92 mb. sponge's sporting tour. 



and at daggers drawn the next ; Squire Squaretoes, of Squaretoes 

 House, and he, were continually kissing or cutting ; and even dis- 

 tance — nine miles of bad road, and, of course, heavy tolls — could not 

 keep the peace between lawyer Seedywig and him. What between 

 rows and reconciliations, Jawleyford was always at work. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE DINNER. 



Notwithstanding Jawleyford's recommendation to the contrary, 

 Mr. Sponge made himself an uncommon swell. He put on a despe- 

 rately stiff starcher, secured in front with a large gold fox-head pin 

 with carbuncle eyes ; a fine, fancy-fronted shirt, with a slight tendency 

 to pink, adorned with mosaic-gold-tethered studs of sparkling diamonds 

 (or French paste, as the case might be) ; a white waistcoat with fancy 

 buttons ; a blue coat with bright plain ones, and a velvet collar, black 

 tights, with broad black-and-white Cranbourne-alley looking stockings 

 (socks, rather), and patent leather pumps with gilt buckles — Sponge 

 was proud of his leg. 



The young ladies, too, turned out rather smart ; for Amelia, find- 

 ing that Emily was going to put on her new yellow-watered silk, 

 instead of a dyed satin she had talked of, made Juliana produce her 

 broad-laced blue satin dress out of the wardrobe in the green dress- 

 ing-room, where it had been laid away in an old table-cloth ; and 

 bound her dark hair with a green-beaded wreath, which Emily met 

 by crowning herself with a chaplet of white roses. 



Thus attired, with smiles assumed at the door, the young ladies 

 entered the drawing-room in the full fervour of sisterly animosity. 

 They were very much alike, in size, shape, and face. They were 

 tallish and full-figured, Miss Jawleyford's features being rather more 

 strongly marked, and her eyes a shade darker than her sister's ; while 

 there was a sort of subdued air about her — the result, perhaps, of 

 enlarged intercourse with the world — or maybe of disappointments. 

 Emily's eyes sparkled and glittered, without knowing perhaps why. 



Dinner was presently announced. It was of the' imposing order 

 that people give their friends on a first visit, as though their appetites 

 were larger on that day than on any other. They dined off plate : the 

 sideboards glittered with the Jawleyford arms on cups, tankards, and 

 salvers ; " Brecknel & Turner's " flamed and swealed in profusion on 

 the table ; while every now and then an expiring lamp on the side- 

 boards or brackets proclaimed the unwonted splendour of the scene, 



