Robert Browning. _Childe Roland_.

"I am very doubtful, after all, Julian, whether I shall be one of the
Switzerland party," said Kennedy, with a sigh, as he and Julian were
walking round the Saint Werner's gardens one bright evening of the May
term. The limes and chestnuts were unfolding their tender sprays of
spring-tide emerald, the willows shivered as their green buds made
ripples in the water, and the soft light of sunset streamed over towers
and colleges, giving a rich glow to the broad windows of the library,
and bathing in its rosy tinge the white plumage of the swans upon the
river. The friends were returning from a walk, during which they had
thoroughly enjoyed the blue and golden weather. Up to this time Kennedy
had seemed to be in the highest spirits, and Julian was astonished at
the melancholy tone in which the words were spoken.

"Doubtful? Why?" said Julian, quickly.

"Because my father has made it conditional on my getting a first class
in the May examination."

"But, my dear fellow, there is not the ghost of a doubt of your doing
that."

"I don't feel so sure."

"Why, there are often thirty in the first class in the freshman's year;
and just as if _you_ wouldn't be among them!"

"All very well; I know that anybody can do it who works, but I am
ashamed to say that I haven't read one of the books yet."

"Haven't you, really? Well then, for goodness' sake, lose no more
time."

"But there's only a fortnight to the examination."

"My dear Kennedy, what _have_ you been doing to be so idle?"

"Somehow or other the time manages to slip away. Heigh ho!" said
Kennedy, "my first year at college nearly over, and nothing done--
nothing done! How quickly the time has gone!"

"Yes," said Julian;

"_ptezugas gaz epoomaduas phezai
Kampes bzadutezoi ta poteemena syllabein_,

"as Theocritus prettily observes."

Seized with the strong determination not only to pass the examination,
but even to excel in it, Kennedy devoted the next fortnight to
unremitted study for the first time since he had been an undergraduate.
But the more he read the more painfully he became aware of his own
deficiencies, and the more bitterly he deplored the waste of time. He
seemed to be toiling in vain after the opportunities he had lost. He
knew that the examination, though limited in subjects, was searching in
character, and he found it impossible to acquire, by a sudden impulse,
what he should have learned by c