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The chief and far the most lamentable change is the absence of a certain lean, ugly, idle, unpopular student, whose presence was for me the gist and heart of the whole matter; whose changing humours, fine occasional purposes of good, flinching acceptance of evil, shiverings on wet, east-windy, morning journeys up to class, infinite yawnings during lecture and unquenchable gusto in the delights of truantry, made up the sunshine and shadow of my college life.

Indeed, I denied myself many opportunities; acting upon an extensive and highly rational system of truantry, which cost me a great deal of trouble to put in exercise—perhaps as much as would have taught me Greek—and sent me forth into the world and the profession of letters with the merest shadow of an education.

That was one thing, at least, from which my truantry protected me.

Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture of the Hispaniola was a clenching answer, and I179 hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time.

Well, now that I had found the boat, you would have thought I had had enough of truantry for once; but, in the meantime, I had taken another notion, and become150 so obstinately fond of it, that I would have carried it out, I believe, in the teeth of Captain Smollett himself.