"Did you make a bump?" I heard her asking me.
"No, Merton bumped us. We shall soon be sandwich boat," I answered, for I spoke without thinking.
"Sandwich boat, my dear Godfrey, is this a picnic?" she returned, and I did not know whether she was serious or only trying to be funny.
"There's not much picnic about it," I replied; "we've gone down four places in four nights."
"But what is a sandwich boat. They don't have such things at Cambridge."
"They do, at any rate my cousin rowed eight times in four nights and nearly died after it. A sandwich boat is bottom of one division and top of the other, so it has got to row in both; it's got nothing to do with ham. Shall we go?"
Every one was leaving the barges, but Mrs. Faulkner remained in her chair.
"Isn't that girl in mauve a perfect dream?" she said to me, but I pretended not to hear. I had to wait for several minutes while dresses and the people who wore them were criticized, and I am sure that nothing but the National Anthem or force could have stirred Mrs. Faulkner from her seat.
We found Nina and Fred waiting for us, and Nina said she had been having a splendid time on the Oriel barge. But I could think of nothing except that we were not the college we used to be, and I left Fred to talk to both Mrs. Faulkner and Nina.