Dibble said that would be splendid, and then Christabel as a further proof of her favour, gave Thomas her royal permission to call her “Chrissy.” Carkey, the clown, had always called her “Chrissy,” and in future Dibble should take the clown’s place, and be her confidant.
“But mind,” she said, clenching her little hand, “if you dare to betray me—if you do not keep my secret,—I will not only tell yours, but oh, I don’t know what I will not do besides—shoot you, perhaps, with a pistol, like the lord’s daughter in the tale.”
Christabel said this so fiercely that Dibble almost wished she had not confided her secret to him. Just as he was about to make a remark to this effect, there staggered into the room, reeling through the smoke, the showman and his “dawg.” The company hammered their glasses on the tables and shouted “bravo,” as Digby strutted in with the Yorkshire giant and Momus, the giant smiling benignly upon his tipsy friend, and Momus marching in front with her head very erect, and her nose turned towards her proprietor.
Thomas Dibble had hardly raised his eyes to look at his new master and the giant, when Digby seized a cup and threw it at Momus, and, missing his mark, made stupid efforts to kick the animal, whereupon Christabel rushed to the dog’s rescue and called the showman a brute, at which there was another burst of applause. The giant hereupon lifted Digby up by his collar out of harm’s way, as if in terrible affright at Christabel; at this Digby kicked and swore, and the giant, dropping him, said the young lady was right, Digby Martin was indeed a brute; and it was generally agreed that this was the most courageous thing that a giant had ever been known to do and say. This led to a dispute between a very tall gentleman in the peep-show line, and the proprietor of a boxing booth, which ended in an extempore fight on the spot; in the midst of which Christabel retired in disgust, quietly intimating to Dibble that she would not put up with “this sort of thing” much longer. Dibble slunk away too, and wished there had never been such a thing as a panic in the City.
END OF VOL. I.
BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
Transcriber’s Notes
Apparent typographical errors have been changed.
Inconsistent word hyphenation and spelling have been regularized.
[Page 46:] “o’clo k” changed to [“o’clock”].