emarks
not complimentary to my dear old Colonel. He might have kept
his pensions had he not been a fool--he was a baby about money
matters--misled himself and everybody--was a log in the house, etc. etc.
etc.

I suggested that his annuities might possibly be put into some more
satisfactory shape--that I had trustworthy lawyers with whom I would put
him in communication--that he had best come to London to see to these
matters--and that my wife had a large house where she would most gladly
entertain the two gentlemen.

This I said with some reasonable dread--fearing, in the first place,
her refusal; in the second, her acceptance of the invitation, with a
proposal, as our house was large, to come herself and inhabit it for a
while. Had I not seen that Campaigner arrive for a month at poor James
Binnie's house in Fitzroy Square, and stay there for many years? Was
I not aware that when she once set her foot in a gentleman's
establishment, terrific battles must ensue before she could be
dislodged? Had she not once been routed by Clive? and was she not now in
command and possession? Do I not, finally, know something of the world;
and have I not a weak, easy temper? I protest it was with terror that I
awaited the widow's possible answer to my proposal.

To my great relief, she expressed the utmost approval of both my plans.
I was uncommonly kind, she was sure, to interest myself about the two
gentlemen, and for her blessed Rosa's sake, a fond mother thanked me.
It was most advisable that he should earn some money by that horrid
profession which he had chosen to adopt--a trade, she called it. She
was clearly anxious get rid both of father and son, and agreed that the
sooner they went the better.

We walked back arm-in-arm to the Colonel's quarters in the Old Town,
Mrs. Mackenzie, in the course of our walk, doing me the honour to
introduce me by name to several dingy acquaintances, whom we met
sauntering up the street, and imparting to me, as each moved away, the
pecuniary cause of his temporary residence in Boulogne. Spite of Rosey's
delicate state of health, Mrs. Mackenzie did not hesitate to break the
news to her of the gentlemen's probable departure, abruptly and eagerly,
as if the intelligence was likely to please her:--and it did, rather
than otherwise. The young woman, being in the habit of letting mamma
judge for her, continued it in this instance; and whether her husband
stayed or went, seemed to be equally content