Deputy Flambeau to the
lady next him, whose silk dress he had just bespattered all over; "could
not have supposed this little pig had so much gravy in him," as Lady
Macbeth says.
"I wish you'd turn that ere nasty thing right round, Mr. Deputy,"
growled out a city ~97~~costermonger, "'cause my wife's quite alarmed
for her _grose_ de Naples."
"Not towards me, if you please, Mr. Deputy," simpered out Miss Marigold,
"because thereby hangs a tail, i.e. (tale)."
"That's my Biddy's ultimatum," said the alderman; "she never makes more
than one good joke a day."
"If they are all as good as the last, they deserve the benefit of
frequent resurrection, alderman."
"Why so, Mr. Blackmantle?"
"Because they will have the merit of being very funny upon a very grave
subject--_jeu d'esprits_ upon our latter end."
"Could you make room for three more gentlemen?" said the waiter,
ushering in three woe-begone knights of the trencher, who, having heard
the fatal clock strike when at the bottom of the hill, and knowing the
punctuality of the house, had toiled upwards with breathless anxiety
to be present at the first attack, and arrived at the end of the
second course, _just in time to be too late_. "Confound all clocks and
clockmakers! set my watch by Bishopsgate church, and made sure I was
a quarter too fast.
Pages:
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617