Love stories; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Princeton University -- Fiction; Social classes -- Fiction
"You might think," the tutor resumed, limping faster than ever, "that he
would run his fingers through his hair, if he had sufficient; would
figuratively flame with pleasure; would say: 'Miraculous, Mr. Bailly.
You are a great benefactor. We must get this extraordinary youth in the
university even if he can't parse "the cat caught the rat."'"
Bailly paused. He clashed his hands together.
"Now I'll tell you what he'd actually reply. 'Interesting if true, Mr.
Bailly. But what are his scholastic attainments? Can he solve a
quadratic equation in his head? Has he committed to memory my favourite
passages of the "Iliad" of Homer and the "Aeneid" of Virgil? Can he name
the architect of the Parthenon or the sculptor of the Aegean pediments?
No? Horrible! Then off with his head!'"
Bailly draped himself across his chair.
"Therefore it behooves us to get to work."
III
That was the first of sixty-odd toilsome, torturing evenings, for Bailly
failed to honour the Sabbath; and, after that first lecture, drab
business alone coloured those hours. The multiplicity of subjects was
confusing; but, although Bailly seldom told him so, George progressed
rapidly, and Bailly knew just where to stress for the examinations.
If it had ended there it would have been bad enough. When he studied the
schedule Bailly gave him that first night he had a despairing feeling
that either he or it must break down. Everything was accounted for even
to the food he was to eat. That last, in fact, created a little
difficulty with the landlady, who seemed to have no manner of
appreciation of the world-moving importance of football. Rogers wanted
to help out there, too. He had found George's lodging. It was when
Green's interest was popular knowledge, when from the Nassau Club had
slipped the belief that Squibs Bailly had turned his eyes on another
star. George made it dispassionately clear to Rogers that Bailly had not
allowed in his schedule for calls. Rogers was visibly disappointed.
"Where do you eat, then?"
"Here--with Mrs. Michin."
"Now look, Morton. That's no way. Half a dozen of us are eating at Joe's
restaurant. They're the best of the sub-Freshmen that are here. Come
along with us."
The manner of the invitation didn't make George at all reluctant to tell
the truth.
"I can't afford to be eating around in restaurants."
"That needn't figure," Rogers said, quickly. "Green's probably only
letting you eat certain things. I'll guarantee Joe'll take you on for
just what you're paying Mrs. Michin."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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