smile of youth but the knowing
smile of someone pleased with the success of his own plans. "Mrs. Bagley,
of the many replies to my advertisement, yours was selected because you
are in a near-desperate position. My advertisement must have sounded
tailor-made to fit your case; a young widow to work as resident
housekeeper, child of preschool or early school age welcome. Well, Mrs.
Bagley, your qualifications are tailor-made for me, too. You are in need,
and I can give you what you need--a living salary, a home for you and
your daughter, and for your daughter an education that will far transcend
any that you could ever provide for her."

"And how do you intend to make that come to pass?"

"Mrs. Bagley, at the present time there are only two people alive who
know the answer to that question. I am one of them. The other is my
so-called legal 'guardian' who would be most happy to guard me right out
of my real secret. You will be the third person alive to know that my
mother and father built a machine that produces the same deeply-inlaid
memory-track of information as many months of learning-by-repetition.
With that machine, I absorbed the information available to a high-school
student before I was five. I am rebuilding that machine now from plans
and specifications drilled into my brain by my father. When it is
complete, I intend to become the best informed person in the world."

"That isn't right," breathed Mrs. Bagley.

"Isn't it?" asked James seriously. "Isn't it right? Is it wrong, when at
the present time it takes a man until he is almost thirty years old
before he can say that his education is complete?"

"Well, I suppose you're right."

James eyed Mrs. Bagley carefully. He said softly, "Mrs. Bagley, tell me,
would you give Martha a college education if you had--or will you if you
have at the time--the wherewithal to provide it?"

"Of course."

"You have it here," said James. "So long as you stay to protect it."

"But won't it make--?" her voice trailed away uncertainly.

"A little intellectual monster out of her?" laughed the boy. "Maybe.
Maybe I am, too. On the other hand it might make a brilliant woman out of
her. She might be a doctor if she has the capacity of a brilliant doctor.
My father's machine is no monster-maker, Mrs. Bagley. With it a person
could memorize the Britannica. And from the Britannica that person would
learn that there is much good in the world and also that there is rich
reward for be