elf, I
had never made it a subject of discussion, and ten years ago I was not
even aware that such a street as Trumpington Street existed, difficult
as it may be for Cambridge people to credit this statement.

In any case, most emphatically, I did _not_ know that a very old friend
of mine, who became later in life a judge, had ever lived in this
street.

Having been a sailor in youth, he had gone up to Cambridge comparatively
late; this was shortly before my acquaintance with him began.

Not knowing Cambridge at all, the question of where he lived there had
never entered into our conversations together. Probably I took it for
granted that he was living in his college (Peterhouse). The strong
feeling of friendship between us had become a warmer sentiment on his
side, and this led later, and inevitably, to a thorough break in our
pleasant relations with each other.

Long years passed, during which I neither saw nor heard of my friend.

I knew that he had married, and had had a somewhat successful career as
a barrister in London, and that was all I knew about him.

After staying for a week or two with friends in the neighbourhood of
Cambridge in 1896, I had taken rooms for a month _in_ Cambridge,
inviting one of these friends to stay with me as my guest.

We came upon these special rooms in a curious way. Having worked through
a list of those suggested to us by a friend, none of which quite suited,
I heard, by the merest chance, that possibly I might find what I wanted
in Trumpington Street, at the house of a very respectable Cambridge
tradesman. We went there, but only to find that the rooms vacant could
not be ready for me at the time specified, as some old customers were
coming to them for three or four days.

"But I want them for a _month_," I expostulated.

The landlady was firm; she could not disappoint these people after
promising to take them in.

In spite of my disappointment, I admired her so much for this strict
sense of honour that I determined to look at the rooms in case of
requiring any at a future date.

We went upstairs. The rooms were exactly what I required, and very clean
and well furnished, so it ended by my agreeing to take them for a week
later, although at a considerable inconvenience.

It was in this casual way that I entered the house about the middle of
May 1896. My friend was not able to join me until the morning after my
arrival, so I spent the first evening alone, and retired to