sion 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