nd was an authority to consult on any subject
regarding avoiding work. Davenport would be promoted, too. Gordon's day
of power was beginning to dawn. Next term he would be distinctly a House
blood. It was a ravishing thought.

One evening in exam. week Hunter announced casually after tea: "I say,
do you remember Betteridge talking once about a man called Ferrers?
Well, he is coming here as a master next term."

"Oh, Lord, is he really?" said Fletcher. "I suppose he will be full of
rotten new theories, and he will probably want to make us work."

"Well, I always give a master a good fortnight's trial before I do any
work for him," said Tester; "at the end of that, I usually find his
keenness has worn off. I bet he will be the same as all the rest."

"I doubt it," said Betteridge; "he is a man."

"Well, whatever he is, he is going to have no effect on me," said
Gordon, with a finality that quite closed the question.

CHAPTER IV: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

As often as not, it is mere chance that provides the most essentially
important moments in our lives. It is easy to talk of the inevitable
march of Fate, but more usually a chance word or look alters our entire
outlook on life. And so it was that the course of Gordon's whole career
was suddenly changed into a different channel, at a moment when he was
drifting placidly on the stream of a lax conventionality, and was
frittering away all his opportunities for sheer lack of anything that
would spur him on to a clearer conception of what life means.

During the whole of the term, Tester and Gordon had done their early
morning preparation on the V. A green. As they had answered their names
at roll, they would take out deck-chairs and cushions and luxuriously
pass the three quarters of an hour before breakfast reclining back,
putting the finishing touches to the evening's work. It is a very
beautiful spot, the V. A green. On three sides it is flanked with
buildings; on the fourth is a low wall, which is used as an exit for
nocturnal expeditions. It was under the V. A class-room that Gordon and
Tester put their chairs. Opposite them was the grey library; beyond rose
the Abbey, solemn and austere; on the left was the chapel and the long
cloister leading to big school. In the early morning a great hush
pervaded the place. The only sound was the faint tolling of the
Almshouse bell. Between the Abbey and the library the sun rose in a
blaze of glory.

On the last morn