They were confessing things to one another with great earnestness – one of them hadn’t fitted in well back home, one didn’t like the big city, one wanted to save money, one wanted to lose weight. At the beginning they hadn’t sounded at all lively, but I suppose that as they went on chatting, it brightened their spirits. Gradually they began smiling, and eventually concocted a plan for the four of them to go on holiday together. By the time they stood up from the table, they looked like regular university students, having a whale of a time. I felt wounded by the speed of their transformation
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