第30章

"Indeed, on Sunday I was taken in my stomick very ill, and thought it might have been the lobster-sauce; but Doctor Blogg, who was called in, said it was, he very much feared, CUMSUMPTIVE; but gave me some pills and a draft wh made me better.Please call upon him- -he lives at Pimlico, and you can walk out there after office hours--and present him with 1L.lS., with my compliments.I have no money here but a 10L.note, the rest being locked up in my box at Lamb's Cundit Street.

"Although the flesh is not neglected in Mr.B.'s sumptious establishment, I can assure you the SPERRIT is likewise cared for.Mr.B.reads and igspounds every morning; and o but his exorcises refresh the hungry sole before breakfast! Everything is in the handsomest style,-- silver and goold plate at breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and his crest and motty, a beehive, with the Latn word INDUSTRIA, meaning industry, on EVERYTHING--even on the chany juggs and things in my bedd-room.On Sunday we were favoured by a special outpouring from the Rev.Grimes Wapshot, of the Amabaptist Congrigation here, and who egshorted for 3 hours in the afternoon in Mr.B.'s private chapel.As the widow of a Hoggarty, I have always been a staunch supporter of the established Church of England and Ireland; but I must say Mr.Wapshot's stirring way was far superior to that of the Rev.Bland Blenkinsop of the Establishment, who lifted up his voice after dinner for a short discourse of two hours.

"Mrs.Brough is, between ourselves, a poor creature, and has no sperrit of her own.As for Miss B., she is so saucy that once I promised to box her years; and would have left the house, had not Mr.B.taken my part, and Miss made me a suitable apollogy.

"I don't know when I shall return to town, being made really so welcome here.Dr.Blogg says the air of Fulham is the best in the world for my simtums; and as the ladies of the house do not choose to walk out with me, the Rev.Grimes Wapshot has often been kind enough to lend me his arm, and 'tis sweet with such a guide to wander both to Putney and Wandsworth, and igsamin the wonderful works of nature.I have spoke to him about the Slopperton property, and he is not of Mr.B.'s opinion that I should sell it; but on this point I shall follow my own counsel.

"Meantime you must gett into more comfortable lodgings, and lett my bedd be warmed every night, and of rainy days have a fire in the grate: and let Mrs.Titmarsh look up my blue silk dress, and turn it against I come; and there is my purple spencer she can have for herself; and I hope she does not wear those three splendid gowns you gave her, but keep them until BETTER TIMES.I shall soon introduse her to my friend Mr.

Brough, and others of my acquaintances; and am always "Your loving AUNT.

"I have ordered a chest of the Rosolio to be sent from Somersetshire.When it comes, please to send half down here (paying the carriage, of course).'Twill be an acceptable present to my kind entertainer, Mr.B."This letter was brought to me by Mr.Brough himself at the office, who apologised to me for having broken the seal by inadvertence; for the letter had been mingled with some more of his own, and he opened it without looking at the superscription.Of course he had not read it, and I was glad of that; for I should not have liked him to see my aunt's opinion of his daughter and lady.

The next day, a gentleman at "Tom's Coffee-house," Cornhill, sent me word at the office that he wanted particularly to speak to me: and I stopped thither, and found my old friend Smithers, of the house of Hodge and Smithers, just off the coach, with his carpet- bag between his legs.

"Sam my boy," said he, "you are your aunt's heir, and I have a piece of news for you regarding her property which you ought to know.She wrote us down a letter for a chest of that home-made wine of hers which she calls Rosolio, and which lies in our warehouse along with her furniture.""Well," says I, smiling, "she may part with as much Rosolio as she likes for me.I cede all my right.""Psha!" says Smithers, "it's not that; though her furniture puts us to a deuced inconvenience, to be sure--it's not that: but, in the postscript of her letter, she orders us to advertise the Slopperton and Squashtail estates for immediate sale, as she purposes placing her capital elsewhere."I know that the Slopperton and Squashtail property had been the source of a very pretty income to Messrs.Hodge and Smithers, for Aunt was always at law with her tenants, and paid dearly for her litigious spirit; so that Mr.Smithers's concern regarding the sale of it did not seem to me to be quite disinterested.

"And did you come to London, Mr.Smithers, expressly to acquaint me with this fact? It seems to me you had much better have obeyed my aunt's instructions at once, or go to her at Fulham, and consult with her on this subject.""'Sdeath, Mr.Titmarsh! don't you see that if she makes a sale of her property, she will hand over the money to Brough; and if Brough gets the money he--""Will give her seven per cent.for it instead of three,--there's no harm in that.""But there's such a thing as security, look you.He is a warm man, certainly--very warm--quite respectable--most undoubtedly respectable.But who knows? A panic may take place; and then these five hundred companies in which he is engaged may bring him to ruin.There's the Ginger Beer Company, of which Brough is a director: awkward reports are abroad concerning it.The Consolidated Baffin's Bay Muff and Tippet Company--the shares are down very low, and Brough is a director there.The Patent Pump Company--shares at 65, and a fresh call, which nobody will pay.""Nonsense, Mr.Smithers! Has not Mr.Brough five hundred thousand pounds' worth of shares in the INDEPENDENT WEST DIDDLESEX, and is THAT at a discount? Who recommended my aunt to invest her money in that speculation, I should like to know?" I had him there.