Some days I would be so carried away by my reading that I never opened my arithmetic. At other times I would drift into an arithmetical mood and sit up all night doing problems
When I happened to be in raptures over some book I would pester Jake with lengthy accounts of it, dwelling on the chapters I had read last and trying to force my exaltation upon him. As a rule, he was bored, but sometimes he would become interested in the plot or in some romantic scene.
One evening, as we were discussing love in general, I said: "Love is the greatest thing in the world."
"Sure it is," he answered. "But if you love and are not loved in return it is nothing but agony."
"Even then it is sweet," I rejoined, reflectively, the image of
Matilda before me.
"How can pain be sweet?"
"But it can."
"If you were really in love with Madame Klesmer you wouldn't think so
"I love her as much as you do."
"You are always saying you do, but you don't."