o either. Hear them cheer your cousin."

"It will make him terribly conceited. He will actually think he's a
hero."

"I wouldn't have given much for any of our lives if he hadn't jumped
into the ring, and blinded the lion."

Meanwhile Kit was enjoying the performance, and thinking very little of
how his action would be regarded by Ralph, for whom he had no very
cordial feeling, though they had been, from the necessity of the case,
close companions for many years.

On their return home, Kit and Ralph reached the gate together.

"It seems you're a great hero all at once," said Ralph, with a sneer.

Kit understood the sneer, but did not choose to notice it.

"Thank you for the compliment," he responded quietly.

"O, I didn't mean to flatter you! You are puffed up enough."

"Are you sorry I jumped into the ring, Ralph?" asked Kit good-naturedly.

"I don't believe there was any real danger."

"Then I must congratulate you upon your courage. All the rest of us were
frightened, and even Mr. Barlow admitted that there was danger."

"The lion was half tame. It isn't as if he were wild."

"He looked wild enough to me when I faced him in the ring. I confess
that my knees began to tremble, and I wished myself at home."

"You'd better set up as a lion tamer," said Ralph.

"Thank you; I think I should prefer some other business, where my life
would be safer."

"You are likely to have your wish, then."

"What do you mean?" asked Kit quickly, detecting a significance in
Ralph's tone.

"I mean that father intends to have you learn a trade."

"Has he told you so?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't he propose to consult me?"

"Why should he? You are only a boy, and can't judge what is best for
yourself."

"Still I am likely to be more interested than any one else in the way I
am to earn my living. What trade are _you_ going to learn?"

"What trade am I going to learn?" repeated Ralph, with the assumption of
insulted dignity. "None at all. I shall be a merchant or a professional
man."

"And why should not I be the same?" asked Kit.

"Because you're a poor boy. Didn't my father tell you this afternoon
that you had no money coming to you?"

"Yes; but that needn't prevent me from becoming a merchant, or studying
a profession."

"So _you_ think. You can't expect my father to pay for sending you to
college, or support you while you are qualifying yourself to be a
merchant."

"I don't know yet what I am entitled to expect."