Titmouse to follow him, for a
moment, to his private room. There having shut the door, he gently
chided Mr. Titmouse for the indiscretion of which he had been guilty,
and which was not to have been expected from a gentleman of his
consequence in the county. His Lordship begged him to consider the
station which he was now called to occupy; and in alluding to the signal
event of the preceding day, warmly congratulated him upon it; and,
trusted by the way, that Mr. Titmouse would, in the evening, favor the
Lady Mayoress and himself with his company at the ball, where they would
be very proud of the opportunity of introducing him to some of the
gentry of the county, among whom his future lot in life was likely to be
cast. Mr. Titmouse listened to all this as if he were in a dream. His
brain (the little of it that he had) was yet in a most unsettled state;
as also was his stomach. When he heard the words "Lady Mayoress,"
"ball," "Mansion-house," "gentry of the county," and so forth, a dim
vision of splendor flashed before his eyes; and, with a desperate
effort, he assured the Lord Mayor that he should be "very uncommon proud
to accept the invitation, if he were well enough--but, just then, he
was uncommon ill."
His Lordship pressed him to take a glass of water, to revive him and
settle his stomach; but Mr. Titmouse declined it, and soon afterwards
quitted the room; and leaning on the arm of Mr. Quirk, set off
homeward--Snap walking beside him in silence, with a very quaint
disconcerted air--not being taken the least notice of by Mr. Quirk. As
they passed along, they encountered several of the barristers on their
way to court, and others, who recognized Titmouse; and with a smile,
evidently formed a pretty accurate guess as to the manner in which the
triumph of the preceding day had been celebrated. Mr. Quirk, finding
that Mr. Gammon was far too much indisposed to think of quitting York,
at all events till a late hour in the evening, and, indeed, that
Titmouse was similarly situated--with a very bad grace consented to
their stopping behind; and himself, with Snap--the former inside, the
latter outside--having paid most of the witnesses, leaving the
remainder, together with their own expenses at the inn, to be settled by
Mr. Gammon--set off for town by the two o'clock coach. It was, indeed,
high time for them to return; for the oppressed inmates of Newgate were
getting wild on account of the protracted absence of their kind and
confidential advisers. When they left, both Gammon and Titmouse were in
bed. The former, however, began to revive, shortly after the wheels of
the coach which conveyed away his respected copartners, and the sound of
the guard's horn, had ceased to be heard; and about an hour afterwards
he descended from his room, a great deal the better for the duties of
the toilet, and a bottle of soda-water with a little brandy in it. A cup
of strong tea, and a slice or two of dry toast, set him entirely to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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