Gordon develop on his own lines.

From these evenings Gordon derived a pleasure that he found it hard to
explain. He was thankful to get away from the footer talk, the
inevitable intrigues, scandals, all in fact that went to form the daily
curriculum. The world of ideas was far more attractive. Ferrers,
although himself a quarter-mile Blue, looked upon games as a recreation,
and upon school life as a mud-heap that had to be washed clean. Poetry,
drama, the modern novel, these were what Ferrers loved; and Gordon was
glad to find someone who thought like this. He felt uplifted after his
talks with Ferrers, he walked back to the House buoyant, as it were on
wings. Then as the school gates rose before him, and he heard the sound
of a football bouncing in the court, the old routine caught him once
more. He plunged into the old life with the same zest. He devised a new
scheme for avoiding work, thought out an idea for teaching forwards to
heel, laughed, discussed athletics and was well content. He tried to
analyse his feelings, but could not. He was now two separate persons. At
times he was the dreamer, the lover of art and poetry; at another the
politician, the fighter who lived every minute of his life deeply to the
full, with one fixed aim before him. Gordon wondered if this apparent
paradox in himself was in any way an answer of the enigma that an
artist's life so frequently was utterly different from the broad
outlines of his work. Browning had talked of a man having "two
soul-sides." Had he two soul-sides, one for the world, the other for
art--and Ferrers? But then Browning had spoken contemptuously of the
"one to face the world with." Surely games were as good as poetry? Or
weren't they, after all? He felt an unanswerable doubt, and at such
times of introspection he would stop trying to think and merely let
himself be carried on in whatever course fortune chose to bear him. And
so the Jekyll and Hyde business went on.

CHAPTER VI: THE GAMES COMMITTEE

In the mud and the rain the School House Two Cock team, coming up early
from a puntabout, joined the crowd watching the last stages of the
Buller's _v._ Claremont's house match, and cheered Claremont's to the
echo. It was a remarkably fine game. When "no side" was called, the
score was nine all. Extra time was played, and just before the close,
amid great enthusiasm, a limping Claremont's forward fell over the line
from the line out. None shouted louder than th