122 OCCASIONAL HAPPY THOUGHTS. 



He dines with his friends frequently, and laments he can't 

 invite them in return, as it's his Grandmother's house, and 

 she is unable to receive company. ''And," he adds, feel- 

 ingly, " I couldn't send her to bed while we're having a jol- 

 lification in the dining-room. Besides," he continues, 

 " the old lady is so fond of society that she wouldn't go to bed 

 if I had friends there ; and staying up late kills her. She 

 tried it once, and was so ill I thought she'd have died. 

 So I'm obliged to keep very quiet at home." 



This is a divergence ; but his not coming has riled me, 

 and I can't help noting down how often Gloppin has failed 

 me, when I have most relied upon him, and how every time 

 his excuse has been his Grandmother. She is always doing 

 something wrong, or getting him, or herself, into some scrape 

 or other. She will go to church, and sit in a draught : 

 results, almost serious to her, and much anxiety to Gloppin. 

 She will venture out in slippery weather, and down she 

 comes : very near a fracture, and more anxiety to Gloppin. 

 She will sit up late, and be very unwell next day. She will 

 go to the Bank by herself, and come " a nasty one " into the 

 mud, off the lowest step of an omnibus, the conductor of 

 which has mounted his perch, sung out " All right behind ! " 

 and the public conveyance gone on at a trot. Concussion : 

 more anxiety to Gloppin. She visits her Sohcitor's, and is 

 summoned by a cabman, and Gloppin has to go with her to 

 a police-court. And, above everything, she has one great 

 dread in life, one horror which she is always anticipating, 

 and Gloppin tells me v/hat it is. 



" You'd hardly believe it," says Gloppin, knowing that I 



