Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

~ “ . a ; i . , " = a , 4 7 es 24 nf R « - : 7 | | ¢ : ” “A few day a <— the landlord,| “ Well, he may be,” returned the Count, ’ ia the same mysterious tone, * a foreign gen- | “ In person—” bikes $ lived, while} “Semewhat stout,” added the ‘anxious Bo- tleman came to this house, an he was here, like a ns He went. away esterday morning ; and when he had paid is bill, he took me on one side, and address- ed me as follows :—‘ Landlord, said ‘he, ‘T must throw myself upon your mercy. The fact is, lama noble Polish refugee, obliged to leave France for England, without delay. I am, moreover, the bearer of six thousand francs for a friend of mine whom I was to meet at this hotel’” ._ “What was that friend’s name ?” hastily demanded ‘the Count, as he wiped the lather from his face... we, “Something ending in ‘osk2,.” retuned the st ~« And you forget the rest ?” continued the Count, leisurely wiping his razor upon a | X Entirely.” answered the landlord. “ Read that,’ said Count Boloski, handing a. card t host. «© io thought as much,” cried the landlord r ny? “Your friend assured me you would ard me handsomely for my trouble, I _, Swore to acquit myself of the: trust confided in me. You see I have not forgotten it.” “Worthy fellow!” cried the Count, con- siderably affected at this extraordinary dis- play of generosity and integrity ; “ your re- ward shall be a hundred francs, besides ‘your bill being paid in the most liberal manner. But which road went my dear friend?” © “By way of Abbeville,” was the answer. “And I come from Boulogne,” exclaimed the Count. “ How very unfortunate! But, sn order to relieve your mind of any doubt as to my identity with the individual to whom the money is to be paid,” continued his lordship, quietly seating himself upon his trunk and staring steadfastly upon the land- lord, “ I will give you a distinct and correct mpg 3 of my much pea friend, He about forty,” interrupted the host. —of about forty,” said Count Boloski. ; fi 2 7 88 black as mine,” added the “ Precisely,” cried the Count. “ And his nose—” “My wife said aquiline,” elucidated the ; landlord. “Right—quite right,” assented the Count; hats in Poland. Why—on emergencies, niface. : < “There, havn’t I hit it?” demanded the Count in triumph; and the landlord who— felt himself convinced beyond all doubt of his guest’s Identity with the rightful claimant of - the money, in consequence of the lucid and satisfactory description of the friend just given, hastened to his own private room, and speedily returned with six thousand francs, which he placed in the hands of Count Boloski! “ Boloski! Boloski!” Landlord to himself, as he tendered the coin, “ Well—I am certain the name ended in ‘oski’” “It isthe only name in Poland that has so peculiar a termination,” carelessly ob- served the Count, as he placed the money in his writing-desk, after having bestowed the promised remuneration upon the land- lord. The founder of our family was the great Gulligowiski, and from that root have sprung numerous branches, of which the Boloskis, the Loveminskis, the Cramitorlino- vitchkis, and the Creduloskis are te prin- cipal. In fact, they say that it was one of our ancestors who handed Noah out of the ark.” The landlord did not perceive that the Count had evidently been misinformed in reference to this fact; he therefore Jeft his illustrious guest to perform his ablutions, and retired to superintend the repast which had been onderall . Count Boloski was in a most unexception- able good humor when he made his ap- a in the breakfast-room ; and as soon sa little whispering and a good deal of laughing had taken place between him and the Countess Loveminski, he conde- scended to devote a small portion of his at- tention to Mr. Snodgrass. “ Excellent room this, Snodgrass,” ob- served the Count with an amiable degree of familiarity. Mr. Snodgrass respectfully assented to his lordship’s remark, with the additional venture of an opinion that the postillion’s boots and hat were really classical and po- eticalj¥in every sense of the expressive words. “ Quite antique, are they not ?” said Count oloski; “but nothing to the boots and murmured the. “ His heizht—” “es: '|they make portmanteaus of the former, avd , “A littie taller than you,” observed the host _ punch-bowls of the latter.” * ; + « g EO DOO) SS) (CO)