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Here, in the house of this officer an eccentric and impecunious man, but a most loyal friend I was discovered by Major Barton and dragged to prison. I was released by the intervention of my father's lawyer, who claimed me as his apprentice. For weeks I lived with Captain Bubbleton and his brother officers, and nothing could be more cordial than their treatment of me.
Maybe I haven't frightened them, my boy. It's not every one would create such a sensation, let me tell you; I knew I'd do it." Miss Bubbleton looked at him for an instant with a sneer of the most withering contempt, and then rising abruptly, left the room.
Captain Bubbleton lost his wager, of which my client was the winner. The habits of the service are peremptory in these matters; it was necessary that payment should be made at once. Bubbleton had not the means of discharging his debt, and while he looked around among his comrades for assistance, the prisoner steps forward and supplies the sum. Mark what followed.
"I say, Burke," said he, stopping suddenly, and laying his hand on my arm, "this might content a man who has seen as much as I have. And the game is well worth the playing; so here goes!" The first person I saw as we entered the ante-chamber was Bubbleton. He was the centre of a knot of foreigners, who, whatever the topic, seemed highly amused at his discourse.
Remembering the tactics De Meudon had taught me, I sought to organize the crowd in a kind of military formation against the troops; but a knock on the head with a musket-butt ended my labours, and I knew nothing more until I came to myself in the quarters of an old chance acquaintance Captain Bubbleton.
"We have our doubts on that subject," replied he, looking thoughtfully around him on the group, who, completely deceived by Duchesne's manner, now paid him marked attention. "You'll not deprive her of Genoa, I trust," said the chevalier, with a gravity almost inconceivable. "That is done already," said Bubbleton.
He gave me his pocket-book with his name; I shall not forget it readily, it was Stopford." "Ah, poor Billy! He was my junior lieutenant," said Bubbleton; "an active fellow, but he never could jump with me. Confound him! he has left me a souvenir also, though a very different kind from yours, a cramp in the stomach I shall never get rid of."
"Believe me, Tom," said Bubbleton, who saw in my silence that his observations had their weight with me, "believe me, my philosophy is the true one, never to meddle where you cannot serve yourself or some of your friends. The world will always consist of two parties, one governing, the other governed.
It would have served no purpose to impart these suspicions of mine to Bubbleton himself; on the contrary, he would inevitably have destroyed all clew to their confirmation by some false move, had I done so. With this impression, then, I resolved to wait patiently, watch events, and when the time came, see what best could be done towards effecting his liberation.
Not so Miss Bubbleton: her grim face grew more fixed, every feature hardened as if becoming stone, while gradually a sneer curled her thin lip; but she never spoke a word. "I'll not speak of the annoyance of being out of England, nor the loss of influence a man sustains after a long absence," said Bubbleton, as he paced the room with his hands deep thrust in his dressing-gown pockets.
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