THE END OP THE ENCOUNTER 527 
with some words of caution to the audience. Sam was shut 
up — had not one word to say in reply, and the meeting 
was dissolved forthwith, leaving you master of the field after 
4 hours' battle. Huxley, who had borne all the previous 
brunt of the battle, and who never before (thank God) 
praised me to my face, told me it was splendid, and that he 
did not know before what stuff I was made of. I have been 
congratulated and thanked by the blackest coats and whitest 
stocks in Oxford. 
