"Well done, Jack!" said I; "I've not heard you talk so much in earnest for a long time.  But, joking aside, I am very glad indeed, old fellow, to hear that you are going to turn over a new leaf.  As you very truly say, you have wasted time enough; the moment has arrived when, if you wish to make headway in your profession, as I suppose you do, you must begin to take life seriously, and realise that you were not sent into the world merely to skylark, although skylarking, within reasonable limits and at the proper time, is possibly a harmless enough amusement."