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ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE WORLD 871
had gone too far in her dealings with the quiet old man, and he had
revolted, put her down, and never forgiven her. Beyond a certain
point she dared not provoke her husband. She would say, " Well,
Baynes, marriage is a lottery : and I am afraid our poor Charlotte
has not pulled a prize :" on which the General would reply, " No
more have others, my dear !" and so drop the subject for the time
being. On another occasion it would be, "You heard how rude
Philip Firmin was to Mr. Hobday ?" and the General would answer,
" I was at cards, my dear." Again she might say, " Mrs. Tuffin
says she will not have Philip Firmin to her Tuesdays, my dear :"
and the General's rejoinder would be, " Begad, so much the better
for him !" " Ah!" she groans, " he's always offending some one !"
" I don't think he seems to please you much, Eliza !" responds the
General : and she answers, " No, he don't, and that I confess ; and
I don't like to think, Baynes, of my sweet child given up to certain
poverty, and such a man !" At which the General with some of
his garrison phrases would break out with a " Hang it, Eliza, do
you suppose I think it is a very good match ?" and turn to the
wall, and, I hope, to sleep.
As for poor little Charlotte, her mother is not afraid of little
Charlotte : and when the two are alone the poor child knows she
is to be made wretched by her mother's assaults upon Philip. Was
there ever anything so bad as his behaviour, to burst out laughing
when Miss Crackley was singing ? Was he called upon to contradict
Mr. Charles Peplow in that abrupt way, and as good as tell him
he was a fool ? It was very wrong certainly, and poor Charlotte
thinks, with a blush perhaps, how she was just at the point of
admiring Sir Charles Peplow's reading very much, and had been
prepared to think Tomlinson's poems delightful, until Philip ordered
her to adopt a contemptuous opinion of the poet. " And did you
see how he was dressed—a button wanting on his waistcoat, and a
hole in his boot ?"
" Mamma," cries Charlotte, turning very red, " he might have
been better dressed—if—if ________ "
" That is, you would like your own father to be in prison, your
mother to beg her bread, your sisters to go in rags, and your brothers
to starve, Charlotte, in order that we should pay Philip Firmin back
the money of which his father robbed him ! Yes. That's your
meaning. You needn't explain yourself. I can understand quite
well, thank you. Good-night. I hope you'll sleep well ; I shan't
after this conversation. Good-night, Charlotte !" Ah me ! O
course of true love, didst thou ever run smooth ? As we peep into
that boarding-house—whereof I have already described the mistress
as wakeful with racking care regarding the morrow; wherein lie