Page 176 - of-human-bondage-

from some little known Latin commentator, then a refer-
ence to a German authority; and the fact was disclosed that
he was a scholar. With smiling ease, apologetically, Weeks
tore to pieces all that Hayward had said; with elaborate ci-
vility he displayed the superficiality of his attainments. He
mocked him with gentle irony. Philip could not help seeing
that Hayward looked a perfect fool, and Hayward had not
the sense to hold his tongue; in his irritation, his self-as-
surance undaunted, he attempted to argue: he made wild
statements and Weeks amicably corrected them; he rea-
soned falsely and Weeks proved that he was absurd: Weeks
confessed that he had taught Greek Literature at Harvard.
Hayward gave a laugh of scorn.
‘I might have known it. Of course you read Greek like a
schoolmaster,’ he said. ‘I read it like a poet.’
‘And do you find it more poetic when you don’t quite
know what it means? I thought it was only in revealed reli-
gion that a mistranslation improved the sense.’
At last, having finished the beer, Hayward left Weeks’
room hot and dishevelled; with an angry gesture he said
to Philip:
‘Of course the man’s a pedant. He has no real feeling for
beauty. Accuracy is the virtue of clerks. It’s the spirit of the
Greeks that we aim at. Weeks is like that fellow who went to
hear Rubenstein and complained that he played false notes.
False notes! What did they matter when he played divine-
ly?’
Philip, not knowing how many incompetent people have
found solace in these false notes, was much impressed.

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