In the afternoon I was again examined in Law and Equity, answering
nearly every question with great copiousness and best style of
composition, quoting freely from Hon'ble SNELL and UNDERHILL to back my
opinion. Unhappily, I lost some of my precious time because, finding
that I was required by the paper to "discuss" a certain statement, I
left my seat in search of some pundit with whom I might carry on such a
logomachy. And even now I fail to see how one individual can discuss a
question in pen and ink, any more than a single hand is capable of
making a clap. Which I gave as my reason for not attempting the
impossible.
The ordeal endured for four days. In the Roman Law department, I was
on the spot with _Stillicidium_ and similar servitudes, and in Criminal
Law I did vastly distinguish myself by polishing off an intricate legal
problem about Misters A., B. and C., and certain bicycles, though, as I
stated in a _postscriptum_, not being the practical cyclist, I could not
be at all responsible for the accuracy of my solution, and hinted that
it was somewhat _infra dig._ for such solemn dry-as-dusts as the Council
of Legal Education to take any notice at all of these fashionable but
flimsy mechanisms.
When called up for _vivâ voce_ purposes, I dumb-foundered my examiner by
the readiness and volubility of my responses, to such an extent that,
after asking one question only, he intimated his complete satisfaction,
and I divined by his smiles that he was secretly determined to work the
oracle in my favour.
And so I arrived at the pretty Pass by dint of flourishing my trumpet.
But, heigho! some fly or other is the indispensable adjunct of every pot
of ointment, and while I was still jumping for joy at having passed the
steep barrier of such a Rubicon, there came a letter from Miss JESSIMINA
which constrained me to cachinnate upon the wrong side of nose!
It appeared that, pursuant of my request, she had been to call upon
Hon'ble Sir CHETWYND, who had duly informed her that I was not the
genuine Rajah or any kind of real Prince, nor yet a Croesus with
unlimited cash.
Here, if Hon'ble CUMMERBUND had stopped, or represented me as a
worthless riddance of bad rubbish, all would have been well; but most
unhappily he did exceed his instructions, and added that I was of
respectable, well-to-do parentage, and very industrious young chap with
first-class abilities, and likely to obtain lucrative practice at native
Bar.
JESSIMINA wrote that she hoped she was not so mercenary as to be
attracted by mere rank, and that it was enough for her that I was in the
position to maintain her as a lady, so she would continue to hold me to
my promise of marriage, and if I still declined to perform, she would be
reluctantly compelled to place the matter in hands of lawyer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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