Burrows, at the dinner-party.
She spoke of it without the least reserve, in a tone of much
self-gratulation, and she laughingly told Jenkins, who was at his desk
writing, that he might wish Gerald joy when he next saw him. Jenkins
accepted it all as truth: it may be questioned if Mr. Galloway did, for
he knew that Lady Augusta did not always weigh her words before
speaking.
In the evening--this same evening, mind, after the call at the office
of Lady Augusta--Mr. Jenkins proceeded towards home when he left his
work. He took the road through the cloisters. As he was passing the
porter's lodge, who should he see in it but his father, old Jenkins,
the bedesman, holding a gossip with Ketch; and they saw him.
"If that ain't our Joe a-going past!" exclaimed the bedesman.
Joe stepped in. He was proceeding to join in the converse, when a lot
of the college boys tore along, hooting and shouting, and kicking a
ball about. It was kicked into the lodge, and a few compliments were
thrown at the boys by the porter, before they could get the ball out
again. These compliments, you may be quite sure, the boys did not fail
to return with interest: Tom Channing, in particular, being charmingly
polite.
"And the saucy young beast'll be the senior boy soon!" foamed Mr.
Ketch, as the lot decamped. "I wish I could get him gagged, I do!"
"No, he will not," said Joe Jenkins, speaking impulsively in his
superior knowledge.
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