"We just let him drivel on until he is aware no one is listening." "Seer Marcous is very wise," said Carlotta, in serious defence of her lord and master.

"All day he reads in big books and writes on paper." I have been wondering since whether that is not as ironical a judgment as ever was passed.

Am I wise?
Is wisdom attained by reading in big books and writing on paper?
Solomon remarks that wisdom dwells with prudence and finds out knowledge of witty inventions; that the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way; that wisdom and understanding keep one from the strange woman and the stranger which flattereth with her words.

Now, I have not been saved from the strange young woman who has begun to flatter with her words; I don't in the least understand my way, since I have no notion what I shall do with her; and in taking her in and letting her loll upon my sofa of evenings, so as to show off her red slippers to my guests, I have thrown prudence to the winds; and my only witty invention was the idea of teaching her typewriting, which is futile.

If the philosophy of the excellent aphorist is sound, I certainly have not much wisdom to boast of; and none of the big books will tell me what a wise man would have done had he met Carlotta in the Embankment Gardens.
I did not think, however, that my wisdom was a proper subject for discussion.