“I only meant,” cried the schoolboy with tremendous excitement, “to say that though conventions of course are stale and must be eradicated, yet about name days everybody knows that they are stupid and very stale to waste precious time upon, which has been wasted already all over the world, so that it would be as well to sharpen one’s wits on something more useful.⁠ ⁠…”

“You drag it out so, one can’t understand what you mean,” shouted the girl.

“I think that everyone has a right to express an opinion as well as everyone else, and if I want to express my opinion like anybody else⁠ ⁠…”

“No one is attacking your right to give an opinion,” the lady of the house herself cut in sharply. “You were only asked not to ramble because no one can make out what you mean.”