Part 29 (2/2)

”Yes, Benjy, but she used to bring us in bread and b.u.t.ter when there had been none in the house at breakfast-time. Don't you remember, Benjy?”

”Oh, yes, I remember. We've been through some beastly bad times, haven't we, Esther? All I say is you wouldn't like father coming in before all the girls in your cla.s.s, would you, now?”

Esther blushed. ”There is no occasion for him to come,” she said evasively.

”Well, I know what I shall do!” said Benjamin decisively; ”I'm going to be a very rich man--”

”Are you, Benjy?” inquired Esther.

”Yes, of course. I'm going to write books--like d.i.c.kens and those fellows. d.i.c.kens made a pile of money, just by writing down plain every-day things going on around.”

”But you can't write!”

Benjamin laughed a superior laugh, ”Oh, can't I? What about _Our Own_, eh?”

”What's that?”

”That's our journal. I edit it. Didn't I tell you about it? Yes, I'm running a story through it, called 'The Soldier's Bride,' all about life in Afghanistan.”

”Oh, where could I get a number?”

”You can't get a number. It ain't printed, stupid. It's all copied by hand, and we've only got a few copies. If you came down, you could see it.”

”Yes, but I can't come down,” said Esther, with tears in her eyes.

”Well, never mind. You'll see it some day. Well, what was I telling you?

Oh, yes! About my prospects. You see, I'm going in for a scholars.h.i.+p in a few months, and everybody says I shall get it. Then, perhaps I might go to a higher school, perhaps to Oxford or Cambridge!”

”And row in the boat-race!” said Esther, flus.h.i.+ng with excitement.

”No, bother the boat-race. I'm going in for Latin and Greek. I've begun to learn French already. So I shall know three foreign languages.”

”Four!” said Esther, ”you forget Hebrew!”

”Oh, of course, Hebrew. I don't reckon Hebrew. Everybody knows Hebrew.

Hebrew's no good to any one. What I want is something that'll get me on in the world and enable me to write my books.”

”But d.i.c.kens--did he know Latin or Greek?” asked Esther.

”No, he didn't,” said Benjamin proudly. ”That's just where I shall have the pull of him. Well, when I've got rich I shall buy father a new suit of clothes and a high hat--it _is_ so beastly cold here, Esther, just feel my hands, like ice!--and I shall make him live with grandmother in a decent room, and give him an allowance so that he can study beastly big books all day long--does he still take a week to read a page? And Sarah and Isaac and Rachel shall go to a proper boarding school, and Solomon--how old will he be then?”

Esther looked puzzled. ”Oh, but suppose it takes you ten years getting famous! Solomon will be nearly twenty.”

”It can't take me ten years. But never mind! We shall see what is to be done with Solomon when the time comes. As for you--”

”Well, Benjy,” she said, for his imagination was breaking down.

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