'Did you hear what Miss Bretherton was saying, Mrs. Stuart?' said Forbes,
when they were seated at luncheon. 'Oxford is perfect, she declares
already; I don't think I quite like it: it's too hot to last.'

'Am I such a changeable creature, then?' said Miss Bretherton, smiling at
him. 'Do you generally find my enthusiasms cool down?'

'You are as constant as you are kind,' said Forbes, bowing to her; 'I am
only like a child who sighs to see a pleasure nearing its highest point,
lest there should be nothing so good afterwards.'

'Nothing so good!' she said, 'and I have only had one little drive
through the streets. Mr. Wallace, are you and Mrs. Stuart really going to
forbid me sight-seeing?'

'Of course!' said Wallace emphatically. 'That's one of the fundamental
rules of the society. Our charter would be a dead letter if we let you
enter a single college on your way to the river to-day.'

'The only art, my dear Isabel,' said Mrs. Stuart, 'that you will be
allowed to study to-day, will be the art of conversation.'

'And a most fatiguing one, too!' exclaimed Forbes; 'it beats sight-seeing
hollow. But, my dear Miss Bretherton, Kendal and I will make it up to
you. We'll give you an illustrated history of Oxford on the way to
Nuneham. I'll do the pictures, and he shall do the letterpress. Oh! the
good times I've had up here--much better than he ever had'--nodding
across at Kendal, who was listening. 'He was too proper behaved to enjoy
himself; he got all the right things, all the proper first-classes and