He is too full of his destination to talk about
anything else, and so asks the guard if he knows Rugby.
"Goes through it every day of my life. Twenty minutes afore twelve
down--ten o'clock up."
"What sort of place is it, please?" says Tom.
Guard looks at him with a comical expression. "Werry out-o'-the-way
place, sir; no paving to streets, nor no lighting. 'Mazin' big horse and
cattle fair in autumn--lasts a week--just over now. Takes town a week to
get clean after it. Fairish hunting country. But slow place, sir, slow
place-off the main road, you see--only three coaches a day, and one on
'em a two-oss wan, more like a hearse nor a coach--Regulator--comes from
Oxford. Young genl'm'n at school calls her Pig and Whistle, and goes up
to college by her (six miles an hour) when they goes to enter. Belong to
school, sir?"
"Yes," says Tom, not unwilling for a moment that the guard should think
him an old boy. But then, having some qualms as to the truth of the
assertion, and seeing that if he were to assume the character of an old
boy he couldn't go on asking the questions he wanted, added--"That is to
say, I'm on my way there. I'm a new boy."
The guard looked as if he knew this quite as well as Tom.
"You're werry late, sir," says the guard; "only six weeks to-day to the
end of the half." Tom assented. "We takes up fine loads this day six
weeks, and Monday and Tuesday arter.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96