But I had scarcely returned to Copenhagen, after my first journey abroad
(a very enjoyable four weeks' visit to Goeteborg), I had scarcely been a
month a freshman, attending philosophical lectures and taking part in
student life than the dreaded separation between us two so differently
constituted friends came to pass. The provocation was trifling, in fact
paltry. One day I was standing in the lecture-room with a few fellow-
students before a lecture began, when a freshman hurried up to us and
asked: "Is it true, what Sebastian says, that he is the person you think
most of in the world?" My reply was: "Did he say that himself?" "Yes."
And, disgusted that the other should have made such a remark in order to
impress perfect strangers, though it might certainly very easily have
escaped him in confidence, I said hastily: "Oh! he's mad!" which
outburst, bearing in mind young people's use of the word "mad," was
decidedly not to be taken literally, but was, it is quite true, ill-
naturedly meant.
The same evening I received a short note from Sebastian in which, though
in polite terms, he repudiated his allegiance and fidelity; the letter,
in which the polite form _you_ was used instead of the accustomed
_thou_, was signed: "Your 'mad' and 'foolish,' but respectful
Sebastian.
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