One of the number happened to be drinking, and when
he caught the doctor's eye glaring at him through the side of his tumbler,
he left off so hastily that he was convulsed for some moments, and in the
sequel ruined Doctor Blimber's point, for at the critical part of the
Roman tale, Johnson, unable to suppress it any longer, burst into such an
overwhelming fit of coughing that, although both his immediate neighbours
thumped him on the back, and Mr. Feeder himself held a glass of water to
his lips, and the butler walked him up and down several times between his
own chair and the sideboard, like a sentry, it was full five minutes
before he was moderately composed, and then there was a profound silence.
"Gentlemen," said Doctor Blimber, "rise for Grace! Cornelia, lift Dombey
down. Johnson will repeat to me to-morrow morning before breakfast,
without book, and from the Greek Testament, the first chapter of Saint
Paul to the Ephesians. We will resume our studies, Mr. Feeder, in
half-an-hour."
The young gentlemen bowed and withdrew. Through the rest of the day's
routine of work Paul sat in a corner wondering whether Florence was
thinking of him and what they were about at Mrs.
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