Mark carried out his resolve, of which his father-in-law approved,
allowing him to use his chambers during the Long Vacation. The pupils
came there, and the coach's manner captivated them from the first, and
made the work easy for both; they came out high on the list, and were
succeeded by others, whose fees paid the rent of the chambers he took
in the Temple shortly after. Call-night came, and as he stood with the
others at the Benchers' table and listened to the Treasurer's address,
he felt an exultant confidence in himself once more; he had been
promised a brief from Mr. Ferret, who took this form of disapproving
of Uncle Solomon's testamentary caprices, and this time Mark did not
shrink from it--he had read hard lately, and with better results. He
knew that he should be at no loss for words or self-possession; he had
been a brilliant and effective speaker, as the Union debates had
frequently proved, and he looked forward now to entering the legal
arena as the field for retrieving his lost name. Mabel should be proud
of him yet!
He was deceiving no one now, Vincent was not injured by the fraud--for
he had his book back; it was true that Mabel did not suspect the real
history of the transaction, but it would do her no good to know that
he had once made a false step. Caffyn was over in America, and
harmless wherever he might see fit to go--his sting was drawn for
ever.
No wonder, then, that he seemed to look round upon a cloudless
horizon--but that had been the case with him so many times since he
had first complicated his life by that unhappy act of his, and each
time the small cloud, the single spy of serried battalions, had been
slowly creeping up all the while.
He forgot that--he generally did forget unpleasant reminiscences--it
never occurred to him that the cloud might be rising yet again above
the level haze on the sky line, and the hurricane burst upon him once
more.
CHAPTER XLI.
A FINAL VICTORY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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