It was bluster. In secret, Lennie shrank from the thought of meeting any Cambridge 'colleagues' and compensated by maintaining they would gladly fight any of them. If David understood Lennie's bombast came from fear of inadequacy, he was graceful enough not to address it.

With that wild, dark hair and those greenish-brown eyes that caught the light, Tom and David must have made a beautiful, if contrasting, picture together. David's eyes were pale blue, his hair a deep gold—