Part 23 (2/2)

Seven or eight gentle round the fire when they went in, and, as they were talking very loud, were not aware of their entrance until Mr Ralph Nickleby, touching one on the coat-sleeve, said in a harsh eeneral attention- 'Lord Frederick Verisopht, roup dispersed, as if in great surprise, and the gentle round, exhibited a suit of clothes of the most superlative cut, a pair of whiskers of si face

'Eh!' said the gentleman 'What-the-deyvle!'

With which broken ejaculations, he fixed his glass in his eye, and stared at Miss Nickleby in great surprise

'My niece, my lord,' said Ralph

'Then my ears did not deceive me, and it's not wa-a-x work,' said his lordshi+p 'How de do? I'm very happy' And then his lordshi+p turned to another superlative gentle redder in the face, and soer upon town, and said in a loud whisper that the girl was 'deyvlish pitty'

'Introducewith his back to the fire, and both elbows on the chimneypiece

'Sir Mulberry Hawk,' said Ralph

'Otherwise thecard in the pa-ack, Miss Nickleby,' said Lord Frederick Verisopht

'Don't leave entle the paper

'Mr Pyke,' said Ralph

'Nor entleman with a flushed face and a flash air, from the elbow of Sir Mulberry Hawk

'Mr Pluck,' said Ralph Then wheeling about again, towards a gentles of no animal in particular, Ralph introduced him as the Honourable Mr Snobb; and a white-headed person at the table as Colonel Chowser The colonel was in conversation with soht, and was not introduced at all

There were two circue of the party, struck ho to her face One was the flippant contearded her uncle, and the other, the easy insolence of their manner towards herself That the first syravation of the second, it needed no great penetration to foresee And here Mr Ralph Nickleby had reckoned without his host; for however fresh fro lady (by nature) may be, and however unacquainted with conventional behaviour, the chances are, that she will have quite as strong an innate sense of the decencies and proprieties of life as if she had run the gauntlet of a dozen London seasons-possibly a stronger one, for such senses have been known to blunt in this i process

When Ralph had completed the cere niece to a seat As he did so, he glanced warily round as though to assure himself of the impression which her unlooked-for appearance had created

'An unexpected playsure, Nickleby,' said Lord Frederick Verisopht, taking his glass out of his right eye, where it had, until now, done duty on Kate, and fixing it in his left, to bring it to bear on Ralph

'Designed to surprise you, Lord Frederick,' said Mr Pluck

'Not a bad idea,' said his lordshi+p, 'and one that would almost warrant the addition of an extra two and a half per cent'

'Nickleby,' said Sir Mulberry Hawk, in a thick coarse voice, 'take the hint, and tack it on the other five-and-twenty, or whatever it is, and give arnished this speech with a hoarse laugh, and ter Mr Nickleby's lihed consuentlemen had not yet quite recovered the jest, when dinner was announced, and then they were thrown into fresh ecstasies by a similar cause; for Sir Mulberry Hawk, in an excess of humour, shot dexterously past Lord Frederick Verisopht as about to lead Kate downstairs, and drew her arh his up to the elbow

'No, damn it, Verisopht,' said Sir Mulberry, 'fair play's a jewel, and Miss Nickleby and I settled the o'

'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the honourable Mr Snobb, 'very good, very good'

Rendered additionally witty by this applause, Sir Mulberry Hawk leered upon his friends most facetiously, and led Kate downstairs with an air of fa indignation, as she felt it almost is at all diminished, when she found herself placed at the top of the table, with Sir Mulberry Hawk and Lord Frederick Verisopht on either side

'Oh, you've found your way into our neighbourhood, have you?' said Sir Mulberry as his lordshi+p sat down

'Of course,' replied Lord Frederick, fixing his eyes on Miss Nickleby, 'how can you a-ask me?'

'Well, you attend to your dinner,' said Sir Mulberry, 'and don't mind Miss Nickleby and me, for we shall prove very indifferent company, I dare say'

'I wish you'd interfere here, Nickleby,' said Lord Frederick

'What is the matter, my lord?' demanded Ralph from the bottom of the table, where he was supported by Messrs Pyke and Pluck

'This fellok, isyour niece,' said Lord Frederick

'He has a tolerable share of everything that you lay claim to, my lord,' said Ralph with a sneer

”Gad, so he has,' replied the young man; 'deyvle take me if I knohich is master in my house, he or I'

'I know,' muttered Ralph

'I think I shall cut hi nobleman, jocosely

'No, no, curse it,' said Sir Mulberry 'When you co-I'll cut you fast enough; but till then, I'll never leave you-you may take your oath of it'

This sally (which was strictly founded on fact) was received with a general roar, above which, was plainly distinguishable the laughter of Mr Pyke and Mr Pluck, ere, evidently, Sir Mulberry's toads in ordinary Indeed, it was not difficult to see, that thelord, eak and silly as he was, appeared by far the least vicious of the party Sir Mulberry Haas re, by hienteel and elegant profession, of which he had undoubtedly gained the head With all the boldness of an original genius, he had struck out an entirely new course of treat, when he had gained the ascendancy over those he took in hand, rather to keep theive them their oay; and to exercise his vivacity upon them openly, and without reserve Thus, he made them butts, in a double sense, and while he e with sundry well-administered taps, for the diversion of society

The dinner was as remarkable for the splendour and completeness of its appointments as theit ample justice, in which respect Messrs Pyke and Pluck particularly signalised the of every dish, and drinking of every bottle, with a capacity and perseverance truly astonishi+ng They were rereat exertions: for, on the appearance of the dessert, they broke out again, as if nothing serious had taken place since breakfast

'Well,' said Lord Frederick, sipping his first glass of port, 'if this is a discounting dinner, all I have to say is, deyvle take et discount every day'

'You'll have plenty of it, in your time,' returned Sir Mulberry Hawk; 'Nickleby will tell you that'

'What do you say, Nickleby?' inquired the young ood customer?'

'It depends entirely on circumstances, my lord,' replied Ralph

'On your lordshi+p's circumstances,' interposed Colonel Chowser of the Militia-and the race-courses

The gallant colonel glanced at Messrs Pyke and Pluck as if he thought they ought to laugh at his joke; but those gentleh for Sir Mulberry Haere, to his signal discorave as a pair of undertakers To add to his defeat, Sir Mulberry, considering any such efforts an invasion of his peculiar privilege, eyed the offender steadily, through his glass, as if astonished at his presumption, and audibly stated his i a hint to Lord Frederick, he put up HIS glass, and surveyed the object of censure as if he were so for the first time As a matter of course, Messrs Pyke and Pluck stared at the individual whom Sir Mulberry Hawk stared at; so, the poor colonel, to hide his confusion, was reduced to the necessity of holding his port before his right eye and affecting to scrutinise its colour with the most lively interest

All this while, Kate had sat as silently as she could, scarcely daring to raise her eyes, lest they should encounter the adaze of Lord Frederick Verisopht, or, as still , the bold looks of his friend Sir Mulberry The latter gentleeneral attention towards her