Then the last Saturday, on which the Doctor came round to each form to
give out the prizes, and hear the masters' last reports of how they and
their charges had been conducting themselves; and Tom, to his huge
delight, was praised, and got his remove into the lower-fourth, in which
all his School-house friends were.

On the next Tuesday morning, at four o'clock, hot coffee was going on in
the housekeeper's and matron's rooms; boys wrapped in great coats and
mufflers were swallowing hasty mouthfuls, rushing about, tumbling over
luggage, and asking questions all at once of the matron; outside the
School-gates were drawn up several chaises and the four-horse coach
which Tom's party had chartered, the post-boys in their best jackets and
breeches, and a cornopean player, hired for the occasion, blowing away
"A southerly wind and a cloudy sky," waking all peaceful inhabitants
half-way down the High Street.

Every minute the bustle and hubbub increased, porters staggered about
with boxes and bags, the cornopean played louder. Old Thomas sat in his
den with a great yellow bag by his side, out of which he was paying
journey money to each boy, comparing by the light of a solitary dip the
dirty crabbed little list in his own handwriting with the Doctor's list,
and the amount of his cash; his head was on one side, his mouth screwed
up, and his spectacles dim from early toil. He had prudently locked the
door, and carried on his operations solely through the window, or he
would have been driven wild, and lost all his money.

"Thomas, do be quick, we shall never catch the Highflyer at Dunchurch."

"That's your money, all right, Green."

"Hullo, Thomas, the Doctor said I was to have two-pound-ten; you've only
given me two pound."--I fear that Master Green is not confining himself
strictly to truth.--Thomas turns his head more on one side than ever,
and spells away at the dirty list. Green is forced away from the window.

"Here, Thomas, never mind him, mine's thirty shillings." "And mine too,"
"and mine," shouted others.

One way or another, the party to which Tom belonged all got packed and
paid, and sallied out to the gates, the cornopean playing frantically
"Drops of Brandy," in allusion, probably, to the slight potations in
which the musician and post-boys had been already indulging. All luggage
was carefully stowed away inside the coach and in the front and hind
boots, so that not a hat-box was visible outside. Five or six