"Ahem-m! Ahem-m! That is an expression I seldom use, Mr. Phelps. It has become a somewhat obnoxious term, though originally it was not so, I fawncy. I should hardly care to apply that expression as indicative of Mr. Wilder's present occupation." "And you think if I try hard I may at last become a book agent too?" "You have mistaken my implication," said the professor scowling slightly as he spoke. "I was striving solely to provide an incentive for you. You may recall what Homer, or at least he whom in our current phraseology we are accustomed to call Homer--I shall not now enter into the merits of that question of the Homeridae. As I was about to remark, however, you doubtless may recollect what Homer in the fifth book of his Iliad, line forty-ninth, I think it is, has to say." "I'm afraid I don't recall it. You see, professor, I had only three books of the Iliad before I came to Winthrop." "Surely! Surely! Strange that I should have forgotten that. It is a pleasure you have in store then, Mr. Phelps." "Can you give me any suggestions how to do better work, professor?" inquired Will mildly. "My advice to you is to secure Mr. Franklin of the present junior class to tutor you for a time." "Thank you. I'll try to see him to-night," said Will rising and preparing to depart. "That might be wise. I trust you will call upon me again, Mr. Phelps. I have enjoyed this call exceedingly. You will not misunderstand me if I say I had slight knowledge of your classic tastes before, and I am sure that I congratulate you heartily, Mr. Phelps. I do indeed." "Thank you," replied Will respectfully, and he then departed from the house. He was divided between a feeling of keen disappointment and a desire to laugh as he walked up the street toward his dormitory. And this was the man who was to stimulate his intellectual processes! In his thoughts he contrasted him with his professor in Latin, and the man as well as the language sank lower and lower in his estimation. And yet he must meet it. The problem might be solved but could not be evaded. He would see Franklin at once, he decided. CHAPTER XV A REVERSED DECISION