Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

SY aa a 76 start, and requested. his servant not to op- pose his determination, to which that gen- tleman responded by a dozen emphatic shakes of the head. ~“ Quite decided, sir 2?” demanded Mr. Wel- ler, after a pause, during which he brought to a conclusion the exercise he so conside- rately allowed his head. “ Quite,” said Mr. Pickwick. “An’ no mistake, as the sheriff’s officer Bays.” An intimation was given that there was . none. “ Vell, then, here goes,” cried Mr. Wel- ler, in a state of desperation. | _ “Pray be quick, Sam,” urged the impa- tient Mr. Pickwick. Mr. Weller accordingly hastened to obey _ his master’s orders, and M. Dumont under- took to get the immortal gentleman’s pass- port duly signed: for him, in order to pre- vent as much delay as possible. CHAPTER XVL Mr. Winkle’s Mistake, and its immediate conse- quences.— The Jealous Cousin, and the Sojourn in the Cupboard.—Embarrassed circumstances of Madame De L’Amour.—Conversation between Mr. Tupman and Mr. Winkle. It is a remarkable fact, that neither the rte note-book of Mr. Pickwick, or of Mr. ‘Tupman, furnishes us with any particulars relative to the immediate consequences of the latter gentleman’s extraordinary trip to Saint Omer’s. It is not less worthy of con- sideration, that a little more than three pone was suffered to pass away without e slightest benefit to the said memoranda- books. The faithful historian, as well as the public, is therefore left in the dark relative to the transactions that occupied those Hun- dred Days, which form the most memora- ble epoch in this history, on account of the impervious gloom that envelopes them, and which consequently vie in importance with the similar period of time so justly celebrated in French history. Our present business is connected with the. doings of the first. day of the fourth month of the year eighteen hundred and thirty-five ; and to that business shall we immediately refer. # It was, then, upon that day, in the reign of the good King Louis Philippe, that, about two oclock in the afterncon, Mr. 4 PICKWICK ABROAD. Samuel Weller was busily employed m brushing the last remaining, specks of dust or lint from the new coat which Mr. Na- thaniel Winkle had that morning endorsed. Mr Pickwick and Mr. Tupman were absent upon some monetary aflairs of their own, and Mr. Winkle, recollecting that he owed Mr. Scuttle’s fair niece a call, was deter- mined to seize that opportunity of acquit- ting himself of the agreeable debt. “I don’t think my boots are so well black- ened as usual, Sam,” said Mr. Winkle, glanc- ing towards that portion of his dress, - % “An’ yet the blackin’s’s good enough,” answered Mr. Weller; “Varren’s can’t do no more; an’ I’m sure I scrubbed avay till I thought my arms vould ha’ fell off”. “They charge two sows to Frenchmen and four to the English for blacking your boots in the streets,” observed Mr. Winkle; “and that is too much by one half.” “Vell, it is rayther too dear,” coincided Mr. Weller; “but, then, think o’ the science, as the hair-dresser said ven his customer complained that he charged too much.” “You are right, Sam,” exclaimed Mr. Winkle, approvingly. “Have you done?” “Brown, Sir—vich vos the answer given by the cook to the gen’lemen as inquired arter his roast meat,” responded Mr. Weller, as he surveyed Mr. Winkle from head to foot with an au of peculiar satisfaction. Mr. Winkle accordingly settled his hat gracefully on his head, gave his hair a part- ing twist with his finger and thumb, and sallied forth with a smiling countenance and a new suit of clothes. It is impossible to say what thoughts occupied his mind as he strolled up the Boulevards ; suffice it to say, that in the course of a quarter of an hour or twenty mutes, he turned into the Rue Taitbout, and in fifty seconds more found himself ascending the stair-case that led t the apartments occupied by Mrs. Weston. By some accident, probably caused by that pre-occupation which so often seizes upon great men, Mr. Winkle mounted. to the third story instead of stopping at the second, and commenced a harmonious peal at the front- door bell without perceiving his mistake. .A. neatly dressed servant gir] shortly made her appearance, and induced Mr. Winkle, by means of a word and a winning smile, to walk into the ante-chamber, while she hastened to inform her mistress of his ar- rival. With this request, which was prof. fered in tolerably good English, he imme- diately complied; and in a fev minutes the GOMIIGIOOKS GO wy