“Ha! my old adherents,——all my faithful ones!” sighed Mrs. Ricketts, giving a hand to each to kiss; and then, in a voice of deep emotion, she said, “Bless you both! May peace and happiness be beneath your roof-trees! joy sit beside your hearth!”
Haggerstone reddened a little; for, however alive to the ludicrous in his neighbors, he was marvellously sensitive as to having a part in the piece himself.
“You are looking quite yourself again,” said he, bluntly.
“The soul, indeed, is unchanged; the spirit—”
“What's become of Purvis?” broke in Haggerstone, who never gave any quarter to these poetic flights.
“You 'll see him presently. He has been so much fatigued and exhausted by this horrid police investigation, that he never gets up till late. I 've put him on a course of dandelion and aconite, too; the first effect of which is always unpleasant.”
Leaving Foglass in conclave with the hostess, Haggerstone now approached the Count, who had for several times performed his toilet operation of running his hands through his hair, in expectation of being addressed.
“How d'ye do,——any piquet lately?” asked the Colonel, half cavalierly.
“As if I was tinking of piquet, wid my country in shains! How you can aske me dat?”
“What did you do with Norwood t'other night?” resumed the other, in a voice somewhat lower.