time.”
Harley had drawn a shilling from his pocket; but Virtue bade him consider
on whom he was going to bestow it. Virtue held back his arm; but a
milder form, a younger sister of Virtue’s, not so severe as Virtue, nor
so serious as Pity, smiled upon him; his fingers lost their compression,
nor did Virtue offer to catch the money as it fell. It had no sooner
reached the ground than the watchful cur (a trick he had been taught)
snapped it up, and, contrary to the most approved method of stewardship,
delivered it immediately into the hands of his master.
CHAPTER XIX.
HE MAKES A SECOND EXPEDITION TO THE BARONET’S. THE LAUDABLE AMBITION OF
A YOUNG MAN TO BE THOUGHT SOMETHING BY THE WORLD.
WE have related, in a former chapter, the little success of his first
visit to the great man, for whom he had the introductory letter from Mr.
Walton. To people of equal sensibility, the influence of those trifles
we mentioned on his deportment will not appear surprising, but to his
friends in the country they could not be stated, nor would they have
allowed them any place in the account. In some of their letters,
therefore, which he received soon after, they expressed their surprise at
his not having been more urgent in his application, and again recommended
the blushless assiduity of successful merit.
He resolved to make another attempt at the baronet’s; fortified with
higher notions of his own dignity, and with less apprehension of repulse.
In his way to Grosvenor Square he began to ruminate on the folly of
mankind, who affixed those ideas of superiority to riches, which reduced
the minds of men, by nature equal with the more fortunate, to that sort
of servility which he felt in his own. By the time he had reached the
Square, and was walking along the pavement which led to the baronet’s, he
had brought his reasoning on the subject to such a point, that the
conclusion, by every rule of logic, should have led him to a thorough
indifference in his approaches to a fellow-mortal, whether that
fellow-mortal was possessed of six or six thousand pounds a year. It is
probable, however, that the premises had been improperly formed: for it
is certain, that when he approached the great man’s door he felt his
heart agitated by an unusual pulsation.
He had almost reached it, when he observed among gentleman coming out,
dressed in a white frock and a red laced waistcoat, with a small switch
in his hand, which he seemed to manage with a particular good grace. As
he passed him on the steps, the stranger very politely made him a bow,
which Harley returned, though he could not remember ever having seen him
before. He asked Harley, in the same civil manner, if he was going to
wait on his friend the baronet. “For I was just calling,” said he, “and
am sorry to find that he is gone for some days into the country.”
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