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606 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
a curate in the mining districts, and ending by wearing a rosette
in his hat ? Who would ever have thought of Ringwood becoming
such a prodigious swell and leader of fashion ? He was a very shy
fellow ; not at all a good-looking fellow : and what a wild fellow
he had become, and what a lady-killer ! Isn't he some connection
of yours, Firmin ? Philip said yes, but that he had scarcely met
Ringwood at all. And one man after another told anecdotes of
Ringwood: how he had young men to play in his house ; how he
had played in that very " Star and Garter"; and how he always
won. You must please to remember that our story dates back
some sixteen years, when the dice-box still rattled occasionally, and
the king was turned.
As this old school gossip is going on, Lord Egham arrives, and
with him this very Ringwood about whom the old schoolfellows
had just been talking. He came down in Egham's phaeton. Of
course, the greatest man of the party always waits for Ringwood.
"If we had had a duke at Greyfriars," says some grumbler,
" Ringwood would have made the duke bring him down."
Philip's friend, when he beheld the arrival of Mr. Ringwood,
seized Firmin's big arm, and whispered—
" Hold your tongue. No fighting. No quarrels. Let bygones
be bygones. Remember, there can be no earthly use in a scandal."
" Leave me alone," says Philip, " and don't be afraid."
I thought Ringwood seemed to start back for a moment, and
perhaps fancied that he looked a little pale, but he advanced with
a gracious smile towards Philip, and remarked, "It is a long time
since we have seen you at my father's."
Philip grinned and smiled too. " It was a long time since he
had been in Hill Street." And Philip's smile was not at all pleasing
to behold. Indeed, a worse performer of comedy than our friend
does not walk the stage of this life.
On this the other gaily remarked he was glad Philip had leave
to join the bachelor's party. " Meeting of old schoolfellows very
pleasant. Hadn't been to one of them for a long time : though the
' Friars ' was an abominable hole : that was the truth. Who was
that in the shovel-hat—a bishop ? what bishop ?"
It was Brackley, the Archdeacon, who turned very red on seeing
Ringwood. For the fact is, Brackley was talking to Pennystone,
the little boy about whom the quarrel and fight had taken place at
school, when Ringwood had proposed forcibly to take Pennystone's
money from him. "I think, Mr. Ringwood, that Pennystone is
big enough to hold his own now, don't you ?" said the Archdeacon ;
and with this the Venerable man turned on his heel, leaving Ringwood
to face the little Pennystone of former years : now a gigantic