Part 38 (2/2)
”Ned, don't you hear the horses neigh?”
”Oh, hang the horses!” said the volatile Pepper, forgetting everything else, as he thrust his hands in his pockets, and felt the gains of the night; ”let us first look to our winnings!”
So saying, he marched towards the table, and emptied his pockets thereon. Tomlinson, nothing loath, followed the example. Heavens! what exclamations of delight issued from the scoundrels' lips, as, one by one, they inspected their new acquisitions!
”Here's a magnificent creature!” cried Ned, handling that superb watch studded with jewels which the poor earl had once before unavailingly redeemed,--”a repeater, by Jove!”
”I hope not,” said the phlegmatic Augustus; ”repeaters will not tell well for your conversation, Ned! But, powers that be! look at this ring,--a diamond of the first water!”
”Oh, the sparkler! it makes one's mouth water as much as itself.
'Sdeath, here's a precious box for a sneezer,--a picture inside, and rubies outside! The old fellow had excellent taste; it would charm him to see how pleased we are with his choice of jewelry!”
”Talking of jewelry,” said Tomlinson, ”I had almost forgotten the morocco case. Between you and me, I imagine we have a prize there; it looks like a jewel casket!”
So saying, the robber opened that case which on many a gala day had lent l.u.s.tre to the polished person of Mauleverer. Oh, reader, the burst of rapture that ensued! Imagine it! we cannot express it. Like the Grecian painter, we drop a veil over emotions too deep for words.
”But here,” said Pepper, when they had almost exhausted their transports at sight of the diamonds,--”here's a purse,--fifty guineas! And what's this? Notes, by Jupiter! We must change them to-morrow before they are stopped. Curse those fellows at the Bank! they are always imitating us, we stop their money, and they don't lose a moment in stopping it too.
Three hundred pounds! Captain, what say you to our luck?” Clifford had sat gloomily looking on during the operations of the robbers; he now, a.s.suming a correspondent cheerfulness of manner, made a suitable reply, and after some general conversation the work of division took place.
”We are the best arithmeticians in the world,” said Augustus, as he pouched his share; ”addition, subtraction, division, reduction,--we have them all as pat as 'The Tutor's a.s.sistant;' and, what is better, we make them all applicable to the Rule of Three.”
”You have left out multiplication!” said Clifford, smiling. ”Ah! because that works differently. The other rules apply to the specie-s of the kingdom; but as for multiplication, we multiply, I fear, no species but our own!”
”Fie, gentlemen!” said MacGrawler, austerely,--for there is a wonderful decorum in your true Scotsmen. ”Actions are trifles; nothing can be cleaner than their words!”
”Oh, you thrust in your wisdom, do you?” said Ned. ”I suppose you want your part of the booty!”
”Part!” said the subtilizing Tomlinson. ”He has nine times as many parts as we have already. Is he not a critic, and has he not the parts of speech at his fingers' end?”
”Nonsense!” said MacGrawler, instinctively holding up his hands, with the fork dropping between the outstretched fingers of the right palm.
”Nonsense yourself,” cried Ned; ”you have a share in what you never took! A pretty fellow, truly! Mind your business, Mr. Scot, and fork nothing but the beefsteaks!”
With this Ned turned to the stables, and soon disappeared among the horses; but Clifford, eying the disappointed and eager face of the culinary sage, took ten guineas from his own share, and pushed them towards his quondam tutor.
”There!” said he, emphatically.
”Nay, nay,” grunted MacGrawler; ”I don't want the money,--it is my way to scorn such dross!” So saying, he pocketed the coins, and turned, muttering to himself, to the renewal of his festive preparations.
Meanwhile a whispered conversation took place between Augustus and the captain, and continued till Ned returned.
”And the night's viands smoked along the board!”
Souls of Don Raphael and Ambrose Lamela, what a charming thing it is to be a rogue for a little time! How merry men are when they have cheated their brethren! Your innocent milksops never made so jolly a supper as did our heroes of the way. Clifford, perhaps acted a part, but the hilarity of his comrades was unfeigned. It was a delicious contrast,--the boisterous ”ha, ha!” of Long Ned, and the secret, dry, calculating chuckle of Augustus Tomlinson. It was Rabelais against Voltaire. They united only in the objects of their jests, and foremost of those objects (wisdom is ever the but of the frivolous!) was the great Peter MacGrawler.
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