For the
time, at least, he had lost the jovial humor, not too kindly always,
which largely characterized him, and expressed itself in sallies of
irony which were not so unkindly, either. The painter perceived that he
was on his guard against his own friendly interest; Jeff made haste to
explain that he came because he had told his mother that he would do
so. He scarcely invited a return of his visit, and he left Westover
wondering at the sort of vague rebellion against his new life which he
seemed to be in. The painter went out to see him in Cambridge, not long
after, and was rather glad to find him rooming with some other rustic
Freshman in a humble street running from the square toward the river;
for he thought Jeff must have taken his lodging for its cheapness,
out of regard to his mother's means. But Jeff was not glad to be found
there, apparently; he said at once that he expected to get a room in the
Yard the next year, and eat at Memorial Hall. He spoke scornfully of his
boarding-house as a place where they were all a lot of jays together;
and Westover thought him still more at odds with his environment than
he had before. But Jeff consented to come in and dine with him at his
restaurant, and afterward go to the theatre with him.

When he came, Westover did not quite like his despatch of the
half-bottle of California claret served each of them with the Italian
table d'hote. He did not like his having already seen the play he
proposed; and he found some difficulty in choosing a play which Jeff had
not seen. It appeared then that he had been at the theatre two or three
times a week for the last month, and that it was almost as great a
passion with him as with Westover himself. He had become already a
critic of acting, with a rough good sense of it, and a decided opinion.
He knew which actors he preferred, and which actresses, better still.
It was some consolation for Westover to find that he mostly took an
admission ticket when he went to the theatre; but, though he could not
blame Jeff for showing his own fondness for it, he wished that he had
not his fondness.

So far Jeff seemed to have spent very few of his evenings in Cambridge,
and Westover thought it would be well if he had some acquaintance there.
He made favor for him with a friendly family, who asked him to
dinner. They did it to oblige Westover, against their own judgment and
knowledge, for they said it was always the same with Freshmen; a single
act of