Page:Cuthbert Bede--Little Mr Bouncer and Tales of College Life.djvu/43

Rh presence; and, as the time had not yet reached the afternoon's hours, when caps and gowns might be dispensed with in public—the members of the various Colleges being then supposed to be leaving the city for a country walk, or for the river and cricket-field and other sports—including the hunting of rats and the shooting of pigeons and rabbits—Mr. Bouncer was compelled, through fear of being proctorised, to "sport a tail-curtain." If it did not improve his appearance, that was not his fault, but was a matter for the rulers of the University to rescind their statute "De Vestitu." In less than half an hour after he had left Mr. Verdant Green's rooms, little Mr. Bouncer was knocking at a certain door on a particular staircase, where, as he had ascertained from the porter at the lodge of the College, the person of whom he was in quest "hung out;" so, at least, Mr. Bouncer phrased Mr. Blucher Boots' tenancy of the rooms in question.

"If he thinks it 's the woodpecker tapping, he 'll be slightly deceived," said Mr. Bouncer to himself.

"Come in!" was shouted from withinside the room; and Mr. Bouncer went in.