d he care
about the boy? Leonard was a rather precocious child, inclined to work
his brain more than was good for a body often ailing. Now and then Dyce
had been surprised into a feeling of kindly interest, when Len showed
himself peculiarly bright, but on the whole he was tired of his
tutorial duties, and not for a moment would regret the parting.

"I'm sorry," he said, in a moved voice. "I hoped to make a man of him,
after my own idea. Well, well, we shall often see each other again, and
who knows whether I mayn't be of use to him some day."

"What a fine sensibility he has, together with his great intelligence!"
was Iris Woolstan's comment in her own heart. And she reproached
herself for not having stood out against Wrybolt.

As he walked away from the house, Dyce wondered why he had told that
lie about the friend at Alverholme. Would it not have been better, from
every point of view, to speak plainly of Connie Bride? Where was the
harm? He recognised in himself a tortuous tendency, not to be overcome
by reflection and moral or utilitarian resolve. He could not, much as
he desired it, be an entirely honest man. His ideal was honesty, even
as he had a strong prejudice in favour of personal cleanliness. But
occasionally he shirked the cold tub; and, in the same way, he found it
difficult at times to tell the truth.

CHAPTER IV

In the morning he had a letter from Mrs. Woolstan. Opening it
hurriedly, he was pleased, but not surprised, to discover a cheque
folded in the note-paper. Iris wrote that, as a matter of course, she
wished to pay what was owing to him in respect of his tutorial
engagement so abruptly brought to an end. "Even between friends, one
must be businesslike. You ought to have received a quarter's notice,
and, as it is now nearly the end of April, you must allow me to reckon
my debt as up to the quarterday in September. If you say a word about
it, I shall be angry, So _no nonsense, please_!"

The phrase underlined was a quotation from Dyce himself, who often used
it, in serio-joking tone, when he had occasion to reprove Mrs. Woolstan
for some act or word which jarred with his system. He was glad to have
the cheque, and knew quite well that he should keep it, but a certain
uneasiness hung about his mind all the morning. Dyce had his ideal of
manly independence; it annoyed him that circumstances made the noble
line of conduct so difficult. He believed himself strong, virile, yet
so often it