"I'm sorry, Edwards.

I'm afraid you are not--er--trying very hard to accomplish your work these days." "I am trying, sir, but--but the Latin--" Steve hesitated.

"Mr.Simkins is awfully hard on me, Mr.Daley, and----" "And I am not ?" Mr.Daley smiled sadly.

"And so you thought you'd trust to my--er--good-nature, eh?
Really, Edwards, you are asking a good deal, you know.

You've had nearly ten days for that composition; a scant twelve hundred words on any subject you liked; and it seems to me that if you had really wanted to do it you could have found the time.