' Whenever Shindy enters the room (such is the
force of character), every table is deserted, every gentleman must dine
as he best may, and all those big footmen are in terror.
He makes his account of it. He scolds, and is better waited upon in
consequence. At the Club he has ten servants scudding about to do his
bidding.
Poor Mrs. Shindy and the children are, meanwhile, in dingy lodgings
somewhere, waited upon by a charity-girl in pattens.
CHAPTER XLII--CLUB SNOBS
Every well-bred English female will sympathize with the subject of
the harrowing tale, the history of Sackville Maine, I am now about to
recount. The pleasures of Clubs have been spoken of: let us now glance
for a moment at the dangers of those institutions, and for this purpose
I must introduce you to my young acquaintance, Sackville Maine.
It was at a ball at the house of my respected friend, Mrs. Perkins, that
I was introduced to this gentleman and his charming lady. Seeing a young
creature before me in a white dress, with white satin shoes; with a pink
ribbon, about a yard in breadth, flaming out as she twirled in a polka
in the arms of Monsieur de Springbock, the German diplomatist; with a
green wreath on her head, and the blackest hair this individual set eyes
on--seeing, I say, before me a charming young woman whisking beautifully
in a beautiful dance, and presenting, as she wound and wound round the
room, now a full face, then a three-quarter face, then a profile--a
face, in fine, which in every way you saw it, looked pretty, and rosy,
and happy, I felt (as I trust) a not unbecoming curiosity regarding the
owner of this pleasant countenance, and asked Wagley (who was standing
by, in conversation with an acquaintance) who was the lady in question?
'Which?' says Wagley.
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