He threw himself into his studies again when he got back to the university, but in spite of himself his mind kept wandering back to strange questions.  He wished Wittemore would come back and say his mother was better!  It was Wittemore that had started all this queer side-track of philanthropy; that had sent him off to make toast for old women and manage funerals for strange young girls.  If Wittemore would get back to his classes and plod off to his slums every day, with his long horse-like face and his scared little apologetic smile, why, perhaps his own mind would assume its normal bent and let him get at his work.  And with that he sat down and wrote a letter to Wittemore, brief, sympathetic, inquiring, offering any help that might be required.  When it was finished he felt better and studied half the night.

He knew the next morning as soon as he woke up that he would have to go to that funeral.  He hated funerals, and this would be a terrible ordeal, he was sure.  Such a pitiful little funeral, and he an utter stranger, too!  But the necessity presented itself like a command from an unseen force, and he knew that it was required of him—­that he would never feel quite satisfied with himself if he shirked it.

Fortunately his examination began at eight o’clock.  If he worked fast he could get done in plenty of time, for the hour of the funeral had been set for eleven o’clock.

Tennelly and Pat stood and gazed after him aghast when, on coming out of the class-room where he had taken his examination, he declined their suggestion that they all go down to the river skating for an hour and try to get their blood up after the strain so they could study better after lunch.

“I can’t!  I’m going to that kid’s funeral!” he said, and strode up the stairs with his arms full of books.

“Good night!” said Pat, in dismay.

“Morbid!” ejaculated Tennelly.  “Say, Pat, I don’t guess we better let him go.  He’ll come home ‘all in’ again.”

But when they found Bill Ward and went up to try and stop Courtland he had departed by the other door and was half-way down the campus.

CHAPTER VIII

It was all very neat and beautiful in the little, third-story back room.  The gas-stove and other things had disappeared behind the calico curtain.  Before it stood the small white coffin, with the beautiful boy lying as if he were asleep, the roses strewn about him, and a mass of valley-lilies at his feet.  The girl, white and calm, sat beside him, one hand resting across the casket protectingly.

Three or four women from the house had brought in chairs, and some of the neighbors had slipped in shyly, half in sympathy, half in curiosity.  The minister was already there, talking in a low tone in the hall with the undertaker.