“Nothing much.  I wasn’t just looking for any—­for you,” he stammered.  “Won’t you take this chair, Mr. Wagner?” Will pushed the easy-chair toward his visitor as he spoke and again urged him to be seated.

“That’s all right, Phelps.  Keep your seat.  I’ll just sit here,” replied Wagner, seating himself upon the edge of Will’s desk.  “How do you feel after the games?” he inquired.

“I’m a bit sore outside and worse still inside.”

“What’s the trouble?”

“I came in only third.”

“Only third?  Where did you expect to come in?”

“Why—­why, I was hoping I’d get first in the hundred,” Will managed to reply.

“You’re a modest youth,” laughed Wagner, surveying his long legs and laughing in such a manner that Will was compelled to join.

“Well, the fellows rather thought I’d win and that’s what makes me feel worse about it.”

“They’re only freshmen; they don’t know any better,” laughed Wagner.  “Don’t let that bother you for a minute.  I think you did well myself, and besides, the freshmen very seldom win in the sprints.  I don’t know that I ever saw one since I’ve been in college.”

“Did you win the hurdles when you were a freshman?”

“Oh, I just happened to.  ’Twas an accident of some kind, I fancy.  Yes, I think the soph who was ahead of me tripped and fell, so I crawled in first.”

“That will do for you to tell.”

“Perhaps I did win.  But that’s neither here nor there.  It isn’t what I came for.  I didn’t want to talk about myself but about you.”

Will looked up eagerly but did not speak, though his question was to be seen in the expression of his face.

“My advice to you is to go to work and try for the track team in the spring.”

“Do you think I can make it?” said Will breathlessly.

“I don’t say that,” laughed Wagner.  “That’s something to be decided later.  All I said was that you’d better ‘try’ for it.  You’ve nothing to lose if you fail and something to win if you succeed.”

“But if I should try and then not make it.”

“Yes, that’s a possibility, of course.  No man can ever tell about that.  But I shouldn’t let it break my heart if I didn’t make the team the first year.  Very few do that.  All I say is go ahead and try.  No man can ever tell what’s in him till he tests himself, can he?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“Now don’t have any nonsense about it, Phelps, and don’t misunderstand me.  I believe in every man doing his best and then just resting there and not crying over what he can’t ever have.  If a man does his best and then doesn’t have the whole world bowing and scraping before him because he isn’t very high up, that isn’t any reason why he should kick.  Take what you’ve got, use it, test it, and then if you find you’re not a star but only a candle, why, just shine as a candle and don’t go sputtering around because you can’t twinkle like a star.  At least that’s the way I look at it.”