Mrs. Phillips' voice had kept, over the telephone, all its vibratory
quality; its tones expressed the most palpitating interest. It was already
clear--and it became even clearer when he finally called at the house--that
she was poetizing him into a hero, and that she regarded Amy herself as but
a means, an instrument. At this, Cope felt a little more mortified than
before. He knew that he had done poorly in the boat, and he was not sure
that, in the first moment of the upset, he should have freed himself
unaided; and he confessed that he had not been quite in condition to do
very well on the way landward. However, all passed.... Within a fortnight
or less the incident would have dropped back into its proper perspective,
and his students would have found some other matter for entertainment. In
the circumstances he grasped at the first source of consolation that came.
Randolph was now installed in his new apartment and felt that, though not
fully settled, he might risk asking Cope to dinner. "You are the first,"
Randolph had said. Cope could not escape the flattery; it was almost
comfort.
His prompt acceptance was most welcome to Randolph.
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