"I shall send him to Westminster, Clary," he said--it was a long time, by
the way, since he had called his wife Clary, though she herself was hardly
aware of the fact. "I shall certainly send him to Westminster. A provincial
public school is all very well--my father sent me to one--but it's not
_quite_ up to the mark. I should like him to be a good classical scholar,
which I never was, though I was a decent mathematician. I used to do my
Virgil with a crib--a translation, you know--and I never could get on with
Greek. I managed to struggle through the New Testament, but stuck in the
first book of Thucydides. What dreary work it was! I was glad when it was
all over, and my father let me come into his office. But with this fellow
it will be different. He will have no occasion to soil his hands with
trade. He will be a country gentleman, and may distinguish himself in the
House of Commons. Yes, Clary, there may be the material for a great man in
him," Mr. Granger concluded, with an almost triumphant air, as he touched
the soft little cheek, and peered curiously into the bright blue eyes. They
were something like his own eyes, he thought; Clarissa's were hazel.
The mother drew the soft mass of muslin a little nearer to her heart. She
did not care to think of her baby as a man, addressing a noisy constituency
in Holborough market-place, nor even, as a Westminster boy, intent upon
Virgil and cricket, Euclid and football.
Pages:
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428