"Attend to me," he began again. "I hope to get over this; but if I
should not recover, see that you strengthen yourself in arithmetic,
which is your weak point; make an effort. It is merely a question of a
first effort: because sometimes there is no lack of aptitude; there is
merely an absence of a fixed purpose--of stability, as it is called."
But in the meantime he was breathing hard; and it was evident that he
was suffering.
"I am feverish," he sighed; "I am half gone; I beseech you, therefore,
apply yourself to arithmetic, to problems. If you don't succeed at
first, rest a little and begin afresh. And press forward, but quietly
without fagging yourself, without straining your mind. Go! My respects
to your mamma. And do not mount these stairs again. We shall see each
other again in school. And if we do not, you must now and then call to
mind your master of the third grade, who was fond of you."