"
"Well, Mr. Burket," rejoined Thaddeus, smiling; "I am glad to hear
that. Yet I cannot forget the unexpected view of the famous British
fair which this night has offered to my eyes. It is strange!"
"It is very bad, indeed, sir," returned the man, giving him the money
and the paper he had been preparing; "but if you should have occasion
to call again upon me, perhaps you may be astonished still further."
The count bowed; and thanking him for his kindness, wished him a good
evening and left the shop. [Footnote: The whole of this scene at the
pawnbroker's is too true; the writer knows it from an eye and ear-
witness.]
It was about seven o'clock when Thaddeus arrived at the apothecary's.
Mr. Vincent was from home. To say the truth, he had purposely gone
out of the way. For though he did not hesitate to commit a shabby
action, he wanted courage to face its consequence; and to avoid the
probable remonstrances of Mrs. Robson, he commissioned his assistant
to receive the amount of the bill. Without making an observation, the
count paid the man, and was returning homeward along Duke Street and
the piazzas of Drury Lane Theatre, when the crowd around the doors
constrained him to stop.
After two or three ineffectual attempts to get through the bustle, he
retreated a little behind the mob, at the moment when a chariot drew
up, and a gentleman stepping out with two ladies, darted with them
into the house.
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