The Cambridge men failed in the first innings, and I only bowled six
overs, which annoyed my mother and Nina, because they said that I was
there to bowl. But after Cambridge went in again they played an uphill
game most splendidly, and my people had plenty of opportunity to see me
bowl. I got four men out, and Henderson was very pleased with me, but
I was not a first-class bowler, though I tried hard to look like one.
We had nearly two hundred runs to win, and I confess that I was afraid
that I might have to go in when there were two or three runs still
wanted. In the first innings my efforts as a batsman had been brief
and glorious, I had received three balls, two of which I had hit to the
boundary and the third I meant to go to the same place, only somebody
caught it. I hoped sincerely that my part in the 'Varsity match was
over, but whenever a wicket fell I had a very bad moment. I did not,
however, have to make that long journey from the pavilion to the
wickets again, for Henderson, who kept himself back in the second
innings, played beautifully, and we won with some wickets in hand. I
don't want to forget the wholesome thrill which I had when Henderson
made the winning stroke, and I am quite certain that I never shall
forget it.
My father and mother, too, were pleased, and I was very glad to see
their delight, for I thought that I might have added more to their
anxiety than to their pleasure during the last four years.
In July both Fred and Jack came to stay with me, because in a few weeks
I had to start on one of my journeys in search of a language which I
did not know. I wanted Jack to be with us when the History List came
out, in case anything disastrous should happen. But Jack had filled
himself so full of facts that when the telegram from the Clerk of the
Schools came he was delighted to find that he had got a third, and he
declared that I must be a genius to have got a second, but that was
only his way of expressing his surprise. The Greats' List was a
triumph for St. Cuthbert's, Murray and five other men getting firsts.
Fred got a second, and considering that he had been playing footer and
cricket for the 'Varsity so much, everybody thought that he had done
most thoroughly well. Cliborough was so satisfied with him that he was
offered a mastership at once, which was a stroke of luck both for Fred
and the school.
Nothing remained for us to do except to take our degrees, and we
arranged with Henderson that we should go back together once more and
take them at the same time. I think that we clung to that expedition
as our last remaining link with the 'Varsity. But there is a link,
which those who learn to love Oxford, as Fred, Jack and I loved her,
cannot break; it is the debt which we owe to her, for we shall never be
able to repay it in full.
THE END
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
By the same author
GODFREY MARTEN: SCHOOLBOY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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