"Who did this? I must be told at once."
"I did, sir," said Wildney, stepping forward.
"Ha! very well," said Mr. Rose, while, in spite of his anger, a smile
hovered at the corner of his lips. "Go and borrow me a cane from
Mr. Harley."
While he went there was unbroken silence.
"Now, sir," said he to Brigson, "I shall flog you."
Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had
never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled;
at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like
a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes
fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's arm, and implored and besought for mercy.
"_Miserable_ coward," said Mr. Rose, throwing into the word such ringing
scorn that no one who heard it ever forgot it. He indignantly shook the
boy off, and caned him till he rolled on the floor, losing every
particle of self-control, and calling out, "The devil--the devil--the
devil!" ("invoking his patron saint," as Wildney maliciously observed).
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