Page:Paul Clifford Vol 1.djvu/135

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PAUL CLIFFORD.
105

pendence in my possession, since I have forsworn gambling, I cannot easily starve."

To this soliloquy succeeded a misanthropical reverie upon the faithlessness of friends; and the meditation ended in Paul's making up a little bundle of such clothes, &c. as Dummie had succeeded in removing from the "Mug," and which Paul had taken from the rag-merchant's abode one morning when Dummie was abroad.

When this easy task was concluded, Paul wrote a short and upbraiding note to his illustrious preceptor, and left it unsealed on the table. He then, upsetting the ink-bottle on Mac Grawler's sleeping countenance, departed from the house, and strode away he cared not whither.

The evening was gradually closing as Paul, chewing the cud of his bitter fancies, found himself on London Bridge. He paused there, and, leaning over the bridge, gazed wistfully on the gloomy waters that rolled onward, caring not a minnow for the numerous charming young ladies who have thought proper to drown themselves in those merciless waves, thereby depriving many a good mistress of an excellent housemaid, or an