A Mr
and Mrs Lupex had also joined the family lately, and Mrs Roper's
house was now supposed to be full.
And it must be acknowledged that Johnny Eames had, in certain
unguarded moments, confided to Cradell the secret of a second weaker
passion for Amelia. "She is a fine girl,--a deuced fine girl!" Johnny
Eames had said, using a style of language which he had learned since
he left Guestwick and Allington. Mr Cradell, also, was an admirer
of the fair sex; and, alas! that I should say so, Mrs Lupex, at
the present moment, was the object of his admiration. Not that he
entertained the slightest idea of wronging Mr Lupex,--a man who was a
scene-painter, and knew the world. Mr Cradell admired Mrs Lupex as a
connoisseur, not simply as a man. "By heavens! Johnny, what a figure
that woman has!" he said, one morning, as they were walking to their
office.
"Yes; she stands well on her pins."
"I should think she did. If I understand anything of form," said
Cradell, "that woman is nearly perfect. What a torso she has!"
From which expression, and from the fact that Mrs Lupex depended
greatly upon her stays and crinoline for such figure as she succeeded
in displaying, it may, perhaps, be understood that Mr Cradell did not
understand much about form.
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