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ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE WORLD 175
knocks came to the door about midnight, enjoyed quite a refreshing
pang of anxious interest for a moment, deeming the proctors
were rapping, having heard our shouts in the court below. The
late comer, however, was only a tavern waiter, bearing a suppertray;
and we were free to speechify, shout, quarrel, and be as
young as we liked, with nobody to find fault, except, perchance,
the bencher below, who, I daresay, was kept awake with our noise.
When that supper arrived, poor Talbot Twysden, who had
come so far to enjoy it, was not in a state to partake of it. Lord
Egham's cigar had proved too much for him; and the worthy
gentleman had been lying on a sofa, in a neighbouring room, for
some time past, in a state of hopeless collapse. He had told us,
whilst yet capable of speech, what a love and regard he had for
Philip; but between him and Philip's father there was but little
love. They had had that worst and most irremediable of quarrels,
a difference about twopence-halfpenny in the division of the property
of their late father-in-law. Firmin still thought Twysden
a shabby curmudgeon; and Twysden considered Firmin an unprincipled
man. When Mrs. Firmin was alive, the two poor
sisters had had to regulate their affections by the marital orders,
and to be warm, cool, moderate, freezing according to their
husbands' state for the time being. I wonder are there many
real reconciliations ? Dear Tomkins and I are reconciled, I know.
We have met and dined at Jones's. And ah ! how fond we are
of each other ! Oh, very ! So with Firmin and Twysden. They
met, and shook hands with perfect animosity. So did Twysden
junior and Firmin junior. Young Twysden was the elder, and
thrashed and bullied Phil as a boy, until the latter arose and
pitched his cousin downstairs. Mentally, they were always kicking
each other downstairs. Well, poor Talbot could not partake
of the supper when it came, and lay in a piteous state on the
neighbouring sofa of the absent Mr. Van John.
Who would go home with him, where his wife must be anxious
about him ? I agreed to convoy him, and the parson said he was
going our way, and would accompany us. We supported this senior
through the Temple, and put him on the front seat of a cab. The
cigar had disgracefully overcome him ; and any lecturer on the evils
of smoking might have pointed his moral on the helpless person of
this wretched gentleman.
The evening's feasting had only imparted animation to Mr.
Hunt, and occasioned an agreeable abandon in his talk. I had seen
the man before in Dr. Firmin's house, and own that his society
was almost as odious to me as to the Doctor's son Philip. On all
subjects and persons, Phil was accustomed to speak his mind out a