Gordon sat silent for a long while. Sorrow at losing Lovelace strove with the joy of reaching his heart's desire so soon. Finally all other emotions were lost in the overflowing sense of relief that his days of waiting for achievement were over.
In a mood of supreme self-confidence he returned to Fernhurst.
At Waterloo everyone was talking at the top of his voice.
"Is it true Akerman has left?"
"Yes; got a commission in the Middlesex."
"Good Lord! that'll mean Gregory captain."
"Hunter has left, too, I hear."
"Has he?"
"Caruthers will be captain of the House, then."
Broken sentences were wafted like strange music to Gordon's ears. He felt that the eyes of those who once had been his equals looked at him with a sort of Oriental admiration, in which there lurked traces of fear.