Who appointed thee to such
office? The Holy Ghost? He alone can confer it; but when wert thou
anointed?"
William was so zealous in storing up these verities that he looked
as though he were unconscious that the pouring-out was over. He
started, which he had not done before, at the voice of Master Silas;
but soon recovered his complacency, and smiled with much serenity at
being called low-minded varlet.
"Low-minded varlet!" cried Master Silas, most contemptuously, "dost
thou imagine that king calleth king, like thy chums, FILCHER and
FIBBER, WHIRLIGIG and NINCOMPOOP? Instead of this low vulgarity and
sordid idleness, ending in nothing, they throw at one another such
fellows as thee by the thousand, and when they have cleared the
land, render God thanks and make peace."
Willy did now sigh out his ignorance of these matters; and he
sighed, mayhap, too, at the recollection of the peril he had run
into, and had ne'er a word on the nail. {70a}
The bowels of Sir Thomas waxed tenderer and tenderer; and he opened
his lips in this fashion:-
"Stripling! I would now communicate unto thee, on finding thee
docile and assentaneous, the instruction thou needest on the
signification of the words NATURAL CAUSE, if thy duty toward thy
neighbour had been first instilled into thee.
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