It was all so far away.

What little boys they had been, working for blue ribbons-- The car slowed up at the entrance to a great estate, ringed around by a huge hedge and a tall iron fence.
"Won't you come in for lunch ?" Amory shook his head.
"Thank you, Mr.Ferrenby, but I've got to get on." The big man held out his hand.

Amory saw that the fact that he had known Jesse more than outweighed any disfavor he had created by his opinions.
What ghosts were people with which to work! Even the little man insisted on shaking hands.
"Good-by!" shouted Mr.Ferrenby, as the car turned the corner and started up the drive.

"Good luck to you and bad luck to your theories." "Same to you, sir," cried Amory, smiling and waving his hand.
***** "OUT OF THE FIRE, OUT OF THE LITTLE ROOM" Eight hours from Princeton Amory sat down by the Jersey roadside and looked at the frost-bitten country.

Nature as a rather coarse phenomenon composed largely of flowers that, when closely inspected, appeared moth-eaten, and of ants that endlessly traversed blades of grass, was always disillusioning; nature represented by skies and waters and far horizons was more likable.