"I cleared all my debts, anyhow," said Frank serenely. "I thought that very important."
Mr. Mackintosh smiled again. Certainly this young man was very well behaved and deferential.
"Well, that's satisfactory. And you are going to read at the Bar now? If you will let me say so, Mr. Guiseley, even at this late hour, I must say that I think that a Third Class might have been bettered. But no doubt your tutor has said all that?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Well, then, a little more application and energy now may perhaps make up for lost time. I suppose you will go to the Temple in October?"
Frank looked at him pensively a moment.
"No, Mr. Mackintosh," he said suddenly; "I'm going on the roads. I mean it, quite seriously. My father's disowned me. I'm starting out to-morrow to make my own living."
There was dead silence for an instant. The Dean's face was stricken, as though by horror. Yet Frank saw he had not in the least taken it in.
"Yes; that's really so," he said. "Please don't argue with me about it. I'm perfectly determined."
"Your father ... Lord Talgarth ... the roads ... your own living ... the college authorities ... responsibility!"