'What
folly is this! Let us take heed how we laugh without reason lest we cry
with it. What is the domestic news since yesterday? John Westlock is
gone, I hope?'
'Indeed, no,' said Charity.
'And why not?' returned her father. 'His term expired yesterday. And his
box was packed, I know; for I saw it, in the morning, standing in the
hall.'
'He slept last night at the Dragon,' returned the young lady, 'and had
Mr Pinch to dine with him. They spent the evening together, and Mr Pinch
was not home till very late.'
'And when I saw him on the stairs this morning, Pa,' said Mercy with her
usual sprightliness, 'he looked, oh goodness, SUCH a monster! with his
face all manner of colours, and his eyes as dull as if they had been
boiled, and his head aching dreadfully, I am sure from the look of
it, and his clothes smelling, oh it's impossible to say how strong,
oh'--here the young lady shuddered--'of smoke and punch.'
'Now I think,' said Mr Pecksniff with his accustomed gentleness, though
still with the air of one who suffered under injury without complaint,
'I think Mr Pinch might have done better than choose for his companion
one who, at the close of a long intercourse, had endeavoured, as he
knew, to wound my feelings.
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