Emily conducted him about in great
delight, taking him over to Hillside to see Mrs. Fordyce's American
garden, blazing with azaleas, and glowing with rhododendrons. He
came back with a great bouquet given to him by Ellen, who had been
unusually friendly with him, and he was more animated and full of
life than for years before.
Next time he came he looked less happy. There was plenty of room in
our house, but he used, by preference, the little chamber within
mine, and there at night he asked me to lend him a few pounds, since
Griffith had written one of his off-hand letters asking him to
discharge a little bill or two at Bristol, giving the addresses, but
not sending the accounts. This was no wonder, since any enclosure
doubled the already heavy postage. One of these bills was for some
sporting equipments from the gunsmith's; another, much heavier, from
a tavern for breakfasts, or rather luncheons, to parties of
gentlemen, mostly bearing date in the summer and autumn of 1830,
before the friendship with the Fordyces had begun. On Clarence's
defraying the first and applying for the second, two more had come
in, one from a jeweller for a pair of drop-earrings, the other from
a nurseryman for a bouquet of exotics. Doubting of these two last,
Clarence had written to Griff, but had not yet received an answer.
The whole amount was so much beyond what he had been led to expect
that he had not brought enough money to meet it, and wanted an
advance from me, promising repayment, to which latter point I could
not assent, as both of us knew, but did not say, we should never see
the sum again, and to me it only meant stinting in new books and
curiosities.
Pages:
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207