“Shall I hear you recite?” he said to Bar. “I can ask you questions as we go along.”
Bar handed him the grammar, open at the title page, saying:
“That’s where I began,” and immediately launched out into a repetition of every word on it.
Brayton listened with an amused and curious air, and turned the leaf as Bar reached the “date of publication” at the bottom.
Next came the preface, and then the introduction, and Bar waded rapidly but almost unerringly through them.
“That’ll do,” said Brayton. “Have you gone any farther?”
“Yes,” said Bar.
“How far?”
“About half a mile, I should say,” replied Bar, with the first sign of a smile he had given. “You told me to begin at the beginning.”
“And I should say you had,” said Brayton. “It will take you long enough to digest all that. To-morrow you may take up your Greek, and I’ll try to make up my own mind how on earth I’d better go to work with yours. You’ve a good one. The only question is what to do with it.”