Freddy was inclined to be sarcastic at their little lapse in punctuality, but Maisie at once said to him, ‘Now run along you quaint old thing and try to make Blithers behave himself; can’t you see Mr. Cochrane and I want to be alone?’ I had intended taking Muriel, who though very pretty is said to be quieter than her sister, and giving Reggie the pleasure of Maisie’s decidedly effervescent conversation, but after this how could I resist taking her under my wing. ‘We had a lot of difficulty in shunting Ophelia,’ she said complacently as we started off for the river, ‘the dear old thing is so keen on seeing the boating-races, as she calls them.’ ‘Yes,’ chimed in Muriel who wasn’t far behind, ‘we had to send a note round to Charlie Hanbury at Barabbas’, who had already got half a dozen maiden aunts encamped around him, and he promised to take her with them onto the Barabbas’ barge at tea-time.’ ‘Well now, Mr. Cochrane,’ began Maisie, ‘we’ve heard a lot about you from Freddy; he says you’d make a cat laugh.’ ‘I hope you don’t consider yourself a cat, Miss Coffington,’ I put in quickly. ‘O don’t call me Miss Coffington,’ said Maisie crossly, ‘It’s such a mouthful.’ At this moment Accrington and Cobson, who were rowing in our boat, ran past us, and Maisie, after a hasty glance at their attire, remarked simply, ‘How terribly draughty.’ ‘What do you mean, Miss--er--Maisie?’ I asked. ‘Why look at their poor dear knees. Oh, but perhaps Oxford men haven’t got knees officially any more than we have legs.’ ‘You’ve got hold of a very good joke,’ I said to Reggie, as peals of laughter came from behind. ‘Yes, Miss Muriel says,’ began Reggie; when Muriel held up a little gloved hand in front of him and said, ‘Oh you horrid man, I shall never tell you anything again if you tell them that.’ ‘All right, then I won’t,’ said Reggie; and he didn’t till we were back at home that night. We went on to the Thomas’ barge, which as everybody knows is next door to the Cecil’s, and found it crowded with the usual assortment of Eights’ week relations, some of them surpassingly beautiful, but some very much the reverse. We could not find chairs for the girls, so Maisie sat upon a railing with her feet hanging over the edge, till Freddy’s tutor came up from below and informed him that it was hardly decent. So we sat down upon the steps just as the minute gun went off. ‘What an unpleasant old man,’ said Maisie. ‘He’s obviously got no daughters of his own or he’d be in better training.’ ‘Oh yes he has,’ said Freddy, ‘but one’s the Professor of Archæology at Girton and the other edits “Clippings for Careful Housewives.”’ ‘Oh yes, I know,’ said Maisie, ‘if I scrubbed my face till it shone and wore red flannel petticoats he’d have smiled upon me.’ At this juncture the starting gun boomed out, and very soon after the mingled noises of cheering, rattles, horns, and all kinds of unmusical instruments floated up the stream.