"Oh, oh, no!" groaned Mr. Bouncer's victim; "I can't remember, - oh,
what ~could~ have induced me!"
"By Jove, you ~must~ have been screwed! Then I daresay you don't
remember wanting to have a polka with him, when he came up to Smalls'
rooms?"
"A polka! Oh dear! Oh no! Oh!"
"Or asking him if his mother knew he was out, - and what he'd take for
his cap without the tassel; and telling him that he was the joy of
your heart, - and that you should never be happy unless he'd smile as
he was won't to smile, and would love you then as now, - and saying all
sorts of bosh? What, not remember it! 'Oh, what a noble mind is
here o'erthrown!' as some cove says in Shakespeare. But how screwed
you ~must~ have been, Giglamps!"
"And do you think," inquired our hero, after a short but sufficiently
painful reflection, - "do you think that Mr. Slowcoach will - oh! -
expel me?"
"Why, it's rather a shave for it," replied his tormentor; "but the
best thing you can do is to write an apology at once: pitch it pretty
strong in the pathetic line, - say it's your first offence, and that
you'll never be a naughty boy again, and all that sort of thing. You
Letters of Two Brides
LETTERS OF TWO BRIDES BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated by R. S. Scott DEDICATION To George Sand Your name, dear George, while casting a reflected radiance on my book, can gain no new glory from this page. And yet it is neither self-interest nor diffidence which has led me to place it there, but only the wish that it should bear witness to the solid
just do that, Giglamps, and I'll see that the note goes to - the
proper place."
"Oh, thank you!" said the freshman; and while, with equal difficulty
from agitation both of mind and body, he composed and penned the
note, Mr. Bouncer ordered up some buttery
beer, and
Charles Larkyns prepared some soda-water with a dash of brandy, which
he gave Verdant to drink, and which considerably refreshed that
gentleman. "And I should advise you," he said, "to go out for a
constitutional; for walking-time's come, although you have but just
done your breakfast. A blow up Headington Hill will do you good, and
set you on your legs again."
So Verdant, after delivering up his note to Mr. Bouncer, took his
friend's advice, and set out for his constitutional in his cap and
gown, feeling afraid to move without them, lest he
[82 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]
should thereby trespass some law. This, of course, gained him some
attention after he had crossed Magdalen Bridge; and he might have
almost been taken for the original of that impossible gownsman who
appears in Turner's well-known "View of Oxford, from Ferry Hincksey,"
as wandering-
