The second house was speedily furnished as a Hall for clerks and students, and already was full to overflowing. The personal popularity of the young Master was great, and his determination to accept as his pupils only men who really desired to study, and who would refrain from joining in the tumults and riots of the city, made something of a new departure amongst the keepers of Halls, and attracted at once the better sort of student, to whom a quiet place of abode, where study was the rule, was regarded in the light of a boon and a blessing. The Chancellor had expressed great approval of the rules boldly laid down by Leofric for the regulation of his house, and Jack was invaluable to him in assisting him to carry out his plan. Leofric had recognized the fact that in order to keep his pupils within reasonable bounds he must make their quarters comfortable. How could they be expected to remain at home after dark if lights and fires were denied them, and if the rooms they lived in were kept foul, ill-smelling, and wretched? So simple were the ideas as to plenishing and furnishing in those days, that Leofric found it easy to provide for his pupils comfort sufficient to render his Hall the favourite throughout Oxford. He insisted on cleanliness, and by doing his own share to ensure it, stimulated the lads to second his efforts. They paid him rather more than some Hall Masters asked (save those who were really poor yet honestly studious, to whom he showed himself liberal and generous); but they received a liberal diet, comforts undreamed of in other places, good fires in cold weather, lights after dark, liberty to play reasonably quiet games in the lecture-room if desired, and a well-aired and cleanly dormitory to sleep in. Already many nobles and prelates had sent their sons to Leofric, and he had been obliged to refuse applications from some of the most notable men of the day. The Chancellor was urging him to open another Hall; and already it was being whispered that if the schemes already being discussed for the foundation of regular colleges should be carried out, Leofric Wyvill would be the man to place over such an institution. Leofric was keenly interested in these proposed schemes, and had held many discussions with those in authority upon that very subject. It was evident to all that the present condition of Oxford must be reformed; that the massing together in one place of hundreds and thousands of lads and men, under no regular discipline and control, was likely to lead to grave evils, and had been the cause of an infinite amount of bloodshed and confusion.