matriculate too late to keep the term. The college authorities
were willing, and on the Saturday following the announcement of his
success he was matriculated, saw the Provost, and was informed that
rooms would be found for him without delay. His mother and he gayly
climbed innumerable stairs to inspect the garrets of which be was
soon to take proud possession, sallying forth from them only to
enjoy an agitated delightful afternoon among the shops. Expenditure,
always charming, becomes under these circumstances a sacred and
pontifical act. Never had Mrs. Elsmere bought a teapot for herself
with half the fervor which she now threw into the purchase of
Robert's; and the young man, accustomed to a rather bare home, and
an Irish lack of the little elegancies of life, was overwhelmed
when his mother actually dragged him into a printseller's, and added
an engraving or two to the enticing miscellaneous mass of which he
was already master.

They only just left themselves time to rush back to their lodgings
and dress for the solemn function of a dinner with the Provost.
The dinner, however, was a great success. The short, shy manner
of their white-haired host thawed under the influence of Mrs.
Elsmere's racy, unaffected ways, and it was not long before everybody
in the room had more or less made friends with her, and forgiven
her her marvellous drab poplin, adorned with fresh pink ruchings
for the occasion. As for the Provost, Mrs. Elsmere had been told
that he was a person of whom she must inevitably stand in awe. But
all her life long she had been like the youth in the fairy tale who
desired to learn how to shiver and could not attain unto it. Fate
had denied her the capacity of standing in awe of anybody, and she
rushed at her host as a new type, delighting in the thrill which
she felt creeping over her when she found herself on the arm of one