Quicksilver | Page 7

was turned upon the visitor, and the doctor frowned as he
looked round at the pallid, wan-looking, inanimate countenances which
offered themselves to his view. The boys were not badly fed; they were
clean; they were warmly clad; but they looked as if the food they ate
did them no good, and was not enjoyed; as if they were too clean; and
as if their clothes were not comfortable. Every face seemed to have
been squeezed into the same mould, to grow it into one particular make,
which was inexpressive, inanimate, and dull, while they all wore the
look of being on the high-road to old-manism without having been
allowed to stop and play on the way, and be boys.
"Hush! hush!" came from the schoolmaster, and a pin might have been
heard to fall.
The boys devoured the doctor with their eyes. He was a stranger. It was
something to see, and it was a break in the horrible monotony of their
existence. Had they known the object of the visit, a tremendous yell
would have arisen, and it would have been formed of two words--"Take
me."
It was considered a model workhouse school, too, one of which the
guardians were proud. There was no tyranny, no brutality, but there
was endless drill and discipline, and not a scrap of that for which every
boy's heart naturally yearns;--"Home, sweet home."

No amount of management can make that and deck it with a mother's
love; and it must have been the absence of these elements which made
the Coleby boys look like three hundred white-faced small old men.
"Now, let me see, sir," said the master; "of course the matter will have
to be laid before the Board in the usual form, but you will make your
selection now. Good light, sir, to choose."
Mr Hippetts did not mean it unkindly; but he too spoke as if he were
busy over some goods he had to sell.
"Let me see. Ah! Coggley, stand out."
Coggley, a very thin boy of thirteen, a little more whitewashy than the
rest, stood out, and made a bow as if he were wiping his nose with his
right hand, and then curving it out at the doctor.
He was a nice, sad-looking boy, with railways across his forehead, and
a pinched-in nose; but he was very thin, and showed his shirt between
the top of his trousers and the bottom of his waistcoat, instead of upon
his chest, while it was from growth, not vanity, that he showed so much
ankle and wrist.
"Very good boy, sir. Had more marks than any one of his age last
year."
"Won't do," said the doctor shortly.
"Too thin," said Mr Hippetts to himself. "Bunce!" he shouted.
Bunce stood out, or rather waddled forth, a stoutly-made boy with short
legs,--a boy who, if ever he had a chance, would grow fat and round,
with eyes like two currants, and a face like a bun.
Bunce made a bow like a scoop upside down.
"Another excellent boy, sir," said Mr Hippetts. "I haven't a fault to find
with him. He is now twelve years old, and he--"

"Won't do," said the doctor crossly.
"Go back, Bunce," cried the master. "Pillett, stand out. Now here, sir, is
a lad whom I am sure you will like. Writes a hand like copperplate.
Age thirteen, and very intelligent."
Pillett came forward eagerly, after darting a triumphant look at Coggley
and Bunce. He was a wooden-faced boy, who seemed to have hard
brains and a soft head, for his forehead looked nubbly, and there were
rounded off corners at the sides.
"Let Dr Grayson hear you say--"
"No, no, Hippetts; this is not an examination," cried the doctor testily.
"That is not the sort of boy I want. He must be a bright, intelligent lad,
whom I can adopt and take into my house. I shall treat him exactly as if
he were my own son, and if he is a good lad, it will be the making of
him."
"Oh! I see, sir," said Mr Hippetts importantly. "Go back, Pillett. I have
the very boy. Gloog!"
Pillett went back, and furtively held up his fist at triumphant Gloog,
who came out panting as if he had just been running fast, and as soon
as he had made the regulation bow, he, from old force of habit, wiped
his nose on his cuff.
"No, no, no, no," cried the doctor, without giving the lad a second
glance, the first at his low, narrow forehead and cunning cast of
features being quite enough.
"But this is an admirably behaved boy, sir," protested Mr Hippetts. "Mr
Sibery here can speak very highly of his qualifications."
"Oh yes, sir," put in the schoolmaster with a severe smile