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impatience to come! You'd hardly believe that he was dressed before
dinner-time and has been looking at the clock and teasing me ever
since. It's all your fault, you naughty thing.'
Hereupon Miss Sophy blushed, and Mr Cheggs (who was bashful
before ladies) blushed too, and Miss Sophy's mother and sisters, to
prevent Mr Cheggs from blushing more, lavished civilities and
attentions upon him, and left Richard Swiveller to take care of
himself. Here was the very thing he wanted, here was good cause
reason and foundation for pretending to be angry; but having this
cause reason and foundation which he had come expressly to seek,
not expecting to find, Richard Swiveller was angry in sound earnest,
and wondered what the devil Cheggs meant by his impudence.
However, Mr Swiveller had Miss Sophy's hand for the first quadrille
(country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed) and so gained an
advantage over his rival, who sat despondingly in a corner and
contemplated the glorious figure of the young lady as she moved
through the mazy dance. Nor was this the only start Mr Swiveller had
of the market-gardener, for determining to show the family what
quality of man they trifled with, and influenced perhaps by his late
libations, he performed such feats of agility and such spins and twirls
as filled the company with astonishment, and in particular caused a
very long gentleman who was dancing with a very short scholar, to
stand quite transfixed by wonder and admiration. Even Mrs Wackles
forgot for the moment to snubb three small young ladies who were
inclined to be happy, and could not repress a rising thought that to
have such a dancer as that in the family would be a pride indeed.
At this momentous crisis, Miss Cheggs proved herself a vigourous and
useful ally, for not confining herself to expressing by scornful smiles a
contempt for Mr Swiveller's accomplishments, she took every
opportunity of whispering into Miss Sophy's ear expressions of
condolence and sympathy on her being worried by such a ridiculous
creature, declaring that she was frightened to death lest Alick should
fall upon, and beat him, in the fulness of his wrath, and entreating
Miss Sophy to observe how the eyes of the said Alick gleamed with
love and fury; passions, it may be observed, which being too much for
his eyes rushed into his nose also, and suffused it with a crimson
glow.
'
You must dance with Miss Chegs,' said Miss Sophy to Dick Swiviller,
after she had herself danced twice with Mr Cheggs and made great
show of encouraging his advances. 'She's a nice girl - and her
brother's quite delightful.'
'
Quite delightful, is he?' muttered Dick. 'Quite delighted too, I should
say, from the manner in which he's looking this way.'
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