Again the eyes of the fishers were fixed on their corks, gravely, and in the case of Rufus with a somewhat disturbed look.

“I wish I was clear of the headlands too,” said he after a short silence; “and there’s one standing right across my way now.”

“What’s that?”

“Books.”

“Books?” said Winthrop.

“Yes —­ books which I haven’t got.”

“Books!” said his brother in astonishment.

“Yes —­why?”

“I thought you said boots,” the other remarked simply, as he disengaged a fish from the hook.

“Well,” said Rufus sharply, “what then? what if I did?  Can’t a man want to furnish both ends of his house at once?”

“I have heard of a man in his sleep getting himself turned about with his head in the place of his feet.  I thought he was dreaming.”

“You may have your five dollars again, if you think them ill-bestowed,” said the other putting his hand in his pocket; —­ “There they are! —­ I don’t want them —­ I will find a way to stand on my own legs —­ with boots or without, as the case may be.”

“I don’t know who has better legs,” said Winthrop.  “I can’t pity you.”

“But seriously, Winthrop,” said Rufus, smiling in spite of himself, —­ “a man may go empty-headed, but he cannot go bare-footed into a library, nor into society.”

“Did you go much into society at Asphodel?” asked Winthrop.

“Not near so much as I shall —­ and that’s the very thing.  I can’t do without these things, you see.  They are necessary to me.  Even at Asphodel —­ but that was nothing.  Asphodel will be a very good place for you to go to in the first instance.  You won’t find yourself a stranger.”

“Will you be ready for college next year?”

“Hum —­ don’t know —­ it depends.  I am not anxious about it —­ I shall be all the better prepared if I wait longer, and I should like to have you with me.  It will make no difference in the end, for I can enter higher, and that will save expense.  Seriously Winthrop, you must get away.”

“I must catch that fish,” said Winthrop, —­ “if I can —­”

“You won’t —­”

“I’ve got him.”

“There’s one place at Asphodel where I’ve been a good deal —­ Mr. Haye’s —­ he’s an old friend of my father’s and thinks a world of him.  You’ll like him —­ he’s been very kind to me.”

“What shall I like him for —­ besides that?” said Winthrop.

“O he’s a man of great wealth, and has a beautiful place there, and keeps a very fine house, and he’s very hospitable.  He’s always very glad to see me; and it’s rather a pleasant change from Glanbally’s vis-a-vis and underdone apple-pies.  He is one of the rich, rich Mannahatta merchants, but he has a taste for better things too.  Father knows him —­ they met some years ago in the Legislature, and father has done him some service or other since.  He has no family —­ except one or two children not grown up —­ his wife is dead —­ so I suppose he was glad of somebody to help him eat his fine dinners.  He said some very handsome things to encourage me.  He might have offered me the use of his library —­ but he did not.”