andsome filagree gimcrack of poor Ross's, one of the relics of former
splendours,--but, agitated by Maria's insolence, the trembling hand
missed the mark, and the purse fell to the ground.

Maria dashed at the purse in a moment, with a scream of laughter shook
its contents upon the table, and sure enough, five little packets
wrapped in paper rolled out upon the cloth, besides bank-notes and
silver and golden coin. "I'm to go, am I? I'm a thief, am I?" screamed
the girl, clapping her hands. "I sor 'em yesterday when I was a-lacing
of her; and thought of that pore young man working night and day to get
the money;--me a thief, indeed!--I despise you, and I give you warning."

"Do you wish to see me any longer insulted by this woman, Clive?
Mr. Pendennis, I am shocked that you should witness such horrible
vulgarity," cries the Campaigner, turning to her guest. "Does the
wretched creature suppose that I, I who have given thousands, I who have
denied myself everything, I who have spent my all in support of this
house; and Colonel Newcome knows whether I have given thousands or not,
and who has spent them, and who has been robbed, I say, and----"

"Here! you! Maria! go about your business," shouted out Clive Newcome,
starting up; "go and pack your trunks if you like, and pack this woman's
trunks too. Mrs. Mackenzie, I can bear you no more; go in peace, and if
you wish to see your daughter she shall come to you; but I will never,
so help me God! sleep under the same roof with you; or break the same
crust with you; or bear your infernal cruelty; or sit to hear my father
insulted; or listen to your wicked pride and folly more. There has not
been a day since you thrust your cursed foot into our wretched house,
but you have tortured one and all of us. Look here, at the best
gentleman, and the kindest heart in all the world, you fiend! and see to
what a condition you have brought him! Dearest father! she is going, do
you hear? She leaves us, and you will come back to me, won't you?
Great God, woman," he gasped out, "do you know what you have made
me suffer--what you have done to this good man? Pardon, father,
pardon!"--and he sank down by his father's side, sobbing with passionate
emotion. The old man even now did not seem to comprehend the scene. When
he heard that woman's voice in anger, a sort of stupor came over him.

"I am a fiend, am I?" cries the lady. "You hear, Mr. Pendennis, this is
the language to which I am accustomed;