'I am afraid,' said Squeers, perplexed with such an application from a
youth of Nicholas's figure, 'I am afraid the young man won't suit me.'

'Yes, he will,' said Ralph; 'I know better. Don't be cast down, sir; you
will be teaching all the young noblemen in Dotheboys Hall in less than a
week's time, unless this gentleman is more obstinate than I take him to
be.'

'I fear, sir,' said Nicholas, addressing Mr Squeers, 'that you object to
my youth, and to my not being a Master of Arts?'

'The absence of a college degree IS an objection,' replied Squeers,
looking as grave as he could, and considerably puzzled, no less by the
contrast between the simplicity of the nephew and the worldly manner of
the uncle, than by the incomprehensible allusion to the young noblemen
under his tuition.

'Look here, sir,' said Ralph; 'I'll put this matter in its true light in
two seconds.'

'If you'll have the goodness,' rejoined Squeers.

'This is a boy, or a youth, or a lad, or a young man, or a hobbledehoy,
or whatever you like to call him, of eighteen or nineteen, or
thereabouts,' said Ralph.

'That I see,' observed the schoolmaster.

'So do I,' said Mr Snawley, thinking it as well to back his new friend
occasionally.