When Miggs
finished her solo, her mistress struck in again, and the two together
performed a duet to the same purpose; the burden being, that Mrs Varden
was persecuted perfection, and Mr Varden, as the representative of
mankind in that apartment, a creature of vicious and brutal habits,
utterly insensible to the blessings he enjoyed. Of so refined a
character, indeed, was their talent of assault under the mask of
sympathy, that when Dolly, recovering, embraced her father tenderly,
as in vindication of his goodness, Mrs Varden expressed her solemn hope
that this would be a lesson to him for the remainder of his life,
and that he would do some little justice to a woman's nature ever
afterwards--in which aspiration Miss Miggs, by divers sniffs and
coughs, more significant than the longest oration, expressed her entire
concurrence.
But the great joy of Miggs's heart was, that she not only picked up
a full account of what had happened, but had the exquisite delight of
conveying it to Mr Tappertit for his jealousy and torture. For that
gentleman, on account of Dolly's indisposition, had been requested to
take his supper in the workshop, and it was conveyed thither by Miss
Miggs's own fair hands.
Pages:
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307