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This novel yields high comedy and mystery surrounding an Oxford College, told by a schoolmaster narrator, and written by J.I.M. Stewart, himself an Oxford Don and master of dry wit and surprise. Supported by his wife, Arthur Aylwin's desires to be Provost of the College - so much so he is prepared to give up a University Chair so as to achieve it - but there are family scandals and other prejudices and situations to deal with. The reader is drawn into the closed, but convivial atmosphere of college life, described by Stewart himself as 'impressively circumstanced in relation to the outside world'. The finale nonetheless takes place in Perugia, after an unexpected meeting.