Polish chieftains were at this time
so common in London, that nobody (except one noble Member for Marylebone,
once a year, the Lord Mayor) took any interest in them. The general
opinion was, that the stranger was the Wallachian Boyar, whose arrival at
Mivart's the Morning Post had just announced. Mrs. Miles, whose delicious
every other Wednesdays in Montague Square are supposed by some to be
rival entertainments to Mrs. Newcome's alternate Thursdays in Bryanstone
Square, pinched her daughter Mira, engaged in a polyglot conversation
with Herr Schnurr, nor Carabossi, the guitarist, and Monsieur Pivier, the
celebrated French chess-player, to point out the Boyar. Mira Miles wished
she knew a little Moldavian, not so much that she might speak it, but
that she might be heard to speak it. Mrs. Miles, who had not had the
educational advantages of her daughter, simpered up with "Madame Newcome
pas ici--votre excellence nouvellement arrive--avez-vous fait ung bong
voyage? Je recois chez moi Mercredi prochaing; lonnure de vous voir--
Madamasel Miles ma fille;" and, Mira, now reinforcing her mamma, poured
in a glib little oration in French, somewhat to the astonishment of the
Colonel, who began to think, however, that perhaps French was the
language of the polite world, into which he was now making his very first
entree.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191