The Cornhill Magazine (Vol. XLI, No. 241 new series, July 1916)

The story opens in the early weeks of Lent term, when a university tutor finds himself still living in his college walls after a long vacation. Though his position is secure and his work engaging, a lingering loneliness colors his days, heightened by the steady flow of strangers passing through the halls. He reflects on the narrowness of academic life compared with the broader horizons he glimpsed while serving at Hover, an experience that now casts a wistful shadow over his routine.

One crisp morning he encounters Mr. Halidane, a former pupil now freshly graduated, whose exuberant greeting masks a history of rivalry and resentment. Their conversation drifts from polite congratulations to veiled references to past grievances and future ambitions, revealing a complex web of patronage, hidden motives, and the weight of social expectations. As Halidane’s overtures hint at deeper designs, the tutor must weigh lingering bitterness against the possibility of renewed connection.

Listeners are treated to a richly textured portrait of Cambridge life, where personal memory collides with institutional tradition, and the quiet tension between past and present fuels an introspective, character‑driven narrative.