How he got the educational ambition I
haven't the remotest idea; somehow he got it and somehow he came. It must
have been a rub to make it. He's mentioned times of working on a farm, of
chopping ties in Missouri, of heaving coal in a bituminous mine in Iowa,
of--I don't know what all. And still he was only a boy when I first saw
him; a great, big, over-aged boy with a big chin and bigger hands. The
peculiar part is that he wasn't awkward and never has been. Even when he
first showed up here green the boys never made a mark of him." Again the
short expressive laugh. "I think perhaps they were a bit afraid of him."

"And he got right into the University?"

"Bless you, no; only tentatively. He had a lot of back work to make up
at the academy. That didn't bother him apparently. He swallowed that and
the regular course whole and cried for more." Armstrong stretched lazily.
His hands sought his pockets. "I guess that's about all I know of the
story," he completed.

"All except after he was graduated." It was interest genuine now.

"So you have begun to take notice at last," commented Armstrong,
smilingly. "I'm a better _raconteur_ than I imagined. When it comes to
being specific, though, after he graduated, I admit I can't say much
authoritatively. He'll talk about anything, ordinarily, except himself. I
know of a dozen cases from the papers, some of them big ones, that he's
been concerned in during the last few years; but he's never mentioned
them to me. He seemed to get in right from the start. How he managed to
turn the trick I haven't the slightest conception; he simply did. As I
said before, he grows to be more of an enigma to me all the time."

Apparently the girl lost interest in the party under discussion; at least
she asked no more questions and, dilatory as usual when not definitely
directed, Armstrong dropped the lead. For a minute they sat so, gazing
out into the night, silent. Under stimulus of a new thought, point
blank, whimsical, came a change of subject.

"By the way," commented Armstrong, "I'm considering quitting the
University and going into business, Elice. What do you think of the
idea?"

"What--I beg your pardon, Steve."

The other repeated the question, all but soberly this time.

"Do you mean it, Steve, really, or are you just drawing me out?"

"Mean it!" Armstrong laughed. "Perhaps, and perhaps not. I don't know.
What do you think of the notion, anyway?"

The girl looked at him steadily,