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Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"The Newcomes"

At night,
when Honeyman comes in, he finds on the hall-table three wax bedroom
candles--his own, Bagshot's, and another. As for Miss Cann, she is locked
into the parlour in bed long ago, her stout little walking-shoes being on
the mat at the door. At 12 o'clock at noon, sometimes at 1, nay at 2 and
3--long after Bagshot is gone to his committees, and little Cann to her
pupils--a voice issues from the very topmost floor, from a room where
there is no bell; a voice of thunder calling out "Slavey! Julia! Julia,
my love! Mrs. Ridley!" And this summons not being obeyed, it will not
unfrequently happen that a pair of trousers enclosing a pair of boots
with iron heels, and known by the name of the celebrated Prussian General
who came up to help the other christener of boots at Waterloo, will be
flung down from the topmost story, even to the marble floor of the
resounding hall. Then the boy Thomas, otherwise called Slavey, may say,
"There he goes again;" or Mrs. Ridley's own back-parlour bell rings
vehemently, and Julia the cook will exclaim, "Lor, it's Mr.


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