Whether it is possible to make
him acquainted by any means with the real character and purpose of that
young female whose strange, whose very strange position, in reference
to himself'--here Mr Pecksniff sunk his voice to an impressive
whisper--'really casts a shadow of disgrace and shame upon this family;
and who, we know'--here he raised his voice again--'else why is she his
companion? harbours the very basest designs upon his weakness and his
property.'
In their strong feeling on this point, they, who agreed in nothing else,
all concurred as one mind. Good Heaven, that she should harbour designs
upon his property! The strong-minded lady was for poison, her three
daughters were for Bridewell and bread-and-water, the cousin with
the toothache advocated Botany Bay, the two Miss Pecksniffs suggested
flogging. Nobody but Mr Tigg, who, notwithstanding his extreme
shabbiness, was still understood to be in some sort a lady's man,
in right of his upper lip and his frogs, indicated a doubt of the
justifiable nature of these measures; and he only ogled the three Miss
Chuzzlewits with the least admixture of banter in his admiration, as
though he would observe, 'You are positively down upon her to too great
an extent, my sweet creatures, upon my soul you are!'
'Now,' said Mr Pecksniff, crossing his two forefingers in a manner which
was at once conciliatory and argumentative; 'I will not, upon the one
hand, go so far as to say that she deserves all the inflictions which
have been so very forcibly and hilariously suggested;' one of his
ornamental sentences; 'nor will I, upon the other, on any account
compromise my common understanding as a man, by making the assertion
that she does not.
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