'Conceited!' thought Freda. 'I suppose he thinks if he had tried he would have got one.'
'Were you not at Baliol?' asked Mr Gwynne.
'Yes; I went there because my aunt had a fancy for the college, her father having been, there, otherwise I should have gone to Jesus College and tried for a Welsh fellowship, which is more easily obtained, because there are few competitors.'
'Did you know anything of Mr Neville, Sir Thomas Neville's son?' asked Miss Hall.
'Yes; I was introduced to him through some friends of my aunt's, and we became very intimate. He was very kind to me.'
'Is he clever?'
'Very. I think he has very fine talents, and is likely to shine at the bar if he continues in his resolution to go to it. I have just had an invitation to spend a few days with him, but do not think I shall have time before I go to be ordained.'
'Has your aunt settled the curacy?' asked Freda, with a wicked laugh in the corner of her eye.
'I think and hope so,' replied Rowland, answering the visible smile by a blush; 'she has done her utmost to obtain it for me.'
'Ah! she was well connected, and has some interest, and a—a great deal of energy, and all that sort of thing; I should think she was a clever, or I mean a—an enterprising woman.'