An interval of silence followed his departure.

“Well, he’s got a crust!” said Tom, at last.

My own feeling about Mr. Krebs had become more complicated; but I took my cue from Tom, who dealt with situations simply.

“He’ll come in for a few knockouts,” he declared.  “Here’s to old Harvard, the greatest institution of learning in America!  Oh, gee!”

Our visitor, at least, made us temporarily forget our homesickness, but it returned with redoubled intensity when we had put out the lights and gone to bed.

Before we had left home it had been mildly hinted to us by Ralph and Perry Blackwood that scholarly eminence was not absolutely necessary to one’s welfare and happiness at Cambridge.  The hint had been somewhat superfluous; but the question remained, what was necessary?  With a view of getting some light on this delicate subject we paid a visit the next evening to our former friends and schoolmates, whose advice was conveyed with a masterly circumlocution that impressed us both.  There are some things that may not be discussed directly, and the conduct of life at a modern university—­which is a reflection of life in the greater world—­is one of these.  Perry Blackwood and Ham did most of the talking, while Ralph, characteristically, lay at full length on the window-seat, interrupting with an occasional terse and cynical remark very much to the point.  As a sophomore, he in particular seemed lifted immeasurably above us, for he was—­as might have been expected already a marked man in his class.  The rooms which he shared with his cousin made a tremendous impression on Tom and me, and seemed palatial in comparison to our quarters at Mrs. Bolton’s, eloquent of the freedom and luxury of undergraduate existence; their note, perhaps, was struck by the profusion of gay sofa pillows, then something of an innovation.  The heavy, expensive furniture was of a pattern new to me; and on the mantel were three or four photographs of ladies in the alluring costume of the musical stage, in which Tom evinced a particular interest.

“Did grandfather send ’em?” he inquired.

“They’re Ham’s,” said Ralph, and he contrived somehow to get into those two words an epitome of his cousin’s character.  Ham was stouter, and his clothes were more striking, more obviously expensive than ever....  On our way homeward, after we had walked a block or two in silence, Tom exclaimed:—­“Don’t make friends with the friendless!—­eh, Hughie?  We knew enough to begin all right, didn’t we?"...

Have I made us out a pair of deliberate, calculating snobs?  Well, after all it must be remembered that our bringing up had not been of sufficient liberality to include the Krebses of this world.  We did not, indeed, spend much time in choosing and weighing those whom we should know and those whom we should avoid; and before the first term of that Freshman year was over Tom had become a favourite.  He had the gift