"Ha! ha! you've come in time, sir; you've come in time to hear my
resolution. I can't stand ut any longer; I won't stand ut a day
longer! Mr. Waymark, you're a witness of the outrageous way in which
I'm treated in this academy--the way in which I'm treated both by
Dr. Tootle and by Mrs. Tootle. You were witness of his insulting
behaviour this very afternoon. He openly takes the side of the boys
against me; he ridicules my accent; he treats me as no gentleman can
treat another, unless one of them's no gentleman at all! And, Mr.
Waymark, I won't stand ut!"

Mr. O'Gree's accent was very strong indeed, especially in his
present mood. Waymark listened with what gravity he could command.

"You're quite right," he said in reply. "Tootle's behaviour was
especially scandalous to-day. I should certainly take some kind of
notice of it."

"Notuss, sir, notuss! I'll take that amount of notuss of it that all
the metropoluss shall hear of my wrongs. I'll assault 'um, sir; I'll
assault 'um in the face of the school,--the very next time he
dares to provoke me! I'll rise in my might, and smite his bald crown
with his own ruler! I'm not a tall man, Mr. Waymark, but I can reach
his crown, and that he shall be aware of before he knows ut. He sets
me at naught in my own class, sir; he pooh-poohs my mathematical
demonstrations, sir; he encourages my pupils in insubordination! And
Mrs. Tootle! Bedad, if I don't invent some device for revenging
myself on that supercilious woman. The very next time she presumes
to address me disrespectfully at the dinner-table, sir, I'll rise in
my might, sir,--see if I don't!--and I'll say to her, 'Mrs.