ming himself to Pen: nay, he confessed to the latter that he
had a--an attachment, an ardently cherished attachment, about which
Pendennis longed to hear, and said, "Tell us, old chap, is she handsome?
has she got blue eyes or black?" But Doctor Portman's curate, heaving a
gentle sigh, cast up his eyes to the ceiling, and begged Pen faintly
to change the conversation. Poor Smirke! He invited Pen to dine at his
lodgings over Madame Fribsby's, the milliner's, in Clavering; and
once when it was raining, and Mrs. Pendennis, who had driven in her
pony-chaise into Clavering with respect to some arrangements, about
leaving off mourning probably, was prevailed upon to enter the curate's
apartments, he sent out for pound-cakes instantly. The sofa on which
she sate became sacred to him from that day: and he kept flowers in the
glass which she drank from ever after.

As Mrs. Pendennis was never tired of hearing the praises of her son, we
may be certain that this rogue of a tutor neglected no opportunity of
conversing with her upon that subject. It might be a little tedious to
him to hear the stories about Pen's generosity, about his bravery
in fighting the big naughty boy, about his fun and jokes, about his
prodigious skill in Latin, music, riding, etc., but what price would he
not pay to be in her company? and the widow, after these conversations,
thought Mr. Smirke a very pleasing and well-informed man. As for
her son, she had not settled in her mind whether he was to be Senior
Wrangler and Archbishop of Canterbury, or Double First Class at Oxford,
and Lord Chancellor. That all England did not possess his peer, was a
fact about which there was, in her mind, no manner of question.

A simple person, of inexpensive habits, she began forthwith to save,
and, perhaps, to be a little parsimonious, in favour of her boy. There
were no entertainments, of course, at Fairoaks, during the year of her
weeds. Nor, indeed, did the Doctor's silver dish-covers, of which he
was so proud, and which were flourished all over with the arms of
the Pendennises, and surmounted with their crest, come out of the
plate-chests again for long, long years. The household was diminished,
and its expenses curtailed. There was a very blank anchorite repast when
Pen dined from home: and he himself headed the remonstrance from the
kitchen regarding the deteriorated quality of the Fairoaks beer. She was
becoming miserly for Pen. Indeed, who ever accused women of bein