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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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419 the sweet smell of the pickled cabbage. Then the savage and the maiden danced violently together, and, finally, the savage dropped down on one knee, and the maiden stood on one leg upon his other knee; thus concluding the ballet, and leaving the spectators in a state of pleasing uncertainty, whether she would ultimately marry the savage, or return to her friends. ‘Very well indeed,’ said Mr Crummles; ‘bravo!’ ‘Bravo!’ cried Nicholas, resolved to make the best of everything. ‘Beautiful!’ ‘This, sir,’ said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, ‘this is the infant phenomenon--Miss Ninetta Crummles.’ ‘Your daughter?’ inquired Nicholas. ‘My daughter--my daughter,’ replied Mr Vincent Crummles; ‘the idol of every place we go into, sir. We have had complimentary letters about this girl, sir, from the nobility and gentry of almost every town in England.’ ‘I am not surprised at that,’ said Nicholas; ‘she must be quite a natural genius.’ ‘Quite a--!’ Mr Crummles stopped: language was not powerful enough to describe the infant phenomenon. ‘I’ll tell you what, sir,’ he said; ‘the talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, sir--seen--to be ever so faintly appreciated. There; go to your mother, my dear.’ ‘May I ask how old she is?’ inquired Nicholas. ‘You may, sir,’ replied Mr Crummles, looking steadily in his questioner’s face, as some men do when they have doubts about being implicitly believed in what they are going to say. ‘She is ten years of age, sir.’ ‘Not more!’ |
