Buckle.
"La!" said Jemima; in acknowledgment of which striking remark, I bent
my head, and said,
"How do you do, Jemima?" adding, almost without an instant's pause,
"Please take me away, Nurse! I am so very tired."
By one immediate and unbroken action, Mrs. Bundle cut her way through
our hospitable friends and the scattered rolls of leather and other
trade accessories in the shop, and conveyed me into an arm-chair in
the sitting-room upstairs, where I sat, the tears running down my face
for very weakness.
I had longed for the novelty of a residence above a saddler's shop;
but now, too weary for new experiences, I was only conscious that the
stairs were narrow, the room dingy and vulgar after the rooms at home,
and as I wept I wished I had never come.
At this day, I am glad that I had the courtesy to restrain my
feelings, and not to damp the delighted welcome of Nurse and her
friends by an insulting avowal of my disappointment. I really was not
a spoilt child; and indeed, the insolent and undisciplined egotism of
many children "now-a-days," was not often tolerated by the past
generation. As I sat silent and sad, Nurse Bundle ransacked her bag,
muttering, "What a fool I be, to be sure!" and anon produced a flask
of wine, from which she filled a wine-glass with a very big leg, which
was one of the chimney ornaments.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110