Jack nodded again.
"Yes," he said, "and he was a magistrate and ought to have committed her: And he married her instead. She was a girl, traveling with her parents."
Frank sat smiling genially.
"That"s it," he said. "Then I"m bound to make a success of it."
And he took another cigarette.
Then one more thought came to Jack: he had determined already to make use of it if necessary, and somehow this seemed to be the moment.
"And Jenny Launton," he said "I suppose you"ve thought of her?"
A curious look came into Frank"s eyes--a look of great gravity and tenderness--and the humor died out. He said nothing for an instant. Then he drew out of his breast-pocket a letter in an envelope, and tossed it gently over to Jack.
"I"m telling her in that," he said. "I"m going to post it to-night, after I"ve seen the Dean."
Jack glanced down at it.
"MISS LAUNTON, "The Rectory, "Merefield, Yorks."
ran the inscription. He turned it over; it was fastened and sealed.
"I"ve told her we must wait a bit," said Frank, "and that I"ll write again in a few weeks."
Jack was silent.
"And you think it"s fair on her?" he asked deliberately.
Frank"s face broke up into humor.
"That"s for her to say," he observed. "And, to tell the truth, I"m not at all afraid."
"But a gamekeeper"s wife! And you a Catholic!"
"Ah! you don"t know Jenny," smiled Frank. "Jenny and I quite understand one another, thank you very much."
"But is it quite fair?"
"Good Lord!" shouted Frank, suddenly roused. "Fair! What the devil does it matter? Don"t you know that all"s fair--under certain circ.u.mstances?
I do bar that rotten conventionalism. We"re all rotten--rotten, I tell you; and I"m going to start fresh. So"s Jenny. Kindly don"t talk of what you don"t understand."
He stood up, stretching. Then he threw the end of his cigarette away.
"I must go to the Dean," he said. "It"s close on the half-hour."
(III)
The Reverend James Mackintosh was an excellent official of his college, and performed his duties with care and punctilium. He rose about half-past seven o"clock every morning, drank a cup of tea and went to chapel. After chapel he breakfasted, on Tuesdays and Thursdays with two undergraduates in their first year, selected in alphabetical order, seated at his table; on the other days of the week in solitude. At ten o"clock he lectured, usually on one of St. Paul"s Epistles, on which subjects he possessed note-books filled with every conceivable piece of information that could be gathered together--grammatical, philological, topographical, industrial, social, biographical--with a few remarks on the fauna, flora, imports, characteristics and geological features of those countries to which those epistles were written, and in which they were composed. These notes, guaranteed to guide any student who really mastered them to success, and even distinction, in his examinations, were the result of a lifetime of loving labor, and some day, no doubt, will be issued in the neat blue covers of the "Cambridge Bible for Schools." From eleven to twelve he lectured on Church history of the first five centuries--after which period, it will be remembered by all historical students, Church history practically ceased. At one he lunched; from two to four he walked rapidly (sometimes again in company with a serious theological student), along the course known as the Grantchester Grind, or to Coton and back. At four he had tea; at five he settled down to administer discipline to the college, by summoning and remonstrating with such undergraduates as had failed to comply with the various regulations; at half-past seven he dined in hall--a meek figure, clean shaven and spectacled, seated between an infidel philosopher and a socialist: he drank a single gla.s.s of wine afterwards in the Combination Room, smoked one cigarette, and retired again to his rooms to write letters to parents (if necessary), and to run over his notes for next day.
And he did this, with the usual mild variations of a University life, every weekday, for two-thirds of the year. Of the other third, he spent part in Switzerland, dressed in a neat gray Norfolk suit with knickerbockers, and the rest with clerical friends of the scholastic type. It was a very solemn thought to him how great were his responsibilities, and what a privilege it was to live in the whirl and stir of one of the intellectual centers of England!
Frank Guiseley was to Mr. Mackintosh a very great puzzle. He had certainly been insubordinate in his first year (Mr. Mackintosh gravely suspected him of the Bread-and-b.u.t.ter affair, which had so annoyed his colleague), but he certainly had been very steady and even deferential ever since. (He always took off his hat, for example, to Mr. Mackintosh, with great politeness.) Certainly he was not very regular at chapel, and he did not dine in hall nearly so often as Mr. Mackintosh would have wished (for was it not part of the University idea that men of all grades of society should meet as equals under the college roof?). But, then, he had never been summoned for any very grave or disgraceful breach of the rules, and was never insolent or offensive to any of the Fellows. Finally, he came of a very distinguished family; and Mr.
Mackintosh had the keenest remembrance still of his own single interview, three years ago, with the Earl of Talgarth.
Mr. Mackintosh wondered, then, exactly what he would have to say to Mr.
Guiseley, and what Mr. Guiseley would have to say to him. He thought, if the young man were really going down for good, as he had understood this morning, it was only his plain duty to say a few tactful words about responsibility and steadiness. That ridiculous auction would serve as his text.
Mr. Mackintosh paused an instant, as he always did, before saying "Come in!" to the knock on the door (I think he thought it helped to create a little impression of importance). Then he said it; and Frank walked in.
"Good evening, Mr. Guiseley.... Yes; please sit down. I understood from you this morning that you wished for your _exeat_."
"Please," said Frank.
"Just so," said Mr. Mackintosh, drawing the _exeat_ book--resembling the b.u.t.t of a check-book--towards him. "And you are going down to-morrow?"
"Yes," said Frank.
"Going home?" murmured the Dean, inscribing Frank"s name in his neat little handwriting.
"No," said Frank.
"Not?... To London, perhaps?"
"Well, not exactly," said Frank; "at least, not just yet."
Mr. Mackintosh blotted the book carefully, and extracted the _exeat_.
He pushed it gently towards Frank.
"About that auction!" he said, smiling indulgently; "I did want to have a word with you about that. It was very unusual; and I wondered.... But I am happy to think that there was no disturbance.... But can you tell me exactly why you chose that form of ... of ..."
"I wanted to make as much money as ever I could," said Frank.
"Indeed!... Yes.... And ... and you were successful?"
"I cleared all my debts, anyhow," said Frank serenely. "I thought that very important."
Mr. Mackintosh smiled again. Certainly this young man was very well behaved and deferential.
"Well, that"s satisfactory. And you are going to read at the Bar now? If you will let me say so, Mr. Guiseley, even at this late hour, I must say that I think that a Third Cla.s.s might have been bettered. But no doubt your tutor has said all that?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Well, then, a little more application and energy now may perhaps make up for lost time. I suppose you will go to the Temple in October?"