dense, or purposely irritating."

"Well, then, a college?"

"A college? Yes, that sounds better. But I do not wish descriptions
of being 'gated,' or 'sent down,' or 'ploughed,' and that kind of
commonplace. I should prefer, unless your vanity leads you irresistibly
in that direction, something with mature life and amusement; or, at
least, life and incident, and good sport--if you do not dwell on the
horrors of killing."

On the instant there came to me the remembrance of Professor Valiant's
wife. I think it was not what she wanted; but I had a purpose, and I
began:

"Every one at St. Luke's admired and respected Professor Valiant's wife,
she was so frank and cordial and prettily downright. In our rooms we all
called her a good chap, and a dashed good chap when her husband happened
to be rustier than usual. He was our professor in science. It was the
general belief that he chose science for his life-work because it gave
unusual opportunities for torture. He was believed to be a devoted
vivisectionist; he certainly had methods of cruelty, masterly in their
ingenuity. He could make a whole class raw with punishment in a few
words; and many a scorching bit of Latin verse was written about his
hooked nose and fishy eye.

"But his highest talents in this direction were reserved for his wife.
His distorted idea of his own importance made him view her as a chattel,
an inferior being; the more so, I believe, because she brought him
little money when he married her. She was too much the woman to pretend
to kneel to him, and because she would not be his slave, she had a hard
time of it. He began by insisting that she should learn science, that
she might assist him in his experiments. She knew that she had no taste
for it, that it was no part of her wifely duty, and she did what suited
her better--followed the hounds. It was a picture to see her riding
across country. She could take a fence with a sound hunter like a bird.
And so it happened that, after a time, they went their own ways pretty
well; he ignoring her, neglecting her, deprecating her by manner, if not
by speech, and making her life more than uncomfortable.

"She was always kind to me. I was the youngest chap in the college, and
was known as 'Marmy' by every one; and because I was fonder of science
than most other men in the different years, Valiant was more gracious to
me than the rest, though I did not like him. One day, when I called, I
heard her say to him,