A horrible sense of blackness and the treachery of fate seized hold upon the soul of the unhappy student.
“My God!”he cried,“but what have I done?and when did I begin?To be made a class assistant-in the name of reason, where’s the harm in that?Service wanted the position;Service might have got it. Would he have been where I am now?”
“My dear fellow,”said Macfarlane,”what a boy you are!What harm HAS come to you?What harm CAN come to you if you hold your tongue?Why, man, do you know what this life is?There are two squads of us-the lions and the lambs. If you’re a lamb, you’ll come to lie upon these tables like Gray or Jane Galbraith;if you’re a lion, you’ll live and drive a horse like me, like K, like all the world with any wit or courage. You’re staggered at the first. But look at K!My dear fellow, you’re clever, you have pluck. I like you, and K likes you. You were born to lead the hunt;and I tell you, on my honour and my experience of life, three days from now you’ll laugh at all these scarecrows like a High School boy at a farce.”