Therein he acted so promptly and wisely, that
the sleepy, timid old dons as well as the Uniacke family--for the lad
was highly connected--were thankful that this unlucky business had not
occurred in the time of the late master, who was both old and foolish,
and would have made it the talk of all England, instead of hushing it
up, with the prudent decision of Dr. Grey, so that now it was scarcely
spoken of beyond the college walls.
Solemn, quiet, and beautiful, as if they had never known a scandal or a
tragedy, slept those old walls in the moonlight, which streamed also in
long bars from window to window, across the ghostly gallery before
mentioned. Ghostly enough in all conscience; and yet two little figures
went trotting fearlessly down it, as they did every night at eight o'clock,
between the two ancient apartments now converted into dining-room
and nursery. The master's children were too familiar with these grim,
shadowy corners to feel the slightest dread besides, they were not
imaginative children. To Arthur, an "ally taw," that is, a real alabaster
marble, such as he now fumbled in his pocket, was an object of more
importance than all the defunct bishops, archbishops, kings, queens,
and benefactors of every sort, whose grim portraits stared at him by day
and night.
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