书城公版LITTLE NOVELS
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第154章 MR. COSWAY AND THE LANDLADY.(29)

"Leave your business in my hands," said the lawyer, on the journey to town, "and go and amuse yourself on the Continent. Ican't blame you for falling in love with Miss Restall; I ought to have foreseen the danger, and waited till she had left us before I invited you to my house. But I may at least warn you to carry the matter no further. If you had eight thousand instead of eight hundred a year, Mr. Restall would think it an act of presumption on your part to aspire to his daughter's hand, unless you had a title to throw into the bargain. Look at it in the true light, my dear boy; and one of these days you will thank me for speaking plainly."Cosway promised to "look at it in the true light."The result, from his point of view, led him into a change of residence. He left his hotel and took a lodging in the nearest bystreet to Mr. Restall's palace at Kensington.

On the same evening he applied (with the confidence due to a previous arrangement) for a letter at the neighboring post-office, addressed to E. C.--the initials of Edwin Cosway.