Meanwhile the bishop was giving Leigh new light upon his status in St.
George's Hall.

"I must tell you, Mr. Leigh,--for it is better to be frank
always,--that your appointment is in the nature of an experiment.
Doctor Renshaw engaged your services for a year while I was absent in
Europe. I knew nothing of it until my return, though I have every
reason to believe, in view of your excellent recommendations and family
connections, that the choice was felicitous."

Leigh listened to these words, so kindly but decisively spoken, with an
emotion of uneasiness not untouched by resentment. How premature his
thought of the presidency now appeared, how slight his claims to
consideration! He learned now definitely that the bishop was the real
president of the college, and that Doctor Renshaw was a fairly
negligible element in the situation. He divined also the proud and
self-sufficient spirit of the place, a pride entirely independent of
worldly success, of numbers and noise.

"To be equally frank, bishop," he returned, "I thought I had passed my
professional probation."

"We are all on probation, always," said the bishop, with a suggestion
of amused indulgence in his smile. "I am far from questioning your
professional capacity, but an arrangement for one year leaves us both
free to make other plans, in case we find that the adjustment is not as
perfect as we could have wished. However, that is a future
contingency. _Quid sit futurum cras_--you know the sentiment. If you
leave us, it will doubtless be at your own volition and, like the man
in the parable, for the purpose of taking a higher place."