ade up
his mind to be an engineer. This was an astonishment to every one;
engineering didn't seem at all the thing for him; he had very little
ability in mathematics, and his bent had always been to liberal
studies. But nothing could shake his idea. He had got it into his head
that only some such work as engineering--something of a practical kind,
that called for strength and craftsmanship--was worthy of a man with
his opinions. He would rank with the classes that keep the world going
with their sturdy toil: that was how he spoke. And, after a great
fight, he had his way. He left Eton to study civil engineering.'

Rhoda was listening with an amused smile.

'Then,' pursued her friend, 'came another display of firmness or
obstinacy, whichever you like to call it. He soon found out that he had
made a complete mistake. The studies didn't suit him at all, as others
had foreseen. But he would have worked himself to death rather than
confess his error; none of us knew how he was feeling till long after.
Engineering he had chosen, and an engineer he would be, cost him what
effort it might. His father shouldn't triumph over him. And from the
age of eighteen till nearly thirty he stuck to a profession which I am
sure he loathed. By force of resolve he even got on to it, and reached
a good position with the firm he worked for. Of course his father
wouldn't assist him with money after he came of age; he had to make his
way just like any young man who has no influence.'

'All this puts him in quite another light,' remarked Rhoda.

'Yes, it would be all very well, if there were no vices to add to the
picture. I never experienced such a revulsion of feeling as the day
when I learnt shameful things about Everard. You know, I always
regarded him as a boy, and very much as if he had been my younger
brother; then came the shock--a shock that had a great part in shaping
my life thenceforward. Since, I have thought of him as I have spoken of
him to you--as an illustration of evils we have to combat. A man of the
world would tell you that I grossly magnified trifles; it is very
likely that Everard was on a higher moral level than most men. But I
shall never forgive him for destroying my faith in his honour and
nobility of feeling.'

Rhoda had a puzzled look.

'Perhaps even now you are unintentionally misleading me,' she said. 'I
have supposed him an outrageous profligate.'

'He was vicious and cowardly--I can't say any more.'

'And