"
Laura, No. 3. "It was indeed very provoking. L. had hoped to hear one
of dearest B.'s dear songs on Friday; but she was the more consoled to
wait, because Lady R. was not very well, and liked to be nursed by
her. Poor Major Pendennis was very unwell, too, in the same hotel--too
unwell even to see Arthur, who was constant in his calls on his uncle.
Arthur's heart was full of tenderness and affection. She had known
Arthur all her life. She would answer--yes, even in italics she would
answer--for his kindness, his goodness, and his gentleness."
Blanche, No. 3. "What is this most surprising, most extraordinary
letter from A.P.? What does dearest Laura know about it? What has
happened? What, what mystery is enveloped under his frightful reserve?"
Blanche, No. 3, requires an explanation; and it can not be better
given than in the surprising and mysterious letter of Arthur
Pendennis.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MR. AND MRS. SAM HUXTER.
"Dear Blanche," Arthur wrote, "you are always reading and dreaming
pretty dramas, and exciting romances in real life, are you now
prepared to enact a part of one? And not the pleasantest part, dear
Blanche--that in which the heroine takes possession of her father's
palace and wealth, and, introducing her husband to the loyal retainers
and faithful vassals, greets her happy bridegroom with 'All of this is
mine and thine;' but the other character--that of the luckless lady,
who suddenly discovers that she is not the prince's wife, but Claude
Melnotte's the beggar's; that of Alnaschar's wife, who comes in just
as her husband has kicked over the tray of porcelain which was to be
the making of his fortune.
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