He was not a
particularly intellectual youth, though he had some vague literary
interests; but he was entirely healthy, good, and quite
irresistibly charming in his naivete and simplicity. Howard had a
dislike of all sentimentality, but the suppressed paternal instinct
which was strong in him had been awakened; and though he made no
emotional advances, he found himself strangely drawn to the boy,
with a feeling for which he could not wholly account. He did not
care for Jack's athletic interests; his tastes and mental processes
were obscure to him. Howard's own nature was at once intellectual
and imaginative, but he felt an extreme delight in the fearless and
direct confidence which the boy showed in him. He criticised his
work unsparingly, he rallied him on his tastes, he snubbed him, but
all with a sense of real and instinctive sympathy which made
everything easy. The boy never resented anything that he said,
asked his advice, looked to him to get him out of any small
difficulties that arose. They were not very much together, and
mostly met only on official occasions. Howard was a busy man, and
had little time, or indeed taste, for vague conversation. Jack was
a boy of natural tact, and he treated all the authorities with the
same unembarrassed directness. Undergraduates are quick to remark
on any sort of favouritism, but only if they think that the
favoured person gets any unfair advantage by his intimacy. But
Howard came down on Jack just as decisively as he came down on
anyone else whose work was unsatisfactory.
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