With half a cold leg of mutton,
some cheeses, and the magnificent fancy remains of an At Home tea,
arrayed with the d'oyleys and embroidered cloths which brides always
richly receive in the Five Towns, a most handsome and impressive
supper can be concocted. Rachel was astonished at the splendour of her
own table. Mr. Batchgrew treated this supper with unsurpassable tact.
The adjectives he applied to it were short and emphatic and spoken
with a full mouth. He ate the supper; he kept on eating it; he passed
his plate with alacrity; he refused naught. And as the meal neared its
end he emitted those natural inarticulate noises from his throat which
in Persia are a sign of high breeding. Useless for Rachel in her heart
to call him a glutton--his attitude towards her supper was impeccable.
And now the solid part of the supper was over. One extremity of the
Chesterfield had been drawn closer to the fire--an operation easily
possible in its new advantageous position--and Louis as master of the
house had mended the fire after his own method, and Rachel sat upright
(somewhat in the manner of Mrs. Maldon) in the arm-chair opposite Mr.
Batchgrew, extended half-reclining on the Chesterfield. And Mrs.
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