school; then he'll get it!" But at twelve Georgie was sent to a
private school in the town, and there came from this small and
dependent institution no report, or even rumour, of Georgie's getting
anything that he was thought to deserve; therefore the yearning still
persisted, though growing gaunt with feeding upon itself. For,
although Georgie's pomposities and impudence in the little school were
often almost unbearable, the teachers were fascinated by him. They
did not like him--he was too arrogant for that--but he kept them in
such a state of emotion that they thought more about him than they did
about all of the other ten pupils. The emotion he kept them in was
usually one resulting from injured self-respect, but sometimes it was
dazzled admiration. So far as their conscientious observation went,
he "studied" his lessons sparingly; but sometimes, in class, he
flashed an admirable answer, with a comprehension not often shown by
the pupils they taught; and he passed his examinations easily. In
all, without discernible effort, he acquired at this school some
rudiments of a liberal education and learned nothing whatever about
himself.

The yearners were still yearning when Georgie, at sixteen, was sent
away to a great "Prep School." "Now," they said brightly, "he'll get
it! He'll find himself among boys just as important in their home
towns as he is, and they'll knock the stuffing out of him when he puts
on his airs with them! Oh, but that would be worth something to see!"
They were mistaken, it appeared, for when Georgie returned, a few
months later, he still seemed to have the same stuffing. He had been
deported by the authorities, the offense being stated as "insolence
and profanity"; in fact, he had given the principal of the school
instructions almost identical with those formerly objected to by the
Reverend Malloch Smith.