The Child of Waterloo, or, The Horrors of the Battle-Field — page 84: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE CHILD OF WATERLOO. 8t disguise of calmness. You are troubled, Captain Morton. You shrink and tremble. You have wound your affections round the girl. You dread to have her taken from you. You dread even that she should know she has no right to call you by the name of father. Now. you see, from what I have told you, that I can, if it so pleases me, blazon this story over the whole of England; ay, over the. whole of Europe. You cannot prevent me, and then what situation will you find yourself in, if some worthy claimant should come and say, ‘ That child is mine ?’”’ ‘Tf this is all you have to say,” said Captain Morton, ‘‘ you might have spared yourself the trouble, as well as the risk of this interview.” , ‘‘Risk ? but no matter. Let that pass. What if someone was to step forward at once and claim her, who was so poor, so crim- inal, so despicable, that it would break her heart, and yours, too, to find that she had such a father? Ha! that touches you; and why may it not happen? Such a fellow as would terrify her to look at; and who shall say I may not find such a one for her, Captain Morton *” ‘‘Come to your errand,” said Morton. ‘: You have still some- thing to say, about which you hesitate. and to which this is merely an exordium. Come to your errand at once. I do not wish to disguise from you that your presenze here is anything but welcome.” ‘* No,” said the fellow, with a bitter laugh. ‘‘I am aware of that. I come with unwelcome truths in my mouth.” ‘* You speak as if you ‘vere one who came here armed with some accusation against me. What could even a parent of the girl you mention say, but that I had dove almost more than a parent’s duty by her ?" ‘* Nobody disputes that, I don’t come here to find fault about your conduct to the girl, my business is of another nature. I want money.” ‘‘ Now, indeed, you have come to the point.” ‘* Well, it’s the point we all come to, from the king to the beg- gar. How much a year will you give me to let this matter rest, and leave you in undisturbed possession of Mabel ?” ‘‘How much a year?” ‘* Yes, to be sure. Yd rather have a handsome annuity than alargesum down at once. I know my own failings, and one of them consists of a facility in getting through money; so I have considered the matter, and think it better to have it by de grees, and consequently I prefer an annuity to anything else ?” This was said with so much sang froid, that for a moment or two Captain Morton was silent from astonishment at the in- solence of the fellow. This silence the individual either mis- took, or affected to do so, for some sort of acquiescence in his demand, and he said, __.“* Well, as we have got thus far comfortably, and without any disputing. suppose, now, we go to the more important consider- ation of settling what the actual amount shall be.” _‘‘Hold!” said the captain, ‘‘we have not got so far without dispute, You say, or rather, you insinuate, that you know the comicbooks. com