ents meanwhile will recite the
history of Dobozy; the poet Gyarfas is at this moment writing the verses
for it, and the chief cantor is composing the music. It will be fine!"

The old fellow took as much delight in the comedy as any child.

Meanwhile he had finished dressing Master Jock--brushed and combed his
hair, pared his nails, shaved him, tied his cravat, and buttoned his
coat _comme il faut_.

"And now, sir, you may appear before your fellow-men."

"Where's my pipe?"

"Pipe! Tut-tut! Don't you know that, first of all, you must go to church
to pray? nobody smokes till after that."

"You are right. But why don't they ring the bell?"

"Wait! I must first tell the priest that your honour is up."

"And there's another thing you must tell him--a sausage should be long,
a sermon short."

"I know," said Palko; and off he trotted to the priest, whose chief
defect and peculiarity consisted not in delivering long sermons, but
rather in the rebuking of Master Jock roundly, in the name of the Lord,
on this the one occasion in the whole year when he met him face to face,
to the intense delight of the assembled guests, who kept up the joke
afterwards till dinner-time. A particular Providence, however, delivered
Master Jock from this bitter jest on this occasion, inasmuch as the
reverend gentleman had suddenly fallen so ill that he could not perform
his duties.

"The dean is here," added Palko, after communicating the sad
intelligence.

"Who never knows when to leave off spouting," commented Master Jock. "If
he gets hold of us, we must make up our minds to have dinner at
supper-time; and he so bombards the ears of God with my praises that
even I am ashamed. Let the _supplikans_ complete the service."

The _supplikans_, be it explained, was a five years' student (counting
not from his birth, of course, but from the beginning of his academical
course)--a student _togatus_, as they called it, who ever since he had
been immured at college had never set eyes upon a human being. We can,
therefore, picture the terror of the worthy youth when he was informed
that, within a quarter of an hour, he must preach an edifying discourse
for the special benefit of a whole assembly of genteel backsliders.

He would very much have liked to have crawled away into some hole, but
they kept much too good an eye upon him for that, and, perceiving his
fear and affliction, the unprincipled mob played all sorts of devilries
upon him. They