“It is better to put aside all bitterness—the war was a terrible thing, and there were mistakes on both sides, and now that peace has been restored, it is far better to let by-gones be by-gones. Have your parents ever been North?”
Gladys tried to speak in a general and unconscious way, but it was very hard with those admiring eyes fixed so earnestly upon her.
“No; they have been in Europe, and my father has been on the Pacific coast several times, but they have yet to visit this portion of the country.”
“Without doubt, then, they will improve the opportunity to do so when you leave college. It would be natural for them to desire to be present when you take your honors.”
“Those will be very few, I fear,” young Mapleson replied, with a flush. “I am not a good student.”
He did not love study, although he was quick to learn, and brilliant in recitation, when he chose to apply himself.
“I do not believe you really mean that,” Gladys said.
She could not believe that anybody could be a poor student who so closely resembled Geoffrey, who excelled. She imagined that he must be like him mentally as well as physically.
“Do you think it pays to get a reputation for good scholarship?” he asked.
“Perhaps not the reputation alone, but the knowledge pays. If I was a college boy I believe I should strive to attain the top round of the ladder.”