Jenner don't pay. And the crowner declares he will not have it; and the Barton _Chronicle_ says us young gents ought all to be given a holiday to go and see one of us hanged by lot. But this is what have broke this camel's back at last; here's a dalled thing to come smiling and smirking in with, and put it across a counter in a poor boy's hand. Oh! oh! oh!""****," said Alfred, "if you blubber, I'll give you a hiding. You have stumbled on a passage you can't construe. Well, who has not? But we don't shed the briny about it. Here, let me have a go at it.""Ah! I've heard you are a scholard," said ****, "but you won't make out this; there's some new preparation of mercury, and there's musk, and there's horehound, and there's a neutral salt: and dal his old head that wrote it!""Hold your jaw, and listen, while I construe it to you. _'Die Mercurii,_on Wednesday--_decima hora vespertina,_ at ten o'clock at night--_eat in Musca:'_ what does that mean? _'Eat in Musca?'_ I see! this is modern Latin with a vengeance. 'Let him go in a fly to the Towns-hall. _Saltet,_let him jump--_cum tredecim caniculis,_ with thirteen little dogs--_praesertim meo,_ especially with my little dog.' ****y, this prescription emanates from Bedlam direct. _'Domum reddita'_--hallo! it is a woman, then. 'Let _her_ go in a fly to the--Town-hall, eh?' 'Let _her_jump, no, dance, with thirteen whelps, especially mine.' Ha! ha! ha! And who is the woman that is to do all this I wonder?""Woman, indeed!" said a treble at the door! "no more than I am; it's for a young lady. O jiminy!"This polite ejaculation was drawn out by the speaker's sudden recognition of Alfred, who had raised his head at her remonstrance, and now started in his turn; for it was the black-eyed servant of Albion Villa. They looked at one another in expressive silence.
"Yes, sir, it is for my young lady. Is it ready, young man?""No, it ain't: and never will," squealed **** angrily "It's a vile 'oax;and you ought to be ashamed of yourself bringing it into a respectable shop."Alfred silenced him, and told Sarah he thought Miss Dodd ought to know the nature of this prescription before it went round the chemists.
He borrowed paper of **** and wrote:
"Mr. Alfred Hardie presents his compliments to Miss Dodd, and begs leave to inform her that he has, by the merest accident, intercepted the enclosed prescription. As it seems rather a sorry jest, and tends to attract attention to Miss Dodd and her movements, he has ventured with some misgivings to send it back with a literal translation, on reading which it will be for Miss Dodd to decide whether it is to circulate.
"'On Wednesday, at ten P.M., let her go in a fly to the Town-hall, and dance with thirteen little {little dogs, puppies, whelps,} especially with mine: return home at six A.M. and sleep till dinner, and repeat the folly as occasion serves.'""Suppose I could get it into Miss's hands when she's alone?" whispered Sarah.
"You would earn my warmest gratitude."