He broke into one hysterical laugh and then immediately began to sob.

This was the moment when Shovel should have got him quietly out of the hall.
Members of the society discussing him afterwards with bated breath said that never till they died could they forget her ladyship's face while he did it.

"But did you notice the boy's own face?
It was positively angelic." "Angelic, indeed; the little horror was intoxicated." No, there was a doctor present, and according to him it was the meal that had gone to the boy's head; he looked half starved.

As for the clergyman, he only said: "We shall lose her subscription; I am glad of it." Yes, Tommy was intoxicated, but with a beverage not recognized by the faculty.

What happened was this: Supper being finished, the time had come for what Shovel called the jawing, and the boys were now mustered in the body of the hall.