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168 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
" Pass the bottle, you young men ! Hey! We intend to see
you all out!" cries Talbot Twysden, on pleasure bent and of the
frugal mind.
" Well said, sir," says the stranger introduced as Mr. Hunt ;
" and right good wine. Ha, Firmin ! I think I know the tap !"
and he smacked his lips over the claret. " It's your twenty-five,
and no mistake."
"The red-nosed individual seems a connoisseur," whispered
Rosebury at my side.
The stranger's nose, indeed, was somewhat rosy. And to this
I may add that his clothes were black, his face pale, and not well
shorn, his white neckcloth dingy, and his eyes bloodshot.
" He looks as if he had gone to bed in his clothes, and carries
a plentiful flue about his person. Who is your father's esteemed
friend ?" continues the wag, in an under voice.
"You heard his name, Rosebury," says the young barrister
gloomily.
" I should suggest that your father is in difficulties, and attended
by an officer of the Sheriff of London, or perhaps subject to mental
aberration, and placed under the control of a keeper."
" Leave me alone, do!" groaned Philip. And here Twysden,
who was longing for an opportunity to make a speech, bounced up
from his chair, and stopped the facetious barrister's further remarks
by his own eloquence. His discourse was in praise of Philip, the
new-made barrister. " What! if no one else will give that toast,
your uncle will, and many a heartfelt blessing go with you too,
my boy!" cried the little man. He was prodigal of benedictions.
He dashed aside the tear-drop of emotion. He spoke with perfect
fluency, and for a considerable period. He really made a good
speech, and was greeted with deserved cheers when at length he
sat down.
Phil stammered a few words in reply to his uncle's voluble
compliments ; and then Lord Ascot, a young nobleman of much
familiar humour, proposed Phil's father, his health, and song. The
physician made a neat speech from behind his ruffled shirt. He
was agitated by the tender feelings of a paternal heart, he said,
glancing benignly at Phil, who was cracking filberts. To see his
son happy ; to see him surrounded by such friends ; to know him
embarked this day in a profession which gave the greatest scope
for talents, the noblest reward for industry, was a proud and happy
moment to him, Dr. Firmin. What had the poet observed? "Ingenuas
didicisse fideliter artes" (hear, hear!) "emollit mores,"—
yes, "emollit mores." He drank a bumper to the young barrister
(he waved his ring, with a thimbleful of wine in his glass). He