Sawley, with an air of great mystery, informed me that
this was a Mr. Dalgleish of Raxmathrapple, the representative of an
ancient Scottish family who claimed an important heritable office. The
name, I thought, was familiar to me, but there was something in the
appearance of Mr. Dalgleish which, notwithstanding the smiles of
Miss Selina, rendered a rivalship in that quarter utterly out of the
question.
I hate injustice, so let me do the honour in description to the Sawley
banquet. The tea-urn most literally corresponded to its name. The table
was decked out with divers platters, containing seed-cakes cut into
rhomboids, almond biscuits, and ratafia-drops. Also on the sideboard
there were two salvers, each of which contained a congregation of
glasses, filled with port and sherry. The former fluid, as I afterward
ascertained, was of the kind advertised as "curious," and proffered for
sale at the reasonable rate of sixteen shillings per dozen. The banquet,
on the whole, was rather peculiar than enticing; and, for the life of
me, I could not divest myself of the idea that the self-same viands had
figured, not long before, as funeral refreshments at a dirgie.
Pages:
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159