Miss Poole returned home the next afternoon after the delivery of the diplomas, and I heard that Peck went off on the same train with her.
I expected some sympathy from the girl for whom my devotion had cost me so much; but she was as cool and sedate over my failure as if it had been Peck's.
All she said was, "Why did not you win the honors?"
"Because I did not work enough for them."
"Why did not you work more?"
I came near saying, "Because I was fooling around you"; but I simply said, "Because I was so certain of winning them."
"You showed rather bad judgment." That was all the sympathy I received from her.
The old law professor when he took leave of me said—and I remember said it gravely—"Mr. Glave, you have the burden of too many gifts to carry."
I was pleased by the speech and showed it. He looked at me keenly from under his bushy eyebrows. "I commend to you the fable of the hare and the tortoise. We shall hear of Peck."
I wondered how he knew I was thinking of Peck with his common face, hard eyes, and stumpy legs.