So, after luncheon, Mr. Green and the rector paced up and down the
long-walk, and talked the matter over. The burden of Mr. Green's
discourse was this: "You see, sir, I don't intend my boy to go into
the Church, like yours; but, when anything happens to me, he'll come
into the estate, and have to settle down as the squire of the parish.
So I don't exactly see what would be the use of sending him to a
university, where, I dare say, he'd spend a good deal of money, - not
that I should grudge that, though; - and perhaps not be quite such a
good lad as he's always been to me, sir. And, by George! (I beg your
pardon,) I think his mother would break her heart to lose him; and I
don't know what we should do without him, as he's never been away
from us a day, and his sisters would miss him. And he's not a lad,
like your Charley, that could fight his way in the world, and I don't
think he'd be altogether happy. And as he's not got to depend upon
his talents for his bread and cheese, the knowledge he's got at home,
and from you, sir, seems to me quite enough to carry him through
life. So, altogether, I think Verdant will do very well as he is,
and perhaps we'd better say no more about the matriculation."

But the rector ~would~ say more; and he expressed his mind thus: "It
is not so much from what Verdant would learn in Latin and Greek, and
such things as make up a part of the education, that I advise your
sending him to a university;


[16 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

but more from what he would gain by mixing with a large body of young
men of his own age, who represent the best classes of a mixed