There is great
excitement, but no misery. Miss Twemlow has recovered her Lord
Mayor--the gentleman that wore that extraordinary coat--oh, I forgot,
you were not here then. And although he has had a very sad time of it,
every one says that the total want of diet will be much better for him
than any mere change. I am ashamed to be talking of such trifles now;
but I respect that man, he was so straightforward. If my brother Frank
had been at all like him, we should never have been as we are this day."
"My dear, you must not blame poor Frank. He would not come down to the
dinner because he hated warlike speeches. But he has seen the error of
his ways. No more treasonable stuff for him. He thought it was large,
and poetic, and all that, like giving one's shirt to an impostor. All
of us make mistakes sometimes. I have made a great many myself, and
have always been the foremost to perceive them. But your own brave
lover--have you forgotten him? He fought like a hero, I am told;
and nothing could save his life except that he wore a new-fashioned
periwig."
"I would rather not talk of him now, Lord Nelson, although he had no
periwig. I am deeply thankful that he escaped; and no doubt did his
best, as he was bound to do. I try to be fair to everybody, but I cannot
help blaming every one, when I come to remember how blind we have been.
Captain Stubbard must have been so blind, and Mrs. Stubbard a great deal
worse, and worst of all his own aunt, Mrs.
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