Sandys as if he were welcoming an old family friend, and he was
evidently much attracted by Maud, who found it remarkably easy to
talk to this pleasant and straightforward boy. He described with
much liveliness an interview between Jack and the Master on the
subject of reading the lessons in chapel, and imitated the suave
tones of that courteous old gentleman to the life. "Far be it from
me to deny it was dramatic, Mr. Sandys, but I should prefer a
slightly more devotional tone." He related with great good-humour
how a heavy, well-meaning, and rather censorious undergraduate had
waited behind in his room on an evening when he had been
entertaining the company with some imitations, and had said, "You
are fond of imitating people, Guthrie, and you do it a great deal;
but you ought to say who it is you are imitating, because one can't
be quite sure!"
Mr. Sandys was immensely amused by the young man, and had related
some of his own experiences in elocution--how his clerk on the
first occasion of reading the lesson at Windlow was reported to
have said, "Why, you might think he had been THERE, in a manner of
speaking."
Guthrie was not in the least concerned to keep the conversation in
his own hands, and received Mr. Sandys' stories with exactly the
right amount of respectful interest and amusement. But the result
of all this upon Howard was to make him feel extraordinarily heavy
and elderly. He felt that he and Mr.
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