‘I haven’t seen you either,’ said Charles flatly. There was a pause. Two of the young gentlemen chosen from a large number of applicants came slouching past. As Lockwood was standing about seven feet away from the seat on which Charles and Veronica were sitting, they had room to pass between them, interrupting the conversation. This they did with no sign of hesitation or apology. One of them, who was in the middle of a facetious anecdote, did not moderate his voice. ‘And when they put it to her,’ he was saying, ‘all she said was, “Well, you couldn’t expect me to keep it in the living room.”’

When they had passed, Charles said, ‘Of course, I’ve been busy earning my living.’ He did not offer to introduce Veronica: Lock­wood must wait for that privilege.

‘Ah, yes, earning your living,’ said Lockwood cautiously. ‘We all have to come to it,’ he added in a half-attempt at geniality. ‘And in what, ah, sphere, in what. . . ?’

‘Well, I say earning,’ said Charles with the air of one wishing to be perfectly accurate, ‘but of course it’s only a nominal salary I’m getting at present: I’m still in training under an apprentice­ship scheme.’

‘Yes?’

‘And of course it’ll be some time before I’m admitted to full status.’

‘Yes?’ said Lockwood again, with a hint of impatience.

‘It can’t be learnt in a few months, of course.’

‘What can’t?’ cried the scholar sharply. The ovals of light jerked, traversed Veronica’s ankles, and came to rest on the hem of her skirt. It was the signal to stand up.

‘Allow me to introduce you,’ Charles said, rising. ‘Veronica, this is Mr. Lockwood, whom you remember my having men­tioned so often. This is Miss Roderick.’

‘How do you do?’ said Lockwood bemusedly. He stood swaying in the sunlight, looking from one to the other like a stupefied bull.

She answered him with the appropriate formula. Silence fell, and before any of them could speak again a young man with a prematurely bald head waddled on short legs round the edge of a flower bed.

‘About those papers, Lockwood,’ he began abruptly, ignoring Charles and Veronica. Evidently this was some colleague from another part of the University. Charles and Veronica moved silently away. The staccato voice of the young don, crassly forcing its way through the sunlit air, followed them as they went.