The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 134: what you’re looking at

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ee 12 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. the very dregs: and that, you know, is so exces- sively mean! But what do you want with Mr. Redcliffe ?” “IT met him about a week ago,” answered Christian; “and he desired me to call upon him.” * He is a very excellent man, though eccentric,” resumed Mrs. Macaulay. “TI never had a better lodger. Whatever is left cold, he seems entirely to forget; and never asks to have it up. Now that is what I hke! His maxim is evidently, ‘Live and let live :—and so it should be. He gives very little troubie, and is a man of the fewest possible words that I ever knew. He re- celves no visitors, and likes to be alone. The other evening it struck me that he might possibly be dull I recollect I had nothing in the house for my own supper that particular evening However, that is not to the point. But at nine o'clock, when is supper-tray went up, I followed ; and I said in the politest manner, ‘Really, Mr. Redcliffe, I can’t bear to know that you are always sitting alone; and I thought perhaps you would only deem it an act of courtesy if I just stepped up to have half-an-hour’s chat with you.’—But no! he assured me that he preferred being alone, and that he could not think of taking me away from my own domestic avocations. Well, I was obliged to leave him to eat his supper all by himself; and it was so provoking !—for I had put on my best cap and gown on purpose, and had made myself look so smart! But isn’t he an odd man?” Christian could have said, if he had liked, that he really did not see anything so particularly odd in Mr. Redcliffe’s conduct on the occasion referred to: but he did not choose to wound Mrs. Macau- lay’s feelings; and so he evaded the necessity of giving a direct reply by observing, “ He is a very charitable and generous-hearted man.” “‘ Perhaps then he has done something for you?” exclaimed Mrs. Macaulay quickly. “No—it was not necessary,” rejoined Christian, —“at least not when I met him a week ago. Pre- viously to then—as you are ‘indeed somewhat aware—I and my poor sister had to encounter severe troubles: but the tide of ill fortune sud- denly changed—and on the same day we both ob- tained situations—Christina as companion to Lady Octavian Meredith, and I as private secretary to the Duke of Marchmont.” “ Dear me, dear me!” ejaculated Mrs. Macau- lay : “to think of your good luck! You had really better take a glass of wine after your walk —and a nice bit of cake? And if my lodgings should happen to become vacant, you will have such opportunities, you know, to recommend them to a Member of Parliament !—and you can speak an excellent word in my favour: for you re- collect how good I always was to you both.” Christian certainly must have been troubled with a very short memory at the time: for he could not recollect any particular boon conferred upon himself and his sister by Mrs. Macaulay— unless indeed it were the recommendation to Mr. Samuel Emanuel, which however well-meant, had nevertheless entailed upon his sister nothing but insult. As she continued to press the refresh- ment of wine and cake—both, be it understood, having descended from Mr. Redcliffe’s apartments —he again declined the offer, but with a becoming courtesy. a ee ee “And so you are secretary to a Duke?” she exclaimed, surveying Christian with as much ad- miration as if he were some rare animal just brought over from distant parts and lodged in the Zoological Gardens; “ and you must therefore sit alone with his Grace for hours and hours. Well, I never spoke to a Duke in my life; and I don’t think I ever saw a live one—at least not to my knowledge. But I saw a dead Duke once. It was in Edinburgh—during poor dear Mr. Macau- lay’s time: for to tell you the truth, he was an undertaker—and I went with him when he mea- sured the body for the coffin. And your sister is companion to Lady Octavian Meredith P—and I suppose her ladyship makes much of your dear Christina P Well, Iam delighted to find that you have got on so well in the world. You will make your fortunes. Ah! I never shall forget how I cried that time when you came and told me how Mr. Emanuel acted. I didn’t choose to shed tears in your presence, because I was afraid it would dispirit you both: but when you were gone, I sat down and did have a good cry—and that’s the truth of it. Dear me, to think of those Emanuels! Why, I knew Samuel Emanuel when he was an orange-boy, selling his fruit to the passengers that went off by the coaches from the White Horse, Piccadilly. Then he took to selling knives with twenty-four blades—not one of which, between you and me, would even cut so much as your nail. Next I found Mr. Samuel Emanuel going about with a bag at his back, and heaven only knows how many hats piled up on the top of his head: so that he looked like a walking stack of chimneys with a number of black chimney- pots stuck one above the other. Next I remember him standing in front of a little, poking, beggarly, second-hand clothes’ shop in Holywell Street,—his wife a dirty drab, looking all greasy and oily—and his children playing in the gutter. Then he moved to his present house, which has grown by rapid degrees into what does he call it? Oh, an Emporium! And now he rides in his carriage; and I suppose that if I happened to meet his wife, I must curtsy to her, Ah, what a world this is !” And then, as if almost overcome by the feelings which this pathetic moral reflection conjured up, Mrs. Macaulay moved in an abstracted manner towards her cupboard—where she poured out and drank off the glass of wine which she had so re- cently been pressing upon Christian. At this moment there was a double knock at the front door; and the worthy woman exclaimed, as she wiped her lips, “ There’s Mr. Redcliffe !” A few minutes afterwards Christian was seated with that gentleman in the apartment on the first floor. Redcliffe received him in the kindest manner: but being a man of very few words, except when it was necessary to speak at length, he soon gave the youth an opportunity of explaining the motive of his visit. Christian told him all that had passed between the Duke of Marchmont and Mr, Armytage: and Redcliffe listened in silence te the narrative. “T hope, sir,’ said the youth, in conclusion, “that you will not think I have done wrong in listening to that discourse ?” “By no means, my young friend,’ responded Redcliffe. “We may consider ourselves to be en- > a a ee ee re a ee CORNIELOOOKS (C(O)