usy against
the squire was gone, swallowed in the sense of triumph. His face was
pale, perhaps, from overwork, but there was a brilliancy in his eyes and
an incisiveness in his speech which came from the confidence of victory.
He now desired nothing more than to meet the squire, feeling sure that he
should receive his congratulations, and though he stayed some hours in
conversation with his old friends, in imagination he was already at the
Hall. The squire had not come down to meet him, as he had proposed, but
he had sent his outlandish American gig with his groom to fetch John.
While he was at the vicarage the latter was probably too much occupied
with conversation to notice that Mr. Ambrose seemed preoccupied and
changed, and the vicar was to some extent recalled to his usual manner by
the presence of his pupil. Mrs. Ambrose had taxed her husband with
concealing something from her ever since the previous day, but the good
man was obstinate and merely said that he felt unaccountably nervous and
irritable, and begged her to excuse his mood. Mrs. Ambrose postponed her
cross-examination until a more favourable opportunity should present
itself.

John got into the gig and drove away. He was to return with the squire to
dinner in the evening, and he fully expected that Mrs. Goddard and Nellie
would be of the party--it seemed hardly likely that they should be
omitted. Indeed, soon after John had left a note arrived at the vicarage
explaining that Mrs. Goddard was much better and would certainly come,
according to Mrs. Ambrose's very kind invitation.

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the meeting which took place between Mr.
Juxon and John Short. The squire was hospitable in the extreme and
expressed his great satisfaction at having John under his own roof at
last. He was perhaps, like the vicar, a little nervous, but the young man
did not notice it, being much absorbed by the enjoyment of his good
fortune and of the mental rest he so greatly needed. Mr. Juxon
congratulated him warmly and expressed a hope, amounting to certainty,
that John might actually be at the head of the Tripos; to which John
modestly replied that he would be quite satisfied to be in the first ten,
knowing in his heart that he should be most bitterly disappointed if he
were second to any one. He sat opposite to his host in a deep chair
beside the fire in the library and revelled in comfort and ease, enjoying
every trifle that fell in his way, feeling only