第140章

AmiableanddearlittleTwoshoes!Astothesettlementofpoorpapa’saffairs，myinterestinthatisnotveryselfish。PapabehavedverygenerouslytomewhenIwasmarried，andIhavelittleornothingtoexpect。Providedhehadmadenowillthatcancomeintoforce，leavingalegacytoMrsGeneral，Iamcontented。Dearpapa，dearpapa。’

Sheweptagain，butMrsGeneralwasthebestofrestoratives。Thenamesoonstimulatedhertodryhereyesandsay：

’ItisahighlyencouragingcircumstanceinEdward’sillness，Iamthankfultothink，andgivesonethegreatestconfidenceinhissensenotbeingimpaired，orhisproperspiritweakened——downtothetimeofpoordearpapa’sdeathatallevents——thathepaidoffMrsGeneralinstantly，andsentheroutofthehouse。Iapplaudhimforit。Icouldforgivehimagreatdealfordoing，withsuchpromptitude，soexactlywhatIwouldhavedonemyself!’

MrsSparklerwasinthefullglowofhergratification，whenadoubleknockwasheardatthedoor。Averyoddknock。Low，asiftoavoidmakinganoiseandattractingattention。Long，asifthepersonknockingwerepreoccupiedinmind，andforgottoleaveoff。

’Halloa!’saidMrSparkler。’Who’sthis？’

’NotAmyandEdwardwithoutnoticeandwithoutacarriage!’saidMrsSparkler。’Lookout。’

Theroomwasdark，butthestreetwaslighter，becauseofitslamps。MrSparkler’sheadpeepingoverthebalconylookedsoverybulkyandheavythatitseemedonthepointofoverbalancinghimandflatteningtheunknownbelow。

’It’sonefellow，’saidMrSparkler。’Ican’tseewho——stopthough!’

Onthissecondthoughthewentoutintothebalconyagainandhadanotherlook。Hecamebackasthedoorwasopened，andannouncedthathebelievedhehadidentified’hisgovernor’stile。’Hewasnotmistaken，forhisgovernor，withhistileinhishand，wasintroducedimmediatelyafterwards。

’Candles!’saidMrsSparkler，withawordofexcuseforthedarkness。

’It’slightenoughforme，’saidMrMerdle。

Whenthecandleswerebroughtin，MrMerdlewasdiscoveredstandingbehindthedoor，pickinghislips。’IthoughtI’dgiveyouacall，’hesaid。’Iamratherparticularlyoccupiedjustnow；and，asIhappenedtobeoutforastroll，IthoughtI’dgiveyouacall。’

Ashewasindinnerdress，Fannyaskedhimwherehehadbeendining？

’Well，’saidMrMerdle，’Ihaven’tbeendininganywhere，particularly。’

’Ofcourseyouhavedined？’saidFanny。

’Why——no，Ihaven’texactlydined，’saidMrMerdle。

Hehadpassedhishandoverhisyellowforeheadandconsidered，asifhewerenotsureaboutit。Somethingtoeatwasproposed。’No，thankyou，’saidMrMerdle，’Idon’tfeelinclinedforit。IwastohavedinedoutalongwithMrsMerdle。ButasIdidn’tfeelinclinedfordinner，IletMrsMerdlegobyherselfjustasweweregettingintothecarriage，andthoughtI’dtakeastrollinstead。’

Wouldhehaveteaorcoffee？’No，thankyou，’saidMrMerdle。’I

lookedinattheClub，andgotabottleofwine。’

Atthisperiodofhisvisit，MrMerdletookthechair。whichEdmundSparklerhadofferedhim，andwhichhehadhithertobeenpushingslowlyaboutbeforehim，likeadullmanwithapairofskatesonforthefirsttime，whocouldnotmakeuphismindtostart。Henowputhishatuponanotherchairbesidehim，and，lookingdownintoitasifitweresometwentyfeetdeep，saidagain：’YouseeIthoughtI’dgiveyouaca