Did we not
say at our tale's commencement that all stories were old? Careless
prodigals and anxious elders have been from the beginning:--and so may
love, and repentance, and forgiveness endure even till the end.
The stifling fogs, the slippery mud, the dun dreary November mornings,
when the Regent's Park, where the Colonel took his early walk, was
wrapped in yellow mist, must have been a melancholy exchange for the
splendour of Eastern sunrise, and the invigorating gallop at dawn, to
which, for so many years of his life, Thomas Newcome had accustomed
himself. His obstinate habit of early waking accompanied him to England,
and occasioned the despair of his London domestics, who, if master wasn't
so awful early, would have found no fault with him; for a gentleman as
gives less trouble to his servants; as scarcely ever rings the bell for
his self; as will brush his own clothes; as will even boil his own
shaving-water in the little hetna which he keeps up in his dressing-room;
as pays so regular, and never looks twice at the accounts; such a man
deserved to be loved by his household, and I dare say comparisons were
made between him and his son, who do ring the bells, and scold if his
boots ain't nice, and horder about like a young lord.
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