Never was a small sally of wit more thoroughly successful. Mr. Blake laughed till he cried, and when he had done, wiped his eyes with a snuffy handkerchief, and cried till he laughed again. As, somehow, I could not conceal from myself a suspicion as to the sincerity of my friend’s mirth, I merely consoled myself with the French adage, that “he laughs best who laughs last;” and went on:—
“It will not be deemed surprising, sir, that a man should come to the discovery I have just mentioned much more rapidly by having enjoyed the pleasure of intimacy with your family; not only by the example of perfect domestic happiness presented to him, but by the prospect held out that a heritage of the fair gifts which adorn and grace a married life may reasonably be looked for among the daughters of those themselves the realization of conjugal felicity.”
Here was a canter, with a vengeance; and as I felt blown, I slackened my pace, coughed, and resumed:—
“Mary Blake, sir, is, then, the object of my present communication; she it is who has made an existence that seemed fair and pleasurable before, appear blank and unprofitable without her. I have, therefore, to come at once to the point, visited you this morning, formally to ask her hand in marriage; her fortune, I may observe at once, is perfectly immaterial, a matter of no consequence [so Mr. Blake thought also]; a competence fully equal to every reasonable notion of expenditure—”
“There, there; don’t, don’t!” said Mr. Blake, wiping his eyes, with a sob like a hiccough,—“don’t speak of money! I know what you would say, a handsome settlement,—a well-secured jointure, and all that. Yes, yes, I feel it all.”
“Why, yes, sir, I believe I may add that everything in this respect will answer your expectations.”
“Of course; to be sure. My poor dear Baby! How to do without her, that’s the rub! You don’t know, O’Malley, what that girl is to me—you can’t know it; you’ll feel it one day though—that you will!”
“The devil I shall!” said I to myself. “The great point is, after all, to learn the young lady’s disposition in the matter—”
“Ah, Charley, none of this with me, you sly dog! You think I don’t know you. Why, I’ve been watching,—that is, I have seen—no, I mean I’ve heard—They—they,—people will talk, you know.”
“Very true, sir. But, as I was going to remark—”