"
"Polly Briggs is a low slut, Tom, and not fit for the likes of you,
his Excellency's son. Oh, fie! You must be a gentleman now,
sirrah; and I doubt whether I shan't take you away from that odious
tailor's shop altogether."
To this proposition Mr. Billings objected altogether; for, besides
Mrs. Briggs before alluded to, the young gentleman was much attached
to his master's daughter, Mrs. Margaret Gretel, or Gretchen
Beinkleider.
"No," says he. "There will be time to think of that hereafter,
ma'am. If my pa makes a man of me, why, of course, the shop may go
to the deuce, for what I care; but we had better wait, look you, for
something certain before we give up such a pretty bird in the hand
as this."
"He speaks like Solomon," said the Doctor.
"I always said he would be a credit to his old mother, didn't I,
Brock?" cried Mrs. Cat, embracing her son very affectionately. "A
credit to her; ay, I warrant, a real blessing! And dost thou want
any money, Tom? for a lord's son must not go about without a few
pieces in his pocket. And I tell thee, Tommy, thou must go and see
his Lordship; and thou shalt have a piece of brocade for a
waistcoat, thou shalt; ay, and the silver-hilted sword I told thee
of; but oh, Tommy, Tommy! have a care, and don't be a-drawing of it
in naughty company at the gaming-houses, or at the--"
"A drawing of fiddlesticks, Mother! If I go to see my father, I
must have a reason for it; and instead of going with a sword in my
hand, I shall take something else in it.
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