"What will happen when the summer is over?" asked the boy. "Are you going to take me with you? Will Mr. Lowell like me?"
"Indeed, he will. I am going to have you live near me."
"Not with you?"
"No, Bert, that wouldn't be best. I have been corresponding with a very nice young man whom I have known a long time, and he will be pleased to live with you and give you lessons."
"In drawing?" asked the boy.
"No, sir." Mrs. Lowell gave him the gay, smiling look he liked: it was so full of everything cheerful and kind. "No, sir, reading and writing and 'rithmetic."
"Oh," returned Bert, looking very serious.
"First you must give your time to study. Education is the foundation. Then, later, when you have gone through college—Oh, how proud I shall be when I go to see you graduate!"
"Shall you ever be proud of me?" asked the boy slowly.
"If you will let me," she answered. "It all remains with you."