"To try to make fame and money to lay at her feet."
"That is all very well, but I think——"
"Well?"
"It just struck me that I was about to give unasked advice, which is seldom relished by the recipient."
"Please go on. I should like to have it whether I make use of it or not."
"Well, I think the honest, straightforward, and therefore best course, would be to seek an interview with the parents of the young lady, tell them frankly your feelings toward her, your hopes and purposes, and leave it with them to say whether you shall go without speaking to her."
"They will take me for a fortune-hunter, I fear," he said, the color mounting to his very hair.
"I think not; but at all events, I should risk it. I do not pretend to know Elsie's feelings, but if she cares for you at all, it would be treating her very badly indeed, to go away without letting her know yours; unless her parents forbid it.
"There, I've said my say, and will not mention the subject again till you do, but leave you to consider my advice at your leisure."
Lester did so during the next week, which was the last of the six of enforced quietude, and the more he pondered it, the more convinced was he of the soundness of his aunt's advice, and at length he fully resolved to follow it.