ion, is, I find, sprightly
and diverting in the extreme. All in all, time passed most swiftly. A
suitable hour of departure had arrived before I remembered that I had
altogether failed to bring up the topic which was the occasion of my
visit--to wit, our prospective part in the commencement entertainment.

Accordingly I arranged to call again to-morrow evening.

* * * * *

MAY THE SIXTEENTH.--As per my custom of late I spent the evening at the
residence of Mr. Hamm; the time being devoted to the pleasures of
conversation, riddles, anagrams--at which I am adept--interchange of
views upon current events, et cetera, et cetera.

Reviewing recent events here in my study as the hour of midnight draws
on apace, I own frankly to an ever-deepening interest in this young
woman. There are moments when I feel strangely drawn to her; moments
when her society exhilarates me as does nothing else.

How marvellous, how incomprehensible are the workings of the
manifestations of the human imagination! Consider the differences in our
modes of life, our fashions of speech, our habits! I refer of course to
Miss Hamm and myself. I am sedentary in nature and utterly without
sentimental leanings--I use the word sentimental in its most respectful
sense--toward members of the opposite sex; I am wedded to my profession,
devoted to the life of a scholar, while she, upon the other hand, is
ardent and exuberant in temperament, frolicsome, blithe, at times almost
frivolous in conversation, given to all forms of outdoor sport, filled
with youthful dreams. Consider, too, the disparity in our respective
ages, she being, as I am informed by her in a burst of youthful
confidence, still in her twenty-second year, while I shall be forty upon
my next birthday, come Michaelmas.

Yet, despite all this, the fact remains that frequently I feel a
longing, amounting almost to a yearning, for her company. Undoubtedly
the explanation lies in my increasing desire to develop, by precept, by
proverb and by admonition, the higher side of her nature. Moreover, it
is to me evident that this intercourse must prove mutually helpful.
Quite aside from the beneficial results to her, I myself derive, from
these friendly and purely altruistic endeavours of mine, a glow of
intense satisfaction. How true it is that a worthy deed ofttimes carries
with it its own reward!

* * * * *

MAY THE SEVENTEENTH.--I have de