And so they did, too,--of their college life and its changeful fortunes; of their companions and their several characters, and of the future itself, of which Massingbred pretended to read the fate, saying: “You'll be something wonderful one of these days, Joe. I have it as though revealed to me,--_you_ astonishing the world by your abilities, and winning your way to rank and eminence; while _I_ like a sign-post that points to the direction, shall stand stock-still, and never budge an inch, knowing the road, but not travelling it.” “And why should it be so, Mass, when you have such a perfect consciousness of your powers for success?” “For the simple reason, my boy, that I know and feel how the cleverness which imposes upon others has never imposed upon myself. The popular error of a man's being able to do fifty things which he has not done from idleness, apathy, carelessness, and so on, never yet deceived me, because I know well that when a fellow has great stuff in him it will come out, whether he likes or not. You might as well say that the grapes in a wine-vat could arrest their own process of fermentation, as that a man of real genius--and mind, I am now speaking of no other--could suppress the working of his intelligence, and throw his faculties into torpor. The men who do nothing are exactly the men who can do no better. Volition, energy, the strong impulse for action, are part and parcel of every really great intellect; and your 'mute, inglorious Milton' only reminds me of the artist who painted his canvas all red to represent the passage of the Egyptians through the Red Sea. Believe me, you must take all untried genius in the same scale of credit as that by which you have fancied the chariots and horsemen submerged in the flood. They are there, if you like; and if you don't--” “Your theory requires that all men's advantages should be equal, their station alike, and their obstacles the same. Now, they are not so. See, for instance, in our University here. _I_ am debarred from the fellowship-bench--or, at least, from attempting to reach it--because I am a Papist.” “Then turn Protestant; or if that doesn't suit you, address yourself to kick down the barrier that stands in your way. By the bye, I did n't know you were a Roman; how comes that? Is it a family creed, or was it a caprice of your own?” “It is the religion my family have always professed,” said Nelligan, gravely.