'On my travels? Oh yes, wherever I go. One should always have a dog to keep one in countenance.'
'In countenance?'
'Yes. Most human creatures remind one of the characters in an old morality. As—enter God's Visitation; enter Time, who maketh people weary and melancholy with a similitude of rust and dust.'
'And what is an "old morality," Stella?'
'Well, Ted, you really must go to school.' She laughed, and the sound was music in his ears, though it was a strange, mirthless little laugh.
'Yes, I should like that very much—if you keep school, and take just one scholar. Where would you begin with me, Stella? How many books have you read?'
'Heaven only knows! Quite enough to convince me that I do not know anything.'
'O Jupiter! is it worth while learning so much to know that? What is the good of reading so many dry old fogies of books?'
'Well, sometimes it makes people better companions for themselves; but other times it makes them the worst of all company, I believe.'
'I read very slowly. If it is a dull book like the Bible and poetry, I forget what one page is about before I get to the next. It would take me a thundering long time to read books, and if they don't teach me much in the end, and make me worse company for myself, why, we'll give books the go-by. What's the next on your list, Stella?'