"No, bother the boat-race. I'm going in for Latin and Greek. I've begun to learn French already. So I shall know three foreign languages."
"Four!" said Esther, "you forget Hebrew!"
"Oh, of course, Hebrew. I don't reckon Hebrew. Everybody knows Hebrew. Hebrew's no good to any one. What I want is something that'll get me on in the world and enable me to write my books."
"But Dickens—did he know Latin or Greek?" asked Esther.
"No, he didn't," said Benjamin proudly. "That's just where I shall have the pull of him. Well, when I've got rich I shall buy father a new suit of clothes and a high hat—it is so beastly cold here, Esther, just feel my hands, like ice!—and I shall make him live with grandmother in a decent room, and give him an allowance so that he can study beastly big books all day long—does he still take a week to read a page? And Sarah and Isaac and Rachel shall go to a proper boarding school, and Solomon—how old will he be then?"
Esther looked puzzled. "Oh, but suppose it takes you ten years getting famous! Solomon will be nearly twenty."
"It can't take me ten years. But never mind! We shall see what is to be done with Solomon when the time comes. As for you—"
"Well, Benjy," she said, for his imagination was breaking down.
"I'll give you a dowry and you'll get married. See!" he concluded triumphantly.
"Oh, but suppose I shan't want to get married?"