he
Fal. Radley, he told me, was already his guest.

There was some excitement the morning I left home for this adventure
into the West Country. My mother had clothed me in a new dark-blue
suit. Her son must look his best, she said. She insisted on my
wearing a light-blue tie, for "it matched the colour of my eyes." I
rather opposed this on the ground that it was "all dashed silly."
But she disarmed me by pointing out that I was _her_ doll and not my
own, and the only one she had had since she was my age, which was a
century ago--a terrible lie, as she looked about twenty-seven. She
carried her point with a kiss, called me her Benjamin, tied the tie
very gingerly, and subsequently disarranged it completely by hugging
me to say good-bye, as though I were off for a lifetime.

Alone in my corner seat I was rolled over the Trail of Beauty that
the line of the Great Western follows. And I watched the telegraph
wires switchbacking from post to post, as we sped along.

When we steamed into Falmouth station, I easily distinguished
Radley's majestic figure standing on the platform, with Doe actually
hanging on his arm--a thing I would never have dared to do. In fact,
I guessed that Doe was doing it for my benefit. Our young host was
in a light grey suit that would have brought tears to the eyes of
Kensingtowe's administrators, who stipulate for dark garments only:
and, evidently, he had been allowed to dictate to his tailor, for
the suit was an exact copy of one that Radley had worn during the
previous term. He looked more than ever like his nickname, "the Gray
Doe."

Next morning the sun blazed out over England's loveliest stream,
the Fal, as, widening, it flowed seaward. We hurried down to the
foot of Doe's garden, where a rustic boat-house sheltered his
private vessel, the _Lady Fal_. Doe stepped into its stern, and I
into its bows, and Radley took the oars. With a few masterly
manoeuvres he turned the boat into midstream, and then pulled a
rapid and powerful stroke towards Tresillian Creek, where we had
decided to bathe. We touched the bank at a suitable landing-place,
disembarked, and prepared to undress.

The events of this day linger with me like a string of jewels; and
the bathe was one of the brightest of them all. There was a race
between Doe and myself to be first in the water. As I tossed off my
clothes, the excitement of anticipation was inflating me. I would
surprise them with my swimming.

My mother had ta