154 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



confused idea of matters of really intrinsic worth- 

 confused only because I have sacrificed the time 

 sufficient to arrange and develop them I should lose 

 that which I can never regain. 

 During all the spare time at his disposal in intervals of 

 sport, he had studied the life and character of the 

 people around him and read Indian history very 

 closely, further stimulated no doubt by having come 

 across an old schoolfellow, the present Sir George Otto 

 Trevelyan, whom he speaks of as having been head of 

 the school at Harrow. Trevelyan stayed with him at 

 his shooting hut, and afterwards they were together at 

 Madras, and in the light of subsequent events the 

 following extract is of much interest : 



Trevelyan got two sambur when with me. He was 

 delighted with the scenery, and I must say he worked 

 like a Trojan. He is one of the nicest fellows I 

 know. . . . He is twenty-five, a hard-reading, deep- 

 thinking, quiet young fellow, with a fund of dry 

 humour. I wish, if you come across Macmillan's 

 Magazine, you would read " Letters from a Competi- 

 tion Wallah " ; it is a very good sketch of the life the 

 men lead who go into the Civil Service nowadays. 

 . . . Trevelyan came out three months after I did, 

 with Sir Charles, and for some time acted as Sir 

 Charles's secretary ; but the work did not suit him, 

 and he gave it up and devoted all his time to writing 

 his book and filling his tough, hungry mind with 

 Indian politics of all kinds. He is going into the 

 House as soon as possible after his return to 

 England, and I hope some day we shall see him 

 cutting his way surely and steadily to the fame he 

 so much covets. 



Victor Brooke looked forward to spending some time 

 with Sir Charles Trevelyan, the father of his friend. 



