What
would you do then?"
Mr. Manhug cries out from the bottom of the table--"Let him die and be
----!"
"Now, Mr. Manhug, I really must entreat of you to be more steady,"
interrupts the professor. "You would scrape the ceiling with the
fire-shovel, would you not? Plaster contains lime, and lime is an
antidote. Recollect that, if you please. They like you to say you would
scrape the ceiling, at the Hall: they think it shows a ready invention in
emergency. Mr. Newcome, you have heard the last question and answer?"
"Yes sir," says the fresh arrival, as he finishes making a note of it.
"Well; you are sent for, to a man who has hung himself. What would be your
first endeavour?"
"To scrape the ceiling with the fire-shovel," mildly observes Mr. Newcome;
whereupon the class indulges in a hearty laugh, and Mr. Newcome blushes as
deep as the red bull's-eye of a New-road doctor's lamp.
"What would _you_ do, Mr. Manhug? perhaps you can inform Mr. Newcome."
"Cut him down, sir," answers the indomitable _farceur_.
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