At last we got to the end of this wearisome day, and found ourselves at
the door of the inn. The Court servant said something to the landlord,
and immediately the whole household turned out to receive us; and the
order was given to prepare the "Ambassador's suite of apartments for
us."
"This is the Prince's doing," whispered Mary Anne in my ear. "Did you
ever know such a piece of good fortune?"
The rooms were splendid, Molly; though a little gloomy when we first got
in, for all the hangings were of purple velvet, and the pictures on
the walls were dark and black, so that, though we had two lamps in our
saloon and above a dozen caudles, you could not see more than one-half
the length of it.
I never saw Mary Anne in such spirits in my life. She walked up and
down, admiring everything, praising everything; then she 'd sit down to
the piano and play for a few minutes, and then spring up and waltz about
the room like a mad thing. As for Cary, I didn't know what became of
her till I found that she had been downstairs with the landlord, getting
him to send a conveyance back for her father, quite forgetting, as Mary
Anne said, that any fuss about the mistake would only serve to expose
us. And there, Molly, once for all, is the difference between the two
girls! The one has such a knowledge of life and the world, that she
never makes a blunder; and the other, with the best intentions, is
always doing something wrong!
We waited supper for K. I. till past one o'clock; but, with his usual
selfishness and disregard of others, he never came till it was nigh
three, and then made such a noise as to wake up the whole house. It
appeared, too, that he missed the coach that was sent to meet him, and
he and Paddy Byrne came the whole way on foot! Let him do what he will,
he has a knack of bringing disgrace on his family! The fatigue and wet
feet, and his temper more than either, brought back the gout on him, and
he did n't get up till late in the afternoon. We were in the greatest
anxiety to tell him about James; but there was no saying what humor he'd
be in, and how he'd take it. Indeed, his first appearance did not augur
well. He was cross with everything and everybody. He said that sleeping
on that grand bed with the satin hangings was like lying in state after
death, and that our elegant drawing-room was about as comfortable as a
cathedral.
He got into a little better temper when the landlord came up with the
bill of fare, and to consult him about the dinner.
"Egad!" said he, "I've ordered fourteen dishes; so I don't think they'll
make much out of the two zwanzigers a head!" Out of decency he had to
order champagne, and a couple of bottles of Italian wine of a very high
quality. "It's like all my economy," says he; "five shillings for a
horse, and a pound to get him shod!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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