Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 77: what you’re looking at

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

4 ’ 4 i i beneath the archway of the great gate in the Rue Grenelle. | ary,” coincided Anastasie.. ' \ Accident—pure accident, old fellow,” ried Mr. Crashem. “I was obliged to give my respected sire the) slip—he took me out of guod, you know, and ed me to go back to England with him; but, deuce bit—as Sir Thomas Grinwell used to ‘say; I know several,trieks each worth ten of that sort, and accordingly left him to shift for himself. But are you going to Calais?’ , dos “ No—Oh ! no—I intend to stop—that is _ —” stammered Mr. Tupman- “Don't be alarmed, my dear fellow,” again interrupted Mr. Crashem. “Iam going to St. Omers, end if I can assist any of your - plans, I would sooner do so than mar them. hid you never hear of my adventures, when I ran away with the nineteenth daughter of the sixty-seventh sister of the great Cham of Tartary ?” “Mr. Tupman was undecided how to an- swer this question. He certainly could not tax his memory with the incident alluded to; and he fancied that his volatile friend entertained a shrewd suspicion relative to his adventure with the fair Anastasie. He therefore deemed it prudent to make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, an object he forthwith effected in the follow- ing original and exemplary manner. “Crashem, your hand!” said Mr. Tupman in an emphatic tone of voice. The required extremity was accordingly tendered to the individual who was reduced to it, and was long retained in a friendly grasp. An introduction between Mr. Crash- em and Mademoiselle de Volage was then accomplished by the delighted Mr. Tracy Tupman, who might very well have spared himself the trouble, seeing that those two in- dividuals were well acquainted with each other, and that their little jaunt to St. Omers together had not been atall disturbed in plan or execution by the fortuitous circumstance of the lady’s having met Mr. Tupman in the manner before described. “Ah! ah! I see—a love affair,” exclaim- ed Mr. Crashem, when a whisper on the part of Mr. Tupman had put him in possession of those facts which he had already more than half divined. “ Well,” continued that strict- ly moral young gentleman, “as your inten- tions are upright and honorable, I don’t care if I lend myself to the business. But we a - ' , i ’ PICKWICK ABROAD. . 67 must stop at St. Omers, and precerve a strict encog. ; and Mademoiselle may pass off as » yon sister. As soon as the has er business in that town, we canall. ’ e ." 7 over to Dover, where the marriage-knot may be tied—eh?”—and Mr. Crashem dug his fingers into. Mr. Tupman’s ribs, which fa=" cetious enactment caused them both to laugh pees while the object of then discourse. concealed her blushes in acambric pocket ~ hankerchief and a suppr “ Admirable!” cried Mr. Tupman, rubbing” his side with his right hand, and arranging his shirt-frill with the left. “Just like my adventure with Sing- chang!” ejaculated Mr. Crashem, alluding to his love affair with the relative of the great Cham. ‘ At this moment the diligence ni, to change horses at St. Denis, and Mr. Crashem assisted himself and his friends to a glass of brandy from a bottle he carried in the side- pocket of his mysterious rough blue coat, A considerable degree of persuasion was, how- ever, required to induce Anastasie to refresh herself with the exhilarating fluid; and she afterwards declared that she could never have finished the whole glass had not a sud- den jolt, occasioned by the starting of the diligence once more, urged the brandy down her delicate throat. Mr. Tupman felt it im- possible not to adore a being so full of in- genuousness and candor; and Mr. Crashem added to the exciting pleasure of fhe mo- ment by declaring it to be “ a most excellent lark.” At about ten o’elock the diligence entered the little town of Clermont; and there the travellers partook of a cheap and moderate supper, their appetites being tested by the altermatives of coffee and bread-and-butter, or soup and sour wine. When the two friends and the young lady were however, again seated in the coupe, they made their sorry fare an excuse for once more applying them- selves to the brandy, Anastasie declaring that nothing but the acidity of the wine could have induced her even to smell “the horrid stuff” a second time. The effects of these potations were exhibited in an immense deal of laughter, and an exceeding talkativenesa on the part of all three; and Mr. Crashem, with a view to encourage the prevailing good- humor, volunteered and sang the following sentimental air, to the unspeakable delight of the passengers in the other departments of the vehicle é (C@ essed gigcle, ‘y Ss JOO a " : % Fs, ‘ i é Si r G | Sri