There was a silence. "Well, Simpson?" Vickers would continue in his softest tone.
Simpson gazed moodily at the desk, digging nibs into the wood.
"Our Simpson seems fonder of water than of Maro. We must tighten the bonds between Simpson and the poet. May I say the whole of the first Georgic this time?"
"Oh, sir."
"You think the quantity excessive?"
Simpson summoned up his courage and said he did think so.
"Ah, but the verse is so beautiful," came the answer. "I couldn't deprive you, Simpson. Anyhow, you may begin your magnum opus and let me know when you have reached line two hundred."
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you, Simpson, that will be delightful. You were translating, Grant, I think."
Vickers aimed at being a strong man and he never set a grammar paper in which he did not ask for a comment on the phrase: