ee me as often as I was able during his stay in
Cambridge, where, he informed me, he proposed remaining till after the
degrees wore conferred.

CHAPTER XXXI -- HOW I RISE A DEGREE, AND MR. FRAMPTON GETS ELEVATED IN
MORE WAYS THAN ONE

"This is as strange a thing as e'er I looked on."--_The Tempest_.

"These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits."--_King Henry
VI_.

"And liquor, likewise, will I give to thee, And friendship shall
combine, and brotherhood."--_King Henry V_.

THE week passed away like a dream, and with a beating heart and
throbbing pulse I went through the various examinations, and engaged
with my competitors in the struggle for honours. Anxious in the highest
degree as to the result of my labours, I scarcely ate, drank, or slept,
and, had the necessity for exertion been protracted much longer, my mind
could not have borne the continued strain, and I should probably have
had a brain fever. It was the eventful Friday morning on which the list
was to come out, and in the course of an hour or two my fate would be
known. Utterly worn out by a night which anxiety had rendered sleepless,
I had hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and, turning away from the
untasted eatables, flung myself, wrapped in a dressing-gown, on the
sofa. I had not, however, lain there above a quarter of an hour, when a
tap was heard at the door, and Mr. Frampton made his appearance, attired
as usual in the well-remembered blue coat, with brass buttons, drab
shorts, and gaiters, with the broad-brimmed hat, lined with green, fixed
sturdily on his head, as if it was not made to take off at any time.

~243~~"Umph! found my way up, you see! Fellow you call the gyp wanted to
make me believe you were out--thought I looked too like a governor to
be let in, I suppose; but it wouldn't do, sir; old birds are not to be
caught with chaff; and he spoke with an air of such intense honesty that
I felt sure he was lying, and told him so.--Don't get up, boy, don't get
up; you look as jaded as a hunted antelope. Why, you've never touched
your breakfast; you'll kill yourself if you go on at this rate."

"It will not last much longer, sir," said I; "in about another hour or
so my fate will be known. The list comes out this morning. Some of my
friends were to call for me, and we were to make a party to go down to
the Senate House together, for there is sure to be a crowd; but I shall
let them go without me, for I'm in such a state of nervous