"I seem to have lost all taste for study now, you know, mother."
"You must make some effort to overcome this languor. It worries me very much."
"I will try, mother."
"But it seems to me that if you had some one to encourage you in your good resolutions, and assist your studies, it would be much better for you, don't you think so?"
"Your encouragement suffices for me."
"I may encourage you, but as I said before, I am unable to render you any assistance, so I have thought it would be advisable to replace the tutor who just left us."
"Replace him? It is not worth while to think of that, mother. I don't want any tutor."
"But you need one, nevertheless, so I have engaged a new one for you."
"You must be joking, mother."
"You and I seem to have gotten sadly out of the habit of jesting, my dear boy. The jolly times you and I used to have together seem almost like a dream when I think of them now. But to return to the subject I was speaking of. Your new tutor will probably arrive—"