“Have you no young friends among your fellow-collegians?”
“Friends! certainly not, sir. But I believe I have some enemies, who answer the same purpose as friends, only they don’t hurt one so much.”
“Do you mean to say that you lived alone at Cambridge?”
“No, I lived a good deal with Aristophanes, and a little with Conic Sections and Hydrostatics.”
“Books. Dry company.”
“More innocent, at least, than moist company. Did you ever get drunk, sir?”
“Drunk!”
“I tried to do so once with the young companions whom you would commend to me as friends. I don’t think I succeeded, but I woke with a headache. Real life at college abounds with headache.”
“Kenelm, my boy, one thing is clear: you must travel.”
“As you please, sir. Marcus Antoninus says that it is all one to a stone whether it be thrown upwards or downwards. When shall I start?”