212520_The_Adve ... _Way_Through_The_World.pdf - OUDL Home

580 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
"And me, Mr. Hunt? What do he owe me?" asks Hunt's
hostess.
" Caroline !" cries Hunt, " I have made Brummel Firmin pay
me a good bit back already, but I'll have more ;" and he thumped
his breast, and thrust his hand into his breast-pocket as he spoke,
and clutched at something within.
" It is there !" thought Caroline. She might turn pale ; but
he did not remark her pallor. He was all intent on drink, on
vanity, on revenge.
" I have him, I say. He owes me a good bit ; and he has paid
me a good bit ; and he shall pay me a good bit more. Do you
think I am a fellow who will be ruined and insulted, and won't
revenge myself? You should have seen his face when I turned
up at New York at the ' Astor House,' and said, ' Brummell, old
fellow, here I am,' I said : and he turned as white—as white as
this tablecloth. I'll never leave you, my boy,' I said. 'Other
fellows may go from you, but old Tom Hunt will stick to you.
Let's go into the bar and have a drink !' and he was obliged to
come. And I have him now in my power, I tell you. And when
I say to him, ' Brummell, have a drink,' drink he must. His bald
old head must go into the pail !" And Mr. Hunt laughed a laugh
which I daresay was not agreeable.
After a pause he went on : " Caroline ! Do you hate him, I
say? or do you like a fellow who deserted you and treated you
like a scoundrel ? Some women do. I could tell of women who
do. I could tell you of other fellows, perhaps, but I won't. Do
you hate Brummell Firmin, that bald-headed Brum—hypocrite,
and that—that insolent rascal who laid his hand on a clergyman,
and an old man, by George, and hit me—and hit me in that
street ? Do you hate him, I say ? Hoo ! hoo! hick ! I've got
'em both !—here, in my pocket—both !"
" You have got—what ?" gasped Caroline.
" I have got their—hallo ! stop, what's that to you what I've
got ?" And he sinks back in his chair, and grins, and leers, and
triumphantly tosses his glass.
"Well, it ain't much to me; I—I never got any good out
of either of 'em yet," says poor Caroline, with a sinking heart.
" Let's talk about somebody else than them two plagues. Because
you were a little merry one night—and I don't mind what a
gentleman says when he has had a glass—for a great big strong
man to hit an old one _________ "
" To strike a clergyman !" yells Hunt.
" It was a shame—a cowardly shame ! And I gave it him for
it, I promise you !" cries Mrs. Brandon,