"
But his colleagues made no further protest, and Thomas Edwards,
having but two coppers to his name, was conducted below to the
cellarage, there to await transference to the County Jail.
"Selina Trudgian!"
The Admiral, viewing the young couple as they stood sheepishly before
him, commanded Selina to state her complaint as briefly as possible,
avoiding tears.
But this was beyond her.
"He came home drunk, your Worship," she sobbed, twisting her
handkerchief.
"I didn'," corrected her husband.
"He came home d-drunk, your Worship . . . he c-came home d-drunk--"
"Now hearken to me, you two!"
The Admiral, fixing a severe eye on them, started to read them a
lesson on married life, with its daily discipline, its constant
obligation of mutual forbearance. For a confirmed bachelor, he did
it remarkably well; but it must be recorded that this was not by any
means his first essay in lecturing discordant spouses from the Bench.
Lord Rattley, whose own matrimonial ventures had been (like Mr.
Weller's researches in London) extensive and peculiar, leaned back
and followed the discourse with appreciation, his elbows resting on
the arms of his chair, his finger-tips delicately pressed together,
his gaze pensively tracking the motions of a bumblebee that had
strayed in at an open window and was battering its head against the
dusty pane of a closed one.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124