The Tenants of Malory

t, who, patient, polite, sleepy, awaited his master. "You used to like it-and here are cigars;" and he sh

eat game of billiards-Seller and Culve

l did this come?" Cleve had picked up and at one pale glance read a

hen did t

ir, I think,"

t," and Sheppe

the things here, and cigars. I shan't be five minutes away

it across his chin, and pulled a sort of travelling cap down

, or forty minutes. The "Old Tom" in the bottle had run

ind with clearness the geographical bearings of Wright's billiard-rooms-whither accordingly he sauntered-eastward, along deserted and echoing streets, with here and ther

of business. Sedley had quite lost his reckoning. If he had been content to go by Ludgate-hill, he would have been at Wright's half an hour before. Sedley did not know these dingy and

ard at him. Sedley was not a romantic being only; he had also his waggish mood, and loved a lark

" said

eplied th

" answere

manded the drive

u?" answer

dley looked into the carriage, which, however, was empty, and then at

icle; but seeing no particular fun in the procedure, and likin

of r

ough, I

do you mea

as I'm

ove to you

e won't v

f yourself-f

ng, on the flashing blue sea at Cardyllian, and over the misty mountains. And he thought of his pretty cousin Agnes Etherage; and "Yes," said he within himself, quickening his pace, "if I win that two pounds at Wrigh

to resolutions of economy, out of which he ingeniously reasoned himself again. "What shall it be? I'll look i

d houses of handsome dimensions, he saw a fellow in a great coat loitering slowly down

as he marked the prowling vigilance of

but he is one of the best sparrers extant, and thinks

lane, with that shrewd, stern glance which men exchange in the prize-ring. But when on turning about the man in the surtout saw that

was nearly three o'clock. Thoroughly blooded now for a "lark," Sedley followed swiftly to the corner, but could

Sedley, confident

e th

received first a bag and then

e area of the respectable house round the corner, but just then the man in the surtout emerged from the wing, so to speak, an

of the house from which he had received his burthen, opened cautiously, and a woman in a cloak stepped out, ca

carria

hat, and affecting as well as he cou

re it is, mind, and fetch the things with you-and mind

m, in the same whisp

ectability about the servant that conflicted with that theory, and the disco

n his adventure; and entering int

carriage stands," said the woman, beckoning

r hand on his elbow, giving him

nd," she whispered; "I see that's it;

ight,

isper, and pointing with a nod and a frown at a window next the

, looking wise, "a

; sometimes quiet; sometimes quite wild-like; and

s was," ha

eturned round the angle of the house and entered the door through which

by the maid carrying the black-leather bag as before. They stopped just under the door, which the servant shut cautiously and locked; and then these three female figures stood

like a person very weak, or in pain, and the maid at the other side, placed her arm tenderly round her waist, under her mufflers, and aided her thus as she walked. They crossed the street at the e

ancied a recognition; something in the contour of the figure, muffled as it was, for a second struck him; and at the same moment all seemed like a dream, and he stepped backward invo

he carriage, silent. Her companion, who he thought looked sharply at him, from within, now

he knows, quickly," and

his adventure go. So to the box beside the driver he

bearings; the gas lamps grew few and far between; he was among lanes and arches, and so

grass here and there at top, and the worn mortar lines overlaid with velvet moss. This short

melancholy court-yard; and Tom thundered at a tall narrow hall-door, between chipped and

l the cavernous old mansion pealed again with the echo, before a ligh

the steps, perhaps a little clumsily, but h

d, the sick lady sat herself down. A great carved doorway opened upon a square second hall or lobby, through

hancellor, perhaps, one of those Hogarthian mansions in which such men

hought Sedley, filled with momentary wonder, "

trange place!" whispered the el

id the woman with a brass

and more light, and-an

everythink as you

enderly, giving her arm to the la

e servant they followed her