From billiards to whist is but a step--and when a man gets to whist and
five pounds on a rubber, my opinion is, that it is all up with him. How
was the coal business to go on, and the connection of the firm to be
kept up, and the senior partner always at the card-table?
Consorting now with genteel persons and Pall Mall bucks, Sackville
became ashamed of his snug little residence in Kennington Oval, and
transported his family to Pimlico, where, though Mrs. Chuff, his
mother-in-law, was at first happy, as the quarter was elegant and
near her Sovereign, poor little Laura and the children found a woful
difference. Where were her friends who came in with their work of a
morning?--At Kennington and in the vicinity of Clapham. 'Where were her
children's little playmates?--On Kennington Common. The great thundering
carriages that roared up and down the drab-coloured streets of the
new quarter, contained no friends for the sociable little Laura.
The children that paced the squares, attended by a BONNE or a prim
governess, were not like those happy ones that flew kites, or played
hop-scotch, on the well-beloved old Common. And ah! what a difference at
Church too!--between St. Benedict's of Pimlico, with open seats, service
in sing-song--tapers--albs--surplices--garlands and processions, and
the honest old ways of Kennington! The footmen, too, attending St.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247