Page:Scenes of Clerical Life volume 1.djvu/58

Rh Mrs Brick's eyes twinkled with the visionary hope that the parson might be intending to replenish her box, at least mediately, through the present of a small copper.

"Ah, well! you'll soon be going where there is no more snuff. You'll be in need of mercy then. You must remember that you may have to seek for mercy and not find it, just as you're seeking for snuff."

At the first sentence of this admonition, the twinkle subsided from Mrs Brick's eyes. The lid of her box went "click!" and her heart was shut up at the same moment.

But now Mr Barton's attention was called for by Mr Spratt, who was dragging a small and unwilling boy from the rear. Mr Spratt was a small-featured, small-statured man, with a remarkable power of language, mitigated by hesitation, who piqued himself on expressing unexceptionable sentiments in unexceptional language on all occasions.

"Mr Barton, sir&mdash;aw&mdash;aw&mdash;excuse my trespassing on your time&mdash;aw&mdash;to beg that you will administer a rebuke to this boy; he is&mdash;aw&mdash;aw&mdash;most inveterate in ill-behaviour during service-time."