Novels . u any-thing to say to that ? Nothing, at present, at all, said Mark, almost timidly. Oh dear, oh dear ! sobbed Mary Anne; they re goingto fight, and he 11 be killed, I know he will. For which of us this fate was destined, I stopped not toconsider; but taking the lady under my arm, elbowed myway to the drawing-room amid a very sufficient pattingupon the back and thumping between the shoulders, be-stowed by members of the company who approved of myproceedings. The three fiddles, the flute and bassoon, thatformed our band, being by this time sufficiently drunk, A REMINISCENCE. 166 played
Novels . u any-thing to say to that ? Nothing, at present, at all, said Mark, almost timidly. Oh dear, oh dear ! sobbed Mary Anne; they re goingto fight, and he 11 be killed, I know he will. For which of us this fate was destined, I stopped not toconsider; but taking the lady under my arm, elbowed myway to the drawing-room amid a very sufficient pattingupon the back and thumping between the shoulders, be-stowed by members of the company who approved of myproceedings. The three fiddles, the flute and bassoon, thatformed our band, being by this time sufficiently drunk, A REMINISCENCE. 166 played after a fashion of their own, which, by one of thosestrange sympathies of our nature, imparted its influence toour legs, and a country dance was performed in a style offree and easy gesticulation that defies description. At theend of eighteen couple, tired of my exertions, — and theywere not slight, — I leaned my back against the wall of theroom, which I now, for the first time, perceived was covered. with a very peculiar and novel species of hanging, — no lessthan a kind of rough, green-baize cloth, that moved andfloated at every motion of the air. I paid little attention tothis, till suddenly turning my head, something gave waybehind it. I felt myself struck upon the back of the neck,and fell forward into the room, covered by a perfect ava-lanche of fenders, fire-irons, frying-pans, and copper kettles,mingled with the lesser artillery of small nails, door-keys, 166 HARRY LORREQUER. and holdfasts. There I lay amid the most vociterous mirthI ever listened to, under the confounded torrent of iron-mongery that half stunned me. The laughter over, I wasassisted to rise; and having drunk about a pint of vinegar,and had my face and temples washed in strong whiskey punch, — the allocation of the fluids being mistaken, — I learnedthat our host, the high sheriff, was a celebrated tin and ironman, that his ball-room was no other than his magazineof metals, and that to conceal
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlangandr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1894
