第103章

“Areyouallheretoinsultme？”criedBeckyinafury；

“whenColonelCrawleycomeshomeI’ll——“

Atthistheservantsburstintoahorsehaw-haw，inwhich，however，Raggles，whostillkeptamostmelancholycountenance，didnotjoin。”Heain’tacomingback。”

Mr。Trotterresumed。”Hesentforhisthings，andI

wouldn’tlet’emgo，althoughMr。Raggleswould；andI

don’tb’lievehe’snomoreaColonelthanIam。He’shoff，andIsupposeyou’reagoin’afterhim。You’renobetterthanswindlers，bothonyou。Don’tbeabullyin’

ME。Iwon’tstandit。Payusourselleries，Isay。Payusourselleries。”Itwasevident，fromMr。Trotter’sflushedcountenanceanddefectiveintonation，thathe，too，hadhadrecoursetovinousstimulus。

“Mr。Raggles。”saidBeckyinapassionofvexation。”youwillnotsurelyletmebeinsultedbythatdrunkenman？”“Holdyournoise，Trotter；donow。”saidSimpsonthepage。Hewasaffectedbyhismistress’sdeplorablesituation，andsucceededinpreventinganoutrageousdenialoftheepithet“drunken“onthefootman’spart。

“Oh，M’am。”saidRaggles，“Ineverthoughttolivetoseethisyearday：I’veknowntheCrawleyfamilyeversinceIwasborn。IlivedbutlerwithMissCrawleyforthirtyyears；andIlittlethoughtoneofthatfamilywasagoin’toruingme——yes，ruingme“——saidthepoorfellowwithtearsinhiseyes。”Haryouagoin’topayme？You’velivedinthis’ousefouryear。You’ve’admysubstance：

myplateandlinning。Youhomeamilkandbutterbilloftwo’undredpound，youmust’avenoolaidheggsforyourhomlets，andcreamforyourspanildog。”

“Shedidn’tcarewhatherownfleshandbloodhad。”

interposedthecook。”Many’sthetime，he’dhavestarvedbutforme。”

“He’sacharaty-boynow，Cooky。”saidMr。Trotter，withadrunken“ha！ha！”——andhonestRagglescontinued，inalamentabletone，anenumerationofhisgriefs。Allhesaidwastrue。Beckyandherhusbandhadruinedhim。

Hehadbillscomingduenextweekandnomeanstomeetthem。Hewouldbesoldupandturnedoutofhisshopandhishouse，becausehehadtrustedtotheCrawleyfamily。HistearsandlamentationsmadeBeckymorepeevishthanever。

“Youallseemtobeagainstme。”shesaidbitterly。

“Whatdoyouwant？Ican’tpayyouonSunday。Comebackto-morrowandI’llpayyoueverything。IthoughtColonelCrawleyhadsettledwithyou。Hewillto-morrow。

Ideclaretoyouuponmyhonourthathelefthomethismorningwithfifteenhundredpoundsinhispocket-book。

Hehasleftmenothing。Applytohim。Givemeabonnetandshawlandletmegooutandfindhim。Therewasadifferencebetweenusthismorning。Youallseemtoknowit。Ipromiseyouuponmywordthatyoushallallbepaid。Hehasgotagoodappointment。Letmegooutandfindhim。’’

ThisaudaciousstatementcausedRagglesandtheotherpersonagespresenttolookatoneanotherwithawildsurprise，andwithitRebeccaleftthem。ShewentupstairsanddressedherselfthistimewithouttheaidofherFrenchmaid。ShewentintoRawdon’sroom，andtheresawthatatrunkandbagwerepackedreadyforremoval，withapencildirectionthattheyshouldbegivenwhencalledfor；thenshewentintotheFrenchwoman’sgarret；

everythingwasclean，andallthedrawersemptiedthere。

Shebethoughtherselfofthetrinketswhichhadbeenleftonthegroundandfeltcertainthatthewomanhadfled。

“GoodHeavens！waseversuchillluckasmine？”shesaid；“tobesonear，andtoloseall。Isitalltoolate？”

No；therewasonechancemore。

Shedressedherselfandwentawayunmolestedthistime，butalone。Itwasfouro’clock。Shewentswiftlydownthestreets(shehadnomoneytopayforacarriage)，andneverstoppeduntilshecametoSirPittCrawley’sdoor，inGreatGauntStreet。WherewasLadyJaneCrawley？Shewasatchurch。Beckywasnotsorry。

SirPittwasinhisstudy，andhadgivenordersnottobedisturbed——shemustseehim——sheslippedbythesentinelinliveryatonce，andwasinSirPitt’sroombeforetheastonishedBaronethadevenlaiddownthepaper。

Heturnedredandstartedbackfromherwithalookofgreatalarmandhorror。

“Donotlookso。”shesaid。”Iamnotguilty，Pitt，dearPitt；youweremyfriendonce。BeforeGod，Iamnotguilty。Iseemso。Everythingisagainstme。Andoh！atsuchamoment！justwhenallmyhopeswereabouttoberealized：justwhenhappinesswasinstoreforus。”

“Isthistrue，whatIseeinthepaperthen？”SirPittsaid——aparagraphinwhichhadgreatlysurprisedhim。

“Itistrue。LordSteynetoldmeonFridaynight，thenightofthatfatalball。Hehasbeenpromisedanappointmentanytimethesesixmonths。Mr。Martyr，theColonialSecretary，toldhimyesterdaythatitwasmadeout。

Thatunluckyarrestensued；thathorriblemeeting。IwasonlyguiltyoftoomuchdevotednesstoRawdon’sser