Beyond the achievement of a vague personal distinction at the
Metropolitan Club, he had done nothing to make himself a man of note,
and it was doubtful whether more than two or three of the members really
liked him or regarded him with genuine interest. His introduction to
this circle he owed to an old friend, Hugh Carnaby, whose social
position was much more clearly defined: Hugh Carnaby, the rambler, the
sportsman, and now for a twelvemonth the son-in-law of Mrs. Ascott
Larkfield. Through Carnaby people learnt as much of his friend's history
as it concerned anyone to know: that Harvey Rolfe had begun with the
study of medicine, had given it up in disgust, subsequently was 'in
business', and withdrew from it on inheriting a competency. They were
natives of the same county, and learnt their Latin together at the
Grammar School of Greystone, the midland town which was missed by the
steam highroad, and so preserves much of the beauty and tranquillity of
days gone by. Rolfe seldom spoke of his own affairs, but in talking of
travel he had been heard to mention that his father had engineered
certain lines of foreign railway. It seemed that Harvey had no purpose
in life, save that of enjoying himself. Obviously he read a good deal,
and Carnaby credited him with profound historical knowledge; but he
neither wrote nor threatened to do so. Something of cynicism appeared in
his talk of public matters; politics amused him, and his social views
lacked consistency, tending, however, to an indolent conservatism.
Despite his convivial qualities, he had traits of the reserved, even of
the unsociable, man: a slight awkwardness in bearing, a mute shyness
with strangers, a hesitancy in ordinary talk, and occasional bluntness
of assertion or contradiction, suggesting a contempt which possibly he
did not intend. Hugh Carnaby declared that the true Rolfe only showed
himself after a bottle of wine; maintained, moreover, that Harvey had
vastly improved since he entered upon a substantial income. When Rolfe
was five and twenty, Hugh being two years younger, they met after a long