“He didn't graduate, Alden. He was requested to leave.”
“Hum-m-m! I didn't know that. What for?”
“General uselessness and animal spirits, I suppose. It wasn't anything dishonorable. The main contributory cause was an alleged poem lampooning some individual they called Prexy.”
“Hum-m-m! And since leaving college what has he done?”
“I've had him in my office.”
“Joe, answer my question. I know you've had him in your office. But what has he done? Has he earned his salary?”
“I'm afraid he hasn't, Alden. Somehow golf and tennis and week-end parties and yachting and big-game hunting in Alaska and tarpon fishing in Florida sort of interfere with business.”
“Well, that isn't much of a crime, Joe. I never had time to do those highly enjoyable things and I couldn't afford them. When I could afford them and had time to do them I was too old. You say the boy is fond of yachting?”
“It's his greatest hobby. In his taste for salt water he at least resembles his ancestors. The Gurneys were all sailors and shipping men.”
“Is he a good yachtsman, Joe?”