"And now come in and see my study--we shall have just time before
dinner; and afterwards, before calling over, we'll do the close."
Tom followed his guide through the School-house hall, which opens into
the quadrangle. It is a great room, thirty feet long and eighteen high,
or thereabouts, with two great tables running the whole length, and
two large fireplaces at the side, with blazing fires in them, at one of
which some dozen boys were standing and lounging, some of whom shouted
to East to stop; but he shot through with his convoy, and landed him
in the long, dark passages, with a large fire at the end of each, upon
which the studies opened. Into one of these, in the bottom passage, East
bolted with our hero, slamming and bolting the door behind them, in
case of pursuit from the hall, and Tom was for the first time in a Rugby
boy's citadel.
He hadn't been prepared for separate studies, and was not a little
astonished and delighted with the palace in question.
It wasn't very large, certainly, being about six feet long by four
broad. It couldn't be called light, as there were bars and a grating to
the window; which little precautions were necessary in the studies on
the ground-floor looking out into the close, to prevent the exit of
small boys after locking up, and the entrance of contraband articles.
But it was uncommonly comfortable to look at, Tom thought.
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