Strange to say,
although he knew less than any of his colleagues, he succeeded better
than any of them. He managed to impress a sense of his own
importance upon everybody, including the headmaster. He slid into a
position of superiority. above three or four colleagues who would
have shamed him at an examination, and who uttered many a curse
because they saw themselves surpassed and put in the shade by a
stranger, who, they were confident, could hardly construct a
hexameter. He never quarrelled with them nor did he grossly
patronise them, but he always let them know that he considered
himself above them. His reading was desultory; in fact, everything
he did was desultory. He was not selfish in the ordinary sense of
the word. Rather was he distinguished by a large and liberal open-
handedness; but he was liberal also to himself to a remarkable
degree, dressing himself expensively, and spending a good deal of
money in luxuries. He was specially fond of insisting on his half
French origin, made a great deal of his mother, was silent as to his
father, and always signed himself C. Leroy Butts, although I don't
believe the second Christian name was given him in baptism.
Notwithstanding his generosity he was egotistical and hollow at
heart.
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