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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
" I , sir \ " ejaculated the captain . —" Qfaeious devils ! " exdlaiming the major , adjusting his sword-knot , ^ what informality !" " It is most serious and important to the question , " interrupted the banker ' s second . " I request then , " said the banker , " that you , major , will so far oblige me , — -I assure you that I cannot give the captain the satisfaction he demands unless thi / s be
oomplied with , and I put it to your feelings , as a gentleman and officer , if there is any offence in the request /' ¦ ** Nfcy , sir , " said the major , with an air of courteous remonstrance , * I do not , at present , discover any distinct offence—biit what a breach of all customary forms ! "— " Here , sir—only an iastant—there—in that direction !" - — "Where ? " said the major , and carelessly , applied his eye to the telescope .
" Egad ! " said he , "I see a very fine woman , walking about a grass-plot at the back of a house , with a little trot of a child in one . hand , and two others pranking round her : but what is this to the purpose , for God ' s sak « 1 "— " Everything , " responded the banker , with a serious and severe face . " That lady is my wife- ^—those children are mine and her ' s—and we are all mutually attached /'— " But what is this to rneV said the captain , extending both hands , like a free man . — " You should have thought of all
this " before : " said the major rather gravely , for he himself was a family man . M Iknow it is nothing to you , sir , " said the banker , addressing the captain , " as you have no wife or children—I believe I am oottfcet in saying that you have no wife or children ? Now then , I ask , do we meet upon equal terms ? " •* Why , no—certainly not , " interrupted the major ; " but
you see , sir , the reflection comes too late *—the informality of this discussion—here , upon the very ground ,- —is really quite- — quite "—and he took a large many-sniffing pinch of snuff to fill up the simile . " I warned you , sir , to settle all your affairs ! " exclaimed the captain reproachfully , and with all the rapidity of a sudden bright thought . —* " True , " answered the banker , " but I could not settle my wife and children—I have settled everything else ! ?>
His second now ventured to observe , that as the major had admitted the terms upon which the opponent parties met were Very unequal , and as the captain had declared his opponent ' s Wife and children to be " nothing to him , ' he f the second , begged to state his opinion , that the terms should be made equal , or as
Hear ag possible , before the commencement of actual hostilities ; and this eould be effected in no other way than by placing his friend ' s wife and children in such a position as to be ' something ' to the captain ? . ¦ " 3 DT % nV' said the major , " there ' s reason , and all that sort of thing * , | n whdt ydu u * y . "~ - > « There is also justice pud honour jn
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 550, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/26/
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