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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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611 your husband will keep within it, ma’am--as no doubt he will.’ ‘Demmit!’ exclaimed Mr Mantalini, opening his eyes at the sound of Ralph’s voice, ‘it is a horrid reality. She is sitting there before me. There is the graceful outline of her form; it cannot be mistaken--there is nothing like it. The two countesses had no outlines at all, and the dowager’s was a demd outline. Why is she so excruciatingly beautiful that I cannot be angry with her, even now?’ ‘You have brought it upon yourself, Alfred,’ returned Madame Mantalini--still reproachfully, but in a softened tone. ‘I am a demd villain!’ cried Mr Mantalini, smiting himself on the head. ‘I will fill my pockets with change for a sovereign in halfpence and drown myself in the Thames; but I will not be angry with her, even then, for I will put a note in the twopenny-post as I go along, to tell her where the body is. She will be a lovely widow. I shall be a body. Some handsome women will cry; she will laugh demnebly.’ ‘Alfred, you cruel, cruel creature,’ said Madame Mantalini, sobbing at the dreadful picture. ‘She calls me cruel--me--me--who for her sake will become a demd, damp, moist, unpleasant body!’ exclaimed Mr Mantalini. ‘You know it almost breaks my heart, even to hear you talk of such a thing,’ replied Madame Mantalini. ‘Can I live to be mistrusted?’ cried her husband. ‘Have I cut my heart into a demd extraordinary number of little pieces, and given them all away, one after another, to the same little engrossing demnition captivater, and can I live to be suspected by her? Demmit, no I can’t.’ ‘Ask Mr Nickleby whether the sum I have mentioned is not a |
