s the only don who was kind to me, and though I liked him so
much that I forgave him for not appreciating the difference between
bumping and being bumped, I must confess that his kindness was of a
peculiar kind. St. Cuthbert's, in the opinion of the 'Varsity, had
begun to go down rapidly, and we got very little sympathy from anybody
outside the college. The outlook was gloomy enough, for I was bound to
have rows with Mr. Edwardes as long as I had anything to do with him,
and if I could have been of any use in trying to improve things, I knew
that unless some new dons came I should have to spend most of my time
in looking after myself. I wished that Fred had come to St.
Cuthbert's, for Murray was too quiet to do anything, Collier was too
sleepy, and Jack Ward seemed to be as happy-go-lucky as I was.

It looked as if Dennison was bound to win in the long run, for he was a
thousand times cleverer at getting what he wanted than any of us, and
he had the great advantage of knowing what he did want. His aim, I
knew, was to be the leader of a set who gambled and yelled and played
games which he thought were fit for bloods to play. Slackness during
the day and liveliness at night were briefly his programme, and though
it is all very well to be lively at night, it seemed to some of us that
if we were to sink to the bottom of the river and care nothing for the
reputation of the college, we were in for a very bad time. By nature
both Jack Ward and I were cheerful, and if it had not been for hating
Dennison I don't think that I should have wanted to check my
cheerfulness. As it was, I had a vague sort of feeling that what
Dennison liked must be wrong.

I saw Dennison as seldom as I could, but Jack Ward came to me one
morning when there was no college match, and when I had nothing to do
which could not conveniently be put off, to ask me to play for the
Busters. Somebody had scratched at the last moment, and even if I had
not wanted to play I should have found a difficulty in resisting Jack.

We drove seven miles to a village called Burlington, and had great
difficulty in finding the wicket when we arrived, but our driver had
been there before, and insisted on us getting out by a field which
looked as if it might produce a bountiful crop of hay. Lambert--who
had talked a lot about being asked to play for his county--pretended to
be very disgusted, and strode about as if he owned the whole place; we
had to be very rude to h