'
Glad to get his spectacles off (for they always made his eyes
water), her son obeyed: murmuring that his sight for reading
manuscript got worse and worse daily.
'"I write,"' his mother went on, reading very perspicuously and
precisely, '"from the chair, to which I shall probably be confined
for some hours."'
Septimus looked at the row of chairs against the wall, with a half-
protesting and half-appealing countenance.
'"We have,"' the old lady read on with a little extra emphasis, '"a
meeting of our Convened Chief Composite Committee of Central and
District Philanthropists, at our Head Haven as above; and it is
their unanimous pleasure that I take the chair."'
Septimus breathed more freely, and muttered: 'O! if he comes to
THAT, let him,'
'"Not to lose a day's post, I take the opportunity of a long report
being read, denouncing a public miscreant - "'
'It is a most extraordinary thing,' interposed the gentle Minor
Canon, laying down his knife and fork to rub his ear in a vexed
manner, 'that these Philanthropists are always denouncing somebody.
And it is another most extraordinary thing that they are always so
violently flush of miscreants!'
'"Denouncing a public miscreant - "' - the old lady resumed, '"to
get our little affair of business off my mind. I have spoken with
my two wards, Neville and Helena Landless, on the subject of their
defective education, and they give in to the plan proposed; as I
should have taken good care they did, whether they liked it or
not.
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