rigorously as to his fitness, and, as far as his experience allowed, reviewing the life of the ordinary parish priest. He saw clearly that no one embraced the priestly life from a purely natural motive. Such as did, he argued, must become failures, and unfit for their state. He had, as every one who has a true vocation, a higher motive than a merely natural one. With him the supernatural was paramount, and in its light all prosaic, squalid, unheroic circumstances sank into insignificance. He, therefore, answered:
“Yes, sir, I have thought it all over. I firmly believe I have a vocation, and after I graduate, I think it will be my duty to enter a seminary with a view to probing and testing it.”
“I will not thwart you, my boy; I dare not. But do you think yourself worthy of so high a calling?”
“I do not, indeed, Father; but my confessor encourages me to go on.”
Mr. Henning sighed on discovering that the opinion of the boy's confessor was averse to his wishes—sighed as if giving up his last hope of being able to change his son's views. He then altered his manner suddenly, as if ashamed of having displayed emotion before any member of his family. He was again the sharp, shrewd man of affairs.
“Very well, sir,” he said, with a crispness in his voice which hitherto had been absent; “you take your degree the coming year. After that you have my permission to enter a seminary. I will be responsible for your expenses until your ordination. As you desire, however, to enter a hard and self-denying life I consider it my duty to test you myself to some extent during the coming school year.”
In the midst of the delight at his father's capitulation, Roy looked up in surprise. He wondered what was coming next.
“You must apply yourself wholly and solely to your studies. I shall allow you only twenty-five dollars for your private expenses, and I desire and insist that for the last year of your college life you relinquish all sports of whatsoever kind.”
“Father,” cried the poor boy in dismay; and oh, the heart-sinking that was expressed in that one word!