means were not what she thought; she assured him--and by her will bore
out the assurance--that with her George should go her money.

And the will, when read, in some degree consoled Mr. Marrapit for the
sniffling encumbrance he took back with him to Herons' Holt after the
funeral. It was a simple and trustful will--commended George into the
keeping of her brother Christopher Marrapit; desired that George
should be entered in her late husband's--the medical--profession; and
for that purpose bequeathed her all to the said brother.

George was eighteen when Mr. Marrapit entered him at St. Peter's
Hospital in mild pursuit of the qualification of the Conjoint Board of
Surgeons and Physicians. "I am entering you," Mr. Marrapit had said,
consulting notes he had prepared against the interview--"I am entering
you at enormous cost upon a noble career which involves, however, a
prolonged and highly expensive professional training. Your mother
wished it."

Mr. Marrapit did not add that George's mother had expressly paid for
it. This man had the knowledge that Youth would lose such veneration
for Authority as it may possess were Authority to disclose the motives
that prompt its actions.

He continued: "For me this involves considerable self-denial and
patience. I do not flinch. From you it demands unceasing devotion to
your books, your studies, your researches. You are no longer a boy:
you are a man. The idle sports of youth must be placed behind you.
Stern life must be sternly faced."

"I do not flinch," George had replied.