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their petition in bankruptcy.
In due course Tom Perkins took Holy Orders and en-
tered upon the profession for which he was so admirably
suited. He had been an assistant master at Wellington and
then at Rugby.
But there was quite a difference between welcoming his
success at other schools and serving under his leadership in
their own. Tar had frequently given him lines, and Squirts
had boxed his ears. They could not imagine how the Chap-
ter had made such a mistake. No one could be expected to
forget that he was the son of a bankrupt linendraper, and
the alcoholism of Cooper seemed to increase the disgrace.
It was understood that the Dean had supported his candi-
dature with zeal, so the Dean would probably ask him to
dinner; but would the pleasant little dinners in the pre-
cincts ever be the same when Tom Perkins sat at the table?
And what about the depot? He really could not expect of-
ficers and gentlemen to receive him as one of themselves.
It would do the school incalculable harm. Parents would
be dissatisfied, and no one could be surprised if there were
wholesale withdrawals. And then the indignity of calling
him Mr. Perkins! The masters thought by way of protest of
sending in their resignations in a body, but the uneasy fear
that they would be accepted with equanimity restrained
them.
‘The only thing is to prepare ourselves for changes,’ said
Sighs, who had conducted the fifth form for five and twenty
years with unparalleled incompetence.
And when they saw him they were not reassured. Dr.