If Master Briggs is destined1 in all probability to be a poor man, the chances are, that Mr. Bullock will have a very different lot. He is a son of a partner of the eminent2 banking3 firm of Bullock and Hulker, Lombard Street, and very high in the upper school—quite out of my jurisdiction4, consequently.
He writes the most beautiful current hand ever seen; and the way in which he mastered arithmetic (going away into recondite5 and wonderful rules in the Tutor's Assistant, which some masters even dare not approach) is described by the Doctor in terms of admiration6. He is Mr. Prince's best algebra7 pupil; and a very fair classic, too, doing everything well for which he has a mind.
He does not busy himself with the sports of his comrades, and holds a cricket-bat no better than Miss Raby would. He employs the play hours in improving his mind, and reading the newspaper; he is a profound politician, and, it must be owned, on the Liberal side. The elder boys despise him rather; and when Champion Major passes, he turns his head, and looks down. I don't like the expression of Bullock's narrow, green eyes, as they follow the elder Champion, who does not seem to know or care how much the other hates him.
No—Mr. Bullock, though perhaps the cleverest and most accomplished8 boy in the school, associates with the quite little boys when he is minded for society. To these he is quite affable, courteous9, and winning. He never fagged or thrashed one of them. He has done the verses and corrected the exercises of many, and many is the little lad to whom he has lent a little money.
It is true he charges at the rate of a penny a week for every sixpence lent out, but many a fellow to whom tarts10 are a present necessity is happy to pay this interest f............