I could have protested of course, who says I couldn’t–I could have

I could have protested of course, who says I couldn’t–I could have risen to my feet at any moment, walked up to them, and–no matter how difficult it would have been–made it abundantly clear that I was not seventeen but thirty. I could have–yet I couldn’t because I didn’t want to, the only thing I wanted was to prove that I was not an old-fashioned boy!