After some further conversation, the priest and he entered the town together.

“This is my house,” said the former; “or if not altogether mine—­at least, that in which I lodge; let me see you here at two o’clock to-morrow.  In the meantime, follow me, and I shall place you with a family where you will experience every kindness and attention that can make you comfortable.”

He then led him a few doors up the street, till he stopped at a decent-looking “House of Entertainment,” to the proprietors of which he introduced him.

“Be kind to this strange boy,” said the worthy clergyman, “and whatever the charges of his board and lodging may be until we get him settled, I shall be accountable for them.”

“God forbid, your Reverence, that ever a penny belongin’ to a poor boy lookin’ for his larnin’ should go into our pockets, if he was wid us twelve months in the year.  No—­no!  He can stay with the bouchaleens; (* little boys) let them be thryin’ one another in their books.  If he is fardher on in the Latin then Andy, he can help Andy; an’ if Andy has the foreway of him, why Andy can help him.  Come here, boys, all of yez.  Here’s a comrade for yez—­a dacent boy that’s lookin’ for his larnin’, the Lord enable him!  Now be kind to him, an’ whisper,” he added, in an undertone, “don’t be bringin’ a blush to the gorsoon’s face.  Do ye hear?  Ma chorp! if ye do!—­Now mind it.  Ye know what I can do whin I’m well vexed!  Go, now, an’ get him somethin’ to ate an’ dhrink, an’ let him sleep wid Barney in the feather bed.”

During the course of the next day, the benevolent curate introduced him to the parish priest, who from the frequent claims urged by poor scholars upon his patronage, felt no particular interest in his case.  He wrote a short letter, however, to the master with whom Jemmy intended to become a pupil, stating that “he was an honest boy, the son of legitimate parents, and worthy of consideration.”

The curate, who saw further into the boy’s character than the parish priest, accompanied him on the following day to the school; introduced him to the master in the most favorable manner, and recommended him in general to the hospitable care of all the pupils.  This introduction did not serve the boy so much as might have been expected; there was nothing particular in the letter of the parish priest, and the curate was but a curate—­no formidable personage in any church where the good-will of the rector has not been already secured.

Jemmy returned that day to his lodgings, and the next morning, with his Latin Grammar under his arm, he went to school to taste the first bitter fruits of the tree of knowledge.

On entering it, which he did with a beating heart, he found the despot of a hundred subjects sitting behind a desk, with his hat on, a brow superciliously severe, and his nose crimped into a most cutting and vinegar curl.  The truth was, the master knew the character of the curate, and felt that because he had taken Jemmy under his protection, no opportunity remained for him of fleecing the boy, under the pretence of securing his money, and that consequently the arrival of the poor scholar would be no windfall, as he had expected.