to attend to himself on +Sundays. First he unshuttered the little lattice-window of the +room on the ground floor; a simple enough operation, for the +shutter was a mere wooden flap, which was closed over the window +at night and bolted with a wooden bolt on the outside, and thrown +back against the wall in the daytime. Any one who would could +have opened it at any moment of the night; but the poor sleep +sound without bolts. Then he took the one old bucket of the +establishment, and strode away to the well on the village green, +and filled it with clear, cold water, doing the same kind office +for the vessels of two or three rosy little damsels and boys, of +ages varying from ten to fourteen, who were already astir, and to +whom the winding-up of the parish chain and bucket would have +been a work of difficulty. Returning to the cottage, he proceeded +to fill his mother's kettle, sweep the hearth, strike a light, +and make up the fire with a faggot from the little stack in the +corner of the garden. Then he hauled the three-legged round table +before the fire, and dusted it carefully over, and laid out the +black Japan tea-tray with two delf cups and saucers of gorgeous +pattern, and diminutive plates to match, and placed the sugar and +slop basins, the big loaf and small piece of salt butter, in +their accustomed places, and the little black teapot on the hob +to get properly warm. There was little more to be done indoors, +for the furniture was scanty enough; but everything in turn +received its fair share of attention, and the little room, with +its sunken tiled floor and yellow-washed walls, looked cheerful +and homely. Then Harry turned his attention to the shed of his +own contriving, which stood beside the faggot-stack, and from +which expostulatory and plaintive grunts had been issuing ever +since his first appearance at the door, telling of a faithful and +useful friend who was sharp set on Sunday mornings, and desired +his poor breakfast, and to be dismissed for the day to pick up +the rest of his livelihood with his brethren porkers of the +village on the green and in the lanes. Harry served out to the +porker the poor mess which the wash of the cottage and the odds +and ends of the little garden afforded; which that virtuous +animal forthwith began to discuss with both fore-feet in the +trough--by way, probably, of adding to the flavor--while his +master scratched him gently between the ears and on the back with +a short stick till the repast was concluded. Then he opened the +door of the stye, and the grateful animal rushed out into the +lane, and away to the green with a joyful squeal and flirt of his +hind-quarters in the air; and Harry, after picking a bunch of +wall-flowers, and pansies, and hyacinths, a line of which flowers +skirted the narrow garden walk, and putting them in a long-necked +glass which he took from the mantel-piece, proceeded to his +morning ablutions, ample materials for which remained at the +bottom of the family bucket, which he had put down on a little +bench by the side of the porch. These finished, he retired +indoors to shave and dress himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--ENGLEBOURNE VILLAGE + +Dame Winburn was not long after her son, and they sat down +together to breakfast in their best Sunday clothes--she, in a +plain large white cap which covered all but a line of grey hair, +a black stuff gown reaching to neck and wrists, and small silk +neckkerchief put on like a shawl; a thin, almost gaunt old woman, +whom the years had not used tenderly, and who showed marks of +their usage--but a resolute, high-couraged soul, who had met hard +times in the face, and could meet them again if need were. She +spoke in broad Berkshire, and was otherwise a homely body, but +self-possessed and without a shade of real vulgarity in her +composition. + +The widow looked with some anxiety at Harry as he took his seat. +Although something of a rustic dandy, of late he had not been so +careful in the matter of dress as usual; but, in consequence of +her reproaches, on this Sunday there was nothing to complain of. +His black velveteen shooting coat, and cotton plush waistcoat, +his brown corduroy knee-breeches and gaiters, sat on him well, +and gave the world assurance of a well-to-do man, for few of the +Englebourn labourers rose above smock-frocks and fustian +trousers. He wore a blue bird's-eye handkerchief round his neck, +and his shirt, though coarse in texture, was as white as the sun +and the best laundress in Englebourn could manage to bleach it. +There was nothing to find fault with in his dress, therefore, but +still his mother did not feel quite comfortable as she took +stealthy glances at him. Harry was naturally a reserved fellow, +and did not make much conversation himself, and his mother felt a +little embarrassed on this particular morning. + +It was not, therefore, until Dame Winburn had finished her first +slice of bread and butter, and had sipped the greater part of her +second dish of tea out of her saucer, that she broke silence. + +"I minded thy business last night, Harry, when I wur up at the +Rectory about the washin'. It's my belief as thou'lt get t'other +'lotment next quarter-day. The Doctor spoke very kind about it, +and said as how he heer'd as high a character o' thee, young as +thee bist, as of are' a man in the parish, and as how he wur set +on lettin' the lots to thaay as'd do best by 'em; only he said as +the farmers went agin givin' more nor an acre to any man as +worked for _them_; and the Doctor, you see, he don't like to go +altogether agin the vestry folk." + +"What business is it o' theirs," said Harry, "so long as they get +their own work done? There's scarce one on 'em as hasn't more +land already nor he can keep as should be, and for all that they +want to snap up every bit as falls vacant, so as no poor man +shall get it." + +"'Tis mostly so with them as has," said his mother, with a half +puzzled look; "Scriptur says as to them shall be given, and they +shall have more abundant," Dame Winburn spoke hesitatingly, and +looked doubtfully at Harry, as a person who has shot with a +strange gun, and knows not what effect the bolt may have. Harry +was brought up all standing by this unexpected quotation of his +mother's; but, after thinking for a few moments while he cut +himself a slice of bread, replied:-- + +"It don't say as those shall have more that can't use what +they've got already. 'Tis a deal more like Naboth's vineyard for +aught as I can see. But 'tis little odds to me which way it +goes." + +"How canst talk so, Harry?" said his mother reproachfully; "thou +know'st thou wast set on it last fall, like a wasp on sugar. Why +scarce a day past but thou wast up to the Rectory, to see the +Doctor about it; and now thou'rt like to get th'lotment thou'lt +not go anyst 'un." + +Harry looked out at the open door, without answering. It was +quite true that, in the last autumn, he had been very anxious to +get as large an allotment as he could into his own hands, and +that he had been for ever up towards the Rectory, but perhaps not +always on the allotment business. He was naturally a +self-reliant, shrewd fellow, and felt that if he could put his +hand on three or four acres of land, he could soon make himself +independent of the farmers. He knew that at harvest-times, and +whenever there was a pinch for good labourers, they would be glad +enough to have him; while at other times, with a few acres of his +own, he would be his own master and could do much better for +himself. So he had put his name down first on the Doctor's list, +taken the largest lot he could get, and worked it so well that +his crops, amongst others, had been a sort of village show last +harvest-time. Many of the neighboring allotments stood out in sad +contrast to those of Harry and the more energetic of the +peasantry, and lay by the side of these latter only half worked +and full of weeds, and the rent was never ready. It was worse +than useless to let matters go on thus, and the question arose, +what was to be done with the neglected lots. Harry, and all the +men like him, applied at once for them; and their eagerness to +get them had roused some natural jealousy amongst the farmers, +who began to foresee that the new system might shortly leave them +with none but the worst labourers. So the vestry had pressed on +the Doctor, as Dame Winburn said, not to let any man have more +than an acre, or an acre and a half; and the well-meaning, +easy-going invalid old man couldn't make up his mind what to do. +So here was May again, and the neglected lots were still in the +nominal occupation of the idlers. The Doctor got no rent, and was +annoyed at the partial failure of a scheme which he had not +indeed originated, but for which he had taken much credit to +himself. The negligent occupiers grumbled that they were not +allowed a drawback for manure, and that no pigstyes were put up +for them. "'Twas allers understood so," they maintained, "and +they'd never ha' took to the lots but for that." The good men +grumbled that it would be too late now for them to do more than +clean the lots of weeds this year. The farmers grumbled that it +was always understood that no man should have more than one lot. +The poor rector had led his flock into a miry place with a +vengeance. People who cannot make up their minds breed trouble in +other places besides country villages. However quiet and out of +the way the place may be, there is always some _quasi_ public +topic, which stands, to the rural Englishman, in the place of +treaty, or budget, or reform-bill. So the great allotment +question, for the time, was that which exercised the minds of the +inhabitants of Englebourn; and until lately no one had taken a +keener interest in it than Harry Winburn. But that interest had +now much abated, and so Harry looked through the cottage door, +instead of answering his mother. + +"'Tis my belief as you med amost hev it for the axin'." Dame +Winburn began again when she found that he would not re-open the +subject himself. "The young missus said as much to me herself +last night. Ah! to be sure, things'd go better if she had the +guidin' on 'em." + +"I'm not going after it any more, mother. We can keep the bits o' +sticks here together without it while you be alive; and if +anything was to happen to you, I don't think I should stay in +these parts. But it don't matter what becomes o' me; I can earn a +livelihood anywhere." + +Dame Winburn paused a moment before answering to subdue her +vexation, and then said, "How can 'ee let hankerin' arter a lass +take the heart out o' thee so? Hold up thy head, and act a bit +measterful. The more thow makest o' thyself, the more like thou +art to win." + +"Did you hear aught of her last night, mother?" replied Harry, +taking advantage of this ungracious opening to speak of the +subject which was uppermost in his mind. + +"I heer'd she wur goin' on well," said his mother. + +"No likelihood of her comin' home?" + +"Not as I could make out. Why, she hevn't been gone not four +months. Now, do 'ee pluck up a bit, Harry; and be more like +thyself." + +"Why, mother, I've not missed a day's work since Christmas; so +there ain't much to find fault with." + +"Nay, Harry, 'tisn't thy work. Thou wert always good at thy work, +praise God. Thou'rt thy father's own son for that. But thou +dostn't keep about like, and take thy place wi' the lave on 'em +since Christmas. Thou look'st hagged at times, and folk'll see't, +and talk about thee afore long." + +"Let 'em talk. I mind their talk no more than last year's wind," +said Harry, abruptly. + +"But thy old mother does," she said, looking at him with eyes +full of pride and love; and so Harry, who was a right good son, +began to inquire what it was that was specially weighing on his +mother's mind, determined to do anything in reason to re-place +her on the little harmless social pinnacle from which she was +wont to look down on all the other mothers and sons of the +parish. He soon found out that her present grievance arose from +his having neglected his place as ringer of the heavy bell in the +village peal on the two preceding Sundays; and, as this post was, +in some sort the corresponding one to stroke of the boat at +Oxford, her anxiety was reasonable enough. So Harry promised to +go to ringing in good time that morning, and then set about +little odds and ends of jobs till it would be time to start. Dame +Winburn went to her cooking and other household duties, which +were pretty well got under when her son took his hat and started +for the belfry. She stood at the door with a half-peeled potato +in one hand, shading her eyes with the other, as she watched him +striding along the raised footpath under the elms, when the sound +of light footsteps and pleasant voices, coming up from the other +direction, made her turn round and drop a curtsey as the rector's +daughter and another young lady stopped at her door. + +"Good morning, Betty," said the former; "here's a bright Sunday +morning at last, isn't it?" + +"'Tis indeed, miss; but where hev'ee been to?" + +"Oh, we've only been for a little walk before school-time. This +is my cousin, Betty. She hasn't been at Englebourn since she was +quite a child; so I've been taking her to the Hawk's Lynch to see +our view." + +"And you can't think how I have enjoyed it," said her cousin; "it +is so still and beautiful." + +"I've heer'd say as there ain't no such a place for thretty mile +round," said Betty, proudly, "But do'ee come in, tho', and sit'ee +down a bit," she added, bustling inside her door, and beginning +to rub down a chair with her apron; "'tis a smart step for +gentlefolk to walk afore church." Betty's notions of the walking +powers of gentlefolk were very limited. + +"No, thank you, we must be getting on," said Miss Winter; "but +how lovely your flowers are! Look, Mary, did you ever see such +double pansies? We've nothing like them at the Rectory." + +"Do'ee take some," said Betty, emerging again, and beginning to +pluck a handful of her finest flowers; "'tis all our Harry's +doing; he's 'mazing partickler about seeds." + +"He seems to make everything thrive, Betty. There, that's plenty, +thank you. We won't take many, for fear they should fade before +church is over." + +"Oh, dwont'ee be afeard, there's plenty more; and you be as +welcom' as the day." + +Betty never said a truer word; she was one of the real +open-handed sort, who are found mostly amongst those who have the +least to give. They or anyone else were welcome to the best she +had. + +So the young ladies took the flowers, thanked her again, and +passed on towards the Sunday-school. + +The rector's daughter might have been a year or so older than her +companion; she looked more. Her position in the village had been +one of much anxiety, and she was fast getting an old head on +young shoulders. The other young lady was a slip of a girl just +coming out; in fact, this was the first visit which she had ever +paid out of leading strings. She had lived in a happy home, where +she had always been trusted and loved, and perhaps a thought too +much petted. + +There are some natures which attract petting; you can't help +doing your best to spoil them in this way, and it is +satisfactory, therefore, to know (as the fact is) that they are +just the ones which cannot be so spoilt. + +Miss Mary was one of these. Trustful, for she had never been +tricked; fearless, for she had never been cowed; pure and bright +as the Englebourn brook at fifty yards from its parent spring in +the chalk, for she had a pure and bright nature, and had come in +contact as yet with nothing which could soil or cast a shadow. +What wonder that her life gave forth light and music as it glided +on, and that every one who knew her was eager to have her with +them, to warm themselves in the light and rejoice in the music! + +Besides all her other attractions, or in consequence of them for +anything I know, she was one of the merriest young women in the +world, always ready to bubble over and break out into clear +laughter on the slightest provocation. And provocation had not +been wanting during the last two days which she had spent with +her cousin. As usual she had brought sunshine with her, and the +old doctor had half forgotten his numerous complaints and +grievances for the time. So the cloud which generally hung over +the house had been partially lifted, and Mary, knowing and +suspecting nothing of the dark side of life at Englebourn +Rectory, rallied her cousin on her gravity, and laughed till she +cried at the queer ways and talk of the people about the place. + +As soon as they were out of hearing of Dame Winburn, Mary began-- + +"Well, Katie, I can't say that you have mended your case at all." + +"Surely you can't deny that there is a great deal of character in +Betty's face?" said Miss Winter. + +"Oh, plenty of character; all your people, as soon as they begin +to stiffen a little and get wrinkles, seem to be full of +character, and I enjoy it much more than beauty; but we were +talking about beauty, you know." + +"Betty's son is the handsomest young man in the parish," said +Miss Winter; "and I must say I don't think you could find a +better-looking one anywhere." + +"Then I can't have seen him." + +"Indeed you have; I pointed him out to you at the post office +yesterday. Don't you remember? He was waiting for a letter." + +"Oh, yes! now I remember. Well, he was better than most. But the +faces of your young people in general are not interesting--I +don't mean the children, but the young men and women--and they +are awkward and clownish in their manners, without the quaintness +of the elder generation, who are the funniest old dears in the +world." + +"They will all be quaint enough as they get older. You must +remember the sort of life they lead. They get their notions very +slowly, and they must have notions in their heads before they can +show them on their faces." + +"Well, your Betty's son looked as if he had a notion of hanging +himself yesterday." + +"It's no laughing matter, Mary. I hear that he is desperately in +love." + +"Poor fellow! that makes a difference, of course. I hope he won't +carry out his notion. Who is it, do you know? Do tell me all +about it." + +"Our gardener's daughter, I believe. Of course, I never meddle +with these matters; but one can't help hearing the servant's +gossip. I think it likely to be true, for he was about our +premises at all sorts of times until lately, and I never see him +now that she is away." + +"Is she pretty?" said Mary, who was getting interested. + +"Yes, she is our belle. In fact, they are the two beauties of the +parish." + +"Fancy that cross-grained old Simon having a pretty daughter. Oh, +Katie, look here! who is this figure of fun?" + +The figure of fun was a middle-aged man of small stature, and +very bandy-legged, dressed in a blue coat and brass buttons, and +carrying a great bass-viol bigger than himself, in a rough baize +cover. He came out of a footpath into the road just before them, +and, on seeing them, touched his hat to Miss Winter, and then +fidgeted along with his load, and jerked his head in a +deprecatory manner away from them as he walked on, with the sort +of look and action which a favorite terrier uses when his master +holds out a lighted cigar to his nose. He was the village tailor +and constable, also the principal performer in the church-music +which obtained in Englebourn. In the latter capacity he had of +late come into collision with Miss Winter. + +For this was another of the questions which divided the +parish--The great church music question. From time immemorial, at +least ever since the gallery at the west end had been built, the +village psalmody had been in the hands of the occupiers of that +Protestant structure. In the middle of the front row sat the +musicians, three in number, who played respectively a bass-viol, +a fiddle, and a clarionet. On one side of them were two or three +young women, who sang treble--shrill, ear-piercing treble--with a +strong nasal Berkshire drawl in it. On the other side of the +musicians sat the blacksmith, the wheelwright, and other +tradesmen of the place. Tradesmen means in that part of the +country what we mean by artisan, and these were naturally allied +with the laborers, and consorted with them. So far as +church-going was concerned, they formed a sort of independent +opposition, sitting in the gallery, instead of in the nave, where +the farmers and the two or three principal shopkeepers--the great +landed and commercial interests--regularly sat and slept, and +where the two publicans occupied pews, but seldom made even the +pretence of worshipping. + +The rest of the gallery was filled by the able-bodied male +peasantry. The old worn-out men generally sat below in the free +seats; the women also, and some few boys. But the hearts of these +latter were in the gallery--a seat on the back benches of which +was a sign that they had indued the _toga virilis_, and were +thenceforth free from maternal and pastoral tutelage in the +matter of church-going. The gallery thus constituted had +gradually usurped the psalmody as their particular and special +portion of the service; they left the clerk and the school +children, aided by such of the aristocracy below as cared to +join, to do the responses; but, when singing time came, they +reigned supreme. The slate on which the Psalms were announced was +hung out from before the centre of the gallery, and the clerk, +leaving his place under the reading-desk, marched up there to +give them out. He took this method of preserving his +constitutional connection with the singing, knowing that +otherwise he could not have maintained the rightful position of +his office in this matter. So matters had stood until shortly +before the time of our story. + +The present curate, however, backed by Miss Winter, had tried a +reform. He was a quiet man, with a wife and several children, and +small means. He had served in the diocese ever since he had been +ordained, in a hum-drum sort of way, going where he was sent for, +and performing his routine duties reasonably well, but without +showing any great aptitude for his work. He had little interest, +and had almost given up expecting promotion, which he certainly +had done nothing particular to merit. But there was one point on +which he was always ready to go out of his way, and take a little +trouble. He was a good musician, and had formed choirs at all his +former curacies. + +Soon after his arrival, therefore, he, in concert with Miss +Winter, had begun to train the children in church-music. A small +organ, which had stood in a passage in the Rectory for many +years, had been repaired, and appeared first at the schoolroom, +and at length under the gallery of the church; and it was +announced one week to the party in possession, that, on the next +Sunday, the constituted authorities would take the church-music +into their own hands. Then arose a strife, the end of which had +nearly been to send the gallery off, in a body, headed by the +offended bass-viol, to the small red-brick little Bethel at the +other end of the village. Fortunately the curate had too much +good sense to drive matters to extremities, and so alienate the +parish constable, and a large part of his flock, though he had +not tact or energy enough to bring them round to his own views. +So a compromise was come to; and the curate's choir were allowed +to chant the Psalms and Canticles, which had always been read +before, while the gallery remained triumphant masters of the +regular Psalms. + +My readers will now understand why Miss Winter's salutation to +the musical constable was not so cordial as it was to the other +villagers whom they had come across previously. + +Indeed, Miss Winter, though she acknowledged the constable's +salutation, did not seem inclined to encourage him to accompany +them, and talk his mind out, although he was going the same way +with them; and, instead of drawing him out, as was her wont in +such cases, went on talking herself to her cousin. + +The little man walked out in the road, evidently in trouble of +mind. He did not like to drop behind or go ahead without some +further remark from Miss Winter, and yet could not screw up his +courage to the point of opening the conversation himself. So he +ambled on alongside the footpath on which they were walking, +showing his discomfort by a twist of his neck every few seconds, +and perpetual shiftings of his bass-viol, and hunching up of one +shoulder. + +The conversation of the young ladies under these circumstances +was of course forced; and Miss Mary, though infinitely delighted +at the meeting, soon began to pity their involuntary companion. +She was full of the sensitive instinct which the best sort of +women have to such a marvellous extent, and which tells them at +once and infallibly if any one in their company has even a +creased rose-leaf next their moral skin. + +Before they had walked a hundred yards she was interceding for +the rebellious constable. + +"Katie," she said softly in French, "do speak to him. The poor +man is frightfully uncomfortable." + +"It serves him right," answered Miss Winter in the same language; +"you don't know how impertinent he was the other day to Mr. +Walker. And he won't give way on the least point, and leads the +rest of the old singers, and makes them as stubborn as himself." + +"But look how he is winking and jerking his head at you. You +really mustn't be so cruel to him, Katie. I shall have to begin +talking to him if you don't." + +Thus urged, Miss Winter opened the conversation by asking after +his wife, and when she had ascertained "that his missus wur +pretty middlin," made some other commonplace remark, and relapsed +into silence. By the help of Mary, however, a sort of disjointed +dialogue was kept up till they came to the gate which led up to +the school, into which the children were trooping by twos and +threes. Here the ladies turned in, and were going up the walk +towards the school door, when the constable summoned up courage +to speak on the matter which was troubling him, and, resting the +bass-viol carefully on his right foot, calling out after them, + +"Oh, please marm! Miss Winter!" + +"Well," she said quietly, turning round, "what do you wish to +say?" + +"Why, please mann, I hopes as you don't think I be any ways unked +'bout this here quire singin', as they calls it--I'm sartin you +knows as there ain't amost nothing I wouldn't do to please ee." + +"Well, you know how to do it very easily," she said when he +paused. "I don't ask you even to give up your music and try to +work with us, though I think you might have done that. I only ask +you to use some psalms and tunes which are fit to be used in a +church." + +"To be sure us ool. 'Taint we as wants no new-fangled tunes; them +as we sings be aal owld ones as ha' been used in our church ever +since I can mind. But you only choose thaay as you likes out o' +the book? and we be ready to kep to thaay." + +"I think Mr. Walker made a selection for you some weeks ago," +said Miss Winter; "did he not?" + +"'Ees, but 'tis narra mossel o' use for we to try his 'goriums +and sich like. I hopes you wun't be offended wi' me, miss, for I +be telling nought but truth." He spoke louder as they got nearer +to the school door, and, as they were opening it, shouted his +last shot after them, "'Tis na good to try thaay tunes o' his'n, +miss. When us praises God, us likes to praise un joyful." + +"There, you hear that, Mary," said Miss Winter. "You'll soon +begin to see why I look grave. There never was such a hard parish +to manage. Nobody will do what they ought. I never can get them +to do anything. Perhaps we may manage to teach the children +better, that's my only comfort." + +"But, Katie dear, what _do_ the poor things sing? Psalms, I +hope." + +"Oh yes, but they choose all the odd ones on purpose, I believe. +Which class will you take?" + +And so the young ladies settled to their teaching, and the +children in her class all fell in love with Mary before +church-time. + +The bass-viol proceeded to the church and did the usual +rehearsals, and gossiped with the sexton, to whom he confided the +fact that the young missus was "terrible vexed." The bells soon +began to ring, and Widow Winburn's heart was glad as she listened +to the full peal, and thought to herself that it was her Harry +who was making so much noise in the world, and speaking to all +the neighborhood. Then the peal ceased as church-time drew near, +and the single bell began, and the congregation came flocking in +from all sides. The farmers, letting their wives and children +enter, gathered round the church porch and compared notes in a +ponderous manner on crops and markets. The labourers collected +near the door by which the gallery was reached. All the men of +the parish seemed to like standing about before church, until +they had seen the clergyman safely inside. He came up with the +school children and the young ladies, and in due course the bell +stopped and the service began. There was a very good congregation +still at Englebourn; the adult generation had been bred up in +times when every decent person in the parish went to church, and +the custom was still strong, notwithstanding the rector's bad +example. He scarcely ever came to church himself in the mornings, +though his wheelchair might be seen going up and down on the +gravel before his house or on the lawn on warm days, and this was +one of his daughter's greatest troubles. + +The little choir of children sang admirably, led by the +schoolmistress, and Miss Winter and the curate exchanged +approving glances. They performed the liveliest chant in their +collection, that the opposition might have no cause to complain +of their want of joyfulness. And in turn Miss Winter was in hopes +that, out of deference to her, the usual rule of selection in the +gallery might have been modified. It was with no small annoyance, +therefore, that, after the Litany was over, and the tuning +finished, she heard the clerk give out that they would praise God +by singing part of the ninety-first Psalm. Mary, who was on the +tiptoe of expectation as to what was coming, saw the curate give +a slight shrug with his shoulders and lift of his eyebrows as he +left the reading-desk, and in another minute it became a painful +effort for her to keep from laughing as she slyly watched her +cousin's face; while the gallery sang with vigour worthy of any +cause or occasion-- + + "On the old lion He shall go, + The adder fell and long; + On the young lion tread also, + With dragons stout and strong." + +The trebles took up the last line, and repeated-- + + "With dragons stout and strong;" + +and then the whole strength of the gallery chorused again-- + + "With _dra-gons_ stout and strong;" + +and the bass-viol seemed to her to prolong the notes and to gloat +over them as he droned them out, looking triumphantly at the +distant curate. Mary was thankful to kneel down to compose her +face. The first trial was the severe one, and she got through the +second psalm much better; and by the time Mr. Walker had plunged +fairly into his sermon she was a model of propriety and +sedateness again. But it was to be a Sunday of adventures. The +sermon had scarcely begun when there was a stir down by the door +at the west end, and people began to look round and whisper. +Presently a man came softly up and said something to the clerk; +the clerk jumped up and whispered to the curate, who paused for a +moment with a puzzled look, and, instead of finishing his +sentence, said in a loud voice, "Farmer Groves' house is on +fire!" + +The curate probably anticipated the effect of his words; in a +minute he was the only person left in the church except the clerk +and one or two very infirm old folk. He shut up and pocketed his +sermon, and followed his flock. + +It proved luckily to be only Farmer Groves' chimney and not his +house which was on fire. The farmhouse was only two fields from +the village, and the congregation rushed across there, Harry +Winburn and two or three of the most active young men and boys +leading. As they entered the yard, the flames were rushing out of +the chimney, and any moment the thatch might take fire. Here was +the real danger. A ladder had just been raised against the +chimney, and, while a frightened farm-girl and a carter-boy held +it at the bottom, a man was going up it carrying a bucket of +water. It shook with his weight, and the top was slipping +gradually along the face of the chimney, and in another moment +would rest against nothing. Harry and his companions saw the +danger at a glance, and shouted to the man to stand still till +they could get to the ladder. They rushed towards him with the +rush which men can only make under strong excitement. The +foremost of them caught a spoke with one hand, but before he +could steady it, the top slipped clear of the chimney, and, +ladder, man, and bucket came heavily to the ground. + +Then came a scene of bewildering confusion, as women and children +trooped into the yard--"Who was it?" + +"Was he dead?" + +"The fire was +catching the thatch." + +"The stables were on fire." + +"Who did +it?"--all sorts of cries and all sorts of acts except the right +ones. Fortunately two or three of the men, with heads on their +shoulders, soon organized a line for handling buckets; the flue +was stopped below, and Harry Winburn standing nearly at the top +of the ladder, which was now safely planted, was deluging the +thatch round the chimney from the buckets handed up to him. In a +few minutes he was able to pour water down the chimney itself, +and soon afterwards the whole affair was at an end. The farmer's +dinner was spoilt, but otherwise no damage had been done, except +to the clothes of the foremost men; and the only accident was +that first fall from the ladder. + +The man had been carried out of the yard while the fire was still +burning; so that it was hardly known who it was. + +Now, in answer to their inquiries, it proved to be old Simon, the +rector's gardener and head man, who had seen the fire, and sent +the news to the church, while he himself went to the spot, with +such result as we have seen. + +The surgeon had not yet seen him. Some declared he was dead; +others, that he was sitting up at home, and quite well. Little by +little the crowd dispersed to Sunday's dinners; when they met +again before the afternoon's service, it was ascertained that +Simon was certainly not dead, but all else was still nothing more +than rumor. Public opinion was much divided, some holding that it +would go hard with a man of his age and heft; but the common +belief seemed to be that he was of that sort "as'd take a deal o' +killin'," and that he would be none the worse for such a fall as +that. + +The two young ladies had been much shocked at the accident, and +had accompanied the hurdle on which old Simon was carried to his +cottage door; after afternoon service they went round by the +cottage to inquire. The two girls knocked at the door, which was +opened by his wife, who dropped a curtsey and smoothed down her +Sunday apron when she found who were her visitors. + +She seemed at first a little unwilling to let them in; but Miss +Winter pressed so kindly to see her husband, and Mary made such +sympathizing eyes at her, that the old woman gave in, and +conducted them through the front room into that beyond, where the +patient lay. + +"I hope as you'll excuse it, miss, for I knows the place do smell +terrible bad of baccer; only my old man he said as how-" + +"Oh, never mind, we don't care at all about the smell. Poor +Simon! I'm sure if it does him any good, or soothes the pain, I +shall be glad to buy him some tobacco myself." + +The old man was lying on the bed, with his coat and boots off, +and a worsted nightcap of his wife's knitting pulled on to his +head. She had tried hard to get him to go to bed at once, and +take some physic, and his present costume and position was the +compromise. His back was turned to them as they entered, and he +was evidently in pain, for he drew his breath heavily and with +difficulty, and gave a sort of groan at every respiration. He did +not seem to notice their entrance; so his wife touched him on the +shoulder, and said, "Simon, here's the young ladies come to see +how you be." + +Simon turned himself round, and winced and groaned as he pulled +off his nightcap in token of respect. + +"We didn't like to go home without coming to see how you were, +Simon. Has the doctor been?" + +"Oh, yes, thank'ee, miss. He've a been and feel'd un all over, +and listened at the chest on un," said his wife. + +"And what did he say?" + +"He zem'd to zay as there wur no bwones bruk--ugh, ugh," put in +Simon, who spoke his native tongue with a buzz, imported from +farther west, "but a couldn't zay wether or no there warn't som +infarnal injury-" + +"Etarnal, Simon, etarnal!" interrupted his wife; "how canst use +such words afore the young ladies?" + +"I tell'ee wife, as 'twur infarnal--ugh, ugh," retorted the +gardener. + +"Internal injury?" suggested Miss Winter. "I'm very sorry to hear +it." + +"Zummut inside o' me like, as wur got out o' place," explained +Simon; "and I thenks a must be near about the mark, for I feels +mortal bad here when I tries to move;" and he put his hand on his +side. "Hows'm'ever, as there's no bwones bruk, I hopes to be +about to-morrow mornin', please the Lord--ugh, ugh." + +"You mustn't think of it, Simon," said Miss Winter. "You must be +quite quiet for a week, at least, till you get rid of this pain." + +"So I tells un, Miss Winter," put in the wife. "You hear what the +young missus says, Simon?" + +"And wut's to happen to Tiny?" said the contumacious Simon, +scornfully. "Her'll cast her calf, and me not by. Her's calving +maybe this minut. Tiny's time were up, miss, two days back, and +her's never no gurt while arter her time." + +"She will do very well, I dare say," said Miss Winter, "One of +the men can look after her." + +The notion of anyone else attending Tiny in her interesting +situation seemed to excite Simon beyond bearing, for he raised +himself on one elbow, and was about to make a demonstration with +his other hand, when the pain seized him again, and he sank back +groaning. + +"There, you see, Simon, you can't move without pain. You must be +quiet till you have seen the doctor again." + +"There's the red spider out along the south wall--ugh, ugh," +persisted Simon, without seeming to hear her; "and your new +g'raniums a'most covered wi' blight. I wur a tacklin' one of 'em +just afore you cum in." + +Following the direction indicated by his nod, the girls became +aware of a plant by his bedside, which he had been fumigating, +for his pipe was leaning against the flower-pot in which it +stood. + +"He wouldn't lie still nohow, miss," explained his wife, "till I +went and fetched un in a pipe and one o' thaay plants from the +greenhouse." + +"It was very thoughtful of you, Simon," said Miss Winter; "you +know how much I prize these new plants; but we will manage them; +and you mustn't think of these things now. You have had a +wonderful escape to-day for a man of your age. I hope we shall +find that there is nothing much the matter with you after a few +days, but you might have been killed you know. You ought to be +very thankful to God that you were not killed in that fall." + +"So I be, miss, werry thankful to un--ugh, ugh;--and if it please +the Lord to spare my life till to-morrow mornin',--ugh, +ugh,--we'll smoke them cussed insects." + +This last retort of the incorrigible Simon on her cousin's +attempt, as the rector's daughter, to improve the occasion, was +too much for Miss Mary, and she slipped out of the room, lest she +should bring disgrace on herself by an explosion of laughter. She +was joined by her cousin in another minute, and the two walked +together toward the Rectory. + +"I hope you were not faint, dear, with that close room, smelling +of smoke?" + +"Oh, dear, no; to tell you the truth, I was only afraid of +laughing at your quaint old patient. What a rugged old dear he +is. I hope he isn't much hurt." + +"I hope not, indeed; for he is the most honest, faithful old +servant in the world, but so obstinate. He never will go to +church on Sunday mornings; and, when I speak to him about it, he +says papa doesn't go, which is very wrong and impertinent of +him." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--A PROMISE OF FAIRER WEATHER + +All dwellers in and about London are, alas! too well acquainted +with the never-to-be-enough-hated change which we have to undergo +once, at least, in every spring. As each succeeding winter wears +away, the same thing happens to us. + +For some time we do not trust the fair lengthening days, and +cannot believe that the dirty pair of sparrows who live opposite +our window are really making love and going to build, +notwithstanding all their twittering. But morning after morning +rises fresh and gentle; there is no longer any vice in the air; +we drop our over-coats; we rejoice in the green shoots which the +privet hedge is making in the square garden, and hail the +returning tender-pointed leaves of the plane-trees as friends; we +go out of our way to walk through Covent Garden Market to see the +ever-brightening show of flowers from the happy country. + +This state of things goes on sometimes for a few days only, +sometimes for weeks, till we make sure that we are safe for this +spring at any rate. Don't we wish we may get it! Sooner or later, +but sure--sure as Christmas bills or the income-tax, or anything, +if there be anything, surer than these--comes the morning when we +are suddenly conscious as soon as we rise that there is something +the matter. We do not feel comfortable in our clothes; nothing +tastes quite as it should at breakfast; though the day looks +bright enough, there is a fierce dusty taste about it as we look +out through windows, which no instinct now prompts us to throw +open, as it has done every day for the last month. + +But it is only when we open our doors and issue into the street, +that the hateful reality comes right home to us. All moisture, +and softness, and pleasantness has gone clean out of the air +since last night; we seem to inhale yards of horse hair instead +of satin; our skins dry up; our eyes, and hair, and whiskers, and +clothes are soon filled with loathsome dust, and our nostrils +with the reek of the great city. We glance at the weather-cock on +the nearest steeple, and see that it points N.E. And so long as +the change lasts, we carry about with us a feeling of anger and +impatience, as though we personally were being ill-treated. We +could have borne with it well enough in November; it would have +been natural, and all in the days work in March; but now, when +Rotten Row is beginning to be crowded, when long lines of +pleasure vans are leaving town on Monday mornings for Hampton +Court or the poor remains of dear Epping Forest, when the +exhibitions are open, or about to open, when the religious public +is up, or on its way up, for May meetings, when the Thames is +already sending up faint warnings of what we may expect as soon +as his dirty old life's blood shall have been thoroughly warmed +up, and the "Ship", and "Trafalgar", and the "Star and Garter" +are in full swing at the antagonistic poles of the cockney +system, we do feel that this blight which has come over us and +everything is an insult, and that while it lasts, as there is +nobody who can be made particularly responsible for it, we are +justified in going about in general disgust, and ready to quarrel +with anybody we may meet on the smallest pretext. + +This sort of east-windy state is perhaps the best physical +analogy for that mental one in which our hero now found himself. +The real crises was over; he had managed to pass through the eye +of the storm, and drift for the present at least into the skirts +of it, where he lay rolling under bare poles, comparatively safe, +but without any power as yet to get the ship well in hand, and +make her obey her helm. The storm might break over him again at +any minute, and would find him almost as helpless as ever. + +For he could not follow Drysdale's advice at once, and break off +his visits to "The Choughs" altogether. He went back again after +a day or two, but only for short visits; he never stayed behind +now after the other men left the bar, and avoided interviews with +Patty alone as diligently as he had sought them before. She was +puzzled at his change of manner, and not being able to account +for it, was piqued, and ready to revenge herself, and pay him out +in the hundred little ways which the least practiced of her sex +know how to employ for the discipline of any of the inferior or +trousered half of the creation. If she had been really in love +with him, it would have been a different matter; but she was not. +In the last six weeks she had certainly often had visions of the +pleasures of being a lady and keeping servants, and riding in a +carriage like the squires' and rectors' wives and daughters about +her home. She had a liking, even a sentiment for him, which might +very well have grown into something dangerous before long; but as +yet it was not more than skin deep. Of late, indeed, she had been +much more frightened than attracted by the conduct of her +admirer, and really felt it a relief, notwithstanding her pique, +when he retired into the elder brother sort of state. But she +would have been more than woman if she had not resented the +change; and so very soon the pangs of jealousy were added to his +other troubles. Other men were beginning to frequent "The +Choughs" regularly. Drysdale, besides dividing with Tom the +prestige of being an original discoverer, was by far the largest +customer. St. Cloud came, and brought Chanter with him, to whom +Patty was actually civil, not because she liked him at all, but +because she saw that it made Tom furious. Though he could not fix +on any one man in particular, he felt that mankind in general +were gaining on him. In his better moments, indeed, he often +wished that she would take the matter into her own hands and +throw him over for good and all; but keep away from the place +altogether he could not, and often when he fancied himself on the +point of doing it, a pretty toss of her head, or a kind look of +her eyes would scatter all his good resolutions to the four +winds. + +And so the days dragged on, and he dragged on through them; hot +fits of conceit alternating in him with cold fits of despondency +and mawkishness and discontent with everything and everybody, +which were all the more intolerable from their entire +strangeness. Instead of seeing the bright side of all things, he +seemed to be looking at creation through yellow spectacles, and +saw faults and blemishes in all his acquaintance, which had been +till now invisible. + +But the more he was inclined to depreciate all other men, the +more he felt there was one to whom he had been grossly unjust. +And, as he recalled all that had passed, he began to do justice +to the man who had not flinched from warning him and braving him, +who he felt had been watching over him, and trying to guide him +straight, when he had lost all power or will to keep straight +himself. + +From this time the dread increased on him lest any of the other +men should find out his quarrel with Hardy. Their utter ignorance +of it encouraged him in the hope that it might all pass off like +a bad dream. While it remained a matter between them alone, he +felt that all might come straight, though he could not think how. +He began to loiter by the entrance of the passage which led to +Hardy's rooms; sometimes he would find something to say to his +scout or bed-maker which took him into the back outside Hardy's +window, glancing at it sideways as he stood giving his orders. +There it was, wide open, generally--he hardly knew whether he +hoped to catch a glimpse of the owner, but he did hope that Hardy +might hear his voice. He watched him in chapel and hall +furtively, but constantly, and was always fancying what he was +doing and thinking about. Was it as painful an effort to Hardy, +he wondered, as to him to go on speaking, as if nothing had +happened, when they met at the boats, as they did now again +almost daily (for Diogenes was bent on training some of the +torpids for next year), and yet never to look one another in the +face; to live together as usual during part of every day, and yet +to feel all the time that a great wall had risen between them, +more hopelessly dividing them for the time than thousands of +miles of ocean or continent? + +Amongst other distractions which Tom tried at this crisis of his +life, was reading. For three or four days running, he really +worked hard--very hard, if we were to reckon by the number of +hours he spent in his own rooms over his books with his oak +sported--hard, even though we should only reckon by results. For, +though scarcely an hour passed that he was not balancing on the +hind legs of his chair with a vacant look in his eyes, and +thinking of anything but Greek roots or Latin constructions, yet +on the whole he managed to get through a good deal, and one +evening, for the first time since his quarrel with Hardy, felt a +sensation of real comfort--it hardly amounted to pleasure--as he +closed his Sophocles some hour or so after hall, having just +finished the last of the Greek plays which he meant to take in +for his first examination. He leaned back in his chair and sat +for a few minutes, letting his thoughts follow their own bent. +They soon took to going wrong, and he jumped up in fear lest he +should be drifting back into the black stormy sea, in the trough +of which he had been laboring so lately, and which he felt he was +by no means clear of yet. At first he caught up his cap and gown +as though he were going out. There was a wine party at one of his +acquaintance's rooms; or he could go and smoke a cigar in the +pool room, or at any one of a dozen other places. On second +thoughts, however, he threw his academicals back on to the sofa +and went to his book-case. The reading had paid so well that +evening that he resolved to go on with it. He had no particular +object in selecting one book more than another, and so took down +carelessly the first that came to hand. + +It happened to be a volume of Plato, and opened of its own accord +at the "Apology." He glanced at a few lines. What a flood of +memories they called up! This was almost the last book he had +read at school; and teacher, and friends, and lofty oak-shelved +library stood out before him at once. Then the blunders that he +himself and others had made rushed through his mind, and he +almost burst into a laugh as he wheeled his chair round to the +window, and began reading where he had opened, encouraging every +thought of the old times when he first read that marvellous +defense, and throwing himself back into them with all his might. +And still, as he read, forgotten words of wise comment, and +strange thoughts of wonder and longing, came back to him. The +great truth which he had been led to the brink of in those early +days rose in all its awe and all its attractiveness before him. +He leaned back in his chair, and gave himself up to his thought; +and how strangely that thought bore on the struggle which had +been raging in him of late; how an answer seemed to be trembling +to come out of it to all the cries, now defiant, now plaintive, +which had gone up out of his heart in this time of trouble! For +his thought was of that spirit, distinct from himself, and yet +communing with his inmost soul, always dwelling in him, knowing +him better than he knew himself, never misleading him, always +leading him to light and truth, of which the old philosopher +spoke. "The old heathen, Socrates, did actually believe +that--there can be no question about it;" he thought, "Has not +the testimony of the best men through these two thousand years +borne witness that he was right--that he did not believe a lie? +That was what we were told. Surely I don't mistake! Were we not +told, too, or did I dream it, that what was true for him was true +for every man--for me? That there is a spirit dwelling in me, +striving with me, ready to lead me into all truth if I will +submit to his guidance?" + +"Ay! submit, submit, there's the rub! Give yourself up to his +guidance! Throw up the reins, and say you've made a mess of it. +Well, why not? Haven't I made a mess of it? Am I fit to hold the +reins?" + +"Not I"--he got up and began walking about his rooms--"I give it +up." + +"Give it up!" he went on presently; "yes, but to whom? Not to the +daemon spirit, whatever it was, who took up abode in the old +Athenian--at least, so he said, and so I believe. No, no! Two +thousand years and all that they have seen have not passed over +the world to leave us just where he was left. We want no daemons +or spirits. And yet the old heathen was guided right, and what +can a man want more? and who ever wanted guidance more than I +now--here--in this room--at this minute? I give up the reins; who +will take them?" And so there came on him one of those seasons +when a man's thoughts cannot be followed in words. A sense of awe +came on him, and over him, and wrapped him round; awe at a +presence of which he was becoming suddenly conscious, into which +he seemed to have wandered, and yet which he felt must have been +there around him, in his own heart and soul, though he knew it +not. There was hope and longing in his heart, mingling with the +fear of that presence, but withal the old reckless and daring +feeling which he knew so well, still bubbling up untamed, +untamable it seemed to him. + +The room stifled him now; so he threw on his cap and gown, and +hurried down into the quadrangle. It was very quiet; probably +there was not a dozen men in college. He walked across to the +low, dark entrance of the passage which led to Hardy's rooms, and +there paused. Was he there by chance, or was he guided there? +Yes, this was the right way for him, he had no doubt now as to +that; down the dark passage and into the room he knew so +well--and what then? He took a short turn or two before the +entrance. How could he be sure that Hardy was alone? And, if not, +to go in would be worse than useless. If he were alone, what +should he say? After all, _must_ he go in there? was there no way +but that? + +The college clock struck a quarter to seven. It was his usual +time for "The Choughs;" the house would be quiet now; was there +not one looking out for him there who would be grieved if he did +not come? After all, might not that be his way, for this night at +least? He might bring pleasure to one human being by going there +at once. That he knew; what else could he be sure of? + +At this moment he heard Hardy's door open and a voice saying +"Good-night," and the next Grey came out of the passage, and was +passing close to him. + +"Join yourself to him." The impulse came so strongly into Tom's +mind this time, that it was like a voice speaking him. He yielded +to it, and, stepping to Grey's side, wished him good-evening. The +other returned his salute in his shy way, and was hurrying on, +but Tom kept by him. + +"Have you been reading with Hardy?" + +"Yes." + +"How is he? I have not seen anything of him for some time." + +"Oh, very well, I think," said Grey, glancing sideways at his +questioner, and adding, after a moment, "I have wondered rather +not to see you there of late." + +"Are you going to your school?" said Tom, breaking away from the +subject. + +"Yes, and I am rather late; I must make haste on; good night." + +"Will you let me go with you to-night? It would be a real +kindness. Indeed," he added, as he saw how embarrassing his +proposal was to Grey, "I will do whatever you tell me--you don't +know how grateful I should be to you. Do let me go--just for +to-night. Try me once." + +Grey hesitated, turned his head sharply once or twice as they +walked on together, and then said with something like a sigh-- + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Did you ever teach in a night school?" + +"No, but I have taught in the Sunday-school at home sometimes. +Indeed, I will do whatever you tell me." + +"Oh! but this is not at all like a Sunday-school. They are a very +rough, wild lot." + +"The rougher the better," said Tom; "I shall know how to manage +them then." + +"But you must not really be rough with them." + +"No, I won't; I didn't mean that," said Tom, hastily, for he saw +his mistake at once. "I shall take it as a great favor, if you +will let me go with you to-night. You won't repent it, I'm sure." + +Grey did not seem at all sure of this, but saw no means of +getting rid of his companion, and so they walked on together and +turned down a long, narrow court in the lowest part of the town. +At the doors of the houses laboring men, mostly Irish, lounged or +stood about, smoking and talking to one another, or to the women +who leant out of the windows, or passed to and fro on their +various errands of business or pleasure. A group of half-grown +lads were playing at pitch-farthing at the farther end, and all +over the court were scattered children of all ages, ragged and +noisy little creatures most of them, on whom paternal and +maternal admonitions and cuffs were constantly being expended, and +to all appearances in vain. + +At the sight of Grey a shout arose amongst the smaller boys, of +"Here's the teacher!" and they crowded around him and Tom as they +went up the court. Several of the men gave him a half-surly +half-respectful nod, as he passed along, wishing them good +evening. The rest merely stared at him and his companion. They +stopped at a door which Grey opened, and led the way into the +passage of an old tumble-down cottage, on the ground floor of +which were two low rooms which served for the school-rooms. + +A hard-featured, middle-aged woman, who kept the house, was +waiting, and said to Grey, "Mr. Jones told me to say, sir, he +would not be here to night, as he has got a bad fever case--so +you was to take only the lower classes, sir, he said; and the +policeman would be near to keep out the big boys if you wanted +him. Shall I go and tell him to step round, sir?" + +Grey looked embarrassed for a moment, and then said, "No, never +mind; you can go;" and then turning to Tom, added, "Jones is the +curate; he won't be here to-night; and some of the bigger boys +are very noisy and troublesome, and only come to make a noise. +However, if they come we must do our best." + +Meantime, the crowd of small ragged urchins had filled the room, +and were swarming on to the benches and squabbling for the +copy-books which were laid out on the thin desks. Grey set to +work to get them into order, and soon the smallest were draughted +off into the inner room with slates and spelling-books, and the +bigger ones, some dozen in number, settled to their writing. Tom +seconded him so readily, and seemed so much at home, that Grey +felt quite relieved. + +"You seem to get on capitally," he said; "I will go into the +inner room to the little ones, and you stay and take these. There +are the class-books when they have done their copies," and so +went off into the inner room and closed the door. + +Tom set himself to work with a will, and as he bent over one +after another of the pupils, and guided the small grubby hands +which clutched the inky pens with cramped fingers, and went +spluttering and blotching along the lines of the copy-books, felt +the yellow scales dropping from his eyes, and more warmth coming +back into his heart than he had known there for many a day. + +All went on well inside, notwithstanding a few small out-breaks +between the scholars, but every now and then mud was thrown +against the window, and noises outside and in the passages +threatened some interruption. At last, when the writing was +finished, the copy-books cleared away, and the class-books +distributed, the door opened, and two or three big boys of +fifteen or sixteen lounged in, with their hands in their pockets +and their caps on. There was an insolent look about them which +set Tom's back up at once; however, he kept his temper, made them +take their caps off, and, as they said they wanted to read with +the rest, let them take their places on the benches. + +But now came the tug of war. He could not keep his eyes on the +whole lot at once, and, no sooner did he fix his attention on the +stammering reader for the time being and try to help him, than +anarchy broke out all round him. Small stones and shot were +thrown about, and cries arose from the smaller fry, "Please, sir, +he's been and poured some ink down my back," + +"He's stole my book, +sir," + +"He's gone and stuck a pin in my leg." The evil-doers were +so cunning that it was impossible to catch them; but as he was +hastily turning in his own mind what to do, a cry arose, and one +of the benches went suddenly over backwards on to the floor, +carrying with it its whole freight of boys, except two of the +bigger ones, who were the evident authors of the mishap. + +Tom sprang at the one nearest him, seized him by the collar, +hauled him into the passage, and sent him out of the street-door +with a sound kick; and then rushing back, caught hold of the +second, who went down on his back and clung round Tom's legs, +shouting for help to his remaining companions, and struggling and +swearing. It was all the work of a moment, and now the door +opened, and Grey appeared from the inner room. Tom left off +hauling his prize towards the passage, and felt and looked very +foolish. + +"This fellow, and another whom I have turned out, upset that form +with all the little boys on it," he said, apologetically. + +"It's a lie, t'wasn't me," roared the captive, to whom Tom +administered a sound box on the ear, while the small boys, +rubbing different parts of their bodies, chorused, "'twas him, +teacher, 'twas him," and heaped further charges of pinching, +pin-sticking, and other atrocities on him. + +Grey astonished Tom by his firmness. "Don't strike him again," he +said. "Now, go out at once, or I will send for your father." The +fellow got up, and, after standing a moment and considering his +chance of successful resistance to physical force in the person +of Tom, and moral in that of Grey, slunk out. "You must go, too, +Murphy," went on Grey to another of the intruders. + +"Oh, your honor let me bide. I'll be as quiet as a mouse," +pleaded the Irish boy; and Tom would have given in, but Grey was +unyielding. + +"You were turned out last week, and Mr. Jones said you were not +to come back for a fortnight." + +"Well, good night to your honor," said Murphy, and took himself +off. + +"The rest may stop," said Grey. "You had better take the inner +room now; I will stay here." + +"I'm very sorry," said Tom. + +"You couldn't help it; no one can manage those two. Murphy is +quite different, but I should have spoiled him if I had let him +stay now." + +The remaining half hour passed off quietly. Tom retired into the +inner room, and took up Grey's lesson, which he had been reading +to the boys from a large Bible with pictures. Out of +consideration for their natural and acquired restlessness, the +little fellows, who were all between eight and eleven years old, +were only kept sitting at their pothooks and spelling for the +first half hour or so, and then were allowed to crowd round the +teacher, who read and talked to them, and showed them the +pictures. Tom found the Bible open at the story of the prodigal +son, and read it out to them as they clustered round his knees. +Some of the outside ones fidgeted about a little, but those close +round him listened with ears, and eyes, and bated breath; and two +little blue-eyed boys, without shoes--their ragged clothes +concealed by long pinafores which their widowed mother had put on +clean to send them to school--leaned against him and looked up in +his face, and his heart warmed to the touch and the look. +"Please, teacher, read it again," they said when he finished; so +he read it again and sighed when Grey came in and lighted a +candle (for the room was getting dark) and said it was time for +prayers. + +A few collects, and the Lord's Prayer, in which all the young +voices joined, drowning for a minute the noises from the court +outside, finished the evening's schooling. The children trooped +out, and Grey went to speak to the woman who kept the house. Tom, +left to himself, felt strangely happy, and, for something to do, +took the snuffers and commenced a crusade against a large family +of bugs, who, taking advantage of the quiet, came cruising out of +a crack in the otherwise neatly papered wall. Some dozen had +fallen on his spear when Grey reappeared, and was much horrified +at the sight. He called the woman and told her to have the hole +carefully fumigated and mended. + +"I thought we had killed them all long ago," he said; "but the +place is tumbling down." + +"It looks well enough," said Tom. + +"Yes, we have it kept as tidy as possible. It ought to be at +least a little better than what the children see at home." And so +they left the school and court and walked up to college. + +"Where are you going?" Tom said, as they entered the gate. + +"To Hardy's rooms; will you come?" + +"No, not to-night," said Tom; "I know that you want to be +reading; I should only interrupt." + +"Well, good night, then," said Grey, and went on, leaving Tom +standing in the porch. On the way up from the school he had +almost made up his mind to go to Hardy's rooms that night. He +longed and yet feared to do so; and, on the whole, was not sorry +for an excuse. Their first meeting must be alone, and it would be +a very embarrassing one, for him at any rate. Grey, he hoped, +would tell Hardy of his visit to the school, and that would show +that he was coming round, and make the meeting easier. His talk +with Grey, too, had removed one great cause of uneasiness from +his mind. It was now quite clear that he had no suspicion of the +quarrel, and, if Hardy had not told him, no one else could know +of it. + +Altogether, he strolled into the quadrangle a happier and sounder +man than he had been since his first visit to "The Choughs", and +looked up and answered with his old look and voice when he heard +his name called from one of the first-floor windows. + +The hailer was Drysdale, who was leaning out in lounging coat and +velvet cap, and enjoying a cigar as usual, in the midst of the +flowers of his hanging garden. + +"You've heard the good news, I suppose?" + +"No, what do you mean?" + +"Why, Blake has got the Latin verse." + +"Hurrah! I'm so glad." + +"Come up and have a weed." + +Tom ran up the staircase and into Drysdale's rooms, and was +leaning out of the window at his side in another minute. + +"What does he get by it?" he said, "do you know?" + +"No; some books bound in Russia, I dare say, with the Oxford +arms, and 'Dominus illuminatio mea,' on the back." + +"No money?" + +"Not much--perhaps a ten'ner," answered Drysdale, "but no end of +[Greek text] kudoz, I suppose." + +"It makes it look well for his first, don't you think? But I wish +he had got some money for it. I often feel very uncomfortable +about that bill, don't you?" + +"Not I, what's the good? It's nothing when you are used to it. +Besides, it don't fall due for another six weeks." + +"But if Blake can't meet it then?" said Tom. + +"Well, it will be vacation, and I'll trouble greasy Benjamin to +catch me then." + +"But you don't mean to say you won't pay it?" said Tom in horror. + +"Pay it! You may trust Benjamin for that. He'll pull round his +little usuries somehow." + +"Only we have promised to pay on a certain day, you know." + +"Oh, of course, that's the form. That only means that he can't +pinch us sooner." + +"I do hope, though, Drysdale, that it will be paid on the day," +said Tom, who could not quite swallow the notion of forfeiting +his word, even though it were only a promise to pay to a +scoundrel. + +"All right. You've nothing to do with it, remember. He won't +bother you. Besides, you can plead infancy, if the worst comes to +the worst. There's such a queer old bird gone to your friend +Hardy's rooms." + +The mention of Hardy broke the disagreeable train of thought +into which Tom was falling, and he listened eagerly as Drysdale +went on. + +"It was about half an hour ago. I was looking out here, and saw +an old fellow come hobbling into quad on two sticks, in a shady +blue uniform coat and white trousers. The kind of old boy you +read about in books, you know. Commodore Trunnion, or Uncle Toby, +or one of that sort. Well, I watched him backing and filling +about the quad, and trying one staircase and another; but there +was nobody about. So down I trotted and went up to him for fun, +and to see what he was after. It was as good as a play, if you +could have seen it. I was ass enough to take off my cap and make +a low bow as I came up to him, and he pulled off his uniform cap +in return, and we stood there bowing to one another. He was a +thorough old gentleman, and I felt rather foolish for fear that +he should see that I expected a lark when I came out. But I don't +think he had an idea of it, and only set my capping him down to +the wonderful good manners of the college. So we got quite thick, +and I piloted him across to Hardy's staircase in the back quad. I +wanted him to come up and quench, but he declined, with many +apologies. I'm sure he is a character." + +"He must be Hardy's father," said Tom. + +"I shouldn't wonder. But is his father in the navy?" + +"He is a retired captain." + +"Then no doubt you're right. What shall we do? Have a hand at +picquet. Some men will be here directly. Only for love." + +Tom declined the proffered game, and went off soon after to his +own rooms, a happier man than he had been since his first night +at "The Choughs." + + + + +CHAPTER XX--THE RECONCILIATION + +Tom rose in the morning with a presentiment that all would be +over now before long, and to make his presentiment come true, +resolved, before night, to go himself to Hardy and give in. All +he reserved to himself was the liberty to do it in the manner +which would be least painful to himself. He was greatly annoyed, +therefore, when Hardy did not appear at morning chapel; for he +had fixed on the leaving chapel as the least unpleasant time in +which to begin his confession, and was going to catch Hardy then, +and follow him to his rooms. All the morning, too, in answer to +his inquiries by his scout Wiggins, Hardy's scout replied that +his master was out, or busy. He did not come to the boats, he did +not appear in hall; so that, after hall, when Tom went back to +his own rooms, as he did at once, instead of sauntering out of +college, or going to a wine party, he was quite out of heart at +his bad luck, and began to be afraid that he would have to sleep +on his unhealed wound another night. + +He sat down in an arm-chair, and fell to musing, and thought how +wonderfully his life had been changed in these few short weeks. +He could hardly get back across the gulf which separated him from +the self who had come back into those rooms after Easter, full of +anticipations of the pleasures and delights of the coming summer +term and vacation. To his own surprise he didn't seem much to +regret the loss of his _chateaux en Espange_, and felt a sort of +grim satisfaction in their utter overthrow. + +While occupied with these thoughts, he heard talking on his +stairs, accompanied by a strange lumbering tread. These came +nearer; and at last stopped just outside his door, which opened +in another moment, and Wiggins announced-- + +"Capting Hardy, sir." + +Tom jumped to his legs, and felt himself colour painfully. + +"Here, Wiggins," said he, "wheel round that arm-chair for Captain +Hardy. I am so very glad to see you, sir," and he hastened round +himself to meet the old gentleman, holding out his hand, which +the visitor took very cordially, as soon as he had passed his +heavy stick to his left hand, and balanced himself safely upon +it. + +"Thank you, sir; thank you," said the old man after a few +moments' pause, "I find your companion ladders rather steep;" and +then he sat down with some difficulty. + +Tom took the Captain's stick and undress cap, and put them +reverentially on his sideboard; and then, to get rid of some +little nervousness which he couldn't help feeling, bustled to his +cupboard, and helped Wiggins to place glasses and biscuits on the +table. "Now, sir, what will you take? I have port, sherry and +whisky here, and can get you anything else. Wiggins, run to +Hinton's and get some dessert." + +"No dessert, thank you, for me," said the Captain; "I'll take a +cup of coffee, or a glass of grog, or anything you have ready. +Don't open wine for me, pray, sir." + +"Oh, it is all the better for being opened," said Tom, working +away at a bottle of sherry with his corkscrew, "and Wiggins, get +some coffee and anchovy toast in a quarter of an hour; and just +put out some tumblers and toddy ladles, and bring up boiling +water with the coffee." + +While making his hospitable preparations, Tom managed to get many +side glances at the old man, who sat looking steadily and +abstractly before him into the fireplace, and was much struck and +touched by the picture. The sailor wore a well-preserved old +undress uniform coat and waistcoat, and white drill trousers; he +was a man of middle height, but gaunt and massive, and Tom +recognized the framework of the long arms and grand shoulders and +chest which he had so often admired in the son. His right leg was +quite stiff from an old wound on the knee cap; the left eye was +sightless, and the scar of a cutlass travelled down the drooping +lid and on to the weather-beaten cheek below. His head was high +and broad, his hair and whiskers silver white, while the shaggy +eyebrows were scarcely grizzled. His face was deeply lined, and +the long, clean-cut lower jaw, and drawn look about the mouth, +gave a grim expression to the face at the first glance, which +wore off as you looked, leaving, however, on most men who thought +about it, the impression which fastened on our hero, "An awkward +man to have met at the head of boarders towards the end of the +great war." + +In a minute or two, Tom, having completed his duties, faced the +old sailor, much reassured by his covert inspection; and, pouring +himself out a glass of sherry, pushed the decanter across, and +drank to his guest. + +"Your health, sir," he said, "and thank you very much for coming +up to see me." + +"Thank _you_, sir," said the Captain, rousing himself and +filling, "I drink to you, sir. The fact is, I took a great +liberty in coming up to your rooms in this off-hand way, without +calling or sending up, but you'll excuse it in an old sailor." +Here the Captain took to his glass, and seemed a little +embarrassed. Tom felt embarrassed also, feeling that something +was coming, and could only think of asking how the Captain liked +the sherry. The Captain liked the sherry very much. Then, +suddenly clearing his throat, he went on. "I felt, sir, that you +would excuse me, for I have a favor to ask of you." He paused +again, while Tom muttered something about "great pleasure," and +then went on. + +"You know my son, Mr. Brown?" + +"Yes, sir; he has been my best friend up here; I owe more to him +than to any man in Oxford." + +The Captain's eye gleamed with pleasure as he replied, "Jack is a +noble fellow, Mr. Brown, though I say it who am his father. I've +often promised myself a cruise to Oxford since he has been here. +I came here at last yesterday, and have been having a long yarn +with him. I found there was something on his mind. He can't keep +anything from his old father; and so I drew out of him that he +loves you as David loved Jonathan. He made my old eye very dim +while he was talking of you, Mr. Brown. And then I found that you +two are not as you used to be. Some coldness sprung up between +you; but what about I couldn't get at. Young men are often +hasty--I know I was, forty years ago--Jack says he has been hasty +with you. Now, that boy is all I have in the world, Mr. Brown. I +know my boy's friend will like to send an old man home with a +light heart. So I made up my mind to come over to you and ask you +to make it up with Jack. I gave him the slip after dinner and +here I am." + +"Oh, sir, did he really ask you to come to me?" + +"No, sir," said the Captain, "he did not--I am sorry for it--I +think Jack must be in the wrong, for he said he had been too +hasty, and yet he wouldn't ask me to come to you and make it up. +But he is young, sir; young and proud. He said he couldn't move +in it, his mind was made up; he was wretched enough over it, but +the move must come from you. And so that's the favor I have to +ask, that you will make it up with Jack. It isn't often a young +man can do such a favor to an old one--to an old father with one +son. You'll not feel the worse for having done it, if it's ever +so hard to do, when you come to be my age." And the old man +looked wistfully across the table, the muscles about his mouth +quivering as he ended. + +Tom sprang from his chair, and grasped the old sailor's hand, as +he felt the load pass out of his heart. "Favour, sir!" he said, +"I have been a mad fool enough already in this business--I should +have been a double-dyed scoundrel, like enough, by this time but +for your son, and I've quarrelled with him for stopping me at the +pit's mouth. Favor! If God will, I'll prove somehow where the +favor lies, and what I owe to him; and to you, sir, for coming to +me tonight. Stop here two minutes, sir, and I'll run down and +bring him over." + +Tom tore away to Hardy's door and knocked. There was no pausing +in the passage now. "Come in." He opened the door but did not +enter, and for a moment or two could not speak. The rush of +associations which the sight of the well-known old rickety +furniture, and the figure which was seated, book in hand, with +its back to the door and its feet against one side of the +mantel-piece, called up, choked him. + +"_May_ I come in?" he said at last. + +He saw the figure give a start, and the book trembled a little, +but then came the answer, slow but firm-- + +"I have not changed my opinion." + +"No; dear old boy, but I have," and Tom rushed across to his +friend, dearer than ever to him now, and threw his arm round his +neck; and, if the un-English truth must out had three parts of a +mind to kiss the rough face which was now working with strong +emotion. + +"Thank God!" said Hardy, as he grasped the hand which hung over +his shoulder. + +"And now come over to my room; your father is there waiting for +us." + +"What, the dear old governor? That's what he has been after, is +it? I couldn't think where he could have 'hove to,' as he would +say." + +Hardy put on his cap, and the two hurried back to Tom's rooms, +the lightest hearts in the University of Oxford. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--CAPTAIN HARDY ENTERTAINED BY ST. AMBROSE. + +There are moments in the life of the most self-contained and +sober of us all, when we fairly bubble over, like a full bottle +of champagne with the cork out; and this was one of them for our +hero who however, be it remarked, was neither self-contained nor +sober by nature. When they got back to his rooms, he really +hardly knew what to do to give vent to his lightness of heart; +and Hardy, though self-contained and sober enough in general, was +on this occasion almost as bad as his friend. They rattled on, +talked out the thing which came uppermost, whatever the subject +might chance to be; but whether grave or gay, it always ended +after a minute or two in jokes not always good, and chaff, and +laughter. The poor captain was a little puzzled at first, and +made one or two endeavours to turn the talk into improving +channels. But very soon he saw that Jack was thoroughly happy, +and that was always enough for him. So he listened to one and the +other, joining cheerily in the laugh whenever he could; and when +he couldn't catch the joke, looking like a benevolent old lion, +and making as much belief that he had understood it all as the +simplicity and truthfulness of his character would allow. + +The spirits of the two friends seemed inexhaustible. They lasted +out the bottle of sherry which Tom had uncorked, and the remains +of a bottle of his famous port. He had tried hard to be allowed +to open a fresh bottle, but the Captain had made such a point of +his not doing so, that he had given in for hospitality's sake. +They lasted out the coffee and anchovy toast; after which the +Captain made a little effort at moving, which was supplicatingly +stopped by Tom. + +"Oh, pray don't go, Captain Hardy. I haven't been so happy for +months. Besides, I must brew you a glass of grog. I pride myself +on my brew. Your son there will tell you that I am a dead hand at +it. Here, Wiggins, a lemon!" shouted Tom. + +"Well, for once in a way, I suppose, eh, Jack?" said the Captain, +looking at his son. + +"Oh yes, father. You mayn't know it, Brown, but, if there is one +thing harder to do than another, it is to get an old sailor like +my father to take a glass of grog at night." + +The Captain laughed a little laugh, and shook his thick stick at +his son, who went on. + +"And as for asking him to take a pipe with it--" + +"Dear me," said Tom, "I quite forgot. I really beg your pardon, +Captain Hardy; and he put down the lemon he was squeezing, and +produced a box of cigars. + +"It's all Jack's nonsense, sir," said the Captain, holding out +his hand, nevertheless, for the box. + +"Now, father, don't be absurd," interrupted Hardy, snatching the +box away from him. "You might as well give him a glass of +absinthe. He is church-warden at home and can't smoke anything +but a long clay." + +"I'm very sorry I haven't one here, but I can send out in a +minute." And Tom was making for the door to shout for Wiggins. + +"No, don't call. I'll fetch some from my rooms." + +When Hardy left the room, Tom squeezed away at his lemon, and was +preparing himself for a speech to Captain Hardy full of +confession and gratitude. But the Captain was before him, and led +the conversation into a most unexpected channel. + +"I suppose, now, Mr. Brown," he began, "you don't find any +difficulty in construing your Thucydides?" + +"Indeed, I do, sir," said Tom, laughing. "I find him a very tough +old customer, except in the simplest narrative." + +"For my part," said the Captain, "I can't get on at all, I find, +without a translation. But you see, sir, I had none of the +advantages which you young men have up here. In fact, Mr. Brown, +I didn't begin Greek till Jack was nearly ten years old." The +Captain in his secret heart was prouder of his partial victory +over the Greek tongue in his old age, than of his undisputed +triumphs over the French in his youth, and was not averse to +talking of it. + +"I wonder that you ever began it at all, sir," said Tom. + +"You wouldn't wonder if you knew how an uneducated man like me +feels, when he comes to a place like Oxford." + +"Uneducated, sir!" said Tom. "Why your education has been worth +twice as much, I'm sure, as any we get here." + +"No, sir; we never learnt anything in the navy when I was a +youngster, except a little rule-of-thumb mathematics. One picked +up a sort of smattering of a language or two knocking about the +world, but no grammatical knowledge, nothing scientific. If a boy +doesn't get a method, he is beating to windward in a crank craft +all his life. He hasn't got any regular place to stow away what +he gets into his brains, and so it lies tumbling about in the +hold, and he loses it, or it gets damaged and is never ready for +use. You see what I mean, Mr. Brown?" + +"Yes, sir. But I'm afraid we don't all of us get much method up +here. Do you really enjoy reading Thucydides now, Captain Hardy?" + +"Indeed I do, sir, very much," said the captain. "There's a great +deal in his history to interest an old sailor, you know. I dare +say, now, that I enjoy those parts about the sea-fights more than +you do." The Captain looked at Tom as if he had made an audacious +remark. + +"I am sure you do, sir," said Tom, smiling. + +"Because you see, Mr. Brown," said the Captain, "when one has +been in that sort of thing oneself, one likes to read how people +in other times managed, and to think what one would have done in +their place. I don't believe that the Greeks just at that time +were very resolute fighters, though. Nelson or Collingwood would +have finished that war in a year or two." + +"Not with triremes, do you think, sir?" said Tom. + +[Illustration: 0251] + +"Yes, sir, with any vessels which were to be had," said the +Captain. "But you are right about triremes. It has always been a +great puzzle to me how those triremes could have been worked. How +do you understand the three banks of oars, Mr. Brown?" + +"Well, sir, I suppose they must have been one above the other +somehow." + +"But the upper bank must have had oars twenty feet long, and +more, in that case," said the Captain. "You must allow for +leverage, you see." + +"Of course, sir. When one comes to think of it, it isn't easy to +see how they were manned and worked," said Tom. + +"Now my notion about triremes--" began the Captain, holding the +head of his stick with both hands, and looking across at Tom. + +"Why, father!" cried Hardy, returning at the moment with the +pipes, and catching the Captain's last word, "on one of your +hobby horses already! You're not safe!--I can't leave you for two +minutes. Here's a long pipe for you. How in the world did he get +on triremes?" + +"I hardly know," said Tom; "but I want to hear what Captain Hardy +thinks about them. You were saying, sir, that the upper oars must +have been twenty feet long at least." + +"My notion is--" said the Captain, taking the pipe and +tobacco-pouch from his son's hand. + +"Stop one moment," said Hardy; "I found Blake at my rooms, and +asked him to come over here. You don't object?" + +"Object, my dear fellow! I'm much obliged to you. Now, Hardy, +would you like to have anyone else? I can send in a minute." + +"No one, thank you." + +"You won't stand on ceremony now, will you, with me?" said Tom. + +"You see I haven't." + +"And you never will again?" + +"No, never. Now, father, you can heave ahead about those oars." + +The Captain went on charging his pipe, and proceeded: "You see, +Mr. Brown, they must have been at least twenty feet long, +because, if you allow the lowest bank of oars to have been three +feet above the water-line, which even Jack thinks they must have +been--" + +"Certainly. That height at least to do any good," said Hardy. + +"Not that I think Jack's opinion worth much on the point," went +on his father. + +"It's very ungrateful of you, then, to say so, father," said +Hardy, "after all the time I've wasted trying to make it all +clear to you." + +"I don't say that Jack's is not a good opinion on most things, +Mr. Brown," said the Captain; "but he is all at sea about +triremes. He believes that the men of the uppermost bank rowed +somehow like lightermen on the Thames, walking up and down." + +"I object to your statement of my faith, father," said Hardy. + +"Now you know, Jack, you have said so, often." + +"I have said they must have stood up to row, and so--" + +"You would have had awful confusion, Jack. You must have order +between decks when you're going into action. Besides, the rowers +had cushions." + +"That old heresy of yours again." + +"Well, but Jack, they _had_ cushions. Didn't the rowers who were +marched across the Isthmus to man the ships which were to +surprise the Piraeus, carry their oars, thongs and cushions?" + +"If they did, your conclusion doesn't follow, father, that they +sat on them to row." + +"You hear, Mr. Brown," said the Captain; "he admits my point +about the cushions." + +"Oh, father, I hope you used to fight the French more fairly," +said Hardy. + +"But didn't he? Didn't Jack admit my point?" + +"Implicitly, sir, I think," said Tom, catching Hardy's eye, which +was dancing with fun. + +"Of course he did. You hear that, Jack. Now my notion about +triremes--" + +A knock at the door interrupted the Captain again, and Blake came +in and was introduced. + +"Mr. Blake is almost our best scholar, father; you should appeal +to him about the cushions." + +"I am very proud to make your acquaintance, sir," said the +Captain; "I have heard my son speak of you often." + +"We were talking about triremes," said Tom; "Captain Hardy thinks +the oars must have been twenty feet long." + +"Not easy to come forward well with that sort of oar," said +Blake; "they must have pulled a slow stroke." + +"Our torpid would have bumped the best of them," said Hardy. + +"I don't think they could have made more than six knots," said +the Captain; "but yet they used to sink one another, and a light +boat going only six knots couldn't break another in two +amid-ships. It's a puzzling subject, Mr. Blake." + +"It is, sir," said Mr. Blake; "if we only had some of their +fo'castle songs we should know more about it. I'm afraid they had +no Dibdin." + +"I wish you would turn one of my father's favorite songs into +anapaests for him," said Hardy. + +"What are they?" said Blake. + +"'Tom Bowling,' or 'The wind that blows, and the ship that goes, +and the lass that loves a sailor.'" + +"By the way, why shouldn't we have a song?" said Tom. + +"What do you say, Captain Hardy?" + +The Captain winced a little as he saw his chance of expounding +his notion as to triremes slipping away, but answered: + +"By all means, sir; Jack must sing for me though. Did you ever +hear him sing 'Tom Bowling!'" + +"No, never, sir. Why, Hardy, you never told me you could sing." + +"You never asked me," said Hardy, laughing; "but if I sing for my +father, he must spin us a yarn." + +"Oh yes; will you, sir!" + +"I'll do my best, Mr. Brown; but I don't know that you'll care to +listen to my old yarns. Jack thinks everybody must like them as +well as he, who used to hear them when he was a child." + +"Thank you, sir; that's famous. Now Hardy, strike up." + +"After you. You must set the example in your own rooms." + +So Tom sang his song. And the noise brought Drysdale and another +man up, who were loitering in quad on the lookout for something +to do. Drysdale and the Captain recognised one another, and were +friends at once. And then Hardy sang "Tom Bowling," in a style +which astonished the rest not a little, and as usual nearly made +his father cry; and Blake sang, and Drysdale and the other man. +And then the Captain was called on for his yarn; and, the general +voice being for "something that had happened to him," + +"the +strangest thing that had ever happened to him at sea," the old +gentleman laid down his pipe and sat up in his chair with his +hands on his stick and began. + +THE CAPTAIN'S STORY + +It will be forty years ago next month since the ship I was then +in came home from the West Indies station, and was paid off. I +had nowhere in particular to go just then, and so was very glad +to get a letter, the morning after I went ashore at Portsmouth, +asking me to go down to Plymouth for a week or so. It came from +an old sailor, a friend of my family, who had been Commodore of +the fleet. He lived at Plymouth; he was a thorough old +sailor--what you young men would call "an old salt"--and couldn't +live out of sight of the blue sea and the shipping. It is a +disease that a good many of us take who have spent our best years +on the sea. I have it myself--a sort of feeling that we want to +be under another kind of Providence, when we look out and see a +hill on this side and a hill on that. It's wonderful to see the +trees come out and the corn grow, but then it doesn't come so +home to an old sailor. I know that we're all just as much under +the Lord's hand on shore as at sea; but you can't read in a book +you haven't been used to, and they that go down to the sea in +ships, they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the +deep. It isn't their fault if they don't see his wonders on the +land so easily as other people. + +But, for all that, there's no man enjoys a cruise in the country +more than a sailor. It's forty years ago since I started for +Plymouth, but I haven't forgotten the road a bit or how beautiful +it was; all through the New Forest, and over Salisbury Plain, and +then by the mail to Exeter, and through Devonshire. It took me +three days to get to Plymouth, for we didn't get about so quick +in those days. + +The Commodore was very kind to me when I got there, and I went +about with him to the ships in the bay, and through the +dock-yard, and picked up a good deal that was of use to me +afterwards. I was a lieutenant in those days, and had seen a good +deal of service, and I found the old Commodore had a great nephew +whom he had adopted, and had set his whole heart upon. He was an +old bachelor himself, but the boy had come to live with him, and +was to go to sea; so he wanted to put him under some one who +would give an eye to him for the first year or two. He was a +light slip of a boy then, fourteen years old, with deep set blue +eyes and long eyelashes, and cheeks like a girl's, but brave as a +lion and as merry as a lark. The old gentleman was very pleased +to see that we took to one another. We used to bathe and boat +together; and he was never tired of hearing my stories about the +great admirals, and the fleet, and the stations I had been on. + +Well, it was agreed that I should apply for a ship again +directly, and go up to London with a letter to the Admiralty from +the Commodore, to help things on. After a month or two I was +appointed to a brig, lying at Spithead; and so I wrote off to the +Commodore and he got his boy a midshipman's berth on board, and +brought him to Portsmouth himself a day or two before we sailed +for the Mediterranean. The old gentleman came on board to see the +boy's hammock slung, and went below into the cockpit to make sure +that all was right. He only left us by the pilot boat when we +were well out in the Channel. He was very low at parting with his +boy, but bore up as well as he could; and we promised to write to +him from Gibraltar, and as often afterwards as we had a chance. + +I was soon as proud and fond of little Tom Holdsworth as if he +had been my own younger brother; and, for that matter, so were +all the crew, from our captain to the cook's boy. He was such a +gallant youngster, and yet so gentle. In one cutting-out business +we had, he climbed over the boatswain's shoulder, and was almost +first on deck; how he came out of it without a scratch I can't +think to this day. But he hadn't a bit of bluster in him, and was +as kind as a woman to anyone who was wounded or down with +sickness. + +After we had been out about a year we were sent to cruise off +Malta, on the look-out for the French fleet. It was a long +business, and the post wasn't so good then as it is now. We were +sometimes for months without getting a letter, and knew nothing +of what was happening at home, or anywhere else. We had a sick +time too on board, and at last he got a fever. He bore up against +it like a man, and wouldn't knock off duty for a long time. He +was midshipman of my watch; so I used to make him turn in early, +and tried to ease things to him as much as I could; but he didn't +pick up, and I began to get very anxious about him. I talked to +the doctor, and turned matters over in my own mind, and at last I +came to think he wouldn't get any better unless he could sleep +out of the cockpit. So one night, the 20th of October it was--I +remember it well enough, better than I remember any day since; it +was a dirty night, blowing half a gale of wind from the +southward, and we were under close-reefed top-sails--I had the +first watch, and at nine o'clock I sent him down to my cabin to +sleep there, where he would be fresher and quieter, and I was to +turn into his hammock when my watch was over. + +I was on deck three hours or so after he went down, and the +weather got dirtier and dirtier, and the scud drove by, and the +wind sang and hummed through the rigging--it made me melancholy +to listen to it. I could think of nothing but the youngster down +below, and what I should say to his poor old uncle if anything +happened. Well, soon after midnight I went down and turned into +his hammock. I didn't go to sleep at once, for I remember very +well listening to the creaking of the ship's timbers as she rose +to the swell, and watching the lamp, which was slung from the +ceiling, and gave light enough to make out the other hammocks +swinging slowly altogether. At last, however, I dropped off, and +I reckon I must have been asleep about an hour, when I woke with +a start. For the first moment I didn't see anything but the +swinging hammocks and the lamp; but then suddenly I became aware +that some one was standing by my hammock, and I saw the figure as +plainly as I see any one of you now, for the foot of the hammock +was close to the lamp, and the light struck full across on the +head and shoulders, which was all that I could see of him. There +he was, the old Commodore; his grizzled hair coming out from +under a red woolen nightcap, and his shoulders wrapped in an old +thread-bare blue dressing-gown which I had often seen him in. His +face looked pale and drawn, and there was a wistful disappointed +look about the eyes. I was so taken aback I could not speak, but +lay watching him. He looked full at my face once or twice, but +didn't seem to recognise me; and, just as I was getting back my +tongue and going to speak, he said slowly: "Where's Tom? this is +his hammock. I can't see Tom;" and then he looked vaguely about +and passed away somehow, but how, I couldn't see. In a moment or +two I jumped out and hurried to my cabin, but young Holdsworth +was fast asleep. I sat down, and wrote down just what I had seen, +making a note of the exact time, twenty minutes to two. I didn't +turn in again, but sat watching the youngster. When he woke I +asked him if he had heard anything of his great uncle by the last +mail. Yes, he had heard; the old gentleman was rather feeble, but +nothing particular the matter. I kept my own counsel and never +told a soul in the ship; and, when the mail came to hand a few +days afterwards with a letter from the Commodore to his nephew, +dated late in September, saying that he was well, I thought the +figure by my hammock must have been all my own fancy. + +However, by the next mail came the news of the old Commodore's +death. It had been a very sudden break up, his executor said. He +had left all his property, which was not much, to his great +nephew, who was to get leave to come home as soon as he could. + +The first time we touched at Malta, Tom Holdsworth left us and +went home. We followed about two years afterwards, and the first +thing I did after landing was to find out the Commodore's +executor. He was a quiet, dry little Plymouth lawyer, and very +civilly answered all my questions about the last days of my old +friend. At last I asked him to tell me as near as he could the +time of his death; and he put on his spectacles, and got his +diary, and turned over the leaves. I was quite nervous till he +looked up and said,--"Twenty-five minutes to two, sir, A.M., on +the morning of October 21st; or it might be a few minutes later." + +"How do you mean, sir?" I asked. + +"Well," he said, "it is an odd story. The doctor was sitting with +me, watching the old man, and, as I tell you, at twenty-five +minutes to two, he got up and said it was all over. We stood +together, talking in whispers for, it might be, four or five +minutes, when the body seemed to move. He was an odd old man, you +know, the Commodore, and we never could get him properly to bed, +but he lay in his red nightcap and old dressing-gown, with a +blanket over him. It was not a pleasant sight, I can tell you, +sir. I don't think one of you gentlemen, who are bred to face all +manner of dangers, would have liked it. As I was saying, the body +first moved, and then sat up, propping itself behind with its +hands. The eyes were wide open, and he looked at us for a moment, +and said slowly, 'I've been to the Mediterranean, but I didn't +see Tom.' Then the body sank back again, and this time the old +Commodore was really dead. But it was not a pleasant thing to +happen to one, sir. I do not remember anything like it in my +forty years' practice." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--DEPARTURES EXPECTED AND UNEXPECTED + +There was a silence of a few seconds after the Captain had +finished his story, all the men sitting with eyes fixed on him, +and not a little surprised at the results of their call. Drysdale +was the first to break the silence, which he did with a "By +George!" and a long respiration; but, as he did not seem prepared +with any further remark, Tom took up the running. + +"What a strange story," he said; "and that really happened to +you, Captain Hardy?" + +"To me sir, in the Mediterranean, more than forty years ago." + +"The strangest thing about it is that the old Commodore should +have managed to get all the way to the ship, and then not have +known where his nephew was," said Blake. + +"He only knew his nephew's berth, you see, sir," said the +Captain. + +"But he might have beat about through the ship till he had found +him." + +"You must remember that he was at his last breath, sir," said the +Captain; "you can't expect a man to have his head clear at such a +moment." + +"Not a man, perhaps; but I should a ghost," said Blake. + +"Time was everything to him," went on the Captain, without +regarding the interruption, "space nothing. But the strangest +part of it is that _I_ should have seen the figure at all. It's +true I had been thinking of the old uncle, because of the boy's +illness; but I can't suppose he was thinking of me, and, as I +say, he never recognized me. I have taken a great deal of +interest in such matters since that time, but I have never met +with just such a case as this." + +"No, that is the puzzle. One can fancy his appearing to his +nephew well enough," said Tom. + +"We can't account for these things, or for a good many other +things which ought to be quite as startling, only we see them +every day. But now I think it is time for us to be going, eh +Jack?" and the Captain and his son rose to go. + +Tom saw that it would be no kindness to them to try to prolong +the sitting, and so he got up too, to accompany them to the +gates. This broke up the party. Before going, Drysdale, after +whispering to Tom, went up to Captain Hardy, and said,-- + +"I want to ask you to do me a favour, sir. Will you and your son +breakfast with me to-morrow?" + +"We shall be very happy, sir," said the Captain. + +"I think, father, you had better breakfast with me, quietly. We +are much obliged to Mr. Drysdale, but I can't give up a whole +morning. Besides, I have several things to talk to you about." + +"Nonsense, Jack," blurted out the old sailor, "leave your books +alone for one morning. I'm come up here to enjoy myself, and see +your friends." + +Hardy gave a slight shrug of his shoulder at the word friends, +and Drysdale, who saw it, looked a little confused. He had never +asked Hardy to his rooms before. The Captain saw that something +was the matter, and hastened in his own way to make all smooth +again. + +"Never mind Jack, sir," he said, "he shall come. It's a great +treat to me to be with young men, especially when they are +friends of my boy." + +"I hope you'll come as a personal favor to me," said Drysdale, +turning to Hardy. "Brown, you'll bring him, won't you?" + +"Oh yes, I'm sure he'll come," said Tom. + +"That's all right. Good night, then;" and Drysdale went off. + +Hardy and Tom accompanied the Captain to the gate. During his +passage across the two quadrangles, the old gentleman was full of +the praises of the men and of protestations as to the improvement +in social manners and customs since his day, when there could +have been no such meeting, he declared, without blackguardism and +drunkenness, at least among young officers; but then they had +less to think of than Oxford men, no proper education. And so the +Captain was evidently traveling back into the great trireme +question when they reached the gate. As they could go no farther +with him, however, he had to carry away his solution of the +three-banks-of-oars difficulty in his own bosom to the "Mitre". + +"Don't let us go in," said Tom, as the gate closed on the +Captain, and they turned back into the quadrangle, "let us take a +turn or two;" so they walked up and down the inner quad in the +starlight. + +Just at first they were a good deal embarrassed and confused; but +before long, though not without putting considerable force on +himself, Tom got back into something like his old familiar way of +unbosoming himself to his re-found friend, and Hardy showed more +than his old anxiety to meet him half-way. His ready and +undisguised sympathy soon dispersed the remaining clouds which +were still hanging between them; and Tom found it almost a +pleasure, instead of a dreary task, as he had anticipated, to +make a full confession, and state the case clearly and strongly +against himself to one who claimed neither by word nor look the +least superiority over him, and never seemed to remember that he +himself had been ill-treated in the matter. + +"He had such a chance of lecturing me, and didn't do it," thought +Tom afterwards, when he was considering why he felt so very +grateful to Hardy. "It was so cunning of him, too. If he had +begun lecturing, I should have begun to defend myself, and never +have felt half such a scamp as I did when I was telling it all +out to him in my own way." + +The result of Hardy's management was that Tom made a clean breast +of it, telling everything down to his night at the ragged school; +and what an effect his chance-opening of the "Apology" had had on +him. Here for the first time Hardy came in with his usual dry, +keen voice. "You needn't have gone so far back as Plato for that +lesson." + +"I don't understand," said Tom. + +"Well, there's something about an indwelling spirit which guideth +every man, in St. Paul, isn't there?" + +"Yes, a great deal," Tom answered, after a pause; "but it isn't +the same thing." + +"Why not the same thing?" + +"Oh, surely you must feel it. It would be almost blasphemy in us +to talk as St. Paul talked. It is much easier to face the notion, +or the fact, of a daemon or spirit such as Socrates felt to be in +him, than to face what St. Paul seems to be meaning." + +"Yes, much easier. The only question is whether we will be +heathens or not." + +"How do you mean?" said Tom. + +"Why, a spirit was speaking to Socrates, and guiding him. He +obeyed the guidance, but knew not whence it came. A spirit is +striving with us too, and trying to guide us--we feel that just +as much as he did. Do we know what spirit it is? whence it comes? +Will we obey it? If we can't name it--know no more of it then he +knew about his daemon, of course, we are in no better position +than he--in fact, heathens." + +Tom made no answer, and after a slight turn or two more, Hardy +said, "Let us go in;" and they went to his rooms. When the +candles were lighted, Tom saw the array of books on the table, +several of them open, and remembered how near the examinations +were. + +"I see you want to work," he said. "Well, good-night. I know how +fellows like you hate being thanked--there, you needn't wince; +I'm not going to try it on. The best way to thank you, I know, is +to go straight for the future. I'll do that, please God, this +time at any rate. Now what ought I to do, Hardy?" + +"Well, it's very hard to say. I've thought about it a great deal +this last few days--since I felt you coming round--but I can't +make up my mind. How do you feel yourself? What's your own +instinct about it?" + +"Of course, I must break it all off at once, completely," said +Tom, mournfully, and half hoping that Hardy might not agree with +him. + +"Of course," answered Hardy, "but how?" + +"In the way that will pain her least. I would sooner lose my hand +or bite my tongue off than that she should feel lowered, or lose +any self-respect, you know," said Tom, looking helplessly at his +friend. + +"Yes, that's all right--you must take all you can on your own +shoulders. It must leave a sting though for both of you, manage +how you will." + +"But I can't bear to let her think I don't care for her--I +needn't do that--I can't do that." + +"I don't know what to advise. However, I believe I was wrong in +thinking she cared for you so much. She will be hurt, of +course--she can't help being hurt--but it won't be so bad as I +used to think." + +Tom made no answer; in spite of all his good resolutions, he was +a little piqued at this last speech. Hardy went on presently. "I +wish she were well out of Oxford. It's a bad town for a girl to +be living in, especially as a barmaid in a place which we haunt. +I don't know that she will take much harm now; but it's a very +trying thing for a girl of that sort to be thrown every day +amongst a dozen young men above her in rank, and not one in ten +of whom has any manliness about him." + +"How do you mean--no manliness?" + +"I mean that a girl in her position isn't safe with us. If we had +any manliness in us she would be--" + +"You can't expect all men to be blocks of ice, or milksops," said +Tom, who was getting nettled. + +"Don't think that I meant you," said Hardy; "indeed I didn't. But +surely, think a moment; is it a proof of manliness that the pure +and weak should fear you and shrink from you? Which is the +true--aye, and the brave--man, he who trembles before a woman or +he before whom a woman trembles?" + +"Neither," said Tom; "but I see what you mean, and when you put +it that way it's clear enough." + +"But you're wrong in saying 'neither' if you do see what I mean." +Tom was silent. "Can there be any true manliness without purity?" +went on Hardy. Tom drew a deep breath but said nothing. "And +where then can you point to a place where there is so little +manliness as here? It makes my blood boil to see what one must +see every day. There are a set of men up here, and have been ever +since I can remember the place, not one of whom can look at a +modest woman without making her shudder." + +"There must always be some blackguards," said Tom. + +"Yes; but unluckily the blackguards set the fashion, and give the +tone to public opinion. I'm sure both of us have seen enough to +know perfectly well that up here, amongst us undergraduates, men +who are deliberately and avowedly profligates, are rather admired +and courted,--are said to know the world, and all that,--while a +man who tries to lead a pure life, and makes no secret of it, is +openly sneered at by them, looked down on more or less by the +great mass of men, and, to use the word you used just now, +thought a milksop by almost all." + +"I don't think it so bad as that," said Tom. "There are many men +who would respect him, though they might not be able to follow +him." + +"Of course, I never meant that there are not many such, but they +don't set the fashion. I am sure I'm right. Let us try it by the +best test. Haven't you and I in our secret hearts this cursed +feeling, that the sort of man we are talking about is a milksop?" + +After a moment's thought, Tom answered, "I am afraid I have, but +I really am thoroughly ashamed of it now, Hardy. But you haven't +it. If you had it you could never have spoken to me as you have." + +"I beg your pardon. No man is more open than I to the bad +influences of any place he lives in. God knows I am even as other +men, and worse; for I have been taught ever since I could speak, +that the crown of all real manliness, of all Christian manliness, +is purity." + +Neither of the two spoke for some minutes. Then Hardy looked at +his watch-- + +"Past eleven," he said; "I must do some work. Well, Brown, this +will be a day to be remembered in my calendar." + +Tom wrung his hand, but did not venture to reply. + +As he got to the door, however, he turned back, and said,-- + +"Do you think I ought to write to her?" + +"Well, you can try. You'll find it a bitter business, I fear." + +"I'll try then. Good night." + +Tom went to his own rooms, and set to work to write his letter; +and certainly found it as difficult and unpleasant a task as he +had ever set himself to work upon. Half a dozen times he tore up +sheet after sheet of his attempts; and got up and walked about, +and plunged and kicked mentally against the collar and traces in +which he had harnessed himself by his friend's help,--trying to +convince himself that Hardy was a Puritan, who had lived quite +differently from other men, and knew nothing of what a man ought +to do in a case like this. That after all very little harm had +been done! The world would never go on at all if people were to +be so scrupulous! Probably, not another man in the college, +except Grey, perhaps, would think anything of what he had +done!--Done! why, what had he done? He couldn't be taking it more +seriously if he had ruined her! + +At this point he managed to bring himself up sharp again more +than once. "No thanks to _me_ at any rate, that she isn't ruined. +Had I any pity, any scruples? My God, what a mean, selfish rascal +I have been!" and then he sat down again, and wrote, and +scratched out what he had written, till the other fit came on, +and something of the same process had to be gone through again. + +We must all recognize the process, and remember many occasions on +which we have had to put bridle and bit on, and ride ourselves as +if we had been horses or mules without understanding; and what a +trying business it was--as bad as getting a young colt past a +gipsy encampment in a narrow lane. + +At last, after many trials, Tom got himself well in hand, and +produced something which seemed to satisfy him; for, after +reading it three or four times, he put it in a cover with a small +case, which he produced from his desk, sealed it, directed it, +and then went to bed. + +Next morning, after chapel, he joined Hardy, and walked to his +rooms with him, and after a few words on indifferent matters, +said-- + +"Well, I wrote my letter last night." + +"Did you satisfy yourself?" + +"Yes, I think so. I don't know, though, on second thoughts; it +was very tough work." + +"I was afraid you would find it so." + +"But wouldn't you like to see it?" + +"No thank you. I suppose my father will be here directly." + +"But I wish you would read it through," said Tom, producing a +copy. + +"Well, if you wish it, I suppose I must; but I don't see how I +can do any good." + +Hardy took the letter, and sat down, and Tom drew a chair close +to him, and watched his face while he read:-- + +"It is best for us both that I should not see you any more, at +least at present. I feel that I have done you a great wrong. I +dare not say much to you, for fear of making that wrong greater. +I cannot, I need not tell you how I despise myself now--how I +long to make you any amends in my power. If ever I can be of any +service to you, I do hope that nothing which has passed will +hinder you from applying to me. You will not believe how it +pains me to write this; how should you? I don't deserve that you +should believe anything I say. I must seem heartless to you; I +have been, I am heartless. I hardly know what I am writing. I +shall long all my life to hear good news of you. I don't ask you +to pardon me, but if you can prevail on yourself not to send back +the enclosed, and will keep it as a small remembrance of one who +is deeply sorry for the wrong he has done you, but who cannot and +will not say he is sorry he ever met you, you will be adding +another to the many kindnesses which I have to thank you for, and +which I shall never forget." + +Hardy read it over several times, as Tom watched impatiently, +unable to make out anything from his face. + +"What do you think? You don't think there's anything wrong in it, +I hope?" + +"No, indeed, my dear fellow. I really think it does you credit. I +don't know what else you could have said very well, only--" + +"Only what?" + +"Couldn't you have made it a little shorter?" + +"No, I couldn't; but you don't mean that. What did you mean by +that 'only'?" + +"Why, I don't think this letter will end the business; at least, +I'm afraid not." + +"But what more could I have said?" + +"Nothing _more_, certainly; but couldn't you have keep a little +quieter--it's difficult to get the right word--a little cooler, +perhaps. Couldn't you have made the part about not seeing her +again a little more decided?" + +"But you said I needn't pretend I didn't care for her." + +"Did I?" + +"Yes. Besides, it would have been a lie." + +"I don't want you to tell a lie, certainly. But how about this +'small remembrance' that you speak of? What's that?" + +"Oh, nothing; only a little locket I bought for her." + +"With some of your hair in it?" + +"Well of course. Come now, there's no harm in that." + +"No; no harm. Do you think she will wear it?" + +"How can I tell?" + +"It may make her think it isn't all at an end, I'm afraid. If she +always wears your hair--" + +"By Jove, you're too bad, Hardy. I wish you had had to write it +yourself. It's all very easy to pull my letter to pieces, I dare +say, but--" + +"I didn't want to read it, remember." + +"No more you did. I forgot. But I wish you would just write down +now what you would have said." + +"Yes, I think I see myself at it. By the way, of course you have +sent your letter?" + +"Yes, I sent it off before chapel." + +"I thought so. In that case I don't think we need trouble +ourselves further with the form of the document." + +"Oh, that's only shirking. How do you know I may not want it for +the next occasion?" + +"No, no! Don't let us begin laughing about it. A man never ought +to have to write such letters twice in his life. If he has, why, +he may get a good enough precedent for the second out of the +'Complete Letter Writer'. + +"So you won't correct my copy?" + +"No, not I." + +At this point in their dialogue, Captain Hardy appeared on the +scene, and the party went off to Drysdale's to breakfast. + +Captain Hardy's visit to St. Ambrose was a great success. He +stayed some four or five days, and saw everything that was to be +seen, and enjoyed it all in a sort of reverent way which was +almost comic. Tom devoted himself to the work of cicerone, and +did his best to do the work thoroughly. Oxford was a sort of +Utopia to the Captain, who was resolutely bent on seeing nothing +but beauty and learning and wisdom within the precincts of the +University. On one or two occasions his faith was tried sorely by +the sight of young gentlemen gracefully apparelled, dawdling +along two together in low easy pony carriages, or lying on their +backs in punts for hours, smoking, with not even a _Bell's Life_ +by them to pass the time. Dawdling and doing nothing were the +objects of his special abhorrence; but, with this trifling +exception, the Captain continued steadily to behold towers and +quadrangles, and chapels, and the inhabitants of the colleges, +through rose-coloured spectacles. His respect for a "regular +education" and for the seat of learning at which it was dispensed +was so strong, that he invested not only the tutors, doctors and +proctors (of whom he saw little except at a distance), but even +the most empty-headed undergraduate whose acquaintance he made, +with a sort of fancy halo of scientific knowledge, and often +talked to those youths in a way which was curiously bewildering +and embarrassing to them. Drysdale was particularly hit by it. He +had humour and honesty enough himself to appreciate the Captain, +but it was a constant puzzle to him to know what to make of it +all. + +"He's a regular old brick, is the Captain," he said to Tom, on +the last evening of the old gentleman's visit, "but by Jove, I +can't help thinking he must be poking fun at us half his time. It +is rather too rich to hear him talking on as if we were all as +fond of Greek as he seems to be, and as if no man ever got drunk +up here." + +"I declare I think he believes it," said Tom. "You see we're all +careful enough before him." + +"That son of his, too, must be a good fellow. Don't you see he +can never have peached? His father was telling me last night what +a comfort it was to him to see that Jack's poverty had been no +drawback to him. He had always told him it would be so amongst +English gentlemen, and now he found him living quietly and +independently, and yet on equal terms, and friends, with men far +above him in rank and fortune 'like you, sir,' the old boy said. +By Jove, Brown, I felt devilish foolish. I believe I blushed, and +it isn't often I indulge in that sort of luxury. If I weren't +ashamed of doing it now, I should try to make friends with Hardy. +But I don't know how to face him, and I doubt whether he wouldn't +think me too much of a rip to be intimate with." + +Tom, at his own special request, attended the Captain's +departure, and took his seat opposite to him and his son at the +back of the Southampton coach, to accompany him a few miles out +of Oxford. For the first mile the Captain was full of the +pleasures of his visit, and of invitations to Tom to come and see +them in the vacation. If he did not mind homely quarters, he +would find a hearty welcome, and there was no finer bathing or +boating place on the coast. If he liked to bring his gun, there +were plenty of rock-pigeons and sea-otters in the caves at the +Point. Tom protested with the greatest sincerity that there was +nothing he should enjoy so much. Then the young men got down to +walk up Bagley Hill, and when they mounted again, found the +Captain with a large leather case in his hand, out of which he +took two five-pound notes, and began pressing them on his son, +while Tom tried to look as if he did not know what was going on. +For some time Hardy steadily refused, and the contention became +animated, and it was useless to pretend any longer not to hear. + +"Why, Jack, you're not too proud, I hope, to take a present from +you own father," the Captain said at last. + +"But, my dear father, I don't want the money. You make me a very +good allowance already." + +"Now, Jack, just listen to me and be reasonable. You know a great +many of your friends have been very hospitable to me; I could not +return their hospitality myself, but I wish you to do so for me." + +"Well, father, I can do that without this money." + +"Now, Jack," said the Captain, pushing forward the notes again, +"I insist on your taking them. You will pain me very much if you +don't take them." + +So the son took the notes at last, looking as most men of his age +would if they had just lost them, while the father's face was +radiant as he replaced his pocket book in the breast pocket +inside his coat. His eye caught Tom's in the midst of the +operation, and the latter could not help looking a little +confused, as if he had been unintentionally obtruding on their +privacy. But the Captain at once laid his hand on his knee and +said,-- + +"A young fellow is never the worse for having a ten-pound note to +veer and haul on, eh, Mr. Brown?" + +"No, indeed, sir. A great deal better I think," said Tom, and was +quite comfortable again. The Captain had no new coat that summer, +but he always looked like a gentleman. + +Soon the coach stopped to take up a parcel at a crossroad, and +the young men got down. They stood watching it until it +disappeared round a corner of the road, and then turned back +towards Oxford, and struck into Bagley Wood, Hardy listening with +evident pleasure to his friend's enthusiastic praise of his +father. But he was not in a talking humour, and they were soon +walking along together in silence. + +This was the first time they had been alone together since the +morning after their reconciliation; so presently Tom seized the +occasion to recur to the subject which was uppermost in his +thoughts. + +"She has never answered my letter," he began abruptly. + +"I am very glad of it," said Hardy. + +"But why?" + +"Because you know, you want it all broken off completely." + +"Yes, but still she might have just acknowledged it. You don't +know how hard it is for me to keep away from the place." + +"My dear fellow, I know it must be hard work, but you are doing +the right thing." + +"Yes, I hope so," said Tom, with a sigh. "I haven't been within a +hundred yards of 'The Choughs' this five days. The old lady must +think it so odd." + +Hardy made no reply. What could he say but that no doubt she did? + +"Would you mind doing me a great favor?" said Tom, after a +minute. + +"Anything I can do.--What is it?" + +"Why, just to step round on our way back,--I will stay as far off +as you like,--and see how things are going on;--how she is." + +"Very well. Don't you like this view of Oxford? I always think it +is the best of them all." + +"No. You don't see anything of half the colleges," said Tom, who +was very loath to leave the other subject for the picturesque. + +"But you get all the spires and towers so well, and the river in +the foreground. Look at that shadow of a cloud skimming over +Christchurch Meadow. It's a splendid old place after all." + +"It may be from a distance, to an outsider," said Tom; "but I +don't know--it's an awfully chilly, deadening kind of place to +live in. There's something in the life of the place that sits on +me like a weight, and makes me feel dreary." + +"How long have you felt that? You're coming out in a new line." + +"I wish I were. I want a new line. I don't care a straw for +cricket; I hardly like pulling; and as for those wine parties day +after day, and suppers night after night, they turn me sick to +think of." + +"You have the remedy in your own hands, at any rate," said Hardy, +smiling. + +"How do you mean?" + +"Why, you needn't go to them." + +"Oh, one can't help going to them. What else is there to do!" + +Tom waited for an answer, but his companion only nodded to show +that he was listening, as he strolled on down the path, looking +at the view. + +"I can say what I feel to you, Hardy. I always have been able, +and it's such a comfort to me now. It was you who put these sort +of thoughts into my head, too, so you ought to sympathize with +me." + +"I do, my dear fellow. But you'll be all right again in a few +days." + +"Don't you believe it. It isn't only what you seem to think, +Hardy. You don't know me so well as I do you, after all. No, I'm +not just love-sick, and hipped because I can't go and see her. +That has something to do with it, I dare say, but it's the sort +of shut-up selfish life we lead here that I can't stand. A man +isn't meant to live only with fellows like himself, with good +allowances paid quarterly, and no care but how to amuse +themselves. One is old enough for something better than that, I'm +sure." + +"No doubt," said Hardy with provoking taciturnity. + +"And the moment one tries to break through it, one only gets into +trouble." + +"Yes, there's a good deal of danger of that, certainly," said +Hardy. + +"Don't you often long to be in contact with some of the realities +of life, with men and women who haven't their bread and butter +already cut for them? How can a place be a university where no +one can come up who hasn't two hundred a year or so to live on?" + +"You ought to have been at Oxford four hundred years ago, when +there were more thousands here than we have hundreds." + +"I don't see that. It must have been ten times as bad then." + +"Not at all. But it must have been a very different state of +things from ours; they must have been almost all poor scholars, +who worked for their living, or lived on next to nothing." + +"How do you really suppose they lived, though?" + +"Oh, I don't know. But how should you like it now, if we had +fifty poor scholars at St. Ambrose, besides us servitors--say ten +tailors, ten shoemakers, and so on, who came up from love of +learning, and attended all the lectures with us, and worked for +the present undergraduates while they were hunting, and +cricketing, and boating?" + +"Well, I think it would be a very good thing--at any rate, we +should save in tailors' bills." + +"Even if we didn't get our coats so well built," said Hardy, +laughing. "Well, Brown, you have a most catholic taste, and 'a +capacity for talking in new truths', all the elements of a good +Radical in you." + +"I tell you, I hate Radicals," said Tom indignantly. + +"Well, here we are in the town. I'll go round by 'The Choughs' +and catch you up before you get to High Street." + +Tom, left, to himself, walked slowly on for a little way, and +then quickly back again in an impatient, restless manner, and was +within a few yards of the corner where they had parted, when +Hardy appeared again. He saw at a glance that something had +happened. + +"What is it--she is not ill?" he said quickly. + +"No; quite well, her aunt says." + +"You didn't see her then?" + +"No. The fact is she has gone home." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--THE ENGLEBOURN CONSTABLE + +On the afternoon of a splendid day in the early part of June, +some four or five days after the Sunday on which the morning +service at Englebourn was interrupted by the fire at Farmer +Groves', David Johnson, tailor and constable of the parish, was +sitting at his work in a small erection, half shed, half +summer-house, which leaned against the back of his cottage. Not +that David had not a regular workshop, with a window looking into +the village street, and a regular counter close under it, on +which passersby might see him stitching, and from which he could +gossip with them easily, as was his wont. But although the +constable kept the king's peace and made garments of all kinds +for his livelihood--from the curate's frock down to the +ploughboy's fustians--he was addicted for his pleasure and solace +to the keeping of bees. The constable's bees inhabited a row of +hives in the narrow strip of garden which ran away at the back of +the cottage. This strip of garden was bordered along the whole of +one side by the rector's premises. Now honest David loved gossip +well, and considered it a part of his duty as constable to be +well up in all events and rumours which happened or arose within +his liberties. But he loved his bees better than gossip, and, as +he was now in hourly expectation that they would be swarming, was +working, as has been said, in his summer-house, that he might be +at hand at the critical moment. The rough table on which he was +seated commanded a view of the hives; his big scissors and some +shreds of velveteen lay near him on the table, also the +street-door key and an old shovel, of which the uses will appear +presently. + +On his knees lay the black velveteen coat, the Sunday garment of +Harry Winburn, to which he was fitting new sleeves. In his +exertions at the top of the chimney in putting out the fire, +Harry had grievously damaged the garment in question. The farmer +had presented him with five shillings on the occasion, which sum +was quite inadequate to the purchase of a new coat, and Harry, +being too proud to call the farmer's attention to the special +damage which he had suffered in his service, had contented +himself with bringing his old coat to be new sleeved. + +Harry was a favorite with the constable on account of his +intelligence and independence, and because of his relations with +the farmers of Englebourn on the allotment question. Although by +his office the representative of law and order in the parish, +David was a man of the people, and sympathized with the peasantry +more than with the farmers. He had passed some years of his +apprenticeship at Reading, where he had picked up notions on +political and social questions much ahead of the Englebourn +worthies. When he returned to his native village, being a wise +man, he had kept his new lights in the background, and +consequently had succeeded in the object of his ambition, and had +been appointed constable. His reason for seeking the post was a +desire to prove that the old joke as to the manliness of tailors +had no application to his case, and this he had established to +the satisfaction of all the neighborhood by the resolute manner +in which, whenever called on, he performed his duties. And, now +that his character was made and his position secure, he was not +so careful of betraying his leanings, and had lost some custom +amongst the farmers in consequence of them. + +The job on which he was employed naturally turned his thoughts to +Harry. He stitched away, now weighing in his mind whether he +should not go himself to Farmer Groves, and represent to him that +he ought to give Harry a new coat; now rejoicing over the fact +that the rector had decided to let Harry have another acre of the +allotment land, now speculating on the attachment of his favorite +to the gardener's daughter, and whether he could do any thing to +forward his suit. In the pursuit of which thoughts he had +forgotten all about his bees, when suddenly a great humming +arose, followed by a rush through the air like the passing of an +express train, which recalled him to himself. He jumped from the +table, casting aside the coat, and seizing the key and shovel, +hurried out into the garden, beating the two together with all +his might. + +The process in question, known in country phrase as "tanging", is +founded upon the belief that the bees will not settle unless +under the influence of this peculiar music; and the constable, +holding faithfully to the popular belief, rushed down his garden, +"tanging" as though his life depended upon it, in the hopes that +the soothing sound would induce the swarm to settle at once on +his own apple trees. + +Is "tanging" a superstition or not? People learned in bees ought +to know, but I never happened to meet one who had settled the +question. It is curious how such beliefs or superstitions fix +themselves in the popular mind of a countryside, and are held by +wise and simple alike. David the constable was a most sensible +and open-minded man of his time and class, but Kemble or Akerman, +or other learned Anglo-Saxon scholars would have vainly explained +to him that "tang", is but the old word for "to hold", and that +the object of "tanging" is, not to lure the bees with sweet music +of key and shovel, but to give notice to the neighbours that they +have swarmed, and that the owner of the maternal hive means to +hold on to his right to the emigrants. David would have listened +to the lecture with pity, and have retained unshaken belief in +his music. + +In the present case, however, the tanging was of little avail, +for the swarm, after wheeling once or twice in the air, +disappeared from the eyes of the constable over the rector's +wall. He went on "tanging" violently for a minute or two, and +then paused to consider what was to be done. Should he get over +the wall into the rector's garden at once, or should he go round +and ask leave to carry his search into the parsonage grounds? As +a man and bee-fancier he was on the point of following straight +at once, over wall and fence; but the constable was also strong +within him. He was not on the best of terms with old Simon, the +rector's gardener, and his late opposition to Miss Winter in the +matter of the singing also came into his mind. So he resolved +that the parish constable would lose caste by disregarding his +neighbour's boundaries, and was considering what to do next, when +he heard a footstep and short cough on the other side of the wall +which he recognized. + +"Be you there, Maester Simon?" he called out. Where upon the +walker on the other side pulled up, and after a second appeal +answered shortly-- + +"E'es." + +"Hev'ee seed ought o' my bees? Thaay've a bin' and riz, and gone +off somweres athert the wall." + +"E'es, I seen 'em." + +"Wer' be 'em then?" + +"Aal-amang wi' ourn in the limes." + +"Aal-amang wi'yourn," exclaimed the constable. "Drattle 'em. +Thaay be more trouble than they be wuth." + +"I knowd as thaay wur yourn zoon as ever I sot eyes on 'em," old +Simon went on. + +"How did'ee know 'em then?" asked the constable. + +"'Cause thine be aal zettin' crass-legged," said Simon, with a +chuckle. "Thee medst cum and pick 'em all out if thee'st a mind +to 't." + +Simon was mollified by his own joke, and broke into a short, dry +cachinnation, half laugh, half cough; while the constable, who +was pleased and astonished to find his neighbour in such a good +humour, hastened to get an empty hive and a pair of hedger's +gloves--fortified with which he left his cottage and made the +best of his way up street towards the Rectory gate, hard by which +stood Simon's cottage. + +The old gardener was of an impatient nature, and the effect of +the joke had almost time to evaporate, and Simon was fast +relapsing into his usual state of mind towards his neighbour +before the latter made his appearance. + +"Wher' hast been so long?" he exclaimed, when the constable +joined him. + +"I seed the young missus and t'other young lady a standin' +talkin' afore the door," said David; "so I stopped back, so as +not to dlsturve 'em." + +"Be 'em gone in? Who was 'em talkin' to?" + +"To thy missus, and thy daarter too, I b'lieve 'twas. Thaay be +both at whoam, bean't 'em?" + +"Like enough. But what was 'em zayin'?" + +"I couldn't heer nothin' partic'lar, but I judged as 'twas summat +about Sunday and the fire." + +"'Tis na use for thaay to go on fillin' our place wi' bottles. I +dwon't mean to take no mwore doctor's stuff." + +Simon, it may be said, by the way, had obstinately refused to +take any medicine since his fall, and had maintained a constant +war on the subject, both with his own women and Miss Winter, whom +he had impressed more than ever with a belief in his +wrongheadedness. + +"Ah! and how be'ee, tho', Maester Simon?" said David, "I didn't +mind to ax afore'. You dwon't feel no wus for your fall, I +hopes?" + +"I feels a bit stiffish like, and as if summat wur cuttin' m' at +times, when I lifts up my arms." + +"'Tis a mercy 'tis no wus," said David; "we bean't so young nor +lissom as we was; Maester Simon." + +To which remark Simon replied by a grunt. He disliked allusions +to his age--a rare dislike amongst his class in that part of the +country. Most of the people are fond of making themselves out +older than they are, and love to dwell on their experiences, and +believe, as firmly as the rest of us, that everything has altered +for the worse in the parish and district since their youth. + +But Simon, though short of words and temper, and an uncomfortable +acquaintance in consequence, was inclined to be helpful enough in +other ways. The constable, with his assistance, had very soon +hived his swarm of cross-legged bees. + +Then the constable insisted on Simon's coming with him and taking +a glass of ale, which, after a little coquetting, Simon consented +to do. So, after carrying his re-capture safely home, and +erecting the hive on a three-legged stand of his own workmanship, +he hastened to rejoin Simon, and the two soon found themselves in +the bar of the "Red Lion." + +The constable wished to make the most of this opportunity, and so +began at once to pump Simon as to his intentions with regard to +his daughter. But Simon was not easy to lead in anyway whatever, +and seemed in a more than usually no-business-of-yours line about +his daughter. Whether he had anyone in his eye for her or not, +David could not make out; but one thing he did make out, and it +grieved him much. Old Simon was in a touchy and unfriendly state +of mind against Harry, who, he said, was falling into bad ways, +and beginning to think much too much of his self. Why was he to +be wanting more allotment ground than anyone else? Simon had +himself given Harry some advice on the point, but not to much +purpose, it would seem, as he summed up his notions on the +subject by the remark that, "'Twas waste of soap to lather an +ass." + +The constable now and then made a stand for his young friend, but +very judiciously; and, after feeling his way for some time, he +came to the conclusion--as, indeed, the truth was--that Simon was +jealous of Harry's talent for growing flowers, and had been +driven into his present frame of mind at hearing Miss Winter and +her cousin talking about the flowers, at Dame Winburn's under his +very nose for the last four or five days. They had spoken thus to +interest the old man, meaning to praise Harry to him. The fact +was, that the old gardener was one of those men who never can +stand hearing other people praised, and think that all such +praise must be meant in depreciation of themselves. + +When they had finished their ale, the afternoon was getting on, +and the constable rose to go back to his work; while old Simon +declared his intention of going down to the hay-field, to see how +the mowing was getting on. He was sure that the hay would never +be made properly, now that he couldn't be about as much as usual. + +In another hour the coat was finished, and the constable being +uneasy in his mind, resolved to carry the garment home himself at +once, and to have a talk with Dame Winburn. So he wrapped the +coat in a handkerchief, put it under his arm, and set off down +the village. + +He found the dame busy with her washing; and after depositing his +parcel, sat down on the settle to have a talk with her. They soon +got on the subject which was always uppermost in her mind, her +son's prospects, and she poured out to the constable her +troubles. First there was this sweet-hearting after old Simon's +daughter,--not that Dame Winburn was going to say anything +against her, though she might have her thoughts as well as other +folk, and for her part she liked to see girls that were fit for +something besides dressing themselves up like their betters,--but +what worried her was to see how Harry took it to heart. He wasn't +like himself, and she couldn't see how it was all to end. It made +him fractious, too, and he was getting into trouble about his +work. He had left his regular place, and was gone mowing with a +gang, most of them men out of the parish that she knew nothing +about, and likely not to be the best of company. And it was all +very well in harvest time, when they could go and earn good wages +at mowing and reaping any where about, and no man could earn +better than her Harry, but when it came to winter again she +didn't see but what he might find the want of a regular place, +and then the farmers mightn't take him on; and his own land, that +he had got, and seemed to think so much of, mightn't turn out all +he thought it would. And so in fact the old lady was troubled in +her mind, and only made the constable more uneasy. He had a vague +sort of impression that he was in some way answerable for Harry, +who was a good deal with him, and was fond of coming about his +place. And although his cottage happened to be next to old +Simon's, which might account for the fact to some extent, yet the +constable was conscious of having talked to his young friend on +many matters in a way which might have unsettled him, and +encouraged his natural tendency to stand up for his own rights +and independence, and he knew well enough that this temper was +not the one which was likely to keep a labouring man out of +trouble in the parish. + +He did not allow his own misgivings, however, to add to the +widow's troubles, but, on the contrary, cheered her by praising +up Harry as much as even she could desire, and prophesying that +all would come right, and that those that lived would see her son +as respected as any man in the parish; he shouldn't be surprised, +indeed, if he were church-warden before he died. And then, +astonished at his own boldness, and feeling that he was not +capable of any higher flight of imagination, the constable rose +to take his leave. He asked where Harry was working, and, finding +that he was at mowing in the Danes' Close, set off to look after +him. The kind-hearted constable could not shake off the feeling +that something was going to happen to Harry which would get him +into trouble, and he wanted to assure himself that as yet nothing +had gone wrong. Whenever one has this sort of vague feeling about +a friend, there is a natural and irresistible impulse to go and +look after him, and to be with him. + +The Danes' Close was a part of the glebe, a large field of some +ten acres or so in extent, close to the village. Two footpaths +ran across it, so that it was almost common property, and the +village children considered it as much their playground as the +green itself. They trampled the grass a good deal more than +seemed endurable in the eyes of Simon, who managed the rector's +farming operations as well as the garden; but the children had +their own way, notwithstanding the threats he sometimes launched +at them. Miss Winter would have sooner lost all the hay than have +narrowed their amusements. It was the most difficult piece of +mowing in the parish, in consequence of the tramplings and of the +large crops it bore. The Danes, or some other unknown persons, +had made the land fat, perhaps with their carcasses, and the +benefit had lasted to the time of our story. At any rate, the +field bore splendid crops, and the mowers always got an extra +shilling an acre for cutting it, by Miss Winter's special order, +which was paid by Simon in the most ungracious manner, and with +many grumblings that it was enough to ruin all the mowers in the +countryside. + +As the constable got over the stile into the hay-field, a great +part of his misgivings passed out of his head. He was a simple +kindly man, whose heart lay open to all influences of scene and +weather, and the Danes' Close, full of life and joy and merry +sounds, as seen under the slanting rays of the evening sun, was +just the place to rub all the wrinkles out of him. + +The constable, however, is not singular in this matter. What man +amongst us all, if he will think the matter over calmly and +fairly, can honestly say that there is any one spot on the +earth's surface in which he has enjoyed so much real, wholesome, +happy life as in a hay field? He may have won renown on horseback +or on foot at the sports and pastimes in which Englishmen glory; +he may have shaken off all rivals, time after time, across the +vales of Aylesbury, or of Berks, or any other of our famous +hunting counties; he may have stalked the oldest and shyest buck +in Scotch forests, and killed the biggest salmon of the year in +the Tweed, and the trout in the Thames; he may have made topping +averages in first-rate matches of cricket; or have made long and +perilous marches, dear to memory, over boggy moor, or mountain, +or glacier; he may have successfully attended many +breakfast-parties, within drive of Mayfair, on velvet lawns, +surrounded by all the fairyland of pomp, and beauty, and luxury, +which London can pour out; he may have shone at private +theatricals and at-homes; his voice may have sounded over hushed +audiences at St. Stephen's, or in the law courts; or he may have +had good times in any other scenes of pleasure or triumph open to +Englishmen; but I much doubt whether, on putting his +recollections fairly and quietly together, he would not say at +last that the fresh mown hay field is the place where he has +spent the most hours which he would like to live over again, the +fewest which he would wish to forget. + +As children, we stumble about the new-mown hay, revelling in the +many colors of the prostrate grass and wild flowers, and in the +power of tumbling where we please without hurting ourselves; as +small boys, we pelt one another and the village schoolgirls and +our nursemaids and young lady cousins with the hay, till, hot and +weary, we retire to tea or syllabub beneath the shade of some +great oak or elm, standing up like a monarch out of the fair +pasture; or, following the mowers, we rush with eagerness on the +treasures disclosed by the scythe-stroke,--the nest of the +unhappy late laying titlark, or careless field-mouse; as big +boys, we toil ambitiously with the spare forks and rakes, or +climb into the wagons and receive with open arms the delicious +load as it is pitched up from below, and rises higher and higher +as we pass along the long lines of haycocks; a year or two later +we are strolling there with our first sweethearts, our souls and +tongues, loaded with sweet thoughts and soft speeches; we take a +turn with the scythe as the bronzed mowers lie in the shade for +their short rest, and willingly pay our footing for the feat. +Again, we come back with book in pocket, and our own children +tumbling about as we did before them; now romping with them, and +smothering them with the sweet-smelling load--now musing and +reading and dozing away the delicious summer evenings. And so +shall we not come back to the end, enjoying as grandfathers the +lovemaking and the rompings of younger generations yet? + +Were any of us ever really disappointed or melancholy in a +hay-field? Did we ever lie fairly back on a haycock and look up +into the blue sky and listen to the merry sounds, the whetting of +scythes and the laughing prattle of women and children, and think +evil thoughts of the world and of or our brethren? Not we! Or if +we have so done, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, and deserve +never to be out of town again during hay-harvest. + +There is something in the sights and sounds of a hay-field which +seems to touch the same chord in one as Lowell's lines in the +"Lay of Sir Launfal," which end-- + + "For a cap and bells our lives we pay; + We wear out our lives with toiling and tasking; + It is only Heaven that is given away; + It is only God may be had for the asking. + There is no price set on the lavish summer, + And June may be had by the poorest comer." + +But the philosophy of the hay-field remains to be written. Let us +hope that whoever takes the subject in hand will not dissipate +all its sweetness in the process of the inquiry wherein the charm +lies. + +The constable had not the slightest notion of speculating on his +own sensations, but was very glad, nevertheless, to find his +spirits rising as he stepped into the Danes' Close. All the hay +was down, except a small piece in the further corner, which the +mowers were upon. There were groups of children in many parts of +the field, and women to look after them, mostly sitting on the +fresh swarth, working and gossiping, while the little ones played +about. He had not gone twenty yards before he was stopped by the +violent crying of a child; and turning toward the voice, he saw a +little girl of six or seven, who had strayed from her mother, +scrambling out of the ditch, and wringing her hands in an agony +of pain and terror. The poor little thing had fallen into a bed +of nettles, and was very much frightened, and not a little hurt. +The constable caught her up in his arms, soothing her as well as +he could, and hurrying along till he found some dock-leaves, sat +down with her on his knee, and rubbed her hands with the leaves, +repeating the old saw-- + + "Our nettle, + In dock; + Dock shall ha' + A new smock; + Nettle shan't + Ha' narrun'." + +What with the rubbing, and the constable's kind manner, and +listening to the doggerel rhyme, and feeling that nettle would +get her deserts, the little thing soon ceased crying. But several +groups had been drawn towards the place, and amongst the rest +came Miss Winter and her cousin, who had been within hearing of +the disaster. The constable began to feel very nervous and +uncomfortable, when he looked up from his charitable occupation, +and suddenly found the rector's daughter close to him. But his +nervousness was uncalled for. The sight of what he was about, and +of the tender way in which he was handling the child, drove all +remembrance of his heresies and contumaciousness in the matter of +psalmody out of her head. She greeted him with frankness and +cordiality, and presently--when he had given up his charge to the +mother, who was inclined at first to be hard with the poor little +sobbing truant--came up, and said she wished to speak a few words +to him. + +David was highly delighted at Miss Winter's manner; but he walked +along at her side not quite comfortable in his mind, for fear +lest she should start the old subject of dispute, and then his +duty as a public man would have to be done at all risk of +offending her. He was much comforted when she began by asking him +whether he had seen much of Widow Winburn's son lately. + +David admitted that he generally saw him every day. + +Did he know that he had left his place, and had quarrelled with +Mr. Tester? + +Yes, David knew that Harry had had words with Farmer Tester; but +Farmer Tester was a sort that was very hard not to have words +with. + +"Still, it is very bad, you know, for so young a man to be +quarrelling with the farmers," said Miss Winter. + +"'Twas the varmer as quarreled wi' he, you see, miss," David +answered, "which makes all the odds. He cum to Harry all in a +fluster, and said as how he must drow up the land as he'd a'got, +or he's place--one or t'other on 'em. And so you see, Miss, as +Harry wur kind o' druv to it. 'Twarn't likely as he wur to drow +up the land now as he were just reppin' the benefit ov it, and +all for Varmer Tester's place, wich be no sich gurt things, miss, +arter all." + +"Very likely not; but I fear it may hinder his getting +employment. The other farmers will not take him on now if they +can help it." + +"No; thaay falls out wi' one another bad enough, and calls all +manner o' names. But thaay can't abide a poor man to speak his +mind, nor take his own part, not one on 'em," said David, looking +at Miss Winter, as if doubtful how she might take his strictures; +but she went on without any show of dissent,-- + +"I shall try to get him work for my father, but I am sorry to +find that Simon does not seem to like the idea of taking him on. +It is not easy always to make out Simon's meaning. When I spoke +to him, he said something about a bleating sheep losing a bite; +but I should think this young man is not much of a talker in +general?"--she paused. + +"That's true, miss," said David, energetically; "there ain't a +quieter spoken or steadier man at his work in the parish." + +"I'm very glad to hear you say so," said Miss Winter, "and I hope +we may soon do something for him. But what I want you to do just +now is to speak a word to him about the company he seems to be +getting into." + +The constable looked somewhat aghast at this speech of Miss +Winter's, but did not answer, not knowing to what she was +alluding. She saw that he did not understand, and went on-- + +"He is mowing to-day with a gang from the heath and the next +parish; I am sure they are very bad men for him to be with. I was +so vexed when I found Simon had given them the job; but he said +they would get it all down in a day, and be done with it, and +that was all he cared for." + +"And 'tis a fine day's work, miss, for five men," said David, +looking over the field; "and 'tis good work too, you mind the +swarth else," and he picked up a handful of the fallen grass to +show her how near the ground it was cut. + +"Oh, yes, I have no doubt they are very good mowers, but they are +not good men, I'm sure. There, do you see now who it is that is +bringing them beer? I hope you will see Widow Winburn's son, and +speak to him, and try to keep him out of bad company. We should +be all so sorry if he were to get into trouble." + +David promised to do his best, and Miss Winter wished him good +evening, and rejoined her cousin. + +"Well, Katie, will he do your behest?" + +"Yes, indeed; and I think he is the best person to do it. Widow +Winburn thinks her son minds him more than any one." + +"Do you know, I don't think it will ever go right. I'm sure she +doesn't care the least for him." + +"Oh, you have only just seen her once for two or three minutes." + +"And then that wretched old Simon is so perverse about it," said +the cousin. "You will never manage him." + +"He is very provoking, certainly; but I get my own way generally, +in spite of him. And it is such a perfect plan, isn't it!" + +"Oh, charming! if you can only bring it about." + +"Now we must be really going home; papa will be getting +restless." So the young ladies left the hay-field deep in +castle-building for Harry Winburn and the gardener's daughter, +Miss Winter being no more able to resist a tale of true love than +her cousin, or the rest of her sex. They would have been more or +less than woman if they had not taken an interest in so absorbing +a passion as poor Harry's. By the time they reached the Rectory +gate they had installed him in the gardener's cottage with his +bride and mother (for there would be plenty of room for the +widow, and it would be so convenient to have the laundry close at +hand) and had pensioned old Simon, and sent him and his old wife +to wrangle away the rest of their time in the widow's cottage. +Castle-building is a delightful and harmless exercise. + +Meantime David the constable had gone towards the mowers, who +were taking a short rest before finishing off the last half-acre +which remained standing. The person whose appearance had so +horrified Miss Winter was drawing beer for them from a small +barrel. This was an elderly raw-boned woman with a skin burnt as +brown as that of any of the mowers. She wore a man's hat and +spencer and had a strong harsh voice, and altogether was not a +prepossessing person. She went by the name of Daddy Cowell in the +parish, and had been for years a proscribed person. She lived up +on the heath, often worked in the fields, took in lodgers, and +smoked a short clay pipe. These eccentricities, when added to her +half-male clothing, were quite enough to account for the sort of +outlawry in which she lived. Miss Winter, and other good people +of Englebourn, believed her capable of any crime, and the +children were taught to stop talking and playing, and run away +when she came near them; but the constable, who had had one or +two search-warrants to execute in her house, and had otherwise +had frequent occasions of getting acquainted with her in the +course of his duties, had by no means so evil an opinion of her. +He had never seen much harm in her, he had often been heard to +say, and she never made pretence to much good. Nevertheless, +David was by no means pleased to see her acting as purveyor to +the gang which Harry had joined. He knew how such contact would +damage him in the eyes of all the parochial respectabilities, and +was anxious to do his best to get him clear of it. + +With these views he went up to the men, who were resting under a +large elm tree, and complimented them on their day's work. They +were themselves well satisfied with it, and with one another. +When men have had sixteen hours or so hard mowing in company, and +none of them can say that the others have not done their fair +share, they are apt to respect one another more at the end of it. +It was Harry's first day with this gang, who were famous for +going about the neighbourhood, and doing great feats in hay and +wheat harvest. They were satisfied with him and he with them, +none the less so probably in his present frame of mind, because +they also were loose on the world, servants of no regular master. +It was a bad time to make his approaches, the constable saw; so, +after sitting by Harry until the gang rose to finish off their +work in the cool of the evening, and asking him to come round by +his cottage on his way home, which Harry promised to do, he +walked back to the village. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--THE SCHOOLS. + +There is no more characteristic spot in Oxford than the +quadrangle of the schools. Doubtless in the times when the +University held and exercised the privileges of infang-thief and +outfang-thief, and other such old-world rights, there must have +been a place somewhere within the liberties devoted to +examinations even more exciting than the great-go. But since +_alma mater_ has ceased to take cognizance of "treasons, +insurrections, felonies, and mayhem," it is here, in that fateful +and inexorable quadrangle, and the buildings which surround it, +that she exercises her most potent spells over the spirits of her +children. I suppose that a man being tried for his life must be +more uncomfortable than an undergraduate being examined for his +degree, and that to be hung--perhaps even to be pilloried--must +be worse than to be plucked. But after all, the feeling in both +cases must be essentially the same, only more intense in the +former; and an institution which can examine a man (_in literis +humanitoribus_, in humanities, so called) once a year for two or +three days at a time, has nothing to complain of, though it has +no longer the power of hanging him at once out of hand. + +The schools' quadrangle is for the most part a lonely place. Men +pass through the melancholy iron-gates by which that quadrangle +is entered on three sides--from Broad street, from the Ratcliff, +and from New College-Lane--when necessity leads them that way, +with alert step and silently. No nursemaids or children play +about it. Nobody lives in it. Only when the examinations are +going on you may see a few hooded figures who walk as though +conscious of the powers of academic life and death which they +wield, and a good deal of shuddering undergraduate life flitting +about the place--luckless youths, in white ties and bands, who +are undergoing the _peine forte et dure_ with different degrees +of composure; and their friends who are there to look after them. +You may go in and watch the torture yourself if you are so +minded, for the _viva voce_ schools are open to the public. But +one such experiment will be enough for you, unless you are very +hard-hearted. The sight of the long table, behind which sit +Minos, Rhadamanthus & Co., full-robed, stern of face, soft of +speech, seizing their victim in turn, now letting him run a +little way as a cat does a mouse, then drawing him back, with +claw of wily question, probing him on this side and that, turning +him inside out,--the row of victims opposite, pale or flushed, of +anxious or careless mien, according to temperament, but one and +all on the rack as they bend over the allotted paper, or read +from the well-thumbed book--the scarcely-less-to-be-pitied row +behind of future victims, "sitting for the schools" as it is +called, ruthlessly brought hither by statutes, to watch the +sufferings they must hereafter undergo--should fill the friend of +suffering humanity with thoughts too deep for tears. Through the +long day till four o'clock, or later, the torture lasts. Then the +last victim is dismissed; the men who are "sitting for the +schools" fly all ways to their colleges, silently, in search of +relief to their over-wrought feelings--probably also of beer, the +undergraduate's universal specific. The beadles close those +ruthless doors for a mysterious half-hour on the examiners. +Outside in the quadrangle collect by twos and threes the friends +of the victims, waiting for the reopening of the door, and the +distribution of the "testamurs." The testamurs, lady readers will +be pleased to understand, are certificates under the hands of the +examiners that your sons, brothers, husbands, perhaps, have +successfully undergone the torture. But, if husbands, oh, go not +yourselves, and send not your sons to wait for the testamur of +the head of your house; for Oxford has seldom seen a sight over +which she would more willingly draw the veil, with averted face, +than that of the youth rushing wildly, dissolved in tears from +the schools' quadrangle, and shouting, "Mamma! papa's plucked! +papa's plucked!" + +The examination is nearly over which is to decide the academical +fate of some of our characters; the paper-work of the candidates +for honors has been going on for the last week. Every morning our +three St. Ambrose acquaintances have mustered with the rest for +the anxious day's work, after such breakfasts as they have been +able to eat under the circumstances. They take their work in very +different ways. Grey rushes nervously back to his rooms whenever +he is out of the schools for ten minutes, to look up dates and +dodges. He worries himself sadly over every blunder which he +discovers himself to have made, and sits up nearly all night +cramming, always hoping for a better to-morrow. Blake keeps up +his affected carelessness to the last, quizzing the examiners, +laughing over the shots he has been making in the last paper. His +shots, it must be said, turn out well for the most part; in the +taste paper particularly, as they compare notes, he seems to have +almost struck the bull's-eye in his answers to one or two +questions which Hardy and Grey have passed over altogether. When +he is wide of the mark, he passes it off with some jesting +remark; "that a fool can ask in five minutes more questions than +a wise man can answer in a week," or wish "that the examiners +would play fair, and change sides of the table for an hour with +the candidates for a finish." But he, too, though he does it on +the sly, is cramming with his coach at every available spare +moment. Hardy had finished his reading a full thirty-six hours +before the first day of paper-work, and had braced himself for +the actual struggle by two good nights' rest and a long day on +the river with Tom. He had worked hard from the first, and so had +really mastered his books. And now, feeling that he had fairly +and honestly done his best, and that if he fails it will be +either from bad luck or natural incapacity, and not from his own +fault, he manages to keep a cooler head than any of his +companions in trouble. + +The week's paper-work passed off uneventfully; then comes the +_viva voce_ work for the candidates for honors. They go in, in +alphabetical order, four a day, for one more day's work, the +hardest of all, and then there is nothing more to do but wait +patiently for the class list. On these days there is a good +attendance in the enclosed space to which the public are +admitted. The front seats are often occupied by the private +tutors of the candidates, who are there, like Newmarket trainers, +to see the performance of their stables, marking how each colt +bears pressing, and comports himself when the pinch comes. They +watch the examiners, too, carefully to see what line they take, +whether science or history, or scholarship is likely to tell +most, that they may handle the rest of their starts accordingly. +Behind them, for the most part on the hindermost benches of the +flight of raised steps, anxious younger brothers and friends sit, +for a few minutes at a time, flitting in and out in much unrest, +and making the objects of their solicitude more nervous than ever +by their sympathy. + +It is now the afternoon of the second day of the _viva voce_ +examinations in honors. Blake is one of the men in. His tutor, +Hardy, Grey, Tom, and other St. Ambrose men, have all been in the +schools more or less during his examination, and now Hardy and +Tom are waiting outside the doors for the issuing of the +testamurs. + +The group is small enough. It is so much of course that a +class-man should get his testamur that there is no excitement +about it; generally the man himself stops to receive it. + +The only anxious faces in the group are Tom's and Hardy's. They +have not exchanged a word for the last few minutes in their short +walk before the door. Now the examiners come out and walk away +towards their colleges, and the next minute the door again opens +and the clerk of the schools appears with a slip of paper in his +hand. + +"Now you'll see if I am not right," said Hardy, as they gathered +to the door with the rest. "I tell you there isn't the least +chance for him." + +[Illustration: 0318] + +The clerk read out the names inscribed on the testamurs which he +held, and handed them to the owners. + +"Haven't you one for Mr. Blake of St. Ambrose?" said Tom +desperately as the clerk was closing the door. + +"No, sir; none but those I have just given out," answered the +clerk, shaking his head. The door closed, and they turned away in +silence for the first minute. + +"I told you how it would be," said Hardy, as they passed out of +the south gate into the Ratcliff Quadrangle. + +"But he seemed to be doing so well when I was in." + +"You were not there at the time. I thought at first they would +have sent him out of the schools at once." + +"In his divinity, wasn't it?" + +"Yes; he was asked to repeat one of the Articles, and didn't know +three words of it. From that moment I saw it was all over. The +examiner and he both lost their tempers, and it went from bad to +worse, till the examiner remarked that he could have answered one +of the questions he was asking when he was ten years old, and +Blake replied, so could he. They gave him a paper in divinity +afterwards, but you could see there was no chance for him." + +"Poor fellow! what will he do, do you think? How will he take +it?" + +"I can' tell. But I'm afraid it will be a very serious matter for +him. He was the ablest man in our year too. What a pity." + +They got into St. Ambrose just as the bell for afternoon chapel +was going down, and went in. Blake was there, and one look showed +him what had happened. In fact he had expected nothing else all +day since his breakdown in the Articles. Tom couldn't help +watching him during chapel; and afterwards, on that evening, +acknowledged to a friend that whatever else you might think of +Blake, there was no doubt about his gameness. + +After chapel he loitered outside the door in the quadrangle, +talking just as usual, and before hall he loitered on the steps +in well-feigned carelessness. Everybody else was thinking of his +breakdown; some with real sorrow and sympathy; others as of any +other nine days' wonder--pretty much as if the favourite for the +Derby had broken down; others with ill-concealed triumph, for +Blake had many enemies amongst the men. He himself was conscious +enough of what they were thinking, but maintained his easy, gay +manner through it all, though the effort it cost him was +tremendous. The only allusion he made to what had happened which +Tom heard was when he asked him to wine. + +"Are you engaged to-night, Brown?" he said. Tom answered in the +negative. "Come to me, then" he went on. "You won't get another +chance in St. Ambrose. I have a few bottles of old wine left; we +may as well floor them; they won't bear moving to a hall with +their master." + +And then he turned to some other men and asked them, everyone in +fact who he came across, especially the dominant fast set with +whom he had chiefly lived. These young gentlemen (of whom we had +a glimpse at the outset, but whose company we have carefully +avoided ever since, seeing that their sayings and doings were of +a kind of which the less said the better) had been steadily going +on in their way, getting more and more idle, reckless and +insolent. Their doings had been already so scandalous on several +occasions as to call for solemn meetings of the college +authorities; but, no vigorous measures having followed, such +deliberations had only made matters worse, and given the men a +notion that they could do what they pleased with impunity. This +night the climax had come; it was as though the flood of misrule +had at last broken banks and overflowed the whole college. + +For two hours the wine party in Blake's large ground-floor rooms +was kept up with a wild, reckless mirth, in keeping with the +host's temper. Blake was on his mettle. He had asked every man +with whom he had a speaking acquaintance, as if he wished to face +out his disaster at once to the whole world. Many of the men came +feeling uncomfortable, and would sooner have stayed away and +treated the pluck as real misfortune. But after all Blake was the +best judge of how he liked to be treated, and, if he had a fancy +for giving a great wine on the occasion, the civilest thing to do +was to go to it. And so they went, and wondered as much as he +could desire at the brilliant coolness of their host, speculating +and doubting nevertheless in their own secret hearts whether it +wasn't acting after all. Acting it was, no doubt, and not worth +the doing; no acting is. But one must make allowances. No two men +take a thing just alike, and very few can sit down quietly when +they have lost a fall in life's wrestle, and say: "Well, here I +am, beaten no doubt this time. But my own fault, too. Now, take a +good look at me, my good friends, as I know you all want to do, +and say your say out, for I mean getting up again directly and +having another turn at it." + +Blake drank freely himself, and urged his guests to drink, which +was a superfluous courtesy for the most part. Many of the men +left his room considerably excited. They had dispersed for an +hour or so to billiards, or a stroll in the town, and at ten +o'clock reassembled at supper parties, of which there were +several in college this evening, especially a monster one at +Chanter's rooms--a "champagne supper," as he had carefully and +ostentatiously announced on the cards of invitation. + +This flaunting the champagne in their faces had been resented by +Drysdale and others, who drank his champagne in tumblers, and +then abused it and clamored for beer in the middle of the supper. +Chanter, whose prodigality in some ways was only exceeded by his +general meanness, had lost his temper at this demand, and +insisted that, if they wanted beer, they might send for it +themselves, for he wouldn't pay for it. This protest was treated +with uproarious contempt, and gallons of ale soon made their +appearance in college jugs and tankards. The tables were cleared, +and songs (most of them of more than doubtful character), cigars, +and all sorts of compounded drinks, from claret cup to egg flip, +succeeded. The company, recruited constantly as men came into the +college, was getting more and more excited every minute. The +scouts cleared away and carried off the relics of the supper, and +then left; still the revel went on, till, by midnight, the men +were ripe for any mischief or folly which those among them who +retained any brains at all could suggest. The signal for breaking +up was given by the host's falling from his seat. + +Some of the men rose with a shout to put him to bed, which they +accomplished with difficulty, after dropping him several times, +and left him to snore off the effects of his debauch with one of +his boots on. Others took to doing what mischief occurred to them +in his rooms. One man mounted on a chair with a cigar in his +mouth which had gone out, was employed in pouring the contents of +a champagne bottle with unsteady hand into the clock on the +mantel-piece. Chanter was a particular man in this sort of +furniture, and his clock was rather a specialty. It was a large +bronze figure of Atlas, supporting the globe in the shape of a +time-piece. Unluckily, the maker, not anticipating the sort of +test to which his work would be subjected, had ingeniously left +the hole for winding up in the top of the clock, so that unusual +facilities existed for drowning the world-carrier, and he was +already almost at his last tick. One or two men were morally +aiding and abetting, and physically supporting the experimenter +on clocks, who found it difficult to stand to his work by +himself. Another knot of young gentlemen stuck to the tables, and +so continued to shout out scraps of song, sometimes standing on +their chairs, and sometimes tumbling off them. Another set were +employed on the amiable work of pouring beer and sugar into three +new pairs of polished leather dress boots, with colored tops to +them, which they discovered in the dressing-room. Certainly, as +they remarked, Chanter could have no possible use for so many +dress boots at once, and it was a pity the beer should be wasted; +but on the whole, perhaps, the materials were never meant for +combination, and had better have been kept apart. Others had gone +away to break into the kitchen, headed by one who had just come +into college and vowed he would have some supper; and others, to +screw up an unpopular tutor, or to break into the rooms of some +inoffensive freshman. The remainder mustered on the grass in the +quadrangle, and began playing leap-frog and larking one another. +Amongst these last was our hero, who had been at Blake's wine and +one of the quieter supper parties; and, though not so far gone as +most of his companions, was by no means in a state in which he +would have cared to meet the Dean. He lent his hearty aid +accordingly to swell the noise and tumult, which was becoming +something out of the way even for St. Ambrose's. As the leap-frog +was flagging, Drysdale suddenly appeared carrying some silver +plates which were used on solemn occasions in the common room, +and allowed to be issued on special application for +gentlemen-commoners' parties. A rush was made towards him. + +"Halloa, here's Drysdale with lots of swag," shouted one. + +"What are you going to do with it?" cried another. + +Drysdale paused a moment with the peculiarly sapient look of a +tipsy man who has suddenly lost the thread of his ideas, and then +suddenly broke out with-- + +"Hang it! I forgot. But let's play at quoits with them." + +The proposal was received with applause, and the game began, but +Drysdale soon left it. He had evidently some notion in his head +which would not suffer him to turn to anything else till he had +carried it out. He went off accordingly to Chanter's rooms, while +the quoits went on in the front quadrangle. + +About this time, however, the Dean and bursar, and the tutors who +lived in college, began to be conscious that something unusual +was going on. They were quite used to distant choruses, and great +noises in the men's rooms, and to a fair amount of shouting and +skylarking in the quadrangle, and were long-suffering men, not +given to interfering, but there must be an end to all endurance, +and the state of things which had arrived could no longer be met +by a turn in bed and a growl at the uproars and follies of +undergraduates. + +Presently some of the rioters on the grass caught sight of a +figure gliding along the side quadrangle towards the Dean's +staircase. A shout arose that the enemy was up, but little heed +was paid to it by the greater number. Then another figure passed +from the Dean's staircase to the porter's lodge. Those of the men +who had any sense left saw that it was time to quit, and, after +warning the rest, went off towards their rooms. Tom, on his way +to his staircase, caught sight of a figure seated in a remote +corner of the inner quadrangle, and made for it, impelled by +natural curiosity. He found Drysdale seated on the ground with +several silver tankards by his side, employed to the best of his +powers in digging a hole with one of the college carving-knives. + +"Halloa, Drysdale! what are you up to?" he shouted, laying his +hand on his shoulder. + +"Providing for posterity," replied Drysdale, gravely, without +looking up. + +"What the deuce do you mean? Don't be such an ass. The Dean will +be out in a minute. Get up and come along." + +"I tell you, old fellow," said Drysdale, somewhat inarticulately, +and driving his knife into the ground again, "the dons are going +to spout the college plate. So I am burying these articles for +poshterity--" + +"Hang posterity," said Tom; "come along directly, or you'll be +caught and rusticated." + +"Go to bed, Brown--you're drunk, Brown," replied Drysdale, +continuing his work, and striking the carving-knife into the +ground so close to his own thigh that it made Tom shudder. + +"Here they are then," he cried the next moment, seizing Drysdale +by the arm, as a rush of men came through the passage into the +quadrangle, shouting and tumbling along, and making in small +groups for the different stair-cases. The Dean and two of the +tutors followed, and the porter bearing a lantern. There was no +time to be lost; so Tom, after one more struggle to pull Drysdale +up and hurry him off, gave it up, and leaving him to his fate, +ran across to his own staircase. + +For the next half-hour the Dean and his party patrolled the +college, and succeeded at the last in restoring order, though not +without some undignified and disagreeable passages. The lights on +the staircases, which generally burnt all night, were of course +put out as they approached. On the first staircase which they +stormed, the porter's lantern was knocked out of his hand by an +unseen adversary, and the light put out on the bottom stairs. On +the first landing the bursar trod on a small terrier belonging to +a fast freshman, and the dog naturally thereupon bit the bursar's +leg; while his master and other _enfants perdus_, taking +advantage of the diversion, rushed down the dark stairs, past the +party of order, and into the quadrangle, where they scattered +amidst a shout of laughter. While the porter was gone for a +light, the Dean and his party rashly ventured on a second ascent. +Here an unexpected catastrophy awaited them. On the top landing +lived one of the steadiest men in college, whose door had been +tried shortly before. He had been roused out of his first sleep, +and, vowing vengeance on the next comers, stood behind his oak, +holding his brown George, or huge earthenware receptacle, half +full of dirty water, in which his bed-maker had been washing up +his tea-things. Hearing stealthy steps and whisperings on the +stairs below, he suddenly threw open his oak, discharging the +whole contents of his brown George on the approaching +authorities, with a shout of, "Take that for your skulking." + +The exasperated Dean and tutors rushing on, seized their +astonished and innocent assailant, and after receiving +explanations, and the offer of clean towels, hurried off again +after the real enemy. And now the porter appeared again with a +light, and, continuing their rounds, they apprehended and +disarmed Drysdale, collected the college plate, marked down +others of the rioters, visited Chanter's rooms, held a parley +with the one of their number who was screwed up in his rooms, and +discovered that the bars had been wrenched out of the kitchen +window. After which they retired to sleep on their indignation, +and quiet settled down again on the ancient and venerable +college. + +The next morning at chapel many of the revellers met; in fact, +there was a fuller attendance than usual, for every one felt that +something serious must be impending. After such a night the dons +must make a stand, or give up altogether. The most reckless only +of the fast set were absent. St. Cloud was there, dressed even +more precisely than usual, and looking as if he were in the habit +of going to bed at ten, and had never heard of milk punch. Tom +turned out not much the worse himself, but in his heart feeling +not a little ashamed of the whole business; of the party, the +men, but, above all, of himself. He thrust the shame back, +however, as well as he could, and put a cool face on it. Probably +most of the men were in much the same state of mind. Even in St. +Ambrose's, reckless and vicious as the college had become, by far +the greater part of the undergraduates would gladly have seen a +change in the direction of order and decency, and were sick of +the wretched license of doing right in their own eyes and wrong +in every other person's. + +As the men trooped out of chapel, they formed in corners of the +quadrangle, except the reading set, who went off quietly to their +rooms. There was a pause of a minute or two. Neither principal, +dean, tutor, nor fellow followed as on ordinary occasions. +"They're hatching something in the outer chapel," said one. + +"It'll be a coarse time for Chanter, I take it," said another. + +"Was your name sent to the buttery for his supper?" + +"No, I took d-d good care of that," said St. Cloud, who was +addressed. + +"Drysdale was caught, wasn't he?" + +"So I hear, and nearly frightened the Dean and the porter out of +their wits by staggering after them with a carving-knife." + +"He'll be sacked, of course." + +"Much he'll care for that." + +"Here they come, then; by Jove, how black they look!" + +The authorities now came out of the antechapel door, and walked +slowly across towards the Principal's house in a body. At this +moment, as ill-luck would have it, Jack trotted into the front +quadrangle, dragging after him the light steel chain, with which +he was usually fastened up in Drysdale's scout's room at night. +He came innocently towards one and another of the groups, and +retired from each much astonished at the low growl with which his +acquaintance was repudiated on all sides. + +"Porter, whose dog is that?" said the Dean catching sight of him. + +"Mr. Drysdale's dog, sir, I think, sir," answered the porter. + +"Probably the animal who bit me last night," said the bursar. His +knowledge of dogs was small; if Jack had fastened on him, he +would probably have been in bed from the effects. + +"Turn the dog out of college," said the Dean. + +"Please, sir he's a very savage dog, sir," said the porter, whose +respect for Jack was unbounded. + +"Turn him out immediately," replied the Dean. + +The wretched porter, arming himself with a broom, approached +Jack, and after some coaxing, managed to catch hold of the end of +his chain, and began to lead him towards the gates, carefully +holding out the broom towards Jack's nose with his other hand to +protect himself. Jack at first hauled away at his chain, and then +began circling round the porter at the full extent of it, +evidently meditating an attack. Notwithstanding the seriousness +of the situation, the ludicrous alarm of the porter set the men +laughing. + +"Come along, or Jack will be pinning the wretched Copas," said +Jervis; and he and Tom stepped up to the terrified little man, +and, releasing him, led Jack, who knew them both well, out of +college. + +"Were you at that supper party?" said Jervis, as they deposited +Jack with an ostler, who was lounging outside the gates, to be +taken to Drysdale's stables. + +"No," said Tom. + +"I'm glad to hear it; there will be a pretty clean sweep after +last night's doings." + +"But I was in the quadrangle when they came out." + +"Not caught, eh?" said Jervis. + +"No, luckily, I got to my own rooms at once." + +"Were any of the crew caught?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Well, we shall hear enough of it before lecture time." + +Jervis was right. There was a meeting in the common room directly +after breakfast. Drysdale, anticipating his fate, took his name +off before they sent for him. Chanter and three or four others +were rusticated for a year, and Blake was ordered to go down at +once. He was a scholar, and what was to be done in his case would +be settled at the meeting at the end of the term. + +For twenty-four hours it was supposed that St. Cloud had escaped +altogether; but at the end of that time he was summoned before a +meeting in the common room. The tutor whose door had been so +effectually screwed up that he had been obliged to get out of his +window by a ladder to attend morning chapel, proved wholly unable +to appreciate the joke, and set himself to work to discover the +perpetrators of it. The door was fastened with long gimlets, +which had been screwed firmly in, and when driven well home, +their heads knocked off. The tutor collected the shafts of the +gimlets from the carpenter, who came to effect an entry for him; +and, after careful examination discovered the trade mark, So, +putting them into his pocket, he walked off into the town, and +soon came back with the information he required, which resulted +in the rustication of St. Cloud, an event which was borne by the +college with the greatest equanimity. + +Shortly afterwards, Tom attended in the schools' quadrangle +again, to be present at the posting of the class list. This time +there were plenty of anxious faces; the quadrangle was full of +them. He felt almost as nervous himself as if he were waiting for +the third gun. He thrust himself forward, and was amongst the +first who caught sight of the document. One look was enough for +him, and the next moment he was off at full speed for St. +Ambrose, and, rushing headlong into Hardy's rooms, seized him by +the hand and shook it vehemently. + +"It's all right, old fellow," he cried, as soon as he could catch +his breath; "it's all right. Four firsts; you're one of them; +well done!" + +"And Grey, where's he; is he all right?" + +"Bless me, I forgot to look," said Tom; "I only read the firsts, +and then came off as hard as I could." + +"Then he is not a first." + +"No; I'm sure of that." + +"I must go and see him; he deserved it far more than I." + +"No, by Jove, old boy," said Tom, seizing him again by the hand, +"that he didn't; nor any man that ever went into the schools." + +"Thank you, Brown," said Hardy, returning his warm grip. "You do +one good. Now to see poor Grey, and to write to my dear old +father before hall. Fancy him opening the letter at breakfast the +day after to-morrow! I hope it won't hurt him." + +"Never, fear. I don't believe in people dying of joy, and +anything short of sudden death he won't mind at the price." + +Hardy hurried off, and Tom went to his own rooms, and smoked a +cigar to allay his excitement, and thought about his friend, and +all they had felt together, and laughed and mourned over in the +short months of their friendship. A pleasant, dreamy half-hour he +spent thus, till the hall bell roused him, and he made his +toilette and went to his dinner. + +It was with very mixed feelings that Hardy walked by the +servitors' table and took his seat with the bachelors, an equal +at last amongst equals. No man who is worth his salt can leave a +place where he has gone through hard and searching discipline, +and been tried in the very depths of his heart, without regret, +however much he may have winced under the discipline. It is no +light thing to fold up and lay by forever a portion of one's life +even when it can be laid by with honor and in thankfulness. + +But it was with no mixed feelings, but with a sense of entire +triumph and joy, that Tom watched his friend taking his new +place, and the dons, one after another, coming up and +congratulating him, and treating him as the man who had done +honor to them and his college. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV--COMMEMORATION + +The end of the academic year was now at hand, and Oxford was +beginning to put on her gayest clothing. The college gardeners +were in a state of unusual activity, and the lawns and +flower-beds which form such exquisite settings to many of the +venerable grey, gabled buildings, were as neat and as bright as +hands could make them. Cooks, butlers and their assistants were +bestirring themselves in kitchen and buttery, under the direction +of bursars jealous of the fame of their houses, in the +preparation of the abundant and solid fare with which Oxford is +wont to entertain all comers. Everything the best of its kind, no +stint but no nonsense, seems to be the wise rule which the +University hands down and lives up to in these matters. However +we may differ as to her degeneracy in other departments, all who +have ever visited her will admit that in this of hospitality she +is still a great national teacher, acknowledging and preaching by +example the fact, that eating and drinking are important parts of +man's life, which are to be allowed their due prominence, and not +thrust into a corner, but are to be done soberly and thankfully, +in the sight of God and man. The coaches were bringing in heavy +loads of visitors; carriages of all kinds were coming in from the +neighbouring counties; and lodgings in the High-street were going +up to fabulous prices. + +In one of these High-street lodgings, on the evening of the +Saturday before Commemoration, Miss Winter and her cousin are +sitting. They have been in Oxford during the greater part of the +day, having posted up from Englebourn; but they have only just +come in, for the younger lady is still in her bonnet, and Miss +Winter's lies on the table. The windows are wide open, and Miss +Winter is sitting at one of them; while her cousin is busied in +examining the furniture and decorations of their temporary home, +now commenting upon these, now pouring out praises of Oxford. + +"Isn't it too charming? I never dreamt that any town could be so +beautiful. Don't you feel wild about it, Katie?" + +"It is the queen of towns, dear. But I know it well, you see, so +that I can't be quite so enthusiastic as you." + +"Oh, those dear gardens! what was the name of those ones with the +targets up, where they were shooting? Don't you remember?" + +"New College Gardens, on the old city wall, you mean?" + +"No, no. They were nice and sentimental. I should like to go and +sit and read poetry there. But I mean the big ones, the gorgeous, +princely ones, with wicked old Bishop Laud's gallery looking into +them." + +"Oh! St. John's, of course." + +"Yes, St. John's. Why do you hate Laud so, Katie?" + +"I don't hate him, dear. He was a Berkshire man, you know. But I +think he did a great deal of harm to the Church." + +"How did you think my new silk looked in the garden? How lucky I +brought it, wasn't it? I shouldn't have liked to have been in +nothing but muslin. They don't suit here; you want something +richer amongst the old buildings, and on the beautiful velvety +turf of the gardens. How do you think I looked?" + +"You looked like a queen, dear; or a lady-in-waiting, at least." + +"Yes, a lady-in-waiting on Henrietta Maria. Didn't you hear one +of the gentlemen say that she was lodged in St. John's when +Charles marched to relieve Gloucester? Ah! Can't you fancy her +sweeping about the gardens, with her ladies following her, and +Bishop Laud walking just a little behind her, and talking in a +low voice about--let me see--something very important?" + +"Oh, Mary, where has your history gone? He was Archbishop, and +was safely locked up in the Tower." + +"Well, perhaps he was; then he couldn't be with her, of course. +How stupid of you to remember, Katie. Why can't you make up your +mind to enjoy yourself when you come out for a holiday?" + +"I shouldn't enjoy myself any the more for forgetting dates," +said Katie, laughing. + +"Oh, you would though; only try. But let me see, it can't be +Laud. Then it shall be that cruel drinking old man, with the +wooden leg made of gold, who was governor of Oxford when the king +was away. He must be hobbling along after the queen in a buff +coat and breastplate, holding his hat with a long drooping white +feather in his hand. + +"But you wouldn't like it at all, Mary; it would be too serious +for you. The poor queen would be too anxious for gossip, and you +ladies-in-waiting would be obliged to walk after her without +saying a word." + +"Yes, that would be stupid. But then she would have to go away +with the old governor to write dispatches; and some of the young +officers with long hair and beautiful lace sleeves, and large +boots, whom the king had left behind, wounded, might come and +walk perhaps, or sit in the sun in the quiet gardens." + +Mary looked over her shoulder with the merriest twinkle in her +eye, to see how her steady cousin would take this last picture. +"The college authorities would never allow that," she said +quietly, still looking out the window; "if you wanted beaus, you +must have had them in black gowns." + +"They would have been jealous of the soldiers, you think? Well, I +don't mind; the black gowns are very pleasant, only a little +stiff. But how do you think my bonnet looked. + +"Charmingly, but when are you going to have done looking in the +glass? You don't care for the buildings, I believe, a bit. Come +and look at St. Mary's; there is such a lovely light on the +steeple!" + +"I'll come directly, but I must get these flowers right. I'm sure +there are too many in this trimming." + +Mary was trying her new bonnet on over and over again before the +mantel-glass, and pulling out and changing the places of the +blush-rose buds with which it was trimmed. Just then a noise of +wheels, accompanied by a merry tune on a cornopean, came in from +the street. + +"What's that, Katie?" she cried, stopping her work for a moment. + +"A coach coming up from Magdalen Bridge. I think it is a +cricketing party coming home." + +"Oh, let me see," and she tripped across to the window, bonnet in +hand, and stood beside her cousin. And, then, sure enough, a +coach covered with cricketers returning from a match drove past +the window. The young ladies looked out at first with great +curiosity; but, suddenly finding themselves the mark for a whole +coach load of male eyes, shrank back a little before the +cricketers had passed on towards the "Mitre." As the coach passed +out of sight, Mary gave a pretty toss of her head, and said-- + +"Well, they don't want for assurance, at any rate. I think they +needn't have stared so." + +"It was our fault," said Katie; "we shouldn't have been at the +window. Besides, you know you are to be a lady-in-waiting on +Henrietta Maria up here, and of course you must get used to being +stared at." + +"Oh yes, but that was to be by young gentlemen wounded in the +wars, in lace ruffles, as one sees them in pictures. That's a +very different thing from young gentlemen in flannel trousers and +straw hats, driving up the High street on coaches. I declare one +of them had the impudence to bow as if he knew you." + +"So he does. That was my cousin." + +"Your cousin! Ah, I remember. Then he must be my cousin, too." + +"No, not at all. He is no relation of yours." + +"Well I sha'n't break my heart. But is he a good partner?" + +"I should say, yes. But I hardly know. We used to be a great deal +together as children, but papa has been such an invalid lately." + +"Ah, I wonder how uncle is getting on at the Vice-Chancellor's. +Look, it is past eight by St. Mary's. When were we to go?" + +"We were asked for nine." + +"Then we must go and dress. Will it be very slow and stiff, +Katie? I wish we were going to something not quite so grand." + +"You'll find it very pleasant, I dare say." + +"There won't be any dancing, though, I know, will there?" + +"No; I should think certainly not." + +"Dear me! I hope there will be some young men there--I shall be +so shy, I know, if there are nothing but wise people. How do you +talk to a Regius Professor, Katie? It must be awful." + +"He will probably be at least as uncomfortable as you, dear," +said Miss Winter, laughing, and rising from the window; "let us +go and dress." + +"Shall I wear my best gown?--What shall I put in my hair?" + +At this moment the door opened, and the maid-servant introduced +Mr. Brown. + +It was the St. Ambrose drag which had passed along shortly +before, bearing the eleven home from a triumphant match. As they +came over Magdalen Bridge, Drysdale, who had returned to Oxford +as a private gentleman after his late catastrophe, which he had +managed to keep a secret from his guardian, and was occupying his +usual place on the box, called out-- + +"Now, boys, keep your eyes open, there must be plenty of +lionesses about;" and thus warned, the whole load, including the +cornopean player, were on the look-out for lady visitors, +profanely called lionesses, all the way up the street. They had +been gratified by the sight of several walking in the High Street +or looking out of the windows, before they caught sight of Miss +Winter and her cousin. The appearance of these young ladies +created a sensation. + +"I say, look! up there in that first floor." + +"By George, they're something like." + +"The sitter for choice." + +"No, no, the standing-up one; she looks so saucy." + +"Hello, Brown, do you know them?" + +"One of them is my cousin," said Tom, who had just been guilty of +the salutation which, as we saw, excited the indignation of the +younger lady. + +"What luck!--You'll ask me to meet them--when shall it be? +To-morrow at breakfast, I vote." + +"I say, you'll introduce me before the ball on Monday? promise +now," said another. + +"I don't know that I shall see anything of them," said Tom; "I +shall just leave a pasteboard, but I'm not in the humour to be +dancing about lionizing." + +A storm of indignation arose at this speech; the notion that any +of the fraternity who had any hold on lionesses, particularly if +they were pretty, should not use it to the utmost for the benefit +of the rest, and the glory and honor of the college, was +revolting to the undergraduate mind. So the whole body escorted +Tom to the door of the lodgings, impressing upon him the +necessity of engaging both his lionesses for every hour of every +day in St. Ambrose's, and left him not till they had heard him +ask for the young ladies, and seen him fairly on his way +upstairs. They need not have taken so much trouble, for in his +secret soul he was no little pleased at the appearance of +creditable ladies, more or less belonging to him, and would have +found his way to see them quickly and surely enough without any +urging. Moreover, he had been really fond of his cousin, years +before, when they had been boy and girl together. + +So they greeted one another very cordially, and looked one +another over as they shook hands, to see what changes time had +made. He makes his changes rapidly enough at that age, and mostly +for the better, as the two cousins thought. It was nearly three +years since they had met, and then he was a fifth-form boy and +she a girl in the school-room. They were both conscious of a +strange pleasure in meeting again, mixed with a feeling of +shyness and wonder whether they should be able to step back into +their old relations. + +Mary looked on demurely, really watching them, but ostensibly +engaged on the rosebud trimming. Presently Miss Winter turned to +her and said, "I don't think you two ever met before; I must +introduce you, I suppose;--my cousin Tom, my cousin Mary." + +"Then we must be cousins, too," said Tom, holding out his hand. + +"No, Katie says not," she answered. + +"I don't mean to believe her, then," said Tom; "but what are you +going to do now, to-night? Why didn't you write and tell me you +were coming?" + +"We have been so shut up lately, owing to papa's bad health, that +I really had almost forgotten that you were at Oxford." + +"By the bye," said Tom, "where is uncle?" + +"Oh, he is dining at the Vice-Chancellor's, who is an old college +friend of his. We have only been up here three or four hours, and +it has done him so much good. I am so glad we spirited him up to +coming." + +"You haven't made any engagements yet, I hope?" + +"Indeed we have; I can't tell how many. We came in time for +luncheon in Balliol. Mary and I made it our dinner, and we have +been seeing sights ever since, and have been asked to go to I +don't know how many luncheons and breakfasts." + +"What, with a lot of dons, I suppose?" said Tom, spitefully; "you +won't enjoy Oxford, then; they'll bore you to death." + +"There now, Katie; that is just what I was afraid of," joined in +Mary; "you remember we didn't hear a word about balls all the +afternoon." + +"You haven't got your tickets for the balls, then?" said Tom, +brightening up. + +"No, how shall we get them?" + +"Oh, I can manage that, I've no doubt." + +"Stop; how are we to go? Papa will never take us." + +"You needn't think about that; anybody will chaperone you. Nobody +cares about that sort of thing at Commemoration." + +"Indeed I think you had better wait till I have talked to papa." + +"Then all the tickets will be gone," said Tom. "You must go. Why +shouldn't I chaperone you? I know several men whose sisters are +going with them." + +"No, that will scarcely do, I'm afraid. But really, Mary, we must +go and dress." + +"Where are you going, then?" said Tom. + +"To an evening party at the Vice-Chancellor's; we are asked for +nine o'clock, and the half hour has struck." + +"Hang the dons; how unlucky that I didn't know before! Have you +any flowers, by the way?" + +"Not one." + +"Then I will try to get you some by the time you are ready. May +I?" + +"Oh yes, pray, do," said Mary. "That's capital, Katie, isn't it? +Now I shall have some thing to put in my hair; I couldn't think +what I was to wear." + +Tom took a look at the hair in question, and then left them and +hastened out to scour the town for flowers, as if his life +depended on success. In the morning he would probably have +resented as insulting, or laughed at as wildly improbable, the +suggestion that he would be so employed before night. + +A double chair was drawn up opposite the door when he came back, +and the ladies were coming down into the sitting-room. + +"Oh look, Katie! What lovely flowers! How very kind of you." + +Tom surrendered as much of his burden as that young lady's little +round white hands could clasp, to her, and deposited the rest on +the table. + +"Now, Katie, which shall I wear--this beautiful white rose all by +itself, or a wreath of these pansies? Here, I have a wire; I can +make them up in a minute." She turned to the glass, and held the +rich cream-white rose against her hair, and then turning on Tom, +added, "What do you think?" + +"I thought fern would suit your hair better than anything else," +said Tom; "and so I got these leaves," and he picked out two +slender fern-leaves. + +"How very kind of you! Let me see, how do you mean? Ah! I see; it +will be charming;" and so saying, she held the leaves one in each +hand to the sides of her head, and then floated about the room +for needle and thread, and with a few nimble stitches fastened +together the simple green crown, which her cousin put on for her, +making the points meet above her forehead. Mary was wild with +delight at the effect, and full of thanks to Tom as he helped +them hastily to tie up bouquets, and then, amidst much laughing, +they squeezed into the wheel chair together (as the fashions of +that day allowed two young ladies to do), and went off to their +party, leaving a last injuction on him to go up and put the rest +of the flowers in water, and to call directly after breakfast the +next day. + +He obeyed his orders, and pensively arranged the rest of the +flowers in the china ornaments on the mantle-piece, and in a soup +plate which he got and placed in the middle of the table, and +then spent some minutes examining a pair of gloves and other +small articles of women's gear which lay scattered about the +room. The gloves particularly attracted him, and he flattened +them out and laid them on his own large brown hand, and smiled at +the contrast, and took further unjustifiable liberties with them; +after which he returned to college and endured much banter as to +the time his call had lasted, and promised to engage his cousins +as he called them, to grace some festivities in St. Ambrose's at +their first spare moment. + +The next day, being Show Sunday, was spent by the young ladies in +a ferment of spiritual and other dissipation. They attended +morning service at eight at the cathedral; breakfasted at a +Merton fellow's, from whence they adjourned to University sermon. +Here Mary, after two or three utterly ineffectual attempts to +understand what the preacher was meaning, soon relapsed into an +examination of the bonnets present, and the doctors and proctors +on the floor, and the undergraduates in the gallery. On the +whole, she was, perhaps, better employed than her cousin, who knew +enough of religious party strife to follow the preacher, and was +made very uncomfortable by his discourse, which consisted of an +attack upon the recent publications of the most eminent and best +men in the University. Poor Miss Winter came away with a vague +impression of the wickedness of all persons who dare to travel +out of beaten tracks, and that the most unsafe state of mind in +the world is that which inquires and aspires, and cannot be +satisfied with the regulation draught of spiritual doctors in +high places. Being naturally of a reverent turn of mind, she +tried to think that the discourse had done her good. At the same +time she was somewhat troubled by the thought that somehow the +best men in all times of which she had read seemed to her to be +just those whom the preacher was in fact denouncing, although in +words he had praised them as the great lights of the Church. The +words which she had heard in one of the lessons kept running in +her head, "Truly ye bear witness that ye do allow the deeds of +your fathers, for they indeed killed them, but ye build their +sepulchres." But she had little leisure to think on the subject, +and, as her father praised the sermon as a noble protest against +the fearful tendencies of the day to Popery and Pantheism, +smothered the questionings of her own heart as well as she could, +and went off to luncheon in a common room; after which her father +retired to their lodgings, and she and her cousin were escorted +to afternoon service at Magdalen, in achieving which last feat +they had to encounter a crush only to be equaled by that at the +pit entrance to the opera on a Jenny Lind night. But what will +not a delicately nurtured British lady go through when her mind +is bent either on pleasure or duty? + +Poor Tom's feelings throughout the day may be more easily +conceived than described. He had called according to order, and +waited at their lodgings after breakfast. Of course they did not +arrive. He had caught a distant glimpse of them in St. Mary's, +but had not been able to approach. He had called again in the +afternoon unsuccessfully, so far as seeing them was concerned; +but he had found his uncle at home, lying upon the sofa. At first +he was much dismayed by this rencontre, but, recovering his +presence mind, he proceeded, I regret to say, to take the length +of the old gentleman's foot, by entering into a minute and +sympathizing in quiry into the state of his health. Tom had no +faith whatever in his uncle's ill-health, and believed--as many +persons of robust constitution are too apt to do when brought +face to face with nervous patients--that he might shake off the +whole of his maladies at any time by a resolute effort, so that +his sympathy was all a sham, though, perhaps, one may pardon it, +considering the end in view, which was that of persuading the old +gentleman to entrust the young ladies to his nephew's care for +that evening in the Long Walk; and generally to look upon his +nephew, Thomas Brown, as his natural prop and supporter in the +University, whose one object in life just now would be to take +trouble off his hands, and who was of that rare and precocious +steadiness of character that he might be as safely trusted as a +Spanish duenna. To a very considerable extent the victim fell +into the toils. He had many old friends at the colleges, and was +very fond of good dinners, and long sittings afterwards. This +very evening he was going to dine at St. John's, and had been +much troubled at the idea of having to leave the unrivalled old +port of that learned house to escort his daughter and niece to +the Long Walk. Still he was too easy and good-natured not to wish +that they might get there, and did not like the notion of their +going with perfect strangers. Here was a compromise. His nephew +was young, but still he was a near relation, and in fact it gave +the poor old man a plausible excuse for not exerting himself as +he felt he ought to do, which was all he ever required for +shifting his responsibilities and duties upon other shoulders. + +So Tom waited quietly till the young ladies came home, which they +did just before hall-time. Mr. Winter was getting impatient. As +soon as they arrived he started for St. John's, after advising +them to remain at home for the evening, as they looked quite +tired and knocked up; but if they resolved to go to the Long +Walk, his nephew would escort them. + +"How can Uncle Robert say we look so tired?" said Mary, +consulting the glass on the subject; "I feel quite fresh. Of +course, Katie, you mean to go to the Long Walk?" + +"I hope you will go," said Tom; "I think you owe me some amends. +I came here according to order this morning, and you were not in, +and I have been trying to catch you ever since." + +"We couldn't help it," said Miss Winter; "indeed we have not had +a minute to ourselves all day. I was very sorry to think that we +should have brought you here for nothing this morning." + +"But about the Long Walk, Katie?" + +"Well, don't you think we have done enough for to-day? I should +like to have tea and sit quietly at home, as papa suggested." + +"Do you feel very tired, dear?" said Mary, seating herself by her +cousin on the sofa, and taking her hand. + +"No, dear, I only want a little quiet and a cup of tea." + +"Then let us stay here quietly till it is time to start. When +ought we to get to the Long Walk?" + +"About half-past seven," said Tom; "you shouldn't be much later +than that." + +"There you see, Katie, we shall have two hours' perfect rest. You +shall lie upon the sofa, and I will read to you, and then we +shall go on all fresh again." + +Miss Winter smiled and said, "Very well." She saw that her cousin +was bent on going, and she could deny her nothing. + +"May I send you in anything from college?" said Tom; "you ought +to have something more than tea, I'm sure." + +"Oh no, thank you. We dined in the middle of the day." + +"Then I may call you about seven o'clock," said Tom, who had come +unwillingly to the conclusion that he had better leave them for +the present. + +"Yes, and mind you come in good time; we mean to see the whole +sight, remember. We are country cousins." + +"You must let me call you cousin then, just for the look of the +thing." + +"Certainly, just for the look of the thing, we will be cousins +till further notice." + +"Well, you and Tom seem to get on together, Mary," said Miss +Winter, as they heard the front door close. "I'm learning a +lesson from you, though I doubt whether I shall ever be able to +put it in practice. What a blessing it must be not to be shy!" + +"Are you shy, then?" said Mary, looking at her cousin with a +playful loving smile. + +"Yes, dreadfully. It is positive pain to me to walk into a room +where there are people I do not know." + +"But I feel that too. I'm sure, now, you were much less +embarrassed than I last night at the Vice Chancellor's. I quite +envied you, you seemed so much at your ease." + +"Did I? I would have given anything to be back here quietly. But +it is not the same thing with you. You have no real shyness, or +you would never have got on so fast with my cousin." + +"Oh! I don't feel at all shy with him," said Mary, laughing. "How +lucky it is that he found us out so soon. I like him so much. +There is a sort of way about him, as if he couldn't help himself. +I am sure one could turn him round one's finger. Don't you think +so?" + +"I'm not so sure of that. But he always was soft-hearted, poor +boy. But he isn't a boy any longer. You must take care, Mary. +Shall we ring for tea?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI--THE LONG WALK IN CHRISTCHURCH MEADOWS + +"Do well unto thyself and men will speak good of thee," is a +maxim as old as King David's time, and just as true now as it was +then. Hardy had found it so since the publication of the class +list. Within a few days of that event it was known that his was a +very good first. His college tutor had made his own inquiries, +and repeated on several occasions in a confidential way the +statement that, "with the exception of a want of polish in his +Latin and Greek verses, which we seldom get except in the most +finished public school men--Etonians in particular--there has +been no better examination in the schools for several years." The +worthy tutor went on to take glory to the college, and in a lower +degree to himself. He called attention, in more than one common +room, to the fact that Hardy had never had any private tuition, +but had attained his intellectual development solely in the +_curriculum_ provided by St. Ambrose's College for the training +of the youth entrusted to her. "He himself, indeed," he would +add, "had always taken much interest in Hardy, and had, perhaps, +done more for him than would be possible in every case, but only +with direct reference to, and in supplement of the college +course." + +The Principal had taken marked and somewhat pompous notice of +him, and had graciously intimated his wish, or, perhaps I should +say, his will (for he would have been much astonished to be told +that a wish of his could count for less than a royal mandate to +any man who had been one of his servitors) that Hardy should +stand for a fellowship, which had lately fallen vacant. A few +weeks before, this excessive affability and condescension of the +great man would have wounded Hardy; but, somehow, the sudden rush +of sunshine and prosperity, though it had not thrown him off his +balance, or changed his estimate of men and things had pulled a +sort of comfortable sheath over his sensitiveness, and gave him a +second skin, as it were, from which the Principal's shafts +bounded off innocuous, instead of piercing and rankling. At +first, the idea of standing for a fellowship at St Ambrose's was +not pleasant to him. He felt inclined to open up entirely new +ground for himself, and stand at some other college, where he had +neither acquaintance nor association. But on second thoughts, he +resolved to stick to his old college, moved thereto partly by the +lamentations of Tom when he heard of his friends meditated +emigration but chiefly by the unwillingness to quit a hard post +for an easier one, which besets natures like his to their own +discomfort, but, may one hope, to the single benefit of the world +at large. Such men may see clearly enough all the advantages of a +move of this kind--may quite appreciate the ease which it would +bring them--may be impatient with themselves for not making it at +once, but when it comes to the actual leaving the old post, even +though it may be a march out with all the honours of war, drums +beating and colors flying, as it would have been in Hardy's case, +somehow or another, nine times out of ten, they throw up the +chance at the last moment, if not earlier; pick up their old +arms--growling perhaps at the price they are paying to keep their +own self-respect--and shoulder back into the press to face their +old work, muttering, "We are asses; we don't know what's good for +us; but we must see this job through somehow, come what may." + +So Hardy stayed on at St. Ambrose, waiting for the fellowship +examination, and certainly, I am free to confess, not a little +enjoying the change in his position and affairs. + +He had given up his low dark back rooms to the new servitor, his +successor, to whom he had presented all the rickety furniture, +except his two Windsor chairs and Oxford reading-table. The +intrinsic value of the gift was not great, certainly, but was of +importance to the poor raw boy who was taking his place; and it +was made with the delicacy of one who knew the situation. Hardy's +good offices did not stop here. Having tried the bed himself for +upwards of three long years, he knew all the hard places, and was +resolved while he stayed up that they should never chafe another +occupant as they had him. So he set himself to provide stuffing, +and took the lad about with him, and cast a skirt of his +newly-acquired mantle of respectability over him, and put him in +the way of making himself as comfortable as circumstances would +allow, never disguising from him all the while that the bed was +not to be a bed of roses. In which pursuit, though not yet a +fellow, perhaps he was qualifying himself better for a fellowship +than he could have done by any amount of cramming for polish in +his versification. Not that the electors of St. Ambrose would be +likely to hear of or appreciate this kind of training. Polished +versification would no doubt have told more in that quarter. But +we who are behind the scenes may disagree with them, and hold +that he who is thus acting out and learning to understand the +meaning of the word "fellowship," is the man for our votes. + +So Hardy had left his rooms and gone out of college into lodgings +near at hand. The sword, epaulettes, and picture of his father's +old ship--his tutelary divinities, as Tom called them--occupied +their accustomed places in his new rooms, except that there was a +looking-glass over the mantel-piece here, by the side of which +the sword hung--instead of in the centre, as it had done while he +had no such luxury. His Windsor chairs occupied each side of the +pleasant window of his sitting-room, and already the taste for +luxuries of which he had so often accused himself to Tom began to +peep out in the shape of one or two fine engravings. Altogether +fortune was smiling on Hardy, and he was making the most of her, +like a wise man, having brought her round by proving that he +could get on without her, and was not going out of the way to +gain her smiles. Several men came at once, even before he had +taken his B. A. degree, to read with him, and others applied to +know whether he would take a reading party in the long vacation. +In short, all things went well with Hardy, and the Oxford world +recognized the fact, and tradesmen and college servants became +obsequious, and began to bow before him, and recognize him as one +of their lords and masters. + +It was to Hardy's lodgings that Tom repaired straight-way, when +he left his cousin by blood, and cousin by courtesy, at the end +of the last chapter. For, running over in his mind all his +acquaintance, he at once fixed upon Hardy as the man to accompany +him in escorting the ladies to the Long Walk. Besides being his +own most intimate friend, Hardy was the man whom he would prefer +to all others to introduce to ladies now. "A month ago it might +have been different," Tom thought; "he was such an old guy in his +dress. But he has smartened up, and wears as good a coat as I do, +and looks well enough for anybody, though he never will be much +of a dresser. Then he will be in a bachelor's gown too, which +will look respectable." + +"Here you are; that's all right; I'm so glad you're in," he said +as he entered the room. "Now I want you to come to the Long Walk +with me to-night." + +"Very well--will you call for me?" + +"Yes, and mind you come in your best get-up, old fellow; we shall +have two of the prettiest girls who are up, with us." + +"You won't want me then; they will have plenty of escort." + +"Not a bit of it. They are deserted by their natural guardian, my +old uncle, who has gone out to dinner. Oh, it's all right; they +are my cousins, more like sisters, and my uncle knows we are +going. In fact it was he who settled that I should take them." + +"Yes, but you see I don't know them." + +"That doesn't matter, I can't take them both myself--I must have +somebody with me, and I'm so glad to get the chance of +introducing you to some of my people. You'll know them all, I +hope, before long." + +"Of course I should like it very much, if you are sure it's all +right." + +Tom was perfectly sure as usual, and so the matter was arranged. +Hardy was very much pleased and gratified at this proof of his +friend's confidence; and I am not going to say that he did not +shave again, and pay most unwonted attention to his toilet before +the hour fixed for Tom's return. The fame of Brown's lionesses +had spread through St. Ambrose's already, and Hardy had heard of +them as well as other men. There was something so unusual to him +in being selected on such an occasion, when the smartest men in +the college were wishing and plotting for that which came to him +unasked, that he may be pardoned for feeling something a little +like vanity, while he adjusted the coat which Tom had recently +thought of with such complacency, and looked in the glass to see +that his gown hung gracefully. The effect on the whole was so +good, that Tom was above measure astonished when he came back, +and could not help indulging in some gentle chaff as they walked +towards the High-street arm in arm. + +The young ladies were quite rested, and sitting dressed and ready +for their walk, when Tom and Hardy were announced, and entered +the room. Miss Winter rose up, surprised and a little embarrassed +at the introduction of a total stranger in her father's absence. +But she put a good face on the matter, as became a well-bred +young woman, though she secretly resolved to lecture Tom in +private, as he introduced "My great friend, Mr. Hardy, of our +college. My cousins." Mary dropped a pretty little demure +courtesy, lifting her eyes for one moment for a glance at Tom +which said as plain as look could speak, "Well, I must say you +are making the most of your new-found relationship." He was a +little put out for a moment, but then recovered himself, and said +apologetically, + +"Mr. Hardy is a bachelor, Kate--I mean a Bachelor of Arts, and he +knows all the people by sight up here. We couldn't have gone to +the Walk without some one to show us the lions." + +"Indeed, I'm afraid you give me too much credit," said Hardy. "I +know most of our dons by sight, certainly, but scarcely any of +the visitors." + +The awkwardness of Tom's attempted explanation set everything +wrong again. + +Then came one of those awkward pauses which will occur so very +provokingly at the most inopportune times. Miss Winter was seized +with one of the uncontrollable fits of shyness, her bondage to +which she had so lately been grieving over to Mary; and in +self-defence, and without meaning in the least to do so, drew +himself up, and looked as proud as you please. + +Hardy, whose sensitiveness was almost as keen as a woman's, felt +in a moment the awkwardness of the situation, and became as shy +as Miss Winter herself. If the floor would have suddenly opened, +and let him through into the dark shop, he would have been +thankful; but, as it would not, there he stood, meditating a +sudden retreat from the room and a tremendous onslaught on Tom, +as soon as he could catch him alone, for getting him into such a +scrape. Tom was provoked with them all for not at once feeling at +ease with one another, and stood twirling his cap by the tassel, +and looking fiercely at it, resolved not to break the silence. He +had been at all the trouble of bringing about this charming +situation, and now nobody seemed to like it, or to know what to +say or do. They ought to get themselves out of it as they could, +for anything he cared; he was not going to bother himself any +more. + +Mary looked in the glass, to see that her bonnet was quite right, +and then from one to another of her companions, in a little +wonder at their unaccountable behavior, and a little pique that +two young men should be standing there like unpleasant images, +and not availing themselves of the privilege of trying, at least, +to make themselves agreeable to her. Luckily, however, for the +party, the humorous side of the tableau struck her with great +force, so that when Tom lifted his misanthropic eyes for a +moment, and caught hers, they were so full of fun that he had +nothing to do but to allow herself, not without a struggle, to +break first into a smile and then into a laugh. This brought all +eyes to bear on him, and the ice, being once broken, dissolved as +quickly as it had gathered. + +"I really can't see what there is to laugh at, Tom," said Miss +Winter, smiling herself, nevertheless, and blushing a little, as +she worked or pretended to work at buttoning one of her gloves. + +"Can't you, Kate? Well, then, isn't it very ridiculous, and +enough to make one laugh, that we four should be standing here in +a sort of Quaker's meeting, when we ought to be half-way to the +Long Walk by this time?" + +"Oh do let us start," said Mary; "I know we shall be missing all +the best of the sight. + +"Come along, then," said Tom, leading the way down stairs, and +Hardy and the ladies followed, and they descended into the High +Street, walking all abreast, the two ladies together, with a +gentleman on either flank. This formation answered well enough on +High Street, the broad pavement of that celebrated thoroughfare +being favourable to an advance in line. But when they had wheeled +into Oriel Lane the narrow pavement at once threw the line into +confusion, and after one or two fruitless attempts to take +up the dressing, they settled down into the more natural +formation of close column of couples, the leading couple +consisting of Mary and Tom, and the remaining couple of Miss +Winter and Hardy. It was a lovely midsummer evening, and +Oxford was looking her best under the genial cloudless sky, +so that, what with the usual congratulations on the weather, +and explanatory remarks on the buildings as they passed +along, Hardy managed to keep up a conversation with his +companion without much difficulty. Miss Winter was pleased +with his quiet, deferential manner, and soon lost her +feeling of shyness; and, before Hardy had come to the end of +such remarks as it occurred to him to make, she was taking +her fair share in the talk. In describing their day's doings +she spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty of Magdalen Chapel, +and betrayed a little knowledge of traceries and mouldings, +which gave an opening to her companion to travel out of the +weather and the names of colleges. Church architecture was +just one of the subjects which was sure at that time to take +more or less hold on every man at Oxford whose mind was open +to the influences of the place. Hardy had read the usual +text-books, and kept his eyes open as he walked about the +town and neighborhood. To Miss Winter he seemed so learned +on the subject, that she began to doubt his tendencies, and +was glad to be reassured by some remarks which fell from him +as to the University sermon which she had heard. She was +glad to find that her cousin's most intimate friend was not +likely to lead him into the errors of Tractarianism. + +Meantime the leading couple were getting on satisfactorily +in their own way. + +"Isn't it good of Uncle Robert? He says that he shall feel +quite comfortable as long as you and Katie are with me. In +fact, I feel quite responsible already, like an old dragon +in a story-book watching a treasure." + +"Yes, but what does Katie say to being made a treasure of? +She has to think a good deal for herself; and I am afraid +you are not quite certain of being our sole knight and +guardian because Uncle Robert wants to get rid of us. Poor +old uncle!" + +"But you wouldn't object, then?" + +"Oh, dear, no--at least, not unless you take to looking as +cross as you did just now in our lodgings. Of course, I'm +all for dragons who are mad about dancing, and never think +of leaving a ball-room till the band packs up and the old +man shuffles in to put out the lights." + +"Then I shall be a model dragon," said Tom. Twenty-four +hours earlier he had declared that nothing should induce him +to go to the balls; but his views on the subject had been +greatly modified, and he had been worrying all his +acquaintance, not unsuccessfully, for the necessary tickets, +ever since his talk with his cousins on the preceding +evening. + +The scene became more and more gay and lively as they passed +out of Christchurch towards the Long Walk. The town turned +out to take its share in the show; and citizens of all +ranks, the poorer ones accompanied by children of all ages, +trooped along cheek by jowl with members of the University, +of all degrees, and their visitors, somewhat indeed to the +disgust of certain of these latter, many of whom declared +that the whole thing was spoilt by the miscellaneousness of +the crowd, and that "those sort of people" ought not to be +allowed to come to the Long Walk on Show Sunday. However, +"those sort of people" abounded nevertheless, and seemed to +enjoy very much, in sober fashion, the solemn march up and +down beneath the grand avenue of elms in the midst of their +betters. + +The University was there in strength, from the +Vice-Chancellor downwards. Somehow or another, though it +might seem an unreasonable thing at first sight for grave +and reverend persons to do, yet most of the gravest of them +found some reason for taking a turn in the Long Walk. As for +the undergraduates, they turned out almost to a man, and +none of them more certainly than the young gentlemen, +elaborately dressed, who had sneered at the whole ceremony +as snobbish an hour or two before. + +As for our hero, he sailed into the meadows thoroughly +satisfied for the moment with himself and his convoy. He had +every reason to be so, for though there were many gayer and +more fashionably dressed ladies present than his cousin, and +cousin by courtesy, there were none there whose faces, +figures and dresses carried more unmistakably the marks of +that thorough quiet high breeding, that refinement which is +no mere surface polish, and that fearless unconsciousness +which looks out from pure hearts, which are still, thank +God, to be found in so many homes of the English gentry. + +The Long Walk was filling rapidly, and at every half-dozen paces +Tom was greeted by some of his friends or acquaintance, and +exchanged a word or two with them. But he allowed them one after +another to pass by without effecting any introduction. + +"You seem to have a great many acquaintances," said his +companion, upon whom none of these salutations were lost. + +"Yes, of course; one gets to know a great many men up here." + +"It must be very pleasant. But does it not interfere a great deal +with your reading?" + +"No; because one meets them at lectures, and in hall and chapel. +Besides," he added in a sudden fit of honesty, "it is my first +year. One doesn't read much in one's first year. It is a much +harder thing than people think to take to reading, except just +before an examination." + +"But your great friend who is walking with Katie--what did you +say his name is?" + +"Hardy." + +"Well, he is a great scholar, didn't you say?" + +"Yes, he has just taken a first class. He is the best man of his +year." + +"How proud you must be of him! I suppose, now, he is a great +reader?" + +"Yes, he is great at everything. He is nearly the best oar in our +boat. By the way, you will come to the procession of boats +to-morrow night? We are the head boat on the river." + +"Oh, I hope so. Is it a pretty sight? Let us ask Katie about it." + +"It is the finest sight in the world," said Tom, who had never +seen it; "twenty-four eight oars with their flags flying, and all +the crews in uniform. You see the barges over there, moored along +the side of the river? You will sit on one of them as we pass." + +"Yes, I think I do," said Mary, looking across the meadow in the +direction in which he pointed; "you mean those great gilded +things. But I don't see the river." + +"Shall we walk round there. It won't take up ten minutes." + +"But we must not leave the Walk and all the people. It is so +amusing here." + +"Then you will wear our colors at the procession to-morrow?" + +"Yes, if Katie doesn't mind. At least if they are pretty. What +are your colors?" + +"Blue and white. I will get you some ribbons to-morrow morning." + +"Very well, and I will make them up into rosettes." + +"Why, do you know them?" asked Tom, as she bowed to two gentlemen +in masters' caps and gowns, whom they met in the crowd. + +"Yes; at least we met them last night." + +"But do you know who they are?" + +"Oh, yes; they were introduced to us, and I talked a great deal +to them. And Katie scolded me for it when we got home. No; I +won't say scolded me, but looked very grave over it." + +"They are two of the leaders of the Tractarians." + +"Yes. That was the fun of it. Katie was so pleased and interested +with them at first; much more than I was. But when she found out +who they were, she fairly ran away, and I stayed and talked on. I +don't think they said anything very dangerous. Perhaps one of +them wrote No. 90. Do you know?" + +"I dare say. But I don't know much about it. However, they must +have a bad time of it, I should think, up here with the old +dons." + +"But don't you think one likes people who are persecuted? I +declare I would listen to them for an hour, though I didn't +understand a word, just to show them that I wasn't afraid of +them, and sympathized with them. How can people be so +ill-natured? I'm sure they only write what they believe and think +will do good." + +"That's just what most of us feel," said Tom; "we hate to see +them put down because they don't agree with the swells up here. +You'll see how they will be cheered in the Theatre." + +"Then they are not unpopular and persecuted after all?" + +"Oh yes, by the dons. And that's why we all like them. From +fellow-feeling you see, because the dons bully them and us +equally." + +"But I thought they were dons too?" + +"Well, so they are, but not regular dons, you know, like the +proctors, and deans, and that sort." + +His companion did not understand this delicate distinction, but +was too much interested in watching the crowd to inquire further. + +Presently they met two of the heads of houses walking with +several strangers. Everyone was noticing them when they passed, +and of course Tom was questioned as to who they were. Not being +prepared with an answer, he appealed to Hardy, who was just +behind them talking to Miss Winter. They were some of the +celebrities on whom honorary degrees were to be conferred, Hardy +said; a famous American author, a foreign ambassador, a +well-known Indian soldier, and others. Then came some more +M.A.'s, one of whom this time bowed to Miss Winter. + +"Who was that, Katie?" + +"One of the gentlemen we met last night. I did not catch his +name, but he was very agreeable." + +"Oh, I remember. You were talking to him for a long time after +you ran away from me. I was very curious to know what you were +saying, you seemed so interested." + +"Well, you seem to have made the most of your time last night," +said Tom; "I should have thought, Katie, you would hardly have +approved of him either." + +"But who is he?" + +"Why, the most dangerous man in Oxford. What do they call him--a +Germanizer and a rationalist, isn't it, Hardy?" + +"Yes, I believe so," said Hardy. + +"Oh, think of that! There, Katie; you had much better have stayed +by me after all. A Germanizer, didn't you say? What a hard word. +It must be much worse than Tractarian, isn't it, now?" + +"Mary dear, pray take care; everybody will hear you," said Miss +Winter. + +"I wish I thought that everybody would listen to me," replied +Miss Mary. "But I really will be quiet, Katie, only I must know +which is the worst, my Tractarians or your Germanizer?" + +"Oh, the Germanizer, of course," said Tom. + +"But why?" said Hardy, who could do no less than break a lance +for his companion. Moreover, he happened to have strong +convictions on these subjects. + +"Why? Because one knows the worst of where the Tractarians are +going. They may go to Rome and there's an end of it. But the +Germanizers are going into the abysses, or no one knows where." + +"There, Katie, you hear, I hope," interrupted Miss Mary, coming +to her companion's rescue before Hardy could bring his artillery +to bear, "but what a terrible place Oxford must be. I declare it +seems quite full of people whom it is unsafe to talk with." + +"I wish it were, if they were all like Miss Winter's friend," +said Hardy. And then the crowd thickened and they dropped behind +again. Tom was getting to think more of his companion and less of +himself every minute, when he was suddenly confronted in the walk +by Benjamin, the Jew money-lender, smoking a cigar, and dressed +in a gaudy figured satin waistcoat and waterfall of the same +material, and resplendent with jewelry. He had business to attend +to in Oxford at this time of the year. Nothing escaped the eyes +of Tom's companion. + +"Who was that?" she said; "what a dreadful-looking man! Surely he +bowed as if he knew you?" + +"I dare say. He is impudent enough for anything," said Tom. + +"But who is he?" + +"Oh, a rascally fellow who sells bad cigars and worse wine." + +Tom's equanimity was much shaken by the apparition of the Jew. +The remembrance of the bill scene at the Public house in the +Corn-market, and the unsatisfactory prospect in that matter, with +Blake plucked and Drysdale no longer a member of the University, +and utterly careless as to his liabilities, came across him, and +made him silent and absent. + +He answered at hazard to his companion's remarks for the next +minute or two, until after some particularly inappropriate reply, +she turned her head and looked at him for a moment with steady +wide open eyes, which brought him to himself, or rather drove him +into himself, in no time. + +"I really beg your pardon," he said; "I was very rude, I fear. It +is so strange to me to be walking here with ladies. What were you +saying?" + +"Nothing of any consequence--I really forget. But it is a very +strange thing for you to walk with ladies here?" + +"Strange! I should think it was! I have never seen a lady that I +knew up here, till you came." + +"Indeed! but there must be plenty of ladies living in Oxford?" + +"I don't believe there are. At least, we never see them," + +"Then you ought to be on your best behavior when we do come. I +shall expect you now to listen to everything I say, and to answer +my silliest questions." + +"Oh, you ought not to be so hard on us." + +"You mean that you find it hard to answer silly questions? How +wise you must all grow, living up here together!" + +"Perhaps. But the wisdom doesn't come down to the first-year men; +and so--" + +"Well, why do you stop?" + +"Because I was going to say something you might not like." + +"Then I insist on hearing it. Now, I shall not let you off. You +were saying that wisdom does not come so low as first-year men; +and so--what?" + +"And so--and so, they are not wise." + +"Yes, of course; but that was not what you were going to say; and +so--" + +"And so they are generally agreeable, for wise people are always +dull; and so--ladies ought to avoid the dons." + +"And not avoid first-year men?" + +"Exactly so." + +"Because they are foolish, and therefore fit company for ladies. +Now, really--" + +"No, no; because they are foolish, and, therefore, they ought to +be made wise; and ladies are wiser than dons." + +"And therefore, duller, for all wise people, you said, were +dull." + +"Not all wise people; only people who are wise by cramming,--as +dons; but ladies are wise by inspiration." + +"And first-year men, are they foolish by inspiration and +agreeable by cramming, or agreeable by inspiration and foolish by +cramming?" + +"They are agreeable by inspiration in the society of ladies." + +"Then they can never be agreeable, for you say they never see +ladies." + +"Not with the bodily eye, but with the eye of fancy." + +"Then their agreeableness must be all fancy." + +"But it is better to be agreeable in fancy than dull in reality." + +"That depends upon whose fancy it is. To be agreeable in your own +fancy is compatible with being dull in reality as--" + +"How you play with words! I see you won't leave me a shred either +of fancy or agreeableness to stand on." + +"Then I shall do you good service. I shall destroy your +illusions; you cannot stand on illusions." + +"But remember what my illusions were--fancy and agreeableness." + +"But your agreeableness stood on fancy, and your fancy on +nothing. You had better settle down at once on the solid basis of +dullness like the dons." + +"Then I am to found myself on fact, and try to be dull? What a +conclusion! But perhaps dullness is no more a fact than fancy; +what is dullness?" + +"Oh, I do not undertake to define; you are the best judge." + +"How severe you are! Now, see how generous I am. Dullness in +society is the absence of ladies." + +"Alas, poor Oxford! Who is that in the velvet sleeves? Why do you +touch your cap?" + +"That is the Proctor. He is our Cerberus; he has to keep all +undergraduates in good order." + +"What a task! He ought to have three heads." + +"He has only one head, but it is a very long one. And he has a +tail like any Basha, composed of pro-proctors, marshals and +bull-dogs, and I don't know what all. But to go back to what we +were saying--" + +"No, don't let us go back. I'm tired of it; besides you were just +beginning about dullness. How can you expect me to listen now?" + +"Oh, but do listen, just for two minutes. Will you be serious? I +do want to know what you really think when you hear the case." + +"Well, I will try--for two minutes, mind." + +Upon gaining which permission, Tom went off into an interesting +discourse on the unnaturalness of men's lives at Oxford, which +it is by no means necessary to inflict on our readers. + +As he was waxing eloquent and sentimental, he chanced to look +from his companion's face for a moment in search of a simile, +when his eyes alighted on that virtuous member of society, Dick, +the factotum of "The Choughs," who was taking his turn in the +Long Walk with his betters. Dick's face was twisted into an +uncomfortable grin; his eyes were fixed on Tom and his companion; +and he made a sort of half motion towards touching his hat, but +couldn't quite carry it through, and so passed by. + +"Ah! ain't he a going of it again," he muttered to himself; "jest +like 'em all." + +Tom didn't hear the words, but the look had been quite enough for +him, and he broke off short in his speech, and turned his head +away, and, after two or three flounderings which Mary seemed not +to notice, stopped short, and let Miss Winter and Hardy join +them. + +"It's getting dark," he said, as they came up; "the Walk is +thinning; ought we not to be going? Remember, I am in charge." + +"Yes, I think it is time." + +At this moment the great Christchurch bell--Tom by name--began to +toll. + +"Surely that can't be Tom?" Miss Winter said, who had heard the +one hundred and one strokes on former occasions. + +"Indeed it is, though." + +"But how very light it is." + +"It is almost the longest day in the year, and there hasn't been +a cloud all day." + +They started to walk home all together, and Tom gradually +recovered himself, but left the labouring oar to Hardy, who did +his work very well, and persuaded the ladies to go on and see the +Ratcliffe by moonlight--the only time to see it, as he said, +because of the shadows--and just to look in at the old quadrangle +of St. Ambrose. + +It was almost ten o'clock when they stopped at the lodgings in +High-street. While they were waiting for the door to be opened, +Hardy said-- + +"I really must apologize, Miss Winter, to you, for my intrusion +to-night. I hope your father will allow me to call on him." + +"Oh yes! pray do; he will be so glad to see any friend of my +cousin's." + +"And if I can be of any use to him; or to you, or your sister--" + +"My sister! Oh, you mean Mary? She is not my sister." + +"I beg your pardon. But I hope you will let me know if there is +anything I can do for you." + +"Indeed we will. Now, Mary, papa will be worrying about us." And +so the young ladies said their adieus and disappeared. + +"Surely you told me they were sisters," said Hardy, as the two +walked away towards college. + +"No, did I? I don't remember." + +"But they are your cousins?" + +"Yes, at least Katie is. Don't you like her?" + +"Of course, one can't help liking her. But she says you have not +met for two years or more." + +"No more we have." + +"Then I suppose you have seen more of her companion lately?" + +"Well, if you must know, I never saw her before yesterday." + +"You don't mean to say that you took me in there tonight when you +had never seen one of the young ladies before, and the other not +for two years! Well, upon my word, Brown--" + +"Now don't blow me up, old fellow, to-night--please don't. There, +I give in. Don't hit a fellow when he's down. I'm so low." Tom +spoke in such a depreciating tone that Hardy's wrath passed away. + +"Why, what's the matter?" he said. "You seemed to be full of +talk. I was envying your fluency I know, often." + +"Talk! yes so I was. But didn't you see Dick in the Walk? You +have never heard anything more?" + +"No! but no news is good news." + +"Heigho! I'm awfully down. I want to talk to you. Let me come +up." + +"Come along then." And so they disappeared into Hardy's lodgings. + +The two young ladies, meanwhile, soothed old Mr. Winter, who had +eaten and drank more than was good for him, and was naturally put +out thereby. They soon managed to persuade him to retire, and +then followed themselves--first to Mary's room, where that young +lady burst out at once, "What a charming place it is! Oh! didn't +you enjoy your evening, Katie!" + +"Yes, but I felt a little awkward without a chaperone. You seemed +to get on very well with my cousin. You scarcely spoke to us in +the Long Walk till just before we came away. What were you +talking about?" + +Mary burst into a gay laugh. "All sorts of nonsense," she said. +"I don't think I ever talked so much nonsense in my life. I hope +he isn't shocked. I don't think he is. But I said anything that +came into my head. I couldn't help it. You don't think it wrong?" + +"Wrong, dear? No, I'm sure you could say nothing wrong." + +"I'm not so sure of that. But, Katie dear, I know there is +something on his mind." + +"Why do you think so?" + +"Oh, because he stopped short twice, and became quite absent, and +seemed not to hear anything I said." + +"How odd! I never knew him do so. Did you see any reason for it?" + +"No; unless it was two men we passed in the crowd. One was a +vulgar-looking wretch, who was smoking--a fat black thing, with +such a thick nose, covered with jewelry--" + +"Not his nose, dear?" + +"No, but his dress; and the other was a homely, dried-up little +man, like one of your Englebourn troubles. I'm sure there is some +mystery about them, and I shall find it out. But how did you like +his friend, Katie?" + +"Very much, indeed. I was rather uncomfortable at walking so long +with a stranger. But he was very pleasant, and is so fond of Tom. +I am sure he is a very good friend for him." + +"He looks a good man; but how ugly!" + +"Do you think so? We shall have a hard day to-morrow. Good night, +dear." + +"Good night, Katie. But I don't feel a bit sleepy." And so the +cousins kissed one another, and Miss Winter went to her own room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII--LECTURING A LIONESS + +The evening of Show Sunday may serve as a fair sample of what +this eventful Commemoration was to our hero. The constant +intercourse with ladies--with such ladies as Miss Winter and +Mary--young, good-looking, well spoken, and creditable in all +ways, was very delightful, and the more fascinating, from the +sudden change which their presence wrought in the ordinary mode +of life of the place. They would have been charming in any room, +but were quite irrepressible in his den, which no female +presence, except that of his blowsy old bed-maker, had lightened +since he had been in possession. All the associations of the +freshman's room were raised at once. When he came in at night +now, he could look sentimentally at his arm chair (christened +"The Captain," after Captain Hardy), on which Katie had sat to +make breakfast; or at the brass peg on the door, on which Mary +had hung her bonnet and shawl, after displacing his gown. His +very teacups and saucers, which were already a miscellaneous set +of several different patterns, had made a move almost into his +affections; at least the two--one brown, one blue--which the +young ladies had used. A human interest belonged to them now, and +they were no longer mere crockery. He had thought of buying two +very pretty china ones, the most expensive he could find in +Oxford, and getting them to use these for the first time, but +rejected the idea. The fine new ones, he felt, would never be the +same to him. They had come in and used his own rubbish; that was +the great charm. If he had been going to give _them_ cups, no +material would have been beautiful enough; but for his own use +after them, the commoner the better. The material was nothing, +the association everything. It is marvellous the amount of +healthy sentiment of which a naturally soft-hearted undergraduate +is capable by the end of the summer term. But sentiment is not +all one-sided. The delights which spring from sudden intimacy +with the fairest and best part of the creation, are as far above +those of the ordinary, unmitigated undergraduate life, as the +British citizen of 1860 is above the rudimentary personage in +prehistoric times from whom he has been gradually improved up to +his present state of enlightenment and perfection. But each state +has also its own troubles as well as its pleasures; and, though +the former are a price which no decent fellow would boggle at for +a moment, it is useless to pretend that paying them is pleasant. + +Now, at Commemoration, as elsewhere, where men do congregate, if +your lady-visitors are not pretty or agreeable enough to make +your friends and acquaintances eager to know them, and to cater +for their enjoyment, and try in all ways to win their favor and +cut you out, you have the satisfaction at any rate of keeping +them to yourself, though you lose the pleasures which arise from +being sought after, and made much of for their sakes, and feeling +raised above the ruck of your neighbors. On the other hand, if +they are all like this, you might as well try to keep the +sunshine and air to yourself. Universal human nature rises up +against you; and besides, they will not stand it themselves. And, +indeed, why should they? Women, to be very attractive to all +sorts of different people, must have great readiness of sympathy. +Many have it naturally, and many work hard in acquiring a good +imitation of it. In the first case it is against the nature of +such persons to be monopolized for more than a very short time; +in the second, all their trouble would be thrown away if they +allowed themselves to be monopolized. Once in their lives, +indeed, they will be, and ought to be, and that monopoly lasts, +or should last, forever; but instead of destroying in them that +which was their great charm, it only deepens and widens it, and +the sympathy which was before fitful, and, perhaps, wayward, +flows on in a calm and healthy stream, blessing and cheering all +who come within reach of its exhilarating and life-giving waters. + +But man of all ages is a selfish animal, and unreasonable in his +selfishness. It takes every one of us in turn many a shrewd fall +in our wrestlings with the world, to convince us that we are not +to have everything our own way. We are conscious in our inmost +souls that man is the rightful lord of creation; and, starting +from this eternal principle, and ignoring, each man-child of us +in turn, the qualifying truth that it is to man in general, +including women, and not to Thomas Brown in particular, that the +earth has been given, we set about asserting our kingships each +in his own way, and proclaiming ourselves kings from our little +ant-hills of thrones. And then come the strugglings and the +down-fallings, and some of us learn our lesson, and some learn it +not. But what lesson? That we have been dreaming in the golden +hours when the vision of a kingdom rose before us? That there is +in short no kingdom at all, or that, if there be, we are no heirs +of it? + +No--I take it that, while we make nothing better than that out of +our lesson, we shall have to go on spelling at it and stumbling +over it, through all the days of our life, till we make our last +stumble, and take our final header out of this riddle of a world, +which we once dreamed we were to rule over, exclaiming "vanitas +vanitatum" to the end. But man's spirit will never be satisfied +without a kingdom, and was never intended to be satisfied so; and +One wiser than Solomon tells us day by day that our kingdom is +about us here, and that we may rise up and pass in when we will +at the shining gates which He holds open, for that it is His, and +we are joint heirs of it with Him. + +On the whole, however, making allowances for all drawbacks, those +Commemoration days were the pleasantest days Tom had ever known +at Oxford. He was with his uncle and cousins early and late, +devising all sorts of pleasant entertainments and excursions for +them, introducing all the pleasantest men of his acquaintance and +taxing the resources of the college, which at such times were +available for undergraduates as well as their betters, to +minister to their comfort and enjoyment. And he was well repaid. +There was something perfectly new to the ladies, and very piquaut +in the life and habits of the place. They found it very diverting +to be receiving in Tom's rooms, presiding over his breakfasts and +luncheons, altering the position of his furniture, and making the +place look as pretty as circumstances would allow. Then there was +pleasant occupation for every spare hour, and the fetes and +amusements were all unlike everything but themselves. Of course +the ladies at once became enthusiastic St. Ambrosians, and +managed in spite of all distractions to find time for making up +rosettes and bows of blue and white, in which to appear at the +procession of the boats, which was the great event of the Monday. +Fortunately Mr. Winter had been a good oar in his day, and had +pulled in one of the first four-oars in which the University +races had commenced some thirty-five years before; and Tom, who +had set his mind on managing his uncle, worked him up almost into +enthusiasm and forgetfulness of his maladies, so that he raised +no objection to a five o'clock dinner, and an adjournment to the +river almost immediately afterwards. Jervis, who was all-powerful +on the river, at Tom's instigation got an arm-chair for him in +the best part of the University barge, while the ladies, after +walking along the bank with Tom and others of the crew, and being +instructed in the colors of the different boats, and the meaning +of the ceremony, took their places in the front row on the top of +the barge, beneath the awning and the flags, and looked down with +hundreds of other fair strangers on the scene, which certainly +merited all that Tom had said of it on faith. + +The barges above and below the University barge, which occupied +the post of honor, were also covered with ladies, and +Christchurch Meadow swarmed with gay dresses and caps and gowns. +On the opposite side the bank was lined with a crowd in holiday +clothes, and the punts plied across without intermission loaded +with people, till the groups stretched away down the towing path +in an almost continuous line to the starting place. Then one +after another of the racing-boats, all painted and polished up +for the occasion, with the college flags drooping at their +sterns, put out and passed down to their stations, and the bands +played, and the sun shone his best. And then, after a short pause +of expectation, the distant bank became all alive, and the groups +all turned one way, and came up the towing path again, and the +foremost boat with the blue and white flag shot through the Gut +and came up the reach, followed by another, and another, and +another, till they were tired of counting, and the leading boat +was already close to them before the last had come within sight. +And the bands played up all together, and the crowd on both sides +cheered as the St. Ambrose boat spurted from the Cherwell, and +took the place of honor at the winning-post, opposite the +University barge, and close under where they were sitting. + +"Oh, look, Katie dear; here they are. There's Tom, and Mr. Hardy, +and Mr. Jervis;" and Mary waved her handkerchief and clapped her +hands, and was in an ecstasy of enthusiasm, in which her cousin +was no whit behind her. The gallant crew of St. Ambrose were by +no means unconscious of, and fully appreciated, the compliment. + +Then the boats passed up one by one; and, as each came opposite +to the St. Ambrose boat, the crews tossed their oars and cheered, +and the St. Ambrose crew tossed their oars and cheered in return; +and the whole ceremony went off in triumph, notwithstanding the +casualty which occurred to one of the torpids. The torpids, being +filled with the refuse of the rowing men--generally awkward or +very young oarsmen--find some difficulty in the act of +tossing--no safe operation for an unsteady crew. Accordingly, the +torpid in question, having sustained her crew gallantly till the +saluting point, and allowed them to get their oars fairly into +the air, proceeded gravely to turn over on her side, and shoot +them out into the stream. + +A thrill ran along the top of the barges, and a little scream or +two might have been heard even through the notes of "Annie +Laurie", which were filling the air at the moment; but the band +played on, and the crew swam ashore, and two of the punt-men laid +hold of the boat and collected the oars, and nobody seemed to +think anything of it. + +Katie drew a long breath. + +"Are they all out, dear?" she said; "can you see? I can only +count eight." + +"Oh, I was too frightened to look. Let me see; yes, there are +nine; there's one by himself, the little man pulling the weeds +off his trousers." + +And so they regained their equanimity, and soon after left the +barge, and were escorted to the hall of St. Ambrose by the crew, +who gave an entertainment there to celebrate the occasion, which +Mr. Winter was induced to attend and pleased to approve, and +which lasted till it was time to dress for the ball, for which a +proper chaperone had been providentially found. And so they +passed the days and nights of Commemoration. + +But is not within the scope of this work to chronicle all their +doings--how, notwithstanding balls at night, they were up to +chapel in the morning, and attended flower-shows at Worcester and +musical promenades in New College, and managed to get down the +river for a picnic at Nuneham, besides seeing everything that was +worth seeing in all the colleges. How it was done, no man can +tell; but done it was, and they seemed only the better for it +all. They were waiting at the gates of the Theatre amongst the +first, tickets in hand, and witnessed the whole scene, wondering +no little at the strange mixture of solemnity and license, the +rush and crowding of the undergraduates into their gallery, and +their free and easy way of taking the whole proceedings under +their patronage, watching every movement in the amphitheatre and +on the floor, and shouting approval and disapproval of the heads +of their republic of learning, or of the most illustrious +visitors, or cheering with equal vigor, the ladies, Her Majesty's +ministers, or the prize poems. + +It is a strange scene certainly, and has probably puzzled many +persons besides young ladies. One can well fancy the astonishment +of the learned foreigner, for instance, when he sees the head of +the University, which he has reverenced at a distance from his +youth up, rise in his robes in solemn convocation to exercise one +of the highest of University functions, and hears his sonorous +Latin periods interrupted by "three cheers for the ladies in pink +bonnets!" or, when some man is introduced for an honorary degree, +whose name may be known throughout the civilized world, and the +Vice-Chancellor, turning to his compeers, inquires, "Placetne +vobis, domini doctores? placetne vobis, magistri?" and he hears +the voice of doctors and masters drowned in contradictory shouts +from the young _demus_ in the gallery, "Who is he?" + +"Non placet!" +"_Placet_!" + +"Why does he carry an umbrella?" It is thoroughly +English, and that is just all that need, or indeed can, be said +for it all; but not one in a hundred of us would alter it if we +could, beyond suppressing some of the personalities, which of +late years have gone somewhat too far. + +After the Theatre there was sumptuous lunch in All Souls', and +then a fete in St. John's Gardens. Now, at the aforesaid +luncheon, Tom's feelings had been severely tried; in fact, the +little troubles, which, as has been before hinted, are incident +to persons, especially young men in his fortunate predicament, +had here come to a head. + +He was separated from his cousin a little way. Being a guest, and +not an important one in the eyes of the All Souls' fellows, he +had to find his level, which was very much below that allotted to +his uncle and cousins. In short, he felt that they were taking +him about, instead of he them--which change of position was in +itself trying; and Mary's conduct fanned his slumbering +discontent into a flame. There she was, sitting between a fellow +of All Souls', who was a collector of pictures and an authority +in fine art matters, and the Indian officer who had been so +recently promoted to the degree of D.C.L. in the Theatre. There +she sat, so absorbed in their conversation that she did not even +hear a remark which he was pleased to address to her. + +Whereupon he began to brood on his wrongs, and to take umbrage at +the catholicity of her enjoyment and enthusiasm. So long as he +had been the medium through which she was brought in contact with +others, he had been well enough content that they should amuse +and interest her; but it was a very different thing now. + +So he watched her jealously, and raked up former conversations, +and came to the conclusion that it was his duty to remonstrate +with her. He had remarked, too, that she never could talk with +him now without breaking away after a short time into badinage. +Her badinage certainly was very charming and pleasant, and kept +him on the stretch; but why should she not let him be serious and +sentimental when he pleased? She did not break out in this manner +with other people. So he really felt it to be his duty to speak +to her on the subject--not in the least for his own sake, but for +hers. + +Accordingly, when the party broke up, and they started for the +fete at St. John's, he resolved to carry out his intentions. At +first he could not get an opportunity while they were walking +about on the beautiful lawn of the great garden, seeing and being +seen, and listening to music, and looking at choice flowers. But +soon a chance offered. She stayed behind the rest without +noticing it, to examine some specially beautiful plant, and he +was by her side in a moment, and proposed to show her the smaller +garden, which lies beyond, to which she innocently consented; and +they were soon out of the crowd, and in comparative solitude. + +She remarked that he was somewhat silent and grave, but thought +nothing of it, and chatted on as usual, remarking upon the +pleasant company she had been in at luncheon. + +This opened the way for Tom's lecture. + +"How easily you seem to get interested with new people!" he +began. + +"Do I?" she said. "Well, don't you think it very natural?" + +"Wouldn't it be a blessing if people would always say just what +they think and mean, though?" + +"Yes, and a great many do," she replied, looking at him in some +wonder, and not quite pleased with the turn things were taking. + +"Any ladies, do you think? You know we haven't many opportunities +of observing." + +"Yes, I think quite as many ladies as men. More, indeed, as far +as my small experience goes." + +"You really maintain deliberately that you have met people--men +and women--who can talk to you or anyone else for a quarter of an +hour quite honestly, and say nothing at all which they don't +mean--nothing for the sake of flattery, or effect, for instance?" + +"Oh dear me, yes, often." + +"Who, for example?" + +"Our cousin Katie. Why are you so suspicious and misanthropical? +There is your friend Mr. Hardy again; what do you say to him?" + +"Well, I think you may have hit on an exception. But I maintain +the rule." + +"You look as if I ought to object. But I sha'n't. It is no +business of mine if you choose to believe any such disagreeable +thing about your fellow-creatures." + +"I don't believe anything worse about them than I do about +myself. I know that I can't do it." + +"Well, I am very sorry for you." + +"But I don't think I am any worse than my neighbours." + +"I don't suppose you do. Who are your neighbors?" + +"Shall I include you in the number?" + +"Oh, by all means, if you like." + +"But I may not mean that you are like the rest. The man who fell +among thieves, you know, had one good neighbor." + +"Now, Cousin Tom," she said, looking up with sparkling eyes, "I +can't return the compliment. You meant to make me feel that I +_was_ like the rest--at least like what you say they are. You +know you did. And now you are just turning round, and trying to +slip out of it by saying what you don't mean." + +"Well, Cousin Mary, perhaps I was. At any rate I was a great fool +for my pains. I might have known by this time that you would +catch me out fast enough." + +"Perhaps you might. I didn't challenge you to set up your Palace +of Truth. But, if we are to live in it, you are not to say all +the disagreeable things and hear none of them." + +"I hope not, if they must be disagreeable. But why should they +be? I can't see why you and I, for instance, should not say +exactly what we are thinking to one another without being +disagreeable." + +"Well, I don't think you made a happy beginning just now." + +"But I am sure we should all like one another the better for +speaking the truth." + +"Yes; but I don't admit that I haven't been speaking the truth." + +"You won't understand me. Have I said that you don't speak the +truth?" + +"Yes, you said just now that I don't say what I think and mean. +Well, perhaps you didn't exactly say that, but that is what you +meant:" + +"You are very angry, Cousin Mary. Let us wait till--" + +"No, no. It was you who began, and I will not let you off now." + +"Very well, then. I did mean something of the sort. It is better +to tell you than to keep it to myself." + +"Yes; and now tell me your reasons," said Mary, looking down and +biting her lip. Tom was ready to bite his tongue off, but there +was nothing now but to go through with it. + +"You make everybody that comes near you think that you are deeply +interested in them and their doings. Poor Grey believes that you +are as mad as he is about rituals and rubrics. And the boating +men declare that you would sooner see a race than go to the best +ball in the world. And you listened to the Dean's stale old +stories about his schools, and went into raptures in the Bodleian +about pictures and art with that follow of All Souls'. Even our +old butler and the cook--" + +Here Mary, despite her vexation, after a severe struggle to +control it, burst into a laugh, which made Tom pause. + +"Now you can't say that I am not really fond of jellies," she +said. + +"And you can't say that I have said anything so very +disagreeable." + +"Oh, but you have, though." + +"At any rate I have made you laugh." + +"But you didn't mean to do it. Now, go on." + +"I have nothing more to say. You see my meaning, or you never +will." + +"If you have nothing more to say, you should not have said so +much," said Mary. "You wouldn't have me rude to all the people I +meet, and I can't help it if the cook thinks I am a glutton." + +"But you could help letting Grey think that you should like to go +and see his night schools." + +"But I should like to see them of all things." + +"And I suppose you would like to go through the manuscripts in +the Bodleian with the Dean. I heard you talking to him as if it +was the dearest wish of your heart, and making a half engagement +to go with him this afternoon, when, you know that you are tired +to death of him, and so full of other engagements that you don't +know where to turn." + +Mary began to bite her lips again. She felt half inclined to cry, +and half inclined to get up and box his ears. However she did +neither, but looked up after a moment or two and said-- + +"Well, have you any more unkind words to say?" + +"Unkind, Mary?" + +"Yes, they _are_ unkind. How can I enjoy anything now when I +shall know you are watching me, and thinking all sorts of harm of +everything I say and do? However, it doesn't much matter, for we +go to-morrow morning." + +"But you will give me credit at least for meaning you well." + +"I think you are very jealous and suspicious." + +"You don't know how you pain me when you say that." + +"But I must say what I think." + +Mary set her little mouth, and looked down, and began tapping her +boot with her parasol. There was an awkward silence while Tom +considered within himself whether she was not right, and whether, +after all, his own jealousy had not been the cause of the lecture +he had been delivering, much more than any unselfish wish for +Mary's improvement. + +"It is your turn now," he said presently, leaning forward with +his elbows on his knees, and looking hard at the gravel. "I may +have been foolishly jealous, and I thank you for telling me so. +But you can tell me a great deal more if you will, quite as good +for me to hear." + +"No, I have nothing to say. I daresay you are open and true, and +have nothing to hide or disguise, not even about either of the +men we met in the Long Walk on Sunday." + +He winced at this random shaft as if he had been stung, and she +saw that it had gone home, and repented the next moment. The +silence became more and more embarrassing. By good luck, however, +their party suddenly appeared strolling towards them from the +large garden. + +"Here are Uncle Robert and Katie, and all of them. Let us join +them." + +She rose up, and he with her, and as they walked towards the +rest, he said quickly in a low voice, "Will you forgive me if I +have pained you? I was very selfish, and I am sorry." + +"Oh yes, we were both very foolish, but we won't do it again." + +"Here you are at last. We have been looking for you everywhere," +said Miss Winter, as they came up. + +"I'm sure I don't know how we missed you. We came straight from +the music tent to this seat, and have not moved. We knew you must +come by sooner or later." + +"But it is quite out of the way. It is quite by chance that we +came round here." + +"Isn't Uncle Robert tired, Katie?" said Tom; "he doesn't look +well this afternoon." + +Katie instantly turned to her father, and Mr. Winter declared +himself to be much fatigued. So they wished their hospitable +entertainers good-bye, and Tom hurried off and got a wheel chair +for his uncle, and walked by his side to their lodgings. The +young ladies walked near the chair also, accompanied by one or +two of their acquaintances; in fact they could not move without +an escort. But Tom never once turned his head for a glance at +what was going on, and talked steadily on to his uncle, that he +might not catch a stray word of what the rest were saying. +Despite of all this self-denial, however, he was quite aware +somehow when he made his bow at the door that Mary had been very +silent all the way home. + +Mr. Winter retired to his room to lie down, and his daughter and +niece remained in the sitting-room. Mary sat down and untied her +bonnet, but did not burst into her usual flood of comments on the +events of the day. Miss Winter looked at her and said-- + +"You look tired, dear, and over-excited." + +"Oh yes, so I am. I've had such a quarrel with Tom." + +"A quarrel--you're not serious?" + +"Indeed I am, though. I quite hated him for five minutes at +least." + +"But what did he do?" + +"Why, he taunted me with being too civil to everybody, and it +made me so angry. He said I pretended to take an interest in ever +so many things, just to please people, when I didn't really care +about them. And it isn't true, now, Katie, is it?" + +"No, dear. He never could have said that. You must have +misunderstood him." + +"There, I knew you would say so. And if it were true, I'm sure it +isn't wrong. When people talk to you, it 's so easy to seem +pleased and interested in what they are saying; and then they +like you, and it is so pleasant to be liked. Now, Katie, do you +ever snap people's noses off, or tell them you think them very +foolish, and that you don't care, and that what they are saying +is all of no consequence?" + +"I, dear? I couldn't do it to save my life." + +"Oh, I was sure you couldn't. And he may say what he will, but I +am quite sure he would not have been pleased if we had not made +ourselves pleasant to his friends." + +"That's quite true. He has told me himself half a dozen times how +delighted he was to see you so popular." + +"And you too, Katie?" + +"Oh yes. He was very well pleased with me. But it is you who have +turned all the heads in the college, Mary. You are Queen of St. +Ambrose beyond a doubt just now." + +"No, no, Katie; not more than you at any rate." + +"I say yes, yes, Mary. You will always be ten times as popular as +I; some people have the gift of it; I wish I had. But why do you +look so grave again?" + +"Why, Katie, don't you see you are just saying over again, only +in a different way, what your provoking cousin--I shall call him +Mr. Brown, I think, in future--was telling me for my good in St. +John's gardens. You saw how long we were away from you; well, he +was lecturing me all the time, only think; and now you are going +to tell it me all over again. But go on, dear; I sha'n't mind +anything from you." + +She put her arm round her cousin's waist, and looked up playfully +into her face. Miss Winter saw at once that no great harm, +perhaps some good, had been done in the passage of arms between +her relatives. + +"You made it all up," she said, smiling, "before we found you." + +"Only just, though. He begged my pardon just at last, almost in a +whisper, when you were quite close to us." + +"And you granted it?" + +"Yes, of course; but I don't know that I shall not recall it." + +"I was sure you would be falling out before long, you got on so +fast. But he isn't quite so easy to turn round your finger as you +thought, Mary." + +"Oh, I don't know that," said Mary, laughing; "you saw how humble +he looked at last, and what good order he was in." + +"Well, dear, it's time to think whether we shall go out again." + +"Let me see; there's the last ball. What do you say?" + +"Why, I'm afraid poor papa is too tired to take us, and I don't +know with whom we could go. We ought to begin packing, too I +think." + +"Very well. Let us have tea quietly at home." + +"I will write a note to Tom to tell him. He has done his best for +us, poor fellow, and we ought to consider him a little." + +"Oh yes, and ask him and his friend Mr. Hardy to tea, as it is +the last night." + +"If you wish it, I shall be very glad; they will amuse papa." + +"Certainly, and then he will see that I bear him no malice. And +now I will go and just do my hair." + +"Very well; and we will pack after they leave. How strange home +will seem after all this gayety." + +"Yes, we seem to have been here a month." + +"I do hope we shall find all quiet at Englebourn. I am always +afraid of some trouble there." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII--THE END OF THE FRESHMAN'S YEAR + +On the morning after Commemoration, Oxford was in a bustle of +departure. The play had been played, the long vacation had begun, +and visitors and members seemed equally anxious to be off. At the +gates of the colleges, groups of men in travelling-dresses waited +for the coaches, omnibuses, dog-carts and all manner of vehicles, +which were to carry them to the Great Western railway station at +Steventon, or elsewhere, to all points of the compass. Porters +passed in and out with portmanteaus, gun-cases, and baggage of +all kinds, which they piled outside the gates, or carried off to +"The Mitre" or "The Angel," under the vigorous and not too +courteous orders of the owners. College servants flitted round +the groups to take instructions, and, it so might be, to extract +the balances of extortionate bills out of their departing +masters. Dog-fanciers were there also, holding terriers; and +scouts from the cricketing grounds, with bats and pads under +their arms; and hostlers, and men from the boats, all on the same +errand of getting the last shilling out of their patrons--a +fawning, obsequious crowd for the most part, with here and there +a sturdy Briton who felt that he was only there for his due. + +Through such a group, at the gate of St. Ambrose, Tom and Hardy +passed soon after breakfast time, in cap and gown, which costume +excited no small astonishment. + +"Hullo, Brown, old fellow! ain't you off this morning?" + +"No, I shall be up for a day or two yet." + +"Wish you joy. I wouldn't be staying up over to-day for +something." + +"But you'll be at Henley to-morrow?" said Diogenes, confidently, +who stood at the gate in boating coat and flannels, a big stick +and knapsack, waiting for a companion, with whom he was going to +walk to Henley. + +"And at Lord's on Friday," said another. "It will be a famous +match. Come and dine somewhere afterwards, and go to the +Haymarket with us." + +"You know the Leander are to be at Henley," put in Diogenes; "and +Cambridge is very strong. There will be a splendid race for the +cup, but Jervis thinks we are all right." + +"Bother your eternal races! Haven't we had enough of them +already?" said the Londoner. "You had much better come up to the +little village at once, Brown, and stay there while the coin +lasts." + +"If I get away at all, it will be to Henley," said Tom. + +"Of course, I knew that," said Diogenes, triumphantly, "our boat +ought to be on for the ladies' plate. If only Jervis were not in +the University crew! I thought you were to pull at Henley, +Hardy?" + +"I was asked to pull, but I couldn't manage the time with the +schools coming on, and when the examinations were over it was too +late. The crew were picked and half trained, and none of them +have broken down." + +"What! Every one of them stood putting through the sieve? They +must be a rare crew, then," said another. + +"You're right," said Diogenes. "Oh, here you are at last," he +added, as another man in flannels and knapsack came out of +college. "Well, good-bye all, and a pleasant vacation; we must be +off, if we are to be in time to see our crew pull over the course +to-night;" and the two marched off towards Magdalen Bridge. + +"By Jove!" remarked a fast youth, in most elaborate toilette, +looking after them, "fancy two fellows grinding off to Henley, +five miles an hour, in this sun, when they might drop up to the +metropolis by train in half the time? Isn't it marvellous?" + +"I should like to be going with them," said Tom. + +"Well, there's no accounting for tastes. Here's our coach." + +"Good-bye, then;" and Tom shook hands, and, leaving the coach to +get packed with portmanteaus, terriers, and undergraduates, he +and Hardy walked off towards the High-street. + +"So you're not going to-day?" Hardy said. + +"No; two or three of my old schoolfellows are coming up to stand +for scholarships, and I must be here to receive them. But it's +very unlucky; I should have liked so to have been at Henley." + +"Look, their carriage is already at the door," said Hardy, +pointing up High-street, into which they now turned. There were a +dozen postchaises and carriages loading in front of different +houses in the street, and amongst them Mr. Winter's old-fashioned +travelling barouche. + +"So it is," said Tom; "that's some of uncle's fidgetiness; but he +will be sure to dawdle at the last. Come along in." + +"Don't you think I had better stay downstairs? It may seem +intrusive." + +"No, come along. Why, they asked you to come and see the last of +them last night, didn't they?" + +Hardy did not require any further urging to induce him to follow +his inclination; so the two went up together. The breakfast +things were still on the table, at which sat Miss Winter, in her +bonnet, employed in examining the bill, with the assistance of +Mary, who leant over her shoulder. She looked up as they entered. + +"Oh! I'm so glad you are come. Poor Katie is so bothered, and I +can't help her. Do look at the bill; is it all right?" + +"Shall I, Katie?" + +"Yes, please do. I don't see anything to object to, except, +perhaps, the things I have marked. Do you think we ought to be +charged half a crown a day for the kitchen fire?" + +"Fire in June! and you have never dined at home once?" + +"No, but we have had tea several times." + +"It is a regular swindle," said Tom, taking the bill and glancing +at it. "Here, Hardy, come and help me cut down this precious +total." + +They sat down to the bill, the ladies willingly giving place. +Mary tripped off to the glass to tie her bonnet. + +"Now that is all right!" she said merrily; "why can't one go on +without bills or horrid money?" + +"Ah! why can't one?" said Tom, "that would suit most of our +complaints. But where's uncle; has he seen the bill?" + +"No; Papa is in his room; he must not be worried, or the journey +will be too much for him." + +Here the ladies'-maid arrived, with a message that her father +wished to see Miss Winter. + +"Leave your money, Katie," said her cousin, "this is gentlemen's +business, and Tom and Mr. Hardy will settle it all for us, I am +sure." + +Tom professed his entire willingness to accept the charge, +delighted at finding himself reinstated in his office of +protector at Mary's suggestion. Had the landlord been one or his +own tradesmen, or the bill his own bill, he might not have been +so well pleased, but, as neither of these was the case, and he +had Hardy to back him, he went into the matter with much vigor +and discretion, and had the landlord up, made the proper +deductions, and got the bill settled and receipted in a few +minutes. Then he and Hardy addressed themselves to getting the +carriage comfortably packed, and vied with one another in +settling and stowing away in the most convenient places, the many +little odds and ends which naturally accompany young ladies and +invalids on their travels; in the course of which employment he +managed to snatch a few words here and there with Mary and +satisfied himself that she bore him no ill-will for the events of +the previous day. + +At last all was ready for the start, and Tom reported the fact in +the sitting-room. "Then I will go and fetch papa," said Miss +Winter. + +Tom's eyes met Mary's at the moment. He gave a slight shrug with +his shoulders, and said, as the door closed after his cousin, +"Really I have no patience with Uncle Robert, he leaves poor +Katie to do everything." + +"Yes; and how beautifully she does it all, without a word or, I +believe, a thought of complaint! I could never be so patient." + +"I think it is a pity. If Uncle Robert were obliged to exert +himself, it would be much better for him. Katie is only spoiling +him and wearing herself out." + +"Yes, it is very easy for you and me to think and say so. But he +is her father, and then he is really an invalid. So she goes on +devoting herself to him more and more, and feels she can never do +too much for him." + +"But if she believed it would be better for him to exert himself? +I'm sure it is the truth. Couldn't you try to persuade her?" + +"No, indeed; it would only worry her, and be so cruel. But then I +am not used to give advice," she added, after a moment's pause, +looking demurely at her gloves; "It might do good, perhaps, now, +if you were to speak to her." + +"You think me so well qualified, I suppose, after the specimen +you had yesterday? Thank you; I have had enough of lecturing for +the present." + +"I am very much obliged to you, really, for what you said to me," +said Mary, still looking at her gloves. + +The subject was a very distasteful one to Tom. He looked at her +for a moment to see whether she was laughing at him, and then +broke it off abruptly-- + +"I hope you have enjoyed your visit?" + +"Oh yes, so very much. I shall think of it all the summer." + +"Where shall you be all the summer?" asked Tom. "Not so very far +from you. Papa has taken a house only eight miles from +Englebourn, and Katie says you live within a day's drive of +them." + +"And shall you be there all the vacation?" + +"Yes; and we hope to get Katie over often. Could not you come and +meet her? it would be so pleasant." + +"But do you think I might? I don't know your father or mother." + +"Oh, yes; papa and mamma are very kind, and will ask anybody I +like. Besides, you are a cousin, you know." + +"Only up at Oxford, I am afraid." + +"Well now, you will see. We are going to have a great archery +party next month, and you shall have an invitation." + +"Will you write it for me yourself?" + +"Very likely; but why?" + +"Don't you think I shall value a note in your hand more than--" + +"Nonsense; now, remember your lecture. Oh here are Uncle Robert +and Katie." + +Mr. Winter was very gracious, and thanked Tom for all his +attentions. He had been very pleased, he said, to make his +nephew's acquaintance again so pleasantly, and hoped he would +come and pass a day or two at Englebourn in the vacation. In his +sad state of health he could not do much to entertain a young +man, but he could procure him some good fishing and shooting in +the neighborhood. Tom assured his uncle that nothing would please +him so much as a visit to Englebourn. Perhaps the remembrance of +the distance between that parish and the place where Mary was to +spend the summer may have added a little to his enthusiasm. + +"I should have liked also to have thanked your friend for his +hospitality," Mr. Winter went on. "I understood my daughter to +say he was here." + +"Yes, he was here just now," said Tom; "he must be below, I +think." + +"What, that good Mr. Hardy?" said Mary, who was looking out of +the window; "there he is in the street. He has just helped +Hopkins into the rumble, and handed her things to her just as if +she were a duchess. She has been so cross all the morning, and +now she looks quite gracious." + +"Then I think, papa, we had better start." + +"Let me give you an arm down stairs, uncle," said Tom; and so he +helped his uncle down to the carriage, the two young ladies +following behind, and the landlord standing with obsequious bows +at his shop door, and looking as if he had never made an +overcharge in his life. + +While Mr. Winter was making his acknowledgments to Hardy, and +being helped by him into the most comfortable seat in the +carriage, Tom was making tender adieus to the two young ladies +behind, and even succeeded in keeping a rose-bud which Mary was +carrying, when they took their seats. She parted from it +half-laughingly, and the post-boy cracked his whip and the +barouche went lumbering along High-street. Hardy and Tom watched +it until it turned down St. Aldate's towards Folly Bridge, the +latter waving his hand as it disappeared, and then they turned +and strolled slowly away side by side in silence. The sight of +all the other departures increased the uncomfortable, unsatisfied +feeling which that of his own relatives had already produced in +Tom's mind. + +"Well, it isn't lively stopping up here when everybody is going, +is it? What is one to do?" + +"Oughtn't you to be looking after your friends who are coming up +to try for the scholarships?" + +"No, they won't be up till afternoon, by coach." + +"Shall we go down to the river, then?" + +"No, it would be miserable. Hullo, look here, what's up?" + +The cause of Tom's astonishment was the appearance of the usual +procession of university beadles carrying silver-headed maces, +and escorting the Vice-Chancellor towards St. Mary's. + +"Why, the bells are going for service; there must be a university +sermon. Is it a saint's day?" + +"Where's the congregation to come from? Why, half Oxford is off +by this time, and those that are left won't want to be hearing +sermons." + +"Well, I don't know. A good many seem to be going. I wonder who +is to preach?" + +"I vote we go. It will help to pass the time." + +Hardy agreed, and they followed the procession and went up into +the gallery of St. Mary's. There was a very fair congregation in +the body of the church, and the staffs of the colleges had not +yet broken up, and even in the gallery the undergraduates +mustered in some force. The restless feeling which had brought +our hero there seemed to have had a like effect on most of the +men who were for one reason or another unable to start on that +day. + +Tom looked steadily into his cap during the bidding prayer, and +sat down composedly afterwards, expecting not to be much +interested or benefitted, but comforted with the assurance that +at any rate it would be almost luncheon time before he would be +again thrown on his own resources. But he was mistaken in his +expectations, and before the preacher had been speaking for three +minutes, was all attention. The sermon was upon the freedom of +the Gospel, the power by which it bursts all bonds and lets the +oppressed go free. Its burthen was, "Ye shall know the truth, and +the truth shall make you free." The preacher dwelt on many sides +of these words; the freedom of nations, of societies, of +universities, of the conscience of each individual man, were each +glanced at in turn; and then, reminding his hearers of the end of +the academical year, he went on-- + +"We have heard it said in the troubles and toils and temptations +of the world,* 'Oh that I could begin life over again! oh that I +could fall asleep, and wake up twelve, six, three mouths hence, +and find my difficulties solved!' That which we may vainly wish +elsewhere, by a happy Providence is furnished to us by the +natural divisions of meeting and parting in this place. To +everyone of us, old and young, the long vacation on which we are +now entering gives us a breathing space, and time to break the +bonds which place and circumstance have woven round us during the +year that is past. From all our petty cares, and confusions, and +intrigues; from the dust and clatter of this huge machinery +amidst which we labor and toil; from whatever cynical contempt of +what is generous and devout; from whatever fanciful disregard of +what is just and wise; from whatever gall of bitterness is +secreted in our best motives; from whatever bonds of unequal +dealings in which we may have entangled ourselves or others, we +are now for a time set free. We stand on the edge of a river +which shall for a time at least sweep them away--that ancient +river, the Kishon, the river of fresh thoughts, and fresh scenes, +and fresh feelings, and fresh hopes--one surely amongst the +blessed means whereby God's free and loving grace works out our +deliverance, our redemption from evil, and renews the strength of +each succeeding year, so that we may 'mount up again as eagles, +may run and not be weary, may walk and not faint.'" + +"And if, turning to the younger part of my hearers, I may still +more directly apply this general lesson to them. Is there no one +who, in some shape or other, does not feel the bondage of which I +have been speaking? He has something on his conscience; he has +something on his mind; extravagance, sin, debt, falsehood. Every +morning in the first few minutes after waking, it is the first +thought that occurs to him. He drives it away in the day; he +drives it off by recklessness, which only binds it more and more +closely round him. Is there any one who has ever felt, who is at +this moment feeling this grievous burden. What is the +deliverance? How shall he set himself free? In what special way +does the redemption of Christ, the free grace of God, present +itself to him? There is at least one way clear and simple. He +knows it better than anyone can tell him. It is those same words +which I used with another purpose. 'The truth shall make him +free.' It is to tell the truth to his friend, to his parent, to +any one, whosoever it be, from whom he is concealing that which +he ought to make known. One word of open, frank disclosure--one +resolution to act sincerely and honestly by himself and others, +one ray of truth let into that dark corner will indeed set the +whole man free." + +"_Liberavi animam meam_. 'I have delivered my soul.' What a +faithful expression is this of the relief, the deliverance +effected by one strong effort of will in one moment of time. 'I +will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I +have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy +to be called thy son. So we heard the prodigal's confession this +morning. So may the thought well spring up in the minds of any +who in the course of this last year have wandered into sin, have +found themselves beset with evil habits of wicked idleness, of +wretched self-indulgence. Now that you are indeed in the literal +sense of the word about to rise and go to your father, now that +you will be able to shake off the bondage of bad companionship, +now that the whole length of this long absence will roll between +you and the past, take a long breath; break off the yoke of your +sin, of your fault, of your wrong doing, of your folly, of your +perverseness, of your pride, of your vanity, of your weakness; +break it off by truth; break it off by one stout effort, in one +steadfast prayer; break it off by innocent and free enjoyment; +break it off by honest work. Put your 'hand to the nail and your +right hand to the workman's hammer;' strike through the enemy +which has ensnared you, pierce and strike him through and +through. However powerful he seems, at your feet he will bow, he +will fall, he will lie down; at your feet he will bow and fall, +and where he bows, there will he rise up no more. So let all +thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love Thee be as +the sun when he goeth forth in his might.'" + +* This quotation is from the sermon preached by Dr. Stanley +before the University, on Act Sunday, 1859 (published by J. H. +Parker, of Oxford). I hope the distinguished professor whose +words they are will pardon the liberty I have taken in quoting +them. No words of my own could have given so vividly what I +wanted to say. + +The two friends separated themselves from the crowd in the porch +and walked away, side by side, towards their college. + +"Well, that wasn't a bad move of ours. It is worth something to +hear a man preach that sort of doctrine," said Hardy. + +"How does he get to know it all?" said Tom, meditatively. + +"All what? I don't see your puzzle." + +"Why, all sorts of things that are in a fellow's mind--what he +thinks about the first thing in the morning, for instance." + +"Pretty much like the rest of us, I take it; by looking at home. +You don't suppose university preachers are unlike you and me." + +"Well, I don't know. Now do you think he ever had anything on his +mind that was always coming up and plaguing him, and which he +never told to anybody?" + +"Yes, I should think so; most of us must have had." + +"Have you?" + +"Ay, often and often." + +"And you think his remedy the right one?" + +"The only one. Make a clean breast of it and the sting is gone. +There's a great deal to be done afterwards, of course; but there +can be no question about step No. 1." + +"Did you ever owe a hundred pounds that you couldn't pay?" said +Tom, with a sudden effort; and his secret had hardly passed his +lips before he felt a relief which surprised himself. + +"My dear fellow," said Hardy, stopping in the street "you don't +mean to say you are speaking of yourself?" + +"I do, though," said Tom, "and it has been on my mind ever since +Easter term, and has spoilt my temper and everything--that and +something else that you know of. You must have seen me getting +more and more ill-tempered, I'm sure; and I have thought of it +the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night; and +tried to drive the thought away just as he said one did in his +sermon. By Jove, I thought he knew all about it, for he looked +right at me, just when he came to that place." + +"But, Brown, how do you mean you owe a hundred pounds? You +haven't read much certainly; but you haven't hunted, or gambled, +or tailored much, or gone into any other extravagant folly. You +must be dreaming." + +"Am I though? Come up to my rooms and I'll tell you all about it; +I feel better already now I've let it out. I'll send over for +your commons, and we'll have some lunch." + +Hardy followed his friend in much trouble of mind, considering in +himself whether with the remainder of his savings he could not +make up the sum which Tom had named. Fortunately for both of them +a short calculation showed him that he could not, and he gave up +the idea of delivering his friend in this summary manner with a +sigh. He remained closeted with Tom for an hour, and then came +out, looking serious still, but not uncomfortable, and went down +to the river. He sculled down to Sandford, bathed in the lasher, +and returned in time for chapel. He stayed outside afterwards, +and Tom came up to him and seized his arm. + +"I've done it, old fellow," he said; "look here;" and produced a +letter. Hardy glanced at the direction, and saw that it was to +his father. + +"Come along and post it," said Tom, "and then I shall feel all +right." + +They walked off quickly to the post-office and dropped the letter +into the box. + +"There," he said, as it disappeared, "_liberavi animam meam_. I +owe the preacher a good turn for that; I've a good mind to write +and thank him. Fancy the poor old governor's face to-morrow at +breakfast!" + +"Well, you seem to take it easy enough now," said Hardy. + +"I can't help it. I tell you I haven't felt so jolly this two +months. What a fool I was not to have done it before. After all +now I come to think of it, I can pay it myself, at least as soon +as I am of age, for I know I've some money--a legacy or +something--coming to me then. But that isn't what I care about +now." + +"I'm very glad, though, that you have the money of your own." + +"Yes, but the having told it is all the comfort. Come along, and +let's see whether these boys are come. The old Pig ought to be in +by this time, and I want them to dine in hall. It's only ten +months since I came up on it to matriculate, and it seems twenty +years. But I'm going to be a boy again for to-night; you'll see +if I'm not." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX--THE LONG VACATION LETTER-BAG. + +"June 24, 184-. + +"My Dear Tom,--Your letter came to hand this morning, and it has, +of course, given your mother and me much pain. It is not the +money that we care about, but that our son should have +deliberately undertaken, or pretended to undertake, what he must +have known at the time he could not perform himself. + +"I have written to my bankers to pay 100L. at once to your +account at the Oxford Bank. I have also requested my solicitor to +go over to Oxford, and he will probably call on you the day after +you receive this. You say that this person who holds your note of +hand is now in Oxford. You will see him in the presence of my +solicitor, to whom you will hand the note when you have recovered +it. I shall consider afterwards what further steps will have to +be taken in the matter. + +"You will not be of age for a year. It will be time enough then +to determine whether you will repay the balance of this money out +of the legacy to which you will be entitled under your +grandfather's will. In the meantime, I shall deduct at the rate +of 50L. a year from your allowance and I shall hold your bond in +honor to reduce your expenditure by this amount. You are no +longer a boy, and one of the first duties which a man owes to his +friends and to society is to live within his income. + +"I make this advance to you on two conditions. First, that you +will never again put your hand to a note or bill in a transaction +of this kind. If you have money, lend it or spend it. You may +lend or spend foolishly, but that is not the point here; at any +rate you are dealing with what is your own. But in transactions +of this kind you are dealing with what is not your own. A +gentleman should shrink from the possibility of having to come on +others, even on his own father, for the fulfillment of his +obligations, as he would from a lie. I would sooner see a son of +mine in his grave than crawling on through life a slave to wants +and habits which he must gratify at other people's expense. + +"My second condition is, that you put an end to your acquaintance +with these two gentlemen who have led you into this scrape, and +have divided the proceeds of your joint note between them. They +are both your seniors in standing, you say, and they appear to be +familiar with this plan of raising money at the expense of other +people. The plain English word for such doings is, swindling. +What pains me most is, that you have become intimate with young +men of this kind. I am not sure that it will not be my duty to +lay the whole matter before the authorities of the college. You +do not mention their names, and I respect the feeling which has +led you not to mention them. I shall know them quite soon enough +through my solicitor, who will forward me a copy of the note of +hand and signatures in due course. + +"Your letter makes general allusion to other matters; and I +gather from it that you are dissatisfied with the manner in which +you have spent your first year at Oxford. I do not ask for +specific confessions, which you seem inclined to offer me; in +fact, I would sooner not have them, unless there is any other +matter in which you want assistance or advice from me. I know +from experience that Oxford is a place full of temptation of all +kinds, offered to young men at the most critical time of their +lives. Knowing this, I have deliberately accepted the +responsibility of sending you there, and I do not repent it. I am +glad that you are dissatisfied with your first year. If you had +not been I should have felt much more anxious about your second. +Let bygones be bygones between you and me. You know where to go +for strength, and to make confessions which no human ear should +hear, for no human judgment can weigh the cause. The secret +places of a man's heart are for himself and God. Your mother +sends her love. + +"I am, ever your affectionate father,--JOHN BROWN." + +June 26th, 184-. + +"MY DEAR BOY,--I am not sorry that you have taken my last letter +as you have done. It is quite right to be sensitive on these +points, and it will have done you no harm to have fancied for +forty-eight hours that you had in my judgment lost caste as a +gentleman. But now I am very glad to be able to ease your mind on +this point. You have done a very foolish thing; but it is only +the habit, and the getting others to bind themselves, and not the +doing it oneself for others, which is disgraceful. You are going +to pay honourably for your folly, and will owe me neither thanks +nor money in the transaction. I have chosen my own terms for +repayment, which you have accepted, and so the financial question +is disposed of. + +"I have considered what you say as to your companions--friends I +will not call them--and will promise you not to take any further +steps, or to mention the subject to anyone. But I must insist on +my second condition, that you avoid all further intimacy with +them. I do not mean that you are to cut them, or do anything that +will attract attention. But, no more intimacy. + +"And now, my dear boy, as to the rest of your letter. Mine must +indeed have failed to express my meaning. God forbid that there +should not be the most perfect confidence between us. There is +nothing which I desire or value more. I only question whether +special confessions will conduce to it. My experience is against +them. I almost doubt whether they can be perfectly honest between +man and man; and, taking into account the difference of our ages, +it seems to be much more likely that we should misunderstand one +another. But having said this, I leave it to you to follow your +own conscience in the matter. If there is any burthen which I can +help you to bear, it will be my greatest pleasure, as it is my +duty, to do it. So now, say what you please, or say no more. If +you speak, it will be to one who has felt and remembers a young +man's trials. + +"We hope you will be able to come home to-morrow, or the next +day, at latest. Your mother is longing to see you, and I should +be glad to have you here a day or two before the assizes, which +are held next week. I should rather like you to accompany me to +them, as it will give me the opportunity of introducing you to my +brother magistrates from other parts of the county, whom you are +not likely to meet elsewhere, and it is a good thing for a young +man to know his own county well. + +"The cricket club is very flourishing, you will be glad to hear, +and they have put off their best matches till your return; so you +are in great request, you see. I am told that the fishing is very +good this year, and am promised several days for you in the club +water. + +"September is a long way off, but there is nothing like being +before hand; I have put your name down for a license; and it is +time you should have a good gun of your own; so I have ordered +one for you from a man who has lately settled in the county. He +was Purdy's foreman, with whom I used to build, and, I can see, +understands his business thoroughly. His locks are as good as any +I have ever seen. I have told him to make the stock rather +longer, and not quite so straight as that of my old double with +which you shot last year. I think I remember you criticized my +weapon on these points; but there will be time for you to alter +the details after you get home, if you disapprove of my orders. +It will be more satisfactory if it is built under your own eye. + +"If you continue in the mind for a month's reading with your +friend Mr. Hardy, we will arrange it towards the end of the +vacation; but would he not come here? From what you say we should +very much like to know him. Pray ask him from me whether he will +pass the last month of the vacation here, reading with you. I +should like you to be his first regular pupil. Of course this +will be my affair. And now, God bless you, and come home as soon +as you can. Your mother sends her best love. + +"Ever your most affectionate, + +"JOHN BROWN." + +"ENGLEBOURN RECTORY, +"June 28th, 184-' + +"DEAREST MARY;--How good of you to write to me so soon! Your +letter has come like a gleam of sunshine. I am in the midst of +worries already. Indeed, as you know, I could never quite throw +off the fear of what might be happening here, while we were +enjoying ourselves at Oxford, and it has all turned out even +worse than I expected. I shall never be able to go away again in +comfort, I think. And yet, if I had been here, I don't know that +I could have done any good. It is so very sad that poor papa is +unable to attend to his magistrate's business, and he has been +worse than usual, quite laid up in fact, since our return. There +is no other magistrate--not even a gentleman in the place, as you +know, except the curate; and they will not listen to him, even if +he would interfere in their quarrels. But he says he will not +meddle with secular matters; and, poor man, I cannot blame him, +for it is very easy and sad and wearing to be mixed up in it all. + +"But now I must tell you all my troubles. You remember the men +whom we saw mowing together just before we went to Oxford. Betty +Winburn's son was one of them, and I am afraid the rest are not +at all good company for him. When they had finished papa's hay, +they went to mow for Farmer Tester. You must remember him, dear, +I am sure; the tall, gaunt man, with heavy, thick lips and a +broken nose, and the top of his head quite flat, as if it had +been cut off a little above his eyebrows. He is a very miserly +man, and a hard master; at least all the poor people tell me so, +and he looks cruel. I have always been afraid of him, and +disliked him, for I remember as a child hearing papa complain how +troublesome he was in the vestry; and except old Simon, who, I +believe, only does it from perverseness, I have never heard +anybody speak well of him. + +"The first day that the men went to mow for Farmer Tester, he +gave them sour beer to drink. You see, dear, they bargained to +mow for so much money and their beer. They were very discontented +at this, and they lost a good deal of time going to complain to +him about it, and they had high words with him. + +"The men said the beer wasn't fit for pigs, and the farmer said +it was quite good enough 'for such as they,' and if they didn't +like his beer they might buy their own. In the evening, too, he +came down and complained that the mowing was bad, and then there +were more high words, for the men are very jealous about their +work. However they went to work as usual the next morning, and +all might have gone off quietly, but in the day Farmer Tester +found two pigs in his turnip field which adjoins the common, and +had them put in the pound. One of these pigs belonged to Betty +Winburn's son, and the other to one of the men who was mowing +with him; so, when they came home at night, they found what had +happened. + +"The constable is our pound-keeper, the little man who amused you +so much; he plays the bass-viol in church. When he puts any +beasts into the pound he cuts a stick in two, and gives one piece +to the person who brings the beasts, and keeps the other himself, +and the owner of the beasts has to bring the other end of the +stick to him before he can let them out. Therefore, the owner, +you see, must go to the person who has pounded his beasts, and +make a bargain with him for payment of the damage which has been +done, and so get back the other end of the stick, which they call +the 'tally,' to produce to the pound-keeper. + +"Well, the men went off to the constable's when they heard their +pigs were pounded, to find who had the 'tally,' and, when they +found it was Farmer Tester, they went in a body to his house to +remonstrate with him, and learn what he set the damages at. The +farmer used dreadful language to them, I hear, and said they +weren't fit to have pigs, and must pay half a crown for each pig, +before they could have the 'tally;' and the men irritated him by +telling him that his fences were a shame to the parish, because +he was too stingy to have them mended, and that the pigs couldn't +have found half a crown's worth of turnips in the whole field, +for he never put any manure on it except what he could get off +the road, which ought to belong to the poor. At last the farmer +drove them away saying he should stop the money out of the price +he was to pay for their mowing. + +"Then there was very near being a riot in the parish; for some of +the men are very reckless people, and they went in the evening +and blew horns and beat kettles before his house, till the +constable, who has behaved very well, persuaded them to go away. + +"In the morning one of the pigs had been taken out of the pound; +not Betty's son's, I am glad to say--for no doubt it was very +wrong of the men to take it out. The farmer was furious, and went +with the constable in the morning to find the pig, but they could +hear nothing of it anywhere. James Pope, the man to whom it +belonged, only laughed at them, and said he never could keep his +pig in himself, because it was grandson to one of the acting pigs +that went about to the fairs, and all the pigs of that family +took to climbing naturally; so his pig must have climbed out of +the pound. This of course was all a story; the men had lifted the +pig out of the pound, and then killed it, so that the farmer +might not find it, and sold the meat cheap all over the parish. +Betty went to the farmer that morning and paid the half crown, +and got her son's pig out before he came home; but Farmer Tester +stopped the other half crown out of the men's wages, which made +matters worse then ever. + +"The day that we were in the Theatre at Oxford, Farmer Tester was +away at one of the markets. He turns his big cattle out to graze +on the common, which the poor people say he has no right to do, +and in the afternoon a pony of his got into the allotments, and +Betty's son caught it, and took it to the constable, and had it +put in the pound. The constable tried to persuade him not to do +it, but it was of no use; and so, when Farmer Tester came home, +he found that his turn had come. I am afraid that he was not +sober, for I hear that he behaved dreadfully both to the +constable and to Betty's son, and, when he found that he could +not frighten them, he declared he would have the law of them if +it cost him twenty pounds. So in the morning he went to fetch his +lawyer, and when we got home you can fancy what a scene it was. + +"You remember how poorly papa was when you left us at Lambourn. +By the time we got home he was quite knocked up, and so nervous +that he was fit for nothing except to have a quiet cup of tea in +his own room. I was sure as we drove up the street, there was +something the matter. The ostler was watching outside the Red +Lion, and ran in as soon as we came in sight; and, as we passed +the door, out came Farmer Tester, looking very flushed in the +face, and carrying his great iron-handled whip, and a person with +him, who I found was his lawyer, and they marched after the +carriage. Then the constable was standing at his door too, and he +came after us, and there was a group of men outside the rectory +gate. We had not been in the house five minutes before a servant +came in to say that Farmer Tester and a gentlemen wanted to see +papa on particular business. Papa sent out word that he was very +unwell, and that it was not the proper time to come on business; +he would see them the next day at twelve o'clock. But they would +not go away, and then papa asked me to go out and see them. You +can fancy how disagreeable it was; and I was so angry with them +for coming, when they knew how nervous papa is after a journey, +that I could not have patience to persuade them to leave; and so +at last they made poor papa see them after all. + +"He was lying on a sofa, and quite unfit to cope with a hard bad +man like Farmer Tester, and a fluent plausible lawyer. They told +their story all their own way, and the farmer declared that the +man had tempted the pony into the allotment with corn. And the +lawyer said that the constable had no right to keep the pony in +the pound, that he was liable to all sorts of punishments. They +wanted papa to make an order at once for the pound to be opened, +and I think he would have done so, but I asked him in a whisper +to send for the constable, and hear what he had to say. The +constable was waiting in the kitchen, so he came in in a minute. +You can't think how well he behaved; I have quite forgiven him +all his obstinacy about the singing. He told the whole story +about the pigs, and how Farmer Tester had stopped money out of +the men's wages. And when the lawyer tried to frighten him, he +answered him quite boldly, that he mightn't know so much about +the law, but he knew what was always the custom long before his +time at Englebourn about the pound, and if Farmer Tester wanted +his beast out, he must bring the 'tally' like another man. Then +the lawyer appealed to papa about the law, and said how absurd it +was, and that if such a custom were to be upheld, the man who had +the 'tally' might charge 100L. for the damage. And poor papa +looked through his law books, and could find nothing about it at +all; and while he was doing it Farmer Tester began to abuse the +constable, and said he sided with all the good-for-nothing +fellows in the parish, and that bad blood would come of it. But +the constable quite fired up at that, and told him that it was +such as he who made bad blood in the parish, and that poor folks +had their rights as well as their betters, and should have them +as long as he was constable. If he got papa's order to open the +pound, he supposed he must do it, and 'twas not for him to say +what was law, but Henry Winburn had had to get the 'tally' for +his pig from Farmer Tester, and what was fair for one was fair +for all. + +"I was afraid papa would have made the order, but the lawyer said +something at last which made him take the other side. So he +settled that the farmer should pay five shillings for the +'tally,' which was what he had taken from Betty, and had stopped +out of the wages, and that was the only order he would make, and +the lawyer might do what he pleased about it. The constable +seemed satisfied with this, and undertook to take the money down +to Harry Winburn, for Farmer Tester declared he would sooner let +the pony starve than go himself. And so papa got rid of them +after an hour and more of this talk. The lawyer and Farmer Tester +went away grumbling and very angry to the Red Lion. I was very +anxious to hear how the matter ended; so I went after the +constable to ask him to come back and see me when he had settled +it all, and about nine o'clock he came. He had had a very hard +job to get Harry Winburn to take the money, and give up the +'tally.' The men said that, if Farmer Tester could make them pay +half-a-crown for a pig in his turnips, which were no bigger than +radishes, he ought to pay ten shillings at least for his pony +trampling down their corn, which was half grown, and I couldn't +help thinking this seemed very reasonable. In the end, however, +the constable had persuaded them to take the money, and so the +pony was let out. + +"I told him how pleased I was at the way he had behaved, but the +little man didn't seem quite satisfied himself. He should have +liked to have given the lawyer a piece of his mind, he said, only +he was no scholar, 'but I've a got all the feelin's of a man, +miss, though I medn't have the ways o' bringin' on 'em out.' You +see I'm quite coming round to your opinion about him. But when I +said that I hoped all the trouble was over, he shook his head, +and he seems to think that the men will not forget it, and that +some of the wild ones will be trying to pay Farmer Tester out in +the winter nights, and I could see he was very anxious about +Harry Winburn; so I promised him to go and see Betty. + +"I went down to her cottage yesterday, and found her very low, +poor old soul, about her son. She has had a bad attack again, and +I am afraid her heart is not right. She will not live long if she +has much to make her anxious, and how is that to be avoided? For +her son's courting is all going wrong, she can see, though he +will not tell her anything about it; but he gets more moody and +restless, she says, and don't take a pride in anything, not even +in his flowers or his allotment; and he takes to going about, +more and more every day, with these men, who will be sure to lead +him into trouble. + +"After I left her, I walked up to the Hawk's Lynch, to see +whether the view and the air would not do me good. And it did do +me a great deal of good, dear, and I thought of you, and when I +should see your bright face and hear your happy laugh again. The +village looked so pretty and peaceful. I could hardly believe, +while I was up there, that there were all these miserable +quarrels and heartburnings going on in it. I suppose they go on +everywhere, but one can't help feeling as if there was something +specially hard in those which come under one's own eyes, and +touch one's self. And then they are so frivolous, and everything +might go on so comfortably if people would only be reasonable. I +ought to have been a man, I am sure, and then I might, perhaps, +be able to do more, and should have more influence. If poor papa +were only well and strong! + +"But, dear, I shall tire you with all these long histories and +complainings. I have run on till I have no room left for anything +else; but you can't think what a comfort it is to me to write it +all to you, for I have no one to tell it to. I feel so much +better, and more cheerful, since I sat down to write this. You +must give my dear love to uncle and aunt, and let me hear from +you again whenever you have time. If you could come over again +and stay for a few days, it would be very kind; but I must not +press it, as there is nothing to attract you here, only we might +talk over all that we did and saw at Oxford.--Ever, dearest Mary, +your affectionate cousin, + +"Katie" + +"P. S.--I should like to have the pattern of the jacket you wore +the last day at Oxford. Could you cut it out in thin paper and +send it in your next?" + +"July-,184-. + +"MY DEAR BROWN,--I was very glad to see your hand, and to hear +such flourishing accounts of your vacation doings. You won't get +any like announcement of me, for cricket has not yet come so far +west as this, at least not to settle. We have a few pioneers and +squatters in the villages; but, I am sorry to say, nothing yet +like matches between the elevens of districts. Neighbors we have +none, except the rector; so I have plenty of spare time, some of +which I feel greatly disposed to devote to you; and I hope you +won't find me too tedious to read. + +"It is very kind of your father to wish that you should be my +first pupil, and to propose that I should spend the last month of +this vacation with you in Berkshire. But I do not like to give up +a whole month. My father is getting old and infirm, and I can see +that it would be a great trial to him, although he urges it, and +is always telling me not to let him keep me at home. What do you +say to meeting me half way? I mean, that you should come here for +half of the time, and then that I should return with you for the +last fortnight of the vacation. This I could manage perfectly. + +"But you cannot in any case be my first pupil; for not to mention +that I have been, as you know, teaching for some years, I have a +pupil here, at this minute. You are not likely to guess who it +is, though you know him well enough--perhaps I should say too +well--so, in a word, it is Blake. I had not been at home three +days before I got a letter from him, asking me to take him, and +putting it in such a way that I couldn't refuse. I would sooner +not have had him, as I had already got out of taking a reading +party with some trouble, and felt inclined to enjoy myself here +in dignified idleness till next term. But what can you do when a +man puts it to you as a great personal favor, &c. &c.? So I wrote +to accept. You may imagine my disgust a day or two afterwards, at +getting a letter from an uncle of his, some official person in +London apparently, treating the whole matter in a _business_ +point of view, and me as if I were a training groom. He is good +enough to suggest a stimulant to me in the shape of extra pay and +his future patronage in the event of his nephew's taking a first +in Michaelmas term. If I had received this letter before, I think +it would have turned the scale, and I should have refused. But +the thing was done, and Blake isn't fairly responsible for his +relative's views. + +"So here he has been for a fortnight. He took a lodging in the +village at first; but of course my dear old father's ideas of +hospitality were shocked at this, and here he is, our inmate. + +"He reads fiercely by fits and starts. A feeling of personal +hatred against the examiners seems to urge him on more than any +other motive; but this will not be strong enough to keep him to +regular work, and without regular work he won't do, +notwithstanding all his cleverness, and he is a marvellously +clever fellow. So the first thing I have to do is to get him +steadily to the collar, and how to do it is a pretty particular +puzzle. For he hasn't a grain of enthusiasm in his composition, +nor any power, as far as I can see, of throwing himself into the +times and scenes of which he is reading. The philosophy of Greece +and the history of Rome are matters of perfect indifference to +him--to be got up by catch-words and dates for examination and +nothing more. I don't think he would care a straw if Socrates had +never lived, or Hannibal had destroyed Rome. The greatest names +and deeds of the old world are just so many dead counters to +him--the Jewish just as much as the rest. I tried him with the +story of the attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to conquer the Jews, +and the glorious rising of all that was living in the Holy Land +under the Maccabees. Not it bit of it; I couldn't get a spark out +of him. He wouldn't even read the story because it is in the +Apocrypha, and so, as he said, the d----d examiners couldn't ask +him anything about it in the schools. + +"Then his sense of duty is quiet undeveloped. He has no notion of +going on doing anything disagreeable because he ought. So here I +am at fault again. Ambition he has in abundance; in fact so +strongly, that very likely it may in the end pull him through, +and make him work hard enough for his Oxford purposes at any +rate. But it wants repressing rather than encouragement, and I +certainly shan't appeal to it. + +"You will begin to think I dislike him and want to get rid of +him, but it isn't the case. You know what a good temper he has, +and how remarkably well he talks; so he makes himself very +pleasant, and my father evidently enjoys his company; and then to +be in constant intercourse with a subtle intellect like his, is +pleasantly exciting, and keeps one alive and at high pressure, +though one can't help always wishing that it had a little heat in +it. You would be immensely amused if you could drop in on us. + +"I think I have told you or you must have seen it for yourself, +that my father's principles are true blue, as becomes a sailor of +the time of the great war, while his instincts and practice are +liberal in the extreme. Our rector, on the contrary, is liberal +in principles, but an aristocrat of the aristocrats in instinct +and practice. They are always ready enough therefore to do +battle, and Blake delights in the war, and fans it and takes part +in it as a sort of free lance, laying little logical pitfalls for +the combatants alternately, with that deferential manner of his. +He gets some sort of intellectual pleasure, I suppose, out of +seeing where they ought to tumble in; for tumble in they don't, +but clear his pit-falls in their stride--at least my father +does--quite innocent of having neglected to distribute his middle +term; and the rector, if he has some inkling of these traps, +brushes them aside, and disdains to spend powder on anyone but +his old adversary and friend. I employ myself in trying to come +down ruthlessly on Blake himself; and so we spend our evenings +after dinner, which comes off at the primitive hour of five. We +used to dine at three, but my father has comformed now to college +hours. If the rector does not come, instead of argumentative +talk, we get stories out of my father. In the morning we bathe, +and boat, and read. So, you see, he and I have plenty of one +another's company; and it is certainly odd that we get on so well +with so very few points of sympathy. But, luckily, besides his +good temper and cleverness, he has plenty of humor. On the whole, +I think we shall rub through the two months which he is to spend +here without getting to hate one another, though there is little +chance of our becoming friends. Besides putting some history and +science into him (scholarship he does not need), I shall be +satisfied if I can make him give up his use of the pronoun 'you' +before he goes. In talking of the corn laws, or foreign policy, +or India, or any other political subject, however interesting, he +never will identify himself as an Englishman; and 'you do this,' +or 'you expect that' is for ever in his mouth, speaking of his +own countrymen. I believe if the French were to land to-morrow on +Portland, he would comment on our attempts to dislodge them as if +he had no concern with the business except as a looker-on. + +"You will think all this rather a slow return for your jolly +gossiping letter, full of cricket, archery, fishing, and I know +not what pleasant goings-on. But what is one to do? one can only +write about what is one's subject of interest for the time being, +and Blake stands in that relation to me just now. I should prefer +it otherwise, but _si on n'a pas ce qu'on aime il faut aimer ce +qu'on a_. I have no incident to relate; these parts get on +without incidents somehow, and without society. I wish there were +some, particularly ladies' society. I break the tenth commandment +constantly, thinking of Commemoration, and that you are within a +ride of Miss Winter and her cousin. When you see them next, pray +present my respectful compliments. It is a sort of consolation to +think that one may cross their fancy for a moment and be +remembered as part of a picture which gives them pleasure. With +such piece of sentiment I may as well shut up. Don't you forget +my message now, and-- + +"Believe me, ever yours most truly, + +"JOHN HARDY. + +"P.S.--I mean to speak to Blake, when I get a chance, of that +wretched debt which you have paid, unless you object. I should +think better of him if he seemed more uncomfortable about his +affairs. After all he may be more so than I think, for he is very +reserved on such subjects." + +"ENGLEBOURN RECTORY, +"July, 184-' + +"DEAREST MARY.--I send the coachman with this note in order that +you may not be anxious about me. I have just returned from poor +Betty Winburn's cottage to write it. She is very very ill, and I +do not think can last out more than a day or two; and she seems +to cling to me so that I cannot have the heart to leave her. +Indeed, if I could make up my mind to do it, I should never get +her poor white eager face out of my head all day, so that I +should be very bad company, and quite out of place at your party, +making everybody melancholy and uncomfortable who came near me. +So, dear, I am not coming. Of course it is a great +disappointment. I had set my heart on being with you, and +enjoying it all thoroughly; and even at breakfast this morning +knew of nothing to hinder me. My dress is actually lying on the +bed at this minute, and it looks very pretty, especially the +jacket like yours, which I and Hopkins have managed to make up +from the pattern you sent, though you forgot the sleeves, which +made it rather hard to do. Ah, well; it is no use to think of how +pleasant things would have been which one cannot have. You must +write me an account of how it all went off, dear; or perhaps you +can manage to get over here before long to tell me. + +"I must now go back to poor Betty. She is such a faithful, +patient old thing, and has been such a good woman all her life +that there is nothing painful in being by her now, and one feels +sure that it will be much happier and better for her to be at +rest. If she could only feel comfortable about her son, I am sure +she would think so herself. Oh, I forgot to say that her attack +was brought on by the shock of hearing that he had been summoned +for an assault. Farmer Tester's son, a young man about his own +age, has, it seems, been of late waylaying Simon's daughter and +making love to her. It is so very hard to make out the truth in +matters of this kind. Hopkins says she is a dressed-up little +minx who runs after all the young men in the parish; but really, +from what I see and hear from other persons, I think she is a +good girl enough. Even Betty, who looks on her as the cause of +most of her own trouble, has never said a word to make me think +that she is at all a light person, or more fond of admiration +than any other good-looking girl in the parish. + +"But those Testers are a very wicked set. You cannot think what a +misfortune it is in a place like this to have these rich families +with estates of their own, in which the young men begin to think +themselves above the common farmers. They ape the gentlemen, and +give themselves great airs, but of course no gentleman will +associate with them, as they are quite uneducated; and the +consequence is that they live a great deal at home, and give +themselves up to all kinds of wickedness. This young Tester is +one of these. His father is a very bad old man, and does a great +deal of harm here; and the son is following in his steps, and is +quite as bad, or worse. So you see that I shall not easily +believe that Harry Winburn has been much in the wrong. However, +all I know of it at present is that young Tester was beaten by +Harry yesterday evening in the village street, and that they came +to papa at once for a summons. + +"Oh, here is the coachman ready to start; so I must conclude, +dear, and go back to my patient. I shall often think of you +during the day. I am sure you will have a charming party. With +best love to all, believe me, ever dearest, + +"Your most affectionate, + +"KATIE. + +"P. S.--I am very glad that uncle and aunt take to Tom, and that +he is staying with you for some days. You will find him very +useful in making the party go off well, I am sure." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX--AMUSEMENTS AT BARTON MANOR + +"A letter, Miss, from Englebourn," said a footman, coming up to +Mary with the note given at the end of the last chapter, on a +waiter. She took it and tore it open; and while she is reading +it, the reader may be introduced to the place and company in +which we find her. The scene is a large old-fashioned square +brick house, backed by fine trees, in the tops of which the rooks +live, and the jackdaws and starlings in the many holes which time +has worn in the old trunks; but they are all away on this fine +summer morning, seeking their meal and enjoying themselves in the +neighbouring fields. In the front of the house is a pretty flower +garden, separated by a haw-haw from a large pasture, sloping +southwards gently down to a stream, which glides along through +water-cress and willow beds to join the Kennet. The beasts have +all been driven off, and on the upper part of the field, nearest +the house, two men are fixing up a third pair of targets on the +rich short grass. A large tent is pitched near the archery +ground, to hold quivers and bow-cases, and luncheon, and to +shelter lookers-on from the mid-day sun. Beyond the brook, a +pleasant, well-timbered, country lies, with high chalk-downs for +an horizon, ending in Marlborough hill, faint and blue in the +west. This is the place which Mary's father has taken for the +summer and autumn, and where she is fast becoming the pet of the +neighborhood. + +It will not perhaps surprise our readers to find that our hero +has managed to find his way to Barton Manor in the second week of +the vacation, and having made the most of his opportunities, is +acknowledged as a cousin by Mr. and Mrs. Porter. Their boys are +at home for the holidays, and Mr. Porter's great wish is that +they should get used to the country in their summer holidays. And +as they have spent most of their childhood and boyhood in London, +to which he has been tied pretty closely hitherto, this is a +great opportunity. The boys only wanted a preceptor, and Tom +presented himself at the right moment, and soon became the hero +of Charley and Neddy Porter. He taught them to throw flies and +bait crawfish nets, to bat-fowl, and ferret for rabbits, and to +saddle and ride their ponies, besides getting up games of cricket +in the spare evenings, which kept him away from Mr. Porter's +dinner-table. This last piece of self-denial, as he considered +it, quite won over that gentleman, who agreed with his wife that +Tom was just the sort of companion they would like for the boys, +and so the house was thrown open to him. + +The boys were always clamouring for him when he was away, and +making their mother write off to press him to come again; which +he, being a very good-natured young man, and particularly fond of +boys, was ready enough to do. So this was the third visit he had +paid in a month. + +Mr. and Mrs. Brown wondered a little that he should be so very +fond of the young Porters, who were good boys enough, but very +much like other boys of thirteen and fifteen, of whom there were +several in the neighborhood. He had indeed just mentioned an +elder sister, but so casually that their attention had not been +drawn to the fact, which had almost slipped out of their +memories. On the other hand, Tom seemed so completely to identify +himself with the boys and their pursuits, that it never occurred +to their father and mother, who were doatingly fond of them, +that, after all, they might not be the only attraction. Mary +seemed to take very little notice of him, and went on with her +own pursuits much as usual. It was true that she liked keeping +the score at cricket, and coming to look at them fishing or +rabbiting in her walks; but all that was very natural. It is a +curious and merciful dispensation of Providence that most fathers +and mothers seem never to be capable of remembering their own +experience, and will probably go on till the end of time thinking +of their sons of twenty and daughters of sixteen or seventeen as +mere children who may be allowed to run about together as much as +they please. And, where it is otherwise, the results are not very +different, for there are certain mysterious ways of holding +intercourse implanted in the youth of both sexes, against which +no vigilance can prevail. + +So on this, her great fete day, Tom had been helping Mary all the +morning in dressing the rooms with flowers and arranging all the +details--where people were to sit at cold dinner; how to find the +proper number of seats; how the dining-room was to be cleared in +time for dancing when the dew began to fall. In all which matters +there were many obvious occasions for those little attentions +which are much valued by persons in like situations; and Tom was +not sorry that the boys had voted the whole preparations a bore, +and had gone off to the brook to 'gropple' in the bank for +crayfish till the shooting began. The arrival of the note had +been the first _contre-temps_ of the morning, and they were now +expecting guests to arrive every minute. + +"What is the matter? No bad news I hope," he said, seeing her +vexed expression. + +"Why, Katie can't come. I declare I could sit down and cry. I +sha'n't enjoy the party a bit now, and I wish it were all over." + +"I am sure Katie would be very unhappy if she thought you were +going to spoil your day's pleasure on her account." + +"Yes, I know she would. But it is so provoking when I had looked +forward so to having her." + +"You have never told me why she cannot come. She was quite full +of it all a few days since." + +"Oh, there is a poor old woman in the village dying, who is a +great friend of Katie's. Here is her letter; let me see," she +said, glancing over it to see that there is nothing in it that +she did not wish him to read, "you may read it if you like." + +Tom began reading. "Betty Winburn," he said, when he came to the +name, "what, poor dear old Betty? why I've known her ever since I +was born. She used to live in our parish, and I haven't seen her +this eight years nearly. And her boy Harry, I wonder what has +become of him?" + +"You will see if you read on," said Mary; and so he read to the +end, and then folded it up and returned it. + +"So poor old Betty is dying. Well she was always a good soul, and +very kind to me when I was a boy. I should like to see her once +again, and perhaps I might be able to do something for her son." + +"Why should we not ride over to Englebourn to-morrow? They will +be glad to get us out of the way while the house is being +straightened." + +"I should like it of all things, if it can be managed." + +"Oh, I will manage it somehow, for I must go and see that dear +Katie. I do feel so ashamed of myself when I think of all the +good she is doing, and I do nothing but put flowers about, and +play the piano. Isn't she an angel, now?" + +"Of course she is." + +"Yes, but I won't have that sort of matter-of-course +acquiescence. Now--do you really mean that Katie is as good as an +angel?" + +"As seriously as if I saw the wings growing out of her shoulders, +and dew drops hanging on them." + +"You deserve to have some thing not at all like wings growing out +of your head. How is it that you never see when I don't want you +to talk your nonsense?" + +"How am I to talk sense about angels? I don't know anything about +them." + +"You know what I mean perfectly. I say that dear Katie is an +angel, and I mean that I don't know anything in her--no not one +single thing--which I should like to have changed. If the angels +are all as good as she"-- + +"_If_! why I shall begin to doubt your orthodoxy." + +"You don't know what I was going to say." + +"It doesn't matter what you were going to say. You couldn't have +brought that sentence into an orthodox conclusion. Oh, please +don't look so angry, now. Yes, I quite see what you mean. You can +think of Katie just as she is now in heaven without being +shocked." + +Mary paused for a moment before she answered, as if taken by +surprise at this way of putting her meaning, and then said +seriously-- + +"Indeed, I can. I think we should all be perfectly happy if we +were all as good as she is." + +"But she is not very happy herself, I am afraid." + +"Of course not. How can she be, when all the people about her are +so troublesome and selfish?" + +"I can't fancy an angel the least bit like Uncle Robert, can +you?" + +"I won't talk about angels any more. You have made me feel quite +as if I had been saying something wicked." + +"Now really it is too hard that you should lay all the blame on +me, when you began the subject yourself. You ought at least to +let me say what I have to say about angels." + +"Why, you said you knew nothing about them half a minute ago." + +"But I may have my notions, like other people. You have your +notions. Katie is your angel." + +"Well, then, what are your notions?" + +"Katie is rather too dark for my idea of an angel. I can't fancy +a dark angel." + +"Why, how can you call Katie dark!" + +"I only say she is too dark for my idea of an angel." + +"Well, go on." + +"Then, she is rather too grave!" + +"Too grave for an angel!" + +"For my idea of an angel,--one doesn't want one's angel to be +like oneself, and I am so grave, you know." + +"Yes, very. Then your angel is to be a laughing angel. A laughing +angel, and yet very sensible; never talking nonsense?" + +"Oh, I didn't say that." + +"But you said he wasn't to be like you." + +"_He_! who in the world do you mean by _he_?" + +"Why, your angel, of course." + +"My angel! You don't really suppose that my angel is to be a +man." + +"I have no time to think about it. Look, they are putting those +targets quite crooked. You are responsible for the targets; we +must go and get them straight." + +They walked across the ground towards the targets, and Tom +settled them according to his notions of opposites. + +"After all, archery is slow work," he said, when the targets were +settled satisfactorily. "I don't believe anybody really enjoys +it." + +"Now that is because you men haven't it all to yourselves. You +are jealous of any sort of game in which we can join. I believe +you are afraid of being beaten by us." + +"On the contrary, that is its only recommendation, that you can +join in it." + +"Well, I think that ought to be recommendation enough. But I +believe it is much harder than most of your games. You can't +shoot half so well as you can play cricket, can you?" + +"No, because I never practice. It isn't exciting to be walking up +and down between two targets, and doing the same thing over and +over again. Why, you don't find it so yourself. You hardly ever +shoot." + +"Indeed, I do though, constantly." + +"Why, I have scarcely ever seen you shooting." + +"That is because you are away with the boys all day." + +"Oh, I am never too far to know what is going on. I'm sure you +have never practised for more than a quarter of an hour any day I +have been here." + +"Well, perhaps I may not have. But I tell you I am very fond of +it." + +Here the two boys came up from the brook, Neddy with his Scotch +cap full of crayfish. + +"Why, you wretched boys, where have you been? You are not fit to +be seen," said Mary, shaking the arrows at them which she was +carrying in her hand. "Go and dress directly, or you will be +late. I think I heard a carriage driving up just now." + +"Oh, there's plenty of time. Look what whackers, Cousin Tom," +said Charley, holding out one of his prizes by its back towards +Tom, while the indignant crayfish flapped its tail and worked +around with its claws, in hopes of getting hold of something to +pinch. + +"I don't believe those boys have been dry for two hours together +in daylight since you first came here," said Mary, to Tom. + +"Well, and they're all the better for it, I'm sure," said Tom. + +"Yes, that we are," said Charley. + +"I say Charley," said Tom, "your sister says she is very fond of +shooting." + +"Ay, and so she is. And isn't she a good shot too? I believe she +would beat you at fifty yards." + +"There now, you see, you need not have been so unbelieving," said +Mary. + +"Will you give her a shot at your new hat, Cousin Tom?" said +Neddy. + +"Yes, Neddy, that I will;" and he added to Mary, "I will bet you +a pair of gloves that you don't hit it in three shots." + +"Very well," said Mary; "at thirty yards." + +"No, no! fifty yards was the named distance." + +"No, fifty yards is too far. Why, you hat is not much bigger than +the gold." + +"Well, I don't mind splitting the difference; we will say forty." + +"Very well--three shots at forty yards." + +"Yes; here, Charley, run and hang my hat on that target." + +The boys rushed off with the hat--a new white one--and hung it +with a bit of string over the center of one of the targets, and +then, stepping a little aside, stood, clapping their hands, +shouting to Mary to take good aim. + +"You must string my bow," she said, handing it to him as she +buckled on her guard. "Now, do you repent? I am going to do my +best, mind, if I do shoot." + +"I scorn repentance; do your worst," said Tom, stringing the bow +and handing it back to her. "And now I will hold your arrows; +here is the forty yards." + +Mary came to the place which he had stepped, her eyes full of fun +and mischief; and he saw at once that she knew what she was +about, as she took her position and drew the first arrow. It +missed the hat by some three inches only; and the boys clapped +and shouted. + +"Too near to be pleasant," said Tom, handing the second arrow. "I +see you can shoot." + +"Well, I will let you off still." + +"Gloves and all?" + +"No, of course you must pay the gloves." + +"Shoot away, then. Ah, that will do," he cried, as the second +arrow struck considerably above the hat, "I shall get my gloves +yet," and he handed the third arrow. They were too intent on the +business in hand to observe that Mr. and Mrs. Porter and several +guests were already on the hand-bridge which crossed the haw-haw. + +Mary drew her third arrow, paused a moment, loosed it, and this +time with fatal aim. + +The boys rushed to the target, towards which Mary and Tom also +hurried, Mr. and Mrs. Porter and the new comers following more +quietly. + +"Oh, look here--what fun," said Charley, as Tom came up, holding +up the hat, spiked on the arrow, which he had drawn out of the +target. + +"What a wicked shot," he said, taking the hat and turning to +Mary. "Look here, you have actually gone through three +places--through crown, and side, and brim." + +Mary began to feel quite sorry at her own success, and looked at +the wounded hat sorrowfully. + +"Hullo, look here--here's papa and mamma and some people, and we +ain't dressed. Come along, Neddy," and the boys made off towards +the back premises, while Mary and Tom, turning round, found +themselves in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Brown, +and two or three other guests. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI--BEHIND THE SCENES + +Mr. and Mrs. Brown had a long way to drive home that evening, +including some eight miles of very indifferent chalky road over +the downs, which separate the Vale of Kennet from the Vale of +White Horse. Mr. Brown was an early man, and careful of his +horses, who responded to his care by being always well up to much +more work than they were ever put to. The drive to Barton Manor +and back in a day was a rare event in their lives. Their master, +taking this fact into consideration, was bent on giving them +plenty of time for the return journey, and had ordered his groom +to be ready to start by eight o'clock. But, that they might not +disturb the rest, by their early departure, he had sent the +carriage to the village inn, instead of to the Porter's stables. + +At the appointed time, therefore, and when the evening's +amusements were just beginning at the manor house, Mr. Brown +sought out his wife; and, after a few words of leave-taking to +their host and hostess, the two slipped quietly away; and walked +down the village. The carriage was standing before the inn all +ready for them, with the hostler and Mr. Brown's groom at the +horses' heads. The carriage was a high phaeton having a roomy +front seat with a hood to it, specially devised by Mr. Brown with +a view to his wife's comfort, and that he might with a good +conscience enjoy at the same time the pleasures of her society +and of driving his own horses. When once in her place, Mrs. Brown +was as comfortable as she would have been in the most luxurious +barouche with C springs, but the ascent was certainly rather a +drawback. The pleasure of sitting by her husband and of receiving +his assiduous help in the preliminary climb, however, more than +compensated to Mrs. Brown for this little inconvenience. + +Mr. Brown helped her up as usual, and arranged a plaid carefully +over her knees, the weather being too hot for the apron. He then +proceeded to walk round the horses, patting them, examining the +bits, and making inquiries as to how they had fed. Having +satisfied himself on these points, and fee'd the hostler, he took +the reins, seated himself by his wife, and started at a steady +pace towards the hills at the back of Barton village. + +For a minute or two neither of them spoke, Mr. Brown being +engrossed with his horses and she with her thoughts. Presently, +however, he turned to her, and, having ascertained that she was +quite comfortable, went on-- + +"Well, my dear, what do you think of them?" + +"Oh, I think they are agreeable people," answered Mrs. Brown; +"but one can scarcely judge from seeing them to-day. It is too +far for a drive; we shall not be home till midnight." + +"But I am very glad we came. After all, they are connexions +through poor Robert, and he seems anxious that they should start +well in the county. Why, he has actually written twice, you know, +about our coming up to-day. We must try to show them some +civility." + +"It is impossible to come so far often," Mrs. Brown persisted. + +"It is too far for ordinary visiting. What do you say to asking +them to come and spend a day or two with us?" + +"Certainly, my dear, if you wish it," answered Mrs. Brown, but +without much cordiality in her voice. + +"Yes, I should like it; and it will please Robert so much. We +might have him and Katie over to meet them, don't you think?" + +"Let me see," said Mrs. Brown, with much more alacrity, "Mr. and +Mrs. Porter will have the best bed-room and dressing-room; Robert +must have the south room, and Katie the chintz. Yes, that will +do; I can manage it very well." + +"And their daughter; you have forgotten her." + +"Well, you see, dear, there is no more room." + +"Why; there is the dressing-room, next to the south room, with a +bed in it. I'm sure nobody can want a better room." + +"You know, John, that Robert cannot sleep if there is the least +noise. I could never put any-one into his dressing-room; there is +only a single door between the rooms, and even if they made no +noise, the fancy that some one was sleeping there would keep him +awake all night." + +"Plague take his fancies! Robert has given way to them till he is +fit for nothing. But you can put him in the chintz room, and give +the two girls the south bed room and dressing-room." + +"What, put Robert in a room which looks north? My dear John; what +can you be thinking about?" + +Mr. Brown uttered an impatient grunt, and, as a vent to his +feelings more decorous on the whole than abusing his +brother-in-law, drew his whip more smartly than usual across the +backs of his horses. The exertion of muscle necessary to reduce +those astonished animals to their accustomed steady trot restored +his temper, and he returned to the charge-- + +"I suppose we must manage it on the second floor, then, unless +you could get a bed run up in the school-room." + +"No, dear; I really should not like to do that--it would be so +very inconvenient. We are always wanting the room for workwomen +or servants; besides, I keep my account books and other things +there." + +"Then I'm afraid it must be on the second floor. Some of the +children must be moved. The girl seems a nice girl with no +nonsense about her, and won't mind sleeping up there. Or, why not +put Katie upstairs?" + +"Indeed, I should not think of it. Katie is a dear good girl, and +I will not put anyone over her head." + +"Nor I, dear. On the contrary, I was asking you to put her over +another person's head," said Mr. Brown, laughing at his own joke, +This unusual reluctance on the part of his wife to assist in +carrying out any hospitable plans of his began to strike him; so, +not being an adept at concealing his thoughts, or gaining his +point by any attack except a direct one, after driving on for a +minute in silence, he turned suddenly on his wife, and said,-- + +"Why, Lizzie, you seem not to want to ask the girl?" + +"Well, John, I do not see the need of it at all." + +"No, and you don't want to ask her?" + +"If you must know, then, I do not." + +"Don't you like her?" + +"I do not know her well enough either to like or dislike." + +"Then, why not ask her, and see what she is like? But the truth +is, Lizzie, you have taken a prejudice against her?" + +"Well, John, I think she is a thoughtless girl, and extravagant; +not the sort of girl, in fact, that I should wish to be much with +us." + +"Thoughtless and extravagant!" said Mr. Brown, looking grave; +"how you women can be so sharp on one another! Her dress seemed +to me simple and pretty, and her manners very lady-like and +pleasing." + +"You seem to have quite forgotten about Tom's hat," said Mrs. +Brown. + +"Tom's white hat--so I had," said Mr. Brown, and he relapsed into +a low laugh at the remembrance of the scene. "I call that _his_ +extravagance, and not hers." + +"It was a new hat, and a very expensive one, which he had bought +for the vacation, and it is quite spoilt." + +"Well, my dear; really, if Tom will let girls shoot at his hats, +he must take the consequences. He must wear it with the holes, or +buy another." + +"How can he afford another, John? you know how poor he is." + +Mr. Brown drove on now for several minutes without speaking. He +knew perfectly well what his wife was coming to now, and, after +weighing in his mind the alternatives of accepting battle or +making sail and changing the subject altogether, said,-- + +"You know, my dear, he has brought it on himself. A headlong, +generous sort of youngster, like Tom, must be taught early that +he can't have his cake and eat his cake. If he likes to lend his +money, he must find out that he hasn't it to spend." + +"Yes, dear, I quite agree with you. But 50L a year is a great +deal to make him pay." + +"Not a bit too much, Lizzie. His allowance is quite enough +without it to keep him like a gentleman. Besides, after all, he +gets it in meal or in malt; I have just paid 25L for his gun." + +"I know how kind and liberal you are to him; only I am so afraid +of his getting into debt." + +"I wonder what men would do, if they hadn't some soft-hearted +woman always ready to take their parts and pull them out of +scrapes," said Mr. Brown. "Well, dear, how much do you want to +give the boy!" + +"Twenty-five pounds, just for this year. But out of my own +allowance, John." + +"Nonsense!" replied Mr. Brown; "you want your allowance for +yourself and the children." + +"Indeed, dear John, I would sooner not do it at all, then, if I +may not do it out of my own money." + +"Well, have it your own way. I believe you would always look +well-dressed, if you never bought another gown. Then, to go back +to what we were talking about just now--you will find a room for +the girl somehow?" + +"Yes, dear, certainly, as I see you are bent on it." + +"I think it would be scarcely civil not to ask her, especially if +Katie comes. And I own I think her very pretty, and have taken a +great fancy to her." + +"Isn't it odd that Tom should never have said anything about her +to us? He has talked of all the rest till I knew them quite well +before I went there." + +"No; it seems to me the most natural thing in the world." + +"Yes, dear, very natural. But I can't help wishing he had talked +about her more; I should think it less dangerous." + +"Oh, you think Master Tom is in love with her, eh?" said Mr. +Brown, laughing. + +"More unlikely things have happened. You take it very easily, +John." + +"Well, we have all been boys and girls, Lizzie. The world hasn't +altered much, I suppose, since I used to get up at five on winter +mornings, to ride some twenty miles to cover, on the chance of +meeting a young lady on a grey pony. I remember how my poor dear +old father used to wonder at it, when our hounds met close by in +a better country. I'm afraid I forgot to tell him what a pretty +creature 'Gipsy' was, and how well she was ridden." + +"But Tom is only twenty, and he must go into a profession." + +"Yes, yes; much to young, I know--too young for anything serious. +We had better see them together and then if there is anything in +it, we can keep them apart. There cannot be much the matter yet." + +"Well, dear, if you are satisfied, I am sure I am." + +And so the conversation turned on other subjects, and Mr. and +Mrs. Brown enjoyed their moonlight drive home through the +delicious summer night, and were quite sorry when the groom got +down from the hind-seat to open their own gates, at half-past +twelve. + +About the same time the festivities at Barton Manor were coming +to a close. There had been cold dinner in the tent at six, after +the great match of the day; and, after dinner, the announcement +of the scores, and the distribution of prizes to the winners. A +certain amount of toasts and speechifying followed, which the +ladies sat through with the most exemplary appearance of being +amused. When their healths had been proposed and acknowledged +they retired, and were soon followed by the younger portion of +the male sex; and, while the J. P.'s and clergymen sat quietly at +their wine, which Mr. Porter took care should be remarkably good, +and their wives went to look over the house and have tea, their +sons and daughters split up into groups, and some shot handicaps, +and some walked about and flirted, and some played at bowls and +lawn billiards. And soon the band appeared again from the +servants' hall, mightily refreshed; and dancing began on the +grass, and in due time was transferred to the tent, when the +grass got damp with the night dew; and then to the hall of the +house, when the lighting of the tent began to fail. And then +there came a supper, extemporized out of the remains of the +dinner; after which, papas and mammas began to look at their +watches, and remonstrate with daughters, coming up with sparkling +eyes and hair a little shaken out of place, and pleading for +"just one more dance." + +"You have been going on ever since one +o'clock," remonstrate the parents; "And are ready to go on till +one to-morrow," replied the children. By degrees, however, the +frequent sound of wheels was heard, and the dancers got thinner +and thinner, till, for the last half hour, some half-dozen +couples of young people danced at interminable reel, while Mr. +and Mrs. Porter, and a few of the most good-natured matrons of +the neighborhood looked on. Soon after midnight the band struck; +no amount of negus could get anything more out of them but "God +save the Queen," which they accordingly played and departed; and +then came the final cloaking and driving off of the last guests. +Tom and Mary saw the last of them into their carriage at the +hall-door, and lingered a moment in the porch. + +"What a lovely night!" said Mary. "How I hate going to bed!" + +"It is a dreadful bore," answered Tom; "but here is the butler +waiting to shut up; we must go in." + +"I wonder where papa and mama are." + +"Oh, they are only seeing things put a little to rights. Let us +sit here till they come; they must pass by to get to their +rooms." + +So the two sat down on some hall chairs. + +"Oh dear! I wish it were all coming over again to-morrow," said +Tom, leaning back, and looking up at the ceiling. "By the way, +remember I owe you a pair of gloves; what color shall they be?" + +"Any color you like. I can't bear to think of it. I felt so +dreadfully ashamed when they all came up, and your mother looked +so grave; I am sure she was very angry." + +"Poor mother! she was thinking of my hat with three arrow-holes +in it." + +"Well, I am very sorry, because I wanted them to like me." + +"And so they will; I should like to know who can help it." + +"Now, I won't have any of your nonsensical compliments. Do you +think they enjoyed the day?" + +"Yes, I am sure they did. My father said he had never liked an +archery meeting so much." + +"But they went away so early." + +"They had a very long drive, you know. Let me see," he said, +feeling in his breast-pocket, "mother left me a note, and I have +never looked at it till now." He took a slip of paper out and +read it, and his face fell. + +"What is it?" said Mary leaning forward. + +"Oh, nothing; only I must go to-morrow morning." + +"There, I was sure she was angry." + +"No, no; it was written this morning before she came here. I can +tell by the paper." + +"But she will not let you stay here a day, you see." + +"I have been here a good deal, considering all things. I should +like never to go away." + +"Perhaps papa might find a place for you, if you asked him. Which +should you like,--to be tutor to the boys or gamekeeper?" + +"On the whole, I should prefer the tutorship at present; you take +so much interest in the boys." + +"Yes, because they have no one to look after them now in the +holidays. But, when you come as tutor, I shall wash my hands of +them." + +"Then I shall decline the situation." + +"How are you going home to-morrow?" + +"I shall ride round by Englebourn. They wish me to go round and +see Katie and Uncle Robert. You talked about riding over there +yourself this morning." + +"I should like it so much. But how can we manage it? I can't ride +back again by myself." + +"Couldn't you stay and sleep there?" + +"I will ask mamma. No, I'm afraid it can hardly be managed;" and +so saying, Mary leant back in her chair and began to pull to +pieces some flowers she held in her hand. + +"Don't pull them to pieces; give them to me," said Tom. "I have +kept the rosebud you gave me at Oxford folded up in"-- + +"Which you took, you mean to say. No, I won't give you any of +them--or, let me see--yes, here is a sprig of lavender; you may +have that." + +"Thank you. But, why lavender?" + +"Lavender stands for sincerity. It will remind you of the lecture +you gave me." + +"I wish you would forget that. But you know what flowers mean, +then? Do give me a lecture; you owe me one. What do those flowers +mean which you will not give me,--the piece of heather for +instance?" + +"Heather signifies constancy." + +"And the carnations?" + +"Jealousy." + +"And the heliotrope?" + +"Oh, never mind the heliotrope." + +"But it is such a favorite of mine. Do tell me what it means?" + +"_Je vous aime_," said Mary with a laugh, and a slight blush; "it +is all nonsense. Oh, here's mamma at last," and she jumped up and +went to meet her mother, who came out of the drawing-room, candle +in hand. + +"My dear Mary, I thought you were gone to bed," said Mrs. Porter, +looking from one to the other seriously. + +"Oh, I'm not the least tired, and I couldn't go without wishing +you and papa good night, and thanking you for all the trouble you +have taken." + +"Indeed we ought all to thank you," said Tom; "everybody said it +was the pleasantest party they had ever been at." + +"I am very glad it went off so well," said Mrs. Porter, gravely; +"and now, Mary, you must go to bed." + +"I am afraid I must leave you to-morrow morning," said Tom. + +"Yes; Mrs. Brown said they expect you at home tomorrow." + +"I am to ride round by Uncle Robert's; would you like one of the +boys to go with me?" + +"Oh, dear mamma, could not Charley and I ride over to Englebourn? +I do so long to see Katie." + +"No, dear; it is much too far for you. We will drive over in a +few days' time." + +And so saying, Mrs. Porter wished Tom good night, and led off her +daughter. + +Tom went slowly up stairs to his room, and, after packing his +portmanteau for the carrier to take in the morning, threw up his +window and leant out into the night, and watched the light clouds +swimming over the moon, and the silver mist folding the +water-meadows and willows in its soft cool mantle. His thoughts +were such as will occur to any reader who has passed the witching +age of twenty; and the scent of the heliotrope-bed in the +flower-garden below, seemed to rise very strongly on the night +air. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII--A CRISIS + +In the forenoon of the following day, Tom rode slowly along the +street of Englebourn towards the Rectory gate. He had left Barton +soon after breakfast, without having been able to exchange a word +with Mary except in the presence of her mother, and yet he had +felt more anxious than ever before at least to say good bye to +her without witnesses. With this view he had been up early, and +had whistled a tune in the hall, and held a loud conversation +with the boys, who appeared half dressed in the gallery above, +while he brushed the dilapidated white hat to let all whom it +might concern know that he was on the move. Then he had walked up +and down the garden in full view of the windows till the bell +rang for prayers. He was in the breakfast room before the bell +had done ringing, and Mrs. Porter, followed by her daughter, +entered at the same moment. He could not help fancying that the +conversation at breakfast was a little constrained, and +particularly remarked that nothing was said by the heads of the +family when the boys vociferously bewailed his approaching +departure, and tried to get him to name some day for his return +before their holidays ended. Instead of encouraging the idea, +Mrs. Porter reminded Neddy and Charley that they had only ten +days more, and had not yet looked at the work they had to do for +their tutor in the holidays. Immediately after breakfast Mrs. +Porter had wished him good bye herself very kindly, but (he could +not help thinking), without that air of near relationship which +he had flattered himself was well established between himself and +all the members of the Porter family; and then she had added, +"Now Mary, you must say good bye; I want you to come and help me +this morning." He had scarcely looked at her all morning, and now +one shake of the hand and she was spirited away in a moment, and +he was left standing, dissatisfied and uncomfortable, with a +sense of incompleteness in his mind, and as if he had had a +thread in his life suddenly broken off, which he could not tell +how to get joined again. + +However, there was nothing for it but to get off. He had no +excuse for delay, and had a long ride before him; so he and the +boys went round to the stable. On their passage through the +garden, the idea of picking a nosegay and sending it to her by +one of the boys came into his head. He gathered the flowers, but +then thought better of it and threw them away. What right, after +all, had he to be sending flowers to her--above all, flowers to +which they had attached a meaning, jokingly it was true; but +still a meaning? No, he had no right to do it; it would not be +fair to her, or her father or mother, after the kind way in which +they had all received him. So he threw away the flowers, and +mounted and rode off, watched by the boys, who waved their straw +hats as he looked back just before coming to a turn in the road +which would take him out of sight of the Manor House. He rode +along at a foot's pace for some time, thinking over the events of +the past week; and then, beginning to feel purposeless, and +somewhat melancholy, urged his horse into a smart trot along the +waste land which skirted the road. But, go what pace he would, it +mattered not; he could not leave his thoughts behind; so he +pulled up again after a mile or so, slackened his reins, and, +leaving his horse to pick his own way along the road, betook +himself to the serious consideration of his position. + +The more he thought of it, the more discontented he became, and +the day clouded over as if to suit his temper. He felt as if +within the last twenty-four hours he had been somehow +unwarrantably interfered with. His mother and Mrs. Porter had +both been planning something about him, he felt sure. If they had +anything to say, why couldn't they say it out to him? But what +could there be to say? Couldn't he and Mary be trusted together +without making fools of themselves? He did not stop to analyze +his feelings towards her, or to consider whether it was very +prudent or desirable for her that they should be thrown so +constantly and unreservedly together. He was too much taken up +with what he chose to consider his own wrongs for any such +consideration.--"Why can't they let me alone?" was the question +which he asked himself perpetually, and it seemed to him the most +reasonable one in the world, and that no satisfactory answer was +possible to it, except that he ought to be, and should be let +alone. And so at last he rode along Englebourn street, convinced +that what he had to do before all other things just now was to +assert himself properly, and show everyone, even his own mother, +that he was no longer a boy to be managed according to anyone's +fancies except his own. + +He rode straight to the stables and loosed the girths of his +horse, and gave particular directions about grooming and feeding +him, and stayed in the stall for a few minutes rubbing his ears +and fondling him. The antagonism which possessed him for the +moment against mankind perhaps made him appreciate the value of +his relations with a well-trained beast. He had not been in +Englebourn for some years, and the servant did not know him, and +answered that Mr. Winter was not out of his room and never saw +strangers till the afternoon. Where was Miss Winter, then? She +was down the village at Widow Winburn's, and he couldn't tell +when she would be back, the man said. The contents of Katie's +note of the day before had gone out of his head, but the mention +of Betty's name recalled them, and with them something of the +kindly feeling which had stirred within him on hearing of her +illness. So, saying he would call later to see his uncle, he +started again to find the widow's cottage, and his cousin. + +The servant had directed him to the last house in the village, +but, when he got outside of the gate, there were houses in two +directions. He looked about for some one and from whom to inquire +further, and his eye fell upon our old acquaintance, the +constable, coming out of his door with a parcel under his arm. + +The little man was in a brown study, and did not notice Tom's +first address. He was in fact anxiously thinking over his old +friend's illness and her son's trouble; and was on his way to +Farmer Grove's, (having luckily the excuse of taking a coat to be +tried on) in the hopes of getting him to interfere and patch up +the quarrel between young Tester and Harry. + +Tom's first salute had been friendly enough; no one knew better +how to speak to the poor, amongst whom he had lived all his life, +than he. But, not getting any answer, and being in a touchy state +of mind, he was put out, and shouted-- + +"Hello, my man, can't you hear me?" + +"Ees, I beant dunch," replied the constable, turning and looking +at his questioner. + +"I thought you were, for I spoke loud enough before. Which is +Mrs. Winburn's cottage?" + +"The furdest house down ther," he said, pointing, "'tis in my way +if you've a mind to come." Tom accepted the offer and walked +along by the constable. + +"Mrs. Winburn is ill, isn't she," he asked, after looking his +guide over. + +"Ees, her be--terrible bad," said the constable. + +"What is the matter with her, do you know?" + +"Zummat o' fits, I hears. Her've had 'em this six year, on and +off." + +"I suppose it's dangerous. I mean she isn't likely to get well?" + +"'Tis in the Lord's hands," replied the constable, "but her's +that bad wi' pain, at times, 'twould be a mussy if 'twould plaase +He to tak' her out on't." + +"Perhaps she mightn't think so," said Tom, superciliously; he was +not in the mind to agree with anyone. The constable looked at him +solemnly for a moment, and then said-- + +"Her's been a God-fearin' woman from her youth up, and her's had +a deal o' trouble. Thaay as the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and +'tisn't such as thaay as is afeared to go afore Him." + +"Well, I never found that having troubles made people a bit more +anxious to get 'out on't,' as you call it," said Tom. "It don't +seem to me as you can 'a had much o' trouble to judge by," said +the constable, who was beginning to be nettled by Tom's manner. + +"How can you tell that?" + +"Leastways 'twould be whoam-made, then," persisted the constable; +"and ther's a sight o' odds atween whoam made troubles and thaay +as the Lord sends." + +"So there may; but I may have seen both sorts for anything you +can tell." + +"Nay, nay; the Lord's troubles leaves His marks." + +"And you don't see any of _them_ in my face, eh?" + +The constable jerked his head after his own peculiar fashion, but +declined to reply directly to this interrogatory. He parried it +by one of his own. + +"In the doctorin' line, make so bould?" + +"No," said Tom. "You don't seem to have such very good eyes, +after all." + +"Oh, I seed you wasn't old enough to be doin' for yourself, like; +but I thought you med ha' been a 'sistant, or summat." + +"Well, then, you're just mistaken," said Tom, considerably +disgusted at being taken for a country doctor's assistant. + +"I ax your pill-don," said the constable. "But if you beant in +the doctorin' line, what be gwine to Widow Winburn's for, make so +bould?" + +"That's my look out, I suppose," said Tom, almost angrily. +"That's the house, isn't it?" and he pointed to the cottage +already described, at the corner of Englebourn Copse. + +"Ees." + +"Good day, then." + +"Good day," muttered the constable, not at all satisfied with +this abrupt close of the conversation, but too unready to prolong +it. He went on his own way slowly, looking back often, till he +saw the door open, after which he seemed better satisfied, and +ambled out of sight. + +"The old snuffler!" thought Tom, as be strode up to the cottage +door,--"a ranter, I'll be bound, with his Lord's troubles,' and +'Lord's hands,' and 'Lord's marks.' I hope Uncle Robert hasn't +many such in the parish." + +He knocked at the cottage door, and in a few seconds it opened +gently, and Katie slipped out with her finger on her lips. She +made a slight gesture of surprise at seeing him, and held out her +hand. + +"Hush!" she said, "she is asleep. You are not in a hurry?" + +"No, not particularly," he answered, abruptly; for there was +something in her voice and manner which jarred with his humor. + +"Hush!" she said again, "you must not speak so loud. We can sit +down here, and talk quietly. I shall hear if she moves." + +So he sat down opposite to her in the little porch of the +cottage. She left the door ajar, so that she might catch the +least movement of her patient, and then turned to him with a +bright smile, and said,-- + +"Well, I am so glad to see you! What good wind blows you here?" + +"No particularly good wind, that I know of. Mary showed me your +letter yesterday, and mother wished me to come round here on my +way home; and so here I am." + +"And how did the party go off? I long to hear about it." + +"Very well; half the county were there, and it was all very well +done." + +"And how did dear Mary look?" + +"Oh, just as usual. But now, Katie, why didn't you come? Mary and +all of us were so disappointed." + +"I thought you read my letter?" + +"Yes, so I did." + +"Then you know the reason." + +"I don't call it a reason. Really, you have no right to shut +yourself up from everything. You will be getting moped to death." + +"But do I look moped?" she said; and he looked at her, and +couldn't help admitting to himself, reluctantly, that she did +not. So he re-opened fire from another point. + +"You will wear yourself out, nursing every old woman in the +parish." + +"But I don't nurse every old woman." + +"Why, there is no one here but you to-day, now," he said, with a +motion of his head towards the cottage. + +"No, because I have let the regular nurse go home for a few +hours. Besides, this is a special case. You don't know what a +dear old soul Betty is." + +"Yes, I do; I remember her ever since I was a child." + +"Ah, I forgot; I have often heard her talk of you. Then you ought not to +be surprised at anything I may do for her." + +"She is a good, kind old woman, I know. But still I must say, +Katie, you ought to think of your friends and relations a little, +and what you owe to society." + +"Indeed, I do think of my friends and relations very much, and I +should have liked, of all things, to have been with you +yesterday. You ought to be pitying me, instead of scolding me." + +"My dear Katie, you know I didn't mean to scold you; and nobody +admires the way you give yourself up to visiting, and all that +sort of thing, more than I; only you ought to have a little +pleasure sometimes. People have a right to think of themselves +and their own happiness a little." + +"Perhaps I don't find visiting and all that sort of thing so very +miserable. But now, Tom, you saw in my letter that poor Betty's +son has got into trouble?" + +"Yes; and that is what brought on her attack, you said." + +"I believe so. She was in a sad state about him all +yesterday,--so painfully eager and anxious. She is better today, +but still I think it would do her good if you would see her, and +say you will be a friend to her son. Would you mind?" + +"It was just what I wished to do yesterday. I will do all I can +for him, I'm sure. I always liked him as a boy; you can tell her +that. But I don't feel, somehow--today, at least--as if I could +do any good by seeing her." + +"Oh, why not?" + +"I don't think I'm in the right humor. Is she very ill?" + +"Yes, very ill indeed; I don't think she can recover." + +"Well, you see, Katie, I'm not used to death-beds. I shouldn't +say the right sort of thing." + +"How do you mean--the right sort of thing?" + +"Oh, you know. I couldn't talk to her about her soul. I'm not fit +for it, and it isn't my place." + +"No, indeed, it isn't. But you can remind her of old times and +say a kind word about her son." + +"Very well, if you don't think I shall do any harm." + +"I'm sure it will comfort her. And now tell me about yesterday." + +They sat talking for some time in the same low tone, and Tom +began to forget his causes of quarrel with the world, and gave an +account of the archery party from his own point of view. Katie +saw, with a woman's quickness, that he avoided mentioning Mary, +and smiled to herself and drew her own conclusions. + +At last, there was a slight movement in the cottage, and laying +her hand on his arm, she got up quickly, and went in. In a few +minutes she came to the door again. + +"How is she?" asked Tom. + +"Oh, much the same; but she has waked without pain, which is a +great blessing. Now, are you ready?" + +"Yes; you must go with me." + +"Come in, then." She turned, and he followed into the cottage. + +Betty's bed had been moved into the kitchen, for the sake of +light and air. He glanced at the corner where it stood with +almost a feeling of awe, as he followed his cousin on tip-toe. It +was all he could do to recognize the pale, drawn face which lay +on the coarse pillow. The rush of old memories which the sight +called up, and the thought of the suffering of his poor old +friend touched him deeply. + +Katie went to the bed-side, and, stooping down, smoothed the +pillow, and placed her hand for a moment on the forehead of her +patient. Then she looked up, and beckoned to him, and said, in +her low, clear voice,-- + +"Betty, here is an old friend come to see you; my cousin, Squire +Brown's son. You remember him quite a little boy?" + +The old woman moved her head towards the voice, and smiled, but +gave no further sign of recognition. Tom stole across the floor, +and sat down by the bed-side. + +"Oh, yes, Betty," he said, leaning towards her and speaking +softly, "you must remember me. Master Tom who used to come to +your cottage on baking days for hot bread, you know." + +"To be sure I minds un, bless his little heart," said the old +woman faintly. "Hev he come to see poor Betty? Do'ee let un com', +and lift un up so as I med see un. My sight be getting dim-like." + +"Here he is, Betty," said Tom, taking her hand--a hardworking +hand, lying there with the skin all puckered from long and daily +acquaintance with the washing-tub--"I'm Master Tom." + +"Ah, dearee me," she said slowly, looking at him with lustreless +eyes. "Well, you be growed into a fine young gentleman, surely. +And how's the Squire and Madam Brown, and all the fam'ly?" + +"Oh, very well, Betty,--they will be so sorry to hear of your +illness." + +"But there ain't no hot bread for un. 'Tis ill to bake wi' no fuz +bushes, and the bakers' stuff is poor for hungry folk." + +"I'm within three months as old as your Harry, you know," said +Tom, trying to lead her back to the object of his visit. + +"Harry," she repeated, and then collecting herself went on, "our +Harry; where is he? They haven't sent un to prison, and his +mother a dyin'?" + +"Oh, no, Betty; he will be here directly. I came to ask whether +there is anything I can do for you." + +"You'll stand by un, poor buoy--our Harry, as you used to play +wi' when you was little--'twas they as aggravated un so he +couldn't abear it, afore ever he'd a struck a fly." + +"Yes, Betty; I will see that he has fair play. Don't trouble +about that, it will be all right. You must be quite quiet, and +not trouble yourself about anything, that you may get well and +about again." + +"Nay, nay, Master Tom. I be gwine whoam; ees, I be gwine whoam to +my maester, Harry's father--I knows I be--and you'll stand by un +when I be gone; and Squire Brown 'll say a good word for un to +the justices?" + +"Yes, Betty, that he will. But you must cheer up, and you'll get +better yet; don't be afraid." + +"I beant afeard, Master Tom; no, bless you, I beant afeard but +what the Lord'll be mussiful to a poor lone woman like me, as has +had a sore time of it since my measter died wi' a hungry boy like +our Harry to kep, back and belly; and the rheumatics terrible bad +all winter time." + +"I'm sure, Betty, you have done your duty by him, and everyone +else." + +"Dwontee speak o' doin's, Master Tom. 'Tis no doin's o' ourn +as'll make any odds where I be gwine." + +Tom did not know what to answer; so he pressed her hand and +said,-- + +"Well, Betty, I am very glad I have seen you once more; I sha'n't +forget it. Harry sha'n't want a friend while I live." + +"The Lord bless you, Master Tom, for that word," said the dying +woman, returning the pressure, as her eyes filled with tears. +Katie, who had been watching her carefully from the other side of +the bed, made him a sign to go. + +"Good-bye, Betty" he said; "I won't forget, you may be sure; God +bless you;" and then, disengaging his hand gently, went out again +into the porch, where he sat down to wait for his cousin. + +In a few minutes the nurse returned, and Katie came out of the +cottage soon afterwards. + +"Now I will walk up home with you," she said. "You must come in +and see papa. Well, I'm sure you must be glad you went in. Was +not I right?" + +"Yes, indeed; I wish I could have said something more to comfort +her." + +"You couldn't have said more. It was just what she wanted." + +"But where is her son? I ought to see him before I go." + +"He has gone to the doctor's for some medicine. He will be back +soon." + +"Well, I must see him; and I should like to do something for him +at once. I'm not very flush of money, but I must give you +something for him. You'll take it; I shouldn't like to offer it +to him." + +"I hardly think he wants money; they are well off now. He earns +good wages, and Betty has done her washing up to this week." + +"Yes, but he will be fined, I suppose, for this assault; and +then, if she should die, there will be the funeral expenses." + +"Very well; as you please," she said; and Tom proceeded to hand +over to her all his ready money, except a shilling or two. After +satisfying his mind thus, he looked at her, and said-- + +"Do you know, Katie, I don't think I ever saw you so happy and in +such spirits?" + +"There now! And yet you began talking to me as if I were looking +sad enough to turn all the beer in the parish sour." + +"Well, so you ought to be, according to Cocker, spending all your +time in sick rooms." + +"According to who?" + +"According to Cocker." + +"Who is Cocker?" + +"Oh, I don't know; some old fellow who wrote the rules of +arithmetic, I believe; it's only a bit of slang. But, I repeat, +you have a right to be sad, and it's taking an unfair advantage +of your relations to look as pleasant as you do." + +Katie laughed. "You ought not to say so, at any rate," she said, +"for you look all the pleasanter for your visit to a sick room." + +"Did I look very unpleasant before?" + +"Well, I don't think you were in a very good humor." + +"No, I was in a very bad humor, and talking to you and poor old +Betty has set me right, I think. But you said hers was a special +case. It must be very sad work in general." + +"Only when one sees people in great pain, or when they are +wicked, and quarreling, or complaining about nothing; then I do +get very low sometimes. But even then it is much better than +keeping to one's self. Anything is better than thinking of one's +self, and one's own troubles." + +"I dare say you are right," said Tom, recalling his morning's +meditations, "especially when one's troubles are homemade. Look, +here's an old fellow who gave me a lecture on that subject before +I saw you this morning, and took me for the apothecary's boy." + +They were almost opposite David's door, at which he stood with a +piece of work in his hand. He had seen Miss Winter from his +look-out window, and had descended from his board in hopes of +hearing news. + +Katie returned his respectful and anxious salute, and said, "She +is no worse, David. We left her quite out of pain and very +quiet." + +"Ah, 'tis to be hoped as she'll hev a peaceful time on't now, +poor soul," said David; "I've a been to Farmer Groves', and I +hope as he'll do summat about Harry." + +"I'm glad to hear it," said Miss Winter, "and my cousin here, who +knew Harry very well when they were little boys together, has +promised to help him. This is Harry's best friend," she said to +Tom, "who has done more than anyone to keep him right." + +David seemed a little embarrassed, and began jerking his head +about when his acquaintance of the morning, whom he had scarcely +noticed before, was introduced by Miss Winter as "my cousin." + +"I wish to do all I can for him," said Tom, "and I'm very glad to +have made your acquaintance. You must let me know whenever I can +help;" and he took out a card and handed it to David, who looked +at it, and then said,-- + +"And I be to write to you, sir, then, if Harry gets into +trouble?" + +"Yes; but we must keep him out of trouble, even home-made ones, +which don't leave good marks, you know," said Tom. + +"And thaay be nine out o' ten o' aal as comes to a man, sir" said +David "as I've a told Harry scores o' times." + +"That seems to be your text, David," said Tom, laughing. + +"Ah, and 'tis a good un too, sir. Ax Miss Winter else. 'Tis a +sight better to hev the Lord's troubles while you be about it, +for thaay as hasn't makes wus for themselves out o' nothin'. +Dwon't 'em, Miss?" + +"Yes; you know that I agree with you, David." + +"Good-bye, then," said Tom, holding out his hand, "and mind you +let me hear from you." + +"What a queer old bird, with his whole wisdom of man packed up +small for ready use, like a quack doctor," he said, as soon as +they were out of hearing. + +"Indeed, he isn't the least like a quack doctor. I don't know a +better man in the parish, though he is rather obstinate, like all +the rest of them." + +"I didn't mean to say anything against him, I assure you," said +Tom; "on the contrary, I think him a fine old fellow. But I +didn't think so this morning, when he showed me the way to +Betty's cottage." The fact was that Tom saw all things and +persons with quite a different pair of eyes from those which he +had been provided with when he arrived in Englebourn that +morning. He even made allowances for old Mr. Winter, who was in +his usual querulous state at luncheon, though perhaps it would +have been difficult in the whole neighborhood to find a more +pertinent comment on, and illustration of, the constable's text +than the poor old man furnished, with his complaints about his +own health, and all he had to do and think of, for everybody +about him. It did strike Tom, however, as very wonderful how such +a character as Katie's could have grown up under the shade of, +and in constant contact with, such a one as her father's. He +wished his uncle good-bye soon after luncheon, and he and Katie +started again down the village--she to return to her nursing and +he on his way home. He led his horse by the bridle and walked by +her side down the street. She pointed to the Hawk's Lynch as they +walked along, and said, "You should ride up there; it is scarcely +out of your way. Mary and I used to walk there every day when she +was here, and she was so fond of it." + +At the cottage they found Harry Winburn. He came out, and the two +young men shook hands, and looked one another over, and exchanged +a few shy sentences. Tom managed with difficulty to say the +little he had to say, but tried to make up for it by a hearty +manner. It was not the time or place for any unnecessary talk; so +in a few minutes he was mounted and riding up the slope towards +the heath. "I should say he must be half a stone lighter than I," +he thought, "and not quite so tall; but he looks as hard as iron, +and tough as whipcord. What a No. 7 he'd make in a heavy crew! +Poor fellow, he seems dreadfully cut up. I hope I shall be able +to be of use to him. Now for this place which Katie showed me +from the village street." + +He pressed his horse up the steep side of the Hawk's Lynch. The +exhilaration of the scramble, and the sense of power, and of some +slight risk, which he felt as he helped on the gallant beast with +hand and knee and heel, while the loose turf and stones flew from +his hoofs and rolled down the hill behind them, made Tom's eyes +kindle and his pulse beat quicker as he reached the top and +pulled up under the Scotch firs. "This was her favorite walk, +then. No wonder. What an air, and what a view!" He jumped off his +horse, slipped the bridle over his arm, and let him pick away at +the short grass and tufts of heath, as he himself first stood, +and then sat, and looked out over the scene which she had so +often looked over. She might have sat on the very spot he was +sitting on; she must have taken in the same expanse of wood and +meadow, village and park, and dreamy, distant hill. Her presence +seemed to fill the air round him. A rush of new thoughts and +feelings swam through his brain and carried him, a willing piece +of drift man, along with them. He gave himself up to the stream +and revelled in them. His eye traced back the road along which he +had ridden in the morning, and rested on the Barton woods, just +visible in the distance, on this side of the point where all +outline except that of the horizon began to be lost. The +flickering July air seemed to beat in a pulse of purple glory +over the spot. The soft wind which blew straight from Barton +seemed laden with her name, and whispered it in the firs, over +his head. Every nerve in his body was bounding with new life, and +he could sit still no longer. He rose, sprang on his horse, and, +with a shout of joy, turned from the vale and rushed away on to +the heath, northwards towards his home behind the chalk hills. He +had ridden into Englebourn in the morning an almost unconscious +dabbler by the margin of the great stream; he rode from the +Hawk's Lynch in the afternoon over head and ears and twenty, a +hundred, ay, unnumbered fathoms below that, deep; consciously, +and triumphantly in love. + +But at what a pace, and in what a form! Love, at least in his +first access, must be as blind a horseman as he is an archer. The +heath was rough with peat-cutting and turf-cutting and many a +deep-rutted farm road, and tufts of heather and furze. Over them +and through them went horse and man--horse rising seven and man +twenty off, a well-matched pair in age for a wild ride--headlong +towards the north, till a blind rut somewhat deeper than usual +put an end to their career, and sent the good horse staggering +forward some thirty feet on to his nose and knees, and Tom over +his shoulder, on to his back in the heather. + +"Well, it's lucky it's no worse," thought our hero, as he picked +himself up and anxiously examined the horse, who stood trembling +and looking wildly puzzled at the whole proceeding; "I hope he +hasn't overreached. What will the governor say? His knees are all +right. Poor old boy!" he said, patting him; "no wonder you look +astonished. You're not in love. Come along; we won't make fools +of ourselves any more. What is it?-- + + 'A true love forsaken a new love may get, + But a neck that's once broken can never be set.' + +What stuff! one may get a neck set for anything I know; but a new +love--blasphemy!" + +The rest of the ride passed off soberly enough, except in Tom's +brain, wherein were built up in gorgeous succession castles such +as we have all built, I suppose, before now. And with the castles +were built up side by side good honest resolves to be worthy of +her, and win her and worship her with body, and mind, and soul. +And, as a first installment, away to the winds went all the +selfish morning thoughts; and he rode down the northern slope of +the chalk hills a dutiful and affectionate son, at peace with +Mrs. Porter, honoring her for her care of the treasure which he +was seeking, and in good time for dinner. + +"Well, dear," said Mrs. Brown to her husband when they were alone +that night, "did you ever see Tom in such spirits, and so gentle +and affectionate? Dear boy; there can be nothing the matter." + +"Didn't I tell you so," replied Mr. Brown; "you women have always +got some nonsense in your heads as soon as your boys have a hair +on their chin or your girls begin to put up their back hair." + +"Well, John, say what you will, I'm sure Mary Porter is a very +sweet, taking girl, and--" + +"I am quite of the same opinion," said Mr. Brown, "and am very +glad you have written to ask them here." + +And so the worthy couple went happily to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII--BROWN PATRONUS + +On a Saturday afternoon in August, a few weeks after the eventful +ride, Tom returned to the Englebourn Rectory to stay over Sunday, +and attend Betty Winburn's funeral. He was strangely attracted to +Harry by the remembrance of their old boyish rivalry; by the +story which he had heard from his cousin, of the unwavering +perseverance with which the young peasant clung to and pursued +his suit for Simon's daughter; but, more than all, by the feeling +of gratitude with which he remembered the effect his visit to +Betty's sick room had had on him, on the day of his ride from +Barton Manor. On that day he knew that he had ridden into +Englebourn in a miserable mental fog, and had ridden out of it in +sunshine, which had lasted through the intervening weeks. Somehow +or another he had been set straight then and there, turned into +the right road and out of the wrong one, at what he very +naturally believed to be the most critical moment of his life. + +Without stopping to weigh accurately the respective merits of the +several persons whom he came in contact with that day, he +credited them all with a large amount of gratitude and good-will, +and Harry with his mother's share as well as his own. So he had +been longing to _do_ something for him ever since. The more he +rejoiced in, and gave himself up to his own new sensations, the +more did his gratitude become as it were a burden to him; and yet +no opportunity offered of letting off some of it in action. The +magistrates, taking into consideration the dangerous state of his +mother, had let Harry off with a reprimand for his assault; so +there was nothing to be done there. He wrote to Katie offering +more money for the Winburns; but she declined--adding, however, +to her note, by way of postscript, that he might give it to her +clothing club or coal club. Then came the news of Betty's death, +and an intimation from Katie that she thought Harry would be much +gratified if he would attend the funeral. He jumped at the +suggestion. All Englebourn, from the Hawk's Lynch to the Rectory, +was hallowed ground to him. The idea of getting back there, so +much nearer to Barton Manor, filled him with joy, which he tried +in vain to repress when he thought of the main object of his +visit on the present occasion. + +He arrived in time to go and shake hands with Harry before +dinner; and, though scarcely a word passed between them, he saw +with delight that he had evidently given pleasure to the mourner. +Then he had a charming long evening with Katie, walking in the +garden with her between dinner and tea, and after tea discoursing +in low tones over her work-table, while Mr. Winter benevolently +slept in his arm-chair. Their discourse branched into many paths, +but managed always somehow to end in the sayings, beliefs, and +perfections of the young lady of Barton Manor. Tom wondered how +it had happened so when he got to his own room, as he fancied he +had not betrayed himself in the least. He had determined to keep +resolutely on his guard, and to make a confident of no living +soul till he was twenty-one, and, though sorely tempted to break +his resolution in favor of Katie, had restrained himself. He +might have spared himself all the trouble; but this he did not +know, being unversed in the ways of women, and all unaware of the +subtlety and quickness of their intuitions in all matters +connected with the heart. Poor, dear, stolid, dim-sighted +mankind, how they do see through us and walk round us! + +The funeral on the Sunday afternoon between churches had touched +him much, being the first he had ever attended. He walked next +behind the chief mourner--the few friends, amongst whom David was +conspicuous, yielding place to him. He stood beside Harry in +church, and at the open grave, and made the responses as firmly +as he could, and pressed his shoulder against his, when he felt +the strong frame of the son trembling with the weight and burden +of his resolutely suppressed agony. When they parted at the +cottage door, to which Tom accompanied the mourner and his old +and tried friend David, though nothing but a look and a grasp of +the hand passed between them, he felt that they were bound by a +new and invisible bond; and, as he walked back up the village and +passed the churchyard, where the children were playing about on +the graves, stopping every now and then to watch the sexton as he +stamped down and filled in the mould on the last made one beside +which he himself stood as a mourner--and heard the bells +beginning to chime for the afternoon service, he resolved within +himself that he would be a true and helpful friend to the widow's +son. On this subject he could talk freely to Katie; and he did so +that evening, expounding how much one in his position could do +for a young laboring man if he was really bent on it, and +building up grand castles for Harry, the foundations of which +rested on his own determination to benefit and patronize him. +Katie listened half doubtingly at first, but was soon led away by +his confidence, and poured out the tea in the full belief that +with Tom's powerful aid all would go well. After which they took +to reading the "Christian Year" together, and branched into +discussions on profane poetry, which Katie considered scarcely +proper for the evening, but which, nevertheless, being of such +rare occurrence with her, she had not the heart to stop. + +The next morning Tom was to return home. After breakfast he began +the subject of his future plans for Harry again, when Katie +produced a small paper packet which she handed to him, saying-- + +"Here is your money again." + +"What money?" + +"The money you left with me for Harry Winburn. I thought at the +time that most probably he would not take it." + +"But are you sure he doesn't want it? Did you try hard to get him +to take it?" said Tom, holding out his hand reluctantly for the +money. + +"Not myself. I couldn't offer him money myself, of course; but I +sent it by David, and begged him to do all he could to persuade +him to take it." + +"Well, and why wouldn't he?" + +"Oh, he said the club-money which was coming in was more than +enough to pay for the funeral and for himself he didn't want it." + +"How provoking! I wonder if old David really did his best to get +him to take it." + +"Yes, I am sure he did. But you ought to be very glad to find +some independence in a poor man." + +"Bother his independence! I don't like to feel that it costs me +nothing but talk--I want to pay." + +"Ah, Tom, if you knew the poor as well as I do, you wouldn't say +so. I am afraid there are not two other men in the parish who +would have refused your money. The fear of undermining their +independence takes away all my pleasure in giving." + +"Undermining! Why, Katie, I am sure I have heard you mourn over +their stubbornness and unreasonableness." + +"Oh, yes; they are often provokingly stubborn and unreasonable, +and yet not independent about money, or anything they can get out +of you. Besides, I acknowledge that I have become wiser of late; +I used to like to see them dependent and cringing to me, but now +I dread it." + +"But you would like David to give in about the singing, wouldn't +you?" + +"Yes, if he would give in I should be very proud. I have learnt a +great deal from him; I used positively to dislike him; but, now +that I know him, I think him the best man in the parish. If he +ever does give in--and I think he will--it will be worth +anything, just because he is so independent." + +"That's all very well; but what am I to do to show Harry Winburn +that I mean to be his friend, if he won't take money from me?" + +"You have come over to his mother's funeral--he will think more +of that than of all the money you could give him; and you can +show sympathy for him in a great many ways." + +"Well, I must try. By the way, about his love affair; is the +young lady at home? I have never seen her, you know." + +"No she is away with an aunt, looking out for a place. I have +persuaded her to get one, and leave home again for the present. +Her father is quite well now, and she is not wanted." + +"Well, it seems I can't do any good with her, then; but could I +not go and talk to her father about Harry? I might help him in +that way." + +"You must be very careful; Simon is such an odd-tempered old +man." + +"Oh, I'm not afraid; he and I are great chums; and a little soft +soap will go a long way with him. Fancy, if I could get him this +very morning to 'sanction Harry's suit,' as the phrase is, what +should you think of me?" + +"I should think very highly of your powers of persuasion." + +Not the least daunted by his cousin's misgivings, Tom started in +quest of Simon, and found him at work in front of the greenhouse, +surrounded by many small pots and heaps of finely sifted mould, +and absorbed in his occupation. + +Simon was a rough, stolid Berkshire rustic, somewhat of a tyrant +in the bosom of his family, an unmanageable servant, a +cross-grained acquaintance; as a citizen, stiff-necked, and a +grumbler, who thought that nothing ever went right in the parish; +but, withal, a thoroughly honest worker; and, when allowed to go +his own way--and no other way would he go, as his mistress had +long since discovered--there was no man who earned his daily +bread more honestly. He took a pride in his work, and the Rectory +garden was always trim and well kept, and the beds bright with +flowers from early spring till late autumn. + +He was absorbed in what he was about, and Tom came up close to +him without attracting the least sign of recognition; so he +stopped, and opened the conversation. + +"Good day, Simon; it's a pleasure to see a garden looking so gay +as yours." + +Simon looked up from his work, and, when he saw who it was, +touched his battered old hat, and answered,-- + +"Mornin' sir! Ees, you finds me allus in blume" + +"Indeed I do, Simon; but how do you manage it? I should like to +tell my father's gardener." + +"'Tis no use to tell un if a haven't found out for hisself. 'Tis +nothing but lookin' a bit forrard and farm-yard stuff as does +it." + +"Well, there's plenty of farm-yard stuff at home, and yet, +somehow, we never look half so bright as you do." + +"May be as your gardener just takes and hits it auver the top o' +the ground, and lets it lie. That's no kind o' good, that +beant--'tis the roots as wants the stuff; and you med jist as +well take and put a round o' beef agin my back bwone as hit the +stuff auver the ground, and never see as it gets to the roots o' +the plants." + +"No, I don't think it can be that," said Tom laughing; "our +gardener seems always to be digging his manure in, but somehow he +can't make it come out in flowers as you do." + +"Ther' be mwore waays o' killin' a cat besides choking on un wi' +crame," said Simon, chuckling in his turn. + +"That's true Simon," said Tom; "the fact is, a gardener must know +his business as well as you to be always in bloom, eh?" + +"That's about it, sir," said Simon, on whom the flattery was +beginning to tell. + +Tom saw this, and thought he might now feel his way a little +further with the old man. + +"I'm over on a sad errand," he said; "I've been to poor Widow +Winburn's funeral--she was an old friend of yours, I think?" + +"Ees; I minds her long afore she wur married," said Simon, +turning to his pots again. + +"She wasn't an old woman, after all," said Tom. + +"Sixty-two year old cum Michaelmas," said Simon. + +"Well, she ought to have been a strong woman for another ten +years at least; why, you must be older than she by some years, +Simon, and you can do a good day's work yet with any man." + +Simon went on with his potting without replying except by a +carefully measured grunt, sufficient to show that he had heard +the remark, and was not much impressed by it. + +Tom saw that he must change his attack; so, after watching Simon +for a minute, he began again. + +"I wonder why it is that the men of your time of life are so much +stronger than the young ones in constitution. Now, I don't +believe there are three young men in Englebourn who would have +got over that fall you had at Farmer Groves' so quick as you +have; most young men would have been crippled for life by it." + +"Zo 'em would, the young wosbirds. I dwont make no account on +'em," said Simon. + +"And you don't feel any the worse for it, Simon?" + +"Narra mossel," replied Simon; but presently he seemed to +recollect something, and added, "I wun't saay but what I feels it +at times when I've got to stoop about much." + +"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, Simon. Then you oughtn't to have so +much stooping to do; potting, and that sort of thing, is the work +for you, I should think, and just giving an eye to everything +about the place. Anybody could do the digging and setting out +cabbages, and your time is only wasted at it."--Tom had now found +the old man's weak point. + +"Ees, sir, and so I tells miss," he said, "but wi' nothin' but a +bit o' glass no bigger'n a cowcumber frame, 'tis all as a man can +do to keep a few plants alive droo' the winter." + +"Of course," said Tom, looking round at the very respectable +greenhouse which Simon had contemptuously likened to a +cucumber-frame, "you ought to have at least another house as big +as this for forcing." + +"Master ain't pleased, he ain't," said Simon, "if he dwon't get +his things, his spring wegetables, and his strawberries, as early +as though we'd a got forcin' pits and glass like other folk. 'Tis +a year and mwore since he promised as I sh'd hev glass along that +ther' wall, but 'tis no nigher comin' as I can see. I be to spake +to miss about it now, and, when I spakes to her, 'tis, 'oh, +Simon, we must wait till the 'spensary's 'stablished,' or 'oh, +Simon, last winter wur a werry tryin wun, and the sick club's +terrible bad off for funds,'--and so we gwoes on, and med gwo on +for aught as I can see, so long as there's a body sick or bad off +in all the parish. And that'll be all us. For, what wi' wisitin' +on 'em, and sendin' on 'em dinners, and a'al the doctor's stuff +as is served out o' the 'spensary--wy, 'tis enough to keep 'em +bad a'al ther' lives. Ther ain't no credit in gettin' well. Ther' +wur no sich a caddle about sick folk when I wur a bwoy." + +Simon had never been known to make such a long speech before, and +Tom argued well for his negotiation. + +"Well, Simon," he said, "I've been talking to my cousin, and I +think she will do what you want now. The dispensary is set up, +and the people are very healthy. How much glass should you want, +now, along that wall?" + +"A matter o' twenty fit or so," said Simon. + +"I think that can be managed," said Tom; "I'll speak to my cousin +about it; and then you would have plenty to do in the houses, and +you'd want a regular man under you." + +"Ees; 'twould take two on us reg'lar to kep things as they should +be." + +"And you ought to have somebody who knows what he is about. Can +you think of anyone who would do, Simon?" + +"Ther's a young chap as works for Squire Wurley. I've heard as he +wants to better hisself." + +"But he isn't an Englebourn man. Isn't there anyone in the +parish?" + +"Ne'er a one as I knows on." + +"What do you think of Harry Winburn--he seems a good hand with +flowers?" The words had scarcely passed his lips when Tom saw +that he had made a mistake. Old Simon retired into himself at +once, and a cunning, distrustful look came over his face. There +was no doing anything with him. Even the new forcing house had +lost its attractions for him, and Tom, after some further +ineffectual attempts to bring him round, returned to the house +somewhat crestfallen. + +"Well, how have you succeeded?" said Katie, looking up from her +work, as he came in and sat down near her table. Tom shook his +head. + +"I'm afraid I've made a regular hash of it," he said. "I thought +at first I had quite come round the old savage by praising the +garden, and promising that you would let him have a new house." + +"You don't mean to say you did that?" said Katie, stopping her +work. + +"Indeed, but I did, though. I was drawn on, you know. I saw it +was the right card to play; so I couldn't help it." + +"Oh, Tom! how could you do so? We don't want another house the +least in the world; it is only Simon's vanity. He wants to beat +the gardener at the grange at the flower shows. Every penny will +have to come out of what papa allows me for the parish." + +"Don't be afraid, Katie; you won't have to spend a penny. Of +course I reserved a condition. The new house was to be put up if +he would take Harry as an under-gardener. + +"What did he say to that?" + +"Well, he said nothing. I never came across such an old Turk. How +you have spoiled him! If he isn't pleased, he won't take the +trouble to answer you a word. I was very near telling him a piece +of my mind. But he _looked_ all the more. I believe he would +poison Harry if he came here. What can have made him hate him +so?" + +"He is jealous of him. Mary and I were so foolish as to praise +poor Betty's flowers before Simon, and he has never forgiven it. +I think, too, that he suspects, somehow, that we talked about +getting Harry here. I ought to have told you, but I quite forgot +it." + +"Well, it can't be helped. I don't think I can do any good in +that quarter; so now I shall be off to the Grange to see what I +can do there." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Why, Harry is afraid of being turned out of his cottage. I saw +how it worried him, thinking about it; so I shall go to the +Grange, and say a good word for him. Wurley can't refuse if I +offer to pay the rent myself--it's only six pounds a year. Of +course, I sha'n't tell Harry; and he will pay it all the same; +but it may make all the difference with Wurley, who is a regular +screw." + +"Do you know Mr. Wurley?" + +"Yes, just to speak to. He knows all about me, and he will be +very glad to be civil." + +"No doubt he will; but I don't like your going to his house. You +don't know what a bad man he is. Nobody but men on the turf, and +that sort of people, go there now; and I believe he thinks of +nothing but gambling and game-preserving." + +"Oh, yes; I know all about him. The county people are beginning +to look shy at him; so he'll be all the more likely to do what I +ask him." + +"But you won't get intimate with him?" + +"You needn't be afraid of that." + +"It is a sad house to go to--I hope it won't do you any harm." + +"Ah, Katie!" said Tom, with a smile not altogether cheerful, "I +don't think you need be anxious about that. When one has been a +year at Oxford, there isn't much snow left to soil; so now I am +off. I must give myself plenty of time to cook Wurley." + +"Well, I suppose I must not hinder you," said Katie. "I do hope +you will succeed in some of your kind plans for Harry." + +"I shall do my best; and it is a great thing to have somebody +besides oneself to think about and try to help--some poor +person--don't you think so, even for a man?" + +"Of course I do. I am sure you can't be happy without it, any +more than I. We shouldn't be our mother's children if we could +be." + +"Well, good-bye, dear; you can't think how I enjoy these glimpses +of you and your work. You must give my love to Uncle Robert." + +And so they bade each other adieu, lovingly, after the manner of +cousins, and Tom rode away with a very soft place in his heart +for his cousin Katie. It was not the least the same sort of +passionate feeling of worship with which he regarded Mary. The +two feelings could lie side by side in his heart with plenty of +room to spare. In fact, his heart had been getting so big in the +last few weeks that it seemed capable of taking in the whole of +mankind, not to mention woman, till, on the whole, it may be +safely asserted that, had matters been at all in a more forward +state, and could she have seen exactly what was passing in his +mind, Mary would probably have objected to the kind of affection +which he felt for his cousin at this particular time. The joke +about cousinly love is probably as old, and certainly as true, as +Solomon's proverbs. However, as matters stood, it could be no +concern of Mary's what his feelings were towards Katie, or any +other person. + +Tom rode in at the lodge gate of the Grange soon after eleven +o'clock, and walked his horse slowly through the park, admiring +the splendid timber, and thinking how he should break his request +to the owner of the place. But his thoughts were interrupted by +the proceedings of the rabbits, which were out by hundreds all +along the sides of the plantations, and round the great trees. A +few of the nearest just deigned to notice him by scampering to +their holes under the roots of the antlered oaks, into which some +of them popped with a disdainful kick of their hind legs, while +others turned round, sat up, and looked at him. As he neared the +house he passed a keeper's cottage, and was saluted by the +barking of dogs from the neighboring kennel; and the young +pheasants ran about round some twenty hen-coops, which were +arranged along opposite the door where the keeper's children were +playing. The pleasure of watching the beasts and birds kept him +from arranging his thoughts, and he reached the hall door without +having formed the plan of his campaign. + +A footman answered the bell, who doubted whether his master was +down, but thought he would see the gentleman if he would send in +his name. Whereupon Tom handed in his card, and, in a few minutes +a rakish-looking stable boy came round after his horse, and the +butler appeared with his master's compliments, and a request that +he would step into the breakfast-room. Tom followed this portly +personage through the large handsome hall, on the walls of which +hung a buff-coat or two and some old-fashioned arms, and large +paintings of dead game and fruit--through a drawing room, the +furniture of which was all covered up in melancholy cases--into +the breakfast parlor, where the owner of the mansion was seated +at table in a lounging jacket. He was a man of forty or +thereabouts, who would have been handsome, but for the animal +look about his face. His cheeks were beginning to fall into +chaps, his full lips had a liquorish look about them, and bags +were beginning to form under his light blue eyes. His hands were +very white and delicate, and shook a little as he poured out his +tea; and he was full and stout in body, with small shoulders, and +thin arms and legs; in short, the last man whom Tom would have +chosen as bow in a pair oar. The only part of him which showed +strength were his dark whiskers, which were abundant, and +elaborately oiled and curled. The room was light and pleasant, +with two windows looking over the park, and furnished +luxuriously, in the most modern style, with all manner of easy +chairs and sofas. A glazed case or two of well bound books, +showed that some former owner had cared for such things; but the +doors had, probably, never been opened in the present reign. The +master and his usual visitors found sufficient food for the mind +in the _Racing Calendar_, "Boxiana," + +"The Adventures of +Corinthian Tom," and _Bell's Life_, which lay on a side table; or +in the pictures and prints of racers, opera dancers, and +steeple-chases, which hung in profusion on the walls. The +breakfast table was beautifully appointed in the matter of china +and plate; and delicate little rolls, neat pats of butter in ice, +two silver hot dishes containing curry and broiled salmon, and a +plate of fruit, piled in tempting profusion, appealed, apparently +in vain, to the appetite of the lord of the feast. + +"Mr. Brown, sir," said the butler, ushering in our hero to his +master's presence. + +"Ah, Brown, I'm very glad to see you here," said Mr. Wurley, +standing up and holding out his hand. "Have any breakfast?" + +"Thank you, no, I have breakfasted," said Tom, somewhat +astonished at the intimacy of the greeting; but it was his cue to +do the friendly thing,--so he took the proffered hand, which felt +very limp, and sat down by the table, looking pleasant. + +"Ridden from home this morning?" said Wurley, picking over +daintily some of the curry to which he had helped himself. + +"No, I was at my uncle's, at Englebourn, last night. It is very +little out of the way; so I thought I would just call on my road +home." + +"Quite right. I'm very glad you came without ceremony. People +about here are so d-d full of ceremony. It don't suit me, all +that humbug. But I wish you'd just pick a bit." + +"Thank you. Then I will eat some fruit," said Tom, helping +himself to some of the freshly picked grapes; "how very fine +these are!" + +"Yes, I'm open to back my houses against the field for twenty +miles round. This curry isn't fit for a pig--Take it out, and +tell the cook so." The butler solemnly obeyed, while his master +went on with one of the frequent oaths with which he garnished +his conversation. "You're right, they can't spoil the fruit. +They're a set of skulking devils, are servants. They think of +nothing but stuffing themselves, and how they can cheat you most, +and do the least work." Saying which, he helped himself to some +fruit; and the two ate their grapes for a short time in silence. +But even fruit seemed to pall quickly on him, and he pushed away +his plate. The butler came back with a silver tray, with soda +water, and a small decanter of brandy, and long glasses on it. + +"Won't you have something after your ride?" said the host to Tom; +"some soda water with a dash of bingo clears one's head in the +morning." + +"No, thank you," said Tom, smiling, "it's bad for training." + +"Ah, you Oxford men are all for training," said his host, +drinking greedily of the foaming mixture which the butler handed +to him. "A glass of bitter ale is what you take, eh? I know. Get +some ale for Mr. Brown." + +Tom felt that it would be uncivil to refuse this orthodox offer, +and took his beer accordingly, after which his host produced a +box of Hudson's regalias, and proposed to look at the stables. So +they lighted their cigars, and went out. Mr. Wurley had taken of +late to the turf, and they inspected several young horses which +were entered for country stakes. Tom thought them weedy-looking +animals, but patiently listened to their praises and pedigrees, +upon which his host was eloquent enough; and, rubbing up his +latest readings in _Bell's Life_, and the racing talk which he +had been in the habit of hearing in Drysdale's rooms, managed to +hold his own, and asked, with a grave face, about the price of +the Coronation colt for the next Derby, and whether Scott's lot +was not the right thing to stand on for the St. Leger, thereby +raising himself considerably in his host's eyes. There were no +hunters in the stable, at which Tom expressed his surprise. In +reply, Mr. Wurley abused the country, and declared that it was +not worth riding across, the fact being that he had lost his +nerve, and that the reception which he was beginning to meet with +in the field, if he came out by chance, was of the coldest. + +From the stables they strolled to the keeper's cottage, where Mr. +Wurley called for some buckwheat and Indian corn, and began +feeding the young pheasants, which were running about, almost +like barn-door fowls, close to them. + +"We've had a good season for the young birds," he said; "my +fellow knows that part of his business, d--n him, and don't lose +many. You had better bring your gun over in October; we shall +have a week in the covers early in the month." + +"Thank you, I shall be very glad," said Tom; "but you don't shoot +these birds?" + +"Shoot 'em! what the devil should I do with 'em?" + +"Why, they're so tame I thought you just kept them about the +house for breeding. I don't care so much for pheasant shooting; I +like a good walk after a snipe, or creeping along to get a wild +duck much better. There's some sport in it, or even in partridge +shooting with a couple of good dogs, now--" + +"You're quite wrong. There's nothing like a good dry ride in a +cover with lots of game, and a fellow behind to load for you." + +"Well, I must say, I prefer the open." + +"You've no covers over your way, have you?" + +"Not many." + +"I thought so. You wait till you've had a good day in my covers, +and you won't care for quartering all day over wet turnips. +Besides, this sort of thing pays. They talk about pheasants +costing a guinea a head on one's table. It's all stuff; at any +rate, mine don't cost _me_ much. In fact, I say it pays, and I +can prove it." + +"But you feed your pheasants?" + +"Yes, just round the house for a few weeks, and I sow a little +buckwheat in the covers. But they have to keep themselves pretty +much, I can tell you." + +"Don't the farmers object?" + +"Yes, d-n them; they're never satisfied. But they don't grumble +to me; they know better. There are a dozen fellows ready to take +any farm that's given up, and they know it. Just get a beggar to +put a hundred or two into the ground, and he won't quit hold in a +hurry. Will you play a game at billiards?" + +The turn which their conversation had taken hitherto had offered +no opening to Tom for introducing the object of his visit, and he +felt less and less inclined to come to the point. He looked his +host over and over again, and the more he looked the less he +fancied asking anything like a favor of him. However, as it had +to be done, he thought he couldn't do better than fall into his +ways for a few hours, and watch for a chance. The man seemed good +natured in his way; and all his belongings--the fine park and +house, and gardens and stables--were not without their effect on +his young guest. It is not given to many men of twice his age to +separate a man from his possessions, and look at him apart from +them. So he yielded easily enough, and they went to billiards in +a fine room opening out of the hall; and Tom, who was very fond +of the game, soon forgot everything in the pleasure of playing on +such a table. + +It was not a bad match. Mr. Wurley understood the game far better +than his guest, and could give him advice as to what side to put +on and how to play for cannons. This he did in a patronizing way, +but his hand was unsteady and his nerve bad. Tom's good eye and +steady hand, and the practice he had had at the St. Ambrose +pool-table, gave him considerable advantage in the hazards. And +so they played on, Mr. Wurley condescending to bet only +half-a-crown a game, at first giving ten points, and then five, +at which latter odds Tom managed to be two games ahead when the +butler announced lunch, at two o'clock. + +"I think I must order my horse," said Tom, putting on his coat. + +"No, curse it, you must give me my revenge. I'm always five +points better after lunch, and after dinner I could give you +fifteen points. Why shouldn't you stop and dine and sleep? I +expect some men to dinner." + +"Thank you, I must get home to-day." + +"I should like you to taste my mutton; I never kill it five years +old. You don't get that every day." + +Tom, however, was proof against the mutton; but consented to stay +till towards the hour when the other guests were expected, +finding that his host had a decided objection to be left alone. +So after lunch, at which Mr. Wurley drank the better part of a +bottle of old sherry to steady his nerves, they returned again to +billiards and Hudson's regalias. + +They played on for another hour; and, though Mr. Wurley's hand +was certainly steadier, the luck remained with Tom. He was now +getting rather tired of playing, and wanted to be leaving, and he +began to remember the object of his visit again. But Mr. Wurley +was nettled at being beaten by a boy, as he counted his opponent, +and wouldn't hear of leaving off. So Tom played on carelessly +game after game, and was soon again only two games ahead. Mr. +Wurley's temper was recovering, and Tom protested that he must +go. Just one game more, his host urged, and Tom consented. +Wouldn't he play for a sovereign? No. So they played double or +quits; and after a sharp struggle Mr. Wurley won the game, at +which he was highly elated, and talked again grandly of the odds +he could give after dinner. + +Tom felt that it was now or never, and so, as he put on his coat, +he said,-- + +"Well, I'm much obliged to you for a very pleasant day, Mr. +Wurley." + +"I hope you'll come over again, and stay and sleep. I shall +always be glad to see you. It is so cursed hard to keep somebody +always going in the country." + +"Thank you; I should like to come again. But now I want to ask a +favor of you before I go." + +"Eh, well, what is it?" said Mr. Wurley, whose face and manner +became suddenly anything but encouraging. + +"There's that cottage of yours, the one at the corner of +Englebourn copse, next the village." + +"The woodman's house, I know," said Mr. Wurley. + +"The tenant is dead, and I want you to let it to a friend of +mine; I'll take care the rent is paid." + +Mr. Wurley pricked up his ears at this announcement. He gave a +sharp look at Tom; and then bent over the table, made a stroke, +and said, "Ah, I heard the old woman was dead. Who's your friend, +then?" + +"Well, I mean her son," said Tom, somewhat embarrassed; "he's an +active young fellow, and will make a good tenant; I'm sure." + +"I daresay," said Mr. Wurley, with a leer; "and I suppose there's +a sister to keep house for him, eh?" + +"No, but he wants to get married." + +"Wants to get married, eh?" said Mr. Wurley, with another leer +and oath. "You're right; that's a deal safer kind of thing for +you." + +"Yes," said Tom, resolutely disregarding the insinuation, which +he could not help feeling was intended; "it will keep him steady, +and if he can get the cottage it might make all the difference. +There wouldn't be much trouble about the marriage then, I dare +say." + +"You'll find it a devilish long way. You're quite right, mind +you, not to get them settled close at home; but Englebourn is too +far, I should say." + +"What does it matter to me?" + +"Oh, you're tired of her! I see. Perhaps it won't be too far, +then." + +"Tired of her! who do you mean?" + +"Ha, ha!" said Mr. Wurley, looking up from the table over which +he was leaning, for he went on knocking the balls about; +"devilish well acted! But you needn't try to come the old soldier +over me. I'm not quite such a fool as that." + +"I don't know what you mean by coming the old soldier. I only +asked you to let the cottage, and I will be responsible for the +rent. I'll pay in advance if you like." + +"Yes, you want me to let the cottage for you to put in this +girl?" + +"I beg your pardon," said Tom, interrupting him, and scarcely +able to keep his temper; "I told you it was for this young +Winburn." + +"Of course you told me so. Ha, ha!" + +"And you don't believe me." + +"Come, now, all's fair in love and war. But, I tell you, you +needn't be mealy-mouthed with me. You don't mind his living +there; he's away at work all day, eh? and his wife stays at +home." + +"Mr. Wurley, I give you my honor I never saw the girl in my life +that I know of, and I don't know that she will marry him." + +"What did you talk about your friend for, then?" said Mr. Wurley, +stopping and staring at Tom, curiosity beginning to mingle with +his look of cunning unbelief. + +"Because I meant just what I said." + +"And the friend, then?" + +"I have told you several times that this young Winburn is the +man." + +"What, _your friend_?" + +"Yes, my friend," said; Tom; and he felt himself getting red at +having to call Harry his friend in such company. Mr. Wurley +looked at him for a few moments, and then took his leg off the +billiard table, and came round to Tom with the sort of +patronizing air with which he had lectured him on billiards. + +"I say, Brown, I'll give you a piece of advice," he said. "You're +a young fellow, and haven't seen anything of the world. Oxford's +all very well, but it isn't the world. Now I tell you, a young +fellow can't do himself greater harm than getting into low +company and talking as you have been talking. It might ruin you +in the county. That sort of radical stuff won't do, you know, +calling a farm laborer your friend." + +Tom chafed at this advice from a man who, he well knew, was +notoriously in the habit of entertaining at his house, and living +familiarly with, betting men and trainers, and all the riff-raff +of the turf. But he restrained himself by a considerable effort, +and, instead of retorting, as he felt inclined to do, said, with +an attempt to laugh it off, "Thank you, I don't think there's +much fear of me turning radical. But will you let me the +cottage?" + +"My agent manages all that. We talked about pulling it down. The +cottage is in my preserves, and I don't mean to have some +poaching fellow there to be sneaking out at night after my +pheasants." + +"But his grandfather and great-grandfather lived there." + +"I dare say, but it's my cottage." + +"But surely that gives him a claim to it." + +"D-n it! it's my cottage. You're not going to tell me I mayn't do +what I like with it, I suppose." + +"I only said that his family having lived there so long gives him +a claim." + +"A claim to what? These are some more of your cursed radical +notions. I think they might teach you something better at +Oxford." + +Tom was now perfectly cool, but withal in such a tremendous fury +of excitement that he forgot the interests of his client +altogether. + +"I came here, sir," he said, very quietly and slowly, "not to +request your advice on my own account, or your opinion on the +studies of Oxford, valuable as no doubt they are; I came to ask +you to let this cottage to me, and I wish to have your answer." + +"I'll be d-d if I do; there's my answer." + +"Very well," said Tom; "then I have only to wish you good +morning. I am sorry to have wasted a day in the company of a man +who sets up for a country gentleman with the tongue of a Thames +bargee and the heart of a Jew pawn-broker." + +Mr. Wurley rushed to the bell and rang it furiously. + +"By --!" he almost screamed, shaking his fist at Tom, "I'll have +you horse-whipped out of my house;" and then poured forth a flood +of uncomplimentary slang, ending in another pull at the bell, and +"By --! I'll have you horse-whipped out of my house." + +"You had better try it on--you and your flunkeys together," said +Tom, taking a cigar case out of his pocket and lighting up, the +most defiant and exasperating action he could think of on the +spur of the moment. "Here's one of them; so I'll leave you to +give him his orders, and wait five minutes in the hall, where +there's more room." And so, leaving the footman gaping at his +lord, he turned on his heel, with the air of Bernardo del Carpio +after he had bearded King Alphonso, and walked into the hall. + +He heard men running to and fro, and doors banging, as he stood +there looking at the old buff-coats, and rather thirsting for a +fight. Presently a door opened, and the portly butler shuffled +in, looking considerably embarrassed, and said,-- + +"Please, sir, to go out quiet, else he'll be having one of his +fits." + +"Your master, you mean." + +"Yes, sir," said the butler, nodding, "D. T., sir. After one of +his rages the black dog comes, and it's hawful work, so I hope +you'll go, sir." + +"Very well, of course I'll go. I don't want to give him fit." +Saying which, Tom walked out of the hall-door, and leisurely +round to the stables, where he found already signs of commotion. +Without regarding them, he got his horse saddled and bridled, +and, after looking him over carefully, and patting him, and +feeling his girths in the yard, in the presence of a cluster of +retainers of one sort or another, who were gathered from the +house and offices, and looking sorely puzzled whether to commence +hostilities or not, mounted and walked quietly out. + +After his anger had been a little cooled by the fresh air of the +wild country at the back of Hawk's Lynch, which he struck into on +his way home soon after leaving the park, it suddenly occurred to +him that, however satisfactory to himself the results of his +encounter with this unjust landlord might seem, they would +probably prove anything but agreeable to the would-be tenant, +Harry Winburn. In fact, as he meditated on the matter, it became +clear to him that in the course of one morning he had probably +exasperated old Simon against his aspirant son-in-law, and put a +serious spoke in Harry's love-wheel, on the one hand, while on +the other, he had ensured his speedy expulsion from his cottage, +if not the demolition of that building. Whereupon he became +somewhat low under the conviction that his friendship, which was +to work such wonders for the said Harry, and deliver him out of +all his troubles, had as yet only made his whole look-out in the +world very much darker and more dusty. In short, as yet he had +managed to do considerably less than nothing for his friend, and +he felt very small before he got home that evening. He was far, +however, from being prepared for the serious way in which his +father looked upon his day's proceedings. Mr. Brown was sitting +by himself after dinner when his son turned up, and had to drink +several extra glasses of port to keep himself decently composed, +while Tom narrated the events of the day in the intervals of his +attacks on the dinner, which was brought back for him. When the +servant had cleared away, Mr. Brown proceeded to comment on the +history in a most decided manner. + +Tom was wrong to go to the Grange in the first instance; and this +part of the homily was amplified by a discourse on the corruption +of the turf in general, and the special curse of small country +races in particular, which such men as Wurley supported, and +which, but for them, would cease. Racing, which used to be the +pastime of great people, who could well afford to spend a few +thousands a year on their pleasure, had now mostly fallen into +the hands of the very worst and lowest men of all classes, most +of whom would not scruple--as Mr. Brown strongly put it--to steal +a copper out of a blind beggar's hat. If he must go, at any rate +he might have done his errand and come away, instead of staying +there all day accepting the man's hospitality. Mr. Brown himself +really should be much embarrassed to know what to do if the man +should happen to attend the next sessions or assizes. + +But, above all, having accepted his hospitality, to turn round at +the end and insult the man in his own house? This seemed to +Brown, J. P., a monstrous and astounding performance. + +This new way of putting matters took Tom entirely by surprise. He +attempted a defense, but in vain. His father admitted that it +would be a hard case if Harry were turned out of his cottage, but +wholly refused to listen to Tom's endeavors to prove that a +tenant in such a case had any claim or right as against his +landlord. A weekly tenant was a weekly tenant, and no succession +of weeks' holding could make him anything more. Tom found himself +rushing into a line of argument which astonished himself and +sounded wild, but in which he felt sure there was some truth, and +which, therefore, he would not abandon, though his father was +evidently annoyed, and called it mere mischievous sentiment. Each +was more moved than he would have liked to own; each in his own +heart felt aggrieved and blamed the other for not understanding +him. But, though obstinate on the general question, upon the +point of his leaving the Grange, Tom was fairly brought to shame, +and gave in at last, and expressed his sorrow, though he could +not help maintaining that, if his father could have heard what +took place and seen the man's manner, he would scarcely blame him +for what he had said and done. Having owned himself in the wrong, +however, there was nothing for it but to write an apology, the +composition of which was as disagreeable a task as had ever +fallen to his lot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV--[Greek text] MEHDEN AGAN + +Has any person of any nation or language, found out and given to +the world any occupation, work, diversion, or pursuit, more +subtlely dangerous to the susceptible youth of both sexes than +that of nutting in pairs. If so, who, where, what? A few years +later in life perhaps district visiting, and attending schools +together, may in certain instances be more fatal; but, in the +first bright days of youth, a day's nutting against the world! A +day in autumn, warm enough to make sitting in the sheltered nooks +in the woods, where ever the sunshine lies, very pleasant, and +yet not too warm to make exercise uncomfortable--two young people +who have been thrown much together, one of whom is conscious of +the state of his feelings towards the other, and is, moreover, +aware that his hours are numbered, and that in a few days at +furthest they will be separated for many months, that persons in +authority on both sides are beginning to suspect something (as is +apparent from the difficulty they have had in getting away +together at all on this same afternoon) here is a conjunction of +persons and circumstances, if ever there was one in the world, +which is surely likely to end in a catastrophe. Indeed, so +obvious to the meanest capacity is the danger of the situation, +that, as Tom had, in his own mind, staked his character for +resolution with his private self on the keeping of his secret +till after he was of age, it is hard to conceive how he can have +been foolish enough to get himself into a hazel copse alone with +Miss Mary on the earliest day he could manage it after the +arrival of the Porters, on their visit to Mr. and Mrs. Brown. +That is to say, it would be hard to conceive, if it didn't just +happen to be the most natural thing in the world. + +For the first twenty-four hours after their meeting in the home +of his fathers, the two young people, and Tom in particular, felt +very uncomfortable. Mary, being a young lady of very high +spirits, and, as our readers may probably have discovered, much +given to that kind of conversation which borders as nearly upon +what men commonly call chaff as a well-bred girl can venture on, +was annoyed to find herself quite at fault in all her attempts to +get her old antagonist of Commemoration to show fight. She felt +in a moment how changed his manner was, and thought it by no +means changed for the better. As for Tom, he felt foolish and shy +at first, to an extent which drove him half wild; his words stuck +in his throat, and he took to blushing again like a boy of +fourteen. In fact, he got so angry with himself that he rather +avoided her actual presence, though she was scarcely a moment out +of his sight. Mr. Brown made the best of his son's retreat, +devoted himself most gallantly to Mary, and was completely +captivated by her before bedtime on the first night of their +visit. He triumphed over his wife when they were alone, and +laughed at the groundlessness of her suspicions. But she was by +no means so satisfied on the subject as her husband. + +In a day or two, however, Tom began to take heart of grace, and +to find himself oftener at Mary's side, with something to say, +and more to look. But now she, in her turn, began to be +embarrassed; for all attempts to re-establish their old footing +failed, and the difficulty of finding a satisfactory new one +remained to be solved. So for the present, though neither of them +found it quite satisfactory, they took refuge in the presence of +a third party, and attached themselves to Katie, talking at one +another through her. Nothing could exceed Katie's judiciousness +as a medium of communication; and through her a better +understanding began to establish itself, and the visit which both +of them had been looking forward to so eagerly seemed likely, +after all, to be as pleasant in fact as it had been in +anticipation. As they became more at ease, the vigilance of Mrs. +Brown and Mrs. Porter seemed likely to revive. But in a country +house there must be plenty of chances for young folks who mean +it, to be together; and so they found and made use of their +opportunities, giving at the same time as little cause to their +natural guardians as possible for any serious interference. The +families got on, on the whole, so well together, that the visit +was prolonged from the original four or five days to a fortnight; +and this time of grace was drawing to a close when the event +happened which made the visit memorable to our hero. + +On the morning in question, Mr. Brown arranged at breakfast that +he and his wife should drive Mr. and Mrs. Porter to make calls on +several of the neighbors. Tom declared his intention of taking a +long day after the partridges, and the young ladies were to go +and make a sketch of the house from a point which Katie had +chosen. Accordingly, directly after luncheon, the carriage came +round, and the elders departed; and the young ladies started +together, carrying their sketching apparatus with them. + +It was probably a bad day for scent; for they had not been gone a +quarter of an hour when Tom came home, deposited his gun, and +followed on their steps. He found them sitting under the lee of a +high bank, sufficiently intent on their drawings, but neither +surprised nor sorry to find that he had altered his mind, and +come back to interrupt them. So he lay down near them, and talked +of Oxford and Englebourn, and so from one thing to another, till +he got upon the subject of nutting, and the sylvan beauties of a +neighbouring wood. Mary was getting on badly with her drawing, +and jumped at the idea of a ramble in the wood; but Katie was +obdurate, and resisted all their solicitations to move. She +suggested, however, that they might go; and, as Tom declared that +they should not be out of call, and would be back in half an hour +at furthest, Mary consented; and they left the sketcher and +strolled together out of the fields, and into the road, and so +through a gate into the wood. It was a pleasant oak wood. The +wild flowers were over, but the great masses of ferns, four or +five feet high, made a grand carpet round the stems of the forest +monarchs, and a fitting couch for here and there one of them +which had been lately felled, and lay in fallen majesty, with +bare shrouded trunk awaiting the sawyers. Further on, the hazel +underwood stood thickly on each side of the green rides, down +which they sauntered side by side. Tom talked of the beauty of +the wood in spring-time, and the glorious succession of +colouring--pale yellow, and deep blue and white, and +purple--which the primroses, and hyacinths and starwort, and +foxgloves gave, each in their turn, in the early year, and +mourned over their absence. But Mary preferred Autumn, and would +not agree with him. She was enthusiastic for ferns and heather. +He gathered some sprigs of the latter for her, from a little +sandy patch which they passed, and some more for his own +button-hole, and then they engaged in the absorbing pursuit of +nutting, and the talk almost ceased. He caught the higher +branches, and bent them down to her, and watched her as she +gathered them, and wondered at the ease and grace of all her +movements, and the unconscious beauty of her attitudes. Soon she +became more enterprising herself, and made little excursions into +the copse, surmounting briers, and passing through tangled places +like a Naiad, before he could be there to help her. And so they +went on, along the rides and through the copse, forgetting Katie +and time, till they were brought up by the fence on the further +side of the wood. The ditch was on the outside, and on the inside +a bank with a hedge on the top, full of tempting hazel-bushes. +She clapped her hands at the sight, and, declining his help, +stepped lightly up the bank and began gathering. He turned away +for a moment, jumped up the bank himself, and followed her +example. + +He was standing up in the hedge, and reaching after a tempting +cluster of nuts, when he heard a short sharp cry of pain behind +him, which made him spring backwards, and nearly miss his footing +as he came to the ground. Recovering himself, and turning round, +he saw Mary lying at the foot of the bank, writhing in pain. + +He was at her side in a minute and dreadfully alarmed. + +"Good heavens! what has happened?" he said. + +"My ankle!" she cried; and the effort of speaking brought the +sudden flush of pain to her brow. + +"Oh! what can I do?" + +"The boot! the boot!" she said, leaning forward to unlace it, and +then sinking back against the bank. "It is so painful. I hope I +sha'n't faint!" + +Poor Tom could only clasp his hands as he knelt by her, and +repeat, "Oh, what can I do--what can I do?" His utter +bewilderment presently aroused Mary, and her natural high courage +was beginning to master the pain. + +"Have you a knife?" + +"Yes here," he said, pulling one out of his pocket, and opening +it; "here it is." + +"Please cut the lace." + +Tom, with beating heart and trembling hand, cut the lace and then +looked up at her. + +"Oh, be quick--cut it again! Don't be afraid." + +He cut it again; and, without taking hold of the foot, gently +pulled out the ends of the lace. + +She again leaned forward, and tried to take off the boot; but the +pain was too great, and she sank back, and put her hand up to her +flushed face. + +"May I try?--perhaps I could do it." + +"Yes, pray do. Oh, I can't bear the pain!" she added, next +moment; and Tom felt ready to hang himself for having been the +cause of it. + +"You must cut the boot off, please." + +"But perhaps I may cut you. Do you really mean it?" + +"Yes, really. There, take care. How your hand shakes. You will +never do for a doctor." + +His hand did shake, certainly. He had cut a little hole the +stocking; but, under the circumstances, we need not wonder--the +situation was new and trying. Urged on by her, he cut and cut +away, and, at last, off came the boot, and her beautiful little +foot lay on the green turf. She was much relieved at once, but +still in great pain; and now he began to recover his head. + +"The ankle should be bound up; may I try?" + +"Oh, yes; but what with?" + +Tom dived into his shooting-coat pocket, and produced one of the +large, many-colored neck-wrappers which were fashionable at +Oxford in those days. + +"How lucky!" he said, as he tore it into strips. "I think this +will do. Now, you'll stop me, won't you, if I hurt you, or don't +do it right?" + +"Don't be afraid, I'm much better. Bind it tight, tighter than +that." + +He wound the strips as tenderly as he could round her foot and +ankle, with hands all alive with nerves, and wondering more and +more at her courage as she kept urging him to draw the bandage +tighter yet. Then, still under her direction, he fastened and +pinned down the ends; and as he was rather neat with his fingers, +from the practice of tying flies and splicing rods and bats, +produced, on the whole, a creditable sort of bandage. Then he +looked up at her, the perspiration standing on his forehead, as +if he had been pulling a race, and said, + +"Will that do? I'm afraid it's very awkward." + +"Oh, no; thank you so much! But I'm so sorry you have torn your +handkerchief." + +Tom made no answer to this remark, except by a look. What could +he say, but that he would gladly have torn his skin off for the +same purpose, if it would have been of any use. But this speech +did not seem quite the thing for the moment. + +"But how do you feel? Is it very painful?" he asked. + +"Rather. But don't look so anxious. Indeed, it is very bearable. +But what are we to do now?" + +He thought for a moment, and said, with something like a sigh-- + +"Shall I run home, and bring the servants and a sofa, or +something to carry you on?" + +"No, I shouldn't like to be left here alone." + +His face brightened again. + +"How near is the nearest cottage?" she asked. + +"There's none nearer than the one which we passed on the road--on +the other side of the wood, you know." + +"Then I must try to get there. You must help me up." + +He sprang to his feet and stooped over her, doubting how to begin +helping her. He had never felt so shy in his life. He held out +his hands. + +"I think you must put your arm round me," she said, after looking +at him for a moment. He lifted her on to her feet. + +"Now let me lean on your arm. There, I dare say I shall manage to +hobble along well enough;" and she made a brave attempt to walk. +But the moment the injured foot touched the ground, she stopped +with a catch at her breath, and a shiver, which went through Tom +like a knife; and the flush came back into her face, and she +would have fallen had he not again put his arm round her waist, +and held her up. "I am better again now," she said, after a +second or two. + +"But Mary, dear Mary, don't try to walk again. For my sake. I +can't bear it." + +"But what am I to do?" she said. "I must get back somehow." + +"Will you let me carry you?" + +She looked in his face again, and then dropped her eyes, and +hesitated. + +"I wouldn't offer, dear, if there were any other way. But you +mustn't walk. Indeed, you must not; you may lame yourself for +life." + +He spoke very quietly, with his eyes fixed on the ground, though +his heart was beating so that he feared she would hear it. + +"Very well," she said; "but I'm very heavy." + +So he lifted her gently, and stepped off down the ride, carrying +his whole world in his arms, in an indescribable flutter of joy, +and triumph, and fear. He had gone some forty yards or so, when +he staggered, and stopped for a moment. + +"Oh, pray put me down--pray do! You'll hurt yourself. I'm too +heavy." + +For the credit of muscular Christianity, one must say that it was +not her weight, but the tumult in his own inner man, which made +her bearer totter. Nevertheless, if one is wholly unused to the +exercise, the carrying of a healthy young English girl weighing a +good eight stone, is as much as most men can conveniently manage. + +"I'll just put you down for a moment," he said. "Now, take care +of the foot;" and he stooped and placed her tenderly against one +of the oaks which bordered the ride, standing by her side without +looking at her. Neither of them spoke for a minute. Then he +asked, still looking away down the ride, "How is the foot?" + +"Oh, pretty well," she answered, cheerfully. "Now, leave me here, +and go for help. It is absurd of me to mind being left, and you +mustn't carry me any more." + +He turned, and their eyes met for a moment, but that was enough. + +"Are you ready?" he said. + +"Yes, but take care. Don't go far. Stop directly you feel tired." + +Then he lifted her again, and this time carried her without +faltering, till they came to a hillock covered with soft grass. +Here they rested again, and so by easy stages he carried her +through the wood, and out into the road, to the nearest cottage, +neither of them speaking. + +An old woman came to the door in answer to his kick, and went off +into ejaculations of pity and wonder in the broadest Berkshire, +at seeing Master Tom and his burthen. But he pushed into the +house and cut her short with-- + +"Now, Mrs. Pike, don't talk, that's a dear good woman, but bustle +about, and bring that arm-chair here, and the other low one, with +a pillow on it, for the young lady's foot to rest on." + +The old woman obeyed his injunctions, except as to talking; and, +while she placed the chairs and shook up the pillow, descanted on +the sovereign virtues of some green oil and opodeldoc, which was +as good as a charm for sprains and bruises. + +Mary gave him one grateful look as he lowered her tenderly and +reluctantly into the chair, and then spoke cheerfully to Mrs. +Pike, who was foraging in a cupboard, to find if there was any of +her famous specific in the bottom of the bottle. As he stood up, +and thought what to do next, he heard the sound of distant +wheels, and looking through the window saw the carriage coming +homewards. It was a sorrowful sight to him. + +"Now, Mrs. Pike," he said, "never mind the oil. Here's the +carriage coming; just step out and stop it." + +The old dame scuttled out into the road. The carriage was within +one hundred yards. He leant over the rough arm-chair in which +Mary was leaning back, looked once more into her eyes; and then, +stooping forwards, kissed her lips, and the next moment was by +the side of Mrs. Pike, signalling the coachman to stop. + +In the bustle which followed he stood aside, and watched Mary +with his heart in his mouth. She never looked at him, but there +was no anger, but only a dreamy look in her sweet face, which +seemed to him a thousand times more beautiful than ever before. +Then, to avoid inquiries, and to realize all that had passed in +the last wonderful three hours, he slipped away while they were +getting her into the carriage, and wandered back into the wood, +pausing at each of their halting places. At last he reached the +scene of the accident, and here his cup of happiness was likely +to brim over, for he found the mangled little boot and the cut +lace, and securing the precious prize, hurried back home, to be +in time for dinner. + +Mary did not come down; but Katie, the only person of whom he +dared to inquire, assured him that she was doing famously. The +dinner was very embarrassing, and he had the greatest difficulty +in answering the searching inquiries of his mother and Mrs. +Porter, as to how, when, where, and in whose presence the +accident had happened. As soon as the ladies rose, he left his +father and Mr. Porter over their old port and politics, and went +out in the twilight into the garden, burthened with the weight of +sweet thought. He felt that he had something to do--to set +himself quite right with Mary; he must speak somehow, that night, +if possible, or he should not be comfortable or at peace with his +conscience. There were lights in her room. He guessed by the +shadows that she was lying on a couch by the open window, round +which the other ladies were flitting. + +Presently lights appeared in the drawing-room; and, as the +shutters were being closed, he saw his mother and Mrs. Porter +come in, and sit down near the fire. Listening intently, he heard +Katie talking in a low voice in the room above, and saw her head +against the light as she sat down close to the window, probably +at the head of the couch where Mary was lying. Should he call to +her? If he did, how could he say what he wanted to say through +her? + +A happy thought struck him. He turned to the flowerbeds, hunted +about, and gathered a bunch of heliotrope, hurried up to his +room, took the sprig of heather out of his shooting coat, tied +them together, caught up a reel and line from his table, and went +into the room over Mary's. He threw the window open, and, leaning +out, said gently, + +"Katie." No answer. He repeated the name louder. No answer still, +and, leaning out yet further, he saw that the window had been +shut. He lowered the bunch of flowers, and, swinging it backwards +and forward, made it strike the window below--once, twice; at the +third stroke he heard the window open. + +"Katie," he whispered again, "is that you?" + +"Yes, where are you? What is this?" + +"For her," he said, in the same whisper. Katie untied the +flowers, and he waited a few moments, and then again called her +name, and she answered. + +"Has she the flowers?" he asked. + +"Yes, and she sends you her love, and says you are to go down to +the drawing-room;" and with that the window closed, and he went +down with a lightened conscience into the drawing-room, and, +after joining in the talk by the fire for a few minutes, took a +book, and sat down at the further side of the table. Whether he +ever knew what the book was may be fairly questioned, but to all +appearances he was deep in the perusal of it till the tea and +Katie arrived, and the gentlemen from the dining-room. Then he +tried to join in the conversation again; but, on the whole, life +was a burthen to him that night, till he could get fairly away to +his own room, and commune with himself, gazing at the yellow +harvest moon, with his elbows on the window sill. + +The ankle got well very quickly, and Mary was soon going about +with a gold-headed stick which had belonged to Mr. Brown's +father, and a limp which Tom thought the most beautiful movement +he had ever seen. But, though she was about again, by no amount +of patient vigilance could he now get the chance of speaking to +her alone. But he consoled himself with the thought that she must +understand him; if he had spoken he couldn't have made himself +clearer. + +And now the Porters' visit was all but over, and Katie and her +father left for Englebourn. The Porters were to follow the next +day, and promised to drive round and stop at the Rectory for +lunch. Tom petitioned for a seat in their carriage to Englebourn. +He had been devoting himself to Mrs. Porter ever since the +accident, and had told her a good deal about his own early life. +His account of his early friendship for Betty and her son, and +the renewal of it on the day he left Barton Manor, had interested +her, and she was moreover not insensible to his assiduous and +respectful attentions to herself, which had of late been quite +marked; she was touched, too, at his anxiety to hear all about +her boys, and how they were getting on at school. So on the whole +Tom was in high favour with her, and she most graciously assented +to his occupying the fourth seat in their barouche. She was not +without her suspicions of the real state of the case with him; +but his behavior had been so discreet that she had no immediate +fears; and, after all, if anything should come of it some years +hence, her daughter might do worse. In the meantime she would see +plenty of society in London; where Mr. Porter's vocations kept +him during the greater part of the year. + +They reached Englebourn after a pleasant long morning's drive; +and Tom stole a glance at Mary and felt that she understood him, +as he pointed out the Hawk's Lynch and the clump of scotch firs +to her mother; and told how you might see Barton from the top of +it, and how he loved the place, and the old trees, and the view. + +Katie was at the door ready to receive them, and carried off Mary +and Mrs. Porter to her own room. Tom walked round the garden with +Mr. Porter, and then sat in the drawing-room, and felt +melancholy. He roused himself, however, when the ladies came down +and luncheon was announced. Mary was full of her reminiscences of +the Englebourn people, and especially of poor Mrs. Winburn and +her son, in whom she had begun to take a deep interest, perhaps +from overhearing some of Tom's talk to her mother. So Harry's +story was canvassed again, and Katie told them how he had been +turned out of his cottage, and how anxious she was as to what +would come of it. + +"And is he going to marry your gardener's daughter after all?" +asked Mrs. Porter. + +"I am afraid there is not much chance of it," said Katie; "I +cannot make Martha out." + +"Is she at home, Katie?" asked Mary; "I should like to see her +again. I took a great fancy to her when I was here." + +"Yes, she is at the lodge. We will walk there after luncheon." + +So it was settled that the carriage should pick them up at the +lodge; and soon after luncheon, while the horses were being put +to, the whole party started for the lodge, after saying good-bye +to Mr. Winter, who retired to his room much fatigued by his +unwonted hospitality. + +Old Simon's wife answered their knock at the lodge door, and they +all entered, and Mrs. Porter paid her compliments on the +cleanliness of the room. + +Then Mary said, "Is your daughter at home, Mrs. Gibbons?" + +"Ees, miss, someweres handy," replied Mrs. Gibbons; "her hav'n't +been gone out, not dree minnit." + +"I should like so much to say good-bye to her," said Mary. "We +shall be leaving Barton soon, and I shall not see her again till +next summer." + +"Lor bless'ee, miss, 'tis werry good ov'ee," said the old dame, +very proud; "do'ee set down then while I gees her a call." And +with that she hurried out of the door which led through the back +kitchen into the little yard behind the lodge, and the next +moment they heard her calling out-- + +"Patty, Patty, wher bist got to? Come in and see the gentlefolk." + +The name which the old woman was calling out made Tom start. + +"I thought you said her name was Martha," said Mrs. Porter. + +"Patty is short for Martha in Berkshire," said Katie, laughing. + +"And Patty is such a pretty name. I wonder you don't call her +Patty," said Mary. + +"We had a housemaid of the same name a year or two ago, and it +made such a confusion--and when one once gets used to a name it +is so hard to change--so she has always been called Martha." + +"Well, I'm all for Patty; don't you think so?" said Mary, turning +to Tom. + +The sudden introduction of a name which he had such reasons for +remembering, the memories and fears which it called up--above +all, the bewilderment which he felt at hearing it tossed about +and canvassed by Mary in his presence, as if there were nothing +more in it than in any other name--confused him so that he +floundered and blundered in his attempt to answer, and at last +gave it up altogether. She was surprised, and looked at him +inquiringly. His eyes fell before hers, and he turned away to the +window, and looked at the carriage, which had just drawn up at +the lodge door. He had scarcely time to think how foolish he was +to be so moved, when he heard the back-kitchen door open again, +and the old woman and her daughter come in. + +He turned round sharply, and there on the floor of the room, +courtseying to the ladies, stood the ex-barmaid of the "Choughs". +His first impulse was to hurry away--she was looking down, and he +might not be recognized; his next, to stand his ground, and take +whatever might come. Mary went up to her and took her hand, +saying that she could not go away without coming to see her. +Patty looked up to answer, and, glancing round the room, caught +sight of him. + +He stepped forward, and then stopped and tried to speak, but no +words would come. Patty looked at him, dropped Mary's hand, +blushed up to the roots of her hair as she looked timidly round +at the wondering spectators, and, putting her hands to her face, +ran out of the back door again. + +"Lawk a massy! what ever can ha' cum to our Patty?" said Mrs. +Gibbons, following her out. + +"I think we had better go," said Mr. Porter, giving his arm to +his daughter, and leading her to the door, "Goodbye, Katie; shall +we see you again at Barton?" + +"I don't know, uncle," Katie answered, following with Mrs. +Porter, in a state of sad bewilderment. + +Tom, with his brain swimming, got out a few stammering farewell +words, which Mr. and Mrs. Porter received with marked coldness, +as they stepped into their carriage. Mary's face was flushed and +uneasy; but at her he scarcely dared to steal a look, and to her +was quite unable to speak a word. + +Then the carriage drove off, and he turned, and found Katie +standing at his side, her eyes full of serious wonder. His fell +before them. + +"My dear Tom," she said, "what is all this? I thought you had +never seen Martha?" + +"So I thought--I don't know--I can't talk now--I'll explain all +to you--don't think very badly of me, Katie--God bless you!" with +which words he strode away, while she looked after him with +increasing wonder, and then turned and went into the lodge. + +He hastened away from the Rectory and down the village street, +taking the road home mechanically, but otherwise wholly +unconscious of roads and men. David, who was very anxious to +speak to him about Harry, stood at his door making signs to him +to stop, in vain; and then gave chase, calling out after him, +till he saw that all attempts to attract his notice were useless, +and so ambled back to his shop-board much troubled in mind. + +The first object which recalled Tom at all to himself was the +little white cottage looking out of Englebourn copse towards the +village, in which he had sat by poor Betty's death-bed. The +garden was already getting wild and tangled, and the house seemed +uninhabited. He stopped for a moment and looked at it with bitter +searchings of heart. Here was the place where he had taken such a +good turn, as he had fondly hoped--in connection with the then +inmates of which he had made the strongest good resolutions he +had ever made in his life perhaps. What was the good of his +trying to befriend anybody? His friendship turned to a blight; +whatever he had as yet tried to do for Harry had only injured +him, and now how did they stand? Could they ever be friends again +after that day's discovery? To do him justice, the probable ruin +of all his own prospects, the sudden coldness of Mr. and Mrs. +Porter's looks, and Mary's averted face, were not the things he +thought of first, and did not trouble him most. He thought of +Harry, and shuddered at the wrong he had done him as he looked at +his deserted home. The door opened and a figure appeared. It was +Mr. Wurley's agent, the lawyer who had been employed by Farmer +Tester in his contest with Harry and his mates about the pound. +The man of law saluted him with a smirk of scarcely concealed +triumph, and then turned into the house again and shut the door, +as if he did not consider further communication necessary or +safe. Tom turned with a muttered imprecation on him and his +master, and hurried away along the lane which led to the heath. +The Hawk's Lynch lay above him, and he climbed the side +mechanically and sat himself again on the old spot. + +He sat for some time looking over the landscape, graven on his +mind as it was by his former visit, and bitterly, oh, how +bitterly! did the remembrance of that visit, and of the +exultation and triumph which then filled him, and carried him +away over the heath with a shout towards his home, come back on +him. He could look out from his watchtower no longer, and lay +down with his face between his hands on the turf, and groaned as +he lay. + +But his good angel seemed to haunt the place, and soon the cold +fit began to pass away, and better and more hopeful thoughts to +return. After all what had he done since his last visit to that +place to be ashamed of? Nothing. His attempts to do Harry +service, unlucky as they had proved, had been honest. Had he +become less worthy of the love which had first consciously +mastered him there some four weeks ago? No; he felt on the +contrary, that it had already raised him, and purified him, and +made a man of him. But this last discovery, how could he ever get +over that? Well, after all, the facts were just the same as +before; only now they had come out. It was right that they should +have come out; better for him and for everyone that they should +be known and faced. He was ready to face them, to abide any +consequences that they might now bring in their train. His heart +was right towards Mary, towards Patty, towards Harry--that he +felt sure of. And, if so, why should he despair of either his +love or his friendship coming to a good end? + +And so he sat up again, and looked out bravely towards Barton, +and began to consider what was to be done. His eye rested on the +Rectory. That was the first place to begin with. He must set +himself right with Katie--let her know the whole story. Through +her he could reach all the rest, and do whatever must be done to +clear the ground and start fresh again. + +At first he thought of returning to her at once, and rose to go +down to Englebourn. But anything like retracing his steps was +utterly distasteful to him just then. Before him he saw light, +dim enough as yet, but still a dawning; towards that he would +press, leaving everything behind him to take care of itself. So +he turned northwards, and struck across the heath at his best +pace. The violent exercise almost finished his cure, and his +thoughts became clearer and more hopeful as he neared home. He +arrived there as the household was going to bed, and found a +letter waiting for him. It was from Hardy, saying that Blake had +left him, and he was now thinking of returning to Oxford, and +would come for his long talked of visit to Berkshire, if Tom was +still at home, and in the mind to receive him. + +Never was a letter more opportune. Here was the tried friend on +whom he could rely for help and advice and sympathy--who knew all +the facts too from beginning to end! His father and mother were +delighted to hear that they should now see the friend of whom he +had spoken so much. So he went up stairs and wrote an answer, +which set Hardy to work packing his portmanteau in the far west, +and brought him speedily to the side of his friend under the lee +of the Berkshire hills. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV--SECOND YEAR + +For some days after his return home--in fact, until his friend's +arrival, Tom was thoroughly beaten down and wretched, +notwithstanding his efforts to look hopefully forward, and keep +up his spirits. His usual occupations were utterly distasteful to +him; and, instead of occupying himself, he sat brooding over his +late misfortune, and hopelessly puzzling his head as to what he +could do to set matters right. The conviction in which he always +landed was that there was nothing to be done, and that he was a +desolate and blighted being, deserted of gods and men. Hardy's +presence and company soon shook him out of this maudlin nightmare +state, and he began to recover as soon as he had his old +sheet-anchor friend to hold on to and consult with. Their +consultations were held chiefly in the intervals of woodcraft, in +which they spent most of their hours between breakfast and +dinner. Hardy did not take out a certificate and wouldn't shoot +without one; so, as the best autumn exercise, they selected a +tough old pollard elm, infinitely ugly, with knotted and twisted +roots, curiously difficult to get at and cut through, which had +been long marked as a blot by Mr. Brown, and condemned to be +felled as soon as there was nothing more pressing for his men to +do. But there was always something of more importance; so that +the cross-grained old tree might have remained until this day, +had not Hardy and Tom pitched on him as a foeman worthy of their +axes. They shoveled, and picked, and hewed away with great +energy. The woodman who visited them occasionally, and who, on +examining their first efforts, had remarked that the severed +roots looked a little "as tho' the dogs had been a gnawin' at +'em," began to hold them in respect, and to tender his advice +with some deference. By the time the tree was felled and +shrouded, Tom was in a convalescent state. + +Their occupation had naturally led to discussions on the +advantages of emigration, the delights of clearing one's own +estate, building one's own house, and getting away from +conventional life with a few tried friends. Of course the +pictures which were painted included foregrounds with beautiful +children playing about the clearing, and graceful women, wives of +the happy squatters, flitting in and out of log houses and sheds, +clothed and occupied after the manner of our ideal grandmothers; +with the health and strength of Amazons, the refinement of +high-bred ladies, and wondrous skill in all domestic works, +confections, and contrivances. The log-houses would also contain +fascinating select libraries, continually reinforced from home, +sufficient to keep all the dwellers in the happy clearing in +communion with all the highest minds of their own and former +generations. Wonderous games in the neighbouring forest, dear old +home customs established and taking root in the wilderness, with +ultimate dainty flower gardens, conservatories, and +pianofortes--a millennium on a small scale, with universal +education, competence, prosperity, and equal rights! Such +castle-building, as an accompaniment to the hard exercise of +woodcraft, worked wonders for Tom in the next week, and may be +safely recommended to parties in like evil case with him. + +But more practical discussions were not neglected, and it was +agreed that they should make a day at Englebourn together before +their return to Oxford, Hardy undertaking to invade the Rectory +with the view of re-establishing his friend's character there. + +Tom wrote a letter to Katie to prepare her for a visit. The day +after the ancient elm was fairly disposed of, they started early +for Englebourn, and separated at the entrance to the +village--Hardy proceeding to the Rectory to fulfill his mission, +which he felt to be rather an embarrassing one, and Tom to look +after the constable, or whoever else could give him information +about Harry. + +He arrived at the "Red Lion," their appointed trysting place, +before Hardy, and spent a restless half-hour in the porch and bar +waiting for his return. At last Hardy came, and Tom hurried him +into the inn's best room, where bread and cheese and ale awaited +them; and, as soon as the hostess could be got out of the room, +began impatiently-- + +"Well you have seen her?" + +"Yes, I have come straight here from the Rectory." + +"And is it all right, eh? Has she got my letter?" + +"Yes, she had had your letter." + +"And you think she is satisfied?" + +"Satisfied? No, you can't expect her to be satisfied." + +"I mean, is she satisfied that it isn't so bad after all as it +looked the other day? What does Katie think of me?" + +"I think she is still very fond of you, but that she has been +puzzled and outraged by this discovery, and cannot get over it +all at once." + +"Why didn't you tell her the whole story from beginning to end?" + +"I tried to do so as well as I could." + +"Oh, but I can see you haven't done it. She doesn't really +understand how it is." + +"Perhaps not; but you must remember it is an awkward subject to +be talking about to a young woman. I would sooner stand another +fellowship examination than go through it again." + +"Thank you, old fellow," said Tom, laying his hand on Hardy's +shoulder; "I feel that I'm unreasonable and impatient; but you +can excuse it; you know that I don't mean it." + +"Don't say another word; I only wish I could have done more for +you." + +"But what do you suppose Katie thinks of me?" + +"Why, you see, it sums itself up in this; she sees that you have +been making serious love to Patty, and have turned the poor +girl's head, more or less, and that now you are in love with +somebody else. Why, put it how we will, we can't get out of that. +There are the facts, pure and simple, and she wouldn't be half a +woman if she didn't resent it." + +"But it's hard lines, too, isn't it, old fellow? No, I won't say +that? I deserve it all, and much worse. But you think I may come +round all right?" + +"Yes, all in good time. I hope there's no danger in any other +quarter?" + +"Goodness knows. There's the rub, you see. She will go back to +town disgusted with me. I sha'n't see her again, and she won't +hear of me for I don't know how long; and she will be meeting +heaps of men. Has Katie been over to Barton?" + +"Yes; she was there last week, just before they left." + +"Well, what happened?" + +"She wouldn't say much; but I gathered that they are very well." + +"Oh yes, bother it. Of course they are very well. But didn't she +talk to Katie about what happened last week?" + +"Of couse they did! What else should they talk about?" + +"But you don't know what they said?" + +"No. But you may depend on it that Miss Winter will be your +friend. My dear fellow, there is nothing for it but time." + +"Well, I suppose not," said Tom, with a groan. "Do you think I +should call and see Katie?" + +"No; I think better not." + +"Well, then, we may as well get back," said Tom, who was not +sorry for his friend's decision. So they paid their bill and +started for home, taking the Hawk's Lynch on the way, that Hardy +might see the view. + +"And what did you find out about young Winburn?" he said as they +passed down the street. + +"Oh, no good," said Tom; "he was turned out, as I thought, and +has gone to live with an old woman on the heath here, who is no +better than she should be; and none of the farmers will employ +him. + +"You didn't see him, I suppose?" + +"No, he is away with some of the heath people, hawking besoms and +chairs about the country. They make them when there is no harvest +work, and loaf about in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and +other counties, selling them." + +"No good will come of that sort of life, I'm afraid." + +"No, but what is he to do?" + +"I called at the lodge as I came away, and saw Patty and her +mother. It's all right in that quarter. The old woman doesn't +seem to think anything of it, and Patty is a good girl, and will +make Harry Winburn, or anybody else, a capital wife. Here are +your letters." + +"And the locket?" + +"I quite forgot it. Why didn't you remind me of it? You talked of +nothing but the letters this morning." + +"I'm glad of it. It can do no harm now, and as it is worth +something, I should have been ashamed to take it back. I hope +she'll put Harry's hair in it soon. Did she seem to mind giving +up the letters?" + +"Not very much. No, you are lucky there. She will get over it." + +"But you told her that I am her friend for life, and that she is +to let me know if I can ever do anything for her?" + +"Yes. And now I hope this is the last job of the kind I shall +ever have to do for you." + +"But what bad luck it has been? If I had only seen her before, or +known who she was, nothing of all this would have happened." + +To this Hardy made no reply; and the subject was not alluded to +again in their walk home. + +A day or two afterwards they returned to Oxford, Hardy to begin +his work as fellow and assistant-tutor of the College, and Tom to +see whether he could not make a better hand of his second year +than he had of his first. He began with a much better chance of +doing so, for he was thoroughly humbled. The discovery that he +was not altogether such a hero as he had fancied himself, had +dawned upon him very distinctly by the end of his first year; and +the events of the long vacation had confirmed the impression, and +pretty well taken all the conceit out of him for the time. The +impotency of his own will, even when he was bent on doing the +right thing, his want of insight and foresight in whatever matter +he took in hand, the unruliness of his temper and passions just +at the moments when it behooved him to have them most thoroughly +in hand and under control, were a set of disagreeable facts which +had been driven well home to him. The results, being even such as +we have seen, he did not much repine at, for he felt he had +deserved them; and there was a sort of grim satisfaction, dreary +as the prospect was, in facing them, and taking his punishment +like a man. This was what he had felt at the first blush on the +Hawk's Lynch; and, as he thought over matters again by his fire, +with his oak sported, on the first evening of term, he was still +in the same mind. This was clearly what he had to do now. How to +do it, was the only question. + +At first he was inclined to try to set himself right with the +Porters and the Englebourn circle, by writing further +explanations and confessions to Katie. But, on trying his hand at +a letter, he found that he could not trust himself. The +temptation of putting everything in the best point of view for +himself was too great; so he gave up the attempt, and merely +wrote a few lines to David, to remind him that he was always +ready and anxious to do all he could for his friend, Harry +Winburn, and to beg that he might have news of anything which +happened to him, and how he was getting on. He did not allude to +what had lately happened, for he did not know whether the facts +had become known, and was in no hurry to open the subject +himself. + +Having finished his letter, he turned again to his meditations +over the fire, and, considering that he had some little right to +reward resolution, took off the safety valve, and allowed the +thoughts to bubble up freely which were always underlying all +others that passed through his brain, and making constant low, +delicious, but just now somewhat melancholy music, in his head +and heart. He gave himself up to thinking of Mary, and their walk +in the wood, and the sprained ankle, and all the sayings and +doings of that eventful autumn day. And then he opened his desk, +and examined certain treasures therein concealed, including a +withered rose-bud, a sprig of heather, a cut boot-lace, and a +scrap or two of writing. Having gone through some extravagant +forms of worship, not necessary to be specified, he put them +away. Would it ever all come right? + +He made his solitary tea, and sat down again to consider the +point. But the point would not be considered alone. He began to +feel more strongly what he had had several hints of already, that +there was a curiously close connexion between his own love story +and that of Harry Winburn and Patty--that he couldn't separate +them, even in his thoughts. Old Simon's tumble, which had +recalled his daughter from Oxford at so critical a moment for +him; Mary's visit to Englebourn at this very time; the curious +yet natural series of little accidents which had kept him in +ignorance of Patty's identity until the final catastrophe--then, +again, the way in which Harry Winburn and his mother had come +across him on the very day of his leaving Barton; the fellowship +of a common mourning which had seemed to bind them together so +closely; and this last discovery, which he could not help fearing +must turn Harry into a bitter enemy, when he heard the truth, as +he must, sooner or later--as all these things passed before him, +he gave in to a sort of superstitious feeling that his own fate +hung, in some way or another, upon that of Harry Winburn. If he +helped on his suit, he was helping on his own; but whether he +helped on his own or not, was, after all, not that which was +uppermost in his thoughts, He was much changed in this respect +since he last sat in those rooms, just after his first days with +her. Since then an angel had met him, and had touched the cord of +self, which, trembling, was passing "in music out of sight." + +The thought of Harry and his trials enabled him to indulge in +some good honest indignation, for which there was no room in his +own case. That the prospects in life of such a man should be in +the power, to a great extent, of such people as Squire Wurley and +Farmer Tester; that, because he happened to be poor, he should be +turned out of the cottage where his family had lived for a +hundred years, at a week's notice, through the caprice of a +drunken gambler; that because he had stood up for his rights, and +had thereby offended the worst farmer in the parish, he should be +a marked man, and unable to get work--these things appeared so +monstrous to Tom, and made him so angry, that he was obliged to +get up and stamp about the room. And from the particular case he +very soon got to generalizations. + +Questions which had before now puzzled him gained a new +significance every minute, and became real to him. Why a few men +should be rich, and all the rest poor; above all, why he should +be one of the few? Why the mere possession of property should +give a man power over all his neighbors? Why poor men who were +ready and willing to work should only be allowed to work as a +sort of favor, and should after all get the merest tithe of what +their labor produced, and be tossed aside as soon as their work +was done, or no longer required? These, and other such problems, +rose up before him, crude and sharp, asking to be solved. Feeling +himself quite unable to give any but one answer to them--viz. +that he was getting out of his depth, and that the whole business +was in a muddle--he had recourse to his old method when in +difficulties, and putting on his cap, started off to Hardy's +rooms to talk the matter over, and see whether he could not get +some light on it from that quarter. + +He returned in an hour or so, somewhat less troubled in his mind +inasmuch as he had found his friend in pretty much the same state +of mind on such topics as himself. But one step he had gained. +Under his arm he carried certain books from Hardy's scanty +library, the perusal of which he hoped, at least, might enable +him sooner or later to feel that he had got on to some sort of +firm ground, At any rate, Hardy had advised him to read them; so, +without more ado, he drew his chair to the table and began to +look into them. + +This glimpse of the manner in which Tom spent the first evening +of his second year at Oxford, will enable intelligent readers to +understand why, though he took to reading far more kindly and +honestly than he had ever done before, he made no great advance +in the proper studies of the place. Not that he wholly neglected +these, for Hardy kept him pretty well up to the collar, and he +passed his little go creditably, and was fairly placed at the +college examinations. In some of the books which he had to get up +for lectures he was genuinely interested. The politics of Athens, +the struggle between the Roman plebs and patricians, Mons Sacer +and the Agrarian laws--these began to have a new meaning to him, +but chiefly because they bore more or less on the great Harry +Winburn problem; which problem, indeed, for him had now fairly +swelled into the condition-of-England problem, and was becoming +every day more and more urgent and importunate, shaking many old +beliefs, and leading him whither he knew not. + +This very matter of leading was a sore trial to him. The further +he got on his new road, the more he felt the want of +guidance--the guidance of some man; for that of books he soon +found to be bewildering. His college tutor, whom he consulted, +only deprecated the waste of tune; but on finding it impossible +to dissuade him, at last recommended the economic works of that +day as the proper well springs of truth on such matters. To them +Tom accordingly went, and read with the docility and faith of +youth, bent on learning and feeling itself in the presence of men +who had, or assumed, the right of speaking with authority. + +And they spoke to him with authority, and he read on, believing +much and hoping more; but somehow they did not really satisfy +him, though they silenced him for the time. It was not the fault +of the books, most of which laid down clearly enough, that what +they professed to teach was the science of man's material +interests, and the laws of the making and employment of capital. +But this escaped him in his eagerness, and he wandered up and +down their pages in search of quite another science, and of laws +with which they did not meddle. Nevertheless, here and there they +seemed to touch upon what he was in search of. He was much +fascinated, for instance, by the doctrine of "the greatest +happiness of the greatest number," and for its sake swallowed for +a time, though not without wry faces, the dogmas, that +self-interest is the true pivot of all social action, that +population has a perpetual tendency to outstrip the means of +living, and that to establish a preventive check on population is +the duty of all good citizens. And so he lived on for some time +in a dreary uncomfortable state, fearing for the future of his +country, and with little hope about his own. But, when he came to +take stock of his newly acquired knowledge, to weigh it and +measure it, and found it to consist of a sort of hazy conviction +that society would be all right and ready for the millennium, +when every man could do what he liked, and nobody could interfere +with him, and there should be a law against marriage, the result +was more than he could stand. He roused himself and shook +himself, and began to think, "Well, these my present teachers are +very clever men, and well-meaning men, too. I see all that; but, +if their teaching is only to land me here, why it was scarcely +worth while going through so much to get so little." + +Casting about still for guidance, Grey occurred to him. Grey was +in residence as a bachelor, attending divinity lectures, and +preparing for ordination. He was still working hard at the +night-school, and Tom had been there once or twice to help him +when the curate was away. In short he was in very good books with +Grey, who had got the better of his shyness with him. He saw that +Tom was changed and sobered, and in his heart hoped some day to +wean him from the pursuits of the body, to which he was still +fearfully addicted, and to bring him into the fold. This hope was +not altogether unfounded; for, notwithstanding the strong bias +against them which Tom had brought with him from school, he was +now at times much attracted by many of the High Church doctrines, +and the men who professed them. Such men as Grey, he saw, did +really believe something, and were in earnest about carrying +their beliefs into action. The party might and did comprise many +others of the weakest sort, who believed and were in earnest +about nothing, but who liked to be peculiar. Nevertheless, while +he saw it laying hold of many of the best men of his time, it is +not to be wondered at that he was drawn towards it. Some help +might lie in these men if he could only get at it! + +So he propounded his doubts and studies, and their results to +Grey. But it was a failure. Grey felt no difficulty or very +little, in the whole matter; but Tom found that it was because he +believed the world to belong to the devil. "_Laissez faire_," +"buying cheap and selling dear," Grey held might be good enough +for laws for the world--very probably were. The laws of the +Church were "self-sacrifice," and "bearing one another's burdens" +her children should come out from the regions where the world's +laws were acknowledged. + +Tom listened, was dazzled at first, and thought he was getting on +the right track. But very soon he found that Grey's specific was +not of the least use to him. It was no good to tell him of the +rules of a society to which he felt that he neither belonged, nor +wished to belong, for clearly it could not be the Church of +England. He was an outsider! Grey would probably admit it to be +so, if he asked him! He had no longing to be anything else, _if_ +the Church meant an exclusive body, which took no care of any but +its own people, and had nothing to say to the great world in +which he and most people had to live, and buying and selling, and +hiring and working, had to go on. The close corporation might +have very good laws, but they were nothing to him. What he wanted +to know about was the law which this great world--the devil's +world, as Grey called it--was ruled by, or rather ought to be +ruled by. Perhaps, after all, Bentham and the others, whose books +he had been reading, might be right! At any rate, it was clear +that they had had in their thoughts the same world that he +had--the world which included himself and Harry Winburn, and all +labourers and squires, and farmers. So he turned to them again, +not hopefully, but more inclined to listen to them than he had +been before he had spoken to Grey. + +Hardy was so fully occupied with college lectures and private +pupils, that Tom had scruples about taking up much of his spare +time in the evenings. Nevertheless, as Grey had broken down, and +there was nobody else on whose judgment he could rely who would +listen to him, whenever he had a chance he would propound some of +his puzzles to his old friend. In some respects he got little +help, for Hardy was almost as much at sea as he himself on such +subjects as "value," and "wages," and the "laws of supply and +demand." But there was an indomitable belief in him that all +men's intercourse with one another, and not merely that of +Churchmen, must be founded on the principal of "doing as they +would be done by," and not on "buying cheap and selling dear," +and that these never would or could be reconciled with one +another, or mean the same thing, twist them how you would. This +faith of his friend's comforted Tom greatly, and he was never +tired of bringing it out; but at times he had his doubts whether +Grey might not be right--whether, after all, that and the like +maxims and principles were meant to be the laws of the kingdoms +of this world. He wanted some corroborative evidence on the +subject from an impartial and competent witness, and at last hit +upon what he wanted. For, one evening, on entering Hardy's rooms, +he found him on the last pages of a book, which he shut up with +an air of triumph on recognizing his visitor. Taking it up, he +thrust it into Tom's hands, and slapping him on the shoulder, +said, "There, my boy, that's what we want, or pretty near it at +any rate. Now, don't say a word, but go back to your rooms, and +swallow it whole and digest it, and then come back and tell me +what you think of it." + +"But I want to talk to you." + +"I can't talk. I have spent the better part of two days over that +book, and have no end of papers to look over. There; get back to +your rooms, and do what I tell you, or sit down here and hold +your tongue." + +So Tom sat down and held his tongue, and was soon deep in +Carlyle's "Past and Present." How he did revel in it--in the +humor, the power, the pathos, but, above all, in the root and +branch denunciations of many of the doctrines in which he had +been so lately voluntarily and wearily chaining himself! The +chains went snapping off one after another, and, in his +exultation, he kept spouting out passage after passage in a song +of triumph, "Enlightened egoism never so luminous is not the rule +by which man's life can be led--_laissez-faire_, supply and +demand, cash payment for the sole nexus, and so forth, were not, +are not, and never will be, a practical law of union for a +society of men," &c., &c., until Hardy fairly got up and turned +him out, and he retired with his new-found treasure to his own +rooms. + +He had scarcely ever in his life been so moved by a book before. +He laughed over it, and cried over it, and began half a dozen +letters to the author to thank him, which he fortunately tore up. +He almost forgot Mary for several hours during his first +enthusiasm. He had no notion how he had been mastered and +oppressed before. He felt as the crew of a small fishing-smack, +who are being towed away by an enemy's cruiser, might feel on +seeing a frigate with the Union Jack flying, bearing down and +opening fire on their captor; or as a small boy at school, who is +being fagged against rules by the right of the strongest, feels +when he sees his big brother coming around the corner. The help +which he had found was just what he wanted. There was no +narrowing of the ground here--no appeal to men as members of any +exclusive body whatever to separate themselves and come out of +the devil's world; but to men as men, to every man as a man--to +the weakest and meanest, as well as to the strongest and most +noble--telling them that the world is God's world, that everyone +of them has a work in it, and bidding them find their work and +set about it. + +The strong tinge of sadness which ran through the whole book, and +its unsparing denunciations of the established order of things, +suited his own unsettled and restless frame of mind. So he gave +himself up to his new bondage, and rejoiced in it, as though he +had found at last what he was seeking for; and, by the time that +long vacation came round again, to which we are compelled to +hurry him, he was filled full of a set of contradictory notions +and beliefs, which were destined to astonish and perplex the mind +of that worthy J. P. for the county of Berks, Brown the elder, +whatever other effect they might have on society at large. + +Readers must not suppose, however, that our hero had given up his +old pursuits; on the contrary, he continued to boat, and cricket, +and spar, with as much vigor as ever. His perplexities only made +him a little more silent at his pastimes than he used to be. But, +as we have already seen him thus employed, and know the ways of +the animal in such matters, it is needless to repeat. What we +want to do is to follow him into new fields of thought and +action, and mark, if it may be, how he develops, and gets himself +educated in one way and another; and this plunge into the great +sea of social, political, and economical questions is the +noticeable fact (so far as any is noticeable) of his second +year's residence. + +During the year he had only very meagre accounts of matters at +Englebourn. Katie, indeed, had come round sufficiently to write +to him; but she scarcely alluded to her cousin. He only knew that +Mary had come out in London, and was much admired; and that the +Porters had not taken Barton again, but were going abroad for the +autumn and winter. The accounts of Harry were bad; he was still +living at Daddy Collins's, nobody knew how, and working gang-work +occasionally with the outlaws of the heath. + +The only fact of importance in the neighborhood had been the +death of Squire Wurley, which happened suddenly in the spring. A +distant cousin had succeeded him, a young man of Tom's own age. + +He was also in residence at Oxford, and Tom knew him. They were +not very congenial; so he was much astonished when young Wurley, +on his return to College, after his relative's funeral, rather +sought him out, and seemed to wish to know more of him. The end +of it was an invitation to Tom to come to the Grange, and spend a +week or so at the beginning of the long vacation. There was to be +a party of Oxford men there, and nobody else; and they meant to +enjoy themselves thoroughly, Wurley said. + +Tom felt much embarrassed how to act, and, after some hesitation, +told his inviter of his last visit to the mansion in question, +thinking that a knowledge of the circumstances might change his +mind. But he found that young Wurley knew the facts already; and, +in fact, he couldn't help suspecting that his quarrel with the +late owner had something to say to his present invitation. +However, it did not lie in his mouth to be curious on the +subject; and so he accepted the invitation gladly, much delighted +at the notion of beginning his vacation so near Englebourn, and +having the run of the Grange fishing, which was justly +celebrated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI--THE RIVER SIDE + +So, from Henley, Tom went home just to see his father and mother +and pick up his fishing-gear, and then started for the Grange. On +his road thither, he more than once almost made up his mind to go +round by Englebourn, get his first interview with Katie over, and +find out how the world was really going with Harry and his +sweetheart, of whom he had such meagre intelligence of late. But, +for some reason or another, when it came to taking the turn to +Englebourn, he passed it by, and, contenting himself for the time +with a distant view of the village and the Hawk's Lynch, drove +straight to the Grange. + +He had not expected to feel very comfortable at first in the +house which he had left the previous autumn in so strange a +manner, and he was not disappointed. The rooms reminded him +unpleasantly of his passage of arms with the late master, and the +grave and portly butler was somewhat embarrassed in his reception +of him; while the footman, who carried off his portmanteau, did +it with a grin which put him out. The set of men whom he found +there were not of his sort. They were young Londoners, and he a +thorough countryman. But the sight of the stream by which he took +a hearty stroll before dinner made up for everything, and filled +him with pleasurable anticipations. He thought he had never seen +a sweeter bit of water. + +The dinner to which the party of young gentlemen sat down was +most undeniable. The host talked a little too much, perhaps; +under all the circumstances, of _my_ wine, _my_ plate, _my_ +mutton, &c., provoking the thought of how long they had been his. +But he was bent on hospitality after his fashion, and his guests +were not disposed to criticize much. + +The old butler did not condescend to wait, but brought in a +magnum of claret after dinner, carefully nursing it as if it were +a baby, and placing it patronizingly before his young master. +Before they adjourned to the billiard-room they had disposed of +several of the same; but the followers were brought in by a +footman, the butler being employed in discussing a bottle of an +older vintage with the steward in the still-room. Then came pool, +pool, pool, soda-water and brandy, and cigars, into the short +hours; but Tom stole away early, having an eye to his morning's +fishing, and not feeling much at home with his companions. + +He was out soon after sunrise the next morning. He never wanted +to be called when there was a trout-stream within reach; and his +fishing instinct told him that, in these sultry dog-days, there +would be little chance of sport when the sun was well up. So he +let himself gently out of the hall door--paused a moment on the +steps to fill his chest with the fresh morning air, as he glanced +at the weathercock over the stables--and then set to work to put +his tackle together on the lawn, humming a tune to himself as he +selected an insinuating red hackle and alder fly from his +well-worn book, and tied them on to his cast. Then he slung his +creel over his shoulder, picked up his rod, and started for the +water. + +As he passed the gates of the stable-yard, the keeper came out--a +sturdy bullet-headed fellow, in a velveteen coat, and cord +breeches and gaiters--and touched his hat. Tom returned the +salute, and wished him good morning. + +"Mornin', sir; you be about early." + +"Yes; I reckon it's the best time for sport at the end of June." + +"'Tis so, Sir. Shall I fetch a net, and come along!" + +"No, thank you, I'll manage the ladle myself. But which do you +call the best water?" + +"They be both middling good. They ain't much odds atwixt 'em. But +I see most fish movin' o' mornin's in the deep water down below." + +"I don't know; the night was too hot," said Tom, who had examined +the water the day before, and made up his mind where he was +going. "I'm for deep water on cold days; I shall begin with the +stickles up above. There's a good head of water on, I suppose?" + +"Plenty down this last week, sir." + +"Come along, then; we'll walk together, if you're going that +way." So Tom stepped off, brushing through the steaming long +grass, gemmed with wild flowers, followed by the keeper; and, as +the grasshoppers bounded chirruping out of his way, and the +insect life hummed and murmured, and the lark rose and sang above +his head, he felt happier than he had done for many a long month. +So his heart opened towards his companion, who kept a little +behind him. + +"What size do you take 'em out, keeper?" + +"Anything over nine inches, sir. But there's a smartish few fish +of three pounds, for them as can catch 'em." + +"Well, that's good; but they ain't easy caught, eh?" + +"I don't rightly know, sir; but there's gents comes as stands +close by the water, and flogs down stream with the sun in their +backs, and uses all manner o' vlies, wi' long names; and then +they gwoes away, and says, 'tain't no use flying here, 'cas +there's so much cadis bait and that like." + +"Ah, very likely," said Tom, with a chuckle. + +"The chaps as catches the big fishes, sir," went on the keeper, +getting confidential, "is thay cussed night-line poachers. +There's one o' thay as has come here this last spring-tide--the +artfullest chap as ever I come across, and down to every move on +the board. He don't use no shove-nets, nor such-like tackle; not +he; I s'pose he don't call that sport. Besides, I got master to +stake the whole water, and set old knives and razors about in the +holes, but that don't answer; and this joker all'us goes +alone--which, in course, he couldn't do with nets. Now, I knows +within five or six yards where that chap sets his lines, and I +finds 'em, now and again, set the artfullest you ever see. But +'twould take a man's life to look arter him, and I knows he gets, +maybe, a dozen big fish a week, do all as I knows." + +"How is it you can't catch him, keeper?" said Tom, much amused. + +"Why you see sir, he don't come at any hours. Drat un!" said the +keeper, getting hot; "blessed if I don't think he sometimes comes +down among the haymakers and folk at noon, and up lines and off, +while they chaps does nothing but snigger at un--all I knows is, +as I've watched till midnight, and then on again at dawn for'n, +and no good come on it but once." + +"How was that?" + +"Well, one mornin', sir, about last Lady-day, I comes quite quiet +up stream about dawn. When I get's to Farmer Giles's piece (that +little rough bit, sir, as you sees t'other side the stream, two +fields from our outside bounds), I sees un a stooping down and +hauling in's line. 'Now's your time, Billy,' says I, and up the +hedge I cuts, hotfoot, to get betwixt he and our bounds. Wether +he seen me or not, I can't mind; leastways, when I up's head +t'other side the hedge, vorights where I seen him last, there was +he a-trotting up stream quite cool, a-pocketing a two-pounder. +Then he sees me and away we goes side by side for the bounds--he +this side the hedge and I t'other; he takin' the fences like our +old greyhound-bitch, Clara. We takes the last fence on to that +fuzzy field as you sees there, Sir (parson's glebe and out of our +liberty), neck and neck, and I turns short to the left, 'cos +there warn't no fence now betwixt he and I. Well, I thought he'd +a dodged on about the fuz. Not he; he slouches his hat over's +eyes, and stands quite cool by fust fuz bush--I minded then as we +was out o' our beat. Hows'ever my blood was up; so I at's him +then and there, no words lost, and fetches a crack at's head wi +my stick.' He fends wi' his'n; and then, as I rushes in to +collar'n, dash'd if 'e didn't meet I full, and catch I by the +thigh and collar, and send I slap over's head into a fuz bush. + +"Then he chuckles fit to bust hisself, and cuts his stick, while +I creeps out full o' prickles, and wi' my breeches torn shameful. +Dang un!" cried the keeper, while Tom roared, "he's a lissum +wosbird, that I 'ool say, but I'll be up sides wi' he next time I +sees un. Whorson fool as I was, not to stop and look at 'n and +speak to un! Then I should ha' know'd 'n again; and now he med be +our parish clerk for all as I know." + +"And you've never met him since?" + +"Never sot eye on un, sir, arly or late--wishes I had." + +"Well, keeper, here's a half crown to go towards mending the hole +in your breeches, and better luck at the return match. I shall +begin fishing here." + +"Thank'ee, sir. You keep your cast pretty nigh that there off +bank, and you med have a rare good un ther'. I seen a fish suck +there just now as warn't spawned this year, nor last nether." + +And away went the communicative keeper. + +"Stanch fellow, the keeper," said Tom to himself, as he reeled +out yard after yard of his tapered line, and with a gentle sweep +dropped his collar of flies lightly on the water, each cast +covering another five feet of the dimpling surface. "Good fellow, +the keeper--don't mind telling a story against himself--can stand +being laughed at--more than master can. Ah, there's the fish he +saw sucking, I'll be bound. Now, you beauties, over his nose, and +fall light, don't disgrace your bringing up!" and away went the +flies quivering through the air and lighting close to the +opposite bank, under a bunch of rushes. A slight round eddy +flowed below the rushes as the cast came gently back across the +current. + +"Ah, you see them, do you, old boy?" thought Tom. "Say your +prayers, then, and get shrived!" and away went the flies again, +this time a little below. No movement. The third throw, a great +lunge and splash, and the next moment the lithe rod bent double, +and the gut collar spun along, cutting through the water like +mad. Up goes the great fish twice into the air, Tom giving him +the point; then up stream again, Tom giving him the butt, and +beginning to reel up gently. Down goes the great fish into the +swaying weeds, working with his tail like a twelve-horse screw. +"If I can only get my nose to ground," thinks he. So thinks Tom, +and trusts to his tackle, keeping a steady strain on trouty, and +creeping gently down stream. "No go," says the fish as he feels +his nose steadily hauled round, and turns a swirl downstream. +Away goes Tom, reeling in, and away goes the fish in hopes of a +slack--away, for twenty or thirty yards--the fish coming to the +top lazily, and again, and holding on to get his second wind. Now +a cart track crosses the stream, no weeds, and shallow water at +the side. "Here we must have it out," thinks Tom, and turns +fish's nose up stream again. The big fish gets sulky, twice +drifts towards the shallow, and twice plunges away at the sight +of his enemy into the deep water. The third time he comes swaying +in, his yellow side gleaming and his mouth open; and, the next +moment Tom scoops him out onto the grass, with a "whoop" that +might have been heard at the house. + +"Two pounder, if he's an ounce," says Tom, as he gives him the +_coup de grace_, and lays him out lovingly on the fresh green +sward. + +Who amongst you, dear readers, can appreciate the intense delight +of grassing your first big fish after a nine month's fast? All +first sensations have their special pleasure; but none can be +named, in a small way, to beat this of the first fish of the +season. The first clean leg-hit for four in your first match at +Lord's--the grating of the bows of your racing boat against the +stern of the boat ahead in your first race--the first half-mile +of a burst from the cover side in November, when the hounds in +the field ahead may be covered with a table-cloth, and no one but +the huntsman and a top sawyer or two lies between you and +them--the first brief after your call to the bar, if it comes +within the year--the sensations produced by these are the same in +kind; but cricket, boating, getting briefs, even hunting lose +their edge as time goes on. As to lady readers, it is impossible, +probably, to give them an idea of the sensation in question. +Perhaps some may have experienced something of the kind at their +first balls, when they heard whispers and saw all eyes turning +their way, and knew that their dresses and gloves fitted +perfectly. But this joy can be felt but once in a life, and the +first fish comes back as fresh as ever, or ought to come, if all +men had their rights, once in a season. So, good luck to the +gentle craft, and its professors, may the Fates send us much into +their company! The trout fisher, like the landscape painter, +haunts the loveliest places of the earth, and haunts them alone. +Solitude and his own thoughts--he must be on the best terms with +all of these; and he who can take kindly the largest allowance of +these is likely to be the kindliest and truest with his fellow +men. + +Tom had splendid sport that summer morning. As the great sun rose +higher, the light morning breeze, which had curled the water, +died away; the light mist drew up into light cloud, and the light +cloud vanished, into cloudland, for anything I know; and still +the fish rose, strange to say, though Tom felt it was an affair +of minutes, and acted accordingly. At eight o'clock he was about +a quarter of a mile from the house, at a point in the stream of +rare charms both for the angler and the lover of gentle river +beauty. The main stream was crossed by a lock, formed of a solid +brick bridge with no parapets, under which the water rushed +through four small arches, each of which could be closed in an +instant by letting down a heavy wooden lock gate, fitted in +grooves on the upper side of the bridge. Such locks are frequent +in the west-country streams--even at long distances from mills +and millers, for whose behoof they were made in old days, that +the supply of water to the mill might be easily regulated. All +pious anglers should bless the memories of the old builders of +them, for they are the very paradises of the great trout, who +frequent the old brickwork and timber foundations. The water in +its rush through the arches, had of course worked for itself a +deep hole, and then, some twenty yards below, spread itself out +in wanton joyous ripples and eddies over a broad surface some +fifty yards across, and dashed away towards a little island some +two hundred yards below, or rolled itself slowly back towards the +bridge again, up the backwater by the side of the bank, as if +longing for another merry rush through one of those narrow +arches. The island below was crowned with splendid alders, +willows forty feet high, which wept into the water, and two or +three poplars; a rich mile of water meadow, with an occasional +willow or alder, lay gleaming beyond; and the view was bounded by +a glorious wood, which crowned the gentle slope, at the foot of +which the river ran. Another considerable body of water, which +had been carried off above from the main stream to flush the +water meadows, joined its parent at this point; it came slowly +down a broad artificial ditch running parallel with the main +stream; and the narrow strip of land which divided the two +streams ended abruptly just below the lock, forming a splendid +point for bather or angler. + +Tom had fixed on this pool as his _bonne bouche_, as a child +keeps its plums till the last, and stole over the bridge, +stooping low to gain the point indicated. Having gained it, he +glanced round to be aware of the dwarf ash-trees and willows +which were scattered along the strip, and might catch heedless +collars and spoil sport, when, lying lazily almost on the surface +where the backwater met the stream from the meadows, he beheld +the great grandfather of all trout, a fellow two feet long and a +foot in girth at the shoulders, just moving fin enough to keep +him from turning over on to his back. He threw himself flat on +the ground and crept away to the other side of the strip; the +king fish had not seen him; and the next moment Tom saw him suck +in a bee, laden with his morning's load of honey, who touched the +water unwarily close to his nose. With trembling hand, Tom took +off his tail fly, and, on his knee, substituted a governor; then +shortening his line, after wetting his mimic bee in the pool +behind him, tossed it gently into the monster's very jaws. For a +moment the fish seemed scared, but the next, conscious in his +strength, lifted his nose slowly to the surface and sucked in the +bait. + +Tom struck gently, and then sprang to his feet. But the Heavens +had other work for the king fish, who dived swiftly under the +bank; a slight jar followed, and Tom's rod was straight over his +head, the line and scarcely a yard of his trusty gut collar +dangling about his face. He seized this remnant with horror and +unsatisfied longing, and examined it with care. Could he have +overlooked any fraying which the gut might have got in the +morning's work? No; he had gone over every inch of it not five +minutes before, as he neared the pool. Besides it was cut clean +through, not a trace of bruise or fray about it. How could it +have happened? He went to the spot and looked into the water; it +was slightly discolored and he could not see the bottom. He threw +his fishing coat off, rolled up the sleeve of his flannel shirt, +and, lying on his side, felt about the bank and tried to reach +the bottom but couldn't. So, hearing the half-hour bell ring, he +deferred further inquiry, and stripped in silent disgust for a +plunge in the pool. Three times he hurled himself into the +delicious rush of the cold chalk stream, with that utter abandon +in which man, whose bones are brittle, can only indulge when +there are six or seven feet of water between him and mother +earth; and, letting the stream bear him away at its own sweet +will to the shallows below, struck up again through the rush and +the roar to his plunging place. Then, slowly and luxuriously +dressing, he lit his short pipe--companion of meditation--and +began to ruminate on the escape of the king fish. What could have +cut his collar? The more he thought, the less he could make it +out. When suddenly he was aware of the keeper on his way back to +the house for orders and breakfast. + +"What sport, sir?" + +"Pretty fair," said Tom, carelessly, lugging five plump speckled +fellows, weighing some seven and a half pounds, out of his creel, +and laying them out for the keeper's inspection. + +"Well, they be in prime order, sir, surely," says the keeper, +handling them; "they allus gets mortal thick across the shoulders +while the May-fly be on. Loose any sir?" + +"I put in some little ones up above, and lost one screamer just +up the black ditch there. He must have been a four-pounder, and +went off, and be hanged to him, with two yards of my collar and a +couple of first-rate flies. How on earth he got off I can't +tell!" and he went on to unfold the particulars of the short +struggle. + +The keeper could hardly keep down a grin. "Ah, sir," said he, "I +thinks I knows what spwiled your sport. You owes it all to that +chap as I was a telling you of, or my name's not Willum Goddard;" +and then, fishing the lockpole with a hook at the end of it out +of the rushes, he began groping under the bank, and presently +hauled up a sort of infernal machine, consisting of a heavy lump +of wood, a yard or so long, in which were carefully inserted the +blades of four or five old knives and razors, while a crop of +rusty jagged nails filled up the spare space. + +Tom looked at it in wonder. "What devil's work have you got hold +of there?" he said at last. + +"Bless you, sir," said the keeper, "'tis only our shove net traps +as I was a telling you of. I keeps hard upon a dozen on 'em and +shifts 'em about in the likeliest holes; and I takes care to let +the men as is about the water meadows see me a-sharpening on 'em +up a bit wi' a file, now and again. And since master gev me +orders to put 'em in, I don't think they tries that game on not +once a month." + +"Well but where do you and your master expect to go to if you set +such things as those about?" said Tom, looking serious. "Why, +you'll be cutting some fellow's hand or foot half off one of +these days. Suppose I'd waded up the bank to see what had become +of my cast?" + +"Lor', sir, I never thought o' that," said the keeper, looking +sheepish and lifting the back of his short hat off his head to +make room for a scratch; "but," added he turning the subject, "if +you wants to keep they artful wosbirds off the water, you must +frighten 'em wi' summat out o' the way. Drattle 'em, I knows they +puts me to my wit's end; but you'd never 'a had five such fish as +them afore breakfast, sir, if we didn't stake the waters." + +"Well, and I don't want 'em if I can't get 'em without. I'll tell +you what it is, keeper, this razor business is going a bit too +far; men ain't to be maimed for liking a bit of sport. You set +spring-guns in the woods, and you know what that came to. Why +don't you, or one of your watchers, stop out here at night, and +catch the fellows, like men? + +"Why, you see, sir, master don't allow me but one watcher and +he's mortal feared o' the water, he be, specially o' nights. He'd +sooner by half stop up in the woods. Daddy Collins (that's an old +woman as lives on the heath, sir, and a bad sort she be, too) +well, she told him once, when he wouldn't gee her some baccy as +he'd got, and she'd a mind to, as he'd fall twice into the water +for once as he'd get out; and th' poor chap ever since can't +think but what he'll be drownded. And there's queer sights and +sounds by the river o' nights, too, I 'ool say, sir, let alone +the white mist, as makes everything look unket, and gives a chap +the rheumatics." + +"Well, but _you_ ain't afraid of ghosts and rheumatism?" + +"No, I don't know as I be, sir. But then there's the pheasants +a-breedin', and there's four brood of flappers in the withey bed, +and a sight of young hares in the spinneys. I be hard put to to +mind it all." + +"I daresay you are," said Tom, putting on his coat and +shouldering his rod; "I've a good mind to take a turn at it +myself, to help you, if you'll only drop those razors." + +"I wishes you would, sir," said the keeper, from behind; "if +genl'men'd sometimes take a watch at nights, they'd find out as +keepers hadn't all fair weather work, I'll warrant, if they're to +keep a good head o' game about a place. 'Taint all popping off +guns, and lunching under hayricks, I can tell 'em--no, nor half +on it." + +"Where do you think, now, this fellow we are talking of sells his +fish?" said Tom, after a minute's thought. + +"Mostly at Reading Market, I hears tell, sir. There's the guard +of the mail, as goes by the cross-roads three days a week, he wur +a rare poaching chap hisself down in the west afore he got his +place along of his bugle-playing. They do say as he's open to any +game, he is, from a buck to a snipe, and drives a trade all down +the road with the country chaps. + +"What day is Reading Market?" + +"Tuesdays and Saturdays, sir." + +"And what time does the mail go by?" + +"Six o'clock in the morning, sir, at the cross-roads." + +"And they're three miles off, across the fields?" + +"Thereabouts, sir. I reckons it about a forty minutes' stretch, +and no time lost." + +"There'll be no more big fish caught on the fly to-day," said +Tom, after a minute's silence, as they neared the house. + +The wind had fallen dead, and not a spot of cloud in the sky. + +"Not afore nightfall, I think, sir;" and the keeper disappeared +towards the offices. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII--THE NIGHT WATCH + +"You may do as you please, but I'm going to see it out." + +"No, but I say do come along; that's a good, fellow." + +"Not I; why, we've only just come out. Didn't you hear? Wurley +dared me to do a night's watching, and I said I meant to do it." + +"Yes; so did I. But we can change our minds. What's the good of +having a mind if you can't change it! [Greek text] ai denterai +poz phrontidez sophoterai--isn't that good Greek and good sense?" + +"I don't see it. They'll only laugh and sneer if we go back now." + +"They'll laugh at us twice as much if we don't. Fancy they're +just beginning pool now, on that stunning table. Come along, +Brown; don't miss your chance. We shall be sure to divide the +pools, as we've missed the claret. Cool hands and cool heads, you +know. Green on brown, pink your player in hand! That's a good +deal pleasanter than squatting here all night on the damp grass." + +"Very likely." + +"But you won't? Now, do be reasonable. Will you come if I stop +with you another half-hour?" + +"No." + +"An hour then? Say till ten o'clock?" + +"If I went at all I would go at once." + +"Then you won't come?" + +"No." + +"I'll bet you a sovereign you never see a poacher, and then how +sad you will be in the morning! It will be much worse coming in +to breakfast with empty hands and a cold in the head, than going +in now. They will chaff then, I grant you." + +"Well, then, they may chaff and be hanged, for I shan't go in +now." + +Tom's interlocutor put his hands in the pockets of his heather +mixture shooting coat, and took a turn or two of some dozen +yards, backwards and forwards above the place where our hero was +sitting. He didn't like going in and facing the pool players by +himself; so he stopped once more and reopened the conversation. + +"What do you want to do by watching all night, Brown?" + +"To show the keeper and those fellows indoors that I mean what I +say. I said I'd do it, and I will." + +"You don't want to catch a poacher, then?" + +"I don't much care; I'll catch one if he comes in my way--or try +it on, at any rate." + +"I say, Brown, I like that; as if you don't poach yourself. Why, +I remember when the Whiteham keeper spent the best part of a week +outside the college gates, on the lookout for you and Drysdale +and some other fellows." + +"What has that to do with it?" + +"Why, you ought to have more fellow-feeling. I suppose you go on +the principle of set a thief to catch a thief?" + +Tom made no answer, and his companion went on. + +"Come along, now, like a good fellow. If you'll come in now, we +can come out again all fresh, when the rest go to bed." + +"Not we. I sha'n't go in. But you can come out again if you like; +you'll find me hereabouts." + +The man in the heather mixture had now shot his last bolt, and +took himself off to the house, leaving Tom by the riverside. How +they got there may be told in a few words. After his morning's +fishing, and conversation with the keeper, he had gone in full of +his subject and propounded it at the breakfast table. His +strictures on the knife and razor business produced a rather warm +discussion, which merged in the question whether a keeper's life +was a hard one, till something was said implying that Wurley's +men were overworked. The master took this in high dudgeon, and +words ran high. In the discussion, Tom remarked (apropos of +night-work) that he would never ask another man to do what he +would not do himself; which sentiment was endorsed by, amongst +others, the man in the heather mixture. The host had retorted, +that they had better in that case try it themselves; which remark +had the effect of making Tom resolve to cut short his visit, and +in the meantime had brought him and his ally to the river side on +the night in question. + +The first hour, as we have seen, had been enough for the ally; +and so Tom was left in company with a plaid, a stick, and a pipe, +to spend the night by himself. + +It was by no means the first night he had spent in the open air, +and promised to be a pleasant one for camping out. It was almost +the longest day in the year, and the weather was magnificent. +There was yet an hour of daylight, and the place he had chosen +was just the right one for enjoying the evening. + +He was sitting under one of a clump of huge old alders, growing +on the thin strip of land already noticed, which divided the main +stream from the deep artificial ditch which fed the +water-meadows. On his left the emerald-green meadows stretched +away till they met the inclosed corn-land. On his right ran the +main stream, some fifty feet in breadth at this point; on the +opposite side of which was a rough piece of ground, half +withey-bed, half copse, with a rank growth of rushes at the +water's edge. These were the chosen haunts of the moor-hen and +water-rat, whose tracks could be seen by dozens, like small open +doorways, looking out on to the river, through which ran a number +of mysterious little paths into the rush-wilderness beyond. + +The sun was now going down behind the copse, through which his +beams came aslant, chequered and mellow. The stream ran dimpling +by him, sleepily swaying the masses of weed, under the surface +and on the surface; and the trout rose under the banks, as some +moth or gnat or gleaming beetle fell into the stream; here and +there one more frolicsome than his brethren would throw himself +joyously into the air. The swifts rushed close by him, in +companies of five or six, and wheeled, and screamed, and dashed +away again, skimming along the water, baffling his eye as he +tried to follow their flight. Two kingfishers shot suddenly up on +to their supper station, on a stunted willow stump, some twenty +yards below him, and sat there in the glory of their blue backs +and cloudy red waistcoats, watching with long sagacious beaks +pointed to the water beneath, and every now and then dropping +like flashes of light into the stream, and rising again, with +what seemed one motion, to their perches. A heron or two were +fishing about the meadows; and he watched them stalking about in +their sober quaker coats, or rising on slow heavy wing, and +lumbering away home with a weird cry. He heard the strong pinions +of the wood pigeon in the air, and then from the trees above his +head came the soft call, "Take-two-cow-Taffy, +take-two-cow-Taffy," with which that fair and false bird is said +to have beguilled the hapless Welchman to the gallows. Presently, +as he lay motionless, the timid and graceful little water-hens +peered out from their doors in the rushes opposite, and, seeing +no cause for fear, stepped daintily into the water, and were +suddenly surrounded by little bundles of black soft down, which +went paddling about in and out of the weeds, encouraged by the +occasional sharp, clear, parental "keck-keck," and merry little +dabchicks popped up in mid-stream, and looked round, and nodded +at him, pert and voiceless, and dived again; even old cunning +water-rats sat up on the bank with round black noses and gleaming +eyes, or took solemn swims out, and turned up their tails and +disappeared for his amusement. A comfortable low came at +intervals from the cattle, revelling in the abundant herbage. All +living things seemed to be disporting themselves, and enjoying, +after their kind, the last gleams of the sunset, which were +making the whole vault of heaven glow and shimmer; and, as he +watched them, Tom blessed his stars as he contrasted the +river-side with the glare of lamps and the click of balls in the +noisy pool room. + +Before it got dark he bethought him of making sure of his +position once more; matters might have changed since he chose it +before dinner. With all that he could extract from the keeper, +and his own experience in such matters, it had taken him several +hours' hunting up and down the river that afternoon before he had +hit on a night-line. But he had persevered, knowing that this was +the only safe evidence to start from, and at last had found +several, so cunningly set that it was clear that it was a +first-rate artist in the poaching line against whom he had pitted +himself. These lines must have been laid almost under his nose on +that very day, as the freshness of the baits proved. The one +which he had selected to watch by was under the bank, within a +few yards of the clump of alders where he was now sitting. There +was no satisfactory cover near the others; so he had chosen this +one, where he would be perfectly concealed behind the nearest +trunk from any person who might come in due time to take up the +line. With this view, then, he got up, and, stepping carefully on +the thickest grass where his foot would leave no mark, went to +the bank, and felt with the hook of his stick after the line. It +was all right, and he returned to his old seat. + +And then the summer twilight came on, and the birds disappeared, +and the hush of night settled down on river, and copse, and +meadow--cool and gentle summer twilight after the hot bright day. +He welcomed it too, as it folded up the landscape, and the trees +lost their outline, and settled into soft black masses rising +here and there out of the white mist, which seemed to have crept +up to within a few yards all round him unawares. There was no +sound now but the gentle murmur of the water and an occasional +rustle of reeds, or of the leaves over his head, as a stray +wandering puff of air passed through them on its way home to bed. +Nothing to listen to and nothing to look at; for the moon had not +risen, and the light mist hid everything except a star or two +right up above him. So, the outside world having left him for the +present, he was turned inwards on himself. + +This was all very well at first; and he wrapped the plaid round +his shoulders and leant against his tree, and indulged in a +little self-gratulation. There was something of strangeness and +adventure in his solitary night-watch, which had its charm for a +youngster of twenty-one; and the consciousness of not running +from his word, of doing what he had said he would do, while +others shirked and broke down, was decidedly pleasant. + +But this satisfaction did not last very long, and the night began +to get a little wearisome, and too cool to be quite comfortable. +By degrees, doubts as to the wisdom of his self-imposed task +crept into his head. He dismissed them for a time by turning his +thoughts to other matters. The neighbourhood of Englebourn, some +two miles up above him, reminded him of the previous summer; and +he wondered how he should get on with his cousin when they met. +He should probably see her the next day, for he would lose no +time in calling. Would she receive him well? Would she have much +to tell him about Mary? + +He had been more hopeful on this subject of late, but the +loneliness, the utter solitude and silence of his position as he +sat there in the misty night, away from all human habitations, +was not favorable somehow to hopefulness. He found himself +getting dreary and sombre in heart--more and more so as the +minutes rolled on, and the silence and loneliness pressed on him +more and more heavily. He was surprised at his own +down-heartedness, and tried to remember how he had spent former +nights so pleasantly out of doors. Ah, he had always had a +companion within call, and something to do--cray fishing, bat +fowling, or something of the kind! Sitting there doing nothing, +he fancied, must make it so heavy to-night. By a strong effort of +will he shook off the oppression. He moved, and hummed a tune to +break the silence; he got up and walked up and down, lest it +should again master him. If wind, storm, pouring rain, anything +to make sound or movement, would but come! + +But neither of them came, and there was little help in sound or +movement made by himself. Besides it occurred to him that much +walking up and down might defeat the object of his watch. No one +would come near while he was on the move; and he was probably +making marks already which might catch the eye of the setter of +the nightlines at some distance, if that cunning party waited for +the morning light, and might keep him away from the place +altogether. + +So he sat down again on his old seat, and leant hard against the +alder trunk, as though to steady himself, and keep all +troublesome thoughts well in front of him. In this attitude of +defense he reasoned with himself on the absurdity of allowing +himself to be depressed by the mere accidents of place, and +darkness, and silence; but all the reasoning at his command +didn't alter the fact. He felt the enemy advancing again, and, +casting, about for help, fell back on the thought that he was +going through a task, holding to his word, doing what he had said +he would do; and this brought him some relief for the moment, He +fixed his mind steadily on this task of his; but alas, here again +in his very last stronghold, the enemy began to turn his flank, +and the position every minute became more and more untenable. + +He had of late fallen into a pestilent habit of cross-questioning +himself on anything which he was about--setting up himself like a +cock at Shrovetide, and pelting himself with inexorable "whys?" +and "wherefores?" A pestilent habit truly he had found it, and +one which left a man no peace of his life--a relentless, +sleepless habit, always ready to take advantage of him, but never +so viciously alert, that he remembered, as on this night. + +And so this questioning self, which would never be denied for +long, began to examine him, as to his proposed night's work. This +precious task, which he was so proud of going through with, on +the score of which he had been in his heart crowing over others, +because they had not taken it on them, or had let it drop, what +then was the meaning of it? + +"What was he out there for? What had he come out to do?" They +were awkward questions. He tried several answers and was driven +from one to another till he was bound to admit that he was out +there that night partly out of pique, and partly out of pride; +and that his object (next to earning the pleasure of thinking +himself a better man than his neighbours) was, if so be, to catch +a poacher. "To catch a poacher? What business had he to be +catching poachers? If all poachers were to be caught, he would +have to be caught himself." He had just had an unpleasant +reminder of this fact from him of the heather mixture--a Parthian +remark which he had thrown over his shoulder as he went off, and +which had stuck. "But then," Tom argued, "it was a very different +thing, his poaching--going out for a day's lark after game, which +he didn't care a straw for, but only for the sport--and that of +men making a trade of it, like the man the keeper spoke of." +"Why? How different? If there were any difference, was it one in +his favour?" Avoiding this suggestion, he took up new ground, +"Poachers were always the greatest blackguards in their +neighbourhoods, pests of society, and ought to be put down." +"Possibly--at any rate he had been one of the fraternity in his +time, and was scarcely the man to be casting stones at them." +"But his poaching had always been done thoughtlessly. How did he +know that others had worse motives?" + +And so he went on, tossing the matter backwards and forwards in +his mind, and getting more and more uncomfortable, and unable to +answer to his own satisfaction the simple question, "What right +have you to be out here on this errand?" + +He got up a second time and walked up and down, but with no +better success than before. The change of position, and exercise, +did not help him out of his difficulties. And now he got a step +further. If he had no right to be there, hadn't he better go up +to the house and say so, and go to bed like the rest? No, his +pride couldn't stand that. But if he couldn't go in, he might +turn in to a barn or outhouse, nobody would be any the wiser +then, and after all he was not pledged to stop on one spot all +night? It was a tempting suggestion, and he was very near +yielding to it at once. While he wavered, a new set of thoughts +came up to back it. How, if he stayed there, and a gang of +night-poachers came? He knew that many of them were desperate +men. He had no arms; what could he do against them? Nothing; but +he might be maimed for life in a night row which he had no +business to be in--murdered, perhaps. He stood still and listened +long and painfully. + +Every moment, as he listened, the silence mastered him more and +more, and his reason became more and more powerless. It was such +a silence--a great illimitable, vague silence? The silence of a +deserted house where he could at least have felt that he was +bounded somewhere, by wall, and floor, and roof--where men must +have lived and worked once, though they might be there no +longer--would have been nothing; but this silence of the huge, +wide out-of-doors world, where there was nothing but air and +space around and above him, and the ground beneath, it was +getting irksome, intolerable, awful! The great silence seemed to +be saying to him, "You are alone, alone, alone!" and he had never +known before what horror lurked in that thought. + +Every moment that he stood still the spell grew stronger on him, +and yet he dared not move; and a strange, wild feeling of +fear--unmistakable physical fear, which made his heart beat and +his limbs tremble--seized on him. He was ready to cry out, to +fall down, to run, and yet there he stood listening, still and +motionless. + +The critical moment in all panics must come at last. A wild and +grewsome hissing and snoring, which seemed to come from the air +just over his head, made him start and spring forward, and gave +him the use of his limbs again at any rate, though they would not +have been worth much to him had the ghost or hobgoblin appeared +whom he half expected to see the next moment. Then came a +screech, which seemed to flit along the rough meadow opposite, +and come towards him. He drew a long breath, for he knew that +sound well enough; it was nothing after all but the owls. + +The mere realized consciousness of the presence of some living +creatures, were they only owls, brought him to his senses. And +now the moon was well up, and the wayward mist had cleared away, +and he could catch glimpses of the solemn birds every now and +then, beating over the rough meadow backwards and forwards, and +over the shallow water as regularly as trained pointers. + +He threw himself down again under his tree, and now bethought +himself of his pipe. Here was a companion which, wonderful to +say, he had not thought of before since the night set in. He +pulled it out, but paused before lighting. Nothing was so likely +to betray his whereabouts as tobacco. True, but anything was +better than such another fright as he had had, "so here goes," he +thought, "if I keep off all the poachers in Berkshire;" and he +accordingly lighted up, and, with the help of his pipe, once more +debated with himself the question of beating a retreat. + +After a sharp inward struggle, he concluded to stay and see it +out. He should despise himself, more than he cared to face, if he +gave in now. If he left that spot before morning, the motive +would be sheer cowardice. There might be fifty other good reasons +for going; but, if he went, _his_ reason would be fear and +nothing else. It might have been wrong and foolish to come out; +it must be to go in now. "Fear never made a man do a right +action," he summed up to himself; "so here I stop, come what may +of it. I think I've seen the worst of it now. I was in a real +blue funk, and no mistake. Let's see, wasn't I laughing this +morning at the watcher who didn't like passing a night by the +river? Well, he has got the laugh on me now, if he only knew it. +I've learnt one lesson to-night at any rate; I don't think I +shall ever be very hard on cowards again." + +By the time he had finished his pipe, he was a man again, and, +moreover, notwithstanding the damp, began to feel sleepy, now +that his mind was thoroughly made up, and his nerves were quiet. +So he made the best of his plaid, and picked a softish place, and +went off into a sort of dog-sleep, which lasted at intervals +through the short summer night. A poor thin sort of sleep it was, +in which he never altogether lost his consciousness, and broken +by short intervals of actual wakefulness, but a blessed release +from the self-questionings and panics of the early night. + +He woke at last with a shiver. It was colder than he had yet felt +it, and it seemed lighter. He stretched his half-torpid limbs, +and sat up. Yes, it was certainly getting light, for he could +just make out the figures on the face of his watch which he +pulled out. The dawn was almost upon him, and his night watch was +over. Nothing had come of it as yet, except his fright, at which +he could now laugh comfortably enough; probably nothing more +might come of it after all, but he had done the task he had set +himself without flinching, and that was a satisfaction. He wound +up his watch, which he had forgotten to do the night before, and +then stood up, and threw his damp plaid aside, and swung his arm +across his chest to restore circulation. The crescent moon was +high up in the sky, faint and white, and he could scarcely now +make out the stars which were fading out as the glow in the +north-east got stronger and broader. + +Forgetting for a moment the purpose of his vigil, he was thinking +of a long morning's fishing, and had turned to pick up his plaid +and go off to the house for his fishing-rod, when he thought he +heard the sound of dry wood snapping. He listened intently; and +the next moment it came again, some way off, but plainly to be +heard in the intense stillness of the morning. Some living thing +was moving down the stream. Another moment's listening and he was +convinced that the sound came from a hedge some hundred yards +below. + +He had noticed the hedge before; the keeper had stopped up a gap +in it the day before, at the place where it came down to the +water, with some old hurdles and dry thorns. He drew himself up +behind his alder, looking out from behind it cautiously towards +the point from which the sound came. He could just make out the +hedge through the mist, but saw nothing. + +But now the crackling began again, and he was sure that a man was +forcing his way over the keeper's barricade. A moment afterwards +he saw a figure drop from the hedge into the slip in which he +stood. He drew back his head hastily, and his heart beat like a +hammer as he waited the approach of the stranger. In a few +seconds the suspense was too much for him, for again there was +perfect silence. He peered out a second time cautiously round the +tree, and now he could make out the figure of a man stopping by +the water-side just above the hedge, and drawing in a line. This +was enough, and he drew back again, and made himself small behind +the tree; now he was sure that the keeper's enemy, the man he had +come out to take, was here! His next halt would be at the line +which was set within a few yards of the place where he stood. So +the struggle which he had courted was come! All his doubts of the +night wrestled in his mind for a minute; but forcing them down, +he strung himself up for the encounter, his whole frame trembling +with excitement, and his blood tingling through his veins as +though it would burst them. The next minute was as severe a trial +of nerve as he had ever been put to, and the sound of a stealthy +tread on the grass just below came to him as a relief. It +stopped, and he heard the man stoop, then came a stir in the +water, and the flapping as of a fish being landed. + +Now was his time! He sprang from behind the tree, and, the next +moment, was over the stooping figure of the poacher. Before he +could seize him the man sprung up, and grappled with him. They +had come to a tight lock at once, for the poacher had risen so +close under him that he could not catch his collar and hold him +off. Too close to strike, it was a desperate trial of strength +and bottom. + +Tom knew in a moment that he had his work cut out for him. He +felt the nervous power of the frame he had got hold of as he +drove his chin into the poacher's shoulder, and arched his back, +and strained every muscle in his body to force him backwards, but +in vain. It was all he could do to hold his own; but he felt that +he might hold it yet, as they staggered on the brink of the back +ditch, stamping the grass and marsh marigolds into the ground, +and drawing deep breath through their set teeth. A slip, a false +foot-hold, a failing muscle, and it would be over; down they must +go-who would be uppermost? + +The poacher had trod on a soft place and Tom felt it, and, +throwing himself forward, was reckoning on victory, but reckoning +without his host. For, recovering himself with a twist of the +body which brought them still closer together, the poacher locked +his leg behind Tom's in a crook which brought the wrestlings of +his boyhood into his head with a flash, as they tottered for +another moment, and then losing balance, went headlong over with +a heavy plunge and splash into the deep back ditch, locked in +each other's arms. + +The cold water closed over them, and for a moment Tom held as +tight as ever. Under or above the surface it was all the same, he +couldn't give in first. But a gulp of water, and the singing in +his ears, and a feeling of choking, brought him to his senses, +helped too, by the thought of his mother and Mary, and love of +the pleasant world up above. The folly and uselessness of being +drowned in a ditch on a point of honor stood out before him as +clearly as if he had been thinking of nothing else all his life; +and he let go his hold--much relieved to find that his companion +of the bath seemed equally willing to be quit of him--and +struggled to the surface, and seized the bank, gasping and +exhausted. + +His first thought was to turn round and look for his adversary. +The poacher was by the bank too, a few feet from him. His cap had +fallen off in the struggle, and, all chance of concealment being +over, he too had turned to face the matter out, and their eyes +met. + +"Good God! Harry! is it you?" + +Harry Winburn answered nothing; and the two dragged their feet +out of the muddy bottom, and scrambled on to the bank, and then +with a sort of common instinct sat down, dripping and foolish, +each on the place he had reached, and looked at one another. +Probably two more thoroughly bewildered lieges of her Majesty +were not at that moment facing one another in any corner of the +United Kingdom. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII--MARY IN MAYFAIR + +On the night which our hero spent by the side of the river, with +the results detailed in the last chapter, there was a great ball +in Brook-street, Mayfair. It was the height of the season, and of +course, balls, concerts, and parties of all kinds were going on +in all parts of the Great Babylon, but the entertainment in +question was _the_ event of that evening. Persons behind the +scenes would have told you at once, had you happened to meet +them, and enquire on the subject during the previous ten days, +that Brook-street was the place in which everybody who went +anywhere ought to spend some hours between eleven and three on +this particular evening. If you did not happen to be going there, +you had better stay quietly at your club, or your home, and not +speak of your engagements for that night. + +A great awning had sprung up in the course of the day over the +pavement in front of the door, and as the evening closed in, +tired lawyers and merchants, on their return from the City, and +the riders and drivers on their way home from the park, might +have seen Holland's men laying red drugget over the pavement, and +Gunter's carts coming and going, and the police "moving on" the +street boys and servant maids, and other curious members of the +masses, who paused to stare at the preparations. + +Then came the lighting up of the rooms, and the blaze of pure +white light from the uncurtained ballroom windows spread into the +street, and the musicians passed in with their instruments. Then, +after a short pause, the carriages of a few intimate friends, who +came early at the hostess's express desire, began to drive up, +and the Hansom cabs of the contemporaries of the eldest son, from +which issued guardsmen and Foreign-office men, and other +dancing-youth of the most approved description. Then the crowd +collected again round the door--a sadder crowd now to the eye of +anyone who has time to look at it; with sallow, haggard looking +men here and there on the skirts of it, and tawdry women joking +and pushing to the front, through the powdered footmen, and +linkmen in red waistcoats, already clamorous and redolent of gin +and beer, and scarcely kept back by the half-dozen constables of +the A division, told off for the special duty of attending and +keeping order on so important an occasion. + +Then comes a rush of carriages, and by eleven o'clock the line +stretches away half round Grosvenor Square, and moves at a +foot's-pace towards the lights, and the music, and the shouting +street. In the middle of the line is the comfortable chariot of +our friend Mr. Porter--the corners occupied by himself and his +wife, while Miss Mary sits well forward between them, her white +muslin dress looped up with sprigs of heather spread delicately +on either side over their knees, and herself in a pleasant tremor +of impatience and excitement. + +"How very slow Robert is to-day, mamma! We shall never get to the +house." + +"He can not get on faster, my dear. The carriage in front of us +must set down you know." + +"But I wish they would be quicker. I wonder whether we shall know +many people? Do you think I shall get partners?" + +Not waiting for her mother's reply, she went on to name some of +her acquaintance who she knew would be there, and bewailing the +hard fate which was keeping her out of the first dances. Mary's +excitement and impatience were natural enough. The ball was not +like most balls. It was a great battle in the midst of the +skirmishes of the season, and she felt the greatness of the +occasion. + +Mr. and Mrs. Porter had for years past dropped into a quiet sort +of dinner-giving life, in which they saw few but their own +friends and contemporaries. They generally left London before the +season was at its height, and had altogether fallen out of the +ball-giving and party going world. Mary's coming out had changed +their way of life. For her sake they had spent the winter at +Rome, and, now that they were at home again, they were picking up +the threads of old acquaintance, and encountering the +disagreeables of a return into habits long disused and almost +forgotten. The giver of the ball was a stirring man in political +life, rich, clever, well-connected, and much sought after. He was +an old school-fellow of Mr. Porter's, and their intimacy had +never been wholly laid aside, notwithstanding the severance of +their paths in life. Now that Mary must be taken out, the +Brook-street house was one of the first to which the Porters +turned, and the invitation to this ball was one of the first +consequences. + +If the truth must be told, neither her father nor mother were in +sympathy with Mary as they gradually neared the place of setting +down, and would far rather have been going to a much less +imposing place, where they could have driven up at once to the +door, and would not have been made uncomfortable by the shoutings +of their names from servant to servant. However, after the first +plunge, when they had made their bows to their kind and smiling +hostess, and had passed on into the already well filled rooms, +their shyness began to wear off, and they could in some sort +enjoy the beauty of the sight from a quiet corner. They were not +long troubled with Miss Mary. She had not been in the ball-room +two minutes before the eldest son of the house had found her out +and engaged her for the next waltz. They had met several times +already, and were on the best terms; and the freshness and +brightness of her look and manner, and the evident enjoyment of +her partner, as they laughed and talked together in the intervals +of the dance, soon attracted the attention of the young men, who +began to ask one another, "Who is Norman dancing with?" and to +ejaculate with various strength, according to their several +temperaments, as to her face, and figure, and dress. + +As they were returning towards Mrs. Porter, Norman was pulled by +the sleeve more than once, and begged to be allowed to introduce +first one and then another of his friends. + +Mary gave herself up to the fascination of the scene. She had +never been in rooms so perfectly lighted, with such a floor, such +exquisite music, and so many pretty and well-bred looking people, +and she gave herself up to enjoy it with all her heart and soul, +and danced and laughed and talked herself into the good graces of +partner after partner, till she began to attract the notice of +some of the ill-natured people who are to be found in every room, +and who cannot pardon the pure, and buoyant, and unsuspecting +mirth which carries away all but themselves in its bright stream. +So Mary passed on from one partner to another, with whom we have +no concern, until at last a young lieutenant in the guards who +had just finished his second dance with her, led up a friend whom +he begged to introduce. "Miss Porter--Mr. St. Cloud;" and then +after the usual preliminaries, Mary left her mother's side again +and stood up by the side of her new partner. + +"It is your first season I believe, Miss Porter?" + +"Yes, my first in London." + +"I thought so; and you have only just come to town?" + +"We came back from Rome six weeks ago, and have been in town ever +since." + +"But I am sure I have not seen you anywhere this season until +to-night. You have not been out much yet?" + +"Yes, indeed. Papa and mamma are very good-natured, and go +whenever we are asked to a ball, as I am fond of dancing." + +"How very odd! and yet I am quite sure I should have remembered +it if we had met before in town this year." + +"Is it so very odd?" asked Mary, laughing; "London is a very +large place; it seems very natural that two people should be able +to live in it for a long time without meeting." + +"Indeed, you are quite mistaken. You will find out very soon how +small London is--at least how small society is, and you will get +to know every face quite well--I mean the face of everyone in +society." + +"You must have a wonderful memory!" + +"Yes, I have a good memory for faces, and, by the way, I am sure +I have seen you before; but not in town, and I cannot remember +where. But it is not at all necessary to have a memory to know +everybody in society by sight; you meet every night almost; and +altogether there are only two or three hundred faces to remember. +And then there is something in the look of people, and the way +they come into a room or stand about, which tells you at once +whether they are amongst those whom you need trouble yourself +about." + +"Well, I cannot understand it. I seem to be in a whirl of faces, +and can hardly ever remember any of them." + +"You will soon get used to it. By the end of the season you will +see that I am right. And you ought to make a study of it, or you +will never feel at home in London." + +"I must make good use of my time then. I suppose I ought to know +everybody here, for instance?" + +"Almost everybody." + +"And I really do not know the names of a dozen people." + +"Will you let me give you a lesson?" + +"Oh, yes; I shall be much obliged." + +"Then let us stand here, and we will take them as they pass to +the supper-room." + +So they stood near the door-way of the ball-room, and he ran on, +exchanging constant nods and remarks with the passers by, as the +stream flowed to and from the ices and cup, and then rattling on +to his partner with the names and short sketches of the +characters and peculiarities of his large acquaintance. Mary was +very much amused, and had no time to notice the ill-nature of +most of his remarks, and he had the wit to keep within what he +considered the most innocent bounds. + +"There, you know him of course," he said, as an elderly, +soldier-like looking man with a star passed them. + +"Yes; at least, I mean I know him by sight. I saw him at the +Commemoration at Oxford last year. They gave him an honorary +degree on his return from India." + +"At Oxford! Were you present at the Grand Commemoration, then?" + +"Yes. The Commemoration Ball was the first public ball I was ever +at." + +"Ah! that explains it all. I must have seen you there. I told you +we had met before. I was perfectly sure of it." + +"What! were you there, then?" + +"Yes. I had the honor of being present at your first ball, you +see." + +"But how curious that you should remember me!" + +"Do you really think so? Surely there are some faces which, once +seen, one can never forget." + +"I am so glad that you know dear Oxford." + +"I know it too well, perhaps, to share your enthusiasm." + +"How do you mean?" + +"I spent nearly three years there." + +"What, were you at Oxford last year?" + +"Yes. I left before Commemoration; but I went up for the +gaieties, and I am glad of it, as I shall have one pleasant +memory of the place now." + +"Oh, I wonder you don't love it! But what college were you of?" + +"Why, you talk like a graduate. I was of St. Ambrose." + +"St. Ambrose! That is my college!" + +"Indeed! I wish we had been in residence at the same time." + +"I mean that we almost lived there at the Commemoration." + +"Have you any relation there, then?" + +"No, not a relation, only a distant connexion." + +"May I ask his name?" + +"Brown. Did you know him?" + +"Yes. We were not in the same set. He was a boating man, I +think?" + +She felt that he was watching her narrowly now, and had great +difficulty in keeping herself reasonably composed. As it was she +could not help showing a little that she felt embarrassed, and +looked down; and changed colour slightly, busying herself with +her bouquet. She longed to continue the conversation, but somehow +the manner of her partner kept her from doing so. She resolved to +recur to the subject carelessly, if they met again, when she knew +him better. The fact of his having been at St. Ambrose made her +wish to know him better, and gave him a good start in her favor. +But for the moment she felt that she must change the subject; so, +looking up, she fixed on the first people who happened to be +passing, and asked who they were. + +"Oh, nobody, constituents probably, or something of that sort." + +"I don't understand." + +"Why, you see, we are in a political house to-night. So you may +set down the people whom nobody knows, as troublesome +ten-pounders, or that kind of thing, who would he disagreeable at +the next election, if they were not asked." + +"Then you do not include them in society?" + +"By no manner of means." + +"And I need not take the trouble to remember their faces?" + +"Of course not. There is a sediment of rubbish at almost every +house. At the parties here it is political rubbish. To-morrow +night, at Lady Aubrey's--you will be there, I hope?" + +"No, we do not know her." + +"I am sorry for that. Well, there we shall have the scientific +rubbish; and at other houses you see queer artists, and writing +people. In fact, it is the rarest thing in the world to get a +party where there is nothing of the kind, and, after all, it is +rather amusing to watch the habits of the different species." + +"Well, to me the rubbish, as you call it, seems much like the +rest. I am sure these people were ladies and gentlemen." + +"Very likely," he said, lifting his eyebrows; "but you may see at +a glance that they have not the air of society. Here again, look +yourself. You can see that these are constituents." + +To the horror of St. Cloud, the advancing constituents made +straight for his partner. + +"Mary, my dear!" exclaimed the lady, "where have you been? We +have lost you ever since the last dance." + +"I have been standing here, mamma," she said; and then, slipping +from her late partner's arm, she made a demure little bow, and +passed into the ball-room with her father and mother. + +St. Cloud bit his lip, and swore at himself under his breath as +he looked after them. "What an infernal idiot I must have been +not to know that her people would be sure to turn out something +of that sort!" thought he. "By Jove, I'll go after them, and set +myself right before the little minx has time to think it over!" +He took a step or two towards the ball-room, but then thought +better of it, or his courage failed him. At any rate, he turned +round again, and sought the refreshment-room, where he joined a +knot of young gentlemen indulging in delicate little raised pies +and salads, and liberal potations at iced claret or champagne +cup. Amongst them was the guardsman who had introduced him to +Mary, and who received him, as he came up, with-- + +"Well, St. Cloud, I hope you are alive to your obligations to +me." + +"For shunting your late partner on to me? Yes, quite." + +"You be hanged!" replied the guardsman; "you may pretend what you +please now, but you wouldn't let me alone till I had introduced +you." + +"Are you talking about the girl in white muslin with fern leaves +in her hair?" asked another. + +"Yes what do you think of her?" + +"Devilish taking, I think. I say, can't you introduce me? They +say she has tin." + +"I can't say I think much of her looks," said St. Cloud, acting +up to his principle of telling a lie sooner than let his real +thoughts be seen. + +"Don't you?" said the guardsman. "Well, I like her form better +than anything out this year. Such a clean stepper! You should +just dance with her." + +And so they went on criticizing Mary and others of their +partners, exactly as they would have talked of a stud of racers, +till they found themselves sufficiently refreshed to encounter +new labors, and broke up returning in twos and threes towards the +ball-room. + +St. Cloud attached himself to the guardsman, and returned to the +charge. + +"You seem hit by that girl," he began; "have you known her long?" + +"About a week--I met her once before to-night." + +"Do you know her people? Who is her father?" + +"A plain-headed old party--you wouldn't think it to look at +her--but I hear he is very solvent." + +"Any sons?" + +"Don't know. I like your talking of my being hit, St. Cloud. +There she is; I shall go and try for another waltz." + +The guardsman was successful, and carried off Mary from her +father and mother, who were standing together watching the +dancing. St. Cloud, after looking them well over, sought out the +hostess, and begged to be introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Porter, +gleaning, at the same time, some particulars of who they were. +The introduction was effected in a minute, the lady of the house +being glad to get anyone to talk to the Porters, who were almost +strangers amongst her other guests. She managed, before leaving +them, to whisper to Mrs. Porter that he was a young man of +excellent connexions. + +St. Cloud made the most of his time. He exerted himself to the +utmost to please, and, being fluent of speech and thoroughly +satisfied with himself, had no shyness or awkwardness to get +over, and jumped at once into the good graces of Mary's parents. +When she returned after the waltz, she found him, to her no small +astonishment, deep in conversation with her mother, who was +listening with a pleased expression to his small talk. He +pretended not to see her at first, and then begged Mrs. Porter to +introduce him formally to her daughter, though he had already had +the honour of dancing with her. + +Mary put on her shortest and coldest manner, and thought she had +never heard of such impertinence. That he should be there talking +so familiarly to her mother after the slip he had made to her was +almost too much even for her temper. But she went off for another +dance, and again returned and found him still there; this time +entertaining Mr. Porter with political gossip. The unfavourable +impression began to wear off, and she soon resolved not to make +up her mind about him without some further knowledge. + +In due course he asked her to dance again, and they stood in a +quadrille. She stood by him looking straight before her, and +perfectly silent, wondering how he would open the conversation. +He did not leave her long in suspense. + +"What charming people your father and mother are, Miss Porter!" +he said; "I am so glad to have been introduced to them." + +"Indeed! You are very kind. We ought to be flattered by your +study of us, and I am sure I hope you will find it amusing." + +St. Cloud was a little embarrassed by the rejoinder, and was not +sorry at the moment to find himself called upon to perform the +second figure. By the time he was at her side again he had +recovered himself. + +"You can't understand what a pleasure it is to meet some one with +a little freshness"--he paused to think how he should end his +sentence. + +"Who has not the air of society," she suggested. "Yes, I quite +understand." + +"Indeed you quite mistake me. Surely you have not taken seriously +the nonsense I was talking just now?" + +"I am a constituent, you know--I don't understand how to take the +talk of society." + +"Oh, I see, then, that you are angry at my joke, and will not +believe that I knew your father perfectly by sight. You really +cannot seriously fancy that I was alluding to anyone connected +with you;" and then he proceeded to retail the particulars he had +picked up from the lady of the house, as if they had been +familiar to him for years, and to launch out again into praises +of her father and mother. Mary looked straight up in his face, +and, though he did not meet her eye, his manner was so composed, +that she began to doubt her own senses, and then he suddenly +changed the subject to Oxford and the commemoration, and by the +end of the set could flatter himself that he had quite dispelled +the cloud which had looked so threatening. + +Mary had a great success that evening. She took part in every +dance, and might have had two or three partners at once, if they +would have been of any use to her. When, at last, Mr. Porter +insisted that he would keep his horses no longer, St. Cloud and +the guardsman accompanied her to the door, and were assiduous in +the cloak room. Young men are pretty much like a drove of sheep; +anyone who takes a decided line in certain matters, is sure to +lead all the rest. + +The guardsman left the ball in the firm belief, as he himself +expressed it, that Mary "had done his business for life;" and, +being quite above concealment, persisted in singing her praises +over his cigar at the club, to which many of the dancers +adjourned; and from that night she became the fashion with the +set in which St. Cloud lived. + +The more enterprising of them, he amongst the foremost, were soon +intimate in Mr. Porter's house, and spoke well of his dinners. +Mr. Porter changed his hour of riding in the park at their +suggestion, and now he and his daughter were always sure of +companions. Invitations multiplied, for Mary's success was so +decided, that she floated her astonished parents into a whirl of +balls and breakfasts. Mr. Porter and his wife were flattered +themselves, and pleased to see their daughter admired and +enjoying herself; and in the next six weeks Mary had the +opportunity of getting all the good and the bad which a girl of +eighteen can extract from a London season. + +The test was a severe one. Two months of constant excitement, of +pleasure-seeking pure and simple, will not leave people just as +they found them; and Mary's habits, and thoughts, and ways of +looking at and judging of people and things, were much changed by +the time that the gay world melted away from Mayfair and +Belgravia, and it was time for all respectable people to pull +down the blinds and shut the shutters of their town houses. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX--WHAT CAME OF THE NIGHT WATCH + +The last knot of the dancers came out of the club, and were +strolling up St. James's Street, and stopping to chaff the +itinerant coffee vendor, who was preparing his stand at the +corner of Piccadilly for his early customers, just about the time +that Tom was beginning to rouse himself under the alder-tree, and +stretch his stiffened limbs, and sniff the morning air. By the +time the guardsman had let himself into his lodgings in Mount +Street, our hero had undergone his unlooked for bath, and was +sitting in a state of utter bewilderment as to what was next to +be said or done, dripping and disconcerted, opposite to the +equally dripping and, to all appearance, equally disconcerted, +poacher. + +At first he did not look higher than his antagonist's boots and +gaiters, and spent a few seconds by the way in considering +whether the arrangement of nails on the bottom of Harry's boots +was better than his own. He settled that it must be better for +wading on slippery stones, and that he would adopt it, and then +passed on to wonder whether Harry's boots were as full of water +as his own, and whether corduroys, wet through, must not be very +uncomfortable so early in the morning, and congratulated himself +on being in flannels. + +And so he hung back for second after second, playing with an +absurd little thought that would come into his head and give him +ever so brief a respite from the effort of facing the situation, +and hoping that Harry might do or say something to open the ball. +This did not happen. He felt that the longer he waited the harder +it would be. He must begin himself. So he raised his head gently, +and took a sidelong look at Harry's face, to see whether he could +not get some hint for starting, from it. But scarcely had he +brought his eyes to bear, when they met Harry's, peering +dolefully up from under his eyebrows, on which the water was +standing unwiped, while a piece of green weed, which he did not +seem to have presence of mind enough to remove, trailed over his +dripping locks. There was something in the sight which tickled +Tom's sense of humor. He had been prepared for sullen black looks +and fierce words, instead of which he was irresistibly reminded +of schoolboys caught by their master using a crib, or in other +like flagrant delict. + +Harry lowered his eyes at once, but lifted them the next moment +with a look of surprise, as he heard Tom burst into a hearty fit +of laughter. After a short struggle to keep serious, he joined in +it himself. + +"By Jove, though, Harry, it's no laughing matter," Tom said at +last, getting on to his legs, and giving himself a shake. + +Harry only replied by looking most doleful again, and picking the +weed out of his hair, as he too got up. + +"What in the world's to be done?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, Master Tom." + +"I'm very much surprised to find you at this work, Harry." + +"I'm sure, so be I, to find you, Master Tom." + +Tom was not prepared for this line of rejoinder. It seemed to be +made with perfect innocence, and yet it put him in a corner at +once. He did not care to inquire into the reason of Harry's +surprise, or to what work he alluded; so he went off on another +tack. + +"Let us walk up and down a bit to dry ourselves. Now, Harry, +you'll speak to me openly, man to man, as an old friend +should--won't you?" + +"Ay, Master Tom, and glad to do it." + +"How long have you taken to poaching?" + +"Since last Michaelmas, when they turned me out o' our cottage, +and tuk away my bit o' land, and did all as they could to break +me down." + +"Who do you mean?" + +"Why, Squire Wurley as was then--not this one, but the last--and +his lawyer, and Farmer Tester." + +"Then it was through spite to them that you took to it?" + +"Nay, 'twarn't altogether spite, tho' I won't say but what I +might ha' thought o' bein' upsides wi them." + +"What was it then besides spite?" + +"Want o' work. I havn't had no more'n a matter o' six weeks' +reg'lar work ever since last fall." + +"How's that? Have you tried for it?" + +"Well, Master Tom, I won't tell a lie about it. I don't see as I +wur bound to go round wi my cap in my hand a beggin' for a day's +work to the likes o' them. They knowed well enough as I wur +there, ready and willing to work, and they knowed as I wur able +to do as good a day's work as e'er man in the parish; and ther's +been plenty o' work goin'. But they thought as I should starve, +and have to come and beg for't from one or to'ther on 'em. They +would ha' liked to ha' seen me clean broke down, that's wut they +would, and in the house," and he paused as if his thoughts were +getting a little unmanageable. + +"But you might have gone to look for work elsewhere." + +"I can't see as I had any call to leave the place where I wur +bred up, Master Tom. That wur just wut they wanted. Why should I +let 'em drive m'out?" + +"Well, Harry, I'm not going to blame you. I only want to know +more about what has been happening to you, that I may be able to +advise and help you. Did you ever try for work, or go and tell +your story, at the Rectory?" + +"Try for work there! No, I never went arter work there." + +Tom went on without noticing the change in Harry's tone and +manner-- + +"Then I think you ought to have gone. I know my cousin, Miss +Winter, is so anxious to help any man out of work, and +particularly you; for--" The whole story of Patty flashed into +his mind, and made him stop short and stammer, and look anywhere +except at Harry. How he could have forgotten it for a moment in +that company was a wonder. All his questioning and patronizing +powers went out of him and he felt that their positions were +changed, and that he was the culprit. It was clear that Harry +knew nothing yet of his own relations with Patty. Did he even +suspect them? It must all come out now at any rate, for both +their sakes, however it might end. So he turned again, and met +Harry's eye, which was now cold and keen, and suspicious. + +"You knows all about it, then?" + +"Yes; I know that you have been attached to Simon's daughter for +a long time, and that he is against it; I wish I could help you, +with all my heart. In fact, I did feel my way towards speaking to +him about it last year, when I was in hopes of getting you the +gardener's place. But I could see that I should do no good." + +"I've heard say as you was acquainted with her, when she was +away?" + +"Yes, I was, when she was with her aunt in Oxford. What then?" + +"'Twas there as she larnt her bad ways." + +"Bad ways! What do you mean?" + +"I means as she larnt to dress fine, and to gee herself airs to +them as she'd known from a child, and as'd ha' gone through fire +to please her." + +"I never saw anything of the kind in her. She was a pleasant, +lively girl, and dressed neatly, but never above her station. And +I'm sure she has too good a heart to hurt an old friend." + +"Wut made her keep shut up in the house when she cum back? ah, +for days and weeks;--and arter that, wut made her so flighty and +fickle? carryin' herself as proud as a lady a mincin' and a +trapesin' along, wi' all the young farmer's a follerin' her, like +a fine gentleman's miss." + +"Come, Harry, I won't listen to that. You don't believe what +you're saying, you know her better." + +"You knows her well enough by all seeming." + +"I know her too well to believe any harm of her." + +"What call have you and the likes o' you wi' her? 'Tis no good +comes o' such company keepin'." + +"I tell you again, no harm has come of it to her." + +"Whose hair does she carry about then in that gold thing as she +hangs around her neck?" + +Tom blushed scarlet, and lowered his eyes without answering. + +"Dost know? 'Tis thine, by--." The words came hissing out between +his set teeth. Tom put his hands behind him, expecting to be +struck as he lifted his eyes, and said,-- + +"Yes, it is mine; and, I tell you again, no harm has come of it." + +"'Tis a lie. I knowed how 'twas, and 'tis thou hast done it." + +[Illustration: 0463] + +"Tom's blood tingled in his veins, and wild words rushed to his +tongue, as he stood opposite the man who had just given him the +lie, and who waited his reply with clinched hands, and laboring +breast, and fierce eye. But the discipline of the last year stood +him in good stead. He stood for a moment or two, crushing his +hands together behind his back, drew a long breath, and +answered,-- + +"Will you believe my oath, then? I stood by your side at your +mother's grave. A man who did that won't lie to you, Harry. I +swear to you there's no wrong between me and her. There never was +fault on her side. I sought her. She never cared for me, she +doesn't care for me. As for that locket, I forced it on her. I +own I have wronged her, and wronged you. I have repented it +bitterly. I ask your forgiveness, Harry; for the sake of old +times, for the sake of your mother!" He spoke from the heart, and +saw that his words went home. "Come, Harry" he went on, "you won +t turn from an old playfellow, who owns the wrong he has done, +and will do all he can to make up for it. You'll shake hands, and +say you forgive me." + +Tom paused, and held out his hand. + +The poacher's face worked violently for a moment or two, and he +seemed to struggle once or twice to get his hand out in vain. At +last he struck it suddenly into Tom's, turning his head away at +the same time. "'Tis what mother would ha' done," he said, "thou +cassn't say more. There tis then, though I never thought to +do't." + +This curious and unexpected explanation, brought thus to a happy +issue, put Tom into high spirits, and at once roused the +castle-building power within him, which was always ready enough +to wake up. + +His first care was to persuade Harry that he had better give up +poaching, and in this he had much less difficulty than he +expected. Harry owned himself sick of the life he was leading +already. He admitted that some of the men with whom he had been +associating more or less for the last year were the greatest +blackguards in the neighborhood. He asked nothing better than to +get out of it. But how? + +This was all Tom wanted. He would see to that; nothing could be +easier. + +"I shall go with you back to Englebourn this morning. I'll just +leave a note for Wurley to say that I'll be back some time in the +day to explain matters to him, and then we will be off at once. +We shall be at the rectory by breakfast time. Ah, I +forgot;--well, you can stop at David's while I go and speak to my +uncle and to Miss Winter." + +Harry didn't seem to see what would be the good of this; and +David, he said, was not so friendly to him as he had been. + +"Then you must wait at the Red Lion. Don't see the good of it! +Why, of course, the good of it is that you must be set right with +the Englebourn people--that's the first thing to do. I shall +explain how the case stands to my uncle, and I know that I can +get him to let you have your land again if you stay in the +parish, even if he can't give you work himself. But what he must +do is, to take you up, to show people that he is your friend, +Harry. Well then, if you can get good work--mind it must be real, +good, regular work--at Farmer Grove's, or one of the best +farmers, stop here by all means, and I will myself take the first +cottage which falls vacant and let you have it, and meantime you +must lodge with old David. Oh, I'll go and talk him round, never +fear. But if you can't get regular work here, why you go off with +flying colors; no sneaking off under a cloud and leaving no +address. You'll go off with me, as my servant, if you like. But +just as you please about that. At any rate, you'll go with me, +and I'll take care that it shall be known that I consider you as +an old friend. My father has always got plenty of work and will +take you on. And then, Harry, after a bit you may be sure all +will go right, and I shall be your best man, and dance at your +wedding before a year's out." + +There is something in this kind of thing which is contagious and +irresistible. Tom thoroughly believed all that he was saying; and +faith, even of such a poor kind as believing in one's own +castles, has its reward. Common sense in vain suggested to Harry +that all the clouds which had been gathering round him for a year +were not likely to melt away in a morning. Prudence suggested +that the sooner he got away the better; which suggestion, indeed, +he handed on for what it was worth. But Tom treated prudence with +sublime contempt. They would go together, he said, as soon as any +one was up at the house, just to let him in to change his things +and write a note. Harry needn't fear any unpleasant consequences. +Wurley wasn't an ill-natured fellow at bottom, and wouldn't mind +a few fish. Talking of fish, where was the one he heard kicking +just now as Harry hauled in the line. They went to the place, +and, looking in the long grass, soon found the dead trout, still +on the night-line, of which the other end remained in the water. +Tom seized hold of it, and pulling it carefully in, landed landed +another fine trout, while Harry stood by, looking rather +sheepish. Tom inspected the method of the lines, which was simple +but awfully destructive. The line was long enough to reach across +the stream. At one end was a heavy stone, at the other a short +stake cut sharp, and driven into the bank well under the water. +At intervals of four feet along the line short pieces of fine +gimp were fastened, ending in hooks baited alternately with +lob-worms and gudgeon. Tom complimented his companion on the +killing nature of his cross-line. + +"Where are your other lines, Harry?" he asked; "we may as well go +and take them up." + +"A bit higher up stream, Master Tom;" and so they walked up +stream and took up the other lines. + +"They'll have the finest dish of fish they've seen this long time +at the house to-day," said Tom, as each line came out with two or +three fine thick-shouldered fish on it. "I'll you what, Harry, +they're deuced well set, these lines of yours, and do you credit. +They do; I'm not complimenting you." + +"I should rather like to be off, Master Tom, if you don't object. +The mornin's gettin' on, and the men will be about. 'Twould be +unked for I to be caught." + +"Well, Harry, if you are so set on it off with you, but"-- + +"'Tis too late now; here's keeper." + +Tom turned sharp round, and, sure enough, there was the keeper +coming down the bank towards them, and not a couple of hundred +yards off. + +"So it is," said Tom; "well, only hold your tongue, and do just +what I tell you." + +The keeper came up quickly, and touching his hat to Tom, looked +inquiringly at him, and then at Harry. Tom nodded to him, as if +everything were just as it should be. He was taking a two-pound +fish off the last line; having finished which feat he threw it on +the ground by the rest. "There keeper," he said, "there's a fine +dish of fish. Now, pick 'em up and come along." + +Never was keeper more puzzled. He looked from one to the other, +lifting the little short hat from the back of his head, and +scratching that somewhat thick skull of his, as his habit was +when engaged in what he called thinking, conscious that somebody +ought to be tackled, and that he, the keeper, was being +mystified, but quite at sea as to how he was to set himself +straight. + +"Wet, bain't 'ee, sir?" he said at last, nodding at Tom's +clothes. + +"Dampish, keeper," answered Tom; "I may as well go and change, +the servants will be up at the house by this time. Pick up the +fish and come along. You do up the lines, Harry." + +The keeper and Harry performed their tasks, looking at one +another out of the corners of their eyes like the terriers of +rival butchers when the carts happen to stop suddenly in the +street close to one another. Tom watched them, mischievously +delighted with the fun, and then led the way up to the house. +When they came to the stable-yard he turned to Harry, and said, +"Stop here, I shan't be ten minutes;" adding, in an undertone, +"Hold your tongue now;" he then vanished through the dark door, +and, hurrying up to his room, changed as quickly as he could. + +He was within the ten minutes, but, as he descended the back +stairs in his dry things, became aware that his stay had been too +long. Noise and laughter came up from the stable-yard, and shouts +of, "Go it keeper," + +"Keeper's down," + +"No he bain't," greeted his +astonished ears. He sprang down the last steps and rushed into +the stable-yard, where he found Harry at his second wrestling +match for the day, while two or three stablemen, and a footman, +and the gardener, looked on and cheered the combatants with the +remarks he had heard on his way down. + +Tom made straight to them, and tapping Harry on the shoulder, +said-- + +"Now then, come along, I'm ready." + +Whereupon the keeper and Harry disengaged, and the latter picked +up his cap. + +"You bain't goin', sir!" said the keeper. + +"Yes, keeper." + +"Not along wi' he?" + +"Yes, keeper." + +"What, bain't I to take un?" + +"Take him! No, what for?" + +"For night poachin', look at all them fish," said the keeper +indignantly, pointing to the shining heap. + +"No, no, keeper, you've nothing to do with it. You may give him +the lines though, Harry. I've left a note for your master on my +dressing table," Tom said, turning to the footman, "let him have +it at breakfast. I'm responsible for him," nodding at Harry, "I +shall be back in a few hours, and now come along." + +And, to the keeper's astonishment, Tom left the stable-yard, +accompanied by Harry. + +They were scarcely out of hearing before the stable-yard broke +out into uproarious laughter at the keeper's expense and much +rude banter was inflicted on him for letting the poacher go. But +the keeper's mind for the moment was full of other things. +Disregarding their remarks he went on scratching his head, and +burst out at last with-- + +"Dang un! I knows I should ha' drowed un." + +"Drow your grandmother," politely remarked one of the stablemen, +an acquaintance of Harry Winburn, who knew his repute as a +wrestler. + +"I should, I tell 'ee," said the keeper as he stooped to gather +up the fish, "and to think as he should ha' gone off. Master 'll +be like any wild beast when he hears on't. How s'mever, 'tis Mr. +Brown's doin's. 'Tis a queer start for a gen'l'man like he to be +goin' off wi' a poacher chap and callin' of un Harry. 'Tis past +me altogether. But I s'pose he bain't right in's 'ead;" and, so +soliloquizing, he carried off the fish to the kitchen. + +Meantime, on their walk to Englebourn, Harry, in answer to Tom's +inquiries, explained that in his absence the stable-man, his +acquaintance, had come up and begun to talk. The keeper had +joined in and accused him point-blank of being the man who had +thrown him into the furze bush. The story of the keeper's +discomfiture on that occasion being well known, a laugh had been +raised in which Harry had joined. This brought on a challenge to +try a fall then and there, which Harry had accepted, +notwithstanding his long morning's work and the ducking he had +had. They laughed over the story, though Harry could not help +expressing his fears as to how it might all end. They reached +Englebourn in time for breakfast. Tom appeared at the rectory, +and soon he and Katie were on their old terms. She was delighted +to find that he had had an explanation with Harry Winburn; and +that there was some chance of bringing that sturdy offender once +more back into decent ways;--more delighted perhaps to hear the +way in which he spoke of Patty, to whom after breakfast she paid +a visit, and returned in due time with the unfortunate locket. + +Tom felt as if another coil of the chain he had tied about +himself had fallen off. He went out into the village, consulted +again with Harry, and returned again to the rectory, to consider +what steps were to be taken to get him work. Katie entered into +the matter heartily, though forseeing the difficulties in the +case. At luncheon the rector was to be sounded on the subject of +the allotments. But in the middle of their plans, they were +startled by the news that a magistrate's warrant had arrived in +the village for the arrest of Harry as a night poacher. + +Tom returned to the Grange furious, and before night had had a +worse quarrel with young Wurley than with his uncle before him. +Had duelling been in fashion still in England, they would +probably have fought in a quiet corner of the park before night. +As it was they only said bitter things, and parted, agreeing not +to know one another in the future. + +Three days afterwards, at petty sessions, where Tom brought upon +himself the severe censure of the bench for his conduct on the +trial, Harry Winburn was committed to Reading gaol for three +months. + +Readers who will take the trouble to remember the picture of our +hero's mental growth during the past year, attempted to be given +in a late chapter, and the state of restless dissatisfaction into +which his experiences and thoughts and readings had thrown him by +the time long vacation had come around again, will perhaps be +prepared for the catastrophe which ensued on the conviction and +sentence of Harry Winburn at petty sessions. + +Hitherto, notwithstanding the strength of the new and +revolutionary forces which were mustering round it, there had +always been a citadel holding out in his mind, garrisoned by all +that was best in the Toryism in which he had been brought up--by +loyalty, reverence for established order and established +institutions; by family traditions, and the pride of an inherited +good name. But now the walls of that citadel went down with a +crash, the garrison being put to the sword, or making away, to +hide in an out of the way corner, and wait for a reaction. + +It was much easier for a youngster, whose attention was once +turned to such subjects as had been occupying Tom, to get hold of +wild and violent beliefs and notions in those days than now. The +state of Europe generally was far more dead and hopeless. There +were no wars, certainly, and no expectations of wars. But there +was a dull, beaten-down, pent-up feeling abroad, as if the lid +were screwed down on the nations, and the thing which had been, +however cruel and heavy and mean, was that which was to remain to +the end. England was better off than her neighbours, but yet in +bad case. In the south and west particularly, several causes had +combined, to spread a very bitter feeling abroad amongst the +agricultural poor. First among these stood the new poor law, the +provisions of which were vigorously carried out in most +districts. The poor had as yet felt the harshness only of the new +system. Then the land was in many places in the hands of men on +their last legs, the old sporting farmers, who had begun business +as young men while the great war was going on, had made their +money hand over hand for a few years out of the war prices, and +had tried to go on living with greyhounds and yeomanry +uniforms--"horse to ride and weapon to wear"--through the hard +years which had followed. These were bad masters every way, +unthrifty, profligate, needy, and narrow-minded. The younger men +who were supplanting them were introducing machinery, threshing +machines and winnowing machines, to take the little bread which a +poor man was still able to earn out of the mouths of his wife and +children--so at least the poor thought and muttered to one +another; and the mutterings broke out every now and then in the +long nights of the winter months in blazing ricks and broken +machines. Game preserving was on the increase. Australia and +America had not yet become familiar words in every English +village, and the labour market was everywhere overstocked; and, +last but not least, the corn laws were still in force, and the +bitter and exasperating strife in which they went out was at its +height. And while Swing and his myrmidons were abroad in the +counties, and could scarcely be kept down by yeomanry and poor +law guardians, the great towns were in almost worse case. Here +too emigration had not set in to thin the labour market; wages +were falling, and prices rising; the corn law struggle was better +understood and far keener than in the country; and Chartism was +gaining force every day, and rising into a huge threatening +giant, waiting to put forth his strength, and eager for the +occasion which seemed at hand. + +You generation of young Englishmen, who were too young then to be +troubled with such matters, and have grown into manhood since, +you little know--may you never know!--what it is to be living the +citizens of a divided and distracted nation. For the time that +danger is past. In a happy home and so far as man can judge, in +time, and only just in time, came the repeal of the corn laws, +and the great cause of strife and the sense of injustice passed +away out of men's minds. The nation was roused by the Irish +famine, and the fearful distress in other parts of the country, +to begin looking steadily and seriously at some of the sores +which were festering in its body, and undermining health and +life. And so the tide had turned, and England had already passed +the critical point; when 1848 came upon Christendom, and the +whole of Europe leapt up into a wild blaze of revolution. + +Is anyone still inclined to make light of the danger that +threatened England in that year, to sneer at the 10th of April, +and the monster petition, and the monster meetings on Kennington +and other commons? Well, if there be such persons among my +readers, I can only say that they can have known nothing of what +was going on around them and below them, at that time, and I +earnestly hope that their vision has become clearer since then, +and that they are not looking with the same eyes that see +nothing, at the signs of today. For that there are questions +still to be solved by us in England, in this current +half-century, quite as likely to tear the nation to pieces as the +corn laws, no man with half an eye in his head can doubt. They +may seem little clouds like a man's hand on the horizon just now, +but they will darken the whole heaven before long, unless we can +find wisdom enough amongst us to take the little clouds in hand +in time, and make them descend in soft rain. + +But such matters need not be spoken of here. All I want to do is +to put my young readers in a position to understand how it was +that our hero fell away into beliefs and notions, at which Mrs. +Grundy and all decent people could only lift up eyes and hands in +pious and respectable horror, and became, soon after the +incarceration of his friend for night poaching, little better +than a physical force Chartist at the age of twenty-one. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +HUE AND CRY + +At the end of a gusty wild October afternoon, a man, leading two +horses, was marching up and down the little plot of short turf at +the top of the Hawk's Lynch. Every now and then he would stop on +the brow of the hill to look over the village, and seemed to be +waiting for somebody from that quarter. After being well blown, +he would turn to his promenade again, or go in under the clump of +firs, through which the rising south-west wind, rushing up from +the vale below, was beginning to make a moan; and, hitching the +horses to some stump or bush, and patting and coaxing them to +induce them, if so might be, to stand quiet for a while, would +try to settle himself to leeward of one of the larger trees. + +But the fates were against all attempts at repose. He had +scarcely time to produce a cheroot from his case and light it +under many difficulties, when the horses would begin fidgeting, +and pulling at their bridles, and shifting round to get their +tails to the wind. They clearly did not understand the necessity +of the position, and were inclined to be moving stable-wards. So +he had to get up again, sling the bridles over his arm, and take +to his march up and down the plot of turf; now stopping for a +moment or two to try to get his cheroot to burn straight, and +pishing and pshawing over its perverseness; now going again and +again to the brow, and looking along the road which led to the +village, holding his hat on tight with one hand,--for by this +time it was blowing half a gale of wind. + +Though it was not yet quite the hour for his setting, the sun had +disappeared behind a heavy bank of wicked slate-coloured cloud, +which looked as though it were rising straight up into the +western heavens, while the wind whirled along and twisted into +quaint shapes a ragged rift of white vapor, which went hurrying +by, almost touching the tops of the moaning firs,--altogether an +uncanny evening to be keeping tryst at the top of a wild knoll; +and so thought our friend with the horses, and showed it, too, +clearly enough, had anyone been there to put a construction on +his impatient movements. + +There was no one nearer than the village, of which the nearest +house was half a mile and more away; so, by way of passing the +time, we must exercise our privilege of putting into words what +he is half thinking, half muttering to himself:-- + +"A pleasant night I call this, to be out on a wild goose chase. +If ever I saw a screaming storm brewing, there it comes. I'll be +hanged if I stop up here to be caught in it for all the +crack-brained friends I ever had in the world; and I seem to have +a faculty for picking up none but crack-brained ones. I wonder +what the plague can keep him so long; he must have been gone an +hour. There, steady, steady, old horse. Confound this weed! What +rascals these tobacconists are! You never can get a cheroot now +worth smoking. Every one of them goes sputtering up the side, or +charring up the middle, and tasting like tow soaked in saltpetre +and tobacco juice. Well, I suppose I shall get the real thing in +India." + +"India! In a month from to-day we shall be off. To hear our +senior major talk, one might as well be going to the bottomless +pit at once. Well, he'll sell out--that's a comfort. Gives us a +step, and gets rid of an old ruffian. I don't seem to care much +what the place is like if we only get some work; and there will +be some work there before long, by all accounts. No more +garrison-town life, at any rate. And if I have any luck--a man +may get a chance there." + +"What the deuce can he be about? This all comes of sentiment, +now. Why couldn't I go quietly off to India without bothering up +to Oxford to see him? Not but what it's a pleasant place enough. +I've enjoyed my three days there uncommonly. Food and drink all +that can be wished, and plenty of good fellows and fun. The look +of the place, too, makes one feel respectable. But, by George, if +their divinity is at all like their politics, they must turn out +a queer set of parsons--at least if Brown picked up his precious +notions at Oxford. He always was a headstrong beggar. What was it +he was holding forth about last night? Let's see. 'The sacred +right of insurrection.' Yes, that was it, and he talked as if he +believed it all too; and if there should be a row, which don't +seem unlikely, by Jove, I think he'd act on it, in the sort of +temper he's in. How about the sacred right of getting hung or +transported? I shouldn't wonder to hear of that some day. Gad! +suppose he should be in for an installment of his sacred right +to-night. He's capable of it, and of lugging me in with him. What +did he say we were come here for? To get some fellow out of a +scrape, he said--some sort of poaching radical foster-brother of +his, who had been in gaol, and deserved it too, I'll be bound. +And he couldn't go down quietly into the village and put up at +the public, where I might have set in the tap, and not run the +chance of having my skin blown over my ears, and my teeth down my +throat, on this cursed look-out place, because he's _too well +known_ there. What does that mean? Upon my soul, it looks bad. +They may be lynching a J. P. down there, or making a spread eagle +of the parish constable at this minute, for anything I know, and +as sure as fate, if they are, I shall get my foot in it." + +"It will read sweetly in the naval and military intelligence--'A +court-martial was held this day at Chatham, president, Colonel +Smith, of Her Majesty's 101st Regiment, to try Henry East, a +lieutenant in the same distinguished corps, who has been under +arrest since the 10th ult., for aiding and abetting the escape of +a convict, and taking part in a riot in the village of +Englebourn, in the county of Berks. The defense of the accused +was that he had a sentimental friendship for a certain Thomas +Brown, an undergraduate of St. Ambrose College, Oxford, &c. &c.; +and the sentence of the Court--' + +"Hang it! It's no laughing matter. Many a fellow has been broken +for not making half such a fool of himself as I have done, coming +out here on this errand. I'll tell T. B. a bit of my mind as sure +as-- + +"Hullo! didn't I hear a shout? Only the wind, I believe. How it +does blow! One of these firs will be down, I expect, just now. +The storm will burst in a quarter of an hour. Here goes! I shall +ride down into the village, let what will come of it. Steady +now--steady. Stand still you old fool; can't you?" + +"There, now I'm all right. Solomon said something about a beggar +on horseback. Was is Solomon, though? Never mind. He couldn't +ride. Never had a horse till he was grown up. But he said some +uncommon wise things about having to do with such friends as T. +B. So, Harry East, if you please, no more tomfoolery after +to-day. You've got a whole skin, and a lieutenant's commission to +make your way in the world with, and are troubled with no +particular crotchets yourself that need ever get you into +trouble. So just you keep clear of other people's. And if your +friends must be mending the world, and poor men's plastering, and +running their heads against stone walls, why, just you let go of +their coat tails." + +So muttering and meditating, Harry East paused a moment after +mounting, to turn up the collar of the rough shooting-coat which +he was wearing, and button it up to the chin, before riding down +the hill, when, in the hurly-burly of the wind, a shout came +spinning past his ears, plain enough this time; he heard the gate +at the end of Englebourn lane down below him shut with a clang, +and saw two men running at full speed towards him, straight up +the hill. + +"Oh! here you are at last," he said, as he watched them. "Well, +you don't lose your time now. Somebody must be after them. What's +he shouting and waving his hand for? Oh, I'm to bring the cavalry +supports down the slope, I suppose. Well, here goes; he has +brought off his pal the convict I see-- + + Says he, you've 'scaped from transportation + All upon the briny main; + So never give way to no temptation, + And don't get drunk nor prig again! + +There goes the gate again. By Jove, what's that? Dragoons, as I'm +a sinner! There's going to be the d-----st bear-fight." + +Saying which, Harry East dug his heels into his horse's sides, +holding him up sharply with the curb at the same time, and in +another moment, was at the bottom of the solitary mound on which +he had been perched for the last hour, and on the brow of the +line of hill out of which it rose so abruptly, just at the point +for which the two runners were making. He had only time to glance +at the pursuers, and saw that one or two rode straight on the +track of the fugitives, while the rest skirted away along a +parish road which led up the hill side by an easier ascent, when +Tom and his companion were by his side. Tom seized the bridle of +the led horse, and was in the saddle with one spring. + +"Jump up behind," he shouted; "now, then, come along." + +"Who are they?" roared East,--in that wind nothing but a shout +could be heard,--pointing over his shoulder with his thumb as +they turned to the heath. + +"Yeomanry." + +"After you?" + +Tom nodded, as they broke into a gallop, making straight across +the heath towards the Oxford road. They were some quarter of a +mile in advance before any of their pursuers showed over the brow +of the hill behind them. It was already getting dusk, and the +great bank of cloud was by this time all but upon them, making +the atmosphere denser and darker every second. Then, first one of +the men appeared who had ridden straight up the hill under the +Hawk's Lynch, and, pulling up for a moment, caught sight of them +and gave chase. Half a minute later, and several of those who had +kept to the road were also in sight, some distance away on the +left, but still near enough to be unpleasant; and they too after +a moment's pause, were in full pursuit. At first the fugitives +held their own, and the distance between them and their pursuers +was not lessened; but it was clear that this could not last. +Anything that horse-flesh is capable of, a real good Oxford hack, +such as they rode, will do; but to carry two full-grown men at +the end of a pretty long day, away from fresh horses and moderate +weights, is too much to expect even of Oxford horse-flesh; and +the gallant beast which Tom rode was beginning to show signs of +distress when they struck into the road. There was a slight dip +in the ground a this place, and a little further on the heath +rose suddenly again, and the road ran between high banks for a +short distance. + +As they reached this point they disappeared for the moment from +the yeomanry, and the force of the wind was broken by the banks, +so that they could breathe more easily, and hear one another's +voices. + +Tom looked anxiously round at the lieutenant, who shrugged his +shoulders in answer to the look, as he bent forward to ease his +own horse, and said-- + +"Can't last another mile." + +"What's to be done?" + +East again shrugged his shoulders, but said nothing. + +"I know, Master Tom," said Harry Winburn. + +"What?" + +"Pull up a bit, sir." + +Tom pulled up, and his horse fell into a walk willingly enough, +while East passed on a few strides ahead. Harry Winburn sprang +off. + +"You ride on now, Master Tom," he said, "I knows the heath well; +you let me bide." + +"No, no, Harry, not I. I won't leave you now, so let them come, +and be hanged." + +East had pulled up, and listened to their talk. + +"Look here, now," he said to Harry; "put your arm over the hind +part of his saddle, and run by the side; you'll find you can go +as fast as the horse. Now, you two push on, and strike across the +heath. I'll keep the road, and take off this joker behind, who is +the only dangerous customer." + +"That's like you, old boy," said Tom, "then we'll meet at the +first public beyond the heath." They passed ahead in their turn, +and turned on to the heath, Harry running by the side, as the +lieutenant had advised. + +East looked after them, and then put his horse into a steady +trot, muttering, + +"Like me! yes, devilish like me; I know that well enough. Didn't +I always play cat's-paw to his monkey at school? But that convict +don't seem such a bad lot after all." + +Meantime, Tom and Harry struck away over the heath, as the +darkness closed in, and the storm drove down. They stumbled on +over the charred furze roots, and splashed through the sloppy +peat cuttings, casting anxious, hasty looks over their shoulders +as they fled, straining every nerve to get on, and longing for +night and the storm. + +"Hark! wasn't that a pistol-shot?" said Tom, as they floundered +on. The sound came from the road they had left. + +"Look, here's some on 'em, then," said Harry; and Tom was aware +of two horsemen coming over the brow of the hill on their left, +some three hundred yards to the rear. At the same instant his +horse stumbled, and came down on his nose and knees. Tom went off +over his shoulder, tumbling against Harry, and sending him +headlong to the ground, but keeping hold of the bridle. They were +up again in a moment. + +"Are you hurt?" + +"No." + +"Come along, then," and Tom was in the saddle again, when the +pursuers raised a shout. They had caught sight of them now, and +spurred down the slope towards them. Tom was turning his horse's +head straight away, but Harry shouted,-- + +"Keep to the left, Master Tom,--to the left, right on." + +It seemed like running into the lion's jaws, but he yielded, and +they pushed on down the slope on which they were. Another shout +of triumph rose on the howling wind; Tom's heart sank within him. +The enemy was closing on them at every stride; another hundred +yards, and they must meet at the bottom of the slope. What could +Harry be dreaming of? The thought had scarcely time to cross his +brain, when down went the two yeomen, horse and man, floundering +in a bog above their horses' girths. At the same moment the storm +burst on them, the driving mist and pelting rain. The chase was +over. They could not have seen a regiment of men at fifty yards' +distance. + +"You let me lead the horse, Master Tom," shouted Harry Winburn; +"I knowed where they was going; 'twill take they the best part o' +the night to get out o' that, I knows." + +"All right, let's get back to the road, then, as soon as we can," +said Tom, surrendering his horse's head to Harry, and turning up +his collar, to meet the pitiless deluge which was driving on +their flanks. They were drenched to the skin in two minutes; Tom +jumped off, and plodded along on the opposite side of his horse +to Harry. They did not speak; there was very little to be said +under the circumstances, and a great deal to be thought about. + +Harry Winburn probably knew the heath as well as any man living, +but even he had much difficulty in finding his way back to the +road through that storm. However, after some half-hour, spent in +beating about, they reached it, and turned their faces northwards +towards Oxford. By this time night had come on; but the fury of +the storm had passed over them, and the moon began to show every +now and then through the driving clouds. At last Tom roused +himself out of the brown study in which he had been hitherto +plodding along, and turned down his coat collar, and shook +himself, and looked up at the sky, and across at his companion, +who was still leading the horse along mechanically. It was too +dark to see his face, but his walk and general look were listless +and dogged; at last Tom broke silence. + +"You promised not to do anything, after you came out, without +speaking to me." Harry made no reply; so presently he went on:-- + +"I didn't think you'd have gone in for such a business as that +to-night. I shouldn't have minded so much if it had only been +machine-breaking; but robbing the cellar and staving in the ale +casks and maiming cattle--" + +"I'd no hand in that," interrupted Harry. + +"I'm glad to hear it. You were certainly leaning against the gate +when I came up, and taking no part in it; but you were one of the +leaders of the riot." + +"He brought it on hisself," said Harry, doggedly. "Tester is a +bad man, I know that; and the people have much to complain of: +but nothing can justify what was done to-night." Harry made no +answer. + +"You're known, and they'll be after you the first thing in the +morning. I don't know what's to be done." + +"'Tis very little odds what happens to me." + +"You've no right to say that, Harry. Your friends--" + +"I ain't got no friends." + +"Well, Harry, I don't think you ought to say that after what has +happened to-night. I don't mean to say that my friendship has +done you much good yet; but I've done what I could, and--" + +"So you hev', Master Tom, so you hev'." + +"And I'll stick by you through thick and thin, Harry. But you +must take heart and stick by yourself, or we shall never pull you +through." Harry groaned, and then, turning at once to what was +always uppermost in his mind, said,-- + +"'Tis no good, now I've been in gaol. Her father wur allus agin +me. And now, how be I ever to hold up my head at whoam? I seen +her once arter I came out." + +"Well, and what happened?" said Tom, after waiting a moment or +two. + +"She just turned red and pale, and was all flustered like, and +made as though she'd have held out her hand; and then tuk and +hurried off like a frightened hare, as though she heerd somebody +comin'. Ah! 'tis no good! 'tis no good!" + +"I don't see anything very hopeless in that," said Tom. + +"I've knowed her since she wur that high," went on Harry, holding +out his hand about as high as the bottom of his waistcoat, +without noticing the interruption, "when her and I went gleanin' +together. 'Tis what I've thought on, and lived for. 'Tis four +year and better since she and I broke a sixpence auver't. And at +times it sim'd as tho' 'twould all cum right, when my poor mother +wur livin', tho' her never tuk to it kindly, mother didn't. But +'tis all gone now! and I be that mad wi' myself, and mammered, +and down, I be ready to hang myself, Master Tom; and if they just +teks and transports me--" + +"Oh, nonsense, Harry! You must keep out of that. We shall think +of some way to get you out of that before morning. And you must +get clear away, and go to work on the railways or somewhere. +There's nothing to be downhearted about as far as Patty is +concerned." + +"Ah! 'tis they as wears it as knows where the shoe pinches. You'd +say different if 'twas you, Master Tom." + +"Should I?" said Tom; and, after pausing a moment or two, he went +on. "What I'm going to say is in confidence. I've never told it +to any man yet, and only one has found it out. Now, Harry, I'm +much worse off than you are at this minute. Don't I know where +the shoe pinches! Why I haven't seen--I've scarcely heard +of--of--well, of my sweetheart--there, you'll understand +that--for this year and more. I don't know when I may see her +again. I don't know that she hasn't clean forgotten me. I don't +know that she ever cared a straw for me. Now you know quite well +that you are better off than that." + +"I bean't so sure o' that, Master Tom. But I be terrible vexed to +hear about you." + +"Never mind about me. You say you're not sure, Harry. Come, now, +you said, not two minutes ago, that you two had broken a sixpence +over it. What does that mean, now?" + +"Ah! but 'tis four years gone. Her's been a leadin' o' me up and +down, and a dancin' o' me round and round purty nigh ever since, +let alone the time as she wur at Oxford, when--" + +"Well, we won't talk of that, Harry. Come, will yesterday do for +you? If you thought she was all right yesterday, would that +satisfy you?" + +"Ees; and summat to spare." + +"You don't believe it, I see. Well, why do you think I came after +you to-night? How did I know what was going on?" + +"That's just what I've been a-axin' o' myself as we cum along." + +"Well, then, I'll tell you. I came because I got a note from her +yesterday at Oxford." Tom paused, for he heard a muttered growl +from the other side of the horse's head, and could see, even in +the fitful moonlight, the angry toss of the head with which his +news was received, "I didn't expect this, Harry," he went on +presently, "after what I told you just now about myself, it was a +hard matter to tell it at all; but, after telling you, I didn't +think you'd suspect me any more. However, perhaps I've deserved +it. So, to go on with what I was saying, two years ago, when I +came to my senses about her, and before I cared for anyone else, +I told her to write if ever I could do her a service. Anything +that a man could do for his sister I was bound to do for her, and +I told her so. She never answered till yesterday, when I got this +note," and he dived into the inner breast pocket of his shooting. +coat. "If it isn't soaked to pulp, it's in my pocket now. Yes, +here it is," and he produced a dirty piece of paper, and handed +it across to his companion. "When there's light enough to read +it, you'll see plain enough what she means, though your name is +not mentioned." + +Having finished his statement, Tom retired into himself, and +walked along watching the hurrying clouds. After they had gone +some hundred yards, Harry cleared his throat once or twice, and +at last broke out,-- + +"Master Tom." + +"Well." + +"You bean't offended wi' me, sir, I hopes?" + +"No, why should I be offended?" + +"'Cause I knows I be so all-fired jealous, I can't a'bear to hear +o' her talkin', let alone writin' to--" + +"Out with it. To me, you were going to say." + +"Nay, 'tis mwore nor that." + +"All right, Harry, if you only lump me with the rest of mankind, +I don't care. But you needn't be jealous of me, and you mustn't +be jealous of me, or I sha'n't be able to help you as I want to +do. I'll give you my hand and word on it as man to man, there's +no thought in my heart towards her that you mightn't see this +minute. Do you believe me?" + +"Ees; and you'll forgive--" + +"There's nothing to forgive, Harry. But now you'll allow your +case isn't such a bad one. She must keep a good lookout after you +to know what you were likely to be about to-day. And if she +didn't care for you, she wouldn't have written to me. That's good +sense, I think." + +Harry assented, and then Tom went into a consideration of what +was to be done, and, as usual, fair castles began to rise in the +air. Harry was to start down the line at once, and take work on +the railway. In a few weeks he would be captain of a gang, and +then what was to hinder his becoming a contractor, and making his +fortune, and buying a farm of his own at Englebourn? To all which +Harry listened with open ears till they got off the heath, and +came upon a small hamlet of some half-dozen cottages scattered +along the road. + +"There's a public here, I suppose," said Tom, returning to the +damp realities of life. Harry indicated the humble place of +entertainment for man and horse. + +"That's all right. I hope we shall find my friend here;" and they +went towards the light which was shining temptingly through the +latticed window of the road-side inn. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI--THE LIEUTENANT'S SENTIMENTS AND PROBLEMS + +"Stop! It looks so bright that there must be something going on. +Surely the yeomanry can never have come on here already?" + +Tom laid his hand on the bridle, and they halted on the road +opposite the public-house, which lay a little back, with an open +space of ground before it. The sign-post, and a long water-trough +for the horses of guests to drink at, were pushed forward to the +side of road to intimate the whereabouts of the house, and the +hack which Harry led was already drinking eagerly. + +"Stay here for a minute, and I'll go to the window, and see +what's up inside. It's very unlucky, but it will never do for us +to go in if there are any people there." + +Tom stole softly up to the window out of which the light came. A +little scrap of a curtain was drawn across a portion of it, but +he could see easily into the room on either side of the curtain. +The first glance comforted him, for he saw at once that there was +only one person in the kitchen; but who and what he might be was +a puzzle. The only thing which was clear at a first glance was, +that he was making himself at home. + +The room was a moderate-sized kitchen, with a sanded floor, and a +large fire-place; a high wooden screen, with a narrow seat in +front of it, ran along the side on which the door from the +entrance-passage opened. In the middle there was a long rough +walnut table, on which stood a large loaf, some cold bacon and +cheese, and a yellow jug; a few heavy rush-bottomed chairs and a +settle composed the rest of the furniture. On the wall were a few +samplers, a warming pan, and shelves with some common delf +plates, and cups and saucers. But though the furniture was meagre +enough, the kitchen had a look of wondrous comfort for a drenched +mortal outside. Tom felt this keenly, and, after a glance round, +fixed his attention on the happy occupant, with the view of +ascertaining whether he would be a safe person to intrude on +under the circumstances. He was seated on a low, three-cornered +oak seat, with his back to the window, steadying a furze fagot on +the fire with the poker. The fagot blazed and crackled, and +roared up the chimney, sending out the bright flickering light +which had attracted them, and forming a glorious top to the +glowing clear fire of wood embers beneath, into which was +inserted a long, funnel-shaped tin, out of which the figure +helped himself to some warm compound, when he had settled the +fagot to his satisfaction. He was enveloped as to his shoulders +in a heavy, dirty-white coat, with huge cape and high collar, +which hid the back of his head, such as was then in use by +country carriers; but the garment was much too short for him, and +his bare arms came out a foot beyond the end of the sleeves. The +rest of his costume was even more eccentric, being nothing more +or less than a coarse flannel petticoat, and his bare feet rested +on the mat in front of the fire. + +Tom felt a sudden doubt as to his sanity, which doubt was +apparently shared by the widow woman, who kept the house, and her +maid-of-all-work, one or other of whom might be seen constantly +keeping an eye on their guest from behind the end of the wooden +screen. However, it was no time to be over particular; they must +rest before going further, and, after all, it was only one man. +So Tom thought, and was just on the point of calling Harry to +come on, when the figure turned round towards the window, and the +face of the lieutenant disclosed itself between the high-peaked +gills of the carrier's coat. Tom burst out into a loud laugh, and +called out,-- + +"It's all right, come along." + +"I'll just look to the hosses, Master Tom." + +"Very well, and then come into the kitchen;" saying which, he +hurried into the house, and after tumbling against the +maid-of-all-work in the passage, emerged from behind the screen. + +"Well, here we are at last, old fellow," he said, slapping East +on the shoulder. + +"Oh, it's you, is it? I thought you were in the lock-up by this +time." + +East's costume, as he sat looking up, with a hand on each knee, +was even more ridiculous on a close inspection, and Tom roared +with laughter again. + +"I don't see the joke," said East without moving a muscle. + +"You would, though, if you could see yourself. You wonderful old +Guy, where did you pick up that toggery?" + +"The late lamented husband of the widow Higgs, our landlady, was +the owner of the coat. He also bequeathed to her several pairs of +breeches, which I have vainly endeavored to get into. The late +lamented Higgs was an abominably small man. He must have been +very much her worse half. So, in default of other clothing, the +widow has kindly obliged me by the loan of one of her own +garments." + +"Where are your own clothes?" + +"There," said East, pointing to a clothes' horse, which Tom had +not hitherto remarked, which stood well into the chimney corner; +"and they are dry, too," he went on, feeling them; "at least the +flannel shirt and trousers are, so I'll get into them again." + +"I say, ma'am," he called out, addressing the screen, "I'm going +to change my things. So you had better not look in just now. In +fact, we can call now, if we want anything." + +At this strong hint the widow Higgs was heard bustling away +behind the screen, and after her departure East got into some of +his own clothes again, offering the cast-off garments of the +Higgs family to Tom, who, however, declined, contenting himself +with taking off his coat and waistcoat, and hanging them upon the +horse. He had been blown comparatively dry in the last half-hour +of his walk. + +While East was making his toilet, Tom turned to the table, and +made an assault on the bread and bacon, and then poured himself +out a glass of beer and began to drink it, but was pulled up half +way, and put it down with a face all drawn up into puckers by its +sharpness. + +"I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap," said East, +watching him with a grin. "Regular whistle-belly vengeance, and +no mistake! Here, I don't mind giving you some of my compound, +though you don't deserve it." + +So Tom drew his chair to the fire, and smacked his lips over the +long-necked glass, which East handed to him. + +"Ah! that's not bad tipple after such a ducking as we've had. +Dog's-nose, isn't it?" + +East nodded. + +"Well, old fellow, I will say you are the best hand I know at +making the most of your opportunities. I don't know of anyone +else who could have made such a good brew out of that stuff and a +drop of gin." + +East was not to be mollified by any such compliment. "Have you +got many more such jobs as to-day's on hand? I should think they +must interfere with reading." + +"No. But I call to-day's a real good job." + +"Do you? I don't agree. Of course it's a matter of taste. I have +the honor of holding Her Majesty's commission; so I may be +prejudiced, perhaps." + +"What difference does it make whose commission you hold? You +wouldn't hold any commission, I know, which would bind you to be +a tyrant and oppress the weak and the poor." + +"Humbug about your oppressing! Who is the tyrant, I should like +to know, the farmer, or the mob that destroys his property? I +don't call Swing's mob the weak and the poor." + +"That's all very well; but I should like to know how you'd feel +if you had no work and a starving family. You don't know what +people have to suffer. The only wonder is that all the country +isn't in a blaze; and it will be if things last as they are much +longer. It must be a bad time which makes such men as Harry +Winburn into rioters." + +"I don't know anything about Harry Winburn. But I know there's a +good deal to be said on the yeomanry side of the question." + +"Well, now, East, just consider this-" + +"No, I'm not in the humour for considering. I don't want to argue +with you." + +"Yes, that's always the way. You won't hear what a fellow's got +to say, and then set him down for a mischievous fool, because he +won't give up beliefs founded on the evidence of his own eyes, +and ears, and reason." + +"I don't quarrel with any of your beliefs. You've got 'em--I +haven't--that's just the difference between us. You've got some +sort of faith to fall back upon, in equality, and brotherhood, +and a lot of cursed nonsense of that kind. So, I daresay, you +could drop down into a navigator, or a shoeblack, or something in +that way, to-morrow, and think it pleasant. You might rather +enjoy a trip across the water at the expense of your country, +like your friend the convict here." + +"Don't talk such rot, man. In the first place, he isn't a +convict; you know that well enough." + +"He is just out of prison, at any rate. However, this sort of +thing isn't my line of country at all. So the next time you want +to do a bit of gaol delivery on your own hook, don't ask me to +help you." + +"Well, if I had known all that was going to happen, I wouldn't +have asked you to come, old fellow. Come, give us another glass +of your dog's-nose, and no more of your sermon, which isn't +edifying." + +The lieutenant filled the long-necked glass which Tom held out, +with the creaming mixture, which he was nursing in the +funnel-shaped tin. But he was not prepared to waive his right to +lecture, and so continued, while Tom sipped his liquor with much +relish, and looked comically across at his old schoolfellow. + +"Some fellows have a call to set the world right--I haven't. My +gracious sovereign pays me seven and sixpence a day; for which +sum I undertake to be shot at on certain occasions and by proper +persons, and I hope when the time comes I shall take it as well +as another. But that doesn't include turning out to be potted at +like a woodcock on your confounded Berkshire wilds by a +turnip-headed yeoman. It isn't to be done at the figure." + +"What in the world do you mean?" + +"I mean just what I say." + +"That one of those unspeakable yeomanry has been shooting at +you?" + +"Just so." + +"No, you don't really mean it? Wh-e-e-w! Then that shot we heard +was fired at you. 'Pon my honor, I'm very sorry." + +"Much good your sorrow would have done me if your precious +countryman had held straight." + +"Well, what can I say more, East? If there's anything I can do to +show you that I really am very sorry and ashamed at having +brought you into such a scrape, only tell me what it is." + +"I don't suppose your word would go for much at the Horse Guards, +or I'd ask you to give me a character for coolness under fire." + +"Come, I see you're joking now, old fellow. Do tell us how it +happened." + +"Well, when you turned off across the common, I pulled up for +half a minute, and then held on at a steady slow trot. If I had +pushed on ahead, my friend behind would have been just as likely +to turn after you as after me. Presently I heard Number One +coming tearing along behind; and as soon as he got from between +the banks, he saw me and came straight after me down the road. +You were well away to the left, so now I just clapped on a bit, +to lead him further away from the right scent, and on he came, +whooping and hallooing to me to pull up. I didn't see why I +hadn't just as good a right to ride along the road at my own pace +as he; so the more he shouted, the more I didn't stop. But the +beggar had the legs of me. He was mounted on something deuced +like a thoroughbred, and gained on me hand over hand. At last +when I judged he must be about twenty yards behind, I thought I +might as well have a look at him, so I just turned for a moment, +when, by Jove, there was my lord, lugging a pistol out of his +right holster. He shouted again to me to stop. I turned, ducked +my head, and the next moment he pulled trigger, and missed me." + +"And what happened then," said Tom, eagerly drawing a long +breath. + +"Why, I flatter myself I showed considerable generalship. If I +had given him time to get at his other pistol, or his toasting +fork, it was all up. I dived into my pocket, where by good luck +there was some loose powder, and copper caps, and a snuff-box; +upset the snuff, grabbed a handful of the mixture, and pulled +hard at my horse. Next moment he was by my side, lifting his +pistol to knock me over. So I gave him the mixture right in the +face, and let him go by. Up went both his hands, and away went he +and his horse, somewhere over the common out of sight. I just +turned round, and walked quietly back. I didn't see the fun of +accepting any more attacks in the rear. Then up rides Number Two, +a broad-faced young farmer on a big gray horse, blowing like a +grampus. He pulled up short when we met, and stared, and I walked +past him. You never saw a fellow look more puzzled. I had +regularly stale-mated him. However, he took heart, and shouted, +'had I met the Captain?' I said, 'A gentleman had ridden by on a +bright bay.' 'That was he; which way had he gone?' So I pointed +generally over the common, and Number Two departed; and then down +came the storm, and I turned again, and came on here." + +"The Captain! It must have been Wurley, then, who fired at you." + +"I don't know who it was. I only hope he won't be blinded." + +"It's a strange business altogether," said Tom, looking into the +fire; "I scarcely know what to think of it. We should never have +pulled through but for you, that's certain." + +"I know what to think of it well enough," said East. "But now +let's hear what happened to you. They didn't catch you, of +course?" + +"No, but it was touch and go. I thought it was all up at one +time, for Harry would turn right across their line. But he knew +what he was about; there was a bog between us, and they came on +right into it, and we left them floundering." + +"The convict seems to have his head about him, then. Where is he, +by the way? I'm curious to have a look at him." + +"Looking after the horses. I'll call him in. He ought have +something to drink." + +Tom went to the door and called Harry, who came out from the +rough shed which served as a stable, in his shirt, with a wisp of +hay in his hand. He had stripped off coat, and waistcoat, and +braces, and had been warming himself by giving the horses a good +dressing. + +"Why, Harry, you haven't had anything," said Tom; "come across +and have a glass of something hot." + +Harry followed into the kitchen, and stood by the end of the +screen, looking rather uncomfortable, while Tom poured him out a +glass of the hot mixture, and the lieutenant looked him over with +keen eyes. + +"There, take that off. How are the horses?" + +"Pretty fresh, Master Tom; but they'd be the better of a bran +mash, or somethin' cumfable. I've spoke to the missus about it, +and 'tis ready to put on the fire." + +"That's right then. Let them have it as quick as you can." + +"Then I med fetch it and warm it up here, sir?" said Harry. + +"To be sure; the sooner the better." + +Harry took off his glass, making a shy sort of duck with his +head, accompanied by "your health, sir," to each of his +entertainers, and then disappeared into the back kitchen, +returned with the mash, which he put on the fire, and went off to +the stable again. + +"What do you think of him?" said Tom. + +"I like to see a fellow let his braces down when he goes to +work," said East. + +"It's not every fellow who would be strapping away at those +horses, instead of making himself at home in the back kitchen." + +"No, it isn't," said East. + +"Don't you like his looks now?" + +"He's not a bad sort, your convict." + +"I say, I wish you wouldn't call him names." + +"Very good; your unfortunate friend, then. What are you going to +do with him?" + +"That's just what I've been puzzling about all the way here. What +do you think?" And then they drew to the fire again, and began to +talk over Harry's prospects. In some ten minutes he returned to +the kitchen for the mash, and this time drew a complimentary +remark from the lieutenant. + +Harry was passionately fond of animals, and especially of horses, +and they found it out quickly enough as they always do. The two +hacks were by this time almost fresh again, with dry coats, and +feet well washed and cleansed; and while working at them, Harry +had been thinking over all he had heard that evening, and what +with the work and what with his thoughts, found himself getting +more hopeful every minute. No one who had seen his face an hour +before on the heath would have believed it was the same man who +was now patting and fondling the two hacks as they disposed of +the mash he had prepared for them. He leant back against the +manger, rubbing the ears of Tom's hack--the one which had carried +double so well in their first flight--gently with his two hands, +while the delighted beast bent down its head, and pressed it +against him, and stretched its neck, expressing in all manner of +silent ways its equine astonishment and satisfaction. By the +light of the single dip, Harry's face grew shorter and shorter, +until at last, a quiet humorous look began to creep back into it. + +As we have already taken the liberty of putting the thoughts of +his betters into words, we must now do so for him; and, if he had +expressed his thoughts in his own vernacular as he rubbed the +hack's ears in the stable, his speech would have been much as +follows:-- + +"How cums it as I be all changed like, as tho' sum un had tuk and +rubbed all the downheartedness out o' me? Here I be, two days out +o' gaol, wi' nothin' in the world but the things I stands +in,--for in course I med just give up the bits o' things as is +left at Daddy Collins's--and they all draggled wi' the wet--and I +med be tuk in the mornin' and sent across the water; and yet I +feels sum how as peert as a yukkel. So fur as I can see, 'tis +jest nothin' but talkin' wi' our Master Tom. What a fine thing +'tis to be a schollard. And yet seemin'ly 'tis nothin' but talk +arter all's said and done. But 'tis allus the same; whenever I +gets talkin' wi' he, it all cums out as smooth as crame. Fust +time as ever I seen him since we wur bwys he talked just as a do +now; and then my poor mother died. Then he come in arter the +funeral, and talked me up agen, till I thought as I wur to hev +our cottage and all the land as I could do good by. But our +cottage wur tuk away, and my 'lotment besides. Then cum last +summer, and 'twur just the same agen arter his talk, but I got +dree months auver that job. And now 'ere I be wi un agen, +a-runnin' from the constable; and like to be tuk up and +transpworted, and 'tis just the same; and I s'pose 'twill be just +the same if ever I gets back, and sees un, and talks wi' un, if I +be gwine to be hung. 'Tis a wunnerful thing to be a schollard, to +be able to make things look all straight when they be ever so +akkerd and unked." + +And then Harry left off rubbing the horse's ears; and, pulling +the damp piece of paper, which Tom had given him, out of his +breeches' pocket, proceeded to flatten it out tenderly on the +palm of his hand, and read it by the light of the dip, when the +landlady came to inform him that the gentlefolk wanted him in the +kitchen. So he folded his treasure up again, and went off to the +kitchen. He found Tom standing with his back to the fire, while +the lieutenant was sitting at the table, writing on a scrap of +paper, which the landlady had produced after much hunting over of +drawers. Tom began, with some little hesitation:-- + +"Oh, Harry, I've been talking matters over with my friend here, +and I've changed my mind. It won't do after all for you to stay +about at railway work, or anything of that sort. You see you +wouldn't be safe. They'd be sure to trace you, and you'd get into +trouble about this day's work. And then, after all, it's a very +poor opening for a young fellow like you. Now, why shouldn't you +enlist into Mr. East's regiment? You'll be in his company, and +it's a splendid profession. What do you say now?" + +East looked up at poor Harry, who was quite taken aback at this +change in his prospects, and could only mutter, that he had never +turned his mind to "sodgerin." + +"It's just the thing for you," Tom went on. "You can write and +keep accounts, and you'll get on famously. Ask Mr. East if you +won't. And don't you fear about matters at home. You'll see +that'll all come right. I'll pledge you my word it will, and I'll +take care that you shall hear everything that goes on there; and, +depend upon it, it's your best chance. You'll be back at +Englebourn as a sergeant in no time, and be able to snap your +fingers at them all. You'll come with us to Steventon station, +and take the night train to London, and then in the morning go to +Whitehall, and find Mr. East's sergeant. He'll give you a note to +him, and they'll send you on to Chatham, where the regiment is. +You think it's the best thing for him, don't you?" said Tom, +turning to East. + +"Yes; I think you'll do very well if you only keep steady. Here's +a note to the sergeant, and I shall be back at Chatham in a day +or two myself." + +Harry took the note mechanically; he was quite unable yet to make +any resistance. + +"And now get something to eat as quick as you can, for we ought +to be off. The horses are all right, I suppose?" + +"Yes, Master Tom," said Harry, with an appealing look. + +"Where are your coat and waistcoat, Harry?" + +"They be in the stable, sir." + +"In the stable! Why, they're all wet, then, still?" + +"Oh, 'tis no odds about that, Master Tom." + +"No odds! Get them in directly, and put them to dry here." + +So Harry Winburn went off to the stable to fetch his clothes. + +"He's a fine fellow," said East, getting up and coming to the +fire; "I've taken quite a fancy to him, but he doesn't fancy +enlisting." + +"Poor fellow! he has to leave his sweetheart. It's a sad +business, but it's the best thing for him, and you'll see he'll +go." + +Tom was right. Poor Harry came in and dried his clothes, and got +his supper; and while he was eating it, and all along the road +afterwards, till they reached the station at about eleven +o'clock, pleaded in his plain way with Tom against leaving his +own country side. And East listened silently, and liked him +better and better. + +Tom argued with him gently, and turned the matter round on all +sides, putting the most hopeful face upon it; and, in the end, +talked first himself and then Harry into the belief that it was +the best thing that could have happened to him, and more likely +than any other course of action to bring everything right between +him and all the folk at Englebourn. + +So they got into the train at Steventon in pretty good heart, +with his fare paid, and half-a-sovereign in his pocket, more and +more impressed in his mind with what a wonderful thing it was to +be "a schollard." + +The two friends rode back to Oxford at a good pace. They had both +of them quite enough to think about, and were not in the humour +for talk, had place and time served, so that scarce a word passed +between them till they had left their horses at the livery +stables, and were walking through the silent streets, a few +minutes before midnight. Then East broke silence. + +"I can't make out how you do it. I'd give half-a-year's pay to +get the way of it." + +"The way of what? What an you talking about?" + +"Why, your way of shutting your eyes, and going in blind." + +"Well, that's a queer wish for a fighting man," said Tom, +laughing. "We always thought a rusher no good at school, and that +the thing to learn was, to go in with your own eyes open, and +shut up other people's." + +"Ah but we hadn't cut our eye-teeth then. I look at these things +from a professional point of view. My business is to get fellows +to shut their eyes tight, and I begin to think you can't do it as +it should be done, without shutting your own first." + +"I don't take." + +"Why, look at the way you talked your convict--I beg your +pardon--your unfortunate friend--into enlisting tonight. You +talked as if you believed every word you were saying to him." + +"So I did." + +"Well, I should like to have you for a recruiting sergeant, if +you could only drop that radical bosh. If I had had to do it, +instead of enlisting, he would have gone straight off and hung +himself in the stable." + +"I'm glad you didn't try your hand at it then." + +"Look again at me. Do you think anyone but such a--well I don't +want to say anything uncivil--a headlong dog like you could have +got me into such a business as to-day's? Now I want to be able to +get other fellows to make just such fools of themselves as I've +made of myself to-day. How do you do it?" + +"I don't know, unless it is that I can't help always looking at +the best side of things myself, and so--" + +"Most things haven't got a best side." + +"Well, at the pretty good side, then." + +"Nor a pretty good one." + +"If they haven't got a pretty good one, it don't matter how you +look at them, I should think." + +"No, I don't believe it does--much. Still, I should like to be +able to make a fool of myself, too, when I want, with the view of +getting others to do ditto, of course." + +"I wish I could help you, old fellow; but I don't see my way to +it." + +"I shall talk to our regimental doctor about it, and get put +through a course of fool's-diet before we start for India." + +"Flap-doodle, they call it, what fools are fed on. But it's odd +that you should have broken out in this place, when all the way +home I've been doing nothing but envying you your special +talent." + +"What's that?" + +"Just the opposite one--the art of falling on your feet. I should +like to exchange with you." + +"You'd make a precious bad bargain of it, then." + +"There's twelve striking. I must knock in. Good night. You'll be +round to breakfast at nine." + +"All right. I believe in your breakfasts, rather," said East, as +they shook hands at the gate of St. Ambrose, into which Tom +disappeared, while the lieutenant strolled back to the "Mitre." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII--THIRD YEAR + +East returned to his regiment in a few days, and at the end of +the month the gallant 101st embarked for India. Tom wrote several +letters to the lieutenant, inclosing notes to Harry, with +gleanings of news from Englebourn, where his escape on the night +of the riot had been a nine-days' wonder; and, now that he was +fairly "'listed," and out of the way, public opinion was +beginning to turn in his favor. In due course a letter arrived +from the lieutenant, dated Cape Town, giving a prosperous account +of the voyage so far. East did not say much about "your convict," +as he still insisted on calling Harry; but the little he did say +was very satisfactory, and Tom sent off this part of the letter +to Katie, to whom he had confided the whole story, entreating her +to make the best use of it in the interest of the young soldier. +And, after this out-of-the-way beginning, he settled down into +the usual routine of his Oxford life. + +This change in his opinions and objects of interest brought him +now into more intimate relations with a set of whom he had, as +yet, seen little. For want of a better name, we may call them +"the party of progress." At their parties, instead of practical +jokes, and boisterous mirth, and talk of boats, and bats, and +guns, and horses, the highest and deepest questions of morals, +and politics, and metaphysics, were discussed, and discussed with +a. freshness and enthusiasm which is apt to wear off when doing +has to take the place of talking, but has a strange charm of its +own while it lasts, and is looked back to with loving regret by +those for whom it is no longer a possibility. + +With this set Tom soon fraternized, and drank in many new ideas, +and took to himself also many new crotchets besides those with +which he was already weighted. Almost all his new acquaintances +were Liberal in politics, but a few only were ready to go all +lengths with him. They were all Union men, and Tom, of course, +followed the fashion, and soon propounded theories in that +institution which gained him the name of Chartist Brown. + +There was a strong mixture of self-conceit in it all. He had a +kind of idea that he had discovered something which it was +creditable to have discovered, and that it was a very fine thing +to have all these feelings for, and sympathies with, "the +masses", and to believe in democracy, and "glorious humanity," +and "a good time coming," and I know not what other big matters. +And, although it startled and pained him at first to hear himself +called ugly names, which he had hated and despised from his youth +up, and to know that many of his old acquaintances looked upon +him, not simply as a madman, but as a madman with snobbish +proclivities; yet, when the first plunge was over, there was a +good deal on the other hand which tickled his vanity, and was far +from being unpleasant. + +To do him justice, however, the disagreeables were such that, had +there not been some genuine belief at the bottom, he would +certainly have been headed back very speedily into the fold of +political and social orthodoxy. As it was, amidst the cloud of +sophisms, and platitudes, and big, one-sided ideas half-mastered, +which filled his thoughts and overflowed in his talk, there was +growing in him, and taking firmer hold on him daily, a true and +broad sympathy for men as men, and especially for poor men as +poor men, and a righteous and burning hatred against all laws, +customs, or notions, which, according to his light, either were +or seemed to be setting aside, or putting anything else in the +place of, or above, the man. It was with him the natural +outgrowth of the child's and boy's training (though his father +would have been much astonished to be told so), and the instincts +of those early days were now getting rapidly set into habits and +faiths, and becoming a part of himself. + +In this stage of his life, as in so many former ones, Tom got +great help from his intercourse with Hardy, now the rising tutor +of the college. Hardy was travelling much the same road himself +as our hero, but was somewhat further on, and had come into it +from a different country, and though quite other obstacles. Their +early lives had been very different; and, both by nature and from +long and severe self-restraint and discipline, Hardy was much the +less impetuous and demonstrative of the two. He did not rush out, +therefore (as Tom was too much inclined to do), the moment he had +seized hold of the end of a new idea which he felt to be good for +_him_ and what _he_ wanted, and brandish it in the face of all +comers, and think himself a traitor to the truth if he wasn't +trying to make everybody he met with eat it. Hardy, on the +contrary, would test his new idea, and turn it over, and prove it +as far as he could, and try to get hold of the whole of it, and +ruthlessly strip off any tinsel or rose-pink sentiment with which +it might happen to be mixed up. + +Often and often did Tom suffer under this severe method, and +rebel against it, and accuse his friend, both to his face and in +his own secret thoughts, of coldness, and want of faith, and all +manner of other sins of omission and commission. In the end, +however, he generally came round, with more or less of rebellion, +according to the severity of the treatment, and acknowledge that, +when Hardy brought him down from riding the high horse, it was +not without good reason, and that the dust in which he was rolled +was always most wholesome dust. + +For instance, there was no phrase more frequently in the mouths +of the party of progress than "the good cause." It was a fine +big-sounding phrase, which could be used with great effect in +perorations of speeches at the Union, and was sufficiently +indefinite to be easily defended from ordinary attacks, while it +saved him who used it the trouble of ascertaining accurately for +himself, or settling for his hearers, what it really did mean. +But, however satisfactory it might be before promiscuous +audiences, and so long as vehement assertion or declaration was +all that was required to uphold it, this same "good cause" was +liable to come to much grief when it had to get itself defined. +Hardy was particularly given to persecution on this subject, when +he could get Tom, and, perhaps, one or two others, in a quiet +room by themselves. While professing the utmost sympathy for "the +good cause," and a hope as strong as theirs that all its enemies +might find themselves suspended to lamp-posts as soon as +possible, he would pursue it into corners from which escape was +most difficult, asking it and its supporters what it exactly was, +and driving them from one cloud-land to another, and from "the +good cause" to the "people's cause," the "cause of labor," and +other like troublesome definitions, until the great idea seemed +to have no shape or existence any longer even in their own +brains. + +But Hardy's persecution, provoking as it was for the time, never +went to the undermining of any real conviction in the minds of +his juniors, or the shaking of anything which did not need +shaking, but only helped them to clear their ideas and brains as +to what they were talking and thinking about, and gave them +glimpses--soon clouded over again, but most useful, +nevertheless--of the truth; that there were a good many knotty +questions to be solved before a man could be quite sure that he +had found out the way to set the world thoroughly to rights, and +heal all the ills that flesh is heir to. + +Hardy treated another of his friend's most favorite notions even +with less respect than this one of "the good cause." Democracy, +that "universal democracy," which their favourite author had +recently declared to be "an inevitable fact of the days in which +we live", was, perhaps, on the whole, the pet idea of the small +section of liberal young Oxford, with whom Tom was now hand and +glove. They lost no opportunity of worshipping it, and doing +battle for it; and, indeed, most of them did very truly believe +that that state of the world which this universal democracy was +to bring about, and which was coming no man could say how soon, +was to be in fact that age of peace and good-will which men had +dreamt of in all times, when the lion should lie down with the +kid, and nation should not vex nation any more. + +After hearing something to this effect from Tom on several +occasions, Hardy cunningly lured him to his rooms on the pretence +of talking over the prospects of the boat club, and then, having +seated him by the fire, which he himself proceeded to assault +gently with the poker, propounded suddenly to him the question, + +"Brown, I should like to know what you mean by 'democracy'?" + +Tom at once saw the trap into which he had fallen, and made +several efforts to break away, but unsuccessfully; and, being +seated to a cup of tea, and allowed to smoke, was then and there +grievously oppressed, and mangled, and sat upon, by his oldest +and best friend. He took his ground carefully, and propounded +only what he felt sure that Hardy himself would at once +accept--what no man of any worth could possibly take exception +to. "He meant much more," he said, "than this; but for the +present purpose it would be enough for him to say that, whatever +else it might mean, democracy in his mouth always meant that +every man should have a share in the government of his country." + +Hardy, seeming to acquiesce, and making a sudden change in the +subject of their talk, decoyed his innocent guest away from the +thought of democracy for a few minutes, by holding up to him the +flag of hero-worship, in which worship Tom was, of course, a +sedulous believer. Then, having involved him in most difficult +country, his persecutor opened fire upon him from masked +batteries of the most deadly kind, the guns being all from the +armory of his own prophets. + +"You long for the rule of the ablest man, everywhere, at all +times? To find your ablest man, and then give him power, and obey +him--that you hold to be about the highest act of wisdom which a +nation can be capable of?" + +"Yes; and you know you believe that to, Hardy, just as firmly as +I do." + +"I hope so. But then, how about our universal democracy, and +every man having a share in the government of his country?" + +Tom felt that his flank was turned; in fact, the contrast of his +two beliefs had never struck him vividly before, and he was +consequently much confused. But Hardy went on tapping a big coal +gently with the poker, and gave him time to recover himself and +collect his thoughts. + +"I don't mean, of course, that every man is to have an actual +share in the government," he said at last. + +"But every man is somehow to have a share; and, if not an actual +one, I can't see what the proposition comes to." + +"I call it having a share in the government when a man has share +in saying who shall govern him." + +"Well, you'll own that's a very different thing. But let's see; +will that find our wisest governor for us--letting all the most +foolish men in the nation have a say as to who he is to be?" + +"Come now, Hardy, I've heard you say that you are for manhood +suffrage." + +"That's another question; you let in another idea there. At +present we are considering whether the _vox populi_ is the best +test for finding your best man. I'm afraid all history is against +you." + +"That's a good joke. Now, there I defy you, Hardy." + +"Begin at the beginning, then, and let us see." + +"I suppose you'll say, then, that the Egyptian and Babylonian +empires were better than the little Jewish republic." + +"Republic! well, let that pass. But I never heard that the Jews +elected Moses, or any of the judges." + +"Well, never mind the Jews; they're an exceptional case; you +can't argue from them." + +"I don't admit that. I believe just the contrary. But go on." + +"Well, then, what do you say to the glorious Greek republics, +with Athens at the head of them?" + +"I say that no nation ever treated their best men so badly. I see +I must put on a lecture in Aristophanes for your special benefit. +Vain, irritable, shallow, suspicious old Demus, with his two +oboli in his cheek, and doubting only between Cleon and the +sausage-seller, which he shall choose for his wisest man--not to +govern, but to serve his whims and caprices. You must call +another witness, I think." + +"But that's a caricature." + +"Take the picture, then, out of Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, how +you will--you won't mend the matter much. You shouldn't go so +fast, Brown; you won't mind my saying so, I know. You don't get +clear in your own mind before you pitch into everyone who comes +across you, and so do your own side (which I admit is mostly the +right one) more harm than good." + +Tom couldn't stand being put down so summarily, and fought over +the ground from one country to another, from Rome to the United +States, with all the arguments he could muster, but with little +success. That unfortunate first admission of his, he felt it +throughout, like a millstone round his neck, and could not help +admitting to himself, when he left, that there was a good deal in +Hardy's concluding remark,--"You'll find it rather a tough +business to get your 'universal democracy' and 'government by the +wisest' to pull together in one coach." + +Notwithstanding all such occasional reverses and cold baths, +however, Tom went on strengthening himself in his new opinions, +and maintaining them with all the zeal of a convert. The shelves +of his bookcase, and the walls of his room, soon began to show +signs of the change which was taking place in his ways of looking +at men and things. Hitherto a framed engraving of George III had +hung over his mantle-piece; but early in this, his third year, +the frame had disappeared for a few days, and when it reappeared, +the solemn face of John Milton looked out from it, while the +honest monarch had retired into a portfolio. A facsimile of Magna +Charta soon displaced a large colored print of "A Day With the +Pycheley", and soon afterwards the death warrant of Charles I. +with its grim and resolute rows of signatures and seals, appeared +on the wall in a place of honour, in the neighbourhood of Milton. + +Squire Brown was passing through Oxford, and paid his son a visit +soon after this last arrangement had been completed. He dined in +hall, at the high table, being still a member of the college, and +afterwards came with Hardy to Tom's rooms to have a quiet glass +of wine, and spend the evening with his son and a few of his +friends, who had been asked to meet "the governor." + +Tom had a struggle with himself whether he should not remove the +death-warrant into his bedroom for the evening, and had actually +taken if down with this view; but in the end he could not stomach +such a backsliding, and so restored it to its place. "I have +never concealed my opinions from my father," he thought, "though +I don't think he quite knows what they are. But if he doesn't, he +ought, and the sooner the better. I should be a sneak to try to +hide them. I know he won't like it, but he is always just and +fair, and will make allowances. At any rate, up it goes again." + +And so he re-hung the death-warrant, but with the devout secret +hope that his father might not see it. + +The wine-party went off admirably. The men were nice, +gentlemanly, intelligent fellows; and the Squire, who had been +carefully planted by Tom with his back to the death-warrant, +enjoyed himself very much. At last they all went, except Hardy; +and now the nervous time approached. For a short time longer the +three sat at the wine-table while the squire enlarged upon the +great improvement in young men, and the habits of the University, +especially in the matter of drinking. Tom had only opened three +bottles of port. In his time the men would have drunk certainly +not less than a bottle a man; and other like remarks he made, as +he sipped his coffee, and then, pushing back his chair, said, +"Well, Tom, hadn't your servant better clear away, and then we +can draw round the fire, and have a talk." + +"Wouldn't you like to take a turn while he is clearing? There's +the Martyr's Memorial you haven't seen." + +"No, thank you. I know the place well enough. I don't come to +walk about in the dark. We sha'n't be in your man's way." + +And so Tom's scout came in to clear away, took out the extra +leaves of the table, put on the cloth, and laid tea. During these +operations Mr. Brown was standing with his back to the fire, +looking about him as he talked. When there was more space to move +in, he began to walk up and down, and very soon took to remarking +the furniture and arrangements of the room. One after the other +the pictures came under his notice. Most of them escaped without +comment, the Squire simply pausing a moment, and then taking up +his walk again. Magna Charta drew forth his hearty approval. It +was a capital notion to hang such things on his walls, instead of +bad prints of steeple-chases, or trash of that sort. "Ah, here's +something else of the same kind. Why, Tom, what's this?" said the +squire, as he paused before the death-warrant. There was a moment +or two of dead silence, while the Squire's eyes ran down the +names, from Jo. Bradshaw to Miles Corbet; and then he turned, and +came and sat down opposite to his son. Tom expected his father to +be vexed, but was not the least prepared for the tone of pain, +and sorrow, and anger, in which he first inquired, and then +remonstrated. + +For some time past the Squire and his son had not felt so +comfortable together as of old. Mr. Brown had been annoyed by +much that Tom had done in the case of Harry Winburn, though he +did not know all. There had sprung up a barrier somehow or other +between them, neither of them knew how. They had often felt +embarrassed at being left alone together during the past year, +and found that there were certain topics which they could not +talk upon, which they avoided by mutual consent. Every now and +then the constraint and embarrassment fell off for a short time, +for at bottom they loved and appreciated one another heartily; +but the divergences in their thoughts and habits had become very +serious, and seemed likely to increase rather than not. They felt +keenly the chasm between the two generations. As they looked at +one another from opposite banks, each in his secret heart blamed +the other in great measure for that which was the fault of +neither. Mixed with the longings which each felt for a better +understanding was enough of reserve and indignation to prevent +them from coming to it. The discovery of their differences was +too recent, and they were too much alike in character and temper, +for either to make large enough allowance for, or to be really +tolerant of, the other. + +This was the first occasion on which they had come to outspoken +and serious difference; and though the collision had been +exceedingly painful to both, yet when they parted for the night, +it was with a feeling of relief that the ice had been thoroughly +broken. Before his father left the room, Tom had torn the +facsimile of the death-warrant out of its frame, and put it in +the fire, protesting, however, at the same time, that, though "he +did thist out of deference to his father, and was deeply grieved +at having given him pain, he could not and would not give up his +convictions, or pretend that they were changed, or even shaken." + +The Squire walked back to his hotel deeply moved. Who can wonder? +He was a man full of living and vehement convictions. One of his +early recollections had been the arrival in England of the news +of the beheading of Louis XVI, and the doings of the Reign of +Terror. He had been bred in the times when it was held impossible +for a gentleman or a Christian to hold such views as his son had +been maintaining, and, like many of the noblest Englishmen of his +time, had gone with and accepted the creed of the day. + +Tom remained behind, dejected and melancholy; now accusing his +father of injustice and bigotry, now longing to go after him, and +give up everything. What were all his opinions and convictions +compared with his father's confidence and love? At breakfast the +next morning, however, after each of them had had time for +thinking over what had passed, they met with a cordiality which +was as pleasant to each as it was unlooked for; and from this +visit of his father to him at Oxford, Tom dated a new and more +satisfactory epoch in their intercourse. + +The fact had begun to dawn on the Squire that the world had +changed a good deal since his time. He saw that young men were +much improved in some ways, and acknowledged the fact heartily; +on the other hand, they had taken up with a lot of new notions +which he could not understand, and thought mischievous and bad. +Perhaps Tom might get over them as he got to be older and wiser, +and in the meantime he must take the evil with the good. At any +rate he was too fair a man to try to dragoon his son out of +anything which he really believed. Tom on his part gratefully +accepted the change in his father's manner, and took all means of +showing his gratitude by consulting and talking freely to him on +such subjects as they could agree upon, which were numerous, +keeping in the back-ground the questions which had provoked +painful discussions between them. By degrees these even could be +tenderly approached; and, now that they were approached in a +different spirit, the honest beliefs of the father and son no +longer looked so monstrous to one another, the hard and sharp +outlines began to wear off, and the views of each of them to be +modified. Thus, bit by bit, by a slow but sure process, a better +understanding than ever was re-established between them. + +This beginning of a better state of things in his relations with +his father consoled Tom for many other matters that seemed to go +wrong with him, and was a constant bit of bright sky to turn to +when the rest of his horizon looked dark and dreary, as it did +often enough. + +For it proved a very trying year to him, this his third and last +year at the University; a year full of large dreams and small +performances, of unfulfilled hopes and struggles to set himself +right, ending ever more surely in failure and disappointment. The +common pursuits of the place had lost their freshness, and with +it much of their charm. He was beginning to feel himself in a +cage, and to beat against the bars of it. + +Often, in spite of all his natural hopefulness, his heart seemed +to sicken and turn cold, without any apparent reason; his old +pursuits palled on him, and he scarcely cared to turn to new +ones. What was it that made life so blank to him at these times? +How was it that he could not keep the spirit within him alive and +warm? + +It was easier to ask such questions than to get an answer. Was it +not this place he was living in and the ways of it? No, for the +place and its ways were the same as ever, and his own way of life +in it better than ever before. Was it the want of sight or +tidings of Mary? Sometimes he thought so, and then cast the +thought away as treason. His love for her was ever sinking deeper +into him, and raising and purifying him. Light and strength and +life came from that source; craven weariness and coldness of +heart, come from whence they might, were not from that quarter. +But precious as his love was to him, and deeply as it affected +his whole life, he felt that there must be something beyond +it--that its full satisfaction would not be enough for him. The +bed was too narrow for a man to stretch himself on. What he was +in search of must underlie and embrace his human love, and +support it. Beyond and above all private and personal desires and +hopes and longings, he was conscious of a restless craving and +feeling about after something, which he could not grasp, and yet +which was not avoiding him, which seemed to be mysteriously +laying hold of him and surrounding him. + +The routine of chapels, and lectures, and reading for degree, +boating, cricketing, Union-debating,--all well enough in their +way--left this vacuum unfilled. There was a great outer visible +world, the problems and puzzles of which were rising before him +and haunting him more and more; and a great inner and invisible +world opening round him in awful depth. He seemed to be standing +on the brink of each--now shivering and helpless, feeling like an +atom about to be whirled into the great flood and carried he knew +not where--now ready to plunge in and take his part, full of hope +and belief that he was meant to buffet in the strength of a man +with the seen and the unseen, and to be subdued by neither. + +In such a year as this, a bit of steady, bright blue sky was a +boon beyond all price, and so he felt it to be. And it was not +only with his father that Tom regained lost ground in this year. +He was in a state of mind in which he could not bear to neglect +or lose any particle of human sympathy, and so he turned to old +friendships, and revived the correspondence with several of his +old school-fellows, and particularly with Arthur, to the great +delight of the latter, who had mourned bitterly over the few +half-yearly lines, all he had got from Tom of late, in answer to +his own letters, which had themselves, under the weight of +neglect, gradually dwindled down to mere formal matters. A +specimen of the later correspondence may fitly close the +chapter:-- + +ST. AMBROSE + +"Dear Geordie--I can hardly pardon you for having gone to +Cambridge, though you have got a Trinity scholarship--which I +suppose is, on the whole, quite as good a thing as anything of +the sort you could have got up here. I had so looked forward to +having you here though, and now I feel that we shall probably +scarcely ever meet. You will go your way and I mine; and one +alters so quickly, and gets into such strange new grooves, that +unless one sees a man about once a week at least, you may be just +like strangers when you are thrown together again. If you had +come up here it would have been all right, and we should have +gone all through life as we were when I left school, and as I +know we should be again in no time if you had come here. But now, +who can tell? + +"What makes me think so much of this is a visit of a few days +that East paid me just before his regiment went to India. I feel +that if he hadn't done it, and we had not met till he came +back--years hence perhaps--we should never have been to one +another what we shall be now. The break would have been too +great. Now it's all right. You would have liked to see the old +fellow grown into a man, but not a bit altered--just the quiet, +old way, pooh-poohing you, and pretending to care for nothing, +but ready to cut the nose off his face, or go through fire and +water for you at a pinch, if you'll only let him go his own way +about it, and have his grumble, and say that he does it all from +the worst possible motives. + +"But we must try not to lose hold of one another, Geordie. It +would be a bitter day to me if I thought anything of the kind +could ever happen again. We must write more to one another. I've +been awfully lazy, I know, about it for this last year and more; +but then I always thought you would be coming up here, and so +that it didn't matter much. But now I will turn over a new leaf, +and write to you about my secret thoughts, my works and ways; and +you must do it too. If we can only tide over the next year or two +we shall get into plain sailing, and I suppose it will all right +then. At least, I can't believe that one is likely to have many +such up-and-down years in one's life as the last two. If one is, +goodness knows where I shall end. You know the outline of what +has happened to me from my letters, and the talks we have had in +my flying visits to the old school, but you haven't a notion of +the troubles of mind I've been in, and the changes I've gone +through. I can hardly believe it myself when I look back. However +I'm quite sure I have _got on_; that's my great comfort. It is a +strange blind sort of world, that's a fact, with lots of blind +alleys, down which you go blundering in the fog after some seedy +gaslight, which you take for the sun till you run against the +wall at the end, and find out that the light is a gaslight, and +that there's no thoroughfare. But for all that one does get on. +You get to know the sun's light better and better, and to keep +out of the blind alleys; and I am surer and surer every day, that +there's always sunlight enough for every honest fellow--though I +didn't think so a few months back--and a good sound road under +his feet, if he will only step out on it. + +"Talking of blind alleys puts me in mind of your last. Aren't you +going down a blind alley, or something worse? There's no wall to +bring you up, that I can see down the turn you've taken; and +then, what's the practical use of it all? What good would you do +to yourself, or anyone else, if you could get to the end of it? I +can't for the life of me fancy, I confess, what you think will +come of speculating about necessity and free will. I only know +that I can hold out my hand before me, and can move it to the +right or left, despite of all the powers in heaven or earth. As I +sit here writing to you, I can let into my heart, and give the +reins to, all sorts of devil's passions, or to the Spirit of God. +Well, that's enough for me. I _know_ it of myself, and I believe +you know it of yourself, and everybody knows it of themselves or +himself; and why you can't be satisfied with that, passes my +comprehension. As if one hasn't got puzzles enough, and bothers +enough, under one's nose, without going a-field after a lot of +metaphysical quibbles. No, I'm wrong,--not going +a-field,--anything one has to go a-field for is all right. What a +fellow meets outside himself he isn't responsible for, and must +do the best he can with. But to go on for ever looking inside of +one's self, and groping about amongst one's own sensations, and +ideas, and whimsies of one kind and another, I can't conceive a +poorer line of business than that. Don't you get into it now, +that's a dear boy. + +"Very likely you'll tell me you can't help it; that every one has +his own difficulties, and must fight them out, and that mine are +one sort, and yours another. Well, perhaps you may be right. I +hope I'm getting to know that my plummet isn't to measure all the +world. But it does seem a pity that men shouldn't be thinking +about how to cure some of the wrongs which poor dear old England +is pretty near dying of, instead of taking the edge off their +brains, and spending all their steam in speculating about all +kinds of things, which wouldn't make any poor man in the +world--or rich one either, for that matter--a bit better off, if +they were all found out, and settled to-morrow. But here I am at +the end of my paper. Don't be angry at my jobation; but write me +a long answer of your own free will, and believe me ever +affectionately yours, + +"T. B." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII--AFTERNOON VISITORS + +Miss Mary Porter was sitting alone in the front drawing-room of +her father's house, in Belgravia, on the afternoon of a summer's +day in this same year. Two years and more have passed over her +head since we first met her, and she may be a thought more sedate +and better dressed, but there is no other change to be noticed in +her. + +The room was for the most part much like other rooms in that +quarter of the world. There were few luxuries in the way of +furniture which fallen man can desire which were not to be found +there, but over and above this, there was an elegance in the +arrangement of all the nick-nacks and ornaments, and an +appropriateness and good taste in the placing of every piece of +furniture and vase of flowers, which showed that a higher order +of mind than the upholsterer's or housemaid's was constantly +overlooking and working there. Everything seemed to be in its +exact place, in the best place which could have been thought of +for it, and to be the best thing which could have been thought of +for the place. And yet this perfection did not strike you +particularly at first, or surprise you in any way, but sank into +you gradually, so that, until you forced yourself to consider the +matter, you could not in the least say why the room had such a +very pleasant effect on you. + +The young lady to whom this charm was chiefly owing was sitting +by a buhl work-table, on which lay her embroidery and a book. She +was reading a letter, which seemed deeply to interest her; for +she did not hear the voice of the butler, who had just opened the +door and disturbed her solitude, until he had repeated for the +second time, "Mr. Smith." Then Mary jumped up, and, hastily +folding her letter, put it into her pocket. She was rather +provoked at having allowed herself to be caught there alone by +afternoon visitors, and with the servants for having let anyone +in; nevertheless, she welcomed Mr. Smith with a cordiality of +manner which perhaps rather more than represented her real +feelings, and, with a "let mamma know," to the butler, set to +work to entertain her visitor. She would have had no difficulty +in doing this under ordinary circumstances, as all that Mr. Smith +wanted was a good listener. He was a somewhat heavy and garrulous +old gentleman, with many imaginary, and a few real troubles, the +constant contemplation of which served to occupy the whole of his +own time, and as much of his friends' as he could get them to +give him. But scarcely had he settled himself comfortably in an +easy chair opposite to his victim, when the butler entered again, +and announced, "Mr. St. Cloud." + +Mary was now no longer at her ease. Her manner of receiving her +new visitor was constrained; and yet it was clear that he was on +easy terms in the house. She asked the butler where his mistress +was, and heard with vexation that she had gone out, but was +expected home almost immediately. Charging him to let her mother +know the moment she returned, Mary turned to her unwelcome task, +and sat herself down again with such resignation as she was +capable of at the moment. The conduct of her visitors was by no +means calculated to restore her composure, or make her +comfortable between them. She was sure that they knew one +another; but neither of then would speak to the other. There the +two sat on, each resolutely bent on tiring the other out; the +elder crooning on to her in an undertone, and ignoring the +younger, who in his turn put on an air of serene unconsciousness +of the presence of his senior, and gazed about the room, and +watched Mary, making occasional remarks to her as if no one else +were present. On and on they sat, her only comfort being the hope +that neither of them would have the conscience to stay on after +the departure of the other. + +Between them Mary was driven to her wits' end, and looked for her +mother or for some new visitor to come to her help, as Wellington +looked for the Prussians on the afternoon of June 18th. At length +youth and insolence prevailed, and Mr. Smith rose to go. Mary got +up too, and after his departure remained standing, in hopes that +her other visitor would take the hint and follow the good +example. But St. Cloud had not the least intention of moving. + +"Really, your good-nature is quite astonishing, Miss Porter," he +said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and following +the pattern of one of the flowers on the carpet with his cane, +which gave him the opportunity of showing his delicately gloved +hand to advantage. + +"Indeed, why do you think so?" she asked, taking up her +embroidery and pretending to begin working. + +"Have I not good reason, after sitting this half-hour and seeing +you enduring old Smith--the greatest bore in London? I don't +believe there are three houses where the servants dare let him +in. It would be as much as their places are worth. No porter +could hope for a character who let him in twice in the season." + +"Poor Mr. Smith," said Mary, smiling. "But you know we have no +porter, and," she suddenly checked herself, and added gravely, +"he is an old friend, and papa and mamma like him." + +"But the wearisomeness of his grievances! Those three sons in the +Plungers, and their eternal scrapes! How you could manage to keep +a civil face! It was a masterpiece of polite patience." + +"Indeed, I am very sorry for his troubles. I wonder where mamma +can be? We are going to drive. Shall you be in the Park? I think +it must be time for me to dress." + +"I hope not. It is so seldom that I see you except in crowded +rooms. Can you wonder that I should value such a chance as this?" + +"Were you at the new opera last night?" asked Mary, carefully +avoiding his eye, and sticking to her work, but scarcely able to +conceal her nervousness and discomfort. + +"Yes, I was there; but--" + +"Oh, do tell me about it, then; I hear it was a great success." + +"Another time. We can talk of the opera anywhere. Let me speak +now of something else. You must have seen, Miss Porter,--" + +"How can you think I will talk of anything till you have told me +about the opera?" interrupted Mary rapidly and nervously. "Was +Grisi very fine? The chief part was composed for her, was it not? +and dear old Lablache--" + +"I will tell you all about it presently, if you will let me, in +five minutes' time--I only ask for five minutes--" + +"Five minutes! Oh, no, not five seconds. I must hear about the +new opera before I will listen to a word of anything else." + +"Indeed, Miss Porter, you must pardon me for disobeying. But I +may not have such a chance as this again for months." + +With which prelude he drew his chair towards hers and Mary was +just trying to make up her mind to jump up and run right out of +the room, when the door opened, and the butler walked in with a +card on a waiter. Mary had never felt so relieved in her life, +and could have hugged the solemn old domestic when he said, +presenting the card to her, + +"The gentleman asked if Mrs. or you were in, Miss, and told me to +bring it up, and find whether you would see him on particular +business. He's waiting in the hall." + +"Oh, yes, I know. Of course. Yes, say I will see him directly. I +mean, ask him to come up now." + +"Shall I show him into the library, Miss?" + +"No, no; in here; do you understand?" + +"Yes, Miss," replied the butter, with a deprecatory look at St. +Cloud, as much as to say, "You see, I can't help it," in answer +to his impatient telegraphic signals. St. Cloud had been very +liberal to the Porters' servants. + +Mary's confidence had all come back. Relief was at hand. She +could trust herself to hold St. Cloud at bay now, as it could not +be for more than a few minutes. When she turned to him the +nervousness had quite gone out of her manner, and she spoke in +her old tone again, as she laid her embroidery aside. + +"How lucky that you should be here! Look; I think you must be +acquainted," she said, holding out the card which the butler had +given her to St. Cloud. + +He took it mechanically, and looked at it, and then crushed it in +his hand, and was going to speak. She prevented him. + +"I was right, I'm sure. You do know him?" + +"I didn't see the name," he said almost fiercely. + +"The name on the card which I gave you just now?--Mr. Grey. He is +curate in one of the poor Westminster districts. You must +remember him, for he was of your college. He was at Oxford with +you. I made his acquaintance at the Commemoration. He will be so +glad to meet an old friend." + +St. Cloud was too much provoked to answer; and the next moment +the door opened, and the butler announced Mr. Grey. + +Grey came into the room timidly, carrying his head a little down +as usual, and glancing uncomfortably about in a manner which used +to make Drysdale say that he always looked as though he had just +been robbing a hen-roost. Mary went forward to meet him, holding +out her hand cordially. + +"I am so glad to see you," she said. "How kind of you to call +when you are so busy! Mamma will be here directly. I think you +must remember Mr. St. Cloud--Mr. Grey." + +St. Cloud's patience was now quite gone. He drew himself up, +making the slightest possible inclination towards Grey, and then, +without taking any further notice of him, turned to Mary with a +look which he meant to be full of pitying admiration for her, and +contempt of her visitor; but, as she would not look at him, it +was thrown away. So he made his bow and stalked out of the room, +angrily debating with himself, as he went down the stairs, +whether she could have understood him. He was so fully convinced +of the sacrifice which a man in his position was making in paying +serious attention to a girl with little fortune and no connexion, +that he soon consoled himself in the belief that her +embarrassment only arose from shyness, and that the moment he +could explain himself she would be his obedient and grateful +servant. Meantime Mary sat down opposite to the curate, and +listened to him as he unfolded his errand awkwardly enough. An +execution was threatened in the house of a poor struggling widow, +whom Mrs. Porter had employed to do needlework occasionally, and +who was behind with her rent through sickness. He was afraid that +her things would be taken and sold in the morning, unless she +could borrow two sovereigns. He had so many claims on him, that +he could not lend her the money himself, and so had come out to +see what he could do amongst those who knew her. + +By the time Grey had arrived at the end of his story, Mary had +made up her mind--not without a little struggle--to sacrifice the +greater part of what was left of her quarter's allowance. After +all, it would only be wearing cleaned gloves instead of new ones, +and giving up her new riding-hat till next quarter. So she jumped +up, and said gaily, "Is that all, Mr. Grey? I have the money, and +I will lend it her with pleasure. I will fetch it directly." + +She tripped off to her room, and soon came back with the money; +and just then the butler came in with tea, and Mary asked Mr. +Grey to take some. He looked tired, she said, and if he would +wait a little time, he would see her mother, who would be sure to +do something more for the poor woman. + +Grey had risen to leave, and was standing, hat in hand, ready to +go. He was in the habit of reckoning with himself strictly for +every minute of his day, and was never quite satisfied with +himself unless he was doing the most disagreeable thing which +circumstances for the time being allowed him to do. But greater +and stronger men than Grey, from Adam downwards, have yielded to +the temptation before which he now succumbed. He looked out of +the corners of his eyes; and there was something so fresh and +bright in the picture of the dainty little tea-service and the +young lady behind it, the tea which she was beginning to pour out +smelt so refreshing, and her hand and figure looked so pretty in +the operation, that, with a sigh of departing resolution, he gave +in, put his hat on the floor, and sat down opposite to the +tempter. + +Grey took a cup of tea, and then another. He thought he had never +tasted anything so good. The delicious rich cream, and the +tempting plate of bread and butter were too much for him. He +fairly gave way, and resigned himself to physical enjoyment, and +sipped his tea, and looked over his cup at Mary, sitting there +bright and kind and ready to go on pouring out for him to any +extent. It seemed to him as if an atmosphere of light and joy +surrounded her, within the circle of which he was sitting and +absorbing. Tea was the only stimulant that Grey ever took, and he +had more need of it than usual, for he had given away the chop, +which was his ordinary dinner, to a starving woman. He was faint +with fasting and the bad air of the hovels in which he had been +spending his morning. The elegance of the room, the smell of the +flowers, the charm of companionship with a young woman of his own +rank, and the contrast of the whole to his common way of life, +carried him away, and hopes and thoughts began to creep into his +head to which he had long been a stranger. Mary did her very best +to make his visit pleasant to him. She had a great respect for +the self-denying life which she knew he was leading; and the +nervousness and shyness of his manners were of a kind, which, +instead of infecting her, gave her confidence, and made her feel +quite at her ease with him. She was so grateful to him for having +delivered her out of her recent embarrassment, that she was more +than usually kind in her manner. + +She saw how he was enjoying himself; and thought what good it +must do him to forget his usual occupations for a short time. So +she talked positive gossip to him, risked his opinion on riding +habits, and very soon was telling him the plot of a new novel +which she had just been reading, with an animation and +playfulness which would have warmed the heart of an anchorite. +For a short quarter of an hour Grey resigned himself; but at the +end of that time he became suddenly and painfully conscious of +what he was doing, and stopped himself short in the middle of an +altogether worldly compliment, which he detected himself in the +act of paying to his too fascinating young hostess. He felt that +retreat was his only chance, and so grasped his hat again, and +rose with a deep sigh, and a sudden change of manner which +alarmed Mary. + +"I hope you are not ill, Mr. Grey?" she said, anxiously. + +"No, not the least, thank you. But--but--in short, I must go to +my work. I ought to apologize, indeed, for having stayed so +long." + +"Oh, you have not been here more than twenty minutes. Pray stay, +and see mamma; she must be in directly." + +"Thank you; you are very kind. I should like it very much, but +indeed I cannot." + +Mary felt that it would be no kindness to press it further, and +so rose herself, and held out her hand. Grey took it, and it is +not quite certain to this day whether he did not press it in that +farewell shake more than was absolutely necessary. If he did, we +may be quite sure that he administered exemplary punishment to +himself afterwards for so doing. He would gladly have left now, +but his over-sensitive conscience forbade it. He had forgotten +his office, he thought, hitherto, but there was time yet not to +be altogether false to it. So he looked grave and shy again, and +said, + +"You will not be offended with me, Miss Porter, if I speak to you +as a clergyman?" + +Mary was a little disconcerted, but answered almost +immediately,-- + +"Oh, no. Pray say anything which you think you ought to say." + +"I am afraid there must be a great temptation in living always in +beautiful rooms like this, with no one but prosperous people. Do +you not think so?" + +"But one cannot help it. Surely, Mr. Grey, you do not think it +can be wrong?" + +"No, not wrong. But it must be very trying. It must be very +necessary to do something to lessen the temptation of such a +life." + +"I do not understand you. What could one do?" + +"Might you not take up some work which would not be pleasant, +such as visiting the poor?" + +"I should be very glad; but we do not know any poor people in +London." + +"There are very miserable districts near here." + +"Yes, and papa and mamma are very kind, I know, in helping +whenever they can hear of a proper case. But it is so different +from the country. There it is so easy and pleasant to go into the +cottages where everyone knows you, and most of the people work +for papa, and one is sure of being welcomed, and that nobody will +be rude. But here I should be afraid. It would seem so +impertinent to go to people's houses of whom one knows nothing. I +should never know what to say." + +"It is not easy or pleasant duty which is the best for us. Great +cities could never be evangelized, Miss Porter, if all ladies +thought as you do." + +"I think, Mr. Grey," said Mary, rather nettled, "that everyone +has not the gift of lecturing the poor, and setting them right; +and, if they have not, they had better not try to do it. And as +for the rest, there is plenty of the same kind of work to be +done, I believe, amongst the people of one's own class." + +"You are joking, Miss Porter." + +"No, I am not joking at all. I believe that rich people are quite +as unhappy as poor. Their troubles are not the same, of course, +and are generally of their own making. But troubles of the mind +are worse, surely, than troubles of the body?" + +"Certainly; and it is the highest work of the ministry to deal +with spiritual trials. But you will pardon me for saying that I +cannot think this is the proper work for--for--" + +"For me, you would say. We must be speaking of quite different +things, I am sure. I only mean that I can listen to the troubles +and grievances of anyone who likes to talk of them to me, and try +to comfort them a little, and to make things look brighter, and +to keep cheerful. It is not easy always even to do this." + +"It is not, indeed. But would it not be easier if you could do as +I suggest? Going out of one's own class, and trying to care for +and help the poor, braces the mind more than anything else." + +"You ought to know my cousin Katie," said Mary, glad to make a +diversion; "that is just what she would say. Indeed, I think you +must have seen her at Oxford; did you not?" + +"I believe I had the honor of meeting her at the rooms of a +friend. I think he said she was also a cousin of his." + +"Mr. Brown, you mean? Yes; did you know him?" + +"Oh, yes. You will think it strange, as we are so very unlike; +but I knew him better than I knew almost any one." + +"Poor Katie is very anxious about him. I hope you thought well of +him. You do not think he is likely to go very wrong?" + +"No, indeed. I could wish he were sounder on Church questions, +but that may come. Do you know that he is in London?" + +"I had heard so." + +"He has been several times to my schools. He used to help me at +Oxford, and has a capital way with the boys." + +At this moment the clock on the mantel-piece struck a quarter. +The sound touched some chord in Grey which made him grasp his hat +again, and prepare for another attempt to get away. + +"I hope you will pardon--" He pulled himself up short, in the +fear lest he were going again to be false (as he deemed it) to +his calling, and stood the picture of nervous discomfort. + +Mary came to his relief. "I am sorry you must go, Mr. Grey," she +said; "I should have so liked to have talked to you more about +Oxford. You will call again soon, I hope?" + +At which last speech Grey, casting an imploring glance at her, +muttered something which she could not catch, and fled from the +room. + +Mary stood looking dreamily out of the window for a few minutes, +till the entrance of her mother roused her, and she turned to +pour out a cup of tea for her. + +"It is cold, mamma dear; do let me make some fresh." + +"No, thank you, dear; this will do very well," said Mrs. Porter; +and she took off her bonnet and sipped the cold tea. Mary watched +her silently for a minute, and then, taking the letter she had +been reading out of her pocket, said, "I have a letter from +Katie, mamma." + +Mrs. Porter took the letter and read it; and, as Mary still +watched, she saw a puzzled look coming over her mother's face. +Mrs. Porter finished the letter, and then looked stealthily at +Mary, who on her side was now busily engaged in putting up the +tea-things. + +"It is very embarrassing," said Mrs. Porter. + +"What, mamma?" + +"Oh, of course, my dear, I mean Katie's telling us of her +cousin's being in London, and sending us his address--" and then +she paused. + +"Why, mamma?" + +"Your papa will have to make up his mind whether he will ask him +to the house. Katie would surely never have told him that she has +written." + +"Mr. and Mrs. Brown were so very kind. It would seem so strange, +so ungrateful, not to ask him." + +"I am afraid he is not the sort of young man--in short, I must +speak to your papa." + +Mrs. Porter looked hard at her daughter, who was still busied +with the tea-things. She had risen, bonnet in hand, to leave the +room; but now changed her mind, and, crossing to her daughter, +put her arm round her neck. Mary looked up steadily into her +eyes, then blushed slightly, and said quietly, + +"No, mamma; indeed, it is not as you think." + +Her mother stooped and kissed her, and left the room, telling her +to get dressed, as the carriage would be round in a few minutes. + +Her trials for the day were not over. She could see by their +manner at dinner that her father and mother had been talking +about her. Her father took her to a ball in the evening, where +they met St. Cloud, who fastened himself to them. She was dancing +a quadrille, and her father stood near her, talking +confidentially to St. Cloud. In the intervals of the dance, +scraps of their conversation reached her. + +"You knew him, then, at Oxford?" + +"Yes, very slightly." + +"I should like to ask you now, as a friend--" Here Mary's partner +reminded her that she ought to be dancing. When she had returned +to her place again she heard-- + +"You think, then, that it was a bad business?" + +"It was notorious in the college. We never had any doubt on the +subject." + +"My niece has told Mrs. Porter that there really was nothing +wrong in it." + +"Indeed? I am happy to hear it." + +"I should like to think well of him, as he is a connexion of my +wife. In other respects now--" + +Here again she was carried away by the dance. When she returned, +she caught the end of a sentence of St. Cloud's, "You will +consider what I have said in confidence?" + +"Certainly," answered Mr. Porter; "and I am exceedingly obliged +to you." And then the dance was over, and Mary returned to her +father's side. She had never enjoyed a ball less than this, and +persuaded her father to leave early, which he was delighted to +do. + +When she reached her own room, Mary took off her wreath and +ornaments, and then sat down and fell into a brown study, which +lasted for some time. At last she roused herself with a sigh, and +thought she had never had so tiring a day, though she could +hardly tell why, and felt half inclined to have a good cry, if +she could only have made up her mind what about. However, being a +sensible young woman, she resisted the temptation, and hardly +taking the trouble to roll up her hair, went to bed and slept +soundly. + +Mr. Porter found his wife sitting up for him; they were evidently +both full of the same subject. + +"Well, dear?" she said, as he entered the room. + +Mr. Porter put down his candle, and shook his head. + +"You don't think Katie can be right then? She must have capital +opportunities of judging, you know, dear." + +"But she is no judge. What can a girl like Katie know about such +things?" + +"Well, dear, do you know I really cannot think there was anything +very wrong, though I did think so at first, I own." + +"But I find that his character was bad--decidedly bad--always. +Young St. Cloud didn't like to say much to me, which was natural, +of course. Young men never like to betray one another; but I +could see what he thought. He is a right-minded young man and +very agreeable." + +"I do not take to him very much." + +"His connexions and prospects, too, are capital. I sometimes +think he has a fancy for Mary. Haven't you remarked it?" + +"Yes, dear. But as to the other matter? Shall you ask him here?" + +"Well, dear, I do not think there is any need. He is only in +town, I suppose, for a short time, and it is not at all likely +that we should know where he is, you see." + +"But if he should call?" + +"Of course then we must be civil. We can consider then what is to +be done." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV--THE INTERCEPTED LETTER-BAG + +"Dear Katie;--At home, you see, without having answered your last +kind letter of counsel and sympathy. But I couldn't write in +town, I was in such a queer state all the time. I enjoyed +nothing, not even the match at Lord's, or the race; only walking +at night in the square, and watching her window, and seeing her +at a distance in Rotten Row." + +"I followed your advice at last, though it went against the grain +uncommonly. It did seem so unlike what I had a right to expect +from them--after all the kindness my father and mother had shown +them when they came into our neighborhood, and after I had been +so intimate there, running in and out just like a son of their +own--that they shouldn't take the slightest notice of me all the +time I was in London. I shouldn't have wondered if you hadn't +explained; but after that, and after you had told them my +direction, and when they knew that I was within five minutes' +walk of their house constantly (for they knew all about Grey's +schools, and that I was there three or four times a week), I do +think it was too bad. However, as I was going to tell you, I went +at last, for I couldn't leave town without trying to see her; and +I believe I have finished it all off. I don't know. I'm very low +about it, at any rate, and want to tell you all that passed, and +to hear what you think. I have no one to consult but you, Katie. +What should I do without you? But you were born to help and +comfort all the world. I shan't rest till I know what you think +about this last crisis in my history." + +"I put off going till my last day in town, and then called twice. +The first time, 'not at home.' But I was determined now to see +somebody and make out something; so I left my card, and a message +that, as I was leaving town next day, I would call again. When I +called again at 6 o'clock, I was shown into the library, and +presently your uncle came in. I felt very uncomfortable, and I +think he did too; but he shook hands cordially enough, asked why +I had not called before, and said he was sorry to hear I was +going out of town so soon. Do you believe he meant it? I didn't. +But it put me out, because it made it look as if it had been my +fault that I hadn't been there before. I said I didn't know that +he would have liked me to call, but I felt that he had got the +best of the start." + +"Then he asked after all at home, and talked of his boys, and how +they were getting on at school. By this time I had got my head +again; so I went back to my calling, and said that I had felt +that I could never come to their house as a common acquaintance, +and, as I did not know whether they would ever let me come in any +other capacity, I had kept away till now." + +"Your uncle didn't like it, I know; for he got up and walked +about, and then said he didn't understand me. Well, I was quite +reckless by this time. It was my last chance, I felt; so I looked +hard into my hat, and said that I had been over head and ears in +love with Mary for two years. Of course there was no getting out +of the business after that. I kept on staring into my hat; so I +don't know how he took it; but the first thing he said was that +he had had some suspicions of this, and now my confession gave +him a right to ask me several questions. In the first place, had +I ever spoken to her? No; never directly. What did I mean by +directly? I meant that I had never either spoken or written to +her on the subject--in fact, I hadn't seen her except at a +distance for the last two years--but I could not say that she +might not have found it out from my manner. Had I ever told +anyone else? No. And this was quite true, Katie, for both you and +Hardy found it out." + +"He took a good many turns before speaking again. Then he said I +had acted as a gentleman hitherto and he should be very plain +with me. Of course I must see that, looking at my prospects and +his daughter's, it could not be an engagement which he could look +on with much favor from a worldly point of view. Nevertheless, he +had the highest respect and regard for my family, so that, if in +some years' time I was in a position to marry, he should not +object on this score; but there were other matters which were in +his eyes of more importance. He had heard (who could have told +him?) that I had taken up very violent opinions--opinions which, +to say nothing more of them, would very much damage my prospects +of success in life; and that I was in the habit of associating +with the advocates of such opinions--persons who, he must say, +were not fit companions for a gentleman--and of writing violent +articles in low revolutionary newspapers, such as the _Wessex +Freeman_. Yes, I confessed I had written. Would I give up these +things? I had a great mind to say flat, no, and I believe I ought +to have; but as his tone was kind, I couldn't help trying to meet +him. So I said I would give up writing or speaking publicly about +such matters, but I couldn't pretend not to believe what I did +believe. Perhaps, as my opinions had altered so much already, +very likely they might again." + +"He seemed to be rather amused at that, and said he sincerely +hoped they might. But now came the most serious point; he had +heard very bad stories of me at Oxford, but he would not press me +with them. There were too few young men whose lives would bear +looking into for him to insist much on such matters, and he was +ready to let bygones be bygones. But I must remember that he had +himself seen me in one very awkward position. I broke in, and +said I had hoped that had been explained to him. I could not +defend my Oxford life; or could not defend myself as to this +particular case at one time; but there had been nothing in it +that I was ashamed of since before the time I knew his daughter." + +"On my honour, had I absolutely and entirely broken off all +relations with her? He had been told that I still kept up a +correspondence with her." + +"Yes, I still wrote to her, and saw her occasionally; but it was +only to give her news of a young man from her village, who was +now serving in India. He had no other way of communicating with +her." + +"It was a most curious arrangement; did I mean that this young +man was going to be married to her?" + +"I hoped so." + +"Why should he not write to her at once, if they were engaged to +be married?" + +"They were not exactly engaged; it was rather hard to explain. +Here your uncle seemed to lose patience, for he interrupted me +and said, 'Really, it must be clear to me, as a reasonable man, +that, if this connexion were not absolutely broken off, there +must be an end of everything, so far as his daughter was +concerned. Would I give my word of honor to break it off at once, +and completely?' I tried to explain again; but he would have +nothing but 'yes' or 'no.' Dear Katie, what could I do? I have +written to Patty that, till I die, she may always reckon on me as +on a brother; and I promised Harry never to lose sight of her, +and to let her know everything that happens to him. Your uncle +would not hear me; so I said, "No." And he said, 'Then our +interview had better end,' and rang the bell. Somebody, I'm sure, +has been slandering me to him; who can it be?" + +"I didn't say another word, or offer to shake hands, but got up +and walked out of the room, as it was no good waiting for the +servant to come. When I got into the hall the front door was +open, and I heard her voice. I stopped dead short. She was saying +something to some people who had been out riding with her. The +next moment the door shut, and she tripped in in her +riding-habit, and grey gloves, and hat, with the dearest little +grey plume in it. She went humming along, and up six or eight +steps, without seeing me. Then I moved a step, and she stopped +and looked and gave a start. I don't know whether my face was +awfully miserable, but, when our eyes met, her's seemed to fill +with pity and uneasiness, and inquiry, and the bright look to +melt away altogether; and then she blushed and ran down stairs +again, and held out her hand, saying, 'I am so glad to see you, +after all this long time.' I pressed it, but I don't think I said +anything. I forget; the butler came into the hall, and stood by +the door. She paused another moment, looked confused, and then, +as the library door opened, went away up stairs, with a kind +'good-bye.' She dropped a little bunch of violets, which she had +worn in the breast of her habit, as she went away. I went and +picked them up, although your uncle had now come out of the +library, and then made the best of my way into the street." + +"There, Katie, I have told you everything, exactly as it +happened. Do write to me, dear, and tell me, now, what you think. +Is it all over? What can I do? Can you do anything for me? I feel +it is better in one respect. Her father can never say now that I +didn't tell him all about it. But what is to happen? I am so +restless. I can settle to nothing, and do nothing, but fish. I +moon away all my time by the water-side, dreaming. But I don't +mean to let it beat me much longer. Here's the fourth day since I +saw her. I came away the next morning. I shall give myself a +week; and, dear, do write me a long letter at once, and interpret +it all to me. A woman knows so wonderfully what things mean. But +don't make it out better than you really think. Nobody can stop +my going on loving her, that's a comfort; and while I can do +that, and don't know she loves anybody else, I ought to be +happier than any other man in the world. Yes, I ought to be, but +I ain't. I will be, though; see if I won't. Heigho! Do write +directly, my dear counsellor, to your affectionate cousin. T.B. + +"P. S.--I had almost forgotten my usual budget. I enclose my last +from India. You will see by it that Harry is getting on famously. +I am more glad than I can tell you that my friend East has taken +him as his servant. He couldn't be under a better master. Poor +Harry! I sometimes think his case is more hopeless than my own. +How is it to come right? or mine?" + +ENGLEBOURN + +"DEAR COUSIN,--You will believe how I devoured your letter; +though, when I had read the first few lines and saw what was +coming, it made me stop and tremble. At first I could have cried +over it for vexation; but, now I have thought about it a little, +I really do not see any reason to be discouraged. At any rate, +Uncle Robert now knows all about it, and will get used to the +idea, and Mary seems to have received you just as you ought to +have wished that she should. I am thankful that you have left off +pressing me to write to her about you, for I am sure that would +not be honorable; and, to reward you, I enclose a letter of hers, +which came yesterday. You will see that she speaks with such +pleasure of having just caught a glimpse of you that you need not +regret the shortness of the interview. You could not expect her +to say more, because, after all, she can only guess; and I cannot +do more than answer as if I were quite innocent too. I am sure +you will be very thankful to me some day for not having been your +mouthpiece, as I was so very near being. You need not return the +letter. I suppose I am getting more hopeful as I grow +older--indeed, I am sure I am; for three or four years ago I +should have been in despair about you, and now I am nearly sure +that all will come right." + +"But, indeed, cousin Tom, you cannot, or ought not to wonder at +Uncle Robert's objecting to your opinions. And then I am so +surprised to find you saying that you think you may very likely +change them. Because, if that is the case, it would be so much +better if you would not write and talk about them. Unless you are +quite convinced of such things as you write in that dreadful +paper, you really ought not to go on writing them so very much as +if you believed them." + +"And now I am speaking to you about this, which I have often had +on my mind to speak to you about, I must ask you not to send me +that _Wessex Freeman_ any more. I am always delighted to hear +what you think; and there is a great deal in the articles you +mark for me which seems very fine; and I dare say you quite +believe it all when you write it. Only I am afraid lest papa or +anyone of the servants should open the papers, or get hold of +them after I have opened them; for I am sure there are a great +many wicked things in the other parts of the paper. So, please do +not send it to me, but write and tell me yourself anything that +you wish me to know of what you are thinking about and doing. As +I did not like to burn the papers, and was afraid to keep them +here, I have generally sent them on to your friend Mr. Hardy. He +does not know who sends them; and now you might send them +yourself straight to him, as I do not know his address in the +country. As you are going up again to keep a term, I wish you +would talk them over with him, and see what he thinks about them. +You will think this very odd of me, but you know you have always +said how much you rely on his judgment, and that you have learnt +so much from him. So I am sure you would wish to consult him; +and, if he thinks that you ought to go on writing, it will be a +great help to you to know it." + +"I am so very glad to be able to tell you how well Martha is +getting on. I have always read to her the extracts from the +letters from India which you have sent me, and she is very much +obliged to you for sending them. I think there is no doubt that +she is, and always has been, attached to poor widow Winburn's +son, and, now that he is behaving so well, I can see that it +gives her great pleasure to hear about him. Only, I hope he will +be able to come back before very long, because she is very much +admired, and is likely to have so many chances of settling in +life, that it is a great chance whether attachment to him will be +strong enough to keep her single if he should be absent for many +years." + +"Do you know I have a sort of superstition, that your fate hangs +upon theirs in some curious manner--the two stories have been so +interwoven--and that they will both be settled happily much +sooner than we dare to hope even just now." + +"Don't think, my dear cousin, that this letter is cold, or that I +do not take the very deepest interest in all that concerns you. +You and Mary are always in my thoughts, and there is nothing in +the world I would not do for you both which I thought would help +you. I am sure it would do you harm if I were only a go-between. +Papa is much as usual. He gets out a good deal in his chair in +the sun this fine weather. He desires me to say how glad he +should be if you will come over soon and pay us a visit. I hope +you will come very soon." + +"Ever believe me, dear Tom, + +"Your affectionate cousin, + +"KATIE." + +"November. + +"DEAR TOM,--I hear that what you in England call a mail is to +leave camp this evening; so, that you may have no excuse for not +writing to me constantly, I am sitting down to spin you such a +yarn as I can under the disadvantages circumstances in which this +will leave me. + +"This time last year, or somewhere thereabouts, I was enjoying +academic life with you at Oxford; and now here I am, encamped at +some unpronounceable place beyond Umbala. You won't be much the +wiser for that. What do you know about Umbala? I didn't myself +know that there was such a place till a month ago, when we were +ordered to march up here. But one lives and learns. Marching over +India has its disagreeables, of which dysentery and dust are +about the worst. A lot of our fellows are down with the former; +amongst others my captain; so I am in command of the company. If +it were not for the glorious privilege of grumbling, I think that +we should all own that we liked the life. Moving about, though +one does get frozen and broiled regularly once in twenty-four +hours, suits me; besides, they talk of matters coming to a +crisis, and no end of fighting to be done directly. You'll know +more about what's going on from the papers than we do, but here +they say the ball may begin any day; so we are making forced +marches to be up in time. I wonder how I shall like it. Perhaps, +in my next, I may tell you how a bullet sounds when it comes at +you. If there is any fighting, I expect our regiment will make +their mark. We are in tip-top order; the colonel is a grand +fellow, and the regiment feels his hand down to the youngest +drummer boy. What a deal of good I will do when I'm a colonel! + +"I duly delivered the enclosure in your last to your convict, who +is rapidly ascending the ladder of promotion. I am disgusted at +this myself, for I have had to give him up, and there never was +such a jewel of a servant; but, of course, it's a great thing for +him. He is covering sergeant of my company, and the smartest +coverer we have, too. I have got a regular broth of a boy, an +Irishman, in his place, who leads me a dog of a life. I took him +chiefly because he very nearly beat me in a foot-race. Our senior +major is a Pat himself, and, it seems, knew something of Larry's +powers. So, one day at mess, he offered to back him against +anyone in the regiment for 200 yards. My captain took him up and +named me, and the race came off next day; and a precious narrow +thing it was, but I managed to win by a neck for the honor of the +old school. He is a lazy scatter-brained creature, utterly +indifferent to fact, and I am obliged to keep the brandy flask +under lock and key; but the humour and absolute good-temper of +the animal impose upon me, and I really think he is attached to +me. So I keep him on, grumbling horribly at the change from that +orderly, punctual, clean, accurate convict. Depend upon it, that +fellow will do. He makes his way everywhere, with officers and +men. He is a gentleman at heart, and, by the way, you would be +surprised at the improvement in his manners and speech. There is +hardly a taste of Berkshire left in his _deealect_. He has read +all the books I could lend him or borrow for him and is fast +picking up Hindustanee. So you see, after all, I am come round to +your opinion that we did a good afternoon's work on that precious +stormy common when we carried off the convict from the +authorities of his native land, and was first under fire. As you +are a performer in that line, couldn't you carry off his +sweetheart and send her out here? After the sea voyage there +isn't much above 1,000 miles to come by dauk; and tell her, with +my compliments, he is well worth coming twice the distance for. +Poor fellow! It is a bad lookout for him, I'm afraid, as he may +not get home this ten years; and, though he isn't a kind to be +easily lolled, there are serious odds against him, even if he +keeps all right. I almost wish you had never told me his story. + +"We are going into cantonments as soon as this expedition is +over, in a splendid pig district, and I look forward to some real +sport. All the men who have had any tell me it beats the best fox +hunt all to fits for excitement. I have got my eye on a famous +native horse, who is to be had cheap. The brute is in the habit +of kneeling on his masters, and tearing them with his teeth when +he gets them off, but nothing can touch him while you keep on his +back. 'Howsumdever,' as your countrymen say, I shall have a shy +at him, if I can get him at my price. + +"I've nothing more to say. There's nobody you knew here, except +the convict sergeant, and it is awfully hard to fill a letter +home unless you have somebody to talk about. Yes, by the way, +there is one little fellow, an ensign, just joined, who says he +remembers us at school. He can't be more than eighteen or +nineteen, and was an urchin in the lower school, I suppose, when +we were leaving. I don't remember his face, but it's a very good +one, and he is a bright gentlemanly youngster as you would wish +to see. His name is Jones. Do you remember him? He will be a +godsend to me. I have him to chum with me on this march. + +"Keep up your letters as you love me. You at home little know +what it is to enjoy a letter. Never mind what you put in it; +anything will do from home, and I've nobody much else to write to +me. + +"There goes the 'assembly.' Why, I can't think, seeing that we +have done our day's march. However, I must turn out and see +what's up." + +* * * * * * * * * * + +"December. + +"I have just fallen on this letter, which I had quite forgotten, +or, rather, had fancied I had sent off to you three weeks and +more ago. My baggage has just come to hand, and the scrawl turned +up in my paper cases. Well, I have plenty to tell you now, at any +rate, if I have time to tell it. That 'assembly' which stopped me +short sounded in consequence of the arrival of one of the +commander-in-chief's aides in our camp with the news that the +enemy was over the Sutlej. We were to march at once, with two +six-pounders and a squadron of cavalry, on a fort occupied by an +outlying lot of them which commanded a ford, and was to be taken +and destroyed, and the rascals who held it dispersed; after which +we were to join the main army. Our colonel had the command, so we +were on the route within an hour, leaving a company and the +baggage to follow as it could; and from that time to this, forced +marching and hard fighting have been the order of the day. + +"We drew first blood next morning. The enemy were in some force +outside the fort, and showed fight in very rough ground covered +with bushes, out of which we had to drive them, which we did +after a sharp struggle, and the main body drew off altogether. +Then the fort had to be taken. Our two guns worked away at it +till dark. In the night two of the gunners, who volunteered for +the service, crept close up to the place, and reported that there +was nothing to hinder our running right into it. Accordingly the +colonel resolved to rush it at daybreak, and my company was told +off to lead. The captain being absent, I had to command. I was +with the dear old chief the last thing at night, getting his +instructions; ten minutes with him before going into action would +make a hare fight. + +"There was cover to within one hundred and fifty yards of the +place; and there I, and poor little Jones; and the men, spent the +night in a dry ditch. An hour before daybreak we were on the +alert, and served out rations, and then they began playing tricks +on one another as if we were out for a junketing. I sat with my +watch in my hand, feeling queer, and wondering whether I was a +greater coward than the rest. Then came a streak of light. I put +up my watch, formed the men; up went a rocket, my signal, and out +into the open we went at the double. We hadn't got over a third +of the ground when bang went the fort guns, and the grape-shot +were whistling about our ears; so I shouted 'Forward!' and away +we went as hard as we could go. I was obliged to go ahead, you +see, because every man of them knew I had beaten Larry, their +best runner, when he had no gun to carry; but I didn't half like +it, and should have blessed any hole or bramble which would have +sent me over and given them time to catch me. But the ground was +provokingly level; and so I was at the first mound and over it +several lengths in front of the men, and among a lot of black +fellows serving the guns. They came at me like wild cats, and how +I got off is a mystery. I parried a cut from one fellow, and +dodged a second; a third rushed at my left side. I just caught +the flash of his tulwar, and thought it was all up, when he +jumped into the air, shot through the heart by Sergeant Winburn; +and the next moment Master Larry rushed by me and plunged his +bayonet into my friend in front. It turned me as sick as a dog. I +can't fancy anything more disagreeable than seeing the operation +for the first time, except being struck oneself. The supporting +companies were in in another minute, with the dear old chief +himself, who came up and shook hands with me, and said I had done +credit to the regiment. Then I began to look about, and missed +poor little Jones. We found him about twenty yards from the place +with two grape-shot through him, stone dead, and smiling like a +child asleep. We buried him in the fort. I cut off some of his +hair, and sent it home to his mother. Her last letter was in his +breast pocket, and a lock of bright brown hair of some one's. I +sent them back, too, and his sword. + +"Since then we have been with the army, and had three or four +general actions; about which I can tell you nothing, except that +we have lost about the third of the regiment, and have always +been told we have won. Steps go fast enough; my captain died of +wounds and dysentery a week ago; so I have the company in +earnest. How long I shall hold it, is another question; for, +though there's a slack, we haven't done with sharp work yet, I +can see. + +"How often we've talked, years ago, of what it must feel like +going into battle! Well, the chief thing I felt when the grape +came down pretty thick for the first time, as we were advancing, +was a sort of gripes in the stomach which made me want to go +forward stooping. But I didn't give in to it; the chief was +riding close behind us, joking the youngsters who were ducking +their heads, and so cheery and cool, that he made old soldiers of +us at once. What with smoke, and dust, and excitement, you know +scarcely anything of what is going on. The finest sight I have +seen is the artillery going into action. Nothing stops those +fellows. Places you would crane at out hunting they go right +over, guns, carriages, men, and all, leaving any cavalry we've +got out here well behind. Do you know what a nullah is? Well, +it's a great gap, like a huge dry canal, fifteen or twenty feet +deep. We were halted behind one in the last great fight, awaiting +the order to advance, when a battery came up at full gallop. We +all made sure they must be pulled up the nullah. They never +pulled bridle. 'Leading gun, right turn!' sang out the subaltern; +and down they went sideways into the nullah. Then, 'Left turn;' +up the other bank, one gun after another, the horses scrambling +like cats up and down places that my men had to use their hands +to scramble up, and away on the other side to within 200 yards of +the enemy; and then, round like lightning, and look out in front. + +"Altogether, it's sickening work, though there's a grand sort of +feeling of carrying your life in your hand. They say the Sepoy +regiments have behaved shamefully. There is no sign of anything +like funk among our fellows that I have seen. Sergeant Winburn +has distinguished himself everywhere. He is like my shadow, and I +can see he tries to watch over my precious carcase, and get +between me and danger. He would be a deal more missed in the +world than I. Except you, old friend, I don't know who would care +much if I were knocked over to-morrow. Aunts and cousins are my +nearest relations. You know I never was a snuffler; but this sort +of life makes one serious, if one has any reverence at all in +one. You'll be glad to have this line, if you don't hear from me +again. I've often thought in the last month that we shall never +see one another again in this world. But, whether in this world +or any other, you know I am and always shall be, + +"Your affectionate friend, + +"H. EAST." + +CAMP OF THE SUTLEJ, January. + +"DEAR MASTER TOM;--The captain's last words was, if anything +happened I was to be sure to write and tell you. And so I take up +my pen, though you will know as I am not used to writing, to tell +you the misfortune as has happened to our regiment. Because, if +you was to ask any man in our regiment, let it be who it would, +he would say as the captain was the best officer as ever led men. +Not but what there's a many of them as will go to the front as +brave as lions, and don't value shot no more than if it was +rotten apples; and men as is men will go after such. But 'tis the +captain's manners and ways, with a kind word for any poor fellow +as is hurt, or sick and tired, and making no account of hisself, +and, as you may say, no bounce with him; that's what makes the +difference. + +"As it might be last Saturday, we came upon the enemy where he +was posted very strong, with guns all along his front, and served +till we got right up to them, the runners being cut down and +bayoneted when we got right up amongst them, and no quarter +given; and there was great banks of earth, too, to clamber over, +and more guns behind; so, with the marching up in front and +losing so many officers and men, our regiment was that wild when +we got amongst them, that 'twas awful to see, and, if there was +any prisoners taken, it was more by mistake than not. + +"Me and three or four more settled, when the word came to prepare +for action, to keep with the captain, because 'twas known to +everyone as no odds would stop him, and he would never mind +hisself. The dust and smoke and noise was that thick you couldn't +see nor hear anything after our regiment was in action; but, so +far as I seen, when we was wheeled into line and got the word to +advance, there was as it might be as far as from our old cottage +to the Hawk's Lynch to go over before we got to the guns which +was playing into us all the way. Our line went up very steady, +only where men was knocked down; and, when we came to within a +matter of sixty yards, the officers jumped out and waved their +swords, for 'twas no use to give words, and the ranks was broken +by reason of the running up to take the guns from the enemy. Me +and the rest went after the captain; but he, being so light of +foot, was first by maybe ten yards or so, at the mound, and so up +before we was by him. But, though they was all round him like +bees when we got to him, 'twas not then as he was hit. There was +more guns further on, and we and they drove on all together; and, +though they was beaten, being fine tall men and desperate, there +was many of them fighting hard, and, as you might say, a man +scarcely knowed how he got hit. I kept to the captain as close as +ever I could, but there was times when I had to mind myself. Just +as we came to the last gun's, Larry, that's the captain's +servant, was trying by hisself to turn one of them round, so as +to fire on the enemy as they took the river to the back of their +lines all in a huddle. So I turned to lend him a hand; and, when +I looked round next moment, there was the captain a-staggering +like a drunken man, and he so strong and lissom up to then, and +never had a scratch since the war begun, and this the last minute +of it pretty nigh, for the enemy was all cut to pieces and +drowned that day. I got to him before he fell, and we laid him +down gently, and did the best we could for him. But he was +bleeding dreadful with a great gash in his side, and his arm +broke, and two gunshot wounds. Our surgeon was killed, and 'twas +hours before his wounds was dressed, and 'twill be God's mercy if +ever he gets round; though they do say if the fever and dysentery +keeps off, and he can get out of this country and home, there's +no knowing but that he may get the better of it all, but not to +serve with the regiment again for years to come. + +"I hope, Master Tom, as I've told you all the captain would like +as you should know; only, being not much used to writing, I hope +you will excuse mistakes. And, if so be that it won't be too much +troubling of you, and the captain should go home, and you could +write to say as things was going on at home as before, which the +captain always gave to me to read when the mail come in, it would +be a great help towards keeping up a good heart and in a foreign +land, which is hard at times to do. There is some things which I +make bold to send by a comrade going home sick. I don't know as +they will seem much, but I hope as you will accept of the sword, +which belonged to one of her officers, and the rest to her. Also, +on account of what was in the last piece as you forwarded, I send +a letter to go along with the things, if Miss Winter, who have +been so kind, or you would deliver the same. To whom I make bold +to send my respects as well as to yourself, and hoping this will +find you well and all friends. + +"From your respectful, + +"HENRY WINBURN, + +"Colour-sergeant. 101st Regiment." + +"March. + +"My DEAR TOM;--I begin to think I may see you again yet, but it +has been a near shave. I hope Sergeant Winburn's letter, and the +returns, in which I see I was put down "dangerously wounded," +will not have frightened you very much. The war is over; and, if +I live to get down to Calcutta you will see me in the summer, +please God. The end was like the beginning--going right up to the +guns. Our regiment is frightfully cut up; there are only 300 men +left under arms--the rest dead or in hospital. I am sick at heart +at it, and weak in body, and can only write a few lines at a +time, but will get on with this as I can, in time for next mail. + +* * * * * + +"Since beginning this letter I have had another relapse. So, in +case I should never finish it, I will say at once what I most +want to say. Winburn has saved my life more than once, and is +besides one of the noblest and bravest fellows in the world; so I +mean to provide for him in case anything should happen to me. I +have made a will, and appointed you my executor, and left him a +legacy. You must buy his discharge, and get him home and married +to the Englebourn beauty as soon as possible. But what I want you +to understand is, that if the legacy isn't enough to do this, and +make all straight with her old curmudgeon of a father, it is my +first wish that whatever will do it should be made up to him. He +has been in hospital with a bad flesh wound, and has let out to +me the whole of his story, of which you had only given me the +heads. If that young women does not wait for him, and book him, I +shall give up all faith in petticoats. Now that's done I feel +more at ease. + +"Let me see. I haven't written for six weeks and more, just +before our last great fight. You'll know all about it from the +papers long before you get this--a bloody business; I am loath to +think of it. I was knocked over in the last of their +entrenchments, and should then and there have bled to death had +it not been for Winburn. He never left me, though the killing, +and plundering, and roystering afterwards was going on all +around, and strong temptation to a fellow when his blood is up, +and he sees his comrades at it, after such work as we have had. +What's more he caught my Irish fellow and made him stay by me +too, and between them they managed to prop me up and stop the +bleeding, though it was touch and go. I never thought they would +manage it. You can't think what a curious feeling it is, the life +going out of you. I was perfectly conscious, and knew all they +were doing and saying, and thought quite clearly, though in a +sort of dreamy way, about you, and a whole jumble of people and +things at home. It was the most curious painless mixture of dream +and life, getting more dreamy every minute. I don't suppose I +could have opened my eyes or spoken; at any rate I had no wish to +do so, and didn't try. Several times the thought of death came +close to me; and, whether it was the odd state I was in, or what +else I don't know, but the only feeling I had, was one of intense +curiosity. I should think I must have lain there, with Winburn +supporting my head, and moistening my lips with rum-and-water, +for four or five hours, before a doctor could be got. He had +managed to drive Larry about till he had found, or borrowed, or +stolen the drink, and then kept him making short cruises in +search of help in the shape of hospital-staff, ambulances, or +doctors, from which Master Larry always came back without the +slightest success. My belief is, he employed those precious +minutes, when he was from under his sergeant's eye, in looting. +At last, Winburn got impatient, and I heard him telling Larry +what he was to do while he was gone himself to find a doctor; and +then I was moved as gently as if I had been a sick girl. I heard +him go off with a limp, but did not know till long after of his +wound. + +"Larry had made such a wailing and to-do when they first found +me, that a natural reaction now set in, and he began gently and +tenderly to run over in his mind what could be made out of 'the +captin,' and what would become of his things. I found out this, +partly through his habit of talking to himself, and partly from +the precaution which he took of ascertaining where my watch and +purse were, and what else I had upon me. It tickled me immensely +to hear him. Presently I found he was examining my boots, which +he pronounced 'iligant entirely,' and wondered whether he could +get them on. The 'serjint' would never want them. And he then +proceeded to assert, while _he_ actually began unlacing them, +that the 'captin' would never have '_bet him_' but for the boots +which 'was worth ten feet in a furlong to any man.' 'Shure, 'tis +too late now; but wouldn't I like to run him agin with bare +feet?' I couldn't stand that, and just opened my eyes a little, +and moved my hand, and said, 'Done.' I wanted to add, 'you +rascal,' but that was too much for me. Larry's face of horror, +which I just caught through my half-opened eyes, would have made +me roar, if I had had strength for it. I believe the resolution I +made that he should never go about in my boots helped to pull me +through; but, as soon as Winburn came back with the doctor, +Master Larry departed, and I much doubt whether I shall ever set +eyes on him again in the flesh. Not if he can help it, certainly. +The regiment, what's left of it, is away in the Punjaub, and he +with it. Winburn, as I told you, is hard hit, but no danger. I +have great hopes that he will be invalided. You may depend upon +it he will escort me home, if any interest of mine can manage it; +and the dear old chief is so kind to me that I think he will +arrange it somehow. + +"I must be wonderfully better to have spun such a yarn. Writing +those first ten lines nearly finished me, a week ago, and now I +am scarcely tired after all this scrawl. If that rascal, Larry, +escapes hanging another year, and comes back home, I will run him +_yet_, and thrash his head off. + +"There is something marvelously life-giving in the idea of +sailing for old England again; and I mean to make a strong fight +for seeing you again, old boy. God bless you. Write again for the +chance, directing to my agents at Calcutta as before. + +"Ever your half-alive, but whole-hearted and affectionate friend, + +"H. EAST" + + + + +CHAPTER XLV--MASTER'S TERM + +One more look into the old college where we have spent so much +time already, not, I hope, altogether unpleasantly. Our hero is +up in the summer term, keeping his three weeks' residence, the +necessary preliminary to an M. A. degree. We find him sitting in +Hardy's rooms; tea is over, scouts out of college, candles +lighted, and silence reigning, except when distant sounds of +mirth come from some undergraduates' rooms on the opposite side +of quad, through the open windows. + +Hardy is deep in the budget of Indian letters, some of which we +have read in the last chapter; and Tom reads them over again as +his friend finishes them, and then carefully folds them up and +puts them back in their places in a large pocket-case. Except for +an occasional explanatory remark, or exclamation of interest, no +word passes until Hardy finishes the last letter. Then he breaks +out into praises of the two Harrys, which gladdens Tom's heart as +he fastens the case, and puts it back in his pocket, saying, +"Yes, you won't find two finer fellows in a long summer's day; +no, nor in twenty." + +"And you expect them home, then, in a week or two?" + +"Yes, I think so. Just about the time I shall be going down." + +"Don't talk about going down. You haven't been here a week." + +"Just a week. One out of three. Three weeks wasted in keeping +one's Master's term! Why can't you give a fellow his degree +quietly, without making him come and kick his heels here for +three weeks?" + +"You ungrateful dog! Do you mean to say you haven't enjoyed +coming back, and sitting in dignity in the bachelors' seats in +chapel, and at the bachelors' table in hall, and thinking how +much wiser you are than the undergraduates? Besides, your old +friends want to see you, and you ought to want to see them." + +"Well, I am very glad to see something of you again, old fellow. +I don't find that a year's absence has made any change in you. +But who else is there that I care to see? My old friends are +gone, and the year has made a great gap between me and the +youngsters. They look on me as a sort of don." + +"Of course they do. Why, you are a sort of don. You will be an M. +A. in a fortnight, and a member of Convocation." + +"Very likely; but I don't appreciate the dignity. I can tell you +being up here now is anything but enjoyable. You have never +broken with the place. And then, you always did your duty, and +have done the college credit. You can't enter into the feelings +of a fellow whose connexion with Oxford has been quite broken +off, and who wasted three parts of his time here, when he comes +back to keep his Master's." + +"Come, come, Tom. You might have read more certainly, with +benefit to yourself and college, and taken a higher degree. But, +after all, didn't the place do you a great deal of good? and you +didn't do it much harm. I don't like to see you in this sort of +gloomy state; it isn't natural to you." + +"It is becoming natural. You haven't seen much of me during the +last year, or you would have remarked it. And then, as I tell +you, Oxford, when one has nothing to do in it but to moon about, +thinking over one's past follies and sins, isn't cheerful. It +never was a very cheerful place to me at the best of times." + +"Not even at pulling times?" + +"Well, the river is the part I like best to think of. But even +the river makes me rather melancholy now. One feels one has done +with it." + +"Why, Tom, I believe your melancholy comes from their not having +asked you to pull in the boat." + +"Perhaps it does. Don't you call it degrading to be pulling in +the torpid in one's old age?" + +"Mortified vanity, man! They have a capital boat. I wonder how we +should have liked to have been turned out for some bachelor just +because he had pulled a good oar in his day?" + +"Not at all. I don't blame the young ones, and I hope to do my +duty in the torpid. By the way, they are an uncommonly nice set +of youngsters. Much better behaved in every way than we were, +unless it is that they put on their best manners before me." + +"No, I don't think they do. The fact is they are really fine +young fellows." + +"So I think. And I'll tell you what, Jack; since we are sitting +and talking our minds to one another at last, like old times, +somebody has made the most wonderful change in this college. I +rather think it is seeing what St. Ambrose's is now, and thinking +what it was in my time, and what an uncommon member of society I +should have turned out if I had had the luck to have been here +now instead of then, that makes me down in the mouth--more even +than having to pull in the torpid instead of the racing boat." + +"You do think it is improved, then?" + +"Think! Why it is a different place altogether; and, as you are +the only new tutor, it must have been your doing. Now I want to +know your secret." + +"I've no secret, except taking a real interest in all that the +men do, and living with them as much as I can. You may fancy it +isn't much of a trial to me to steer the boat down or run on the +bank and coach the crew." + +"Ah! I remember you were beginning that before I left, in your +first year. I knew that would answer." + +"Yes. The fact is, I find that just what I like best is the very +best thing for the men. With very few exceptions they are all +glad to be stirred up, and meet me nearly halfway in reading, and +three-quarters in everything else. I believe they would make me +captain to-morrow." + +"And why don't you let them?" + +"No; there's a time for everything. I go in in the scratch fours +for the pewters, and--more by token--my crew won them two years +running. Look at my trophies," and he pointed to two pewter pots, +engraved with the college arms, which stood on his side-board. + +"Well, I dare say you're right. But what does the president say?" + +"Oh, he is a convert. Didn't you see him on the bank when you +torpids made your bump the other night?" + +"No, you don't mean it? Well, do you know, a sort of vision of +black tights, and a broad-brimmed hat, crossed me, but I never +gave it a second thought. And so the president comes out to see +the St. Ambrose boat row?" + +"Seldom misses two nights running." + +"Then, 'carry me out, and bury me decently'. Have you seen old +Tom walking around Peckwater lately on his clapper, smoking a +cigar with the Dean of Christ Church? Don't be afraid. I am ready +for anything you like to tell me. Draw any amount you like on my +faith; I shall honor the draft after that." + +"The president isn't a bad judge of an oar, when he sets his mind +to it." + +"Isn't he? But, I say, Jack--no sell--how in the world did it +happen?" + +"I believe it happened chiefly through his talks with me. When I +was first made tutor he sent for me and told me he had heard I +encouraged the young men in boating, and he must positively +forbid it. I didn't care much about staying up; so I was pretty +plain with him, and said, 'if I was not allowed to take the line +I thought best in such matters, I must resign at the end of the +term.' He assented, but afterwards thought better of it, and sent +for me again, and we had several encounters. I took my ground +very civilly but firmly, and he had to give up one objection +after another. I think the turning point was when he quoted St. +Paul on me, and said I was teaching boys to worship physical +strength, instead of teaching them to keep under their bodies and +bring them into subjection. Of course I countered him there with +tremendous effect. The old boy took it very well, only saying he +feared it was no use to argue further--in this matter of +boat-racing he had come to a conclusion, not without serious +thought, many years before. However, he came round quietly. And +so he has on other points. In fact, he is a wonderfully +open-minded man for his age, if you only put things to him the +right way." + +"Has he come round about gentlemen-commoners? I see you have only +two or three up." + +"Yes. We haven't given up taking them altogether. I hope that may +come soon. But I and another tutor took to plucking them +ruthlessly at matriculation, unless they were quite up to the +commoner standard. The consequence was, a row in common room. We +stood out, and won. Luckily, as you know, it has always been +given out here that all under-graduates, gentlemen-commoners and +commoners, have to pass the same college examinations, and to +attend the same course of lectures. You know also what a mere +sham and pretence the rule had become. Well, we simply made a +reality of it, and in answer to all objectors said, 'Is it our +rule or not? If it is, we are bound to act on it. If you want to +alter it, there are the regular ways of doing so.' After a little +grumbling they let us have our way, and the consequence is, that +velvet is getting scarce at St. Ambrose." + +"What a blessing! What other miracles have you been performing?" + +"The best reform we have carried is throwing the kitchen and +cellar open to the undergraduates." + +"W-h-e-w! That's just the sort of reform we should have +appreciated. Fancy Drysdale's lot with the key of the college +cellars, at about ten o'clock on a shiny night." + +"You don't quite understand the reform. You remember, when you +were an undergraduate you couldn't give a dinner in college, and +you had to buy your wine anywhere?" + +"Yes. And awful firewater we used to get. The governor supplied +me, like a wise man." + +"Well, we have placed the college in the relation of benevolent +father. Every undergraduate now can give two dinners a term in +his own rooms, from the kitchen; or more, if he comes and asks, +and has any reason to give. We take care that they have a good +dinner at a reasonable rate, and the men are delighted with the +arrangement. I don't believe there are three men in the college +now who have hotel bills. And we let them have all their wine out +of the college cellars." + +"That's what I call good common sense. Of course it must answer +in every way. And you find they all come to you?" + +"Almost all. They can't get anything like the wine we give them +at the price, and they know it." + +"Do you make them pay ready money?" + +"The dinners and wine are charged in their battel bills; so they +have to pay once a term, just as they do for their orders at +commons." + +"It must swell their battel bills awfully." + +"Yes, but battel bills always come in at the beginning of term +when they are flush of money. Besides, they all know that battel +bills must be paid. In a small way it is the best thing that ever +was done for St. Ambrose's. You see it cuts so many ways. Keeps +men in the college, knocks off the most objectionable bills at +inns and pastry-cooks', keeps them from being poisoned, makes +them pay their bills regularly, shows them that we like them to +be able to live like gentlemen--" + +"And lets you dons know what they are all about, and how much +they spend in the way of entertaining." + +"Yes; and a very good thing for them too. They know that we shall +not interfere while they behave like gentlemen." + +"Oh, I'm not objecting. And was this your doing, too?" + +"No, a joint business. We hatched it in the common room, and then +the bursar spoke to the president, who was furious, and said we +were giving the sanction of the college to disgraceful luxury and +extravagance. Luckily he had not the power of stopping us, and +now is convinced." + +"The goddess of common sense seems to have alighted again in the +quad of St. Ambrose. You'll never leave the place, Jack, now +you're beginning to get everything your own way." + +"On the contrary, I don't mean to stop up more than another year +at the outside. I have been tutor nearly three years now; that's +about long enough." + +"Do you think you're right? You seem to have hit on your line in +life wonderfully. You like the work and the work likes you. You +are doing a heap of good up here. You'll be president in a year +or two, depend on it. I should say you had better stick to +Oxford." + +"No. I should be of no use in a year or two. We want a constant +current of fresh blood here." + +"In a general way. But you don't get a man every day who can +throw himself into the men's pursuits, and can get hold of them +in the right way. And then, after all, when a fellow has got such +work cut out for him as you have, Oxford must be an uncommonly +pleasant place to live in." + +"Pleasant enough in many ways. But you seem to have forgotten how +you used to rail against it." + +"Yes. Because I never hit off the right ways of the place. But if +I had taken a first and got a fellowship, I should like it well +enough I dare say." + +"Being a fellow, on the contrary, makes it worse. While one was +an undergraduate, one could feel virtuous and indignant at the +vices of Oxford, at least at those which one did not indulge in, +particularly at the flunkeyism and money-worship which are our +most prevalent and disgraceful sins. But when one is a fellow it +is quite another affair. They become a sore burthen then, enough +to break one's heart." + +"Why, Jack, we're changing characters to-night. Fancy your coming +out in the abusive line! Why I never said harder things of Alma +Mater myself. However, there's plenty of flunkeyism and +money-worship everywhere else." + +"Yes, but it is not so heart-breaking in other places. When one +thinks what a great centre of learning and faith Oxford ought to +be like--that its highest educational work should just be the +deliverance of us all from flunkeyism and money-worship--and then +looks at matters here without rose-colored spectacles, it gives +one sometimes a sort of chilly leaden despondency, which is very +hard to struggle against." + +"I am sorry to hear you talk like that, Jack, for one can't help +loving the place after all." + +"So I do, God knows. If I didn't I shouldn't care for its +shortcomings." + +"Well, the flunkeyism and money-worship were bad enough, but I +don't think they were the worst things--at least not in my day. +Our neglects were almost worse than our worships." + +"You mean the want of all reverence for parents? Well, perhaps +that lies at the root of the false worships. They spring up on +the vacant soil." + +"And the want of reverence for women, Jack. The worst of all, to +my mind!" + +"Perhaps you are right. But we are not at the bottom yet." + +"How do you mean?" + +"I mean that we must worship God before we can reverence parents +or women, or root out flunkeyism and money-worship." + +"Yes. But, after all, can we fairly lay that sin on Oxford? +Surely, whatever may be growing up side by side with it, there's +more Christianity here than almost anywhere else." + +"Plenty of common-room Christianity--belief in a dead God. There, +I have never said it to anyone but you, but that is the slough we +have to get out of. Don't think that I despair for us. We shall +do it yet; but it will be sore work, stripping off the +comfortable wine-party religion in which we are wrapped up--work +for our strongest and our wisest." + +"And yet you think of leaving?" + +"There are other reasons. I will tell you some day. But now, to +turn to other matters, how have you been getting on this last +year? You write so seldom that I am all behind-hand." + +"Oh, much the same as usual." + +"Then you are still like one of those who went out to David?" + +"No, I'm not in debt." + +"But discontented?" + +"Pretty much like you there, Jack. However, content is no virtue, +that I can see, while there's anything to mend. Who is going to +be contented with game-preserving, and corn-laws, and grinding +the faces of the poor? David's camp was a better place than +Saul's, any day." + +Hardy got up, opened a drawer, and took out a bundle of papers, +which Tom recognized as the _Wessex Freeman_. He felt rather +uncomfortable, as his friend seated himself again, and began +looking them over. + +"You see what I have here," he said. + +Tom nodded. + +"Well, there are some of the articles I should like to ask you +about, if you don't object." + +"No; go on." + +"Here is one, then, to begin with. I won't read it all. Let me +see; here is what I was looking for," and he began reading; "One +would think, to hear these landlords, our rulers, talk, that the +glorious green fields, the deep woods the everlasting hills, and +the rivers that run among them, were made for the sole purpose of +ministering to their greedy lusts and mean ambitions; that they +may roll out amongst unrealities their pitiful mock lives, from +their silk and lace cradles to their spangled coffins, studded +with silver knobs, and lying coats of arms, reaping where they +have not sown, and gathering where they have not strewed, making +the omer small and the ephah great, that they may sell the refuse +of the wheat--" + +"That'll do, Jack; but what's the date of that paper?" + +"July last. Is it yours, then?" + +"Yes. And I allow it's too strong and one-sided. I have given up +writing altogether; will that satisfy you? I don't see my own way +clear enough yet. But, for all that, I'm not ashamed of what I +wrote in that paper." + +"I have nothing more to say after that, except that I'm heartily +glad you have given up writing for the present." + +"But I say, old fellow, how did you get these papers, and know +about my articles?" + +"They were sent me. Shall I burn them now or would you like to +have them? We needn't say anything more about them." + +"Burn them by all means. I suppose a friend sent them to you?" + +"I suppose so." Hardy went on burning the papers in silence; and +as Tom watched him, a sudden light seemed to break upon him. + +"I say, Jack," he said presently, "a little bird has been +whispering something to me about that friend." Hardy winched a +little, and redoubled his diligence in burning the papers. Tom +looked on smiling, and thinking how to go on, now that he had so +unexpectedly turned the tables on his monitor, when the clock +struck twelve. + +"Hullo!" he said, getting up; "time for me to knock out, or old +Copas will be in bed. To go back to where we started from +to-night--as soon as East and Harry Winburn get back we shall +have some jolly doings at Englebourn. There'll be a wedding, I +hope, and you'll come over and do parson for us, won't you?" + +"You mean for Patty? Of course I will." + +"The little bird whispered to me that you wouldn't dislike +visiting that part of the old county. Good night, Jack. I wish +you success, old fellow, with all my heart, and I hope after all +that you may leave St. Ambrose's within the year." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI--FROM INDIA TO ENGLEBOURN + +If a knowledge of contemporary history must be reckoned as an +important element in the civilization of any people, then I am +afraid that the good folk of Englebourn must have been content, +in the days of our story, with a very low place on the ladder. +How, indeed, was knowledge to percolate, so as to reach down to +the foundations of Englebournian society--the stratum on which +all others rest--the common agricultural labourer, producer of +corn and other grain, the careful and stolid nurse and guardian +of youthful oxen, sheep and pigs, many of them far better fed and +housed than his own children? All-penetrating as she is, one +cannot help wondering that she did not give up Englebourn +altogether as a hopeless job. + +So far as written periodical instruction is concerned (with the +exception of the _Quarterly_, which Dr. Winter had taken in from +its commencement, but rarely opened), the supply was limited to +at most half a dozen weekly papers. A London journal, sound in +Church and State principles, most respectable but not otherwise +than heavy, came every Saturday to the rectory. The Conservative +county paper was taken in at the Red Lion; and David the +constable, and the blacksmith, clubbed together to purchase the +Liberal paper, by help of which they managed to wage unequal war +with the knot of village quidnuncs, who assembled almost nightly +at the bar of the Tory beast above referred to--that king of +beasts, red indeed in colour but of the truest blue in political +principle. Besides these, perhaps three or four more papers were +taken by the farmers. But, scanty as the food was, it was quite +enough for the mouths; indeed, when the papers once passed out of +the parlours, they had for the most part performed their mission. +Few of the farm-servants, male or female, had curiosity or +scholarship enough to spell through the dreary columns. + +And oral teaching was not much more plentiful, as how was it +likely to be? Englebourn was situated on no trunk road, and the +amount of intercourse between it and the rest of the world was of +the most limited kind. The rector never left home; the curate at +rare intervals. Most of the farmers went to market once a week +and dined at their ordinary, discussing county politics according +to their manner, but bringing home little, except as much food +and drink as they could cleverly carry. The carrier went to and +from Newbury once a week; but he was a silent man, chiefly bent +on collecting and selling butter. The postman, who was deaf, only +went as far as the next village. The waggoners drove their +masters' produce to market from time to time, and boozed away an +hour or two in the kitchen, or tap, or skittle-alley, of some +small public-house in the nearest town, while their horses +rested. With the above exceptions, probably not one of the +villagers strayed ten miles from home, from year's end to year's +end. As to visitors, an occasional peddler or small commercial +traveller turned up about once a quarter. A few boys and girls, +more enterprising than their fellows, went out altogether into +the world, of their own accord, in the course of the year; and an +occasional burly ploughboy, or carter's boy, was entrapped into +taking the Queen's shilling by some subtle recruiting sergeant. +But few of these were seen again, except at long intervals. The +yearly village feasts, harvest homes, or a meet of the hounds on +Englebourn Common, were the most exciting events which in an +ordinary way stirred the surface of Englebourn life; only +faintest and most distant murmurs of the din and strife of the +great outer world, of wars, and rumors of wars, the fall of +governments, and the throes of nations, reached that primitive, +out-of-the-way little village. + +A change was already showing itself since Miss Winter had been +old enough to look after the schools. The waters were beginning +to stir; and by this time, no doubt, the parish boasts a regular +book-hawker and reading-room; but at that day Englebourn was like +one of those small ponds you may find in some nook of a +hill-side, the banks grown over with underwood, to which neither +man nor beast, scarcely the winds of heaven, have any access. +When you have found such a pond, you may create a great +excitement amongst the easy-going newts and frogs who inhabit it, +by throwing in a pebble. The splash in itself is a small splash +enough, and the waves which circle away from it are very tiny +waves, but they move over the whole face of the pond, and are of +more interest to the frogs than a nor'-wester in the Atlantic. + +So the approaching return of Harry Winburn, and the story of his +doings at the wars, and of the wonderful things he had sent home, +stirred Englebourn to its depth. In that small corner of the +earth, the sergeant was of far more importance than +governor-general and commander-in-chief. In fact, it was probably +the common belief that he was somehow the head of the whole +business; and India, the war, and all that hung thereon, were +looked at and cared for only as they had served to bring him out. +So careless were the good folk about everything in the matter +except their own hero, and so wonderful were the romances which +soon got abroad about him, that Miss Winter, tired of explaining +again and again to the old women without the slightest effect on +the parochial faith, bethought her of having a lecture on the +subject of India and the war in the parish schoolroom. + +Full of this idea, she wrote off to Tom, who was the medium of +communication on Indian matters, and propounded it to him. The +difficulty was, that Mr. Walker, the curate, the only person +competent to give it, was going away directly for a three weeks' +holiday, having arranged with two neighbouring curates to take +his Sunday duty for him. What was to be done? Harry might be back +any day, it seemed; so there was no time to be lost. Could Tom +come himself, and help her? + +Tom could not, but he wrote back to say that his friend Hardy was +just getting away from Oxford for the long vacation, and would +gladly take Mr. Walker's duty for the three weeks, if Dr. Winter +approved, on his way home; by which Englebourn would not be +without an efficient parson on week-days, and she would have the +man of all others to help her in utilizing the sergeant's history +for the instruction of the bucolic mind. The arrangement, +moreover, would be particularly happy, because Hardy had already +promised to perform the marriage ceremony, which Tom and she had +settled would take place at the earliest possible moment after +the return of the Indian heroes. + +Dr. Winter was very glad to accept the offer; and so, when they +parted at Oxford, Hardy went to Englebourn, where we must leave +him for the present. Tom went home--whence, in a few days, he had +to hurry down to Southampton to meet the two Harrys. He was much +shocked at first to see the state of his old school-fellow. East +looked haggard and pale in the face, notwithstanding the sea +voyage. His clothes hung on him as if they had been made for a +man of twice his size, and he walked with difficulty by the help +of a large stick. But he had lost none of his indomitableness, +laughed at Tom's long face, and declared that he felt himself +getting better and stronger every day. + +"If you had only seen me at Calcutta," he said, "you would sing a +different song. Eh, Winburn?" + +Harry Winburn was much changed, and had acquired all the composed +and self-reliant look which is so remarkable in a good +non-commissioned officer. Readiness to obey and command was +stamped on every line of his face; but it required all his powers +of self-restraint to keep within bounds his delight at getting +home again. His wound was quite healed, and his health +re-established by the voyage; and, when Tom saw how wonderfully +his manners and carriage were improved, and how easily his +uniform sat on him, he felt quite sure that all would soon be +right at Englebourn, and that Katie and he would be justified in +their prophecies and preparations. The invalids had to report +themselves in London, and thither the three proceeded together. +When this was done, Harry Winburn was sent off at once. He +resisted at first, and begged to be allowed to stay with his +captain until the captain could go to Berkshire himself. But he +was by this time too much accustomed to discipline not to obey a +positive order, and was comforted by Tom's assurance that he +would not leave East, and would do everything for him which the +sergeant had been accustomed to do. + +Three days later, as East and Tom were sitting at breakfast, a +short note came from Miss Winter, telling of Harry's arrival--how +the bells were set ringing to welcome him; how Mr. Hardy had +preached the most wonderful sermon on his story the next day; +above all, how Patty had surrendered at discretion, and the banns +had been called for the first time. So the sooner they would come +down the better--as it was very important that no time should be +lost, lest some of the old jealousies and quarrels should break +out again. Upon reading and considering which letter, East +resolved to start for Englebourn at once, and Tom to accompany +him. + +There was one person to whom Harry's return and approaching +wedding was a subject of unmixed joy and triumph, and that was +David the constable. He had always been a sincere friend to +Harry, and had stood up for him when all the parish +respectabilities had turned against him, and had prophesied that +he would live to be a credit to the place. So now David felt +himself an inch higher as he saw Harry walking about in his +uniform with his sweetheart, the admiration of all Englebourn. +But, besides all the unselfish pleasure which David enjoyed on +his young friend's account, a little piece of private and +personal gratification came to him on his own. Ever since Harry's +courtship had begun, David had felt himself in a false position +towards, and had suffered under, old Simon, the rector's +gardener. The necessity for keeping the old man in good humor for +Harry's sake had always been present to the constable's mind; and +for the privilege of putting in a good word for his favorite now +and then, he had allowed old Simon to assume an air of +superiority over him, and to trample upon him and dogmatize to +him, even in the matters of flowers and bees. This had been the +more galling to David on account of old Simon's intolerant +Toryism, which the constable's soul rebelled against, except in +the matter of Church music. On this point they agreed, but even +here Simon managed to be unpleasant. He would lay the whole blame +of the changes which had been effected upon David, accusing him +of having given in where there was no need. As there was nothing +but a wall between the Rectory garden and David's little strip of +ground, in which he spent all his leisure time until the shades +of evening summoned him to the bar of the Red Lion for his daily +pint and pipe, the two were constantly within hearing of one +another, and Simon, in times past, had seldom neglected an +opportunity of making himself disagreeable to his long-suffering +neighbour. + +But now David was a free man again; and he took the earliest +occasion of making the change in his manner apparent to Simon, +and of getting, as he called it, "upsides" with him. One would +have thought, to look at him, that the old gardener was as +pachydermatous as a rhinoceros; but somehow he seemed to feel +that things had changed between them, and did not appreciate an +interview with David now nearly so much as of old. So he found +very little to do in that part of the garden which abutted on the +constable's premises. When he could not help working there, he +chose the times at which David was most likely to be engaged, or +even took the trouble to ascertain that he was not at home. + +Early on Midsummer day, old Simon reared his ladder against the +boundary wall, with a view of "doctorin'" some of the fruit +trees, relying on a parish meeting, at which the constable's +presence was required. But he had not more than half finished his +operations before David had returned from vestry, and, catching +sight of the top of the ladder and Simon's head above the wall, +laid aside all other business, and descended into the garden. + +Simon kept on at his work, only replying by a jerk of the head +and one of his grunts to his neighbour's salutation. + +David took his coat off, and his pruning knife out, and, +establishing himself within easy shot of his old oppressor, +opened fire at once-- + +"Thou'st gi'en thy consent, then?" + +"'Tis no odds, consent or none--her's old enough to hev her own +waay." + +"But thou'st gi'en thy consent?" + +"Ees, then, if thou wilt hev't," said Simon, somewhat surlily; +"wut then?" + +"So I heerd," said David, indulging in an audible chuckle. + +"What bist a laughin' at?" + +"I be laughin' to think how folks changes. Do'st mind the hard +things as thou hast judged and said o' Harry? Not as ever I known +thy judgment to be o' much account, 'cept about roots. But thou +saidst, times and times, as a would come to the gallows." + +"So a med yet--so a med yet," answered Simon. "Not but wut I +wishes well to un, and bears no grudges; but others as hev got +the law ov un medn't." + +"'Tis he as hev got grudges to bear. He don't need none o' thy +forgiveness." + +"Pr'aps a medn't. But hev 'em got the law ov un, or hevn't em?" + +"Wut do'st mean--got the law ov un?" + +"Thaay warrants as wur out agen un, along wi' the rest as was +transpworted auver Farmer Tester's job." + +"Oh, he've got no call to be afeard o' thaay now. Thou know'st I +hears how 'tis laid down in Sessions and 'Sizes, wher' I've a +been this twenty year." + +"Like enuff. Only, wut's to hinder thaay tryin' ov un, if thaay +be a minded to 't? That's what I wants to know." + +"'Tis wut the counsellors calls the Statut o' Lamentations," said +the constable, proudly. + +"Wutever's Lamentations got to do wi't?" + +"A gurt deal, I tell 'ee. What do'st thou know o' Lamentations?" + +"Lamentations cums afore Ezekiel in the Bible." + +"That ain't no kin to the Statut o' Lamentations. But ther's +summut like to't in the Bible," said the constable, stopping his +work to consider a moment. "Do'st mind the year when the land wur +all to be guv back to thaay as owned it fust, and debts wur to be +wiped out?" + +"Ees, I minds summut o' that." + +"Well, this here statut says, if so be as a man hev bin to the +wars, and sarved his country like; as nothin' shan't be reckoned +agen he, let alone murder. Nothin' can't do away wi' murder." + +"No, nor oughtn't. Hows'mdever, you seems clear about the law +on't. There's Miss a callin'." + +And old Simon's head disappeared as he descended the ladder to +answer the summons of his young mistress, not displeased at +having his fears as to the safety of his future son-in-law set at +rest by so eminent a legal authority as the constable. +Fortunately for Harry, the constable's law was not destined to be +tried. Young Wurley was away in London. Old Tester was bedridden +with an accumulation of diseases brought on by his bad life. His +illness made him more violent and tyrannical than ever; but he +could do little harm out of his own room, for no one ever went to +see him, and the wretched farm-servant who attended him was much +too frightened to tell him anything of what was going on in the +parish. There was no one else to revive proceedings against +Harry. + +David pottered on at his bees and his flowers till old Simon +returned, and ascended his ladder again. + +"You be ther' still, be 'ee?" he said, as soon as he saw David. + +"Ees. Any news?" + +"Ah, news enuff. He as wur Harry's captain and young Mr. Brown be +comin' down to-morrow, and hev tuk all the Red Lion to +theirselves. And thaay beant content to wait for banns--not +thaay--and so ther's to be a license got for Saturday. 'Taint +scarce decent, that 'taint." + +"'Tis best to get drough wi't," said the constable. + +"Then nothin'll sarve 'em but the church must be hung wi' +flowers, and wher' be thaay to cum from without strippin' and +starvin' ov my beds? 'Tis shameful to see how folks acts wi' +flowers now-a-days, a cuttin' on 'em and puttin' on 'em about, as +prodigal at though thaay growed o' theirselves." + +"So 'tis shameful," said David, whose sympathies for flowers were +all with Simon. "I heers tell as young Squire Wurley hevs 'em on +table at dinner-time instead o' the wittels." + +"Do'ee though! I calls it reg'lar Papistry, and so I tells Miss; +but her only laughs." + +The constable shook his head solemnly as he replied "Her've been +led away wi' such doin's ever sence Mr. Walker cum, and took to +organ-playin' and chantin'." + +"And he ain't no such gurt things in the pulpit, neether, ain't +Mr. Walker," chimed in Simon, (the two had not been so in harmony +for years). "I reckon as he ain't nothin' to speak ov alongside +o' this here new un as hev tuk his place. He've a got a good deal +o' move in un' he hev." + +"Ah, so a hev. A wunnerful sight o' things a telled us t'other +night, about the Indians and the wars." + +"Ah! talking cums as nat'ral to he as buttermilk to a litterin' +sow." + +"Thou should'st a heerd un, though, about the battles. I can't +mind the neames on 'em--let me see--" + +"I dwun't valley the neames," interrupted Simon. "Thaay makes a +deal o' fuss auvert 'taal, but I dwun't tek no account on't. +Tain't like the owld wars and fightin' o' the French, this here +fightin' wi' blackamoors, let 'em talk as thaay wool." + +"No more 'tain't. But 'twur a 'mazin' fine talk as he gi'n us. +Hev 'ee seed ought 'twixt he and young missus?" + +"Nothin' out o' th' common. I got plenty to do without lookin' +arter the women, and 'tain't no bisness o' mine, nor o' thine +neether." + +David was preparing a stout rejoinder to this rebuke of the old +retainer of the Winter family on his curiosity, but was summoned +by his wife to the house to attend a customer; and by the time he +could get out again, Simon had disappeared. + +The next day East and Tom arrived, and took possession of the Red +Lion; and Englebourn was soon in a ferment of preparation for the +wedding. East was not the man to do things by halves; and, +seconded as he was by Miss Winter, and Hardy, and Tom, had soon +made arrangements for all sorts of merrymaking. The +school-children were to have a whole holiday, and, after +scattering flowers at church and marching in the bridal +procession, were to be entertained in a tent pitched in the home +paddock of the Rectory, and to have an afternoon of games and +prizes, and cake and tea. The bell-ringers, Harry's old comrades, +were to have five shillings apiece, and a cricket match, and a +dinner afterwards at the second public house, to which any other +of his old friends whom Harry chose to ask, were to be also +invited. The old men and women were to be fed in the village +school-room; and East and Tom were to entertain a select party of +the farmers and tradesmen, at the Red Lion; the tap of which +hostelry was to be thrown open to all comers at the Captain's +expense. It was not without considerable demur on the part of +Miss Winter, that some of these indiscriminate festivities were +allowed to pass. But after consulting with Hardy, she relented, +on condition that the issue of beer at the two public-houses +should be put under the control of David, the constable, who, on +his part, promised that law and order should be well represented +and maintained on the occasion. "Arter all, Miss, you sees, 'tis +only for once in a waay," he said; "and 'twill make 'em remember +aal as hev bin said to 'em about the Indians, and the rest on't." +So the Captain and his abettors, having gained the constable as +an ally, prevailed; and Englebourn, much wondering at itself, +made ready for a general holiday. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII--THE WEDDING-DAY + + One-more-poor-man-un-done + One-more-poor-man-un-done + +The belfry tower rocked and reeled, as that peal rang out, now +merry, now scornful, now plaintive, from whose narrow belfry +windows, into the bosom of the soft south-west wind, which was +playing round the old grey tower of Englebourn church. And the +wind caught the peal and played with it, and bore it away over +Rectory and village street, and many a homestead, and gently +waving field of ripening corn, and rich pasture and water-meadow, +and tall whispering woods of the Grange, and rolled it against +the hill-side, and up the slope past the clump of firs on the +Hawk's Lynch, till it died away on the wild stretches of common +beyond. + +The ringers bent lustily to their work. There had been no such +ringing in Englebourn since the end of the great war. Not content +with the usual peal out of church, they came back again and again +in the afternoon, full of the good cheer which had been provided +for them; and again and again the wedding peal rang out from the +belfry in honour of their old comrade-- + +One-more-poor-man-un-done + +One-more-poor-man-un-done + +Such was the ungallant speech which for many generations had been +attributed to the Englebourn wedding-bells; when you had once +caught the words--as you would be sure to do from some +wide-mouthed grinning boy, lounging over the churchyard rails to +see the wedding pass--it would be impossible to persuade yourself +that they did, in fact, say anything else. Somehow, Harry Winburn +bore his undoing in the most heroic manner, and did his duty +throughout the trying day as a non-commissioned groom should. The +only part of the performance arranged by his captain which he +fairly resisted, was the proposed departure of himself and Patty +to the solitary post-chaise of Englebourn--a real old +yellow--with a pair of horses. East, after hearing the sergeant's +pleading on the subject of vehicles, at last allowed them to +drive off in a tax-cart, taking a small boy with them behind, to +bring it back. + +As for the festivities, they went off without hitch, as such +affairs will, where the leaders of the revels have their hearts +in them. The children had all played, and romped, and eaten and +drunk themselves into a state of torpor by an early hour of the +evening. The farmers' dinner was a decided success. East proposed +the health of the bride and bridegroom, and was followed by +Farmer Grove and the constable. David turned out in a new blue +swallow-tailed coat, with metal buttons, of his own fabulous cut, +in honor of the occasion. He and the farmer spoke like the leader +of the Government and the Opposition in the House of Commons on +an address to the Crown. There was not a pin to choose between +their speeches, and a stranger hearing them would naturally have +concluded that Harry had never been anything but the model boy +and young man of the parish. Fortunately, the oratorical powers +of Englebourn ended here; and East, and the majority of his +guests, adjourned to the green, where the cricket was in +progress. Each game lasted a very short time only, as the youth +of Englebourn were not experts in the noble science, and lost +their wickets one after another so fast, that Tom and Hardy had +time to play out two matches with them, and then to retire on +their laurels, while the afternoon was yet young. + +The old folks in the village school-room enjoyed their beef and +pudding, under the special superintendence of Miss Winter, and +then toddled to their homes, and sat about in the warmest nooks +they could find, mumbling of old times, and the doings at Dr. +Winter's wedding. + +David devoted himself to superintending the issue of beer, +swelling with importance, but so full of the milk of human +kindness from the great event of the day, that nobody minded his +little airs. He did his duty so satisfactorily that, with the +exception of one or two regular confirmed soakers, who stuck +steadily to the tap of the Red Lion, and there managed +successfully to fuddle themselves, there was nothing like +drunkenness. In short, it was one of those rare days when +everything goes right, and everybody seems to be inclined to give +and take, and to make allowances for their neighbours. By degrees +the cricket flagged, and most of the men went off to sit over +their pipes, and finish the evening in their own way. The boys +and girls took to playing at "kissing in the ring;" and the +children who had not already gone home sat in groups watching +them. + +Miss Winter had already disappeared, and Tom, Hardy and the +Captain began to feel that they might consider their part +finished. They strolled together off the green towards Hardy's +lodgings, the "Red Lion" being still in possession of East's +guests. + +"Well, how do you think it all went off?" asked he. "Nothing +could have been better," said Hardy; "and they all seem so +inclined to be reasonable that I don't think we shall even have a +roaring song along the street to-night when the "Red Lion" shuts +up." + +"And you are satisfied, Tom?" + +"I should think so. I have been hoping for this day any time this +four years, and now it has come, and gone off well, too, thanks +to you, Harry." + +"Thanks to me? Very good; I am open to any amount of gratitude." + +"I think you have every reason to be satisfied with your second +day's work at Englebourn, at any rate." + +"So I am. I only hope it may turn out as well as the first." + +"Oh, there's no doubt about that." + +"I don't know. I rather believe in the rule of contraries." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Why, when you inveigled me over from Oxford, and we carried off +the sergeant from the authorities, and defeated the yeomanry in +that tremendous thunder-storm, I thought we were a couple of +idiots, and deserved a week each in the lockup for our pains. +That business turned out well. This time we have started with +flying colours and bells ringing, and so--" + +"This business will turn out better. Why not?" + +"Then let us manage a third day's work in these parts as soon as +possible. I should like to get to the third degree of comparison, +and perhaps the superlative will turn up trumps for me somehow. +Are there many more young women in the place as pretty as Mrs. +Winburn? This marrying complaint is very catching, I find." + +"There's my cousin Katie," said Tom, looking stealthily at Hardy; +"I won't allow that there's any face in the country-side to match +hers. What do you say, Jack?" + +Hardy was confused by this sudden appeal. + +"I haven't been long enough here to judge," he said. "I have +always considered Miss Winter very beautiful. I see it is nearly +seven o'clock, and I have a call or two to make in the village. I +should think you ought to get some rest after this tiring day, +Captain East?" + +"What are you going to do, Tom?" + +"Well, I was thinking of just throwing a fly over the mill tail. +There's such a fine head of water on." + +"Isn't it too bright?" + +"Well, perhaps it is a little; marrying weather and fishing +weather don't agree. Only what else is there to do? But if you +are tired," he added, looking at East, "I don't care a straw +about it. I shall stay with you." + +"Not a bit of it. I shall hobble down with you, and lie on the +bank and smoke a cheroot." + +"No, you shan't walk, at any rate. I can borrow the constable's +pony, old Nibble, the quietest beast in the world. He'll stand +for a week if we like, while I fish and you lie and look on. I'll +be off and bring him around in two minutes." + +"Then we shall meet for a clumsy tea at nine at my lodgings," +said Hardy, as he went off to his pastoral duties. + +Tom and East, in due time, found themselves by the side of the +stream. There was only a small piece of fishable water in +Englebourn. The fine stream, which, a mile or so below, in the +Grange grounds, might be called a river, came into respectable +existence only about two hundred yards above Englebourn Mill. +Here two little chalk brooks met, and former millers had +judiciously deepened the channel, and dammed the united waters +back so as to get a respectable reservoir. Above the junction the +little weedy, bright, creeping brooks afforded good sport for +small truants groppling about with their hands, or bobbing with +lob worms under the hollow banks, but were not available for the +scientific angler. The parish ended at the fence next below the +mill garden, on the other side of which the land was part of the +Grange estate. So there was just the piece of still water above +the mill, and the one field below it, over which Tom had leave. +On ordinary occasions this would have been enough, with careful +fishing, to last him till dark; but his nerves were probably +somewhat excited by the events of the day, and East sat near and +kept talking; so he got over his water faster than usual. At any +rate, he had arrived for the second time at the envious fence +before the sun was down. The fish were wondrous wary in the +miller's bit of water--as might be expected, for they led a dog +of a life there, between the miller and his men and their nets, +and baits of all kinds always set. So Tom thought himself lucky +to get a couple of decent fish, the only ones that were moving +within his liberty; but he could not help looking with covetous +eyes on the fine stretch of water below, all dimpling with rises. + +"Why don't you get over and fish below?" said East, from his seat +on the bank; "don't mind me. I can watch you; besides, lying on +the turf on such an evening is luxury enough by itself." + +"I can't go. Both sides below belong to that fellow Wurley." + +"The sergeant's amiable landlord and prosecutor?" + +"Yes; and the yeoman with whom you exchanged shots on the +common." + +"Hang it, Tom, just jump over and catch a brace of his trout. +Look how they are rising." + +"No, I don't know. I never was very particular about poaching, +but somehow I shouldn't like to do it on his land. I don't like +him well enough." + +"You're right, I believe. But just look there. There's a whopper +rising not more than ten yards below the rail. You might reach +him, I think, without trespassing, from where you stand." + +"Shall I have a shy at him?" + +"Yes; it can't be poaching if you don't go on his grounds." + +Tom could not resist the temptation, and threw over the rails, +which crossed the stream from hedge to hedge to mark the +boundaries of the parish, until he got well over the place where +the fish was rising. + +"There, that was at your fly," said East, hobbling up in great +excitement. + +"All right, I shall have him directly. There he is. Hullo! Harry, +I say! Splash with your stick. Drive the brute back. Bad luck to +him. Look at that!" + +The fish, when hooked, had come straight up stream towards his +captor, and notwithstanding East's attempts to frighten him back, +he rushed in under the before-mentioned walls, which were adorned +with jagged nails, to make crossing on them unpleasant for the +Englebourn boys. Against one of these Tom's line severed, and the +waters closed over two beauteous flies, and some six feet of +lovely taper gut. + +East laughed loud and merrily; and Tom, crestfallen as he was, +was delighted to hear the old ring coming back into his friend's +voice. + +"Harry, old fellow, you're picking up already in this glorious +air." + +"Of course I am. Two or three more weddings and fishings will set +me up altogether. How could you be so green as to throw over +those rails? It's a proper lesson to you, Tom, for poaching." + +"Well, that's cool. Didn't I throw down stream to please you?" + +"You ought to have resisted temptation. But, I say, what are you +at?" + +"Putting on another cast, of course." + +"Why, you're not going on to Wurley's land?" + +"No; I suppose not. I must try the mill tail again." + +"It's no good. You've tried it over twice, and I'm getting +bored." + +"Well, what shall we do then?" + +"I've a mind to get up to the hill there to see the sun +set--what's its name?--where I waited with the cavalry that +night, you know." + +"Oh! the Hawk's Lynch. Come along, then; I'm your man." + +So Tom put up his rod, and caught the old pony, and the two +friends were soon on their way towards the common, through lanes +at the back of the village. + +The wind had sunk to sleep as the shadows lengthened. There was +no sound abroad except that of Nibble's hoofs on the turf,--not +even the hum of insects; for the few persevering gnats, who were +still dancing about in the slanting glints of sunshine that +struck here and there across the lanes, had left off humming. +Nothing living met them except an occasional stag-beetle, +steering clumsily down the lane, and seeming like a heavy +coaster, to have as much to do as he could fairly manage in +keeping clear of them. They walked on in silence for some time, +which was broken at last by East. + +"I haven't had time to tell you about my future prospects." + +"How do you mean? Has anything happened?" + +"Yes. I got a letter two days ago from New Zealand, where I find +I am a considerable landowner. A cousin of mine has died out +there and has left me his property." + +"W ell, you're not going to leave England, surely?" + +"Yes, I am. The doctors say the voyage will do me good, and the +climate is just the one to suit me. What's the good of my staying +here? I shan't be fit for service again for years. I shall go on +half-pay, and become an enterprising agriculturist at the +Antipodes. I have spoken to the sergeant, and arranged that he +and his wife shall go with me; so, as soon as I can get his +discharge, and he has done honeymooning, we shall start. I wish +you would come with us." + +Tom could scarcely believe his ears; but soon found that East was +in earnest, and had an answer to all his remonstrances. Indeed, +he had very little to say against the plan, for it jumped with +his own humour; and he could not help admitting that, under the +circumstances, it was a wise one, and that, with Harry Winburn +for his head man, East couldn't do better than carry it out. + +"I knew you would soon come around to it," said the Captain; +"what could I do dawdling about at home, with just enough money +to keep me and get me into mischief? There I shall have a +position and an object; and one may be of some use, and make +one's mark in a new country. And we'll get a snug berth ready for +you by the time you're starved out of the old country. England +isn't the place for poor men with any go in them." + +"I believe you're right, Harry," said Tom, mournfully. + +"I know I am. And in a few years, when we've made our fortunes, +we'll come back and have a look at the old country, and perhaps +buy up half Englebourn and lay our bones in the old church yard." + +"And if we don't make our fortunes?" + +"Then we'll stay out there." + +"Well, if I were my own master I think I should make one with +you. But I could never leave my father and mother, or--or--" + +"Oh, I understand. Of course, if matters go all right in that +quarter, I have nothing more to say. But, from what you have told +me, I thought you might be glad of a regular break in your life, +a new start in a new world." + +"Very likely I may. I should have said so myself this morning. +But somehow I feel to-night more hopeful than I have for years." + +"Those wedding chimes are running in your head." + +"Yes; and they have lifted a load off my heart too. Four years +ago I was very near doing the greatest wrong a man can do to that +girl who was married to-day, and to that fine fellow her husband, +who was the first friend I ever had. Ever since then I have been +doing my best to set matters straight, and have often made them +crookeder. But to-day they are all straight, thank God, and I +feel as if a chain were broken from off my neck. All has come +right for them, and perhaps my own time will come before long." + +"To be sure it will. I must be introduced to a certain young lady +before we start. I shall tell her that I don't mean to give up +hopes of seeing her on the other side of the world." + +"Well, here we are on the common. What a glorious sunset! Come, +stir up, Nibble. We shall be on the Lynch just in time to see him +dip if we push on." + +Nibble, the ancient pony, finding that there was no help for it, +scrambled up the greater part of the ascent successfully. But his +wheezings and roarings during the operation excited East's pity; +so he dismounted when they came to the foot of the Hawk's Lynch, +and, tying Nibble's bridle to a furze-bush--a most unnecessary +precaution--set to work to scale the last and deepest bit of the +ascent with the help of his stick--and Tom's strong-arm. + +They paused every ten paces or so to rest and look at the sunset. +The broad vale below lay in purple shadow; the soft flocks of +little clouds high up over their heads, and stretching away to +the eastern horizon, floated in a sea of rosy light; and the +stems of the Scotch firs stood out like columns of ruddy flame. + +"Why, this beats India," said East, putting up his hand to shade +his eyes, which were fairly dazzled by the blaze. "What a +contrast to the last time I was up here! Do you remember that +awful black-blue sky?" + +"Don't I? Like a night-mare. Hullo! who's here?" + +"Why, if it isn't the parson and Miss Winter," said East, +smiling. + +True enough, there they were, standing together on the very verge +of the mound, beyond the firs, some ten yards in front of the +last comers, looking out into the sunset. + +"I say, Tom, another good omen," whispered East; "hadn't we +better beat a retreat?" + +Before Tom could answer, or make up his mind what to do, Hardy +turned his head and caught sight of them, and then Katie turned +too, blushing like the little clouds overhead. It was an +embarrassing moment. Tom stammered out that they had come up +quite by chance, and then set to work, well seconded by East, to +look desperately unconscious, and to expatiate on the beauties of +the view. The light began to fade, and the little clouds to +change again from soft pink to grey, and the evening star shone +out clear as they turned to descend the hill, when the Englebourn +clock chimed nine. + +Katie attached herself to Tom, while Hardy helped the Captain +down the steep pitch, and on to the back of Nibble. They went a +little ahead. Tom was longing to speak to his cousin, but could +not tell how to begin. At last Katie broke the silence; + +"I am so vexed that this should have happened!" + +"Are you, dear? So am not I," he said, pressing her arm to his +side. + +"But I mean, it seems so forward--as if I had met Mr. Hardy here +on purpose. What will your friend think of me?" + +"He will think no evil." + +"But indeed, Tom, do tell him, pray. It was quite an accident. +You know how I and Mary used to go up the Hawk's Lynch whenever +we could, on fine evenings." + +"Yes, dear, I know it well." + +"And I thought of you both so much to-day, that I couldn't help +coming up here." + +"And you found Hardy? I don't wonder. I should come up to see the +sun set every night, if I lived at Englebourn." + +"No. He came up sometime after me. Straight up the hill. I did +not see him till he was quite close. I could not run away then. +Indeed, it was not five minutes before you came." + +"Five minutes are as good as a year sometimes." + +"And you will tell your friend, Tom, how it happened?" + +"Indeed I will, Katie. May I not tell him something more?" + +He looked round for an answer, and there was just light enough to +read it in her eye. + +"My debt is deepening to the Hawk's Lynch," he said, as they +walked on through the twilight. "Blessed five minutes! Whatever +else they may take with them, they will carry my thanks for ever. +Look how clear and steady the light of that star is, just over +the church tower. I wonder whether Mary is at a great hot dinner. +Shall you write to her soon?" + +"Oh, yes. To-night." + +"You may tell her that there is no better Englishman walking the +earth than my friend, John Hardy. Here we are at his lodgings. +East and I are going to tea with him. Wish them good night, and I +will see you home." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII--THE BEGINNING OF THE END + +From the Englebourn festivities, Tom and East returned to London. +The Captain was bent on starting for his possessions in the South +Pacific; and, as he regained strength, energized over all his +preparations, and went about in cabs purchasing agricultural +implements, sometimes by the light of nature, and sometimes under +the guidance of Harry Winburn. He invested also in something of a +library, and in large quantities of saddlery. In short, packages +of all kinds began to increase and multiply upon him. Then there +was the selecting of a vessel, and all the negotiations with the +ship's captain as to terms, and the business of getting +introduced to, and conferring with, people from the colony, or +who were supposed to know something about it. Altogether, East +had plenty of work on his hands; and the more he had to do, the +better and more cheery he became. + +Tom, on the contrary, was rather lower than usual. His +half-formed hopes that some good luck was going to happen to him +after Patty's marriage, were beginning to grow faint, and the +contrast of his friend's definite present purpose in life, with +his own uncertainty, made him more or less melancholy in spite of +all his efforts. His father had offered him a tour abroad, now +that he had finished with Oxford, urging that he seemed to want a +change to freshen him up before buckling to a profession, and +that he would never, in all likelihood, have such another chance. +But he could not make up his mind to accept the offer. The +attraction to London was too strong for him; and, though he saw +little hope of anything happening to improve his prospects, he +could not keep away from it. He spent most of his time, when not +with East, in haunting the neighborhood of Mr. Porter's house in +Belgravia, and the places where he was likely to catch distant +glimpses of Mary, avoiding all chance of actual meeting or +recognition, from which he shrank in his present frame of mind. + +The nearest approach to the flame which he allowed himself was a +renewal of his old friendship with Grey, who was still working on +in his Westminister rookery. He had become a great favorite with +Mrs. Porter, who was always trying to get him to her house to +feed him properly, and was much astonished, and sometimes almost +provoked, at the small success of her hospitable endeavors. Grey +was so taken up with his own pursuits that it did not occur to +him to be surprised that he never met Tom at the house of his +relations. He was innocent of all knowledge or suspicion of the +real state of things, so that Tom could talk to him with perfect +freedom about his uncle's household, picking up all such scraps +of information as Grey possessed without compromising himself or +feeling shy. + +Thus the two old schoolfellows lived on together after their +return from Englebourn, in a set of chambers in the Temple, which +one of Tom's college friends (who had been beguiled from the +perusal of Stephen's Commentaries and aspirations after the +woolsack, by the offer of a place on board a yacht and a cruise +to Norway) had fortunately lent him. + +We join company with our hero again on a fine July morning. +Readers will begin to think that, at any rate, he is always +blessed with fine weather, whatever troubles he may have to +endure; but, if we are not to have fine weather in novels, when +and where are we to have it? It was a fine July morning, then, +and the streets were already beginning to feel sultry as he +worked his way westward. Grey, who had never given up hopes of +bringing Tom round to his own views, had not neglected the +opportunities which this residence in town offered, and had +enlisted Tom's services on more than one occasion. He had found +him specially useful in instructing the big boys, whom he was +trying to bring together and civilize in a "Young Men's Club," in +the rudiments of cricket on Saturday evenings. But on the morning +in question, an altogether different work was on hand. + +A lady living some eight or nine miles to the north-west of +London, who took great interest in Grey's doings, had asked him +to bring the children of his night-school down to spend a day in +her grounds, and this was the happy occasion. It was before the +days of cheap excursions by rail, so that vans had to be found +for the party; and Grey had discovered a benevolent remover of +furniture in Paddington, who was ready to take them at a +reasonable figure. The two vans, with awnings and curtains in the +height of fashion, and horses with tasselled ear-caps, and +everything handsome about them, were already drawn up in the +midst of a group of excited children, and scarcely less excited +mothers, when Tom arrived. Grey was arranging his forces, and +labouring to reduce the Irish children, who formed almost half +his ragged little flock, into something like order, before +starting. By degrees this was managed, and Tom was placed in +command of the rear van, while Grey reserved the leading one to +himself. The children were divided and warned not to lean over +the sides and fall out--a somewhat superfluous caution--as most +of them, though unused to riding in any legitimate manner, were +pretty well used to balancing themselves behind any vehicle which +offered as much as a spike to sit on, out of sight of the driver. +Then came the rush into the vans. Grey and Tom took up their +places next the doors as conductors, and the procession lumbered +off with great success, and much shouting from treble voices. + +Tom soon found that he had plenty of work on his hands to keep +the peace among his flock. The Irish element was in a state of +wild effervescence, and he had to draft them down to his own end, +leaving the foremost cart of the van to the soberer English +children. He was much struck by the contrast of the whole set to +the Englebourn school children, whom he had lately seen under +somewhat similar circumstances. The difficulty with them had been +to draw them out, and put anything like life into them; here, all +he had to do was to suppress the superabundant life. However, the +vans held on their way, and got safely into the suburbs, and so +at last to an occasional hedge, and a suspicion of trees, and +green fields beyond. + +It became more and more difficult now to keep the boys in; and +when they came to a hill, where the horses had to walk, he +yielded to their entreaties, and, opening the door, let them out, +insisting only that the girls should remain seated. They +scattered over the sides of the roads, and up the banks; now +chasing pigs and fowls up to the very doors of their owners; now +gathering the commonest roadside weeds, and running up to show +them to him, and ask their names, as if they were rare treasures. +The ignorance of most of the children as to the commonest country +matters astonished him. One small boy particularly came back time +after time to ask him, with solemn face "Please, sir, is this the +country?" and when at last he allowed that it was, rejoined, +"Then, please, where are the nuts?" + +The clothing of most of the Irish boys began to tumble to pieces +in an alarming manner. Grey had insisted on their being made tidy +for the occasion, but the tidiness was of a superficial kind. The +hasty stitching soon began to give way, and they were rushing +about with wild locks; the strips of what once might have been +nether garments hanging about their legs; their feet and heads +bare, the shoes which their mothers had borrowed for the state +occasion having been deposited under the seat of the van. So, +when the procession arrived at the trim lodge-gates of their +hostess, and his charge descended and fell in on the beautifully +clipped turf at the side of the drive, Tom felt some of the +sensations of Falstaff when he had to lead his ragged regiment +through Coventry streets. + +He was soon at his ease again, and enjoyed the day thoroughly, +and the drive home; but, as they drew near town again, a sense of +discomfort and shyness came over him, and he wished the journey +to Westminster well over, and hoped that the carman would have +the sense to go through the quiet parts of the town. + +He was much disconcerted consequently, when the vans came to a +sudden stop opposite one of the Park entrances, in the Bayswater +Road. "What in the world is Grey about?" he thought, as he saw +him get out, and all the children after him. So he got out +himself, and went forward to get an explanation. + +"Oh I have told the man that he need not drive us round to +Westminster. He is close at home here, and his horses have had a +hard day; so we can just get out and walk home." + +"What, across the Park?" asked Tom. + +"Yes, it will amuse the children, you know." + +"But they're tired," persisted Tom; "come now, it's all nonsense +letting the fellow off; he's bound to take us back." + +"I'm afraid I have promised him," said Grey; "besides, the +children all think it a treat. Don't you all want to walk across +the Park?" he went on turning to them, and a general affirmative +chorus was the answer. So Tom had nothing for it but to shrug his +shoulders, empty his own van, and follow into the Park with his +convoy, not in the best humor with Grey for having arranged this +ending to their excursion. + +They might have got over a third of the distance between the +Bayswater Road and the Serpentine, when he was aware of a small, +thin voice addressing him. + +"Oh, please won't you carry me a bit? I'm so tired," said the +voice. He turned in some trepidation to look for the speaker, and +found her to be a sickly, undergrown little girl of ten or +thereabouts, with large, pleading, grey eyes, very shabbily +dressed, and a little lame. He had remarked her several times in +the course of the day, not for any beauty or grace about her, for +the poor child had none, but for her transparent confidence and +trustfulness. After dinner, as they had been all sitting on the +grass under the shade of a great elm to hear Grey read a story, +and Tom had been sitting a little apart from the rest with his +back against the trunk, she had come up and sat quietly down by +him, leaning on his knee. Then he had seen her go up and take the +hand of the lady who had entertained them, and walk along by her, +talking without the least shyness. Soon afterwards she had +squeezed into the swing by the side of the beautifully-dressed +little daughter of the same lady, who, after looking for a minute +at her shabby little sister with large round eyes, had jumped out +and run off to her mother, evidently in a state of childish +bewilderment as to whether it was not wicked for a child to wear +such dirty old clothes. + +Tom had chuckled to himself as he saw Cinderella settling herself +comfortably in the swing in the place of the ousted princess, and +had taken a fancy to the child, speculating to himself as to how +she could have been brought up, to be so utterly unconscious of +differences of rank and dress. "She seems really to treat her +fellow-creatures as if she had been studying the _Sartor +Resartus_," he thought. "She was cut down through all +clothes-philosophy without knowing it. I wonder, if she had a +chance, whether she would go and sit down in the Queen's lap?" + +He did not at the time anticipate that she would put his own +clothes-philosophy to so severe a test before the day was over. +The child had been as merry and active as any of the rest during +the earlier part of the day; but now, as he looked down in answer +to her reiterated plea, "Won't you carry me a bit? I'm so +tired!", he saw that she could scarcely drag one foot after +another. + +What was to be done? He was already keenly alive to the +discomfort of walking across Hyde Park in a procession of ragged +children, with such a figure of fun as Grey at their head, +looking, in his long, rusty, straight-cut black coat, as if he +had come fresh out of Noah's ark. He didn't care about it so much +while they were on the turf in the out-of-the-way parts, and +would meet nobody but guards, and nurse-maids, and trades-people, +and mechanics out for an evening's stroll. But the Drive and +Rotten Row lay before them, and must be crossed. It was just the +most crowded time of the day. He had almost made up his mind once +or twice to stop Grey and the procession, and propose to sit down +for half-an-hour or so and let the children play, by which time +the world would be going home to dinner. But there was no play +left in the children; and he had resisted the temptation, +meaning, when they came to the most crowded part, to look +unconscious, as if it were by chance that he had got into such +company, and had in fact nothing to do with them. But now, if he +listened to the child's plea, and carried her, all hope of +concealment was over. If he did not, he felt that there would be +no greater flunkey in the Park that evening than Thomas Brown, +the enlightened radical and philosopher, amongst the young +gentlemen riders in Rotten Row, or the powdered footmen lounging +behind the great blaring carriages in the Drive. + +So he looked down at the child once or twice in a state of +puzzle. A third time she looked up with her great eyes, and said, +"Oh, please carry me a bit!" and her piteous, tired face turned +the scale. "If she were Lady Mary or Lady Blanche," thought he, +"I should pick her up at once, and be proud of the burden. Here +goes!" And he took her up in his arms, and walked on, desperate +and reckless. + +Notwithstanding all his philosophy, he felt his ears tingling and +his face getting red, as they approached the drive. It was +crowded. They were kept standing a minute or two at the crossing. +He made a desperate effort to abstract himself wholly from the +visible world, and retire in a state of serene contemplation. But +it would not do; and he was painfully conscious of the stare of +lack-lustre eyes of well dressed men leaning over the rails, and +the amused look of delicate ladies, lounging in open carriages, +and surveying him and Grey and their ragged rout through glasses. + +At last they scrambled across, and he breathed freely for a +minute, as they struggled along the comparatively quiet path +leading to Albert Gate, and stopped to drink at the fountain. +Then came Rotten Row, and another pause amongst the loungers, and +a plunge into the Ride, where he was nearly run down by two men +whom he had known at Oxford. They shouted to him to get out of +the way; and he felt the hot defiant blood rushing through his +veins, as he strode across without heeding. They passed on, one +of them having to pull his horse out of his stride to avoid him. +Did they recognize him? He felt a strange mixture of utter +indifference, and longing to strangle them. + +The worst was now over; besides, he was getting used to the +situation, and his good sense was beginning to rally. So he +marched through Albert Gate, carrying his ragged little charge, +who prattled away to him without a pause, and surrounded by the +rest of the children, scarcely caring who might see him. + +They won safely through the omnibuses and carriages on the +Kensington Road, and so into Belgravia. At last he was quite at +his ease again, and began listening to what the child was saying +to him, and was strolling carelessly along, when once more at one +of the crossings, he was startled by a shout from some riders. +There was straw laid down in the street, so that he had not heard +them as they cantered round the corner, hurrying home to dress +for dinner; and they were all but upon him, and had to rein up +their horses sharply. + +The party consisted of a lady and two gentlemen, one old, the +other young--the latter dressed in the height of fashion, and +with the supercilious air which Tom hated from his soul. The +shout came from the young man, and drew Tom's attention to him +first. All the devil rushed up as he recognized St. Cloud. The +lady's horse swerved against his, and began to rear. He put his +hand on its bridle, as if he had a right to protect her. Another +glance told Tom that the lady was Mary, and the old gentleman, +fussing up on his stout cob on the other side of her, Mr. Porter. + +They all knew him in another moment. He stared from one to the +other, was conscious that she turned her horse's head sharply, so +as to disengage the bridle from St. Cloud's hand, and of his +insolent stare, and of the embarrassment of Mr. Porter, and then, +setting his face straight before him, he passed on in a +bewildered dream, never looking back till they were out of sight. +The dream gave way to bitter and wild thoughts, upon which it +will do none of us any good to dwell. He put down the little girl +outside the schools, turning abruptly from the mother, a poor +widow in scant, well-preserved black clothes who was waiting for +the child, and began thanking him for his care of her; refused +Grey's pressing invitation to tea, and set his face eastward. +Bitterer and more wild and more scornful grew his thoughts as he +strode along past the Abbey, and up Whitehall, and away down the +Strand, holding on over the crossings without paying the +slightest heed to vehicle, or horse, or man. Incensed coachmen +had to pull up with a jerk to avoid running over him, and more +than one sturdy walker turned round in indignation at a collision +which they felt had been intended, or at least which there had +been no effort to avoid. + +As he passed under the window of the Banqueting Hall, and by the +place in Charing Cross where the pillory used to stand, he +growled to himself what a pity it was that the times for cutting +off heads and cropping ears had gone by. The whole of the dense +population from either side of the Strand seemed to have crowded +out into that thoroughfare to impede his march and aggravate him. +The further eastward he got, the thicker got the crowd, and the +vans, the omnibuses, the cabs, seemed to multiply and get +noisier. Not an altogether pleasant sight to a man in the most +Christian frame of mind is the crowd that a fine summer evening +fetches out into the roaring Strand, as the sun fetches out flies +on the window of a village grocery. To him just then it was at +once depressing and provoking, and he went shouldering his way +towards Temple Bar as thoroughly out of tune as he had been for +many a long day. + +As he passed from the narrowest part of the Strand into the space +round St. Clement Danes' church, he was startled, in a momentary +lull of the uproar, by the sound of chiming bells. He slackened +his pace to listen; but a huge van lumbered by, shaking the +houses on both sides, and drowning all sounds but its own rattle; +and then he found himself suddenly immersed in a crowd, +vociferating and gesticulating round a policeman, who was +conveying a woman towards the station-house. He shouldered +through it--another lull came, and with it the same slow, gentle, +calm cadence of chiming bells. Again and again he caught it as he +passed on to Temple Bar; whenever the roar subsided, the notes of +the old hymn tune came dropping down on him like balm from the +air. If the ancient benefactor who caused the bells of St. +Clement Danes' Church to be arranged to play that chime so many +times a day is allowed to hover round the steeple at such times, +to watch the effect of his benefaction on posterity, he must have +been well satisfied on that evening. Tom passed under the Bar, +and turned into the Temple another man, softened again, and in +his right mind. + +"There's always a voice saying the right thing to you somewhere, +if you'll only listen for it," he thought. He took a few turns in +the court to clear his head, and then found Harry East reclining +on a sofa, in full view of the gardens and river, solacing +himself with his accustomed cheroot. + +"Oh, here you are," he said, making room on the sofa; "how did it +go off?" + +"Well enough. Where have you been?" + +"In the City and at the Docks. I've been all over our vessel. +She's a real clipper." + +"When do you sail?" + +"Not quite certain. I should say in a fortnight, though." East +puffed away for a minute, and then, as Tom said nothing, went on. +"I'm not so sweet on it as the time draws near. There are more of +my chums turning up every day from India at the Rag. And this is +uncommonly pleasant, too, living with you here in the chambers. +You may probably think it odd, but I don't half like getting rid +of you." + +"Thanks; but I don't think you will get rid of me." + +"How do you mean?" + +"I mean that I shall go with you, if my people will let me, and +you will take me." + +"W-h-e-w! Anything happened?" + +"Yes." + +"You've seen her?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, go on. Don't keep a fellow in suspense. I shall be +introduced, and eat one of the old boy's good dinners, after all, +before I sail." + +Tom looked out of window, and found some difficulty in getting +out the words, "No, it's all up." + +"You don't mean it?" said East, coming to a sitting position by +Tom's side. "But how do you know? Are you sure? What did she +say?" + +"Nothing. I haven't spoken to her; but it's all up. She was +riding with her father and the fellow to whom she's engaged. I +have heard it a dozen times, but never would believe it." + +"But, is that all? Riding with her father and another man! Why, +there's nothing in that." + +"Yes, but there is though. You should have seen his look. And +they all knew me well enough, but not one of them nodded even." + +"Well, there's not much in that after all. It may have been +chance, or you may have fancied it." + +"No, one isn't quite such a fool. However, I have no right to +complain, and I won't. I could bear it all well enough if he were +not such a cold-hearted blackguard." + +"What, this fellow she was riding with?" + +"Yes. He hasn't a heart the size of a pin's head. He'll break +hers. He's a mean brute, too. She can't know him, though he has +been after her this year and more. They must have forced her into +it. Ah! it's a bitter business," and he put his head between his +hands, and East heard the deep catches of his laboring breath, as +he sat by him, feeling deeply for him, but puzzled what to say. + +"She can't be worth so much after all, Tom," he said at last, "if +she would have such a fellow as that. Depend upon it, she's not +what you thought her." + +Tom made no answer; so the captain went on presently, thinking he +had hit the right note. + +"Cheer up, old boy. There's as good fish in the sea yet as ever +came out of it. Don't you remember the song--whose is it? +Lovelace's:-- + + "'If she be not fair for me, + What care I for whom she be?'" + +Tom started up almost fiercely, but recovered himself in a +moment, and then leant his head down again. + +"Don't talk about her, Harry; you don't know her," he said. + +"And don't want to know her, Tom, if she is going to throw you +over. Well, I shall leave you for an hour or so. Come up to me +presently at the Rag, when you feel better." + +East started for his club, debating within himself what he could +do for his friend--whether calling out the party mightn't do +good. + +Tom, left to himself, broke down at first sadly; but, as the +evening wore on he began to rally, and sat down and wrote a long +letter to his father, making a clean breast, and asking his +permission to go with East. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX--THE END + +My Dear Katie;--I know you will be very much pained when you read +this letter. You two have been my only confidantes, and you have +always kept me up, and encouraged me to hope that all would come +right. And after all that happened last week, Patty's marriage, +and your engagement,--the two things upon earth, with one +exception, that I most wished for,--I quite felt that my own turn +was coming. I can't tell why I had such a strong feeling about +it, but somehow all the most important changes in my life for the +last four years have been so interwoven with Patty and Harry +Winburn's history, that, now they were married, I was sure +something would happen to me as soon as I came to London. And I +was not wrong. Dear Katie, I can hardly bring myself to write it. +It is all over. I met her in the street to-day; she was riding +with her father and the man I told you about. They had to pull up +not to ride over me; so I had a good look at her, and there can +be no mistake about it. I have often tried to reason myself into +the belief that the evil day must come sooner or later, and to +prepare myself for it; but I might have spared myself, for it +could not have been worse than it is if I had never anticipated +it. My future is all a blank now. I can't stay in England; so I +have written home to ask them to let me go to New Zealand with +East, and I am sure they will consent, when they know all. + +"I shall wait in town till I get the answer. Perhaps I may be +able to get off with East in a few weeks. The sooner the better; +but, of course, I shall not go without seeing you and dear old +Jack. You mustn't mind me calling him Jack. The only thing that +it gives me any pleasure to think about is your engagement. It is +so right; and one wants to see something going right, some one +getting their due, to keep alive one's belief in justice being +done somehow or another in the world. And I do see it, and +acknowledge it, when I think over his history and mine since we +first met. We have both got our due; and you have got yours, +Katie, for you have got the best fellow in England. + +"Ah! if I only could think that she has got hers! If I could only +believe that the man she has chosen is worthy of her! I will try +hard to think better of him. There must be more good in him that +I have ever seen, or she would never have engaged herself to him. +But I can't bear to stop here, and see it all going on. The +sooner I am out of England the better. I send you a parcel with +this; it contains her notes, and some old flowers and other +matters which I haven't the heart to burn. You will be the best +judge what should be done with them. If you see your way to +managing it, I should like her to know that I had sent them all +to you, and that, whatever may happen to me hereafter, my love +for her has been the mainstay and the guiding-star of my life +ever since that happy time when you all came to stay with us in +my first long vacation. It found me eaten up with selfishness and +conceit, the puppet of my own lusts and vanities, and has left +me--well never mind what it has left me. At any rate, if I have +not gone from worse to worse, it is all owing to her; and she +ought to know it. It cannot be wrong to let her know what good +she has scattered unknowingly about her path. May God bless and +reward her for it, and you, too, dear cousin, for all your long +love and kindness to one who is very unworthy of, but very +thankful for them. + +"Ever yours, affectionately, + +"T. B." + +The above letter, and that to his father, asking for leave to +emigrate, having been written and sent off, Tom was left, on the +afternoon of the day following his upset, making manful, if not +very successful, efforts to shake off the load of depression +which weighed on him, and to turn his thoughts resolutely forward +to a new life in a new country. East was away at the Docks. There +was no one moving in the Temple. The men who had business were +all at Westminster, or out of sight and hearing in the recesses +of their chambers. Those who had none were for the most part away +enjoying themselves, in one way or another amongst the mighty +whirl of the mighty human sea of London. There was nothing left +for him to do; he had written the only two letters he had to +write, and had only to sit still and wait for the answers, +killing the meantime as well as he could. Reading came hard to +him, but it was the best thing to do, perhaps; at any rate he was +trying it on, though his studies were constantly interrupted by +long fits of absence of mind, during which, though his body +remained in the temple, he was again in the well-kept garden of +Barton, or in the hazel wood under the lee of the Berkshire +hills. + +He was roused out of one of these reveries, and brought back to +external life and Fig-tree Court, by a single knock at the outer +door, and a shout of the newsman's boy for the paper. So he got +up, found the paper, which he had forgotten to read, and, as he +went to the door, cast his eye on it, and saw that a great match +was going on at Lord's. This gave a new turn to his thoughts. He +stood looking down stairs after the boy, considering whether he +should not start at once for the match. + +He would be sure to see a lot of acquaintances there at any rate. +But the idea of seeing and having to talk to mere acquaintances +was more distasteful than his present solitude. He was turning to +bury himself again in his hole, when he saw a white dog walk +quietly up seven or eight stairs at the bottom of the flight, and +then turn round, and look for some one to follow. + +"How odd!" thought Tom, as he watched him; "as like as two peas. +It can't be. No. Why, yes it is." And then he whistled, and +called "Jack," and the dog looked up, and wagged his tail, as +much as to say, "All right, I'm coming directly; but I must wait +for my master." The next moment Drysdale appeared at the bottom +of the stairs, and looking up, said-- + +"Oh! that's you, is it? I'm all right then. So you knew the old +dog?" + +"I should rather think so," said Tom. "I hope I never forget a +dog or horse I have once known." + +In the short minute which Drysdale and Jack took to arrive at his +landing, Tom had time for a rush of old college memories, in +which the grave and gay, pleasant and bitter, were strangely +mingled. The light when he had been first brought to his senses +about Patty came up very vividly before him, and the +commemoration days, when he had last seen Drysdale. "How +strange!" he thought, "is my old life coming back again just now? +Here, on the very day after it is all over, comes back the man +with whom I was so intimate up to the day it began, and have +never seen since. What does it mean?" + +There was a little touch of embarrassment in the manner of both +of them as they shook hands at the top of the stairs, and turned +into the chambers. Tom motioned to Jack to take his old place at +one end of the sofa, and began caressing him there, the dog +showing unmistakably, by gesture and whine, that delight at +renewing an old friendship for which his race are so nobly +distinguished. Drysdale threw himself down in an arm-chair and +watched them. + +"So you knew the old dog, Brown?" he repeated. + +"Knew him?--of course I did. Dear old Jack! How well he wears; he +is scarcely altered at all." + +"Very little; only steadier. More than I can say for his master. +I'm very glad you knew Jack." + +"Come, Drysdale; take the other end of the sofa or it won't look +like old times. There, now I can fancy myself back at St. +Ambrose's." + +"By Jove, Brown, you're a real good fellow; I always said so, +even after that last letter. You pitched it rather strong in that +though. I was very near coming back from Norway to quarrel with +you." + +"Well, I was very angry at being left in the lurch by you and +Blake." + +"You got the coin all right, I suppose? You never acknowledged +it." + +"Didn't I? Then I ought to have. Yes, I got it all right about +six months afterwards. I ought to have acknowledged it, and I +thought I had. I'm sorry I didn't. Now we're all quits, and won't +talk any more about that rascally bill." + +"I suppose I may light up," said Drysdale, dropping into his old +lounging attitude on the sofa, and pulling out his cigar-case. + +"Yes, of course. Will you have anything?" + +"A cool drink wouldn't be amiss." + +"They make a nice tankard with cider and a lump of ice at the +'Rainbow'. What do you say to that?" + +"It sounds touching," said Drysdale. So Tom posted off to Fleet +Street to order the liquor, and came back followed by a waiter +with the tankard. Drysdale took a long pull and smacked his lips. + +"That's a wrinkle," he said, handing the tankard to Tom. "I +suppose the lawyers teach all the publicans about here a trick or +two. Why, one can fancy one's self back in the old quad, looking +out on this court. If it weren't such an outlandish +out-of-the-way place, I think I should take some chambers here +myself. How did you get here?" + +"Oh, they belong to a friend of mine who is away. But how did +_you_ get here?" + +"Why, along the Strand, in a Hansom." + +"I mean, how did you know I was here?" + +"Grey told me." + +"What! Grey, who was at St. Ambrose's with us?" + +"Yes. You look puzzled." + +"I didn't think you knew Grey." + +"No more I do. But a stout old party I met last night--your +godfather, I should think he is--told me where he was, and said I +should get your address from him. So I looked him up this +morning, in that dog-hole in Westminster where he lives. He +didn't know Jack from Adam." + +"But what in the world do you mean by my godfather?" + +"I had better tell my story from the beginning, I see. Last night +I did what I don't often do, went out to a great drum. There was +an awful crush, of course, and you may guess what the heat was in +these dog-days, with gas-lights and wax-lights going, and a jam +of people in every corner. I was fool enough to get into the +rooms, so that my retreat was cut off; and I had to work right +through, and got at last into a back room, which was not so full. +The window was in a recess, and there was a balcony outside, +looking over a little bit of garden. I got into the balcony, +talking with a girl who was sensible enough to like the cool. +Presently I heard a voice I thought I knew inside. Then I heard +St. Ambrose, and then your name. Of course I listened; I couldn't +help myself. They were just inside the window, in the recess, not +five feet from us; so I heard pretty nearly ever word. Give us +the tankard; I'm as dry as an ash-heap with talking." + +Tom, scarcely able to control his impatience, handed the tankard. +"But who was it?--you haven't told me," he said, as Drysdale put +it down at last empty. + +"Why, that d--d St. Cloud. He was giving you a nice character, in +a sort of sneaking deprecatory way, as if he was sorry for it. +Amongst other little tales, he said you used to borrow money from +Jews--he knew it for a certainty because he had been asked +himself to join you and another man--meaning me, of course--in +such a transaction. You remember how he wouldn't acknowledge the +money I lent him at play, and the note he wrote me which upset +Blake so. I had never forgotten it. I knew I should get my chance +some day, and here it was. I don't know what the girl thought of +me, or how she got out of the balcony, but I stepped into the +recess just as he had finished his precious story, and landed +between him and a comfortable old boy, who was looking shocked. +He _must_ be your godfather, or something of the kind. I'll bet +you a pony you are down for something handsome in his will." + +"What was his name? Did you find out?" + +"Yes; Potter, or Porter, or something like it. I've got his card +somewhere. I just stared St. Cloud in the face, and you may +depend upon it he winched. Then I told the old boy that I had +heard their talk, and, as I was at St. Ambrose with you, I should +like to have five minutes with him when St. Cloud had done. He +seemed rather in a corner between us. However, I kept in sight +till St. Cloud was obliged to draw off; and, to cut my story +short, as the tankard is empty, I think I put you pretty straight +there. You said we were quits just now; after last night, perhaps +we are, for I told him the truth of the Benjamin story, and I +think he is squared. He seems a good sort of old boy. He's a +relation of yours, eh?" + +"Only a distant connexion. Did anything more happen?" + +"Yes; I saw that he was flurried and didn't know quite what to +think; so I asked him to let me call, and I would bring him some +one else to speak to your character. He gave me his card, and I'm +going to take Blake there today. Then I asked him where you were, +and he didn't know, but said he thought Grey could tell me." + +"It is very kind of you, Drysdale to take so much trouble." + +"Trouble! I'd go from here to Jericho to be even with our fine +friend. I never forget a bad turn. I met him afterwards in the +cloak-room, and went out of the door close after him, to give him +a chance if he wants to say anything. I only wish he would. But +why do you suppose he is lying about you?" + +"I can't tell. I've never spoken to him since he left Oxford. +Never saw him till yesterday, riding with Mr. Porter. I suppose +that reminded them of me." + +"Well, St. Cloud is bent on getting round him for some reason or +another, you may take your oath of that. Now my time's up; I +shall go and pick up Blake. I should think I had better not take +Jack to call in Eaton Square, though he'd give you a good +character if he could speak; wouldn't you Jack?" + +Jack wagged his tail, and descended from the sofa. + +"Does Blake live up here? What is he doing?" + +"Burning the candle at both ends, and in the middle, as usual. +Yes, he's living near his club. He writes political articles, +devilish well I hear, too, and is reading for the bar; beside +which he is getting into society, and going out whenever he can, +and fretting his soul out that he isn't prime minister, or +something of the kind. He won't last long at the pace he's +going." + +"I'm very sorry to hear it. But you'll come here again, Drysdale; +or let me come and see you? I shall be very anxious to hear what +has happened." + +"Here's my pasteboard; I shall be in town for another fortnight. +Drop in when you like." + +And so Drysdale and Jack went off, leaving Tom in a chaotic state +of mind. All his old hopes were roused again as he thought over +Drysdale's narrative. He could no longer sit still; so he rushed +out, and walked up and down the river-side walk, in the Temple +gardens, where a fine breeze blowing, at a pace which astonished +the gate-keepers and the nursery-maids and children, who were +taking the air in that favorite spot. Once or twice he returned +to chambers, and at last found East reposing after his excursion +to the Docks. + +East's quick eye saw at once that something had happened; and he +had very soon heard the whole story; upon which he deliberated +for some minutes, and rejoiced Tom's heart by saying: "Ah! all up +with New Zealand, I see. I shall be introduced after all before +we start. Come along; I must stand you a dinner on the strength +of the good news, and we'll drink her health." + +Tom called twice that evening at Drysdale's lodgings, but he was +out. The next morning he called again. Drysdale had gone to +Hampton Court races, and had left no message. He left a note for +him, but got no answer. It was trying work. Another day passed +without any word from Drysdale, who seemed never to be at home; +and no answer to either of his letters. On the third morning he +heard from his father. It was just the answer which he had +expected--as kind a letter as could be written. Mr. Brown had +suspected how matters stood at one time, but had given up the +idea in consequence of Tom's silence; which he regretted, as +possibly things might have happened otherwise, had he known the +state of the case. It was too late now, however; and the less +said the better about what might have been. As to New Zealand, he +should not oppose Tom's going, if, after some time, he continued +in his present mind. It was very natural for him just now to wish +to go. They would talk it over as soon as Tom came home, which +Mr. Brown begged him to do at once, or, at any rate, as soon as +he had seen his friend off. Home was the best place for him. + +Tom sighed as he folded it up; the hopes of the last three days +seemed to be fading away again. He spent another restless day; +and by night had persuaded himself that Drysdale's mission had +been a complete failure, and that he did not write and kept out +of the way out of kindness for him. + +"Why, Tom, old fellow, you look as down in the mouth as ever +to-night," East said, when Tom opened the door for him about +midnight, on his return from his club; "cheer up; you may depend +it's all to go right." + + "But I haven't seen Drysdale again, and he hasn't written to +me." + +"There's nothing in that. He was glad enough to do you a good +turn, I dare say, when it came in his way, but that sort of +fellow never can keep anything up. He has been too much used to +having his own way, and following his own fancies. Don't you lose +heart because he won't put himself out for you." + +"Well, Harry, you are the best fellow, in the world. You would +put a backbone into anyone." + +"Now, we'll just have a quiet cheroot, and then turn in; and see +if you don't have good news to-morrow. How hot it is! The Strand +to-night is as hot as the Punjaub, and the reek of it--phah! my +throat is full of it still." + +East took off his coat, and was just throwing it on a chair, when +he stopped, and, feeling in his pocket, said-- + +"Let's see, here's a note for you. The porter gave it to me as I +knocked in." + +Tom took it carelessly, but the next moment was tearing it open +with trembling fingers. "From my cousin," he said. East watched +him read, and saw the blood rush to his face, and the light come +into his eyes. + +"Good news, Tom, I see. Bravo, old boy. You've had a long fight +for it, and deserve to win." + +Tom got up, tossed the note across the table, and began walking +up and down the room; his heart was too full for speech. + +"May I read?" said East, looking up. Tom nodded, and he read-- + +"DEAR TOM,--I am coming to town to spend a week with them in +Eaton Square. Call on me to-morrow at twelve, or, if you are +engaged then, between three and five. I have no time to add more +now, but long to see you. + +Your loving cousin, + +KATIE + +"P.S.--I will give you your parcel back to-morrow, and then you +can _burn_ the contents yourself, or do what you like with them. +Uncle bids me say he shall be glad if you will come and dine +to-morrow, and any other day you can spare while I am here." + +When he had read the note, East got up and shook hands heartily +with Tom, and then sat down again quietly to finish his cheroot, +watching with a humorous look his friend's march. + +"And you think it is really all right now?" Tom asked, in one +form or another, after every few turns; and East replied in +various forms of chaffing assurance that there could not be much +further question on the point. At last, when he had finished his +cheroot, he got up, and, taking his candle, said, "Good night, +Tom; when that revolution comes, which you're always predicting, +remember, if you're not shot or hung, you'll always find a roost +for you and your wife in New Zealand." + +"I don't feel so sure about the revolution now, Harry." + +"Of course you don't. Mind, I bargain for the dinner in Eaton +Square. I always told you I should dine there before I started." + +The next day Tom found that he was not engaged at twelve o'clock, +and was able to appear in Eaton Square. He was shown up into the +drawing-room, and found Katie alone there. The quiet and coolness +of the darkened room was most grateful to him after the glare of +the streets, as he sat down by her side. + +"But Katie," he said, as soon as the first salutations and +congratulations had passed, "how did it all happen? I can't +believe my senses yet. I am afraid I may wake up any minute." + +"Well, it was chiefly owing to two lucky coincidences; though no +doubt it would have all come right in time without them." + +"Our meeting the other day in the street, I suppose, was one of +them?" + +"Yes. Coming across you so suddenly, carrying the little girl, +reminded Mary of the day when she sprained her ankle, and you +carried her through Hazel Copse. Ah, you never told me _all_ of +that adventure, either of you." + +"All that was necessary, Katie." + +"Oh! I have pardoned you. Uncle saw then that she was very much +moved at something, and guessed well enough what it was. He is so +very kind, and so fond of Mary, he would do anything in the world +that she wished. She was quite unwell that evening; so he and +aunt had to go out alone; and they met Mr. St. Cloud at a party, +who was said to be engaged to her." + +"It wasn't true, then?" + +"No, never. He is a very designing man, though I believe he was +really in love with poor Mary. At any rate he has persecuted her +for more than a year. And, it is very wicked, but I am afraid he +spread all those reports himself." + +"Of their engagement? Just like him!" + +"Uncle is so good-natured, you know; and he took advantage of it, +and was always coming here, and riding with them. And he made +Uncle believe dreadful stories about you, which made him seem so +unkind. He was quite afraid to have you at the house." + +"Yes, I saw that last year; and the second coincidence?" + +"It happened that very night. Poor uncle was very much troubled +what to do; so, when he met Mr. St. Cloud, as I told you, he took +him aside to ask him again about you. Somehow, a gentleman who +was a friend of yours at Oxford overheard what was said, and came +forward and explained everything." + +"Yes, he came and told me." + +"Then you know more than I about it." + +"And you think Mr. Porter is convinced that I am not quite such a +scamp after all?" + +"Yes, indeed; and the boys are so delighted that they will see +you again. They are at home for the holidays, and so grown." + +"And Mary?" + +"She is very well. You will see her before long, I dare say." + +"Is she at home?" + +"She is out riding with uncle. Now I will go up and get your +parcel, which I had opened at home before I got aunt's note +asking me here. No wonder we could never find her boot." + +Katie disappeared and at the same time Tom thought he heard the +sound of horses' feet. Yes, and they had stopped, too. It must be +Mary and her father. He could not see because of the blinds and +other devices for keeping the room cool. But the next moment +there were voices in the hall below, and then a light step on the +carpeted stair, which no ear but his could have heard. His heart +beat with heavy painful pulsations, and his head swam as the door +opened, and Mary in her riding-habit stood in the room. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE POSTSCRIPT + +Our curtain must rise once again, and it shall be on a familiar +spot. Once more we must place ourselves on the Hawk's Lynch, and +look out over the well-known view, and the happy autumn fields, +ripe with the golden harvest. Two people are approaching on +horseback from the Barton side, who have been made one since we +left them at the fall of the curtain in the last chapter. They +ride lovingly together, close to one another, and forgetful of +the whole world, as they should do, for they have scarcely come +to the end of their honeymoon. + +They are in country costume--she in a light habit, but well cut, +and sitting on her as well as she sits on her dainty grey; he in +shooting-coat and wide-awake, with his fishing basket slung over +his shoulder. They come steadily up the hillside, rousing a +yellow-hammer here and there from the furze-bushes, and only draw +bit when they have reached the very top of the knoll. Then they +dismount, and Tom produces two halters from his fishing basket, +and taking off the bridles, fastens the horses up in the shade of +the fir-trees, and loosens their girths, while Mary, after +searching in the basket, pulls out a bag, and pours out a +prodigal feed of corn before each of them, on the short grass. + +"What are you doing, you wasteful little woman? You should have +put the bag underneath. They won't be able to pick up half the +corn." + +"Never mind, dear; then the birds will get it." + +"And you have given them enough for three feeds." + +"Why did you put so much in the bag? Besides you know it is the +last feed I shall give her. Poor dear little Gypsy," she added, +patting the neck of her dapple grey; "you have found a kind +mistress for her, dear, haven't you?" + +"Yes; I know she will be lightly worked and well cared for," he +said shortly, turning away, and busying himself with the basket +again. + +"But no one will ever love you, Gipsy, like your old mistress. +Now give me a kiss, and you shall have your treat," and she +pulled a piece of sugar out of the pocket of her riding habit; at +the sight of which the grey held out her beautiful nose to be +fondled, and then lapped up the sugar with eager lips from Mary's +hand, and turned to her corn. + +The young wife tripped across, and sat down near her husband, who +was laying out their luncheon on the turf. + +"It was very kind of you think of coming here for our last ride," +she said. "I remember how charmed I was with the place the first +Sunday I ever spent at Englebourn, when Katie brought me up here +directly after breakfast, before we went to the school. Such a +time ago it seems--before I ever saw you. And I have never been +here since. But I love it most for your sake, dear. Now, tell me +again all the times you have been here." + +Tom proceeded to recount some of his visits to the Hawk's Lynch, +in which we have accompanied him. Then they talked on about +Katie, and East, and the Englebourn people, past and present, old +Betty, and Harry and his wife in New Zealand, and David patching +coats and tending bees, and executing the Queen's justice to the +best of his ability in the village at their feet. + +"Poor David, I must get over somehow to see him before we leave +home. He feels your uncle's death, and the other changes in the +parish, more than anyone." + +"I am so sorry the living was sold," said Mary; "Katie and her +husband would have made Englebourn into a little paradise." + +"It could not be helped, dear. I can't say I'm sorry. There would +not have been work enough for him. He is better where he is, in a +great town-parish." + +"But Katie did love the place so, and was so used to it; she had +become quite a little queen there before her marriage. See what +we women have to give up for you," she said, playfully, turning +to him. But a shadow passed over his face, and he looked away +without answering. + +"What makes you so sorrowful, dear? What are you thinking of?" + +"Oh, nothing." + +"That isn't true. Now, tell me what it is. You have no right, you +know, to keep anything from me." + +"I can't bear to think that you have had to sell Gipsy. You have +never been without a riding horse till now. You will miss your +riding dreadfully, I am sure, dear." + +"I shall do very well without riding. I am so proud of learning +my lesson from you. You will see what a poor man's wife I shall +make. I have been getting mamma to let me do the house-keeping, +and know how a joint should look, and all sorts of useful things. +And I have made my own house-linen. I shall soon get to hate all +luxuries as much as you do." + +"Now, Mary, you mustn't run into extremes. I never said you ought +to hate all luxuries, but that almost everybody one knows is a +slave to them." + +"Well, and I hate anything that wants to make a slave of me." + +"You are a dear little free woman. But now we are on this subject +again, Mary, I really want to speak to you about keeping a lady's +maid. We can quite afford it, and you ought to have one." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort." + +"Not to oblige me, Mary?" + +"No, not even to oblige you. There is something to be said for +dear Gypsy. But, take a maid again! to do nothing but torment me, +and pretend to take care of my clothes, and my hair! I never knew +what freedom was till I got rid of poor, foolish, grumbling +Higgins." + +"But you may get a nice girl who will be a comfort to you." + +"No, I never will have a woman again to do nothing but look after +me. It isn't fair to them. Besides, dear, you can't say that I +don't look better since I have done my own hair. Did you ever see +it look brighter than it does now?" + +"Never; and now here is luncheon all ready." So they sat down on +the verge of the slope, and ate their cold chicken and tongue, +with the relish imparted by youth, a long ride, and the bracing +air. + +Mary was merrier and brighter than ever, but it was an effort +with him to respond; and soon she began to notice this, and then +there was a pause, which she broke at last with something of an +effort. + +"There is that look again. What makes you look so serious, now? I +must know." + +"Was I looking serious? I beg your pardon, dearest; and I won't +do so again any more;" and he smiled as he answered, but the +smile faded away before her steady, loving gaze, and he turned +slightly from her, and looked out over the vale below. + +She watched him for a short time in silence, her own fair young +face changing like a summer sea as the light clouds pass over it. +Presently she seemed to have come to some decision; for, taking +off her riding hat, she threw it, and her whip and gauntlets, on +the turf beside her, and drawing nearer to his side, laid her +hand on his. He looked at her fondly, and, stroking her hair, +said-- + +"Take care of your complexion, Mary." + +"Oh, it will take care of itself in this air, dear. Besides, you +are between me and the sun; and now you _must_ tell me why you +look so serious. It is not the first time I have noticed that +look. I am your wife, you know, and I have a right to know your +thoughts, and share all your joy, and all your sorrow. I do not +mean to give up any of my rights which I got by marrying you." + +"Your rights, dearest! your poor little rights, which you have +gained by changing name, and plighting troth. It is thinking of +that--thinking of what you have bought, and the Price you have +paid for it, which makes me sad at times, even when you are +sitting by me, and laying your hand on my hand, and the sweet +burden of your pure life and being on my soiled and baffled +manhood." + +"But it was my own bargain, you know, dear, and I am satisfied +with my purchase. I paid the price with my eyes open." + +"Ah, if I only could feel that!" + +"But you know that it is true." + +"No, dearest, that is the pinch. I do not know that it is true. I +often feel that it is just a bit not true. It was a one-sided +bargain, in which one of the parties had eyes open and got all +the advantage; and that party was I." + +"I will not have you so conceited," she said, patting his hand +once or twice, and looking more bravely than ever up into his +eyes. "Why should you think you were so much the cleverer of the +two as to get all the good out of our bargain? I am not going to +allow that you were so much the more quick-witted and +clear-sighted. Women are said to be as quick-witted as men. +Perhaps it is not I who have been outwitted after all." + +"Look at the cost, Mary. Think of what you will have to give up. +You cannot reckon it up yet." + +"What! are you going back to the riding-horses and lady's maid +again? I thought I had convinced you on those points." + +"They are only a very small part of the price. You have left a +home where everybody loved you. You knew it; you were sure of it. +You had felt their love ever since you could remember anything." + +"Yes, dear, and I feel it still. They will be all just as fond of +me at home, though I am your wife." + +"At home! It is no longer your home." + +"No, I have a home of my own now. A new home, with new love there +to live on; and an old home, with the old love to think of." + +"A new home instead of an old one, a poor home instead of a rich +one--a home where the cry of the sorrow and suffering of the +world will reach you, for one in which you had--" + +"In which I had not you, dear. There now, that was my purchase. I +set my mind on having you--buying you, as that is your word. I +have paid my price, and got my bargain, and--you know, I was +always an oddity, and rather willful, am content with it." + +"Yes, Mary, you have bought me, and you little know, dearest, +what you have bought. I can scarcely bear my own selfishness at +times when I think of what your life might have been had I left +you alone, and what it must be with me." + +"And what might it have been, dear?" + +"Why, you might have married some man with plenty of money, who +could have given you everything to which you have been used." + +"I shall begin to think that you believe in luxuries, after all, +if you go on making so much of them. You must not go on preaching +one thing and practicing another. I am a convert to your +preaching, and believe in the misery of multiplying artificial +wants. Your wife must have none." + +"Yes, but wealth and position are not to be despised. I feel +that, now that it is all done past recall, and I have to think of +you. But the loss of them is a mere nothing to what you will have +to go through." + +"What do you mean dear? Of course we must expect some troubles, +like other people." + +"Why, I mean, Mary that you might, at least, have married a +contented man, some one who found the world a very good world, +and was satisfied with things as they are, and had light enough +to steer himself by; and not a fellow like me, full of all manner +of doubts and perplexities, who sees little but wrong in the +world about him, and more in himself." + +"You think I should have been more comfortable?" + +"Yes, more comfortable and happier. What right had I to bring my +worries on you? For I know you can't live with me, dearest, and +not be bothered and annoyed when I am anxious and dissatisfied." + +"But what if I did not marry you to be comfortable?" + +"My darling, you never thought about it, and I was too selfish to +think for you." + +"There now, you see, it's just as I said." + +"How do you mean?" + +"I mean that you are quite wrong in thinking that I have been +deceived. I did not marry you, dear, to be comfortable, and I did +think it all over; ay, over and over again. So you are not to run +away with the belief that you have taken me in." + +"I shall be glad enough to give it up, dearest, if you can +convince me." + +"Then you will listen while I explain?" + +"Yes, with all my ears and all my heart." + +"You remember the year we met, when we danced and went nutting +together, a thoughtless boy and girl--" + +"Remember it! Have I ever--" + +"You are not to interrupt. Of course you remember it all, and are +ready to tell me that you loved me the first moment that you saw +me at the window in High street. Well, perhaps I shall not object +to being told it at a proper time, but now I am making my +confessions. I liked you then, because you were Katie's cousin, +and almost my first partner, and were never tired of dancing, and +were generally merry and pleasant, though you sometimes took to +lecturing, even in those days." + +"But, Mary--" + +"You are to be silent now and listen. I liked you then. But you +are not to look conceited and flatter yourself. It was only a +girl's fancy. I couldn't have married you then--given myself up +to you. No, I don't think I could, even on the night when fished +for me out of the window with the heather and heliotrope, though +I kept them and have them still. And then came that scene down +below, at old Simon's cottage, and I thought I should never wish +to see you again. And then I came out in London, and went abroad. +I scarcely heard of you again for a year, for Katie hardly ever +mentioned you in her letters, and though I sometimes wished that +she would, and thought I should just like to know what you were +doing, I was too proud to ask. Meantime I went out and enjoyed +myself, and had a great many pretty things said to me--much +prettier things than you ever said--and made the acquaintance of +pleasant young men, friends of papa and mamma; many of them with +good establishments, too. But I shall not tell you anything more +about them, or you will be going off about the luxuries I have +been used to. Then I began to hear of you again. Katie came to +stay with us, and I met some of your Oxford friends. Poor dear +Katie! She was full of you and your wild sayings and doings, +half-frightened and half-pleased, but all the time the best and +truest friend you ever had. Some of the rest were not friends at +all; and I have heard many a sneer and unkind word, and stories +of your monstrous speeches and habits. Some said you were mad; +others that you liked to be eccentric; that you couldn't bear to +live with your equals; that you sought the society of your +inferiors to be flattered. I listened, and thought it all over, +and, being willful and eccentric myself, you know, liked more and +more to hear about you, and hoped I should see you again some +day. I was curious to judge for myself whether you were much +changed for the better or the worse. + +"And at last came the day when I saw you again, carrying the poor +lame child; and, after that, you know what happened. So here we +are, dear, and you are my husband. And you will please never to +look serious again, from any foolish thought that I have been +taken in; that I did not know what I was about when I took you, +'for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness +and in health, till death us do part.' Now, what have you to say +for yourself?" + +"Nothing, but a great deal for you. I see more and more, my +darling, what a brave, generous, pitying angel I have tied to +myself. But seeing that makes me despise myself more." + +"What! you are going to dare to disobey me already?" + +"I can't help it dearest. All you say shows me more and more that +you have made all the sacrifice, and I am to get all the benefit. +A man like me has no right to bring such a woman as you under his +burden." + +"But you couldn't help yourself. It was because you were out of +sorts with the world, smarting with the wrongs you saw on every +side, struggling after something better and higher, and siding +and sympathizing with the poor and weak, that I loved you. We +should never have been here, dear, if you had been a young +gentleman satisfied with himself and the world, and likely to get +on well in society." + +"Ah, Mary, it is all very well for a man. It is a man's business. +But why is a woman's life to be made wretched? Why should you be +dragged into all my perplexities, and doubts, and dreams, and +struggles?" + +"And why should I not?" + +"Life should be all bright and beautiful to a woman. It is every +man's duty to shield her from all that can vex, or pain, or +soil." + +"But have women different souls from men?" + +"God forbid!" + +"Then are we not fit to share your highest hopes?" + +"To share our highest hopes! Yes, when we have any. But the mire +and clay where one sticks fast over and over again, with no high +hopes or high anything else in sight--a man must be a selfish +brute to bring any one he pretends to love into all that." + +"Now, Tom," she said almost solemnly, "you are not true to +yourself. Would you part with your own deepest convictions? Would +you, if you could, go back to the time when you cared for and +thought about none of these things?" + +He thought a minute, and then, pressing her hand, said-- + +"No, dearest, I would not. The consciousness of the darkness in +one and around one brings the longing for light. And then the +light dawns, through mist and fog, perhaps, but enough to pick +ones way by." He stopped a moment, and then added, "and shines +ever brighter unto the perfect day. Yes, I begin to know it." + +"Then, why not put me on your own level? Why not let me pick my +way by your side? Cannot a woman feel the wrongs that are going +on in the world? Cannot she long to see them set right, and pray +that they may be set right? We are not meant to sit in fine silks +and look pretty, and spend money, any more than you are meant to +make it, and cry peace where there is no peace. If a woman cannot +do much herself, she can honor and love a man who can." + +He turned to her, and bent over her, and kissed her forehead, and +kissed her lips. She looked up with sparkling eyes and said-- + +"Am I not right, dear?" + +"Yes, you are right, and I have been false to my creed. You have +taken a load off my heart, dearest. Henceforth there shall be but +one mind and one soul between us. You have made me feel what it +is that a man wants, what is the help that is mete for him." + +He looked into her eyes and kissed her again; and then rose up, +for there was something within him like a moving of new life, +which lifted him, and set him on his feet. And he stood with +kindling brow, gazing into the autumn air, as his heart went +sorrowing, but hopefully "sorrowing, back through all the +faultful past." And she sat on at first, and watched his face, +and neither spoke nor moved for some minutes. Then she rose, too, +and stood by his side:-- + + And on her lover's arm she leant, + And round her waist she felt it fold, + And so across the hills they went, + In that new world which is the old. + +Yes, that new world, through the golden gates of which they had +passed together, which is the old, old world, after all, and +nothing else. The same old and new world it was to our fathers +and mothers as it is to us, and shall be to our children--a world +clear and bright, and ever becoming clearer and brighter to the +humble, and true, and pure of heart--to every man and woman who +will live in it as the children of the Maker and Lord of it, +their Father. To them, and to them alone, is that world, old and +new, given, and all that is in it, fully and freely to enjoy. All +others but these are occupying where they have no title, "they +are sowing much, but bringing in little; they eat, but have not +enough; they drink, but are not filled with drink; they clothe +themselves, but there is none warm; and he of them who earneth +wages, earneth wages to put them into a bag with holes." But +these have the world and all things for a rightful and rich +inheritance; for they hold them as dear children of Him in whose +hand it and they are lying, and no power in earth or hell shall +pluck them out of their Father's hand. + +FINIS + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 26851 *** |