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POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF
expected it^, which would be a very dreadful reflection for him after- wards, and so on. All this, Mr. Raddle heard with great submission, and presently returned to the parlour in a most lamb-like manner.
"Why, Mrs. Rogers, ma'am," said Mrs. Bardell, "you've never been introduced, I declare. Mr. Raddle, ma'am ; Mrs. Cluppins, ma'am ; Mrs. Raddle, ma'am."
- ' Which is Mrs. Cluppins's sister," suggested Mrs. Sanders.
"Oh, indeed ! " said Mrs. Rogers, graciously; — for she was the lodger, and her servant was in waiting, so she was more gracious than inti- mate in right of her position. " Oh, indeed !"
Mrs. Raddle smiled sweetly, Mr. Raddle bowed, and Mrs. Cluppins said " she was sure she was very happy to have a opportunity of being known to a lady which she had heerd so much in faviour of, as Mrs. Rogers" — a compliment which the last-named lady acknowledged with graceful condescension.
" Well, Mr. Raddle," said Mrs. Bardell ; " I'm sure you ought to feel very much honoured at you and Tommy being the only gentlemen to escort so many ladies all the way to the Spaniard at Hampstead. Don't you think he ought, Mrs. Rogers, ma'am?"
" Oh, certainly, ma'am," replied Mrs. Rogers ; after whom all the other ladies responded " Oh, certainly."
" Of course I feel it, ma'am," said Mr. Raddle, rubbing his hands, and evincing a slight tendency to brighten up a little. " Indeed, to tell you the truth, I said, as we were coming along in the cabrioily- "
At the recapitulation of the word which awakened so many painful recollections, Mrs. Raddle applied her handkerchief to her eyes again, and uttered a half-suppressed scream ; so that Mrs. Bardell frowned upon Mr. Raddle, to intimate that he had better not say anything more ; and desired Mrs. Rogers's servant, with an air, to " put the wine on."
This was the signal for displaying the hidden treasures of the closet, which were sundry plates of oranges and biscuits, and a bottle of old- crusted port — that at one and nine — with another of the celebrated East India sherry at fourteen -pence, which were all produced in honour of the lodger, and afforded unlimited satisfaction to everybody. After great consternation had been excited in the mind of Mrs. Clup- pins, bv an attempt on the part of Tommy to recount how he had been cross-examined regarding the cupboard then in action, (which was fortunately nipped in the bud by his imbibing half a glass of the old- crusted " the wrong way," and thereby endangering his life for some seconds,) the party walked forth in quest of a Hampstead stage. This was soon found, and in a couple of hours they all arrived safely in the Spaniard Tea-gardens, where the luckless Mr. Raddle's very first act nearly occasioned his good lady a relapse, it being neither more nor less than to order tea for seven ; whereas (as the ladies one and all remarked), what could have been easier than for Tommy to have drank out of anybody's cup, or everybody's, if that was all, when the waiter wasn't looking, which would have saved one head of tea, and the tea just as good !
