"Ay, and see that this gentle brother does not follow or learn where she goes," answered one.
"Bravo!" cried the other. "'Twill be like an incident in a comedy, Dick."
"Rather like a page of Smollett," replied Dick. "With your permission, madam, we'll accompany you to your lodgings."
They sat around the fireplace, with their backs to her, and talked with easy gaiety, while she packed her possessions; Ned having first followed them in, and then fled to appease his mind at an ale-house. Finally Dick and one of the gentlemen closed her trunks for her, while the other went for a coach; wherein all three accompanied her to the house of a wigmaker known to Dick, in High Holborn; where they roused the inmates, made close terms, and left her installed in a decent room with her belongings.
As they took their leave, after an almost tearful burst of thanks on her part, Dick said:
"From some of your expressions, madam, I gather that your resources are limited—resources of one kind, I mean. But in your appearance, your air, and your voice, you possess resources, which if ever you feel disposed to use, I beg you will let me know. Pray don't misunderstand me; the world knows how much I am in love with my wife."[[9]]
When he had gone, leaving her puzzled and astonished, she turned to the wigmaker's wife, who was putting the room to rights, and asked:
"Pray what is that last gentleman's name?"
"Wot, ma'am! Can it be you don't know 'im? "
"He forgot to tell me."