Pump's bridal vehicle.
'Then comes the breakfast, or DEJEUNER, if you please, with a brass band
in the street, and policemen to keep order. The happy bridegroom
spends about a year's income in dresses for the bridesmaids and
pretty presents; and the bride must have a TROUSSEAU of laces, satins,
jewel-boxes and tomfoolery, to make her fit to be a lieutenant's wife.
There was no hesitation about Pump. He flung about his money as if it
had been dross; and Mrs. P. Temple, on the horse Tom Tiddler, which her
husband gave her, was the most dashing of military women at Brighton or
Dublin.
How old Mrs. Figtree used to bore me and Polly with stories of Pump's
grandeur and the noble company he kept! Polly lives with the Figtrees,
as I am not rich enough to keep a home for her.
'Pump and I have always been rather distant. Not having the slightest
notions about horseflesh, he has a natural contempt for me; and in our
mother's lifetime, when the good old lady was always paying his debts
and petting him, I'm not sure there was not a little jealousy. It used
to be Polly that kept the peace between us.
'She went to Dublin to visit Pump, and brought back grand accounts
of his doings--gayest man about town--Aide-de-Camp to the
Lord-Lieutenant--Fanny admired everywhere--Her Excellency godmother to
the second boy: the eldest with a string of aristocratic Christian-names
that made the grandmother wild with delight.
Pages:
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207