Volume II Part 2 (2/2)
”There it is,--there it is,” the Chaplain took ht A mere boy A very lad Not cooes on raging in this ster Don't be such a fool as to throay a good chance”
”I don't see where it is yet,” I observed sulkily yet sheepishly; for there was a Good-natured air about the Chaplain that overcaood chance you have is of getting a comfortable place, with a smart livery--”
”I won't wear a livery,” I cried, in a heat ”I'll be no entlee, ”and the very first of the breed; but he had to wear a livery of fig-leaves for all that, and so had his wife, Eve Come, 'tis better to don a land-jerkin, and a hat with a ribbon to 't, and be a Gentleood Victuals every day, than to be starving and in rags about the streets of a Fles,” I protested, with my Proud stomach
”But you will be the day after to- friend, I'll own that Bartholoenerous”
”Generous!” I exclaimed; ”why, he's thestone to find blood for black puddings in it Didn't he givehis life?”
”And didn't you tell hiroat?”
asked the Chaplain, with a sly grin; ”besides insulting him on the question of Dutch cheese (to which he has an exquisite aversion), into the bargain?”
”That's true,” I replied, vanquished by the Parson's logic
”There, then,” his Reverence went on ”Bartholoed than you think for Do you prove a good servant, and it shall be ood master to you But I must have no further parley with you here, else these Papistical Ostenders will think that you are son air), and I a Lutheran Minister striving to convert you Get you back to your Inn, good youth Pay your score, if you have one, and if you have not, e'en spend your guilder in treating of your co at the Inn of the Three Archduchesses Till then, fare you well”
It must be owned that his Reverence's proposals were fair, and that his conversation was very civil As I watched hi out behind, I agreed withI could do just at present would be to put entility in my pocket till better times came round There was a Spanish Don, I believe, once upon a ti with his sword
At the appointed tin of the Three Archduchesses, which was the bravest Hostelry in all Ostend, and the one where all the Quality put up I asked for Bartholomew Pinchin, Esquire, in the best French that I could , and, I think, spoke even worse French than I did, asked rand suite of apart at first to hear the trumpery little Hampstead squire spoken of as a lord; but Prudence cae I came to seek; and, after not much delay, I was ushered into the presence of Mr
Pinchin, whose Esquiredoh he was of it--I may noell Drop I found hi Burgundy with his chaplain, and with a pack of cards alongside the bottles, and two great wax candles in sconces on either side But, as he drank his Burgundy, he ceased not to screa such a costly liquor at his table, and scolded Mr Hodge very sorely because he had not ordered souineas,” he ulped down his Goblets; ”it'll be the ruin of e upon my titmouse Farm What'll my mamma say? I shall die in the poor-house” But all this tilass about with him, I promise you, for he took at least three bumpers full to his Chaplain's one, and eyed that reverend personage grudgingly as he seized his opportunity, and brilass Yet the Chaplain seemed in no way discountenanced by his scanty allowance, and I thought that, perchance, his Reverence liked not wine of Burgundy
They were playing a hand of piquet when I was introduced; and they being Gentlefolks, and I a poor hu Man that was to be, I was bidden to wait, which I did very patiently in the ereat dark tapestried curtains as they loo the shadows The hand of piquet was over at last, and Mr Pinchin found that he had lost three shi+llings and sixpence
”I can't pay it, I can't pay it,” he said,a most rueful countenance ”I'm eaten out of house and home, and sharped at cards besides It's a shae
It's a disgrace to the cloth to bring your wicked card-cheating practices to devalise an English gentle for his diversion”
”We'll play the gaain, if you choose, Worthy Sir,” the Chaplain answers quite quietly
”Yes, and then you'll win seven shi+llings of ary and ruin I know you swore it when n parts with a wicked, guzzling, gaue with the very host and the drawers of this thieving inn against ht in wax candles, and has had a freehold farlasses the entire evening,” the Chaplain pleaded, in a voice truly that was ht that, even at the distance I stood fro in his cheek
”Oh, you have, you have,” went on Squire Bartholomeho, if not half Mad, was certainly e, with your cards and your candles and your Burgundy, and Goodness only knohat else besides”
The Chaplain could stand it no longer; and rose in a Rage