Page:Cuthbert Bede--Little Mr Bouncer and Tales of College Life.djvu/123

rooms to wine this evening;" and then he hands me his card with his name printed upon it. Well, I goes at the proper time, and there I finds a many gents seated over various liquors; and Mr. So-and-so points to a chair, and says, "Here 's a seat for you, Mr. White, alongside o' me. Glad to see you, Mr. White. What wine do you take? here 's claret, if you prefer it." So then, perhaps, I has a glass or two o' claret, and helps myself to what I like; and Mr. So-and-so pushes towards me a box o' cigars and a jar o' baccy; and he says, "Take a weed, Mr. White; or, if you prefer it, have a pipe, Mr. White, and I 'll join you." So, then we smoke a pipe or two, and drink perhaps more than a glass or two; and then comes in supper—some hot game, and wiands warious. And Mr. So-and-so insists on helping me first, and says, "What part do you take, Mr. White?" And I says, "Thankee, sir, I'm in noways pertickler." "They 're all here," says he; so I fixes on the liver wing, and he sends it me. Then, after supper, we has a drop of grog, and smokes one or two more pipes; and then I gets up and makes my obeisance to them, and says, "I wish you all a very good night, gentlemen; and I 'm much obleeged to you for your civility." Well, sir, that 's Oxford. I drives a gent to Cambridge; and, perhaps, the gent asks me to look in at his rooms some time that evening, if I likes. So I goes, and I finds a many gents there, also with their liquors. And Mr. So-and-so says, "Well, old buck! I 'm glad to see you. Clap yourself into a cheer somewhere." So I sets myself down, where I can. Then the wine comes round, and I looks at the bottles to see which is which. "Oh, I daresay, old buck, you 'd rather have something hot!" says Mr. So-and-so, and he