And then the General looked astonished. He had not yet fully measured little Jim's ambition that stopped at nothing. Hitherto it had been that pernicious ambition that desires, and at the same time, lazily refuses to put forth the exertion necessary to attain, or it had been that other scarcely less reprehensible ambition that exerts itself simply to outshine others, and Mrs. O'Callaghan had had good cause to be anxious about Jim. Tonight it was the right sort of ambition, backed by a remarkably strong will and boundless energy. He looked up at the General with confidence and waited to be told just how he could get such a house for himself. The General gazed down into the clear, unashamed depths of little Jim's blue eyes. The attitude of the O'Callaghan's toward him always touched him. His money had nothing to do with it, nor had his superior social position. It was he himself that the O'Callaghans respected, admired, loved and venerated, and this without in the least abating their own self-respect and independence. It was like being the head of a clan, the General told himself, and he liked it. So now he answered with his hand on little Jim's shoulder, "Work, my boy, and study, work and study." "And is that all?" questioned Jim disappointedly. "Sure and that's like my mother tellin' me dustin' and dishwashin' was my two first steps." "Well, they were your first steps, Jim, because they were the duties that lay nearest you. But it will take more than work and study, after all." "I thought it would, sir. This is an awful nice house." "Would you like to walk upstairs and look about?" asked the General. "I would," was the eager answer. So the General and Mrs. Brady and Jim went up. "This is the sort of a room for my mother," declared little Jim, after he had carefully examined the large guest chamber. "Pat and Mike got her the summer kitchen, but I'll be gettin' her a whole house, so I will. Sleepin' in the kitchen will do for them that likes it. And now what's the rest of it besides work and study?" "Have you ever seen any poor boys smoke cigars, Jim?" "Yes, sir." "And cigarettes?" "Yes, sir." "And pipes?" "Yes, sir." "And drink beer?" "Yes, sir." "And whisky?" "Yes, sir." "And chew tobacco?" "Yes, sir." "Those are the boys who, when they are men, are going to be poor. Mark that, Jim. They are going to be poor." "They won't have any house like this?" "Not unless somebody who has worked hard gives it to them, or unless they cheat for it, Jim." "Huh!" said Jim. "I'm down on cheatin'. I'll lick any boy that cheats me or tries to, and I don't want nobody to give me nothin'." And with that little Jim cooled down to pursue his former train of thought. "And if I work and study and let them things alone I can have a house like this some day?" "Yes, Jim, if some misfortune does not befall you, like a long sickness in the family, or an accident to you."