“Really, a most remarkable head!” exclaimed the Professor, after his fingers had passed once or twice through the hair of the sitter. “Most remarkable? I find you have intellectual gifts, which, if properly cultivated, might make a first-class novelist or playwright. A wealth of language and imagery that promises the eloquence of a great orator. In the perceptive organs you have that analytical faculty that is required by the legal mind, and, should inclination lead you to mathematics, or the exact sciences, you have all the organs required, of the most ample development. On the side of morals, I find strict integrity and lofty veneration. The Church would in you gain an ornament and a bright light. Of what are—perhaps unfairly—termed the selfish organs, your share is a wise and proper balance, and the animal only such as is required to give the requisite energy and stimulant to the whole. I say, without hesitation, that to such an endowment of intelligence as you possess no path in life, however eminent, is closed. You may be a statesman, a prelate, a poet, artist, or engineer, and I would even venture so far as to say you might in time, by diligent study and observation, be a phrenologist.”
“Be a what?” exclaimed Huey, as though some insect had stung him.
“A phrenologist, my dear sir; one of the noblest careers open to our poor, frail humanity.”
“How much a week do they get?”
“If you mean how much in paltry coin is their share, the returns, I admit, are somewhat scant, but the wealth of gratitude from honest hearts made happier, and the noble exaltation in the spread of science and truth are illimitable.”
“I’m afraid the terms won’t suit!”
“Reflect, my dear friend. This day a path opens before you. Be my pupil; such talent as yours lies buried—let it burst forth and bloom.”
Huey’s eyes by this time had again wandered to Bertha, who sat apart, and the feeling was strong within him that he must see again and talk with this girl. This proposal of the Professor’s, though idiotic from his own point of view, would form an excuse for further visits.
So when they parted a little later, without one word being said of the printing account, it was understood that Huey was to think the matter over and call again.