From five to fifteen, he threatened me, hourly, with the
House of Correction. From fifteen to twenty, not a day passed in which
he did not promise to cut me off with a shilling. I was a sad dog,
it is true- but then it was a part of my nature- a point of my
faith. In Kate, however, I had a firm friend, and I knew it. She was a
good girl, and told me very sweetly that I might have her (plum and
all) whenever I could badger my grand-uncle Rumgudgeon, into the
necessary consent. Poor girl!- she was barely fifteen, and without
this consent, her little amount in the funds was not come-at-able
until five immeasurable summers had "dragged their slow length along."
What, then, to do? At fifteen, or even at twenty-one [for I had now
passed my fifth olympiad] five years in prospect are very much the
same as five hundred. In vain we besieged the old gentleman with
importunities. Here was a piece de resistance (as Messieurs Ude and
Careme would say) which suited his perverse fancy to a T. It would
have stiffed the indignation of Job himself, to see how much like an
old mouser he behaved to us two poor wretched little mice. In his
heart he wished for nothing more ardently than our union. He had
made up his mind to this all along. In fact, he would have given ten
thousand pounds from his own pocket (Kate's plum was her own) if he
could have invented any thing like an excuse for complying with our
very natural wishes.
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