much spoilt
if he doesn't marry the right woman, because he is the sort of person
women will tell lies to rather than risk displeasing him. If he does
not take care he will be a man of the world, because he will not see
the world as it is; it will behave to him as he wishes it to behave."

"I think," said Howard, "that he has got good stuff in him; he would
never do anything mean or spiteful; but he would do anything that he
thought consistent with honour to get his way."

"Well, we shall see," said Mrs. Graves; "but he is rather a bad
influence for Maud just now. Maud doesn't suspect his strength, and I
can't have her broken in. Mind, Howard, I look to you to help Maud
along. You have a gift for keeping things reasonable; and you must use
it."

"I thought you believed in letting people alone!" said Howard.

"In theory, yes," said Mrs. Graves, smiling; "I certainly don't believe
in influencing people; but I believe very much in loving them: it's
what I call imaginative sympathy that we want. Some people have
imagination enough to see what other people are feeling, but it ends
there: and some people have unintelligent sympathy, and that is only
spoiling. But one must see what people are capable of, and what their
line is, and help them to find out what suits them, not try to conform
them to what suits oneself; and that isn't as easy as it sounds."

XII

DIPLOMACY

A few days later Howard was summoned back to Cambridge. One of his
colleagues was ill, and arrangements had to be made to provide for his
work. It astonished him to find how reluctant he was to return; he
seemed to have found the sort of life he needed in this quiet place. He
had walked with the Vicar, and had been deluged with interesting
particulars about the parish. Much of it was very trivial, but Howard
saw that the Vicar had a real insight into the people and their ways.
He had not seen Maud again to speak to, and it vexed him to find how
difficult it was to create occasions for meeting. His mind and
imagination had been taken captive by the girl; he thought of her
constantly, and recalled her in a hundred charming vignettes; the hope
of meeting her was constantly in his mind; he had taught Jack a good
deal, but he became more and more aware that for some reason or other
his pupil was not pleased with him.

He and Jack were returning one day from fishing, and they had come
nearer than Howard had liked to having a squabble. Howard had sai