The girl looked after him admiringly and fondly. "Oh!" she murmured; "what a splendid thing to be a man and to become Archbishop, and Lord Chancellor, and Leader of the House! Oh! how clever he is, and how great he will become!" * * * * * "I've had a serious talk with Challice to-day," said the private tutor to his wife in the evening. "Will is _such_ a nice boy," said the wife. "What a pity that he won't work!" "He's got enough money to begin with, and he has never been to a public school. I have been firing his imagination, however, with the rich and varied prospect before a boy who really will work and has brains. He is a dreamer; he has vague ambitions; perhaps I may have succeeded in fixing them. But who knows? He is a dreamer. He plays the piano and listens to the music. Sometimes he makes verses. Who knows what such a lad may do?" II. Two years later, the same pair stood in the same place at the same season of the year. Term was over--the third term of the first year at Cambridge. "I haven't pleased your father," said the young man--he was slight and boyish-looking still, but on his face there was a new stamp--he had eaten of the tree of knowledge. "I have won no scholarships and taken no prizes. My grand ideas about University laurels are changed. You see, Nell, I have discovered that unless one goes into the Church a good degree helps nobody. And, of course, it ruins a man in other ways to put in all the time working for a degree." "You know," said Nell, "we don't think so here." "I know. Then you see I had to make the acquaintance of the men and to show them that I was a person of--of some importance. A man who can play and sing is always useful. We are an extremely social College, and the--the friction of mind with mind, you know--it is the best education possible for a man--I'm sure it is--much better than poring over Plato. Then I found so many things in which I was deficient. French fiction, for example; and I knew so very little about Art--oh! I have passed a most busy and useful time." He forgot to mention such little things as nap, _écarté_, loo, billiards, Paris, and London, as forming part of his education. Yet everybody will own that these are important elements in the forming of a man. "I see," said Nell. "But your father won't. He is all for the Senate House. You do take a little interest in me still, Nell? Just a little interest--in an old friend?" "Of course I do, Will." She blushed and dropped her eyes. Their fingers touched, but only for a moment. The touching of fingers is very innocent. Perhaps it was accidental. [Illustration: "HE SPOKE VERY GRANDLY."]