, and as I had no intention of saying a
word to him about them I never stayed with him longer than I could
possibly help. Dons, however, find out things without asking
undergraduates, and the man who imagines that they are not troubling
themselves about him is in danger of having rather a rude awakening, if
he happens to be doing things which do not please them. Our dons must
have known all about Dennison, and I believe they fixed their eyes most
steadfastly upon him. At any rate, his father, who was a barrister,
must have heard something, because he paid a surprise visit to Oxford.
There is something horribly mean about surprise visits, whatever
information may be got from them, and for the first time in my life I
felt a little sympathy for Dennison.

Whether his father thought this visit successful or not I do not know,
but he certainly found out a lot in a short time and came to a very
definite decision. He called on Dennison at ten o'clock and found him
sleeping, he called again at twelve o'clock with the same result; at
one o'clock he discovered him sitting at breakfast in his
dressing-gown. Lambert was unfortunate enough to hear some of the
interview which followed, and he said that Dennison's defence was very
clever, but that he broke down under cross-examination.

"I have never seen such a man as old Dennison," I heard Lambert telling
some one in the common-room; "he looked like a piece of marble, and
when I went in and wanted to bolt he treated me as if I was an
office-boy, and said that as he believed I was a particular friend of
his son's it would do me good to stay. The worst of it was that
Dennison wasn't very well, and was having a pick-me-up with his
brekker. He wasn't in bed until four this morning, so it's no wonder
he didn't look very fit."

On the following afternoon Dennison left Oxford; he was not sent down
by the dons, but had to go for the simple reason that his father said
he would not let him stay any longer. His friends took him down to the
station, and there was a procession of cabs and a noise, but I am sure
that there was a feeling of relief in the college when he had gone.
Jack and I told each other that we were sorry that his end had come so
suddenly, although if any one had asked me what I meant, I am sure that
I could not have given any explanation. It is not very hard to guess
what would have happened to him if his father had not acted as he did,
and if you have to leave Oxf