The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 66: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MR. PAGE AND MR. HODSON 45 On the other hand, if he did delay his visit to the ware- house of Messrs. Hodson and Morley, he was certain to be questioned upon the subject; and a plea of temporary in- disposition was not likely to avail him with gentlemen of such businesslike habits as his employers. In a state of complete bewilderment did Mr. Page sit down to his breakfast. He inwardly cursed Sir Richard Stam- ford, the Aylesbury constables, the reward offered for the apprehension of the baronet, and the disagreeable individual whom he had encountered in the lane, and who delighted in the appellation of Joe the Magsman. Then, having thus profusely distributed his maledictions, Mr. Page concluded by d g his own folly, and invoking sundry imprecations on his own eyes and limbs. ‘He was in one of those humours when nothing seems good to the appetite or satisfactory to the mind. He denounced the coffee as ditch-water, the bacon as musty, the eggs as tasting of straw, the butter as train-oil; and he was just inflicting a sassarara upon the waiter for not keeping up a cheerful fire, when the door opened, and, to the ineffable dismay of the commercial traveller, Mr. Hodson entered the room. The senior partner in one of the largest commercial firms in Wood Street was a man of about fifty years of age, and was dressed in the fashion of what was the “ old school ”’ at that period. He wore powder and pigtail, a square-cut coat, knee-breeches, and gaiters, and a waistcoat with large flaps over the hips; a massive gold chain with a number of seals depended to his fob, and he carried a gold-headed cane in his hand. In person he was short and stout; his counte- nance, though with the roundness and redness usually in- dicative of good humour, was somewhat stern in expression; and his look was cold, businesslike, and even suspicious. Such was the individual who now made his unwelcome appearance in the coffee-room; and the moment his eyes lighted upon Mr. Page, they remarked the confusion which suddenly seized upon that individual. Affecting, however, not to notice the unaccount which the commercial traveller almost instantaneously endeav- oured to veil beneath a forced composure, Mr. Hodson ap- proached the table, and took a seat, observing, ‘‘ How do you do, Mr. Page? I felt assured, from your last letter, that (C(O) ail Doo (CO)