“Polly says not before eight weeks at the earliest. She says we 'll have to go over Bell on the Bones all again, and brush up the Ligaments, besides. If it was the Navy, they 'd not mind the nerves; but they tell me the Army fellows often take a man on the fifth pair, and I know if they do me, it's mighty little of India I 'll see.”
“Plucked, eh?”
“I don't know what you mean by 'plucked,' but I 'd be turned back, which is, perhaps, the same. And no great disgrace, either,” added he, with more of courage in his voice; “Polly herself says there's days she could n't remember all the branches of the fifth, and the third is almost as bad.”
“I suppose if your sister could go up in your place, Tom, you 'd be quite sure of your diploma?”
“It's many and many a day I wished that same,” sighed he, heavily. “If you heard her going over the 'Subclavian,' you 'd swear she had the book in her hand.”
Conyers could not repress a smile at this strange piece of feminine accomplishment, but he was careful not to let Tom perceive it. Not, indeed, that the poor fellow was in a very observant mood; Polly's perfections, her memory, and her quickness were the themes that filled up his mind.
“What a rare piece of luck for you to have had such a sister, Tom!”
“Don't I say it to myself?—don't I repeat the very same words every morning when I awake? Maybe I 'll never come to any good; maybe my father is right, and that I 'll only be a disgrace as long as I live; but I hope one thing, at least, I 'll never be so bad that I 'll forget Polly, and all she done for me. And I'll tell you more,” said he, with a choking fulness in his throat; “if they turn me back at my examination, my heart will be heavier for her than for myself.”
“Come, cheer up, Tom; don't look on the gloomy side. You 'll pass, I 'm certain, and with credit too. Here 's the thirty pounds you 'll have to lodge—”
“It is only twenty they require. And, besides, I could n't take it; it's my father must pay.” He stammered, and hesitated, and grew pale and then crimson, while his lips trembled and his chest heaved and fell almost convulsively.