An eldest son may, I fancy, be a greater
ass than his younger brother.' The Master could not but smile as
he thought of the selection which had been made of a legislator.
'But if Gerald is sent down, I don't know how he will get over
it.' And now the tears absolutely rolled down the young man's
face, so that he was forced to wipe them from his eyes.
The Master was much moved. That a young man should pray for
himself would be nothing to him. The discipline of the college was
not in his hands, and such prayers would avail nothing with him.
Nor would a brother praying simply for a brother avail much. A
father asking for his son might be resisted. But the brother
asking pardon for the brother on behalf of the father was almost
irresistible. But this man had long been in a position in which he
knew that no such prayers should ever prevail at all. In the first
place it was not his business. If he did anything, it would only
be by asking a favour when he knew that no favour should be
granted;--and a favour which he of all men should not ask, because
to him of all men it could not be refused.
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