of love with such extraordinary fervour and fidelity to nature that at last the very bolster seemed to be alive and I could have found it in my heart to drive a knife into the horsehair bowels of my supplanter!
However, I managed to remember that I should very soon find myself in the position now occupied by the happy bolster and so determined to wait and see the pretty comedy to its end.
Delia now pushed away her imaginary lover and moved from the sofa to her looking-glass. Here she let down her masses of wavy brown hair, threw off her stays, slipped her chemise to the floor and stood for a moment seemingly spellbound at the reflection of her own beauty!
At length her lips parted and by straining my ears I could just catch the words she uttered:
'Ah, Heavens, what an ill-assorted world is this! Here am I, poor lonely forsaken Delia, longing, craving, dying for a lusty man. Within hail are hundreds, nay thousands, of such men not one of whom but would leap from his bed and fly to me as if the Devil were after him could he but know that I stand here naked, my fingers itching, my vulva throbbing, and my tongue vainly twisting this way and that to enclose a glorious, standing pizzle in their embrace! That beautiful singer, now! If I only had him here! Does he know the pleasure of a girl's fresh red mouth upon his sugar-stick? I'll go bail he knows it not. And yet mine is fresh and red, and the lips are full and ripe and made for amorous clinging.
With what rapture would they fasten upon his tool and suck it in to meet the onslaught of my tongue, which should curl its whole length about the stiffening column nor rest until it had drawn from him a torrent of love's delicious nectar! But a few minutes to repose and then I would lock my arms around his neck and fingering his member so deftly that it could not choose but stand again, would clasp him naked to my naked breasts and pray him to hitter me till one or the other should cry mercy! All this and a thousand other sweet and pleasant things would I do, were my dear love but with me now!'
The reader may imagine with what feelings I had listened to this impassioned harangue. But my powers of self-restraint were at last exhausted and leaping from the bed I rushed upon the naked girl and covered her with passionate kisses from head to foot. Waves of lascivious delight coursed up and down her body and as I stood before her, breathless from my late exertions, she sank to her knees, and after looking up into my face with a gaze of speechless love and longing, softly passed her tongue over the nut of my yard and then pushing it slowly and lovingly between her lips, began to suck it with incredible ardour and enjoyment.
I was just beginning to revel in the exquisite sensations produced by the contact of Delia's mouth and tongue and wondering how long I could stave off the crisis which was already threatening to arrive, when a thundering double knocking at the street door broke the silence of night with an echoing sound that seemed sufficient to shake every house in that retired row to its foundation; and Delia, starting from my arms, leapt into the middle of the room.
'Good God!' I exclaimed, 'what can this mean? surely 'tis an alarm of fire.'
'Worse, worse!' she replied, 'unfortunate wretch that I am! Too well I know the meaning of these sounds. It's my old tyrant, B-, returned a week before his time; but let him come; I'll brave it all; he can but turn me out of doors, and you, my dear, will not forsake me.'
With a few hasty words I succeeded in convincing her of the folly of such conduct; and taking my clothes upon my arm urged her to endeavour to think of some place of concealment from which I could at a convenient moment escape undiscovered from the house. The knocking was now renewed more furiously than before, mingled with the violent ringing of the bell in such a manner as to bespeak plainly the wild impatience of the operator.
She seized my arm and led me in silence across the landing place; and having descended a couple of steps opened the door of a small chamber, and having kissed me whispered, 'For my sake be cautious,' she closed the door and departed, leaving me in a state of nudity and in utter darkness. In a few moments I heard her returning footsteps, mingled with those of a man, who, in no very gentle terms, was expressing his discontent at having been kept so long waiting in the street, which she attributed to her having been in her first sleep. At length they entered the chamber I had so recently quitted under such very disastrous circumstances, and the door being closed I was at once convinced from the very faint murmurs that met my ear, notwithstanding he was still speaking rather loudly, that I might without danger of being overheard venture to put on my clothes; in which attempt I had entirely succeeded, with the exception of my boots, and was cautiously rising for the purpose of seeking the door in order to make good my retreat when a ray of light suddenly illumined the apartment and I felt the grasp of what appeared to be the long bony fingers of a skeleton hand upon my shoulders.
On turning round to ascertain the cause of my alarm, I discovered that I had been unconsciously sitting upon what is termed by brokers a stump bedstead, upon which an aged woman was at the time sleeping, who having been disturbed by my movements had in the impulse of her momentary terror grasped my shoulder with one hand and drawn back a thick curtain which covered the window with the other. This accounted for the sudden ray of light, for the moon was shining brilliantly and rendered every object in that small chamber distinctly visible.
Her head was graced by a dirty flannel nightcap tied under the chin; her eyes, which were strained to their utmost extent, were fixed upon my face; they were of that description vulgarly called 'velvet-bound,' being edged with a rich crimson border, and a stream of rheum ran gently down a deep gutterlike wrinkle formed on each side of her nose, which was long, skinny, and hooked; while from her expanded nostrils issued a current of a dark mahogany colour, doubtless the effects of the quantities of snuff she was in the habit of taking; a pair of lengthy discoloured fangs protruded from her upper jaw, forming a barrier to keep the under lip from falling inwards; a profusion of long, grey hair shaded her withered shoulders; and a pair of breasts, resembling nothing earthly so much as a couple of dingy wash-leather saddle bags, with a stone in the bottom of each to keep them pendant, rested upon the well-worn counterpane. This delicate creature continued to gaze upon me for some time without uttering a sentence, her hands resting on my shoulders, and as she advanced her hideous countenance nearer to my own I experienced a feeling of suffocation from the exhalations of her breath, perfumed as it was with the combined fragrance of gin, onions, and tobacco.
At length in a subdued tone of voice she muttered thus, 'Oh, oh! I see it all, yes, yes, I understand, and so Miss Deelie with all her prudery is no better than the rest of her kidney; she has her favourites on the sly; well, I cannot blame her, and must confess that she has proved herself a girl of taste; but never fear, lad, I am not given to gossip, but upon this occasion I think that silence should at least earn me a new gown; bless my heart, what a soft hand the boy has; I could almost fancy I was pressing that of a delicate young lady; and dear me, now I look again, how very like my dear dead and gone Jim Grundy when we were first acquainted; ah, youngster, I was a very, very different person to look at then than I am now; time works wondrous changes in us all!'
And the old crone, having amused herself while she was speaking by passing her fingers through my hair, now proceeded to clasp me round the waist, and fearing that the beldame was absolutely growing amorous, with a sudden effort I extricated myself from her embrace, exclaiming with an attempted smile, 'Enough, enough, good mother, let me now think of effecting a retreat, all shall be explained the first opportunity; in the mean time only be discreet, and your reward shall not be forgotten.'
With these words, taking my boots in my hand, I proceeded downstairs, opened the street door, which I did not wait to shut after me, and having gained the street never ceased running until I arrived at the Angel Inn; here finding the coast clear I drew on my boots, and slackening my pace, endeavoured as I approached my home to frame the best excuse I could possibly devise to dispel the merited anger of Bessy and her more cautious but no less indignant companion.
I have previously mentioned that in order to remove all jealous doubts from my mind, Bessy had been for several months in the habit of leaving a candle burning, by means of which I could at all times satisfy myself that she did not share her husband's bed, and upon arriving home on this eventful night, or rather morning, my first glance was directed towards the aperture in the window shutter; alas, no welcome gleam appeared to gladden my sight; my mind misgave me; I unlocked the outer door, and applying my eye to the well-known keyhole all was dark and drear; at this moment a ray of moonlight rested upon the opposite couch, so long the solitary resting place of my beloved! it was forsaken. My worst fears were confirmed. I had proved myself unworthy; her confidence in my honour had been shaken and she had returned to the embraces of her liege lord. I cursed my own folly-and retired to my lonely bed, not to sleep but to ponder over the gulf of misery I had opened for myself by yielding too easily to the dictates of gallantry.
Nor were my fears without foundation, as I afterwards learnt from the blushing Bessy's own confession when a reconciliation had taken place between us. It appears that on her returning home with Emma after the scene so recently described, she was assailed by her tyrant in the most violent manner, in consequence of her having dared to go out without his knowledge; vainly did the good-natured Emma endeavour to take all the blame upon herself;
