“And our Minister seems a most delightful and
affable person,” our new friend said.
“With such a representative, and—and
a good medical man, I can fancy the place to be most
eligible. Good-night, gentlemen.”
And Jos creaked up the stairs to bedward, followed
by Kirsch with a flambeau. We rather hoped that
nice-looking woman would be induced to stay some time
in the town.
In Which We Meet an Old Acquaintance
Such polite behaviour as that of Lord Tapeworm did
not fail to have the most favourable effect upon Mr.
Sedley’s mind, and the very next morning, at
breakfast, he pronounced his opinion that Pumpernickel
was the pleasantest little place of any which he had
visited on their tour. Jos’s motives and
artifices were not very difficult of comprehension,
and Dobbin laughed in his sleeve, like a hypocrite
as he was, when he found, by the knowing air of the
civilian and the offhand manner in which the latter
talked about Tapeworm Castle and the other members
of the family, that Jos had been up already in the
morning, consulting his travelling Peerage. Yes,
he had seen the Right Honourable the Earl of Bagwig,
his lordship’s father; he was sure he had, he
had met him at—at the Levee—didn’t
Dob remember? and when the Diplomatist called on the
party, faithful to his promise, Jos received him with
such a salute and honours as were seldom accorded
to the little Envoy. He winked at Kirsch on his
Excellency’s arrival, and that emissary, instructed
before-hand, went out and superintended an entertainment
of cold meats, jellies, and other delicacies, brought
in upon trays, and of which Mr. Jos absolutely insisted
that his noble guest should partake.
Tapeworm, so long as he could have an opportunity
of admiring the bright eyes of Mrs. Osborne (whose
freshness of complexion bore daylight remarkably well)
was not ill pleased to accept any invitation to stay
in Mr. Sedley’s lodgings; he put one or two
dexterous questions to him about India and the dancing-girls
there; asked Amelia about that beautiful boy who had
been with her; and complimented the astonished little
woman upon the prodigious sensation which she had
made in the house; and tried to fascinate Dobbin by
talking of the late war and the exploits of the Pumpernickel
contingent under the command of the Hereditary Prince,
now Duke of Pumpernickel.
Lord Tapeworm inherited no little portion of the family
gallantry, and it was his happy belief that almost
every woman upon whom he himself cast friendly eyes
was in love with him. He left Emmy under the
persuasion that she was slain by his wit and attractions
and went home to his lodgings to write a pretty little
note to her. She was not fascinated, only puzzled,
by his grinning, his simpering, his scented cambric
handkerchief, and his high-heeled lacquered boots.
She did not understand one-half the compliments which
he paid; she had never, in her small experience of
