by
without making the required effort, and now it appeared that no one
wanted him.

Yes, there was one person who had made him a proposition that very day.
Thorpe Walling, the wealthiest fellow in the class, and one of its few
members who had failed to gain a diploma, had said:

"Look here, Grant, what do you say to taking a year's trip around the
world with me, while I coach for a degree next June? There is no such
educator as travel, you know, and we'll make a point of going to all
sorts of places where we can pick up ideas. At the same time it'll be
no end of a lark."

"I don't know," Cabot had replied doubtfully, though his face had
lighted at the mere idea of taking such a trip. "I'd rather do that
than almost anything else I know of, but----"

"If you are thinking of the expense," broke in the other.

"It isn't that," interrupted Cabot, "but it seems somehow as though I
ought to be doing something more in the line of business. Anyway, I
can't give you an answer until I have seen my guardian, who has sent me
word to meet him in New York day after to-morrow. I'll let you know
what he says, and if everything is all right, perhaps I'll go with you."

With this the matter had rested, and during the manifold excitements of
the day our lad had not given it another thought, until he tumbled into
bed, wondering what would happen next. Then for a long time he lay
awake, considering Thorpe's proposition, and wishing that it had been
made by any other fellow in the class.

Until about the time of entering the Technical Institute, from which he
was just graduated, Cabot Grant, who was an only child, had been
blessed with as happy a home as ever a boy enjoyed. Then in a breath
it was taken from him by a railway accident, that had caused the
instant death of his mother, and which the father had only survived
long enough to provide for his son's immediate future by making a will.
By its terms his slender fortune was placed in the hands of a trust and
investment company, who were constituted the boy's guardians, and
enjoined to give their ward a liberal education along such lines as he
himself might choose.

The corporation thus empowered had been faithful to its trust, and had
carried out to the letter the instructions of their deceased client
during the past five years. Now less than a twelvemonth of their
guardianship remained and it was to plan for his disposal of this time
that Cabot had been summoned to Ne