'I don't,' said Gethryn. 'I know there's going to be a row, but I can't explain. You'll have to take me on trust.' 'Oh, as far as I am concerned, it's all right,' said Marriott. 'I know you wouldn't be ass enough to do a thing like that without a jolly good reason. It's the other chaps I'm thinking about. You'll find it jolly hard to put Norris off, I'm afraid. He's most awfully sick about the match. He fielded badly, which always makes him shirty. Jephson, too. You'll have a bad time with Jephson. His one wish after the match was to have your gore and plenty of it. Nothing else would have pleased him a bit. And think of the chaps in the House, too. Just consider what a pull this gives Monk and his mob over you. The House'll want some looking after now, I fancy.' 'And they'll get it,' said Gethryn. 'If Monk gives me any of his beastly cheek, I'll knock his head off.' But in spite of the consolation which such a prospect afforded him, he did not look forward with pleasure to the next day, when he would have to meet Norris and the rest. It would have been bad in any case. He did not care to think what would happen when he refused to offer the slightest explanation. [10] IN WHICH A CASE IS FULLY DISCUSSED Gethryn was right in thinking that the interviews would be unpleasant. They increased in unpleasantness in arithmetical progression, until they culminated finally in a terrific encounter with the justly outraged Norris. Reece was the first person to institute inquiries, and if everybody had resembled him, matters would not have been so bad for Gethryn. Reece possessed a perfect genius for minding his own business. The dialogue when they met was brief. 'Hullo,' said Reece. 'Hullo,' said the Bishop. 'Where did you get to yesterday?' said Reece. 'Oh, I had to go somewhere,' said the Bishop vaguely. 'Oh? Pity. Wasn't a bad match.' And that was all the comment Reece made on the situation. Gethryn went over to the chapel that morning with an empty sinking feeling inside him. He was quite determined to offer no single word of explanation, and he felt that that made the prospect all the worse. There was a vast uncertainty in his mind as to what was going to happen. Nobody could actually do anything to him, of course. It would have been a decided relief to him if anybody had tried that line of action, for moments occur when the only thing that can adequately soothe the wounded spirit, is to hit straight from the shoulder at someone. The punching-ball is often found useful under these circumstances. As he was passing Jephson's House he nearly ran into somebody who was coming out. 'Be firm, my moral pecker,' thought Gethryn, and braced himself up for conflict. 'Well, Gethryn?' said Mr Jephson.