Ah, Mr. Hycy," he added, with a grin, "the birch
is the only pathetic switch growing! Will you come in, sir?"
"No, thank you, Mr. Finigan; but perhaps you would have the goodness
to come out for a little;" and, as he spoke, he nodded towards the
public-house. "I know the boys will be quiet until you return."
"If they don't," replied Finigan, "the alternative is in no shape
enigmatical. Mark what I've already said, gintlemen. Sparable, do you
keep a faithful journal of the delinquents; and observe that there are
offices of importance in this world besides flagellating erudition into
reptiles like you."
He then looked about him with an air of vast importance, and joined Hycy
on his way to the public-house. Having ordered in the worthy pedagogue's
favorite beverage, not forgetting something of the same kind for
himself, he addressed Finigan as follows:--
"Finigan, I received a devilish queer letter from you to-day--take your
liquor in the mean time--what did you mean by it?"
"From me, Mr. Hycy--_nego_, I say--_pugnis et calc bu nego_."
"Come, come, you know you wrote me an anonymous letter, referring to
some ridiculous copartnership or other that I can neither make head nor
tail of. Tell me candidly what you meant."
"Very good, Mr. Burke; but sure I know of old that jocularity was always
your forte--even when laying in under my own instruction that sound
classical substratum on which the superstructure of your subsequent
knowledge was erected, you were always addicted to the facetious and the
fabulous--both of which you contrived to blend together with an ease and
volubility of language that could not be surpassed.
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