III. INTRODUCES MR. TANKARD, MR. LAEKINS, AND MR. PLEDGER DAPP.
The tea equipage was set out in the little parlour, and Walter enjoyed a cup of bohea with Mrs. Hartley very much, and passed the evening with her in tranquil converse. He began to feel a great regard for the good dame, and listened to her advice.
Hartley did not return till nearly supper time, and brought with him a friend—a neighbour—whom he introduced as Mr. Tankard.
Rather an important personage in his way was Mr. Tankard—stout, short, red-faced, possessing a rich mellow voice, consequential in manner, and respectably dressed in black. Some of his friends called him “Silver Tankard,” but Hartley took no such liberty. Mr. Tankard had been a butler before setting up in business in the Lambeth Road, where he now kept a large china and glass shop.
Though generally distant and proud, Mr. Tankard unbent towards Walter, and was unusually civil to him.
“I like the looks of that young man,” he observed, in a very loud whisper to Hartley.
Mrs. Hartley deemed it necessary to apologise to Mr. Tankard for the poorness of the supper, and told him if she had expected the honour and pleasure of his company she would have provided something better; but he begged her condescendingly not to mind—“he wasn't at all partickler.”
Mrs. Hartley knew better. She knew he was exceedingly particular. However, she did the best that circumstances would allow, and as a finish to the rather scanty meal, gave him a dish of stewed cheese, and a jug, not a “tankard,” of ale with a toast in it. With this he was tolerably well satisfied.