Here, let me have a go at it."
"Ah! I've heard you are a scholard," said Dick, "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.' Dicky, 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.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162