'
"'Another glass of champagne for Mr. Biddulph,' (More laughter.) 'What
sort of pipes?' asks the Claimant; 'death's-head pipes?'
"The magistrate remembered, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands.
Thus the amiable magistrate was convinced, although he said, candidly
enough, 'I did not recognize him by his features, walk, voice, or
twitch in his eye, but I was struck with his recollection of having
met me at Bath.' The death's-head pipes settled him.
"As for Miss Brain the governess, she was of a different order from
Mr. Biddulph. She told us she had listened to the defendant when he
solemnly swore that he had seduced her former pupil, that he had
stood in the dock for horse-stealing, and had been the associate of
highwaymen and bushrangers, and had made a will for the purpose of
fraud; and yet this woman took him by the hand, and was not ashamed of
his companionship. His counsel described her as a ministering angel.
Heaven defend me from ministering angels if Miss Brain is one!"
The Claimant, while in Australia, being asked what kind of lady his
mother (the dowager Lady Tichborne) was, answered, "Oh, a very stout
lady; and that is the reason I am so fond of Mrs. Butts of the
Metropolitan Hotel, she being a tall, stout, and buxom woman; and like
Mrs. Mina Jury (of Wapping), because she was like my mother.
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