that she was amused at his backwardness, and that she tried by what she
said to give him heart.

"Jack was telling me that you were studying to be a doctor," said she.
"But oh, how hard it must be, and how long it must take before one can
gather so much learning as that!"

"It takes me long enough," Jim answered ruefully; "but I'll beat it
yet."

"Ah! but you are brave. You are resolute. You fix your eyes on a point
and you move on towards it, and nothing can stop you."

"Indeed, I've little to boast of," said he. "Many a one who began with
me has put up his plate years ago, and here am I but a student still."

"That is your modesty, Mr. Horscroft. They say that the bravest are
always humble. But then, when you have gained your end, what a glorious
career--to carry healing in your hands, to raise up the suffering, to
have for one's sole end the good of humanity!"

Honest Jim wriggled in his chair at this.

"I'm afraid I have no such very high motives, Miss Calder," said he.
"It's to earn a living, and to take over my father's business, that I do
it. If I carry healing in one hand, I have the other out for a
crown-piece."

"How candid and truthful you are!" she cried; and so they went on, she
decking him with every virtue, and twisting his words to make him play