goaded beyond the normal tolerance of Trinity, and assisted by two
sportsmen from Trinity Hall, burnt his misshapen straw hat (after
partly filling it with gunpowder and iron filings) and sought to
duck him in the fountain in the court, it was Benham, in a state
between distress and madness, and armed with a horn-handled cane of
exceptional size, who intervened, turned the business into a blend
of wrangle and scuffle, introduced the degrading topic of duelling
into a simple wholesome rag of four against one, carried him off
under the cloud of horror created by this impropriety and so saved
him, still only slightly wetted, not only from this indignity but
from the experiment in rationalism that had provoked it.

Because Benham made it perfectly clear what he had thought and felt
about this hat.

Such was the illuminating young man whom Lady Marayne decided to
invite to Chexington, into the neighbourhood of herself, Sir
Godfrey, and her circle of friends.



7


He was quite anxious to satisfy the requirements of Benham's people
and to do his friend credit. He was still in the phase of being a
penitent pig, and he inquired carefully into the needs and duties of
a summer guest in a country house. He knew it was quite a
considerable country house, and that Sir Godfrey wasn't Benham's
father, but like most people, he was persuaded that Lady Marayne had