Part 44 (1/2)
”Oh!” said Mrs. Peac.o.c.k, ”that would be terrible. A landlord wouldn't be a landlord if he didn't get any rent;--or hardly.” Then Mr.
O'Mahony went to work to explain that a landlord was, of his very name and nature, an abomination before the Lord.
”And yet you want houses to live in,” said Lord Castlewell.
When they were in the middle of their dinners they were all surprised by the approach of Mr. Mahomet M. Moss. He was dressed up to a degree of beauty which Rachel thought that she had never seen equalled. His s.h.i.+rt-front was full of little worked holes. His studs were gold and turquoise, and those at his wrists were double studs, also gold and turquoise. The tie of his cravat was a thing marvellous to behold.
His waistcoat was new for the occasion, and apparently all over marvellously fine needlework. It might, all the same, have been done by a sewing-machine. The breadth of the satin lappets of his dress-coat were most expansive. And his hair must have taken two artists the whole afternoon to accomplish. It was evident to see that he felt himself to be quite the lord's equal by the strength of his personal adornment. ”Well, yes,” he said, ”I have brought Madame Tacchi down here to show her what we can do in the way of a suburban dinner. Madame Tacchi is about to take the place which Miss O'Mahony has vacated at 'The Embankment.' Ah, my lord, you behaved very shabbily to us there.”
”If Madame Tacchi,” said the lord, ”can sing at all like Miss O'Mahony, we shall have her away very soon. Is Madame Tacchi in sight, so that I can see her?”
Then Mr. Moss indicated the table at which the lady sat, and with the lady was Madame Socani.
”They are a bad lot,” said Lord Castlewell, as soon as Moss had withdrawn. ”I know them, and they are a bad lot, particularly that woman who is with them. It is a marvel to me how you got among them.”
Lord Castlewell had now become very intimate with the O'Mahonys; and by what he said showed also his intimacy with Mrs. Peac.o.c.k.
”They are Americans,” said O'Mahony.
”And so are you,” said the lord. ”There can be good Americans and bad Americans. You don't mean to say that you think worse of an American than of an Englishman.”
”I think higher of an Englishman than of an American, and lower also.
If I meet an American where a gentleman ought to be, I entertain a doubt; if I meet him where a labourer ought to be, I feel very confident. I suppose that the manager of a theatre ought to be a gentleman.”
”I don't quite understand it all,” said Mrs. Peac.o.c.k.
”Nor anybody else,” said Rachel. ”Father does fly so very high in the air when he talks about people.”
After that the lord drove Miss O'Mahony and her father back to Cecil Street, and they all agreed that they had had a very pleasant evening.
END OF VOL. II.
Charles d.i.c.kens And Evans, Crystal Palace Press.
THE LANDLEAGUERS
by
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
In Three Volumes--VOL. III.
London Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly 1883 [All rights reserved]
Charles d.i.c.kens and Evans, Crystal Palace Press.
CONTENTS