However, on the ground floor the silence was still unbroken, and hopelessly Michael read over the right-hand door _Amherst_, over the left-hand door _Lonsdale_. What critical moment had arrived in the unpacking of Lonsdale’s wine to make the scout so heedless of Templeton-Collins’ call? Again it resounded from above, and Michael looking up involuntarily, caught the downward glance of Templeton-Collins himself. “I say, is Porcher down there?” the latter asked fretfully. “I think he’s unpacking Lonsdale’s wine.” “Who’s Lonsdale?” demanded Templeton-Collins. “You might sing out and tell him I want him.” With this request Templeton-Collins vanished, leaving Michael in a quandary. There was only one hope of relieving the intolerable situation, he thought, which was to shout “Porcher” from where he was standing. This he did at the very moment the scout emerged from Lonsdale’s rooms. “Coming, sir,” said Porcher in an aggrieved voice. “I think Mr. Templeton-Collins is calling you,” Michael explained, rather lamely he felt, since it must have been obvious to the scout that Michael himself had been calling him. “And I say,” he added hurriedly, “you might bring me up a hammer or something to open my boxes, when you’ve done.” Leaving Porcher to appease the outraged Templeton-Collins, Michael retreated to the security of his own rooms, where in a few minutes the scout appeared to raise the question of lunch. “Will you take commons, sir?” Michael looked perplexed. “Commons is bread and cheese. Most of my gentlemen takes commons. If you want anything extra, you go to the kitchen and write your name down for what you want.” This sounded too difficult, and Michael gratefully chose commons. “Ale, sir?” Michael nodded. If the scout had suggested champagne, he would have assented immediately. Porcher set to work and undid the cases; he also explained where the china was kept and the wood and the coal. He expounded the theory of roll-calls and chapels, and was indeed so generous with information on every point of college existence that Michael would have been glad to retain his services for the afternoon. “And the other men on this staircase?” Michael asked, “are any of them freshers?” “Mr. Mackintosh, Mr. Amherst, and the Honorable Lonsdale is all freshmen. Mr. Templeton-Collins and Mr. Bannerman is second year. Mr. Templeton-Collins had the rooms on the ground floor last term. Very noisy gentleman. Very fond of practicing with a coach-horn. And he don’t improve,” said Porcher meditatively. “Do you mean on the coach-horn?” Michael asked. “Don’t improve in the way of noise. Noise seems to regular delight him. He’d shout the head off of a deaf man. Did you bring any wine, sir?” Michael shook his head. “Mr. Lonsdale brought too much. Too much. It’s easier to order it as you want it from the Junior Common Room. Anything else, sir?”