Let me tell you a story.

I knew a man once upon a time--he was a great friend of mine--in the navy.

Although he was quite young, not more than twenty-six, he was already a distinguished officer; he had seen active service, been mentioned in despatches, and all the rest of it.

He was also, curiously enough, a most accomplished botanist, and had written papers on the flora of Cambodia and Yucatan that had been accepted with marked appreciation by the Linnaean Society.

Well--that man, who had a brilliant career before him, and would probably have been an admiral and a K.C.B.if he had stuck to it, got attacked by the theatrical microbe.