He plucked last week Patch of St. George's, and Patch has taken his oath
he'll shoot him; and Butson has walked about ever since with a bulldog."

"These are reports, Mr. Sikes, which often flit about, but must not be
trusted. Mr. Patch could not have given a better proof that his
rejection was deserved."

A pause--during which poor Vincent hastily gobbled up two or three
mouthfuls of bread and butter, the knives and forks meanwhile clinking
upon his guests' plates.

"Sir, is it true," began one of his guests at length, "that the old
Principal is going to be married?"

"These are matters, Mr. Atkins," answered Vincent, "which we should
always inquire about at the fountain-head; _antiquam exquirite matrem_,
or rather _patrem_; ha, ha! Take some more tea, Mr. Reding; it won't
hurt your nerves. I am rather choice in my tea; this comes overland
through Russia; the sea-air destroys the flavour of our common tea.
Talking of air, Mr. Tenby, I think you are a chemist. Have you paid
attention to the recent experiments on the composition and resolution of
air? Not? I am surprised at it; they are well worth your most serious
consideration. It is now pretty well ascertained that inhaling gases is
the cure for all kinds of diseases. People are beginning to talk of the
gas-cure, as they did of the water-cure. The great foreign chemist,
Professor Scaramouch, has the credit of the discovery. The effects are
astounding, quite astounding; and there are several remarkable
coincidences. You know medicines are always unpleasant, and so these
gases are always fetid. The Professor cures by stenches, and has brought
his science to such perfection that he actually can classify them. There
are six elementary stenches, and these spread into a variety of
subdivisions? What do you say, Mr. Reding? Distinctive? Yes, there is
something very distinctive in smells. But what is most gratifying of
all, and is the great coincidence I spoke of, his ultimate resolution of
fetid gases assigns to them the very same precise number as is given to
existing complaints in the latest treatises on pathology. Each complaint
has its gas. And, what is still more singular, an exhausted receiver is
a specific for certain desperate disorders. For instance, it has
effected several cures of hydrophobia. Mr. Seaton," he continued to a
freshman, who, his breakfast finished, was sitting uncomfortably on his
chair, looking down and playing with his knife--"Mr. Seaton, you a