I'll turn your precious ward out of the place.

I'll teach that girl--" An ominous crack of the tutor's whip cut short the end of the sentence, and Mr Ratman left the remainder of his threats to the imagination of his audience.
When, ten minutes later, the tutor, with eye-glass erect, strolled back into the drawing-room, no one would have supposed that he had been horsewhipping an enemy or making a discovery on which the fate of a whole household depended.

His thin, compressed lips wore their usual enigmatic lines; his brow was as unruffled as his shirt front.
"Dear Mr Armstrong, where have you been ?" cried Jill, pouncing on him at the door; "I've been hunting for you everywhere.

You promised me, you know." And the little lady towed off her captive in triumph.
The remainder of the evening passed uneventfully until at eleven o'clock the festivities in the drawing-room gave place to the more serious business of the "county" supper, at which, in a specially-erected tent, about one hundred guests sat down.
Tom had taken care to procure an early and advantageous seat for the occasion, and, with one of the vicar's daughters under his patronage and control, prepared to enjoy himself at last.

He had had a bad time of it so far, for he was in the black-books of almost every youth in the room, and had been posted as a defaulter in whatever corner he had tried to hide from his creditors.
"It's awful having a pretty sister," said he confidentially to his companion; "gets a fellow into no end of a mess.