“I am glad you like him, he seems so very kind and good-natured,” said I, “just the sort of person one should wish one's tutor to be. But about Cumberland and Lawless; what kind of fellows are they when you come to know them?”
“Oh, you will like Lawless well enough when he gets tired of bullying you,” replied Coleman; “though you need not stand so much of that as I was obliged to bear; you are a good head taller than I am—let's look at your arm; it would be all the better for a little more muscle, but that will soon improve. I'll put on the gloves with you for an hour or so every day.”
“Put on the gloves!” repeated I; “how do you mean?—what has that to do with Lawless?”
“Oh, you muff! don't you understand?—of course, I mean the boxing-gloves; and when you know how to use your fists, if Lawless comes it too strong, slip into him.”
“He must bully a good deal before I am driven to that,” replied I; “I never struck a blow in anger in my life.”
“You will see before long,” rejoined Coleman; “but at all events there is no harm in learning to use your fists; a man should always be able to defend himself if he is attacked.”
“Yes, that's very true,” observed I; “but you have not told me anything of Cumberland. Shall I ever like him, do you think?”
“Not if you are the sort of fellow I take you to be,” replied he; “there's something about Cumberland not altogether right, I fancy; I'm not very strait-laced myself, particularly if there's any fun in a thing, not so much so as I should be, I suspect; but Cumberland is too bad even for me; besides, there's no fun in what he does, and then he's such a humbug—not straightforward and honest, you know. Lawless would not be half such a bully either, if Cumberland did not set him on. But don't you say a word about this to any one; Cumberland would be ready to murder me, or to get somebody else to do it for him—that's more in his way.”
“Do not fear my repeating anything told me in confidence,” replied I; “but what do you mean when you say there's something wrong about Cumberland?”
“Do you know what Lawless meant by the 'board of green cloth' this morning?”