thee, and his friends are simple folks like himself. He meddles not
in matters that gentlefolks love. He has no fine company to his
house. Since it be my lot to abide beneath his roof--"

"Thou must needs conform to his ways; is that so, boy?" asked the
Father, interrupting the rather lame and confused speech, and
smiling as he did so. "Ay, conform, conform! Conformity is the way
of the world today! I would not bid thee do otherwise. Yet one bit
of counsel will I give thee ere we part. Think not that thou canst
not conform and yet do thy duty by the true faith, too. Be a
careful, watchful inmate of thine uncle's house; yet fear not to
consort with good men, too, when thy chance comes. Thou needst not
tell thine uncle all. Thou hast reached man's estate, and it is
ordained of God that men should shake off the fetters that bind
them in youth, and act and judge for themselves. My counsel is
this: be wary, be prudent, be watchful, and lose no opportunity of
gaining the trust of all men. So wilt thou one day live to do
service to many; and thou wilt better understand my words the
longer thou livest in this great city, and learnest more of what is
seething below the surface of men's lives."

And with a few words of dismissal and blessing the Father sent
Cuthbert on his way, standing still and looking after him till the
slight figure was lost to sight in the darkness.

"There goes a man who by his face might have a great future before
him," mused the priest. "It is with such faces as that that men
have gone to prison and to death."

Cuthbert bent his steps towards the bridge, interested and excited