“An object! As yet, you have none.”
“None, sir!”
“None—or rather many—which is pretty much the same thing as having none.”
“I am not sure, sir—but it seems to me, sir, that I have an object.”
“Indeed, William! are you sure?”
“I think so, sir.”
“Well, name it.”
“I have ambition, sir.”
“Ah! that is a passion, not an object. Does your ambition point in one direction? Unless it does, it is objectless.”
The youth was silent. The old man proceeded:—