"So Willie doesn't count, doesn't he?"

"No. He was a fool. He never did anything. Nevill, what did father think

you'd done?"

"I really cannot say. Nothing to deserve you, I suppose."

"Rubbish! I know all that. But he said there was something, and he

wouldn't tell me what. Anyhow, you didn't do it, did you?"

"Probably not."

"Come, I think you might tell me when I've confessed all my little sins

to you." Mrs. Nevill Tyson was persistent, not because she in the least

wanted to know, but because nobody likes being beaten.

"I don't know what the dear old pater was driving at. I don't suppose he

knew himself. He was a scholar, not a man of the world. He could read any

Greek poet, I daresay, who was dead enough and dull enough; but when a

real live Englishman walked into his study, it seemed to put him out

somehow. He didn't like me, and he showed it. All the same, I think I

could have made him like me if he'd given me a chance. I don't suppose

he does me any injustice now."

"No. He knew an awful lot about those stupid old Greeks and Romans and

people, but I don't think he knew much about you. I expect he made it up

to frighten mother. That reminds me, what do you think Miss Batchelor

says about you? She told mother that it was a pity you hadn't any

profession--every man ought to have a profession--keep you out of

mischief. I wasn't going to have her talking like that about my

husband--the impudent thing!--so I just stopped her yesterday in Moxon's

shop and told her you had a profession. I led up to it so neatly, you

can't think. I said you were going to be a barrister or a judge or

something."

"A judge? That's rather a large order. But you know you mustn't tell

stories, you little minx. Miss Batchelor's too clever to take all that

in."

"Well, but it's true. You are going to be a barrister, and everybody

knows that barristers grow into judges, if you feed them properly."

"But I haven't the remotest intention of being a barrister. How did you

get hold of that notion?"

"Oh, I knew it all along. Papa said so."

"You must have been mistaken."

"Not a bit. I'll tell you exactly what he said. I heard him talking about

it to mother in the library. I wasn't listening, you know. I--I heard

your name, and I couldn't help it. He said he expected to see you

figuring in the law courts some of these days--Probate, Divorce, and

Admiralty Division."

Tyson rose, putting her down from his knee as if she had been a baby.

"I hope you didn't tell Miss Batchelor that?"




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