The usual dinner hour did not bring the young student.
"I thought it would have been all over before this," said Mr. Hudson, as they gathered around the table. "But the work of examination is, doubtless, slow. There is a large class this year."
"If he should be rejected," remarked the mother.
"We won't think that possible," said Martha. "I am sure Lloyd is well prepared. No one could study harder than he has studied."
"But to think of five or six learned professors examining a young student."
"That is one side of the case," said Mr. Hudson, "and the other is, that they will examine him on the very points they have taught him. They will ask him no questions, the answers to which they have not before given him over and over again in their lectures, and which he has not seen in books. I think we may safely believe that Lloyd is fully prepared for the trial, and will pass through it with credit to himself and honor to the school."
Just then the door was thrown open, and Lloyd walked in with a face whose brightness told the story of his success.
"All right, I see," said the father, while his heart bounded as lightly as a boy's.
"Yes, all right, father," returned Lloyd. "The professors did me the honor to say that I passed the best examination of any who preceded me."
The mother and sisters could not restrain their joy, but starting from the table, expressed the gladness they felt by warmly embracing the son and brother.