Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/44

40 His luggage was more convenient than extensive—consisting of a parcel in the crown of his hat, containing the lighter elegancies of his costume; a small bundle in a red cotton pocket handkerchief, which held the heavier articles of his wardrobe; and a comb, which he carried in his pocket-book.

The proprietress of the indoor Eden was a maiden lady of mature age, with a sharp red nose and metallic pattens. It was with some difficulty that Mr. Peters made her understand, by the aid of pantomimic gestures and violent shakings of the head, that he was dumb, but not deaf; that she need be under no necessity of doing violence to the muscles of her throat, as he could hear her with perfect ease in her natural key. He then—still by the aid of pantomime—made known a desire for pencil and paper, and on being supplied with these articles wrote the one word "baby," and handed that specimen of caligraphy to the proprietress.

That sharp-nosed damsel's maidenly indignation sent new roses to join the permanent blossoms at the end of her olfactory organ, and she remarked, in a voice of vinegar, that she let her lodgings to single men, and that single men as were single men, and not impostors, had no business with babies.

Mr. Peters again had recourse to the pencil, "Not mine—fondling; to be brought up by hand; would pay for food and nursing."

The maiden proprietress had no objection to a fondling, if paid for its requirements; liked children in their places; would call Kuppins; and did call Kuppins.

A voice at the bottom of the stairs responded to the call of Kuppins; a boy's voice most decidedly; a boy's step upon the stairs announced the approach of Kuppins; and Kuppins entered the room with a boy's stride and a boy's slouch; but for all this, Kuppins was a girl.

Not very much like a girl about the head, with that shock of dark rough short hair; not much like a girl about the feet, in high-lows, with hob-nailed soles; but a girl for all that, as testified by short petticoats and a long blue pinafore, ornamented profusely with every variety of decoration in the way of three-cornered slits and grease-spots.

Kuppins was informed by her mistress that the gent had come to lodge; and moreover that the gent was dumb. It is impossible to describe Kuppins' delight at the idea of a dumb lodger.

Kuppins had knowed a dumb boy as lived three doors from mother's (Kuppins' mother understood); this 'ere dumb boy was wicious, and when he was gone agin, 'owled 'orrid.

Was told that the gent wasn't vicious and never howled,