“Do you think so? Do you really. You aren’t saying that just to cheer me up? No, you wouldn’t do that, would you?”
“No,” said Paul, “I wouldn’t.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to go back to school next year?”
“No,” said Paul, “I don’t.”
“You don’t?” Then Carl laughed. “Well, I’m glad you say what you think.”
“It’s very likely, though, that you’ll be able to study a little, and a fellow as clever as you are won’t be behind long,” went on Paul, gravely. Carl was vastly pleased at the compliment.
“What makes you think I’m—clever?” he asked presently.
“Why, you are,” answered Paul in a surprised tone, and then with a rather sad little laugh, he added, “I wish I knew one tenth—one hundredth as much as you do. I’m a dunce, I don’t know as much as Lottie does—not nearly.”
In the face of this humble remark, Carl remembered rather uncomfortably the innumerable jibes he had directed at his cousin’s ignorance.
“Well, you can teach yourself a lot,” he said a little patronizingly. Paul laughed.