Much of it was very
trivial, but Howard saw that the Vicar had a real insight into the
people and their ways. He had not seen Maud again to speak to, and
it vexed him to find how difficult it was to create occasions for
meeting. His mind and imagination had been taken captive by the
girl; he thought of her constantly, and recalled her in a hundred
charming vignettes; the hope of meeting her was constantly in his
mind; he had taught Jack a good deal, but he became more and more
aware that for some reason or other his pupil was not pleased with
him.
He and Jack were returning one day from fishing, and they had come
nearer than Howard had liked to having a squabble. Howard had said
something about an undergraduate, a friend of Jack's. Jack had
seemed to resent the criticism, and said, "I am not quite sure
whether you know so much about him as you think. Do you always
analyse people like that? I sometimes feel with you as if I were in
a room full of specimens which you were showing off, and that you
knew more about them dead than alive."
"That's rather severe!" said Howard; "I simply try to understand
people--I suppose we all do that."
"No, I don't," said Jack; "I think it's rather stuffy, if you want
to know. I have a feeling that you have been turning everyone
inside out here. I think one ought to let people alone."
"Well," said Howard, "it all depends upon what one wants to do with
people. I think that, as a matter of fact, you are really more
inclined to deal with people, to use them for your own purposes,
than I am.
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