The String of Pearls; or, The Barber of Fleet Street — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

18 THE STRING OF PEARLS, a | et ne iece ossiping scandal was there first circulated, The din of tongues was Peon aia Ree laugh of the boy who looked upon the quarter of an hour he spent at Lovett’s as the brightest of the whole twenty-four, mingled gaily with the more boisterous mirth of his seniors; and, oh! with what rapidity the ies disappeared. a from ize brought up on large trays, each of which contained about a hundred, and from these trays they were so speedily transferred to the mouths of Mrs. Lovett’s customers that it looked quite like a work of magic. And now we have let out some portion of the secret. There was ’a Mistress Lovett; but possibly our reader guessed as mugh, for what but a female hand, and that female buxom, young, and good-looking, could have ventured upon the production of those pies. Yes, Mrs. ovett was all that; and every eramoured young scion of the law, as he devoured his pie, pleased himself with the idea that the charming Mrs, Lovett had made that pie especially for him, and that fate or predestination had placed it in his hands. © | a And it was astonishing to see with what impartiality and with what tact the fair pastry-eook bestowed her smiles upon her admirers, so that none could say he was neglected, while it was extremely difficult for any one to say he was referred. — : ' This was pleasant, but at the same time it was provoking to all except Mrs, Lovett, in whose favour it got up a kind of excitement that paid extraordinarily well, because some of the young fellows thought, that he who consumed the most pies, would be in the most likely way to receive the greatest number of smiles from the lady. Actiug upon this supposition, some of her more enthusiastic admirers went on consuming the pies until they were almost ready to burst. But there were others, again, of amore philosophic turn of mind, who went for the pies only, and did not care one jot for Mrs, Lovett. These declared that her smile was cold and uncomfortable—that it was upon her lips, but had no place in her heart—that it was the set smile of a ballet-dancer, which is about one of the most unmirthful things in existence. Then there were some who went even beyond this, and, while they admitted the excellence of the pies, and went every day to partake of them, swore that Mrs. Lovett had quite a sinister aspect, and that they could see what a merely superfi- cial affair her blandishments were, and that there was | “A lurking devil in her eye,” that, if once roused, would be capable of achieying some serious things, and might not he so easily quelled again. = a ‘ By five minutes past twelve Mrs. Loyett’s counter was full. and the savoury steam of the hot pies went out in fragrant clouds into Bell-yard, being sniffed up by many a poor wretch passing by who lacked the means of making one in the throng that were devouring the dainty morsels within. oti “Why, Tobias Rags,” said a young man, with his mouth full of pie, * where | have you been since you left Mr, Snow's in Paper-buildings ? I have not seen you for some days.” No,” said Tobias, “I have gone into another line; instead of being a lawyer, and helping to shave the clients, I am goine to shave the lawyers now. A two- penny pork, if you please, Mrs. Lovett. Ah! who would be an emperor, if he couldn’t get pies like these eh, Master Clift 2?’ | | ‘Well, they are good; of course we know that, Tobias: but do you mean to say you are going to be a barber ?” | “Yes, [ am with Sweeny ‘Lodd, the barber of Flect-street, close to St, Dunstan’s,”’ | . “The deuce you are! well, [am going to a party to-nicht and [ll drop i eet dressed and shaved, and patronise your eae rat 2 ede) lobias put his mouth close to the ear of the young lawyer, andin a fearful sort of whisper said the one word—‘ Don’t.” RES RR SE a eee ne TTS ee “ To na cre eo IPN nen -tietbguabsenemestmbtignmtiningeenietnG oics-caesserirs so, : met ae Serene a em A i i a comicbooks.co pe te Ar Nr Se ee nnn ec eon “ oo as oe ae tt