"
After luncheon when Ernest was left alone for half an hour or so with the
Dean he plied him so well with compliments that the old gentleman was
pleased and flattered beyond his wont. He rose and bowed. "These
expressions," he said, _voce sua_, "are very valuable to me." "They are
but a small part, Sir," rejoined Ernest, "of what anyone of your old
pupils must feel towards you," and the pair danced as it were a minuet at
the end of the dining-room table in front of the old bay window that
looked upon the smooth shaven lawn. On this Ernest departed; but a few
days afterwards, the Doctor wrote him a letter and told him that his
critics were a [Greek text], and at the same time [Greek text]. Ernest
remembered [Greek text], and knew that the other words were something of
like nature, so it was all right. A month or two afterwards, Dr Skinner
was gathered to his fathers.
"He was an old fool, Ernest," said I, "and you should not relent towards
him."
"I could not help it," he replied, "he was so old that it was almost like
playing with a child."
Sometimes, like all whose minds are active, Ernest overworks himself, and
then occasionally he has fierce and reproachful encounters with Dr
Skinner or Theobald in his sleep--but beyond this neither of these two
worthies can now molest him further.
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