Gerald had not forgotten the hope expressed by Dr. Pearson that he might do something of which the school should be proud. He had no chance of distinguishing himself in games, and indeed he would, I think, have been sorry if he had been brought into any sort of rivalry with Harry Venniker. But it had been decided, mainly at Dr. Pearson’s instance, and not without much hesitation on the part of Mr. Eversley, that he should compete in the Michaelmas term at the famous college which there can be no harm in defining as Balliol. The desire of justifying the confidence reposed in him by Dr. Pearson, as well as his solitariness during the Easter term in the absence of Harry Venniker, led him to work with unwonted assiduity. It was not thought probable that he would win the scholarship, as he could compete for it again next year; but Mr. Brandiston hoped that, ‘if he did not dissipate his energies too much,’ he would do himself (and his house) credit in the examination. To nobody, except to Mr. Selby, did Gerald confide that he longed for success as the only return that he could make for the head master’s trust in his word; but Mr. Selby had always been kind to him, and invited him to his rooms, since the affair of the Sunday boxing, and Mr. Selby alone knew how great was the void created in his life by the illness and absence of Harry Venniker. Gerald had always been a multifarious reader; but he was weak in the technicalities of scholarship, and it was at Mr. Selby’s advice that in the six months preceding the examination at Balliol he devoted his time exclusively to classics. He was modest about himself, and looked upon his candidature as hopeless this year. During the examination he found time to send brief reports of his papers to Mr. Selby. Mr. Selby formed the opinion that he was doing well, in spite of two curious blunders in composition. Mr. Eversley wrote him a letter, which he found awaiting him on his return to St. Anselm’s, saying (among other things) that he should feel the issue of the examination to be ‘a Providential guiding;’ that if Gerald were successful it would be well for him to go to Balliol, but if not, it would be the will of God that he should go elsewhere.