Authors do not starve in
garrets now, you know, as they used to do, poor things, when Doctor
Johnson ate his dinner in a cave, or something dreadful of that kind; and
when Sir Richard Steele thought it quite a wonderful thing to get a pound
of tea for his wife. And Valentine's heart is in his profession, and he
will work for us."
"As long as I have a hand that can write, and a brain that can guide my
pen," interposed Mr. Hawkehurst, gaily. "I have given hostages to
Fortune. I can face the hazard boldly I feel as confident and as happy as
if we lived in the golden age, when there was neither care nor toil for
innocent mankind, and all the brightest things of earth were the
spontaneous gift of the gods."
CHAPTER V.
BOHEMIAN INDEPENDENCE.
Monsieur and Madame Lenoble went to Brighton for their honeymoon. A
letter or a telegraphic message would bring them thence swiftly to the
bedside of the dying Captain, should the last fatal change set in
suddenly. Diana had wished to stay with her father, but Horatio insisted
upon the honeymoon trip, and that everything should be done in a correct
and gentlemanly manner.
"You can engage rooms at the Albion," Captain Paget had said to his
son-in-law a few days before the quiet wedding. "The house is extremely
comfortable; and you will be received by a compatriot. The proprietor is
a Frenchman, and a very gentlemanly person, I assure you; the _cuisine_
irreproachable.
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