When dinner was over and the servants had left the room, Mr. Binney rose to his feet. There was an expectant silence and a rapping on the table from all except Lucius, who knew what was coming and wished it was well over.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr. Binney, "I rise to perform a very pleasant duty, a duty which I am proud of having occasion to perform, a duty which I am sure all the friends I see gathered round me to-night will join with me heartily in—in performing, a duty which—which I will now perform. I rise, ladies and gentlemen, to propose the health of my son Lucius, who rowed with such conspicuous success in the Cambridge boat last Saturday." (Murmured but heartfelt applause, rappings on the table, and "Well rowed, Lucy, well rowed," from Dizzy.) "We have gathered round our table to-night," continued Mr. Binney, "four members of the University of Cambridge." ("Five, sir, five," from Dizzy.) Mr. Binney's puzzled eye searched quickly round the table and lit upon Betty. "Five, of course," he said, "for have we not a fair representative of the great college of Newnham in the person of the dear girl whom I hope soon to welcome as a daughter?" (Renewed applause.) "We have also a distinguished member of another University, or rather of two Universities, for my friend Dr. Toller is a Bachelor of Arts of the University of London and a Doctor of Divinity—honoris causâ—of the University of Joppa, Pa., across the water. And speaking for the ladies, I am sure there is not one present here to-night whose sympathies do not go out to the great University to which I have the honour to belong." (Rappings and subdued acquiescent murmurs from the ladies with the exception of Mrs. Toller, who thought Oxford rather more aristocratic.) "I needn't say," pursued Mr. Binney, "that to become a Blue is to gain the proudest position which Cambridge can afford, and to become a rowing Blue is perhaps the highest distinction of all. I have always had occasion to be proud of my son throughout his school and University career, and I am prouder than ever of him to-night." (Applause.) "These trophies, ladies and gentlemen, and this decoration of light blue, are signs of his having distinguished himself in the highest possible degree in one path of life—the path which only those who have youth, strength, and health on their side can hope to tread. In proposing the health of my son Lucius, I am sure you will join with me in wishing him equal success in other paths of life in the future, a success which, with the charming girl who has promised to share it with him, I for one feel confident of his attaining. Ladies and gentlemen—My son Lucius."
THE END