Froude had no ambition, believing that he should soon die.

But a reading-party during the Long Vacation of 1839 resulted in an engagement, which changed the course of his life.
Hitherto he had been under the impression that nobody cared for him at all, and that it mattered not what became of him.

The sense of being valued by another person made him value himself.

He became ambitious, and worked hard for his degree.

He remembered how the master of his first school had prophesied that he would be a Bishop.
He did not want to be a Bishop, but he began to think that such grandeur would not have been predicted of a fool.