“Well, good luck to you!” called Mott as he and his companion passed on down the street.

Will rang the bell and was at once ushered into the professor’s study.  The professor himself was seated at his desk with a green shade over his eyes, and evidently had been at work upon some papers.  Will even fancied that he could recognize the one which he himself had handed in the preceding day and his embarrassment increased.

“Ah, good evening, Mr. Phelps,” said the professor extending his hand and partly rising from his seat as he greeted his caller.  “Will you be seated?”

“Good evening, professor,” replied the freshman as he took the chair indicated.

An awkward silence followed which Will somehow found it difficult to break in upon.  He heartily wished that he had not come, for the reality was much worse than he had thought.  Even the very lines and furrows in the professor’s face seemed to him to be forbidding, and he felt that it would be well-nigh impossible for him to explain the purpose of his coming.

“Was there something concerning which you desired to consult me?” inquired the professor.  The voice seemed to be as impersonal as that of a phonograph, and every letter in every word was so distinctly pronounced that the effect was almost electric.

“Yes, sir.”

Again silence intervened.  The professor’s lips moved slightly as if, as Will afterwards declared, “he was tasting his Greek roots,” but he did not speak.  The freshman shifted his position, toyed with his gloves and at last, unable to endure the suspense any longer, he broke forth: 

“Yes, sir, there is, professor.  I have not been doing very well in my Greek.”

“Ah.  Let me see.”  The professor opened a drawer and drew forth a little notebook which he consulted for a brief time.  “Yes, you are correct.  Your work is below the required standard.”

“But what am I to do about it?” demanded Will.

“Yes, ah, yes.  I fancy it will be necessary for you to spend a somewhat longer period of study in preparation.”

“But how shall I study?”

“Yes.  Yes.  Ah, yes.  Exactly so.  So you refer to the method to be employed in the preparation for the classroom?”

“Yes, sir.  That’s it.  I’m willing enough to work, but I don’t know how.”

“Well, I should say that the proper method would be to employ a tutor for a time.  There are several very excellent young gentlemen who are accustomed to give their services to deserving youth—­”

“I don’t want them to give it.  I’ll pay for it!” interrupted Will.

“I was about to say that these young gentlemen give their services for a consideration—­a proper consideration—­of course.”

The professor’s thin lips seemed to be reluctant to permit the escape of a word, so firmly were they pressed together during the intervals between his slowly spoken words.  His slight figure, “too thin to cast a shadow,” in the vigorous terms of the young freshman, was irritating in the extreme, and if Will had followed his own inclinations he would at once have ended the interview.