Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. VVarious
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. V
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
"He sends--I really beg your pardon--he sends," says Sir Leicester,
selecting the letter, and unfolding it, "a message to you. Our
stopping to change horses, as I came to his postscript, drove it out
of my memory. I beg you'll excuse me. He says--" Sir Leicester is so
long in taking out his eye-glass and adjusting it, that my Lady looks
a little irritated. "He says 'In the matter of the right of way--' I
beg your pardon, that's not the place. He says--yes! Here I have it!
He says, 'I beg my respectful compliments to my Lady, who, I hope, has
benefited by the change. Will you do me the favor to mention (as it
may interest her), that I have something to tell her on her return, in
reference to the person who copied the affidavit in the Chancery suit,
which so powerfully stimulated her curiosity. I have seen him.'"
My Lady, leaning forward, looks out of her window.
"That's the message," observes Sir Leicester.
"I should like to walk a little," says my Lady, still looking out of
her window.
"Walk?" repeats Sir Leicester, in a tone of surprise.
"I should like to walk a little," says my Lady, with unmistakable
distinctness. "Please to stop the carriage."
The carriage is stopped, the affectionate man alights from the rumble,
opens the door, and lets down the steps, obedient to an impatient
motion of my Lady's hand. My Lady alights so quickly, and walks away
so quickly, that Sir Leicester, for all his scrupulous politeness, is
unable to assist her, and is left behind. A space of a minute or two
has elapsed before he comes up with her. She smiles, looks very
handsome, takes his arm, lounges with him for a quarter of a mile, is
very much bored, and resumes her seat in the carriage.
The rattle and clatter continue through the greater part of three
days, with more or less of bell-jingling and whip-cracking, and more
or less plunging of Centaurs and bare-backed horses. Their courtly
politeness to each other, at the Hotels where they tarry, is the theme
of general admiration. Though my Lord is a little aged for my Lady,
says Madame, the hostess of the Golden Ape, and though he might be her
amiable father, one can see at a glance that they love each other.
One observes my Lord with his white hair, standing, hat in hand, to
help my Lady to and from the carriage. One observes my Lady, how
recognizant of my Lord's politeness, with an inclination of her
gracious head, and the concession of her so-genteel fingers! It is
ravishing!
The sea has no appreciation of great men, but knocks them about like
the small fry. It is habitually hard upon Sir Leicester, whose
countenance it greenly mottles in the manner of sage-cheese, and in
whose aristocratic system it effects a dismal revolution. It is the
Radical of Nature to him. Nevertheless, his dignity gets over it,
after stopping to refit; and he goes on with my Lady for Chesney Wold,
lying only one night in London on the way to Lincolnshire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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