g Miss
Sandys as well--Miss Sandys is indispensable." Howard felt indeed
grateful to the gallant and civil old man, who had so clear an eye for
what was tender and beautiful. Even Jack, when the Master departed, was
forced to say that he did not know that the old man had so much blood
in him!

That night Mr. Sandys finished up his princely progress by dining in
Hall with the Fellows, and going to the Combination Room afterwards. He
was not voluble, as Howard had expected. He was overcome with
deference, and seized with a desire to bow in all directions at the
smallest civility. He sat next to the Vice-Master, and Mr. Redmayne
treated him to an exhibition of the driest fireworks on record. Mr.
Sandys assented to everything, and the number of times that he
exclaimed "True, true! admirably said!" exceeded belief. He said to
Howard afterwards that the unmixed wine of intellect had proved a
potent beverage. "One must drink it down," he said, "and trust to
assimilating it later. It has been a glorious week for me, my dear
Howard, thanks to you! Quite rejuvenating indeed! I carry away with me
a precious treasure of thought--just a few notes of suggestive trains
of inquiry have been scribbled down, to be dealt with at leisure. But
it is the atmosphere, the rarefied atmosphere of high thought, which
has braced and invigorated me. It has entirely obliterated from my mind
that odious escapade of Jack's--so judiciously handled! The kindness of
these eminent men, these intellectual giants, is profoundly touching
and inspiring. I must not indeed hope to trespass on it unduly. Your
Master--what a model of self-effacing courtesy--your Vice-Master--what
a fine, rugged, uncompromising nature; and the rest of your
colleagues"--with a wave of his hand--"what an impression of reserved
and restrained force it all gives one! It will often sustain me," said
the good Vicar in a burst of confidence, "in my simple labours, to
think of all this tide of unaffected intellectual life ebbing and
flowing so tranquilly and so systematically in old alma mater! The way
in which you have laid yourself out to entertain me is indeed
gratifying. If there is a thing I reverence it is intellect, especially
when it is framed in modesty and courtesy."

Howard went with him to his lodgings, and just went in to say good-bye
to Maud. Jack had been dining with her, but he was gone. He and Guthrie
were going to the station to give them a send-off. "A charming young