When all this was concluded, and he had eaten in melancholy-wise of
the dinner which the people of the pseudo-hotel at which he lodged set
before him, in that den of congregated discomforts, a public
coffee-room--when he had done this, and taken an idle walk round the
black thing that spits water by table-spoonfuls nearly opposite to
Devonshire House, for the purpose of digesting his dinner and his
vexation, he could not refrain; but returning home--or rather to the
place of his dwelling for the time--he dressed, and walked to
Grosvenor-square.
Lord Ashborough was in his library; Miss Beauchamp was alone--somewhat
in low spirits, too, and looking none the worse for being so. She was
in one of those moods in which a man may make a great deal of a woman
in a short time--if he knows how--but, unhappily, Captain Delaware did
not know how. He talked sentimentally, and she talked sentimentally;
and they made tea between them, and poured it out, and drank it--but
it all came to nothing--otherwise Maria Beauchamp might, perhaps, have
been William Delaware's wife before the end of the chapter. Never did
a man who was born and bred a sailor miss stays so completely as
Captain Delaware did; and just when, toward the close of the evening,
he was making up his mind to say something sensible and pertinent, in
came Lord Ashborough, and the whole went to the--budget.
Within half an hour after, William Delaware was on his way to his
hotel, and in the yellow of the next morning, he was once more rolling
away to join the coach for Emberton. His journey was as dull as it
well could be. Two quaker ladies occupied one seat, and a deaf man
shared the other. Therefore--we shall give one paragraph to Mr. Tims,
while Captain Delaware rolls on.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account