"We were in the same form at school. He had been always near the
bottom; I stood fairly up in it, and was generally second or third.
He took to reading, and in six weeks after the fight won his way to
the top of the class and remained there; and not only so, but he
soon showed himself so far superior to the rest of us that he got
his remove to the form above.
"Then there was a competition in Latin verses open to both forms.
Latin verse was the one thing in which I was strong. There is a
sort of knack, you know, in stringing them together. A fellow may
be a duffer generally and yet turn out Latin verse better than
fellows who are vastly superior to him on other points. It was
regarded as certain that I should gain that. No one had intended to
go in against me, but at the last moment he put his name down, and,
to the astonishment of everyone, won in a canter.
"We left about the same time, and went up to Oxford together, but
to different Colleges. I rowed in my College Eight, he in his. We
were above them on the river, but they made a bump every night
until they got behind us, and then bumped us. He was stroke of his
boat, and everyone said that success was due to his rowing, and I
believe it was.
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