JOHN. Yes, out with me. And you'll be cheered to hear I'm likely to
be a nobody for a long time to come.
DAVID [who had been beginning to respect him]. Are you a poor
scholar?
JOHN. On the contrary, I'm a brilliant scholar.
DAVID. It's siller, then?
JOHN [glorified by experiences he has shared with many a gallant
soul]. My first year at college I lived on a barrel of potatoes, and
we had just a sofa-bed between two of us; when the one lay down the
other had to get up. Do you think it was hardship? It was sublime.
But this year I can't afford it. I'll have to stay on here,
collecting the tickets of the illiterate, such as you, when I might
be with Romulus and Remus among the stars.
JAMES [summing up]. Havers.
DAVID [in whose head some design is vaguely taking shape]. Whist,
James. I must say, young lad, I like your spirit. Now tell me, what's
your professors' opinion of your future.
JOHN. They think me a young man of extraordinary promise.
DAVID. You have a name here for high moral character.
JOHN. And justly.
DAVID. Are you serious-minded?
JOHN. I never laughed in my life.
DAVID. Who do you sit under in Glasgow?
JOHN. Mr. Flemister of the Sauchiehall High.
DAVID. Are you a Sabbath-school teacher?
JOHN. I am.
DAVID. One more question. Are you promised?
JOHN. To a lady?
DAVID. Yes.
JOHN. I've never given one of them a single word of encouragement.
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