Chance or ingenuity, ingenuity or chance-
-so I continued to ring the changes as I walked down
the avenue, casting back occasional glances at the red
brick facade and the twinkling windows of the house.
How was I to command chance? where was I to find the
ingenuity?
These reflections brought me to the door of the inn.
And here, pursuant to my policy of keeping well with
all men, I immediately smoothed my brow, and accepted
(being the only guest in the house) an invitation to
dine with the family in the bar parlour. I sat down
accordingly with Mr. Higgs the ex-butler, Mrs. Higgs
the ex-lady's-maid, and Miss Agnes Higgs their frowsy-
headed little girl, the least promising and (as the
event showed) the most useful of the lot. The talk ran
endlessly on the great house and the great family; the
roast beef, the Yorkshire pudding, the jam-roll, and
the cheddar cheese came and went, and still the stream
flowed on; near four generations of Carthews were
touched upon without eliciting one point of interest;
and we had killed Mr. Henry in "the 'unting-field,"
with a vast elaboration of painful circumstance, and
buried him in the midst of a whole sorrowing county,
before I could so much as manage to bring upon the
stage my intimate friend, Mr.
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