came; but as that meal cost five shillings a head, General
Gorgon dismissed the four spinsters of his family homewards in the
carriage, and so saved himself a pound. This added to Jack Perkins's
wrath; he had hoped to have seen Miss Lucy once more. He was a steward,
and, in the General's teeth, would have done his duty. He was thinking
how he would have helped her to the most delicate chicken-wings and
blancmanges, how he WOULD have made her take champagne. Under the noses
of indignant aunt and uncle, what glorious fun it would have been!

Out of place as Mr. Scully's present was, and though Lady Gorgon and her
party sneered at the vulgar notion of venison and turtle for supper,
all the world at Oldborough ate very greedily of those two substantial
dishes; and the Mayor's wife became from that day forth a mortal
enemy of the Gorgons: for, sitting near her Ladyship, who refused the
proffered soup and meat, the Mayoress thought herself obliged to follow
this disagreeable example. She sent away the plate of turtle with a
sigh, saying, however, to the baronet's lady, "I thought, mem, that the
LORD MAYOR OF LONDON always had turtle to his supper?"

"And what if he didn't, Biddy?" said his Honour the Mayor; "a good
thing's a good thing, and here goes!" wherewith he plunged his spoon
into the savoury mess. The Mayoress, as we have said, dared not; but she
hated Lady Gorgon, and remembered it at the next election.

The pride, in fact, and insolence of the Gorgon party rendered every
person in the room hostile to them; so soon as, gorged with meat, they
began to find that courage which Britons invariably derive from their
victuals. The show of the Gorgon plate seemed to offend the people. The
Gorgon champagne was a long time, too, in making its appearance. Arrive,
however, it did. The people were waiting for it; the young ladies, not
accustomed to that drink, declined pledging their admirers until it
was produced; the men, too, despised the bucellas and sherry, and were
looking continually towards the door. At last, Mr. Rincer, the landlord,
Mr. Hock, Sir George's butler, and sundry others entered the room. Bang!
went the corks--fizz the foamy liquor sparkled into all sorts of glasses
that were held out for its reception. Mr. Hock helped Sir George and his
party, who drank with great gusto; the wine which was administered to
the persons immediately around Mr. Scully was likewise pronounced to
be good. But Mr. Perkins, who had t