of which had been just placed in his hands, through the intervention of the newsman. At length, however, the repeated peals of merriment proceeding through the long passages roused the doctor, who, laying down his newspaper, looked around him on his wife, his daughters, and the dispenser of tea, as if it were possible for them to account for this most unaccountable circumstance. At length he rose, and his awful rising might not be unaptly compared to that of the king of the ocean, so finely described in Virgil: "Interea magno misceri murmure pontum Emissamque hyemem sensit Neptunus et imis Some apology may perhaps be necessary from the author, for giving this quotation in the original Latin; but, as has been before remarked, there is so much of classic inspiration in all subjects connected with Clent Green, that even the dullest historian could not fail of being animated by the contemplation of them. But to proceed with our history: the wild uproar continued, and the doctor, growing wroth, took up a small cane, which was never far from his hand, and proceeding from the parlour, presently appeared at the door of the hall, where his presence alone reduced every thing to order. The appearance of the doctor effected a sudden silence; nevertheless, as the various parties who were mingled together around Mr. Simson had not had time to recover their usual stations, the various groups which presented themselves to the eyes of the pedagogue as he paused within the door-way, added not a little to his amazement and perplexity. In the centre of the room sat Mr. Simson, the elder boys forming a half-circle behind, and on each side of him, while the rest of the young party were mounted on the tables and benches, in order the better to see the sport. Directly before Mr. Simson stood the cook, who looked as hot as if she had been engaged in frying pancakes for the last four hours; and immediately opposite to her the cake woman, who seemed as peppery as one of her own sausages; these two ladies were the only persons whom the doctor's presence had not the power to silence. Hence the following reproach, and the accompanying retort had reached his ears before the last murmur of discord died away. "The salt, I say, was in your chocolate." "I tell you no such thing-it was in the milk; and if there was but a thimble-full of chocolate left in the pot, I would prove it." "Mr. Simson, sir! Mr. Perkins! what is all this?" said the doctor; "why am I to be disturbed at my meals by these uproars? desire these women to walk out, Mr. Simson; what are they doing in this place? I am surprised at you, Mr. Simson; I am prodigiously amazed, Mr. Perkins; what may all this mean; what may all this portend; what am I to augur from the presence of these women?" "Sir," said Mr. Simson, respectfully, "two of your young gentlemen, viz. Mr. Wellings and Mr. Clayton, have been nearly poisoned by the carelessness of your cook." "My carelessness, Mr. Simson," said the cook; "what have I to do with the affair; you must not lay it at my door?"—" Nor at mine either," said the cake-woman; "the master knows that I have served the house first and last these twenty years, and no one can say that I ever poisoned even a cat belonging to the family." 66 Well, at any rate," said Mr. Simson," you have now made a mess which would clear the house of rats.' "Rats!" said the cake-woman, 66 was ever any thing heard like that? I declare that I am as innocent as the babe unborn." "Innocent," said the cook; "and now let me ask you, how could it happen that two of the cups of milk should be poisoned and none of the rest, if it had not been for your chocolate?" "Silence, ye women," said the doctor; " and you, Mr. Simson, produce the goblet; bring forward the portion, for I presume it has not all been drunk, and let me ascertain the nature of the ingredient which may have been infused into the liquor." The doctor was obeyed, and the bowl being handed to him, he conveyed a small portion of the liquid to his mouth; and having rolled his tongue about for a moment, and drawn his lips in various directions, he pronounced the following decision: "The liquid has been saturated with saline particles, which, blending with the chocolate and the sugar, have produced a potion extremely nauseous to the palate, and liable to be rejected by the stomach, but nowise injurious, I apprehend, in other respects; and it is my opinion that this has been the effect of some piece of pleasantry (though, by-theby, not a piece of pleasantry savouring either of wit or good-manners) of some of you young gentlemen; I therefore fully exonerate these women, and desire that they may be dismissed without further question." On hearing this, the cook returned to her kitchen fully satisfied; but the cake-woman, bursting into an agony of grief, and joining her hands-" Oh! dear, dear sir, pray have pity on a poor helpless widow, and for mercy's sake don't exonerate me; I shall never be able to bear it; I shall lose my bread, sir, if you exonerate me, indeed I shall." "Go away, woman," said the doctor; "no one intends thee any harm." And as the poor creature walked away, even the presence of the master himself was almost ineffectual in restraining the fresh bursts of laughter which proceeded from the boys. And now Wellings and Roger were in hopes that there was an end of this foolish affair, when Mr. Perkins, who hoped thereby to serve his favourite Roger, appeared dragging forward George Berresford, saying, "Sir, I am much mistaken if this little man, and some one else with whom he was whispering a minute ago, cannot explain this affair better than any one present.' 1 "Think you so, sir," said the doctor, looking at George; "well, perhaps it may be so, though I am myself of opinion that this jest or freak of salting the liquid proceeded from some older, I will not say wiser, individual than the one now before us; nevertheless, we will proceed to question him; but first, it is my request, I should say command, that that individual with whom this boy was but now holding parley, should forthwith step forward." To the astonishment of many present, and particu larly of Marten, Henry Milner immediately stepped before the rest. "Henry Milner!" said the doctor in amazement; "Henry Milner, have you any concern in this foolish affair?" "None, sir," said Henry, calmly. "But you understand the bottom of this mystery ?" "I do sir," replied Henry. Wellings and Roger on hearing this, were not only terrified, but ashamed, not so much from any dread of punishment, for they well knew that the doctor would not inflict chastisement for a matter of this kind, but from the dread of the ridicule of their companions. "Will you, then," said the doctor, "favour the present company, Master Milner, with the explanation which you seem so well able to give." "Sir," said Henry, "you would oblige me, if you would not require this explanation; the jest has already passed further than was at first intended, and I should be sorry that more should be said about it, and it was to this effect that I was advising George when we were speaking together at the other end of the hall." 66 Well," said the doctor, "then I will ask no more questions; and I commend the reluctance you evince, Henry Milner, to spreading mischief. Mr. Simson, Mr. Perkins, you will withdraw to the school-room, and let the first class be prepared with their Xenophons within a quarter of an hour." As Henry crossed the yard, Roger had the grace to mumble some kind of apology to him, for his ill conduct, and something like thanks for the handsome manner in which he had brought him and Wellings off; but Master Wellings took no notice whatever of what had passed. CHAPTER XVI. Showing the blessed effects of pious boldness. As we have given so full, true, and accurate an account of the first twenty-four hours spent by Henry Milner in Dr. Matthews's seminary, we shall now hope to proceed over our ground in a somewhat more rapid manner. After the first day things passed with little variety; Henry still continued to patronise little George, and it was soon remarked by the doctor, that there was a considerable improvement in the exercises and repetitions of the boy. Henry was also enabled to preserve his first resolution of keeping himself quiet, performing his own duties and letting his neighbours alone; and in consequence he was on his side less interfered with than he had at first expected, and permitted to do much as he pleased; he had reason given him, after a time, to think he was esteemed by the ushers, and in return he really respected Mr. Simson, though he could not pay the same compliment to Mr. Perkins. The only boy with whom he had formed any friendship, with the exception of George, was Marten, who, from the first, had sought his good-will, and had even met him more than half way. But, although this young man was in many respects gentlemanlike and polite, although he was intelligent and well instructed, and entirely above all mean and low actions, yet there were some points in his character which Henry could not understand, and could not approve. If Marten had any religion, he seldom gave any evidence thereof; and was never seen to pray, or look at his Bible, excepting when once a week it was read in a class. The excessive contempt he displayed for any thing vulgar or low-bred, or what he esteemed as such, displeased Henry, who had often been cautioned on this subject by Mr. Dalben: and the apathy with which he allowed what Henry thought very coarse conversation, to take place in his presence, astonished him above all measure, and especially as he had no manner of reserve in censuring any thing like low manners and mean ways in his schoolfellows. Would Marten support me (thought Henry), I think I could make a stand against this sort of conversation, which passes in our play-ground and in our bed-room; but, entirely alone and unassisted as I am, I have not yet been able to do any thing; and my weak reproofs have not yet silenced one single person, although I trust that I have been able to keep little George from hearkening to these wicked communications. It was while Henry was thinking upon this subject, as he sat apart from his companions with a book in his hand, one rainy day in the hall, that Marten, coming up |