t never had Howard been more
grateful for Mr. Sandys' flow of spirits than he was that evening. Mr.
Sandys was thirsting for experience and research, and he was also in a
state of jubilant sentimentality about Cambridge and his old
recollections. He told stories of the most unemphatic kind in the most
emphatic way, and Howard was amused at the radiant hues with which the
lapse of time had touched the very simplest incidents of his career.
Mr. Sandys had been, it seemed, a terrible customer at
Cambridge--disobedient, daring, incisive, the hero of his
contemporaries, the dread of the authorities; but all this on
high-minded lines. Moreover, he had brought with him a note-book of
queries, to be settled in the Library; while he had looked up in the
list of residents everyone with whom he had been in the remotest degree
acquainted, and a long vista of calls opened out before him. It was a
very delightful evening to Howard, in spite of everything, simply
because Maud was there; and he found himself extraordinarily conscious
of her presence, observant of all she said and did, glad that her eyes
should rest upon his familiar setting; and when they sat afterwards in
his study and smoked, he saw that her eyes travelled with a curious
intentness over everything--his books, his papers, his furniture. He
had no private talk with her; but he was glad just to meet her glance
and hear her low replies--glad too to find that, as the evening wore
on, she seemed less distraite and tired.

They went off early, Mr. Sandys pleading fatigue for Maud, and the
necessity for himself of a good night's rest, that he might ride forth
on the following day conquering and to conquer.

The next day they lunched with Jack. When Howard came into the room he
was not surprised to find that two undergraduates had been
asked--Jack's chief allies. One was a big, good-humoured young man, who
was very shy and silent; the other was one Fred Guthrie, who was one of
the nicest men in the College; he was a Winchester boy, son of a
baronet, a Member of Parliament, wealthy and distinguished. Guthrie had
a large allowance, belonged to all the best clubs, played cricket with
the chance of a blue ahead of him, and had, moreover, a real social
gift. He had a quite unembarrassed manner and, what is rare in a young
man, a strong sense of humour. He was a prominent member of the A. D.
C., and had a really artistic gift of mimicry; but there was no touch
of forwardness or c