CHAPTER V.
“Our list of nobles next let Amri grace.”
Absalom and Achitophel.
“Sine me vacivum tempus ne quod dem mihi Laboris.” *—TER.
* Suffer me to employ my spare time in some kind of labour.
“I CAN’T think,” said one of a group of young men, loitering by the steps of a clubhouse in St. James’s Street—“I can’t think what has chanced to Maltravers. Do you observe (as he walks—there—the other side of the way) how much he is altered? He stoops like an old man, and hardly ever lifts his eyes from the ground. He certainly seems sick and sad.”
“Writing books, I suppose.”
“Or privately married.”
“Or growing too rich—rich men are always unhappy beings.”
“Ha, Ferrers, how are you?”
“So-so. What’s the news?” replied Lumley.
“Rattler pays forfeit.”