You have never been brought face to face with a longing, and
been made to understand that sacrifice, on your part, was necessary to
obtain it. Unless you have felt so, you are in no position to find
yourself, as you put it."

Again the vital silence.

"How do you know whether you want a college education or not? How do
you know you are worthy of this great privilege? You may not even be
fitted for it by nature."

Had Markham asked if his nephew knew whether he would ever want to eat
a meal again, the boy could not have been more surprised. College, to
him and his set, was as natural a sequence as dessert after the courses
preceding it. For the life of him Lansing could not prevent a stare.
His aunt had left him utterly unprepared for this.

"Now this is my proposition:" Markham had his elbows on his desk, his
chin resting on the points of his clasped hands; "I will take you into
the mills on exactly the same terms as I would any other young
fellow--except that you will share my home--until you learn the
rudiments of the business and discover whether you have any business
sense or not. By the time you have mastered that and experienced some
bodily labour, you will be in a position where you can choose, to some
degree, your career. Should you, then, wish to enter college, I will
permit you to select one, and I will see you through. It is my firm
belief that between a preparatory school and college there should be a
space of time, except in particular cases, for looking backward and
forward--a breathing time; a time for relaxation and the acquiring of
fixed aims. College should not be passed out to a boy as a plum or a
luxury--it's too grave a matter for that. All my life I have deplored
the lack of it--but I had to live and suffer before I realized its
importance."

With all his honesty Lansing Hertford was trying at this critical time
to get his uncle's point of view. Of one thing alone was he sure--he
was, he believed, so far ahead of his uncle in his knowledge of life
that the old gentleman seemed but a blurred speck on the social
horizon. No longer could he be looked to as a safe adviser. Why, left
to himself, the man might sacrifice the family name and prestige! He
did not even understand the decent conventions due his own standing in
the community! Suddenly Lansing Hertford felt old and anxious as
though upon him, instead of Levi, rested the responsibility of the
future. He tried to frame a rep