"Horace, Odes I, 9. _Vides ut Alta Stet._ "White is the mountain, fleeced in snows, And the pale trees depress their weighted boughs--" "Oh, spare us!" interrupted Chappy. "Not a bit," said Radley. "Hark to this: "Bring out the mellow wine, the best, The sweet convivial wine, and test Its four-year-old maturity: To Jove commit the rest, Nor question his divine intents For, when he stays the battling elements, The wind shall brood o'er prostrate seas And fail to move the ash's crest Or stir the stilly cypress trees. Be no forecaster of the dawn; Deem it an asset, and be gay-- Come, merge to-morrow's misty morn In the resplendence of to-day. "Youth is the day the field to scour, The time of conquests won, The pause, wherein to hark at trysting hour To the whispered word That is gently heard In the wake of the passing sun--" "What's it all about?" grumbled Chappy. "And I'm sure 'morn' doesn't rhyme with 'dawn.'" at which Doe went white with pain, and numbered the doctor among the Philistines. "It's a very distinguished attempt to catch the spirit of Horace's fine ode," answered Radley, and Doe turned red again with pleasure, forgiving Radley all the unkindness he had ever perpetrated, and enrolling him among the Elect. Now Pennybet liked to be the centre of attraction at friendly little gatherings like this, and had little inclination to sit and listen to people praising those who recently had been nothing but his satellites. So he lit a cigarette and said: "It's entirely the result of my training that these young people have turned out so well." "Pennybet," explained Radley, "you're a purblind egotist and will come to a bad end." "Oh, I don't think so, sir," said Penny, crossing his legs that he might the more comfortably discuss his end with Radley. "I've always managed to do what I've wanted and to come out of it all right." "Oh, you have, have you?" sneered Chappy. "Always," answered Penny, unabashed. "It's a favourite saying of my mother's that 'adverse conditions will never conquer her wilful son.'" "Good God!" cried the doctor, rightly appalled. "Yes," continued the speaker, delighted to tease the doctor, "for instance, I made up my mind all the time I was here to stick in a low form. It was an easier life, and fun to boss kids like Edgar Doe and Rupert Ray. And I pulled all the strings of the famous Bramhall Riot, as Ray knows. And I just did sufficient work to pass into Sandhurst. And I shall be just satisfactory enough to get my commission. Then I shall do all in my power to provoke a European War, so that there will be a good chance of promotion--"