Then being summoned to supper, he had regaled himself in one of the
bright little boxes of the Peacock coffee-room, on the beef-steak
and unlimited oyster-sauce and brown stout (tasted then for the first
time--a day to be marked for ever by Tom with a white stone); had at
first attended to the excellent advice which his father was bestowing
on him from over his glass of steaming brandy-and-water, and then
began nodding, from the united effects of the stout, the fire, and the
lecture; till the Squire, observing Tom's state, and remembering that it
was nearly nine o'clock, and that the Tally-ho left at three, sent the
little fellow off to the chambermaid, with a shake of the hand (Tom
having stipulated in the morning before starting that kissing should now
cease between them), and a few parting words:
"And now, Tom, my boy," said the Squire, "remember you are going, at
your own earnest request, to be chucked into this great school, like a
young bear, with all your troubles before you--earlier than we should
have sent you perhaps. If schools are what they were in my time, you'll
see a great many cruel blackguard things done, and hear a deal of foul,
bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth, keep a brave and kind
heart, and never listen to or say anything you wouldn't have your mother
and sister hear, and you'll never feel ashamed to come home, or we to
see you.
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