Everyone was glad, everyone admitted that no such honour had been done to Kestercham since the First Lord of the Admiralty, who was staying at Wickeston Manor, had walked over some eight years ago to the afternoon service in Kestercham church; everyone felt himself or herself to be somehow involved in the halo of glory surrounding the name of Kestercham. At family prayers that night Mr. Eversley gave thanks in grave tones, his voice trembling with emotion, for ‘the light which has to-day shone upon this household,’ imploring that it might be a light which should ‘shine more and more unto the perfect day.’ When prayers were over and Gerald was going to bed, his father said feelingly, ‘God bless and keep you, my dear boy! This has been indeed a happy day.’ Gerald replied with simple truthfulness, ‘I am so glad, papa, for your sake.’ Mr. Eversley stooped down and kissed him; his heart was too full for speech. What need to tell of the preparations for school-life; the stir and bustle of the house, the fitting on of clothes (the tailor being deaf, and the interviews with him being in consequence long and vociferous), the packing and unpacking and packing again, the anticipations, the promises of letters, the thousand and one things that need to be done, and yet seem always to leave the most important things undone after all? At last the eve of Gerald’s departure came. Then the excitement gave way to anxiety. Most parents are anxious when they are sending their boys to school for the first time. Mr. Eversley, so inexperienced as he was in the world, felt the enhanced anxiety which is the outcome of ignorance. Who would not be anxious, for himself or for others, if he could foresee the trials, disappointments, sorrows, victories, of the coming days? Mr. Eversley was even graver than usual that night. He took Gerald into his study, and talked to him earnestly and long. His was not the counsel of a man of the world reviewing the experiences of his own life. It was the counsel of a man of God looking with prophetic vision upon a society in which the Divine Name is or may be dishonoured. His concluding sentences lingered long in Gerald’s mind. ‘My dear boy,’ he said, ‘you are going now into the world of school. I never knew it myself, but I know it is perilous. I cannot help you except by prayer. I shall pray for you every night and morning--at other times too. But pray for yourself. Fear God. Don’t fear man or boy. Remember that right is right, if there is only one soul that believes in it. Never let the devil get the thin end of the wedge in. _Principiis obsta._ I can say no more to you. The path of heaven is not easy. The way is narrow, the gate is strait. Oh! Gerald, my dear boy, be true to Christ.’ Then the father and the son knelt down side by side. Mr. Eversley said no more about the future until he parted from his son, as has been said, on the platform of St. Anselm’s. CHAPTER IV FIRST EXPERIENCES