the light, the reason revealed itself to him immediately in the form of a dollop of congealed chicken-broth, nicely rounded to the shape of the cup, which shot from its resting-place, with a clammy thud, on to his clean shirtfront, and then proceeded to slide rapidly down inside his dress waistcoat, leaving a snail-like track, dotted with grains of rice, behind it. Pip was sent supperless to bed, where Pipette, completely broken down by remorse and sisterly affection, voluntarily joined him not much later. The following week they were sent to school. CHAPTER II MR. POCKLINGTON'S So Pip and Pipette went to school, and life in its entirety lay at their feet. So Hitherto the social circle in which they moved had been limited on the male side to Father, Mr. Evans, and Mr. Pipes, together with the milkman, the lamplighter, and a few more nodding acquaintances; and on the female to Tattie Fowler, Cook, and a long line of housemaids. The children could neither read nor write; the fact that they possessed immortal souls was practically unrevealed to them; and their religious exercises were limited to a single stereotyped prayer, imparted by Cook, and perfunctorily delivered night and morning by the children, at the bidding of the housemaid in charge, to a mysterious Power whose sole function, so far as they could gather, was to keep an eye upon them during their attendant's frequent nights-out, and to report delinquencies (by some occult means) on her return. Of the ordinary usages of polite society they knew little or nothing. To Pip and Pipette etiquette and deportment were summed up in [Pg 25] the following nursery laws, as amended by the Kitchen:— [Pg 25] I. Girls, owing to some mysterious infirmity which is never apparent, and for which they are not responsible, must be helped first to everything. II. A boy must on no account punch a girl, even though she is older and bigger than himself. (For reason, see I.) III. A girl must not scratch a boy. Not that the boy matters, but it is unladylike. IV. Real men do not play with dolls. (However, you may pretend to be a doctor, and administer medicine, without loss of dignity.) V. Real ladies do not climb the
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