ady hinted, that
faculty so alarmingly common in his country, which polite people call
oratory, and vulgar ones the "gift of the gab;" and he was not the man
to throw away the opportunity of turning any of his gifts to account.
Warming with his subject, he poured out upon the gorgeously-attired Mr.
Black such a flood of conciliatory and expostulatory eloquence, that
that gentleman absolutely contrived to find some accommodation for them.
The ladies, child, and servants were huddled together into one tolerably
large room, in the third story. Benson had a sort of corner-cupboard in
the fourth, that might, perhaps, have accommodated a mouse with a small
family; and to Ashburner and Le Roi were assigned two small chambers in
the fifth. As to the baggage, that was all piled up in the office, with
the exception of a few indispensable articles. Supper was out of the
question, there being no room to eat it in because of the dancers. The
ladies did not want supper; they only regretted not being able to unpack
their trunks, and dress for the ball then and there going on; their eyes
lighted up at the sound of the music, and their little feet began to
beat the floor incontinently. The gentlemen took a drink all round by
way of substitute for something more solid. Ashburner had mounted to his
dormitory--no small journey--and was sitting on his bed, wishing he had
some contrivance for pulling off all his clothes at once without the
trouble of removing them piece by piece, when he heard in the passage
the voice of Le Roi, _quantum mutatus ab illo_! The Vicomte had sworn up
all his own language, and was displaying a knowledge of English
expletives that quite surprised his fellow-traveller. On investigation,
the cause of his wrath proved to be this: a semi-civilized Irish waiter
had shown him to No. 296, in accordance with Mr. Black's directions. But
Mr. Black, in the multiplicity of his affairs, had forgotten that No.
296 was already tenanted, to wit, by a Western traveller, who did,
indeed, intend to quit it by an early stage next morning, but had not
the least idea of giving up his quarters before that time; and
accordingly, as if from a presentiment that some attempt would be made
to dislodge him, had, in addition to the ordinary not very strong
fastenings of the door, so barricaded it with trunks and furniture, that
it could have stood a considerable amount of siege. The waiter had gone
off, leaving Le Roi to shift for himself. Bells