eglected," 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, but 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 pl