“Is it not right, father, for me to excel others in every way?”
“Yes, if it is in your power to do so; for then you can be more useful than any one else. But, it seems that Herbert Wellmore can excel you—and I suppose he does so fairly.”
“Oh, yes. It is fair enough—and that is just what I don’t like. It shows that he can do better than I can.”
“Then he will have it in his power to be more useful to his fellow-men than you. And should not this make you glad instead of discontented?”
“I didn’t think anything about that, father.”
“So I supposed—if you had so thought, you would, probably, never have been willing to have seen your school-fellow. But why does this circumstance make you unhappy?”
“I don’t like any one to get ahead of me.”
“Why?”
Henry tried to determine in his own mind the reason, but was unable to do so. Mr. Carey saw this, and added: