Tom swallowed some of the mixture, which nearly made him cough again--for, though it was very good, it was also very potent. However, by an effort he managed to swallow his cough; he would about as soon have lost a little finger as let it out. Then, to his great relief, his host took the pipe from his lips, and inquired, "How do you like Oxford?" "I hardly know yet," said Tom; "the first few days I was delighted with going about and seeing the buildings, and finding out who had lived in each of the old colleges, and pottering about in the Bodleian, and fancying I should like to be a great scholar. Then I met several old school fellows going about, who are up at other colleges, and went to their rooms and talked over old times. But none of my very intimate friends are up yet, and unless you care very much about a man already, you don't seem likely to get intimate with him up here, unless he is at your own college." He paused, as if expecting an answer. "I daresay not," said Hardy, "but I never was at a public school, unluckily, and so am no judge." "Well, then, as to the college life," went on Tom, "it's all very well as far as it goes. There's plenty of liberty and good food. And the men seem nice fellows--many of them, at least, so far as I can judge. But I can't say that I like it as much as I liked our school life." "I don't understand," said Hardy. "Why not?" "Oh! I hardly know," said Tom laughing; "I don't seem as if I had anything to do here; that's one reason, I think. And then, you see, at Rugby I was rather a great man. There one had a share in the ruling of 300 boys, and a good deal of responsibility; but here one has only just to take care of oneself, and keep out of scrapes; and that's what I never could do. What do you think a fellow ought to do, now, up here?" "Oh I don't see much difficulty in that," said his host, smiling; "get up your lectures well, to begin with." "But my lectures are a farce," said Tom; "I've done all the books over and over again. They don't take me an hour a day to get up." "Well, then, set to work reading something regularly--reading for your degree, for instance." "Oh, hang it! I can't look so far forward as that; I shan't be going up for three years." "You can't begin too early. You might go and talk to your college-tutor about it." "So I did," said Tom; "at least I meant to do it. For he asked me and two other freshmen to breakfast the other morning, and I was going to open out to him; but when I got there I was quite shut up. He never looked one of us in the face, and talked in set sentences, and was cold, and formal, and condescending. The only bit of advice he gave us was to have nothing to do with boating--just the one thing which I feel a real interest in. I couldn't get out a word of what I wanted to say."