Being sensitive about his appearance, he kept closely to the house and spent even more time on the rowing-machine than he had done during the Christmas holidays. And on account of the surgeon’s requirements, his return to school was delayed for a week after the vacation had expired and after Edward had gone back to St. Timothy’s.
So Edward did not see the nose when it at last emerged; but Charles sent him a glowing account of it.
“Not larger but handsomer than before,” he wrote. “I am sorry you could not be present at the unveiling. Everything came off without a hitch, and once more I have the kind of nose that mother used to like. I’m off for St. John’s to-morrow.”
This good news reached Edward on the day when the candidates for the St. Timothy’s baseball nine were called out. Jim Payne made an earnest appeal to Edward to give up rowing; he was needed on first base; it would be the weakest batting nine that St. Timothy’s had had in years.
