Explore "Quod Erat Demonstrandum" by Guy Boothby on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"That this is doctrine, simple, ancient, true; Such is life's trial, as old Earth smiles and knows. If you loved only what were worth your love, Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you; Make the low nature better by your throes! Give earth yourself, go up for gain above! " -- R. Browning.
Any afternoon, between three and five, you will probably find in the Club Library, somewhere near the S T E and T R A Bookcase, a thin, restless-eyed man of perhaps five-and-fifty years of age. He will answer to the name of Pennethorne -- Cornelius Pennethorne -- and he can _sometimes_ be trusted to converse in a fairly rational manner. Generally, however, he is chock-full of nonsensical ideas, founded on what he calls "Inferences from Established Principles," and these make it almost impossible for him to do anything, from tying his bootlace to reducing his Overdraft, except on theories of his own determining.