e south of
France--mainly at Lyons--to learn the details of the silk manufacture.
Then I shall come home to go into my father's store for a year as a
clerk in the importing department. At the close of that year the
governor will take me in as junior partner, and I shall marry my
second cousin. We shall live with my parents, and I am going to be
very domestic, though, as a matter of form, I shall join one or two
clubs. I shall go down town every morning at nine, and come up at
five."

"Quite a neat little destiny," said Armstrong. "I wish I had your
backing. Come, Dodd, what's yours? You're the only man left."

"I haven't made up my mind yet," said Doddridge, slowly.

He was a large, spare man, with a swarthy skin, a wide mouth, a dark,
steady eye, and a long jaw. There was an appearance of power and will
about him which was well borne out by his character. He had been a
systematic though not a laborious student, and while maintaining a
stand comfortably near the head of the class, had taken a course in
the Law School during Senior year, doing his double duties with
apparent ease. He was a constant speaker in the debates of the
Linonian Society, and the few who attended the meetings of that
moribund school of eloquence spoke of Doddridge's speeches as oases
in the waste of forensic dispute, being always distinguished by vigor
and soundness, though without any literary quality, such as Clay's
occasional performances had. Berkeley, who covered his own lazy and
miscellaneous reading with the mask of eclecticism, and proclaimed
his disbelief in a prescribed course of study, was wont to say
that Doddridge was the only man that he knew who was using the
opportunities given by the college for all they were worth, and really
getting out of "the old curric" that mental discipline which it
professed to impart. Though rather taciturn, he was not unsocial, and
was fond of his pipe in the evening. He liked a joke, especially if
it was of a definite kind, and at some one's expense touching a
characteristic weakness of the man. There was at bottom something a
little hard about him, though every one agreed that he was a good
fellow. We all felt sure that he would make a distinguished success in
practical life; and we doubtless thought--if we thought about it at
all--that with his clear foresight and habits of steady work, he had
already decided upon his career. His words were therefore a surprise.

"What! you don't mean to say that