his attitude to his own comeliness was rather that of boredom than
anything else. Certainly it weighed as nothing in the balance against
the joy of scoring a century and achieving a good average with his
bowling.

He was equally bored with the young girls who gazed at him in
adoration, and the women who petted him, and it was a considerable
source of worry to him that he might appear effeminate, because of his
blue eyes and golden hair, and fresh, clear complexion, when in reality
he was as manly as the plainest of hard-sinewed warriors, though the
indulgence of a slightly aesthetic manner and way of speech, learnt at
het University, increased rather than counteracted the suggestion of
effeminacy.

But, taking all things into consideration, he was singularly unspoilt
and unassuming; and sometimes blended with an old-fashioned, paternal
air a boyishness and power of enjoyment that could not fail to charm.

The first time that Lorraine met the trio was when Hal took her to
spend the evening at the flat one Sunday, by arrangement with her
cousin. She herself knew all three well, having been to the flat many
times, but it had taken some little persuasion to get Lorraine to go
with her.

"Of course they are just boys," said grandiloquent twenty-five, "but
they are quite amusing, and they will be proud of it all their lives if
they can say they once had Lorraine Vivian at the flat as a guest."

"What do you call boys?" asked Lorraine, looking amused; "I thought you
said they had all left college,"