Whether His Master Had Frightened Him Or Not I Do Not Know.
He always spoke in a whisper, and with downcast eyes.
He
handled everything as if it was about to annihilate him, or
he it, and looked as if he wouldn't bite - even a tartlet.
One day when I had finished my task, and we were alone, I
bethought me of making some laughing gas, and trying the
effect of it on the gentle youth. I offered him a shilling
for the experiment, which, however, proved more expensive
than I had bargained for. I filled a bladder with the gas,
and putting a bit of broken pipe-stem in its neck for a
mouthpiece, gave it to the boy to suck - and suck he did. In
a few seconds his eyes dilated, his face became lividly
white, and I had some trouble to tear the intoxicating
bladder from his clutches. The moment I had done so, the
true nature of the gutter-snipe exhibited itself. He began
by cutting flip-flaps and turning windmills all round the
room; then, before I could stop him, swept an armful of
valuable apparatus from the tables, till the whole floor was
strewn with wreck and poisonous solutions. The dismay of the
chemist when he returned may be more easily imagined than
described.
Some years ago, there was a well-known band of amateur
musicians called the 'Wandering Minstrels.' This band
originated in my rooms in Dean's Yard. Its nucleus was
composed of the following members:
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