E Idiot's remarks. "No," put in the Bibliomaniac. "You are all right.
You breathe normally, and you have nice blue eyes. You are graceful
and pleasant to look upon, and if you'd been born dumb we'd esteem you
very highly. It is only
your manners and
your theories that we don't like; but even in these we are disposed to
believe that you are a well-meaning child." "That is precisely the way
to put it," assented the School-master.
"You are
harmless even when most annoying. For my own part, I think the most
objectionable feature about you is that you suffer
from that unfortunately not uncommon malady, extreme youth. You are
young for your age, and if you
only wouldn't talk, I think we should get on famously together."
"You overwhelm me with your compliments," said the Idiot. "I am sorry
I am so young, but I cannot be brought to believe that that is my
own fault. One must live to attain age, and how the deuce can one live
when one boards?"
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