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 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEy, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
 JACK BRAG. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 " SAYINGS AND DOINGS,"—" MAXWELL," &c. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 
 
 • • • • ' ' 
 
 LONDON: 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, 
 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1837.
 
 * • • 
 » • • • 
 
 « • • • 
 
 '■: •:•:.:
 
 o 
 
 
 
 V'- . 
 
 ^ 
 
 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " My dear Johnny," said the respectable widow- 
 Brag to her son, " what is the good of your 
 going on in this way ? Here, instead of mind- 
 ing the business, you are day after day gallop- 
 ing and gallivanting, steeple-chasing, fox-hunt- 
 ing, lord-hunting, a wasting your time and 
 your substance, the shop going to old Nick, and 
 you getting dipped instead of your candles.'" 
 
 "Mother," said Jack, "don't talk so fool- 
 ishly ! You are of the old school, — excellent 
 in your way, but a long way behindhand : the 
 business is safe enough. You cannot suppose, 
 with the education I have had, I can meddle 
 with moulds, or look after sixes, tens, fours to 
 the pound, or farthing rushlights ; — no, thanks 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 JACK BRAG. 
 
 to my enlightenment, I flatter myself I soar 
 a little higher than that." 
 
 ** No nonsense, Johnny !" said Mrs. Brag. 
 " All you have now, and all you have spent 
 since your poor father^'s death, was gained by 
 your father's enlightenment of his customers : 
 and how do you suppose I can carry on the trade 
 if you will not now and then attend to it ?''"' 
 
 " Take my advice, my dear mother," said 
 Jack, " and marry. I'm old enough now not 
 to care a fig for a father-in-law ; — marriage 
 is the plan, as I say to my friend Jjord Tom 
 — straight up, right down, and no mistake. 
 Get a sensible, stir-about husband, who does 
 not mind grubbing, and hasn't a nose " 
 
 <( 
 
 Hasn't a nose ?" interrupted Mrs. Brag. 
 
 " I don't mean literally," said Jack, " but 
 sportingly ; — does not mind the particular scent 
 of tallow — you understand. Let him into the 
 tricks of the trade : you will still be queen-bee 
 of the hive, — make him look after the drones 
 while you watch the wax." 
 
 "And while t/ou, Johnny, lap up the honey 
 said the queen-bee. 
 
 5
 
 JACK BR4G. 8 
 
 '•Do what you like," said her son, "only 
 marry — * marry come up," as somebody says 
 in a play." 
 
 " But, John," said Mrs. Brag, " I have no 
 desire to change my condition." 
 
 " Nor I that you should," said Jack ; "but 
 I wish you would change your name. As long 
 as ' Brag, wax and tallow-chandler,' sticks up 
 on the front of the house, with three dozen and 
 four dangling dips swinging along the shop- 
 front, like so many malefactors expiating their 
 crimes, I live in a perpetual fever lest my 
 numerous friends should inquire whether I 
 am one of the firm or the family." 
 
 " Johnny," said Mrs. Brag, " you are a silly 
 fellow. What is there to be ashamed of in 
 honest industry ? If all the fine folks whom 
 you go a-hunting with, and all the rest of it, 
 like you, and are really glad to see you, it is 
 for yourself alone : and if they, who must 
 know by your name and nature that you can 
 never be one of themselves, care a button for 
 you, your trade, so as you do not carry it 
 about with you, will do you no harm. Wliat 
 
 b2
 
 4 JACK BRAG. 
 
 difference is it to them how you get your 
 thorough-bred horses, your smart scarlet coat, 
 neat tops, and white cords, so as you have them? 
 — they won't give you any new ones when they 
 are gone." 
 
 *' It is all very well talking,*" said Johnny, 
 " but I never should show my face amongst 
 them if I once thought they guessed at my 
 real trade. I live in a regular worry as it is. 
 If ever a fellovv asks me if I was at Melton last 
 year, that moment I think of the shop — ' pret- 
 ty mould of a horse' tingles in my ears — ' sweet 
 dip of the country' sets me doubting ; and, 
 only last week, a proposal to go 'cross coun- 
 try and meet Lord Hurricane's harriers at 
 Hampton Wick nearly extinguished me." 
 
 *' And what now, Johnny," said Mrs. Brag, 
 " do you think these lords take you for, if not 
 for a tallow-chandler .?" 
 
 "An independent gentleman," said Jack. 
 
 " That is to say," replied his mother, " a 
 gentleman who has nothing to depend upon." 
 
 " They look upon me as an agreeable rat- 
 tle," said John.
 
 JACK BRAG. 5 
 
 " One that has often been in the watchman's 
 hands too," said the old lady. 
 
 " I talk big and ride small,'' said Jack, 
 "I am always up with the hounds — never 
 flinch at anything,— am the pride of the field 
 wherever I go, — and in steeple-chases of in- 
 finite value." 
 
 " And very little weight, my dear Johnny," 
 interrupted his mother. 
 
 " One of my dearest friends," continued 
 Brag, " Lord Tom Towzle, a deuce of a fel- 
 low amongst the females, is going to put me 
 up as a candidate at the Travellers." 
 
 " What, riders for respectable houses ?" said 
 Mrs. Brag : " and a very proper club too." 
 
 " Respectable houses !" said Jack. " Poh ! 
 not a bit of it ! What ! bagmen in buggies 
 with boxes of buttons in the boots? No, no ! 
 the Travellers — par excellence.'''' 
 
 " Par what?" said Mrs. Brag. " What, d'ye 
 mean the fine Club-house in Pall Mall which 
 you showed me the out side of, last King's birth 
 night ?" 
 
 " The same," said Brag. " Now, if I had
 
 6 JACK BRAG. 
 
 stuck to the naked, as Lord Tom says — told 
 the plain unvarnished — I never could have qua- 
 lified. Lord Tom asked me if I should like to 
 belong to the Travellers ;"* — in course I said 
 yes — straight up, right down, and no mistake. 
 Well, then he asks me if I could qualify ; — so 
 not quite understanding him, he says, ' Have 
 you ever been in Greece ?' — ' Yes,' said I : — 
 I might have added ' up to the elbows often ;' 
 didn't though. Had him dead. Down he whips 
 my name, and calls in Sir Somebody Something 
 out of the street to second me." 
 
 " If you should get in there Johnny," said 
 Mrs. Brag, " do get ""em to give up gas and 
 take to oil on illumination nights. But what 
 I think is, somebody is sure to find you out, 
 Johnny." 
 
 " Time enough," said Jack. " I 'm going it 
 now smooth and soft across the country, increas- 
 ing my acquaintance ; falling into the society 
 of elegant females — women of fashion, with 
 beautiful faces and liberal hearts ; — introduced 
 to three last week — proud as peacocks to every- 
 body else, delighted with me;— met them at
 
 JACK BRAG. 7 
 
 Ascot — cold collation in the carriage — cham- 
 paign iced from London; — got on capital — 
 never was so happy in my life — hottest weather 
 I ever felt ; spirits mounted — I was the delight 
 of the party — told them half a dozen stories of 
 myself, and made them laugh like cockatoos, 
 but I was bundled all of a heap by the Mar- 
 quis of Middlesdale, who had been at luncheon 
 with the King, who, in passing the barouche, 
 gave me a smack on the back you might have 
 heard to Egham, and cried out, ' Jack, this is 
 a melting day, isn't it ?' " 
 
 " He meant it, Johnny, depend upon it,"" said 
 Mrs. Brag. 
 
 " I've no doubt he did," said Brag, " for it 
 was as hot as ever I felt it " 
 
 " — In the back shop," interrupted his 
 mother. " But pray, Johnny, where do these 
 people think you live ?" 
 
 " At a great house in Grosvenor-street," 
 said Jack, " next door to What-d'ye-call-'em's 
 Hotel : my name is on the door, and my ad- 
 dress on my card." 
 
 But you don't live there," said Mrs. Brag. 
 
 ((
 
 8 JACK BRAG. 
 
 *' Not I," replied the son : " I only rent 
 the door." 
 
 " How d'ye mean ?" said his mother. 
 
 " Why, I went to the man," said Brag, 
 " who keeps the house. ' Now, sir,' said I, ' I 
 want to rent four square inches of your pa- 
 nels. He was puzzled for the moment ; but I 
 was down upon him in no time, and no mis- 
 take. — Out I pulls from my pocket a brass 
 plate of those precise dimensions, whereon is 
 engraven * Mr. Brag.' — ' What will you take per 
 annum,' said I, * to let this be screwed on to 
 your door, and let your servant take in my cards 
 and letters .?' Startled him a little at first : how- 
 ever, he entered himself for the plate, acceded 
 to my proposition, — and so for the trifling con- 
 sideration of four guineas per annum, and a tip 
 to the slavey, I get the credit of five windows 
 in front, three stories high, in one of the best 
 streets in London." 
 
 " But do none of your friends ever expect to 
 be let in .''" said Mrs. Brag. 
 
 " Yes," said Brag, " for a good thing now 
 and then, — and so they are, pretty often. Long
 
 JACK BRAG. y 
 
 head, mother — have it here"— tapping his fore- 
 head with his fore finger — *' look simple with 
 my fresh colour ^and curly hair, but as deep as 
 Garrick — cannot write your X's, Z"'s with me, 
 — else, in course, they might expect admission. 
 ' Not at home,' is always the answer. ' Out 
 of town r"* is the next question ; — * Yes,' is 
 the next answer. — ' Where ?' comes next. — 
 ' Down at his little place in Surrey.' That 
 finishes it. They lodge their pasteboard and 
 away they go." 
 
 " Little place in Surrey !" said Mrs. Brag ; 
 — " why, what d'ye mean ? — have you a coun- 
 try-house too .?" 
 
 " Country-house !" said Brag. " Lord bless 
 your dear heart, not I ! Nothing but my old 
 lodging, on the second floor. No. 37, at the 
 carpenter's, corner of Caterpillar-row, Ken- 
 
 nington." 
 
 " And that you call your little place in 
 Surrey, do you ?" said Mrs. Brag. 
 
 " Yes, mother, and no fib neither," said 
 Brag. " It is almost the littlest place I ever 
 saw in my life ; and as for Caterpillar-row, if 
 
 B 5
 
 10 JACK BRAG. 
 
 it isn't in Surrey I know nothing of going 'cross 
 a country." 
 
 " Ah, Johnny, Johnny," sEjid his respected 
 parent with a mingled look of sorrow and ad- 
 miration, " you never will mend till it is too 
 late !" 
 
 " Mother," said Jack, " now you say that, I 
 think I shall be too late for Lord Tom Towzle. 
 We are going off for Wigglesford to mark out 
 a line. All ready for a run : we have got no 
 mercy in us, — none of your bowling-green, 
 daisy-cutting work for us — no, we'll try to 
 pick out rasping fences, bottomless brooks, and 
 ditches as wide as rivers ; — a steeple-chase 
 without killing a horse or two, cracking a col- 
 lar-bone, slipping a shoulder, or pitching an 
 out-and-outer on the top of- his conk, is no fun 
 in the world." 
 
 " Ah ! well, well," said Mrs. Brag, " I wish 
 you would give a little time to the books and 
 the business : some day you '11 repent this." 
 
 " Not I, mother," said Jack ; " I can pull 
 up any day and marry. I never yet saw the 
 woman I could not win — they are all ready to
 
 JACK BRAG. 11 
 
 eat me up : in course, as the book says, I 
 am the more wary — hang back a bit. Don't 
 you see, as I get on in the world, I get up ; 
 and if I can marry a Lady Sally or a Lady 
 Susan — eh ! won't that be nice ! — 'specially if 
 there happens to be an odd thirty or forty thou- 
 sand pounds tacked to the title." 
 
 " Don't flatter yourself Johnny," replied 
 Mrs. Brag, shaking her head : " that scheme 
 will never answer." 
 
 *' You'll see," said Jack ; — " I say nothing, 
 but you'll see. If I were to sit down and 
 write an account of my adventures with the 
 females, I should be run after like a sight. 
 The females of fashion that I meet at the races 
 call me ' dear Johnny' as it is." 
 
 " I wonder you are not afraid of seeing the 
 ghost of your poor father," said the widow. 
 
 '* What ! the Governor ?" cried Jack ; " never 
 mind ghosts nor Governors, here is my Lepo- 
 rello. So I'm off". Good-b' ye, dear mother ! — 
 you'll see me soon again, — I shall be back by 
 Saturday, and so keep snug Sunday.'* 
 
 " Where.'' at your town-house in Grosve-
 
 12 JACK BRAG. 
 
 nor-street," said the old lady, " or your little 
 place in Surrey ?" 
 
 " Neither, I take it," said Jack, looking as 
 wise as a very foolish person could. " I devote 
 Sunday afternoon to a very select society — eh ! 
 — females of fashion, delightful creatures, and 
 all that. So adieu !" 
 
 Kissing the matron's cheek, away went our 
 hero in order to revel in all the luxuries of 
 sport, and in the society which, he admitted, 
 kept him in a fever while he was in it : not 
 that the true circle of his aristocratic ac- 
 quaintance was particularly large, however 
 much he nominally increased it by dubbing 
 every man his friend with whom he had hap- 
 pened to hunt in the same field or dine in a 
 public company of three hundred and fifty ; 
 and every well-dressed woman a lady of fashion 
 whom he happened to see with the tigers in, 
 whose set he mingled. 
 
 Mrs. Brag, who felt extremely anxious about 
 her son and herself, saw that the business was 
 rapidly " burning down." The introduction 
 of oil had superseded wax ; and since that, the
 
 JACK BRAG. 13 
 
 adoption of gas had superseded oil. No efforts 
 were made to improve the concern, and all she 
 heard, was of considerable drafts from the ac- 
 count at the banker's, and very small payments 
 into it ; and Mrs. Brag, a comely, hearty-look- 
 ing body of her time of life, began to ponder 
 the words which her dutiful son had with little 
 apparent earnestness let drop, as to changing 
 her condition, with a view to increase the repu- 
 tation of the house and extend its sphere of ac- 
 tion, while the name at sight of which her son 
 trembled, might be withdrawn. She did not 
 clearly see her way in this proceeding : nor had 
 she either fixed her affections upon any parti- 
 cular object, nor was she conscious that she 
 had attracted the regards of any suitable part- 
 ner. However, the notion was entertained — the 
 idea had been started ; and how the exemplary 
 matron set her means to work, in order to effect 
 the grand object, we may, if we live long 
 enough, yet discover. 
 
 The reader perhaps, in the few pages which 
 he has yet either been doomed to, or condescend- 
 ed to read, has already discovered what sort of
 
 14 JACK BRAG, 
 
 man Mr. John Brag is, or was. It seemed best 
 to give a short domestic scene in the candle- 
 manufactory by way of prelude to the genteel 
 comedy in which the gay deceiver is destined 
 to perform ; and it will be only necessary to 
 keep in mind the sage yet ineffective lesson of 
 the dear old body to whom her affectionate son 
 recommended matrimony, in order duly to ap- 
 preciate the performance of her " pretty boy," 
 who, spite of his colour and his curls, was 
 verging upon what may be called the " shady 
 side" of thirty. 
 
 Old Mrs. Brag had, as Miss Scropps, married 
 at seventeen ; and altho\igh, as far as my own 
 experience goes, I admit I never saw such a 
 thing, she was said to be a lady of nearly fifty- 
 five years of age, somewhere about the period 
 at which this glimpse at the history of her yet 
 unrecorded family begins. 
 
 It may be supposed that I should apologise 
 for bringing the eyes, or perhaps the noses, of 
 my readers in contact with all the arcana of Mr. 
 John's shop ; but I have a reason for doing so. 
 I propose not merely to show by illustration how
 
 JACK BRAG. 15 
 
 very ridiculous a pretender must always be, but 
 to exhibit a striking instance of the retribu- 
 tive justice which seems somehow to keep the 
 world in an equipoise, by exhibiting the won- 
 derful utility of which the meanest and stupid- 
 est animal extant may prove ; as vide (to quote 
 the words of James the First, about Daemon- 
 ology) the fable of the Lion, the Mouse, and 
 the Meshes. 
 
 Soar we then for a moment from the gloom 
 of the tallow-chandler to a more charming re- 
 o-ion, and to people of a different mould,— and 
 yet who, as the reader will see, may in the 
 course of events become connected, and inti- 
 mately too, with our sprightly gentleman in 
 the scarlet jacket and white cords. Let us, 
 therefore, betake ourselves to the boudoir of one 
 of the most charming young widows in Eng- 
 land, where she is sitting tete-d-tete with her 
 unmarried sister, talking over two absent gen- 
 tlemen, whose tempers and dispositions are the 
 immediate subject of their conversation. 
 
 Mrs. Dallington, the elder of the two ladies 
 so engaged, had been married at nineteen,
 
 16 JACK BRAG. 
 
 merely to oblige her father, (who died six months 
 afterwards,) to a gentleman of the name which 
 she still bore ; who, to all the other merits 
 which distinguished his character, emulated 
 in a high degree the fox-hunting propensities 
 of the tallow-man in the white cords of whom 
 we have just spoken. He was, however, rich, 
 and a gentleman, and had a right to make as 
 great a fool of himself as he pleased, — and so he 
 did : and the foolery began in his leaving 
 a beautiful wife, with a pair of eyes as black 
 as sloes and as bright as diamonds, alone and 
 moping, while he was amusing himself by fol- 
 lowing his dogs, which dogs were following 
 something certainly not sweeter than themselves 
 across the country. 
 
 Mr. Dallington, who rode about nine stone 
 four, one fine morning, when the scent lay 
 " uncommon strong,"" the dogs in full cry, 
 the field in a state of the highest excitement, 
 the fox going away right on-end across a heavy 
 country, which would probably break the hearts 
 of some of the horses and the necks of some of 
 the riders, met with a slight accident, which in
 
 JACK BRAG. 17 
 
 fox-hunting goes for very little, but which in its 
 proverbial or rather convivial parallel, matrimo- 
 ny, goes for something more. In switching a ras- 
 per, the exemplary and high-spirited gentleman 
 missed his tip and pitched right upon his head 
 in the middle of a ditch, where he remained 
 exactly long enough to make the lovely wife he 
 had left at home a very delightful widow. 
 
 Dallington, or at least what had been Dalling- 
 ton in the early part of the day, was put upon 
 a hurdle and taken to a farmhouse ; whence 
 the melancholy intelligence was conveyed to 
 his lady, who, with all the respect she felt for 
 her late father's judgment in selecting him for 
 her partner for life, considered the event which 
 had just taken place as philosophically as any 
 woman of strong feelings and a tender disposi- 
 tion might be supposed to endure any sudden 
 shock which results from the death of a fellow- 
 creature. 
 
 True, most true it is, she never had felt that 
 sort of love for the husband forced upon her, as 
 a " fine match," which a woman ought to feel 
 for the being who is destined (if he be fortu-
 
 18 JACK BRAG. 
 
 nate enough) to share her hopes, her wishes, 
 and her happiness. Mrs. Dallington was a 
 creature all intellect, all vivacity, all fire ; full 
 of arch playfulness and gaiety of heart, and as 
 completely the reverse of her quiet, timid, and 
 sensitive sister, as light of darkness, fire of 
 water, or any other two unmeetable oppo- 
 sites. 
 
 There are many adages connected with love 
 and matrimony which it must be admitted are, 
 however forcible in themselves, extremely con- 
 tradictory of each other. But, in the course of 
 considerable experience in such matters, I am 
 apt to imagine that the real truth is — sup- 
 posing always exceptions to general rules — 
 that women are most apt to prefer men the 
 least like themselves ; and men, vice versa. It 
 is the pride of a little man to have a large wife; 
 it is the taste of a tall man to possess a short 
 one : a fair woman admires a dark Lothario ; 
 while a bright-eyed brunette delights in blazing 
 away upon a fair Romeo. A learned man eschews 
 a blue partner ; he relaxes into ease in the 
 company of his ordinarily-educated better-half, 
 and reposes from his graver studies in the agree-
 
 JACK BRAG. 19 
 
 able common-places of an intelligent but not 
 abstruse associate ; while the learned lady pre- 
 fers the plodding spouse, and never desires that 
 he should meddle with her arts and sciences, 
 but merely wishes him to exert his energies in 
 the comfortable arrangement of their establish- 
 ment, and the acquirement of the supplies 
 necessary to set off her own attractions in their 
 most alluring form before the visitors whom 
 she chooses to invite. 
 
 The assimilation of tempers and dispositions 
 by which happiness grows between married 
 couples is, in fact, a habit most amiable and 
 advantageous : the handwritings of men and 
 their wives become like each other in the course 
 of time. But whether the love of contraries in 
 the abstract, be or be not so general as some 
 observers would have it to be, certain it is 
 that in the particular individual case before us 
 it did exist. 
 
 Sir Charles Lydiard had been, just about 
 the period at which the reader is introduced 
 to him, some two years paying his addresses 
 to the vivacious widow Dallington. He was 
 a man of high principle, rigid honour, polished
 
 20 JACK BRAG. 
 
 manners, and most amiable disposition ; but 
 
 he was cold, reserved, and even suspicious of 
 
 the object of his affections. His suspicions, or 
 
 perhaps they might be more justly called 
 
 doubts, arose not from the slightest want of 
 
 confidence in the candour or sincerity of the 
 
 lady, but in a want of confidence in himself. 
 
 He might fairly have said to his heroine with 
 
 Steele''s hero : — 
 
 ''Of you I am not jealous, — 
 
 ' Tis my own indesert that gives me fears : 
 
 And tendetness forms dangers where they 're not. 
 
 I doubt and envy all things that approach thee." 
 
 There he was, the constant, faithful lover, never 
 away from the house, sitting and sighing " like 
 furnace," listening to the gaieties of Mrs. Dal- 
 lington's conversation, a very spectre of des- 
 pair, not ill described by the English Aristo- 
 phanes in the person of one Harry Hectic, 
 with a bunch of jonquils in his button-hole, 
 looking dead and dressed, like the waxwork in 
 Westminster Abbey. There was no animating 
 him, no rousing him into a proposal ; his at- 
 tachment had become habitual, and day after 
 day the affair went on without "progressing," 
 as the Americans have it, one inch. And yet
 
 JACK BRAG. 21 
 
 the widow was devoted to Sir Charles. It must 
 be admitted that she every morning expected 
 the question ; but every evening that expectation 
 was bh'ghted, and the worthy baronet returned 
 from his placid state of negative happiness 
 to his solitary home, to lie awake for hours 
 balancing the chances of matrimony, and 
 endeavouring to make up his mind to the de- 
 ciding inquiry which, if the real truth were 
 told, he lingeringly delayed, apprehensive that 
 it might meet with a negative certain not only 
 to kill the hopes which sometimes outweighed 
 his doubts, but to put an end to his acquaint- 
 ance with the charming widow altogether. 
 
 While Sir Charles Lydiard remained thus 
 drooping in the bright sunshine of Mrs. Dal- 
 lington's eyes, her timid sister Blanche was 
 undergoing a siege of a very different nature. 
 Far from contenting himself, to use a mili- 
 tary phrase, with sitting down before the 
 place, and establishing a corps of observation 
 merely to watch the enemy, Frank Rushton, 
 who was more madly in love than ever dandy had 
 been found to be for many years, had for the 
 last three months,- — the whole period, in fact, of
 
 22 JACK BRAG. 
 
 his acquaintance with her, — been assiduously 
 and incessantly carrying on an attack upon the 
 heart of his adorable Dulcinea ; and, as it ap- 
 peared, with as little chance of making an im- 
 pression as her sister had of exciting Sir Charles 
 to an offer. In fact, the four players at this 
 love-game were equally divided into the fiery 
 and frosty ; but, which in the sequel made all the 
 sport, as Mr. Brag would have called it, the 
 partners were so curiously matched, and the 
 icicles and sunbeams so regularly and heraldi- 
 cally counter-changed, that the lovers and their 
 mistresses were the exact opposites of each other. 
 It was extremely amusing to hear the discussions 
 in which Sir Charles and his friend Rushton 
 were in the habit of indulging. 
 
 " My dear Frank," said Sir Charles, " your 
 affection for Blanche is madness, — the way in 
 which you go on, sets me in a fever : and as 
 for the poor young creature herself, she is ab- 
 solutely harassed out of her wits." 
 
 " So you think. Sir Charles,"" replied Frank ; 
 "but it strikes me that her sister would 
 not be less pleased with your society if you
 
 JACK BRAG. 23 
 
 were to follow my example. Why there you 
 sit, moping and melancholy, as if you were on 
 the edge of your own grave, instead of being 
 on the verge of all earthly happiness : you look 
 and languish, sigh and say nothing, and, like 
 the Cardinal, ' die, and make no sign.' " 
 
 "It may be so," said the baronet, — "I suppose 
 it is so ; but I cannot, — struggle as I may with 
 my feelings, — I cannot overcome the doubts 
 which seem to me to cloud the prospect of the 
 felicity of which you talk so easily.'' 
 
 " Doubts ! my dear friend," said Rushton ; 
 " what doubts can you have? Your doubts are, 
 in fact, jealousies, — and how needless! Mrs. 
 Dallington has been a wife, — and never was a 
 more exemplary wife in the world." 
 
 "Her trial was short," said Sir Charles; 
 "nor should I call it a fair one, — her marriage 
 was not one of love." 
 
 " Then so much the greater her credit for the 
 conduct she observed," said Rushton. 
 
 " The struggle did not last long," replied 
 Sir Charles : " her husband was killed within 
 eight months of their mari'iage."
 
 24> JACK BRAG. 
 
 " She bore her loss hke a Christian,"" said 
 Rush ton. 
 
 " Yes," sighed the baronet ; " it is wonderful 
 to behold the pious resignation of ladies in her 
 position." 
 
 "Well,"" said Rushton, " if your appreheb- 
 sions overcome your affection, and your doubts 
 transcend your hopes, break off the acquaint- 
 ance at once, — take your hat and go — " 
 
 *' — And be neither missed nor inquired after, 
 in all probability," said Lydiard. 
 
 '* There you wrong your fair friend," said 
 Rushton. " She values you, esteems you, and 
 with a very little trouble on yoiu' part would 
 love you. Your flame is so gentle, that it 
 scarcely warms ; and, like the fire in the grate 
 there, if she did not occasionally stir it with 
 good nature and kind looks, my belief is, it 
 would go out entirely." 
 
 " My dear Rushton," said Sir Charles, "you 
 entirely misunderstand my character, and the 
 character of my affection for our charming 
 friend : my doubts are the ' fruits of love."' "
 
 JACK BRAG. 25 
 
 
 " A most disagreeable harvest, Lydiard 
 replied Rushton. 
 
 " True," said Sir Charles, " but I cannot 
 conquer them. You blame my caution and 
 coldness ; but when I see you devoting your- 
 self, hand over head, if I may so say, to the 
 mild, quiet, timid, blushing creature, Blanche, 
 I cannot, since I had the honour of introducing 
 you to the family, but feel anxious on your ac- 
 count. I don't believe one word of all those pro- 
 fessions of meekness, and mildness, and modesty 
 of which that young lady is so profusely liberal. 
 I have seen her exchange looks with her sister, 
 — while you, blinded by your passion, have seen 
 nothing — which convince me that you would 
 do well to scrutinise and consider before you 
 plunge into the stormy ocean of matrimony." 
 
 " Why,"" said Rushton, " Blanche is some- 
 thing like Moore's beautiful Nora Creena : 
 
 * Few her looks, but every one 
 Like unexpected light surprizes.'" 
 
 " Egad !" said Lydiard, " the light I saw was 
 both surprising and unexpected. I have some 
 little experience in family telegraphs, but the 
 signal she threw out was one not altogether 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 26 JACK BRAG. 
 
 complimentary to you^ for she seemed to me to 
 be laughing at you." • 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that, Charles," said 
 Rushton. " I too have seen those telegraphic 
 symptoms ; and my opinion is, that \i you were 
 to adopt my style of proceeding, you would find 
 the widow much less attentive to her sister's 
 evolutions. But no ; — you have fallen into a 
 custom of going there day after day ; you feel 
 at your ease, you enjoy the society and con- 
 versation of a delightful person ; and because 
 you have nothing to excite you to action, so 
 the affair goes on — not even a dash of jea- 
 lousy to create a fermentation in your cup of 
 nectar." 
 
 " There you mistake," said Lydiard. "I — 
 I — certainly never have touched upon the sub- 
 ject — never opened my lips to a human being 
 about it ; but I am not quite so sure that it 
 is not jealousy which keeps me backward and 
 depresses me.*" 
 
 " Indeed !" said Rushton ; "jealous ! What 
 of somebody who visits at the house.'"' 
 
 " Yes," said Sir Charles.
 
 JACK BRAG. 27 
 
 " Do you mean Sir Baggs Waddilove ?"" said 
 Rush ton. 
 
 " Psha— no." 
 
 " Perhaps that Colonel Scram shaw ?" 
 
 " Not a bit of it." 
 
 " The Count r 
 
 " What, Swagandstraddle !— No." . 
 
 " Lord Tom Towzle .?" 
 
 " You burn," said Sir Charles, " as the chil- 
 dren say to the blinded one ; — not of him, Frank 
 — what think you of his friend. 
 
 " What, that horrid, vulgar dog, Brag," 
 said Rushton, " his toady — his spaniel ?" 
 
 " Upon my honour, yes," said Sir Charles. 
 
 " The deuce you are !" said Rushton ; 
 " that's very odd." 
 
 " It is," said Lydiard. " I confess I am 
 almost ashamed of being ruffled by such a 
 fellow ; but, somehow, Mrs. Dallington seems 
 so much at her ease with him, notwithstanding 
 his vulgarity, his glaring ignorance, and his un- 
 bounded impertinence, that, upon my honour 
 
 I cannot help thinking you know women 
 
 are very odd creatures, and I " 
 
 c2
 
 28 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " You surprise me, Lydiard,"" said Rushton, 
 " but not disagreeably. I have thought, — only 
 doYi't mention it— that Blanche has a sort of, — 
 eh — you understand me — a partiality for 
 him — I don"'t know how it is ; she certainly 
 looks at the monster, now and then." 
 
 " What," interrupted Lydiard, " some more 
 of her few unexpected lights, eh ?" 
 
 " I cannot understand it," said Rushton : 
 " I suppose he entertains them with his ab- 
 surdities, and his nonsense, and even his vanity, 
 and his vulgarity. But I think we may both be 
 pretty secure, that neither of such women as 
 your widow and my Blanche could entertain 
 a serious thought of a fellow of whom nobody 
 knows anything except as Lord Tom Towzle's 
 tiger, especially in a house into which Lord 
 Tom himself finds it particularly difficult to 
 get the entree.'''' 
 
 " No," said Lydiard, " one would not think 
 there was much danger; and yet — yet you 
 7vill allow it is very odd indeed that we should 
 both have been struck with the same notion .?" 
 
 " So it is," replied Rushton. " However, as
 
 JACK BRAG. 29 
 
 far as / am concerned, I am determined 
 to fathom the affair to the bottom. I love 
 Blanche better than my life ; but if I thought — " 
 
 " Stop, stop, Rushton," interrupted the 
 worthy baronet. " What has gone with your 
 stern reproof of my scepticism ? Here are you 
 who have been just rallying me upon my doubts 
 with regard to the loveliest of her sex, now 
 coming; to fathom an affair to the bottom 
 which implicates in your mind the sincerity 
 and single-heartedness of one of the purest, 
 gentlest Nora Creenas that ever walked with 
 her eyes cast down upon the earth." 
 
 " Hang the fellow !" said Rushton ; " it is too 
 ridiculous ! Besides, he is not often there. Yet, 
 never mind — he may do good : the smallest 
 wheel in a great piece of machinery has its 
 work to perform to keep all the rest going. 
 This stupid animal may serve to equalize our 
 passions, and make us see clearer ; he will cool 
 me and warm you, and who knows but it may 
 turn out all for the best V 
 
 "Why," said Lydiard, "the fact is pretty 
 clear : — As we have not, even in this age of libis-
 
 30 JACK BRAG. 
 
 rality, arrived at so great a reform of 
 the church as to establish the toleration 
 of bigamy, he can marry but one of the 
 ladies ; and, as far as I am concerned, if my 
 adorable widow has a taste which would lead 
 her to admit the pretensions of that miserable 
 little animal, I am quite sure it never could be 
 diverted into a passion for me : and so, Mr. 
 Rushton, if he conquer, he is perfectly welcome 
 to the fruits of his triumph." 
 
 " Ah, that's it ! " said Rushton : " there are 
 prudence, philosophy, wisdom, and half a 
 dozen other splendid qualities, combined ! But 
 as for me, if he were to be smiled upon in 
 earnest by Blanche, it would be the last gleam 
 of sunshine one of us should see : he never 
 should live to enjoy the happiness of which he 
 had deprived me ! " 
 
 "Now, Rushton," said Sir Charles, "how 
 unjust, how inconsiderate that is! If Blanche 
 smile on him and not on you, it is a clear 
 proof that she prefers him. Why make her 
 miserable by killing the little man ? You 
 might as well shoot her poodle or wring the 
 neck of her canary-bird."
 
 JACK BRAG. 31 
 
 How much farther this dialogue which was 
 hereabouts interrupted, might have been car- 
 ried, it is not in my power to say ; but sufficient 
 has been developed to the reader to show that 
 the incomparable Jack Brag, by dint of the 
 equivocal introduction of his master Lord Tom 
 Towzle, had obtained footing at least in one 
 respectable and agreeable house. It is, as Sir 
 Charles Lydiard says, a matter of impossibility 
 to ascertain the particular qualities or circum- 
 stances by which women of station and talent, as 
 well as their inferiors in rank and intellect, are 
 captivated. Certain it is, that after once Mr. 
 Brag had been admitted to Mrs. Dallington's 
 house, he was a visitor there as frequently as he 
 could contrive to manage it ; and, as we have 
 seen, although his other avocations were nu- 
 merous, he had contrived to unsettle the minds 
 of two most respectable gentlemen of totally 
 different characters and dispositions, both pur- 
 suing similar objects by different roads. 
 
 We must now recur to Mr. Brag himself, 
 and his career in other places, into which the; 
 bright eyes of the gay widow and her lovely 
 sister cannot be expected to penetrate.
 
 32 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 When Mr. John Brag left his respected 
 mother, he hurried off to the rendezvous of his 
 sporting friends, whence they proceeded in a 
 body to mark out the line of country for the stee- 
 ple-chase. In this operation he exhibited, as he 
 fancied, all the tactics of the most experienced 
 quartermaster-general. In endeavouring, how- 
 ever, to elucidate the difficulties of a leap which, 
 he thought essential to the effect of the race, he 
 came somewhat unexpectedly off his horse. A 
 little dirt, and a bruise or two out of sight, of 
 which he gave no evidence, were all the conse- 
 quences of this performance ; and having made 
 every necessary arrangement for the exhibition 
 of the following day, he hastened to a small 
 public-house a little way removed from the 
 high road, which rejoiced in the sign of the
 
 JACK BRAG. 33 
 
 " Duke of Marlborough," in order to change his 
 clothes and prepare himself for a flying visit to 
 the shop, to which a promise made to his mother 
 in the morning was carrying him in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 When some of Brag's associates in the field 
 questioned him as to his cause of hurry, he 
 made his excuses in so confused a tone, that 
 he left, as he meant to do, an impression upon 
 the minds of his country cronies, that he was 
 under an engagement to the illustrious de- 
 scendant of the hero of Blenheim and Malpla- 
 quet, rather than to the landlord of the house 
 where the pictured warrior swang " high in 
 air" before the door. However, it was all 
 " straight up, right down, and no mistake ; " 
 and the pretender " cut 'cross the country " 
 to his hostelry, at which had been deposited 
 his portmanteau " down per coach," which con- 
 tained his clothes for the two coming days' per- 
 formances, — his pet scarlet coat and white cords 
 by way of a show, and if necessary a pink silk 
 jacket with yellow sleeves for the steeple-chase. 
 
 When he arrived at the goal — the sign of the 
 
 c5
 
 34 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Duke of Marlborough,"" he was surprised to 
 find the only sitting-room of the "hotel" occu- 
 pied. A stranger, who had been driven into 
 the house for shelter from the " pitiless pelt- 
 ing" of a hail-storm, in which the admirable 
 tallow-chandler had been drenched, was sitting 
 before the fire — agreeable in any season in Eng- 
 land, but particularly so in the equivocal wea- 
 ther of a British spring — reading the County 
 Press of the preceding Saturday, redolent of 
 tobacco, and stamped with the circular impres- 
 sions of sundry pewter-pot bottoms which had 
 reposed upon its columns. 
 
 " I say, Stubbs," said our hero, who was 
 known to the landlord as ' the most sportingest 
 gentleman as ever come down to them parts,' 
 " what ""s this ? I ordered my dinner this morn- 
 ing" — (his luncheon with the Duke of Marl- 
 borough,) — "and find the room engaged; — 
 what 's this .?" 
 
 An attempt on the part of Stubbs to soothe 
 the boiling rage of Brag, by sundry qualifying 
 expressions of regret, and a few " I dare says," 
 and " The gentleman won't be long," and seve-
 
 JACK BRAG. So 
 
 ral such pacificatory observations, was happily 
 seconded by the occupant of the parlour 
 himself; who upon beholding the inflation 
 of the little Cockney, whose vulgar red and 
 white face was illuminated by the fire which 
 raged within, rose from his seat and said, 
 in tlie best possible humour, that he feared 
 he was an intruder, but that he had been 
 driven in by stress of weather ; that he had 
 ordered some luncheon, which he concluded was 
 nearly ready ; and that if the gentleman would 
 permit him to do so, he should be happy 
 to share the repast with him, which, as he 
 seemed to be himself wet and cold, would per- 
 haps not be disagreeable to him. 
 
 " Oh,"" said Brag, " Fm not the chap to 
 quarrel about trifles : only, I certainly, when I 
 sent my horses down here, did say I should come 
 and dine here ; and I have been here often be- 
 fore, and I never was served so till to-day. 
 However, I'm much obliged by your civility, 
 and haven't the least objection to join you, each 
 of us in course paying, share and share alike." 
 
 " Oh, as you please," said the stranger, in
 
 36 JACK BRAG. 
 
 whose eye there lurked a laughing smile, and 
 who seemed satisfied, by the little he had seen 
 of his new and important acquaintance, that he 
 should find something like amusement in the 
 cultivation of a temporary friendship with him. 
 
 " I'll just step up-stairs," said Brag, " and 
 cast my skin, as I call it ; and by that time, 
 Stubbs, the luncheon will be ready." 
 
 " In five minutes, sir," said Stubbs. 
 
 " I say," said Brag as he went along the 
 passage, " who is that chap in the parlour ?"" 
 
 " I haven't a notion, sir,"" said the landlord. 
 "He came here in the midst of that pelting hail- 
 storm about half an hour ago, on a fine strong 
 horse which is now in the stable, and which 
 seems to have had a pretty sharpish run some- 
 how ; and he ordered a fire to be lighted and 
 some chops to be got ready, and said he would 
 stop an hour or two." 
 
 " No servant ?" said Brag. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Don't carry bags ?" asked Brag. 
 
 " No," rephed Stubbs. 
 
 " Seems genteel," said the tallow-chandler ;
 
 JACK BRAG. 37 
 
 " no chance of anything wrong ? — plain drest 
 man on a fine horse — eh, don't you understand? 
 straight up, right down — eh, no mistake. No 
 chance of highwaymen now-a-days ?" 
 
 " Lor', no, sir," said Stubbs ; " such a 
 thought never entered my head. To be sure, he 
 looked at your two hunters in the stable, and 
 asked Jem who they belonged to." 
 
 " What did he say ?"" said Brag. 
 
 " To one Squire Brag," said Stubbs ; " a 
 gentleman from London." 
 
 " Right, quite right," said Brag : " no oc- 
 casion to tell everybody the truth. And he ad- 
 mired them, did he ?" 
 
 " Indeed he did," said Stubbs. 
 
 " Oh, all right, no mistake," said Brag, 
 delighted to have unconsciously impressed 
 upon the mind of his " promiscuous acquaint- 
 ance" the character of his pretensions to con- 
 sideration and his right of swagger. " I'll 
 just go and run my eye over his nag before I 
 go into the parlour, and then we shall be on a 
 footing, eh ?" 
 
 Stubbs bowed ; and Brag proceeded to change 
 his clothes. 
 
 Iti^^^-i
 
 38 JACK BRAG. 
 
 While he was performing that operation, the 
 ever-active landlord added another knife and 
 fork to the table already prepared for his other 
 visitor : of which opportunity the stranger 
 availed himself to inquire who the curious little 
 gentleman in the green jacket and white cords 
 might be ; and in answer to his question touch- 
 ing that important subject, he was accurately in- 
 formed by mine host, as far as he knew ; — that 
 he was a gentleman of large fortune from the 
 City, he believed, who was in the habit of hunt- 
 ing with all the hounds in the metropolitan 
 counties : that he usually kept his horses 
 there ; that he was the owner of the two which 
 the gentleman had so much admired ; that 
 that he was a choice spirit, and mixed in very 
 high company ; all of which information the 
 strange g-entleman seemed to receive with con- 
 siderable satisfaction — probably, as Stubbs the 
 landlord thought, because he should feel him- 
 self honoured and gratified by the countenance 
 and society of so distinguished an individual 
 as Brag, and because he inwardly rejoiced at 
 having made a point of showing so much cour-
 
 JACK BRAG. 39 
 
 tesy and attention on his first arrival to a gen- 
 tleman of such respectability and importance. 
 
 The stranger's inquiries and the landlord's 
 elucidations had scarcely ended, before the vo- 
 latile Cockney made his re-appearance. 
 
 " Come, Stubbs," cried he, rubbing his hands 
 as he entered the little sanded parlour, " be 
 alive, my fine fellow ! up with the chops ! no non- 
 sense — sharp 's the word and quick 's the motion, 
 eh ? — straight up, right down, and no mistake." 
 
 " They will be ready in two minutes, sir," 
 said the landlord as he quitted the apartment. 
 
 " That's the way I manage 'em," said Brag ; 
 " none of your crawlers for me. I dare say you 
 have been waiting ever so long for your feed ; 
 they don't mind strangers — everything is habit, 
 sir, — used to me — know I won't stand upon 
 trifles. I pay ready money, and don't stint — 
 eh ? that 's the Avay I keep 'em all alive. — Are 
 you from town to-day i"" 
 
 " No," said the stranger ; " I am on my road 
 across the country. I rode farther than I in- 
 tended, and was caught in the last storm." 
 
 " Oh," said Brag, beginning to exercise what
 
 40 JACK BRAG. 
 
 he considered his tact in ascertaining the calh'ng 
 of his companion ; " you are not going straight 
 along ?" 
 
 " No," replied his new friend, " merely 
 taking a canter." 
 
 " Blowing away the cobwebs, as my friend 
 Lord Tom Towzle says," said Brag, looking 
 at himself in the miserable glass which sur- 
 mounted the mantel-shelf, adjusting his shirt- 
 collar, and combing out his curls, of which 
 he was as vain as a peacock of his tail. " I 
 never had harder work : pitched right over 
 my little hack's head, trying to show my 
 friend Lord Wagly, the right-earnest way of 
 taking a double fence. To be sure, it was too 
 much for the poor little thing, and it served me 
 right. I was spilt — up again in a minute — 
 all, as quick as Queen Elizabeth. I say, that's 
 
 a fine horse of yours in the stable Stir the 
 
 fire — hem, — or lend me the poker eh ? — ca- 
 pital nag, I calculate, as the Yankees say .f*" 
 
 " Yes," said the stranger, "a fine serviceable 
 animal : I ride pretty heavy, and require some- 
 thing strong to carry me. You have two clever
 
 JACK BRAG. 41 
 
 animals in the boxes here ; I assure you I 
 had been admiring them very much before you 
 arrived." 
 
 " Yes," said Brag, " nice tits, I flatter my- 
 self: I never had two horses that suited me 
 better. I have — let me see — eight — no, nine- 
 yes, nine — much of a muchness ; four in Leices- 
 tershire, two here, and the rest in London — 
 nursing a bit, that 's my way. I say sport 's 
 sport — never overwork kind animals — don't 
 break their hearts even if you break their 
 backs. So I keep enough to do it easy : for, as 
 I said to Towzle, what 's the use of plenty of 
 money if you don't spend it ? — eh ! The devil 
 take this fellow ! his chops are not ready, 
 though ours are — he ! Did you ever hear that 
 before, — deuced good, eh ? — old, I guess, and 
 no mistake. I'll just give him a reminder," 
 
 Saying which, Brag seized the bell-rope, and 
 gave it so tremendous a jerk, that down it 
 came, bringing with it a cloud of dust, just at 
 the moment that the door opened, and pre- 
 sented to the view of the guests, Stubbs, with 
 the chops, and Rachel his daughter at his heels,
 
 42 JACK BRAG. 
 
 bearing a dish of potatoes, and a plate, whereon 
 were deposited two vine leaves of blue ware, 
 filled, the one with gherkins green, the other 
 with walnuts brown. 
 
 Rachel was about seventeen, pretty and 
 arch, with a pair of expressively lively black 
 eyes. It was clear that Brag had seen them 
 before, and that Rachel was not altogether 
 insensible of their power; and while the as- 
 siduous Stubbs was regulating the plates and 
 knives and forks at their proper angles on the 
 table, the Nimrod of Cockaigne was slyly 
 pressing the elbow — rather of the reddest — 
 of the amiable Rachel, as she stretched one 
 hand forward towards her unsuspecting pa- 
 rent, in the act of offering him the vegetables 
 wherewith to deck the table. The stranger 
 saw the dexterous manoeuvre of his new com- 
 panion, but appeared to be wholly unconscious 
 of his insinuativeness. 
 
 "That's a pretty girl," said Brag after the 
 parent and child had left the room, — " sly as a 
 pussy cat. Dear me ! the tilings one does see in 
 this world ! No matter where one goes, it is all
 
 JACK BRAG. 43 
 
 the same ! One has only to look at a girl, or a 
 woman older a deuced deal than that, down she 
 comes ; I don't know how it is, or how you 
 find it, but, by Job," (as Brag always called 
 Jove,) " it's a difficult thing to keep clear of the 
 female sex ; I suppose it's something in one's 
 manner — eh, — don't you think so ? — 'pon my 
 life I don't know." 
 
 " Why," said the stranger, " I am not in 
 the habit of generalizing upon such subjects : 
 a woman worthy of being won is not so easily 
 won." 
 
 " Oh ! ah !" said Brag ; " you mean tip-top- 
 pers, blue stockings, nobs, and all that kind of 
 thino- : I mean the sex taken what I call col- 
 lectively. What do you drink, eh ? Ale, by 
 Job ! Here, here, just put your head out of the 
 door and call Stubbs; you are nearer than 
 me : I wish I hadn't broken the bell. Call 
 him, — or stay; — no, I'll speak to him, — have 
 up my tap— eh, — don't you see ? " 
 
 The volubility and vanity of the Cockney 
 amused as well as surprised the stranger, who, 
 upon Brag's resuming his seat, endeavoured to
 
 44< JACK BRAG. 
 
 draw him back — which there was little dif- 
 ficulty in doing — to his old subject, by telling 
 him one of the innumerable bons mots of the 
 celebrated Sophie Arnould, who, when a Brag 
 of her day, in descanting largely upon his suc- 
 cess with a certain demoiselle of the rank 
 and standing of Rachel Stubbs, told her that 
 the affair had made a great noise in the neigh- 
 bourhood, asked whether it were not occa- 
 sioned by the lady's pattens. Brag did not see 
 the application, and went on, as his acquaint- 
 ance with his companion grew, and his familia- 
 rity ripened, to be extremely communicative, 
 most especially upon his own successes in the 
 way of " Don-Juanism." 
 
 The sederunt of the companions was con- 
 siderably lengthened by a return of bad wea- 
 ther. The rain and hail again poured down in 
 torrents ; and Brag, who denounced wine in 
 such a place, resolved upon keeping out the cold 
 with some hot mixture. The stranger, who was 
 also weather-bound, seemed not altogether disin- 
 clined to follow his companion's example; and 
 they drew their chairs towards the fire, in order
 
 JACK BRAG. 45 
 
 to wait with patience for a brighter sky ; which, 
 as the spring had set in with its accustomed 
 severity, they were not soon certain of seeing. 
 
 " I am told," said a lady of rank to the Per- 
 sian Ambassador, who was in this country 
 so many years since, that, for the sake of my 
 female friends, I will not say how many, — " I 
 am told, sir, that in your country they worship 
 the sun." "True, madam," replied the Am- 
 bassador ; " and so they would in yours, if they 
 ever saw him." The hope of catching a glimpse 
 of him on the day of Brag's adventure at the 
 " Duke of Marlborough " was but faint and re- 
 mote : the storm pattered against the casements 
 of the humble apartment which he and his asso- 
 ciate occupied, and Jack was resolved to show 
 that his spirits, however mercurial, were n6t 
 altogether dependant upon the weather. 
 
 " Blessing, good temper," said Brag,—" eh ? 
 — makes no difference to me— Hfe is not long 
 enough to be sorry ; clouds or sunshine, on I 
 go, smack, smooth 'cross the country, and no 
 mistake. — As I was saying just now, if I 
 were to write my life and adventures, what a
 
 46 JACK BRAG. 
 
 book it would make ! to be sure, one could not 
 publish it ; — compromise so many dear delicious 
 creatures — eh ?" 
 
 " But do you find," said the stranger, " this 
 facility of conquest equally general in the 
 higher classes, with whom, as you have already 
 said, you mix ? " 
 
 " Equal," exclaimed Brag, emptying at the 
 same moment his first glass of Stubbs's punch, 
 — " the same everywhere. I grant you, the 
 females of the aristocracy are more closely 
 watched ; the eyes of the world are more on 
 them. But, dear me, when they are out of 
 sight — when we are what I call tiled, — all snug 
 and comfortable, and no mistake, — I think the 
 tip-toppers are livelier than the mediums." 
 
 " And these females, as you call them," said 
 the stranger, " are they most easily led away by 
 person or manner, or accomplishments.?" 
 
 "A little of all," said Jack, running the 
 dumpy fingers of one of his little fat hands 
 through his curls, and pulling up his shirt- 
 collar with the other as usual ; — " manner 
 is everything — that's it, sir; genteel, but bor-
 
 JACK BRAG. 47 
 
 dering upon the lively — eh, don't you under- 
 stand? Now there's Lady Fanny Smartly, as 
 nice a horse-woman as you'll see in a sum- 
 mer's day; — why. Lor — just see me lend her 
 my arm to mount ! Her brother looks with won- 
 der — the groom retires with awe — and then 
 she gives me a smile, as much as to say, ' You 
 are a sharp little fellow. Jack !' Well, then in 
 the evening, there I find her all gentle and 
 languishing — you wouldn't think she had 
 ever seen a horse in her life ; — and then she 
 laughs, — and I look, and then she laughs 
 again; and you can't think how one gets 
 on in that way — eh, and no mistake !" 
 
 " Lady Fanny Smartly ?" said the stranger ; 
 " I think I have occasionally seen her riding 
 in London." 
 
 " Very likely," said Jack ; " but that's not 
 the way to know her. Now there's Mrs. 
 Dallington — a friend of mine, and her sister — 
 they live close up by Grosvenor Square; — I go 
 there almost every day ; they are as opposite 
 as light from dark, — one all sharp, you know — 
 sort of daisy-cutting tit — smack smooth, and no
 
 48 JACK BRAG. 
 
 mistake ; — the other, Miss Blanche Englefield, 
 all meek, modest, quiet ; what you call retiring, 
 soft, gentle."" 
 
 " A melting beauty ?"" said the stranger. 
 
 " No,"" said Jack, colouring ; " not melt- 
 ing ; — a — not that sort of thing, — but — dis- 
 tant, and shy. Why, now with me, she is all 
 free and easy. There I see a couple of men 
 day after day dancing attendance upon these two 
 women, and dying to marry them. In course I 
 shouldn't take any advantage of my friends, 
 as I told Lord Tom — a crack crony of mine 
 — Lord Tom Towzle. I never would — no, 
 I scorn the action, — but it is hard to re- 
 frain." 
 
 " Lord Tom Towzle," said the stranger, 
 " is a son of the Duke of Ditchwater, — is he 
 
 not r 
 
 " He is," said Jack : " I see you know some 
 of their names. Did you ever see Lord Tom ? 
 I always call him Tommy for shortness ; — he is 
 an excellent fellow in his way, — not over re- 
 spectable in money matters — but an uncom- 
 mon good un to go ""cross a country."
 
 JACK BRAG. 49 
 
 " Have you seen much of his aunt, Lady 
 Bloomville ?" said the stranger. 
 
 " Oh, the old toad !" said Jack ; " a regular 
 scarecrow, — she is what people call a respect- 
 able body — eh ! reads him lectures and all that 
 — he can't bear her ; — we have a great deal of 
 fun there sometimes — we go and what he calls 
 roast her." 
 
 " I had always heard," said the stranger, 
 " that she was a remarkably respectable amiable 
 person. I hope you never found her so com- 
 plying as you seem to have found the rest of 
 your fashionable friends." 
 
 " I tell you what," said Brag, putting his 
 finger to his nose — " if you knew what / 
 know, you wouldn't be surprised at any- 
 thing." 
 
 " She has a brother, hasn't she.'"' said the 
 stranger. 
 
 " What, Lady Bloomville .?" asked Jack. 
 
 " Yes," replied the stranger. 
 
 " Oh, yes. Lord Ilfracombe," said Jack ; 
 " and a queer chap he is too." 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Is he much at Lady Bloomville's ?" asked 
 the stranger. 
 
 " More than we like," replied Brag ; " he 
 is what I call a dull dog, — good man in his 
 way, — plain, and no show, — none of what I 
 call gammon. I say, I must have another jo- 
 rum of this stuff — put your head out and call, 
 will you — eh ! make yourself useful — nothing 
 like sociability, and no mistake — eh !" 
 
 The stranger obeyed, and called the waiter ; 
 Rachel appeared, and Jack ordered a replen- 
 ishment of punch, in doing which, having pre- 
 viously expressed his admiration of the wait- 
 ress, he suited the action to the word, and then 
 resumed. 
 
 " Old Ilfracombe is a queer one," said he, 
 " a bore, — won't sit after dinner. Now, as I 
 say to Lord Tom, that is a fault of the young 
 ones ; — no conversation, — no nothing now — up 
 go the ladies, and then comes ' Will anybody 
 have any more wine, or shall we have coffee ?' 
 and up we go after them, — no opportunity for 
 what somebody calls the feast of reason and the
 
 JACK BRAG. 51 
 
 flow of soul, or, as I read it, ' flow of bowl,' 
 —eh ! " 
 
 " So then," said the stranger, " this 
 Lord Ilfracombe is what may be called a 
 wet blanket ! — he doesn't look like one of 
 the Kill-joys." 
 
 " Do you think not ?" said Jack. " I sup- 
 pose you have only seen him by chance, at some 
 public dinner, or somewhere where smiles are 
 always ready. If you knew him as well as I 
 and Lord Tom do, you would set him down 
 for as great a bore as ever lived." 
 
 " And is Lord Tom, as you call him," said 
 the stranger, " in love with either of the ladies 
 you have mentioned to me ?" 
 
 " Not a bit," said Jack. " Tommy and I 
 — or rather, I might say, I and Tommy, 
 take a different course, — butterflies, bees, — 
 eh ! — don't you see.? — rove and sip — and no 
 mistake. No, I think it would be an injus- 
 tice in either of us to marry. But, there are 
 two very respectable men dangling — you under- 
 stand what I mean." 
 
 d2
 
 52 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Perfectly," said the stranger. 
 
 " But," said Brag, " it is painful to see it 
 — eh ! — Lord bless your heart — however — 
 Oh ! here is my second glass — put it down , 
 Rachel, — here — come round — this way, — don't 
 be frightened, the gentleman won't eat you." 
 
 Rachel did as she was bid, but it was quite 
 clear by the expression of her pretty counten- 
 ance as she left the room, that she did not 
 think quite so much of Brag as Brag thought 
 of himself." 
 
 " If you," said Brag, " had opportunities 
 as I have of seeing the best society, — what 
 I call skimming the cream, you would be in 
 the secret ; but without seeing it, as I said 
 before, there's no believing it — eh !" 
 
 " I am sure you are right," said the stran- 
 ger. " I think Lord Ilfracombe has a son, 
 hasn't he ?" 
 
 " To be sure he has," said Brag, " Lord 
 Dawlish, — and a nice chap he is too ; he mar- 
 ried a Miss Linton, the daughter of a country 
 gentleman in my lord's neighbourhood. I 
 know all the facts from Lord Tommy. She is
 
 JACK BRAG. 53 
 
 like a doll in a toy-shop window — waxy and 
 winky-eyed — eh! You understand — money — 
 the father sold the child to buy the title, and a 
 pretty swop too. Lord bless you ! they live 
 like cat and dog. I can't bear her — mawkish 
 — ell ! Don't you take some more of this mix- 
 ture ?" 
 
 " Not yet," said the stranger. " And does 
 Lord Dawlish mix much in your sports .?" 
 
 " Why now," said Jack, " before you carry 
 this on too far, I do think you ought to tell me 
 why you ask. I don't think it fair, living with 
 these people as I do, what you call hand-in 
 glove, and all that, to let out ; you may, perhaps, 
 have an interest in knowing particulars. I am 
 sure you won't be offended, but I take it that 
 you are in the mercantile line, and what people 
 in the city call travelling on your own bottom — 
 you want to know where credit may and v/here 
 it mayn't be given — eh ? I don't think I ought 
 to commit my friends, old cocky — eh ! all right 
 and no mistake — don't you think so .'^" 
 
 " Certainly." said the stranger ; " I didn't 
 know that Lord Dawlish ivas a friend of yours."
 
 54 JACK BRAG. 
 
 (C 
 
 The whole clique," said Brag, looking very 
 cunning ; " and I can tell you this — they know 
 I am rich, eh ! — all snug, smug, and no mis- 
 take." 
 
 " Well," said the stranger, " I am much 
 obliged for the mixture of confidence in me, 
 and the consideration of them, which regulates 
 your communications; — but I suppose old Ilfra- 
 combe himself is a steady goer ?" 
 
 " Umph !" said Jack, " pretty well — six o"" 
 one side and half-a-dozen of the other— much 
 of a muchness — you understand, eh ! — all out- 
 side — plating, as I call it." 
 
 Here the conversation was interrupted by 
 the entrance of Stubbs, who announced that 
 Mr. Brag's groom had just arrived from Lon- 
 don, on the top of the coach, which had set 
 him down at the corner of the cross road. 
 
 " Let him come in," said Brag, with an air 
 of the most exalted dignity. 
 
 The lad made his appearance, dripping, like 
 Niobe, all tears. 
 
 " Well, what made you so late.'*" said Brag.
 
 JACK BRAG. 55 
 
 " Couldn't git down afore, sir,*" said the 
 lad. 
 
 " Wei!," said his master, " go get yourself 
 something to eat, and see to the horses." 
 
 " I wanted to say a word about the horses, 
 sir, — please," said the lad. 
 
 "Well," said Brag, "you may say what 
 you have to say ; you are not afraid of that 
 stranger, I suppose." 
 
 " No, sir," said the boy, " Pm not afraid 
 o' anybody, but I didn't know I was to say 
 what I had to say, out." 
 
 " Say," said Jack, waving his half-emptied 
 tumbler over his head — " ' Say on,*" as the chap 
 at the theatre says." 
 
 " Mr. Figgs," said the boy, " wishes to know 
 whether you want both them 'ere horses as is 
 here any longer this week, or if one will do, as 
 he has an opportunity of letting one or both on 
 'em to gemmen as pays ready money ; and if so 
 be you keeps 'em both, you'll be pleased to 
 send up the stumpy by to-niglit's post." 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha !" said Brag, his cheeks
 
 56 ' JACK BRAG. 
 
 tvirning as white as chalk, his hair seeming 
 to uncurl, and his whole countenance assum- 
 ing the appearance of a detected pickpocket 
 — " how good ! — how deuced good, eh ! Ha, 
 ha, — what ! my own horses !" 
 
 " Not your own horses, sir,'"* said the boy, 
 " they are his horses, you know, sir, and — ^ 
 
 "Hold your tongue, sir," said Brag; " I 
 think I ought to know whose horses they are 
 better than he; — get out, — go and look after 
 the nags — before you get anything to eat — 
 and I will come out to you presently." 
 
 Of all the curs unhung, there is none so 
 awfully contemptible as a drivelling braggart. 
 The wretched cockney seemed to quail before 
 his associate, whom, as we know, he imagined to 
 be either a rider to some respectable house in the 
 button line, or a small dealer travelling, as he 
 called it, " on his own bottom." He watched 
 the glance of the eye of this man, whom he 
 had before despised and bullied, to see what im- 
 pression the detection of his miserable assump- 
 tions had made upon him ; but the stranger, 
 who had his own business to attend to, and
 
 JACK BRAG. 57 
 
 who seemed fully occupied by his own thoughts, 
 evinced no alteration either in look or manner 
 when he heard his contemptible companion ex- 
 posed by the stable-keeper's menial. Why he 
 was not much affected by this denouement, we 
 may perhaps shortly discover. 
 
 " What fools servants are !" said Jack, when 
 he could speak — stirring up a bit of lemon-peel 
 from the bottom of his glass, and keeping his 
 eyes steadily fixed upon the object and opera- 
 tion during the utterance of his remark. 
 
 What the stranger thought of masters, was 
 not to be collected from either his words or his 
 looks. 
 
 " Figgs is a fool too," said Brag, when he 
 had rallied ; " I wonder what he means." 
 
 The stranger, who merely recollected the 
 history of his companion's stud, all elaborately 
 detailed, did not by any means exert himself to 
 elucidate the mysteries of the liveryman's sta- 
 bles. He was perfectly satisfied with the affair 
 as it stood, and there an end. 
 
 " I believe," said Brag, breaking what ap- 
 peared a most uncomfortable silence, and which, 
 
 d5
 
 58 JACK BRAG. 
 
 as pretenders invariably do, he fancied arose 
 from a conviction in the other gentleman's 
 mind that he was a " humbug," — " I believe 
 that these fellows try to worry one into buy- 
 ing, by such tricks as these : however, I flatter 
 myself I am pretty well known about London, 
 and if I have any interest with the Master of 
 the horse, not one of Figgs's animals sets 
 foot into the Royal stables, — there I have an 
 influence." 
 
 The stranger merely looked, and finished 
 his one glass of Stubbs's particular, to Brag's 
 two ; Avhich one he had been persuaded to im- 
 bibe upon the very just principle of repelling 
 external cold by internal warmth. It was 
 clear that the cockney had been hit hard by 
 the stupidity of his boy, as he called him — who, 
 in fact, was not his ; and odd enough to say, 
 however pleased he might have been to escape 
 anything like a cross-examination from his 
 companion, he was rather vexed than not, that 
 the said companion did not appear to take suf- 
 ficient interest in his proceedings to inquire any 
 farther into particulars.
 
 JACK BRAG. 59 
 
 *' The weather does not seem to clear up,"" 
 said the stranger, walking towards the window ; 
 " I am not quite sure what is best to be done." 
 
 " As for me," said Brag, " I shall be a fix- 
 ture for the night, if it holds on so badly."" 
 
 " I must get home by dinner-time," said the 
 stranger. 
 
 "Oh!" said Brag, "then this is not your 
 dinner." 
 
 " No," said the stranger, " I believe in point 
 of fact it ^5, but nominally it is not ; I have fif- 
 teen miles to ride before I get home. I suppose 
 one might on an emergency get a chaise here ?" 
 
 " Not here," said Brag ; " I am always 
 obliged, when I want horses, to send doAvn to 
 the George, — two miles from this ; — but that 
 makes no difference, I'll tell my boy to run 
 down if you want them : — are you going towards 
 town .?" 
 
 " No," said the stranger, and stranger he 
 was in those parts, " my course is from Lon- 
 don." 
 
 " Eh ! oh !" said Brag, evidently desirous 
 of finding out his associate's pursuits. " I shall
 
 60 JACK BRAG. 
 
 cobble up here for the night, I think ; — I dare 
 say Rachel will make my tea for me, and I shall 
 be uncommon comfortable, and no mistake. I 
 like the — what do the French call it? — the 
 ' despipere in poco,' or something of that sort, 
 as Lord Tommy says ; — so here I stop. I 
 have nothing to do, no business, no call, no 
 tie, except that unhappy Mrs. — did I tell you 
 her name ? — yes I did, — Mrs. Dallington and 
 her sister Blanche. They must wait — can't 
 ride through the rain for them, eh !" 
 
 At this moment a remarkably neat, well ap- 
 pointed travelling carriage, drawn by four bright 
 bays, preceded by an outrider, and in the rum- 
 ble of which were two strapping servants, drove 
 up to the door of the small ostelry — the steeds 
 all thorough bred, were foaming and champing 
 the bit, and the party within evidently in high 
 spirits. The halt was called just to wash out 
 the mouths of the horses, which were, as it ap- 
 peared, making a long stage. 
 
 " I say," said Brag, " these are somebodies : 
 — what nags ! — did you ever see such a turn 
 out ;— thafs what I call going it — straight up.
 
 JACK BRAG. 61 
 
 right clown, and no mistake. Let''s just go out 
 and have a look at 'em." 
 
 Brag led the way — the stranger implicitly 
 followed ; the moment he exhibited his person 
 by the side of the cockney, a shout of surprise 
 and delight echoed from the carriage. 
 
 " So, here you are !" cried the youngest of 
 the parti carre. " What have you been doing 
 here.?" 
 
 " Doing !" said the stranger ; " why you 
 don't expect a man to ride to an archery meet- 
 ins through a torrent !" 
 
 *' My dear love," said a lady in the carriage, 
 " are you quite sure you have not got wet .''■" 
 
 " Not the least," said the stranger ; " for I 
 took the precaution of halting here, and getting 
 some luncheon in very agreeable society. But, 
 perhaps, you will let me in turn inquire why 
 you have taken this road." 
 
 " Partly, I believe," said a young man who 
 turned out to be the stranger's son, " by mis- 
 take, — the weather was so desperate that the 
 whole affair was a coup manque, and we were 
 glad enough to scramble away as well as we
 
 62 JACK BRAG. 
 
 could ; but, however, you will now come with 
 us ; they say it is an ill wind that blows nobody 
 good." 
 
 " You may rely upon my housing myself in 
 the carriage," said the stranger, " even at the 
 hazard of crowding you. Harrison, stay behind, 
 and bring home my horse in the course of the 
 evening, and pay my bill here; don't hurry 
 back, for I rode rather hard in coming." 
 
 The ladies seemed delighted at the ac- 
 quisition which they had made to their party 
 " inside," and the stranger, with his foot on 
 the step of the carriage, took off his hat and 
 made a low bow to Brag, who stood looking 
 on in a state of amaze and wonderment aris- 
 ing from the extraordinary fact, that anybody 
 who really lived in the society of which he 
 was permitted to catch occasional glimpses, 
 could seriously sit down and enjoy mutton 
 chops in a small alehouse, without disclosing 
 liis rank or talking of his connexions. 
 
 The carriage drove off, — splashed a little 
 of the mud upon Brag''s delicate nose, and 
 left, according to the stranger's directions, one
 
 JACK BRAG. 63 
 
 of the servants behind, who upon scanning 
 the figure of the cockney sportsman, turned 
 away from him with an air of dignity which 
 his master had never assumed ; and whose re- 
 markably smart leathers and tops were so 
 much better "got up'' than Brag's ever were, 
 (although when he wore leathers he always 
 devoted a certain portion of the morning to 
 his own personal care of them,) that the un- 
 happy creature cowered before the menial of 
 the man, whom because he was plainly dressed, 
 and assumed nothing in his manner, he had 
 treated as if he were an inferior. 
 
 " I say, sir," said Brag to the man as he 
 was walking towards the stable, " may 1 ask 
 who the gentleman is, who stepped into that 
 carriage, and has left you to take home his 
 liorse ?" 
 
 "That's mxj lord," said Harrison, so was 
 the man named. 
 
 " And what lord may he be .? " said Brag. 
 
 " Don't you know my lord, sir.?" said Harri- 
 son ; " I thought everybody knew him, — Lord 
 Ilfracombe. That 's my Lady, and his son Lord
 
 64- JACK BRAG. 
 
 Dawlish, and Lady Dawlish, and I^ady Bloom- 
 ville, in the carriage/' 
 
 " Indeed ! -five insides!" said Brag: "and who 
 was the young lady with the veil ?" 
 
 " Lady Fanny Smartly," said the man, and 
 passed on to look after his lord's horse. 
 
 Jack stood as if petrified : he felt his ears tin- 
 gle, his knees shake, — the mingled impudence 
 and folly of his conduct came full upon him, like 
 a double-headed shot. Here were all his inti- 
 mate friends whom he had never seen before, 
 conjured up, as it were, to ruin him in the 
 estimation of the head of the family, whom he 
 had denounced to himself as a queer one, a 
 bore, a kill-joy, and a wet blanket. He had 
 not the power to stir, nor would he have moved 
 from the place where he stood, with his eyes 
 swimming and his head whirling, if the stable- 
 boy from Figgs's had not just begged him to 
 make up his mind as to the horse he would 
 keep. 
 
 Jack, for a minute roused to a sense of his 
 absurdity, gave his answer, and retired to the 
 house ; where having in due time recovered the
 
 JACK BRAG. 65 
 
 spirits or callousness which generally upheld 
 him, he rang for some tea, — a beverage in which 
 the subjects of Cockaigne delight, and which 
 was in the course of half-an-hour brought him 
 by a dirty red-headed boy; Rachel Stubbs hav- 
 ing gone over to her aunt's, on purpose to get 
 out of the way of his nasty impertinences.
 
 66 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Brag's feelings at the period of this an- 
 nouncement were by no means of the most 
 agreeable character. It was quite certain that 
 the scene which had just been enacted by the 
 noble lord and himself would furnish materials 
 for a historiette in his lordship's circle, whence 
 it would infallibly descend to the sphere of his 
 own actions, as fashions gradually sink from the 
 duchess to the dowdy, until, as extremes meet, 
 they become extinct from their universality. 
 
 Then, for the Lothario to be slighted — 
 avoided — cut by the waiting-girl of a small 
 inn, who ought to have been prouder than a 
 peacock at having attracted his eyes : alto- 
 gether Jack was ill at ease, and fell to rumi- 
 nating upon his present not brilliant pro- 
 spects, until he fell asleep.
 
 JACK BRAG. 67 
 
 Not SO his mother. She had pondered the 
 words her son had spoken : she felt that his 
 recommendation to take unto herself a second 
 husband, although she had passed several years 
 of widowhood, was not altogether unreasonable, 
 since the career which he appeared determined 
 to pursue, let it terminate as it might, was not 
 very likely to end in a steady settle-down to 
 business, and since, as everybody allows, a 
 " lone woman" in trade is liable to be imposed 
 upon. 
 
 It is odd enough, that an idea once formed 
 in a mind where it never had place before, 
 becomes the leading subject of thought and 
 consideration. Mrs. Brag had never dreamt of 
 a second marriage ; and it is but fair to say, 
 that none of her male, middle-aged, marrying 
 acquaintance had ever, by word or deed, led 
 her to moot the question. It was reserved for 
 her son to fire the train ; and from the moment 
 it was ignited, Mrs. Brag became a different 
 woman. She bestowed extra care upon her 
 frill and her front ; had the one plaited, and the 
 other curled, with peculiar pains ; took to the
 
 68 JACK BRAG. 
 
 wearing of coloured ribands ; looked into the 
 shop whenever she heard the sound of voices ; 
 and, in short, gave herself more airs than she 
 had ever thought of assuming for many years 
 before. 
 
 Never, hoAvever, had she been driven into 
 what may be called a resolution upon the sub- 
 ject, until the morning upon which this little 
 history opens. Johnny had often suggested 
 the measure, and she had at first repelled the 
 idea, out of respect to the departed Mr. B. ; at 
 last, she listened more complacently ; then, as I 
 have just said, she occupied herself in putting 
 the scheme in execution practically ; and after 
 that morning, finding that all solicitations to 
 John in regard of steadiness must prove fruit- 
 less, she came to a resolution of obliging her 
 darling boy, of whom she might justly have 
 said — 
 
 " Johnny, with all thy faults, I love thee still/' 
 
 and of making herself more comfortable at 
 home. How to compass the affair then became 
 her only consideration ; for the reader ought 
 to know, that although to the very last she
 
 JACK BRAG. 69 
 
 maintained her profession of disinclination for 
 the step, she had, in fact, determined upon 
 taking it. The way she went to work will 
 hereafter be developed. 
 
 The volatile John, himself, arose on the 
 morning of his intended steeple-chase, little 
 refreshed from the sort of feverish night's rest 
 he had enjoyed — if enjoyment it might be 
 called. He could not rally from the effects of 
 his self-exposure, which affected him the more 
 strongly, as he began to anticipate (since it was 
 evident that they were staying somewhere in 
 the neighbourhood) the appearance of some of 
 the branches of the noble family of Ilfracombe 
 to witness what men of desperate expedients 
 consider " fine sport." What should he do if 
 this very Lord Dawlish were to join the field, 
 attended perhaps by Lady Fanny Smartly, or 
 the earl himself.? Every word that he had 
 uttered the previous night would, of course, be 
 repeated ; and if not actually kicked or horse- 
 whipped by the indignant viscount, in revenge 
 for the description he had given of his father 
 and his family, even Lord Tom Towzle himself.
 
 70 JACK BRAG. 
 
 who was his main-stay, might join in the general 
 execration of the pretender; the more especially 
 as Lord Tom had at various times borrowed 
 sundry sums of Brag''s " loose cash," and, hav- 
 ing been of late refused unlimited access to his 
 purse, might perhaps not be particularly sorry 
 to find a cause for breaking off his acquaint- 
 ance with him. 
 
 The day however came, and Brag having 
 breakfasted, began to rally ; and resolving to 
 put the best face upon the affair, he mounted 
 the horse he kept, and proceeded to the scene of 
 action, casting his eyes, it must be admitted, in 
 every direction, in dread of encountering his 
 friend of the preceding afternoon. Nothing of the 
 sort, however, occurred to annihilate him ; and 
 when he reached the inn at which the sportsmen 
 were to rendezvous, and found Lord Tom and 
 his associates just the same as usual, — all gay, 
 lively, and warm in their reception, — he felt 
 reassured, and in less than an hour had forgot- 
 ten, or resolved not to remember, anything 
 about his self-exposure to the noble lord. 
 
 The steeple-chase took place according to
 
 JACK BRAG. 71 
 
 notice ; and at its conclusion Lord Tom, assist- 
 ed by Brag, furnished a report of it for the 
 " Sporting Intelligence" of the London papers, 
 in the following words : — 
 
 " This event came off yesterday to the entire 
 gratification of the numerous company who 
 were present. 
 
 " The course had been marked out on the 
 previous day by Lord Wagley, Lord Thomas 
 Towzle, and Mr. Brag, who judiciously select- 
 ed a stiff line of country, including thirty-four 
 leaps and three brooks, best calculated to try 
 the mettle of both horses and riders. The 
 winning-post was between two flags placed in 
 a field belonging to Mr. Brag, who was also 
 appointed umpire. Five horses started — 
 
 " Mr. Tagrag's ' Washball ' . . . Owner. 
 
 Capt. Snobb's ' Beggarboy ' . . . Owner. 
 
 Sir Frederick Flapper's 'Stumpy' . Mr. Martingale. 
 
 Mr. Smith's * Tommy ' .... Owner. 
 
 Colonel Ball's 'Blunderbuss' . . Mr. Flint. 
 
 " They all went off at a slashing pace. * Tom- 
 my' refused the second leap, and threw his
 
 72. JACK BRAG. 
 
 rider over his head, and, falling backwards 
 over the bank, broke his back, and died in a 
 few minutes. ' Washball' was also unlucky in 
 trying to jump a brook, which her rider did not 
 know was fordable twenty yards lower down : 
 she slipped her shoulder, and was obliged to be 
 shot immediately after the race. We are sorry 
 to add, that Mr. Tagrag, who rode her, unfor- 
 tunately pitched upon the back of his neck, 
 and severely injured his spine. He lies at the 
 ' Full Moon' at Wigglesford, without hopes 
 of recovery. 
 
 " After these little mishaps, the play was 
 made entirely by ' Beggarboy' and ' Stumpy j"* 
 ' Blunderbuss' having knocked up after the 
 first two miles and a half, and being run to a 
 dead stand in the middle of a ploughed field, 
 whence neither flogging nor spurring could 
 move him : in fact, the shine was taken out of 
 him, and it became a clear case of * no go.' 
 
 " 'Beggarboy' and ' Stumpy' had had enough 
 of it ; and when they reached the last fence, 
 entered the winning-field nearly neck-and- 
 neck. ' Stumpy' tumbled into the ditch, and
 
 JACK BRAG. 73 
 
 Captain Snobbs worked * Beggarboy' through 
 the flags in very fine style. ' Stumpy' was con- 
 siderably damaged by the last fall, which is a 
 pity, inasmuch as he is about one of the best 
 horses in this part of the country. 
 
 " The race was for ten sovereigns each, and 
 was run in an incredibly short space of time. 
 The numerous company assembled were highly 
 delighted Avith the spirit-stirring sport, and, 
 after the chase, proceeded to a field at the back 
 of the ' Full Moon,' to see the ties shot off of 
 the great pigeon match between Mr. Slack and 
 Mr. Nibbs, for a silver jug and cover. 
 
 " The name of Nibbs in itself was sufficient 
 to create an unusual interest, and the ground 
 was crowded with amateurs. The terms were, 
 twenty-one yards at twenty-one birds — charge 
 limited to two ounces. Betting, three to one 
 the winner killed eighteen — five to four on 
 Nibbs. They both went in, sure of doing the 
 trick ; but after Slack and Nibbs had each 
 killed twelve birds, Nibbs had it all his own 
 way, and won the jug by five birds, killing 
 nineteen to Slack's fourteen ; thus winning the 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 JACK BRAG. 
 
 by-bets of three to one. Several other matches 
 came off, and about a hundred and fifty pigeons 
 were knocked over. 
 
 " Nothing could exceed the gaiety of the 
 scene. The weather was remarkably fine, and a 
 proportion of the beauties who had honoured the 
 race with their presence, were witnesses of the 
 cheering sport. An old woman standing just out- 
 side the enclosure, received a whole charge of 
 shot in her face, which is likely to cost her the 
 sight of one eye at least ; and a silly boy, who 
 imprudently attempted to knock down one of 
 the winged birds which was falling out of 
 bounds, was badly wounded in the chest and 
 throat. He was immediately attended to by the 
 surgeon of the place, who extracted thirty-six 
 shots from different parts of his person, and he 
 was then forwarded in an easy cart to the county 
 hospital. We hope these accidents will act as 
 cautions to other equally inconsiderate indivi- 
 duals. 
 
 "At the conclusion of the sports an admi- 
 rable cold collation was served up at the ' Full 
 Moon,' in Bunks's best style. The evening
 
 JACK BRAG. 75 
 
 passed off in the most delightfully convivial 
 manner, and arrangements were made for a 
 renewal of the exhilarating diversion of the day, 
 on Thursday next, when a still more numerous 
 assemblage is anticipated." 
 
 This animated description, as a matter of 
 course, figured in the principal journals of the 
 following morning, Brag having succeeded in the 
 interpolation of three or four words, conveying 
 to himself a field, and, by implication, a much 
 more extensive estate, in a part of the country 
 where he did not possess even so much as call- 
 ed him master at his " little place in Surrey." 
 The only drawback to his happiness, however, 
 upon this occasion, was a visit, three days after 
 the appearance of the intelligence, from the 
 farmer to whom the field actually did belong, 
 who gave him to understand that he had di- 
 rected his attorney to prosecute the trespassers, 
 who without his permission had ploughed up 
 his land at a season when it did not require 
 tillage; and having ascertained by the news- 
 papers that the whole arrangements had de- 
 volved upon Mr. Brag, the attorney thought it 
 
 e2
 
 76 JACK BRAG. 
 
 most advisable to pounce upon him in the first 
 instance. 
 
 This visit, and the intelhgence his visitor 
 conveyed to him, were anything but agreeable 
 to the little man, whose feelings upon the 
 matter were in no degree tranquillized by the 
 conviction that his difficulties and responsibi- 
 lity were fastened upon him, because he could 
 not refrain from the indulgence of his besettinff 
 propensity, in making himself not only the hero 
 of the affair, but the owner of the ground over 
 which it had been decided. 
 
 The next race, however, which Mr. Brag was 
 destined to run, was away from the lawyer, and 
 accordingly, with prudence, which in animals 
 unclothed, we designate instinct, but which in 
 cases like that of Johnny we by courtesy call 
 reason, our hero quitted his head quarters at the 
 Duke's Head, and proceeded to town per stage- 
 coach ; the second message from Mr. Figgs, 
 with regard to the horses, having been accom- 
 panied with a peremptory demand that they 
 might both be sent back. 
 
 Brag returned to town considerably damaged,
 
 JACK BRAG. 
 
 7t 
 
 and however bold he might be in assuming 
 consequence, and claiming friendships, never 
 did human being more clearly evince by his 
 personal appearance the workings of what served 
 him for mind, than he ; a blow like that which 
 he had just received from the farmer"'s announce- 
 ment completely upset him, and in five minutes 
 the sprightly, pert, impudent-looking wagling 
 was metamorphosed into a pale, downcast, mi- 
 serable victim ; and in a plight thus indicative 
 of defeat, he reached the metropolis, quite 
 undecided how to dispose of himself for the 
 afternoon. 
 
 While he is in this state of suspense let us 
 look for one moment at those over whose desti- 
 nies he almost unconsciously possessed a most 
 extraordinary influence. Sir Charles Lydiard, 
 whose sensitiveness had once been disturbed, 
 and whose shyness had been excited by Rush- 
 ton's observations upon the manner in which 
 Brag was received at Mrs. Dallington's, could 
 not get rid of the impression which he had at 
 first so hesitatingly received. None who have 
 not felt jealousy — and, since there never can be
 
 78 JACK BRAG. 
 
 love without it, who has not ? — can imagine the 
 pains which a patient once infected with the 
 disease, the jaundice of the mind, incessantly 
 takes to keep up its virulence. It so happened, 
 that Sir Charles had never seen Brag since his 
 conversation with Rushton, and therefore had 
 no opportunity of watching the " telegraph" of 
 which they had upon that occasion spoken ; but 
 upon a reference to all that had passed, he 
 managed to combine a thousand " trifles light 
 as air," an infinity of nothings, the considera- 
 tion of which produced an increased exhibition 
 of coldness and reserve during his next two or 
 three calls at the widow's. 
 
 Mrs. Dallington saw this accession of frigid- 
 ity, and without exactly hitting upon its true 
 cause, did certainly " telegraph "" Blanche into 
 an observance of it. This new glance gave 
 new grounds for doubts and apprehensions, and 
 the worthy baronet passed four miserable hours 
 in the boudoir of the woman he best loved 
 in the world, if he had but known it, devoutly 
 wishing to make his escape, but fearing to 
 move lest an eclaircissement should take place.
 
 JACJS- BRAG. 79 
 
 Sir Charles felt more embarrassed from the 
 fact that he had not seen his aversion during 
 his last one or two visits ; and because he was 
 extremely anxious to know the cause of an ab- 
 sence on his part longer than usual ; and be- 
 cause, above all, he could not induce himself to 
 make the smallest inquiry after him. Other 
 men called, joined in the conversation, and re- 
 lieved Sir Charles from the restraint under which 
 the dread of a serious explanation kept him 
 whenever the temporary absence of Blanche re- 
 duced the circle to a teie-a-ttte; but the appear- 
 ance of none of those worried or annoyed him. 
 Mrs. Dallington's manner, kind to all, was in 
 no degree particular to any one of them ; but 
 certainly, now that Rushton had concurred 
 with him in his views upon the subject, he did 
 think that Brag was very differently treated by 
 both ladies. Still, he could not descend to 
 touch upon the topic ; and after a feverish 
 sitting on the third morning after Brag's de- 
 parture. Sir Charles left the widow''s to dress 
 for dinner, pleading an engagement which he 
 had not, for declining an invitation from her
 
 80 JACK BRAG. 
 
 and her sister to dine with them, which he 
 would have been, if he could have commanded 
 his feelings, too happy to accept. 
 
 Rushton, who had been there, but was also 
 absent in the evening, became more actively 
 employed in Brag's business than his cold and 
 calculating colleague. In passing Grosvenor 
 Street he encountered Brag proceeding to visit 
 his door-plate and inquire for letters, just 
 arrived from the Duke of Marlborough, having 
 been let out of the coach (in the inside of which 
 he travelled to avoid the farmer's lawyer) at 
 the corner of a back street in the Edgeware 
 Road, so as not to be detected in his descent; 
 by which ingenious device, and the exhibition of 
 a whip in his hand and a pair of spurs on his 
 heels, the pretender let it be inferred that he 
 had ridden up to town upon one of the nine 
 horses, which did not belong to him. 
 
 Rushton welcomed liis friend to London ; 
 and anxious to ascertain, if he could, whether 
 he proposed making an evening visit to Mrs. 
 Dallington's, joined him in his walk down the 
 street.
 
 JACK BRAG. 81 
 
 " Just returned ?" said Rushton. 
 
 "■ This minute dismounted,"" said Brag; "ca- 
 pital sport ; — never better ! — all smack smooth, 
 and no mistake. Killed two horses outright, 
 and one man, I fancy ; however, he was well 
 picked up, and the doctor has got him in 
 charge." 
 
 " Much company ?" said Rushton. 
 
 " Lots of people," answered Brag, who, 
 unable to repress that which was certainly 
 true, however dangerous the allusion to the 
 family might be elsewhere ; " I myself did not 
 stay at Wigglesford, I had rooms at the 
 inn where my horses stand. All quiet, snug ; 
 no nonsense; — civil people; good landlord; 
 pretty daughter, eh ! — you understand — no 
 mistake !" 
 
 " Were you alone, then .''" said Rushton. 
 
 " Not altogether," said Brag ; " old Ilfra- 
 comb dined with me. He was going to an 
 archery-meeting to join his family. Weather 
 turned out bad ; took part of my little dinner ; 
 — humble fare — mere soup, fish, cutlet and 
 capon. The rest of the party joined us after 
 
 e5
 
 82 JACK BRAG. 
 
 dinner. Dawlish and his wife, and Lady Sarah 
 Smartly — they did not get out of the carriage — 
 so I packed him off, and returned to finish 
 my claret, and wind up the evening in mi/ 
 way, eh ?"" 
 
 " Are you going to the widow's this even- 
 ing ?" said Rushton. 
 
 "Not certain," said Brag: "I'm rather 
 tired, and more than half engaged. How is 
 Sir Charles ? Cold chap, that, eh ? Don't you 
 think so ?" 
 
 " Why," said Rushton, " a trifle upsets him. 
 He is the most delicate-minded man I ever met 
 with : an expression, a word, a look affects him 
 in a way one could scarcely imagine." 
 
 " Proud, eh ?" said Brag. " Distant, eh ?" 
 
 " No," replied Rushton. " There is a cold- 
 ness in his manner, I admit ; and those who 
 do not know him may fancy this proceeds from 
 hauteur; but the fact is, that however much he 
 may warm in the course of the evening, he falls 
 back to his original state of chilliness the next 
 morning, and requires a new process to degeier
 
 JACK BRAG. 83 
 
 him. He is not therefore popular, but, in 
 truth, his apparent coldness has its origin in 
 diffidence and a distrust of himself." 
 
 " Oh ! that 's diffidence, is it ?" said Brag. 
 " I can't say I quite understand that : I thought 
 it was pride — but for that, in course I don't care 
 one farthing, and no mistake." 
 
 It all at once struck Rushton (Sir Charles hav- 
 ing naturally, although unexpectedly, become 
 the subject of their conversation) that the pre- 
 sent would be a favourable opportunity of 
 sounding (the water not being very deep) the 
 views and intentions of his communicative 
 friend. 
 
 " Why," said he, " to tell you the truth, 
 Brag, I do not think 2/ou a fair judge of Sir 
 Charles. I have my quarrels with him upon 
 different shades of feeling ; but you — ^oii are 
 totally different." 
 
 " I don't see that," said Brag.^ " It's all 
 one to me, you know. I don't care a fig, 
 as I say to Lord Tom : take me as I am, 
 eh ! — all right up, straight down, no mis-
 
 84 JACK BRAG. 
 
 take. I quite agree with you in differing with 
 him; but I don't see how my case differs from 
 yours.'" 
 
 " Ah !" said Rushton, " there it is : it is in 
 that difference all the difference lies.'''' 
 
 " How d'ye mean ?" said Brag. 
 
 " He is afraid of you,"" replied his compa- 
 nion. 
 
 " Afraid of me /" said Brag, pulling up his 
 shirt collar, " that ""s too good." 
 
 " You are too civil by half to the widow,"" 
 said Rushton. 
 
 " Mer 
 
 " Yes,"" said Rushton, " and what is even 
 more to the purpose, he thinks she is too civil 
 by half to you." 
 
 " Upon your honour !"" said Brag, in an 
 ecstasy of delight — ^'afraid of me! Come, 
 come — eh ! — that 's too good !" 
 
 " Not a bit too good," said Rushton. " I 
 tell you what it is — I '11 be candid with you — 
 I am just as much afraid of you myself." 
 
 " You, Rushton !" said Brag. 
 
 " Yes, more than Sir Charles is," replied
 
 JACK BRAG. 85 
 
 Rushton. " Recollect now — remember — think 
 how you go on with Blanch Englefield — a 
 being all shyness and reserve with everybody 
 else, is with you, animated and evidently inte- 
 rested in your conversation." 
 
 " You don't mean that you are afraid of 
 me. too," said Brag, fully convinced of the 
 entire seriousness of the conversation, which 
 after all contained more of real apprehension 
 than Rushton would have willingly had him 
 know. " I certainly have a way, eh ! — I don't 
 know what it is — it cannot be person — manner, 
 I suppose. I am always ready to talk, eh ! 
 The tongue is the very deuce in a sharp fel- 
 low's head — a little repartee, and all that, eh ! 
 — small-talk, and a good deal of it — that's it." 
 
 " Clearly," said Rushton. 
 
 " The women like little parties,'" said Brag 
 — "fetes— water excursions — dejeuners, and all 
 that. Then they get so good-humoured ; and 
 the champagne — and the return — and the 
 moonlight — and the music, and all that.'''' 
 
 " You have not yet opened your battery in 
 that line," said Rushton.
 
 86 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Waiting for weather," said Brag. " I '11 
 show you the way to do that sort of thing as 
 soon as summer is well in, eh ! — and then, I 
 think, you tvill have the heart-ache."" 
 
 " Are you, then, so general a lover.''" said 
 Rushton. " Will neither content your love of 
 conquest ? Must you win both .?" 
 
 " Oh ! come," said Brag, putting his finger 
 to his nose, and winking, " you are playing 
 your tricks — what do thej/ care for me ?" 
 
 " That remains to be seen," said Rushton. 
 " My firm belief is, that you may obtain the 
 hand of either of them ; and my opinion, more- 
 over, is, that if you have not serious inten- 
 tions that way, as far as one of them is con- 
 cerned, you do an injustice to both, by acting 
 towards them as you do." 
 
 " Upon your life !" said Jack — " you are 
 serious.''" 
 
 " Perfectly," said Rushton ; " however, this 
 is entirely between ourselves : and whatever 
 step you take, let me just mention, that the 
 widow is much the more lively companion of 
 the two, and has rather the better fortune ; so
 
 JACK BRAG. 87 
 
 turn your basilisk eyes towards her, and leave 
 the poor silent, sighing Blanche for me. Adieu ! 
 Here we are at your door — you are at home. 
 Do me the favour to remember what I have 
 said, and as you are great be merciful." 
 
 Saying which, Rush ton quitted his friend, 
 who was completely overset by the announce- 
 ment of the opinion he had just heard deli- 
 vered. It took very little to convince him of 
 his power over what he called the " female 
 sex," and he had certainly for some time felt 
 very much inclined to coincide with Rushton 
 in his views upon this particular point. But 
 then came the question — Which of the prizes 
 should he take ? — which of the lovers should he 
 immolate ? Lydiard, he was assured, was too 
 cold and odd to charm the widow, and Rush- 
 ton too violent and jealous to be agreeable as a 
 husband to Blanche. The notion once put into 
 his head, operated there like that with which he 
 had a short time before possessed his respectable 
 mother on a similar subject, and all that now re- 
 mained for him to do was to make up his mind 
 for a decision. That he did decide, the reader
 
 88 JACK BRAG. 
 
 is destined soon to see; how, for the present, 
 must remain a secret. 
 
 There certainly is one part of the affair 
 which did not make itself evident to him. 
 Blinded by his vanity, he did not perceive that 
 the whole object Rushton had in view in ac- 
 knowledging his own fears, which he really fan- 
 cied had some foundation, and in encouraging 
 his pretensions, was the expulsion of the little 
 man altogether; for although he had succeeded 
 in awakening Sir Charles's suspicions, and Sir 
 Charles had been equally fortunate in arousing 
 /lis, and that he had moreover discovered, by 
 Brag's manner and admission, that the widow 
 was, at least of the two, the present object of his 
 admiration, he felt perfectly satisfied that he 
 would receive his congee the very hour in which 
 he made a formal declaration, and thus, without 
 appearing in the business, he should be relieved 
 from all. farther apprehensions from his pre- 
 sence, while the affair of his expulsion would, 
 in fact, be that of Lydiard and the widow. 
 
 Brag, however, was about to be entangled in 
 another little business, which promised to inter-
 
 JACK BRAG. 89 
 
 fere with the immediate execution of his plan. 
 He had resolved upon repairing to his " little 
 place in Surrey," in order to look after certain 
 affairs which were essential to the production of 
 the means for " carrying on the war," and 
 afterwards proposed, at least when it should be 
 sufficiently dark for the purpose — to visit his 
 mother, who, wisely enough, took care of the 
 shop as far as her abilities would permit her to 
 watch one or two clerks and shopmen, who un- 
 doubtedly, seeing that she was a " lone woman,'''' 
 did every day that, of which, in her own phrase, 
 she was so much afraid " put upon her ;" 
 which phrase, rendered into plain English, 
 means, cheat her out of her property when- 
 ever they were able. 
 
 As our story expands, it may be necessary 
 here to observe, that Mrs. Brag had a daugh- 
 ter, the sister of John, who had never been a fa- 
 vourite with her father. People said her temper 
 was bad : some people said one thing, and other 
 people, as they will do, said other things : cer- 
 tain it is, that home was no home for her. And 
 after a sort of half-and-half education at a sub-
 
 90 JACK BRAG. 
 
 urban boarding-school, where she learned astro- 
 nomy, the mathematics, netting, knitting, knot- 
 ting, the use of the globes, dancing, geometry, 
 drawing, embroidery, rug-working, purse-mak- 
 ing, flower-painting, botany, singing, geology, 
 plain needle-work, natural history, stencilling, 
 Italian, French, Spahish, and German, the harp, 
 guitar, piano-forte, tambourine, and triangle, 
 together with many other sciences and accom- 
 plishments, " too numerous for the brief space 
 of an advertisement," she early in life married 
 hastily, and clandestinely, a gentleman in the 
 army of the name of Brown. His military duties 
 had since called him to India, where his regi- 
 ment had now been for several years. Of him 
 or his sister, Jack seldom spoke, and, when he 
 did, coldly referred to her husband as the ma- 
 jor. Any little uneasiness which her father had 
 evinced about the marriage at the period at 
 which it occurred, had been decently buried in 
 oblivion by the fond mother and her son, who, 
 whatever other feelings might have prompted 
 him to this acquiescence in the affair, it could 
 not be doubted was in a considerable degree
 
 JACK BRAG. 91 
 
 acted upon by a desire to say nothing whatever 
 about it. 
 
 There was, however, a person for whom, in 
 earlier life, and before the doting fondness of 
 his sire had spoiled him, he did feel as deep an 
 interest as such a mind as his was capable of 
 — this was no other than the major's sister, 
 Miss Brown — Anne christened, but called 
 familiarly in those times Nancy Brown. It 
 does not sound romantic by way of a name, 
 but what is in a name ? 
 
 At the time of Brag's acquaintance with 
 her, she was a lovely girl just eighteen, fair 
 as the lily and fresh as the rose. Her mo- 
 ther was an humble personage, no better, 
 let it be understood, than a dress-maker, to 
 whom this daughter was assistant ; for, lest we 
 should ourselves fall into the errors of which 
 Brag was guilty, it may be as well to ob- 
 serve, that the military functionary with whom 
 Kitty became enamoured, and who had the 
 honour of leading her to the Hymeneal altar 
 without her father's consent, derived his rank 
 of major from Brag himself; in giving him
 
 92 JACK BRAG. 
 
 which brevet he felt himself probably jus- 
 tified, inasmuch as it was derived from a mere 
 abbreviation of his real title. Brown was 
 serjeant-major in the regiment to which he be- 
 longed ; but the omission of one half of his 
 official denomination was adopted very early by 
 Jack, with, it must be confessed, the full ac- 
 quiescence of his father, who never could 
 think of the misbehaviour of Kitty in making 
 such a match, with common patience. 
 
 When his father died, Johnny, as will be 
 seen hereafter, became so fine a gentleman, 
 that he never paid the least further attention 
 either to Nancy Brown or the promises he had 
 so earnestly made her; judge, then, the sur- 
 prise and mortification which overwhelmed the 
 vain and foolish creature when his mother, 
 after the usual greetings upon his arrival at 
 home, placed in his hands a letter from his 
 poor suffering victim. 
 
 To describe the face or the feelings of Brag 
 Avhen this appeal from his once dear Anne was 
 handed to him by his respected parent, (who 
 was not entirely aware of the real state of the
 
 JACK BRAG. 93 
 
 case, but believed the communication, in all 
 probability, to have some reference to her 
 daughter, whom she in her heart had, with a mo- 
 ther's feelings, forgiven,) would be impossible. 
 To come from a question of supplanting Sir 
 Charles Lydiard in the good graces of Mrs. 
 Dallington, to a letter from Nancy Brown of 
 Walworth, was indeed a sinking in the sublime. 
 He turned pale, as usual ; then flushed ; then 
 his lips quivered, and his eyes opened ; and 
 then, without saying one syllable, he thrust the 
 paper unopened into his pocket, where it shall 
 remain until a new chapter gives us space for 
 its perusal.
 
 94 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The letter which Jack, having hastily glanced 
 at the superscription, thrust out of sight, fol= 
 lows. 
 
 " Walworth, Tuesday. 
 " Dear John, 
 
 " I hope you will not be angry with me for 
 
 writing to-day. You remember what day it is.'' 
 
 I think I need not remind you that it is your 
 
 poor Anne's birthday. For three or four years 
 
 after Katharine's marriage with George, and 
 
 their departure for the Indies, you used to write 
 
 to me on this day, but you afterwards left off 
 
 doing so ; and I should not perhaps have broken 
 
 in upon you now if the anniversary had been 
 
 as bright and as cheering as it once used to be. 
 
 No, my dear John, ' hope deferred maketh the 
 
 heart sick ;' and although I have by this time
 
 JACK BRAG. 95 
 
 learned to give up all expectation of your ful- 
 filling your promises made to me before your 
 father's death, 1 neither have forgotten my 
 affection for you^ nor mean to upbraid you with 
 your forgetfulness of me. 
 
 '•' When we were so much together, and when 
 you said you could be happy with nobody else, 
 and told me of your dread of your father's 
 anger, which he had indeed shown by never 
 seeing poor Katharine after her marriage with 
 my brother George, you led me to believe that 
 the old gentleman's objections were the only 
 obstacles in the way of our marriage. I lived 
 on — not in hopes of his death, for I could 
 not be so wicked as to hope for that — but 
 I lived on, certain that, when it should please 
 Providence to take him, you would fulfil your 
 promise and redeem your pledge. He died, 
 John, but you came not to me, wrote not 
 to me. Day after day I watched ; listened to 
 every knock at the door, fancying it might be 
 you ; and every time I saw the postman coming 
 towards our lodging, my heart beat because I 
 thought he might bring me a letter from you.
 
 96 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " A year passed away, and then, as you know, 
 I wrote to you, rather because I had heard 
 from George and your sister, and wished you 
 to have news of them, which I knew you 
 could not otherwise get, than to worry you 
 with my own importunities. You answered 
 that letter, but you came not yourself, neither 
 did the letter which you wrote contain one kind 
 word, or one allusion to other days, now 
 past and gone. Yet I complained not. I heard 
 of you in gay parties and gay places ; I 
 sighed to think how far we were parted, and 
 perhaps I cried, John : but you were happy 
 and prosperous, and doing well in the world ; 
 and I could only blame myself for having, when 
 a girl, been so foolish as to fancy that you cared 
 for me enough to make me your wife. 
 
 " Six years and two months this very day 
 was the first time we met, and God knows, al- 
 though I have felt sorrow and sadness enough 
 since, it seems to me as if it were but yesterday. 
 It was to oblige and serve your sister Katha- 
 rine, who was my friend, that I walked out 
 with her, when she used to meet George. I
 
 JACK BRAG. 97 
 
 did not sec any harm in their courtship : I 
 thought well of my brother ; I knew he was 
 kind and good ; his officers gave him the high- 
 est character for steadiness, activity, honour, 
 and integrity ; he loved her, and she loved him. 
 I ought, perhaps, to have known, that he was 
 not what is called a suitable match for Katha- 
 rine; but girls of seventeen, especially upon such 
 matters, do not always calculate. I am sure / 
 did not, or I would not have helped her to take 
 a step which was to make her parents so angry. 
 
 " It was the same blindness in my own case 
 that permitted me to listen to your professions. 
 I am not ashamed to own, John, that I loved 
 you fondly ; nor am I ashamed to tell you, 
 although perhaps you will not believe me, that 
 the impressions made then remain as strong as 
 ever. I have not seen you here for more now 
 than three years. Perhaps it is for the best. 
 I did see you once, now about four months 
 since, riding with another gentleman ; it was 
 in the Kent Road. I thought you saw me, 
 but I am sure I must have been mistaken. 
 
 " What I now write about, cuts me to the 
 
 VOL. 1. F
 
 98 JACK BRAG. 
 
 soul ! Mi/ fate is sealed ! and never shall a 
 murmur of mine for myself cause you a mo- 
 ments uneasiness. The folly was mine : I 
 alone will suffer ! — But there is another to 
 whom — I scarce can hold my pen to write the 
 words — to whom, by the strongest ties of na- 
 ture, and the sacred word of God, I am bound. 
 I could not beg of a stranger; my heart 
 would burst before I could confess my wretch- 
 edness ; — to 1/ou, John, I can speak. My poor 
 mother is, I fear, dying. She has been con- 
 fined to her bed for several days, and I have 
 nobody to watch over her but myself. Her 
 illness has prevented her working, and my con- 
 stant attendance upon her, has hindered me 
 from doing anything myself. Do not be angry 
 with me, John ; what I ask, is not for myself. 
 She shall bless you for your care of her, and 
 be grateful for any little aid you may afford 
 her. When she recovers, she and I will strug- 
 gle to repay you. 
 
 " If you required any proof of my unshaken 
 reo-ard, you might find it in this request. As I 
 have told you, time and reflection have taught
 
 JACK BRAG. 99 
 
 me the folly of my ever considering you more 
 than a friend, — it is in the character of a dear 
 friend that I ask this favour for the best of 
 parents. ' 
 
 " I have put the address to this letter, which 
 is the same as the one which was to my last ; 
 but I thought, perhaps, you might have de- 
 stroyed it and forgotten the direction. We 
 have not heard from George for more than two 
 years, which makes my poor mother very sad ; 
 but we have been told that his regiment is com- 
 ing home. You who are so much in the world 
 could find out in a minute, I know : even if you 
 did not care about George, you must be anxious 
 to hear of Katharine, whom you fondly loved, 
 and who I know loved you with equal affection. 
 
 " I will not take up more of your time. Let 
 me have one line, to say you have received this. 
 I shall count the minutes till I get your answer, 
 which may at all events assure me that you are 
 not angry with me. God bless you, John — 
 dear John ! and assure yourself of the affec- 
 tionate friendship of 
 
 " Yours, Anne Brown. 
 
 f2
 
 100 JACK BRAG. 
 
 *' You will see by the seal of this, how your 
 present to me was valued, and how it has been 
 treasured. Adieu." 
 
 This was the letter which Mr. John Brag thrust 
 into his coat pocket in his mother's presence, 
 and which in five minutes afterwards was as 
 hastily withdrawn from it and thrown into the 
 fire unopened and unread. " John," as poor 
 Anne called him, knew the writing, and with 
 the low cunning of a vulgar mind, fancied he 
 could justly anticipate the contents of an appeal 
 from an amiable woman whom he had deluded 
 and betrayed, leaving her no consolation in her 
 desertion but that which she could not fail to 
 derive from the support of religion and the 
 consciousness of her own unspotted virtue. 
 
 Yes, Anne, the humble unpretending Anne, 
 was still the gentle, modest creature he had 
 found her. Her mind was, perhaps, not so very 
 highly cultivated as others in the world, nor 
 were her accomplishments so numerous, but 
 she was a woman; and kindness, duty, devo- 
 tion, and disinterestedness were blended in the
 
 JACK BRAG. 101 
 
 composition of her character. Mr. John Brag 
 would probably have described her in different 
 terms, had he ever permitted himself to speak 
 of her, and perhaps would have affected to 
 pity the " poor creature," while he laughed at 
 her fondness and credulity. Mr. John Brag 
 was a great talker, and everybody knows what 
 that is. The nature and extent of his feelings 
 and regard for the once loved of his earlier days 
 may easily be ascertained, by the way in which 
 he treated her appeal. He stood and looked 
 at the flames as they scorched and finally con- 
 sumed the paper, and quitted the room per- 
 fectly satisfied with his firmness and philosophy, 
 thinking, as it appeared, with Lord Monteagle's 
 anonymous friend, that " the danger was past 
 as soon as he had burned the letter." 
 
 The writing this letter to one whom she yet 
 believed in heart devoted to her, although with- 
 held from making her his wife by considera- 
 tions first instilled into his mind by his late 
 father, and, for all she knew, kept alive by 
 his surviving parent, cost poor Anne a severe 
 struggle. When it was despatched, it became
 
 102 JACK BRAG. 
 
 the sole object of her consideration from morn- 
 ing till night. The doubt whether she had done 
 wrong, — whether John would think ill of her, 
 or fancy her mercenary or presuming, — whether 
 he would receive it as she hoped, and come per- 
 haps himself, bearing the relief she sought for 
 her poor mother, — whether he would make a 
 point of taking it to her on the day upon which 
 the application reached him, the day upon one 
 anniversary of which he had given her the very 
 seal with which she had sealed it, — whether it 
 might awaken feelings which she was sure he 
 possessed, but which, for the reasons we have 
 just stated, had been suffered to lie dormant, 
 
 — and whether I 
 
 But vain were all her hopes — groundless all 
 her fears, — by one rude blow the bond between 
 them had been eternally severed ; and while 
 the poor anxious Anne was pondering these 
 things in her mind, Mr. John Brag was dining 
 at the Ship Tavern at Greenwich, with a party 
 of uncommonly fine fellows, who, in spite of 
 those leviathans of the deep, the steam-ships, 
 which agitate the surface of the once silver
 
 JACK BRAG. 103 
 
 Thames into a sort of metropolitan sea, had 
 pulled down from Whitehall in their accustom- 
 ed blue shirts, to partake of the fare for which, 
 as well as its hospital, Greenwich is so famous. 
 
 Day passed after day, and, as the reader may 
 easily anticipate, Anne and her application re- 
 mained unnoticed. In her mind this silence 
 was associated with some calamity which must 
 have befallen John, and this apprehension added 
 to her other griefs and anxiety ; meanwhile, her 
 mother's illness increased, and, almost without 
 the common necessaries of life, Anne was at all 
 hazards forced to call in medical assistance. 
 
 She had here again a difficult, a delicate 
 task to perform, but it was a duty, a filial duty; 
 and who can doubt that the well-regulated 
 mind of this now humble girl was soon made 
 up as to the course she was to pursue .'' The 
 reader may have noticed the expression, " now 
 humble,"" it is meant that he should notice it, 
 because, humble as was and had been the posi- 
 tion of the mother and her two children, they 
 had been born to better things. Anne's father 
 was the son of a Bristol merchant who had
 
 104 JACK BRAG. 
 
 amassed considerable property, to which his son 
 succeeded. He married early, and, contrary to 
 the advice of his friends, left his native city to 
 enter upon a new field of speculation in London. 
 Those who remember the wonderful prospects 
 held out in the year 1825, and who perhaps are 
 even yet suffering from the effects of their vast 
 and sudden destruction, may anticipate the termi- 
 nation of Mr. Brown's career at an earlier period. 
 Those who at the present moment are assailed 
 on every side by the most plausible professions 
 and the most tempting offers of fortunes incal- 
 culable, by an embarkation in the variously 
 diverging abominations called rail-roads, and 
 who fancy a dividend is at hand before a spade 
 has been struck in the ground, which it is pro- 
 posed to disfigure and destroy for the lucre of 
 gain, had better take warning by it. — For some 
 two or three years Mr. Brown occupied a hand- 
 some house, his table was open to his numerous 
 mercantile friends, and, in those days, every- 
 thing that Mr. Brown possessed was of the best, 
 everything he did was of the wisest. The war 
 which the triumph of Waterloo so gloriously
 
 JACK BRAG. 105 
 
 closed, was, at the time of Mr. Brown's prospe- 
 rity, raging fiercely ; every foreign port was 
 closed by an embargo; the market was safely 
 shut against the importation of an article in 
 general demand, of which he held a considerable 
 quantity. The fine and liberal notion struck 
 him of buying up at all hazards and all prices 
 this desirable commodity :— he did so, — and, 
 although as a young beginner in London not 
 much known, he had agents all over the Empire, 
 who were employed by him to keep incessantly 
 purchasing, until warehouse after warehouse was 
 stored with it, and he became nearly the only 
 holder in the kingdom. Thus, having long before 
 expended all his capital in the pursuit, he pro- 
 posed to regulate the market with the turn of his 
 finger. The price advanced, he still held ; it ad- 
 vanced yet more ; and he began to doubt whe- 
 ther he had screwed it up to a pitch sufficiently 
 high to answer his purpose, and make him a mil- 
 lionaire ; when, one fine morning, an order in 
 council suddenly and unexpectedly opened the 
 long-closed ports, and the next week beheld, 
 
 Mr. Brown an irretrievably ruined bankrupt. 
 
 F 5
 
 106 JACK BRAG. 
 
 In the pursuit of his infatuating speculation 
 his engagements had become incalculably enor- 
 mous, and the consequent securities unbounded. 
 The shock of such a reverse was too much for 
 such a mind, and in the midst of recklessness, 
 remorse, and despair, he consummated all his 
 other madnesses by suicide. 
 
 In the hour of distress, it was shown that no 
 provision had been made for his widow and two 
 children. His connexions at Bristol were few, 
 and those, greatly offended at his quitting his 
 native city, did not feel at all disposed to re- 
 lieve his relict, whom, however unjustly, they 
 thought proper, conveniently enough in order to 
 save their own pence, to denounce as the first 
 cause of his increased rate of living, to support 
 which he had had recourse to extraordinary means 
 of gain ; and when all was done that could be 
 done, an annuity of forty pounds a year was 
 secured for her, by a subscription amongst a 
 few of her husband's friends in London. 
 
 The fall was sudden, dreadful ; at that pe- 
 riod her son George was about eighteen, Anne 
 about twelve. George had received a fair edu-
 
 JACK BRAG. 107 
 
 cation at a school at Clapton or Hackney, I now 
 forget which, and was a fine handsome grown 
 young man. Anne was almost too young to ap- 
 preciate the full extent of her misfortune, and 
 her affectionate disposition led her thus early to 
 devote all her care to her surviving parent, to 
 whom the change in their circumstances and 
 station, to her almost unaccountable, only 
 endeared her the more. 
 
 George was old enough to know the whole 
 truth, and to feel the bitterness of repulse 
 when his mother tried to procure him a mer- 
 cantile situation in the city, and being of a 
 bold and resolute character, he left his home 
 without any communication with either his mo- 
 ther or sister, and enlisted in an infantry regi- 
 ment, then in Ireland. It was not until his 
 scheme had been irrevocably completed, that 
 he imparted the truth to his parent, and then 
 returning to receive her blessing, departed for 
 the Emerald Isle with a sort of negative con- 
 currence on her part, obtained by the expres- 
 sion of his determination upon the point, and 
 an avowal that, if he even could obtain footing
 
 108 JACK BRAG. 
 
 in any merchant's counting-house, he felt as- 
 sured that his disposition and feelings would 
 not permit him to continue in it. 
 
 George''s removal from her care and charge, 
 however much she lamented the separation, of 
 course relieved the widow from considerable 
 expense ; and the little Anne was not yet of an 
 age to require much outlay ; for her mother, 
 who had been cruelly misrepresented by her 
 late husband's connexions as being the cause 
 and origin of his follies, was of a most domes- 
 tic turn of mind, and sufficiently accomplished 
 to instruct her daughter in as much of orna- 
 mental education as it was probable she ever 
 would require. 
 
 Still it was evident that the annuity which 
 was secured to her would not be sufficient 
 to support them without additions derivable 
 from some other source ; and thus it was that 
 she formed the resolution of retiring to one of 
 the villages near town, and turning the minor 
 accomplishments which she possessed, to ac- 
 count, in order to increase her income. This she 
 did, and, under the blessing of Providence, sue-
 
 JACK BRAG. 109 
 
 cessfully. Undisturbed by the inquiries of any 
 of the friends of her prosperity, but encou- 
 raged by the respectable inhabitants of the 
 neighbourhood in which she had fixed her hum- 
 ble abode, she obtained by the sale of numerous 
 fancy articles of her own making, and by even 
 humbler employments, a sufficient income to 
 render her happy, inasmuch as it secured the 
 society of her beloved daughter. In Bristol 
 and its neighbourhood the name of Brown, com- 
 mon as it is, might from circumstances have 
 attracted the unpleasant curiosity of some, and 
 entailed upon her the equally disagreeable 
 commiseration or condemnation — coming hand 
 in hand, perhaps — of others ; but in the neigh- 
 bourhood of London few people, out of his 
 own immediate circle, knew the victim of ill- 
 fated ambition, and all that was said of Mrs. 
 Brown in the village in which she located her- 
 self was, that she was a remarkably nice civil 
 lady-like person, and had evidently been born 
 much above the station she then filled. 
 
 It was about two years after George's depar- 
 ture from the home he had scarcely inhabited,
 
 110 • JACK BRAG. 
 
 that the acquaintance between Katharine Brag 
 and Nancy Brown commenced. It originated 
 in the fact that Mrs. Brown, anxious that her 
 child should improve herself upon certain points 
 of education beyond those to which she might 
 herself be competent to lead her, or rather, if 
 the truth were told, finding that more regu- 
 larity and restraint were necessary to settle the 
 habits and fix the attention of her child, than 
 were likely to be observed or enforced at home, 
 resolved on sending her as a day scholar to 
 Lavender Lodge, the " Seminary for young 
 Ladies,"" at which Miss Brag was — in all pro- 
 bability as a set-ofF for soap and candles — be- 
 ing polished up to perfection — this special fa- 
 vour being granted to the widow on account of 
 her exemplary conduct, and the universal re- 
 spect in which she was held. 
 
 With the girls at Lavender Lodge, little 
 Anne soon became an amazing favourite and a 
 general pet. The very circumstance of her re- 
 turning home to dinner, and quitting her com- 
 panions after school hours, gave her a sort of 
 distinction, and made her, as it were, the me-
 
 JACK BRAG. HI 
 
 dium of intelligence, and even of communica- 
 tion, by which contraband luxuries were some- 
 times smuggled in, and what are technically 
 called " slip-letters,'* from the bigger girls to 
 their friends, were" smuggled out of the semi- 
 nary. By these acts of kindness, the impro- 
 priety of which Nancy was then not old enough 
 perfectly to comprehend, she was quite the 
 fashion, and the boarders were unanimous in 
 treating her with kindness and affection. 
 
 Amongst her greatest friends was Katharine 
 Brag, who was more than ordinarily good-na- 
 tured to her, and during the three years Miss 
 Brag remained at school before she was pro- 
 nounced everything that heart could wish, 
 Anne had grown up to be more than sixteen 
 years of age — and had so far gained the confi- 
 dence of the head of the establishment, that it 
 seemed more than probable she might eventually 
 become a permanent assistant in its duties. Cir- 
 cumstances, however, occurred to put an end to 
 this probability ; for a lady who had taken con- 
 siderable interest in Mrs. Brown's success, made 
 a proposal to her to establish herself in the vil-
 
 112 JACK BRAG. 
 
 lage of Walworth, near London, where she was 
 certain she could ensure her support and patron- 
 age in the sale of her various works, as well as 
 in the art and mystery of dress-making, which 
 the industrious mother had studied, and now 
 practised, to maintain herself and her child. 
 This offer, superadded to the desire of Anne 
 herself to contribute her share of labour to 
 their joint maintenance, decided their removal. 
 
 This chanuje of habitation tended rather to 
 confirm the friendship of Miss Brag for her 
 friend; for it was effected just about the pe- 
 riod at which that young lady finally quitted 
 school. The amiable manners of Anne again 
 became her passport into the societ}? of the 
 elder Brags ; and although she was received as 
 the humble companion of the young lady, she 
 was so genteel and so clever that they thought 
 (much strengthened in their opinions by that 
 of their daughter) that it was greatly to her 
 advantage to have such a companion. 
 
 In the midst of this happy communion, and 
 just as John Brag had begun to look at Anne 
 with eyes not quite indifferent, her brother
 
 JACK BRAG. 113 
 
 George arrived at home on leave of absence from 
 his regiment, previous to its departure for 
 India. He was then a fine handsome young 
 man, of two or three and twenty. The mili- 
 tary drillings he had undergone had set him 
 up, and his figure was just what a figure 
 ought to be. The career he had run since 
 he entered the army had been honourable and 
 satisfactory. The notice of his officers had 
 very early after his enlistment been attracted 
 to the attention, regularity, and assiduity 
 with which he performed all his military du- 
 ties ; and a rumour having soon got about that 
 he was something better than he seemed to 
 be, he was taken notice of by the captain 
 of his company, who, after inquiries, not 
 further pushed than he felt consistent with 
 delicacy, and the evident desire of the young 
 man himself for a certain degree of conceal- 
 ment, suggested him as a fit occupant of the 
 office of paymaster's clerk, for which it was 
 evident he was fully qualified : — he was speedily 
 raised to be a corporal, and before his first 
 four years of service were expired, had be-
 
 114 JACK BRAG. 
 
 come serjeant-major of his regiment, a cir- 
 cumstance perhaps unparalleled in the British 
 service. 
 
 In one of those moments which decide the 
 fate of empires and of ladies, Katharine Brag 
 met George Brown ; it took but one glance 
 of his bright eyes to scorch her susceptible 
 heart, and unfortunately or fortunately, as the 
 case may be, George Brown reciprocated the 
 feeling. It was no difficult matter to get Anne 
 to agree to Katharine's avowal, that she had 
 never seen so charming a person, — an officer too, 
 — the thing of all others; for the immediate 
 rank of the young hero " in mufti" was never 
 explicitly defined ; and while she was contriving 
 all sorts of devices to enjoy his society in the 
 participation of the various amusements of 
 middling life, her brother John, who had be- 
 come great friends with George for the sake of 
 his sister, fell into all their arrangements with 
 the greatest readiness ; so that every day in 
 which they could manage it, little parties were 
 made for Exhibitions, Panoramas, and all the 
 Vauxhalls, Lyceums, Playhouses, and places
 
 JACK BRAG. 115 
 
 of public resort, where either during the per- 
 formance or after it was over, they might so 
 satisfactorily pair off, as to leave themselves 
 counterchanged in couples, to the unqualified 
 delights of that sort of honeyed conversation, 
 to which it is as impossible to do justice in 
 the repetition, as it is barbarous to interrupt in 
 its progress. 
 
 After the play, as George was with her, 
 Anne would stop to supper with the old Brags; 
 and then, as John Brag was fond of exercise, 
 he would see George and his sister home to 
 Walworth after supper was over ; and so they 
 went on, until John was desperately in love with 
 Anne, and Katharine resolved upon marrying 
 George. 
 
 Katharine believed that she had great influ- 
 ence over her father, and, from what Anne had 
 told her of her origin, never imagined but 
 that she should procure his consent to her mar- 
 riage with George, — an affair which "pressed," 
 inasmuch as his leave would be out in about 
 three weeks, and away he must march with his 
 regiment. So Katharine, one fine afternoon,
 
 116 JACK BRAG. 
 
 just gently touched upon the subject of Mr. 
 Brown's good qualities, in a tete-a-tete with her 
 papa, and led the conversation into a channel 
 which she thought very likely to extort an 
 opinion from the old gentleman. She was right; 
 — she succeeded in her speculation, and heard, 
 to her infinite horror and amazement, that he 
 would see a daughter of his dead at his feet 
 before she should marry what he called a 
 " Soger." 
 
 And then forthwith " flared up " the anger 
 of the venerable Brag, who, though a really 
 plain straightforward man, and as free from 
 pride or affectation as any wax and tallow 
 chandler within the bills of mortality, became 
 absolutely furious at the notion of this dress- 
 maker and her brother, — people admitted only 
 just to please his daughter's fancy, — presum- 
 ing and daring, and all that : which fury ended 
 in a positive prohibition of any further inter- 
 course between the parties ; a mandate for which 
 was accordingly issued, sanctioned of course by 
 Mrs. Brag, who however, in yielding her ac- 
 cordance to the decree, could not help thinking
 
 JACK BRAG. 117 
 
 that Anne and her brother were as nice a couple 
 of people as ever she had seen in all her born 
 days. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the friendship of 
 Anne for Katharine Brag and her affection for 
 George were called into action. It was then 
 she contrived meetings for them, to which Kate 
 came escorted by John, and George accom- 
 panied by herself. Up to this period these had 
 been matters of course; but when old Brag shut 
 his doors against the Browns, and handed his 
 daughter oyer to the care and surveillance of her 
 brother John, it became another sort of affair, 
 and as John was too happy to bask in Nancy's 
 smiles, he gladly squired his love-sick sister to 
 their appointments ; and thus matters went on 
 for a fortnight or so, when Kitty Brag ran away 
 with the young Sergeant, who, having as well as 
 his bride attained the years of discretion, pro- 
 cured a licence and became man and wife, — a fact 
 which came to the knowledge of the respectable 
 parents of the bride by her non-appearance at 
 breakfast, and a return of ^^ noii est inventa'''* 
 made to a sort of warrant sent after her into
 
 lis JACK BRAG. 
 
 her bed-room, whence she had decamped very 
 early indeed in the morning. 
 
 From that morning neither Brag the elder 
 nor Mrs. Brag had ever seen their child up to 
 the period of the commencement of my narra- 
 tive ; Mr. Brag, as we know, had been gathered 
 to his fathers ; and George and his wife were 
 still in India. 
 
 After the wedding and flight the proscribed 
 Anne used to see John, who contrived, unknown 
 to the old people, to visit her and her mother 
 as usual. This acquaintance was for some time 
 continued as the reader may have already disco-' 
 vered ; its happy termination being only delayed, 
 as Brag had himself said, until the death of his 
 father should leave him free to act for himself. 
 Meanwhile the said father having then but one 
 object left upon which to lavish all his paternal 
 affection, gave his son counsel and promises 
 which led him to aspire, and, as he said, " look 
 up," and so Johnny by degrees became less ar- 
 dent and infinitely more civil towards Miss 
 Brown, until by those gentle gradations of cool- 
 ness which fond and anxious hearts can only
 
 JACK BRAG. 119 
 
 justly estimate, she saw him seldom, and heard 
 from him rarely. His father's death occurred, 
 — Brag immediately took a higher flight, and 
 having furbished himself up by dint of private 
 lessons and evening tuition, was ready, when 
 he came into possession of the business, to aban- 
 don the course which his blinded parent had 
 pursued, to enable him to cut a figure, and 
 became the thing which the reader has already 
 seen him to be. 
 
 The intelligence which Mrs. Brown had from 
 time to time received of George was extremely 
 satisfactory ; he had been specially noticed by 
 Major Mopes, (the military secretary of Sir Cad- 
 wallader Adamthwaite, the commander-in-chief 
 at the presidency,) who had, upon the recom- 
 mendation of the paymaster of the regiment, 
 whose clerk he had been, appointed him to a 
 similar situation in his office ; a step which 
 George, who was full of ambition, wrote home 
 to say he hoped might lead to better things. 
 
 What they might be, Mrs. Brown of Wal- 
 worth did not exactly understand; however, he 
 appeared happy, spoke affectionately of his
 
 120 JACK BRAG. 
 
 wife, and looked forward to the next ten or 
 fifteen years as likely to bring him home again. 
 To Anne, a prospective view of ten or fifteen 
 years was but a sad one ; the loss of Katha- 
 rine had been to her severe and trying, and 
 every month, and every year grew sadder, un- 
 til at last the only consolation left which she 
 derived from George"'s letters, was lost, and at 
 the time she wrote the appeal to John, with 
 which the chapter begins, she had not, as she 
 says, heard from him for more than two 
 years. 
 
 Then it was that real sorrow and bitterness 
 of heart came over her, — her mother's illness, 
 her brother's silence, her lover's falsehood, her 
 own destitution, — it was a dreadful coinbina- 
 tion of evils, against which she had to bear up. 
 One other blow was only wanting to overwhelm 
 her, — and it fell. 
 
 There are moments when the most serious 
 calamities affect us less than matters which to 
 the million may appear of no moment or im- 
 portance whatever ; a look, a frown, a smile, 
 nothing in themselves, have, when the mind is
 
 JACK BRAG. 1^1 
 
 wrought up to a certain pitch of excitement, 
 a power more dreadful than the gravest evils 
 of another day. 
 
 I have already said that, after waiting for an 
 answer to the letter she wrote to "John,'" — on 
 her birth-day, — sealed with his seal, — and 
 moistened with her tears — (the letter he de- 
 stroyed unread), — she felt the absolute neces- 
 sity of overcoming all scruples, and conquering 
 all repugnance to what might be considered the 
 solicitation of charity in favour of her mo- 
 ther ; and accordingly she set forth from 
 their humble dwelling, leaving her sinking pa- 
 rent in the care of a temporary nurse, to call 
 upon a well-known professional man in the 
 neighbourhood of Burlington Gardens, of 
 whom she had often heard the lady who 
 first induced them to take up their abode in 
 Walworth (but who now was herself dead) — 
 speak in the highest terms. Anne had indeed 
 seen him at that lady's house, and felt that 
 that circumstance gave her something like con- 
 fidence to make an appeal to him on behalf 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 JACK BRAG. 
 
 of her sick mother, which she would not have 
 felt with regard to a perfect stranger. 
 
 Behold then this fair, fond, and affectionate 
 daughter on her way — trembling and doubting, 
 as she hurried along the crowded streets, — her 
 eyes cast down or heedlessly wandering, while 
 her thoughts are all concentered on the pil- 
 low on which her dying mother''s aching head 
 was laid ; a prayer to Heaven resting on her 
 lips, and hope, strengthened and sanctified by 
 the silent appeal, glowing in her heart. Just 
 as she reaches the neighbourhood of the 
 worthy man who is to minister worldly relief 
 to her parent's afflictions, her way is intercept- 
 ed, — there is a crowd — a stoppage, — she is 
 rudely pressed upon, — stared at, by an unmean- 
 ing insolent countenance belonging to a tall, 
 tiger-looking, smoke-dried dandy, upon whose 
 arm is leaning a short, smart, vulgar-genteel 
 companion. The tall fellow continues his gaze 
 for a moment ; the short fellow, emulating this 
 impertinence, and anxious to behold the beauty 
 who has attracted his friend's attention, pro-
 
 JACK BRAG. 123 
 
 ceeds to the manual experiment of pinching 
 her arm. The suflPering wanderer turns in- 
 dignantly to repel the insult, and sees be- 
 fore her, grinning and grimacing, like a ba- 
 boon, that paragon of pretension, Mr. John 
 Brag. 
 
 At such a moment such a sight was, indeed, 
 a trial ; — but if it struck daggers into her heart 
 thus to be treated by him, who once, and in 
 other days, had vowed his vow of love and 
 faith to her, what must she have felt, when, 
 upon beholding her pallid agitated counte- 
 nance, she saw the fellow wink at his compa- 
 nion, and heard him exclaim with the peculiar 
 elegance of the school to which he aspired to 
 belong, " Ho, ho, — come along, my lord — 
 no go — this is a mistake," — and clutching 
 his tall friend's arm, hurry on, shrugging up 
 his shoulders in a sort of mock despair, and 
 no doubt giving his own version of the na- 
 ture of the previous acquaintance which had 
 evidently subsisted between himself and the 
 supposed stranger ! 
 
 G 2
 
 124 JACK BRAG. 
 
 Anne stood still for a moment — had she tried 
 to move forward, she would have fallen ; — her 
 breath faltered — the blood seemed to ebb and 
 flow in her heart — her eyes swam with tears ; — 
 she was better, — she continued her way, and 
 reached the physician's door, — it was opened 
 to her, and she was shown into a parlour where 
 those who came under similar circumstances were 
 accustomed to wait : — there it was that her 
 feelings had way, — she scarcely had entered, 
 before floods of tears poured down her pale 
 cheeks, and they who had come for advice and 
 assistance themselves, were eager and active in 
 her service. As soon as intelligence of the cir- 
 cumstance had been conveyed to the master of 
 the house, he made his appearance in the apart- 
 ment, and seeing the extent of poor Anne's agi- 
 tation, caused her to be removed into another 
 room, where every attention was paid her which 
 the exigency of her case required. 
 
 Her agitation, however, appeared to increase, 
 and the moment she was sufficiently recovered 
 to attempt to explain heself, she relapsed into 
 a s^tate so painful and alarming, that the ex-
 
 JACK BRAG. 125 
 
 cellent man, satisfied by the circumstances that 
 she was labouring under some excitement, any 
 attempt to soothe which, upon the instant 
 would be perfectly vain and useless, placed 
 her in the care of his housekeeper, (for whom he 
 despatched a servant,) with directions to keep 
 the young lady perfectly quiet, and endea- 
 vour to soothe and calm her mind until he 
 should return, after having seen those patients 
 who were in the habit, at stated hours, of call- 
 ing upon /nm at his own house. 
 
 And while all this was going on, Mr. John 
 Brag and his friend Lord Tom Towzle, who, 
 as the reader perhaps has anticipated, Avas 
 his companion upon the occasion, and whom 
 although he " Tommied" him and " Towzled" 
 him in his absence, he " my lorded" in his 
 presence to an immeasurable extent of vul- 
 garity, not merely to toady the stripling but 
 to be overheard by the passing crowd — were, 
 as 1 suspected, engaged in an elaborate detail of 
 Jack's foregone adventures with Anne, which, as 
 Lord Tom did not care whether Brag were hang- 
 ed or not, so as he rode his horse " Slap-bang"
 
 126 JACK BRAG. 
 
 to win on the following Thursday, he might 
 just as well have saved himself the trouble 
 of repeating. 
 
 Upon what small things great things turn, 
 say ten thousand writers, — so is it proved by 
 this adventure of Mr. Brag''s. Worlds would 
 not have convinced Anne Brown of his false- 
 hood and heartlessness, had this event not oc- 
 curred ; they were now proclaimed — esta- 
 blished, — practically established. His first 
 assault might have been mere rudeness, — 
 not likely to endear him to one who fancied 
 him devoted to her; but when the discovery 
 had been made, and he saw whom he had 
 outraged, to conduct himself as he had done, 
 was enough to decide the question. Thus it is 
 that we learn more in an hour from a lecture 
 illustrated by experiments, than we can collect 
 from written treatises or printed instructions 
 in a year. The art, or science, whatever it 
 may be, is embodied, — you have it before you, 
 — and the very facility with which the pro- 
 fessor performs his operations, makes the spec- 
 tator himself a proficient.
 
 JACK BRAG." 127 
 
 So was it with Anne : — she had seen what 
 no book could have taught her, she had wit- 
 nessed that which no other evidence would have 
 induced her to believe. The blow was severe, 
 but perhaps it was providential.
 
 128 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Having safely housed our unhappy girl in 
 the house of the worthy physician, we may per- 
 haps be permitted to cast our eyes towards 
 the gay widow and her sensitive sister, who, 
 truth to be told, were suffering as much in 
 their way as our more humble friend from 
 Walworth. 
 
 Mrs. Dallington, whose perception was re- 
 markably clear, and whose judgment was parti- 
 cularly sound, had for some time been fully 
 aware of the state of Sir Charles Lydiard's 
 heart and mind — for his mind and his heart 
 were waging a perpetual war with each other ; 
 nor, however solicitous she might be (I admit 
 that supposition merely for argument's sake) to 
 bring their acquaintance to a happy termination, 
 did she entirely regret the caution and consi-
 
 JACK BRAG. 129 
 
 deration with which, it was so evident, the fas- 
 tidious baronet bent his steps towards the 
 hymeneal altar. She felt assured that, if he 
 judged her rightly and fairly, she should even- 
 tually possess his entire affection ; and she also 
 felt, that to obtain it after such a scruti- 
 ny, would be to secure it for the rest of her 
 life. 
 
 It must be allowed that she sometimes 
 thought he had considered and examined and 
 scrutinized quite long enough, and believed 
 that the time had arrived when she should 
 have an opportunity of saying yea or nay, as 
 the case might be ; but, whenever the crisis 
 seemed at hand, some new doubt, some new 
 apprehension, appeared to be conjured up, 
 the bright vision was dissipated, and she re- 
 mained still the expecting, disappointed Mrs. 
 
 Dallington. 
 
 Blanche, on the other hand, received a pro- 
 posal from Rushton almost every day in the 
 week — if at least the most violent protestations 
 of love and devotion might be so construed ; but 
 the brusquerie of his character evinced itself so 
 
 g5
 
 130 JACK BRAG. 
 
 perpetually, that the chances were, that the even- 
 ing of the brightest day ended in a storm. Blanche 
 was quite aware of the disposition she had to 
 deal with ; and although flurried and fluttered 
 by her lover's extraordinary animation and vi- 
 vacity, she resolved not to surrender her hand, 
 whatever might be the fate of her heart, until 
 she was convinced that her hero was calmed 
 into a fit state for domestication. In point of 
 fact, Rush ton was quite as jealous of Blanche 
 as Lydiard was of her sister ; but his jealousy 
 was of a different caste: he smiled, frowned, 
 laughed, scolded, and did ten thousand unac- 
 countable things, just as he was acted upon 
 by passing events, while Lydiard never suf- 
 fered himself to be betrayed into any exter- 
 nal evidence of what occupied his mind : and 
 thus the pair of lovers continued to make them- 
 selves as uncomfortable as they made those, 
 whom upon all essential points were devotedly 
 their own. 
 
 Affairs were in this delicate position when 
 Brag, who was encouraged in all his absurdi- 
 ties by his noble friend Lord Tom, partly to
 
 JACK BRAG. 131 
 
 gratify his vanity, and so secure his aid, if re- 
 quired, upon emergencies, and partly to afford 
 sport to his lordship's friends, opened his heart 
 in a kind of hypothetical way to the young 
 lord with regai'd to the widow and her sister, 
 to which train of thought he had been led by 
 the conversation he had previously had with 
 Rushton in the street. 
 
 " I don't see," said Jack, " why — I — 
 shouldn't do as well as my neighbours, in the 
 matrimonial line. I look on, at others who play 
 at courting with wonder ; they seem to me to 
 make no move. Now there 's Sir Charles Ly- 
 diard and the widow — they don't care a fig for 
 each other, and yet they are to be married, as 
 the world says. As for Blanche, she seems to 
 me to care as little for Rushton. Why, hang it ! 
 if I wanted to marr}? either of them, it would 
 not be a week's work. No, no ! — faint heart — 
 elf! you know. I 'd just make either of them 
 buckle to, in half the time, and no mistake." 
 
 " Have you ever thought of such a thing. 
 Jack ?" said Lord Tom, who, piqued by the 
 coldness with which the widow had always
 
 132 JACK BRAG. 
 
 received him, felt by no means ill-disposed to 
 encourage his tiger in any scheme likely to 
 make a commotion in the family. 
 
 " Why," said Jack, " I can't say that I 
 have; but I — of course, I dare say it means no 
 more than what I always meet with — but I 
 have thought that there was something uncom- 
 mon odd about the widow's eyes." 
 
 " Indeed !" said Lord Tom, — " and very 
 liandsome eyes they are too: besides, Jack, 
 she is rich, and what they call in the city 
 ' well to do.' " 
 
 " Mum !"" said Jack — " know her fortune to 
 a fraction : didn't overlook that in the calcu- 
 lation." 
 
 " Oh!" said his lordship — "then you have 
 been thinking rather seriously upon the subject." 
 
 " Not seriously," replied the tiger, " only I 
 was considering that Sir Charles is what I call 
 losing time — waiting upon her too long, as we 
 should say at Epsom. It would be a good 
 match, — not that I care for money — no more 
 than my father did. Did I ever tell you of 
 my governor and his hundred-pound note?"
 
 fi 
 
 JACK BRAG. 133 
 
 Not that I recollect," said his lordship, 
 although he did. 
 
 " Why, wj/ father," said Jack, " was one day 
 walking along the Strand, when, just as he came 
 by the end of Buckingham Street, a fellow 
 picked his pocket of his pocket-book, full- of 
 memorandums, letters, and other papers, " of no 
 use but to the owner," and a hundred pound 
 note besides. What d'ye think he did, as soon 
 as he found out his loss ? '' 
 
 " Went to Bow Street, perhaps," said Lord 
 Tom. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Stepped to the Bank and stopped it." 
 
 " Couldn't — didn't know the number.'" 
 
 " Caught the thief, then." 
 
 " No," said Jack, " not a bit of it. The 
 minute he found he had lost it, he went home 
 and got another." 
 
 " In order to have it stolen like the former," 
 said Lord Tom. 
 
 *' Not a bit of it," replied Jack ; "just to show 
 how little he cared about money. So with me ; 
 I don't care for money, except as it buys mo-
 
 134 JACK BRAG. 
 
 ney's worth. What's a guinea in a box? — not 
 better than a brass button in a bag. But still 
 one cannot marry without the stumpy." 
 
 " Then try the widow," said Lord Tom ; 
 " you have my full permission — only don't quote 
 me as authority. You will drive Sir Charles 
 either into a proposal or the Serpentine river; 
 so at all events something will come of it." 
 
 " But, my lord," said Jack, " since we have 
 touched upon this matter, I will be candid. 
 I have just said 1 don't value money ; but, if it 
 weren't for the fortune, I would rather marry 
 the sister." 
 
 '* And has she been kind too," said Lord 
 Tom. 
 
 " Why," said Jack, simpering, and aiFecting 
 to look modest, " I can't say kind — uncommon 
 goodnatured — and — laughs — and all that : and 
 I have heard a long-headed old fellow, who 
 knows the sex, say, that if you can once make 
 a grave female laugh, the day is your own." 
 
 " Provided always," said his lordship, " that 
 she laughs ivitk and not at you ; the difference 
 is surprisingly great."
 
 JACK BRAG. 135 
 
 " Oh ! Blanche is no Avays whatsoever satiri- 
 cal," said the tallow chandler : — " and, hang 
 me ! if I was asked, I should say there wasn't 
 a pin to choose between them." 
 
 " Take my advice, Jack," said the mischiev- 
 ous lordHng — " try them both. Manage your 
 matters well — lead them both on — there is no 
 chance of their confiding in each other, because 
 as they are both supposed to be engaged, nei- 
 ther would choose to trust the other with any 
 proof of her infidelit}^" 
 
 " Shall I write to the widow," said Jack, 
 " and talk to the sister" — 
 
 "Write, man! are you mad?" said Lord 
 Tom. " Never write — that would be a pretty 
 aflPair. Who knows how notes may miscarry — 
 how writing-desks may be left open, or if not, 
 be broken open ? Besides, they might, upon 
 so strange a proceeding as that, compare notes, 
 and what a pretty mess you would be in then ! 
 No ; sound them — try them — get them apart, 
 and ascertain the extent of their interest in you." 
 
 Brag listened to all this advice of his noble 
 friend, believing it to be given de bonne foi ; and
 
 136 JACK BRAG. 
 
 although there appeared difficulties in the deli- 
 cate process which his lordship suggested, and 
 which, by a mind like Brag's, were not perfectly 
 easy to be surmounted, he thought he compre- 
 hended the general tenor of his instructions, 
 which had for its object his making himself 
 uncommonly agreeable to both parties. 
 
 " Lead Blanche on," said Lord Tom, " by a 
 course of negative officiousness ; be always near 
 her, devoted and unaffected. Let her fall into 
 friendship ; sympathize with her in all her feel- 
 ings, agree in all her opinions — but never seem to 
 do so with any defined object : thus in a fortnight 
 or three weeks you will obtain her confidence. 
 She will be convinced you esteem her and value 
 her, and are anxious for her comfort and hap- 
 piness ; then she'll grow kind and familiar, 
 and, thrown off her guard by your respect- 
 ful behaviour, will begin to evince an undis- 
 guised wish for your society. She will at last feel 
 that you are somehow, she can scarcely tell how, 
 essential to her happiness, and when you have 
 got her into this blessed state of amiabihty, off 
 with your disguise of friendship, like the hero
 
 JACK BRAG. lo7 
 
 of a tragedy, and profess yourself her lover. 
 Then"— 
 
 " Ay, ay," interrupted Jack, " that 's all 
 very well, my dear lord, and a very pretty 
 month's amusement it would be, to do all you 
 prescribe : but, then, what will Frank Rushton 
 be about to let me ? He 's as fiery as a dragon, 
 and as jealous as old Nick. No, no, whatever 
 is done, must be done clean, off-hand, smack 
 smooth, and no mistake." 
 
 " Then," said Lord Tom, " if that 's your 
 principle, you had better take a shot at the 
 widow ; she 's not so likely to be flurried by a 
 hurry ; and, besides, your activity will form 
 such a striking contrast to the respectable icicle 
 now hanging about her, that you will in all pro- 
 bability carry the day by a coup de main.'''' 
 
 " Just after my own heart," said Jack ; " by 
 Job ! I '11 have a shy at her." 
 
 " Do," said his lordship, " and when you 
 are installed in the town-house and family man- 
 sion in the west or north, or wherever it is, 
 make yourself agreeable ; fill your house with 
 your friends, and let us be jolly."'
 
 138 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " We '11 live like fighting cocks,'' said Jack, 
 " you only just see. I '11 do it regular ; there 
 sha'nt be a fellow in the king's dominions who 
 shall beat me." 
 
 " Success attend you, Jack !" said his lord- 
 ship," but don't forget Thursday." 
 
 " I '11 be punctual to the minute," said Jack ; 
 my watch is a regular-built chronometer. You 
 shall find me at the starting-post, all right, and 
 no mistake." 
 
 And so the friends parted. Brag having not 
 the slightest intention of ever risking a second 
 visit to Wrigglesford, or a second attempt to 
 trespass on the surly farmer's grounds, who had 
 threatened him for his former proceeding ; and 
 moreover being: resolved to devote the next 
 few days to the achievement of one of the beau- 
 ties, of both of whom he was convinced, in his 
 small mind, he was a regularly established 
 favourite. 
 
 Meanwhile we must not forget poor Anne 
 Brown, whom we left under the care of the 
 physician's housekeeper, and who, when she 
 recovered from the agitation which kept her
 
 JACK BRAG. 139 
 
 senseless for some hours, found herself with her 
 head reclining upon the arm of that highly 
 respectable functionary. 
 
 It would require a much greater space than 
 I am permitted in this hasty narrative, to de- 
 scribe the excellent qualities of Dr. Mead, the 
 eminent and able practitioner to whom the 
 anxious daughter had prevailed upon herself 
 to apply for advice and assistance; but it is 
 absolutely necessary that the reader should be 
 made acquainted to a certain extent with the 
 attributes of his character, even beyond the 
 pale of his profession, the exercise of which 
 seemed rather the fruit of a desire to do good 
 to others, than of any venal feeling of self- 
 aggrandizement. 
 
 Although there exists no documentary evi- 
 dence to prove his descent from the eminent 
 physician of the same name, it seems not entire- 
 ly improbable that the fortuitous circumstance 
 of a similarity of patronymic and profession 
 might have conduced almost unconsciously to a 
 similarity of feeling and disposition between 
 them. Matthew Mead, the father of the famous
 
 140 JACK BRAG. 
 
 doctor, was a nonconforming divine : our Dr. 
 Mead's father was an orthodox clergyman. If 
 the famous Mead married early, our Mead was 
 yet single ; and whatever turn he might have had 
 for the fine arts, or whatever veneration he enter- 
 tained for their professors, his means, althovigh 
 fully adequate to the maintenance of a highly 
 respectable establishment and equipage, were 
 not yet sufficiently extensive to emulate his 
 namesake as a patron or protector. Still, his 
 income might have been much larger, had he 
 not upon every occasion where, by a benevo- 
 lent curiosity, he discovered the slenderness of 
 a patient's means, forborne to accept the fees 
 Avhich from the rich and great he did not hesi- 
 tate to accept, and which his spreading fame 
 and rising reputation produced in very consi- 
 derable numbers. 
 
 In his manners mild and soothing, in his con- 
 versation unaffected and intelligent, his study 
 appeared to be to " minister to the mind dis- 
 eased," as well as to the body ; and his ap- 
 proach to the sick chamber was hailed by the 
 watchful invalid rather as a relief from pain
 
 JACK BRAG. 141 
 
 and suffering in itself, than as the mere busi- 
 ness visit of a professional man, coming in the 
 ordinary routine of duty to enquire and prescribe. 
 
 With feelings and a disposition like this, 
 the benevolence of his heart beaming in his 
 countenance, and the sympathy which he felt 
 for sorrow and sadness expressed in language 
 the most gentle and in a tone the most harmo- 
 nious, it is not surprising that Dr. Mead should 
 have speedily reassured poor Anne, to whom, 
 ^s soon as she was sufficiently recovered to be 
 conscious of her situation, he was summoned 
 by the housekeeper, and whom he was greatly 
 surprised, upon inquiry, to find not a patient, 
 but merely the emissary from one who sought 
 his advice. 
 
 It was in a moment evident to his search- 
 ing eye, that the agitation under which she 
 had been suffering, and from which she was 
 not yet quite recovered, must have had its ori- 
 gin in some more sudden event, and one of 
 more recent occurrence than the illness of her 
 mother : he resolved to question her upon the 
 point ; but a recurrence of all the worst sym-
 
 142 JACK BRAG. 
 
 ptoms induced him to forego any further search 
 into a matter, in fact, disconnected with the 
 object of her visit to his house. 
 
 That object was immediately attained. The 
 excellent man ordered his carriage to be got 
 ready instantly, and directed the housekeeper, 
 who had been in attendance on Anne, to ac- 
 company her to her mother's house, and to re- 
 turn home with the carriage, telling her that he 
 would himself, having called upon one or two 
 patients in his immediate neighbourhood on foot, 
 proceed to visit his new patient at a later hour ; 
 giving as a reason for this proceeding the abso- 
 lute necessity of his seeing those persons before 
 his departure for Walworth, and the probable 
 anxiety of Mrs. Brown for the safety of her 
 daughter, if she should delay her return until 
 he should be able to accompany her. 
 
 To some practitioners, this delicacy on the 
 part of our doctor might appear somewhat too 
 refined, the obvious mode of proceeding being, 
 to have handed the young lady into the car- 
 riage, and driven with her to her mother's resi- 
 dence ; but Mead felt otherwise. He had odd
 
 JACK BRAG. 143 
 
 notions upon many points ; and beyond what 
 he considered the main object of this arrange- 
 ment, the fact, that an entirely unexpected 
 visit from a stranger might not altogether suit 
 the convenience of an establishment so con- 
 fined as that of Mrs. Brown's, did not slip his 
 regard or consideration. 
 
 When Anne reached home, she had a hard 
 part to play. The anxiety she felt for her mo- 
 ther ; the pang she received when she saw the 
 sunken eye of her beloved parent fixed — not 
 tearless — on her returned child, filled with a 
 half- sanguine, half-hopeless expression, and 
 heard her breathing heavily, made her heart 
 ache to its very centre. Filled with gratitude to 
 their expected benefactor, she endeavoured to 
 explain to her suffering mother the extent of 
 his kindness and consideration, while the recol- 
 lection of the callous barbarity of the man she 
 had once loved, and whom she believed to have 
 loved her, wrung her to the very soul. 
 
 That she was indignant at the treatment she 
 had experienced, who shall doubt .? — but who, 
 that knows woman, will doubt either that in the
 
 144 JACK BRAG. 
 
 heart where Love has once dwelt, the very me- 
 mory of his presence there, will extenuate the 
 fault which should make the object hateful. 
 
 This generous, gentle feeling turned all the 
 force of the indignation which ought to have been 
 directed against the paltry pretender himself, 
 towards his associates, to whose baleful influence 
 Anne entirely attributed the astounding change 
 which had taken place in his manners. Even 
 the neglect of her letter v/as laid to the same 
 account ; but yet what made the wound he had 
 inflicted rankle the more, was the impossibilitv 
 at the present juncture of risking her mother's 
 tranquillity — perhaps existence, by telling her 
 what had occurred, or of accounting for her 
 lengthened absence by explaining the cause of 
 the indisposition to which it was attributable. 
 
 In less than two hours after Anne's return 
 the doctor, true to his promise, arrived. It 
 is scarcely possible to describe her feelings as 
 he entered the room where her mother lay ; it 
 seemed as if Hope had revived in her breast 
 — that there was somebody who felt an interest 
 for them. She drew back from the bed-side.
 
 JACK BRAG. 145 
 
 and hid her face in her hands to conceal her 
 emotion : she cried like a child, and tears again 
 were a relief to her aching heart. 
 
 The kind doctor's questions to Mrs. Brown 
 were few: the case needed little enquiry — it 
 was a sinking of nature, caused, as it seemed to 
 him, less by bodily ills than mental affliction, 
 and considerably accelerated by the want of pro- 
 per air, and, he almost feared, nourishment. He 
 wrote a prescription, rather however as a mat- 
 ter of form, satisfactory to the patient, than with 
 any view of the success of medicine, and then, 
 having taken leave of his patient, beckoned 
 Anne to follow him from the apartment. 
 
 " Your mother must be removed as soon as 
 she can bear the fatigue," said the doctor. 
 " Change of air and diet are absolutely neces- 
 sary." 
 
 Anne heard the fiat in silence, and again 
 tears rolled down her cheeks. 
 
 " I should think," continued Dr. Mead, 
 " that with care and a proper regimen the 
 removal might be effected in four or five days." 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 JACK BRAG. 
 
 Still Anne remained silent and trembling, 
 her eyes cast down upon the ground. 
 
 " You should contrive to amuse her mind," 
 said the doctor ; " she should not refuse to see 
 her friends." 
 
 " God help us !" sobbed Anne, unable longer 
 to conceal her agitation, — " we have no friends ! 
 What is to be done. Heaven knows ! She 
 must be moved ; your kind directions shall be 
 obeyed, sir; — I" — 
 
 " My dear young lady," said Mead, " you 
 wrong yourself, and me, when you say you have 
 no friends. In me. you have a friend. Rely on 
 Providence, and never despair : — friends will 
 always be raised up for confiding piety, for suf- 
 fering virtue, and for filial duty in distress. I 
 will not indelicately press my enquiries, but you 
 must permit me to act upon my own advice, 
 /am the friend your mother must admit. I 
 will call here to-morrow ; and I think, without 
 putting either of you to much inconvenience, I 
 can secure you a comfortable residence in a 
 worthy and respectable family, in a desir- 
 able climate. / must manage all this ; and
 
 JACK BRAG. 147 
 
 perhaps I may be able, at no distant period, to 
 give you and your mother a good reason why 
 she need not feel herself vmder any serious 
 obligation to me: — upon this point I will not 
 trouble you to-day, — you have had worry 
 and agitation enough. Keep yourself calm and 
 quiet ; cheer your mother's hopes — there is no 
 fear of a dangerous result ; upon that point I 
 will stake my reputation. Let her have the 
 medicine I have written for, and to-morrow, by 
 one, I shall see you again." 
 
 Saying which, he shook hands with the 
 grateful Anne, and proceeded to his carriage. 
 
 At no period of our lives does kindness so 
 powerfully affect us as when it comes imme- 
 diately after we have received some cruel blow. 
 The affectionate tone and spirit of the doctor's 
 consolatory address struck to Anne's heart, and 
 she returned to her mother, blessing God who 
 had raised up such a help to them in the 
 hour of gloom and adversity. 
 
 The doctor's benevolence did not stop here, 
 even for the day. In the evening, whilst Anne 
 was preparing the best refreshment she could 
 
 h2
 
 148 JACK BRAG. 
 
 contrive to procure with but slender means of 
 purchase and small skill in cookery, the house- 
 keeper of the excellent doctor arrived, bringing 
 with her, sundry little delicacies, and some wine 
 which her master "had taken the liberty of send- 
 ing, because by experience he knew its sound- 
 ness and excellence of quality, and was there- 
 fore sure it would be serviceable to his patient 
 in her particular case ;" in short, every comfort 
 was secured to her that sympathy could sug- 
 gest or art provide; and, as Anne herself said, 
 the very feelings which such attentions inspired, 
 contributed of themselves materially to exhila- 
 rate and revive her poor mother, whose bodily 
 ailments, as Mead had surmised, were painfully 
 aggravated by mental depression. 
 
 And yet, grateful to Providence as Anne 
 was, with a heart overflowing with thankful- 
 ness to the generous, noble-minded man who in 
 a few hours had converted a house of mourn- 
 ing into a house of hope, if not of happiness, 
 — when she laid her head upon the pillow near 
 her mother, who slept tranquilly, her first 
 thoughts were of that unworthy being by whom
 
 JACK BRAG. 149 
 
 she had been first insulted and then repudiated 
 even as a common acquaintance, in the street 
 that morning;. 
 
 It seemed like a dream to her even then. 
 Prepared as she must have been, and indeed had 
 told him she was, eternally to resign any claim 
 of a tender nature upon his heart, she could 
 not bear the thought of being spurned by the 
 man for whom she had permitted herself not 
 only to feel, but admit that she felt, an af- 
 fection. That she had not deserved such 
 usage was self-evident, and that she should 
 receive it particularly after her last appeal, was 
 galling and distracting beyond endurance. Lit- 
 tle did she think how perfectly disconnected 
 with that appeal his conduct was, or suspect 
 how he had treated her last letter. 
 
 These thoughts, and those of early days, 
 were naturally blended in her mind with the 
 memory of her brother George, whose long 
 silence was another source of anxiety and agi- 
 tation ; nor could she forget, besides the ten- 
 derer ties to John, the closeness of their con- 
 nexion by George''s marriage. If George had
 
 150 JACK BRAG. 
 
 been at home, thought Anne, he would not have 
 behaved so — but George too has forgotten us. 
 All those who once were dear to us, and we to 
 them, are gone ! and we are helped and com- 
 forted by the stranger upon whom we have no 
 claim, and who has no tie to us but his own 
 benevolence. 
 
 In the morning, Mrs. Brown awoke after a 
 refreshing sleep, very much better than even 
 her watchful daughter could have hoped. It 
 was but too evident that the physician had 
 rightly decided on the character of her com- 
 plaint, and the absolute necessity of a change 
 of regimen in the first instance, to be followed 
 up by a removal from the close atmosphere of 
 a small room in a gas-lighted suburban village 
 to a purer air. Indeed, so very much better 
 did her mother appear, that Anne repeated to 
 her the verbal prescription of the doctor, add- 
 ing the proposal he had made of providing 
 them with a comfortable residence in a family 
 known to himself. 
 
 For three days did Dr. Mead continue his 
 visits punctually, bringing with him upon each
 
 JACK BRAG. 151 
 
 occasion some little luxury prepared for use, 
 under the plea that he was most anxious his 
 patient's food should be dressed according to 
 rule, and that he could not be satisfied unless 
 his own servants were the operators, under his 
 own immediate direction. At the expiration of 
 a week he pronounced her capable of bearing 
 the fatigue of removal ; and on the following 
 Saturday evening Mrs. Brown and her daugh- 
 ter found themselves established in a delightful 
 cottage surrounded by gardens and fields, with- 
 in four miles of town, the master and mistress of 
 which appeared the devoted servants of the wor- 
 thy doctor, and vied with each other in showing 
 attention and courtesy to their new inmates. 
 
 With returning health, there arose in Mrs. 
 Brown's mind an irresistible feeling of embar- 
 rassment connected with her present situation. 
 She found herself and her daughter placed in 
 a position of ease and comfort, with the con- 
 sciousness hanging over her that she was inca- 
 pable of affording the luxuries which she was 
 enjoying, and a sensitive unwillingness either to 
 trespass upon the kindness of their benefactor,
 
 152 JACK BRAG. 
 
 or if that kindness were merely limited to the 
 recommendation of their new residence, equally 
 anxious not to involve herself in expenses which 
 she was aware that she could not defray. 
 
 The doctor''s hours of visiting his patient 
 were different from those which he had fixed 
 before their removal. He came in the even- 
 ings, partook of their tea, and sat longer and 
 stayed later each evening that he came — and so 
 a week wore away — ajid yet Mrs. Brown had 
 not the courage to put those questions which she 
 had resolved somehow to ask, and to which her 
 medical friend's conduct certainly did not ap- 
 pear likely to afford any practical solution ; for 
 when he congratulated her upon the improve- 
 ment of her health, he alluded to a trial of 
 some new medicine, about the effects of which 
 upon her constitution he was very sanguine, 
 and which he should begin with, in " a week or 
 two." 
 
 The words had scarce passed his lips, when 
 the eyes of mother and daughter met, not un- 
 seen by the doctor, who immediately added to 
 what he had already said : — " Perhaps you
 
 JACK BRAG. 153 
 
 may be of opinion that in that time you will 
 have no need of any medicine at all." 
 
 This seemed to be an occasion which Mrs. 
 Brown might seize, of coming to an expla- 
 nation of her feelings, and she availed herself 
 of it accordingly ; and, difficult as was the 
 task to perform, she contrived to make the 
 doctor understand the delicacy of her posi- 
 tion, and the apprehensions under which she 
 laboured. 
 
 " My dear madam," .said Mead, " I am de- 
 lighted that you have given me an opportunity 
 of speaking upon this matter. As the worthy 
 people of this house can tell you, or may per- 
 haps have told you, you are not ^he first pa- 
 tient I have recommended to their care ; and that 
 when such an event happens, I consider them 
 my guests during their residence here. In your 
 case, however, there are circumstances very dif- 
 ferent from those which occur in many others, 
 as far as I am concerned : — you have, naturally 
 enough, forgotten me; but we have met before 
 the occasion upon which 1 recently visited 
 
 you." 
 
 h5
 
 154 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Indeed !" said the lady, somewhat incre- 
 dulously. 
 
 " Indeed," replied the physician, " I have 
 dined in your house, madam, more than once. 
 I was not aware of this fact when first I called 
 on you, but circumstances and coincidences 
 led me to institute an enquiry, and I found in 
 you^ madam, the widow of the man to whom I 
 may, without exaggeration, attribute my suc- 
 cess in life, and the place I now hold in society 
 and my profession." 
 
 " You surprise me exceedingly," said Mrs. 
 BroAvn. 
 
 " It is now more than four-and-twenty years 
 since," said Dr. Mead, " that I was recom- 
 mended to the notice of Mr. Brown by a friend 
 of his and a connexion of mine, then living at 
 Bristol ; and upon my arrival in London I was, 
 in consequence of that introduction, invited to 
 your house, where, as I have already said, I 
 dined more than once. But it was not by 
 mere commonplace hospitality that Mr. Brown 
 proved the warmth and sincerity of his feelings 
 towards me. Upon one occasion, when an op-
 
 JACK BRAG. 155 
 
 portunity presented itself — in all human pro- 
 bability the deciding opportunity of my life 
 for furthering my professional views — a sum 
 of money was necessary to the accomplishment 
 of my wishes, of which I was not possessed. 
 Had not Mr. Brown at that time generously 
 assisted me, I must have relinquished the ob- 
 ject I had in view, the realization of which, 
 proved, as I have already said, the foundation 
 of my fortunes. I have now, I think, said suf- 
 ficient to overcome all your scruples with re- 
 gard to my present conduct ; and I only rejoice 
 that the opportunity is afforded me of proving 
 to you and this dear young lady, that there is 
 still in the world such a sentiment as Grati- 
 tude." 
 
 " This is most extraordinary I" said Anne. 
 " For several years," continued Dr. Mead, 
 " after my return from the Continent, I en- 
 deavoured to find out the widow of my bene- 
 factor, but without success, and I look upon 
 that as one of the most fortunate hours of my 
 life in which the suffering daughter of my 
 first friend came to require my assistance, at-
 
 156 JACK BRAG. 
 
 tracted to me by a reputation which her father 
 had so materially contributed to establish. 
 Now," added he, " you may look on me with 
 feelings far different from those which have 
 hitherto occupied your hearts and minds: — in 
 me you see only the protege endeavouring as 
 much as in his power lies, to evince his thank- 
 fulness where it is so justly due." 
 
 " What are we to say to you ?" said the 
 agitated parent. 
 
 " Nothing, nothing," interrupted Mead. 
 " Permit me to continue my visits, now, luck- 
 ily not rendered professionally necessary. Let 
 me entreat you to remain whei'e you are, and 
 allow me, whenever I can, to come hither and 
 enjoy in your society, and that of your exem- 
 plary daughter, a repose after the hurries and 
 worries of a London life, which I have long 
 but vainly sought." 
 
 Nobody can doubt what, under the circum- 
 stances, was the course Mrs. Brown pursued, 
 although, it must be confessed, that she even 
 then, had her doubts as to the truth of the doc- 
 tor's narrative ; regarding the statement of his
 
 JACK BRAG. 157 
 
 obligations to her husband, and his consequent 
 success in life, rather as the fruits of an inven- 
 tive faculty, exerted in order to overcome her 
 scruples and satisfy her delicacy, than as a 
 matter-of-fact bit of history. 
 ' Of herself, she had not the slightest recol- 
 lection of the name of her new old friend in the 
 catalogue of visiters at her house ; nor could she 
 recall to her mind the personal appearance of 
 any guest at her husband's hospitable board 
 which bore a resemblance to the doctor. A 
 quarter of a century had elapsed, and the tal- 
 low-faced pupil of the hospitals had grown into 
 the mellow-tinted arbiter of the mortal destinies 
 of men ; and if the doctor had been sufficiently 
 ungallant (which doctors never are) to have 
 made an ample confession on his part, it is 
 quite certain he must have said, that he found 
 not in the sinking widow whom he had restored, 
 any remains of the charms and attractions which 
 had in his early days characterized the gay 
 and dashing wife. 
 
 P'tor Brown however had, in the zenith of his 
 career, been as hospitable as a Madeira mer-
 
 158 JACK BRAG. 
 
 chant, and was wont to welcome to his table 
 men of all trades and nations, all callings and 
 professions. He held it to be part of his busi- 
 ness to cement connexions by social intercourse, 
 and therefore while he kept in fact, open house, 
 it was morally impossible for his lady, who wa^ 
 not much interested in the casual guests " be- 
 low the salt," to recollect all their names or 
 persons. Still she could hardly divest herself of 
 the idea that the doctor's history was a sooth- 
 ing fiction ; although her daughter, whose opi- 
 nion of the said doctor was somehow more 
 favourable than that of her parent, declared her 
 conviction that he was much too honourable, 
 too candid, and too sincere, to endeavour to 
 carry even a favourite point by deception or 
 misrepresentation. 
 
 How this paragon of physicians turned out 
 in the wearing, we may perhaps live to see.
 
 JACK BRAG. 159 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 It was a short time after this, that Mr. Brag 
 was called upon to perform a feat for the amuse- 
 ment of his aristocratic friends, which, however 
 powerful the effect it actually did produce, ter- 
 minated in a manner less agreeable to the actor 
 than the audience. 
 
 Upon our hero's arrival one day at the lodg- 
 ings of Lord Tom Towzle, he found his lordship 
 and two other worthies concocting an answer to 
 a matrimonial advertisement which had appear- 
 ed in the columns of that most fashionable of all 
 journals, The Morning Post ; and Jack's ap- 
 pearance to take his seat in such a council was 
 hailed with enthusiasm ; — in fact, he was the 
 very man to undertake the conduct of the whole 
 affair. 
 
 The advertisement ran thus : —
 
 160 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Matrimony. — A widow lady, in good cir- 
 cumstances and of high respectability, being, 
 from causes which she will be most happy to 
 explain, left much alone, is desirous of again 
 entering the married state, provided she could 
 find a gentleman of honour and character who 
 might feel a similar wish. The advertiser is 
 aware that an address of this nature is unusual, 
 and may therefore create a prejudice against 
 her in the minds of some ; she is, however, con- 
 fident, that upon investigation her conduct will 
 be shown to be perfectly justifiable. Letters, 
 post-paid, directed to A. Z, to be left at the 
 Twopenny Post-oflice the corner of Little Queen 
 Street, Holborn, will be attended to : but as it 
 is not the intention of the advertiser to gratify 
 idle curiosity, no farther particulars will be 
 entered into, until after an interview between 
 the parties." 
 
 " This is capital !" said Lord Tom. " We 
 have seen hundreds of men advertising for 
 wives, but the lady being the applicant is some- 
 thing new. However, she is evidently no fool ;
 
 JACK BRAG. 161 
 
 she is determined to see her man before she ex- 
 plains herself. You, my dear Brag, must be the 
 recipient of her wishes and sorrows. We have 
 just concluded a reply, fixing a meeting upon 
 Waterloo Bridge, a locality chosen in prefer- 
 ence to any of the Parks, squares, or gardens, 
 on account of its solitude, — a quality which has 
 reduced it as a speculation to worse than nil, 
 which, considering it is one of the most splen- 
 did ornaments of the metropolis, is most deeply 
 to be regretted."" 
 
 Jack was delighted at being fixed upon to 
 talk over the fair advertiser ; his self-acknow- 
 ledged invincibility was admitted. It was his 
 particular ybr^e — and it was speedily arranged 
 that his three companions should remain at a 
 convenient distance until the parley should 
 have proceeded to a certain extent, when they 
 were manfully to avow themselves confederates 
 in the scheme, and eventually drive the rash 
 damsel " fainting from the ground." 
 
 It must be confessed that the system of mate- 
 hunting through the medium of the news- 
 papers, is one. which not unnaturally subjects
 
 162 JACK BRAG. 
 
 its practitioners to the assaults of the mis- 
 chievous and merciless. Whether any of the 
 negociations, of which such notices are the pre- 
 cursors, terminate satisfactorily, — that is to 
 say, in the union of the parties — it is impos- 
 sible to say ; but it does seem, for people who 
 have eyes and ears and hands and tongues, 
 the strangest possible course of proceeding. 
 
 Jack, who in all his antics kept his eye upon 
 the main chance, was by no means the less 
 inclined to the performance of this hoax upon 
 the defenceless innocence of the yet unknown 
 fair-one, by a notion which flashed into his mind, 
 that it might turn out that she really was 
 handsome and rich : a notion which, to be sure, 
 was rather romantic, inasmuch as it would ap- 
 pear that a lady possessing those qualifications 
 — or even one, provided it were the latter — need 
 not have had recourse to a public proclamation 
 of her wish for a husband. Something, how- 
 ever might come of it : it was the opening of 
 a new field for the exertion of his talents, and 
 the display would, he felt certain, place him a 
 step or two higher in the estimation of his 
 noble sporting friends.
 
 JACK BRAG. 163 
 
 The letter, addressed as desired, was des- 
 patched, the postage paid, the day and hour 
 were fixed, and the party separated to meet 
 a few minutes previous to the rencontre, and 
 arrange their forces, as has already been de- 
 scribed ; three forming a corps of observation, 
 while Brag was performing his light-infantry 
 evolutions in advance. 
 
 It must be quite clear to the reader, that 
 upon such an occasion Jack took the greatest 
 possible pains to make himself what he called 
 " the thing ;" every fold of his coloured neck- 
 handkerchief was laid with the most anxious 
 nicety of form and tint, every curl was crisped 
 into its own peculiar place, and the whole of his 
 costume made to look like that of " a genteel 
 comedy" playhouse beau, which, as he believed, 
 must be irresistible in a widow's eyes. 
 
 At length the wished-for day and hour ar- 
 rived. Lord Tom Towzle and his two friends 
 were joined by Brag at the corner of Pall Mall, 
 and proceeded to the scene of action, where 
 they took up their stations a few minutes be- 
 fore two — two being the appointed time for the
 
 164 JACK BRAG. 
 
 meeting — and having separated according to 
 the programme, Mr. John Brag commenced his 
 amatory promenade on one side of the bridge, 
 while his expectant companions occupied the 
 other, but at a considerable distance from him. 
 It was a pleasing thing to see our hero set- 
 tling himself and pulling up his shirt collar, then 
 drawing on his glove, then twirling a little switch- 
 like stick which he carried, and then using it in 
 whipping his own boots, shining with a lustre 
 which Day and Martin might have envied. He 
 had scarcely finished one turn when the Lon- 
 don clocks began striking two, which at differ- 
 ent periods they continued to do, for nearly five 
 minutes, that of St. Paul's booming through 
 the air about midway between the subordi- 
 nates. — Another turn had been taken, and no 
 fair one was in sight : — ^a small girl in trousers, 
 with her hair platted into two long tails with 
 bows at their ends, and a bustle, approach- 
 ed — she was evidently no widow ; she pass- 
 ed on ; Jack tried the eloquence of his eyes 
 upon hei': — then came a tall, gaunt woman, 
 with a poodle dog. Jack looked at Aer, but she
 
 JACK BRAG. 165 
 
 made no sign. At last there appeared a fine 
 portly-looking dame, dressed in a coquelicot 
 bonnet, topped up with white and green feathers, 
 a lavender-coloured pelisse, and bufF-coloured 
 boots. The friends in the distance were con- 
 vinced that this was the person. She looked 
 behind her and before her, and first on one 
 side, and then on the other, and proceeded at a 
 steady pace. She drew a full-sized, white- 
 faced watch from her bosom, and gazed upon 
 its dial, and then tossed her well-plumed head 
 with an air of impatience and surprise at the 
 non-appearance of her summoner. ' 
 
 John Brag, Esq. beheld the vision, and if 
 he had seen all the daemons of the Hartz Fo- 
 rest pemmican^d into one plump lady, he could 
 not have felt more horror and dismay. By 
 what fatal accident, what evil coincidence, it 
 should so have occurred, he could not imagine ; 
 — the extensive being before him, and now fast 
 approaching, was neither more nor less than 
 his respectable mother. 
 
 What the deuce could have brought her so 
 far from home, and so wonderfully fine in her
 
 166 JACK BRAG. 
 
 dress, Jack could not imagine ; the question 
 was, what was to be done ? If he advanced, 
 another minute would bring him in contact, and 
 into conversation, with his parent ; if he retreat- 
 ed, he must fall back upon his friends, and she 
 would inevitably follow and accost him. The 
 brightness of his genius came to his aid in this 
 unexpected dilemma — he resolved instantly to 
 join her, turn round with her, and fall into the 
 dialogue which he saw must take place, and 
 make his companions believe that his companion 
 was the real object of their expedition, the 
 advertising lady. 
 
 This scheme possessed many advantages, for 
 the very circumstance of his relationship to his 
 companion would afford him an opportunity of 
 exhibiting the ease and familiarity of his man- 
 ner while talking to the supposed advertiser, 
 which would convince his companions that he 
 was proceeding most successfully in his career ; 
 during which period he hoped to set his beloved 
 mother on her way on the other side of the 
 water before they could come up to enact their 
 part of laughing at the victim, which it was
 
 JACK BRAG. 167 
 
 settled they were not to do, until Brag should 
 give a signal that the moment for explosion 
 had arrived. 
 
 The ingenious performer, however, had reck- 
 oned without his host. When he and his mo- 
 ther met, the expression of her countenance was 
 anything but agreeable : she seemed, in fact, as 
 much mortified and annoyed by his appearance 
 as he had been by hers : and with all his desire 
 to keep good friends with her, and wheedle 
 her away as soon as possible, he could not dis- 
 guise the anxiety with which he watched the 
 approach of the fair husband-hunter, upon 
 whom, so long as his parent remained where 
 she was, he could not of course play his 
 tricks. 
 
 " Well, John," said the lady, " who would 
 have thought that we should have met here 
 to-day ? I 'm sure I don't know how long it is 
 since I 've set eyes upon you." 
 
 " 1 have been a good deal out of town," said 
 Brag, acting (for effect with his friends) in 
 the most civil and obsequious manner. 
 
 " What," said Mrs. Brag, " at your little
 
 168 JACK BRAG. 
 
 place in Surrey. I suppose you are coining 
 from it now — eh, Johnny ?" 
 
 " No, not exactly," said Jack. " May I ask 
 where you are going .''" 
 
 " Nowhere particular,"" replied the lady. 
 " Don't let me keep you. I am only out to 
 make a call. I can go without you.'''' 
 
 " I will just see you to the gate,*" said Jack, 
 carefully abstaining from any gesture or move- 
 ment which could in the slightest degree resem- 
 ble the appointed signal for the co-operation of 
 his friends. 
 
 " Don't mind me, John," said his mother ; " it 
 is so nice and airy up here, that I think I shall 
 take a turn or two on the bridge before I go." 
 ' " My dear mother," said Brag, " you '11 
 catch your death of cold. Let me persuade 
 you to get off as soon as you possibly can." 
 
 " I like air," said Mrs. Brag ; " so you go 
 your way. Who are those men standing out 
 there ? Do you know them .''" 
 
 " Those men !" said Brag — " what, those 
 three men there ? — no — I know nothing about 
 them."
 
 JACK BRAG. 169 
 
 " Well then, good b'ye, John," said the lady. 
 " Now don't let me keep you ; it is more than 
 a quarter after two, and I needn't be at my 
 friend's till three ; so now go — there 's a dear !" 
 
 This was a puzzler : — the fancy his mother 
 had taken to walk upon Waterloo Bridge seem- 
 ed to Jack not only the most extraordinary, but 
 the most inconvenient imaginable. He could 
 not leave her without accounting to his friends 
 for not having made the signal, or for the con- 
 versation in which it was but too evident to them 
 he was engaged ; nor could he, in fact, go near 
 them, without practically contradicting the de- 
 claration he had just made to his mother, that 
 he knew nothing about them. He decided. 
 
 " Well then, mother," said he, " if you 
 really do like to walk up and down a little, I 
 don't see why I should not walk up and 
 down with you." 
 
 " Well, I 'm sure !" said Mrs. Brag, " won- 
 ders will never cease, I think ! Walk up and 
 down with me ! — why you have not done such 
 a thing these three years. Why, we have never 
 been out together since the day you took me 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 JACK BRAG. 
 
 down to dinner at Blackwall, and kept me shut 
 up in an attic at the ' Artichoke,' because, you 
 said, I wasn't fit to be seen by the company. 
 No, no — go about 1/our business, and leave me 
 to mine." 
 
 " I am waiting for somebody," said Jack. 
 
 " Oh ! that 's it," cried Mrs. Brag. " I 
 thought there must be something in the wind." 
 
 " I know you don't like spoiling sport, mo- 
 ther," said Brag. " I 'm here on a bit of fun : — 
 I '11 let you into the joke. I expect every mo- 
 ment to see an uncommon smart body, who has 
 been fool enough to advertise for a husband — 
 eh ! — don't you see ? We 've tipped her a 
 twopenny, fixing this, as the place of meeting : 
 it 's past the time, and I dare say she won't be 
 much longer. Now, perhaps, ii you stop, she 
 won't come to the scratch." 
 
 " Advertise for a husband !" exclaimed Mrs. 
 Brag — " why, what have you been at ? Did 
 you answer the advertisement ?" 
 
 " Clean as a whistle," said Jack, flourishing 
 his stick, and shaking his head with an air of 
 uncommon self-satisfaction, " smack smooth, 
 and no mistake — eh !"
 
 JACK BRAG. 171 
 
 *' What ! appointing her here " — said the 
 lady. 
 
 " Here at two," said Brag — " the ador- 
 able A. Z. at the oil-shop the corner of Little 
 Queen Street, Holborn." 
 
 " You did, did you ?" ejaculated his mother. 
 
 " I did," said Brag. 
 
 " Well then, all I say, John,'' cried Mrs. 
 Brag, " is, that you ought to be ashamed of 
 yourself. If you was a lone widow woman, 
 how would you like to sit moping and mump- 
 ing all alone, after having been used to socia- 
 bility and comfort." 
 
 " I see nothing to be ashamed of," said 
 Brag. " If people will make themselves such 
 Tom-noddies as to put such trumpery stuff 
 into the newspapers, they deserve all they get." 
 
 " How you ferreted it out, I don't know," 
 said Mrs. Brag. 
 
 " Ferret what out ?" said Jack. 
 
 *' — But this I do know," continued the lady 
 " the letter was not in your hand-writing." 
 
 " How the deuce do you know thatV inter- 
 rupted Jack. 
 
 i2
 
 172 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Why, do you think I don't know your 
 little scribbling pot-hooks and hangers when 
 I see them ?" retorted the mother. 
 
 " I dare say you do," said the son ; " but 
 how came you to see the letter we sent to A. Z. 
 at the pickle-shop ?"" 
 
 " As if you didn't know," said Mrs. Brag. 
 " Do you suppose I am so blind as not to see 
 through your antics .? No, no : as I said be- 
 fore, how you ferreted it out I don't yet under- 
 stand ; and when you had, I think you might 
 have been better set to work than to hoax a 
 parent."" 
 
 ** I 'm all at sea," said Jack. " What have 
 you or your affairs to do with our fun T"" 
 
 " Do !" screamed the angry lady, " do — why 
 what else should they have to do with .? So 
 now you are ashamed of your spy tricks, and 
 want to sham that you did not know who A. Z. 
 at the pickle-shop, as you call her, is." 
 
 " I '11 be hanged if I do," said Jack. 
 
 " Then hanged it is my belief you will be," 
 replied the mother, " you know as well as / 
 do, that I am that individual."
 
 JACK BRAG. 173 
 
 iC 
 
 You !" cried Jack — " you A. Z. at the 
 pickle-shop !" 
 
 At this moment Brag''s miseries were, as he 
 thought, at their acme — but he was mistaken. 
 The instant he received the unexpected and 
 most unwelcome intelligence, that the object of 
 his diversion and ridicule, to enjoy which three 
 of his iirst-rate friends had been brought to the 
 scene of action, was really and truly his mother, 
 his course was clear ; apology and conciliation 
 were the weapons with which he was to assail 
 her, and having soothed her anger, he would 
 walk her off the ground as speedily as possible ; 
 a course which he considered quite practica- 
 ble, now that she must be convinced, however 
 angry, that there was no use in her remaining 
 on it. 
 
 " jNIy dear mother," said Brag, " I am truly 
 and seriously sorry for this affair. If I had fan- 
 cied it possible — but I — really — dear me ! — 
 this is all very uncomfortable." 
 
 " If I thought you didn't do it on purpose," 
 said Mrs. Brag, " I shouldn't mind it half so 
 much."
 
 174 JACK BRAG. 
 
 <( 
 
 My dear mother," said Brag, " I do most 
 positively assure you'"" — 
 
 To which point of assurance his speech had 
 arrived, when, tired of procrastination, and 
 satisfied that Brag had admirably performed 
 his part of the farce, his three friends bounced 
 across the road, and joined the unhappy crea- 
 ture, forming, as it were, ^ semicircle in his 
 rear. 
 
 " Come, Jack," said Lord Tom Towzle, 
 " you have had enough of this fun. Is he 
 vastly agreeable, ma'am ? Isn't he a nice little 
 man .''" 
 
 " What !" exclaimed Mrs. Brag, " you do 
 know these gentlemen ! Why, you little story- 
 teller, you said they were no acquaintances of 
 yours." 
 
 " If I did "—said John— ' 
 
 " — If yon did!" said Mrs. Brag — "why, you 
 know you did : — and so these are the compa- 
 nions of your trick — the witnesses of your im- 
 pudence !" 
 
 *' Pray, ma'am," said one of the dandies, 
 " do not flurry yourself — we are not going to
 
 JACK BRAG. 175 
 
 eat you ! — we were only anxions to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you, because, as we all want 
 wives more or less, we thought, like yourself, 
 we might as well take the opportunity of view- 
 ing, before purchase."" 
 
 " Oh, Johnny, Johnny !"" said Mrs. Brag, 
 holding up her pink and white-striped parasol in 
 a posture of threat — "you would do much 
 better if you would but stick to the shop, and 
 do your duty by me : if that was the case, you 
 would not drive your poor mother to do what 
 you yourself are most active to turn into ridi- 
 cule. I '11 find this out — I '11 sift it to the very 
 bottom : my belief is, that you have been pump- 
 ing Jim Salmon, or one of the shopboys, to 
 make this precious discovery, in order to amuse 
 your fine friends at the expense of your parent." 
 
 " Parent !" exclaimed Lord Tom Towzle — 
 " what ! ma'am, is — ? — eh !"" 
 
 " How !" cried one of his friends. — "What !" 
 said another. 
 
 " Why, you see," said Brag, " I— I "— 
 
 " ' I '11 tell it you shorter," said Mrs. Brag, 
 around whom and her auditors a crowd of four
 
 176 JACK BRAG. 
 
 or five of the diurnal two dozen foot-passengers 
 were now congregated : — "he is my son — and 
 not content with letting an excellent business 
 go to rack and ruin while he is cutting his 
 capers, and leaving an anxious mother to a 
 solentary life and melancholy prospects — here 
 he is"— 
 
 " Pray, ma'am," said Lord Tom Towzle, " in 
 what line may you be ?" 
 
 " Wax and tallow chandler," said Mrs. Brag, 
 " including sperm and other oils, flambeaux, 
 tapers, bougies, and sealing-wax of all colours 
 and qualities." 
 
 " She 's mad, poor thing !" said Jack — " fan- 
 cies herself my mother ! Did you ever hear "i — 
 go home, ma'am — go — and don't expose your- 
 self again by writing such stuff in the news- 
 papers." 
 
 " What ! Jack," said Lord Tom Towzle, " is 
 A. Z. at the pickle-shop, corner of Little Queen 
 Street, Holborn, }'our mamma?" 
 
 " So she says," said Brag. 
 
 " Says !" exclaimed the indignant matron, — 
 " it isn't that you are much to be proud of:
 
 JACK BRAG. 177 
 
 but here, gentlemen, here's the card of the 
 shop — I never travel without half a pack in 
 my pocket — here, see — judge who is right 
 now. Oh ! if his poor dear father could but 
 get out of his grave in Cripplegate church- 
 yard to see the use his darling son has put all 
 his indulgence to" — 
 
 " He would probably go back again into it, 
 ma'am, as fast as he possibly could," said Lord 
 Tom. 
 
 " For my part," said the widow, looking at 
 the slice of nobility which had last addressed 
 her, " I begin to think you are no better than 
 he is ; however" — 
 
 Here, an admonitory — " Come — move on, 
 move on," from two policemen on duty, put a 
 check to the conversation, which promised to 
 become more and more animated. 
 
 " Move on !" said Mrs. Brag, who at this 
 period was in a burning rage, the flame of 
 which glowed on her cheeks and sparkled in 
 her eyes: — "yes, Mr. Policeman, I'll move 
 on, and move off too ; but it would serve that 
 little whipper-snapper cockney son of mine right 
 
 i5
 
 178 JACK BRAG. 
 
 to send him to the Station House for what he 
 has done." 
 
 " Go home, poor soul !" said Brag, trying 
 what " dejected pity" might do : — " go home, 
 and get cool : I '11 come and see you soon." 
 Then, turning to his companions, he added: — 
 " I 've heard that gentle remedies are best, eh ! 
 
 — the soothing system, as Dr. Dulcimer calls 
 it, eh ! Go home." 
 
 " Don't be a fool. Jack," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Brag, " you'll repent of this some day. All 
 these fine-weather friends who set you on to 
 play tricks for them to laugh at, will leave you 
 the minute your troubles begin, just as rats 
 run Qut of a falling house ; and perhaps they 
 would not be so fond of you now, if they knew 
 that your town mansion was nothing but a brass 
 plate, and your little place in Surrey, a second 
 floor over a carpenter's shop. Get you gone 
 
 — get you gone ! If you have no feeling for 
 yourself, Jacky, I cannot help feeling for you." 
 
 Away flounced the indignant mother; and hav- 
 ing squeezed herself with some difficulty through 
 one of the anti-cheating turnstiles at the end of
 
 JACK BRAG. 179 
 
 the bridge, bounced along Wellington Street to- 
 Avards the Strand, Lord Tom Towzle signalizing 
 himself, and delighting the spectators, by imi- 
 tating, at the top of his voice, the crowing of 
 a cock, triumphantly victorious in the over- 
 throw of an enemy — an exhibition which has 
 been more than once received with unbounded 
 applause in a theatre in Westminster, which 
 yet remains beyond the reach of the Licenser. 
 
 "Well, now," said one of Jack's three friends, 
 " who is this old catamaran ? Why does she 
 insist upon being your mother? — is it because 
 her name is the same ? — or " — 
 
 Here again was Jack puzzled most wonder- 
 fully. To renounce her as a parent, and de- 
 nounce her as a cheat, was something too strong 
 even for his assurance. 
 
 " — Why," said our hero, " I believe, if truth 
 were to be told, she is my mother." 
 
 " Truth to be told !" said Lord Tom, " why. 
 Jack, although there may, in these wicked days, 
 be something like reason in the proverb that 
 says, ' it is a wise child who knows his own 
 father, — the adage cannot hold good as re-
 
 180 JACK BRAG. 
 
 gards the female parent; — there can be no great 
 doubt about that." 
 
 " Why," said Jack again, who generally be- 
 gan his speeches with why, — why, he knew 
 not, — " why, you see, my mother" — And then 
 again nature interposed : — it was not feeling, 
 it was not tenderness, nor even affection, which 
 held him back, or checked the tongue on which 
 some flippant falsehood was gathering — it was 
 instinct, — not better in its character perhaps 
 (if so good) than that of a chimpanzee, but it 
 was enough to paralyze his efforts to shuffle 
 off the relationship between himself and the 
 maltreated A. Z. at the pickle-shop at the cor- 
 ner of Little Queen Street, Holborn— " Why," 
 again said Jack, " I am sorry we made so bad 
 a shot, — because I believe it is a good deal my 
 own fault — I have driven her to it, eh ! Can't 
 keep at work and " — 
 
 Brag had now fallen into his own trap ; his 
 
 impudence for once failed him, and he stood 
 
 confessed the son of the determined husband- 
 
 huntincf widow of the deceased tallow chandler. 
 
 " But, Jack," said Lord Tom, " what did
 
 JACK BRAG. 181 
 
 your amiable parent mean by the brass plate, 
 and the carpenter's shop — the mansion and the 
 villa ?" 
 
 " Oh, that," said Jack, " was all passion. 
 When a woman's back 's up, she 11 say any- 
 thing, no matter what. I am sorry it has hap- 
 pened, because it has exposed her, and cer- 
 tainly has not come off the bat, clean, smack 
 smooth, and no mistake." 
 
 " No, that you cannot say," said Lord Tom ; 
 " however, never mind it ; the old lady will 
 forgive you. You must go and see her, and 
 make it up. Suppose we all go in a body and 
 apologise, and I '11 explain to her the circum- 
 stances of the affair, and convince her that you 
 really were totally ignorant that she was the 
 advertiser, eh ! Shall we do thatV 
 
 This proposition produced a violent acces- 
 sion to Jack"'s already raging fever. The thought 
 of Lord Tom Towzle and the two " nobs," as 
 he called them, proceeding en masse through 
 the shop to the back-parlour beforementioned, 
 under the row of wooden candles fluttering in 
 the breeze, was perfect misery to him.
 
 182 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " No, no," said Brag, " by no means ! I 
 have always noticed that a woman cools soon- 
 est when left alone. — My mother," said Brag, 
 assuming a new tone, and which he thought to 
 be the wisest, " is a woman of what you call 
 strong feeling — mighty high — old family — 
 and proud as Lucifer. She 's in a passion ; 
 and when she is out of it I '11 go to her — mol- 
 lify her, eh ! — smooth her down, and make all 
 snug and comfortable." 
 
 *' — * And no mistake,' Jack," said Lord Tom. 
 " Well, all I hope is, your nerves won't be 
 shaken for the race to-morrow. ' Slap-bang' is 
 the favourite ; and riding a winning horse is 
 no very hard task" — 
 
 " Nervous !" said Jack, who began as usual 
 to rally — " what is to shake my nerves ? — an 
 angry woman ? No, no : I know the female 
 sex too well to mind a few passing clouds ; and 
 as for the expose, as the French call it, it 's 
 nothing to me. My mother, as I have just 
 said, is a woman of excellent family ; how can I 
 help her having been so silly as to marry a tal- 
 low chandler."
 
 JACK BRAG. 183 
 
 This mode of putting the case set Jack''s 
 friends laughing with him rather than at him. 
 Like a cat, Jack generally contrived to fall 
 upon his legs, however " high" the tumble ; and 
 they all agreed that he was perfectly right, 
 and that he had behaved in the most moderate 
 and judicious manner: and when they parted, 
 renewed the appointment for the morrow with 
 the usual cordiality. 
 
 As for Johnny, far different indeed were his 
 feelings : the scene on the bridge was one 
 which never could be effaced from his memory. 
 The coquelicot bonnet ; the striped parasol ; 
 the white and green feathers ; the buff boots ; 
 the object of the visit ; the conversation ; the 
 disclosure ; the mystery of the plate, and the 
 history of the villa ; and, above all, the ex- 
 hibition of the shop-card, and the conviction 
 that he was the son of A. Z. at the pickle-shop 
 — it was all vastly well for his tiger friends to 
 laugh it off — but what would form the subject 
 of their conversation after dinner that very day 
 at Crockford's, where the conclave would be 
 secured from his intrusion ? What would be
 
 184 JACK BRAG. 
 
 the nickname which was ever after destined to 
 distinguish him in the contemporaneous history 
 of society ? 
 
 It was clear that his end, as far as that sort 
 of *' life" was concerned, was drawing to a close. 
 Two practicable measures now presented them- 
 selves to his imagination, both of which are said 
 to go by destiny — hanging or marriage — the 
 halter or the altar, and, according to Jaci<^*'s coun- 
 terchanged aspiration of the h, it was difficult 
 to discover his preference by his own pronuncia- 
 tion of the word. His mind was soon made up ; 
 and being assured that his secrets — as he con- 
 sidered the shop, the door-plate, and the villa 
 — would, in the hands in which they had now 
 been authoritatively deposited, be secrets not 
 many hours longer, he resolved within himself 
 that he had no time to lose in bringing the 
 widow to action ; and, as the reader already is 
 aware, that let what might have happened, he 
 never intended to ride " Slap-bang " over the 
 forbidden lands of Wriggles worth — that even- 
 ing and the next day were to be devoted to 
 the grand experiment of his life.
 
 JACK BRAG. 185 
 
 In putting this affair into execution, the 
 natural infirmity of his disposition was remark- 
 ably exemplified. Convinced that Frank Rush- 
 ton was satisfied of the prepossession of both 
 Mrs. Dallington and Miss Englefield in his 
 favour, and equally assured of the wisdom of 
 Lord Tom's advice as to the course to be pur- 
 sued, he determined in the outset to act upon 
 the principle of the one, and adopt the practice 
 recommended by the other : — that is to say, to 
 play off both the ladies one against the other, 
 but not to commit himself to either, by writing ; 
 it being evident to the meanest capacity (ex- 
 cept that of Johnny's) that neither of two sisters, 
 nor of two women, indeed, who were not sisters, 
 living in the same house, and in circumstances 
 such as those in which Mrs. Dallington and 
 Blanche were placed, could possibly receive 
 anything like a proposal, or even a probable 
 approach to it, without communicating the cir- 
 cumstance to the other. The mingled vanity 
 and stupidity of Johnny, in the midst of his 
 gaiety and amiability, prevented this single 
 circumstance striking him ; and, secure in his
 
 186 JACK BRAG. 
 
 own influence over both the fair creatures, and 
 his intimate knowledge of " females," he resolved 
 upon Lord Tomb's assumed doctrine, that both 
 ladies being actually engaged to other men, nei- 
 ther would commit herself to the other by the ac- 
 knowledgment of a passion for him : this decid- 
 ed him to fire both his barrels in rapid succes- 
 sion, giving the unmarried lady the preference 
 by a few hours. 
 
 Having, however, revolved the affair in his 
 mind, he again changed his original intention 
 as to the mode of attack, and resolved to ad- 
 dress the widow personally — and the sister by 
 letter; — for, in spite oi 'Lord Tom's friendli/ 
 caution about writing. Jack did not feel him- 
 self quite a match for the tender delicacy of 
 Blanche in the way of dialogue ; having more- 
 over, with all his avowed notions of practical 
 advances, a most sensitive apprehension of a 
 scream or a fainting-fit, which he feared might 
 alarm the family, arouse the widow to a sense 
 of his libertine insincerity, and explode the 
 whole of his great undertaking. 
 
 Accordingly, in the course of the afternoon of
 
 JACK BRAG. 187 
 
 the day upon which the unlucky affah* of A.Z. — 
 the alpha and omega of his destruction — occur- 
 red, he proceeded to one of his favourite haunts, 
 and in pursuance of the scheme which he had now 
 arranged, addressed a letter to Miss Englefield, 
 avowing, not, it must be owned, in the most 
 direct and explicit terms, but in a tone and 
 language which it was impossible for any lady 
 to mistake or misapprehend, — a devotion the 
 most perfect and entire to her mind and per- 
 son ; alluding, in as good English as he could 
 contrive to write, to the encouragement he felt 
 he had received, trusting to her kindness and 
 consideration, if he were mistaken, to forgive 
 him ; and hinting that Mr. Rushton himself 
 was not altogether unconscious of the prefer- 
 ence of which he felt so proud. 
 
 This he despatched before he slept, which he 
 did at his " little place in Surrey ;" and when 
 he woke from a sort of fitful slumber in which 
 he had passed the night, he began bitterly to 
 repent of a step which he had taken while 
 under the influence of a kind of desperation. 
 However, as it ivas done, he determined to
 
 188 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " go the whole hog," and follow up this feint 
 at the unmarried lady, which might after all 
 be turned into a real attack in case of a failure 
 with the widow. 
 
 Accordingl}'^, at the earliest decent period for 
 calling upon anybody, Brag proceeded to make 
 his visit to Mrs. Dallington ; but here again 
 his courage failed him. His mind was made 
 up to the deciding step of trying his fortune, 
 and as he went along, he rehearsed — or, as 
 they say of birds, recorded all the sweet notes 
 in which he should address her, if he found 
 her alone. As he proceeded, his spirits mount- 
 ed, until he had worked himself into a service- 
 able state of amativeness : he reached the door, 
 — knocked — the noise seemed like thunder: 
 " He trembled at the sound himself had made'' — 
 
 his courage began, like that of Acres in the 
 play, to " ooze out at his fingers' ends ;" and 
 the terror he experienced when the servant told 
 him his mistress was at home, can scarcely be 
 imagined. 
 
 The crisis had arrived ; and as it was to 
 come, perhaps it was better it should have oc-
 
 JACK BRAG. 189 
 
 curred before any of his mother's intemperate 
 disclosures^ on the bridge had reached what 
 Jack was in the habit of calling " the West 
 end." He mounted the stairs with his throat 
 a little parched, and his hands a little cold; 
 but when the door of the boudoir was opened, 
 and he found his charming hostess alone, the 
 sight was fatal. 
 
 " Why, my dear Mr. Brag," said Mrs. Dal- 
 lington, holding out her hand towards him, 
 " where have you been — hiding yourself in the 
 country ? I believe you have some attraction 
 at your place in Surrey, of which we here in 
 town are not aware." 
 
 The allusion was not pleasant. Brag — the 
 undaunted, unabashed lady-killer — sat himself 
 down in a chair opposite the sofa on which 
 he found the widow seated writing at a table 
 before it, and felt assured that, by some tele- 
 graphic or other communication, the fair ob- 
 ject of his hopes and ambition had received the 
 intelligence of the affair on the bridge : — so 
 
 'tis that 
 
 " Conscience doth make cowards of us all."
 
 190 JACK BRAG. 
 
 C( 
 
 No," said Brag, endeavouring to collect 
 himself, " I have been staying in Hertfordshire 
 for the last few days." 
 
 " I assure you we have missed you very much," 
 said the lady, who, fortunately or unfortu- 
 nately, as the case may be, for Brag — was, for 
 reasons of her own, in the best possible humour 
 for encouraging his civilities, — " you can't 
 think how dull we have been without you. My 
 belief is, that your friend Lord Tom is the 
 cause of your abdication from town : he is so 
 fond of his shooting matches and his steeple 
 chases, and you, we hear, are his prime minis- 
 ter : in short, he cannot exist without you." 
 
 " Oh !" said Brag, looking very much obliged, 
 and very silly, " you flatter me. I assure you 
 I just do these sort of things by way of a start 
 now and then ; but — I — it isn't my taste — it 
 obliges Tom — and that sort of thing; but — 
 I — I— feel"— 
 
 " What !" said the widow, " do you mean 
 to disown your affection for a sporting life, 
 who are, as Sir Charles Lydiard says, the very 
 life of sporting ?"
 
 JACK BRAG. 191 
 
 " Sir Charles is very civil," said Brag, who 
 began to feel conscious of an approach to his sub- 
 ject : " I don't think he is very fond of sport — 
 of any sort," was added in a whisper scarcely 
 audible. 
 
 " He is a strange creature, isn't he ?" said 
 Mrs. Dallington. " A most excellent man — 
 kind, and all that — but so cold in his manner — 
 I am sure he makes enemies by it." 
 
 " Why," said Brag, looking down, and rub- 
 bing his hat, " I don't know what he may be 
 to females — he is certainly — rather — eh ! — 
 rather " — ■ 
 
 "Oh !" said Mrs. Dallington, "don't be afraid, 
 I shall not repeat a word you say about him. I 
 quite agree with you. Women, Mr. Brag," and 
 the widow suited her looks to the word — " are 
 fond of spirit and vivacity. The days of sad, 
 sickly, sighing swains, are gone by : society is 
 enlightened, and diffidence seems to be consi- 
 dered in these times merely a mark of stupidity. 
 I suppose everything is destined to travel at an 
 increased pace, and I, for one, admit a partiality 
 for fast travelling, as far as that goes."
 
 192 JACK BRAG. 
 
 This was pretty strong encouragement to an 
 aspirant who was in a hurry, and engaged to 
 ride "Slap-bang" across a county the next 
 day — but Brag was Brag, every inch of him. 
 
 " Yes," said Brag, " it 's uncommon plea- 
 sant : I don't think, however, 1 shall ever be 
 caught giving up horses for steam." 
 
 This sudden digression from the figurative 
 to the matter-of-fact, evidently disappointed 
 the widow, who, truth to be told, had never 
 appeared, either alone or in society, so cor- 
 dial in her manner to our hero as upon this 
 special occasion, upon which, of all others, it 
 was most important to his views that she should 
 be so. The first opening she had given him 
 for a little self- recommendation in accordance 
 with her avowed taste, he had botched, — miss- 
 ed his tip, — and become prosy. 
 
 " I have got a good many shares in the rail- 
 roads," said Jack. 
 
 This settled him, and, it must be confessed, 
 fully justified his own preference for literary 
 correspondence over verbal communication, up- 
 on tender subjects.
 
 JACK BRAG. 193 
 
 Mrs. Dallington gave a look ; Brag, luckily, 
 did not see it. A pause ensued, but, as our 
 volatile widow was playing a game, it did not 
 last long. 
 
 " I wonder," said the widow, looking at Brag 
 with an expression of interest — "I wonder 
 you have never married, Mr. Brag." 
 
 This bit of wonderment nearly took away 
 his breath : his tongue seemed too big for his 
 mouth; — he began to twiddle his fingers, felt 
 his ears get red, and his nose cold. 
 
 " Ha, ha !" said he, and rubbed his hat 
 again. 
 
 " So gay, so gallant, and so devoted to the 
 fair," continued Mrs. Dallington, " I should 
 think you had only to ask and command. I 
 do not at all understand why you haven't yet 
 thrown your handkerchief." 
 
 Brag, who did not in the least understand 
 why he should perform any such operation, 
 merely inclined his body. 
 
 " I have been married myself," said Mrs. 
 Dallington, " and although I soon became a 
 widow, I am quite sure that where there are 
 
 VOL. I. IS.
 
 194 JACK BRAG. 
 
 reciprocity of affection, congeniality of taste, 
 and sympathy of feeling, no state of society 
 can be so truly satisfactory and so entirely 
 good, — I have no word so short or so emphatic 
 for it as that — as marriage." 
 
 " It must be uncommon agreeable, I should 
 think," said Brag, looking " uncommon " 
 foolish. 
 
 " Now there 's Frank Rushton," said Mrs, 
 Dallington, " a most delightful companion — 
 a most accomplished scholar, — and, as I be- 
 lieve, extremely attached to my poor dear sis- 
 ter — and yet, you see, they don""! get mar- 
 ried. I believe that all you agreeable, gay 
 men of the world, try everything in your power 
 to turn the heads of poor girls, without any 
 serious intention of eventually making them 
 happy." 
 
 This voluntary confession of facts and opi- 
 nions, delivered in Mrs. Dallington's most 
 agreeable, off-hand manner, although it corro- 
 ])orated in Brag's mind all his former belief of 
 the interest he had created in the family, so
 
 JACK BRAG. 195 
 
 astounded him, that with the opportunity at 
 hand, for which he had so earnestly sought, he 
 remained a mere listener at the mercy of his 
 idol. 
 
 " As for Blanche," said the widow, " as I 
 have great faith in the philosophy which in- 
 culcates the belief of a love of opposites, I am 
 sure she, tender, shy, and retiring as she h, 
 ought to be over head and ears in love witli 
 Frank ; but I don't believe she cares the least 
 bit in the world about him. To be sure she 
 has a right to please herself. She has a large 
 fortune, and nobody to control her, and, / 
 think, would make a most admirable wife for 
 any man who knew how to appreciate her. 
 However, I know nothing about her views or ' 
 proceedings ; we have no confidences ; we each 
 go our own way. I never trouble he?' with my 
 advice, and, of course, she never presumes to 
 give me any." 
 
 " I am sure," said Brag, " you would make 
 anybody in love with wedlock — I ""m — sure — 
 You wonder that Miss Englefield does not 
 
 k2
 
 196 JACK BRAG. 
 
 marry Mr. Rushton ; — I — often — think — I do 
 indeed — that — you — I beg your pardon — I 
 mean Sir Charles — eh ! — and no mistake"" — 
 
 " Oh !" said the widow, *' I quite under- 
 stand you. Sir Charles is a good creature — 
 but as for love, I don't believe he ever thinks 
 of such a thing. Certainly he is not of our 
 opinion as to gaiety and vivacity." 
 
 " I was thinking," said Brag, looking as 
 white as a sheet, and crumpling his remarkably 
 nice hat in a paroxysm of something between 
 hope and fear, " — that — you — really ought not 
 to permit — eh ! — this — he is such an odd man 
 —eh !" 
 
 " My dear Mr. Brag," said Mrs. Dallington, 
 " there are secrets in all families." 
 
 Brag perfectly agreed in the proposition, 
 and directly did there flit before his eyes 
 coquelicot bonnets, striped parasols, buff boots, 
 brass plates, green and Avhite feathers, and a 
 tribe of visions more horrible than Fuseli^'s 
 fiercest efforts after a supper of half-boiled 
 pork. 
 
 " There are people with whom we become
 
 JACK BRAG. 197 
 
 habitually familiarized," said Mrs. Dallington, 
 " but who never touch the heart." 
 
 " Is Mr. Rushton," stammered Jack, " one 
 of those ?" 
 
 " Why really," replied Mrs. Dallington, — 
 " Blanche not being here to answer for her- 
 self — for although you never inquired after 
 her, I ought perhaps to have told you she has 
 been out of town for two days, and does not 
 return till to-morrow, — / was not so particu- 
 larly referring to her case." 
 
 This must have opened the eyes of a mole. 
 Brag, in a moment, became aware that Mrs. 
 Dallington could know nothing of his rash 
 note to Blanche, and felt more convinced than 
 ever that the widow was his own. 
 
 " The case," stammered John — " you don't 
 — that is — really" — 
 
 " You are a most amiable creature !" said 
 Mrs. Dallington. " I see how diffident you are 
 of your own merits — how unconscious you are 
 of your own power !" 
 
 " Yes," faltered Brag, quite overcome — 
 " yes — am I— that is— may I— do I make my-
 
 198 JACK BRAG. 
 
 self understood ? — is — that is — don't I — eh ! 
 — if— but"— 
 
 — " Sir Charles Lydiard," said a servant, 
 throwing open the door, and announcing the 
 worthy baronet, who entered the room with his 
 usual mild placidity of manner, and after shak- 
 ing hands with the lady, turned round, and 
 beheld — his aversion. The look he gave Mrs. 
 Dallington expressed all his feelings upon that 
 point : nor was it lost upon Brag himself, who 
 collected his hat, gloves, and switch-stick, and 
 having gathered them up, made his bow, and 
 left his adorable widow tete-a-tete with the 
 baronet, perfectly assured of his triumphant 
 success with her, and bitterly repenting hav- 
 ing exposed so much of his heart to her less 
 well-provided-for sister. 
 
 Never, to be sure, was there a more perfect 
 illustration of the character of the swaggering 
 pretender to bonnes fortunes than the melancholy 
 proceedings of our wretched little hero. The 
 ball was at his foot — the game was in his hands 
 — and yet he, the slayer of hearts, and the assas- 
 sin of reputations, cowered before the fostering
 
 JACK BRAG. 199 
 
 kindness of his liberal hostess, and sneaked out 
 of the presence of the man whom he believed 
 to be his defeated rival, in ridiculing whom he 
 had first joined with his mistress to take a step 
 of wliich we shall hear more hereafter.
 
 200 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 There are some people upon whom advice is 
 thrown away, and who, holding themselves to 
 be wiser than their councillors, rush " in me- 
 dias res " where 
 
 " Angels fear to tread." 
 
 Mr. Brag, who did not want for that sort of 
 intellectual quality called cunning, was never- 
 theless, as has been already made tolerably 
 evident, favoured by nature with an overba- 
 lancing share of conceit, and when he had 
 ascertained the tone of the widow"'s feelings 
 towards him, and satisfied himself that his ease 
 was reduced to something very like " ask and 
 have," he resolved upon taking the step against 
 which his friend Lord Tom had so strenuously 
 advised him, and which, as a matter of assur- 
 ance, was rendered " trebly hazardous" by his
 
 JACK BRAG. 201 
 
 having previously adopted it with regard to 
 her sister. 
 
 The Irish o:entleman''s definition of a bottle 
 of soda water we will not stop to repeat, but it 
 would have applied with tolerable accuracy to 
 the character of our hero. Although he had 
 extracted from Mrs. Dallington what he be- 
 lieved to be quite sufficient to justify his best 
 hopes, he felt in the solitude of his " little 
 place in Surrey " a consciousness of inability 
 to conduct the storm personally, or carry her 
 heart by a coup de main — unless, indeed, a let- 
 ter might be so considered — and therefore, 
 spite of the advice of his experienced Mentor, 
 he proceeded to address the fair widow in an 
 epistle, a repetition of which it is not necessary 
 to inflict upon the reader, but which contained 
 a distinct declaration and a formal proposal. 
 
 Mr. Brag had now shot his bolt, and nothing- 
 remained but to see its effect. It must be ad- 
 mitted that even he was in some sort nervous 
 and fidgety ; but that happy self-satisfaction, 
 which when he was not required to make an 
 effort never forsook him, kept his spirits on the 
 
 k5
 
 202 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " credit side of the account." The letter, how- 
 ever, was gone — past recal — and therefore the 
 next wisest thing to not sending it in the first 
 instance, was to live upon the hopes of its 
 success. 
 
 Upon the popular " wheel within wheel" 
 system, the widow had acted so as to induce 
 the declaration which it contained, satisfied 
 that by "playing" her baronet upon the occa- 
 sion, she might "land" him, — but certainly not 
 prepared to find that Blanche was placed in a 
 similar position. As things turned out, the 
 effect it produced was striking. 
 
 Blanche had just returned from her two 
 days' visit to the country. The moment she 
 entered the house, she hastened to her sister's 
 boudoir, where she found her in the very act of 
 reading, with evident marks of amazement and 
 exultation, the avowal of Mr. Brag's affections. 
 " My dear Blanche," exclaimed Mrs. Dal- 
 lington, " you are arrived at the very moment 
 to congratulate me on a conquest. I have 
 received a proposal" —
 
 JACK BRAG. 203 
 
 " What!^' said Blanche, "from Sir Charles?" 
 
 " No," replied her sister, in a tone which 
 certainly conveyed the idea that she wished she 
 had : — "I think you will guess without much 
 difficulty, knowing the man." 
 
 " The Fates are propitious," said Blanche ; 
 " I too have been so fortunate as to merit the 
 decided approbation of a lover, who declares 
 the happiness of his life, and the value of his 
 existence, depend upon my answer." 
 
 " Indeed !" exclaimed Mrs. Dallington : — 
 " why, my worshipper uses the very same ex- 
 pression. Yes — here it is : — ' The happiness 
 of my life, and the value of my existence, de- 
 pend upon your answer.' " 
 
 " That is curious," said Blanche ; " may I 
 ask who the tender swain is T'' 
 
 " Guess," said Mrs. Dallington. 
 
 " I cannot," replied her sister. 
 
 " What ! not our exquisite little friend 
 Brag !" said Mrs. Dallington. " I was always 
 sure how our acquaintance would end : I won- 
 der it did not strike you!'''
 
 204 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Why," said Blanche, " the reason my sus- 
 picions did not lead that way is rather a good 
 one — he has made me a proposal." 
 
 " When did you receive it ?" said the widow. 
 
 " Yesterday," replied Blanche, " it was for- 
 warded to me from town." 
 
 " I suppose it is a circular," said the widow. 
 
 " No, no," said Blanche, " mine is the origi- 
 nal, yours is the copy." 
 
 " What can the man mean ?" said Mrs. Dal- 
 lington. " Does he really suppose himself so 
 fascinating, that, like the rattlesnake, he has 
 nothing to do but look at us to induce us to 
 drop into his mouth ? Now if he had confined 
 his attentions to me " — 
 
 "Ah!" interrupted Miss Englefield, "that 
 is exactly the case ; if he had confined his atten- 
 tions to me, the affair would have been differ- 
 ent : as it is " — 
 
 " No, no," said the widow, " don't misun- 
 derstand me, my dear Blanche. I do assure 
 you I am neither envious nor jealous. You 
 should be welcome to all his attentions and all 
 his affections — only please to observe that /
 
 JACK BRAG. 205 
 
 intended him to take the step he has taken, 
 and availed myself of your absence to lead him 
 on to a declaration." 
 
 " For what earthly purpose ?" said Blanche. 
 
 " Man," said the widow, " is an imitative 
 animal, and everybody knows the force of ex- 
 ample." 
 
 " But do you want anybody for whom you 
 have a regard to imitate Mr. Brag.^" asked 
 Blanche. 
 
 " In the one particular of which we are now 
 speaking," replied the widow, " I do. It seems 
 to me, Blanche, that the lives we are both leading 
 are full of worry and vexation : yours, because 
 you will not encourage your avowed lover; mine, 
 because the man whose claim upon my affections 
 I admit, will not avow himself. It strikes me 
 that this most marvellous display of assurance 
 on the part of our little friend may serve us both 
 incalculably, by bringing both our gentlemen to 
 a proper sense of their duty ; — to excite poor 
 dear Sir Charles into a determination, and to 
 soothe Rushton into a reasonable state of mind." 
 
 " I confess," said Blanche, " I do not ex-
 
 206 JACK BRAG. 
 
 actly understand the course of proceeding by 
 which this desirable end is to be attained/^ 
 
 " Let us both accept the little man," said 
 the widow. " The natural awkwardness of 
 his position must produce a disclosure of his 
 schemes; and what appears to me infinitely 
 better fun, his vanity and conceit. That, 
 which must happen, is, however, only a second- 
 ary object with me; — the discovery of the 
 affair will show our capricious lovers that there 
 are men who, instead of hesitating to propose 
 to one woman, are prepared to make offers to 
 two ; and moreover, my dear Blanche, the very 
 notion that we are exposed to such temptations 
 will urge our strange friends to some decided 
 step. You must accept Mr. Brag." 
 
 " Me V exclaimed Blanche : " I accept him 
 — an antidote to everything like affection of 
 any kind !" 
 
 " Why, my dear," said Mrs. Dallington, " I 
 am sure he is very genteel ; he curls his hair, 
 wears rings and chains, smokes cigars, rides 
 races, and lives with Lord Tom Towzle. What 
 would you have ? — accept him you must."
 
 JACK BRAG. 207 
 
 " Never !" cried Blanche. 
 
 " You must, my dear girl," replied Mrs. 
 Dallington, " and so will I : — yes, both of us 
 — he is too charming to be monopolized by 
 one. You must write to him." 
 
 " A billet-doux ?" enquired Blanche. 
 
 " Exactly so," said Mrs. Dallington. " Let 
 us both be desperately in love with Lord Tom*'s 
 tiger : you will see how odiously jealous Rush- 
 ton will be in a day, and Sir Charles. — Oh ! 
 never mind; write — write — write, and I will 
 dictate." 
 
 " Write what, my dear sister .?" asked Miss 
 Englefield. 
 
 " A civil acceptance of his offer," said Mrs. 
 Dallington, " couched in terms becoming the 
 gratitude of a young lady of small preten- 
 
 sions." 
 
 " I am infinitely obliged to you, my dear 
 sister," said Blanche, " but really" — 
 
 "Really," interrupted Mrs. Dallington, "you 
 must allow me to be the best judge of what is 
 best suited to my juniors ; so sit you down and 
 write, and I will dictate."
 
 ^08 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " But what will the world say ?■" asked 
 Blanche. 
 
 "What world, tny dear?'' said Mrs. Dal- 
 lington — " Mr. Brag's world — or the world at 
 large.? What the one chooses to say will sig- 
 nify nothing to us ; and what we may choose 
 to do will signify as little to the other. Trust 
 in me ; be assured that I will not mislead you, 
 whatever may be my intentions with respect 
 to your scarecrow of a lover." 
 
 " My lover !" cried Blanche, colouring crim- 
 son at the imputation — " your lover too !" 
 
 " Both," said the widow. " Now sit down ; 
 rely upon it, it is a kindness sometimes to be 
 cruel: — so write." 
 
 Blanche, almost unresistingly, seated herself 
 at the very identical table at which Jack had 
 found Mrs. Dallington established the day be- 
 fore ; and mechanically arranging the writing 
 materials, looked at her sister with an expres- 
 sion of unconsciousness of what she was to say, 
 and of enquiry as to the words she was to set 
 down. 
 
 " Are you ready to begin ?" said the widow.
 
 JACK BRAG. 209 
 
 " Yes," said Blanche — " to obey your in- 
 structions most dutifully."" 
 
 " Now, then," said Mrs. Dallington, " write: 
 — ' I scarcely know how to reply to your flat- 
 tering letter.' 
 
 " I am sure I shall do it all wrong,*" said 
 Blanche writing. — 
 
 " ' I have struggled for some time — ' 
 
 " Some time," repeated Blanche — " strug- 
 gled with what .''" 
 
 " Go on," said Mrs. Dallington : — " ' for 
 some time with my feelings, — but the manner 
 in which Mr. Rushton, whom you have often 
 seen here, conducts himself towards me is"* — 
 
 " What would you have me say, sister ?'* 
 said Blanche, hesitating. " You know, if no- 
 body else does, that I love him, and" — 
 
 " Never mind that," said the widow, " go 
 on : — ' conducts himself towards me is such, 
 that I can endure his treatment no longer.' 
 
 " My dear sister," said Blanche, " you are 
 laughing at me : — you wish me to expose 
 myself." 
 
 '* Why do you think so, my dear ?" said
 
 210 JACK BRAG. 
 
 Mrs. DalHngton. " You have told me a hun- 
 dred times that he torments you to death." 
 
 " Yes," said Blanche, " but what I say to 
 3/0M, and what I write to this man" — 
 
 " Well," said the widow, " then put—' vexes 
 me,' instead of ' tormenting me.' 
 
 " That is better," said Blanche, continuing 
 to write. 
 
 " ' That any man upon earth would be pre- 
 ferable in my eyes,' " said Mrs. Dallington. 
 
 " No," said Blanche, tossing up her head 
 with unusual animation, and throwing down 
 the pen, " that I never will write !" 
 
 "What innocence!" said Mrs. Dallington. 
 " My dear sister, we are only setting a simple- 
 ton-trap, and " — 
 
 " It does not signify," said Blanche, "I" — 
 " No, it does not signify, so write," said the 
 widow. " There now — go on — it will be my 
 ■ turn next. Tell him you shall expect him to 
 call — this evening. I will write him an equally 
 tender answer, and make a similar appoint- 
 ment. What can it signify what one says to 
 such a man under such circumstances ?"
 
 JACK BRAG. 211 
 
 " But, my dear creature,"" said Blanche, 
 " what an opinion he must form of us if he 
 thinks we are both in love with him !" 
 
 "It is quite clear that he does think so 
 now," said Mrs. Dallington ; " so this will not 
 make it one bit the worse. Here — make room 
 — let me write mine : all you have to do is to 
 watch the results of our invitation, and be as 
 cold as ice to Rushton when you next see him. 
 Rely upon it, my dear innocent, we shall have 
 fun, and, if I mistake not, husbands, out of 
 this scheme, which, moderate as my preten- 
 sions are^ I must say I think admirable, inas- 
 much as it mystifies three men at once, — and 
 all — all for their own eventual good." 
 
 " I believe you take a pleasure in torment- 
 ing," said Blanche, who was busy sealing her 
 note, while her sister was rapidly writing her's 
 in that elegant and unintelligible hand which is 
 the universal medium of lady-like correspond- 
 ence, when, to their surprise and confusion, 
 the door of the boudoir was thrown open, and 
 Sir Charles Lydiard and Mr. Rushton were 
 announced.
 
 212 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Hide your letter !" said Blanche. 
 
 " Me !" said Mrs. Dallington, loud enough 
 to be heard by Sir Charles ; " trust to my 
 fidelity." 
 
 " By Jove !" whispered Rushton to Lydiard, 
 *' they are writing — writing notes and hiding 
 them !" 
 
 " So I perceive," said Sir Charles, coldly. 
 
 " Well, ladies," said Rushton, advancing to- 
 wards Blanche, " we have found you busy." 
 
 Blanche bowed diffidently, and finished seal- 
 ing her note. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Sir Charles ?" 
 said Mrs. Dallington ; " you look out of sorts 
 and out of spirits." 
 
 " No, madam," said Lydiard, " I am nei- 
 ther; only I did not know whether I might 
 venture to break in upon your literary avo- 
 
 cations." 
 
 " Quite right, Sir Charles," said Mrs. Dal- 
 lington. " People who make up their minds 
 not to pry into the business of their neigh- 
 bours, are most likely not to be disturbed in 
 their serenity."
 
 JACK BRAG. 213 
 
 " Miss Englefield," said Rushton, " appears 
 to be of a similar opinion. I confess I am not 
 of a temper to bear with such things. I hate 
 three-cornered notes, if they are not addressed 
 to myself." 
 
 " You are equally right with Sir Charles," 
 said the widow. " I am writing a billet-doux, 
 but I have just finished." 
 
 " Upon my word," said Lydiard, " it must 
 be a most interesting affair. I think I never 
 saw you more animated than you seem to be 
 while despatching this note : all I am afraid of 
 is, that I have been the cause of its abrupt 
 termination." 
 
 During this dialogue, Rushton endeavoured 
 to draw Blanche into a conversation with re- 
 gard to the note she was writing, but she avoid- 
 ed answering his questions ; and supported in 
 the course she had adopted by her sister's con- 
 duct towards Sir Charles, so completely damp- 
 ed the ardent spirits of her mercurial lover, 
 that he crossed to the other side of the room, 
 and threw himself upon the sofa. 
 
 Mrs. Dallington having sealed her note, rang
 
 214 JACK BRAG. 
 
 the bell, and directed the servant to send it 
 immediately. 
 
 " Now," said Sir Charles, " I have found it 
 out — you are merely trying me : the note, 
 after all, is destined for me." 
 
 " As you doubt me, Sir Charles," said Mrs. 
 Dallington, " I shall leave you to discover the 
 truth." 
 
 " I am certain," said the baronet, with much 
 more animation than he usually exhibited, " it 
 can be to no one else. I shall return to my 
 hotel to receive it." 
 
 " Do," said the widow, " and justify me 
 from your suspicions." Saying which, the lady, 
 with an air of being particularly piqued, left 
 the room by one door, while Sir Charles, con- 
 vinced that she had taken some deciding step 
 with regard to himself, retired by the other, 
 leaving the other pair of lovers tke-a-tete. 
 
 The moment her sister left the room, Blanche 
 rose to follow her. 
 
 " Stay, Blanche," said Rushton, " one mo- 
 ment."
 
 JACK BRAG. 215 
 
 " No, Mr. Rashton," said Miss Englefield, 
 " I am too angry with you to stay." 
 
 " Surely," said Rushton, " you cannot be 
 angry with my jealousy — a jealousy that springs 
 only from excess of affection." 
 
 " No man," said Blanche, " can possess real 
 affection for any one of whose sincerity he has 
 a constant doubt. I have forgiven these mad 
 fits twenty times, always hoping and expecting 
 that time would show you your error ; but no, 
 — our very last quarrel occurred ten minutes 
 after our last reconciliation." 
 
 " Recollect, Blanche," said Rushton, " the 
 events of that day — the day before you left 
 town : — there you were — the sought and admired 
 of the party — speaking kindly and looking 
 kindly to everybody except me, of whom, as I 
 felt, you took no notice." 
 
 " Well, sir," said: Blanche, " and if I were 
 cold, and even cross, you need not have been so 
 greatly surprised, if you had recollected how 
 you called me to account for sitting next Mr. 
 Brag the last time he was here, and entering
 
 216 JACK BRAG. 
 
 into a common conversation with him about 
 some of his feats and enterprizes," 
 
 " By Heavens !" exclaimed Rushton, " how 
 I hate that fellow— his easy assurance, his self- 
 conceit : but the fault is all your's and your 
 sister's. That very night there he was whisper- 
 ing his infernal nonsense in your ear, to your 
 evident amusement and satisfaction, while I, 
 distressed and disturbed by your conduct, 
 was losing my money at ecarte with Lady Beg- 
 brook, and you sat laughing at my folly and 
 agitation." 
 
 " I did laugh," said Blanche, " but I did 
 not laugh alone." 
 
 " No, no, that's true," said Rushton. " I 
 dare say there are minds and tempers that can 
 bear these irritations — I confess mine can- 
 not. Possibly I expect too much ; probably 
 I am romantic ; but, I do say, and will say, 
 that however charming I may wish my wife to 
 be, I do not exactly desire that she should be 
 anxious to make herself universally agreeable, 
 nor equally delightful, to everybody." 
 
 " Really, Mr. Rushton," said Blanche, " these
 
 JACK BRAG. 217 
 
 fancies of yours are unjustifiable and unbear- 
 able. I confess that it would cost me serious 
 pain to terminate our acquaintance, in which 
 I have, when you are rational, great happiness ; 
 but such conduct surely deserves to lose my 
 esteem. I can neither smile nor sigh, walk nor 
 sit down, talk nor be silent, go out nor come in, 
 but you attribute some motive to my actions. 
 They bring me a letter — of course it is from 
 a rival ; I dance with somebody — you are 
 either angry or in despair. I am civil to Mr. 
 Brag, my sister's visiter, and the next moment 
 I see you wholly unconscious of what you are 
 doing, crushing my fan to atoms in revenge. 
 Oh ! Mr. Rushton, Mr. Rushton, such conduct 
 in a lover is but the anticipation of tyranny in 
 a husband." 
 
 " Tyranny, Blanche !" said Rushton, sud- 
 denly softened into subjection ; " what an 
 idea !" 
 
 " I am afraid,"" said Blanche, " that our 
 hearts are not formed to be united : we had 
 better agree upon one point — to part." 
 
 " There it is I" exclaimed Rushton ; " the 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 JACK BRAG. 
 
 truth is out. You have now declared your- 
 self ; you hate me — you cast me off. I knew 
 there was some new attachment formed. Yes, 
 yes — we will part, Miss Englefield. There is 
 a woman in the world, thank Heaven ! who has 
 a better opinion of me than you have : from 
 her gentle heart my wounded spirit may find 
 relief." 
 
 " Oh !" said Blanche, " I am quite aware of 
 that lady's name. Go, sir — leave me : let this 
 be our last interview." 
 
 Blanche spoke these words with so much 
 firmness, that she began to be afraid Rushton 
 would take her at her word ; nor did Rushton's 
 answer much relieve her apprehensions. 
 
 " So be it !" said he. " I will conquer this 
 feeling — I will love where my love can be 
 returned. But, madam, I insist upon one thing 
 — tell me, who is the man who has supplanted 
 me in your affections." 
 
 " Wh}-^," said Blanche smiling — " should I do 
 that?" 
 
 " Why .?" exclaimed Rushton — " because he 
 shall at least set his life upon the hazard.
 
 JACK BRAG. 219 
 
 Name him to me, I desire : tell me where he is 
 to be found, and if " 
 
 " Mr. Rushton," said Blanche, " I wish you 
 a good morning. Whenever you are reason- 
 able, and can conduct yourself temperately, I 
 will explain my conduct to you. In your pre- 
 sent state of excitement, I must leave you." 
 
 Saying which, the fair creature quitted the 
 room, leaving the infuriated victim of love and 
 jealousy in an agony of despair. 
 
 The moment she was gone, he stared wildly 
 round. In the crowd of conflicting passions 
 which now assailed him, anger was in the as- 
 cendant ; and, snatching his hat from the table, 
 he rushed down stairs and quitted the house, 
 swearing, almost audibly, that he never would 
 enter it again. 
 
 It was clear that the project of the ladies 
 had been so far successful as to set the whole 
 mass of affections and feelings of the two gen- 
 tlemen into a state of fermentation ; because, 
 while this scene was acting at the widow's. Sir 
 Charles Lydiard had been to his hotel, where 
 he found no note from the lady, and whence, 
 
 l2
 
 220 JACK BRAG. 
 
 after waiting a much loncrer time than would have 
 been occupied in its transmission by her servant, 
 he proceeded to take his ride, with a distract- 
 ed brain, having come to a determination that 
 the next day should conclude his acquaintance 
 with the avowed and self- con vie ted coquette, 
 who had now proved what he had long suspect- 
 ed, that she was merely playing a game with him 
 for her own diversion. In this critical junc- 
 ture we must for the present leave them, in 
 order to introduce the reader to some new ar- 
 rivals, as well as to give him some information 
 of the convalescent mother, her dutiful daugh- 
 ter, and the philanthropic physician. 
 
 The amiable person last named continued his 
 attentions to the widow Brown and her daugh- 
 ter : his visits became diurnally regular ; and 
 the satisfaction he derived from the recovering 
 health of the one, and the improving spirits of 
 the other, assumed a character which became 
 evident to both. The anxiety he expressed for 
 their comfort, the assiduous attention with 
 which he contrived little surprises in the way 
 of excursions in the neiglibourhood of their
 
 JACK BRAG. 221 
 
 present residence, which he represented as con- 
 ducive to the re-establishment of his patient, 
 were marks of a feeling not to be concealed or 
 disguised ; nor, to say truth, did Mead appear 
 at all desirous of practising any delusion upon 
 either of his new friends. It was perfectly 
 clear that he had formed an attachment, which 
 from its nature and principle promised to be 
 permanent. 
 
 Mead had watched the conduct of Anne dur- 
 ing the illness of her mother, had attentively 
 regarded the workings of her mind, and had 
 satisfied himself that she possessed every attri- 
 bute desirable in a wife. Their acquaintance 
 had commenced, and his acquaintance with her 
 mother had been renewed, under circumstances 
 which gave a deep interest in his mind to her fate 
 and fortunes. Mead was one of those modest, 
 unassuming men, who once in an age attain to 
 eminence without having forced their way by im- 
 pudent assurance, or having been pushed for- 
 ward by favouritism or connexion. Success had 
 not spoiled him ; and while rising to the first 
 rank in his profession, he was the same gentle,
 
 222 JACK BRAG. 
 
 unassuming, affectionate being that he was, 
 while toiling up the " steep ascent to fame." 
 
 It was not that Dr. Mead entertained the un- 
 favourable opinions of the higher classes, Avhich 
 it is the continual effort of the lower orders to 
 inculcate ; but he felt the absolute necessity of 
 something like parity of rank between the con- 
 tracting parties to secure happiness in marriage. 
 The daughter of a merchant, even though un- 
 fortunate, was neither so much inferior nor su- 
 perior to the son of a country clergyman as to 
 make the inequality of station seriously objec- 
 tionable ; and in Anne, Dr. Mead persuaded him- 
 self he perceived qualities and feelings calculated 
 to sweeten the draught of life, and which would 
 worthily adorn the partner of his future days. 
 In his conduct in this affair there was nothing of 
 romance or violence of passion. Indeed his love 
 was what a romantic girl would consider extreme- 
 ly unsatisfactory — it was rational esteem found- 
 ed upon conviction ; and their intercourse was 
 so unmixed with any of those flights in which 
 such persons as Miss Englefield and Mr. Rush- 
 ton were perpetually engaged, that, when the
 
 JACK BRAG. 223 
 
 doctor made his declaration, it seemed as if it 
 were the inevitable consequence of their con- 
 stant association ; and Anne's acceptance of his 
 offer, under the sanction of lier delighted mother, 
 was as calm and collected as if it Avere not the 
 great deciding event of her life, and one which 
 could only be looked upon as the happiest that 
 had ever yet occurred in it. 
 
 It may be that this calmness, and her appa- 
 rent unconsciousness of the wonderful import- 
 ance of the match in a worldly point of view, 
 might have arisen in some degree from the 
 recollection which never fades from woman's 
 mind, of her first love. Unworthy as he had 
 pi'oved himself, and changed so much from his 
 former self, he still perhaps retained some hold 
 on the heart he had betrayed, and would with 
 callous indifference have broken : — these recol- 
 lections might have had their share in produc- 
 ing the effects which, although Mead appeared 
 perfectly satisfied with the gentleness of Anne's 
 conduct, were by no means agreeable to her 
 mother, whose gratitude to Providence for what 
 had occurred was unbounded.
 
 224 JACK BRAG. 
 
 There was another point which was neces- 
 sarily to be brought under discussion, to which 
 Anne felt a diffidence and difficulty in alluding 
 — the position of her brother George in society, 
 and his close connexion with the doctor''s heart- 
 less rival. These matters, interwoven as they 
 were with the probable renewal of her ac- 
 quaintance with Brag when his sister should 
 return to England, and the consciousness that 
 she had committed herself by an acknowledg- 
 ment of her attachment to him, preyed upon 
 her spirits, and the brightness of her present 
 prospects was marred by clouds, which, like 
 the few existing professors of Nauscopy, she 
 could behold in the far distance before they 
 were visible to ordinary eyes. To the suspense 
 in which the heart and mind are constantly 
 kept by a protracted anticipation of coming 
 evils, which, however remote, are sure to come, 
 poor Anne, it must be owned, was a victim, 
 and her efforts to rally from it were altogether 
 unavailing. 
 
 We have all felt that the most serious ills, 
 or the most painful discussions, which have
 
 JACK BRAG. 225 
 
 occurred to us, or in which we have been en- 
 gaged, have, when they actually arrived, turned 
 out not half so serious or so painful as we have 
 expected ; and upon this principle Anne de- 
 voutly prayed that the denouement, which she 
 regarded with so much anxiety and dread, 
 should arrive speedily. Her mother, to whom 
 she imparted so much of her uneasiness as re- 
 lated to the announcement to her future hus- 
 band of her brother's rank in the army, assured 
 her that nothing was to be apprehended on that 
 score ; that a man who had selected as a wife, 
 the daughter of a distressed and needy woman, 
 would not shrink from the fulfilment of his 
 pledge to her, because her brother had been 
 compelled to enter an honourable service even 
 in its lowest grade. 
 
 Mrs. Brown was a woman of good sense, but 
 whatever Mead's character and disposition might 
 be, there is, in point of fact, as far as worldly 
 matters go, a wide difference in the feelings of 
 a man towards the female and male connexions 
 of a family : a pretty milliner, or a smart actress, 
 is a most agreeable pro tempore companion ; 
 
 L 5
 
 226 JACK BRAG, 
 
 and there is not a man who would object to 
 take either, to any of the guinguettes round 
 town, in the bright blaze of sunshine to parti- 
 cipate in the enjoyments of a Richmond stroll, 
 or a Greenwich fish-dinner ; but it would be 
 rather a difficult matter to induce the same 
 person to drive Jack Twigg, the brother of the 
 one — or row Bill Bott, the father of the other 
 — to either of those cockney Elysiums. The 
 doctor was everything that could be amiable 
 and generous, but the fact that the real nature 
 of George's service had never been imparted to 
 him, but, on the contrary, the discussion had 
 been carefully avoided, might of itself add to 
 the objections which he might feel to having, 
 by way of brother-in-law, a hard-fisted sergeant 
 of a marching regiment. 
 
 How he eventually was made acquainted 
 with the facts, and what was the result of his 
 knowledge of them as affecting his subsequent 
 proceedings, the reader is soon destined to 
 know : but as they are rather prominent fea- 
 tures of our little history, it is right they should 
 have a chapter to themselves.
 
 JACK BRAG. 227 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A FEW days had only elapsed since the final 
 arrangement of Anne''s marriage, when the anx- 
 iety and worry by which she was annoyed in 
 not having explicitly told her future husband 
 her brother's history were terminated in a man- 
 ner certainly neither expected nor anticipated 
 by her. 
 
 It was evening when the doctor made his 
 appearance at the Tusculum, evidently excited 
 
 — that is to say, rather more animated than 
 usual — full of something which he was anxious 
 to impart, and still more desirous of imparting 
 without flurrying his companions: — to use a 
 homely phrase, he had a good deal to say, but 
 did not know exactly how to begin. 
 
 The difficulty he felt, arose from two sources: 
 
 — the first cause of his embarrassment was, the
 
 2^8 JACK BRAG. 
 
 consciousness that what he had to communi- 
 cate could not fail, with all his caution, to 
 awaken a combination of feelings in the minds 
 of his hearers, the physical effect of which upon 
 the constitution of the elder one he anticipated 
 with some apprehension ; and the other origi- 
 nated in the feeling that he was about to avow 
 himself fully acquainted with every particular 
 concerning a member of the family to which 
 he was about to ally himself, whose name had 
 scarcely ever been mentioned, and whose his- 
 tory had never been touched on. 
 
 " I have news for you, ladies," said Mead, 
 after having talked upon some indifferent sub- 
 jects, " which will surprise you ; but I shall 
 not tell you one word until you have promised 
 me to behave calmly and temperately when I 
 have told my story." 
 
 " News for us .'" said Mrs. Brown. 
 
 " News from afar," said the doctor. 
 
 The blood rushed into Anne's cheeks. She 
 was assured whence, and whence only, news from 
 afar could come to them — Mead had heard of 
 her brother — of the brother of whose position in
 
 JACK BRAG. 229 
 
 society she had avoided the mention — he knew 
 it all — and not from her ! She felt humiliated 
 and abashed, and almost shuddered at the re- 
 flection that from mistaken pride, — unaccount- 
 able in a character like hers, — she had left the 
 developement of the whole family history to 
 chance, by which. Mead had become possessed 
 of every particular, and was of course convinced 
 that Anne, with all her good qualities, was not 
 entirely ingenuous. As it happened, the cir- 
 cumstances of the case were such as not to give 
 that colouring to her conduct ; but, on the 
 contrary, to lead the doctor to admire the diffi- 
 dence and modesty of both mother and daugh- 
 ter in not having spoken much more of such 
 a son and brother. 
 
 " Your son "" — said Mead. 
 
 " I knew it must be poor George !" exclaimed 
 Anne. 
 
 " Your son is expected home almost imme- 
 diately," said the doctor. 
 
 " Thank God !" said Mrs. Brown : « he is 
 alive then and safe. Three years have passed 
 since the date of his last letter."
 
 230 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Dear, dear George !'' said Anne — her joy 
 still clouded by her self-condemnation. 
 
 " When, my dear doctor," said Mrs. Brown, 
 " may we expect him ? — and how have you 
 heard this news ?" 
 
 " Promise me, both of you," said Mead, " to 
 hear what I have to say calmly, and I will tell 
 you all. You have no reason for agitation; 
 the news I bring is good — excellent ! Now, 
 recollect — no agitation he is in England!" 
 
 A flood of tears from the two listeners fol- 
 lowed this announcement. I am not sure that 
 the eyes of the narrator were quite dry. 
 
 " Heaven be praised !" sobbed Mrs. Brown ; 
 " I shall see my dear, dear boy once more 1" 
 
 Anne remained mute, and motionless, and 
 weeping. 
 
 " Nay, ladies," continued Mead, " I have 
 seen him — have conversed with him, — and 
 only succeeded by pointing out the absolute 
 necessity of forbearance, in hindering his coming 
 with me : — to-morrow you will clasp him to 
 your hearts." 
 
 Had not the one reproach rankled in Anne's
 
 JACK BRAG. ^31 
 
 mind, her happiness would have been as per- 
 fect as her mother's: as it was, she felt she 
 would give the world to enquire more about 
 him — about his wife — his family — his circum- 
 stances ; but she was tongue-tied? 
 
 " Is he well ?" said his mother — " and is his 
 wife with him ?" 
 
 " She is," said Mead — "I have seen her 
 too." 
 
 Another pang thrilled through Anne's heart : 
 — that wife was the sister of the man to whom 
 she had herself been betrothed ! The mother 
 and daughter exchanged a look ; — it was full of 
 meaning, but incomprehensible to Mead. 
 
 " I suppose she must be much altered," said 
 Mrs. Brown ; " of that, however, you can be 
 no judge, not having known her before she 
 went abroad." 
 
 " She is a very lovely creature," said Mead ; 
 and observing a sudden change in the expres- 
 sion of Anne's countenance, he added — " not 
 that I mean to make anybody jealous." 
 
 Anne coloured : she felt that they were tra- 
 velling over mined ground : — that the most
 
 232 JACK BRAG. 
 
 natural thing in the world for George to have 
 done when he fovnid out the doctor, was to 
 make some allusion to the brother of his wife 
 with reference to his sister ; and she began to 
 worry herself into the belief that the whole 
 history of the Brag affair had been detailed to 
 her affianced lover, and that he was merely 
 serpentining his way to the part of the de- 
 tails at which he might terminate his connexion 
 with them altogether. 
 
 " I never saw a sweeter expression of coun- 
 tenance !" continued Mead. " Her manners 
 are perfect : in fact, nothing but a constant 
 intercourse with the best society can give that 
 sort of unconscious ease and gracefulness which 
 seem inherent, and whose greatest charm is 
 the total absence of effort or affectation." 
 
 Anne heard, and silently repeated to herself 
 the words, " constant intercourse with the best 
 society," and her thoughts flew like lightning 
 to the back parlour behind the shop, the dang- 
 ling candles in front, the respectable Brag de- 
 funct, and his widow still extant ; and the 
 result of these hasty reminiscences was a con-
 
 JACK BRAG. 233 
 
 firmation of her belief that Mead was proceed- 
 ing in an ironical strain, utterly at variance as 
 it was with the general simplicity and amia- 
 bility of his character, in order eventually to 
 explode the whole affair, indignant at the treat- 
 ment he had experienced, and disgusted with 
 the connexion he had so nearly made. 
 
 " Why," said Mrs. Brown — and Anne would 
 have given worlds that she had said nothing, 
 — "she was always a smart, clever girl, and, I 
 suppose, time has improved her into what she 
 
 is." 
 
 " Her natural genius," said Mead, " which, 
 from some drawings I saw of hers, views of 
 different parts of India, is evidently first-rate, 
 has been — at least so your son told me — wonder- 
 fully improved by a residence in Italy, where 
 art is so generally cultivated and understood ; 
 and her father, who, he says, was devoted to her, 
 indulged her in a wish to reside upon the Con- 
 tinent for three years before his appointment." 
 
 The mother and daughter again exchanged 
 looks. It became a doubt in both their minds 
 whether Dr. Mead was suddenly seized with
 
 234> JACK BRAG. 
 
 madness, or whether their dear George had 
 caught the infection from the Brag family, 
 and had been imposing on him in the most out- 
 rageous manner. 
 
 " I never heard of my daughter-in-law's hav- 
 ing been abroad," said Mrs. Brown. 
 
 " She never could have been," said Anne. 
 
 " All I know is this," said Mead :— " a gen- 
 tleman called upon me about one o'clock to- 
 day. He sent in his card, and, upon seeing 
 his name, it struck me that it must be your 
 George, whom I had heard you occasionally 
 mention. I had remarked that you did not 
 speak much of him, and, as there are secrets in 
 all families, I apprehended, although you never 
 hinted it, that there might exist some disagree- 
 ment amongst you with which I could have no 
 concern whatever ; still the similarity of name 
 excited the opinion that it might be him. I 
 immediately received him in preference to my 
 waiting patients. He told me that as soon as 
 he and his wife arrived in town, he proceeded 
 to Walworth, where the people of the house 
 directed him to me, as knowing all about you.
 
 JACK BRAG. 235 
 
 Our conversation grew more and more interest- 
 ing ; and having, evidently to his surprise, and, 
 I flatter myself, not a disagreeable one, told 
 him the nature of my engagement to dear 
 Anne, he insisted on accompanying me hither 
 to clasp you in his arms. I positively refused 
 that, and, by way of an intermediate bargain, 
 he begged me the moment I had despatched 
 my professional business to call upon him and 
 his wife at Mivart's Hotel, where they have 
 taken rooms. I did so, was introduced, and, 
 as I have told you, am quite delighted with 
 both of them.'' 
 
 " Mivart's Hotel ! — taken rooms V — another 
 look was exchanged. 
 
 « Did he tell you," said Mrs. Brown, " whe- 
 ther he had any family .?" 
 
 " I think he said one boy," replied Mead : 
 " however, he will be here in the morning. I 
 am not sure whether your daughter-in-law 
 will come with him. She is in rather delicate 
 health ; and the journey from Falmouth, where 
 they landed, coming immediately on a fort- 
 night's bad weather in the chops of the Chan-
 
 236 JACK BRAG. 
 
 nel, after a long voyage, is something formid- 
 able to a person who, like her, has been used to 
 all the luxuries of life." 
 
 Another look, — and an extra one from Anne, 
 who looked at Mead to see whether there were 
 any visible alteration in his countenance ; for 
 all he said was perfectly incomprehensible to 
 her — if he were sane and rational. 
 
 " Did she,"" said Anne, particularly anxious 
 to discover the extent of her communication as 
 to her brother's engagement, as it might be 
 called, with herself — "did she say anything 
 about her brother .?"" 
 
 "Brother!" said Mead; "no, my dear 
 Anne ; George, your brother, and my future 
 brother-in-law, I hope," (Anne blushed again,) 
 " told me she was an only child." 
 
 " Did he.?" said Mrs. Brown. 
 
 " An only child !" said Anne — and they were 
 both more mystified than ever. Anne, how- 
 ever, who was more feelingly alive to the ac- 
 tual position of her brother, ventured a little 
 farther: " Has George," said she, "obtained 
 any promotion since we heard from him .?"
 
 JACK BRAG. 237 
 
 " That," said Mead, '^ is a question I can- 
 not very satisfactorily answer. His card was a 
 written one, and the name ' Mr. Brown.' As I 
 before told you, my dear Anne, the name itself 
 was enough for me." 
 
 This little speech tended very considerably 
 to calm poor Anne's doubts and fears. What- 
 ever had occurred, it was clear that neither 
 George nor Kate had touched upon the subject 
 of her former engagement, and she began to 
 take courage and feel more at ease than she 
 had been during the earlier part of the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 Mrs. Brown's delight at the prospect of again 
 seeing her son was not a little qualified by the 
 mystification which Mead's account of him and 
 his wife involved, and she longed for bed-time, in 
 order to talk over the circumstances with her 
 daughter. Her confidence in George's veracity 
 rendered her suspicious of the doctor's accuracy ; 
 and out of both she established an idea that 
 the Mr. Brown of whom they had been talking 
 must be neither more nor less than some dash- 
 ing swindler, who proposed to cheat the doctor.
 
 238 JACK BRAG. 
 
 or somebody else, by pretending a relationship 
 to the family with which he was about to con- 
 nect himself. 
 
 Of course, so long as the conversation lasted, 
 George and his wife were the leading subjects 
 of it ; not that the doubts and surmises of the 
 ladies were at all calmed or diminished by hear- 
 ing Mead detail the particulars of a visit paid to 
 Mr. Brown, during the time he was at the hotel, 
 by one of the most fashionable coachmakers in 
 town, to receive Mrs. Brown's orders with re- 
 gard to a carriage which was to be put in hand 
 immediately, and finished as soon as possible. 
 
 At last the trio separated for the night, the 
 doctor well pleased to have found in his brother- 
 in-law a gentleman so agreeable and highly re- 
 spectable, but wondering more than ever that 
 he should have suffered his mother and sister 
 to exist in the manner they were living at Wal- 
 worth, and where, had it not been for the acci- 
 dental circumstance of Anne's application to him, 
 they would in all probability have been living 
 still ; and coupling these matters with the looks 
 which he could not at length fail to see Mrs.
 
 JACK BRAG. 239 
 
 Brown and her daughter interchange, he unset- 
 tled his mind into a belief that there must be 
 some mystery in the affair, of which he should 
 like to be master. 
 
 " My dear Anne,"" said Mrs. Brown, as she 
 threw herself into the armed chair in her bed- 
 chamber, " what on earth can all this mean ? 
 Delighted as I am at the prospect of so soon 
 seeing my boy, I am astounded and astonished 
 at what Mead tells us. What can have hap- 
 pened to George, to induce him to talk and 
 act as he represents him to have done this 
 
 mornmg i 
 
 " I," said Miss Brown, " cannot compre- 
 hend it. But I am even more surprised at 
 what he has not said to Robert, than at what 
 he has. He may have made money ; he may 
 be able to live at an expensive hotel ; and he 
 may be able to let Kate have a carriage : but 
 one would have thought one of his first en- 
 quiries would have been after his brother-in- 
 law. Now, of Jack, it is clear he never spoke ; 
 for if he had, and before Robert had told him 
 all, the chances are" — (here her voice faltered
 
 240 JACK BRAG. 
 
 a little) — " my name would have been men- 
 tioned too." 
 
 " My dear child,"" said Mrs. Brown, " how 
 should George afford any of the luxuries of 
 which Mead speaks ? — besides, knowing, as I 
 do, the tenderness of his affection, and the ge- 
 nerosity of his heart, do you think, if he had 
 acquired anything like the property which this 
 person seems to possess, that we should have 
 been forgotten ? No, no ! — rely upon it, there 
 is some great mistake in the business somewhere. 
 George would never have left his mother and 
 sister to work for their bread, if he had had 
 the means of putting them at their ease.'" 
 
 " Besides," said Anne, " when the whole of 
 the conversation of this Mr. Brown with Ro- 
 bert is put together, it does not appear to con- 
 tain one word in allusion to our family con- 
 cerns. It is true, Mr. Brown went to Walworth, 
 and was referred to Robert by Mrs. Hutchins ; 
 but, except a simple enquiry after our health, 
 he seems to have made no allusion whatever to 
 anything that happened either before his de- 
 parture or during his absence. My belief is,
 
 JACK BRAG. 241 
 
 like yours, that it is somebody who for some 
 purpose has thought fit to personate George, 
 although, to be sure, it would be difficult to 
 conjecture for what." 
 
 " I would rather it were anything," said 
 Mrs. Brown, " than that my once honourable, 
 high-minded boy should have endeavoured to 
 impose upon Mead with such extraordinary 
 falsehoods as those which it appears he must 
 have told, if it be him." 
 
 " Besides," said Anne, who grew energetic 
 and eloquent as she proceeded, *' Kate never 
 could draw ; the things she took home from 
 school were all done by the drawing-master : 
 and as for the Continent, she never was even as 
 far as Calais." 
 
 " It seems to me, Anne," said the matron, 
 " to be one tissue of falsehood and pretension 
 from beginning to end." 
 
 In this sort of condemnatory strain did Mrs. 
 Brown and her daughter converse, till, twelve 
 o'clock striking, they considered it proper to part 
 for the night, in order to indulge themselves with 
 a separate reconsideration of the whole affair. 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 JACK BRAG. 
 
 The morning came — breakfast was eaten : — 
 the doctor departed as usual for town, and the 
 ladies began to count the minutes until George, 
 or the person who had assumed his name, 
 should make his appearance. At length the 
 happy moment came ; the old lady clasped her 
 son to her heart, and the young one clung 
 round the neck of her brother. George it was 
 — that was clear ; and although his features 
 had become somewhat sharpened by time, and 
 his complexion was mellowed into a durable 
 brown by the effects of the climate, he was not 
 so much altered as might have been expected. 
 
 " Well, my dear mother," said George, as 
 soon as he could collect himself sufficiently to 
 speak, " what gratitude do we not owe to 
 Providence ! As far as Anne is concerned, I 
 am delighted with her choice : I wanted no- 
 thing but her comfortable establishment in life 
 to make me perfectly happy." 
 
 " And how is your wife, George ?" said his 
 mother ; " our doctor says she is in delicate 
 health." 
 
 " She is, I am sorry to say, a sad invalid,"
 
 JACK BRAG. 243 
 
 said George. " I hope, however, her native 
 climate, unfavourable as it is to foreigners, may 
 restore her. She was very anxious to come 
 with me to-day, but she really is not strong 
 enough to bear even so short an excursion." 
 
 " We have seen scarcely anything of Brag 
 since you went," said Mrs. Brown, anxious as 
 much as possible to soften down his infamous 
 conduct, out of respect to the feelings of his 
 blameless sister. 
 
 " I rejoice to hear it," said George. " I 
 trust I never may have the misfortune of see- 
 ing him again." 
 
 " But I suppose," said Anne, who was al- 
 ways for peace-making, " you tvill see him for 
 the sake of my sister-in-law .''" 
 
 " I don't imagine," said Mr. Brown. " that 
 your sister-in-law is very likely to see much of 
 him. In fact," continued he, " I think, when she 
 gets strong enough, we shall in all probability 
 go to the Continent, unless perhaps I should stop 
 a month or two in England for a little shooting." 
 
 Here the ladies exchanged looks of a similar 
 character to those of the night before. 
 
 M 2
 
 244 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " To be sure," continued he, " whatever 
 miseries and unhappinesses I may have under- 
 gone since we parted, my career has been one 
 of the most extraordinary, and most prosper- 
 ous, that man ever ran. How I have deserved 
 such blessings, I know not." 
 
 " What rank have you now in the army, 
 George .?" said his mother. 
 
 " Army !" said her son ; " you know I have 
 left the army." 
 
 '' Left it !" exclaimed the old lady, more 
 confirmed than ever in the suspicion that some- 
 thing was wrong somewhere and somehow : — 
 " why, then, how do you live ?"" 
 
 " How ! — as a man of fortune should live," 
 said George, — " upon my property." 
 
 *' My dear George," said Anne, " what are 
 you talking of .''" 
 
 " Nothing but what you know of," replied he. 
 " We know of nothing, my dear boy," said 
 Mrs. Brown, " but of your having been made 
 clerk to Sir Cadwallader Adamthwaite's secre- 
 tary." 
 
 " Why, my dear mother," said George, " I
 
 JACK BRAG. 245 
 
 never made a remittance to you without writing 
 fully upon all my affairs." 
 
 " Remittance !" said Mrs. Brown. 
 
 " Letters !" said Anne — " my dear brother, 
 we have not received a line from you for up- 
 wards of three years ; and, during all our dis- 
 tresses, your silence caused perhaps the keenest 
 pang of all." 
 
 " Distresses !" exclaimed George — " why this 
 — what — three years ! — there have been roguery 
 and robbery here ! From the moment my for- 
 tunes changed, I regularly remitted you as much 
 as my means would afford ; and although won- 
 dering never to have heard from you through 
 the agent whom I directed to forward my let- 
 ters to you, and to receive any you chose to 
 trust to his care, I felt assured by his answers 
 that your silence was a matter of choice ; and, 
 ascertaining through him that you were both 
 well, contented myself with fulfilling my duty 
 and gratifying my inclinations, without waiting 
 for reply or acknowledgment. The truth will 
 be easily discovered. This very agent, I find 
 on my arrival here, has failed, and is recently
 
 246 JACK BRAG. 
 
 dead ; I have, of course, had no time to inves- 
 tigate his affairs, but I very much fear I shall 
 be an eventual loser of four or five thousand 
 pounds by him." 
 
 Here the ladies looked at each other again. 
 Anne had read in some book something about 
 shaking the pagoda tree in India, but it seemed 
 as if her brother must have picked it clean. 
 
 " Three years!" said George — " why then 
 you know nothing of the leading events of my 
 life — of the entire change in my circumstances." 
 
 " I see you are in mourning, George," said 
 Anne, who did not know how to ask for 
 whom ? 
 
 " Yes," said George, " I am sorry to say I 
 am — for my father-in-law ; a more generous- 
 hearted, noble-minded man, never lived." 
 
 " In mourning for poor Mr. Brag, now !" 
 said his mother. 
 
 " Brag !" said George — "I sicken at the 
 very name." 
 
 " Oh, George," said Anne, " consider Kate !" 
 
 " Kate !" exclaimed Brown, turning deadly 
 pale — " Kate ! — Oh ! Anne, it must be more
 
 JACK BRAG. 247 
 
 than three years since you got any of my let- 
 ters. — Lost, wretched woman !" 
 
 " Lost !" said Anne — " why, is not she at 
 the hotel ?" 
 
 "In her grave !" said George, " a grave which 
 closed upon a life of wantonness and disgrace." 
 
 " Then you are married again ?" said Anne. 
 
 In answer to this question, it seems better to 
 adopt the narrative style, inasmuch as many 
 circumstances had occurred during the period 
 of George's involuntary cessation of correspond- 
 ence with his mother, which it would be diffi- 
 cult for him personally to describe or ex plain. 
 
 The reader has traced the career of Mr. 
 George Brown up to the point of his becom- 
 ing clerk to the military secretary of Sir Cad- 
 wallader Adamthwaite. His readiness, acti- 
 vity, and assiduity, were so remarkable, that 
 the general, who was one of the kindest-hearted 
 men upon the face of the earth, took the trou- 
 ble to ascertain the particulars of his history ; 
 and finding him to be in every essential point a 
 gentleman, resolved on procuring him a com- 
 mission in the army, which he did ; and when it
 
 24:8 JACK BRAG. 
 
 was obtained, and George appointed, the clerk 
 was dignified into assistant military secretary, 
 and the assistant military secretary became one 
 of the general's family. 
 
 It was during a year or fourteen months of 
 probation before the arrival of his commission, 
 that Mrs. George Brown {7iee Brag) began to 
 evince very strong symptoms of a propensity, 
 which even the thirst produced by a hot cli- 
 mate cannot justify in one of the " fair sex," as 
 her brother would call them ; and upon more 
 occasions than one, George, on his return from 
 head-quarters, found her in a state which, as 
 authors say who are not able to depict what 
 they wish, " may be better imagined than de- 
 scribed." It rarely happens that when this 
 vice exists in woman, it is the only one to which 
 she sooner or later addicts herself. Grown reck- 
 less by habitual intemperance, her temper became 
 violent ; and impatient of rebuke, she taxed her 
 husband with cruelty and inhumanity for mere- 
 ly remonstrating upon conduct so disgraceful 
 to herself, and which must be so injurious to 
 him. The most depraved women, however, find
 
 JACK BRAG. 249 
 
 admirers, and Mrs. Brown, degraded as she was, 
 found hers. The justification she attempted to 
 plead for the irregularity of her life was, the 
 delusion which had been practised upon her 
 by George as to the place she was to occupy in 
 the world ; that her husband's rank, of course, 
 excluded her from good society, sucli as, she 
 said, " she had always been used to :" and, in 
 short, having awakened from a dream of girlish 
 love, she bitterly repented of the step she had 
 taken, and became careless of everything but 
 the gratification of her worst propensities. 
 
 This career did not last long. It would be 
 neither pleasant nor profitable to enter into the 
 particulars of her unfortunate case ; a few 
 months"' intemperance brought her life to its 
 close, and left George a widower, commiserated 
 by his comrades rather for the sufferings he 
 had undergone, than for the loss he had sus- 
 tained. All these circumstances he had detail- 
 ed in his missing letters to his mother, in one 
 of which he had also communicated the intelli- 
 gence of his wife''s death to her surviving parent; 
 but, with great goodness of heart and tender- 
 
 M 5
 
 250 JACK BRAG. 
 
 ness of feeling, avoiding all mention of the 
 
 unhappy circumstances in which she died. 
 
 If George and Kate had given themselves time 
 to consider the step which they unfortunately 
 took, and had not been blinded by youthful love, 
 they could have anticipated nothing but evil 
 from such a marriage. Kate was evidently 
 labouring under the belief that George was an 
 officer; and the question whether his rank would 
 enable her to live with people such as she had 
 been accustomed to visit and receive, never en- 
 tered her mind. She first began to feel her dif- 
 ficulties when she embarked on board the ship 
 which was to take them to India ; but even 
 tliere the superiority of her manners induced 
 a special attention to her, and infinitely bet- 
 ter accommodation was contrived for her than 
 she had any right to : in short, from the mo- 
 ment they were fairly launched in the world, 
 and she saw the path she had chosen, she be- 
 came fretful and irritable, her pride wounded 
 by finding herself unable to speak to, or asso- 
 ciate with the wives of the oflScers with whom 
 she was domesticated, and her vanity hurt by
 
 ' JACK BRAG. 251 
 
 being permitted to stand in the verandah of 
 the mess-room, to look in and see the company 
 dancing when the officers gave a ball. 
 
 That it %vas humiliating and provoking no- 
 body can deny, but she ought to have calcu- 
 lated upon such evils before she married ; that 
 is, if she knew enough of " the service" to enable 
 her to appreciate the relative value of its differ- 
 ent ranks : however, it is not my province to 
 reason upon the wisdom or propriety of her 
 early proceedings. Her ruin and fall may be 
 fairly traced to her first great act of filial dis- 
 obedience ; and her fate adds another to the 
 numerous instances already upon record, of the 
 ill-success of runaway matches. 
 
 The day on which Ensign Brown made his 
 first appearance in Sir Cadwallader Adam- 
 thwaite''s drawing-room, was a most important 
 era of his life; and when he found himself 
 warmly received by the general, and presented 
 pro forma to his daughter, who, of course, knew 
 him perfectly well by sight, he could not re- 
 strain a feeling of regret that his unfortunate 
 wife had not so conducted herself through what
 
 252 JACK BRAG. 
 
 he admitted to have been a trial, that she 
 might have overcome all the hardships she had 
 previously endured, and have enjoyed the satis- 
 faction of finding herself placed by her hus- 
 band's promotion, in society from which her 
 girlish thoughtlessness had excluded her. 
 
 Sir Cadwallader's kind act of justice to the 
 merits of Ensign Brown gave general satis- 
 faction, and met with universal approbation ; 
 and he was welcomed to the mess of his regi- 
 ment with the most unequivocal marks of friend- 
 ship and esteem. His official avocations prevent- 
 ed his doing regimental duty, and his evenings 
 were occupied in a participation in the plea- 
 sures of Sir Cadwallader's hospitable mansion. 
 
 It might displease the reader if I were to 
 doubt that he anticipates the result of this 
 introduction of the ensign into the house of 
 the general. He most probably guesses right- 
 ly ; but as there are circumstances which render 
 the case somewhat dissimilar from most others, 
 he must be told the particulars. 
 
 Ellen Adamthwaite, Sir Cadwallader's daugh- 
 ter, was the beloved of his heart. Her mother
 
 JACK BRAG. 253 
 
 had died young — a mother from whom Sir 
 Cadwallader had received, besides the most 
 endearing proofs of constancy and affection, the 
 vast fortune which he possessed, and which en- 
 abled him to support en prince the highest offices, 
 to which his noble profession and his gallant 
 conduct had led him. Upon Ellen — the dear, 
 the gentle Ellen — the love, the devotion, which 
 once was her mother's due, devolved at her 
 mother's death : and although Ellen, who was 
 everything father could desire, could not but 
 feel conscious of her power over him, she was 
 the least presuming of daughters, the most 
 gentle, and most amiable of girls. 
 
 When Sir Cadwallader was oiFered the com- 
 mandership-in-chief and second seat in council 
 at the presidency to which he was attached, he 
 accepted it, upon the chivalrous feeling of the 
 greatest soldier, not only of the day, but of the 
 land we live in — that he was the King's ser- 
 vant, and equally bound to obey his commands 
 in the highest and lowest of offices ; and al- 
 though possessed of wealth which rendered the 
 appointment pecuniarily unimportant, he readily
 
 254 JACK BRAG. 
 
 relinquished his domestic ease and comfort for 
 the more negatively active domination over an 
 Oriental army. 
 
 While holding this appointment, his constant 
 endeavour appeared to be, to make everybody 
 happy around him. There was nothing in the 
 state of the country which seemed to require 
 any of the austerity of military discipline ; and 
 the routine duty, although comprehending an 
 extensive range, was not that which required the 
 vigilance and activity of war. He " took the 
 thing easy" himself, and his greatest pleasure 
 was to see everybody subordinate to himself do 
 exactly the same. He never grumbled if he 
 saw men in "mufti" or "white jackets;" de- 
 sired every man to " make himself comfortable" 
 when he came to dinner ; and, in short, was 
 about the best-natured being that ever melted 
 under an Indian sun. 
 
 That he had taken a great fancy to Brown 
 was clear. Major Mopes, whose death -like 
 countenance never relaxed into a smile, but of 
 whom Sir Cadwallader had the highest opi- 
 nion, inasmuch as he saved His Excellency all
 
 JACK BRAG. 255 
 
 the trouble, not only of writing but of thinking, 
 had spoken very highly of George, and enlarged 
 upon the meritorious course he had pursued 
 in entering the army, as he had done, in order 
 to relieve his mother, who had been in such a 
 different position in society, from all charge 
 for his support. This recommendation led Sir 
 Cadwallader to talk to him : he found him well- 
 informed, well-read, intelligent, and, in fact, a 
 gentleman. The prepossession thus created, 
 and which went to the extent of procuring him 
 the commission, extended further, and the only 
 phrase — it is a simple one, and best suits the 
 general's feeling, is, — " he liked him." 
 
 How often such prepossessions take hold of 
 people, and liow seldom are they erroneous ! 
 — how unaccountable are the sympathies by 
 which such prepossessions are created ! The 
 moment Sir Cadwallader heard George's story, 
 and received the testimonials of his merit and 
 ability, he resolved to serve him, — and, in 
 fact, to restore him to his place in society as a 
 gentleman, which he pronounced him to be to 
 his daughter, while he was yet his secretary's
 
 256 JACK BRAG. 
 
 clerk, as he was sitting with her in the wind- 
 ward varhandah smoking his chilum. 
 
 Ellen Adamthwaite, who, of course, saw 
 George almost every day, accidentally, or per- 
 haps incidentally, could not help participating 
 in the interest which her father took in his fate, 
 especially as the history of his wife's miscon- 
 duct and death were matters of notoriety in 
 the family, from Major Mopes's frequent recur- 
 rence to the circumstance of their elopement 
 from England, — and the commiserating " What 
 a pity it is that nothing can be done to reclaim 
 a person originally so respectable !" which was 
 so often on his lips. 
 
 When George became by royal authority a 
 gentleman, and Ellen found she might look at 
 him, and even speak to him, without any inde- 
 corum, she certainly felt more than ever the 
 hardship of his case while doing the duty which 
 his filial affection had imposed upon him, even 
 regretting, as he did himself, the cause which, 
 no doubt, was truly assigned for his wife"'s dis- 
 tressing dereliction from every religious, moral, 
 and social duty.
 
 JACK BRAG. 257 
 
 Nothing more readily excites an interest 
 in a woman's heart than a bit of the romance 
 of real life. George, selected by her kind- 
 hearted father for favour and promotion, was 
 brought into her society the son of a ruined 
 merchant, who had received the education of a 
 gentleman, and had been educated in the ex- 
 pectation of succeeding to his father''s wealth. 
 He enters the army as a private soldier, to re- 
 lieve his mother from the burthen of maintaining 
 him, and he elopes with a girl who is despe- 
 rately in love with him. In his past life, there- 
 fore, there appeared a combination of events, 
 sufficiently romantic to awaken a particular feel- 
 ing towards him ; and it was not many days 
 after his domestication at the general's, before 
 Ellen found her eyes resting upon his intelli- 
 gent countenance much oftener than upon any 
 other object in the room. 
 
 There was a manly modesty in George's man- 
 ner — a sort of consciousness of what he might 
 have been, of what he had been, and yet, of 
 what he was, which was peculiarly conciliating. 
 Sir Cadwallader lost no opportunity of bring-
 
 258 JACK BRAG. 
 
 iiig him forward. It seemed, indeed, to be his 
 study to make him appear to the best possible 
 advantage in company, in order, as it might 
 be thought, to justify the partiality he had 
 evinced for him, and the good opinion he enter- 
 tained of him. 
 
 In London the circle is so extensive, that 
 although some hundred or two people whisper, 
 and look wise, and nod and wink at each other 
 when a flirtation becomes a little too evident, 
 there are seven or eight hundred others to whom 
 it is a matter of no interest ; and, moreover, 
 whatever people think, they keep their thoughts 
 as far distant as possible from the flirters 
 themselves. Within the confined ring-fence 
 of an Indian presidency, the slightest move- 
 ment of that nature at head-quarters creates a 
 universal sensation ; all the worst passions of 
 mankind are concentered and pemmican'd in a 
 little community of that sort ; envy and jea- 
 lousy assume the garb of friendship and esteem; 
 and some miserable wretch, whose hatred to- 
 wards one of the parties has been engendered 
 or fostered by the remembrance of a slight or
 
 JACK BRAG. 259 
 
 neglect, thinks it a duty he owes to so excel- 
 lent a man as his Excellency the commander-in- 
 chief, to mention to him what people say about 
 his daughter and Mr. Somebody, whose society 
 and conversation she happens to prefer to that 
 of the considerate friend of her father. 
 
 Two months had not flown over George''s 
 head in his new capacity before the whole tribe 
 were in motion. " To be sure," says one, " Sir 
 Cadwallader is an extraordinary man : — he 
 can't but see it.*" " Perhaps he does not 
 object to it,"" says another. " La !" cries a 
 third : " what ! let his daughter marry a man 
 from the ranks !" " Hush !" says a fourth — 
 " the less we say about that the better : rose 
 from the ranks himself." " Flogged at Chat- 
 ham for stealing a cock turkey," says a fifth. 
 " Hush !"' says a sixth, " here comes his Excel- 
 lency." Out turns the guard — ruffle goes the 
 drum — rattledum slap go the muskets — and 
 his Excellency is immediately surrounded by 
 the little group in the full exercise of Koo-too- 
 ism, who, the moment before, were exercising 
 their historical and biographical faculties in
 
 260 JACK BRAG. 
 
 commenting upon the folly of his Excellency's 
 conduct, and in descanting upon the obscurity 
 of his Excellency's birth. 
 
 That Ellen and George were somehow more 
 paired off together, than any other two of the 
 party, is most certain. In her conversation 
 with him she did not disguise her esteem and 
 regard for his good qualities, which made 
 themselves evident upon every possible occa- 
 sion ; while /<e, regarding her as a superior 
 being, felt that sort of admiration which wise 
 men say is not compatible with tenderness. 
 The whole economy of love, however, is so in- 
 tricate, so perplexing, so mysterious, and so 
 perilous, that there exists no rule throughout 
 the whole system without an exception. 
 
 George once or twice thought that Miss 
 Adamthwaite looked more than she said ; and 
 though he had not sufficiently considered the 
 matter even to assure himself that of all girls 
 in the world she was the very last for whom 
 he ought to encourage an affection, a word 
 dropped by one of his friends on the staff, sud- 
 denly brought to his mind the real position in
 
 JACK BRAG. 261 
 
 which he was placed. Then it was he taxed 
 himself with selfishness in seeking her society ; 
 then it was he resolved to alienate himself from 
 the delight which her conversation and accom- 
 plishments afforded him : — he would mix more 
 generally in society ; he would dine abroad 
 whenever he could, and would go out imme- 
 diately after his official business was over ; he 
 would not go to tiffin, nor walk for an hour or 
 two with Ellen in the varhandah : in short, he 
 would not endanger her peace or comfort by 
 giving occasion for remarks, which although 
 wholly without foundation, might wound her 
 feelings or injure her reputation. 
 
 It was not till the moment he made these 
 resolutions that the real state of his heart 
 became known to himself. It was only then 
 he discovered that he could not act upon 
 his own determination. When tiffin was an- 
 nounced the next day. Sir Cadwallader forced 
 him to stay and partake of it — desired his 
 daughter to lay hei' commands upon him : — 
 then, by his Excellency's orders, they played 
 chess together, — and then came in some visiters
 
 262 JACK BRAG. 
 
 — George, of course, could not leave them : — 
 and then — and then — in fact, the very first day 
 after that in which he had decided upon a total 
 alteration in his proceedings, was passed pre- 
 cisely as the thirty or forty preceding days had 
 been passed. 
 
 It is a generally admitted axiom, that *' abs- 
 tinence is less difficult than moderation ;" and 
 so it seems thought George : for failing in his 
 project of philosophically decreasing his happi- 
 ness gradually, he came to the resolution of 
 abandoning it altogether. 
 
 The project George meditated to carry this 
 " stern resolve" into execution, was one which 
 did honour to his heart ; but it required a con- 
 federate, and that very circumstance enhanced 
 its difficulty. The moment he had ascertained 
 the real state of his feelings, he more atten- 
 tively — perhaps tenderly would be a better 
 word — watched the dear girl to whom he was 
 devoted. It was too true : — looks and actions 
 which he had attributed to friendship, or even 
 to a compliance with her father's wishes, now 
 that he had ventured to think of love, bore a
 
 JACK BRAG. 263 
 
 totally different character. Whatever dress he 
 had accidentally praised, Ellen more constantly 
 wore ; the flower he preferred was always in 
 her bosom ; the songs he loved to hear, she 
 sang ; and opinions which he had once express- 
 ed, she adopted for her own. 
 
 Oh ! those who have never felt the tender, gall- 
 ing anxiety of a state like this, cannot appreciate 
 George's feelings during the week after he had 
 made the discovery of his real position. What 
 had he done .'* — gained the affections of his bene- 
 factor's daughter ! It was not vanity that sug- 
 gested the truth : the word once spoken that 
 gave that turn to his thoughts, decided it. The 
 fascination was over him — he was conscious 
 that he was beloved. How he acted under 
 this impression remains to be seen.
 
 264 JACK BRAG. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Amongst his friends — for of a few associates 
 he had many — the friend George fixed upon 
 as the one to aid him in his rescue from the 
 commission of what he considered the damning 
 crime of ingratitude, was the surgeon of his own 
 regiment — a man of sense and shrewdness, and 
 one who was professionally taciturn upon sub- 
 jects not intended for general conversation : — 
 to him, after mature deliberation, George pro- 
 ceeded, and having begged his private ear, 
 told him he wanted his immediate aid. 
 
 " What ! — a duel ?" said Dr. Short. 
 
 " No, my dear doctor," said George, " I am 
 ill — seriously ill. I have a constant pain in 
 my side. I ought not to stay here. I must 
 resign my assistant-secretaryship and go home 
 for my health. I want a sick certificate."
 
 JACK BRAG. 265 
 
 " Umph !" said Short — "I see — yes — on 
 which side is the pain — left — right ?"" 
 
 " Intensely severe on the right side," said 
 George. " I cannot lift my arm perpendicu- 
 larly without feeling the most excruciating tor- 
 ture." 
 
 " Umph !" said the doctor. " You know 
 what Abernethy said upon that point to the 
 old woman who said the same thing to him — 
 eh ! — What a fool you must be to try ! — eh !" 
 
 " I assure you, doctor, mine is no laughing 
 matter," said George. 
 
 " Let 's see your tongue. Umph ! — clean as 
 a whistle, and red as beet-root. Won't do — 
 eh ! No tricks upon travellers — no case of 
 liver. Can't do what you want — or what you 
 don't want. Did Sir Cadwallader send yovi 
 to me .?" 
 
 " No, indeed," said George, " no human 
 being is aware of my visit to you." 
 
 " Why did you make a secret of it, eh ?'' 
 said Short. " Every man has a liver; every 
 liver is subject to disease. What's the use of 
 mystery .?" 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 JACK BRAG. 
 
 *' I know of no mystery," said George. 
 
 " Won't do, Mr. Assistant-secretary," said 
 Short. " A surgeon ought to have an eagle''s 
 eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand. Cannot 
 say I have all those qualities ; but as far as the 
 eye goes, I think, I can see as far as my neigh- 
 bours — eh !" 
 
 " I don't know what you should make a 
 merit of seeing," said George. " I have no 
 disguises — I wish to be candid with you." 
 
 " Ah !" said Short, " now I see. You want 
 to tell me you have nothing the matter with 
 you : and yet you want me to give you a sick 
 certificate — eh ! — that's it — umph !" 
 
 " My dear doctor," said George, " I believe 
 you do know something of my feelings, for you 
 certainly have guessed my wishes. I am tiot ill, 
 — at least in body; but I may be saved from 
 being ill in body, in mind, in reputation, and 
 in conscience, if you will but grant your fiat 
 for shipping me to England." 
 
 " / know," said Short, " you are as safe in 
 mi/ care as a baby on her mother's bosom : — 
 but I say — those grey eyes and black eyelashes
 
 JACK BRAG. 267 
 
 are the devil! — aren't they? — umph !r~ sweet 
 creature ! Come, no nonsense, or you get no 
 certificate. You know it is all mighty fine 
 your coming to me, looking as mysterious as 
 a playhouse conspirator : everybody here, ex- 
 cept your two selves, and perhaps Sir Cad. 
 knows the whole story." 
 
 " What story ?" said George : — '"no word 
 has ever passed my lips — " 
 
 " No: but a great many have passed the 
 lips of other people," said Short. " As for 
 your own words, they are what we call super- 
 fluous — the eyes have it — eh ! — umph !" 
 
 " What you say, doctor," said George, 
 " makes me miserable." 
 
 " Very !" said Short. " I know — it makes 
 every man miserable to have gained the affec- 
 tions of a charming, amiable girl, with a hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand pounds: — it is quite a 
 calamity ! Poor Mr. Assistant-secretary ! — 
 you can't think how I pity you !" 
 
 " Doctor, this is no joking matter," said 
 George. " It is useless, I perceive, to attempt 
 disguise with you : you have seen or heard 
 
 n2
 
 268 JACK BRAG. 
 
 what I jiever suspected could have been even 
 remarkable. If I wished your assistance upon 
 this point when I came into this room, it is ten 
 thousand times more desirable to me now." 
 
 " Umph !" said Short. " Why .?" 
 
 " Why !" exclaimed George : — "we have 
 so suddenly and deeply plunged into this dis- 
 cussion ; you assume so much, and I have such 
 perfect faith and confidence in you, that — " 
 
 " You are good enough to propose telling 
 me what I know already," interrupted Short. 
 
 " No, not what you know already," said 
 George, " but what my resolution is. The 
 general, in the outset of my career here, be- 
 friended me, espoused my cause, restored me 
 to society, and made me what I am. I am ad- 
 mitted into his family, and I evince my grati- 
 tude to him for all his kindnesses by — " 
 
 " — By permitting his daughter to fall in 
 love with you !" said Short : — " how can i/ou 
 help that .?" 
 
 " If such should be the case," said George, 
 " it is my duty instantly to quit this place." 
 
 " To be sure !" said Short — " and add to
 
 JACK BRAG. 269 
 
 all the other marks of your sense of the Gene- 
 ral's obligations by leaving his only darling 
 child to break her heart." 
 
 " Do not talk in this way, doctor," said the 
 assistant secretary, " it is I " — 
 
 " Pshaw!" said Short. " No nonsense: stay 
 where you are — I '11 give you no certificate." 
 
 " Then I must go without one," said George. 
 " Private business in England " — 
 
 " Very private, indeed !" said Short. " I say, 
 stay where you are." 
 
 " My dear friend, " said George, " it is im- 
 possible ! What you have told me now, in 
 addition to a remark which I accidentally over- 
 heard, renders it imperatively necessary that I 
 should go. It is the only favour 1 have ven- 
 tured to ask of you, or of any man since I have 
 been here : grant me the certificate, let me 
 show it to Sir Cadwallader, and tear myself 
 away from the only place in the world where I 
 care to live." 
 
 " Oh !" said Short, putting his finger to his 
 nose — " mutual, I see. Umph !" 
 
 " I did not say—"
 
 270 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Yes, you did," said Short. " How do you 
 know Sir Cad. will let you go .?" 
 
 " If he could," said George, " which for 
 worlds I would not he should, even fancy what 
 is passing in this room, he would — ^" 
 
 " What !'' said Short — " do you think he 
 does not know what is passing in your mind 
 and that of Miss Ellen's .?" 
 
 " What is passing in our minds .''" asked 
 George. 
 
 *' Our minds I" said Short — " umph ! — that 's 
 it — our minds ! The glorious we of literature 
 is not more commanding than the ' our' of 
 you two. Why, you are over head and ears in 
 love with each other, and you cannot help 
 showing it wherever you are. I know the 
 symptoms, Mr. Assistant-secretary — have had 
 the complaint myself : so has Sir Cad. — a 
 great practitioner in that way : — d'ye think he 
 is blind r 
 
 " I know he is everything that is kind and 
 good,*" said George. 
 
 " Well, then, perhaps his goodness and kind-
 
 JACK BRAG. 271 
 
 ness may go the length of wishing you to be 
 his son-in-law," said Short. 
 
 " Impossible !" said George — "a creature 
 he has made — " 
 
 " Umph !" said Short, — "don't see how 
 that interferes — eh! You had better talk to 
 her of your heart than to me of your liver. 
 See what he says — or, if you don't like that, 
 I will." 
 
 " Doctor !" said George, looking extremely 
 fierce. 
 
 " I will," said Short ; — " that is to say, I 
 shall tell his Excellency officially that you 
 have applied for a sick certificate ; and, if 
 you '11 trust to me, I '11 work it to the best 
 advantage. If Sir Cad. is crusty, you shall 
 have it. A pain in the side makes no show : 
 — I can't tell whether you have a pain in 
 your side or not. If he demur to your go- 
 ing, you shall be in excellent health ; if he 
 frown, and expresses a wish that way, you 
 shall be shipped for Cheltenham in a fort- 
 night."
 
 272 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " 1 knew," said George, " you would be my 
 friend." 
 
 " I am your friend," said the doctor, " there- 
 fore I want you to stop. You have enemies 
 here as well as your betters. Your going would 
 be a triumph to some half-dozen of the fellows 
 who have been dangling after Miss Ellen for 
 the last two years, and who have never got so 
 much as a smile from her for their pains. No, 
 no : mark me, Mr. Assistant-secretary ; — put 
 the affair into my hands, and you shall have the 
 sick certificate when / think you want it, and 
 not before." 
 
 George, it must be confessed, was incalculably 
 surprised at the evident notoriety of an attach- 
 ment of which he even fancied himself uncon- 
 scious only a few days before. That the lookers- 
 on see more than the players, is generally said, 
 and here was a proof of the correctness of the 
 saying : the very circumstance, however, of its 
 having become a topic of general conversation 
 strengthened, as we have seen, his determi- 
 nation to put an end to the scandal through 
 the aid of his friend Short.
 
 JACK BRAG. 273 
 
 Had he not been bound to his military duty 
 by military law, his retreat could have been 
 easily managed ; but it was absolutely neces- 
 sary that the very man from whom he wished 
 to keep his motives for going, secret, should be 
 the person, and the only person, who could dis- 
 pense with his services, and grant him leave to 
 put his plan into execution. As it was, he had 
 only to trust to the doctor, whose proceedings 
 he endeavoured to accelerate by pointing out 
 to him the dangers of delay. 
 
 That he was not slow to act, George soon 
 discovered. At dinner the next day Sir Cad- 
 wallader began to throw out hints that he was 
 aware of George's intention of applying for 
 the certificate, and in general terms censured 
 the conduct of commanding officers who, by 
 permitting themselves to be parties to a de- 
 ception practised under the connivance of me- 
 dical officers, committed themselves as accom- 
 plices to what, after all, however strong the 
 phrase might sound, was little better than a 
 deliberate fraud. 
 
 " There 's jobbing all over the world," said 
 
 n5
 
 274! JACK BRAG. 
 
 his Excellency. *' One is never safe. Any 
 fellow that wants to shirk duty, makes friends 
 with the doctor, and out comes a sick certi- 
 ficate. — What 's the matter ? — liver, to be 
 sure ! As Short says, ' Who can see a pain in 
 the side .?' " 
 
 Nobody spoke, because nobody exactly com- 
 prehended what his Excellency meant by this 
 gratuitous observation, except George, who felt 
 himself get extremely red in the face, — a very 
 natural consequence of being talked at by a 
 commander-in-chief. Ellen did not know to 
 whom the observation referred, and looked 
 round the table to see if any of the half-dozen 
 guests were affected. Her look rested on George : 
 their eyes met : they both became suddenly 
 embarrassed, and Sir Cadwallader, who was 
 good at a long shot, saw the glance and the 
 response, which confirmed his suspicions, and 
 decided his course of conduct. 
 
 The evening of this day was passed as agree- 
 ably as the evening before, but Ellen felt a 
 difference in George's manner towards her : she
 
 JACK BRAG. 275 
 
 could scarcely define what it was, or how to 
 account for it, and yet it somehow connected 
 itself in her mind with her father's hypothetical 
 observation at dinner. The guests departed, 
 unregretted by either of the lovers, for so, un- 
 consciously they were ; and the party was re- 
 duced to a trio, composed of Sir Cadwallader, 
 Ellen, and the assistant military secretary, who 
 always lingered last of the throng, were it never 
 so late. 
 
 " So," said Sir Cadwallader, after a short 
 pause, " I suppose, Mr. Brown, you felt the 
 force of my little remark at dinner about sick 
 certificates — eh ! I hope you did — it was 
 meant expressly for you^ 
 
 " Sir ! " faltered George, anticipating the 
 burst of displeasure which he was assured 
 would follow this announcement. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said his Excellency, " I under- 
 stand you have been applying to Short for one 
 of those melancholy testimonials of ill health, 
 with a liver as sound as a roach, and the con- 
 stitution of a ploughman."
 
 276 JACK BRAG. 
 
 *' I assure your Excellency,'"' said George, 
 " that — I am not capable of deception upon 
 any point : — I " — 
 
 " I don't know what you call deception, Mr. 
 Brown," said Sir Cadwallader ; " you are in 
 good health, and you want the doctor to say 
 you are sick, in order to quit your duty, and 
 leave those who wish you well." 
 
 Ellen, who began to feel extremely uneasy, 
 and think her presence at such a scene was 
 scarcely necessary, rose to depart. 
 
 " Stay, Miss," said the General — " wait to 
 hear what the gentleman has to say for him- 
 self." 
 
 " Really, papa," said Ellen — 
 " Really, Miss," said the General — " recol- 
 lect I am commanding officer here : obey or- 
 ders — sit you down, Miss. If you wished for 
 leave of absence, Mr. Brown, why not have 
 applied to me upon any fair ground ? I hate 
 shamming — eh !" 
 
 " It is impossible," said George, " for me 
 either to extenuate or explain my fault. It is
 
 JACK BRAG. 277 
 
 now known to you, sir : — there can be no diffi- 
 culty in my going noiv." 
 
 " Why so, sii-?"" said his Excellency. 
 
 " You have exhibited my thoughtless — my 
 ungrateful conduct, in its proper light," said 
 George : " I cannot — indeed, I cannot remain 
 longer with you." 
 
 " Suppose, sir, I cannot spare you," said the 
 General. 
 
 " My services, sir,"" said, or rather sobbed, 
 George, " are of no importance. I — " 
 
 " That 's matter of opinion," said the Gene- 
 ral. " But suppose / could manage without 
 you — look at that young lady there — d'ye 
 think she could spare you ?" 
 
 " Oh, father ! " said Ellen, who had sat 
 trembling, and cold, and pale, during the 
 conversation — "I — don't wish to inter- 
 fere." 
 
 •' You don't!" said Sir Cadwallader — "not 
 interfere ! — you do wish to interfere. Miss. 
 Lord bless your heart ! EUy, — haven't I been 
 young myself — eh ? No, no, you can't cheat
 
 278 JACK BRAG. 
 
 me, cunning as you are : — you love this fellow, 
 and he loves you.'''' 
 
 " Father !" said Ellen. 
 
 Brown said nothing, but looked as if the 
 world was on the point of annihilation. 
 
 " Don't contradict me, Elly," said the Gene- 
 ral : " where 's the harm ? — where 's the wrong? 
 When I heard George's story, I was resolved to 
 restore him to his proper place in society. I 
 brought him into my house — into my family — 
 and you have fallen in love with each other : — 
 that ""s my affair. What then ? When I first 
 knew your poor dear mother — the best of women 
 and of wives ! — what was I ? — a subaltern — 
 the second son of a grocer at Gloucester. That 
 was it, George — her mother was an heir- 
 ess. — It sounds vain now — she fell in love 
 with me, as I did with her. Well, I became 
 possessed of her fortune ; that enabled me to 
 purchase up in my profession : and if it had 
 not been for that, I might have been now a 
 hoary-headed lieutenant, or at best a captain 
 of sixty-two, going through my daily ' Halt — 
 left wheel,' till my legs ached, instead of being
 
 JACK BRAG. 279 
 
 here a titled and decorated commander-in-chief. 
 What has that dear woman to whom, under 
 Providence, I owe everything, left me ? — this 
 girl — this child of my heart — the dearest — 
 the only object of my affections ! Haifa glance 
 tells me the state of the case.'*^ 
 
 Ellen sat with her eyes fixed upon her father 
 — George's filled with tears — and what gem is 
 brighter than a soldier''s tear so shed ? 
 
 " Your conduct, sir," said the General, " has 
 done you the greatest honour. I appreciate 
 it in the highest degree. But it won't do — go 
 you do not. If my Elly here is foolish enough 
 to sympathize with her father in his predilec- 
 tions, and chooses to give her heart to an en- 
 sign without a shilling, what am I to do ? — 
 why, I '11 tell you, Mr. Brown, — religiously to 
 realize whatever wishes she may entertain, for 
 the sake of her beloved mother, and to take 
 care that she does not make a foolish match 
 with somebody not half so worthy of her." 
 
 " My dear father," said Ellen — 
 
 " Tace, tace ! daughter of mine,"" said Sir 
 Cadwallader: — " don't coquet, — don't try to
 
 280 JACK BRAG. 
 
 deceive me. George, come here : — I am serious 
 — take her hand, my good, excellent fellow ! 
 You, who have been so admirable a son, can- 
 not fail to make a good husband. This is my 
 firm conviction." 
 
 " But, sir," said Miss Adamthwaite, rising, 
 
 " Oh !" said the general, " you don't like 
 him ! Oh ! that, indeed, is a different affair : — 
 then I am out in my reckoning, and there 's an 
 end of the business." 
 
 " I didn't say,"" said Ellen, — and bursting 
 into tears, she caught her father round the 
 neck, and her head dropped upon his shoulder. 
 
 " Come here, George," said Sir Cadwallader 
 — " come here ! — take her from me ! I know 
 what she means : —she is your's !" — "I have 
 neither chick nor child but this beloved one !" 
 continued the General, who seemed to have 
 caught the infection of weeping — " I have no- 
 body to please but her and myself. I think I 
 have taken the surest method of doing both. 
 I hate fine speeches — I don't want thanks — 
 so, my dear souls, God bless you both ! I 'm
 
 JACK BRAG. 281 
 
 off — a syllable more from me would spoil it 
 all. Talk over your own matters. Let these 
 be the last tears I ever see you shed ; and to- 
 morrow the babblers, and tattlers, and scandal- 
 mongers, shall have the pleasure of hearing 
 how the old general has been fool enough to 
 give his only daughter to a penniless subal- 
 tern ! Good night ! my children — good night !" 
 Saying which, away Avent Sir Cadvvallader, 
 leaving the affianced lovers in a state of doubt 
 whether they were awake or in a dream. George 
 gazed on the blushing girl, even yet doubting 
 whether she would fulfil her father's inten- 
 tions. Their eyes met: — those doubts vanish- 
 ed. Words were inadequate to the expression 
 of their feelings : — he caught her in his arms 
 and pressed her to his panting heart : — at 
 which particular moment, Major Mopes, mili- 
 tary secretary to his Excellency Sir Cadwal- 
 lader Adamthwaite, and Captain Narcissus 
 Fripps, his Excellency's senior aide-du-camp, 
 passed along the varhandah, into which all the 
 doors and windows of his Excellency's drawing- 
 room opened.
 
 282 JACK BRAG. 
 
 This exhibition of mutual tenderness was, 
 it must be admitted, something likely to make 
 a commotion in a small circle. It, however, 
 produced effects upon the military secretary 
 and the aide-du-camp of a totally different 
 character. Major Mopes, who had the highest 
 opinion of George, and whose praises of his 
 conduct had mainly conduced to create the 
 interest which the general took in him, was 
 horror-stricken. The idea that he had been 
 chiefly instrumental in bringing him into Sir 
 Cadwallader's family, the happiness of which 
 he was now so evidently attempting to destroy, 
 filled him with regret and indignation : all he 
 hoped was, that his companion, Captain Fripps, 
 might not have seen all that he had witnessed. 
 He felt that if the secret were confined to him- 
 self, George might yet be saved ; that an ap- 
 peal to his sense of honour and right feeling 
 would induce him immediately to withdraw 
 himself from a sphere so dangerous as that 
 in which he now was moving, — little think- 
 ing that George had decided upon doing so a 
 week before.
 
 JACK BRAG. 283 
 
 The aide-du-camp, however, had seen the 
 sight — which so startled him, that he, like the 
 major, but from very different motives, did 
 not speak a word. At the end of the varhan- 
 dah they parted for the night, during which, 
 while Major Mopes lay considering how he 
 might best save George and Ellen, and smo- 
 ther the whole affair, the captain was arrang- 
 ing the manner in which it would be best to 
 communicate the circumstance to the general 
 so as to obtain the greatest possible credit for 
 himself, and secure the immediate dismissal of 
 his apparently favoured rival in the general's 
 consideration. For which purpose, the ingenu- 
 ous and ingenious gentleman, instead of going to 
 bed, as was his original intention, returned to 
 the barracks and to the quarters of his bosom 
 friend. Ensign Honeyman, whom he had just 
 left, in order to avail himself of his advice: 
 thus, in the very first instance, himself doing 
 all the mischief to Ellen's character and repu- 
 tation, the preservation of which from injury 
 was to be made the ostensible ground of his 
 communication of the fact to her father.
 
 284 JACK BRAG. 
 
 Honeyman, who was the inseparable com- 
 panion of Fripps, agreed entirely with his 
 friend on the course to be pursued in order to 
 overthrow Brown ; and it was accordingly set- 
 tled that the captain should, the very first 
 thing in the morning, make a confidential re- 
 port to his Excellency of what had occurred. 
 
 Meanwhile the unconscious lovers, whose part- 
 ing kiss formed the subject of contemplation for 
 both the gallant heroes, were thinking of each 
 other and of the happiness which had taken 
 them so completely by surprise, that they could 
 scarcely think what had passed during the even- 
 ing anything but a bright, yet baseless vision. 
 The old general was the only one of the inmates 
 of the house who slept soundly. He went to bed 
 to rest upon the consciousness of having made 
 two people happy — of having realised his inten- 
 tions of providing for George — and gratified his 
 wish of giving Ellen the man to whom, insen- 
 sibly and unconsciously, she had become devot- 
 edly attached: — and, above all this, he revelled 
 in the pleasure of having found out their secret, 
 and anticipated any communication on the sub-
 
 JACK BRAG 285 
 
 ject from either of themselves: — add to this, 
 his just appreciation of George's anxiety to 
 quit the only place in the world which was 
 dear to him — to surrender all the worldly ad- 
 vantages it afforded, to preserve the being he 
 loved from the anger of her parent, the malice 
 of her friends — or, putting it as an extreme 
 case, the ills of a marriage with a man who 
 would have nothing but an ensign's half-pay, 
 even if, under the circumstances, he could 
 secure that — and the amount of Sir Cadwal- 
 lader's self-gratulation may be in some degree 
 ascertained. 
 
 The gun had scarcely announced the dawn 
 of day when Captain Narcissus Fripps was up 
 and stirring ; there was no time to be lost. 
 It was his turn to ride with the general before 
 breakfast ; the opportunity would be favour- 
 able ; the success of the disclosure was unques- 
 tionable. The getting rid of George was his 
 great object ; for the captain's jealousy of the 
 interloper, as he considered him, was not so 
 much excited by his evident success with the 
 young lady, as by the favourable estimation in
 
 286 JACK BRAG. 
 
 which the young lady's father held him and his 
 character : and when jealousy takes possession 
 of the mind, it leaves room for no other pas- 
 sions but such as may be made subservient to 
 its own ends, and which may be called into 
 action for its own revengeful gratification. 
 
 Lavater says, that " he, who being master of 
 the fittest moment to crush his enemy, magna- 
 nimously neglects it, is born to be a conquer- 
 or." Captain Narcissus Fripps, whatever he- 
 roic deeds he might have been destined to do 
 in other days, did by no means display this 
 evidence of future success ; and although George 
 was neither his, nor any other man's enemy, he 
 resolved that two hours sliould not elapse be- 
 fore he was irrecoverably ruined in Sir Cadwal- 
 lader's estimation. 
 
 The captain was a fair, sickly-looking man, 
 always extremely well dressed, his hair assi- 
 duously ringleted on his cheeks and over his 
 forehead. He wore divers rings upon his fin- 
 gers, and sundry chains around his neck ; his 
 clothes fitted him as if they were his skin. 
 His voice was drawling, and he lisped a little.
 
 JACK BRAG. 287 
 
 When he talked, he pawed the air with his hands 
 flappingly, something after the fashion of a kan- 
 garoo ; and when he wished to be particularly 
 lively, playfully patted the arm of the person 
 with whom he was conversing, affecting himself 
 always to be excessively shocked at everything 
 that everybody said to him : in short, nobody 
 could exactly make him out. He was consider- 
 ed excessively fine — evidently fancied himself a 
 beauty, and was not quite free from a suspi- 
 cion of aiding nature in the getting up of his 
 complexion, by borrowing a tinge from art. 
 
 To have been treated neglectfully by a young 
 lady of Ellen's qualifications, and that she 
 should so readily have permitted such marked 
 advances on the part of one so unquestionably 
 his inferior in rank and station, (for the 
 Fripps' blood had been ennobled in a remote de- 
 gree from Narcissus,) was galling beyond mea- 
 sure ; although his attentions to Miss Adam- 
 thwaite had never gone much farther than 
 singing to her by moonlight, accompanying 
 himself on the guitar, or making her a pair of 
 card-racks, or painting a couple of rose-buds
 
 288 JACK BRAG. 
 
 on the top of a cotton box. If she sometimes 
 worked at those often-mentioned, indescribable 
 strips of muslin which engage the attention of 
 modern fine ladies, he would thread her needle 
 for her; and in winding off silk on his thumbs 
 he was most assiduous and skilful. It was there- 
 fore the indignity which he considered the cir- 
 cumstance to involve, rather than the jealousy 
 of a lover, which urged him on to ruin George. 
 His fate, however, was sealed, and when the 
 horses were at the door, Captain Narcissus felt 
 his heart beat with anxiety for the discovery. 
 " Lie still, little flutterer," said he, as he press- 
 ed his hand to his bosom ; and mounting his 
 steed, rode slowly off with his Excellency the 
 Commander of the forces, to make their accus- 
 tomed matutinal excursion. 
 
 Horseback, it must be confessed, whether 
 the pace be a walk, trot, amble, canter, or 
 gallop, is not altogether suitable or con- 
 venient for confidential communication ; and 
 when the captain found the general resolved 
 upon adopting the penultimate pace of those 
 enumerated, he felt the difficulty of breaking 
 
 i
 
 JACK BRAG. 289 
 
 the business to him insuperable. Indeed, Sir 
 Cadwallader was not particularly partial to his 
 aide-du-camp's society, and preferred, when 
 circumstances permitted, the company of Major 
 Mopes, who, upon the morning in question, 
 stayed at home to counteract, if possible, the ill 
 effects of the representation which the captain 
 went abroad expressly to make. 
 
 After a start of a mile or so, Sir Cadwallader 
 pulled up, and suggested to the captain that 
 they should dismount, and walk up to a rising 
 ground on the other side of a fordable nullah, 
 in order to get a view of the town at a point 
 from which Miss Adamthwaite had made a 
 drawing, but which the general had himself 
 never happened to visit. This was more for- 
 tunate for Narcissus than even he could have 
 hoped; the place — the subject — all naturally 
 tended to the point he had in view. The 
 " little flutterer" would lie still no longer: the 
 aptness of the opportunity delighted him, and 
 he was decided to avail himself of it forthwith. 
 
 " Were you here with Ellen when she made 
 the sketch ?" said Sir Cadwallader. 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 290 JACK BRAG. 
 
 " Oh ! dear, no, general," said Fripps, " I 
 never come out upon sketching parties with 
 ladies : I shouldn't think of doing such a 
 thing." 
 
 " I don't see the harm of it," said his Excel- 
 lency. " In Italy, Ellen used to pass the 
 greatest part of the day in drawing from Na- 
 ture : it would have been dull work if she had 
 thought it necessary to have remained always 
 alone." 
 
 " Oh, dear Italy !" said Narcissus, sighing 
 and turning up his eyes — " the climate is so 
 charming there." 
 
 " Climate makes no great difference in con- 
 duct," said Sir Cadwallader. 
 
 " No, to be sure," said the captain, " but — 
 I am so very particular, I never presume on 
 the good-nature of the dear ladies. Indeed 
 what I see going on with other people some- 
 times shocks me — not only on account of my 
 own feelings as they regard delicacy, but as far 
 as the honour and happiness of those I esteem 
 and respect are concerned." 
 
 " Honour and happiness !" said the General,
 
 JACK BRAG. 291 
 
 — " what the deuce have honour and happi- 
 ness to do with a water-colour drawing ?** 
 
 " Oh ! dear no, general," said the captain, 
 pawing the air, " I did not say they had ; but 
 — perhaps to the artist they may be some- 
 thing." 
 
 " I hope, if you mean Ellen," said Sir Cad- 
 wallader, " they have a great deal to do with 
 her." 
 
 " Really, general," said Fripps, " I don't 
 know what to say ; but I have something to 
 tell you which you*ought to know."" 
 
 " Why, then, out with it, Fripps," said Sir 
 Cadwallader. 
 
 " Oh ! I can't tell you all at once," said the 
 captain. " I know you will be very angry— 
 but I 'm sure I ought to tell you : and yet I 
 don't know how I shall ever be able to do such 
 a thing !" 
 
 " What ! is there a plot brewing, or a mu- 
 tiny hatching V said the General. 
 
 *' Oh ! no sir," said Fripps, " it is nothing 
 
 public; it is oh, I can't tell you !" 
 
 Why," said the General, " I am not very 
 
 (( 
 
 o2
 
 292 JACK BRAG, 
 
 particular as to time; only as you have be- 
 gun, you may as well go on." 
 
 " Oh, it's so very fie-fie! Sir Cadwallader," 
 said Narcissus. 
 
 " Very what ?" said his Excellency. 
 
 " Very naughty, sir,"" replied the aide-du- 
 camp. 
 
 " Who is it about ?" asked his Excellency. 
 
 *' That is what I 'm almost afraid to say," 
 continued Fripps. " I never was so shocked 
 in my life ! — I declare I did not recover myself 
 for two hours after." ' 
 
 " After what .?" said the General : — " do 
 speak out." 
 
 " I don't know how to explain," said Fripps, 
 wringing his hands like 
 
 " Some sad widow o'er her babe deploring" — 
 
 " but I'll endeavour." 
 
 " Is it anything about my daughter .?" said 
 Sir Cadwallader, who, although unaware that 
 any scene had taken place, had long remarked 
 the aide-du-camp's growing dislike of George. 
 
 " La, General ! — you are such a man," said
 
 JACK BRAG. 293 
 
 Fripps, " I declare, you seem to know every- 
 thing by intuition." 
 
 " Well," said his Excellency, " what has she 
 been doing ?" 
 
 " I know I shall never be able to explain it 
 quite," said Fripps ; " but — I — think I may 
 mention that — people think — I — that is, Mr. 
 Brown — is — rather too free — and particular 
 —and—" 
 
 " Umph !" said Sir Cadwallader. " If / 
 don't find fault, and she does not find fault 
 with his attentions, — that is, if he does pay her 
 particular attention, — there is no great harm in 
 that, Captain Fripps." 
 
 " No, sir," said the captain ; " but I 'm sure 
 you cannot guess. It is no fault of Miss 
 Ellen's — that I am certain of: — but — you have 
 no idea. Oh ! upon my word — that Mr. Brown 
 
 — I speak, you know, in confidence to you, sir 
 
 — but — he is such a rude man." 
 
 " Rude !" said Sir Cadwallader — " do you 
 think so ? As far — " 
 
 " Ah ! that 's where it is," said Fripps, paw- 
 ing and ambling about — " I can't — it is some-
 
 294 - JACK BRAG. 
 
 thing so very fie-fie — only you ought to know 
 it : but, I declare, I don't know how to say 
 it out." 
 
 " When did all this occur ?" said Sir Cad- 
 Avallader. 
 
 " I haven't lost a moment in telling your 
 Excellency," said Fripps : " what I saw hap- 
 pened last night." 
 
 " Oh!" said the General — (every doubt of 
 George's honourable conduct having been re- 
 leased by learning the date of the affair, what- 
 ever it was, which had shocked the delicacy 
 of the exquisite Narcissus) — " was it very 
 bad ?" 
 
 " I never did such a thing myself in all my 
 life, Sir Cadwallader," said Fripps ; " and, upon 
 my honour ! I am sorry to have seen it : it has 
 quite upset me." 
 
 " You didn't catch them in what the book- 
 makers call « an interesting situation,' Captain 
 Fripps, did you ?" said Sir Cadwallader. 
 
 " La ! General, you are such a man," said 
 Fripps. " I declare, how you guessed it I 
 cannot think — but you are right : so the mo-
 
 JACK BRAG. X 295 
 
 ment I saw it, I said to myself — well ! if ever 
 — Oh ! gracious — to think of the man that his 
 Excellency has raised to his present station ! — 
 to think of—" 
 
 " That will do, captain,"" said the General. 
 " I am quite aware of the excellence of your 
 intentions, and I thank you for your excessive 
 care of Ellen's interest and prospects : — now 
 let us look at the prospect before us." 
 
 " Well !" said Fripps to himself, " if ever I 
 saw such a man !" — *' To think, you know, of 
 that nasty, great, coarse creature. Brown — 
 well, if ever I — " 
 
 " I think she has done it remarkably well," 
 said the general, putting his hand varhandah- 
 wise over his eyes, to look at the beautiful 
 panorama before them. 
 
 " What, sir .'"' said Fripps, ambling about 
 and twiddling his curls. 
 
 " The view," replied the General. " That 
 bungalow in the foreground is a beautiful ob- 
 ject, and she has made the most of it. It is 
 odd enough, often as I have been on the Mul- 
 ligopatemy road, I never was here before.^
 
 296 JACK BRAG. 
 
 Fripps looked at his Excellency with amaze- 
 ment, and almost began to repent not having 
 himself been more lively with Miss Ellen, to 
 whose reputed fortune Narcissus would have 
 had no earthly objection, even encumbered with 
 the lady herself. 
 
 " And so," said Sir Cadwallader, returning 
 to the subject, " you surprised my daughter 
 and my assistant military secretary in an inte- 
 resting situation — eh ?" 
 
 " Upon my word, General, it was not inten- 
 tional on my part," said Fripps. " I had just 
 been taking some of HoiFman's capillaire and 
 water, and a sponge biscuit with Ensign Honey- 
 man at his quarters, where we had been sing- 
 ing some little SiciHan duets to the guitar by 
 moonlight, and time flew so quickly, that it was 
 near eleven o'clock before we thought of sepa- 
 rating. When I came home I met Major Mopes 
 at the gate, and we went together through the 
 varhandah, and there — I really — I assure 
 you it is the first time I ever saw such a thing 
 — but there — there — Oh! how shall I describe 
 the scene ?"
 
 JACK BRAG. 297 
 
 " You saw Mr. Brown kiss my daughter, 
 perhaps : — I understand perfectly," said the 
 General: — "that's enough, Captain Fripps; 
 we will settle that gentleman's affair after break- 
 fast. So, come, let us take to our horses, and 
 finish our ride." 
 
 It must be admitted that Captain Fripps 
 felt disagreeably disappointed by the manner 
 in which his Excellency received his account of 
 the glaring indecorum which he had overseen ; 
 but he knew that he was a man of few words, 
 with great promptitude and decision of action, 
 and he still encouraged the hope of seeing his 
 antipathy — the assistant military secretary, 
 most unceremoniously expelled the house in 
 the course of the morning. 
 
 Differently, indeed, had the friendly Major 
 Mopes been engaged during the same period. 
 He had seen and conversed with George, who, 
 it must be admitted, elated as he was by the 
 wonderful piece of good-fortune which had be- 
 fallen him, indulged his playfulness of dispo- 
 sition by leading the major by a very circuitous 
 route to the real state of the case ; indeed he 
 
 o5
 
 ^98 JACK BRAG. 
 
 dexterously avoided coming to the point till he 
 perceived, by his worthy friend's manner and 
 countenance, that he must not carry the joke 
 much further. When he had explained all, and, 
 to establish the certainty of his statement, pre- 
 sented the military secretary to Ellen Adam- 
 thwaite herself, in the character of her affianced 
 lover, the major"'s gratification and joy were 
 complete. 
 
 The breakfast, it must be owned, was a trial 
 to the principal performers. Ellen, of course, 
 had been informed by George of the discovery 
 of their parting embrace by the two stafF- 
 ofiicers — Mopes still thinking that Narcissus, 
 who was generally occupied by thoughts of 
 himself, had not seen equally clear with him- 
 self. 
 
 The moment arrived ; the general entered the 
 breakfast- room. Curries, rice, Bombay ducks, 
 Java red fish, eggs, European ham, hump 
 and kabobs, were thickly intermingled with 
 grapes, strawberries, mangoes, and plantains. 
 The grateful fumes of coffee filled the atmo- 
 sphere ; and the tea, unchilled by the waving
 
 JACK BRAG. 299 
 
 Punkah, sparkled in its cups. Ellen took her 
 seat with downcast eyes, after having received 
 a certain number of paternal kisses from his 
 Excellency ; and Captain Narcissus Fripps, 
 after having shaken hands with George Brown, 
 deposited himself at the end of the table, direct- 
 ly opposite the gallant yet melancholy Mopes, 
 major and military secretary. 
 
 As the meal proceeded, Fripps could not 
 help noticing certain looks which were passing 
 between his four companions, especially as even 
 the countenance of the major was every now 
 and then illuminated by a cursory expression 
 more nearly approaching to a smile than he 
 had ever seen them before. The General look- 
 ed at George ; George looked at Ellen ; and 
 Ellen, affecting to repress his intelligent glances 
 by a half- comic seriousness, was blushing 
 crimson. 
 
 Captain Narcissus Fripps began to feel ex- 
 ceedingly awkward and embarrassed. It was 
 clear that his companions were in a confede- 
 racy, and that he was, by general consent, 
 " basketed." Very few words were spoken,
 
 300 JACK BRAG. 
 
 and nobody seemed inclined to break the si- 
 lence. Narcissus felt assured that the Gene- 
 ral had availed himself of the first moment 
 after their return home to lecture his daughter 
 upon the dreadful impropriety which he had 
 witnessed ; but this he could hardly reconcile 
 with the fact that Brown was placed next her 
 at table, and permitted to look and talk to her, 
 little or much, as suited his fancy ; while the eyes 
 of Ellen plainly exhibited the existence of an 
 intelligence between them — which eyes loill ex- 
 hibit in the just degree to which such intel- 
 ligence extends. 
 
 It all at once struck the captain, that upon 
 a principle not unfrequently acted upon, — of 
 doing what in certain circles is called, " wip- 
 ing it up, and saying nothing about it," the 
 General meant to take no public notice of the 
 event which he had communicated, but that, 
 instead of kicking the assistant military secre- 
 tary out of the house, he would give him some 
 detached appointment, which would have the 
 effect of removing him from his present sphere 
 of action, and his nomination to which, would
 
 JACK BRAG. 301 
 
 be attributed to the General's continued and 
 unchanged regard for him, rather than as a 
 manoeuvre to separate him from his daughter. 
 This idea the gentle Narcissus cherished ; and 
 perfectly conscious that the embarrassment in 
 which they all appeared involved must have 
 arisen from his solicitude for the peace and ho- 
 nour of the family, and coupling these effects 
 with the absence of all remark from the General, 
 touching the matter, he resolved to act upon 
 the same principle, assimilate his conduct to 
 that of Sir Cadwallader, and take the first oc-. 
 casion to make him sensible of the caution he 
 proposed to adopt, and the course he intended 
 to pursue. 
 
 It ought to be mentioned that Captain Fripps 
 was not a very great favourite with anybody at 
 head-quarters. The major indeed called him 
 " Molly Fripps," and that too in a sad and 
 solemn tone ; and George was quite aware that 
 he affected to despise him. The stiffness of 
 the breakfast-party would not of itself, there- 
 fore, have startled him, but the character of 
 the stiffness of this particular morning puzzled
 
 302 JACK BRAG. 
 
 him exceedingly ; for although little was said, 
 so much more was looked than usual, that never 
 did captain more greatly rejoice than did this 
 of ours, when the repast was terminated by 
 the departure of Ellen. 
 
 The young lady's exit was shortly followed 
 by those of the major and George, and once 
 again the aide-du-camp was alone with the 
 General. 
 
 " Well, captain," said Sir Cadwallader, " I 
 suppose you think my conduct very strange." 
 
 " No, upon my honour ! not, sir," said 
 Fripps : " I quite appreciate it — so consider- 
 ate — and so wise — and so like your Excel- 
 lency." 
 
 " I am glad you approve of it," said the 
 General : — " but who told you the history of 
 my proceedings since our return home ?" 
 
 " Oh ! nobody told me," said the captain ; 
 " I would not talk about it to anybody for the 
 world." 
 
 " Then how have you acquired the know- 
 ledge of what L have done, and what I propose 
 to do .?" said his Excellency.
 
 JACK BRAG. o03 
 
 " I conclude,"" said Fripps, " that your Ex- 
 cellency means to take no notice of what I told 
 you, to the parties themselves, but get rid of 
 Mr. Brown in some way or other, so as to pre- 
 vent the eclat.''' 
 
 " Prevent the eclat of an affair known to 
 two or three people !" exclaimed the General — 
 " no, no." 
 
 " I protest, sir," said Fripps, " it shall never 
 pass my lips : I have too much regard for Miss 
 Adamthwaite. It would be very shocking, I 
 know, to let it spread ; but my duty to you, 
 as well as my esteem for her, would keep me 
 silent as the tomb upon the subject." 
 
 " You need not restrain yourself. Captain 
 Fripps," said Sir Cadwallader, " on my ac- 
 count or hers." 
 
 *' I know, sir," said Fripps, " that you 
 have been so kind and good to Mr. Brown ; 
 and what a shocking vice ingratitude is ! — 
 And to think of his venturing to embrace 
 any young lady, and especially your daugh- 
 ter !" 
 
 " Did you ever hear an old song that I used
 
 304 JACK BRAG. 
 
 to sing when I was a sub.,"" said the gene- 
 ral : — 
 
 *My mother having heard that Colin he had kiss'd me, 
 
 Proposed to the youth that to-morrow we should wed : 
 To church then we went, paid the parson his fees, 
 And so got holy licence to kiss when we please.' " 
 
 " Oh ! dear, no," said Fripps, shuddering, 
 and pawing, and making curtseying bows, " I 
 never heard such a song as that in all my 
 life." 
 
 " Well, it may serve to enlighten you then,"" 
 said the General. " What if Ellen Adamthwaite 
 and George Brown are about to do a similar 
 thing — what should you say then ? " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed the captain — " you 
 don't mean, sir, — that — " 
 
 " I do mean so," said Sir Cadwallader. 
 
 " What ! that delicate fair creature," said 
 Fripps, in a soliloquizing tone, " to — " 
 
 " — Yes, is likely very soon to become 
 Brown, Captain Fripps," said the General. 
 
 " Why, then, the discovery I made — " 
 
 "Was nothing very important after all," said 
 the General. " Your kindness and considera-
 
 JACK BRAG. 305 
 
 tion for her and me are nevertheless equally 
 admirable ; only if you had not gone back 
 to your friend Mr. Honeyman's quarters, and 
 told him what you had seen, before you men- 
 tioned it to we, our obligations perhaps would 
 have been somewhat greater." 
 
 " Well, I declare. Sir Cadwallader," said 
 Fripps, " I only told him because I — " 
 
 " Because you happened to be sure of find- 
 ing him up," said the General, " and you were 
 not so sure of getting hold of anybody else at 
 that time to whom to give the interesting infor- 
 mation."" 
 
 "Oh dear, dear ! — I shall never be able 
 to look at Miss Ellen again," said the cap- 
 tain. " I admit it was — how could you have 
 known it, sir.? — dear me! — what a deceitful 
 toad Honeyman must be to have betrayed 
 me." 
 
 " We will not discuss the matter any fur- 
 ther," said the General. " I agree with you 
 that it would be irksome for you to associate 
 with my daughter and her husband after what 
 has occurred, and therefore you have my full
 
 306 JACK BRAG. 
 
 permission to resign your aide-du-campship, 
 and join your regiment. I am a plain, blunt 
 man, as you know, and of few words." 
 
 " Oh, dear Sir Cadwallader !" said Fripps, 
 " do not force me to leave you : everything 
 may be arranged, and I — " 
 
 " I wish you good morning, Captain Fripps,'' 
 said the General. " My daughter bids me de- 
 cline on her part a scene of leave-taking, and 
 will not in all probability return home until 
 after your departure. Brown's name will be in 
 orders as aide-du-camp this afternoon ; and, as 
 I am now allowed only one, you will see the ne- 
 cessity of marching in * double quick.' Good 
 morning." Saying which, his Excellency re- 
 tired from the apartment, muttering humour- 
 ously to himself — 
 
 " But never more be officer of mine." 
 
 " Well, if ever !" said Narcissus — " dear 
 me — this is most uncommonly unpleasant ! I 
 declare I could scratch that nasty creature 
 Honeyman's eyes out, for such a sly trick. 
 I '11 ffo to him — tax him with his conduct : 
 — but I am sure we shall make it up before
 
 JACK BRAG. 307 
 
 we part ; because I am quite certain he did 
 not mean to injure me." 
 
 And so Fripps went on murmuring to him- 
 self, until, to his utter dismay, one of Sir Cad- 
 wallader's servants made his appearance? with 
 his Excellency's compliments — wished to know 
 when his " things would be ready for moving." 
 This question was conclusive. The circumstance 
 which had occurred — the awkward position in 
 which he had placed himself by his tittle-tattle, 
 and the intentions so evidently displayed in his 
 conduct, all conspired to induce him to exert 
 himself in fulfilling his Excellency's wish for 
 his speedy disappearance. His servant was 
 directed to make immediate preparations for 
 the start ; and the captain himself proceeded 
 to Honey man, to reproach and bid him fare- 
 well. Their quarrel was, as the captain had 
 anticipated, soon reconciled ; and from the door 
 of his dear friend's quarters, Fripps, after eat- 
 ing a tiffin of fowl-sandwiches, raspberry tarts, 
 and barleysugar-drops, moistened by some le- 
 monade, took his departure to join his regi- 
 ment at Bombay.
 
 308 JACK BRAG. 
 
 It is strange how much the loss of one, to a 
 constant association with whom we have be- 
 come habituated, affects us. Ellen, who cared 
 no more for Narcissus than for any other offi- 
 cer in his Majesty's service, naval or military, 
 and in all human probability much le«s, could 
 not look at his vacant place at tiffin without a 
 feeling of regret. Perhaps this feeling, consi- 
 dering the consequences his removal involved, 
 as far as regarded his worldly circumstances, 
 might have been strengthened by the recollec- 
 tion that, however innocently, unconsciously 
 certainly, and most unintentionally, she her- 
 self had been the cause of his ejection. Certain 
 it was, she was out of spirits, and George saw 
 she was. He could not help feeling uneasy at 
 the symptoms he observed, but his anxiety was 
 considerably relieved when he had ascertained 
 that his friend was actually gone, and saw that 
 Ellen, when her George filled his chair at din- 
 ner, was as much at her ease as she could be, 
 knowing that the events which had occurred 
 during the day were most undoubtedly forming
 
 JACK BRAG. 309 
 
 the topic of conversation at every other table 
 in the presidency. 
 
 We must not bestow sufficient space upon 
 the episode of our history, to dwell at length 
 upon the proceedings at head-quarters until 
 the day of George's marriage to Ellen was fix- 
 ed. When the matrimonial termination to their 
 acquaintance was announced as decided and in- 
 evitable, the public opinion of the forty or fifty 
 estimable ladies and gentlemen, who formed the 
 public of the place, turned wonderfully in favour 
 of George. He was a most agreeable person 
 — so clever; and it was so judicious of the 
 General to advance merit, and consult the hap- 
 piness of his child. And at last the day came, 
 and they were married, and proceeded to pass 
 the honeymoon in the picturesque bungalow 
 which formed the effective foreground of Ellen's 
 last East-Indian view. 
 
 The happiness of this most happy pair — for so 
 they were — was not, however, destined to conti- 
 nue long uninterrupted : a sudden attack, and 
 short illness, deprived them in the third month of
 
 310 JACK BRAG. 
 
 their married life of the kind-hearted, generous 
 parent, the founder of their fortunes and feli- 
 city. This event, of course, decided them upon 
 returning to England, and induced George to 
 retire from the army. Having entered it, as 
 an officer, much too late to expect in peaceable 
 times promotion, even by purchase, to an^ 
 valuable extent, he yielded to the solicitatio' 
 of his Ellen, who had seen enough of militf 
 life as a soldier's daughter, not to desire a cc 
 tinuance of it as a soldier's wife. Her tast« 
 — her pursuits, — were those of retirement an*, 
 quiet, and the blessing of being so much her 
 own mistress as not to be destined by a Horse- 
 Guards' order to pass ten or twelve years of her 
 life in an East-Indian cantonment or a West- 
 Indian barrack, was too great to be refused. 
 So implicit was Sir Cadwallader's reliance upon 
 George, that, at the old gentleman's death, 
 he found himself, with some trifling limita- 
 tions, in the possession of property, real and 
 personal, to the amount of upwards of seven 
 thousand a-year. 
 
 In this position was George Brown when he
 
 i^ 
 
 JACK BRAG. 311 
 
 returned to England ; and it may easily be 
 imagined that the circumstances detailed in 
 this narrative, when related by himself to his 
 mother and sister upon the occasion of his 
 first visit to them, produced in their hearts 
 and minds sentiments of gratitude to Provi- 
 dence, by which a course of events so propi- 
 'ous to their beloved, deserving relative, had 
 en ordained. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, 
 
 Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
 
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