Down at the bottom of the stairway there stood a very prim old lady in cap and apron, and looking as cold and stiff as the statues up above. Our hero, not altogether liking the severe look upon her face, attempted to push by in haste; but the dame bade the man return with “Master Bertie,” and the mandate being obeyed, she turned upon the youth, and inquired if he had left his manners behind him.
“Say, ‘Good-morning, Aunt Dora,’ ” whispered the servant in his ear, and the boy having complied, he was conducted into a chamber with more books in it than Johnny supposed could ever have been written or printed in the world.
CHAPTER II.
The tutor was a stern-looking gentleman in a suit of sombre tweed. He bade our hero, “Good-morning,” and then began to scold him for being late; there were Latin, English, and mathematical exercises to be gone through, and they would occupy much time. With a failing heart Johnny [[170]]Grudge took up his book and looked at the page. Strangely enough to himself he could read it, and when Mr. Cramwell questioned him about it he could repeat it; but it made his head ache, and he felt sick and weary.
“If you please, may I have a little milk?” he asked; “or a little tea and jam——”
“Certainly not,” interrupted the tutor. “It is time, however, that you took your tonic.”
In answer to Mr. Cramwell’s summons, the man in the striped jacket appeared with a wineglassful of—oh, such nasty stuff! and Johnny was obliged to take it, every drop. Feeling very much the worse for his draught, the poor boy went on with his lessons till half-past seven, when his tutor in a terrible, frigid manner said, “Master Bertrand, it is the hour for your constitutional promenade.”
Johnny Grudge at first thought he was going to have a dose of something more nasty than had been given him before, but he soon learned that he was to accompany his teacher for a stroll in the gardens, and for this he was very glad; they were very beautiful—such beds of flowers, round, diamond, heart, and all sort of shapes, screened from the sun by grand, tall trees, whose leafy luxuriance formed natural groves where [[171]]the birds perched and sang, to the soft music of a large fountain which splashed and flashed in millions of tiny jets.
Johnny’s first impulse was to dash off at a run when he found himself in the sunshine, but he was sharply rebuked by Mr. Cramwell for his “unpardonable vulgarity,” and forced to walk as solemnly as a mute at a funeral.