It was not till the month of June that he and my lady came down to
the country. My master was pleased to take me aside with him to the
brewhouse that same evening, to complain to me of my son and other
matters, in which he said he was confident I had neither art nor part;
he said a great deal more to me, to whom he had been fond to talk ever
since he was my white-headed boy, before he came to the estate; and all
that he said about poor Judy I can never forget, but scorn to repeat. He
did not say an unkind word of my lady, but wondered, as well he might,
her relations would do nothing for him or her, and they in all this
great distress. He did not take any thing long to heart, let it be as
it would, and had no more malice, or thought of the like in him, than a
child that can’t speak; this night it was all out of his head before
he went to his bed. He took his jug of whiskey punch--my lady was grown
quite easy about the whiskey punch by this time, and so I did suppose
all was going on right betwixt them, till I learnt the truth through
Mrs. Jane, who talked over their affairs to the housekeeper, and I
within hearing. The night my master came home thinking of nothing at all
but just making merry, he drank his bumper toast “to the deserts of
that old curmudgeon my father-in-law, and all enemies at Mount Juliet’s
Town.” Now my lady was no longer in the mind she formerly was, and did
no ways relish hearing her own friends abused in her presence, she said,
“Then why don’t they show themselves your friends,” said my master, “and
oblige me with the loan of the money I condescended, by your advice, my
dear, to ask? It’s now three posts since I sent off my letter, desiring
in the postscript a speedy answer by the return of the post, and no
account at all from them yet.” “I expect they’ll write to _me_ next
post,” says my lady, and that was all that passed then; but it was easy
from this to guess there was a coolness betwixt them, and with good
cause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account