ed himself sentenced to the same death which
had carried off his mother. Was there then a kind of calculated charity
in his act also--but aiming in his case at an eternal reward?

"He wants to please God--and comfort Constance--by forgiving me. I want
to please her--and relieve myself, by doing something to make up to him.
He has the best of it! But we are neither of us disinterested."

* * * * *

The manservant came out with a cup of coffee.

"How is he!" said Falloden, as he took it, glancing up at a still
curtained window.

The man hesitated.

"Well, I don't know, sir, I'm sure. He saw the doctor this morning, and
told me afterwards not to disturb him till three o'clock. But he rang
just now, and said I was to tell you that two ladies were coming
to tea."

"Did he mention their names?"

"Not as I'm aware of, sir."

Falloden pondered a moment.

"Tell Mr. Radowitz, when he rings again, that I have gone down to the
college ground for some football, and I shan't be back till after six.
You're sure he doesn't want to see me?"

"No, sir, I think not. He told me to leave the blind down, and not to
come in again till he rang."

Falloden put on flannels, and ran down the field paths towards Oxford
and the Marmion ground, which lay on the hither side of the river. Here
he took hard exercise for a couple of hours, walking on afterwards to
his club in the High Street, where he kept a change of clothes. He found
some old Marmion friends there, including Robertson and Meyrick, who
asked him eagerly after Radowitz.

"Better come and see," said Falloden. "Give you a bread and cheese
luncheon any day."

They got no more out of him. But his reticence made them visibly uneasy,
and they both declared their intention of coming up the following day.
In both men there was a certain indefinable change which Falloden soon
perceived. Both seemed, at times, to be dragging a weight too heavy for
their youth. At other times, they were just like other men of their age;
but Falloden, who knew them well, realised that they were both
hag-ridden by remorse for what had happened in the summer. And indeed
the attitude of a large part of the college towards them, and towards
Falloden, when at rare intervals he showed himself there, could hardly
have been colder or more hostile. The "bloods" were broken up; the dons
had set their faces steadily against any form of ragging; and the story
of the maimed hand