Lucy looked shocked.
'They can't all marry their coaches.'
'No, not all—only the weak ones. The superior minds never sink to the low level of matrimony.'
Lucy was quite sure he was laughing at her.
'I am not likely to need a coach,' she said stiffly; 'I shall never be clever enough to take a Tripos. I shall be content to pass the—the—the "Previous."'
She was going to say 'Little-go,' but she remembered he had called it the 'Previous,' and she checked herself in time.
'We shall see. You will have to begin with the "Previous" in any case. You need not take it all at once: there are three parts; you can take them at different times.'
'I should prefer to take them all at once.'
'But if you are going no farther, if you are going to stop at the "Previous," why should you be in such a hurry to get it over?'
'I don't know. It might be as well to get it over; but I have to get into Girton or Newnham first; I don't know that they will have me; and I have to get my uncle's consent.'