There could be but one outcome. Mr. Wycherly’s sense of honour would not allow him to conceal from Jane-Anne an opportunity he feared she would be only too ready to grasp. And that same sense precluded his laying the matter before her himself. He knew that he was so biassed that he must place the whole scheme in a most unattractive light; and his very faculty for seeing all round a question prevented his expressing the actively hostile views he most certainly held. Therefore, he left Curly to lay the question before her. This Curly did, and actuated, perhaps, by a somewhat similar spirit to Mr. Wycherly’s, he hid from the girl nothing of the disagreeables she was likely to encounter. He painted the life of little more than a super with a travelling company as the reverse of pleasant. He spared her no sordid detail, he exaggerated rather than minimised all she would have to endure. With downcast eyes and lips that trembled a little, she heard him in silence to the end. Then she turned her large gaze upon him, and asked: "But shall I learn things?" "It is the only way to learn things." "Then, if the master will let me, I will come." "He doesn’t like it. He hates the idea. It will make him very unhappy. He will miss you dreadfully." "Montagu will be at New College then. He will be always in and out. I wouldn’t go if the master would be all alone. But with Montagu there—it makes all the difference——" "I don’t know even now that he will consent." "I think," said Jane-Anne, "that he will allow me to go, because he is so just." But Mr. Wycherly refused to give a definite opinion. "We will wait till December," he said. So Jane-Anne went back to school, and Mr. Wycherly sent for Miss Willows and explained the situation to her. To his surprise and dismay she sided with Jane-Anne. This was fine of Miss Willows, for she had set her heart on Jane-Anne’s doing brilliantly at Lady Margaret Hall. But she understood the girl. She realised her powers and her limitations, and she was one who, in looking into the future for her girls, would fain have them hitch their horses to the stars. She believed that Jane-Anne might become a fairly successful teacher, but she was certain that she had it in her to become a great actress. Miss Willows detested mediocrity. An unexpected ally for Mr. Wycherly appeared in the person of George Gordon, who, having got a moderate degree, came back to Oxford to see everybody before he settled in London to read for the bar. With him he brought Gantry Bill as an offering for Jane-Anne, who embraced the dog fondly, exclaiming: "I shall love him, if the master will keep him for me, but I don’t expect I shall be here after Christmas, you know, except when I can get away for a little holiday." "Not here?" he exclaimed. "Where are you going—abroad to study?" "No, I’m probably going on the stage—at least, to study for the stage." "The stage. _You?_" "Why not?"