that he must first of all visit his banker, both to replenish his exhausted purse and make other arrangements.
We may imagine that Alfred was by no means indifferent to taking a ride with his honoured relative in the direction of the bank. He fancied that somehow or other, especially after the evening they had spent, something to his advantage was pretty certain to turn up. Nor was this idea of his without foundation; for Mr. Bonham had been considering that to get rid of his daughter was absolutely necessary, before entering upon any of his newly hatched schemes of felicity. Therefore after the elderly gentleman had drawn the pretty heavy cheque on his own account, he agreeably surprised the young gentleman by asking what amount would be absolutely required for the Majority which would immediately become vacant upon the retirement of the piously disposed Major Pobjoy. Alfred specified the amount with a small margin, and to his delight it was immediately transferred to his credit by the orders of his generous uncle. Nor was this all, for when the uncle and nephew were parting that afternoon, the elder gentleman pressed into the hand of the younger a bank note of pleasant amount, accompanying the gift by saying: 'I think Alf, that it would be as well to consider my visit to London had been specially made to arrange this little business of yours. Such an account of my London excursion will shut Eliza's mouth, of course and she is devilish curious, and saucy too, when she thinks that I have been doing something that she does not approve of; for I daresay you know her as well as I do.'
'A deuced sight better, old boy,' thought Alfred to himself.
'And at any rate, you will agree with me that it won't do to tell tales out of school.'
'Certainly not, sir,' gravely replied the Captain, 'and both for your sake and my own, I will take care to represent this visit of yours to London as only on matters referring to your own business and partly on mine. I can easily show that it is so by your kindness to me. I presume sir,' he continued, 'that upon my obtaining my step, there will be no objection on your part to my urging Miss Bonham to fix an early date to our marriage?'
'As early as you like, my boy,' responded the other, whose heart was considerably warmed and enlarged by the rakish proceedings he had just been initiated into. 'As soon as the young lady can ascertain from her milliner what is the latest fucking fashion-I mean the newest fashionable carriage dress-and get together a new assortment of drawers, chemises, and silk stockings, though heaven knows she ought to have plenty. She has cost me enough for such things in the last few years, but of course she must have them entirely new. It is a part of the sacred rite of marriage, I suppose. And then there is a little money to be made over to her, but that won't take the lawyers very long, I should think. You ought to be pretty comfortable, Alfred,' concluded the old buck, as he shook hands with his nephew.
Alfred, after seeing him fairly off on his road home, went to his club, and before ordering his dinner, on the principle of 'business before pleasure', we suppose, indicted a note to his beloved Eliza, which contained among the usual expressions of fond affection, compliments to her charms delicate or indelicate (as may happen), allusions to the happy two days they had recently spent (the garden privy scene was referred to with so much enthusiasm that Eliza fairly blushed which was somewhat unusual for her), and so on to the following passage: 'I have not seen the young lady you recommended to my notice as yet; but shall make a point of doing so tomorrow if possible. Of course, with the remembrance of your delicious person and lovely private parts, before my eyes and enshrined in my heart, it is mere blasphemy for me to think of being fond of any other girl; and if I fuck your young acquaintance, Miss Fielding, it is entirely as a matter of business. Of course, I don't wish to do anything of the sort; but it seems to be necessary for our mutual happiness-and it is enough that my Eliza requests me to do so. I sacrifice myself to do her behests! Duty calls and I obey!'
What a fine soldierly feeling young Captain Torrant had, even where fucking was concerned.
But this letter, wherein he so nobly announced his determination to do his duty under all circumstances, was not the only bit of correspondence which he achieved before sitting down to his dinner.
The next day Mrs. Moreen received the following note:
Dear Madam,
Instead of leaving town as I expected today, I have yielded to the solicitations of my deceased wife's sister, Mrs. Smith, to dine at her house. She particularly wishes to see my ward, Miss Fielding, and though my request may appear to be somewhat out of rule, perhaps you will indulge me so far as to let Rosa be dressed by four in the afternoon, when either myself, or my nephew, Captain Torrant, who is a steady and amiable young man, will call for the young lady to escort her to Mrs. Smith's.
This letter with the usual polite formulary, was signed 'H Bonham' and after signing and addressing it, and transmitting it to the post, Captain Torrant was conscious of having performed his duty, at the cost of considerable exertion and self denial, and sat down to his dinner with healthy appetite. We can easily imagine the glee with which Rosa received Mrs. Moreen's announcement that she was to dress herself to go out to dinner with her guardian, and of course her chosen friends and room-mates were not long unacquainted with the happiness in store for her. Charlotte affected to pooh-pooh, the whole affair, saying that Rosa had never been 'Brought out' and had no business to be going to a dinner party.
But Harriet Lovit sympathized with her pleasure, and impressed upon her mind that she was to bring back an exact account of the ladies' dresses, and especially of the appearance of the gentlemen.
'I wonder dear,' she said, 'if your guardian's nephew, Captain what'shis- name, will call for you instead of the old gentleman! That would be fine! If he does-and from what you say it seems likely enough-mind you don't let him feel your cunt, or fuck you in the carriage. It will rumple your dress and make your hair untidy!'
'My goodness Harriet, you cannot imagine a young gentleman being alone with a young lady ten minutes without feeling her or fucking her, or something else of the kind.'
'Well my dear, I only speak from my own experience, and I should not wonder, if, after taking a short drive with a young officer, you will not be able to talk about your experience also.'
In due time a neat brougham brought not Mr. Bonham, but Captain Torrant, who behaved himself most demurely towards Mrs. Moreen.
Not that his affection of a staid and precise demeanour was at all necessary, for after receiving Mr. Bonham's note, she would have entrusted one of her pupils to old Nick himself, and washed her hands of the consequences.
'It is rather a long way to Great Poke-hole Place,' remarked Captain Torrant to his lovely companion, when they had started on their ride.
'Would you like to have the blinds down-the glare of the sun is rather strong?'
With this, without waiting for Rosa's consent, he suited the action to the word. Rosa might have objected, wishing not only to see but be seen, but then the young dragoon was a particularly handsome young fellow, and there was something fascinating in the fact of taking a long drive with him, quite in private as it were.
'I understand, beautiful Miss Fielding,' began Alfred in a tone of respectful admiration, 'that there is some chance of you becoming my aunt. I am sure I admire my Uncle Bonham's good taste; and I shall be very proud of having such a lovely young aunt, and I hope you will be very cruel and severe to his daughter Eliza and me.'
'Oh, sir, how can you talk in such a way?' replied the blushing Rosa, 'I am sure I shall hardly know how to conduct myself properly as Mrs.
Bonham, and as an aunt to such a-a-young gentleman as you are.'
'Never mind, Miss Fielding, I am going to marry Miss Bonham,' was the encouraging reply, 'and I'll ask her to love you for my sake, she can refuse me nothing.'
'Ah, I don't wonder at that,' replied Rosa, quite off her guard.
'Don't you indeed?' said the gentleman, 'then perhaps you will grant me a kiss upon the strength of our approaching relationship.'
Rosa smiled, and turned up her sweet face and ripe lips towards her nephew-that-was-to-be, who immediately took advantage of the opportunity. She kissed him once and in return he kissed her about half a dozen times, and then began to roll his tongue into her mouth.
This second performance surprised Rosa not a little, for it had never been part of Mr. Bonham's proceedings. Still, she felt the indescribable excitement and voluptuous titillation which the operation inevitably induced, and never thought of preventing him from doing as he liked, until he, and perhaps she too, began to think of some further proceedings. Captain Torrant knelt by her side and holding one of her hands while with the other he was gently and cautiously feeling her ankles: 'What a happy man my uncle must be!' he remarked, 'he has told me how deliriously pure and beautiful you are in your concealed limbs and those delicate parts, which no mortal eye has ever beheld, except his, I suppose.'
And here the young gentleman paused, astutely wishing to entrap Rosa into some acknowledgement as to
