“Thank you, sir,” I said, with an effort to control the tremor of my voice; “I think I understand you.” “You yourself will be praying all through this week, in your very effort to buck up. You’ll be praying in helping that poor man Lovey to do the same. In his own purblind way—of course I understand his type and what you’re trying to do for him—he’ll be praying, too. Prayer is living—only, living in the right way.” He said, suddenly, “I suppose you rather dread the week.” “Well, I do—rather—sir.” “Then I’ll tell you what will make it easier—what will make it pass quickly and turn it into a splendid memory.” He nodded again toward the back room. “Chum up with these fellows. You wouldn’t, of course, be condescending to them—” “It’s for them to be condescending to me.” He surprised me by saying: “Perhaps it is. You know best. But here we try to get on a broad, simple, human footing in which we don’t make comparisons. But you get what I mean. The simplest, kindliest approach is the best approach. Just make it a point to be white with them, as I’m sure they’ve been white with you.” I said I had never been more touched in my life than by the small kindnesses of the past two hours. “That’s the idea. If you keep on the watch to show the same sort of thing it will not only make the time pass, but it will brace you up mentally and spiritually. You see, they’re only children. Fundamentally you’re only a child yourself. We’re all only children, Frank. Some one says that women grow up, but that men never do. Well, I don’t know about women, but I’ve had a good deal to do with men—and I’ve never found anything but boys. Now you can spoil boys by too much indulgence, but you can’t spoil them by too much love.” He stopped abruptly, because he saw what was happening to me. The next thing I knew was his arm across my shoulders, which were shaking as if I was in convulsions. “That’s all right, old boy,” I heard him whisper in my ear. “Just go up to the bath-room and lock the door and have it out. It’ll do you good. The fellows in there won’t notice you, because lots of them go through the same thing themselves.” Still with his arm across my shoulders he steered me toward the hall. “There you are! You’ll be better when you come down. We’re just boys together, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Only, when you see other fellows come in through the week—we have two or three new ones every day—you’ll bear with them, won’t you? And help them to take a brace.” He was still patting me tenderly on the back as with head bowed and shoulders heaving I began to stumble up-stairs. _CHAPTER V_ My acquaintance with Ralph Coningsby was the hinge on which my destiny turned. A hinge is a small thing as compared with a door, and so was my friendship with Coningsby in proportion to the rest of my life; but it became its cardinal point.