n the way of entertaining."
"Yes; and a very good thing for them too. They know that we shall
not interfere while they behave like gentlemen."
"Oh, I'm not objecting. And was this your doing, too?"
"No, a joint business. We hatched it in the common room, and then
the bursar spoke to the president, who was furious, and said we
were giving the sanction of the college to disgraceful luxury and
extravagance. Luckily he had not the power of stopping us, and
now is convinced."
"The goddess of common sense seems to have alighted again in the
quad of St. Ambrose. You'll never leave the place, Jack, now
you're beginning to get everything your own way."
"On the contrary, I don't mean to stop up more than another year
at the outside. I have been tutor nearly three years now; that's
about long enough."
"Do you think you're right? You seem to have hit on your line in
life wonderfully. You like the work and the work likes you. You
are doing a heap of good up here. You'll be president in a year
or two, depend on it. I should say you had better stick to
Oxford."
"No. I should be of no use in a year or two. We want a constant
current of fresh blood here."
"In a general way. But you don't get a man every day who can
throw himself into the men's pursuits, and can get hold of them
in the right way. And then, after all, when a fellow has got such
work cut out for him as you have, Oxford must be an uncommonly
pleasant place to live in."
"Pleasant enough in many ways. But you seem to have forgotten how
you used to rail against it."
"Yes. Because I never hit off the right ways of the place. But if
I had taken a first and got a fellowship, I should like it well
enough I dare say."
"Being a fellow, on the contrary, makes it worse. While one was
an undergraduate, one could feel virtuous and indignant at the
vices of Oxford, at least at those which one did not indulge in,
particularly at the flunkeyism and money-worship which are our
most prevalent and disgraceful sins. But when one is a fellow it
is quite another affair. They become a sore burthen then, enough
to break one's heart."
"Why, Jack, we're changing characters to-night. Fancy your coming
out in the abusive line! Why I never said harder things of Alma
Mater myself. However, there's plenty of flunkeyism and
money-worship everywhere else."
"Yes, but it is not so heart-breaking in other places. When one
thinks what a great centre of learning and faith Oxford
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