will take a lot of living up to," said
Wedderburn, "when we come face to face with its practical expression.
Personally I loathe Colonials except at the Earl's Court Exhibition."

"Ah, Wedderburn," said the Warden, "you are luckily young enough to be
able to be particular. I with increasing age begin to suffer from that
terrible disease of age--toleration."

"But the Warden is not so very old," whispered Miss Crackanthorpe to
Lonsdale and Michael.

"Oh, rather not," Lonsdale murmured encouragingly.

"I think they'll wake up Oxford," announced Smithers; then, as everyone
turned to hear what more he would say, Smithers seemed inclined to melt
into silence, but with a sudden jerk of defiance, he hardened himself
and became volubly opinionative.

"There's no doubt," he continued, "that these fellows will make the
average undergrad look round him a bit." As Smithers curtailed
undergraduate to the convention of a lady-novelist, a shudder ran round
the dinner party. Almost the butler instead of putting ice into the
champagne might have slipped it down the backs of the guests.

"In fact, what ho, she bumps," whispered Lonsdale. "Likewise pip-ip, and
tootle-oo."

"Anyway, he won't be able to ignore them," said Smithers.

"We hope not, indeed," the Warden gravely wished. "What does Lonsdale
think? Lord Cleveden wrote to me to say how deeply interested he was by
the whole scheme--a most appreciative letter, and your father has had a
great experience of colonial conditions."

"Has he?" said Lonsdale. "Oh, yes, I see what you mean. You mean when he
was Governor. Oh, rather. But I never knew him in those days." Then
under his breath he muttered to Michael: "Dive in, dive in, you rotter,
I'm getting out of my depth."

"I think Oxford will change the Rhodes Scholars much more profoundly
than the Rhodes Scholars will change Oxford," said Michael. "At least
they will if Oxford hasn't lost anything lately. Sometimes I'm worried
by that, and then I'm not, for I do really feel that they must be
changed. Civilization must have some power, or we should all revert."

"And are we to regard these finished oversea products as barbarians?"
asked the Warden.

"Oh, yes," said Michael earnestly. "Just as much barbarians as any
freshmen."

Everybody looked at the two freshmen on either side of the Dean and
laughed, while they laughed too and tried to appear pleasantly flattered
by the epithet.

"And what will Oxford give them?" aske