Davidson. In the other comer of that side, friend Leslie on his last journey home from Glastonbury School. Armstrong next Leslie, Jones junior on my right, and Jacobson next him in the corner.
For the first hour we had a loud time of it. Norris sang solos of popular songs and the rest joined in deafening choruses, enlivened by occasional horse-play. I was set off almost smiling more than once at the thought of my solemn self sitting there, drawing every now and then from a desultory cigarette, and sending out a faint whiff of smoke into the rush of air that passed through one window rollingly out of the other. It wasn't that I didn't care for mirth, I thought; for there have been times when I have felt ready for a witch's sabbath over the hills, or any laughter-devilry you please; not to recall other times, when the readiness for a gibe at some young woman of the Beatrice stamp was all but irresistible, and prompted shouting and mirthfulness only ended by sheer exhaustion. But what was there in these 'earthy' fools (I mean, as if they were not unlike fat, half-lousy Flemish revellers among the barrels of a cellar: and yet not quite that!) to inspire mirth, or even laughter?—So I sat thinking, till, all at once, Norris set up a ringing sea-song that, after a little listening, made a cold shiver go down my back, and my eyes light up, and the necessity for a loud shout in the chorus a simple half-conscious satisfaction.
The rest of the journey was peaceful,—by comparison perhaps. Norris and Leslie left us at Bridgetown: Davidson got out soon after. We could hear the other London fellows in the next carriage singing for a little after that; but those in here grew quieter, reading or talking, while I sat still thinking. And so the time went.
At London there was a general shaking of hands all round and quick parting, and I changed to my second train.
At Portsmouth I went on board the boat. It was a heavenly afternoon; a mild sky streamed with tender colours, and the air mild, not hot or cool. I stood leaning against the rigging forward by the bowsprit,
