第51章

’Haveyoutakenitlong？’

’Three-and-twentyyears。’

’Whatsnuffdoyoutake？’

’Universalmixture。’

’Andyoufinditofuse？

Taggarttappedhisbox。

’Inwhatrespect？’saidI。

’Inmany-thereisnothinglikeittogetamanthrough；butforsnuffIshouldscarcelybewhereIamnow。’

’Haveyoubeenlonghere？’

’Three-and-twentyyears。’

’Dearme，’saidI；’andsnuffbroughtyouthrough？Givemeapinch-pah，Idon’tlikeit，’andIsneezed。

’Takeanotherpinch，’saidTaggart。

’No，’saidI，’Idon’tlikesnuff。’

’Thenyouwillneverdoforauthorship；atleastforthiskind。’

’SoIbegintothink-whatshallIdo？’

Taggarttooksnuff。

’Youweretalkingofagreatwork-whatshallitbe？’

Taggarttooksnuff。

’DoyouthinkIcouldwriteone？’

Taggartupliftedhistwoforefingersasiftotap，hedidnothowever。

’Itwouldrequiretime，’saidI，withahalfsigh。

Taggarttappedhisbox。

’Agreatdealoftime；Ireallythinkthatmyballads-’

Taggarttooksnuff。

’Ifpublished，woulddomecredit。I’llmakeaneffort，andofferthemtosomeotherpublisher。’

Taggarttookadoublequantityofsnuff。

CHAPTERXLII

FrancisArdry-Thatwon’tdo，sir-Observemygestures-Ithinkyouimprove-Betterthanpolitics-DelightfulyoungFrenchwoman-

Aburningshame-Magnificentimpudence-Paunch-Voltaire-Lumpofsugar。

OCCASIONALLYIcalledonFrancisArdry。Thisyounggentlemanresidedinhandsomeapartmentsintheneighbourhoodofafashionablesquare，keptaliveryservant，and，uponthewhole，livedinverygoodstyle。Goingtoseehimoneday，betweenoneandtwo，Iwasinformedbytheservantthathismasterwasengagedforthemoment，butthat，ifIpleasedtowaitafewminutes，I

shouldfindhimatliberty。HavingtoldthemanthatIhadnoobjection，heconductedmeintoasmallapartmentwhichservedasantechambertoadrawing-room；thedoorofthislastbeinghalfopen，IcouldseeFrancisArdryatthefartherend，speechifyingandgesticulatinginaveryimpressivemanner。Theservant，insomeconfusion，washasteningtoclosethedoor；but，erehecouldeffecthispurpose，FrancisArdry，whohadcaughtaglimpseofme，exclaimed，’Comein-comeinbyallmeans’；andthenproceeded，asbefore，speechifyingandgesticulating。Filledwithsomesurprise，Iobeyedhissummons。

OnenteringtheroomIperceivedanotherindividual，towhomFrancisArdryappearedtobeaddressinghimself；thisotherwasashortsparemanofaboutsixty；hishairwasofbadgergray，andhisfacewascoveredwithwrinkles-withoutvouchsafingmealook，hekepthiseye，whichwasblackandlustrous，fixedfullonFrancisArdry，asifpayingthedeepestattentiontohisdiscourse。

Allofasudden，ho