But the prospect was so doleful and so blank, that he drew a heavy sigh as he thought of it. Mr. Blinkhorn heard it, and rose awkwardly from the rickety little writing-table, knocking over a pile of marble-covered copy-books as he did so. Then he crossed over to Paul and laid a hand gently on his shoulder. "Look here," he said: "why don't you confide in me? Do you think I'm blind to what has happened to you? I can see the change in you--if others cannot. Why not trust me?" Mr. Bultitude looked up into his face, which had an honest interest and kindliness in it, and his heart warmed with a faint hope. If this young man had been shrewd enough to guess at his unhappy secret, might he not be willing to intercede with the Doctor for him? He looked good-natured--he would trust him. "Do you mean to say really," he asked, with more cordiality than he had spoken for a long time, "that you--see--the--a--the difference?" "I saw it almost directly," said Mr. Blinkhorn, with mild triumph. "That's the most extraordinary thing," said Paul, "and yet it ought to be evident enough, to be sure. But no, you can't have guessed the real state of things!" "Listen, and stop me if I'm wrong. Within the last few days a great change has been at work within you. You are not the idle, thoughtless, mischievous boy who left here for his holidays----" "No," said Paul, "I'll swear I'm not!" "There is no occasion for such strong expressions. But, at all events, you come back here an altogether different being. Am I right in saying so?" "Perfectly," said Paul, overjoyed at being so thoroughly understood, "perfectly. You're a very intelligent young man, sir. Shake hands. Why, I shouldn't be surprised, after that, if you knew how it all happened?" "That too," said Mr. Blinkhorn smiling, "I can guess. It arose, I doubt not, in a wish?" "Yes," cried Paul, "you've hit it again. You're a conjurer, sir, by Gad you are!" "Don't say 'by Gad,' Bultitude; it's inconsistent. It began, I was saying, in a wish, half unconscious perhaps, to be something other than what you had been----" "I was a fool," groaned Mr. Bultitude, "yes, that was the way it began!" "Then insensibly the wish worked a gradual transformation in your nature (you are old enough to follow me?)." "Old enough for him to follow _me_!" thought Paul; but he was too pleased to be annoyed. "Hardly gradual I should say," he said aloud. "But go on, sir, pray go on. I see you know all about it." "At first the other part of you struggled against the new feelings. You strove to forget them--you even tried to resume your old habits, your former way of life--but to no purpose; and when you came here, you found no fellowship amongst your companions----" "Quite out of the question!" said Paul. "Their pleasures give you no delight----" "Not a bit!"