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- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z
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- vertically exposed, so as to show the stamp on it—a coronet—fell into a
sparkling conversation with a magnificent white satin hat, surmounted
by a regal marabou feather, inside.
I doubted not, this lady was nothing short of a peeress; and thought it
would be one of the pleasantest and most charming things in the world,
just to seat myself beside her, and order the coachman to take us a
drive into the country.
But, as upon further consideration, I imagined that the peeress might
decline the honor of my company, since I had no formal card of
introduction; I marched on, and rejoined my companion, whom I at once
endeavored to draw out, touching Lord Lovely; but he only made
mysterious answers; and turned off the conversation, by allusions to
his visits to Ickworth in Suffolk, the magnificent seat of the Most
Noble Marquis of Bristol, who had repeatedly assured Harry that he
might consider Ickworth his home.
Now, all these accounts of marquises and Ickworths, and Harry’s having
been hand in glove with so many lords and ladies, began to breed some
suspicions concerning the rigid morality of my friend, as a teller of
the truth. But, after all, thought I to myself, who can prove that
Harry has fibbed? Certainly, his manners are polished, he has a mighty
easy address; and there is nothing altogether impossible about his
having consorted with the master of Ickworth, and the daughter of the
anonymous earl. And what right has a poor Yankee, like me, to insinuate
the slightest suspicion against what he says? What little money he has,
he spends freely; he can not be a polite blackleg, for I am no pigeon
to pluck; so _that_ is out of the question;—perish such a thought,
concerning my own bosom friend!
But though I drowned all my suspicions as well as I could, and ever
cherished toward Harry a heart, loving and true; yet, spite of all
this, I never could entirely digest some of his imperial reminiscences
of high life. I was very sorry for this; as at times it made me feel
ill at ease in his company; and made me hold back my whole soul from
him; when, in its loneliness, it was yearning to throw itself into the
unbounded bosom of some immaculate friend.
- title
- Chunk 6