"Who"s there?" said one of the most self-possessed of the company.
"I wish to speak to Mr Challoner," was the quiet reply.
The owner of the rooms was luckily in no more _outre_ costume than that of Sir Charles Marlow; and having thrown off his wig, and b.u.t.toned his coat over a deep-flapped waistcoat, looked tolerably like himself as he proceeded to answer the summons. I confess I rather hoped than otherwise that the gentleman, whoever he was, would walk in, when, if he intended to astonish us, he was very likely to find the tables turned. However, even college dons recognise the principle that every man"s house is his castle, and never violate the sanct.i.ty of even an undergraduate"s rooms.
The object of this present visit, however, was rather friendly than otherwise. One of the fellows, deservedly popular, had been with the dean, and had left him in a state of some excitement from the increasing merriment which came somewhat too audibly across the quadrangle from our party. He had called, therefore, to advise Challoner either to keep his friends quiet, or to get rid of them, if he wished to keep out of the dean"s jurisdiction. As it was towards three in the morning, we thought it prudent to take this advice as it was meant, and in a few minutes began to wend our respective ways homewards. Leicester and myself, whose rooms lay in the same direction, were steering along, very soberly, under a bright moonlight, when something put it into the heads of some other stragglers of the party to break out, at the top of their voices, into a stanza of that immortal ditty, "We won"t go home till morning."
Instantly we could hear a window, which we well knew to be the dean"s, open above us, and as the unmelodious chorus went on, his wrath found vent in the usual strain--"Who is making that disturbance?"
No one volunteering an explanation, he went on.
"Who are those in the quadrangle?"
Leicester and I walked somewhat faster. I am not sure that our dignity did not condescend to run, as we heard steps coming down from No. 5, at a pace that evidently portended a chase, and remembered for the first time the remarkable costume which, to common observers, would indicate that there was a visitor of an unusual character enjoying the moonlight in the quadrangle. When we reached the "thoroughfare," the pa.s.sage from the inner to the outer quadrangle, we fairly bolted; and as the steps came pretty fast after us, and Leicester"s rooms were the nearest, we both made good our retreat thither, and sported oak.
The porter"s lodge was in the next number; and hearing a knocking in that quarter, Leicester gently opened the window, and we could catch the following dialogue:--
"Solomon! open this door directly--it is I, the dean."
"Good dear sir!" said Solomon, apparently asleep, and fumbling for the keys of the college gates--"let you out? O yes, sir--directly."
"Listen to me, Solomon: I am not going out. Did you let any one out just now--just before I called you?"
"No, sir; n.o.body whatsomdever."
"Solomon! I ask you, did you not, just now, let a _woman_ out?"
"Lawk! no, sir--Lord forbid!" said Solomon, now thoroughly wakened.
"Now, Solomon, bring your light, and come with me; this must be inquired into. I saw a woman run this way, and if she is not gone through the gate, she is gone into this next number. Whose rooms are in No. 13?"
"There"s Mr Dyson"s, sir, on the ground-floor."
Mr Dyson was the very fellow who had called at Challoner"s rooms. "Hah!
well, I"ll call Mr Dyson up. Whose besides?"
"There"s Mr Leicester, sir, above his"n."
"Very well, Solomon; call up Mr Dyson, and say I wish to speak with him particularly."
And so saying, the dean proceeded up-stairs.
The moment Leicester heard his name mentioned, he began to antic.i.p.ate a domiciliary visit. The thing was so ridiculous that we hardly knew what to do.
"Shall I get into bed, Hawthorne? I don"t want to be caught in this figure."
"Why, I don"t know that you will be safe there, in the present state of the dean"s suspicions. No; tuck up those confounded petticoats, clap on your pea-jacket, twist those love-locks up under your cap, light this cigar, and sit in your easy-chair. The dean must be "cuter than usual if he finds you out as the lady he is in search of."
Leicester had hardly time to take this advice--the best I could hit upon at the moment--when the dean knocked at the door.
"Who are you? Come in," said we both in a breath.
"I beg your pardon, Mr Leicester," said the dean in his most official tone; "nothing but actually imperative duty occasions my intrusion at this unseasonable hour, but a most extraordinary circ.u.mstance must be my excuse. I saw, gentlemen--I saw with my own eyes," he continued, looking blacker as he caught sight of me, and remembering, no doubt, the little episode of the stays--"I saw a female figure move in this direction but a few minutes ago. No such person has pa.s.sed the gate, for I have made inquiry; certainly I have no reason to suppose any such person is concealed here; but I am bound to ask you, sir, on your honour as a gentleman--for I have no wish to make a search--is there any such person concealed in your apartments?"
"On my honour, sir, no one is or has been lately here, but myself and Mr Hawthorne."
Here Dyson came into the room, looking considerably mystified.
"What"s the matter, Mr Dean?" said he, nodding good-humouredly to us.
"A most unpleasant occurrence, my dear sir; I have seen a woman in this direction not five minutes back. Unfortunately, I cannot be mistaken.
She either pa.s.sed into the porter"s lodge or into this staircase."
"She is not in my rooms, I a.s.sure you," said he, laughing; "I should think you made a mistake: it must have been some man in a white mackintosh."
I smiled, and Leicester laughed outright.
"I am not mistaken, sir," said the dean warmly. "I shall take your word, Mr Leicester; but allow me to tell you, that your conduct in lolling in that chair, as if in perfect contempt, and neither rising, nor removing your cap, when Mr Dyson and myself are in your rooms, is consistent neither with the respect due from an undergraduate, nor the behaviour I should expect from a gentleman."
Poor Leicester coloured, and unwittingly removed his cap. The chestnut curls, some natural and some artificial, which had been so studiously arranged for Miss Hardcastle"s head-dress, fell in dishevelled luxuriance round his face; and as he half rose from his previous position in the chair, a pink-silk dress began to descend from under the pea-jacket. Concealment was at an end; the dean looked bewildered at first, and then savage; but a hearty laugh from Dyson settled the business.
"What, Leicester! you"re the lady the dean has been hunting about college! Upon my word, this is the most absurd piece of masquerading!--what on earth is it all about?"
I pitied Leicester, he looked such an extraordinary figure in his ambiguous dress, and seemed so thoroughly ashamed of himself; so, displaying the tops and cords in which I had enacted Hastings, I acknowledged my share in the business, and gave a brief history of the drama during my management. The dean endeavoured to look grave: Dyson gave way to undisguised amus.e.m.e.nt, and repeatedly exclaimed, "Oh! why did you not send me a ticket? When do you perform again?"
Alas! never. Brief, as bright, was our theatrical career. But the memory of it lives in the college still--of the comedy, and the supper, and the curious mistake which followed it; and the dean has not to this hour lost the credit which he then gained, of having a remarkably keen eye for a petticoat.