2t3 "&^/jsi ^Gv m §re P^ L I B HAHY OF THE U N IVLRSITY Of ILLINOIS 823 P29si v.l H tumble on tl>c TR^e?5oId. 3 ^TUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. BY JAMES PAYN, Author of " By Proxy," " The Confidential Agent," &c. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. IL antra n : HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.C. 1892. LONDON: PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE, BUILDINGS, E.C. VS. 3 v, l CONTENTS. Chapter I. Three Students P a 9 e 1 V Chapter II. The Fellow-commoner and the Sizar 18 Chapter III. Mother and Son 34 Chapter IV. A Little Dinner Party 49 Chapter V. Tennis 64 Chapter VI. The Beginning of It 82 vi CONTENTS. Chapter VII. Mother and Daughter page 102 Chapter VIII. A Nice Little College 121 Chapter IX. A Ho2>eless Lover 140 Chapter X. The Other Scholar 155 Chapter XL Dangerous Devotion ... 168 Chapter XII. An Old Flame 182 Chapter XIII. Friends and an Enemy 196 Chapter XIV. Caught Out 213 Chapter XV. A Born Fool 227 CONTENTS. vii Chapter XVI. Blackmail page 238 Chapter XVII. The Honour List 256 Chapter XVIII. A Blighted Future 272 Chapter XIX. CounterPlot 286 Chapter XX. Good News 302 Chapter XXI. An Invitation 315 jSftumble on Ifye Tf^e^old, CHAPTEE I. THREE STUDENTS It is not often that yon catch two young gentlemen of twenty-one or so, who are neither artists nor " serions " minded, in an English church upon a week day. But the reader might have caught two such persons (who I hope will come to be known to him) one September afternoon I have on my mind, in the noble fane of Christchurch. It is not a cathedral, but it is, metaphorically speaking, next door to one, and actually next door to a priory, which was built, as everyone knows, VOL. I. B 2 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. by superhuman assistance. The beam that was necessary to its completion, and had been too short at night, was found long enough, and a foot to spare (which shows that saintly gifts are not bestowed grudgingly) when the workmen came in the morning. But it was not the sanctity of the church, nor its archi- tectural beauty, that had caused Walter Blythe to come over from Bournemouth, and bring his friend, Robert Grey, with him. Blythe had a turn for literature, which he believed to be a devotion to it, and an apprecia- tion of poetry, which he thought only one who was a poet himself could feel, and what he had come to look at was the Shelley memorial. Grey knew little about Shelley and cared less, but, like many other people who enjoyed Blythe' s acquaintance, was very willing to oblige him. Walter was " a nice fellow " at all times, but esjDecially nice when he was pleased, a circumstance that caused him to get THREE STUDENTS. 3 his own way more than is good for any of us. Some achieve this by being cross and dis- agreeable, which requires no special gift of nature ; people " give up " to them for the' sake of peace and quietness ; and when they are graciously pleased to accept a sacrifice, are said to be " not bad fellows after all, if you take them the right way." But the service paid to Blythe by his fellow -creatures was mostly a willing service, though (for his nature was a gracious one) it never lacked the guerdon of word or look. He was by no means handsome in an artistic way ; his nose may have been too long, or his lip too short ; but the general effect was eminently attractive. His face was mobile and full of expression. He was rather below the middle height and somewhat slightly made ; his dark eyes, which were very large and lustrous, had a gazellish look that suggested effeminacy, until you happened to 4 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. have seen him in a passion, after which you never associated him with the feminine sex, just as having once beheld Vesuvius in * eruption, one henceforth ceases to regard it as a symbol of tranquillity. His temper was very short, but so was its outbreak, though while it burnt it flared like a tar barrel ; and he was so extremely good- natured that one was tempted to forget the ebullition almost as soon as he did. His complexion, though swarthy, was clear, and the luxuriance of his dark hair gave him an appearance of delicacy, though he was both supple and strong. His voice was musical, and his laugh so infectious that you felt he was " good company " if you were but in the next room with it. His companion was, save in youth, a con- trast to him. He was tall and athletic ; Saxon in hair and hue, but brown with the sun and wind ; with his fine and regular THREE STUDENTS. 5 features, and keen blue eyes, that bespoke a trained intelligence, lie would have made a better, because an easier, picture than his friend, for the average artist ; but the true painter would have chosen Blythe. The one was the more comely, but the other had the more character. They had passed through the magnificent North porch, and were standing by the font, when Blythe 's eye lit on what he had come to see. " How seldom it is," he observed with enthusiasm, " that one ever finds true poetry on a tombstone. Were ever finer lines writ on marble ? " He read them out, in a hushed voice, but with appropriate intonation. " He hath outsoared the shadow of our night ; Envy and calumny and hate and pain, And that unrest which men miscall delight, Can touch him not, and torture not again ; From the contagion of the world's slow stain He is secure, and now can never mourn A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain, Nor when the spirit's self has ceased to burn, With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn." 6 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Those are from his own ' Adonais,' you know." "Ah," replied Grey, too honest to say "Yes," too careful of his friend's suscepti- bilities, to say " Are they ? " " Well he has found a noble spot to rest in." " Good heavens ! Is it possible that you, a scholar of your college — or is it because you are a scholar — don't know what became of Shelley?" "Oh! to be sure, I remember; he was drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia," observed Grey, in some confusion. " You don't remember, my dear fellow, you have read it on the tablet ; and you don't know that he was afterwards burnt ; upon my life it's shocking. I dare say you know where Sophocles was buried, and Euripides, and what became of iEschylus, but about a poet of our country, worth the whole lot of them, ybu were never moved to inquire. You are THREE STUDENTS. 7 like our clean with his ' And who icas this Mr. De Quincey?'" " It was very foolish of me, my dear Blythe ; but if you get so excited we shall be turned out of the church for 'brawling.' Here comes the verger." " I am going out • nothing will induce me to listen to a lecture upon Norman shafts and English vaultings." "It is a pity you take such little interest in the architecture of your own country," said Grey demurely, when they got into the open air. Blythe laughed so loud that the ivied ruins of the old castle by the Avon rang with his mirth. " That's a fair hit enough," he said ; " but I do think it is more reasonable that — other things being equal — matters of our time should make a deeper impression upon us than those of a distant era. I daresay you 8 A STUMBLE ON. THE THRESHOLD. would hardly think that what caused me to reply Bournemouth last month when my mother said ' Where shall we go ? ' was because of that memorial yonder, and also because Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft and Shelley's Mary lie in St. Peter's churchyard. You know that, I suppose ? " " I read it in the guidebook," answered Grey, simply. " I know you know all about the old one, but did you ever read the ' Modern Pro- met he us ' ? " inquired Blythe, despairingly. " I tried to do so, but I couldn't get through with it," said the other apologe- tically. " Just my case," was the candid rejoinder. Grey was amused but not surprised. One of the pleasant traits in his companion was his candour. Those who didn't like him, and were easily shocked, even called him shameless. THREE STUDENTS. g " Come," said Grey, " we have not stretched our legs yet ; let us go on to Barton cliffs." " What for ? " " Well, yon see, I have brought my geo- logical hammer with me." He produced from his pocket that scientific instrument, one side of which is a duodecimo pickaxe. " What a murderous weapon ! It was on an afternoon in September when two young men might have been seen on the road to Barton. The elder (and more good looking) of the two ' travellers ' had been reproached by his friend for his ignorance of the lite- rature of his native land. He pretended to have forgotten it, but he hadn't. ... In the evening he returned alone. His com- panion, an innocent and much respected youth, was being carried out to sea with a hole in his head. A memorial was put up to him in the church where the quarrel had io A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. taken place, and some people supposed lie was buried there, which was not the case." " That will make a capital story for you," said Grey admiringly ; " now, in return, step out." " I hate geologizing," murmured Blythe. It is like looking through a telescope at the heavenly bodies ; one has to pretend to see this and that, but one doesn't. ' This you jierceive is a fossil ; here is obviously the action of fire.' I like fiction, but I detest lying. There is only one word for Geology in my opinion, and that's Trap." " But the fossils at Barton are recognizable by anybody, my dear fellow." " When you find 'em ; but we shan't find any. It's like going fishing in the sea. The fish have been all caught the day before." " I will guarantee that we find plenty. It is the Eocene formation." " I wish it would not stick to one's boots THREE STUDENTS. u so. It's the beastliest formation I ever walked upon." " But we haven't got there yet." " You needn't tell me that ; there seems no end to the road." Grey did not mind the other's grumbling ; as long as Blythe could talk he knew all was well with him. If he had trudged on in silence that would have been a sign of dissatisfaction indeed. As the view opened, and the sea and " the fair island " came in sight, Blythe' s spirits rose. He took a great pleasure in the beauties of Nature. His mind was stored with illustrations of them from the poets, which he quoted with the remorselessness of youth. Grey listened, not without some interest ; they were apt enough, and had for him at least the attraction of novelty, but he was not himself poetic ; the chief satisfaction he derived from them was the conviction that 12 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. his friend was enjoying himself. It also struck him that if Ella had been there she would have appreciated them. Ella was his cousin, Ella Martin, at present staying with her mother at Bournemouth, a circumstance which had attracted him to that locality much more than the fact that Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft were buried there. He had introduced her to Blythe, and she had expressed her admiration for his friend and his social gifts. Blythe and his mother, the Martins, and Grey made a pleasant little colony, and got on together very agreeably. " It was an aphorism of that admirable moralist, Dr. Johnson," observed Blythe, with a roll in his walk and a sesquipedalian utterance, in humble imitation of the great lexicographer, " that, however picturesque may be a locality, its sublimity suffers no deteri- oration from the propinquity of an hotel. Where the deuce are we to lunch, Grey ? " THREE STUDENTS. 13 " Lunch, my dear fellow, has been defined to be a reproach to one's breakfast, and an insult to one's dinner." " Yes, but that was said by a man who had lost his liver. I am so hungry. Where is the Hotel?" Blythe looked round as if he was putting the inquiry to universal nature ; there was no building of any kind within sight. " There is the Needles Hotel," returned Grey, dryly ; " but the Isle of Wight, though doubtless at one time connected with the mainland, has been separated from it for some time ; there are also some fossil fish in the cliffs yonder, but not exactly fresh fish." " There's a fellow with a bag down on the shore there ; perhaps he has got something to eat," cried Blythe excitedly, disregarding these sarcastic remarks. "Hi! hi! my good man." " Be quiet, Blythe. I know the man quite well ; he was a freshman at St. Boniface in 14 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. our first year, but migrated to Nots " (St. Neot's). "His name is Needham." " Well, if you know him, all the better. Let us find out if he has got any lunch. Undergraduates of the same standing should share their last crust and sup with one another. Were't the last drop in the well, And I fainting at the brink, Ere my panting spirit fell, "After you, sir, take a drink," says the poet ; not that your friend looks like a poet, nor yet an undergraduate." " Hush, the wind blows his way, and he may hear you. Indeed, the attention of the individual alluded to was already drawn to the new- comers, whom he was regarding, with his hand over his eyes to keep the sun off. He was dressed in rough clothes, topped by a Glengarry cap, and certainly did not resemble that class of university youth called " gilded." THREE STUDENTS. 15 Indeed, though he looked older than his years, he was not very youthful. The expression of his face was kindly and intelligent, but grave ; there were lines upon it — the autograph of care or study. He had a soft brown beard, at that time rarely seen upon an under- graduate's chin. " Why, Needham, who would have thought of seeing you here ? " exclaimed Grey, holding out his hand. " I thought you were up at Cambridge for ' the Long,' getting ready for the senior wranglership." Needham smiled, a little feebly, not the sort of smile one would somehow have expected of him. " I am playing truant for a week or two. This is my favourite hunting ground. You know my weakness." " I knew that geology was one of your weaknesses. I have brought my hammer too, but, of course, I am only an amateur — This is my friend Ely the, of St. Boniface." 16 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " I know Mr. Blythe well by repute, and I have also heard him, with great pleasure — at the Union." The two young men shook hands. There were only a few years between them, but they seemed lustrums. The one looked as if he was born to consume the fruits of the earth, and the other to produce them. A little gratified perhaps by the compliment that had been paid to his oratory, Blythe resembled even more than usual the very embodiment of pleasure ; some idea of the sort seemed to strike the other, for he regarded him with the sort of interest that is aroused by some brilliant creature in another sphere than our own, as a good-natured working bee might regard a butterfly. " What is it you have in your bag, Needham?" inquired Gray. " Nummulites." " Are they good to eat ? " inquired Blythe gravely. "I am starving." THREE STUDENTS. 17 " I have got some bread and cheese and beer, in a basket yonder, if they are worth your acceptance," said Needham, smiling. " Worth my acceptance ! " cried Blythe eagerly. " The good Samaritan was a cur- mudgeon compared to you. Think of there being bread in this wilderness ! It is like the title of a fairy story or a moral tale — ' The bountiful geologist and the lunchless stranger.' " Needham opened his basket, which was well filled with humble fare. Grey, who was not a lunch -eater, lighted his pipe. His companions fell to with appetite. The three made a pastoral picture, natural and whole- some, if commonplace. If they could have looked into the future, even a little way, this would certainly have been far otherwise. It would then have appeared to them as the first scene of a terrible drama in which they themselves were to play the leading parts. vol. 1. c i8 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE II. THE EELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. It is a doubtful question whether sympathy, or the unlikeness that " fits us " most tends to knit men together in the bonds of friend- ship ; but on the whole it seems to be the latter. There is an element of agreeable antagonism in it that precludes monotony. Grey and Blythe had several points in common, and were, therefore, no examples of either theory j this was also the case with Grey and Needham ; but Needham and Blythe were in character, tastes, and opinions as opposite as the poles. It was wonderful to Grey, whose studies did not include that THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 19 of human nature (which, indeed, is a very isolated branch of knowledge) to see how well these other two " got on " together. It was, indeed, Blythe's nature to make him- self agreeable to new acquaintances. They aroused within him a certain social ambition ; he delighted in making them captives to his bow and spear, as sportsmen delight in killing all the strange creatures they come across ; and after a little he also generally desired to kill them. When he came to the end of them — that is his end — he dropped them, and resented the fact that he had thrown away his attentions upon such undeserving objects ; but he did it with such skill that they seldom felt they were dropped. They continued to admire him long after he had found them intolerable. But Grey, who knew him well (though by no means so well as he imagined) had learned to distinguish the false from the true in his friend's maimer, and saw 20 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. that he was genuinely pleased with his new acquaintance. He had not thought it would have been so, or he would have introduced him to Needham long ago ; for he himself had been more or less intimate with both ever since he had been at Cambridge. A great advantage, though one little dwelt upon in a University course, is that it places men upon the same plane, notwithstanding all inequalities of fortune, which never happens in later life. A curate on fifty pounds a year, it is true, dines with the lord of the manor, even if he is a real lord, but it is well understood that his equality with him, so far as it goes, and that is not very far, is official and not personal ; but one undergraduate is exactly equal to another undergraduate, save in a few snobbish circles such as may. mathematically speaking, be "disregarded." Grey had made Needham 's acquaintance in the lecture-room of St. Boniface, where they THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 21 had both distinguished themselves ; but to the other's surprise Needham had not sat for a scholarship at his own college, but taken one at St. Neot's. When asked why he had migrated, he had modestly replied because the ordeal at the smaller college was less difficult. " I was not so sure of success in the one case as I was in the other, and success was necessary to me ; I could not support myself at the University without it." Grey knew that Needham was a sizar, which at the date of our story it was not a pleasant tiling to be. Sizars are poor scholars who at a University ought to be thought no less of upon that account, but in return for the bounty it bestowed upon them, it treated them worse than poor relations are treated by millionaires. They dined after the other undergraduates, and were subjected to various humiliations, which in reality degraded their Alma Mater and not them. It was a time 22 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. when for certain extra fees a rich under- graduate might wear a gown sprinkled with silver, and be called a fellow-commoner. These disgusting differences — the offspring of snob- bism in the very last place where it ought to have been found — have long been done away with, and even while they existed, it was to the credit of University men that they were generally ignored. A man like Grey was entirely unmoved by them ; and so indeed was Blythe, though he himself was a fellow -commoner ; the altogether different circle in which the latter moved had, however, prevented his having any acquaintance with Needham, whereas their common studies had brought the other two together. When a sizar became a scholar his sizarship dis- appeared, and Grey hoped that Needham would have gained that position at St. Boniface. He thought his migration to St. Neot's had been a mistake. " You could THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 23 certainly have got a scholarship at St. Boniface, my dear fellow," he said. " Why you know twice as much as I do about everything." This was really true to a certain extent ; the other's range of reading even for his years (for, as has been said, he was older, when he " came up " to Camford than most freshmen) was enormous. " Of classics for instance," said Needham, smiling, and like Blythe he had a very attractive smile, though of a different kind. " Well, you are about as good as I am in classics, and as to mathematics and all the rest of it, everybody says " and then he stopped, for he had a practical mind, and he felt that " all the rest of it " would not be of much service in a college examination. Here Needham laughed outright. " Everybody is not an examiner, unfor- tunately," he replied, ''and nobody knows 24 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. better than myself that my mathematics are uncommonly shaky. As for ' all the rest of it/ I am afraid my reading, like the eating on a sheep's head, has been very ' promiscuous/ but much less filling." " But how did you find time for all your reading?" " Well, I suppose it was because I had so much other work to do. It is the hard worked ones you know who always have the most leisure." " At all events it is the idle ones who never have any," admitted Grey. His thoughts reverted to Blythe, who did not pretend to ' read,' and yet declared he had never time for anything. His mother com- plained of him, and with justice, that his letters, though few and far between, seldom exceeded half a dozen lines. " And the converse of that, so far as my experience goes, is true," said Needham. " I THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 25 don't read now nearly so much as I did at Langton, where I was an usher in a school, and had no time to myself till all the hoys had gone to bed." " An usher ! " echoed Grey, with undis- guised astonishment. " That must have been a hard life." " There are doubtless many harder, but it was certainly — to me — a very disagreeable one. An excellent uncle whom I had never seen left me a few hundred pounds, which reclaimed me from slavery, and here I am with some of it still, comparatively ' a pros- perous gentleman.' " " It must seem so by comparison. ' The boy,' judging from my own experience, is rather a terrible person, though I have known men who have taken kindly to teaching." " You are thinking of masters at public schools. Langton was very different : it is a 26 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. poor place and quite unknown. But there are boys and boys. When I came away the poor little fellows gave me this. It does not look very valuable, but I would not part with it for 50/. Needham took out of his desk a roll of coloured parchment, a humble sort of illuminated address, adorned also with those " flourishes " of the pen that were at one time thought highly of in commercial circles. It set forth in a few words that the under- signed deeply regretted that Mr. Greorge Needham was about to leave them, after which followed a number of juvenile signa- tures, by no means of the same high class of caligraphy. The very simplicity of the testimonial proved its genuineness, and had a touching effect. " Fifty pounds!" exclaimed Grey, earnestly. " If such a thing had been given to me I would not part with it for a thousand." THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 27 " That is just my feeling," was the quiet reply. " My fifty pounds represents your thousand." Grey flushed to the forehead. Though no reproof had been intended, his nature was as sensitive with respect to others as that of most people is as regards themselves. He felt as if he owed some reparation to Needham for being so much better endowed by fortune, for, though not destined to be a rich man like his friend Blythe, he would be, and indeed was, very comfortably provided for. His admiration was excited by the other's content with his present, as well as by the energy which had secured it. He felt a certain pity for him, which, perhaps, did him no credit, and was certainly thrown away. The son of humble parents, Needham had been left an orphan when he was still a boy, and had " fended " for himself ever since. He was not ambitious, and the life 28 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. of " learned leisure " that exactly suited him, was already in a fair way of being realised. But from the day in which the poor scholar had told him his story the two became fast friends. In consequence of Needham's migration to St. Neot's, they did not, however, meet very often, and it had never struck Grey to introduce him to Blythe. They were in such very different " sets," and he had a suspicion that they would not have appre- ciated one another. In this, however, it was clear he had been mistaken. They got on together famously. Needham lent Blythe his pick, and showed him how to use it. His mind, it is true, was utterly unfitted for scientific inquiry. He knew no difference between Eocene and Miocene ; and when he was told that " the Bournemouth beds " were cooler than those of London, ventured from his limited personal THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 29 experience to doubt it, which amused his geological friend exceedingly. The cliffs at Barton are never drawn blank as regards specimens, and those which Blythe found sometimes, even before they were pointed out to him by his new tutor, delighted him. It was really for once a good day's fishing. If he did not take Cardita elegans or CJiama squamosa for what they were, he knew a shark's tooth when he saw it, and he was so good as to admit that there was " something in the thing " — meaning, I am afraid, the science of geology — after all. He even came upon what Needham called " a perfect specimen of the work of prehistoric man" in the shape — or approximately in the shape — of a hatchet ; but, as it had no handle, and was not highly polished, being stained yellow with iron incrustations, this " interesting relic of evidently Paleolithic origin " did not 3 o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. obtain his immediate recognition. This incredulity, exaggerated perhaps for effect, and expressed with a great deal of humour, tickled Needham exceedingly. Blythe ap- peared to him almost in the light of a new specimen, though, it is true, of a late " period." It was pleasant to see how the impression thus produced was welcomed by Grey, and the more so since it had hardly been expected. We like our friend, but rarely our friend's friend. The logic of Euclid does not apply to these social matters. Things that are similar to the same thing are similar to one another, but in the case of persons it is not so ; or rather they may have some point of similarity, and yet may be altogether unsympathetic . Needham and Blythe were both frank and natural in their way, but there all similarity ended ; and even in their naturalness there THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 31 was a difference ; in that of Blythe there was less of genuineness ; he was frank because it was less trouble than to have any conceal- ment rather than from openness of disposition, and his manner was so attractive that in speaking his mind he seldom gave offence. He seemed to wear his heart upon his sleeve, but in reality it was only a cognizance. He had not a j)article of shyness, and though he possessed a great deal of self confidence he had no self consciousness. Needham's disposition was as open as the day, but he never lost sight of his own defects, and this made him very modest. His character was independent to a fault, but he had not that pride, miscalled " proper," which generally accompanies it. He was not in that constant fear of putting himself under an obligation, which is the bane of his class. Blythe, who for his years was a good judge of mankind, and who feared this might be so, presently 32 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. whispered to Grey, " Make your friend come home in our trap." They had left the fly, which had brought them over from Bourne- mouth, at Christchurch, and he thought the invitation, though he himself had chartered the vehicle, would be more acceptable to Needham, coming from his older friend. But Grey at once said, " Blythe wants you to come back with us in his fly. He is the laziest beggar in the world, and I could not persuade him to take ' Shanks his mare.' ' " Why should he?" said Needham, smiling. " For my part, like Dr. Johnson, I should always prefer to travel with four horses at full gallop to walking a yard. It is always a waste of time, and, whenever it can be helped, an unnecessary expenditure of force." " My sentiments to a hair," cried Blythe ; " though I have never had the courage to express them." THE FELLOW-COMMONER AND THE SIZAR. 33 " He lias confined himself," explained Grey, " to acting upon them all his life," which indeed in the main was true. And so it turned out that the fly, which had brought but two young gentlemen from Bournemouth, carried three on its return journey. vol. 1. 34 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE III. MOTHER AND SON. "You will dine with us to-night, I hope — that is, with my mother and me?" said Blythe to his new friend, as they drove along. Needham hesitated and looked embarrassed towards Grey. What that dumb appeal really meant was, " I did not bargain for this, you know ; since you have got me into this scrape it is your place to get me out of it ; " for Needham had as little inclination for dining out with strangers, especially ladies, as experience of it. Such friends as he had at college were not in a position to give dinners ; then- hospitality was confined MOTHER AND SON. 35 to " muffin worries ; " lie had seen nothing whatever of ladies' society, and had no aspirations in that direction. Grey had a shrewd suspicion of what was passing in his friend's mind, but was by no means disposed to assist him. He thought that Needham did himself injustice by keeping to one groove as he did, and isolating himself from the world at large, and here was an excellent opportunity for him to break through that bad habit. Blythe's quick eye perceived at once that something was amiss, but he had no key to the explanation of it. " You are thinking, perhaps, that you are due to Grey rather than to me ; and he has, no doubt, as the jockeys say, " the first call " upon you ; but, being alone in Bournemouth, you must certainly dine with one of us, and, as it happens, Grey and his people dine with me to-night, so you have no choice." 36 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " You are very kind," stammered Xeedham; "but, unfortunately — you see I had no idea I should meet friends here. I have no dress clothes." " I am delighted to hear it," exclaimed Blythe. " That gives me a higher notion of your intelligence than ever. I wish all dress clothes were at the bottom of the sea ; they are the curse of social life. I can imagine some shaky stockbroker being solicitous about such things, but how persons of assured position can inconvenience them- selves by driving half a dozen miles every day to fetch a particular suit of clothes, without which they daren't eat their dinners, is inexplicable to me. One reads indeed in the Scriptures of ' having men's persons in admiration because of advantage ; ' but the fact is, there are only a few people who look the better for dress clothes ; they only make the majority of us resemble waiters." MOTHER AND SON. 37 Grey laughed aloud. "Now you have got Blythe upon one of his favourite hobbies, Needham, and one which also ministers to his particular vice, which is indolence. His real objection to dress clothes is that he is too lazy to put them on. Fortified by your example, he will now become lazier than ever." " You may do as you like, Grey," said Blythe, gravely, " as to dressing to-night ; but I should think it extremely bad form in you, since our friend has not brought his waiter's suit with him, if you put on yours. As for me, I shall certainly not dress " " I told you so," interpolated Grey. " You have laid Blythe under the greatest obligation by giving him a new excuse for neglecting an act of duty. But, seriously, I am quite sure that the omission in question, my dear Needham, will not even be noticed by my people. So far as they are concerned neither m)' aunt, nor my cousin, are at all exacting about attire." 38 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Of course not," observed Blythe, approv- ingly, " they are sensible women, not peahens, who always expect the male to be en grand tenue." " Then there will be three ladies," mur- mered Needham naively. " Oh 1 really, thank you, but I think I'd rather not ; " and again he looked for help to the man who knew him best. " No, I must decide against you," said Grey in reply to this piteous plea. " Since it is my people that you object to meet " "It's evidently your people," put in Blythe, with confidence. " Now, upon my word this is too bad," cried Needham, despairingly. " Bad ! It will be simply infamous if you decline to come," exclaimed Grey, inexorably. " Oh, look here, I will put off Grey and his people, and you shall dine with us alone," suggested Blythe. MOTHER AND SON. 39 This was too much even for Needham's gravity, though he was looking grave and uncomfortable enough ; and, having once given way to mirth at his own expense, he felt that his cause was lost. There was nothing left for him but to say " I will." " We dine at seven, for my mother is in delicate health, and keeps early hours," said Blythe. " We can drop you at your own place in the meantime. Where are you staying? " The fly was already traversing the streets of Bournemouth. " I am lodging here, if you will kindly put me down," said Needham. He pointed to a small bookshop, and stopped the vehicle. " It is not an aristocratic residence," he added, smiling at Blythe 's involuntary look of surprise ; " but I am really very much above the shop, indeed on the second storey." " It must be very convenient to find one's 40 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. reading so near at hand," said Blythe ; " when I want a book I have to send half a mile for it. Bellavista is our house, remember. Au revoir. . . . What an infernal place to live at ! " he added to Grey as they drove away. " It is not picturesque, but, as you say, very convenient for persons who patronise a circulating library, which, however, Needham never does. I doubt whether he ever reads a novel." " What the deuce was I to say? " inquired Blythe, with irritation. "What indeed? Far be it from me to suggest anything to such a master of language." This compliment, however, was marred by little ebullitions of mirth which made the other frown. " Never mind, old fellow," Grey went on ; " it was very well intended, and I am sure MOTHER AND SON. 41 Needham felt that. Here are my diggings," pointing to a pleasantly situated hotel, where he got out. " We shall be with you at seven, sharp." Bellavista was a fine house, situated on the East Cliff and surrounded by extensive grounds. Needham knew enough of the world to be aware that the rent of such a house at a place like Bournemouth in the season must be very high. As a rule it is extraordinary what inferior dwellings people even of good means will jmt up with at the seaside. Though they are there for pleasure, they submit patiently to straits and short- comings which at home would be unendurable. The benefits of their migration are very often neutralized by the want of accommodation, of sanitary arrangements, and of decent cooking. The difference in the mode of life of even opulent families when at home, and on their annual "outing," is quite curious and not 42 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. easily accounted for. Their man-servant is left at home ; their neat-handed Phyllis finds her substitute in a lodging-house " slavey," and all is discomfort and disorganization. But at Bellavista domestic affairs were regulated exactly as at home. Without understanding the full significance of this, Needham gathered from its surround- ings that the dwellers in such a house must be very rich, which made him still more regret that he had consented to be his new friend's guest. He was not a man to be influenced by " swelldom " of any kind ; he was neither snob nor socialist ; he neither liked it, nor disliked it ; but he felt that it was out of his line ; though he had been very much attracted to Blythe, he had a shrewd conviction that Blythe 's belongings — persons whose only attraction would probably be their wealth — would be out of sympathy with him altogether. If he had overheard a MOTHER AND SON. 43 conversation that had taken place between his new friend and his mother an hour or two before his arrival, this conviction would have been intensified. Mrs. Blythe was a lady who might very literally be described as of uncertain age. She had the complexion and even the manners of youth ; a certain sprightliness such as is sometimes seen in an aged canary ; but her plumage was in better case ; her attire was always splendid and well chosen. She was rather a clever woman than otherwise, but without wisdom of any kind. Though she could look serious upon small occasion, no serious thought — with the exception of a vague terror of death — had ever entered her mind. Her disposition was not unkind, but it was ungentle ; she distrusted " those dangerous guides, the feelings ; " and was deficient in the virtue that she was most bound to possess — womanliness. She doated 44 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. on her son, but was still more devoted to herself. Beyond these two beings she had no genuine sympathy for anyone, nor did she affect it. Yet she was not generally disliked. Many people were afraid of her, but a still larger number explained what was amiss with her as being " merely manner." Only a few, whom this manner had seriously offended, called her " a painted old harridan." Her son was fond of her, as indeed he ought to have been, but was by no means blind to her faults. " If she were not my mother," he confessed to one she had ill- treated, and whom he wished to mollify for her sake, " I should say that she is sometimes very disagreeable." She had tried " com- panions," but they had been a failure ; when they were not " nice " she soon found it out, and " couldn't stand them," when they were nice, they couldn't stand Iter. So of late years she had lived only with her son, or, MOTHER AND SON. 45 when he was away at college, or elsewhere (which often happened), alone ; but when in her Berkshire home she saw a good deal of company. She liked society — provided that she was a leading figure in it — and was hospitable after a fashion ; she gave large dinner parties and called her acquaintances her friends. She had gone to Bournemouth, by advice, for her health, which was really delicate, but had found the prescription unsatisfactory. The place was dull ; people did not under- stand that she was Mrs. Blythe of Stretton Park, but confused her with the proprietor of Bellavista, who was something prosperous in the City. It is not anywhere customary for " the County " to call upon temporary residents, but she thought they might have made an exception in her case ; and they had not done so. She had been obliged to content herself with the society of the Martins, who 46 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. had been introduced to her by Walter's friend, Mr. Grey. Their modest home was near her own residence in Berkshire, and she had known something of them before ; " very worthy people and all that, you know," as she expressed it, " but not quite in our set." The late Mr. Martin, it was whispered, had not been wholly disconnected with commerce ; whereas the Blythes had never done anything for generations, but, as her son put it in his queer way, had been " only graciously pleased to exist." She was compelled to own that her Walter was "queer," though so delightful. " Well, mother, there's somebody new coming to dinner to-night," he had said ; " Needham of St. Neots." " Beally, I don't know the name ; but it sounds like a good family." " Well, he's not exactly a family man. He's a college friend of Grey's." " Not another engaged young man I do MOTHER AND SON. 47 hope ; they are so dull at table. I declare your Mr. Grey never seems to take his eyes off Miss Ella. I wish he'd kiss her in the hall, and get it over, so to speak, for the evening." " I have every reason to believe that he did kiss her in the hall," said Walter, gravely, " on the very last occasion when they were here, though it is true that was when they were going away, and he was putting her cloak on." " Well, perhaps that was what he was thinking about all the evening, for he was very distrait. I suppose your new friend is staying with them at ' The Grand.' " " No, he is not at ' The Grand ; ' certainly not," he added, with a smile, as the recollection of the book shop occurred to him ; " he is in lodgings, and by no means sumptuous ones either. I don't think he's very w r ell off." 48 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " That doesn't matter if a young man is of good family/' observed the old lady graciously. " No, and that doesn't matter, if he's a good fellow, which is Needham's case. He has distinguished himself at College, and has, unless I am mistaken, a great career before him." "Beally!" Mrs. Blythe put up her jewelled fingers to hide a yawn. " And yet he doesn't speak at the Union so beautifully as you, dear boy, I dare say." " He certainly does not," said Walter, smiling ; his mother's ignorance — which in connection with everything worth knowing approached sublimity — amused him immensely, which was not a pleasant trait in his character. " You dear creature," she replied j if you can do it without ruffling my lace lappets, kiss me." A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 49 CHAPTER IY. A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. " Why, my dear boy, you will be late for dinner ! " observed Mrs. Blythe, on entering the drawing-room, just before seven o'clock ; " you will never have time to dress ! " " I am not going to dress, mother. Needham has no evening clothes with him, and therefore if I were to do so, it would make him feel uncomfortable." " No evening clothes with him ? He must be a very strange person. Tt is always possible that a young man may find himself asked out to dinner unexpectedly." " True, and the absence of a dress suit is vol. 1. 1 50 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. one of the ways by which that misfortune may be averted. However, it didn't serve the poor fellow in this case, because I insisted on his coming — By Jingo, there he is ! " Through the drawing-room window this guest without the conventional garment could be seen coming up the carriage sweep. He seemed to be quite at his ease, and absolutely unaware of the criminal solecism he was committing ; a rare flower in a parterre attracted him on his way and he stooped down to examine it. " He is not going to take a ' button-hole ' out of my own garden, I do hope," exclaimed Mrs. Blythe. " No, he is only making a scientific examination of it," laughed Walter. " More omniscient than the gentleman who said ' I am not conceited, but I'm hanged if I don't know everything except botany,' he knows all about stamens and pistils." A LITTLE DINNER PA RTF. 51 " I am afraid lie knows very little about the usages of society," said Mrs. Blythe. " In that case, my dear mother, you are just the person to teach him," observed her son dryly. " If you do not intend to behave civilly to him," he added, "I will give him his dinner at the inn." This was not a respectful way for a young man to speak to his mother, but it was less inexcusable than it seemed. Mrs. Blythe was quite capable of insulting a guest at her own table, and especially if he had shown her any fancied disrespect. In Needham's case this would not only have been an outrage without provocation, but would have been particularly deplorable for other reasons ; and it was necessary to nip any such intention in the bud. Mrs. Blythe did not spoil her son because she was afraid of him, but she was afraid of him ; and when he spoke in the tone which he had just used, her haughty nature acknowledged a master. 52 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " No one has had cause, I believe, to complain of me as a hostess, Walter," she answered, reproachfully, but in a very con- ciliatory tone. " There is not a more agreeable one in the world, my dear mother — when you're pleased," was the oblique rejoinder. " See, there are the Martins also. Our guests have met at the front door, so there will be no necessity for introducing them to one another ; that's a mercy. All forms and ceremonies are detestable and a waste of time." This was cruel, for, as the young man was well aware, they were the breath of life to his mother. Visiting cards and calls and titles of precedence, and the vital question whether this neighbour and that belonged to the county families, or not, were to Mrs. Blythe what the Eastern Position is to the theologian or the Bank rate to the gentlemen of the city, among the most important matters A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 53 of human existence. Her son, however, did not say what he had said to annoy her, but rather to show that she had annoyed him, and that it was expected of her to perform the duties of hospitality. There was certainly nothing wanting of this in her manner of receiving Needham, who was first ushered into the room, the lady guests being presum- ably engaged in taking off their wraps, " I am pleased to find that my son has found another college friend in Bournemouth," she said as she shook hands. The little scene which had just taken place had put the poor lady out a little, and she had forgotten that Needham was Grey's friend, and not her son's. "It is very good of you to say so," said Needham, with a pleased look at Blythe. ' I hope you find Bournemouth to your liking, and that it has proved beneficial to you ? " 54 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. This was not a well-chosen observation, because, in the first place, it had been chosen ; the speaker had made it up beforehand, with the usual want of success that attends such would-be extemporaneous utterances. To Mrs. Blythe's sensitive ear the inquiry had a medical air, as though it referred to her liver. Though she had many fancies, she had none for being considered an invalid ; perhaps because she really was one. "Yes, I like the place. Our house is tolerably comfortable, and we have a good view enough." Walter frowned involuntarily. " What execrable taste women have ! " he said to himself; for he felt that to Needham's ear this reply must have sounded like the pride that apes humility. " It is indeed a charming view," said Need- ham ; but at that moment the ladies entered, and his eyes instantly withdrew from it and A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 55 turned to them, with something of the same admiration that he had given to the prospect. It was no wonder, for mother and daughter were both, in their several ways, extremely charming. Mrs. Martin was hardly past middle life, and retained all the grace of youth, if not its glory. Small of stature, her smiling and sweet expression reminded one of some good fairy, always ready to do a kind service to poor humanity ; a slight nervousness of manner, caused in truth by the somewhat majestic ways of her hostess, seemed to appeal for consideration to sterner natures. To call her a pretty woman would have been to depreciate so much gentleness and grace ; but yet she was distinctly pretty, with the sort of prettiness that lasts to the very end of life however prolonged. Every- body who teas anybody — as Mrs. Blythe would have said, though in a very different sense — everybody that is who was able to 56 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. recognize a gentle soul in a frame, not of clay, but of finest porcelain, fell at Mrs. Martin's little feet in admiration — and never got up again. Her daughter Ella was taller, darker, and altogether different. Beautiful With the beauty and brightness of youth, less thoughtful looking but more intelligent ; her face not so perfect in feature, but more variable in expression ; her manner natural and confident, without the least trace of egotism. A few minutes ago, when Needham met her at the door, he thought he had never seen in any woman such a vision of beauty ; but yet she vaguely reminded him of someone. This, however, had now ceased to puzzle him ; he had no other sensation than that of admiration for her. He was entirely unused to society, and the repose, combined with ease, which her manner ex- hibited was quite new to him. It was A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 57 amazing to him that his hostess should receive such a guest without taking any particular notice of her ; and that the two young men should address her so familiarly. This was, he noticed, particularly the case with Grey ; but Blythe seemed also on the best of terms with her. Knowing what young men are when they are " at home " (or rather away from it) this behaviour to such a divinity seemed to him hardly short of sacrilege. He felt no desire to join the little knot of young people, who were laughing and talking around their hostess, and yet he had no eyes save for their proceedings. When he heard Mrs. Martin's musical voice suddenly addressing him, he was quite startled. "I hope, Mr. Needham," she said, smiling, that you will forgive Robert for wearing a dress coat this evening. Mr wished not to do so for your sake, but Mrs. Blythe is so 58 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. very particular about such matters that I thought he had better put on what he calls his war paint." " I am afraid I should not have even known what he had on," said Needham, not contemptuously, but apologetically ; since this very charming looking lady seemed really interested in " claw-hammers," they might actually have some importance. " I only mentioned the matter — at my daughter's request — who is terribly alarmed lest you should think we have any such prejudices. At the hotel, Robert never dreams of dressing for dinner. We are very simple in our ways, as I hope you will soon see for yourself ; you ought to be dining with us, by rights, you know, to-night instead of here." Kind and friendly as was this little speech. what most delighted Needham in it were the words " at my daughter's request." That A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 59 young lady, it seemed, had absolutely thought his opinion of sufficient consequence to put herself right with him. Of course this was owing to Grey's too favourable account of him ; but, nevertheless, so it was. She was at least aware of his existence, and even attached a certain importance to it. It was scanty ground for satisfaction, indeed a mere crumb of comfort ; but George Needham had been all his life accustomed only to small mercies. It was fortunate that he was so far pleased, for the interest that Miss Ella was thus supposed to have taken in him at secondhand, did not seem to grow upon personal acquaintance. In the drawing- room she did not even speak to him, and at table her attention was fully occupied by the conversation of the other two young men. However, he sat opposite to her, and it was pleasure enough to him to look at her, to listen to her quick replies, her brilliant sallies ; 60 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. delightful, when his friends chaffed him about his encyclopaedic knowledge, to see her face turn to him in humorous sympathy. " The possession of knowledge may be resented by those who have not got it," she said ; " but I cannot see how it can be discreditable. I wish I were better informed myself. I am like the young waterman who told Dr. Johnson that he would give what he had to know about the Argonauts." " And Needham is very like Dr. Johnson," observed Grey slyly. " Then why should he not teach Miss Martin everything?" suggested Blythe. " The ologies from ten to one ; an hour allowed for lunch with improving conversation at the hotel ; in the afternoon philosophy and metaphysics. Why in a week we should not know her." "I call that very rude," exclaimed Ella. " Nay, I did not say that you would be A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 61 improved, or could be improved," said Blythe, gently. " I must say that doesn't sound particularly civil either," returned Grey, laughing. But it had sounded, as Needham thought, exceedingly civil. The tone of Blythe's apology had been one of unmistakable ad- miration ; and, though he was not her cousin, there had been an air of familiarity about it, which had seemed not unwelcome to the person addressed. It was certainly not Mr. George Needham's business, but somehow he found himself resenting this. It ran in his mind during the rest of the dinner-time ; even when his hostess, and Mrs. Martin, between whom he sat, were addressing him, and afterwards in the drawing-room, when the conversation became general and he was naturally included in it. When at last the lady guests rose to depart, and Mrs. Blythe, in her cold conventional 62 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. tone, exclaimed, " Oh, must you leave us so early, Mrs. Martin?" and Blythe, as if in correction of it, added jokingly, " Oh, must you — must you migrate ? " those other words of his, " I did not say you could be improved," still rang in Needham's ears. He took his own leave a few minutes afterwards, and his host accompanied him to the door and stood while he lit his pipe. " I have to thank you for a delightful evening, Blythe." " I am glad to hear it, my dear fellow. I was afraid you would have been bored with our small talk, for we are rather a frivolous lot." " I hope you don't include the ladies," said Needham, so seriously that the other broke into a burst of laughter. " What ! mashed already ! " exclaimed Blythe. " Grey little knows the mischief he has done to himself." A LITTLE DINNER PARTY. 63 Needham stared at him in genuine astonish- ment. A man may have great intelligence and yet be slow to catch this kind of satire on the wing. " Well, if he had not recognised you at Barton, you know," explained the other, " you would not have met her at dinner to-night." " Is — is Grey engaged to Miss Martin, then ? " inquired Needham naively. " Engaged ? " said Blythe, with an un- accustomed knitting of the brows, curiously at variance with his indifferent tone. " That is rather a vague word. He is smitten with Miss Ella, no doubt, and, being her cousin, has had opportunities of letting her know it. But that doesn't prove he is going to be married to her of course Grood night, my dear fellow ; now the ice is broken, I hope we shall see you here again." 64 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE V. TENNIS. Needham walked home through the moon- light, a changed man. It is not often that men's characters suffer any change ; they broaden or " become narrower by going further," but in the main we are very much as we started, from the cradle to the grave. When we do change it is mostly on a sudden, and often from what appears to others a very insufficient cause. The instance of the fanatic who "gets salvation" at .2.40 on some particular day, has many parallels outside religious circles. The blow happens to be struck when the TENNIS. 65 iron, for once, is hot ; the impression is taken when the mind is in an especially receptive state, and from henceforth it has another monld. What had chanced to Needham was something of a very ordinary kind, but it had been new to him. He had, as has been said, known nothing of female society — to be called such — whatever. A family dinner with the headmaster of the school in which he had been an assistant had been the extent of his experiences in that way. His hostess had been but a sort of glorified housekeeper ; her daughters, dull and decorous, had given them- selves airs in their behaviour to him ; he would have preferred to have eaten the underdone mutton and leaden pastry alone. The comparative luxury of this recent enter- tainment had, however, made little impression on him; though something perhaps was due to the atmosphere of refinement which had environed it so naturally and as a matter of VOL. I. F 66 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. course. His character was not one to be influenced by the mere accessories of wealth, however free from vulgarity or pretentiousness. A dinner, however splendid with " smart " people, would have bored him very much. It was the freedom and brightness of the party with whom he had spent the evening that had charmed him, and cast his own sombre life, as he reviewed it, into shadow. He knew that his lodgings, when he reached them, would smack of dreariness and discomfort, not because they were humble, but from a certain sense of loneliness he had never before felt. It would have been well for him if he could have restricted his reflections to general regrets of a similar kind, to the comparison of student and bachelor ways with family life ; but in spite of himself he found them reverting to particulars. How different it would have been with him had he had a mother like Mrs. Martin, a TENNIS. 67 sister such as Miss Ella ; a supposition, how- ever, as he acknowledged to himself, ridiculous indeed ; they were not only of another race, but beings of a wholly different kind, of whose very existence he had hitherto not even dreamt. Even the young men, his two friends, had in that family circle appeared to him in quite another light. Though conscious of his superiority to them in many resj^ects, he felt that he was inferior to them in others which just now seemed of much more consequence ; they had ease and grace and geniality such as he had never possessed and never could possess ; things in respect to which one must be to the manner born. He had almost resented it in them as regarded Ella, but she had not resented it, and as he now confessed, with justice ; it was the atmosphere in which she had herself been accustomed to live and breathe. It was natural to their class, which was not his class. 68 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. There were other things which might also be natural, but which he could not regard with the same charity of view. The farewell words of Blythe had made an unpleasant impression upon him ; at the time of their utterance indeed they had so astounded him that he had felt incaj3able of a reply. What could Blythe have meant by calling an en- gagement between two young people " a vague word," and a thing that by no means implied that they would marry one another ? This would have offended his sense of right in any case, but in its particular application it shocked him. It was difficult to imagine that a girl so adorable as Ella Martin could allow herself so free a rein as this implied ; impossible to believe that she could give a man reason to feel that she was secured to him, when in truth she was not secured. Unless he had asked the question of Blythe it would not perhaps have entered Needham's mind that TENNIS. 69 there was any such tie, but he now felt that Grey's behaviour to Miss Ella had been more confident and familiar than his mere cousin - ship justified. If this was so, it was monstrous of Blythe to speak of his friend's engagement with such levity, as though it were something to put off and on, like that evening costume of which so much had been said ; and yet Needham was conscious of a certain satisfaction in the idea that after all it was not a settled thing that these two young people were to be man and wife. He was conscious of it but also ashamed of it, and put it away from him with some sense of self-disgust. The whole affair was a j)roblem of a kind to which he was utterly unaccustomed, and of which he had, for the present, no solution ; moreover, which had never happened to him in the case of a mathematical difficulty, it kept him awake that night. Nevertheless, in the morning lie 7 o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. awoke refreshed ; a circumstance which proved that though he might be old for an under- graduate, he was still young as a man. If joy does not always come in " the morning," as Solomon tells us, the sun generally brings with it wholesome views ; and as Xeedham sat over his pipe and a book after breakfast, he felt himself again. He was resolved to look upon the experience of the previous evening in its proper light ; as an incident in his life, but not belonging to it, nor one likely to be repeated. Except for the short time he was to remain at Bourne- mouth he would probably see nothing of the Martins again, even if they had not already forgotten his existence ; the sort of general invitation to the hotel that had been given him, was no doubt only a conventional civility that meant nothing at all. As he came to this sage conclusion the little girl who filled the place of parlour maid, TENNIS. 71 and indeed of all other maids, at his lodgings, knocked at the door, and handed him a note with " Bearer waits, please." " Dear Mr. Needham. — Eobert lias the offer of the lawn tennis ground here for the afternoon. Mr. Blythe can be counted upon, but unless you will make a fourth, there will be no game. I feel sure that you will mercifully avert the catastrophe these words imply. A verbal ' yes,' which of course will also ensure us your company for the rest of the day, will greatly oblige yours truly, " Catherine Martin." His existence, it seemed then, was not forgotten. He was wanted of course to make up the tennis party, but if that were all, they need not have asked him for the rest of the day. It was really very kind of Mrs. Martin ! In spite of her stating that it was unnecessary, he wrote a polite line of acceptance, and despatched it by the messenger. Then lie took up his book again, but it bad lost its attraction. Of all the strange things t<> think 72 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. of he found himself wondering how Miss Ella Martin would look in a lawn tennis dress ; a theme surely as ridiculous to dwell upon as anything with which we have nothing to do that suggests itself in a dream ; but it was a pleasant dream and not at all like a nightmare. Blythe and Grey would of course be also playing in lawn tennis costumes, but he did not think of them. In the picture that he made in his mind Miss Ella was in the fore- ground ; and there was nobody else, even in the background. Lawn tennis was quite a newly invented game, but fortunately he could play it. The Misses Jones, the schoolmaster's daughters, had brought the net with them from town, not only, it was whispered, for the game's sake, but to catch fish with — and he had played with them occasionally, when fish were scarce, and he had played very well. Perhaps his scientific attainments — his knowledge of TENNIS. 73 hyperboles and parabolas — had assisted him, as sometimes happens at billiards ; and, as it fortunately chanced, it was the one game he could play. It was curious, again, that such a sensible fellow should be congratulating himself on so small a matter, but it pleased him to reflect that in this, at least, he was not likely to appear at a disadvantage with his new friends. How he got through the morning he would have been puzzled to say. Time hung on his hands as it had never done before. His " reading," for he made a pretence to read, was more like that of the young gentlemen at the university, who go there mainly to amuse themselves and incidentally to get a degree. He opened and shut his penknife, flattened his nose against the window, and inscribed what were certainly not commentaries on the margin of his book : among them were the initials " E. M." Four and twenty hours ago 74 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. it would have seemed impossible that George Needham could have thus behaved himself ; but the fact was (though he was not aware of it) that he was not the same man. His humble luncheon was welcome to him, not that he had any appetite for it, but because its arrival marked the passage of the leaden- winged hours ; it was the humble herald of his expected bliss : when it was over, he knew that it would be time to go down to the hotel. Altogether contrary to his usual practice he had idled away the morning ; but what an afternoon lay before him, to be marked with a white stone, perhaps, for the remainder of his days ! So it seemed to this young man's fancy, for, though he had taken nothing but water with his lunch, he was intoxicated. In spite of his state of excitement, Xeedham had a notion that it would be impolite — or as, perhaps, he secretly put it to himself, TENNIS. 75 impolitic — to present himself too early. It did not strike him that Blythe might be lunching with his friends, as had really happened, so that on his arrival he found the whole party awaiting him with some impatience. " I wonder which of his ologies has been detaining the Doctor ? " observed Grey ; whereupon Blythe remarked that at all events it could not have been chronology. Mrs, Martin, in a half serious and wholly charming way, reproved them for their frivolity, and Ella smiled a " Better late than never, Mr. Needham." He felt again as though the level waste of his dull life had been exchanged for a brighter landscape, its "rounded grey" for a more brilliant atmosphere. The Grand Hotel at Bournemouth, though not of that palatial size suggested by its name, is a building of some pretensions. Its chiei feature, however, is its splendidly situated 76 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. garden. The tennis ground stands a little apart from it, but enjoys the same lovely view. As Needham took his place as Blythe's partner against the other two, he could not help contrasting the scene with that which had been associated with his former experiences of the game. At Langton he had played tennis in what had been called a back garden, though there had been no front one, and which had more resembled a drying ground than either ; high walls had ensured privacy, at the sacrifice of no picturesque surroundings ; for all about it had been flat and ugly. He saw again the two somewhat passee Misses Jones and the curate who had been the object of their most gracious attentions. To him they had only extended a condescending patronage. Their refreshment had been ginger beer. Here the eye wandered over land and sea, and found new beauties wherever it lit upon ; TENNIS. u the ear was soothed with the whisper of the fir woods and the music of the waves ; the faces of his friends spoke only of youth and health and pleasure ; Ella in her well fitting and becoming tennis -dress, looked even more lovely than he had pictured her, and her every movement was eloquent of grace. On a garden seat sat Mrs. Martin with some fancy work in her hand, watching the players with admiring interest and ready to relieve their exertions with claret cup in a silver tankard. The only drawback to Needham's perfect pleasure was that Blythe and himself were too strong for the other pair. It was dreadful that Ella should be beaten at anything, but intolerable that he should help to beat her. He found himself, in defiance of duty, giving her easy returns, which evoked the indignation of his j^artner. "You can play better than that" remon- strated Blythe. 78 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Mr. Needham plays quite well enough for me" said Ella ; at which doubtful com- pliment the others roared. " Perhaps you would like to take him for your partner," observed Grey. " I am sure I shall be very happy, if he doesn't object," said Ella ; at which they laughed again, and more than ever. This raillery did not embarrass her in the least, but it was fortunate for Needham that the exercise in which he was engaged was sufficient to account for his high colour. That Ella should have made such a reply even in, fun, in consciousness — though ob- viously in humorous consciousness — of its double meaning, filled this well informed but inexperienced young man with ecstatic bliss. When the change had been effected, and her interests had become his own, he performed prodigies of valour and skill. He would have given all he had in the world (though, indeed, TENNIS. 79 it was not much) to have won that game of tennis for her ; hut, as in Grey's case, his side was too heavily handicapped. Other things heing equal, a woman's dress, however well adapted for an athletic game, must needs place her at a disadvantage ; and Blythe was a far better player than the other two were. In the end Needham and his beautiful ally were defeated. " It was all my fault ; you played splen- didly," said she with a grateful smile. The idea of anything being Miss Ella's fault was monstrous to him, and with chivalrous mendacity he took the blame on his own shoulders. "You are quite right, Needham," said Blythe, with unwelcome agreement. " If Miss Ella, will do me the honour of playing with me, she and I will lick you two fellows into a cocked hat." The sides were therefore again changed, and 8o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. though Needham did his best to defeat his adversaries, and Grey " put his back into it " with a vigour that he had not heretofore exhibited, Blythe's superior skill made up for his partner's deficiencies, and after a prolonged struggle once more secured the victory. Like a war game played by real strategists, the result was taken somewhat to heart ; Grey, though good temper personified, was obviously crestfallen, and Needham most ludicrously depressed ; while Blythe and Ella were proportionately elated. The former, indeed, was inclined to be a little boastful, which would have been more pardonable had it been the result of egotism ; but he persisted in attributing the victory to his fair ally. This, though in one sense " pretty " of him, in another was not so admirable, because the implied com- pliment was so obviously undeserved. And yet, though conscious of its falsehood, it was evident that his praise was pleasing to the girl. TENNIS. 8 1 It was not till Mrs. Martin gently rebuked her for encouraging such a delusion that she began to deprecate Blythe's commendations, and at the same time to conciliate her an- tagonists, which was a very easy matter. As the smiles of a princess loosen the knees of the most " stalwart " democrat, so the gentle words of a beautiful woman can still the rudest storm in the breasts of men ; and here there was no storm, only just a ripple of jealousy and disappointment. " You are not angry, only sad, I hope," she said to them in those winning tones which can clothe even banter with persuasion, and they not only at once became " not sad," but very happy. VOL. I. 82 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTER VI. THE BEGINNING OF IT. " Gtood Heavens ! " cries a character in one of those few books which the world will not willingly let die, speaking of two noble philanthropists, " to think that there are scores of people who knew these men well, and who could not ask them to dinner because they eat with their knives and never went to school ! " With this sentiment one has entire sympathy, yet it gives rather harsh measure to those whom it denounces. We may respect and even reverence our fellow creatures without yearning to ask them to dinner, while at the same time we may issue quite pressing THE BEGINNING OF IT. 83 invitations to much less worthy persons. Nor is the disinclination in the former case, as the great novelist would imply, a snobbish one ; it has no connection with the silver fork and kid glove school whatever ; nor does it arise from the want of social sympathy ; it is caused by a certain unfitness, quite of a superficial kind, between the types, not of character but of society. There is no friction between them, but association is not easy, and unless that is the case genuine companionship of the kind in question is impossible. It is not that the man is not a gentleman, and that in a higher sense perhaps than ourselves, that we sometimes feel a disinclination for his society. We may admit him to be more chivalrous, more unselfish, more estimable, more pure, but still he may be lacking in certain attributes the absence of which, though of no real importance, impede the wheels of social intercourse. It is not his eating with 84 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. his knife, but the lack of certain qualities- caused not by his own nature, but by his bringing up — which accompanies that habit, and is fatal to a mutual understanding. Your own circle may have no claims to exclusive - ness, nor be distinguished for good breeding, but it has a certain tone which is alien to him, and with which he is out of tune. It may be a frivolous tone, and worth nobody's while to acquire it, but not the wisest man in the world, who had not been used to it, can make it his own, or become, even for one hour, one of ourselves. It was a difficulty of this kind, though not of the same degree, that George Needham had to contend with in his intercourse with those among whom he now found himself. University life, as has been said, brings all men to the same level, and at Cambridge he would have found nothing foreign or enig- matic in either Blythe or Grey ; but, in the THE BEGINNING OF IT. 85 society in which he now found them, it was different. They had modes of expression, sometimes mere catchwords, but often phrases of a more subtle kind, to which he was a stranger. He felt like a man in a foreign laud who has learned its language by book, but for the first time hears it spoken. It is not beyond his comprehension, but he has to toil after its meaning, and in the effort falls to the rear. The little quips and cranks with which the conversation of his friends was interlarded tripped Needham up, and, as it were, impeded him. With that of the ladies he would have been still more puzzled, more hopelessly " out of it," but for their gracious assistance, so skil- fully given that he was unaware of it. Their behaviour was altogether different from what it would have been had he been a vulgar guest whom they wished to set at his ease, or a shy one whom it was necessary to encourage. 86 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. It was tinged with a certain respect, due to the character Grey had given him, and the effect of this, as regarded Ella, was unfortunate for him. He did not understand that her manner was kinder than it would otherwise have been to a person of his shortcomings, because she saw he was a little out of his element ; and he felt more at home with the ladies than with the men, though in reality he was much less so. It is so difficult not to attribute one's good fortune, or what seems to be such, to our own merits. It was proposed by Grey that, instead of dining as usual in their own apartment, they should do so at the table d'hote, where the system of separate tables would prevent the party being broken up. Mrs. Martin acquiesced at once ; she said it would certainly be more "cheerful." " Thank you, mamma," replied Ella, with an elaborate curtsey. THE BEGINNING OF IT. 87 " It is certainly rather unkind of your mother," said Blythe in a distressed tone, " to point out those deficiencies in us which we would have endeavoured to remedy without any such direct reference to them." At which they all laughed except Needham. He saw nothing in Mrs. Martin's remark to provoke mirth. Indeed, the event proved it to have been perfectly correct, for the table d'hote proved a great cause of cheerfulness. Without the slightest suspicion of being the subject of conversation, the various guests paid involuntary tribute to the hilarity of the evening. Blythe pointed out their social relations with one another, with an apparent accuracy such as would have seemed im- possible save in one of their own kith and kin. The uncle, and the nephew with expectations from him, who was so solicitous to know whether everything was to his liking ; the old lady who took her pint of champagne like 88 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. a man (i.e., found fault with it), while her friend (and companion) took water from the brook (or more probably the cistern) and looked grateful for it. The family at the centre table, with its managing mother and its unmanageable boys, and its crushed papa, whom an old bachelor at the next table regarded with such ludicrous complacency. All these were made by Blythe to minister to the mirth of the little party, not even excepting Mrs. Martin, who, though gently protesting, could not forbear to smile. There were two " young people " whom the waiter, with instinctive recognition of their position, had placed in an alcove, to their evident distress and embarrassment. It had been their hope and belief that they had given him the impression of being old married people ; but his practised eye had detected them in an instant. Blythe's diagnosis was equally rapid. " They must be not only newly married," he THE BEGINNING OF IT. 89 said, " but must have known very little of one another beforehand. He asked her whether she took ice with her Apollinaris." " I really don't see that that is decisive," observed Grey. " Now if it had been brandy " " Yon ought to be ashamed of yourself, Robert," interrupted Mrs. Martin. "Of course he ought; I blush for him," put in Blythe. " But the ice is proof sufficient of their short acquaintance. I have not known Miss Ella — to my loss — for long, but I have observed that she never takes iced drinks." Ella blushed and laughed, a little un- comfortably as Needham thought ; he was horrified at the introduction of such a parallel ; Grey, on the other hand, was much amused. " I have known her take sherry cobbler through a straw," he said, demurely. go A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Only once, Bobert," remonstrated Mrs. Martin. " Still, my clear aunt, it establishes the principle." "Just so," assented Blythe. "It would not be necessary for witnesses of the experi- ment to ask whether she liked sherry cobbler. They would know that she did." " You have no right to take that for granted, Mr. Blythe," smiled Ella, " since you were not a witness." " Still I venture to draw the deduction. When I know that a young lady has good taste, is fond of music, poetry, painting, and the fine arts, and is herself highly accom- plished, I conclude — from that course of reasoning which Needham calls synthetical — that she likes sherry cobbler." At this introduction of his name in an argument so audacious, the scholar of St. Neot's looked so excessively shocked that THE BEGINNING OF IT. 9 i a ripple of laughter flowed round the table. " You must not mind Mr. Blythe," said Mrs. Martin, kindly ; " nobody cares what he says " " And he doesn't care what he says him- self," interpolated Blythe, laughing. " Just so," said Mrs. Martin, whereupon they all laughed the more, which added to the good lady's confusion. " What I meant, of course, is," she added, " that Mr. Blythe is a licensed what-d'-you-call-it." "Victualler," suggested Blythe, demurely. It was impossible to be angry with this young gentleman, and difficult not to be pleased. With all his impudence, as some called it, there were few who did not envy him his manners. What would be rudeness in others was not only in him no rudeness, but had a certain charm. Needham felt it as much as the rest ; and indeed more so, for it 92 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. was new to him. It is difficult to describe such gifts, because to the tone and look with which they were accompanied much of their effect was due. The impression produced by Blythe upon his own sex was somewhat similar to that — though by very different means — produced on them by brilliant women. He did not enlist their admiration ; it was paid to him as a matter of course, and accompanied with a certain tenderness ; there was nothing effeminate about him, yet some- how he appealed to what was gentlest in their natures, and their kindness thus aroused made them blind to his faults. Needham had already passed under his spell, but this evening it took firmer hold of him. Much that Blythe said would from other lips have been displeasing to him, but in his case it seemed venial, or at the most, that great allowances should be made for him. Mrs. Martin had said, " I hardly like to THE BEGINNING OF IT. 93 ask you to stay to dinner, Mr. Blythe, though it would give us such great pleasure, because it will be leaving your mother alone ; do you think she could be persuaded to join us at such short notice, and in this picnic fashion." " When I go home to change my tennis things, I'll ask her," he said. Mrs. Martin had suggested that he had better go at once as she would have such a very little time to make her arrangements ; but to this he had turned a deaf ear. When he did go — at the last moment — and had returned, Mrs. Martin said, " You have not brought Mrs. Blythe with you I am sorry to see." "My mother?" he exclaimed with asto- nishment. " Oh, dear, no ; she does not like such violent delights as extemporaneous entertainments. She maps her dinners out beforehand; looks for that ceremonious herald, the invitation card, and drinks in expectation 94 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. before the feast, just as (I am told) some misguided men will take sherry and bitters." It was clear that he had never had the least intention of asking his mother, and only too probable that he had made her no apology for his absence. If she had come, her stiffness would have spoilt their enjoyment was the reflection that occurred to everybody ; but had it not been Blythe who had thus explained the matter, it would have struck them that her son had been rather selfish and somewhat disrespectful ; as it was, they only smiled at him, nor, indeed, did his mother herself see anything to complain of in his behaviour : he was one of those fortunate persons who continue to get their own way in the world, without arousing antagonism in those who yield to it. He disliked trouble of all kinds, and rarely found it necessary to take it ; like that fertile soil which " laughs with a harvest when you tickle it with a hoe," the hearts of THE BEGINNING OF IT. 95 his fellow creatures gave him of their best in return for a smile or a jest. After dinner the little party adjourned to their private sitting room, the French windows of which opened on the lawn. Blythe asked Ella for a song, and she went to the piano at once ; but it was Grey who turned over the leaves for her, while Blythe sat outside with his cigar, an arrangement it was difficult to believe, as he asserted it to be, a division of labour. No one, however, could have applauded the performance with better taste ; and when he explained how harmony was mellowed by distance, there really seemed to be something to account for his conduct besides laziness. To the songstress, at all events, it aj3peared to require little apology. When her chair was presently taken out, and placed by that of Blythe, while Grey took his seat on the other side, it was difficult to say to whose conversation she paid most attention. 96 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Needham remained in the room with Mrs. Martin, within full view of the young people though out of earshot. For awhile his hostess did her duty by him, but perceiving his manner grow more and more distrait, she desisted from all attempts at conversation, though from time to time she stole a searching look at him, full of tenderness and commisera- tion, for, quiet and simple as she was in all her ways, she read only too clearly what was passing in his mind. Needham's eyes were fixed upon Ella. They saw indeed other things ; his two friends sitting on either side of her, the level lawn in front of them, and beyond it the cliffs and the sea ; but they took note only of her, not a smile escaped them, nor ever so slight a movement of her beautiful head. It seemed to him that if he could have so sat and watched her for his whole life long it would have been a sufficient happiness ; it was not necessary that she THE BEGINNING OF IT. 97 should be cognizant of it, but only that she should not forbid him. With that silent and unrecognised worship he would have been content. But at times there would come across him closer thoughts, more vehement aspirations. How gracious had this exquisite creature been to him; so gentle of speech and kind in manner. It was a monstrous ambition in any man, and especially in such a one as himself, to aspire to win such a woman ; but, after all, she was a woman, and — so he had read of the sex — might condescend to any man, however unworthy or unsuitable in fortune or position, on whom she might cast a glance of regard. It was not the gift of fortune, nor comeliness, nor brilliancy of intelligence, that won the heart of a young girl, but often only sonic obscure merit in a man, recognised by herself alone, or which even had no existence save in her own imagination. vol. 1. h 98 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Many a time had women, not indeed so perfect as she, but fair and young and highly placed, "thrown themselves away," as the world called it, upon men who had only their true hearts to give them. Why, then, should not Ella Martin ? Sunk in one of these foolish dreams, Needham suddenly heard a grave but gentle voice addressing him ; he started as if from slumber. It was not till she repeated her words that he rightly under- stood that his hostess was speaking to him. " You know," she said, " Mr. Needham," motioning with her head towards Ella, who had just turned in her chair to give a smiling reply to some question of Blythe's, " you know, of course, that my daughter is engaged to be married." Then in the waning light (for the candles had not yet been lit) she noticed that he turned pale and gave a little shiver. For the moment he answered nothing, but looked THE BEGINNING OF IT, 99 inquiringly at the little group outside, in a way that seemed to say, " How can it be ? Why torture me with saying that she belongs to one of them, when she is as kind to one as the other?" He had thought — or permitted himself to think — for a few hours, that she was heart- free. Of course he remembered what Blythe had said to him about her being engaged, but his manner of saying it had not been serious, and he knew no reason for that, save the obvious one that the matter had not actually been arranged, that there was still doubt — and for himself hope. But Mrs. Martin's words were a deathblow to it. It did not occur to him that they had been spoken apropos to nothing — had certainly not been evoked by anything he had either said or done. He thought them only too opportune, as a man with a wounded limb that requires instant amputation regards — though he has ioo A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. not sent for him — the surgeon with his knife. " You know, of course, that Ella is engaged to be married." Oh yes, he knew it now only too well. It did not strike him, as it well might have done, considering the view he had taken of the matter, that her mother had said it by way of apology for the apparent pleasure Ella took in Blythe's attentions, which would go of course for nothing since her position was well understood. He felt that the words had been spoken for his own sake. If she had added " so you will perceive the utter useless- ness of falling in love with her yourself," the sense could not have been clearer. He rose from his seat with a white despairing face : " If you Avill kindly excuse me, Mrs. Martin, and make my apologies to — them," he murmured, with a glance at the group outside ; " I have some work to do to-night, and it is getting late." THE BEGINNING OF IT. 101 She did not attempt to detain him, and very quietly he moved away. He had work to do, a victory to win over his own hopeless passion, and though he did win it, it cost him dear. A struggle took place that night within George Needham's breast that left its mark upon his character for life. He had said to himself that the day would be marked with a white stone ; but the stone as it had turned out was a gravestone. A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE VII. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. " What, Needham gone ? " exclaimed Grey, when, not till some time after the guest's disappearance, the three young people came within doors. " What on earth did he run away for ? " " Perhaps," said Mrs. Martin, quietly, " he asked himself why on earth he should stop. All three of you seemed to have forgotten his existence." "But why did he not come out to us?" said Ella. " Perhaps because he didn't like to leave me all alone," returned her mother, simply. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 103 " And that is exactly what we did," cried Ella, penitently, " my poor dear mamma ! " " It was not your daughter's fault, Mrs. Martin," pleaded Blythe, in his gentlest tones; " we are wretches, heartless wretches, Grey and I, to have so monopolized her." " I don't think it was anybody's fault," said his hostess, smiling ; " the fact is, our friend had some work to do to-night, and found it was getting late. I only reproached you to try the tenderness of your conscience, Mr. Blythe." "As if it were a chop," returned Blythe, plaintively. " I am sorry, however, that Dr. Johnson took himself off like that." " You have no right to take Mm off by calling him out of his name," said Ella, reprovingly. " Oh, everybody does that who knows him," exclaimed Grey. " The name for him at Cambridge is 'Met' — short for Methusaleh, 104 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. you know — because of his great age. He is a kind of fellow who has never been young, nor indulged in any weakness for five minutes." "Beally?" said Mrs. Martin, mechanically; she was thinking to herself how her nephew misjudged his friend, whom she pitied from the bottom of her tender heart. " Oh, no ; not that he has had much chance of indulgence in romantic emotions, poor old fellow," continued Grey, looking involuntarily towards Ella. " He has been obliged to keep his eyes upon more practical matters." "Is it necessary, then, to have a fixed income to cling to to prevent one from falling in love ? " inquired Blythe, with the ah* of one who asks for information. " What a ridiculous idea ! " exclaimed Ella, smiling. " It was not my idea, it was your cousin's," he answered, with pretended gravity. "It is also surely possible to combine the tender MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 105 passion with an eye to the main chance ; to find consolation, so to speak, in consols," " Needham would be the last man in the world to many for money," said Grey, confidently. "That's putting it a little too bluntly," observed Blythe. " As the farmer suggests in the poem, why should not the heart turn to where the money is, just as much as in the contrary direction ? why should Love, that vital flame, be stilled by a money bag, as a chimney on fire is extinguished by a wet blanket ? It seems a monstrous thing that a mere inequality of fortune should stand in the way of so divine a passion." "You would not talk like that if you were a 2)oor man," observed Mrs. Martin. " I should be less frank of speech, no doubt ; but if I really loved even an heiress I don't think I should much care what people said about being dependent upon my wife. I io6 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. would sacrifice everything for her — even my poverty." It was difficult not to smile at this illustra- tion of disinterestedness. The art of saying something wholly unexpected — and especially something humorous when his talk chanced to be exceptionally grave — had become a second nature to the speaker, and ceased to be wit at all. Under these circumstances it is a very effective engine of conversation. The admira- tion it arouses is personal. Grey slapped his leg in an ecstacy. Ella clapped her hands softly together, and murmured " How good that is ! " Mrs. Martin alone refused the tribute of a smile. She preferred to lose the joke rather than the thread of her argument. "Nevertheless, my dear Mr. Blythe, I do contend that you of all men would not like to owe your means of livelihood to your wife." " But Mr. Blythe never said he would like it, mamma. He only contended that if he MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 107 was really in love with anybody the mere opinion of other people wonld not alter his views. It may be a humiliating thing to a man (though for my part I cannot see why) that the woman should have the purse ; but to lose her for such a scruple is not, he thinks, so chivalrous as it is Quixotic. Moreover, the wishes of the young lady herself ought to count for something." "You have expressed my opinion to a hair, Miss Ella," returned the young man, grate- fully. " I confess it rather irritates me to see how people wax hot and cold upon this matter. In the one breath they say, ' Love is our lord and king,' and in the next, ' But, of course, there must be no inequality of income.' Precisely the same thing happened in the case of the revised edition of the Scriptures. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of good people had told us there was nothing of so much consequence as the Bible ; some of them io8 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. said that every word of it was inspired ; at all events, it was of the utmost consequence to have the words as nearly as possible correct. And yet the sale of this momentous work j}roved a failure. ' Nothing could be more important/ everybody allowed ; but one cannot really be always buying new books." " Yet many a man and woman, too, have laid down their lives for the Scriptures," observed Mrs. Martin, gravely. "No doubt. I am speaking only of the majority ; not of the martyrs, but of the saints, or those who call themselves so ; their faith they protest is strong, but they decline to j)rove it by an expenditure of cash. They are like the schoolboy who staked his soul and honour, but refused to bet sixpence." There are few things more attractive, or, indeed, more rare, than the union of logic with liveliness * it has all the popularity of the " serious " novel (with persons who are un- MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 109 acquainted with fiction) and produces at least attention where logic by itself would not be listened to. Ella, to whom such talk was new, was charmed with it, and Grey well pleased to see his friend's cleverness making so agreeable an impression. Again Mrs. Martin was the only non- content. " What your reasoning would prove, Mr. Blythe, is that money is the most important matter in the opinion of your fellow creatures. Now, setting aside Faith, which is too sacred a thing to be lightly dealt with, do you seriously believe that Honour, Friendship, Love, are outweighed by it in the minds of any one of us four, who I have no reason to believe are persons of exceptional virtue ? " "Perhaps not; but then, my dear Mrs. Martin, we are persons, in comparison with our fellow creatures, exceptionally well off." "Then if by any accident we were deprived of our property," observed Ella, smiling, no A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Mr. Blythe thinks our principles would go with it." "Nay, I did not say that, Miss Ella," he answered, gently. " I believe you would bear even poverty with equanimity. I was only speaking of man — vile man." A little flush of pleasure stole over Ella's face ; the compliment evidently gratified her. She replied, however, with some severity, " The principles of poor Robert, for instance, would break down, you think, if he was in want of money." " Well, Grey is my friend, you know ; as long as it was not ready money it is possible he would still remain virtuous. Virtue may be dispensed with for a season, but ready money not for an hour. That, at least, is my experience." " I am afraid, Mr. Blythe, you are incor- rigible," said Mrs. Martin. She meant it seriously enough, though she did not say it MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. in seriously. It was one of the advantages, or perhaps the disadvantages, of Blythe's way that even those who wished to reprove him shrank from doing so. He advanced the most outrageous arguments in so attractive a manner that to most hearers there seemed something in them ; and even those who detested their hollowness were amused by them. He was so genial and so pleasant — that, unless peojDle were very strait-laced indeed, or of an entirely antagonistic nature, it was difficult to withstand him, impossible to scold him. They looked upon him as upon a very engaging child, with whose peccadilloes it would be cruel and out of place to use harshness, and even credited him with the ignorance of the child. Women were especially liable to his spell because they perceived by intuition that his disposition was tender and affectionate. Mrs. Martin had hitherto succumbed to it. ii2 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. and still felt its influence, but on the present occasion it failed to disarm her. If she had been free from solicitude, she would have enjoyed his conversation as usual, but she was a little distressed at the suddenness of her late guest's departure, and the manner of his going. Her maternal heart was pained for Needham's sake, and somewhat troubled on Ella's account. She saw that her daughter admired Blythe very much, was pleased by his compliments and attracted by his talents, all of which was perfectly natural ; but what distressed her was that the brilliancy of his conversation threw Grey into the shade. She was very fond of her nephew, of whom she justly entertained the highest opinion, but, though he had greater and more solid acquire- ments, he was not so clever as his friend. Of this Grey was perfectly aware ; but, beiug a total stranger to jealousy, it gave him no uneasiness. Mrs. Martin herself indeed could MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 113 hardly be said to be uneasy ; she knew that her daughter's love for her cousin — begun in childhood and ripened with every year — was not of a nature to be easily endangered ; but she would have preferred to have no com- parison drawn to his disadvantage. The opinions Blythe entertained were often the subject of her disapproval, though his mode of expressing them prevented their being distasteful. If he had been less natural, and kind, and genial, she admitted to herself that he would have been a dangerous companion for a young girl, even though she was " engaged." Mrs. Martin's apprehensions went no further than to induce her to come to the conclusion that it was just as well their stay t Bournemouth was coming to an end, and that for that particular day they had had enough of Mr. Walter Blythe's society. So she began to roll uj) the work on which she vol. 1. 1 ii4 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. had been engaged, in that particular fashion which was recognised both by Grey and her daughter for the last dozen years as the signal for retiring. Blythe, though he had only observed it for as many weeks, was equally conversant with it. "It is time for good boys to go home to their mammas," he said, consulting his watch. u I have to 'thank you, dear Mrs. Martin, for a most charming evening." " I am glad you enjoyed yourself," said his hostess, relenting ; " take care you don't fall over the cliff, for it's getting very dark." " I don't much like it," observed Blythe. woefully. "If you are afraid, I am sure Bobert will see you home," cried Ella, laughing. " What I meant I didn't like was going, Miss Ella," said Blythe, plaintively; "but, nevertheless, I shall be glad of Grey's company." MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 115 " All right," said Grey, " I'll light my pipe, and then we shall see our way." This badinage was unwelcome to Mrs. Martin ; she thought that, even in fun, Ella should not have proposed Robert's leaving her ; engaged young gentlemen like saying " good-night " to their beloved objects in private ; and by this arrangement he would be deprived of that privilege. The good nature and docility with which Robert had fallen in with the proposal, only made it more dis- tasteful to his aunt. She remembered her own youth and felt that she would not have behaved as her daughter had done, but she was very far too wise to say so. Notwith- standing, however, there was a little cloud on her brow which did not escape Ella's loving eyes. "What has happened, dear mother? I am sure something has troubled you." "Not troubled me, dear, but just a little n6 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. annoyed me. I was sorry that Mr. Needham left us so suddenly." " But you don't think he was hurt. It was very thoughtless of us to forget about him, as I fear we did, but he did not think it was an intentional neglect, I do hope." "No, I don't think that." " It would be shocking, indeed, if it were so, considering that Mr. Needham was not only our guest, but one who ought to have been treated with especial consideration, because it seems (here she began to laugh) he has not got so much ready money as the rest of us. How droll Mr. Blythe is ! I really can't help laughing though it's so sad. He will get his fellowship and things, however, Bobert tells me, so that he will not be so badly off, since he doesn't want to marry." "You are speaking of Mr. Xeedham?" "Well, of course. Mr. Blythe will marry, no doubt — into a country family, let us hope, MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 117 for his mother's sake — but not poor Mr. Need- ham. I cannot say how distressed I feel about him ; I shall make a point of letting him see how penitent I am ; I both like him and respect him." " I would not do that, if I were you," said Mrs. Martin, gravely. "Not like and respect Mr. Needham? Good heavens, why? " "I don't mean that, my dear; I mean I wouldn't let him see you were distressed upon his account. It would be wiser, I think, not to make so much of the matter." Ella put down the candle she had just lighted, and looked at her mother inquiringly. " What do you mean, dear ? Has any- thing happened ? " " Nothing at all ; it is because I don't want anything to happen. I may be wrong, but I think this excellent young man, who is n8 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. never going to marry, has, nevertheless, allowed himself to fall in love." " What ! ' Met." — ' Dr. Johnson ' — and with me/" cried Ella, clasping her hands, and laughing aloud. "It will not be a laughing matter to him unless I am much mistaken," answered her mother, gravely ; " what was fun to the boys was death to 'the frogs. Seriously, my dear. I am afraid that, without intending it, you have made our new friend unhappy." "But, my dear mother, it's ridiculous.*' protested Ella ; "it is very pleasant to this little goose of yours to know that in your loving eyes she looks a swan, whom everybody must needs admire ; but she is not so vain as to take that view herself. I have not spoken twenty words to Mr. Needham. And, besides, he must, of course, know that I am engaged." " That doesn't always prevent a man from MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 119 falling in love," observed Mrs. Martin, very gravely. " It would surely prevent any man of honour, just the same as if one was married. " " I have no great confidence even in men of honour," answered Mrs. Martin, drily ; " but that is not the point in the case we are speaking of. As a matter of fact, Mr. Need- ham did not know — at all events for certain — that you were engaged until I told him." " Then lie must be very stupid. He could have seen that for himself." " At all events, my dear, he did not see it," put in Mrs. Martin, "though I don't think he can be called stupid." " I suppose it arises from his having had no experience of social life," said Ella, loftily. She was a little irritated that her position should have been so misunderstood. " That is more or less the case with all of us, my dear, when we are young," said 120 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Mrs. Martin, quietly. " There are, there- fore, disappointments — and also dangers — in our path ; and we can none of us be too prudent." " But I should have thought good Mr. Xeedham was prudence itself." " No doubt, but as Eobert told ' us was said by the master of his college, in his speech against innovations, ' Even the youngest of us may make a mistake,' and you are still very young, I am glad to say." Then with a sweet smile and a kiss, she brought her little lecture to an end with a " Grood-night, my darling." A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 121 CHAPTER VIII. A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. The general notion of a college at either of our universities is an ancient and pic- turesque assemblage of buildings consisting of one or more squares, enclosing well kept grass plots, a hall, a chapel, and master's lodge. To these is generally added the Fellows' garden, on which is the bowling green, shaded by a few fine trees. The garden indeed, to the outsider, is its most striking characteristic, since, though im- bedded in a town, it compares favourably for £>eace and quietness, as well as for rich- ness of verdure, with the most retired and 122 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. peaceful pleasure ground in the heart of the country. The walls are covered with moss and lichen ; it has a drowsy echo of its own, composed of the most delicate and soothing sounds : the tinkle of chapel bells, the caw of rooks, and the dull thud of the bowl as it strikes its fellow. When you pass the porter's gate into the college precincts, you seem to have entered another and much earlier world ; every footstep takes you back a century. Such is the aspect of St. Boniface, and, more or less, that of all the other colleges in Cambridge. St. Neot's is, however, an excep- tion. It is not one of those new institutions that have of late been established in pre- cincts heretofore sacred to antiquity, designed for middle classes, and " run on the cheap." It is not a " hall " or a " hostel," but a college, which, if it cannot measure years with the original institution of the place, is A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 123 yet no new comer. Though time has not hallowed it, it is not a thing of yesterday, puffed by the trumpets of the Press as the inauguration of a new era. In point of fact, the Press knows nothing about it ; it owes its being to individual enterprise of a peculiar, kind, and which did not seek advertisement. Academically speaking, St. Neot's was a failure, a circumstance which silenced the voice of rivalry. It had scholarships but no scholars to speak of, and fellowships which were very easily come by. But ever)' now and then St. Neot's asserted itself, and invited alumni of distinction. It had made overtures to George Needham — an under- graduate, if not in the first flight, with a considerable reputation for learning, and of a high moral character — and, as we have seen. he had accepted them. Supposing he re- mained unmarried the oifer involved a provi- sion for life. It was uot what his ambition 124 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. at one time had looked forward to ; it, in a manner, shelved him, though on a very com- fortable shelf ; but he had taken a practical view of his position, and on the whole was well content. Already a scholar of the college, he was almost as sure of becoming Fellow, tutor, and perhaps even Master of St. Neot's — if he only lived long enough — as a man who has got his foot on his stair- case is of reaching his bedroom. It is true the society in which he found himself was not very congenial to his years. Though he himself had been considered old in comparison with those of the same year at St. Boniface, the men among whom he now found himself were many of them really advanced in middle life. There Avas one undergraduate nearly as old as the Master of St. Neot's himself, who had buried two wives, and was supposed, not without reason, to be inclined for a third matrimonial experiment. A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 125 The tutor indeed was comparatively young ; but a really old man there was not in the college, except the porter, a superannuated official from St. Boniface, whose grey head had earned him his post ; it gave that touch of hoary antiquity to St. Neot's of which it stood in need. Though its alumni were few, it was not for want of accommodation for them ; there were suites of rooms unoccupied, and very good rooms ; if they lacked the more antiquated charms of the more ancient institutions they were lighter, larger, and a great deal more com- fortable. Some of them had even bells in them, the want of which is a severe deficiency in collegiate arrangements. They preserve you from murder (by outsiders at least), but not from illness, and, ill as you may be, not a soul can be summoned to your assistance till the bed maker opens your door in the morning. As in the case of other picturesque dwell- 126 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. ings more delightful to the artist than the tenant, certain sacrifices of comfort had to be made by those who dwelt in Boniface's. St. Neot's was not nearly so venerable, but it offered much pleasanter quarters. To Xeed- ham, indeed, with his previous experience of life, it seemed the very lap of luxury. Of discipline — though he had no apprehensions from that quarter — there was absolutely none. It was taken for granted that the disciples of St. Neot's were old enough to take care of themselves ; and, indeed, it would have been sufficiently strange if one in the position of Halford, for example — an undergraduate said to have been twenty years in the law — should have been looked after with maternal solicitude because he happened to be nominally in statu pupillari. What he and others in a some- what similar case had come to the university at all for, was a mystery to the rest of the world. What they intended to do with their A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 127 degree, or what they thought a degree would do for them, in the rather problematical case of their getting one, nobody knew ; but the ambition seemed widespread, and excited no remark, especially at St. Neot's, which but for them and their like would have had no excuse for its existence. On the other hand, the institution, though it took rather hopeless cases, was very far from being a refuge for the destitute ; its undergraduates, if they had no such expectations as those of other colleges, were for the present much better off ; few of them had either " governors " or " guardians," but lived on their means, and had been accustomed so to do for many a year. It was now the long vacation, and in St. Neot's, never very populous, there were in residence just three persons — the master, Dr. Martell ; Methuen, the dean and tutor ; and Hal ford, the undergraduate. These three had 128 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. dined together in their pleasant combination room, and over their coffee and cigars were chatting as familiarly as though, there were no differences in university rank of any kind ; upon the whole, indeed as being older than the dean, and with much more knowledge of life than the master, the undergraduate took the lead. He was a man, perhaps, of forty- five years of age, with hair and beard already tinged with grey, but with a face full of vivacity and vigour. The dean and tutor was a dainty little fellow, some ten years his junior, a little inclined to be dandified so far as his ecclesi- astical character would permit, but with an expression of habitual good humour that showed that whatever vanity he possessed was but skin deep. The master was a comely man of fifty, gentle and gentlemanly, with what would have been some show of dignity, but for his A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 129 absence of mind ; this was not natural to him, but arose from certain circumstances in his life history to which his mind was continually reverting, and was for the present increased by reason of the matrimonial step which for the third time he had in contemplation. It was understood by his friends that, when the master of St. Neot's was distrait, his spirit was keeping company with that of Miss Penelope Lintern, the daughter of the geo- logical professor, and there were reasons, even if it was not quite correct, why Dr. Martell should be well content with the explanation. The apartment itself was a striking example of the difference existing between this unique institution and its elder brethren. It was totally unlike a college dining room of the usual type. There was no horseshoe table, no railway for the decanters, no environing atmosphere of age and port. It was a bright and airy room of modest dimensions, the vol. 1. K 130 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. French windows of which opened upon a lawn and shrubbery, by no means kept in apple-pie order. As the lodge had no mistress for the present, it was perhaps excusable that the flower-beds were in a rather dishevelled con- dition, and the general aspect of the scene w as no less pleasant and picturesque upon that account. What should have been a trim and high banked square, dedicated to the philosopher Bias, was used, when it was used at all, for lawn tennis, and went, even with its proprietors themselves, the master and fellows of St. Neot's, by the graphic name of the Wilderness. There were but three fellows and two scholars, but in the latter case the " governing body " had power, though no inclination, to add to their number. " And so my coach, I understand, is coming back earlier than was expected, Mr. Dean," observed the elderly undergraduate, lighting A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 131 his cigar. " He lias no authority, I hope, to compel me to begin my studies before term time ? " " Well, no," smiled Methuen, gravely ; " that would be ultra vires in any case ; and, besides, Needham himself, although a scholar, is in stain papilla ri. Halford wishes to make sure that he cannot be flagellated at the buttery hatch, Master, for declining to read with Needham before October. What do you say?" " Ah, that is a very nice question," returned the Master, who, up in the clouds of thought, only knew that he had been appealed to upon some question of college discipline. " There is a good deal to be said on both sides." Halford leant back in his chair and shut his eyes, as his custom was when greatly tickled — it was said of him that lie never saw a happy moment — and the Dean murmured, "Just so," as though his principal bad solved 132 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. some Grordian knot by his oracular observa- tion. "What is curious, however," he added, perceiving, perhaps, a look of suspicion in the other's face, "is that telegram this morn- ing from Needham himself, wanting to know whether he might return to college." " Is it so very strange then, Mr. Dean? " inquired the Master, with ruffled dignity ; " that anyone should wish to come back to St. Neot's before he is compelled to do so by statute ? " "Not at all, not all, Master," returned the Dean, precipitately ; " every one finds him- self deuced comfortable — I mean very com- fortable — here, I am sure. But since Need- ham has been on his holiday for so short a time, it seems curious indeed that he should so soon have wearied of it." "I can't Hatter myself that I am the attraction," said Halford, smiling. " I never heard of a coach that pined after a pupil." A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 133 " There would be only one thing stranger," remarked the Tutor drily, " a pupil that pined after a coach." " I confess it is something quite beyond my experience," observed the Master ; " and why should the young fellow want us to telegraph the information whether Mr. Hal- ford was in residence or not ? What possible reason can there be for such precipitancy ? " " Because he didn't want to wait for the post, and at the same time wished to have something to show to account for his sudden departure," observed Halford, decisively. " My dear fellow, you are as sententious as Mr. Edgar Poe," said the Dean, laughing. " Perhaps you will give us one link more in you chain of reasoning, and tell us why Needham wants to leave Bournemouth ? " "I can only imagine, considering that he is under five-and -twenty, that the cause must be petticoats." i 3 4 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. "Be wliat?" inquired the Master, with agitation. " Halford means that our new scholar has fallen in love," explained the Dean. " But that would make him stop where he is ; not want to come back." " That depends upon whether the great attraction is at Bournemouth or at Cam- bridge," observed the undergraduate. "At Cambridge? Good gracious! do you mean in the town here ? " inquired the Master, excitedly. " Well, I am a stranger, you know — only been here two terms. But is it not jjossible for a man to fall in love at Cambridge ? " " You mean for an undergraduate, Halford," put in the Dean, hastily ; for the fact of their respected Principal being in that position was one of common knowledge. " Well, of course, I am speaking of an undergraduate ; why shouldn't he ? " A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 135 " It would be very indecorous," observed the Master, speaking with great gravity. It would strike at the root of the University system. In Needhani's case it would even be a breach of contract with ourselves, because we elected him with a view to his being a credit to the college, which of course involves a celibate life." " To be sure, I had not thought of that," said Halford, shutting his eyes very tight. " However, if he has really been so forgetful of his obligations we must buy her off. There ought to be a special fund for that purpose in every collegiate institution." " Good Heavens ! " ejaculated the Master in a hoarse whisper. He looked not on\y shocked, but horrified. Halford, still enjoy- ing himself in the dark, went on, as if no protest had been made : lt There is nothing more common in my profession than this sort of compromise, or one more easily 136 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. managed ; but you must keep it out of court. Juries are always generous with their damages. They would serve poor jSeedham as though he were as rich as the college butler or the cook. If Gresham got into the same trouble he would be ruined for life, just because he happens to be handsome. It would be counted as an asset and the lady's loss." The Master's face was a study. He seemed to be interested in these amazing observations of his undergraduate in spite of himself. " Gresham is beautiful," observed the Dean, " but not accomplished. He is an ornament to us only in a very limited sense. I wish we could have got another scholar like Needham." " Still, it is something to be able to say that the handsomest young fellow at the university is at St. Neot's." " You want a man like Grey, I suppose," said Hal ford. "And are likely to want him." returned the A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 137 Dean. " Why, my dear fellow, lie is already a scholar at St. Boniface, and will be the first man of his year." " Eeally ! Well, why not Blythe, then ? It strikes me he wonld be a great acquisition." " To our combination room, no doubt ; but you are really, Halford, in the very lowest depths of ignorance about university matters. Blythe will, probably, only take a poll degree. An excellent thing in itself," added the Dean, hastily, with a sudden remembrance that this was the summit of the other's own ambition, "but of no use to us. We want someone who will distinguish himself." " It strikes me that this is just what Blythe will do," persisted Halford. " For so young a man he gives me the impression not only of intelligence, but of great force of character." " I quite agree with Halford," observed the Master. " University honours, as my poor wife was wont to remark — and when 1 say 138 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. my wife, I mean my first wife — are sui generis ; but there are other lines of life which admit of considerable distinction. Mr. Blythe is a very remarkable young man, and what she would have happily designated as a social success." " And what would be the good of him at St. Neot's ? " inquired the Dean, with dogged amazement. "I don't know about the good of him," was the dignified reply; ''but, though our friend Halford, for example, does not aspire to University honours, we are very glad to have him here, and — and — to receive the benefit of his experience." " Upon my life, Master, that is very hand- somely said," observed the undergraduate, a faint flush upon his well -whiskered cheek show- ing that the compliment had gone home. Then the Master took up his cap, and, with a gracious inclination of his head, retired — like the beaver — to his lodge. A NICE LITTLE COLLEGE. 139 " I believe lie is going to make me a scholar of the college out of his own head," cried Halford, gravely, "i.e., without putting any difficulties in the way of examination. What is your explanation of the phenomenon, Mr. Dean ? " " Madness," ejaculated that official. " I wish I could say drunkenness, because that would be a less serious and more temporary matter. What rubbish he talked about Blythe merely for the sake of being civil to you ! " " But what can he possibly expect from me in return ? " exclaimed Halford. " I cannot conceive ; he's going to be mar- ried again for the third time, and, as he must have pretty well come to the end of his friends in that way, perhaps intends asking you to be his best man ! " 140 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE IX. A HOPELESS LOVER. The social power that resides in our collegiate institutions, though little recognised, is amaz- ing ! What is commonly dwelt upon is its facilities for learning, for teaching men to educate themselves, for making smooth what is rough by culture— and, to descend to lower ground — its opportunities of personal advance- ment. But to men of Needham's stamp and ante- cedents it opens a new world. It has been said that he knew nothing of society, which, as regards what is usually called such, is quite true ; but of recent months (for one could not A HOPELESS LOVER. 141 count it by years) he had tasted such enjoy- ment of life as in his boyhood and his servi- tude at Langton he had never even dreamt of. St. Boniface had been a revelation to him in this way, but the happiness he had there experienced was, he felt, too great to last ; he would have failed in obtaining a permanent footing in it, and at the end of his university career have found himself compelled to return to ushership again (for tutorship would be too fine a name for it), and his last state of servitude (since he would "have remembered happier things " ) would have been worse than the first. But by that unlooked-for transla- tion to St. Neot's, though it was, from the university point of view a step downwards, he had reached port after a short voyage indeed. There was little left — or so he had thought before that meeting with Ella Martin — to be wished for. The Master was so gracious, the Dean so pleasant, and all his 142 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. surroundings so agreeable, that he would have found himself an ingrate indeed to mur- mur at fortune. It was quite possible, with his modest tastes and habits, to live on his scholarship, without any further encroach- ment on his little capital ; but, thanks to the consideration of the Dean, who appreciated and sympathised with his position, his ser- vices as a coach or private tutor had been recommended to the elderly freshman, Mr. Half ord, a circumstance which added materially to his income, while it still left him time to jmrsue those studies which it was tacitly understood were to result in his being a credit to the college by taking a good degree. Out- side our two Universities such good fortune, owed to no patron and involving no personal obligation, is not to be found ; and it is justly objected to, that in many cases it comes too soon — is, as it were, a too precocious prosperity, since, at the very outset of life, A HOPELESS LOVER. 143 it renders exertion unnecessary, and, in the case of an indolent disposition, makes of one who might he an ornament to his generation, a mere Don. No snch reflection, however, disturbed the mind of George Needbam. He had already, as it seemed to him, lived his life, or at least one life, and experienced enough of its miseries to shrink from a further essay. He had drunk the bitter cup of penury, if not to the dregs, in sufficient volume to give him a shuddering distaste for it, and an intense thankfulness for his escape from its repetition. All had seemed well and safe with him, and now all of a sudden he had been cast down from his pinnacle of comfort, and his con- tent scattered to the winds. As a general rule, a young gentleman falls in love and scrambles out of it with the same facility that a skater escapes from thin ice in shallow water; a few minutes in the Society's 144 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Receiving House, with a glass of hot brandy and water, sets him right and encourages him to try again. There is no real danger in the experiment whatever. Most of us have tried it early, and think less and less of it every time. But as now and then the skater of delicate constitution derives from his im- mersion rheumatic fever, which clings to him more or less for life, so is falling in love in certain peculiar cases attended by serious consequences. Like measles, if you have it for the first time rather late in life, you are apt to take it badly ; and this is what had happened to George Needham. There are certain heroic ways of cure even in such cases. Some men plunge into the whirlpool of dissipation, and forget their sorrow in a mud-bath ; others marry, out of pique, the first woman that comes in their way. There is doubtless something to be said in favour of both these violent remedies : but A HOPELESS LOVER. 145 neither of them occurred to Needham. Vice was neither familiar nor welcome to him ; and there was only one woman in the world (or so it seemed to him) that he could have married, and she was out of his reach. He was not angry with her for having engaged herself to somebody else before she had had the pleasure of seeing him, as some men would have been ; his disposition was not of that Frenchified kind which tempts the dis- appointed lover to shoot the object of his affections rather than permit her to be happy with another. Like the knifegrinder, whom " no sense of wrongs could raise to vengeance," he was not very angry with Grey, who had by anticipa- tion supplanted him. No ; so pure was his spirit, that he still felt attached to the man ; and, as for the girl, well, though she won 1 .,! never be his, his highest ambition was some day or other — not to show her how devoted VOL. I. L 146 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. he was to her, "because that might give her pain — but to be able to serve her. Perhaps it was because he had been an usher and a sizar, and had no proper pride, that he took this humble, and, it must be acknowledged, somewhat uninteresting view of matters ; but, such as it was, it afforded to him some comfort. There was even perhaps a sort of chivalry in it. Tfc was not so fine a thing, of course, as the old way of going forth armed cap-a-pied with your mistress's colours in your helmet, and laying everybody low who ventured to compare any other young person with her ; but there was a certain unselfish- ness about it which, unless history belies them, was not always found in those gallant knights. It is now and again seen in old age, that has no pleasures save in promoting the happiness of those it loves ; but old age has had its fling, and, it is only reasonable, should be content with the remembrance of it; A HOPELESS LOVER. 147 but in youth this state of affairs is very rare, and the student of human nature must admit that George Needham's case was peculiar. He had fled from Bournemouth, not, as the astute Halford had suggested, in chase of a petticoat, but to avoid one. The spectacle of Ella Martin, though the most entrancing his eyes could look upon, was absolutely intolerable to him. He had made up his mind never to see her more, never again — voluntarily at all events — to be led into a temptation which had assailed him with a force altogether beyond his means of resistance. But this prudent determination had not prevented him from purchasing her photograph. He had seen one lying on the table in Mrs. Martin's sitting-room, made a note of its number, and his very last act on leaving the scene of temptation had been to buy a duplicate of the portrait at the shop where it was taken. He only meant to keep it as a devotee 1, 2 148 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. keeps a relic, to remind him of her spiritual qualities. " The desire of the moth for the star Of the night for the morrow, The devotion to something afar From the sphere of our sorrow," was the sort of sentiment with which he was disposed to regard it ; hut he kept it in the breast pocket of his coat, and just over his heart. He nattered himself that the existence of his passion was suspected hy no human heing, and in his modesty supposed that his abrupt departure could hardly evoke a ray of interest in his new acquaintances. Still, he wrote a short note to Mrs. Martin to say that, in consequence of a telegram which had suddenly summoned him to Cambridge, he was unable to take leave of them. The note caused that kind lady no little pain. She nodded her head, and closed her lips over it, like one who is more distressed than sur- A HOPELESS LOVER. 149 prised, but handed it over to her daughter without comment. " Dear me ! So Dr. Johnson has deserted us," said Ella. " I am really quite sorry. I believe we should have liked him very much, if we had seen more of him." " What the deuce can they be wanting old Met. at St. Neot's for?" exclaimed Grey, genuinely amazed at his friend's departure. " I suppose they could only muster a dumby, and wanted a fourth," said Blythe, whose notions of collegiate necessities were not expansive. " My dear fellow, the man has about as much notion of whist as you have of conic sections." " Then it's high time he should learn it. When I get to Cambridge I shall take Need- ham in hand." " I should like to see you do it," replied Grey, with a chuckle. 150 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " And so you shall ; I'll teach him selling pool, take him out with the drag, and make him play the waiting maid in our theatricals." The thought of his learned friend acquiring these novel accomplishments caused Grey intense amusement, and even Ella was con- strained to laugh, though she said it was "a shame to make fun of dear Mr. Needham." It is probable the poor fellow would have been thankful even for that much of com- miseration had he been aware of it, but as it was he had nothing to comfort him. It is curious what an affair of comparison is all human happiness. A few days ago Needham had pictured this very going back to college in rose colour, contrasting it with his return from even humble seaside lodgings to Langton school. What a melancholy business it used to be ! The hideous school-house gaping to receive those unwilling guests whom it was A HOPELESS LOVER. 151 his duty fco anticipate by twenty-four hours or so ; the empty dormitories and echoing school- rooms; the playground, muddy and weed- grown, and suggesting anything but " play;" the disrespectful nod of the manservant who didn't " hold by " ushers, and thought them " neither one thing nor t'other ; " the two fingers of the head master stretched out in condescending welcome ; and, above all, the dull weight of despondency from the reflec- tion that there was nothing to be hoped for in the whole long life that lay before him. His present position was very different. The monotonous tasks, hateful alike to teacher and taught, were over; the hum of the school-room, interrupted only by wails, no longer tormented his ears. Companionship of a genial kind now awaited him; equality, with- out which there can be no fraternity; un- dreamt of ease and comfort. The old porter's " Glad to see you back again, sir," a happy 152 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. mixture of familiarity and respect, was itself a welcome. His comfortable rooms swept and garnished, the quiet and serenity of the college, compared favourably indeed with the turmoil and rude confusion of the school. If he did not feel thankful for the change, he must have been in truth an ingrate, and yet thankfulness was not his portion. He had had a glimpse of Paradise, if it was but for a second, and the gate had been shut in his face. " ' Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all," is true only when the love has been reciprocal ; when it is all on one side, and must ever be so, there is nothing of "betterment" to be got out of it. From every reasonable point of view there was, it must be owned, little excuse for Needham, save the fact that a few persons are born that way. The Dutch tulip fancier of old, who could never be satisfied A HOPELESS LOVER. 153 with any other flower, because of the one bulb that his rival possessed, was a jDarallel case. Some one at the college had given notice of his arrival ; there was a fire in his sitting- room for which the mildness of the early autumn evening hardly offered an excuse, but the old bedmaker had lit it, because, as she said, " it was company like," an evidence of interest in his well being which should have appealed not only to his gratitude (as indeed it did) but to his sense of comparison ; for who had cared whether he was warm or cold at Langton ? But in George Needham's heart, occupied by a hopeless and inextinguish- able passion, there was no room for self con- gratulations. What other feelings were there were sullied with discontent. He had not even Hope to comfort him. That unencourag- ing record of human experience, "man never is but always to be blessed," fell short of his unhappy case, for it was impossible that the 154 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. one blessing he desired should ever be con- ferred upon him. Even his friends, as we have seen, had scouted the idea of " old Met." ever being in love ; Ella had thought — if she could have been said to have given the subject a thought — that it was the last thing likely to happen to " Dr. Johnson " ; and, what was very curious, he himself took very much the same view. He felt that he had " no busi- ness " to entertain such a sentiment ; that his past and his future, his position and his prospects, alike forbade it ; the idea was almost as ridiculous to him (though, un- fortunately, nothing to laugh at) as to other people ; but, nevertheless, George Needham was — in his way, which, however, was a very rare one — over head and ears in love. THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 155 CHAPTEE X. THE OTHER SCHOLAR. It was past the hour for " Hall," and Need- ham had had some refreshment sent to him from the buttery, but it lay before him almost untouched. This was a bad sign indeed, for he had used no excess in anything, except perhaps in reading, the effects of which he had always combatted by exercise, and had usually a very healthy appetite. Formerly he had gone to his books for comfort under all calamities ; and a stiff problem, a difficult bit of Greek to be translated, or some recent discovery of science, had been balm to his hurt mind, and he resorted to them now. He took down a volume which 156 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. it was necessary for him to master for his approaching examination in honours, but its sense eluded him ; he felt like a man shattered by illness who applies himself to a familiar study, and finds it unintelligible. Then he turned to his cabinet of minerals, the only article of real value that he possessed, and endeavoured to interest himself in what had always been his favourite pursuit. He had loved it for itself, and also for its association with kind old Professor Lintern, who had been so good a friend to him. This was the father of the girl to whom the Master of St. Neot's was said to be engaged, and it was through his good offices that Needham had been brought to the atten- tion of the authorities of the college. He took out the sj:>ecimens he had brought from Bourne- mouth and placed them in their proper pigeon holes ; they had still an attraction for him, but not of the scientific kind ; they reminded him of the Barton Cliffs, and of his meeting there THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 157 with Grey and Blythe, and then, with a flush, of Ella. They had come from the neighbour- hood she hallowed by her presence (such was the reflection of this devotee) and where she was now charming other eyes. Sharper than the shark's teeth that lay embedded in the Barton clay was that cruel thought. As he sat with his head in his hands, a voice exclaimed : " Hullo ! back so soon ! How goes it, old fellow ? " Its tone was genial, after a fashion, but not pleasant, at all events to the ears it addressed. It suggested a greater familiarity in the speaker than Needham was inclined to admit. He was annoyed at the interruption, and especially since the newcomer had dispensed with the usual knock at the door, which college friendship ever demands, and Gresham, though his fellow scholar, was not by any means on terms of intimacy with him, nor indeed with 158 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. anybody. This was strange, for the appear- ance of the youth was greatly in his favour ; he was the man whom the Dean had described as being " the handsomest young fellow in the university," and, indeed, he was exceed- ingly good-looking. His complexion, though he had never looked on the southern sun, was more Spanish than English, which, with his abundant hair, blue -black as the raven, had earned him, in a society much devoted to the canine race, the soubriquet of " Black and Tan." His eyes, which were large and lustrous, had won him another title, that of u the Gazelle." Unhappily his moral attributes were so little on a par with these physical advantages, that those who knew him best were accustomed to allude to him (in his absence) by a less favourable designation — " the Sneak." It is said of some persons, not attractive to the casual observer, that they are " nice enough when you know them," but THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 159 nature, no doubt in accordance with its admirable scheme of compensation, had cast Charles Gresham in a different mould ; every- one liked him at first sight, but upon closer acquaintance thought him not so nice. His presence at St. Neot's was one of the many puzzles afforded by that interesting college. Like Needham he had not belonged to it originally. He had " come up," no one knew from whence, to St. Bride's, a small but venerable establishment where he had attained some reputation as a scholar ; its authorities had spoken very highly of him, but subse- quently not so highly ; it was even rumoured that on Mr. Methuen remarking to one of them that he was surprised, on further acquaintance, that they should have cracked him up so, received this confidential reply : " And you, too, Avill have to crack him up before you get rid of him." We have seen that the Dean had said a 160 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. good word for him — though it certainly did not go very far — in the combination room, and that was out of courtesy to the Master, through whose influence Gresham had been elected to St. Neot's ; but it was well under- stood that, in common with every other member of the college, he now regretted the circumstance. "Why the lad had been elected was one of the many mysteries that surrounded him, and, strange to say, puzzled himself as much as anybody else. But he had come to St. Neot's " to stay " — at all events, as long as he could. He had as much right to sit for the fellowship that would be vacant through the marriage of a non-resident member of the college next year as jSTeedham had, and he meant to sit, and to sit hard ; but he was well aware that the other would probably take a much higher degree in the ensuing January, and was also much more of a persona //rata to the Master and Fellows than himself. THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 161 Indeed, it was whispered that Needham had been elected scholar after him, for the express purpose of repairing what was discovered to be a mistake, and of preventing Gresham becoming a perpetual ornament to the college. There was no rivalry between the young men, but a great deal of jealousy on Grresham's part, and some contempt on Needham's. It was a great disappointment to him to find the other was in residence, when he had hoped at least to have been permitted to have been alone in his sorrow. " I did not know you were up," he said, and it must be admitted there was less satisfaction than surprise in his tone. " Oh, yes ; I'm up all right. There is a good deal of fun to be got out of Cambridge in vacation time ; no proctors about you know." And he winked with that intolerable familiarity which suggests a communion of vulgar tastes. VOL. I. M 1 62 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. "Who else is there in college?" inquired Needham wearily. " Oh, there's the Dean, as usual ; he never goes anywhere, and why he takes the trouble to get himself up, as though he came out of a bandbox every day, is more than I can say. And there's old Martell, of course, dancing attendance on the fair Penelope. There is no fool like an old fool ; though, to be sure, site's no chicken, and I dare say the Professor is glad enough to get her off his hands." It would have been difficult in the same number of words to make a speech more offensive to the ears of him to whom it was addressed. Needham had only seen Miss Lintern once or twice, but she had impressed him very favourably. Though not in her first youth, she was a young woman of considerable attractions, with kind and gentle manners ; but if it had been otherwise, this THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 163 method of speaking of her would have been repugnant to him. His nature was one that regards all women, of whom he knows nothing to the contrary, with chivalrous respect, and the Professor he regarded with affectionate reverence. But what still more disgusted him was Gres- ham's reference to the Master, to whom his very presence and position at St. Neot's was owing. "I really don't see what we have to do with the Master's private affairs," answered Needham coldly ; " while as to college matters we have both good cause to be grateful to him." " He has not been so devilish civil to me lately as to leave much sense of obligation," returned Gresham, with irritation. "He is a deal more polite to that new pupil of yours, though perhaps that's on account of his age, for he is old enough to he your 1 64 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. father. The idea of a Freshman at fifty is really a little too monstrous." At this Needham could not suppress a smile, for he knew that, in spite of the superannuation of the new comer, Gresham had made, through the Dean, an application for the office of his private tutor, with the result of which we are acquainted. " There is nothing- surprising in a man's coming to St. Neot's at any age," observed Needham ; " though, indeed, I know no more of Halford than you do." " Nor than anybody else does," put hi the other acidly ; " you may depend upon it there is something fishy about him. It would be a good dodge, after committing some felony or another, to conceal oneself as an undergraduate at St. Neot's, which is the last place in the world where anybody would think of looking for you." " That is complimentary to the college to a certain extent," observed Needham, drily. THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 165 Most young men would have laughed at this observation, but neither of these two did so. Needham had spoken cynically, rather than humorously, and, indeed, was in no mood to laugh even at a joke made by himself, which denotes a depth of despondency indeed. Gresham was habitually morose ; like his companion he had sprung from nothing, but his having risen in the world did not make him grateful to Fortune ; it only made him jealous of those to whose level he could not hope to rise. He was ambitious, after a fashion, but yet had a secret consciousness of inferiority, when in the company of his betters, that made him bite his nails with vexation. His good looks, which were quite exceptional, gave him the entree to university society, but he never seemed to get beyond the door. " Were there any fellows we know at Bournemouth? " he presently inquired. 1 66 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. It would have naturally occurred to Need- ham under ordinary circumstances to say " Grey was there," for lie was a common acquaintance, though Gresham knew very little of him, but his connection with Ella closed Needham's lips ; if he spoke of him something might lead him to speak of her, and to do so to his present companion would have seemed a sort of blasphemy. " I met Blythe of St. Boniface," he answered, with a little hesitation. " Blythe," exclaimed his companion with interest, " but you didn't know him before, did you? He is quite a tip topper." This was not graceful, but grace was not a characteristic of Mr. Gresham. Needham flushed a little but forgave him, for, in his charity, he attributed the other's ill- manners to his antecedents, though the same disadvantage had failed to make himself a bear. He replied quietly, but not without evasion, THE OTHER SCHOLAR. 167 for he was unwilling to go into the circum- stances of his introduction to B]ythe, " I knew him, but only very slightly." " Still, that is enough for you to make me acquainted with him ; I wish you would, when he comes up again, there's a good fellow." " Very good, if you wish it," said Needham, indifferently ; " and now I must ask you to say ' Good night,' for I am very sleepy." " Sleepy at ten o'clock ! I shouldn't think that would suit our friend Blythe. He'll not find me one of that sort, I'll warrant. If you're going to bed what on earth have I got to do ? However, ta-ta." " He looks like an angel, and talks like Poor Poll," was Needham's quotation, as the door closed upon his visitor. 168 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE XI. DANGEROUS DEVOTION. One of the evils of falling in love, even if the love is returned, and its course is running smoothly, is that it interferes with any other business that men happen to be engaged in. If they have no business and plenty of means they can fall in love as often as they please, and with as many young persons, and of this great advantage they are not slow to avail themselves ; but when a young gentleman, who has his living to make, concentrates his affections on a single object, it prevents that " attention to business " which the advertise- ments tell us is so essential to success. DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 169 What is still more sad, if his love is not reciprocated, his business is still interfered with, sometimes to even a greater extent. In yearning after the what-might-have-been but is not, he loses interest in his work, and whiles away his time in vain regrets. And this is what now happened to George Needham. His reading for his degree was interrupted by them. If his classical studies took him in the direction of the gentle passion, they forsook the abstract for the concrete, and presented to him the form and features of Ella Martin. If they dealt with other themes they had no more attraction for him than mathematics, which offered no figure, of course, in the least resembling hers. His future prospects were in short becoming seriously injured. He was conscious of the fact, and fought against it, but ineffectually. If there had been any hope of winning her, it would, he felt, have spurred him to superhuman exertion ; he would have 170 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. endeavoured to gain distinction for her sake ; but, as matters were, his devotion to her had a precisely contrary effect. As she was out of his reach, it seemed that nothing else was worth striving for. Curiously enough his duties as a" coach " — or private tutor — did not suffer as his studies did. This arose partly from his con- scientiousness, which forbade him to neglect anything which he had undertaken to perform (it would have seemed to him like taking Halford's money under false jDretences, whereas, if he failed in his degree, he would be neglect- ing nobody's interests but his own), and partly because while his pupil was with him he could more easily dismiss Ella from his thoughts. Moreover, Halford's society was very agreeable to him. Anything more unlike tutor and pupil in their mutual relations — except as far as mere learning went — it was difficult to imagine. Halford was a man of the world ; DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 171 one of considerable attainments, though he had not succeeded in his profession, a subject upon which he spoke with freedom and no little humour. " I should be sorry for you to think I never had a brief," he said, in answer to some ques- tion about his legal experiences ; "I did have one. It came through a friend of my father's, and I saw in it the first step to fame and fortune. I read the matter up most carefully, and prepared a little speech of the most con- vincing character. When the judge heard it, it had such an effect upon him, that he said it was quite unnecessary to listen to the counsel upon the other side." " But surely that was a triumph," observed Needham. " Yes ; but not for >ih>. My client's case was dismissed with costs, which quenched my forensic ambition for ever. After that I was a ' chamber counsel,' that is, a counsel who 1 72 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. lived in chambers, and no solicitor ever again crossed the threshold." In spite of this fiasco it was clear that the ex-barrister did not want for wits. He knew the world — that world of which Needham was entirely ignorant — and discoursed of it in the pleasantest style. What had induced him to leave it, after so many years, and take to the " cloister," as he called it, he did not divulge ; but he was a most welcome acquisi- tion to St. Neot's. The Dean delighted in his conversation, which was very unlike that of most combina- tion rooms, and he was a constant guest at the Master's lodge. This latter circumstance awoke some surprise, for good Dr. Martell had little sense of humour or interest in general matters. From his seeking a third spouse it may be concluded that he was devoted to the fair sex, but, as Halford was a bachelor, they were DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 173 not likely to have much in common on that subject. They found something to talk about, however, which certainly amused the elderly undergraduate, who would sometimes come to Needham's rooms after an evening with the Head, and explode with little bursts of mirth, for which he gave no further explana- tion than such sentences as : " When I say my wife, I mean my first wife," which were already familiar to his youthful tutor. He would not have made fun of the Master even to this extent had he not been aware that he did so to safe ears. He knew that Needham had a great regard for this common chief, and appreciated the gentleness and simplicity of his disposition. It was a great theologian who said that no man had a genuine Faith, who could not afford to laugh at it, and lie must be a limp friend indeed who does not recognise what is humorous in the character which he otherwise admires. 174 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. What showed the Master's high opinion of Halford, more than all else, was that he introduced his fiancee, Miss Lintern. It was not a difficult feat to cross the Professor's hospitable threshold, and still less out of term time, when the usual glut of male guests at a university is succeeded by a great deficiency of the article ; but the doctor took him there under his own wing. It was wickedly whispered that he wanted a legal opinion of his Penelope, but that was mere scandal. He was perfectly satisfied with her, and had every reason to be so. She was not in her first youth, had not what the French call " the beauty of the devil " (which was not to be expected of a clergyman's daughter), but was quite sufficiently good looking, and had a fine figure. " So had my wife," said the Master, when complimented upon that circumstance ; " when I say my wife, I mean my first wife ; my DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 175 second wife was not so stately, but had a very sweet face." He talked of his past wives very much as the Professor did of his geological specimens, except that he laid no stress upon their antiquity, an attribute, indeed, which they had not possessed ; the good man had an eye for youth, and still retained it. He even talked of his wives to Penelope herself, though she naturally took but a languid interest in them. If she herself had been married twice she would not have thus dis- coursed to her fiance upon her previous hus- bands ; but she had more subjects of con- versation than the Master, and had the good sense to perceive that this foible of his was a part of the domesticity of his nature, and augured well for her own future happiness. Moreover, in her father she had already an example of simplicity which led her to attribute this unusual frankness to its true cause. Professor Lintern was one of the 176 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. most learned men in Cambridge, and had the heart of a child. His pupils adored him. The scientific expeditions which they often made with him, hammer in hand, like so many journeymen carpenters, were looked upon as gigantic picnics, only wanting a sprinkling of the fair sex to be perfection. His talk was charming and his lectures little less so ; if he did not find sermons in stones, he found dis- courses which were even more attractive. He did not think much of the intellectual gifts of his future son-in-law, but he recognised his virtues. It was pretty to see him, when engaged in study, dismiss the Master to the drawing-room, as though he had been Master Somebody, who had come for his playmate. " You'll find Arabella upstairs, my dear fellow," he would say, and quietly go on classifying his specimens. It was not an ideal courtship, though it was a very unusual one ; but it was perfectly agreeable to both parties. DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 177 There were little evening gatherings at the Professor's house, to which both Halford and Needham, and sometimes, though more rarely, Gresham, were invited. The young ladies were now in a majority over the young gentle- men at Cambridge, and, naturally — being no longer at a premium — were much more civil and complaisant. Some of them were very pretty, and Mr. Gresham had (or thought he had) what he called a " high time." They could not afford to despise so handsome a young fellow, though his attractions were not otherwise remarkable, and he was known to be far from eligible. Even Needham, for the first time in his life, was not without his admirers among the fair sex, only he was, unfortunately, not aware of it. They knew the high opinion their host entertained of his abilities — and at Cambridge ability means expectations — but they found him dull and distant. He could hardly decline the good vol. 1. N 178 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Professor's invitations, and certainly not for the true reason — that he preferred to sit at home, nursing his grief and keeping it warm — but he accepted them very unwillingly. He took Ella with him, as it were (though he knew he had no right to do so, and even what a fool he was for doing it), to these entertain- ments, and contrasted her with the other girls, greatly to their disadvantage. ' ; Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless Fancy framed On lips that are for others," were lines that went beyond his case ; for he was too loyal to his friend, and had too much self-respect and respect for her, to entertain such reflections ; but he suffered all the tor- ments of jealousy without the sentiment itself. He desired the future happiness of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Grey with all his honest heart, but when he pictured it to himself he felt that heart wither within him. DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 179 This is a frame of mind that does not make a young gentleman festive, or an agreeable addition to an evening party. He found it impossible to conceal his low spirits. One young lady went so far as to rally him upon them, and to suggest that he was in love, which made him smile a ghastly smile indeed. Had Blythe been in the same condition (which, however, was impossible) he would have left the impression upon her mind that she had vastly amused him ; but poor Needham took life — and love — much too seriously. The Professor of course noticed nothing ; his mind was generally in his cabinet, when it was not in the heart of a rock or under some glacial " formation"; but Penelope drew his attention to the young man's despondency. "I am sure your young friend, Mr. Need- ham, has got something on his mind, papa." " Well, of course he has, my dear ; it is his degree." n 2 180 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. With his usual sympathy and good nature he spoke to his young guest encouragingly on the subject. " You are speculating for the fall, my good fellow, which is a foolish thing to do. You will not be senior wrangler or senior classic, but you will take a respectable place in the tripos, and at all events one quite good enough for St. Neot's." The Professor did not think much of that comfortable little college, notwithstanding that he was about to be so closely connected with its head. " You are working hard, I hope," he added quickly, his keen eye (for he had the eye of a hawk) detecting something amiss in the young man's face. " I am working as hard as I can, sir," returned the youth. " That's right ; on the other hand, don't over do it ; wet towels and the midnight oil never yet brought any man nearer to his fellowship." DANGEROUS DEVOTION. 181 Nothing was further from Needham's mind than wet towels, but he did consume the mid- night oil over his studies ; only, alas ! he could not apply his mind to them as of yore, even when there was not (as too frequently hap- pened) the photograph of Ella Martin lying between his eyes and the classic page. 1 82 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE XII. AN OLD FLAME. It was after one of those evening parties at the Professor's that Halford came over one night for a parting pipe, as he often did, to Needham's room. He had gone in the mean- time to the lodge by the Master's own invita- tion, and seemed even more impressed with that gentleman's conversation than usual. His bursts of laughter were more frequent ; they fell upon ears by no means attuned to mirth ; but that he did not perceive, because his eyes were shut. It was lucky for the ex- barrister that he had only the college plot to cross, for if it had been the street he would probably have been run over. AN OLD FLAME. 183 "What is the matter now?" inquired Need- ham, lugubriously, and not in the least caring for the reply ; though, as it turned out, it was eventually of great importance to him. "You seem amused." "Seem? I am, my dear fellow. So would you be if you had heard what I have heard. I don't think I can keep it to myself. I really don't. I shall have a fit." And off he went again into something very like one. "If it would really be any relief to you," said Needham wearily, " pray say what has happened." He had no desire to hear it, but he thought to do so was his best chance of getting rid of his visitor. " Well, it may seem rather a breach of con- fidence, but one really must stop somewhere. The story is too good to keep entirely for private consumption ; it would be downright selfish, and then I know you like the old boy and will not take advantage of it in any way. 1 84 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Moreover, it was you who caused him to tell it me." " I ? " exclaimed Needham ; " what could I have had to do with it ? " " It was your distressing appearance of melancholy that suggested it. You have been surrounded by houris all the evening, and taken no more notice of them than if they had been wall-flowers." " ' How can your young friend Needham,' said the Master, ' behave like that? At his age I was quite different and very susceptible.' " ' You are susceptible now, 9 I said, ' and still retain an admirable judgment in such matters. I thought Miss Lintern never looked better than she did this evening.' " ' She is very nice, but,' and here the Master gave the tenderest sigh you ever heard, ' she is nothing to what Phoebe was.' " Now with the particular charms of both the Master's wives I was become, through AN OLD FLAME. 185 constant repetition of them, quite familiar. I knew the good points, so to speak, both of his Edith and his Esther, but of his Phoebe I had never heard. While I was wondering whether he had married three times instead of twice, he murmured softly, and with an air of the tenderest reminiscence, " ' I never told you about Phoebe.' " ' No,' I said, 'you never did, Master.' " I never was nearer suffocation in my life, but fortunately he did not notice it. His mind was in the past. " ' Yes, Phoebe Barlow was the prettiest girl I ever saw in my life. I fell in love with her when I was an undergraduate, years and years ago, and yet I think I see her now. She was very dark ; " black but comely," as Solomon remarks, who was an excellent judge. She served in a flower shop in St. Boniface- street, and sold roses for the buttonhole at a shilling apiece. I used to buy half a dozen 1 86 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. a day for the pleasure of having them put into my coat by her pretty hands. It was just a toss up — to use a phrase at that time familiar to me — whether I married her or not ; hut the coin, so to speak, came down " heads," not " woman." I got away from her somehow, and after a while became engaged to my wife. When I say to my wife, of course I mean my first wife. But within a few weeks of my marriage a terrible thing happened. I tell it to you because of something you said in the combination room the other day about buying certain persons off, and keeping matters out of court. One evening, as I sat in my lodgings, in London, thinking of my Edith, the servant entered with a " A lady wishes to see you, sir, very particular," and in came Phcebe. " ' I had not seen her for a long time. We had parted, as I had understood, on terms that were tolerably satisfactory to her. They might not have been entirely so. My father AN OLD FLAME. 187 had come down upon us rather severely. He said if I married a flower-girl, she should never bloom in his family. She would have to be " potted out." Phcebe herself had acknowledged the folly of our becoming one until I had enough for two. The matter had been prorogued indefinitely. She had no right to assert that we were ever absolutely engaged to one another. But that is what she did say on that eventful evening. It was a most embarrassing position for me ; Phoebe was so exceedingly pretty. Prettier a good deal (I was obliged to acknowledge that) even than dearest Edith. I could not help com- paring them — the present with the absent — and to the great advantage of Phoebe. She was beautiful, even when she wept, and she wept like a fountain. There was, I really believe, a moment when I could have thrown Edith over, even at that last moment, and returned to my first love. But though T 1 88 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. think she recognised her power, and was quite aware that I had become a man of means, she nobly declined her advantage. All she stipulated for was a lump sum, in consideration for her wounded feelings. " 'I had sworn, she said, that when I became my own master she should be my wife ; but the circumstance, I suppose, had slipped my memory. It was impossible, with her little hand in mine, that I could doubt her. In addition, however, to this solatium (which was only 500/. after all), she insisted upon extorting the singular promise that if anything happened to dear Edith, and I married again, that it should be to her. This I thought only fair and reasonabl ', because it seemed so impossible a contingency. She should always, she said, be faithful to me — women were so different from men in that way ; and, slight as the chance appeared to be, it would be a satisfaction to her to feel, not only that I AN OLD FLAME. 189 loved her next to Edith, which I naturally did ; but that if my wife disappeared from this sublunary scene, we should once more renew our vows. This may sound strange to others, but somehow the agreement did not appear to me so very objectionable. It was not, of course, an arrangement to be confided to Edith herself — women are so swayed by sentiment — and its nature could not be described as romantic ; but it suited me and Phoebe }3erfectly well. " ' I lived happily with my dearest Edith from the day I married her to that of her death, which did not happen for twenty years ; and only once or twice, and that just at first, did I give a thought to Phoebe. In the end, I forgot all about her, and engaged myself to my dearest Esther without the least appre- hension of anything unpleasant as likely to arise out of that absurd promise of mine. It seemed to be barred by the Statute of i 9 o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Limitations. In all probability the poor girl was dead and gone. This was true in one sense ; as a girl she had no longer any existence ; but a few days before my second marriage she turned up again, a very fully developed and indeed rather over mature woman, to remind me of my plighted word. " ' It was a dreadful business, and without any of the mitigating circumstances that had accompanied it on the first occasion. The tender stress she laid upon her fidelity to me for all those years failed somehow to find an answering chord. I would have far rather that she had forgotten me, and married someone else in the meantime. But though my heart was not touched my conscience was. I had broken my promise to her a second time, and, as a man of honour, was compelled to submit to any terms she chose to impose upon me. Singular as it may appear, these were the same as they had been before. I AN OLD FLAME. 191 paid forfeit, of course, of the sum agreed upon, and undertook that if anything should happen to my second wife I would make Phoebe my third. The plan appeared to be much more monstrous and incongruous than it had previously done, but, on the other hand, much less likely to be carried into effect. Dearest Esther was young, and Phoebe was middle-aged ; in all human probability the latter would predecease her. I have no doubt that she has done so, since I have heard nothing of her in the interval. Still, there is, of course, the shadow of a doubt of the matter. I confess I shall feel more comfortable when I am safely married to dearest Penelope. It was the recollection of these two agreements and compromises (so to speak), and just the faintest apprehension that I might still have a third to go through, which gave your talk about actions for breach of promise the other day, in the combination room, such a personal 192 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. interest for me. I quite agreed with you about " going into court." I would rather give a thousand pounds than be cross-examined about the love passages of my youth.' ' This was the story, interspersed with many a graphic touch descriptive of the narrator, and with little jets and spurts of merriment from Halford, which was told to the unsym- pathising Needham. To that young gentle- man, pining for a shadow, the conduct of the volatile and impressionable master of St. Neot's was well-nigh unintelligible. That he should have had two wives, and be wanting another, and all the time have been as good as engaged to his Phoebe, seemed a case that had had no parallel since Bluebeard's. He smiled at his friend's narration, but with such " alien lips " that Halford experienced that honest indignation which even a good man entertains who has thrown away an excellent story. AN OLD FLAME. 193 " I feel," he said, " like the young gentle- man at the king's dinner party, to whom, when he had exhausted himself in humorous sallies, his Majesty observed, ' We are not amused.' ' " I am very sorry," replied Needham, peni- tently ; "I am afraid I was thinking of some- thing else." " There is no fear of it ; it's certain, my good friend," answered the other good-humouredly. " T was afraid I was interrupting you when I came in ; you had such an air of pre-occupation. Was it the cabinet ? " He referred to the case of geological speci- mens, in which, as has been said, Needham took such a melancholy pleasure. It was a subject that had always attracted him, and had now a new link of association. " Well, I believe I was examining a speci- men or two," admitted Needham. " I thought so ; you had such a stony VOL. I. O i 9 4 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. look," said Halford. " I had no idea geology was such a monopolising study. Do you think it is quite wise, by the bye, to let it take up so much of your time?" "Why not? What do you mean?" " Well, of course, my advice is worth little ; I know nothing of examinations ; but since your degree is drawing so near, I should have thought — if a pupil may venture to say so to his tutor — that you ought to concentrate your attention on what is likely to be useful to you." "You are quite right," said Needham, with a guilty flush. " I think it very friendly of you to have mentioned it." " The warning, however, came from an enemy ; I heard Gresham saying the other clay that he always liked to see you with your specimens. Geology, he said, would never do you any good in the Senate House. Fas est ab hoste doceri." AN OLD FLAME. 195 Needham was only too well aware that it was not geology which was doing him harm, though harm was being done him ; but he thanked his friend all the same. Yet he little thought what cause he had to be indebted to him for that night's talk. The word spoken in jest is not only oftentimes the truth, but sometimes of supreme importance ; and what looks to be lightest has often the greatest weight. Life is a road we travel in darkness, and all our prudence and all our passions avail us nothing in comparison with that trivial and apparently accidental matter of taking the right hand or the left. o 2 196 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE XIII. FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. His pupil's warning made a strong impression on Needham, for, though he recognised Halford's cleverness, he knew that learning was out of his line, and therefore that his own neglect of his studies must have been very marked to have attracted his attention. More- over, Gresham's just observation about geology not being any help in the Senate House was full of significance ; it was certainly not made to put him on his guard, but arose from a malicious satisfaction in the thought that he was wasting his time, and giving his rival a better chance of surpassing him in his degree FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 197 His fellowship at St. Neot's, for which there was no further examination, did not indeed absolutely depend upon it ; it lay in the gift of the master and fellows ; but it was tacitly understood that, unless there was some reason to the contrary, the better man in the honour list was to have it ; and hitherto there had been no doubt of which would prove the better man. But by this time Needham himself had begun to have grave doubts of this ; his powers of application were flagging, whereas Gresham, except for an occasional bout of dissipation, was working hard. Such was his position when the vacation came to an end, and the men returned to Cambridge. Grey called on Needham (as he felt he would) that very evening. It was quite curious how he had shrunk from that visit, dictated, though he knew it would be, by the most friendly feelings. It seemed to his tender conscience that he would be committing an act of 198 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. hypocrisy in welcoming the man whose lot he so hopelessly envied. Grey's utter uncon- sciousness of the existence of any such feeling was itself a reproach to him. He could only return his friendship, as it were, by trading on his ignorance. As it happened, their first meeting was with- out the embarrassment he had apprehended, since Blythe accompanied his friend. The two men had dined together in hall, and afterwards dropped into St. Neot's. Blythe had never been in the college before, and was delighted with its modern and comfortable style. His genial nature would, doubtless, have found something pleasant to say of Needham's sur- roundings in any case, but they were far superior to anything he had expected, and evoked his genuine admiration. " Here is the truant at last," he exclaimed as he shook hands, " and it is no wonder that he preferred his rooms to our company." FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 199 " But, indeed, that was not so," pleaded Needham, looking, nevertheless, exceedingly embarrassed. "Well, of course, it was your work, my good fellow," explained Grey ; " you felt that we were getting into idle habits at Bourne- mouth, and you fled from temptation." " Yes, that was it," said Needham, with an inward groan. " Well, my mother attributed it to the eccentricity of genius," observed Blythe ; " she was so good as to say that your behaviour was no more than she expected, but that you might have left your card with p p c on it." " But I have not got a card," remarked Needham naively. "Then, pray, don't tell her Hat" laughed Blythe, " or you will lose her good opinion. I have known an otherwise deserving person fall out of her favour altogether, because he was 200 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. seen without gloves. At present, however, you are in her good books." " And in my aunt's also," observed Grey. " Indeed, I was especially charged with her best remembrances . ' ' " Mrs. Martin is very kind." " And Ella, too, has not forgotten Dr. John- son ; whenever Blythe and I have been inclined to be frivolous, she has thrown at us your respectable example. They were talking of coming up this term to Camford, were it not for the fear of interrupting my reading for my degree. What do you think?" " I think it would be madness," replied Needham. It was one word for Grey, and two for himself. If Ella should come to Cam- bridge, he knew that all would be oyer with his chance of a fellowship, indeed. The mere notion of it set all his nerves in a twitter. " I don't see why the ladies should not come," said Blythe. " I would take them off FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 201 Grey's hands with pleasure. That is one of the advantages of going out ' in the poll ; ' one is not so devoured by selfishness and egotism — Hullo, who is your friend ? What a deuced handsome young fellow ! " Gresham had opened the door (as usual with- out knocking) and put his head in, but on seeing that there were visitors withdrew it. " It's a scholar of our college," explained Needham, in an indifferent tone. " What ! do you mean to say there are two of you at St. Neot's ? I thought there was but one of each sort — a master, a tutor, a scholar, and an undergraduate. Call your friend in by all means." Under ordinary circumstances Needham would have been glad to get rid of Gresham ; but just now he felt that even his presence would be some relief from embarrassment ; moreover, he had promised to introduce him to Blythe, and here was the opportunity. 202 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Gresham was on his best behaviour, and anxious to please a man of so much social reputation, which was just the thing of which he felt himself in need. It was characteristic of him, that he thought this was to be best effected by showing, in a marked manner, how much more highly he estimated Blythe than Grey, who was really by far the more dis- tinguished of the two young men. Grey did not notice this, for he was not observant in such matters ; but it disgusted Needham, and the more because Blythe seemed to welcome the other's fulsome attentions. It was quite a relief to him when presently Halford also looked in, and was in turn introduced to his friends. It would have been difficult to find five undergraduates differing so widely in character, in thought, and even in social position. Blythe and Gresham talked together, rather apart, leaving the other three to themselves. FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 203 Halford, as an outsider, and one who sought for information, spoke with Grey of the chances of the honour list ; the deference thus exhibited by one so much his superior in age and knowledge could not but be agreeable, but his object was not so much to please Grey as to benefit Needham. " Our friend has not been working so hard as he ought to do," he said. " I am glad you have come up to take him in hand." " But I thought he had cut short his holi- day on purpose to work," observed Grey, surprised. " Oh ! I am working all right," stammered Needham. "Look at his face," said the barrister; "it is useless his pleading ' not guilty.' You are his friend, as I also am, I hope, but you know what ought to be done and I don't. I am glad to have the chance of telling you the state of affairs. There is danger in it, because," here 204 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. he dropped his voice, " there are others to take advantage of his shortcomings, and — I know I am annoying you, my dear fellow, but," — he added, with a smile at Needham, who was looking exceedingly uncomfortable, " I felt it my duty to speak ; a pupil should always look after his tutor and keep him up to the mark." If he had known the pain he was inflicting, perhaps Halford would not have spoken even though it was for his friend's good ; but it was impossible for him to have guessed that the person whose opinion he had called in to the case was himself the indirect cause of the patient's disease. Fortunately, Blythe, who was by this time getting bored by Gresham's extravagant com- pliments, notwithstanding that he had a taste for that kind of ware, here rose to go ; Grey went with him, and, to the latter's annoyance, Gresham accompanied them to the porter's lodge. FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 205 When they had got rid of him, " It is amazing to me, Blythe," said Grey, "that you should have encouraged that vulgar ape ; he has a certain amount of good looks, I own, but there his merits end. It is monstrous that there should be even an off chance of such a creature's snatching away Needham's fellow- ship ; but I have just heard news that leads me to believe it is by no means the certainty for our friend that we imagined it to be." " Now it is curious," answered the other gravely, " but what you are saying to yourself, I know, Grey, is, ' How weak it is of Blythe to be won by flattery, even from a fool's mouth ; and how forgetful it makes him of a friend's interests ! ' Whereas I have all this wasted time, as you think it, been doing a good stroke of business for Needham, and putting a spoke into the wheel of Master Gresham. He is so desirous of my company, that he can't resist, he says, giving up an evening or two of his 206 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. work to pass in my attractive society, and it will be my business to see that lie gets enough of it. I have not your gifts, but I will yield to no man living in the art of making my fellow creatures idle when they ought to be industrious, so you may look upon Gresham's chance of beating Needham in the honour list as nil." " But I say, Blythe, do you think that is quite fair? " " Pair ? When you are dealing with a fellow of that kind, who is absolutely gloating over his rival's incapacity for work — for he showed his seamy side to me in the first five minutes, and was so good as to take me for as unfeeling a rascal as himself — why of course anything is fair. I don't remember ever meet- ing with such a despicable cad; and he's coming to dine with me to-morrow." With anyone else Grey would have remon- strated on this course of conduct, but it was FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 207 the peculiarity of Blythe's character that, how- ever culpable was his behaviour, it seemed much less so than in another man ; moreover there was always a doubt of the seriousness of his assertions, and something that caused those who listened to them to largely discount what was amiss in them ; and more than all, Grey knew his friend well enough to suspect that the main features, at all events, of this notable plot had possibly been conceived upon the instant to defend himself from the charge of being moved by adulation. Even this, of course, was not praiseworthy ; but to know Blythe was (in nine cases out of ten) to like him, and when we like our fellow creatures, the way in which we make allowance for their peculiarities of all sorts is an admirable example of Christian charity. When Halford and Needham were left together there was that silence between them for a little which portends not indeed a quarrel, 208 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. but a feeling of dissatisfaction on one side, and an acknowledgment of its justice on the other ; and then the latter addressed his friend in almost the selfsame terms that Grey was at that moment using to Blythe. " I don't think that was quite fair of you, Halford." " You mean, of course, my speaking to Grey of the recent falling off in your energies. Well, you have some cause of complaint I own. It was a liberty — perhaps you may even say a licence, and that I had not applied for the licence. I apologize, my dear fellow, but I do not retract. I note that my friend is ill, and a physician, or one at all events w T ho knows more about such ailments than I do, happens to look in ; it is surely not unnatural (since the patient w T ill not seek for advice himself) that I should consult him upon the point. I felt that I could not any longer bear the responsi- bility. If I have done wrong my regard for FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 209 you — which, believe me, is very genuine — must be my excuse." Needham held out his hand, which the other took and pressed, though a little awkwardly. Needham had never met with any such expression of sympathy from anyone before, and it moved him very much. Halford, on the other hand, was already ashamed of having given way to sentiment. " I had another reason, of course," he added, smiling. " You must remember that this is my first term, and that I may spend three years at St. Neot's. It will, of course, make a great difference to me if you lose this fellow- ship, and leave me to the sweet companion- ship of Gresham. I was bound to do the best I could for myself to avert so serious a calamity. And there is a danger of it ; you know even better than I do, there is danger of it. I am ' no scholard,' as we say in the South ; but I can sec you arc not doing VOL. I. P 210 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. your best, nor even your second best, to avoid it." Needham sighed, and turned his head away. " You are most kind to take such an interest in me, Halford ; it is quite true I have not been * up to much,' as Gresham calls it, lately. I seem to have lost the power of application somehow. I — I have been worried, troubled." " Not about pecuniary affairs ? Because, you know, between friends they can easily be managed." " No, no ! A thousand thanks to you all the same ; but it has nothing to do with money." " Well, well, I do not wish to pry into your private affairs ; but you must promise me to be a good boy and stick to your books." It was ludicrous advice indeed for a pupil to be giving his tutor, and a faint smile played on Needham's face." " It would be ungrateful, indeed, not to do FRIENDS AND AN ENEMY. 211 my best," lie said, " if only to justify such friendly feelings. I will buckle to." " And you are not angry with me." " On the contrary, I am deeply obliged to you." " Very good ; then I leave you to the mathematics, and the dead languages, and the midnight oil." With a cheery nod he was gone. Needham sank into a chair, and buried his face in his hands. Was it possible, then, that his want of energy and falling off in his habits of work had become so patent? Was his defeat already counted on by his foe, and deplored by his friends ? In these few short weeks had a blight fallen upon the green promise of his future that threatened destruction to it because another hope had been destroyed, which he never had the least right to entertain ? Ella was not coming, thank Heaven ! to Cambridge, lest it should unsettle Grey and diminish the 212 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. chance of his degree ; and yet, whether she came or not, was the mere thought of her to ruin his own prospects ? He felt ashamed of himself and of his weakness. If anyone had been dependent upon his exertions he would certainly not have given way to it ; he would have thrown it off', in despair, perhaps, but still have thrown it off ; and why should he thus slavishly permit it to interfere with his own career ? He would be a man, and not a love- sick school-boy crying for the moon. As he had promised Halford, he would buckle to. He unlocked his desk, in which lay a mathe- matical paper, of no very abstruse kind, but which he had for days been trying in vain to "floor." Unhappily, on the top of this paper lay something else, Ella Martin's photograph. He took it up, and sat looking at it far into the night, while his mathematical paper remained " unnoored." CAUGHT OUT. 21^ CHAPTEE XIV. CAUGHT OUT. The condition of mind in which George Need- ham fonnd himself was, even in his own opinion, not only deplorable but contemptible. His natural intelligence represented it to him in its true light as being the result of vanity and egotism. But that did not mend matters ; and it was not, therefore, to be expected that the remonstrance of his friend should mend them. If he had been a worse man in a moral sense it would, from a material point of view, have been better for him. If it had been possible, for example, for Gres- ham to have been in the same position, 214 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. he would easily have found his way out of it: " For if you can't find a black eye to your mind, Why then you must take to a blue one," is not only good verse but good advice ; and if the black eye is resolutely averted from you, you should try eyes of another colour, is still better ; nor are young gentlemen as a rule slow to follow it. But George Needham was peculiar. " The desire of the moth for the star" was as bad for him as that of the moth for the candle. He had lost, not only his old passion for study, but the power. This is a matter which may seem easy enough to keep to oneself ; but it is not so at the University among reading men, where the fact of a man being amiss leaks out as though he were a horse in a racing stable. Even the Master, who, to do him justice, abstained with much delicacy from inquiring into the academical progress of the alumni of St. JS T eot's, gave CAUGHT OUT. 215 him a gentle hint about his falling off in application. " When we get near the goal, my good fellow, we should put on a spurt rather than relax our exertions. It was a saying of my wife — and when I say my wife I mean my first wife — that we should never think our- selves sure of anything till we had got it. You must take care that we don't lose you." The Master was no more desirous than the other members of the college to have Mr. Gresham with him in perpetuity. The old Professor, too, shook his hammer menacingly at his favourite pupil. " I beg you will not disgrace me in the Senate House, sir, for if you don't take a good degree it will be sure to be set down to geology." The modern sciences and the dead languages had even at this early period begun that con- test which will end in a death grapple. Worst of all to JS T eedham, as he had foreseen, were the 216 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. expostulations and objurgations of his friend Grey. " I can't think what the deuce has come to you, man. If you were not such a thoroughly sensible fellow, and also such a patriarch, one would almost think you had been struck by Cupid's dart. I was writing to Ella about you the other day — for you must know both she and Mrs. Martin were immensely interested in you, and she writes back quite gravely, ' Are you sure that Dr. Johnson is not in love ? ' She is always so full of fun." This was a ghastly joke indeed for ^Needham. It was difficult to say whether he would have least liked her being in fun or earnest. If the former, it was clear that she did not give him credit for even the capability of entertaining the tender passion ; if the latter, it was certain that she did not dream of the possibility of his having any tenderness for her ; if she took an interest in him at all it was because he was CAUGHT OUT. 217 " dear Robert's " friend. In addition to tbe wretchedness of his hopeless passion, he was getting more and more conscious that his chance of beating Grresham in the honour list was becoming slighter every day. But for that gentleman's existence his position there would not have much mattered ; he would have had his fellowship at all events ; but, as matters stood, it would be difficult, in case Grresham took a much better degree than himself, for the authorities even at St. Neot's to ignore the other's claims. Blythe's ingenious scheme, whether serious or otherwise, for demoralising his rival had not come to much ; Gresham had accepted his invitations, had mingled with a " set " as far apart as the poles from his own, and seemed to enjoy its dissipations, but this had not stopped his reading. He had sat up a little later at night, and so made up for lost time ; about all which Needham knew nothing, and Grey, 218 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. whose studies monopolised his attention, almost as little. Nevertheless something — very unlooked for — came of Gresham's introduction to fast society. He had come to Blythe's rooms one evening with the rest, a gay and thoughtless party of young fellows, who had come up to the University with plenty of money in their pockets, and if that should go, who knew where more was to be found. Their degree was of no consequence to them — of course they were none of them going out in honours, but in " the poll," a course of proceeding which Dr. Whewell once stated to be " only not dis- graceful ; " even that would be in some cases too great a mental effort for them, and if they failed to compass it it would not matter. Grresham was the only man present to whom what was about to take place in the Senate House in a few weeks would be of any con- sequence. CAUGHT GUT. 219 Blythe's "rooms" — as they are always called, even when there is but one sitting-room, though he had two — were very handsome. They were not in college, but on the King's Parade, and what indeed a generation ago — which is many undergraduate generations — had been the very Hower shop where Phoebe the Beautiful had entranced all hearts, and that of young Martell of St. Neot's in particular. They were furnished in drawing- room fashion ; there were very few books, but a great many pictures, chiefly of young ladies connected with the corps de ballet in London ; in the larger of the two apartments there were side tables at present crowded with drinkables of a superior, or at all events an expensive kind : champagne enough for a regimental mess room ; and one large table in the centre of the room with nothing on it except cards and money. The game they were playing was vingt-et-un, and the stakes — as might be seen by the little 220 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. heaps of gold beside the larger ones of silver, were, as college stakes go, high ones. The company were jovial and rather noisy, "flown with wine " and still more with excitement ; nobody took much notice of anything but his own cards and those of the dealer. Blythe himself had seen too much of this sort of amuse- ment to greatly care about it ; he often left his seat, to press this man and that to try the champagne cup, or to take another cigar, and concerned himself generally with the duties of hos23itality ; nevertheless his quick eye observed everything that was taking place — and amongst other things this thing : The game of vingt-et-un, as most people know, is simple enough. Each player wishes to get as near twenty-one as possible, and wins or loses as the dealer's hand is lower or higher than his own. If he has a small hand such as fourteen, he takes in cards, which may benefit him, but also by making him over twenty-one CAUGHT OUT. 221 may destroy his chances : he then " throws up " and pays without waiting to see what number the dealer stands on. If he does not draw over and the dealer does so, he wins. Now what Blythe noticed in one of the players was that, when he drew over, he did not (as by the rules of the game he was bound to do) throw up his hand, but waited to see what happened to the dealer. If the latter " stood," no matter on what number, this player paid without showing his hand, but if the dealer drew over he took his money, though by rights he ought to have lost it. This was a very winning game indeed, but it was cheating. At first Blythe thought that the player had made a mistake in counting, which was not very likely, for he was the only mathematician present ; but when it occurred again and again he could no longer give him the benefit of any doubt. Blythe's anger was excessive ; his friends were being robbed by a man that he 222 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. himself had introduced to them. If he had told them what he had seen, they would have risen from the table and kicked the culprit down the stairs. He would have had to leave Cambridge the next day, or, if he had stayed, would have been an outcast from society. Blythe was greatly tempted to take this course with him, and it was self-love rather than pity that restrained him. A card row is always the worst sort of row, because it is so liable to mis- conception from outsiders ; they are sure to confuse the criminal and his victims, and comprehend them in the same condemnation. He was very unwilling to suffer any scandal of this kind to take place in his rooms. He was equally resolved, however, that the culprit should not escape scot free, or without knowing what he thought of him ; nor did it fail to strike him that what had occurred might be turned to a friend's advantage. Gresham, who, it need hardly be said, was CAUGHT OUT. 223 the offender, was never a late sitter — he had other fish to fry — and was the first to rise from the tahle, with a good deal more money in his pnrse than he had brought with him. His host accompanied him to the outer room, where a good many gowns were lying — some of them silk, which showed they belonged to noblemen, and others adorned with the silver spangles that denoted wealth. As he was putting on his gown Blythe addressed him — " Do you know, sir, it is possible that this may be the last time you may put on that . Gresham's handsome face grew deadly pale, and it was in a faltering voice that he replied, with a forced smile, " What do you mean, my dear fellow? " " I mean, for one thing, that you will never call me ' my dear fellow ' again, nor venture to speak to me, under any circumstances whatever, without my permission. T do not 224 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. choose to keep on the list of my acquaintances persons who cheat at cards. Don't deny it," he added menacingly, as the other was about to speak. " If you dare to add lying to theft I will expose you this minute. You are not fool enough to suppose that gentlemen will not take my word against your word." Insult in tone and gesture could no further go, but Gresham was silent ; his white lips parted, but no sound escaped from them ; he stood a thief confessed. " I have been watching you cheat for the last hour," went on Blythe in a low voice, hoarse with passion, and with a face of fury ; " you have been robbing my guests yonder, like a footpad, without a footpad's excuse, and taking advantage of a confidence which is not extended to footpads. Hang you ! how dare you do such a thing in my rooms ? " The egotism that thus revealed itself, even through the torrent of his indignation, would CAUGHT OUT. 225 have evoked a smile from any observer of human nature, but none such were present ; only a wretched, cowering creature, who beheld disgrace in the present and ruin in the future. Utterly abashed and confounded, he retained just sufficient sense to feel that nothing but submission and an appeal to the other's forbearance was left to him. He had not the audacity to face it out among the men he had just been robbing, and say " I didn't do it." " I am in your hands, Blythe," he mur- mured humbly ; "if it is your wish to ruin me, there is no help for it. On the other hand, if, taking into account our very different relative positions, and the temptation to which you have never been exposed, you are so good as to keep my shameful secret, I shall be your debtor all my life." This speech, abject and cringing as it was, was not ill-chosen ; it flattered Blythe while vol. 1. Q 226 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. it appealed to his good nature, and, though selfish and egotistic, he was a good-natured man. " Here is the money that I won," continued the poor wretch, producing some notes and gold. This was a mistake, because it with- drew the matter from general considerations, and accentuated the vulgar materialism of the crime. " Do you suppose / want your beastly money? " exclaimed Blythe, with re-awakened fury. " How could I give it back to them, you fool, without saying how it had been won ? " " Then you won't tell them : you will not tell anybody ? Oh, Mr. Blythe, how can I ever thank you enough." " I never said I would not tell anybody ; I must consider the matter, and will let you know to what conclusion I have arrived to- morrow. In the meantime, get out of my rooms." A BORN FOOL. 227 CHAPTEK XV. A BORN FOOL. Beading men at Cambridge do not keep early hours ; the excellent medical advice which is given to us in London about working at night is not there attended to ; and men look in upon one another at hours which elsewhere would be considered untimely. Though Needham was not in good working order he still tried to work, and sat up, like Sage Sidrophel, at his desk and books far into the night as usual. He was not, therefore, astonished — though far from pleased — when Gresham paid him a visit only a few minutes after the scene that has been described in 228 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. Blythe's room. If he had been more interested in his fellow scholar he would probably have observed that he had lost his usual manner — which was far from modest, and indeed bumptious — and had a very crest- fallen and humble expression of countenance ; but he had just been contemplating a face of quite another kind, and his mind was still engaged in the reminiscence. " Well, what is it ? " he inquired, some- what brusquely, for he felt the interruption to be an intrusion. " I am here, my dear Needham, to ask a great favour of you ? " "Indeed!" He did not like that "my dear Needham," and the rest of the sentence was a sirperfluity ; the other would scarcely have used that mode of address — for they were far from intimate — unless he had wanted something, and very much. His bumptious- ness was disagreeable, but his politeness A BORN FOOL. 229 was niiicli more offensive to those who knew him. Gresham perceived that lie had begun badly. " I am come to you, Needham," he suddenly exclaimed, with a sort of despairing frankness, " with a very shameful secret — about myself. Under circumstances of great excitement and temptation I have been so misguided to- night — so base if you choose to call it so — as to win money by doubtful means at cards." " At cards ? ' echoed Needham, with horrified amazement. "It's no wonder that you are astonished that I ever indulged in such amusement ; nor have I any excuse to offer except that every- body else was playing. Tt was foolish in one in my position to do so, especially for high stakes, but one only meets rich men at Blythe's rooms, and so far I did but do as others did. Then somehow, I don't know 230 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. how it was, I found myself transgressing the rules of the game." " Do you mean cheating ? " inquired the other, with simplicity. " That is what I fear it would be called by some people. I am shocked and ashamed of myself beyond all measure ; but you are such a kind good fellow that you will make what allowance is possible for me I know. I have come at once to you to make a clean breast of it." " But you have given back the money, of course ? " " How could I ? You do not understand. It was a round game. It isn't that, however. I have hurt nobody, only my own self-respect. Besides, if other people knew it, I should be disgraced, ruined." " Then you must give it to some charity." This was not a proposition agreeable to Grresham, who liked the sensation of having A BORN FOOL. 231 gold in his pocket, however it was come by ; but there was much more at stake with him than the possession of a few pounds could make up for. He therefore pulled out half his gains — a sum which to Needham's eyes seemed enormous — and flung them on the table. "Pray give them for me to the poor, or to whom you will ; I hate the sight of them. It seems some sort of comfort to me to come and confess to you my miserable weakness." Needham, though horrified at the crime beyond expression, was touched with pity for the criminal. His penitence seemed so genuine, and the confidence shown in him in thus relating what he had done moved him not a little. " You will not take advantage of what 1 have told you," faltered Gresham ; " but I place myself unreservedly in your hands." "Take advantage? I don't understand 232 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. you." The idea of this man's being his rival did not at the moment enter his mind. " Un- less I was to hear of your playing cards again ; which, of course, you will never do." " Never ! " put in Gresham, emphatically ; " upon my honour " (a curious thing to call to witness under the circumstances, as Need- ham afterwards thought) " I never will." " Then, of course, I shall keep your secret. It is, at all events, to your credit that you have confessed the matter. So far as I am concerned, and supposing you to keep the pro- mise you have just given, you have nothing to fear from me. I suppose I ought to think it a compliment," he went on in an embar- rassed tone, " that you have chosen me for your father confessor. I must own, however, I am not grateful for that ; and you must for- give me for saying that you might have selected for your confidence a more intimate friend." A BORN FOOL. 233 " I chose you because I felt I could trust you," answered the other, gently ; " and also because, being yourself a poor man, you would better understand the temptation ." " Excuse me," interrupted Needham, frigidly, " but I cannot admit that plea in any shape. I can understand a starving man stealing a loaf, and can forgive him, and one has a sneaking kindness for Robin Hood, who stripped the rich to clothe the poor ; but in the offence you have committed I see no sort of mitigation in the fact that you were less wealthy than those who suffered from it. However, whatever relief you may have found in thus unbosoming yourself to me, I am very glad to have afforded you, and, of course, as I have said, I shall respect your confidence." Pushing back the money to the other, he turned to his desk, partly to show that he had no desire to prolong a painful interview, and partly also to avoid the hand which his part- 234 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. ing guest had stretched out to him with effusion. " A thousand thanks," said Gresham fer- vently, as he closed the door ; but, directly it was between them, the look of fulsome grati- tude in his face was replaced by one of hate and rage. There are favours which are granted in such a manner that there is not only no sense of obligation in the recipient, but the very reverse, and though in this case he had obtained all that was possible, it seemed to him that he had been insulted and humiliated in the getting of it, and, perhaps, after all in vain. It was something, however, he reflected, that the sentimental fool had given credence to his pretence of having wished to make a clean breast of it, in a matter, which, but for its consequences, would not have given his conscience one moment's uneasiness. These two men, in fact, were unequal combatants, as must always happen A BORN FOOL. 235 when one uses any weapon lie can lay hold of, and the other restricts himself to the regula- tion arms of straightforwardness and fair dealing ; and Gresham had naturally got the best of it. In the morning — or what he called the morning — Blythe came to Needham with the story the latter had already heard. " I told the scoundrel," he said, as he concluded it, " that I reserved the matter for consideration ; I have determined to tell no one but yourself about it, and leave him in your hands, to be dealt with as you think fit. Thank goodness he doesn't belong to my college, and, of course — in the future at least — he will not belong to yours." Then, for the first time, it Hashed on Need- ham that what had happened might concern himself very nearly, and the object of Gres- ham's visit on the previous night was at once made clear to him. He felt that Blythe took 236 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. it for granted that he would take advantage of Gresham's offence to destroy him as a rival; indeed there was a smile of gratification on the other's face which seemed to say, " See, I have cooked that gentleman's goose for you." " Then you promise to leave this fellow in my hands, Blythe." " Absolutely, entirely ; I don't want to be mixed up with him, in any way ; though of course I owe him a grudge for having made my rooms the scene of his infamy. I give him up to you as a heretic used to be handed over by the ecclesiastical authorities to the secular arm — not to be burnt alive, however, but to be extinguished." " Thank you, I accept the charge of him." There was something in Needham's tone that gave the other uneasiness. " But you are not going to forgive him ; mind, he is not going to be let loose upon society to cheat at large." A BORN FOOL. 237 " You have passed your word, Blythe, that his punishment is to be in my hands. I am not going to let him loose. I have made him promise that he is never to touch a card again while he is up here." " Then he is going to be allowed to remain up here ! He has seen you and got that promise out of you, has he ? Well, upon my life he is a cunning devil, and some one else is a born fool." " Then I'm not to blame," said Needham, smiling. " C'est magnifique, metis ce n'est pas la guerre'' was Blythe' s rejoinder. 238 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTER XVI. BLACKMAIL. As regarded Needham's position, Gresham's moral delinquency in no way affected it ; his secret was preserved according to promise ; but Needham's magnanimity made a great impression upon Blythe, notwithstanding that he did not sympathise with it. He was not one of those fools who suppose, because they themselves are incapable of a noble action, that other people are no better ; and he was drawn closer to Needham in consequence — more close indeed for the present than Grey, who was too occupied with the preparation for his degree for much intercourse with anybody, BLACKMAIL. 239 a circumstance which was not unwelcome to the scholar of St. Neot's, who shrank from his society with morbid pain. He was ashamed of the feeling that caused him to do so, but he could not overcome it. Grey had said in his genial way, " When you and I get over our Senate House troubles I hope we shall see you at 'The Fishery,'" his aunt's cottage on the Thames, which Blythe called " the Martin's Nest ; " and it was with an intense sense of relief that Needham was able to reply, " Thank you very much, old fellow, but if I go anywhere I am promised to Blythe." " Oh, indeed ! " he answered, with pleased surprise. " Well, Stretton Park is a much better place to stay at, though you will have a rather exacting hostess. I am delighted to find that Blythe appreciates you, as I knew he would do when he got to know you. But you must come to us later on. For my part I 240 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. think that river residences should only be visited in the summer months." Needham murmured some response, which might be taken for an acceptance, though it was certainly not meant to be so. That phrase " with us," which seemed to imply a time when the speaker and Ella would be one, gave Needham a shiver. He would not have gone to " The Fishery " had the master- ship of St. Neot's been offered to him as a bribe ; but it was not necessary to excuse himself, for in his heart he had only a too well grounded foreboding that even a fellow- ship of St. Neot's would, by the time in question, be out of his reach, and that it would be necessary for him to accept some educational post in the colonies, he knew not where, but only felt that the further off it should be from England and Ella Martin the better. It was unhappily one of those presentiments that carry with them their own BLACKMAIL. 241 fulfilment ; liis depression reacted upon his work, which was already performed in a perfunctory and half-hearted way, and as every day brought him nearer to the ordeal in the Senate House he felt himself losing ground instead of gaining it. It was really kind of Blythe to look him up occasionally, as he did, and drag him out for " a constitu- tional," for a less lively companion it would have been hard to find. To be in love without hope, and also to be going in for an " exam," upon which all your future depends, is a com- bination sufficient to place the most philosophic person in the dumps ; and Needham was not a philosopher, nor anything like it. About this time, too, another member of St. Neot's lost his spirits, as may be gathered from a conversation between its Dean and an undergraduate of our acquaintance as they smoked their pipes together in the former's room one evening after hall. vol. 1. R 242 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Upon my life," said Methuen, "if a breeze of Providence had not blown you here, Halford, I believe I should be contemplating suicide. There is really not another soul fit to speak to in the college. Our friend Needham is a wet blanket ; a reading man who does not read, than which it is impossible to conceive a less interesting anomaly ; he is like a very respectable looking book, which you take up on a pouring day in a country inn, only to discover that it is a backgammon board, with nothing in it. Well, lies useless ; as for Gresham, I need not tell you he's a disgusting beast. If I was not a Dean I should use worse words as I think of him, and the possibility of his becoming a permanency in the place. And now our excellent Master has gone wrong. I could not persuade him to come into hall to-day, though I know he hates dining in solitary slate alone (like an Indian chief) in his Lodge, BLACKMAIL. 243 and what is still more significant, he has not been to see his Penelope for forty-eight hours. He tells me that he doesn't feel 'up to ' anything, but if his character was not so unimpeachable, I should say he had been up to something very discreditable indeed, and was afraid of its being found out. A more hangdog expression of countenance (if I may say so without disrespect) I jiever beheld on any man's face. He sighed, too, like a furnace, but not the sort of sigh that you expect from an engaged man ; I feel convinced that something has happened to the dear old fellow." " Eeally ! " Halford knocked out the ashes from the bowl of his pipe, and blew down the stem. " I wonder what it can be." " I believe you know" said the Dean, looking up at his companion very sharply. " Upon my word and honour I do not," returned the other earnestly. " When L R 2 244 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. spoke to the Master last, which was not, however, during the last day or two, I noticed no change in him. I confess, nevertheless, that I did think he had purposely avoided me of late." " He avoids everybody, even his Penelope. I believe a warrant is out against him for something or another. I wish one was out against Gresham instead." " How you do dislike that fellow," said Halford, smiling. " Don't say ' fellow/ because that is what I am afraid he will be. Well, of course, I dislike him. If there is one word which serves to apply to him better than another it is the word ' sneak.' " " Well, I like a good hater," said Halford, composedly. " Just as if you did not hate him as much as I do. Not to hate him is an illiberal education." BLACKMAIL. 245 Halford lay back in his chair and laughed. The Dean, with his views and c as yet bestowed. One day, in fact, lie seriously startled him by 284 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. a most significant question. "Look here, old fellow, I don't understand these things, and am anxious to know about them ; the ' governing body ' of a college can give a Fellowship to whom it pleases, can it not ? " " So far as St. Neot's is concerned, certainly it can, within reasonable limits ; to take a case familiar to us," — here Needham forced a smile — " of two scholars on its foundation they can elect either of them ; but, if one distinguishes himself in the class list above the other, they are bound by usage, and also by propriety, to choose him." " But suppose there was some moral objection to the man ; if he had stolen the college spoons, for example ? " Over Needham's face came a quick flush. It struck him for the moment that, in spite of his passed word and reiterated promise to keep it, Blythe might have revealed Gresham's crime. A BLIGHTED FUTURE. 285 " Oh, I don't know of Gresham's having stolen a spoon," continued Halford, as if in answer to the other's change of countenance, "though if one were missed I should know where to look for it ; I am merely putting a supposititious case." " No doubt, if a scholar should disgrace himself by any act of dishonour," replied Needham gravely, "it would disqualify him from election." " Just so," said Halford, in the indifferent tone of a man who has had an opinion upon some subject of ordinary interest confirmed, " that is as I expected." And then the matter dropped. 286 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE XIX. COUNTER PLOT. " Then you don't know Miss Barlow, Mr. Dickon." "No, sir, I do not. I have a pretty large acquaintance with ladies of her class in London, but in the country, you see, sir, " "One moment," interrupted Halford, who was entertaining a metropolitan friend in his rooms at luncheon — a quiet, undistinguished - looking visitor enough, who might have been an " early father " come to see his son comfortably settled in his college quarters, or a dun, or a man come to wind the clock, or, in fact, anybody ; like some insect which COUNTER PLOT. 287 Nature has made colourless, in order to preserve it from its enemies, Mr. Dickon was formed, and for the like reason, so as to attract the least possible attention from his fellow-creatures. " What do you mean by ladies of her class ? " " Adventuresses. They are a peculiar breed,, which it is impossible for one who has studied them to mistake ; some are fast, and some are not ; this one is of the latter, and far more dangerous kind." " Then you think the story she tells Dr. Martell is not very credible ? " Mr. Dickon smiled. " She is lucky in having found a Dr. Martell to tell it to. There are perhaps ten other men in the world who would have believed her besides him, but I don't think there are a dozen — not at large." " On what circumstances do you form your opinion — I mean as to her character? " 288 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " She's living here alone and with no friends in the town ; she's passing under an alias in obscure and not very respectable lodgings ; she never moves out in the daytime, save to post and receive her letters, which she always does with her own hand ; she is visited by only one person, and that one not in her own rank of life." " That seems pretty good for a week's work," observed Halford, admiringly. " Well, you see, sir, I have had nothing else to do," said Mr. Dickon, modestly, "and Miss Barlow is an interesting study — quite a labour of love. Besides, it's getting to be more serious business than we expected, and that, of course, gives it a charm." " Serious ! I should have thought that blackmailing was serious enough. What else is the matter ? " " I rather think there's a conspiracy," replied Mr. Dickon, softly, and with a gentle COUNTER PLOT. 289 smack of his lips. " There's three on 'em in it, at least — some gent in town, another in Cambridge, and the lady." He spoke in a tone as though he were describing the ingredients of a mince pie or some other tastefnl delicacy. " But who is the man at Cambridge ? " " Well, sir, perhaps you will be kind enough not to press that — not just at present." "Very good; you think it might interfere with the course of justice ? " " I think it might spoil our little game," said Mr. Dickon. He had left " the force " and discarded its formulas, as he was by nature practical. " I may at least tell the Doctor that things are going on favourably with us." " No, sir, I think not ; it might alter the old gent's manner to the lady ; the more shivery and shakey he is the more she will think him to be in her power, and the less vol. 1. u 2 9 o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. necessary for her to be prudent. It is the imprudence of women that is our opportunity," added Mr. Dickon, philosophically. It sounded like an encouragement to vice, but it was spoken in the interests of virtue. Halford was charmed with his companion and his conversation. His own cynicism was of that genial kind which arrays itself on the side of the angels. In a few days Mr. Dickon hoped to be able to give him news more definite, but this was deferred for some time. Miss Phoebe Barlow was not a bird easy to lime. In the meantime, the men " came up " again, but, of course, neither Grey nor Blythe. The former wrote to Needham more than once in the kindliest way, while the latter seemed to have forgotten him. What was more likely, it was disagreeable to him to correspond with a " man in the dumps," as he would have expressed it. His attitude was COUNTER PLOT. 291 that of many men as respects their friends who have bodily ailments ; the sight of suffer- ing distresses them, and, since " they can do no good," they keep away. He wished that drey, too, had taken that view, though it would have been contrary to his unselfish and sympathetic nature. Every reference to Ella — and in his letters there were naturally many such references — cost their recipient a pang. He was glad, of course, to hear of her health and happi- ness ; but not glad that she " often asked after Dr. Johnson." He felt grateful to Mrs. Martin that her remembrances to him never took that form, that she at least treated him seriously ; and was very thankful that there was no repetition of an invitation to visit them, though the delights of the river were beginning, and the spring was coming quicker than usual up their way. The May term at Camford is delightful u 2 292 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. when the spring is early, bnt it brought no pleasure to Needham ; his feeling was like that of the poet who wondered how the birds could pipe while his heart was so weary and full of care ; its gaiety and brightness seemed to cast his lot in greater gloom. The absent Fellow of St. Neot's had taken to himself a wife, and the time had come for his successor to be appointed ; and when that took place, Needham had made up his mind to accept the Melbourne readership. The question, so often quoted by the Professor in bitterness of spirit, by men who underrated his beloved study, "What is the use of geology?" would be answered, so far as his favourite pupil was concerned ; it would supply him with " bread and cheese ; " but not, alas ! with the third factor so often associated with them — " and kisses." In the meantime, neither the Master nor himself increased the gaiety of St. Neot's. COUNTER PLOT. 293 The Master, however, was not so utterly <;ast down as he had been. His position with respect to his Phoebe was not improved, and made him melancholy enough, but, like the eels, he seemed to be getting used to being skinned. Though his suit of the fair Penelope got " no forrarder," it was still continued. She would wait, and she did so with philo- sophic calm ; perhaps she reflected that it was he who had no time to lose, and not she. While the Professor took no notice of the matter whatever, only things under the earth, not above it, having power to engage his attention. And now took place an incident which shows not only " how small the world is," but how the interests of persons who live on it, though apparently without the least con- nection with another, are bound together. It is not too much to say, perhaps, that the most skilful organisation with which the plans 294 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. of " mice and men " may be laid do not so often succeed, as do the chance medleys out of which comes the wished-for end. If a man of affairs should look back upon all his operations — or upon those that will bear looking into — it will probably appear to him that the major part of them have " come off," not only more through good luck than good guidance, but absolutely through no guidance at all, and by the most unexpected means. And it is the same thing with his failures. The rift in the lute takes place just where the performer never dreams of looking for it. Mr. Dickon's work was performed like that of a mole — underground, though without any external evidences of his diligence, and much more slowly ; but in the end it was done. It was many days since he had been to his employer's rooms to report progress, but at last he came one evening with such a demure look of restrained satisfaction upon COUNTER PLOT. 295 his face that directly he caught sight of it Halford exclaimed " Hurrah ! " " Yes, sir, I think we may halloa, now," replied the other, with a gentle smile, " as being, so to speak, out of the wood. The whole bag of tricks is as clear as daylight." " Come, this is good news, indeed," said his host with beaming eyes. " Now help me out with this sherry cobbler, and tell me all about it at your leisure." This concoction was a novelty to his visitor ; indeed, in this country it was at that time but little known outside the University, and was considered by Halford as being the most attractive of all the things he had learnt at college ; but a little instruction, aided by his natural intelligence, soon put Mr. Dickon at his ease with it. Between his pulls at the straw through which he imbibed this refresh- ing beverage, he told his story in a leisurely and agreeable fashion. 296 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. " Well, sir, I have been a long time in bringing matters home to her ladyship, but I felt sure that they would come right from the moment that I discovered she was a married woman." " Miss Barlow married ! That is news, indeed ; then this whole affair is a swindle ? " " Not only this affair, sir, but the two others before it. She was married before the Doctor was." Halford, who was sucking at his straw, here burst into such a fit of laughter that the sherry went the wrong way, and it was with difficulty that he was saved from suffoca- tion. " Yes, sir, Miss Phoebe Barlow was Mrs. William Prodgers, and had been so for some time, on the first occasion when she received pecuniary compensation. It was not her husband, however, who is more fool than knave, but her brother, a gentleman con- COUNTER PLOT. 297 nected with a racing stable at Newmarket, who put her up to it, 1 fancy ; and a very ' good thing ' it has turned out to be for her until now. Now she's in Queer Street. I have collected evidence that proves a con- spiracy." " But we mustn't use it ; at least, not in court," observed Mr. Halford regretfully. " That is just as you please, sir ; I have got 'em, all the three of them, as tight as wax." " But who is the third person ? " " Her nephew; the young man I told you about as visits her. I've grot Mm. and he knows it. He's a very nice young man, and would turn Queen's evidence to-morrow against his father and his aunt rather than have his own skin scratched. Oh, yes, I've got him. A cur like that will spoil the very prettiest game." This was Mr. Dickon's way of describing any ingenious fraud ; not that he sympathised 298 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. with it, but because he had a large mind and could appreciate intellect, even when ill em- ployed. " Moreover, Miss Phoebe herself, though clever as possible, was imprudent. A lady who passes under her maiden name at her lodgings should not have her letters addressed to her at the Post Office under her married name ; nor, when she takes her walks abroad, should she leave compromising letters " (" I've got 'em," said Mr. Dickon paren- thetically, and tapping his breast pocket) " in a desk that any pick-lock can open. ' How are you getting on with the old buffer at St. Neot's ? Since he has " parted" twice already, I should have thought Frank and you, between you, could have managed matters more quickly. Postmark, Newmarket.' " Here Mr. Dickon winked sagaciously, as though to imply he had been quoting from a private document of some importance to the COUNTER PLOT. 299 present inquiry, and partook lavishly of the sherry cobbler. " If what you tell me is the fact, your work has been well done indeed," said Halford. " Now, how do you recommend us to act ? " " Well, the ball is at your feet to do what you like with it. I have only to tell Miss Phcebe that the egg is blown (for she knows nothing about it yet, though her nephew does) and off she flies, and precious glad to find she is able to do it, and not caged. The Doctor is free enough ; but there's one thing that will have to be done, I reckon, for both your sakes." " For my sake? Why, what can I have to do with it ? " "Well, nothing except in the way of com- fort and convenience. You would not like, I fancy, to sit down at table every day with a gent who has been ' in ' such a scheme as this. Yes, I thought it would astonish you ;i 300 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. bit," said Mr. Dickon, with quiet triumph ; " but Miss Phcebe's nephew is a young gentle- man of your own college, for I have more than once had the privilege of seeing him in cap and gown — Mr. Frank Gresham." " Gresham ? There must surely be some mistake. Gresham this woman's nephew." " There is certainly no doubt about that ; independently of the direct evidence, and making due allowance for the difference in age and sex, they are as like one another as two peas. Thirty years ago or so, Mrs. Prodgers must have been an uncommonly nice looking girl. " Perhaps I shall get you to say a word or two to this young gentleman," said Halford, thoughtfully. "As many as you please, sir; we are on speaking terms, we two, and I may say pretty intimate. Fine feathers make fine birds — ■ and indeed he is fine enough as to looks by COUNTER PLOT. 301 nature — but a more moulting draggle-tailed creature as lie looked, when I first said to him, confidential like, ' This is a felony, my young friend, and you're in it,' I never clapt eyes on. He's a very timid bird, and if I was only to hold up my little finger and say 1 Shoo,' he'd be off in a twinkling, and never tronble you no more." " That is probably jnst what I shall ask you to do ; but in the meantime I must see the Master, and learn what he wishes to be done. I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Dickon, and am quite sure that he will be so also." Not till the detective had left the room, however, did Halford allow his face to tell the complete pleasure and satisfaction which his visitor's news had afforded him. "He has not only brought down his bird/' was his serene reflection, " but he has killed two birds with one stone." 3 o2 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. CHAPTEE XX. GOOD NEWS. How bright is the picture which " the May " — as the May term is called at Cambridge, " for love and euphony " — presents to the memory ! One almost fancies that the poet must have had it in his mind when, in describing the happiness of his youth, he says, "All was May with me from head to heel." There are no " exams " except the college one to trouble those who are conscious of a deficiency of knowledge respecting aorists or cosines. Many of them have their " people " up with them to take part in the final festivities and to share with GOOD NEWS. 303 them the universal joy ; and among their " people " there is often a beloved object, one destined to be even " a dearer one still and a nearer one " than the pater or the mater. How nobly the old halls and colleges stand the summer sunshine, like beauties that have nothing artificial about them, and whose complexions have no cause to fear the mornings. How merrily play the fountains in the " green coolness " of the courts, and, above all, how beautiful are "the Backs," where Underneath the bridges, Carved stone or oaken Crowned with sphere and pillar, Linking lawn with lawn, Sloping swards of garden, Flowering bank to bank, runs the full foliaged river ! On one of these bridges Needham was standing one evening, with his arms upon the parapet, listlessly watching the shallops 3 o4 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. as they shot in and out beneath him, each with their happy freight of occupants, youth at the stern and pleasure at the prow (or, rather vice verm, for the undergraduate rowed and the lady steered). The woods were heavy with the blossom odours, and the poor scholar's heart, full of tender memories and thoughts of farewell — for the time of exile was drawing near indeed, since the St. Neot's fellowship had been vacated, and was to be filled up at once — was heavy likewise. He had had his three years of sunshine in an otherwise colourless and gloomy life, and they were drawing to a close. It is only too often so with the youth at college who has to learn by bitter experience that instead of furnishing him with the means of warfare with the world, it has unfitted him for it, and dowered him only with the memory of its pleasures ; and, though this was not so with Needham, his case involved a double GOOD NEWS. 305 contrast, with the past as well as the future, for he had known no other home than Cambridge, and now the promise of its permanency had been broken, and he had to quit the place where he had first known life's wholesome pleasures for ever. As he thought of all this with many a secret sigh, a friendly hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a friendly voice said, " Come, old fellow, no moping ; I want a row for half an hour ; come with me." "A row, my dear Halford? You mean a drift," replied Needham, smiling, for he knew his friend's taste in aquatics ; "or perhaps you mean that you want me to roAv, and yourself to lounge upon the cushions." " No, it is really the other way for once ; and I have something to say to you." A little flotilla of boats were on hire close by, and Halford chose one to his liking ; none of your outriggers, but a fine Dutch- vol. 1. x 306 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. built craft fit for crawling and sprawling, and which would have almost served for deep sea trawling. He put his Mend in the stern sheets, and then paddled into a bye stream, where there was so little room for the boat that it soon came to a standstill ; a secluded spot indeed, with Fold on fold of foliage not proof against the stars, but hidden from all human eyes ; and then, with the air of one who has gone through great exertions and seeks well-earned repose, he dropped his oars and lit his pipe. Then, with the gravity of an Indian at the convivial fire, " I have just looked in at your rooms, Needham, to tell you what has happened. The Fellowship has been filled up." " I am not surprised/' returned the other, in a steady voice, if not a very strong one ; " the Dean told me that it would happen in a GOOD NEWS. 307 day or two. He spoke to me about it with great consideration and kindness ; I have received nothing but kindness at St. Neat's." " Yes, I think they appreciate your qualities ; so do I. You will, I am sure, believe that my congratulations are sincere. I came to make them. You were elected, although informally, this evening." " Elected ! I ! My dear friend it is impos- sible." " At all events, the Master himself is my authority. He said, ' I know it will give you pleasure to tell your friend that our Fellow- ship has been conferred upon him.'" " I don't understand," said Needham, pale and distrustful. " I am afraid there must be some mistake ; I am well convinced that you would never give me false hopes on a matter so important to me ; but the Dean told me with his own lips that, having regard to our x 2 308 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. positions in the class list, it would be impossible to give me the preference over Gresham." " That is quite true ; but Gresham has abandoned his claim in the most graceful manner — he couldn't have done it better ; he has thrown up his scholarship and left the college." " Thrown up his scholarship and left the college," repeated Needham, mechanically. " If you had said ' Gresham has set fire to the college ' I could not have been more astonished." " I daresay not ; indeed, I should not be so very much surprised now if he did set fire to it. When I said he has thrown up his Fellowship, I might have added that it was not exactly a voluntary act — but that is between ourselves." " Then perhaps you would push it a little farther in my direction." GOOD NEWS. 309 Halford laughed aloud, not at the joke, but at the idea of Needham's making a joke, a thing he had not essayed for the last six months ; it showed that his tale had obtained credence, and was a good sign and proof of recuperation indeed. " Well, months ago I confided to you the story of our excellent Master's early love affair with Miss Phcebe at the flower shop, and how she made him compensate her upon two occasions. It now turns out that she was all the time a married woman, notwith- standing which she has tried to blackmail him for the third time. That is why the poor man has gone about with so melancholy an air of late, only to be rivalled by that worn by another member of the college, who shall be nameless. Then it turns out that (Iresham was her nephew, and a consenting party to the fraud. Indeed, he was in so tight a place that he found it expedient to 310 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. leave Cambridge ; and off he has gone, and thereby made room for you." " But how was it all found out ? " inquired Needham. " I should have thought the Master was the last man to get to the bottom of such a scheme." " He placed the affair in the hands of a member of the English bar, of great sagacity and attainments, a defender of the orphan and the fatherless " " Then it is through your good offices, after all, Halford," interrupted Needham, with emotion, " that this great piece of good fortune has befallen me ! " " It is nice of you to recognise the portrait," said Halford, smiling, " and the fact is I did have something to do with the matter, but without the least prevision of how it was to turn out to your advantage. Neither Mr. Dickon, a London friend of mine, of great experience in frauds, who had GOOD NEWS.. 311 charge of the case, nor myself, had the slightest suspicion that Gresham was mixed np in it. It appears that he acted as a spy upon the poor Master, and made regular reports of him to his old flame." " But if Gresham' s connection with her was unknown, how came it that he was ever elected a scholar of the college ? " " A very pertinent question, and one that has always puzzled me. It was through his connection with that lady, though the existence of such a tie was never dreamt of. The elections at St. Neot's, you know, are rather hole and corner affairs ; indeed, the Master has practically the nomination of scholars in his own hands, and it was he who appointed him. I asked him point blank why he had done so, and, incredible as it may seem to those who do not understand the sentimental character of his disposition, it was because of Gresham's likeness to his aunt. An 312 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. accidental one, as the Master supposed, of course, but strong enough to arouse sympathies so easily moved by association. Of course he is now dreadfully ashamed of himself, but, I confess, I like him no less for having given way to them. Notwith- standing all his ' vicissitudes,' as Methuen calls them, the Master has the heart of a child." " And of a very good child," observed Needham earnestly. " Yes, he is a thoroughly good fellow ; it would certainly have been very painful to him if, in consequence of a matter that so nearly concerned himself, Gresham had been expelled from the college, or even denied his Fellowship ; but this difficulty has been re- moved by Gresham' s own action. And next to having that millstone, Miss Phoebe, re- moved from his neck (where she would have liked to hang for ever) I am sure nothing GOOD NEWS. 313 gives him greater pleasure than the fact of your election to the vacant place. He bade me give you his congratulations with my own." He rose and held out his hand to Need- ham, and after one cordial grip leapt lightly from the boat, and left his friend, as he felt that he wished to be, alone. It was one of those occasions when a man prefers his own meditations even to the sympathy of a friend. The revolution that had taken place in Needham's fortunes was indeed so great, as well as unexj^ected, that he could scarcely think— much less talk — about the matter with clearness. He was released, all of a sudden, from the bonds of poverty, from the necessity of exile, and placed for life in a position of independence. This, it is true, was with the proviso that he remained single, but marriage was the very last consideration that would have occurred to him, and just now, even the 3 H A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. reason why it did not occur did not intrude itself upon his thoughts. He was too grateful for the benefits that had been showered upon him, to think of what was denied him. He may have even imagined for the moment — as he sat in the softly swaying boat, looking up through the trees at the blue vault of Heaven in an ecstacy of thankfulness, that that spectre of Disappointment and Unrest was laid for ever. If so, he was sanguine indeed. And yet, though such events lay before him, as, could he have foreseen them, would have checked the young blood that coursed so joyously through his veins, he never forgot that halcyon hour, and the scene in which he passed it remained the fairest picture in the long gallery of his memory. AN INVITATION. 315 CHAPTER XXI. AN INVITATION The advantages of poverty have been so often described by the philosophers of the past (sitting outside their subject) that it is pre- sumption to question them, but it is also not to be denied that to ordinary persons a little competence is very grateful, and especially if they have known what it is to be without it. A less grasping, or even less ambitious man than George Needham it would have been difficult to find ; but penury he had had cause to loathe, and this sudden removal of the weight of sordid care from his shoulders was an intense relief to him. He breathed with a 3 i6 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. freedom that lie had never felt since that blow had fallen npon him at Bournemouth, and by destroying his energies had marred his future. In his thankfulness at his escape from its effect he almost forgot the blow. But his unlooked-for prosperity — for the very reason of its being unlooked for — had some little drawbacks. The congratulations of his Cambridge friends were by no means so welcome to him as, under other circumstances, they would have been. What had happened to him, as they all knew, had done so more by good luck than good guidance, and it is not joleasant to be applauded for a fluke at billiards, even though it wins the game. The Master of St. Neot's shook the young Fellow's hand when he next met him, with friendly pressure and a pleasant smile and nod, but without a word ; he had his own reasons for silence, and Needham knew them, but for the moment, wrapped in his own affairs, they had AN INVITATION. 317 escaped his memory, and the silence chilled him. The Dean was more eloquent, but, in the same breath in which he welcomed him as an acquisition, spoke of the relief that he experienced in having got rid of Gresham, which, to say the least of it, was an unfortu- nate association of ideas. The good old Professor greeted him with characteristic warmth, but, at the same time, held up a reproving finger, as though he would have said, " I am glad of your good fortune, but you don't deserve it." None of this was pleasant, and, notwith- standing that it was a very small drop of bitterness in a very full cup of satisfaction, it gave — as always happens in such cases — a decided taste to the cup ; it didn't poison it, but it robbed it of much of its sweetness and its perfume. What he dreaded most of all was the letter of congratulation, which he looked for every day, from Grey and Grey's 318 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. friends. The intention of it would without doubt be kindliness itself. Ella would send a message full of felicitations upon his good fortune ; for it was good fortune indeed, and not merit, that had won him his prize. How differently would she write and think of the Fellowship that without doubt would pre- sently fall to the lot of her accepted lover ! The thought of the arrival of that letter made him wretched, for it was clear that the reason of its not doing so was that Grey and his friends thought that what had happened was scarcely a matter on which they could con- gratulate him — one, rather, to be passed over in silence, upon the principle of the least said the soonest mended. He tortured himself, in fact, just as though he had been a real lover, who, from the consciousness of his own unworthiness, pictures all sorts of slights and disparagements. In the middle of all this he received a letter from another and AN INVITATION. 319 much less expected quarter, namely, from Blythe. He had begun to know enough of this friend, notwithstanding his liking for him, not to be surprised at what in any other man would have looked like neglect. He under- stood that his was one of those natures with which out of sight means out of mind, and with which constant familiarity can alone evince a permanent interest. His society was so charming that while you enjoyed it you forgot the egotism of his character, but when the absence of his personality was interrupted this attribute was borne in upon you. There are some persons of whom we cannot help saying to ourselves in their absence, " I like him, but much more than I approve of him," though in their presence we say only "how gay and pleasant he is ! " And such was Walter Blythe. His letter was characteristic ; bright and 3 2o A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. impulsively kind, it was genuine enough in its good feeling. Many people allow them- selves a little mirth in the intervals of business, Blythe sometimes indulged in a little seriousness in the intervals of pleasure. " I was delighted, my dear Needham, to hear yesterday, at the club, that St. Neot's had shown their appreciation of you, and at the same time acquired a most capital fellow for themselves ; my congratulation seems doubtless very belated, but in the country one hears nothing except the necessity for repairs in the chancel, and the promise (and non- performance) of the hay crops. You are now placed above the flouts of fortune for life, for I have much too high an opinion of your intelligence to suppose you will risk the loss of your Fellowship by marriage. Friends are apt to say in such cases, ' unless this good luck had happened to myself, it could not have pleased me better ; ' but in my case there is not even that reservation. If I had been wise and good enough to become a don at Cambridge, and had had to live there, I should have cut my throat before the year was out, so you have my heartiest felicitations without reserve. This complete unselfishness is one of the advantages of being ignorant and frivolous. Next to the tidings of your success, I was most pleased to learn that Gresham had been sent away with a flea AN INVITATION. .321 in his ear — a metaphor which falls far short of his ill-deserts. If the cause of his departure was in any way connected with his failure in arithmetic as regards the factors in addition which make twenty- one (vingt-et-un), I beg to say I had nothing to do with it. This subject, however, was, I remember, to be a sealed one even between ourselves. Now what I want you to do, at once, is to pay us your long promised visit to Stretton Park. I have hitherto omitted to press it, because I knew, while the Fellowship business was in suspense, you would be in no mood for visiting, though, goodness knows, you would not have been oppressed by gaieties with us. Do you know Captain Morris' admirable description of a country life ? In the country, what bliss, when it rains in the fields, To live on the transports that shuttlecock yields, Or go crawling from window to window to see A pig on a dunghill, a crow on a tree. "Well, this describes existence at Stretton to a nicety. We will do our best, however, to make it appear to be agreeable. Grey will probably run over to see us, for your sake. As for the Martins, they are staying with friends at the Lakes, where, as usual, it is raining incessantly. My mother desires her best compliments to be conveyed to you. Sin 1 has already, as you know, been graciously pleased to approve of you, and now you are a Fellow of your college, you have acquired a certain social status in VOL. I. Y 322 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. her eyes which makes your virtues loom larger than ever. I am glad you are not the Bursar ; she once met the Bursar of St. Boniface somewhere, and was quite amazed to find how well he behaved himself, 1 considering ; ' she confused him, it seems, with the "butler — a much better post in my opinion, because of the ' j>erks.' My spirits are at the very lowest ebb. I am not like the French nobleman who found the country endurable 'because he gave himself up entirely to wickedness.' It is difficult to make this occupy the whole of one's time. There now, I've shocked you. That only suggests another reason why } ou should come to Stretton ; your moral example is the very thing — or rather one of the many things — we want here. The morning express from Cambridge enables you to easily catch the Paddington mid-day train, and you will get to us in time for ' afternoon tea,' a most exciting enter- tainment I do assure you. "Yours ever, " Walter Blythe." This invitation was, on the whole, very welcome to Needham. It gave him the opportunity of escape from the somewhat doubtful felicitations of his friends, and offered a change of which, after his late troubles and anxieties, he felt himself to stand in need. AN INVITATION. 323 Above all lie would not find himself in Ella Martin's company at Stretton, which was wdiat he dreaded above everything; the chances of meeting her there had hitherto made him resolve to evade his promised visit, but now he could come and go without exposing himself to that embarrassment. He had had so much to think of recently that his mind had not been dwelling on her with the same feverish persistence, and per- haps time was beginning its cure, but he was only too well convinced that if he should be thrown into her society, all the mischief would begin again with him. Since the Martins were at the Lakes, moreover, there was nothing of this to be feared ; and as for Grey, he would be genuinely glad to see him. Apart from his friend's association with Ella, his companionship was always welcome. The only point in Blyth's letter that troubled him in any way was that which 324 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. referred to Grey. " Grey will probably run over to see us, for your sake," were the words. This phrase, however, carelessly written, and, indeed, because of its careless- ness, seemed very significant. It was through Grey, as we know, that he had become acquainted with Blythe. The two men had always been great friends ; they had lived near one another in the country, and, as he had been given to understand, often visited one another. Why, then, should Blythe write, " Grey will probably run over to see us, for your sake ? " Why " probably," when he was always doing it ? and why for " his (Needham's) sake," instead of his host's ? The expression might be accidental, but, though Blythe wrote with a flowing pen, Needham did not think so. They seemed to him to suggest at least a coolness between the two. Could this possibly have arisen from jealousy as regards Ella. Putting AN INVITATION. 325 himself in Grey's place, and remembering Blyth's behaviour at Bournemouth, he thought this likely enough; but he was wise enough to reflect that persons in society might conduct themselves otherwise than he would have done under such circumstances, and yet without blame ; moreover, Blythe was a sort of privileged person, who was understood to mean no harm, when other persons would not have been judged so lightly. And certainly Grey had never shown the slightest trace of annoyance or disapproval with Blythe upon this account ; still, the latter's reference to his friend looked strange. The proposed visit had for Needham at least the attraction of novelty. A visit to a friend's country house is a common enough experience with most undergraduates, but it was not so with him ; his life had been hitherto passed in a social world in which 326 A STUMBLE ON THE THRESHOLD. there were no country houses. He had, indeed, the advantage of having been introduced to its mistress, but that lady's bearing was not of a very encouraging nature to one of his diffident disposition ; it rather resembled the effect of a bearing rein, which endows the wearer with a certain appearance, however artificial, of pomp and dignity ; but that champing of the bit and arching of the neck are far from reassuring to the nervous beholder. Needham, however, had far too independent a nature to be alarmed at the prospect of Mrs. Blythe's airs and graces, and, upon the whole, he was well pleased to accept her son's invitation. END OF VOL. I. 1893. A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS RELATING TO &nglixiQt ^crating, €x'xchtx t $nxmm# t 6ar£reitmg t ^nrding, USEFUL FOR COUNTRY GENTLEMEN, TEAVELLEES, ETC., PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, THE "FIELD" OFFICE, WINDSOE HOUSE, BEEAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. V Orders for any of the following ivories, with postage stamps or post-office order (payable at the Money Order Office, Chancery -lane, W.C.) for the amount, should be sent to Horace Cox, Publisher, at the above address, or they may be obtained, hy order of any bookseller. AGENTS. IX AUSTRALIA:— E. A. PBTHBHIOK & CO., 888, George-street, Sydney, ami 880 and 382, Bourke-street, Melbourne, Victoria; W. 0. BIO-BY, 74, King William- street, Adelaide, South Australia. IN INDIA :— THAOKER & Co., Limited. Bombay; TH4.0XBB, Spink. A 00.; t lalcutta. IN CANADA :— Grafton A Bons, Montreal. NOTICE. nnHE attention of Country Gentlemen, Travellers, Sportsmen, Farmers, and others is called to the works quoted in this Catalogue. 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Editor of the Farm Department of "The Field." and formerly Professor of Agriculture at the Koyal Agricultural College, Cirencester. THE I. II. in CATTLE OF CREAT BRITAIN. —Introductory. — Breeding and Genera] Manage- ment. — Principles of Feeding, and Value of Different Kinds of Food. — Buildings, and the Manage- ment of Manure —Dairy Management, the Milk Trade. Are. — Shorthorns. By John Thornton. —The Hereford Breed of Cattle. By T. Duekham. —Devon Breed of Cattle. By Lieut.-Col. J. T. Davy. —The Longhorns. By Gilbert Murray. . — The Sussex Breed of Cattle. By A. Heasman. .—Norfolk and Suffolk Bed-Polled Cattle. By Thomas Fulcher. —Galloway Cattle. By Gilbert Murray. — The Angus-Aberdeen Cattle. —The Ayrshire Breed of Cattle. By Gilbert Murray. —Vest Highland Cattle. By .lohn Robertson. —The Glamorgan Breed of Cattle. By Morgan Evans. — Pembrokeshire or < iastlemartin i lattle. By Morgan Evans. — TheAnglesea Cattle By Mor- gan Evans. —The Kerry Breedof ( tattle. By the late B. 0. Pringle. —The Jersey Breed ol I lattle. By John M. Hall. —The Guernsej Breed ol Cattle. By "A Native." THE SHEEP OF CREAT BRITAIN. I. — Introductory. II.— The Management f |. ,,.. to Lambing CONTENTS III.— IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X XL XII. XIII. XIV XV. XVI. XVII. XYII1. XIX. XX XXI. IV, V, VI, VII. VIII, IX, X, XI. XII, XIII. XIY. XY. XYI. XVII.—' XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII.- XXIV, XXV, Preparations for and Attention during Lambing. Management from Birth to Weaning. Prom Weaning to Market. On Wool. •Leicester Sheep. Border Leicesters. By John Usher. ■< lots wold Sheep. Long-Woolled Lincoln Sheep. The Devon Long-Wools. By Joseph Darby. ■Bomney Marsh Sheep. Southdown Sheep. •The Hampshire or West Country Down Sheen. By E. P. Squarey. ■Shropshire Sheep. Oxfordshire Down Sheep. By Messrs. A. F. M. Druce and C. Hobhs. The Roscommon Sheep. By the lateR. 0. Pringle. Xegrette Merino Sheep. Exmoor Sheep. -The Black-faced or Scotch Mountain Sheep. Cheviot Sheep. By John Usher. -Dorset Horned Sheep. By Joseph Darby. •Welsh Mountain Sh( Bj an Evans. The Radnor Sheep. By Morgan Evans. Herdwick sheep. By 11. A Spedding. THE PIGS OF CREAT BRITAIN. I. — Introductory . 1 1. -The Berkshire Pig. III.— Black Suffolk Piga. IV.— Large White Breed of PL's. V.— Small White Piga. \ l Middle Bred Whit VII.- The Black Doreel ' \ ill TheTamworth i'i_- THE FIELD OFFICE, BREAMS BUILDINQ8, LONDON, I .( 10 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS Now ready, demy 8vo., price 2s., by ]><>st 2s. 2d. THE SPORTSMAN'S VADE-MECUM FOR THE HIMALAYAS. CONTAINING NOTES O^ SHOOTING, CAMP LIFE, &c. FULLY ILLUSTRATED. B^r IK. C .A. J". Tw 8tx>., ^/-icv Is., t>// post Is. 3'/. THE Manifestation of Disease in Forest Trees, THE CAUSES AND REMEDIES. BY CHARLES E. CURTIS, F.S.I., F.S.S., Professor of Forest Economy, Field Engineering, and General Estate Management at the College of Agriculture. Downton, Salisbury: Member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science : Consulting Forester to the Right Honourable Lord O'Neill. Shanes Castle. Antrim, Ireland: Author of "Estate Management" (3rd Edition; Field Office); '-Practical Forestry " (Office of Land Agents' Record), " Principles of Forestry " (R. A. Society's Journal). •■Valuation of Property" (Field Office) &c, &c Now ready, 1 Vol., cloth, price Is. 6d., by post Is. 9«Z.; 2 Vols., flexible morocco, price 10s., by poet 10s. 3d. FIGURK-SICATIKG-, s i hve :p hl :e j^istzd COMBIITED : BEING AX ENLARGED EDITION OF "COMBINED FIGURE SKATING." Arranged as a complete text-book of the Art of Skating as practised in the leading Skating Clubs of <4reat Britain. BY MONTAGU S. MONIER-WILLIAMS, M.A., Oxon ; WINTER RANDELL PIDGEON, M.A., Oxon; and ARTHUR DRYDEN, B.A., Cantab. " THE FIELD " OFFTCE. BREAM'S BUILDINGS. LONDON, E.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 11 Second Edition. Large post 8vo., price 7s. (5c/., by post 8s. THE "IDSTO.NE" PAPERS. A SERIES OF ARTICLES AND DESULTORY OBSERVATIONS ON SPORT AND THINCS IN GENERAL "IDSTON E," Of " The Field." Published Annually. Vol, V., 1891-92, price 3s. Qd,, by post 3s. lOd. THE GOLFING ANNUAL Edited by D. S. DUNCAN. # # * The attention of golfers is called to this work, which differs from kindred publications in many respects. It contains Original Articles, not merely Reprints ; and its Club Directory is the only Complete and Accurate List of Golf Clubs and Descriptions of Golf Greens ever published. SECOND EDITION. Price 2s. Qd., btj post 2s. 8d., in limp cloth. RABBITS FOR PROFIT AND RABBITS FOR POWDER. A Treatise upon the New Industry of Hutch Rabbit Farming in the Open, and upon Warrens specially intended for Sporting Purposes; with Hints as to their Construction, Cost, and Maintenance. BY J*. ,/. LLOYJJ BRICJE. "THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, B.C. b 2 12 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS THIS WORK CONTAINS ABOVE 700 PACES, AND NEARLY 400 ILLUSTRATIONS. Second Edition, with additions, 'price los., by post 15s. 9d., cloth gilt. Shifts and Expedients OF CAMP LIFE, TRAVEL, AND EXPLORATION, BY W. B. LORD, Royal Artillery, AND T. BAINES, F.R.G.S. FIFTH EDITION. Re-written, with additions and new full-page Engravings. In one volume, bevelled boards, gilt edges, price 15.*., by post 15s. 9d. THE DOGS OF THE BRITISH ISLAM: BBING A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THE POINTS OF THEIR VARIOUS BREEDS AND THE TREATMENT OF THE DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT. REPRINTED FROM "THE FIELD' NEWSPAPER. BY THE LATE J. H . W^l LSH, " Stonehenge," Editor of '• The Field." (WITH THE AID OF SEVERAL EXPERIENCED BREEDERS.) "THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS. LONDON. B.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 13 SECOND EDITION. Demy 8vo., printed on plate paper, ivith Illustrations on toned paper, price 3s. Gd., by post 3s. lid. A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION, WITH REMINISCENCES, THE FOX TERRIER: BY RAWDON B. LEE, Kennel Editor of " The Field." THE ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR WARDLE. A FEW COPIES ON LARGE PAPER. Price 10s. 6d., toy Post lis. Demy 8vo., printed on plate paper, with Illustrations by Arthur Wardle. price 3s. Gd., by post 3s. lid. A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLIE oe SHEEP DOG, IN HIS BRITISH VARIETIES. BY RAWDON B. LEE, Kennel Editor of "The Field," and Author of " The Fox Terrier. A FEW COPIES ON LARGE PAPER. Price 10s. 6d., toy post lis. " THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. 14 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS Demy 8vo., pp. 480, price 15s., by post 15*. 6cL, VOLUME I. of THE MODERN SPORTSMAN'S GUN AND RIFLE, INCLUDING Came and Wildfowl Guns, Sporting and Match Rifles and Revolvers. IN TWO VOLUMES. Vol. I. — Game and Wildfowl Guns. By the late J. H. WALSH, " Stonehenge," Editor of " The Field," Author of "Dogs of the British Islands,'" "The Greyhound, " "British Eural Sports," KI l Introductory. VI.) Glances at the Past and Present State of County Cricket. VII.— Middlesex. VIII.— Public School Matches. IX.— Kent. X.— Hampshire. XI.— Surrey. XII. — Sussex. XIII.— Nottinghamsnire. XIV.— Yorkshire. Chap. XV. — Warwickshire and Derbyshire. XVI. — Gloucestershire. XVII.— Lancashire and Leicestershire. XVIII.— The Eastern Comities. XTX ) ~ x ^' .- Intercolonial Matches. XXI.— School and Village Matches. XXII.— Curiosities of Cricket. XXIII— Cricket Grounds. XXIV.— Laws of the Game. XXV.— Poems, Songs, and Ballads. XXVI. — Glossary of Words and Phrases. Postscript. — Shakespeare and Cricket — An Enforced Dissertation. Published Annually. In post Svo., pries Is. 6d., by post Is. 8d. THE ANGLER'S DIARY AND TOURIST FISHERMAN'S GAZETTEER. CONTAINS A Record of the Rivers and Lakes of the World, to which is added a List of Rivers of Great Britain, with their nearest Railway Stations. Also Forms for Registering the Fish taken during the year: as well as the Time of the Close Seasons and Angling Licences. By I. E. B. C, Editor of "The Gamekeeper's and Game Preserver's Account Book and Diary," &o. THE FIELD OFFICE, BREAMS BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX- 17 Second Edition. Large post 81:0., price 5s., by post 5s. 3d. A1TG-LI1TG. BY THE LATE FRANCIS FRANCIS. Author of "A Book on Angling,*' "By Lake and River," " Hot-Pot," &c. CONTENTS. Preface. Chap. Chap. V.— The Pike. I.— The Art of Angling. VI.— Trout Fishing with Bait. II.— Mid-Water Fishing. • : VII.— Fly Fishing for Trout. III. — Surface or Fly Fishing. V I II. — Trout Flies. IV.— The Gudgeon, the Pope or Ruff, IX.— Grayling Fishing. the Bleak, the Poach, the Rudd, X. — Salmon Fishing. the Dace, the Chub, the Barbel. XL— Salmon Flies. the Bream, the Carp, the Tench, XII.— On Tackle Making. the Perch. ADDENDA. Post Svo., in cloth, price 5.<., by post 5s. -id. ZHZOT-ZPOT. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS By the late Francis Francis, Author of "A Book on Angling," -By Lake and River," "Angling," &c. Price Is., by post Is. Id. THE CHESS MONTHLY. Edited by L. HOFFER. Price Is., by post Is. Id. TATTEESALL'S RULES ON BE1TING, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES AM) COMMENTS, Containing an Accounl of I laBes decided by Tattersall's ( lommittee, with a Copious Index, and the Rules of Racing appended. By G. HERBERT STUTFIELD, Barrister-at-Law, Author of the •• Law Relating to Betting, Time Bargains, and Q-amlng." "THE KIKl.li" oil-, i i.i.i \m's BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. 18 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS Crown Svo., price Is., by post Is. 2d., in Coloured Wrapper, and Pane Illustrations dravm by Whymper. TWENTY-SIX YEARS' REMINISCENCES OF SCOTCH GROUSE MOORS. By "W_ A. ADAMS. CONTENTS. Seasons 1863 to 1888— A Hare Day — Remarks on the Outcome of Disease — Heather-Burning and Draining — Surface Draining — Dogs — Disease — Wildfowl— Conclusion — Summary. Demy 8vo., with folding plates and full-page Illustrations printed on toned paper, price 10s. 6d., by post lis. MODERN WILDFOWLING. BY LEWIS CLEMENT, " WlLDFOWLER." Opnions qf the Press. "An excellent work indeed, and full of capital illustrations, is 'Modern Wildfowling ; ' to recommend it aright I should have, if I were clever enough, and it did not already exist, to invent the famous phrase, ' a book no gentleman's library should be without.' " — Truth, March 17, 1881. '' This book deals Dot only with the various modes of approaching, or decoying, and killing wildfowl of all kinds, but enters into minute details upon the construc- tion of punts, both single and double handed; sails; punt guns, muzzle-loading as well as breechloading ; recoil apparatus; and shoulder guns of all patterns, with the varying loads required for different bores. In addition to this are several chapters devoted to a narration of the adventures of the author while in pursuit of wildfowl, both at home and abroad— which are very pleasant reading With the addition of a good index, sportsmen will have in this work a capital vaJc mecum on the art of wildfowling.' — I'he Zoologist for November. 1880. THE FIELD OFFICE. BREAM S BUILDINGS. LONDON. E.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 19 Large post 8vo., 'price 3s. 6./. GIPSY TENTS AND HOW TO USE THEM. By G. R. LOWNDES. THE FIELD OFFTCE, BREAM S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. -1 VOLUMES I. and II. (containing Parts I. to VI. ), in crown Svo., red cloth, price Gs., hy post 6s. <;ost Id. SHORT NOTES ON SILO EXPERIMENTS AND PRACTICE, (Extracted from "Silos for Preserving British Fodder 0>O] Price Is., bij pod Is. Id. THE SCIENCE AND ART OF A HANDBOOK FOR ATHLETES. By HENRY HOOLE. M.D. (LoncD. Medical Officer to the Stock Exchange Clerks' Provident Fund. CONTENTS. Introduction. Chap. I. — The Preparation for Athle ticism. Chap. II. — The Formation and Develop- ment of the Human Body. Chap. III.— Food. Chap. IV.— The Nutrition of the Body. Hunger and Thirst. Diet and Digestion. Chap. V.— The Muscular System. Chap. VI.— Exercise and Rest. Chap. VTT. — Personal Hygiene. Appendix. ;< THE FIELD" OFFICE, BBEAM'S BUILDINGS EOXDON PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 25 In crown Sco., with Thirteen full-page Plates, price 2s. 6d., by post 2s. dd. The Swimming Instructor: A TREATISE ON THE ARTS OF SWIMMING AND DIYING. By WILLIAM WILSON. Author of "Swimming. Diving, and How to Save Life," "The Bather's Manual.' •' Hints on Swimming."' In crown Svo., price 2s. 6d., by post 2s. Sd. MANURES: THEIR RESPECTIVE MERITS FROM AN ECONOMICAL POINT OF VIEW. BY A.- W. CBEWS, Author of " Guano : its Origin, History, and Virtues," " The Potato and its Cultivation," &c. CONTENTS. PART. I.— Definition of the Word •• Manure"— Nature's Modes of Applying Fertilisers — History — Classification. PART II.— The Value of Ploughing Down Green Crops— Weeds— Sea-weed— Straw — Sawdust — Tanners' Bark — Wood Ashes — Peat — Rape Cake — Hemp — Poppy. Cotton, and Cocoa-nut Cakes — Bran — Malt Dust — Brewers' Grains — Coal — Soot — Charcoal. PART III. — Dead Animals — Fish — Blood— Animalised Charcoal — Bones — Horn — Woollen Rags. Hairs. Feathers, &c. — Night-soil — Farmyard Manure — Guano. PART IV.— Salts of Ammonia -Salts of Magnesia— Salts of Potash— Salts of Soda — Common Salt — Lime and its Compounds — "Ooze." In crown 8vo., price 2s., by post 2s. 2d. THE POTATO AND ITS CULTIVATION. B"2" A. W_ CBEWS. Author of " Guano : its Origin, History, and Virtues," "Manures: their Respective Ifi m B, &C. CONTENTS. Derivation —History— Constituents— Varieties Sprouting Boils — Planting- Manures— Earthing up- Disease— Scab Storing- Forcing Producing New Varieties— Substitutes for tl Potato"'- Miscellaneous Information. THE FIELD OFFICE, BB1 LM 8 BUILDINGS, LONDON. 26 A CATALOGUE OF BOOK!* Jvsl published, 8t;o., price Is. 6d. HORSE RACING AND THE WINNERS. By " LONG ODDS." A most useful Turf Guide, containing much valuable information for Racing- Men. In dealing with Handicaps, "Weight-for-Age Eaces, and Nurseries, it shows in a novel and simple manner how the winner may be found in nearly every second race ; and that there is a sound basis for the theory is conclusively shown in the Appendix, which extends over one half of the past racing year. CAN BE OBTAINED FROM ALL BOOKSPLLERS. Published Annually. In large post 8uo. THE KENNEL CLUB STUD BOOK: CONTAINING A COMPLETE RECORD OF DOG SHOWS AND FIELD TRIALS, With Pedigrees of Spoeting and Non-Sporting Dogs. Vol. I., from 1S59 to 1873, prio« 12*. 6o.. by post 13s. Price 10s. 6d., by Post 10s. lOd. each — Vol. V., 1878 ; Vol. VI., 1879 ; Vol. VII.. 1880 : Vol. VIII.. 1881 ; Vol. IX., 1882 ; Vol. XL, 1884 ; Vol XII., 1885 ; Vol. XIII., 1886 : Vol. XIV., 1887 ; Vol. XV, 1888 ; Vol. XVI.. 1889 Vol. XVIL, 1890; Vol. XVIIL, 1891 ; Vol. XIX., 1892. In handy pocket size, price Is. 6c?., by post Is. 7<1. THE GAMEKEEPER'S SHOOTING MEMORANDUM BOOK, FOR THE EEGISTEEING OF GAME SHOT. MEMORANDA OF SALE. &C. By I. E. B. C., Editor of "Facts and Useful Hints relating to Shooting and Fishing," •• The Game- keeper's and Game Preserver's Account Bonk and Diary." &c. Price 6d., by posf 7d. ; or 2s. Qd. the half-dozen) by post. 2s. lid. "The Field" Duplicate Judging Book Facilitates the work of the Judges at Poultry and other Shows, by a very simple method of entering and preserving a duplicate judging list. "THE FIELD' ? OFFICE, BREAMS BUILDINGS, LONDON, B.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. Demy 8t'o., price 3*. *!'/.. fty post 3s. !'ffsetS. XX. -To Prove the Correctness of XXL Observations taken with the Sextant — Single Fields Mea- sured with the Chain and Opti- cal Square, so that the Areas can be directly Calculated. -To Set-out a Eight Ang e w.th XXIL the I hain — Figures of the Lines of Measurement best adapted XX11L to Irregular Fields. -Equalising Boundaries, and Drawing a Tr. angle equal to a XXIV.- given Figure. XXV. Computation of Arrears of Irregular Fields. XXVI. - Example of a Survey of several Fields together, and the Field Book. •Reference Numbers to Maps — To put Detached Buildings incorrect Positions on a Plan by Means of Unmeasured Lines — Lines Measured on the Work— Making Stations. -Plotting— Selection and Man- agement of Paper— Inking in. Surveys made fur the purpose of Dividing Land into Stated Quantities. -Setting-out Allotments and Building Pints. Angles and Bearings, and use and Adjustment of Circular Protractor. -Traverse Surveys. ■Trespass. -Quality Lines — Superstruc- tures and Works Under- ground— Harvest and Cop- pice Work— Eeducings Plans from a Large Plan to a Small One. -To Copy a Map— Colouring, Penmanship, &c. ■Commencement of a Parish Survey — Surveying to a Scale of Feet. Town Surveying. g the Accuracy of B Survey— General Remarks. In Memory of the Past. /// crown 8»o., price 3s. <■'/.. by post 2s. 9d. ANGLING REMINISCENCES. By the late FRANCIS FRANCIS, CONTENTS.- A Christmas Retrospect; Luck; LoehTaj ; The Angler's Wish: Spring Salmon Fishing; Grayling Fishing; Barbel Fishing ; Cover Shooting ; Fly Pishing for Ladies; Sainl Mayfly; My First Salmon; The Mayfls A .Month in the West; Trout Fishing; In and Oul Dales; Op and Down; Tom Bower - Christmas. "THE FIELD" OFFICE, BBBAM'S Bl i DINGS, LONDON, B.C 28 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS In demv 8 vo., price 2s.. by post 2s. 2d. VALUATION OF PROPERTY (CORPOREAL AND INCORPOREAL). By CHARLES E. CURTIS, F.S.I. , F.S.S. Second Edition. Price 2s. 6d., free by post 2s. 8d. PRACTICAL DINNERS: CONTAINING 108 MENUS AND 584 RECIPES. By "The G. C," Author of " Eound the Tahle.' " It is difficult even for a literary critic to read a cookery hook straight through, but we have tested a few of the recipes, and those have been very good." — Athenaeum. •'To those who wish to raise gastronomy into a fine art, the suggestions of the author will he acceptable, for if the everyday fare of ordinary mortals is to be prepared by ' The G. C.'s ' recipes, the result will be a repast suitable to the palate of Lucullus. A variety of new savouries are also given." — Morning Pout. •'Quite up to the level of a good cook's respectful attention, or an epicure's critical regard. . . . Reducing fine cookery to the understanding of ordinary intelligence. From all reproach of ignorant pretension this manual of plain •directions is free. . . . The reader will find in these pagse a choice of dishes, not one of which is inadequately or erroneously formulated.'' — Daily Telegraph. April 28, 1887. In ito., printed on toned paper, with plates, price hs., by post os. Ad. THE QUEEN LACE BOOK: AN Historical and Descriptive Account of the Hand-made Antique Laces of all Countries. This work contains the whole of the series of articles on Antique Point Lace which have been published in " The Queen." It will prove an invaluable guide and book of reference to ladies interested in Antique Lace. and. with its highly ornamental embossed cover, will form a handsome ornament for the drawing-room table. Post free, 6<7., cloth gilt. KULES OF THE GAME OP HOCKEY AND OF THE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION. "THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON. E.C. PUBLISHED J5Y HORACE COX. Published Annually. Derrvy 4/o., price Is., by post Is. 3d. THE m®Al ALMANAC AND SPORTSMAN'S ILLUSTRATED CALENDAR FOR 1893. Articles on the following Subjects arc included in the List of Contents: THE PAST RACING SEASON. LIST OF HUNTS, THEIR MASTERS, &c. DOGS AND DOG SHOWS. DOG TRIALS IN 1892. DOG LAW. LISTS OF OTTERHOUNDS AND DOG CLUBS. EXPERIMENTS WITH HARD AND SOFT SHOT. ANGLING WITH WET OR DRY FLY. BARBEL FISHING. MINNOW SPINNING IN LOW WATER.. SUMMER ROACH FISHING. SALMON LINES AND DRESSING. REMINISCENCES OF FARM PRACTICE. MANAGEMENT OF CLAY LAND. EARLY POTATOES AND PEAS. SPRING TREATMENT OF LAWNS. THE LEADING CRICKET COUNTIES IN 1892. FIRST-CLASS LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS OF 1892. STALLIONS FOR BREEDING BLOODSTOCK AND HUNTERS (List of about 300 Stallions, with then- Pedigrees, and Fees for Thoroughbred and Half-Bred Mares). Also Summaries, Tables, Recipes, &c, viz., Agricultural returns for 1892 Hardening the feet for the moors Agricultural BOCieties Hay barns Angling close times Borse fairs and markets Athletic champions of the United How to distinguish parr from trout Kingdom. Amateur Ice for skating during 1891-98 Brown i ts, cleaning or staining Insects on peas Cattle and sheep fairs Enter - University athletic sports, Coaching winners al the Cuttlefish for bail Paper chase on horseback Eel catching Revolver shooting Fowls in confined runs Bo e Bower*, cutting (lame, legal Beason tor killing Salmon Bshing, a record, the strike In Ground ice Skating records, English Ounbarrels, proof of, at Birmingham University boat rare winners, .w '"I Hi: FlKLlj" OFFICE, BREAMS i;i:iLI>IN(iS. LONDON, K.C. 30 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS In crown Svo., price 5s., by post 5*. id. ZBO-A-T-:R,.A.Ci:N"Gr ; THE ARTS OF ROWING AND TRAINING, BY EDWIN DAMPIER BRICKWOOD (EX-AMATEUB CHAMPION OF THE THAMES). CONT Chap. II.- III.— IV.- V.- VL- VII.- VIII.- IX.- X.- ROWING. ■Introduction: Past and Present Condition of Boat-racing. Racing Boats : Their History and Fittings. The Sliding Seat: Its Invention, Adoption, and Theory. ■How to Use an Oar, and Sculls. ■Faults and Errors : What to avoid. ■Steering: Coxswain and Non- coxswain. Teaching Beginners. Coaching for Races, and Selec- tion of Crews. The Varieties and Conduct of Boat-races. The Laws of Boat-racing. ENTS. : Chap. XL— The Qualifications of Ama- teurs. XII.— Boat Clubs : Their Organisation and Administration. XIIL— Historical Records, a.u. 171-3 to 1838 XIV.— Historical Records. A.D. 1839 to 1855. XV. — Historical Records, a.d. 1S-36 to 1875. TRAINING. XVI.— Its Principles. XVII.— Its Practice. XVIIL— Prohibitions. Ailments, Arc Appendix.— Rules for Betting. Index. Published Annually. Price Is., by post Is. Id. THE ROWING ALMANACK AND OARSMAN'S COMPANION FOR 1892. Edited by E. D. BRICKWOOD (EX-AMATEUB CHAMPION OF THE THAMES). Author of -Boat-Racing; or, the Arts of Bowing and Training." CONT A Calendar with Space for Memoranda and High Water Table, with a Table of Tidal Observations. A Review of the Rowing Season. Record of all Regattas and Principal Club Races, with a copious Index. Amateur Bowing Association. National Regatta Rules and Regulations Definition of a Tub-boat. A Rowing Directory. The Lengths of Racing Courses. ENTS. An Itinerary of the River Thames from Oxford to Putney, showing all the points of interest, with Hotels. Arc. The Laws of Boat-Racing. The Rule of the Road on the River. Thames Navigation Rules. Thames Preservation Act. Thames Bye-Laws. 1887. Rules and Regulations for Punting. Tables of Winners of all the principal Races and Regattas. THE FIELD OIFK'E, BREAMS BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 31 Price One Shilling; by Post, Is. 3d. THE QUEEN ALMANAC, AXD LADY'S CALENDAR fo^ 1893. AMONG ITS CONTENTS WILL BE FOUND A CHROMOLITHOGRAPH PLATE OF AN ALBUM COYER IN IMITATION BOULE WORK. Winter Comforts in Knitting and Crochet. DESIGNS FOR PYROCRAPHIC. HAND-PAINTED, OR INLAID WORK, AND BENT IRON WORK. Specimens of Embroidery at the Royal School of Art Needlework ; Suggestions for Decorative Arrangements and Floral Fetes ; Floral Arrangements and Table Decorations ; Artistic Kuicknacks ; Some Exhibits of the Home Arts and Industries Association ; Hints for Home Decoration, &c. NUMEROUS PORTRAITS: Her Majesty the Queen (1846), Princess Marie of Edinburgh and Prince Ferdinand of Roumania, Princess Margarethe of Prussia and Prince Friedrich-Karl of Hesse, Princess Victoria Kaiaulana, Alphonso XIII. of Spain, the Queen of the Netherlands, the Gaekwar of Baroda, King Charles of Roumania, Lady Henry Grosvenor, the Duchess of Sutherland, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mile. Jeanne Chauvin. Miss Dodd, Mrs. E. Bowlby, Lady Roberts, Margaret Lady Sandhurst. Mrs. Ruth Homan, Miss C. Loch. Miss Hurlbatt, Miss Sara F. Duncan, Mrs. Craigie, Lady Henry Bentinck, Viscountess Chelsea; Mr. Victor Cavendish, M. P., and Lady Evelyn Fitzniaurice ; Prince Henry of Pless and Miss Cornwallis West ; the late Earl of Lytton G.C.B. ; the late James Russell Lowell, the late Cardinal Manning, English Lad ies' Committee of the Chicago Exhibition. ALSO Suggestions for Wedding and Trousseau Dresses; Bridesmaid's and Afternoon Dresses: Kvoiiinj,' Toilettes and Watch Bracelets; -'I'll to Date " Nighl Gown, Tea Gowns, and Girl's I lostume; •• dp to Date" Outdoor Costumes and Millinery: Suggestions for Fancy Dresses. &c. Full information Is given relating to— The Boyal Family; theBoyal Bousehold; the Government ; British* and Foreign Ambassadors; Lords Lieutenanl of Counties In the United Kingdom; Irish and Scotch Representative Peers: Peers who are M-'imrs: Peeresses in their own right; Alphabetical List of the Surnames of the temporal; Complete List of the House of Peers, with their Surnames and Titles, and the Titles of their Eldest Sons ; Jewish Calendar ; Posl Office Begula- tions; 1-isi of < iharities, Associations, Ac; I ibituary of Lad action during the I'asi rear, &c. Admirable Menus for Seven Days ; l" 1 For Invalids; s ; \ I tood and Economical Soups; Croutes and Savouries, Ac. •'I UK QUEEN" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS. LONDON 32 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS. INDEX TO BOOKS. PAGE. Angling 17 Angler's Diary 16 Angling Reminiscences ... 27 Annals of Tennis 15 Archer's Register 19 Art of Skating 20 Betting Rules 17 Boat Racing 30 British and Irish Fishes ... 5 Catechism of Estates 23 Cattle of Great Britain Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs Chess Monthly Collie or Sheep Dog Coursing Calendar Country House Disease in Forest Trees Dogs of the British Islands. English Game of Cricket .. Essays on Sport Estate Management Figure -Skating Fox Terrier Gamekeeper's Shooting Book Gipsy Tents Golfing Annual Hints on Hawks Hockey Rules Horse Breeding Horse Racing and the Winners Hot-Pot Hunting Countries Idstone Papers Judging Book Kennel Club Stud Book Lawn Tennis Laws ... 9 17 13 22 7 10 12 16 7 23 10 13 26 20 11 7 28 20 26 17 21 11 26 26 22 PAGE. Lawn Tennis Score Book ... 19 Lawn Tennis Regulations ... 22 Management of Fisheries ... 22 Manures 25 Modern Sportsman's Gun and Rifle. Vols. I. & II. ... 14 Modern Wildfowling 18 Pheasant Book 3 Pheasant Rearing 19 Pigeon Shooting Rules ... 22 Potatoes 25 Poultry 4 Practical Dinners 28 Practical Surveyor 27 Proof of Guns, Notes on ... 21 Queen Almanac 31 Queen Lace Book 28 Rabbits 11 Rothamsted Experiments ... 23 Rowing Almanac 30 Rural Almanac 29 Salmonidae 3 Science and Art of Training 24 Sheep and Pigs 8 Shifts, &c, of Camp Life ... 12 Silo Experiments 24 Silos 24 Sporting Sketches 15 Sportsman's Vade-Mecum... 10 Swimming Instructor 25 System of Figure Skating ... 20 Twenty-six Years, &c 18 Valuation of Property ... 28 Yacht and Boat Sailing ... 6 Yacht Architecture 5 Yacht Racing Calendar ... 6 "THE FIELD" OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON. E.C. £1 W$ 9T-2 'MM «*" v9v1 ' Si**^ ?/« JUJ^^»S^v2w t$ «pp pjjtyl IS ,-/v nptj|tfc ^ vwl ^^^g zH*<^£* ^f^^ra i^^Wr fete|! iV^Cfl .mill! °St