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,-the very same words 1”’ '
532
you have a right to rely upon me," and then she moist-
ens her lips, and shows a sense of relief. ’ 9
“ I trust I have kept the promised made through your
servant, that I would detain you a veryfew minutes. , I
need trouble you no longer,‘ Mr. Twemlow." ‘ '
’ “Stay 1” says Twemlow, rising as sherises. “ Pardon
me a. moment. I should never‘ have sought‘ you out,
madam, to say what I am going to say, but since you have
sought me out and are here, I will throw it off my tnind..
VVas it quite consistent, in candour, with our taking that
resolutionagainst Mr. Fledgebypthat you should after-
wards adclress Mr.- Fledgehy as your dear and confiden-
tial friend, and entreat a. favour of Mr. Fledgeby? Al-
ways supposing that you did ; I assert no knowledge of
my own on’ the subject; it has been represented to me
i that you did.” ‘
“ Then he told you?” retorts Mrs. Lammle, who again
has saved her eyes while listening, and uses them with
strong effect while speaking. ‘ H ’
“ Yes ” ' 4
‘ “ It isistrange that he should have told you the truth,”
says Mrs. Lammle, seriously pondering. -‘ ;“-Pray where
did a circumstance so ve extraordinary happen ?”
"‘ Twemlow hesitates. V e is shorter than the lady as
well as weaker, and, as ‘she stands above him with her
' hardened manner and her well-used eyes, he finds him-
self at such ’ a disadvantage that hewould like to be of
theoppositosex.“ ' ’ - " ‘ v- - “"T 1’
“ May, I ask where it happened, Mr.vTwemlow?j In
strict confidence‘?”' ' " - ‘ ' i I "A
',“‘I must confess,” saysgthe mild little gentleman,"
coming to his answer by degrees,’ " that I felt some com-
punctions when Mr. Fledgeby mentioned it. I must ad-
mit that could" not‘ regardfmyself in an agreeable
light. ‘More particularly,jas Mr.‘ Fledgeby did, with
great civility, which I'could'not feel that I-‘deserved
from him, render me the same service that you had en-
treated him to render you.” ' V - " j e‘ i
' It is a' part of the true nobility of the poor gentleman's
soul to say this last sentence. “Otherwise,”‘ he has re-
flected, f‘ I shall assume the superior‘ position of having
no difficulties of my own, while I know of hers. 'VVhich
would be mean,‘very mean.” “ " ' “M ' 1'1,’ :-
“VVas Mr. Fledgcby’s.advocacy as effectualein your
case as in ours?” Mrs. Lammle demands. ‘ ‘v
"“'Asine1iectual.” '3 .' 3"‘ g ‘ '
“Can you make up your mind’ to tell me where’ you
saw Mr.’Fledgel)y, Mr. Twemlow?" ' M v. .
‘ “I beg your pardon. I fully intended to have done so.
‘The reservation was not intentional. I encountered Mr.
Fledgcby, quite by accident, on the spot.--By the’ ex-
EIl';3:;l(:‘IiY: on the sp0t,’I gmean at Mr.’ Riah’s in Saint
m“ I-give you the misfortune to be in Mr. Riah’s hands
on ‘ " -‘ < r ‘i v
' “ Unfortunately. madam,” returns Twemlow '‘ “the
one money-obligation to which I stand committed the
one debt of my life (but it is a just debt; pray obs’ervo
;1l:1]a:]tdSI”don.t Idxspute it), has fallen into‘Mr. Riah’s
“Mir. Twemlow,” says Mrs. L I 1 ii ' ' ' I‘
with hers: which hewould preii’eP11Ii1‘l1’er;drdign:1sil’e)l?:
could, ‘but he can’t ; “it has fallen into Mr. F'le:lgcby’v.
‘hands. Mr. Riah is his mask. It has fallen into Mr‘
Fledgeby’s hands. Let me tell you that, for your uid:
once. The information may be of use to you, if on y to"
prevent your croduhty, in judging another man’s truth-
fulnessgby your own, from being imposed upon.” ‘ ‘
“Impossible 1 ” 'cries Twemlow, st d’ ‘
.‘‘How do you know it?” ' ‘ ’ ’ an mg. aghast‘
“ I scarcely know how I know it. The whole train of
gilrlcjimstances seemed to take fire at once, and show it to
(“Oh l Then you have no proof.”‘ - ‘i at V j
.“ It is very‘ strange,” says‘ Mrs. Lammle,'coldly and
‘ I
boldly, and with some‘ disdain, “how like men are to
one another in some things, though their characters are
as different as can be I ' No two men can have less ailin-
ity between them one would say, than Mr.,Twenilowt
‘and my husband. ' Yet my husband replies to me ‘ You
have no’ proof,’ and ‘Mr. T wemlow replies‘ to me‘ with
OHA RLES‘ DICKENS? WORKS. I
W "But why,’ madam?" Twemlow ventures, gently to
argue. ‘ “ Consider why-thevery same words? Because
they state the fact. Because you have no roof.”.
‘ “Men are very wise in their way," quoth rs. Lammle,
glancing haughtily at the Snigsworth plortrait, and shak-
ing out her dress efore departing ;‘ " ut they have wis-
dom to learn. My husband, who is not over-confiding,
ingenuous, or inexperienced, sees this plainl thing no
more than Mr. Twemlow does-because there is no proof l
Yet I believe fivevwomen out of six,rin my place, would
see it as clearly as I do.'= However, .I will never rest (if
only in remembrance of .Mr."Fledgeby's havingrkissed
my hand) until my husband 'does see it. [And you will
do well for yourself to see it from this: time ‘forth, Mr.
Twemlow, thouglrl can give you noiproof."
‘ As she moves towards the door, Mr.’Twemlow, attend-
ingnniher, expresses his soothing hope‘ that the condi-
tion of Mr. Lammle’s affairs is not irretrievable.
' "I don’t know,” Mrs. Lammle answers, stoppin , and
sketchin out the pattern of paper on the wall wit the
point of lier parasol; “it depends.‘ Thereimay be an
opening for-;him dawnin now,‘or there maybe none.
We shall soon find out.'i= f none, we are bankrupt here,
and must go abrdad, I suppose." ? i ' i
‘ Mr. Twemlow, in his good-natured desire to make the
best of it, remarks that there are pleasant livesnbroad.
-"‘Yes,” returns Mrs. Lannnle, still sketchingon the
wall; “ but I doubt whether billiard-playing, cnrd-play-
ing,‘ and so forth, for the means to "live 'under suspicion
at adirty table-d'h6te, is one of them.” ' I ' ‘
It is much‘-for Mr. ?Lammle, Twemlow politely inti-
mates (thou h greatly shocked), to have ‘one always be-
sides him w o is attached to him in all hisfortunes, and
whose restraining influence will prevent him from courses
that would be discreditable and ruinous. ’5 'As‘ he says it,
Mrs. Lammle leaves off sketching, and looks at him.
‘ “ Restraining influence, Mr.‘ Twemlow ‘Z3 VVe must eat
and drink, an -dress‘,-and have a‘roof over our heads.
Always hesidekhim‘ andiattached 'in"all his fortunes‘! '
Not much to boast of iu"that ; what'can’a. woman at my
age do ‘I My Jrusband and I deceived‘ one another when
we married; wemust bear the consequences of the de-
ception-that‘ is ‘to say, bearone‘ another, and bear‘ the
burden of scheming together for to-day’s dinner‘and to-
morrow’s breakfast-‘-till death divorces us.” - ' '
i‘ VVith those words, she walks”, out into Duke Street,
Saint James’s.‘ Mr. Twemlow returning‘ to his sofa,
lays down his laching head 3 on (its slippery little horse-
hair bolster, with-a strong-‘intemal conviction that 9.
painful interview is not the 'kind“of thing to be taken
afterrthe dinner pillsiwhich are so highly salutary In
connexion with the pleasures of the table. - ' ‘ ‘ .
But, six o’clock in the evening finds the worthy little
‘gentleman gettin ‘ better, and also getting himself into hls
obsolete little sili stockings andpumps, for the wonder-
ing dinner at the Veneeringspi And seven o'clock in the
evening finds him trotting out into Duke Street,ito trot
to the corner and save a sixpence in coach hire.
" 'Tippins thedivino has dined herself into such a con-
dition by this time, that a morbid mind might desire
her, for a blessed change, to sup at last, and turn into bed-
Such a mind has Mr. Eugene Wraybum, whom'T“'9m‘
low‘finds' contemplating Tippins with the Inoodiestof
visages, while that playful creature rallies him on being
so long overdue fatthe woolsack. -Jskittish is Til‘l",“5
with Mortimer Lightwood too, and has raps to give nm
with her fan for having been best. man at the nuptial‘
of these deceiving what’s-their-names who have g0110 to
pieces. ' Though, indeed, the‘fan is generally'liV91Yv
and taps away at the’ men ‘in all directions, with sonne-
thing of a grisly sound suggestive 'of the clattermg of
Lady Tippins’s bones. ' ' " ‘ ‘
= "A new race’ of‘ intimate ‘ friends has sprung up at V?‘
neering’s since‘he‘went into’ Parliament for the pllbhc
good, to whom Mrs. Veneering is very attentive.‘ T1105“
friends, like astronomical distances, are only to be Spilkcn
of in the very largest figures.-' Boots says that one of them
is a Contractoriwho (it has been calculated) gives 8111‘
P10yment,< directly and ‘indirectly, to five hundred ‘tliou-
sand men. 'Brewer,says that another of the’-m‘is a .Cha1r-
mamin suchrequest at‘ so’many Boards, so far aP‘“"
that he never travels less by railway than three thousal!
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