"Have you, indeed?" said the Professor, looking again at Johannes over the top of his glasses, and nodding his head. "I have nothing to say about that. Much traveled—papa a hoarding-house keeper—a smattering of almost everything. Nowadays one can get a good deal out of the newspapers. Do you read the papers, young man?"
"Not much, sir," said Johannes.
"Good! Be cautious about it. Let me give you some extra-good advice. Read few newspapers, and eat few oysters. Especially in Rome eat no oysters. I have just come from a fatal case of poisoning—a Roman student."
Johannes mentally resolved, on the spot, to eat anything in Rome rather than oysters.
"Is Lord Crimmetart also so clever, Professor?" asked Johannes.
"He is bright enough. In order to become a Lord and an arch-millionaire by means of patent pills alone, one needs to be a bright rascal. Just try it! Ha! ha! ha!"
The professor laughed heartily, snorted and sniffed, clicked his false teeth, and finished off his glass. Then he said:
"But take care, young man, that you do not marry before you have made your pile. That was a stupid move of his. He would be able to do very much better now. If he chose, he might win Countess Dolores."
The blood rushed to Johannes' head, and he flushed deeply,
"I am staying there, sir!" said he, considerably touched.