A Master's Degree [66]
restored the property to Victor Burleigh."
"He thinks she will not care for him now," Fenneben said to himself. Aloud he said:
"Have you ever spoken directly to Elinor on this matter?"
"N-no. It was an understanding between her and her uncle and between him and me," Burgess replied.
"Well, I don't pretend to know girls very well, being a confirmed bachelor"-- the Dean's eyes were smiling--"but my advice at this distance is not to ask Norrie to release you from what she herself has never yet bound you. I'll vouch for her peace of mind; and your sense of honor is fully vindicated now. To be equally frank with you, Burgess, now that Norrie is entirely in my charge, I have put this sort of thing for her absolutely into the after-commencement years. The best wife is not always the girl who wears a diamond ring through three or four years of her college life. I want my niece to be a girl now, not a bride-in-waiting."
As Burgess rose to go his eye caught sight of the pigeons above the bend in the river.
"By the way, Doctor, have you ever found out anything about the woman who used to live in that deserted place up north?"
"Nothing yet," Fenneben replied. "But, remember, I have not spent a week-- that is, a sane week--in Lagonda Ledge since the night you, and she, and Saxon, and the dog saved my life. I shall take up her case soon."
"She is gone away and nobody knows where, Saxon tells me," Burgess said. "For many reasons I wish we could find her, but she has dropped out of sight."
Lloyd Fenneben wondered at the sorrowful expression on the younger man's face when he said this.
As he left the study Victor Burleigh came in.
"Sit down, Burleigh. What can I do for you?" Fenneben asked.
Something like his own magnetism of presence was in the young man before him.
"I want to tell you something," Vic responded.
"Let me tell you something. I knew you had good blood in your veins even when I saw you kill that bull snake. Burgess has just been in. He has told me his side of your story. Noble fellow he is to free himself of a life-long slavery to somebody else's dollars. However much a man may try to hide the fetters of unlawful gains, they clank in his own ears till he hates himself. Now Burgess is a freeman."
"I am glad to hear you say so, Dr. Fenneben. It makes my own freedom sweeter," Vic declared.
"Yes," Fenneben replied. "Your added means will bring you life's best gift--opportunity."
"I have no added means, Doctor. I have funds in trust for Bug Buler, and I come to ask you to take his legal guardianship for me." And then he told his own life story.
"So the heroism shifts to you as well. I can picture the cost to a man like yourself," the Dean said. "Have you no record of Bug's father and mother?"
"None but the record given by Dr. Wream. They are dead," Burleigh replied. "His father may have met the same fate that my father did."
"Why don't you take the guardianship yourself, Burleigh? The boy is yours in love and blood. He ought to be in law."
Victor Burleigh stood up to his full height, a magnificent product of Nature's handiwork. But the mind and soul "Dean Funnybone" had helped to shape.
"I will be honest with you, Dr. Fenneben," Burleigh said, and his voice was deep and sweetly resonant. "If I keep the money in charge I may not be proof against the temptation to use it for myself. As strong as my strong arms are my hates and loves, and for some reasons I would do almost anything to gain riches. I might not resist the tempter."
Lloyd Fenneben's black eyes blazed at the words.
"I understand perfectly what you mean, but no woman who exacts this price is worth the cost." Then, in a gentler tone, he continued: "Burleigh, will you take my advice? I have always had your welfare on my heart. Finish your college work first. Get the best of the classroom, the library, the athletic field, and the `picnic spread.' Is that the right term? But fit yourself for manhood before you undertake a man's duties. Meantime, He who has given you the mastery
"He thinks she will not care for him now," Fenneben said to himself. Aloud he said:
"Have you ever spoken directly to Elinor on this matter?"
"N-no. It was an understanding between her and her uncle and between him and me," Burgess replied.
"Well, I don't pretend to know girls very well, being a confirmed bachelor"-- the Dean's eyes were smiling--"but my advice at this distance is not to ask Norrie to release you from what she herself has never yet bound you. I'll vouch for her peace of mind; and your sense of honor is fully vindicated now. To be equally frank with you, Burgess, now that Norrie is entirely in my charge, I have put this sort of thing for her absolutely into the after-commencement years. The best wife is not always the girl who wears a diamond ring through three or four years of her college life. I want my niece to be a girl now, not a bride-in-waiting."
As Burgess rose to go his eye caught sight of the pigeons above the bend in the river.
"By the way, Doctor, have you ever found out anything about the woman who used to live in that deserted place up north?"
"Nothing yet," Fenneben replied. "But, remember, I have not spent a week-- that is, a sane week--in Lagonda Ledge since the night you, and she, and Saxon, and the dog saved my life. I shall take up her case soon."
"She is gone away and nobody knows where, Saxon tells me," Burgess said. "For many reasons I wish we could find her, but she has dropped out of sight."
Lloyd Fenneben wondered at the sorrowful expression on the younger man's face when he said this.
As he left the study Victor Burleigh came in.
"Sit down, Burleigh. What can I do for you?" Fenneben asked.
Something like his own magnetism of presence was in the young man before him.
"I want to tell you something," Vic responded.
"Let me tell you something. I knew you had good blood in your veins even when I saw you kill that bull snake. Burgess has just been in. He has told me his side of your story. Noble fellow he is to free himself of a life-long slavery to somebody else's dollars. However much a man may try to hide the fetters of unlawful gains, they clank in his own ears till he hates himself. Now Burgess is a freeman."
"I am glad to hear you say so, Dr. Fenneben. It makes my own freedom sweeter," Vic declared.
"Yes," Fenneben replied. "Your added means will bring you life's best gift--opportunity."
"I have no added means, Doctor. I have funds in trust for Bug Buler, and I come to ask you to take his legal guardianship for me." And then he told his own life story.
"So the heroism shifts to you as well. I can picture the cost to a man like yourself," the Dean said. "Have you no record of Bug's father and mother?"
"None but the record given by Dr. Wream. They are dead," Burleigh replied. "His father may have met the same fate that my father did."
"Why don't you take the guardianship yourself, Burleigh? The boy is yours in love and blood. He ought to be in law."
Victor Burleigh stood up to his full height, a magnificent product of Nature's handiwork. But the mind and soul "Dean Funnybone" had helped to shape.
"I will be honest with you, Dr. Fenneben," Burleigh said, and his voice was deep and sweetly resonant. "If I keep the money in charge I may not be proof against the temptation to use it for myself. As strong as my strong arms are my hates and loves, and for some reasons I would do almost anything to gain riches. I might not resist the tempter."
Lloyd Fenneben's black eyes blazed at the words.
"I understand perfectly what you mean, but no woman who exacts this price is worth the cost." Then, in a gentler tone, he continued: "Burleigh, will you take my advice? I have always had your welfare on my heart. Finish your college work first. Get the best of the classroom, the library, the athletic field, and the `picnic spread.' Is that the right term? But fit yourself for manhood before you undertake a man's duties. Meantime, He who has given you the mastery