terrible and awful. Were you not afraid of--of--" he paused, and
suddenly darting his clear eyes into the very depths of Clarence's soul,
added--"of YOURSELF?"

The boy started, shuddered, and burst into tears.

"So, so," said the priest gently, "we have found our real enemy. Good!
Now, by the grace of God, my little warrior, we shall fight HIM and
conquer."

Whether Clarence profited by this lesson, or whether this brief
exhibition of his quality prevented any repetition of the cause, the
episode was soon forgotten. As his school-fellows had never been his
associates or confidants, it mattered little to him whether they feared
or respected him, or were hypocritically obsequious, after the fashion
of the weaker. His studies, at all events, profited by this lack of
distraction. Already his two years of desultory and omnivorous reading
had given him a facile familiarity with many things, which left
him utterly free of the timidity, awkwardness, or non-interest of a
beginner. His usually reserved manner, which had been lack of expression
rather than of conviction, had deceived his tutors. The audacity of a
mind that had never been dominated by others, and owed no allegiance to
precedent, made his merely superficial progress something marvelous.

At the end of the first year he was a phenomenal scholar, who seemed
capable of anything. Nevertheless, Father Sobriente had an interview
with Don Juan, and as a result Clarence was slightly kept back in his
studies, a little more freedom from the rules was conceded to him, and
he was even encouraged to take some diversion. Of such was the
privilege to visit the neighboring town of Santa Clara unrestricted and