Half a score of middle-aged gentlemen round a table, some looking at him, some reading his testimonials, and one or two putting questions.

Most of them indulgent to his embarrassment and even sharing it.

Dr Ponsford, however, massive, stern, with his shaggy eyebrows and pursed mouth, was above any such weakness.
"What have you been doing since you left college ?" demanded he, presently fixing the candidate with his eyes.
It was a home question.

Railsford answered it honestly, if hesitatingly.
"I was unfortunately not under the necessity of working," he added, after going through the catalogue of his abortive studies, "that is, not for my livelihood." Some of the governors nodded their heads a little, as though they recognised the misfortune of such a position.
"And what places you under that necessity now ?" "I do not expect to remain a bachelor always, sir." Here a governor chuckled.
"Ha, ha! Hymen comes to the rescue.

Wonderful the revolutions he makes in young fellows' lives." The governor had left school fifty-five years ago, and was rather proud to have remembered who Hymen was.