But before he had made all his calculations Dolly
Longstaff was sitting there! He almost thought that Dolly winked
at him in triumph,--that very Dolly, who an hour ago had promised
to take himself upon his Asiatic travels!
Sir Timothy and the minister kept up the conversation very much
between them, Sir Timothy flattering everything that was American,
and the minister finding fault with very many things which were
English. Now and then Mr Boncassen would put in a word to soften
the severe honesty of his countryman, or to correct the
euphemistic falsehoods of Sir Timothy. The poet seemed always to
be biding his time. Dolly ventured to whisper a word to his
neighbour. It was but to say that the frost had broken up. But
Silverbridge heard it and looked daggers at everyone. Then Lady
Beeswax expressed to him a hope that he was going to do great
things in Parliament this session. 'I don't mean to go near the
place,' he said, not at all conveying any purpose to which he had
really come, but driven by the stress of the moment to say
something that should express his general hatred of everybody.
Pages:
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939