"Ralph Percival needs help, Darsie! He has not fallen very low as yet,
but he is drifting. He is in a bad set, and, like too many of our
richer men, he lacks purpose. They come up here because their fathers
have been before them, and it is the correct thing to do. There is no
real reason why they should work, or take a high place, but there seems
to themselves every reason why they should have a good time. Parents
sometimes seem to hold more or less the same opinion; at others they
seem distressed, but powerless. College authorities are regarded as
natural enemies; religious influences for the time beat on closed doors;
now, Darsie, here comes the chance for `only a girl!' A man like Ralph
Percival, at this stage of his life, will be more influenced by a girl
like you than by any power on earth. It's a law of Nature and of God,
and if every girl realised it, it would be a blessed thing for the race.
I once heard a preacher say that so long as one dealt with general
principles, and talked broadly of the human race, there was very little
done. We have to fine it down to _my next door neighbour_ before we
really set to work. Fine down what I have said to Ralph Percival,
Darsie, and help me with him! He's drifting. He needs you. Help me to
pull him back!"
Darsie nodded dumbly. Mrs Reeves thought the expression on her
downcast face touchingly sweet and earnest, but even she missed the clue
to the girl's inmost thought.
Years ago she herself had been drifting, drifting towards death, and
Ralph had stepped forward to save her; now, in an allegorical sense, the
positions were reversed, and she was summoned to the rescue. There was
no refusing a duty so obvious. Heavy and onerous as the responsibility
might be, it had been placed in her hands. Darsie braced herself to the
burden.