he gave a huge shove and managed to get into it. I looked
across the river and saw a very silent crowd on our barge, so I decided
it was no place for me and walked solidly to the end of the towing-path
and went home over Folly Bridge. It was a long way round, and I cannot
imagine any one going back to St. Cuthbert's by such a route if he felt
happy. When I saw Jack Ward at dinner I said that I should not run any
more, and he replied that I was a fairly poor sort of sportsman; so I
did run on both Friday and Saturday, and on Saturday night St.
Cuthbert's was eighth on the river instead of fifth, and as we could
find no other excuse we said that our crew was stale, but I am afraid
the truth was that they were fairly fast for about half the course and
then went to pieces.

I had not told Nina that our eight was a bad one, and what she would
say I did not care to think, for she never paid any attention to
excuses, and was rather inclined to consider that I was insulting her
personally when I was connected with anything which was not successful.
At any rate I was thankful that we were still a long way above Oriel,
for I knew that Nina would never understand that Oriel had given
themselves up, more or less, to cricket and soccer, and were not very
afflicted by the fact that their boat was nearly bottom of the river.

I was sure that when Fred explained things to her she would say, "But
why don't you row as well, I should hate to have my college at the
bottom?" and this was almost exactly what happened. Fred made an
effort to get out of it by saying that Oriel was only a small college
and could not be expected to be good at everything, but Nina evidently
thought that it was large enough to have eight men who could row, and
she was not inclined to be pleased with either Fred or me when we went
to the Rudolf and lunched with Mrs. Faulkner on the Monday. It was
characteristic of Mr. Faulkner that he had not been able to come to
Oxford, and his chief function in life, as far as I ever discovered it,
was to get out of accompanying his wife on her countless expeditions.

"It seems stupid coming up here to see St. Cuthbert's bumped and Oriel
nearly last on the river. I understood from Godfrey that St.
Cuthbert's had a great reputation for rowing," Nina said.

I avoided Fred's eye, for I thought that he might be amused, and to
turn the conversation away from a dangerous subject, I took upon myself
to make what seemed to me a