Do you know, I could almost fancy I had been
drinking wine."
"Cool and deliciously impudent that same, (hiccup,)" quoth the skipper.
"But hand us back little Whiffle," continued Fyall, "and we shall be
off."
Here Whiffie's voice was heard from the drawing room. "Here, Fyall!--
Tom Cringle!--Here, here, or I shall be murdered!"
"Ah! I see," said Mr H. "this way, gentlemen. Come, I will deliver the
culprit to you;" and we followed him into the drawing room, a most
magnificent saloon, at least forty feet by thirty, brilliantly lit up
with crystal lamps, and massive silver candelabra, and filled with
elegant furniture, which was reflected, along with the chandeliers that
hung from the centre of the coach roof, by several large mirrors, in
rich frames, as well as in the highly polished mahogany floor.
There, in the middle of the room, the other end of it being occupied by
a bevy of twelve or fifteen richly--dressed females, visitors, as we
conjectured, sat our friend Peregrine, pinioned into a large easy chair,
with shawls and scarfs, amidst a sea of silk cushions, by four beautiful
young women, black hair and eyes, clear white skins, fine figures, and
little clothing. A young Jewess is a beautiful animal, although, like
the unclean--confound the metaphor--which they abhor--they don't improve
by age.
When we entered, the blushing girls, who had been beating Whiffle over
his spindle shins, with their large garden fans, dashed through a side
door, unable to contain their laughter, which we heard long after they
had vanished, echoing through the lofty galleries of the house.
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