"
The darkness had fallen by this time, and the obsequious butler entered
to light the dining-room lamps. "You have been a very good and kind
servant to us, Martin," says the Colonel, making him a low bow. "I should
like to shake you by the hand. We must part company now, and I have no
doubt you and your fellow servants will find good places, all of you, as
you merit, Martin--as you merit. Great losses have fallen upon our
family--we are ruined, sir--we are ruined! The great Bundelcund Banking
Company has stopped payment in India, and our branch here must stop on
Monday. Thank my friends downstairs for their kindness to me and my
family." Martin bowed in silence with great respect. He and his comrades
in the servants'-hall had been expecting this catastrophe, quite as long
as the Colonel himself who thought he had kept his affairs so profoundly
secret.
Clive went up into his women's apartments, looking with but little
regret, I dare say, round those cheerless nuptial chambers with all their
gaudy fittings; the fine looking-glasses, in which poor Rosey's little
person had been reflected; the silken curtains under which he had lain by
the poor child's side, wakeful and lonely.
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