"There's another," cried Tom, laughing; "that must be a three-decker.
Come, father, here's the bottle, you must take another glass to wash
that down."

"Pray what was the meaning of that last long word, sir," said Mary,
taking the Dominie by the arm, "mis--something."

"The word," replied the Dominie, "is a compound from conception,
borrowed from the Latin tongue implying conceiving; and the _mis_
prefixed, which negatives or reverses the meaning; misconception,
therefore, implies not to conceive. I can make you acquainted with many
others of a similar tendency as _mis_-conception; videlicet, _mis_-
apprehension, _mis_-understanding, _mis_-contriving _mis_-applying,
_mis_--"

"Dear me, what a many _misses_," cried Mary, "and do you know them all?"

"Indeed do I," replied the Dominie, "and many, many more are treasured
in my memory, _quod nunc describere tongum est_."

"I'd no idea that the old gentleman was given to running after the girls
in that way," said old Tom to Stapleton.

"Human natur'," replied the other.

"No more did I," continued Mary; "I shall have nothing to say to him;"
and she drew off her chair a few inches from that of the Dominie.

"Maiden," quoth the Dominie, "thou art under a mistake."

"Another miss, I declare," cried Tom, laughing.

"What an old Turk!" continued Mary, getting further off.

"Nay, then, I will not reply," said the Dominie indignantly, putting
down his pipe, leaning back on his chair, and pulling out his great red
handkerchief, which he applied to his nose, and produced a sound that
made the windows of the little parlour vibrate for some seconds.

"I say, master Tom, don't you make too free with your betters," said old
Tom, when he saw the Dominie affronted.

"Nay," replied the Dominie, "there's an old adage which saith, `As the
old cock crows, so doth the young.' Wherefore didst thou set him the
example?"

"Very true, old gentleman, and I axes your pardon, and here's my hand
upon it."

"And so do I, sir, and here's my hand upon it," said young Tom,
extending his hand on the Dominie's other side.

"Friend Dux, and thou, young Tom, I do willingly accept thy proffered
reconciliation; knowing, as I well do, that there may be much mischief
in thy composition, but naught of malice." The Dominie extended his
hands, and shook both those offered to him warmly.

"There," said old Tom, "now my mind's at ease, as old Pigtown said."

"I know not the author whom thou q