To enter the charmed precincts of those surroundings seemed to John equivalent to being transported from the regions of the Theocritan to the level of the Anacreontic ode, from the pastoral, of which he had had too much, to the aristocratic, of which he felt that he could not have enough.

It was a natural feeling in a very young man of his limited experience.
He stayed some hours at the vicarage.

Both Mr.and Mrs.Ambrose thought him changed in the short time which had elapsed since they had seen him.
He had grown more grave; he was certainly more of a man.

The great contest he had just sustained with so much honour had left upon his young face its mark, an air of power which had not formerly been visible there; even his voice seemed to have grown deeper and rounder, and his words carried more weight.

The good vicar, who had seen several generations of students, already distinguished in John Short the budding "don," and rubbed his hands with great satisfaction.
John asked few questions but found himself obliged to answer many concerning his recent efforts.