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.