What bright colours it wore then, and how you enjoyed it! A man has not many years of such time.

He does not know them whilst they are with him.

It is only when they are passed long away that he remembers how dear and happy they were.
In order to keep Mr.Pen from indulging in that idleness of which his friend the Doctor of the Cistercians had prophesied such awful consequences, Mr.Smirke, Dr.Portman's curate, was engaged at a liberal salary, to walk or ride over from Clavering and pass several hours daily with the young gentleman.

Smirke was a man perfectly faultless at a tea-table, wore a curl on his fair forehead, and tied his neck-cloth with a melancholy grace.

He was a decent scholar and mathematician, and taught Pen as much as the lad was ever disposed to learn, which was not much.