London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
Our young lady pronounced him mentally a ‘swell’ of
the first magnitude, and wondered more than ever where he had picked up
Hyacinth. Her companion seemed to echo her thought when he exclaimed,
with a little surprised sigh, almost an exhalation of awe, “Well, I had
no idea he was one of that lot!”
“You might at least tell me his name, so that I shall know what to call
him when he comes round to speak to us,” the girl said, provoked at her
companion’s incommunicativeness.
“Comes round to speak to us—a chap like that!” Hyacinth exclaimed.
“Well, I’m sure if he had been your own brother he couldn’t have
grinned at you more! He may want to make my acquaintance after all; he
won’t be the first.”
The gentleman had once more retreated from sight, and there was as much
evidence as that of the intention Millicent attributed to him. “I don’t
think I’m at all clear that I have a right to tell his name,” he
remarked, with sincerity, but with a considerable disposition at the
same time to magnify an incident which deepened the brilliancy of the
entertainment he had been able to offer Miss Henning. “I met him in a
place where he may not like to have it known that he goes.”
“Do you go to places that people are ashamed of? Is it one of your
political clubs, as you call them, where that dirty young man from
Camberwell, Mr Monument (what do you call him?), fills your head with
ideas that’ll bring you to no good? I’m sure your friend over there
doesn’t look as if he’d be on _your_ side.”
Hyacinth had indulged in this reflection himself; but the only answer
he made to Millicent was, “Well, then, perhaps he’ll be on yours!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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