Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/45

 A wild exclamation burst forth from the little party; and away each of them ran, to spread, in ail directions, the astounding intelligence.

If the rule of the ushers had hitherto been light at Burnsley Vicarage, its character was materially changed during this half-year. The vexatious and tyrannical influence of Mallett was now experienced in all directions; meeting and interfering with the comforts of the boys, in every possible manner. His malice was accompanied too by a tact, which could not have been expected from his vulgar mind, and which, at the same time, could not have been produced by the experience of one in his situation. It was quite evident to the whole community that his conduct was dictated by another mind, and that that mind was one versed in all the secrets of a school-boy's life, and acquainted with all the workings of a school-boy's mind: a species of knowledge which no pedagogue in the world ever yet attained.