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82 A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY
lord, should not fall into his old bear-leader's hands again, and came
down to Margate to counteract any influence which the arte of
Brandon might acquire.
" Curse the fellow !" thought Tufthunt in his heart (there was
a fine reciprocity of curses between the two men); " he has drawn
Cinqbars already for fifty pounds this year, and will have some half
of his last remittance, if I don't keep a look-out, the swindling
thief!"
And so frightened was Tufthunt at the notion of Brandon's
return to power and dishonest use of it, that he was at the time
on the point of writing to Lord Ringwood to tell him of his son's
doings, only he wanted some money deucedly himself. Of Mr.
Tufthunt's physique and history it is necessary merely to say, that
he was the son of a country attorney who was agent to a lord ; he
had been sent to a foundation school, where he distinguished himself
for ten years, by fighting and being flogged more than any boy of
the five hundred. From the foundation school he went to college
with an exhibition, which was succeeded by a fellowship, which was
to end in a living. In his person Mr. Tufthunt was short and
bow-legged; he wore a sort of clerico-sporting costume, consisting
of a black straight-cut coat and light drab breeches, with a vast
number of buttons at the ankles ; a sort of dress much affectioned
by sporting gentlemen of the university in the author's time.
Well, Brandon said he had some letters to write, and promised
to follow his friend, which he did ; but, if the truth must be told,
so infatuated was the young man become with his passion, with the
resistance he had met with, and so nervous from the various
occurrences of the morning, that he passed the half-hour during
which he was free from Cinqbars' society in kneeling, imploring,
weeping at Caroline's little garret door, which had remained
pitilessly closed to him. He was wild with disappointment, mortification—mad,
longing to see her. The cleverest coquette in
Europe could not have so inflamed him. His first act on entering
the dinner-room was to drink off a large tumbler of champagne ;
and when Cinqbars, in his elegant way, began to rally him upon
his wildness, Mr. Brandon only growled and cursed with frightful
vehemency, and applied again to the bottle. His face, which had
been quite white, grew a bright red; his tongue, which had been
tied, began to chatter vehemently ; before the fish was off the table,
Mr. Brandon showed strong symptoms of intoxication ; before the
dessert appeared, Mr. Tufthunt, winking knowingly to Lord
Cinqbars, had begun to draw him out; and Brandon, with a
number of shrieks and oaths, was narrating the history of his
attachment.