"Then I think, sir," said the robe-maker, with redoubled smirks, - "I
think, sir, there is a leetle mistake here. The gentleman will be
hinfringing the University statues, if he wears a scholar's gown and
hasn't got a scholarship; and these robes'll be of no use to the
gentleman, yet awhile at least. It will be an
undergraduate's gown that he requires, sir."

It was fortunate for our hero that the mistake was discovered so
soon, and could be rectified without any of those unpleasant
consequences of iconoclasm to which the robe-maker's infringement of
the "statues" seemed to point; but as that gentleman put the
scholar's gown on one side, and brought out a commoner's, he might
have been heard to mutter, "I don't know which is the freshest, - the
freshman or his guv'nor."

When Mr. Verdant Green once more looked in the glass, and saw hanging
straight from his shoulders a yard of blueish-black stuff, garnished
with a little lappet, and two streamers whose upper parts were
gathered into double plaits, he regretted that he was not indeed a
scholar, if it were only for the privilege of wearing so elegant a
gown. However, his father smiled approvingly, the robe-maker smirked
judiciously; so he came to the gratifying conclusion that the
commoner's gown was by no means ugly, and would be thought a great
deal of at the Manor Green when he took it home at the end of the
term.

Leaving his hat with the robe-maker, who, with many more smirks and
imaginary washings of the hands, hoped to be favoured with the
gentleman's patronage on future occasions, and begged further to