“Bulstrode tells me,� said Skelton, pointing to a chair for Lewis to sit down, “that you did this out of Horace without any assistance. It isn’t perfect, of course—nobody translates old Horace perfectly—but it is extraordinarily good for a fellow of your age. And Bulstrode also gives most gratifying reports of your progress in all your studies.�
Lewis’s heart beat faster still. Here was a chance to let Skelton know that he had not in the least wavered from his determination not to take the money in exchange for his name.
“I—I—feel that I ought to study very hard, so that I can—some day—when I’m a man—make my own living, sir,� he said, blushing very much.
“Ah!� replied Skelton, with an air of calm inquiry.
“Yes, sir,� responded Lewis, plucking up his courage a little.
Skelton looked him squarely in the eyes, as he had done very often of late, and was met by a dauntless look. Ah, where was there another fifteen-year-old boy who showed such a nice sense of honour, such heroic firmness in withstanding temptation? He expressed something of this in his words, at which the boy’s face hardened, and his heart hardened too.
“I only ask, sir,� he said, “that I shall be let alone until I am twenty-one. When I am a man I shall know how to stand upon my rights.�
“I think, Lewis,� said Skelton calmly, “that your reason is already convinced. You no longer believe yourself to be the son of Thomas Pryor, yet you talk about making a fight for it.�
Lewis made no reply. He was no match for Skelton, and he knew it; but his determination was perfectly unchanged.
“Listen to me,� began Skelton after a moment, leaning forward in his chair; “you are rather an uncommon boy.� Skelton, as he said this, smiled slightly, remembering that Lewis could scarcely fail to be unlike most boys. “I shall talk to you as if you were a man, instead of a boy, and perhaps you will understand why it is that I intend to do you right in the face of the world.�