Mr. Tomkins and Mrs. Redmond were both gratified when they observed the intimacy that had grown up between the two young people. Mr. Tomkins felt that there was less danger of broken limbs for Fritz if he spent the most of his spare time with a girl; and Mrs. Redmond, even though she might have preferred for Amy the companionship of some pleasant girl, still knew that a refined boy like Fritz was sure to have good influence over her. His influence in many ways was even better than Mrs. Redmond imagined. For Fritz was fun-loving where Amy was serious, and it was a great advantage for her to have a friend who could make her laugh—sometimes in spite of herself.
Mr. Tomkins, with his sense of responsibility for his nephew, had Fritz study regularly, even on hot summer days. “A boy who is going to College has no time to waste. There’s no danger that you will pass your examinations too well.” So from the time he left school in May for their summer home, until the late autumn, when they went back to the city, Fritz read his Latin and Greek with his uncle, and waded through pages of ancient history. Mr. Tomkins was not fond of mathematics, and he was too conscientious to undertake to teach a subject which was distasteful to him. Consequently it was only in winter that Fritz turned to his algebra and geometry. And then he had to devote himself to these subjects with all his might and main, for not even the warmest friend of Fritz could very truthfully say that the bright boy was destined to be a mathematician.
