In the meantime Theobald and Ernest were with Dr. Skinner in his
library- the room where new boys were examined and old ones had up for
rebuke or chastisement. If the walls of that room could speak, what an
amount of blundering and capricious cruelty would they not bear
witness to!
Like all houses, Dr. Skinner's had its peculiar smell. In this
case the prevailing odour was one of Russia leather, but along with it
there was a subordinate savour as of a chemist's shop. This came
from a small laboratory in one corner of the room- the possession of
which, together with the free chattery and smattery use of such
words as "carbonate," "hyposulphite," "phosphate," and "affinity,"
were enough to convince even the most sceptical that Dr. Skinner had a
profound knowledge of chemistry.
I may say in passing that Dr. Skinner had dabbled in a great many
other things as well as chemistry. He was a man of many small
knowledges, and each of them dangerous. I remember Alethea Pontifex
once said in her wicked way to me, that Dr. Skinner put her in mind of
the Bourbon princes on their return from exile after the battle of
Waterloo, only that he was their exact converse; for whereas they
had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, Dr.
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