The youth smiled slightly; he could but see that the duke was utterly perplexed as to his own course of conduct, and to cover his confusion he was only talking for talk’s sake.

“You will let me know your own wishes on this subject, I hope, young sir,” continued the elder.

“My only wish on the subject is to leave myself in your grace’s hands.  I feel confident that whatever your grace may think right to do with me, will be the best possible thing for me,” replied the boy, with more meaning in his manner, as well as in his words, than he had intended to betray.

The duke looked keenly at him; but his fair impassive face was unreadable.

“Well, at all events, it is, perhaps, time enough for two or three years to come to talk of a profession for you.  Would you like to enter one of the universities?  Are you prepared to do so?” suddenly inquired the guardian.

“I would like to go to Oxford.  But whether I am prepared to do so, I do not know.  I do not know what is required.  I have a fair knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and of the higher mathematics.  I was in course of preparation to enter one of the German universities, when my good tutor, Father Antonio, died,” replied the youth.

The duke dropped his gray head upon his chest and mused awhile, and then said: 

“I think that you had better read with a private tutor for a while; you will then soon recover what you may have lost since the death of your good teacher, and make such further progress as may fit you to go to Oxford at the next term.  What do you think?  Let me know your views, young sir.”

“Thanks, your grace; I will read with any tutor you may be pleased to recommend,” respectfully answered the youth.

“You are certainly a most manageable ward,” said the guardian, dryly, and with, perhaps, a shade of distrust in his manner.

The boy bowed.

“Well, since you place yourself so implicitly in my hands, I must justify your faith as well as your mother’s by doing the very best I can for you.  There is a very worthy man, the Vicar of Greencombe, on one of my estates, down in Sussex, near the sea.  He is a ripe scholar, a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford, and occasionally augments his moderate salary by preparing youth for college.  I will direct my secretary to write to him this morning to know if he can receive you, and I will let you know the result in a day or two.”

“Thanks, your grace.”

“And now how are you going to employ your time while waiting here?”

“By taking a good guide-book, your grace, and going through London.  Your grace will remember that I am a perfect stranger here, and even one of your great historical monuments, such as Westminster Abbey or the Tower, has interest enough in it to occupy a student for a week.”

“I commend your taste in the occupation you have sketched out for your time.  I must request you, however, to take great care of yourself, and to be here every day at this hour, as I shall make it a point to look in upon you.”