very clever boy. I think he will be a great credit to you—to Jalna." His subtle mind had discovered that, more than his horses, the eldest Whiteoak loved his house. A sudden breaking up of his features into tenderness and pleasure at some praise of Leigh's for the lofty rooms, the old English furniture, had disclosed this. He went on: "I am sure he will, if he is allowed a little margin—a chance, you know, to develop in his own way. There are some fellows who can't stand the grind of study unless they have some kind of outlet"
"Oh, he's been telling you about the music lessons, eh? Well, I thought it best to stop them for a while. He was always strumming, and he failed"
"It was not necessarily the music that caused him to fail. Any number of fellows fail the first time who don't know one note from another. If he'd had more music in his life, he might not have failed. It's quite possible."
Renny, pouring himself more tea, burst into laughter.
Leigh hurried on: "But music has nothing to do with this. This is about acting."
"Acting!"
"Yes. Finch has great talent for acting. I'm not sure that it is not greater than his talent for music."
Renny threw himself back in his chair. Good God, was there no limit to the extraordinary talents of this hobbledehoy? "Where's he been acting? Why haven't I been told about it?"
"I'm afraid I've been to blame about that. I felt that the expression of—of some art is so necessary to Finch that I persuaded him—made him promise not to let anyone put a stop to it."
The fiery brown eyes were on him. "His promises to me are worth nothing, then!"
"But they are! I give you my word that he has not been neglecting his work. He'll have no trouble passing next time. He didn't make a bad showing, you know. I believe it was more nerves than anything that made him fail."
A knock sounded on the door.
