“Well, that was nothing to Dicksee’s. His is a nose that a tap will swell up, and when old Eely regularly hammered till it was soft, it looked dreadful, and when he said he’d go straight to the Doctor, Eely hammered him again till he went down on his knees and begged Eely’s pardon, and promised to say it was done by a cricket-ball. I say, hark! they’ve got something over there. Let’s go and see.”
We went down along the hedge to the gate, and as soon as we passed through we could see Burr major standing up tall and thin in the midst of a group of boys, to whom he was showing something, and, our curiosity being excited, we strolled up to the group, to find that a general inspection was going on of a little bright new silver watch which Burr major had received in a box along with some new clothes that day from his father in London.
The great tall, thin fellow was giving himself the most ridiculous airs, and talking in a haughty condescending way to the boys about him, just as if watches were the commonest things in the world to him.
“Then, you know,” he was saying, as we drew nigh, “you press on that little round place very lightly with your nail, and the back flies open—see.”
He pressed the spring, the back opened, showing the polished interior of the case, and then shut it with a snap two or three times, the case flashing in the evening light; and as I glanced at Mercer, I quite wondered to see the eager look of interest and longing he directed at that watch.
“I say, how do you wind it up?” cried a small boy.
“Why, you just push the key in that little hole, and turn it a few times so. Oh, I forgot—I did wind it up before.”
“Why, you wound it up six times,” said Dicksee, with a sneer.
“Well, it’s my own watch, isn’t it, stupid? I can wind it up a hundred times if I like,” cried Burr major contemptuously.
“I say, how much did it cost?” said Hodson.