"I'll try," said Rebecca.
"Come to the Ark, after school, and look over the books I have. We will
talk some more about it, and you shall select as you please, or I will
select for you, if you desire," I said, looking at Rebecca with kindly
though severe penetration.
"I'd rather you would," said Rebecca, obediently.
To inflict this particular sort of patronage was a delightfully new
experience for me. The glaring inconsistencies which confronted me at
every turn only gave a heightened zest to the pursuit.
When I went to the door to blow the horn I felt that Rebecca already
regarded me as her patron, guide, and spiritual mentor, and I was
seriously resolved to fill these positions hopefully for her and with
credit to myself. With respect to the rest of my flock, I felt a
different sort of interest--the wide-awake concern of one who finds
himself suddenly perched on the back of a mettlesome, untried steed.
Any one member of that benighted corps, taken as the subject of pruning
and cultivating effort, would have occupied, I believed, the faithful
labors of a lifetime. Considered as a gloriously rampant mass, the aspect
of the field was appalling.
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