To an honourable man, indeed, the mere knowledge that
another's secret was concealed therein which he was bidden to guard
would have been as invincible an impediment as unbreakable bolts and
bars; but the worthy fellow reassured himself with the reflection that,
after all, he was not going to tell anybody the contents of these
documents, and he so very much longed to know what it could be that Miss
Henrietta was so anxious to hide away, and old Lapussa would so much
like to find out. As if he would ever betray the secret of such a nice,
kindly creature to such an old dragon! Why, he would rather have his
tongue torn out than betray it!--but know it he must and would!
So he locked himself up in his little room on the third storey, and very
cautiously opened the bundle which was enwrapped in I know not how many
folds of paper and greedily devoured the contents of the various
documents.
But how great was his fury when, instead of the expected secrets, he
found nothing but dull Latin exercises, wearisome rhetorical
commonplaces on such subjects as the charms of spring and summer, the
excellence of agriculture, the advantages of knowledge, the danger of
the passions, and similar interesting themes. He was just about to tie
the bundle up again, when it occurred to him to read one of these
tiresome dissertations to the end, just to see what sort of style the
young scholar affected.
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