“I recall there’s an adage to that effect.”
“Lastly, there’s another reason, the biggest of all. As it is now the State employs me to deliver a certain number of lectures a semester. I do this; and the rest of the time is mine. In it I can do what I please. If I accepted a position in a private enterprise it would be different. I should sell my time outright—and be compelled to deliver it all. I shouldn’t have an hour I could call my own except at night, and the chances are I shouldn’t have enough energy left for anything else when night came. You know what I’m trying to do—that I’m trying to work up a name as a writer. I’d have to give up that ambition entirely. I simply can’t or won’t do that yet.”
“You’ve been keeping up this—fight you mention for ten years now, you told me once. Is anything definite in sight?”
“No; not exactly definite; but Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m willing to wait.”
“And meantime you’re getting older steadily.”
“I repeat I’m willing to wait—and trust a little.”
Tap, tap went the impatient fingers again.
“Something’s bound to drop in time if one is only patient.” 20
Roberts looked up quickly, the gray eyes keen, the tapping fingers stilled.
“Something has dropped, my friend, and you don’t recognize it.”