Sandra Belloni -- Volume 5

and revived her, until, being in a proper condition of prickly wrath, she sat down to compose a reply that should bury them under a mountain of shame. The point, however, was to transfer thi

d them, her reputation as a forgiving soul might suffer: she could not pardon without seeing them abased. Thus shaken at starting, she found herself writing: "I know that y

awful!" she said, getting her body a little away f

. She had some dim conception of the sculpture of an offended Goddess. "I look so," she said before the glass "I'm above ye,

" she cried out in her lonely room-"he said, 'Martha, ye've onnly to come and be known to 'm, and

hese dramatic monologues occupied her time w

d quill. "It goes faster," she whispered, suggesting the pent-up torrent, as it were, of blackest ink in her breast that there was to pour

abours: "A widde-woman ought to get marrud, Mr. Braintop, if onnly to have a husband to write letters for 'rr. Now, that's a task! But sup to-night, and mind ye say yer prayers before gettin' into bed; and no tryin' to flatter your Maker with your kn

n the offing. Mrs. Chump had received by the morning's post another letter from Arabella, enclosing one for Wilfrid. A dim sense of approaching mastery, and that she might soon be melted, combined with the continued silence of Mr. Pole to make her feel yet more spiteful

open. On it were the quills fai

the sounding shore, and enjoy life in semi-oblivion. He cheered himself with the reflection that there was only one letter to write, so he remarked politely that he was at his hostess's disposal. Thereat Mrs. Chump questioned him cl

This done, she told him that he was there to write the reply to the letters of the ladies, in her name. "Begin," she said. "Ye've got head enough to guess my feelin's. I'm invited, and I won'

, ye know, ye begin. Jest like wakin' in the mornin' after dancin' all night. Ye make the garls seem to hear me seemin' to say-Oooo! I was so comfortable before your disturbin' me with your horrud voices. Ye understand, Mr.

'm not the woman to I dear 'em-not at the starrt! I'm indignant-I'm hurrt. I come round to the 'dear' by-and-by, after I have whipped each of the proud sluts, and their brother Mr. Wilfrid, just as if by accident. Ye'll promus to f

ked his holiday; and the white sails on the horizon line have seldom taunted prisoner

remonstrated, "when I've nothin' to do with 'm. And a 'my' has

Chump presents her compliments,

like a parrot, sir! Don't you see, I'm fami

ext effort w

; and it's against my conscience to cal

"Women," in the ve

med Mrs. Chump, throwing up her hands. "Mr. B

really do not know what to say,"

ire to shake anny man i

opping to

cause of his lack of ready wit. Hearing that he had gloves, she told him to go to church, listen devoutly, and return to luncheon. Braintop departed, with a sensation of relief in the anticipation of a sermon, quite new to him. When he next made his bow to his hos

what have ye thought of?" sa

into the past, said, with the air of a man who delicately suggests a subtlety: "It has struck me, ma'am, th

slappin' their faces. Think of dinner. Furrst soup; that prepares ye for what's comin'. Then fish, which is on the road to meat, dye see?-we pepper 'em. Then joint, Mr. Braintop-out we burrst: (Oh, and what ins'lent hussies ye've been to me, and

ask he had undertaken became mountainous in his imagination, till at last he fixed his forehead in his thumbs and fingers, and resolutely counted a number of meaningless words one hundred tim

closing at last as ingenuous a face as he could assume

ye for directin' your mind to temporal matters when ye're there! It's none of my do

e you won't begin with Dear," he obs

d Mrs. Chump, divided between that view of the case

anything, or 'Ladies,' or-in short,

top?" said Mrs. Chump, as from a heigh

he was the partner of her stupidity; but he had thoughtlessly attempted the impossible thing, and now, contemplating his utter failure, he was in so low a state of mind that he would have taken pen and written himself down, with

ty. It signified an alliance, and that

it over," he remarked, with

said Mrs. Chump, herself re

gly, while his taskmistress looked over him, "Ladies o

represent ye at the for

continuatio

, ma'am?" Braintop

. And ye'll allow me to say that I do

f advancement in his office, if he so contrived as to write a letter that should land her in Brookfield among a scourged, repentant, and forgiven people. That he might understand the position, she went far modestly to reveal her weakness for Mr. Pole. She even consented to let 'Ladies' be the opening apostrophe, provided the word 'Young' went before it: "They'll feel that sting," she said. Braintop stipulated that she should not look till the letter was done; and, observing his pen travelling the lines in quick succession, Mrs. Chump became inspired by a great but uneasy hope. She was only to be restrained

p, half for an opinion, and to encourage progress, said, "Yes, ma'am;" and with "There, sir!" Mrs. Chump crumpled up the paper and flung it at him. "And there, sir!" she tossed a pen. Hearing Braintop mutter, "Lady-like behavio

rose and

e jumped up in terror, crying incredulously, "Is the young man pos'tively one? Oh! and me alone in a rage!-the contemplated horrors of which position set her shouting vociferously. "Mr. Braintop!" sounded over the stairs, and "Mr. Braintop!" into the street. The

ously answered; her waist was cla

aintop's libertin

iberty, sir 'deed ye'

gnity or her wrath. "Lady Charlotte is with me. I sleep at the hotel; but you have no objection to receive her, have you?" This set her mind upon her best bedroom, her linen, and the fitness of her roof to receive a title. Then, in a partial fit of gratitude for the honour, and immense thankfulness at being spared the task of the letter, she fell