"And was it like David Copperfield?" said Peter.

"Parts of it--the nice parts. School was the best, the very best time of my
life, my boy, and so you'll find it."

This was immensely reassuring, and Peter felt very much cheered. "You
will make all the friends of your life there. You will learn to be a man.
Dear me!" The Old Gentleman coughed. "I don't know what I would have done
without school. You must have courage, you know," he added.

"I heard some one say once," said Peter, "that courage is the most
important thing to have. It isn't life that matters, but courage, this man
said."

"Bless my soul," the Old Gentleman said, "how old are you, boy?"

"Twelve--nearly thirteen," answered Peter.

"Well, the more you see of boys the better. You might be forty by the way
you talk. You want games and fellows of your own age, that's what you want.
Why I never heard of such a thing, talking about life at your age."

Peter felt that he had done something very wrong, although he hadn't the
least idea of his crime, so he turned the conversation.

"I should like very much," he said, "to hear about your school if you
wouldn't mind."

Then the Old Gentleman began in the most wonderful way, and to hear him
talk you would imagine that school was the paradise to which all good boys