"
Arnold smiled, but kept silence. Mrs. Jacks looked and murmured her
approval.
"I wish Hannaford could hear you," said Piers Otway.
When they rose from the table, John Jacks invited the young man to
come with him into his study for a little private talk.
"I haven't many books here," he said, noticing Otway's glance at the
shelves. "My library is down in Yorkshire, at the old home; where I
shall be very glad indeed to see you, whenever you come north in
vacation-time. Well now, let us make friends; tell me something
about yourself. You are reading for the Civil Service, I
understand?"
Piers liked Mr. Jacks, and was soon chatting freely. He told how his
education had begun at a private school in London, how he had then
gone to school at Geneva, and, when seventeen years old, had entered
an office of London merchants, dealing with Russia.
"It wasn't my own choice. My father talked to me, and seemed so
anxious for me to go into business that I made no objection. I
didn't understand him then, but I think I do now. You know"--he
added in a lower tone--"that I have two elder brothers?"
"Yes, I know. And a word that fell from your father at Northallerton
the other day--I think I understand."
"Both went in for professions," Otway pursued, "and I suppose he
wasn't very well satisfied with the results. However, after I had
been two years in the office, I felt I couldn't stand it, and I
began privately to read law.
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