“Very well,” said Dr. Wood, preparing to close the book.
“But, doctor, I have a few more lines that I can recite.”
“Very well,” said Mr. Wood, supposing that Dan might have read twenty-five or thirty lines more. But the boy kept on till he had completed a second hundred.
“Really, Dan, I compliment you on your industry,” said his teacher, again about to close the book.
“But,” said Dan, “I have studied further.” “Very remarkable,” said the minister in surprise; “well, let us have them.”
Dan rolled off another hundred lines, which he appeared to know quite as well as the previous two hundred.
“You are a smart boy!” said the doctor approvingly, and not without a feeling of relief, for it is rather tedious to listen critically to the translation of three hundred lines.
“But,” said Dan, “I am not through yet.”
“Pray how much have you read?” asked Dr. Wood in amazement.
“I can recite five hundred more if you like,” said Dan, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment at the doctor’s surprise.