8

The opening stage direction in the play Remember Caesar by Josephine Tey (writing as "Gordon Daviot") includes the paragraphs:

LORD WESTON is seated by the fireplace, a table of books and papers beside him. He is engaged in filling his pipe. And talking.

Down right, where the light from the side window falls across his small writing-table, is seated MR. ROGER CHETWYND, a thin, earnest, absent-minded, and conscientious youth. So conscientious is he that his mind, even when absent, is absent on his employer's [i.e., Lord Weston's] business. He has begun by listening to his master's lecture, but the lure of his work has been gradually too much for him, and he is now blissfully copying from one paper on to another while the measured words flow over him, his lips forming the phrases while he writes.

What is the meaning of the sentence in bold?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    It's just general character direction, I suspect, also describing his current state of appearing to be only half listening to the lecture because he's also getting work done.
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 12:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
11

The youth is described as both "absent-minded" and "conscientious". Lest these may seem to be contradictory, the text clarifies that, even though he's not really listening to Lord Weston's speech (hence "absent-minded"), the thing he's doing instead is also work for Lord Weston (hence "conscientious"). The bolded sentence picks up on the words "absent-minded" and "conscientious" from the previous sentence, and explains them in a little more detail.

So conscientious is he that his mind, even when absent, is absent on his employer's business.

In other words, his mind is absent from listening to his employer talking, but it's still conscientiously working on his employer's business.

There's a slight wordplay here in that the term "absent-minded" doesn't refer to a physical absence, so it doesn't normally make sense to say someone's mind is absent somewhere rather than simply absent, but in this particular context it's said that his mind is "absent on his employer's business". Whereas normally an absent-minded person might be lost in their own daydreams, he's a conscientious absent-minded person so he's lost in his work.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    It's unusual phrasing because 'absent' in 'absent-minded' means 'not here, but nowhere in particular' whereas 'absent on his employer's business' is more like what you would say if someone can't attend a meeting because they have somewhere specific to be.
    – dbmag9
    Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 22:54

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.