Book excerpt: Excerpt from 'Neath Silver Mask, or the Cloudland of Life The huge college bell tolled out the hour; and the proceedings commenced. A short agonizing interview between the University authorities; then a tantalizing prolongation of the mo ment of suspense; and at last the Lord Chancellor arose amid a whispered anticipatory hum. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.