"These Effinghams, and this Mr. Sharp, and that Mr. Blunt," he muttered,
"think themselves everybody's betters; but we shall see! America is not a
country in which people can shut themselves up in rooms, and fancy they
are lords and ladies."
"Bless my soul!" said Captain Truck, with his affected simplicity of
manner; "how did you find this out, Mr. Dodge? What a thing it is, Sir
George, to be an active inquirer!"
"Oh! I know when a man is blown up with notions of his own importance. As
for Mr. John Effingham, he has been so long abroad that he has forgotten
that he is a going home to a country of equal rights!"
"Very true, Mr. Dodge; a country in which a man cannot shut himself, up in
his room, whenever the notion seizes him. This is the spirit, Sir George,
to make a great nation, and you see that the daughter is likely to prove
worthy of the old lady! But, my dear sir, are you quite sure that Mr.
John Effingham has absolutely so high a sentiment in his own favour. It
would be awkward business to make a blunder in such a serious matter, and
murder a paragraph for nothing. You should remember the mistake of the
Irishman!"
"What was that?" asked the baronet, who was completely mystified by the
indomitable gravity of Captain Truck, whose character might be said to be
actually formed by the long habit of treating the weaknesses of his
fellow-creatures with cool contempt.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267