The Vicar laughed loudly at this.  “Excellent!” he said, “a very human view; that’s a real bit of human nature.”

“But Jack,” said Howard, “isn’t like that.  He enjoys his life and gets what fun out of it he can; but he thinks Cambridge a waste of time.  I don’t know any young man who is so perfectly clear that he wants real work.  He is not idle as many young men are idle, prolonging the easy days as long as they can.  He is an extraordinary mixture; he enjoys himself like a schoolboy, and yet he wants to get to work.”

“Well, I think that a very encouraging picture!” said the Vicar; “there is something very sensible about that.  I confess I have mostly seen the schoolboy side of Jack, and it delights one to know that there is a serious side!  Let us hear what Maud thinks; this kind of talk is really very enjoyable.”

“Yes,” said Maud, looking up.  “I am sure that Mr. Kennedy is quite right.  I believe that Jack would like to go into an office to-morrow.”

“There,” said the Vicar, “you see she agrees with you.  It is really a pleasure to find oneself mistaken.  I confess I had not discerned this quality in Jack; he had seemed to me much set on amusement.”

“Oh yes,” said Howard, “he likes his fun, and he is active enough; but it is all passing the time.”

“Well, this is really most satisfactory,” said the Vicar.  “So you really think he is cut out for business; something commercial?  Well, I confess I had rather hankered after something more definitely academic and scholastic—­something more intellectual!  But I bow to your superior knowledge, Howard, and we must think of possible openings.  Well, I shall enjoy that.  My own money, what there is of it, was made by my grandfather in trade—­the manufacture of cloth, I believe.  Would cloth now, the manufacture of cloth, appear to provide the requisite opening?  I have some cousins still in the firm.”

“I think it would do as well as anything else,” said Howard, “and if you have any interest in a particular business, it would be worth while to make inquiries.”

“Before I go to bed to-night,” said the Vicar, “I will send a statement of the case to my cousin; that will set the ball rolling.”

“Won’t you have a talk with Jack first?” said Howard.  “You may depend upon it he will have some views.”

“The very thing,” said the Vicar.  “I will put aside all my other work, and talk to Jack after tea; if any difficulty should arise, I may look to you for further counsel.  This is really most satisfactory.  This matter has been in my mind in a nebulous way for a long time; and you enter the scene with your intellectual grip, and your psychological penetration—­if that is not too intricate a word—­and the situation is clear at once.  Well, I am most grateful to you.”

The talk then became general, or rather passed into the Vicar’s hands.  “I have ventured,” he said, “to indicate to Maud what Cousin Anne was good enough to tell me last night—­she laid no embargo on the news—­and a few particulars about your inheritance will not be lacking in interest—­and on our walk this afternoon, to which I am greatly looking forward, we will explore your domains.”