Ninian did not like to ask his uncle George to "chuck it," nor did he care to tell him that he was making a frightful ass of himself, and so he did not answer, and the beaming old gentleman felt that he had impressed the lad.... It was Mrs. Graham who reminded him of the larger functions of an engineer. "I think," she said, "that Ninian wishes to build bridges and railways and ... and things like that!" "Oh!" said the Dean, and his countenance altered swiftly. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! I was forgetting about bridges. Dear me, yes! I remember meeting Sir John Aird once. Remarkable man! Very remarkable man! He built the Assouan Dam, of course. Well, that would be a very nice occupation, Ninian. Rather different, of course, from the Diplomatic Service ... or the Church ... but still, very nice, _very_ nice! And profitable, I'm told!..." 2 "Anyhow," said Ninian, when he had related the story of his uncle's views, "I'm going to be an engineer, no matter what Uncle George says, and I'm not going to be a parson and I'm not going to be a blooming ambassador, and I'm not going into parliament to make an ass of myself!..." Ninian's chief horror was of "making an ass" of himself. It seemed that there was less likelihood of him doing this at engineering than at anything else. "And a very good engineer you'll be," Gilbert said encouragingly. "You're always messing about with the insides of things, and I can't see what good that habit would be to an ambassador, or a parson, and anyhow you can't speak French for toffee, and that's the principal thing an ambassador has to do! Well, Quinny," he continued, turning to Henry, "what about you?" "I used to think I'd like to be a clergyman," Henry answered. "Oh, did you?..." "And then," he went on rapidly, "I thought I'd like to be an actor!..." They rose at him simultaneously. "A what?" they shouted. "An actor," he repeated. They gaped at him for a few moments without speaking. Then Ninian expressed their views. "You're balmy!" he said. "Clean off your chump!" Gilbert added. "It seems an odd choice," Roger said, quietly. Henry blushed. "Of course," he hurried to say, "I've given up the idea. It was just a notion that came into my head!" He went on to say that as Gilbert had resolved to be a writer, he did not see any reason why he should not become one too. "I've read an awful lot of books," he said, "so I daresay I could write one. I used to write things when I was a youngster, just like you, Gilbert!" They gazed dubiously at Henry. A fellow who could make such choices of profession ... a parson or an actor ... was a rum bird, in their opinion, and they told him so. Gilbert said that the conjunction of _actor_ with _parson_ showed that all Henry cared about was the chance to show off. "All you want is to get yourself up," he said. "If you were a parson, you could get yourself up in a surplice!..." "He'd turn High Churchman," Roger interrupted, "and trot about in chasubles and copes!..."