ed me to introduce the subject that I wished.
I told him of the attachment and troth pledged between the two, and how
wrong it was for him to leave her so much alone. The old man agreed
with me, and said, that as to talking to the men, that was on Mary's
part nothing but "human natur'"; and that as for Tom wishing to be at
home and seeing her again, that also was nothing but "human natur'"; but
that he would smoke his pipe at home in future, and keep the soldiers
out of the house. Satisfied with this assurance I left him, and taking
another wherry went up to Brentford to see the Dominie.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

ALL THE LITTLE BOYS ARE LET LOOSE, AND THE DOMINIE IS CAUGHT--ANXIOUS TO
SUPPLY MY TEETH, HE FALLS IN WITH OTHER TEETH, AND MRS. BATELY ALSO
SHOWS HER TEETH--GIN OUTSIDE, GIN IN, AND GIN OUT AGAIN, AND OLD WOMAN
OUT ALSO--DOMINIE IN FOR IT AGAIN--MORE LIKE A WHIG MINISTRY THAN A
NOVEL.

I found the worthy old Dominie in the school-room, seated at his
elevated desk, the usher not present, and the boys making a din enough
to have awaked a person from a trance. That he was in one of his deep
reveries, and that the boys had taken advantage of it, was evident.
"Mr Dobbs," said I, walking close up to the desk, but the Dominie
answered not. I repeated his name in a louder voice.

"Cosine of _X plus AB minus Z minus a half_; such must be the result,"
said the Dominie talking to himself. "Yet it doth not prove correct. I
may be in error. Let me revise my work," and the Dominie lifted up his
desk to take out another piece of paper. When the desk lid was raised,
I removed his work and held it behind me.

"But how is this?" exclaimed the Dominie, and he looked everywhere for
his previous calculations. "Nay," continued he, "it must have been the
wind;" and then he cast his eyes about until they fixed upon me laughing
at him. "Eheu! what do my eyes perceive?--It is--yet it is not--yes,
most truly it is, my son Jacob. Welcome, most welcome," cried the old
man, descending from his desk, and clasping me in his arms. "Long is it
since I have seen thee, my son, _Interea magnum sol circumvolvitur
annum_. Long, yes long, have I yearned for thy return, fearful lest,
_nudus ignota arena_, thou mightest, like another Palinurus, have been
cast away. Thou art returned, and all is well; as the father said in
the Scripture: I have found my son which I had lost; but no prodigal
thou, though I use the quotation as apt. No