The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bedford-Row Conspiracy, by
William Makepeace Thackeray

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Title: The Bedford-Row Conspiracy

Author: William Makepeace Thackeray

Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1990]
Release Date: December, 1999

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEDFORD-ROW CONSPIRACY ***

Produced by Les Bowler

THE BEDFORD-ROW CONSPIRACY

By William Makepeace Thackeray

Contents.

I. Of the loves of Mr. Perkins and Miss Gorgon, and of the two
great factions in the town of Oldborough.

II. Shows how the plot began to thicken in or about Bedford Row.

III. Behind the scenes.

Note:

A story of Charles de Bernard furnished the plot of
"The Bedford-Row Conspiracy."

THE BEDFORD-ROW CONSPIRACY

CHAPTER I.

OF THE LOVES OF MR. PERKINS AND MISS GORGON, AND OF THE TWO GREAT
FACTIONS IN THE TOWN OF OLDBOROUGH.

"My dear John," cried Lucy, with a very wise look indeed, "it must and
shall be so. As for Doughty Street, with our means, a house is out of
the question. We must keep three servants, and Aunt Biggs says the taxes
are one-and-twenty pounds a year."

"I have seen a sweet place at Chelsea," remarked John: "Paradise Row,
No. 17,--garden--greenhouse--fifty pounds a year--omnibus to town within
a mile."

"What! that I may be left alone all day, and you spend a fortune in
driving backward and forward in those horrid breakneck cabs? My darling,
I should die there--die of fright, I know I should. Did you not say
yourself that the road was not as yet lighted, and that the place
swarmed with public-houses and dreadful tipsy Irish bricklayers? Would
you kill me, John?"

"My da-arling," said John, with tremendous fondness, clutching Miss
Lucy suddenly round the waist, and rapping the hand of that young person
violently against his waistcoat,--"My da-arling, don't say such things,
even in a joke. If I objected to the chambers, it is only because you,
my love, with your birth and connections, ought to have a house of your
own. The chambers are quite large enough and certainly quite good enough
for me." And so, after some more sweet p