"Say what it is."
"We're all ears, Amory."
"Smile or swear—or something."
There was a pause... a small crowd of seconds swept by... then he looked again and another crowd went on into time.
"Blue as the sky, gentlemen...."
––––––––
AFTERMATH
What Amory did that year from early September to late in the spring was so purposeless and inconsecutive that it seems scarcely worth recording. He was, of course, immediately sorry for what he had lost. His philosophy of success had tumbled down upon him, and he looked for the reasons.
"Your own laziness," said Alec later.
"No—something deeper than that. I've begun to feel that I was meant to lose this chance."
"They're rather off you at the club, you know; every man that doesn't come through makes our crowd just so much weaker."
"I hate th
