"I fear this is a deep-laid plot," he remarked. "I saw my father
leaving you in haste a moment ago. Probably he has offended you, and
you are about to visit the iniquities of the parents upon the
children. Pray are you taking me apart in order to spare my sensitive
feelings? So kind of you!"
"Well, it was not my benevolent intention to lecture you at all,
either in public or private, but since you speak of it so feelingly no
doubt the need exists. First tell me what you have been doing all
summer."
"Living out in the wild woods among the wild flowers, wild animals,
wild Indians, and--"
"What a wild young man! I am positively afraid of you."
"Delightful! Please oblige me by remaining so. It is difficult for me
to be appalling for any length of time, yet the emotion of fear must
be cultivated in your mind at all hazards."
"And why?"
"Because you will never dare to lecture the awe-inspiring being of
whom you are in mortal terror."
"Oh! are you sure of that? I met a famous lecturer the other day, and
he assured me that he never stepped before an audience without
suffering from fright; yet he did not spare his hearers on that
account.
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