Kenelm paused. Now that he was discovered, why
should he not pass a few days among his equals?
Realities or shams might be studied with squires
no less than with farmers; besides, he had taken a
liking to Travers. That graceful ci-devant
Wildair, with the slight form and the delicate face,
was unlike rural squires in general. Kenelm
paused, and then said frankly,—
“I accept your invitation. Would the middle
of next week suit you?”
“The sooner the better. Why not to-morrow?”
“To-morrow I am pre-engaged to an excursion
with Mr. Bowles. That may occupy two or three
days, and meanwhile I must write home for other garments
than those in which I am a sham.”
“Come any day you like.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed; and, hark! the supper-bell.”
“Supper,” said Kenelm, offering his arm
to Miss Travers,—“supper is a word
truly interesting, truly poetical. It associates
itself with the entertainments of the ancients, with
the Augustan age, with Horace and Maecenas; with the
only elegant but too fleeting period of the modern
world; with the nobles and wits of Paris, when Paris
had wits and nobles; with Moliere and the warm-hearted
Duke who is said to have been the original of Moliere’s
Misanthrope; with Madame de Sevigne and the Racine
whom that inimitable letter-writer denied to be a poet;
with Swift and Bolingbroke; with Johnson, Goldsmith,
and Garrick. Epochs are signalized by their eatings.
I honour him who revives the Golden Age of suppers.”
So saying, his face brightened.
KENELM CHILLINGLY, ESQ., TO SIR PETER CHILLINGLY, BART., ETC.
MY DEAR FATHER,—I am alive and unmarried.
Providence has watched over me in these respects;
but I have had narrow escapes. Hitherto I have
not acquired much worldly wisdom in my travels.
It is true that I have been paid two shillings as
a day labourer, and, in fact, have fairly earned at
least six shillings more; but against that additional
claim I generously set off, as an equivalent, my board
and lodging. On the other hand, I have spent
forty-five pounds out of the fifty which I devoted
to the purchase of experience. But I hope you
will be a gainer by that investment. Send an
order to Mr. William Somers, basket-maker, Graveleigh,
-----shire, for the hampers and game-baskets you require,
and I undertake to say that you will save twenty per
cent on that article (all expenses of carriage deducted)
and do a good action into the bargain. You know,
from long habit, what a good action is worth better
than I do. I dare say you will be more pleased
to learn than I am to record the fact that I have been
again decoyed into the society of ladies and gentlemen,
and have accepted an invitation to pass a few days
at Neesdale Park with Mr. Travers,—christened
Leopold, who calls you “his old friend,”—a
term which I take for granted belongs to that class
of poetic exaggeration in which the “dears”
and “darlings” of conjugal intercourse
may be categorized. Having for that visit no
suitable garments in my knapsack, kindly tell Jenkes
to forward me a portmanteau full of those which I
habitually wore as Kenelm Chillingly, directed to me
at “Neesdale Park, near Beaverston.”
Let me find it there on Wednesday.
