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. of a. wooden pig.
her being respected, thaton this very journey down. from
the Great Saint Bernard, he took sudden and yiolent
umbrage at the footinan’s being remiss to hold her stir-
rup, though standing near when she dismounted 5 and
unspeakably astonished the whole retinue by charging at
him on a hard-headed mulepriding h1m..1ntoV a corner,
and threatening to trample him to death.
They were a goodly company, and the Innkeepers.all
but worshipped them. .lVherever they Went, then‘ IP1-
portanco precVeded,thernV in ,the person“ of the courier
riding before, to see that the rooms of state were ready.
He was the herald of-‘tho family procession. I The great
travelling-carriage came next: -containing, inside, Mr.
Dorrit, Miss Dorrit, Miss Amy Dorrit, and Mrs. General ;
outside, some .of the retainers, and (in fine weather)
.Tdward Dorrit, Es uire, for whom the box was reserved.
Ehenv came, the c iariot containing Frederick, Dorrit,
Esquire, and an emptyplace occupied by, Edward, Dor-
rit, Esquire-, in wet weather. . Then ,came the fourgon
"with the rest of the retainers, thelieavy baggage, andas
much as it could carry of the mud‘ and dust which the
other vehiclesleft be 1ind.3 v V i ,
.'l‘hese equipages adorned the yard of the hotel, at
Martigny, on the return of the family from their moun-
tain excursion. Otlieryehicles Vwerethere, much "com-
pany being on the road, from the patched Italian Vettura
-like the body of a swing from an English fair put upon
a wooden tray on wheels, and, having another wooden
tray without wheels put atop of it-to the trim English
carriage. But there was another adernmentof the hotel
which Mr. Dorrit had not bargained for. Two strange
travellers embellished one of his rooms. ' ' , .
V The Innkeeper, hat in hand in the yard, swore to the
courier that he was blighted, that hewas dcsolated, that
lie was profoundly rifllicted, that he was the most miser-
able and unfortunate of bcastspthat he had thelhead
He ought never to have made the
concession, he said, but the very genteel lady Iiad so
i passionately prayed him V for the accommodation of ‘ that
room to dine in, only for a little half-lionr, that he had
been vanquished. The little half-hour was expired, the
lady and gentleman were taking their little dessert and
half-cup of coffee, the note was paid, the horses were
‘ordered, they would depart immediately ; but, owing to
an unhappy destiny and the curseof Heaven, theywere
notyetgonc. . V i . V ‘V . F V’
Nothing could exceed Mr. Dorrit’s indignation, as he
turned at the footlof the staircase. on hearing these
apologies. He felt that the family dignity was struck at,
by an assassin’s hand. He had a sense of his dignity,
which was of .the most exquisite nature. I He could do-
tectla design upon it when nobody else had any percep- .
tion of the fact.‘ His life was made an agony by the
V number of fine scalpels that he felt. to be incessantly en-
gaged in dissecting his dignity. - V .
".18 it possible, sir," said Mr. Dorrit, reddening‘ exces-
gively, " that you have-ha-had the audacityto place
one pf my rooms at the disposition of any other per-
-,;on ” . , y . , ,
Thousands of pardons I, It was the host’s profound
misfortune to have been overcome by that too genteel
lady.. He besonght Monseigneur not to enrage himself.
He threw himself on Monseigneur i forrclemency. If
Monseigneur would have the distinguished goodness to
occupy ‘hcyother salon especially reserved for him, for
five minutes, all would go well. ' , ‘
. “No, sir,” said Mr. Dorrit. “ Iiwill not occupy any
salon. I will leave your house without eating or drink.
ing, or setting foot in it. illow do you dare to act like
this’? Who am‘I that you-ha-separate me from other
gentlemen‘2” . V ' .
Alas! The host called all the universe to witness that
Monseigucur was the most ainiablelof the whole body of
nobility, the mostimportant, the most estimable,-the
most honoured. If he separated Monseigncur from
others, it was only because he was more distinguished,
more cherished, more generous, more renowned, '
“ Don't tell me so, sir,” returned Mr. Dorrit, in a mighty
heat. “You have nfirontcd me. You have heaped in-
sults upon me. i How dare you? Explain yourself.” -'
Ah, just Heaven, then, how could the host explain him-
OHA rams. sprazorarsz :llf0RKS.
only to apologise,‘and confide himself
knoWn‘magnanimity,of Monseigneur! . . , H
“-I tell you‘, sir,” said Mr.‘ Dorrit, panting with anger,
5‘ that you separate ’meV-‘ha-from other gentlemen;
that you make distinctions between me,‘ and other gen-
tlemen of fortune and statioii‘. , I demand of you, why?
I wish to know on-ha-w‘hat authority, on whose author-
ity. 'Reply,‘ sir. Explain.‘ ‘Answer why.” V , '
- Permit the landlord humbly to ‘submit to Jtlonsieur
the Courier then,lthat’Monseigneur ordinarily so gra-
cious,‘ enraged himself without cause. There was no why.
Monsieur the ,Courier would represent to Monseigrieur,
that he deceived himself in suspecting that thcrejvas
any why, but the why his devoted servant had already
had theihonoiir toppresent "to him. ,‘The very genteel
hdym.‘ ; ' ' ‘ 3 “ ‘i .
' “ Silence I” cried Mr.,Dorrit. ‘S Hold your tongue I I
will hear’ no more of L the very genteel lady ; I willihear
no more ’VofV-you. ‘Look at this, familyemyl family’?-
family more genteel than any lady. ' Youiliave treated
this familywith disrespect’; you,ha.ve been insolent to
this family. I’ll ruin you. .Ha-“-seudfor tlichorses,
pack thecarriages, I’ll not set foot'inVthislInanfsVhous.e1
agaiul”- ' Ni -
', No one had interfered in thegdispute, which was be-
yond the French colloquial powersfof, Edward 'DorI'1lw
Esquire, and scarcelywithin the province of the ladies.
Miss Fanny,’ however, nowsupported l1t3I"fZ1l,lleT'Wll3.l1
great bitterness ;‘ declaring, in her native tongue, that it
was quite clear there was something special in this man 8
impertinence ; and,that,slieVconsidered it irnportantthnt
he should be, by some means, forced to give up his au-
thority for making distinctions between that family and
F9 . U49. 5‘? ‘V9111
‘other wealthy families. V VVhat the reasons of Vliis pre-
sumption could 'be, she was at‘a loss to imagine; but
ieasons he must have, and theyought to ‘be, torn from
irn. ' > ' I ,- V I V‘
i All thcvguides, mule-drivers, and idlers’ in the yard,
had made thernselues parties to the angry conference.
and were muchrimpressed bythe, courier’s now bestirring
himself to get the carriages out. '3lVitli the aid of some
dozen people toeach wheel, this was done at‘a great Vcost
of noise 5 and then the loading was proceeded With. VP,0“d‘
ingthe arrival of the horses from the post-house. .<
‘ But, ?the very genteel lady’s English‘ chariot being ill-
- ready horsed and at the inn-door, the landlord had slip-
ped up-stairs to represent his hard case. This was noti-
fied to thefyai-(1 -by his coming down, the staircase 1.11
attendanceon’ the gentleman and the lady,‘and by his
pointing out the offended majesty of-Mr. Dorriti to -them
with a significant motion of his hand. ‘ V i ‘ ,
“Beg your pardon,” said tliegentleman,’ Vdetnclllng
himself from the lady, and ’ coming forward. “ lam 3
man of few words and a. bad hand at an'explanation-
but lady here is extremely anxiousthat there should be
no Row. Lady-a mother of mine. in point of -fyncl"
wishes me to say that she hopes no Row.” .
.'Mr. Dorrit, still panting under his injury, sa uted 1119
gentleman, and salutedthe lady, in 'a distant, final. 11“
invindible manner. ‘ , ‘ . . V y I - . ’ '
V" No, but really--here, old feller'; yoi1l’7 ’ T1115 .“'f‘5
the gcntleman’s‘way of appealing to Edward .Dorr.lt.
Esquire, on whom he pounced as a great and providential
relief." “ Letyou and I try to make this all right. Lady
so very much wishes no Row.” ‘ ' - . ‘ ,v ‘
v Edward Dorrit, Esquire,-led a little apart by the but-
ton, assumcd a diplomatic expression of coiinterinnce 1”,
replying, “VVhy you must confess, that when you be‘
speak a. lot of rooms beforehand and they belong t0 3'0"’
it's not pleasant to find other people in ’cm.’’ ' r , ,t
g.“No,” said the other, "I know, it isn’t. I admit ta
Still, let you and I try to rnakejit all right, and “V0;
Row. The fault is not this chap’s at all, but V111)’ T,“0td1(i
er’s. Being a remarkably fine woman with'n0 D18”
nonsense about.,lier-well,educated, too-she “'0? too,
many for this chap. Regularly pocketed him..”i '
.“ If that’s the case-” Edward Dorrit, Esquire. beging’
“ Assure you ’pon my soul ’tis the ‘case. Consf?(l“9’l.'
ly,” said the other gentleman, retiring on hiS,V111m“ PO51‘
tion, “why Row.” ‘ ' ' ‘- . . i - '
from the doorway. '-‘ I M?”
V“ Edmund,” said the lady , . D
you have explained, or are explaining, to the satisfacxf-I0
self’ when he had nothing more to explain ; when he had.