petrify his tutor,
Should drink draught Allsopp from its native pewter.'

We shall all go to the dance to-night, I suppose--Thornton, of course,
lured by the two Will-o-the-wisps in Miss Delamere's black eyes."

"Go, and order the beer, Dick," said Thornton, "and come back a wiser, if
not a sadder man." Dick procured the beer; and, it being now twelve
o'clock at noon, pipes were lit, and papers and books remained in
abeyance, though not absolutely forgotten. At half-past twelve Mr.
Porkington looked in timidly to see how work was progressing, to assist
in the classics, and to disentangle the mathematics; but the liberal
sciences were so besmothered with tobacco smoke and so bespattered with
beer, that the poor little man did not even dare to come to their
assistance; but coughed, and smiled, and said feebly that he would come
again when the air was a little clearer.

"Upon my word, it is too bad," said Barton. "Many fellows would not
stand it. I declare I won't smoke any more this morning."

The rest followed the good example. Pipes were extinguished, and
Glenville was deputed to go and tell the tutor that the room was clear of
smoke. They were not wicked young men, but I don't think their mothers
and sisters were at all aware of that state of life into which a love of
ease and very high spirits had called their sons and brothers.

CHAPTER III.--THE VISITORS.

Babbicombe was full. The lodgings were all taken. There were still
bills in the windows of a few of the houses in the narrower streets of
the little town announcing that the apartments had a "good sea view." The
disappointed visitor, however, upon further investigation, would discover
that by standing on a chair in the attic it might be possible to obtain a
glimpse of the topmasts of the schooners in the harbour, or the furthest
circle of the distant ocean. Mr. and Mrs. Delamere, with their two
daughters, occupied lodgings facing the sea. Next door but one were our
friends, Colonel and Mrs. Bagshaw. Two Irish captains, O'Brien and
Kelly, were stopping at the Bull Hotel, in the High Street. On the side
of the hill in our row lived the two beautiful Misses Bankes with their
parents and the younger olive branches, much snubbed by those who had
"come out" into blossom. The visitors' doctor also lived in our row, and
a young landscape painter (charming, as they all are) had a room
somewhere, but I never could quite make out where it was or