His study was a spectacle for untidiness and grime.

He abjured his privilege of having a fag.

No one dared to take liberties with him, for he had an arm like an oak branch, and a back as broad as the door.
All sorts of queer stories were afloat about him.

It was generally whispered that his father was a common workman, and that the son was being kept at school by charity.

Any reference to his poverty was the one way of exciting Rollitt.