Hinde looked at him quickly. "Oh, well," he said, "there's no harm in aiming high!"
John told him of the book he had written at Ballyards, and of the story he had sent to Blackwood's Magazine.
"I've a great ambition to do big things," he said.
"There's no harm in that either," Hinde replied. "In the meantime, what are you going to do? It'll be a wheen of years yet before you can hope to get anything big done!"
"Oh, I don't know about that," John answered confidently. "The MacDermotts are great people for getting their own way!"
"Mebbe they are ... in Ballyards," Hinde retorted, "but this isn't Ballyards. And you can't spend all your time writing masterpieces. You'll have to do a wee bit of ordinary common work. What about trying to get a job on a paper?"
"I don't mind taking a job if there's one to be got. Only what sort of a job?..."
Hinde teased him. "They'll not let you edit the Times yet awhile," he said.
"I don't want to edit it," John replied.
"Well, that's a lucky thing for the man that's got the job now!"