all very jolly together that evening, and I went
happily to bed, after what I thought a hint of responsive pressure in my
handshake with Sylvia, and several entertaining anecdotes from Mr.
Wheeler as to the manner in which fortunes had been made in the purlieus
of Throgmorton Street. Launching oneself upon a prosperous career in
London seemed an agreeably easy process at the end of that first evening
in the Wheeler's home, and the butterfly attitude toward life appeared
upon the whole less wholly blameworthy than before. What a graceful
fellow Leslie was, and how suave and genial the father when he sat at
the head of his table toying with a glass of port! And these were
capable men, too, men of affairs. Doubtless their earnestness was strong
enough below the surface, I thought--for that night.

III

AN INTERLUDE

"To observations which ourselves we make,
We grow more partial for th' observer's sake."

POPE.

Though in no sense unfriendly or lacking in sympathy, I noticed that
Leslie Wheeler showed no inclination to be drawn into intimate
discussion of my prospects. I was not inclined to blame my friend for
this, but told myself that he probably acted upon paternal instructions.
For me, however, it was impossible to lay aside for long, thoughts
regarding my immediate future. I was aware that a nest-egg of eleven or
twelve pounds was not a very substantial barrier between oneself and
want. Mr. Wheeler told no more stories of fortunes built out of nothing
in the City, but he did take occasion to refer casually to the fact that
City men did not greatly care for the products of public schools and
universities, as employees.

I was more than half-inclined to ask why, in this case, Leslie had been
sent to Rugby and Cambridge, but decided to avoid the personal
application of his remark. It was, after all, no more than the
expression of a commonly accepted view, striking though it seems as a
comment upon the educational system of the period, when one remembers
the huge proportion of the middle and upper-class populace which was
absorbed by commercial callings of one kind or another.

There was practically no demand for physical prowess or aptitude,
outside the field of sport and games, nor even for those qualities which
are best served by a good physical training. One need not, therefore, be
greatly surprised that the public schools should have given no physic