"Oh, father, I would be so careful, and I'll believe all Doctor Cameron said and won't want to be a man till I am quite grown up. I'll be as boyish as I can be."
"I think I'd shrink from any promises of that kind, Hal," said the doctor, smiling. "Don't tie yourself down to rules of your own invention. Look here, aim at being natural, at hitting the happy medium."
"I suppose that's the unhappy medium for the boy, isn't it?"
"Not at all, my lad; it's the way to be happy. Leave it to Nature; she will set that right. Don't be too boyish, and don't aim at being an imitation man—in other words a prig. Be natural."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "the doctor's right, Hal. Be natural, and you will not be far wrong there."
"I always am as natural as I can be," said Harry, throwing himself into action, and looking as gloomy and discontented as a boy could look; "but no one gets to be so disappointed and sat upon as I am."
Mr. Kenyon's brow clouded over, but he said nothing.
"So sure as I set my mind upon anything I'm sure to be balked."
"Poor fellow!" said the doctor gravely.
"Yes, Doctor, it's all very well for you to make fun of me. You can do just as you like."