There were many strangers who, visiting Saltinville, were ready to smile at the tottering white-haired beau, so elaborately dressed, and who, not from need, but from custom, clung to his old habits and received visitors as Master of the Ceremonies still. It was a quaint old fiction, and he used to glory in his fees, now they were only wanted for a purpose he had in view.
There were other laughs too ready to be bestowed upon the palsied old nobleman in the dark wig, who met the Master of the Ceremonies every morning on the Parade, and took snuff with him as they flourished their canes, and flicked away fancied spots of dust. Their high collars and pantaloons and Hessian boots, all came in for notice. So did those wonderful beaver hats, black for winter, white for summer, which were lifted with such a display of deportment, in return to the salutes of those who were taking the air. It was always the same: they met at the same hour, at the same spot, took snuff, chatted upon the same themes, and then strolled down to the end of the pier talking of how “times have changed, sir: times have changed.”
“Who’s him, sir—old chap in the black wig, and a face like a wooden nut-cracker? Oh, he’s old Lord Carboro’.”
“And the other?” said the stranger, who had been questioning Fisherman Dick, as the old men passed them by.
“T’other, sir? Ah, I could tell you a deal about him. That’s the Master o’ the Ceremonies, that is. I could tell you a long story about he.”
And so he did.
The End.
| [Volume 1 Chapter 1] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 2] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 3] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 4] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 5] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 6] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 7] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 8] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 9] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 10] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 11] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 12] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 13] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 14] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 15] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 16] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 17] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 18] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 19] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 20] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 21] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 22] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 23] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 24] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 25] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 26] | | [Volume 1 Chapter 27] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 1] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 2] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 3] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 4] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 5] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 6] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 7] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 8] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 9] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 10] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 11] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 12] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 13] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 14] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 15] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 16] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 17] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 18] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 19] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 20] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 21] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 22] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 23] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 24] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 25] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 26] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 27] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 28] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 29] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 30] | | [Volume 2 Chapter 31] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 1] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 2] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 3] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 4] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 5] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 6] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 7] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 8] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 9] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 10] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 11] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 12] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 13] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 14] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 15] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 16] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 17] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 18] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 19] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 20] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 21] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 22] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 23] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 24] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 25] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 26] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 27] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 28] | | [Volume 3 Chapter 29] |