"Rise," said the master.

He stood up; his cap fell. The whole class began to laugh. He stooped to

pick it up. A neighbor knocked it down again with his elbow; he picked

it up once more.

"Get rid of your helmet," said the master, who was a bit of a wag.

There was a burst of laughter from the boys, which so thoroughly put the

poor lad out of countenance that he did not know whether to keep his cap

in his hand, leave it on the ground, or put it on his head. He sat down

again and placed it on his knee.

"Rise," repeated the master, "and tell me your name."

The new boy articulated in a stammering voice an unintelligible name.

"Again!"

The same sputtering of syllables was heard, drowned by the tittering of

the class.

"Louder!" cried the master; "louder!"

The "new fellow" then took a supreme resolution, opened an inordinately

large mouth, and shouted at the top of his voice as if calling someone

in the word "Charbovari."

A hubbub broke out, rose in crescendo with bursts of shrill voices (they

yelled, barked, stamped, repeated "Charbovari! Charbovari"), then died

away into single notes, growing quieter only with great difficulty, and

now and again suddenly recommencing along the line of a form whence rose

here and there, like a damp cracker going off, a stifled laugh.

However, amid a rain of impositions, order was gradually re-established

in the class; and the master having succeeded in catching the name of

"Charles Bovary," having had it dictated to him, spelt out, and re-read,

at once ordered the poor devil to go and sit down on the punishment form

at the foot of the master's desk. He got up, but before going hesitated.

"What are you looking for?" asked the master.

"My c-a-p," timidly said the "new fellow," casting troubled looks round

him.

"Five hundred lines for all the class!" shouted in a furious voice

stopped, like the Quos ego*, a fresh outburst. "Silence!" continued the

master indignantly, wiping his brow with his handkerchief, which he

had just taken from his cap. "As to you, 'new boy,' you will conjugate

'ridiculus sum'** twenty times."

Then, in a gentler tone, "Come, you'll find your cap again; it hasn't

been stolen."

*A quotation from the Aeneid signifying a threat.

**I am ridiculous.

Quiet was restored. Heads bent over desks, and the "new fellow" remained

for two hours in an exemplary attitude, although from time to time some

paper pellet flipped from the tip of a pen came bang in his face. But he

wiped his face with one hand and continued motionless, his eyes lowered.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024