Major Pendennis came yawning out of the dining-room very soon after his
sister and little Laura had left the apartment. "What an unsufferable
bore that man is, and how he did talk!" the Major said.
"He has been very good to Arthur, who is very fond of him," Mrs.
Pendennis said,--"I wonder who the Miss Thompson is whom he is going to
marry?"
"I always thought the fellow was looking in another direction," said the
Major.
"And in what?" asked Mrs. Pendennis quite innocently,--"towards Myra
Portman?"
"Towards Helen Pendennis, if you must know," answered her brother-in-law.
"Towards me! impossible!" Helen said, who knew perfectly well that such
had been the case. "His marriage will be a very happy thing. I hope
Arthur will not take too much wine."
Now Arthur, flushed with a good deal of pride at the privilege of having
the keys of the cellar, and remembering that a very few more dinners
would probably take place which he and his dear friend Smirke could
share, had brought up a liberal supply of claret for the company's
drinking, and when the elders with little Laura left him, he and the
Curate began to pass the wine very freely.
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