JOHN. Do you think a Shand would so far lower himself as to enter your door? Well, is it a case for the police? JAMES. It is. MAGGIE [not so much out of the goodness of her heart as to patronise the Shands]. It seems to me it’s a case for us all to go to our beds and leave the young man to study; but not on that chair. [And she wheels the chair away from him.] JOHN. Thank you, Miss Maggie, but I couldn’t be beholden to you. JAMES. My opinion is that he’s nobody, so out with him. 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. I’m too much occupied thinking about my career. DAVID. So. [He reflects, and finally indicates by a jerk of the head that he wishes to talk with his father behind the door.] JAMES [longingly]. Do you want me too? [But they go out without even answering him.] MAGGIE. I don’t know what maggot they have in their heads, but sit down, young man, till they come back. JOHN. My name’s Mr. Shand, and till I’m called that I decline to sit down again in this house. MAGGIE. Then I’m thinking, young sir, you’ll have a weary wait. [While he waits you can see how pinched his face is. He is little more than a boy, and he seldom has enough to eat. DAVID and ALICK return presently, looking as sly as if they had been discussing some move on the dambrod, as indeed they have.] DAVID [suddenly become genial]. Sit down, Mr. Shand, and pull in your chair. You’ll have a thimbleful of something to keep the cold out? [Briskly] Glasses, Maggie. [She wonders, but gets glasses and decanter from the sideboard, which JAMES calls the chiffy. DAVID and ALICK, in the most friendly manner, also draw up to the table.]