s; and to
him it was far more natural to wait on his own frugal table than sit in
state till a servant should come and clear it.

"Now," said he to himself, "I shall get a good quiet time for work.
After all it's not bad to be one's own master where reading is
concerned."

And without more ado he set himself down to his books, with me on the
table at his elbow, and his cup of tea within reach, when such
refreshment should be desirable. It was a fine thing to see this young
fellow plunging straight into his work.

Assuredly he had not come to college to fritter away his time--to row,
play cricket, give wine-parties, or drive dog-carts; he had not even
come because it was "the thing," or afforded a "good introduction into
the world." No, he was here for one purpose, and one alone. That was
work. To him the days were as precious mines, and every minute a
nugget. It mattered nothing to him who won the cricket-match this year,
who occupied the rooms next his, how many bumps the Saint George's boat
made on the river; far more important was the thought that perhaps the
oil in his lamp would run short before the night was out, or whether the
edition of Plato his friend the Muggerbridge clergyman had given him was
the best, and contained the fullest notes. In short, George Reader was
in earnest.

But, like the tea, the "good quiet time" he hoped for was not so easy to
secure. Scarcely had he settled down when the voices of two men in loud
conversation rose, immediately under his window. Now, when one is in
the agony of trying to understand how it comes that a certain number of
angles in one figure are equal to a certain number of angles in another,
it is, to say the least of it, confusing to have to listen to a spirited
account of a boxing-match between Jack Straight and the Hon. Wilfred
Dodge; and when that account manages to get interwoven inextricably with
the problem in hand the effect is likely to be distracting; for
instance:--

"Since the solid angle at B is contained by three plane angles, BAF,
FAC, and CAB, then--"

"Jack let out and got in sweetly under his man's guard," and so on.

"Therefore," persevered George, "the angles ABC and ABF--"

"Rounded on him grandly, and--"

"The angles ABC and ABF are together greater than the angle CBF; and,
similarly--"

Here the conversation was continued in language far more worthy of the
disgraceful prize-ring than a college, until George could bear it no
lo