had said anything about it. Committees would have sat upon it, and
the thing would have got into the papers. Fellows would have taken
sides, and I should have been blackguarded by one party for hinting
that a well-known University man had been guilty of foul practices.

"Altogether it would have been a horrible nuisance; it was much
better to keep quiet and say nothing about it."

"I am sure I could not have done that, Captain."

"No, but then you see women are much more impetuous than men. I am
certain that after you had once set the ball rolling, you would
have been sorry that you had not bided your time and waited for
another contest in which you might have turned the tables fairly
and squarely."

"He must be hateful," the girl said.

"He is not considered hateful, I can assure you. He conceived a
grudge against me, and has taken immense pains to pay me out, and I
only trust that our paths will never cross again. If so, I have no
doubt that I shall again get the worst of it. At any rate, you see
I was not without justification when I said that though I did not
believe in the Mal Occhio, I had reason for having some little
superstition about it."

"I prophesy, Captain Mallett, that if ever you meet him in the
future you will turn the tables on him. Such a man as that can
never win in the long run."