 acquirements - not quite
enough perhaps to warrant so strong a recommendation of him as he had given to
his friend Tulliver. But he believed Mr. Stelling to be an excellent classic,
for Gadsby had said so, and Gadsby's first cousin was an Oxford tutor; which was
better ground for the belief even than his own immediate observation would have
been, for though Mr. Riley had received a tincture of the classics at the great
Mudport Free School, and had a sense of understanding Latin generally, his
comprehension of any particular Latin was not ready. Doubtless there remained a
subtle aroma from his juvenile contact with the De Senectute and the Fourth Book
of the Æneid, but it had ceased to be distinctly recognisable as classical, and
was only perceived in the higher finish and force of his auctioneering style.
Then, Stelling was an Oxford man, and the Oxford men were always - no, no, it
was the Cambridge men who were always good mathematicians. But a man who had had
a university education could teach anything he liked; especially a man like
Stelling who had made a speech at a Mudport dinner on a political occasion, and
had acquitted himself so well that it was generally remarked, this son-in-law of
Timpson's was a sharp fellow. It was to be expected of a Mudport man, from the
parish of St Ursula, that he would not omit to do a good turn to a son-in-law of
Timpson's, for Timpson was one of the most useful and influential men in the
parish, and had a good deal of business, which he knew how to put into the right
hands. Mr. Riley liked such men, quite apart from any money which might be
diverted, through their good judgment, from less worthy pockets into his own;
and it would be a satisfaction to him to say to Timpson on his return home,
»I've secured a good pupil for your son-in-law.« Timpson had a large family of
daughters; Mr. Riley felt for him; besides, Louisa Timpson's face, with its
light curls, had been a familiar object to him over the pew wainscot on a Sunday
for nearly fifteen years: it was natural her husband should be a commendable
tutor. Moreover, Mr. Riley knew of no other schoolmaster whom he had any ground
for recommending in preference: why then should he not recommend Stelling? His
friend Tulliver had asked him for an opinion: it is always chilling in friendly
intercourse, to say you have no opinion to give. And if you deliver
