Of course you won't
do it. You couldn't bring yourself to become a mere nobody--as would
happen if you went into chambers and began reading up law-books. And you
wouldn't be any nearer to salmon-fishing and deer-forests that way, or
to the people who possess these by birth and inheritance. The trouble
with you, Linn, my boy, as with most of us, is that you weren't born in
the purple. It is quite true that if you were called to the bar you
could properly claim the title of esquire, and you would find yourself
not further down than the hundred and fiftieth or hundred and sixtieth
section in the tables of precedence; but if you went with this
qualification to those fine friends of yours, they would admit its
validity, and let you know at the same time you were no longer
interesting to them. Harry Thornhill, of the New Theatre, has a free
passport everywhere; Mr. Lionel Moore, of the Middle Temple, wouldn't be
wanted anywhere."
"You are very worldly-wise to-night, Maurice."
"I don't want to see you make a sacrifice that wouldn't bring you what
you expect to gain by it," Mangan said. "But, as I say, you won't make
any such sacrifice. You have had your brain turned by a pretty pair of
eyes--perhaps by an elegant figure--and you have been troubled and
dissatisfied and dreaming dreams.
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