if a man came to me and
said that he had caught hold of me by accident I confess that I should
think it a poor sort of story. I could not tell him that I was trying
to save him from Lambert and Webb, because that would have been
contrary to what I should have expected them to say about me, if the
positions had been reversed. The Subby ought to have guessed it for
himself and rewarded me, but he had been so hustled that it was perhaps
too much to expect him to guess anything. My reputation for work
seemed to have been of the worst. There was no denying that the Subby
and I had been entangled, and it was no use for me to say that it was
his fault. I spoke of it as a very unfortunate occurrence, and I
assured him most warmly that it should not happen again. Assurances of
that kind do not, I should say, count for much. He was so occupied by
the importance of what had passed, that I could not make him see that
the future was also important. And I did try hard to point this out to
him, I regretted much, I promised more, and I meant everything I said
most honestly. I had never been so penitent before, but I must at the
same time admit that I had never previously felt quite so unwell.

Perhaps my protestations had some effect, for my sentence was that I
should be gated for three weeks, and I received also what must, when
translated into simple English, have been a warning that unless I
changed the errors of my ways my exhibition would be taken away from
me. The Subby jawed badly, he was not to be compared with Mr.
Edwardes, and he hesitated and coughed, until once or twice I was
almost inclined to help him out, for I knew what he was going to say
and he fidgeted me. I was, however, in too great a hole to risk much,
so as soon as he began I remained silent and hoped steadily that he
would either end soon or be interrupted. He did not know how to begin
or when to finish, and if Collier had not knocked at the door and come
into the room, it seemed to me that nothing but the pangs of hunger
would have warned him that he had said enough.

I have never seen a more welcome arrival than Collier's, because I had
really been with the Subby a very long time, and to stand with an
attentive expression for ten minutes at a stretch and listen to the
usual remarks is in its way quite a feat. I found Ward waiting for me
in the front quad, and he asked at once what had happened to me.

"Gated for three weeks," I answered; "I suppo