"That places Jack and me in two different classes, then," said Ward.
"I am not so sure of that," replied Mr. Crane. "You have both of you been away to school now, and have been thrown back upon yourselves. You have learned to depend upon your own efforts, and I do not regard it as in the least probable that either of you would be swallowed up and lost in the crowd in a large college. It is no slight advantage to have had two years at Weston before you go."
"I wish we could keep right on at Weston, and not have to go anywhere else," said Jack.
"No, I hardly think you really wish that, Hobart. Of course, now that you are about to leave us you forget all the unpleasant things and remember only the pleasant ones. I would not have it otherwise, and trust that some of us will still be a part of your lives, even when you are apart from us. But when one becomes a man he is compelled to leave childish things. All that you have been doing has been leading up to this time, and now you must face it."
"Of course I know that must be so," said Jack quietly, "and I suppose if we really thought we should have to come back we wouldn't like it a little bit. But what I really wanted to know, Mr. Crane, was what you thought about Ward coming down and living with me in my home and going to college there with me."
Ward's face flushed slightly, and he added: "Jack hasn't told it all. What he wants is for me to live with him and not to pay anything for the privilege."
"That isn't----" began Jack.
Mr. Crane interrupted him and said: "I think I understand; but it's a question in which I fancy others besides you boys may be interested."
"That's just it," said Jack quickly, "My mother wants him even more than I do."
"But there's my father to be thought of too," said Ward. "He may not want me to do it."