In
short, Cloisterham is up and doing: though from this description
the High School and Miss Twinkleton's are to be excluded. From the
former establishment the scholars have gone home, every one of them
in love with one of Miss Twinkleton's young ladies (who knows
nothing about it); and only the handmaidens flutter occasionally in
the windows of the latter. It is noticed, by the bye, that these
damsels become, within the limits of decorum, more skittish when
thus intrusted with the concrete representation of their sex, than
when dividing the representation with Miss Twinkleton's young
ladies.
Three are to meet at the gatehouse to-night. How does each one of
the three get through the day?
Neville Landless, though absolved from his books for the time by
Mr. Crisparkle--whose fresh nature is by no means insensible to the
charms of a holiday--reads and writes in his quiet room, with a
concentrated air, until it is two hours past noon. He then sets
himself to clearing his table, to arranging his books, and to
tearing up and burning his stray papers. He makes a clean sweep of
all untidy accumulations, puts all his drawers in order, and leaves
no note or scrap of paper undestroyed, save such memoranda as bear
directly on his studies. This done, he turns to his wardrobe,
selects a few articles of ordinary wear--among them, change of
stout shoes and socks for walking--and packs these in a knapsack.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211