"William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity fair" - читать интересную книгу автора

able, or did not choose, to stand up again.

And now all the boys set up such a shout for Figs as
would have made you think he had been their darling
champion through the whole battle; and as absolutely
brought Dr. Swishtail out of his study, curious to know
the cause of the uproar. He threatened to flog Figs
violently, of course; but Cuff, who had come to himself
by this time, and was washing his wounds, stood up and
said, "It's my fault, sir-not Figs'-not Dobbin's. I was
bullying a little boy; and he served me right." By which
magnanimous speech he not only saved his conqueror a
whipping, but got back all his ascendancy over the boys
which his defeat had nearly cost him.

Young Osborne wrote home to his parents an account
of the transaction.

Sugarcane House, Richmond, March, 18-

DEAR MAMA,-I hope you are quite well. I should be
much obliged to you to send me a cake and five shillings.
There has been a fight here between Cuff Dobbin.
Cuff, you know, was the Cock of the School. They
fought thirteen rounds, and Dobbin Licked. So Cuff is
now Only Second Cock. The fight was about me. Cuff
was licking me for breaking a bottle of milk, and Figs
wouldn't stand it. We call him Figs because his father is
a Grocer-Figs Rudge, Thames St., City-I think as
he fought for me you ought to buy your Tea Sugar
at his father's. Cuff goes home every Saturday, but can't
this, because he has 2 Black Eyes. He has a white Pony
to come and fetch him, and a groom in livery on a bay
mare. I wish my Papa would let me have a Pony, and I
am

Your dutiful Son,
GEORGE SEDLEY OSBORNE

P.S.-Give my love to little Emmy. I am cutting her
out a Coach in cardboard. Please not a seed-cake, but a
plum-cake.

In consequence of Dobbin's victory, his character rose
prodigiously in the estimation of all his schoolfellows, and
the name of Figs, which had been a byword of reproach,
became as respectable and popular a nickname as any
other in use in the school. "After all, it's not his fault
that his father's a grocer," George Osborne said, who,
though a little chap, had a very high popularity among