Little Mr. Bouncer; and Tales of College Life Little Mr Bouncer and His Friend Verdant Green. Cuthbert Bede

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СКАЧАТЬ all the pleasure in the world," said Mr. Bouncer. "You have persuaded my friend, Verdant Green, who knows nothing whatever about horse-racing, to make a book on the Derby, and you have taken his money to invest on a certain dark horse."

      "What of that!" exclaimed Mr. Blucher Boots. "Though the horse is a comparative outsider, yet he 's entrusted with good money, and has some big bets written in his name. His stable companion has been backed for a good amount; but he 's the better horse of the two, and I have certain private information about him on which I can rely. I 've put a lot of money on him myself; and if I 've put your friend up to a good thing, I 've done him a kindness."

      "I don't see it in that light," said Mr. Bouncer; "and, ​on Verdant Green's behalf, I have come to request you to return to him the three fivers that he handed to you."

      "I decline to do anything of the kind."

      "You do?"

      "Most decidedly I do!" cried Mr. Blucher Boots, angrily. "And it 's like your impertinence to force yourself into my rooms and to make such a proposition."

      "Very well, then, my beauty," replied little Mr. Bouncer, coolly, as he rose to leave the room; "then, having fulfilled my errand, and got my answer, I 'll go, and leave you to look out for squalls. Betting is n't allowed in college, as you are aware; and, all that 's done in that way is sub rosâ, and unknown to the Dons. In their eyes, bets on cards would be bad enough; but bets on races and books on the Derby would be looked upon as something more than peccadilloes. As you don't choose to hand back Verdant Green's three five-pound notes, I shall go at once to Dr. Portman, the Master of Brazenface, and lay the whole affair before him. I shall do the same by the Head of your own College. My friend will get off very lightly, because he's a Freshman and inexperienced, and was led on by you; but it will be a different thing with you; and if, to-morrow you don't hear something about Rustication, then my name 's not Bouncer. It 'll be a nice thing, won't it, for Lord Balmoral's hopeful son to be sent down to the country for getting a raw Freshman's money out of him? There are unkind people in the world who would, perhaps, say that it was as bad as fleecing a Freshman; but, whatever they may say, you 've only yourself to thank for it. Ta, ta! my beauty. Look out for squalls." And little Mr. Bouncer left the room.

      "Hi! here! wait a moment, you sir!" called out Mr. ​Blucher Boots, as he went to the door of his room, after a momentary hesitation. "If your Freshman friend don't choose to avail himself of my disinterested kindness, he 's a fool for his pains. It is n't every one who could have had such a good thing offered to him. If he don't like to post his money of course he can have it back again; but he will be throwing away an opportunity that may never fall in his way again."

      "I hope not, with all my heart," said little Mr. Bouncer; "so if you like to give him back the money he 'll be quite content to lose his chance of making his fortune by your investment. That 's about the size of it, I think." And they went back into the room.

      "There are the notes," said Mr. Blucher Boots, as he took them out of his pocket-book; "and I hope I may never see your face again."

      "That will be your loss," replied little Mr. Bouncer; "and it shows that you are no judge of pretty pictures. Your mug is none too handsome, I can tell you. But, adoo, Samivel! I 've got the three fivers, so I 'm satisfied. You can have a proper receipt for them, if you like."

      The Hon. Blucher Boots made use of unparliamentary language, under cover of which little Mr. Bouncer made good his retreat, and returned to Brazenface.

      CHAPTER V.

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      CHAPTER V.

      LITTLE MR. BOUNCER GIVES A BREAKFAST PARTY.

      ERE are the notes, Giglamps," said little Mr. Bouncer, as he re-entered his friend's room at Brazenface, on his return from the interview with the Hon. Blucher Boots. "I had a squeeze to get them for the fellow cut up rather rusty. But here they are, and joy go with them."

      "Oh, thank you, so much!" cried Verdant Green, heartily, as he once more handled the three five-pound notes that had been entrusted to the charge of the son of Lord Balmoral. "You are a real friend. What can I do to repay you?"

      "Why you can do this," replied Mr. Bouncer. "In the first place, you must cut that fellow's acquaintance; he 's a bad lot, and will do you no good. In the second place, you must give me your word and honour, as a Brazenface man, that you 'll never bet again in a similar way."

      Verdant Green readily gave the required promise.

      "I 'm not over wise myself in some things," continued the little gentleman; "especially in reading and all that, and in those sort of things that the Examiners stump ​you with at the beastly Examinations. My first years must have been passed in healthful play, and not in books and works, as Dr. Whats-his-name says; and, I daresay, that what you call the intellectual faculties had n't a fair chance, and were kept dormouse, and all that sort of thing. But, in other things, I 'm wide awake and up to snuff, and not quite such a fool as I look; and I 'm wise enough to know that if you take to betting on horse-racing—of which you know no more than a kitten, and especially with men like Blucher Boots—you 'll soon make ducks and drakes with your money, and will go to the bad like a house a-fire. If you want to do it at all, it 's quite sufficient to keep to a little mild betting at Van John and Three-card Loo; not but what you may overdo that. But, as for horse-racing, keep clear of it, old fellow; and, if you take his advice in that particular, you 'll bless yours truly, Henry Bouncer. And now, I vote we do some bitters. My throat 's rather dry with so much speechifying."

      So little Mr. Bouncer holloa'd "Robert!" and on Mr. Filcher's appearance ordered him to bring them a big pewter of that Buttery ale for which the College of Brazenface has a deserved reputation. "That 's the stuff to make your hair curl," he said, as he reluctantly took his lips away from the pewter. "Who was the cove who sang something about dipping his beak in the Gascon wine? Here, Giglamps; you dip your beak in that, and it will do you more good than any Gascon wine."

      "I can't help thinking how kind you have been to me," said Verdant, who was now looking more cheerful than he had done when his friend had first entered the ​room on that morning. It was evident that the "blue funk" had nearly cleared away, and that the Freshman, having worked himself up to a state of feverish anxiety, was now experiencing the delightful sensation of unexpected relief.

      "There! never mind about the kindness," replied Mr. Bouncer. "We 'll say no more about it. But, don't you ever bet on horse-racing again—more particularly with Blucher Boots."

      "Indeed, I never will. This has been a lesson to me."

      And it was something more than that; for this little episode in his life's history greatly helped to cement the friendship that Mr. Verdant Green already felt for little Mr. Bouncer. It showed him that, under all his peculiarities of language and manner, Mr. Bouncer was a person who was capable of giving him good advice and was ready to keep him from falling into those snares and temptations that beset every young man on his entrance into life, and none more so than a home-nurtured, inexperienced youth who is suddenly removed from a well-ordered household to the mixed society of a throng of undergraduates, in a beautiful city where he can freely procure all that he desires without troubling himself to think of present payment.

      A fortnight after, when the memory of The Knight СКАЧАТЬ