"I am quite
content with what they call the net result!" and then they sate
together in silence, and had no further need of words.
XXX
CAMBRIDGE AGAIN
Howard was summoned to Cambridge in June for a College meeting. He
was very glad to see Cambridge and the familiar faces; but he had
not been parted from Maud for a day since their marriage, and he
was rather amazed to find, not that he missed her, but how
continuously he missed her from moment to moment; the fact that he
could not compare notes with her about every incident seemed to rob
the incidents of their savour, and to produce a curious hampering
of his thoughts. A change, too, seemed to have passed over the
College; his rooms were just as he had left them, but everything
seemed to have narrowed and contracted. He saw a great many of the
undergraduates, and indeed was delighted to find how they came in
to see him.
Guthrie was one of the first to arrive, and Howard was glad to meet
him alone. Howard was sorry to see that the cheerful youth had
evidently been feeling acutely what had happened; he had not lost
his spirits, but he had a rather worn aspect. He inquired about the
Windlow party, and they talked of indifferent things; but when
Guthrie rose to go, he said, speaking with great diffidence, "I
wanted to say one thing to you, and now I do not know how to
express it; it is that I don't want you to think I feel in any way
aggrieved--that would be simply absurd--but more than that, I want
to say that I think you behaved quite splendidly at Windlow--really
splendidly! I hope you don't think it is impertinent for me to say
that, but I want you to know how grateful I am to you--Jack told me
what had happened--and I thought that if I said nothing, you might
feel uncomfortable.
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