|
||||||||
Your sofy, indeed! Mrs. Cook said. Im a settin on Mrs. Raggless sofy. Dont you stir, Mrs. Raggles, Mum. Im a settin on Mr. and Mrs. Raggless sofy, which they bought with honest money, and very dear it cost em, too. And Im thinkin if I set here until Im paid my wages, I shall set a precious long time, Mrs. Raggles; and set I will, tooha! ha! and with this she filled herself another glass of the liquor and drank it with a more hideously satirical air. Trotter! Simpson! turn that drunken wretch out, screamed Mrs. Crawley. I shawnt, said Trotter the footman; turn out yourself. Pay our selleries, and turn me out too. Well go fast enough. Are you all here to insult me? cried Becky in a fury; when Colonel Crawley comes home Ill At this the servants burst into a horse haw-haw, in which, however, Raggles, who still kept a most melancholy countenance, did not join. He aint a coming back, Mr. Trotter resumed. He sent for his things, and I wouldnt let em go, although Mr. Raggles would; and I dont blieve hes no more a Colonel than I am. Hes hoff, and I suppose youre a goin after him. Youre no better than swindlers, both on you. Dont be a bullyin me. I wont stand it. Pay us our selleries, I say. Pay us our selleries. It was evident, from Mr. Trotters flushed countenance and defective intonation, that he, too, had had recourse to vinous stimulus. Mr. Raggles, said Becky in a passion of vexation, you will not surely let me be insulted by that drunken man? Hold your noise, Trotter; do now, said Simpson the page. He was affected by his mistresss deplorable situation, and succeeded in preventing an outrageous denial of the epithet drunken on the footmans part. Oh, Mam, said Raggles, I never thought to live to see this year day: Ive known the Crawley family ever since I was born. I lived butler with Miss Crawley for thirty years; and I little thought one of that family was a goin to ruing meyes, ruing mesaid the poor fellow with tears in his eyes. Har you a goin to pay me? Youve lived in this ouse four year. Youve ad my substance: my plate and linning. You ho me a milk and butter bill of two undred pound, you must ave noo laid heggs for your homlets, and cream for your spanil dog. She didnt care what her own flesh and blood had, interposed the cook. Manys the time, hed have starved but for me. Hes a charaty-boy now, Cooky, said Mr. Trotter, with a drunken ha! ha!and honest Raggles continued, in a lamentable tone, an enumeration of his griefs. All he said was true. Becky and her husband had ruined him. He had bills coming due next week and no means to meet them. He would be sold up and turned out of his shop and his house, because he had trusted to the Crawley family. His tears and lamentations made Becky more peevish than ever. You all seem to be against me, she said bitterly. What do you want? I cant pay you on Sunday. Come back to-morrow and Ill pay you everything. I thought Colonel Crawley had settled with you. He will to- morrow. I declare to you upon my honour that he left home this morning with fifteen hundred pounds in his pocket-book. He has left me nothing. Apply to him. Give me a bonnet and shawl and let me go out and find him. There was a difference between us this morning. You all seem to know it. I promise you upon my word that you shall all be paid. He has got a good appointment. Let me go out and find him. This audacious statement caused Raggles and the other personages present to look at one another with a wild surprise, and with it Rebecca left them. She went upstairs and dressed herself this time without the aid of her French maid. She went into Rawdons room, and there saw that a trunk and bag were packed ready for removal, with a pencil direction that they should be given when called for; then she went into the Frenchwomans garret; everything was clean, and all the drawers emptied there. She bethought herself of the trinkets which had been left on the ground and felt certain that the woman had |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details. | ||||||||