"
"I don't think it is necessary," I said.
"Oh, no!" he continued in a deeply aggrieved, almost a whining tone;
"nothing's necessary that would set me out in a little better shape!
Anything will do for these grovelling Wallencampers, but just as soon as
it comes to me, all the extenuating circumstances of my life--that I was
left so early orphaned, sisterless, brotherless, my nearest of kin a
wicked, carousing old uncle; taken to see the world here, and to see the
world there; homeless, if ever one was homeless; never trained to any
correct way of thinking, or settled manner of life, but just to spend my
money and aim at enjoying myself--they all amount to nothing in my case.
"Well, I used to come to Wallencamp just for that same purpose--to have a
good time; it was such a jolly wild place to let the Old Nick loose in;
and now it seems that's to be taken for a man's natural level, and the
best that he's capable of! Then I met you. You would voluntarily give up
ease and luxury, for a time, for the sake of an abstract idea--whether
misguided or not, I will not say, the fact remains the same--and I swear
it was a new revelation to me. It was strange and perverse, and it was
deuced taking! Then I tried to get you to include _me_ among the objects
of your mission, to accept _me_ as a candidate for temporal leniency and
final salvation, and you wouldn't.
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