"But I thought the Shop was the goal of your ambition?"
"So it was, sir, at first. Then I gave it up because it seemed so difficult, and I talked it over with Willets, and he said he'd never had a great deal of book-learnin'—though he writes a beautiful hand, far better than father—and then I thought I'd be a gamekeeper."
"And what did Willets think?"
"Well, he didn't seem to be very sure—and now I come to think of it, I'm not very fond of killing things . . . so if there was just a chance . . ."
"I'd go into the Ram Corps if I were you," said Major Murray; "by the time you're ready, gamekeepers—if there are any—will have to pass exams, like all the other poor beggars. You bet your boots on that. Some Board of Forestry or other will start 'em, you see if they don't."
"Oh, well, if there's to be exams, that settles it. I certainly shan't be one," Ger said decidedly; "I've been thinking it over a lot——"
"Oh, you have, have you?"
"An' it seems to me . . ."
"Yes, it seems to you?"
"That pr'aps you get to know people better if you mend all their accidents and things. I'm awfully fond of people, they're so intrusting, I'd rather know about them than anything."