Page:Paul Clifford Vol 1.djvu/146

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116
PAUL CLIFFORD.

the people, and may we never want saddles to ride it!"

"To the great donkey," cried Paul, tossing off his bumper, "may your (y)ears be as long! But I own to you, my friend, that I cannot enter into your plans. And as a token of my resolution, I shall drink no more, for my eyes already begin to dance in the air; and if I listen longer to your resistless eloquence, my feet may share the same fate!"

So saying, Paul rose; nor could any entreaty, on the part of his entertainer, persuade him to resume his seat.

"Nay, as you will," said Pepper, affecting a nonchalant tone, and arranging his cravat before the glass. "Nay, as you will. Ned Pepper requires no man's companionship against his liking; and if the noble spark of ambition be not in your bosom, 'tis no use spending my breath in blowing at what only existed in my too flattering opinion of your qualities. So, then, you propose to return to Mac Grawler, (the scurvy old cheat,) and pass the inglorious remainder of your life in the mangling of authors, and the murder of grammar? Go,