Lucy's heart sank within her. Had anything happened to the Master or Mrs. Rae? She thought the men looked at her with a strange kind of pity as she passed through the court, and they took off their caps as she passed. It was quite an ovation. Her lover was Senior Wrangler. She was quite in a flutter of pride and expectation; still, her heart sank within her. Eric Gwatkin met her in the cloister; he was hurrying across to the lodge. She thought he was coming to tell her. What else should he come to the lodge for? The Master was past telling. 'Oh!' she cried, running to meet him, 'how does he bear it? You have told him----' She paused, and her voice faltered with the question on her lips. Eric's face was white and anxious, and he was not smiling. He was not the least like the man who was waving his cap under the window of the Senate House. 'You have not heard----' he said. 'Heard what?' she cried impatiently. 'Is the Master----' 'No--no,' he interrupted; 'it is not that--it is not the Master.' 'It is Mrs. Rae?' she said, with a chill feeling at her heart. She was sure something had happened. 'No, it is not Mrs. Rae. Oh, Miss Lucy! how can I tell you?' 'It is _he_!' she said in a stricken voice, and with that dreadful feeling at her heart. 'Oh! what has he done?' She was standing wringing her hands in the middle of the cloisters, and the men were passing through, and everyone could see her. 'Hush!' Eric said almost harshly; 'he has not done anything--at least, he has only done what others do at this time. There was a bump supper last night, and--and Wyatt was there; and when Mr. Colville went in this morning to tell him of his great success, he was on the floor in one of his old attacks. It is all over the college, and everybody is dreadfully shocked--that is all!' 'All!' Lucy said bitterly. 'You speak as if the shame and exposure were nothing. Oh, I shall never be able to face it!' She only thought of herself. Eric Gwatkin was very sorry for her. He would have spared her if he could. It was better for her to hear it from his lips than from others. 'He has done great things,' he said. 'It was enough to turn anybody's head. He will go down in a day or two, and the temptation will not occur again. You do not know--how should you?--how great the temptation is--what a supreme moment this is in a man's life!' 'No,' Lucy said, with a shiver, 'I do not know.' They had reached the door of the lodge while they were talking together, and Eric had rung the bell. 'Why do you ring?' she said sharply. He hung his head. 'I came over to see if Nurse Brannan can be spared for a few minutes,' he said guiltily. 'Is he so bad as that?' Lucy asked; but she did not offer to go to him. 'Ye--es; he is very bad. Mr. Colville is with him, and he thought that the nurse ought to be with him until the doctor comes.' 'You have sent for a doctor?' 'Yes; the Tutor has sent for a doctor, and--and he has noticed that scar.' 'And you have told him?'