Mr. Marrapit did not add that George's mother had expressly paid for it. This man had the knowledge that Youth would lose such veneration for Authority as it may possess were Authority to disclose the motives that prompt its actions.
He continued: “For me this involves considerable self-denial and patience. I do not flinch. From you it demands unceasing devotion to your books, your studies, your researches. You are no longer a boy: you are a man. The idle sports of youth must be placed behind you. Stern life must be sternly faced.”
“I do not flinch,” George had replied.
“For your personal expenses I shall make you a small allowance. You will live in my house. Your wants should be insignificant.”
In a faint voice George squeezed in: “I have heard that one can work far better by living near the hospital in digs.”
“Elucidate.”
“Digs—lodgings. I have heard that one can work far better by living near the hospital in lodgings.”
“Adjust that impression,” Mr. Marrapit had told him. “You are misinformed.”
George struggled: “I should have the constant companionship of men absorbed in the same work as myself. We could exchange views and notes in the evenings.”
“In your books seek that companionship. With them compare your views. Let your notes by them be checked. They are infallible.”
George said no more. At that moment the freedom of hospital as against the restraint of school, was a gallant steed upon which he outrid all other desires. The prospect of new and strange books in exchange for those he so completely abhorred, was an alluring delight. It is not until the bargain is complete that we discover how much easier to polish, and more comfortable to handle, are old lamps than new.
Mr. Marrapit had referred to his notes: “In regard to the allowance I shall make you. I earnestly pray no spur may be necessary to urge you at your tasks. Yet, salutary it is that spur should exist. I arrange, therefore, that in the deplorable event of your failing to pass any examination your allowance
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