Produced by Kathryn Lybarger, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE LOOM OF YOUTH "Well, I mean there's Davenham now and--" "Davenham!" came the scornful retort. "What does it matter what happens to Davenham? He's absolutely useless to the House, rotten at games and spends his whole time reading about fossils. Who cares a curse about Davenham!" "Oh I suppose you're right, but--" "My dear ass, of course I am right. Meredith is a simply glorious fellow. Do you remember the way he brought down Freeman in the Two Cock? Why, the House simply couldn't get on without him." To Gordon all this conveyed very little. He had no idea who Meredith or Davenham were. The only thing he realised was that for those who wore a blue and gold ribbon laws ceased to exist. It was apparently rather advantageous to get into the Fifteen. He had not looked on athletics in that light before. Obviously his preparatory school had failed singularly to keep level with the times. He had always been told by the masters there that games were only important for training the body. But at Fernhurst they seemed the one thing that mattered. To the athlete all things are forgiven. There was clearly a lot to learn. "To him who desireth much, much is given; and to him who desireth little, little is given; but to neither according to the letter of his desire." GILBERT CANNAN _The Loom of Youth_ ALEC WAUGH Methuen First published in Great Britain 1917 Reprinted July 1917, August 1917, September 1917 (twice) November 1917, January 1918, March 1918, October 1918, 1919, 1921, 1930, 1933, 1945 Cassell's Pocket Library, 1928 Penguin Abridged Edition, 1942 New edition reset and revised 1955 Reprinted 1972 This edition published 1984 by Methuen London Ltd 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Copyright (c) Alec Waugh 1917 ISBN 0 413 54970 4 (hardback) ISBN 0 413 54980 1 (paperback) Printed and bound in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd Bungay, Suffolk This book is available in both a hardcover and paperback edition. The paperback is solid subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the Publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. * * * * * Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected in text. There is one place where a subscript is used and is designated by an underscore and curly brackets thus: H_{2}O. * * * * * _Dedicatory Letter to Arthur Waugh_ My Dear Father,